DC Next Proudly Presents:

The Linear Men

Issue Twenty:Family Reunion
Written by Dwright5252
Edited by Predaplant

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The Waverider
When she was growing up, Deirdre Harkness often thought about how things might’ve been different in her household if she had an older brother to take the brunt of her father’s attention. How her path through life could have been vastly different, her rap sheet a little more… non-existent.
Now that such a brother seemingly existed, albeit from another Earth altogether, she was starting to realize that maybe she was fine being an only child.
“Listen, this’ll go a lot faster if you stop being so obtuse, Deirdre,” Owen Mercer scowled, twirling one of his razor-sharp boomerangs deftly between his fingers as he paced the deck of the Waverider. Deirdre sat in the hot seat, the Linear Men staring at her on one side while her current and former romantic partners stood on the other. The multiversal children of Digger Harkness faced off in the middle, neither seeming to want to give any inch in their argument.
“Look, I’m just sayin’ I’d be able to find my friends better without some drongo stealing my schtick,” she responded casually, moving to take a boomerang of her own from her bandolier before remembering the new time cops had confiscated all her weapons. “Surely Jenny Sparks has someone better to send along.”
Was she being difficult? Absolutely. Was this petty argument preventing her from saving her missing teammates? Undoubtedly.
Did she want to take this pretender down a peg? You know it.
“Perhaps we can arrive at some kind of accord, beloved,” Ystin interjected, placing a hand on Deirdre’s shoulder. “I understand how jarring seeing this knave must be, but our comrades in arms are lost to time. Other priorities must take precedence.”
Sighing deeply, Deirdre fell back into the chair behind her, irked that this modified timeline removed all the progress she’d made in molding the chair to fit her form. She could see Liri wince at the force she had used to enter the chair, and felt a little bad about that.
God, she could be selfish sometimes.
“Fine. Fine, I’ll be a good sheila now. What is your plan, oh fearless brother o’ mine?” She felt the tension in the room let up slightly, and Ystin gave her a grateful smile.
Owen pulled out another boomerang of his and started pressing the buttons on it. A projection appeared, seemingly the timeline they were currently in. Biting back her instincts to make fun of her brother’s projecto-rang, she sat back and listened as he began to point at the timeline. “As you can see, this is the current stream that we’re in. You can see these discolorations,” he explained, pointing at the shades of red appearing in the mostly blue timeline, “that indicate the anomalies you’re normally after. Sure, they aren’t the best thing to have appear, but it’s within the Time Masters’ range of acceptable aberrations. From what Deirdre is saying, the kind of anomaly we’re looking for with this situation, with one team seemingly erased from time and another fully resurrected, should be lighting this up like a Christmas tree. That massive of a ripple effect from those changes would unmoor us into the Bleed, never to return.”
“But we’re clearly still here,” Rip Hunter said, scowling. “So you’re saying she’s full of it.”
“Not necessarily,” Owen replied, and Deirdre felt a slight pang in her chest as her brother came to her defense. He dialed in another setting and another hologram appeared, this time showing various circles floating around the timestream. “What do you know about time bubbles?”
Michael raised his hand, ever the teacher’s pet, apparently. “They’re basically pocket dimensions separated out from the timestream. The Time Masters use them sometimes to isolate threats to the stream or conduct experiments.”
“Gold star to you,” Owen said, and Deirdre rolled her eyes as Michael beamed. She missed Booster so much. “Yes, exactly that. So let’s say that these bubbles,” he circled a majority of them, “were made and accounted for. We’re left with a good dozen unsanctioned by the Time Masters.”
Deirdre’s hopes started to pick up before Rip dashed them. “But that’s also within parameters for a timestream. Nature abhors a vacuum and makes time bubbles naturally to fill in any blank spaces that appear. You’re grasping at straws.”
Owen turned toward the captain of the Waverider. “I’m sorry, did you want to run this presentation? I can go back to the Authority and leave y’all to your issues if you want.”
Before Rip could respond, Liri stepped in. “Rip, let the poor boy explain. You’re being an asshole.”
Deirdre blinked, surprised at Liri’s interjection. The AI she knew would never put the captain in his place like that. And even more shocking, she saw Rip pull back and motion for Owen to continue, clearly chastened by his crewmate.
Miracles did happen.
“You’re correct, the other bubbles not highlighted are indeed naturally occurring.” Owen pointed at them and expanded them. “But someone with enough access and know-how can commandeer these time bubbles and manipulate them for their own uses.”
Matthew Rider raised his hand. “So you’re saying our missing people could be inside these bubbles? But what about the damage to the timeline from removing them in the first place?”
“Good question. Like I said, this level of fuckery to the order of things should’ve made things completely unravel. That being said, it is possible for someone with a high degree of chronal knowledge and access to do it. It’d be damn risky, as one mistake could spell disaster. But… it's becoming more and more evident that whatever’s responsible for this isn’t an amateur.” Owen pulled up a blank file now, a glaring DATA NOT FOUND flashing in front of them. “You say you all saw Walker Gabriel vanish, and still have memories of him. He’s not in our databases anymore, and there’s not even a void left behind where he should be. This thing took him out and plastered over the timestream to remove any trace.”
Silence fell on the group as the idea of what they were up against sunk in. Deirdre pondered who or what could hate them enough to do something like this.
“So what’re our next steps?” Liri asked, typing away furiously at her datapad. “Should we search these time bubbles for our missing teammates?”
Deirdre smiled sadly as she heard Liri refer to her friends as teammates. This version didn’t even know these people, didn’t have any definitive proof that they even existed, and yet she took them in her heart as part of the team.
Owen shook his head. “That would take too long, and might tip off whatever’s doing this to our plan. We need more manpower for the search and a way to narrow down the field.” Roxy Rocket, who’d spent the entire conversation vlogging the control room with her camera, piped in. “Sciency stuff isn’t really my bag, but could you maybe look for people that interacted with these folks and trace them that way? Use their memories to bridge the gap or whatever?”
To Deirdre, it sounded like the kind of stupid thing that just might work. “I know someone that might be able to help us with that, and I can get some people together we could use.”
Hub City, Illinois
Something was wrong, of that Violet was certain.
Their journey had led them across the globe when they’d felt it happen, felt the universe attempting to steal another memory from them. Violet fought against the overwhelming vibrations that tried to steal the memory of their friend from them, using their powers to shield their mind and their heart. It took everything they had, rendering Violet unconscious for a day. But when they awoke, they still remembered Michael Jon Carter, Booster Gold. The first person in Violet’s memory that tried to help them.
It felt fitting, going from trying to discover their past to helping bring their friend back from oblivion.
The problem was, nothing was working.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Daniel Carter asserted, shifting on his crutches as he tried to close the door on Violet. They held their hand out to stop it, and felt fear trickle through Daniel’s aura.
“I do not mean to startle you, I am just trying to find some answers,” Violet explained, backing away from the door to give Daniel some space. “I know it sounds strange, but I am telling you only the truth.”
“Look, I wish you luck in… this whole thing you’ve got going,” Daniel said, “but I don’t have a clue about any future relatives of mine, whatever the hell that means. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for a job interview.”
This time, Violet allowed him to slam the door in their face. It was no use. It seemed anyone they’d attempted to contact didn’t have any memories of their friend. Violet knew that if they could only use their aura to show Daniel the true way of things…
But no. That would be a trespass they were hesitant to employ. There had to be a way to bring Michael back without hurting anyone. They would find it, they were sure of it. “Well, if it isn’t the most colorful person I know,” a familiar voice said from behind them. Violet turned around to see Deirdre Harkness approaching them from across the street. Unconsciously adjusting their hijab, Violet ran towards their former teammate and enveloped her in a tight hug.
“You are truly a sight for sore eyes, Deirdre,” Violet said, tears running down their face as they took in their old friend’s presence. “I could really use a friendly ear at the moment. I feel as if I have gone insane.”
Deirdre pulled back from the hug to look Violet in the eye. After a moment of searching, she smiled. “You remember, don’t you?”
Violet’s eyes widened in shock and joy. “Tell me you are not humoring me. You truly remember our friend?”
A wave of relief washed over Violet, and it was all they could do to keep their aura in check as Deirdre spoke. “Not only do I remember Booster and Rip and the others, but I think I have a way to get them back.”
Radiance, Pennsylvania
Living in a mansion wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. For instance, the amount of upkeep required to keep it from becoming a dusty mountain of sadness was just completely unrealistic for one person to do. That meant hiring people to help maintain the grounds, sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms and bedrooms.
Mitch Shelley was not a fan of people.
“No, I said not to make the topiary look like a Soder Cola can,” Mitch insisted to his groundskeeper, an older man whose proximity to loud saws all his life made him hard of hearing. “It looks corny as fuck.”
The old man shook his head. “I think it looks fine, sir. Plus I know your corporate sponsors will appreciate it for that gala you’re holding next week.”
Goddammit. Mitch had been dreading that stupid party ever since he’d been asked to host it in honor of his latest sponsorship campaign for the Soder Cola company. Sure, he wasn’t too involved with the planning (at least, when he could dodge the phone calls and house visits of the party planner he’d hired) but it still took up way too much of his time. That wasn’t to mention the fact that he had to attend the thing.
In a suit.
Ugh.
“Maybe you’re right. Thanks, Joe,” Mitch said, handing the groundskeeper a generous tip. Joe was probably the most down-to-earth of his employees, and he wanted to make sure he was taken care of. Joe shook his hand appreciatively and walked out the door, brushing past a red haired woman dressed garishly in some sort of costume.
“You’re a week early for the gala, darlin’,” Mitch said, waving her away as he tried to escape to his theater room. “I’m sure whatever skill you have will be enough to entertain the suits coming to this shindig.”
“Har de har, asshole,” the woman said, her Australian accent giving him pause. What was an Aussie doing in Pennsylvania? “I’m actually here for Resurrection Man. Need his help.”
Mitch sighed, “Look, I’m sure whatever cat’s stuck in a tree will get itself out. If this is about Lazarus, tell that fucker he can come and face me himself rather than sending his new sidekick.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Look, I know you. You’re a wild horse that can’t be reined in. You need adventure in your life, and I’m here to offer it. Ever time traveled before?”
Mitch stopped on the steps. “In a manner of speaking. What did you have in mind?” Maybe he’d hear this woman out. If anything it might last long enough to get him out of this fucking party.
Opal City
“Stargazer tipline, how can we help?” Jack Knight was surprised when the old phone line started to ring. Courtney had been right; most people used the app to ask for help. He’d almost forgotten the tipline was a thing, and it had startled him into dropping his tools as he worked on another upgrade to the Star Staff. His father’s laboratory made the ringing sound like it was coming from all over, so he’d almost missed the call when he couldn’t find the phone buried under all the schematics.
“Hello Starman, long time fan, first time caller,” a voice said from the receiver, the accent telling him this wasn’t an Opal citizen. “Need your assistance in a caper.” He was tempted to hang up the phone; no doubt this was some kind of crank call. “What’re the details of this… caper, ma’am?” He’d humor her for a little bit. Jennifer and Courtney had been on his case about crunch culture and making sure to take breaks, so maybe this could count as his allotted rest period.
“First off, I think I’m younger than you, so shove off with your ma’am,” the woman huffed. “Second, this isn’t a joke. Why don’t you come out of your little work shed and see what I mean.”
The line clicked, and Jack looked at the phone in confusion. What a weird call. There was no way anyone knew where he was at the moment, so he chalked it up to someone having a laugh at his expense. As he picked up his blowtorch to continue his welding, the intercom buzzed.
“Jack, can you please come up here and tell these yahoos to get their spaceship out of my backyard before they wreck my azaleas?” Jack heard his father’s voice resonate through the speaker. He jumped up to look at the outside cameras, and sure enough, there floated a spaceship of some sort.
He pulled out his phone and texted into the All Star Group Chat. “Hey, gang. Might need to be out of the city for a bit on a mission. I’ll keep you posted.”

