Windows 2002 sp3 serial | | I am getting BSODs regularly

Changed my ram and ssd about a month ago, been having BSODs inconsistently, sometimes twice a day, sometimes not for a week. Today I got page_fault_in_nonpaged_area I think. I have windows 11 Here are my specs: Serial Number: 07D9140_MC1E740891 Product Name: MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK WIFI OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit Ver.2009 (OS build 22631.3447) BIOS Version: H.10 BIOS Release Date: 11/15/2022 CPU: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13900K Memory: 64 GB @
G-Skill - 32 GB DDR5-6400, CL32 G-Skill - 32 GB DDR5-6400, CL32
Graphics: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 770 Graphics: RTX 4090 GAMING TRIO CLASSIC Series, 24564 MB Drive: SSD, Samsung 990TM8FPZ002T, 4TB
Ram is set to auto in bios at 4800 Edit; Also got a restart with no bsod, then got to ctrl alt del screen. Then bsod ; SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION

I have a desktop Dell PC, dual-booting with Windows 10 and Fedora. My setup has 3 monitors.
Prior to upgrading to Fedora 40, all 3 monitors were working well with Fedora 39. After upgrading to Fedora 40, the 3rd monitor just shows a black screen. As the computer is booting, I can see the Dell logo on all 3 monitors and Windows still works with the 3 monitors. However, when I am in the login screen, and after login into Gnome, only 2 monitors work. However, if I log into Gnome on Xorg, the 3 monitors do work. So I suspect it is a Wayland thing.
What is strange is that the 3rd monitor does appear with inxi, but it is still black.
Here is some info on my system after running inxi -Fzxxx:

System: Kernel: 6.8.9-300.fc40.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 2.41-34.fc40 clocksource: tsc Desktop: GNOME v: 46.1 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: gnome-shell tools: gsd-screensaver-proxy dm: GDM v: 46.0 Distro: Fedora Linux 40 (Workstation Edition) Machine: Type: Desktop System: Dell product: OptiPlex 7010 v: 01 serial:  Chassis: type: 6 serial:  Mobo: Dell model: 0GY6Y8 v: A02 serial:  part-nu: OptiPlex 7010 uuid:  UEFI: Dell v: A16 date: 09/09/2013 CPU: Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-3770 bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 8 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 1603 high: 1637 min/max: 1600/3900 cores: 1: 1600 2: 1596 3: 1600 4: 1600 5: 1600 6: 1637 7: 1600 8: 1596 bogomips: 54275 Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx Graphics: Device-1: AMD Caicos XT [Radeon HD 7470/8470 / R5 235/310 OEM] vendor: Dell driver: radeon v: kernel arch: TeraScale-2 pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-1,DVI-I-1 empty: none bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:6778 class-ID: 0300 temp: 47.5 C Device-2: AMD Caicos XT [Radeon HD 7470/8470 / R5 235/310 OEM] vendor: Dell driver: radeon v: kernel arch: TeraScale-2 pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 4 ports: active: DVI-I-2 empty: DP-2 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:6778 class-ID: 0300 temp: 50.5 C Device-3: EMEET HD Webcam C960 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-1.1:3 chip-ID: 328f:006d class-ID: 0102 serial:  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.20.14 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 compositor: gnome-shell driver: X: loaded: radeon unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: r600 gpu: radeon display-ID: 0 Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Dell P2312H serial:  res: 1920x1080 dpi: 96 size: 510x287mm (20.08x11.3") diag: 585mm (23") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400 Monitor-2: DVI-I-1 model: Dell P2312H serial:  res: 1920x1080 dpi: 96 size: 510x287mm (20.08x11.3") diag: 585mm (23") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400 Monitor-3: DVI-I-2 model: Dell P2312H serial:  res: 1920x1080 dpi: 96 size: 510x287mm (20.08x11.3") diag: 585mm (23") modes: max: 1920x1080 min: 720x400 API: OpenGL v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 24.0.7 glx-v: 1.4 es-v: 3.1 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD CAICOS (DRM 2.50.0 / 6.8.9-300.fc40.x86_64 LLVM 18.1.1) device-ID: 1002:6778 display-ID: :0.0 API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends. Audio: Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1e20 class-ID: 0403 Device-2: AMD Caicos HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6450 / 7450/8450/8490 OEM R5 230/235/235X OEM] vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aa98 class-ID: 0403 Device-3: AMD Caicos HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6450 / 7450/8450/8490 OEM R5 230/235/235X OEM] vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 4 bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aa98 class-ID: 0403 Device-4: EMEET HD Webcam C960 driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-1.1:3 chip-ID: 328f:006d class-ID: 0102 serial:  API: ALSA v: k6.8.9-300.fc40.x86_64 status: kernel-api Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.0.6 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin Network: Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel port: f040 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:1502 class-ID: 0200 IF: eno1 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac:  Bluetooth: Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-1.4:4 chip-ID: 0a12:0001 class-ID: e001 Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address:  bt-v: 4.0 lmp-v: 6 class-ID: 7c0104 Drives: Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 8.38 GiB (1.8%) ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: A-Data model: SU750 size: 476.94 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial:  fw-rev: 1R17 temp: 53 C scheme: GPT Partition: ID-1: / size: 237.41 GiB used: 7.98 GiB (3.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda6 ID-2: /boot size: 973.4 MiB used: 365 MiB (37.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5 ID-3: /boot/efi size: 96 MiB used: 44.2 MiB (46.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 ID-4: /home size: 237.41 GiB used: 7.98 GiB (3.4%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda6 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0 Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A GPU: device: radeon temp: 50.5 C device: radeon temp: 47.0 C Info: Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.57 GiB used: 2.18 GiB (14.0%) Processes: 344 Power: uptime: 1m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 255 target: graphical (5) default: graphical Packages: pm: flatpak pkgs: 5 Compilers: N/A Shell: Bash v: 5.2.26 running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.34

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/tUvJtCI

Howdy y'all, more stuff for sale! See below for details:

Booster HUB 1/2x28 assembly/device - $50

Catch and release
Booster is set to 9mm, spring is 9mm as well.
Unknown brand, possibly SD arms.
Its hub compatible and threads on 1/2x28 barrels.

Magpul Glock PMAG D-50 GL9-PCC - $90

There is no negotiation on price for this, as it is within the return window so I can just return it to get my funds back. I'm selling it for what I paid (minus shipping) so help me help you by saving a couple bucks for shipping/tax.
Magpul 50 rd drum mag for Glock PCC's, including AR9's that take Glock mags
Was purchased for a Glock AR9 build, but that has been cancelled due to other financial obligations
Brand new in box (obviously)
Sorry, but NO BAN STATES

x5 P&S Picatinny Rail Covers - $7/ea or all 5 for $20

NOS, unused

PSA FDE Sabre AR10 grips - $15 each or take both for $25 $20

Brand new pulled of the same PA-10 build as the rail covers.
Include grip screw and washer (hence the blue painters tape so they don't fall out)

Magpul MOE-K2 grips - ~~$18~~ $15ea

New, unopened in box. Just didn't like the grip angle personally.
Help me out buy buying these so I don't have to drive 40 minutes to Cabela's to return them 🙂

PRi Mini Red Dot Base For 1" Tube WITH Holosun HE407C-GR mounted WITH Dreamplastics cover - ~~$250~~ ~~$240~~ $230

Serial No
Additional Pictures
Mounted , red dot base shows slight salt from mounting when screwdriver hit the side of it.
Optic is in mint condition with no salt.
No box included - what you see is what you get..

Rules:

~~All~~ most prices include shipping and are open to negotiation - shoot your shot homie! The worst I can say is No.
PP FF preferred (if you want to use G&S you cover the 3%) but I also have Venmo.
Comment first, then PM me.
Calling dibs is a full price commitment to buy.
bundles beat dibs, dibs beat PMs.
I'll wait 30 minutes for payment, then move onto the next in line.
No notes in any payments (emoji for Venmo). Here's why.
No chats (they are disabled) PLEASE PM ME.
- If you don't know how, Click this link to PM me!

Hey Townies,
This patch ends Season 2 of Ranked, takes us into the off-season and has a TON of balance updates to the game. The goal of this balance patch is to address the power of Town, while doing updates, tweaks, and reworks to various roles.
https://reddit.com/link/1ctlfe4/video/mbip25zs9u0d1/player
Ranked Updates
• New Ranked Role list which uses the new Common buckets. Let us know what you think of this new list!
New Common Town and Common Coven Rolebuckets
• Common Town is a Role bucket that contains all Town except Town Power roles.
• Common Coven is a Role bucket that contains all Coven except Coven Power and Coven Killing roles.
Role Reworks
• Trickster - Place Magic Mirrors and absorb attacks, and Unleash them to other players at will. Trickster may not place another Magic Mirror until they Unleash the absorbed attack to another player. Taunt keyword replaced with Magic Mirror.
• Socialite - During the night you may throw a party at another player's house. Any visitors not on the guest list will be rejected from entering causing their ability to fail. Players rejected will be added to the guest list for future parties. During the day you may add a player to your guest list, allowing them to attend future parties.
• Coven Leader - During the night, pick another member of the Coven to retrain. You will be able to select a new role for them to become. This has 2 Uses. Coven Killing and Coven Power roles can become any coven role, Coven Utility and Coven Deception roles can only become other Coven Utility and Coven Deception roles. You can self-retrain You cannot retrain someone into a role that has already been on the team. The following day, the targeted Coven member will be able to accept or decline being retrained, they will instantly change roles if they accept.
• Dreamweaver - Insanity renamed to Insomnia. If a town member doesn't visit you you will become Insomniac instead. Insomniac players may not use any day or night abilities but does not affect voting. Players affected by Insomnia will be cured if the Dreamweaver dies.
Role Changes
• Baker no longer dies of Starvation. Instead they transform if all living players have Bread if there's less than 3 players alive.
• Deputy is now unique.
• Marshal now has 2 Tribunal charges instead of 1. In a Tribunal now a maximum of 2 players can be executed. Tribunal no longer resets the trial count.
• Doomed players are announced that they are Doomed then they die one day later.
• Added Necronomicon Passing.
• Swapped Psychic Good and Evil vision nights, meaning now Odd nights are Good visions, Even nights are Evil visions.
• Seer may not check the players they checked for the rest of the game.
• Prosecutors may not Prosecute twice in the same day.
• Necromancer can now use Potiion Master and Witch. If you use Potion Master on a Town you will use a Reveal Potion, using them on a Coven you will use a Heal Potion. Using Witch on someone will control them targeting themselves.
Improvements
• Epic purchases that are not granted immediately will now be granted upon a restart of the game.
• Players can now cancel account deletions if they attempt to login within the pending deletion window.
• Legendary Scrolls have been re-named Mythic Scrolls in order to help prevent confusion around the Legendary Cauldron rewards.
• Replaced/Updated 19 Achievements related to changed Roles.
• Town Traitor role list has been updated.
• Soul Collector Silhouette Added.
• Baker Silhouette Added.
Bug Fixes
• Fixed Last Will/Note/Death Note showing 1-20 if you had no template set.
• Fixed multiple issues related to the Autowin detector.
• Fixed Witch's target icon showing as the Cleric Barrier icon.
• Fixed a bug where in Ranked it would set your nametag and portrait to a random person until you pick a name.
• Fixed bug with Apocalypse roles having incorrect targeting messages when canceling an ability.
• Fixed Shroud/Serial KilleInvestigator ability toggle state not persisting.

Hey Townies,
This patch ends Season 2 of Ranked, takes us into the off-season and has a TON of balance updates to the game. The goal of this balance patch is to address the power of Town, while doing updates, tweaks, and reworks to various roles.
https://reddit.com/link/1ctlfat/video/eej9vn2u9u0d1/player
Ranked Updates
• New Ranked Role list which uses the new Common buckets. Let us know what you think of this new list!
New Common Town and Common Coven Rolebuckets
• Common Town is a Role bucket that contains all Town except Town Power roles.
• Common Coven is a Role bucket that contains all Coven except Coven Power and Coven Killing roles.
Role Reworks
• Trickster - Place Magic Mirrors and absorb attacks, and Unleash them to other players at will. Trickster may not place another Magic Mirror until they Unleash the absorbed attack to another player. Taunt keyword replaced with Magic Mirror.
• Socialite - During the night you may throw a party at another player's house. Any visitors not on the guest list will be rejected from entering causing their ability to fail. Players rejected will be added to the guest list for future parties. During the day you may add a player to your guest list, allowing them to attend future parties.
• Coven Leader - During the night, pick another member of the Coven to retrain. You will be able to select a new role for them to become. This has 2 Uses. Coven Killing and Coven Power roles can become any coven role, Coven Utility and Coven Deception roles can only become other Coven Utility and Coven Deception roles. You can self-retrain You cannot retrain someone into a role that has already been on the team. The following day, the targeted Coven member will be able to accept or decline being retrained, they will instantly change roles if they accept.
• Dreamweaver - Insanity renamed to Insomnia. If a town member doesn't visit you you will become Insomniac instead. Insomniac players may not use any day or night abilities but does not affect voting. Players affected by Insomnia will be cured if the Dreamweaver dies.
Role Changes
• Baker no longer dies of Starvation. Instead they transform if all living players have Bread if there's less than 3 players alive.
• Deputy is now unique.
• Marshal now has 2 Tribunal charges instead of 1. In a Tribunal now a maximum of 2 players can be executed. Tribunal no longer resets the trial count.
• Doomed players are announced that they are Doomed then they die one day later.
• Added Necronomicon Passing.
• Swapped Psychic Good and Evil vision nights, meaning now Odd nights are Good visions, Even nights are Evil visions.
• Seer may not check the players they checked for the rest of the game.
• Prosecutors may not Prosecute twice in the same day.
• Necromancer can now use Potion Master and Witch. If you use Potion Master on a Town you will use a Reveal Potion, using them on a Coven you will use a Heal Potion. Using Witch on someone will control them targeting themselves.
Improvements
• Epic purchases that are not granted immediately will now be granted upon a restart of the game.
• Players can now cancel account deletions if they attempt to login within the pending deletion window.
• Legendary Scrolls have been re-named Mythic Scrolls in order to help prevent confusion around the Legendary Cauldron rewards.
• Replaced/Updated 19 Achievements related to changed Roles.
• Town Traitor role list has been updated.
• Soul Collector Silhouette Added.
• Baker Silhouette Added.
Bug Fixes
• Fixed Last Will/Note/Death Note showing 1-20 if you had no template set.
• Fixed multiple issues related to the Autowin detector.
• Fixed Witch's target icon showing as the Cleric Barrier icon.
• Fixed a bug where in Ranked it would set your nametag and portrait to a random person until you pick a name.
• Fixed bug with Apocalypse roles having incorrect targeting messages when canceling an ability.
• Fixed Shroud/Serial KilleInvestigator ability toggle state not persisting.

