Final Reposting on these timestamps with even more price dropping!!
Shipping to CONUS. Locals to CO can pick up in North Denver and we can figure out the details for a slight discount of the postage costs.
TIMESTAMPS
1) Anbernic RG nano - $65 $57 $50 shipped - Original owner like new, Used lightly until I realized my old eyes have too much trouble focusing in on this. It's beautiful, I love the buttons and they're not that small to enjoy playing tetris on even! Comes with original box, accessories, 64gb card with OS and loaded with a bunch of games.
2) Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 512GB UNLOCKED used on Google Fi - $550 $515 $475 Shipped - Original owner. My daily driver phone for about a year still in good usable condition and fair body condition. No cracks or abuse, very light scratches to hinge area, front screen protector, and inner screen protector. Has a screen protector on front screen, original factory protector on the inner screen, and has been in its case since day one. That's not necessarily a good thing though. The nature of the opening and closing inevitably lead to particles finding their way in and scratching the hinge area, see photos and video. Comes with original box, no charging USB-C cable or brick, Samsung case with S pen / hinge, and Spigen armor back with hinge "protection" that caused the original scratches due to particles and hinge cover.
5) Intel NUC 11 EXTREME - nuc11BTMi9 barebones - $550 ~~$450 Shipped - Very sleek, clean, SFF pc unit. I picked this up to replace my NZXT H1 build, but decided I still want my custom buildability. Nuc 11 Extreme barebones unit with an i9-11900KB compute element. Has room for 3 nvme drives, 2 SODIMM slots, and a full size GPU. I tested that at least up to 3070 FE will fit. The 3090 FE would not fit, but I hear other brands of 3090s will go in there. This unit comes with NO RAM, NO DRIVE, and NO GPU.

Hello I need advice.
I do not like being touched. I don't like hugs and I don't like if people stand really close to me. If I can help it, I try to communicate these at social/family events but I do tolerate a certain amount in public because it seems that can't be helped. It feels akin to those gag toy packs of gum that vibrate/shock you when people touch me. When poking people in middle school was a big thing, I always poked really hard because when I got poked it hurt so I thought everyone was just jabbing each other.
Anyways, I don't like physical contact. That's covered. My husband's teen brother is autistic and almost 100% non verbal. My mother in law says his IQ is 37 and his mind is that of a three year old. These are her words but I don't know how else to describe him. He climbs all over anything and he's very physical especially with his mom and for whatever reason, me. He likes to get less than an inch from my face and screech loudly. He tries to grab my hair or my arms but I don't let him but he does it to his mom. Hell pull her hair in all kinds of directions and even straight up slap her. She mostly just deals with it.
I don't want to do deal with this, though. I don't like constantly being vigilant in case he comes up from behind to do it. I haven't tried telling him because his mom says he won't understand. I use physical body ques like I would with my dogs which honestly seems to work a little but I know next to nothing on how to proceed with this.
Simply not going isn't the best option. I don't want to be rude or hurtful either. But I need my space respected.

I picked up my new MT Mazda 3 2024 a few months ago, and due to strong vibrations in the gear lever the transmission was replaced after only a few hundred miles. There was a specific TSB that covered my issue, so Mazda promptly authorized said transmission replacement. In addition to the transmission the shifter cables were replaced and adjusted, but the flywheel and clutch were not replaced.
Since then, I'm randomly experiencing a feeling of resistance/notchiness when shifting, notchiness that wasn't there before and in specific gears it's similar to a multi-tooth grinding sensation. Specifically:
1st gear: slight notch (1 shift out of 3-4)  
2nd gear: multi-teeth grinding sensation (1 shift out of 2-3)  
3rd gear: strong notch (1 shift out of 6-7)  
4th gear: slight grinding sensation (1 shift out of 2-3)  
5th gear: slight notch (1 shift out of 3-4, like 1st gear)
I've prepared a diagram that summarizes the different 'crunches', available at https://ibb.co/3YGWJX8 .
These grinding sensations appear randomly, both when the engine is hot and cold, with no apparent factors that consistently allows to reproduce them. Shifting to a lower or upper gear doesn't make any difference. I cannot hear any noise, vibration or any kind of abnormal feedback when shifting. When there isn't any notchiness, the 'normal' shifts are extremely fluid and pleasant. Again, it's totally random.
The mechanic has tried replacing and readjusting the shifter cables according to a procedure described in a specific TSB, as well as replacing the gearbox oil, but it didn't help at all - it subjectively worsened the 1st gear notchiness and the sawtooth feeling when shifting to 2nd.
My mechanic is at my wits end, Mazda doesn't seem to be interested in pursuing the case further, and at this point the dealer is willing to buy back the car. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem, even with other cars, and managed to solve it or at least pin-point its root cause?

