For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a biogas plant is, how it works or what they're actually used for allow me to educate you. A biogas plant produces natural gas, or rather a substitute for natural gas, from fermented corn silage as well as other agricultural waste products. Farmers, such as myself, would bring in silage which we would unload into a large concrete bunker silo, basically just a big walled in pit. The plant I delivered to used a modified snowcat to push the silage around and pack it down evenly in the pit. Once one pit filled up they would tarp it and leave it to ferment and move on to the next pit. Once a pit was fully fermented they would uncover it and use a large wheel loader to shovel the fermented silage into what's called an anaerobic digester. It's basically just a big tank with an agitator that you fill up with a bunch of organic matter and heat it up which produces methane gas as the microorganisms inside begin to break everything down. This gas is then captured and can be used for basically everything natural gas is used for already but it's supposed to be better for the environment or something. These plants are way more common in Europe but they have started to pop up here in North America as well. And yes, before you ask, these places smell worse than you could possibly imagine.
I always thought it was a little bit weird that they built one way up here in Northern Alberta but since the large dairy farm I worked at pretty much always had an excess of corn silage every year, we certainly welcomed another place to sell it to especially since they're not picky. Trying to sell to another dairy farmer is always a hassle because they're always concerned with the quality, as they should be if they're feeding it to their cows, but the biogas plant basically just needs organic matter, it doesn't really matter what it is. If it can decompose you can make gas out of it.
Last fall we had an exceptionally good corn harvest to the point where we still had 4 more fields still to harvest by the time we had enough to feed the cows for the next year. As I said this isn't uncommon. When you're harvesting corn for silage you use a totally different harvester. Rather than a combine that separates out the actual corn kernels from the rest of the plant you use a forage harvester which is essentially a giant woodchipper on wheels that takes in the whole crop and shreds it up. Since corn can easily grow 10 feet high and you spread that over a few thousand acres you get a crazy high volume of silage coming in. Upon realizing how much excess we had my boss did what he always did and called up the plant who as always agreed to take in what we didn't need. The next morning rather than trucking back to the farm we were instructed to head straight over to the plant once our trailers had filled up.
I arrived with my first load at the plant around 10 am. A man wearing a high vis jacket directed me onto the large scale they used to weigh the trucks coming in and out. "Good harvest this year Jim?" The friendly old lady in the scalehouse said as she took down the weight of my loaded truck. I felt bad as I had been delivering to this plant on and off for the last 8 years I had worked on Mr. Baker's dairy farm but I couldn't remember, or I'd just never learned her name. Oh well, I certainly wasn't going to out myself now. "Well if we're delivering here you know it's a good one," I replied. "And there's plenty more where this came from." "Glad to hear it!" She smiled back at me handing me my paperwork. "Now you just head right on down to the back there and the boys will show you where to dump" "Thank you," I said taking the papers from her and putting my truck back into gear.
I pulled off the scale and made my way to the back of the plant where the big concrete pits are. Some more men in high vis gear directed me to back into a specific one. The giant pit was only about half full at the this point but the mountain of silage in my rear view mirrors still looked to be about 30 feet deep at its highest point. As usual they had me back up until my trailer started to climb the pile a bit. this way there were no gaps in the pile and the snowcat wouldn't have to do as much pushing. As I watched the back wheels of my trailer roll on to the silage pile in my mirrors I heard the unmistakable sound of a tire blowing out. A loud pop and then a slow hiss that quickly dissipated. "Shit!" I thought to myself as I hopped out to inspect the damage. One of the workers had also come to see what had happened.
"Must be one of your inside tires" he said to me as I approached, "all the outside ones look fine." I bent down and looked under the truck, sure enough he was right. The inside tire on the right side of the rear axle was completely flat. "Well I suppose that's why semi trucks have dual wheels," I said trying to sound unfazed while simultaneously preparing myself for the ass chewing I was bound to receive for this later. I walked around to the back of the truck to inspect the damage further and saw what had punctured my tire. I stumbled back a bit as I realized it was what appeared to be a broken bone sticking out of the tire. "What the..." I said mostly to myself but the worker must've heard too as it caused him to look down at it as well. When he did his face went white for a second then he composed himself. "Well I'll be damned," he said, "I've been here since the plant opened and I ain't never seen that before, some uh, poor animal must've gone through the forage harvester, or uh, some farmer's dog must've dug it up and dropped it in their silo." He seemed real shifty as he said this and almost seemed like he was trying to convince himself of what he was saying but I brushed it off as I figured he was probably just as shocked as I was.
While I was still able to unload I did have to leave the truck and trailer at the plant that night. A mobile tire repair service would be out in the morning to get it all fixed up. I got a ride back to the farm with our next truck to arrive at the plant and finished out the day pressure washing the manure spreaders. No doubt a reward for my efforts that day. I had to take a good long shower at the farm office before getting in my truck to head home for the night. As I started the engine I went to pull my phone out of my pocket to plug it in to the charger and realized that I didn't have it. I padded all my other pockets, nope definitely not there. I then realized that I had likely left it in the semi which was now at the plant, probably locked behind a gate for the night. Logically I could have just waited till morning to go and retrieve it. I was probably just going to go straight to bed when I got home anyway so what did I need my phone for? But because humans now have separation anxiety from their phones burned into them at age 3 I found myself pulling out on to the road in the direction of the plant rather than home. I hoped there would be some friendly night security guard that would let me in to grab it and I'd be on my way in 5 minutes.
I reached the plant just as it was getting dark and indeed there was a security guard standing at the gate as I pulled up. A very heavily armed security guard. He had what looked like a military rifle slung over his back and I wondered what on earth he needed that for. They were very illegal for civilians to own here in the great white north so they must've had a damn good reason to arm their security like this for the government to let them do it. He looked rather intimidating but surprisingly was not at all antagonistic when I rolled down my window. "Are you lost partner?" He said in a rather friendly tone. "No, no, I work for one of the farms that delivers here," I said, "My truck blew a tire on the trailer earlier today and it's still sitting over by pit 3 and I think I left my phone in the cab, do you mind if I go check?" He gave me a suspicious look, then he peered into the pickup bed and generally looked over me and my truck, then he gazed off down the road and looked at his watch. "Alright you got 10 minutes, and try and stay out of the night shift's way" he said in a much less friendly tone.
A loud click and then a buzzing sound came from the gate as it began to move and I drove through it. By now it was almost completely dark but the large spotlights of the plant made it easy to navigate. I came around the corner and saw my truck still sitting across from pit 3 and I pulled up in front of it. As I got out I noticed that there was a large excavator up on top of the pile in pit 4. I knew it was digging into the silage but I couldn't really see what it was doing properly because the concrete wall that separated pits 3 and 4 partially obscured it. I could also see the roof of the snowcat peeking up over the wall. It must've been parked a little ways away on top of the pile and I figured it must've gotten stuck and they were using the excavator to try and get it out. I paid it little attention as I entered the cab of the semi truck and quickly found my phone in the cupholder. I grabbed it and just as I was climbing down a voice called out to me.
"Hey who the fuck are you?? And what are you doing here???" A disgruntled looking worker wearing the same high vis gear was running towards me. "I just left my phone in this truck here, the security guard let me in to grab it" I stammered backing up towards my pickup. "Of course he fucking did" the man grumbled and he snatched his radio out of his jacket pocket. "Peter what the hell did you let this dumbass in here for you can't be doing that!" He shouted into the radio. "Relax they're not even here yet" the guard's voice crackled through the radio. "Umm actually I see headlights if he's got his phone tell him to get out of there." The man looked back to me. "You heard him son get lost and don't come back here after delivery hours again you got it?" I nodded and climbed back into my pickup truck and began to drive back towards the gate. As I exited the guard waved to me from behind the big black GMC Yukon that had pulled up to the gate. He appeared to be talking to the driver. There was a large U-Haul truck behind it followed by another black Yukon. As I passed the last vehicle I noticed in my rear view mirror the 3 trucks enter the plant ad the guard shutting the gate behind them.
