I have posted this story here multiple times and the moderation team has locked my thread multiple times. This is ridiculous. They are doing what they have always done: Suppress or ban anyone who they don't like. They are role-playing the super earth secret police, yet again.
The obvious reason is so that they can protect themselves from the truth. By locking my posts repeatedly, they are proving my point and making me more and more frustrated: They are one of the worst CM teams I have seen. I hope you will help me and fellow helldivers out by posting this where it can be seen if the moderators continue to try to protect themselves by locking my thread that tries to fully explain the PSN fiasco yet again. They will probably lock this thread ASAP, but maybe enough people will see this and understand what's going on.
Super Earth France Reporter here. The PSN fiasco has been one of the biggest events this year in all of gaming. Yet something very strange has been going on the entire time since the 3rd.
In the past three days, Arrowhead's CM (community manager) team has not only been contradictory with itself, but contradictory with their CEO's statements. At one point - a CM tells us that we should review bomb the game even harder.
From telling players to review bomb the game, once to tell players to piss off, the second time seriously, to conveniently leaving facts out, the CM have dragged AH from the 'F incident' through the PSN fiasco. If you have ever been confused by what is going on, here is the full story I have tried to put together (with difficulty).
It feels like at every step, every single person is saying something totally contradictory with what a different person is saying if we actually compare people's statements closely.
The CM team have only continued to damage their credibility, yet again, by misleading people and trying to cover up their mistakes during the PSN fiasco instead of trying to be honest. I need to ask everyone: What value do they even provide if this is the result?
This summary of events has been put together with insight from friends who discussed the recent AH issues at length with me, probably because I am the only one crazy enough to write this much. I hope you will enjoy reading this very long piece.

The PSN fiasco

The PSN fiasco all began on the 3rd: https://www.reddit.com/Helldivers/comments/1cjvw1s/arrowhead_community_manager_misty_admits_that_the/
This conversation followed an announcement signed by Playstation announcing PSN login integration. Most likely, the review bombing had not seriously started yet. Why would the CM change their Twitter and lock the post? It is probably in response to them discovering how angry people got about PSN integration.
At this point in time, everyone began trashing Sony, and many, myself included, said that this was a money-grabbing move for Sony to raise their stock value and Sony was clearly forcing this on AH.
But this CM said that Arrowhead wanted PSN linking and not Sony. Yet there's another post that was live JUST a day afterward that showed 'Spitz' saying what sounds like the frigging opposite. This is confusing at the least and the extent of how much this was AH's idea is still unclear. The first post likely happened before people started getting angry. The second post by Spitz likely occurred with the perspective of damage control.
Something is fishy.
One person says PSN allows them to ban people better. Later, Spitz said that the PSN change, steam announcement, and FAQ all come from Sony. I found this suspect. It seems to check out at first glance. The announcement from Sony on the 3rd can be seen here. Sure enough, it is signed by Sony. But this statement likely would have gone through both AH and Sony teams before being pushed out to Steam. It is unlikely that AH had no ability to coordinate with Sony on this statement. AH knew this was going to happen at some point 3 months ago, but maybe not exactly when.

Spitz roleplaying Super Earth propaganda ministry

Spitz' discord statements on discord are just damage control. But what's more, they are deliberately meant to mislead because they are so incredibly contradictory and leave out critical information.
This is the gist of what Spitz says: He tells us that internal discussions are ongoing about PSN linking and AH is trying to find alternative solutions. If AH can't find a better way, AH won't force players to link PSN. The steam announcement, FAQ, and PSN link is from Sony and not AH, (That's some bullshit. AH KNEW this was coming and AH had some say in it. You're leaving information out.) Spitz then apologizes for telling people to either make a PSN account or review bomb the game and piss off. (Not that it means anything, Spitz will probably just do it again in the future with that attitude) Spitz finally says we should continue to review bomb the game and gives them more pull in discussions with Sony. This is crazy. Developers asking players to review bomb the game further?
Let's take a look.
On the 3rd, Pilestedt is clearly aware and sad about the reviews. But Spitz tells us to keep the bombs coming, thanks for your help. We can make a better game this way. What?
At this point time, anger is aimed at Sony and Spitz does not reveal what they almost certainly always knew provides no clarity nor honesty to us, because the CEO revealed on the 5th that they knew for 6 months (9 months now) that they were going to do PSN integration.
Spitz simply leaves out this part and keeps on saying Sony Sony Sony. But Misty PROVES that they knew about EVERYTHING with the initial tweet on the 3rd that the CMs panicked and tried to hide. There is NO mention of this by Spitz!! Unless you are telling me something absolutely INSANE - that the CM team is SO disorganized that SOMEHOW, Misty has never talked to Spitz between the 3rd and 5th during a major crisis, there is CLEARLY something suspicious going on. Spitz says we are on the player's side. (Even though the CEO later reveals that through likely internal+PS discussions, they settled on PSN integration, probably to ban people better as Misty claims) Spitz says Sony did the announcement. (AH knew this was coming months ago) Oh, by the way, Sony, not us, made the FAQ, the Steam announcement and change. (Even though there's no way the AH team did not coordinate and talk to the Sony team)

In no way is Spitz helping us. On the 3rd, Misty had said the overwhelming number of people trying to link accounts for the first half hour of launch was what caused them to disable linking. You didn't know Asian helldivers couldn't do this...? You looked at attempted PSN links on launch day and didn't notice the problem in certain areas? Nothing is 'wrong', but this sounds very strange...
Spitz claims he didn't know some countries didn't have the ability to make the PSN account which screwed over our Asia Helldivers. This sounds strange. You are telling me that 6+ months ago, AH knew about PSN linkage but no person in AH or Sony knew that PSN accounts were not possible in many areas and NO ONE brought this up? This is not Sony's first time publishing a game. The CEO also claims this, and while yes it is plausible, it is just... suspicious. And the CEO says they were 'forced' to comply with PS and they KNEW there was going to be backlash. I am just going to stop speculating here and say three people are saying three different things. I feel like I am doing law school exam problems that are like: "Bob lied, but Nancy blames Ernest. John said Ernest tells the truth all the time."

And to address the craziest statement you will probably never see a developer call for ever again: You should review bomb the game. This is what really got me interested. I don't know what to make of this remark, but here is the best I can do:
If this game trained Helldivers to do something well, it's to collaborate on a major order.
At this point in time - people are absolutely just destroying the game on steam.
AH is watching their playerbase plummet, but there is a silver lining while this is going on - everyone is angry at Sony! And almost not at AH at all. Given how deceptive Spitz has been in leaving out just the right details, Spitz - is roleplaying the Super Earth Propaganda Minister (SEPM) by pushing all the blame onto Sony and keeping AH friendly with players. In conflict with this, Misty's statement on the 3rd would have made it seem like AH was the origin of the reason for PSN integration, which to this day, I'm still not certain how much of this was desired by AH.
If the players were all angry at AH, the game would be dead or have a far harder time recovering. We would no longer trust the developers. If the players directed their anger at Sony, players aren't really angry at the game and just want Sony to back down. AH can recover much more of its reputation and playerbase more easily. This is what AH would prefer if it had the choice between one or the other.
Why am I ultimately this suspicious of their CM team?

This is because this is a story about the Helldivers CMs who are roleplaying Super Earth Secret Police just a little bit too hard.

Every time they have only worsened AH's headaches with deceptive and rude treatment of their own community.
Going back, there is a trail of mess coming out of the discord and these community team that perfectly explains how they like to operate. Here is one of the most notable examples.

The F incident

If you haven't heard of the "F" incident, it began with people spamming the word "F" in their official server chat because the game went down. People were clearly just having fun bantering. To keep control, the moderation team actually PINGED the 100,000 members in the server, telling them to stop spamming "F" and threatening bans over spamming "F".
OBVIOUSLY THIS BACKFIRED. 100,000 people were pinged for the stupidest reason ever heard of, IMMEDIATELY more people started typing "F" in chat.
WELL regarding the bans, they weren't kidding. Summary here. So real quick, putting "F" in chat got you permabanned from the server. They don't even give a reason. You'll just find out that the server is gone from your server list. And no, you can't come back.
I think the moderator who did this and not the CM was kicked out for this. (might not be true) Well. Regardless this is just a case of idiots pulling in yet more idiots.
Frankly, I've never seen a server run more poorly and the way that their official discord is managed (not very well) only exposes how rude the people in their community team is toward the community. They would be deceptive when honesty is better. At one point we all loved this game and maybe we can continue doing so. But if we come back from this their community team needs to change.

In the official discord, I mean, let's just look at just a couple reasons I've seen people get banned for.

