Alright, SOMEBODY needs to say it. Chess is a game for babies - it shouldn't even be classified as a strategy game anymore. It's just a simple pattern recognition game of who has a better memory. It's a static board with static units - there's nothing interesting about it. It's just a poorly designed game in general because every interesting variation has already been explored. It's so easy that there are computer programs that can beat the best players. Like I can literally beat Magnus Carlsen and all I need is Hans Niemann sending me Stockfish moves via my remotely controlled anal beads. If all I need to beat your best is to stick something up my ass - it isn't a very good strategy game.
I know many of you have devoted your lives to this terrible game and are getting upset by my condescending word choices. That's fine. I don't really care about you people - but for the people who are curious about an actually fun strategy game: I recommend a free mobile game called Uniwar on both iOS and Android that basically no one has heard of. It also happens to be coming out on Steam soon.
Uniwar is to Chess in the same vein of what Chess is to Checkers. It's basically if Starcraft and Chess had a hexagon shaped baby. There are three races with unique playstyles, and you manage an income while controlling armies in a turn based strategy format to dominate your opponent in a battle of wits - no pay to win gimmicks - only using dynamic strategy that changes every single game because the map pool is so huge, you'll almost never have repeat matches.
So who am I? I'm what you get if you combine Magnus Carlsen from Chess with Serral from Starcraft 2. I am SpankyMcCracken AKA The Art of Uniwar and I literally wrote the book on the game in order to have more competition, but no one can defeat me and I'm getting bored. I have two separate accounts I reached rank 1 in the game on with the second account having a 112-2 record while playing as "random" on my path to getting rank 1 again, so I don't want to hear any whining about balance - I won 100 games in a row playing as random - you just suck at the game.
I guarantee no Gen Z kid could beat my superior Millennial ass brain - your attention spans are too short and you have no chance. No one from Chess can beat me - there's no engine you can study or use to cheat, and you'll have to actually learn how to use your brain to think on the fly. No one from Starcraft can beat me because you're too used to clicking 1000 buttons per second while simultaneously adjusting strategies based on real time scouting and dynamically responding to what your opponent is doing with extreme precision...(actually you guys might be able to beat me if I'm being honest).
Uniwar has a small, extremely devoted international community of misfits, but they're my people and we will fuck you up. There may only be 300 of us left, but we are 300 Spartan Uniwarriors with the high ground on the leaderboard. Think you have what it takes to beat me? Meet me in the Basement chatroom and see what happens.

Hi all, After reading a lot of post here recently, I kinda wanted to tell my story to give others perspective about treatment options. Obviously, this is MY story and everyone here is different. My experience will not be the same as yours, and I am not a doctor telling you to try these options. But I have had a lot done, and I think it might be helpful if people understand what they can try.
I appreciate everyone who reads even one section of this saga. I am happy to answer any questions that people might have. Again, this was my journey and these things might not be the best options for you. But I want to highlight that pain, itself, is not the disease. It is a symptom. Find doctors who will help you find the cause of it. Sometimes it's difficult to pinpoint the source of pain, but there are options to try different things.
Part 1: How it Started
In 2007 I was 17 years old. During the summer, I got a job working as a bus boy at a reception hall. One night, I was sweeping the floor, nothing different than normal, but I suddenly had intense shooting pain down my hip and leg just from the way I bent down to sweep. That was all it took to set me off on what would be a long life of pain.
I remember the sciatica being really bad during this period. My parents and I were taking care trips to look at colleges and sitting in a car was torture. At some point they told me to see a chiropractor so I started doing that on a pretty regular basis. I went to college in 2012 and continued to have pain. There was always constant pain but I would always have times when it was much worse and it was painful to even walk normally. I recall having my parents visit and I was limping all day because I couldn't extend my left leg out fully.
I continued to see a chiropractor in the area for maybe two or three of the years I was away at school. Chiropractor never really helped though. During one of the summer breaks, I went to a chiropractor who had this decompression machine that would literally strap you down and pull you apart in an attempt to relieve pressure. It never helped. I am pretty sure by this time I already had an MRI done that probably showed some level of lumbar herniation so I guess that is why I wanted to try that type of treatment.
Chiropractics is not a legitimate science. I hadn't realized this until later in college (I was a biomed major). Their theories on spinal health do not align with known medical science. Some chiropractor align more with real medical science, but a lot of them only believe what the area of chiropractics says. I strongly recommend NEVER seeing a chiropractor, especially if you have back pain. It could be dangerous.
Part 2: The First Surgery and More Treatments
So when I graduated from college in 2012, I sought out an orthopedic surgeon. We did more MRIs. I can't recall if we tried anything more conservative first, but I did end up having surgery with him in 2013. We did a microdiscectomy and hemilaminectomy on both L3-4 and L4-5. Recovery from this was about what you would expect. Lots of bed rest for maybe 6 weeks or so, but I recovered well and went to PT for a couple of months. I think the surgery was successful in treating a lot of the serious sciatica I was having. But I was still having some level of back pain months and months after. I was then seeing the pain management doctor at the same office as the surgeon, and we tried a LOT of different additional things. Facet joint injections specifically, trigger point injections, medications. Nothing ever helped. I still have this pain in my low back and it was difficult to bend over without bracing myself, and there were times when I would get sciatic pain but not nearly as bad as it was before the surgery.
At one point I went to a rheumatologist because the pain doctor did some blood work and found I was positive for a gene that is related to ankylosing spondylitis. I was never actually diagnosed with this, but we tried to medications (I think maybe methotrexate but I could be wrong). The rheumatologist ended up putting me on humira, which looking back was a odd decision without actually officially diagnosing me with anything. Humira is a monthly injection, and I think after two months, my pain actually got a lot worse, and I stopped taking it and never went back to him.
For the most part after this, I was just taking Tramadol an naproxen to deal with my pain. I was going to the gym and doing what I could, but often the gym would exacerbate my symptoms. It was just difficult to do anything without feeling weak and obviously, it definitely contributed to some depression.
Part 3: New Pain Doctors and Spinal Cord Stimulator
In 2016, I got a new job that brought me into NYC and I now had access to great insurance and a wide array of great doctors. I found a new pain management doctor and tried a lot of things with him. He put me on Nucynta at some point, which is a narcotic, though I would only take it when I had break through pain. Pretty quickly, only a couple months after in 2017, we decided to try a spinal cord stimulator since I had already tried all these other things with other doctors.
I had to see a neurologist who would be doing the actual implanting of the device. I also had to see a phsychiatrist to get I guess "mental" clearance that I was in sound mind to be making this decision about a medical device implant. Not sure if that was just for the insurance or something the doctors also require. Before doing a full implant, they actually do a test run. I guess I had gone under general anesthesia for this, but they implant the wires (explained more below) and the wires come out of my skin to an external device and all of that is taped down to my low back. They do this so that they can make sure you actually get relief from the device before all the time, energy, and money is spent doing the full implant. I had it for a couple weeks, and decided to move forward. They had to remove the wires from me and scheduled me for just a regular office visit, and I was thinking well how the heck are they removing these wires from me. Well, it was very easy. They literally just pulled the wires right out of my back. Didn't feel anything. It was wild.
I have a Nevro brand stimulator impanted inside me shortly after. Surgery and recovery were as you would expect. I don't thinm recovery was as long as my back surgery was. There is a little 1x1 inch square box that sits above my right glute, around where my waistband would sit. There are two sets of wires that run over my spine to the left side (so I can actually feel the wires right under my skin at this part) and then they go between my vertebral space and then all the way up my spinal canal to my thoracic area. At the end of the wires (aka "leads") there are several evenly spaced electrodes and these are the functional part of the device. From what I understand, they send small electrically pulses very rapidly against my spinal cord and the idea is that these electric signals will over power pain signals coming from below, effectively making my brain blind to sciatic pain. It came with a remote to change the settings and a charger that uses a wireless pad that you hold over the box to charge. I had to charge it ever two or three days. The technician from the company does the initial set up (they device doesn't operate until you are recovered from the procedure and see the technician at your next office visit, I believe). The technician will turn the device on wirelessly and play with the settings and ask you to tell them when you feel something as the increase the magnitude of the stimulation. When you feel it, it does feel like a little electric buzzing in your back. But you aren't supposed to feel it at all, so they the turn it down just below where you felt the sensation. The remote has a couple different programs that I could change through that the technician programs, I guess changes in the frequency of the pulsing or things like that. I could also increase and decrease the magnitude within a set range, but for the most part I never messed with any of the settings. Nevro has a care team that I can contact at any time with questions or concerns and they will follow up with me occasionally to see how I am doing.
Part 4: Life After the Stimulator
I always had the stimulator on, and always said that it did help alleviate the residual sciatic symptoms I had, but I still had this low back pain that wouldn't go away. I continued to see the pain management doctor and we tried so other things. More trigger point injections, medications, etc. He had me on what is called "Low dose naltrexone" which is essentially a very low dose of an existing drug, used off label for chronic pain. It had to be specially made at a compounding pharmacy because the dose you need isn't commercially available. I tried that for a couple months and can't say it helped. In fact, I think it made me very nauseous a lot of the time. I remember I had to stop drinking coffee at one point because the taste of it would make me feel queezy, and one or two times I ran to the bathroom because I felt like I was going to throw up. I decided to stop taking it.
After that, I mostly just lived with my stimulator and dealt with any pain I had (hadn't seen the doctor since 2020). I was going to the gym someone regularly at this point, but like before it would often increase my pain symptoms so I would need to take extended breaks from exercise.
Part 5: Recurrent Herniation
At the beginning of November 2023, I started to feel something new. I was starting to slowly get sciatic symptoms again and was having flashbacks of my symptoms when I was in college. I was starting to get sciatica in both legs, and my right foot would sometimes start going numb if I stood for too long. It was getting more and more severe. Within a few weeks, I had to stop commuting into work because the pain was getting so bad. I contacted my pain management doctor who I hadn't seen in years. Their office was telling me how since I hadn't been there in so long I had to be treated as a new patient and the first opening for a new patient was like 2 or 3 weeks out. I was pretty angry at them about this. I mean, this doctor did the implant of the medical device that I have...should that not exempt me from this rule? Its not like this was an appointment for an unrelated issue. Anyway, the first available appointment was with a different doctor, but I was desperate so I saw him. He was not helpful. I was basically begging for pain meds and he was like welllll the other doctor should really prescribe you something because he knows your case better. It was such a a waste of time.
About a week or two later I did in fact see my original doctor, and he had the Nevro technician come because he thought it could potentially be an issue with the device. The technician found that there was "impedence" on one of the leads, a couple of the electrodes weren't working as they should. So she did some adjustments to compensate for that. I have it a week or so, but that did not fix the problem at all. I stopped charging the stimulator altogether because it wasn't doing anything for me. I had to start using a cane to get around because if I was standing, I needed something to lean on so I didn't have to keep my back straight. It was getting very difficult.
The doctor had me get a regular CT done, because I cannot get an MRI due to the stimulator (the stimulator itself is actually MRI safe and I think most of them are not, but because of the issue with the electrodes, my Nevro care team told me I could not get an MRI). So I and the CT and I could see it myself. It was absolutely clear that there was a herniation at L4-L5. Clear as day. So I had a video call with the doctors assistance soon after and to my dismay, they suggested treatment was to get an epidural to reduce the pain. Here I am, knowing full well that my symptoms and the results of the MRI are definitely worthy of surgery, and they want to give me just an epidural. I asked her about surgery and she said something about not opting for surgery until exhausting other options. I said okay. After the call, I immediately reached out to my friend who worked at the Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC. She actually works with the director of Spinal Surgery. Immediately, I was in contact with him and his entire team and they moved quickly to get things moving. I regret not having reached out sooner.
Part 6: Prep for Second Surgery
So the first thing to do was get better imagining. Since the MRI was out of the question, I had to do something called a CT Myelogram. Oh boy this was not a fun diagnostic procedure.
You need to be accompanied to the appointment because they will be giving you some very light sedative. You are hooked up to an IV, and they bring you into a room with a special x-ray table that rotates so you can be either laying flat or raised up so you are nearly standing, and the X-rays can be taken from many different angles. The doctor there take a couple of initial scans to find the location where they go in. I am queezy just talking about it right now. What they need to do is inject contrast dye right into my spinal canal. An epidural goes AROUND your spinal canal, but for this they need to pierce the dura and go in.
So they do local anesthesia and then take quite a large needle and go in. It is painful because it is going so deep. But God, you can feel the piecing of the dura layer when the needle goes through. I immediately feel my body hating it. Then they inject the dye, and you can feel that sort of cold sensation spreading across your back. And then he takes the needle out. I start to get VERY hot and am about to pass out, so they put some ice on the bacm of my neck and give me a minute to come back down. They also gave me some IV zofran to help with nausea and some IV sedative for the pain Thankfully it passed. But that wasnt even the difficult part.
Next, they have to make sure the dye gets into all the crevices. So the doctor rotates the table to different angles and has you try and bend in specific ways. It was incredibly painful to do. When he had me in an almost standing position, and the pressure of the dye was increasing my leg pain beyond anything I had experienced so far. It was really difficult. But once they are satisfied with the X-ray that shows the dye has spread well, they send you to the CT scan. Once I was laying down again the pain subsided and I was feeling better. They did the CT scan and then rolled me back to the recovery room, and by the time I was back in there I was feels 100% back to normal and had no issues getting up and walking. So that was that.
The image results were very telling (gunna try and include them here or in a comment if I can). The point of this type of imaging is that the contract dye with spread anywhere that the CSF can go. You should be able to clearly see the space all around the spinal cord, and if there are spots where you don't see the dye, you will be able to see what is causing some problems. It was plain to see how severe this herniation was. It was compressing my spinal cord and pushing it all the way to the back of the spinal column.
So the doctor said we have two options. A microdiscectomy or a fusion. We decided to do a MD though I would be okay with a fusion. Well guess what, two days before the surgery the doctor changed his mind and said that after reviewing the imaging again the best course of action would be to do a fusion. I was very excited for that.
Part 7: The Fusion
So at the end of Feb 2024 I had my fusion done. It was your standard surgery, nothing too crazy. Recovery was tough though. Basically with a fusion, they take out the herniation and most of the disc and they put this rubbery block in there that contains bone graft. That is what is going to grow to fuse the two vertebrae, but that process can take a year to fully fuse the bones. So they put in four screws, two in each vertebrae, and join them together with rods. This holds the bones together completely so that they do not move independently. They are essentially fused at this point, but only with the rods.
For recovery, the first couple days were difficult, mostly trying to stand up from laying down because I had like no low back strength. The pain was also pretty constant so I was taking a lot of muscle relaxers and narcotics to help me stay asleep as much as possible.
The surgery area was quiet large. There were two large bandages and two small bandages and the entire area was covered in a large adhesive patch to keep everything clean and dry (it was also very orange from the iodine). So I could shower without worrying about it. Within two weeks I was moving around a lot better. I might have stopped using my cane at this point, though anything that required me to reach forward, like washing my hands at the sink, was difficult because it would require back strength. By 2 weeks, the bandage had because really really frustrating. The huge adhesive patch was causing my skin to become itchy and irritated, and I could see they I was starting to develop some red bumps like pimples underneath. Thankfully 2 weeks was the point I could remove it (after my first follow up call with the doctors team). So I took it off which was not easy. The whole area was soooo sticky, I tried to remove a lot of the stickiness with either rubbing alcohol, soap, or Vaseline. I was able to get a lot of it off but some stickiness still lasted for several days. There will tiny bandages over the incision sites that covered the stitches and those would eventually all fall off themselves. I had two larger scars at the top where they did most of the work of cutting out the disc and putting in the graft, and then two tiny scars lower down where I assume they put in the screws for the lower vertabrae. My back does not look pretty.
I started PT at four weeks was doing better but still had a weak back and was very cautious with my movements. Did PT for 12 weeks and made a lot of improvement. I was back to how I was. The fusion 100% fix the issues that this new herniation had caused, and it was such a relief to finally have a procedure that was totally effective. However, the back pain that I had already had for many many years was and is still there and I am still not certain what is causing it.
Part 8: Now
I am about 20 weeks out of surgery and am still doing great. I still do not use my stimulator and don't plan to, but having to get it removed would be a really huge pain. I have started to actually go to a gym again and life weights to stay active. I am mostly convinced that this low back pain I still have is really muscle related, caused by the years of instability, and that I can address it by strengthly my core muscles and following my PT exercises. I think a lot of these muscles issues, like trigger points, can mimic sciatic symptoms. Knowing what REAL sciatic symptoms feel like again, this pain doesn't feel like I have a herniation pushing on my nerves. So I am going forward with that in mind and trying to deal with this pain muscularly.
As for the fusion, I don't notice any new limitations in my movement. I avoid rubbing the area because I could feel the rods if I rub it hard enough. But I feel normal. I had a follow up with the doctor with another X-ray and everything looks great. I am hoping that this can be a turning point for me to really live as close to a pain free life as possible.