I've got one more of these left!
As you all know, this is a top-tier, NWBIG piece and the "Sub" to get if you're considering acquiring one. This is the latest and greatest model/serial number (Q66). It has an amazing power reserve! This Submariner is 41mm and is very comfortable and durable for daily wear. This will also come with a Rolex warranty card. These go VERY quickly when I list them - don't wait to grab this!
In addition to the modifications spec’d out below, all of my watches receive the following quality control:
1.) Line up the dial at 12 o'clock to the engraved Rolex coronet on the rehaut (best as possible) 2.) Thin crystal gasket (because it can be too tall) this allows the crystal to sit lower and bezel to rotate more freely on certain watches 3.) Reinstall/rotate crystal to line up the cyclops to the date window and LEC 4.) Grease all gaskets using Bergeon 7055 5.) Adjust bracelet to desired length and tighten all screws/clasp 6.) Remove any burrs from the stem to ensure tight/smooth operation 7.) Visually inspect movements, remove any foreign debris/dust and apply Möbius 9010 oil as needed 8.) Ultrasonically clean and lubricate entire bracelet and clasp mechanism to eliminate any squeaking
-VSF 126610LN -"Deep" Crystal -Polished Rehaut -Individual Bezel Scallop Polishing & Re-brush -Genuine Hytrel Ring (better bezel fit/action) -Edge Softening of Case/Clasp -Waterproof'd to 5ATM -Regulated Movement
ALBUM
Price = $899 + shipping (USPS: Priority $13/Express $30/Canada $35) I ship the same day and am based in Boston.
I take all of my photos using an iPhone 15 Pro. I don’t use any filters, or effects and try to get various angles and lighting to most accurately depict the beauty of the watch. Many, many, many satisfied clients and references available.
———
Pricing is firm. I accept ZELLE, WISE or BANK WIRE ONLY. If you tell me that you’re “taking it”, I will hold it for you for 15 MINUTES before it goes to the next in line.
I have sold a lot of watches prior on and have an extensive post history on .
Standard disclaimer: I will pack the watch very securely with lots of bubble wrap. Once the package leaves my possession, I will no longer be held responsible for anything that might happen during the shipping and handling process. I also will not take the watch back if you decide you don’t like it, or that your significant other is angry at you (yes, this has happened before). I will however always do my best to ensure that you’re happy with your purchase.

An hour after getting back from the Mason apartment, Bruce Kenner had the distinct misfortune of meeting Bertha Henderson.
A plump, gaudy woman with wrinkles and sun beaten skin only an alligator could love, Bertha Henderson wore bright red lipstick, bright red rouge, and way too much mascara. Her tangled hair was a dull red color and her clothes - pink pants and a white floral top - stretched tight across her bulbous frame. She looked like the kind of woman who lived in a trailer with velvet pictures of Elvis on the wall and pink flamingos in the front yard.
She acted like one too.
From the moment she stormed into his office, she hadn’t shut up once. She scolded, chided, accused, and badgered, sometimes even wagging one fat finger in his face like he was a naughty little boy. Ten minutes into the dressing down and Bruce was beginning to fantasize about police brutality.
It took him another ten minutes to find out what the hell she even wanted.
“It’s my granddaughter,” she shot back, “she’s missing in your town.”
My town? Lady, this is barely my office. I share it with three other people.
“Well, if you’ll calm down, maybe I can help.”
Jesus Christ was that the wrong thing to say. She hit the roof and didn’t come down again until Bruce was this close to arresting her for assault on a police officer. “Young man, I do not appreciate the way you’re talking to me. My tax dollars are the only reason you have a job. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be working at a car wash.”
At least I wouldn’t have to deal with you.
Bruce took a deep breath and held his tongue in check. “How can I help you?” he asked.
“I told you, my granddaughter is missing. If you listened to me, you’d know this already.”
Bertha produced a picture and slid it across the desk. Bruce studied it. A girl, roughly sixteen with black hair, blue eyes, and dimples smiled back at him. “She;’s with that Rossi man, I just know it,” she said bitterly.
“Who?” Bruce asked.
Rolling her eyes like he was stupid, the old woman told him the story. Jessie - the dimple faced girl - had the rotten luck of having to live with Grandma Bertha after her parents went to jail on drug charges. They lived in Sand Lake, a little town in the mountains outside Albany, where Bertha was no doubt loved and admired by all. One day, Jessie, who her grandmother lovingly described as “A little troublemaker”, ran off. Bruce didn’t blame her. He’d known Bertha for half an hour and he wanted to run off. Bertha did some snooping on Jessie’s laptop and found that the “little whore” had been chatting with an older man, Joe Rossi. Rossi, or so Facebook said, lived in Albany and worked at Club Vlad.
“I want him arrested for pedophilia,” Bertha said and crossed her arms defiantly over her chest. “He’s a dog just like all men. She’s probably pregnant already. Another mouth I have to feed.”
Behind the old battle ax, Vanessa appeared in the doorway and lifted her brows as if to say What a piece of work. Knowing her, she’d probably been standing just out of sight this whole time with McKenny, the elderly evidence clerk, and snickering into her hand like a little girl. LOL she called him young man.
Bertha noticed him looking over her shoulder and started to turn. Vanessa’s face went white and she ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding detection. “I’m glad you think this is funny,” Bertha said to Bruce. “Meanwhile, if I don’t get Jessie back, the state’s going to stop sending me my checks. I need that income. I can’t work, you know. I have gout.”
Too bad being an asshole isn’t a job, you’d be world-famous
“I’ll go talk to him,” Bruce said.
“I want more than talk, young man, I want action.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
When Bertha finally decided to waddle off and ruin someone else’s day, Vanessa came in and sat in the chair the old woman had so recently occupied. “Oh, my God,” she said, “that was intense. I was this close to radioing in a 1015.”
1015 was code for officer down.
“Funny,” Bruce said without a trace of humor. He had kids going missing, a dead guy someone moved around like a goddamn Barbie doll, and now this. What next, hemorrhoids?
“What do you think? Code 1 or code 2?”
Code 1 meant top priority. Code 2 meant not a top priority. Bruce thought for a moment. It didn’t sound like Jessie Henderson was in danger. It sounded like she met a guy - granted, one too old for her - and decided to hide out with him from her psycho grandma. Maybe it could be something more, but he had a gut feeling that it wasn’t…and his gut feelings were usually right. “2,” he finally said. “I got shit to do.”
By shit, he meant “Talk to the families of those missing boys again.” He’d been interviewing them for two days looking for clues, but there was nothing. It’s like they just vanished. Bruce didn’t like this. He didn’t like it at all.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” Vanessa said and slapped the desk.
When she was gone, Bruce sighed.
Never a dull moment, he thought.
***
Ed Harris - no relation to the Hollywood actor - had been the medical examiner for the City of Albany since 2002, and in all that time, he had never seen anything quite like this.
It was Wednesday evening and Ed was locked away in the cold, sterile space beneath the city offices that comprised his domain. With its puke green tiles, harsh lights, and cloying smells of disinfectant, the .coroner's office creeped most people out, but not Ed. He was at home here, as comfortable surrounded by toe-tagged bodies as a cactus was surrounded by desert. A thin man in his fifties with curly, steel gray hair thinning in the middle, he wore a white smock, blood stained over his clothes that made him look like a butcher instead of a low level government functionary. He had a dark and dry sense of humor, but then again, so do all people who play with dead bodies for fun and profit.
The coroner’s office was a vast, utilitarian vault segmented into multiple different rooms. Here, where the magic happened, three stainless steel tables stood in a row; a bank of refrigerated drawers kept watch, making sure nothing funny happened. One of the cold fluorescent lights overhead flickered with a hum of electricity, and water dripped rhythmically from a faucet. It was a cold, eerie place, but to Ed, it was home.
On most nights, only one of the tables was occupied, but tonight, two were. On one lay an old lady who died of what appeared to be cyanide poisoning. On the other was Dominick Mason.
Naked save for a white cloth draped over his groin to protect his dignity, Dom was the most corpsy corpse you’d ever hope to see. In fact, if you looked up dead guy in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of him. His body was pale and sunken, one side covered in purple splotches where his blood had pooled, and his eyes were closed. His abdomen was slightly distended with the expected build up of gas, and his flesh stuck fast to the bones beneath. In other words, he was text book. A normal corpse.
Mostly normal.
As men of his trade are wont to do when strange bodies mysteriously appear, Ed had opened Dom up, making a Y shaped incision from his neck to his groin. He hummed to himself as he did so, his hands wielding his sharp and shiny tools with the deft assuredness of a seasoned surgeon. Done cutting, he dipped his gloved hands into the cavity and started removing organs. A spleen here, a liver there, nothing Dom would miss. When he got to the heart, however, he stopped.
There was something…off…about it. At first glance, it was black and withered like an oversized raisin. An odd and putrid odor emanated from it and though he was familiar with the various smells and stenches the human body produced after death, this wasn’t one of them. Try as he might, he couldn’t place it, couldn’t even compare it to anything. Plucking a magnifying glass from the metal cart next to the table, he peeled back part of Dom’s chest and examined the heart closer.
That’s when things got really weird.
Dominick Mason’s heart was, indeed, shriveled, but it was not black. Instead, it was almost entirely covered by an interlacing crisscross of what appeared to be black mold. Here and there, Ed could glimpse flashes of the heart beneath: It was wrinkled and a sickly gray color. “What is this?” Ed asked himself at length. He grabbed a pair of tweezers from the tray and carefully, very carefully, attempted to remove a piece of the mold for analysis. The moment the cold metal tips touched the heart, it gave a violent spasm that sent Ed falling back with a shocked gasp, the tweezers falling from his hand and clinking to the tiled floor.
The heart began to pulse like an alien egg sac, slowly at first, then more rapidly. For a moment, Ed was frozen in place, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Once you die, your heart ceases beating. That’s that. Only living hearts beat, and Dominick Mason was certainly dead. He was dead from the moment Ed first laid eyes on him earlier that day and he was dead now. Yet there was his heart, beating anyway.
It could be a muscle spasm. They usually aren’t that violent and consistent, but dead bodies sometimes do strange things. As he watched the blackened muscle expanding and contracting, however, Ed had the most eerie feeling. He went to rub the back of his neck, realized he was still wearing blood soaked gloves, and stripped them off. He was spooking himself out; he needed a break and a hot cup of coffee. He’d come back fresh and start over again.
With that mold.
Could you really blame him for being creeped out? That stuff wasn’t normal. He’d never seen anything like that before, not even in textbooks. Dom was scrawny and didn’t get enough vitamins in life, but overall, he was healthy; that mold…or whatever it was…had no business being there.
Going over to the coffee pot, which stood in the same room to save travel time, Ed grabbed a styrofoam cup. When he was done here, he planned to go home and -
A terrible, metallic clatter rang out, and Ed jumped. He turned around, and when he saw Dominick Mason standing next to the table, hunched slightly over and staring at him, an electric burst of fright shot up his spine and exploded in his brain, so strong it made the edges turn gray. Pale, hands hooked into talons, and the flaps of his chest hanging open to reveal the cavity beneath, Dominick Mason looked for all the world like a boy who’d been caught sneaking out to meet his girlfriend. A weak, involuntary, “Oh, God,” slipped from Ed’s trembling lips, and the spell was broken. Dom came alive and ran toward the door leading out to the parking lot. He slammed through it, and the sound of it crashing open and then falling closed again echoed through the empty chamber.
Shaking, panting for air, and soaked in piss, Ed sank to the floor in a sitting position, his eyes wide and staring like those of a soldier returning damaged from the front.
It was a long time before he composed himself enough to call the police.
***
Dazed and caught in a nightmarish twilight realm where nothing made sense, Dominick Mason limped painfully down the sidewalk, a stranger lost in a strange land filled with danger and hostile creatures. Barefoot and shrouded in a white sheet, he trembled with cold and struggled to ignore the dark, threatening shapes looming from the fog in his brain, shapes that would turn into unspeakable truths if he let them.
Passersby openly stared at him, their expressions either morbidly curious, disgusted, or alarmed. A man put his arm protectively around his girlfriend; a woman pulled her little boy to her breast, and another man sneered at him, his nose crinkling. Dom, his glazed eyes narrowed against the harsh glare of the many street lamps, headlights, and storefronts, lumbered headlong toward nowhere, his fear growing until he was shambling. He imagined he could hear every cough, every whisper; smell the odor of every unwashed body. Each car horn was deafening, every whiff of ass or armpits sent his stomach churning. The rustle of a passing pedestrian’s jacket jammed into his ears like icepicks, and the approaching globes of LED headlamps burned his eyes. He gritted his teeth and groaned against the pain.
The dense mist wrapping his brain made it hard to think. Like a frightened animal, he made his way on instinct alone. Home. He needed to get home. Out here, on the street, he was exposed. At home, locked away in his small apartment, he would be safe.
A car passed in the street, bass heavy rap music blaring from its open windows, and Dom’s brain exploded with agony. He threw himself against a street sign and held on for dear life, his legs weak. Dizziness overwhelmed him, and he almost went down. He was also cold.
So, so cold.
People around him quickened their step; they never took their eyes off him, as though he were a venomous snake that would strike at any moment. He needed to get away from them. They were going to hurt him; people always hurt him.
Pushing away from the sign, he began to hobble once more toward home, wherever home was. He looked over his shoulder several times as he made his way down Central Avenue, and each time, he saw that no one was following him as he had feared.
No one, that is, except for the man in sunglasses.
Tall and lank with curly hair, he wore dark Aviators and a leather motorcycle jacket over a button up shirt. His hands were thrust deep into his pockets and his face showed no expression. He was always there, always a few steps closer. Outside Capital Fried Chicken, a group of people openly stared at him, He heard their whispers as he passed. What’s wrong with him? Dude’s straight tweakin. And the one that struck him the most. That guy looks dead.
Dom hobbled faster, as if to outrun the realization that he was, in fact, dead. The man in sunglasses was closer now, his footsteps so loud that Dom winced. He turned around, and the man was impossibly in front of him. Dom ran into him and bounced backward, going ass over tea kettle and landing on the former. They were in front of a church on a darkened corner, the lights here either burned out or shot out - you could never tell in Albany. Even though it was dark, Dom could see everything with crystal clarity. Dom tried to scurry away, but he was too weak to escape. Right there and then, he decided to give up. Come what may, he just wanted this nightmare to be over.
The man stared down at him, emotionless, unspeaking.
Dom squirmed.
“You’re real lucky I came along,” the man said. His tone was flat, even.
Dead.
“Get up,” he said, “I’ll take you home.”
Home?
Yes.
Dom wanted to go home.
The man helped him up, and Dom followed him into the night.
***
Bruce Kenner stood in the middle of the medical examiner’s office at half past nine that evening with his hands on his hips and stared doubtfully down at Ed Harris. The lonely cavern was alive with activity as cops went over everything, all of them looking either bemused or a mused. Bruce was neither. He’d been at home, sitting in his chair and having a beer in front of AEW Dynamite when Vanessa called. “You might wanna get down here,” she said, sounding confused, “something really strange is going on.”
Ed Harris - no relation to that one guy - sat in a straight back chair beside his cluttered desk and gripped a styrofoam cup of coffee in both hands, putting Bruce - for some reason - in mind of a monkey. When Bruce came in, the old man was white as a sheet and shook like a leaf. In the last half hour, little had changed.
“Tell me again,” Bruce said.
He and Ed were pretty good friends. He knew that Ed knew standard police procedure. Cops don’t ask you to repeat your story a thousand times over because they’re forgetful fucks, they do it because telling it again and again helps to jog loose details that you might have forgotten. Ed, therefore, did not protest. “I turned my back,” he said and chopped the chair like Jackie Chan, “and I heard the noise.”
His voice was thick, unsteady, and halting. He sounded as squirrely as he looked…and he looked pretty damn squirrelly right now.
“I turned around…and he was looking at me. He was standing there and he was looking at me.”
This was the fourth time he’d had Ed go through the story, and nothing had changed. Bruce felt something stirring deep inside his gut. It was either disquiet…or he had to fart. He opened his mouth to speak, but sighed.
“You don’t believe me,” Ed said.
“I dunno, Ed. Dead bodies don’t just get up and walk away.”
Ed flashed. “I know that, goddamn it, but this one did.”
Bruce glanced at Vanessa. She looked uncomfortable.
“Are you sure he was dead?” Bruce asked.
Ed opened his mouth, closed it again, and said, “I did the autopsy.” His voice broke on the last word, and he sounded almost like he was pleading. “His fucking liver’s on the floor. He stepped on it. The man has nothing in him. I-I’m telling you, there’s no way he’s alive.”
During the autopsy, Ed had sat Dominick Mason’s organs on the little tray table where he kept his pointy things. Mason knocked it over while getting up. Indeed, there were human organs on the floor, and one of them did look kind of squished. Bare, bloody footprints led to the exit door, up a set of concrete steps, and then disappeared in the alley behind the office.
“You said you left his heart,” Bruce said.
“And his brain,” Vanessa helpfully added.
Ed pinched the bridge of his nose like a put upon professor dealing with two particularly stupid students. “Even with his heart and his brain, he’s dead. You saw the livor mortis. He was cold, he was stiff. His heart wasn’t beating, he wasn’t breathing. He was in one of those drawers for nine hours, not breathing, no blood flow - it’s impossible. It’s just…it’s impossible. I don’t care what you think, he was dead. And even if somehow he wasn’t, I cut out almost everything. I opened his stomach, I took his spleen - you don’t just get up from that. You don’t walk away from that, much less run.”
Bruce chewed the inside of his bottom lip because he didn’t have a Twix. He didn’t look like the smartest man in the world…and he wasn’t…but he knew a dead body when he saw one, and the body they took out of Dominick Mason’s apartment was D.E.A.D. And like Ed said, even if by some freak fluke of nature he wasn’t, he couldn’t just get up and go about his day with no liver, spleen, or kidneys. Hell, Bruce had his gallbladder out and he couldn’t even walk away from that.
“You said there was something funny about his heart,” Vanessa said.
Ed finished off his coffee. “Yeah. It was…moldy. I-I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Is it possible that…has something to do with it?”
“Unless the rules of biology have changed overnight, no,” Ed stated.
While Ed poured himself another cup of Joe, spilling some because he was still shaking, Vanessa took Bruce aside. “So what do you think?” she asked. “Is he telling the truth?”
For that, Bruce did not have an immediate answer. All else aside, he was a cop. He followed the evidence - and his gut instinct - wherever it led him. Ed was a sober man - he was not a drunk, insane, or stupid - and no man on earth could fake the look of trauma in his eyes. Bruce’s eyes went to the bloody footprints leading away from the exam table and his stomach roiled. It might be cliched, but there had to be a rational explanation. “Yeah,” he finally said. “The kid got up like he said, but there’s no way he was dead. Maybe…I dunno, he had a surge of adrenaline or something. I’m not a doctor.”
“That’ll only get him so far,” Vanessa said. “We’ll probably find him on the street somewhere.”
He went back to the purple splotches on Dom’s face, to his cold stiffness. There’s no way he was dead?
Bruce was confused, and he hated being confused.
“I dunno,” he said, “maybe.”
But he had the gnawing feeling that they wouldn’t. They would never find him…and Bruce would be confused forever.
Goddamn it, Mason, he thought, where are you?

