I originally posted this idea on the dedicated minecraft forums site, but nobody bit so I'm trying this idea here instead.
I always thought it was weird that there were only two types of golems in the game. As an avid D&D player and homebrewer (that's what the equivalent of modding is called in the tabletop gaming community), the Iron Golem just screams "Fighter" to me, so I think it would make sense to add more golem varieties to the game based on other Classes, each of which is just as likely as the iron golem to spawn whenever a village generates a golem.
Copper Golem (archer): Created by stacking a pumpkin atop a tower of three copper blocks, this is a ranged golem like the snowlem that tosses tridents reskinned as copper javelins at enemies. It can spiderclimb and it's combat routine is to climb to the highest nearby point it can that still has line of sight to it's target. Naturally it would also be much faster moving that the iron golem, at the cost of having only a portion it's health.
Notes: if we were to simply transplant the arrow behavior of the skeleton over to this thing then it would be the only golem here prone to friendly fire, which would make it sub-par and prone to killing the villagers it's trying to protect. Perhaps it flings magic javelins that unfailingly home in on the intended target like the Magic Missile Spell?
Additionally, since copper is so much more abundant than iron, lapis, gold, or redstone, I think it might make sense if this thing were actually built from a new "hardened copper" block made by squeezing nine regular copper blocks together, in order to make this thing's construction on par with the others in terms of resource-intensiveness.
Lapis/Redstone Golem (wizard): I imagine this one to be composed of a floating head orbited by magic rods of either redstone or lapiz lazuli, similar to the Blaze or Breeze. It would be constructed using the same configuration as the iron golem, save that the bottommost block must be air (so a horizontal line of three blocks floating off the ground). This thing would fight using a variety of magic spells, such as a chain lightning ability that takes a few seconds to charge up before firing (using similar animations to the guardian's beam attack), or enemies that attack it having a chance to be set on fire. It would have health and movement somewhere between the iron and copper golems.
Notes: I've been pondering the possibility of being able to customize what spells this golem would use by right-clicking it with enchanted books, but part of me feels that folks would want to be able to do that with all their golems, in which case I would generalize it into a "blessings" system that can be performed on any golem as a harkening back to the golems of actual Jewish folklore. Maybe one blessing would let a golem benefit from beacon buffs?
Gold Golem (cleric): Inspired by the support creeper from the old Primitive Mobs Mod, my vision for this golem is one that has no capacity to harm mobs by itself, but which nevertheless buffs and strengthens players and other golems nearby, and/or debuffs nearby mobs (perhaps by doing something similar to throwing potions? or mimicking the effects of a beacon block in a smaller area?).
While it has no directly offensive capabilities, it can summon weaker, expendable clay golems (reskinned snow golems that use a basic ram attack instead of throwing anything) as another callback to actual Jewish folklore, of which it can have up to four on the field at one time. Once all four are in play, it focuses on applying various buffs to them and debuffs to the enemy mobs.
However, it will only summon these if it does not detect any players or other golems (aside from snows and other golds) nearby. If this is the case, it will focus on applying it's buffs to those entities instead.
Right now I imagine it to have the same health and speed as the wizard golem.
Notes: Part of me wants this thing to be able to lock down creepers somehow and prevent them from moving or exploding, so that other village golems can attack it.
Clay Golem (tarpit): while I don't think the clays should spawn in villages on their own, I do think they should at least be buildable by the player on their own, in case anyone would want to. While weaker individually than an iron, they come in larger numbers, and stacking a pumpkin atop two clay blocks gets you four of them instead of just one.
Side note: has anyone else noticed that the player is targeted by all varieties of hostile mobs, but villagers are only targeted by zombies? why is that?

I know this phone is a bit outdated at this point, but just in case other die-hard US-based users are interested in whether it can be used on American providers, I can confirm as of today that Mint Mobile/TMobile officially supports both texting AND voice calls.
This was not the case a year ago when I got my phone. Mint informed me directly that it wasn't supported, and up until this point, only texting has worked on TMobile and AT&T, but I've been forwarding voice calls to a Skype number via an older version of GBox (1.3.6).
Today, I updated GBox and discovered Skype is no longer available in their sandbox, but that somehow after killing the forwarding, calls were ringing through normally.
I went to Mint's website and entered my IMEI, and lo-and-behold, it came up as compatible! I also checked the TMobile site and got similar results. This is the first time I've been able to make and receive voice calls via the native Huawei phone app. I'm not sure if this change came about as a result of the recent merger, or if some other factor was involved, but I'm psyched! I love the Mate XS2 hardware more than any other folder, and I now finally have full functionality (minus native GMS of course).
(Note: The phone still doesn't support VOIP, so calls will drop in poor cellular service areas even with a Wifi connection.)

I am pretty new to this, only been collecting cards again for about 5 months. As part of that you have to learn how to price cards effectively. I see a lot of posts on here for "What's the price of this?" For folks who have been doing this the answer is easy and seems lazy, but if you have never done it before then it's more mysterious than it seems. Other times someone obviously knows their card and posts to show off.
The idea is this post could be referenced any time someone says - how do I price this? This applies to football cards only. This also applies only to recent (Last 5-10 years) of sports cards. This applies somewhat specifically for Panini cards as well. Sorry Leaf Metals and Bowman Us.
Again I am new to this - if you have better ways to do this, or I am wrong on something, please comment so I can edit the post.

Step 1: Appropriately Identify Your Card

It's really hard to know the price of something if you don't know what it is and there can be a significant amount of variation of the card and the price. What is the best way to know what your card is? The checklist!
What's the checklist?
The checklist is a list of cards in the set, provided by the manufacturer. It is typically released around the same time as the set or sometimes can be before, or sometimes delayed after.
Beckett also has nice checklist summaries that also give some examples of the cards, and a lot of people use this or Cardboard Connection. There are many other sites that have the checklists as well, these aren't the only ones.
Some examples

• 2023 Phoenix: Beckett, Cardboard Connection, BreakNinja
• 2023 Prizm: Beckett, Cardboard Connection

But what I often don't see people referencing is you can download these sheets right from panini directly, and gives you much more granular detail for your cards. Just go to their site, choose your set and hit download.
Here is a public spreadsheet of all those cards. I use this often. I go to the tab for the set I am looking for (which often shows exactly on fine print of the back of the card), then I search for the player. This has all the available cards for that player. If it's a numbered card I can look at all the cards that have that possible number, like /199 or /25. This brings the card down to just a few possible types. If I am still not sure, I can search ebay for those card variation types. If there aren't any for that player, Ill just search for that set and there is likely to be one. Now I can validate the actual legitimate name of my card.
Non numbered cards and inserts can be a bit harder to identify but usually you can find one. If there isn't one for your current year, look at previous years.
1 of 1s can also be harder, but with the checklist there is the full options for every 1 of 1. Odds are you can find one of a different player and compare, or search for the other ones and use the process of elimination.
If you still cannot find this card, post it somewhere for sure. The checklist can also be wrong. I have a card in my collection that is simply not on the checklist at all, but is likely just a typo in the checklist.

Step 1 Alternate:

The above too much for you? Use Ludex, or Collx. For me these are not a surefire way. Maybe half the cards I scan detect the wrong one or just no results.

Step 2: Find Comparable Prices

So now you have your exact card name per step 1.
Step 2A: 130 Point

• Go here, search for
• Example: 2023 prizm stroud green wave
• If you are getting the wrong results (immaculate and immaculate collegiate can be a challenge), then just use -collegiate
• If you do not see your card, remove the player name and see if others come up.
• If nothing, put your player name back and remove the card set.
• If nothing comes up, double check your set and player
• Still nothing - Step 2B

Setting your price - Take the last 5 or 10 sales, remove the top and bottom sales and average the results.
Step 2B: Live Ebay

• Go to ebay
• Use the same search terms as Step 2A
• Try and find the card.
• See what Buy It Nows are set at. This is likely your peak price, and unless listed wrong your card is worth 50%-80% of what that is listed for.

Step 2C: CardLadder
If you are still having trouble, or maybe your card is worth over $500 and you want the real price, use this. Mixed results and only really accurate for the higher end or mostly valuable cards. This is going to allow you to skip 2A and 2B and the search results are great, in my limited use.

Step 3: Still cant find it

Maybe there are simply no sales of this card. This happens for new sets, and often the answer is just wait, but you might miss out on that peak value if you do.
If it's a serial numbered card, I use some general rules of thumb:

• 1 of 1 - top value. True RPA (On card, not sticker), NFL Shield, Nike Swoosh, Jump Man, great patches, game worn(relic) or other items can set the variability on these. It is much harder to guess a value, but 10-100x the price of the /10 card.
• Case Hit - These are generally not numbered but high value. Price really, really varies. Same set, different case hit can be 10-100x difference. Some case hits a hundred or 2, some case hits thousands for the same player, same year, same set.
• /3 to /5 cards. If you've gotten one of these that isnt from a high end set, congrats! These are worth double the /10.
• /10. Worth maybe 1.5x the /25, some times more some times less.
• /25 ish (sometimes /23, /27, etc). Worth 10-40% more than the 50. Anything below this varies wildly.

Someone please help me here, I am new to this.

Notes on PSA and Grading

The cost of grading is going to be somewhere between $15 and $25 for most cards. Should you grade or not? This is not that post, maybe a future one where I get more experience with that.
True collectors of the card are willing to spend the extra buck to get the GEM MINT 10, aka the perfect card with no flaws(sort of). PSA is preferred it seems, but some others are used as well. PSA seems to get the highest value.
Given the above a PSA graded card at least cost the person $15 to enter, so default should add $15 to the card, but for high value cards, it can significantly increase the value. Why? Because it is even more rare to get the perfect cut of the card. Panini itself has quite a bit of quality issues (impeccable silver bars anyone?) and many cards are not cut even close to perfect. Some come out of the pack damaged, etc. Grading turns rare cards to even more rare cards, and basic base cards to rare cards.
So in cards, you are getting cards based on their rarity, and grading a card basically puts that rarity on yet another scale. Some people feel that grading is a scam, and I sort of feel that way, but I can see its value. A PSA 8 is lucky to get the same price as raw, PSA 9 maybe you make your card a bit better and PSA 10, you have a chance to make significantly more.
I also have heard that grading cards with patches/relics or thicker cards are also more trouble because the odds of getting PSA 10 are significantly lower so basically dont do it.
If you get a PSA 7, you might as well break it out of the case, because its worth less than the card was without the grading, which means you've lost $15, plus the price to ship to PSA, PLUS the price for them to ship it back to you.
A couple examples that might be worth sharing. We will use some "star" cards this year, some mid range cards, and some lower end.
Stroud

• Prizm: Base ($20ish). PSA 8 (About the same), PSA 9 (About $26-30), PSA 10 ($80-100)
  • Wild right? the PSA 10 jump is huge, but then again its just base, but 4x-5x price
• Mosaic: Green ($40ish), PSA 8 (none found, PSA 9 (About the same, PSA 10 ($160 ish)
  • Again, huge jump at PSA 10, 9x price.
• Donruss: Downtown ($1400 ish), PSA 8 (only 1 result at 1k), PSA 9 (about the same as ungraded), PSA 10 ($2500).
  • same deal, about the same until PSA 10. This time not even a 2x increase, but still a $1100 ish increase.

