Picnik quotes for guys

First of all, I want to say that I am not ableist. Nope. I think discrimination against people with factors they are both with is always bad, and basically my philosophy can be summed up in this Office quote:
"You don't call retarded people 'retards'. It's bad taste. You call your friends 'retards' when they're acting retarded."
However, I don't think the r-word (retard) is that bad. Almost every usage of the word I have heard in daily life has most definitely not been targeted to people with disabilities (actually, most of the usages are targeted to me LOL, with people I know, of course).
Even if you guys think it is really that bad, what are you actually going to do to stop it? 90% of every adolescent guy in HS either uses it or condones it as an insult towards someone for shits & giggles. If one is going to actively say they condemn it, I would imagine some ppl feel like they are walking eggshells when talking to one. I am guaranteeing you that no matter who you are, that a friend or a friend's friend uses the word "retard" or something similar, absolutely 110%; even theater kids might use it sometimes.
In school culture, at least American, it's treated more as a swear word than a discriminatory term.
Now, is the word "retarded" always funny? Of course not. It's sometimes overused so it becomes annoying and unoriginal, almost like 1st grade humor type shit. But, swearing was never meant to be original, was it? The nature of the sheer immaturity in adolescent friend groups is sometimes hilarious in itself.
Obviously, don't ever use it to people with disabilities, because again that is highly bad taste. I would like to think I support good conduct & the golden rule and therefore do not condone that kind of usage. If I had a disability, I think I would still be ok with the word retard, but just not with strangers saying that to me. Ofc, that is not something I am qualified to speak on, so if you're disabled, I'm more than glad to hear your input.
All in all, downvote me if you really think you want to, but I am more looking for inputs.

As a 6'5 lurker that comes to this sub frequently to get my daily dose of dopamine from your sufferings and problems that I know I'll never have, i just wanna say you guys are insanely insecure. Do you think short guys are the only ones with problems in this world? Tall guys have it hard too you know! 13 years ago back when I was 7 I had to be on an airplane for 6 hours!!! Can you believe that??? I can barely remember the details but it was probably horrible 🤷‍♂️ Another time my short friend came up to me talking about how embarrassing it is to have to shop in the kids section for clothing because of his height and how he gets alot of stares and condescending looks for being there, being the gentle giant I am I laughed in his face and proceed to give my own far less insignificant problem with clothing, once having to go for the XL option (which fit fine) instead of the L option as it was sold out for the first time in 5 years, the fact that I had to pay slightly more still boils my blood and it should boil yours too! Anyway I think it's safe to say that my short friend realised how privileged he was compared to me as he never spoke of the topic again, am I not insanely wise? I also see a lot of people complaining about women not being attracted to them because of their height, you guys have it all wrong...yes I know I cant really speak on this topic since I've had multiple ex's who dated me solely based off my height BUT!!! my current girlfriend (who approached me first) is with me because of my quote on quote 'inner light' and the confidence i exude which doesnt really make since I've got anxiety and I'm awful at talking to people but I mean if she says It then it must be true! Just be confident like me boyos and you'll be reaping all the rewards in no time👊 dont forget the showers guys! /s

Okay so I'm gonna try to be as succinct as possible. And yes I'm aware it's highly unlikely any of you trust me motives (which is what you're trained for 👍🏼)
So I was in the middle of prepping for a big meeting Monday when my four year old made a nightly post-bedtime appearance. So I went lay down with him for ten minutes or so. When I came back my 2023 MBP M3 had logged itself out. Our IT team runs jamf. I'm a dev/designer not an IT guy but I know enough not to capitalize it lol. Anyway, I put my credentials in but instead of going from the jamf user verification straight into my desktop, it hits me with what clearly looks like a Mac authentication check. Now I do get the Sonoma lock screen now and then if I come back to my MBP after Sonoma has autolocked but before jamf has done it's thing to log me off. I normally just use touch ID and get right in. Tried it and nothing. From what I can recall, I was never given ANY sort of credentials for the "local password" which I always just assume was the ITConfig password or whatever they call it at my my company. Tried my jamf/Gsuite password 2-3 times because my brain is apparently smooth and boom, locked out. NOW HERE'S THE WEIRD PART
We have self-service tools. Both to password reset and unlock yourself. I reset my password twice and "unlocked" twice. I put it in quotes because while the reset went through (but didn't get me in) the unlock kept throwing an error that said user is not locked out wtf. So I'm figuring Mac and jamf aren't jiving on something. I'm one of the first Mac users in our environment so even if I could wait til Monday well help desk comes back (big meeting makes that option not my favorite) I'm terrified they won't know what the hell is going on either. I didn't want to go rogue and start resetting the SMC or clearing NV RAM unless I knew how jamf handles that.
So there it is. If there is ANY help any of you can give me, even if it's just to shed light on what the hell is going on, that would be super helpful. Now here are some screenshots of what I'm talking about.
https://imgur.com/a/ikhwlP2

