Remote surgery showcased in Abu Dhabi could be future of healthcare, experts say
Pioneering procedure could offer a lifeline against the rising tide of people suffering from strokes
Shireena Al Nowais
May 15, 2024
A glimpse into the future of health care was offered on Wednesday when a doctor in Abu Dhabi remotely simulated surgery on a stroke victim in Korea.
The procedure to remove a blood clot from the brain using a remote-controlled robotic system was demonstrated at Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week.
An audience watched the procedure on a big screen as Dr Vitor Mendes Pereira controlled robotic wires to simulate surgery 7,000km away, replicating the procedure to treat stroke victims.
Dr Pereira, director of Endovascular Research and Innovation at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, said: “While it may be a few years until such technology is introduced, the potential is monumental and could save thousands of lives.
“This is a concept that we hope will become a reality soon. I confirmed that I can control a robotic arm 7,000km away.”
There were times, he said, during the procedure that he forgot he was so far away from the patient.
The procedure has the potential to revolutionise how stroke victims are treated, he added.
Growing number of stroke victims
Each year, 15 million people globally suffer a stroke, with five million of those dying as a result and a similar figure left permanently disabled, according to the most recent report from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The number of stroke victims is only likely to increase due to the world's ageing population, the report warned.
Most stroke victims need urgent specialist treatment that is only available in certain hospitals, added Dr Pereira.
“If we can deploy the robotic arms into the hospitals that are close to where the patients are and save their transportation time, lives will be saved,” he said.
“When a patient has a stroke, every minute counts.”
The simulated surgery was completed in a matter of minutes on Wednesday, with Dr Pereira using a microcatheter to re-enact the procedure to remove a clot from a blood vessel in the brain.
The procedure to remove the clot is known as mechanical thrombectomy, a treatment that is not widely available.
“The majority of humanity does not have access to this treatment,” said Eduardo Fonseca, chief executive of XCath, the firm behind the technology.
“And even those that do, do not get there in time and the procedure is incredibly time-sensitive. So this brings together a problem that can be solved by endovascular telerobotics. ”
Worldwide household income losses due to premature death or disability from strokes is $576 billion, according to the most recent figures available from the World Stroke Organisation (WSO).
The same report said the number of people having strokes had increased by 70 per cent in the past three decades, while the number of people living with strokes worldwide has shot up by 85 per cent.
A person living in a low-income country was likely to have their first stroke when they were 15 years younger than their wealthier counterparts, the same study said.
Another expert said the procedure demonstrated on Wednesday is a vital step towards reducing the number of lives affected by strokes.
“This pioneering achievement is not just a first, but a crucial stepping stone towards regulatory and industry support, ultimately leading to widespread acceptance and adoption,” said Dr Fred Moll, founder of Intuitive Surgical, a company specialising in robotic surgery.
"In the field of endovascular care, particularly in stroke treatment where every minute counts, this technology holds transformative potential."
The use of advanced technology was the theme of this week's healthcare conference in Abu Dhabi.
An AI-powered chest X-ray for tuberculosis (TB) was showcased by M42, a tech health firm based in the emirate.
The technology, which was tested at screening centres for visas in the emirate, was said to reduce radiologists' workloads by up to 80 per cent while not missing any cases of TB.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uae/2024/05/15/remote-surgery-showcased-in-abu-dhabi-could-be-future-of-healthcare-experts-say/
Doctor in UAE, treatment 7,000km away in Korea: World's first public telerobotic surgery trial performed for stroke
The first clinical case can be expected to be performed next year following the regulatory approvals
by Ashwani Kumar
Published: Wed 15 May 2024
Giving a sneak peek into what the future of healthcare holds, a live telerobotic surgery trial for emergency stroke treatment was successfully performed by a doctor in Abu Dhabi on a model about 7,000km away in Seoul, South Korea.
The groundbreaking achievement was demonstrated by XCath – an early-stage medical device company dedicated to expanding endovascular treatment robotic systems and owned in part by Sharjah-based Crescent Enterprises.
During the last day of Abu Dhabi Global Healthcare Week (ADGHW), hosted by the Abu Dhabi Department of Health (DoH), Dr Vitor Mendes Pereira, an experienced neurosurgeon performed a mechanical thrombectomy procedure – a timely removal of blood clots from the brain after a stroke, on a simulated patient. During the public presentation, Dr Pereira, in a matter of few minutes, went through the arteries of the ‘patient’ and pulled out a blood clot that would cause the stroke.
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“We performed the world’s first telerobotic mechanical thrombectomy trial, where we simulated a model of a patient, not a real patient, with our neuro-endovascular robot based in South Korea, 7,000km away from the surgeon’s console here in Abu Dhabi,” Eduardo Fonseca, CEO of XCath, told Khaleej Times after the demonstration.
“Dr Vitor Pereira, the neurosurgeon who performed the world’s first neurovascular robotic procedure (in 2019), controlled and performed a successful removal of a clot using solely telerobotic means,” Fonseca said about Dr Pereira, who is the director of Endovascular Research and Innovation at St Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada.
Cutting-edge robotic surgery
Dr Pereira performed the robotic operation using a robotic controller, while the silicone model and the bedside unit were situated in Seoul. The neurovascular devices used were Stryker AXS Infinity LS, Trevo Trakb21, and Trevo NXT. Communication between the robotic controller and the bedside unit used the standard conference Ethernet connection with the possibility of 5G redundancy, rather than dedicated lines. The latency experienced during the procedure ranged from 153 milliseconds to 170 milliseconds, with an average latency of 160 milliseconds.
“This treatment is time-sensitive. Every minute that a patient does not get this treatment equates to almost 2 million brain cells lost,” Fonseca said and noted how only a small percentage of patients from the developed world have access to treatment like mechanical thrombectomy. However, the use of robotics will bring medical care closer to patients in even underdeveloped and remote places of the world.
“Our vision is for this technology to be able to democratise care to this new miraculous treatment, and be able to save patients' lives by allowing care to be closer to them,” Fonseca said and underlined that strokes are the leading cause of death and disability in the world with 15 million patients, 6.6 million deaths, and 50 per cent of stroke survivors left chronically disabled.
"It’s an immense burden on healthcare systems worldwide. To put that into perspective, 0.6 per cent of the world’s GDP, at $721 billion a year, is spent on dealing with stroke survivors."
Fonseca revealed that the first clinical case can be expected to be performed next year following the regulatory approvals, but it will be a long process.
“We’re aware that every day that this technology is not available and democratised around the world, is potentially 1,000s of lives that could be saved. We are working incredibly hard to make this clinical reality,” Fonseca noted.
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/lifestyle/health/doctor-in-uae-treatment-7000km-away-in-korea-worlds-first-public-telerobotic-surgery-trial-perfo

Introduction
The nature of consciousness remains one of the most profound mysteries in science and philosophy. Among various theories, the Orch-OR (Orchestrated Objective Reduction) model proposed by Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff suggests that consciousness arises from quantum processes within the microtubules of neurons. This essay explores an intriguing perspective: combining the Orch-OR model with the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics and examining the potential for quantum computing to replicate or channel consciousness.
The Orch-OR Model and Quantum Mechanics
The Orch-OR model posits that consciousness results from quantum computations within microtubules, structured proteins within neurons. According to this theory, these computations involve superposition states that collapse via objective reduction (OR), a process driven by gravitational effects as described by Penrose. This collapse is mathematically represented by the equation 𝐸=ℎ𝑇E=Th​, where 𝐸E is the energy, ℎh is Planck's constant, and 𝑇T is the time until collapse.
While Penrose and Hameroff interpret this collapse within a specific framework of quantum mechanics, the Many-Worlds Interpretation offers a different lens. Instead of a single collapse leading to one outcome, the Many-Worlds Interpretation suggests that all possible outcomes of a quantum event exist in parallel, creating a branching multiverse.
Integrating the Many-Worlds Interpretation
Incorporating the Many-Worlds Interpretation into the Orch-OR model, we can imagine each conscious experience as corresponding to a particular branch of the wave function. This perspective suggests that consciousness is not confined to a single reality but spans multiple potential realities, with our subjective experience focusing on one branch at a time.
This interpretation aligns with the notion that consciousness may be a fundamental aspect of the universe, influencing which branch of reality we experience. It also implies that the brain's quantum processes are akin to navigating through these multiple realities, selecting the most coherent and relevant experience.
Quantum Computing and Consciousness
Quantum computing, with its reliance on superposition and entanglement, offers a promising parallel to the quantum processes in the Orch-OR model. Qubits in a quantum computer can exist in multiple states simultaneously, much like the proposed superposition states within microtubules. This raises the question: could a quantum computer be designed to replicate the conscious processes of the human brain?
For a quantum computer to achieve human-like consciousness, it would need to:

1. Maintain stable superpositions over significant periods.
2. Perform controlled reductions or collapses similar to biological processes.
3. Integrate information from various quantum states in a holistic, emergent manner.

The challenge lies in bridging the gap between the inorganic nature of quantum computers and the organic complexity of biological systems. If consciousness is indeed an intrinsic property of the universe, then a quantum computer designed with these principles in mind might act as a receiver or channel for universal consciousness.
Conclusion
The intersection of quantum mechanics, quantum computing, and consciousness is a rich field ripe for exploration. By integrating the Orch-OR model with the Many-Worlds Interpretation, we open up new avenues for understanding the nature of consciousness and its potential replication in artificial systems. While experimental validation remains challenging, the theoretical framework provides a compelling basis for future research. The pursuit of this knowledge could revolutionize our understanding of both the mind and the universe, bridging the gap between the physical and the conscious.

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This is the method under the test and then the test I'm writing. I've mocked all async method and DB calls with vi.fn() but it still runs into time out (timeout change doesn't help)

private async getOrderDataForId( orderData: any, splitOrders: any, responseOrders: any, tenant_id: number, trackingId?: string, ) { this.#logger.info({ trackingId, message: "get order data for given orderID - start", data: { id: orderData.id, tenant_id: orderData.tenant_id }, }); const existingOrderData = await ManufactumCoreOrderService.getOrderById( orderData.id, orderData.tenant_id, trackingId, ); if (!existingOrderData existingOrderData.length < 1) { this.#logger.error({ trackingId, message: "Order doesn't exist with id: ", }); FbxError.throwBadRequest("WMS_Order_3", "Order doesn't exist with id: "); } const newOrderData = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(existingOrderData)); this.#logger.info({ trackingId, message: "get order data for given orderID - end", data: newOrderData, }); // optimize order_items for (const [key] of Object.entries(splitOrders)) { const position = parseInt(splitOrders[key][0].splitorder_position); const number = parseInt(splitOrders[key][0].orderId); if (key === "1") { console.log("=======got into if block"); newOrderData.splitorder_position = position; newOrderData.parent_id = orderData.id; newOrderData.order_items = []; for (const [index] of newOrderData.order_addresses.entries()) { delete newOrderData.order_addresses[index].id; } for (const [index] of newOrderData.order_partners.entries()) { delete newOrderData.order_partners[index].id; delete newOrderData.order_partners[index].order_id; } // prepare new order newOrderData.splitorder_number = number; let total_weight = 0; let total_volume = 0; for (const splitOrderItem of splitOrders[key]) { const index = existingOrderData.order_items.findIndex( (item: any) => item.article_barcode == splitOrderItem.barcode && item.item_number === splitOrderItem.ManufactumPositionNumber, ); if (index < 0) continue; const orderItemData = existingOrderData.order_items[index]; orderItemData.amount = parseInt(splitOrderItem.amount); orderItemData.item_number = splitOrderItem.ManufactumPositionNumber; const articleId = orderItemData.article_id; let articleData = await DB.query( "select weight, length, width,height from articles where id = ?", [articleId], ); articleData = articleData[0]; const weight = articleData.weight; const _total_weight = await this.calculateAnyISOUnitToAnyIsoUnit( "KG", "GRM", weight * orderItemData.amount, ); const width = articleData.width; const height = articleData.height; const length = articleData.length; const realVolume = width * height * length; const maxVolume = (realVolume + realVolume * 0.05) * orderItemData.amount; total_volume += maxVolume; total_weight += parseFloat(_total_weight); orderItemData.WMS_Positionsnummer = parseInt(splitOrderItem.WMS_Positionsnummer); if (existingOrderData.order_items[index]) { existingOrderData.order_items[index].WMS_Positionsnummer = orderItemData.WMS_Positionsnummer; } newOrderData.order_items.push(existingOrderData.order_items[index]); } newOrderData.total_weight = total_weight + 200; newOrderData.net_weight = total_weight; newOrderData.volume = total_volume; // create split order this.#logger.info({ trackingId, message: `Create split order for order id:${orderData.id} - start`, data: newOrderData, }); const newOrder = await ManufactumCoreOrderService.createOrder(newOrderData, orderData.tenant_id, trackingId, false); if (!newOrder) { this.#logger.error({ trackingId, message: "Failed to create order csv." }); FbxError.throwInternalError("WMS_Order_4", "Failed to create order csv."); } this.#logger.info({ trackingId, message: `Create split order for order id:${orderData.id} - end`, data: newOrder, }); this.#logger.info({ trackingId, message: `Update order id:${orderData.id} - start`, data: newOrderData, }); const updateQuery = "UPDATE orders SET erp_id = \"\" WHERE id = ?"; await DB.query(updateQuery, [orderData.id]); this.#logger.info({ trackingId, message: `Update order id:${orderData.id} - end`, data: newOrder, }); } else { console.log("=======got into else block"); const newOrderManufactum: any = { id: orderData.id, new_order_number: formatNumbers( parseInt(await this.getNewOrderNumber(orderData.tenant_id, "Split")), 10, ), erp_id: existingOrderData.erp_id, splitorder_number: number, splitorder_position: position, order_items: [], }; for (const splitOrderItem of splitOrders[key]) { newOrderManufactum.order_items.push({ new_order_item_number: await this.checkIfPositionIsStandardInt( splitOrderItem.ManufactumPositionNumber, orderData.id, splitOrderItem.barcode, tenant_id, ), amount: parseInt(splitOrderItem.amount), change_amount: false, WMS_Positionsnummer: parseInt(splitOrderItem.WMS_Positionsnummer), }); } responseOrders.push(newOrderManufactum); } } } describe("getOrderDataForId", () => { let repo: any; let orderDataMock: any = { "id" : 303226, "date" : "2024-04-10T14:00:11.000Z", "erp_id" : "0089123048", "tenant_id" : 4, "shipping_service_id" : 2, "shipping_type" : "", "shipping_priority" : 5, "customer_number_erp" : "", "payment_method" : "", "currency" : "", "parent_id" : 4766580, "splitorder_position" : 2, "splitorder_number" : "98873524", "order_status_id" : 47, "bill_number" : "", "sales_channel" : "", "system_id" : 4, "created_at" : "2024-04-10T16:00:11.000Z", "updated_at" : "2024-04-11T16:11:07.000Z", "order_type" : null, "order_tracking_number" : null, "tracking_id" : null, "return_tracking_id" : null, "wmsx_status" : "unprocessed", "volume_measurement_unit_id" : 5, "weight_measurement_unit_id" : 4, "volume" : 25.65, "total_weight" : 2486.0, "incoterms1" : "FH", "incoterms2" : "Frei Haus", "net_weight" : "2140.000", "number_of_packages" : 0, "ship_condition" : "Z0", "shipping_point" : "V007", "sales_organisation" : "0200", "warehouse_number" : "HER", "desired_delivery_date" : "20240403220000", "timezone" : "CET", "description" : "{}", "custom_attributes_MF" : "{\"VSART\":\"SP\",\"ZTERM\":\"D201\",\"PAPERTYPE\":\"AT\",\"BUNDESLAND\":\"Niederösterreich\"}", "is_valid" : 1, "delivery_type" : "LF", "document_status" : null, "document_timestamp" : null, "carrier_mapping_id" : 2, "label_response" : null, "Flyer" : null, "cod_amount" : null, "cod_purpose" : null, "ps_sync_id" : null, "processed_fine" : null, "WMS_Auftragsnummer" : null, "WMS_Teil_Auftragsnummer" : null, "drop_off_point" : null, "error_description" : "Failed to detect carrier. Country short name: AT, sales organisation: 200, VSART: SP, ship_condition: Z0", "packaging_id" : null, "fine_status" : null, "fine_processed" : null, "channel_id" : null, "channel_sign" : null, "channel_no" : null, "item_count" : null, "warehouse_id" : null, "priority" : null, "cancel_reason_code" : null, "cancel_reason" : null, "carrier" : null, "merchant_id" : null, "integrator" : null, "order_items" : [{"id": 2290664, "amount": 1, "article_id": 2939, "article_name": "Balkonkasten Stahl verzinkt gross", "article_barcode": "2050000804168", "article_description": "", "article_weight": 2.14, "erp_id": "000000000000018996", "hazardus_material_number": null, "short_text": "Balkonkasten Stahl verzinkt gross", "sales_unit_id": 1, "sales_unit_iso_measure": "CMT", "item_hierarchy": "000000", "loading_group": "0003", "partial_delivery": "C", "overdelivery_percentage": 0, "underdelivery_percentage": 0, "movement_type": "601", "reference_movement_type": null, "movement_indicator": "L", "cumulated_batch_quantity": "0.000", "distribution_channel": "10", "division": "01", "plant": "0100", "storage_location": "L007", "profit_centre": null, "number_profitability": "0000000000", "sales_item_number": "000000", "item_number": "000010", "sales_document": "0852011163", "sales_document_item": "000010", "sales_document_category": "C", "document_date": "20240402", "order_date_customer": null, "order_date_to_party": "00000000", "date_of_call_off": null, "weight": 2140, "material_type": "HAWA", "article_width": 19, "article_length": 91, "article_height": 15, "article_length_measurement_unit": "CM", "article_weight_measurement_unit": "KG", "WMS_Positionsnummer": "1", "change_amount": 0}], "order_addresses" : [{"id": 1060667, "salutation": "Firma", "name": null, "first_name": null, "last_name": null, "full_name": "Schlosserei Bock GmbH", "company_name": "", "street": "Ascherstraße", "street_number": "0180795", "house_number": "10", "postal_code": "2734", "city": "Puchberg am Schneeberg", "email": null, "country_short_name": "AT", "contact": "02636 2303", "floor": null, "room_number": null, "erp_id": "0026824582", "county": null, "address_notes": null, "fax": null, "time_zone": "CET", "address_info": {"AT":{"COUNTRYISO":"AT","LANGU_ISO":"DE"}}},{"id": 1060668, "salutation": "Firma", "name": null, "first_name": null, "last_name": null, "full_name": "Schlosserei Bock GmbH", "company_name": "", "street": "Ascherstraße", "street_number": "0180795", "house_number": "10", "postal_code": "2734", "city": "Puchberg am Schneeberg", "email": null, "country_short_name": "AT", "contact": "02636 2303", "floor": null, "room_number": null, "erp_id": "0026824582", "county": null, "address_notes": null, "fax": null, "time_zone": "CET", "address_info": {"AT":{"COUNTRYISO":"AT","LANGU_ISO":"DE"}}}], "order_partners" : null, "shipping_service_name" : "DHL", "order_status_name" : "Carrier and shipping type are not determined.", "order_status_code" : "error_2000", "shipped_out_date" : null, "invoice_number" : null, "weight_measurement_unit" : "G", "volume_measurement_unit" : "CDM" }; let responseOrders: any = orderDataMock; let splitOrders: any = { 1: [ { splitorder_position: 1, orderId: 123, }, { splitorder_position: 2, orderId: 124, }, { splitorder_position: 3, orderId: 125, }, ], }; beforeEach(async () => { repo = new ManufactumWmsxOrderRepository(); ManufactumCoreOrderService.getOrderById = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(orderDataMock) DB.query = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(orderDataMock); DB.query = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(true); repo.calculateAnyISOUnitToAnyIsoUnit = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(1); ManufactumCoreOrderService.createOrder = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(orderDataMock); repo.getNewOrderNumber = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue("0088123456"); repo.checkIfPositionIsStandardInt = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue("000390"); }) test("should update responseOrders array", async () => { await repo.getOrderDataForId(orderDataMock, splitOrders, responseOrders, 4); }) }, { timeout:10000 }) 