[LFM][SHC][DSR][7/8][ULTIMATE][AETHER][STATIC]
Hi we are newly formed static with varying prog points with the goal of completing DSR ideally before DT under midcore hrs but with a focused semi hardcore approach.
**Looking for:** Barrier Healer
**Prog point:** P3 Cleanup to P4
**Raiding schedule**: Tue and Thurs 8-11PM EST and Sunday 830-1130PM EST
**About the group:** *Liquid Lala* is a newly formed group of experienced ultimate raiders. Our shot caller has cleared DSR and TOP and our static leader has experience in previous ults and leading groups and discords. We have 3 members on P3 Cleanup Prog, and the remaining members have cleared or are on P5 and P6+ Progression. Our goal is to clear DSR before Dawntrail.
**What we expect: **
• Study the mechs, all players are expected to study a whole phase length ahead for prog time.
• Open to using Sims and Spreadsheets, which we will do as a group during raid time when necessary to expedite prog.
• Be able to take feedback. Everyone needs to be held accountable in a prog setting. Favoritism, egos, silence, elitism will not be tolerated.
• Previous Ult experience preferred, UCOB is a big plus for P5, Generally a fight record that shows you are consistent, a team player and can handle longer fights.
• Attendance, consistent tardiness will result in being removing from group, we expect members to make raid days. Hours of notice is needed for an absence.
• Gear Ready, ideally BIS on your Job, Food and Pots when needed.
• Active in VC or Chat, Communicating in VC is a major plus but you must be listening and responding to others in chat at a bare minimum
• Energy and Humor is greatly appreciated, many hrs playing this game it's welcome to have people with levity and openness to just interact with others for fun.
📚 Team Logs upon Request!
DM if you're interested!

Fyi, if you contact the mileage plan people they do not have the ability to export your EQM data. They can just tell you the total you have or if you ask about a specific flight, if it's on your account.
They do have it in the roadmap to show the information on the website "sometime next year" which is IT speak for "maybe someday?"
So mileage nerds...we gotta keep on keeping on with our own spreadsheets 😅

So I know how nothing of hacking and technology. My Whatsup app got hacked, I had texts open. They took over everything, my email, my social media. I'm learning how to correct it the best I can. Tired deleting Google mail. That didn't work. But this is not my question. My question is, it got so bad that they even cloned my phone. Like how bad is this? I texted my husband on that phone, are they on his phone now? Are they on the phone of the people's texts I never deleted? Are they on everyone's Whatsup app?
Edit: I'm going to try to keep this short. Just to let you know I am aware of how incompetent I am, and I really appreciate your advice, because I don't know what to do at this point.
I had a phone from MetroPCS. I dropped the phone lots of times, had cracks in the screen, would use it while I was smoking cigarettes and raining etc. It started acting up, I didn't think anything of it. The screen started twitching, and one day I couldn't log into it. I thought I had dried it out some, and was able to log into it the day I bought a new phone on the same plan, with the same number. I transferred all my accounts, it was hard to do cause the screen twitched and apps would close on their own and I would have to go back and forth to get my information. I put the phone down,telling myself that I would get around to getting other information like the many chrome windows I had open. Logging out of everything etc. It died, I never got back to it. I'm using my new phone. I notice that there are some screen shots of job postings from my whatsapp groups. Haven't used the app in a while. Didn't know how whatto make of it. Time passes and I get a call from what's app. I accidentally answered it so I did say hello, didn't get much hung up. Time passes. I'm doing things exac6the same, not deleting emails, not deleting texts etc. My new phone starts glitching. Screens minimize on there own, keyboard not recognizing every command. Slow speeds. I didn't know how what to do so I tried to get a hold of my accounts. I put 2 step verification on. My passwords kept changing. And my account says Andriod pixel 6 is signed in multiple times. I stopped receiving texts except from my husband, I tried deleting the accounts, but my yahoo mail was attached to them and they were opened back up. I realized it was my old phone, didn't log out of anything and rebooted it. Facebook was taken over, I couldn't make any changes, because I could not keep my password mine., Whatsup app was added to one of the accounts which I didn't do. I deleted all my friends, because I didn't know what to do. I also rebooted this phone, twice I think. The first time I noticed a couple duplicates of apps like Google. And the second time I noticed it was downloading way more, so I stopped the download and made a new account. I just got a new phone, and it is glitching. All new information. New service etc. Curser moving on its own. Some weird gray G for Google logo at the top and a blank screen window that popped up and magicaly went away. My husband's PayPal account was broken into today, he deleted the app, deleting all the notifications in his email and called his bank. I'm at a loss. Do I log back in on my old phone to log back out? Or just contact Google and all the companies? Do I contact all my contacts attached to Google and tell them what?
Do I get new wifi? Just found out that my Avast app lock magicaly had a the apps unlocked.

