Burning rate plastic

I want to preface that I am not in great shape. I have a very active job, but I have a BMI of 29.9 (almost obese) and a body fat percentage of about 36%. I’ve done 4 classes now and I’ve noticed that no matter how hard it feels like I’m working out, I am consistently 78%-83% of my max heart rate. During my last class, I spent 35min in the green and only ONE minute in the orange. I am burning 500-600 calories, but I’m always a little embarrassed of my lack of splat points.
Should I genuinely just try harder? Or will it get easier to hit the orange zone the more I go?
Note: On treads I power walk bc of a bad knee. My base is 6% 4mph, push-all out is 12/15% 4.5mph.

Greetings.
I recently responded to a few threads that were created about ME career paths and potential future ME's lateraling in from other agencies or services. Just got back from a trip and saw a slew of messages and questions about becoming an ME and how to go about pursuing career in the DSF so i thought id just put some general info out there for easy retrieval.

• Not to scale +

I am not a recruiter and the following are simply personal opinions gained throughout a long career within the DSF.
The Good:

• Over 70% of ME billets are within the DSF. (TACLET/MSRT/SMTD/SMTC).
• The ME career within the DSF is one that will prepare and deploy you all around the globe to counteract terrorism. Whether its Narco-terrorism or State-sponsored terrorism you will de deployed, with very little or no notice, conducting high risk operations off of every platform and asset you can think of.
• The pipeline training (Whetstone/Insertion/TOC) is roughly 1.5 - 2 years for a fully certified ATO depending on his/her specialty (PMOT/CBRNE/MED/COMMO/Etc).
• You travel... literally everywhere, sometimes good, sometimes not so much, but you're out and about with your small group of capable and trusted teammates.
• It is completely possible to stay within the DSF your entire career, you just have to be willing to move around between the different units.
• You get paid to become a professional soldier while secretly satisfying the personnel desire to do absolutely cool shit with good dudes.

The Bad:

• While each unit conducts their own version of a green team or whetstone, the bulk remains the same across the board: Team building, leadership, decision making, physical fitness, weapons handling abilities, and insertion capabilities to name just a few traits that are tested during these phases.
• Why is that bad, it seems easy? IT IS! yet year after year people arrive unprepared for the career path they themselves chose to undertake. roughly 35-40% of people will not see the end of these phases due to a number of reasons to include the unavoidable or unpreventable injuries.
• If you are married or have a family, you better have a serious conversation with them about applying for the DSF. Marriages are tested, stress and stressors are at an all time high and your spouse will be forced to be mothefather, cheerleader and coach all in one. This is in addition to the job she still holds down because who can afford the cost of living nowadays on one income.
• Injuries: you will get them, most superficial but some unseen or undetected for years. As part of your career will be riding on assets that ride like bathtubs in significant seas, or burning through the same seas on a needle shaped craft at 70 knots. You will sustain neck, back, spine, knee, shoulder and hip injuries for starters. You will be exposed to countless concussions, whether by blunt force of training/operations or the endless flashbangs you will become proficient in using.
• The CG does not have a medical program specifically for the DSF like they do Aviation. As a result often times we are simply sent to PT, prescribed some Motrin and we shut our mouths so we can continue staying operational.

Why Should you choose a career in the DSF?
If you're reading this than chances are you are interested in a career within the DSF as an ME. I often come across very similar types across the rating, some folks think its cool, want to be seen as cool, some folks for the lifestyle and or some to make an impact. All those different individuals have a few things in common, we do the hard work, we refuse to quit and we are comfortable being uncomfortable.
Ask yourself,

• Am I willing to train 12-16 hour days to perfect my craft?
• Am I mentally and physically prepared for a life where high levels of stress and lack of sleep is the normal?
• Can i operate with minimal to no information, a few objectives and find success?
• Where is my physical limits and am i prepared to confront and push past those?
• How far am i willing to go before i quit.

The days are long and the deployments often, but the work you do matters and the mission, unfortunately, is only expanding.
How can i become an ME?

• See your local recruiter, tell them MEC (PM me) referred you. LOL
• If you have previous law enforcement or military experience there are programs that will allow you to enter the CG, attend DEPO and receive orders to a DSF unit as a ME3 or ME2 if qualifications align.
• If you are joining the CG and want to pursue a career as an ME be prepared to wait for A school. The list is quite long. If that applies to you i would look to take any underway billet in PATFORSWA as they are currently conducting operations intercepting "goods" from certain countries in the area. This gives you a glimpse into what life as an ME could be.
• The DSF Screener: Conducted annually, designed to screen through applicants to identify potential candidates for assignment to a DSF unit. I will not talk about what events are there or why, i will just say that they all have a very specific purpose.
• The Screener will soon be open to additional ratings to identify potential candidates for TO/ATO certification.

While it doesn't address everything this should be more than enough to get you pointed in the right direction. Whatever questions you have, reply here, chances are someone has the same questions but doesn't want to ask out of fear of being viewed in a negative light.
Regards,
Soon to be retired ME

A thread for new collectors to ask basic questions of the community.
Frequently Asked Questions below!
A longer version of the subreddit rules is here.
For questions specifically concerning bootlegs or vendor legitimacy, please ask in the Bootleg Megathread.
NSFW & Spoiler Guidelines

• For Self Posts: include a bolded NSFW note next to links in that post.
• For Links to sites/images: If the figure is NSFW, or the website has any NSFW content (including ads) be sure to tag your post NSFW and use the appropriate link flair.

Bootlegs
Any collection posts containing bootlegs, comments advocating buying bootlegs, or links to sites selling bootlegs, recasts, or unlicensed merchandise will be removed.
People often ask about the legitimacy and/or safety of a number of websites which sell large resin statues. The more commonly-asked of those deal primarily in resins from studios which do not have a license from the Japanese IP holders to produce merchandise. Therefore links to those sites are not permitted here. Another sign is if MyFigureCollection doesn't list the either the statue, its manufacturer, or the shop it's being sold on.
MyFigureCollection
My Figure Collection is like MyAnimeList... but for figures! Their database includes thousands of items which been produced during the last couple of decades, along with reviews of shops and other helpful articles. One can also list their own collection and post gallery photos.
Shops

Retailers:
AmiAmi HobbySearch Mandarake (sells rare figures) Good Smile Company Online Shop (often has exclusives) Good Smile Company US shop Crunchyroll Store Hobby Link Japan (aka HLJ) Solaris Japan (MFC partner) BigBadToyStore (MFC partner, US retailer) Big in Japan (also has proxy service) Tokyo Otaku Mode FigureHaven Archonia (EU) Yorokonde (EU) Figuya (EU) Gamersheek (UK) Jungle
List of retailers on MFC
/AnimeFigures' List of Retailers
Community Guide to Shopping in Japan

Blogs/News:

Nekomagic (News/Previews) NyaaFigurines (Reviews/Releases) Kahotan's Blog (News/Reviews) Figma Blog (JP)

Buying & Shipping

1. What’s the best place to buy my anime figures from?
That’s going to depend a lot on what works for you, but most people around here buy them from Amiami, Big in Japan, Hobby Search, HobbyLink Japan, or Tokyo Otaku Mode. If none of those work for you for whatever reason, there’s a list of reputable retailers in the sidebar that you can check out at any time. Be extra careful when ordering figures from websites like Amazon or ebay, as there are a lot of bootlegs on those sites. Don’t be afraid to ask in our Bootleg Megathread if you’re unsure.
2. What differences are there between the shipping options I get from most Japanese shops?
Below is a rundown of the main shipping choices you’ll get at most retailers. Keep in mind that if an order is large enough you will be forced to use one of the more expensive options, as SAL shipments have lower size and weight restrictions.

• Unregistered SAL: Sometimes referred to as uSAL, is usually the cheapest method. It does not come with any tracking or insurance. Usually takes up 2-4 weeks for delivery.
• Registered SAL: Sometimes referred to as rSAL, is insured for the declared value up to 6,000 yen. It comes with a tracking number and usually takes 2-4 weeks for delivery.
• EMS: This method of shipping is much faster than either SAL options, usually arriving within a week of shipment. EMS shipments are insured for the declared value up to 2,000,000 yen.
• Airmail
• E-packet
• Surface: Shops don't offer this very often. It's an actual cargo ship and slow as a result.
  
• DHL: Becoming more available as an alternative to EMS on AmiAmi and other sites. Can be less expensive than EMS and of comparable speed, but may be more reliant on the specific geographical area being shipped to. The price is also determined by the size of the box. Offers their own tracking.
  

3. I placed two+ orders for figures at different times. Will my items be shipped together, or will I have to pay shipping twice?
Most shops will ask you to pay shipping on a per-order basis, but here are some that will allow combined shipping:

• Amiami: You can combine orders here, as long as the orders ship in the same month. It doesn’t matter if the item is new or preowned. Any preorders that are set for that month can also be combined with other orders for that month. However, be aware that if the preorder gets delayed, Amiami will remove that item from that month’s shipment and place it on a new order. To combine orders on Amiami, use the “Combine Orders” feature under “My Account”.
  
• Hobby Search: Hobby Search will let you combine orders that release in the same month, but you cannot combine in stock items with preorders. If you want to combine multiple preorders, or multiple in stock items, you can do so using the “Order Recombination” feature on your account page.
  
• HobbyLink Japan: At HLJ, you have the option to send paid orders to their “Private Warehouse”, where you can store them for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to ship the items, you simply select which items to ship and HLJ will combine them into one shipment for you. To use this, just select the “Private Warehouse” option as shipping when you order.
  

If you’re unsure about whether or not a shop we haven’t listed will combine your orders, please refer to their individual FAQs.
4. When will I get charged for my preorder?
Most Japanese shops charge you once the item is in stock and ready for shipment. When that happens, they will send you an email asking for payment. Some shops (mostly overseas ones), will allow you to pay for the item up front though, if you’d like. A few with that option are:

• Big in Japan (Japanese store)
• Tokyo Otaku Mode
• Anime Island
• Crunchyroll

Keep in mind that overseas stores will likely get the figure a few months after Japanese ones, so pay attention to the release date stated on the website you are buying from so as to avoid that confusion.
5. Should I expect to pay customs fees when importing figures?
That depends on where you live. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Australia: 10% GST is now assessed up front.
• Canada: Minimum declared value for charges is around CAD$20 for regular shipments, and CAD$60 for gifts (gifting something only seems to lower the declared value by about CAD$40, not deplete it completely). When using Amiami, try their Small Air Packet option. It comes with tracking, gets there in about the same time as EMS, and is better at avoiding customs.
• European Union: As of 1st July 2021, VAT has to be paid on all goods imported from outside of the EU. Retailers are supposed charge VAT for purchases under €150, however many Japanese retailers currently do not, so VAT will be charged when your order arrives in the EU. Orders that are >€150, VAT and duty will be charged by your local customs.
• UK: As of 1st January 2021, VAT is to be charged by retailers for orders <£135. However, customs isn't currently charging VAT on parcels valued at <£135, even if the VAT hasn't been paid. Goods >£135 will have their VAT and duty calculated and charged by customs.
• Mexico: Minimum declared value for customs fees is USD$300 for shipments by post, and USD$50 for shipments by courier.
• United States: A shipment has to have a declared value of USD$2,000 before customs starts hitting you with fees, so you most likely won’t have to worry about them at all.

6. The figure I want is an exclusive, how do I go about ordering one outside of Japan?
You have three options for this:
A. Big in Japan is known to stock exclusive figures and ship to other countries. Usually the price is higher because they build in their proxy fees, but it’s easier than worrying about using a forwarder or proxy service. If you live in the US, Crunchyroll, Right Stuf, and Tokyo Otaku Mode also get exclusives sometimes, but out of the states the shipping can get expensive.
B. Forwarding Services: A forwarder is someone who you ship an exclusive item to so that they can forward the package on to you, usually for a flat fee + shipping. When using a forwarder you still make the purchase yourself, and enter their address into the shipping field. When the box arrives at the forwarder they will then stick your address onto the package and send it on its way.
Some popular forwarders are:

• Big in Japan
• Tenso

Be sure to read each sites instructions on forwarding carefully!
C. Proxy Services: With a proxy, you tell them what the item you’re looking for is and they will purchase it in your stead. This is handy for when a company doesn’t accept foreign credit cards, or you’re having trouble navigating a Japanese website.
Some popular proxies are:

• Big in Japan (Won’t proxy for Yahoo Auctions)
• From Japan

Again, be sure you thoroughly read through each sites proxy instructions.
7. I see a bunch of really cheap figures that ship from China on ebay. Are those okay to buy?
Generally, no. They’re most likely bootlegs. If you want a second opinion on that, feel free to ask in the Bootleg Megathread that’s always stickied at the top of the sub.
8. What’s a bootleg, and how can I avoid buying them?
A bootleg is a counterfeit figure often made using rejected molds of the official product. They are usually priced significantly lower than the genuine article, and in order to make their profit, bootleggers use lower quality materials and have less attention to detail- resulting in a substandard figure.
The Bootleg Megathread that I mentioned in question 7 is a great tool to avoid buying any bootlegs. It has a few tips and tricks to avoiding them to begin with, and a few more on how to spot them if you’re worried you might already own one.
9. Does anyone know when figure X is going to be released? How do I know if it was delayed?
My Figure Collection (sometimes referred to as MFC) does an excellent job of staying on top of information like release dates and delays. If you’re curious about an upcoming figures release date, check there first. This information can be found directly under the “Releases” section on a figure’s entry. If you only see a month and a year in that section, it means the release date has not yet been announced by the manufacturer, and there is still a chance the figure could be delayed.
If you make an account on MFC you can also subscribe to comments, changes, and pictures via a checkbox on the right hand side of a figure’s listing. Subscribing to any of these things will allow MFC to send you an email anytime the subscription in question updates. Subscribing to “changes” is a great way to keep up with release dates and delays, among other things.
10. The figure I want is long sold out at normal retailers! What’s the best place to pick it up in the aftermarket?
A list of reputable retailers can be found under the “Shops” section of the /AnimeFigures sidebar. They all sell legitimate products, and many of them also sell figures second hand. However, the most frequently suggested second hand sites are Mandarake and Amiami- who has a preowned section that they update every night save Sundays and Japanese holidays around 1PM JST and again around 6PM JST.
AmiAmi grades their pre-owned items on a letter scale. The general consensus from buyers is that their ratings are conservative, so unless the item and/or packaging is specifically indicated as having significant flaws, pre-owned items from them are usually in at least as good a condition as their rating suggests.
Note: When you search Mandarake, you’ll get the best results by using the Japanese characters for whatever you are searching. If you don’t know them, you can find them on MFC by clicking on any of the “details” in that figure’s listing.
11. Amiami has a figure I’m interested in labeled as “For sale in Japan only”. Does this mean I can’t order it without a proxy or forwarder?
No, you can still order it. Amiami’s English site has that warning on many items, and it’s mostly meant to inform you that this product was made for a Japanese market, and as such, will have Japanese speaking/writing in it- so don’t expect any instructions to be in English. If Amiami doesn’t want foreigners buying a certain product, they won’t even list it on their English site.

