Fall time photo album names

Back in the early 1970s (during the UFO Wave of 74), two of my brothers were living at home while in college. Where heavy into UFO investigation with MUFON and legendary NICAP UFO investigation organizations. My brothers got tired of being there after the fact and taking down pages of interviews and scientific dates on any trace evidence. So they got it into their heads to put their extensive knowledge of amateur radio, electronics, astronomy, and UFOs to good use. They mapped out “sighting hotspots” and then went out to those locations to camp out. When they spotted anything interesting, they attempted to make contact. It ultimately worked, and their new ‘little friends in those saucers’ tracked them back to our typical family home in the suburbs. The airspace above our home became a weekly UFO-sighting hot spot. So much so that it caught the interest of unmarked military surveillance and later the authentic men in black. Meanwhile, in the wee hours of the night or morning, we would have ‘Visitors’
I was involved in two of those visits as a six- and later eight-year-old. I woke up in the 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. hour twice. To find an intense blue light shining in from all windows of the house and in the shadows, it is within the house. The shadows moved with small figures not of this earth. I ran into my parents bedroom in panic and grabbed my father’s foot to shake him awake. Only to find his entire body move or slide across the surface of the mattress, as weightless as a balloon. I tried again! Again, the same response. I ran around the bed to my mother to shake her awake. She was lying on her side, her face facing me. Her eyes were completely open, and tears were streaming down her cheek. And she was just as weightless and frozen stiff as my father! I ran out of the room now, in panic, into my brother's bedroom. Both of them are the same, this time facing up stiff as boards in their twin beds. And finally, into my sister's room (she was four years older than me). My sister's eyes were open, and she was frozen stiff in bed, face up and in a screeching.
Panic and now in hysterics I backed out into the hallway. Weeping and hyperventilating. Because over my shoulder down the hall and into the living room, some twenty feet away. The shadows were coming at me from every corner. I ran back into my parents bedroom, grabbing their feet at the foot of the bed, screaming, Momma! Poppa!! Momma!! Poppa!!! In the panic, I made a last attempt to get some help. In my mind, screaming, my conscience told me over and over again, “They are all dead!”
That is when I felt two small hands come across the top of my shoulders from behind. Four fingers each dug into my shoulders. By the grip, they had a delicate female feel to them. But extremely elongated. And I heard a female voice, gentle as an angel, say. “They are alright, Little One.” The instant I heard that voice, I went limp; the hysterics, the panic, and the shear horror of the moment vanquished and disappeared as if they never existed. Even though facing forward, I watched as my parents weightless bodies float back and forth on top of their sheet-less bed, subsiding from my shaking them moments before. I was now just a silent observer, as if I were watching the scene unfold from above. My body is limp in the grip of this unseen being. Limp without any free will or even the ability to move.
She continued, “They are only sleeping. All is fine. You shouldn’t be up to see this.” I was escorted across the room. (We had a 3-bedroom, 1-story typical suburbian ranch.) Being the youngest, I was forced to have a corner of my parents bedroom. The room was divided by a fold-out wooden partition, though this night it was down. It escorted me across the room from behind, guiding me and pushing me forward towards my bed. Repeating the above line. Finally escorted to my bed, I was turned around and sat down on the edge of my bed. Until I faced it face-to-face.
As to what I saw before me, It’s on the cover of Whitney Stribers ‘Communion.’
She reiterated the above a third time, adding. “Now back to sleep with you,” I smiled at her and obeyed completely under her’s control. I swung my feet up into bed. Still sitting up, I turned to her one last time. Smiled again. And when I turned around in bed, Looking down. I saw something I cannot explain. which will sound unbelievable to any reader reading this. Including you.
I saw my body still in bed! And I laid down back into it!
And I went back to sleep. The next morning, I woke up at noon. My mother is shaking me awake. Since I had never slept so long before and had missed my Saturday morning ritual of cartoon watching, I woke up before everyone else, and my snackes set out for the whole Saturday morning cartoon watching ritual. It was noon. And my mom was a bit panicked at my not waking up. But finally, she releaved.
I did try to tell my parents what had happened. But parents, being parents, are confronted with such a story. “It was just a dream.”
My brothers, though, turned pale as sheets. They have had similar events, which I learned about much later.
Again, this was 1974. Before the UFO phenomenon became a subject of popular media and public consciousness, The UFO subject was still rather underground.
I did have a second encounter with “The Night Visitors,” as we call them. I again awoke in the middle of a possible abduction of my entire family. She was again there! But this time, it was rather peaceful. It was playful and surprising in that I was surprised here again. And I got a very distinct sense of amusement from her. And she kindly ordered me to go back to bed on my own this time. And I did it without question or putting up a fight.
Of course, my mother was across the room, her eyes open, her face frozen in panic, and a silent, frozen scream was across her face.
Those are but two of the dozens of UFO-related encounters my family had throughout the 1970s. Two of four things that personally happened to me! The two others did not involve a face-to-face encounter.
Those two events. Those two fully conscious memories and body-feel memories altered my entire life. In the late 1980s, I entered college myself. Cultural Anthropology Degree: I also joined MUFON as an investigator and several other formal academic-based organizations into the Paranormal, which I will not name here, and for the sake of their tenure and academic reputations, I wouldn’t like to be named. All in the hopes of finding answers. Personal answers and truths as to what my entire family and I experienced. In the decades since the on-and-off investigation, I have come in contact with and interviewed true ex-military intelligence operators, people in the know, and even former Apollo astronauts. Which btw will talk. Only if their stories will never come to light to the larger public. People will be people, even if NDAs are involved. Humans are, after all, notorious gossips. Over a backyard BBQ or sharing a few beers over a mutually enjoyed big game. They will tell you everything when they absolutely trust you as a friend.
I can tell you this. David Jacobs is not entirely alarmist in his hypothesis!
Nor is Richard Dolan’s and Dr.Steve Greers argument for purely benevolent visitors entirely true!
As benevolent as that female voice and being were to me,.
I will forever see the silent, tearful, frozen scream of my mother and my sister’s faces over that visitor's shoulder!
We must keep an open mind when it comes to this phenomenon and examine all possibilities!
After all, we are dealing with something totally alien and totally foreign!
And the likes of the late Stephen Hawking are entirely correct. “As we know from history, when the Spanish landed in the New World (North America), it did not go well for the native population.”
56, Anthropology Degree Holder, Male