• "banned because someone linked my comment pinging a mod, instead of the actual person talking shit, and they banned me lmao", the mod "Didn’t even bother to check why they got pinged."
• Telling a mod they missed 90% of warhammer talk
• Talking about warhammer
• Having only numbers in your username. Who even cares, and why are you permabanning people for this? Not even a kick, just permaban?
• Mistyping a word, having automod catch it, being permabanned without warning or notification. You're not kicked. You're permanently banned.
• "I'm not on the official for whatever reason. I've been banned and I don't know why. All I can think of is because I called people who kick with no warning cucks." (probably talking about helldivers gameplay)
• Being banned for asking when some bugs would be fixed

What happens if people try to appeal the bans with an alt? They can get permabanned too.
It's just a mess how AH community team sees hundreds of thousands of players and thinks it won't make a dent in their numbers if they just treat people like garbage. What is the point of this community team? Well, the problem with having these types of people on your team is shown very well in how they have handled recent events.
In the end, what seems fair to say is that PSN integration was going to roll out at launch. It was delayed. Months after launch, it was re-implemented, but this was perceived as Sony's decision, and players were suspicious that Sony was trying to inflate their user count for the shareholders. However, it appears to be more complicated over exactly who wanted how much PSN integration. But again, the lack of consistency from either the CEO or the CMs and hostility from the Super Earth Secret Police who are supposed to be community managers has been the only constant.
Thanks for reading.
cue helldivers music
Since I do not use reddit I am just using my friend's account here to share this piece with you all. I just picked a category, hopefully that works.

This vault will be populated by 125 heterosexual couples from across the nation. They are a random mix of socioeconomic, ethnic, racial and cultural identities with one thing in common: strong personal anti-natalist beliefs. All of these couples are recruited into the vault under the premise that they will be given Tot-X implants, which are permanent, unisex birth control implants. They are told they are a terminal society, with the lifespan of their mission expected to run 35 years before they’re “retired.” The supposed premise for the vault is to maintain servers and systems that serve multiple vaults, but beyond that, residents are sold a life of adults-only childfree leisure. These servers are mostly walled off behind blast doors and require very little work, so most time is free to enjoy a supply of drugs, alcohol, and other hedonistic pursuits.
At 367 days in, the birth control implants obviously start to silently fail. Approximately four months later, when the first evidence of pregnancy becomes undeniable, the “server room” doors unseal to reveal the true Vault staff and overseer, comprised of 25 child development experts. Additionally, there are enough supplies to create a child-specific utopia and sustain the population for an additional 250 years.
Residents are informed that the true purpose of the experiment was to determine if childfree people could be converted into happy parents, as well as determining what kind of parents they would all be. Residents are informed that abortions, infanticide, and any crimes against children are punishable by death, without investigation. The Vault’s constitution is centered around the Children’s bill of rights, and all decisions are made with child welfare in mind. At age 19, children become adults and are expected to start catering to the needs of the vault’s children, as those before them did. The child development experts are the final governing authority, and responsible for choosing and training their replacements.
Vault 329’s fate:
First conception happened a mere 16 days after device failure, and the rate of conception in the vault was 70% in the first year. 15% of implants rendered subjects completely and totally infertile, something that had not happened in the medical trials. Vault tech elected to keep them in the vault anyways, as a form of control group.
In the first 6 months after failure, 14 women and 11 men committed suicide rather than continue on with the mission. 4 women delivered healthy infants and committed infanticide; they were executed as per Vault law. Five men accepted their fate as parents, but went on to kill an infertile couple in a fit of resentful, jealous rage. They were summarily executed as well.
After the initial wave of violence, citizens of fault 329 generally accepted their fate, although their mental states varied wildly as a result. Most became relatively competent parents who ended up loving and caring for their offspring.
The only other wave of violence of note was approximately 20 years after the initial birthdays. Children converting to adult status were found to have intense adjustment disorders from the rapid change in their status in the social hierarchy. Determined to maintain their position of control, a group of 20 year old citizens attacked the governing body’s residential wing with a plan to overthrow them in a coup. However, their own parents stepped in, too thoroughly invested in the experiment to start over with another purpose.
Unable to execute the first generation of children, the governing body elected to exile them instead. In March of 2191, they wandered into the wasteland and were almost immediately captured by Fiends, who extended their addictions to the vaults’ exiled citizens. Unable to contend with the wasteland, most of them died from overdose shortly after arriving.
Vault 329, having learned much from the experience, elected to change nothing, and insisted that “some kids are just bad we guess 🤷🏻‍♀️.”

Hi everybody. I’m new here, but I wanted to tell you a story regarding how I left my toxic work environment.
I recently graduated with a PhD in a field that I love. I greatly enjoyed the process (not everyone likes their time in graduate school, but I was an exception because of a tremendous adviser). Upon graduating, due to a slump in the industry, there were not many positions available. So, I interviewed at a small contract research firm (family-owned business with less than 20 employees), and accepted a position there. Even before I took the job, there was something shady about it. As soon as I walked up to introduce myself, one of the managers unenthusiastically introduced themself, and I just felt that this person had a bad attitude in general. This is a family-owned business, so this manager got into an argument with the parents right in front of me, which was something I hadn’t seen before in an interview. After the multi-day interview, they offered me a job, and I accepted because I really wanted a job in my field. The thing is, the organization found me on a recruiting website, which requires them to pay a certain percentage of my salary for finding me. They elected to tell the recruiter that my salary was significantly less than what it was, and slipped me some money under the table in the form of different stipends. Because I was trying to make myself look good in front of my new bosses, I accepted this offer, and tried to justify it because I needed the job. I realize now that this was a mistake.
As I started, I realized that this was going to be a rough environment. There were lots of family working there, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but there was definitely favoritism shown to said relatives. I was hired to do a specific role, but was not allowed to do the things necessary to make sure the job was done right (i.e. I couldn’t even send an email to a client without checking with the manager, which produced a lot of anxiety because I had to manage a lot of clients and constantly feared retribution from “management”). And then came the butt-chewings. I would get yelled at for the tiniest mistake. There were comments about how “if you do/don’t do such-and-such, I’m gonna be p*ssed” and “you had better do it right the first time, because we cannot afford to do things over again. If things start going badly, we’re gonna get pissy.” So that added to the anxiety and stress, which did not make work fun at all. Add to that the many times where I would do exactly what my manager told me to do, and get disciplined by the owners for not doing it differently.
If things were not done EXACTLY like we were instructed to do them, we would all get ripped. For instance, one of the owners wanted a couple of the employees to get some vehicles cleaned. She said that she wanted everybody to clean a vehicle (despite assigning two employees to lead this task). Well, the owner who said this left later in the day, and the people cleaning the trucks decided that not everybody needed to help because it wouldn’t take long. When the owner found out that not everyone had helped clean the trucks (even though the trucks were spotless), she blew a gasket and was NOT happy. There’s another example for you.
The final straw was when I made a mistake that took 15-20 minutes to fix (due to a miscommunication on my manager’s part), and got cussed at and severely chewed out by one of the owners: “I’m about to blow a gasket. I pay you to get this right. You’re the analyst (real position hidden for anonymity). We cannot afford to be doing sh*t over.” There were more abusive things said, but that’s mainly it. The kicker was that this person said later in the day during a staff meeting that “mistakes are no big deal; we can correct them and it will be fine.” To which I completely disagreed with.
I struggle with anxiety and OCD, so in order to try not to get yelled at, I found myself obsessing over the smallest details. For the past six weeks, I would dry heave and sometimes throw up before work. I found myself in that same time frame down 20 lbs from my start weight due to stress and unclear expectations, and I don’t have that much to lose.
So, ultimately, I made the decision to step down, effective immediately. Since that day, I have been healing mentally, my weight has improved, and I no longer dread the day. I may have to take a job driving for a package delivery service short-term, but there’s no shame in doing what you have to do in order to provide for your family!!
I learned that I will watch out for the warning signs before taking a position, and I will not let myself be yelled at by a boss anymore.

Why shouldn’t you trust trees? They seem shady, but you can trust me!
I am a college graduate and work full-time, so at times, my responses may be slow. I will always try to respond as quickly as possible. My job does require long hours but one of my current goals is to achieve a better work-life balance. I usually watch a movie/show/YouTube video every night and if we hit it off after chatting for a bit (Chats preferred over Messages), watching something together sounds really fun. I don't have many forms of social media, so to move the conversation away from Reddit my only other options are WhatsApp and Telegram, or we could just text like the good ole’ days. P.S. I don’t use Snapchat and will not download it.
My hobbies include:

• Sleeping, seriously, I greatly enjoy a good night's sleep. I hope my username checks out :) I try to average about 6-8 hours every night during the work week but I am not always successful. Fun fact, I can basically fall asleep on command.
• I enjoy mostly pop, country, and rock music. If I had to have one favorite band, it would probably be Linkin Park. I usually have music or a movie/show playing throughout the day so it is not too quiet. I enjoy having background noise.
• I enjoy watching tv shows and movies in my free time (I usually try to find something to watch every night to wind down)
  • As far as tv shows go, I usually enjoy drama or romance-related shows. I am currently on the hunt for a new tv show to watch, but unfortunately, nothing has really caught my attention.
  • As for movies, I enjoy horror and romance movies. My favorite is the Conjuring series.
• I enjoy baking and cooking new recipes. I don't have a favorite food or dish to cook but rather it depends on what I am craving at that exact moment. I’m not a picky eater and a firm believer in trying everything at least once.
• Lastly, I also read about a book a week, mostly romance books. Oftentimes, I will read for a bit before bed or when I have a few minutes of downtime.
• Most importantly, I don’t drink or use any drugs and would prefer a night in over a night out.

