What is victoria justice cell phone number

I work at a very large and well known personal injury firm as a legal assistant in pre-litigation for motor vehicle accidents. This has been my experience so far. Every day I am expected to be able to go through my checklist and produce accurate work, but the caveat here is we are glued to a phone system and we work in a team environment so I am taking client calls, adjuster calls, etc. Approximately 30 - 45 calls per day, the only way to avoid this is by calling out aggressively myself leaving my coworkers to take the call backs (I know the number chasers here do this, not a fan of the practice). This makes getting through actual work nearly impossible as I am constantly taken off task to work on other people's cases when I take a call (and i take very detailed notes), and depending on the volume, this can be back to back to back. I have to back track to reorientate myself to what I was previously working on. I have case counts in excess of 160+ on the low end, I mostly work on high priority items that push cases along such as demands and drafting settlement paperwork (these also have unrealistic deadlines in accordance with the call volume), leaving the low priority stuff to the wayside hoping they delegate it to one of the interns
The company on the other hand acts completely indifferent, we will get passive-agressively chastized for missing expected due dates, yet they offer nothing to relieve the pressure from taking so many calls. We have asked for higher pay because everyone is stressed and burnt out (i call it being phone fried) but the company has taken a stance they don't want to pay us more and we have PTO if we're feeling burnt out. They are fairly predatory in their reviews from what I have heard from other employees who have asked for raises. The turnover here is abysmal, my training was cut short due to a number of employees quitting in a short period so they gave me a case load and put me on the phones prematurely (I am a confident speaker so this may have contributed to this as well in addition to the desperation for more phone coverage), I had to either teach myself or ask others for guidance on most things in a trial by fire fashion but I figured it out.
I don't want this to come off as a rant as I love the job itself, I do good work, I am personable and do enjoy talking to my own clients and building a genuine rapport, multiple attorneys are willing to write me letters of recommendation for law school, but I feel as though we operate as an overglorified call center at times when we have genuine important work to do. I knew I was signing up for fast paced, but no day ever has an end goal, everyone is always technically "behind" at all times
I guess my real question here is whether or not this is the standard across all firms, I honestly don't know if I am in a toxic work environment as this is my first job in the legal field so I lack a baseline comparison. It's not all bad, I do like my coworkers and other than pay practices the company culture isn't bad. I would stay until law school next year, but also wouldn't hesitate to jump ship if there is greener grass elsewhere.

Hello,
I am new to Power Query, still learning things, and asking for your help.
First - I have a csv file with the exported product's properties, they are formed like this: producerdimensionpricedescriptionDOT... in a single cell. All these data is encrypted (that is how export is working):
eg. 25893587952dfsgf256888759223368
Second - I have csv file with the meaning of every code. And here I can see what every code means.
2589 = Continental
3587952 = 22''
dfsgf256 = 350 EUR
888759 = tire
DOT = 25/22
Third - some of the products are missing one or more properties and they could be like this: 25893587952dfsgf256. Hence, the number of properties (per product) isn't always the same.
My idea was to split columns by "" , and to use Merge Queries to "vlookup". But this solves only one column (property). Since the number of properties is changing, is there any way to build this to be dynamic (some products have 30 properties, and some only 1)? Perhaps to somehow repeat Merge Queries until the last column? Also, I can't tell what is the minimum and maximum number of properties since that is changing daily.
I am using Office 365.
I hope you can understand the issue. :)
Thank you

Hi I have downloaded the installers from Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian. and none of them have the same checksums as to what was displayed on the website: https://releases.atomicwallet.io/download/sha256sum.txt
0af4632c3a9a7a7e83f7361d2f7533e67f986b14f918adf80203ae740e4aedbe atomicwallet.AppImage (Ubuntu)
2590db15bb728f58383305b2f87946c1f33378167af354448e185c9d4bfe6097 atomicwallet.deb (Debian)
dbaf690c7557472d60a399cdb82619c04962b760785dd3378d33cce03eee9b67 atomicwallet.rpm (Fedora)
Either the ones on the website's checksum list aren't up-to-date or the files themselves are malicious.
I'd like to request the latest checksum list for these files.
the checksums of the files I have are:
c6b42249903b0fd22ccd47bccdb7fba7352c287574f26fbd88bcea555a224c61 (this is for Debian AtomicWallet-2.87.3.deb)
127138d490befdc57425adb6a288fc46c9b612a25c63ade9e049f45cd7ffc3dd (this is for Ubuntu AtomicWallet-2.87.3.AppImage)
59d9ad0aaf103105925052a3bed24534e78f1782b7274e194b6bd119b88920a7 (this is for Fedora AtomicWallet-2.87.3.rpm)
Questions I think maybe asked:
Have you downloaded more than once to check if you have just files corrupted from download?
Yes, I have downloaded the files twice and at different times to compare if it was just corrupted or not.
Do you have a Discord account so we could talk over there? (chat support)
No, I do not have Discord. I don't like the idea of giving my phone number.