It’s taken me some time to muster up the courage to post this. It is my sincere hope that my experience doesn’t come across as ego-driven, I’ve never believed or been told that I’m anything special but the dream included in my post may come across as such. I’ve only included it bc it ties into the other experiences, both dreaming and awake. I’d love for discussion about any other experiences with personal energy and what you’ve been shown you can do with it.
5.7 went stargazing in dark sky territory with a small group of people. At one point I felt compelled to look to a certain place in the sky. When I did, something flashed brightly at me twice- then disappeared. There was no star there before or after the flashes. I saw a few unexplainable things (at the time anyway, but I didn’t realize just how many satellites are up there now since I haven’t been true stargazing in like a decade) but that light that flashed at me gave me a kind of feeling, like it was meant for me to see, like it was saying hello. We had spent the evening pointing out everything cool we saw to each other, but when that happened I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to tell anyone and I’m still not sure why bc the people I was with are very open minded so I had no reason to feel like I couldn’t or shouldn’t say anything.
5.8 Short dream in which a loud, disembodied voice yelled SUNDAY at me, which woke me up. In the dream I was fitting two pieces of something back together and the voice came in right as I accomplished that task, so I thought it might be related to something clicking into place or coming together on Sunday.
5.12 (Sunday) Not really expecting anything to happen, but it’s been a curious last few days with the solar storms going on. I’m driving home from work and get this overwhelming feeling of anticipation or urgency, and that there’s something big near me, but I can’t see it. I keep myself alert and occasionally look up, but I don’t see anything. The last two times I was given this feeling and the compulsion to look up, I saw something, so I was expecting to see something again. But this time felt bigger, like huge. It’s hard to explain, but it was like an electricity in the air all around me. I stayed alert but never actually saw anything.
Once I’m on the interstate I’m suddenly hit with waves of what feels like buzzing or vibrations that move around my head and out the top, it feels like the top of my head is being forcefully pulled on. The feeling crescendos then stops, this lasts maybe 2-5 minutes. Nothing seen, nothing heard, only felt. I’ve had sensations like this before so I’m not overly concerned or questioning it, but I do note that it was stronger and lasted longer than usual. The rest of the day was uneventful.
5.14 mid-morning dream. I went to sleep last night with the thought on my mind that I would have a dream that would clear some things up for me. It wasn’t an intention, just a thought that pushed itself into my mind and stayed there. However, I barely slept bc I had taken a bad fall the previous day and messed myself up, the pain kept me up most of the night.
After taking my kids to school I decided to try and sleep again for an hour or so and go into work later in the day. That’s when I had the dream as follows:
We are in a room somewhere, it’s circular and big and has a high ceiling. There’s a small platform going along part of the wall with a metal pole barrier around it and curtains/screens lining the wall behind it. Beneath the platform there’s a giant golden ring with a golden disc inside it. It’s standing on its edge (kind of like in the movie stargate) and it needs to be opened, or activated, something like that. I’m standing in this room with my nonno (who died when I was young) he’s on the platform and positioned above the disc, there’s another man on the platform, then 3 other men and 2 women standing around the disc. My nonno and each person standing around the disc has to put their arm in a hole in the circle outlining the disc in order to get it to work. Next to each hole there is a different colored crystal inlaid into the disc itself. The man standing on the platform seems to be tasked with doing something with the screens. The groups asks him to operate as a stand-in since they don’t have enough people to operate the machine. He hesitantly agrees and they all put an arm in and try but it keeps failing and they’re starting to panic. There’s a sense of urgency about all of this.
Platform man says it’s not working bc of him, he’s not strong enough and they all know that, this isn’t his role. He points over to me and says that it has to be me, (I’ve just been standing there watching all of this happen) he tells them (in a tone like “obviously”) that I’m the most open, and I can most easily go into the mental space that’s needed to operate it.
I go and put my arm in and drop into a meditative state. It immediately starts working, I can feel energy in the top of my head, I can also see it as a green/yellow energy. The crystal next to the hole I’m using is purple. The others start cheering and talking excitedly to each other but it distracts me so I lose concentration. The power of the machine starts fluctuating in and out. The others then start to get mad and say “See we told you so! She doesn’t belong with us!” It doesn’t make me upset bc I understand that they don’t know me, don’t like me, don’t trust me. I’ve always stayed quiet and apart from everyone else. I lose even more focus and the machine almost shuts all the way down.
One man starts yelling back at them that they just don’t understand me and have never even tried. He tells them: “she only operates at 90% on this side, she doesn’t have the blessing of a full life like the rest of you, and it’s for the sole purpose of keeping one foot on the other side, for keeping that connection” and they need to remember that I was made this way for them so that they can stay connected, that they’ve always used my energy as a jump point, they just don’t want to admit it.
I don’t want to fail everyone so I get back into my zone and it starts working again. I realize that the entire machine is being powered with just myself and my nonno since everyone else was still arguing. I was number 6 in the wheel and my nonno (who remained quiet through this entire scenario) was number 7, at the top, above the other circles. I don’t remember what the result was since I woke up about right then.
The dream was obviously packed full of symbolism and made up of things I’ve seen in waking life, I’m not deluded enough to think that it actually happened. However, the thing that stood out most to me was the feeling of the energy in my head in the dream when I was powering the machine was exactly like the energy I felt while driving home this past Sunday.
Short note I made about a dream from a few months ago that ties into this one (I often have dreams where im one of three):
Again I’m shown that there are 3 of me. The one who made us has to keep me between here and there so it’s easier to get information through, so I’m not very solid.
Another recurring theme is the green/yellow energy. I’ve seen it during dreams/projections and during meditations. I’ve been told in a dream that the answer (answer to what- I don’t know) is where green and yellow meet. In one recent meditation there came a beautiful voice vocalizing a melody, and a golden yellow light went into the area around my sternum. It left and I came out of the meditation with more questions than answers lol. I was also once during a lucid dream given a Celtic shield knot type symbol that was green and yellow. I wasn’t told anything about it but it felt like I was being reassured that my children and I are protected.
If anyone has any insights or similar experiences or anything at all to add, I’d very much appreciate it!