It's quite similar with Anthony Richardson as well.
What about a great rookie that had a good 2023 season? Puka
Puka

• Prizm: Orange Disco ($18ish), PSA 8 ($25ish), PSA 9 ($35ish), PSA 10 ($100).
  • Same deal as above.

What about a not as popular rookie, Bryce Young
Bryce Young

• Prizm: Orange Disco ($28ish), PSA 8 ($26ish), PSA 9 ($30 ish), PSA 10 ($100ish)

Ok now what about an ever lesser known - Tre Tucker
Tre Tucker

• Prizm: Orange Disco ($1), PSA - no results! Guess we wont know!

In summary: PSA is a gamble on top of a gamble. If you get a PSA 10 on an already great card, it can 10x your value, or less or more depending. If you do some self grading, and pretty sure you could hit a 10, and the results of that would be over 10x the cost of grading, it might be worth it. But if it comes back an 8, you have likely just lost money. A 9 and maybe you break even. A base card has to be a pretty big gamble. Say you grade 10 base cards of great players and 1 of them comes out a 10 and the others 9 or 8. You have probably lost a lot of your gains.

Pricing your cards

Consider a decaying average: https://help.otus.com/en/articles/2587242-definitions-of-mastery-settings
Too complicated? Take the last sold value. Last sold value way off the previous last 5? Average them all.
What's a card really worth? Whatever it means to you. This is a hobby, you will lose money unless you love the cards you get.
See my other post on that here: https://www.reddit.com/footballcards/comments/1b97pkj/getting_back_into_cards_guidetips_my_story/

That's it! I hope this was helpful for someone out there. If it was helpful for interesting to you please hit that upvote button.

Live Music

• Julie Papili, Pierre's Pub, Tuesday, May 7th, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm,
• Jazzy Blue Band, Cortesse's Bistro, Tuesday, May 7th, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm,
• Smokin' Joe Schauer, Ann O'Malley's Deli and Pub, Tuesday, May 7th, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Kaleidoscope of Dance 2024

• Dancers from throughout Northeast Florida will showcase their talents during Romanza Festivale's Kaleidoscope of Dance from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the Lewis Auditorium.
• With this annual spectacular evening of dance, Romanza showcases the breadth of dance arts programs in the region. Participating organizations include the Ancient City Sirens; Arts on the Edge Dance Company; Blue Lotus World Dance Company; Flamenco Perspective; Florida School of the Arts; Grace Conservatory; JAX City Ballet; Matanzas Tap; Noise Complaint; North Florida Dance Association - Dance USA; Ponte Vedra Ballet; Rhythm Theory; St. Augustine Dance Performance Company; The Dance Company; St. Augustine High School Dance Collective, and Zoika’s Dance
• Admission: Free.
• When: 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, 2024
• Where: Lewis Auditorium is located at 14 Granada St. in downtown St. Augustine, Florida 32084.
• This event is part of the Romanza Festivale of Music and the Arts, an annual festival of two weeks of historical, cultural, and creative events celebrating all things St. Augustine. From May 3 -19, the nation's oldest city will be jam-packed with music and dance concerts, living history events and historical tours, live theater, and art exhibits.

Adult Yoga

• Looking for an Adult Yoga class to strengthen your core and increase your flexibility? Join SJC Parks & Rec at the St. Johns County Ocean and Fishing Pier.
• When: Tuesday & Thursday
• Date Time: March 26 – May 30, 2024 6:00pm-7:00pm
• Learn various yoga skills through a combination of physical exercises, mental meditation, and breathing techniques. Increase your flexibility and muscle strength, plus reduce stress.
• Participants — must wear comfortable exercise attire, grip socks. Please bring your own yoga mat, towel and water bottle to stay hydrated along with other items the instructor suggests.
• Space is limited to 50 participants!
• Cost: $35.00 each 8-week session. Each session consists of 16 classes

Planning and Zoning Board Meeting

• Could not find any specific subject they are talking about.
• 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

I am unable to post the sources because they are getting flagged as spam since they are all similar in name. So please visit this site for the list.
Written out urls here tinyurl.com/yjkw32kd

For future events please visit the Discord.

https://discord.gg/NG4eZSWAgR

Live Music

• Julie Papili, Pierre's Pub, Tuesday, May 7th, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm,
• Jazzy Blue Band, Cortesse's Bistro, Tuesday, May 7th, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm,
• Smokin' Joe Schauer, Ann O'Malley's Deli and Pub, Tuesday, May 7th, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Kaleidoscope of Dance 2024

• Dancers from throughout Northeast Florida will showcase their talents during Romanza Festivale's Kaleidoscope of Dance from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in the Lewis Auditorium.
• With this annual spectacular evening of dance, Romanza showcases the breadth of dance arts programs in the region. Participating organizations include the Ancient City Sirens; Arts on the Edge Dance Company; Blue Lotus World Dance Company; Flamenco Perspective; Florida School of the Arts; Grace Conservatory; JAX City Ballet; Matanzas Tap; Noise Complaint; North Florida Dance Association - Dance USA; Ponte Vedra Ballet; Rhythm Theory; St. Augustine Dance Performance Company; The Dance Company; St. Augustine High School Dance Collective, and Zoika’s Dance
• Admission: Free.
• When: 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, 2024
• Where: Lewis Auditorium is located at 14 Granada St. in downtown St. Augustine, Florida 32084.
• This event is part of the Romanza Festivale of Music and the Arts, an annual festival of two weeks of historical, cultural, and creative events celebrating all things St. Augustine. From May 3 -19, the nation's oldest city will be jam-packed with music and dance concerts, living history events and historical tours, live theater, and art exhibits.

Adult Yoga

• Looking for an Adult Yoga class to strengthen your core and increase your flexibility? Join SJC Parks & Rec at the St. Johns County Ocean and Fishing Pier.
• When: Tuesday & Thursday
• Date Time: March 26 – May 30, 2024 6:00pm-7:00pm
• Learn various yoga skills through a combination of physical exercises, mental meditation, and breathing techniques. Increase your flexibility and muscle strength, plus reduce stress.
• Participants — must wear comfortable exercise attire, grip socks. Please bring your own yoga mat, towel and water bottle to stay hydrated along with other items the instructor suggests.
• Space is limited to 50 participants!
• Cost: $35.00 each 8-week session. Each session consists of 16 classes

Planning and Zoning Board Meeting

• Could not find any specific subject they are talking about.
• 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

I am unable to post the sources because they are getting flagged as spam since they are all similar in name. So please visit this site for the list.
Written out urls here tinyurl.com/yjkw32kd

For future events please visit the Discord.

https://discord.gg/NG4eZSWAgR

Hey guys. New to Squarespace so forgive any glaring ignorance. I paid a free lancer on Fiverr to build the foundation of a site and she started and then said the functionality isn’t possible so I’m essentially looking for a second opinion here
I sell digital downloads. Just images nothing crazy. I want to use Squarespace so people can pay a subscription fee to enter a paywall and then they can download as many images as they like.
I want it to function similar to an e-commerce site as far as filters and a menu to keep the images organized however instead of any sort of adding to cart button there is just a download button for each image.
She said we could have a library of images behind a paywall but no way to organize or filter the images.
Is this true? Is there any sort of plug in or coding I can get that would help accomplish this.
Thanks so much for any insight or advice.
Jon

