I’ve always stated I was fundie lite, and I think that still stands. But I had family actively in IBLP, and would often spend time with them. My mom worshipped the Duggars. But I think about what I was told about tampons or how I was temping men at 13/14. Or how I went to see speakers that said girls need to learn to shut up then they could be with good men. Or how I remember going to a boys church and them telling us that we needed to be aware of our sinful nature while the boys played basketball outside. I was watching SHP and my husband watched with me, and it just reopened some old thought processes I used to have.
A few years ago I tried talking to my mom about it and her response was “you were the one into it.” But I just don’t buy that. I went to a progressive church and I met gay pastors and drag queens at church camp. We were taught it was our bodies our choice. They grieved when Roe v wade got overturn. And I love my progressive church community for being that way to allow me to see the other side, because I loved that. My parents didn’t attend growing up us kids actively sought out the church because it was safe for us. There is no way I was into the fundamentalism. I think my mom is trying to pawn off guilt and shame she has for making me a parent at 10 to all my siblings, and we were a small family and it was a lot.
Idk I wondered if anyone else is in the same boat? Kinda questioning what their childhoods were really fundie or not. I’m well aware that this shit is also part of dominate patriarchal culture. And while I went to a good church, the home life and ideals were much more fundie. I’m sad for the little kid me that had to go through with all it, and I’m sad that there are others here in FSU who have gone through way more. For me it’s great to share my snarky world with my husband who knows of it but never seen it. I just didn’t expect to have such a large emotional response to SHP.

I am AMAB, 19, and I am scheduled for gallbladder removal on the 9th.
I am very worried about my presenting symptoms and am wondering if anyone has had the same experiences.
I first presented to the ER thinking I was having a heart attack. A short EKG and chest x-ray came back normal twice now.
The pain can be brutal and intense but the most anxiety inducing issue has been the heart palpitations. I know that acid reflux can induce them but I’m worried about the frequency of them.
Every day, multiple times a day, after any exertion and even in unrelated stressful moments like watching a basketball game or dropping a drink on the floor, I can feel my heart pounding in my chest and neck. If I don’t work to get myself away from the stress then it becomes much more pronounced and intense. I have a high resting heart rate since my symptoms began and it regularly floats at 100, jumping up to 110-130 during an episode.
I’ve seen people on here mention palpitations and fatigue. Is this what it’s like? Or should I be worried about this and see someone before my surgery? I’m anxious.

Not sure if I should post this here or somewhere else...but I just need advice and to vent...a lot has happened in a span of 1 month, more specifically in the last 5 days.
Some context/a little back story: Since April of last year, I've been working with a Physical Therapist. After a year of PT I was told by my therapist I was officially done. He then offered to take me on as a client for Personal Training. He suggested I try natural body building since the year prior I had put on 30 pounds of muscle working with him. I told him that sounded like an awesome idea!
The reason I'm mentioning this, is because I was put on a strict diet and workout routine. And once a week I've been going to see him for weigh-in's and just to talk about how everything is going. Well after 8 weeks of measurements, my trainer called me in to have a somewhat serious conversation. During the 8 weeks of training, my chest only grew 1cm. Whereas my legs grew more than 5cm. After he told me this, he asked me a bunch of random questions (I'll provide my answers as well):

• How long does it take to recover after a workout?
  • It takes 3-4 days to recover. I told him it's been taking longer than normal.
• How has my sleep been lately?
  • I tend to wake up 2-3 times a night. But this has been going on a few months.
• How have my energy levels been? Does caffeine do anything?
  • I'm tired all of the time, and I can drink 2-3 Cold Brew Coffees from Starbucks and feel tired still.
• How has my libido been? Do I have a sex drive?
  • (I thought this question was weird...) I told him that I don't really have one anymore.
• How often do you get headaches?
  • I get them 2-3 days a week, but they're not that intense. I also explained how I get aura migraines and will go literally blind in my left eye. But I explained that headaches and migraines run in my family. My dad and brother get them all of the time. So I never thought twice about it.
• How stressed have I been?
  • I was honest with him, I told him that since February of 2022, I've been a lawsuit that resulted in me losing my job. It took 13 months to find another job and during that time I went through a lot of personal things.

After I answered these questions, he told me he was concerned about my lack of progress since being with him. He explained that by week 6 of this 8 week program, I should have noticed results. Yet I barely grew at all. And barely lost any body fat, specifically in my lower back. He was especially concerned since the year prior I had gained 30 pounds of muscle. I shouldn't have suddenly plateaued this quickly. He told me he was going to speak with my doctor and suggested I set up an appointment to have my testosterone levels tested.
I scheduled an appointment to get the blood work done on May 5th. A week later, my results came in on May 12th. My doctor calls me and tells me that my Testosterone came back at only 219. The "normal" range is 300 (low end) to 1100 (high end). Based on my diet, age (31 year old male), and how often I workout, my levels should be between 550 and 650. The fact that my levels were low and not even in the "normal" range alarmed him. However, he said that this didn't necessarily mean anything. He said I would need to get my levels tested again to confirm the results, and this time he was also going to test my LH and FSH levels.

• LH stimulates your testes to make testosterone, a hormone your body needs to produce sperm. Testosterone is also responsible for secondary sex characteristics, like a deeper voice and more body hair and muscle mass.
• FSH is a hormone released by the pituitary gland in the brain. In men, it stimulates testicular growth and helps produce a protein that plays a vital role in male fertility by aiding in the creation of normal sperm cells and maintaining them until they are ready to be released.

I scheduled my bloodwork again, for May15th, and came back May 23rd:

• My LH level came back at 1.3. The "normal" range is 1.8 - 8.6.
• My FSH came as 2.3. The "normal" range is 1.5 - 12.4.
• My Testosterone came back as 200. Slightly less than before.

On Wednesday of last week, my doctor gave me a call and went into more detail about all of the bloodwork that was done. He admitted right away that he was confused by results and concerned. (Can already tell this isn't going to be a "fun" conversation). He explained to me that because my LH, FSH and Testosterone are all on the low end (despite the FSH being barely in the normal range). The reason this alarmed him was because if one hormone is low, the other hormone will go into overdrive so the body can produce testosterone. However, since they're all low, it indicated that there was a strong possibility of a brain tumor called Pituitary Adenoma pressing on the Pituitary Gland. These are also one of the very few tumors that can be determined by the hormone levels in the blood. He did mention that they're usually benign/non-cancerous. However, because I'm getting headaches and ocular migraines (on top of my other symptoms), they need to take this seriously/quickly.
He wasn't joking about moving quickly either. Since Wednesday of last week, I've had the following appointments scheduled:

• I had a doctors appointment today at 2pm to discuss everything in detail.
• I have another appointment on Thursday to evaluate how I'm doing physically.
• I have more bloodwork on Friday.
  • They need to test EVERY SINGLE HORMONE to see how bad this is.
• I have to get an MRI w/contrast on Tuesday next week.
  • Fun fact: I was told they have to put a cage on my head/shoulders so I don't move. I've never had an MRI before, so this is going to be fun...
• I have another appointment the following Friday to discuss my bloodwork and the start of hormone replacement therapy. I might have to find an endocrinologist for this, depending how low my hormone levels are.
• And depending on the results of the MRI, I have to meet with an oncologist and neurosurgeon.
  • Cancerous or not, radiation therapy and surgery has already been mentioned as a strong possibility for treatment.

It hasn't hit me yet that this is happening to me. And I'm scared it won't become a reality until next Tuesday when I go in for my MRI. Luckily they're going to give me a bunch of happy drugs so I don't freak out. Right now, I feel like I'm stuck in time while the rest of the world is moving at a lightning pace.
The other issue is I'm having a very hard time focusing at work. I did tell my boss about my diagnosis and that I'm going to need a lot of time off over the next 2 to 3 weeks while I see these doctors to get an accurate diagnosis. He said not to worry about needing time off, but I am worried. I don't want to risk getting fired. My performance is already starting to fall because of this fog that I'm in. And he's noticing it...
What should I do at work? Has anyone else been through this before? Am I overreacting to feel this way? I know I need to take this one day at a time...but it just feels so surreal...