That whole situation did not sit right with me. On the drive home I contemplated everything that I had seen and heard from the guard and the other worker. They were up to something in that plant at night that maybe even the bosses didn't know about. My best guess was it was some kind of drug operation. If movies have taught me anything drug kingpins always drive black SUVs. I know I should have left it alone but life up here in Northern Alberta was so boring my curiosity ended up getting the better of me. I thought that I could help bring down some kind of criminal organization and be a local hero, and that worst case scenario nothing was happening and nothing would come of it.
After harvest concluded I had a couple of days off to rest as we'd been working pretty crazy hours lately. I however did not rest. I was trying to find out everything I could about the plant and the people who ran it. I really couldn't find anything about it, in fact it was as if the place didn't exist. You would think there would at least be a news story from when they built the place what with it being the biggest boost to the local economy and job market our town had ever seen and all but there was nothing. Finally I decided the only thing to do was to see if I could observe what those black SUVs and the U-Haul truck were doing in the plant at night. Maybe get some photos of the exchange and hand them off to the police. I did some poking around on Google maps and found an old logging road that ran across the ridge behind the plant. There was a little dirt area where people often parked to unload their ATVs to go riding in the woods up there that was maybe only a kilometre or so from the north side of the plant.
I drove up there just before dark and hiked down through the woods all the way to the north fence of the plant. It was just a chain link fence like you'd see around a schoolyard not a barbed wire prison fence or anything so I made quick work of climbing over it. Luckily for me there was a lot of equipment and old dumpsters and shipping containers in this part of the plant for me to hide behind as I made my way towards where the main gate was. I crouched down behind one of their company trucks parked near the gate and waited about 20 minute before I saw the black SUVs pull up. This time though they didn't have a U-Haul they had a much larger yellow Penske box truck. They must be hauling some serious product to be renting that thing. I watched as the trucks rolled through the gate and much like they had done with me a few days prior the plant workers in high vis gear directed them back towards the pits.
I began to sneak my way over there being careful to stay out of sight. I realized very quickly that I wouldn't be able to get very close while still remaining hidden. The area around the pits was largely wide open to allow to turn around and back in so there was nothing to conceal me as I approached. I noticed the office nearby and had an idea. I snuck over to it and tried the door. It was open but the lights were off inside. Luckily no alarms went off and I found what I came for quickly. A high vis uniform and a white hard hat laying on the break room table. I also grabbed some safety glasses and a dust mask as it wasn't uncommon for the workers to wear them, there was a lot of dust around the pits, and I figured it would help conceal my identity.
After putting on the uniform and sneaking back outside I observed the workers for a few minutes to see what they were doing and how best to blend in. Most of them appeared to either be standing around watching the trucks pull up or walking somewhere so I figured just walking like I was on a mission was good enough. Turns out I didn't need to fake it for long. As I neared the yellow Penske truck I saw some men getting out of the black SUVs. They were dressed in what looked like church robes but definitely not Catholic since they didn't have the collar. One of them turned to me and I froze. "Hey buddy, we got a pretty big load tonight, mind giving us a hand?" Realizing my cover was working I decided to play along and just leave the part about me helping the drug lords out of my statement to the police. I nodded and walked over with the other workers and awaited instructions.
I heard the sound of a diesel engine coming closer and looked over to see the excavator I had seen coming around the corner and begin to climb the silage pile in pit 4 again. The snowcat was behind it but instead of following the excavator up the pile it came towards us. It had some kind of large metal box attached to the blade that was about the size of a small car. The operator set the box down next to the Penske truck and hopped out. The same disgruntled man I had encountered the other night got out of the cab. "Jesus man, that's a big truck you got there, probably gonna take a couple trips to unload this thing," he said to the men in robes. One of them opened up the back of the box truck and where I expected to see a giant pile of cocaine bricks or something there was something I never expected.
Bodies, and lots of them just thrown haphazardly into the back of this truck. I had to fight the urge to fill my dust mask with vomit as I saw them. The workers began loading them into the box on the blade of the snowcat just tossing them on with little regard for how they landed. No one seemed to notice me just standing there so I slowly backed up into the shadows and made my way over to pit 3. It was almost full by now so I climbed up the pile to a spot where I could look over the concrete wall into pit 4 where the excavator was without being spotted. Once up there I saw the snowcat climbing up the pile towards a large hole the excavator had dug in it. There were some more workers up there who began throwing the bodies off into the hole as one of the men in robes climbed out of the passenger seat in the snowcat. He just stood on the track watching as the bodies were piled into this impromptu mass grave they had constructed. He stayed up on the pile while the snowcat went down for the second load.
This was all starting to make sense now. This was the perfect cover for disposing of bodies. They would get broken down in the piles same as everything else and because they were constantly being emptied into the digester the evidence would only be around for a few months, and the horrific smell of the plant would conceal any foul odours produced by the dead bodies. But there was one question left. Where were they coming from? This was way too many bodies for this to be the mafia or something killing off problematic individuals. By the time the truck was totally unloaded there must've been 100 dead people in that hole. No this had to be some cult activities of some sort and the robes the men from the black SUVs were wearing backed up that theory. Maybe these were just what was left over from some sort of ritual sacrifice or something? Whoever these people are they must have some kind of deal with the plant's owners because I could tell the workers had done this before. From the time the truck had arrived to the time the excavator started burying the corpses in rotting corn silage it had only taken about half an hour.
I didn't even bother ditching the uniform I got out of that plant as fast as I could. I sprinted up through those woods back towards my truck with my heart beating so fast I thought it would explode. As soon as I was in the truck I locked all the doors and dialed 911 on speaker as I peeled out of the forest. I told the operator everything that had happened over the last couple of days and what I had seen that night. I practically begged them to send someone there right away which the nice lady on the other end of the line promised they would. She asked for my name and contact information so they could get a hold of me for a statement which I gladly gave them. She assured me they would investigate the matter and I thanked her and hung up the phone. I then pulled over and got out of the truck and proceeded to finally let out all the vomit I had been holding in for the last hour or so. I ditched the plant uniform on the side of that old forest road and made my way for home.
As I was approaching my house I saw a car up ahead. As I drew closer I could make out the distinctive reflective tape they put across the back of police cars. I slowed down as I had come up on him pretty fast and I didn't want to get a speeding ticket after all I'd been through that night. I followed the cop a few more kilometres towards town. My house was on this road coming up shortly. As we approached my driveway the cop put his signal on to turn in. I breathed a sigh of relief as I guessed they had sent someone out to check on me and I was about to put my signal on as well when I noticed the black GMC Yukon parked in my driveway and the man in robes standing next to it with a gun. The cop turned in and parked next to him. Given that the cop had basically zero reaction to the man standing there with a weapon my heart sank as I realized whatever this is runs much, muh deeper than I thought and revealing who I was to that 911 dispatcher had just dommed me. I kept on driving praying that neither of them recognized me and thanking the Alberta government for not requiring front license plates that the cop would have totally seen on the drive over otherwise.
I just kept on driving, expecting at any minute to see police lights behind me or a big black SUV blocking the road ahead of me and men in dark robes coming out of the darkness to get me, but nothing happened. I don;t even know how long I drove for I just drove until I had to pee so badly I was forced to stop at a truck stop and realized I was somewhere in Saskatchewan. I've been on the run so to speak now for about 6 months. I don't know if anyone's even following me but I have to be sure. I'm writing this all out to get it off my chest and out there as a warning before I ditch this phone and start my life over in another province as far away from there as I can get. I don't know what's going on up there but there is something very dark happening in northern Alberta and I've probably only scratched the surface of it. Either way I want no part of any of it.