The posts/info/etc. below probably have something to do with Korean/Chinese/Japanese/etc. variety or reality shows (and dating/cohabitation/slice of life/etc. shows). Same with language learning and linguistics. And also some natural language processing, machine learning, or producing AI-generated/machine translation English subtitles. Oh and I guess some ASMprogression fantasy books/potential time travel and UAP disclosure/etc. stuff.
This is the current up to date info (just sift through the threads or my profile for the latest info) or centralized thread as of May 6, 2024. Might edit it later so that this main post is including the walls of text I've written (and copy and pasted, lol) several times over the past year or so instead of just the thread/comment links to them.
This current centralized collection below is mainly from here (a thread requesting where to find (and with English subtitles) Episode 1-200 of Infinite Challenge): https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1cjb1pk/does_anyone_know_where_i_can_watch_or_buy/l2fgnmt/
And is particularly made for the past/current/future/etc. "Infinite Challenge Season 1 - English Subtitles" post: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1clzzpinfinite_challenge_무한도전_season_1_english_subtitles/
Oh and sometimes the reddit messaging system is bugged and won't notify me, though don't hesitate (always glad to help people) to keep commenting on my posts/comments or direct/private message me (not chat though since I disabled the new reddit chat system) if you have any questions/requests/et cetera. I'll usually reply within 12/24 hours but if I'm busy IRL or the reddit message is not working properly then it can take a week or more.
Anyway, people kept asking me about Blossoms Shanghai (and other shows without any official subs or fansubs) and it's true that reddit's message system can glitch out (maybe it's because I only use Old Reddit with desktop (not mobile) and Reddit Enhancement Suite, but it's been happening quite a bit recently, not sure what's going on with the reddit servers/messaging system/etc.) and so in some cases I don't get notified about receiving any reply/message/etc. and I won't notice/realize unless I manually revisited the thread/comment.
Don't hesitate to repeatedly comment on any of my comments/posts/etc. though in case I overlooked the message/comment/etc. as ya, reddit's system is sorta bugged. Eventually I'll probably read it and respond (I'm chronically online, that's why I can reply anytime, smh lmao).
A bit more info about that reddit message system delay/no notifications/etc. bug (I'm not really using it an excuse, it's a legit thing, lol) and sharing big files: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1aq19k9/couple_palace_episode_3_240213/kqg7xt2/
Updated Chinese/Korean dating shows here: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1cdemmh/my_siblings_romance_episode_9_240426/l1gy9bw/?context=10000
It's for Hao You Hao You Ai Season 1 (好友好有爱) and Hao You Hao You Ai Season 2 (好友好有爱 第二季) and Love Actually Season 3 (半熟恋人 第三季), alongside Once More (再次心动) and Zhen Ai Zhi Shang (真爱智上).
There's also the My Sibling's Romance (연애남매), I Am Solo (나는 SOLO) Season 1-3, and Couple Palace (커플팰리스) Special links.
These links below are probably expired now, I'll update them later.
Updated Love Catcher Season 2 and I Am Solo Season 1-3 links alongside several other shows (like Wish I Have, Kara (나만 없어, KARA), Go Straight for Love or Direct Love (연애는 직진), Once More (再次心动), The Thought Verification Zone: The Community (사상검증구역: 더 커뮤니티), Steel Troops/The Iron Squad Season 2 (강철부대2), Winning Shot for Tomorrow/Tomorrow's Winning Shot (내일은 위닝샷), etc.) and centralized info about CJK shows: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1byxtrx/wish_i_have_kara_2024/kyoqsj3/?context=10000 and https://www.reddit.com/IamSolo/comments/17o1yoy/i_am_solo나는솔로_season_13_english_subtitles/ku1z5e7/
How to do AI-generated subtitles for Youtube/any show/et cetera: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/17zihpy/kbs_golden_girls_sub/kjxdoju/ and https://www.reddit.com/Dorakoi/comments/18r37bw/love_like_a_kdrama_or_dorakoi_season_11_episode/kf5fv1d/ and https://www.reddit.com/useMNLYYZYEG/comments/17cwt7k/extended_comments_with_walls_of_text/kf5fc1h/ and https://www.reddit.com/CDrama/comments/18ry943/blossoms_shanghai_2023_will_you_be_watching_this/kfjln8x/
A bit more info about sharing big files and difference between softsubs/hardsubs and also OpenAI Whisper v2 model and v3 model subtitles with language learning info: https://www.reddit.com/IamSolo/comments/1cc1i5s/i_am_solo_s20e01_ep_146_20240424/l24u7f and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1cbb2fb/couple_palace_special_240423/l10kssw/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1auaiez/debuting_this_week_대학체전소년선수촌_university_sports/l1h2h4w/?context=10000 and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/19ew9m8/3_new_variety_shows_that_debut_this_week_in_korea/kxk0pl8/?context=10000
If OpenAI Whisper subtitles are too fast, see this comment for how to adjust it (you have to manually edit the subtitles and it will probably take a lot of time) with Subtitle Edit/Aegisub/et cetera: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1chibfs/where_i_can_watch_full_episode_of_golden_girls/l2dlwmt/?context=10000
Difference between OpenAI Whisper v2 model and v3 model subtitles with language learning info: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1bofrf5/couple_palace_episode_9_240326/kwtp9c0/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1bklmiy/no_way_home_episode_5_240321/kwtngyy/?context=10000
Hardsubs info here: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/19ew9m8/3_new_variety_shows_that_debut_this_week_in_korea/kxl9er8/?context=10000
With learning the languages, surprisingly you only need to learn like the basic dialogue or conversational stuff and then you'll be able to understand the dating/cohabitation/slice of life/etc. shows or the Kdramas that aren't too specialized with their own slang (like medical/etc.) and so on.
Definitely try doing language learning for like even just 10 minutes (better if an hour or so with serious studying) during say commute or breaks and so on, even the gamified apps like LingoDeer are super good. Trust, you can be at least fluent enough (obviously not that fluent but you'll recognize the typical phrases and so on) with say 3 months or so, just takes dedication. Thankfully Korean is so accessible now due to Kpop, Kdramas, and Korean variety shows, plus they usually have Korean subtitles embedded on screen so it's easy reading practice all the time.
Language learning info with Korean/Chinese/Japanese/etc. and with the AI-generated English subtitles for East Asian dating/cohabitation/slice of life/etc. shows: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/196wqdj/korean_learning/khwwb2i/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/196wqdj/korean_learning/khxebv4/
Some language learning info, specifically about Korean: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1677qt3/how_do_yall_learn_the_korean_language_by_watching/jyrz27y/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1677qt3/how_do_yall_learn_the_korean_language_by_watching/jyrtvju/
Language learning info with Korean and Chinese and so on: https://www.reddit.com/u_MNLYYZYEG/comments/17cwt7k/extended_comments_with_walls_of_text/kdf2f1c/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/18id42e/does_anyone_know_the_english_name_for_the_show/kdf2fxw/
Basically look into LingoDeer (btw they have the Thai, Turkish, Arabic, and Hindi courses now with LingoDeer), Anki(Droid), Talk To Me In Korean, Learn Korean with GO! Billy Korean, et cetera. Those are basic stuff but they're still good for review.
Make sure to prioritize Anki(Droid) for that spaced repetition system (SRS), doing daily flashcards/decks/etc. is key for recalling the more uncommon/difficult/etc. words and concepts and so on. Don't forget the graded Korean reader books. And you don't really have to move to Seoul or Korea for the immersion, try visiting a local/regional Koreatown if possible. Or sign up for the iTalki/etc. online classes, or even just use HelloTalk/Tandem/etc. (but those language learning apps are often used as dating apps by the non-serious language learners, smh lmao, so be aware of that if you haven't tried them yet).
Centralized comment about the various Korean/Chinese/Japanese/et cetera dating shows and how to access them (with AI-generated/machine translation info): https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1982dli/dating_show_recommendations/l0v8gmg/?context=10000
ArmsAsuncion's website for redditors info and where to find Korean variety shows, Kdramas, Kpop content, et cetera (sorta applies to Cdramas/etc. as well, but ya Bilibili often has decent enough (even if lower quality due to compression) versions of the Korean/Chinese/etc. shows if it's hard to find elsewhere): https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1cj1xsl/my_siblings_romance_episode_10_240503/l2en4vt/?context=10000 and https://www.reddit.com/Singlesinferno2/comments/1cdjigz/singles_inferno_3_hajeong_x_i_am_solo_season_16/l22nayq/
ArmsAsuncion's website for redditors has East Asian dating/variety/etc. shows, Kdramas/Jdoramas/Cdramas/et cetera and it often has the episodes up almost immediately for basically most (dating, variety, drama, etc.) shows from Viki, VIU, KOCOWA, iQIYI, WeTV (Tencent Video), OnDemandKorea, et cetera.
See the following threads for using VPNs (don't forget to use uBlock Origin for the adblock) to get around your ISP blocking certain sites (or if you want to access Viki/KOCOWA/VIU/Netflix/ABEMA/iQIYI/et cetera with VPNs and the like): https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/18tcguq/transit_love_3_exchange_3_e01_20231229/kfl4ztl/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/17o1yrc/i_am_solo나는솔로_season_13_english_subtitles/k86790b/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/18tcguq/transit_love_3_exchange_3_e01_20231229/kfjor0o/
This link with centralized info is mainly for Korean/Chinese/Japanese/etc. dating shows but sorta applies to variety/reality shows in general as well: https://www.reddit.com/Singlesinferno2/comments/1cdjigz/singles_inferno_3_hajeong_x_i_am_solo_season_16/l1o59qa/
More info here on how they do behind the scenes production for these East Asian dating/cohabitation/slice of life/etc. shows: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1bwbmtv/my_siblings_romance_episode_6_240405/ky9qe4o/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/18zxkmk/hello_may_i_ask_if_how_did_they_cast_ex_couples/kgklfcl/ and https://www.reddit.com/useMNLYYZYEG/comments/152jpea/asian_dating_shows_slice_of_life_romance_et_cetera/jsfasoy/ and https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/155kcbm/heart_signal_4_episode_10_230721/jszs3r5/ and https://www.reddit.com/heartsignal/comments/15h5gc6/heart_signal_china_6_episode_2_230801/juu9ep
More context (essentially has no spoilers though) on Shanghai Sharelife panelists: https://www.reddit.com/Shanghaisharelife/comments/o4ljmq/unpopular_opinion/h2iu3q7/
This is a multilingual/etc. ASMRtists list (has a few more newer Korean/Japanese/etc. ASMRtists): https://www.reddit.com/asmcomments/watnwx/questionhey_everyone_is_anyone_out_there_a/ii3qnyv/
Mainly Korean ASMRtists list (like Latte ASMR, Soy ASMR, ASMR Suna, rappeler 하쁠리 ASMR, etc.): https://www.reddit.com/asmcomments/8n2elq/request_southkorean_asmr_videos/kcftn15/
To chill and for more optimistic and relaxing stuff, this is a studying or just audio triggers ASMR list: https://www.reddit.com/asmcomments/xtf23y/discussion_asmr_for_studying/iqqc3d3/
Books similar to Mother of Learning (time travel, time loop, do-over, regression, etc.) with grimdark and progression fantasy and epic fantasy books: https://www.reddit.com/Fantasy/comments/1chqcw0/i_really_liked_mother_of_learning_but_for_reasons/l24etvg/
Fantasy books about fate/time/space/anything (lol), mostly grimdark and progression fantasy books, as well as the standard regular epic fantasy novels and so on: https://www.reddit.com/ProgressionFantasy/comments/17vyh0x/book_with_the_mc_that_has_power_related_to/k9e1y61/ and https://www.reddit.com/ProgressionFantasy/comments/zhfqs4/what_is_the_best_new_progression_fantasy_that_you/izn463
Lightblade by Zamil Akhtar and lucid dreaming with newer fantasy books: https://www.reddit.com/ProgressionFantasy/comments/17uxp5books_like_rage_of_dragons_with_op_mc/k9ds6b9/ and https://www.reddit.com/ProgressionFantasy/comments/vmnd9p/recommend_me_any_progfantasy_series_i_have_not/ier75gp/ and https://www.reddit.com/ProgressionFantasy/comments/v36bpg/lightblade_lightblade_saga_1_by_zamil_akhta
Reverse isekai or portal fantasy books and realism with The First Law series or grimdark in general: https://www.reddit.com/useMNLYYZYEG/comments/17cwt7k/extended_comments_with_walls_of_text/kbebfzy/ and https://www.reddit.com/Fantasy/comments/186rbri/is_there_sort_of_reverse_portal_fantasy_where/kb9ymr0/
A few books where the main character becomes a villain (or is already one) or something similar: https://www.reddit.com/ProgressionFantasy/comments/1c3ykmt/novels_where_the_mc_becomes_a_villain_to_help_the/kzmoag0/?context=10000
Other dating/cohabitation/slice of life/etc. shows stuff, with some ASMR and progression fantasy books (this just means leveling up or power fantasy and so on with isekai/transmigration/et cetera, often in a game world or secondary world): https://www.reddit.com/Singlesinferno2/comments/192n3td/how_gyuri_expressed_her_anger_vs_hyeseon/kh3sqhn/ and https://www.reddit.com/Singlesinferno2/comments/18wo86y/what_happened_to_gwanhee/kfywqb4/
The inevitable UAP/USO/etc. tech disclosure this year of 2024/2025/2026 or the weird/foretold/etc. 2027 date and beyond, everyone gotta hope for unlimited power generation, time travel, simulations, alternate universes, biological androids, and other things: https://www.reddit.com/koreanvariety/comments/1b1ge23/gone_pd_or_pd_has_disappeared_on_mbc/kshm8cd/ and https://www.reddit.com/KDRAMA/comments/1c0exiw/blood_free_episodes_1_2/kz1sdi1/ and https://www.reddit.com/KDRAMA/comments/1cbpg1w/blood_free_episodes_5_6/l13ll0x/?context=10000 and https://www.reddit.com/UFOs/comments/15a6gms/megathread_congressional_hearing_on_uap_july_26/

Race Information

• Name: Mad City Ultras 50K
• Date: April 20, 2024
• Distance: 50 Kilometers
• Location: Madison, Wisconsin
• Website: https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/122616#resultSetId-449259;perpage:100
• Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/11225408991
• Time: 3:04:04

