Hear me out.
Cassiopeia currently possesses 630 base HP, 350 base mana, 18 armor, and 32 magic resist. She operates out to a maximum range of 700, after which her DPS falls off a cliff as only her Q can reach further.

Mana

At level 2, Cassiopeia has 393 mana before items and runes, going up to 700-750 with the full combination of starting tear, and getting manaflow stacks. Cassiopeia's Q takes 0.25s to cast, and 0.65 seconds from input to detonation, factoring for cast time. Every missed Q is 50 mana. Every missed E is 50 mana.
A level 2 Annie with a 65 HP rune and a Doran's Ring possesses 788 HP and 31 Magic resist (30.94). In practice, this is 1031 Effective Health (give or take).
Before AP, this is would require 14 spellcasts to kill assuming we have no AP, or 12-13 if we do have AP runes. This is 600-700 mana.
At level 2, if we do not have full mana, we literally cannot kill a full HP Annie by committing 100% of our mana to the kill without the aid of runes. Even then, we can only barely skirt over the threshold if we hit literally everything. Remember that this is a character who literally has to start Tear of the Goddess in most matchups because our mana economy is that bad, so we're at a stat disadvantage.
This is not to say Cassiopeia should win lane. It is to say that if we are at 75% mana, we should not have to cower in fear because we literally lack the damage to kill an Annie 1v1 before we are out of mana. God forbid they have Barrier or Heal, because we can't do a damn thing then. This is why we often build Rod of Ages even though it's not a very good item. Catalyst of Aeons actually gives us mana to burn in fights.
When compared to Swain, Swain starts with 118 more mana than Cassiopeia, better range, and lower mana costs. When compared to Annie, Cassiopeia possesses less mana, but lower mana costs roughly even with the lower mana pool.

Damage

Noxious Blast has a 90% AP Ratio over its full duration, in spite of literally never being used for its damage. Miasma has a 70% AP Ratio. Twin Fang also has a 70% AP Ratio. In practice, only Twin Fang is really seen as a damage ability. Cassio doesn't really need, nor should she be encouraged to try to use her DoTs as damage abilities, and we could easily reduce the AP ratio on both Miasma and Noxious Blast to curtail Cassiopeia's poke potential and push her more into the close quarters battlemage that the rest of her game flow says she is.

Durability

Cassiopeia is a 700 range mage. Caitlyn is a 650 range marksman, and RFC increases that past Cass range. In practice, ADC's tend to have better burst mobility than Cass' mobility strategy of "Hit a raw 0.65s trigger time Q from 850 range or less to get movespeed.". However, in spite of this, Cassiopeia currently possesses the worst armor in the game, tied with a few other character, coupled with HP slightly higher than an artillery mage and lower HP growths. At max level, Cassiopeia's HP is equivalent to Xerath, and her Armor is lower than Xerath. In exchange, she possesses higher level 1 HP and 2 more Magic Resist at all levels when compared to an Artillery mage who's signature role is being able to hit things from so far away he is not visible. Xerath has a range of on average over 50% more than Cassiopeia before considering ultimates.
Hell, Xerath has higher HP regeneration than Cassiopeia, meaning he literally possesses more staying power.
Cassiopeia possesses durability only slightly higher than Annie, a Burst Mage. Annie possesses higher Armor, higher HP Regen, and 70 less HP with equivalent HP scaling. However, Annie starts Doran's Ring, and Cassiopeia starts Tear. As a result, Annie has 20 more HP than Cassiopeia, 1 more Armor and 2 less Magic Resist.
Annie is a Burst Mage. Cassiopeia is a sustained damage mage.
Comparing again to Swain, another sustained damage mage, Swain possesses less HP (but also starts Doran's Ring and has a passive that increases his HP). 8 more armor and 2.5 more Health Regen. This is in addition to outranging cassiopeia (725 effect radius Death's Hand vs 700 Range Twin Fang, Nevermove ties with Noxious Blast).
Cassiopeia possesses a sustained lifedrain effect on Twin Fang, scaling with AP. However, due to having no base value and a 75% effectiveness reduction vs minions, this does not impact the laning phase and does not typically matter in teamfights due to her low baseline durability.

Conclusion

Cassiopeia possesses durability and mana economy akin to a Burst mage, but the playstyle of a Sustained Damage mage. She is on average less durable than Artillery Mages who focus on sustained damage, while possessing range barely beyond that of an auto-attack character and shorter than many dashes. This results in not having enough mana to pressure opponents in lane, while often being outranged or outtraded by other mages. In exchange, she has particularly high damage ratios that are backloaded by her need to hit a poison effect in order to deal meaningful damage.
According to Lolalytics, Cassiopeia is particularly strong at the moment, but inspection of her build is telling. Cassiopeia takes Resolve as a secondary rune with Bone Plating and Overgrowth, starts Tear, rushes Rod of Ages into Seraphs into Blackfire, before going for Rylai's. And she takes Barrier. As the game will typically be over after this point, that means that Cassiopeia is taking a durability Summoner, Durability Runes, and building 3 different Durability items, as well as 3 different Mana items.
Because Cassiopeia is exclusively taking Durability and Mana items, and yet is rated highly, this suggests that her current kit is very lopsided towards requiring Durability and Mana to the point of locking her out of other items. As such, I believe that increasing her durability and mana while reducing her AP ratios at a few points would lead to a more balanced item distribution as opposed to seeing full durability items.
This is neither a call for a buff, nor a nerf. Simply an adjustment to balance out her kit.

