Question:

• What are these smudges? How to fix?

Background:
-I have a new Brother DCP-L2620DW. Been using it for 1 month now with its original starter toner (max x700 pages).
-Smudges appear about once in every 15-20 printouts after LCD indicated low toner. The smudge is always in the same corner of the page. I think it really started happening after toner is low and I put the settings to 'continue' to print.
-Not sure if this is a common occurrence during low toner and/or when one uses the 'continue' to print setting.
https://preview.redd.it/kes15ijf744d1.png?width=460&format=png&auto=webp&s=76874126216af0a347b3e2f3e9adceff6a7667c5

I’ve been in a same-sex relationship for quite sometime. had 3 exes including the most recent and probably the most manipulative and traumatic I ever had and the last that I’ll allow.
I had a solo trip to Taiwan last November 2023 to clear my headspace and with hopes of moving on from my 2nd ex-boyfriend. I’ve been to places but that was the first time I’ve traveled alone. I rode the Cable car from Taipei zoo to Mao Kong Gandola, that’s roughly 30mins. I was joined by this cute couple (both male). I’m assuming here but they seem like from different country. I can’t hold my thought so I initiated talking to them (they strike to me as very shy). I uttered “You two look cute together”. The Caucasian looking man answered “Yeah! Thank you, I appreciate you telling us that” and we began conversing and even shared the best Night Market to try something out. We parted ways at the end of station. When it’s time to head back, I got lucky and had the cable car all by myself. That trip was a moment. My hopeless Romantic Self just kinda hit, I plead and prayed to God to accord me my partner for life and never will I take him for granted, I’ll nurture our relationship bla! Bla! Bla! Among other words of petitions.
Fast forward, Feb 1, 2024 Someone message me asking my whereabout. I stalked him and he’s nowhere near my province-Batanes (Philippines). Based on his profile, He’s currently working in Makati. So Nah! I don’t thrive in long distance relationships. A rock-hard pass for me. The next day, he messaged me and ask if I can join him to a local bar. To my surprise, he’s working here in my province since September 2023 and told me that he hasn’t updated his bio then. So yeah. Game on! let’s hit it. Thanks, Cupid! Let’s give it a try. We had good time together, met his friends and got their approval. I want to assume that they kinda like me for him. We’re on the same page (atleast that’s what I believed). Its that “rainbows, butterflies and compromise” from the song. I’m loving this feeling. I found myself believing in love again. We went out publicly, we enjoyed our shared interests- beach and snorkeling. Late bednight talks, honest intellectual discourse, movie night, and hitting off the convenience store for ‘Samyang’ noodles. One casual visit at the convenience store, I saw this familiar guy at the cashier. With face mask on, I’m thinking I’ve seen this somewhere else. And yes. It registered, He’s the reason why I’m single before meeting the person I’m with now. This b*tch stole my then boyfriend from me. Anyway, I don’t want to make a buzz about it but I’ve told my boyfriend the whole story and asked him if by any chance that guy messaged him. He said No and firmly assured me that he’s way out of his league. We sometimes go home at 1am. We just can’t stop talking about anything and everything-the things we did for love. Some find it silly but it feeds my soul being with him, it hits differently with your special someone. I’ll do it over and over again.
The butterflies are still there but the time I dread eventually happened. We’re separating for 10 days. He’s going to wedding of his cousin in Manila and I’m part of an entourage for a wedding in a nearby island (I got there by airplane). The ship we’re in began to shake us but our love is stronger than ever. Communication and trust were the foundation of our relationship. We constantly video call and I’ve never felt a sense of insecurity all throughout his vacation in Manila, Elyu and Baguio. He has my full trust and we talked about it. The days have passed and vacation was over. He returned in Batanes on Friday (wedding day that I attended) and I’m still on the other island and will head back to Batanes on Saturday. I was sad that I can’t pick him up at the airport. Good enough that he has friends who can do that on my behalf.
Friday, the day he returned to Batanes was a fine sunny day. He landed safely at 8am and he called me saying he’s gonna sleep. The wedding ceremony ended at 10:30am and for some strange.. very bothering and strange reason. I felt a chill down my spine and felt the need to call him. Idk what went on to my head but there’s this voice telling me that “Call him! Call him right now!” There this itch that needs scratching and this will only be satisfied by calling him. So I did. I called him 3 times before He answered. Strangely, He’s at the Rest room sitting in the toilet with no clothes at all. I overthink and confronted him immediately “Who’s with you? I know you have someone in there”. Ofcourse why would he reveal if there’s any. He just gaslit me and said I’m just over reacting. It doesn’t make sense. He already had his shower before dozing off at 8am, why would he take a shower 2 hours later? I mean. It doesn’t add up. He ended the call and take his clothes on and started calling me. He swiped the whole place with his phone camera reassuring me that no one was there. The heck! Ofcourse if there was someone in there, he/she probably stormed out the moment I called or atleast when he/she had the chance. Anyway, He just wanted me to go back there. I didn’t enjoyed the wedding I attended because I was preoccupied by my thoughts. I even called the airline if there’s an available flight that moment so I can rush my way back. That afternoon, I strolled and made a video recording saying “if you’re watching this, we’re probably on our first anniversary. Today is April 12, 2024 at 6:14 pm I’m at ****** We’re being challenged now and I refuse to give up on you…..” I was suppose to let him watch that video on our 1st anniversary. Sweet huh?!
Saturday, after we landed in Basco I dropped my things to our house. Took a shower and before I went to his boarding house I pass by first to the Cathedral to pray and asked for guidance then I head to his place. I gave him a bouquet of flower and we talked about it. He said he wanted to break up coz’ he’ll eventually move to other place and he knew that I don’t thrive in LDR. I refuse and I just told him we’ll make it through and we’ll cross the bridge when we get there. So yeah! We’re back on the game.
He decided to move to different apartment and someone recommended this place, we repainted it and get it all fixed. We build our dreams, we talked about how he’ll cook for me and pick me up after my shift. We’re dreaming and building our own future and even talked about going to Japan. He bought a cat adding up to the whole romantic setting. I can’t believe we’re a furdaddies.
The truth unravels
One afternoon after I pick him up from his workplace, we checked his apartment (he hasn’t move in yet). We saw the guy who once worked in the convenience store (cashier) on our way to the apartment. Strangely he smiled at my boyfriend and what’s more strange is that my boyfriend smiled back as if they knew each other. So I parked the motorcycle and we went upstair. I can’t just disregard what I just witnessed. I asked him as calm as possible if he knew that guy. He said he met him when he once hit the gym. I immediately sensed a lie here. I told him “Actually, if you quite remember we saw that guy when we are dating and you told me that you haven’t met him and you haven’t went to the gym since then or atleast while we’re together”. I never imagined myself asking him his phone but I did. He unlocked it for me and immediate searched his name on his fb messenger but no messages. I checked his instagram and Voila! It’s a floodgate of cheating messages. The worst part was that the funny and ‘kilig’ videos he sent me were also sent to that guy. Oh! And I thought I was damn special. The story doesn’t end there. Brace yourself. There’s someone who pick him up when he arrived at the airport and it wasn’t one of his tight-knitted friends. Guess who’s the guy? And yes! He’s actually at his boarding house when I “overreact”while I’m at a wedding and yes! They had sex on the same bed we slept in. The final nail to the coffin? They did it twice and I highly doubt that. They probably did it a couple of times but it doesn’t matter. I’m let karma take its toll.
I’m feeling the pain and I hope I self-soothe and bounce back from it. I confused my overthinking with my gut-feeling.