Goals

Goal	Description	Completed?
A	2:50-52	No
B	Sub 3	No
C	Win	Yes

Splits

Mile	Time
1	5:49
2	5:45
3	5:49
4	5:35
5	5:34
6	5:41
7	5:56
8	5:42
9	5:49
10	5:31
11	5:41
12	5:47
13	5:55
14	5:51
15	5:37
16	5:48
17	5:37
18	5:39
19	5:47
20	5:50
21	5:53
22	5:58
23	6:06
24	5:52
25	6:03
26	6:12
27	6:14
28	6:29
29	6:11
30	6:03
31	6:14

Training

Following CIM (Recap: https://www.reddit.com/AdvancedRunning/comments/18hyxcl/took_my_shot_at_the_moon_and_finished_thankful/), I took about about a week and a half off running completely. For once I didn't really have a Spring race locked up ahead of time. Since I wanted to go all-in for this trials thing I decided against signing up for Boston 2024; the first time I wouldn't sign up since I started marathoning in 2018.
Immediately after CIM, I emailed the elite coordinator to inquire about the pro-development field. Unfortunately the field was full, but I was put on the wait list. I figured I would make my final decision post Olympic Trials, thinking people would most likely scratch afterwards.
My second option was USATF 50K Champs in March but after checking in with how my body was holding up 90 days post CIM, I thought it would be too quick of a turnaround. Plus, from my understanding, members of the 50K Road Team for 2025 would not be chosen from this race. So that made my decision much simpler.
My final, and most likely option would be Mad City 50K. The USATF site said that the third spot from the previous year was typically chosen for the team. So the goal would be to run under the qualifying standard (3:00) and win. Judging from past results it would probably take sub 2:55 to take the win here. Coach and I thought sub 2:52 would be possible.
My first full week of consistent running would be the week of Christmas when I was home for the holidays. It was easy to be motivated when the low temps was 50 degrees instead of the 20 back home. 58 miles on 6 days to start and then it was back to Ohio.
I spent the start of January essentially shitposting all of my runs. Chipotle had a segment challenge in my town where the prize was free chipotle for a year for the most segments on a .18 mile stretch. I had no shot of winning but I wanted to make sure my buddy didn't pack it in after gapping the field early. This lasted about a week when my coach responded to my text about potential Spring races with:
"...You'd need to get pretty serious now and prob stop running back and forth for 8 miles lol."
Noted.
The remainder of January was filled with just getting consistent miles, jumping into other people's workouts, and rehabbing this lingering glute issue. While miraculously the issue from last Fall disappeared the morning of CIM, it came back in full force as soon as I crossed the finish line. I made big improvements and was able to be start working out on the 31st.
February Miles: 324 Miles Highest Mileage Week: 86.09 (6 days)
Highlights:
Feb 3rd: 11 miles w/ 30 second pickups and then 3x 5min on the Olympic Trials Course. Splits: 5:19, 5:02, 4:56
Feb 7th: 20x 1 min @ MP/1 min uptempo (7.41 miles, 5:33 avg)
Feb 14th: 15 x 1 min on/1 min off, 16x 30 seconds on/30 seconds off (8.29 miles, 5:43 avg)
Feb 18th: 12x1k w/ 200 jog 4@ MP + 10 seconds (3:27-26-25-24) 4@ MP (3:19-19-18-19) 4@ HMP > 10k (3:10-09-07-04)
Feb 21st: 20x 1 minute on/1 minute on @ MP + 30 seconds, 5 flat mile 8.26 miles, 5:32 pace, final mile: 4:58
Feb 25th: 15x1k w/ 200 jog recovery. 5 sets at 50k pace 5 sets at MP 5 sets at HMP >
3:26-26-25-23-21 3:19-20-18-16-17 3:10-10-08-08-03
Feb 28th: 30 x 1 min/1 min@ MP +20 seconds (10.78 miles, 5:34 avg). Real feel of 22 degrees, 19 mph winds
Lowlights: Feb 11th: Epic blowup during 16 mile LR (6:14 avg), last 4 supposed to be MP, actual: 5:18, 5:23, 5:53, 5:24. Bad route to finish and massive wind. Completely unprepared and too trigger happy.
March was filled with travel. Two out of state weddings for me and long road trips at the beginning of the month.
February Miles: 341 Miles Highest Mileage Week: 90.41 miles
Highlights:
March 6th: 4x (2-2-2-2) (50k-MP-HMP-Easy)
5:30-5:16-5:00-6:49 5:26-5:22-5:04-6:42 5:29-5:15-5:04-6:31 5:26-5:13-4:59-6:36
March 13th: 6x 1 mile w/ 2 min slow jog 5:04-5:02-4:59-4:58-4:57-4:56
March 17th: 24 miles @ 6:32 avg with final 6 @ 50k Pace: 5:36, 5:29, 5:24, 5:24, 5:27, 5:25
March 31: 20 with progression at 10 starting at 6:00. 6:00 > 5:14. (6:00, 5:59, 5:47, 5:42, 5:35, 5:30, 5:25, 5:21, 5:17, 5:14)
Lowlights: March 2nd: 19.08 miles: 6:11 avg, 12 mile progression 4@5:45-50, 4@5:35-40, 4@5:15-20 Actual: Foot issues with Adidas Pro upper, Blew up at 10.7 miles. High humidity in savannah and driving 9 hours over the last day made for a disaster.
March 9th: 20.12 miles, was supposed to be last 8 @ 50k pace. Made it 5.25 before blowing up because of temps and high humidity in SC.
March 20th: 20x 1 minute on @ 50k/1 minute @ 6:00 10x 30 seconds on @ hmp, 30 seconds @ 6:00 9.08 miles @ 5:39 avg
March 22nd: Wrecked my foot on a trail run in Austin for a wedding and could barely put weight on it for a couple days
April:
April 7th: Tuneup workout/race: 9 miler (start at MP and work down to HMP) 9.05 miles @ 5:14 avg
April 10th: 4x 1 mile w/ 2 min jog Mp-mp-hmp-hmp 5:17-16-03-03
Lowlights: Glute issues began to rear its ugly head following the tuneup workout. I had done this same race the last two years before Boston with little issue. This time I'm pretty sure I got a little too aggressive on a rolling course and just aggravated the spot.

Pre-race

We made the drive out to Madison from Ohio on Thursday morning. My original plan was to stop in Chicago Thursday night and finish the drive the following morning but seeing as it was just about an 8 hour drive from Ohio, I thought it would be best to make it in one trip and try to stay off my feet until race time.
I did a loop on the course with a friend of mine as soon as we got to town to try and scope out what was in store on Saturday. The course would feature some rolling but nothing that seemed to be too much of an issue. Wind was a bit of a menace but hopefully it would die down by race day. As soon as we finished we realized we did the course backwards. Whoops.
Glute continued to be a problem despite how much I tried to roll it out. Shakeout felt awful on Friday and but was hoping that I'd get lucky like I did in December. Spent a fairly lowkey day grabbing my bib, and making a stop at New Glarus to grab beer for home.
We drove the course the correct way after we grabbed our bibs, looking at specific spots to build a race plan. The race would be 5 passes over a 10K loop. The race would start over just behind the finish line. Over the first mile we'd run out of the park, a sharp left a quarter mile in to a neighborhood street, a sharp right for our first hill (first a short small one, a slight dip, and an immediate longer one) before another sharp left onto the sidewalk to pass the first mile. The second mile would begin with a quick downhill section down the sidewalk before jumping on a bike path where it settled fairly nicely. After a quick left to head into a neighborhood section, we'd start a small negligible incline at 2.3, then really feel it ramp up at 2.6 and move up until another set of two sharp left turns 400 meters later. None of these first hills were particularly tough but sharp turns when cresting would make it hard to get back into rhythm, especially when we'd face them later in the race.
Mile four would have a quick downhill section coming off the sharp left turns as we headed towards the parking lot of the arboretum. We'd pass mile four as we made our way up the final incline, the mildest of the three incline sections of this course. A second aid station would greet us just after 4 miles with portapottys and water. The next mile would be a mild downhill section that could be a place to settle into a nice rhythm. Trees surrounded both sides of the road, protecting us from any nasty winds. The final section would be unshaded on one side, as the view of Lake Wingra and far off in the distance the finish line. One final sharp left turn took us out of the arboretum back into the park to finish the loop and do it once more. Almost a mile of this section would not have protection from the wind if it decided to pick up.
The race had sent out the lineup for the 50k earlier in the week. I had scanned through the competitors and thought I'd have a fairly good shot at the win. It seemed like a lot of the men had chosen the 100k instead, which not surprising because it would be the qualifier for worlds this Fall. Regardless of what it said on paper, I was prepared to have some people to race with. I've learned over the years that you can't be too confident; the distances will humble anyone.
Race plan would be to settle into the first two loops at about 5:40 average and then start moving over next two. No major moves until the marathon distance.
I struggled to go to bed the night prior to the race. I didn't think I had overhydrated by any means, but I was waking up every hour or so to go pee. I had a beer at lunch, but I typically have a beer at dinner before races. This was worse than I've experienced before.
I finally got some sleep and then woke up around 5:30 to get ready to head out. Bottles were prepared and bags were packed. I had a maurten bar and drank a Maurten 320 mix. Something wasn't sitting right. I was feeling sick and spent the next hour or so trying not to vomit. I thought to myself that while vomiting would probably ease my nausea, I'd most likely be heading into the race with a caloric deficit. To me it was better to be a little uncomfortable early than heading in without some fuel in the reserves.
The weather for the morning was a nippy 33 degrees with a real feel of 24. Wind had died down compared to yesterday but you could still feel a fairly strong gust come up. I decided to put on my brighton base layer under my singlet and double gloves. If I needed to ditch the mittens, I'd drop it after loop one.
With my stomach still struggling I instructed my girlfriend to hand me Nuun Endurance for the first two loops and Maurten for the final 2. The former was fairly easy to drink and would hopefully help settle me down. I took 3 Gus with me and left the remaining with her.
At this point I had made some adjustments to my race plan. The wind was not great and my legs weren't feeling that race day pop. I would play the conservative game for the two first loops and keep it under 3 hour pace and work my way down. 2:55-8ish would be a great day today. That seemed attainable.
After a 10 min jog and some strides, it was time to head to the start line. The 100k field had already been out for about 90 minutes and we cheered as each passed us. I took my first gu, thankfully I was able to take it down without any issues.
The race official separated the 50k solo runners from the relay teams. I said my final well wishes to one of my athlete's running in the women's field and lined up at the front.