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/metro/907281/2-cops-alledgedly-serving-as-bodyguards-of-chinese-nat-l-arrested-after-fight-in-posh-subdivision/story/
By GMA Integrated News May 19, 2024 7:03pm
Two policemen supposedly deployed to Zamboanga who were instead serving as bodyguards to a Chinese national were arrested after an altercation inside an exclusive subdivision in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
According to police, the two suspects were members of the Philippine National Police - Special Action Force ( PNP-SAF) who admitted they were working as personal bodyguards of a Chinese national residing in a subdivision in the Ayala Alabang area.
The two cops reportedly got into a heated argument that led to blows, with one of them sustaining wounds on his forehead.
The two men — a police corporal and a patrolman — were detained after being reported to authorities by residents that included Muntinlupa City Mayor Rozzano Rufino “Ruffy” Biazon. The incident was circulated in an online group chat of residents where the mayor is a part of.
“Nagkaroon yata sila ng altercation amongst themselves. Pareho silang empleyado ng naninirahan sa bahay, and then noong nagkatakbuhan, ‘yung isa yata pumasok sa ibang bahay so kaya natakot siyempre ‘yung residente roon,” Biazon said in an exclusive report on GMA’s 24 Oras Weekend on Sunday.
(There may have been an altercation amongst themselves. They are both employees of a resident and one of them may have entered another house which is why the residents became scared.)
The two men are now detained at the Muntinlupa City Police Station.
Biazon also said the local government will seek assistance to verify if the employer of the two policemen is connected to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs).
"Baka related din sa purely illegal activities. 'Yun din ang gusto naming malaman," the mayor said.
(This might be related to purely illegal activities. This is what we also want to know.)
“Nag-report lang po sa akin ‘yung dalawang driver na may nag-aaway po doon sa kanila. Tingin ko parang galit, pero nung sinabihan kong huminto, huminto naman agad siya,” Renz Antero, one of the guards of the subdivision, said in the same report.
(Two drivers reported there was a fight in the area. I think he was angry, but when I told them to stop, he stopped immediately.)
The two individuals, however, denied that they got into a fistfight, with one of them saying in Tagalog that it was “not that serious” and the other saying that they were just initially joking around as they were close.
The duo is now being investigated as they were supposed to be currently deployed in Zamboanga.
“Sa ngayon po ay under investigation sa aming opisina itong dalawang PNP member, so as of now iyon ang aming mako-confirm, and sila ay members ng support unit, support unit po ng PNP,” said Muntinlupa Police Investigation and Detective Management Section chief Police Captain Riza Soledad.
(What we can confirm now is that it is under investigation of our office and that they are members of a PNP support unit.)
The two individuals did not respond to questions regarding their employment details and what they were doing in Muntinlupa City.
“Waiting for investigation, sir, hindi na lang natin (let’s just wait for it),” one said, while the other said “hindi namin masasabi. Hindi namin masasabi lahat ng information, sir. (We cannot say. We cannot share all the information).”
Police said they received information that the two individuals were ordered by a battalion commander in Zamboanga City, receiving a pay of P40,000, of which P20,000 would go to their battalion. The individuals, however, could not provide documents to support this.
For his part, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) head P/Major General Jose Melencio Nartatez said police members serving for private individuals should first secure the approval of the Chief PNP.
“We have a unit in the Philippine National Police, that is the PNP Security Group, PSPG. In this PSPG, sila ‘yung nagbibigay ng protective custody sa ating mga whether civilian or VIP security wherein itong binibigyan nila ng security, of course, ay mayroong threat in their lives,” he said.
(In this PSPG, they are the ones who give protective custody whether to civilians or VIPs wherein those given security to are, of course, those who have threats to their lives.)
“Sabi ko no cover up, no whitewash, makasuhan ‘yung dapat makasuhan whether criminal case or administrative case on the part of these two PNP personnel," he added.
(I said no cover ups, no whitewash, file cases against those who deserve it, whether criminal case or administrative case, on the part of these two PNP personnel.)
SAF acting director P/BGen. Mark Pespes also confirmed that the two are members of the SAF, and that they will be relieved from service to give way to the investigation.

Can smone pls mark my descriptive text from 40? The question: write a text abt an old broken object. Thanks in advance!!!! :))
The watch
Fetching in my grandpa's soldier's uniform's pockets, I found an antiquated piece of time: a watch of his, back from the Second World War. I desperately tried to discern it, but my body cast an eerie shadow on the watch that it made it impossible to even see the Roman numerals on the watch's interface. I clasped my fist, tenaciously, with it inside and then shuffled my way to the room's window, furitively, trying to avoid drawing the attention of my parents. I opened my fingers, one at a time, and revealed this incorrigible piece of history of my grandpa, but I found that it was worn out and in a miserable state. It was broken. The front glass had an artistic pattern of scratches, that I was incompetent of reading the brand's name, the golden dull case was apparently damaged and had etched wounds and the brown leather's threads of the strap, that sewed two layers of leather together and sealed them, stood sporadically erect like stubborn baby hairs after a dip in salty seawater.
I flipped the watch upside down and there were illegible letters engraved on the back cover. As I was scrutinizing it, attempting to read what was carved onto this opulent disk of gold, I noticed it was craggy and wasn't evenly straight. It was open that it looked like a crevice from the side. Before attempting to shove my nails in the crevice and opening it, I tried peeking into the intricate brain of this masterpiece from the ajar lid, but it was all dark. Black. Nothing could have been seen, even with the sun's light directly aimed at the opening. I felt rejoiced and more curious, for I considered it a mysterious adventure to discover the neglected for decades. I impetuously, but a little tentatively, hauled the cover and it opened, but with a simultaneous crack sound. My heart skipped a beat. I looked at the inside of the watch, but I wasn't seeing. My eyes were broad open and my eyebrows arched exaggeratingly. Did I break it? What was that crack? Oh no. I examined it and concluded that it was just because it was so old and decrepit that it didn't open smoothly.
The inside was dingy and dilapidated. Components were stuffed with dry soil and the smell was musty and noisome, that it tickled my nostrils. All I could see were thin metal strips half buried in the relatively large amount of sand, like plants hesitatingly growing to the atmosphere. I felt like it was necessary to open the lid, because soon enough the revolting scent diffused and was no longer there, as though releasing sorcery from a sacred bottle. I was bewildered. I didn't know whether to fix it and make of it a good use or to keep it as is, useless, but an unforgettable memorandum of my grandpa's corpse. I pondered in silence, considering its value that I could sell it, but I disregarded the idea hastily, for no amount of money was worth such intimate, although still reeking, object.
I repaired it.
Post receiving it, it was good as new. The glass was spotless and I could read 'Patek Philippe 1941.' The case was still damaged, because it was irreparable and the leather strap was sewed all over again. Reading the bottom lid, the letters were: 'L.J.C' which stood for Lieutenant Jacob Carlson. Although the repair made a hole in my bank account, that I may not recover from. This sole detail made it worth all the money I spent. I decided to keep the watch and use it daily, as an honour of my grandpa's corpse

Bought the UMD only as was much cheaper but now want the case too!