Hi
My previous post was removed due to code formatting problem.
I hope previous person who helped me on my previous post to help me again.
Thank you for your help.
I am quite new to Ahk. Below is the script found in Reddit Although I am able to create multi level menu after read Ahk documentation sample https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/v1/lib/Menu.htm#Examples
However the method used in below script is totally different from Ahk official documentation sample.
I want to do 2 things 1) How to Add another level for Menu1 ? 2) How to link action to the menu items ?

Menus :=

( LTrim Join Comments

{

"Menu1": {

"Title": "Notes",

"SubMenus": "New,Open...,Save,Save As...,,Page Setup...,Print...,,Exit",

"Icon":"",

"IconSize": ""

},

"Menu2": {

"Title": "Text Manipulation",

"SubMenus": "Undo,,Cut,Copy,Paste,Delete",

"Icon": A_WinDir . "\system32\notepad.exe",

"IconSize": "32"

},

"Menu3":{

"Title": "Format",

"SubMenus": "Font,Word Wrap",

"Icon":"",

"IconSize": ""

},

"Menu4":{

"Title": "View",

"SubMenus": "Zoom,StatusBar",

"Icon":"",

"IconSize": "32"

},

"Menu5":{

"Title": "Help",

"SubMenus": "",

"Icon":"C:\Windows\HelpPane.exe",

"IconSize": "32"

}

}

)

new ContextMenu(Menus)

ContextMenu.MenuShow()

Exit

MenuHandler(MenuTitle) {

MsgBox % "User Has Clicked Menu Item: " MenuTitle

}

Class ContextMenu

{

__New(Menus){

Static

this.Menus := Menus

This.CreateMenu()

}

CreateMenu() {

Static

; Use ObjBindMethod if the MenuHandler resides within the Class

BoundFunc := "MenuHandler" ; BoundFunc := ObjBindMethod(this,"MenuHandler")

For each, Item in this.Menus {

If (This.Menus[each]["SubMenus"] != "") {

Array := StrSplit(This.Menus[each]["SubMenus"] , ",")

Loop % Array.Length() {

Menu, % each, Add, % Array[A_Index], % BoundFunc

}

}

}

For each, Item in this.Menus {

If (This.Menus[each]["SubMenus"] != "")

