Last week my wife kicked off over nothing (as she usually does) and then starts punching and smacking me over the head in front of our under 5 kids. She then grabs a knife from the kitchen. Tries to kill herself and the tries to frame me by trying to put the knife in my hand and get me to do it. The kids were wrecked. Police came around and took her. I explained this wasn’t the first time. She had previously threatened to jump from our window with my newborn but after her hospital check she got away with it by playing the stress card. There have been other incidents such as trying to steer the car into oncoming traffic etc. Anyway the police rang back that evening and said she’s fine. The ambulance service checked her out and she’s stressed over other stuff like the rental we live in. I explain there’s been two major knife crimes that have made international in this state, she shouldnt be anywhere near us at the moment. That evening she came home. Lied about it happening although the police have taken an advo out on her. I’m sleeping in the spare room with the kids with one eye open. I don’t trust her at all. What can I do? I believe she’s a psychopath but clinically they struggle proving it, especially as she lies and becomes like a Jekyll/Hyde character when the authorities are there. Using her feminity and a silver tongue, the cops love her. I am stuck as I genuinely don’t know what to do. Had child services around who basically said I’m the ok parent so they won’t remove the kids. She’s not receiving treatment nor thinks she needs it. Most people I know are shocked that she wasn’t sectioned including a couple of nurses who deal with mental health cases. I’m willing to move out but she will make it a massive mountain to do so re belongings etc plus it doesn’t change her lawfully being given time with these children who she’s bullied and said all kinds of rubbish to in the past. Should she have been kept away or am I missing something? Any feedback would be really appreciated

Hi everyone,
First of all sorry for any mistakes I might make, english is not my first language even though I consider myself proficient with it.
I (32m) and my wife (32f) are currently separated (but living together) for about a month (almost 8 years together, almost 4 married, 1 3 yr old boy). She wishes for a divorce due to a lot of reasons that I'm ashamed to say I can't fully understand.
The trouble accentuated beginning of this year when she just got colder and colder with me, while at the same time I improved on my contribution around the house and with the kid. During the last months almost all chores are handled by me while she focuses on her work.
She returned to work early and since then, i have felt unwanted and on the sidelines. I have voiced my concerns to her and she took it as me not understanding the importance of her job.
Anyway, since the separation, I have started seeing a therapist and found that I have huge issues with abandonment and emotional deprivation (grew up mostly with my dad who wasn't the most loving person). I understood that I become really pushy and stressful when having this feelings and that must have taken a huge toll on her. However she keeps saying that she doesn't feel anything for me anymore, she doesn't love me. I can see through small gestures that this is not true, but she won't admit it.
I love this woman with all my heart. I haven't lied to her in 8 years, I tried to be the best version of myself, but she just seems checked out all of the sudden. I don't think she has somrone else, as I have been cheated in the past relationships and there were always signs, none of which I feel currently. She fought a huge depression after our kid was born and I think she still has it, but she doesn't want any proffesional help and even denies it, stating it is all in my head.
Fellow divorcees, how do you deal with hope? Hope that all will be fine between you. I know in my heart and I have known since meeting her for the first time, that she is the one I want for as long as I live. This didn't change, I'm feeling lonely and afraid I won't get over her if we do divorce.
It's so hard to not be able to touch her, kiss her, comfort her when she needs it. There are little moments when she allows me to do that. She even started initiating hugs after seeing some improvements from my therapy. But they just seem to fuel this endless hope I have for us. When she sees me inspired she will put me down with words and if I contradict her, she will state it is all in my mind.
I feel like hell! But I still love her with all my heart! She agreed to live together until.august so we could put some money on the side, but seeing the love of my life everday and not being able to be with her, to receive and give comfort, is slowly killing me.
Shall i hang on to the hope and just give her space? I know that if she wanted to be gone she would've left.by now.
Thanks and sorry for the wall of text!

DC Next Proudly Presents:

NIGHTWING:

In Hunter Hybrid
Issue Fourteen: The Meek Shall Inherit
Written by AdamantAce
Edited by PatrollinTheMojave
 
<< First Issue < Prev. Next Issue > Coming Next Month
 
 
Dick's heart hammered against his chest like a pounding storm as he stood amidst the laboratory, flanked by Artemis and Barry Allen, the Flash. The weight of worry for Mar'i bore down on him unbearably, each moment without her amplifying his anxiety.
In the secluded closet hidden at the back of the lab, Dick and Artemis had found something haunting: a trove of withered seedlings, dead plants that looked alien in nature. Assuming the worst, but needing to confirm, Dick had quickly summoned a friend with a history of running genetic samples - none other than the Scarlet Speedster - to the scene.
Barry’s brow furrowed in concentration as he examined the specimens, having already run several tests.
“I'm limited in what I can do here; I'm a CSI, not a xenologist,” Barry admitted with regret, evoking his favourite chief medical officer of fiction. “Really, this really feels like a job for someone like Cadmus. Alien DNA is their whole deal.”
Dick could only grimace at the suggestion, reminded of the sickening experiments he had unearthed in the bowels of the Chicago cloning laboratory, of the dozens of aborted attempts at cloning Bruce Wayne. It was hard to stomach, especially knowing that he still had no idea who was responsible. “Not an option," he replied firmly. “Not Cadmus.”
Barry raised an eyebrow, his curiosity evident in his expression. “You don't believe those rumours about the Superboy clones, do you?" he asked. “They’re Reawakened through and through. Blame the other universes’ Cadmuses.”
In response, Dick shook his head. “It’s not that. It’s… something else.”
Barry then looked to Artemis and smiled. “It’s, uh… nice to meet you properly by the way,” he said. “I heard you, uh, shoot arrows.”
Despite the terrible situation they were in, Artemis allowed herself a snicker in response to the Flash’s awkwardness. “Among other things. It’s important to branch out, seeing as I know you already have an arrows guy.”
Just then, Tim emerged from behind a sliding door, draped in his red and black Rook gear, a stack of papers in hand. “Got the printouts you asked for,” he said, handing them over to Barry.
Barry swiftly flipped through the pages at super speed, his expression growing grim as he absorbed the information.
“What is it?” asked Artemis.
“What we feared,” he announced somberly. “The dead seedlings match the profile of alien species, with a significant DNA match for the Morning Eclipse sample you got from Starling’s fingernails.”
Dick's frustration boiled over, his voice dripping with anger. “Wilkof,” he spat, his jaw clenched in fury. “He let that damn killer plant loose.”
Tim struck himself in the shoulder in self-reproach. “I should've put it together sooner,” he muttered. “Wilkof knew plenty about Tamaran even before you let him speak to Mar’i.”
“It’s worse than we thought,” added Barry, and everyone’s blood turned cold. “This Dr Wilkof wasn't just releasing the Morning Eclipse, he was trying to propagate them; taking cuttings to grow more of them. We’re just lucky the Earth's sunlight is too diffuse for their growth.”
Dick's eyes widened in horror. “So he’s trying to create an army of killer plants?”
Barry nodded solemnly. “An army or a particularly menacing greenhouse.”
Artemis's brow furrowed as she pieced together a crucial detail. “Wait, a couple years ago they had me subbing in the bio department at school for a few months. I’m pretty sure plants grown from cuttings are meant to be genetically identical to the parent.”
Tim cursed under his breath and then reached for the printouts to give them a check over himself. “You’re right! Genetic variation only occurs after pollination. But these plants aren't self-pollinated. They're too distinct from the original sample taken from Mar'i’s attack.”
Barry's voice quivered as he raised a troubling possibility. “Could there be two adult killer plants on the loose?”
“No, it's not that,” Tim quickly replied again, his expression grave as he looked up from the stack of papers. “It's worse.”
Artemis' heart sank. “How could it possibly be worse?”
“The dead seedlings share identical DNA with each other. And every single one of their genes is present in the parent sample. But the parent also has additional chromosomes that all of the seedlings lack,” Tim explained as his eyes traced the text on the papers once more. “The parent had an extra 48 chromosomes.”
Barry's face paled. "48? Are you sure?”
“48? What does that mean?” asked Dick, looking rapidly back and forth between Tim and Barry.
Artemis gritted her teeth. “Humans have 48 chromosomes. The adult plant is half human.”
“Fully human,” Barry corrected. “And fully plant too. A symbiosis.”
“What does that mean?” asked Dick, scared of the answer he would soon receive.
“It means I think Wilkof merged himself with the plant.”
 