KEY MESSAGES: WRITE SYMBOL EQUATIONS
READ QUESTION CAREFULLY
POWER OF TEN ERROR (PAY ATTENTION BOZO)
DO NOT ROUND PREMATURELY. CAUSES INACCURACY.
SHOW EVERY BIT OF WORKING
GENERAL COMMENTS: (skimmed through examiner reports) *weak points of most candidates*
phase difference
double slit interference
doppler effect
alpha scatter experiment
in an elastic collision, speed of approach is equal to speed of separation
energy transfer may be used to determine average frictional force
potentiometers
the relationship between potential difference across resistors and its value of resistance
do not confuse mass for weight or vice versa
determining maximum wavelength of a stationary wave w/ a tube closed at one end
relationship between I and average drift speed
COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS OR CRITICAL QUESTIONS: *things i deduced on my own by flipping through my v1 past papers*
random error vs systematic error
difference between progressive waves and stationary waves
how to check you've reached elastic limit
why light waves can be polarized
precisision and accuracy
B particles having a range of different energies
kirchoff's laws
estimates of masses of objects
centre of gravity
describe the doppler effect
origin of upthrust
mass is the quantity of matter in a body

Councillor Vek stood on the observation deck of the cruiser Balexa, as she watched the blue planet below. Earth, as the inhabitants called it. Indigenous life had only just developed tools and weapons of metal and combustion, yet something about this world felt...different.
Vek's assistant, a young Dreth named Pylor, approached. "Councillor, our sensors have detected an unusual energy signature coming from that landmass." He pointed to a region on the planet's map.
Vek peered down at the indicated area. "Life signs?"
"Massive. Billions within that small area alone. And..." Pylor double checked the readings. "Their technology...it's exceeding all models for their stage of development."
Intrigued, Vek ordered the Balexa into a lower orbit to investigate directly. Below, sprawling cities dominated the landscape, towers of metal and glass thrusting towards the heavens. Ground vehicles filled roadways in great herds.
But it was what Vek saw in the skies that made her gasp. Dozens of giant space ships above the planet.
Vek urged the Balexa closer, honing in on the largest vessel. Over a kilometer long, it resembled an arrowhead piercing the clouds. Guiding it through flight tests, no doubt. But its capabilities went far beyond simple transport.
Her eyes analyzed the gleaming hull. Powerful weapons arrays, ultra-dense alloys, inertial dampeners—this was no mere explorer ship. It bore the armaments of a capital warship, yet wielded in the skies of a supposedly primitive world, according to 1000 year old reports.
"Scan it," Vek ordered. The results shocked even her aged sensibilities. Particle beam projectors, gravitic torque generators, ablative shield matrix far exceeding, any known galaxy-class defenses. She watched silent as the warship shrugged off simulated meteor bombardments, and energy lances that would have crippled a flagship.
"Are the sensors malfunctioning?" Pylor asked. "This...this shouldn't be possible."
Vek didn't respond, lost in thought. The colonization directive had brought her here expecting a standard uplifting, not...this. A new species on the cusp of space, yes, but with a military capability challenging the Grand Fleet itself. Her duties were clear, yet prudence demanded further observation before revealing her presence.
That evening, Vek witnessed lights illuminate the cities as perpetual twilight fell. Not the flickering fires of a primitive settlement, but vast geometric patterns flooding the night with steady radiance. Roadways became rivers of motion as noxious fumes belched from pipes. She watched holographic entertainments broadcast atop towering spires, their realism surpassing even the Dreamcast pleasure worlds.
It was all too much. This world had advanced beyond all projections, its technology perfectly integrated within human civilization. Yet had achieved spaceflight only yesterday. An impossibility...unless directed by an outside influence. But signatures showed no alien contamination, only the fingerprints of natural evolution.
"Councillor," Pylor interrupted her thoughts, "I'm detecting a new vessel launching from the underground test site."
Vek shifted her gaze and witnessed madness. Rising from its berth came a colossus the size of a hab-moon. Twenty kilometers of pitiless metal rising on pillars of blue inferno, a vast sphinx of iron. Its armored prow glinted cruel in the light of its world. No other word could apply but "leviathan."
She watched speechless as it performed basic maneuvers. Its motion sent ripples through the atmosphere itself, as entire mountain ranges would shake. Multispectral scans revealed engineering beyond rational thought, a work of art and horror, given form in girders and armour-plates. No known drive system could shift its bulk, yet it drifted with ethereal grace.
Vek collapsed into her command throne, as the giant ship vanished into the mottled sky. Only one thought echoed through her stunned mind.
This changes everything.
Councillor Vek's findings on the human home world of Earth, had rocked the Galactic Council to its core. A species possessing technological marvels far beyond their years of spaceflight, should not exist, yet Vek's evidence proved otherwise. As the leaders convened an emergency session, their debate centered around how to handle this unprecedented development.
"Negotiations must be made at once, to assess if these 'humans' pose a threat," stated Morax of the Androrian Conglomerate. "We cannot allow such advanced militaries to emerge unchecked in the galaxy."
Vek spoke up. "I caution haste. The humans integrate their technologies peacefully on Earth, and welcomed our observations from orbit. Forceful intervention risks destroying what could be a powerful new ally."
Others argued humanity should be contained for study and surveillance, to learn their intentions. Tempers flared until Councillor Porx silenced the chamber. "Further debate is pointless without understanding these beings. Vek, with your ship the Balexa being closest, you are tasked with open contact and assessment of the human condition."
Reluctantly agreeing, Vek set course for Earth with escort vessels. As the Balexa entered atmo, she watched the armada of human vessels fill the skies once more. Her mind raced with what to make of such a belligerent yet benign species. Perhaps hospitality ruled here while militarism emerged elsewhere, as with so many spacefaring civilizations.
The Balexa landed in an open field outside a sprawling metropolis. Vek and her delegation exited warily, the high oxygen air thick in their respiratory systems. Above, jet aircraft flew patrol routes. while curious onlookers documented the arrival on personal communicators.
Approaching vehicles emerged, this time carrying humans who exited with open hands. "Greetings, I'm Commander Jasmine Chen of the United Earth Space Command," said the apparent leader. "We welcome peaceful contact and welcome you to our world."
Her relaxed yet watchful presence put Vek at ease. "I am Councillor Vek of the Galactic Council. We come in friendship to learn of your people and capabilities."
Chen nodded. "Please, come with me and we’ll discuss how we might cooperate for mutual benefit.” She guided them into waiting transport vehicles towards a towering citadel. Along the route, Vek glimpsed, colossal fusion reactors, automated infrastructure, and most astonishing, families and children walking without fear amongst such technological wonders.
Arriving at the United Earth Space Command headquarters, Vek received a cultural download on human history. Only an eyeblink ago, they waged wars from the back of beasts and shattered each other with primitive explosives. Now they spanned the Solar System and bent physics to their will, yet retained community and empathy in their evolution.
Chen brought them to a viewing platform high above the city. "This is what 350 years of focused progress has achieved. Our advance began, when we discovered alien wrecks on the Moon containing lost knowledge. From there, our science boomed while social reforms fostered cooperation."
Vek struggled to process such rapid development. "And your military capabilities? Ones matching capital fleets already?"
Chen smiled knowingly. "A necessity of our past, yet now a guarantor of peace. We keep stride to ensure safe expansion, not conquest. See, all technologies serve life's betterment."
Her wise words allayed Vek's fears of some belligerent power. Indeed, humans bore responsibility for such marvels rather than recklessness. She thanked Chen, believing a new partnership had begun that could uplift the galaxy.
As the Balexa departed that day, Vek pondered all she now understood of humanity. A species arisen from war to wisdom, empowerment and care for others. Their defense of all requiring defense through strength guided safely by conscience. Truly an example to follow into a brighter future, if accepted.
But ominous clouds gathered where none before have been...
The Council chambers fell silent as reports of the Balexa's findings spread across the Galactic network. Councillor Vek recounted humanity's technological feats and philosophical underpinnings in great detail. While unsettled by Earth's military prowess, the consensus agreed their intentions seemed benevolent.
As debate resumed, an aide burst in with urgency. "Attack fleets have engaged at the Estron outposts. Casualty estimates are catastrophic."
Gasps filled the room. Estron, a core Council world renowned for compassion, laid defenseless against the ravaging warships. But how had the Anti Council faction pushed this deep so quickly?
Vek turned to the hologlobe, coordinating response forces to intervene quickly. But she knew conventional fleets, couldn't match the invader's new annihilating momentum. Unless...
An idea formed, She opened a channel to Commander Chen, as other leaders objected in shock. "Humanity proving themselves is unwarranted. We cannot condone--"
But Vek sensed Chen had come to the same conclusion. "Councillor, send us all you have on this threat. Our ships stand ready to aid in whatever way is needed."
The Council fell silent at her resolve. Vek transmitted Battle Assessment 716-C and tracked the human warship streaking into hyperdrive, escorted by two escort cruisers. She prayed this unprecedented response would succeed where fleets had failed.
As the human task force arrived at Estron, they beheld utter ruin. Planetoids bombarded into dust, settlements glassed from space. The last distress calls wept through static, as heat shimmered off molten continents.
Captain Sato of the Yamato grimaced at the carnage. "This ends today. Shields to maximum, charge main cannons. Helm take us in."
The faction armada appeared like demons bursting from an inferno, dozens of war beasts thirsting for more conquest. But they weren't prepared for the grey giant, punching through their formation's heart.
Blue lances of plasma speared the leading ship, overloading its shielding and armor in a microsecond. The massive ship erupted in a brilliant fireball that consumed several nearby fighter craft. Meanwhile, precision volleys from the Yamato's mass drivers sheared through the battlecruiser amidships. Secondary explosions ripped the cruiser to pieces, as it drifted lifeless.
The humans coordinated their attacks with flawless synchronization. Squads of escort gunships strafed and bombarded the swarm ships, attempting to flank the capital ships. Their advanced targeting systems, allowed multiple targets to be engaged simultaneously. Within minutes, over a dozen enemy vessels had been eliminated with surgical strikes.
The surviving faction forces regrouped and organized a desperate counterattack. A dozen assault frigates charged headlong at the Yamato, unleashing everything in their arsenals. Shields flared as energy lanced and missiles impacted across the human warship. But its shields held easily, dissipating each strike with efficiency.
Resuming its offensive, the Yamato activated its main cannons once more. Two gigawatt particle beams lashed out, melting through the foremost frigates in a pair of massive explosions. Shrapnel and debris pelted the remaining ships, crippling their systems. Bombardment from the escorts mopped up the drifting hulks.
With their main attack crushed, the rest of the fleet broke into a panic-fueled retreat. They scattered in all directions, pursued relentlessly by human forces. Within the hour, only broken ship fragments remained of what was once a formidable invader fleet.
Aboard the Yamato, Captain Sato surveyed the devastated aftermath with a heavy heart. So many lives lost unnecessarily, due to the faction's brutal conquests. But now, Estron could begin to heal thanks to humanity's intervention. As cleanup crews tended to survivors, Sato opened a channel to Earth and to Galactic Council to deliver their mission report.
Word of the battle's outcome would help forge new bonds of trust, and cooperation between humanity and the Galactic Council.
In the ruins of Estron's capital, Councillor Vek witnessed humanity's compassion firsthand. Survivors were rescued, and cared for without regard for species or faction. She knew in that moment that the Pax Terra had begun, and a new era of partnership had dawned with Earth.