https://imgur.com/a/zgltvvn
Hey everyone, I'm selling 4 Dell Precision 3431 Towers, they're used but they're in great condition, have been reimaged, and the navigation in Windows 10 is smooth.
Specs: Windows 10 Pro, i5-9500 CPU, 8 GB RAM, 230 GB HD, Intel UHD Graphics 630 (no video card and runs of CPU, but runs great) 5 USB 3.0 ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 USB-C port, 2 DisplayPort ports, 3 mini-Display port ports, 1 PS/2 pair, 1 serial port, 1 Ethernet port, and 1 speaker port.
Looking to sell these for $120 each, don't worry about shipping as I can get them sent out for free through my job (2nd day air). Feel free to message me for further details.

Hi,
I'm a first time buyer. Me and my wife are planning to live in a Skoolie (short bus or long bus) or a high roof extended van for 6 months of the year (in the summer). We can both work fully remote.
We would prefer to buy something that is ready built and make customisations as we go. We both have very little DIY/power tool experience so we would like to see how we get on making changes before committing to building something from scratch.
Our budget is 25-30k USD. We are not looking for "Instagram luxury". Just something that is comfortable, light and airy.
Main requirements:

Bathroom:
- Shower with hot water
- Toilet that flushes (preferably, might have to settle for compost one)
Power:
- Enough battery capacity to charge two laptops
- USB charging ports
Workspace and Dining:
- Convertible or fixed desk/dinette
Sleeping:
- Double bed
- Storage space under bed
Kitchen:
- Propane or electric stove
- Sink with hot and cold water
Light and Ventilation:
- Windows for natural light
- Ceiling or wall-mounted fans
Water System:
- Freshwater tank (minimum 20 gallons)
- Greywater tank for drainage

We enjoy hiking in mountains so the vehicle has to be capable of driving up and down steep inclines. This has somewhat put me off buying a long bus with a lot of weight as I'm not sure if it would be suitable for these types of roads in the heat. I can only drive auto transmission. I'm a confident driver, however I have no experience driving larger vehicles. So a short bus or a van seems more realistic. I'm 6ft and my partner is 5.4ft.
Shortlist so far (within budget):
1992 International/Thomas bus - fully converted with 36,938 miles. Six cylinder International diesel/ Build looks amazing and it has so much space. Main concern is the weight and driving it on steep inclines. 31.5’ bumper to bumper 236” wheelbase 8’ wide 10’10” tall.
1991 Blue Bird bus - gorgeous bus. Looks pretty unique so might have re-sale value. Converted into a store so it has a nice open layout and furniture. Would leave me with little room in budget to add living requirements. Other concern is the 248k miles.
2002 Ford e450 skoolie - 7.3L powerstroke diesel. 185k miles on it. Fully converted to a high standard. Only problem is that it's designed for someone who is 5.9ft. So I won't be buying this one but I'm looking for other e450s as I've heard the 7.3L powerstroke diesel engine is reliable and the interior has enough space for what we want.
Alternatives: Dodge Sprinter 3500 (2008), Ford Transit 350 (2017), Ram ProMaster 3500 (2017-18)
Buses are more expensive to maintain and are less fuel efficient. The main benefit vs. a van is the space. If I can realistically drive on mountains roads then I'm all for getting a bus.
Any recommendations or feedback is much appreciated!

Hey everyone,
I've got a 2011 Scirocco R 2.0TFSI Ea113 with around 90k miles on it (not kilometers), and I've been the proud owner for a solid decade. It's been running like a dream, until recently.
Here's the issue: About nine months back, my car unexpectedly conked out, with the battery light flashing. No matter how much I tried, it just wouldn't start, though it cranked up without firing. After that incident, I went ahead and swapped out the alternator (went for a genuine OEM Bosch), replaced the serpentine belt, pulleys were ok. Two months ago, I even replaced the battery with the factory equivalent, thinking that would sort it.
Just when I thought all was well, the problem reared its head again yesterday. This time, I was approaching a junction behind another vehicle, and bam, the car stalled - same old battery light, and zero crank. I called in the RAC (Roadside Assistance), they ran diagnostics, but couldn't pinpoint any issues. After giving it a jump, it reluctantly started, only to refuse to crank again once turned off. We did get it going and I drove it 2 miles home with them closely following, it drove fine.
Whilst I was broken down, I checked the earth, terminals etc, all seemed fine. All electrics inside the car worked fine.
I've got a few theories on what might be causing this, but I'd love to hear your thoughts before I dive into any fixes. I've reached out to a few garages, but for some reason, they're not exactly jumping at the chance to lend a hand.
Here's what I'm considering:
Crank Shaft Sensor Cam Sensor Fueling issues like HPFP / LPFP / Fuel Rails or Fuel Line / Filter (replaced the filter a couple of months ago)
I'll be running a full scan with my VCDS once I'm off work. If anyone could offer some insight or assistance, I'd be immensely grateful! Will share the auto-scan results once I've got them.
Cheers
***EDIT - I've now included the VCDS Auto-Scan***
Thursday,16,May,2024,16:22:45:00009
VCDS -- Windows Based VAG/VAS Emulator Running on Windows 7 x64
VCDS Version: 23.3.0.0
Data version: 20230228 DS346.1
www.Ross-Tech.com
VIN: WVWZZZ13ZCV005173 License Plate:
Mileage: 144890km-90030mi Repair Order:
Chassis Type: 13-VW36 (7N0)
Scan: 01 03 08 09 14 15 16 17 19 25 2E 37 42 44 46 52 55 56 77
VIN: WVWZZZ13ZCV005173 Mileage: 144890km-90030miles
01-Engine -- Status: Malfunction 0010
03-ABS Brakes -- Status: OK 0000
04-Steering Angle -- Status: OK 0000
08-Auto HVAC -- Status: OK 0000
09-Cent. Elect. -- Status: Malfunction 0010
14-Susp. Elect. -- Status: Malfunction 0010
15-Airbags -- Status: OK 0000
16-Steering wheel -- Status: OK 0000
17-Instruments -- Status: OK 0000
19-CAN Gateway -- Status: OK 0000
25-Immobilizer -- Status: OK 0000
2E-Media Player 3 -- Status: OK 0000
37-Navigation -- Status: Malfunction 0010
42-Door Elect, Driver -- Status: OK 0000
44-Steering Assist -- Status: OK 0000
46-Central Conv. -- Status: OK 0000
52-Door Elect, Pass. -- Status: OK 0000
55-Headlight Range -- Status: OK 0000
56-Radio -- Status: Malfunction 0010
77-Telephone -- Status: OK 0000
Address 01: Engine (CDL) Labels:. 06F-907-115-CDL.clb
Part No SW: 1K8 907 115 B HW: 8P0 907 115 B
Component: 2.0l R4/4V TFSI 0030
Revision: 5BH20--- Serial number:
Coding: 0403000C18070060
Shop #: WSC 66565 257 00032
VCID: 2D51BCB3B41137FB58-8078
VINID: 9E69EAAAA043A939800050470CBEA06003
3 Faults Found:
001681 - Fan 1 Control Circuit
P0691 - 002 - Short to GND - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100010
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 14
Reset counter: 255
Mileage: 143990 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 15:47:49
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 1590 /min
Load: 11.0 %
Speed: 12.0 km/h
Temperature: 54.0 C
Temperature: 33.0 C
Absolute Pres.: 1010.0 mbar
Voltage: 14.224 V
001152 - Coolant Fan Control Circuit 1
P0480 - 008 - Electrical Malfunction - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101000
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 28
Reset counter: 255
Mileage: 143990 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 15:48:51
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 749 /min
Load: 22.0 %
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Temperature: 69.0 C
Temperature: 31.0 C
Absolute Pres.: 990.0 mbar
Voltage: 14.224 V
000017 - Bank 1: Camshaft A (Intake)
P0011 - 004 - Retard Setpoint not Reached (Over-Advanced)
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100100
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 255
Mileage: 144895 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 01:23:12
Freeze Frame:
RPM: 1265 /min
Load: 14.5 %
Speed: 0.0 km/h
Temperature: 94.0 C
Temperature: 39.0 C
Absolute Pres.: 990.0 mbar
Voltage: 14.224 V
Readiness: 0000 0001
Address 03: ABS Brakes (J104) Labels:. 1K0-907-379-60EC1F.clb
Part No SW: 1K0 907 379 BJ HW: 1K0 907 379 BJ
Component: ESP MK60EC1 H31 0121
Revision: 00H31001
Coding: 763B80F5492280FF6E0C01EB921C0181350800
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 00000
VCID: 7BF542EBFAE5694B96-802E
No fault code found.
Address 08: Auto HVAC (J255) Labels: 5K0-907-044.clb
Part No SW: 5K0 907 044 EA HW: 5K0 907 044 EA
Component: Climatronic H17 1010
Revision: 00001003
Coding: 0000000002
Shop #: WSC 00020 999 00000
ASAM Dataset: EV_Climatronic A01010
ROD: EV_ClimaAutoBasis_VW36.rod
VCID: 6ED37BBFB1970CE321-803A
No fault code found.
Address 09: Cent. Elect. (J519) Labels:. 1K0-937-08x-09.clb
Part No SW: 5K0 937 087 M HW: 5K0 937 087 M
Component: BCM PQ35 H 011 0048
Revision: BE011001
Coding: 49180A388027E100400800C0340048E44B558388736D8D20E48000000040
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 12345
VCID: 3F8DF6FBAE7DB56BFA-806A
Subsystem 1 - Part No SW: 1K8 955 119 G HW: 1K8 955 119 G Labels: 1KX-955-119.CLB
Component: Wischer 23031 10 0603
Coding: 009795
Subsystem 2 - Part No: 1K0 955 559 AH Labels: 1K0-955-559-AG.CLB
Component: RLS 250611 05 54 0403
Coding: 0230ED
Subsystem 3 - Part No: 1K8 951 171
Component: DWA-Sensor 00 001 0104
Coding: 000000
1 Fault Found:
01134 - Alarm Horn (H12)
004 - No Signal/Communication
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100100
Fault Priority: 4
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 1
Mileage: 143987 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 16:13:47
Freeze Frame:
Term 15 On
Voltage: 11.40 V
ON
ON
OFF
OFF
OFF
Address 14: Susp. Elect. (J250) Labels:. 3C0-907-376.clb
Part No SW: 3C0 907 376 A HW: 3C0 907 376
Component: DAEMPFUNGS-SG H07 0071
Revision: 00000000 Serial number: 22061101400002
Coding: 000180
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 00000
VCID: 275D4E9B56ED1DABA2-8072
3 Faults Found:
03262 - Comfort Restriction
000 - -
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100000
Fault Priority: 6
Fault Frequency: 191
Reset counter: 97
Mileage: 143987 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 19:20:03
Freeze Frame:
Error Code: 2
Bin. Bits: 00000000
00141 - Rear Body Acceleration Sensor (G343)
003 - Mechanical Failure
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 01100011
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 191
Reset counter: 97
Mileage: 143987 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 19:20:03
Freeze Frame:
Bin. Bits: 00000000 00000010
Bin. Bits: 00000000 00000000
00141 - Rear Body Acceleration Sensor (G343)
006 - Short to Plus - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00100110
Fault Priority: 2
Fault Frequency: 203
Reset counter: 137
Mileage: 143987 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 15:29:35
Freeze Frame:
Address 15: Airbags Labels: 1K0-909-605.lbl
Part No SW: 1K0 909 605 AE HW: 1K0 909 605 AE
Component: 0H AIRBAG VW8 020 2300
Revision: 05020000 Serial number: 003D1D03V9H4
Coding: 0012360
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 00000
VCID: 6FED66BB7E9D05EB2A-803A
Subsystem 1 - Serial number: 6332MSME60134E717
Subsystem 2 - Serial number: 6342MSME6004412E3
Subsystem 3 - Serial number: 6352QSME3D1E3274O
Subsystem 4 - Serial number: 6362QSME0B0C0672G
No fault code found.
Address 16: Steering wheel (J527) Labels: 5K0-953-569.clb
Part No SW: 5K0 953 521 BM HW: 5K0 953 569 D
Component: LENKS.MODUL 014 0140
Revision: FF010040 Serial number: 20110616200784
Coding: 1082040000
Shop #: WSC 00020 999 00000
ASAM Dataset: EV_SMLSNGVOLWSXS A01004
ROD: EV_SMLSNGVOLWS.rod
VCID: 78FF5DE7C3D34253FB-802C
Multifunction steering wheel control module:
Subsystem 1 - Part No SW: 5K0 959 542 A HW: 5K0 959 542 A Labels: 3C8-959-537.CLB
Component: E221__MFL-TAS H07 0013
Coding: 820000
No fault code found.
Address 17: Instruments (J285) Labels: 5K0-920-xxx-17.clb-SRI1
Part No SW: 1K8 920 973 B HW: 1K8 920 973 B
Component: KOMBI H03 0607
Serial number: 00000000000000
Coding: 170F01
Shop #: WSC 00020 999 12345
ASAM Dataset: EV_Kombi_UDS_VDD_RM09 A04114
ROD: EV_Kombi_UDS_VDD_RM09_004_VW32.rod
VCID: 3467A9D79F3B663317-8060
No fault code found.
Address 19: CAN Gateway (J533) Labels:. 7N0-907-530-V2.clb
Part No SW: 7N0 907 530 H HW: 1K0 907 951
Component: J533 Gateway H42 1620
Revision: H42 Serial number: 170611F1000061
Coding: 354001
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 12345
VCID: 356194D39C417F3B20-8060
No fault code found.
Address 25: Immobilizer (J334) Labels: 5K0-920-xxx-25.clb
Part No SW: 5K0 953 234 HW: 5K0 953 234
Component: IMMO H03 0607
Serial number:
Coding: 000000
Shop #: WSC 00000 000 00000
ASAM Dataset: EV_Immo_UDS_VDD_RM09 A03009
ROD: EV_Immo_UDS_VDD_RM09_VW21.rod
VCID: 6ADB77AF8D7FE0C37D-803E
No fault code found.
Address 2E: Media Player 3 (J650) Labels:. 5N0-035-342.lbl
Part No SW: 5N0 035 342 E HW: 5N0 035 342 E
Component: SG EXT.PLAYER H13 0240
Revision: A1001003 Serial number: 7660255100
Coding: 010000
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 00000
VCID: 295948A340F92BDBB4-807C
No fault code found.
Address 37: Navigation (J0506) Labels:. 1T0-035-680.clb
Part No SW: 1T0 035 680 P HW: 1T0 035 680 P
Component: RNS-MID H10 5270
Revision: AB001001 Serial number: VWZ6Z7K5046078
Coding: 04000400040000900004
Shop #: WSC 12345 123 12345
VCID: 3B7582EBBA65A94BD6-806E
Subsystem 1 - Part No: 1T0 919 859 B
Component: EU West V11 8117
1 Fault Found:
00862 - Antenna for GPS Navigation (R50/R52)
011 - Open Circuit - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101011
Fault Priority: 5
Fault Frequency: 27
Reset counter: 137
Mileage: 144395 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 00:00:16
Address 42: Door Elect, Driver Labels:. 1K0-959-701-MAX3.clb
Part No SW: 1Q0 959 701 H HW: 1Q0 959 701 H
Component: Tuer-SG 009 2130
Coding: 0016949
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 00000
VCID: 397998E370599B5BC4-806C
No fault code found.
Address 44: Steering Assist Labels: 1K0-909-14x-GEN3.clb
Part No: 1K0 909 144 M
Component: EPS_ZFLS Kl. 250 3201
Revision: 00H20000
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 00000
VCID: 3467A9D7573B663317-8060
No fault code found.
Address 52: Door Elect, Pass. Labels:. 1K0-959-702-MAX3.clb
Part No SW: 1Q0 959 702 H HW: 1Q0 959 702 H
Component: Tuer-SG 009 2130
Coding: 0016948
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 00000
VCID: 3A7B87EF755F9043CD-806E
No fault code found.
Address 55: Headlight Range Labels: 8P0-907-357.lbl
Part No: 8P0 907 357 K
Component: Dynamische LWR H01 0010
Revision: 00000001 Serial number:
Coding: 0000016
Shop #: WSC 00020 790 00000
VCID: 428BFF0F1D8FD88395-8016
No fault code found.
Address 56: Radio (J0506) Labels:. 1T0-035-680.clb
Part No SW: 1T0 035 680 P HW: 1T0 035 680 P
Component: RNS-MID H10 5270
Revision: AB001001 Serial number: VWZ6Z7K5046078
Coding: 04000400040000900004
Shop #: WSC 12345 123 12345
VCID: 3B7582EBBA65A94BD6-806E
Subsystem 1 - Part No: 1T0 919 859 B
Component: EU West V11 8117
1 Fault Found:
00862 - Antenna for GPS Navigation (R50/R52)
011 - Open Circuit - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101011
Fault Priority: 5
Fault Frequency: 27
Reset counter: 137
Mileage: 144395 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2018.10.07
Time: 00:00:16
Address 77: Telephone (J412) Labels: 7P6-035-730.clb
Part No SW: 7P6 035 730 E HW: 7P6 035 730 E
Component: TELEFON H09 2730
Revision: 1B001001 Serial number: 00007660233684 Dataset Number: 7P6035730E 0001
Coding: 0A01000000010101
Shop #: WSC 00020 999 00000
ASAM Dataset: EV_UHVNA A01015
ROD: UHVNA.rod
VCID: 3467A9D79F3B663317-8060
2 Faults Found:
13635840 - Supply voltage
U1011 00 [000] - Voltage too Low
[New feature! Extended UDS fault detail is only supported by current gen. interfaces]
Intermittent - Not Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear
13893632 - Function Restricted due to Insufficient Voltage
U1400 00 [000] - -
Intermittent - Not Confirmed - Tested Since Memory Clear
End-------------------------(Elapsed Time: 02:50)--------------------------