I shared this story elsewhere on this sub but thought it deserved its own post. Tires are one of my favorite Boomer triggers. For some reason they get absolutely irate and can't understand them at all. So heres how my parents escalated buying used tires to holidays being canceled. Yes, its outrageous:
Before I went no contact, my parents had taken to hiding stupid shit they did from me to avoid any helpful comments that conflicted with the twisted reality they live in. Doing this was totally unnecessary. The only thing I ever really got on them about was them mistreating their dog.
In this case, my dad let some neighbor who knows someone convince him that he needed 17" wheels on his truck instead of the stock 16" wheels to improve his trailer towing. So he ended up paying this third removed connection way too much for set of 17" wheels and tires. They then put the tires in the back shed instead of fitting them so I wouldn't see them. (I still get stuck on this one. Like what good are tires that they wont install because they want them to be kept as a secret. What was the end-game here?)
I happened to be visiting to help with yard work and happened to see the tires when I went to get a tool from the shed they were hidden in. I asked about them because Im into cars and thought this was an opportunity to connect with my parents over a shared interest (my mistake). They knew I just did a whole bunch of tires/wheels/suspension work on my truck, so I was wondering why they didnt talk to me about them, regardless of their purpose.
Their response was "Oh we didnt want you to see those". I was still totally confused, and thought they got me a weird gift or something that was supposed to be a surprise. So I asked why. They just came right out and said it was because I always act like an expert on everything and they didnt want to hear about it.......
Im like okay. I share my informed opinions on some things because you know I do a ton of research on things I am interested in. You know I just did all this stuff on my truck, because I tried to start conversations about it with you. Why didnt you ask so I could help? Like how does that make sense?
Their response was instant outrage and a bunch of weird remarks about how they dont need my permissions to do anything and they can handle things themselves because they have been alive long enough to know what they are doing.... Okay. This isnt a personal attack on anyone's autonomy. Just a chance to share some common interest.
I let this go. I dont want drama. I went back to return the tool and look over what they bought, with my parents already saying shit like "Here is comes". "Cant wait to hear how dumb we are".
Turns out the tires were new looking, but 12+ years old. So I told them what they bought was worth about $350 and the tires are objectively unsafe to drive on. Like seriously unsafe. Told them this is what killed Paul Walker, etc.
Then I get yelled at (legitimately screamed at) about how they are brand new, $800 was a "damned good deal" blah blah blah and I dont know what Im talking about. I just showed them the date stamp, explained what that meant, then sent them a link to the manufacturers statement on tire age and sent them a few links to how dangerous old tires are..... More yelling of course. Deescalation doesnt work ever. So I leave. Cue texts about "Who do you think you are". "Respecting elders" etc.
My next visit, in early November, I see my dad had installed the tires anyway. I ask if he read the links. He yells back that the manufacturer is just trying to fuck people over and he knows tires. Okay. So I drop it.
So that brings us to the main event. Thanksgiving a few weeks later: My brother, his wife, and his daughter are there. My partner is there..... None of us really want to be there but are trying to make sure our parents are not alone on Thanksgiving.
Ill skip to where shit really hit the fan. We needed something from the grocery store to cook with and my dad said we should all go and take his truck. There was something about this that seemed manufactured, so suspected this was a ruse to get us in his truck to "prove" the tires are fine. (Hyper-vigilance is great). Not wanting drama on a holiday, I suggested we take my car instead. He insisted and I told him that me nor my family is getting in his car with those dangerous tires. Its no big deal, lets just take a different car. Of course that wasnt a reasonable option........
He started yelling and insisting I was I being a coward, that Ive always been afraid of everything etc. In front of everyone. Then started in on my partner, about how they can leave me at home and she can go with him. Awkward AF. She sheepishly agreed with me, and suggested we take my car as well. My mom is just salivating at the drama, like my dad is winning the headliner cage match of the year or something.
Im guessing they had been plotting this for weeks to prove a point about the tires because they catastrophize things like this all the time. They have set up screen-play like ambushes like this before. My brother and his wife are just sitting there, like "WTF is this about tires."
Then came the boomer ultimatum... "Get in my car or this holiday is OVER!". My brother now jumps in saying that this is unnecessary and we dont need to go there. Just take a different car, etc. My dad says, "You really taking his side on this? Thats really what you want to do here? BAD MOVE!". With more yelling.
Okay. So I just left. My brother and his family went with us because they understand boundaries. We went to my house and had our own thanksgiving. I spent 30 seconds explaining about the tires, which my brother understood because we're both engineers. Then we forgot about it and had a good time.
They didnt talk to any of us until Christmas and that was just to ask why I hadnt planned anything with them and demand an apology for ruining their thanksgiving.....
For the next year, literally EVERY time I saw them, the first comment was: "So those tires turned out just fine, didnt they. Still havenet died. Pretty embarrassing you made such a big deal out of it." I respond with "Nothing has changed. You are still an idiot. And youre going to kill yourself or someone else. Please get new tires. Whats embarrassing is you canceled two holidays over tires and still obsessed over this". At this point we are low contact and only see each other at family events. But... this was the only words exchanged between my dad and I AT MY BROTHERS WEDDING.
As you can imagine, other things happened too. But this constant bullshit about the tires shut down just about all communication between us. My dad thinks this is some check-mate moment where he finally put me in my palce or something and just would not let it go. My brother and I are now no contact with my parents. Unfortunately for humanity, my dad is probably out there driving on the same tires to this day.