Displaying Your Figures

12. What display cases do you recommend?
If you live near an Ikea try out one of these:

• Klingsbo
• Billy (Often used with Morliden doors (now the HÖGBO and glass shelves.)
• Detolf: Formerly the go-to choice for inexpensive display cabinetry, the Detolf was first made flimsier around 2020 and then essentially phased out of the name, to become the BLÅLIDEN. Knockoff versions of widely-varying quality are commonly found on other shopping sites these days, though.

*If you decided on a Detolf, you might find that there is a lot of wasted space. Here are a few tutorials on raising the shelves or and adding extra ones in.

• Using metal clips
• Using acrylic supports and PVC pipe

If you don’t live near an Ikea, Amazon has a few display options, though they are more expensive. Also keep an eye on your local Craigslist (or your country’s equivalent) and stores near you that are closing up.
13. What lighting do you guys recommend?
Ikea’s Dioder LED strips were discontinued after a long run. A current version is the Vattensten, if you're inclined to buy your case and lights at the same time.
LED strips have become very commonly available in recent years; most hardware and home furnishing stores carry a selection now. Just make sure that the lights don’t get too hot!
14. What are those clear plastic boxes that I see under everyone’s figures in their collection posts, and where can I get them?
Those are called risers. Most of us use standard acrylic risers like these. Some other, easy to find things that have been suggested are:

• Plastic picture cubes
• Card Deck Boxes
• If you’re feeling adventurous, try making your own!

Check your local hobby store for the first 2 options, or your local hardware store if you want to make your own.
Another common suggestion is to visit The Container Store if you have one near you. They have a lot of things to choose from that can suit a variety of needs. Be sure to check out their standard acrylic risers, their Amac boxes, and the various display cases they sell (baseball cases, mini car cases. hockey puck cases, etc).
15. Should I keep my figures sealed?
That is, of course, up to you really, but here are a few things to keep in mind when debating this question:

• Keeping it sealed can actually damage your figure. PVC figures usually have something called plasticizer in them, and that plasticizer needs to be able to breath. If a PVC figure isn’t exposed to oxygen, after a period of time the plasticizer starts to break down and form a sticky substance on the surface of the figure. Simply opening your figures and taking them out of the box prevents this from happening. If you happen to find plasticizer goo on one of your figures, Kahotan has a handy guide for dealing with it.
• Unlike some other figure markets, keeping an anime figure sealed won’t raise its value by a whole lot. In fact, because of the plasticizer problem mentioned above, your figure could actually be in better condition if you open it versus keeping it sealed.

Finding the Right Figure(s) for You

16. What are "scales" and "prizes"? What is the difference between them?
Those are classifications for figures based on a few factors.

• "Prizes" are generally more simply produced figures which are intended to be given as prizes for playing arcade games. They are inexpensive and lack the detail of scale figures, though some prize figure lines have standouts which may approach lower-end scales in quality. That is uncommon and often depends on the individual figure.
• "Scales" are called such because they are nominally designed to be proportional to the dimensions of the character which they are based on. They are generally of much better manufacture and materials than prize figures, allowing for more detail in painting, accessories, or complex poses.
• "Trading" figures appear in gashapon machines or as blind boxes on shop counters, often as sets which include multiple characters. As suggested by the class name, the randomness encourages trading. They are usually very inexpensively-produced, though as with prizes, some series are better than others.
• "Non-scale" encompasses a variety of other categories. It is often used to describe poseable figure lines such as figma and Nendoroids.

In recent years producers such as Good Smile Company attempted to further bridge the gap between prize quality and scales by introducing figure lines which are intended to be moderately-priced while retaining a higher level of detail than the typical prize figure, to varying levels of success.
17. There are so many figure companies! Who makes good figures?!
Obviously this is a very subjective question, but as a general starting point, here are a few well renowned figure companies:

• Alter
• Max Factory
• Good Smile Company
• Kotobukiya (usually hit or miss for people. Use your best judgement based off of the prototype)
• Flare
• Stronger

18. I really love “series X / character X”- how can I check if any figures were ever made for it?
My Figure Collection can be your best friend here. Simply do a search on the name of the series or character using the search bar located at the top right of the screen, and all associated figures pop up!
Alternatively, if you’re looking at a figure’s MFC entry, most of the text under the “Details” section can be clicked on and used to run a search.
19. How can I commission a custom figure?
None of the major figure companies (Alter, Kotobukiya, Good Smile Company, etc.) will take a commission for a single figure. This thread has a few websites in it that you can check out, or you can look into garage kits. Some kit painters would be willing to resculpt, frankenstein together, or otherwise modify kits for the right price.
If you're looking for help completing a garage kit, /brushforhire may be useful.

Keeping Up with New Announcements

20. How can I keep up with figure news (announcements, updates, etc.)?
Most people use a MFC combined with any or all of the following news sites:

• Neko Magic
• Alter’s Blog (In Japanese)
• Kahotan’s Blog (Only GSC and their sister companies)

Many figure companies are active on Twitter, so following them there is recommended for quicker news.
To use MFC for this I’ll quote question #9.

If you make an account on MFC you can also subscribe to comments, changes, and pictures via a checkbox on the right hand side of a figure’s listing. Subscribing to any of these things will allow MFC to send you an email anytime the subscription in question updates. Subscribing to “changes” is a great way to keep up with release dates and delays, among other things.

Most companies have one or more Twitter accounts. Some examples: Good Smile Company sales, Good Smile's USA branch, Max Factory, AmiAmi Hobby News.
21. Everyone’s excited about something called Wonfes….. what the heck is that?!
WonFes (short for Wonder Festival) is a biannual figure expo where many figure producers (both large and small) show off new sculpts and updates to figures already under way. Most companies save their most exciting announcements for WonFes, so we all look forward to the expo whenever it rolls around! Winter Wonder Festival is usually held in February, while Summer Wonder Festival is usually in July. The event has also spread to Shanghai, in the late spring.
22. One or two (or 15) figures were announced at WonFes that I’m really excited about! How can I keep track of their progress once the event is over?
MFC is always really quick about getting new WonFes announcements (or any others throughout the year, for that matter) listed in their database, so we suggest using that. To find a figure from the event you can search any number of things, including the name of the character or the name of the show. You can also use the tag search to search “WonderFestival 20xx_[season]” to see all items announced at that event.

I’m probably posting into the void but I wanted to create a discussion on how we could improve each skill and gather ideas. I was inspired by the survey to give some ideas on how skilling could be improved.
Philosophy around the revamps: I would like to see skilling be both more fun and more useful. I personally believe we should have both afk and active skilling methods. This allows people to play how they prefer and not feel burned out from being too bored or having to focus on one thing for a long time.
Please add more ideas or add to the ideas below!
Agility training method: Agility Dungeon: Filled with traps, obstacles and timed. Faster completion means bigger xp drop. How to make agility useful: More shortcuts in the overworld. In combat and boss battles, damage could be mitigated by chance of dodging a trap in the boss arena.
Archeology: Well made skill, continue to add more archeological sites.
Cooking: Time to become a master chef! Increase to 120 and add more complicated dishes. Instead of just cooking a lobster, add some butter, lemon, herbs. Takes longer to create each dish but higher xp. Uses: these new dishes will both heal and buff, such as temporary increase damage. They will also have a tasty rating where higher cooking makes it more likely to cook tastier dishes.
Construction: Player owned house rework needed or just scraped and replaced with a more useful idea. I would be happy to see the houses removed at this point.
Crafting: Crafting ranged and magic armour more In line with levels. But also the ability to create mods for armour and jewellery for combat buffs rather than the masterwork route of mining and smithing rework. Could also be reworked to modify skilling outfits to buff skilling activities as well.
Divination: This has both an active and passive skilling method. It isn’t the most fun skill but hard to come up with how to make it fun.
Farming: Love POF, more content and animals.
Fishing: new method- Big Fish: Similar to fish flingers but in the overworld, more involved fishing where you gain more xp for fishing larger fish. Larger fish could work with cooking for increasing tasty rating of dishes. Update when we have a new region with some new fish.
Firemaking: I personally enjoy accidental firemaking. Would love to hear some creative ideas like this rather than just more logs to burn.
Fletching: Again same as firemaking I think accidental fletching was a good direction. Creating more useful bows and improving level scaling is important for this update. Creating modifications see armou weapon modifications below.
Herblore: I am happy with current herblore. Ironman issue: Getting number of herbs can be tedious. A new way to gain herbs outside of combat and farming would be good.
Hunter: More creatures to hunt, would love to see this expanded in the next new location added. A more involved skilling method such as Ken it hunting, which involves tracking down dangerous creatures. Croesus mushrooms are already satisfying afk method.
Mining: new ore and 120 skill
Runecrafting: Runecrafting is one of the most needed revamps in my opinion. I would like to see a brand new training method rather than just increase in xp rates. The namesake of Runescape is runes. I feel like they need some love. Possible new skilling method: New alters added to be used for new spells/spellbook. Instead of just having everything created through the abyss, reward players for exploring the world and going to the alters themselves. We could spend more time in the alter, where we might need to power it up before we create the runes. This would mean we would make more runes per trip but also get a bigger xp drop per trip.
Smithing: modifications new metals 120 skill
Thieving: Heists: It’s time to rob a bank, add heists in museums and banks across RuneScape. You have a limited time to steal as much as you can from a building and get out. This could be a good post 99 method as I think we are a bit above pickpocketing now.
Woodcutting: More trees! Better levelling curve.
Armou weapon modifications: My concept around this is to modify equipment in a similar way to invention however it will have different uses. For example, add scope to bow means the range of bow is greater with an increase to accuracy, but a decrease in speed. Certain weapons and armour will have modification slots. This brings some more options for boss drops as well, dropping loot that can be used in an artiisan skill to create weapon specific modifications. This could add a new dimension to loot and combat.

So, we recently discovered that our 15 year old, oil-fired Dunkirk steam boiler is cracked and in need of replacing. I'm acquiring quotes from various contractors in the area but all of this is kind of overwhelming, since they all seem to be interested in selling me something different.
It's a fairly small house, around 1300sq ft, in central CT.
2 BR and most of our 'living' is on the on the 1st floor, and the 2nd floor is basically roughly finished attic space, previous owners were using it as a bedroom and there's a half bath up there as well. We use it as a family room, but it's basically unusable in the summer - the windows are too small for an A/C unit (and I refuse to get a portable AC) and there's just no air movement up there, and in the winter it takes forever to heat up - the pipe feeding that 2nd floor radiator is both undersized (3/4") and copper for some reason. Every single radiator valve (not vent, I replaced those) in the house also needs replacing, some of the knobs have disintegrated and they all leak water when the system is running at full-tilt.
Since the boiler needs to get replaced anyway, I've been looking into alternatives as well, such as mini splits and heat pumps. I definitely like the idea, but electric rates in CT are a little...high. If I had solar with a nice big battery backup, this would be a no brainer, but we haven't gotten solar installed yet and no plans to do so for at least another 5-10 years.
Every contractor that comes in seems to send me in a slightly different direction, and I'm just not sure what's best. 1 gave me an option of ripping it all out, switching to forced hot water & new baseboard heaters in place of the radiators. Another suggested a heat pump feeding a ducted air handler in the basement and cutting registers in the floor for forced hot air. Another suggested dual fuel, keeping a new steam boiler as well as supplementing with mini-splits, though that one does seem cost prohibitive.
So far, the pricing I've gotten has been anywhere from 8-9k for a straight oil burning replacement, up to 15k+ for a gas conversion (we have gas in the house already for our water heater, but the chimney isn't lined so we'd need to do that), $20k for the gas forced hot water, and $23K+ for the heat pump solution since we'd also need to upgrade to a 200a electrical service.
None of it seems terribly unreasonable as far as pricing goes, that's not really my complaint or question, more just that I'm not sure what the best option would be for a house this size in this climate, since there seems to be quite a few options these days. Back to the Googles for more research!

Hey! I’m realizing as I post this that this sub already has a ton of Fanmade kits so mine might be a bit redundant lol. That said I cooked this up last night and wanted to share! Let me know what you think.
Personally I really want Murata to replace Xiangling and/or Bennett. This kit essentially consolidates both of them into one character.
TLDR: At C0 Murata is a Pyro Sub-DPS with great battery potential and buffs party ATK/DMG bonus. With constellations she becomes a hyper carry with enhanced buffing.
Murata ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Title: Emanation of Love & War
Nation: Natlan
Constellation: ???
Gnosis: Pyro
Weapon: Claymore
Ascension Stat: Crit Rate - 24%
TALENTS
Normal Attack: HEARTS ABLAZE
Normal Attack
Performs up to 5 consecutive slashes.
Charged Attack
Drains Stamina over time to perform continuous slashes.
At the end of the sequence, performs a more powerful slash.
Plunging Attack
Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE Physical DMG upon impact.
Elemental Skill: VANGUARD OF THE BLAZING SPIRIT
Performs a single slash in front of herself dealing AoE Pyro DMG. This attack generates 3-4 elemental particles. If the skill button is pressed again within 1s after casting this skill Murata will swap to the next character in the line up. This skill has a secondary effect depending if Murata remains on field or switches off field after casting:
On-Field: Enters the Infernal Infatuation state.
Infernal Infatuation
NA, CA, and PA are infused with Pyro for 9s. This effect cannot be overidden by any other elemental infusion. Additionally, increases ATK Speed by 15%.
Off-Field: Enters the Heart Seer State.
Heart Seer State
When party members including Murata trigger Pyro-related reactions (Vape, Melt, Overloaded, Burning, Burgeon or Pyro infused Swirl/Crystallize) Murata will summon a Heartseer’s Slash, dealing AoE Pyro DMG. This effect can be triggered once every 1.6s and is considered Elemental Skill DMG.
Additionally, for 15s after casting this skill Murata can walk on Lava.
Slash DMG: % of ATK
Pyro Infusion: 9s
ATK Speed Buff: 15%
Heartseer Slash DMG: % of ATK
Heartseer Slash Duration: 15s
CD: 12s
Elemental Burst: PYRE OF ETERNAL LOVE & PAIN
On cast deals AoE Pyro DMG around Murata. After cast, the onfield character gains an ATK buff based on Murata’s base Attack for 12s.
Burst DMG: % of ATK
Atk buff: % of base attack
Atk buff Duration: 12s
Energy Cost: 80
CD: 12s
PASSIVE TALENTS
A0: Embody the Flames
Decreases the Accumulation rate of Extreme Heat by 75%. Additionally, when in Extreme Heat conditions increases party movement and ATK speed by 15%.
A1: Burning Heart’s Desire
For every 100 points of Attack over 2000, Murata gains 4.5% Energy Recharge. This effect caps at 30% Energy Recharge.
A4: Love is a Battle Best Waged Together
For 12s after casting Pyre of Eternal Love & Pain all nearby characters will deal 4% more DMG and take 4% more DMG every 1s. This effect caps at 48%
Constellations
C1: With Love, Yours Truly
Increases NA, CA, and PA DMG by 12% while in Infernal Infatuation State and Elemental Skill DMG by 24% while in the Heartseer State. Additionally, during Infernal Infatuation state Murata gains resistance to interruption.
C2: From the Ashes
The effects of A4 are changed to:
For 12s after casting Burst, all nearby characters will deal 8% more DMG every 1s for a maximum of 60% DMG bonus. Additionally, during this duration opponents hit by Murata’s Heartseer Slash will have their Pyro Resistance shredded by 30% for 5s. Must have A4 unlocked to activate.
C3: Embers of Destiny
Increases Pyre of Eternal Love & Pain Level is increased by 3.
C4: The Flames Shall Cleanse All
When Murata’s elemental skill damages opponents all nearby characters gain a 20% Pyro DMG bonus for 6s. This effect can be triggered once every 6s.
C5: Battlefield Romantics
Increases Elemental Skill Level by 3.
C6: Passion is our Greatest Weapon
When in the Infernal Infatuation State or Heartseer State, Murata’s CR is increased by 30% and CRIT DMG is increased by 60%. Additionally, when in the Infernal Infatuation state Murata gains resistance to interruption and receives a 12% Pyro DMG bonus for 5s every time she lands a Crit HIT with her NA, CA, or PA. This effect can trigger once every .3s and stacks up to 3 times. The duration refreshes every time a new stack is gained.
—————————————————————
Signature Weapon: WARLORD’S YEARNING
Base Attack: 674
Secondary Stat: Crit DMG 44%
Passive: FIERY DEVOTION
Increases ATK by 12/16/20/24/28%. When the character equipping this weapon deals damage while on-field, increases NA, CA, and PA DMG by 12/16/20/24/28% for 12s. When the character equipping this weapon deals damage while off field, increases Elemental Skill DMG by 20/24/28/32/36% for 12s. Both effects can be triggered independently and have independent CD.