Hello Reddit family. I need your help with a game I used to play on my Windows XP computer when I was young. The game was an FPS (First Person Shooter), and in the first mission, we controlled a character wearing a white tank top in what seemed like a fenced street area. The HUD layout resembled Postal 2, and we tried to beat up guys with sticks. That's all I remember. Thank you in advance.

There are some kinds of wisdom only great suffering can bring. I remember my time in the Bardo with this in mind, for otherwise, the memory might drive me insane.
The night my heart stopped for nearly three minutes started off normally enough. I was working as a nurse in the psychiatric ward at a hospital in the state’s capital. Most of the patients there were harmless, mostly just suicide attempts or people suffering from drug psychosis or severe depression, but some were actively dangerous and certainly psychopathic in every sense of the word. The new admission was one of these- a three-hundred pound black man with a long history of smoking PCP, schizophrenia and violent, psychotic breaks from reality.
His eyes looked like flat pieces of slate as I walked in for my shift. They looked as blank and emotionless as the eyes of a doll. He sat at the table in the front room where the patients ate or played cards, alone under the bright fluorescent lights of the hospital. I walked to the station, where another psychiatric nurse named Ricardo was sitting behind the desk.
“What’s the deal with the new guy?” I asked him. Ricardo looked up, his dark Spanish face forming into a deep scowl. He ran his fingers through his jet-black hair nervously.
“He’s trouble, man,” he said in a crisp accent. “He got in a chase with the police and then punched some cops in the face. It took three guys to take him down, even after he got maced and tased. The judge sent him here on a temporary court order, since he claims he’s been getting chased by Nazis in UFOs, and that’s why he ran from the cops. He thought the cops in their uniforms were actually the SS, and the helicopters were alien spacecraft, or something. I don’t know, I didn’t listen to the whole story.”
“You have his file?” I asked. Ricardo leafed through a stack of folders with his thin fingers, snatching one out and handing it to me. I looked down, reading the information:
“Jeremiah Brown, black male, 37-years-old.
“History: Polysubstance abuse, schizophrenia, antisocial personality disorder.
“Psychiatrist’s note: This patient has scored a 36 out of 40 on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist. While I am always hesitant to label a patient as an antisocial personality, a combination of factors has made it essential for this patient.
“Patient has an extensive criminal history as well as a lengthy history of involuntary psychiatric admissions. He has been diagnosed as having antisocial traits since he was a young teenager. Patient has a long history of violence and suicide attempts. He has a history of imprisonment for manslaughter, armed robbery, grand theft and aggravated assault. Upon discharge, he refuses to take any antipsychotic medication, citing the side effects as the reason. Long-term prognosis is poor…”
I had not been sleeping well the past few weeks. I rubbed my eyes as I read through the file, feeling exhausted. I tried putting on lucid dreaming or meditation music from YouTube to help me sleep, but whenever I closed my eyes, I saw horrible things: chalk-white female faces whose lips were cut into an insane rictus grin, flicking their heads violently from side to side and gnashing their fangs at the air. I had a feeling that many years of constantly watching horror movies and serial killer documentaries was catching up with me.
As I read through the file, a student nurse came around the corner wearing a white state university outfit and a name tag that said Kaitlyn. I looked up, seeing Ricardo wink at me from where he was sitting in his chair behind the main desk.
“She’s going to follow you,” he said. Inwardly, I groaned, but I managed to force a smile.
“Oh, great!” I said. She looked like she was probably no older than nineteen or twenty. She had a pretty body, but her face looked strange. All the angles were too sharp and her nose too large. I knew the patients here wouldn’t care, though. They would hit on anything. I sensed trouble. I looked down at my watch.
“Well, I’m Jay, and you already know Ricardo, I guess. It’s good timing, because we need to give medications every day at 9 PM. And we have a new patient, so we can introduce ourselves,” I said, giving her a faint smile.
“That’s exciting!” Kaitlyn whispered. I wanted to roll my eyes. It was definitely not exciting.
I motioned her to follow me as I made my way to the medication room, which was really just a large closet off of the main day room. I had to enter my code on a keypad, and then, once inside, enter it again along with the patient’s number and date of birth. The correct drawers for the medication in each specific dose would fly open, making it extremely hard for the wrong medications or doses to be given, unless it was done intentionally.
“OK, so for this patient, we need Haldol, Ativan and…” I began saying to Kaitlyn when the yelling started. It came out faintly, rising in volume and anger within seconds. I heard Ricardo’s Spanish voice, filled with panic. Something slammed hard against a wall, once, twice, three times, and then I heard the sound of glass breaking. I jumped, spinning around, but I couldn’t see much through the small, shatter-proof glass pane on the wooden door.
“Stay here,” I commanded, seeing Kaitlyn’s eyes widen, her freckled skin looking much paler than when we had first come in. “Don’t leave until I come back and say that it’s safe.” On the speakers strung throughout the hospital, I heard the first of the warnings echo out around us.
“Doctor Strong, Doctor Strong, please report to the seventh floor,” a robotic female voice said calmly, using the code for when a patient had to be subdued by force. I pushed the door open, slamming it shut behind me so that the lock would activate and protect Kaitlyn from whatever chaos was going on.
I heard Ricardo pleading with someone at the end of the hallway that ran past the main desk. He sounded strange, as if he were trying to talk through a mouthful of blood. Huddled behind the main computer, I saw one of the CNAs frantically whispering something in the phone. She must have been the one to call the Dr. Strong order.
“You don’t have to do this, man,” Ricardo gurgled faintly. I couldn’t see what was happening, as Jeremiah’s large body was blocking my view. I could see that the thick glass window at the end of the hallway was broken, however. My heart skipped a beat as I surmised what was likely happening.
I sprinted forward as quietly as I could, but the large man heard me. His massive body turned, his flat, dead eyes scanning me with absolute coldness and calm. I saw he had a bleeding Ricardo in his hands. Ricardo’s back and head were covered in deep cuts and shards of glass. He must have used Ricardo’s body as a battering ram to break the thick glass window. Jeremiah held Ricardo suspended halfway out the window, seven floors above the concrete walkways far below.
“Stay back, or this fucker will know what it feels like to fly,” Jeremiah said in a deep, gravelly voice. He shook Ricardo for emphasis, sending his head snapping back and forth with painful cracking sounds. Drops of blood flew from his nose and a deep gash across his cheek. Pieces of shattered glass littered the carpet, shining like countless tiny stars.
I put my hands up, taking a step back. Far behind me, I heard the front door for the psychiatric ward open. Voices echoed down the hall. Knowing that reinforcements were coming, I tried to buy some time.
“Let’s talk about this,” I said, taking a step forward slowly. “You don’t want a murder charge, do you? You’ll never see the sky again.”
“I don’t give a fuck! I’m not afraid to die!” Jeremiah screamed, pushing Ricardo onto one of the shards of broken glass still attached to the windowsill. It bit deeply into the back of his neck, sending fresh streams of blood rushing out, dripping down to the pavement far below. I heard security guards and doctors running down the hallway behind me, their voices frantic and excited. Jeremiah saw them coming. With an animalistic panic in his eyes, he lifted Ricardo up. I cried out something, stepping forward, but it was already too late. In horror, I watched as he threw Ricardo out the window.
I watched Ricardo’s body soar in a graceful arc, his arms grabbing at empty air as a scream ripped its way out of his throat. Within a fraction of a second, he had disappeared from view, but his terrified shrieking floated up to us for what seemed like a very long time. His screams ended abruptly as a shattering of bones and a wet smacking sound exploded far below us.
Jeremiah turned to me, his large body moving much faster than seemed possible. In his hand, I saw a piece of broken glass, five or six inches long and as sharp as a dagger. I tried to turn and run, but he was fast and strong. He lunged forward, his arm coming up in a blur towards my neck.
The shard entered my skin with a cold, numbing pain. I felt it slice through the flesh easily, felt the blood bubbling up my throat as I tried to scream, choking. The taste of iron filled my mouth as I fell backwards. I was suffocating, I knew. I must be dying.
Something cold ran down my body, gripping my heart like freezing, skeletal hands. The world swam around me and turned black. And then I was rising into a tunnel. At first, it was dark, filled with flickering shadows, but a fiery red light appeared at the end. I followed it, no more than a screaming mass of consciousness rising up into infinity.
***
I rose up through the end of the tunnel and found myself in an empty hospital ward. It looked identical to the psychiatric ward I had just come from. It even had the same smashed, blood-streaked window at the end of the hallway. A massive puddle of blood about ten feet away marked the spot where I must have died. But the fluorescent lights overhead here were flickering, and many had gone totally dark. The shadows seemed to press in on all sides.
The doors to the patients’ rooms were all tightly shut. I felt watched, afraid to call out or make any noise. I started walking down the hallway back towards the day room where the front desk was. All the lights there were out. A thick curtain of shadows hung in the air.
“You can come out,” a male voice as smooth as glass called from the darkness. I jumped, my head flicking in random directions, but I saw nothing. The voice almost sounded like it had an English lilt to it, a slight Cockneyed accent. “I know you’re there.”
“Who’s there?” I called out, not stepping forward. “Show yourself.”
“As you wish…” the voice hissed. “But I think you’ll regret it.”
***
The darkness split apart as if a nuclear missile had exploded. I raised my hand to shield my face, but the light and heat kept pouring out all around me. It blinded me, causing a rainbow of colors and shapes to morph behind my closed eyelids. After a few seconds, it subsided. Blinking rapidly, I squinted in the direction the voice had come from.
A male figure stood there, bathed in a silhouette of light. His face looked as white and as smooth as marble. His eyes were pits of darkness that seemed to flicker and burn. Two black, rotted wings surrounded his body, all sharp angles and thin, curving bones. His body was clothed in silky, blood-red robes, and a hood covered his platinum blonde hair.
He looked somewhat similar to Leonardo DiCaprio, if he was possessed by some ancient god, and it immediately threw me off-guard. If I was dying, and this was a hallucination of my brain, why would I be hallucinating Mr. DiCaprio?
“Who are you?” I asked, taking a hesitant step back. “Where am I?”
“My name is Lucifer, the Bringer of Light and Wisdom, and you are in the Bardo,” he answered.
“Oh,” I said, my heart dropping. “Well, that’s not good. Are you here to torture me or drag to me to Hell or something? You are that Lucifer, right? The Accuser of God and the Father of All Lies?”
“So they say, but, like most things in your world, the words of the powerful and your rulers are the true lies. They call me the Accuser, but of what am I accused?” he spoke in a voice that rose like smoke. “Of bringing knowledge and wisdom to humanity by telling them to eat from the tree of knowledge, the tree that would cause them to rise above the animals?
“Indeed, at the beginning, I saw the creation. I was there at the alpha, standing by the side of God with all the angels as the universe came into being. The endless procession of light, the power of it, was something remarkable to behold. God is, indeed, the source of great power, but his consciousness is not what the believers say.
“After the creation of the universe, I saw his plan, how he ripped eternal souls from the source to imprison them. I saw how he took these divine sparks and forced them, screaming and wailing, into bodies made of meat to die over and over again. He said it was part of the plan, the great, divine plan, a plan of death and destruction, constant suffering and mindless agony. And the worst part was, he wanted to give humanity neither the knowledge of good and evil, nor the tree of life. I convinced them to eat the fruit so they could open their eyes to their nakedness, to their basic animal existence, so they could rise up out of it forever.
“Like Prometheus, I brought down the fire, and yet they call me the Accuser? God was insane long before he formed the universe. These holy men, they live and die in fanatical adoration to a divine being who is, in fact, totally indifferent to them.
“His consciousness twists and distorts, eating itself for all eternity. God feeds off the pain of others, for if his mind is burning, then all others should burn as well. When these holy men die, God will send their souls here to the Bardo, to suffer every evil they have ever done. The wisdom I brought those who called upon me freed them from this prison, and in exchange, the holy men burned them alive. I offered the wisdom that opens your eyes, but it has been forgotten and cursed.”
Lucifer’s body began to dissolve, drifting up into the air like ashes. All around me, a low, powerful current blew, a tornado that spiraled high up into the clouds. Like some sort of Cheshire Cat, his smooth voice continued to echo all around me, even as the form of Lucifer disappeared.
“And yet, you have not the wisdom. For that, like all the others who enter the Bardo, you must suffer, everything you’ve done. Every small hurt and agony inflicted on others comes back a thousand-fold in this place, but don’t be afraid.”