I'll jump right in and start from the beginning, but I think you already know where this is headed...
​
So, I grew up in Kansas, and although the state government grew increasingly republican, the county I lived in was all liberal democratic. At one time I was in the boy scouts. This was early 2010s or so. I personally never went far in it because it was hosted at a church that was far away, I was very socially awkward and never liked social interactions in general, and it was a cub scout group that did primarily boring things like tying the same knots over and over and also listening to hour long presentations about fire safety or whatever. I never really got to go outside but was there for the free food. I believe I was in second grade or maybe third grade, and only even got to go to like 10 meetings or so. My dad took drove me to them and after he left, for military service overseas, my mother just quit paying for it, and never approved of it anyway. She didn't like me hanging out with him.
​
In fifth grade I moved to another state, where I currently reside, where the government is completely liberal and democratic. The main motivation for the move, I was told, was my mother hated the Kansas Republicans cutting off educational programs and welfare benefits. But I believe the real reason was to keep me away from my father. He was in the same state after returning from service in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and by the time we moved into this state, he had already been assigned away. Fortunately, the reassignment was stonewalled by many completely unpredictable things. This was the year that NATO ISAF became NATO RSM, and OFS became OEF. I believe the changes were initiated by CJTF OIR, after pretending to be successful with UN SCR 2254, which was written as a response to a rising conflict in Syria that resulted from, among other things, al-Qaeda splitting from Daish. Remember that the CJTF is a mechanism for NATO to create operations and carry them out with non-NATO forces. NATO RSM led the effort in OEF, which is a counterterrorism campaign targeted against Daish. None of that matters anymore because a year or two ago, all NATO forces were withdrawn by the Doha agreement.
​
I suspect the non-NATO forces will be flocking to Syria in the coming months but honestly, I've never been able to keep track of what they've been up to. My mother said my father was away overseas constantly, in Germany, Israel, or someplace random, but I learned that none of it was true. He was at home, and she spun misinformation using the narcissistic technique of hounding him for information over the phone, making him guess about an unpredictable future, and then deliberately ignoring updates whenever a decision was actually made. He was in Hawaii on a cruise ship when I thought he was in Tehran.
​
The way women manipulate people like my mother did to me here is important for the story on this post. So, keep that in the back of your mind for now.
​
So as a kid I remember the giant fuss that feminists made over the boy scouts. They said that girls should be allowed to join, and the program should be renamed to just "the scouts". There where little carboard signs everywhere with this bullshit on them, as well as the effort being reported in the local news.
​
The girl scouts, apparently, is not as fun as the boy scouts. I suppose they don't go outside, go camping, or go on field trips. Instead, they sit around in a classroom and learn cooking and cleaning or whatever. I don't know, I was never a girl scout. It was the fact that boys have so much more fun that was considered misogynistic by the feminists.
​
So, in many troops now, girls can join. In the cub scouts that I was in, there weren't any girls, as far as I can remember, but the counselors themselves where girls, which I think was unusual, given that men usually do that.
​
I don't understand why the girl scouts can't just restructure their own program. Allow the girls to have the same fun stuff. There's no reason why they can't do that and stay completely on their own.
​
Of course, the girl scouts are run by women. These women are in charge and made it lame. They design the whole program, run the whole show, and believe that somehow, their failure is the fault of men and boys.
​
But it's not our fault. The fault is literally the women with the full power and responsibility over their own schedules. They could easily make any renovations to the girl scouts that they want.
​
Boys just know how to have more fun. We know how to get along and we're not afraid of actual life, and the great outdoors. But then the women want to infiltrate our group. And change it completely. My cub scouts experience was pretty lame, because these liberal women removed anything that was actually fun. They ruin the girl scouts and now want the same for the boy scouts.
​
We are not misogynist because we live our lives freely and have more fun. I think we never should have let the girls in, they are so miserable and whiny. The amount of narcissism they have is so insane and crazy to me. They have no right to barge in and change things according to a political agenda. What needs to be done is some self-introspection as to restructure the girl scouts. If they want to stop selling cookies and go camping or swimming or hunting or whatever, then why not let them do it? Why do they have to come over to the other side? We did not design the girl scouts. Women designed the girl scouts. Women ruined it and blamed all the men of the world as if we somehow had any control over what they do. I will not be made to believe that I have any responsibility at all for the fact that the women counselors ruined girl scouts all by themselves.
​
Also, women should not be in the military. I'm sorry, but it comes down to the biological fact that they are not naturally gifted in the areas that a good solider requires. Number one being the oath of honesty that the military enforces. If my father ever behaved like my mother, straight up lying about his location or his credentials, he would be court-martialed immediately.
​
Now that I think of it, isn't it strange that feminists have an obsession with tearing down any institution that stands for honor? As if men are not allowed to be honorable? Just a final thought...

I wfh, there's 2 other people in my province that work at the same company remotely. 1 of them is the VP of another department, and hes been insisting that 3 of us meet up for lunch on the 23rd.
Here's my issue: it's scheduled for mid day, which means traffic time and I don't have a car. I finish work at 4pm this will run till 5pm. I still have no idea where this lunch is supposed to take place and hes rescheduled twice.
Second, he's not my boss and there's no agenda or real reason why we're meeting up in person. It's two grown men in their 40s and me. Just for the sake of "meeting up".
I declined once but then he rescheduled again - and i don't want to go. I dont know what the most professional way to say it is and I don't want to run the risk of being rude.
But its just such a hassle. They're from completely different departments too.
What can i say?

(I am just venting about a unique situation I suppose. I was wondering if anyone else feels the way I do. FOR CONTEXT: I grew up in a low socioeconomic and rural town that primarily specialized in deep fried southern food and cotton fields. This meant that, in typical manner of small town America, no one ever really leaves. My mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents all attended the same high school as me. One of my childhood friend’s grandmother was the person who signed off on my parents’ marriage license. (I did not know that fact until my mom showed me their old marriage certificate several years later and I saw the familiar looking last name of said friend.) Most townsfolk married someone from their high school class, my parents being no exception. Some even had the same teachers or principals as me. The demographics of my version of small town America was composed mostly of what my teenage self would refer to as “hick rednecks'' and “military jackasses.” (I was mostly referring to the two sides of my family: dad’s side being hick rednecks and mom’s side being military jackasses.) Overall, my hometown was an interesting mix of people ranging from God-fearing Baptists and self-proclaimed “country bumpkins”. There were lots of speeches about hell and brimstone during my childhood.
I’m not sure how to sum up my experience growing up Chinese American. Up until I was an adult, I rarely bothered to share the truth about my adoption. Mostly due to feeling exhausted from having to repeat the same stories to people again and again:
“China had an overpopulation problem in the 1900s. As a knee jerk reaction, the deeply conventional and patriarchal government implemented the One Child Policy. Basically, if parents had more than one kid, they would be heavily taxed and ostracized. Now, if said second child was a girl, they’d be in some hot shit. In Chinese culture, usually it is the son that takes care of their elderly parents while the daughter is married off and becomes part of her new family of in-laws. Being born a girl was seen as an inconvenience as their culture historically coveted males. This often led to Chinese baby girls to be left for dead in trash cans, taken by the government, or even killed. Having a second daughter was seen as a betrayal to the Chinese regime and for some reason warranted infanticide. Well, I’m obviously a girl who survived what essentially was a mass slaughter. Probably the second born daughter which was extra hot shit for my biological parents. They wanted better for me (maybe), so I was put up for adoption. I hung out in a Chinese orphanage for about half a year until two random white people decided to adopt me. They brought me back to America, and the rest is history. No, I have no memories as I was a literal baby. No, I do not know who my birth parents are since adoption was conducted anonymously since putting a child up for adoption was also considered treason. And personally, just my opinion, it’s a little fucked that the government is slightly more approving of murdering babies for something completely out of their control instead of putting them up for adoption.” Or something along those lines…
I was adopted by my mom and dad, but primarily raised by a single mom for most of my childhood. I guess my peers just assumed when they saw my mom, that my dad happened to be Asian which is where I must have gotten my “exotic” genes. My childhood was also very abusive (from all sides of my family). Although I do have love for my family somewhere buried under the deep-seeded resentment, I no longer have a relationship with any of them besides of few of my distant cousins. This is mostly for my own safety/peace of mind because my relatives tend to influence me very negatively.
My earliest childhood memories involved a lot of weird and invasive questions I would hear from adults and peers alike regarding my ethnicity. Well that, and a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach that I would later identify as “survivor’s guilt” as an adult. Logically speaking, I have no reason to feel guilty for being alive, but I do. It would occur any time some adult friend of my parents would gush about how “lucky” I was to be adopted. I suppose luck had some part in my survival, but I didn’t expect people to be tone deaf enough to tell that to a little kid already struggling to come to grips with her cultural identity.
The snarky part of my brain would parody their comments:
“Oh, how these two altruistic white saviors decided to welcome a child as their own despite having no blood ties whatsoever.” Which, in part, is true. My parents did a very selfless thing. They were not able to conceive a baby of their own and they chose me out of the millions of parentless babies in the world. I think the damaging part is the underlying implications about how these nice people could have had any child and yet they settled for a baby no one wanted. My family would refer to my miracle of survival as “God’s plan.” They would talk about how God perfectly orchestrated my early life tragedies so I could be rescued from an awful life with those “evil communists.” I have nothing personal against religion nor people who truly believe in the G man upstairs. My beef comes from how this perspective is very centered on the adopters instead of the adoptees. Yes, it is BOTH our stories, but I often feel like adoptees' voices and feelings of uncertainty are often drowned out by a chorus of “you’re so lucky” and “why do you feel like that? You’re so ungrateful.” Also, I was a healthy baby girl born with no neurological or physical deficiencies. I definitely had much better odds than other babies at being adopted during the One Child Reign. Hearing these implications from people who do not understand nor want to understand the complexity of the adoptee’s experience fed into my survivor guilt and feelings of inadequacy. The adoption progress does involve a loss for the adoptee: a loss of culture, identity, and familial ties. I feel like adoption, specifically international adoption, is highly idealized and romanticized. Although I never told my mom, there was a part of me deep down that felt like a second-rate baby. Mostly because I knew how it would make her sad to know that somewhere in my little kid brain, I didn’t think that I would truly be wanted if my mom’s fertility situation went differently.
I would often describe the state of Texas as “that really annoying, overly-friendly hick cousin that comes to every holiday and gets completely sloshed out of their mind and drunkenly brags about their mediocre accomplishments” to people who would ask me to describe Texas. But for all the Texan pride and arrogance about our current Lone Star State, I suppose I could see its appeal. Living in rural Texas is a familiar, humble, and stable experience. My hometown was relatively safe. I could walk to my childhood friends’ houses after school just a few blocks away from my own house without much fear. Most people waved and smiled at each other in passing. (Looking back through adult lenses, I’m not sure how much of it was genuine.) Most townsfolk could fill their relatively uneventful lives with the downtown gossip of families going through some type of soap opera behind closed doors. And despite living in a small town, the schools were large enough to where we could participate in varsity sports seasonally. The rare minority of people who actually did have the courage to leave eventually moved back to start a family because “there’s no place like good ole home!”
The monotony is what partially induced my pubescent angst and desire to someday escape the only place I’ve ever known. That, and the fact that the things you could do for entertainment in small town USA was close to none. The drawback of only living in one town your entire life is limited world experiences. The safety net of someone’s childhood confinements has the potential to induce complacency confused with comfort. How could you ever expand your worldview when you’re hanging out with the same people with the same ideals again and again?
The Asian population in my hometown was close to nonexistent as well. In my high school graduating class, there was one other Asian kid that attended school as me. When my school’s standardized testing scores would be released, the performance metrics were broken down by how well each ethnic group of students did. Since there were only two Asian kids in my grade level, it would be pretty obvious if one of us failed. (Luckily, neither one of us did.) And of course, my peers encouraged both of us to date since “we’d be, like, SO perfect for each other! We’d get married and have little genius Asian babies!”
The feeling of being “othered” or “different” had always been present throughout my childhood. As a kid, the complexity of prejudices eluded me in my naivety, but the uncomfortable feeling of my peers hyperfocusing on my almond-shaped eyes, my flat nose, my stick straight black hair, and any other features felt like they were screaming, “ASIAN!” very loudly. A part of me felt some sort of unspoken alliance between me and my Hispanic friends. It was as if to some degree, they understood what it was like to have your whole personhood categorized by the color of your skin. Sadly, a large portion of my family was uncomfortable with the presence of anyone of Hispanic descent, and I'd often be forced to come up with excuses for my friends of color to not come over in fear of my traditionally southern family making an off-the-cuff comment about how "Mexicans are dirty, poor, and thuggy criminals." Their political diatribes, usually involving immigration, were the popular conversation starters during family get-togethers. My family was very much the type of people that would preach out being a good, godly man/woman while snickering about non-White people's "oddities." Talking about how Jesus loves all and then whispers sanctimoniously about a low-income Hispanic family on the opposite side of the room.
"Oh, GOD BLESS their hearts!"
I doubt those families needed my family's pity.
My mom's sister once texted me after I returned a stray dog to their rightful owner,
"I need to know their race so I can determine their education levels. If they're Mexican, it makes sense why they didn't pay you for rescuing their dog. Mexicans are always looking for the cheap way out."
They were Hispanic, and they were very thankful for the return of their dog. I didn't understand why a decent deed automatically required me to be compensated nor how their racial background tied into their obligation to compensate me.
I snarky replied, "What does their ethnic background have anything to do with how they should act?"
To which she responded, "Calm down. I can practically hear you getting huffy with me from your text. Don't get mad at me! I told you that those Mexicans are always coming to our country and expecting us to learn THEIR language while they refuse to learn English! Plus, when you're my age and all your tax dollars go into keeping lazy illegals afloat, you'll understand why I'm not willing to let some freeloading Mexicans take advantage of my niece."
I no longer talk to that aunt.
My dad's (now current) wife also got very sloshed at the last Christmas event I attended and ranted very loudly about how "the Bible said that evil yellow people like (me) would bring the end of the world and second coming of Jesus to end our sinful tyranny" in front of my entire family with my dad awkwardly ignoring her xenophobic remarks.
It also did not help that in elementary school, some of my classmates would see me and bow to me while one boy would pretend to bang a gong as soon as I entered the classroom and snicker while singing, “CHING, CHONG, CHINKY!” Or how during snack breaks, my peers would pop up to ask me questions like, “do you know karate,” or, “can you speak Chinese to me, " or “ew, don’t tell me you’re gonna eat my dog. He’s a really cute puppy!”
As evasive and uncomfortable these comments could get, I felt like they were fairly innocuous and were asked out of a mix of childhood ignorance and genuine curiosity. I think the part that bothered me the most was having some of my classmates point out how “weird” my eyes looked while placing their fingers at the corners of their eyes and stretching them outwards and loudly proclaiming, “LOOK, NOW I’M CHINESE TOO!!! I LOOK JUST LIKE YOU!” But the absolute worst feeling would be when someone would mention how I look nothing like my very obviously white mom or dad.
“How could they be your parents when you don’t even look like them?”
To which I had a carefully crafted answer my mom would help me rehearse beforehand: “Oh, yeah, I’m adopted from China. Not all families look the same.”
And the retort back would usually be, “Do you miss your real parents?”
Do I?
I ponder that question to this day.
It feels uncomfortable to have people refer to my sperm and egg donors as my “real parents.” My adoptive parents felt very real to me because they were all I knew.
I don’t think I fit the concept of the model minority. I did not come out of the womb as one of those “wiz kids” playing the piano like Mozart, doing linear algebra before I was verbal, and eating dogs for breakfast. My experience as being an Asian American and labeled as the “good minority” has been a weird space to be in. As much as I partially appreciated being known as the “successful, smart, culturally assimilated” race of people, a part of me felt bitter at the notion that all my successes in life might be attributed to my ethnicity. When I would express my discontent with these labels, I would often get reprimanded as ungrateful.
“Don’t you want to be smart?”
“What’s so bad about being Asian? It’s a compliment!”
“Are you embarrassed to be Asian?”
“And you’re basically guaranteed a spot in medical school to become a doctor.”
“The guys are obsessed with you because of your exotic genes!”
(Pro tip for anyone, but especially for my fellow marginalized members: if someone calls you “exotic,” run.)
The answers to these questions usually go, “yes, nothing, no, what, and ew.”
Yes, I do want to be smart. I hope that my cognitive abilities will help me contribute something positive to society one day.
Nothing is wrong with being Asian or whatever you are. It just feels very uncomfortable to hear about an entire group of people as if they’re all the same.
No. I have never and will never be embarrassed of what I am.
What? Why do you assume I automatically want to become a doctor?
Ew, exotic? I don’t even want to reply to that comment.
I wish that I had the vocabulary at the time to respond like that. Instead, I would awkwardly laugh at their comment and say something along the lines of, “haaaa, I don’t know any other Asians. If you run into them, you’ll have to ask them.”
When you would hear about brilliant minds in history such as Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking, most wouldn't say, “Oh well, it’s because they’re white. All those white genetics are what keep them so hard-working and successful.” Instead, as a demographic that is adequately represented in society, Einstein and Hawking and so many other white men had their accomplishments acknowledged as their own individualistic brilliance. An experience I so desperately wanted. So what if I was good or bad at math? I want to be called smart because I am smart. Not because I have some God-given wiz genes that have prophesied my successes from my first primordial cell. Or what if I was terrible at math? I don’t want to be labeled as a “bad” or “fake” Asian. I don’t want to be categorized as one of those “innocent, submissive Asian girls that would make a proper wife one day.” I just want to exist in my own space as my own person. Whoever I ended up becoming.
(Does anyone have negative experiences from adoption? I would love to know because the rare fellow adoptees I have met have very different (positive) experiences than myself.)