My wife, Mia, and I were driving cross-country. It was our first attempt at the “Great American Roadtrip.”
Mia and I rented a small RV; more of a camper than a full blown RV. We packed up a couple suitcases with plenty of room for any souvenirs and we hit the dusty trail.
We started our journey on the “Mother Road”-- Route 66-- driving south from Chicago until we connected to i-70 and shot straight west through Missouri.
The goal was to see those parts of the country we had never seen before, stopping anywhere that seemed interesting. From the plains of Kansas up through the badlands of Wyoming and South Dakota.
In Missouri we saw the world’s largest cap gun. In Kansas we visited the Evel Knievel Museum and the World’s Largest Belt Buckle.
We love all those kitschy, tourist trap places.
Eventually, we made it to Colorado and after a few hours more of driving through amber waves of grain, we saw them... the Rocky Mountains.
We made an exit and headed north through the winding mountain highways.
The Rockies were gorgeous. Snow capped in the middle of summer, some of the peaks pierced through the white fluffy clouds.
We saw a sign that read “Traffic Tunnel - 3 Miles.”
A little further and sure enough, there it was, a large tunnel bored directly through the mountain in front of us.
A large sign read, “Pike Tunnel - Longest Traffic Tunnel in the Nation! - Please turn your headlights on now.”
“How long is it?” asked Mia.
“That’s what she said,” I quipped.
But she was right, there was no information beyond the detail that this was the longest tunnel in the nation.
“Can’t be more than a mile or two,” I said as I watched the little white car ahead of us slip into the darkness. A moment later we joined it.
The tunnel was lit by fluorescents that gave everything a greenish yellow tinge. On the left hand side was a raised walkway behind a railing for maintenance access.
Initially I was struck by the incredible amount of work that went into the construction of this man- made marvel.
“We’re under a million tons of rocky mountain right now,” I said.
“How many years before this caves in?” Mia responded.
I shot her a look--
“Let’s save the cave-in talk until we’re out on the other side.”
“I’m just saying, nature will take this back eventually,” she continued.
I scanned the empty road ahead of us.
“Where did the other car go?” I asked.
We were now alone in the tunnel, no cars ahead of us nor behind us.
“Huh... they must have sped off ahead. Maybe they’re scared of a cave-in?”
My Spotify playlist had stopped playing. Mia looked at the phone.
“No cell service.”
She turned on the radio and spun the dial only to find static.
“You’re not going to be able to pick up a station in here,” I said.
She turned the volume down.
“Just wanted to check... If only we had some CDs. This tunnel really keeps going.”
“I would have thought we’d be through it by now,” I replied.
I looked at the RV’s odometer, 45,600 miles. I picked up speed. I wanted to try and catch up to the little white car.
Up until this point, the tunnel was a straight shot, but now the tunnel started to curve to the right. It may have been my imagination but it also felt as though we were descending…
Mia felt it too and she started to get antsy.
“Where did that other car go? How long is this tunnel?”
There was an urgency in her voice.
I was getting nervous, claustrophobia was not usually a problem for me but when I looked down at the odometer and I saw that it had gone up by 3 miles, my mind began to wander to unsettling places.
We were descending in altitude. I could feel it. I could see a slope in the lights on the ceiling and the railing of the maintenance walkway. I could feel a pressure in my head, and I was getting cold.
“Could you grab me a coke from the back, Mia?”
I couldn’t have Mia getting anxious, that would only start a chain reaction and make me freak out which would then make her freak out.
She unbuckled and ducked into the back of the RV to where we had a cooler stocked with drinks and food.
Just as she stepped into the back, I saw something.
There standing on the side of the road was a MAN wearing a reflective safety vest and a hard hat. He was WAVING to me as I passed him by.
Something about him looked... strange…
I watched him in the side-view mirror as we passed and he was still watching the RV, still waving at the back of our vehicle as he faded into the distance.
Mia reappeared from the back of the RV, Coke in hand. She popped it and handed it to me.
“You look worried.”
“I’m fine,” I smiled and took a sip of the Coke.
“Eric, slow down!”
I slammed on the breaks as I saw what made Mia scream. In the road in front of us was a roadblock.
Two reflective traffic sawhorses blocked both lanes of the tunnel. Beyond the roadblock, the lights of the tunnel were dark. There was nothing but a void of blackness.
Standing in front of the roadblock was another man wearing a reflective vest and a hard hat, only this time his hard hat had a light on top which obscured his face.
We came to a jolting stop.
I turned to Mia
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “It’s a cave-in isn’t it?”
“God, I hope not.”
I rolled down the window, leaned out and yelled to the man in the hard hat.
“Hey! What’s going on?!”
The man was about 5 yards away. He took two steps towards us and then raised a hand to his mouth and yelled.
“Just doing some maintenance!”
“How long is it going to take?!” I yelled back.
The man made a hand gesture as if he didn’t hear me.
“How long is it going to take?!” I called again.
He made the same gesture. I unbuckled my seat belt and grabbed the door release.
“What are you doing?” Mia asked.
“I gotta know what’s going on.”
“Eric, just stay here, it might not be safe.”
“I’ll be just a second,” I said.
I pushed the door open and stepped down from the RV.
“Stay in your vehicle!” the man yelled.
He took a couple steps towards me with his hand out telling me to stop.
“What’s the hold up?!” I shouted.
The man was a bit closer now but I still couldn’t see his face through the shining light on his helmet.
“Please stay in your vehicle!” he shouted.
There was something off about him.
Then I heard it–
“EEEAAAUUUUUUGHHHHHHHH!!!”
A scream, or something, rolled from deep in the tunnel. The worker turned and looked into the darkness. Then he ran past the barricades and soon all we could see of him was the light on his helmet.
The light disappeared a moment later.
“What the hell was that?! Is someone hurt?” Mia asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
“Should we do something?” Mia asked.
I just sat there and watched the pitch black tunnel in front of me. I had no idea what to tell her. I checked the sideview mirrors. There was still nobody behind us.
“Where are the other cars?” I asked.
“They must have gotten through before the roadblock... Or maybe they caused the roadblock?” Mia replied.
“I saw another worker a little ways back. We could try to go back and talk to him.”
“We’d be going straight into any oncoming cars.”
“There’s a maintenance walkway. We didn’t pass him that long ago. We can probably catch him on foot.”
“Maybe we should just wait for the guy to come back.”
She reached over and grabbed my arm. I squeezed her hand.
She was right.
I looked out at the tunnel ahead of us. I turned on the RV’s high beams but all I could see beyond the roadblock was more tunnel and more road.
I checked my phone. Unsurprisingly, there was no service still.
We waited, but the man never came back.
“It’s been twenty minutes,” Mia said, “How come there hasn’t been another car behind us?
I was having the same thought. I rolled down my window and stuck my head out. I looked back at the road behind us. It went back about 200 yards before curving out of sight.
There was no sign of that first worker I saw on the maintenance walk way. I looked at the roadblock ahead of us and clicked on the RV’s high beams. There was nothing beyond the roadblock but more tunnel. It didn’t look like it was under construction, just very dark.
“I think we should keep going,” I said.
“What about the roadblock?”
“We’ll move those sawhorses out of the way and just drive past,” I said as I opened my door.
Mia looked at me, then she cast her eyes to the dark tunnel ahead of us. I knew she was processing the same limited options that I was.
Driving backwards would be a huge risk in the instance of another car finally coming along.
Getting out and walking would take God knows how long, we could have driven 10 miles at this point.
Forward was our best option.
“Let’s do it,” Mia said.
We jumped out and quickly pulled the two sawhorses out of the right lane. I pulled the RV up past the barriers, then we jumped out again and put the sawhorses back where they were. We didn't need another car to come barreling through.
We were finally moving again, slowly. It was pitch black save for the high beams of the RV.
We crept forward at around 15 miles per hour. As the tunnel turned and twisted, my eyes started to play tricks on me. I kept seeing shapes at the furthest point of the tunnel.
I kept seeing something standing just at the end of the next bend but as we roll forward, there was nothing there.
“Where are the workers?” Mia asked.
“I don’t know.”
I was done rationalizing. This was all wrong. Traffic tunnels are never this long.
My mind started to wander to all the road trip urban legends I’d read about; The Killer in the Backseat, The Disappearing Gas Station, The Pale Man In The Corn Field.
Did we stumble into some strange outlier location? An in-between point on the endless roads that cross this country?
Then I saw it–
“Look! A person! Thank god!” Mia shouted.
As we rounded a curve in the tunnel, a group of maintenance workers entered our view.
The three of them stood on the left side of the road behind two more sawhorses topped with flashing lights.
Two of them faced towards us, the third was facing the other two.
The one with his back to us wore a light on his hard hat. Was this the same guy we saw earlier? How did he get this far away?
I approached slowly and rolled down the window.
“Hey! You left us waiting back there!” I yelled.
There was no response.
In fact, all three men were completely silent, and it was hard to tell in the flashing light of the sawhorses, but they looked to be standing COMPLETELY STILL.
“Hello?!” I yelled again.
I pushed open my door and stepped out onto the pavement.
“Eric wait--”
I held up a finger to Mia.
“Just a second.”
I slowly stepped towards the 3 men.
“Hello?”
No response… What the fuck?
The bright lights of the sawhorses obscured their faces.
I kept moving closer.
“Hey, what’s going on--”
Then I saw it.
Their faces... They were plastic.
In front of me stood three mannequins.
I backed away toward the RV, then I turned and walked hurriedly to the vehicle.
I was seriously freaked out but I didn’t want to alarm Mia. I climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut.
“They’re mannequins.” I said.
“What?”
“They’re mannequins.”
”Why?... What?...”
“I don’t know…”
I looked back over at the three figures and my blood ran cold…
The Hard Hat Mannequin had somehow TURNED AROUND to face us. All three figures appeared to be watching us now.
Then we heard it--
A loud resonant banging on the side, and then the roof of the RV.
“What the hell was that?” Mia whispered.
We listened, holding our breath. Then--
A shuffling sound--
Something was moving ON or IN the RV.
“Stay here.” I said.
I got up.
“Eric, wait!”
I moved to the back of the RV.
It was dark. I went for a drawer in the kitchenette space and pulled out a flashlight.
I moved to the rear of the RV, the bedroom. My flashlight illuminated an empty room.
“Whoever is back here, I have a gun…”
A shitty bluff. But I didn’t see anything.
I shone the light out of the windows of each side of the RV. Nothing.
Then I heard it–
A shuffling sound, from right above me.
I looked up and screamed–
“Fuck!”
On the roof of the RV, staring through the skylight was a woman with vacuous black eyes and a dead smile.
Her stringy black hair dangled down towards me casting thing black shadows across her horrible pale face.
“Mia, drive! Fast!” I screamed.
Mia JUMPED over to the driver’s seat, shifted into gear and STOMPED on the gas. The RV was clunky but it could move when it needed to.
We lurched forward and I fell back.
I trained my flashlight up onto the skylight again and the woman was gone.
I scrambled to my feet and looked out of the side windows.
Did Mia shake her off? There was no sign of the woman. I moved to the passenger seat, breathing heavily and sweating.
“What happened?” She asked, keeping the RV at a steady 50 mph.
“There was a woman on the roof,” I said flatly.
I realize now that I was in a kind of shock.
“A woman?”
“Her eyes were black.”
Mia just looked at me, then back at the tunnel ahead of us.
“There’s something wrong with this tunnel.” I whispered.
Mia pointed at the road ahead, “Look.”
I looked out at the tunnel. There were more mannequins. A LOT more mannequins. They were positioned on both sides of the road.
They were all facing us and even though I never saw them move, when I looked in the side-view mirror, they were somehow STILL facing us, turning to watch us as we drove past. Watching without eyes.
“Just keep driving.” I said.
As we drove on, the mannequins crowded the sides of the road more and more. There were thousands of them. Eventually they were so close that some of their outstretched arms hit the side of the RV.
They were closing in on us. Squeezing our path forward. One stood in the middle of the road.
“I don’t think i can get around it.”
“Run it over. Don’t stop.”
The RV smashed into the mannequin. Its head shot forward and bounced against the windshield and the vehicle shuddered as it rolled over the body.
Soon there were two in the road. Then three.
I could see where this was going. Pretty soon there would be too many for the RV to ram through, but goddammit we were going to get through as many as we could.
“Speed up, Mia.”
CRASH!
The sound was surreal, smashing into mannequin after mannequin at nearly 60 miles per hour.
Hands, legs, heads and torsos flew.
The windshield cracked, the RV shuddered and screamed and eventually slowed down, despite the screaming engine.
I’m certain the axle was jammed up with lifeless, plastic body parts. Eventually we came to a stop.
“She won’t move,” Mia said.
She pressed on the gas but it was no use, the RV just rocked a little bit.
“Try reverse.”
She shifted and pressed on the gas, we got some decent movement before running into another jam.
“Fuck.”
“Should we get out and look?” Mia asked.
“I’ll go,” I said as I grabbed the flashlight and popped the passenger door. Mia unbuckled her seatbelt.
“We’ll go together.”
We stumbled out of the RV on the passenger side. It was like stepping into Hell.
Countless, lifeless faces stared out at us from the darkness. The only light came from the headlights of the RV and my flashlight.
We clumsily made our way along the side of the RV. The ground was littered with mannequin pieces.
I thought to myself, if we could get a couple yards cleared out behind the rear tires, we might be able to back out and get enough momentum to reverse all the way back out of here.
Instead, when we got to the back of the RV, my stomach flipped and my heart sank.
I was expecting to see a trail of flattened mannequins, instead the RV was now surrounded by thousands of perfectly intact mannequins standing at attention. As if their ranks had some how been replenished after our vehicular assault.
“This is impossible.”
She started to cry. I held her close.
“We’ll keep moving.” I said.
“It will never end. The tunnel makes no sense. It only curves one direction.”
I looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“This whole time the tunnel has only been curving to the right. it would sometimes straighten out or go left for a few yards but before too long we were curving to the right again. We’ve either been driving in circles or spiraling downwards.”
“So we’ll go back the way we came and hope we’re not going in circles.” I said.
We had been driving for hours at this point. Walking back out the way we came would take days. But now that I thought about it, Mia was right, we’d only been curving to the right.
This tunnel seemed to be very gradually taking us downwards into the earth.