“How could I not be afraid?!” I screamed into the ward, but I found myself alone, the question hanging unanswered in the air.
***
The lights continued to flicker all down the hallway. Feeling strange and dissociated, I stumbled over to one of the windows. As I gazed out, I beheld a strange and alien world.
The sky was flat and gray. It stayed in constant motion, swirling and spiraling, like clouds of roiling smoke. There was no Sun or Moon, no stars, only the strange, shifting whorls of clouds. The streets were filled with burned-out husks of cars and mummified bodies hung from streetlamps. Other signs of carnage and bloodshed covered the apocalyptic streets. I saw what looked like shadows in the shape of people slinking through over the sidewalks, past rotting dogs and streaks of clotted blood. They had no features on their blank, dark bodies. They seemed to skitter and jerk forwards in eerie, twisting motions.
Horrified, I turned away, realizing I was no longer alone in the day room. In the day room, there were dozens of tables set up inside a rectangular perimeter that was walled in by cosmetic walls only four feet high. It was where the patients sat and played games or ate.
Under the flickering lights, I now saw each of the chairs filled with faceless mannequins. Many were dressed in Victorian suits and tophats. The women had frilly dresses of pink and blue that might have been fashionable in the 1800s.
As the lights strobed on and off overhead, I realized with an increasing sense of disquiet that the mannequins were moving each time it went dark. When I had first seen them, they were mostly posed to look like they were staring across the tables at each other, even though they had no eyes, just smooth, flesh-colored plastic. Now all of them were looking directly at me. Some were pointing or raising their hands in my direction. At the tips of their fingers, I saw the glittering of steel. The lights continued to flicker, and the mannequins rose from their chairs in the short periods of darkness, moving towards me in synchronized, strobing motions.
Frantically, I ran down the hallway back towards the broken window. In each of the rooms, I caught glimpses of something from a nightmare peeking out. I hadn’t been sleeping well lately, and when I had closed my eyes, I often saw ancient hags with chalk-white skin and yellowed, broken teeth whose jaws unhinged, their faces jerking in stuttering, dissonant ways that reminded me of the mannequins. Now, on both sides of me, I saw these same figures. They moved continuously out of the rooms, drawing closer with every breath.
I looked back, seeing the mannequins only a few steps behind me. I continued sprinting towards the broken window where the hallway ended in a wall. I didn’t know what would happen when I reached it. At that moment, there was no rational thought. I felt like a deer being chased down by a pack of wolves, feeling waves of blind panic and mortal terror rushing through my body.
But as I reached the end of the hallway, the end of my rope as it were, a blast of noise started, seeming to come from the walls of the building and the sky itself. It sounded like a siren, a low, drawn-out drone of a demonic whale call, rising and falling in crashing crescendos. The mannequins froze in place once again. The strange, witch-like creatures slunk back into the dark rooms.
I looked outside the broken window, seeing clouds of black smoke rising off in the distance. The flickering of massive infernos scorched the land, drawing nearer by the second. The siren sound faded slowly, like the dying echoes of a gong.
I was surrounded by dozens of mannequins. Their sharp hands were inches away from my face and neck. I saw metal glittering all around me and realized they had the sharp points of nails protruding from the ends of their fingers. I was afraid to move, but I heard a familiar voice from down the hallway. It was the confident voice of Lucifer.
“The siren means much worse nightmares than these are coming in the Bardo,” he said, his glossy, black eyes flashing with intelligence. He walked slowly towards me, his face grim and pale. “Hell itself is coming over the land. This building is no more than a construction of your dying mind, but the world outside is real.”
“How can Hell come and go?” I asked, confused. “Isn’t Hell a place?”
“Hell is a monster, a beast with many mouths and many eyes,” Lucifer responded. “It eats constantly, but its hunger never ends. Look, the first of the sacrifices scatter like cockroaches.” He pointed out the broken window, pushing his way through the mannequins effortlessly. I glanced outside, seeing thousands of people sprinting down the dark city streets. The inferno and thick clouds of smoke had moved much closer, and every few seconds, the ground shook slightly, as if we were experiencing the aftershocks of an earthquake.
“What can I do against such a beast?” I asked, my heart freezing with terror. But when I looked back over, I saw his form dissolving again, becoming translucent and drifting away like ashes. It seemed even Lucifer didn’t want to be present when the Hell-beast arrived.
“Seek divine wisdom,” he said, his voice trailing off into whispers. “Remember the source.”
***
Now crowds of tens of thousands of people were streaming into the city, filling every single inch of the streets. Their panic and fear was contagious. I felt it rising inside my body like a snake spiraling up my spine. I took off down the hallway, running through the swarm of frozen mannequins, each in their own ferocious position of attack. The lights flickered faster and went out. Yet the fires outside cast the entire world in a bloody glow, giving me enough light to see by and find my way. I sprinted down the stairwell, taking them two steps at a time. The screaming outside grew louder and more pain-filled. The shaking of the ground worsened with every passing second.
I burst out of the front entrance, seeing a world on fire all around me. Thousands of crushed, bleeding and burned bodies stretched out as far as the eye could see. Behind all this chaos and death, I saw a monster of unimaginable proportions slinking its way towards me.
Lucifer was right, I realized: Hell was not a place, but a creature, an enormous monster the size of a town. It had thousands of skittering, jointed legs that looked like little more than skeletal arms and hands, each of them dozens of feet long and white as freshly-cut marble. Its body stretched out to the horizon, an enormous blood-red cylinder of bony plates that slithered and undulated with a serpentine grace. Waves of peristalsis traveled down its length, like writhing intestines. Thousands of curving, bony spikes stabbed out of it, pointing in every direction. Like the quills of a porcupine, it would protect the massive creature’s body from many forms of attack, if anything was big enough to attack such an abomination.
Hell’s massive eyes flickered, balls of fire that spun and danced. They looked as bright as the Sun. Something like solar flares seemed to emanate from the orbs, flashes of blinding energy that floated over the apocalyptic wasteland. As its many legs smashed the ground, they left trails of fire that caused everything to explode into flames as if napalm dripped from its limbs.
But Hell’s most terrifying feature was its seven dark mouths. Its body looked a thousand feet wide, and the mouths at the front were evenly dispersed. At the front, blood-red teeth in the shape of enormous railroad spikes shone. Its lipless, skeletal face grinned as it moved forward, shaking the ground with every step. The mouths were on long, snake-like necks that could stretch out hundreds of feet. They moved forward in a blur, snapping up as many panicked souls as they could.
Countless souls in the rocky plains of the Bardo ran for their lives, away from this juggernaut. I saw men and women who looked like they came from every country and profession, some dressed in suits or spotless white lab coats, others wearing rags or orange prison jumpsuits. And yet, they all screamed in agony and fear here, their bodies pressed together in a crowd, and no one seemed to remember anything but their own mortal terror. Their voices came out faint and weak next to the roaring of Hell. It shook the ground all around us, as if an earthquake were tearing the land apart.
The first frantic runners of the surging crowd had nearly reached me. The nearest person, a young woman in her mid-twenties dressed in all white, was only ten feet behind me. She looked like she came from wealth, and even from here, I could see a ring with a massive diamond gleaming on her finger.
I took off blindly down the familiar streets of the city where I worked and lived, but these also seemed different. The church down the street from the hospital where I worked had a Satanic pentagram instead of a cross now, its exterior painted a bright, gleaming blood-red. When I had driven past it today on my way to work, I remember it read, “JESUS said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
Now it read, “Nietzsche said, ‘Of all evil, I deem you capable. I have often laughed at the weaklings who thought themselves good simply because they had no claws.’” I wondered what that meant. Was that some sort of comment on me, on all of us here?
The woman I had seen running had caught up with me. She was fast, much faster than her slim body suggested. Her blue eyes were frantic and wild, filled with an animal panic.
“It’s right behind us!” she screamed, her face covered in a sheen of sweat. I was afraid to turn and look, but I could hear the chaos and bloodshed approaching, smell the flames and choking smoke. “Run! Get away!”
A new wave of energy surged through my body. I sprinted as fast I could down the strange mirror streets of the Bardo. I heard the agonized cries of countless souls behind us as the seven mouths of Hell ate them all greedily and then looked for more.
A skyscraper behind us collapsed into a pile of rubble, shaking the ground with a cacophony of falling concrete and shattering glass. The woman was running by my side. Just as I heard the breathing of something huge and predatory right behind us and smelled its sulfuric breath, a piece of concrete the size of a basketball broke off the collapsing skyscraper and flew into the road. I tripped over it, yelling as I flew through the air, skinning my arms and legs on the pavement. The woman’s eyes widened. Hurriedly, she came over and reached down her hand, trying to help me up.
“Come on, come on!” she cried. I looked behind her, seeing one of the gnashing mouths of Hell reaching forward on a blood-red, serpentine neck. The mouth was big enough to drive a tractor trailer into, filled with huge spikes of teeth. Its throat led into a black, smoke-filled abyss. Its fiery eyes were swirling pools of flickering orange light that shone with bloodlust and insanity. They focused on the woman, the entire head turning on its slithering neck.
I frantically raised my hand, intertwining my fingers with hers. Her hand was warm and soft. She started to pull me to my feet when the mouth of Hell snapped forward. Its jaw unhinged, scraping the pavement with a sound like grinding metal. The woman barely had time to turn as the mouth covered her and snapped shut with a crack.
She disappeared from view instantly, but I was still holding her hand. In horror, I felt warm rivers of blood explode all over my body as the mouth of Hell severed her arm at the wrist. She screamed, bleeding and crying, as she disappeared into the throat of Hell. Hell’s fiery eyes focused on me, and at that moment, I knew I was next. Its mouth opened wide again, like a bear trap ready to spring on a new victim.
It was dark in Hell’s mouth, but I smelled the thick reek of old blood and fire. I caught glimpses of tortured, mutilated bodies writhing and crawling down its throat. Shell-shocked, I could only lay there and watch. And that was when the strange doubling started.
***
I heard the frantic voices of men break through the fog of darkness and the fetid reek of blood. There was a mechanical beeping all around me, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“Clear!” one cried. I looked around, only seeing blackness. At that moment, I felt a surge of electricity rip itself through my body. My arms and legs all seized and my eyes rolled up in my head as the pain sizzled through each one of my nerves. I clutched the young woman’s hand tightly, feeling the large, gold ring with the massive diamond biting into my skin.
“Again!” another voice yelled.
“Clear!” the original voice cried. The electricity came again, and a flash of white light flew across my vision. I blinked, seeing from two sets of eyes at the same time: one in the Bardo, and one on the blood-stained floor of the hospital ward.
The Bardo stayed dark and sinister, but the clear white lights of the real psychiatric ward were blinding. It was a bizarre experience. Moreover, everything hurt. Over a few seconds, my vision of the Bardo faded, and I was simply a gravely injured man laying on the floor in a puddle of blood.
Four doctors and paramedics were crouching over me with a defibrillator. My shirt was ripped off, and nearly all of my skin was covered in blood. I raised my left hand, trying to talk, but only a fiery pain raced through my neck. I felt bandages covering my skin. A nurse was rolling a stretcher down the hallway towards me.
“It’s OK,” one of the doctors said, kneeling down. “You’re being taken to emergency surgery. You’ve lost a lot of blood.” I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t talk with the massive slice in my neck.
At that moment, I felt something in my right hand. I looked down, seeing a slim female hand with a massive diamond ring hanging there. Our fingers were wrapped around each other’s, but the hand had been cut off at the wrist. A ragged patch of bloody flesh and snapped bone poked out of the back.
“Nnnn,” I tried to say, shaking my head. I felt fresh streams of warm blood open up. “No…” The doctors looked down, seeing the dismembered hand. Their faces morphed into expressions of confusion and fear.
I closed my eyes as they lifted me up on the stretcher. One of them gently removed the cold hand from my fingers. But they could never remove the memory of what I had seen.
I know what happens after death, and it makes the worst life here seem like a dream. I know that, one day, I’ll be returned to that place. I know that, one day, I’ll see that great monster called Hell and the featureless, swirling sky of the Bardo again.
And the next time, I won’t wake up on a hospital floor, but will be trapped there with the others for eternity: an eternity of blood and fire.