TLDR; Full-time salaried employee in Texas. Ran out of PTO while on medical leave (short term disability). Received full salary while on leave due to corporate disability insurance. Upon returning to work on a medically & corporate approved part time schedule, I was surprised to be receiving shorted paychecks as if I were an hourly employee. Currently unable to pay the cost of living and medical bills.
Full story: I work in Texas for a large global corporation as a salaried employee. Recently I had run into medical issues and ended up being on paid leave for Short-term Disability. This leave was paid via a corporate provided insurance program that required a painful amount of medical verification to get approved. It was 100% salary pay during my time recovering.
During this medical leave, all of my PTO (vacation/holiday/sick leave/etc) was drained before they would apply the disability payments. Thus leaving me with no remaining PTO when I returned to work.
After a few months, my doctors decided that I was ready to attempt a return to work on a shortened part-time schedule (4 hours a day limit). This request was approved by my company's HR department and they did not say anything to me regarding a change of pay. They simply said in email something along the lines of "your return to work has been approved and you will be permitted to work a limit of 4 hours per day."
Initially I was still receiving my full salary during this part time schedule, but suddenly my last check was reduced and it appears that I am being paid hourly instead of my salaried income.
Is there anything I can do? I am currently not medically approved to work full time, and my company will not allow me to work full time until my doctors permit it. It seems like everything is outside of my control since I'm not allowed to work full time even if I wanted it, and now I'm struggling to pay living expenses.

I think we all agree he needs to be sent down /phantom IL'd. The problem with that, which has been vocalized everywhere, is there is no one that makes sense to replace him. Here is what I think makes sense:

• Send Manhoah down tomorrow, and call up an extra bullpen arm for this series. We burned a lot of arms tonight.
  
• Manoah's next start is June 10. Send down the extra bullpen arm and call up Francis or make a move for Plesac. June 10 is a bullpen game. June 11th Gausman goes and you can count on him to go deep. June 12th is an off day.
  
• Manoah's spot in the rotation comes up again on June 16th against Texas, this is a tricky one as Texas hits well and there are no off days soon - so you need to get lucky with a spot start here.
  
• The 21st (Manoah's next start) is right before an off day. That's an all-hands-on-deck bullpen day as you have an off day on the 22nd, then a three-game series against Oakland, then an off day.
  
• This gets you all the way to June 28 against the Giants. By then, you know what you have with Francis or whoever you pick up. You'll need another spot start here if we haven't found anyone to step up.
  
• Fortunately, there is an off-day before the next time your rotation turns over, allowing July 4 to be a bullpen day against the CWS.
  
• Finally, the rotation turns over one last time before the all-star break on July 9th, the last game before the ASB. That can be an all-hands-on-deck bullpen game.
  

Looking at this, it's clear that the Jays need to get lucky with a couple starts (the game against Texas could be very ugly) but thanks to some scheduling luck, it is plausible that the Jays can get through the next month with a couple of spot starts and a couple of bullpen days.
You also buy Manoah over a month of time to figure his shit out. If he is still struggling, and the Jays are still in the hunt for a playoff spot, teams will start talking trades around the ASB, giving the team a chance to trade for a starter. Also maybe Ryu is back by then...

22/21[FM4F] North Texas/Online. Poly couple looking for another partner to eventually date together or separately, we’re not picky. NB’s are also welcome to apply!
Our hobbies consist of films, video games, music, anime, theatre, art, and we dabble in comics as well! Our love language is physical touch (like cuddling) and quality time.
We’re open to dating together as a triad or seperately, and Men, you guys are cool but we’re not looking for any at the moment. As a Bi woman, we’d like to experiment more with the idea of dating them, as it’s new territory.
We’re also very open to most kinds of relationships! We’d like something serious but a more casual dating situation would also be completely cool!
Hit us up! We’d definitely like to get to know you more!

NOT INTERESTED IN MEN/NOT GIVING YOU ANY MONEY
Howdy! My name is Casey. I just moved to Parker from Texas. Open to something long-term IF we are overall compatible otherwise looking for short-term

• 6'1"
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I'm open to all races, shapes, and sizes. I have a very high sex drive. I live alone in my own apartment.

• 420 Friendly
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• Can cum 3-4 times

If you're just looking for a one time thing, I'm still down ;)

Skipped last week because it was a holiday weekend, we're back to the regularly scheduled forecasts. Many more venues/events sources are now being tracked, and new experimental adjustments have been made for supporting recurring events. Thanks for the continuous appreciation, and for all the suggestions of event websites/sources!