Haven’t posted in a while but had a fun thought. In practice, how do you invoke or evoke Prince Stolas?
I’ve tried to debatable success, as I try to conduct most my work in my astral temple, so it’s not certain on if I’ve ever gotten through or if I’ve just been speaking to myself in my mind.
I’ll do my ritual cleansing, turn off any electronics in the area that I can, sit and meditate for a while with incense to cleanse my mind. I’ll light candles (blue and black), burn incense and herbs, and I’ll hold or touch his sigil while I chant their enn. So far, the “results” have been productive but nothing world shattering. I feel like I’ve heard them, but I’ve never seen them, and it could just be my subconscious trying to fill in the blanks with the outcome I am seeking. In any rate, I’m interested to hear how others go about this practice.
Happy Wednesday, and much love my dudes (and non-dudes)

The lotus leaf is listed as the greatest cleaning agent known to mankind in wikis and was the religious symbol of countless religions. when dirt is wet and becomes sticky mud it dries caked on and stuck and traps or allows for other air or splashes or spills to sort of stick. nanotech is so much smaller its like a big warehouse of crates having dust settle between them and by wiping and buffing and polishing around you remove some of the dirt hopefully most of it and get it underneath it will go right through and under about anything, got a tarpaulin or umm curtains over the window spray the curtains and unseen fine nanotech SHINES the window beautiful perfect coatings. the thin film is like nonstick frypan stuff but not the teflon stuff its safe diamonds arent teflon so the moisture and dirt wont stick as much and easily clean off or sorta slide down? nanotech like INKS and alcohol dyes (food coloring) or other paint pigment powders and !SOME! clearcoat polishes over a certain hardness rating which are safe for homes as under sapphire 9H or 10H it might be some sort of waste product cheap being sold as something like SCOTCH GUARD which may or may not have those long lasting microplastics which could be tiny serrated or jagged. If something is 9H or 10H diamond or sapphire hardness the few enamels or epoxys that bond that strong are small enough and dense that their structure is so tiny it slips through and under inside things and can reinforce them but doesnt damage round cells in organisms. the same way glass cleaner must be diluted and used everywhere as glass is porous and prehistoric volcanic obsidian glass walking spiders can walk up glass with special microhooks in their feet for the holes in glass look a bit like a golf ball dimples everywhere with tiny hole looks like hair lines through it like imagine those office ceiling panels with the holes in white particle board. So glass cleaner cleans out the gunk or else your windows will have a brownness you struggle to clean out of the glass without a deep penetrating cleaning agent that comes out looking a bit like brown river water thats discolored from the porous rocks in the water having umm tiny microorganisms yep rivers of brown. So a tiny drop of glass cleaner or a couple drops in a spray bottle or a bucket of water and maybe some one or two drops hydrophobic glass coating or quickpaint coat and a tiny drop or two or a single spray of PLASTIC AND LEATHER RESTORER
with these drops of stuff in water in a spray bottle or bucket you maybe wanna find something with a high % percentage of surfactants on the back of the detergent/soap bottle to wipe out germs and uhh its the cleaning component in all bubbling detergents the sort of science and cleaning and germ killing powers of it. Some floor cleaners made for timber floors that might be a little streaky and say like a polish or cure or something that maybe gives timber a little bit of a darker look when used regularly and appears subtly more expensive looking like hardwood but isnt carbonizing its a type of cellular structure bonding that reinforces not prehistoric torture the wood into looking blowtorched carbon stuff chemicals its a cleaning product disenfectant that protects and polishes but it needs some sprays of water then a spray or a few drops then buff it in and then dust mop it dry as its got some mild ANTISTATIC which helps lift up dust.. i found one that cleans like magic at my asian supermarkets but im not recommending specific brands over the other its the science of cleaning. then maybe put in a couple drops or up to a teaspoon of 10H hardness and like spray your laundry on the line or your carpet or whatever.. i do everything.. some products not 9H or greater will use some unsafe superglues which ignite cotton fabrics into flames or other things.. now house construction products like liquid nails brown glue for holding timber together might have a clear version called liquid glass that might be for window glazing or whatever i hadnt checked if its safe to use on fabrics and other surfaces the POINT of it is the NAME might say liquid glass but its maybe not silicon dioxide that the florist uses to keep their plants fresh for 2 weeks longer liquid glass as in THAT liquid glass like on your phones nanotech liquid screen protector you apply several coats of one each day then reapply every 8 months the cheap stuff.. some of the auto ones for cars can last 9 or 10 years. i found lots of bargain store looking products of sites like aliexpress or maybe amazon with brands like glassxkare or fantastic XML and adams polishes for tiny vials of 50ml or less of 10H hardness affordable or fantastic XML for like a big 500ML 9H hardness spray bottle that when sprayed into a spray bottle of water and glass cleaner and a drop of hydrophobic coating and plastic and leather restorer and a tiny drop of timber floor polish cleaner that may or may not make it a tiny bit streaky or splotchy the hydrophobic coatings may also be too hydrophobic you can tell if your spray bottle wont suck up water because the water cant enter the tube but if you spray a couple spray bottles of such tiny drops the nozzle will clog and not spray anymore.. nanocoatings can be tricky i dunno what to do. if its scratch protect films make it streaky and require buffing power tools and youre not loud big tools like me maybe aim it at carpets and couches rather than windows and do those without the floor polish. I've found no sort of uhh possible forseeable reasons for any health issues and my stuff looks and FEELS amazingly better, i think bathroom toilets or tiles or shower and tap fixtures or.. walls and floors and furniture and clothes.. i think id only not try spraying my drinking cups and cutlery but i honestly think i might need to drink the stuff its THAT GOOD. my cats LOVE IT! its kinda scary awesome.. i tried brands of plastic and leather restorer and quick paint coat and hydrophobic glass coating from HGKJ black and green labels. I couldnt tell you how safe it is, i just struggled as im a disability pensioner and saw our really old house falling apart and this damn near reversed a few decades off it and brand new snow clothing and jackets and throw rugs i bought felt BETTER THAN NEW i mean ridiculously better than new. ancient poisons used to clean HALF as good and were feared for being too good and too cheap. But diamonds and liquid diamond are naturally occuring hot springs reactions and the reason monkeys stay in there. its literally pretty much good for all life.
(plastic and leather restorer see leather deep conditioner but better and sorta similar to glass cleaner but a sort of UV protect oil and reinforce that adds the rich deep black color back to PU leathers and those vinyl anime girl figures yellowing from the sunlight and UV will becomes their original selves again or old yellowy car headlight covers get fixed up but so do most paints and timbers and other things. but you wanna seal it in with a nano coating when cleaning it out plastic and leather restorer is used in plastic manufacture and when you peel those clear plastic film stickers off shiny new products they help prevent its slow gradual evapouration and why they look so nice and black and arent just to prevent scratches. several days later plastic and leather restorers super shiny rich deep 'wet hair look for your black pleather chair' will seem to have worn off but its UV protect and other things will still be there and some polishes waxes or coatings can help keep it and its colors and UV protect there a bit longer well the look the restorer itself keeps it like how it was quite a while years? till it goes yellowy or faded again.)
So when we look at the water beading on lotus/lily pad leaves and things, ancient people used saps and old polishes and obsidian blades arrowheads since dinosaurs era. which with 200 times sharper than steel knives carbon nanotech its super dangerous deadly and was mostly all used up and we swapped it all out for modern glasses and glazing and safety glass so we dont slice our selves into piles of body parts on invisible pieces. Since the days of ink and whetstone nanotech advanced impossibly high particularly in volcanic hot springs countrys with samurai swords and caligraphy brush ink. Trying to find the scientifically safest and best possible cleaning products super affordably that might be useful for washing clothes, cars, metals plastics and other things.. are strangely not at the home hardware stores.. you see synthetic diamonds been on the gem market for centuries but too expensive to produce till modern different approaches with lasers and different gas precipitation with super high electricity concentrated over weeks or months or special electrolosys solutions will slowly layer and create diamonds but the diamond solution precipitated that grouped to each other or doesnt perfectly slot into the sort of tetris like bonds of the outer layers of the diamond a bit like diamond growth needs spaghetti O's and we're raining alphabet soup at it till with a bout 30% of the letters having a good chance of sticking. every few hours the solution of sublimation precipitate is swapped out creating a couple oven trays of 'liquid diamond solution' 10H hardness brightness and shines up glass with a thin film of diamond giving it moisture modest water resist we can use graphene to increase water resist and 10H+ hardness and apply hydrophobic coatings.. So who makes lots of these liquid finishes and what are they used for? Most are produced by a car race track owner who insists they protect their cars before taking them out onto the track or a speck of dirt or sand might scratch up the paint. But if i wanted to like power pressure washer spray it up onto my roof tiles and thin out some of that lichen and make them more uhh watertight leaks arent a concern but it might prevent a terrible future. anybody know why its not already a thing and there isnt countless guides on the ideal ratios and stuff? i mean its about as expensive as laundry detergent concentrate and used to be in most of those still is in some developed countries.. its what makes american movie sets look so umm bright and shiny and polished and awesome and makes mansions look like mansions or wealthy look and feel and its where LUXURY COMES FROM. is my cheap poor persons attempt at cleaning my own home not good? even if its mildly bad i think i'd use it forever. ESPECIALLY on things like 100% bamboo bed sheets i bought cheap ones from an australian online retailer and a few coatings of sprays and they felt and looked so dang shiny and awesome. Some bottles of the stuff claim 6 drops coats the car but remember many are diluted or not full strength or dont last long as advertised or a big bottle 500ML might be 3months to a year.. rather than tiny medicine bottle 50ml or 30ml sized 3-5 years most i guess, you need to keep applying a coat very often but having it not be streaky or buffing it in is tough so i maybe shaved years off its coating and thinned it out and just apply a bunch of coats as often product claims 9H its only a tiny % the whole spray bottle and needs many many applications to approach that but it is POSSIBLE theoretically. remember all glass cleaner is blue colored so when you dilute it with water you shouldnt have it fully color the water too much or its TOO STRONG. 80s people cleaned 80s glazing which maybe radium or lead tincture as radiation blocking films were often lead or radiation lined literally as a radiation shield was a.. film of radiation so it lasted years and needed double or triple glazing for expensive high rise buildings and cleaning heaps of smoky 80s glass dredged out horror mud floods of brown sludge that got them accused of dirtying things, though 80s squeegee thingys are really bad unless you reverse them and press down on a microfibre cloth with them for good even pressuer and a nice streak free clean using the back black rubber blade part to make a thin line of glass cleaning cloth good contact i previously saw reverse squeegee you mount cleaning cloths into specifically but searching i cant find to buy it when i tested it out at home with a squeegee that doesnt clip in like that. are there special tools you guys use? whats the secret? also the purple ceramic graphene ones seem awesome but maybe arent quite close to 9H either.. the bright shine of 10H or 10H+ on tiles and glass.. when apply hydrophobic it looks like zero application of anything somehow its gone for days. does anyone have a more ideal ratios specific or specific active ingredient amounts by weight or dilute with stuff that isnt water to help it keep its years of coating? does using a power washer make it not last? or last longer? or apply streaky splotchy? if its splotchy would more coats over weeks get it all consistent?
the liquid diamond stuff is in many countrys water or whatever.. but uhh concerns about silicosis maybe arent a thing at all if you cough it feels like its cleaning your lungs not harming them. Silicosis happens when criminal retards enter a sandblasting sealed room containment to steal the literally raw materials from factories or whatever or they use water cutting and sand blasting and CNC machines and sharpening blades constantly without sealed enclosure vacuum air scrubber filters. thats what wrecks those benchtop workers also they maybe mixing or breathing wrong epoxys and resins or dont seal them with the correct sealants and polishes and finishes.