Race

After a bit of shuffling at the start I maneuvered my way to the front. I had two relay runners with me and another that had bolted immediately, gapping the field quickly. A quick left turn into a neighborhood and then a sharp right for our first hill. This first loop would be all about getting my bearings for what's to come. I was okay with a slow first mile. As long was I could maintain an average of sub 5:48 for the loop, I'd be under the 3:00 standard to start. As I crested the first hill and made the sharp turn down the city sidewalk the first beep came through, 5:49. Good good. Stay calm and settle in, don't get antsy with 30 miles to go. Take the first three conservatively and let the last three be the place to make some ground. I brought the pace down slightly over the next mile with a 5:45 and then hit the next hill section in a 5:50. Fine, just fine. Crest the hill and two sharp lefts to get into the arboretum.
As I made my second left I saw the leader of the 50K relay. A bike had pulled back with him. "I wrecked my achilles." To be honest I didn't really know how to respond to this. I said "Are you okay?" knowing full well he wasn't but that's the first thing I could think of. I kept going and thought to myself that this was probably going to be one of the loneliest races I'd ever be in. 3 Miles in and I'd been running the majority of this solo already. I was going to have to get real acquainted with my own thoughts.
It was time for the easier part of the course. While this section had some rolling in it, it was much gentler than the previous section, making it really easy to settle into a groove here. I had looked up the splits of one of the women's winners from one of the past years and saw that this section was the place where you could find a groove. I hit a couple 5:30 mids in this section, trying to focus on holding things back a bit here. A second gu just after 4 where I took some water to help take it down. While the wind was not as nasty as the previous days, the final mile was tougher than it needed to be. A final sharp left to get us back to the finish line as I started to feel some mild discomfort, less than 6 miles in, and I needed to go to the bathroom.
As I got smacked around by the wind a bit over the final stretch, I made the decision to ditch the mittens. I have massive raynauds issues but my hands seemed to be just fine with just one pair of gloves. If worse came to worse I'd ask for them back over the next loop. We came back through the finish straight and I scanned the crowd looking for my girlfriend. For a half second I worried I'd miss her, but sure enough she was there ready. I yelled out for a Nuun bottle, tossed my gloves and grabbed the bottle in one fluid motion. Okay got this one without any issues.
One lap complete in 36:09. I took a couple swigs of a cold Nuun and tossed it in a grass ditch 400 meters later. I'd grab them after the race.
As we left the park section I scanned my surroundings. My stomach had begun to tighten up. I need to go pee bad. I took a final look around, jumped in some bushes and did what needed to be done. Back on my merry way. I knew this mile would be slow with this pit stop and focused on not trying to over compensate with a fast next mile. We'd have plenty of time over the last 12 to be a little more aggressive. The next couple miles would be just focused on setting a barrier for myself. A second or two faster per mile would be okay here, but nothing crazy. I took my second gu without any issue.
I crested the second hill with no issues and enjoyed my downhill reward. Up ahead I saw a familiar singlet in the 100k field. "That's fine." I knew a couple guys from my conference ran for this club just after college. I had actually run my first marathon in this singlet. I immediately knew who this chap could be.
"Kris!"
"Yeah?"
"It's Cris from La Verne!"
"Oh I know who it is!"
I rolled past him and another competitor saying hello. He surged slightly and gave me a loving shove forward.
Editors note I hadn't seen Kris in probably 10 years. I went to my first brewery when I had just turned 21 with this guy before I got all into this scene. Kris would eventually come in third during this race, running a conservative, consistent and calculated race. The meet director said he looked like he was having the best time. I'd agree.
I was in good spirits as I went through the second half of the course. My stomach had settled up and I was able to take my third gu without any issue. As I approached the final straight I yelled "Nuun and two gus please!" My girlfriend was not expecting me to ask for Gu but she made a quick move to grab them just in time for me to pass. It was an awkward pass due to me trying to grab everything in one motion as my hips just started to really feel the movement to grab. I noted this but figured it was just a fluke as I had this feeling during a practice session getting bottles in the past.
I came through in just about 72 minutes and I was fairly confident with how this was going to go still. As I made my move up the first hill I started to get that familiar feeling again. Really, I had to pee again...
Just before 14 I jumped into some trees and went. A 5:51 mile section for my troubles here. This was getting fairly annoying. I thought to myself, this is definitely the last time this is happening, suck it up and get back to business.
I saw another familiar face as I passed a 100K group. Geoff! I said hello and he cheered me forward and it was a nice pep up in a fairly quiet race. I had little trouble getting back into rhythm and cresting the second hill following the pitstop.
As I approached 16 the cracks in the armor began to show. It was a familiar feeling. A feeling back to 2021 when I tried this distance the first time. I've never had this feeling at the marathon distance but somehow this was happening 16 freaking miles into a 50K race.
My feet hurt.
Maybe it's the downhill sections. Maybe it's the pair of Vaporfly 2's that have 100+ miles on them already. This causes a quick short circuit to my confidence. This should not be happening. I'm not running that fast. This is 20 seconds slower than I ran in December.
I quickly shake those thoughts. Be here, now.
I take my fourth gu with no issue.
With my feet in mind I make the conscious effort to pull back on the pace a bit. I ran 5:31 for one of these sections last loop. Let's keep it to 5:38-5:40 to be safe. The pace doesn't feel like I'm straining but my feet just are achy. Hopefully this is just a fluke.
I pass through final stretch once more to grab my first bottle of Maurten. I'm fairly nervous at this point. I've stayed on pace, roughly, but things have been far from perfect and while my stomach is feeling settled, who knows what another chug of maurten 320 is gonna do.
I take the couple swigs and toss it into the patch. I see some familiar bottles. My athlete chose the same area to toss her bottles too.
Over 19 miles in and I'm still pretty consistent here. My feet are still crying out to me but other than that my legs feel relatively okay. As I crest the first hill again, another chip. That sharp left turn is feeling much much harder than it was before. My hips are tight and my left side is beginning to labor with each step. The downhills have been chipping away at an already unstable structure and now 21 miles in, these cracks are starting to show.
Again, I pivot on easing for the next couple miles. Ease the pace and hammer that last 10k. "You've run 5:20's before." There's still a chance here. The harsh reality is starting to set in as I crest the second hill that even the prospect of sub 3 hours is fleeting. My head isn't short circuiting here. It's focusing it's energy on checking in on how I'm feeling. I know this isn't going well. But thinking about it more isn't going to help. I have to live with the cards I'm dealt right now.
The "fast section" is now filled with 5:50s, 10+ seconds slower than miles I was joyfully running an hour earlier. Over the last two miles the thought of dropping out at the end of this loop comes to mind.
I'm not having a good time. My main goal for this race is gone and my feet hurt. Why am I out here...
"Well you're 24/25 miles in this race. You have nothing left on your schedule. You drove and invested all this time/money to do this. You're also winning. Finish this up dude."
As I made the penultimate pass through the finish line area I tried to look somewhat composed. Mostly because I didn't want to alarm my girlfriend. lol. The wind down the final stretch definitely made that a tougher endeavor than I would've thought.
This last bottle had no issue. I had another thought that maybe I could thug it out and pull something out of my butt to take me under. But after that final first hill, I knew it was all gone. I passed the marathon mark in 2:32 and with my muscles now screaming at me with every step I knew these last miles would be about survival.
A 6:13 off the hill. A 6:15 down the hill. The climb up the second hill didn't feel too horrible but once again, I needed to go pee. Of course. Let's rub some dirt in it. I have to pull to the side again. Getting back onto it was harder this time. My knee drive is pitiful as I struggle with each unforgiving next step. The nice downhill sections over 20 miles ago are now my nemesis. I try my hardest to keep myself under 6 minute pace as though that would help heal my fractured ego. But alas, I can't. These legs aren't going. I need to get myself to the finish line. What was my redemption at this distance was an ego check.
I pull myself over the next two miles as the wind keeps smacking me in the face. By the time I hit the final stretch I can't even kick. I put my arms up as I cross the finish. My legs aren't stinging like they did at CIM, I don't have the sharp stabbing pains. My body is just tired.
I'm done. I won. 3:04:04.

Post-race

It's a little over two weeks here writing this. I'm a crowler of a solid IPA here so forgive me on some run on sentences. This race was definitely a punch in the gut but a nice reminder of just how these distances work. I've been lucky enough to have have a string of what I would say home run races since October 2021. I was due for a tough one.
I have New York in the Fall. This course has very similar elevation. Had New York been in the Spring it would have ate me alive in my current state. So I take away knowing that I still have a lot I need to work on to make sure I'm ready come Fall.
I'm fairly disappointed with this effort but I'm thankful all the same here. It's a great learning experience and I had an incredible trip.
As a note for anyone looking at these Mad City races. I was pretty blown away by how they treated us. The event coordinators are incredibly passionate about the race and the people. I received a handwritten card that came in today saying congrats and referencing a conversation we had after the race. I've raced a lot of big races over the years but little things like this mean a lot.
I'll be back eventually. I still have a bone to pick with this distance. Ya'll have been incredible for my successes over the years, while this may have been a stumble, I think it's important to talk about these days too. I’m proud of the effort. I definitely need to state that. That was harder for me than CIM.
We're very lucky to have the opportunity to travel to do these crazy things man.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.

I have searched google and Reddit for anyone with previous experiences but haven't found anyone in my current situation.
I found out I was pregnant about about two and half months ago and about 4.5 weeks went through with a medication abortion at home. After finding out I was pregnant I did go to my obgyn to confirm the pregnancy with a blood hgc test and ultrasound where they did see a gestational sac in my uterus.
I live in a state where abortion is illegal so l used aid access to get mife and miso pills. I completed the abortion within a few days and was feeling as fine as I could be. I tested again last week just to make sure I didn't have an incomplete abortion. Still positive, wasn't that concerned until I started getting painful cramps, coupled with some heavy bleeding, pain mostly on my left side. A very similar feeling to when I would ovulate (just a lot worse.)
Because my test was still positive and now these concerning cramps/bleeding, I went back to my obgyn. I heard the advice of if you live in a state where abortion is illegal to tell them you think you've had an incomplete miscarriage since doctors can't tell that you've taken MA pills. So I did just that.
They did an ultrasound and were they able to confirm I had a complete uterine “miscarriage” (abortion) however, they did find a small gestational sac on left fallopian tube. They are going to have me start MFX treatment, because they’re not concerned about it rupturing. I also THANKFULLY live in a state where even though abortion is illegal, termination of ecotopic pregnancies is not criminalized.
Does mife/misoprostol not work on ectopic pregnancies? I find it weird they weren't able to locate the second pregnancy when I had my first ultrasound after testing positive a few months months ago.
My doctor explained that if these pregnancies happened from the same act of conception they consider it a multiple site or heterotopic pregnancy, which are very uncommon. I can confirm it was from the same act of conception just based on my own sexual history.
Anyone have any similar experiences to this or know why they weren't able to notice both pregnancies at the same time?