🔹🔹 🪶 🔹🔹
 
Ker-tonk.
Ker-tonk.
Ker-tonk.
Mar’i lay in the darkness of the car’s trunk, helpless. She couldn’t tell how long it had been since she last felt the sun’s warmth on her skin. She tried to summon childhood memories of Tamaran, of the sun her father had found oppressive and her mother found liberating. But they were distant and blurred, echoes from another lifetime - and another timeline.
As the car rumbled on, she focused on her senses, trying to glean any information about her surroundings. The air was stale and musty, tinged with the scent of oil and rubber. The vibrations of the road beneath her reverberated through her body, a constant reminder of her captivity.
Eventually, the car came to a halt, and Mar’i braced herself as the trunk door creaked open, flooding the confined space with blinding light. Blinking rapidly, she squinted against the harsh glare, feeling the rejuvenating solar rays bathing her, a stark contrast to the cold darkness of her confinement.
Dr Wilkof loomed over her, his appearance now almost normal except for a slight pallor that hinted at something darker beneath the surface. He reached out, his hands enveloping her wrists, which were bound with withered rope. Thick, barbed vines extended from the sleeves of his coat, renewing her restraints and further draining what little power reserves she had left.
As he dragged her up out of the trunk, Mar’i found herself in the midst of a desolate car park, surrounded by nothing but empty space and the looming silhouette of a large hangar. She had nary a clue of where they were.
“It will be easier if you don’t struggle,” he said, his tone devoid of joy or malice, as if he were simply stating a fact. But Mar’i knew better than to trust his words.
As Wilkof led her towards the hangar, Mar’i stumbled along behind him, the vines around her wrists taut like a leash. She tried to reason with him, to appeal to the vestiges of his humanity buried beneath the madness that gripped him.
“You don’t have to do this,” she implored, unsure of how much of his humanity really remained. “The plant doesn’t have to control you.”
Wilkof's eyes gleamed with a haunted fervour as he shook his head, the vines’ grip tightening around Mar'i’s wrists. “I've sacrificed too much to stop now,” he muttered. Those words carried a strange quality,like they weren’t fully his. Maybe it was the plant talking, maybe they were words he had rehearsed to himself enough times for them to become hollow. “I won’t let it all be in vain.”
For a moment, Mar’i was left to wonder what he meant by that. Then she remembered what little she knew about him, and a shiver ran down her spine. (He had fed the rest of his team from the lab to the plant, a grim sacrifice to fuel his delusions of grandeur.*
“No one cared about mild-mannered Hunter Wilkof,” he continued, his voice cracking with bitterness. “The plant promised to make me someone special, to make me famous.”
Mar’i shook her head in disbelief as she continued to be lugged along. “The plant doesn’t speak,” she insisted with a rising urgency. “Its pheromones mess with your mind, make you see and hear things that aren’t there.”
But Wilkof brushed off her words with a scoff. “I don’t care,” he replied, his gaze fixed on the hangar ahead. “I fed the plant like I was told, but the fame never came. I let it eat the only thing I ever loved. But… nothing changed.”
Her heart yearned to find some way to free him of the plant’s clutches, to help him see the light, but she knew well what desperation could do to a person, if left unchecked. She knew how far someone could fall.
“Then I realised… I wasn’t meant for prizes and celebrity,” he continued, deranged. “That wasn’t what the plant had planned for us. It’s just like you said in your Tamaranean fairy tale, the Morning Eclipse and its legend. I knew we were meant for infamy, but just one plant and its keeper wouldn’t do the trick. We needed a bigger family.”
At this point, Hunter stopped, and the pair had finally reached the mouth of the hangar. Mar’i searched through the darkness, but was struggling to see straight at all thanks to the toxic, draining effect of her Morning Eclipse vine restraints.
Wilkof just stared into the darkness, and continued. “I tried taking cuttings, but no matter how much blood, meat or southern exposure I gave them… it wasn’t enough, and they wilted. It wouldn’t tell me why it wasn’t working, and all I knew was that the plant was from Tamaran,” he confessed, his voice growing hoarse with emotion. “So I went to look for Starfire, but she was in space. And then… then I found you. A hybrid like me.”
But throughout Hunter’s grim confession, Mar’i was still missing some important details. “How did you know the plant was from Tamaran?” She defied him, “It doesn’t have a mind of its own, so it couldn’t have told you.”
Hunter smiled. “I used to drive out into the countryside and just leave my car behind, go for these long walks to clear my head when city life got too much,” he explained, a shroud of something resembling peace slowly falling over him. “I always felt guilty for it, reasoning I should have been spending that time in the lab, looking for ways to help people. But this one day, a few years ago now, I realised it was all worth it.”
He then pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button at its centre. As the lights of the hangar flickered to life, they revealed a magnificent sight, something Mar’i immediately recognised as a First Class Vegan Star Cruiser - a Tamaranean space vessel from the shipyards of Okaara - resplendent in hues of silver and violet. The ship stood tall and proud, a beacon of extraterrestrial wonder amidst the mundane surroundings of the hangar. But why was it here? And how did Wilkof have it?
He gestured towards the ship with an odd gleam in his eyes. “Suddenly, and without warning, this spaceship came crashing down through the sky just a couple of miles away, out here, where it was just me there to see it,” he explained. “So I rushed over, I searched the wreckage… and that’s where I found it. It was only a sapling, a baby really, and it called out to me. I knew I needed to take it home, back to the lab, back for testing.”
Mar’i shook her head. How was he to have known back then that the plant was pulling his strings?
“I stashed the ship away, knowing its potential,” he confessed. “The ship’s computer confirmed its origins: Tamaran. Apparently it even used to belong to a princess named Komand’r.”
Mar’i's mind raced as she processed this revelation. Komand’r - also known as the tyrant queen Blackfire - was Koriand’r’s sister, and Mar’i’s aunt. Someone she had already come across early in her time in this universe. Then, just in time for him to answer it without her asking, Mar’i happened upon another awful question.
“I got some guys in to make repairs, and another guy to… basically hotwire the thing, before I fed them all to the plant. But the ship won’t fly without one final security measure,” continued Hunter, his gaze fixed on Mar’i. “A pilot with Tamaranean DNA.”
 
🔹🔹 🪶 🔹🔹
 
Back in the lab, Dick, Artemis and Tim continued to put the pieces together, now sans Barry who had raced off to join Wally in combing the city for either Mar’i or the Morning Eclipse, not knowing that both were far from the city limits.
“Why Mar’i?” Dick demanded. “What does Wilkof want with her? Her Starbolts could be used to fuel the plant and its cuttings, but that’d only make a difference at night, when they can’t get sunlight for themselves.”
Artemis nodded in agreement. “Surely they can survive a night without sunlight,” she surmised. “So what else would he come to Mar’i for?”
“Could it be her DNA?” posed Tim. “Maybe he has a use for DNA from a Tamanrean.”
“What kind of uses?” asked Dick. It wouldn’t be that, but his mind once again returned to the cloning vats of Cadmus. “No, it’s not that.”
“Then what else could it be?” Artemis sighed, frustrated. All of this analysis, brainstorming and scheming, and they were no closer to finding the missing Titan.
Then, Dick’s face blanched with fear. “She knows the way,” he said simply, his voice barely above a whisper.
“The way to what?” asked Tim, his own anxiety rising.
“To Tamaran,” Dick replied with dread. “A place where the sun shines bright enough for a hundred Morning Eclipses.”
 