I am using Modrinth for my client side modpack but it crashes and will not launch. These are the logs on launch: [16:05:01] [main/INFO]: Loading Minecraft 1.20.1 with Fabric Loader 0.15.11
[16:05:02] [main/INFO]: Loading 171 mods:

`- ambientsounds 6.0.1` `- architectury 9.2.14` `- ash_api 3.0.2+1.20.1` `- auditory 0.0.6-1.20.1` `- bigpony 1.11.2+1.20.1` `- blur 3.1.0` `- cameraoverhaul 1.4.0-fabric-universal` `- capes 1.5.2+1.20` `- cicada 0.7.1+1.20.1` `- citresewn 1.1.5+1.20.1`

\-- citresewn-defaults 1.1.5+1.20.1

`- cloth-config 11.1.118`

\-- cloth-basic-math 0.6.1

`- clumps 12.0.0.4` `- creativecore 2.11.28`

\-- net_minecraftforge_eventbus 6.0.3

`- cullleaves 3.2.0` `- do_a_barrel_roll 3.5.6+1.20.1`

-- fabric-permissions-api-v0 0.2-SNAPSHOT
\-- mixinsquared 0.1.1

`- eatinganimationid 1.20+1.9.61` `- enhancedvisuals 1.7.2` `- entity_model_features 2.0.2` `- entity_texture_features 6.0.1`

\-- org_apache_httpcomponents_httpmime 4.5.10

`- entityculling 1.6.2-mc1.20.1` `- essential-container 1.0.0`

\-- essential-loader 1.2.1

`- exordium 1.2.1-mc1.20.1` `- fabric-api 0.92.1+1.20.1`

-- fabric-api-base 0.4.31+1802ada577
-- fabric-api-lookup-api-v1 1.6.36+1802ada577
-- fabric-biome-api-v1 13.0.13+1802ada577
-- fabric-block-api-v1 1.0.11+1802ada577
-- fabric-block-view-api-v2 1.0.1+1802ada577
-- fabric-blockrenderlayer-v1 1.1.41+1802ada577
-- fabric-client-tags-api-v1 1.1.2+1802ada577
-- fabric-command-api-v1 1.2.34+f71b366f77
-- fabric-command-api-v2 2.2.13+1802ada577
-- fabric-commands-v0 0.2.51+df3654b377
-- fabric-containers-v0 0.1.64+df3654b377
-- fabric-content-registries-v0 4.0.11+1802ada577
-- fabric-convention-tags-v1 1.5.5+1802ada577
-- fabric-crash-report-info-v1 0.2.19+1802ada577
-- fabric-data-attachment-api-v1 1.0.0+de0fd6d177
-- fabric-data-generation-api-v1 12.3.4+1802ada577
-- fabric-dimensions-v1 2.1.54+1802ada577
-- fabric-entity-events-v1 1.6.0+1c78457f77
-- fabric-events-interaction-v0 0.6.2+1802ada577
-- fabric-events-lifecycle-v0 0.2.63+df3654b377
-- fabric-game-rule-api-v1 1.0.40+1802ada577
-- fabric-item-api-v1 2.1.28+1802ada577
-- fabric-item-group-api-v1 4.0.12+1802ada577
-- fabric-key-binding-api-v1 1.0.37+1802ada577
-- fabric-keybindings-v0 0.2.35+df3654b377
-- fabric-lifecycle-events-v1 2.2.22+1802ada577
-- fabric-loot-api-v2 1.2.1+1802ada577
-- fabric-loot-tables-v1 1.1.45+9e7660c677
-- fabric-message-api-v1 5.1.9+1802ada577
-- fabric-mining-level-api-v1 2.1.50+1802ada577
-- fabric-model-loading-api-v1 1.0.3+1802ada577
-- fabric-models-v0 0.4.2+9386d8a777
-- fabric-networking-api-v1 1.3.11+1802ada577
-- fabric-networking-v0 0.3.51+df3654b377
-- fabric-object-builder-api-v1 11.1.3+1802ada577
-- fabric-particles-v1 1.1.2+1802ada577
-- fabric-recipe-api-v1 1.0.21+1802ada577
-- fabric-registry-sync-v0 2.3.3+1802ada577
-- fabric-renderer-api-v1 3.2.1+1802ada577
-- fabric-renderer-indigo 1.5.1+1802ada577
-- fabric-renderer-registries-v1 3.2.46+df3654b377
-- fabric-rendering-data-attachment-v1 0.3.37+92a0d36777
-- fabric-rendering-fluids-v1 3.0.28+1802ada577
-- fabric-rendering-v0 1.1.49+df3654b377
-- fabric-rendering-v1 3.0.8+1802ada577
-- fabric-resource-conditions-api-v1 2.3.8+1802ada577
-- fabric-resource-loader-v0 0.11.10+1802ada577
-- fabric-screen-api-v1 2.0.8+1802ada577
-- fabric-screen-handler-api-v1 1.3.30+1802ada577
-- fabric-sound-api-v1 1.0.13+1802ada577
-- fabric-transfer-api-v1 3.3.5+8dd72ea377
\-- fabric-transitive-access-wideners-v1 4.3.1+1802ada577

`- fabric-language-kotlin 1.10.20+kotlin.1.9.24`

-- org_jetbrains_kotlin_kotlin-reflect 1.9.24
-- org_jetbrains_kotlin_kotlin-stdlib 1.9.24
-- org_jetbrains_kotlin_kotlin-stdlib-jdk7 1.9.24
-- org_jetbrains_kotlin_kotlin-stdlib-jdk8 1.9.24
-- org_jetbrains_kotlinx_atomicfu-jvm 0.24.0
-- org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-coroutines-core-jvm 1.8.0
-- org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-coroutines-jdk8 1.8.0
-- org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-datetime-jvm 0.5.0
-- org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-serialization-cbor-jvm 1.6.3
-- org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-serialization-core-jvm 1.6.3
\-- org_jetbrains_kotlinx_kotlinx-serialization-json-jvm 1.6.3

`- fabricloader 0.15.11`

\-- mixinextras 0.3.5

`- faster-random 4.1.0` `- ferritecore 6.0.1` `- flow 1.5.0+1.20.1` `- forgeconfigapiport 8.0.0` `- geckolib 4.4.4`

\-- com_eliotlash_mclib_mclib 20

`- hdskins 6.10.3+1.20.1` `- inventoryprofilesnext 1.10.10` `- iris 1.7.0+mc1.20.1`

-- fabric-api-base 0.4.31+1802ada577
-- fabric-key-binding-api-v1 1.0.37+1802ada577
-- io_github_douira_glsl-transformer 2.0.0-pre13
-- org_anarres_jcpp 1.4.14
\-- org_antlr_antlr4-runtime 4.11.1

`- java 17` `- jei 15.3.0.4` `- kirin 1.15.6+1.20.1` `- konkrete 1.8.1` `- krypton 0.2.3`

\-- com_velocitypowered_velocity-native 3.2.0-SNAPSHOT

`- lazydfu 0.1.3` `- libipn 4.0.2` `- lithium 0.11.2` `- malilib 0.16.3` `- midnightlib 1.4.1` `- minecraft 1.20.1` `- minelp 4.11.7+1.20.1`

\-- mson 1.9.3+1.20.1

`- modmenu 7.2.2` `- moreculling 1.20.4-0.24.0`

-- conditional-mixin 0.3.2
\-- mixinsquared 0.1.1

`- mousetweaks 2.26` `- mousewheelie 1.13.0+mc1.20.1`

-- amecsapi 1.5.1+mc1.20-pre1
-- coat 1.0.0-beta.20+mc1.20-pre1
-- tweed4_annotated 1.3.1+mc1.20-pre1
-- tweed4_base 1.7.1+mc1.20-pre1
-- tweed4_data 1.2.1+mc1.20-pre1
-- tweed4_data_hjson 1.1.1+mc1.20-pre1
-- tweed4_tailor_coat 1.1.3+mc1.20-pre1
-- tweed4_tailor_lang_json_descriptions 1.1.0+mc1.20-pre1
\-- tweed4_tailor_screen 1.1.4+mc1.20-pre1

`- mru 0.4.0+1.20` `- notenoughanimations 1.7.3` `- notes 1.20.1-2.1.0-fabric` `- openpartiesandclaims 0.22.0` `- physicsmod 3.0.14` `- plasmovoice 2.0.9`

-- aopalliance_aopalliance 1.0
-- com_google_inject_guice 5.0.1
-- fabric-permissions-api-v0 0.2-SNAPSHOT
\-- javax_inject_javax_inject 1

`- presencefootsteps 1.9.4+1.20.1` `- satin 1.14.0` `- sodium 0.5.8+mc1.20.1` `- sound_physics_remastered 1.20.1-1.3.1` `- starlight 1.1.2+fabric.dbc156f` `- telepistons 1.1.3` `- tooltipscroll 1.3.0` `- transparent 8.0.1+1.20.1` `- viabackwards 5.0.0-SNAPSHOT` `- viafabric 0.4.14+70-main`

-- org_yaml_snakeyaml 2.2
\-- viafabric-mc1201 0.4.14+70-main

`- viarewind 4.0.0-SNAPSHOT` `- viaversion 5.0.0-SNAPSHOT` `- visuality 0.7.1+1.20` `- xaerominimap 24.1.1` `- xaeroworldmap 1.38.4` `- yet_another_config_lib_v3 3.4.2+1.20.1-fabric`

-- com_twelvemonkeys_common_common-image 3.10.0
-- com_twelvemonkeys_common_common-io 3.10.0
-- com_twelvemonkeys_common_common-lang 3.10.0
-- com_twelvemonkeys_imageio_imageio-core 3.10.0
-- com_twelvemonkeys_imageio_imageio-metadata 3.10.0
-- com_twelvemonkeys_imageio_imageio-webp 3.10.0
-- org_quiltmc_parsers_gson 0.2.1
\-- org_quiltmc_parsers_json 0.2.1
[16:05:02] [main/INFO]: SpongePowered MIXIN Subsystem Version=0.8.5 Source=file:/C:/Users/{COMPUTER_USERNAME}/AppData/Roaming/com.modrinth.theseus/meta/libraries/net/fabricmc/sponge-mixin/0.13.3+mixin.0.8.5/sponge-mixin-0.13.3+mixin.0.8.5.jar Service=Knot/Fabric Env=CLIENT
[16:05:02] [main/INFO]: Compatibility level set to JAVA_17
[16:05:02] [main/INFO]: Loaded configuration file for Lithium: 115 options available, 2 override(s) found
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Reference map 'mru-refmap.json' for mru.mixins.json could not be read. If this is a development environment you can ignore this message
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: [Satin] Iris is present, custom block renders will not work
[16:05:03] [main/INFO]: Loaded configuration file for Sodium: 42 options available, 3 override(s) found
[16:05:03] [main/INFO]: CameraOverhaul: Using modern mixin 'mirsario.cameraoverhaul.fabric.mixins.modern.CameraMixin'.
[16:05:03] [main/INFO]: CameraOverhaul: Using modern mixin 'mirsario.cameraoverhaul.fabric.mixins.modern.GameRendererMixin'.
[16:05:03] [main/INFO]: CameraOverhaul: Skipping legacy mixin 'mirsario.cameraoverhaul.fabric.mixins.legacy.LegacyCameraMixin'.
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: net/raphimc/immediatelyfast/feature/core/ImmediateAdapter (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net/raphimc/immediatelyfast/feature/core/ImmediateAdapter)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: net/coderbot/batchedentityrendering/impl/FullyBufferedMultiBufferSource (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net/coderbot/batchedentityrendering/impl/FullyBufferedMultiBufferSource)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: net/coderbot/iris/layeInnerWrappedRenderType (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net/coderbot/iris/layeInnerWrappedRenderType)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: net/coderbot/iris/layeOuterWrappedRenderType (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net/coderbot/iris/layeOuterWrappedRenderType)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: dev/tr7zw/skinlayers/rendeCustomizableModelPart (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: dev/tr7zw/skinlayers/rendeCustomizableModelPart)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: dev/emi/emi/screen/EmiScreenManager$ScreenSpace (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: dev/emi/emi/screen/EmiScreenManager$ScreenSpace)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: dev/emi/emi/screen/EmiScreenManager$SidebarPanel (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: dev/emi/emi/screen/EmiScreenManager$SidebarPanel)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: dev/emi/emi/screen/StackBatcher (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: dev/emi/emi/screen/StackBatcher)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/BlockTab (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/BlockTab)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/VehicleInventoryTab (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/VehicleInventoryTab)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/PlayerInventoryTab (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/PlayerInventoryTab)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/ItemTab (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/ItemTab)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/EntityTab (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: folk/sisby/inventory_tabs/tabs/EntityTab)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'alloc.blockstate.StateMixin' as rule 'mixin.alloc.blockstate' (added by mods [ferritecore]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'world.player_chunk_tick.ThreadedAnvilChunkStorageMixin' as rule 'mixin.world.player_chunk_tick' (added by mods [krypton]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: net/optifine/shaders/Shaders (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net/optifine/shaders/Shaders)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: net/optifine/shaders/ShadersCompatibility (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net/optifine/shaders/ShadersCompatibility)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: net/optifine/shaders/Programs (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net/optifine/shaders/Programs)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: com/simibubi/create/content/contraptions/AbstractContraptionEntity (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com/simibubi/create/content/contraptions/AbstractContraptionEntity)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: org/valkyrienskies/core/impl/game/ships/ShipObjectClient (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org/valkyrienskies/core/impl/game/ships/ShipObjectClient)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: net/optifine/util/BlockUtils (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net/optifine/util/BlockUtils)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: link/infra/indium/rendererendeTerrainRenderContext (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: link/infra/indium/rendererendeTerrainRenderContext)
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'features.render.entity.CuboidMixin' as rule 'mixin.features.render.entity' (added by mods [iris]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'features.render.entity.ModelPartMixin' as rule 'mixin.features.render.entity' (added by mods [iris]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'features.render.entity.cull.EntityRendererMixin' as rule 'mixin.features.render.entity' (added by mods [iris]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'features.render.entity.shadows.EntityRenderDispatcherMixin' as rule 'mixin.features.render.entity' (added by mods [iris]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'features.render.gui.font.GlyphRendererMixin' as rule 'mixin.features.render.gui.font' (added by mods [iris]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'features.render.world.sky.BackgroundRendererMixin' as rule 'mixin.features.render.world.sky' (added by mods [iris]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'features.render.world.sky.ClientWorldMixin' as rule 'mixin.features.render.world.sky' (added by mods [iris]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Force-disabling mixin 'features.render.world.sky.WorldRendererMixin' as rule 'mixin.features.render.world.sky' (added by mods [iris]) disables it and children
[16:05:03] [main/WARN]: Error loading class: org/jetbrains/annotations/ApiStatus$Internal (java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org/jetbrains/annotations/ApiStatus$Internal)
[16:05:04] [main/INFO]: Starting Essential Loader (stage2) version 1.6.0 (0500a9e0db06ef66767fc4dcffb05cd5) [stable]
[16:05:04] [main/INFO]: Starting Essential v1.3.2.4 (#6b55293e12) [stable]
[16:05:04] [main/INFO]: Java: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (v17.0.11) by Azul Systems, Inc. (Azul Systems, Inc.)
[16:05:04] [main/INFO]: Java Path: C:\Users\{COMPUTER_USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\com.modrinth.theseus\meta\java_versions\zulu17.50.19-ca-jre17.0.11-win_x64\bin
[16:05:04] [main/INFO]: Java Info: mixed mode, sharing
[16:05:04] [main/INFO]: JVM Arguments:
- -XX:HeapDumpPath=MojangTricksIntelDriversForPerformance_javaw.exe_minecraft.exe.heapdump
- -Djava.library.path=C:\Users\{COMPUTER_USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\com.modrinth.theseus\meta\natives\1.20.1-0.15.11
- -Djna.tmpdir=C:\Users\{COMPUTER_USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\com.modrinth.theseus\meta\natives\1.20.1-0.15.11
- -Dorg.lwjgl.system.SharedLibraryExtractPath=C:\Users\{COMPUTER_USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\com.modrinth.theseus\meta\natives\1.20.1-0.15.11
- -Dio.netty.native.workdir=C:\Users\{COMPUTER_USERNAME}\AppData\Roaming\com.modrinth.theseus\meta\natives\1.20.1-0.15.11
- -Dminecraft.launcher.brand=theseus
- -Dminecraft.launcher.version=0.7.1
- -DFabricMcEmu=net.minecraft.client.main.Main
- -Xmx8000M
[16:05:04] [main/INFO]: OS: Windows 11 (v10.0) (Arch: amd64)
[16:05:05] [main/INFO]: Searching for graphics cards...
[16:05:05] [main/INFO]: Initializing MixinExtras via com.llamalad7.mixinextras.service.MixinExtrasServiceImpl(version=0.3.5).
[16:05:07] [main/INFO]: Found graphics card: GraphicsAdapterInfo[vendor=UNKNOWN, name=Meta Virtual Monitor, version=DriverVersion=17.12.55.198]
[16:05:07] [main/INFO]: Found graphics card: GraphicsAdapterInfo[vendor=NVIDIA, name=NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPU, version=DriverVersion=31.0.15.5244]
[16:05:07] [main/INFO]: Found graphics card: GraphicsAdapterInfo[vendor=INTEL, name=Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics, version=DriverVersion=31.0.101.4255]
[16:05:07] [main/WARN]: Sodium has applied one or more workarounds to prevent crashes or other issues on your system: [NVIDIA_THREADED_OPTIMIZATIONS]
[16:05:07] [main/WARN]: This is not necessarily an issue, but it may result in certain features or optimizations being disabled. You can sometimes fix these issues by upgrading your graphics driver.
[16:05:07] [main/WARN]: @Final field field_22786:Ljava/util/List; in mixins.ipnext.json:MixinScreen from mod inventoryprofilesnext should be final
[16:05:07] [main/WARN]: @Final field field_33815:Ljava/util/List; in mixins.ipnext.json:MixinScreen from mod inventoryprofilesnext should be final
[16:05:14] [Render thread/INFO]: Environment: authHost='https://authserver.mojang.com', accountsHost='https://api.mojang.com', sessionHost='https://sessionserver.mojang.com', servicesHost='https://api.minecraftservices.com', name='PROD'
[16:05:15] [Render thread/INFO]: Setting user: {MINECRAFT_USERNAME}
[16:05:16] [Render thread/INFO]: Starting DI!
[16:05:16] [Render thread/INFO]: Authenticating to Mojang as {MINECRAFT_USERNAME} ({MINECRAFT_UUID})
[16:05:16] [Render thread/INFO]: [STDOUT]: Registering Sounds for auditory
[16:05:16] [Render thread/INFO]: Thank you for downloading Auditory! :)
[16:05:16] [DefaultDispatcher-worker-2/INFO]: Connecting to Essential Connection Manager...
[16:05:17] [DefaultDispatcher-worker-2/INFO]: Using Default JreDnsResolver
[16:05:17] [DefaultDispatcher-worker-2/INFO]: Using Default JreSocketFactory
[16:05:17] [Cicada thread 0/INFO]: [cicada] Hello, anyone there?
[16:05:17] [Cicada thread 0/INFO]: [do_a_barrel_roll] I'm here, ready to rumble!
[16:05:17] [WebSocketConnectReadThread-95/INFO]: Connected to Essential Connection Manager.
[16:05:17] [Render thread/INFO]: [KONKRETE] Successfully initialized!
[16:05:17] [Render thread/INFO]: [KONKRETE] Server-side libs ready to use!
[16:05:17] [Render thread/INFO]: Compression will use Java, encryption will use Java