[FIRST][LAST]
Atlantis Commission
Officer Report - Lieutenant Colonel John Shepard
CLEARANCE LEVEL 5
Well this had definitely been a very interesting couple of hours. This dimension and its people had very odd opinions and ideas. Apparently the prey species of this dimension were all obligate cowards, whose instincts compelled them to be non-violent and run from threats. At least according to themselves. There were apparently some of them who were “predator diseased” as they called it, a disease which often resulted in increased violence, aggression, lack of empathy, and unheard like behavior. It sounded to me like some form of infectious psychopathy, but the venlil assured us it shouldn't affect us since we were predators, which didn’t really ease my fears, but hopefully it was something we could figure out when we got home if it ever became a problem.
Gotta love mandatory quarantine periods woo hoo!
As scary as this odd disease sounded, my main concern at the moment was to try and turn a professed coward into someone who could at the very least defend themselves.
I looked down to the table of gear ahead of me and then over to the mostly naked Venlil to my side, and then even farther to Tiel’c who thought It would be a good idea to help oversee Farva’s rapid fire training course. I fiddled with the bluetooth earpiece which was rigged up to one of our handhelds to run a translation program to speak directly with the captain. A big step up from our unknowingly one sided communications earlier.
I stepped on the other side of the plastic table and placed my hands down upon it and looked on at my new student..
“Welcome Captain Farva to our very impromptu accelerated course on Human arms armor and basic infantry tactics.” I said gesturing to the hodge podge gear we had managed to assemble for the good captain. “Are we ready to begin?”.
She flicked her ears, somewhat nervously by the looks.
“I’d take it that's a yes then?”
“Oh yes sorry”
“Alright then, well given that most of our crew is human and the only other alien struts around naked all the time, the only gear we have on hand is for humans, So you're going to be running size smalls and it's all going to fit all a bit big” I say as I toss her the tactical vest. ”Here try this on, we can try to tighten it up if it's a bit loose anywhere”. The captain wrestles with the buckles a bit, and Teal'c helps her tighten up some of the top straps, as the Venil’s shoulders weren't as broad as humans. Farva gave Teal’c an odd look, but seemed appreciative none the less.Once finished, she grasped the vest in her paws with interest. “This armor seems quite lightweight, which is nice, weight is often an issue that causes us to forgo armor, since heavy armor would hurt our running ability.” Farva remarks. “Also the sheer amount of pockets seems quite excessive, what do you need all these for?”
“Well for starters it's currently missing these '' I hand Farva one of the armor plates which she looks over. “That is a depleted Naquadria ceramic composite plate. It’s designed to stop bullet impacts and dissipate energy weapon blasts. It slots into that chest compartment in the front and back of your armor.”
“This isn't quite what Id imagine for the armor of your kind”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well judging by your ships I would have imagined you would put more emphasis on defense Your predatory nature would make you less likely to run away from conflict allowing for more encompassing armor to cover more than just your chest, since you have less need to run.”
She would put it like that.
“Well there are a number of reasons for that, a lot to do with those excess pockets you mentioned. For starters you will not be carrying the same amount of gear that the standard infantry unit would normally be carrying, we are preparing you for a quick in and out op. Normally us expedition teams need to be deployed into unknown territory for extended periods of time, we need to carry everything we might need with us from food, bullets, weapons, to comms gear, sensors, repelling equipment etc. The weight from all that gear adds up fast; In order to stay sufficiently mobile and combat effective; we only carry enough armor to protect our vitals, head and torso, anything else can hopefully be patched up by a field medic.”
Tielc gave his piece as well. “It is important to know when to run both towards and aways from one's foes, not every battle can be won through strength alone, but by strategy and cunning. Being able to reposition oneself quickly is therefore highly advantageous”
Farva seemed to freeze at Teal'c's statement, not out of fear I think, she instead had a distant look in her eye. To snap her out of her slump I handed her a standard ballistic helmet.
Seeming to get the idea she looked at it oddly and tried it on. It confirmed to her head shape decently well but depressed her ears to either side of her head, kind of resembling what one might imagine a sad bunny rabbit to look like “I don't think this will be something I can bring with me” she said ” I can't use ear signals and this will muffle my hearing.”
“Why don’t you keep it on for the time being, I think any extra hearing protection might be useful considering what we are about to try next.” I hand Farva some ballistic ear protectors, slightly modified and somewhat ramshackle. “One of the corporals worked closely with Nurse Fila to get an idea for safe decibels levels for your kind, we were also able to get these earbuds molded to fit into your ear canal better”
Farva took them and slipped them in. “These are a bit uncomfortable, what do I need these for?”
“You'll need them for this” I say as I unsnap the clasps on the weapons case revealing its contents.
The content seems to capture Farva’s interest, getting a slight tail wave.
“Okay So this here is a p90, It carries a 50 round top loading magazine of teflon coated armor piercing ordnance. With a cyclical rate of fire of 900 rounds per minute.”
Farvas ears perk up at this. “This seems like an efficient design, I take it these are a flashlight and laser sight for accuracy?” She asked, pointing to the top of the weapon.
“Yes we also have holographic and acog optics which will help line up targets from farther away.” I look on as Farva picks up the weapon and inspects it, testing the weight as I note that it will weigh a fair bit more once loaded. But she doesn't seem to be struggling with the weight. I can't help but notice good firearm safety as well, she keeps her finger well off the trigger and takes care to keep her weapon pointed aways from anyone else.
“This seems like a solid design but I'm not sure how useful those weapon optics would be, as they are not designed for my side facing eyes”
“I'm sure our master at arms can figure something out, why don't we give it a test fire first tho, before we send it off to make adjustments.” I instruct her on how to load the weapon and turn the safety off. I warn her of the sound it makes. And while definitely taken aback by the recoil and sound at first, she quickly gets the hang of it, she has some respectable shot groupings in both single fire and in short bursts. And keeps the rounds reasonably centered while firing in full auto.
She did a whole lot better than I would have initially suspected given her performance in the hanger bay a day before.
“The rate of fire seems useful” Farva spoke “This would be useful for our soldiers, our accuracy falters when we are panicked, and the increased shot count should guarantee some hits based on volume of fire alone” she finished with a dejected expression.
She quickly places the weapon back in its case, as if it burned to touch.” I don't know if I should be armed for this mission, at least not with that weapon, I don't want to miss and hit one of you in the back!”
“What? Nonsense, you are a great shot, and this is just a precaution in case we get separated or flanked and need some covering fire. If our guys are doing their job right you shouldn't need to fire a single round anyways.”
Captain Farva’s breathing started to hasten, earlier I might have thought it was fear, but I was starting to get an idea of what the captain's issues were. I’ve seen this before.
“I.. I can’t be trusted with this responsibility, every time I am left in charge of something, every time people put their lives in my paws I ....”
“Farva, don’t you start with me now you hear.” I said sternly, swiftly capping off her inevitable spiral of self doubt.
“But.. no.. you don’t understand”
Stopping her again I spoke. “But nothing, what happened before on that ship, and back at that colony is in the past. I don’t know your whole situation, but from what I have gathered from the crew It was nothing good. You feel responsible and it's eating away at you, and frankly it doesn’t matter if that's true or not. Accidents happen, people make mistakes, and when that happens we need to learn, take those lessons to heart, and don't let it stop us from helping people in the present. If you let guilt, or fear of mistakes stop you, then bad guys have already won, all without having to have fired a shot”
Farva is quiet for a short time, I was hoping I got through to her, I'm not the best and pep talks and this certainly wasn’t your typical weapons demo, if only everyones could go as smoothly as Ronan’s.
Farva spoke quietly, arms pressed up against her chest, she looked so sad, defeated, and small. Well more than usual anyways. “We can't be strong like you humans, we are too emotional and when we are scared we run away or we lock up and...”
“And that is clearly not the case with you captain Farva” Teal’c finally reentered the conversation having heard enough. “You have shown courage with every action you have taken so far, your actions have saved the lives of many of your crew, every time you have been threatened you acted not just to protect yourself but others as well. You attempted to contend with beings many times your size without even thinking about it, all in the effort to protect others, and this is only in the time we have known you, this speaks nothing of your actions over the colony. You are a warrior of admirable courage Captain Farva, your self doubt is unearned.”
A single tear rolled down Farva’s eyes which she quickly wiped away. “That was very nice of you to say, but I'm not brave like you say, I was terrified out of my mind the whole time.”
Teal’c looked puzzled. “I did not call you brave, I said you were courageous.”
Farva shot back with the little venlil one up one down ear flick I had very quickly learned was confusion.” I'm confused you just said brave twice”
“Hmm it appears your language does not contain the word I am using, I apologize I am not used to speaking through a translator” Teal’c relented “ There are two words I am using admittedly in slightly different forms, bravery and courage. Bravery or to be brave is to lack fear, to not be afraid to begin with. Courage tho, Is a trait far more admirable. Courage is to be afraid, to have fear, to worry about one's own mortality and personal safety. It is to acknowledge risk, danger, to feel fear, but to act in spite of it.”
“Had I not met your kind before I would have thought predators don't feel fear.”
“Everyone fears feel Farva, It is how we overcome it that determines our worth as warriors”
Teal’c picks up the p90 and returns it to Farvas hands.
“Your people need a warrior Farva, a warrior who protects the innocent and guides the lost to safety. You have shown how collected you can be in the heat of battle, You have already proven your worth in our eyes Farva, now you must do the same in your own. The greatest enemy lies not without” Teal’c places his hand firmly on the venlil’s chest “But within”.
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Chief Engineer Donu
I fiddled with my holopad, Its small surface area proving to be a consistent source of annoyance in my current endeavor. Gone was the large workspace afforded to me by my holotable back in my office. Instead I had to work with the scaled down portable holotablet I was just fortunate enough to have strapped to my person when I was beamed away from our last ship. I was stuck with its smaller keyboard and slower rendering speeds.
An annoyed smooth skin alien looked over my shoulder at my device, attached to it was a jury rigged fiber optic cable, slotted into a terran silicon to crystal patch cable, which would convert the electrical signals broadcasted by my tablet into a bandwidth that the terrans crystalline based computers; which they used for highly complex tasks like hyperdrive and transporter systems; could use, and then It was patched again in a even stranger connector to patch into the odd asgard computer stones.
All in all it looked like someone tried to plug a regular computer into some crystal construct like you would find in a fantasy holonovel, and again plugged that into a harchen heat rock sauna lounge. Finally branching out from this conglomeration was a simple copper based wire that connects to a computer terminal at which currently sat the late Doctor Rodney Mckay. A title upon initially hearing led me to believe he was a medical doctor, which led to a flurry of medical questions that he had absolutely no means of answering.
While this odd alien nomenclature was interesting, what intrigued me more was his actual area of expertise, theoretical astrophysics, as well as a number of other diverse specialties and fields. Not to mention not only was he a great scientist who had he been raised in the more civilized portion of this galaxy, would have knowledge and aptitude that would put him alongside some of Aafas greatest minds, but he was also an engineer without peer, at least in this galaxy. His interactions with general Samantha Carter hinted at her possibly being his match if not more. For a species that was supposed to glorify violence the decision to have a scientist be arguably the most senior member of what was by their admission a military vessel spoke to their commitment to knowledge and understanding, a very noble prey-like goal.
I looked warily at the lines of code at my screen, the asguard translation program had earlier scanned our ship and was able to parse written languages, but complex files, like images and 3d design schematics were harder to encode and decode from our perspective systems. As is stands we have 3 completely separate computer architectures, the asguard can talk to human computers and the venlil computers can talk to the asguard computers, It sounds like we would have everything we need to get a human C.A.D schematic into a venlil holotablet right? Wrong! And you're stupid for entertaining such a idiotic notion! Parsing text from raw binary is relatively straight forward, you're just looking for patterns, repeating bit combinations that might infer letters and then iterating them over millions of times looking for patterns, letters, words, and then with a bit of help from some undecoded analog audio transmission, spoken language. This is a far cry from actual procedural communication protocols,the ones that allow for file transfers, exactly what we needed if we were to get Rodney's redesigned part schematics into a format and medium that can be plugged into a suitable fabricator. Assuming one still exists, which I can reasonably assume it does.
Speaking of which, I have just made something of a breakthrough. For upon my screen appears a simple geometric hydrogen cube, we’re talking vertices, planes, material data, everything we need for a usable design file.
I let out an excited pent up yip, the culmination of hours of frustrating software integration work. Unfortunately I startled Rodney, who lets out a panicked gasp and clutches his chest pelts with one of his paws.
“Oh god…..” He gasps, pointing at me “Please.. don’t do that”
“Sorry!” I say a bit meekly. I slowly approach him so as to not make him unnecessarily uncomfortable and show him my work.
“I got the file exchange set up, all we need from you is to finish any modifications to your part, upload them to my holopad, and then we can print away at any class 3 or above fabricator we can scrounge up on Brayga colony.”
“Ok.. um.. got it, I'm almost done i’m just you know” He points a lone grasping appendage at his screen,”Running some simulations, making sure everything is up to spec.” keeping his response kurt. “Sorry for freaking out there.”
I nod my head in the human display of affirmation and return to my workstation to further bug check my work, to test potentially problematic edge cases for when he finishes. Tho Rodney's continued odd behavior intruded on my thoughts.
I should have felt empowered, being able to intimidate this ‘massive beast’, but I didn't. I didn't like being feared, his people have been nice to me, Rodney himself courteous to a fault and desperate for positive attention.
I thought I could expect predators to be fearless but that clearly wasn't the case, rodney was fearful, nervous, had I not known better I would say defective, and while it annoyed his crew, they didn't berate him for it, or attempt to assert dominance, they encouraged it even with placating words and tried to help him through it, they encouraged and supported him like a proper herd, even if sometimes it took the form of what the human would call a playful ribbing. I supposed I could help him as well.
I approached him again, careful to make my approach known to him, making sure to approach from within his limited field of vision. He looks up at me with a wide eyed glare, had I not known him I might have assumed it was hunger, but I did and knew it to be concern.
“Uh high Donu.. um whats up?”
“Why are you afraid of us rodney?”
“Wa-What, me afraid?” he gives out a panicked laugh ”uh no no, I'm not afraid, you know just a bit weirded out I'm just getting used to you all, it's not a fear thing it's a a…. Just getting used to new aliens thing, ask Hermirod we went through this whole song and dance right buddy”
Hermirod furrowed his brow and gave an irritated sigh from across the room.
I reached out to take Rodney by the paw.
His whole body flinched at my mere touch, I quickly withdrew my paw.
“Oh.. um.. I didn't…”
“Rodney! It's okay, your crew doesn’t seem to care when you show fear, and neither do I. Why are you afraid of us? You are almost twice our size and surely double our strength, most venlil would scream and run in terror at the mere sight of you. What's wrong?”
Rodney let out a sigh. “Oh its, we don't have to talk about this, I can deal with this, I deal with scary situations all the time, it's fine, I'll be fine.”
“Rodney, my people are a very emotional, empathic people, we are open with our feelings and with our fear, and the fear of the one can affect the herd, please let me help you. I don’t know what to expect from your society but I promise I wont judge you for your fear or emotions, I mean look at many of my crew mates, we are no one to judge”
Rodney shot back “You didn't seem to be so bothered”
“I’m too old to care, I was about to retire, hell I was about to die as far as I knew, Brayga colony was supposed to be a quiet place to lay back, work on some hobbies, plant a garden and pester the young men of my colony until I either dropped dead of boredom or got lucky” I joked.
That seemed to raise Rodney's mood somewhat. He sighed and seemingly relented.
“It’s… a dumb story, I don't even know why it affected me so much, I come from a place on earth called Canada, people don't usually believe me when I say I am from there, us Canadians are notoriously friendly and I guess I haven’t exactly filled that mold for a lot of my life, but hey I'm working on it, people like me, I have lots of friends back at Atlantis” He says the last sentence in a way as if it isn't me he's trying to convince.
“I'm sure you do, Rodney, You seem like quite the charming individual when you're not cowering!”
“Ha ha thanks, maybe you could come and visit sometime. Tell that to doctor Becket, really nice guy, smart man, he would love to meet you, he loves investigating new species. But back on topic, oh boy, so me and my sister Jeannie were on a family trip to rural Vancouver to visit my grandpa's farm, he kept a lot of goats, not for eating or anything, they were essentially pets that he would use for milk”
“Wait hold on? You drink milk from other animals! Do your females not produce enough milk for their young?”
“Oh um no, we just sort of drink it or ferment it into cheese!”
“Ferment? You mean spoil?
“Yeh”
I reeled from this plasma blast of a statement, I like any right minded venlil had a number of nightmares about being an arxur’s cattle before, especially when I first learned about those things in primary school, but never once had it crossed my mind that we could be used for something so weird. What the speh was I supposed to do with that information?
“Maybe you should get back on topic”
“Yeh sorry about that uh.. Anyways the momma goat had just had a litter of babies, and their real cute when their little, so late in the day when my grandpa was asleep we snuck out to the pens so we can play with the little baby goats, our grandpa told us not to but you now how kids are.”
At this I think back to a young Nyan, as I teach him the inner working of the hyperdrive, I tell him he’s not cleared yet to operate in this engine compartment alone, but I could tell from the occasional caught black hairs and dropped writing implements, there had been a number of curious unauthorized expeditions into its inner workings, he didn't really listen either.
“My sister as always was trying to be the voice of reason, wanting to take it slow. If I was paying attention I might have noticed the angry moma goat who didn’t appreciate the strange human messing with her children.”
The color seemed to drain from his face.
“I uh…” He began to stutter again ”I screamed, a lot, it was rather undignified, she ran right at me, thank god it wasn't a male goat, one with horns, I tired to run but I was hit in the back and knocked over and kicked real good in the head, like wake up in the vet clinic a quarter mile down the road kind of bad”
“This goat was a prey animal?”
“That would be what your kind focuses on”
“Oh sorry”
“Anyways It seems dumb but I have just never been good with animals since then, especially ones that look like you; no offense; I'm getting better but when I first saw you guys in the hangar bay, I was just that dumb kid again, getting in way over my head, scared for my life. I guess there is something to be said about childhood trauma. I really should be over this, I'm getting better with it I swear it’s just”
I take his paw again, he doesn't flinch this time.
“I'm a venlil, a prey animal, I know fear, I know what it is to live in fear, It rattles your brain, it turns your paws to wet grains. It takes great strength to overcome it, to push it aside just long enough to protect the herd. Your herd relies on you Rodney and you are doing a great job in spite of your fear, in spite of having to work with those you fear. You have achieved intellectual feats that rival the greatest minds of the federation and all that while struggling with a traumatic experience. Fear isn’t dumb and there is nothing wrong with you for feeling it.”
“Thank you” Rodney says “That means a lot, I won't be like forever I promise, I just need some time.”
“We will laugh about this someday,” I assured. “Nothing as big and intelligent as you should be afraid of anything”
“Are you calling me fat?” Rodney exclaimed with fake offense.
We both chuckled.
My kind words had resulted in a more upright posture, and a more cheerful demeanor from the human, almost like when I congratulated Nyan on his work, and it got me a look at that happy snarl of his, that I was starting to grow quite fond of.
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Apprentice Engineer Nyan
Oh wow! I get to write a report for this mission! I never get to write reports, Donu says they're too boring, but there’s so many interesting things going on all the time. Sometimes I sneakily write my own! Just for fun of course, nobody sees them, which is probably for the best as I sometimes get excited and embellish them slightly. One of the reports I wrote was about the time Donu used nothing but a wad of electrical tape, a bottle of high grain venlil alcohol and a pocket knife to repair a venlil medical ship just in time to get out of the way of a big scary space predator, with glowing red eyes and a million tentacles!
Anyways Im not sure If im suppose to write these In present tense first person or past tense. I asked the captain and she said it's whatever so long as I make sure any pertinent dialogues are properly quoted(“”).
“Nobody usually reads these things anyways.” She said, but this one is surely going to be so exciting, who could look away!
I mean who's gonna scoff at a chance to read about friendly predators from another dimension! A dimension of friendly predators who give warm head scratches and hand out yummy strayu not strayu treats called donuts, that are somehow fluffier than strayu, and have a nice moisture to them. I asked for the recipe but Samantha said we wouldn't have the ingredients back on Venili prime to make them, and Teal'c said the recipe is an old family secret. Its weird predators would be so protective of their plant snacks.
There are so many weird things about these predators, they have nurturing instincts that make them find us cute. They stay perfectly balanced even if they don’t have tails, swinging their arms and body all over the place to keep upright like a lopsided gyroscope, it's pretty funny looking!
They also wear artificial pelts all the time, which I thought was weird, I thought maybe the ships temperature was set by the angry gray alien since he’s the only crew member beside the venlil who walks around naked all the time, maybe he had a fit when it was to warm, and the humans obliged him cause they were worried they would make him even angrier, and wore clothes to make up for the cold. I thought this made sense, a lot of their technology does seem to come from the Asguard, maybe he has more say in the goings on of the ship because of that. But apparently humans just like wearing pelts all the time. They feel uncomfortable without them and don’t like it if you try to remove them or look up their upper artificial pelts they call shirts.
The humans are so weird, I don’t even have to embellish my reports to make it more interesting. Like that time with the big tentacled space predator. That may sound real compared to this stuff but it Isn't, Ha! I bet you fell for it at first, hook line and sinker! Like the humans would say. I think I used that saying right, I'm not sure what it means, but Shepard brought it up when he was telling a story about the wraith.
The humans are so nice, instead of exterminating their predators they try to cure them! Their doctors are working to modify the wraith so they don't have to eat humans anymore, so they can be friendly predators too.
Anyways I should probably get to the actual report part of this report. Farva says I should start after I went off with Samantha to work on some special astrophysics equations she said I would be good at. I kind of wanted to go with Donu to help Rodney get the new parts they needed, or Farva to help rescue our people, but the humans and even the angry gray alien got really weird when Farva mentioned taking me on the mission. Samantha seemed to want me to help her really badly so I didn’t mind. Samantha says I have the most important part to our mission. She's teaching me about how humans communicate through subspace, and about stellar drift equations. We are working on what she calls the exit strategy.

