Somebody requested that I write down some resources for Dzogchen in the sidebar, so I thought I would do as post as well to give a sort of background and offer anyone else the chance to get in on the conversation or building of resources too...

A Word on Secrecy, Safety Maturity, and Cults

I'm writing this post out by request of someone who messaged me, with the intention of reaching a wider audience, or all beings, who could benefit from learning about these teachings. I have to caution, though, that they may not be for everybody, and in that regard, I would advise gentleness, with yourself and others, with regards to this path. Please take care of yourself, and keep a measure of your own mind with regard to your mental health and these practices. I wish that those who read this post are only those who it may help, and those it may hurt don't have to see it at all.
With that in mind, I can maybe share a little bit about the secrecy aspect of Vajrayana. Someone who learns about these practices but does not genuinely practice them can generate obstacles to their own awakening; specifically with Dzogchen there is a real danger of intellectualizing the practice such that one covers over their own mind with a sheen of thoughts and fabrication, blocking one from advancing. In that regard, this particular practice is called self secret. From what I know, many Lamas won't introduce one to the practice if they aren't sure the student has the capability to grasp it, and also - the student won't be able to practice it if they're not able to.
On the subject of cults - I have to note that Dzogchen practice can be very personal, but that is not a license for any teacher to abuse you, in any form, ever. Things that happened in the past - students getting slapped, hit with shoes, etc. - happened in the past - but that doesn't make them appropriate teachings devices today. A genuinely compassionate teacher won't take advantage of your practice to abuse you, steal your money, degrade you, control you, or anything like that. If they try to - it is more likely that you've stumbled on a cult, and should get out as fast as you can.
As far as general safety in the practice goes, Lama Lena has written this (and I'm shamelessly stealing it from her website):
"The responsibility to take care of your own mind rests with you; not the lama, not your mom, not your cat. So, take it upon yourself to be safe and use common sense."
Please, read that whole page and heed the warnings.

My Practice

I've been working with Dzogchen for about 3.5 years now, since approximately the end of 2020. I'd been interested in Mahayana practices for the better part of a decade before that, but mostly just practicing Samatha by the way of Anapanasati and Metta, and also through the framework provided by *The Mind Illuminated*. I had been curious about Dzogchen for a bit, mostly from reading about it on Wikipedia and just, in general, being interested in seeing what the fuss is surrounding vajrayana, tantra, and the "highest system" called Atiyoga.
By chance, I happened to see a comment on /Dzogchen from someone who basically said "If anyone is looking for pointing out, feel free to message me." So I sent them a message giving my general background and motivation for the practice, and they invited me to join them on meditationonline.org - which had been a place they'd been doing meditation for a few years (and still do, I suppose I'd consider myself part of that sangha). I happened to meet the individual who I'd been messaging, a Nyingma lama called Dawai Gocha, and received pointing out, along with teachings for the next few years... up until the present day.
My main practice now is Dzogchen - I gradually transitioned into this from Anapanasati over the course of about six months - and most of my sessions are now just me resting in awareness - Rigpa. I generally do augment this however with other practices, like Satipatthana, mantra recitation, and other practices from the three main vehicles, simply because I like to do them and find them helpful on the path.

What is Dzogchen?

I can't say anything that has not already been said by others, in particular, meditation masters with vastly more experience than I have - but to put it simply, Dzogchen practice can encompass a large number of different types of ancillary practices, and one central practice, which the ancillaries are meant to accomplish. The main practice is resting in the Rigpa.

How to Learn

"Get pointing out instructions from a qualified teacher before embarking on Dzogchen and Mahamudra. A teacher can address pressing questions as they arise and give you a map and tools for the journey. As practitioners, we can rely on those who have hiked the trail before us." - Lama Lena
Since the awareness nature is always present in every being, it is both simple to learn and simple to maintain the practice - being that one just simply is introduced to the awareness nature, and then abides in it at all times.
As far as being introduced to that awareness, in my experience there are many avenues, such as getting pointed out in person( verbally or non verbally), in visions, through texts, in dreams, etc. In one of her videos, Lama Lena goes through, I think, five different days that transmission/pointing out can happen.
But in my experience, getting pointing out, repeatedly and periodically, from a teacher is the most effective (and probably the most important) way to learn, like having someone coach you through riding a bicycle, until you finally internalize the fundamentals and are able ride on your own. Even someone that can check your progress, humble you, and keep you from common pitfalls, can be extremely helpful. Dzogchen, to me and from what I have read from e.g. Tulku Urgyen, is very simple, so simple that many people are able to miss it extremely easily. Whether we miss it because we're so worked up, or because we are subtly fabricating something and fixating on the fabrication - there is a miss, and from what I know, it's better to realize that than carry on doing whatever else. The harsh reality of Dzogchen practice is that fixation, because we're so habituated to it as human beings, is extremely easy, and being led astray by fixation means your meditation becomes a conditioned Samatha practice. On a lighter note though - from my perspective, one we learn to continually distinguish between Consciousness from Wisdom, we are on very solid ground, and it becomes easier and easier to recognize when we've become fixated.
On the subject of teachers - I would consider myself to have had many teachers. My main teacher, I mentioned before, is a lama I talk to live over the internet, but I would also say I've received teachings from recordings, from books, and in dreams. For clarity, I will state again: having a teacher that you can use to verify your practice is very important so as not to fall into common pitfalls. Whether you are confirming your experience through texts, reasoning, pointing out videos, whatever - do it repeatedly will help because otherwise, as a beginner, one can be lost for days, weeks, months, etc. without finding awareness again. I've seen people on Dzogchen who, unfortunately, even though they got pointing out from great teachers, were not able to realize the practice because they lost it and then never were able to find it again, and so need the pointing out again. Others get the pointing out repeatedly - practice a lot, and attain good results over time. In that way, from my perspective, having continual access to the teachings is very important. Fortunately, we live in a good time for this.
I'll get to recommend specifics later but - this is my perspective - although some people say that you can't get transmission over recordings or the internet, or from books - I actually do doubt that that is that case, just from experience. But, I must caution that all of my experience in this realm comes from after the point in time that I received live pointing out.
This all being said - regardless of how one feels at a specific time or place, there's no reason not to ever refrain from confirming one's experience or view against the words of masters. There are others that have said this, who have more experience, but until we are Buddhas ourselves and phenomena have exhausted, there is no reason to ever stop practicing. Ever. If you are practice, there is no need to make effort, and all phenomena will come and go without trouble. Namkhai Norbu says almost exactly this in The Cycle of Day and Night.

Finding A Teacher

"Do not expect to travel this path guided only by books and the internet! Use the internet to find a teacher, then connect with them." - Lama Lena
It's taken a while to get here, my apologies for that.
For finding a teacher, I think any lama that has accomplished a three year retreat will be proficient in either Mahamudra or Dzogchen (both Atiyoga - subtle differenes but the same essential practice), and will likely be able to give pointing out instructions.
Not all may do so at first. Some may want a more personal relationship, some may require Ngondro, and some may say "sorry I don't really give those teachings". Some may require a baseline knowledge of the practice first - for example the Tergar program does.
That being said, there are many places to receive pointing out for free and in public.
Off the top of my head, I can name four that are always open and free: Lama Lena on Facebook and Youtube, The Rangdrol Foundation (run by the reddit user u/jigdrol), MeditationOnline.org, and The Pristine Mind Foundation . I know there are others, but at least to me on reddit nad personally, these have been the most visible. I do know that Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (Mahamudra Dzogchen) and James Low (Dzogchen) occasionally give pointing out instructions and videos on the practice. As well - many other lama do on occasion, and especially Bon lamas - practitioners and Yogis from the Tibetan Indigenous religion.
Edit: Here is a recent list of online teachers compiled by Dzogchen
Once you've received pointing out, there are also numerous public books, and texts one can read to deepen their understanding and/or background in the teachings, a few of which I've read and can list below. I'll also try to find some links that I care share too.
Many texts on Dzogchen, Mahyana and Vajrayana in general can be found on the excellent Lotsawahouse.org
A list of a few books that I've read and can personally recommend. Please note - these books (with the exception of Transcending AFAIK) are best read after having received transmission:
The Cycle of Day and Night by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Perfection by HH The Dalai Lama
Zurchungpa's Testament by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Vajra Heart Revisited by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Transcending Ego: Distinguishing Consciousness from Wisdom by Thrangu Rinpoche
Also, I've not read the Trilogy of Rest by Longchenpa but heard that they're excellent.
Anyways, this about wraps up the post. If you have any questions or additional comments, they are very welcome.