Going forward would not get us any closer to escape.
“We’ll need food from the RV,” Mia said.
I nodded and we stumbled our way back to the front of the RV, the mannequins’ lifeless faces watching us the whole time.
I stepped up to the passenger door and nearly fell back when I looked through the window.
“What the fuck?” I breathed.
What I saw were two mannequins sitting in the driver’s and passenger’s seat.
How they got in there? I have no idea, but what really made my blood run cold was that they were dressed EXACTLY like MIA and I.
They wore identical sets of clothes. The one in the passenger seat had my same New Order T-shirt and black jeans. The one in the driver’s seat had Mia’s green striped sweater and denim shorts.
Their plastic faces stared out through the shattered windshield at the endless crowd of mannequins staring back at them.
Mia stepped up and saw the uncanny display.
“What the fuck?” Mia echoed.
I pulled myself up into the RV and slowly stepped around my mannequin doppelgänger. I avoided looking into its face but I swear i could feel it watching me as I stumbled around it.
Mia followed and we made our way into the back of our dark RV. Luckily we had just stocked our cooler full of deli meat and water not long after crossing the Colorado state line.
I handed Mia the flashlight and pulled open the cooler. I filled a backpack full of food and water.
I turned and saw them–
My mannequin double had somehow moved. It was standing in the aisle watching us.
Mia’s doppelgänger was still seated in the driver’s seat but had turned to peer back at us with its eyeless gaze.
Mia saw the look in my eyes and turned. She screamed when she saw them and backed into me. I put my arm around her and we stood there a moment, letting our skyrocketing heart rates return to Earth.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said.
I slid the backpack onto my shoulders.
Mia joined me at the door. I looked into her eyes. “Are you ready?” She nodded. I kissed her.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you,” she said.
The look on her face killed me. She was terrified. I’m sure the look on my face was similar.
I opened the door and we stepped out…
We again stumbled to the back of the RV. Once we were clear of the RV and all the crushed mannequin body parts, it became easier to find footing, though weaving through an endless crowd of lifeless people was a slow process.
It was pitch black. Without the flashlight we wouldn’t be able to see a foot in front of us.
As I walked, the beam of light created the illusion of movement in the crowd. At least I hoped it was an illusion.
The limbs of the mannequins seemed to stretch and turn, but the only sound was that of Mia and I shuffling our way through the crowded tunnel.
Things went on like this for what felt like hours. Mia and I were sweating and aching. I was about to suggest we stop and rest, but then I saw it and I froze…
Out in the crowd, beyond rows of blank faces I saw a pale face, black hair and a dead smile.
I saw two vacuous eyes staring right at me.
“Mia, do you see her?” I whispered.
“See who?”
I slowly raised my arm and pointed.
It was the woman, or whatever it was, that stared back at me through the skylight on the roof of the RV.
“Oh my god!” Mia squeaked.
I could see now that the Pale Faced Woman was tall. A few inches taller than the mannequins.
As I pointed, she stared back at me with that terrible grin.
“What do we do?” Mia whispered.
I raised the flashlight and pointed it right at the Pale Faced Woman. I thought maybe this would scare her off.
I was wrong.
The light only made her appear more unsettling as she stared back, unflinchingly.
“What do you want?!” I yelled.
She only stared back at me. She was as still as the mannequins.
“We have to keep going.” I whispered.
Mia didn’t respond. Her body was tense as she held onto me.
“We’ve come this far, we can’t turn back again,” I continued.
I pulled Mia’s hand and we continued on our way through the mannequins, keeping the distance between us and her as wide as possible.
As we moved past, she kept watching us. Though her movements were imperceptible to us, her eyes never left us. Like one of those portraits whose eyes appear to watch you no matter where you stand.
Finally, we got far enough that she was out of sight. But the thought of her being somewhere behind us only unsettled me further and I quickened our pace.
As the hours wore on, there was no sign of the Pale Faced Woman and the crowd of mannequins began to thin out. They still populated the tunnel from one end to the other, but there was more space between them, allowing Mia and I to walk more freely.
The mannequins on the maintenance walkway on the side of the tunnel seemed to thin out as well and I decided it would give us a better vantage if we were walking up there.
I helped Mia climb up the railing that bordered the walkway, then I climbed up behind her. The walkway was elevated 3 or 4 feet above the roadway. We could easily see over the heads of the mannequins in both directions.
There was, of course, no end to the tunnel in sight.
We kept walking.
The mannequins continued to thin out, but they were different now.
There were mannequins dressed as maintenance workers again, but also mannequins dressed as families and businessmen. There was even a group of mannequin nuns standing in a single file line, heads bowed in prayer.
Needless to say, we passed none of this on the way in to the tunnel. I was feeling very hopeless that we were going to be able to find our way out.
I was far beyond speculating how this was at all possible. It’s NOT possible. And even if it were, there is no good reason for someone to do this to us.
The only explanation was the supernatural. Then I saw Her. Rather, I saw THEM.
Arranged in the middle of the tunnel was a circle of mannequins with long black hair and tattered cloth.
They looked exactly like the Pale Faced Woman, minus any facial features. I kept a close watch on them as we passed to make sure they didn’t start following us.
“A door!” Mia shouted.
Mia pointed a few paces ahead of her. There was a door leading into the wall of the tunnel.
We ran towards it. Mia grabbed the handle, turned it and pulled. It was heavy and Mia had to brace her foot on the wall to get it moving.
The metal door groaned as if it hadn’t been opened in years.
Finally, it was open enough to see past.
It was a hallway. It went out about 5 yards then turned right at a 90 degree angle.
The strangest part was the design of the hallway.
It wasn’t cement or pavement like the tunnel.
The walls were wood paneled and the floor was covered in a thick carpet, like a house from the 1970s.
“I say we see where this takes us.” Mia said.
There was no reason to disagree, but I wasn’t going to get us trapped in there.
I opened up my backpack and took out a water bottle. I opened it and handed it to Mia. She drank half, then I drank the other half.
I slowly closed the door, shoving the empty water bottle in the crack to keep it from closing all the way.
I turned to Mia-- “Okay, let’s go.”
We slowly made our way down the quiet hallway. We got down to where the hallway cornered to the right and that’s when we heard it–
KA-CHUNK!!!--
I whipped around. The door had closed behind us. I ran back to it and tried to push it open, but it was no use. There was no way it closed on its own.
Someone had to have removed the water bottle. Our path had been chosen for us.
There was no turning back.
We continued down the hallway. We turned right. The hallway continued, then turned right again. That should have led us right back to the tunnel. But it didn’t. This part of the hallway went on far longer than was possible without running into the tunnel. Then it turned right again.
It went on like this. Sometimes a section of the hallway was 20 feet long, sometimes it was 20 yards long, sometimes it was 3 feet long. But it always turned to the right.
At first it was a relief to be somewhere other than the cold, dark tunnel. But the hallway very quickly became claustrophobic and before too long, I heard someone walking behind us.
We had stopped to take a break and I heard a third pair of footsteps on the carpet coming from behind us. I backtracked to the last corner.
I was terrified as I slowly peeked around the corner, tense and waiting to see the vacuous eyes and inky black hair of the Pale Faced Woman... but there was nothing there. I wasn’t about to backtrack any further.
“There was no one there.” I whispered.
Mia slumped against the wall and slid down to the carpet.
“I think I need to rest.” She said.
I put my backpack down on the ground for Mia to use as a pillow. She laid her head down and was passed out in seconds.
I had no idea how long we had been walking at this point. I stood leaning against the wall. My body was telling me to rest but I couldn’t risk falling asleep. I had to keep watch. I knew SHE was following us.
I took in the details of the hallway for the first time. The carpet was a dull brown and the walls a cheap wood paneling. The hanging lighting fixtures were shaded by stained glass, something you might see in an old diner.
Who built this place? Did someone pick out the carpet and the lighting fixtures? Did a team of workers blast these tunnels into the Earth? Or has this place always existed? Was this Purgatory?
I began to feel dizzy. I was panicking. My heart felt like it was trying to escape my chest. I slumped to the floor and tried to slow my breathing.
I closed my eyes... –
I SHOT up in a panic. I had fallen asleep while I was meant to be keeping watch.
I snapped to my feet and looked around.
Mia was still asleep on my backpack.
Then I noticed that the hallway had changed. A few paces away there was now a plain wooden door in the wall.
I slowly approached it. I put my ear to the door and I could hear what sounded like TV static and the low murmur of voices.
I discreetly grabbed the door handle and turned it slowly. I felt the latch bolt clear and I carefully cracked the door just enough to peek inside.
It was dark, so it took a second for me to register what I was seeing. I saw a small board room. A long table in the center was surrounded by seated men in suits.
At the end of the table stood another man next to an old CRT TV that was playing static. This was the only source of light in the room and all the men around the table were turned towards the tv.
Suddenly the screen flickered from static to a solid dark background. And some warped new age style muzak began playing.
Then the words appeared on the screen that terrified me like nothing else before. In plain text the words read–
“YOU WILL LOSE HER.”
I froze as I knew these words were meant for me I watched with terror as the men seated around the table slowly turned toward me in unison.
They were mannequins.
The TV screen then clicked off and they continued staring at me as I could barely make out their forms through the near pitch darkness.
I quickly pulled the door shut. And whipped around to look at Mia, I had a horrible feeling of dread that when I turned around she would be gone, like the message on the TV promised–
“Eric? What are you doing?” Mia was leaning up and staring at me.
Thank God. There was Mia, right where I left her.
I pointed at the door and said, “This door appeared and I--”
“What door?” she interrupted.
I turned and sure enough, the door was now gone.
I explained what happened to her, but I left out the message that appeared on the screen.
-- YOU WILL LOSE HER –
Those words still burned in my brain. I tried to force them out.
We drank water, ate granola and then got moving again.
Hallways. Endless hallways.
After a couple hours of walking we started to hear music. There were small speakers in the corners of the ceiling.
I recognized it as the same new-age muzak that played on the TV in the board room. The melody drilled into our minds. Combined with the dull aesthetics of the quiet hallways and the endless right turns, the music had a hypnotizing effect.
The lengths of the halls became more uniform. That is to say, the straight section of hallway was about 7 paces, then a right turn, then 7 paces and a right turn.
“I think we’re walking in circles... or a square,” Mia said.
I looked at her and took out a bottle of water. I peeled off the plastic label and dropped it on the floor.
Then we kept walking.
7 paces, right turn. 7 paces, right turn. 7 paces, right turn. And there it was... Mia was right.
The label from my water bottle lay in the middle of the hallway. Somehow we had been led into a loop. I lost it.
“FUUUCK!”
I kicked the wall repeatedly and screamed. Mia just leaned her back against the wall.
This was our dynamic. If one of us lost it, the other became zen and thought of a solution. More often than not, I was the one to lose it.
I finally stopped freaking out
“There has to be a way out. A door,” Mia said.
“We would have seen it,” I replied.
“A hidden door,” she said.
She turned around and ran her hands along the cracks of the wood paneling.
“Most likely on the outer wall,” she said.
She beat her fist on the wall, listening for a change in the sound. I exhaled heavily, sweating and tired, and I started searching the wall as well.
We checked the whole first wall, nothing. We checked the second wall, nothing. The third, nothing.
The final wall... Nothing. I gave up and slumped on the floor. Mia immediately went over to the other side of the hall and started checking the inner wall.
“What are you doing? I thought you said it would be on the outer wall?” I asked.
Then we heard it.
Mia beat the wall and instead of the dead thud, we heard a resonate BOOM –
A door…
I shot up and started tapping the wall with Mia until we found where the door ended. It was the width of about 4 wooden panels. I lined myself up in the center, lowered my shoulder and pushed–
IT MOVED! It barely moved but it was enough to confirm this actually was a door! I re-centered and tried again, lowering my center of gravity, I pushed as hard as I could. The door pushed inward about 3 inches, then Mia joined in. We slowly moved the door, 5 inches, then 10, then 15, then 20.
Then Mia slipped inside.
I had a moment of panic as she disappeared into the darkness and those haunting words came back into my mind, “YOU WILL LOSE HER.”
I darted past the doorway, falling through the threshold and hitting the concrete floor.
I looked up and there was Mia, thank God. I promised myself I’d never let her out of my sight again.
“The exit...” Mia said.
She looked and sounded as if she were a thousand miles away. I got to my feet and followed her gaze. What I saw nearly brought me to tears.
We were back in the tunnel, but there was light. About a mile down was the mouth of the tunnel, and daylight pouring in. Beautiful daylight. I grabbed Mia tight and kissed her.
“Thank God...” she cried.
We started moving. Nothing was going to slow us down this time. We sped up into a RUN down the maintenance walkway towards that beautiful sunlight.
As we approached, something else came into view. Parked in the middle of the roadway was a large vehicle…
It couldn’t be…
It was!
Our RV sat in the road waiting for us. We ran all the way to it, pulled open the passenger side door and climbed in. There were no mannequins to be seen.
I fell into the driver’s seat and Mia handed me the keys. I turned over the engine, the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. I shifted into gear and floored it towards the sunlight.
As we got closer, I could see the green of trees and the blue of the sky. We were maybe one hundred yards away.
I turned to Mia, tears in my eyes…
And what I saw turned my blood to ice.
Just beyond Mia’s window, that horrifying pale face grinned at me.
The Pale Faced Woman was somehow floating outside of the RV.
Before I could say anything, her hand smashed through the window and gripped Mia by the throat, then in one horrible motion the thing PULLED MIA SCREAMING THROUGH THE WINDOW AND…
Disappeared…
I SLAMMED on the breaks just as the RV passed through the exit of the tunnel and sunlight flooded the cab of the RV. I threw it in park and shot out of the door screaming.
“Mia!? Mia??!!”
I screamed over and over. I rounded the front of the RV and looked back at the tunnel –
-- and what I saw shattered my mind…
The tunnel was gone.
There was only open road.
I had lost her.