Menu, % "ContextMenu", Add, % This.Menus[each]["Title"], % ":" . each

Else

Menu, % "ContextMenu", Add, % This.Menus[each]["Title"], % BoundFunc

}

For each, Item in this.Menus {

MenuName := this.Menus[each]["Title"]

IconPath := this.Menus[each]["Icon"]

IconSize := this.Menus[each]["IconSize"]

if (MenuName != "") and (IconPath != "")

This.AddIcon(MenuName,IconPath,IconSize)

}

}

AddIcon(MenuName,IconPath,IconSize){

Menu, % "ContextMenu", Icon, % MenuName, % IconPath,, % IconSize

}

MenuShow(){

Menu, ContextMenu, Show

}

}

im 14 and experimenting w two pieces and i think this is cute but like is it too long of a top idk. i don't wanna get judged bc most ppl from school go to my pool
https://us.shein.com/SHEIN-Swim-Summer-Beach-Floral-Print-Tankini-Set-Ring-Linked-Halter-Top-High-Waisted-Bottom-2-Piece-Bathing-Suit-p-13745975.html?src_identifier=st%3D2%60sc%3Dhalter%20top%20floral%20swimsuit%20two%20piece%60sr%3D0%60ps%3D1&src_module=search&src_tab_page_id=page_home1717310492279&mallCode=1&pageListType=4&imgRatio=3-4

Hey yall I have never been in this community before, but Ive been waiting for years to make a new paper mario like 1000 year door. I thought it'd be a gamecube emulator like they have for n64 on the switch (still waiting for donkey kong 64)... and out of pure coincidence I just found out today they finally did!!! When did it release??
Im a little disappointed at the cost.. how does everybody feel about paying full price for a game thats over a decade old? Im probably still going to get it but... geez.

Would it be M.G.L. c. 176D, §3:1 (a)? The (a) looks strange to me so what’s the proper format?

Links:

• [Hypepost]()
  
• [Signups]()
  
• Rounds:
  
  • Coming soon

obligatory quirky introduction:

Hey there folks, it’s Tad. You may remember me from such threads as funny heavy, rhyme satan, and obama.
I really enjoyed the tournament format of the last AAC, so I'm back again with a similar split tier and a whole new set of maps to run this back.
For those of you who’ve never heard of these kinds of tournaments, here’s the rundown:

• Competitors will submit teams of characters of their choosing and debate them against the submissions of others to determine who would win, using linked scans as evidence of their abilities.
  
• Submitted combatants are balanced against a ‘tiersetter’ character, against whom they must have a plausibly non one-sided matchup and be able to feasibly lose against. The tiersetter is the “measuring stick” for the tournament’s power level.
  
• Winners of each round of debates will be determined by majority vote by a panel of judges factoring in the strength of arguments made and evidence provided both in favour and against the victory of characters.
  

Here’s an example of one of these kinds of debates from a previous tourney.

A Primer For Newcomers:

Transitioning to strict evidence-based GDT format VS Debates has been tricky for new arrivals from informal battle boarding subcultures. In light of this, I've prepared a quick primer on the conventions you should expect entering this tournament.

How’s This Work?

Submissions:

Signups will begin 3 days after this was posted. They will last about 2 weeks before the signup thread will be locked and the brackets and first round of the tournament will be posted..
To sign up, comment on the signup thread with the two characters you intend to run, a brief justification of why they’re in tier vs the tiersetter characters, and a linked "respect thread" including links to all the scans/feats you intend to use in the debate. The Respectthreads forum has a large pre-existing list of these, but you may draw from any comprehensive equivalent or create one yourself. Vs Battles Wiki pages are not permissible substitutes.
Stipulations are alterations to a characters’ gear, powers, mindset, or sources used. The following are examples of reasonable stips:

• The T-800, wielding a minigun.
  
• Mace Windu, cannot use force-crush on opponents.
  
• X-23, brainwashed and bloodlusted by Trigger 42.
  
• Post-Crisis Batman, only feats from Year One.
  

Certain conditional stipulations are also permissible to allow a character's environmentally limited abilities to function:

• Firelord Ozai, Sozin's Comet is in the sky

Stipulations CAN NOT alter a characters’ stats directly (IE “Nerf strength to tier”) or change them or their loadout in ways that is not reflective of them in their source media (no giving Batman a lightsaber, no arbitrary 'Morals Off' stips without canonical basis).

YOU DO NOT PUT SIGN UPS HERE, HOWEVER, YOU MAY COMMENT TO BE NOTIFIED OF SIGN UPS WHEN AVAILABLE.

Matches:

AAC will follow a debate tournament structure after similar tourneys hosted on /whowouldwin like Great Debate or Arena of Assholes.
Each round of debates will last 5 days, with a minimum of two responses within 48 hours to avoid disqualification and a maximum of three responses per competitor, plus optional closing summaries. Responses can be up to two maximum length reddit posts long, or 20k characters including spaces.
Arguments will be judged with special attention paid to the effective use of linked scans of feats, antifeats, character behaviour, etc. as evidence.