We have a senior BSN student in the outpatient clinic setting who just seems to be entirely disinterested in clinical with us or maybe even nursing as a whole. They just seems very disengaged from the whole learning from us thing ie: talking on their personal phone multiple times in 8 hours, on personal phone/laptop, has to be repeatedly addressed to get their attention, repeatedly asked to participate, late to the actual floor by two hours 2/3 days so far and called off entirely the other.
I’m a relatively new preceptee and I don’t even know where to begin approaching them about the issue, as the entire clinic is seeing something is off. Every approach I’ve gone through in my head seems rude and I don’t want to come across that way but I’m thinking there may not be an easy way around it. Please advise 😅

In the book "Far Journeys", Robert Monroe claimed he saw souls going into various entry points in the universe across various points in time. Theoretically, out of his body could he have travelled to a certain point in time that he was alive and entered into his body there, thereby travelling through time?

I'm dating this guy - John (31M) for 2 months now and I just introduced him to my friends for the first time last week. John is not the most sociable person but he has his own circle of friends, who I have met and they are a nice group of long time friends (10+ years). He's also not working in the same field as me and my friends - think blue collar vs. White collar, so it might contribute to the different styles and mindset.
I took him to a daytrip with them. At some point I noticed he was talking nonstop about his own topic of interest, without much realization if the others cared for his topics. Sometimes they were talking and he interrupted them to add his part (which, honestly, I think didn't contribute anything to the discussion). He also has this roundabout way of talking, as in when being asked something, it usually took the first 5 sentences of background before he addresses the main question. It made his speech long and hard to follow.
He also joked about the job choice of a member in the friend group. John himself was a university dropout - he studied History but soon realized he can't make a career out of it, so he switched to do something else. When he found out the other friend was studying Philosophy, John joked about how a lot of Taxi drivers were once probably Philosophy students. My friend later told me he felt offended.
John also has a habit of adding curse words into all sentences that he speaks, and by listening to him talking with my friends, I realized they didn't swear at all, only John did.
When we were eating at the restaurant, he dropped sauce on the table constantly because he is a careless eater, eating too fast, dipping too hard.
Therefore, I felt a bit awkward and embarrassed, because I myself can see that he doesn't behave very well with my friends. I wouldn't want my friends to think I'm dating a messy man. Since that day I'm feeling a bit more hesitating to pursue things with him and wonder if we're a good match.
The reason why I'm hesitating and not outright ended the relationship is because he is very nice to me when there were only 2 of us, and though he still makes untasteful jokes here and there, I can see he really cares about me and doesn't want to lose me. I myself also have been quite patient with him when he slipped his mouth and just tried to adjust him gently here and there, but I'm also conflicted that I shouldn't be dating someone I have to "fix" so much to match with me. I also know, me ending the relationship will break his heart and he might think that he's failing, or not good enough as a person.
Should I be more linient and give him more time to adjust (since this is only the first time he met my friends) or should I realize that differences in communication style is a deal breaker?

May 14…at 11:50am…a Tuesday…
Got an email from my attorney. The judge signed our petition for divorce. It ended with absolutely no ceremony…even less than “ceremony”. It was the equivalent of an internet newsletter I could’ve missed. It was uncontested, everything simply divided, so…from her telling me she wanted a divorce on December 19, 2023 to last week, May 14, 2024, it took about six months to…finish it…? I thought there would be…I don’t know…something more…? It just…ended…with nothing…not even a shrug. Just a signature and a notary stamp.
A loose end was our house. Today, May 21, 2024, we finished the sale. Almost a week to minute from when I was informed about the end…we finished signing the papers. Sometime around 10:50am. She and I barely exchanged any words. Just papers. Signatures. Then watched the Notary stamp away…
We were able to use the proceeds to pay off our debts. They were…substantial. We also have money leftover. She stayed behind…as she was purchasing a new home with the proceeds from our sale. Me?
I don’t have a job. I’m still searching for one. Found out my job was dissolved about 17 months ago. The contract ended in July 2023. It was quite controversial. So much so there was a New York Times article.
I participated in this by being interviewed by the journalist…but asked MY name be left out of it. I was trying to protect my wife who still worked at the school…and didn’t really think I should’ve just been protecting myself…?
Here’s the link if you’re curious:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/theateschool-plays-politics.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
I’m Stevie Ray Dallimore’s “unnamed counterpart”. I’ve been thinking of getting that on a t shirt. It pretty much expresses who I’ve been since January 2023…professionally, personally, and in so many other ways…even to myself. I’m writing this hoping some kind of discovery or self-realization comes…because I felt like I lost myself in the last 17 months. Maybe I was lost before that. I certainly was once my world collapsed…imploded in on itself.
Been working odd jobs driving Lyft, acting, directing, writing a one man show, coaching monologues and scenes, giving feedback to nursing students, teaching a five day workshop, and traveling A LOT. 12 separate flights in the last month. You really feel the exhaustion with all the takeoffs and landings. Been to multiple states for interviews, different cities for auditions, and that’s just the last month…
Over the last 17 months I’ve had over 75 interviews for jobs. Haven’t landed any full-time jobs. Been flown to Virginia, Colorado, Maryland (twice), North Carolina, and taken calls from jobs all across the USA, Germany, Egypt, and god knows how many other places I can’t recall.
After all the job interviews, after all the people asking me, “Are you ok?! How did this happen to your marriage?!” I know one definite thing…
I’m sick and bloody tired hearing my own voice talk about myself. Hell…even my one man show was about…everything. I’m proud of it…but it was a cry from within the dead center of this mess in terms of emotions as well as chronology. The things I wrote about in that echoed the things that happened, and kind of saw the things to come…
Here’s the link to that if you’re curious:
https://youtu.be/lUc9clV0CSY?si=M1X7PUCq3thAFohP
Now it’s over…officially. The job. The marriage. The home. Seeing my pets everyday. Knowing what “role” I was playing. In my career. In my marriage.
Whatever.
It’s now all just…wide open.
It’s over.
I wonder what the hell has begun…

I believe that the university staff possesses both the will and the resources necessary to ensure a safe educational environment while also respecting the rights of protesters to voice their opinions. from what i have seen, it is possible for the university to accommodate continued peaceful demonstration in the encampment space. After receiving communications from the university detailing the alleged threat posed by the encampment to student safety, I felt compelled to visit the site myself on Tuesday, May 21, both in the morning and evening. Contrary to the narrative presented by the university, I observed a calm atmosphere within and around the encampment.
The protesters were not engaging in confrontational behavior towards law enforcement or bystanders, and they were not chanting slogans that tend to offend the sensibilities of pro-Israel students. Instead, they maintained a peaceful presence and emphasized their desire to create an open space for dialogue. I was also informed that there was some confrontation in the previous days regarding the erection of police barriers around the encampment, which they described as an escalation on the part of the police. Take the last sentence how you will, it is their side of the story.
In contrast to the university's depiction, my morning police count showed a disproportion between the police presence in the area (19 personnel and 11 vehicles owned by Drexel and the City PD) and the actual number of protesters present in the encampment (7 individuals during my visit in the morning, around 30 in the evening). Additionally, reports from online sources and fellow classmates suggest that the number of protesters peaks at midday, reaching between 50 and 70 individuals, with sporadic groups of onlookers passing by. During ordinary time on my walks to class, I frequently notice multiple Drexel PD cars and public safety officials patrolling market street.
It is evident to me that the assertion made by the president, claiming that the university cannot facilitate peaceful dialogue while the encampment exists, lacks grounding in reality. It is well within the ability of the university to control. I urge everyone to consider the ramifications of the forcible clearing the encampment without substantial justification or maintaining the closure of facilities such as the gymnasium, despite the university's physical capacity to ensure their security despite the encampment.