1) myron: “being friends with women is a waste of time because they don’t provide much value and they extract your resources”
I disagree, I think it more beneficial for guys to have women friends because most guys are just not comfortable around women because they aren’t around them much. It’s a vicious cycle. How do you fix that? Being around them. Listening to RP can only take you so far in the dating game. You actually need to experience being around feminine women. I was lucky to have a lot of female(attractive) friends in college. I would walk into parties with a bunch of girls and I would immediately have pre selection. I got laid because of it. Fucked some of their friends. I got to learn their minds. What they like/dislike in men. And I got more comfortable around women in general. And yes, some female friends will try to get that bf energy, but just make sure you treat them like one of the homeboys and that’s it. They will respect you.
2) Myron: “eating your girls box is submissive”
I disagree, it’s cool if you genuinely don’t like eating pussy. Nothing wrong with that. But don’t say it’s submissive. This is one of the few times where I think that’s just insecurity. If you’re doing everything right…being masculine, protecting/providing, being a leader, etc…but you’re worried that she will think you’re being feminine because you pleasure her with your tongue? lol. Come bruh. That’s literal insecurity right there.
3) Myron: “every woman is a gold digger, some are just better at hiding the shovel”
I disagree, this quote sounds good on the surface level and it’s catchy, but it’s just not true when you think about it. A gold digger literally means a person who forms a relationship PURELY to extract money from them”
There are plenty of women who date bums. And yes, they eventually leave, but only because the man keeps being a bum and doesn’t do anything with his life. Can you blame the woman? No. Do most women prefer a man with money? Of course…but it’s disingenuous to say all women are gold diggers. Can’t change the definition of the word to fit your narrative.
4) Myron: “every man should sleep with at least 50 women to get experience so you don’t get taken advantage of in a relationship”
I disagree, obviously Ling ling proved this theory wrong lmao. Won’t get into that though. We all know. Sleeping with a bunch of women doesn’t make you better prepared. Does it help? Sure. It all depends on the type of experience you have. For example…if most of those women were one night stands then what did you really learn? Not much. Just how to finesse your way into some pussy and a little bit of female nature.
I would argue that a guy that has slept with 10/15 girls, has had 2 serious relationships and has had a couple friends with benefits will have way more experience than a guy who simply just fucked 50 girls from tinder. You need to be around women for longer than 1-2 days to truly understand them. And one night stands will not help with that.
5) Myron: “a woman’s orgasm doesn’t matter because you need male orgasm to make life”
I disagree, 99.99% of the time we have sex for pleasure, not to make a baby. So if we have sex for pleasure then why is the female orgasm not important? In my opinion…Myron has trash/lazy dick. If you can make a girl cum and prioritize her orgasm..she will be obsessed with your dick. If her last bf or partner made her cum and you can’t…get ready to eventually get cheated on. Even if you check out all the other boxes. Women like to nut too fellas. There’s a reason why Angie prob is okay with not fucking him. Think about it
Myron is intelligent, but sometimes he trips over himself trying to be a guru. He’s too extreme and black/white sometimes. For him there’s almost never a middle ground.