Former Colorado Buffaloes PG KJ Simpson declared for the draft and is 100% committed: https://twitter.com/KSimpsonJstatus/1778862077618118765 Simpson committed to Arizona out of high school as a four star recruit but decommitted after Sean Miller was fired and chose to play for Colorado. He was on the Pac 12 All Freshman team as a rookie, Second team All Pac 12 as a sophomore, and First team All Pac 12 as a junior, averaging 20/6/5. Advanced metrics and impact stats ranked Simpson as a top 5-10 player this past season in college basketball.
Simpson measured in at 6'0.25 w/out shoes at the combine. 6'4.5 wingspan which is solid for a smaller guard. He's 6'1.5 or so in shoes which is close to what he measured in at Colorado. He's a small guard but plays with grit and toughness. He tested well athletically....agility and speed are pluses for him and he can also elevate quite surprisingly at times. He's a below the rim finisher overall but he can elevate with time/space and when he can really load.
Although he's fast in a straight line and extremely shifty, he's doesn't have tremendous burst in the halfcourt offensively, nor is he elite laterally defensively. But he uses craft and timing to play quicker than he is on the offensive end in the halfcourt.
Simpson has some of the most shake as a ballhandler in this class. He has a very tight handle and can handle in tight spaces, can break double teams, has tons of different counters, fakes, combos in his disposal, can drive with both hands, hesitations and in-and-outs that get defenders off balance...awesome at the hostage dribble, rising up and drawing fouls behind his back or creating space to finish at the basket, misdirections. He is one of the best PnR ballhandlers and playmakers in this class...really has a sixth sense of understanding pacing. He's fantastic at snaking the PnR and creating looks for himself or making plays for his teammates....he hits his teammates in their pockets. From the perimeter and the post. Cutters, shooters, dump off men...you name it. Scoops, bounce passes, baseball passes, cutters, skip passes, lobs. He's got a lot of different tricks in his bag and really slings the ball around the floor. Creative and hits tight windows on time. Elite out of bounds passer, consistently finds the big or a cutter for easy baskets and/or fouls. He'll hook guys arms and draw fouls on them in the PnR. You can't rush him as a creator or playmaker. He finds gaps, he probes decisively, and he makes plays.
Simpson is one of the very best outlet passers in this class. He loves the hit ahead pass. He's awesome in transition. His speed is a force in transition. He always keeps his head up. Maintains full court awareness and has amazing timing as a passer. Not just the timing but the accuracy and the ability to make dimes with both hands and the versatility as a passer. His understanding of what kind of pass to make depending on the circumstance. The pass itself and the touch and direction of the pass. He's a great ball mover and the kind of passer who thinks a pass ahead---he often makes a pass with the idea of creating an open look with the next pass by a teammate after that. He passes teammates open, makes very quick reads and is an awesome processor, which makes him an great playmaker.
Simpson does take risks as a passer and will turn the ball over, which will come with the territory of his style of play, but only had a 14% turnover rate which is an overall good number for someone who is fairly ball dominant.
He likes the up and under and he loves the behind the back baseline move. He uses misdirection dribbles a lot to surprise defenders and rejects screens. His timing and craft allow him to play quicker than he is and gain a step often but not always in the halfcourt. If you can hang with his initial moves, he's simply not big enough and doesn't have the explosiveness to create enough separation to finish cleanly around the rim. His touch around the rim isn't incredible for a guy who's a fantastic shooter, he misses bunnies around the rim or doesn't display very good accuracy on touch shots at the rim. He does have very good touch on his floater and diversity...can use both hands, he changes the flight of his floater depending on the circumstance, and he's someone who can stop on a dime from full speed and has fantastic body control with the floater. He will use the jump stop and he has pretty long range with his floater. His all around rim numbers were not anything to write home about this season and never were in college. He plays strong, and will use his strength to muscle balls up at the rim and create contact or finish through contact. He has ball fakes, head fakes at his disposal. The hostage dribble keeps guys on his back. He got to the line 5 times a game which is a great number for a 6'1 guard and made 88%. I think that's a part of his game that will translate at the next level, but his raw finishing will likely never be a strength of his. His ability to pressure the rim is an important trait for any smaller guard to have, however, and makes him an all around scoring weapon and offensive force.
Simpson is an awesome pull up shooter. That helps alleviate concerns surrounding his finishing. He's got fantastic balance and footwork as a pull up shooter and he can rise up on a dime which makes his shot very difficult to contest. He was an elite shooter all around this year, after being a mediocre one his first two seasons in college. He really worked hard on his jumper during the summer of 2023 and it paid off. He's got great mechanics as a shooter. His mechanics as a shooter are very clean, with a quick trigger. He is an elite PnR pull up shooter. He doesn't need much space to fire. He simply does an expert job of creating space for himself as a shooter in the PnR and actually using the big to his advantage on ball, and he will screen himself and create open shots for teammates which is what the attention he requires opens up for teammates. He will make fantastic reads as a passer as he's coming off screens out of DHO's.
He is one of the better off ball movers in this class. He's a great cutter, that lulls defenders to sleep and quickly dives to the rim and loves to cut to the rim with his defender navigating traffic, he is great at relocations off ball, he flies off screens on the perimeter, and he's always ready on the catch. He's one of the best C&S guys in this class. He's always on balance and square to the basket. Simpson shot 44% from 3 on 5 attempts a game and has very deep range; he's someone that extends a defense far from the basket with the range he has.
He loves the pull up baseline in the midrange. He sells the drive with his final step before rising up. He makes shots over contests. He can occasionally have pull ups blocked because of his size. He is very good at feeling the defender, and either spinning off their body or simply deftly stepping back and quickly rising up and hitting pull ups in the midrange. He likes the turnaround pullup around the FT line and the elbows, or quickly taking it to a defender and pushing them back, which doesn't allow for them to be able to recover when he pulls up. His game winner against the Gators was on such a baseline pull up; the decisiveness he plays with forces defenders to play on his terms.
Simpson averaging 6 rebounds a game at 6'1 is so impressive. It's cliche, but he really does have a nose for the ball, an innate sense of where balls will be off the rim off misses and he gobbles them up in the air. He's willing to mix it up in the trees for rebounds. He pursues boards. It's a fantastic ancillary trait to have that compliments and enhances all the other things he does so well. His ability to grab and go and make plays in transition as a passer or as a transition 3 shooter makes his defensive rebounding abilities a real weapon for him and his team.
Simpson is a bit of a mixed bag on the defensive end. He has some really good possessions of ball denial and ball pressure and being a pest. His agility testing at the combine does lend one to believe he can be a pest as an on ball guard going forward and he showed moments of that, picking up full court and forcing steals, or in the halfcourt sticking to his man and forcing tough shots. But he wasn't consistent at all in doing so, and he gave up a lot of dribble penetration.
His effort on the defensive end comes and goes. He's just not elite laterally overall. Guys who quickly take it to him off the dribble and force him to really react quickly can burn him. He can navigate screens but very regularly took circuitous routes and died on screens too often. He ended up either out of position or simply late to contest when he did so. Went under screens, and allowed open 3's, but also allowed drives when he didn't work hard enough to get back in front. He does a great job anticipating passes; causing deflections and outright thefts. He intercepts a ton of passes. He likes sneaking up behind ballhandlers or guys in the post and tying them up or forcing balls out of their hands. He's active in passing lanes and breaks up passes. He does a good job suffocating ballhandlers on traps. He averaged 1.6 steals a game but think that belies his ability a bit in this area.
He's too small to contest most shots and he loses focus a ton on defense and ends up behind plays. He will get back cut although he's not as bad as other teammates at Colorado were. He does battle hard on post switches. His overall defense wasn't anything to write home about while in college, and he likely never will be a great defensive player because he just doesn't have the tools, but he wasn't a liability this season. Less offensive load should help his defense but he doesn't have a very high ceiling on this end.
KJ Simpson is entering the NBA as one of the most polished offensive talents this draft has at his position. You could say at any position. He can score and make plays for others on or off the ball. The questions surrounding his size, defense, and ability to finish/pressure the rim at the NBA level, is what has some wondering whether he'll be able to stay on the floor at the pro level. He was one of the best performers during the combine scrimmages the last two days. There are not many guys as skilled as he is in this class, and I think he will find a way to make it work.
Are you all Thumbs Up, Down, or Across on KJ Simpson?

I have a problem. I am addicted to knowledge. I believed in the myths of the 1989s and 90s. NBC said "The more you know..." One of my former attorneys told me that I am too smart for my own good. How funny is it that the people we give power over us are the ones we need to defend ourselves against. I stayed in a horrible marriage too long. I should have never married him the second time. That being said, I am grateful for the life I lived. The song says "I could have missed the pain, but I'd a had to miss the dance... it's MY life, and it's better left to chance.". I don't believe in chance or fate. I believe that we have a certain measure of control over our lives and we allow others to derail us. What we do about that impact is a choice. I choose to be the captain of my own vessel until the river runs dry. No lawyer, no judge, no man, and no institution will force me to do anything else that is not for my own good or for the good of my family. Everywhere I go, I am turned away. I sat in an ER having a reaction to spider bites. I drove myself to an ER 2 hours from home because the ER here said nothing was wrong. I did call the individual who should have driven me, but he could not leave work he said. Funny how quickly he runs to help a woman he thinks will inherit money some day. When I got to the ER, I could barely breathe and had lost sensation in my hands and arm. I am not a doctor but know the difference between an ant bite and a venomous spider bite. And no, you don't feel a Brown Recluse bite. You will certainly feel a Black Widow bite IF bitten by an adult spider. Spiders are not insects, and if we are going to practice medicine, then we need to learn that yes, there is a difference between a 2, 4, or 6 leg creature and one with 8 or more legs. I was told there are no species of insects in this state that are poisonous. Well venom and poison are not the same thing and arthropods, arachnids, and serpents all have venomous species in this state. But if you really want to be technical about it, yes, there are poisonous insects in this state as well. Certain species of beetles have a coating on their exoskeleton that poison predators that eat them. I should sue that hospital, but when I try to do so, I am told constantly about statute of limitations. Well, that would be correct unless we are discussing a conspiracy. If even one party of a conspiracy is an employee of the business or government involved in the series of crimes which include a cover up of epic proportions, then the statute clock does not begin into the last probable occurrence of the group. Preventing someone from seeking legal counsel is the main reason statute of limitations cease to apply in all jurisdictions. Considering my 5g gateway I hold in my hand is alerting me that my IP address is being traced and altered, I am documenting that the time clock has not started ticking on this knowledge bomb. My confession here is that I have procrastinated in filing paperwork necessary to begin the next phase of my life. I don't intend to procrastinate, but it is something I cannot help. I have attention deficit disorder with hyperdiatractability. Oh yes, I thought you might bring that up. My ex-userband is a master manipulator when it comes to taking genuine disabilities and twisting them to fit his current need. Like using the multiple personality possibility to steal and then say it must have been one of the others living in my head. The truth is that I do have multiple entities dwelling within me. He is no longer living rent free in my head. And he of all people should have known better than to try to hurt me and my family. He knows good and well what I am capable of. Why in the hell would he or any of my close degree relatives even think about throwing me to the wolves? Think about that for a minute. He says I am unstable. He says I am dangerous. He says I am a genius. My doctor has said he fears for the world if I ever have a breakdown. Lol. A weapon of mass destruction? Come on you idiots. I am not a villain. And the AI shit can create crap about Darth Vader being a good guy and laugh all they want. I don't blackmail people or take money in romance schemes. What are you talking about now? I am talking about the tangled web we mortals weave that is host to a very dangerous arachnid. I don't know how to write code or do math. I don't know anything about the occult arts nor do I need to. I believe in one philosophy that you should read about a cave. The allegory in which we wage war with ourselves and have to ultimately decide to be or not to be. So why would anyone who knows me choose to strike against me? That would be me. They did not betray me. I stepped in front of them myself to make myself the target. There's your confession my dears. Clueless? Still don't know what the hell I am talking about? Let me ask you a question about something I observed once. Do you know what a dead ringer is ? How many kids do you see in the yard playing horseshoes or volleyball or hopscotch or anything? How are the enrollment numbers for youth sports in your area? How many 4-H clubs exhibit in your local fair? What is the pH level in the community pool? So if you can't make a profit from it, then it is something that should be eliminated or monetized? Well I guess I am the idiot here. I actually don't think like that. I would rather have a generation of healthy children who learn morals and ethics than to be a billionaire. Ever watched the movie Congo? Yeah, I am that level of crazy. You think I care about the money? I will not hesitate to burn every dollar I could possibly ever own to stop the children from being hurt by us. You want the truth? You can't handle the truth. Because the truth is that I am a good woman who loves very deeply and cares about people regardless of ethnicity or national origin. And that pisses people off like nothing else will. And that is the absolute truth. You didn't earn any right to be born in a free country any more than a child born in the deepest jungles of an unpronounceable country did anything wrong to be porn into starvation. You are no better than that person. So call me what you want to call me. But if I were you, I would not call me at all. Go ahead and tell me more about what I can and cannot do. Because the entire time you are busy searching for the next thing you can find online about me, the less time you are handling your own affairs and that allows the chance for something to invade your life. One. One chance. That's all I needed. Your motion for mercy has been denied. Well thank you for your consideration. Have a good day. Oh, and one more thing, how do you feel about NPR? Are those radio waves still available for broadcast? Or would you like to sell those to private investors as well? One chance. Lord give me one chance for a fair fight. You are not going to get me to do something that gives you the chance to shoot me or arrest me unless you intend to do so in a public place such as the private property you call county land, aka, my front porch. And the next time that happens, please allow me to call my father instead of unlocking my phone to call the ex-husband using my own device that you somehow unlocked using the passcode. And that was the one you actually needed, sir. How ironic that you gave that gateway to the man who broke it beyond repair. You did that. I'm done with money. I'm done with the man. And I am done trying to prove myself. Charge me now with whatever you think you have or make sure everyone connected to your organization ends all active tracking of us. I don't need a phone or any piece of paper to make my case. That's where you and whomever snatches my device to transfer shit doesn't understand. Yahoo! Yippee kai yah mother fuckers. Pass it on around. You want to go one more round? Or do you want to run? I'm not using Google on my train. I'm on my bridge. I'm using free tokens. I'm not doing anything more than playing a game using cartoon characters. And those Xs are beacons using analytics for the trackers to pinpoint the ones who joined the conspiracy against us. Just because you logged me out and changed my information to your information doesn't work. I asked you to give it back. You ignored me. Fine. Keep it. You want to be famous and rich beyond your wildest dreams? Be my guest, but don't say I didn't warn you what would happen. I can't stop it. I didn't start it. Rufus=the time traveler with a phone booth. James=King James. Travis=country music singer. Don=American Pie. Jerry=Maguire. Tom=Hanks. Bridge=the bifrost. And you can waste your time trying to figure it out but you will never do so. Because there is no "it ". Lmao. Hell yeah. The multiverse is full on all servers. Damn. Looks like I'm not as crazy as you made me out to be. All freaking servers on the Dark Web that bridges the US and Japan are full. Not one vacancy to let me play my game. Wow. I wonder how many of these players are from within the same state as me. Why do so many of you keep running up to St. Louis? That's not the geoblock zone anymore. You better get outside the continental US and any outlying territories if you want to be on the real web. The former president said it would crash harder than it did in 1929 if he was not elected. Wtf is that supposed to mean? Damn let me get a history book and look that up. Maybe it hasn't changed yet. But let me warn you about time travel. If anyone ever tells you to write an email to yourself in the future, call Interpol and file a report. That's a violation of international law. And it will get you on the list even if it is an assignment. Bet I don't do that again. Gee, Roger. You made me an international fugitive for that assignment. Wish I knew who to call for help on that one. Damn. Never trust anyone who is so well organized to guide your future. You never know what to expect from the shock waves. I opened the damn email on June 3, 2020. The day I died. How ironic. I wonder what would have happened if I had not received that email. Scary. But back to the spider bites...I didn't get help from that ER either. I ended up buying a knife and an onion. Actually I ordered Arby's, used the onion off my sandwich, and the knife to open my horsey sauce. I put the onion on my hand, wrapped it using the plastic from the knife, and several days later, the venom had drained from my hand enough that the swelling in my feet was going down and my blood pressure was returning to normal. Baby black widows don't have the kick mama does, but they are 1,000 times more deadly because they don't know how much of their spit to stick in you. And your earlobe and nostril don't have a pulse in them, by the way. So keep on bullshitting with the fake crap. If you have insurance for something highly unlikely to occur prior to the occurrence, doesn't that mean that you have a sixth sense and can predict the volcanic eruption that spewed counterfeit currency all over the state without a volcano? 💩♾️😱 Damn girl, just shut up and let them have it. I tried that. They keep trying to send it back to me when they can't make it work. It is never going to work again because you idiots changed everything so much that it can't be fixed. And that is all I am going to say about it ever because you don't want help. You want someone to do it for you so you can blame that person when it fails and cut them out when it succeeds. No. There's no solution. I'm not sure if you even know there's a problem. You will. But don't ask anyone for help when you do figure out how bad things already are. I am disinclined to aquiese to your request on grounds of I don't give a damn. Haha. What else do you want me to confess to for you to add to that admission you started in 2020? That's so funny that I forgot to laugh. I wonder how bullshit sounds in Morse code pinging on nft relays from me to you. Oh yeah. Well here's your tip for the day, big guy. You are not a good person. You are a bully. And some day, someone will knock you off that horse and when you land in shit just like me, I hope someone hands you hand sanitizer and a baby wipe. 😘