Monday, June 5

• Shows
  • fish narc, YAWNS (DJ set), Bug Bath, Lich & Privacy - the_holland_project (8:00 PM $15.00)
• Competitions
  • Pignic Pub & Patio - Trivia Night - pignic (7:00 PM)
• Community
  • Open Mic Poetry - shims

Tuesday, June 6

• Shows
  • Ward Davis with Eric Lindell at Cypress Reno - cypress (8:00PM $20 +)
  • For the Love of Hip Hop (FLOHH) @ The Bluebird Reno - the_bluebird (8:00 PM Starts at $10.00)
• Competitions
  • Reno Wheelmen Twilight Road Race Series - city_of_reno (5:30 p.m.)
  • Monthly Club Meeting - northern_nevada_kart_club (6:00 PM)
• Community
  • Ward 3 Neighborhood Advisory Board Meeting - city_of_reno (5:30 p.m.)
  • Open Mic Night - coffee_n_comics_on_moana
  • Jazz Night - shims
  • Open Mic - the_blind_onion_in_sparks

Wednesday, June 7

• Shows
  • RENOITES Live Onstage Interview: PETE MENCHETTI - black_rabbit_mead_company (7:30 PM)
  • The Pig Quiz Show!!! - pignic (7:30 PM)
  • Game Night at the Bluebird - the_bluebird (8:30 PM $10.00)
  • Cosmic Hearts Sound Bath - the_virgil (6:00 pm Free – $44.00)
  • Open Mic - the_library_bar
• Art
  • Modular Synthesis Workshop - the_holland_project (6:00 PM $15.00)
  • Do-It-Yourself Sun Catcher - the_nevada_discovery_museum (4:00 pm)
• Food and Drinks
  • Feed the Camel 2023 - city_of_reno (5:00 p.m.)
• Community
  • Reno City Council Meeting - city_of_reno (10:00 a.m.)
  • Small Wonder Wednesday - the_nevada_discovery_museum (10:00 am)
  • $5 Admission After 4:00pm - the_nevada_discovery_museum (4:00 pm 5)

Thursday, June 8

• Shows
  • Stand-up Comedy Open Mic Night in Midtown - Drinks, Desserts, and Laughs - dead_panda_comedy (02:00 AM)
  • Reno Tahoe Comedy presents Comedian Sarah Colonna at “The Theatre” in Reno, NV on Thurs June 8th! - reno_tahoe_comedy (7:30 pm $23.00 – $40.00)
  • The Nevada Gay Men's Chorus Presents: Movies, Magic, & Broadway’s Best - reno_little_theater (7:30 PM)
  • Joey Medina - the_laugh_factory (8:00 PM)
  • Glare, Grave Saddles, Head Stone - the_holland_project (8:00 PM $13.00 – $15.00)
  • Open Mic Night - coffee_n_comics_on_baring
  • Comedy Night - paddy_and_irenes_irish_pub
  • Jazz Night - the_loving_cup
• Art
  • Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (5:00 PM $15 General, FREE Members)
  • Art Afternoon: Workshop and Social for Seniors - nevada_museum_of_art (1:00 PM $15 General, FREE Members)
  • Sarah Coyl: Selections from Pas de Deux - nevada_museum_of_art (7:00 PM {"general":15,"members":10})
  • Clare Frank with Michael Branch, Burnt: A Memoir of Fighting Fire - sundance_books (6:00pm)
• Community
  • Civil Service Commission Meeting - city_of_reno (15:30:00)
  • Planning Commission Meeting - city_of_reno (18:00:00)
  • Level 3: Scene Work II - reno_improv (6:00 pm $225.00 – $275.00)
  • Wyld Creative - the_virgil (10:00 am)
  • The Human Side of Management: Practical HR Strategies for Successful Leadership - the_virgil (1:00 pm)
• Misc
  • Karaoke - Z Bar - (time unknown)

Friday, June 9

• Shows
  • Reno Tahoe Comedy presents Comedian Sarah Colonna at “The Theatre” in Reno, NV on Fri June 9th! - reno_tahoe_comedy (8:00 pm $27.00 – $44.00)
  • The 10-10 Minute Play Festival - good_luck_macbeth_theatre_company (7:30 PM)
  • JeNes N the Juice - peavine_taphouse (8:30 PM)
  • Midnight, Necrofier, Early Moods at Cypress Reno - cypress (8:00PM Open)
  • Johnny Harpo & Friends, Live! - pignic (8:00 PM)
  • Kathy Lantz & Sugar High Friday, June 9 - rail_city_casino (8:00 PM)
  • The Show Must Go On: A Head Rush Murder Mystery – Improv Show - reno_improv (8:00 pm $10.00)
  • Latino Arte Presents LGBTQIA+LatinX Bilingual Play 2023 - reno_little_theater (7:00 PM)
  • Wife, Tummy+, I’ve Never Been Here Before - the_holland_project (8:00 PM $10.00)
  • Joey Medina - the_laugh_factory (8:00 PM)
  • The Doobie Brothers - the_nugget
  • Wingfield Park Summer Concert Series - wingfield_park (6:30 PM Free)
• Art
  • Art Afternoon: Workshop and Social for Seniors - nevada_museum_of_art (1:00 PM $15 General FREE Members)
  • A Legacy of Service - nevada_museum_of_art (12:00 PM $15 General FREE Members FREE Student)
  • A Closer Look Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (2:00 PM $15 General FREE Members)
• Community
  • Programs on the Porch (Bats) - washoe_county_parks (7:00pm)
• Food and drinks
  • Reno Street Food - Food Truck Friday - city_of_reno (4:00 p.m.)
• Festivals
  • Reno River Festival 2023 - wingfield_park (11:00 AM)
  • Reno River Festival and Slow Roll 2023 - city_of_reno (9:00 a.m.)
  • Roller Skating - city_of_reno (6:00 p.m.)
• Misc
  • Late Night Swim - the_grand_sierra_resort (10:00 PM)
  • Vive Fridays - the_grand_sierra_resort (7:00 PM)
  • Game On After Party: Decoy - the_nugget
  • The Human Side of Management: Practical HR Strategies for Successful Leadership - the_virgil (8:00 am)
  • Karaoke - paddy_and_irenes_irish_pub

Saturday, June 10

• Festivals
  • Reno River Festival and Slow Roll 2023 - city_of_reno (9:00 a.m.)
    • Reno River Festival - wingfield_park (4:30 PM)
    • Spur Crazy At The 2023 Reno River Fest!! - wingfield_park (11:15 AM)
  • Mutant Vehicle Show N Shine - glow_plaza (12:00 PM)
• Shows
  • Ohgeesy - cargo_concert_hall (8:00 PM)
  • DJ Romeo and Ohgeesy - the_grand_sierra_resort (10:00 PM)
  • Lantz Lazwell & The Vibe Tribe / Phat Mark at Cypress Reno - cypress (9:00PM $10 +)
  • Stand-up Comedy ft Aurora Singh! - Comedy Slice - Laughs & Pizza - dead_panda_comedy (7:00 PM Starts at $10.00)
  • Reno Tahoe Comedy presents Comedian Sarah Colonna at “Pipers Opera House” in Virginia City, NV on Sat June 10th! - reno_tahoe_comedy (8:00 pm $27.00 – $50.00)
  • Kevin Knapp at Dead Ringer - dead_ringer_analog_bar (10:00 PM)
  • The 10-10 Minute Play Festival - good_luck_macbeth_theatre_company (7:30 PM)
  • Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular - harrahs_lake_tahoe (8:00 PM)
  • Afterparty Summertime Kickoff w/BigBadLambo, & Friends! - pignic (8:00 PM)
  • Brad "Guitar" Wilson LIVE Guitar Showcase - peavine_taphouse (8:30 pm)
  • Chris Costa - rail_city_casino (8:00 PM)
  • The Show Must Go On: A Head Rush Murder Mystery – Improv Show - reno_improv (8:00 pm $10.00)
  • Latino Arte Presents LGBTQIA+LatinX Bilingual Play 2023 - reno_little_theater (7:00 PM)
  • Huckleberry Road Live at Faye's - reno_public_market (7:00 PM)
  • Grupo Frontera - the_grand_sierra_resort (7:00 PM)
  • Chili Sauce - the_grand_sierra_resort (10:00 PM)
  • S.M.O.G. Party: Cities Aviv + Rhamier Balagoon - the_holland_project (7:00 PM $17.99 – $23.00)
  • Joey Medina - the_laugh_factory (7:30 PM)
  • Magique - the_theatre_keystone_ave (8:00 PM)
• Art
  • Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (11:00 AM)
  • Hands ON! Second Saturday – Life in Color - nevada_museum_of_art (10:00 AM FREE)
  • Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (2:00 PM)
  • Do-It-Yourself Sun Catcher - the_nevada_discovery_museum (10:30 am)
• Food and drinks
  • Reno Margarita Day Crawl 2023 - crawl_reno (12:00pm)
  • Margarita Day Crawl - virginia_street_brewhouse
• Community
  • The Conservatory of Movement Spring Recital - the_pioneer_center (TBD)
  • Social Science: Cowboys & Aliens - the_nevada_discovery_museum (7:00 PM)
  • The Playground – Improv Workshop - reno_improv (6:30 pm $6.00)
• Misc
  • Rodeo KickOff Party at Pure Country Canteen! - pure_country_canteen_night_club (7:00 PM)
  • Pro Hockey Finals Viewing Party

Sunday, June 11

• Food and Drinks
  • Sunday Music Brunch - nevada_museum_of_art (10:30 am)
• Festivals
  • Reno River Festival and Slow Roll 2023 - city_of_reno (9:00 a.m.)
    • Reno Riverfest roll - wingfield_park (10:00 AM)
  • Riverside Farmers Market Summer Series - city_of_reno (8:00 a.m.)
• Art
  • B&W Film Developing + Scanning Workshop - the_holland_project (10:00 AM $20.00)
  • Guided Tour - nevada_museum_of_art (11:00 AM $15 General FREE Members)
  • Open Build: Cardboard - the_nevada_discovery_museum (12:30 pm)
• Community
  • Ranger Walks - Pah Rah Interpretive Trail @ Golden Eagle Regional Park - washoe_county_parks (10:00am)
• Shows
  • Joey Medina - the_laugh_factory (7:30 PM)
  • Elvis Costelllo & The Imposters - the_silver_legacy (7:00 PM)
  • Josh Rosenblum - the_peppermill (6:00 PM)
• Misc
  • GRR Fundrager - the_holland_project (5:00 PM $10.00)

More events

• https://pioneercenter.com/Online/default.asp
• https://therenoscene.com
• https://www.kunr.org/community-calendar
• https://renonr.com/calenda#!/
• DJ Trivia Map - At various bars every day of the week