I have recently evolved my beliefs in the last 5-6 years where I no longer consider myself religious, in regards to religious beliefs while also just considering myself spiritual.
I do not follow a title of what I am or anything, but believe in my soul that it's important to do meaningful celebrations and traditions that align with my lifestyle, values, personal beliefs in order to honor my personhood and a healthy balance of ensuring I don't self-abandon myself.
I don't want to put myself into a box ever again, so I just focus on being intuned with myself.
I now think that life is just way too short to do stuff just because that's how you were raised or was taught to do.
I've overcome a lot of religious abuse as well as the mindset in which I was raised and that of my origin family. Some of my most traumatic life experiences happened on the account of my 'upbringing', the beliefs I was raised to believe, a result of religious abuse and generational trauma, where those dogmatic scriptures, beliefs and texts led me to continually go down roads that did not protect me for the simple fact that they pushed 'self-sacrifice' and 'religious-pleasing lifestyles' that do not compliment, protect, and support positive outcomes for women, and sometimes children. I was taught to just do it because that's what the religion inspires, or what the social constructs say to do.
It did not help that I just didn't know any better-I've let go the regret of this innocent ignorance and grief that it initially brought on. Looking back, I cringe at the decisions, choices, and 'enduring' I had survived from that awful upbringing-I now recognize that as, the 'hidden abuse' for a good internal family image-that I too was not aware of until recently, and just the disgusting dysfunctional family dynamic that has revealed itself since I've started to slash those generational curses.
I was abused by one parent growing up by the way, and told the other who did nothing but 'took ME to my extended family's church'. They never stopped it, protected me or stood up for me. Now, much later in adulthood I'm realizing that both of them were abusive, just in different ways and I understand my psycho-emotional disconnect from them and my origin family in general because I spoke up when it happened, even later in early adulthood and I never realized their pattern of describing me as 'dramatic' or continually trying to treat me like a child despite my very grown-up adult age, were and is their way of trying to force suppression of my voice, diminish the truth, protect the original abuser, ignore my independence, growth, healness, and strength I've done the work to cultivate.
My other siblings are dismissive and become extremely argumentative or defensive of our 'loving parents' with any mention of how we grew up, or verbally attack me/talk about me to other family members like I'm the one with the issues with any effort I put forth to ask questions of why and to hold them accountable, or to just disassociate with an image I know is false, have my own life and live truly as a loving and peaceful person, or even just enforce the boundaries that I need that provide safety and continual psycho, emotional, mental, and antimanipulative protection.
I've finally realized that my growth, healness, counseling and the completion of my adult therapy program was and is a threat to the fake image they've all created after all these years. I did not tell them that I've done the work and have finally woke up from this reality due to therapy, because they just make stuff up and don't know that I know they talk about me behind my back. They don't know my current life business and just speculate and make up rumors and assumptions about me and what I have going on or why I'm 'acting' the way I'm 'acting' as truth, without ever even trying to even talk to me, the others just assume much of their revelation as 'truth', which is really just lies-misconstrued info-completely made up speculation presented as triangulation and 'the truth-.
I am at peace, extremely successful and have overcome many things that would typically break the average person. Any reinforcement of boundaries, standing up for myself or attempt to distance myself from my parents since realizing how f'd up they did me when this was happening-even with my forgiving them for this throughout my life.
However, the older I get, when they continue to display the same patterns that were present during the abuse, now, including the thought of why did I even allow them a relationship with me in my life as an adult-because I get so disgusted with even the thought I'd ever allow a child to be abused by my spouse and let alone, stay married to them for decades afterwards. I can't believe I invited them to my wedding and we were the 'loving' bride's side...why was I so like "this is my family and we love each other, we're a close happy family" in my adulthood so long still? Until I woke up? There's so much I've since resolved with my therapist and have done the work to heal from-these are just questions to share the process I went through for insight. Also---It's really pathetic when I think about how different of a compassionate and truly loving person that I've become. I couldn't even fathom allowing abuse in my life or anything even remotely close to it or especially to be done to a CHILD...but here's more of how all my realizations have led me to where I am now:
I am SO glad that I am the VERY manifestation of 'WHEN you know BETTER, you DO better'...oh how the magicalness and bravery of individuals like Maya Angelou, Terrance Howard, and other past/currently alive ascended masters, who did and are leaving the breadcrumbs that nourish the souls of humanity on Earth today... The awakening and true freedom of thought and consciousness of myself has not only changed, but has elevated my existence, and my life.
I now experience the divine nature of love and revelation on a spiritual level that has brought abundance to me in every way and at every level.
I've done so much work, healing, therapy, service, reflection and growth, that the peace I feel daily, is what I never imagined happiness would be like.
To purely love and evolve as I truly am and meant to be, it's frustrating when the one group who we're taught is supposed to 'really' be your people, have been everything but that.
In the last 4 years, my life before now had been turned upside-down. In retrospect from now, I see why, as it had catapulted me into the healed, peaceful and abundant life that I have now.
...But, when everything started to happen, I really THOUGHT they (my family of origin) were there for me. I went to them for guidance and advice-I hadn't awakened to my newfound wisdom-filled reality at this point yet-and they appeared caring, so I thought...
I went to them because I thought they were the only people in my life by this point, who truly loved me 'unconditionally'. Much happened. I took some of their advice in the very beginning, but at the same time I started to remember who the ... I am...and it was on and popping from there, Baby!
From the multiple crises that I'd found myself in all those years ago: I went to therapy, did counseling, shadow work and started reparenting my inner child. I journaled and started to meditate and the answers flowed through me. I allowed the plan for my life to take shape and one after another, I started to solve my problems, so gracefully, all while growing, healing, and finding the peace that I had in my life before these many situations developed. However, it was on a whole other level, an intrinsic peace that scaffolded into a snowball of peace in every area I've ever struggled.
In the last year though, I have survived what I would consider my dark night of the soul and I feel remembered, like, renewed into the person I always had been, but wasn't aware of until now.
I now have strong boundaries that not only protect me, but they also hold me accountable to gracefully standing up for myself, my own personhood, my values, my beliefs, and that which keep me committed to the lessons I learned so painfully over these last few years, just from the 'not knowing any better' and...whew...religion, patriarchy, and so much more of how I was raised that pain-wrenchingly just set me up for failure in this life, if I never had made a change.
I'm SO happy I learned about just how all these constructs and societal blockages were NOT for my flourishing in life, on my own. Finally, the realization.
The more healed, awakened, and spiritual I became, the more I realized the family system that I was raised in, saw me as a threat. Looking back, so much of what I went through and was done to me was beyond messed up and downright wrong and abusive.
So now, there's this awkwardness of not knowing the true extent of the abuse in how I was raised beyond what I can remember...but what I do remember was jail-worthy and I remember calling out that the parent who was doing it deserved jailtime, but I was bullied, threatened with homelessness and I was a child. I didn't know about all the resources available or what I could do besides tell my other parent. 😪
...I did try to call out the obvious stuff as I got older, but I didn't understand that I was covertly bullied and gaslit when I tried to stand up originally...I was always told I need to 'forgive and forget'...and what would ... do? And... 'as a .... we are here to love thy neighbor...' bluh blue bluh...-My whole life, I didn't realize that I was the family scapegoat until 2024.
No matter how much I tried with the things I knew were outwardly morally wrong then, it wasn't until therapy that anyone in addition to myself validated my experiences; that abuse is abuse, every last form of it, and it doesn't matter in what context it happens: religious or political and about 20 other different forms, is not okay...
-So back to the awkwardness of having this lifelong 'close family' that I once thought was so strong and healthy, loving, both parents still together and 'in love', all 8 siblings with 'decent' relationships (not really, they're all really toxic, invisibly debted with that unseen abuse like financial-emotional-mental- cheating/sexual-behind closed doors-whats stays in this house type dysfunction that I'm sure I haven't seen because-behind closed doors-the same trifling household we were raised in), my whole life...UNTIL I LITERALLY woke up within the last year to REALIZE how JACKED UP they were and are. Thinking back to all the times I was not supported or protected, I was the one in the family, out of all 10 who was ever truly genuine, purely intentioned, loved unconditionally...and had no complex with CONTROL...just, it was just me...
Ask me how I know...
The very situations I've found myself in these last 6 years, when I deconstructed from all things religious and political or anti-dignity, when I started to stand up against things without fear, that were not okay, or for the true safety and benefit of humanity of living beings...EVERYTHING started to crumble and I BECAME public enemy number one in my origin family and then marriage. I hate that I grew up so green and just didn't know about stuff until it happened to me in adulthood like misogyny, chauvinism, patriarchy, that 'women are less than' mindset because I would have not married my ex-I was so naive and innocent/blind. I thought how I carried myself was strong and 'obedient' to the 'Word'- NEVER AGAIN-this second half of life will be my path, what makes me feel safe, protected, honored, loved, cherished, happy, filled with joy, and at peace.
At first it was covert while they 'mistakenly forgot my boundaries' or 'didn't know what I'm doing now'...or the 'assuming and then making up their own thing and spreading the lie-behind my back"...
Also, any attempt to speak up and honor the abuse and neglect in childhood that I've overcome and have healed from and ask simple acknowledgment for from my parents, turns into excessive triangulation bringing everyone into the mix (again, in the shadows without my knowledge and behind my back), to point out my downfalls I literally just overcome and healed from these last 4 years, and then continue making up lies about me, spreading false rumors to extended family I don't engage with, don't have a relationship with, or whom I've cut off for being too toxic never changing... making more false grandiose accusations, saying I've talked about or down about people, made claims that I'm better than everyone, that it's all about me...etc...literally because all I did was reiterate my boundaries I've set, called people out for it, who have done toxic things to me. This is in addition to being accused of being all kinds of things because I've 'distanced' myself (from people who are not kind to me and who talk about me behind my back and have called me cruel names for calling them out on the toxic behavior they display towards me for being my own person and holding my ground on my own decisions as a full 30+ year old adult with my own family).
-I literally have an ~ 8+ minute voice-mail of an origin family member talking to someone about me like a dog, of all my private business, the hardships I've survived in the last 6 years-victim-blaming me, and even making up quite a bit...because they unknowingly butt-dailed me last month and I received it and listened to the whole thing-and haven't confronted them yet because I have in the past and it just became a huge cesspool of DARVO, and because I know it'll be a waste of time).
Now, for the last year, they know nothing and instead speculate and make up downright lies about me and my life. 🙄
They have everyone sharing lies about me between the family, calling me after not hearing from them for months and trying to start arguments over nonexistent issues we've never had, taking a statement out of context and championing as a 'see see see she's doing this or that to me when they are the one calling me out of the blue (after already having done previous things to me that I yet again addressed and was ignored about, never changing the behavior or apologizing) and trying to start stuff with me while I was minding my own business...
...all this from a recent holiday that I no longer celebrate that they're fully aware of. In fact, I don't really celebrate most national holidays in the US anymore and have expressed this SEVERAL times with sincerity, whether they're religious or just made up days that many go along with and that's fine, but I just don't want to be in a box and only want to honor and celebrate things that have meaning to my life and doesn't cause undue drama or stress with many layers of things.
They know I'm no longer religious, I have different beliefs and values now and instead of respecting it, they spread rumors, accusations, lies, unproven opinions, attempting various forms of triangulation to target me.
What makes it worse is that my relationship with my parents are so strained. They both took part in the abuse I suffered as a child. Being that I thought I had a really good relationship with one of them until this recent realization (I realized recently that they both were guilty, not just the one who committed it, the other always acted like they didn't know-but they did and admitted it recently). No say strained is an understatement honestly, but I had trying to at least be LC because of their relationship with my own family I've had since adulthood.
However, it was becoming increasingly difficult to even be around their religious talk and 'fake I love all my neighbors, I practice the daily religious routines everyday and read the text daily I'm so devout' act...
On the outside they look like they are just the epitome of devout faith individuals and they are living in according to what religious dogma aim for, all while secretly knowing what they did and allowed in our household-all my memories are very clear to this day, especially since I've awakened.
First Xmas was an issue even though that was a boundary for me. I suggested they were welcomed to celebrate the winter solstice with me, they declined, and I respected that. I offered a nice dinner the week beforehand as an alternative.
Then it was Easter, I declined (as I've reminded them that I hold different beliefs and values now which have really cultivated my lifestyle being different from theirs now, and reminded them that it is not difficult for me to respect their beliefs and values; that I expect the same level of respect from them). As an alternative, since they too were interested in celebrating for a totally different holiday/celebration, as I honor the spring solstice, I suggested a nice lunch on a regular unanchored day to any meaning, and to drive to the country and have a day of exploration where we could end with a dessert picnic on a rolling hill in the place I mentioned. They declined.
Since fully coming out the spiritual closet, most of my origin family has either lied about their communication service being interrupted, they have to work-most don't have jobs, or that they are so busy in their schedules, but are on social media all day-secretly being judgemental talking about people in general (strangers on the internet) who are in very difficult life/hard personal situations where they judge them based on the patriarchal and religious dogma we were raised in. It's really sad to me I have no more interest in engaging with negative people.
But what's really pathetic is they make up rumors and lies about me and start drama for my having my own separate lifestyle now everytime a national political holiday (tied to some form of historical trauma) or a religious holiday comes around as they (mentally try to) attack me because I didn't celebrate or 'honor' them-all while not knowing I have proof of every last one of them talking about me badly behind my back with lies and/or spreading rumors about me that aren't true. Literally.
The last straw was the most recent holiday, not calling or contacting them because I refuse to have or remind them for the 1,000,000th time about that boundary and standing up for my beliefs-it's so exhausting.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to live around positive, encouraging and accepting people who live by love and honoring everyone's humanity no matter their religion, gender, sex, background, status, etc...and just being kind to people in general, as long as they're not murdering or harming others (outside of self defense, like TRUE self-defense and not the kind cruel people try to use as a cover to inflict harm), everyone has a right to believe in and have the values that make them feel safe and whole.
Long story short, I know I am not the AH for standing my ground and protecting my personhood and that NO ONE on earth is entitled to what I believe, value, or what I choose to celebrate or not.
*I'd like to add a note that I have done especially deep, caring, loving, and acknowledgingly beautiful actions throughout every year my whole entire life and not just since this recent change in these last few years, like 12-20 times a year.
I no longer try to keep explaining or trying to defend why I'm defending myself against disrespect and people who are not gentle towards me like I've been with them throughout my life, always there, always the one to support.
I just do not care anymore, if I have to be along or start my (chosen) family over this time around, I will. I just despise drama and toxicity. I will not let it permeate into the peaceful life I've fought to build at this stage of my life.
(Thank you if you've made it this far, I know it appears all over the place, but it is all connected to my now and waking the...up...from the nightmare I didn't know I was in all my life until recently).
-The Recently Realized Family Scapegoat and origin family generational curse-breaker

Is there an advantage to ferment dough with progressively increasing temperature schedule vs a single temperature fermentation?
For example I could start at 35 degrees for 2 days, ramp up to 50 degrees for 12 hours then finish at 75 for 2 hours. Any temperature and length of time is possible.
From my home brewing adventures I had built a fermentation chamber to control the temperature of the fermentation when making beer. I took apart a mini fridge and used its components to be installed in a larger box. The freezer of the mini fridge and a shoe dryer control the temperature inside the box. The program brewpi, a mini computer called raspberry psi, and a microcontroller called arduino are the major components of this system. Together it allows me to choose a temperature to maintain for the fridge or in a in a thermowell to control the temp of the liquid. It uses an algorithm to maintain the temperature that I choose. I can create a temperature schedule, install a webcam to monitor the progress, and set up a server to remote in from my phone . I was fortunate that others with much more knowledge and skills donated there time to produce guides on how to do this.
I searched around for this temperature schedule but haven’t seen anyone do this for fermenting dough.
This idea came to me from brewing beer. The temperature of the water that you steep grains in effect the final product. There are temperature schedules that influence the fermentable sugars. Typically the lower the temperature creates a drier beer because the sugars are fermented. When you mash at a higher temp the beer will be sweeter because it produces less fermentable sugars.
This leads me to a different experiment that I just thought of. I could add a smaller portion of my flour with the full amount of water to a bag and sous vide it at a temperature to control the fermentable sugars. Maybe I could add everything but the yeast and heat the mixture at different temps and timeframes. I could use the sous vide to control the fermentable sugars and cool it down before adding the yeast.
I have next week off work to experiment. Let me know if you have any requests or suggestions.

DAY JUNE 8 2024
6-8-2024

‘WE CANNOT SIMPLY GO, GO, GO.’ WHAT IS ‘GIRL MOSSING,’ THE WELLNESS TREND THAT REJECTS HUSTLE CULTURE?

On TikTok and Instagram, people are “girl mossing”: lying on a forest floor, staring up at a leafy canopy or caressing moss. The United States National Forest Foundation even borrowed the term to kick off its 2024 Instagram account. Girl mossing recognizes a need to step away from the pressures of modern, urban life, promoting spending time in nature as a restorative practice. The fast pace and pressure of neoliberal capitalism take an enormous toll on well-being: not just personal, but social and planetary.
6-8-2024

FIVE WAYS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CAN IMPROVE YOUR DATING LIFE

Artificial intelligence is going to transform how we date. The question is: will it be for better or worse? It’s already causing some real problems, especially related to “romance scams” and other fraud. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Used in the right way, AI can actually make dating better. It can help write profiles and find matches, provide dating advice and coaching and, if all else fails, become a date companion. I have spent the last few years studying the impact of technology, and especially AI, on our
6-8-2024

STUDY ASSESSES ‘THE DANCER PERSONALITY’

“Tell me if you dance and I will tell you who you are!” A study led by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, has shown that both amateur and professional dancers are less neurotic than people who do not dance. They are also more agreeable, more open, and more extraverted.
6-8-2024

ONLINE SHOPPERS BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY AFTER CHATTING WITH STAFF OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER, RESEARCH SHOWS

In a digital world where people are mere pixels on a screen, gender bias can show up in unexpected forms. When people are online, anonymity and physical detachment embolden them to behave in biased ways
6-8-2024

INVESTORS BET BIG ON SUNNY DAYS, STUDY FINDS

It’s often said we can’t control the weather. But what if the weather controls how and when we invest our money? More specifically, what if the skies control how much we’re willing to gamble in the stock market? New research by the University of South Australia has found a connection between pleasant weather conditions and higher investment in lottery-like stocks. Lottery-like stocks are cheap compared to other stocks and, like lottery tickets, they can be seen as an opportunity to make a substantial gain. However, the chance of a higher
6-8-2024

TEENS TREATED UNFAIRLY BY TEACHERS MORE LIKELY TO HAVE POPULIST ATTITUDES

Perceived unjust teacher behavior is strongly and positively associated with populist attitudes among children and adolescents. Populist attitudes consist of ideologies including anti-elitism, people-centrism, and a dualistic perception of good versus evil, and where the foundation of political decision-making should be based on the general will of the people. In contrast to the association with teacher behavior, the correlation between young people’s relationships with peers and the development of populist attitudes is less strong, and the correlation between young people’s relationships
6-8-2024

MICROINCLUSIONS IMPROVE WOMEN’S WORKPLACE BELONGING AND COMMITMENT

New research shows how “microinclusions”—brief instances of positive treatment, especially from members of the dominant group—help women feel valued at work. Imagine your first day at a new job. You probably feel nervous, wondering how you’ll fit in with the team. It’s natural to worry if your co-workers will be supportive, or if they’ll take your contributions seriously. This experience is amplified for women in technology companies, who often face underrepresentation and
6-8-2024

BURNT OUT? HOW YOUR EMPLOYER CAN HELP YOU RETURN TO WORK FOR THE BETTER

The working world can be a pitiless one, as competition in the marketplace can put significant pressures on employees. Relentless deadlines, shrinking resources and shifting priorities all take their toll on employees’ well-being and mental health. In my home country of Belgium, more than two thirds (66.4%) of individuals on disability for psychological reasons had cases related to depression or burn-out. These worrisome statistics reflect broader trends across OECD countries, where nearly half (47.6%) of workers with mental-health problems have been absent from the office in the past year, compared
6-8-2024

FAMILY-FRIENDLY WORKPLACES BENEFIT EMPLOYEES, BUSINESSES

Paid leave and employee well-being are the focus of a three-part policy series on family-friendly business practices put together by the Brown School’s Clark-Fox Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. “Creating a family-friendly workplace benefits both employees and businesses,” said Gary Parker, associate dean for external affairs and director of the institute. “For employees, it enhances work-life balance and job satisfaction,” he said. “For businesses, it leads to higher retention rates, reduced absenteeism and improved productivity. Policies such as paid leave, flexible work arrangements
6-8-2024

HOW TRUMP’S DEFINITION OF A ‘REAL’ AMERICAN HAS GRABBED HIS AUDIENCE—WHAT OUR RESEARCH SHOWS ABOUT WHY

Donald Trump has recently doubled down on his derogatory depictions of undocumented migrants in his bid to win the 2024 presidential election. In an interview with Time magazine, published on April 30 2024, Trump referred to migrants as “criminals,” who “come in and they steal our jobs, and steal our wealth, and they steal our country.” Trump was especially disparaging towards migrants from China, who he said are a “major force that’s forming in our country.” In short, according to Trump, undocumented migration is “an invasion of our country.” Trump’s
6-8-2024

NEW STUDY SHOWS MARKETING A BRAND’S SIMPLICITY CAN BACKFIRE

Irritability is a common side effect of heat. When companies tout the simplicity of their products, they may unknowingly invite customer dissatisfaction, new University of Oregon research finds. For decades, “simpler is better” has been accepted as a universal truth in marketing. Nick Light, assistant professor of marketing at the UO’ Lundquist College of Business, has tested that assumption. He found that most consumers prefer offerings that appear to be easy to use and understand. However, trumpeting simplicity can have a hidden, costly downside. “When marketing convinces consumers that things
6-8-2024

RESEARCHERS CREATE WINNING STRATEGY TO COMBAT VACCINE MISINFORMATION ON X

A new in-depth analysis shows that users who reply to misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine on X, formerly known as Twitter, with a positive attitude, politeness, and strong evidence are more likely to encourage others to disbelieve the incorrect information. Researchers from three Georgia Tech schools found the most
6-8-2024

STUDY SHOWS DISENGAGED STUDENTS MORE LIKELY TO USE AI TOOLS FOR ASSIGNMENTS

A Swansea University psychology study has found that disengaged students are more likely to use AI tools—particularly ChatGPT—for academic assignments, raising questions about academic integrity and the need for proactive interventions. Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT is an AI program capable of answering questions in detailed, human-like ways. Researchers surveyed 160 undergraduate students, aged between 18 and 24, in March 2023 to assess their attitudes towards and past usage of AI tools such as ChatGPT in academic coursework. The study is published in The Internet and Higher Education journal. Thirty-two
6-8-2024

HUMAN CULTURE IS CHANGING TOO FAST FOR EVOLUTION TO CATCH UP—HERE’S HOW IT MAY AFFECT YOU

Research is showing that many of our contemporary problems, such as the rising prevalence of mental health issues, are emerging from rapid technological advancement and modernisation. A theory that can help explain why we respond poorly to modern conditions, despite the choices, safety and other benefits they bring, is evolutionary mismatch. Mismatch happens when an evolved adaptation, either physical or psychological, becomes misaligned with the environment. Take moths and some species of nocturnal flies, for example. Because they have to navigate in the dark, they evolved to use the moon
6-8-2024

YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE UK SAY THEY ARE LESS LIKELY TO VOTE IF THEIR PARENTS REPORT DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS

With a U.K. General Election approaching, new research has found that parental history of depression can predict whether a young person is likely to intend to vote. The research, led by the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool, found that, at age 26, people were less likely to intend to vote if they had grown up with a parent experiencing high levels of depressive symptoms. Published in the journal Electoral Studies, the research used the British Cohort Study (BCS), which followed more than 16,000 babies born across a
6-8-2024

WHO GETS TO DECIDE WHAT COUNTS AS ‘DISORDER’?