I'm a 34 female who does not drink alcohol or smoke. I do drink coffee every so often and soda rarely, but haven't been lately due to the tooth pain.
I had a molar crown replaced in February that has been giving me trouble ever since. The crown originally covered a cracked tooth, and I had to get a cavity filled underneath it before replacing it. The cavity apparently went very deep.
I had no pain/sensitivity with the temporary crown, but have had increasing sensitivity after the permanent crown was installed. We waited to see if it would go away, but it's only gotten worse. I had a bite check done, where they ground down the crown some, and xrays taken to check the seal. Everything looks like it should be perfect, so the concern is the nerve is just being agitated from how deep the filling went.
My dentist finally referred me to an endodontist and I have a root canal scheduled for May 29th.
The problem is, within the last 3 days or so, the pain has rapidly accelerated from just being around when I drink/eat cold things to being around all the time. It's a deep, throbbing ache, and has begun to disturb my sleep and daily activities. Sometimes it just randomly goes away, but most of the time it's in the background as a dull ache. Though sometimes it comes to the foreground as a very painful deep ache, and it's the deep ache that's causing me problems.
I decided to try following the pain management protocol my dentist gave me after a tooth extraction, with 600mg ibuprofen followed by 500mg tylenol three hours later, which worked initially, but now I have to take 800mg ibuprofen or 1000mg tylenol to make any dent in the pain.
I'm also using a dentek kit with a topical benzocaine applicator to the surrounding gumline, but that really only gives me about 10 minutes of temporary relief.
I've tried a cold pack, which made it worse, and applied heat, which has helped some, but once I remove it the pain comes back with force.
I've sent my GP a message about this through our patient portal asking for advice, but until she gets back to me, I'm on my own. Are there any at home remedies that you can recommend that might help lessen the pain? I'm kind of desperate at this point.
edit: In case it's relevant, I don't have swollen or bleeding gums around the crown, and can floss without blood or discomfort.