https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2024/0516/1449597-dublin-monaghan-bomb-gang-investigator-says-there-was-collusion/
Dublin-Monaghan bomb gang investigator says 'there was collusion'
By Vincent Kearney Northern Editor
The officer leading the inquiry into the activities of the loyalist gang suspected of being responsible for the Dublin and Monaghan bombings has said he has no doubt there was collusion between the gang and the British security services.
Sir Iain Livingstone heads up Operation Denton, which is examining allegations relating to the activities of the so-called Glenanne Gang, which was based in County Armagh and Mid-Ulster during the Troubles, including its role in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
"I can say categorically there was collusion. We know that to be true," Mr Livingstone told Prime Time as part of a report into the 1974 atrocity.
"What we are going to do - and we are going to do it with rigour, and we're going to do it with complete transparency - is define the character, the nature and the extent of that collusion," he said.
"It’s well established that people who worked for the State - police officers, members of the UDR - had previously been involved in some of these despicable, sectarian attacks that were carried out primarily by loyalist paramilitaries."
"Whether there were individuals within that who were also agents and in terms of informants - that’s something that our review will consider, we’ll make an assessment around that, and we will report on that because it’s a matter of legitimate public interest," he added.
Operation Denton is examining 127 killings linked to the Glenanne Gang. The deaths include the 34 people, including one unborn child, killed in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings.
The Glenanne Gang consisted of members of the UVF paramilitary group, the locally recruited British army regiment the UDR, and members of an RUC Special Patrol Group, whose duties included anti-terrorism.
A Prime Time report to be broadcast tonight focuses on allegations that the gang played a key role in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, and asks why suspects identified within days were never charged in connection with the attacks.
In a four-minute period around 5.30pm on 17 May 1974, three explosions rocked Dublin's Parnell Street, Talbot Street and South Leinster Street. Another followed 90 minutes later in Monaghan town.
The death toll was the largest to occur in a single day during the Troubles. More than 250 other people were injured.
Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the bombings, but victims’ families are still searching for justice.
Separately, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Jon Boutcher, has told Prime Time he will not block efforts by the families of victims of the bombings to take legal action to gain access to related secret British government files.
His predecessor as Chief Constable, Simon Byrne, and the British Ministry of Defence, spent six years robustly opposing such a legal action by the families.
Before taking up the position as PSNI Chief Constable in November 2023, Jon Boutcher spent almost four years leading Operation Denton.
"I won't be opposing any progress of any civil case to be properly heard in the court, to ensure that the victims have that opportunity for that civil redress, which I think they've got every right to," he said.
The comments stand in contrast to steps previously taken by his predecessor and the British Ministry of Defence, which included trying to overturn a High Court ruling in Belfast in 2018 which directed the UK authorities to hand over relevant documents.
As recently as last month, a High Court judge in Belfast dismissed an application from the PSNI instigated during the leadership of the former chief constable, and British authorities, to have the families' case thrown out.
The statements from Sir Iain Livingstone and Chief Constable Boutcher may offer new hope to relatives of victims of the bombings, who are still seeking justice for their loved-ones five decades later.
The attacks were viewed as a warning to the government in Dublin that political interference in the affairs of Northern Ireland would come at a heavy price.
They happened during a period of intense political volatility, when Northern Ireland was paralaysed by the Ulster Workers Council strike.
The strike was a protest against the Sunningdale Agreement which would have included a Council of Ireland, and given the Irish government a direct say in policies in Northern Ireland.
However, investigations into the bombings were quickly wound up without arrests. Details about the timeframes of the investigations were revealed in a 2003 report into the killings by Judge Henry Barron, and outraged victims’ families.
Margaret Urwin of Justice for the Forgotten, a campaign group which represents families, told Prime Time it is "absolutely incredible" that the Garda investigation into the Dublin bombings was closed down within two months, and the Monaghan investigation a month earlier.
Across the border, the RUC investigation was also wound up quickly, despite Special Branch having a list of suspects.
"I think by today's standards, we know that would never happen," PSNI Chief Constable Boutcher told Prime Time.
"Those enquiries would've gone on for a number of years. You know, every possible lead would have been exploited," he said.
"In the early 1970s, was that the norm for investigations of that nature? I actually think probably not," he added.
The Prime Time report also includes footage from an interview with a self-confessed Glenanne Gang member conducted during a BBC Northern Ireland investigation 20 years ago.
William McCaughey, a former RUC officer who died in 2006, admitted to being a member of the UVF and Glenanne Gang while also serving as a member of an RUC Special Patrol Group, whose duties included anti-terrorism.
McCaughey confirmed that the gang consisted of members of the UVF, UDR and police officers.
Additionally, a police officer who worked in the area where the Glenanne Gang operated in the 1970s told Prime Time they believe investigations into the activities of the group were mishandled or obstructed.
"The people that I worked with are honourable and professional police officers," serving PSNI Superintendent Gerry Murray said "but probably others within the organisation knew sufficiently more evidence that obviously wasn't shared with the people who were operationally policing on the ground."
Superintendent Murray worked as an RUC sergeant in South Armagh during the 1970s.
Operation Denton is due to report early next year.
50 years on from the attacks, families now hope the final report from Operation Denton will trigger a renewed push for justice.
"I’ve made one promise to my mother. I will, as long as I live, I will carry on with the campaign and to get justice for my father," Pat Fay told Prime Time. His father Patrick was killed while putting petrol into his car on Parnell Street.
"I will carry on to do what I promised my mother. I’ll see it to the end."
Vincent Kearney and Sallyanne Godson’s report on the Glenanne Gang and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings is broadcast on the 16 May edition of Prime Time at 9.35pm on RTÉ One television.