As a scholar of urban governance and data policy, I viewed the responses to protests on U.S. campuses as about more than threats to academic freedom and freedom of speech. They are also threats to the fundamental rights of people in public spaces. The protesters’ tactics, particularly their use of tents in encampments, have brought debates around definitions of public order and disorder to the fore. Over the past couple of months, students in universities across the country, from the University of California, Los Angeles to the Massachusetts Institute of
6-8-2024

STUDYING VIOLENCE TOWARD WOMEN AND ANIMALS CAN HELP US DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO PREVENT BOTH

We live in a world where not everyone feels safe and respected, especially women. Sexual violence and abuse are significant global health issues. Intimate partner violence continues to be a problem in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, of the 117,093 victims of police-reported intimate partner violence in 2022, almost 80% were women and girls. More than half of women in the United States have experienced sexual violence involving physical contact. Given these high rates of sexual abuse, it is imperative that we improve upon what we currently know about violence
6-8-2024

WHY THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY COULD DEPEND ON YOUR GROUP CHATS

I became newly worried about the state of democracy when, a few years ago, my mother was elected president of her neighborhood garden club. Her election wasn’t my worry—far from it. At the time, I was trying to resolve a conflict on a large email group I had created. Someone, inevitably, was being a jerk on the internet. I had the power to remove them, but did I have the right? I realized that the garden club had in its bylaws something I had never seen in nearly all the
6-8-2024

NET ZERO IS NOT JUST GOOD SCIENCE—IT’S ALSO A GOOD DEAL FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE

As the UK moves into a general election, a misinformed debate over the country’s climate transition and legally binding net zero targets risks further dividing people. Much of this debate in the UK focuses on the “cost” of net zero. For instance, energy secretary Claire Coutinho recently stated the government did not want a “net zero leviathan” to crush the nation’s “brilliant enterprise economy,” while the Labor Party had to backtrack on its own headline climate investment pledge, citing “affordability” and “fiscal rules.” But the true “cost” is tricky to
6-8-2024

THE FASCINATING PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND ‘DINE AND DASH’ AND WHY IT’S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE THAN A FREE MEAL

Sometimes when I read the newspapers, I think that going to a restaurant and leaving without paying has become something of an epidemic. My research into lying has taught me that the psychology behind acts of deception is often deeply complex. Let me start with a confession. I was guilty of dine and dash a very long time ago before it had a catchy name. I was in a group that hung about a chip shop at the turn-of-the-road in north Belfast, a poor and troubled area. I had a
6-8-2024

YOU CAN NOW BE FROZEN AFTER DEATH IN AUSTRALIA. IF YOU’RE REVIVED IN THE FUTURE, WILL YOU LEGALLY BE THE SAME PERSON?

In recent weeks, Southern Cryonics—the southern hemisphere’s only cryopreservation facility, located in rural New South Wales—announced it had successfully cryopreserved its first patient. There are only a handful of cryopreservation facilities across the globe—two in the United States, and one each in Russia, China, Australia and Switzerland. If the claims made on their websites and in the press are accurate, these facilities likely have no more than 600 patients in cryonic storage in total. Media reports however suggest interest in cryopreservation has risen since the onset of the COVID pandemic,
6-8-2024

ENGINEERS HAVE A DUTY TO PROTECT PUBLIC WELL-BEING, BUT LESS THAN HALF LEARN HOW TO DO SO EFFECTIVELY

Engineers who received public welfare responsibility training in classes are more likely to consider the societal impact of technologies they design and to take action when concerns arise, according to a study by University of Michigan researchers published in The Journal of Engineering Education. While engineers are professionally obligated to protect the safety and well-being of those their technologies impact, the study found that nearly a third of U.S. practicing engineers have never received any training in public welfare
6-8-2024

HIRING PRESSURES TO DIVERSIFY ARE INFLUENCING PATTERNS OF DISCRIMINATION IN UNEXPECTED WAYS

In 2004, a pair of economists published a landmark study to measure discrimination in the labor market. In the study, the researchers applied to real job openings with fictitious applicants but changed the applicant names to reflect a different gender or race. They found clear evidence of discrimination: White men and women received 50% more callbacks than Black men and women. More recently, Berkeley
6-8-2024

STUDY FINDS RACIAL BIAS IN TRAFFIC STOPS BY CHICAGO POLICE

Black drivers in Chicago are significantly more likely than white drivers to be stopped by police regardless of where the drivers live or are going, according to a new study led by a Cornell city planning expert that maps the racial composition of roads by using mobile phone GPS data. The study confirms a racial bias
6-8-2024

DO WE HAVE MORE EMPATHY FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE SIMILAR TO US? NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS IT’S NOT THAT SIMPLE

How do people successfully interact with those who are completely different from them? And can these differences create social barriers? Social scientists are struggling with these questions because the mental processes underlying social interactions are not well understood. One recent concept that has become increasingly popular is the “double-empathy problem.” This draws on research looking at people who are known to experience social difficulties,
6-8-2024

HOW CAN WE MAKE GOOD DECISIONS BY OBSERVING OTHERS? A VIDEOGAME AND COMPUTATIONAL MODEL HAVE THE ANSWER

How can disaster response teams benefit from understanding how people most efficiently pick strawberries together, or how they choose the perfect ice cream shop with friends? All these scenarios are based on the very fundamental question of how and when human groups manage to adapt collectively to different circumstances. Two recent studies on collective dynamics by the Cluster of Excellence Science of Intelligence (SCIoI) in Berlin, Germany, lay the groundwork to promote better
6-8-2024

OTHERS’ WORDS, NOT FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE, SHAPE SCIENTIFIC AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF FORMATION, STUDY FINDS

Three proposals explaining the differential confidence. (A) Intuitively, one might assume that confidence in scientific entities (e.g., germs) is higher than confidence in religious entities (e.g., angels) because scientific entities are observable in principle whereas religious entities are not. (B) The Dual- Pathway Model proposes separate information pathways for scientific versus religious beliefs; belief in scientific entities is primarily driven by direct experience of causal outcomes whereas belief in religious entities is primarily driven by testimony. (C) Contrary to these two models, the Unified Model proposes that belief in both
6-8-2024

TRYING TO SAVE MONEY? RESEARCH SUGGESTS PAYING IN CASH—WHILE YOU STILL CAN

Cash is in crisis. In Australia, it’s now only used for 16% of in-person transactions, down from about 70% in 2007. The situation is so dire that on Monday, independent federal MP Andrew Gee introduced a private member’s bill that would force businesses to accept cash or else face big fines. The reality is that over the past decade, technological advancements have utterly transformed the way we pay for goods and services. Phones and smartwatches can now easily be used to pay by card, and buy-now-pay-later
6-8-2024

MESSAGES CAN TRIGGER THE OPPOSITE OF THEIR DESIRED EFFECT—BUT YOU CAN AVOID COMMUNICATION THAT BACKFIRES

The best graduation speeches dispense wisdom you find yourself returning to long after the graduation tassels are turned. Take the feel-good life advice in Baz Luhrmann’s song to a class that graduated 25 years ago. Only on a recent relisten did I realize it also captures one of the research-based strategies I teach for avoiding communication that backfires. The tip is hiding in plain sight in the song’s title, “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen).” Communication aimed at promoting a certain behavior can have the opposite
6-8-2024

DIFFERENCES IN EDUCATION, VALUES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN CAUSE MISMATCHES WHEN SEEKING A PARTNER, FINDS SPANISH STUDY

The educational expansion of women has led to changes in the differences in educational level of men and women when looking for a partner. Research conducted by the UAB Center for Demographic Studies (CED-CERCA) has examined for the first time the role of discrepancies in gender role values and education among potential spouses. According to the study, about a third of women in favor of gender equality and with a higher education would not be able to find a homogamous male partner. The work is published in the journal Perspectives
6-8-2024

‘FUZZY’ MAPS OFFER INSIGHT INTO LOCAL PERCEPTIONS OF THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEERING

In the global South, volunteer programs are framed by policymakers and scholars as an effective vehicle for empowering women living in poverty. But this narrative often rests on scant knowledge of the perspectives and experiences of a key set of local stakeholders: the volunteers. A new study co-authored by Yale anthropologist Catherine Panter-Brick addresses this knowledge gap by engaging with Syrian refugees and Jordanian women from poor households in Amman, Jordan,
6-8-2024

EXPERTS SAY USE OF POLITICAL MEMES ARE A PREDICTOR OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE

In a study of social media activity prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, researchers at the University of Notre Dame say a sharp increase in politically salient imagery online—visual content designed to influence, dehumanize, manipulate and motivate audiences—was a predictor of the conflict. With collaborators at Colby College and Kennesaw State University, the researchers collected post history from a select group of 989 Russian milbloggers—a term used for “military bloggers”
6-8-2024

PROGRAMS TO PREVENT SEXUAL VIOLENCE SHOW NO EVIDENCE OF CURBING ASSAULTS, ANALYSIS FINDS

Sexual violence prevention programs effectively change ideas and beliefs that underscore assaults, but show no evidence of reducing their actual occurrence, a new comprehensive analysis shows. The findings are published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Researchers led by behavioral scientist Roni Porat of Hebrew University challenge the assumption that changing people’s thoughts about sexual violence will change their actual behavior. They call on scientists to study more behavior-centered approaches to reducing sexual
6-8-2024

DIVERSE FRIEND GROUPS PROMOTE BETTER SOCIAL COHESION AND WELL-BEING, STUDY FINDS

New research featuring more than 24,000 people has found that having diverse groups of friends improves well-being and social cohesion, despite people’s tendency to gravitate towards people more similar to them. Led by researchers at the University of Birmingham and published in Psychological Science, the study used data from 24,726 adults from over 10,000 English neighborhoods to examine the composition of people’s social networks according to age, ethnicity, income, and education to understand the implications of homophily (preference for similar people) on social cohesion subjective well-being. Dr. Miguel Ramos, lead
6-8-2024

STUDY SHOWS JUSTICE FACILITY DOGS BENEFIT WELL-BEING FOR CHILDREN FACING COURT

A new Edith Cowan University (ECU) study has revealed that having a four-legged friend at Children’s Court significantly reduces stress and anxiety for young victims, witnesses, and their caregivers. ECU criminology researchers Dr. Suz Rock and Associate Professor Natalie Gately have published the first Australian study to evaluate the impact of introducing a justice facility dog to a Children’s Court. The study “Kids, Courts and Canines: Evaluating the Justice Facility Dog Program through a Therapeutic Lens
6-8-2024

SEXUAL MINORITIES EXPERIENCE MORE EXCLUSION IN EVERYDAY SITUATIONS, FINDS STUDY

Lesbian, gay and bisexual people experience exclusion more frequently than heterosexual people. This is the finding of a recent study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin by researchers from the University of Basel and the RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau. According to the study, people who are perceived as less gender-conforming are more frequently socially excluded. This could also affect heterosexual people if they deviate from traditional
6-8-2024

STILL RIDING LA’S METRO AFTER THE PANDEMIC? YOU PROBABLY THINK IT’S SAFER THAN THOSE WHO DON’T ANYMORE

As Jon Regardie wrote last year in Los Angeles Magazine, “Metro’s raison d’etre is to get hundreds of thousands of people each day across Southern California.” But the COVID-19 pandemic sent the numbers of riders plummeting to a low of 13%, and ridership still hasn’t fully rebounded. The reason may now be clear, thanks to the latest USC Dornsife LABarometer survey, conducted by the Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The survey found that although public transportation ridership in
6-8-2024

CAN VAGUE GO VIRAL FOR GEN Y?

Generation Y, Gen Y, is commonly referred to as the millennial generation. It usually includes individuals born between the early 1980s and the mid-to-late 1990s or early 2000s. This generation follows Generation X and precedes Generation Z. The millennials, it is said, grew up during the transition to digital technology and the rise of the internet, and this has shaped their perspectives, behavior, and the way they use technology and media. They are often characterized as tech-savvy, adaptable, and socially conscious, with a strong affinity for social media and digital
6-8-2024

ITALIAN MOMS WITH 3+ KIDS WORK FAR FEWER YEARS THAN DADS, WHILE FINLAND SHOWS EQUALITY

Over the past century, the number of working women in Western countries has steadily increased. However, numerous studies show that it is still primarily women who have to manage the balancing act between parenthood and working life. Compared to fathers and childless women, mothers often have a less straightforward career path and face greater hurdles to career advancement. Little research has been done on what happens to women’s employment trajectories from midlife when childrearing efforts are
6-8-2024

TOP IT INDUSTRY MANAGERS ARE DIVIDED ON THE NEED FOR FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE

Many managers are currently seeking a balance between digital and face-to-face communication. A recent study from the University of Eastern Finland published in Information Technology & People shows that top IT industry managers have different views on when and for what purposes face-to-face communication in the workplace is needed. “Some top managers felt that all work tasks can be performed remotely with the help of digital communication. According to them, face-to-face communication is only necessary for maintaining interpersonal relationships and a sense of community,” says Doctoral Researcher Lotta Salin of
6-8-2024

STUDY FINDS SIMPLE HEADLINES ATTRACT MORE ONLINE NEWS READERS

The competition for online attention in today’s news environment is fierce. High-quality news from credible sources must compete for attention with misinformation and a rapidly increasing amount of partisan content. How can a news organization stand out as a reputable and trustworthy outlet while driving readers to its site? The answer is simple: literally. According to research from Michigan State University, news readers engage more with simple writing, suggesting journalists should write simply—clearly and without ambiguity—to attract attention online. The study was published in the journal Science Advances. “Newsrooms want
6-8-2024

STUDY SHOWS BANNING FALSE INFORMATION TRAFFICKERS ONLINE CAN IMPROVE PUBLIC DISCOURSE

When Twitter banned more than 70,000 traffickers of false information from its platform in the wake of the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the impact went beyond the silencing of those users. A study co-authored by UC Riverside public policy and political science scholars published in the journal Nature on June 5, found that the crackdown by Twitter (now called X after it was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk in late 2022) also significantly reduced the number of misinformation posts by users who stayed on the
6-8-2024

YOUNG ADULTS SAY STEADY SUPPORT FROM CARING ADULTS MADE DIFFERENCE IN TRANSITIONING FROM CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM

Young people who have exited foster care generally fare better—in work, school and relationships—if they get consistent support from adults who care about them during their teen years. My research team reached these findings by interviewing 21 people, now in their late 20s, who had aged out of foster care when they turned 18, had spent time in foster care as children or grew up in families that had active child welfare cases. These young adults relayed the degree to which they received support from
6-8-2024

HOW THE 1901 DISCOVERY EXPEDITION’S POLAR EXPLORERS STAYED HEALTHY DURING THEIR ANTARCTIC JOURNEY

Antarctica is the most inhospitable continent on earth. It’s dry, cold, and completely dark for months of the year. Edwardian explorers were some of the first to brave the Antarctic winter, developing new knowledge still drawn upon by scientists today. The Discovery expedition (1901–4) played a key role in the history of polar exploration. It was led by the Royal Navy commander Robert Falcon Scott, a pioneering polar explorer who died in 1912 after attempting to reach the south pole. The expedition’s third lieutenant was Ernest Shackleton, who led three
6-8-2024

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MODELS INFUSED WITH AGRI-INNOVATION SYSTEMS CAN REDUCE POST-HARVEST FOOD LOSS AND WASTE

developing sustainable business models that are multi-actor networked for integrating them with agricultural innovation systems initiatives can enable a systemic approach for reducing food loss and value loss at the post-harvest
6-8-2024

WILL THE 2024 OLYMPIC GAMES BECOME THE PLAYING FIELD FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE PROTESTS?