The “disciple whom Jesus loved,” known as John, either John the brother of Zebedee (the Apostle), or John the Elder, was writing his recollections of his experiences with Jesus so that those who hear or read would believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and would find eternal life in His name (cf. John 20:31). He began by speaking of the Word of God, the Creator, the life and light of men, who took on flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus of Nazareth (John 1:1-18). He then described the calling of the first disciples, Jesus’ first sign at the wedding in Cana, the events which took place while Jesus was present at the Passover in Jerusalem, and Jesus’ return to Galilee via Samaria (John 1:19-4:54). John the Evangelist then set forth Jesus’ healing of a lame man at Bethesda and the storm of controversy it engendered, Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand, and His challenging description of Himself as the Bread of Life (John 5:1-6:71).
John the Evangelist has been relating narratives regarding Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles (or Feast of Booths; Sukkot) in Jerusalem, featuring Jesus’ instruction and the thoughts and feelings of the crowds and Jewish authorities, ultimately leading up to a desire to stone Jesus for blasphemy (John 7:1-52, 8:12-59). For many textual critical and literary reasons, we have reason to believe the pericope adulterae, the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, of John 7:53-8:11 was not originally written by John, let alone would have taken place at this point in the Gospel narrative. We therefore conclude John the Evangelist wrote a continuous narrative of events at the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7:1-52 and John 8:12-10:21.
While we have a tendency to disconnect the narratives of John 9:1-41 and John 10:1-21 from the events of John 7:1-52, 8:12-59, and even disconnect them from each other, John the Evangelist presented them as all part of one continuous literary unit. In John’s narration, Jesus has gone back and forth with the Jewish people and religious authorities in John 7:1-52, 8:12-30 and then spoke specifically to the Jewish people who believed in Him in John 8:31-59; having miraculously escaped those who would have executed Him, Jesus left the Temple area with His disciples, and walked by a man who had been born blind (John 9:1). Jesus’ disciples asked who had sinned, he or his parents, which led to his blindness; Jesus responded it was so that the acts of God might be revealed through him (John 9:2-3). The disciples reflect the standard prejudice and presumption regarding disability deriving from specific sins; we should not develop a theology of disability from either Jesus’ disciples or, for that matter, Jesus’ specific response in this particular circumstance.
Jesus re-affirmed how He was the Light of the world and needed to do the works of God while the day remained (John 9:4-5; cf. John 8:12). He then spat on the ground, made mud, put it on the blind man’s eyes, and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam; the blind man did so and was able to see (John 9:6-7). The people responded, wondering if he indeed was the man who was blind and had formerly begged; some recognized him as such, but others did not think so; he did not shrink away from confessing who he was and had been (John 9:8-9). They asked him about what happened and he relayed the story (John 9:10-12).
The people decided to bring the man to stand before the Pharisees since an astonishing miracle had taken place (John 9:13). John the Evangelist then informed us this healing took place on a Sabbath (John 9:14); many of the Pharisees thus considered Jesus’ making mud on the ground as work and thus deemed Him a transgressor of God’s law, entirely missing the miraculous on account of this detail, but some did experience the cognitive dissonance and wondered how a sinner could do something like this (John 9:15-16). They asked the formerly blind man what he thought; he confessed Jesus as a prophet (John 9:17).
The Pharisees refused to believe his testimony and summoned his parents; they affirmed him as their son and that he was blind, but said nothing about how he gained sight (John 9:18-21). John the Evangelist explained their reticence: the Pharisees had agreed to put out of the synagogue anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ (John 9:22-23). To be put out of the synagogue meant to be alienated and isolated from the Jewish community, and it would not be as if the Gentiles would welcome them with open arms. Many commentators believe John is retrojecting the situation of his later community onto this event; we have no reason to believe the religious authorities would not have thus leveraged their power at the time.
The Pharisees brought the formerly blind man back in and chastised him: they knew Jesus was a sinner, and he should glorify God; they were Moses’ disciples, but he was a disciple of Jesus, and they do not know where He came from (John 9:24-25, 29). The formerly blind man stood against them sharply: God did not listen to sinners, but Jesus had done a miracle which had never before been done according to the witness of the Scriptures. If Jesus were not from God He could do nothing (John 9:26, 30-33). The Pharisees had no patience for such a rebuke: they denounced him as born entirely in his sins, and yet he would presume to teach them (John 9:34)? We will have reason in a moment to comment on the irony of this statement; sufficient for the moment is to recognize how the Pharisees have revealed who they are in their response.
The Pharisees cast the man out. Jesus found him and asked what he thought of the Son of Man (John 9:35). The man asked Jesus about who the Son of Man might be, and Jesus confessed Himself as the Son of Man (John 9:36-37). The formerly blind man confessed his belief and prostrated before Jesus; Jesus said He came into the world so the blind might see and those who see might become blind (John 9:38-39). The Pharisees, perceiving the challenge, asked Him if they were blind; He told them they would not be guilty of sin if they were blind, but because they presumed to see, their sin remained (John 9:40-41).
John the Evangelist laid the irony on thickly: the blind saw, but those who believed they saw proved blind. Those who were “born in sin” found forgiveness, but those who presumed themselves to be holy were in transgression. Appropriate critiques about making caricatures and strawmen out of the Pharisees are important and should be heeded; nevertheless, it is always a temptation of those with religious zeal to think too highly of their own righteousness and inappropriately prove sanctimonious toward those with less formal accreditation or standing.
We tend to end the story there, but John did not: in his narrative, Jesus immediately continued on by speaking of Himself parabolically as the Door of the sheepfold and the Good Shepherd of the sheep (John 10:1-21).
The world of shepherding and sheep would have been familiar to Jesus and to everyone in His audience. Sheep were important for their meat, milk, and wool; nevertheless, sheep are very dumb creatures. They require a lot of assistance, direction, maintenance, and protection. Shepherds would spend a lot of time with the sheep and would be dedicated to them. They would know their individual sheep. Sheep heed the specific voice and call of their shepherd; even when flocks are mixed, with a call or sound the sheep will appropriately separate out and follow their respective shepherds. Bears, lions, and wolves would find sheep an easy meal; other people might be tempted to steal sheep. Shepherds thus had to direct sheep to find appropriate pasturage and water, and would be kept in sheepfolds to provide some protection during the night. The shepherd would use the door (or gate) of the sheepfold; those who would come to rob and steal would try to enter another way.
Such was the story Jesus told about the sheep, the sheepfold, and the shepherd in John 10:1-18. The people would have understood the referents, but they did not understand what Jesus meant by it all (John 10:6). Jesus attempted to explain. He was the Door of the sheepfold, for the others who came and claimed to be the Messiah were really thieves and robbers, and the sheep, the people of God in Christ, did not listen to them. Those who go out through Jesus find salvation and “pasturage”; going after others leads to exploitation and oppression, but Jesus came to give abundant life. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of the sheep, who would lay down His life for the sheep. Hired hands would abandon the sheep if it proved too costly; the wolves, or the false Messiahs or religious authorities, would then come in to devour the sheep, God’s people. Jesus had sheep in other sheepfolds He would gather to Himself. But He knew His sheep, and they knew Him; He would lay down His life for them, and take it back up again, according to the commandment of His Father (John 10:1-18).
Jesus was by no means the first person to speak of Israel and leadership in terms of sheep and shepherding. Moses and David had been shepherds when God called them to lead His people (Exodus 3:1-6, 1 Samuel 6:11-13). The prophets would denounce the nobility and prophets of Israel as shepherds devouring the flock; yet YHWH promised He would return and personally shepherd Israel His sheep (cf. Ezekiel 34:1-31). We should definitely pick up on the textual association between Jesus, the I AM before Abraham, and Jesus the Good Shepherd, YHWH who had returned to personally shepherd His sheep (John 8:58, 10:11). How He would lay down His life for the sheep, and take it back up again, would become manifest in its good time.
The people did not quite know what to do with everything which had transpired (John 10:19). Some continued to be convinced Jesus was demon possessed and insane, and asked how anyone else could listen to Him (John 10:20; cf. John 8:48, 52). But others denied His words could come from a demon, and asked how anyone possessed by a demon could give sight to a blind man (John 10:21).
Thus John the Evangelist ended his narratives about Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles. As Israel celebrated the gifts of light, food, water, and life during the Feast of Tabernacles, thus Jesus demonstrated how He was the Light of the world, giving sight and wisdom, providing pasturage and fountains of living water for those who believe in Him. He proclaimed Himself the Son of Man and God the Son and made attestation by doing a thing no prophet before had ever done, but was prophesied regarding the Messiah: He gave sight to a blind man. The people remained as divided as ever: plenty found reason to dismiss Him as demon-possessed and insane, and while no one could make complete sense of what He was teaching, others could not dismiss Him so easily or glibly. May we well recognize Jesus as our Shepherd, the Light of the world, giving life through His sacrifice, and share in life in Him!
Ethan