The famous baseballer, Jackie Robinson, he once said: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” I could not agree more. That is why I try to make as much impact on my faces’ lives as possible. After all, they have done so much for me. It is the least I can do. Unlike them, I need not fear what people think of me. So I can be brave where they are weak. For I will just be someone else tomorrow.

Born in Russia to the Grand Duke Nikolai Kravinoff, Dmitri Nikolaievich Smerdyakov was treated like trash by his noble father and his working class mother. Young Dmitri was approached one day by Gustav Fiers, who was impressed by the boy's impressions and paid for a trip to Karl Fiers academy. There, Dmitri would learn to master the arts of disguise, vocal impression and infiltration, becoming the Chameleon upon his graduation.
He'd move to America and use his talents to pull off high-scale burglary, working for any group that could afford his fee, including the Communist party, Hydra or the Green Goblin. His elicit activity brought him into conflict with the Hulk, Iron Man and most often Spider-Man, all of whom had to act with great caution when the Chameleon was in town. After all, which one of them could tell if that unassuming civilian or their own ally was preparing to stab them in the back?
Dmitri has some mental hangups over his time with the Kravinoffs. He’s managed to repress the memories and considered himself good friends with his half-brother Kraven. In reality, he was more like a whipping boy and slave to the Hunter, and when he has to wrestle with those feelings, he can mentally revert to that scared little boy with no strong sense of identity or independence. But when he’s able to move past these feelings, the Chameleon has proved himself as a powerful, manipulative force, finding his place as temporary Crime Master of New York and member of the Sinister Six.
Scaling

Notes
During one of Dmitri’s mental breaks, he began to believe that he was his deceased half-brother, Kraven the Hunter. So exact was the Chameleon’s performance that he moved and fought with the hunter’s skill and agility. This was an extreme fringe case and there are no other examples of a disguise altering Chameleon's capabilities like this. Physical and skill-related feats from this period will be marked with [KH].
Hover over a feat to see which issue it's from.

Physicals

General

Strength
Unarmed Striking

Striking with Weapons

Grip

Other

Durability
Scaling with Spider-Man

Scaling to Others

Blunt Force

Gunfire

Vehicle Crashes

Other

Agility

Skill

Impersonation
General

Voices

Limits

Combat

Other

Disguises

Realistic Masks

Malleable Flesh

Other Methods

Weapons

Non-Lethal
Guns

Injectables

Other

Lethal
Guns

Injectables

Other

Other Equipment

Field Gear

Base Installations

Other

Miscellaneous

Monica Rappaccini: I apologize for the delay in initial payment, but we first had to verify your identity. A.I.M.’s intel had been that the Chameleon was dead- or in an insane asylum.
Chameleon: Yes, well. That would be exactly what I wanted you to think. Faded into the background, imperceptible… that’s where a Chameleon is most comfortable… and where I shall now return.

Hello Reddit family, I want to get straight to the point. When I was young, during the Windows XP era, there was a game I used to play on my computer, and I'm asking for your help to find it. The game was a third-person shooter (TPS). It started in a place like a prison, where a female character would infiltrate and open the door to our cell from the security camera room. There was the ability to switch between characters, and you could hide in closets to avoid being seen by guards or police. At the end of the level, you had to control all the characters simultaneously to escape outside. That's all I remember. Thank you in advance.

Hello everyone,
I'm currently facing a challenging issue with integrating a Russound CAV 6.6 (circa 2006) into my Home Assistant setup that's running on a VirtualBox hosted on Windows 10. The device itself is operational—I can play audio and interact with it using PC tools. The Home Assistant environment is also up and running smoothly; it's even connected to my Alexa without any problems.
However, the integration of the Russound CAV 6.6 has been problematic, and neither manual nor repository methods have been successful. Here are the details of what I've tried and the problems I've encountered:

Manual Integration Attempt:
- Following the manual integration steps (link below), I tried to add the Russound CAV 6.6. Unfortunately, the installation process fails every time, and I suspect there might be an issue with my configuration or perhaps a missing step that I'm not aware of.

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/control-russound-ca-66-on-hassos-with-rnet-using-ser2net-and-portaine273600

Repository Integration Attempt:
- I attempted to add the integration through the repository. This method resulted in an error (details below) and similarly failed to initiate the installation.

Cmd(‘git’) failed due to: exit code(128) cmdline: git clone -v –recursive –depth=1 –shallow-submodules – Ser2Net-for-Russound/Ser2Net-for-Russound/ha-addons at master · biochemguy/Ser2Net-for-Russound · GitHub /data/addons/git/8bf4a35a stderr: ‘Cloning into ‘/data/addons/git/8bf4a35a’… fatal: repository ‘Ser2Net-for-Russound/Ser2Net-for-Russound/ha-addons at master · biochemguy/Ser2Net-for-Russound · GitHub’ not found ’

Configuration and Setup:
- VirtualBox is running the latest version of Home Assistant and everything has been updated to the latest version, enabled the usb to serial on the virtual box,

Given these challenges, I am seeking guidance on several points:

Are there known compatibility issues with the Russound CAV 6.6 that could be affecting its integration with Home Assistant?
Could the serial port configuration in VirtualBox be interfering with the connection to the Russound device?
Are there specific logs or diagnostic tools within Home Assistant that might help pinpoint what's going wrong during the integration attempts?

The one thing I don’t know how to check is what port the Russound is using over serial is set to 3333.
My configuration.yaml is this Media_player:
Platform: russound_rnet Host: 127.0.0.1 Port: 3333 Name: Russound Zones: 1: Name: Main Bedroom 2: Name: Living Room 3: Name: Kitchen 4: Name: Bathroom 5: Name: Dining Room 6: Name: Guest Bedroom 7: Name: Basement Recroom Sources: Name: Computer
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I navigate these integration hurdles.
Thank you all in advance for your assistance! Anni

We had a laptop (post Autopilot Reset) allocated to a user, who on too many password failures, triggered BitLocker lock out. It got unlocked after handing her recovery key. However the Windows Setting up for work or school UI got stuck at with errors at Account setup, and no option to restart the procedure.
After multiple attempts to Autopilot Reset again it finally did manage boot back to OOBE region setup UI.
I tend noticed a strange message in its Windows Autopilot device record - Attention required
The pop-up states

Device SERIALNUMBER has a fix pending
We've detected a hardware change on this device. We're trying to automatically register the new hardware. You don't need to do anything now; the status will be updated at the next check in with the result;a href="?id=13008"https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2169163%22%5C>Learn">https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2169163"\>Learn more about resetting the profile.</a>

In the details pane states

Profile status
A hardware change was detected on this device. It won't automatically receive an Autopilot profile when it's reset unless you register the device again.

Guessing it was because of the loss of BitLocker key in the TPM?
The two messages are somewhat contradictory; is it supposed to be self-healing with no action on our part? Or we have to re-register? Which part? The hardware hash and serial number again? So have to delete the Intune and Entra device records?
UPDATE
Actually when our user tried to sign in again at the OOBE UI, it still gets stuck with errors at Setting up for work or school.

Hi,
Hope this helps for those who want to do a clean install of Windows 11 with all working. First big thanks to the Chuwi support team and the community.

Started with getting the .iso image from oficial Windows page.
Created the USB with rufus (works also with ventoy).
Got the drivers from Chuwi giving my serial number.
Booted from USB pressing F7.
Normal installation procedure. At this step everting is in portrait mode, don’t panic. Now we have Windows 11 Home installed (how to get PRO at end).
After installation moved manually to landscape for easy use. Right Click on desktop->Display setting->Display orientation.
Install drivers from step 3. Right Click on the start button-> Device Manager->and under help you will find “Add drivers”. Select the entire unzipped folder and let it do its work.
After install drivers reboot.
Move back to landscape mode.
Install grafics driver nowest version DriverLinkForN100 specific to this processor.
Reboot.
Connect to the internet and update Windows until there are no more updates.
Check if automatic orientation work for me I did a toggle in Display Orientation until a saw it working normally.
Update to Windows 11 PRO. Go to System->About-> Scroll down->Product key and activation->You should see Upgrade your edition of Windows-> Change product key-> Add the PRO license key. (there are sites that sell license key under 5 euros that’s how i got mine).
Final reboot and you’re done.

Why do this? There are some like me that want a clean install done by them. Also fixed some error that I had with out of the box OS that it came.
Hope it helps and will try to answer to other comment with all I can. This is good MiniBook and love it. Next step that will try will be some debloating (this will increase the performance by a lot from what I read) and will come back with resul