I think it was a flat-faced truck with a long semi trailer attached. Inside the trailer was a toy similar to a jet. The trailer would open via double doors on top of the trailer. There may have even been a 3rd smaller vehicle inside the trailer too. I distinctly remember the commercial playing repeatedly on a kids TV network like Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. It wasn't a Transformer or anything. And I don't think it was a Hot Wheels, but maybe. I also remember it being pretty big, it wasnt a small toy.

Hi all!
Proud owner of a 2017 Forester 2.5i. My subaby has recently hit 89k miles, for the most part has been an incredibly reliable and wonderful vehicle.
With that being said I am having some issues with her at high speeds. On the freeway, particularly when I start accelerating past 60mph, I feel the car shaking. I feel it in the steering wheel. There is also a noise similar to horses galloping that happens at the same time.
As soon as I stop accelerating it will go away and the car feels normal. It’s honestly kind of scary bc it feels like my wheel(s) are about to fall off.
I had the tires rotated and balanced but the issue persisted.
Just recently I moved 8 hours and pulled a small trailer full of my stuff. This was a gamble as this issue was present beforehand, but I had no choice. I mention this because it seems to have gotten worse.
I’m going to take it to a mechanic, but any suggestions as to what it could be? I’m not well versed with mechanical part of vehicles, and I’d like to have some knowledge before I go to an auto shop.
Thanks in advance!!