🔹🔹 🪶 🔹🔹
 
In the dimly lit interior of what was once her aunt Komand'r's ship, Mar'i's heart raced with fear and uncertainty, now strapped into her seat beside the demented Dr Wilkof. The vessel, a marvel of Vega System technology, exuded an otherworldly aura, its sleek silver surfaces shimmering with an ethereal glow. Yet, to Mar'i, it felt more like a prison than a wonder.
She couldn't shake the sense of dread that gripped her. Tamaran, a place she once called home, now loomed before her as an unfamiliar and foreboding destination. She knew of the tumultuous history of this universe's Tamaran, the tales of military coups and the reign of the Orange Lantern Larfleeze, all of which added to her apprehension. The planet had hundreds of Morning Eclipses, but none had ever merged with a sapient vessel before. The killer plants were best survived by being completely ignored, which wouldn’t be possible with an intelligent host scheming and bringing the plants to their vulnerable prey. Could she inflict that threat on Tamaran?
Wilkof's jubilant smile did little to assuage her fears as he spoke. “When we reach the planet - with its gleaming sun - I’ll have everything I need. I'll create more Morning Eclipses, genetically superior ones, and they will bond with Tamaranean vessels to enhance their intelligence. And then there’ll be no more sacrifices, just feeding.”
Mar'i's stomach churned at the thought of being complicit in Wilkof's madness. But she also knew that she was in no position to bargain. And he knew it.
With a heavy heart and a sense of resignation, Mar'i steeled herself for the task ahead and the ship hummed to life around them, hurtling toward an uncertain destiny.
Then, as they quickly hit sonic speed, Hunter turned to his pilot and prisoner, keen to share a thought he hoped would bring her peace. “I want you to know… once we get to Tamaran, I’ll never have to return to Earth again. Don’t think about where we’re going, think about what we’re leaving behind. This is you saving planet Earth.”
 
 
Next: Sun it up in Nightwing #15
 

tl;dr My partner (m25) became upset and said I (f25) broke his trust when I screenshotted a threatening text he sent to me.
My partner and i were in a heated argument via text where he made a few comments that implied he would hurt me. He never specified whether that hurt would be physical or emotional but nonetheless, I was fearful. He has a history of making hurtful remarks and displaying other abusive tendencies while we argue.
I screenshotted one of the comments he made and he became very upset when he discovered what I did. I made no attempt to hide it and I was very transparent about the fact that I took a screenshot. Often times when we argue, I have gotten into the habit of reviewing the chat a few hours later to see things from a fresh perspective. This helps me work on my communication skills and I have found that since doing so, it's helped our relationship and improved my communication. I reassured my partner that I had no intention of sharing those private texts with anyone and the screenshot was merely for my own reference. In this particular scenario, I screenshotted the text as it took place through disappearing messages which also alerted him that I took a screenshot. He did not believe me and held the stance that he cannot trust me, I broke the trust in the relationship, he dodged a bullet, I am unloyal and underhanded, I am no longer someone he can marry and he is glad I showed him my true colors sooner rather than later. These and other similar comments give me the impression that he is seriously hurt and I broke the relationship. He hasn't acknowledged the seriousness of the threatening comments made nor has he apologized. I can understand why he may feel that the trust was violated to some extent as a screenshot of a private chat was taken without permission. I am unsure how to handle this situation. Am I in the wrong for screenshotting the text and how do I move forward from this?

Hello. I generally dont deal with RL in my work. I work mostly with ML/DL algorithms. But the recent problem statement made me wonder if RL can be used. The problem currently is that u are currently at a state and have information of all past states and know what are the current actions that can be taken from this state ( these actions keep changing over time per state but they are countable number of actions), then what RL algorithm would you use to do this task. Again I am a noob in this

I received this message from a parent today and I don't know how to take it.  My child is three years old and has a best friend at their pre-school. Worth noting nothing has happened with me or my children and anyone at this school - we have just been quiet and pleasant to all. Text from the parent: ''Bit of an awkward one to bring up. Your child is clinging to mine. My child has told me they like playing with your child but that your child is follows mine everywhere - even to the toilet. This is interfering with other friendships my child has made. Of course they can play together but development wise, it’s good for them both to play with a range of children - if not everyone! I said as I was leaving today for them both play with everyone there & your child's reply was No No No & pointed at my child which I was a bit taken back by."
Is this helicopter parenting? What should I do? Is it right to tell 3 year old children to not play together 'too much' or is a best friend okay? From my point of you, it was a beautiful friendship that I liked to watch blossom and never imagined that it could be seen in a bad way from that child's parent... also to note they do play with other children but usually together as they are super fond of each other. Thanks for your input. One confused parent

I knew this was bound to happen and yet I can’t help but feel disappointed. I'm trying to find a psychotherapist for my social anxiety at the moment and had my first appointment with a female therapist today. I told her that I recently found out I was asexual (which was relevant as I previously assumed I was just sexually repressed) and she immediately said she doesn't believe asexuality exists and that it is natural and biological to want to have sex with someone else. I immediately knew I would never see her again but I did explain to her what asexuality is and what it means to me specifically, but honestly I don't think she really believed me.
I thought I was prepared for situations like this and yet it was an extremely disheartening experience, (especially since I still think something else may be wrong with me which led to me not wanting to halve sex). I just want to lie down and cry because I feel like this is just going to keep happening to me for the rest of my life.
Anyways, I just wanted to rant about this because I thought you guys are the only ones to really understand what it feels like not to be taken seriously, would appreciate some advice to deal with this in the future if you have any.