I'm using a throwaway account- don't want this connected to my main. I teach online with synchronous sessions on zoom. Yesterday during the zoom session of my seminar, a student suddenly collapsed. It took a moment for me to realize what was happening. And then it took way too many more minutes to search the LMS for the student's address, then frantically google emergency services where the student lives (hundreds of miles from the school)) call the department I thought covered that town, get told by dispatch that this was not their jurisdiction, and try three more phone numbers (with other students on the zoom crowdsourcing leads) before I finally got the right department in the right county to send a rescue squad to the student's address. I did first try to call the school to get emergency contact information for the student but no one answers the office landlines and anyway, students are not required to provide an emergency contact- it's voluntary. I'm still deeply shaken, and especially upset by how long it took to get help to that student.
My question to you is this: does your school have any policy or guidance for faculty faced with responding to this kind of live but online emergency? We have procedures for campus emergencies, but we have no procedure when the emergency is happening right in front of our eyes but the person in danger is halfway across the country. Does your school have an effective procedure for responding to emergencies like this? Do you have any advice for creating such guidance for faculty? Has something like this happened in one of your online classes, and if so what did you do?

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The app has been around for a while so lots of users are already using it.
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Links:
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I am a US citizen and my SO will be staying with me and my family at our house. We will just generally be spending time together and with my family.
She is a legal resident of a EU nation, but she is a citizen of a asian nation that is not part of the Visa Waiver Program so she must fill out a DS-160.
She is worried that because she does not have hotel receipts and a full itinerary of what she will be doing every day that she will get denied and then get a mark on her record. It seems that when she traveled to the UK she followed a guide online and made a very extensive itinerary. From my research, it seems that some european countries require this kind of itinerary, but from what I've read this isn't that case for the US, with many just listing the dates they will visit and the address of where they plan to stay.
She is so worried about it that she is thinking of paying for hotel stays just so she can have official documents to prove that she has somewhere to stay, and I think she is planning to create a plan for every day to fill out the itinerary as well.
I told her that if she lists our names and phone numbers (and specifically, she has listed me as a contact in the DS-160), that if they want to confirm anything they will call. But I'm not sure of course, I've never had to go through this process myself.
As a side note, I am planning to visit her country shortly after her visit to mine. Would including documentation for my tickets help prove that she isn't going to overstay in the US (because I will be visiting her)?

Apologies if I am breaking any subreddit rules here. I'm trying to identify if SN could be a good fit for us. I'd also be open to anyone who wishes to DM about this topic or give me a demo of their SN setup. I know this subreddit will be biased but I wanted to hear from those who actually work with the product before I talk to any sales reps.
I am one of about a dozen developers on a team that's specialized in the Hyland OnBase WorkView case/document management platform. We've been using it for over a decade and have built a lot of successful client projects with it, but the drawbacks have reached a point where we are looking for a replacement. Ideally the new platform is something that our team of developers can learn and become proficient with relatively quickly. We'd also be open to hiring some people with SN experience, and/or bringing in a professional services group to get us on track.
A typical client project for our team is to build a case management system that a state government office of 25-50 case workers would use to enroll applicants in a program to receive some type of assistance. Case workers would perform a series of checklist and document reviews on the applicants' cases and move their case through a variety of steps from intake to closeout. Third party users may also log in to this system and perform their own reviews of cases. Users might be grouped into teams and can only see cases assigned to their team.
Not all our projects follow this model, it's just become a common one for us. I've only spent a couple hours reading about SN, skimming through some of the videos on their website, so I still need to do more research, but I wanted to lay out some info about our current platform below. I would love to hear feedback from the SN crowd here about how it compares relative to the pros/cons listed below, and anything in particular you love/hate about it, things you wish you knew about it before you started, etc.
The good:

• Easy to build a data model -- intuitive for developers to define classes, fields, relationships between classes, and even extension classes where appropriate.
• Easy to use the screen designer to throw together an interface for users to enter data into your fields (more on this in the "cons" section).
• Easy to create working filters/queues so staff that use the system can track what's pending their review.
• Easy to set up user groups and control who can see what.
• Document management is built-in, easy to import documents and automatically tag them with keywords based on the record/screen they're being uploaded to. Also easy to query for all documents of a certain type, with certain keyword values, uploaded in a custom date range, etc.
• Transaction history on every record makes it easy to audit who changed what and when.
• Document templates -- the ability to generate a Word/PDF document with dynamic text on demand is very useful for clients that need their staff to print and mail letters.
• Ability to write C# code to do anything we want, even if we could do it with a native component. Our client's business logic often becomes so complex (and changes so often) that it's easier to manage with code libraries that fire when buttons are pressed, rather than with the built-in "no code" workflow design steps.
• Ability to build external applications that interface with/manipulate OnBase data using the OnBase DLL. We have some C# console applications that run on Windows Task Scheduler every night, for example "connect to this FTP instance and import whatever files have been imported in the last 24 hours, turn them all into data objects in OnBase, and send us a summary email".