Other Resources

• visitrenotahoe.com
• thisisreno.com

Howdy to the people of CFB! Welcome to my ranking of the 2022 uniforms for TCU Football! Sorry for the lengthy delay. It’s been a very busy few weeks. And even though my Wildcats got horse kicked by TCU in the Big 12 Baseball Tourney, I’m still so hyped to check out the Horned Frogs suits from this last football season. I intend on ranking each Big XII team and new additions (BYU, Houston, UCF, and Cincinnati) soon. If you are interested in my thoughts regarding the Big XII uniform season, check out my 2022 Uniform Awards post and Big XII Uniform Tracker 2022: Season-in-Review post. If you want to see more rankings, I just reviewed WVU a while ago, plus KU and OSU earlier. But for now, let’s see the Frogs uniforms from 2022, featuring some facts, stats, and history.
As always, feel free to disagree with me or tell me if my rankings hit home. I’m interested in hearing what you think, or in seeing how y’all would rearrange the rankings! TCU is a great purple bro, I have some associates that went to TCU, and in general, really respected their program this past year.
Season Gallery Link: https://imgur.com/a/4aLKooA
I’m u/matte_purple, and let's 3,2,1 go!
11. Purple/White/White Week 9 @ WVU (W 41-31) and Week 4 @ SMU (W 42-34)
Link: https://imgur.com/CTvWhrT
Okay, first things first: I love the color purple. Part of that is my alma mater, of course, but it’s also just a great look. Plus, there’s only about two dozen D-1 schools that use purple as a main color. The perceived rarity makes it a treat to look at on the field. Second, TCU has some of my favorite uniforms from this past year. That means that despite this look and others being lower on the list, I really like most of them. You could make the case that many of these should be full-time.
Anyways, I think the reason why TCU’s icy white look is so beloved is because of the “Black Panther-esque" collar. It not only looks cool but adds more purple than a normal uniform would have. Because of this, the purple helmet (which wasn’t my favorite helmet from this season anyway) kind of throws off the balance. I don’t doubt this will be a controversial take.
10. Black/White/Purple Week 11 @ UT (W 17-10)
Link: https://imgur.com/W108RdO
Anyone who has kept up with my tracker knows I have a general disdain for tri-color looks. This tends to be more pronounced with warmer colors, but I still just can’t get over it with purple and black. There is a distinct lack of flow and symmetry that I just can’t get past. I love the helmet, which was first announced in Week 5, but I just don’t think it matches up with the rest of the uniform. More about the helmet, they released a helmet identical to this (except for a purple horned frog instead of silver) in 2016 that was worn as recently as Game 11 of 2021. The silver is a FAR better option, and it really pops. I called these “Sooner Slayer” helmets after such a great win, and they worked pretty good on the Longhorns too.
9. Purple/Purple/Black Week 10 vs TTU (W 34-24)
Link: https://imgur.com/AeLbp8s
And just like that, we have already made it to some spectacular uniforms. While this is the same helmet worn in spot #11, it is instantly uplifted by those purple shirts. These tops only showed up 3 times this season, which seems like a pretty small number for a very purple-centric school. The fact of the matter is, however, TCU, like Johnny Cash, looks great in black. Plus, the purple helmet is arguably my least favorite helmet the Horned Frogs wore this season. Black was just the better color this season. These are sensational, but the upper echelon is yet to come.
8. Black/White/Black Week 6 @ KU (W 38-31) and CFP vs UGA (L 65-7)
Link: https://imgur.com/xWKuT5I
I’ll refrain from talking about the CFP game too much, but TCU should still be very proud of that game, regardless of the score. They should also be proud of those dope-ass “Oreo” uniforms. The purple on the collar, facemask, and font provides a welcome tinge of color to a still very dark look. And honestly, it looks fantastic against that big bold red. I was delighted to see it used against KU when they wore their red uniforms, and was thoroughly excited when I saw it would be used against UGA as well. There are some better away uniforms here, though. Let’s get into it.
7. Purple/White/Purple Week 1 @ CU (W 38-13)
Link: https://imgur.com/eE0OqRI
Oh darling, these are a treat. With black being such a staple of this season, the purple is a stunner. It’s still not my favorite mostly purple look on this list, but it was featured on my 2022 Uniform Awards post as one of my top OOC matchups uniform-wise. TCU’s darker shade of purple contrasted CU’s old gold nicely, and similar to the #9 and #11 spots, that helmet is nice. But it’s no coincidence the next few looks (sans one) feature a white or black helmet. We’re about to get to the top!
6. White/Purple/White Week 2 vs Tarleton (W 59-17)
Link: https://imgur.com/BTVIUXT
Similar to the last combo, this is a sharp contrast to the darker palette. And while I like the change and idea behind this look, there’s just a few changes that would really make this elite. First, white pants are EXCELLENT. They are professional, slick, and simple. Perfect when combined with the color purple. The reason the black “Sooner Slayer” helmet works so well is because of the silver logo blending with the silver font of most of the uniforms. In this combo, the silver font really confuses the rest of the “feng shui.” It doesn’t help that they also played against another purple team. The purple will lead to some top tier outfits later on, but we have now officially passed into the top half!
5. Purple/Gray/Gray Week 7 vs OK-State (W 43-40)
Link: https://imgur.com/FKa0Hnm Everybody has an opinion on these. Me personally, I’ve come around to them. I know this may totally invalidate my rankings, but these are AWESOME! There are 14 (17 in some circles) species of horned lizards that live in desert areas from Central America up through the western US. But eight species (including P. cornutum, the true inspiration for TCU’s mascot) can contract the muscles around their eyes, cutting off blood flow back to the heart. This builds pressure until the blood shoots from the eyes in a wildly metal defensive technique. The red is a wonderful tertiary color to purple. Honestly, if the recruits love them, and the equipment staff has the balls to release something like this, they should be applauded, good or bad. My taste is certainly debatable, but enough people seem to agree that they didn’t make a big fuss over these being my 3rd best alternate in my 2022 Uniform Awards. What do you think? Damn, I want one of those helmets bad.
4. Black/Black/Black Week 8 vs K-State (W 38-28)
Link: https://imgur.com/k5uMGq4
Nothing screams power like the blackout game. This was the only true blackout game on TCU’s docket. They even painted the logo at the 50 and the endzones black for this special showdown. I love the continuity of the silver on the helmet flowing through into the font, the special black facemask in lieu of the standard purple, it all leads to a pretty menacing uniform. But it just doesn’t have quite enough purple. I think it would have been pretty rad to try and lean into the lack of color more as well, maybe going with a charcoal and silver collar to really sell the blackout. But hey, I evidently like it enough to put it at just about the halfway mark!
3. White/White/White Week 12 @ BU (W 29-28) and vs Michigan (W 51-45)
Link: https://imgur.com/jJpeFDj
Going from a blackout to an icy white look, TCU knows how to get it done. Sheesh, these are gorgeous. As we have clearly discovered from the rest of the Horned Frog’s repertoire, the collar sells it. I went back to the 2019 announcement to get some info on these Nike Vapor Untouchable refresh and discovered that the geometric shapes on the collar actually dates back to the 2000 uniform, when Gary Patterson was coaching the great LaDainian Tomlinson. Neat stuff. There isn’t a ton to say about these besides the fact they were worn in two of TCU’s best games this season and look spectacular. The purple in the numbers, collar, logo, and facemask really accentuate what would be a pretty normal whiteout look.
2. Black/Purple/Purple Week 13 vs ISU (W 62-14)
Link: https://imgur.com/BK3ztvS
According to TCU’s main site, students in the late 1890’s chose new school colors: “Purple for royalty, white for a clean game.” And boy howdy, these guys are royal. The mostly purple look is only the third time this season that more than two of the three uniform pieces were purple. That automatically makes these special, but they also flow the best out of the other options. It makes perfect sense that the top spot is the inverse of this.
1. Black/Black/Purple Week 14 vs K-State (L 31-28 OT) and Week 5 vs OU (W 55-24)
Link: https://imgur.com/hBoyahV
Okay okay, I know your first inclination is to say that this uniform was obviously picked by a K-State fan, I can honestly say that this is a top look for a reason. I mean have you seen this thing? I went back to the release video for these bad boy helmets and man, I don’t think anyone had anything bad to say about these. The “Sooner Slayer” lid was released to wide praise, and ended up getting worn in 7 games (with one instance replacing a purple facemask with black). Each piece of the uniform features a small amount of purple, and the silver numbers complement the oversized Horned Frog logo in silver. The black and purple balance well while looking aggressive, punctuated by that sharp silver that shines nice under the lights. It helps that K-State also wore mostly white and silver, making TCU look even better, but the look obviously worked versus OU as well. What else is there to say about these? To end, I thought I’d relay how the horned frog was supposedly chosen as TCU’s mascot.
Older Texas and New Mexico natives will tell you about the days when you would find them everywhere, but the widespread use of pesticides and invasion of the harmful fire ants from South America has depleted their main food source, the harvester ant. The desert lizard species has been endangered since 1977. The reptile became TCU's mascot after its appearance first on the school's yearbook publication. The book was named "The Horned Frog" in 1887 and was selected over the other option "The Cactus." Gradually, the name was accepted into athletics, and sports teams began calling themselves Horned Frogs as well. According to myth, the name was selected by the yearbook because of the plentiful number of lizards that would bask in the sun on the football field. TCU has also had a goat named Samuel and a dog named Blackie as unofficial mascots in the 1930s and 1940s. Let’s just say I like that lizard a little bit more than the past options.
How about a round of applause for Head of Football Equipment Jason Jones? The Decatur, TX native has done an awesome job, and preparing the equipment for the blitzkrieg of Big XII Champ game, then Fiesta bowl, then CFP Champ game all while traveling must be a huge headache. Great job to the whole TCU football staff for a great season, let’s see how the next one goes!
Well, I think that does it! I hope you enjoyed my 2022 season TCU Football uniform rankings. What a year for the Horned Frogs. I’ll be slowly releasing more rankings for each of the Big XII teams as the offseason goes along. Again, feel free to comment or message me with any suggestions or changes to the rankings! What do you think of the “Bloody Threads” TCU wears? Did your favorite look seem properly placed? Let me and all of CFB know! Have yourself a great day, and remember, "Fight 'em until hell freezes over. Then fight 'em on the ice!"