Being eaten.
No, I do not mean being on the receiving end as someone goes down on you. Sex seems to be popular in fiction these days, if the shitty Fifty Shades of Grey is any indication, and I sorely, desperately wish what I was about to write was all fiction. Then I could sprinkle some gratuitous sex on it, go to a publisher, and hope that it would sell. Then I would be not risking my job altogether sharing this so that strangers on the Internet would at least know of my suffering in having to watch human beings die brutal, bloody deaths to satisfy a desire even more primal than sex and far less pleasurable.
Yes, I’m talking about eating. And about being literally, bona fide eaten. An incredulous notion in modern society, where we live in concrete houses and walk on asphalt streets. Where the animals we encounter are anywhere between little quacking ducks and crotch-high geese. We live free of our early ancestor’s fear of becoming something else’s food. Crocodile, tiger, lion - pick your customer. It, in most cases, starts with the intense pressure of clamp-strong jaws, driving teeth into parts of your body where teeth should not be stabbing into. Depending on how lucky you are, there will likely be hellish pain lasting anywhere from seconds to minutes (that I am willing to bet feels much longer) before death takes you. What happens to your consciousness after that is a popular debate. What happens to your body is not. You get chewed into a consistency similar to hamburger patties in some cases, swallowed whole in others. Different vehicles to the same destination of an acidic stomach. Your useful parts are broken down into a mushy soup. The rest are ejected from the back end.
A shitty way to go, literally and metaphorically. A living human being, full of emotions and dreams and hope, turned into lifeless steak, soup then shit. At least three out of five young men and women whose last days I will recount below went that way. The other two… well, let’s say that it has been three weeks at this time of writing, and I do not have much hope.
The day started with Matthew dropping several paper files in beige covers on my desk. When I opened it and saw a report complete with pictures of grinning people on the first page, I knew right there and then that it was going to be anything but a normal day at work.
“Missing?” I asked, eyebrows raising. It was the single possibility. Police could have pictures on their desks for all kinds of stuff, but not us rangers. Only then did I notice the tight line Matthew’s lips had pressed into.
“Not like that, no.” He shook his head. “None of them got lost. All five came down here from Sydney, stayed at Winston Ward’s place. That’s Ward’s daughter, Madeleine.” His fingers pressed on the picture of a girl at the top of the page. Hair dyed blue and with the brightest smile of the bunch, I noticed. “She and one other, Cathy, their Indigenous guide, are the two still missing.” Matthew pointed next to the picture below Madeleine. Cathy was dark-skinned and had a hiking stick resting above her shoulder, clearly posing for some sort of promotional photo. “And these three, well…”
I took a quick glance at the other photos. Steve Wilson had the build of a runner, wiry and dressed in a tank top to match. Lisa Mooney, blonde with gold-rimmed glasses. Ashley Lo - his curly dark hair tied back into a ponytail. I knew I would not have to pay extra-close attention to their appearance. Two missing.
“I don’t know, man. Kind of wanted your input on it, too.” Matthew shook his head. “Best you see it for yourself. The police could not decide if it was murder or an animal attack, so they requested us. Found all three of them ripped apart. Caught, well, a suspect, I suppose, on their own cam-”
“You kidding? A suspect and they could not decide if it’s an animal attack or not?”
“I know, Tom, watch it for yourself and tell me I’m not crazy. Hells, they didn’t just have the pictures. Caught the damned killings on film, and still can’t decide if he, it - whatever - is man or animal. I will send the footage over in a bit. Some photos are in there, too. Just don’t puke up your breakfast. I’m seriously thinking of going vegan.”
What the fuck?
I frowned. Matthew could not wait for someone to share his hell, I supposed, and quickly retreated back into his office, leaving me alone with the papers.
Here are the facts.
Winston Ward, your typical real estate rich guy, bought some bushland last year next to our park. His plan was straightforward - setting up lavish air-conditioned bungalows amidst the Australian bush, complete with five-star hotel facilities such as private pools and a fine dining restaurant. A luxury retreat amidst trees and shrubs, letting you enjoy the best of nature and avoiding the worst. No insect stings, soaking rains or blistering heat that the normal campers had to suffer. Just a couple of hours drive from Sydney to boot. All well and good, except for the fact that it came alarmingly close to intruding on national park’s land. So Parks and Wildlife Service took notice and kept a close eye on Ward’s project. So far, even though he has not opened his retreat and nothing illegal had been done, Ward became a popular name among us rangers. Just in case.
I certainly did not expect his name - or his family’s name - rather, to come up this way.
It had been Ashley’s idea. An Ecology graduate, he wanted to make a documentary about Aboriginal people’s way of sustainable living among nature. He got his girlfriend, Madeleine Ward, into it, alongside fellow graduates Steve and Lisa. Madeleine easily secured the filming spot with her father. They hired Cathy as the expert for the film, and the five of them occupied two bungalows. Living in the lap of luxury while trying to promote sustainability. Three cameras were installed. Two security cams for each bungalow, expectedly. The third was a camera trap, the kind used on wildlife trails to capture pictures and videos of animals. Likely intended for fun.
As much as I respect the purpose of their never-finished documentary, I find twenty six-year-old Ashley rather hypocritical, and rather gross given how Madeleine only turned eighteen three months ago. But not to speak ill of the dead, I suppose.
I braced myself as I turned the page for the photos, and failed to stop the dry-heave that came up. Three bodies, gnawed clean of flesh. Strands of dark curly hair on the first mangled head identified it as Ashley’s. The skull was smashed open, its insides, empty where a brain had been licked clean, caked with dried blood. Shattered pieces of his bones were strewn over muddy soil, brown rain water filling in troughs where the marrow that had been sucked out. Steve and Lisa was in roughly a familiar state, and I shivered at how disturbingly clean the bones were. Take away the skull that clearly showed the remains to be human, and it could have been a smokehouse’s dump - filled with finished ribs and chicken wings.
And yet, the final photo proved even more unsettling.
It was a still taken from one of the security cameras. At night, judging from the grey filter. It was still bright enough, however, for me to make out the grassy front of a bungalow. Bushes and shrubs lined the far end. A dark figure loomed over them, casting a long shadow.
I shivered once more.
I had walked into the bushes hundreds, if not thousands, of times. I knew how dense they could be - reaching up to your chests in many places. That figure - standing on two legs with long arms drooping at its side - barely had its knees covered by the shrubs. The photo, even though grainy, was clear enough for me to make out a domed head resting upon a neck so thick the figure might as well be said to lack one. Matching broad shoulders held up that neck, deltoids bulging. The… thing, apparently, had little hair as far as I could see.
I did not notice how hard I had clenched my jaws until a cramp-like pain made me grunt. Matthew could not be fucking with me, could he? I had worked with the guy for years. I called the local police station. The woman on the other end confirmed it. Unless a whole station was in on the prank with Matthew - an idea equally impossible as what I was seeing - it seemed like we had won the reverse lottery of missing and dead people cases.
As much as the Internet likes to make fun of its deadly wildlife, most of Australia has no large land predators. Dingoes are pretty much your average dog. The huge crocs live way too far to the north and sharks do not magically appear in the middle of bushlands. Neither looked like some psychopathic, cannibalistic basketball player wearing a shaved-clean, badly proportioned gorilla suit. The police’s best option was us, I could tell, but as far as me and Matthew went, we were equally clueless.
I shook my head and rubbed my temples - for a moment questioning my sense of reality. That was until an alert jabbed into the screen of my desktop. Matthew’s email.
Here are the footages, Tom. Crazy stuff. I got them to send us a scan of Madeleine’s journal, too. Found where those kids were seen last.
An unholy amount of files came in a link he attached.
The rest of my day was spent going through them all. I still know not what to make of what I saw, and I need time to collect myself before I can write of what I seen on those tapes.
I need a nap. And dinner. But no meat. I agree with Matthew. As much as I loved a nice scotch fillet, I’m probably going vegan for a while.

I received this message from a parent today and I don't know how to take it.  My child is three years old and has a best friend at their pre-school. Worth noting nothing has happened with me or my children and anyone at this school - we have just been quiet and pleasant to all. Text from the parent: ''Bit of an awkward one to bring up. Your child is clinging to mine. My child has told me they like playing with your child but that your child follows mine everywhere. This is interfering with other friendships my child has made. Of course they can play together but development wise, it’s good for them both to play with a range of children - if not everyone! I said as I was leaving today for them both play with everyone there & your child's reply was No No No & pointed at my child which I was a bit taken back by."
Is this helicopter parenting? What should I do? Is it right to tell 3 year old children to not play together 'too much' or is a best friend okay? From my point of you, it was a beautiful friendship that I liked to watch blossom and never imagined that it could be seen in a bad way from that child's parent... Also to note they do play with other children but usually together as they are super fond of each other and only meet once or twice a week due to different rosters - and have only met at preschool 4/5 times in the last 3 months in total. So it's not a daily thing either.... Thanks for your input. One confused parent

I'd like to preface this by stating that the way I behave on YouTube is the most G-Rated way I conduct myself both on and off the internet. I've kept up to date with YouTube's war on no-no words, dogwater automated moderation, and near decade-long censorship campaign following the adpocalypse & COPPA dilemma and have remained mindful of what I say on the platform for a very long time. I'm proactive about not using bad words, tastefully navigating sensitive subject matters, and preemptively censoring words I think might be flagged by T H E S Y S T E M. I rarely engage in heated discussions on YouTube, as I feel like a lot of commenters are probably kids. I pretty much never use cuss words, my display name isn't inappropriate, and I have zero history of abusive/offensive/inflammatory behavior on the platform. It's also probably worth stating that I do not harbor extreme views on most issues. I do not express any form(s) of homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, racism, etc. on YouTube.
However, over the past few months, all of my comments have been disappearing - and I mean almost ALL of them. I've seen posts about this issue all over the internet and decided to do some digging to find out what's happening.

YouTube on 'removed/disappearing comments'

The YouTube Help Community/Support forums have a bunch of posts about this that not only don't receive answers, but are locked and marked as redundant duplicates of this "Solved" post - a post that doesn't even address comments disappearing, but simply troubleshoots mobile app cache glitches where your comments won't display.
Delving into the actual documentation of automated comment removal on the site points to supposed "inappropriate comment" notification website features that I've never encountered or even knew existed:

Comment reminders
Before you post a comment, you may get a reminder that’s intended to encourage respectful interactions on YouTube. This reminder shows when our system finds that your comment could be considered offensive to others. Reflect on your comment, or review our Community Guidelines before you post it.
Note: This reminder is only available for English and Spanish comments right now.
Comment removal warnings
After you post a comment, you may get a notification that says the comment was removed. A comment may be removed when YouTube’s system finds your comments could be repeatedly violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines. If you disagree with the removal, you can submit feedback here.
Comment timeouts
After you post a comment, you may get a notification that says that commenting has been paused for your account. Commenting may be paused when YouTube’s system finds that you repeatedly left comments that could violate one or more of our Community Guidelines. Your ability to comment may be paused for up to 24 hours.Comment reminders
Before you post a comment, you may get a reminder that’s intended to encourage respectful interactions on YouTube. This reminder shows when our system finds that your comment could be considered offensive to others. Reflect on your comment, or review our Community Guidelines before you post it.
Note: This reminder is only available for English and Spanish comments right now.