Hello! I am currently a student at university at buffalo majoring in economics and I am going to attempt to transfer to nyu (still deciding between stern or cas). Just finished freshman year. I’m going to be taking the stern required courses next year and transfer hopefully by junior year. What is the likelihood of me getting in?
Stats: Gpa: 4.0 Undergrad research: rise in Ai surveillance in the workforce (apparently this also counted as a 400 level class so I think it’s impressive I might be wrong) Extracurriculars: economics club president (club that discusses current events and whatnot related to the economy), food recovery network director of finance (basically a nonprofit we take food from dining halls, pack it up and sent it to shelters, I have recovered 1000+lbs of food this past year, focus on sponsorship acquisition), incoming resident advisor, RHA senator (basically an organization dedicated to representing residents within the university), NRHH member (sister org to RHA, focuses on events and community service), management consulting club member, and Esports intramural team (for fun).
Please feel free to tell me which extracurriculars wouldn’t/would be beneficial to add to my application. note: i also tried to post this in NYU's subreddit but the post was taken down for being related to admissions

Hey all, I'm in university right now and since I want to study abroad soon I figured might as well get a travel card and this one seemed to be recommend often. Here is my stats so if anyone is in the same position. I knew about the in branch SUB for 85,000k but I'm somewhat lazy so just applied online for 75,000k then called right after and they said they'll match me to the in branch... yay for laziness and a W for the Chase reps LOL
FICO: ~750
Instant approval for $7,500 limit.
Current cards:

• CCR, May 2022, Limit 10k
• CFU, Dec 2023, Limit 5.5k

Income: $36,000 - I put "other" on the application because generally I put student on everything but it seemed Chase didn't have one so I just put other... it worked so yay I guess
Edit: I've been lurking for a while but decided to contribute a little so hope this helps anyone ty everyone

I'm a 6th year civil engineering student. Context: back when i was a freshman, my predominantly research-oriented institution didn't have many opportunities to connect with industry professionals. I've been SUPER passionate about providing mentorship, guidance, and opportunities that didn't exist back when I was an underclassman.
Fast forward to today, I work at THE best company for what we specialize it. I'm talking massive headliner projects and efforts known across the nation. Multiple senior level staff sit on national research committees that prioritize and create problem statements that allocate funding for scientists and engineers across the US.
I invited two extremely qualified, experienced, and respected coworkers of mine to connect exactly what we learned in class to what we do in the industry, which even past guest speakers struggle to do. This took hours of coordination and money directly from our own profit pool to create presentation materials and make time to present.
I had kids up in the front row of the class on their phones sharing memes and laughing. 3 feet away from the speaker podium. Homie right next to me was running his mouth like a sailor. In front of my bosses. What the hell??? What's worse is that these kids have internships. They know better.
DO NOT be these people. It doesn't if you already have internship or a job. It's the bare minimum of respect. Why? Because the people who go out of their way to make time to talk to you as a guest speaker do it because they care. Behavior such as being chronically on your phone or acting immature sends bad feedback to people like my bosses who are super passionate about educating the next generation of engineers. They already dedicate so much time to other schools and programs that have proven track records of students who care.
I even prefaced the presentation saying, "These types of guest speaker events didn't exist back when I was an underclassmen, so I'm super excited to have passionate professionals help connect the theory to the practice yall will do after graduating".
These guest speaker opportunities may not matter for this specific class or term they speak at, but it may matter for the next years class. Or for the next few years. But behavior such as being on your phone or not knowing when to keep your mouth shut is the fastest way to ruin opportunities for yourself and future students.

idk if this is gonna cause controversy (probably) but i think that a lot of us aren’t getting into our programs and why universities are taking so long to consider us is bc there is an international student that r willing to pay thousands to get in to universities we worked so hard for 4 years to get into. and i’m aware they’re prolly smarter and have learned several grades above us but i think that unis should prioritize canadian citizens over international students (probably wont happen bc they get more money from international students) idk i might be wrong 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