Now, this part splits into two, the infamous what I am looking for (DISCLAIMER: I believe that relationships start from a great friendship):
Friendship:
I am looking for someone older (preferably between 30-40) as I tend to be able to communicate more effectively with those who are older. I reside in the U.S. and would like to chat with others in the U.S. as well to not have to work around too many different time zones. I would like to have a conversation flowing throughout the day as opposed to one message a day. Also, wouldn't it be great to be able to send and receive funny TikToks throughout the day? (Extra Bonus Points for iPhone users. iMessage and FaceTime are both fantastic) Someone with similar core values as myself. I value honesty and would much rather have a brutally blunt answer than sugarcoat something. I don't believe in lying even if it is just what most consider "a little white lie". I am an extremely motivated and goal-oriented person and would hope that my friends are passionate about whatever it is that they want to pursue. With that being said, to put it bluntly, I am not looking for someone who plays video games and watches anime for hours on end.
Relationship (take everything above + some extra fluff):

• Deal Breakers:
  • Kids (so no single parents please)
  • Open Relationships/Polygamy
  • Tattoos or Piercings
  • Substance Addictions

If you are interested, please send me an introduction about yourself as opposed to “hey” or “hi”. I will not respond to a lacking introduction. A great conversation is a two-way street.
Note 1: Due to the number of creeps on here, please send a picture of yourself, fully clothed, I may add, so I can ensure you’re not an 80-year-old man looking for some adult time. I will also send one in return.
Note 2: Some unpopular Reddit opinions; I am not into video games or anime (old-school Nintendo games and board games can be fun though). Politically, I lean right. I do not believe a person’s political views should be a deal-breaker in friendship but then again, this is Reddit.

Hi all!
So, my partner has this box turtle- they say they rescued it on the side of the road in the summer, and since kept it for too long as a kid, they had to keep it? Some form of a story like that, I'm not sure; regardless, they've had this turtle since childhood. I entered the picture like, 3 years ago.
The turtle, Bob, was obviously shy upon meeting me at first. Overtime, the longer I've stayed here, the more comfy he has gotten. Probably about a year in I started really interacting with Bob, goofy things- like, I'll pop up to his pen and go, 'Hello little loveeee' all sweet, and at first he'd hide and I'd give him space. After some time, though, he started to keep his head out and turn towards me as I'd speak his various nicknames (I have so many).
Now here's where things get a little odd. I adore this turtle with all my heart, but from my limited knowledge of this wildlife- they're unable to form 'affectionate attachments' as dogs can, for instance. That said, this turtle has been displaying exceptionally affection-like behavior. Like, I walked into the room today like, 'Oh little loveeebuggg' and he instantly bolted in my direction in his pen and started pawing at it for me to take him out. I did, and his head was going -everywhere-, like he was checking out every part of my face or something. Then he stuck out his little beak into my nose? If I set him down and start walking away, he follows me and paws AT MY ANKLES (no joke) to be lifted up, I THINK. I do anyways just to see (When I lift him, I ensure all his legs are firmly down against the palms of my hands for stability- like I make a platform for him), and that's when he starts starting intently at my face, sometimes he zooms in on my chest (I assume the heartbeat, but who knows).
So- can someone explain this behavior? In a nutshell: Pawing at my ankles (with unlikely intent to 'want' to be lifted, but maybe). When lifted, head stuck out all the way, looking at my face- 'nuzzling noses' on occasion. Chasing me around. I will let him sit on my lap at the computer sometimes, and he always seems super comfortable and at ease (looking around casually, sometimes changing position, etc). INSTANTLY responding to nicknames, and then instantly moving in my direction. is this pseudo-affectionate behavior?

Hello all,
I was thinking about becoming a paralegal and ended up applying for a legal operations entry level job. I had my first interview today and the owner of the firm seems very impressed with my resume and wants to interview me a second time.
There’s a lot of process improvement involved and I have no idea what that will imply. I have some years in project management but know nothing about law. I’m scared!
Please tell me your experiences in legal operations. What can I do to suceed in this field? Is there job security? I saw some senior roles in legal ops make $200-300k. Is this only for big corporations?
Please tell me everything you know about legal ops. Thanks!

After I sent in yesterday's email template, Josh Hoover's staff replied today with the below message. It was unanimous, 13-0!!!
Remember, "In California, as in the federal government, the power to govern is divided among three equal branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The executive branch of government executes the laws enacted by the Legislature."
This audit is an amazing first step and shows that we DO have some power to FIGHT BACK on this arbitrary, chaotic, RTO.
Continue to keep up the pressure on the State and Governor by sending in emails with this Fight RTO email template:
https://www.reddit.com/CAStateWorkers/comments/1cr3ef7/fight_rto_email_the_governors_cabinet_the/?rdt=53808
Joint Legislative Audit Committee Unanimously Passes Review of State Worker Return-to-Office Mandate SACRAMENTO – Today Assemblyman Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) announced the passage of his proposed audit regarding the recent return-to-office (RTO) mandate for state workers. The requested audit was unanimously approved by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on a 13-0 vote and will study the rationale, timing, legality, and costs associated with the decision to rescind telework privileges for state employees. By and large, state agencies have praised telework policies and the enhanced productivity they provide. “The decision to force state employees back to the office is harmful and counterproductive,” Assemblyman Hoover said. “I am grateful for the support of my colleagues on my audit to further study the effectiveness of telework policies that allow the state to remain competitive with the private sector. I urge the Governor to reconsider his RTO mandate, at least until the results of the audit are made available.” The California Department of General Services currently manages 59 state office buildingstotaling over 13 million square feet of office space, and spends over $600 million per year on rent to maintain more than 2,000 leases for state departments in privately owned buildings. Telework has the potential to reduce this footprint and provide substantial budgetary savings. Telework policies have also eliminated nearly 400,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, reduced traffic congestion, and saved workers hundreds of dollars per month in vehicle expenses. ”We have significant work to do to revitalize downtown Sacramento,” Hoover added. “Adding housing, addressing homelessness, and spurring economic development must all be part of the solution. But it should not be done on the backs of state workers.” Josh Hoover represents Assembly District 7, which includes the cities of Citrus Heights, Folsom, and Rancho Cordova and the unincorporated communities of Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Foothill Farms, Gold River, Mather, McClellan Park, North Highlands, Orangevale, and Rosemont.

Does anybody know of any DMVs open on Saturdays? I saw an article from a law firm saying they were back in June 2023. Don’t know if that’s still the case.

I saw an article back from 2018 saying certain DMVs were open on Saturdays. Another article from a law firm confirmed this was true in 2023 as well. Does anybody know if this still the case?

Hey all,
Below are my personal thoughts and my understanding of the structure of existence. I am not sure if this is correct or not as per what it actually is and/or what Bashar says and explains it is so I am seeking to understand that and get the correct answer to what and how it actually is. I am seeking to understand this and how it pertains to us humans and I have posted my questions regarding this which I am seeking answers to underneath my understanding.
My Understanding:

1. From the biggest picture/highest level, there is existence, which is one thing, with infinite potential, and without a how or a why, it just is. This is existence, this is the One, this is God. (I would say this is Bashar's 1st law of creation, you exist.)
   1. For the sake of example, imagine a circle which is this existence/the One/God. And now for the sake of just this first point and to allow the next few points to build on top of each other, imagine that this circle just exists with that infinite potential but nothing is happening, it's just frozen and standstill, just pure potential.
2. The One is always "doing" something so there is the concept of "happening" or "change" or "activity" which is that there is always something happening/changing with/to it. In other words, the infinite potential is always being realized and not just sitting there as standstill potential. This also means that everything is in the present only in the here and now only as things are only happen-"ING" and/or chang-"ING". This is just physics, there is no actual past or future and no such thing as time, only the present and now because there is essentially just this one thing which is just doing things. Do-"ING", Happen-"ING", Chang-"ING", present tense. (I would say this is Bashar's 5th and 2nd laws of creation, everything is changing and it's all here and now. Additionally though, I would say this is also Bashar's 4th law of creation, what you put out is what you get back, because the One (which is "you") is "doing" and all this happening/change is just the One's doing so whatever exists within existence within the one and whatever "is" is a result of the One's doing. So essentially whatever it does, is what is, and whatever is, is what it does, or in other words, figuratively speaking, whatever the one puts out is what it gets back.)
   1. So now the circle has happening/change/activity to/with it where potential is being realized and isn't just a frozen potential thing with nothing happening, the One is now doing things to/with itself out of it's infinite potential, things are changing, things are happening and again the potential is being realized.
3. Through this happening/changing/activity, the One thing with infinite potential, has made itself into many "things" and everything that is, but still all are One and within/of the One. All these things ultimately are the One itself because it is the One that has turned "itself" into these, they all come from the One, exist within the One, or better yet they ARE the One. So everything is really just one thing, the same thing, in different forms/perspectives and the one thing is everything. (I would say this is Bashar's 3rd law of creation, the One is the All and the All are the One.)
   1. The circle now instead of being just one thing with frozen infinite potential where nothing else exits and nothing is happening, is now one thing with happening/change/activity with/to it's infinite potential which is now being realized and the result/byproduct of that is everything that exists, everything that is. All this is still one thing but it is now ALL this (potential realized) that is the One thing with happening/change/activity and not just One thing that is nothing else but that one thing with frozen infinite potential and no happening/change/activity and no realization of it's potential. I know my example of the One with frozen infinite potential and no happening/change/activity and no realization of it's potential as part of my analogy isn't actually a real thing, I'm just using it for the analogy/step by step explanation.