Yannick Kluch, a professor of recreation, sport and tourism at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, studies sport as a platform for promoting social justice. Kluch has worked with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, U.S. Diving and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He spoke with research editor Sharita Forrest about the history of Olympic athletes’ social justice protests and governing organizations’ efforts to avert them with Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter.
6-8-2024

STUDY FINDS WE SPEND MORE WITH CASHLESS PAYMENTS

A study found support for the existence of a positive “cashless effect,” which is when consumers spend more when using cashless payment methods in comparison to cash. The study suggests the cashless effect leads people to spend more when purchasing products that are typically used to signal status, such as jewelry. However, the
6-8-2024

LAWS MEANT TO KEEP DIFFERENT RACES APART STILL INFLUENCE DATING PATTERNS, DECADES AFTER BEING INVALIDATED

If you are single and looking for a romantic partner, chances are that you have used a dating app. But the likelihood that others will like, or even see, your profile may depend on your race. Studies have found that all people on dating apps, regardless of their own race, are more likely to contact white people using the app. And all people using dating apps are least likely to contact African American women and Asian American men. Until recently, some popular apps, including OkCupid, Match, Hinge and Grindr, provided
6-8-2024

VIRTUAL LABS IN PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH BOOST DIVERSITY

University of Oregon psychologists are breaking down barriers to include underrepresented populations in research by bringing laboratories online. The researchers are trying to address a longstanding issue in psychology studies, which often rely on undergraduate students to volunteer as research subjects.
6-8-2024

ATTENDING LOCAL EVENTS STRENGTHENS NEIGHBORHOOD BONDS, SURVEY REVEALS

how often people visit and actively participate in local events and how this affects their sense of place or their connection to their community. A survey of almost 400 households in the state’s coastal council area of the City of Holdfast Bay found that people who frequently attend local events or participate as volunteers, organizers or exhibitors, have a stronger
6-8-2024

STUDY SHOWS ONLINE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION WORKS FOR COMPLEX TOPICS

“COVID-19 forced educators to adjust their educational best practices to an unfamiliar virtual classroom, and professional development was no different,” said Karen Jo Matsler, assistant professor in practice for UTeach at UTA
6-8-2024

EYE-TRACKING STUDY REVEALS THAT SIMPLY LOOKING AT THE NATURAL WORLD IN URBAN AREAS CAN REAP WELL-BEING BENEFITS

Integrating more natural features into city landscapes can play a crucial role in enhancing the mental well-being of residents. A study by Bangor University and Technion- Israel Institute of Technology, published in the scientific journal People and Nature, involved city dwellers and showed how paying visual attention to greenery, rather than human-made structures, can alleviate anxiety and enhance restorative feelings. The 117 urban residents who took part in the study, were guided on a
6-8-2024

ADVERTISERS MAY BE INADVERTENTLY FUNDING MISINFORMATION

Companies in industries such as health care, technology and insurance have been found to advertise on misinformation websites, according to an analysis published in Nature. In a related experiment, consumers who were made aware that a company advertised on a misinformation website were likely to reject an offer of a gift voucher to spend with that company. The majority of digital advertisement placement on the internet is done via an algorithm-based distribution
6-8-2024

STUDY SUGGESTS EVOLUTIONARY BASIS FOR MALE RISK-TAKING BEHAVIORS

why we associate risk-taking with males rather than females, from an evolutionary standpoint. Study author Hannah Goodman, from UWA’s School of Human Sciences, said researchers found men engaged in riskier behaviors when crossing a busy traffic intersection, supporting growing evidence that risk-taking is predominantly an androcentric behavior. “Males

Exploring Email Dispatch with libcurl

Utilizing libcurl for sending emails directly from a C program offers a robust and flexible method to interact with email servers, including Gmail. This approach leverages the comprehensive capabilities of libcurl, a library famed for its support for various protocols and its ability to handle complex network communication tasks efficiently. When attempting to send emails through Gmail using libcurl, developers often encounter a common hurdle related to SSL/TLS configuration, which is pivotal for securing communications between the client and Gmail's servers.
Addressing the SSL error requires a nuanced understanding of libcurl's options for SSL/TLS, as well as the proper configuration of the environment in which your C program operates. This includes setting the correct SSL certificate paths and ensuring your application is authenticated correctly with Gmail's SMTP server. The complexity of these settings can sometimes lead to errors, such as the ones related to SSL peer certificates or SSH remote keys, pointing towards the intricate dance of security and accessibility in modern email communication.

Command	Description
curl_easy_init()	Initializes a CURL session
curl_easy_setopt()	Sets options for the CURL session, such as URL, authentication, and payload data
curl_easy_perform()	Executes the configured CURL request
curl_slist_append()	Adds a new string to a CURL slist
curl_easy_cleanup()	Cleans up and frees the CURL session

Navigating SSL/TLS Challenges in libcurl for Email Communication

When integrating email functionality into a C program using libcurl, particularly for services like Gmail that require secure connections, developers often encounter SSL/TLS-related errors. These issues stem from the strict security measures employed by email providers to protect user data and ensure the privacy of communications. SSL/TLS protocols play a crucial role in encrypting the data transmitted between the client and the server, thereby thwarting potential eavesdropping or data tampering. However, correctly configuring libcurl to use SSL/TLS can be a daunting task, requiring a detailed understanding of both the library's API and the underlying security protocols. This challenge is compounded by the need to properly manage certificates, as misconfigurations can lead to errors indicating that the SSL peer certificate or SSH remote key was not OK, or issues related to the local SSL certificate.
To successfully send emails via Gmail using libcurl, it's imperative to ensure that the library is up-to-date and configured to use the correct version of the SSL/TLS protocols. Additionally, specifying the right path to the certificate authority (CA) bundle file is essential for validating Gmail's SSL certificate. This process involves setting the CURLOPT_CAINFO option to point to the CA bundle that contains the trusted certificates. Addressing these aspects can mitigate common SSL/TLS errors, but it also highlights the importance of understanding the nuances of secure email transmission. Furthermore, developers must also consider the authentication process with Gmail's SMTP server, which involves specifying the correct username and password, and may require enabling less secure app access or setting up an app-specific password depending on the account's security settings.

Initiating Email Transfer with libcurl

C Programming Context

#include  #include  int main(void) { CURL *curl = curl_easy_init(); if(curl) { curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_URL, "smtps://smtp.gmail.com:465"); curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_MAIL_FROM, ""); struct curl_slist *recipients = ; recipients = curl_slist_append(recipients, ""); curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_MAIL_RCPT, recipients); curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_USERNAME, ""); curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_PASSWORD, "password"); // Additional setup code here curl_easy_perform(curl); curl_easy_cleanup(curl); } return 0; } 

Resolving SSL Certificate Errors

C Language Implementation

#include  void setup_ssl(CURL *curl) { curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_USE_SSL, CURLUSESSL_ALL); curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_CAINFO, "/path/to/cacert.pem"); curl_easy_setopt(curl, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, 1L); } int main(void) { CURL *curl = curl_easy_init(); if(curl) { // Initialize CURL session and set options setup_ssl(curl); // Execute and clean up curl_easy_perform(curl); curl_easy_cleanup(curl); } return 0; } 

Enhancing Email Security with libcurl

One of the pivotal aspects of sending emails through libcurl, especially when using Gmail's SMTP servers, revolves around the implementation of secure connections. This necessity arises from the stringent protocols Gmail enforces to safeguard user data and maintain confidentiality. The complexity of establishing a secure connection lies not only in adhering to Gmail's security standards but also in navigating the SSL/TLS configurations required by libcurl. These configurations are integral to encrypting the data transmitted between your application and Gmail, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected against interception or tampering. Understanding and implementing the correct SSL/TLS settings in libcurl is paramount, as any misconfiguration can result in transmission errors, compromised data integrity, or complete failure to connect.
Moreover, the dynamic landscape of internet security and the continual evolution of SSL/TLS protocols necessitate regular updates to your application's security measures. Keeping libcurl and its SSL/TLS certificates up-to-date is essential for maintaining compatibility with Gmail's servers and ensuring the highest level of security. Additionally, developers must be vigilant about the authentication process, which involves securely storing and handling user credentials within the application. This often requires implementing additional layers of security, such as encrypted storage or environment variables, to protect against unauthorized access or leaks. Addressing these challenges head-on is crucial for developers aiming to integrate email functionality into their applications with libcurl, especially for applications requiring a high degree of privacy and security.

Frequently Asked Questions on Sending Emails with libcurl

1. Question: Can I use libcurl to send emails through Gmail?
2. Answer: Yes, libcurl supports sending emails through Gmail using the SMTP protocol, but it requires proper SSL/TLS configuration.
3. Question: What is the common SSL error when sending emails with libcurl?
4. Answer: A common error is "SSL peer certificate or SSH remote key was not OK," which typically indicates a problem with the SSL certificate verification.
5. Question: How can I fix SSL certificate errors in libcurl?
6. Answer: Ensure you're using the correct CA bundle path with CURLOPT_CAINFO and that your libcurl is up-to-date.
7. Question: Do I need to enable "Less secure app access" in my Gmail settings?
8. Answer: Yes, for libcurl to send emails through Gmail, you may need to enable "Less secure app access" or use an app-specific password.
9. Question: How can I include attachments in emails sent with libcurl?
10. Answer: Attachments require encoding the email body in MIME format and manually constructing the email headers and body to include the attachment data.
11. Question: Is it possible to send HTML emails with libcurl?
12. Answer: Yes, by setting the Content-Type header to text/html in your email headers, you can send HTML emails with libcurl.
13. Question: Can libcurl handle SMTP authentication?
14. Answer: Yes, libcurl can handle SMTP authentication by setting the CURLOPT_USERNAME and CURLOPT_PASSWORD options.
15. Question: How do I debug SMTP communication issues in libcurl?
16. Answer: Enable verbose mode with CURLOPT_VERBOSE to get detailed logs of the SMTP communication, which can help in debugging.
17. Question: Can libcurl send emails to multiple recipients?
18. Answer: Yes, you can specify multiple recipients by appending them to the CURLOPT_MAIL_RCPT slist.

Securing Email Transmission with libcurl: A Reflection

Sending emails through Gmail using libcurl embodies a significant blend of ease and complexity, reflecting the nuanced demands of modern secure email communication. This journey from setting up a libcurl session to troubleshooting SSL/TLS errors underscores the critical importance of security in the digital age. Ensuring encrypted connections, correctly managing certificates, and navigating authentication hurdles are pivotal to safeguarding email communications against vulnerabilities. This exploration not only highlights the practical steps required for successful email dispatch using libcurl but also emphasizes the ongoing need for developers to stay abreast of security protocols and Gmail’s ever-evolving requirements. As the digital landscape continues to shift, so too must our approaches to secure communication. Through diligence and continuous learning, developers can harness the power of libcurl to enhance the security and reliability of their email applications, contributing to a safer online environment for all.
https://www.tempmail.us.com/en/libcurl/sending-emails-via-gmail-with-libcurl-in-c

Greetings, interlopers! After a sleepy winter season and a lazy spring, the Galactic Hub is waking back up to welcome in the beautiful summer (or winter, for our Southern Hemisphere interlopers). As bits of our glorious civilization have died or fallen into disuse, new content will bloom in its place, continuing the growth and fine-tuned evolution of our shared community. New stuff on the way!

Guidance Over Service

Before we get into that new stuff, I’d like to get some procedural (in the sense of “pertaining to procedures”) out of the way.
A centralized leadership structure was beneficial and necessary while we implemented new features, like the Colony Governor system and HubCoin. While the core governance structure of the Galactic Hub - myself as the final authority, Jordan as second-in-command, Italic as third-in-command, and post-Euclid Directors operating in largely autonomous fashion - will remain the same, the emphasis will be shifting.
Rather than encouraging our staff members to handle tasks for the Hublic - such as creating census entries, or being the primary individuals to host multiplayer events - we will instead be encouraging our staff to teach you to do these things on your own. These educated interlopers can, in turn, educate more interlopers, resulting in a more independent and confident population. The Hub functions best when it’s relatively decentralized in established features, with stronger leadership for emerging features. This is an approach we’ll be adhering to more rigorously in the future.
While the Council is still discussing the full implications of this emphasis-shift, one of the first things I’d like to make clear is: you can edit the wiki! You don’t need to ask permission first. If you make a change that shouldn’t be made, we’ll just revert it and contact you in the #wiki channel of our Discord - no harm, no foul. Most of the high-security pages are locked for edits. Don’t feel too worried about stepping on toes. On the other hand, if you’re certain you have no idea what you’re doing, please ask (in the #wiki channel) before taking a shot in the dark.
We may also be looking to expand the Council and other staff in the near future. We are also seeking comments for how we might revitalize our Chapters. The Apprenticeship program has been a good start towards this goal, but it hasn’t been fully achieved yet.

New Ziki City Renovations

Since the time of New Ziki City’s opening, the Arena District, Cuboid District, Mega-Convoy District, and Luxury District have all dropped out of existence. Whether it be due to temporal anomalies or Abyssal network sabotage, the time has come to renovate our grand Hubtropolis.
If you haven’t already completed it, please fill out our New Ziki City Citizen Survey!
So far, I’ve already completed a few changes to our Hubtropolis:

• MONTHLY REPEATING EVENTS in New Ziki City. We’ll cover those in more detail in the next section, but what this means is, every first Saturday of the month, every second Sunday of the month, etc will feature predictable, routine events which repeat every month. This should give interlopers interested in participating time to plan ahead - and if you miss an event you wanted to attend, you know you can always attend it next month! (Some events, specifically those which occur on the 5th Sat / Sun of the month, will repeat bimonthly or trimonthly as not every month will have a 5th weekend.)
  
• Construction of the Galactic Hub Triumph Dome, a massive PVP dome featuring areas suitable for 1v1, free-for-all, 2v2, or new Domination / Search-and-Destroy game modes inspired by Khyodee’s King of the Grid build. It may also be large enough for ship dogfights, but that will require testing. The broader (New) Arena District also features a large NipNip Dispensary with a comedy / poetry / etc-suitable stage, public transit to the Commerce District, and a larger public transit system under construction if we are able to reduce the overall complexity of the city. Until then, the larger public transit building will remain closed off.
  

There are also some things we’d like to add, but need volunteers to help run:

• More spotlighting of various types of talent and arts - comedy shows, ByteBeat raves, etc.
  
• Construction of hiking trails to show off the city’s more impressive vistas, caves, etc. For those unfamiliar, on hiking trails, interlopers are encouraged to disable their HUDs and navigate using only trail markers. This increases immersion by requiring more attention to be paid to your surroundings.
  

One thing was tested, and proved non-viable:

• Roads. This is unfortunate - I started building roads, and it’s not too hard of a task. But for some reason it caused issues with base uploads, even though they were far below the 3,000 part limit. For that reason, New Ziki will not have any new roads added, but future Hubtropolises might.

And finally, one future feature that I’ll need to mostly implement myself, as the person most familiar with it:

• NMS-RPG content (NPCs, quests, items, unlockable areas, etc) to new and renovated areas within the city.

Aside from this, New Ziki City is complete. We have used the entire system’s available complexity budget. New Ziki is the biggest possible city (in terms of part count) which can currently be constructed in No Man’s Sky. We did it!!!

New Ziki Repeating Monthly Events

As explained in the first bullet point of the next section, New Ziki City will feature repeating monthly events for the foreseeable future! Some events may be swapped out for other events depending on the availability of hosts. Also, Discord monthly scheduling is still a little buggy sometimes, so the dates listed below may not be exact - always check our Discord Event Calendar to confirm.
Additional details on all events can be found on our Discord Event Calendar.

Date	Name (Host)	Description
1st Friday	Social Event (HEAT)	Although the exact type of social event will vary month-by-month, the first Friday of every month will feature some event focused on socializing with your fellow interlopers.
1st Saturday	Market Day (GHTD)	Market Days are shopping events designed to be more convenient for shoppers and more lucrative for vendors. Shoppers can take advantage of special Market Day deals and more convenient shopping, as you don't need to arrange a meet-up like you normally would - the vendor is already in your session! Vendors can benefit from cross-traffic between businesses, which is not ordinarily possible.
1st Sunday	HUBTalks (HBS)	HUBTalks are monthly scheduled speaking events in the NZC Speaking Hall. Interlopers may give speeches on any topic pertaining to NMS, sci-fi, science, art, or technology. This includes comedy, performances, and demonstrations pertaining to those topics.
2nd Saturday	Sport / PVP (GHSL)	The second Saturday of every month will feature a non-combat sporting event, like Shield Wrestling or Traveler Hockey. Exact location within the city may vary.
3rd Saturday	Art Museum Day (710)	Art Museum Days give interlopers a predictable, pre-scheduled opportunity to add their own artistic contributions to the Museum of Interloper Art in the Art & Event District. Note that you may also add works at any other time of the month by requesting to do so.
3rd Sunday	Building Demo (GHBG)	The GHBG will provide a demonstration on a building technique or particular buildable object, structure, etc. Questions on base building will also be answered during this event.
4th Friday	Nightlife Event (HEAT)	This event will focus on NZC's nightlife scene, whether that means going to a ByteBeat Rave, hitting the NipNip Dispensary lounge, or doing a pub crawl in Downtown District, nightlife events are sure to be memorable - even if the memories get a bit hazy.
4th Saturday	PVP Event (GHSL)	Glory awaits on the 4th Saturday of every month, where warrior-lopers will compete in the currently-under-construction PVP arenas coming to New Ziki City. Various game modes will be featured, from 1v1 Multi-tool Combat to Boxing to Starship Dogfighting.
5th Friday	Restaurant Tour (GHTD)	Try some local cuisine during restaurant tours! Currently, all restaurants in NZC function as pop-up shops, like food trucks. Want to open your own? Contact 7101334 or italicinterloper!
5th Sunday	Group Hike (HEAT / Anyone)	Meet up at one of our New Ziki City hiking trails (which have not been constructed yet, at the time of posting) and explore the wilds with your fellow interlopers!

New Wiki

Thanks to Miraheze, the Galactic Hub now has its very own wiki! We will be discontinuing our usage of the Fandom Wiki due to excessive ads and other issues. Some select pages, like the main civilization pages, will still be updated for recruitment purposes.
https://nmsgalactichub.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page
All old Galactic Hub pages have been imported to our new wiki, meaning no hard work contributed over our years of Fandom usage will be lost.
The only slightly-negative change is that we won’t have access to the really basic pages - for example, pages explaining the concept of fauna, or pages for the various upgrades. However, most people joining the Galactic Hub will already be familiar with basic concepts like this. In cases where these pages are required, there is a way to link them to the No Man’s Sky Miraheze Wiki, which we are only loosely affiliated with
On the other hand, there will be many positive changes.

• Searching pages will be easier, as “Galactic Hub” prefixes will be dropped. For example, “Galactic Hub Multi-tool Catalog” becomes simply “Multi-tool Catalog”, because the entire wiki now pertains to the Galactic Hub by default. (Some pages will retain the prefix. For example, organization names, like Galactic Hub Star League, or base names, like Galactic Hub Capitol.)
  
• CalHub and EisHub will have differentiating suffixes for page names also used by the Galactic Hub in Euclid. For example, “Multi-tool Catalog (CalHub)”.
  
• The main page of the wiki can now serve as a directory to various types of Galactic Hub content. This, in turn, allows us to simplify the main “Galactic Hub Project” page to function more as an introduction to new citizens. On Fandom, we depended on this page to serve as an introduction and content directory simultaneously.
  
• RPG content now has a clear dedicated space, allowing it to be easily differentiated from more fact-based content. Use the “NMS-RPG:” namespace to search content pertaining to player-created narratives, or create your own narrative-focused pages.
  
• Guides now have a clear dedicated space, allowing them to be easily collated for use by new or returning interlopers. Use the “Guide:” namespace to search content designed to help explain concepts or techniques.
  

Note that, because Miraheze is an ad-free experience, it relies entirely on voluntary donations. We will occasionally promote those calls for donations to help guarantee the continued stability of this volunteer-run platform.
If you see any outdated content which needs to be updated, please post it in the #wiki thread of our Discord. A number of old pages - for example, the Colonies page - have been updated with current info!