Hey everyone! I'm trying to learn how to get Google Sheets to compare two sheets and combine them in a specific way. Any help would be appreciated.
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

1. My job requires me to run a report every week that produces an Excel sheet.
2. This sheet always has the same columns when I pull it but new roles are added when new clients are added so the rows consistently change.
3. I always add one column to new weekly spreadsheet when I pull it that is labeled "Priority". I then label each client as High, Low, and if I haven't gotten to it yet, it will be blank.
4. Every week I have to compare the sheet from last week (i.e. Last Week's Sheet) with that added to the new one (i.e. New Week's Sheet) that typically will have more or less row additions.

GOAL
I want to be able to combine the two sheets (Last Week and New Week) into a third sheet that combines and leaves out certain information.

1. I don't want to have double entries in the new sheet, just the information from Last Weeks Sheet if nothing has changed (e.g. if I have a row for Mr. John Smith and his details in Last Week's Sheet and he is also in the New Week Sheet because I haven't finished with him, I don't want to have two Mr. John Smiths with the same details in the new combined sheet.)
2. I want the new sheet to have the Priority column that I added in the Last Week sheet and the data in those cells and have that data correspond with the right person (e.g. if I took the time to add a priority column and listed John Smith as high priority, I don't want to have to add that column and write down that John Smith is high priority and the rest of those rows because there's hundreds).

Please let me know if any of this makes sense and if you have any questions. Any help would be amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Link to mock up of spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E70yKXeV28t6CvWl0NJPxW2Gv2CmpGUMRXZqGZT4vrc/edit?usp=sharing

Hey everyone! I'm trying to learn how to get Google Sheets to compare two sheets and combine them in a specific way. Any help would be appreciated.
PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

1. My job requires me to run a report every week that produces an Excel sheet (which then of course goes into Google Sheets).
2. This sheet always has the same columns when I pull it but new roles are added when new clients are added so the rows consistently change.
3. I always add one column to new weekly spreadsheet when I pull it that is labeled "Priority". I then label each client as High, Low, and if I haven't gotten to it yet, it will be blank.
4. Every week I have to compare the sheet from last week (i.e. Last Week's Sheet) with that added to the new one (i.e. New Week's Sheet) that typically will have more or less row additions.

GOAL
I want to be able to combine the two sheets (Last Week and New Week) into a third sheet that combines and leaves out certain information.

1. I don't want to have double entries in the new sheet, just the information from Last Weeks Sheet if nothing has changed (e.g. if I have a row for Mr. John Smith and his details in Last Week's Sheet and he is also in the New Week Sheet because I haven't finished with him, I don't want to have two Mr. John Smiths with the same details in the new combined sheet.)
2. I want the new sheet to have the Priority column that I added in the Last Week sheet and the data in those cells and have that data correspond with the right person (e.g. if I took the time to add a priority column and listed John Smith as high priority, I don't want to have to add that column and write down that John Smith is high priority and the rest of those rows because there's hundreds).

Please let me know if any of this makes sense and if you have any questions. Any help would be amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E70yKXeV28t6CvWl0NJPxW2Gv2CmpGUMRXZqGZT4vrc/edit?usp=sharing

(For those that just want the end product, here you go
I advise you strongly to download it instead of using Google Sheets, otherwise it could misplace most if not all the pictures I used)
Greetings everyone ! About a year ago I did make a damage calculator, for personnal use at first, and I had planned on making it for others too, so I had to make it understandable for others.
Sadly since I played a lot less after finishing this calculator, and got into other games, I kind of stopped playing consistently and totally forgot to do this ....
I recently got back into the game and am currently catching up with a year worth of content, plus all I already had to do so I've been busy.
And I remembered I had this file on my computer, so I decided to see if it still worked, for the most it does, but as some new stuff has been added I've been forced to change a bit of what I did, one thing led to another and I did the whole thing from scratch.
But in the first place how come I did a Damage Calculator ?
Well, Story Time it is !
Story time:
Whilst farming AD I noticed that despite being under the same buff/debuff/conditions, and hitting the same enemy, my damage wasn't a fixed value, so I understood from this situation that there is some RNG in the damage value of this game . I thought it would be kind of neat to have a damage calculator to see what kind of fluctuation there is, or simply know how much damage I could do without actually doing it in game.
Little did I know is that this idea took me through a long journey that lasted for about 2-3 months.
And after searching, it appears there was a post that was made around 5 years ago or so, on a spreadsheet (by u/will_jojo, thank you by the way to this person) calculating damage. Great, right ? Well, yes and no, I'm a dumbass so I didn't understand a single thing of it and totally gave up when I saw formulas, number and different values to input. Needless to say my experience when it comes to spreadsheet prior to this journey was near 0 . Plus since it is 4 years old with all the new mechanics and grastas and stuff it is sort of outdated (I know there was a second version too that did include grastas) To put it bluntly it appeared to be too hard to me, so while it was cool that someone did this, it wasn't useful to me since I didn't understand any of it.
So then, I had a "brilliant" idea and thought to myself: "How about I just make it myself, that way I know it won't be outdated and there'll be everything I want in it, simple as that !" Never have I been struck by karma so fast....
I searched if there was a thing such as a damage formula for this game. Turns out there was and it was on the wiki all this time! By the way thanks to the people that made this wiki as always, and props to the people that made this hellish formula.
So I clicked on the page to see the formula and the details as to how it works. Needless to say I ended up having a stroke given the sheer size of that page. Jokes aside it was a really well detailed page and you can see the amount of work that was put into it, but my dum-dum brain had trouble processing all of it. After taking a break and reading through it while understanding absolutely nothing, I reduced this to "so it IS just a formula after all, simple enough for me to make a damage calculator, right ?"
And with my experience in terms of spreadsheet, it was litterally sink or swim, watching tutorials so as to understand a bit about spreadsheets and stuff. I can't stress out how much this forehead of mine encountered the hardness of my wall during the creation of this Calculator.
As you have guessed it was a pain to do it, mentally and well, physically, damned be this wall. First I had to actually read the entire page of wiki concerning the damage formula several times so as to understand it, which in and of itself took me quite some time.
As for the looks of it, I totally took the same direction as u/will_jojo by doing it on a spreadsheet.
The main difference being that mine is a mess. Then I had to turn all the gibberish of the damage formula wiki page into actual spreadsheet formulas, and make it understandable by people like me, as well as just about anyone.
Also making sure the values were good by testing them myself with my units, making sure that it wouldn't break if a buff/debuff was applied etc.... To put it in a nutshell, I had an awful lot to do to keep me busy, but after a lot of pain I finally succeeded in putting all of this together and make it both viable and working, at least for this first version that is. Because there still is an awful lot to do in terms of enhancements, especially visually because it's a real mess let's face it....
(I'll spare you the details on the numerous times where it went wrong, just know there were A LOT of times where I had to start over, either because of a crash, my fat fingers making a mess in formulas or me simply going in the wrong way...)
I tried to take into account as much things as possible, but I may have forgotten some .
Keep in mind: I have no skills when it comes to maths or using a spreadsheet prior to this, so what I did may be inefficient/have unnecessary brackets/could be shortened. You are free to use it for yourself, share it, ignore it, or upgrade it (if you like to torment yourself with long formulas that is). If you have any feedback about this or criticism (especially negative one as it's the best indicator as to what's to change), feel free to let me know .
As for the way it works, it' very simple: -Sheet 2: A step by step instructions as to how to use Page 3 properly
-Sheet 3: The calculator, just type the values of your unit as well as other values (buffs/debuffs/effects/etc....)
-Sheet 4: A page where I explain precisely how I made that Damage Calculator this way people can understand what I did and perhaps find things I did wrong if you are interested in how I made it.
And with that have fun, I stay available if you have any questions.