It has been 20 years since the first calamity struck Earth. A massive wave of solar radiation from a nearby star known as Prometheus 673B showered our solar system in 2025. Electronics have been rendered useless for months, giving humanity the glimpse of what life was like long before. But that was merely temporary. The true effect of the solar flare came in the form of an illness, that afflicted roughly 10% of the current population. Unlike anything we've ever seen, the illness did not kill, rather enhanced the afflicted. For the first time in human history, the term Esper was used seriously. Dubbed the Awoken, those afflicted with illness that stemmed from the solar flare of Prometheus, gained the ability to manifest their own thoughts into reality, with varying degrees of success. At first, nations and laws, society as whole, was not prepared to deal with these new humans and their abilities. Crime ran rampant for a while.
Five years after the incident, the world banded together in a unified front, known as the AMA, The Awoken Management Agency, a world wide agency tasked with handling and controlling the Awoken, allowing humanity to once more function as a whole. Satellites have been sent out as far Earth's gaze into space could reach, to watch our for any other potential cosmic events that may occur, like the one that happened with Prometheus back in '25.
Now, 20 years since the first incident, the satellites have picked up another major cosmic event on the horizon, this time coming from the Aquila constellation. Is humanity ready to withstand whatever cosmos has prepared for it?
[]
"Kenji. Wake up! You'll be later for your lectures, again."
The young man groaned, slowly turning to his side in bed, looking at his mother that stood at the doorway. "I'm up, I'm up."
Yawning and stretching, he sat up in bed, running his fingers through his hair, before turning to check the small clock on his nightstand.
"Wha? Late? Mom, it's only 8. Lectures don't start until 10." He sighed.
"Oh well. No need to cut it short, right? Plus, I've made breakfast." His mother replied and went back downstairs.
[]
AMA Information Database:
Kenji Aoto. Age: 21 Category: Type 1 Awoken Ability: Embodiment. The unique ability of Kenji Aoto, unlike other Awoken of the same type, allows him to alter his own body based on how he feels. Most Type 1s change their environment around them, rather than themselves. Type 1s are classified as such for having abilities that considered non dangerous to the general non awoken population.
[]
"We've got a lot of promising talent this year huh?" Nathaniel said to his daughter, as the two looked down at the auditorium full of students. The dean of the university was preparing his usual welcoming speech, as the assistants tried to quiet down the murmurs of the students.
"Yeah, we sure do." Clara smiled, not taking her eyes off the scene. "Quite a good number of Awoken too."
"Anyone interesting in particular?" Nathaniel asked.
"No, not really. They all have the standard abilities you would expect out of a type 1. Same level of control to boot." She responded.
"Well, I look forward to being their professor." Her father smiled, inhaling deeply. "The smell of youthful energy, so amazing. I can still remember your first day as a freshman."
Clara blushed a bit, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow. "Shouldn't you be down there giving your speech, Dr. Offset?"
Nathaniel rubbed the back of his neck with a slightly embarrasses laugh to boot. "Oh don't call me that. Ahem, yeah. I'll be going now. See you later for lunch?"
"Of course dad." Clara smiled, giving her father a little wave as he left the teacher conference room.
[]
AMA Information database:
Clara Harris. Age: 32 Category: Non-Awoken (regular human) The lead ambassador for Awoken rights and unification in the AMA. Daughter of the lead researcher in Awoken development and the head teacher of the Awoken department in Nagoya University, Japan, Nathaniel Harris.
Nathaniel Harris. Age: 55 Category: Type 2 Awoken Ability: Offset. Acquired during the first Prometheus flare, the ability of Dr. Offset (he thought the name was cool when he was in his 20s), allows him to offset numerical values. Though touching an object is not required to use the ability on it, the potency of the ability greatly improved when he has direct contact with it. This also extends to, in theory, numerical values pertaining to objects and their position in space, relative to Nathaniel. Meaning he can move objects or parts of them relative to where he's standing, by changing their coordinates, however there were no recorded instances of him doing so. Examples include: Increasing or reducing the temperature of a beverage by direct contact. Increasing or decreasing friction on a surface of an object temporarily by touching it.
In his youth, Nathaniel attempted to become a sort of hero, once his powers kicked in, but due to the very low potency of his abilities, he never really managed to make the cut as one, despite being a type 2. Type 2s are classified as such due to having abilities that could be considered dangerous, powerful or harmful for the general non awoken population.
[]
Location: Russia, Siberia. Time: 22:37 Facility: Maximum security prison for Awoken criminals in Russia, cell block 5.
Theodore laid in his bunk, staring at the ceiling. Each of his breaths released a soft cloud of vapor, that commonly occurs when someone is in a cold environment. In his case, the vapor was a byproduct of his ability, rather than the cold cell we was in. A thug with a love for violence, turned bank robber when his abilities fully developed, Theodore terrorized Russia and the neighboring countries. It wasn't until the AMA was finally assembled and operational, that he was arrested and sentenced to multiple life sentences in this highest security prison that Russia had at a time.
Even after being sent behind bars, he kept up his antics, becoming a nightmare for the guards and inmates alike. No man that was placed in a cell with him would last more than a few days before demanding transfer. Some even lost their lives to the former thugs whims, before their transfer requests could be approved. Hence Theodore has been placed in solitary, a cell designed with all the tech necessary to nullify his ability. There he spent the last 10 years of his life.
Despite being a type 1, an awoken with abilities that were not classified as dangerous to the general population, Theodore managed to use them to their fullest extent. His blessing of temperature manipulation, was a curse to everyone around him.
He looked outside, at the night sky, through his small cell window. Apparently, there was a big stellar event, similar to the one 20 years ago, that gave him the powers he now has. He heard guards and other inmates talk about it, how AMA is now prepared for such an event.
Theodore closed his eyes, imagining what this aurora would look like. The memory of that night, when Prometheus 673B's flare struck earth still fresh in his mind like it was yesterday. The otherworldly mixture of reds and yellows and greens. Like a primordial fire that was lit across the night sky.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps outside his cell snapped him out of his memory.
"Huh?" He adjusted in bed, to see who was outside his cell.
A man, in a white cloak with golden details, stood outside his cell. Theodore was confused. The man was not one of the guards, he was bare footed and did not wear any uniform. And no way he was one of the other inmates, no one had the capabilities to leave their cells without being let out.
"Hey, who the hell are you? How did you get here? The guards letting us out or something?" The criminal walked over to his cell door. The bars were made of material that could withstand sudden changes in temperature without bending or breaking, preventing him from getting out.
The man said nothing, he didn't even turn towards the convict, he merely stood there, hood covering his as he looked up at the night sky through the decorative windows on the buildings roof.
"Hey asshat! I asked you a question. How the fuck did you get out of your cell? C'mon man, don't be a dick, let me out too." Theodore grabbed the bars and rattled them.
The cloaked man finally turned towards him. The convict was stunned, only for a second. The man has a beard and long hair, both as white as his cloak. But his eyes, they were as blue as the midday sky. He could have sworn energy seemed to pour out of them. Before he could say another word, the figure before him extended his hand at him, and with a snap of his fingers, a bold of lightning struck Theodore square in the chest. The convict was send flying, back hitting the wall opposite the cell doors.
[]
Location: Brazil, San Paolo. Time: 16:37 Facility: Remodeled Taubaté Prison, cell block 3.
Vitor sat on the bench press, just finishing a set, looking over the prison yard. Even behind bars, his connections did not dwindle. A former petty drug dealer, Vitor Alves quickly rose to power and influence once his powers awoke. He employed other Awoken with criminal tendencies as his own personal task force to drive all other competition into the ground. Once he held the entirety of San Paolo's drug empire in his hand, he set his sights farther. We wanted the entire city for himself, believing that no one could challenge his claim to that right.
With the help of the AMA, the Brazilian government swiftly put his plan to rest, and Vitor behind bars. The fight between the Awoken under Alves and the AMA/Brazilian forces was indeed a bloody one and resulted in a good number of civilian casualties. The drug lord was sent to Taubate, where he would spend the rest of his life. The prison was remodeled, per AMA standards, to be fully equipped and capable of holding Awoken criminals.
Despite having powers of temperature manipulation, capable of increasing temperature to lethal amounts, Vitor did not believe that to be his strongest ability. Money, influence, connections, those were real power, what truly carried him to the top of the criminal world.
Even now, as he sat on the bench press, doing a few reps before looking over the yard, Vitor was not powerless in the outside world. He waited on his informant, his connection to the outside, to appear so he could delegate orders to what was left of his followers and empire on the outside.
He wasn't sure if it was something he ate, or the heat from the pounding sun. Maybe it was even that sky flare that he heard AMA guards mention. Something indeed felt off, his vision seemed a bit blurry. As if the entire prison courtyard was moving slowly right before him. But the informant should be there soon, so Vitor decided not to go back to his cell just yet.
The other inmates, guards, even the basketball that the inmates played hoops with, suddenly slowed down to a halt. Through the statue like crowd, a single figure moved over to Vitor. His feet were bare, his body and face hidden behind a hooded cloak. The drug lord could only see his white beard and his eyes, as they seemed to be glowing a faint blue glow. Before he even got a chance to speak, the man extended his hand towards him and with a smirk, snapped his fingers, sending a bolt of lightning straight into the mans body, causing Vitor to fly several feet and collapse on the ground.
[]
"Ugh... What the fuck man?" Theodore cursed, as he regained his consciousness. Slowly, he got up to his knees, his head pounding like he was struck by a hammer. The cell felt colder than before. Looking around, he saw the entire cell frozen, every surface covered by a thick layer of ice. Bed, toilet, the cell doors, frozen solid. And the ice shifted. With every movement of his hands, the ice followed.
"Could it be?" The inmate whispered, focusing his mind, channeling his ability. Ice began to form in the palm of his hand, morphing freely. With a single wave of his hand, the frozen bed shattered into bits and pieces. Theodore inhaled, getting up to his feet, head still in pain. But the realization was crystal clear. He could now freeze things without having to touch them, manipulate what he froze, as well create ice out by freezing the water in the air. With a grin plastered across his face, Theodore thanked the mysterious man, of who there was not a single trace left, and decided that he's busting himself out of prison.
[]
"WARNING! WARNING! WARNING. PRISON BREAKS DETECTED ACROSS MULTIPLE AMA FACILITIES!" Blared the system on screen at the Awoken Management Agency in Nagoya. Other HQs across the globe received the same warning.
"What the hell is going on?" Clara said, running into the monitoring hall.
"I don't know. Prison breaks, across multiple locations world wide." Kaito replied, his eyes not leaving the monitors as he fired up the surveillance drones on the impacted locations.
"The main facilities that were absolutely totaled are Siberia and San Paolo." He continued.
"Think it could be?" Clara asked.
"Not possible. The protection against solar flares was at full power. Not a single particle should have hit the ground. I mean, we didn't lose any tech, unlike last time." Kaito shot her question down, pulling up the drone feed of the two prisons.
Taubate was in flames. The entire facility seemed to be entirely engulfed in a raging fire. The Russian counterpart held no better either. The entire prison was torn apart by massive glacier like formations, that seemed to jut out of the ground.
Clara, Kaito and other technicians presents stared, slackjawed, at the live drone feed. Something like that was not possible, no Awoken held that level of power. Not even if multiple Awoken united, could they produce that level of destruction across such a large area.
"Wait wait! What's that? Zoom in on one of the glaciers!" One of the technicians said, pointing at the big monitors.
Kaito's fingers flew across the keyboard, as the drone moved closer and the video on screen zoomed to its maximum. On one of the glacier formations, sat a man, clearly an inmate based on the jumpsuit he was wearing.
"Running identification." Chimed the computer.
"Inmate 4012: Theodore Ivarovski. Age: 36. Category: Type 1 Awoken. Ability: Low drop. His ability allows him to significantly drop the temperature of anything he touches, almost instantly."
"He's a type 1. No way in hell that he could pull of something like this." Clara said, eyes glued to the screed. "He must have re-awoken, there is no other explanation."
"Clara, in the last 20 years since the Prometheus, there was never a single instance of that happening. Some Awoken do push their abilities past the initial capabilities, but that's usually the end of it. It's a conspiracy theory." Kaito mumbled.
"Then how do you explain THAT?" She said, pointing at a massive piece of ice that was quickly forming above Ivarovski, before being sent flying towards the drone and cutting off the live feed.
[]
(Howdy y'all. This is a bit different from my usual write style, with a more manga like story/narration instead of the standard story/novel format I do. I hope you like it, I came up with it months ago, but due to time constrains with work I haven't gotten around to writing it. Based on how it's received, I may continue this along side Sand & Steel. You can read S&S on here:
Royal Road
Wattpad
Scribble Hub
Hope y'all have a nice day.
-M.W.A.)