New Census

Cheating a bit here as this is also part of the new wiki, but the Interloper Census is such an integral part of our history that this deserves its own section.
The Census has been considerably reworked. Instead of a bureaucratically-natured population count, it now functions as your public profile and service record in the Galactic Hub community. Check out the page to see what I mean!
Interlopers are encouraged to update the Census on their own, but Achievements need to be confirmed by the relevant authorities before adding them to your entry. If you add achievements without confirmation, they will be revoked.
The old function of the census - determining how many players are active in Galactic Hub space, and automatically listing all bases in Hub space - will be replaced by two new tools/pages:
The old census, which had the primary function of determining how many interlopers are active in Galactic Hub space, was abandoned due to ApexFatality’s Atlas tool delivering a far more comprehensive picture of how many bases are constructed in Hub space every year (over 2,000!) than the Census ever did.
The Bases page will now function as a non-automated a list of all player bases in Hub space. Because it’s not automated, it will be less complete than the Atlas tool. But unlike the Atlas tool, it will contain images and other relevant information helpful for base tourists.
We’re 4 months away from October, which is traditionally Hub Month, a month packed with extra events and a massive party for Founding Day on the 29th. Until then, we’ve got plenty to keep us busy in Hub space. Good journeys interlopers!

Was doing some semi mathematical/philosophical thought experiments, and of all the things I did not expect to stumble on a paradox between these two concepts so I thought I'd share.
I'm going to give the main idea, but at the bottom I'll share some preliminaries for those unfamiliar with the relevant concepts, as in I explain it all so this post is still self contained. So if you're feeling lost below, skip to the bottom first. Even if you don't care for this specific argument, I think it's worth thinking about or extrapolating from the concepts in preliminaries, since a lot of people talk about God's infinite nature but don't often confront the paradoxes that have to do with infinity and are mathematically sound but can pose problems (the first time I engaged with it was after learning Cantor's theorem, since that seriously seems to imply either God's infinity is not the biggest infinity, or somehow not remotely definable/it doesn't even mean anything). So I think this is overall good practice.
EDIT (can skip this and go on to actual paradox if you’re getting impatient): While reflecting, I realized a lot of readers might think I'm a crank for writing something this technical on something related to God. I promise everything I wrote however is technically sound and coherent. The reason it is this technical is because it has to be to construct a logically precise question which God can no longer answer, if He's generous enough to share (even if we restrict to only being after an eternity) all His knowledge to any one person. And that's what it takes to show the paradox between being "the most knowledgeable you can conceive" with "the most generous you can conceive." I'm not myself convinced any of this argument is overkill.
The Specific Paradox
Suppose human lives are infinite, which you believe if there’s an eternal afterlife, then consider the set of “all knowledge humans would obtain after infinite time”. Obviously this set can be enumerated, f(1), f(2), f(3),… etc. Now what I'm about to describe is a construct that cannot really exist physically, but it is perfectly definable in math, in a sense that you can ask questions about it that have objective truth values. Basically define a modified Turing machine, but one where there is a second head, and instructions for when the second head takes a step, such that each step of the second head is essentially enumerating that set we just named (so in a single step it will print a new element of that set on the tape, wherever the head is). Now for this new type of machine, each such machine can be encoded with a number just like Turing machines, and such that you can code one machine to be able to simulate others when given the corresponding encoding. Each such machine can either halt or not halt like a regular Turing machine, and just like regular Turing machines, you can prove that no such machine in this class can solve the halting problem for this type of machine. This also means that the set of “all knowledge humans would obtain after infinite time” cannot contain the solution to this class of machine’s halting problem, since if it did that would be a contradiction with the fact this machine can enumerate that set as a feature.
Now, we can define a set, the set of all encodings of machines in this class, such that those encodings correspond to halting machines in this class.
If God is the most knowledgeable that we can conceive of, He can decide this set, can take any number and say whether it’s in the set or not.
That would imply God has more knowledge than the set of “all knowledge humans would obtain after infinite time.”
On the other hand, suppose a person really likes knowledge, and asks for “all knowable truths but after infinite time.” Then if God is the most generous we can conceive of, it seems not unfair for God to grant this, especially since the person is asking after infinite time, it’s not like they're even asking for it all at once/will ever really have it at one point in time. So it seems more than fair to grant that request, especially if you belong to one of the monotheistic faiths that believes heaven is where you're granted "whatever the heart desires that's possible." And it isn't inconceivable some nerd would want this, but if it is granted to them then it would contradict God being “the most knowledgeable we can conceive of,” since the set of numbers we described above and deciding it (meaning you can name whether an element is in it or not) would not be encompassed by the set of all of God's knowledge, since that would lead to the earlier halting contradiction we described. So you end up having one or the other, either the most generous we can conceive of or the most knowledgeable we can conceive of.
Analysis (skip below if you need preliminaries)
So a couple things. I'd like to repeat that even this request is somewhat restricted, since you're not even asking to be granted all of God's knowledge, you're asking to be “granted it only if we consider the set union of my knowledge at all future points of time.” And in fact, in some people's minds, "the most generous we can conceive of" would already pre-emptively entail an agreement to share all possible knowledge, since sharing knowledge is good no? So an explicit request isn't even necessarily necessary for this paradox.
Some other points. All of this falls under the framework that all knowledge in existence (including God’s knowledge) is a countable infinity, obviously God might instead have an uncountable amount of knowledge, but my issue with that is once you allow it, it becomes a “where do we stop” thing, because for every set you can define the set of all subsets of that set which will always be bigger by Cantor's theorem. So either the “set of all of God’s knowledge” is not even meaningful to talk about, or there is a limit, specifically a certain size of infinity where we stop at, and if it’s the latter then it seems very humanly arrogant to assume it’s any one specific cardinality (cardinality just means size but rigorously generalized to include size of infinities). Even if it's some specific uncountable cardinality however, you can easily modify this paradox to work with that cardinality as well.
You could also alternatively even reject any infinity exists, which would imply God is not an actual infinity and therefore can’t solve even the normal halting problem, that is a legitimate possibility too. But the property of being “greatest [insert property] that we conceive of” for most people is usually taken to mean an actual infinity, so they have to reckon with this. You could simply opt for agnosticism on this point, but in that case you cannot then use infinite as an adjective freely.
Ultimately, in the case that one does believe God exists and has an infinite nature and/or really does have attributes of the form "greatest [insert property] I can conceive of" (which would be infinite in certain cases like knowledge, e.g. even the standard halting problem has a solution but you provably need infinite knowledge to be able to solve it for instance, unless it having a solution is not in the possible knowledge you can conceive of, though that seems absurd), then this paradox illustrates that one of three things must be true:

1. God would grant the request of someone that desires “all possible knowledge given infinite time” but then God is no longer of the class of “the most knowledgeable we can conceive of” because there is a countable set of natural numbers we can even refer to that He cannot decide.
   
2. God would deny that request, and thus all possible sets we can refer to are decidable by Him, but then God is potentially not of the class of “the most generous we can conceive of."
   
3. God can’t grant that request to begin with because His knowledge is a greater cardinality than the natural numbers, and my usage of “infinite time” here was meant to be countable, although you could easily alter the paradox to include higher cardinalities in the request so this isn't really a point it just changes the goalposts.
   

I would like to know how those of you that believe in an omni[something] God and afterlife personally reconcile this paradox. As someone who does lean towards believing in a supreme monotheistic creator, I personally lean towards 2, that the knowledge precedes generosity, but I honestly don't have a philosophical justification yet.
Now, as I promised, here are some preliminaries:
Preliminaries
Countable and uncountable infinity, turtles all the way down
One relevant concept I brought up that might be unfamiliar to people, that I think should be the most well known though it's not central to the argument, is that of sizes of infinity. Honestly, I'm a little lazy so I'm just going to link this 8 minute video that does a marvelous job at explaining it. I know 8 minutes is a tough ask but I promise it's worth, and the rest in this post is self contained.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elvOZm0d4H0
No technical background needed, a grade schooler can understand it, and I think it's worth learning about regardless of who you are, since Cantor's theorem really is one of humanity's greatest intellectual achievements.
Note he goes into the specific example of a countable infinity (the natural numbers) and how the first uncountable infinity is bigger (using the real numbers as an example). However Cantor's more general theorem applies to all sets, saying the set of all subsets of that set will always be a bigger set, even when our sets are infinite. Stated differently, there is always a bigger infinity. If you haven't seen this theorem before, depending on who you are this is either surprising to you or not surprising to you, and in both cases I can guarantee whatever reasoning you're using is wrong, but to see why watch the video :)
The exact proof in the video is a proof by contradiction similar to the halting problem proof I'll do below. But for Cantor's more general theorem I just stated, the proof while in the same spirit is a little more abstract than the specific example in the video, so I won't explain it here but feel free to check it out on wikipedia if you're curious.
Turing Machines
So the most relevant concept is that of a Turing Machine. While this may sound fancy, it's actually not hard to understand at all. Imagine a mathematician who can only write one symbol at a time. Except the chalkboard he's using to write is infinitely long. Do you get that? Then congratulations, you now know what a Turing Machine is.
Why the exact details of Turing Machines don’t matter
Sometimes people will present it as more technical, as a head that moves along an infinite tape writing only 0's and 1's. But that is basically what we just described, minus the limitation to 0 and 1. But the reason people use 0 and 1 is to show that in fact, this simplicity where you only have a 2 letter alphabet, is still powerful enough that you can use this model still to simulate other models that have a bigger alphabet. So the point when people do that isn't that we're intentionally restricting to 2 letters, but that 2 letters is all we need, even to do stuff that requires more! Even other details like the number of tapes or the dimension of the tape don't matter, since they can all simulate each other. So the point really is just that we can get away with something as minimal as possible, and that in some sense the details really don’t matter.
Why Turing Machines philosophically matter
Really the more relevant point though is that a Turing Machine is simply philosophically codifying what was already intuitive to humans, namely the idea of any finite procedure. Like an algorithm, a recipe, etc. As long as you allow instructions for behavior, and that behavior is allowed to be unbounded (while loop), then you basically have a Turing Machine.
On the other hand if you have a programming language with programs that contain if statements ("if [this] do [this"), for loops (which is just specifying an action to be done a certain number of times, but not infinitely), but NOT while loops (while [this is true] do [this'), then this is not a Turing Machine, because the "while" is the key, the infinite chalkboard, since what that opens up is the ability to never stop. Which might seem like a flaw at first, and it is in certain respects, but opening up that possibility is actually what gives computers the expressive power they have in solving problems believe it or not.
Footnote on Turing Machine usefulness in real life (can skip to next section if you don’t care): An asterisk here is that in real life there is no infinite memory so computers will always eventually stop, but A. we obviously don't want programs to run out of memory because they would have needed infinite memory anyway, both cause it's bad to use all memory but also you'd ideally want to know to stop it short before it meaninglessly loops like that and B. In some cases programs are meant to run for long enough/as long as possible before hitting some constraint that it's more or less still useful to model them as functionally infinite. Regardless for the sake of this paradox and mathematicians, even if it wasn't useful the idea of algorithms that might not stop still represent perfectly definable mathematical objects we can meaningfully talk about which belong to "the set of all possible knowledge".
Universal Simulation
Turing Machines are encodable. Once you settle on the specifics of the machine, like what the alphabet is etc (which isn't that important), then there will exist a way to encode each machine as a single whole number. And in such a way that you can define a Turing Machine that can in fact parse this number in order to simulate the machine.
You can even define a machine that takes in the encoding of any other machine, and all it does is simulate it, essentially a universal computer which is conceptually like your laptop at home. Also you can define the encoding scheme to involve every natural number, simply by having non valid encodings (which can also be recognized by machines as non valid) represent by default a basic machine that just does nothing. So essentially all natural numbers are Turing Machines. From now on if M is a Turing Machine, will refer to the number encoding it.
Undecidability of the standard halting problem
Anyway so because we have the possibility of our programs never halting, the halting problem is quite literally to decide whether a Turing Machine will halt or not halt.
(More specifically you have a number, and you want to decide if that number represents a Turing Machine that halts. Technically it's if the Turing machine halts on a specific input, so you would need an input in addition to the number, however we can actually change our encoding so that every natural number encodes both a Turing Machine and input for it. If you do that, then the problem really does become equivalent to "you have this well defined set of numbers, each representing Turing Machine-input pairs, and you're trying to decide for any number if it's in that set, meaning it represents a Turing Machine-input pair that halts" which is how I prefer to think of the halting problem, I'm just abusing my language and will keep doing so for consistency, but it's not that important).
Now if the halting problem is solvable, by a mathematician, computer, whatever, we can represent that as a Turing Machine Q that takes in an encoding of a machine and an input x, (so we can represent it's behavior as Q(, x)) and tells us whether M halts on x or never halts. You can then easily construct a machine Q' where Q'() does the following:
Q'():

Simulates Q, specifically running Q(, ) and thus checking if M halts on the encoding that represents itself.
If it does not halt, this program Q' halts.
If it does halt, this program Q' loops forever.

Now, what happens if we run Q'()? If Q' halts on itself then it loops forever, and if it does not halt on itself, then it halts, a contradiction. Yet this program is easily constructible if the halting problem is solvable, since it's built by simulating the program that solves that. Therefore that assumption must be wrong. So no program, no mathematician or anyone, can take in an encoding of a Turing Machine and some input, and tell us whether it halts or does not halt. The only way to do that would be if you have infinite knowledge, and I would assume most monotheists here upon learning about this problem really would believe "God can do it. God can solve the halting problem," thus implying God's knowledge is an actual infinite, since otherwise you would run into contradiction like this proof. In fact for some, this may even be used to reinforce why God must be of an infinite nature, that omniscience wouldn't be compatible with any fact to the contrary. The alternative is either believing He can't, or choosing agnosticism on such matters.
More turtles all the way down
Note that you can always define a new type of Turing Machine that's exactly the same but has an oracle that can solve the halting problem. Just like before this machine is also encodable. And just like the modified machine in the paradox this can't really exist remotely physically, even if we forgot finiteness constraints since we already showed the halting problem is unsolvable - this oracle is purely a theoretical construct. However, this new type of machine will have it's own halting problem that it can't solve for equivalent machines. And then you can define an oracle for that halting problem. But once again you'll just get an even higher level halting problem. So even if you can solve the halting problem there are higher level halting problems you still can't solve (google "arithmetic hierarchy" if you're interested, it's more general but basically quantifies how "unsolvable" a set is, yielding an infinite tower of classes, each containing sets "more unsolvable" than the last). Of course if you're like me, you would just shrug it off as God can solve all of these problems.
EDIT WITH SOME MORE THOUGHTS:
Just wanted to add you can also use the argument I presented to show that assuming the set of "all of God's knowledge" is a real infinite set (I argue in preliminaries why most who accept omniscience would agree it's infinite), you can always construct a question that's solution is not in the set, a paradox of omniscience alone since we can refer to a question that by definition can't be solved by God. To be fair this also runs into issues of epistemology itself, since you could use the same for the set of all knowledge in general, and therefore one could even argue that in some sense certain "truths" just don't exist/truth isn't definable. Which I guess has already been sorta established by folks like Tarski using other methods. In any case I presented the argument I'm giving as a generosity paradox, since once it's a question that is derived by being defined as unsolveable with respect to the set of all of a human's knowledge (which is what we're doing in some sense), that feels far more like intuitively it should have a solution by the being that's "the most knowledgeable we can conceive of" than a question that's specifically defined to be unsolveable with respect to all of just their knowledge (which again, defining it like that is what we're doing in some sense, though we need to do work to show it's well defined which is what the proof was). Maybe what I'm trying to say is, if omniscience alone can't deal with logical omniscient paradoxes, perhaps it should always at least maintain the hierarchy/superiority aspect of it, and that even that sorta goes into disarray if we allow a maximal generosity (in the context of this post, that being sharing all of one's knowledge, not necessarily all at once, I used a more relaxed condition, where it's in a way that they'd still get all of it given infinite time).

TLDR HVAC company replaced damaged Bryant 187bna036-d AC compressor on a Bryant 926TB 2-stage furnace with 2 wires from furnace to compressor and Ecobee thermostat with a Bryant 189bnv036-c Evolution series fully communicating, continuously variable/5-stage compressor and THEN, several months later when cooling actually needed, after discovering incompatibility between new compressor and Ecobee stat and need for more wires from furnace to compressor, company replaced Ecobee with Honeywell Prestige IAQ thermostat with Electronic Control Module to make 5 stage/cont variable compressor act like a 2-stage compressor (running stage 3 as low stage and stage 5 as high stage). Question: is this new Frankenstein system okay in the long-term? How messed up is this? Advice on how to navigate this situation as a non-HVAC savy homeowner. Am I getting f'ed and how bad?
Saga and details below.
So a couple years ago I had a new HVAC system installed by a local company. Furnace, AC, Compressor, Ecobee thermostat the whole scholarship. Got a Bryant 926TB 2-stage furnace with a Bryant 187BNA036-D AC compressor and the Ecobee ECB402 thermostat. All 2 stage and, as I have learned, non-communicating. It worked great to control temp of my 1978 tri-level with a basement 1800 square ft house in Colorado.
Fast forward, one fall day the compressor unit gets damaged sprays coolant everywhere, I know I'm hosed and need a new one. Call up the company that installed system and tell them I screwed up and need to give them a lot of money to replace the compressor. After a couple winter months go by, guy comes out in spring to install a new compressor. Realizes he had grabbed a different but similar compressor to what we ordered as a replacement says it is just a more expensive but more efficient unit and he will install it with no additional charge anyway. I ask will it work with the system, he says yes, I don't know any better so I trust the professional. He installs the Bryant Evolution series 189BNV036-C communicating compressor. He has some confusion about the wiring, but "figures it out" and runs his functionality test and says it is working fine. I ask "so is there anything I need to be aware of and will I have AC when the weather really gets warm?" He says everything is good to go and I will have great efficient cooling 👍. Those that know these models will have picked up that in fact, when the hot weather rolled around, no I did not have cooling because the fully communicating, variable speed/5 stage 189B... compressor is not compatible with an Ecobee thermostat and requires an Evolution series system to get all that gee whiz efficiency. I discovered this after I got back from vacation (overnight flight, no sleep) and the temps hit the upper 90s and I got a notification from my Ecobee that said "hey your system has been calling for cooling for 4 hours and the interior temp has gone up." Look at the compressor and notice that the fan blades still have a nice coat of powdery pollin, so they haven't been spinning to move air across the coils. Neat.
Called up the company that did the previous 2 installs and said "hey the compressor you installed a couple months ago is not cooling." They send a tech who starts poking around to figure out what is wrong. After a couple hours, the poor SOB asks "was your original compressor fully communicating?" I respond "what do you mean by that?" He explains it, I say no. His face droops and I hear him mentally scream obscenities. He says that we only have 2 wires coming out to the compressor and it needs more. I gather that the guy who installed the replacement, installed the wrong thing in the wrong way. Diagnostic tech gets on the horn to his boss. They run through some things in the basement. He comes up and I overhear that they are discussing solutions and boss wants the tech to ask me to cover the $500 of equipment to make it work. Tech's face says "tf you say?" then tells the boss that he is standing with us and the boss should ask us himself and tech hands me his phone. Boss asks me to pay $500 for new thermostat equipment to fix the company's cock up and tells me the installer who did the replacement install no longer works there. I tell him no I will not pay $500 to fix their cock up. He says okay, they will eat it and get the system working (gotta try I guess). Weather is hot, forecasted to stay hot, getting a new compressor quickly is uncertain/not likely given summer demand, I am sleep deprived and just want a cool house so my wife and kid can sleep, etc so we go with the new stat with a remote controller to deal with the not enough wires issue and get things running.
Next day new tech comes replaces my beloved, useful, multi sensor Ecobee with a Honeywell Prestige IAQ stat after deciding that the Beyant Connex is not necessary (at that point that is all Greek to me), which I trust the professional will work. After 7 hours of that work I have cooling. He hasn't pressure tested or dialed it in because he lost the tools/probes earlier in the day. He gives a basic run down of the new stat and the ap. Then because the company is pushing him to another job at 6PM on a Friday he takes off and says he will come back after the weekend to do the pressure test and dial it in. He made some educated guesses on settings so it "shouldn't freeze up over the weekend." I start trying to program/schedule the Honeywell stat, and quickly realize it is a POS which I will ask specifically about elsewhere.
I start reading manuals and and Googling trying to educate myself on what I have going on here. Learn that the Evolution series equipment uses proprietary connections and is really picky etc and works best with the Bryant Connex stat and controller stuff. Also learn that the Honeywell is $350 equipment not $500 and that the Bryan Connex stat is $800-$1000 dollar equipment. But I clearly don't HVAC, which is why I hire pros to do this stuff, so I am a bit lost on whether all this stuff actually works together; if what the company did to "make it right" actually made things right; or whether my now Frankenstein system will function properly, efficiently, and effectively and not cost an arm and a leg to run (the thermostat replacement tech said I should run the fan continuously, so...).
Now, I respect tradesfolk and want to trust them and give them the benefit of the doubt, but things seem to have gone sour in this situation. So I just want to know how f'ed am I here. Is it time to call in a different company to rip out the Honeywell stat and replace it with a Bryant stat? Should I eat a turd sandwich have a different company rip out the wrong compressor and put in a new compressor that is actually compatible with my furnace and reinstall the Ecobee? How do I navigate this situation to the best long-term outcome?