I have a small window cleaning business. I have an excellent reputation and live in an area that has more demand than supply. (Arguably—at the least, it’s a favorable business environment.) I have a growing online footprint with YELP and Google. So far, my reviews are all 5-star. I am known for top notch work at a reasonable price. I don’t cut corners. I focus on getting the job done right and treating people’s homes as my own.
I expect this to change as a hire and grow, because although I have many years experience, I don’t expect employees to care like I do. Still, I believe I can provide very good service at a reasonable price, and the small hike in prices will be offset by my ability to complete the work much faster than before which is more convenient for my customers who generally to choose to remain home while we are there. So far, no one has balked at a 10% hike.
Now, I’m trying to scale up. I have 2 pick up trucks. Neither are pretty, but they’re Toyotas. I would only need a couple more ladders to fully outfit 2 vehicles for service.
I have found a reasonable worker’s compensation quote. I haven’t yet received the numbers for the increased liability insurance, or commercial auto policy. I understand that I will be matching Social Security and FICA. I’m not worried so much about these expenses. Perhaps I should be. With labor, he margins for window cleaning aren’t terrific, but not horrible. Depending on the bid and the nature of the property the margin can be tight. Sometimes we have to drive 30 minutes as I operate in a semi-rural area. Like anywhere, I have some customers that grind me down.
I live in Idaho where these expenses tend to be less than the more populous states. However, because of the nature of window cleaning, insurance is costly. I’m trying to decide if this is worth it, because although I do care about my employees (they are great guys), there is significant headache managing this younger generation. It never ceases to amaze how quickly they become prima donnas, or how heavily they are focused on feelings…..I digress…
Right now I am paying 2 guys as 1099, which isn’t a safe long term solution. I need to make a decision quickly. I keep them off ladders and roofs for now. But, that can’t last if I am to scale it up. My plan is to make them w-2 employees paying them a percentage of the jobs, then send them to complete jobs in their own, with me as: estimator, customer PR, roaming QC, touch ups, and sometimes working.
I intend to add additional services (I already do gutter clean outs which are far more profitable, but pretty unpleasant work, and have a short window of time)
To conclude: at this point, I’m unsure of whether the increased capacity is worth the headache. I’m currently clearing approximately what I would make alone. However, as my guys gain experience, I expect this to get better as they get faster and more precise. Window cleaning is A LOT harder than it looks. It takes an average 1-2 months until I can leave a guy a a job site unattended for even a few hours. I have other options, so there are times when this seems really tough
The other possibilities:
*Pressure washing (demands additional insurance policy, but is a naturally matching service that I believe would be successful quickly, but requires more space in the truck than is available, so it would mean 1 truck off the grid for windows
*House cleaning: better margins, but more competitive and even more employee headache (prob worth it all in all)
*Dryer vent cleaning: I have less knowledge about this, but the entry cost is very low. And the margins are apparently quite good.
Questions:
Does it make sense to form an LLC, and use that name on my EIN application? Is the additional expense up front worth it?
Should I just endure the headache so that window cleaning can fund the other services with better margins?
Should I sell one of the trucks to buy a van or similar vehicle that is dedicated purely to the business? I could get at least $10K for either.
General thoughts?