Karens car is a 2021 Lexus LX 570. This vehicle comes standard with features that reduce or prevent hitting an object within 6" of the sensor at speeds less than 9.3 mph / 15kph. This system can help to prevent LOW SPEED impacts when parking. This is NOT the forward facing system that is also part of her car's pre collision. There are 2 components to this system:
PKSA (Parking Safety Alert) These audio/visual alerts can be turned off by the driver and will remain off until the setting is turned back on. Its what makes the sounds/beeps/warning tones.
PKSB (Parking Support Brake) also referred to as "Brake Assist" by Toyota. This enables the car to provide automatic emergency braking with or without any driver input. It will prevent the car from hitting another object in front of or behind the car as slow speeds (under 9 mph) It should only be turned off when entering a car wash, if attaching a trailer, or putting a bike on the back of the car. This setting can be turned off by the driver, but WILL ALWAYS RESET TO "ON" once the car's engine is restarted, the driver shifts into "P" or when the car makes contact with an object.
What does all of this mean in reference to the 5am love tap of Karen's SUV bumping Johns?

1. If Karen had started her car and backed out of the garage without turning off any settings, her cars PKSB would have abruptly stopped her car from making contact with Johns, preventing it from coming within 6". There was no snow on the sensors of her car at 5am because it had been inside Johns garage for 3+hrs.
   
2. If Karen turned it off after starting the car, which she obviously did, the cars PKSB would not activate, allowing the "love tap" to occur.
   

To turn off the PKSB is not just a one button push, it requires the driver to make several deliberate actions using the right button on the steering wheel, toggling across the MID screen tabs, selecting settings, scrolling down, selecting Park Assist, scrolling down, selecting PKSB, then selecting "OFF".
This indicates that at 5am, a frantic Karen got into her car and was doing alot of button pushing seconds before the bumper tap. In other words, the love tap was not an accident.
This information about the PKSB and how it resets is not covered in the owners manual. Dont ask me why... I dont know who decides what goes in a car owners manual. I know about this feature because I sold cars for Lexus in 2021. I had customers ask every week.. "can I turn it off permanently?" and the answer is no, not the PKSB. Its not designed to be turned off permanently. You can turn off the PKSA, RCTA, the BSM etc ... but the auto emergency braking will default back to ON every time you restart the car.