I think one of the worst things that you see a lot of the big YEC speakers do is the misrepresentation of science and the scientific method. It's one thing to argue with the evidence, this I accept as it is at least an attempt to engage in actual scientific discourse (excluding those who just baselessly decry the science). Even Tomkins with his apparent inability to do genomics is at the very least attempting to perform scientific experiments. However, these attempts to re-define science in a way that is beneficial to a creationist agenda is insanely frustrating, since it totally ruins all form of good-faith debate, and heavily misinforms people without a scientific education, and who don't really know how scientific process takes place.
To bring this point to light - I'm going to discuss this article from AIG: https://answersingenesis.org/what-is-science/what-is-science/. It displays basically all of these claims, and I consider it to contain some of the worst of AIG's mental gymnastics.
The article opens with a spiel about how science originated in Christian Europe, and refer to how Johannes Kepler, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton and Galileo Galilei were all Christians who believed in a young Earth. Funnily enough, However - they fail to mention that Galileo was arrested by Christians due to his ideas contradicting a literal interpretation of the Bible - that being geostaticism (the idea that the Earth is stationary). I wonder why they excluded this piece of information?
They also state that "If the universe is a product of random chance or a group of gods that interfere in the universe, there is really no reason to expect order in nature". I could probably write an entire post on why this statement is false, so I won't go into this here. Maybe I'll do a follow up to this one just about this idea.
Now comes one of AIG's points that annoys me to no end - the ideas of 'Operational Science' and 'Historical Science'. AIG frames these terms as such:
Operational: "deals with testing and verifying ideas in the present and leads to the production of useful products like computers, cars, and satellites."
Historical: "involves interpreting evidence from the past and includes the models of evolution and special creation."
These terms do not exist in actual academia. They only exist within AIG's fantasy science land where they decide the rules, so that they can lend a fraction of legitimacy to their outdated ideas. The main reason they do this is to boil the argument down to one of faith. 'Evolutionism' vs Creationism is just a debate between two religions - same as Muslims and Christians arguing over which god is the real one. They present this in a slightly different way, but the meaning is the same: "The argument is not over the evidence—the evidence is the same—it is over the way the evidence should be interpreted." Essentially, 'we have different interpretations of the same stuff, so it's a matter of faith'.
What AIG are doing here is creating an unnecessary distinction. The worst bit is the reference to 'evidence from the past'. What they really mean here are things like the fossil record, radiometric dating, the geologic column - all the things that completely and utterly gut their belief in a 6000 year old created Earth. Instead of addressing them, they claim that it's a matter of interpretation.
Actual science doesn't create this distinction. Its purpose is to provide us with a method that lets us explain things we cannot observe directly, by looking at the things we can observe. No human has ever seen an atom with their own eyes - they are too small. Instead, we used observable evidence to figure out their structure, such as Rutherford's alpha particle scattering experiment - showing how most of the gold foil he was shooting the particles at allowed them to pass through, implying atoms being mostly empty space. Now Rutherford never saw an atom, but he inferred this about them through observation, as well as repetition of an experiment to minimise error. This is how science works. Of course, AIG would call Rutherford's work 'Operational Science', so we'll have to go somewhere else.
Let's use murder as an analogy (jolly, I know) - a person was killed 3 days ago, and their body was just discovered: we never saw them die, and we can never repeat their murder - because they are dead (truly groundbreaking stuff here). However, there is a gash across their neck, and a bloodied knife sat next to them. Moreover, this knife is covered with a person's fingerprints. We can then go to the house of the person who these fingerprints match, and ask them if they know anything - which they deny, despite lacking any alibi and having a definite motive. Do we have enough evidence to determine how the person died, as well as who killed them? Absolutely we do - there's a gash, and a knife covered in blood that matches the victim's: conclusion, they were killed with that knife. The knife is covered with fingerprints that lead to a person with no alibi at all, and a good motive: conclusion, they're the murderer. Now all of these data are from the past - the blood was put on the knife in the past, the wound was made in the past, the fingerprints were put on the knife in the past - by all metrics, this murder case falls into AIG's 'Historical Science'. As such, convicting this person is simply a matter of interpretation. We can only interpret that the fingerprints perfectly match those of the suspect. Who are we to say that they didn't somehow change over time? See how nonsensical this distinction is?
AIG then go on to the subject of theories - and again, they separated 'operational theories' from 'historical theories'. The idea is pretty much the same as discussed above, though there are a few points that I want to address. Firstly, they don't do the thing that I see many creationists (and other science deniers) state - that being the 'it's just a theory' thing, and draw a distinction between the colloquial and scientific definitions, though not without the prerequisite 'Evolutionists claim' line. This point has been beaten into the ground already, so I'll just leave it at that.
They go on to discuss how biological evolution is not an 'operational theory' as it contains 'interpretations of past events' and is 'not as well founded as testable scientific theories like Einstein’s Theory of Relativity or Newton’s Theory of Gravity'. It seems that AIG don't know that while Newton's law of universal gravitation remains as a very well-substantiated piece of science, his actual mechanism for how gravity works was in fact supplanted by Einstein's theory. Good scientific knowledge from AIG, as always. The big part of this section is how they refer to predictability as a method of validating a scientific theory: "These theories offer predictable models and the ability to conduct experiments to determine their validity in different circumstances." Once again, they conveniently omit the immense predictive power of evolutionary theory, instead choosing to claim that it lacks such a property - even going as far to directly claim "Molecules-to-man evolution does not offer this opportunity because these events happened in the past", once again ignoring that one of the key tenets of evolutionary theory is that it both has happened, and is currently happening - considering that we've observed speciation events occurring in the wild: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0911761106; https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(09)01925-301925-3); https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evo-news/speciation-in-real-time/. The predictive power of evolution is immense, and we are only getting better at making evolutionary predictions as science progresses:
https://ncse.ngo/predictive-power-evolutionary-biology-and-discovery-eusociality-naked-mole-rat,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9850016/#:~:text=Evolutionary%20predictions%20are%20often%20based,will%20adapt%20to%20their%20environment.
There's also the brief bit where they conflate evolution and abiogenesis "molecules to man evolution". They're two different ideas - and YECs reading this post, stop conflating scientific theories, they are distinct ideas. Evolution deals with how life adapts and develops, it has nothing to do with how life on Earth began - that's abiogenesis. It's the same thing as the Big Bang: it only deals with how the universe formed, not what came before it.
There's a short aside about naturalism, but in order to stop this post turning into a thesis, I'm going to gloss over it and move onto the next bit. Here, AIG describe how "Evolution also relies heavily on the assumption of uniformitarianism— a belief that the present is the key to the past. According to uniformitarians, the processes in the universe have been occurring at a relatively constant rate.". Of course, they fail to consider that, as is the case with all other science, we have evidence to infer that processes do occur at a constant rate. They proceed to discuss rock formation erosion as one of these thing which we assume to have a constant rate - even though I'm pretty sure this is not the case - and that the rate at which these processes takes place is highly variable. To me, this feels like them taking the worst example - and borders on a straw man. Correct me if I'm wrong though - I'm not a geologist, so my understanding is limited here.
I have no doubt that the actual aim of this paragraph is also to sow doubt about other systems reliant upon constant rates of change - such as radiometric dating. Yes, if decay rates were not constant, the values given by radiometric dating would be highly inaccurate, and it would be a useless dating method. However, this would also require a total rewrite of fundamental physics - as the concept of constant nuclear decay rates is backed up by a literal mountain of maths and physical evidence.