I track my Rollover IRA drawdowns and potential future worth in a Google spreadsheet that takes into account a pension, social security, calculated or fixed IRA withdrawals, and fixed or random return rates. The sheet has 3 tabs for each of those withdrawal and rate flavors.
Feel free to make a copy if you're interested. The sheet is not user friendly if Google sheets isn't your thing. Also, the cagr(s) and standard deviation(s) used in this sheet are for a specific stock/bond mix analyzed in portfoliovisualizer.com, so you will need to analyze your own portfolio and plug in those values for your needs.
Retirement Income
https://preview.redd.it/4elguqcfnl0d1.png?width=3092&format=png&auto=webp&s=2462a5bb370e70aaf6bd0a35a16e8ec9ce4c47fb

Preface: Hello everyone. Not sure if this is the proper community to be sharing WH40K fan theories on but it seemed like the right place, my apologies if it is not. I'm not super well versed in lore but owing to a lot of work related drudgery I have been bingeing 40k Lore videos as background entertainment and as I did I had a rather interesting theory come into mind. Did a bit of digging and I wasn't able to find anything so I figured I would try and share it with those who have a better grasp on The Lore than I do and see if it holds up or if there is anything directly contradictory that has ever been published. Decided to write it as close to an "in universe" style as I could as well for fun. Please feel free to share thoughts or anything else about the idea, I welcome any kind of education in the Lore that I could receive.
An excerpt from the charred remains of a heretic psyker's journal. Seized by the Imperial Inquisition
My first observation that something may be amiss oddly enough started not with the Imperium of Man at all but instead while observing the idiosyncrasies of the Orks. While their own psychic energy is minimal...the power of their "Da WAAGH!" is fascinating. What intrigued me most was observation of their seemingly having been capable of subconsciously using their collective energy to do some truly remarkable things. How their collective belief in a particular color of paint could lend the power of Da WAAGGH! to a vehicle and actively speed its passage. Or how that collective belief in the skill of pilot and his "controls" could allow them to manipulate something as unhinged as a Space Hulk using a crude painted on console. It struck a horrid heretical chord in my mind though.
With the exception of those referred to in whispers as "Blanks" every human too holds their own infinitesimally small connection to the Immaterium. What if we could somehow create such a system within the Imperium. What power could be harnessed through the collected subconscious psychic energy of the souls of the Imperium. And then...like a festering rot it struck me...what if it already had? It was thus I began my attempt to search out the truth of the highest of our Imperium, the origins of the God Emperor himself. And I found myself deeply frustrated. Little information could be corroborated. What I could find was often contradictory in nature and maddeningly inconsistent. Even the descriptions of the visage of the Emperor changed and altered depending on the source...and so my own heretical musings grew louder. I eventually came to a theory, one mainly birthed out of speculation but that I could do little to refute the potential of. What if our Emperor had in fact used us and used us still to make himself a god?
Perhaps, at some point in the distant eons of the past a man had been born much like myself. One gifted with a rare psychic talent but nothing compared to the magnificence that was that of the Godly control of the Immaterium that tales of the Emperor spin. And slowly, through deception, he began to convince people of his greatness using his gift. The more people who he convinced of his power, the more belief they had in his divinity and omnipotence, and as the collective psychic energy of humanity began to focus their entire belief on this singular individual, he was made into that which he had pretended to be? It would explain so many things. The slow but noticeable increase in the mythologized feats of the Emperor's prowess. The distorted accounts regarding his physical appearance. If those who had never once looked upon his actual visage were convinced he looked subtly different and they were sending imperceptible amounts of psychic energy to him in the BILLIONS of course it could alter how anyone would even perceive him.
The final thought leaves me hollow though. That, perhaps, what he is now is also our collective fault as well. That his expired frame still sits upon the throne, thrumming with psychic power, because we still pour out belief into him. Every time the inquisition comes to knock on my door and I must flee I still find myself silently offering up a prayer to the Emperor for protection...even as I doubt the origins of his divinity. I swear every time I do that I can feel the barest pull of a thread from my power, almost like an imperceptible tithe being taken in exchange for my prayer. And I shudder to think that perhaps prayers such as mine might keep him chained to that throne until our Imperium passes from memory.

I recently got my Instagram account disabled for no reason. A warning flashed up but automatically clicked continue which I’m guessing was the appeal link. I can log into my account but it’s just blank. If I log in to safari it asks for 2FA I receive the code to my email but not my number. Tried logging in on someone else’s phone and asks for a selfie verification I carry out that and still hear nothing back. Any advice on what else I could do ???

MS-ISAC CYBERSECURITY ADVISORY
MS-ISAC ADVISORY NUMBER: 2024-056
DATE(S) ISSUED: 05/14/2024
SUBJECT: Multiple Vulnerabilities in Mozilla Products Could Allow for Arbitrary Code Execution
OVERVIEW: Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Mozilla Products, the most severe of which could allow for arbitrary code execution.

• Mozilla Firefox is a web browser used to access the Internet.
• Mozilla Firefox ESR is a version of the web browser intended to be deployed in large organizations.
• Mozilla Thunderbird is an email client.

Successful exploitation of the most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow for arbitrary code execution in the context of the logged on user. Depending on the privileges associated with the user, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than those who operate with administrative user rights.
THREAT INTELLIGENCE: There are no reports that these vulnerabilities are being exploited in the wild
SYSTEMS AFFECTED:

• Firefox ESR versions prior to 115.11
• Thunderbird versions prior to 115.11
• Firefox versions prior to 126

RISK: Government:

• Large and medium government entities: High
• Small government entities: High

Businesses:

• Large and medium business entities: High
• Small business entities: High

Home users: Low
TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Mozilla Products, the most severe of which could allow for arbitrary code execution. Details of the most critical vulnerabilities are as follows:
Tactic: Initial Access (TA0001):
Technique: Drive-by Compromise (T1189):

• Multiple WebRTC threads could have claimed a newly connected audio input leading to use-after-free. (CVE-2024-4764)
• A type check was missing when handling fonts in PDF.js, which would allow arbitrary JavaScript execution in the PDF.js context. (CVE-2024-4367)
• Web application manifests were stored by using an insecure MD5 hash which allowed for a hash collision to overwrite another application's manifest. This could have been exploited to run arbitrary code in another application's context. This issue only affects Firefox for Android. Other versions of Firefox are unaffected. (CVE-2024-4765)
• Different techniques existed to obscure the fullscreen notification in Firefox for Android. These could have lead to potential user confusion and spoofing attacks. This bug only affects Firefox for Android. Other versions of Firefox are unaffected. (CVE-2024-4766)
• If the browser.privatebrowsing.autostart preference is enabled, IndexedDB files were not properly deleted when the window was closed. This preference is disabled by default in Firefox and Thunderbird. (CVE-2024-4767)
• A bug in popup notifications' interaction with WebAuthn made it easier for an attacker to trick a user into granting permissions. (CVE-2024-4768)
• When importing resources using Web Workers, error messages would distinguish the difference between application/javascript responses and non-script responses. This could have been abused to learn information cross-origin. (CVE-2024-4769)
• When saving a page to PDF, certain font styles could have led to a potential use-after-free crash. (CVE-2024-4770)
• A memory allocation check was missing which would lead to a use-after-free if the allocation failed. This could have triggered a crash or potentially be leveraged to achieve code execution. (CVE-2024-4771)
• Memory safety bugs present in Firefox 125, Firefox ESR 115.10, and Thunderbird 115.10. Some of these bugs showed evidence of memory corruption and we presume that with enough effort some of these could have been exploited to run arbitrary code. (CVE-2024-4777)