https://reddit.com/link/1cxmhkv/video/n1v8pt5m3u1d1/player
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Fluent Bit Vulnerability Puts Major Cloud Providers at Risk
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Void Manticore Targets Organizations with Destructive Wiper Malware Campaigns
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UK Researchers Find AI Chatbots Highly Vulnerable to Jailbreaks
Source: Advanced AI Safety Institute (AISI)
Samstealer Malware Targets Windows Systems for Data Theft
Source: CYFIRMA
Vultur Malware Masquerades as Mobile Antivirus to Steal Login Credentials
Source: Broadcom
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City of Brussels Supplier Cyberattack Exposes Personal Data
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Source: Gala Games
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Source: Makayla Muscat via Daily Mail Australia
City of Clarksville Tennessee Experienced a Recent Data Breach
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At the world’s top college of magic and technology, every day brings a new discovery -and a new disaster. The advanced experiments of the college students tend to be both ambitious and apocalyptic, with the end of the world only prevented by a mysterious time loop, and a small handful of students who retain their memories.
Surviving the loops was hard enough, but now, in his senior year, Vell Harlan must take charge of them, and deal with the fact that the whole world now knows his secrets. Everyone knows about Vell’s death and resurrection, along with the divine game he is a part of. Now Vell must contend with overly curious scientists and evil billionaires hungry for divine power while the daily doomsday cycle bombards him with terrorists, talking elephants, and the Grim Reaper himself -but if he can endure it all, the Last Goddess’s game promises the ultimate prize: power over life itself.
[Previous Chapter][Patreon][Cover Art]
“Should I be worried?”
Why would you be worried?” Kim said. “Dean Lichman loves us.”
Dean Lichman had asked the two of them to stop by his office, though his brief message had not said what for. That left Vell to concoct nightmare scenarios in his head.
“He doesn’t love all of us.”
“Alex doesn’t count as ‘us’,” Kim said. She was a looper in purely a technical sense, mostly due to her own refusal to be a team player. “Besides, she’s been behaving lately. She’s only been an asshole, not an active liability.”
“That we know of.”
“If we don’t know about it, Dean probably doesn’t either,” Kim said. “It’s fine, Vell, he probably just wants to ask us for advice or deal with some problem he has.”
“That’s not much better,” Vell said. “How weird would things have to be that the Dean is asking us for help personally?”
“Only one way to find out,” Kim said. She gestured to the door to the Dean’s office.
Kim entered first, and found it in much the same state as it always was. The desk piled high with paperwork, a small bowl of assorted candies shoved into the corner of the desk, and Dean Lichman behind it, frantically tapping away on a laptop. Vell had not been in this office for several years, and it was vastly different than the last time he’d been here.
“Ah, there you are, come in, have a seat,” Dean Lichman said. “Unless you’d rather we have our conversation elsewhere, Vell.”
“Why would I want that?”
“Well, it’s my understanding you haven’t been in this office since my, uh, predecessor,” Dean Lichman said.
“Oh, right, the kidnapping,” Vell said. “No, I’m good, I don’t really get traumatized by things anymore.”
Vell had been killed too many different ways in too many different places to have a functional trauma response. A few days ago he’d gotten his legs chewed off by a vending machine, and still stopped by it to pick up a soda on his way to the office.
“That’s a very concerning response, Mr. Harlan.”
“Yeah. Anyway, what did you need?”
Dean Lichman gestured for the duo to take a seat, and both did so. He folded desiccated hands in front of himself before beginning to speak.
“I would like to ask you two to take a look at an experiment that will be occurring later this week,” Dean Lichman said. “I don’t have any reason to believe it poses a threat, but I would like to be assured it is a safe and ethical environment, and, well, you two have a knack for identifying trouble spots.”
“You could say that,” Kim said. It was more accurate to say that trouble had a way of identifying them -and then leaping at them and ripping their heads off.
“I’d appreciate it if the two of you could simply examine the laboratory and give it your approval, or disapproval, as the case may be,” Dean Lichman said. “Though if you’re too busy, I fully understand.”
“If you don’t think this is dangerous, why are you asking for our help anyway?”
“Simply for my own peace of mind, frankly,” Dean Lichman said. “The school’s policies on animal experimentation are...satisfactory, I suppose, but I do want to take extra precautions when the subject is a creature as smart as an elephant.”
“An elephant?”
“Yes, a resident of a reserve in Thailand,” Dean Lichman said. “An older elephant by the name of Mae Noi. She has cancer, apparently, and she is submitting to experimental treatment in the hopes it will be useful for younger elephants.”
Kim’s digital face briefly flashed with a facial expression of concerned skepticism.
“‘She’ is submitting to treatment? As in the elephant?”
“Yes. Apparently the elephant can talk,” Dean Lichman said. “No, I don’t know how it works, they said it was ‘more impressive in person’.”
“Well now I kind of want to go just to see the talking elephant,” Vell said.
“Same.”
“Well, do try to take a few glances at the experiment’s safety while you’re there,” Dean Lichman said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Vell said. “Thanks for the heads up.”
“I’ll be there too,” Kim said.
“Excellent. Thank you both, and I’ll try not to take up too much of your time,” the Dean said. He then bid them both a polite goodbye and returned to his mountains of paperwork. Vell took a step out of the office and then took a sip from the soda he’d recently retrieved from the evil vending machine.
“So, what do you think?”
“I think I really do want to see the talking elephant,” Kim said.
“Obviously, yeah, we all want to see the talking elephant,” Vell said. “I mean the whole situation. You think the elephant thing is going to be the daily apocalypse for that day?”
“Well, on the one hand, an elephant seems like the kind of thing that would kill us,” Kim said. “But on the other, I feel like the fact we have advance warning means it’s not going to happen.”
“True. The universe probably wouldn’t make it that easy for us.”
“Yeah, but the elephant thing still feels pretty threatening,” Kim said. “Only way to find out is to wait a few days, I guess.”
A FEW DAYS LATER
“Hello you two,” Dean Lichman said. “And Hawke.”
“Hey,” Hawke said.
“He also wanted to see the talking elephant,” Kim explained.
“Well, that’s not a problem, it was an open invitation,” Dean Lichman said.
“Thanks. Still, sorry for not saying I was going to show up in advance,” Hawke said. “It took me a long time to make up my mind whether I was more interested in or afraid of a talking elephant.”
“They are rather large, aren’t they? I suppose that could be intimidating.”
“I’m okay with elephants on their own, it’s the talking part that doesn’t sit right with me,” Hawke said. “What if the elephant doesn’t like me? What if I’m the first person to ever get insulted by an elephant?”
“You’re less afraid of getting trampled by an elephant than insulted by one?”
“I’m a little afraid of trampling, but elephants are chill,” Hawke explained. “They wouldn’t attack unless provoked. I kind of feel like one might call me a dipshit unprovoked, though.”
“You have oddly specifics fears, Mr. Hughes,” Dean Lichman said.
“Yeah.”
In spite of those fears, Hawke happily stepped through the door to the zoology lab. It did not take a long time to locate the elephant in the room, as it was a literal elephant. The towering pachyderm was in a makeshift pen in the center of the lab, with an ample supply of food and a strange pedestal in front of her.
“Dr. Chanthara,” Dean Lichman said, with a polite wave to one of the researchers in the room. “Good to see you. These are the students I told you about.”
“Hm. Nice to meet you,” Dr. Chanthara said. He was, perhaps not unreasonably, skeptical of why three seemingly random students were in charge of a safety inspection. The fact that one of the three was a robot made him even more skeptical.
“Hi, nice to meet you too, and, uh, don’t mind us,” Vell said. “We just have an eye for weird things other people might miss.”
“Sure. I- wait. Aren’t you that kid who got chosen by a god?”
“Yeah, that’s me,” Vell said. “And her too, technically.”
Kim shrugged. She didn’t care for any extra attention on that point.
“Right,” Chanthara said. He was beginning to see why these students might know their stuff. “I suppose we should start by introducing you to Mae Noi. Say hello, Mae.”
The elephant shifted on her feet and poked her trunk at the wide pedestal in front of her twice.
“Hello. Friends,” a synthesized voice droned. Vell stepped a little closer to the pedestal, just enough to see that there were an array of buttons on the side facing Mae Noi.
“Oh, it’s kind of like a keyboard,” Vell said. He’d seen similar things used with dogs, though usually in a much simpler fashion. Mae Noi seemed to have a few dozen buttons at her disposal.
“Smart,” Mae Noi said, with another prod of her trunk.
“We initially put it into our sanctuary as a bit of a novelty, something elephants could choose to interact with,” Dr. Chanthara explained. “Mae Noi took to it a bit better than most. Especially once she found out she could use it to ask for food.”
“Food. Pumpkin. Pumpkin. Pumpkin.”
“No, Mae, no food until after experiment,” Dr. Chanthara scolded.
“Experiment,” Mae Niko said with a prod. “Pumpkin.”
“Yes, experiment then pumpkin,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“That’s not really a talking elephant, is it?” Hawke said.
“It’s more talking than most elephants,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“Elephant. Smart,” Mae Niko said. “Smart.”
“Yes, uh, right, elephant smart,” Hawke said. He took a step back, to avoid any further offense and any further risk of being insulted by Mae Noi.
“You’re very impressive, Mae, don’t mind him,” Kim said. “How many words does she know?”
“Our platform back home has around three hundred words, though she’s still learning some of them,” Dr. Chanthara said. “The ‘travel’ version we put together only has a hundred, just enough to make sure she can get her basic needs met and communicate about the experiment.”
“Right, speaking of, I do believe we should put some time into our reason for being here,” Dean Lichman interjected. “You’re welcome to stick around afterwards, at Dr. Chanthara and Mae Noi’s discretion, of course, but we should get underway.”
“We probably should get to business, yeah,” Kim said. She tapped the side of her metal head. “I’m going to scan the lab. Vell, you talk to the elephant and make sure everything’s above-board.”
“Abov- oh, right,” Vell said. “Sorry, not exactly used to being able to ask animals if they agree to animal experimentation.”
“Experiment,” Mae said.
“Yeah, experiment,” Vell said, as he turned to Mae. “So, Mae Noi, this experiment might hurt, do you know that?”
“Experiment. Hurt. Elephant,” Mae Noi prodded. “Experiment. Help. Elephant. Help. Baby.”
“Help baby?”
“Baby. Baby. Elephant. Sick. Baby. Sick.”
“We’ve explained the nature of her condition to Mae Noi as best we can,” Dr. Chanthara said. “She has several children, and is concerned they might be similarly affected.”
“Help. Baby,” Mae Noi said. “Experiment. Help.”
The way Mae Noi frantically tapped the buttons tugged at Vell’s heartstrings, but he choked those emotions down.
“So you want to do this experiment to help baby, got it,” Vell said. “Even if it hurts you?”
“Elephant. Old,” Mae Noi said. “Hurt. Okay. Help. Baby.”
“Huh. Well, that does sound like informed consent to me,” Vell said. “Passes ethical muster, at least.”
The campus rules allowed students to be experimented on, with their consent, so Vell saw no reason not to apply the same standard to an elephant.
“You speak up if you change your mind about the experiment, okay?”
“Stop. Stop. Stop,” Mae said, mashing the same button a few times. “Yes.”
“You got it. I’m going to go help my friends check things out,” Vell said. “Good talking to you, Mae.”
“Good. Talk. Friend,” Mae said. She waved goodbye with her trunk, and Vell waved back. He wandered away from Mae Noi’s pedestal and found Kim and Hawke carefully examining rows of beakers and various other supplies.
“Nothing sus yet, boss,” Hawke said.
“Nothing caustic, mutagenic, or explosive?”
“Well, something mutagenic, but it’s supposed to be,” Kim said. She had scanners built into her body much like those that had once been in Vell’s glasses, allowing her to analyze the complex chemical formulas at a glance. “They’re going for some gene editing similar to what we’ve tried to do on human cancer patients. Low success rate, but not harmful. Some adaptations to work on elephants, of course.”
“Run it by any of our chemistry and biology student friends yet?”
“A few,” Kim said. “Haven’t gotten anything back yet, though.”
“Maybe run it by Skye, too,” Vell said. “She’d recognize anything that’d mutate an animal.”
“She does love to mutate things,” Kim said.
“Benevolently,” Vell insisted. “Just show her. I’m going to check for any stray equipment.”
The presence of an unusually large test subject had resulted in the lab being rearranged and reshuffled, so Vell did a quick scan for any misplaced equipment that might pose a threat. He found, to his surprise, a tidy and well-organized environment, with any and all extraneous materials securely locked away. There wasn’t so much as a shrink ray out of place. Vell did another loop just to be sure, but returned to his friends empty-handed.
“This place has less safety hazards than my lab,” Vell said. Hawke stared at him for a while.
“Why does your lab have safety hazards?’
“I do runecarving, there’s like, hammers and chisels,” Vell said. “Those can hurt people.”
“Mm, true,” Hawke said. “So you really didn’t find anything?”
“Nothing,” Vell said. “This place is secure as I’ve ever seen a lab be.”
“It’s like I said,” Kim began. “We got an actual warning about it, so obviously nothing’s going to go wrong. That’d be too easy.”
“Maybe,” Vell said. “Things can get teleported in, or someone could cast a spell, or something.”
“Yeah, but that applies to anywhere, at any time,” Kim said.
“Kim’s right,” Hawke said. “I say we go business as usual.”
“I guess,” Vell said. “We have to branch out a little, at least. Can’t keep an eye on one room all day.”
The trio stopped sulking around the outskirts of the lab and returned to Dean Lichman and Dr. Chanthara.
“Everything looks good,” Kim said. “Probably the safest lab I’ve ever seen.”
“I’ll choose to take that as a compliment,” Dr. Chanthara said.
“We have very high safety standards here at the Einstein-Odinson,” Dean Lichman said, defensively. “Relatively speaking. Innovation requires some risk.”
“I understand perfectly. So does Mae.”
“Hurt. Okay,” Mae said.
“Not that okay,” Vell said. “Nice meeting you, Dr. Chanthara. You too, Mae.”
“Wait.”
Mae prodded one of the buttons on her pedestal and then pointed her trunk at the three of them. Hawke looked deeply concerned, but stepped forward alongside Vell and Kim. Mae Noi appraised them with massive brown eyes, and then moved her trunk back towards the pedestal. Vell noticed a distinctive scar on the bridge of her long nose just as Mae Noi pressed another button.
“Joke.”
“...Joke?”
Dr. Chanthara sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Just go along with it,” he said. “She likes to tell her joke.”
“Uh, okay,” Vell said. “Let’s hear it.”
“What. Elephant. Favorite. Part. Tree.”
“Umm...I don’t know, Mae,” Vell lied. He’d heard this joke from a kid, once. “What part?”
“Trunk,” Mae said. She gave a loud bray of amusement and then slammed her trunk down a few more times to emphasize the punchline. “Trunk. Trunk.”
“Oh, ha, I get it,” Kim said, hoping her feigned laugh was convincing. She’d never tried to lie to an elephant before. “Good one, Mae.”
Mae Noi shifted from side to side, looking pleased with herself, while the trio took a step back and stopped their feigned laughter.
“Did you give her buttons just to tell that joke with?”
“She gets upset,” Dr. Chanthara said. “I’m not even sure she understands the pun, she just likes people’s reactions.”