My Questions:

1. What I have shared above, is that the same as what Bashar is saying and is it accurate about the structure of existence? If not please let me know/correct me.
2. How and why is the One doing things in the first place? I know there's no how or why to the existence of the One or better yet to existence itself and it just is, but is there a how and why to the happening/change/activity of existence itself? How is this happening, and why is this happening? Why doesn't it just exist and nothing is happening?
3. Are laws 4 and 5 intertwined in a way? What you put out is what you get back and change is always happening aside from the structure (first 4 laws).
   1. What I mean by that is, the One (all of existence, all of consciousness) is always doing happening/change/activity in this structure and whatever becomes or "is" in this existence/structure is ultimately a result of whatever it (the One) does or "puts out". So the happening/change/activity comes from us itself (the One, all of existence, not just us humans) and whatever that happening/change/activity does or results in is what will be, whatever we put out, is what we will get back. Whatever we do, is what is. So because the One exists (law 1), and it's always doing things (law 5), and doing these things in the present (law 2), and these "doings" have results (law 4), what we now have is the One creating many things (law 3), is this correct and is what you put out what you get back just saying that whatever change happens will have a corresponding result so whatever the one does will have an aligned result?
4. Do we humans have limitations or do we humans have infinite potential as well?
   1. In existence everything is possible as there is infinite potential but to me it feels like humans are a creation of that infinite potential in such a way where we have limitations. I mean I can't just at the snap of my finger grow wings on my back, or spawn a dog in my room, or completely change my physical appearance such as my skin color, hair, nose, height, etc., or turn my friend into a bug, or make the sun explode, etc.
5. Why does Bashar's 5th law say that everything changes except the first 4 laws, why isn't it everything changes except the 5 laws? Does that mean that there will be a point in time where there will no longer be change and/or the 4 laws themselves can change? If the 5th law says everything changes except the first 4 laws then doesn't that imply that the 5th law can change and then that means there can be a stop to all change and also the first 4 laws can change?
6. If the One is everything and it's doing all the "change" and everything is just the one itself in different forms and perspectives, are we humans just a part of the change since we have the ability to "do"/"change" things? In other words, we have free will since the One is in control of everything and we are just extensions of the One so we have certain abilities/potential but not all meaning we have limitations and there are things we can do, but also things that we can't do which are being done by other "things" in existence which are also the One. To put it simply, the One is doing everything and if everything is just the One then everything is doing things and everything's "doing" is all collectively all the change in existence. This would mean that we humans have limitations to what we can do and all the "change" in existence is just each individual thing in existence (not just humans but EVERYTHING) itself "doing" things which it can do and all of this together makes up all the constant "change" in existence.

• Author's Note: So! With Book #1 finishing at Issue #61 we now go into Book #2. The situation is changed for our protagonist and he's had it... decently rough, but always had people behind him for help. Wonder how his new position will affect him and his choices? We'll have to wait and see. Enjoy this little snippet to start us off with to the next leg of his journey! Also you can check character art of the Beast World characters or others on my Ko-Fi page! If you enjoy my art, I just opened comissions as well so hit me up if you want to get a piece!

Michael stepped through the dark woods at a slightly above leisure pace. The first rays of the dawn's light haven't yet penetrated the ironclad cover of the forest's canopy. Its thickness held together the shroud of darkness below, only small shreds of it peaking through rarely. Although he knew he walked a familiar path, the reduced visibility made the walk nearly alien, with a stumble here and a trip there, an uncertainty started to seep into Michael's chest even if he didn't know it.
'Alright. It is going to take a bit to get there, but I'll be making it in time. So... daeman. Based on what I know they are just basically pink demons. Ok, ok, ok... I've done this until now on a dime... I just... phew... just gotta do my character research. Yeah... just like theater. Literally it is just theatrics. So... what's a demon? Well if years of playing dnd thought me anything is that they are either feral, unhinged and nuts OR eerily calm, imposing, calculated and scheeming. I did both of those and a demon that can do both is even worse. Just gotta switch between those when it makes sense. Mhmm... so personality wise... basically gotta switch between one of those pointy eared muscle covered hounds and a chihuahua that can actually bite, not just bark.'
While the nervous human revised his 'role', he'd already start to adjust his body language. As if by instinct he'd lift his shoulders and roll them back, his spine popping as he straightened, shoulders relaxing and dropping at ease after that. This move would straighten his posture entirely and push out his ribcage and chest, something his mother drilled into his head over the years as being a confident, yet relaxed posture when done right. He'd straighten his head's posture, from the neck, which nearly made him look like it was positioned up from a downward perspective, requiring him to literally look down upon someone with his eyes. His hands were curled up nearing to fists, yet hung relaxed, as if to show an eager readiness for violence. As a last touch up instead of stepping quietly as he got used to over the years, he'd let his steps announce his presence, as one who's afraid of nothing would.
After traveling a bit over half of the treck towards the river and where the Rock Backs would be situated, there would be a clear sight of lights up ahead in the distance, clearly from torches. Michael would gaze at them with a bit of confusion, but regardless he kept on walking closer and openly. Slowly, three figures would be more visible, one of them turned showing as to either be themselves striped or have brown stripes painted on their back.
Only half a second of hesitation would pass as the human took in a deep breath and he then shouted out. "Ay! You three. You're with the Rock Backs, correct?" He'd say while showing quite the enthusiastic face despite his true feelings of nervousness.
As he had guessed, indeed the trio seemed to be Tuskir and the stripes confirmed their alegiance as expected. The figures turned to face him properly as he shouted in his approach. Once he got a bit closer, one of them that was a bit more upfront huffed a not so pleased snort at him.
"Aye. We were sent ahead to guide ya to our encampment, Daeman." He replied with a clear displeasure to his tone.
Another one of them stood silent as he just glared at Michael, while the third let out a guttural squeal and spat on the ground. "Well? What ya waitin' fer, hellspawn? Pick up the pace and keep yer paws where we can see 'em. Just cause ya struck a deal with Bruyza, it don't mean we gotta like ya."
"Dawww. Isn't this nice? We already seem to be getting along and on the same page. I've a feeling we'll be sharing stories soon while braidin' one another's hair, eh? You'd look good with twin tails." Michael said smirking while looking at the third Tuskir who haf a wilder mane and carried himself in a heavier looking armor than the other two.
The human continued his walk with the trio, but something didn't sit right with him. While they walked, two of the three had put out and discarded their torches. As they walked forward wordlessly, those same two boar men would also position themself to the sides and back of Michael, doing so nearly seemlessly, but not enough for the human not to notice.
While they advanced, Michael would peek at them with the corners of his eyes while also glancing forward at the only one who still had a light source. 'This doesn't feel right. I know for certain we were to meet at the same place as before... am I being paranoid? Alright... think. If they were afraid I'd not show up they'd wait until the time was up and then came to us... there's no reason for them to think I need escorts since I'm supposed to be a big scary strong thing. Eeeeh... why are these shmucks here then?"
Michael started taking into consideration multiple reasons that could be possible for his unexpected escort to be present, but none of them made sense. With his uneasiness building up, he'd sling his backpack off and hold it, quickly getting the attention of the two at the back.
"What do you think yer doin', hellspawn?" One of them asked while putting a hand on an axe hung by his belt.
"Hm? Oh, cut down on that paranoia. Makes you seem pathetic. This meat form I had to take to be here has needs. One of them happens to be water. If you've ever heard of somethin' like that, or... what? Do you milk rocks up in the mountains to sustain yourselves?" Michael would reply with a chuckle as he taunted his escort while starting to rustle objects in his backpack with his hand.
"You... hnngh-..." The Rock Back grunted and huffed as he muttered between clenched teeth.
Taking advantage of this momentary distraction, Michael would feel about and find one of his tiny Woh flask potions and he'd use his fingers to tuck it into the band of his bracer at the wrist, before grasping a hold of a small water skin and pulling it out. 'Heh. Well, I might not be a good slight of hand at pocker, but I didn't learn to hide pieces of paper in my sleeves for nothing. Stressful, but thanks to that I passed chemistry in highschool.' He'd think while smirking at the one of the escort he just antagonized, giving him a double eyebrow wiggle lift up as he took a sip of his water.
"You really like talkin' daeman, or you just like the sound o' your voice?" The armored one asked, who also happened to be the one with the torch at the front. He walked with his back turned at the human, not even trying to gaze back as he spoke.
"Eh. I find conversing with you meat sacks at least a bit intriguing. It is fun to hear what thoughts run through those narrow minds of yours. Why are you asking? Interested in actually entertaining me in conversation?" Michael would reply as he packed his waterskin once more and put his backpack back on.
"Thought ta meself it'd be crazy to converse with somethin' like ya, but then I realized, what da hell, when am I ta get another chance like this?" The Tuskir continued while slowing his pace, as if to let Michael approach to make their talk easier to get into.
The human naturally inched closer bit by bit as he simply walked, his smirk still on his expression. He'd keep vigilent of the two in the back while moving up in the small formation. "Indeed. Perhaps I'll be able to satisfy some of your curio-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the armored tuskir in front of him stopped dead in his tracks, turning with a decently large vial of liquid and herbs in his other hand and he'd splash Michael right in the face. Surprised by the sudden violent spill of liquid against his face, the human would close his eyes and bring his hands to his face to quickly wipe away the liquid. While blinded in this manner, his guard would be shattered as a brutal force would then slam into his right side, making Michael buckle as he got sent rolling in the opposite direction.
"HAHAHA! GOT 'IM GOOD, DIDN' I?!" exclaimed one of the two Tuskir from the back, who was armed with a club, right after he just bashed up the human.
Michael took a half second to realize he just got attacked, with the hand that had the vial hidden against its wrist pushup to his eyes to wipe them, he'd push himself up on the other wobbly like. He was afraid to try and open his eyes, unknowing what he got splashed with so instead he bit on the cork of his poison vial, opened it and stashed it in his cheek, as he dripped the solution on his tongue while wiping his eyes. "I- I can't see-..." he groaned loudly while trying to get his footing.
"Yeah. You got 'im good." The armored tuskir said while tossing the vial aside. "Better prepare yourself fer a sudden departure daeman. We'll make sure ta send ya back to the firey pit ya came from. Hope ya liked a lil' taste o' holy water. Keep ya well on your way back." He'd say while taking a handaxe off of his own belt.
"Hah ha ha... Sadly fer ya, not all o' us are keen on makin' deals with hell filth. Bruyza ain' gonn' be happy with ya missin' but is expected of daemen to be shifty scum, so yer missin' presence will be easy ta explain when we're all... surprised yer missin', he he he... ." The tuskir who Michael antagonized said while snorting and cackling, unsheathing his handaxe at the ready.
The three began closing in on Michael, their gate relaxed as they taunted him, their confidence in having the upperhand letting them ooze with a gloating energy. Michael instead had finally gathered himself, head tilted back as he held onto his face, having just finished the last few drips of the Woh vial.
"I can't see... how you furred fucks didn't think that'd just piss me off." He'd say as his trembling voice would change to one more confident. As he spoke he lowered his head at a way lower angle, pulling his hand down in the same motion to reveal a pair of bloodshot eyes, as well as a bloody dripping nose and a wide toothy grin, stained by his own crimson. The shadows on his face would make it seem like he bared his teeth from ear to ear, the expression of the pin point focused eyes, quickly darting to focus on each of the three attackers. Now, that put a stop to their enclosing movement, and this simple shift had changed their confident gloating to a dread filled uncertainty.