Additional lower severity vulnerabilities include:

• An HTTP digest authentication nonce value was generated using rand() which could lead to predictable values. (CVE-2024-4772)
• When a network error occurred during page load, the prior content could have remained in view with a blank URL bar. This could have been used to obfuscate a spoofed web site. (CVE-2024-4773)
• The ShmemCharMapHashEntry() code was susceptible to potentially undefined behavior by bypassing the move semantics for one of its data members. (CVE-2024-4774)
• An iterator stop condition was missing when handling WASM code in the built-in profiler, potentially leading to invalid memory access and undefined behavior. Note: This issue only affects the application when the profiler is running. (CVE-2024-4775)
• A file dialog shown while in full-screen mode could have resulted in the window remaining disabled. (CVE-2024-4776)
• Memory safety bugs present in Firefox 125. Some of these bugs showed evidence of memory corruption and we presume that with enough effort some of these could have been exploited to run arbitrary code. (CVE-2024-4778)

Successful exploitation of the most severe of these vulnerabilities could allow for arbitrary code execution in the context of the logged on user. Depending on the privileges associated with the user, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than those who operate with administrative user rights.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
We recommend the following actions be taken:

• Apply the stable channel update provided by Mozilla to vulnerable systems immediately after appropriate testing. (M1051: Update Software)
  • Safeguard 7.1 : Establish and Maintain a Vulnerability Management Process: Establish and maintain a documented vulnerability management process for enterprise assets. Review and update documentation annually, or when significant enterprise changes occur that could impact this Safeguard.
  • Safeguard 7.4: Perform Automated Application Patch Management: Perform application updates on enterprise assets through automated patch management on a monthly, or more frequent, basis.
  • Safeguard 7.5 : Perform Automated Vulnerability Scans of Internal Enterprise Assets: Perform automated vulnerability scans of internal enterprise assets on a quarterly, or more frequent, basis. Conduct both authenticated and unauthenticated scans, using a SCAP-compliant vulnerability scanning tool.
• Apply the Principle of Least Privilege to all systems and services. Run all software as a non-privileged user (one without administrative privileges) to diminish the effects of a successful attack. (M1026: Privileged Account Management)
  • Safeguard 4.7: Manage Default Accounts on Enterprise Assets and Software: Manage default accounts on enterprise assets and software, such as root, administrator, and other pre-configured vendor accounts. Example implementations can include: disabling default accounts or making them unusable.
  • Safeguard 5.4: Restrict Administrator Privileges to Dedicated Administrator Accounts: Restrict administrator privileges to dedicated administrator accounts on enterprise assets. Conduct general computing activities, such as internet browsing, email, and productivity suite use, from the user’s primary, non-privileged account.
• Use capabilities to detect and block conditions that may lead to or be indicative of a software exploit occurring. (M1050: Exploit Protection)
  • Safeguard 10.5: Enable Anti-Exploitation Features: Enable anti-exploitation features on enterprise assets and software, where possible, such as Microsoft® Data Execution Prevention (DEP), Windows® Defender Exploit Guard (WDEG), or Apple® System Integrity Protection (SIP) and Gatekeeper™.
• Restrict use of certain websites, block downloads/attachments, block JavaScript, restrict browser extensions, etc. (M1021: Restrict Web-Based Content)
  • Safeguard 9.2: Use DNS Filtering Services: Use DNS filtering services on all enterprise assets to block access to known malicious domains.
  • Safeguard 9.3: Maintain and Enforce Network-Based URL Filters: Enforce and update network-based URL filters to limit an enterprise asset from connecting to potentially malicious or unapproved websites. Example implementations include category-based filtering, reputation-based filtering, or through the use of block lists. Enforce filters for all enterprise assets.
  • Safeguard 9.6: Block Unnecessary File Types: Block unnecessary file types attempting to enter the enterprise’s email gateway.
• Block execution of code on a system through application control, and/or script blocking. (M1038: Execution Prevention)
  • Safeguard 2.5 : Allowlist Authorized Software: Use technical controls, such as application allowlisting, to ensure that only authorized software can execute or be accessed. Reassess bi-annually, or more frequently.
  • Safeguard 2.6 : Allowlist Authorized Libraries: Use technical controls to ensure that only authorized software libraries, such as specific .dll, .ocx, .so, etc., files, are allowed to load into a system process. Block unauthorized libraries from loading into a system process. Reassess bi-annually, or more frequently.
  • Safeguard 2.7 : Allowlist Authorized Scripts: Use technical controls, such as digital signatures and version control, to ensure that only authorized scripts, such as specific .ps1, .py, etc., files, are allowed to execute. Block unauthorized scripts from executing. Reassess bi-annually, or more frequently.
• Use capabilities to prevent suspicious behavior patterns from occurring on endpoint systems. This could include suspicious process, file, API call, etc. behavior. (M1040: Behavior Prevention on Endpoint)
  • Safeguard 13.2 : Deploy a Host-Based Intrusion Detection Solution: Deploy a host-based intrusion detection solution on enterprise assets, where appropriate and/or supported.
  • Safeguard 13.7 : Deploy a Host-Based Intrusion Prevention Solution: Deploy a host-based intrusion prevention solution on enterprise assets, where appropriate and/or supported. Example implementations include use of an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) client or host-based IPS agent.
• Inform and educate users regarding the threats posed by hypertext links contained in emails or attachments especially from un-trusted sources. Remind users not to visit un-trusted websites or follow links provided by unknown or un-trusted sources. (M1017: User Training)
  • Safeguard 14.1: Establish and Maintain a Security Awareness Program: Establish and maintain a security awareness program. The purpose of a security awareness program is to educate the enterprise’s workforce on how to interact with enterprise assets and data in a secure manner. Conduct training at hire and, at a minimum, annually. Review and update content annually, or when significant enterprise changes occur that could impact this Safeguard.
  • Safeguard 14.2: Train Workforce Members to Recognize Social Engineering Attacks: Train workforce members to recognize social engineering attacks, such as phishing, pre-texting, and tailgating.

REFERENCES:

Mozilla: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2024-21/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2024-22/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2024-23/

CVE: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4367 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4764 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4765 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4766 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4767 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4768 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4769 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4770 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4771 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4772 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4773 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4774 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4775 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4776 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4777 https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-4778

I’m a data analyst (salaried state employee) in Massachusetts, and I’d like to set up a side business regarding vehicle maintenance (specifically brakes) with an LLC.
I’ve never set up an LLC before, and I’d like to confirm how that works. Since it is a separate entity from myself, the business would be taxed separately from myself, correct? Or would it just tack the business income on top of my other income, putting it straight into a higher tax bracket?
Also, for business expenses, I believe I need a separate checking account, but is there a best practice to separate business from personal expenses on that account? My idea is to just transfer money from that account for any non-business stuff to make it easier to track, but I want to make sure I’m not missing any potential issues related to that.
Lastly, if someone pays in cash, is there a best practice to handle that? Spreadsheet, directly into ATM, etc.?
Thank you!