“As long as she’s having fun,” Hawke said.
“We’ll get out of your hair now,” Vell said. “Good luck with the experiment, feel free to let us know if you need a hand with anything.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Dr. Chanthara said. Some of his earlier skepticism seemed to have softened, but he did not seem entirely onboard with three strangers mucking about with his experiment. Vell and his friends left before they stretched what little goodwill they had any further. Mae Noi waved her trunk goodbye as the three left the lab and stepped back onto the quad.
“I’m going to try and sneak some classes in,” Hawke said. “Later.”
“I’ll check some of our usual hot spots,” Kim said, before she too left. Once again alone, Vell headed to one of his own classes, and called up Samson.
“Hey, Samson,” Vell began. “See anything interesting while we were playing with the elephant?”
“Well, I thought I clocked someone acting suspicious, but it turns out he was only sneaking around to go see his boyfriend,” Samson said. “Nothing apocalyptic, but I did get called a homophobe, which is pretty emotionally devastating.”
“I’m sure you’ll recover someday,” Vell said. “Keep an eye out. Usually the safer things look, the more dangerous things end up being.”
“Will do,” Samson said, before saying goodbye and hanging up.
***
Vell got increasingly nervous the longer the day went without its daily disaster. He thought about checking in on Mae Noi again, but then recalled Kim’s warning about it being too obvious, but then remembered that nobody had seen anything suspicious anywhere else, but then remember that Mae Noi’s lab had looked perfectly safe-
“Vell.”
“Huh?”
“You’re spiraling,” Kim said.
“I’m not spiraling, I’m just,” Vell said, with a pause for contemplation. “Considering multiple options.”
“In a spiral fashion,” Kim said. “Eat the damn french fries. Honestly, what’s the point of ordering so many if you’re just going to let them get cold?”
“It’s not like they’re going to go to waste,” Vell said. The same time loop that allowed him to eat massive amounts of french fries without fear of gaining weight also allowed him to avoid food waste. One of the upsides of life in a time loop.
“Just eat, Vell,” Kim said. “You worry too much about all this shit.”
“I’m in charge, it’s my job to worry about it,” Vell said.
“It’s your job to handle it,” Kim said. “There’s no point thinking about this shit before it happens, you spend all day thinking about an elephant and then the universe drops, like, a bat with tentacles on your head. Just deal with as it comes, Vell.”
Vell leaned on the table and managed to chomp down on a french fry or two.
“You know, next year, when I’m not running the show anymore, I’m going to call and see if you still think it’s that easy.”
“I sure hope so,” Kim said. “I’m saying all this shit trying to make myself believe it too.”
“Oh good, you’re lying to both of us,” Vell said. “That’s cool.”
“Fake it ‘til you make it, Vell, that’s how it goes,” Kim said. “Eat your damn french fries.”
Vell rolled his eyes and returned to his fries, which were now starting to cool. Thankfully he would not have to worry about finishing them. A loud crash from across campus interrupted him mid-bite and nearly made Vell choke on his fries. He painfully swallowed the half-chewed food and then looked over his shoulder.
“Son of a bitch, finally,” Vell said. A few years ago he’d found it weird whenever he was relieved about a disaster, but now he was just genuinely glad to get it over with. The waiting was as killer as the apocalypse. He tossed his fries in the trash and headed toward the sound of chaos, with Kim right behind him.
“Already told everybody?”
“Well, I may or may not have left Alex and Helena out of the loop…”
“Kim.”
“They’d find out anyway,” Kim said. “I got to use my brain parts to get in touch with them, even over wi-fi that shit feels dirty.”
“Just get in- stop.”
Vell held out his hand. Kim froze in place and did not move. Not intentionally, at least. There was a small amount of unintentional movement. The ground was vibrating.
“Always love a good earthquake,” Kim said.
“That’s not a quake,” Vell said. “That’s...footsteps!”
Vell grabbed Kim and dove out of the way just in time for something to barrel through the walls of the dining hall and stampede across the room. Tables, chairs, and more than a few students were crushed under the feet of a hulking, brown-furred behemoth as it charged. Kim picked herself and Vell up off the floor and tried to trail its progress.
“That’s a- oh fuck me,” Kim said. “Please don’t say you told me so.”
Vell got his bearings and looked across the room at the titanic form of a woolly mammoth. Though it was definitely recognizable as an archaic mammoth, the ancient creature was also heavily mutated, unnaturally large even by mammoth standards, and with multiple curled, jagged tusks protruding from a slobbering maw.
“Well that could be unrelated,” Vell said. “Mammoths can come from a lot of places, cloning accidents, time machines…”
The mammoth reached a wall, and rather than barreling through, turned around, facing directly towards Vell. A prominent scar covered the bridge of its broad trunk.
“Oh, nope, that’s definitely Mae,” Vell said. The scar was in the same place and at the same angle. Even a clone wouldn’t have an identical scar.
Once the revelation had struck, Mae took her turn. Vell found himself staring straight down the barrel of a very angry mammoth coming right at him at Vell-squishing velocity. Luckily he’d been charged at by a lot of creatures over four years of looping.
Vell jumped up and to the side, and latched on to one of the curled tusks, which made for very convenient handlebars. Kim did the same on the opposite side of Mae, and punched her in the head.
“Wait, wait, hold off on the violence for a second,” Vell shouted. He tried to wave at Kim to stop, but Mae was thrashing so violently he had to grip the tusks with both hands.
“Good plan,” Kim shouted. “Can you get Mae on board?”
Another set of tables got crushed underfoot. Thankfully the other students were out of trampling range by now, but Mae Noi’s feet were still coated in the blood of earlier victims.
“Mae’s smart, maybe we can calm her down,” Vell said. He then ducked to dodge a swat from Mae’s mutated trunk.
“Call me crazy, Vell, but I think this is more than just a bad mood,” Kim said, as she climbed up Mae’s seven jagged tusks like a ladder.
“We have to try,” Vell said. The loopers rule against hurting other intelligent life forms had some flexibility for blood-crazed mutants on violent rampages, but they had to at least try to reason first. Vell climbed up on of Mae’s tusks and looked into one of her bloodshot eyes for any sign of recognition. “Mae! It’s Vell, do you remember?”
The only response Vell got was an enraged trumpet, which he didn’t think was a “yes”.
“Come on, bud,” Vell said. “What’s an elephant’s favorite part of a tree, right? The trunk?”
The massive brown eye staring at Vell blinked, and he felt a brief glimmer of hope. He then felt a brief glimmer of his lungs being crushed as Mae swung her head and slammed her tusks into the wall, and Vell along with them. Kim punched Mae in the throat and then jumped across the tusks to grab Vell and carry him to safety.
“You okay, Vell?”
He opened his mouth to respond, and a pint or two of blood came out instead.
“Apparently not,” he mumbled. “I might be down a few ribs. And a lung. Or two.”
Kim carried Vell a safe distance from the fight and set him down on the ground, where he promptly spat out another mouthful of blood.
“Okay, uh, you just lie there and try to die peacefully, I guess,” Kim said.
“Way ahead of you.”
***
“Was that last bit as funny as I thought it was?” Vell asked. “I think the blood loss was affecting my sense of humor.”
“It was kind of hard to appreciate in the moment,” Kim said. “But as far as dying jokes go, it was pretty good.”
Vell and Kim walked into the lair for their morning meeting and joined the loopers that had already gathered.
“Okay, what’d I miss while I was dead?”
“Well, after Alex was done getting herself killed,” Samson began.
“You’re saying that as if it’s something to be ashamed of,” Alex said. “Vell also died.”
“Yeah, but he got killed trying to do something good. You got killed trying to do something stupid.”
“Trying to eliminate a threat is not stupid,” Alex said.
“We don’t kill intelligent creatures,” Hawke said. “Sometimes we punch them into a coma, but we don’t kill them.”
“When a dog bites, you put it down, I don’t see why the same principle doesn’t apply to a mammoth that’s crushed seventy people.”
“That wasn’t Mae’s fault,” Vell said. “She got mutated, or something. On that note: did you guys figure out what happened to Mae Noi?”
“Nothing,” Hawke said. “Looked like Mae smashed up the entire lab, trampled everyone involved in the experiment too. Nothing left to investigate, and nobody left alive to interrogate.”
“Typical,” Vell sighed. “At least we have an easy out. Dean Lichman was really concerned about the ethics of that whole experiment. We raise some kind of complaint, we could probably get the whole thing shut down.”
“The problem is getting the complaint,” Hawke said. “That lab was airtight, Vell.”
“Apparently not completely airtight,” Kim said. “I can camp out in the lab and raise an entirely justifiable stink whenever something capable of making a murder-mammoth shows up.”
“And what if it happens so suddenly you can’t complain about it?” Samson asked. “For all we know that could’ve been some kind of dimensional rift, or time anomaly, or something. It might not be as simple as somebody just putting in the wrong syringe at the wrong time.”
“He’s got a point,” Vell said. “We might want to shut this down before it gets there.”
“Seems like our best option is to plant evidence, then,” Alex said.
Everyone else at the table spent a few seconds brainstorming ways to prove her wrong, and much to their frustration, could not.
“Okay, fine,” Vell said. “But it needs to be something incidental, not something anyone would get blamed for. We want to cancel the experiment, not get anyone in trouble.”
“I could have a seizure on some sensitive equipment,” Helena offered. “It’ll break something and nobody would dare get mad at me.”
“Can you fake a seizure?”
“No, but I’m allergic to elephants, so I’d probably have one anyway the moment I stepped in the lab,” Helena said.
“I don’t feel entirely comfortable sending you into anaphylactic shock for a bit,” Vell said.
“Offer’s on the table,” Helena said. “I’ll live. Wouldn’t have made it through that trip to the zoo otherwise.”
“Anybody have any non-medical emergency suggestions?”
“Seagull in the air vents,” Kim said.
“Will that work?”
“It happens now and then,” Kim said. “Seagull gets in, and Dean has to close down the whole lab for potential material damage and biohazard risks if they shit in the vents.”
“Really? We’ve never had to deal with anything like that,” Hawke said.
“It may shock you to learn that sometimes minor, tedious bullshit happens that we have nothing to do with,” Kim said.
“That is kind of surprising, actually.”
“Enough. Kim, can you grab a seagull?” Vell asked. He shouldered his bookbag, and stuck a hand into the extradimensional pocket that existed within it. “I can probably smuggle it in with my bag.”
“Yeah, I can get you a seagull,” Kim said. Since she did not need to sleep, she had to find ways to keep herself entertained at night, seagull-grabbing being among them.
“Alright, we’ll go grab one and put it in the bag,” Vell said. “The rest of you, be ready to meet us when I call.”
***
Roughly three minutes later, Vell put out the call and they reconvened in front of the biology lab.
“Yeah, that was much faster than I thought it would be,” Vell said.
“I’m great at grabbin’ birds,” Kim said. Seagulls were among the easier birds to snatch, even. They were suckers for food, and many of them were attracted to her shiny metallic body anyway.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Vell said. “I want this thing out of my bag ASAP.”
Even though the seagull was safely within a pocket dimension, Vell would swear he could still feel the bird thrashing and squawking inside his bag. He tightened his grip on the shoulder strap and led the way towards the zoology lab entrance. He grabbed the handle and held it as he froze for a second.
“Vell, what’s up? Is this bird escaping?”
“No, the handle’s vibrating,” Vell said. It was shaking the same way a wall near an incredibly loud speaker might. He pressed his ear to the door and listened closely. He opened the door immediately, and let all his friends hear the frantic trumpeting of a panicked elephant.
Inside the lab, Mae Noi was stomping her feet and trumpeting as loud as he long trunk would allow. She swayed from side to side in her pen, bumping against the walls not quite hard enough to damage them, but hard enough that it was clear she was doing it on purpose.
“What the heck is happening here?”
“Ah, Vell,” Dean Lichman said. He hustled over to Vell’s side and gestured to the entire room. “Maybe you can figure out what’s going on.”
Mae Noi stopped braying long enough to start mashing her trunk against her pedestal, mashing out the word “Bad” over and over again.
“Our test subject, Mae Noi, has been throwing an absolute fit ever since she got here,” Dean Lichman said. “Dr. Chanthara, these are the students I was telling you about earlier.”
While Vell reintroduced himself to Dr. Chanthara, Kim and Hawke stepped up to examine Mae Noi and her enclosure. It was a far cry from the peaceful, orderly scene they had examined on the first loop. They were half an hour earlier this time than before, but Kim found it unlikely that they had been able to calm Mae Noi down, clean everything up, and get back to work in such a short amount of time. They hadn’t mentioned any of this panic on the first loop either. They were soon joined in their confusion by Chanthara and Vell.
“We’ve tried everything; food, water, her favorite toys, even videos of her children,” Dr. Chanthara said. “We’ve even offered to call off the experiment, but she won’t listen.”
“She is an animal,” Alex said. “Sometimes they do things arbitrarily.”
“Not Mae,” Dr. Chanthara said. “Some of our sanctuaries residents from traumatic backgrounds can have outbursts, but Mae was injured in the wild. She’s never been like this.”
“Maybe some experiment on the island is upsetting her,” Vell said. “A sonic experiment only she can hear, or something…”
Vell stopped and thought about it. If there had been such an irritant, it would’ve been there on the first loop too. Everything always repeated exactly the same, except for-
“Could you, uh, take a step back for a second?” Vell mumbled. “I want to try talking to her.”
“Don’t get close,” Chanthara warned him.
“I’m not, I’m not,” Vell said. He didn’t need to get very close to tell a joke.
The massive brown eyes of Mae Noi stayed locked on Vell as he approached, and she continued to mash the “Bad” button on her pedestal.
“I know, I know, bad,” Vell said. “But, uh, do you want to hear a joke?”
Mae Noi stopped. She locked eyes with Vell for a few seconds, and then cautiously tapped a button on her pedestal.
“Joke.”
“Right, joke,” Vell said. He tried to recall the exact sequence of words Mae had used on the first loop. “What elephant favorite part tree?”
Mae didn’t blink.
“Trunk,” Vell said.
After a moment of contemplation, Mae Noi let out one final, fervent, trumpet, and then started mashing buttons on her pedestal again.
“Bad. Help. Help. Experiment. Bad. Help. Bad. Help.”
“Yeah, bad help, one second,” Vell said. He turned away from Mae Noi to look at Dean Lichman. “Hey, uh, excuse me, Dean? Hey, uh, if I remember correctly there are some pretty complicated rules on having intelligent animals on campus, yes?”
“Well, yes,” Dean Lichman said. After hearing of some questionable ethical practices involving an octopus back in first year, he had instituted a few clauses into the school’s ethical code of conduct regarding intelligent animals like elephants, octopuses, and dolphins. “Mae’s presence here is a bit of an outlier, but there were workaround, given her apparent consent to the experiment.”
“Yeah, about that, is she, uh,” Vell began. “Is she registered as a student?”
“Yes.”
Vell pursed his lips. It took a few seconds for his friends to catch on.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Samson snapped. He turned his back on the crowd and leaned against a wall while Hawke put his head in his hands.
“The first rule of looping,” Alex said quietly. “Loopers are randomly selected-”
She looked up and locked eyes with Mae Noi.
“From all registered students.”