The Tier:

Teleasshole

“Teleasshole” is a split tier consisting of two characters: the frenemy duo of Cable & Deadpool from Marvel Comics. Participants will submit one combatant to each tier character to form a two-person team.

• Cable is a brawler armed with a rapid fire, long ranged heavy weapon that tears apart his enemies' bodies. He supplements his ability to provide fire support, telekinetic ballistic shields as cover, and intuitive telepathic tracking of his opponents.
  
• Deadpool is an agile assassin who fights with unpredictable acrobatics wielding a blade that can cleave through moderate amounts of metal. He has a potent healing factor which allows him to fight recklessly through injuries, and a long ranged teleporter that lets him scout the battlefield and freely reposition with his ally.
  

This tier is designed for characters who can react to bullet to arrow-speed projectiles, bust sizable holes through concrete with exertion, and endure similar impacts.
More than that, this tier is designed for teams that synergize well together in creative, effective, and unpredictable ways.
The two tiers are deliberately asymmetrical, with Deadpool as the more dangerous and mobile melee combatant while Cable is slower and less durable, but offers ranged support and telepathic tracking to enhance Deadpool's effectiveness. This dynamic should be reflective in team composition, with mixed support and offence taken into account.
Characters will be considered for in-tierness both as a 1v1 against either Cable or Deadpool, and as part of a 2v2 team fight alongside their teammate.
[Here are some example picks with explanations of their abilities and matchups against the tiersetters.](tbd)

All debates this tournament will be 2v2 team fights.

The Arenas:

Seven arenas have been chosen for this tournament both to offer a diversity of environments and to encourage strategic thinking about positioning and ambush tactics. As a result, all of the maps are huge and teams spawn kilometres apart.
Picks who might do well in straightforward 1v1s like strong “brick” archetypes may not perform well on these maps without being paired with some form of support utility such as mobility to cross large distance and close on enemies, stealth or fight intelligence to execute ambushes, tracking/super-senses to detect opponents and counter-ambush, and other powers and skills that take advantage or mitigate the environment.
The Arenas Are:

• Vice City, Florida
  
• Waterton Lakes National Park
  
• Moscow Metro, Circa 2033
  
• Malé, Maldives
  
• Pearl Skyscraper, Hong Kong
  
• Isla Nublar, Costa Rica
  
• Mystery Flesh Pit National Park
  

Judge Tryouts:
TBD once I've gotten my practice round with Wolf finished to be judged.

Confused or have any questions? Leave a comment or join the official Character Rant Tournament Discord to write questions, complaints or suggestions for any facet of the tournament!

Problem Summary: Included TOC, which should appear in the content, appears in wrong place near end of book, links don't work (probably no anchors?), image that I wrapped text around (expecting it to appear like a dropcap [dropcaps work]) appears inline, instead.
Thanks so much to all who helped with my recent print-based question. Now for an ePub 3.0 question...
Why this is a problem: I know exactly how to do this manually by hand, but the idea of having to renumber 201 navPoints makes me want to cry, especially as I may have to do this multiple times, so I'm hoping there is a way to do this from within InDesign. I usually work with fiction, so I've never come up against this since I started using InDesign to create ePubs late last year (I've been using a text editor to do so since 2010, like some kind of extreme masochist).
Longer Problem Description: I have a single-file book with a 3-level TOC that is 6 pages long in the print version. According to all the instructions I found online, I used Layout -> Table of Contents to generate the TOC in the place where I want it to appear (after the dedication, before the first content page). Whether or not this is aesthetically appropriate in an eBook, or whether it replicates the built-in ePub TOC is irrelevant, it's what I've been asked to do, because the author considers it a marketing feature. I had to insert pages to do this, and broke up the flow of the document. I'm concerned I did it wrong, which might be the source of this issue. So please feel free to educate me on that topic, if it's necessary--I'm still a total newb to creating in InDesign.
Additionally, an image I expected text to wrap around (and which works in the InDesign file) just appears inline in the ePub. However, all the dropcaps work, so I know InDesign can do what I want, it just seems to not want to.
Settings: When I generate the ePub, I do the following:

• Version: EPUB 3.0
• Cover: Choose Image (with appropriate file location and alt text entered)
• Navigation TOC: Multi Level (TOC Style) [with a saved style selected]
• Page Navigation: Unchecked
• Content Order: Based on Page Layout (So why isn't it obeying???)
• Split Document: Checked, based on Paragraph Style Export Tags
• Text Options: Remove Forced Line Breaks: Checked
• Footnotes: Inside a Pop-up (EPUB 3)
• Lists: Both mapped to appropriate lists.
• Object: Preserve Appearance from Layout: Checked
• CSS Size: Relative to Text Flow
• CSS Layout: Align Center
• Space Before/After: 25 Pixels (I may change this, but for now it works)
• Conversion Settings Format: Automatic
• Resolution: 300 PPI
• Format Method: Progressive
• Image Quality: High
• GIF Options: Palette: Web / Interlace: Checked
• HTML & CSS: Include classes in HTML: Selected
• Generate CSS: Checked
• Page Margins: 0
• Preserve Local Overrides: Checked
• Include Embeddable Fonts: Checked
• Additional CSS: None
• JavaScript: None
• Metadata: General: Completed
• Metadata: Accessibility: Alternative Text, ARIA, Table of Contents

If I left anything important out that would help solve this problem, please let me know!