"Don't speak, Anthony." -Duncan Todd
Part 10 picks up with Richard Horne (Eamon Farren) arriving at the home of Miriam Sullivan (Sarah Jean Long). Miriam tells him that she sent a letter to the Sheriff's Department detailing that Richard was the person responsible for the fatal hit-and-run. Furious, Richard beats Miriam savagely before turning on the gas and lighting a candle. Richard calls Deputy Chad (John Pirruccello) and tells him to intercept the letter, which he is able to do.
Richard drives to the home of his grandmother, Sylvia (Jan D'Arcy), where he beats and robs her. Sylvia calls Ben (Richard Beymer) to let him know what happened and demands he reimburse her for the stolen money.
At Fat Trout Trailer Park, Carl Rodd (Harry Dean Stanton) hears a domestic dispute between Steven (Caleb Landry Jones) and Becky Burnett (Amanda Seyfried).
At the home of the Mitchum brothers, their assistant, Candie (Amy Shiels) tries to swat a fly, but accidently hits Rodney (Robert Knepper) in the head with a TV remote. Later, they and Bradley (Jim Belushi) watch the news and see that Ike the Spike (Christophe Zajac-Denek) has been arrested and that he tried to kill Dale Cooper aka Dougie Jones (Kyle MacLachlan). They cancel the hit they had out on Ike.
Word of Ike's arrest also reaches Duncan Todd (Patrick Fischler). He passes down instructions to Anthony Sinclair (Tom Sizemore) to goes see his rivals, the Mitchum brothers, and convince them that their insurance claim was denied by Cooper in the hopes that the brothers will believe Cooper is out to get them and that they'll kill Cooper. If that fails, Anthony is ordered to kill Cooper himself. Anthony delivers the message and the Mitchum brothers plot to kill Cooper.
Cooper sees a doctor, who gives him a positive bill of health. Janey-E (Naomi Watts) is impressed by Cooper physique and the two have sex that night.
Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) broadcasts another episode of his show as Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie) watches from her store that sells silent drape runners.
Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) goes on a dinner date with the Buckhorn coroner, Constance Talbot (Jane Adams), which amuses Gordon Cole (David Lynch) and Tammy Preston (Chrysta Bell). Later, Gordon has a vision of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) before Albert arrives and informs him of the text Diane (Laura Dern) received from Mr. C (Kyle MacLachlan). Diane responded by giving information on the actions of Gordon and the other agents. Tammy arrives and shows them a picture found on the SD cards at the New York crime scene that shows Mr. C visited the location at one point.
Margaret Lanterman (Catherine E. Coulson) calls Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) and tells him "Laura is the one."
At the Roadhouse, Rebekah Del Rio performs.
What Works:
We get to spend more time with Richard Horne in this episode and we get more of him just being an evil bastard. He beats Miriam and leaves her for dead before beating and robbing his own grandmother. He's a nasty piece of work and incredibly compelling television.
The Mitchum brothers storyline is one of my favorites of The Return. It hasn't hit its peak quite yet and its wild thinking about where it goes from here, but they're still a lot of fun here. They feel like everymen in this surreal and strange show. Their reactions to Candie being a total space cadet are hilarious. You can't help but be exasperated alongside them.
Janey-E getting so hot for Cooper is hysterically funny and their sex scene is one of the funniest moments of The Return. The expression on Cooper's face and the way his arms flop around never fails to make me laugh.
It's a quick moment, but I love that Albert and Constance went out on a date. We only got to see them briefly interact, but it's obvious they have a very similar sense of humor. Gordon and Tammy spying on them is also pretty funny.
What Sucks:
There are few storylines that still feel like they're spinning their wheels. Some of the check-ins with certain character occasionally feel superfluous. I like spending times with characters like Jerry Horne (David Patrick Kelly) and Dr. Jacoby, but I wish there was more substance to their stories sometimes.
Crystal Coffee:
The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode. For Part 10, this Award goes to Albert Rosenfield for intercepting and decrypting the text exchange between Diane and Mr. C. This is his 1st time winning this Award.
Verdict:
Part 10 manages to handle some incredible mood whiplash. We get some really dark stuff with Richard Horne, but we also get lots of funny moments with the Mitchum brothers, Candie, Janey-E, Cooper, and the FBI Agents. This is solid episode, even if there are a few storylines that are spinning their wheels.
9/10: Great

Barbie Girl is one of Aqua's best and has remained a cultural icon, ironically surpassing the band itself in popularity. There's been two songs in particular that have stood in stark contrast to the original. 'I'm not a Barbie Girl' and Rihanna's cover of the original song.
Heres the thing though: Barbie Girl isn't some kind of sexist track about how women should be submissive or how they're all bimbos desperate for love. If you look at Aqua's albums her songs more or less fall into a particular theme. They have a very cutesy theme that doesn't take itself too seriously. Everything in them is idealic, simple, and charming. Even a song that deals with serious subject matter such as stalking, killing, and breaking into a highschool (Halloween) is a cutesy song that doesn't take itself too seriously.
Now you might be saying 'well nothing NEEDs to be reinvented they're just giving their own take'. To that I say humbug. It's as ludicrous to me as trying to reinvent the wheel. For me, these different takes on Barbie are fundamentally stupid. It's like that fake blockbuster Dora movie trailer that CollegeHumor made all those years ago that kinda became an actual movie. Now the movie didn't take itself too seriously either but imagine if it did. You have to ask yourself: what are you trying to subvert? It's a fucking educational kids show. It's not meant to be subverted or taken seriously.
What are these new Barbie songs trying to subvert? There's nothing TO subvert. The only thing these songs do is project the feelings of the artist onto a pre-existing song. Which in that case...why not just make your own song at that point instead of riding the wave. David Guetta's rendition of 'Blue' gets a lot of shit for turning the song from an upbeat song with melancholy themes into a basic club song but none of these same criticisms are levied towards the Barbie songs.