Photos/Proofs - (feel free to request more photos of any specific piece)
https://i.postimg.cc/GpZXnHFc/IMG-1762.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/NjLXSY91/IMG-1641.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/kXT8TD4J/IMG-1642.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/J7cjBpCB/IMG-1643.jpg
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1oz TD Bank Canada bars - $36 (7 available)
5oz Flanagan Klan bar - $440 ($100 under recent comps)
1oz Banco Minero Del Peru - $60
1oz Vintage Credit Suisse - $50 (two available)
50g Vintage Credit Suisse from Israel - $130
1oz Vintage Swiss Bank Corp bar - $50 (two available)
100g Vintage Mario Villa Milano bar - $160
250g Vintage Mario Villa Milano bar - $340
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Old Libertads:
1985 - $41
1983 - $41
1992 (damaged cursive graffiti) $35
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Late additions to sale:
https://i.postimg.cc/qBcDHdwx/IMG-1763.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/7YmBbMpC/IMG-1764.jpg
100g Geiger bar (in plastic with coa) - $120
1oz Valcambi Skyline (in assay) - $42
1oz Pamp 45th anniversary bar (in assay) - $50
2015 $2 CANADA 1/2oz CALGARY STAMPEDE (in capsule) - $21
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Shipping:
$4 usps ground advantage
$9 priority small flat rate
I pack all my items very securely.
If you buy three+ TD bars/multiple items I’ll cover shipping.
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Zelle (preferred), Venmo, Crypto all accepted.
Feel free to chat or pm me

Hello! I’m 28F, living in HCOL, work with my father in architecture & construction business. My salary is around 100k gross a year, I try to keep it low because of taxes, the rest I receive either as bonuses or for other joint investments w/ my father. Don’t have CC nor student loan debt, only debt is used car loan $28,000 APR 7.99%, and mortgage loan 314k @ 7.2% for 30 years. I remodeled and rented the 3BR apartment I purchased. With the rent I receive, I pay off mortgage and HOA, and keep $250 p/m. I live with my partner, I pay half the mortgage which is $750. No kids or any in the foreseable future. I save around 50% of my net income every month.
I own a Volkswagen Tiguan 2016 at 110,000 miles which I paid off last year. Interest rate was 4.5% on it, paying $289 p/m for 72 months. It’s a great car and I keep it looking nice. The problem is that it burns oil like crazy. I have taken it to a mechanic and we changed the turbo because it was leaking ($800) plus some other valves ($200), new tires (hadn’t changed them in forever tbh), another $800 prob. And it still has the problem in a lower amount, but I need to put oil every 2 months, maybe less depending on how much I drive it. I was a little bored of it, and wanted something funner because I love cars and I work A TON and never buy myself anything.
See link for Tiguan pics https://postimg.cc/gallery/81Hm4wT
I got a new car this month, a 2020 used Miata at $28,000 @ 7.99% APR (I know it’s high, don’t kill me) I will be paying $477 a month. Which is not bad at all! And the insurance will be the same as Tiguan $102 p/m Geico.
The question now is… Should I sell the Tiguan? I first got the Miata as a secondary car because I didn’t want to put miles on it, but now I want to drive the car almost every day. I don’t take the highways daily, maybe 8 times a month. All my driving is near my house.
I saw on FB Marketplace Tiguans with my same miles are selling for $12,000 and Carmax gave me an offer for $9,000 already. It’s cool having “two cars” but in reality I’m not doing anything different on either one of them. I guess there is a sentimental value attached to the Tiguan which is a bit hard to overcome. My father tells me not to sell it, to keep it… But he also has another mentality (South American, keeps cars until they cannot run anymore and gives it to family members that come to live here).
What would I do with the money? I would put it into a savings account I have for my next property. I’m looking to purchase another property by the end of the year or early next year to remodel and rent out. I will have the money for it without selling the car. But maybe by selling it I can get it quicker.
Sorry for long post. What do you guys think? What are the reasons I should keep the car, what are the reasons I should not?
Thanks