A breakdown of the title and what it means:

• Meier: A reference to the primary name taken by the Human personage of __ias Meier, ironically meaning [REDACTED BY EMERGENCY ORDER 56] and also ironically meaning "Superior" -- secretary general of the United Nations (the Human-originated organization acting as Earth's local counterpart to the Federation of the greater galaxy, founded nearly two hectocycles ago in the wake of [REDACTED BY EMERGENCY ORDER 56]) until the [REDACTED BY EMERGENCY ORDER 56] in --- October (the rough match to an orbital period of Earth's moon that is the tenth within Earth's own orbital period, named after the number eight) --- 21st (referring to the planetary rotation that Earth was working through after the start of the aforementioned temporal unit), --- 2136 (the two thousand, one hundred and thirty sixth orbital period of Earth since a slightly miscalculated figure for the birth of [REDACTED BY EMERGENCY ORDER 56])
• is: The succeeding description applies to him, uninterrupted, to the present moment.
• the only: The succeeding description is not accurate to other characters in the narrative.
• Competent: He pursued his goals with the best use of his resources, only failing when outside factors interfered.
• Antagonist: Any knowledgeable person would have been aligned against him.
• (and why most sex scenes are not canon compliant): Terra Technologies, owner of the memory transcription technology, usually has more innocuous reasons to be selective about which memories to release from its collection of brain scans.

(This hyperthesis is a long one, so you can scroll to the bottom of the second fourth post for a less than 2000 character TL;DR.)
I'm not posting another bit, this is my unfiltered opinion of one of the most erratic characters in a story full of lunatic protagonists. Some people call this a crack theory. I can't agree, the intended reading is the crack one to me. The plot is moth-bitten if you accept Meier as a swell man that wasn't prepared for reality. And I will take you to those bites so you can know that they are scissor holes.

What are you talking about?

SecGen Meier is the local version of Wallace Breen, a delusional and all too willing accomplice to the invasion and forced transformation of Humanity into servile abominations. By the end of this thorough analysis of his actions, and the distressingly small sample of his thoughts that we read, I will demonstrate to you that he is a character belonging among the likes of Nikonus and Giznel in the annals of history, shielded from his rightful place by the Terran propaganda machine using the simple trick of never showing any bit of haughtiness or rudeness to the notoriously naive main characters.
Let's say that you are working on the fedboy hypnosis of a species. What steps do you take?

• Local powers are consolidated into a planetary government to enable later steps of the Uplift.
• The native culture is repressed in every form until you have drafted a final vision of their role in the galaxy.
• Ee-yos are globally issued to enforce galactic norms on the natives.
• The completed Uplift is finally given some measure of independence once inertia and peer pressure can be trusted to hold them in place.

And how can I show that his actions were following this model?

A case for selective transcription

This post had been a work in progress for quite some time and it's about to show in two ways. Kalsim's fate showed me that I was only right about the one which this entire theory rests upon.
The strongest argument that can be made against this whole interpretation, is the fact that we do read memory transcriptions of himself on two separate occasions, and neither displays any ulterior allegiance to Chairman Nikonus. There is obviously, no tool of investigation that is more thorough than examining the history of someone's actual thought processes. But I can show you how little that matters.
Open SpacePaladin15's patreon, in incognito mode if you're a patron, and keep scrolling down, do not close it when you're done with the following observation. The majority of Isif chapters will have a preview like "Memory Transcription Subject: [REDACTED]", excluding chapters 101, 112, 119, and 142 onwards. Convention leads us to assume that they were undisclosed for being sensitive information. BUT, the rebellion was long over by the time that Memory Transcription technology was developed, and all its structures replaced with formal counterparts, not to mention that there is information that was clandestine at the time in the 4 publicated Isif chapters among many others.
But consider the ethics of allowing anyone to see the most intimate record of someone's history, even posthumously. (Fun fact: this is how everyone in real life will be tortured after their death, good or evil. They'll invite everyone that ever interacted with you in any way to a theater where your special chair projects every second of your existence in supersensible fast motion. Punishment? Hazing? Don't be so egotistical, your comfort and dignity is only an acceptable sacrifice for the closure of others.) When publishing memory transcriptions for civilian use, you would best skip over not just the uneventful parts, but those that were private or downright shameful. Isif executes a cruelty deficient in his very first chapter, not to mention the earlier crimes against sapience he committed offscreen at the beck of Giznel or Meier. It WAS NOT hidden for galactic security, they do not want to depict memory transcription subjects as the villains of their own stories.
(Notice that Sovlin POVs cease once he made his mind to torment Marcel and they don't resume until the latter escapes. And notice again that other protagonists are never caught perpetuating the heinous practices that we know them to endorse. Forget Glim's entire line of work, do you really think that Slanek never gaslit an uplift victim, Tarva never subsidized the opening of new treatment facilities, or Noah never snitched on a history enthusiast?)
And with this in mind, notice that we never get to read his mind during the whole time that humanity is on speaking terms with the Federation. Of the three chapters featuring his POV, Chapter Five was him learning about them for the first time, and Chapters Fifty Three and Fifty Four are aftermath to the Battle of Earth. In other words, no point where he would be thinking "it's so great to be selling Humanity out to the greater galactic order".
Now, while they do admit to Meier doing something far worse than being a normal citizen of the galaxy, that was just a hard man making a hard decision. Unfortunately, even the circumstances leading to him doing the worst thing that any human has ever done, or will be capable of doing for the forseeable future, are still his fault. It would be the last nail in the coffin of his legacy if they admit that he was a part of business as usual for the Conspiracy, and he intentionally killed billions of complete innocents because of the consequences of his own actions.

Why this theory is possible

Here are some things that we can tell about the Kolshian fleet:

• The Federation navy is divided between cosmopolitan jobbers and the Kolshian Commonwealth's shadow armada. It is reasonable to assume that there is similarly secretive infrastructure to serve the other needs of the conspiracy.
• The FTL communications in particular, were of sufficient quality that Nikonus and Giznel were able to have a real time video conference.
• It is safe to assume that any species being prepared for subjugation has Shadow facilities underwater and in nearby space, for purposes of co-ordination, vehicular maintenance, and surveillance of the natives.
• We know that technology used by the Kolshian Commonwealth significantly outdoes any of their vassals in automation, security, and counterintelligence.
• The Archivists believed that the extinction of humanity was no sooner than 1974 (control-F "Farsul Abductee (1/8)" in the patreon tab that I told you to keep open). Nuclear testing already peaked by then, and regardless of how they would interpret the intentions of the act, it clearly wasn't wiping us out, so "the Cold War" is a misconception of how they misconcieved us. This means that the Conspiracy only gave up on humanity by the next major war, a century later, likely because nothing says "Kessler syndrome" like a Satellite War. -- It is possible that this impression was reinforced by the accidental destruction of monitoring bases. It is possible that some uncredited attacks were actually the self-destruct procedures of alien facilities. This bullet point wasn't actually that important because I was just making the observation that some bases had less time to degrade than you would expect which doesn't matter that much in space but I guess the mention of self destruct sequences goes against that. --- It's actually up for question if the Farsul ever believed that Humanity went extinct, they said so when their popsicle stand was blown, but lying is their entire job. Why bother with continuing to defrost humans for the creation of a Cure that you'll never be able to apply?

With this information, I can assume that Nikonus had the means to covertly contact SecGen Meier through an unsquidded vehicle before the information blackout was lifted from the Venlil Republic, and lay down exactly which actions he was supposed to take if he wanted Humanity to live. Remember also that this was all happening in the backyard of a species rightly known as a sleeping existential threat, that all but formally declared independance from the rest of the galaxy - as much of a obvious cover-up as what we're about to discuss.

How would aliens react to ee-yo-fifty-six?

Emergency Order 56 was a legal prohibition against the disclosure of "predatory" topics with aliens, ostensibly an effort to keep them from finding materials that could be used to demonize Humans, as if a photo doesn't do the trick. BainshieWrites already answered the title of this section in Predator War Uncovered - Emergency Order 56, and this section is more specifically here to question its official motive, because it was not something that he made up to downplay the competence and ethicality of the UN, it was something that SpacePaladin15 made up to downplay the competence and ethicality of the UN.
Did your mental alarms go off when I said predatory? Recall how the list of applicable topics grew throughout the story in a way that could be used to make the world's most confusing Bob Parr slideshow. It does not mean threatening, it doesn't even mean carnivorous, it means anything that would challenge their worldview.

• A list of ways that Humans may develop inherent inclinations to conflict with society.
• The animal motifs that we use since childhood (the "animal loving" Marcel wouldn't elucidate Slanek to the idea of safe interactions with carnivorous animals until the antichrist needed guard dogs)
• Any knee-level or deeper lore of a Human religion (ostensibly just proselytism, but both sides have motivation to blur the lines between preaching and satisfying curiousity)
• A digestive imbalance in humans that most overcome by eating meat, and the horrifying consequences of leaving it unchecked. (This is information that was being denied even to Governess Tarva until a global tragedy that was brought about by keeping it a secret)

“You have been starving from eating plants?” I squeaked.
Meier breathed a frustrated sigh. “Humans are omnivores, Tarva, as we have told you many times. The nutrients in vegetables are quite accessible to us.”
“That said, without animal products, we usually develop serious mineral deficiencies,” Noah interjected, sensing my next question. “Vegetarians need supplements or fortified foods: B12, iron, protein, and so on. This has been explained to your medical community.”
Undoubtedly, it was easier to absorb those nutrients through dietary means. At least the Terrans could survive on vegetation, with a little help. The Arxur couldn’t derive any nutritional value from plants, even if they wanted to. I didn’t know why zero scientists, here or in the Federation, had figured that out.
“So it’s not about bloodlust at all. I get the point, I think,” I sighed. “What do you want to do about the grays’ story?”

Much as you love to accuse background racists of being brainwashed idiots - like I'm one to talk with a title like this - let's use empathy for a moment, theory of mind, not just being nice to sad people. Here is what is happening on Venlil Prime:

The Governess has thrown her lot in with an alien race that has a universally attested history of depravity. The latter will confirm but not elaborate on this history, in fact they are morally obligated to attest it with everyone else.
But they refuse to elaborate. This would have just been a case of collective shame if they weren't equally secretive about their current state of affairs, including their daily lives. The information that they will give either drops in clarity at alarming and suggestive frequencies in its coverage of both the past and present, or suspiciously outdoes less infamous cultures at conforming to your idea of civilization. There is a grim precedent for the sort of secrets they could be keeping from everyone, but others will tell you to "think for yourself" when you point at the worrisome data.
And it's always a backhanded appeal to your sense of pride when someone says that. Yet you are noticing, more than ever, that people really don't think for themselves at large, and the secretive warmongerers are exploiting their blind trust in the government through vague assurances that these newcomers have totally changed for the better. From unspeakable, to still unspeakable. The set of possible secrets is infinitely longer than just the ones that are shocking but ultimately acceptable as consequences of a different evolutionary foundation, and you know that they have already strayed far out of the latter category.