At what point should I approach my doctor about going off my CPAP?
I was diagnosed with OSA December 2022. My AHI was 17.4 (low end of moderate). Due to the backlog and Phillips recall I didn't get my CPAP till September 2023. I used a Silent Nite dental appliance during the interim.
For the last 90 days my average AHI has been 0.19. I've dropped 20 lbs since October 2023, significantly cut back on alcohol, and am exercising much more.
I have a pulse ozimeter ring, so I could track that for a while if it will help my cause. Don't hate the CPAP, but don't want to continue if I don't need to.
Any guidance would be appreciated.

6 months ago I was straining really hard on the bathroom, to the point I wasn’t breathing. I turned pale, my heart rate was through the roof and I had what was suspected from my doctor, my first panic attack which sent my body into a state of shock. For the last 6 months I’ve had random physical symptoms of anxiety which i’ve never had before in my life. I hate standing and walking around especially in really big crowded areas.
My symptoms are:
-Heightened anxiety -Blurry-ish vision nighttime -Migraine in forehead-behind eyes. I don’t have headaches that hurt etc, just a pressure behind my forehead.
I’ve gotten every test under the sun, blood work, echocardiogram, etc. Only other findings were a very low B12 and Vitamin D levels. I also went to urgent care the other day and they said I have some fluid that’s hardened behind my ear drums which are basically pushing against my drums. They said I should do saline nose sprays for 3-4 days. I also got a CT scan of my head and neck, which I will attach the results below. Can this be a CSF leak from straining too hard that day, or can it be my body stuck in heightened anxiety from my suspected first panic attack where I thought I was dying? CT results below.
TECHNIQUE: 1. CT Brain without intravenous contrast: Axial 5.0 mm images from the vertex to the tentorium and axial 2.5 mm images from the tentorium to the skull base without intravenous contrast material.