So I met this guy online through Instagram, being very conscious I knew all the red flags and did not really reply to randoms. I run a blog and we connected randomly over a cat, this was not a typical conversation but something which is rare where we had a lot of similarities and were being very respectful regardless of our professions being the same as well. We had/have a lot of similarities which I was surprised at first. we kept on talking and exchanged number met once over coffee and everything was pretty decent. Now this is 2 months down and the guy never talked to me about anything wrong, Snapchat or any bullshit when I say NO RED FLAG, there was none. He was extremely serious and nice very respectfull too and we both were in the mess of avoiding arrange marriages.. He introduced his family to mine over call, and told his parents about me and they wanted to make things more serious. Later on we met again when our parents were involved too and it was really nice. A true soul connection where you both are on the same frequencies, it is coming from someone who had her fair share of bad relationships so i wasn't really expecting anything and it really felt at times to good to be true. End of the month him and his parents wanted to come over our house and they did. The plot twists starts now, the guy belongs to an Air Force family where everyone is very well educated, brother is doctor and everyone seem pretty nice.
When they came his father started asking very vague questions to my father which i will quote
" How many rooms do you have in your house?"
"Is this honda city you travell on? i thought you travell on a better 4 wheeler?
"Is this house on rent?"
"why houses around are big?"
Beta we are sending our son to UK, why arent you studying further??
His mother to me:
you have never traveled abroad? we took our children (2 boys) to everywhere
why didn't you?
This all felt more like an investigation rather then a rishta, my mother regardless made so many things and treated them well. We are always very respectful and kind to our guests. We are a well educated family and everything one wants. The fact they live in a joint family and out of skirts of the city which we never asked... Long story short, they ate well, greeted and went home, and after an hour of reaching home both the parents texted to my parents that our son is going go to Uk for further studies and we are not interested in any sort of relationship and the son msged me " i won't take any further step without my parents consent"
Now this is the same guy who was begging that he wants his parents to come and see us, they are all ready, dont need anything but a good educated girl, literally promising and what not.
I kinda feel so disrespected and conufsed that wtf happened, any remarks/suggestions would be helpful <3

Hello, I have ash tree in front yard of home I purchased last fall. I recently texted pics of tree to someone to get a quote for treating it so it doesn't end up with emerald ash borers since they are in other parts of Texas. The guy wanted $2500 to treat the tree and went on and on about all the issues he could see that the tree already has from the photos I sent. One thing he mentioned that has definitely been at the back of my mind (even before speaking with him) are the tree roots being visible...especially concerning to me bc they are above ground all the way up to the concrete edge of walkway in front of front porch area. According to him this type of tree should not have roots like this and it is a result of years of neglect and insect activity driving the roots to grow in that way....or something like that...I'm no tree expert and a lot of what he was saying went straight over my head but it was something along those lines I think. And also according to him this can be corrected with his treatments. Anyway...I don't plan on hiring him bc that is way out of budget for me....I was thinking like a couple hundred bucks to treat the tree...not thousands...so I will be looking for other quotes or maybe even DIY if I must go that route for treating for EAB. However....all this talk about the tree roots has really got me thinking and the more I think about it the more concerned I get. I don't want my foundation and plumbing to be destroyed by these tree roots but at the same time we really love this tree. My neighborhood is 12 years old and there are very few trees in it. The other ones are quite puny and sad. This tree is actually rather glorious in comparison after driving around the neighborhood. My kids love it and we have a swing hanging from it. I don't want to get rid of it. I would like to know what I can do on my own to help this tree if anything...to redirect it's roots so that I don't end up with structural issues to my home. I haven't noticed any issues with plumbing yet and I have been here over 6 months. I tried googling about the tree roots growing like this but I'm not finding much. Any advice would be appreciated.

Perhaps people are probably tired of hearing about New Vegas everywhere on the internet, but I thought I'd inject some fresh discussion about the game. It's just one of those things that you can't shake off when you realize it. So much of the game screams Coen Brothers to me. For an example, the whole platinum chip arc with Mr. House in the first half of the game has a lot of elements of The Big Lebowski. It has that same idea of a random guy being roped into a conflict that's much much bigger than him, facing off groups and characters that are larger than life and getting sidetracked into surreal situations. Getting caught between a bunch of smooth talking Rat pack style gangs, elvis impersonators, along with an army of ancient rome fetishists screams Coen Brothers to me. It's a weird juxtaposition of the serious, even a bit of sadness about mankind's hubris with a wacky ensemble of characters and situations.
Not to mention the humor and snappy dialogue which wouldn't be out of place in a Coen movie, so much of it has an endearing improvised quality to it. It's also has that distinct feeling of Americana and love for the old west mixed with old testament style themes that you can recognize in their work. The Nevada desert in the game as a setting also has a certain harshness that really does remind me of No Country for Old Men.
I thought it might just be me overthinking things, but I searched that idea up and even Chris Avellone mentions the inspiration in an interview loosely. He also does name drop Kurt Vonnegut whose inspiration you do feel in some ways throughout the game. Only title I've read by him was Slaughterhouse Five, which kind of does make me notice how the game handles the idea of war and conflict in a similar way. There's also this sense of melancholy and irony about thousands of people scheming and dying over a conflict for an arid piece of desert that reminds me of this quote.
I'd love to hear another perspective from you guys! While I guess not all of this has to be answered, I could think up of some questions in the spirit of encouraging discussion. How much of this similarity was on purpose? Was it that while exploring Fallout's ideas about America, the writers of FONV ended up going down a similar road?
Have you ever come across references and themes in games that hit you in the face years later? Has there been any game that contradicts my title? Finally, do you feel that there's an aspect of FONV or a popular title that you think people don't talk about as much?

Tried googling but not many threads came up. I relate heavily to top answers in this thread
https://www.reddit.com/depression/comments/1q086o/does_anyone_else_keep_to_themselves_because_you/
I was always loner socially but recently i even stopped going to family get togethers, this quote is perfect:

In general, I usually think that the best thing I can do for people, especially if I like them and want to be nice to them, is to free them from my presence as quickly as possible.

I know it's defense against anxiety. I also think i defend by not caring about others so at least it's fair. I don't understand why some people say that the fact that "noone cares" is freeing for social anxiety. If noone cares then why would i do anything? I guess i rely on other peoples' validation. I always felt like i don't exist on my own. I need to relate my experience with outside world to assign some value to it. By myself there is nothing. I'm a bottomless pit.
Please guys, give me some "how". How do i solve this.

Hi guys, I've been chewing on this for a while now, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this:
Through the years I've seen countless examples of people who claim to believe in the "God of Spinoza" (not to be confused with the God of Spinach, those are just Pastafarians led astray) or the "God of Einstein". And while Spinoza arguably did most of the heavy lifting for this philosophy, it's this quote by Einstein that's probably the most famous and rather excellent summary:

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence -- as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature."