I’m getting bored with my current game and considering starting up a whole new community. I like to create multiple households at once so I can bounce back and forth and have them interact with each other. I glanced at a list of the 18 different emotions, and wondered if maybe I could work with that for inspiration. Craft each Sim to be “themed” to a specific emotion, by selecting traits/jobs/abilities/life states etc. and then come up with interesting combinations to move into a household together.
I decided that some of the emotions are unworkable. How to theme a Sim around “asleep”? Or “uncomfortable”? Some are a bit more questionable, like “scared” or “bored”.
Here are some of my ideas, please let me know yours!
“Angry” - easy one, that’s a Werewolf. Hot-headed, mean, or jealous for traits?
“Inspired” - a Musician, since Pluck For Inspiration is such a quick way to get there. Creative or art lover traits.
“Embarrassed” - perhaps an Alien? With poor impulse control who pees himself regularly. Loner or unflirty trait.
“Fine” - a Vampire with the Dampened Emotions ability.
“Dazed” - this one is a bit trickier. Maybe someone whose favorite hobbies are Unwinding at the Bubble Blower and getting into fights? Could be an Engineer or robotics enthusiast who gets zapped a lot.
“Possessed” is also weird, but fairly obvious. Lives in Strangerville and has a taste for the Bizarre Fruit.
“Energized” - works out all the time, Active trait, Athlete career. Drinks a lot of coffee.
“Playful” - Comedian career, tells lots of jokes. Goofball or childish traits.
“Focused” - a University student who gets focused on studying and reading, perhaps who goes on to become a Tech Guru or a Scientist.
Still considering:
“Happy”
“Sad”
“Confident”
“Flirty”
“Tense”