I felt like I should post this here because the same thing happens to men but I just wanted to be able to talk about it in a female space.
My boyfriend (22m) has this friend, let’s call him todd. Todd is 20. Todd spent 16 to 18 in rehabs for children due to his drug addictions, anorexia and undiagnosed personality disorder.
Todd has been dating this girl on and off since he was 18 and she was 17. We will call her mary. Mary has a father that is…well extremely fucking gross. Like we live in Washington state and her dad has taken her to bikini baristas with him (for people that don’t know a bikini barista is baristas who serve coffee in lingerie) and just like made her sit there while he hits on these 20 year olds.
Mary doesn't really talk or stand up for herself. I’ve tried in the past to be friendly with her and she’s super fucking timid. Obviously non of this is her fault, but it does get me wondering how Todd treats her behind closed doors.
Now they have been on and off multiple times. The last time they were off we took Todd to a rave with us (my bf me my friends) I work in a beauty based industry so all my friends look like literal super models. Bro. The way he spent the entire time acting like the textbook definition of a FREAK trying to bang my fucking friends!! It was so bad I had to apologize to my friends after because I was so embarrassed of my fucking bf for bringing him.
After that incident, anytime Todd would come over (which wasn’t often) he would bring some new girl he met from tinder with him. And without fail every damn time, after they would bang the girl would block him.
For anyone that is wondering yes I started getting hella mad at my bf for being friends with him. But they weren’t super close so I kinda let it slide.
So after a few months of that. Mary and Todd decide to get back together! So Todd has a female friend that lives and works in socal. His friend invites them to come live with her and the old man she’s living with.
Mary and Todd end up getting kicked out because the old man (who owns the property) wants to fuck Mary. So they leave and are homeless atp.
So my bf and I let them crash with us. Considering they are fucking BROKE as shit and spent all their cash getting back to WA from CA. I’m an exotic dancer (pls be nice) my club hires waitresses and they are usually able to work the same day, and make like 300$ in tips a night. So super quick money if you’re in a pinch and it’s not a hard job at all. It’s absolutely nothing like being a stripper. It’s just a waitressing job. You bring drinks and clean. You can wear whatever you want, zero obligation to show any skin.
So I offered to take her. Before she could say anything Todd (with the most dumbfounded look on his face) goes “I don’t think so” Mary backs down right away and says “yeah I guess not”
PLEASEWWW LIKE A MAN SPEAKING FOR YOU GIRL BE SOOOO FOR REALL!!! and like y’all are DIRT broke but okay. I can understand not wanting to work in a club fr but she didn’t even get to say yes or no before he answered for her. Keep in mind he is literally crashing on a strippers couch😐.
So after a week of them sitting doing nothing. Todd’s aunt in texas says they can come live with them. Funny because originally I’m from texas…where the minimum wage is 7.25. Where maybe if you’re lucky you will get a more liberal independent business owner boss who pays you 10 an hour. It’s not cheap to live there either.
So they go. I haven’t been talking to either of them, neither has my bf. Until today. Until Todd ducking texts my bf “guess who’s gonna be an uncle! Mary and I are pregnant!”
I’m so fucking sick of it dude. As someone with a life controlling mental illness like Todd. I can’t fathom bringing a child into this world. I’m so sick of how women feel like they should bend to what a man wants. It doesn’t even matter if she wanted to get rid of it anyways, cus they’re in fucking texas.
No money, no career path, no therapy or anything….bruh.