Introduction:
This concept has manifested itself from multiple theses and theories that I have seen around here. Though it is based on ideas that may be well known, I have not seen anyone represent the whole thing in the way that I intend to. It is not a theory about plot, characters, Roaring Knight candidates or anything like that. This is speculation on what Deltarune is going to be gameplay-narrative-wise. I will take my time to introduce all the information that I'm going to use, so this may take a while.
Part 1: Your choices don't matter
Story-wise, we, as a Player, don't make any significant changes to the way things are. What we really do is just walk to our destination through fighting darkners. Grind gold, buy stuff - all the classic JRPG stuff falls on our shoulders. Most important, impactful things are done without our input; we don't even close the fountains ourselves. Whatever we choose to do, fountains are in the same place, we go there and close them. Susie will come to our house, Kris will slash the tires, open the fountain and so on. The most impact we make is the Weird Route - even so, things above stay as they are. Whatever we try, our destiny is mainly unchanged. But there is someone who takes our ability to make choices away and makes their own - setting the course of the story.
Part 2: Kris
DISCLAIMER: When I talk about Kris in this particular scenario, this may mean Kris themselves, "Third Entity", something else from the outside taking control during the night, or everything at once. I don't really have a solid take on this, so I will refer to all these possibilities simply as "Kris".
During daytime and in the Dark Worlds, it may seem that we are in full control of Kris and their actions. However, they are able to do some things on their own (such as standing up to King and protecting Susie), choose in what way to do things we select, show their own emotions when saying phrases we select (unless it completely opposes their will) without any need to get rid of us. At the same time, during the weird route, when we make Kris do things they clearly don't want to, they don't (or can't) interrupt us.
Things drastically change at the end of the chapters when the nighttime comes: soul is thrown out of the body, so Kris can do whatever they want. And what do they do? At the end of chapter 1, they menacingly take out a knife and turn to us, the Player, as if knowing we are there. At the time, people would believe many things, some even implying that Kris just went and massacred the whole town or something. When chapter 2 came out, we found out that nothing of the sort has happened. Kris just used that knife to cut and eat some butterscotch pie (all of it, actually). Many people believe that it was pretty much it: Toby Fox just tobyfoxed us, he set everything up to fool us! Oh, it's so him! Unless..?
Part 3: Mystery
Chapter 2 narration suddenly changes: it becomes darker, perplexed. As if the game decided to drop all masks and directly acknowledge the existence of Player while still keeping its secrets from us. In the very beginning, while still at home, we are met with small but strange details: TV is plugged in, unusual descriptions of things, and perhaps the most infamous one - when you interact with the sink, it has a text appear: "It is not yet time to wash your hands". Funnily, the first meaning that comes to mind is figurative, until we know the hidden one - literal. It is the end of chapter 2 when we have to literally go to bathroom and wash hands - so Kris can do their thing. It is as if narrator knew in advance what was going to happen. Unless they make it happen?
Part 4: Fate
In the same moment, when you try to use the sink in the kitchen, it just won't let you: "But, isn't the sink at the bathroom better?". Your ability to choose is taken away, and it seems that someone else is in control now. You are not making decisions anymore - if your choices didn't matter before, now you can't make them at all. All you can do is watch Kris make them. Their actions are not chaotic: in fact, they look very planned. They knew what was going to happen today, and they knew exactly what they needed to do. Pretending to wash their hands, getting out of the window, slashing tires, getting back, opening the door at night, and finally, opening the fountain. And after all this, do we really believe that Kris just ate the pie on the first night?
All those details about TV plugged in and so on are not random - they were set up by Kris to create an exact chain of events. They knew Susie was going to come; they plugged in the TV and planted the remote between pillows - right where Susie would look first. How do we know the remote was planted? Well, Susie says it is dusty, and things don't really get dusty there. How did they know Susie was coming? Because they ate the pie, so Toriel would invite Susie to come and bake another one - something Susie couldn't refuse (eating that pie afterwards, that is). But how would they even know about this? How do we know this is not a bunch of coincidences? We, as Player, would know what could make this happen. What gives us much more power than every other character in the game? The very same thing that is required to open fountains, which Kris does without us.
Part 5: Determination
As it is called in Undertale, determination is a power that basically gives control over the timeline. Its main use is the ability to save and reset the timeline of the game, which also makes you practically immortal. Before Frisk would fall to the Ruins, Flowey had held this power due to him being injected with determination by Alphys. When we arrive, he seems to know more than he shows, and he is well aware of the timeline being reset. We don't really see him planning and scheming around, but we know for a fact that he has been talking to Papyrus, giving "advice" and "predictions". They are giving such to us too: when finishing the Pacifist Neutral route, he would tell us to load our SAVE file and see Dr. Alphys (or someone we haven't befriended yet, depending on your playthrough). He knows more than us, even in situations that he couldn't experience before we came. This plays out the same way in Deltarune.
Kris, supposedly, is the previous "master" of determination: their knowledge of the future, existing save file in Dark World, ability to create fountains - all tells us they share a power similar to ours, if not the same. And with the knowledge they have, Kris can still utilize determination to set the course of events the way they want to, and we can't do anything about it. But what CAN we do?
Part 6: Three Save Files
As the current master of determination, we have control over save files. Unlike Undertale, which had only one save file, Deltarune has three of them. And not only we are able to create and erase them, but there is also a copy option. Usually, this isn't a thing; why would you copy a save? Anyway, there is something interesting going on with this before you complete the first chapter. When you do different things to save files, such as copying, overwriting, erasing, aborting erase, you get certain responses from an enigmatic narrator in the menu. To see this happen, you can check it yourself or watch these short videos by The Irken Luxray:
https://youtu.be/g6eZVewq0K0
https://youtu.be/Wj33L0F_-bI
This may be another "oh, it's just Toby Fox playing with us, you know him!" moment but I have my doubts. Even more, the save files have differences. When you check Asriel's drawer, you get different responses for each save - you can check this video by Faxz: https://youtu.be/ru1cn0wvSK0
And finally, save files share information. Beating a secret boss once in one file will make it carry over to the others.
Summarizing everything, we can see that there is a major game mechanic basis for saves that does recognize many different combinations of manipulating saves, makes saves have distinct differences in information, but at the same time, allows carrying information from one save to others. In my opinion, this may give Player an opportunity.
Part 7: Your choices are important, too
The way we will be able to make choices is through save files. It is not really clear what exactly we will need to do: perhaps we will need to complete different routes; perhaps we will need to defeat certain secret bosses, collect items, choose dialogue - anything. It is not known who we are really supposed to beat: Knight, Kris or maybe even Gaster. In any case, I believe that by completing the game in a certain way in all three save files and manipulating them, we can change our fate and reach the one true ending. It is very much possible that we will have to complete Weird Routes, in a sense that we will influence other characters so that they would make choices we need. As Ralsei said, "This world is full of all kinds of people, Kris. In the end, how we treat them makes all the difference." In Undertale, we had three routes and only one save file. In Deltarune, we have three save files and only one ending(?)
Conclusion:
Thank you to everyone who has survived until this point. This concept is not meant to try and convince you what "really" Deltarune is. Again, this is just speculation. And everyone is welcome to speculate, criticize and offer even more proof to this theory. I personally believe that, if this concept is true, it is something that might have made the development of Deltarune so long. It is not easy to plan ahead and program such massive game mechanic. And the reason the first two chapters could be released separately is that multiple save interactions have not yet been introduced. Even though there can be some kind of foreshadowing, it doesn't affect the plot yet.
TL;DR: We will use all three save files to make a difference, affect the plot and reach the true ending

Prequel (Chapters 1 to 16)
1. Rise of a Valkyrie
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A warm breeze rustled through the leaves of the peach blossom forest as Kayla walked with Urtiga. They were in the Vale of the Fallen, where every tree represented a woman who had been lost in the service of Valkyrie, and the sturdy, immortal trunks stretched as far as the eye could see.
Urtiga liked to take Kayla to meet her fallen friends, and tell their stories. She insisted that it was the only way to keep alive the memories of those who were lost, and the knowledge they had earned in blood.
For Kayla it was an honor and a privilege. By tacit agreement, no woman ever went further into the forest than their own generation, unless invited, because they would be able to guess the age of the Valkyrie they met.
“I still don’t understand why you took me under your wing,” Kayla said, as they walked back to the entrance. “I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”
Urtiga gave her a mild shove. “Have you been feeling sorry for yourself? You know that’s not what I want to hear.”
“A little bit,” Kayla admitted. She reached up and scratched at a bad rash on her neck, and winced at the movement.
“Training accident?” Urtiga asked.
Kayla chuckled “No, I got a bit over-zealous with my role, and Thandi made me pay for it. She’s got this natural talent for all martial arts. Makes me super jealous.”
“Okay, I get,” said Urtiga. “You’ve been screwing up.”
“And then some. You heard about the friendly fire incident?”
Urtiga smiled wryly. “Which one? My unit had one too, you know.”
“At least nobody got shot in yours.”
“Kayla, anything can happen once bullets start flying.”
“Yeah, that’s what everyone says. I just don’t know if I’ve got this leadership business figured out yet.”
Urtiga shook her head and said nothing. Then she stopped in her tracks.
“My whole family got vaporized by a bomb on Titan. During the Sol war—most people don’t even remember it now. It’s a footnote in any history book.” She looked sadly into the distance. “A few rebels versus the Earth government in a weeklong exchange of ordinance that achieved nothing. Valkyrie took me in, and I’ve never known anything else.
Kayla watched her mentor as she took in every word.
“My older sister was the coolest person I knew. We used to do everything together; run around the colony, steal boats and race them on the methane lakes. When the bombs started falling, we all ran into the basement. They told me to stay still, but I was too scared, and we always used to run from trouble, so I got out of their grip and raced outside.”
She smiled. “I honestly thought they would follow me. But I looked back and the whole building just disintegrated. They used a bunker buster because they said they the rebels had tunneled under our houses. There was nothing left at all.”
“Did you blame yourself?” Kayla asked.
Despite the rush of grief and horror, and the parade of questions, she didn’t want to overreact. She had no business falling to pieces when she hadn’t experienced what Urtiga, at more than a century old, had already healed from. Even with her own memories, excessive sympathy made her uncomfortable.
“Sure,” Urtiga said. “I went through the whole rollercoaster for decades. But anyway, when you lost your dad, I thought you could use an older sister. So that’s why I took you under my wing.”
Kayla suddenly lost control of her voice. “Sometimes I wish you were my mother.”
“Oh, I’d be a terrible mother,” Urtiga said as she awkwardly kicked at a fallen branch. “Besides, yours is still alive.”
“But she’s a narcissist,” Kayla insisted. “There’s nothing there to connect with.”
“You remember when you came to Tyr? The first thing I said to you? It was so awful, and I beat myself up about it for ages.”
Kayla thought for a moment, then laughed. “Did I regret the day you met me? The day my dad died? Yeah, I wasn’t sure about that one, but I think I forgot about it quickly with everything that was going on.”
“You see? I can’t be a mother. I’ve lost the touch. I don’t think I’m a narcissist, but… well, you would be reminded of one from time to time.”
“You probably could, if you wanted to be.”
“Just like you could be a good team leader, if you wanted to be?”
Kayla stopped short and lifted her head to stare at the sky through the pink blossoms above them. She felt very angry, and very stupid at the same time.
“I’m a reckless, irresponsible idiot, and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Urtiga nodded. “That’s about how most of us start out. It’s very on the job training.”
“But the others… they need someone way better than me.”
“No, they need you, because you are an excellent soldier, and as soon as you stop trying to take responsibility for the risks they accepted for themselves, you’ll figure that out.”
Urtiga stopped and stared down the path. The forest had given way to a crowd of evenly spaced young saplings. Where she was looking, Kayla saw Christe and Thandi sat by one of them, talking happily. “Your friend Rose didn’t join this organization because she wanted to live forever. She joined because she wanted her life to count for something more than herself. And it did.”
Kayla tried to sniff back tears. “But Rayker got away. I let it happen again.”
Urtiga grabbed her shoulder and looked her in the eye. “I don’t want to hear that. We let Rayker get away. It was a team failure, and won’t be the last we have to endure. But you know we’ll hunt her down again. And some more women will die. And one day we will succeed, and it will all have been worth it. If you don’t give everything you have to make that happen, failures included, then what does that mean for the sacrifices of those that did?”
***
After she left Urtiga, Kayla joined her friends at the sapling where Rose’s body was buried.
“How’s your shoulder?” Thandi asked.
“It’s good, but I need to stretch it some more. Did you really have to dislocate it?”
“I dunno. I guess we’ll see how you do over the next couple of weeks.”
“One of these days it’s going to be me kicking your ass,” Kayla said with a grimace.
Thandi laughed, and shook her head dismissively.
“How is the wide-eyed, naïve, and totally unsuspecting future of our precious organization?” Kayla asked.
Thandi scoffed. “Driving forward with a spring in her step. Barely put off by your doom and gloom speech. Still idolizes the squad in general, and you in particular, in defiance of explanation. Ray’s taken her under her wing.”
“That’s good,” Kayla nodded. “Ray’s awesome.”
“What will happen to Yak?” Christie asked.
“She was already near the end of her probation,” Kayla said. Valkyrie were usually required to serve a five-year term as a Ranger before they could specialize into other units. “And she was already on a program to prep for Pararescue selection. Either way, she won’t come back to our squad.”
“What a coldly bureaucratic system your battalions operate under.”
“Obviously. Duty comes before everything else.”
Christie looked thoughtful. “Do you know, I’ve heard a lot of stories about your friend Ray. I feel certain she’s spent a lot more than five years as a Ranger.”
Thandi shrugged. “You can stay however long you want. Before Ash left, she told me Ray was in Winter battalion before Mountain. But she’s super cagey about it.”
“She’s easily the most dialed in Ranger in the company, too,” Kayla observed.
“Of course,” Christie mused, “Given the advantages of nanite enhancement, we have no idea how old many of our colleagues are. I was shocked when I learned Urtiga was nearly a hundred and forty years old. You can’t remotely tell by looking.”
“Sure,” Kayla said. “Ray can be a bit adolescent though, especially when it comes to men.”
Christie only raised an eyebrow.
“I just hope we have time to get our rookie up to speed before we have to go face Rayker again,” Kayla said, absently. She picked a blade of grass and studied it closely.
“Unlikely,” Christie said after a thoughtful pause. “One cannot move a small army of alien war machines around without generating chatter. She might go into hibernation in dead space somewhere—and who am I to make assumptions about her strategy? But if she moves, we will know within weeks. There are many ears to the ground, you see. It’s a very all-hands on deck situation.”
“I would bet,” Thandi said carefully, “that the Delta-Three-Alpha mess gave the chiefs a wakeup call. They need to reorganize Valkyrie into a large-scale, coordinated force, rather than the piecemeal cleanup groups they’ve gotten used to.
“But there are so many problems with that approach,” Christie argued. “You cannot simply start moving a private army into human space without catastrophic effects.”
Thandi shrugged. “Come on Chris. This whole ‘neutral protectors’ thing was never going to last. Between the trafficking and Rayker… something had to change. Everyone knows it.”
Christie scoffed. “Oh gosh, how could I forget that we had the benefit of perfect moral righteousness to guide us?”
Kayla gave her a disappointed look. “But you think we have superior intellect, don’t you? Here’s the thing, you might want to revisit some of your assumptions about who exactly is in the driving seat of the Ranger battalions. And they don’t necessarily share the opinions of the officer-intel class.”
Christie stared at her, speechless. When she finally spoke, she sounded offended. “I’m stunned you would even use a term like that. What happened to one-team one-fight?”
Kayla just shrugged. She couldn’t help being the bearer of bad news.
“I’m sorry, I thought I had joined a responsible paramilitary organization. Now my friends tell me I’m part of a gang, a mob, of angry, over-powered ego maniacs. I suppose this is the time where I need to shut up and do as I’m told by those with the guns, is that right?”
“That’s unfair,” Thandi said. “I hate the way you try to oversimplify everything.”
“Un-simplify it for me then,” Christie said, as her cheeks began to color.
Thandi’s voice softened. “You know that Valkyrie puts reputation and experience before rank, and you know that the most senior veterans could be anyone. Probably only the chiefs know who the old guard are.”
“It is an extremely effective clique; I grant you that.”
“Officers are a necessity for organization and coordination. They are the nerves which drive the muscle. But the body has a heart, and it has a gut.”
“An organ for pumping blood and another for digesting food, gosh, what an insightful metaphor.” Christie said coldly.
Kayla chuckled. “Which part do you think is the ass—sorry, sorry.” She looked down as her friends scowled her into silence.
“Listen Chris,” Thandi continued, maintaining her even tone. “You’re the one making assumptions about how the organization thinks.
“Or ought to think,” Kayla said quietly.
“We’re just sharing the broader picture,” Thandi finished.
“Hmph.” Christie looked away into the forest as her jaw clenched.
She didn’t speak for some time, and Kayla exchanged a look with Thandi as the silence continued. Eventually, however, Christie appeared to relax, and sighed deeply.
“You’re right, obviously,” she said. “None of us really know what kind of people our superiors are, or their agenda.”
Kayla nodded. “All I know is that I like who I work with, and that the missions we get handed seem worthy. Here, have a dandelion.”
Christie gratefully accepted the flower and her smile brightened.
“I suppose you’ll bring your new girl to Caldera?” she asked.
Smyrna had declared mandatory weekend leave for the task force, with explicit instructions to get off Tyr and visit civilization. The squad had planned to unwind on Caldera by staying in the spacious town house of Kayla’s adoptive father, Jack Fenway. The ability to find their own friends outside work had expired with time in service, and so they hoped to get drunk in Zula while flirting with locals. Only Kes had declined, citing family matters.
“Yeah, of course,” Kayla said. “She’s been pushing so hard she’s brain fried, and it’s the perfect opportunity to integrate her. Anyway, check it out, I’ve got this awesome new outfit I wanted to wear—”
“If it was that meager scrap of fabric you had laid out on your bed, you’re not wearing that,” Thandi said flatly.
Kayla huffed in frustration. “I’m sorry, are you just my full-time mother now?”
“Yours mostly ignored you, as did all the girls you were with growing up, so yeah, I guess I have to take on some of that responsibility.”
“Well give it a rest. There’s nothing wrong with me being feminine and showing off some skin.”
“First, those are two completely different concepts, and the fact that you don’t understand that tells me how far you have left to go. Second—no, listen,” she cut Kayla off as she tried to answer back. “Second; girls who can dress like that without concern usually know what they are doing. You have no idea what you are doing, because you’ve never socialized with people outside this group of immortal, trained killers, who are as far removed from real life as it is possible to get.”
Kayla scowled as she scratched at the dirt. “I bet Christie would be happy to take me out looking hot.”
“Don’t try and turn us against each other,” Thandi snapped. “I’m looking out for you, because you do not understand that the world is filled with sharks. When they see a young woman wearing skimpy outfits, without the experience to know how to handle herself, all they see is prey. Christie, back me up.”
“Thandi is correct,” Christie said. “Social interaction is a subtle and fast spoken language, chiefly used in the exploitation of the inexperienced. And men, of course, are vile monsters to be watched with constant suspicion, while noting their range and elevation. Perhaps, Thandi, a mortar team could be called upon to set up a thousand meters from the venue, in case we have need?”
Thandi slapped her on the leg and turned back to Kayla. “She’s being facetious, but she did agree.”
“Broadly agreed,” Christie allowed. “Just don’t be absurdly skittish. And can we do anything to convince you to explore the rest of the color spectrum? Black cannot be worn for every occasion.”
Kayla shook her head. “That’s objectively false.”
“And please, whatever you do,” Thandi said, “Remember Rose’s advice. If you meet anyone who reminds you of your friend Weslan Genny, walk away immediately.”
“So, to clarify,” Kayla said in exasperation. “Even when I get a long weekend break, I still have to spend it learning new tactics, techniques and procedures?”
“Correct,” Christie said. “And there will be a test.”
Thandi squeezed her shoulder. “I’m really sorry you weren’t given the upbringing you needed to become as well-rounded as other girls. I’m sorry you have to work hard just to become more normal. But, on the bright side, you are a Ranger, and you will crush this like you crush everything else.”
Kayla smiled gratefully. “Usually with a lot of collateral damage, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
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Prequel (Chapters 1 to 16)
1. Rise of a Valkyrie