Will be towing with a 4 x 4 Laredo with factory tow package.
18” vs 20” wheels?
All-season vs all-terrain?
30” diameter vs 32” diameter?

This is my first Hobby Drama post in 8 months!. I am back with some more modern hobby drama! Usually, I write historical stuff, but wanted to change it up a bit :) Oh and prepare for lots and lots of carpentry puns!

Wood you look at that: Reality TV in the UK

When you think of reality tv, the words “trashy”, “exploitative”, “rigged”, usually come to mind. However, in the UK, another word comes to mind…
“Cozy”.
What do I mean by this?
Shows like the Great British Bake Off (GBBO), Antiques Roadshow, Sort Your Life Out With Stacey Solomon, Great Pottery Throwdown, etc. Shows that have a calm, relaxed, atmosphere, with a genial host, where the contestants are (for the most part) kind and cordial towards one another. However, as wholesome as these shows appear on the surface, they have their fair share of controversies. Especially the GBBO, which has a whole section on Wikipedia about its numerous controversies. Everything from issues with product placement, to contestant favouritism, to unfair elimination, production woes, leak of a winner, and even accusations of “racism” aimed at its “Nationally themed weeks” (a post for another time).
All of these issues pale in comparison to the controversy I am going to cover today. Also, unlike the show I am going to discuss, the GBBO has survived every controversy that plagued it. After 13 seasons, it is still running strong.

Chop Chop Chop: What is the Chop?

Announced in June 2020, The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker, was a show unsurprisingly about carpentry. It was originally planned to air on the Sky History channel. Sky is a British broadcaster.
Here is the full description:

Hosted by comedian Lee Mack, TV Presenter Rick Edwards and Master Carpenter William Hardie, The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker sees 10 of the country’s finest carpenters gather in Epping Forest to whittle, carve and chop their way to the final, to see who will be crowned Britain’s Top Woodworker and the chance to stage their own personal exhibition at the prestigious William Morris Gallery in London.
Master Carpenter William Hardie oversees the construction of a grand and spectacular cabin in the woods, adding a new room every week, each on a different historical theme, including Nelson’s cabin on HMS Victory, a Victorian pub, a Gothic bedroom, a Georgian hunting lodge, and a 1960s’ Mad Men-inspired lounge.

It followed a standard reality show format. Every week, someone wood be eliminated until a clear winner emerged. Viewers had a lot to look forewood to. Hopefully the show would be able to carve out its own niche. Okay, enough would puns. I know you’re all on-board.
Like most British reality tv shows, The Chop had a comfortable atmosphere, with friendly presenters that would engage in ribbing with one another and the contestants. Here are some early trailers for the show: one and two. The show was filmed pre-covid lockdown.

Mack, 52, said: “It’s quite ironic that everything was filmed pre-lockdown and pre-Covid and yet most of the contestants spend most of the time with a mask on, because it’s woodwork.
“So people will watch it and go: ‘Well they’re obeying the rules but Rick and Will aren’t’, but actually it was filmed a long time ago – this time last year.”

So, the winner was set in wood, long before the first episode aired. If you want to know more about the contestants, I found their official show biographies.
The focus of this writeup will be a guy named Darren:

Name: Darren
Age: 40
From: Bristol
Occupation: CarpenteJoiner
Background: Darren has been working in woodwork since he left school, he loves the variety that each day brings. Darren has two children and loves building them wooden items. His favourites were special beds and wardrobes he made for his children which included LED lights.

Meet Darren: Aka “The Woodsman”, Aka “the-Bloke-With-All-The-Tattoos”.

Early on, out of all the contestants, Darren was hyped up as a potential audience favourite:

It remains to be seen which of the contestants, seven men and three women, will become the viewers’ favourite, although Darren, a furniture maker from Bristol, is an early frontrunner.
Nicknamed ‘The Woodman’, his entire face is covered in tattoos and he’s not averse to making controversial statements.
‘He’s quite a character,’ says Lee. ‘We met him again at a photo shoot recently and he’d had more tattoos etched on top of his other tattoos, which I thought showed an incredible level of commitment to the cause.’

His tattoos became a key part of his marketing for the show. This was reflected in his character trailers, as well as in interviews about the show.

Darren is probably one of the show’s most striking characters, due to the fact he is very heavily tattooed – even on his head and face.
He started having his head and face tattooed around 10 years ago.
“I had other tattoos already,” he said.
“But about 10 years ago I saw someone with facial tattoos and started to work with my tattooist on my look.
“I have my daughter on the back of my head and my son on my cheek.
“When some people first meet me they are a bit shocked, admittedly.
“But they soon warm to me after a few minutes.
“Some people ask for selfies with me. I’ve never had a negative reaction to my tattoos. They are just me.”
Darren says his appearance on the show, since the trailers have gone out, has prompted people to recognise him.
“I’ve already been stopped by people who have seen the adverts.
“No one went on the show to become famous.
“But hopefully it will come across on the show that I’m a bit of a character.