Hi, guys! I'm back. I've just finished reading Starset's new novel, A Brief History of the Future, and i really needed to share it.
Some of you may know me from my previous posts on the Starset lore:

• In "The Starset lore Part I: Transmissions", I covered the events told in The Prox Transmissions (Starset's first novel) and linked them to the album Transmissions.
• In "The Starset lore Part II: DivisionsThe Starset lore Part II: Divisions", I tried to gather the information we had on the new storyline, mainly based on Divisions content (Horizons hadn't released yet by then) and I shared my speculations about its meaning.

Now that I've read this book, I want to sum up what we have now. Keep in mind that, for obvious reasons, this post is all spoiler content. If you plan to read the book(s) I encourage you to do so, because I'm unveiling some of the main "plot-twists" in the second book. I won't be writing a literal summary of the book's plot (I will focus on the content more than in the "drama" -in fact, I will start at the end), but key elements of it will appear. Also, I'm taking for granted you are already familiar with the contents in The Prox Transmissions -if not, I recommend you reading my post or just dropping this post altogether and go read the book!
If you have already read the books, don't plan to read them or don't care about the spoilers, stay with me along this long post because you will discover much about Divisions, Horizons... and what's coming next!!
Let's go then!
In a unknown year the novel starts in a world dominated by a state called the New East. it's not explicit in the book, but we have reasons to identify the New East with China: it is a current superpower and the powerful people in control have Chinese names. This state is governed by a Governing Committee, composed by Ministers that stay in charge for 5 years, with an exception: the Minister of Security, also known as MinSec. He is the head of the New East's secret police and he is to remain in charge for life.
Prior to 2024, Aston Wise (remember he was one of the protagonists of the previous novel!) is locked up by the US Government. They force him to create the BMI and its Architecture. In 2024, as I have said, the New East manages to obtain it and the big war starts. This part of the story is also explained deeper in a video (called "Initial Debriefing", available in Starset's YouTube channel since September 9th, 2021), with some minor incongruencies:

In the year 2010, the US Defense Advance Research Projects Agency -or DARPA- began work on a neural link system known as the "Brain Machine Interface" developed under the highest levels of secrecy. This technology was to be used in covert espionage campaigns with the goal of giving the US a major advantage in the ever-growing cyber warfare battlefield. The intention was to use the "BMI" on unsuspecting foreign agents, giving US Intelligence a remote line into their minds. Launched in 2020 to great success, the BMI provided a window into the intentions and secrets of numerous potential adversaries. Then, in 2021, a botched operation allowed this technology to fall into the hands of an undisclosed state who would then use it agains the US itself for over a decade. This state -which came to be known as the New East- used this technology to syphon intellectual property and assert control over the US, allowing it to rise swiftly as a global superpower. In the early 2030s, the crippled US launched an attack to the New East. This was quickly thwarted. However, as the New East was fully aware and prepared, in the end, the US and its allies capitulated and became known simply as the New West. Citizens of the New West, now mostly impoverished laborers, were offered BMI implantation -sold on the wonders of its amazing benefits. Eventually though, all were made to comply. Only then did the true goals of the New East become apparent.