Prequel (Parts 1 to 16)
1. Rise of a Valkyrie
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A warm breeze rustled through the leaves of the peach blossom forest as Kayla walked with Urtiga. They were in the Vale of the Fallen, where every tree represented a woman who had been lost in the service of Valkyrie, and the sturdy, immortal trunks stretched as far as the eye could see.
Urtiga liked to take Kayla to meet her fallen friends, and tell their stories. She insisted that it was the only way to keep alive the memories of those who were lost, and the knowledge they had earned in blood.
For Kayla it was an honor and a privilege. By tacit agreement, no woman ever went further into the forest than their own generation, unless invited, because they would be able to guess the age of the Valkyrie they met.
“I still don’t understand why you took me under your wing,” Kayla said, as they walked back to the entrance. “I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”
Urtiga gave her a mild shove. “Have you been feeling sorry for yourself? You know that’s not what I want to hear.”
“A little bit,” Kayla admitted. She reached up and scratched at a bad rash on her neck, and winced at the movement.
“Training accident?” Urtiga asked.
Kayla chuckled “No, I got a bit over-zealous with my role, and Thandi made me pay for it. She’s got this natural talent for all martial arts. Makes me super jealous.”
“Okay, I get,” said Urtiga. “You’ve been screwing up.”
“And then some. You heard about the friendly fire incident?”
Urtiga smiled wryly. “Which one? My unit had one too, you know.”
“At least nobody got shot in yours.”
“Kayla, anything can happen once bullets start flying.”
“Yeah, that’s what everyone says. I just don’t know if I’ve got this leadership business figured out yet.”
Urtiga shook her head and said nothing. Then she stopped in her tracks.
“My whole family got vaporized by a bomb on Titan. During the Sol war—most people don’t even remember it now. It’s a footnote in any history book.” She looked sadly into the distance. “A few rebels versus the Earth government in a weeklong exchange of ordinance that achieved nothing. Valkyrie took me in, and I’ve never known anything else.
Kayla watched her mentor as she took in every word.
“My older sister was the coolest person I knew. We used to do everything together; run around the colony, steal boats and race them on the methane lakes. When the bombs started falling, we all ran into the basement. They told me to stay still, but I was too scared, and we always used to run from trouble, so I got out of their grip and raced outside.”
She smiled. “I honestly thought they would follow me. But I looked back and the whole building just disintegrated. They used a bunker buster because they said they the rebels had tunneled under our houses. There was nothing left at all.”
“Did you blame yourself?” Kayla asked.
Despite the rush of grief and horror, and the parade of questions, she didn’t want to overreact. She had no business falling to pieces when she hadn’t experienced what Urtiga, at more than a century old, had already healed from. Even with her own memories, excessive sympathy made her uncomfortable.
“Sure,” Urtiga said. “I went through the whole rollercoaster for decades. But anyway, when you lost your dad, I thought you could use an older sister. So that’s why I took you under my wing.”
Kayla suddenly lost control of her voice. “Sometimes I wish you were my mother.”
“Oh, I’d be a terrible mother,” Urtiga said as she awkwardly kicked at a fallen branch. “Besides, yours is still alive.”
“But she’s a narcissist,” Kayla insisted. “There’s nothing there to connect with.”
“You remember when you came to Tyr? The first thing I said to you? It was so awful, and I beat myself up about it for ages.”
Kayla thought for a moment, then laughed. “Did I regret the day you met me? The day my dad died? Yeah, I wasn’t sure about that one, but I think I forgot about it quickly with everything that was going on.”
“You see? I can’t be a mother. I’ve lost the touch. I don’t think I’m a narcissist, but… well, you would be reminded of one from time to time.”
“You probably could, if you wanted to be.”
“Just like you could be a good team leader, if you wanted to be?”
Kayla stopped short and lifted her head to stare at the sky through the pink blossoms above them. She felt very angry, and very stupid at the same time.
“I’m a reckless, irresponsible idiot, and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Urtiga nodded. “That’s about how most of us start out. It’s very on the job training.”
“But the others… they need someone way better than me.”
“No, they need you, because you are an excellent soldier, and as soon as you stop trying to take responsibility for the risks they accepted for themselves, you’ll figure that out.”
Urtiga stopped and stared down the path. The forest had given way to a crowd of evenly spaced young saplings. Where she was looking, Kayla saw Christe and Thandi sat by one of them, talking happily. “Your friend Rose didn’t join this organization because she wanted to live forever. She joined because she wanted her life to count for something more than herself. And it did.”
Kayla tried to sniff back tears. “But Rayker got away. I let it happen again.”
Urtiga grabbed her shoulder and looked her in the eye. “I don’t want to hear that. We let Rayker get away. It was a team failure, and won’t be the last we have to endure. But you know we’ll hunt her down again. And some more women will die. And one day we will succeed, and it will all have been worth it. If you don’t give everything you have to make that happen, failures included, then what does that mean for the sacrifices of those that did?”
***
After she left Urtiga, Kayla joined her friends at the sapling, where Rose’s body was buried.
“How’s your shoulder?” Thandi asked.
“It’s good, but I need to stretch it some more. Did you really have to dislocate it?”
“I dunno. I guess we’ll see how you do over the next couple of weeks.”
“One of these days it’s going to be me kicking your ass,” Kayla said with a grimace.
Thandi laughed, and shook her head dismissively.
“How is the wide-eyed, naïve, and totally unsuspecting future of our precious organization?” Kayla asked.
Thandi scoffed. “Driving forward with a spring in her step. Barely put off by your doom and gloom speech. Still idolizes the squad in general, and you in particular, in defiance of explanation. Ray’s taken her under her wing.”
“That’s good,” Kayla nodded. “Ray’s awesome.”
“What will happen to Yak?” Christie asked.
“She was already near the end of her probation,” Kayla said. Valkyrie were usually required to serve a five-year term as a Ranger before they could specialize into other units. “And she was already on a program to prep for Pararescue selection. Either way, she won’t come back to our squad.”
“What a coldly bureaucratic system your battalions operate under.”
“Obviously. Duty comes before everything else.”
Christie looked thoughtful. “Do you know, I’ve heard a lot of stories about your friend Ray. I feel certain she’s spent a lot more than five years as a Ranger.”
Thandi shrugged. “You can stay however long you want. Before Ash left, she told me Ray was in Winter battalion before Mountain. But she’s super cagey about it.”
“She’s easily the most dialed in Ranger in the company, too,” Kayla observed.
“Of course,” Christie mused, “Given the advantages of nanite enhancement, we have no idea how old many of our colleagues are. I was shocked when I learned Urtiga was nearly a hundred and forty years old. You can’t remotely tell by looking.”
“Sure,” Kayla said. “Ray can be a bit adolescent though, especially when it comes to men.”
Christie only raised an eyebrow.
“I just hope we have time to get our rookie up to speed before we have to go face Rayker again,” Kayla said, absently. She picked a blade of grass and studied it closely.
“Unlikely,” Christie said after a thoughtful pause. “One cannot move a small army of alien war machines around without generating chatter. She might go into hibernation in dead space somewhere—and who am I to make assumptions about her strategy? But if she moves, we will know within weeks. There are many ears to the ground, you see. It’s a very all-hands on deck situation.”
“I would bet,” Thandi said carefully, “that the Delta-Three-Alpha mess gave the chiefs a wakeup call. They need to reorganize Valkyrie into a large-scale, coordinated force, rather than the piecemeal cleanup groups they’ve gotten used to.
“But there are so many problems with that approach,” Christie argued. “You cannot simply start moving a private army into human space without catastrophic effects.”
Thandi shrugged. “Come on Chris. This whole ‘neutral protectors’ thing was never going to last. Between the trafficking and Rayker… something had to change. Everyone knows it.”
Christie scoffed. “Oh gosh, how could I forget that we had the benefit of perfect moral righteousness to guide us?”
Kayla gave her a disappointed look. “But you think we have superior intellect, don’t you? Here’s the thing, you might want to revisit some of your assumptions about who exactly is in the driving seat of the Ranger battalions. And they don’t necessarily share the opinions of the officer-intel class.”
Christie stared at her, speechless. When she finally spoke, she sounded offended. “I’m stunned you would even use a term like that. What happened to one-team one-fight?”
Kayla just shrugged. She couldn’t help being the bearer of bad news.
“I’m sorry, I thought I had joined a responsible paramilitary organization. Now my friends tell me I’m part of a gang, a mob, of angry, over-powered ego maniacs. I suppose this is the time where I need to shut up and do as I’m told by those with the guns, is that right?”
“That’s unfair,” Thandi said. “I hate the way you try to oversimplify everything.”
“Un-simplify it for me then,” Christie said, as her cheeks began to color.
Thandi’s voice softened. “You know that Valkyrie puts reputation and experience before rank, and you know that the most senior veterans could be anyone. Probably only the chiefs know who the old guard are.”
“It is an extremely effective clique; I grant you that.”
“Officers are a necessity for organization and coordination. They are the nerves which drive the muscle. But the body has a heart, and it has a gut.”
“An organ for pumping blood and another for digesting food, gosh, what an insightful metaphor.” Christie said coldly.
Kayla chuckled. “Which part do you think is the ass—sorry, sorry.” She looked down as her friends scowled her into silence.
“Listen Chris,” Thandi continued, maintaining her even tone. “You’re the one making assumptions about how the organization thinks.
“Or ought to think,” Kayla said quietly.
“We’re just sharing the broader picture,” Thandi finished.
“Hmph.” Christie looked away into the forest as her jaw clenched.
She didn’t speak for some time, and Kayla exchanged a look with Thandi as the silence continued. Eventually, however, Christie appeared to relax, and sighed deeply.
“You’re right, obviously,” she said. “None of us really know what kind of people our superiors are, or their agenda.”
Kayla nodded. “All I know is that I like who I work with, and that the missions we get handed seem worthy. Here, have a dandelion.”
Christie gratefully accepted the flower and her smile brightened.
“I suppose you’ll bring your new girl to Caldera?” she asked.
Smyrna had declared mandatory weekend leave for the task force, with explicit instructions to get off Tyr and visit civilization. The squad had planned to unwind on Caldera by staying in the spacious town house of Kayla’s adoptive father, Jack Fenway. The ability to find their own friends outside work had expired with time in service, and so they hoped to get drunk in Zula while flirting with locals. Only Kes had declined, citing family matters.
“Yeah, of course,” Kayla said. “She’s been pushing so hard she’s brain fried, and it’s the perfect opportunity to integrate her. Anyway, check it out, I’ve got this awesome new outfit I wanted to wear—”
“If it was that meager scrap of fabric you had laid out on your bed, you’re not wearing that,” Thandi said flatly.
Kayla huffed in frustration. “I’m sorry, are you just my full-time mother now?”
“Yours mostly ignored you, as did all the girls you were with growing up, so yeah, I guess I have to take on some of that responsibility.”
“Well give it a rest. There’s nothing wrong with me being feminine and showing off some skin.”
“First, those are two completely different concepts, and the fact that you don’t understand that tells me how far you have left to go. Second—no, listen,” she cut Kayla off as she tried to answer back. “Second; girls who can dress like that without concern usually know what they are doing. You have no idea what you are doing, because you’ve never socialized with people outside this group of immortal, trained killers, who are as far removed from real life as it is possible to get.”
Kayla scowled as she scratched at the dirt. “I bet Christie would be happy to take me out looking hot.”
“Don’t try and turn us against each other,” Thandi snapped. “I’m looking out for you, because you do not understand that the world is filled with sharks. When they see a young woman wearing skimpy outfits, without the experience to know how to handle herself, all they see is prey. Christie, back me up.”
“Thandi is correct,” Christie said. “Social interaction is a subtle and fast spoken language, chiefly used in the exploitation of the inexperienced. And men, of course, are vile monsters to be watched with constant suspicion, while noting their range and elevation. Perhaps, Thandi, a mortar team could be called upon to set up a thousand meters from the venue, in case we have need?”
Thandi slapped her on the leg and turned back to Kayla. “She’s being facetious, but she did agree.”
“Broadly agreed,” Christie allowed. “Just don’t be absurdly skittish. And can we do anything to convince you to explore the rest of the color spectrum? Black cannot be worn for every occasion.”
Kayla shook her head. “That’s objectively false.”
“And please, whatever you do,” Thandi said, “Remember Rose’s advice. If you meet anyone who reminds you of your friend Weslan Genny, walk away immediately.”
“So, to clarify,” Kayla said in exasperation. “Even when I get a long weekend break, I still have to spend it learning new tactics, techniques and procedures?”
“Correct,” Christie said. “And there will be a test.”
Thandi squeezed her shoulder. “I’m really sorry you weren’t given the upbringing you needed to become as well-rounded as other girls. I’m sorry you have to work hard just to become more normal. But, on the bright side, you are a Ranger, and you will crush this like you crush everything else.”
Kayla smiled gratefully. “Usually with a lot of collateral damage, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
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Prequel (Parts 1 to 16)
1. Rise of a Valkyrie