Now I'm not here to argue that Einstein was wrong, in fact I love this quote, but it does have some implications that are easily overlooked and are also applicable to Spinoza's work: There's no book, there are no commandments, there are no Sons or Prophets and there is no afterlife. Also, God ignores you. And the only knowledge available about said God is simply scientific knowledge, no more no less.
As an Atheist there's little to object to here, I think. In fact, it seems to me that a religion like that looks an awful lot like three little atheisms in a hat and a raincoat, wouldn't you think?
The context in which I most come across this particular "religion" is when a scientist, or someone who knows a little about science, is asked if they are an atheist. To me, its purpose seems to be to function as a social lubricant, it's a way of saying: "I have no meaningful religious belief whatsoever, but I'm not a nihilist and I also don't want to explain the secular basis for morality... again."
But even if they themselves fully believe that they are not Atheists because of Spinoza's God, I'm here to argue that they are and that they are in fact a rare breed of staunch and deeply committed Atheists:
As a thought experiment, let's imagine you are a Christian out to convert people to your religion. If you come across an Atheist, there's a fair chance that atheism is deeply intertwined with a rebellious attitude towards their upbringing and their surroundings. Untangle that psychological mess, separate the anger from the theology and you might have a shot at converting this person. Here's what it would take to convert someone who says they believe in the God of Spinoza:
Broad scientific consensus on the existence of God. Your specific denomination's God.
Your chance of converting this person is like the proverbial snowball in hell. They might offer you lip service, but at the end of the day, what they're really saying is: "I'm an Atheist who thinks the universe is pretty". And I mean this quite literally by the way, if you ever come across someone who claims to believe in Einstein's God, show them the colorized images from the James Webb Telescope. Watch their reaction, you'll see what I mean.
So in conclusion: My proposition is that people who call themselves Spinozian or say they believe in Einstein's God are in fact hardcore Atheists. And I'm willing to die on this hill.
Also, like I said I have no objections to the famous Einstein quote and to be honest, I think the universe is very pretty too. So if a mod made it all the way to here, can we please have a "Spinozian" flair? Pretty please?
Some relevant links: Wikipedia article on Baruch Spinoza
Wikipedia article on the religious views of Einstein
We count those.

First
General Karne sat in his office, the floor to ceiling window that lined the far wall displayed a sprawling metropolis that sat at the galactic core. He looked down at the book resting in his claws reading the title again “The Eskaido Conflict- a Firsthand Account” written by Private JW Ringuette. After witnessing the award ceremony the day prior he had decided to pick up what would be his first piece of human literature.
He really was looking forward to seeing that particular human yesterday, but at the time it had been for the wrong reasons. Now he had a different rationale for wanting to meet him, but that would not be possible. As meaningful as the ceremony was, the actual speech had been rather brief. Before attending, he would have been glad if someone told it would be short. He now knows that such a brief recollection of events did not do this human’s actions justice. He remembered his own acceptance speech being nearly 3 hours long and included various celebrations throughout as he covered every detail of his command decisions during his tenure in the Outer Belt Rebellion.
But this award had differed greatly from every other Galactic Honor Medal that had been given. This was the first time it had been given to someone who was not an officer, and not even a noncommissioned officer at that. This wasn’t given to someone who had the luxuries of a command post off-world in a pristine office or a comfortable room aboard the galaxy's strongest dreadnought. This was given to someone who had been in the dirt and the mud and the blood. One who had seen the worst the galaxy has to offer and made something that mattered out of it. He poured himself a glass of methane infused tea and leaned back in his chair, curling his scaled tail into a comfortable position. He opened the book and began to read the words written by the recently deceased soldier.
Below are excerpts taken from “The Eskaido Conflict- a firsthand account” written by Galactic Honor Recipient Private John William Ringuette during his short time on Eskaido. Additional Quotes are sourced from surviving Eskaido soldiers and Terran military documents along with statistical analyses of the conflict.
February 28th 2287 Terran Standard Calendar
I wasn’t always sure what I was going to end up doing. I mean I knew I’d join the army, my dad was in the army and his dad before him and so on. But I didn't know exactly what I would end up doing if that makes any sense. 20 years with no combat, a boring desk job after 10, where’s the fun in that? I wanted to do the things that kids read about in history books growing up, thats why I chose the infantry. I thought about the Navy too, loved pirates since I was a kid, hell I still am a kid. Maybe I joined to stand out, get noticed, which is pretty damn hard when you got 15 brothers and sisters all under the same roof.
I joined up as early as I could, got my parents to sign the forms at 17, and a few months later I found myself here at Fort Benavidez. Training isn’t bad but sure was harder than running track for my high school back in Boston. Met some great guys here, only a few of us got an OD slot. Never thought I’d get the chance to see some action so early, but I’ve always wanted to do the things that a soldier’s supposed to do, so this is my chance. We get our duty stations tomorrow, all but a few of us are going to Eskaido. All the boys are excited, talking about all the Aliens that they’re gonna kill. I’m one of the ones that got an OD slot, so I’ll actually get a real fucking combat jump. My brother is going to be so jealous when I get back with an Orbital Strike Combat patch.
“March 2287 Easy Co-395 class consisted of 235 infantry graduates. 198 of them were sent to Eskaido, all ages 17-20. Only 26 survived.”
-E-395 IN. Training Co. March Graduates 2287.
March 7th 2287 Terran Standard Calendar
Well I passed Orbital Drop school. It was everything that I was expecting it to be and more. A welcome change of pace compared to infantry school though. The food was better, we ran a lot more which was fine by me. It was funny finishing all the runs minutes ahead of the other guys. I just sat there yelling at em cheerin’ em on when they passed the finish line. Sometimes the Black Hats would talk to me to pass the time, other times they just said good job and left it at that. I wasn’t really looking for their validation, but it was cool to get it. Guess all that time I spent running finally paid off which is a good feeling.
They say we’re going to be at Eskaido in less than a week. I’m getting nervous as it’s getting closer. I mean this is the first war that we’ve been in for almost a century. I finally understand how those soldiers felt back during D-Day in world war II. I wonder what it’s like off-world, I don't know much about Eskaido but I think I remember some other guys saying it’s cold. We’ve only been involved with all these different aliens for a few years and we’re already getting into a fight. I’m no politician but I’m not sure that's a great look for intergalactic politics if you ask me. Oh well, all I gotta worry about is the cold and I don’t do well with the cold. But I guess it's my job to be uncomfortable, now I just gotta embrace it.
“During Eskaido, our Paradroppers had a 75% fatality rate. If they survived entry then they were often killed before joining up with their squad. 60% of paradroppers had less than three months of training.”
-LT COLONEL Mickey Hayes when asked about Eskaido Paradroppers
March 12th 2287 Terran Standard Calendar
Fuck today was surreal. It honestly felt like a dream, maybe fever dream would be the better way to describe it. We were all crammed into that shuttle when we reached orbit. We couldn’t see outside to know what was going on, just had to trust our Pilot to get us over the drop zone. We had a shaky entry and the shuttle sounded like it was going to tear itself apart. We all lined up at the door as we felt the dropship heating up. Once we got the go ahead we were pushed out the door one by one. I looked up to see the shuttle itself nearly melted as the last few almost made it out, then I got my first look at Eskaido. I saw the vast white expanse of ice and rocky hills that littered the landscape, fuck guess im fighting on Hoth. That's a cool way to look at this. Some cities were visible in the distance, but the biggest thing I noticed was the tracer fire. Well I thought it was tracers, turns out that was superheated plasma. Other shuttles weren’t as lucky as ours and several other paratroopers pulled too early and their chutes got burned up by some stray shots. I waited for my altimeter to start beeping before I pulled the chute just like I’d been trained.
I hit the ground, I’d done two drops before, but fuck landing on rocks hurts a lot more than soft grass. There wasn’t any cover around but thankfully I was in a pretty secluded area. I pulled out my terramap and started making my way to the rally point. As much as I loved rucking, I wasn’t too keen on walking 12 miles in an active warzone all by myself. Oh well just gotta embrace it.
I got to the patrol base a few hours ago, chafing like a motherfucker and just wanting to stop walking. We had most of the platoon out here by the time I arrived. I had never actually met them before today, they didn’t say much in the shuttle but they said there was supposed to be a lot more of us. We holed up in the snow that night, I was thankful that we got issued the arctic dropsuit for this and yet my hands are still trembling from the cold as I hold this pencil right now.
“Yea it was about -40 during the day to maybe -80 at night when I was on Eskaido [...] Yea celsius, so I guess that's around -100 for you americans. I remember sometimes someone would get shot and they wouldn’t bleed. Come to find out the blood in the wound had already frozen solid the second it touched the air.”
-SGT Takeshi “Tiny Man” Munemori when recalling Eskaido.
March 14th 2287 Terran Standard Calendar
I killed one today, well I think I did. I shot one today might be a better way to say it. To be honest it was kind of hard to tell. He was so far off in the distance and wind really whipped around the snow so it was really hard to see anything. The thermal goggles barely even worked after 100 meters. He was running across a road maybe 500 out, I took the shot and he fell down but slowly dragged himself to his feet. I think I was too stunned to shoot him a second time, I don't know why I didn't. But it didn’t feel as good as I thought it would, didn’t feel like anything but it’s not like I was looking him in his eyes when I shot him. Do they even have eyes? Maybe they have something entirely different.
Other than that I still don’t know what they look like. It looked tall, I think they're supposed to be reptilian, or maybe amphibian? Don’t quote me on it, I’m not a biologist. That was really all that happened today. PL says we’re heading into a town here soon to look for signs of civilians. I wonder what the Eskaidians look like, I guess technically that's why I’m here, for them that is. It’s just weird thinking that I’m supposed to be here to save a species that I’ve never seen or heard of before. And now I’m fighting a species I’ve also never seen or heard of, until I shot one.
For many in Eskaido this was their first experience off-world. At the time of the conflict only the most privileged and elite had been able to travel to other systems. Many who joined the war effort came from families who could not afford to go off-world, hoping for a chance to see the stars. They had no way of knowing just how brutal Eskaido would be.
-Quote from “Political Inequality in a Galactic World” by MAJ Matt Anderson .