Throw away account. Mom died in November. I (m45) was POA over financial and medical and she lived with me for 5 years prior. I paid for all bills as I also worked from home full time. The deal was she bought the groceries. My 17f daughter also lived with us and helped out. 6 months before mom passed Dad had a heart attack (divorced lived close by) and I was bouncing back and forth caring for both. At that point I started paying my dtr for care when I was at dads because she had to toilet and feed her. My sister 49f would swoop in and make a big production but never actually help. Dad died in September and my sister made it all about her. She was always the golden child I was the second fiddle. Right after Dad died my girlfriend (we didn’t live together) died in a car accident. I’m dealing with double grief so I put my Mom in a nursing home because it was just to much. My mom and sister acted like I was a problem and bad mouthed me to anyone who would listen to the point that my dtr and I just packed up and moved across the country in October. Mom ended up in the hospital and my sister told everyone she was in charge even though I showed up with living will and POA. She actually moved her without telling me even though I had made it clear to the hospital I had concerns she would do this (reported them to state they got in trouble). My Dad had nothing, he rented and lived off Ss. My Mom had sold her house years ago and as advice of lawyer the money was placed in my name. We flew in for mom’s funeral and my sister made a big production of what she did for mom and not a single family member spoke to my dtr or me and acted like we were horrible people. Day of funeral she texted me telling me to put all the money into mom’s account and give her blank checks. (Mom and I had a joint account with about 5k in it) I told her no if there were bills I would pay them and just offered to give her half. She flipped out saying how dare I talk inheritance on the day of her funeral. I hear nothing for two months. I text her I’m flying in and going to close the account how would she like her money. She states I’m not allowed to do that she called an attorney she is executor and she has questions. We meet and she provides a list of questions. She said my dtr was under 18 and therefore couldn’t be a caregiver and demanded she pay it back. She questioned Amazon charges and 600 cash that we got when we sold her car. She demanded receipts for every purchase ever made with moms money (I guess poa said I had to keep receipts). I got visibly upset and said I didn’t steal. She told me I had two weeks to get them or the lawyers would make me. (The entire estate is worth about 75k). My sisters husband is a doctor and makes loads of money I’m a single dad making less a year than the estate is worth. 3 weeks later she sent a nasty letter demanding all these things and saying I had a week to produce them or the lawyer was coming after me. Luckily between calling around and going online I was able to get almost every receipt for last 5 years. I did uncover that my sister used my moms ss# to obtain online access for moms and mine joint account. (Bank offered to transfer me to fraud). My mom had also gifted my aunt 15k a few years back (aunt is now dead) and me 30k when I bought my house a few years back. The paper trail shows mom signed and withdrew the money but I’m afraid my sister will claim as poa I should have stopped her (she had early dementia). I put everything on a thumb drive and mailed to my sister certified mail on 4/1. Had no idea she was on a cruise so they said they would redeliver but never did. I have no idea if the package was delivered and the post office is like to bad. I’m afraid to ask my sister if she got it. It’s been 6 weeks and I’ve heard nothing. I don’t want to ask my sister because she will think I need the money and just drag it on. I also got a 5k insurance check I’m afraid to cash because she will accuse me of stealing. Now I didn’t do anything wrong but towards the end I’ll admit I was buying extra things at the grocery store such as toilet paper (which I had previously bought with my money) make up for my dtr and a take outs (mainly because I was pissed at my sister and thought less money for her). I’m terrified a lawyer is going to hold me to the 45k and say I shouldn’t have done that and I’ll end up having to take out a loan and give my sister additional money. What if they make me pay back anything I can’t produce a receipt for? I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing and my anxiety is terrible. I wanted to buy my dtr a car with some of my half and now I have to wait. Any advice please. I have no one left in this world but my dtr.