The New West is a de facto and de iure protectorate. The New West has its own local police -that dealt with murder and robbery-, but the military and, most important, the Civil Authorities (CA), are controlled by MinSec -focused on thought crime.
Soon after the end of the war, some people were drafted for the reclamation in Virginia by the New East army. This was a forced-labor suicide mission because it was a fallout zone. The goal was the recovery of documents from the US, such as blueprints for advanced weapons and intel. Those who survived, developed NeuroTIDS (neural tissue interface degeneration syndrome) because of the radiation.
Once in control of the US (now New West), the New East implanted into all citizens the BMI. Now, people deal with three layers of reality: unaltered reality (UR), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). Considering the BMI, there are three states:

• BMI glowing white (normal state: people are in UR with elements of AR).
• BMI glowing blue (also called frosting: people are in VR having some pleasant experience, while looking absent and apathetic in the outside). See an example of person frosting in the Diving Bell music video.
• BMI glowing red (also called supplication).

(There also exists the Everything Machine in this storyline. Indeed, people ate only printed food, as real food as reserved for the New East).
On top of this, there’s an intelligent algorythm or artificial intelligence in the Architecture, called the Overseer. It is capable of detecting thought crimes by accessing a person's sensory input and also altering their perceptions (for example, blurring texts from banned books). When a thought crime is detected, CAs intervene and turn the perpetrator into a supplicant. Supplicants are stuck in VR prisons while their bodies wander in the streets or are collected and put into "corrals". See an example of a supplication facility in Where the Skies Ends music video.
The protectorate of the New East upon the New West is mantained thanks to the Quantum Comunicator, which keeps both connected and also connected to the Architecture
On the other hand, there's a rebel network still in function. They manage to meet and develop their plans by modding their BMIs, so that they become undetectable under the eyes of the Overseer. Their plan is to trap the MinSec and use their credentials to get access to the Architecture and destroy it from the inside.
(In Manifest music video you can see examples of people frosting, people supplicated, the modding minor surgery, the rebels, the CAs using their "freezing" weapons and supplicating civilians and a bigwig from the New East, maybe the MinSec himself).
Also, it is said that the New East didn't manage to conquer all the Old West (US) territories. There's rumours about the socalled Western Territories, free land where some former rebels already live, though its real existence it's in never confirmed in book. In The Breach music video we can see how a family leaving in the New West takes the opportunity of escaping into the Western Territories during some sort of shutdown.
The New West capital is established in Philadelphia, where the events in A Brief History of the Future are set. Here's the Quantum Communication Center and the New West Center for Advanced Innovation (CAI), where the most brilliant programming students are sent to develop their skills and work for the New West/East. One of this students is one of the protagonists of this book, Thomas Bell (again, someone whose name we are already familiar...), who quickly proves to be the best one and gets to be chosen as the Director's assistant. Eventually we get to discover the Director is Aston Wise and later on we find out he is the Architect himself.
A feature or app of the BMI that will reveal crucial to the plot is the Shadowcast: one can frost but, instead of being conscious in a VR, "enters" inside a celebrity's mind for an hour and experiences all they are experiencing live (the user is passive and can only perceive, but not intervene or influence the shadowcast celebrity into doing anything). You can see an example of this in Symbiotic music video, where the user is finally able to successfully Occupy the body of the celebrity. In the book, when this happens, the person occupied has their BMI turned purple.
In the book, Occupation will be a tool used by Bell and Wise, but also by the government, in an attempt of using the supplicated bodies to their own purposes. The original project launched by the New East and commissioned to the Director of the CAI (Aston Wise), was called by Wise himself 'Project X'. New East wanted to present it to the citizens as a way of emancipating from work: while working, you can let yourself be occupied by the Overseer, who wil perform your job while you can be having fun in VR. In Icarus music video you can see an ad made by the New East to promote the "benefits" of this technology (called Werk here); the other ads are based on previous BMI technology (AR, VR and Shadowcast). (Fun fact: have you noticed that the actor in 3:12 is the same from the Ricochet music video?).
As I said in the beginning, it is not my goal to sum up the book's plot and even though I have already spoiled you much info and some plot-twists, I'm not telling you here how the story of the protagonists develops and how it ends. However, I can't refrain from telling you this: the last page of the book has a QR that redirects to a video that has me really excited.
In the video, we see a man. He tells us it is 2048. In spring 2026, the New East took over the US. But... guess who's back! Oh, yes, the Order! Or rather they were there all along. In fact, the man who's talking to us is Stephen Browning! On July 4th of 2026, after the New East invasion, the Order tried to launch a spacerocket to get to "a lonely planet" (Prox!), but it was intercepted by the New East and then the army destroyed their base, so they lost all hope in a future on another planet. However, they managed to hide a "time mechanism" (I guess the same they had in The Prox Transmissions) and, finally, sent a message to 2024, warning us about this future that awaits us. Then he sais:

Dear Order friends, the time has finally arrived. We're headed to space. We're going go Prox.

This announcement matches Starset's video from six months ago ("It begins. And it ends. Now."), where we see images of astronauts and spacerockets, evoking space travel. Wow! Did you miss that "space-y" aesthetic, plots and sound from Transmissions and Vessels? Because it sounds like we're getting them back! Note that at the end of this video, the three dots of the BMI are occupied by three symbols:

• The bottom one is the symbol of the Order, appears at the beginning of each chapter in The Prox Transmissions.
• The middle one is the symbol of Divisions album, I'd say it's a symbol of the rebels.
• The top one is... unknown? It is quite similar to me to the symbol in Faultline, but I guess it represents the "following chapter"? Who knows.

It also matches the music video for Starset's last single, Brave New Word! And there's more news: the end of the video linked in A Brief History Of the Future ends with a "to be continued in Spring 2025".
So... Again, there are some questions left unanswered (and I love that!): How are both books linked? Are they the same Aston Wise and Thomas Bell, but in an alternative timeline? From where will the story continue? (The Order in 2048 colonising Prox?). I'm soooo excited to learn what's coming next and to listen Starset's next album (I love Brave New World).
Let me know about your impressions, opinions, theories... feel free to add any info I could have missed, to correct any piece I could be mistaken about, etc. Thank you so much for your attention (I literally created this account only to write these Starset lore posts I feel very invested to and English isn't even my first or second language), I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful!!