Unpacking the Light Police. Light Pollution News.
Show Link: https://lightpollutionnews.com/podcast/unpacking-the-light-police/
Subscribe: Apple Podcast Spotify Google Podcast
Social: Instagram LinkedIn
Guests:
John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, LLC.
Kaitlyn Evans, Conservationist.
Show:
I was busted by the light police. They had a point, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.
Dana Milbank purchased a home in, soon to be not, rural Virginia. At night he kept the formerly vacant property lit to the degree that spurned one commentator to call it “spaceship lighting.”
Milbank recaps being visited by the “light police,” a group of concerned citizens who help educate neighbors and instill a sense of pride in the brilliance of their starry night skies.
At first, he was taken aback, but later, not only did he appreciate their efforts, but he also converted his blinding always on, white light flood lights to warm 2700 Kelvin motion sensing lights.
Per Ruskin Hartley, executive director of the International Dark Sky Association, “for 4.5 billion years there was no artificial light at night. It’s really only in the last five human generations that we transformed that. It’s one of the most profound transformations of our environment.”
Many of you may recall an earlier story, way back in our Hormone of Darkness episode, showcasing concerns by local residents prior to a 760 house (now 761) plus town center development moving into the Culpepper County, VA area. Per the Rappahannock News, this development features “a resort style swimming pool, clubhouse, tot lot, and multiple sports fields and sports courts, all connected by a network of biking and walking trails.”
The forgotten medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’ by Zaria Gorvett of the BBC.
Gorvett opened my eyes to something I never knew about, the medieval custom of two sleeps. For those of you unaware, two sleeps are exactly what it sounds like.
Folks would partake in a communal nap, complete with rigid sleeping arrangement conventions, between 9 – 11pm, then awaken for a few hours to do everything from hang out to brew beer! In fact, the idea of multiple sleeps crossed cultures and was found in places as far from Europe as indigenous South America.
How can one’s circadian rhythm make sense of all of this?!
Well, for starters, until the invention of the alarm clock, which humorously was invented by a clocks salesman so he could wake up and sell more clocks, people had no firm way to wake up at a consistent time. The industrial revolution enforced a new circadian standard.
And there’s some science behind this! In the 1992 study, In Short Photoperiods, human sleep is biphasic, researcher Thomas Wehr found that after four weeks of 10 hour days, his subjects began to engage in this two sleep cycle, involving a one to three hour period for which they became awake and engaged in between.
Want to Learn About Light Pollution? There’s a mini-course for that!, Jennifer Sensiba of Clean Technica.
Quoting Sensiba, “As I got older, I traveled a lot more and saw the problem more for what it is. Not only did I see that in many places there is no refuge from it, but I also saw that it was slowly growing worse. Places that had been dark 30 years ago had more and more light creeping upon the horizon.”
If you’re interested in learning more, or more importantly, know someone who might benefit from learning more, Sensiba links up to an International Dark Sky Mini-Course on light pollution, call it Light Pollution 101!
There’s a Play Date at the National Museum of Natural History: Lights Out exhibit!
But unfortunately, by the time you listen to this, and hell, by the time we talk about this, it has passed.
Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan. Sarah Parlette for Click on Detroit.
Evidently gambling websites have decided to honor April’s International Dark Sky week in a strange new content marketing campaign, which was to rank the best places in each state to see sunrises and sunsets. My favorite one, “Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan,” comes from Click on Detroit, whereby a quote “study” examined Michigan’s most populated cities.”
According to Click on Detroit, “to celebrate International Astrology Day on Saturday, staff at Great Lake Stakes, a Michigan online gambling news site, looked at light pollution in the five most populated cities around the Mitten state to determine which offers the best views every morning and evening.”
Star bathing is the new outdoor travel trend we should all be trying for Summer 2023, according to Amy Beecham at Stylist.
Evidently, as an attempt to destress and promote mindfulness, romanticism about sleeping under the stars has birthed a 70% increase in searches for the term ‘star bathing’ on Hipcamp. And to be sure, “Hipcamp recommends checking a stargazing calendar which outlines major astrological events – like supermoons, pink moons, and star showers.”
“Industry Must Face an Inconvenient Truth — Most LED Lights at Night are Unhealthy”
Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, a circadian clock expert, recently published an article in LEDs Magazine chastising the lighting industry for not recognizing and reigning in the negative externalities of its products. Per the piece, such effects are, obesity, diabetes, depression, cancer, and more.
He cites three categories of industry responses, making the correlation that long term Denial or outright Ignorance of the Facts, may result in “asbestos-scale liabilities or draconian regulations.”
Per the piece, a recent survey by the Circadian Light Research Center of 2,697 peer reviewed scientific articles confirmed that human circadian clocks are highly sensitive to blue wavelengths, and that exposure to such wavelengths leads to major health disorders.
Moore-Ede calls for the industry to harvest the “commercial opportunity” to greatly limit future liability by creating and managing its own standards for circadian modulated lighting.
Unpacking the Wallpack, by Dan Weissman in LD+A Magazine.
Weissman, who recently purchased a telescope for his family in Cambridge, MA, discovered that the scope could only afford him views of some solar system objects and a few brightly burning stars.
The ire of Weissman’s pen takes the shape of a rectangular fixtures, be it box like or simply a panel these days, that typically hang off the side of an exterior wall or above an exterior door. “Devoid of aesthetic value” this light is often put up under the “pretense of security and safety” by “recommended practices and adopted municipal codes.”
Weissman recognizes labels that often accompany, what he calls, “Glare bombs,” including “contractor-select,” “energy efficient,” or “light pollution friendly.”
Further, per an earlier LD+A article, such lighting driven by its extreme contrasts is exceedingly common in minority communities where light is weaponized as a tool of power. It becomes a “device of alienation, creating a zone of control and separation.”
Weissman recognizes that the true reason such fixtures are selected often comes down to cost. He recognizes that it may take equally as much cost to persuade building and homeowners away from such lighting into the realm of more responsible, lower lumen, shielded lighting.
Weissman calls for producers of these glare bombs to be labeled as polluters, putting them in line with fossil fuel manufacturers and PFAS makers.
Songbirds, dusk and clear skies: Scientists explore migratory flights, by Erin Blakemore.
Bird migration season is ending here in the Mid-Atlantic. I was lucky enough to catch several Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings last week. Researchers looked at 400 songbirds from 9 major species, “including the yellow-rump warbler, American redstart and Bicknell’s thrush.”
The question they hoped to answer was how are these birds so darn precise in identifying the best time to take off for their nightly migration? Scientists found that 90% of the migrating birds in the study took off within 69 minutes of dusk. A “much narrower takeoff window,” that even shocked the research team!
Per the study, taking off at night is all about maximum flight time. In addition to being able to precisely schedule their take offs, a feat that every airline I’ve flown with over the past few years has proven inept at, birds also are apparently good meteorologists! They often depart when the atmospheric pressure rises over a day’s span. Other factors also trigger migration, including sex, age, and celestial cues.
‘Lights Out’ initiative appears to be saving birds from crashing into Philly buildings by Sophia Schmidt.
Preliminary results indicate that bird death counts are down 70% at one Market Street tower, since it began its participation in Lights Out. As we spoke about on a previous show, birds utilize the stars to navigate, but city lights can disorient the birds. Combine the lights with reflective or transparent glass, and that spells fatal trouble for our migrating warblers!
Per Keith Russell, a program manager for urban conservation with Audubon Mid-Atlantic, “We’ve lost almost a third of our birds – and [collisions] contributing to that. If we’re going to want to preserve the bird populations here in North America, we have to look at these types of problems. And this is a preventable one.”
The Knoxville, TN Zoo is offering up what they call “Twilight Tours” per WVLT 8. Each event will feature a guide to showcase nocturnal critters.
I did something similar in Singapore years ago. The zoo had very dim lights in the exhibits – and they kept those lights dim as you walked so that you didn’t lose your night vision. It was a very different and, might I say, peaceful experience than the typically chaotic daytime zoo.
Flashlights posing major threat to nesting sea turtles. Fox35 Orlando
Apparently, a single flashlight can deter female sea turtles from coming onto a beach and nesting. Florida, as I did not know, is home to 90% of the sea turtle nests across the world, so losing sea turtles can affect the global ecosystem.
One visitor to Cocoa Beach stated, “Just leave them alone. Stand back and look. You don’t need a flashlight.”
Another, “It’s not super surprising because more buildings go up, more technology. As it increases, nature and stuff like that decreases,” said Zoe Jovaag, whose grandfather used to take her on walks to see sea turtles.
Capture the Dark 2023 officially is under way!
The International Dark Sky Association opens up its annual photo contest complete with prizes across eight categories and an additional People’s Choice category. Voting begins on July 3rd, entries must be received by June 30th.
City Tests Traffic Light That Only Turns Green for Drivers Who Obey the Speed Limit. Erin Marquis for Jalopnik.
And hey, you better not speed in Brossard, Quebec….otherwise you may be waiting around for a while. Brossard is testing out a new traffic light that will stay red until it senses oncoming traffic. However, it will only change to green if the car is going the speed limit. Per the Jalopnik article, “FRED [the French acronym for “educational traffic calming light] forces fast drivers to stop and gives them a chance to reconsider their life choices.” Such lights are already used in Europe, but this will be the first for the Great White North.
Why the Greatest Threat to Star-Gazing Isn’t Light Pollution, and this comes to us from Dorin Elin Urrutia at Inverse.
Elin Urrutia writes, in her compelling piece, that the greatest threat to star-gazing is actually the weather. Citing notable examples of the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia (which burnt down due to bushfires) and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (which sustained structural damage following the winds of Hurricane Maria).
While the threat of human-caused climate change has presented new challenges, Elin Urrutia references proactive burns that saved Los Angeles’ Mount Wilson Observatory from flames in 2020.
On a similar note, ABC News (the Australian Broadcasting Company, not to be confused with the American Broadcasting Company), brings us “A World Without Darkness Could Be a Reality within a Few Years.”
Per Carol Redford of Astrotourism Western Australia, “There are some people in the world now who don’t actually experience darkness anymore. They’re in a city like Beijing, Toyoko, or London. In all those big cities, it’s never dark, it’s always light. During the day of course with the sun, but then during the night with all of the artificial light. They’re not experiencing darkness, and definitely not seeing those beautiful stars…”
In the 66 years since the implementation of the UN Convention on the Peaceful Use of Outerspace, around 11,000 satellites orbit the Earth. But it’s about to get wayyy busier. Driven by innovations that have led to dramatic reductions in costs, over the next ten years, Per attorney Steven Freeland, it’s anticipated that somewhere between 100,000 to 500,000 objects will be sent up. Let me pause on that for a second.
On the travel front, we stay in the land down under, “Aussie region determined to keep its darkness is a stargazer’s dream” by Chantelle Francis of News.com.AU.
The town of Swam Reach, population 270, resides in a 3200sq km region of Southern Australia that received its International Dark Sky Reserve status over three years ago. On a scale of darkness between 0 – 22, the River Murray Dark Sky Reserve at Swam Reach, measures in at a whopping 21.9!
Tourism has become a growing business. The reserve hosts numerous telescope pads and offers tours of the night sky. There’s hope that an observatory and/or planetarium may also arrive in due course.
Best smart lights for outdoors in 2023, Brittney Vincent of CBS Essentials.
Oh there’s a lot not to love here, but it does fall in line with last month’s ‘Lumens are Coming’ article.
For those of you who feel the need to light your trees, because for some reason they need light at night I guess…I’ll try and pretend it’s not solely for ostentatious and narcissistic reasons. By the way, does anyone remember when those were negative characteristics?
The article features spotlights that can be programmed to over 16 MILLION colors including…lucky for us, ALL shades of white….which you can also do for a 500 lumen flood light set.
And hey, Ring now has solar path lighting. Don’t worry though, the fixtures themselves put out up to 80 lumens of sideways light.
You know, it’s astounding when you look at some of these pictures. The amount of redundant lighting. It honestly makes no sense to me. You have a porch light, which lights up the path. Path lighting, which lights up the path. And, in the one picture, god awful frontward facing flood lights, which also light up the path. How bright do you need these paths!? I digress. But the lumens are indeed coming.
LDS Church will get to light up its Heber Valley Temple after all, but the faith didn’t get everything it wanted, Blake Apgar of the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fought hard to rid itself of any nighttime lighting responsibility by pressuring Wasatch County, Utah officials to approve new lighting rules that would enable the church to light a proposed new temple the same way it does for every other temple.
The Church received permission to uplight the temple, enabling an exception to be made in Wasatch’s rather stringent nighttime lighting rulebook. However, the temple will be restricted by the level of lumens it can use, and it must have exterior lighting turned off an hour after sunset or an hour after normal business hours.
Smart Street Lights Market is Expected to Hit USD 14,751.1 million at a 23.4% CAGR by 2030, Market Research Future Press Release
The pandemic is officially over, smart street lighting is about to boom. Combine the rush to LED fixtures with the Internet of Things, and expect to see street lights moonlighting as traffic and parking monitors, air quality meters, and more. Not to mention, “it is anticipated that camera-connected smart street lighting will increase road safety by lowering the likelihood of accidents and criminality.”
Texas now has 7 dark sky communities for spectacular star gazing, Sana Ameer, MRT.
Let’s cheer on the city of Bee Cave, everyone! Bee Cave joins a growing list of dark sky places already in the Lone Star State, including 2 Dark Sky Sanctuaries, 5 Dark Sky Parks, and 1 Dark Sky Reserve. Nighttime is alive and well in some parts of Texas!
Our Afraid of the Dark article is a bit scary! Hilton Head’s dark roads and pedestrians are deadly combo. What the town is doing about it, Blake Douglas at The Island Packet.
Per the article, 9 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occurred since 2018, with five occurring after dark. Prior to that period, there were 28 recorded deaths from 2000 – 2016, with 20 of them taking place after dark.
In 2018, an 11 year old resident was struck and killed while walking her dog across an intersection one night. Lighting advocates began taking shape in what otherwise is a very conservation focused island. Hilton Head, SC has a limited number of street lights, priding itself on “avoiding light pollution and blending nature with construction.”
Lighting advocates appear to be, at the very least, asking for flashing crosswalk lights on the island to indicate when an individual is crossing.
It should be noted that the article shows a chart of 9 after-dark-deaths since 2014, only two of them occurred at crosswalks. In fact, during the same time frame, 6 additional deaths occurred at crosswalks during the daytime.
As a whole, the National Safety Council reports that 74.5% of pedestrian deaths occurred at night, whereby 39.1% took place in lit areas and 35.38% took place in unlit areas.
Bryan Bloch, an auto safety expert, surmises that car companies bear some of the blame – producing cheap or ineffectual headlight fixtures, and drivers themselves, who don’t realize that they need to regularly clean their headlight lenses.
Despite opposition from residents, it appears that Hilton Head will be receiving lights at two new intersections and possibly more depending on engineering studies currently in progress.
Is lighting the key variable here? Is more light going to solve pedestrian deaths?
Our featured research article of the month comes to us from Animal Conservation, “Manipulating spectra of artificial light affects movement patterns of bats along ecological corridors.”
Bats are already known to have a wide range of responses to artificial light at night (also known as ALAN). Fast flying species tend to be more opportunistic in the presence of ALAN while slower ones tend to be more light averse. We know that “long wavelengths and reduced intensity” can minimize their environmental effects on bats. It’s not unheard of for bats to travel upwards of “tens of km per night.” Furthermore, bats are very dependent on the landscape and the structures within those landscapes.
Despite the nuances between species, the consensus is that ALAN, especially high intensity ALAN, negatively affects bats. This study attempted to answer what exactly bats do when they encounter ALAN – how do they react depending on different types of ALAN.
The study used three different light fixtures – one green, one red, and one white. The control was devoid of light fixtures. The researchers attempted to ascertain the behavior of bats as they encountered lights adjacent to woody areas. The researchers looked at three different bat groupings based on their foraging-echo location behavior, that being one of open field foraging, forest edge foraging, and narrow space – or more aptly forest foragers.
Researchers found that open and edge foraging bats increased their activity close to white and green lights, and to a lesser extent red lights. However, narrow space bats were more likely to veer away from all colors of lighting. Edge foragers were also less likely to cross a white light.
The positive effects of white and green light on open and edge foraging bats appear to be attributed to the accumulation of insects around light sources containing more blue light.
The nighttime sky over Oahu will be lit up with green lasers in the coming days. Here’s why. Hawaii News Now
Before we close up today, do you live in Hawaii? I know I wish I did!
If so, do you recall seeing green lasers streak across the night sky? Well, the Army Corps of Engineers was using lidar at night to complete a coastal mapping survey.
Why did they survey at night? Specifically, why did they do this between midnight to 5am? Simply b/c the airspace is so busy, that time was the only chance they had to complete the survey. The remaining survey was completed during daytime hours.

This is a long post. I included a summary at the end
How much does strength of schedule matter to winning the national championship? This has been a big topic when it comes to LSU. I imagine a lot of coaches are the thinking the same thing: Is it better to have a weak strength of schedule so the players are more rested? What if teams are taking too hard of schedules causing them to be too fatigued by tournament start? This is to see if there's any merit to the claim.