Hey Guys, I was just quoted 800 CAD to install a 240v plug for my EV charger (Tesla Mobile Connector) with 40 amp charging capability. The box is to be right next to my breaker.
Just wanted to know if that is standard in case anyone has had experience with this. I expected it to be a bit lower since I reckoned it’s only a plug that has to be mounted. I don’t really know a lot about electrical, but I don’t really drive all that much so I’m wondering if I can just continue using the household plug (which I also have in the garage)

Some books I have,
The Numinous And Modernity by Todd A Gooch
Rudolf Otto and the Foundation of the History of Religions by Yoshitsugu Sawai
Rudolf Otto and the Concept of Holiness by Melissa Raphael
Rudolf Otto: An Introduction to His Philosophical Theology by Philip C. Almond
These books are too off topic from Idea of the Holy itself. They are tangentially related like situating Otto in context with other theologians, or they deal with his messy interpretation of Kant, or something. Maybe I already have a suitable book (do I?) but from what I gather I don't. Maybe I am wrong. I am looking for a book that picks apart Idea of the Holy itself... his contradictory exploration of benevolent holiness and its tangled upness with daemonic dread in his concept of the numinous.
***************
from Numinous and Modernity, good example of what I mean,
"Otto claims that, on the contrary, the origin of the gods must be sought in the unfamiliar and uncanny. It is precisely when the gods become too familiar that they begin to loose (sic) their religious power, as was the case, for example, in ancient Greece. (Otto speaking ->) 'Where the goddesses and gods became all-too noble and all-too charming and all-too human-like, belief in them was not at its highpoint, as one would have to assume according to the doctrine of anthropomorphism' ." (116)
(Otto ->) The pictures of the gods of the world, brought together in one heap, would put to shame all of today's museums of futuristic artists in terms of the imagination (Fantastik), strangeness and inexhaustibility of the wholly means of expression of the wholly unfamiliar (des ganz Befremdlichen) that they display. If the oxen strove to see their gods as oxen, humans would appear on the contrary to have had quite the opposite ambition, portraying their gods as half or whole cows, calves, horses, crocodiles, elephants, birds, fish, as marvelous hybrids, hermaphrodites and hideous beings, as weird, confused forms (Schling- und Zeichen-gebilde) and who knows what else (116)
Something cool about this book is that it quotes an Otto book never translated into english and gives some translation of interesting bits. This is really helpful to me and my work.
*******************
from Idea of the Holy
"Though the numinous emotion in its completest development shows a world of difference from the mere 'daemonic dread', yet not even at the highest level does it belie its pedigree or kindred. Even when the worship of 'daemons' has long since reached the higher level of worship of 'gods', these gods still retain as numina something of the 'ghost' in the impress they make on the feelings of the worshipper, viz. the peculiar quality of the 'uncanny' and 'aweful', which survives with the quality of exaltedness and sublimity or is symbolized by means of it. And this element, softened though it is, does not disappear even on the highest level of all, where the worship of God is at its purest. Its disappearance would be indeed an essential loss."
"The numinous only unfolds its full content by slow degrees, as one by one the series of requisite stimuli or incitements becomes operative. But where any whole is as yet incompletely presented its earlier and partial constituent moments or elements, aroused in isolation, have naturally something bizarre, unintelligible, and even grotesque about them. This is especially true of that religious moment which would appear to have been in every case the first to be aroused in the human mind, viz. daemonic dread. Considered alone and per se, it necessarily and naturally looks more like the opposite of religion than religion itself. If it is singled out from the elements which form its context, it appears rather to resemble a dreadful form of auto-suggestion, a sort of psychological nightmare of the tribal mind, than to have anything to do with religion; and the supernatural beings with whom men at this early stage profess relations appear as phantoms, projected by a morbid, undeveloped imagination afflicted by a sort of persecution-phobia. One can understand how it is that not a few inquirers could seriously imagine that 'religion' began with devil-worship, and that at bottom the devil is more ancient than God."
I don't have a quote of this right now but in a footnote on page 106-107 of the Oxford edition, Otto mentions something he calls the negative numinous. This is the only place in the book he talks about this but basically it is the wrathful or evil manifestation of holiness.
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I'm sharing this here because Otto has been hugely influential on horror lit... to modern authors like Matt Cardin and Richard Gavin. Not entirely sure but probably John Langan as well.
Haunted Presence: The Numinous In Gothic Fiction by S L Varnado is a book applying Otto's concept of Holiness to gothic horror fiction.
This is the same guy (Rudolf Otto) who said Wuthering Heights was "a supreme example of the daemonic in literature". His theology is especially applicable to literature. Not the Bible so much at all.
Otto doesn't cite this but should have... Job 4:15
¹³ In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
¹⁴ Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
¹⁵ Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
¹⁶ It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice,
Is sort of how Rudolf Otto is thinking when he talks about daemonic dread.
what is fascinating to me is that Otto draws a connection between this emotion and holiness.
I am doing my MA Thesis on Negative numinous in particular and applying it to horror literature. Not just the numinous generally. I also will be citing The Terror That Comes In The Night by David J Hufford, who calls the nightmare numinous.

My neurologist told me that rebound headaches from sumatriptan were “nonsense” (direct quote) and I started taking them too much and I swear it has increased the frequency and intensity of headaches. I’ve p much been glued to my o2 machine for 4 days and haven’t taken any triptans and finally starting to feel better.
The problem now is that I think he’s a really confidant moron and I’m hesitant to take the other meds he’s prescribed (besides o2). He had me try emgality first and it has little or no effect. Also tried nerve blocks but only worked a couple days. I started taking verapimil a couple weeks ago but also started feeling light headed all the time around the same time. I stopped taking verapimil bc I don’t trust my dr now and I can’t tell what’s making my head worse. Have pain in my neck going to the back of my eye that I swear wasn’t there in previous clusters. Everything this guy has done has been some kind of bandaid that fucked me up even worse somehow.
I’ve had clusters 20 years and only started seeing this neurologist this year. This is the most medicine I’ve ever been prescribed for my headaches, but this cluster is also the gnarliest one I’ve had in a very long time. It’s almost like it’s gotten worse since I started taking all this fucking medicine.
TLDR; I’m afraid my dr might be a moron and I’m scared to take medicine prescribed by him now. Does verapimil actually work? Does it take a while to “kick in” or is it supposed to make your headaches go away right away? Thank you

Wanted to update you guys on my experience with Valley Vetco! See original post below (Reddit wouldn’t let me do another edit!)

1. They took great care of my pup & provided wonderful customer service.
   
2. On your appointment day, it’s first come, first serve. We were 3rd in line & waited about 20 minutes to be seen after the first two clients that lined up before us. And people started lining up at the door a little before our 7 am appointment.
   