1. CT Cervical spine without intravenous contrast: Contiguous 1.3 mm axial images were obtained from skull base to the thoracic inlet without intravenous contrast, followed by 2D reconstructions in the sagittal and coronal planes.

IV Contrast: None.
Automated mA/kV exposure control was utilized and patient examination was performed in strict accordance with principles of ALARA.
RADIATION AMOUNT: 1194 mGy-cm.
COMPARISON: None Available.
FINDINGS: CT brain: There is no evidence of an acute intracranial hemorrhage, midline shift, or mass effect. No intra-axial or extra-axial fluid collections are demonstrated. There is preservation of the gray-white junction throughout.
The ventricles are normal in size and position. No brain parenchymal lesions are identified.
The osseous skull base and calvarium are intact. The paranasal sinuses, mastoid air cells, and middle ears are clear. The orbits and globes are unremarkable. There are no significant extracranial soft tissue lesions.
CT cervical spine: No acute fracture, subluxation, or malalignment. The atlantoaxial and atlantooccipital articulations demonstrate normal alignment. The dens is intact. The vertebral heights are well preserved. The intervertebral disc spaces are well preserved. No prevertebral soft tissue swelling. No epidural hematoma or canal compromise.
The visualized lung apices are clear.
IMPRESSION: CT brain: No acute intracranial bleed or territorial stroke.
CT cervical spine: No acute fracture or malalignment.

The Reality of Housing and Utility Costs: Why Estimated Budgets Fall Short Across Different Income Levels

The discussion around housing affordability is increasingly relevant as home prices and utility costs continue to rise, especially near major metropolitan areas. Let's dive into a detailed comparison of estimated and true budgets for individuals earning the federal minimum wage, median income, and average income, and see how they fare in terms of affording housing and utilities close to major cities. This comparison will highlight why these budgets often fall short.

Budget Analysis

Federal Minimum Wage Scenario:

• Federal Minimum Wage: $7.25 per hour
• Annual Income: $15,080
• After-Tax Income: $13,572 annually ($1,131 monthly)

Estimated Monthly Budget: - Housing: $400 - Utilities: $100 - Food: $300 - Transportation: $100 - Healthcare: $50 - Debt Payments: $50 - Savings and Investments: $50 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $81
Estimated Total Monthly Expenses: $1,131
True Monthly Budget: - Housing: $400 (Shared housing or low-cost rentals) - Utilities: $367 - Food: $416 (national average) - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $300
True Total Monthly Expenses: $3,083
Shortfall: $1,952 per month

Median Income Scenario:

• Median Annual Income: $74,580
• After-Tax Income: $55,935 annually ($4,661 monthly)

Estimated Monthly Budget: - Housing: $1,400 - Utilities: $200 - Food: $600 - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $861
Estimated Total Monthly Expenses: $4,661
True Monthly Budget: - Housing: $1,919 (average mortgage for a $400,000 home) - Utilities: $367 - Food: $416 - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $300
True Total Monthly Expenses: $4,602

Average Income Scenario:

• Average Annual Income: $69,392
• After-Tax Income: $52,044 annually ($4,337 monthly)

Estimated Monthly Budget: - Housing: $1,300 - Utilities: $200 - Food: $600 - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $637
Estimated Total Monthly Expenses: $4,337
True Monthly Budget: - Housing: $1,919 (average mortgage for a $400,000 home) - Utilities: $367 - Food: $416 - Transportation: $400 - Healthcare: $400 - Debt Payments: $400 - Savings and Investments: $400 - Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $300
True Total Monthly Expenses: $4,602

Housing Prices in Major Cities

Here are the average home prices and their impact on affordability in some major cities:

1. New York, NY (Queens):
   
   • Average Home Price: $1,091,100
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $5,795
2. San Francisco, CA:
   
   • Average Home Price: $1,515,000
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $6,320
3. Seattle, WA:
   
   • Average Home Price: $800,000
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $3,579
4. Los Angeles, CA:
   
   • Average Home Price: $900,000
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $3,840
5. Austin, TX:
   
   • Average Home Price: $575,000
   • Typical Monthly Mortgage: $2,450

Additional Cost Increases: Food, Gas, and Car Prices

1. Food Prices: - Food prices in the U.S. have increased significantly, with the average cost of groceries being $416 per person per month (https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-much-to-spend-on-groceries).
2. Gas Prices: - Gas prices have been volatile, with significant increases due to global events and supply chain disruptions. The average cost of gasoline is now around $3.50 per gallon, up from pre-pandemic levels.
3. Car Prices: - The cost of new and used cars has surged due to supply chain issues and increased demand. New car prices have increased by approximately 12% over the past year, while used car prices have seen even larger increases.

Inflation and Price Gouging

Inflation Impact: - Overall inflation has driven up the cost of living, impacting housing, utilities, food, and transportation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows a significant rise in prices across all major categories.
Price Gouging: - During periods of high demand and low supply, some businesses have engaged in price gouging, further exacerbating the financial strain on consumers.

Taxation of a Dollar

When discussing the taxation process, it’s important to understand how many times a dollar is taxed before it is effectively reduced to zero through successive transactions.
1. How a Dollar is Taxed: - Initial Income Tax: Assume a marginal tax rate of 25%. From $1 earned, 25 cents goes to taxes, leaving 75 cents. - Subsequent Spending and Sales Tax: When the 75 cents is spent, assume a sales tax rate of 10%. This deducts 7.5 cents, leaving 67.5 cents. - Cycle of Transactions: This process repeats with each transaction. Each time the money changes hands, it is subject to additional taxation (income tax, sales tax, etc.).
2. How Many Times a Dollar Changes Hands: - Mathematical Model: The dollar's value after each transaction is ( Vn = V{n-1} \times (1 - t) ), where ( V ) is the value and ( t ) is the combined tax rate. - Effective Tax Rate: Assuming a combined effective tax rate of 35% (including various forms of taxation), we can calculate how many times a dollar changes hands before it is effectively reduced to zero. - Calculation: Using the formula ( V_n = V_0 \times (1 - t)ⁿ ), where ( V_0 ) is the initial dollar and solving for when ( V_n \approx 0 ): - If ( t = 0.35 ), then ( V_n = 1 \times (0.65)ⁿ ). - Solving for ( n ) when ( V_n \approx 0 ) (practically considered close to zero when it is less than 1 cent), we find that it takes approximately 10-12 transactions for the dollar to be effectively taxed to zero.

Why Budgets Don't Make Sense

Minimum Wage Earner: - The true total monthly expenses for a minimum wage earner exceed their after-tax income by $1,952. Even with shared housing and minimal expenses, they cannot afford basic living costs without significant financial assistance or multiple jobs.
Median Income Earner: - While the estimated and true budgets balance, they do not leave much room for unexpected expenses or significant savings. Housing and utility costs consume a significant portion of the income, limiting financial flexibility.
Average Income Earner: - Similar to median income earners, the estimated and true budgets balance but are very tight. High housing and utility costs significantly constrain the ability to save or spend on discretionary items.