We don’t post every time we release an episode, but we thought this one was important. Monday, June 3rd's episode is a discussion of Dan Knight’s short story “Justice," first published in Feast of Laughter, Volume 3, 2015. Edited by Kevin Cheek.
Along with the episode we are releasing a chapbook of an interview that we did with Dan Knight through Hedgehog Press, our small press. You can purchase the chapbook through Abebooks HERE.
Who is Dan Knight you may ask? Gene Wolfe dedicated the second volume of The Book of the Long Sun (Lake of the Long Sun) to Dan.
Dedication page in Lake of the Long Sun
Dan Knight founded and ran United Mythologies Press publishing works by R.A. Lafferty and Gene Wolfe. You can view the UMP published works here on ISFDB. If you've been on the subreddit, or on the old urthlist, you will probably be familiar with many of these works. (The listed prices are what they originally sold for back in the late 80's and early 90's. Oh for a time machine).
He was a longtime friend and correspondent of many of SF’s great writers including Wolfe, Lafferty, Terry Bisson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Lloyd Biggle Jr. and is published author in his own right, a musician (he has an old vinyl album title Joy), and an all around interesting guy who was very fun to interview.
Chapbooks are a limited edition of 50. Printed on linen paper with blue (odd numbers) or green (even numbers) card-stock cover and contrasting thread. Thirty-two pages.
Odd and even covers are different
Title Page:
Title Page
Limited edition. Photo was taken before I wrote the numbers.
Copyright page.
The book that started it all for Dan: Lafferty's The Fall of Rome. You can read about it in the interview.
Lafferty's The Fall of Rome, the book that started United Mythologies Press.
The chapbook cuddled up next to several of Dan Knight's offerings through United Mythologies Press:
United Mythology Press books.
And some gratuitous bookbinding photos:
In the book press.
Sewn binding
On the shelf.

From the log of Edward Price – Clerk for Diplomat Howard Weathers – 03.28.2803
I suppose a summary is in order for things to be clear. Humanity has a bit of a reputation as an odd lot in the galaxy. Most aliens don’t know really know what to think about us. You see, most aliens are actually somewhat boring, having fallen into galactic societal niches over thousands of years. The Atroxians are were space pirates, the Vontacruz own the casinos and travel cruise industries, and the Hordun operate the most efficient morgues this side of the galaxy – usually because of the Atroxians. But the Delridians? They are diplomats. And dare I say that they are the weird ones.
Delri Prima is the homeworld of the Delridians, a tall, lanky race who look like the grimdark cousins of a Star Wars Kaminoan. Brilliant medics, they apparently don’t see a difference between medical work and diplomacy, seeing both fields as the healing arts. Their medicocracy has a long list of accomplishments throughout the galaxy, enough that it’d look like an 18-hour credit reel on a movie. My guess is that they may have been the “Humans” of the galaxy preceding us before they finally settled, and rumors have it that the K’kituun Death Puppets are an ancient offshoot from their early days on the galactic stage.
But more to the point, after about 180 years on the galactic stage, Humanity has made a decent name for ourselves as the handyman and eccentric nerd. We are celebrated, thrown strange looks, worried glances, and altogether treated as small children. Though with the destruction of Axtroxia, they may want to worry about what will happen when we hit puberty. The Delridians have already been through that, though they were never as eccentric as we are.
They reached out to Humanity with a diplomatic frigate appropriately named Olive Branch about a year ago. I’ve learned they like to reflect the cultures they are talking to, so as to ease negotiations. Can’t imagine what the Atroxian equivalent was. Probably something like ‘Torn Heads’. Regardless, Diplomat Weathers was finally selected as the Earth delegate to talk on Delri Prima, and oh boy. That is a dark world. Like, bring a flashlight dark. I don’t know whether it is the slow spin of the planet, or the climate generators they have, but the entire twilight band is just dark and grey. It rains, and thankfully it is safe water, but it is eerie. From the embassy city they built to make us more comfortable, you can look out across the Delridian jungle and see the many other diplomatic cities slowly being devoured by the vines and trees.
The first night was fine, though I’m not sure any of us slept well. We were each provided a separate room or, well, house really. The entire city was made of a cold stone, themed after some old Italian city on Earth. The wind slipped through the narrow streets with a soft whistle, bringing with it a faint jungle fog. Somewhere down the street was a clattering window shutter, but with how much stone they used, and the strange alignment of the streets, you could hear a pin drop from eight blocks away!
Talks went well for the first three days as Diplomat Weathers and the Delridians got to know each other. I met with and discussed a number of cultural similarities with a member of the alien entourage, a Nurse Kelayo, when I wasn’t with the others in my group exploring the city. She was very proud of the settlement they built for us, but in our talks, she asked what we thought of the book. What book?
Well, after having a wonderful meal with my coworkers and some of the alien entourage, we said our farewells and parted ways. Kelayo was vague, but had explained how they had acquired a copy of the book, and that she hoped that we enjoyed the effort she put into it.