Councillor Vek stood on the observation deck of the cruiser Balexa, as she watched the blue planet below. Earth, as the inhabitants called it. Indigenous life had only just developed tools and weapons of metal and combustion, yet something about this world felt...different.
Vek's assistant, a young Dreth named Pylor, approached. "Councillor, our sensors have detected an unusual energy signature coming from that landmass." He pointed to a region on the planet's map.
Vek peered down at the indicated area. "Life signs?"
"Massive. Billions within that small area alone. And..." Pylor double checked the readings. "Their technology...it's exceeding all models for their stage of development."
Intrigued, Vek ordered the Balexa into a lower orbit to investigate directly. Below, sprawling cities dominated the landscape, towers of metal and glass thrusting towards the heavens. Ground vehicles filled roadways in great herds.
But it was what Vek saw in the skies that made her gasp. Dozens of giant space ships above the planet.
Vek urged the Balexa closer, honing in on the largest vessel. Over a kilometer long, it resembled an arrowhead piercing the clouds. Guiding it through flight tests, no doubt. But its capabilities went far beyond simple transport.
Her eyes analyzed the gleaming hull. Powerful weapons arrays, ultra-dense alloys, inertial dampeners—this was no mere explorer ship. It bore the armaments of a capital warship, yet wielded in the skies of a supposedly primitive world, according to 1000 year old reports.
"Scan it," Vek ordered. The results shocked even her aged sensibilities. Particle beam projectors, gravitic torque generators, ablative shield matrix far exceeding, any known galaxy-class defenses. She watched silent as the warship shrugged off simulated meteor bombardments, and energy lances that would have crippled a flagship.
"Are the sensors malfunctioning?" Pylor asked. "This...this shouldn't be possible."
Vek didn't respond, lost in thought. The colonization directive had brought her here expecting a standard uplifting, not...this. A new species on the cusp of space, yes, but with a military capability challenging the Grand Fleet itself. Her duties were clear, yet prudence demanded further observation before revealing her presence.
That evening, Vek witnessed lights illuminate the cities as perpetual twilight fell. Not the flickering fires of a primitive settlement, but vast geometric patterns flooding the night with steady radiance. Roadways became rivers of motion as noxious fumes belched from pipes. She watched holographic entertainments broadcast atop towering spires, their realism surpassing even the Dreamcast pleasure worlds.
It was all too much. This world had advanced beyond all projections, its technology perfectly integrated within human civilization. Yet had achieved spaceflight only yesterday. An impossibility...unless directed by an outside influence. But signatures showed no alien contamination, only the fingerprints of natural evolution.
"Councillor," Pylor interrupted her thoughts, "I'm detecting a new vessel launching from the underground test site."
Vek shifted her gaze and witnessed madness. Rising from its berth came a colossus the size of a hab-moon. Twenty kilometers of pitiless metal rising on pillars of blue inferno, a vast sphinx of iron. Its armored prow glinted cruel in the light of its world. No other word could apply but "leviathan."
She watched speechless as it performed basic maneuvers. Its motion sent ripples through the atmosphere itself, as entire mountain ranges would shake. Multispectral scans revealed engineering beyond rational thought, a work of art and horror, given form in girders and armour-plates. No known drive system could shift its bulk, yet it drifted with ethereal grace.
Vek collapsed into her command throne, as the giant ship vanished into the mottled sky. Only one thought echoed through her stunned mind.
This changes everything.
Councillor Vek's findings on the human home world of Earth, had rocked the Galactic Council to its core. A species possessing technological marvels far beyond their years of spaceflight, should not exist, yet Vek's evidence proved otherwise. As the leaders convened an emergency session, their debate centered around how to handle this unprecedented development.
"Negotiations must be made at once, to assess if these 'humans' pose a threat," stated Morax of the Androrian Conglomerate. "We cannot allow such advanced militaries to emerge unchecked in the galaxy."
Vek spoke up. "I caution haste. The humans integrate their technologies peacefully on Earth, and welcomed our observations from orbit. Forceful intervention risks destroying what could be a powerful new ally."
Others argued humanity should be contained for study and surveillance, to learn their intentions. Tempers flared until Councillor Porx silenced the chamber. "Further debate is pointless without understanding these beings. Vek, with your ship the Balexa being closest, you are tasked with open contact and assessment of the human condition."
Reluctantly agreeing, Vek set course for Earth with escort vessels. As the Balexa entered atmo, she watched the armada of human vessels fill the skies once more. Her mind raced with what to make of such a belligerent yet benign species. Perhaps hospitality ruled here while militarism emerged elsewhere, as with so many spacefaring civilizations.
The Balexa landed in an open field outside a sprawling metropolis. Vek and her delegation exited warily, the high oxygen air thick in their respiratory systems. Above, jet aircraft flew patrol routes. while curious onlookers documented the arrival on personal communicators.
Approaching vehicles emerged, this time carrying humans who exited with open hands. "Greetings, I'm Commander Jasmine Chen of the United Earth Space Command," said the apparent leader. "We welcome peaceful contact and welcome you to our world."
Her relaxed yet watchful presence put Vek at ease. "I am Councillor Vek of the Galactic Council. We come in friendship to learn of your people and capabilities."
Chen nodded. "Please, come with me and we’ll discuss how we might cooperate for mutual benefit.” She guided them into waiting transport vehicles towards a towering citadel. Along the route, Vek glimpsed, colossal fusion reactors, automated infrastructure, and most astonishing, families and children walking without fear amongst such technological wonders.
Arriving at the United Earth Space Command headquarters, Vek received a cultural download on human history. Only an eyeblink ago, they waged wars from the back of beasts and shattered each other with primitive explosives. Now they spanned the Solar System and bent physics to their will, yet retained community and empathy in their evolution.
Chen brought them to a viewing platform high above the city. "This is what 350 years of focused progress has achieved. Our advance began, when we discovered alien wrecks on the Moon containing lost knowledge. From there, our science boomed while social reforms fostered cooperation."
Vek struggled to process such rapid development. "And your military capabilities? Ones matching capital fleets already?"
Chen smiled knowingly. "A necessity of our past, yet now a guarantor of peace. We keep stride to ensure safe expansion, not conquest. See, all technologies serve life's betterment."
Her wise words allayed Vek's fears of some belligerent power. Indeed, humans bore responsibility for such marvels rather than recklessness. She thanked Chen, believing a new partnership had begun that could uplift the galaxy.
As the Balexa departed that day, Vek pondered all she now understood of humanity. A species arisen from war to wisdom, empowerment and care for others. Their defense of all requiring defense through strength guided safely by conscience. Truly an example to follow into a brighter future, if accepted.
But ominous clouds gathered where none before have been...
The Council chambers fell silent as reports of the Balexa's findings spread across the Galactic network. Councillor Vek recounted humanity's technological feats and philosophical underpinnings in great detail. While unsettled by Earth's military prowess, the consensus agreed their intentions seemed benevolent.
As debate resumed, an aide burst in with urgency. "Attack fleets have engaged at the Estron outposts. Casualty estimates are catastrophic."
Gasps filled the room. Estron, a core Council world renowned for compassion, laid defenseless against the ravaging warships. But how had the Anti Council faction pushed this deep so quickly?
Vek turned to the hologlobe, coordinating response forces to intervene quickly. But she knew conventional fleets, couldn't match the invader's new annihilating momentum. Unless...
An idea formed, She opened a channel to Commander Chen, as other leaders objected in shock. "Humanity proving themselves is unwarranted. We cannot condone--"
But Vek sensed Chen had come to the same conclusion. "Councillor, send us all you have on this threat. Our ships stand ready to aid in whatever way is needed."
The Council fell silent at her resolve. Vek transmitted Battle Assessment 716-C and tracked the human warship streaking into hyperdrive, escorted by two escort cruisers. She prayed this unprecedented response would succeed where fleets had failed.
As the human task force arrived at Estron, they beheld utter ruin. Planetoids bombarded into dust, settlements glassed from space. The last distress calls wept through static, as heat shimmered off molten continents.
Captain Sato of the Yamato grimaced at the carnage. "This ends today. Shields to maximum, charge main cannons. Helm take us in."
The faction armada appeared like demons bursting from an inferno, dozens of war beasts thirsting for more conquest. But they weren't prepared for the grey giant, punching through their formation's heart.
Blue lances of plasma speared the leading ship, overloading its shielding and armor in a microsecond. The massive ship erupted in a brilliant fireball that consumed several nearby fighter craft. Meanwhile, precision volleys from the Yamato's mass drivers sheared through the battlecruiser amidships. Secondary explosions ripped the cruiser to pieces, as it drifted lifeless.
The humans coordinated their attacks with flawless synchronization. Squads of escort gunships strafed and bombarded the swarm ships, attempting to flank the capital ships. Their advanced targeting systems, allowed multiple targets to be engaged simultaneously. Within minutes, over a dozen enemy vessels had been eliminated with surgical strikes.
The surviving faction forces regrouped and organized a desperate counterattack. A dozen assault frigates charged headlong at the Yamato, unleashing everything in their arsenals. Shields flared as energy lanced and missiles impacted across the human warship. But its shields held easily, dissipating each strike with efficiency.
Resuming its offensive, the Yamato activated its main cannons once more. Two gigawatt particle beams lashed out, melting through the foremost frigates in a pair of massive explosions. Shrapnel and debris pelted the remaining ships, crippling their systems. Bombardment from the escorts mopped up the drifting hulks.
With their main attack crushed, the rest of the fleet broke into a panic-fueled retreat. They scattered in all directions, pursued relentlessly by human forces. Within the hour, only broken ship fragments remained of what was once a formidable invader fleet.
Aboard the Yamato, Captain Sato surveyed the devastated aftermath with a heavy heart. So many lives lost unnecessarily, due to the faction's brutal conquests. But now, Estron could begin to heal thanks to humanity's intervention. As cleanup crews tended to survivors, Sato opened a channel to Earth and to Galactic Council to deliver their mission report.
Word of the battle's outcome would help forge new bonds of trust, and cooperation between humanity and the Galactic Council.
In the ruins of Estron's capital, Councillor Vek witnessed humanity's compassion firsthand. Survivors were rescued, and cared for without regard for species or faction. She knew in that moment that the Pax Terra had begun, and a new era of partnership had dawned with Earth.

Hello everyone.
Geometry problem for you all. A problem I stumbled into during work.
I’d love for it to have a constructible solution (ruler and compass), but I’m not sure anymore that such a way exists.
Here’s the problem:
Let’s consider two perpendicular lines d and d’, and their intersection B. Let’s have a point C being the centre of a circle that do not intersect d nor d’.
Fig. 1 – The starting figure
I am searching how to construct the two parallel lines tangent to the circle e and e’ such that AB = A’B, A and A’ being the intersections of e and d, and e’ and d’ respectively.
Fig. 2 – The goal
https://preview.redd.it/k30xy3mwbm0d1.png?width=4022&format=png&auto=webp&s=a5a260742975c21bc24f0e6000cfa0281c38c6cd
That’s it. Looks simple. And for the life of me, this problem is haunting me. I will be talking about some of my attempts, but since they haven’t showed any sign of being on the right track, I won’t explain them in the post itself, but individually in the comments. I do have some equations (even though I’d prefer to have a purely geometrical solution), but can’t solve for the right variables.
Right now, though, I will provide some more elements so we can all speak with the same names for the different geometrical elements that I can only assume will be involved.
Fig. 3 and 4 – Names for things – Geometrical and numerical
Fig. 5 – Dynamic drawing (to give a sense of what’s happening)
Please stay tuned.

Get ready to dive into the heart of a chilling mystery with the highly anticipated premiere of The Gathering on May 14, 2024. This gripping thriller drama series unfolds the eerie tale of a young gymnast who becomes the target of a violent assault at an illegal rave, setting off a chain of unsettling events that ripple through her community.
For viewers in USA eager to unravel this intense story, the journey to watch The Gathering on Channel 4 will be laced with intrigue and drama, mirroring the show’s own twisted narrative. However, since Channel 4 content is typically geo-restricted to the UK, American fans will need a clever workaround to join this suspenseful exploration of dark secrets and deceptive appearances. Strap in for a detailed guide on how to watch The Gathering 2024 in USA and prepare for a series that promises to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Quick Steps: Watch The Gathering 2024 In USA

1. Select a VPN service that is optimized for streaming. We recommend Express VPN or PureVPN
2. Download the VPN and connect to the US server.
3. Log in to Channel 4
4. You can watch The Gathering in USA easily by using a VPN which will connect you to Channel 4 UK

Why Do We Need A VPN To Watch The Gathering in USA
To watch The Gathering 2024 in USA viewers require a VPN (Virtual Private Network) due to geo-restrictions. These restrictions are in place because of licensing agreements that limit where Channel 4 content can be broadcast. A VPN allows you to connect to a server in the UK, thus giving your device a UK IP address. This makes it appear as if you are browsing from within the UK, thereby unlocking access to Channel 4’s content including “The Gathering.”
The Gathering Cast

• Eva Morgan as Kelly, the gymnast at the centre of the story.
• Warren Brown as Paul Morgan, Kelly’s father, struggling to hold his family together.
• Vinette Robinson as Natalie, a fiercely ambitious mother.
• Sadie Soverall as Jessica, Kelly’s friend and fellow gymnast.
• Sonny Walker as Adam, a free runner and DJ who becomes romantically involved with Jessica.

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The Gathering cast also includes:

• Ryan Quarmby as Charlie
• Luca Kamleh-Chapman as Bazi
• Poppy Miller as Dawn
• Deborah Bouchard as Diane
• Oliver Nelson as Josh
• Christine Tremarco as Carianne
• Emma Keele as Helen Clarence
• Shane Walker as Macca
• Dylan Thomas Smith as Oscar
• Charity Bedu-Addo as Sonia
• Olivia Frances Brown as Miss Hanson
• Max Johnson as Tate

This guide ensure that no fan of drama miss out to watch The Gathering In USA. The Gathering is structured into a tightly packed season, consisting of several episodes that gradually unravel the mystery.

I am extactic! I literally left the exam centre completing the test with 50 mins to spare.
This was my second attempt. I originally failed as I didn't commit enough time to studying the first time around and just missed out, but I prevailed, and got it on the second attempt.
For guidance, I used the officially ic2 book. Reading it thoroughly and used the questions on each domain to focus on my weak areas.
In addition to the book, I used pocket prep. This app it brilliant! For anyone who hasn't used it, jump on it now.
I tried the ccsp official app as well but I prefer pocket prep for it's analytics and alternative exam modes. Very helpful.
My back ground helped loads. I have 10 years of experience in security and I passed the CISSP and CISM two years back. I felt moving into the CCSP was a easy transition. A lot of crossover on topics and criteria.
I am celebrating ATM with a cold Guinness. The weather is great here in London so I'm going to enjoy the rest of the day.
Ps.
Thanks for the support and tips. This channel really helped me focus my efforts and push on, especially when I failed.
So, cheers to all of you!

Post is going to be long so beware, just writing this to take a break.
i just gave JEE ADV 2022 as a proper mock and scored 140 marks, with 70 marks in each paper. I am a student in Aakash and in the mocks given there i usually score 50-60 per paper (for adv). The reason I'm laying all this out is because im completely scared shitless for adv and i need some advice or a general discussion(i wont be able to reply super quick as i might be busy).
I got 97 then 98 %ile in mains this year i scored 190 and 193 marks in each attempt, in my board result i got 97%. and im expecting very little from adv this year, maybe because i really gave mains a good attempt and yet 22k students are ahead of me and thus in adv its normal to assume that these 22k students will still be ahead of me. This is the cause of my stress.
i didnt take coaching in 11th class just self studied some chapters that i thought were interesting during my school life (never maths lmaoo) so i covered i would say around 5-6 chapters well. in 12th when i started really studying everything so i could enjoy the process of learning i came across doubts that nobody i knew could solve so as my father suggested i joined Aakash thats almost next to my house (its a very very small branch).
Because it was a small centre i got the undivided attention of my teachers (atleast when i was studying and asking doubts). so i think 2 months before mains i sat down with my teachers to discuss how i would cover the entirety of class 11 for jee, my maths teacher told me to not do so and just do 12th well while my phy and chem teachers told me to jump in the deep end of the pool (jump straight into questions and apply as much as i knew) so naturally i could do very little. how this helped me was that from that point i never really touched a textbook again, i used to come to my teachers with a question, they would explain the concept behind it, i would note it and then revise it in a timely manner.
with this strategy i covered phy and chem till the point that in both mains i got 85+ in both phy and chem (15-35 marks in maths lmaooo).
with respect to adv, because the aakash test series was so rigorous till the point we had papers every alternate day, i used to give each and every test (get horrible marks) and then analyse the questions and concepts behind them all day then ask doubts. But now in the most crucial time (last 10 days) ive begun to doubt my strategy and now i feel like my problem solving skills will only get me so far because i dont know all the theory super deep in depth.
in physics (last mock that i gave i had 35 in both paper 1 and paper 2 of 2022) i now have an okay grip of mechanics and electromagnetism but i am weak in thermo (questions will everntually be solved by me but it will take a large amount of time), for modern physics literally everyone is a god at modern physics lmao.
in chemistry (23 and 24 in 2022) i have no begun to struggle with all three sections of chem. the mains organic chem was simple and a simpleton like me could also do it easily while knowing the most common mechanisms but in adv even though ive developed my knowledge to a great extent i still wont be able to solve every quesstion and be confident and i have chem in everyday life remaining. in inorganic im absolutely fucked, i have surface and p block left even today ( i studied both these chapters in my 12th but it will take a while to do again) and i ccan only solve the medium level questions of inorganic anything thats very detailed is beyong me. in phsycial chem i struggle very greatly with equilibrium, redox and chem thermo (entropy and all) and this is all due to not studyign for jee in 11th because i only remember school knowledge (so basic questions that come once in a while i can solve).
in maths (12, 11 in 2022) im a complete idiot at this subject lmaooo. i studied all of calculus in great detail and have coevered all of 12th syllabus pretty well (except probabilty) but the porblem is even though i love the beautiful questions that come from the part of maths that i know i barely get the time to look at them in the exam. Algebra's basics im familiar with and so i can solve the odd question with accuracy but its really horrible the situation i am in. coord geo is HAHAHAHAH idk what to say i just know the basic equation of circle and know how to use the properties of the ellipse in the odd gravitation question that one gets in adv.
my time management is also suffering in the papers i give, i genuniely believe i could finish the entire paper for chem and maths (that i know the syllabus of) and physics if i had 6 hours for each paper not 3. I end up spending close to 1 hour on chem, then an hour 15 on phy and barely any time for maths. Ive also developed a terrible habit of never rechecking my paper. Please advise me on how to fix this issue, my teachers are unavailable as they are busy with the younger batches.
my question is, should i take a drop? i genuninely just want to study again and i just need to improve maths majorly and need to touch up phy and chem. my parents are moving away from where i am enrolled so i wont be at this small centre anymore but still. Money is not an issue for my father but i feel the deepest guilt whenever i have to make my dad spend even a paisa.
i want to be a mechanical engineer from a good college thats really all ive ever wanted but i realized it too late

I’m starting an educational series on Kundalini Shakti and related topics, to clear up some misconceptions and reduce confusion in this field. This is a crosspost from KundaliniAwakening , but seeing it is relevant to the topics discussed on this subreddit, I thought I’d post it here too, in case anyone’s interested.
I’ll start with a primer on Kundalini itself.