I am a floater who has only been working in daycare for about 5 months and I also don't have my ECE yet. My degree is in Youth Ministry (in ministry there is a difference between youth and children, youth=teens), but I have many years of experience working with kids in settings other than daycare. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I am disciplining a child and another teacher walks into the situation and sees me, for example: with a crying child, pulling a child away from another kid, speaking firmly with a child, etc., and they don't know the context, and even when I tell them the context, they play good cop and make me the bad guy in the child's eyes. I always feel like they are judging me.
Here are some examples: A child is climbing on something and the situation has become unsafe. The child won't come down on his own after being asked nicely. I remove him but he keeps running back to climb again, trying to push past me, and has started crying. Another teacher steps in who has witnessed the whole thing and starts rubbing his back and telling him he is not in trouble in a soft voice after he completely ignored my soft polite voice, then my more firm voice when I asked him to walk away after he was removed from the play structure.
A two year old cannot keep her hands off of her older brother and keeps hitting, grabbing, and pulling him. After being asked to stop by me and her brother, I pull her off of him but she keeps repeating the behaviour. Finally I pick her up and she is crying and saying she won't apologize to her brother. The other teacher walks in and I tell her what happened and she pinches the kid's cheeks and says "leave your brother alone" in the same tone as like "you silly goose" or something and then she takes her from my arms and the child is laughing.
I've already spoken about a particular child who doesn't seem to like any of his teachers apart from one. He is a very difficult child and often hits, pushes, screams at, grabs toys from, etc., other children and treats most of his teachers pretty much the same way and will even bite us. Whenever one of us is trying to discipline him, he will scream at, hit, throw toys at, and/or bite us, then run to his favourite teacher who will pick him up and comfort him and after she's told what he did, she will either do nothing or just say to him "uh oh, not nice" in a "whoopsie!" kind of tone. When I got bit the other day she didn't do a thing and she was right there.
A kid was repeatedly throwing sand in the sandbox. The lead teacher would remove any kid from the sandbox after doing this once, so after a few times, I removed this child and he ran away. I have a great relationship with this kid and I just wanted to explain to him that if he wants to stay in the sandbox, he can't throw sand. I was playfully chasing him around outside like "I'm gonna getcha!" and he was laughing and then I said that I wanted to talk to him so I plopped him on my lap for a second. He wasn't even resisting or anything and kept getting distracted and saying funny things when I was trying to talk to him. Another teacher from very afar just saw me remove him from the sandbox, run after him, and plop him on my lap and immediately started barking my name and then asked what the child had done. Being in the middle of everything, I just gave her a quick answer and then my next free moment she rudely told me to go home. It was around the time I'm usually dismissed, but she had said that my coworker and I could go at the same time, but then when I tried to clean up a few things on my way out to make HER job easier, she rudely repeated for me to go home while she stood and chatted with my otjer coworker who was also supposed to be leaving. A simple misunderstanding where I was heavily judged and treated rudely without even an attempt at hearing my side of things.
A child has been biting, hitting and pushing the other kids all day and has just had a recent bite incident and is crying after being removed from the other kids. Another teacher asks why she is crying and I say "she has bitten three times today and has just bitten (baby)". The other teacher says "3 bites in the span of...what?" and then tells the biter to go seek comfort from her older sister. Does it matter how recent the other 2 bites were? I don't understand.
I don't resort to physically removing a child unless they are going to get hurt or they are hurting other children. For the sand one, I was following what the lead teacher was doing. I only chased the child and put him on my lap not because throwing sand was such a serious offense, but because "I'm gonna getcha" is like a little game with this kid, and I wouldn't put a kid on my lap who didn't want to be there but he was laughing and was clearly okay with it to the point he couldn't even pay attention to what I was saying because he was talking to me too much.
I feel like my coworkers don't trust me and they undermine me. There are kids who don't even view me as their teacher and will tell me they don't have to listen to me because I'm not their teacher when I am.
Any advice? I hate pulling out my firm voice and always speak softly and politely first. I still say please when I'm firm. I never yell. I hate having to touch a child as a form of discipline (pulling them away from a situation). Am I the problem? Are these just misunderstandings? Thoughts?

I think I figured something out. It's a little complicated legally, but it's clever as fuck if I'm right.
First, I presume everyone is on the same page that this guy standing backwards is RC in the same black hoodie from the Gamestop store pictures, attached.
And now the @PleasrDAO is edging everyone hard with posts about the album (which I am *dying* to hear) but the legal agreement says they can't sell or commercialize the album for 88 more years.
Fuck me, I'm 56. Not gonna hear it, right?
Let's look at the agreement, because the language matters:
"Only one single copy of Once Upon A Time In Shaolin was ever to be made. This has been the case since the very first announcement. A commercial release was never planned. The right to commercialize it, meaning the right to sell it en mass to the public in any form is not allowed until 88 years from now. If the public rights were handed over now, then this would be a record deal like any other. Not the sale of a single copy. It can be exhibited publically and it can be given away for free. But it cannot be commercialized as a conventional album release until 2103. Even then, it will be the owner's decision to release it or keep it as a single unit, not the Wu-Tang."
Here is the magic phrase: "It can be exhibited publically and it can be given away for free"
Want to know how to create a business virus that destroys all shorts and even blows up the mechanics of shorting at the core principle of fungible securities?
A free NFT of the album to shareholders, distributed to shareholders in a digital wallet with a smart contract on it.
So what, we knew that, that's been around for some time. What's new?
The free bit combined with "it can't be sold", It's an NFT you cannot buy, it can only be attached to the stock share and transmitted as a free asset with the paid asset.
You can't buy them and attach them to fake shares. They are tied to real shares only. And there are limited number of them.
I expect it comes with a contract model that validates the share transfer at a digital registrar, which implies the entire asset is digital and non-fungible.
#DividendViralPayload #NonRehypotheticable