I didn’t look into it immediately when I returned to the lonely, lifeless house that was my quarters. Mark was my closest neighbor, and he was a block down. The Delridians, fresh from talks with the Hordun, thought we may want some privacy from each other. And while it is nice not having to hear Mark snore in the cabin like on the flight here, the house was a little… too private.
It was as I was preparing to turn off the light to go to sleep that I thought to look in the nightstand beside me. Kelayo had told us about the book, and when I opened the top drawer, it was indeed there. Sitting center and alone was an old Earth book of gnarled leather and no visible title. Whatever poor creature the Delridians had used to make the cover had terrible skin!
Opening the book, I found it to have been printed in an old dialect of English from before the Third World War, with some much older words I did not recognize. It certainly looked like it was printed in the archaic methods of old Earth, with wet ink instead of modern digital ink that provided touch-based pseudo-memoric context.
I began to flip through the pages of this strange book, turning up the brightness on the nightstand lamp to see better. The faded pages of the book looked sick and moldy, and my skin crawled just touching it, but the letters, despite the stains and grunge, seemed to pop from the page in crisp black. In fact, the ink was so black that it felt like I was staring into the void with each letter. Kelayo’s book was some archaic text of old Earth culture from the end of the 20^th century, though I did not recognize the name. Written by a Bishop Simon from some archaic cult or religion, the book functioned as a “spellbook” like a deepdive virtual reality fantasy game might have. It was filled with a plethora of gods I did not recognize, and a ton of phonetic gibberish that sounded good when said, but easily complicated.
I hadn’t gotten too far when I heard a man’s scream next to me. Jumping out of my skin, I found no one there. But I remembered where I was, and crept to the window. It was Mark’s voice, more panicky than I had ever heard him. Peeking through the slats of the window, I scanned the street towards Mark’s place. The light was on, and someone was shuffling down the street, murmuring in pain.
Rushing down to the street, I rushed out to help him. Mark’s mutterings were too quiet, and he was holding something to his chest. It may have been a minute before I collected myself and tried to get answers from him, but you have to understand, I’ve never seen a dying man before. Not in real life. In the dim and permanent gloom, I could barely make out the trail of blood behind him. He pleaded again and again, and I had to find out where he was injured, and what it was he was carrying.
I went to take what he held, only to realized that in my own fervor to aid him I still had that creepy book. I put that down to wrench free Mark’s own possession. I really wish I hadn’t, for his grip was weak, with only one hand. I held his other, and everything above it.
My own voice was the next I heard echoing down the street as I most certainly fell backwards. Sorry Mark, but I lost your arm. Well, your first one. The second is decorating some chandelier somewhere, courtesy of Vanessa.
Please understand that for anyone in my situation, gorey horror was never my fancy, and I hope no one in the auditing board holds it against me. I would bet credits that any of you would have done much the same as I did.
Time is… unreliable on Delri Prima, with its twilit band and gloom. The only thing that moves is that blasted fog. And the vines. Especially the vines. I’m not sure how long I ran, but Vanessa was the one to find me, flanked by a street littered with Human bodies. Far more people than joined us on the crew… I think. You might want to review the ship manifest just to be sure.
Vanessa, once she verified my identity, guided me through the littered street, still gurgling and reaching out to us. Give her a raise, by the way. She’s the one that got us out of there. We met up with Dwayne and Harry, both armed with metal pipes and whatever other junk they salvaged, and we retreated to a boarded up house with other surviving members of the crew. They were glad to see me, though I don’t remember who they were. Many were new faces to the ship for this mission.
We settled here for hours? A day? Our comms were filled with static, and we couldn’t reach Mr. Weathers to see if he was ok. We needed to get off this planet. Someone mentioned that the ship was still parked at the landing bay. All eyes turned to someone in the back of the group, who slowly stood up, her form long and lanky. Kelayo, the Delridian nurse.
Vanessa worked with Kelayo on a plan to move through the city to the landing bay, while the rest of us sought supplies. This house had a basement, connected to a series of tunnels which we would use to slip under whatever muttering, mumbling horrors pleaded us to come outside.
Slowly, and as quietly as we could, our train of survivors crept through the tunnels. Our flashlights that Ben had found were pathetically dim, and frequently flickered out, sounding with a loud clunk whenever someone whacked it awake. Icy water dripped from the long tangled hairs of wriggling moss that clung to and between the bricks, the lights illuminating white lice-like that lived within the tangle.