I have never once received a comment removal warning notification. I have never received any notifications about my account/comments violating the Community Guidelines. I have never received a notification about my commenting privileges being paused/revoked due to Community Guideline violations. I have also scoured all my emails with YouTube to see if there was ever any notice of actions taken against my account and there's nothing.
I looked into people having issues who have received these notifications and was not surprised with what I found: If you receive Community Guideline violation notifications, YouTube doesn't tell you which comment was flagged and almost never accurately interprets your comment's subject matter. The system is plagued with false positives for inappropriate or abusive material. If you unintentionally or unwittingly posted something inappropriate, there is absolutely no way for you to know what you said that was wrong and take corrective action.
What does this all mean? Well, If you're familiar with YouTube, you'll know that whenever a "feature" or policy is poorly explained, hard to get clarification on, or otherwise opaque, it often means there is a hidden mechanism or internal position at play that they don't want to be widely known.

Experiment

Over the past few months, every time I leave a comment, I close out and come back later to see if it was removed, then try to determine if certain words I used were being flagged by YouTube as inappropriate slang or dog whistle terms. However, I couldn't identify anything specific in my comments that was problematic, nor could I find any correlation between their subject matter and YouTube's apparent dislike for them.
So then I just started commenting other comments verbatim to see what would happen. The single sentence drive-by-gag bot-like Top Comments that are just garbage recycled one liners that add zero value to the platform. Direct quotes from the video, "HE WAS READY FOR ALL THE SMOKE😂", "Nah bruh didn't have to do him like that ☠️", etc.
Those stay up.
Then I would occasionally post a comment I would normally post. A longform response to the subject matter of the video, thoughtful attempts at starting discussions, or actual comprehensive explanations of something. Some examples would be an interpretation of a movie/show scene, my opinion on a music album, or just literally the "thoughts" the video's creator told me to post below lmfao.
Gone.
Don't even show up in my activity history.

Conclusion

The only reasonable conclusion I have for why this is happening is that YouTube's automated content monitoring systems are inundated with parsing tremendous amounts of data and can't reasonably contend with users who regularly post long comments. On top of this, the somewhat unsupervised nature of their algorithms has led to their bots conflating longer form comments with abusive/inappropriate material for two reasons:

• Abusive/inappropriate comments are typically associated with arguments, which play out in longer form, or necessitate long responses.
  
• The most popular and well-received comments are short.
  

As a result, users who regularly post longer comments will inadvertently be flagged. Their activity will take longer to become public, they will receive Community Guideline violations for no reason, and their comments will begin to regularly disappear entirely. For the most part, only their simple, single-sentence comments will remain visible.
There's your YouTube conspiracy tea for the week. Let me know your thoughts.

Hi all, new to the sub so please be patient if I come off stupid. I’ve been walking home from work for about over a month now, I am no means a “serious” walker but I am m trying my best to get my steps in whilst also trying to kick start my new healthy routine. It takes about 50 mins to walk from my work to my house, and I do it at a steady pace whilst listening to podcast. I work at a rather stressful place and walking has become my “safe place” where I get to de stress, I love it! However in the past two days my wonderful walking has taken a tumble as i have ankle pains. Around 15mins in my ankles are on fire and with each steps it’s painful to move, more so on my outer right side. I know many here may have experience this, and my question is what can I do about it? I love walking, it’s become my favourite part of the day and I don’t want this inconvenience to deter something that is improving not only my physical but mental health. And that’s what I’m worried about.

Hi. My cat likes to eat grass sometimes. I got him the cat grass stuff, but all the ones I can find are pretty small and it dies quickly because he kind of tears it up just chewing on it without biting a piece off.
So, I want to get some grass seed and just grow it in containers so I can have some lead time and have new grass ready when the old grass dies. I know that stuff like oat grass or rye grass is what the cat grass you can buy is, but I’m concerned about the safety of regular grass seed.
I bought a bag of ryegrass seed, but then I saw that the seeds are coated with stuff to kill fungus and hold moisture. I know the seeds themselves aren’t safe for the cat, but can he eat the grass that grows from it? I called poison control, and they said it should be safe after the grass has taken hold and grown. They told me to call the company and find out the recommended time to stay off the grass and that’s how long to wait to give it to the cat.
But I’m just nervous about it, even though I know that food we eat is often grown from seeds that have pre emergent treatments and they’re safe for us, but I’m alarmed by the utter lack of information about the safety of the grass after it grows. It feels like it’s purposely not mentioned anywhere - not by the EPA, the company that sells the seeds, the USDA, or the seed trade association (I’ve called all those places and they’ve all told me they aren’t the place I should be calling, but not who I should call).
If anyone has any knowledge or experience or thoughts, I’d love to get some input. I know I can just buy different seed, but if I don’t have to, I’d rather not because it’s kind of a hassle to get to the store with the seed at the moment and if I can, I’d like to use this seed.
TIA!

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My ANA titers are very high, 1:1280. My SS-A and SS-B titers are also >8x normal. Anyway, I was diagnosed with Lupus based on symptoms. I have severe oral sores, hair loss, leukopenia/neutropenia, lymphadenopathy, severe GI symptoms, and Raynaud's.
For now I don't have any obvious organ damage. I really don't know if I want to take any medications. My rheumatologist wants me to start on Plaquenil. I genuinely feel so overwhelmed. I was wondering if I can expect my ANA to go down on the meds or if I'd feel betteworse. I kept asking those questions but I feel like I was told that they can't make any guarantees.
Basically I feel I can live with my symptoms because they're episodic. Maybe I can make lifestyle changes. I just don't if Lupus is the sort of illness where things suddenly worsen dramatically and I'd wished I taken the medication.
I first developed symptoms of Lupus >20 years ago, but I had normal ANAs at that time. The only new symptoms that I developed over all these years are the leukopenia and lymphadenopathy. My WBC has been about 2.5-3.2k for a year or so. I was told if the WBC went below 1k I'd be in more trouble.

Welcome to the ultimate guide to service apartments in Chennai! Whether you're a business traveler, a family on vacation, or a solo adventurer, finding the perfect accommodation can make or break your trip. Service apartments offer a unique blend of comfort, convenience, and affordability, making them an increasingly popular choice for travelers in Chennai. In this guide, we'll explore everything you need to know about service apartments in Chennai, from what they are to how to choose the right one for your stay.

What are Service Apartments?

Service apartments are fully furnished apartments that offer hotel-like amenities and services. They are designed to provide guests with a home away from home, offering more space, privacy, and flexibility than traditional hotel rooms. Service apartments typically come equipped with a kitchen, living area, and bedroom, making them ideal for longer stays or for travelers who prefer a more homely environment.

Benefits of Choosing a Service Apartment in Chennai

There are several benefits to choosing a service apartment in Chennai over a hotel. Firstly, service apartments offer more space and amenities, such as a fully equipped kitchen, which can help you save money on dining out. Additionally, service apartments often provide a more personalized experience, with attentive staff who can cater to your specific needs.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Service Apartment

When choosing a service apartment in Chennai, there are several factors to consider. Location is key – consider how close the apartment is to your desired attractions or business districts. Size and layout are also important – make sure the apartment has enough space for your needs. Amenities such as Wi-Fi, laundry facilities, and security features should also be taken into account.

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Chennai has several neighborhoods that are popular for service apartments. Areas such as T Nagar, Nungambakkam, and Guindy are known for their accessibility to business districts and tourist attractions, making them ideal for travelers.