G'day,
I'm a university student in Queensland and am wondering if you could provide me an opinion on a potential land value tax policy.
Currently, we have a 1% annual LVT for properties other than primary residences (rentals, holiday houses, etc.) but there's an exemption for properties that are valued under $600K cumulatively. I was taking a look at some of the government prescribed land values... and there's a whole lotta land that's valued under $600K - in Bundaberg you can buy many properties and it's still valued under $600K.
Do you think that simply removing the exemption would be an effective means at addressing the current housing crisis, as rent-seekers and landlords would either be deterred from purchasing and sitting on property or be incentived to develop/cut up properties?
Is there anything more that could feasibly be done that voters wouldn't absolutely hate (while a LVT for all properties sound nice, the income tax wouldn't be dropping anytime soon).
Cheers! 🤠

I had great stats on my final with a KR of 0.67, range of 59-95, and an average of 80. The class I teach is known to be one of the hardest classes in the program and is meant to help determine who can advance to senior year. I’ve been dealing with the chair of my department trying to make exceptions for students all semester and ignoring policy for things like attendance. She is now asking to sit down and review my exam because some “stats” she has “questions about”. I am very adamant that this was a good, fair exam. After this final I will be losing 7 students out of 73. It’s not professional to tell her to go kick rocks but I want to tell her I won’t be adjusting grades. Any tips?

So, I’m not exactly going “backpacking” but am going on a prolonged period of travel. I’m planning to go to Thailand, Hong Kong, China, and Japan. Each destination has a specific purpose and I will be there for different periods of time. I’ll describe a little about my plans and hopefully someone could advise me on whether a suitcase or backpack would better suit my travels :) I would really appreciate any advice as this is my first trip of this nature and can’t decide what to bring!! I feel like my Thailand would be better off with a backpack, but my stay in China seems like it would be easier with a suitcase…

1. Thailand Will be here for 10-11 weeks. I’ll be residing in one set location and accommodation for the most part in a rural area. However, planning to spend my first week and last week in a different area. Also might travel to other cities on weekends! Purpose of this stay is to teach in a local school.
   
2. Hong Kong I’ll only be here for a few days, probably 4 days. Just for fun!
   
3. China Will be in China for just under 4 months. I’m going to be staying here to study in a university for a semester - also planning to use my free time to travel within the country a few times on some weekends.
   
4. Japan I will be here for one or two weeks. My boyfriend will be staying there at the time, so I’ll be staying with him in Tokyo. I might also visit other cities if I have time.
   