Splashing was the only sound we heard for a long time, along with someone’s horrid cough. He was in the back of the line, far behind me, but kept coughing and groaning. Others frequently shushed him, louder than he coughed. But for all the good their efforts to keep him quiet were, it paled in comparison to Kelayo’s odd excitement. When I inquired her about her unusual positivity, she admitted fascination over the many accounts of average Humans combatting the supernatural evils that threatened Earth. How we could survive on a planet infested with the dead with only equally dark magicks astounded her, despite our culture not having widespread knowledge or application of this means of survival. It was faint, but she had nodded at the book. Why did I still have this disgusting leatherback that seemed to shiver in the cold?
I apologize for any impact I may have had on diplomatic relations with the Delridians, but I said some uncouth remarks about the whole situation and the book. I flipped it open to a random page to give an example, forgetting in my annoyance just how dark it was in the tunnels. But that ink… that horrid archaic stain… was fully legible. I admit I came to a stop in awe, though shortlived as the train of people behind me bumped into me. That coughing was gone.
So were half the people we had been travelling with. Kelayo glanced around with a chitter. She was having too much fun with the spooky, and now we heard skittering and scrape scrape scraping on the bricks. Vanessa fired a shot down the tunnel and urged us to run, so we did.
We were near the landing bay when we ducked into a sideroom per Kelayo’s prompting, and shoved a convenient table in the way of the door. The skittering was above us on the ground floor too, and then someone grabbed my foot. It may have been Mark. Well, the part of Mark I dropped.
Long gnarled fingers covered in dirt were the hallmark of these freaky things. Human hands with a life of their own, skittering around like bugs as they fled the flashlight’s beam and sought dark corners. These shelters included their unholy wriggling up our pants and jackets, some grips strong and muscular, and others gentle and cautious. If you have ever had a massage, you may never want one again once a chilly, slimy, dismembered hand tries to nest between your shoulder blades.
Vanessa fired off a few shots in her desperate attempt to keep the grabby hands off, though she nicked Ben’s ear in the process. The loud noise scattered the skitterhands enough for us to fling the last few from our persons. Vanessa slammed the book I still carried, ordering me to read it. She had lost her copy early on, but had the gist of its contents.
The ink on the book was darkest on one particular page, with a weird symbol that looked like it said XOOD. An old-Earth linguist may understand it better than I. Kelayo was forced to provide guidance, as she was the expert on the book, and with many, many attempts, and a dark horde gathering upstairs, were ready to begin. Vanessa was out of shots in her gun, and Ben and Dwayne were futiley pushing back the horde of impossible crewmen. These people smelled horribly of rotten meat, and overtook Ben first, followed swiftly by Dwayne.
Vanessa had backed into a corner, clearly scared. I can’t blame her, since I was, too. But I couldn’t move, couldn’t join her in the false safety of the corner. The rotten crew… this dead crew, was in the room with us, and were already grabbing me. Amidst the noise and confusion, I could hear Vanessa being attacked behind me, and the dull nails of my own assailants tearing at my skin. Kelayo, her form thin and dark, simply stood amidst the dead.
Read it, she said.
Say it with all your heart.
I remember the word that pierced the world that day, but can’t remember saying it. But my throat burns whenever I utter it now. BARASHAKUSHU. The dead froze in place, their fingers dug deep into my skin. BARASHAKUSHU. Limp, lifeless, just as they should be. BARASHAKUSHU. The haze in the air, even in the basement, lifted. BARASHAKUSHU. Vanessa breathed deep as I pulled her from the bodies and out the house to the crowded, lifeless street.
We limped, though we did not bleed, filled with holes and grime, and caked in blood. Kelayo followed wraithlike behind us, always ten paces behind. The landing bay was before us. Our ship and salvation was before us.
Diplomat Weathers was fine, though alarmed at our state. Delridian doctors tended to us as we explained what happened. A full transcript is available via the ship’s DIA-Log.
When all was said and done, the Delridian diplomat thanked us for being so willing to open discourse. To celebrate successful talks between our species, he offered us a parting feast. He motioned Kaleyo over, who had apparently been tasked with researching Human culture for the talks.
She explained over dinner about how she had poured over a stunning variety of Human dishes from our many cultures, but that she had settled on one that appeared to be a universal favorite. An Italian dish of long, stringy noodles over their equivalent of a white cream sauce. And dinner was fantastic! But Kaleyo seemed confused as well, stating that she had a difficult time picking out the right recipe. The instructions were apparently all over the place with a lot of strange steps that seemed superfluous to food preparation.
I asked her what she meant, to which she replied, “The base ingredients were simple, almost mundane. Of note, the various rituals in the preparation exhausted many of our best doctors. Some are still seeking treatment after one batch escaped. You Humans have a very strange culture of food, especially with the names. I believe you called this one… creepy pasta?”
Then the meatball on my fork blinked at me.