We have a 6 yr old domestic short hair ginger cat named Edward. Always been a big guy (20+ lbs) but had noticed sudden onset of lethargy, weakness and weight loss. Took him to vet who did a complete bloodwork up and discovered he was anemic but could not single out a cause so settled on an IMHA diagnosos (immune mediated hemolytic anemia). Gave him an immunosuppressant shot and said come back in 2 weeks for repeat bloodwork. New results fared slightly worse so they then did an x-ray and discoveded a liver tumour. Vet can't be sure but based on ongoing symptoms assume it is cancer and recommend we euthanize him. Only other option they think is to take him to an internal specialist in another province (we are in Nova Scotia) but that this might only buy a bit more time and he might suffer. Right now they feel he is not in pain just very tired and weak. He is still interested in eating and drinking a bit but rarely moves and sleeps much of the time at this point. This came on fast and was unexpected as he is young and has so much personality so we are of course devastated and unsure what to do so came here for some advice. Thanks in advance.

im tired of wishing hoping ull stop hurting me but thats all you want to do. almost like youre addicted to it. its like u get pleasure out of it. telling me about the things im traumatised about. watching my heart fall out of me when you say and do certain things but then choose to do it over and over again. watching me crumble every time you do it but you do it again and again. you are begging me to kill myself choosing to do the things i beg you not to do over and over again. watching me cry and hurt myself for hearing your heartless empty words. watching me fall each time you lie to me and break your promise. youve watched my life turn into a living nightmare because of this, youve watched who died here. im tired.

HI all, so i'm a 18 year old and i realised that time flies, i don't wanna wake up one day and be 25 or 26 and have no money to my name,by that time i should be doing very well since it's 7 years away,i am thinking of buying stocks and holding them for profit and learning to save money.I am currently saving money to start a online business and while i want to make a lot of money from it, i do know that wealth doesn't come quick.
so to end it here, what is your advice to build wealth and where to put those savings?.
thank you all for reading and thank you in advance for your comments.

The Book of Numbers is better understood in terms of its name in Hebrew: Bemidbar, “in the wilderness,” for it described Israel’s preparations to depart from Mount Horeb/Sinai and their wanderings in the wilderness afterward. The events described therein would have taken place sometime around either 1450-1410 or 1250 BCE, depending on one’s view of the Exodus; Moses would have written the original text while in the land of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.
In Numbers 1:1-10:10 Moses set forth the preparations necessary for Israel to travel; while we may find such information tedious, we have records of Egyptian rulers chronicling their preparations and logistics for major campaigns, suggesting many ancient people took pride in detailing all which proved necessary to accomplish their great deeds. YHWH had commanded Moses and Aaron to take a military census of the Israelites and to organize the camp by tribe in Numbers 1:1-2:34, and Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites had proven obedient to all which YHWH had commanded them.
The one tribe excepted from the military census was the Levites; YHWH commanded Moses to appoint the Levites over the service and transportation of the Tabernacle and its furnishings (Numbers 1:47-53). This charge would be taken up and described in detail in Numbers 3:1-4:49.
The genealogy and experience of Aaron and his children are detailed in Numbers 3:1-4. In Leviticus 8:1-9:24, Aaron and his four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar were consecrated to YHWH to serve as His high priests. Nadab and Abihu would die soon after when they offered unauthorized incense before YHWH (Leviticus 11:1-4); this event was mentioned again in Numbers 3:4 to explain why Aaron’s two younger sons will now be given positions of authority and responsibility.
For however long between the events of Leviticus 8:1-9:24 and Numbers 3:1, it would seem Aaron and his sons alone served before YHWH. In Numbers 3:5-4:49 YHWH charged Moses to bring the tribe of Levi and dedicate them to assisting Aaron and his sons in the service before YHWH: to help with the ministrations of the Tabernacle as well as its transport (Numbers 3:5-10).
Long beforehand, Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Numbers 3:17). Each of these had their own sons, and from all of them would come the families of the Levites, and their roles in the service and transport of the Tabernacle would be determined by family (Numbers 3:18-20). YHWH commanded Moses to count every male over a month old among the Levites by these clans and families (Numbers 3:14-16); not for military purposes, as the census of Israel, but for dedication to serving YHWH in His Tabernacle.
The male Gershonites numbered 7,500 and would camp to the immediate west of the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:21-23). They would be responsible for the tent itself, the curtains, the courtyard around the altar, and their service (Numbers 3:24-26). The male Kohathites numbered 8,600 and would camp immediately south of the Tabernacle; they were responsible for the sanctuary and all its implements and their service (Numbers 3:27-31). Eleazar ben Aaron was responsible for the oversight of the Gershonites and Kohathites and their service (Numbers 3:32). The Merarites numbered 6,200 and would camp immediately to the north of the Tabernacle; they were responsible for the frames and pillars of the Tabernacle and their service (Numbers 3:33-37). Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons would camp immediately to the east of the Tabernacle and maintained oversight over the whole system (Numbers 3:38). Moses and Aaron proved faithful to YHWH’s commands, and the number of Levites came out to 22,000 (Numbers 3:39).
In Exodus 13:1-2 YHWH had commanded Moses and the Israelites to reckon the firstborn male of the womb as dedicated to YHWH. Such a dedication would demand a sacrifice: the actual sacrifice of an animal, or dedication to YHWH’s service for male humans. In YHWH’s original desire, all Israel would have been holy and sanctified and able to serve before Him (Exodus 19:5-6); however, during the incident with the golden calf, only the Levites came to Moses as standing for YHWH (Exodus 32:26-29). Thus the Levites were consecrated before YHWH; and in Numbers 3:11-13, YHWH brought these matters together by declaring the Levites as being consecrated to YHWH as redemption for the firstborn males of all Israel. To this end YHWH commanded Moses to count the firstborn males of Israel; the total was 22,273 (Numbers 3:40-43). Such left 273 over; YHWH commanded Moses to obtain five shekels for each of them for redemption, for a total of 1,365 shekels given to Aaron and his sons for the service before YHWH, all as YHWH had commanded (Numbers 3:44-51).
YHWH then commissioned Moses and Aaron with a more specific census for each of the three clans of Levi of men between thirty and fifty who would be the ones in active service (Leviticus 4:1-49). YHWH would then describe the role of each clan in transporting the Tabernacle and its equipment. Aaron and his sons were charged with covering the Ark of the Testimony, the table of the Presence, the altar, and their implements, and to position the poles in place for their transport; it would then fall upon the Kohathites, numbering 2,750, to carry them (Numbers 4:1-16, 34-36). If any Kohathite watched the covering of the holy things or touched a holy thing itself, he would die (Numbers 4:15, 17-20). Eleazar was given oversight over all these matters as well as for the oil for lamplight, oil of anointing, incense, and the daily grain offering (Numbers 4:16). The Gershonites, numbering 2,630, would be responsible for carrying the curtains and coverings; Ithamar ben Aaron was to provide oversight over them (Numbers 4:21-28, 38-41). The Merarites, numbering 3,200, were responsible for all the poles and ropes and other supporting materials; Ithamar ben Aaron was to oversee them as well (Numbers 4:29-33, 42-44). Thus all the Levite men between thirty and fifty years old in active service numbered 8,580 (Numbers 4:45-48).
All things had thus been structured: Israel had been numbered for military service and organized for the march, and the Levites had been numbered and provisions had been made for the service, transport, and installation of the Tabernacle (Numbers 1:1-4:49). We do well to note how Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites had proven faithful to YHWH in all of these matters and were commended for that faithfulness (cf. Numbers 1:54, 2:34, 3:42, 51, 4:49). Israel would soon be on the march.
All seemed well and in order, and for the moment, it was. We know how it will all fall apart and yet put back together again. These preparations were detailed for us to understand how God organized His people and to what end, and their faithfulness in executing this organization. Organization and structure are not everything, nor are they even primary in terms of our faithfulness and service to God; nevertheless, they should exist as God intended so that we can most effectively work to His glory and honor according to the forms of organization He has set forth in Christ through the Spirit as put in place by His Apostles. May we honor God in our organizations and structures, and obtain eternal life in Him!
Ethan