At the world’s top college of magic and technology, every day brings a new discovery -and a new disaster. The advanced experiments of the college students tend to be both ambitious and apocalyptic, with the end of the world only prevented by a mysterious time loop, and a small handful of students who retain their memories.
Surviving the loops was hard enough, but now, in his senior year, Vell Harlan must take charge of them, and deal with the fact that the whole world now knows his secrets. Everyone knows about Vell’s death and resurrection, along with the divine game he is a part of. Now Vell must contend with overly curious scientists and evil billionaires hungry for divine power while the daily doomsday cycle bombards him with terrorists, talking elephants, and the Grim Reaper himself -but if he can endure it all, the Last Goddess’s game promises the ultimate prize: power over life itself.
[Previous Chapter][Patreon][Cover Art]
“Four years on and the headache still sucks,” Vell groaned to himself.
Though most of the loopers had managed to make it to midnight alive, they had nothing to show for it but headaches. They had not succeeded in digging Cane out of the rubble, or investigating his apparent ghost theory in any other way. That was a complication, but not a fatal one. They had some leads to work with, at least, and Vell knew where to get started on the ghost angle. Vell gladly made the call that would get them started.
“Goooooood morning Mr. Harlan,” Harley chimed. “What’s happening?”
“Frog invasions, among other problems,” Vell grumbled.
“Oh, that’s a time loop headache if I ever heard it,” Harley said. She’d run into that affliction more than a few times.
“Yeah, it’s not great,” Vell said. “Listen, do you still have Garrett’s number?”
“Ooh, ghost problems, eh?” Harley said. “I’ll text it to you.”
“Thanks. I kind of got to get right to it, so I’ll have to give you the details later, alright? Love you, Harley.”
“Love you too, bud,” Harley said. “Say hi to Garret for me.”
Vell hung up the first call and braced himself for the second. He liked Garret, but he could also be a lot to deal with -a fact well-demonstrated by the phone call beginning with Garret’s theme music blaring over the phone. Once the bombastic rock and roll stopped, Vell was disappointed to hear a mechanical beep indicate the start of an answering machine message.
“Hi, you’ve reached Garret Geist, Ghost Getter,” the message said, in Garrett’s usual southern california drawl. “I’m currently on a long-term submersible mission to exorcise the ghosts of shipwreck victims who’ve been trapped undersea for centuries.”
“What?”
Vell knew it was a recording, but needed to voice his offense anyway. It was hard to truly be mad knowing Garrett was doing something so incredibly heroic, though.
“I should be back to the surface and ready to help in a few days, so please leave a message and I’ll get to you as soon as I can!”
The automated message clicked again and fell silent. Vell hung up the phone and let out a low groan of despair.
“Okay, we’re not screwed yet,” Vell said. “Just need to wait a bit.”
Vell brushed his teeth and rushed through breakfast, and then, right on cue, heard a knock on his door. He whipped it open to find a bothersome scientist once again at his door.
“Hi, good morning,” Vell said, as he opened the door. “You here to bother me about Quenay?”
“I- uh, I have some very interesting theories.”
“I’m sure you do,” Vell said. “If you can just hold on one second…”
Vell paused and waited. The bothersome student also waited, at least for a few seconds.
“What exactly are we waiting for?”
“This.”
Cane grabbed the student by the collar and yanked them away from the door. Vell invited him in and slammed the door shut behind them to really drive the point home.
“Thank you for that,” Vell said. “Did you need something?”
“Just to talk to you,” Cane said. “I was trying to get people together to hang out tonight. Figured you’d want in, if you’re not too busy.”
“I could probably make it, I just have to…”
Vell froze. He really should’ve come up with these lies in advance.
“You good, Vell?”
“I, uh, sorry, just losing track of things, mentally,” Vell said. “I’ve had a lot of people, uh, ask me for help with things.”
“What kind of things?” Cane said. “You need a hand?”
“Maybe.”
Vell contemplated how to proceed for a moment, and then figured he’d probably built up enough good will with Cane over the past four years he could just dive right in.
“You ever heard about frog ghosts?”
“Yeah,” Cane said, without so much as blinking.
“Oh, cool,” Vell said. “What about them?”
“Well, hold on, are you talking about frog ghosts as in the ghost of frogs, or a ghost related to frogs?”
“Either or, I guess?”
“Okay, because I don’t know anything about any ghostly frogs,” Cane said. “There is supposedly the ghost of a guy obsessed with frogs on campus, though.”
“Interesting. Tell me about the frog guy.”
“I don’t know all the details, it was kind of an urban legend even when my brother came here about a decade back,” Cane said. “All he ever told me was the this frog-obsessed sophomore died while studying, and he haunts the basement of the sophomore dorms, I guess. ‘Some say you can still hear faint croaking in the basement’ and all that horror story shit.”
“Interesting,” Vell said, again. “Let me look into that and we’ll circle back later, alright? I gotta go, see you.”
“Vell-”
“Sorry, kind of in a hurry, bud,” Vell said, as he left and shut the door behind.
“This is your dorm, dude,” Cane said.
***
“You were not exaggerating about this headache,” Alex said.
“We warned you,” Kim said. “Man, it’s almost better to die.”
“How do you have a headache, you’re made of metal!”
“It’s complicated,” Kim said. Her synthetic body did not spare her from the time loop headache, no matter how she rebuilt herself.
“Good morning everyone,” Helena said, as she whacked the door open with a crutch. “What did I miss?”
“Quiet down a little, please” Hawke said.
“Why?”
“Do you not have a headache too?”
“No, I died pretty early,” Helena said. “Got a frog on me.”
“You died from a frog touching you? What condition do you have that causes that?”
“Well it was a poison dart frog, so I guess ‘being alive’,” Helena said. Samson pursed his lips and said nothing. “What did you all get up to while I was busy being dead?”
“Vell found out the frogs were summoned by a weird frog-obsessed ghost,” Hawke said. “He apparently knows a guy who might be able to help.”
The loopers then proceeded to relax and chat about frogs, ghosts, and other miscellaneous topics for about seven minutes, which made it a lot less dramatic when Vell barged in and announced Garret would be unable to help.
“Oh come on,” Kim snapped. “What’s the point of knowing a ghost hunter if he never helps hunt ghosts?”
“He’s on some undersea mission to rescue lost souls,” Vell said. “Which makes it really hard to be mad at him.”
“And yet I manage,” Kim said. She didn’t begrudge Garret personally, but she had been hoping for their first easy win of the year. All the apocalypses thus far had been a major pain in the ass.
“Aren’t you people supposed to be able to handle things like this?”
“Yes, Alex, and we will,” Vell said. “Just would’ve been nice to have a professional on the job.”
“I’ll get the ghostbusting stuff ready,” Hawke sighed. He would’ve loved a chance to outsource their daily nonsense.
“Keep it on standby for now,” Vell said. “Ghosts have unfinished business or regrets. If we can help our ghost deal with whatever frog-related business he’s got going on, maybe we can fix this without having to bust anyone.”
“That’s your plan?” Alex said. “Be nice to the ghost that crushed a building and hope it goes away?”
“Yes,” Vell said, with a completely straight face. “And busting is plan B.”
“Bustin’ makes me feel good,” Hawke sang, as he grabbed all their various ghostbusting gear.
“True professionals at work,” Alex scoffed. Everyone else rolled their eyes and got back to work.
“Vell is an old pro at being nice to people,” Kim said. “Just ask Helena’s sister.”
“Don’t pat yourself on the back, Joan’s incredibly susceptible to manipulation,” Helena said. It was disturbing she’d say that, and even more disturbing she knew that. “That said, anyone dumb enough to get stuck as a ghost for decades will probably buy into your routine just as easily.”
“Thanks for your input,” Vell said. “I’m just going to go ahead and get started.”
He said that both because it was important and because it was an excuse to get away from Alex and Helena faster.
“Need any backup?” Samson asked, for similar reasons.
“I’ll check it out solo first,” Vell said. Historically speaking, he was the best people-pleaser, a dubious honor at best, but one that came in handy when dealing with a frog-summoning ghost. “I’ll let you know if I need backup.”
“Or busting,” Hawke said.
“Or busting,” Vell agreed. “I have to find out where the ghost is, for starters. I’ll be in touch soon.”
***
Finding the lair of the ghost was the first hurdle. As it turned out, the sophomore dorms had a lot of basements. Every building on campus had a lot of basements, so Vell was not all that surprised. At least these basements didn’t have booby traps or old experiment equipment in them. They mostly just had a lot of junk. Vell kicked aside some old food wrappers and scanned the room.
“Why do people treat these empty rooms like dumping grounds?”
“People are usually different when they think no one is watching.”
Vell whipped around and saw a transparent head poking through one of the nearby walls. A ghost if Vell had ever seen one.
“Oh, hi,” Vell said. “Uh, weird question, how do you feel about frogs?”
“I’m ambivalent at best,” the ghost said. “Are you looking for the frog guy? Because he haunts two rooms over.”
The ghost pointed to the right, down the hall, and Vell looked that way.
“Thanks,” Vell said. He took a few steps towards the door before spinning around to face the other ghost again. “Uh, do you need any help like, moving on? Finishing unfinished business?”
“Nah, we get wifi down here, so I don’t mind just chilling,” the ghost said. “Thanks for offering though.”
The ghost drew back into the wall and vanished from sight. While Vell was painfully curious as to how a ghost accessed wifi, he decided it was time to move on. The frog ghost was apparently close by, after all.
Vell followed the wifi ghost’s directions and hopped two doors down, barging into a subterranean room that was uncomfortably moist and smelled of mud and rainwater. Condensation dripped from the ceiling and onto Vell’s back, sending an unpleasant shiver down his spine. Unlike other rooms, this one was completely free of any garbage, but Vell took no comfort in that.
“Hello? Anybody home?”
A chill ran down Vell’s spine that definitely was not another drop of water. He waited two seconds, took a deep breath, and turned around.
“Hello.”
Vell was just inches away from another transparent face. This one had a slight green tint, with wide set eyes and a broad, flat mouth. Vell wondered if the similarities to a frog had been there during this person’s life, or if they just liked frogs so much their ghost had slowly shifted to reflect their passion.
“Hey! Hi, uh, nice to meet you,” Vell mumbled. “I’m Vell.”
“I’m Raine.”
“Neat, nice name,” Vell said. If Raine noticed the awkward hesitation in the compliment, he didn’t show it. “So, uh, I was wondering, well, I heard you were the guy to ask about frogs.”
The already wide eyes of the ghost got even wider, and visible excitement trembled through their spectral form. Vell began to think he may have made a mistake.
***
“So even though it’s the biggest frog in the America’s, the helmeted water toad is still only half the size of the Goliath frog,” Raine said. “Which must be wild for the helmeted water toad. Could you imagine crossing an ocean and finding out the people who live there are literally twice your size?”
“Must be pretty mindblowing, yeah,” Vell said.
“And that’s not even going into the real extremes,” Raine said. “Do you remember our pal P. Amauensis?”
“How could I forget,” Vell said, about something he had definitely forgotten.
“Not just the world’s smallest frog, but maybe the world’s smallest vertebrate,” Raine said. “Only seven point seven millimeters long, a literal fraction of the Goliath frog! Could you imagine meeting someone who’s only as big as your toe?”
“I actually did, once,” Vell said. “Shrink ray.”
“Oh. Was...was it weird?”
“A little,” Vell said.
“Wow. You almost know what it’s like to be a Goliath frog meeting a P. Amauensis,” Raine said. “I’m so jealous.”
“Yeah, I’ve done a lot of interesting stuff,” Vell said. “What about you, what’d you get up to when you weren’t studying frogs?”
Raine tilted his spectral head and stared blankly at Vell.
“You did do things other than study frogs, right?”
“Not if I could help it,” Raine said.
“Okay, uh...what did you like to eat?”
“Oh, I just ate food whenever I was hungry,” Raine said. “What I really liked to do was gather samples of different bugs and other frog dietary staples, so I could try to get a sense of their diet for myself.”
“Like, cooked bugs, or just raw, living bugs,” Vell said. He’d eaten a few different varieties of cooked bugs, just for the experience, but couldn’t imagine eating raw insects.
“If I could find them, yeah, live ones,” Raine said. “It got pretty hard after I got banned from the entomology department.”
“That’d do it,” Vell said. “So, did you, uh, go swimming a lot?”
“Oh yeah, all the time,” Raine said. “Until I got banned from the pools too. Trying to swim like a frog doesn’t work very well, and they got sick of having to rescue me, I guess.”
“You could’ve just swam like a person.”
“Why would I do that?”
“To...I don’t know,” Vell said. He was starting to feel like Raine’s entire life and unlife revolved around frogs. “Did you ever do anything, I don’t know, human?”
“Oh, I studied frogs,” Raine said. “Frogs lack the self-awareness to understand frogs. It’s their only flaw, really.”
“I see. So what’s your favorite frog?”
As expected, this set off a long rant, as Raine found it hard to pick a favorite and had to start listing pros and cons of various frog species. It was not exactly scintillating conversation, but it kept Raine talking instead of somehow summoning frogs. Vell kept reminding himself that was the real goal. He was not here to have a pleasant chat, he was here to prevent the frogpocalypse. Anything that kept Raine ranting was good. He was saving the world.
As Raine started ranking every existing frog species by maximum jump distance, Vell kept repeating that to himself. Saving the world, one frog jump strength at a time.