The bad:

• The look and feel of the client is clunky and outdated, looks like it's from the 90s. It's a Windows application. There is a web client but it lacks some key functionality and also has the same outdated look. The screen designer itself is just a bare bones HTML page you can add rows and columns to and drag/drop your fields on it. We've added some CSS to improve it somewhat and I'm sure if we brought in some designers they could push that further, but we shouldn't have to work so hard to make the default product not look bad. And don't bother trying to use it on your phone or tablet.
• Migrating changes from DEV/QA/PROD is a nightmare. Our WorkView instance has apparently reached the level of complexity at which the tool for exporting your data to be imported into another instance simply crashes and doesn't work anymore. Even when it does work on a fresh instance, it's a confusing experience of mapping all the fields and objects between the two environments and making decisions about whether to keep or overwrite each one. It's reached the point where we have no choice but to build in PROD, and test changes with internal users before we modify permissions so that they are visible to all users. Our TEST and DEV instances are therefore always outdated and not useful as a result. You can imagine how painful this has become.
• Performance is slow. We've never gotten a clear answer from our support calls about why it can take 15+ seconds for a record to load. I suspect this product was simply never intended to be pushed to the limits that we seem to have reached after so many years. From what I can tell, most Hyland customers use OnBase for document management/workflow, and if they have any WorkView/case management projects they use a small number of classes, with a small number of fields. We are 100% WorkView. I would guess our instance has 500 classes (tables), 1000 designed screens, 5000 filters/queues, and 2000 buttons that launch C# scripts. It takes 3 minutes for the OnBase studio/designer IDE to finish logging in/loading our instance before we can begin making any changes to it.
• Licensing is expensive and confusing. You can buy concurrent licenses that are shared between all users (expensive) or named licenses (less expensive) that are assigned on a per-user basis. We host a lot of different client projects on our instance, and it's not a good look when we reach the license limit and users start complaining that they can't log in. Our users have no idea what licenses are and shouldn't have to see error messages they don't understand. Of course this is a problem we can solve with more money but I am curious to learn how SN handles this.
• The built in reporting module leaves a lot to be desired. Very limited customization/styling, and no ability to set up a report to be emailed on a schedule. We instead rely on other modules like PowerBI and Tableau.
• I mentioned in the "good" section that we can build external applications in Visual Studio to create/modify OnBase data, but this is really a response to the poor IDE built into OnBase Studio which lacks so many features, it's easier to just import the OnBase DLL into a Visual Studio solution and build it there, so you have access to breakpoint debugging, logging, Nuget packages, etc. If I'm writing code in the platform IDE, it shouldn't be a miserable experience.
• Very limited developer resources. You won't find any resources on Stackoverflow, Reddit, or anywhere public. If you run into a problem, you can check the Hyland Community forums (good luck, the search functionality is broken) or send an email to support. Likely a result of the OnBase product just not being very well known/popular. Makes me a bit jealous of the more well known platforms like Salesforce and... maybe ServiceNow?? It was refreshing to find an active subreddit, at the very least!

So I used to have a twitch account with this username that I deleted a couple years ago for personal reasons, however recently, I wanted to give streaming a try since I dabbled in editing and I found it very fun, I thought those two will go hand in hand.
So I discovered I can't use my previous username, alright no biggie.
I can't use my phone number either, since it was connected to my now DELETED account.
So I contacted twitch support and they are absolutely useless. They keep telling me they can't verify I used to own the account, even though I gave them the only info I ever gave the deleted twitch account.
Which is my username, either of the 2 emails I used with it which I have access to and my phone number which I can prove I own and they just close my support ticket without asking if my issue has been resolved.
What the hell do I do at this point?
I very much would like to use the phone number I OWN and them to not be tied to a now non-existent account.