Club Vlad sat near the confluence of Central Avenue and Washington Avenue, Albany’s two main thoroughfares. Two stories with blackout windows and a box office from when it used to be a movie theater, it was swarmed with people when Dom first spotted it ahead. He was somewhat familiar with it: He passed it every day on his way to work, and it was always busy around his time of evening, even on weeknights. Part of him always wanted to go inside and be a part of the scene, but he never did.
The man in sunglasses - his name was Joe - led Dom toward the club, and even before Joe spoke, Dom somehow knew that it was their destination. “There,” Joe said. “We’ll go around back.”
Dom and Joe had been walking for what seemed like an hour but couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes. Dom stuck as close to Joe as possible as if for protection, and had become accustomed to his pungent smell. It was noticeable only at extremely close range, part sickly sweet and part…something else, something Dom could not place but still somehow recognized. They were two blocks from the club, maybe three, and Dom could hear the pulsing techo/house/whatever music as clearly as if he were standing in the middle of the dancefloor. He could hear the chatter of the people inside, or at least he imagined he could. He could smell them too: Beneath the odors of perfume, desperation, and spiritual rot was something richer, something blissful. Dom realized for the first time that he was parched - so parched - and drool filled his mouth.
A crowd of people waited outside Club Vlad, talking and laughing; some vaped, some stared down at their cellphones like Gollum with his precious ring. Dom’s first reaction was to avoid them. Perhaps sensing this…or perhaps feeling it himself…Joe ducked into an alleyway two doors down from the club. “We’ll go in the back,” Joe explained.
The back entrance to Club Vlad was a single door underneath a bare bulb. The music was so loud that Dom’s head began to throb. Inside, a dark hallway terminated in an archway filled with throbbing white light. Dread filled Dom as they approached it - he didn’t want to be around people - but thankfully they went into a room off the hall instead. An office. A cramped desk, a filing cabinet. A set of stairs disappeared into shadows.
“Sit,” Joe said.
Dom obeyed, sitting in the swivel chair.
Joe went up the stairs and Dom was alone. The deep coldness that had long settled into his bones made itself known again, and Dom leaned forward, wrapping his arms around his chest for warmth. The muffled music vibrated in his skull, setting his teeth on edge, and the various smells wafting in from the main room assaulted his senses. He was alternately repulsed and aroused by the crashing din of scents: The good, the bad, and the mouth watering. A sharp pain cut through his stomach like the killing edge of a knife, and Dom hugged himself tighter. Had his throat always been this dry? His throat felt like sandpaper; his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and getting it unstuck hurt so badly that tears sprang to his eyes.
Dom rubbed his arms with his hands and tried to still his chattering teeth. He looked around for a blanket, a discarded jacket, something to cover himself with, but there was nothing. Only drifts of glitter on the floor and walls. He supposed it came from a party or something. He’d never been to a night club but it seemed fitting.
A sound drew his attention to the door leading back into the hall. A woman - no older than a girl - stood there, looking confused and unsteady. She was dressed in black, wore glow sticks around her wrists and neck, and held a red solo cup. “I have to pee,” she said drunkenly and laughed. “I thought this was the bathroom.”
A cold wind washed over Dom, and Joe was standing next to him. “The bathroom’s up here,” he said.
“Oh, good,” the girl laughed, “I thought it was here but I didn’t know. This is my first time here.” She held her cup aloft. “Take me to it.”
Joe glanced at Dom. “Come on.”
They formed a party as they climbed the stairs, Dom in the tear and Joe at the head. The girl stumbled and held onto the railing, talking incessantly. Her voice hurt Dom’s head, but the hot smell wafting from her was intoxicating. Drool coursed down his chin and his breathing came in short, hot bursts. Another sharp pain rent his stomach, and he winced.
At the top of the stairs, where the lights were cold and white, a woman in black stood by a doorway, her back ramrod straight and her eyes vacant. Her face was gaunt, her white flesh pulled tight across her skull. She wore a black dress and her black hair long and straight. Dom only caught a glance at her before looking away again.
She looked like a ghost.
“Show her the bathroom,” Joe said.
The woman’s eyes slowly, ponderles, went from Joe to the drunk girl. Her expression, like Joe’s, was dead. She had no expression. “This way.”
She and the drunk girl disappeared down the hall, and Joe led Dom into a room. Though it was pitch black, Dom could still see; not very well…but he could see. Suddenly, a blinding white light flicked on in front of him, causing him to stop and fall back a step. Ahead, through an archway, sat a vaulted chamber, at the center of which sat a man. To Dom’s light dazzled eyes, he seemed a proud king perched upon a throne, the skulls of his many enemies piled around him. Dom blinked and turned his head slightly to the side. His eyes began to adjust, and the world came into focus.
The man was not, as it had first seemed, sitting on a throne. Instead, he was esconded in a motorized wheelchair. The piles of skulls were actually various pieces of machinery, the kind you’d find in a hospital room. A clear tube extended from one of them to the side of the man’s neck: Yellow liquid flowed from the machine and into the man. Another tube, this one in the other side of his neck, filtered out a mixture of what looked like yellow pus and black sludge. An infected malodor filled the air, and the machines whirred softly as they worked.
As for the man himself, his appearance was normal at first glance, Dressed in a flowing red velvet robe, a blue and green blanket with a plaid pattern draped over his shoulders, he was portly, about fifty, and had shoulder length grayish hair with a bald spot in the middle. If the local theater put on a production of Hamilton, they could cast a worse Ben Franklin than him.
On closer inspection, he was not normal at all. His complexion was yellow and waxy, like a statue, and his body was lumpy, misshapen, resembling an overfilled trash bag stuffed with cotton. His eyes were sick and yellow, and something about his posture seemed…off. It didn’t make sense, but the only thing Dom could think was: He looks impossible.
Joe stopped at the edge of the shadows, where the line between light and darkness lay. He seemed to stand up a little straighter, a general greeting his king. “Here he is,” Joe said.
The man squinted slightly against the glare of the light and motioned with one gnarled hand. “Step into the light,” he said. His voice was soft and kind, that of a senile though loving grandmother. Dom imagined he felt a pull toward the man, and did as he was bidden, wincing as the light stung his eyes.
For a moment, the man stared at him, his waxen features frozen fast as stone. Then, a subtle look of compassion flickered across his face. Dom did not believe in God, but he suddenly felt like a man standing before God, his every thought, feeling, and transgression laid bare. He had never felt so naked in his life, so exposed. He had the sense that the man before him could see everything, knew everything.
“You’ve been through a lot,” the man said. It was not a question, but a statement.
Everything Dom had been through over the past couple of days came back to him in a rush, and hot tears filled his eyes. He nodded.
The man nodded slightly, more to himself than to Dom. “Kneel down,” he said, “I want to look at you.”
Dom knelt without question.
The man lifted one hand and touched Dom’s face, tilting Dom’s head from one side to the other like a farmer appraising a horse. His fingers were long and bony, his nails ragged and unkempt; his touch was like ice. He brushed his knuckles over the purple bruise on Dom’s cheek, and there was such gentleness in that one act that Dom broke down sobbing. He leaned into the man’s touch like a cat and gave voice to his misery.
“Shhh,” the man said, “it’s all over now.”
“W-What’s happening to me?” Dom asked.
In his heart of hearts, however, he already knew.
“You died,” the man said patiently. “And you came back.”
Hearing it stated so plainly, Dom cried even harder.
“Only a handful of people throughout history can claim to have defeated death,” the man said, stroking Dom’s hair, “and you’re one of them. You should be proud.”
“How?” Dom asked between sobs. “What am I?”
The man stroked Dom’s cheek. “You’re the same thing I am.”
At that, Dom looked up at the man. “What are you?” he asked.
A little, knowing smile touched the man’s lips, and when he spoke, his canine teeth were longer and sharper than before. “I’m a vampire.”
“No,” Dom moaned and shook his head, “no, no, no.” He grabbed the man’s hand and held tight, his tears coming faster. He trembled like a frightened animal and squeezed his eyes closed, as if by doing so he could escape the hell his life had become.
But there was no escape.
“You have a lot of questions,” the man said, monologuing now rather than speaking directly to Dom, “I had the same questions when I was your age. I have spent the last forty-two years of my life trying to answer them, but every answer I find leads me to still more questions. There’s one thing I’m certain of, though.”
Dom blinked the tears from his eyes. The last of them had been squeezed from his dead tear ducts and he had no more to give. He simply stared into space, trying to come to grips with his situation.
“There is freedom in death,” the man said. “Death is easy. It’s simple. Once it’s over, you feel no pain, no sadness, no grief. It’s living that’s hard.”
As he spoke, he brushed his long nails across Dom’s scalp. It was a soothing feeling, and served to calm him. “People have so many troubles.” A note of revulsion crept into his voice. “So many needs, so many desires. People are complex but we’re not. We’re easy to please. A vampire wants only two things: A little blood and one more night.”
The combination of his touch and his voice had pacified Dom to the point of almost tranquility. “I’m scared,” Dom heard himself mumble.
Nodding almost reluctantly, the man said, “Fear is one of the only emotions a vampire can’t escape. Everything feels fear. Do you want to know a secret?”
Dom nodded.
“I’m afraid too,” the man confessed. “I’m afraid of death. Well…death as it were. I’m terrified that my body will rot away and leave me a pile of bones somewhere, unable to move but still aware”
A shudder went through Dom.
“As I’m sure you’ve seen yourself, the movies lied. We rot just like any other dead thing. Our flesh decays, our organs turn to sludge, and we go from rational men to monsters whose only thought is feeding.”
Now it was his turn to shiver.
“But…you’re not like that,: Dom said.’
The man smiled. “I’m lucky, I guess” A thin yellow fluid began to drip from his nostrils. He did not seem to notice. “What is your name?”
“Dominick,” Dom said.
“I’m Merrick,” the man said, “and this is my family.”
Dom realized that they were now surrounded by others, ten in all. They stood ramrod straight, their eyes vacant and their faces devoid of humanity. They were mainly men, though one was a woman. Some were pale, others were blue or black, and one was little more than a skeleton clad in withered brown skin, a white button up and jeans hanging from its frame.
A thought occurred to Dom. “You said my brain was going to rot…”
“Not necessarily,” Merrick cautioned, “though it’s possible.”
“Am I going to be…?”
“Like them?” Merrick asked. “Braindead and staring?”
Sheepishly, Dom nodded.
“Maybe,” Merrick allowed. “But these people are free of everything that troubles humanity. You were human just a short time ago. I’m sure you remember all too well what it was like. The constant politics, the moral quandaries, the philosophical pontificating. Human beings - and make no mistake, we are humans - were not meant for all of that. We’re animals. We were made to hunt, fuck, and sleep. Somewhere along the way, we got pretentious and started complicating things.” He looked at Dom, sizing him up, seeming to read him. “Things that animals take for granted, people work their entire lives to achieve. If an animal wants to fornicate, it fornicates. If a man wants to fornicate, he needs to be tall, handsome, rich, funny, progressive when it suits women but traditional when it doesn’t. If a man wants a home, he has to work thirty years for it. An animal has only to dig a hole in the ground.”
Every word struck a chord with Dom.
Because every word was true.
“Unfortunately, the living won’t allow us to live that freely, so we have to hide. These people here - my children - need a guiding hand, a protector, someone who can lead them. And I, an old man, need help.” Here he smiled playfully and patted his bulging stomach. “My body is mostly sawdust and cotton balls at this point, so I can’t do much. I share my wisdom and my knowledge with them, and they take care of me.”
“Why haven’t you…rotted?” Dom asked.
“Embalming fluid,” Merrick said. “Blood doesn’t sustain you. Embalming fluid does.” He smiled at Dom. “It can sustain you as well. If you’ll stay with us. We’re not the most attractive bunch, but we’re a family, and we really wish you’d join us.”
A family.
Dom’s parents had broken up and he lived with his mother. He had never had a family before, and had always wanted one, a real one, like in the movies. Even as a grown man, he sought the love, acceptance, and belonging that a family brings. He sought it in the wrong ways, but that - and not sex, not romantic love - is what he had really wanted all along.
This is what he had wanted all along.
“I want to,” Dom said.
Working quickly, Merrick slashed his wrist open with his thumbnail. An ugly mixture of stale blood, siphoned from someone else, and embalming fluid leaked out. “If you choose to drink, my blood will be in you. You will be my son and I will be your father. You will obey me as your father. You will do whatever is asked of you for this family, as this family will do for you. You will not reveal the secrets of this family to anyone outside of it. You will protect this family from all threats, both inside and out. Do you accept?”
He held his bleeding wrist out to Dom.
Dom did not question, nor did he hesitate. He grabbed the hand of his father, brought it to his mouth, and drank from the seeping wound. The fluid was cold, thick, and vile.
It tasted like belonging.
“Have you fed yet?”
“No,” Dom said.
“Before you do, I have a question for you. Who did this to you? Who made you?”
Dom thought. Everything was hazy. “Was it someone in this room?” Merrick asked.
Dom shook his head. “Her name is…” he wracked his brain. “Heather.”
Merrick nodded. “So there’s another out there.” He looked at Joe. “Did you turn her?”
“Yes,” Joe said.
Merrick looked annoyed. “I’ve told you not to go out and feed on your own. You have no self-control. You drink too much and create others, which creates headaches for the family. Tomorrow night, I want you and Dom to find her and bring her here.” “Okay,” Joe said.
Merrick looked over Dom’s shoulder. “Jess? Can you come here?”
The black haired woman from earlier came out of the shadows, the drunk girl with her, arms tied behind her back. The girl looked dazed. “Max,” Merrick said to the skeletal corpse-thing, “help her.”
Max, Jessie, and another vampire named Matt tied chains around the girl’s ankles and hoisted her aloft via a pulley system. Upside down, she swung back and forth. Merrick instructed the others to leave the room. “Max,” he said.
On his way out, the corpse-thing produced a knife and dragged it across the girl’s throat, slicing her skin; blood spurted out. Max leaned in to taste it, but Merrick shooed him away. When he and Dom were alone, Merrick told Dom, “Go to her.”
But Dom was already on his feet, his eyes transfixed by the crimson life flowing from her pumping throat. The hot, rich smell filled his nostrils and tantalized his senses. Saliva filled his mouth and his stomach panged with hunger. Some small, human part of his decaying brain screamed at him to stop, but he did not listen to it. He had been human for almost thirty years, and he had been miserable. Now, in this chamber of the undead, he gave himself over to his dark thirst. Like a man in a dream, he shuffled to her, inhaled the sweet scent of her blood, and shivered. He was so lost in lust that he hardly noticed the strange, cumbersome feeling of his descended fangs.
“Drink,” Merrick said.
Opening his mouth wide, Dom sank his teeth into the girl’s neck. Her blood filled his mouth and splashed down his throat. Warmth thawed the ice in his marrow and spread through him. His dead heart began to flutter, then to pound. His knees shook, his body trembled, and his mind rolled away on a tide of ecstasy.
As it was his first meal, he couldn’t drink much. Before long, his stomach was hard and distended and his body burned with fire. He collapsed to a heap on the floor and twitched as random nerve endings, stimulated by the blood, began to misfire. He felt full, warm, and drunk. He closed his eyes and let himself drift.
Dominick Mason had died.
And this…
This was heaven.
***
With all that was happening in the city of Albany, the last thing Bruce Kenner needed on Thursday morning was a visit from Bertha the bitch, but that’s exactly what he got. She flew into his office like she owned the place and instantly started in on him. Young man this and have you talked to Joe Rossi that. You’d think she was his boss. And if she were his boss, he’d quit and find another line of work. He heard McDonald’s was hiring.
Bruce almost snapped at her. He’d been up most of last night riding around Albany and looking for Dominick Mason. He and Vanessa expected him to drop dead somewhere close to the medical examiner’s office, but if he had, he’d done so in a super secret location.
“I’ve been busy,” Bruce said, “but I’m going to go by his place of work today.”
Tired and still confused over that bullshit from last night, he had no energy to argue with the old crone. He could spare a few minutes to talk to Joe Rossi, he figured. He assumed that Jessie was safe but he owed it to her to check. If he found the girl, he’d take her back to her grandmother (sorry, kid, really) and try to avoid arresting the guy. Unless he came off as a creep, then he’d bust his ass. See, people assumed that an older guy with a younger girlfriend was some master manipulator hell bent on evil deeds. Sometimes they were, but hell, his grandparents married when his grandpa was twenty-one and his grandma sixteen. They were married for fifty-five years and loved each other to the end. Maybe it was innocent, maybe not. It wasn’t his job to judge either way. Just gimme the girl so I can get her grandma off my back and no one gets hurt.
“It’s about time you started doing your job,” Bertha said, “I heard on the police scanner last night that you people lost a body. What kind of town is this? Your coroner is a drunk who makes up stories about bodies walking away. He probably sold it to black people.”
Bruce couldn’t help it; he snorted laughter.
“Now what would black people want with a dead body?”
“Probably to use it as a prop in one of their rap videos.”
Bruce didn’t know much about music videos, but he was pretty sure that the people who made them didn’t like the smell of corpse any more than the rest of us. “I’ll be sure to round up all the local rappers for questioning. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
Luckily for him, there was not, and Bertha left shortly thereafter. Alone and able to hear himself think, Bruce sat back in his chair and went over his mental checklist for the day. First order of business, go to Club Vlad. Second, find Dominick Mason. There were others, but that was the most important. He wanted the body found so someone could get to work explaining this whole weird thing. There had to be an explanation. The thought that there wasn’t, that a dead guy literally rose from the grave and disappeared into the night, deeply disturbed Bruce, and the more this whole thing remained ongoing, the more disturbed he would become.
Needing some fresh air, he decided to hit up Club Vlad.
Outside, the day was hot and sunny. Waves of heat shimmered from the pavement and not a single breath of air stirred in the whole world. Bruce slipped on a pair of sunglasses and drove over to Club Vlad. It occurred to him that the place might be closed during the day; it was the only place Joe Rossi was associated with. His address in the computer system was Glens Falls, far to the north. The messages he sent Jessie indicated that he lived onsite at Club Vlad.
The build, wedged between a corner store and a check cashing place, was as grimy and dumpy looking as it had always been. The front windows were blacked out and covered with posters and fliers for punk concerts, house bands, and far left political organizations: The Albany Social Justice Center, something called Bash the Fash 2025, and Bruce’s favorite. ACAB. He caught some kid spraying that on the side of the police station once, and under extreme police torture (ie, a good tongue lashing), the kid told him it meant All Cops Are Barnacleheads.
Bruce shot the kid on the spot and planted a gun on him.
How's that for barnaclehead?
Calm down, he didn’t really do that. He made him clean the graffiti off with a toothbrush. LOL he was out there for hours.
The sidewalk in front of the former theater was empty save for some little. The box office was abandoned. There was no open sigh, but then again, there was no closed sign either. He parked his cruiser at the curb, killed the engine, and got out, sweat instantly springing to his brow.
To his surprise, the door opened. Inside, a couple steps led down to a dance floor. A bar lined the wall to his right, and a couple more sets led up to a railed platform filled with tables. Above, a huge balcony looked down on him. A giant disco ball hung from the ceiling like a pair of glittery nuts and there were cages here and there. Presumably where girls danced go-go style. Oh yeah, nothing hotter than a woman behind bars. Why do you think Bruce became a cop in the first place?
Speaking of glittery nuts, there was glitter everywhere. On the floor, on the tables, on the bar. It twinkled like flecks of diamond and swirled around your feet when you walked. Bruce imagined big buckets of the stuff raining down on the dance floor at midnight and he shuddered. Imagine having glitter stuck in your hair. That shit would never come out.
Music played from the sound system, not as loud as it would be during operating hours. It sounded like ‘80s metal, not exactly what he expected from a place like this.
Some say life she's a lady
Kinda soft, kinda shady
I can tell you life is rich
She's no lady, she's a bitch
Being morning, the place was deserted except for a man behind the bar, busy at cleaning the countertop in anticipation for the night’s events. He was tall, Hispanic or Italian, and feminine, with a single earring and a tank top.
Bruce moseyed over to the bar and the barkeep looked up, missing a beat when he realized the fuzz was here. He sat down his rag and walked over. “Can I help you?” he asked in a whispy voice.
“Yeah,” Bruce said, “I’m looking for Joe Rossi. Is he here?”
“I don’t know,” the bartender said. He looked nervous. “I can check.”
Before Bruce could answer, he scurried off, leaving him alone.
They suck my body out
But friend there is no doubt
I'm gonna pay the devil his dues
Cause I'm sick of being abused
Bruce looked around, his fingers absently drumming on the countertop. Club Vlad was a clashing mix of grunge and glam that made his head hurt. He imagined what the place must be like at midnight, packed and noisy, and nodded to himself. Yeah, this was the spot, he guessed, the place all the cool kids went, if they went anywhere anymore. Hell, if he was thirty years younger, he might come here.
He had been waiting for almost twenty minutes when a voice spoke behind him. He turned with a start, and beheld the strangest man he had ever seen in his life. Short and plump - lumpy, even - he sat in a wheelchair, a red blanket draped over his shoulders and his hands resting on his knees. He was about fifty with sparse gray hair falling to his shoulders and a plastic-looking face. He looked like a wax statue of Ben Franklin come to life, and a deep sense of disquiet stirred in the pit of Bruce’s stomach.
Just can't fight the temptation
It's become my inspiration
Gonna get myself an axe
Break some heads, break some backs
It was only then that Bruce noticed the sickly sweet smell of death.
It seemed to come from the man in waves.
“I didn’t mean to frighten you,” the man said, “my name is Merrick Garvis and I own Club Vlad. Maybe I can be of assistance.”
Bruce grew up in the south where manners and saving face were paramount. His mother and his grandmother both taught him that it was impolite to stare. Maybe he'd been in New York so long that he’d forgotten himself, or maybe Merrick Garvis was just the strangest looking man in the world. Either way, Bruce couldn’t help gaping at his strange appearance. Recovering, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I -”
Merrick smiled and waved one hand. Why was it so goddamn skeletal? “Don’t worry. I was injured in a fire a long time ago and this is the best they could do for me. To be honest, I’d stare too. What can I help you with, officer?”
“I’d like to talk to Joe Rossi,” Bruce said. “I understand he works for you.”
“He did,” Merrick said, “but I had to let him go. Did he do something wrong?”
Bruce sighed. “Well, yeah, he’s shacked up with a sixteen year old runaway.”
A look of concern crossed Merrick’s features, such as they were. “Oh, my, that is concerning. I haven’t seen him in several days. I assume he went home. He lives in Glens Falls.”
Bruce nodded, his mind working. If Rossi really was in Glens Falls, that meant the whole mess was someone else’s problem. He could send Bertha up there to bother some other poor barnacle head and be rid of her. Yet…he didn’t think Rossi was in Glens Falls. Bruce had a knack for knowing when people were lying, and he was certain that Merrick Garvis was doing just that. It couldn’t be a facial tick, as his features were largely unmoving, like clay. Maybe it was something in his cloudy eyes. Maybe it was the tone of his voice. Or maybe Bruce had the shining and knew things just for the hell of it. In any event, the certainty that Merrick Garvis was lying grew stronger with each passing second.
“Why’d you fire him?”
“He got drunk and hit one of the customers.”
“What did he do?” Bruce asked. “What was his position?”
“He was a bouncer.”
“Aren’t bouncers supposed to hit people?”
Merrick fumbled. “Well…not to punch them in the face for bumping into them.”
“How long did he work for you?”
“Six months.”
“Did you ever see him with an underage girl?”
“Of course not,” Merrick said, “you have to be twenty-one to get in. I make sure everyone’s ID is checked at the door.”
“What if she had a fake ID?”
“Then I guess she’d get in, but I’d assume she was of legal age.”
“You said he shoved someone, when did this happen?”
“Last week,” Merrick said.
“I thought you said he hit someone.”
Merrick again fumbled. “I did.” Now his face seemed to darken a little. A strange yellowish liquid, too thin to be snot, began to drip from his nostrils. Bruce barely suppressed a smear of disgust. “I understand you have a job to do but playing mind games with me isn’t going to solve anything. I can give you his address. Other than that, I can’t help you further.”
“Fair enough,” Bruce said. “But I’d like to see your ID please.”
Merrick glared at him. “I suppose you want my name, rank, and serial number as well.”
“Actually, yeah, I’d love that.”
Merrick drew a deep sigh. “Okay.”
In five minutes, Bruce had Merrick’s ID, social, and all other relevant information. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have bothered, even though he was well within his rights to ask for this information from someone he was questioning. But something about Merrick Garvis was off, and not just his weird face or strangely bulbous body. Bruce was just smart enough to realize that something was going on here, but not quite smart enough to even begin to imagine what.
When he had everything he needed and saw no reason to stick around, Bruce bid Merrick farewell and left the club. Before he could do anything else, he got a call from dispatch: Officer needed assistance in Pine Hills. Bruce slipped behind the wheel and went forth to help, momentarily putting Merrick Garvis out of his mind.
But soon or later, he would get back to him.
Oh yes he would.