Am not here to support the current government or any other government. And honestly speaking idk much about employment rates and how that really works.
So basically I want to ask people that when you haven't studied in any semester of your college, you were passing exams with 0 knowledge, then why are you crying now for low paying jobs?
Ok let me clarify my statement first through an example:
Am using my own name in example. So khushi was a very dull student. She never paid attention to the lectures in school. She got 70-75% in 12th standard by rote learning and cheating in exams.
Due to caste based admission (obc/sc/st) she got admission in a college of a reputed university. And Because she never paid attention to her school lectures her basic knowledge is incomplete now. She is facing difficulties in her higher studies. And due to that she isn't paying attention to her college lectures as well.
All she is doing is sleeping in her hostel room watching movies, series etc. Now it's the semester exam, again she is just rote learning and cheating in her exams to get passing marks only. She also thinks like the most of the students "academic knowledge doesn't matter" also "what matters the most is experience and practical knowledge". But she got none of them. It's the last year of college life and companies are here to hire students. Due to zero knowledge khushi got no job. She is blaming the education system now. She is blaming her college by putting a tag of 'shittiest placements'. She knows that she have 0 knowledge about the subjects she passed by cheating. But she wasn't aware that she can't cheat in an interview. Now khushi is working as a credit card seller or accountant for 10-15k a month. Now khushi is blaming government for low salary and low employment rates.
Now my question is, was the government really responsible for it?
In today's world many people are living in this same situation. My senior who was boasting about 14 backlogs in semester exams is crying because there are no jobs for her. She used to be like one of those 'CoOl sTudEnts' who believes in only clubbing and spending money pver silly things which are considered as cool kids things nowadays. And whom she is blaming now? The government. The education system. And yea her parents.
I saw a reel where ashneer grover answered a question asked by a student that "Is the knowledge we are gaining in college life really matters?" To which he answered that "This generation is the most stupid generation who thinks that only they themselves are the most logical people nowadays. For them teachers are fools, universities are fools, their own parents are fools. He also said that if you aren't attending lecture but you are somewhere doing something better than the lecture then it's a good thing for you. But if you are just sleeping in your hostel rooms, binge watching a series at the time of studying then you are the one who is fool here.
This was the most logical and simple answer i have ever heard. People will blame everyone and everything but not themselves, not their own doings. People with full knowledge are getting jobs. They are getting everything for which they worked hard in their school and college days when you were just clubbing and wasting your money over cigarettes and alcohol. When you were looking for casual dates amd hook-ups those people were keeping a check on their exam dates.
My brother (not writing the name or college's name for privacy) topped in his college and got 50+ LPA package from a well reputed company. His current salary is 4.5 lakhs per month. He is living his dream life. And all because of the hard work and time he putted in his studies (and yeah surprisingly not because of his luck.)
The whole purpose of this rant was to make y'all aware that unless you aren't working hard you shouldn't yapp about not having a dream job or dream life you kept dreaming of. Thanks. Have a happy and healthy life. And start studying MFs <3

(Throwaway account for reasons)
I (19M) just finished my Freshman Year at UMASS Amherst, and I came to the conclusion that it was a mistake. I feel like I already barely made it out of high school with my badly slipping grades near the end, and going right into college from there was a wreck on me. Work-wise, it felt like HS, which I was exhausted from, but harder and more of a hassle. I lost any interest in my major and i couldn't fathom learning anything more about it, let alone doing it for another 40 years as a career. I wasn't even doing anything with all the opportunities given, not joining clubs, making friends, going to parties, having sex, or anything. I enjoyed the freedom from my parents (51F) and (54M), but I still regretted my time and didn't want to go back.
I have at least some plan for what I can do instead. I plan to just live at home and work full-time, and I have reasonable expectations and flexibility for what I can do. I'll pay rent and help my parents with anything they need, but ultimately plan to make enough money/career prospects to move out and live on my own. I honestly want to get more job training and focus in on a specific field to work at for the rest of my life, and I do have interests in things that pay well and I could be happy doing. I'm also willing to consider military careers, which could help with money and housing and whatnot, and I've talked with a recruiter before. I really just want to give my parents as much say in this as possible for their sake.
However, this really is one of the hardest things I've had to tell them, if I even can. No one else knows about my decision except my previous college roommate, who I know well enough and I wanted to tell at least someone, and he just said to tell my parents as soon as I can. Both my parents work in education, my mom as a high school teacher and my dad at a university that's related to the university that I attended. They both have clear views on higher education, and basically see it as a given to any good life, and other jobs and lifestyles hold no merit. They both have high expectations for me and my siblings, my twin sister, and my brother(21M) who are also in college. My sister is majorly successful in academics (got into university on a full ride, getting teaching assistant positions, taking honors classes) and is a major overachiever that my parents adore. My brother is going to be a senior, and my parents are constantly pressuring us to do more and more electives, summer classes, internships , ect, all for more job opportunities in these highly academic fields.
I wanted to give it a week or so after coming back before I told them, but they're already trying to get me to sign up for summer classes and internships, so I have to tell them now or soon before I get involved in that. But even with this deadline, it's so hard for me to sit them down and come out with this. I keep going over the conversation in my head, and I can't imagine what they say, and it terrifies me. I know that they love me and I love them, and they say they will accept me for who I am, but this feels like the one exception that they just won't accept. My parents already spent a lot of money on my tuition and I don't want them to spend anymore, They might tell me to just take a semester off or just attend online, but I can't imagine myself doing those either, and just want to cut myself off from college completely. They also don't know about my horrible exam and final grades, and I'm worried that when they see them, they'll just say I'm lazy and unmotivated and force me under a more rigorous schedule.
I just needed to get this off my chest to someone, because this is the only thing I can do at this point. I hope to be able to tell them in the next three days.

I am attending University of South Carolina as an MFA student in the fall, but I'm having trouble finding housing. I don't have a car or a cosigner (which has been the biggest problems for me so far). Has anyone else had luck finding accommodations? If so, what sites have you used?

hi everyone! was stalking this subreddit for a bit and decided to ask for some advice.
I stopped relaxing my hair around 2018 or so which kicked off my natural hair journey but in recent years I’ve been feeling quite insecure about my natural hair and have pretty much given up on my hair health; I do back-to-back protective styles without breaks, stretching my hair with heat often, and using hair gel that is not the most healthy for my hair but styles my hair.
I think a lot of internalized racism is contributing to this and I’m just feeling overwhelmed. I feel less feminine and less confident when I wear my natural hair. I feel like I’ve tried every hairstyle that will work for my hair length but nothing ever works or feels right aside from getting braids with added hair. I don’t know how to begin feeling comfortable with my hair without it being hidden and how to begin the process of caring for my hair.
My question is, how did you start to accept your hair the way it is and how do I start clean with my natural hair journey?
For context, I have short-medium length hair, medium-low porosity ( still struggling to figure it out), and a university student so I do need styles that last longer than a couple of days. I don’t think I’m at the stage yet where I can just wear my hair out without some styling.
Thanks for any help that you may be able to provide!

Hello, I am in search of some career guidance. I am desperate, so any advice is helpful!
A little background information: I am a 27-year-old female who just recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in Biology (Pre-Vet) with a 3.95 GPA. I have an associates in veterinary technology and have worked as a veterinary technician for almost eight years now. My ultimate goal since kindergarten was to be a veterinarian. I applied for the second time this past September for the 2024 veterinary medical application cycle to three schools and was not accepted. However, I do not count my first application since I was not even close to finishing my Bachelor's degree. I have spoken with numerous veterinarians from a variety of states all of which give me a similar answer of "I would not recommend vet school, I would choose a different profession if I could go back." Their advice isn't to say I could not do it, they all agree I am highly capable. They more so try to express the harsh realities of veterinary medical school/veterinary career. I understand some of their advice when they express the amount of school, debt to income ratio, and the bad work-life balance. Furthermore, many of them have expressed about me going into nursing instead and becoming an aesthetic nurse (I am very into skincare and beauty). In addition, I live with my parents currently, but I really want to be independent and move out of state.
So, here is my dilemma...
I am 27 years old and am eager to get my professional career started. I do not want to wait a year to find out if or if I did not get into veterinary medical school. There is Ross University which I could apply three times a year instead of once a year like in-state schools. Also, Ross is only a three-year program. However, the debt from Ross is so excessive that it is hard to fathom putting myself through that much debt for the rest of my life all just so I could get in and done quicker. On the other hand, there is nursing. My hometown university offers an accelerated program for students who already have a bachelors degree. The program is 18 months long. I could start my professional career sooner and have a better debt-to-income ratio. Thus, I could be independent faster. Nursing school would be difficult and I would have to go through the program without anything to do with aesthetics. I understand I would need to get certified in injecting after the N-CLEX. My younger sister is becoming a nurse currently, so I have a great teacher. I am also not really interested in completing a master's degree since I do not want to do another two years of schooling when I could just do nursing instead. I’m also considering that pursuing my dream of becoming a vet may not be financially responsible. I'm struggling with the negative advice about vet school and the daunting debt numbers. I'm seeking unbiased advice to figure out the best option for me. Hearing others' stories and advice on starting these career paths would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!