I made two friends in a girls reform high school ( I went to this school for the 11th and 12th grade because I struggled with mental health, not for bad behavior) that I still miss to this day. My sister also went to this school and introduced me to them during school breakfast and the friendship took off from there, we had so much fun and I honestly felt so alive when I hung out with them. Let's call them Bird and Lock just to make things more neat and easier to understand. The first time going over to Bird's house he explained that I should not try to date either of them and that people gained a crush on one but not the other. I told him he did not have to worry about that and I only wanted friends.
During my friendship with Bird and lock, I went to places I never knew existed in my city and all of those "have fun when you are young because you will need them when you are old" memories were made with those guys. Lots of new experiences, fun, and joy was had with them. I remember taking the bus with them to the beach to have a picnic and play in the water, we stayed out past dark and the beach at night felt creepy yet peaceful to me. We took the last bus to my house and they spent the night at my house a thing my father has never allowed in the past. Both was not only there for me when an ex cheated, but they also were the ones that found the messages and pictures she was sending to someone else. We hung out a lot to the point and we often were talking or around each other.
Or course it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows during the friendship, Bird and Lock were in a relationship that wasn't healthy and I often found myself trying to fix the issues the two had. (I know it wasn't my responsibility/business to do so, I just had a problem with having to be the peacemaker or the person that saved the day as a teen) I won't go into details about the relationship but in my option Bird and Lock should not have been together. I played therapist when problems and feelings needed to be vented and wanted to try to cheer my friends up.
Bird also required a lot of my attention then the lock, he would send lot of calls, text, and messages on Kik. He felt l like I upset with him if I didn't answer as soon as I could or let him know I was busy. As a introvert I needed my alone time but I felt guilt asking for it so I just let myself be drained until I shut down and started to feel aggravated. I am a lot better at telling people when I need alone time now but I still feel guilty for being aggravated or ignoring them sometimes. Lock didn't require as much attention but I suspect that is because he was always a bit distant and often just followed what Bird wanted.
I stopped talking to them for a little while due to an incident that happened. I will amit signs can go right over my head sometimes and I don't like to assume things, Yet looking back at it now it was kind of clear what was going on. During the bus ride home from the beach two guys and a girl got on the bus and it looked as if the group had a lot of fun together. Bird said something about the three looking like a poly couple and I shrugged and said I wasn't sure and didn't think more of it. I was dating a ex at the time (not the one who cheated just a girl from my first high school) and Lock said something mean about her. It made me mad and I let him know that he couldn't talk about my girlfriend that way at all, he apologize and I moved on after a bit. At one point Lock's mental health dipped down more then usual and want sent to a facility for a small amount of time. I was spending the night at Birds house chilling on the couch that is in Birds bedroom looking at tv. Bird invited me on the bed with him to sleep and I politely rejected the offer it was weird to me because he and Lock we dating each other. Other off things would happen but those are the three that stood out to me.
I was soon confessed to by Bird and he told me that both he and Lock had a crush on me ( I don't think Lock wanted to date me really, Lock went along with what Bird wanted to do when it came to a lot of things and I think this is one of them) Now I am not one that looks down at poly and I have always been curious about it but not only was I dating someone at the time (the same ex Lock said something mean about) but Bird made it known that those kind of feelings was not appropriate. I don't know why but I was upset at this, I felt like they were playing games with me for some reason. Were they every truly being my friend? Is that why they didn't like my ex? Is this why they wanted so much of my time? Things wasn't going to be the same I just knew it. I felt like they wanted me to be the glue to a toxic relationship and I didn't want that. I am not proud about how I handled the situation but I told them how I really felt and stopped talking to them.
Some time later we started talking again and as expected things was not the same. We hung out but it was awkward and at one point they started avoiding me at the store we were shopping at together. Bird apologized about that and I told him that it was okay and I didn't hold it against them. I apologize about how I reacted to them confessing to me and wanted to start a conversation about it so we all could heal and get closer about what happened but they didn't want to talk about it. I got a new phone and when they text my number I didn't recognize it, when I asked who it was the number said " A friend" and since I was wary of random numbers and wanted to be safe I said I don't have any friends by this number. They said okay and I haven't heard from them since that day.
I still think about them, I still seek that fun and alive feeling hanging out with them gave me, I wonder about them and hope they are doing well, I compare the friendships that I have with them to the ones I have now and they feel more hollow and bare, I even dream about them sometimes.
Lately I have been trying to find them just so I can reach out and let them know I didn't mean for things to end the way they did. To explain that I didn't recognize the number and I didn't mean to shut them away, I don't have to be friends with them again but I feel like I need closer and to give closer and I don't know why. Maybe I still feel guilt for teenage me or I am chasing something that is long gone. I can't find them but every now and then I'll stay up late into the night looking for them.
Sorry if this isn't a true off my chest, I'll take if down if need be I just wanted to get this load off my mind. I also apologize for any spelling errors and if everything is all over the place, it is very late and while I love writting I also am know to make mistakes.

I grew up and went to school in one of the European countries and lived for a very short while in the US, but my longest work experience has been in Dubai. I came to Dubai when everyone still didn't have a smartphone or use whatsapp, a lot of people did but it wasn't a norm, and when I started working, all the official communication still took place over email and landlines.
Which means, when you leave your office, you don't have your outlook on your phone, you don't have whatsapp, and people know you can only reply during work hours, and they can only reach you on the phone if you're available.
This was the very end of that phase, 2015-16.
Since then, in all the jobs I worked, it is normal for clients to harass you on whatsapp non stop, or the boss doing the same, even on the days off (sure you can not reply, but it is so anxiety inducing). People calling you. People expecting you to asnwer their emails sent in the evening. People not understanding that they need to email because it's so much "simpler" to communicate by sending you 10 2 min voice notes (fuck those to death).
I mean did the changes in tech made this a reality elsewhere, or is just Dubai filled with entitled, obnoxious people who feel that everyone they work with at all needs to be constantly available to brainstorm every thought that pops into their heads? And these aren't young people, it's everyone, just constant whatsapps, you constantly need to set your limits and protect your number.
My home country (southern central Europe) doesn't seem to be like that based on my conversations with friends and other people. It seems most people would find it weird that someone is trying to reach you or expects your attention when you're off.
Now, I am aware a person can protect themselves - you can tell people you don't use whatsapp for work, you can not give your number whenever possible, you can ignore emails and messages during your off time. I do all that, and my boss, while she feels the need to send voicenotes about "urgent matters" all the time, isn't really an asshole. But just being aware that everyone is in this constant state of urgency and awaiting your most urgent reply asap or whatever, it puts me in this unbearable state of constant anxiety and tiredness, and actual deep hatred towards all the clients.
I am sure it also depends on the industry, but I don't know, what are other people's experiences? I worked in 2 different industries here and both are like this, at least now I have more power to tell people off, and I noticed i sometimes get very aggressive because I am so fed up. My colleagues too. I feel everyone is always on edge. I have no energy for a social life here and my work hours are totally nice and decent for Dubai.
I just feel like everyone is eating my brain all the time with the stupidest shit, and how the hell do all these people run their businesses but are utterly uncapable of writing a fucking email?