After taking over a month to finish this latest volume, I think I may be finished with this series. It had an interesting (although not super original premise), and I had liked the progression for the most part. However, after finishing Volume 5, I think I have too many issues with the story to where it doesn't feel worthwhile to continue.

• This story would be nearly identical if it was just about a boy wanting to make a high school debut. The going back in time aspect really doesn't add much outside of the intro, some flashbacks, and the phrase "rainbow colored youth" being used way too much. It's also not as if the knowledge from his first experience is really being utilized (other than basketball for whatever reason). It's more just "get in shape, be sociable and friendly" and everything falls into place. This had been nagging at me for a while and couldn't put this into words before, but the premise just feels wasted/irrelevant.
  
• Everything goes too smoothly for Haibara. At some point it just becomes uninteresting when you know every issue or "obstacle" will be overcome no problem. The basketball game at the end of Volume 5 really sold this for me. I ended up just skipping through several pages (not sure why this author loves detailing basketball games so much), and of course his team ends up winning. Haibara's just made to be too athletic, handsome, smart, charismatic, etc. to where he doesn't feel like a real person anymore.
  
• Too many female characters falling in love with him. While I did think the aspect of "how a friend group deals with 2 people being into the same person", with the addition of Miori now and the drama that the ending hinted at, I think I'm over it. Especially since most of the characters he interacts with are women, I could see this playing out more times than it already has with the band member, the coworker, etc. Plus, as if the relevant side characters weren't enough, he also gets more or less confessed to by a stranger because hey, why not? He does have male friends but each of those is also linked in a romantic way to other characters. So he's either interacting with a female character, or when it's with the males it's still usually about the female characters too.
  

At the end of the day, the story has just become un-interesting and predictable. It's hard not to compare this to the Re:Life manga, which has similar ideas but it feels so much more impactful with the concept. I'm not 100% sure I'll be dropping this, but I went from reading each volume at or near release to being incredibly okay forgetting about this series. This is mostly a rant but I'm curious how others feel, especially for any JP readers since I'm guessing it's further ahead there.

I need help! I had an arrange marriage with a girl from my community a year ago. At the time of our engagement the girl mentioned i had time till our marriage to loose our weight. After my marriage to her, whenever I spoke to her about trying to loose weight she’d tell me you are married now and it’s not a big deal anymore.
She’d tease me calling me i had man b***s , even her mother at one point said my tummy was out.
October of last year i lost my job, i took that as an impetus for a change and worked out and ate right. i went from a 229 lbs to 190 lbs.
in the past i had shared this info with my wife however, she did not seem interested.
My mother once clicked a photo of me and sent it to my wife’s aunt, showing off that i had lost weight. from then on i have been told by everyone from my mil, to my bil, my wife about how i am dieting and i dont need to loose this weight. i dont look good anymore, it does not look healthy. i went from 229 to 190 lbs.
my bil also told me now that i have lost weight it appears i have more confidence.
literally every time i am on a call with her mom, my weight comes up and on a recent call with her brother, he asks me i am not dieting anymore, am i?
how should i respond to this incessant calls on my body and weight loss journey? i have told them that i am working on building my body now and even that does not seem to be enough to back off. i am happy about my body why is it a group issue.
tl;dr arrange marriage and now my mil and bil are nagging me about weight loss.