(Sorry for the delay)
"The Disney Corporation has been around longer than most, even alien corps rarely last more than two hundred years before regulation, competition, or innovation eventually figures out a way to wipe them out. Not Disney though, Disney is Eternal." I gesture for the screen to pause like they showed me.
This is the third woman named some variety of Tiffany I'm watching the package on. Tiphany, and Tiffeneigh were before this. It seems like praising Disney corporation was the secret to getting through the AI hiring algorithm, also being phonetically named Tiffany or something really close to it.
The Disney Corp executive producer that Captain Tanner introduced to me to is an android. I always assumed they'd be more... human looking, but apparently there are laws against that sort of thing now. Galactic government, glad to hear it has enough power to enforce things even on Disney corp. This thing looks like a T-800 terminator, but it has a cheery voice that sounds vaguely British to me in a way I can't quite pin down. It seems to have sensed my discomfort at this task.
"It is important that you personally approve of each potential mate. We wish for this process to be enjoyable and more importantly, profitable for everyone involved. Focus groups have told us that Phonetic Tiffany named women will likely help most with that secondary objective. Surely a man of your time wouldn't have issue with such a name."
I had to laugh, "That name's far older than my time. But okay, so it'll make us the most money to have her be named Tiffany somehow. Fine, I'm fine with that." I am, right? Fine enough. Whatever gets me out of this time and into a better future seems worth it.
I finished watching Tiffany's Video, and watch Typhuny next. Then Tiophughny. Then Taoifenieh. Then I lost it. They were all so the same. Slight variations in hair color and skin tone or eye color, but these women were all essentially clones of each other.
"THATS IT! I can't take another one of these." It was too weird. "I thought the Captain said there were Aliens out there, Is that part at least a little star trek like? Aren't there alien women that want to romance rich famous humans?"
The Producertron-800 made a noise like an ancient modem connecting to the internet for a moment. I must have had a look on my face, because it said, "Do not be alarmed, I am only contacting Disney corp headquarters on my internal high speed quantum Modem."
"Not alarmed, surprised." I guess it's the same thing, really. "You just, sounded like an old modem for a moment. So what does headquarters say, can I try to romance an alien woman too?"
"This will be even more profitable than if you try with human women." replied the Disney Rep.
Captain Tanner went over the contract, and set out some objectives to get a few changes made. I trusted him and approved him to be my representative in those negotiations with Disney. I had apparently made him and his ancestors rich, and myself as well. He didn't have any reason to treat me poorly. In fact it was in his own selfish interest to treat me well, and if there anything I knew I could count on from the people of this time, was that most of them would selfishly act in their own interest.
The Doctor had been taking me to meals. He was a rare weirdo in this time, charitable, kind, expected nothing in return. Probably helped that he was also the beneficiary of some ancient bank accounts and compound interest.
After a week of hanging out on the HSS Davis-Catcher, yes, a ship made specifically to catch me and the Zipdrive, I was sent to the set for the space bachelor. It was another ship in space. We took a shuttle.
The captain had done a good job in his negotiations, only humanoid aliens and a couple of human women. There was a cat-folk person. A Felidian, as I learned they are called. I wasn't a huge anime guy before becoming an astronaut, but I calls them like I see's them. That's a catgirl. Her name is Tiffnyany.
I felt bad for not being attracted to one of the other aliens. Terraphiny was a really sweet Turtle-person, a Cyptrondian Testudian. She could pull her head inside her shell, and watching her get comfortable enough to put it out and talk was kind of super adorable. They're a pretty literal people, and don't use euphemisms often or well. I liked her as a person, she was fun to hang out with sure but... I couldn't do it when she ask me if I wanted "To get up inside her cloaca" one night in the hot tub. Surprisingly huge turn off. I apologized profusely for my ancient old-timey racism. She told me it was fine, I was a product of a different time... but man that only made it cut deeper. I felt like such an asshole. But we were contractually obligated to 'engage in newly wed activities' during the next two hundred years, or what would be our wedding night, I just couldn't with Turtle girl.
In the end, I gave the diamondillium rose to Tiffnyany. She was also lots of fun to spend time with. Unlike the reality shows of my time, the producers did not have to interfere for there to be juicy drama. One of the other women on the show, the first to go, was a dog-person. She and the catgirl got into a fight, and it was determined that she started it, and she was kicked off. Later, the catgirl almost killed what I am going to generously call a bird with lips that had been taunting her for days. They let me decide who would stay, and bird lady had to go.
Six weeks had flown by, and somehow I had ended up with what I would have derisively called a catgirl waifu two months ago from my perspective. The wedding was a whole giant spectacle, of Disney proportions. I hear over ten billion sapient beings tuned in live.
In the eight weeks since I had arrived in this time time they had gone far beyond a 'retrofit' for my Zipdrive ship. Nyany, as I learned she preferred to be called but I couldn't legally call her on the show, and I boarded the ship. Captain Tanner was there, so was the doc. Captain tanner went over all the new systems with me and Nyany. Part of why I chose her was that she was a warp field engineer, and absolutely brilliant. One of the human women was a quantum computer programmer, but If we ended up in a future that sucked, I'd want an engineer more than a programmer.
Nyany was far more comfortable at the ship's controls than I was, though contractually I had to be the one to pilot us to the starting position when we launched from space dock. I also had to be the one to push the big shiny red button to activate the updated and upgraded Zipdrive. It was now the RarDrive. Apparently this version worked on the same principles but didn't leak high levels of exotic radiation in it's wake. Probably worth the upgrade.
What felt like an eternity in a fever dream was coming to an end, I was aboard a ship again that would take me from this time. The doctor gave us both a couple of injections before we launched. "That'll probably work. You two oughta be able to have kids now. Gene therapy tech is really the best."
I hadn't even considered that as a possibility. "Shit doc, why did you give us that?"
"It's in your contract," Captain Tanner said. "Subsection 3 of this part here, 'Newly-wed activities must include the threat of potential pregnancy', for maximum profit extraction purposes, of course. We got three points for me and my firm and seven for you and Misses Davis.
"I didn't take his name." Nyany said, "In our culture men take the women's name. We decided to both keep our own. I am still Tiffnyany Pantigris."
"Systems check complete, and the contract is ready for each of your thumbprints, then we'll get out of your hair and let you get on with the honeymoon." The captain had a smile on his face, a business deal that's beneficial to all is a rare thing, and he's enjoying it while he can.
"Probably best to try to forget about us out there watching your every move." The doctor said as he packed up his kit and made his way to the docking port to take the shuttle back.
We moved into position, all the press ships and camera flashes a guy could want greeted us. With Nyany sitting behind me quietly whispering guidance to me I pulled us into position and waited for the countdown from Captain Tanner on his ship.
Finally it got down to "Three, Two, One. Godspeed, Captain Davis!"
The drive exploded us through the rainbow, painfully bright. I had had the foresight to warn my bride that it would hurt to witness, but be beautiful all the same. When it was done we were given the soft shimmery golden light that I experienced outside the ship the first time.
I'm sure you want the gritty kitty details of our nuptial situation, but you gotta pay extra for that. What I will tell you though is that we fulfilled out contractual obligations. Also, a satisfied catgirl will purr as she lays on your chest afterward. I dunno if I made trillions during that time, but I sure felt like a trillion bucks.
The honeymoon day that took two hundred years was over all too soon.
The same long dead woman's voice chimed onto the speakers.
"Nine."
"Eight."
.
.
.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
We slammed through the rainbow again, only in reverse order of yesterday's launch two hundred years ago.
There were no fireworks this time, no heroes greeting. Only a singular massive grey slab of an obvious warship waiting for us.
They hailed and I answered. "Greetings Capitalist pigdog of the past. You are under arrest for crimes against the regime. Prepare to be boarded."
I looked at Nyany, and she looked at me. "Hit the red button again?" she asked. There was fear evident in her voice, and as I reached out to hit the big red button and launch us off for another day.
Engine power failure
"There is no escape Comrade, unlimited space communism rules the day here, we have seized the means of your power production." The communist captain said.
And then a tractor beam attached.