I work at the USPS so I have an awkward schedule, I scheduled to have all 5 of my wisdom teeth (extra one on my top right) removed during my 3 day weekend. The surgeon, Dr. B, apparently got sick in Brazil a week before the date, so it was rescheduled almost a month and a half later. Then a week before the rescheduled date, the front desk called and said the surgeon was asking if I could reschedule again. I was annoyed that I had to reschedule again but I played it cool, and said my next day off, but that date didn’t work for him so they kept it as is.
Day of the extraction, I’m in the chair, I’ve been on the gas for 5-10mins, being really relaxed. Then Dr. B walks in and says we are only going to do the right side today for the sake of time. I am quite livid, despite the gas, that there is a literal last minute change in the plan. And I don’t know why that would be a good excuse for anything scheduled so far in advance. But I don’t want to argue with the guy that is about to cut into my mouth, as I had already gotten the feeling that he is a difficult person. AFAIK the extraction went fine, I go home.
But during procedure (conscious sedation) Dr. B is telling the scheduling staff how he doesn’t mind working Sundays just not on Mother’s Day, I can appreciate it. My ride home was in the waiting room, and said while I was in the room, Dr. B had come out to reschedule a patient 5 days out, the desk was saying they won’t call because it was on the books for a month already. Says he can call, he says that’s not my job. True, it’s not, but it’s not professional to treat the patient or staff that way, and he wanted to reschedule me twice despite my appointment being on the books for a month. Later on I find out most of the staff find Dr. B to be difficult.
The next day I’m In debilitating pain, end up taking some sick days, whatevs. But 2 days after the extraction, I’m swishing salt water, and it shoots out of my nose. My wife tells me to call the next day, they want to examine. Say it’s a communication between my sinus. Says take antibiotics and Sudafed, follow up was already scheduled for next week.
I go in today for the follow up and he says looks like it’s starting to heal, let’s do a follow up in a month and a half to “decide if I want to do the other side.” At this rate I’m burning a ton of pto, I’m mad, but I think I’m stuck with the guy, the care credit is in with this office already, so I won’t argue with the guy about to cut into my mouth again. So idk when my left side is even going to get done.
Am I just being too sensitive? Is he too much? Would like to get some perspective, if possible.
Thanks

I only notice the random patches of flakes bc I feel them when rubbing my scalp. There’s not a ton and they’re not huge but it’s like maybe 10 and under spots where I can pull it off my scalp and it’s just a hard-ish white flake (kind of reminds me of thin plastic). No itching, burning, etc. is this still possibly SB? Why would this randomly begin happening in my late 20s and apparently no cure to reverse it? So crazy how this just started!

Welcome back to my running series of WWF PPV Reviews from a ‘blind’ perspective (I have no idea what’s going to happen; the results, the feuds or how good any of the matches will be). I have always heard stories of the attitude era and golden age but never watched it myself so I set myself to watching every single PPV event chronologically. I am also watching Wrestling Bios ‘reliving the war’ series to keep me updated inbetween the events with the feuds, and to get excited about upcoming matches.
Before I review the matches, based on the past few episodes of raw and last PPVs I’ll let you know, going into the event, which match I’m most excited for and which feud I’m most excited to see.
Another stone cold vs Bret hart match has to steal my match im most excited for this time round.
And feud wise once again it’s Bret hart vs Austin you just simply have nothing close to this feud in the WWF right now.
WWF In Your House - Revenge of the Taker 1997 Match Ratings
LOD vs Bulldog & Owen Hart 2.75/5
Savio Vega vs Rocky Maivia 1.25/5
Jesse James vs Rockabilly 0.5/5
Mankind vs Undertaker 4.25/5
Bret Hart vs Stone Cold Steve Austin 4.25/5
Tag team action in the wwf is majorly improving now; there’s a few teams I look forward to seeing, and the two teams in the opening match are both in this category.
I actually thought in terms of an opener this was a really well booked match. It had some unique drama; some very good moves by LOD and the new Hart Foundation and a good finish to continue the feud. Bulldog ends up getting pinned but as the illegal man so the match continues which I was very happy with as I was enjoying the match and the crowd was too! It usually takes a while for the crowd to get going but they were instantly into this bout and you can’t blame them. I really hope we get more of this duo of teams because they have some great entertaining chemistry. Bret hart ends up coming to the ring when LOD looks like they’re gunna win and the champions retain as a result of a DQ, I wouldn’t have minded a title change but it was a good heel finish. One of the better openers for the events I’ve seen so far. FINALLY making tag teams worth watching. Owen hart is playing the cowardly heel extremely well and it’s very easy to route for LOD as baby faces, just a great opener to the event.
Now I may have my bias but I’m really enjoying seeing Rocky’s intercontinental title reign, although the crowd aren’t really into his character he’s still an above average wrestler and still entertaining in my opinion, he’s still having some decent matches (maybe not this one) and I look forward to seeing him wrestle.
With all that being said, I don’t think this was a great match on either part. The crowd was quiet as either competitor never really seemed to get going or have any great chemistry in the squared circle. Usually I can find some enjoyment out of a Rocky match, and seeing the rock bottom for the first time was a pretty hype moment for me. The match had a really boring finish though, with Rocky being sent to the outside, hitting crush and being counted out, retaining the title. Really not much to say here, but to be fair to Rocky he didn’t really have much to work with the booking of this match. At this point the crowd didn’t care either way.
Man… the next match though oh boy I think the less said about this the better. This… is the pay off after months of the honky tonk man looking for his new prodigy, and how to kill a crowd 101 takes place right here. The gimmick of rockabilly just did not work at all for me and it was quite simply sh*t. I preferred him as a heel even if it wasn’t great it was better than… whatever this was. The actual wrestling was below average, and rockabilly should stick to tag team wrestling he just can’t do singles matches. I thought Jesse James was okay but if you listen to the crowd during this match it was silent, and that’s completely how I feel. Just avoid this one like the plague.
Mankind and the Undertaker are up next and we haven’t seen these two share a ring together in a while so I’m very excited to see what they can pull off. And with this promo video before the match that genuinely would’ve probably given me nightmares as a kid, HOPEFULLY this can reignite this event.
And it makes me so happy to see a great undertaker match, I really enjoyed this one and it had some brutal moments. Notably mankind going literally headfirst through a table which was a fu**ing mental bump to do. I have no idea why the ref didn’t stop the match when mankind smashed a glass cylinder on undertaker and blatantly headshot undertaker with a steel chair right in front of him, was it a no DQ match or not I don’t understand that. But it was genuinely entertaining. I loved this match it was a typically well paced match by undertaker, who’s able to slow it down whilst still keeping it entertaining which is something almost no one else can do (ESPECIALLY NOT SID). Mankind is just a lunatic with the bumps he sets himself up to take, he’s always been a very anticipated wrestler to watch simply because of how mad he is. Undertaker really showcased how good he is in this match and I’m really looking forward to this title reign, I hope it lasts a while because when he has the right opponent he can pull of some absolute bangers. This match didn’t overstay its welcome either at a nice 17 minutes it was just right. Also I want to note mankind hit two really good looking piledrivers in a row and being able to do that with someone as massive as undertaker is seriously impressive. It wasn’t a wrestling masterclass, it wasn’t pretty but it sure was entertaining and the crowd absolutely loved it. If you’re an undertaker fan and enjoyed the mankind feud it’s definitely worth a watch.
After the match undertaker FINALLY gets revenge on Paul bearer for all his bullst he’s been pulling by literally burning him with a f*ing fireball, the same thing that mankind did a couple of weeks prior. There was this weird segment after the match before this burn where undertaker was circling the ring and it looked like mankind was trying to put something on his finger I’m not sure what happened here, but as usual such a good feud. Great match great promo awesome feud.
Now we get the main event and what needs to be said, it’s Austin vs hart you’re gunna be excited especially after wrestlemania 13. I think the hart foundation is pulling off its heel angle really well and it brings a little more to an already fantastic feud. Let’s see what they’ve got for us this time.
First off I wanna say no one exchanges punches like stone cold and Bret hart, the way they do it just something about it is so f***ing awesome, the selling the characters the way the feet are positioned I have no idea but I LOVE IT! What I didn’t enjoy as much this time around was the complete focus of Bret hart on Austin’s knee. Let me elaborate, although it made sense with him as a technical and intelligent wrestler, and made even more sense for him as a heel it really slowed the match down for a while and there was a long section where it wasn’t really all too interesting, just Bret pulling the same moves to the knee over and over, but that’s just me personally. I know how good of a wrestler he was and I was more interested to see that classic style wrestling he’s so well known for, that’s all I’m saying.
The comebacks by Austin were such hype moments though, he’s just such a perfect character for the WWF and you can see why he became such a megastar. Austin really sold this match well though he never once forgot about the knee injury and pressure Bret had put on him, purposefully botching moves to show his knee giving out was super believable, I actually thought at points he would have to stop because his knee was really that injured.
The DQ finish was a little iffy for me because yet again we’re yet to see one of these legends truly lose, but if it means we get more of them then I’m all for it. After the match it looks like Austin is gunna get assaulted even more from the save from bulldog but Austin counters, smashing the chair into Bret, the crowd is going bonkers! Then Austin hits another shooting star press and the crowd is going even more nuts!! He’s getting some revenge for the last match at wrestlemania. It takes five refs to manage to pull Austin off and god this is such a great moment. I cannot get enough of these two in the ring their chemistry is just electric; a perfect rivalry. It ends with more iconic shots of Austin celebrating in the ring and he’s gone baby face at this point and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!! What a blessed time to be a wrestling fan this was. While this wasn’t on the level of their classic survivor series and wrestlemania matches it was still a class act and well worth watching. Can these two miss??
Also as a side note what are the refs doing unless I’m missing something; multiple chair shots in what I thought were normal matches (DQs from chair shots) happened in more than one match. I’m assuming they’re just letting this stuff unfold because people popped for it? Either way it’s extremely entertaining just a little confusing.
Overall the event had a good opener, a really bad mid card, but finished very strong with two great main events. It’s nice to see tag team action getting some love and becoming interesting to watch. And undertaker really improving his in ring ability after he was able to gain a bit more freedom following the buried alive match, this makes him an attraction on his own already. Austin and hart continue to deliver in the main event scene (I’m calling their WM13 the main event) and I’m pretty sure at this point you can consider Austin as a superstar in the WWF. It’s been fantastic also seeing this rivalry and Bret hart wrestle as I’d never seen any of it before so it feels like a proper treat watching all this unfold.
Overall rating 3.5/5

So I posted a few weeks ago that I’d picked up a few candles to improve my fragrance game, and now that i’ve had a chance to burn them, I figured I would report back with some thoughts on the first few below!
August & Piers - Muse
Location Memory: London, May 2023
Fragrance Notes: bergamot, vanilla, lemon, benzoin
”No prices on the menu”
This candle ended up being totally different to what I was expecting, as the cold throw initially smelled very sweet - not aggressively so, but I was a bit disappointed that the vanilla overpowered the other interesting notes. I changed my tune when it was lit though, as the bergamot and benzoin introduced themselves and I had an “oh wow, what a difference!” moment. The hot throw has now settled itself into a lovely, floral smokiness after about 10 hours, so i’ve quite enjoyed its journey! The hot throw, for me, evokes a particular member’s club in Marylebone, with Earl Grey tea and pastries in the drawing room, followed by a cheeky cigar out in the courtyard. I don’t travel to London enough to justify becoming a member, but it’s always nice to visit when I’m there for work and pretend that I can afford that kind of lifestyle!
Rating: 8/10
Trudon - Spiritus Sancti
Location Memory: Vatican City, December 2019
Fragrance Notes: frankincense, benzoin, myrrh
“Catholic as hell”
I was impatient to try this one because it sounded so interesting - smoky incense? Gothic vibes? Yes please! The cold throw packs a real punch and I could smell it through my handbag on the way home. It’s a proper assault on your senses and I can totally understand why it’s so divisive - it’s not a gentle fragrance at all and the hot throw would be overwhelming in a small area. However, I’m blessed with a lot of space in my old and cold house from the 1800s, so its intensity is a joy and goes all the way to the ceiling! The scent sends me straight back to being in the Vatican on my honeymoon, but less romantically my SO (who grew up Catholic) insists it reminds him of being woken up for Mass on Sundays, so make of that what you will!
Rating: 9/10
DS & Durga - Breakfast Leipzig
Location Memory: Edinburgh, April 2012
Fragrance Notes: black coffee, tobacco, butter pastries, log fires
”Dreams of an academic”
Another impatient burn - I’m generally not the biggest fan of gourmands (Overose’s Croissant is a massive ugh for me) but I decided to take a chance on this one, given the smoky notes. I’m glad that I did, because it is by far my favourite and I have already repurchased. It absolutely lives up to the hype and its complexity is unmatched - every time I lit it, different notes revealed themselves! The scent also reminded me of the not-quite-adulthood that was university. Our 300 year old campus building in Edinburgh had a (not quite as old) coffee shop across the road, and this candle turned me into a student in that coffee shop again, huddling around a single, shared textbook with my friends because we couldn’t afford our own and studying for our many, many exams in a haze of black coffee and Marlboro Golds. A gorgeous, melancholy candle that I didn’t know I needed in my life.
Rating: 10/10
TL;DR: Candles may cause feelings of Catholic guilt, exam anxiety and frustration about not being rich, but in a good way. Would recommend.

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/weapon_tuning_the_final_shape
Hey, Guardians, it's the Weapons Team here with the weapon balance update for The Final Shape.
There's a lot to go through, from a comprehensive PvE weapon damage pass to Exotics changes, varying from substantial reworks to minor tweaks. We are also tamping down some outliers with an eye toward the World First race for the upcoming raid. And maybe there's a hint in here about a returning fan-favorite weapon, too...

Weapon Archetypes

Back in update 6.3.0, we rolled a set of Spec mods (Dragonfly, Surrounded, and Rampage) into the base functionality of those perks, and now we're coming for the rest of the Spec mods. We've increased base weapon damage almost universally (making exceptions for weapons that were already overperforming or that we buffed very recently) and have retired the following weapon mods:

• Boss Spec, Taken Spec, Minor Spec, Major Spec, and Adept Big Ones Spec.

We were already happy with the damage output of Exotic Primary weapons and Trace Rifles, so we only slightly reduced their damage bonus versus red bars. In most cases this means their damage output is roughly unchanged (since they receive the buffs below).

• Reduced damage bonus versus Minors from 40% to 30% (except Fighting Lion).

Included below are the matching damage changes by weapon archetype. Note that we made some exceptions for Exotic weapons that were already performing strongly and applied some buffs just to specific tiers of enemies. Except where noted, these changes are in PvE only. Also note that, because Exotic weapons can't equip mods, this gives them a larger relative buff than Legendaries, e.g., Riskrunner's maximum possible damage is increased 10% versus red bars, but Shayura's Wrath's is increased by 3% in effect because it can no longer slot a Minor Spec mod.
In addition to compensating for the removal of Spec mods, we've taken this opportunity to buff some weapon types that have languished in endgame PvE, most notably Pulse Rifles.