Conclusion

Comparing these budgets highlights the stark differences in financial flexibility between minimum wage earners and those earning median or average incomes. Minimum wage earners face significant challenges in meeting basic living expenses, particularly housing and utilities. Even median and average income earners experience tight budgets when purchasing homes near major cities. Addressing housing affordability requires a multifaceted approach, including policy interventions, financial support, and increased wages to ensure financial stability and quality of life for all income groups.
Sources: - National Association of Realtors (https://www.nar.realtor) - Kiplinger (https://www.kiplinger.com) - Redfin (https://www.redfin.com) - Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (https://www.jchs.harvard.edu) - MIT Living Wage Calculator (https://livingwage.mit.edu) - U.S. Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov) - Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov) - Move.org (https://www.move.org) - HomeGuide (https://www.homeguide.com) - Food and Agricultural Organization (https://www.fao.org) - NerdWallet (https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-much-to-spend-on-groceries)
This comprehensive analysis provides a solid foundation for discussing housing affordability and financial challenges across different income levels. Let’s discuss

Hello,
I'm looking to buy a RED EPIC-W or KOMODO 6K, i have checked some differences, the epic-w should be better at low light, what is a nice use case for me because I'm going to shoot on festivals. also, the higher frame rate is nice for slomo. The higher resolution doesn't really matter but can be useful for different projects. Mostly filming in 6k on a higher frame rate.
The komodo is nice and compact, a bit lighter and support cfast, this is nice for the future proofing of the camera. low light is worse. But the auto focus can be useful.
This is what i have come up with, are there any more arguments you guys can make or let me reconsider my choice. For now I think I'm going with the epic-w because the total amount (USED) of the setup is cheaper and I think I got more advantages of the low light. The komodo (NEW) is like 2k more expensive.
Is this the right option for me?

So, I have had some chest pains for a couple of weeks now, but ignoring it, it will probably go away. But after watching Hanks Netflix documentary I decided to go get it checked.
First doctor was sure it was myocarditis, they ran some more tests and a second doctor decided it was not myocarditis (or anything more alarming), but made me promise not to do anything that would raise my pulse to crazy levels (had about 20 episodes of 150+ bmp the past couple of weeks), just to be safe untill they figure out the issue, doctors where agreeing that my pulse needs to stay low to not mess up whatever it is even more.
So I called in sick for the rest of the week and my wife put me on bed rest.
Decided to check my app from the smart watch to figure out when my bpm was going crazy, and you guessed it; about half the times my pulse went very high was during games, maxing out at 164bpm during the double OT.
So from now on, if the team could take a comfortable, say 5-0 lead in the first period and just keep it that way for the rest of the games, me and my loved ones would appreciate that alot, please and thank you.
Also, PSA, dont be an idiot (like me) and ignore chest pains, better to have it checked and be nothing than the other way around!

I leased a GMC denali canyon three years ago and loved it, the payment was $410/month and it was super comfortable. When the lease was up in January, I called to see what the rates were on the new GMCs and it increased to $780/month which is far out of my price range. I talked to a Toyota dealer who got me into a tacoma SR5 for $470/month and after test driving it, I reluctantly signed the lease- disappointed to make sacrifices in comfort (at still a 15% price increase) on the leather interior, heated/cooled seats, built in nav, better back up cam, etc.
Here I am a few months later and I am enjoying driving the vehicle and coping with losing some amenities but my biggest gripe is that I don't fit into the driver's seat well and it is almost painful getting in and out of the seat. I am 6'3" and have an athletic build. The steering wheel is as high as I can set it and the seat is as low as it will go. Getting into the truck, I have to put my legs jammed up under the dash near the pedals, bend my knees almost backwards hyper-extended, and then swing them under the steering wheel as I get into the seat. I guess I did not notice it the first few times, but recently had to rent other vehicles for work (mid size SUVs) and realized how much easier it is to get in and out and how much more comfortable my seated position is while driving. It has now become glaring that it is a problem and even slightly painful.
I guess my question is has anyone had the same experience? If I bring it to a Toyota shop is there any chance they can increase the steering wheel height furthelower the seat more? Not sure if I just have to deal with it for three years. I am sorry if this is the wrong place for this post as I am sure most people here are fans- just looking for any useful advice or input, thanks!

I just bought this OLED as it was on sale, and it works well. I have no issue with the brightness. However, I noticed there is colour banding issues in games, videos and even just wallpapers. At first, I was using DisplayPort with DSC and I thought that was the issue, so I switched over to HDMI 2.1, I am using a Radeon 6900XT on my PC which does have one but I'm not sure if it has enough bandwidth as 12-bit option is no longer there. This is only with 240 hz though, if I set it to 144 hz the 12-bit option comes back. The monitor is on the latest firmware, I checked with on screen control and it says latest (3.08). Also, with the PS5, 120 hz does not work, even when putting it in performance mode, it stays stuck at 60 hz. I have used CRU as well to try and get 12-bit to work but nothing worked, but I have now deleted 4K resolutions and also turned on Fast V active and auto low latency mode for HDMI 2.1, which makes it smoother. HDMI does work better than DP with DSC, colours looks better and feels better, but I don't know how to make 12-bit work and banding is still there, is it a problem with the GPU? PS5 also has a problem but with the refresh rate. Is the colour banding just an OLED issue? It is mainly a problem with gray colours, skies in games etc. but in other content not so much, I've set Black Level to low in picture settings which helps a bit. I am using Gamer 1, Contrast 70, Sharpness 60, Colour Temp C1
Is anyone else having these issues? I have seen the ASUS one is also on sale now but still $300 CAD more than this one but from what I've read it also has banding issues. I still have 3 weeks to return this, but I'm not sure what to do. I am losing my mind trying to fix the colour banding issues and also the 12-bit. Any help is appreciated.

Most importantly, how do you find the balance between being annoying and letting them cool off?
I'm sure there are too many right answers to count so I'd like to see a discussion and opinions from the vets among us. Even between similar products sales cycles can vary so much, and of course the roadmap to get to that end zone
My biggest struggle is the combination with low answer rates. I know that most of my calls are going to go to voicemail, but without any kind of feedback, its hard to tell if they're busy, annoyed, or cooled off.
What seems to work well for you?