In Hindu philosophy, the outflowing, creative aspect of God is known as Shakti. This Shakti becomes Mahamaya, which is the Grand Illusion, our entire created universe, basically. Mahamaya becomes Prakriti or Mother Nature and gives birth to all living things, hence we often call her the Divine Mother and this Shakti aspect of God is therefore seen as feminine.

In a human body and many other living things, Shakti manifests as Kundalini, which means “coiled”. Symbolically, this energy of creation is depicted as a serpent, coiled three and a half times around itself. It enters the egg upon conception and is responsible for the growth and evolution of a single cell into a many-cell organism, a fetus and then eventually a baby. It not only provides the motive power for life and growth, but is the intelligence behind the development of life itself. It provides the holographic blueprint for it, so to speak. Once the energy had fulfilled its purpose and the growth of the multi-cell organism is well under way and the requisite energy bodies (subtle sheaths or koshas), into which the physical body grows and around which it develops, are fully formed, it retreats into its dormant state and goes to sleep.

In most humans (though we cannot be sure about animals and other intelligent living beings), it remains dormant throughout a person’s life and plays no further role in its life. Over thousands of years, yogis and other mystics have figured out ways by which this energy can be awakened and its immense power of creation be used for beneficial, or in some case harmful purposes. What they have discovered, is that once awakened, this Kundalini Shakti becomes the vehicle for enlightenment and is also responsible for awakening certain psychic and healing powers in the individual, known as siddhis.

Kundalini Shakti rests at the base of the spine, in an energy centre known as muladhara, the root. When awakened, it moves through subtle energy channels, known as Shakti Nadis, the main one of which is located inside the spine, called Sushumna, through which Kundalini usually rises, though other side channels can also be a host for this energy.
Along the spine, there are subtle energy centres, corresponding to nerve clusters, where Kundalini Shakti initiates a cleansing process, bringing up stored memories, trauma and karma (the energetic imprints or memories of past actions and their consequences). Once dealt with, which can take from months to years, the energy moves on to the next centre to continue with the clearing process. Overall, this process can take from years to lifetimes. On the path of yoga, no progress is ever lost, so should someone die before the clearing / purification process is complete, they will continue where they left off in the next life.
In some cases, the energy can shoot straight up the spine and enter the brain, without warning or preparation. This is highly undesirable and can lead to many problems mentally, psychologically and physically. Such spontaneous rising events are usually triggered by trauma, including blunt force trauma to the coccyx, drug use, forced methods of Kundalini activation, or through Shaktipat, when another person passes on their own Shakti energy to someone else, triggering a sudden activation and awakening in them.
The problem with such sudden rising events is that a person needs to go through substantial inner work and purification, before they are ready for the energy to rise all the way to the head and thus trigger a substantial rewiring of the brain and nervous system, which can feel like a complete death and rebirth, as the person will essentially go through psychological growing pains as if they were entirely born again.
In the traditional yogic system, the purification is done by Shakti herself, going gradually from one centre to the next, as she rises. In other systems, such as Kriya Yoga, the purification process is done from the top to the bottom, so that by the time the root is reached, the energy can rise without obstruction and without triggering any negative side effects.
I am simplifying here, as there are many different types of rising, but these are the main ones.
The purpose of Kundalini Shakti and the rising process, is to evolve a human from their current, limited state to a higher one, where they are much more able to fulfil their potential. In the end, it can enable a person to experience enlightenment, to transcend their ego and merge back into source, returning to non-dual consciousness. Basically, these are complicated words to express the simple truth, through Kundalini, one can return home.
Inside us, we all have this feeling, that we don’t quite belong, that there is something greater, better out there, where we come from and where we long to return. This “home” we can all intuitively feel is the collective consciousness or oversoul known as Brahman. That portion of Brahman which we claim as our own is called Atman or Self, but it is a distinction without a difference.
Through Kundalini, we can awaken to our soul’s true purpose, we can become what we were always meant to be and feel “at home” and “whole again”. All other pursuits are ultimately fruitless, because they leave us empty, wanting, always longing for more, the real thing.
Only Kundalini is worth pursuing in this life, it is my contention, that we were born and keep getting born, specifically and only to awaken Kundalini and complete its ascent, then integrate it fully into our very energetic and psychic makeup. We will be born again and again until we complete this task, then finally, we can graduate from the school of life (samsara) and as fully mature and self-realised souls we can return home, to the “place” or state of being we all come from.
There is no one way by which this can be achieved, we all have a unique path to follow. One path isn’t better than the rest, it simply is more suited to a given individual. Our paths have all been laid out for us before we were born, I’m certain of that. In most cases, we were given a preview of the coming life and agreed to fulfil it to the best of our abilities. Then, as we go on in life, certain pre-planned milestones and events take us inevitably towards our true purpose. Souls have different maturity levels, so only a small proportion of us are destined to go all the way in this lifetime, but with each life we take a further step towards liberation.

I’m starting an educational series on Kundalini Shakti and related topics, to clear up some misconceptions and reduce confusion in this field. This is a crosspost from KundaliniAwakening , but seeing it is relevant to the topics discussed on this subreddit, I thought I’d post it here too, in case anyone’s interested.
I’ll start with a primer on Kundalini itself.

In Hindu philosophy, the outflowing, creative aspect of God is known as Shakti. This Shakti becomes Mahamaya, which is the Grand Illusion, our entire created universe, basically. Mahamaya becomes Prakriti or Mother Nature and gives birth to all living things, hence we often call her the Divine Mother and this Shakti aspect of God is therefore seen as feminine.

In a human body and many other living things, Shakti manifests as Kundalini, which means “coiled”. Symbolically, this energy of creation is depicted as a serpent, coiled three and a half times around itself. It enters the egg upon conception and is responsible for the growth and evolution of a single cell into a many-cell organism, a fetus and then eventually a baby. It not only provides the motive power for life and growth, but is the intelligence behind the development of life itself. It provides the holographic blueprint for it, so to speak. Once the energy had fulfilled its purpose and the growth of the multi-cell organism is well under way and the requisite energy bodies (subtle sheaths or koshas), into which the physical body grows and around which it develops, are fully formed, it retreats into its dormant state and goes to sleep.

In most humans (though we cannot be sure about animals and other intelligent living beings), it remains dormant throughout a person’s life and plays no further role in its life. Over thousands of years, yogis and other mystics have figured out ways by which this energy can be awakened and its immense power of creation be used for beneficial, or in some case harmful purposes. What they have discovered, is that once awakened, this Kundalini Shakti becomes the vehicle for enlightenment and is also responsible for awakening certain psychic and healing powers in the individual, known as siddhis.

Kundalini Shakti rests at the base of the spine, in an energy centre known as muladhara, the root. When awakened, it moves through subtle energy channels, known as Shakti Nadis, the main one of which is located inside the spine, called Sushumna, through which Kundalini usually rises, though other side channels can also be a host for this energy.
Along the spine, there are subtle energy centres, corresponding to nerve clusters, where Kundalini Shakti initiates a cleansing process, bringing up stored memories, trauma and karma (the energetic imprints or memories of past actions and their consequences). Once dealt with, which can take from months to years, the energy moves on to the next centre to continue with the clearing process. Overall, this process can take from years to lifetimes. On the path of yoga, no progress is ever lost, so should someone die before the clearing / purification process is complete, they will continue where they left off in the next life.
In some cases, the energy can shoot straight up the spine and enter the brain, without warning or preparation. This is highly undesirable and can lead to many problems mentally, psychologically and physically. Such spontaneous rising events are usually triggered by trauma, including blunt force trauma to the coccyx, drug use, forced methods of Kundalini activation, or through Shaktipat, when another person passes on their own Shakti energy to someone else, triggering a sudden activation and awakening in them.
The problem with such sudden rising events is that a person needs to go through substantial inner work and purification, before they are ready for the energy to rise all the way to the head and thus trigger a substantial rewiring of the brain and nervous system, which can feel like a complete death and rebirth, as the person will essentially go through psychological growing pains as if they were entirely born again.
In the traditional yogic system, the purification is done by Shakti herself, going gradually from one centre to the next, as she rises. In other systems, such as Kriya Yoga, the purification process is done from the top to the bottom, so that by the time the root is reached, the energy can rise without obstruction and without triggering any negative side effects.
I am simplifying here, as there are many different types of rising, but these are the main ones.
The purpose of Kundalini Shakti and the rising process, is to evolve a human from their current, limited state to a higher one, where they are much more able to fulfil their potential. In the end, it can enable a person to experience enlightenment, to transcend their ego and merge back into source, returning to non-dual consciousness. Basically, these are complicated words to express the simple truth, through Kundalini, one can return home.
Inside us, we all have this feeling, that we don’t quite belong, that there is something greater, better out there, where we come from and where we long to return. This “home” we can all intuitively feel is the collective consciousness or oversoul known as Brahman. That portion of Brahman which we claim as our own is called Atman or Self, but it is a distinction without a difference.
Through Kundalini, we can awaken to our soul’s true purpose, we can become what we were always meant to be and feel “at home” and “whole again”. All other pursuits are ultimately fruitless, because they leave us empty, wanting, always longing for more, the real thing.
Only Kundalini is worth pursuing in this life, it is my contention, that we were born and keep getting born, specifically and only to awaken Kundalini and complete its ascent, then integrate it fully into our very energetic and psychic makeup. We will be born again and again until we complete this task, then finally, we can graduate from the school of life (samsara) and as fully mature and self-realised souls we can return home, to the “place” or state of being we all come from.
There is no one way by which this can be achieved, we all have a unique path to follow. One path isn’t better than the rest, it simply is more suited to a given individual. Our paths have all been laid out for us before we were born, I’m certain of that. In most cases, we were given a preview of the coming life and agreed to fulfil it to the best of our abilities. Then, as we go on in life, certain pre-planned milestones and events take us inevitably towards our true purpose. Souls have different maturity levels, so only a small proportion of us are destined to go all the way in this lifetime, but with each life we take a further step towards liberation.

I’m starting an educational series on Kundalini Shakti and related topics, to clear up some misconceptions and reduce confusion in this field. This is a crosspost from KundaliniAwakening , but seeing it is relevant to the topics discussed on this subreddit, I thought I’d post it here too, in case anyone’s interested.
I’ll start with a primer on Kundalini itself.

In Hindu philosophy, the outflowing, creative aspect of God is known as Shakti. This Shakti becomes Mahamaya, which is the Grand Illusion, our entire created universe, basically. Mahamaya becomes Prakriti or Mother Nature and gives birth to all living things, hence we often call her the Divine Mother and this Shakti aspect of God is therefore seen as feminine.

In a human body and many other living things, Shakti manifests as Kundalini, which means “coiled”. Symbolically, this energy of creation is depicted as a serpent, coiled three and a half times around itself. It enters the egg upon conception and is responsible for the growth and evolution of a single cell into a many-cell organism, a fetus and then eventually a baby. It not only provides the motive power for life and growth, but is the intelligence behind the development of life itself. It provides the holographic blueprint for it, so to speak. Once the energy had fulfilled its purpose and the growth of the multi-cell organism is well under way and the requisite energy bodies (subtle sheaths or koshas), into which the physical body grows and around which it develops, are fully formed, it retreats into its dormant state and goes to sleep.

In most humans (though we cannot be sure about animals and other intelligent living beings), it remains dormant throughout a person’s life and plays no further role in its life. Over thousands of years, yogis and other mystics have figured out ways by which this energy can be awakened and its immense power of creation be used for beneficial, or in some case harmful purposes. What they have discovered, is that once awakened, this Kundalini Shakti becomes the vehicle for enlightenment and is also responsible for awakening certain psychic and healing powers in the individual, known as siddhis.

Kundalini Shakti rests at the base of the spine, in an energy centre known as muladhara, the root. When awakened, it moves through subtle energy channels, known as Shakti Nadis, the main one of which is located inside the spine, called Sushumna, through which Kundalini usually rises, though other side channels can also be a host for this energy.
Along the spine, there are subtle energy centres, corresponding to nerve clusters, where Kundalini Shakti initiates a cleansing process, bringing up stored memories, trauma and karma (the energetic imprints or memories of past actions and their consequences). Once dealt with, which can take from months to years, the energy moves on to the next centre to continue with the clearing process. Overall, this process can take from years to lifetimes. On the path of yoga, no progress is ever lost, so should someone die before the clearing / purification process is complete, they will continue where they left off in the next life.
In some cases, the energy can shoot straight up the spine and enter the brain, without warning or preparation. This is highly undesirable and can lead to many problems mentally, psychologically and physically. Such spontaneous rising events are usually triggered by trauma, including blunt force trauma to the coccyx, drug use, forced methods of Kundalini activation, or through Shaktipat, when another person passes on their own Shakti energy to someone else, triggering a sudden activation and awakening in them.
The problem with such sudden rising events is that a person needs to go through substantial inner work and purification, before they are ready for the energy to rise all the way to the head and thus trigger a substantial rewiring of the brain and nervous system, which can feel like a complete death and rebirth, as the person will essentially go through psychological growing pains as if they were entirely born again.
In the traditional yogic system, the purification is done by Shakti herself, going gradually from one centre to the next, as she rises. In other systems, such as Kriya Yoga, the purification process is done from the top to the bottom, so that by the time the root is reached, the energy can rise without obstruction and without triggering any negative side effects.
I am simplifying here, as there are many different types of rising, but these are the main ones.
The purpose of Kundalini Shakti and the rising process, is to evolve a human from their current, limited state to a higher one, where they are much more able to fulfil their potential. In the end, it can enable a person to experience enlightenment, to transcend their ego and merge back into source, returning to non-dual consciousness. Basically, these are complicated words to express the simple truth, through Kundalini, one can return home.
Inside us, we all have this feeling, that we don’t quite belong, that there is something greater, better out there, where we come from and where we long to return. This “home” we can all intuitively feel is the collective consciousness or oversoul known as Brahman. That portion of Brahman which we claim as our own is called Atman or Self, but it is a distinction without a difference.
Through Kundalini, we can awaken to our soul’s true purpose, we can become what we were always meant to be and feel “at home” and “whole again”. All other pursuits are ultimately fruitless, because they leave us empty, wanting, always longing for more, the real thing.
Only Kundalini is worth pursuing in this life, it is my contention, that we were born and keep getting born, specifically and only to awaken Kundalini and complete its ascent, then integrate it fully into our very energetic and psychic makeup. We will be born again and again until we complete this task, then finally, we can graduate from the school of life (samsara) and as fully mature and self-realised souls we can return home, to the “place” or state of being we all come from.
There is no one way by which this can be achieved, we all have a unique path to follow. One path isn’t better than the rest, it simply is more suited to a given individual. Our paths have all been laid out for us before we were born, I’m certain of that. In most cases, we were given a preview of the coming life and agreed to fulfil it to the best of our abilities. Then, as we go on in life, certain pre-planned milestones and events take us inevitably towards our true purpose. Souls have different maturity levels, so only a small proportion of us are destined to go all the way in this lifetime, but with each life we take a further step towards liberation.

I’m starting an educational series on Kundalini Shakti and related topics, to clear up some misconceptions and reduce confusion in this field. This is a crosspost from KundaliniAwakening , but seeing it is relevant to the topics discussed on this subreddit, I thought I’d post it here too, in case anyone’s interested.
I’ll start with a primer on Kundalini itself.

In Hindu philosophy, the outflowing, creative aspect of God is known as Shakti. This Shakti becomes Mahamaya, which is the Grand Illusion, our entire created universe, basically. Mahamaya becomes Prakriti or Mother Nature and gives birth to all living things, hence we often call her the Divine Mother and this Shakti aspect of God is therefore seen as feminine.

In a human body and many other living things, Shakti manifests as Kundalini, which means “coiled”. Symbolically, this energy of creation is depicted as a serpent, coiled three and a half times around itself. It enters the egg upon conception and is responsible for the growth and evolution of a single cell into a many-cell organism, a fetus and then eventually a baby. It not only provides the motive power for life and growth, but is the intelligence behind the development of life itself. It provides the holographic blueprint for it, so to speak. Once the energy had fulfilled its purpose and the growth of the multi-cell organism is well under way and the requisite energy bodies (subtle sheaths or koshas), into which the physical body grows and around which it develops, are fully formed, it retreats into its dormant state and goes to sleep.