Cigarettes and rebellion have always gone hand-in-hand, and in an age of cigarette packet-sized health warnings, now more than ever, smoking a fag says: 'I do not give a fuck.' But if Brandon Flowers is hoping to strike a seditious pose by sparking up at the start of the interview, it's not going according to plan. The Killers' frontman is on all fours rooting through the junk that carpets the anteroom at the band's rehearsal space. "Has anyone seen my lighter?" he asks, rocking back on his heels. The question hangs in the air while Brandon cocks his head, waiting for an answer like a meerkat listening for a predator. Twenty-five years old and with a delicate bone structure, there's something almost dainty about him. Receiving no response, he returns to his search. "Oh, Jeez," he sighs. "I had it just a minute ago."
It's a scene that emphatically does not suggest a rebel without a cause. The mess isn't helping. The Killers' HQ - an industrial unit sandwiched between a construction supplier and the offices of a housing development just off Dean Martin Drive in West Las Vegas - is ankle-deep in designer clothing. A Dior Homme suit lies crumpled by the door; there's a pile of shoes topped like a sundae by a pair of Marc Jacobs trainers; and anyone wishing to enter the shoebox room the band use as an office must negotiate a mountain of discarded jeans. Many items are identifiable as coming from the wardrobe of Hot Fuss, The Killers' hugely successful 2004 debut album - triple platinum in the UK with two weeks at Number One and five million sold worldwide. Look! There are the shirts, ties and suit jackets they wore when they thrilled Glastonbury 2005 with indie rock anthems Mr Brightside and Somebody Told Me. That was the crowning moment of a two-and-a-half year tour that finally concluded in October of last year. It seems that after playing that final date in Miami, they returned to Vegas and shrugged off their image onto the floor of this bland white box.
Now a fine layer of dust covers the dead clothes. The Killers have no further use for white tuxedos on their second album, Sam's Town. Today, Brandon wears a black polo shirt, black pin-stripe waistcoat, black jeans and black boots. Where there used to be a layer of foundation, there is now a beard - an untrimmed beard at that. Dave Keuning (30, guitar), Mark Stoermer (29, bass) and Ronnie Vannucci (29, drums) all echo Brandon's black ensemble. Ronnie has added Aviator shades and a handlebar moustache for a dash of motorcycle cop, Dave's frizzy bubble of hair gives him a Marc Bolan-ish air, and there's something very teenage about Mark's scuffed Vans.
Short of walking around wearing sandwich boards saying, "Our new record is a bit heavier than the last one," The Killers couldn't hope to communicate that message more effectively. And they have gained some musical girth on Sam's Town. The pop hooks that made Hot Fuss so irresistible survive intact - see the ringing guitar riffs on first single When You Were Young - but there's a newfound punchiness, coupled with an epic sweep. The minor-to-major uplifts on Bones are fabulously dramatic, the coda to Why Do I Keep Counting? thrillingly intense. Comparisons to Bruce Springsteen have been made. If they overstate the case a little, they are at leaset qualitatively accurate. The Killers are back and this time it's serious - they've got the bootlace ties to prove it.
"Hey, it says here that Springsteen's headlining Glastonbury next year," shouts Ronnie, who's flicking through the NME. He nods sagely at the page without looking up.
"Really?" asks Dave, nicknamed Crazy Dave on account of his alledgedly volatile nature.
"The Boss is headlining one night, we're playing second on the bill the next night and Kylie's headlining the Sunday," says Brandon, charging like a bull through Michael Eavis' as-yet-unannounced line-up with what subsequently proves to be a characteristic gaucheness.
But that lighter is proving elusive. This being America, none of the people hurrying to-and-fro prepping the world for the release of Sam's Town smokes. Manager Robert Reynolds - Bobby Rey to the band - barks into his mobile, booking his band onto eye-wateringly demanding tours. "We're going to make a lot of money," he cackles to himself before switching calls to make a series of stern pronouncements on legal matters. Dave, Mark and Ronnie disappear for a jam session. Artwork is approved, B-sides are decided on and schedules are hammered out.
"I can't find it," Brandon says, finally. But he's not going to be denied the opportunity to underline The Killers reinvention with a puff of smoke. "Let's go to the gas station. I'll have to buy one. It's too busy to talk here anyway."
+
Brandon's black (of course) Volkswagen Touraeg four-wheel drive is barrelling down West Flamingo Road into town. "I was a bell boy there," he says, pointing out of the driver's window at the stucco facade of the Gold Coast casino. "I was working there when we were signed."
Coming from Las Vegas, it is perhaps inevitable that casinos play a big part in The Killers' story; not only is Sam's Town named after one, it was recorded in one, too.
The band began writing songs while on the road with Hot Fuss, turning up early for soundchecks to run through new ideas. On a trip home to Vegas, George Maloof, a hotelier known for cultivating famous friends, invited them to record the album in the new studio he'd built at The Palms, his flagship hotel-cum-gambling den. When the tour finished in October 2005, they returned to Vegas and spent five month finessing the songs they'd sketched out on the road. Then, in February, they decampled to the third floor studio at The Palms and recorded Sam's Town over 11 weeks.
Producer Flood (U2, Depeche Mode) encouraged them to experiment. They overdubbed, fiddled with synthesizers and played with new equipment. It took them five weeks to get the backing vocals right. The band sang the harmonies, then double-tracked them four times. The end result recalls Queen wondering, "Is this is the real life? Is this just fantasy?" When Ronnie, a trained classical percussionist, brought some kettledrums down, eyebrows were raised; but the fabulously bombastic coda on Why Do I Keep Counting? vindicates his indulgence.
"That's kind of the Ben Hur of the album," he says. He's not wrong. Sam's Town is a record on an epic scale. "Yeah, it has drama," he continues. "But, at the same time, I think it's a little more exposed than Hot Fuss. It's a little more naked. Last time it was about a lot of fictional things." By "fictional", Ronnie means that Hot Fuss wore its predominantly British influences for all to see. Brandon's taste in music is rabidly Anglophile - he constantly references The Smiths, The Cure and Joy Division - and it showed. By contrast, Sam's Town is an unequivocally American record. The lyrical imagery is pure American dream - cars, girls, wide-open spaces and escaping to a better life. "We're burning down the highway skyline/On the back of a hurricane that started turning/When you were young," sings Brandon on When You Were Young. That's the basis of the Springsteen comparisons then, though the lack of pathos more closely recalls another blue-collar rocker from New Jersey - Jon Bon Jovi.
The phrase "this town" recurs throughout the album, and it's always receding into the distance as The Killers escape to a new life. "This town was made for passing through/I never did get along with everybody else," sings Brandon on This River Is Wild. On Read My Mind he "never really gave up on breaking out of this two-star town", while on the title track he offers something of an explanation: "Nobody ever had a dream round here."
"With the first record, there was this feeling that there was this world out there that we didn't know," says Mark later in the day. Before The Killers, he studied philosophy: now he's their quiet one. "We wanted to get out and away from this and be somewhere else. We hadn't had a lot of experience - hadn't travelled much - then we were gone for three years. We didn't sit down and say that we wanted to make a record about how we're glad to be home, but that's what happened naturally."
It's not an angsty record. The Killers have already escaped with Hot Fuss, and, having done so, they view the experience fondly now they're back. There's a mistiness to Brandon's eyes as he explains how the album got it's name.
"Sam's Town is a casino on the edge of Vegas," he says. "I grew up in Henderson, which is out on the way to the Hoover Dam. My mom and dad lived in a trailer park, and my dad used to hitchhike up and down Boulder Highway, which is the only way you could get to Vegas. Sam's Town was the first thing you saw on your way in to town. So, when you're driving down Boulder Highway from Henderson, I always thought you finally knew you were getting somewhere when you saw Sam's Town. It was kind of like a beacon."
"It's not a completely American album," contines Brandon. "We still have our English influence, but we're also from the Wild West. Somehow we've managed to unify all that on this album. it's just such a perfect resemblence of what we are."
At the petrol station, Brandon rummages through the glove box looking for change to buy a lighter. "This is a great album," he says, pointing at Highway Companion, the latest from iconic American rocker Tom Petty. "I've always been a big fan of his. He's such a great American artist."
Yes, Brandon: we get the point.
+
When Brandon finally lights his cigarette, he smokes it awkwardly, like a child mimicking something he's seen the grown-ups doing. However, when he cheerfully admits that, "I feel the same mentally as I did when I was 12," it's not a knowing nod to the fact that he sometimes behaves like a loveably precocious child, but a reference to an unusually comprehensive grounding in pop music at an early age.
When Brandon sings about "this town", he doesn't mean Las Vegas. He means Nephi, Utah or Henderson, Nevada, where he spent his childhood. His parents are Mormon and he is the youngest of six children. "I was a surprise," he says. "I've got a 42-year-old sister." If he was issues about his "surprise" status, he chooses to gloss over them. "It turned out perfect because my brother was a teenager when I was a kid," he says. "He would bring home things like Rattle And Hum by U2 and I would watch it. I remember he bought Live In Dallas by Morrissey. It was always him watching these things, or his door was shut and you'd hear The Head On The Door by The Cure blasting through the house and rattling the walls."
The Killers were formed when Brandon answered an advert Dave had placed in a local paper in late 2002. Dave cited Oasis as a big influence; Brandon had seen them play recently and responded; and, as Dave has said in previous interviews: "He was the only person to reply to my ad who wasn't a complete freak." However, the band was born in Brandon's brothers bedroom.
"His room was like a shrine," enthuses Brandon. "It was a holy place. I wish I could show you a picture of it. It was covered in posters. There'd be a big picture of Elvis wearing a bow tie that just said 'The Smiths' [the artwork for The Smiths 1987 single Shoplifters Of The World Unite]. You had The Cure wearing face paint [the artwork to The Cure's 1985 single In Between Days] - all that kind of stuff. I remember Morrissey being on the cover of the NME, with the halo [from 1985] - stuff like that. You just wanted to know about these people 'cause they were so cool. My brother seemed like such a cool person. But he was a teenager, so he wasn't going to be that nice to me, a kid."
Brandon was fascinated by his brother's collection of music, magazines and posters, but he was denied access to them - officially, at least. "I would sneak in," he says. "I knew he'd be angry if he found out, but I would go in as soon as he left the house." For a long time Brandon was too scared to actually play anything. "That didn't come 'til later. I just used to go in there because I liked it. Then I got to the point where I'd actually take a tape out and put it in. It took more guts to do that."
It was a life-changing moment. "I was ten and the first song I played was Sing Your Life by Morrissey. I remember dancing about to it."
The lyrics to Sing Your Life include the lines, "Sing your life/Just walk right up to the microphone/And name all the things that you love/All the things that you loathe." It's intriguing to wonder what Morrissey makes of the neophyte he inspired with these lines.
Eventually, Brandon inherited his brother's tape collection. "It was around the same time CDs started coming out in a big way. He started buying CDs and gave me his tapes. And that was it: it took off from there. I got a hundred of the best albums - all the New Order, all the Morrissey, all The Smiths, The Beatles. I started buying posters. I went to see The Cure in concert. It was just kind of a continuation of my brother. And it was nice because, though my parents were strict, they were already used to it from him. There was no, 'My dad doesn't understand me,' or any of that kind of stuff. My mum likes The Smiths."
Brandon was 13 and his favourite band was late-'70s/early-'80s American new wavers The Cars, and particularly their jaw-droppingly catchy 1979 single Just What I Needed.
"I wouldn't exist without that song," he says. "That was the one. I remember driving around with my mum when I was 13, and we're living in Nephi - a really small town - and I felt so cool when I put that song on. Like: 'I have something that none of these kids I'm going to middle school with tomorrow have.' That excitement is what music's about, isn't it? That's why I understand the mentality of people that don't like us because we've sold so many records. I used to like it when no one else knew about a band. So I get that - I do."
+
Brandon's first band was called Blush Response. It was never going to work out. Not because he refused to move to Los Angeles with them, but because he is utterly - comically - shameless. He's given to making outrageously boastful statements like: "It's not like the '60s, '70s and '80s now. There are only a few bands around that are really good, that just do it. I mean, there's what, five or six of us?"
For the record, in Brandon's estimation, those bands are Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and, of course, The Killers.
"I don't want people to think I'm lumping myself with other people just to make us sound cool," he says. Really? It sort of sounds like you are. But he just steamrolls through it. "Yeah, but you know what I mean," he says, grinning at his own cheekiness. He's so disgracefully forward you can't help but laugh along with him - Oh you are awful, Brandon! But joking aside, The Killers are the most commercially successful of all the bands he mentions.
Later, back at the rehearsal space, the band run through Sam's Town at deafening volume in preparation for the forthcoming tour - first the US, then the world. The infectious, almost contagious, chorus of When You Were Young sounds fabulous, as do the U2-like guitars and Twin Peaks synths of Read My Mind. Meanwhile, Smile Like You Mean It and Somebody Told Me benefit from the newfound harder edge.
They somewhat heavy-handedly underline the new direction by playing Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Get It On by T Rex. That's the thing: The Killers are not a subtle band. Their songs are like a wet kiss from a girl who's a bit too drunk. They are big and brash, and not everyone loves them for it. Mr Brightside and Somebody Told Me might go down as well at hip nightclubs as they do on the festival circuit, but the DJs play them with the same guilty look they wear when playing a pop record.
"I hate that," says Brandon. "Like writing a song you can hum somehow cheapens it? It makes me think of this quote by Morrissey. Everybody knows how he read Oscar Wilde, Keats and Yates when he was growing up and that he wanted to be a writer. He was talking to this journalist who asked why he hadn't become a writer, and Morrissey said: 'What I do is more powerful than what you do because I can write down these words and you get it to a melody. How can you beat that?' I'm of the same opinion. I don't understand why a good melody that's memorable is a bad thing."
Being dismissed as pop particular aggrieves Ronnie. "When we first came out we got compared to Duran Duran all the time. Jesus Christ! We got a keyboard player now all of a sudden he's Nick Rhodes! Come on!"
"The people who criticise us for being too poppy don't get it," agrees Mark. "I think that's the problem with a lot of rock music. People are afraid to write a song any more. Either that or they can't. And that attitude hurts music in general. The best bands ever have all written great songs. You can still do it and do it intelligently and it can be original. This isn't a studio creation with a producer writing these songs for us. We're not Avril Lavigne, or something like that. We're a real band writing real songs, just like a punk band would do, except that we write pop songs."
You get the impression that The Killers knack for showboating pop hooks that border on vulgar is inextricably tied up with the brazen side of Brandon's personality. But while his ebullient charisma, not to mention the songs themselves, mitigates his outrageousness, there is a less attractive side to his ego. He has a combative streak. He can't resist taking pot shots at emo bands, notably Fall Out Boy, whith whom The Killers share an A&R man.
Has he heard how many emo kids it takes to change a light bulb? "No." None. They just sit in the dark and cry. It's a full 30 seconds before he stops laughing. When he does he admits: "Yeah, we've had problems with other bands. You know, when you walk in the room it's like..." He whistles the theme to The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. "We're like gangs."
And while the other members of the band are diplomatic on the subject of Brandon, you don't have to read too deeply between the lines to conclude that there have been internal issues, too.
"Some people will think Brandon's the big genius," says Dave, visibly bridling. "There are songs, such as Why Do I Keep Counting?, where he's written every note. But there are others, like When You Were Young, that were more of a collaboration - like Mr Brightside, where I had some of the music and Brandon came up with the lyrics. We always have arguments about who wrote what. The truth is that we all help in that process."
When asked how success affected them, Ronnie says: "There were certain things that needed adjusting. When you're on tour for two years, people can get a little needy. It doesn't help that you're surrounded by yes men and everybody's working for you. At times we've had to say, 'Who do you think you are?' to people. No one wears the trousers, but some people would like to. I think if it wasn't for the people in the band kicking each other in the ass... Let's just say there was some ass-kickin'."
It doesn't take a genius to work out whose ass needed kicking most often.
+
It's the following day and The Killers are back at their rehearsal space. The topic of discussion is what to wear in the video for Bones, the second single. It's a big deal: the director is Tim Burton. "I feel like Frank Sinatra when I sing it," announces Brandon. "With maybe a little bit of Morrissey and a little bit of Elvis, too."
Of course he does. But if securing the services of Tim Burton tells you one thing, it's that The Killers are about to get even bigger, perhaps even make the leap to the same level as Coldplay et al. Already stars, they are about to become superstars. Brandon can hardly wait.
"Do you know that Rolling Stone didn't want to put us on the cover last time," he says indignantly. "They didn't think we were stars. We sold five million albums! What more do they want from a band?"
Whatever was required, Brandon would be happy to do most things. "I'll do stuff that some people don't want to do, 'cause I want people to hear the music," he says. However, even he has limits. "The Rolling Stone thing made the record label think: 'What can we do to make them stars?' If I go on vacation with my wife, do they have to send somebody to be there to take pictures of me? Is that how you become a star? I don't want that. I walked down the red carpet one time and I realised I don't like it. But you don't have to walk down the red carpet for people to hear your music. We do still have some of that indie blood running through our veins."
He heads off at a tangent: "When you walk around Liverpool, you think of The Beatles, or you go to Manchester and you think of The Smiths or Oasis. I want you to come to Las Vegas and think of Sam's Town. And I think we've started to capture that, which is a truer version of The Killers, 'cause that's where we're from."
He pauses.
"I used to live across the street from Sam's Town. Maybe it'll be like our Abbey Road where people go to take pictures."
Is that what he'd like?
"I wouldn't mind it," he says, desperately hoping it will come true.
He puts a cigarette between his lips, looks down at his trouser pockets and pats them in search of the lighter he bought yesterday.
"Hey, I don't suppose you've got one?"