Hi all! After a crazy, but incredibly fun and rewarding year earning my pilot certs, I wanted to make a write-up of my experience in hopes that it’ll be helpful for any other aspiring or current pilots. To summarize, I went from zero aviation experience to CFII in 13 months, Part 61, paying as I go and on the pretty cheap side. I do want to emphasize that I was ~incredibly~ lucky and had some very generous people who helped me out, and I could not have done this as efficiently and cheaply if it weren’t for them. I’m going to list all my takeaways below, but I think my biggest piece of advice is to network as much as you can because there are some amazing, generous people in this community that want to see us all succeed.
Background:
For context, I’m in my mid to late twenties and have been in the workforce for about 5 years. Through a combination of factors I decided to make a career switch to professional pilot but was hesitant because I did not want to take on debt. I have a family member who is an airline pilot who helped me devise a plan. I moved home and kept working my job remotely so I was able to put all my paychecks towards flying.
Private Pilot – 3 months, 75 hours TT, $12k
I did my private in a Piper Archer owned by my local FBO. The owner allowed my family member to be my instructor and gave me a small discount for pre-paying hours. We flew almost daily. I also took ground school at another local FBO in-person, and that was much more helpful than having to learn everything on my own because I was brand new to aviation. I took the private written exam as soon as my ground school concluded which was also the week of my checkride (bad idea in hindsight, but it worked out).
I solo’d around 25 hours and took my checkride with about 60 hours in the Archer (15 additional hours were in a friend’s airplane). The checkride was challenging, but straightforward and I was well prepared. The DPE said good things about me afterward and I was officially a private pilot! I’d be happy to answer questions or do a writeup in a separate post on any of my checkrides but for the sake of brevity I’ll skip that for now.
~Key takeaways from private:~
Fly as often as possible and make sure your instructor is aligned with that. Also stay on top of ground school. Also, don’t rush to take the checkride before you’re ready, it’s okay to have a lot of practice first. Lastly, I know DPE availability is a big issue in lots of areas and can cause people to have to wait on a checkride even though they’ve been ready for months. In my experience, if you try hard enough and call around, you will find someone. However, it might mean you have to travel a little bit which I know is not possible for everyone.
Instrument – 2 months, 150 hours TT, $14k
I was feeling a little fatigued after private so I was slow to start studying for instrument. I started by doing a lot of flying for fun, mainly flying in the Archer by myself on little cross countries to check off some of the requirements (in hindsight I should have found someone to split time with).
I did my instrument at a flight school in one of the adjacent states. This particular school specializes in accelerated programs, but they do not have a formalized instrument course. I went in-person and spoke with the director of flight operations to discuss my options. Since I had to take PTO to do this, the goal was to finish my instrument in one week with the checkride at the end. I paid a flat rate for the airplane and instructor time. I also stayed over there during that week so I had to pay for housing as well.
Before I went over there, I did some prep in the Archer that I did my private in and took the written exam (Sheppard air). I also purchased Sporty’s Instrument course and used that to prep and for the endorsement needed to take the written. The week I spent at the flight school was honestly a blast, and I was able to take my checkride on day 7 with 20 hours in the plane and about 4 hours of sim time. Again, happy to discuss the checkride in the comments or another post.
~Key takeaways from instrument:~
TAKE THE IRA, FII, AND IGI EXAMS AT THE SAME TIME. You only have to purchase the IRA Sheppard course and can take all 3 exams back to back. Also, again stay on top of ground school because instrument flying requires a lot of technical knowledge. But it honestly is really fun!
Commercial – 3 months, 263 hours TT, $8k
The biggest challenge for commercial was time building, of course. This is where networking saved me. I made friends with another instructor who frequented my local FBO who also owns a plane. He needed the time as well so we flew together a lot and I paid for the fuel. I also had another friend at the airport who owns a plane that he doesn’t fly often and offered to let me time build in that (again, I’ve been so lucky to come across some very generous people).
I did my checkride in the Archer that I learned in with my family member signing me off, and with the same DPE who did my private. Commercial was probably the easiest one I had done so far, but it still was no joke! I will say I was amazed with how much easier things came to me by this point versus when I first started, which was a great feeling.
~Key takeaways from commercial:~
Network, network, network. Spend as much time as you can at your local FBO or flight school and make friends with everyone. Like I’ve said, there are some very generous people out there who love to help out new pilots, and I could not have made it this far without them.
Also, in retrospect, it would have been a really good idea to have done commercial from the right seat. I’ve heard of a lot of people doing that and if I had, I would have been able to knock out CFI a lot sooner and cheaper.
Multi-engine add-on – 1 week, 298 hours TT, $4.3k
Shortly after getting my CPL, I had a week of PTO and decided to knock out my multi add-on. I found a flight school with a Seminole and got ahold of their MEI, and we figured we could knock it out during that week. I contacted the DPE who did my private and commercial and we scheduled my checkride for the end of the week. This flight school was about 2 hours driving from home, and I was able to stay with friends while I was there.
This one was a little challenging because this was in January in the midwest and we were seeing a lot of low IFR days. We ended up getting weathered out the first half of the week, but luckily the Seminole was an easy transition for me and we got me trained up in 3 days, 8 hours of flying. I took the checkride as scheduled and passed (I will say I have had extremely good luck with weather for all of my checkride days so far).
Sidenote: Prior to this checkride, I also took the AGI and IGI exams and asked the DPE who did my multi checkride to sign off on the ground instructor certificate at the same time. I did this because I’ve heard it helps when applying to CFI jobs (shows a little extra effort) and it was easier to do it this way versus having a FSDO issue the cert. Cost me $50 to the DPE.
~Key takeaways from multi:~
Do your research to find an airplane at a good rate. I paid $395 per hour which included the instructor, but I’ve seen some schools charging a lot more. Also, I looked into schools with accelerated courses that you pay as a package, and based on my experience I would not recommend because I was able to do it much cheaper my way.
My instructor did a good job of making sure I knew all the aircraft systems well enough to teach them in case I go for my MEI (which I would like to do soon). Since the MEL is light on material, I highly recommend this. Also, when I was doing research I was told to look for a Seminole or DA-42 because they’re easy trainers, which I would agree with based on my limited experience.
CFI – 1 month (on top of all my experience thus far), 316 hours TT, $5k
This was the scariest one for me. I had heard all along that CFI is the hardest and longest checkride and for the most part I would agree. I originally was planning on going to a school with an accelerated program for this, but after asking around I decided to do it on my own (with my family member signing me off).
This one was heavy on ground school. I got some lesson plans from various people as I heard that’s what everyone has prepared for the checkride, but I hardly ended up using them. I also had a friend send me PowerPoints he made for the technical subject areas. I edited them/made them my own and these are what I ended up using for the checkride along with a couple props.
As far as studying goes, the thing I found most helpful was watching random YouTube videos before bed every night. Although it was all review, I picked up a lot of tidbits that weren’t quite drilled into my brain as I still feel new to aviation overall. As the DPE described it, to be a good CFI you basically need to be a nerd about everything aviation and that’s what I tried to do. I would guess that I studied a few hours a day for a month and a half or so. As for the flying part, I had a little bit of right seat experience prior to buckling down for CFI (probably under 5 hours), so I’d guess it took me about 5 more hours to feel comfortable in the right seat. I took the checkride with the same DPE who did my private, commercial, and multi and passed! The checkride was 8 hours total so definitely a long day. As we were debriefing, I went ahead and scheduled CFII with him as well.
~Key takeaways from CFI:~
Start nerding out now (if you aren’t already). Keep a running collection of links and videos that explain concepts well or teach you something interesting, they will be useful for the checkride. Also, don’t buy lesson plans. As my DPE put it, there are really only like 5 lesson plans for any given topic and we all steal them from each other, so no need to reinvent the wheel or pay for them if someone else can give them to you. I’d also recommend really getting to know the PTS, because it lays out very clearly what you are required to do on the checkride (for example you know you’re going to need to teach runway incursions so it’s a good opportunity to be really prepared). I’m sure my last point is most applicable to those doing CFI on their own since you won’t have a school telling you exactly what to expect.
CFII – 1 month, 368 hours TT, $1.3k
CFII was possibly the easiest checkride to prepare for. I did this one in a friend’s airplane – a Mooney with a G750 and GFC 500 autopilot. It probably took about 10 hours of flying (I already have lots of time in this plane) to be ready. For studying, I reviewed Pilot Cafe, YouTube videos, and obtained some lesson plans from a friend. I did not use PowerPoints or anything for this one. I also had already completed the written exam back when I did my instrument rating. I’m not sure what else to say about this one, but I did it with the same DPE again and passed. It feels amazing to be done with checkrides for a while!
~Key takeaways from CFII:~
Select an airplane with a good autopilot. This made the flying portion of the checkride super easy. For the oral, I highly recommend working with instructors who send students for a lot of instrument checkrides. I feel like there are so many very specific questions that DPEs like to ask on instrument/CFII checkrides, so it helps if you have someone who knows what those questions are going to be. Also, FlightInsight on YouTube and Boldmethod were my favorite resources for this one. Lastly, make sure you know your avionics and autopilot really well, including reading and being able to teach all of the limitations that are in the user manuals.
Notes regarding cost:
I did a decent job of tracking all my expenses throughout this process. I noted in the title that the total cost to me was about $50k, which consists of the ~$45k that I discussed above plus some additional expenses. I also did my commercial ASES rating at Jack Brown’s seaplane base which cost me about $2.5K total (of course this was just for fun). The remaining amount consists of things like buying a headset, books, random accessories, and even some things I called “unnecessary expenses”. I temporarily paid for a membership at a flight school that I barely ended up using, so I put that in that category. While I did everything pretty cheap, I was definitely not perfect!
Here is a further breakdown of my expenses:
Airplane rentals/fuel - $36.9k
Instructor fees - $2.5k (bear in mind I got a lot of free instruction from friends & family)
Ground school - $1.3k (includes actual ground school and books)
Flight accessories - $1.2k
Written exam fees - $1.2k (8 exams total)
DPE fees - $5.8k (7 checkrides; this includes seaplane)
Medical fees - $290
Housing - $900
Misc/unnecessary expenses - $1.2k
Total: $51.7k
Overall Takeaways:
- For those doing Part 61/pay as you go, I highly recommend finding an independent instructor with a flexible schedule. This was key for me because I had a work schedule to work around.
- NETWORKING/MAKING FRIENDS. Go to every fly-in you can, always stop into the FBO to say hi to people, etc. etc. Having friends in aviation was monumentally helpful for me and saved me SO much money. Cannot stress this enough!
- If you are on a timeline, make sure you set specific milestones and when you are going to hit them. Make sure your instructor is on board too.
- Do your research! Reddit has been a fantastic resource for me throughout this process. Talk to people who have achieved the things you want to achieve. I really cannot thank you all enough for all your help and insights on your experiences!
Again, I am more than happy to answer any and all questions. I also apologize if anything is jumbled or confusing; this took a long time to write and I’m sure I missed things. I will also disclaim that while I did a good job of tracking all my expenses, I was not perfect and YMMV for sure. I just hope this gave a somewhat helpful picture for those hoping to do something similar to what I did.
As for next steps, I am aiming for the airlines one of these days! I have a couple interviews at flight schools coming up so I am planning to quit my job and finally start flying full-time soon. I want to do my MEI sometime soon as well but I haven’t figured out how I’m going to pay for the PIC time yet.
I also want to say that I absolutely love general aviation and hope to always be involved in it. I have made so many friends, had some incredible experiences, and learned way more than I could have ever imagined in the past year. For anyone thinking about flying, hopefully this is your sign to just do it! Feel free to comment with questions!