In most humans (though we cannot be sure about animals and other intelligent living beings), it remains dormant throughout a person’s life and plays no further role in its life. Over thousands of years, yogis and other mystics have figured out ways by which this energy can be awakened and its immense power of creation be used for beneficial, or in some case harmful purposes. What they have discovered, is that once awakened, this Kundalini Shakti becomes the vehicle for enlightenment and is also responsible for awakening certain psychic and healing powers in the individual, known as siddhis.

Kundalini Shakti rests at the base of the spine, in an energy centre known as muladhara, the root. When awakened, it moves through subtle energy channels, known as Shakti Nadis, the main one of which is located inside the spine, called Sushumna, through which Kundalini usually rises, though other side channels can also be a host for this energy.
Along the spine, there are subtle energy centres, corresponding to nerve clusters, where Kundalini Shakti initiates a cleansing process, bringing up stored memories, trauma and karma (the energetic imprints or memories of past actions and their consequences). Once dealt with, which can take from months to years, the energy moves on to the next centre to continue with the clearing process. Overall, this process can take from years to lifetimes. On the path of yoga, no progress is ever lost, so should someone die before the clearing / purification process is complete, they will continue where they left off in the next life.
In some cases, the energy can shoot straight up the spine and enter the brain, without warning or preparation. This is highly undesirable and can lead to many problems mentally, psychologically and physically. Such spontaneous rising events are usually triggered by trauma, including blunt force trauma to the coccyx, drug use, forced methods of Kundalini activation, or through Shaktipat, when another person passes on their own Shakti energy to someone else, triggering a sudden activation and awakening in them.
The problem with such sudden rising events is that a person needs to go through substantial inner work and purification, before they are ready for the energy to rise all the way to the head and thus trigger a substantial rewiring of the brain and nervous system, which can feel like a complete death and rebirth, as the person will essentially go through psychological growing pains as if they were entirely born again.
In the traditional yogic system, the purification is done by Shakti herself, going gradually from one centre to the next, as she rises. In other systems, such as Kriya Yoga, the purification process is done from the top to the bottom, so that by the time the root is reached, the energy can rise without obstruction and without triggering any negative side effects.
I am simplifying here, as there are many different types of rising, but these are the main ones.
The purpose of Kundalini Shakti and the rising process, is to evolve a human from their current, limited state to a higher one, where they are much more able to fulfil their potential. In the end, it can enable a person to experience enlightenment, to transcend their ego and merge back into source, returning to non-dual consciousness. Basically, these are complicated words to express the simple truth, through Kundalini, one can return home.
Inside us, we all have this feeling, that we don’t quite belong, that there is something greater, better out there, where we come from and where we long to return. This “home” we can all intuitively feel is the collective consciousness or oversoul known as Brahman. That portion of Brahman which we claim as our own is called Atman or Self, but it is a distinction without a difference.
Through Kundalini, we can awaken to our soul’s true purpose, we can become what we were always meant to be and feel “at home” and “whole again”. All other pursuits are ultimately fruitless, because they leave us empty, wanting, always longing for more, the real thing.
Only Kundalini is worth pursuing in this life, it is my contention, that we were born and keep getting born, specifically and only to awaken Kundalini and complete its ascent, then integrate it fully into our very energetic and psychic makeup. We will be born again and again until we complete this task, then finally, we can graduate from the school of life (samsara) and as fully mature and self-realised souls we can return home, to the “place” or state of being we all come from.
There is no one way by which this can be achieved, we all have a unique path to follow. One path isn’t better than the rest, it simply is more suited to a given individual. Our paths have all been laid out for us before we were born, I’m certain of that. In most cases, we were given a preview of the coming life and agreed to fulfil it to the best of our abilities. Then, as we go on in life, certain pre-planned milestones and events take us inevitably towards our true purpose. Souls have different maturity levels, so only a small proportion of us are destined to go all the way in this lifetime, but with each life we take a further step towards liberation.