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Booking a service apartment in Chennai is easy. There are several online booking platforms and websites that offer a wide range of options to choose from. Before booking, make sure to read reviews from previous guests and compare prices to ensure you're getting the best deal.

Safety and Security Measures in Service Apartments

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, service apartments in Chennai have implemented strict safety and hygiene protocols to ensure the safety of guests. These measures may include enhanced cleaning procedures, contactless check-in/check-out, and social distancing measures.
In conclusion, service apartments in Chennai offer a unique and comfortable accommodation option for travelers. With their spacious layouts, home-like amenities, and personalized service, they provide a welcoming environment for guests of all kinds. Whether you're visiting Chennai for business or pleasure, consider staying in a service apartment for a truly memorable experience.

25 Male 5"10 weight 150, white. In the United States. Entire body is affected.
Let me be clear: I don't think I was overdosing technically? I sometimes take aspirin and on that day I woke in pain, so I took some...I felt worse. That day was absolutely miserable; I felt like a walking zombie, the way my body felt was insane, and I had a mix of head and GI symptoms.
I later found out that my symptoms matched up to metabolic acidosis, which aspirin can contribute to. I stopped taking it (I think I had just taken 5 small ones that day, starting from the night before) and I mostly recovered within the span of a few hours. However, it took me a while to realize that it has been weeks since I last felt like my usual self.
So...I do doubt me feeling relatively awful lately is at all related to that, but it's pretty much the only change I can remember and blame.
Here's all the newish symptoms that have persisted:
very aggressive headache that pretty much does not go away. I used to never get headaches.
caffeine and aspirin clearly do not work, in fact they sometimes make me feel worse. They never made me feel bad before.
the oddest one: flushing. I get very warm, face gets red, and it's very uncomfortable. This is 100% new, it wasn't happening months ago, and it seems to happen daily and often for hours.
whole body feels severely tense, almost burning.
painful and odd eye/lid feeling, visibly they do look messed up, sunken, and almost pinched. they also keep on twitching.
heavy fatigue. I normally weight train and work out and while I've never really felt better from it I was able to do it just fine. Now, I'm struggling. I just have energy for work and nothing else. I'm still going on walks, but I am very winded after them.
Medical history:
Meds: Albuterol (getting a new inhaler soon as it doesn't really help), zinc (long-term deficiency), claritin. Insurance greenlit me for nose surgery because a deformity made it very hard to nose breathe; it was a success. I have a jaw deformity as well. Some blood tests in the far past have shown I'm in a state of acidosis and this was before the aspirin thing, but it was probably totally random.
Full disclosure: I have always been a "tired" person, I have just had one good rest in my entire life and it was shocking how different that day felt. However, I've been functioning normally enough - I don't really do anything fun but I can at least work - and right now I'm struggling tbh. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.
Also, I'm not a chronic aspirin user, I usually use it sparingly at most (every few days) and I took more around the time where I got sick.

There is a REAL MSBP survivor on TikTok who has been telling her story for a while, however she has just come forward saying ever since Grifty Nose got out of prison, she started getting her videos reported, taken down, and been harassed. A REAL survivor who lost her leg. As if this girl wasn’t sickening enough, she goes for a real survivor and advocate. And she even went in her comments all “just know no matter how you view me, I will always support you 💕” GIRL? If there’s anyone out there who still will fight tooth and nail for this girl, you need some serious self reflection. If this wasn’t it for you, idk what will be because I was already infuriated by her actions, but this one is bad bad. I feel sick. First you say you’re going to give back to the charities you and your mom stole from. You didn’t do that. You bashed Nick so hard you made sure he can’t easily come back out even though he did that shit for YOU. If I keep going the list will be so long. But I cannot with her doing this shit to a real MSBP survivor. How disrespectful can you actually be?

Hello. I generally dont deal with RL in my work. I work mostly with ML/DL algorithms. But the recent problem statement made me wonder if RL can be used. The problem currently is that u are currently at a state and have information of all past states and know what are the current actions that can be taken from this state ( these actions keep changing over time per state but they are countable number of actions), then what RL algorithm would you use to do this task. Again I am a noob in this.