HVAC system is meant to provide cool comfort during summer and cozy warmth during winter. In an extremely warm country like UAE it is difficult to live without air-conditioning or in other terms HVAC, in apartment complexes, villas, public & private offices, and commercial establishments. Supply and installation of HVAC systems is important for these environments and you need to choose the systems in a planned way with the help of the supplier. HVAC system is not plug and play because it is mostly comes in several components that you need to assemble together to get the system ready. HVAC is usually planted on rooftops to avoid interference in domestic life. Apartments are supplied with cool or hot air through ducting system that take the air to the various rooms that make up the complex. This would also mean that HVAC cannot function without a duct system.
Improper maintenance of HVAC can lead to below par performance
You will need the full services of the HVAC installer as it is beyond your knowledge and capacity. Meticulous planning goes in to the installation and the team of Installers knows how to plan your HVAC installation. Whether it is a HVAC system or split AC system the installation has to be planned. On the other hand you will also require the assistance of Riyadh air conditioner repair (تصليح مكيفات الرياض) when your existing AC systems stop working. A HVAC or split AC can come under weather if it is not maintained properly. Wear and tear over the years can cause your HVAC give low level performance. You may experience dank and foul smelling air inside your rooms. Whether it is a complete breakdown of the system or incidents of low performance it is necessary that you call the AC repair company who in first instance has installed the system in your building.
Get HVAC repair from authorized services
HVAC system or individual window AC will need equal attention of Air conditioner Repair Company (شركة تصليح مكيفات) because the goal is to restore the defunct system and obtain cool air in to your rooms. The repairs can be complicated for common gentry and beyond your knowledge and skills. Only expert AC system repair personnel can find out what is ailing your HVAC system and provide solutions so it starts at once and avoid any kind of delay in getting cool air in to your rooms. You should take precautions like offering annual maintenance contract to your AC supplier so major breakdowns does not happen with your AC system. For best HVAC installation and repairs you can depend on Alma HVAC, Riyadh the top provider in UAE and you can get in touch with them on phone number 0552725446, 0557598990 or by sending message to [info@almahvac.sa](mailto:info@almahvac.sa).

Hi!
I really don’t know where to start with this one. It’s definitely going to be a long post as I don’t want to miss on any potentially crucial detail, hence apologies for posting something this long.
Here’s my best attempt at summarizing what happened without losing on any detail (feel free to ask for clarification if anything isn’t clear):