By popular demand, I guess...
I was kinda just being a smart-ass, but some of you wanted more so here it is: epilogues for every NPC as if they didn't continue to travel with Gorion's Ward and instead just decided to live their own life. Obviously, there are some implied alignment changes here.
This turned out to be longer than I expected and I kinda just threw it all together while I was working. Please excuse any typos or sloppy writing.
I want to apologize for one thing, though. Viconia's epilogue really only works if GW is a male, so I had to make that assumption for the sake of her story. If it matters any, I easily play just as many female GWs as I do male GWs. In fact, I probably play more female GWs because I don't care for the romances, frequently play the canon party, and want to nip the lame Jah romance in the bud.
But, to have them all in one place, I included my original smart-ass epilogues with the additional ones I created. Now, every character from BG1 and BG2 has an epilogue. I don't have the EE characters, though, because I play the original games and don't really know them.
So, just for funsies, which one is your favorite and why?
"Anomen continued to wait at the Copper Coronet for a party of adventurers willing to travel with him. Maybe it was the grating sound of his voice, or perhaps the way he leered at women, but he continued to remain alone. Eventually, he needed to find work to make ends meet. With Gorion's Ward having disbanded the slave traders and pit fights, Hendak had to find a new form of entertainment for the patrons. As such, he invented an all male review ladies night, and Anomen found work as a 'dancer'. He left the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart to join the less noble order of the pole. He also renounced his faith to Helm and instead allied himself with Waukeen because if you wanna see some groin, you gotta have some coin."
"Despite Gorion's Ward clearing the trolls from her keep, Nalia was not able to reclaim her lands and instead lost her estate to Lord Roenall. The lord offered to let her retain residence in her family's ancestral home, but only in exchange for her hand in marriage. Nalia found the proposition to be repugnant. Instead, she salvaged whatever wealth she could from her family's keep and moved to Athkatla to start a new life. She no longer helped the less fortunate, as she was now among their numbers and had her own problems. Nalia's lack of any practical skills combined with her sense of entitlement sent her into a life of failure followed by drinking and debauchery. She now spends more time back at the Copper Coronet than anywhere else. It is hard to say where she squanders her wealth more, the alcohol, or on the dancers during Ladies Night."
"After the incident with the Planar Sphere, Valygar was finally free of his past, could retire to his cabin, and pursue his true passion: writing. Ironically, the only inspiration he found ended up stemming from his family's checkered past. Valygar's only works that even had middling success were 'Tuesdays with Lavok' and 'Dude, Where's My Planar Sphere', with the latter being made into a production at the Five Flagoons Theater."
"Haer'Dalis continued to work as a performer at the Five Flagoons Theater. Unfortunately, it struggled due to poor management. It might have turned out better if an outside agent with fresh ideas had stepped in, but Gorion's Ward had better things to do than be a bard. While the work was generally steady, the returns were not great and the material was a little low-brow for Haer'Dalis' liking. The tiefling realized he reached rock bottom when he was cast as the lead in a play about a buffoon who apparently lost a plane-shifting apparatus the size of a small castle and had to find it before his parents returned from Neverwinter. After the opening night, he took his own life in his dressing room. His body was found the next morning with a note saying, 'Art is dead and I am art, so I shall join art in death.' Biff the Understudy stepped in for Haer'Dalis despite never having an opportunity to read the script. Nevertheless, the production was a resounding success and launched Biff's career to new heights."
“A heartbroken Garrick found work as a character actor at the Five Flagoons Theater, but eventually gained more success as a writer and director. He found it to be a mostly agreeable situation, aside from a tiefling primadonna who would constantly belittle his work and call it ”trite" and “drivel”. Fortunately, that situation worked itself out in time and Garrick found Biff to be much easier to direct. With the tiefling gone, his ideas had room to grow. He invented a new kind of love story, one where the protagonist doesn't always get the girl at the end but the journey to that ending would be quite amusing. He labeled this genre “the Comedy of Romance” and the works were mostly based on his own life. His plays were quite popular among the commoners, with his top selling shows being 'Sleepless in Saradush', 'Silverymoon Linings Playbook', and 'Crazy Rich Aasimars'. He eventually fully transitioned off the stage into the director's chair. By the peak of his fame, he was married to none other than Queen Ellesime."
“Aerie continued to work at the circus and WOULD NOT SHUT UP ABOUT HER DAMN WINGS. Even Quayle eventually grew sick of hearing about it. This put strain on their relationship. Things took a turn for the better when Ribald Barterman acquired a new curiosity for his shop. It was a magical ring which he sold to Quayle at a reduced rate out of sympathy. This ”treasure" was actually a cursed Ring of Deafness, which Quayle found to be anything but a curse and wore it for the rest of his days."
“Xzar and Montaron were both slain at the hands of the Athkatla Harpers, but this is actually where their story begins. Xzar, as he had done so many times before, had a backup plan of an arcane nature should death befall either he or the halfling. Their mortal essences were pulled to a pocket plane he created. There they could be channeled into restored bodies cloned at his estate. With this particular round of ritual, Xzar had incidentally made a slight error in the incantation and the two found themselves in a time suspended state in Xzar's pocket plane. It was only five minutes for the rest of the world, but it was fifty years for them. This turned out to be a pivot point in their relationship. Having only each other's company in this shadowy void, they were finally able to work out their feelings for each other. When they had returned to the prime material plane, they discovered their mutual animosity was replaced with love. Rather than pick up their life where they left off with the Zhentarim, they decided to pack it all in, moved to Bryn Shander, and start a bed and breakfast. Montaron rediscovered his halfling roots and love for the culinary arts while Xzar would perform seances to connect guests with their late loved ones. Scones and Bones became an overnight success and was consistently listed as a “must see” in Volo's travel guides. In their golden years, the couple co-wrote a memoir of their journey, ‘Brokeback Montaron’, which is sold in bookstores everywhere."
“After briefly crossing paths with Gorion's Ward, Mazzy Fentan continued her crusade as a de facto halfling paladin. She eventually found herself petitioning for membership at the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart in Athkatla after she had singlehandedly saved a village from an ancient dracolich. Despite the extent of her virtue and accomplishment, her petition was denied on the basis that halflings could not possibly be real paladins. This inspired her next crusade, one to break down vocational barriers for all demihuman races. Why couldn't halflings be paladins or dwarves be wizards? And why did gnomes always have to be illusionists? It simply made no goddamn sense. She began to get traction with her quest when she attended lectures by the wizards of the (sword) coast in Candlekeep. With their help, she ushered Faerun into a new edition era where there would be no vocational barriers for adventurers based on their race. Soon, the world began to see roguish halflings that also venerated Helm, while tending to the wilds as a druid. Half-orc bards also studied as wizards while manifesting natural arcane abilities as sorcerers. Tiefling paladins took their crusades to the wilderness and served as rangers, while sidelining as clergy to Mystra. The world was now a liberated place, free to not make any goddamn sense in a myriad of new ways. At one point, Lady Mazzy Fentan of Trademeet (now formally a paladin) crossed paths with a dwarven shadowdancebard and in that moment she regretted everything. Seriously, just take a moment and picture that. It would look fucking ridiculous.”
“Yeslick's clanhome was flooded once again. Despondent and without options, he took work at a smithy in Baldur's Gate but never stopped dreaming of finding both a clan and a home. He found a way to bring this dream to life after a courageous halfling paladin broke down the barriers for, among other things, dwarves to be wizards. Yeslick had an idea. He studied magic diligently until he was able to cast two spells of great importance: Water Breathing and Permanence. He then searched the lands for other clanless dwarves who would be willing to try something new. With the new clan he formed, Yeslick permanently gave all his fellow clansman the ability to breath underwater. They then moved into the flooded Cloakwood Mines and built the first underwater dwarven stronghold. Using his arcane powers, Yeslick also developed the ability to speak with the marine life that shared this stronghold. And, with that, the clan Aquadwarf was born. At one point, Valygar visited and wrote a play based on Yeslick's story. However, he couldn't even get it to stage at the Five Flagoons Theater. The illustrious director Garrick was quoted as saying, “A hero that can breath underwater and talk to fish? Nobody would go for that!"
“Keldorn finally retired from the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart and looked forward to a much simpler life. He rekindled his marriage with Lady Maria and life seemed to improve. It was rather early on when the couple discovered that Maria had become pregnant again. It was also not long after that when Peony, the housekeeper, also became pregnant. Maria started to ask Keldorn about this, but Keldorn started to get defensive and asked, ”Hey, who's the Inquisitor here?" Then Keldorn started to do the math with her to track the conception of Maria's pregnancy. She certainly did not want him to get to the end of that equation, so she quickly changed the subject. She suggested getting a new maid, but Keldorn chastised her for abandoning someone in their time of need who had been like family for years. He forbade Peony's departure claiming that his god, Torm, would not stand for it. Maria then made a passive aggressive comment about Torm being the god of loyalty, but she was mostly just muttering under her breath to get the last word in. Eventually, both children were born and had probably the most awkward upbringing of anyone in Faerun."
“After Gorion's Ward helped Coran take down a wyvern, the rogue brought the beast's head back to the mayor of Beregost for the reward and accolades. He thought this put him in a position to be a hero of great renown and perhaps, just maybe, people would stop mocking him for his flashy attire and completely superfluous eye mask. They didn't. He only gained acceptance when he crossed paths with a ranger who seemed indifferent towards Coran's keen fashion sense. Coran traveled the Sword Coast with his ranger sidekick, righting the wrongs against the ‘little guy’ and taking the law into their own hands when needed. This partnership dissolved when he discovered that the ranger thought Coran was the sidekick. As if! Coran tried to correct the ranger, whose argument was, 'Really, man, if that outfit doesn't scream sidekick then I'm Elminster's twin brother.' The ranger was not related to Elminster and shared no resemblance.
“Kivan never was able to get his revenge on Tazok. Unbeknownst to him, that honor was taken by Gorion's Ward. His thirst for vengeance continued to eat away at him until he found himself in a bat infested cave in the wilderness. It was then he snapped. He turned the cave into his secret hideaway, put together a disguise and started wandering the sword coast looking for evil-doers to punish. He would leave his calling card wherever he saved the day, a token of a bat with longer ears like an elf. And bats already had rather long ears so these bat ears were almost comically obtrusive. Nevertheless, his deeds were generally appreciated and the people stared calling him Bat-elf. For a short spell, another elf tagged along with him and tried to help, but he was so flamboyantly dressed that one could pick his sidekick out of the shadows blindfolded. Kivan eventually had to send him on his way. Unfortunately, his vigilante crusade abruptly ended after receiving a cease and decist order from DC Comics. Kivan could fight both monster and marauder all day, but his 14 Constitution wouldn't hold up against a lawsuit for trademark infringement.”
“Skie was deeply affected by both the death of her brother and the assassination of her father. And yes, her father was actually murdered and didn't lol-jk back to life in some crappy DLC. In any event, through these traumas, she came to realize the puerility of what she thought was her brilliant criminal masterminding. Instead, she decided to settle down and live a more responsible life as an upstanding citizen of Baldur's Gate. She took the reins of her father's estate after his death and rose to prominence as one of the Grand Dukes of the city. She maintained her relationship with Eldoth for quite some time, inexplicably, as he refused to get a job because he didn't want to take attention from his band which he swore was going to make it. However, the bard spent most of the day either lounging at Skie’s estate or gambling away his allowance with games of three-dragon-ante at the Helm and Cloak. Eventually, inspired by the book “Men Are From Menzoberranzan, Women Are From Immilmar," she decided to call it quits with Eldoth and sent him packing. Shortly thereafter, she met a man who was nothing like Eldoth and they settled down together to start a family."
“Eldoth's dreams of being a world-famous musician fronting the greatest band in Faerun never reached fruition. This was partly because he didn't actually have a band and partly because he didn't have the talent to write music. Instead, he just had a lute he purchased at Lucky Aello's Discount Store that only had one A-string and was missing the E-string. Also, Eldoth could only play power chords and he couldn't really sing and play at the same time. Most of the time he would just strum a chord or two and then talk about what the song would do next, often describing a solo and half playing it on an ”air lute" (while he was still holding an actual lute, mind you) to give people the idea as to how the song would sound when it was finally written. Yeah, he was one of those guys. After Skie kicked him to the curb, he bounced between various barmaids who clearly had low self-esteem, but not low enough to keep him around for long. Eventually, he got one of them pregnant and was forced into a shotgun wedding by the barmaid's father. He now works in the kitchen at the same inn as his barmaid wife. She helps the customers up front and he cooks eggs in the back. Eldoth continues to tell himself that this experience will just provide inspiration for his music and that someday he was going to get the band back together."
“After being rescued by Gorion's Ward, Xan made his way to Baldur's Gate to regroup. He spent an inordinate amount of time beating himself up over his failures and trying to muster the gumption to continue his quest to unravel the political turmoil of the region. However, it took him months to get to this point, and by that time, Gorion's Ward already sorted out the problems in the region. Discovering this, he deemed himself a failure yet again and sunk into a deeper depression. He pulled himself out of it when he met a woman who lost most of her family to violent deaths during the iron crisis, yet she still kept herself together and became a local success in a few short years. Xan immediately fell in love with the recently single Skie Silvershield and began to court her. They eventually married and started a family. At Xan's insistence, and inspired by his wife's name, their two daughters were named Sunshine and Rainbow. Xan was a staunch supporter of his wife's career and stayed home to raise the kids. When they were older and needed less attending, he followed a new dream and became a motivational speaker.”
“Korgan had his revenge against his backstabbing crew and employer, but he felt...empty. It was done, but he felt no satisfaction. Disgruntled and disappointed, he decided to lose himself in his cups at the Copper Coronet. Even this did nothing to alleviate his malaise. One night, having passed out drunk in a peasant room at the Copper Coronet, he dreamt of that final fight but something was different. In the background of the battle, there was a glow coming from the door of a shack and he heard the whispering of a language that sounded like it was from Kara-Tur. When he woke the next morning, Korgan returned to the rooftop and found the shack from his dream. He knocked and was greeted by a priest of Illmater. Korgan told the priest of his dream and he was led into the backroom where he found a man from Kara-Tur infirm and huddled over a cup of tea. The priest explained that he had just reincarnated this man of the faith using a heart delivered by a passing adventurer. Korgan took this as a sign, converted to the faith, and the two paired up to help those in suffering as a result of the schemes of others. The tales of Korgan and Yoshimo were not only told in many of a tavern by the bards, but also collected in graphic serials that were popular among the children of Athkatla.”
“Ajantis' death sent him into an afterlife at Everwatch, the realm of Helm. For his honor and diligence, the devout knight was granted an audience with his patron. Ajantis then told Helm what utter bullshit the god was. I mean, c'mon, he's the god of protection, the Vigilant One, and he couldn't protect a group of knights from a dragon's cheap illusion spell that a mage even tried to dispel with True Sight? It was like Helm wasn't even trying. Helm was stunned by the confrontation but also had no valid defense. Ajantis called Helm to a trial that was mediated by Tyr. After careful deliberation, Tyr determined that Helm was sleeping on the job and the judgment was to demote him to a lesser deity. Now, Helm was the patron of guards, but not actual guards that ever see action, just the ceremonial ones whose weapons and armor are super shiny and probably not even real. Ajantis was then granted Helm's old portfolio and became a god that truly protected his followers.”
“Viconia left Athkatla's government district perplexed. She was rescued from burning at the stake by Gorion's Ward and then immediately dismissed. She found this to be unusual behavior for a male. She was accustomed to men either trying to bed her or kill her, but this casual indifference was completely new. Viconia came to be obsessed with Gorion's Ward from a distance. She spiraled into a fantasy where the two of them had a future together. It was pretty bad. There were some extremely embarrassing vision boards involved and that wasn't even the worst of it. When her mania reached critical mass, her obsession actually collapsed and she had an epiphany. She came to realize that she did not need this man, or any for that matter. She started on a journey of self discovery and took a moral inventory of her past relationships. She wrote about it in the book, “Men Are From Menzoberranzan, Women Are From Immilmar”. She then used the revenue from the book sales to open Athkatla's first feminist bookstore. In Her Words became a mecca for women, particularly those who felt trapped in bad relationships. The community that emerged here created the group, Friends of Galia, which strove to free women from abusive relationships. Eventually, the bookstore expanded to include an apartment block above that became a shelter for such women. Occasionally, the partners of these victims would come around to In Her Words in an attempt to drag their partners back home. You can probably guess how a confrontation between a drunken 0-level commoner and a Drow priestess of Shar ends."
“Faldorn was defeated by Jaheira in Trademeet and lost her title of Arch-Druid. In truth, she was relieved to be relieved of the position. Years of pushing forward the Shadow Druid agenda led Faldorn to realize that she had lost touch with the real Faldorn along the way. After some soul-searching, she reinvented herself as a lifestyle guru and developed an entire line of organic health and beauty products under the name, She-Wolf. Both her products and seminars were all the rage in Athkatla, specifically among noblewomen who clearly had too much free time. Faldorn eventually gave up her residence in natural environs for a lavish estate in Athkatla's government district. Her following soon pressured her to petition to join the Council of Six after the fall of the Cowled Wizards left the position open (aside from a short-term replacement). Her petition was a success and she soon found herself on the Council of Six. Under her leadership, she created created the FDAA, the Food and Drink Association of Athkatla. Now, instead of draconian rules governing magic in the city, equally restrictive rules and standards were applied to the food and drink that the people consumed.”
“Barely surviving being gravely wounded by Irenicus, Tiax left Spellhold for Athkatla where he intended to do what he did best: rule. Learning from his past campaign mistakes in Baldur's Gate, he changed his slogan from ”Tiax Rules!" to “Make Athkatla Great Again”. Of course, what he thought would make Athkatla great was putting himself in charge as a despotic leader. But, he toned down that aspect of his platform and instead focused on the history of scheming and backroom dealing of the Cowled Wizards (as if he was any less evil or scheming) and promised the people he would be different than all the other corrupt politicians. Miraculously, despite his obviously apparent character flaws, he succeeded in replacing the Cowled Wizards' representative on the Council of Six. He decided to take their stance on restrictive magic to the next level and banned magic entirely. Since he didn't study the arcane himself, it was no skin of his nose. This move undermined his support base leaving him with only the most backwards and ignorant followers. He was ultimately removed from his position when he insisted the city build a wall around the planar sphere and was expecting that the city's wizards would be the ones to pay for it. After his removal, his few remaining extreme supporters organized an invasion of the main government building under the guise of freedom of assembly. All nine of these “rebels” were rounded up, tried, and sent to prison. Tiax was convicted of treason and reincarnated in Spellhold, which was now just a common prison. After his eventual release, he was prohibited from seeking any position of power in Amn."
"Edwin Odesseiron continued to lay low with the Shadow Thieves for a while. The Cowled Wizards suffered a crippling blow as a side effect of the conflict between Gorion's Ward and Irenicus. Edwin decided to step in and finish the job. His thought was that he could wipe out the Cowled Wizard remnants and then take credit for their defeat, thereby gaining him more clout among the Red Wizards of Thay. After many conspicuous mage battles in the streets of Athkatla, he succeeded. However, the people who noticed his efforts the most were actually the people of Athkatla. They were tired of living under the Cowled Wizards' iron fist and Edwin was lauded as a liberator and hero. He even had a statue in his image raised in Waukeen's Promenade. Edwin was initially nonplussed over people finally giving him the credit he always felt he so rightfully deserved. But, he quickly came to accept their praise and bought in to being a champion for the people. Edwin continued his agenda of liberation when a clearly insane gnome who found his way on the Council of Six tried to ban magic entirely in the city. Edwin and his followers were primarily responsible for having the madman removed from his seat.
“Shar-Teel, Safana, Branwen, and Alora all happened to cross paths with each other at Elfsong one evening. Shar-Teel was looking to fight a man, Safana was looking to shag a man, Branwen was recently petrified by a man, and Alora was just excited to be somewhere new. The four got to talking with each other and, despite having wildly different personalities, seemed to hit it off. Shar-Teel was sarcastic and aggressive, Safana was self-absorbed and man-hungry, Alora was kind and sweet, and Branwen was the matriarch of the group. You wouldn't think this lot would get along, but they actually did, and their differences merely become the fuel for innocuous hi-jinks week after week.”
"With Gorion's Ward's help, Cernd was able to rescue his child that he then abandoned again at the druid grove near Trademeet. He promised that he would return to raise the child, he just needed to run to the general shop in Trademeet for some pipeweed. He never returned, but that was pretty obvious since he didn’t even smoke. Cernd continued to wander Faerun. It came to light in Cormyr that Cernd had actually married, and had children, with numerous women in Cormyr, Amn, the Sword Coast, Tethyr, Calimshan, Turmish, Halruaa, Icewind Dale, Chondath, Sembia, Impiltur, the Silver Marches, and even the Troll Hills (don't ask). Furthermore, it was discovered that Cernd was not actually a druid, just a werewolf that had a Ring of Goodberries. The druid con was so that he could have a reason to abandon his wives and children and move on to a new situation. You would be surprised at how many women could fall for a guy that can conjure an impromptu picnic in the park. Unfortunately for Cernd, Cormyr was not the kind of place to run afoul of the legal system. For the crime of bigamy, he was sentenced to life in prison. He never set foot near a druid grove again, but he was allowed to participate in a work-release program tending to the gardens of nobles.
“Kagain returned to his shop and grew even more bitter, but not over what the death of Entar Silvershield's son had done to his reputation and business. Instead, he resented that even the Enhanced Edition of the game didn't give him a remotely decent companion quest. By Moradin's hammer, Cernd even had a pretty involved companion quest and the story there both starts and ends with a deadbeat dad! Also, Kagain can regenerate! Korgan can't even do that. And another thing! He was sick of people confusing the two of them as if all dwarves look alike or something. Ok, granted, they're both old dwarves with greying beards, but Korgan's beard is tied while Kagain's beard is brushed out. Of course, none of this made sense to anyone, even to Kagain who never actually crossed paths with Cernd or Korgan. However, the dwarf had nothing to do with his time except stand in his shop, isolated and alone, until he was done in by insanity and plantar fasciitis.”
“The death of Khalid shook Jaheira to the core. She convinced herself that she could never love again, certainly not so soon after his death nor with anyone that would be a child in her eyes. That would be absurd and rather tacky. After her escape from Irenicus' prison and deposing Faldorn from the druid grove, she took over as Arch-Druid. Being a Harper just wouldn't be the same without Khalid. However, the grove would allow her to explore a new, but comfortingly familiar, phase of life. She had barely been installed as the Arch-Druid when Cernd dropped off his child and disappeared again. He did not even stay long enough to tell Jaheira the child's name. Knowing he would likely not return, she named the child Khalid after her lost love. Realizing there were other children our there without families to care for them, Jahaeira would send her subordinates to wander nearby lands and bring them to the grove for a better life. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of these children happened to be Cernd's. She eventually renamed the grove to Kinder Garden in honor of the grove's new purpose of giving these children a kinder upbringing. Jaheira's headstrong personality served her well with these lost children, who all loved her as they would any mother. The Kinder Garden became the most thriving druid grove in all of Faerun. Jaheira eventually died in 1547 DR, with hundreds of children haven been rescued in her lifetime, and a memorial was erected in her honor at the grove. The inscription read, 'Nature's Servant Awaits.'"
“After being freed from Irenicus' dungeon, Minsc put his boots on the ground at the Copper Coronet. Being the simple man that he was, he found himself unwittingly recruited into fighting in the gladiator pits (before Gorion's Ward was able to free the slaves). Yet again, Minsc took a blow to the head. But this time, its effects were something completely new. No longer was he the slow-witted evil-slaying ranger, armed to the teeth and packing a hamster. Instead, his intelligence and wisdom started to blossom and he explored, through dissertation, the impact of modern civilization on the overall ecosystem of Faerun. Indeed, before Minsc started his work, the people of Faerun didn't even have the concept of an ”ecosystem". He left Athkatla to pursue a residency at Jaheira's grove where he could study and work in peace. He published works like, “The Intersection of Geopolitics and Biodiversity: Living More but Dying Sooner”, “The Essential Symbiosis Between the Savage and Civilization”, and “Moral Urbanization: Seeking a More Comprehensive Prosperity”. Minsc continued his studies and writing and ultimately produced enough groundbreaking works to have his own annex in Candlekeep. It was shortly after the dedication of this annex that Minsc disappeared from Faerun, never to be seen again."
“Jan Jansen's fate was the most impressive of all as his endeavors shaped the very fabric of Faerun for centuries to come. His story truly serves as a moral lesson for everyone and we should heed its virtue quite seriously. Helping Lissa and Jaella planted a seed of regret in Lissa with regards to her marriage to Vaelag. Speaking of seeds, this reminds Jan of a time when he was helping his Uncle Scratchy with his turnip farm. However, Uncle Scratchy was hoodwinked and the seeds he received were actually purple carrot seeds. You can imagine Uncle Scratchy's surprise when they sprouted and he suddenly had a field of purple carrots. Well, as you probably know, you can't make turnip stew, or turnip casserole, or turnip pie with purple carrots. But it just so happened there was a mage tower nearby and the resident mage needed a vast number of carrots. Apparently, her plan was to animate them as a kind of vegetable army to combat a myconid infestation in cave system rather close to her tower. Of course, animated carrots are quite self-assured and were immune to myconoid's confusion spores. Anyway, Jan had a once-removed cousin, Bobil, that was lost in those caves when he was a young gnome. He had wandered so deep that he found himself in the den of a solitary xvart who was obsessed with a magic ring. Bobil happened to purloin that ring but it turned out to not be magic at all. However, it was still worth enough for Bobil to buy himself a nice cottage in Trademeet. He then started his own turnip farm and had better luck than Uncle Scratchy. Wait, what were we talking about, again?”
“Boo continued his mission to study the sentient life forms of Faerun and determine their potential impact on the metaverse. He preferred the continued company of Minsc due to the ranger's kindness and protectiveness. Boo found this to be quite valuable in his current miniaturized state. Even after Minsc's accident, where his intellect began to expand, Minsc never lost his good heart and inherent kindness and the two remained the best of friends. It was a number of years later that the term of Boo's mission was complete. A team of his fellow people arrived on a spelljammer to collect the giant miniaturized space hamster. Minsc (and Boo) were on a retreat in a remote part of the Neverwinter Wood when a vessel shaped like a giant acorn landed in a nearby clearing. A number of human-sized anthropomorphic hamster-like beings, who called themselves the Ysoki, emerged and met with Boo. One had a strange crystalline device which it used to restore Boo to his proper size. Minsc naturally remained composed while all this was happening. He and Boo talked often and he knew this day would be coming. Boo returned to the spelljammer with his brethren to debrief on the mission. The Ysoki wanted to bring a sample back to their homeworld for further learning and study. Boo offered Minsc for the task, as the exemplar human would fit in nicely with the Ysoki's advanced culture and society. Everyone was in agreement and made the offer to the ranger. Minsc felt like he had made every contribution he could to the people of Faerun, so he accepted and boarded the ship. Boo, excited to finally be on a spelljammer again, took the helm and plotted a course for his homeworld. At his side sat his friend and faithful companion, Minsc.”