DISCLAIMER: Sorry this is a day late. I ended up having to rewrite half of this. Still, I hope you enjoy. After this, I'll be going on my hiatus. So I hope you like this last little bit of Roo-family cuteness. Thank you all and keep on keepin' on!
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Special thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the NoP universe.
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I'd also like to thank u/xskipy10 for their awesome fanart of the main cast as well as their recent Tohba meme and their fanart of Michael baysitting. You're work is a treasure!
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Thank you as well to u/Accomplished-Golf-59 for his take on Michael, Teylim, and Tohba in his submission for the Banner Art Contest, and u/Spacer_Catgirl4969 for their awesome music video featuring a pixel-art Dohkar in his bar. Be sure to give ALL of these awesome creators your love and support.
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And let's not forget u/Guywhoexists2812 who has been an awesome source of memes as well as sick pixel art, such as THIS and THIS!!!! And even THIS!!!!!! And how could I forget THIS!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!
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Today, we see all the reasons Teylim has to keep going in the face of adversity. For when all is said and done, love truly does conquer all. LETTUCE...begin...
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Original Story
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[Accessing Camera Function…]
​
[Accessing Saved Recordings Function…]
​
[Play Selected Recording?: Y/N…]
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[Playing Recording!]
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[The camera opens up on a female Yotul with a satchel over her shoulder. She is walking backwards down a paved walkway while looking up at the person holding the camera…]
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“Alright! Soooo…here we are in… Michael tell us where we are!”
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[The person holding the camera gives an audible sigh…]
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“Do I have to, Tey?”
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“Yes! Come on, it’ll be fun!”
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[Another audible sigh is heard before the person begins panning the camera around the surrounding cityscape…]
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“We are in the beautiful, literally ALWAYS sunny capital of Dayside City!”
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“And what would you say we’re doing here in Dayside City?”
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“We were just at the Public Records building getting our paperwork verified.”
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[The Yotul woman is seen reaching into her satchel and pulling out a leaflet of documents…]
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“Oh! You mean THIS paperwork? Hmmm… I wonder what these might say… Mind helping me here?”
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“Seriously?”
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[The Yotul doesn’t answer, instead shoving the documents directly into the camera. Another, more amused-sounding sigh is heard…]
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“It says that your name has been officially changed to ‘Teylim Andrews.’”
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“Mmmmhmmm. And what about this one?”
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“That one says that Tohba’s name has been officially changed to ‘Tohba Andrews.’”
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“Aaaand why do you suppose that is?”
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[A shuffling sound is heard and the camera shifts as the person holding it pulls out their own papers…]
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“Probably because according to MY paperwork, while we’re still waiting for my Application of Citizenship to go through, I, Michael Ruiz Andrews, am now the full, legal, son of one, Teylim Andrews-”
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“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!!!!!!”
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[The Yotul woman darts forward, wrapping the person holding the camera in a hug. The camera is set on the ground and the face of the person is now visible. The two hold their embrace, rocking back and forth…]
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“I love you so much, my joey…”
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“Love you too, Ma…”
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[Recording Ceases…]
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[Play Next Recording?: Y/N…]
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[Playing Recording!]
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[The camera opens on a small kitchen area where two beings are sat eating. On the left, a male Yotul infant in a high chair is munching away at a human food identified as “Cheerios” spread across his tray. On the right, a male human idly stirs at a bowl of cereal while tapping away at a datapad…]
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[Eventually, after munching down another “Cheerio”, the infant catches a glimpse at the human and stares for approximately one second before his tail begins wagging…]
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“Mikey?”
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[The humans attention is broken away from their datapad and immediately focuses on the infant…]
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“Yeah, Bud?”
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“I WUV YOOOUUU.”
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[The infant’s sing-song voice seems to make the human smile before he leans forward, planting a “kiss” on top of the infant’s head…]
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“MmmMUAH! Te amo, mi hermanito.”
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“Whaz dat mean?”
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“It means, ‘I love you, Little Brother’. Want me to teach you?”
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“Hmmmmm… OKAY!”
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“Okay.”
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[The human chuckles slightly before scooting his chair in…]
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“Okay, so when you want to tell someone you love them, you say, ‘Te amo.’ Okay?”
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[The infant gives a curious ear flick…]
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“Teeeh…Mo?”
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“Close! Here. Repeat after me. Te…”
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“Teeh…”
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“Ah…”
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“Aaahh…”
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“Mo…”
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“Moh!”
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“Te…ah…mo…”
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“Teeh…aaahh…mo!”
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“Okay! All together now. Te amo.”
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“¡TE AMO!”
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[The human excitedly gets up from his seat and embraces the infant…]
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“YES!!! You did it! Awesome job, Bud!”
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“YAAAAYYY!!!! ¡TE AMO, MIKEY!”
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“MMMUAH!! ¡Te amo, precioso hermanito!”
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[The camera jitters slightly and a muffled giggling is heard. The human turns to face the camera…]
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“Ma? What are you- Have you been recording this whole time?”
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“Just a little!”
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“Must you record everything?”
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“As a matter of fact, yes!”
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“MAMA!!”
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[The camera zooms in on the excited infant…]
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“Hello, Precious! Is your big brother teaching you Spanish?”
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“UH-HUH!! ¡TE AMO, MAMA!”
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“Ooooh, that is just ADORABLE! Can you teach him to say ‘Mama’ in Spanish, too?”
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[The camera pans over to the human, who raises an eyebrow. After a moment, the human smirks and gives an exaggerated shrug while shaking his head…]
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“No tengo que hacerlo. Él ya lo sabe, mamá.”
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“Pffft! Smart aleck.”
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[Recording Ceases…]
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[Play Next Recording?: Y/N…]
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[Playing Recording!]
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[The camera opens up facing a pair of beds in a small room. On one bed, a female Yotul is sat with her infant in her lap as a male human walks into frame carrying a brightly wrapped gift box…]
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“Merry Late Christmas, guys!”
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“Merry Christmas, Michael!”
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“Mewwy Kwizmuz, Mikey!”
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[The human kneels down and hands the infant the gift box…]
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“Sorry this gift is a bit last minute, but I managed to grab it while I was out with ‘Nel the other day.”
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“I’m sure it’ll be perfect, Michael.”
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“I hope so. Go on, Bud. Open it! It’s for you!”
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“OKAY!!!”
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[The infant rips away at the brightly-colored paper, and with help from his mother, lifts off the lid. The infant then excitedly starts bouncing up and down and reaches into the box, pulling out a bright-red plush…]
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“WED TIWFISH!!!!!!”
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“Oh, Michael! How? When?”
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“I had to ask around online if anyone else had plushies from the aquarium ship, and I managed to find a guy here in Dayside. There’s…still a lot of things we lost at the house that need to be replaced, but I figured this would be a good start…”
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“It’s perfect.”
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[The three embrace and hold it for several seconds before pulling back…]
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“BUT! I’m not done with gifts just yet.”
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“What?”
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“Here. Mind handing me your pad?”
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“Sure?”
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[The Yotul hands the human her datapad as he pulls a small drive from his pocket and plugs it in. After a moment, he smiles and sits down on the bed next to the Yotul. She is then seen gasping and covering her mouth with her paws…]
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“Michael…”
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“I overheard you on the phone with Aunty Triv, talking about how you wish you had some pictures of me when I was younger…”
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“How on Liern-”
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“It’s…a long story. When I was first taken into foster care after getting rescued, I was assigned a social worker to help me adjust. And after I got situated with Dad, he stayed and helped us out from time to time. He basically became like an uncle to me after a while. And since Dad didn’t really have any other family, whenever he wanted to share pictures of me growing up, he’d send a copy to my social worker. I’ve…been back in contact with him for a little while now, and it turns out he kept them.”
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“Oh, Michael…”
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[The Yotul and human lean against each other and embrace…]
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“I love you, Ma.”
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“I love you too, my joey.
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[Still leaning against each other, they begin to swipe at the pad, presumably looking through pictures. After a few swipes, The Yotul begins chuckling hysterically…]
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“Aaaawwweee…”
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“Crap, I forgot about that one!”
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“Who’z dat?”
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“That’s…me, Bud.”
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[The infant looks at the image for a while, still holding the bright red plush…]
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“Teeheehee!! Fuzzy Mikey!”
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“Can we please just swipe to the next one?”
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“Wait. I’ve seen those kinds of human garments before! Aren’t those for…LITTLE…little joeys?”
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“Look, I was a very emotionally stunted kid and I just thought they were comfy, alright?”
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“This is SO going on the desk.”
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“Please no. Any of them but that one.”
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“Nope! It’s already decided!”
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“YAAYYY! FUZZY MIKEY!”
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“God, ‘Nel’s never gonna let me live this down…”
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[Recording Ceases…]
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Memory Transcript Subject: Teylim Andrews, Yotul Accountant And Loving Mother Of Two
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Date:[Standardized Human Time] February 1, 2137
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[Warning: REM Sleep Detected: Transcript May Be Fragmented Or Incomplete…]
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Crrreeeeaak…
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My eyes slowly squint open as the noise rouses me from sleep. I let out a yawn before looking for the source of the noise. I’m…back in my house… Sitting upright, I see that my door’s been opened, beaming The Dayside’s permanent daylight into my room. I was confused for a moment. The only other person here that would be here is-
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“Uuuuhhmm… M-Mrs. Teylim?”
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I looked down, and spotted the culprit.
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Standing in the doorway was a small human child, cradling my Tohba in his arms. He was silhouetted from the daylight behind him, the light beaming past his adorable onesie pajamas creating a small blue outline around him, matching his eyes.
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Strange. For some reason, I thought he was taller…
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“Michael, sweetie? What’s the matter?”
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Still carrying Tohba, Michael made his way over to the bed.
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“Uuuhhhmmm… Tohba h-had a n-nightmare…”
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“Ooohh, is that so?”
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Something definitely didn’t add up. As he gently handed Tohba over to me, he certainly didn’t seem to be having a nightmare. In fact, even now he was still sleeping peacefully.
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Michael, on the other paw, was DEFINITELY out of sorts. He was nervous, fidgeting, wrapped up in a self-hug, and even now, refused to even look at me. Whether that was because of his nervousness or if he was still convinced I was afraid of him had yet to be seen.
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Stupid, ridiculous, Federation dogma…
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I could tell he wasn’t being honest with me. Ordinarily, I would’ve been upset about him lying, and even more so about him disturbing Tohba, but looking at him now, I knew what he needed now wasn’t a scolding.
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“Michael, you know you can be honest with me. Was it really Tohba who had the nightmare?”
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I heard him nervously gulp as he tightened the self-hug around himself. After a moment, he shook his head.
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“Mm’mm…”
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I gave a tired, but loving sigh before holding out my free arm.
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“Come here.”
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With some hesitation, he stepped closer, allowing me to pull him into a hug. Michael had a lot of issues. From what I learned from his social worker, he’d been terribly abused by his previous mother and he’d lost his father only a few years after moving in with him. And now, with Earth under attack, he simply didn’t have anywhere else to go.
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It will take a long time before he’s fully comfortable living here, I know that. I’m still not even entirely sure if I’m what he needs. I still wonder if I know what I’m doing when it comes to just raising Tohba. Even so, I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t try. He deserves a home, and a mother who loves him. All children do.
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“I'm sorry for lying…”
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“Ssshhh… It’s alright. Do you want to talk about it?”
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“It was…the one with the scary fire people…”
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Oh…THAT dream…
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Exterminators.
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“I don’t want them to come… I don’t want them to-“
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“It’s okay, joey. They won’t get you here.”
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“No! That’s not… That’s not what I’m scared of…”
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I pulled back slightly, allowing myself to look directly at him. He sniffles and sobbed while trying to wipe away tears.
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“You’re all so nice to me… \sniff** I…I-I don’t want the fire people to hurt you… I sh-shouldn’t be here…”
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My heart broke in two. This poor child had already lost so much. It only made sense that he’d be afraid of losing us too.
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I cupped his face in my paw, wiping away his tears.
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“Michael Ruiz Andrews, I don’t care what you might have heard, but you have every RIGHT to be here. And if those scary people out there think they can come and take us away from you, they’re wrong. I will never let us be separated. You hear me?”
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“. . .P-promise?”
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“With all my heart. You’re MY joey now, and I won’t let anyone take you away from me.”
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At last, Michael finally unwrapped himself from his self-hug and instead wrapped his arms around me, burying his face in my fur.
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After a while of holding him, he’d finally calmed down enough to speak again.
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“C-can I…sleep here tonight?”
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Your joey needs you.
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Yes.
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“Of course.”
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With some effort, he climbed up onto the bed and curled up next to me. I knew I most likely wouldn’t be getting anymore sleep, but that was fine. Just laying here, holding my boys in my arms. That was enough.
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One after the other, I gave both my joeys a lick on the forehead.
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“Goodnight my joeys. I love you.”
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“Wuv…you…Ma…ma…”
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“. . .Love you too...Mom…”
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I love my boys. I love my family. I love…my life…
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[Transcript Time Progression: 4 hours…]
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Beebeebeebeep! Beebeebeebeep! Beebeebeebeep!
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[Warning: Subject Regaining Consciousness…]
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My entire body protested as I twisted and turned over to tap the alarm on my nightstand. My claw slapped blindly at it until finally, the agitating alarm was silenced. My eyes squinted open, revealing…I was back in our motel room…
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Well…a girl can dream, can’t she?
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It was a pleasant dream, I’ll give it that. As I sat up, I let my legs dangle off the side of the bed as I stretched myself out and let out a yawn. Once my eyes had fully opened, and the fog had been blinked away, I was immediately met with a sight that warmed my heart to no end. My still fast asleep, and back to being tall, new son, curled up with his baby brother on the other bed.
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Precious boys. MY precious boys.
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I did my best to remember if Michael had anything scheduled with Khornel for this paw, but nothing came to mind. He’d been working so hard lately, helping to keep us above water. Now that he wasn’t a refugee anymore, we were no longer receiving stipends from the program, which meant from here on out, keeping the bills paid was much more difficult. And that’s not even mentioning having to put aside anything we can to be able to eventually have the house rebuilt.
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I kept trying for a while, I still couldn’t remember anything. For the first time in a decent while, he had a paw off.
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Good. I’ll leave him be then. He’s earned some rest.
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I let out one more yawn, before getting up. Unfortunately, while Michael didn’t have to work this paw, I wasn’t so fortunate. Thankfully, my recent injuries allowed me to continue to work from home instead of going out to the physical office. After one last stretch, I let myself slide off the bed.
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I had to give myself a moment once I was upright. While my previously broken leg had healed for the most part, I still needed to be careful of how much weight I put on it. Once I was ready, I began walking to our small kitchen area. The fridge was nearly empty. I’d need to go to the store soon.
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Thank goodness we’re staying in Soulroot, where literally EVERYTHING is expensive…
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After cutting up some leftover fruit and strayu for myself, I went back to my desk. It was impossible to not notice the small stack of colorful books on the ground next to it. They were human kid’s books donated from the embassy here in Soulroot. Tohba would be ready to start going to school in just a few short cycles…
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Will we be able to get out of here and back into our house before then?
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Sitting down at my desk and booting up my pad, I found it hard to stay focused. There was still so much to do, so much to worry about. Before, when I was feeling overwhelmed, I’d have Loh, Dohkar, or Trivah there for me. With them around, it always helped things feel more manageable. But now…now I was alone again. Loh was gone. Dohkar and Trivah were stuck on the other side of that damned fence…
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What are we going to do?
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My head lowered. I stared blankly at the desk, partly wishing I could look through it at ANYTHING other than my work.
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But then, there was a glint, just out of the corner of my eye…
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I looked up, and saw something that I couldn’t help but smile at, something that even when I’m feeling low, reminds me why I have to keep going.
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I reach out…and grab the two small frames off the corner of my desk and hold them in front of me. In my left paw, wass a framed picture of Tohba, the paw he was born. So small. So precious. So perfect. And in my right, was another picture. It was my new favorite picture.
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A small, human child…in fuzzy, blue, onesie pajamas that matched his eyes.
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My Michael. Still so small.
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These two pictures. My boys. The villains outside could take everything else. So long as I have my boys, I will always have a reason to keep going.
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I love my boys… I love my family… I love my life…
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The End