Hey all! I’m a 20f , I’ve been having problems with vasovagal syncope since I was 9-10 I used to only experience it every once in awhile. Maybe 2 episodes a year, no fainting and no vomiting, just high heart rate, and sweatiness and feeling nauseous. As I’ve aged, more particularly in the last two years. I’ve felt my symptoms worsen. I had my wisdom teeth taken out a few months ago and passed out for the first time and my blood pressure wouldn’t come over 100 for hours. Now nearly every month if not twice a month I deal with extreme episodes of vomiting, low bp, delirium, lots of pain.
I went to my family doctor and was told that there’s nothing I can do about Vasovagal syncope, that it’ll just happen. There’s no way to stop this?
I want to have a career and a family one day. I don’t want this to be the end of all enjoyment.

Hello,
I'm looking to buy a RED EPIC-W or KOMODO 6K, i have checked some differences, the epic-w should be better at low light, what is a nice use case for me because I'm going to shoot on festivals. also, the higher frame rate is nice for slomo. The higher resolution doesn't really matter but can be useful for different projects. Mostly filming in 6k on a higher frame rate.
The komodo is nice and compact, a bit lighter and support cfast, this is nice for the future proofing of the camera. low light is worse. But the auto focus can be useful.
This is what i have come up with, are there any more arguments you guys can make or let me reconsider my choice. For now I think I'm going with the epic-w because the total amount (USED) of the setup is cheaper and I think I got more advantages of the low light. The komodo (NEW) is like 2k more expensive.
Is this the right option for me?

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Hello everyone. If you are looking for a distinction, then you are in the right place. I'm Crystal, a professional tutor and a superb academic writer with years of experience in English literature, Sociology, Business, Psychology, Nursing, Law and Social Sciences.
For assistance, please send detailed instructions to
Email: [writersbrave@gmail.com](mailto:writersbrave@gmail.com)
Discord: Highgradewriter#7788
What's app: +15203464074
My rate is from as low as $15 per page of quality work (Harvard / APA / MLA / OSCOLA, CHICAGO).
I graduated from Western Governors University with a bachelor's degree . I have gained progressive experience over the years in all types of Essays including admission Essays, Research Papers, Online Tests and Quizzes, Dissertations, Thesis Writing, Editing Services and Presentations. To ensure quality services, I review and check tasks at hand through Turnitin, Plag Scan and Grammarly elucidating authentic and unprecedented work.
To guarantee quality work, make payment only when satisfied with job order and have ensured all instructions are followed.
Please refer to my profile for sample work and a copy of my curriculum vitae(CV)
Long-Term partnership and reliability is guaranteed.
Thank you for your time.
Stay safe!

I see a lot of people having disdain with sailing. I'm assuming they are envisioning very little interaction with anything and that the skill is passing simply due to rewards spaces offered by it like the new islands. I don't see it like that, so I figured I'd share what I'm envisioning down the line.

1. Ship building
   1. Obviously this would be similar to construction in a way and offer pretty low exp rates for sailing and contruction. You could do the build, remove, build, remove you do with contruction currently. This would hopefully not be a primary method of leveling sailing or construction without being insanely expensive like doing it with bagged plants.
2. Ship maintenance
   1. While performing any activity at sea, you actively have to maintain the health of your ship which gives you exp drops when done. I imagine this being a passive exp gain while doing at sea activities.
3. Bounties
   1. There are multiple groups of pirates at sea and you go and get a bounty. You then have to seek out the correct group of pirates. Fight them and collect any riches that might be on their ship and a gp reward for you bounty. This would obviously offer combat and sailing exp.
4. Deliveries
   1. I imagine you're given a good and a location to bring it to and the locations can be quite tricky to traverse simply due to the terrain or weather or maybe you are sneaking them in like a drug mule.
5. Races
   1. Pretty self explanatory. Similar to agility laps, but may offer small rewards apart from exp upon race completion. Something like tokens to buy ship parts or design. Similar to marks of grace. Could make each race slightly different with varying weather conditions or rock layouts to keep it engaging.
6. At sea npcs
   1. Sirens - A monster with a slayer assignment that can only be assigned when sailing and slayer level reach a certain amount. Requires ear muffs or slayer helm. Offers whatever reward jagex feels the need for
   2. Muldjewangk - More at sea monsters that could just be roaming around
   3. Mermaids - could be interactable at sea npcs that you can chat with.
   4. Pirates - duh
   5. Nguruvilu - b/c they look just so darn cool.
   6. Ahuizotl - possibly another slayer monster
   7. Fish cows - Gotta have cows everywhere. These ones drop sinew directly, so you don't have to make it at a range with meat. We could basically put anything we want at sea
7. At sea resources
   1. Trees at sea
      1. Trees akin to redwoods that grow in the ocean. You could maybe harvest fruits from them granting farming exp.
      2. Floating trees. These are trees that passively float around the ocean. Their top half looks like a tree and bottom half, the roots end up being like tendrils of a jelly fish. You can chop these trees down
   2. Scraping the sea floors for mining resources and maybe seaweed and other resources
   3. Deep sea fishing - I envision these as more engaging active fishing methods. Not just click and let fish.
      1. Fishing with a rod where you have to actually actively fish and attempt to reel it in. Changing ship direction to make sure the tension doesn't get too high. Using baits to lure it certain ways.
      2. Net fishing and similar to tempoross where some spots will glow or be different meaning you can go to them for like 50% bonus fish on pull. You have to time the pull of the net when maximum amount of fish are in or something.
8. Monster Hunting
   1. You track down the monster with hunter skill through ship wrecks, rocks, strange currents, etc to fight a monster. Stuff like the Charybdis, king kraken, etc. These would be similar to bounties but tracking down a specific sea creature. Reward could be hunter, slayer, sailing exp with whatever drops the creatures may offer.
9. Salvaging
   1. Come across ship wrecks that you can loot. Offering riches, thieving exp, and sailing exp. Could be timed so that the ship will fully sink and you lose half the loot if you don't get out in time.

Pool of serenity

1. This is a special water source that is surrounded by mist and moves about like sulliusceps, but you have to navigate a circular maze to reach the center. You can fill up vials with this special water which offers small potion effects, like maybe an extra level to combat potions with a slight boost in herb exp if used. The maze is constantly changing and moving both interally and externally meaning navigating the maze is always different and that it's always moving geographical locations in the sea. You can tell it's near by the mist cloud. Possibly moving whenever it wants and just boots you out if it when it moves.

Charting out the seas

1. You essentially map out the sea as you discover it. You can turn in maps for a bonus of exp. While you have a map in your position, clicking the world map will display the islands, but when you turn it in, you can no longer see them. You also get a discovery bonus for the first time discovering a new area.

Treasure maps

1. Basically at sea clue scrolls.

Resources from the above activites would ideally intertwine with resources in the main gam like the fruit from a tree at sea being used to pay for protection of certain crops or maybe wood from the floating trees being used to upgrade a magic shortbow or being combine with redwood to make a new bow or crossbow. None of the above I mentioned are only tied to the reward space of islands. They could all actively be done at sea while either offering boosts of sailing exp or getting it passively while maintaining the ship while doing the activity.
You could make the activites more or less afk with sturdier and slower ship that you'd have to maintain the ship less, but miss out on the exp boosts. You could also hire crew members to help maintain the ship. This would hurt the profit margins of the at sea activity while allowing for higher exp rates while keeping the afk level lower still. For example, take a ship that is very fragile to do an activity, but hire the most expensive crew. They repair 90% of damage that the ship takes and the ship gets damaged more frequently. Every time they fix something they charge extra, along with a flat rate per tick. You'd be getting much faster exp rates while being mostly afk, but would be paying for it.

The Steering wheel CAN bus decoder im my car sends the steering wheel commands towards the head unit using the JWC/Kenwood interface/protocol. This is – unlike Chinese head units which use resistive (analogic) interface – a digital (serial) interface. As far as I understand, the communication baud rate is 9600.
For each steering wheel key there is a specific sequence, consisting of a Preamble, 7 data bits and a Postamble (the latter is a sequence of two pieces of logical 1).
Is there a ready-made tool (and hardware recoomendation) for Arduino to detect the keypresses by decoding (raw reading) the serial data? Or should I implement everything from scratch?
Prefer Arduino Nano or Adafruint Trinket M0 for doing the job.
By the way, is serial trasmission on high (positive) or low (negative) logic? As far as I can see there is around 2V voltage on idle.

Hi Gang,
On Tabletop Merchant Arkham Horror LCG: The Feast of Hemlock Vale Campaign is available for $45.99 as part of their Deal of the Day promo (vs. $69.99 MSRP)
This is the lowest I have seen it for all year for this new release and highly rated game (8.74 BGG). (Just remember, you will need the Investigator expansion as well to have the full experience).
Purchase Link: Arkham Horror LCG: The Feast of Hemlock Vale Campaign (DEAL OF THE DAY (tabletopmerchant.com)
BGG Link: Arkham Horror: The Card Game – The Feast of Hemlock Vale: Campaign Expansion Board Game BoardGameGeek