Calling all Demon Slayers and plant lovers! The first batch of my Demon Slayer succulent keycaps is here! We've got Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Nezuko ready to bring some blooming good vibes to your keyboard. Which will you sprout first?
You will receive all selected keycaps as requested. All orders will be shipped out within 1 week, however it may take longer depending on the volume of orders. Updates will be posted on my Instagram stories.
Shop here
Image Gallery
Detail

• Price: 45USD + shipping
• XDA 1u profile, MX compatible. Most ideal to be placed on the ESC key.
• 100% handcrafted from polymer clay and resin, matte finish.

Shipping

• 4 USD Singapore 2 - 3 working days
• 9 USD China; Hong Kong; Indonesia; India; Japan; Korea; Thailand; Taiwan; Vietnam 8 - 21 working days
• 13 USD Australia 8 - 21 working days
• 16 USD United Kingdom 8 - 21 working days
• 18 USD United States 8 - 21 working days
• 20 USD Everywhere else 10 - 30 working days
• We do not provide untraceable mailing currently. All mailing can be tracked.
• We are not able to offer local pick up as an option.
• In any case that the recipient is uncontactable at the point of delivery resulting in a failed delivery, we would not be covering any forms of redelivery fees. It would be borne fully by the recipient.
• For overseas customers, please note that any forms of import duties, custom and local sales taxes would be fully borne by the recipient.
• We ship worldwide, except to Albania, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Israel, Jamaica, Mongolia, Nepal, Slovenia. We apologize in advance for this, and really hope to be able to delivery to these countries soon.
• Check out our delivery page for more information

Timeline

• All sales are final. We do not accept returns or refunds.
• All orders will be shipped out within 1 week.

Contact me
Website
Instagram
[zestizena@gmail.com](mailto:zestizena@gmail.com)
Discord - Zeneith

Calling all Demon Slayers and plant lovers! The first batch of my Demon Slayer succulent keycaps is here! We've got Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Nezuko ready to bring some blooming good vibes to your keyboard. Which will you sprout first?
You will receive all selected keycaps as requested. All orders will be shipped out within 1 week, however it may take longer depending on the volume of orders. Updates will be posted on my Instagram stories.
Shop here
Image Gallery
Detail

• Price: 45USD + shipping
• XDA 1u profile, MX compatible. Most ideal to be placed on the ESC key.
• 100% handcrafted from polymer clay and resin, matte finish.

Shipping

• 4 USD Singapore 2 - 3 working days
• 9 USD China; Hong Kong; Indonesia; India; Japan; Korea; Thailand; Taiwan; Vietnam 8 - 21 working days
• 13 USD Australia 8 - 21 working days
• 16 USD United Kingdom 8 - 21 working days
• 18 USD United States 8 - 21 working days
• 20 USD Everywhere else 10 - 30 working days
• We do not provide untraceable mailing currently. All mailing can be tracked.
• We are not able to offer local pick up as an option.
• In any case that the recipient is uncontactable at the point of delivery resulting in a failed delivery, we would not be covering any forms of redelivery fees. It would be borne fully by the recipient.
• For overseas customers, please note that any forms of import duties, custom and local sales taxes would be fully borne by the recipient.
• We ship worldwide, except to Albania, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Israel, Jamaica, Mongolia, Nepal, Slovenia. We apologize in advance for this, and really hope to be able to delivery to these countries soon.
• Check out our delivery page for more information

Timeline

• All sales are final. We do not accept returns or refunds.
• All orders will be shipped out within 1 week.

Contact me
Website
Instagram
[zestizena@gmail.com](mailto:zestizena@gmail.com)
Discord - Zeneith

What do we think is the most fun partner pair? I've been brewing a Brago+Yarok list, but love a Kaust+Kadena list. What do we think is most competitive? Rog+Kennan? I know this kind of post has been posted before. But now it's legalized by Wizards for an event.

I have a small invitation business, and I'm planning to have my printing done in-house since my local print shop is far from where my studio is. I have been having trouble matching my prints with their printer. This has been going on for years, and I'm tired of going back and forth just to get my prints right. Is the Ricoh IM C2010 a good MF Printer?
Requirements:
Price: $3000 (within budget)
Color or black and white: Color
New or used: new
Home or business: Business
Printing frequency: Once or twice a week (100-200 sheets)
Page size: A3 (140gsm, 180gsm and 250 gsm) Texture paper
Device printing from: Laptop Mac
Here are the full specs of the printer: https://www.ricoh-ap.com/products/office-printing/mfp-colouim-c2010
I’ve done a demo and test prints on the printer, and surprisingly, the output was good, although it’s not as good as a production printer. I just wanted to get feedback on Ricoh IM C2010 or generally on printers from Ricoh. It's a bit hard to get user reviews since Ricoh printers are not consumer products.