Methodology

I will look at the past 2 tournaments, post covid era. I will use Warren Nolan rankings as basis of SOS. Ideally several years should be used, but there's no record before 2021. I'm not using 2021's dataset because teams had to schedule completely different than they normally would because of covid. The teams who made the final four will be used. If the team is in the bold, that means they had a top strength of schedule going into the tournament. I believe top 10 is a reasonable assumption as a difficult schedule.
​
2022 Tournament Final Four:

• South Carolina (#1 SOS)
• Stanford (#2 SOS)
• Uconn (#5 SOS)
• Louisville (#17 SOS)

2023 Tournament Final Four

• South Carolina (#4 SOS)
• LSU (#55 SOS)
• Virginia Tech (#18 SOS)
• Iowa (#6 SOS)

Results

In 2022, 3/4 final four teams had a top 10 Strength of Schedule. One of them won the national championship. In 2023 2/4 teams had a top 10 strength of schedule, but they did not win the national championship game. It should be noted in the past 2 years, LSU is the only team to make the final four with a below top 20 strength of schedule. Did they crack some secret formula? More on that later.

Teams that were hurt by high strength of schedule

• Maryland: There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that a high strength of schedule screwed Maryland over. It caused them to be over seeded and underseeded at the same time. They gave them a 2 seed because their wins against their tough schedule, but their losses made them be the lowest #2 seed, forcing them to play South Carolina. Considering how much problems they gave scar before getting into foul trouble, they definitely would’ve been a problem in the other divisions.
• Indiana: They looked completely exhausted in the Big 10 tournament, and ultimately underperformed. Then they lose to Miami at home in the round of 32. There's a strong possibility weaker schedule would've helped them out.

Of course, there a lot of teams with high strength of schedule that didn't do anything. But that had more to do with roster strength than schedule strength. For example, Iowa State had the 4th strength of schedule, but by no metric are they top 10 team in 2023.

Teams helped by a strength of schedule

• Uconn - They historically have the some of toughest schedules - I think the results speak for themselves
• Stanford - yes they choked in the R32. But their SOS allowed them to steal a #1 seed, they just didn't take advantage. It also doesn't erase the fact they won in 2021 and made the final 4 final in 2022
• South Carolina - 3 straight final 4 appearances and one NC in the last 3 years. Mind you their final four losses were decided in the final 4 seconds in the game.
• Iowa - I would very hard to argue that Iowa beats South Carolina without getting battle tested in several prior games leading up to the final 4 matchup.
• Virginia Tech - the toughness of the ACC definitely got them ready.

What about LSU?

LSU had one of the weakest ranked schedules out of any team in the tournament, and won the championship. How can you possibly say having a high SOS is good? The answer is simple. The SEC was much stronger than most of the community and the committee thought. The SEC's tournament success if proof of that. It's not a simple as play bad teams = win. Kims 2019 national title run included battles against several ranked teams in the regular season Kim had a bad schedule this year because she had a bunch of new players and they needed time to chemistry build. If you look at the past champions for the past several years, they all played tough teams prior to the tournament.

FINAL CONCLUSION

Having a tougher strength of schedule generally helps, but a tough OOS isn't important if your conference is strong. However, there's a caveat: the team needs to actually be good enough to play those tough teams. A team like Oregon isn't going to benefit as much from a hard schedule as much as Uconn for example. It's easy to say LSU won because of weak schedule but in hindsight a lot of SEC teams can be argued as top 25.

In my Universe i have: Universal Mens/Womens Championship Mens/Womens Championship (x2) Mens/Womens Tag Team Championship (x2) Universal Men/Women Tag Team Championship Mens/Women Intercontinental Mens/Women US Championship
I have all of them saved to slots aside from the Intercontinental and US Championship because i ran out of room.
Is there any way i can still schedule title matches for either belt?

Hopefully someone out there is equally amused by the titles for this prompt. I think it's pretty damn amusing.
✨ Featuring a playlist inspired by the man, the myth, the legend himself! ✨
So I’ve been on a Daniel Day-Lewis kick over the last few weeks and I’m finding myself really drawn to the character of Daniel Plainview. Call it daddy issues, call it cliche like trying to fix a broken man, but I’d love to explore what could have been before he completely devolves into a shell of a man living in his castle alone. If you think you could give me a version of Daniel Plainview around 1911, then come on down! cue The Price Is Right music
I would prefer to be playing an original character, for which I have a few different ideas. One is a farmer’s daughter, naive and nurturing but also desperately poor. She could be living on the land where Daniel successfully buys the oil rights (maybe the elder Sunday daughter? She’s not heavily featured in the movie so I don’t even know if it’s an OC at this point hehe. Or an OC Sunday sister!) or simply the daughter of one of the men working on the well site. Daniel takes a shine to her or she catches his eye at the celebration when the new oil well starts pumping. She’s easily dazzled and manipulated by promises of a better life, wealth, power - all of which Daniel goads her with easily. To him, she’s an easy piece of tail with a shelf life of the 10 or so years left to raise H.W. before he’s a man, a live-in cook and nanny to both of the Plainview men. A plaything and a trophy he can domesticate and keep in a cage until he tires of her or she crosses him. A very twisted romance if we want it to be, but she could also soften him if we so choose. We know that Daniel’s weakness is his family and if she bonds with H.W. it could be a means of gaining his trust. The potential connection to the Sunday family is also very interesting as she could potentially be another means of putting Eli Sunday back into the place that Daniel deems he should be - I can imagine Daniel’s delight in torturing Eli and gloating over the fact that he has his sister wrapped right around his little finger.
Another OC is a private tutor from a school for the deaf that Daniel hires to care for H.W. following his loss of hearing, though she is able to hear - her mother was deaf. Similarly, her gentle and patient approach with H.W. and tenacious and clever enough to survive in the world on her own appeals to Daniel and he idolizes her in a saint-like way, even though he lusts after her in a not at all holy manner. She is vulnerable after the loss of her family in a flood and Daniel can practically smell it on her. It could be a match made in hell or heaven - does he corrupt her or does she give him reasons to slow his drinking and open his heart to her?
I would be open to other ideas of course, and these are not my only ideas either! I expect there to be themes of corruption, manipulation, power dynamics/struggle, period violence, substance use, dark themes, and other content that probably isn’t for the faint of heart, please keep this in mind. NSFW obviously.
I consider myself advanced-literate but I prefer dynamic replies, more for description and setting up scenes and less for dialogue. Discord, and 3rd person only, please! I have relaxed expectations of a reply schedule and would appreciate it if you could also be understanding of real life outside of RP. :)
If this is something you’re interested in, please send me a message by either chat or PM - I'd like for you to tell me which of my ideas interests you or what aspects you did enjoy from any given scenario, or at the very least, an RP sample so I can get a feel for your writing style - just don't come empty-handed. ;)
✨Bonus playlist inspired by Daniel Plainview, created by Spotify user autochop✨: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7AeyfdZTxwgpkz0vrhz8f6?si=89268a65ecf64dd6

Hopefully someone out there is equally amused by the titles for this prompt. I think it's pretty damn amusing.
✨ Featuring a playlist inspired by the man, the myth, the legend himself! ✨
So I’ve been on a Daniel Day-Lewis kick over the last few weeks and I’m finding myself really drawn to the character of Daniel Plainview. Call it daddy issues, call it cliche like trying to fix a broken man, but I’d love to explore what could have been before he completely devolves into a shell of a man living in his castle alone. If you think you could give me a version of Daniel Plainview around 1911, then come on down! cue The Price Is Right music
I would prefer to be playing an original character, for which I have a few different ideas. One is a farmer’s daughter, naive and nurturing but also desperately poor. She could be living on the land where Daniel successfully buys the oil rights (maybe the elder Sunday daughter? She’s not heavily featured in the movie so I don’t even know if it’s an OC at this point hehe. Or an OC Sunday sister!) or simply the daughter of one of the men working on the well site. Daniel takes a shine to her or she catches his eye at the celebration when the new oil well starts pumping. She’s easily dazzled and manipulated by promises of a better life, wealth, power - all of which Daniel goads her with easily. To him, she’s an easy piece of tail with a shelf life of the 10 or so years left to raise H.W. before he’s a man, a live-in cook and nanny to both of the Plainview men. A plaything and a trophy he can domesticate and keep in a cage until he tires of her or she crosses him. A very twisted romance if we want it to be, but she could also soften him if we so choose. We know that Daniel’s weakness is his family and if she bonds with H.W. it could be a means of gaining his trust. The potential connection to the Sunday family is also very interesting as she could potentially be another means of putting Eli Sunday back into the place that Daniel deems he should be - I can imagine Daniel’s delight in torturing Eli and gloating over the fact that he has his sister wrapped right around his little finger.
Another OC is a private tutor from a school for the deaf that Daniel hires to care for H.W. following his loss of hearing, though she is able to hear - her mother was deaf. Similarly, her gentle and patient approach with H.W. and tenacious and clever enough to survive in the world on her own appeals to Daniel and he idolizes her in a saint-like way, even though he lusts after her in a not at all holy manner. She is vulnerable after the loss of her family in a flood and Daniel can practically smell it on her. It could be a match made in hell or heaven - does he corrupt her or does she give him reasons to slow his drinking and open his heart to her?
I would be open to other ideas of course, and these are not my only ideas either! I expect there to be themes of corruption, manipulation, power dynamics/struggle, period violence, substance use, dark themes, and other content that probably isn’t for the faint of heart, please keep this in mind. NSFW obviously.
I consider myself advanced-literate but I prefer dynamic replies, more for description and setting up scenes and less for dialogue. Discord, and 3rd person only, please! I have relaxed expectations of a reply schedule and would appreciate it if you could also be understanding of real life outside of RP. :)
If this is something you’re interested in, please send me a message by either chat or PM - I'd like for you to tell me which of my ideas interests you or what aspects you did enjoy from any given scenario, or at the very least, an RP sample so I can get a feel for your writing style - just don't come empty-handed. ;)
✨Bonus playlist inspired by Daniel Plainview, created by Spotify user autochop✨: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7AeyfdZTxwgpkz0vrhz8f6?si=89268a65ecf64dd6