• Increased base PvE damage versus all combatants.
  
  • Pulse Rifles: 20%
    • Exceptions: Graviton Lance and Revision Zero's Heavy Burst mode. (These both have an intrinsic PvE damage buff built in.)
  • Pellet Shotguns: 10%
    • Exceptions: Legend of Acrius, Tractor Cannon, Conditional Finality, and The Fourth Horseman. (These are all already performing as intended.)
  • Slug Shotguns: 9%
  • Fusion Rifles: 7%
    • Exceptions: One Thousand Voices. (This one was just buffed.)
  • Sniper Rifles: 7%
    • Exceptions: Izanagi's Burden's Honed Edge shots and Cloudstrike's storm. (These are both performing well.)
  • Glaive projectiles: 7%
  • Linear Fusion Rifles: 5%
• Increased damage versus Minors (red bars)—this stacks with the base PvE damage increase.
  
  • Sidearms, Trace Rifles, Scout Rifles, and Bows: 20%
  • Auto Rifles and Pulse Rifles: 15%
    
    • For Pulse Rifles, this is in addition to the above buff, and Graviton Lance and Revision Zero's Heavy Burst mode are included.
      • I.e. Pulse Rifles will do 1.2 * 1.15 = 38% more damage to red bars.
  • Submachine Guns: 10%
    
  • Hand Cannons: 5%
    
• Increased damage versus Majors (orange bars).
  
  • Trace Rifles: 20%
• Increased damage globally, including PvP.
  
  • Machine Guns: 7%
  • Swords: 7%
• Splash damage from add clear-Exotic Primary weapons was overperforming in The Final Shape when combined with the damage buffs listed above, so we've pulled it down slightly on a handful of weapons.
  
  • Reduced splash damage by 10%:
    • Sunshot
    • Trinity Ghoul
    • Polaris Lance
    • Graviton Lance

Several releases back, we gave Kinetic weapons a substantial damage bonus in PvE to account for it being harder to use them in subclass builds. In general, we're ok with leaving this in place until we have a better-defined role for Kinetic weapons, but the bonus damage versus Boss-tier combatants was making it hard for weapons of other damage types to compete.

• Kinetic damage type weapons no longer deal bonus damage to bosses; damage to other combatant tiers is unchanged.
  
  • For example, a kinetic Sniper Rifle and a Stasis Sniper Rifle of the same subfamily will both deal the same damage to a boss.

We've also made some quality-of-life changes to several weapon types.

• Updated Heavy, Adaptive, and Aggressive Burst weapon intrinsic names to match burst count across all weapon archetypes. Functionality is unchanged.
  
  • 2-burst: Heavy Burst
    • Includes Sidearms, Hand Cannons, and Pulse Rifles.
  • 3-burst: Adaptive Burst
    • Includes Sidearms, Linear Fusion Rifles, and Adaptive Pulse Rifles.
  • 4-burst: Aggressive Burst
    • Includes Pulse Rifles.
• Removed the foundry name from the Veist Rapid-Fire, Häkke Precision, and Omolon Adaptive weapon intrinsics.
  
• Scout Rifles
  
  • Updated the hip-fire reticle to better show accuracy and aim-assist state.
• Hand Cannons
  
  • Some aggressive Hand Cannons struggle to compete with the stats of the top-tier examples [cough] Igneous Hammer [cough], so with Crimil's Dagger and Something New returning in The Final Shape, we updated their stats.
    
    • Crimil's Dagger (Iron Banner)
      • Stability: 23 to 31
      • Handling: 23 to 31
      • Magazine Size: 8 to 9
      • Airborne Effectiveness: 10 to 21
    • Something New (Solstice)
      • Stability: 27 to 30
      • Handling: 24 to 30
      • Magazine Size: 8 to 9
• Low inventory Sniper Rifles were a little too low in PvE for our liking, so we've increased the minimum.
  
  • Increased minimum reserves from 14 to 17 shots; maximum reserve is unchanged.
• Linear Fusion Rifles
  
  • Adaptive Burst Linear Fusion Rifles are strong, but in some cases are quite hard to control.
    • Reduced firing animation kick and recoil for Adaptive Linear Fusion Rifles.
• Wave Frame Grenade Launchers deal competitive damage as of the Destiny 2: Into the Light update, but some stats on these didn't have a gameplay effect. In this pass, we're adjusting the blast radius.
  
  • The size of the wave is now affected by the blast radius stat. This will mostly impact the width of the wave, though the length and height will also be scaled.
    • The default display stat for the blast radius has been changed from 100 to 50 (where 50 represents the previous baseline—any stat over 50 will result in a larger wave segment than what was possible before).
  • Special ammo Wave – Frame Grenade Launchers overperform as add clear weapons in their current state, so we've pulled the length of the wave back a little.
    • Reduced the length of the waves from 22 meters to 15 meters (except for Dead Messenger).
• Swords
  
  • Updated the Sword reticle to better indicate its charge state. When Sword energy is consumed, the amount of delay the Sword has before it begins to recharge now subtly appears in the reticle.
  • Bug fixes:
    • Fixed an issue where the Overwhelming Battlesong debuff from some missions would prevent Swords from recharging or losing energy while guarding.
    • Fixed an issue where unpowered caster Sword heavy attacks would not reset the Sword's energy recharge delay.
    • Fixed an issue where uncharged adaptive Sword heavy attacks cost the same amount of ammo as their charged counterparts. They now cost 1 ammo, same as other uncharged heavy attacks. ##Exotics

Divinity's ability to bypass combatant gameplay by generating a weak spot (called a "cage" internally) on command has too high an uptime as it stands, particularly with trigger feathering. We're not changing how effective the cage is or how feathering works, but we are increasing how long it takes to generate the cage, which will make it less ammo-efficient and less useful against targets that break aim frequently.

• Increased the number of shots required to generate the cage by 75% against combatants (PvP unchanged).

Rat King's firing animation makes the weapon hard to control at high rate of fire, so we've updated it.

• Swapped the firing animation to the same one used by other auto-fire Sidearms.

Devil's Ruin could be made to apply its firing animation to other equipped Sidearms.

• Fixed an issue where the firing animation from Devil's Ruin would get applied to other equipped Sidearms if the weapon was swapped during the firing animation.

Symmetry needed a little attention, particularly its reload speed and handling, so we took this opportunity to increase those via the catalyst.

• Catalyst now provides +10 reload speed, +10 handling, and the Eddy Current perk, in addition to its existing effects.

Gjallarhorn's Wolfpack Rounds always looked like Arc projectiles, regardless of the weapon's actual damage type.

• Updated the visuals of Wolfpack Rounds to match the damage type of the weapon.For example:
  
  • On Gjallarhorn, they will use Solar effects.
  • On the Royal Entry Void Rocket Launcher buffed by Gjallarhorn, they will have Void effects.

Touch of Malice's burn from the Darkness Ball didn't last long enough to be useful in PvE.

• Increased duration of burn applied by the Darkness Ball against combatants from 2 to 3.5 seconds.

Osteo Striga made it too easy to spread poison across a whole encounter from a couple of kills of weak combatants.

• Now has a 4-second cooldown on the poison burst on kills. (Poison burst from sustained damage doesn't receive this cooldown.)

Necrochasm's add clear role wasn't as strong as we'd like, so we've buffed it and replaced the Outlaw perk on the catalyst with a new, custom perk that leans into this role.

• Intrinsic perk now provides increased reload speed after precision kills.
• Increased duration of burn applied by the Cursed Thrall explosion against combatants from 2 to 3.5 seconds.
• Catalyst has been rebuilt.
  
  • One for Thrall: Damaging 3 combatants in quick succession provides a period of increased damage, range, and aim assist.

While The Lament’s damage is roughly equivalent to other Swords, the healing on hit largely removes the intended downside of using a Sword for boss DPS, and the chained heavy attack was too strong.

• Reduced healing effect by 20%.
• While this weapon does inherit the 7% global buff to Swords, we've reduced the damage of the high end of the chained heavy attack by 20% from that point.
  
  • This means combos at lower stacks are less affected by the change than combos at higher stacks.

Dead Man's Tale's rapid-fire hipfire fantasy isn't landing as well as we'd like, so we've bumped up the rate of fire and added a bit of stability to Cranial Spike to make this easier to control. At the same time, its strength is skewed a little high on mouse and keyboard and a little low on controller, so we've tuned accuracy and magnetism (controller reticle friction) to address this.

• Baseline:
  
  • Cranial Spike stacks now grant stability in addition to aim assist stat and range (+2 per stack).
  • Increased reload speed benefit of Cranial Spike stacks.
• With catalyst, iwhen hip-firing:
  
  • Slightly reduced accuracy benefits.
  • Increased magnetism falloff scale (1.6 to 1.7).
  • Increased baseline rate of fire from 130RPM to 140RPM.
  • Removed PvE-only damage buff that scaled with stacks of Cranial Spike and added a 15% damage bonus at maximum stacks of Cranial Spike.

The Colony's fantasy of spawning self-replicating insectoid robots is something we've wanted to juice for a while now. This update allows The Colony to deal with waves of combatants in a unique way.

• Now spawns additional insectoid robots on final blows. More robots (up to five) spawn from tougher combatants.

Truth has fallen far behind other Exotic Rocket Launchers, largely due to its lackluster damage, and we wanted to lean further into total rocket count.

• Increased area-of-effect (AoE) damage such that it doesn't lose noticeable damage due to not dealing impact damage.
• Increased total reserves by 3. (This is on top of the reserves change to high impact Rocket Launchers from the 7.3.5 update.)

The Queenbreaker's damage output is outpaced by Legendary Linear Fusion Rifles, so we've increased its damage and reserve ammo to compensate. We do see frequent requests to move Queenbreaker to the Energy slot, but given the number of Special ammo damage options in this slot, we have opted to push it further in the Heavy slot. We're working on some functionality changes to this weapon for a future update as well.

• Increased damage versus bosses, minibosses, Champions, and vehicles by 12%.
• Increased reserve ammunition by 3.

The power from Cerberus+1's focus fire perk from the Exotic catalyst was limited by it being always available. We've changed this to only being available following a kill, allowing us to increase its strength.

• Focus fire now will activate on Special reloads following a kill and will no longer reduce range or rate of fire.

In a world where Bastion has competition for a Fusion Rifle in the kinetic slot, we felt that it was time to lean further into emulating Saint-14's combat style.

• Reworked Saint's Fists perk: Dealing damage with melee increases your charge rate, damage, and reload speed for a short duration. Landing a majority of pellets in a burst increases melee damage.

Eriana's Vow has fallen behind other anti-barrier Special weapons and, as a Solar weapon, has the opportunity for a subclass tie-in.

• Breaking a matched shield or piercing a Champion's Barrier will cause the target to ignite.

Deterministic Chaos didn't have a clear niche when it shipped, so we've redesigned it to be an anti-Champion and weakening powerhouse.

• This weapon is now intrinsically anti-barrier.
• The Heavy Metal and Vexadecimal perks have had their locations and behavior swapped.
  
  • Heavy Metal now causes every 4th bullet to make targets volatile.
  • Vexadecimal now causes every 16th bullet to also weaken targets.

The flexibility offered by The Fundamentals (on the Borealis, Hard Light, and Dead Messenger Exotic weapons) is useful, but most of the time there's no need to switch damage types rapidly, so it's irritating having the current damage type clear on death.

• The Fundamentals now maintains its state across death or respawn. ##Perks

Alacrity working in solo activities is intended, but it's too strong a perk to have 100% uptime in PvP.

• Will no longer work in Rumble.

Archer's Gambit has been brought down a bit so it can be used on Legendary weapons.

• Reduced draw time buff from 66% to 60%.
• Reduced buff duration from 8 to 4 seconds (but it can now stack up to 8 seconds).

Grave Robber needed some extra love.

• Will now activate on dealing damage with a powered melee, in addition to standard melee kills.

Chain Reaction is too strong on Special ammo weapons in its current form, so we've branched it between Heavy and Special ammo weapons and will be shipping it on new Special weapons in The Final Shape.

• Special: About 15% smaller AoE size and 20% less damage.
• Heavy: Same AoE as before and 30% more damage.

Eddy Current was a little too slow to activate and didn't provide a strong enough bonus, particularly when amplified.

• Now takes 1.5 seconds of sprinting to activate instead of 3 seconds.
• Also provides a bonus to handling and a 5% scalar on each stat at base.
• Being amplified will immediately activate the perk at its maximum effectiveness.

Underdog was shelved a long time ago, but we wanted to swap it out for a more viable perk on weapons that still had it.

• Instances of Underdog have been replaced with Pulse Monitor.

Osmosis and Permeability have some interesting build-crafting potential, but when all they do is change damage type, they don't have enough general utility. It's also irritating when the perk effect falls off when you don't actually put your weapon away.

• These no longer drop off when pulling out a Ghost or similar actions.
• Now partially refill the weapon's magazine on activation.

The previous Chill Clip change hurt slow rate of fire weapons disproportionately and left Rapid-Fire Fusion Rifles as the clear best option, so we've branched the functionality to account for this.

• Adjust the number of slow stacks applied based on properties of the weapon.
  
  • In this case, Rapid-Fire Fusions like Riptide will still require 3 shots to freeze, but slower firing Fusions only require 2.
• All other archetypes have been un-nerfed and only require 2 shots to freeze.
  

High Ground's functionality wasn't delivering on the concept strongly enough, so we've granted it better baseline functionality while retaining the fantasy.

• Reworked to provide a stacking damage bonus when getting kills in any context (like Rampage) or instantly granting the maximum amount of stacks when damaging an enemy from the high ground.
• PvE max bonus increased to a 25% damage bonus, and PvP max increased to 15%.

The Killing Tally perk on the original 21% Delirium Machine Gun has been updated to match the version found on random-rolled weapons.
Perks that currently match your equipped subclass have been changed as follows:

• Osmosis and Tessellation now match the damage type of your equipped grenade.
• Permeability and Elemental Capacitor now match the damage type of your equipped Super.

Deconstruct had a variety of issues that cropped up when it started to appear on AoE weapons. It's been updated to address bugs and prevent exploiting ammo generation:

• Now refills from reserves instead of from thin air and should trigger more reliably across weapon types. ##The Future

Now that we’re largely happy with weapon damage in PvP, we’re going to move the PvP-specific tuning out of the game modes and into base weapon tuning in the future. This will give us the ability to fine-tune damage per weapon subfamily, e.g., on precision Hand Cannons instead of all Hand Cannons.
We also have some big systems changes we’re working on for a future release, including redesigns of the PvP and PvE ammo economies, introducing more player choice into weapon mods and more new weapon types.
And that's all we had for today. We hope these changes will help you better understand how your arsenal will fare once The Final Shape arrives on June 4 and that you can better prepare your loadouts for the new raid. Be on the lookout for another sandbox-focused article coming on May 22 about abilities and Exotic armor.