Look, I'm sorry. It is shitbrained to have any trust in a species that feels the need for this law. Typically, there are one between three reasons in NoP that someone has chosen to reap the benefits of a brain-crackingly stupid policy, either they do not know better because they were lobotomized by outside influences, their mental facilities atrophied from centuries of political omnipotence, or it worked so it isn't stupid no matter how much we complain. It achieved nothing except to preserve drama, so we can rule that last one out.
But Humans do know better. That's their entire edge in the story. It makes no sense in PR terms to do this when your dirtiest of laundry is being aired out by the heart of civilized space. But if you, the author of this law, actually share an agenda with the Shadow Caste, then it's the perfect trident for roasting your marshmallows. First, it produces the impression that virtuous Humans still need to be unburdened of their current circumstances. Second, it complicates the ability of Human culture to flee a genocide. Third, it protects the galactic consensus in the topics of nature, of predators, and of Humans, from being challenged by their observations.
And speaking again about achieving nothing. Haysi's 'Pure Evil' exhibit stayed up, even unmolested, in the very capital of Venlil Prime for the entire time that he was alive. We know that Tarva knew about this, it might have even been her introduction to the Human race. And she had the ability to follow her interest in taking this slander down. If not from the totalitarian powers that she displayed at the very start of the story, or from the fact that it was most likely public property, then how about Sam's ability to get away with what amounted to very polite vandalism? Tarva must have told some flat nailed biped about it, and one has to assume that this creature told her not to worry about it.
In the end, this officially self-inflicted restriction serves much of the same purpose as the way that recent uplifts are marginalized and postured over. We can assume that every world government, most recently Leirn, started out with laws concerning resistance to modernization that were enforced in similar circumstances.
Special mention should be given to one of the few biological features that were censored; the idea that our hunting strategy made us into an excellent labor force. The galaxy is only fascist in the sense of "the government is being mean :(", and has more of a neoliberal inclination [lie]when predators are taken out of the picture[/lie]. So if anything, it would have given a profit motive to the acceptance of the Human race. If you think that it was just going to brand the Terran work ethic as predatory, that's first a backwards chain of causality, it's predatory because Humans are involved; and second, the official narrative said that Human sociality was predatory under your logic.
However, consider how some amount of 'declawing' was likely to go into our version of the Cure.
They'd never Cure the Human capability for close bonds since imagine proposing that nonsense at the Cure labs and the Behavioral Sink would have done that without need for high tech meddling. Humans were not just personally kinder to the aliens because the survival of their species depended on their best behavior, they couldn't emotionally tell that the aliens were people thus embarassing to care about. In time, this opening in their own kind of artificial callousness would have healed, as both civilizations demanded (and continue to demand), through the integration of alien intelligence into Human norms. This will still happen, the disease of the symptoms has not been treated, apathy will continue to kill the galaxy.
On the other paw, it's much easier to write a takedown order of Human persistence without being spaced into Talsk's hadopelagic zone. If the galaxy knows that our physical heart, not the metaphorical, is a hunting tool, that's something they can announce a Cure for without much more controversy, easily drumming the masses up to demand it before anyone can feel safe around the Children of Planet Earth. And there goes our economic edge in the Federation (in it, not over it, you maniac). It's best if they just think that they need to genetically shave our canines.

Loose lips sink ships but tight ones raze planets

As I mentioned with the Tarva example, all information covered under this law is only spread on a need to know basis, even with leaders that are notorious for their faith in Humanity. But you'd need some sort of consultant for navigating the Federation's 'predator' anticoncept - yet any remotely loyal citizen of the Venlil Republic would be passing the worst of it to their own government, which is exactly what they are trying to prevent. Venlil indiscretion has been as much of a driving force for the story as Human...something. Stars above, this order can not be enforced with any loyalty to the people that you love.
So either they were working on oddly accurate guesswork or their consultants were just more tight lipped than they had any reason to be, or they were using consultation disguised as guesswork. There is no reason that the Conspiracy would wager all the progression of an Uplift on one person, see how the archives were a pan-species effort to everyone that entered their place in the galaxy.
But that hasn't come to fruition yet, so Meier and his colluders had been answering directly to Nikonus, and some silly doggies were ripping their furs out because they're locked out of the loop for anything relevant to the projected zombie apocalypse, and can't even begin to crack the code themselves when any acknowledgment of a nutritional need for meat would be treasonous under the United Nations.
None of that is Meier's fault, there was no way for him to know that it was happening. Although he caused it to happen; and could have prevented it if he had aspirations beyond herding people into ever bigger blobs; the exact factors were out of left field. The archive experiments are not something to be admitted to a third degree Fedboy Hypnotist, and the Hunger incidents were kept as a secret even from the Kolshian Commonwealth. Meier would have just truthfully told Old Nick that forced veganism was a bridge that we were able to cross, save some resistance from those who were...how does that go..."too arrogant". He doesn't know that he needs to give an explanation to other parties why some people were contracting physically lethal cases of predator disease once they were civilized.

It is a common misconception that Meier is the only Human to have a canonical memory transcription.

The wrinkles on Meier’s face were taut with sympathy. “But please let me correct that statement: you did not kill her. You chose not to prolong her suffering, because you’re a selfless, kind person.”

Can I get an opinion of this line from someone that understands Human emotion? It's easy to imagine myself saying it before I take all of my clothes off for a walk into the thruster engines, but I'm not a Venlil Prime Extermination Guild certified Good One like Meier (and which of you here wouldn't commit chicken dinner to clean out the taste of such a commendation?), so I could be ignorant that it would be [squints at teleprompter]...a true...[mumbles into earpiece]...[takes something from assistant] Ritz© moment [waves box around]. So does he know that nothing wins a Fedboy over like dismissing their guilt, or does she take anything that resembles an attempt at consolation? Could Meier have done the same thing by gurgling in a concilatory tone? We are talking about the same woman that locked down lightyears of space over a hug.
But if we skip to the end of his story for a little bit, there is one line of hers that can't be explained by the conventional narrative, at all.

[Censored] Meier had dedicated himself to virtue and the pursuit of peace to the last. Every temptation pushed him the opposite direction, but he was true to his beliefs.

Really. Really. Out of everything there is to deny about the whale in the chinchilla cage, are people really going to say that it wasn't any instance of yielding to the temptation to kill? And Governess Tarva wouldn't just forget about that. No one would be able to enter her position without keeping awareness of such actions and their ramifications. No one can do those things without permanently tainting an onlooker's image of them, either, that's why this post exists!
There is room to argue that these words were put into her proverbial mouth, since the story periodically switches to using italicized paragraphs, an indication of being an internal monologue. As if the rest of the narration isn't, and many 'thoughts' were just an attempt of the transcriptors to put their drives and emotions to words, just like with the visual imagery of the scanned brain, and this time, they went overboard wiping his butt. We can rely on Terra Technologies to have no conflicts of interest when documenting Terran atrocities. And with that in mind, isn't it interesting that our second layer of unreliable narration idealizes codependance of both polity and person, the cause of all problems in this story? Perhaps this is why they never rebuked biocalvinism in the case of Arxur non-defects. Any proof that predapaths can have productive, harmless lives would mean showing how to give moral inclinations to those that were resistant to the traditional means of this, and that means that employees of this alarming gigacorp have to play by the same rules as everyone else in this galaxy.
And just like that, this thought is immediately followed by an example of an internal monologue.

[Censored] will be missed. He was a true leader, willing to do whatever was necessary. He dreamed big; there was so much he could’ve offered humanity.

This isn't the same sort of an outright delusion, as it's just an opinion. A stupid one, but the kind of stupid to expect from the combination between apathy and naiveté that Tarva has been raised into. Same vein as the non-reaction that many had towards the Kolshian Commonwealth's genetic intrusion, cultural genocide, and colluding with Arxur to destroy the homeworlds of Federation members.
And to make more counter-criticism of the way that aliens behave in this story, this aspect of the narration exonerates them from a lot of oblivious comments ascribed to the depths of their minds. They literally did not know what they were thinking. Our self awareness is mostly limited to that which we're setting ourselves to commit our own physical beings towards. This is why the Human system as much of a leap in insidiousness over the Kolshian system as the latter were over the Arxur system, since it does a better job at hiding the injury that your compliance brings. The story of Kalsim is that empathy is no replacement for a moral code, it is simply the bodily function to model other people's mental states. If you start treating empathy as a synonym for morality, you'll spare anyone with the luck to be in front of you, whether they're Arjun or Kalsim, while continuing with the eradication of everyone that couldn't stimulate your mirror neurons.
But I decline the possibility that Tarva's first thought was an oblivious moment of idealization, when those actions should still have a weight on her subconscious idea of him.
I might have to move to Wriss after ending this lecture. The personality disorder assessor can finally detain me for lovebombing and a chemical lobotomy if she has sufficient grounds to pile Schizotypalism on top of my Oppositional-Defiant diagnosis. The prior sorcery allegations had been a joke for the purposes of all conversations with her, but I don't think that I can keep saying so when I have evidence that he was using mesmerism on Tarva.
That's not insanity, I'll tell you what is insanity: accusing Terra Technologies of directly lying to cover up for the brood parasite. They can downplay, hide, simplify, mistranslate, but never lie. There is no more meaning in this subject if we allow ourselves to reject the text. If that can be thrown out, anything else can, and there goes all shared ground for the 'reality' suggested by chapters of The Nature of Predators.
So Meier has to be a literal hypnotist that used unnatural means to repress, but not erase, inconvenient memories of Tarva's. It's that, or he was already gave her the impression that he'd, well...

She was on 40 mg for probably about 2 years now. They told her to take 30 to start tapering which, from everything we've read about Prozac and it's long half life, didn't seem so bad. But she started suffering from dizziness, lightheadedness, headaches, and nausea about a week into the new dose. She also has felt a lot of emotional volatility.
She's no longer getting the headaches and the frequency of the other stuff has improved though she often feels like she's one wrong move or emotional trigger from spiraling and feeling really shitty.
She went back to her psych (it's probably week 5 of the new dose) because she wanted to see if, based on her experiences, she should go back up to 40 mg or keep pushing onward.
The doc and resident told her she can either stay on 30 or go down to 20 but they won't put her back on 40 at this point. She's decided to start on 20.
Has anyone had a similar experience and know if the second drop in dose will feel similarly dramatic to the first? The resident expressed some hope that perhaps the worst of the symptoms was just from her body adjusting to that original dose she was on for some long, and that additional tapering won't be as intense, but I know how individualized these experiences are.
I know many people don't have tough withdrawals from Prozac in general but hoping someone may be able to provide perspective.
FYI I've shown her and recommended her the survivingantidepressants site. She definitely values the perspective but doesn't find it feasible to be that granular with the changes and is insisting on powering through.
Bonus if anyone has any success stories coming off of Prozac and wants to share positive experiences with fitness or health changes, experiencing the good side of feeling the full spectrum of emotions etc.
Thank you!