However, the Bible makes it very clear that some events of the past were radically different from those we commonly observe today. Noah’s Flood, for example, would have devastated the face of the earth and created a landscape of billions of dead things buried in layers of rock, which is exactly what we see.

Another claim that would take up a post on its own - so I'll skip this and tackle it later. Honestly though, just watch Gutsick Gibbon's stuff on the Genesis flood - she gives a far better explanation than I ever could.

Just as evolutionists weren’t there to see evolution happen over several billion years, neither were creationists there to see the events of the six days of creation. The difference is that creationists have the Creator’s eyewitness account of the events of creation, while evolutionists must create a story to explain origins without the supernatural.

More totally neutral and unbiased claims by AIG, as expected. There is no 'story' being created - scientists observe the (sometimes literal - pun very much intended) mountains of evidence for evolution. The fact that they have to make up a nonsense distinction to split science in two, so that they can put the bits they don't like (Big Bang cosmology, fossils, radiometric dating, geologic column, etc.) in a separate spot to the bits they do like, such as technology and medicine.

Just because many scientists believe the story does not make the story true.

Ironic, considering how much Ken Ham loves to show his lists of creationist scientists. Practice what you preach buddy.

Hi all, wondering if anyone can advise on my situation below.
I am working towards permanent home working and have an OH coming up, I already had one a while ago however I felt the clinician was rushing, wanted the meeting to be over with before it even started. I had to stop them and ask them to let me speak as they would cut me off or just not let me answer- like she had an agenda of "why aren't you in the office". She had not asked questions about my glue ear much, her report stated since my operation I am doing much better (which isn't the truth), they also stated I would not be covered under the equality act 2010, though my union and I found I would be.
To let you know about my health briefly, I was classed as vulnerable and was asked to go home at the start of Covid and work from there. Kept myself pretty isolated with my family, I got Covid in July 2021 and had lingering affects until October 2021 where I was being coerced to get back into the office. I travelled to work with public transport, got ill with a chest infection and the offices were closed due to lockdown by the end of October 2021 again.
Cut a long story short, the chest infection led me getting glue ear, multiple GP appointments/ remedies and antibiotics later I was sent to an ENT specialist where I was found to have glue ear. It had been more than 6 months and was told an operation was needed to resolve the issue in part at least. My first OH before the operation said I should remain home until my operation. I didn't have my operation until November 2023.
I would like to note that before my ENT diagnosis I did try to attend the office a couple of times however I didn't feel well walking to the office, on the train and also while sitting in the office. It's not a case that I did not try.
Now, May 2024, I still have glue ear issues. Fluid still leaks out (sorry for the graphics), this fluid causes an imbalance when walking, sporadic dizziness, I have spatial awareness issues and a loss of hearing. I find it difficult to communicate as I can't drown out ambient sounds and this is a bigger issue in larger rooms with more people in.
I have been working more than effectively from home for the past 4+ years however work would like me in. I have put in an application for WFH, I have a l exemption certification from a private GP after they reviewed my records and they recommended home working. I had to decline my 2nd OH due the reasons mentioned earlier, a little nervous that the upcoming OH will be less fruitful and my condition will not be reviewed properly. I see I would be covered under the disability act but what happens if OH don't see much of an issue even though I have a GP letter.
What should I be on the lookout for?
Any advise would be appreciated, apologies for the long story

Feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll do my best to keep this concise but I can be known to ramble and want to make sure I cover some things I haven’t seen talked about before.
Scheduling: Got new insurance in January. Discovered the insurance covers female sterilization at 100% so I went on the doctor list here, did some research, and picked out my doctor. Called mid January to book, had my consult end of February, surgery was May 15th (last Wednesday).
Consult: I was worried because I’ve heard so much about people getting rejected but the entire time my doctor assured me this was my decision to make and she just wanted to make sure I’d thought about every consequence. I was honest with her that while I was positive this is what I wanted I originally had planned to wait until I was in my 30s to make sure but due to the current political climate I felt I didn’t have the luxury of waiting. I was concerned if I didn’t get this done pre election I’d never be able to or I’d have to travel to get it done. She approved me and we had planned to do a Pap smear while I was there but their computer system crashed so we decided to combine it with the surgery and just do it while I was under.
Pre procedure: Pre-op stuff was super normal. Got a call with instructions around a week out. I can go into more details if anyone has questions but the big thing for me was I was told to not smoke 24 hrs prior and I’ve been trying to quit vaping so I decided to throw out my vape 24 hrs prior to the procedure. The lead up to the surgery was terrible and I regret quitting so close to it because it meant I could drink alcohol or caffeine to try and distract myself since those were also banned so close. But post surgery with me being high on oxy the first few days I completely made it through the worst part of quitting without any problems. I’m only a week clean but highly recommend using surgery to quit addictions it’s a great time to utilize your body being distracted by other stuff.
Surgery: everyone at the hospital was great and nobody tried to change my mind. My surgeon did say I could change my mind up until I was put under and that nobody would be mad. I assured her I was totally hyped and ready to go and that was that. I’ve never had a surgery before so I wasn’t sure how I’d react to anesthesia but I woke up before theyd even finished rolling me into post op. I heard the nurse rolling me in talking about her dog and just was instantly awake and asking her about her pupper. I think I scared her slightly because I was just immediately coherent and mostly just really annoyed because my throat hurt and my mouth was dry. She gave me water and asked if I wanted something for nausea. I didn’t feel any nausea but said yes just in case and I’m glad I did because shortly after she gave it to me I got super nauseous. It kicked in pretty quick and I didn’t throw up so a win. When I first woke up my pain was around a 3 but was quickly ramping up so they gave me a 5mg oxycodone. It took a bit for it to kick in but once it did it completely wiped out my pain. I was able to get discharged within an hour of waking up because I immediately was eating and drinking and was able to get up and walk on my own and go pee which checked all their boxes.
Recovery: I was given 8 oxycodone 5mg and then told to pick up Tylenol, ibuprofen, and stool softener. Alternate the Tylenol and ibuprofen so I’m taking something every 3 hrs and then oxy as needed. I mostly used the oxy to sleep as every muscle in my body felt like I’d run a marathon starting day 2. My back was extremely sore and my skin was tender EVERYWHERE. Also thanks to doing the Pap smear while I was under my vag was sore as fuck too. I must’ve bit my lip while I was under because my lip was all swollen and the absolute worse pain I was feeling was how sore my throat was from the breathing tube. My throat is still sore, back still hurts, muscles are still tender as fuck, but I’m fully off oxy and overall feel fine. I haven’t had a good bowel movement yet so hoping for that soon but I’ll be going back to work tomorrow and overall this surgery recovery hasn’t been any worse than being sick from the flu or something.
Also make sure you have plenty of comfy loose dresses. You will want the comfiest of lounge wear during this recovery. I have my post op this Friday but I’m so happy to finally have this done. It’s a giant weight off my shoulder.

Perhaps this ought to start before the end of May.
An action on everyone's part to refuse making any Loblaws owned store a one-stop go-to for our grocery needs, but using it to target only sales. And not the "sales" that mark off something expensive, that's still expensive after the "sale", but the deep sales, that are designed to lure people in.
Point in case: butter at 4.99 and water melon at 2.99. Those sales are apparently happening right now. They're designed to get you to come with a shopping cart, and they're hoping that you might as well load up with various other items. A water melon in particular, is heavy, and most people will need a cart for that. Those guys know that possibly selling water melon at a loss, they will make up for it, by pushing other heavily marked up item to us suckers.
Resist!
Don't be tempted to buy other items. Just go in, and get only sales where you'd really say: that is a true sale. Resist any fake "sales", quote quote.
This accomplishes multiple goals:

1. We show that we continue to refuse to accept unreasonably marked up items.
2. We deprive them of profits through rip offs.
3. We benefit from deep sales, that are possibly sold at a loss.
4. They lose money when we stubbornly only get deep sales.
5. Other stores see that we're willing to shop around, enticing them to play nice so that they gain our business.