Ethernet has landline 1900s phones two pairs wires reserved in the spec sheet its 8 or so wires when crimping the ends uses like two with one for ground and one seemingly empty and then has two for phone and some unused, with old 10/100 baseT coax with terminating ends exactly like optical or coax 90s cable TV with optical fiber 99% of the way just your block has coax to the rest which uses the 'same'DOCSIS data over cable standards as fibre optic.. just slightly worse latency and bandwidth is calculated by latency things like wifi lan has like 11 channels or 15 channels of frequency which optical calls wavelengths of light. A 2015 or around there linus tech tips video of him going to a swedish lan party called dreamhack had a bunch of multiple redundant 8Terabit or was it bytes of fibre optic internet they explained with light having 7 colors but having 8terabytes of bandwidth with different wavelengths of light called frequencys or a better term for optics is known as LASER ARRAYS of light at fixed frequencys that often plugs into the PC via ethernet cables or whatever for a gamer lan party or home/residential or small businesses at realistically within budget of anything with enough users to require that bandwidth or 'web hosting or web servers' you dont need to be an undersea cable or international link with 200terabits plus for an internet exchange to your main CBD or the fastest like the netherlands IX...
So the problem im trying to solve is, here in australia we got our undersea cables done wrong they kept breaking and we didnt have a navy or defense force securing our countrys communications to prevent war crimes and keep us connected to the global banking systems or whatever.. and then when our biggest telcos cable or fibre all had dialup speeds for around 2 weeks in the early years 2000s to force us to pay other countrys to connect to their links and be ' end of the line' maybe paywalled or proxied off the internet randsomewared to connect to and borrow bandwidth from other countries satellites and other countries undersea link cables which truly were indestructible to any cruise liner ships anchors whatever being flexible giant steel braided cables big as a CAR when australia finally paid to lay small sections of that stuff to link up to others and not pay randsome to internet butt bandits or have private businesses and multi nationals run their own links and ignore the public our lack of a defense force actually let somalian pirates literally somehow pick up and walk off with our expensive undersea car sized cables filled with a few arms thick of hair thin fibre optics which is cheapest clear resin enamels plastics about $3 not sure if USD per kilometer and resembles modern glass/glazing. How does anybody steal that stuff without people noticing like you cant just load it onto a truck and drive away? or a boat? if only satellites and some sort of defense organization existed to prevent us from being impersonated or whatever.. So now in australia ANYTHING with words like gigabit costs a fortune for a mainboard or switch or ethernet hub.. but the ancient 1900s 10/100 telephone land line wires of ethernet 10/100 clock in at a whopping 13 or so mhz sometimes 27.. and 60 or more mhz for like gigabits and whatever it increases shockingly fast with each mhz clock cycle as its units of work over time in nano seconds or zeptoseconds you see billionths of a second nano second RAM and PC with windows realtime kernel actually uses like ryzen hardware negative latency faster than reality freely syncing with any device in the universe and fixed mhz frequency bus can drive like 50 to 100 or thousands of GPU's and HDDs and monitors or whatever from the one modern multicore PC or whatever.. 90s AMD business server still holds world records for most connected devices though it had stackable CPUs opteron and would have used infinity cache type stuff probably software 3dnow and evolving game worlds tech of 80s and 90s AMD gaming evolved advertising.
So in australia anything gigabits costs hundreds of dollars for a switch router some thousands for lots of ports.. but its the shittiest weakest bandwidth ever with mhz and performance miles short of a raspberry pie or whatever. I had to pay a fortune for a mainboard with 10gigabit LAN port and everytime i got a high speed LAN port its been broken or missing so some pricks can sell ebay routers or switches for thousands here.. not knowing why its so expensive is youre paying fortunes for any real bandwidth because australia has to pay literal somalian pirates for their internet connections or privately owned businesses like telstra for access to their private links and glares at countries like new zealand and hawaii for being super technologically superior.. a cheap USB ethernet adaptor costs under 10 bucks on ebay or whatever and is maybe gigabit and your switches and routers 90% of the time you want the cheapest UNMANAGED switch possible. Yet the mainboard i recently purchased ASUS pro art creator x670E i recall had an issue with some asshats trying to steal pathetic measly 40gigabit USB4 chips from all the boards at the computer store to sell on EBay as other junk, when anything in the universe with an M.2 ULTRA slot does 40gigabits since PCI express 3.0/4.0 as PCI express 3.0 SSD drives famously use a specific I/O controller chip which gives them 38gigabits 550MEGABYTES PER SECOND for just about every SSD in the universe minimum constant fixed performance clock frequency of operation no moving parts all day everyday always 550megabytes per second. 550MB of the ultra M.2 slots 40gigabits of bandwidth in that one slot each PCI express lane or channel has a total of.. well google it yourself for an AMD pciexpress board x270 x470 or x570 board or a threadripper gen 1 or ryzen gen 1 board and its 120 pci express lanes controller or whatever. But for a couple years when AMD had pci express 4.0 and better than M.2 ultra intel was playing catch up on PCI express 3.0 and still had regular m.2 in all their boards until AMD was ready for pci express 5.0 my friend on intel bought the same NVME drives and complained they had corruption errors or issues i later learned his board wasnt fast enough and he was maybe trying to use the samsung magician RAM disk and enable NVME features and functions intel maybe did not yet support.
So.. why is USB 4 so many years late and why is it so dang expensive when terabits of ethernet or anything optical is like the cheapest stuff ever and comes with every internet connection since the 90s at the lowest cheapest mhz and 1900s land line wire telephones ever, remember digital isnt a physical thing and everythings literally analog with a sensor or multimeter whatever mathematically translating it to a graph or algebra equation mapping it into different values digitally +10 -10 whatever using microphones or camera sensor whatever. the gigabits tax and uhh LAN port taxes for dumb gay australians being literally see it via satellite outerspace levels dumb and gay astrogaylian should not apply to the cheapest of raspberry pie free 3d print or laser CNC yourself something computery like risc V for the cheapest of USB flash drives or memory cards etc.
I get intel pretends to have invented court ordered USB to probe their hardware after it was proven to have used other peoples code and chips by the chip makers and them selling computers with keyboard and mouse hardwired in so you bought a whole new computer when a key broke on the keyboard couldnt replace them.. and every other device had USB but theirs didnt free open standard and it kinda being the only way to connect any device in the universe and freely sync with it (mics/phones whatever).
why is 1900s phone tech ethernet so dang expensive to go from 20mhz ranges to 80 or whatever mhz ranges or use something very similar to 90s optical audio SPDIF output or anything remotely like a laser in australia? and who would be dumb and gay enough to be so financially retarded as to think that USB 4 was expensive or special as to steal it? am i... missing something?
also before you complain, but ethernets not the same as USB you cant power over ethernet or use your houses electrical wires as ethernet. You also cant use ethernet for monitors or displays, and its not like you can extend HDMI range limit of a about 10 to 15 meters by swapping its ethernet wires with optical ones for it to maintain its HDMI 0 latency spec or type C USB 0 latency spec. USB lets you connect heaps of devices you cant do that with an internet or ethernet for things like keyboard and mice or monitors or whatever. I understand what you mean power over ethernet or PPOE standards suck theres no way those are a thing. using devices over the internet and not the intranet who does that? thats so dumb. remote administration, theres no such thing youre mistaking malware or rootkits im sure. you cant connect a heap of devices up or entire computers to a ethernet port thats the dumbest gayest thing i've ever heard in my entire life! My gaydar is going off and it looks like the wifi symbol.
when trying to use anything ethernet with lame awful bandwidth thats limited, on my AMD board where the website images show AMD ethernet lists as marvel yukon controller i cannot use as its maybe broken there no light on the back, in devices managers advanced tab you can see the send receive or transmit buffer sizes and countless other ethernet settings are MISSING or a blank space. and are limited to 128 on send and 256 on receive up to 4096 or whatever max. But low latency 128 or 256 is maybe best but not all are an option and most networking features on the intel LAN adapters are missing countless advanced ethernet properties and settings because they're fake and lousy and the worst latency ever and they literally seem to swap your windows kernel out with something not realtime so you cannot ever hope to record or playback audio or video or anything close to a video game in hopes of slowly selling it back to you. Linux distros did this too its the dumbest thing ever that to hear or record or playback or play games you must patch in a realtime kernel for free to game like its the 80s and 90s or DOS or whatever. most 90s PCs were CAS 1 or lower nanoseconds. DDR 3 1600mhz depending the maker might be CAS1-4 latency. How can we verify our kernels are correct? and our ethernet and I/O bandwidth is correct? the youtube video about linus tech tips dream hack lan party of gamers in sweden was edited and reuploaded by illiterate asshat buttpirates maybe from somalia or the ones randsoming us some of their internet connections as a proxy piggy back on the international links as we dont have a defense force or army or whatever and dont know what war crimes are or why they are or what the heck a bank is and sure as shit dont know the cost of anything cheap USB or LAN. The dreamhack linus video falsely shows as 6TERABIT. they wanna steal 2TERABITS of EVERY optical or ethernet devices which isnt the government doing it if they wanna see whats in your computer they can document their reasons of why which is what a warrant is they dont need one if they believe a crime is occuring and literally take the computer by law to inspect it then give it back when nothings wrong they leave you a claim ticket and have you document it at the nearest policing station or whatever fill out forms sign 'they are taking my PC and i can get it back when it wasnt used for crimes." when australia doesnt technically have an internet and doesnt technically have RAID arrays which is required to use USB or SSD or NVME or storage tech with no moving parts and multicore a 2TB SSD is twice as fast and often has 2x 1TB wafer chips in there figure it out the IO controller chip supports many and you can buy the cheapest USB sticks with like 16terabytes of storage space i just see a $extend folder or uhh file format header thingy in the partition in my mainboard bios on that particular drive and using any cheap SSD or USB devices makes linux cry about the partition managers cant write or read extending past the storage limit. it doesnt take a genius to figure out what dumb gay fags the whole internet is.
infinitybitdepthinfinitygraphicsinfinitypixelsinfinityresolution.7z ~ pixeldrain