Hey there!
After about a year and a half I'm ready on going back into the Cosmere! I've been up to date up until "The Lost Metal" (and RoW sometime before it) meaning I have "only" the Secret Projects to fill in. After reading about them here and on Google I've realized there are several things I must have missed/misunderstand. Here's what I have figured out and got confused by:

1. Back in March 2022 Brandon had revealed he had written 5 extra novels during Covid 2020-2021. Four of them were written as books, three of them are Cosmere related ("Tress of the Emerald Sea", "Yumi and the Nightmare Painter" and the "The Sunlit Man").
   1. All four books were to be released at each quarter during 2023, also named "Year of Sanderson" due the Kickstarter and the merchandise and Brandon publishing independently.
   2. Book 5 was set to become a comic book and to be released sometime later.
2. A Couple of months ago, another Secret Project was announced.
3. A bit later on March, one of the yet to be released secret projects' first chapter was read online. It's name was "Isles of the Emberdark" and it's also set in the Cosmere.
4. Said book is often called online as "Secret Project 5", meaning I miss here something. It's either:
   1. The 5th secret project to be commercially released, meaning the previously "5th" will actually be the 6h.
   2. The 5th secret project announced back in 2022, meaning no details for the one revealed last March were shared yet.
   3. The March 2024 reveal was actually a show of a formed and an almost finished version of the 5th secret project back in 2022, meaning there's not really a 6h secret project, and it was since converted from a planned comic book to actually be a book.

In short: how many additional books titled as "secret project" are left, what will be their format and which ones will be set in the Cosmere?
Thank you in advance for any help :)

The United States has seen some whopping mishaps and scandals in the oil and gas industry over the years, from Teapot Dome in the 1920s to the collapse of Enron in 2001 and the Deepwater Horizon, Exxon-Valdez and Santa Barbara oil spills.
However, the largest, most egregious and most profoundly damaging scandal is still underway.
The unholy alliance between America’s governments and the fossil fuel industry has been going on for decades, undeterred and unpunished. Federal and state governments subsidize and facilitate the production and consumption of oil, natural gas and coal despite knowing these products are permanently damaging life on a planetary scale.
Many of our elected officials have participated in a carbon cartel that has blocked effective climate action. U.S. scientists began warning in the 1950s that fossil fuels were changing the climate. Yet fossil fuels still provide about 80 percent of U.S. energy, and America has become the world’s biggest oil and gas producer.
The Teapot Dome scandal involved oil industry bribes of a single public official. Today, the oil industry can influence elected officials with unlimited campaign contributions, unrelenting lobbying, and expensive advertising campaigns to burnish the industry’s image.
Open Secrets reports that the oil and gas industry spent over a trillion dollars on election campaigns between 1990 and last month. Between 1990 and 2020, five big oil companies reportedly spent at least $3.6 billion on advertising. While scientists have determined that most of the world’s underground reserves of fossil fuels must remain, the U.S. oil and gas industry keeps drilling, netting an average of $2.8 billion a day over the last 50 years, according to Statista, a data analysis firm. Statista says the industry made more than a trillion dollars annually for much of the past decade.
The industry could have invested these enormous outlays and profits to lead the world’s clean-energy transition. Instead, it has conducted a long campaign to deceive policymakers and the American people and intimidate critics.
For its part, Congress has done virtually nothing to phase out fossil fuels with mandates or market forces. It continues giving the industry billions of dollars in yearly tax breaks that promote oil and gas production. It allows the industry to “externalize” more than $750 billion in social and environmental damages. The damages are not reflected in the market price of these fuels, making it hard for clean alternatives to compete. In 2022, the hidden costs amounted to $2,243 for every man, woman and child in the United States. Congress had an opportunity to correct this market “imperfection” with carbon pricing in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. But it failed to act.
So, Americans pay for fossil fuels four times: first through tax subsidies, second in energy bills, third with health care and environmental cleanup costs, and fourth with the rapidly growing costs of climate-induced disasters.
Before industrialization began, the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere was 280 parts per million (ppm). In the 1980s, it reached 350 ppm, still considered safe. Despite international promises to cut CO2 pollution, scientists expect the concentration to reach nearly 427 ppm this year, higher than it has been in millions of years.
The industry’s deceit and obfuscation is well documented, and a congressional investigation has just confirmed it. But some of the industry’s most recent are worth noting.
For example, oil and gas companies frequently sue environmental organizations (so-called SLAPP suits) that oppose even free speech and assembly. Researchers at Duke University reported as long ago as 1993, “A pattern is emerging across the United States in which citizens and local community groups are being sued for what has long been considered ‘ordinary’ public participation.” SLAPP lawsuits rarely prevail in court, but the industry uses them to intimidate and drain the resources of environmental organizations.
Exxon is even suing some investors who want it to adopt more aggressive climate-stabilization policies. A spokesman for one of the investment groups explains it wants only to “safeguard the long-term future of the company and the global economy in view of the climate crisis.”
Oil-producing states have joined this litigation strategy. North Dakota, Texas, Montana and Wyoming have sued the U.S. Interior Department over a rule to reduce methane leaks, a potent greenhouse gas, from oil and gas operations. Yet new research at Stanford University shows natural gas infrastructure leaks three times more methane than the Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Researchers say economic and public health costs amount to $10 billion annually.
Over the last six years, states, cities, counties and tribal nations have countered with at least 32 lawsuits against oil majors to seek compensation for climate-related damages or penalties for deceptive business practices. The industry tied these suits up for years over jurisdictional issues.
In the meantime, oil producers are engaged in public relations games over their role in climate change. Major producers jumped aboard the “net zero carbon” wagon when oil prices were low, but they backed away and made record-breaking profits when prices rose. Their production plans belie their net-zero promises. “Exxon touts its support for the Paris Agreement while at the same time boasting to investors that it will increase oil and gas production 25 percent by 2030, a scenario that would be game over for the climate,” the Center for Climate Integrity explains.
Oil majors reportedly donate hundreds of millions of dollars to leading universities “to build relationships that could help the industry avoid taking climate action.” And Exxon CEO Darren Woods is trying to shift the blame for climate change to energy consumers. “The people generating the emissions need to be aware of and pay the price for generating those emissions,” he told an interviewer. As Grist explains, “Oil companies make the case that it’s a demand problem – as long as people are driving cars, and thus demanding fossil fuels, then they have to keep producing the gas.”
Democrats in Congress just issued the results of a 2.5-year investigation that found the oil and gas industry has deceived investors, Congress and the American people in a long covert operation of “deception, disinformation and doublespeak” using “dark money, phony front groups, false economic and relentless exertion of political influence to block climate progress.” These findings warrant an investigation by the Justice Department to determine whether the industry broke any laws, including those against racketeering.
But that’s not likely to happen before the election. It’s up to voters to end this scandal by electing a president, Congress and legislators who support policies like these:
Put a price on carbon, as Europe has done. Its emission trading regime produced a 15.5 percent cut in carbon emissions from polluting industries and power plants last year and a 47 percent reduction since 2005, when emissions trading began. End federal tax subsidies for fossil fuel production. Stop leasing public lands for fossil-energy production and suspend all unused leases. Codify state and national “just transition” plans to end all but the most essential fossil energy production in the United States. As U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin put it, the industry’s greed has led us to a “civilizational emergency,” the threshold of a world where suffocating heat, floods, storm surges, wildfires, drought and rising seas are the norm. And unless we stop Big Oil’s scam, we will cross the threshold with no way back.
William Becker is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP), a nonpartisan initiative founded in 2007 that works with national thought leaders to develop recommendations on national climate and energy policies. He is a former senior official at the U.S. Department of Energy.