Will Loblaws smarten up?
Most probably not right away. Once a business becomes accustomed to certain profit levels, they have a responsibility to their investors to meet (ever greater) expectations. That, plus the greed of the ones running the show. They can probably cover up reduced sales by shoving things around, but they can't hide it forever. They need to be forced to alter their business model. And investors will need to come to the realization that it can't be a forever growth model. The Ponzi scheme can't continue to work, but that's another whole topic.
In the meantime, our job should be simple. Simply refuse to give in. Shop elsewhere. But go in to grab the deep sales. We need to talk about how we can keep up to date with those deep sales, and I guess we can call it that, and it might be dependent on location. Areas where there are enough people with high disposable income that don't care, might not see those deep sales. They'll just tease them with fake "sales". Areas where people have less alternatives will probably be disappointed also.
It's going to require a bit of effort. We need to resist saying to ourselves "oh, I have kids and don't have a the time to go to two stores". Make it work. Realize that when done efficiently, it will not take twice as long to shop. It's worth saving money. Plus it's the right thing to do, because you'd be part of a movement that can help everyone see competition restored. It's like fighting for and protecting democracy, in comparison. You might only save a little for your particular pocket book, but there are those that benefit far more. It feels good to fight for all of us the people. Also resist other excuses and cop-outs. "Oh, but it takes gas". Calculate it. It might take you $2 more in gas to do two locations instead of one. $2 is easy to overcome. Don't be that automatic naysayer, that person that opposes automatically out of reaction. Many people do that habitually. Stop! Help the cause, not work against it! Be part of the solution!
Ok, so what flyers, what apps, what posts could we all look at, to help us all home in on those deep sales. And share how much you probably have saved by doing the Loblaws-for-a-quick-deep-sale-grabbing and then heading over to a proper grocery store. When you go into a Loblaws to grab what you need, while you walk to the target, you can see a few prices looking left and right. Make mental note of that. Making up some numbers here: Bananas 89 cents, apples $5, etc etc. Then proper store, 69 cents, $3. Some might feel that, "meh, 2 bucks, 20 cents, who cars". But if every item is like that, it adds up. A $300 grocery bill becomes a $450 grocery bill. And that is what this entire thing is all about ! It takes work to make competition work. Without that work, they will exploit us, and they have!

So I'm a seasoned developer in some other areas, but I'm writing my first ever serious web app and am wondering one thing about tests, wondering what the practice is or should be.
I have a web api controller and a repository that is called by that controller. I have unit tests for that repository, covering its functionalities, one of which is throwing an exception when you attempt to update an item that does not exist.
Then I have a controller handling an http put request, which doesn't do much, just minor validation and then off you go to the repository. If you request to update a non-existing item, said repository's exception will be caught in middleware and a 404 http status code will be returned.
Given I'm already testing the functionality of the exception being thrown from the repository for the scenario mentioned, should I write integration tests for the controller for the same scenario?
If I do, I'm testing the repository twice. If I change it to throw a different kind of exception, I'll get two test failures.
If I don't, say if I change the implementation of that repository interface to a different database and I forget to throw the exception, it will go undetected.
I guess implementing the test on the controller level is favorable, but it feels like I'm repeating the exact same test-case I have for my repository. I actually did implement it, straight up copy-pasting the setup method, which is why it felt wrong.
What's your take on this?

Im really emotional so idk. My moms not doing well, shes in ICU, has been for a while. She has advanced cancer and we know for sure she only has days at most Im 24f hes 23m. We've been dating a bit over two years
For context, my bf was here for a day and half and left two days ago. Mom was here but doing better. Today it looks bad. It looks like the end but we're just waiting watching and mourning
I texted my bf this morning asking that if he could please catch a flight if mom died. Its only a 1.5hr flight, and i told him I'll cover it no matter what. I just know I'll need the support
His initial response was "I'd like to come but i cant promise". Once i asked what he meant, he responded just with a "okay fine yes" at which point i got upset and told him its okay and I'll try and find support elsewhere in the case of the worst
My original request's phrasing was exactly this: "i know you just went back But if the worst happens, will you please come? I know its a lot to ask. But if it does please just catch a plane and i will figure out and cover the cost later. Even if its like 700, do it, please"
Im super emotional rn so i cant tell if im overreacting. Planes are usually ~$200 or so. Its an easy quick commute usually and we visit each other about once every month

Not technically a mystery, but I mean the murder cover-up storyline. We all know this entire plot was a mess but can we list all the things which simply didn’t make sense or could have been easily dismissed.

1. The prosecution against Bree build the case on the basis that Alejandro was one of Bree’s one night stands and she murdered him while drunk. Except he died months before Bree started drinking again and she was with Chuck at the time.
   
2. At the art gallery, when Chuck saw Susan’s painting, he acted like it was a major breakthrough that Susan had painted herself and the other women. But they are her best friends so she could have just shrugged it off, like “well yeah, I painted my friends - and so what?” And the dead body could have just been Mary Alice or Edie. It would have been so simple to get out of.
   
3. Bree probably should have been grateful to Orson for getting rid of Chuck. That’s probably the most anybody else did for her that season - none of her friends cared about her like Orson did.
   
4. Orson sending the Mary Alice note - why? Didn’t make any sense as he was out to protect Bree. It was just inserted as an Easter egg to the first season.
   
5. During the investigation, why was Claudia not mentioned once? She was the wife of Ramon Sanchez so why is she not involved at all? I know the cops were out to get Bree but Tripp could have brought it up, he is supposed to be the best attorney after all.
   
6. Apparently, Orson tipped the cops off about where Alejandro was buried. But didn’t Mike bury him somewhere else? I might be wrong on this one.
   

For some background, I have a BFA in photography which has proven useless to me finding anything sustainable for a career. I am in student loan debt of course, but not paying it because I don't earn enough to cover that along with rent etc. etc. I live in Pennsylvania in case that provides any context.
My biggest passion is the outdoors and I dream of it while stuck in my current warehouse job day in day out. Careers that I am truly interested in like park ranger, arborist, wildland firefighter, and others involving wilderness all require a bachelors degree in some related field. I struggle with a lot of these careers not necessarily being top earners and so bringing in more debt being absolutely crippling.
I've been doing a lot of searching the last few months and it seems like my only option is to actually go back to school since there is no available academy or apprenticeship for these fields. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places?
I'm really just at a loss with accepting defeat of my poor 18 year old brain's decision of an art degree, and now trying to figure out a way to a sustainable and fulfilling career outdoors.

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Item	Description	Price
Bear65 V2 [Photos]	E-purple WKL version with bear logo and e-white brass weight. Bought this new as B-stock, but I can't find why it's B-stock because it looks flawless externally. Includes desoldered PCB, PC plate, gaskets pre-applied to case.	£300
Monokei Series 1 WoB Keycaps	New, never mounted. Will ship in bags.	£40
AlephKey Beige PBT Keycaps	New, never mounted. Cheap beige dye-sub set from Taobao with Zhuyin sublegends and Cangjie sideprinted legends. Kitting/example photos here. Will ship in bags.	£20

Prices include UK shipping, but I'm happy to ship internationally if you cover the difference. If interested, please send a PM and not a chat message.