I am F16, my ex is M18. loved my ex. I want to get that out of the way. He wasn't conventionally attractive, but I thought he looked nice and was a wonderful person. He was autistic and had adhd, which made some stuff challenging, but I loved him and was willing to deal with it, since I myself had BPD and he was willing to deal with it (or so he said). Do note this relationship was long distance.
I knew him for four years before we dated. We didn't talk much for a year or so, before dating. I had gotten out of a relationship, a little after we had reconnected. I didn't want to date again for at least a year, but he was kind to me and we talked quite often. I started to fall for him, but he told me he was aromantic so I never pursued.
We jokingly would flirt though, and spend a lot of time talking together. One day he told me he might be demiromantic, not aromantic, because he felt something for me. I talked more with him after that, about relationship type things. Eventually I confessed, and then a while later, he confessed back to me. When we started dating, we agreed on certain things. He didn't know if he loved me romantically, but he was happy to engage in romantic behaviors and he felt some type of love for me. I was okay with this. I made him aware of what my BPD looked like, he said he was okay with that too.
For the beginning of the relationship, the first few months, it was lovely and we enjoyed each other's company (at least I thought we did). Rough patches were smoothed over pretty easily. Eventually, behaviors I have from BPD, specifically being easily triggered to react emotionally, became more prevalent. There was a point where he wanted to break up with me, then after a conversation, decided to let me try and resolve the behavior. I did try, I tried very hard.
I think I probably should have let it go, though. After this event, he began to tell his friends and family about all our dramas. Probably a red flag, since I only spoke to one person (my best friend) and never painted him negatively, though his family hates me now so he must have. We met a month after this, and it was the best five days I ever had. I felt loved, we got along well (I thought, Ill touch on this later). A month later, he begins online college. Okay, cool. Great. I was happy for him.
He told me it wouldn't affect our relationship, and at first it didn't, but eventually he stopped doing it in a timely manner and would fail to achieve commitments he had said he would do. Every day I would ask if we planned to call, I would've been fine with a yes or no. He always said yes, but often wouldn't keep the commitment. At first I handled it just fine, but eventually it became upsetting.
I'm a busy person, and I'm not free during my day until evening. He's free most of his days, almost constantly. I would do my best to be available at our designated time, and would feel hurt (and eventually react as such) when he wouldn't. Especially when he started to put off his schoolwork to hang out with his friends, often after having said we would talk later that day too. I brought this up to him, I want to say. I told him if he wanted time to himself, he could tell me how long he wanted and I would give it to him. He never did tell me, but he often would tell me that when I was awake he never felt free. He would stay up very late because that was the only time he felt free. He said he was always worried I would need him, so I guess there was a red flag in that too.
Touching back on the meeting him in person thing. He has a large family, and his family has a small farm with livestock dogs on it. His younger siblings were very interested in me, since I was a new person, and they wanted to hang out with me. I also love dogs, and have always wanted one, so I spent some time with the dogs out on the farm. I would invite him to play with his siblings with me, or go see the dog. I slept six hours a night for those five days, and would be with him for 16-17 hours a day. We would go out places and talk, and I would spend maybe two or three of those hours at the most around his siblings/the dog.
Later on, after we went on our break (I'll talk about this too, later) he said to me that he felt I wanted to make an impression on his siblings more than I did with him, and that we were at different points in our lives because I still wanted to have fun and play around (I want to reiterate that his siblings would seek me out). He told me he wanted us to have spent more time just laying around and cuddling, rather than going out to so many places, but never said this to me while we were together in person. I invited his oldest sister to come with us to a place (before asking him), though I told her I would need him to agree before we finalized anything, and then asked him after. He didn't like that.
Now, before I get into the last section of this, I want to establish that he was very kind to me (usually). We bought each other gifts, spent time together, made plans, and all of that stuff. He made me happy, I thought I made him happy too.
In our relationship, we both failed to communicate, and I would fail to discuss things calmly, letting my emotions get the best of me. I wouldn't leave him alone very often, wouldn't let him do stuff away from me very often. I loved being around him, but he wanted time apart and I tended not to give that to him. I should have. This was his first relationship that he wanted to last, but his second relationship in total. I've had many more before this, but this was the only one I really felt commitment to. We talked about marrying, about buying a house, about pets and family. I feel as if we did everything right, or at least he did. I was the emotional one, who wanted too much. I know it was mainly my fault.
When we went on break, it was because I couldn't take it anymore and lost my cool. He'd promised we could talk that night, I was extremely vulnerable emotionally because of something with my family. He failed to finish his work on time, told me he needed another two hours. I snapped. I went down the list of "everything I hate about you (him)". I told him most of the stuff I'm saying here, and some others.

• I hate how you never take my advice
• I hate how you ask me to help you stay on track but never listen to me
• I hate how you get upset with me easily, but never do with any of your friends Etc.

We talked after that, he acted pretty normal. The next day he dropped that on me, despite saying the night before that he wanted to be there for us to both improve.
I started therapy after that, I started trying to find ways to work around all my issues while he continued his typical daily routine. I didn't mind. He initiated flirting with me, and other stuff, that I reciprocated and went along with because I loved him and I still love him even now, and it was all my fault even if I know it wasn't all my fault it feels like it was all my fault. He said he never wants to speak to me again, blocked me, all of it.
During our break, I tried confronting our problems and finding solutions. He dropped several bombs on me, that make me feel rather insecure even now about whether he ever liked me for me or just because of other physical (you know what I mean) attributes, bring that that was all he would really comment on positively.
He told me he never loved me, and never likes me.
Now, what led to the final actual break up, was that I have been planning with another friend to move to Salt Lake City for actual years. He wanted to be part of it, and so did another friend. My household situation isn't great, won't go into too many details but I have been having stress reactions since many years ago, that have been getting steadily worse. I wanted to move out at 18, I'm almost 17. I've been kind of panicking about all of this, and yesterday I snapped (sort of). The conversation with him went sort of like this:

• I tell him he and the other two won't enjoy the talk we'll have Monday
• He asks why
• I said "you guys probably just wont"
• He tells me I'm being defeatist
• I tell him I'm not, then give more details on the conversation. He and the other two are 18, 18, and 20. Two of them come from well-off families. I felt frustrated that neither of them, especially him, work yet or have been trying to even get their driver's license. I intend to skip two years of high-school to take my GED and start working because I don't have another choice. They have choices, and I don't. I wanted to get this point across.

I go on further to say he and the other person's view of maturity is narrow-minded and flawed. A while later he tells me he no longer wants to be involved with me or anything to do with me, after talking to other people and getting their opinions.
Tl;Dr, had a relationship with someone I really liked, I feel like I'm to blame for the collapse of it. He had autism/adhd, I had BPD, we went on break so I could try to fix my problems (he said he would too but it didn't really feel much like he was), and then broke up because I confronted him (albeit poorly) about how I felt he and another person treated the future they wanted to be involved in. There were a lot of things that hurt me really badly in the relationship, but I think I hurt him worse. AITAH?