3. Perfectly seamless operation in every way.
   
4. You can choose a smiley face or heart tattoo to show your pup has been fixed. We got the heart & it’s adorable!
   

“Vet Clinic you can recommend?
Hi Everybody!
Any recommendations for a reasonably priced vet clinic to get a puppy spayed? My longtime veterinarian retired and with her, her great prices. The new doctor quoted over $400 to spay our new pup. Doesn't seem crazy outrageous, but I'd like to pay less.... Looks like Vetco and Express Vet NM have way better pricing --- anybody have any experience with either of those? Other good clinics to recommend? Thanksssss!
Update: Thanks for all the info! My little pup is scheduled at Valley Vetco for spaying mid-December. They required a $50 online deposit that'll be applied to the final bill. They quoted under $200 for the procedure (7 pound dog). I hope they're good!”

I'm really struggling with find a new good anime to watch. Could you please help me ? The last one I watched and liked a little is Wind breaker ( good casting setup, original concept of delinquents ). I'd give it a 7/10 so far.
My fav of all time is Attack on titan.
The last anime I watched and loved is an old anime: Romeo Blue skies. I loved the story.. no superpowers or isekai.. just the story of kids taken into Milano to work as chimney sweepers where they bond together ! I wonder why no more Animes come out like this one in the recent last years.. why does it always have to be superpowers or the typical isekais..
I also watched Pluto. Loved it.
So here is the list of animes I liked and why :

• Attack on titan ( masterpiece, it's not just about the MC, story is full of interesting side characters, no fan service, one of the rare shows with well written female characters )
• Pluto ( 100% story, maybe the ending is a little off but still very enjoyable show )
• Romeo Blue skies ( An original show that is happening in Europe actually, as it's the adaptation of a german book I think. Story is very moving. Lovable cast, kids struggling to go back to their homes, encountering ruffians and bonding with them later.. it's simple, yet very well written and that show is just one of a kind when I find all these isekais as recommendations and new animes )
• Vinland Saga ( Very well written characters and story and with a very beautiful message )
• The Promised Neverland ( only S1 of course, wonderful story and cast and full of mystery too, kind of a mix between Attack on titan's mystery and world building.. shame S2 was anime only )
• 91 days ( similar to Romeo Blue skies, only much darker.. events are happening in Italy. A standard revenge story, but very well executed ! )
• Wind breaker ( still airing, definitely not up there with the other ones I mentioned, but still likable )
• The spots anime Haikyuu, Hajime No Ippo, Diamond No Ace, Slam Dunk and Ao Ashi

Recent anime I watched and hated ( sorry for their fans, but this is just to give you an idea of what I like and hate in an anime ) :

• Solo leveling ( Will never understand the hype of this anime.. there is certainly some mystery going on but 90% of the content is the MC becoming stronger and stronger.. side characters are barely getting screen time, which I hate )
• Tokyo revengers ( very poor writing.. full of 'because of plot' moments.. MC gang are cheat codes when the writer wants them to be.. very unlikable MC, yet he is admired in the show, along with Mikey.. feels very forced. One of the worst animes I have ever watched despite that it started well in its first arc )
• Fairy tail ( full of plot armor and fan service )
• Blue Lock ( pathetic concept for an anime that is trying to take football seriously, overloaded with players that play the same position, which is the worst thing to do when you write a sports anime .. very cringy dialogue .. the coaching of hundreds of teenagers is being handled by one creep that appears on the screen to give them some quotes and leave ... )
• Every Isekai anime that aired in the last few years ( minus Oshi No Ko )
• Classroom of the elite ( Everything in it )

I hope you guys help me finding a good anime and I am terrible sorry if I offended anyone who is a fan of the last animes I listed. I understand people have different tastes but I felt like I had to put the reasons of why I dislike such animes so it can help with the recommendation.

Warning: LONG POST (Also, apologies in advance for LDS church jargon and terminology)
I have a unique perspective that I thought maybe some on this sub would find interesting. I am LDS and for those of you who are unfamiliar with the church but are just interested in this case, just know that life as members of our church can be a VERY small world, even across state lines. So I personally knew Julie Rowe when she lived in Arizona, and I now live in Rexburg and my husband and his family are local so I have a LOT of personal connections to Chad and his kids.
That said, here's my experience with these individuals. First- Julie Rowe. I was in her ward in Oro Valley (northern suburb of Tucson) Arizona in 2011 and 2012. She lived in our neighborhood and was my sister's Activity Days leader. I was a senior in high school and babysat her kids 2-3 times. My mom was nice to her because my mom is the sweetest, and felt bad for Julie. One day she asked my mom to go on a walk with her and she did. On that walk, Julie started talking to my mom about her out of body experience and said a few things that made her uncomfortable. My mom distanced herself from Julie pretty immediately. Soon thereafter, Julie was asked by the bishopric to not speak in church, comment in classes, or give prayers anymore because she had begun saying some wacko stuff in testimony meetings and comments in class. Everyone kinda started noticing how weird she was after that. Around that time was the last time I babysat her kids. She dropped them off at my house and when she came to pick them up I DISTINCTLY remember this strange encounter: She was talking to me about college because I had recently gotten accepted to BYU-Idaho and would be moving there in the fall. She went on a rant with my mom, sister, and I telling us how one day we would all need to move to Rexburg because it would be protected. She was talking so crazy and we couldn't get out of the conversation so I called our home phone with my cell phone to have an excuse to make her leave. Shortly after that, her family and her disappeared. Like, overnight they moved and house was empty. Super weird.
Fast forward a few years and I meet my husband who is from the area but also lived in Springville as a kid. Chad is friends with his dad and was in the process of helping him publish a book about mental health when all of this came out. Tammy worked as a librarian in my little brother in law's elementary school. Emma even went on a double date with me and a family friend on the night I got engaged and was literally there, in some of our pictures. When all of this came out, I realized I lived down the street from Lori and their townhouses. Also, Rob Wood was my bishop for about two years before he took the case (and don't quote me, but I believe was released as bishop because of it).
PHEW I know that was a lot. But I just have a lot of strange connections and this case has just hit SO close to home for me. Way too close for comfort. And I have a theory:
My theory is that Julie Rowe and Chad were going to be the "it" couple in Chad's mind originally. I see Chad as a guy who grew up kind of a loser, always wanting attention and the limelight, but being boring and not the greatest looking guy, he ended up with a woman like Tammy who has many amazing qualities but who wasn't necessarily the "beautiful blonde bombshell" type that he saw Lori as. (nothing against Tammy!) He always secretly wanted attention and praise, which is why I think he was so tempted by manipulating other women to get what he wanted. Julie Rowe was perfect for that. Julie already had the theology and following, and Chad was both looking for women to manipulate and had his own religious weirdness as well.
Here's why I think they were flirting with an affair before he met Lori: I was talking to my husband’s family member who knows the Daybells well. We were just casually talking about the story I told above about Julie Rowe. She told me that she and her husband went to a farm of a friend of theirs. When they got there, it was later in the evening and Chad and Julie were alone walking around the farm property very close. They ended up running into each other and having to speak and Chad seemed very uncomfortable (this family member is in Chad’s ward so they knew he was married etc). He introduced the woman as Julie Rowe. They quickly got in Chad’s car and drove away. The family member talked later to the owner of the farm and she said that they had been there for a while just looking at areas to keep animals or whatever. That experience plus the claims Julie made.... yeah... I think Chad was trying to manipulate her in the beginning and it didn't work out. He probably assaulted her which is terrible, but she was putting herself with him alone wayy to much for a married woman and I think she got spooked and distanced herself. Just a theory.
Anyway. I know this was extremely long. I just had to dump all of this somewhere and this was the right audience!! I have so many more thoughts on this case that I'd love to discuss too, and I have even more connections to this case than I have shared here but out of concern for privacy I omitted them. Please feel free to ask any questions.

My stepfather passed away last September and my mother has failed to get a marker for his grave. I have decided to take care of it myself. Just to get a rough estimate for costs I did a google search and found flat granite headstones around the $1000 mark, some a bit more if I wanted to get more details.
I've been working with a guy from the memorial garden where he is buried and he sent me a mock up of a marker. It looks like granite with maybe a brass overlay. I mean, it looks nice. But I asked him a rough estimate on cost and he quoted me $5000.
That price seems way out of line with what I found and I'm curious if the sources I found were just outdates or not including other costs such as installation. Or if the guy at the cemetery is just taking me for a ride. Also, do I have to use the company that the cemetery contracts with or can I have my own marker made up elsewhere and have it installed?