• I bought a proxmark3 rdv4 as part of a kit which also comes with several of its accessories from an online website selling these kinds of things.
• When I received it, I noticed several smudges on the device itself and the cards that came with it where scratched up to severely, which immediately alarmed me but I really tried to brush it off to just being caused by the manufacturing process.
• Three days after first receiving it, it completely died on me during usage. And showed no signs of life whatsoever.
• Naturally contacted the online website’s support and explained the situation, and they responded asking me to try some troubleshooting steps to try to isolate the issue and potentially fix it remotely, all of which didn’t work.
• Hence they offered to look into it themselves by having me send it back to them.
• However, I insisted on returning the full kit back for a full refund as it is no longer fit for purpose due to both being defective and the fact that I wouldn’t trust a replacement either to not fail the same way now that I experienced this. And since this was 3 days since receiving it, and even 4 days since placing the purchase, it was well within the 14 days period the Consumer Rights Act 2015 allows for. Hence I asked them to just return the full kit for a full refund instead.
• Yet they (or shoud I say he as it turns out this “company” is actually just one person) refused and said since I now opened it I am no longer eligible for a refund and kept insisting that sending it back for repaireplacement was my only option. (Which is nonsense as how was I supposed to even know it was defective if I didn’t open it!!!). They even went as far as stating their ToS also states that defective items aren’t eligible for a refund even if they are within the 14 day period (which is also nonsense as even their own ToS states that you can return faulty items for a full refund within 14 days. And either way the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives me this right regardless of what their ToS say).
• Then things started getting even more suspicious with this sellecompany. They started ignoring my emails stating my rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and just resending the same email asking me if I accept to return it for a repair or replacement. Obviously I was not going to say yes as then they will use that against me and say I accepted to not get a refund but have it replaced instead.
• So having paid by PayPal, it seemed straightforward. Just open up a dispute, explain the situation clearly and upload evidence. Which is exactly what I did.
• Then through the PayPal disputes seller-buyer chat you get when first opening a dispute to try to sort things out together first, the seller again insisted on this whole ToS nonsense and then asked for the item back and provided a returns address but wouldn’t provide a returns label unless I accepted not to get a refund (again, not going to say yes to that). So what I did was instead return it under my own dime through Royal Mail Special Guarantee so there’s clear evidence. And uploaded the tracking details to the dispute.
• Item gets delivered with proof of delivery and a signature and everything (because I thankfully decided to send it special guarantee), yet the seller kept asking for it back and not acknowledging that it’s already been delivered. (Even more suspicious!).
• And when I clearly stated even the tracking showing proof of delivery and everything, suddenly the story changed and the seller now has it back… and then things got even more interesting.
• The seller went above and beyond straight up making false statements claiming I damaged and modified the item (which I didn’t do). And the funny thing is, not only is what he was saying contradicting with the manufacturer’s own instructions, but his false allegations even contradict themselves! For example, he said the device outer cover is sealed and that I broke the seal and forced the cover open against the manufacturer’s usage instructions. Yet then claimed the tool which is INCLUDED in the box by the manufacturer specifically to open the casing showed signs of usage. Anyone with a brain without even knowing a thing about the device would instantly realize: Why would the manufacturer seal a device and not condone opening it yet include a tool specifically to do exactly that? And to add to that, the reason why you would open the outer casing is to access a SIM slot under there, which you then plug an also INCLUDED SIM-SAM adapter to that slot to use it… hence again, why would the manufacturer include an adapter in the box which can’t even be used without opening the plastic cover. And mind you all of these are part of the main device box, these aren’t the additional accessories that also came with the kit. Hence none of these could have possibly been aftermarket things not recommended by the manufacturer. See how even someone who doesn’t know anything about the device can instantly tell how these allegations conflict with each other? And to add to that, the seller also claimed that I admitted that I flashed aftermarket software to the device and that the device failed immediately after, and pointed towards one of my emails who he previously claimed he never received (again! Super obvious lie!). Yet that wasn’t what I even said, I said that I updated it to the latest version exactly as the manufacturer getting started docs instruct you to, and it was working fine (hence the failure did not occur after the update!) and the failure only happened 3 days later while I was just reading one of the included NFC cards (yes, one of the ones scratched). Hence again, more clear lies.
• So at that point I clearly explained exactly how his lies conflict each other and conflict with the manufacturer instructions and supplied proof as well with manufacturer documentation and the full terminal log showing all of the things I did and commands I ran with the device, and escalated the claim for PayPal to review.
• PayPal despite saying they will provide a verdict in 5 days, took weeks and them suddenly asked me to provide a police report. Yet when contacting the local police they said they don’t deal with these kind of things (which I expected), so now I am being asked for something that the police don’t even provide. Gave the PayPal customer service a call and explained that… and they rudely just kept repeating that I have to provide that or else my case will be closed in the seller’s favor.
• After looking around I found the action fraud website so reported the incident there and thankfully the report letter you get after submitting mentions it being a police service, hence that would definitely work. So I went ahead and supplied that to the dispute and again it said they will provide a verdict within 5 days. This time they took even longer than last time and after keeping me on my toes for possibly a month+ they just simply rejected the claim saying I modified/damaged the item effectively blindly siding with the seller despite the clear lies and despite the clear explanation and evidence I supplied showing that.
• So I appealed the decision and this time re-wrote the full explanation and evidence in case it wasn’t clear the first time and emphasized everything and made sure it was super clear with numbered bullet points and everything. Yet again they took their time and kept me waiting for weeks, eventually rejecting the appeal too for the same reason. (Clearly they couldn’t be bothered to even read a work I said nor even use any brain cells to see how obvious the lies are from the seller).
• Once your appeal gets rejected then there’s no way to re-open the dispute anymore nor create a new one. So rang the PayPal support again and explained the situation and after the agent looked at the dispute even he agreed that the sellers lies were as clear as day and that my explanation and evidence further proves that, and was confused as to why it got rejected. So he said he will escalate to their head office and I should receive a response in 3 working days. And I immediately asked him: They rejected it twice already and blindly sided with the seller, wouldn’t they just do the same? And he assured me that the head office is a different team from the team that handled the dispute.
• Over 2 weeks later… and I still haven’t heard back from anyone. So I gave them another ring. This time the agent that I got straight up started blaming me for “modifying” the item and saying the same nonsense and after straight up going over how all of them are lies (the same way I went over that twice already in my dispute and appeal, but this time I could actually say it verbally in real time to him as it was a phone call), he kept coming up with random nonsense excuses like saying PayPal disputes don’t handle defective items (which is nonsense) and then also went on saying that since the failure occurred 3 days after and not immediately it’s also not covered (again, nonsense), so I reminded him of my rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and he went on saying but that’s not what they PayPal ToS says, and I also reminded him of the signs of usage I also clearly mentioned in the dispute and appeal hence even the item wasn’t as described as it was advertised as new (which in itself entitles me to a full refund even if the device hadn’t failed) and I straight up told him PayPal operates in the UK and all UK laws apply to them and they can’t legally deny my rights regardless of what their ToS says (and by the way, nowhere in the ToS either was it saying anything this guy was claiming). So regardless of what I kept saying he just kept coming up with excuses and nonsense so I knew that phone call was going nowhere. He even went as far as saying that I should resolve this with the seller directly (AS IF I HAVENT BEEN TRYING TO DO THAT FROM THE BEGINNING TO NO AVAIL WHICH IS WHY I HAD TO FILE A DISPUTE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!).
• At that point I had reached a dead end as the seller wasn’t cooperating, PayPal was blindly siding with him regardless of what I did, and to top this off and I couldn’t even file a dispute with my bank as I had used my card from my home country, and apparently when I spoke to them they said they don’t even file disputes unless the item simply hasn’t arrived (which in itself is just stupid on top of all of the stupidity I have faced so far).
• So now I was out £509.99 for the kit, plus the £7.65 I paid out of pocket for postage to return it (which honestly I could have written off if I would have at least gotten the money for the kit refunded), and now I don’t even have the device nor the whole kit as that’s been returned to the seller. So I am out both the money and the kit. And the seller gets to keep the whole kit and probably scam someone else with it as well, plus gets to keep the money.
• So I now filed a case with the financial ombudsman as it been wayyyyyyyyyyyy over 8 weeks and PayPal still hasn’t resolved this nor even wants to (thankfully didn’t need a final response letter due to how long it’s taken otherwise that in itself would have been a nightmare to try to get from PayPal judging by my experience with them so far). But I am honestly not hopeful at all as I have never my life ever won an ombudsman case, as they always blindly side with the company (yes, the same way PayPal blindly sided with the seller), hence no wonder companies confidently refer you to them because they know you probably won’t win.