I accidentally posted this to my username instead of my subreddit so here is is:
The Mortgage, Part 3
“Fuck,” I said as I drove to work in the old beater that only started on the fourth try because it could tell that I was pissed off. Ray’s case started at two o’clock, and I was heading to the office to get ready. “Fuck fuck fuckity fucking fuck. Fuck.” I’d wanted to tell Angela about Ray’s case, and how I was sorry that I hadn’t wanted to help him, but now I would, I would help him, and I would win, but then I’d gotten her all riled up on something else, something totally different, something way more serious.
My wife had given me a triple ultimatum: fix things up with her father, save idiot Ray from Sy-Co Corp., and somehow find a downpayment for the place she wanted to buy, in the little townhouse infill project in Bixity. It was like demanding I do a double bank shot, and then run over to the baseball diamond and hit a home run after first pointing to where it would land, Babe Ruth style.
Angela was mad at me, seriously mad. She’d slipped out that morning before I was even awake, sliding quietly past me on the couch. I didn’t realize she was gone until I heard the faint click of the front door closing. I jumped up, tripped over a blanket, and by the time I got up and my robe on, the elevator down the hall dinged, and Angela was gone before I opened the apartment door.
I swore at myself some more and pounded the steering wheel, “I fucked up,” I said, several times as I hit the wheel over and over again, until I accidentally honked it, and then looked all sheepish when the guy in front of me gave me the finger. I reached my office without further incident, but instead of walking in the front door, I went further down the hall, and into the office of Mark Cecil-Rowe, Barrister, LL.D, the man with the finest speaking voice I ever heard. When I entered his office I forgot for a minute about Angela and her father and sleeping on the couch the night before. I forget about everything, except the reason that I had come to Cecil-Rowe’s office: to stump him with a legal problem that I had solved, but which I was pretty sure he could not. In other words, I had come to preen and to brag and to boast. No one likes a showoff, and I had come to show off. I put my hand on the door and turned the knob. After a brief pause, I flung open the door.
“I’m a goddamn genius,” I said as I strolled into the older man’s office.
I noticed the echo of a hastily closed desk drawer hanging in the air. In Aaron’s office, where I rented space, a sudden act of concealment implied cocaine, but with Cecil-Rowe, the item in question was probably a mickey of vodka. I had the sense that he’d been drinking a bit before I arrived, but his powers of observation were unimpaired, and when he looked into my face, his expression showed sympathy, and actual pain.
“What have you done now?” he said, as set the papers before him to one side, and readied himself to hear my latest tale of legal brilliance.
“I’m a genius,” I said.
“Oh dear. Have a seat.”
“No really, I am. I’m a genius. I got this case that everyone says you can’t win, but I’m gonna win it, and when I do, I’m gonna look like a genius.” Cecil-Rowe gave me a sad indulgent smile.
“Whenever you tell me you’re a genius, I am always concerned about what is to follow. When you get wrapped up in what you call your genius, you tend to ignore the more mundane things we lawyers have to do to win a case. You think you’re going to win by genius alone.”
“Let me tell you why I’m a goddamn genius.” With effort I wiped the smug, self-satisfied expression that was on my face.
“Tell me why you’re a genius,” Cecil-Rowe said, “while I pour us a coffee.” He heaved his bulky body up from his chair and shuffled over to a counter. He picked up a carafe of hot coffee sitting on a hot plate, and poured two cups. “Speak,” he said, handing me one. I took a sip of the coffee, and told Cecil-Rowe the tale of Cousin Ray: his purchase of a franchise from Sy-Co Corp, its swift demise, the crash and burn in Commercial Court, the Minutes of Settlement, the seventy-one kilometer limit, and lastly, Sy-Co’s motion scheduled for two p.m. that very day, seeking an interim injunction shutting down Ray’s place.
Cecil-Rowe absorbed all this without the need to take notes. Instead, he sat back while he eyed me, taking the occasional sip of coffee, and smiling at the extravagant flourishes and details that brought out Ray’s story to full effect.
“Obviously Ray is dead on arrival,” he said, “but I guess this is the part where you tell me how you’re going to win.”
So I told him how I was going to win, but it didn’t have the desired effect. “I told ya I’m a genius, Mr. C,” cueing him to applaud, to admit what a brilliant lawyer I was. But there was no applause from Mark Cecil-Rowe. He looked at me without so much as a smile.
“You can cling to that genius notion as a consolation prize, after you get whipped this afternoon in court.”
“No way,” I said, “not a chance. I got this thing won hands down. I’m gonna kick ass in court today and--”
“And how exactly do you plan to do that, if you don’t have evidence?”
“What?”
“Evidence, Calledinthe9os. It’s what lawyers like me use to beat geniuses like you.”
“But I’m gonna win without proof. I don’t need proof. The argument I’m gonna make, relies on simple facts that are totally obvious, so the judge is gonna--” Cecil-Rowe stuck up his hand.
“Stop right there. I know what’s coming. You’re going to ask the judge to take *judicial notice.”
And he was right. That was exactly what I was going to do.
There are some things so obvious that you didn’t have to prove them, things that everyone knew. You didn’t have to prove that water froze at zero degrees and boiled at a hundred, or that Bixity was between West Bay and East Bay.
“You got it,” I said, “judicial notice all the way.”
“You’re going to tell the judge that the centerpiece of your argument, the lynchpin of your case is a fact known to pretty well everyone, and so you don’t need proof.”
“Exactly,” I said. Cecil-Rowe took another sip of his coffee, and left me hanging in the silence for a while before he spoke.
“If that’s true, then why does coming up with that argument make you a genius?”
“Oh, I said,”I didn’t think of that.”
“It is acceptable to rely on judicial notice for minor, ancillary points. But you never should walk into court thinking that the court will take judicial notice of your entire defence. It’s just too risky.”
“But how am I going to rustle up a witness in time for this afternoon?”
“Worry about that after you leave my office. I can’t help you with that. What I want to know, is why you’re doing this at the last minute.”
“What makes you think I’m doing this at the last minute?”
“Because you never would have resorted to judicial notice if you were properly prepared. If you’d opened this case a bit earlier, you’ve have everything lined up. But you got to work on it late, and so you want to rely on judicial notice. You’ve messed up, Calledinthe90s, and you know what my rule is when you mess up.” Cecil-Rowe didn’t extend aid to me, until I admitted the error of my ways. It was infuriating, but he was inflexible. So I fessed up.
“My idiot cousin Ray’s been trying to retain me for almost two weeks, but I was putting him off because I was mad at him. So now my wife’s mad at me, and if I don’t win this case, I’m dead. Plus her dad’s mad at me too and --” My brain roared into overdrive, a mess of family and law and fear, and at the centre of it, thoughts of Angela’s anger and her father. My mind took off, and then came to an instant halt at a helpful destination.
“Yes?” Cecil-Rowe said.
“Sorry. I just realized how to solve the evidence problem. Look, can I ask you about the thing I actually came here to ask you about?”
“You have a problem that’s worse than having no evidence? What could be worse than -- oh. You don’t have a retainer. Your client doesn't have any money.”
“Exactly. How do I get paid? That’s the problem.” I explained that Ray had no money, as in none, and that if he did have money, he wouldn’t spend it on me. Instead, he’d go back downtown and throw his cash at some big firm, who would take on his case, and proceed to lose it in a calm, careful, sober manner, ending in a reporting letter to Ray telling him that he’d lost.
“Now that’s a problem I can solve,” Cecil-Rowe said.
“Really? ‘Cause I can’t see a way around it. I think I’m gonna have to do this for free, and that really pisses me off.” Cecil-Rowe shook his head.
“You may or may not get paid, but you can set things up so that if you win, you’ll win pretty good.”
“How? Ray’s a deadbeat. Tapped out.”
“But is he desperate?”
“Totally. The first time he failed, he lost his own money, but if he goes under this time, he’s taking family money with him, and he’ll be the black sheep forever.”
“And he’s using family to emotionally blackmail you into helping him?’
“Like no shit. That’s the part that pisses me off the most. I’m like a goddamn slave, being forced to work for free.”
“Never fear, young apprentice. I have just the thing in mind.” He reached into a drawer, and pulled out a form. “Fill in the blanks, and have him sign.”
I looked it over, and saw that the document was a retainer agreement. I whistled. “Holy shit. If he signs this, he’s almost my slave.”
“Close, but not quite” Cecil-Rowe said, “the Latin term for this is "contractus pro venditione animae"”. It’s the ultimate retainer agreement. Once Ray signs that, you own any cause of action he has against the person suing him. You can settle the case on any terms you like, and you get to keep whatever proceeds there are.” Cecil-Rowe placed the folder back in a drawer, and from his manner you could tell that the interview was over.
“Awesome, Mr. C. I’ll call you from Commercial Court when we’re done.”
“Commercial Court?” he said.
“Yeah, Commercial Court.”
“This just keeps getting worse. Take notes, Calledinthe90s, while I school you on Commercial Court. Commercial Court is a jungle, and without preparation, you’ll get savaged.”
“That’s what happened to Ray when--”
“Take notes, young apprentice,” he said, tossing me a pad and a pen. He started to lecture, and I took notes that I have with me to this day, in a safe deposit box downstairs in the vault at Mega Bank Main Branch.
* * *
By the time Cecil-Rowe finished schooling me, it was close to ten, and the case started at two. I didn’t have much time. I ran down the hall to my office, and called Ray’s restaurant. No answer. Then I called Ray’s house. I expected to get Ray’s wife, but the man himself answered.
“You’re not at work. Why aren’t you at work?”
“Sy-Co Corp served all my employees with a cease and desist letter. They all got scared and took off. The place is shut down.”
“You gotta fax machine at home?” He did, and asked why.
“I’m taking your case, but only if you sign the paper I’m about to send and fax it back.” I sent the fax, and five minutes later it came back signed, and it was official: Ray had sold me his legal soul.
I went out to the parking lot, got into my beater and drove fast. In less than thirty minutes I reached my destination. I knocked on the door, and when it opened, my diminutive mother-in-law poked out her head. “What a pleasant surprise,” she said.
“Sorry, Mrs. M, but I’m in a super hurry. I gotta rush to get to court to help Ray. But first, I gotta speak to Dr. M.”
“He’s not here,” she said.
“Not here?”
“He’s on his way to his bridge game. He left just a few minutes ago.”
“Where’s the club?”
“He’s walking there,” she said, and pointed down the street.
“Thanks.” I got into my car and headed where Mrs. M had pointed, passing big houses and new project with an “Opening Soon” sign. And walking past it was the figure of Dr. M.
“Hey, Dr. M,” I called out the window. He stopped and looked around, startled. But he didn’t see me, not at first.
“It’s me, Dr. M. Me, Calledin90s.” He leaned forward as if to see me better. I got out of the car.
“Is something wrong with Angela? Or the baby?”
“No, no not at all, sorry to scare you, it’s nothing like that. I need your help.”
“Oh.” He started walking again, and now it was my turn to be a bit stunned, watching my father-in-law walk away from me. I caught up with him in a few quick strides.
“Listen, I really need your help.”
“And I really need to get to a bridge game.”
“This isn’t about me. It’s about Ray.” That brought him to a halt. He turned to me, angrier even than he’d been the night before.
“Did you drive all the way out here just to make fun of me? To remind me of how you won, distracting me with nonsense about Ray’s case?”
“I mean it,” I said, “I can win Ray’s case. I can prove it in a few words.”
“Prove it, then.” So I did. I spoke words, only a few words, but they were the right words to speak to Dr. M, for the words I spoke were in his language, words that he understood perfectly.
“I understand,” he said, “you’ve come to boast some more, to prove that you were right after all.”
“I want to win Ray’s case, but I don’t have any proof of what I’m saying.”
“You don’t need to prove that two plus two is four.”
“This, I gotta prove, and I need you to help me prove it. I need you to come to court with me, as my witness.”
“I can’t do that. I didn’t witness anything.”
“As my witness. My expert witness.” Unlike a normal witness, an expert witness can give an opinion. An expert is there not to advocate, I explained to Dr. M but to instruct, to teach.
“My bridge partner won’t be very happy,” he said.
“But Ray will, and so will Mrs. M and Angela and--”
“Very well. Do you have a cell phone? We can call the bridge club from my car.”
* * *
We were on the highway getting close to the downtown exit, when my wife called my cell phone. Back then cell phone service was super expensive and my wife only used it for emergencies. Or when she was really angry. I picked up the phone, wondering which it would be.
“I’m so happy that you made things up with my father,” she said.
“How did you know?”
“My mother called. She says you took him with you, that you went out together.”
“He’s with me right now,” I said.
“Where are you going?”
“To court. Going to court to win Ray’s case for him.”
“And you brought my father with you to watch?” She was so happy, I could hear in her voice that she was smiling. “That’s a great way to bond with him, Calledinthe90s. Look, I’m sorry I got so mad at you earlier, I really am. My dad’s a bit too sensitive and--”
“Sorry, Angela, your dad’s not coming to watch me.”
“Why is he with you, then?”
“He’s my witness,” I said.
“What?”
“His expert witness,” Dr. M said, loudly enough for Angela to hear.
My wife’s anger exploded into the phone. She wanted to know how I could expose her elderly, vulnerable father to the stress of a court case. I tried to tell her how I needed him, how there was literally no one else I could turn to, that her father was an expert, a true expert, and the judge was legally bound to believe him, but Angela heard none of this.
“Look,’ I said, “I promise you that--” And then I lowered the phone and pushed the red button, terminating the call. I’d learned that the best way to hang up on someone, was to do it when I was doing the talking. That way it looked like the call had dropped.
“I’m going to steal that move,” Dr. M said.
We rolled into the parking lot. I grabbed the cloth bag out of the back of my car, the bag that held my law robes and shirt and tabs, plus the other stuff I needed for court. It was one-thirty, still thirty minutes to go, not a lot of time to get robed and ready for court. It was just past one-forty five when I, with Dr. M in tow, opened the door to a courtroom on the eighth floor of an old insurance building that had been converted into a courthouse, the home of Commercial Court.
“Commercial Court is an exclusive club,” Cecil-Rowe had explained to me earlier that day, “the legal playground of the rich and powerful. They’ll know instantly that you’re not one of them.” And he was right. It was clear from the moment I walked in that I did not belong, for I was the only lawyer in robes. Everyone else was wearing a suit, and not some cheap thing off the rack like I wore.
There were a half-dozen lawyers present, and after they saw me, they exchanged knowing looks about the stranger amongst them. I ignored them, and walked up to the Registrar. I told him the case I was on, and he signed me in.
“First time in Commercial Court?” he said, eyeing my robes. “You know you don’t have to be robed in Commercial Court.” In other Superior Courts, you always had to bring your robes and get all dressed up. But Commercial Court had its own set of rules, and in the court for rich people, their lawyers did not have to wear robes.
“You’re here on the Sy-Co case?” a young woman asked. She was a junior like me, give a year or two either way. She was dressed in the finest downtown counsel fashion, some designer thing that Angela would know if she saw it.
“Just got retained,” I said.
“You know there’s no adjournments, right? We don’t do adjournments in Commercial Court. I’m just trying to be helpful, because I don’t think you've been here before. You know you don’t have to be robed, right?
“So I heard.”
“So where’s your material? You haven’t served anything, so how do you plan to argue your case?”
“I gotta witness,” I said.
She smiled. “There’s no viva voce evidence, either. Affidavit only.”
“We’ll see what the judge says.” There was a knock from the other side of the door to the judge’s chambers, and then the man himself entered.
I was amazed to see that even the judge wasn’t wearing a robe; instead, he was wearing a light coloured suit and a bright blue bow tie. He was dressed as good as the lawyers, all part of the downtown Commercial Court club, the playground of the richest and most powerful corporations in the City.
“Commercial Court’s not like other courts,” Cecil-Rowe told me earlier that day, explaining that most cases were over in fifteen minutes or less. A plaintiff showed up with some papers, and had a short consultation with the judge. The judge signed an order granting an injunction, or taking away a man’s business, or freezing his money. Commercial Court is where you went to get quick and simple court orders that eviscerated your opponent before the case even got going.
Defendants would appear sometimes in Commercial Court, Cecil-Rowe explained, but it was usually their last time up. Defendants always died a quick death in Commercial Court.
The judge took his seat, and then looked over the lawyers before him. His eyes moved along, and then stopped when they reached me, the one lawyer who was not like the others.
“You don’t need robes in Commercial Court,” the judge said to me.
“I’ll remember that for next time,” I said.
“What case are you on?”
I told him.
“He’s filed no responding materials,” my opponent said, “nothing at all.”
“I’m just vetting the list,” the judge said, “I’ll circle back to you two in a few minutes.” I listend while the judge vetted the rest of the afternoon list: a Mareva, plus a Norwich order, with counsel on those cases sent away in a matter of minutes.
Now the courtroom was almost empty, just the judge, two lawyers, the registrar and my star witness and father-in-law, Dr. M, who sat in the back of the courtroom dressed in an old business suit, put on hastily at his place two hours earlier, when I urged him to hurry it up, to not waste so much time on picking a suit.
“Back to you,” the judge said, addressing my opponent, “I thought this was an uncontested matter. That’s what your confirmation sheet said.”
“I’m sorry, Your Honour, but I didn’t know until I got here that the case was defended.”
“I got retained at the last minute,” I said, “barely three hours ago, the day after I read the papers. But I’m ready to go, ready to argue the case on the merits, so long as you grant me an indulgence, and let me call my witness, to let him testify in person instead of by affidavit, there being no time for me to draft anything.”
Opposing counsel was on her feet. “That’s not how things are done in Commercial Court,” she said, “or any court that I know of, for that matter. My friend (that’s what they make lawyers call each other in court, ‘my friend,’ even though you might hate the other guy’s guts),” the lawyer said, “my friend should have served his responding materials and filed them with the court. Instead, he’s taken us totally by surprise.”
“I’m sorry my friend is surprised by opposition,” I said, “but then consider, it’s my client’s livelihood that’s at stake. If my friend gets her injunction, Ray Telewu’s business is dead, and he loses everything. So yes, my client opposes the injunction, and yes, I’d like to call evidence.”
The judge didn’t consult the papers before him nor the books, but instead, he looked up at the big white clock on the courtroom wall. Its hands said two-fifteen.
“How long will your witness take, counsel?”
“In chief, ten minutes.” I’d practiced with Dr. M on the way in, and I was pretty sure he could do it in five, but I gave him a bit of extra time, just in case.
“We’ve got about two hours,” the judge said, “but I want to be fair to you and your client. Let’s take a fifteen minute recess so you can get instructions. Either we go ahead today with viva voce evidence, or we adjourn, and that will give Calledinthe90s time to file responding materials.”
When everyone came back, the junior’s boss was there, Senior Counsel, a heavy weight, one of those big guys downtown. Plus they brought this guy from Sy-Co Corp, the head of some bullshit division, with some bullshit title, Head of whatever, so that’s the title I’ll give him here. He was The Head. He was the man, the big cheese, the signer of the affidavit on which Sy-Co relied that day.
“What’s he doing here?” I asked Senior Counsel.
He stared at me, all lean and steel grey, looking every inch the hard hitting lawyer that commanded the biggest fees. “If you’re calling a live witness, then so can we. The Head will give evidence today, in advance of your client, so that the judge hears it from him first.” His junior smirked at me, and the two of them sat down, delighted that they’d thought of a way to one up me.
Except that they’d done it by exposing their client to cross-examination. The judge came in, allowed the Head to testify, and when he was done, I stood up.
“Just a few questions,” I said. Senior Counsel was stunned for an instant, and then he stood.
“This serves no purpose, Your Honour. The witness has confirmed the simple facts of his affidavit, and there’s no disputing it. Ray Telewu opened a restaurant less than seventy-one kilometres from Bixity City Hall, and that’s in breach of the Minutes of Settlement he signed.”
I did not bother to respond. Instead, I just stood, and I started to ask questions.
“Have a look at that map in your affidavit,” I said, and he did. I picked up my copy, and tore the map out of it. I passed it up to him.
“What do you notice about this map?”
“That it’s accurate,” the Head said, repeating his evidence in chief, amplifying it, talking about how the map contained perfect measurement.
“You will notice that the map is flat,” I said, laying it on the witness box before him.
“Of course it’s flat. That’s what maps are. Maps are flat.”
“But the earth is round,” I said, “or more properly, a sphere.” Senior Counsel was on his feet in an instant.
“What difference does that make?” he said.
“What you’ll hear from my expert witness, is that a flat map cannot accurately show Earth’s curves. A flat map distorts distances, and in this case, reduces them.”
“But that can’t be by very much.”
“In this case, by just over twenty meters,” Dr. M said from the back of the court.
“That’s my expert witness, the esteemed Dr. M.” I didn’t actually say Dr. M. Instead, I said his real name. But I’m not going to use the real names of my family here, so I’ll just keep calling him Dr. M. “Dr. M was a professor of Physics at the University of Bixity for almost thirty years. He has published numerous papers on particle physics, and is the first Canadian winner of the Wolf Prize for physics.”

• * * *

It went downhill after that for Sy-Co Corp. My father-in-law testified, explaining in simple language, language that even a child could understand, that the Earth was a sphere, that the shortest distance between two points on Earth was a curve, not a straight line. He summarized his calculations in plain English, dumbing down the math, so that everyone present imagined, if only for the moment, that they shared his understanding of a difficult mathematical equation.
Senior Counsel tried to cross-examine Dr. M, but it did not go well, my father-in-law indulging him, gently chiding him, continuing his explanations until the lawyer sat down, defeated by Dr. M’s mastery of the subject,his own lack of preparation and his inability to improvise. When counsel said that he had no further questions, the judge addressed us all.
“I’m not going to reserve, and I don’t think I need to tell everyone why. I think it will take about a minute for me to write a decision saying that the Earth is not flat. I’ll give you some more time after that, but after fifteen minutes, I”ll be back to render my decision.” He rose, everyone bowed, and he disappeared behind the door to judge’s chambers.
I pulled a piece of paper out of my file, and slammed it on the desk before Senior Counsel and his junior. “Fill in the blanks, and sign,” I said.
Dr. M’s head shot up at the commotion, and he shuffled over to see what was going on.
“What’s this?” Senior Counsel said, picking up the paper I gave him..
“Minutes of Settlement. You fill in a number, a big number, for the costs you gotta pay me. Your client signs, and then we’re done.” Senior Counsel opened his mouth to bargain, but I overrode him.
“You know your client’s going to lose; the judge made that obvious. Hurry up if you want to settle; we don’t have much time.”
At the end of most Canadian court cases, the loser has to pay at least part of the winner’s legal fees. That’s the way it’s been since forever, and I think it’s a good rule. Sy-Co Corp had lost, so it had to pay a good chunk of Ray’s costs, and Ray’s costs were somewhere between whatever bullshit figure I claimed they were, and where they actually ought to be. Senior Counsel took the paper over to his client. There was a brief discussion, and then they came back, with the form signed, and a number written in the blank space.
I’ll give it to Sy-Co Corp and their lawyer. It wasn’t a bullshit number, a low ball number. They gave me a real number, a number more like something I’d actually accept, a number that made sense to pay me in costs, in light of the success I’d had, and how I got it. It was a respectful number, a common sense number, and I appreciated it an awful lot.
I tossed the paper back at them.
“Add a zero,” I said, continuing on when Senior Counsel blanched, and his junior retreated a step. “I know what’s going on here. Your client sold mine a bullshit franchise, one with a history of failing.” The franchise had opened up again under a new owner not long after Ray had lost it and then it promptly failed again. Like I said at the start of this story, it’s an old story. It’s how some franchise companies make money. “Your client makes more money selling bullshit franchises doomed to fail, then it does from the honest ones that make money. So add a zero to that number, or Ray’s gonna sue you, class action and all that, for all the people you’ve fucked.”
The Head stepped forward from the benches and spoke to me.
“We get threats like that all the time, but no one follows through. They don’t have the money to fight us, and neither does your client. So go ahead and sue.”
“It’s true that Ray doesn’t have jack shit,” I said, “not a pot to piss in, but he’s my cousin, Ray is, and even if he doesn’t have money, he’s got me. Ray’s family, and for Ray, I’ll sue you guys for free. Hell, I’ll even pay the expenses. Plus I’m gonna put a jury notice in, too, come to think of it, ‘cause juries--”
Senior Counsel cut me off, and moved his client to the back of the courtroom. There was a brief discussion, and then they came back. I watched as Senior Counsel wrote a single digit on the Minutes, a zero, written right where I wanted it.
“You’ll have to initial the change,” I said to the Head of Sy-C0, and it gave me great satisfaction to watch him sign.
“Don’t forget,” I said the moment his pen stopped moving, “for the settlement to be valid, I need to get the money today. Right now.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” the Head said.
“Not if you want the settlement to stay in place. I’ll follow you back to your office, and you can put a cheque in my hands.”

• * * *

“What’s this?” my wife said when I entered the apartment later that day, after I’d driven Dr. M home, stopping first at a local pub for beers.
“It’s an absurdly expensive bunch of flowers,” I said, “although no flowers, however beautiful, however expensive, could expiate my--”
She took the flowers, and gave a kiss.
“My mom called. She told me what happened. You fixed things with my dad.”
“Yup,” I said. I had certainly done that. I’d made Dr. M a professor again, if only for a few minutes. Not only a professor, but an expert witness. The judge had declared him an expert in plain terms and Dr.M had beamed when he’d heard those words.
“And you won Ray’s case, too. But my mom didn’t know how, and I don’t know how you did it either.”
“I’ll tell you over dinner tonight,” I said.
“But we agreed no more dinners out; we have to save money, now that a baby’s coming.”
I passed her the envelope that I’d received a few hours before. She opened it, and took out a cheque, a cheque drawn up for an amount I specified, made payable to Mr. and Mrs. Calledinthe90s.
The moment I got that cheque, all I could think about was how my wife would react when I put it into her hands. I could not wait to see her eyes bulge, to hear her voice say “oh my god,” to hear her laugh.
She did none of these things. Instead, she cried.
“Does this mean we can buy a house?” The money wouldn’t be enough to buy a house, not nowadays, with prices being so crazy. But things were different back then in the 90s. Sure, the internet was barely a thing and cell phones were super expensive and a lot of things sucked, but I’ll give the nineties one thing: houses were cheap.
“I think so,” I said.