This might be a bit of a unique situation and I wanted to get some opinions. For reference I have a BS in Comp Sci and ~2 years working experience, however that working experience is as needed and I am the only dev. I shadowed another dev for about 6 months on a Java/Spring application but wasn’t authorized to touch that code. I have been working on personal projects and building things on my own for ~ 4years now as well.
I have been working for a relatively small company for the past 10+ years mostly doing none IT related stuff. I however technically have 3 titles. I had my day job and handled laptops for onboarding people into the company as well doing some coding of tools as needed (built a site to display data and Adobe Illustrator scripts).
I recently have gotten an offer from a pretty large IT staffing company working with my old co-workers as the contract we were on went to this other company. They essentially want me to come in and start building tools for them as they have seen me do it before. My biggest concern is they currently have no tools for this position and id have to start from scratch. I have concerns of funding a cloud infrastructure or admin access to peoples computers to install tools if cloud isn’t possible. It’s easy to want someone to come in and build something but what exactly or what limitations I would have not been discussed. To an extent this feels like more of a headache than the offer is worth.
The offer is 11% more than i am currently making with almost the same/very similar benefits. The only real big bonus is they have a learning center portal I can take advantage of. This company also say they prioritize moving people to other potions if something was to happen with this one (however I don’t believe any company that states that).
Besides having to build everything by myself I just feel like this could be looked down on if I tried to go elsewhere as I will have never had to collaborate with another dev or have a more senior dev to look to for guidance. It just feels like a potential for a lot of bad decisions and shooting myself in the foot that could be avoided.
This could just be my imposter syndrome leading me to think like this, but I wanted to get someone else who is a more experienced devs opinion.

She was on 40 mg for probably about 2 years now. They told her to take 30 to start tapering which, from everything we've read about Prozac and it's long half life, didn't seem so bad. But she started suffering from dizziness, lightheadedness, headaches, and nausea about a week into the new dose. She also has felt a lot of emotional volatility.
She's no longer getting the headaches and the frequency of the other stuff has improved though she often feels like she's one wrong move or emotional trigger from spiraling and feeling really shitty.
She went back to her psych (it's probably week 5 of the new dose) because she wanted to see if, based on her experiences, she should go back up to 40 mg or keep pushing onward.
The doc and resident told her she can either stay on 30 or go down to 20 but they won't put her back on 40 at this point. She's decided to start on 20.
Has anyone had a similar experience and know if the second drop in dose will feel similarly dramatic to the first? The resident expressed some hope that perhaps the worst of the symptoms was just from her body adjusting to that original dose she was on for some long, and that additional tapering won't be as intense, but I know how individualized these experiences are.
I know many people don't have tough withdrawals from Prozac in general but hoping someone may be able to provide perspective.
FYI I've shown her and recommended her the survivingantidepressants site. She definitely values the perspective but doesn't find it feasible to be that granular with the changes and is insisting on powering through.
Bonus if anyone has any success stories coming off of Prozac and wants to share positive experiences with fitness or health changes, experiencing the good side of feeling a full spectrum of emotions etc.
Thank you!

Some horrible things that happened a few years ago on my PGCE have been getting me down nearly 5 years later - I wanted to know if anyone else had had experience with this, and if anyone could offer me some advice on how to heal.
To set the scene: 5 years ago, at 22, I started my PGCE, straight out of university. I had moved to a new area where I knew no-one. I was nervous, but excited to start my PGCE. Sadly, my first teaching placement became one of the darkest times of my life. The main perpetrator of the abusive behaviour was my HoD: let’s call her Sarah. My mentor was a close second: let’s call her Julie. An honourable mention should also go to one of the deputy heads: let’s call her Sharon.
This is a comprehensive list of everything I can think happened in those four months:

• Julie would rarely look over any of my lesson materials in mentor meetings. Instead, she would use the mentor meetings to chat to her friend and deliberately ignore me - she made it no secret that she wished he could take my place (and guess who was chosen to do a PGCE under her the following year?). I even suggested we could meet in the staff room instead of the department office, making no mention of her friend - she reluctantly agreed, and things marginally improved after that. To think of her using the time, that should’ve been for her to support me, to deliberately make me feel like a pathetic nuisance is just disgusting to me, as someone who’s now had a student teacher of their own.
• Julie spent the majority of the time on Instagram during my observations. Despite this, she told Sarah that I was the one on my laptop during lessons (I occasionally sent a work email - I genuinely had no idea that this wasn’t allowed) and Sarah gave me a stern talking to for this.
• Julie’s language skills (I teach MFL) weren’t the best. She gave me this activity to do, and when I ran it, I slightly changed the language she used (I wasn’t going to teach my students incorrect language). I never pointed out her errors to anyone, never mind the students, but she had a face like thunder whenever anything similar would happen.
• One time, during my first week at that school, I arrived after 8:20, to which Julie sarcastically said, in front of the aforementioned friend: ‘Oh, you’re very late!’. No-one had told me I had to be there by 8:20, especially as I wasn’t at school during full-time hours, and my first lesson wasn’t until 11 - the ‘you should know the rules even though no-one’s communicated those to you’ became a pattern. I’d know that nowadays, but I was genuinely just young and trying hard to please - I felt so belittled and humiliated.
• Julie gave me so much of her own marking to do, with very little instruction on how to do it, that I was frequently up working until midnight. I also had to set cover - the workload meant that I felt so depressed and alone.

Moving on now to Sarah - even writing this makes my blood boil for the 22-year-old student whose spirit was crushed by this woman. - Sarah told me, at the beginning of the school day, that my skirt was too short for school. She said that it was ‘inappropriate and distracting’. This skirt was a black skirt from the M&S workwear section - it was hardly inappropriate for a work setting - but I decided to go home and change, seeing as I had a two-hour PPA session. This incident (leaving the school site, which I didn’t know wasn’t allowed) was brought up by both her and Sharon numerous times as an example of my ‘unprofessionalism’. Why did she decide to tell me at the beginning of the school day, if my outfit didn’t match the dress code? How dare she imply that it would be my fault if I were sexualised by the male students? She knew what she was doing here - it was a start of a campaign of gaslighting and bullying that would land me in a very dark place. - Sarah used the skirt incident as an excuse to watch me crying in my car on my lunch break. She told me that she did this so that she could ascertain that I was telling the truth about having not left the school site after that time. This was after she reprimanded me for crying in the department staff room - she genuinely (I can’t even believe I’m writing this) told me not to cry in the department staff room, as it was unprofessional. - Sharon found me crying in the staff toilets and asked me, very kindly, what was wrong. I said there’s been some issues in MFL, but didn’t go into detail. She then told Sarah, who accused me of jumping the chain of command. - Sarah kept me, on more than one occasion, for two hours after school to discuss her ‘concern’ for my mental state. She did this until I was crying and exhausted. She did this with the intention of convincing me that my perception of what was happening at that school was delusional, even though I didn’t ever really open up to her about how I felt. - Sarah contacted my PGCE provider, and I was placed on ‘cause for concern’ for lack of professional behaviour. This crushed me. I explained to my provider about some of the things I’d experienced, but they seemed fixated on the skirt, saying that they’d seen me wear it before and that it was ‘rather short’. She’d not mentioned this to me before, and I think it’s amazing how some of the other student teachers got away with much shorter dresses, and that the male teachers could wear trousers that left very little to the imagination, but that my M&S skirt was somehow unacceptable, if it meant keeping their placement school on side. - Sarah told me off for not translating my lesson plan into English for her. This is particularly ludicrous, as she asked me to use target language in my lessons, and she was Head of MFL. - Sarah scolded me for leaving an observation early, even though the teacher whom I was observing said I could go early. I had listened attentively the whole time, as I always did, and that colleague had spoken to me a lot about her personal problems, so that felt like a betrayal. - Sarah shouted at me for eating my breakfast at work in front of several colleagues, saying I was going to be late to form (I wasn’t).
This was all in the context of me being brand new to the world of work, and it completely overshadowed all the effort I put in. This included teaching my Y7 German class to sing a song in German; I also choreographed this performance for them, including helping them organise costumes and blocking. Students gave me really positive feedback on my lessons, and the form I was with got me a lovely leaving card and gift. So many students got me cards and said nice things to me of their own volition. I even helped prepare the school choir for their Christmas performance. I reached the point where I seriously contemplated crashing my car, as I felt that post-uni life would be so full of despair and sadness that it wouldn’t be worth living.
Sarah said that ‘everywhere will be like this’. However, I can happily say that I’ve had a happy and fulfilled career in teaching since. I passed my PGCE with distinction and I work at a prestigious school where I’m treated with respect.
What I want now is to rid myself of those last lingering feelings of unworthiness. Thank you so much for reading.

This morning 🔴Access to your "OK" device was obtained on OK. An email arrived with the subject.
He sent me my passwords and a screenshot of my computer from about a month ago. In fact, about a month ago, I downloaded a file from GitHub to change the hwid of my computer, but a day after downloading it, my Steam account was hacked and . After that, I changed all passwords for important accounts. I also formatted my computer. It seemed like the hacker didn't know the newly changed password. What should I do in this situation? Below is the contents of the PDF sent by email. Please help me

Hello. I've come across something that might catch you off-guard. OK - You should be cognizant of the fact that as of today, I have taken full control of your device's operating system and, by extension, your account. Your digital life has been under my meticulous watch for a considerable period. A virus has been installed on your system, enabling me to control your devices, particularly the display and camera. I've harvested all your data, from messengers to social networks. I've harvested all the information on you during this time. While keeping an eye on you, I discovered something noteworthy. Given our shared awareness, the course of action seems clear, wouldn't you agree? If you'd rather I didn't carry this out, send 1000 $ (Dollar US to my Bitcoin wallet. BTC wallet address: bc1qr29dqp2vrm4wz746gz3ruygchq9pm6fyfs9zcf If you're not sure how to fund a Bitcoin wallet, consider using Google to find a step-by-step guide. Once the funds have been received, I will immediately remove all unwanted material. Afterward, we can part ways. I assure you that I am committed to deactivating and removing all malware from your devices. You can trust me; I always honor my commitments. This is a fair deal, especially considering the time and effort I've invested in tracking your profile and traffic. You have exactly 48 hours from the time you open this letter to make the payment! In case I do not receive the agreed-upon amount from you after this timeframe, I will share access to your accounts, visited sites, personal data, and edited materials with the public, and no warning will be given. Just remember: I don't make mistakes, and I strongly discourage any attempts at humor with me. My resources are abundant. Complaining about me is fruitless because they won't be able to trace me. Formatting the drive or destroying the device will be ineffective because I already possess your data. Writing back to me is a pointless endeavor, as I don't communicate through personal email, and I won't be monitoring responses Best of luck, and don't let this ruffle your feathers! Every person has their own tasks, and today, it seems you've drawn the short straw. Going forward, I'd advise you to observe online safety measures and avoid sketchy websites. You can enhance your security with Norton Security Deluxe or a similar antivirus. OK You HWID: OK Operating system: Windows 10 build 19045 (64 Bit) Antiviruses: OK Available keyboard layouts: Korean 

On site is too expensive for myself so I'm looking for any offsite parking with access to the metro - could even be in another suburb outside of the city center, as long as the metro is nearby. Guessing near the airport is still pricey so maybe by Sycamore station in Mesa or similar.
Any free or cheap parking lots near any metro stations that would let me stay 4 nights and take the light rail to and from the Phoenix airport? Trying to not have to ask a drop off favor and figured I could take advantage of the light rail.