It candidly sucked being surrounded by constant reminders that you’d lost the genetic lottery. Sure, it was easier than some people thought to get around the world without powers; it wasn’t like the government expected everyone to be a speedster or to be able to fly. Hell, a hundred years ago, nobody even had powers. The infrastructure was there. Life went on.
That said, staying cheery about the hand I’d been dealt was difficult. Enhanced perception was useful for a lot of things, from party tricks to always reading the fine print, but next to flight? Next to teleportation?
I’d gotten hung up on movement powers because I’d taken the bus to the bar, and the only superpower buses had was being late.
I was specifically at the bar for the sake of a blind date set up by my best friend; Todd was about two times my size and could throw a car across the street. His powers did nothing to help me with his current obsession with my dating life, but here we were. I supposed it was a fair obsession. I hadn’t been trying.
It honestly made sense that Todd had been keenly aware of romance since he’d met his soul mate. See, a strange thing with powers was that when you were around your soulmate, they were inexplicably stronger. Todd had met Soo-jung when she’d been on vacation in Crescent three years ago. They’d been inseparable since, and he’d been able to throw a car down three blocks instead of across the street.
Or so he claimed. Nobody was eager to volunteer their car for a demonstration, or anything else heavy and expensive, for that matter.
For my part, I hadn’t spent a lot of time guessing what would happen if I met my soulmate. It was a common train of thought for some, but I never found that it stopped at any fun stations. Instead, I indulged Todd’s meddling because he was my friend and bad dates at least made good stories.
“Gimme a sec, I’ll grab us another round,” Todd announced as he pushed out from our table. “Emma said she’s going to be here soon.”
“You bought the last one.”
“Yeah, now you can buy two in a row once Emma gets here and look generous. Think about it, man.”
“Sure,” I answered, but Todd was already walking away from the table and toward the bar.
Soo-jung leaned in. “You know he’s trying, right?”
“I know, maybe a little too much.”
“You don’t hear the half of it.”
“Oh, good.”
“I had to tell him to calm down when it came to buttering you up to Emma,” Soo-jung explained as she took a sip from her drink. “Sometimes I wonder about him.”
“I’m surprised he says anything nice about me.”
“He’d never say it to your face.” She watched Todd at the bar instead of looking at me during our conversation.
“Does that mean you’ll do it for him?”
“He trusts me to keep his secrets.”
“How about I suggest things and read your reaction?” I asked.
Soo-jung frowned in response before she pointedly rolled her eyes. She knew that reading reactions was one of my party tricks. If you couldn’t be powerful, you could at least read a room.
“Okay, fine. What do you know about Emma?”
“Her last name’s Tavish.”
“That’s it?”
“She works with Todd.”
“I knew that. He kept telling me she was a co-worker.”
“Todd thinks she’s cute.”
“He told you that?”
“No, but he has high standards for you.”
“That’s all the detail you have?”
“Todd’s not allowed to talk about work at hom- Hey, honey.”
Todd was back at the table holding all three pints in one arm; he passed one to each of us despite Soo being less than halfway finished with her current drink. Once he’d finished distributing, he turned to Soo-jung and asked her a question in broken Korean.
He’d been trying to learn, and he was still struggling. Not that I knew the language.
“Yes,” Soo-jung responded in English, “we were talking about Emma; no Korean around Toby. It’s rude.”
“I thought you wanted me to practice?”
“You can practice at home.”
“So we were talking about Emma,” Todd jumped back to the previous topic instead of discussing his inconsistent study of Korean. “Awesome woman, perfect for you, man.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“Oh, she sucks too.”
“Ah, thanks.”
“He means powers-wise,” Soo-jung stepped in.
“So you do know something about her,” I pointed out.
“Something? I’ve been telling Soo everything since we got in the car to come here.” Just as Todd finished, he flinched. Soo had kicked him under the table. “But it wasn’t much, really.”
“What do I get to know?”
“I don’t want to taint your expectations.” He pushed his empty glass away, swapping it with the new one. “But can I be serious for a second?”
I considered it. “Sure.”
“She’s like my boss’, boss’ boss. So best behavior.”
“Wait. Seriously?” I leaned in. Todd worked for the CPRU, which meant that she had to be a heavy hitter if she was high ranked in the city’s power regulation department. “She’s—”
“Not quite.” He backpedaled. “We share a building. She’s straight DPR.”
I blinked twice at that. “Way to set me up to fail.”
“You should believe in yourself,” Soo cut in.
“Todd I w—”
“And she’s here.” Todd had turned his attention away from me and toward his phone. “Hope you’re ready to meet your soulmate.”
“Honey, don’t set that expectation.”
The bar’s front door opened, and I was the only one who could hear it over the atmosphere. I glanced over, and there she was.
She was stunning by any definition, but especially mine. Maybe it was a strange way to describe someone, but she looked beautifully meticulous, from brunette hair to olive skin, to her light blue jacket; everything was in place, and everything about her was gorgeous. Assuming that was Emma, I owed Todd big time.
“Okay, that can’t be her, right?” I asked Todd. After a second, without a response, I checked to see if he was waving at her, but he was stock still, a stupid grin plastered over his face. “Todd?”
Holy shit. The DPR had some crazy people on their roster, but this- I waved a hand in front of Todd’s face and snapped my fingers, then caught the sound of a single cautious heel clicking against the floor.
I stood up from the table and looked back at the door. She’d taken one step into the bar but had gotten caught in the same shock I had. “Emma?” I asked.
She snapped her attention to me -god, her eyes were- but she just looked confused.
“Toby,” I explained, “I’m Todd’s friend.” I motioned over to Todd’s still body and took the first steps to say hello. “This is really impressive. I didn’t think this was possible. It’s cool to meet someone wh—”
“I’m not doing this,” she said. “This is impossible. How are yo—”
“Trust me, this isn’t in my…” We stared at each other for a moment. Somehow, time stopped more than it already was.
“Holy shit.” We both said it at once.
“So this isn’t you?” she asked. Her eyes were still meandering around the frozen bar instead of staying in the conversation with me.
“No, it’s not,” I walked along her gaze and ended up against the bar counter, “did Todd tell you what my power was?”
“He just told me you wouldn’t mind having me around,” Emma answered, which somehow just brought up more questions.
“Enhanced perception,” I grabbed a drink off of the bar to see if I could; As soon as I touched it, it seemed to animate back to life. “What do you mean, ‘mind having you around’?”
“I dampen powers,” she explained, a little quieter than anything else she’d said, “make them weaker, hard to use. The technical definition is long and wordy so…” She sighed as she watched me slosh the beer around. “It’s a lot of trouble, really.”
“Probably good for work,” I offered.
“Pretty much the whole reason I have my job, but Callum wouldn’t admit that.” She approached, but there wasn’t an open seat near where I was standing, nor could we ask for someone to move. “Callum is—”
“Callum Rehsman, head of the D.P.R for the past six years,” I stepped in, “sorry, comes with the perception thing.”
“Honestly, I’m just glad I don’t have to explain it,” Emma took to leaning against the bar instead of walking over to a seat. She undid the top button of her shirt, which was probably too high for a date, anyway. “Emma Terish. Ring any bells up there?”
“No.”
“And you’re?”
“Toby Vander,” I put down the beer to offer my hand, and it froze as soon as I let go. We both paid attention to that instead of the potential formal hello.
“So this isn’t you.” Emma reached for the glass and picked it up; once she did, it animated just like it had with me. “And it isn’t me…”
I swallowed nothing. We’d both said holy shit for a reason, but it felt impossible to admit it. Wasn’t there supposed to be a — Well, something? Anything?
Then again, we were stopping time, and what else could you ask for?
“Do you want a drink, Toby?” Emma asked. She vaulted herself over the bar with a frankly shocking amount of grace for someone in a pantsuit.
“Uh, sure.”
“I’d ask what you were drinking, but we might have limited options,” she was considering her new vantage point from behind the counter.
I took the opportunity to grab the drink I’d left behind on the table. “I’ll use the one I had.” I tapped Todd’s hand for posterity, and nothing happened to him. “Any idea what this might—”
“No idea,” she answered without letting me finish, “but my job involves dealing with unknown powers, so…” She tried to use the soda-gun and swore when it didn’t work. “You learn to roll with it until people cooperate.”
“You still think I’m doing this?”
“I know it’s not me, and there aren’t many options here with us,” she said as she ducked behind the bar and came back up with a lemonade cooler, “but I came here for a date, and I plan to have one. Been a long week.”
I returned to the bar, finding a seat now that she was on the other side. “I just need to establish that this isn’t me. I’m not trying to—”
“If it isn’t you and it’s not me stopping time around us, then someone is giving us a very private venue for our first date.”
“Isn’t that nice?”
“It really is.” She took a sip of her drink, then pulled it away before she had time to swallow. “Shit. Do you have cash?”
“I’ll cover you.” She frowned at that; clearly she wasn’t satisfied with someone else paying for everything. “Plus, you’re serving me tonight. So…” That seemed to be enough plausible deniability to satisfy her. “Cheers?”
“Cheers.”
Throughout drink one, we were casting nervous glances around the paused bar; by drink five, we were laughing, just the two of us. Hours dripped by with the free beer… or they didn’t… It was hard to tell.
Emma added her sixth can to her pyramid and composed herself. “Okay, okay, okay. One second.” She took a deep breath. “This has been so much fun, but I told Todd I’d tell him when I got here so” — she needed another second to find her verbal footing — “can you stop this now?”
“Stop what?” I was halfway through a sip.
“This is the coolest power I’ve seen but—”
“It’s not me, I promise,” my insistence ended up sounding more like a drunk debate. The drunk part was accurate.
“So your power really is enhanced perception.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Okay. You’re not lying.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because that’s lame and—” She stopped herself. “Shit, sorry.”
“I am so used to it.”
“You wouldn’t say that drunk if you could stop time is my point,” she almost ducked down to grab another drink but thought better of it. “So, that makes us…”
We’d reached this impasse several times in the last hours. I scanned her. The lines on her face. The size of her irises. She was worried. Apprehensive.
So I said it first.
“We’re soul mates.”
She looked down and to the left, considering instead of answering.
“Why else would one of us display a power we’d never seen before? Unless you’re right and someone was stopping time for everyone but me and—”
“And the woman who’s immune to powers,” she cut in. “Maybe we are soul mates, but turn it off.”
“It’s not—”
“Toby, please.”
“I don’t—” I stopped short and instead tried even though I didn’t know how. My perception was passive. I didn’t get to choose whether I used it. Was there supposed to be a switch somewhere inside my head? Was I—
How long had it been at this point? Six, seven hours? We’d planned to meet pretty late and it would almost be light out by now. She was right. We had to get—
“I don’t know how,” I admitted, “if it’s me.”
Emma opened her mouth to say something, then reconsidered. Her perfectly manicured nails were digging into the vinyl of the bar top.
“Okay. It’s been lovely, but if you getting here started this then,” I said as I stood up, “maybe I just need to leave, and that will turn it off so we can figure out what’s going on.” I took the first steps toward the door.
“That’s a good plan,” she nodded along with what she was saying, like she was convincing herself, “I’ll reach out to you. It was an excellent date.”
“Let Todd know for me,” I added as I reached the door; a second later, I stepped into the chilled early-fall air. The door didn’t shut behind me, so I kept walking until I would have been out of eyesight.
Then I stopped.
Should I have turned around? What were the chances that she was my soul mate? What was I leaving behind if I didn’t see her again? It was a dumb thought, but the idea of walking away started gnawing at me.
But what choice did I have? In front of me, a couple was frozen in the middle of a quiet conversation on the way to the bar. Soul mates only affected one another when they were close by. I took a few more steps and started to sprint.
I was three blocks away when the world stuttered around me. My vision blurred, and the moonlight was shattered by the sun. I stumbled, almost crashing into a woman dressed like she was on her way to brunch.
Shit. I’d left my jacket at the bar, but—
I checked my watch; 8:06 AM.
​
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Dianne Young, casting director, is a guest host.
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• During season 1, the initial order was for 12 episodes. No one thought they would actually make it to 12 episodes.