I know these questions exist but I didn't see much posts tailored to my scenario I am a senior data engineer with skills in Data Engg, Analytics and Machine Learning and software engineering with an overall of 12 years of experience but my core work now revolves around Data Engineering and ML/software engg from past 5 years. I am contemplating to move to either Australia or UK (both takes an year from now) accounting for factors as below:

1. career opportunities to grow (I have heard Australia saturates in salary for senior positions and LESS jobs particularly in Data Engg and ML. Is it gonna improve and would they catch up with US/Europe?)
2. Raising a kid (3 years now) and better life style in terms of health, education, food and air quality.. you get it!
3. I am single earner. My spouse might do casual jobs but nothing substantial.

Career Opportunities and family, lifestyle are both equally important, but if you ask me with a gun to my head at point blank, I choose family and lifestyle.
What do you think? Anyone in this boat of my journey? I hope someone who has experience with both UK and Australia especially in tech sector can help me here.

Same old Q to the enlightened amongst us but different because this time it really is all about me!
I've done a lot of spreadsheets and used AussieFirebugs too, and I think it looks good but am wary. In my listing below, in asking "Can we push the FIRE button?", have I forgotten anything?
Me (52M), best human ever (54F)
Expenses: 100k PA (Ignoring PPOR, paid off) Savings: 1,87M (mostly 2nd property paid-off & rented @ 3.6%) Super: 788k UK private pension 1: 35k (available 2025) UK private pension 2: 54k (available 2027) UK state pension 1: 10,000 PA (available 2035) UK state pension 2: 10,000 PA (available 2037)
So were obviously fine in pensionable age if we don't burn our savings
Plans Sell 2nd house
1,2M 2x smaller rental properties (@ 5% rental rates in new town are better) 200k into Super = 988k 470k invested ETF
Pre-Preservation

	High	Low
Rentals	59k (10% cost)	49k (25% cost)
Investment	33k (7%)	19k(4%)
	82k	62k

So say we get somewhere in between @ 72k PA Make up the 28k deficit with UK pensions into investment ETF and soulful jobs for the next few years We may draw on some of the 470k in ETF to get us to 60 (max of 170k) We may not actually need 100k expenses, that's just based on current bad behavior
Post Preservation
Sell 1,3M investments >> Super 2,5M. 4% = 100k PA
Does not take into account:- CGT on 2nd property Growth in Super Any additional super from smaller jobs UK State pension (might not exist by then!) Potential redundancy & 14 year pay-out Inflation (will decreasing aging COL balance this out?)
Does it look feasible? Have I forgotten anything obvious?
many thanks Mr & Mrs chewed financial fingernails

I thought I'd add a post here to record my experiences for the next person...
I've been fighting with this for a couple of evenings before I worked out that the Edge Profile Sync login path uses a similar (if not the same) path as intune-portal, which is somehow different to the login path used when you go to http://portal.office.com/ and login with the same credentials. The latter allows you to select which MFA factor you'd like to use; the former fails with a branded but otherwise white screen as part of the MFA browser workflow - you never get any option to select other MFA factors after entering a password. I presume Edge is also using the identity-broker service, while an actual website login does not.
If you are trying to enrol a Linux device (Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS in this instance) with the intune-portal, you may encounter some odd errors if you have a FIDO2 key registered as one of your MFA factors in EntraID.
For me, the telltale syslog error is:

microsoft-identity-broker[13175]: java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException: com.microsoft.identity.common.java.exception.UiRequiredException: AADSTS50076: Due to a configuration change made by your administrator, or because you moved to a new location, you must use multi-factor authentication to access 'f2d19332-a09d-48c8-a53b-c49ae5502dfc'. Trace ID: b84bd044-6531-4dfc-b26c-39d983650c00 Correlation ID: 714c7d2f-0149-4b45-b101-e32ec61a0cd9 Timestamp: 2024-05-14 17:37:38Z 

This occurs despite never being prompted for an MFA factor, although I suspect the branded-but-blank screen I see is a half-broken MFA prompt.
Removing the FIDO2 key from my account allows both the Edge browser sync and intune-portal logins to succeed using standard MFA number-matching.
Also for note, even on Ubuntu 22.04.4 I have to use the microsoft-identity-broker=1.7.0 trick as shared in Intune & Ubuntu 24.04 Jaap de Goeij's cloud space (jdegoeij.com) and other places.

Welcome to the Daily NC/NP Trade/Sell & Pet UFA/UFT thread. A new thread will be made every day at midnight NST. Please refrain from posting individual threads and use this thread for your trading purposes!

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