Hi guys,
TL;DR - I failed step 2 CK twice and passed it on my third attempt - matched this season and I need a visa (also absolutely zero connections in America). Open to answering any questions - comment/DM
Admins - I wouldn't mind if this can be pinned/saved for future applicants - I'll be open for questions/support throughout the coming years (because honestly I found zero posts when I failed even the first time - so hopefully it helps throughout!)
Step 1 = 225
Step 2CK = failed it twice - passed on 3rd attempt = 250
Step 3 = 235
YOG = 2019
Need visa = J1/H1b
2-3 months USCE in hospital (observerships only all) = got through emailing and through the formal processes (used lists that circulate around FB - I unfortunately do not have these now and won't be able to help in this, I'm afraid)
No connections in America - only one best friend (who's house I stayed in during USCE) and few other good friends - all these in other professions (not remotely attached to medicine)
Work experience = 4 years (including 1 year of telemedicine) (in different parts of the world so got to experience 4 healthcare systems which was great - had recommendations from all these jobs and used to support my application - I know it is usually said that US recs are preferred, but if you have worked in a job and they can attest to your work ethic, I thought it best to use those) - working is very important you lot - it helped me pay for all the exams (remember I sat 2 extra step 2s) and save enough to travel to US for USCEs - also helps you see beyond America and helps you realize that not all your worth is dependent on this
Other exams - I had sat the MRCP parts 1 and 2 written as common here in UK and I got partial sponsorship from my trust
Teaching experience = had done the teacher training course which is sponsored by NHS trusts here in England and then had a little more than 1 year of teaching experience with formal feedback and many online ones
Research experience = had done a research course online which was free during COVID and then got into publishing - did SMA/case reports/original research - had about 40 altogether (including published papers, posters, presentations, unpublished but submitted, unpublished but working on work, etc) = initially started with online ones (was bad - I was treated worse and thrown out of many projects - once they also took all credit for my work and published in a good journal without my name), eventually caught up and later worked with friends/colleagues - in all my jobs I did, I was able to publish case reports and work on original research with my line managers and colleagues (feel this is the best - try this as much as possible rather than only doing online)
Audit experience = had several informal small audits - no published ones to date but have worked on full cycle ones - so I did put that in my application
Volunteering experience = tiny ones during med school and COVID - had space for just one to be added on ERAS (as now only 10 experiences can be added)
Recommendation letters = had US ones and then from my jobs - I reckon only 1 was uploaded by my letter writer (so blind) - the rest, I uploaded by myself. Again I know it is usually the US ones preferred, but if your clinical leads in your jobs have good creds, do ask them to write too - as they can easily comment on your work ethic
Personal statement = mine was an entire page, wrote it myself, and just had it proofread by my sister for grammatical errors and nothing else. This is really your story - again I know everyone wants the perfect one here, but I felt that minute errors just depicted my nuances - trust me, I did use a little slang too and my last paragraph was informal, but again that was just how I write essays/speeches and have always stuck to my style.
My first time applying because since I failed, I knew I had to do everything in my power the first time I apply and that would be my last time applying (money crunch) - I applied to 375 programs (yes - very huge amount of money - took a loan for this and will repay now)
I had only applied to internal medicine because that's only what I ever wanted to do since 3rd year med school
Had 9 interviews - 1 from a prematch program - matched at a J1 program
I'm open to answering any questions/concerns/support whichever way I can - comment down below (preferred) but also open to DM if you lot feel you want to talk in private.
From here on - Just some things I learned and want to preach - I know It is super duper easy for me now to sit and preach and say all these big emotional and motivational things (I hated these when I failed too - felt disdainful) - take it with a grain of salt
I had the most brilliant and amazing school and college life - full of fun and enjoyment - then I graduated and took about a year of gap and sat step 1 and step 2 (first fail), I was very miserable - sat at home, had no experience, forgot all my hobbies, went out little to none (and I'm a huge extrovert!), spoke to friends on calls only, no relationship (didn't even look) -
when I failed, it was very distressing - my situation is weird - didn't know what to do after that failure, no money at all, zero connections in America at all, I have my parents and sister but absolutely no other family in this world but have some of the best people I call friends -
my parents, sister, flatmates and friends supported in every possible way (which I'm so thankful for) - then I thought I had to earn money to fund my further exams and started working and did many other things apart from clinical medicine (teaching/research/sitting exams/audits) and lived life (enjoyed with friends/hung out with colleagues/traveled/got back to my favorite sport - swimming/got back into singing and piano/got back into doing all my favorite hobbies/love and relationships, etc). obviously work helps with the money too and I was able to pay off some med school fee loans and all my exam loans and fund my further exams and all the moves between countries
Initially my plan was also like so many - take 2 years of gap and sit all exams and apply and interview and get into residency - I thought I'll go from graduating med school to sitting at home to study to starting residency
But after that miserable 1 year of gap, I've had so many different experiences that I sometimes feel (and I know this can be a bit patronising from my side) that it's good I failed - made me get out and enjoy life and made me learn that career is only 1 part of your life - there's so much more! Live life - its too short (shorter for us doctors) - enjoy - trust me (if anyone is right now in a similar situation like me), go out with your best friends and do fun things, discuss with them random gossip, something other than usmles or even what you're feeling (true friends are not to judge or give you solutions - they are there to listen and only listen when you vent/cry/scream) talk to your mum and dad about their lives and something different than this usmles (how many of us know our parents before they became our parents?) (or again discuss with them how you're feeling), play dress up, go on dates, etc, etc! Honestly moving out of my sitting at home plan and living and working in so many different countries, got me going!
(quoting disney) - keep the child in you alive, be kind always, have courage and always leave sparkles wherever you go!
Trust me everyone - people in this world have achieved far more impossible things - failing is nothing - the hardest part is consistency - super difficult to continue when you see all your friends and peers move onto residency or non-med friends move onto working in big jobs, or people living their lives and you stuck in a place - facing failure is very hard I know - but trust me we are all so much more worth - that's why i said above that working and living other aspects of your life is very important - makes you value yourself
do not put usmles or residency in America as something like a crowning jewel - most of us have tendencies to put it on a pedestal - when achieved, we can tend to become complacent and condescending (I was the same after I passed step 1 - super complacent, overconfident, condescending, superiority complex - the first fail humbled me - I've learnt it the hard way guys - stay as humble as possible); but when not achieved, we tend to feel we are worthless and don't know what to do. Not the best, is it?
Also, failing is super normal - nothing to be ashamed about or definitely no reason to just give up on life!
Lastly - NEVER EVER let ANYONE (peers, people on social media groups, all these med influencers, other big doctors who you might look up to at this time, USCE/USMLE agencies, etc) tell you it is impossible! Hell just never let them tell you its very hard too (I see this in so many med influencers vidoes/posts that if you fail or even score less than certain amount it is sooo difficult, sooo hard with so much emphasis on sooo!) Also NEVER EVER let ANYONE disrespect you or patronise you (if a seniopeeanyone who has matched or achieved bigger things than you, doesn't mean they are kings and queens of this world - if they can't stay humble, not your problem - you shouldn't be made felt inferior in any way!)

Hey, I’m writing a story and I need any advice I can get, constructive or small feedback, I prefer anything. This is only the prologue and I need some input on whether or not it's too lengthy, if it's boring or doesn't hook the reader, etc. I’ll take any opinion into consideration, thanks! When reading, any writing with parentheses around it is meant to be italicized. TW- cursing, a bit of violence, substance mention
March 29th, 2005 (Welcome to ABC World News! Tonight, we have an interesting story about the intriguing fox-human variants that the company, Evergreen, has been working on for the past two decades.)
(On May 3rd, 1994, they held a global broadcast, showing that for the first time, these mutations can function like genuine humans! They said it was a huge milestone for the company and-)
"Jesus fucking Christ. Bad enough we got thugs and criminals runnin' around, now we got goddamn ninja turtles too?!" He slammed the remote down on the coffee table and laid back on the couch, rubbing his temples.
"Dad, calm down. They're not gonna let them be in public or somethin'." Zuriah tried to calm her dad down, but he got up and stormed off outside.
She went and looked out the window next to the door to make sure he stayed outside, before going back to the couch, grabbing the remote, and turning her attention back to the peppy news reporter.
(These mutants were created about 11 years ago, and scientists almost gave up hope until they expressed very human-like behaviors.)
(Scientist Grayson Evergreen, the founder of the company, says that step in the process will be a huge help in the future when more of these mutants are created.)
She watched the entire broadcast, immersed in curiosity about the new "mutants". She thought it was a hoax and a silly rumor after she heard about it at school, but it turned out to be true.
Before she could watch more, she didn't realize her dad had walked back into the house, still upset about the news.
"Turn that stupid shit off." He commanded as he walked back to his room, his trail lingering of nicotine.
She picked up the remote and turned the volume down to the point it wasn't audible, looking back again to make sure he was gone. Once his footsteps faded and his door slammed, she continued to watch the rest with captions.
([The first mutation that allowed this breakthrough was this cute little human-fox mix.])
([When she first came out of the artificial embryos she was developing in, she expressed characteristics very similar to those of a human baby!])
([Ever since, she's been kept under intense care in the company's facility, allowing scientists to track and monitor the behavior of the mutant. They've even given her a baby brother! So cute!])
She continued to watch the broadcast to the end, another program coming on the screen before she finally tore her eyes away.
She'd been watching for almost three hours, the sun displaying rays of red and dark orange through the living room window as it set, barely illuminating the room.
She checked the clock,
8:37
A little later than when her mom should've been home from work.
Before she could worry for too long, the doorknob jiggled and turned. The door opened, creating a slow creaking noise as her mom stepped into the house.
Zuriah hopped off the couch, running towards her mom with open arms.
"Mama!"
She lunged into her arms, her mom immediately returning the hug before leaning down and kissing her forehead.
"How's my little Zuri doing, hm? And aren't you supposed to be in bed?"
Her mom looked down at her playfully, though the exhaustion in her voice was evident. She always came home from work tired as she worked continuously for 14 hours straight as a nurse. Though, she put on a facade for her kids, even when Zuriah could see straight through it.
"I was watching TV for just a little longer, I'm 11!"
Her mom chuckled before ruffling her hair, separating from the hug, and going to place her large bag down on the counter with Zuriah on her tail.
"Hmm, I guess I'll let you stay up longer, but, go to bed soon. You have school in the morning okay?"
"Okay, I promise, as long as you do too.." She gave her mom a sly smile, with concern laced in her eyes.
Her mom sighed deeply and almost let her smile falter, before placing her hand on her cheek, her thumb rubbing circles softly.
"Don't worry about me, sweets. I'm fine." She gave her one last kiss on the forehead before sending her off to bed.
Zuriah went to her room and turned off the lights, climbing into her bed and hearing her mom enter her room and close the door behind her.
Without fail, she heard her mom and dad immediately start to argue, their words intelligible with the wall as a barrier.
It was like this every night, and Zuriah had simply gotten used to the "routine".
She perked up when she heard another door creak, the one to her seven-year-old brother's room as he crept through the hallway and around the corner of her doorframe.
He walked into her bedroom slowly, thinking that she was asleep.
"JJ?"
He gasped, not expecting her to be awake.
"Sorry, I thought you were asleep. Can I-"
"Sleep in here tonight?"
He nodded, visible through his silhouette.
"Is it because of mom and dad?"
He nodded once again, hesitantly.
"C'mon."
He swiftly walked over to her bed and climbed into it, shuffling next to her and sliding under her covers. She also settled down under the covers, laying her head down on her pillow and trying to drown out the noise, before closing her eyes and falling asleep.
June 27th, 2010 Zuriah laid out on the couch watching TV with her feet elevated on the couch arm, scrolling through multiple channels trying to find one that satisfied her until the usual program came on.
She pressed the next button rhythmically as her eyes bore into the TV, before an error message popped up on the screen, making her raise an eyebrow.
The TV then switched to an Emergency Broadcast System, the screen flashing a bright blue.
Zuriah fully sat up on the couch, her heart picking up pace as the ominous screen and alarm stared back at her, before reading out a message with an eerily monotone voice.
(THIS IS NOT A TEST. THE CITIZENS OF AMERICA ARE UNDER ATTACK FROM A FOREIGN COUNTRY. TENSIONS HAVE BEEN RISING AND BOILED OVER TO THIS POINT. PLEASE ACT QUICKLY AND FIND A SAFE PLACE NEAR YOU TO HIDE. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN AT ANY MOMENT. PLEASE CONTINUE TO HAVE THIS CHANNEL ON IN CASE OF ANY UPDATES.)
(GOD BLESS AMERICA.)
After the message disappeared from the screen, she had to take a deep breath and look around to prevent herself from panicking. It dawned on her that her family was out of town for her brother's basketball tournament, leaving her to watch the house, and evidently alone.
She quickly got up off the couch and moved to the window, her legs seeming to have a mind of their own. She peeled back the blinds to see heavy armored trucks quickly taking over her neighborhood, and they seemed to be from the foreign country.
How long had they been here with no one noticing?
Before she could even gather any information about what was going on, her door was quickly bashed in off its hinges.
Soldiers flooded into her house and she was immediately restrained and slammed against the ground as more soldiers checked the entire house in search of something or someone.
What's happening? Why is this happening?! The only thoughts that kept repeating themselves in her head as the events played out, her ears ringing as the soldier who restrained her yelled at her.
She couldn't focus, listen, or think properly, and her entire body felt paralyzed.
Too many things at once, she thought before the soldier suddenly took the butt of his gun to her temple, effectively knocking her out as her body went limp.

The other day in ufos, someone had posted about their experiences as a child in an unusual ‘gifted’ program, and wondered if it was somehow tied to ufos, hybrid programs, remote viewing, mk ultra, or what.
At first read it would sound crazy. But it resonated with me, and suddenly I was thinking back on my own childhood and a gifted program I was in called “SPACE LAB” that I hadn’t thought about in almost 35 years. After adding my experiences to the mix I was told that maybe the folks in high strangeness should hear what I had to say, or point me toward similar tales so I could research and maybe sort out some childhood memories of my own. Seeing the posts about others who were grappling with memories of being in odd programs as children is reawakening some of mine that I had filed away.
…so below is a restructured repost if what I said at ufos:
I’m in my 40s now, but in the early 80s I lived in a very rural south Georgia town, attending a tiny elementary school that served K-6th grade. This was before magnet schools, or many of the other special activities or courses were available for kids who seemed… smarter or scoring above their age/class, I guess. “Gifted” was a word that was used a lot. And I hated it. I’m not bragging, but I was one of those kids. I heard it from all the adults in my school and home life. I’m a mess now, but at that point I guess I had a lot of promise and potential. But it was a lot of pressure, and I stopped caring for it once I reached high school.
I was reading books at two. By kindergarten I was well above my peers in reading, writing, abstract thought and getting into math and science. By first and second I was the kid that teachers called on to read books aloud to the class. I was finishing tests first and basically putting my head on the desk waiting for everyone else to finish. Creatively, I was drawing and crafting like mad, writing and illustrating my own stories. I was a walking encyclopedia of space and animal facts. Teachers loved me but could tell I was operating above my classmates and getting bored. I never really thought I was smarter than the other kids, I was just into learning, and enjoyed the whole process of absorbing and sharing information. People told me I was smart, but I always felt, isn’t this how everyone thinks?
Around first grade I think, I was sometimes pulled out of class where I was given hearing tests and read from word cards to sharpen some of my soft pronunciations. I don’t think I even had a hearing issue, but I did have a lisp that may have made them think I was hard of hearing. I had problems with Ls and Rs and some ‘ch’ words. It’s not that unusual. There were also vision tests where I’d look at a red spot, try to align spots, overlay pictures by crossing or uncrossing my eyes, identify odd symbols and other things that may or may not have been standard, idk.
But what was most unusual is at the same time, I was also introduced to a kind of special class called ‘Space Lab’, where I and some other ‘gifted’ kids (some I knew from my classes, and some that went to my school but weren’t in my class) would be pulled out of our normal class schedule to meet in the library, or sometimes go places, and do advanced learning, I guess? I don’t even remember how it began. It just suddenly started happening. I honestly don’t know if my parents were aware of it. More on that below.
Anyway, I felt so confused because sometimes I was getting pulled out of class for the speech, vision and hearing tests or lessons, along with kids who were physically or mentally disabled, and then another huge part of the day was spent doing extracurricular, or ‘above grade level’ stuff with the smart kids. So this was very confusing to my young ego at the time. Neither program was done daily, but once or twice a week, for a few years. The speech and sensory tests maybe lasted a year off and on but Space Lab lasted several.
It didn’t seem that weird at the time, but does now in retrospect. The weirdest thing is that I just don’t remember much in detail about it at all, with a few exceptions that are resurfacing. Some of those are below.
For years I kept telling myself that it was maybe just the rural school’s way of handling smart kids who were bright, but bored, as best they could with no real curricular means to skip kids ahead. We did some special field trips, sat around and talked about space, and science, and the environment (which was weird to do that early in the 80s, especially in that backwater Georgia town), did some advanced crafts, projects and science experiments, but the majority of my time there is a blank.
One thing I do remember..those old ‘psychic’ flash cards- the ones with circles, triangles, wavy lines, etc. I don’t exactly remember the teachers testing us with them, but I remember us being encouraged to playfully test each other with them. Later, I remember seeing that opening scene from ghostbusters and knowing exactly what they were. I also remember some of us sitting in silence, visualizing things we were asked to think about, and even, swear to god, trying to talk to each other with our mind. That part I can’t remember if we were instructed to do, or if we started doing it for fun. Other times we’d try guessing what the other was thinking. A word, or a picture. I do know sometimes we were separated around the room, at distance from each other, and others we were all at the same long tables. I also remember some crude cardboard box divider things that they had to kind of block out light and distractions while we did some of these ‘games’. And sound blocking headphones. A LOT. This is really starting to come back to me. I really remember having to close our eyes and being asked to visualize a lot.
We also did a lot of field trips during school hours that were totally unexpected. We were always back on time but I don’t remember knowing what days they might happen. I remember worrying for my mom and if she knew where I’d be going. I don’t remember bringing home permission slips for them. Some were to aquariums, parks, etc but some were to the local college or other office complex or building that we were told or assumed had some tie to science or something we were interested in (we were little nerds after all) or to go see how something was made, supposedly.
But yeah- the weird thing is I really don’t remember shit about those trips beyond that we went on them. My most clear memory of one is walking down a very modern brick hall that had built in planters and like, a mini ecosystem that smelled like pure nature. Automated misters for the plants, water pump waterfalls, that sort of thing - and I’m walking with my ‘space lab’ classmates and suddenly being embarrassed when one of my dad’s socks that had static clung inside my shorts fell out as we walked and I got teased about it. I couldn’t tell you what the place was or why we were there.
Other times weren’t even that detailed. I remember we’d take a van somewhere and be back before the end of the day. We didn’t take a bus because there were only maybe 6 or 7 of us.
I can bore you with details about pretty much any regular old field trip I went on with my regular schoolmates- movie theaters and what we saw, okeefenokee swamp and buying a rubber alligator, going to a local dairy and seeing milk get pasteurized, etc…but I don’t remember anything specific, interesting or exciting about ANY outings with ‘Space Lab’
But I’ve rambled enough, here are a few final points about the class, and me in general.

• the program did not last beyond 4th or 5th grade
  
• when it was over it was like it was never mentioned again. When I asked other kids about space lab to see if their schools had it, nobody knew wtf I was talking about. At my own school there was never an attempt to keep the program going, and afaik, no younger kids were ever brought in to replace us as we outgrew the class. I don’t know if we were, like, failures,, or if they lost funding, or the next years of kids just weren’t very bright or what. The fact that they had this special progressive class at all, during normal school hours, at such a small rural school in a super conservative, religious, ‘all American’ farm town, is really unusual in retrospect. As far as I know they never did anything like it again.
  
• fwiw, our school also participated in fluoride mouthwash sessions, which even as a kid, creeped me out. I always felt like there was a sinister element about it. My friends and I often found ways to cheat it and pretend to be swishing.
  
• there was no military base near our school. There was an old national guard setup at the small airport, and most adults worked at a local e factory making airplane engines, etc but that’s about as military as it got there.
  
• my dad worked for FermiLab in the seventies but I don’t know much about his time there. It was before I was born. He’d never talk to me or my sisters what he did there, and I’m thinking NDAs were involved. but he got the job right after his service on a nuclear sub. He ended up dying after fighting skin cancers all over his body.
  
• As for me, I was born after his stint at FermiLab and was apparently an accident from a vasectomy that ‘didn’t take’
  
• the two teachers of ‘space lab’ were not from our school. I was told they were teachers from the nearby larger town but that was it. One nice, nerdy dark haired woman that behaved like a science teacher, and one very gruff older woman that acted like military or police. She was always just there and barely interacted with us. I can’t even remember their last names.
  
• my fellow lab kids were all really intelligent sensitive and thoughtful, I had long friendships with several until I moved as a teen. I know maybe one on Facebook now who has been very successful in progressive politics in Georgia. The rest I’ve lost contact with, or rural GA life chewed them up and spat them out.
  
• I continued to be on honor roll, win spelling bees, art and writing contests etc until about 8th grade- before I realized being a nerd was not cool in 90s high school and I became more of a slacker. Smart but lazy. I continued to draw and write and made it a freelance career for a while, but I shunned academics for the most part, even though I was able to score 1350 on the SAT without trying, I didn’t pursue a good college.
  
• I have had supernatural events in my life. You can check my post history. Cloaked figures, strange ufos. Not a lot of them, just a couple really strong events. I’ve been able to really get ‘in synch’ with the universe at least two short times in my adult life, where it felt like I was predicting or even willing things to happen; but otherwise normal.
  
• Most of my life I’ve suffered from tinnitus and sleep apnea issues, but am otherwise sane, and moderately healthy for my age.
  

All in all, I’m curious if anybody else had classes like this? I wonder if government might be able to get away with more child research in a small town at a school that really needed some extra money or something, then a larger city with more exposure and communication… But as I said, there wasn’t any military presence in that area of south GA at all.. I will say, watching the first season of stranger things brought back some old geeks, and not in the 80s nostalgia way.
What was I involved in? Why did it stop? And why don’t I remember much about it?