There was another difference between Darren and the other contestants: he had prior experience with reality tv.
In 2007, Darren (without any tattoos) starred in “Dumped”, a show in which 11 contestants lived in a garbage dump for three weeks, in a shelter they constructed from discarded rubbish.
Darren quit after three days. He said he did it because he didn’t believe in the aims of the show

Not all the participants were convinced. Darren Lumsden, 27, owns four cars, only recycles because his rubbish would not be taken away otherwise, and throws away his pants and socks at the end of every day. He left the dump on day three. "With me it's a bit like the smoking ban – I'll only be green if I'm forced to be." Lumsden also says rumours that some local authorities only recycle half of what goes into their green bins reduce the incentive.

He also told fellow contestants: “I don't believe that what we are going to do is going to achieve anything. If I don't believe in it I won't be doing any good for myself or other people.”.
Well, he certainly achieved something with his next reality tv appearance…

On the chopping block. The controversy

The first episode of The Chop aired on October 15, 2020. Shortly afterwards, some viewers noticed certain...things about Darren’s tattoos. Certain numbers and symbols…were linked to white supremacy.

“Darren appears to have these two on his face 88 = HH = Heil Hitler 23/16 = WP = White Supremacy There's also: 18 = AH = Adolf Hitler 1488: a reference to the so-called 14 words, coined by white supremacist terrorist David Lane.”

Darren also had a sig rune on his nose…the SS symbol used by the Nazis.
Sky History was criticised by historians and antisemitism groups.

After the trailer for the programme was aired, historian Dr Elizabeth Boyle from Maynooth University in Ireland said she had seen "at least five recognised Nazi/white power tattoos".
The Campaign Against Antisemitism group also criticised Sky History, saying it had made "a terrible mistake" by including a contestant "adorned with what appear to be neo-Nazi tattoos without providing serious evidence to show that the tattoos mean something other than how they appear".
"These tattoos will be plainly visible to viewers on the show, including younger viewers, which is unacceptable," it said.
"If Sky History is indeed 'intolerant of racism' as it claims, then it must urgently provide a credible clarification or remove the contestant from the programme."

They were quick to respond, and initially defended Darren:

"Darren’s tattoos denote significant events in his life and have no political or ideological meaning whatsoever.
"Amongst the various numerical tattoos on his body, 1988 is the year of his father’s death.
“The production team carried out extensive background checks on all the woodworkers taking part in the show, that confirmed Darren has no affiliations or links to racist groups, views or comments.
“Sky History is intolerant of racism and all forms of hatred and any use of symbols or numbers is entirely incidental and not meant to cause harm or offence.”
“While we further investigate the nature, and meaning, of Darren’s tattoos, we have removed the video featuring him from our social media pages, and will not be broadcasting any episodes of The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker until we have concluded that investigation,” the statement said.

The media contacted Darren’s old boss, who had some interesting things to say about his former employee:

Logically also contacted Jon Hyams, a former employer of Darren’s who runs a company in Bristol building staircases. Jon said that Darren, who worked for him in 2008, was a “good kiddy,” with no ties to the far right that he could remember, though he thought he had “gone off the rails a bit” since then. He also said that Darren was always very keen to become famous and had participated in an earlier reality TV show on Channel 4. Darren was partial to a tall tale or a bit of exaggeration, according to Jon, who said that the comment about his dad’s death should be “taken with a large pinch of salt”.

Jon was right. Darren was a liar.

The aftermath. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does anyone actually care?

It took the Daily Mail (a notorious rag) less than a day to track down Darren’s father and interview him:

The father of Sky History's The Chop contestant Darren Lumsden today declared 'I'm alive' after the channel claimed he was dead to defend his son’s Nazi-style tattoos.
But today his 66-year-old parent revealed he was very much alive - and living in a smart three-storey house in Bristol, not far from his carpenter son.
Trevor told MailOnline: 'I'm here aren't I?' I'm alive and kicking so I'm not dead yet.'
Darren's father has short term memory loss after a serious motorbike crash more than 30 years ago.
He lives in a shared house and has support workers popping in to help every day.
The father added: 'I haven't seen Darren for some years, I didn't know he had tattoos over his face or that he was going to be on TV.
'But if they are saying I'm dead I'd like them to know I'm not.'
Trevor, originally from Stockton-on-Tees had two sons, Darren with his former wife Gail and Wayne from another relationship.
His support worker, who didn't want to be named, said: 'I've never seen either of them and I've been looking after him for 10 years.
'Trevor has short term memory loss after a brain injury in a motorbike accident but he remembers his two sons.
'He's a lovely man and very much alive.'
Sky History today thanked MailOnline for highlighting The Chop contestant Darren Lumsden's apparent lie about the origin of his controversial tattoos.

Woah. It seems Darren is kind of an asshole.
Following this 💣, Sky History quickly cancelled the show and shelved the rest of the episodes. The Chop had been…well, chopped.
Thankfully, for carpentry fans everywhere, it didn’t take long for another woodworking show to fill the void left by The Chop’s abrupt cancellation. Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker started airing in 2021. Its third season aired in 2023.
And that’s all I have to say about The Chop.
(I might write about The Great British Bake Off next!)
If you want to read more stuff I have written, here is a link to all of my writeups!

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