Hence all of that being said, what are my options now? I am guessing probably small claims court, but if I lose that too then I will also be out the fees for that on top of the already massive losses. Plus I am an international student hence won’t be in the UK over the summer and my schedule during the academic year might not give me time to attend the hearing. Plus I can’t speak legalese and I am generally terrible at communicating on the spot due to my ADHD, hence that also won’t be in my favor. And I can’t afford to have someone represent me either.
I am really sorry if I am sounding super negative, I just really don’t know how to handle this, especially considering how much money I lost now which in itself has been a nightmare.
Any advice would greatly be appreciated whether here or through DMs (my DMs are open if you don’t feel comfortable sharing advice here).
Thanks!

Hello,
I'm starting my first business (sole-proprietor), but like many I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with the process.
My goal is to be a vendor at craft shows and farmers markets, selling both cottage-law approved baked goods (cakes, cookies, brownies, etc) and handmade crafts (decals, stickers, shirts, etc).
I've been making a checklist of what I need to do to be legal, but it seems like every time I look into something it has prerequisites or accompanying requirements.
I'm trying to keep my personal and business things as separate as possible, but I don't think I'm ready for the extra steps of an LLC and how that might differ.
Here's what I've done/will do (In what feels like the appropriate order), but I'd like to know if there's something about starting a business that I've missed.
[COMPLETE]

• Create a bushiness email account, purchase the domain, and reserve the social media handles.
• File with the state as an ABN (DBA) (so my business doesn't have to include my surname)
• Purchase a "Certificate of Existence" from the Secretary of State (Which I'll need when opening a business bank account).
• Obtain a Food Handlers Card to comply with Oregon Cottage Law

[To-Do]

• Apply for an EIN from the IRS (To file business taxes separately and protect myself against identity theft).
• File the BOIR (A fairly new requirement of business owners that started this year?)
• Open a business bank account under the DBA name (To keep my personal and business transaction/finances separate).
• Obtain a business phone number (So I'm not giving out my personal number).
• Contact local insurance broker about what policy I'll need to comply with Cottage Law and to satisfy vending/farmers market requirements.
• Contact the Bureau of Licenses ​to find out what specific business licenses (if any) I will need to purchase to satisfy Cottage Law and being a vendor.

That's where I'm at right now, but like I said this is my first business venture, so I'm quite nervous that I'll unintentionally miss something and get fined into oblivion. Is there a step to this that I might be overlooking?
I have questions about the specifics of Cottage Law in Oregon, but I'm making a list and then calling the Department of Agriculture to try and get them all answered.

Well 44 , Single mother here, So I have my son who is 15 years old and is about to enter his 10th grade .
So what’s the right age to give him cell phone ?

Please be nice in the replies, this is a real situation that I am currently extremely stressed about. I do not need to hear about how badly I am fucking up in life, I am aware what I was doing was extremely stupid and I don't need anyone else telling me anymore. I will be detailing what happened during the arrest and my previous criminal record so it can be better understood where I am at currently.
Burner account for this one. I (16M) was arrested Around 3 weeks ago on the US-Mexico border and am currently waiting to receive a court date in the mail. I am going to be charged with Conspiracy to Aid and Abet illegal aliens, Conspiracy to Transport Illegal Aliens, Conspiracy to Harbor Illegal Aliens, Driving without a License and Driving without Insurance. I was tailed and pulled over by CBP around 20 minutes away from the border on the Tohono O'odham reservation and initially they thought I may have been drunk because I had been swerving a little while back on the road but they quickly saw I was clearly not drunk, and that I did not have a driver's license (only a permit) and that I was also not a local on the reservation (which meant that I was trespassing on tribal land unknowingly) and the officers (around 3) immediately knew what my intention was and called my parents telling them the situation and asking for the pass code for my phone. The officer unlocked my phone and immediately started searching my messages, uncovering pin drops* and communication between me and my "boss" about transporting illegal immigrants. I was arrested on the spot and the local pd was called to come inform me that I was trespassing on their land. They left me in the back of the cop car for around 4 hours while they were searching my phone and the car I was using and talking to local police. Upon leaving to go back to the border patrol station, I requested to have my seatbelt put on which was ignored and then the officer proceeded to drive 25 over in the middle of 2 lanes with no emergency lights on. Nothing eventful happened when I got to the border patrol station and I was in a cell for a few hours until my mother was available to pick me up at a shell station somewhere nearby. On the way to the gas station to get picked up, the officer driving decided to respond to a different situation that was going on which resulted in me having to wait in the cop car for another hour or so. Nothing else happened after that until we got to the pickup spot and as I was exiting the car, the border patrol officers talking to my mom began to taunt me and make fun of me and crack jokes about me going to jail. I also thought I should mention that my Miranda rights were never read during or after my arrest/at the station. Some more helpful information is that I am currently waiting for another court date for a separate arrest in the past for minor misdemeanor charges which I will be going to in June. I have had a few other incidents involving other arrests, but these charges were dropped. REALISTICALLY, how fucked am I and what could I be facing? Do these conspiracy charges carry the same punishment as if I actually committed the crime? Did any of these officers do anything wrong other than not reading me my rights, and if so, can I use it in court to help my case? Can these charges be expunged from my record when I am 18? Any and all advice and answers to these questions are GREATLY appreciated.

• location of illegal immigrants

TL;DR: I (16M) was arrested for 3 felony charges and 2 misdemeanors after being caught on the us mexico border with evidence that I was about to help Illegal immigrants over. Officers treated me like shit and didn't read my my Miranda rights. How fucked am i?

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