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David Gail interview:
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• He is joining from France.
• He thinks his bellhop role is in season 2. When corrected that it’s season 1, he says “excuse-moi” (in his French accent).
• Young cast him because he was nice and easy on the set.
• His son is also on the video. His son’s name is Gautier. His son makes a bunch of funny faces and hand signs throughout the interview.
• His agent would tell him you don’t need to meet the casting director, for auditions in general. Gail wanted to meet them anyways, because he wanted to meet as many people as possible.
• The original season 1 pilot was 2 hours. Rosin passed. It was eventually trimmed to 90 minutes, and about 30 minutes of music videos were cut. Aaron Spelling then wanted to meet him, after the pilot was trimmed. Rosin took the meeting.
• Aaron Spelling did not want to have a season in college. There was a lot of anxiety about the format changing after high school.
• The first two to three episodes of Melrose Place got a higher rating than Beverly Hills, 90210. They convinced the president of FOX, Lucie Salhany,
• Gautier has now taken out a puppet. The entire podcast starts laughing, except for Gail, who doesn’t know what’s happening behind him.
• Rosin then promises FOX that they’re going to have Brenda elope, and that will be the number 1 show that week.
• There was a lot of pressure at this time.
• Young kept waiting for more details about the elopement plot line to emerge.
• No one knew that Doherty was going to be leaving at the end of the season.
• Gail was unaware about any issues Doherty might have been having with the management company.
• Gail had no idea how big this plot was going to be.
• Aaron Spelling gave Gail a kiss and hug after his audition.
• Young does not remember other people that auditioned for this role.
• Mollin says Paul Waigner and Jessica Klein also had a big part in casting Gail.
• Rosin says sometimes during auditions, people talk their way out of a role. They get nervous and talk too much.
• Rosin tells a story of how he once met an actor. Rosin told him he liked this movie he was in. The actor then spent 5 minutes telling Rosin why the movie sucked. This was an example of an actor talking his way out of a future role.
• When Gail came in season 1, he read for a recurring role. They didn’t want him because he was too green. They then offered him the bellhop role.
• During season 4, when Gail was offered the role of Stuart, he asked how they could bring him back as a different character.
• Rosin said at the time, he didn’t think people were watching the show that closely. He didn’t know that there would be dedicated fans like there are today.
• Rosin and Young wanted Gail because everyone had liked Gail from before. Young says she had known him from before, and trusted him.
• Young had reminded Rosin of what Gail had done before, in season 1.
• When Gail went into the Spelling office for this season 4 audition, and saw all of the producers lined up, he was intimidated. Gail had to use psychological tricks like telling himself to breathe. Don’t start when they start, but start when you want to start. Wait until you are in that character.
• Gail cannot walk into an audition and just start being in character. He has to be David Gail first. Meaning he has to say hi to everyone as David Gail first. Then he can get in character.
• Rosin says one of Aaron Spelling’s biggest strengths was casting.
• The first time Rosin heard Aaron Spelling say that his strength was casting, Rosin thought that was BS. But, overtime, Rosin agreed that Aaron Spelling was that good.
• Aaron Spelling knew Julia Roberts was going to be a star, when he saw her in Mystic Pizza.
• David Gail’s son somehow appears on screen, upside down, from the top of the camera. Gail has to shoo his son away again.
• During season 2, Doherty had a boyfriend in Chicago named Chris Lupus. He was wealthy. So Rosin created a character that reminded him of that boyfriend, in Stuart.
• Gail says the plot was fun.
• Gail likes how Stuart was spoiled and possibly dealing drugs. He said it’s more fun to play a character like that.
• Both actors that played Stuart’s parents (Peter Mark Richman, Claudette Nevins) have passed away.
• Mollin likes the dynamic of how Stuart’s dad thought Stuart was a loser, and Brenda was making him a winner.
• Gino Conforti, from Three’s Company, was the mechanic in “Strangers In The Night”.
• Both Richman and Conforti were on Three’s Company.

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• Jessica Klein created Jesse Vasquez. That was the name of her college boyfriend.
• Young went through a lot of resumes with pictures for this character. She had put Mark Damon Espinoza aside. After a few days, she kept going back to his picture. He didn’t have a lot of credits. She wanted to meet him.
• He was so easy to talk to. He was friendly. He was from Texas.
• He had a good theater background.
• Mollin didn’t like the casting at first. He’s grown to love Espinoza. Mollin says the character worked.
• Mollin: A baby is a show killer.
• Young: All of the cast has an opportunity to give input on casting. Carteris didn’t say things about whether a potential picture on a resume was terrific.
• Rosin and Mollin now think Espinoza was pitch perfect in all of his scenes. Even the ones with Ian Ziering in season 5.
• Rosin: He’s a good friend of this podcast.

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• As soon as Young saw Kathleen Robertson, Young knew she had to pay close attention.
• She was easy to work with. She wasn’t nervous.
• Robertson had a unique hat. Mollin and Rosin noticed it. They used that same hat in her character’s intro scene.
• Lou Patrick negotiated Robertson’s contract. (A woman).
• Aaron Spelling had accidentally sent out a cast renewal to Shannen Doherty. Lou Patrick saw that and alerted Rosin. It had already been decided by this point that Doherty wasn’t coming back. They were able to stop that from getting to Doherty.
• Young had hired Nicholas Pryor before on another show. He was professional.
• Young: Christine Belford (Samantha Sanders), Pryor’s wife, was a good actress.
• Kelly McDonald, Young’s assistant, met with actors for D’Shawn Hardell. She was the one that recommended Cress Williams to Young. He was very new.
• Rosin and Mollin liked him.
• Unlike Tico Wells from season 1 (whom Rosin beat in basketball), Cress Williams could not play basketball.
• Young had known Dina Meyer (Lucinda) from before. She had always liked Meyer.
• There wasn’t an audition. Tony Shepherd just told Rosin that Dina Meyer would play the part.
• Barry Bonds and Dina Meyer are the only actors that Tony Shepherd told Rosin who to pick. There wasn’t an audition.
• Young loved Scott Paulin (Professor Randall). She had known his credits.
• Young doesn’t remember too much from Tracy Middendorf’s (Laura Kingman) audition.
• Young: Noley Thornton (Erica) was wonderful. She had seen her from “The Martin Short Show”.
• They had to make a lot of arrangements to get her from one set to another, because she was on both shows. But child actors have some limitations.
• One time, they were praying Thornton would be able to make it, because The Martin Short Show was running long.
• Kerrie Keane (Suzanne) didn’t know that there was going to be a scam.
• When Jessica Klein pitched the scam story to Aaron Spelling, Spelling thought the audience would know right away. He didn’t think the scam would work. Rosin had to promise that no one would see it coming, by the end.
• Rosin likes how he can talk to actors that come on the podcast now, because he was never able to do it when the show was being made. Jason Carter (Roy Randolph) is one such example.
• Young says there were a lot of British actors, at the time, because there was a lot of work in Los Angeles. And they were paid more here, then in British Television.
• Young had met Paul Johannson (John Sears) before.
• He was one of Jason Priestley’s friends.
• David Sherrill (Jack Canner) was another one of Priestley’s friends.
• Young would tell Priestley why one of his friends would or would not get the role.
• Young loves Brook Theiss (Leslie Sumner). She had met Theiss on Growing Pains, and Just The Ten Of Us. She was such a joh to be around. Young also introduced Theiss’ husband to her.
• Young likes Theiss so much, that she would cast her for something right now if she could.
• Young does not remember Kari Wuhrer (Ariel Hunter).
• Young remembers Matthew Perreta (Dan Rubin) a little.
• Young does not remember the Minnesota girls.
• Young loves Jed Allen (Rush Sanders). His acting was similar to Ian Ziering’s. She saw it right away that he was Steve Sander’s dad.
• Ryan Thomas Brown (Muntz) was easy to work with.
• Young had known Zachary Throne (Howard) from before.