Hormone monster from big mouth

New census figures show suburbs and smaller metro areas claimed most U.S. growth
Big cities lost fewer residents last year as more immigrants moved in, fewer people died and more babies were born there, according to new census data that shows the urban exodus that gained steam early in the pandemic is cooling.
The suburbs of big cities and small and medium-size metropolitan areas continued to claim most of the country’s growth, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of population estimates released Thursday for the year that ended June 30. Rural areas and small towns collectively remained nearly flat.
The core counties of large metro areas had an estimated net loss of more than 800,000 movers to the rest of the country, but that was an improvement from a 1.2 million drop in the preceding year, the Journal analysis shows.
After a sharp falloff in immigration at the peak of the pandemic, the latest data shows a revival that has helped bolster large urban counties, with about 500,000 net arrivals from abroad last year. A rise in births and fewer deaths also helped offset moves out of urban counties, leaving their collective population little changed for the year.
Paywall free - https://archive.ph/hI850#selection-107.0-107.80
WSJ https://www.wsj.com/articles/exodus-from-americas-big-cities-slowed-last-year-as-pandemic-receded-d6ae7006

Okay, I understand Dumbledore’s rationale that Harry should grow up among muggles and have a childhood where he would be sheltered from his celebrity status and the shocked response from the wizarding community, which would have overwhelmed him as an infant. Plus the Dursleys, for all their flaws, are his blood relatives, which “protects” him.
But after the events of Book 1, Harry knows everything about who he is and what really happened to his parents and in the past. It’s crystal clear that the Dursleys hate him and he hates them. What’s the point of going back to them every summer? Especially after, in Book 2, he meets the entire Weasley family who welcome him with open arms.
I know you might say “Well, the Weasleys are a large family and not the most well-off financially. It would be an imposition for them to have an extra mouth to feed.”
But here’s the thing: Arthur and Molly keep letting both Harry and Hermione stay with them for long periods of time in the various summer, Christmas, and Easter breaks throughout the entire rest of the series. They clearly never view them as impositions or extra mouths to feed; they’re happy to take them in.
Basically, if they had permanently adopted Harry at the end of Book 2, it would hardly have changed their lifestyle at all from how much they already let him stay with them throughout the remainder of the series. They would likely have been happy to do it, and the Dursleys would have been happy to agree.
Plus, Harry has money at Gringotts. So even if it was a financial imposition, Harry would likely be happy to help out. Of course the Weasleys would never ask a 12-year-old to pay rent, but I’m just saying it’s an option.
And as far as Harry being protected by the Dursleys being his blood relatives…eh. I think it’s obvious he is always much safer in the Burrow than he is at Privet Drive.

Being an aRPG fan for more then 20 years, i think i've played all major releases in these times (have you played the second Titan Quest add-on? Well, i did :) ), starting from Diablo 2. I've played D1 only couple of years ago. Enjoyed it from the "touch the history" perspective. And i have some thoughts about the upcoming release. Will (at least) try to hold this theme in a way that common sense dictates. So, let you all be open-minded to another people's opinions, calm down and let's talk.
Due to some IRL stuff i couldnt play all characters, but tried 3.5/5 of them - being the Necromancer, the Sorceress, the Rogue and 0.5 stands for the Big Boi Barbarian, because i've leveled him to some extend, but not to 25 - thus can't say much about build diversity of this particular individual.
And oh boy, i have things to say.
I guess i will start not from pros and cons, but from theme to a theme, and both pros and cons will be inside of each one.
Let's start.
​
**Graphics.**
​
The highly subjective stuff. Keep that in mind.
When D2 came out it revolutionazed the genre, both mechanically and visually. It developed D1 aspects to an extreme extent. People tend to say that D2 graphics are almost ideal. But why? Because this aspect of the game consists of very, very big amount of those big and small things that all make the big picture. Some of them are: color scheme, design and clarity. And all of these 3 are important in the same value.
Diablo 2 had dark color scheme, a medieval visual design with quite some amount of gothic elements and a decent amount of visual clarity on the screen. While playing it you could not only your character, but everything that was happening on the screen. And only in very, very dense situations you started to have problems with it. But that is the problem of every and every aRPG i've played, so i guess this can be considered "a norma".
Path of Exile, for example, also has a dark color scheme, european medieval themed design with aztec elements in it, and visual clarity that bad that developers actually sell a way to diable your auras and skill effects (one per purchase, ofcourse :D) in the game so in the actual fight you can see stuff that is going on.
Diablo 3's color palette was definately more vibrant, colorfull and bright then D2. More... Cartoonish. And that was both good and bad at the same time. Yes, it was new to the player base and a large portion of people did not appreciate that descendance from the roots. *To be honest with you all, i think that a lot of those people cry that D3 is a piece of stinky s**t at every glance of that game being mentioned anywhere in their infofield solely because of this. Two of my friends are guilty of this, and this is fracking embaracing.* BUT it provided the substantial amount of visual clarity to the game. Exactly becuase of the very high visual contrast and adequate mob density, spacing and modeling you always know what is happening on the screen, apart from the same situations you starting to loose visual control in D2 - the extreme density ones with enemies of different size and variety. Visual design of D3 is, to my liking (reminder here - a HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE STUFF), is better then in D2 because of a lot more gothic-styled elements. I just like that.
So, after all that i've said before, visuals of Diablo 4 Act I did not strike my heart. No, visuals are not bad, not at all. I think this is the best i've seen in an industry from the technical point of view. Clutter is scattered not brainlessly, but each item has it's own purpose to not brake the immersion. More on that later. But the color palette is too washed out. The visual design is *just* an european medieval, without any gothic elements whatsoever. It becomes very blunt, tedious pretty fast and apart from one(sic!) dungeon out of what, 20 or something like this, the picture you're looking at blends into one grey mass. Try to name one place that stands out other then that gore-themed dungeon (and last mission of Act I campaign wich is basicly the same place). The visuals of D4 aI are immersive at times, very technically advanced, but dull. Let's see what surprises Kehjistan and Hawezar prepare to us ;)
Yes, that was long enough. Time to continue!
​
**World building**
​
When you walk through the city, you suddenly start to believe that actual people are living in the actual damn city. Apart from the New Tristram, for example. Dialogues are placed very immersively. Things you can touch and / or talk to all add another layer. Did you click on that table in the war room when talking to the bald lady with tattoed head (dont remmeber her name)? :) If you do you know that there are a lot of red marks and arrows on that wartable and all of them are pointed towards the "glorious city of Caldeum"! Did you see that Iron Maiden that was present in last mission was actually located before that very same war room and even more - you could talk to a priest standing nearby and ask why the hell this thing is here? He would tell you some interesting things. And those mini-events are spreaded out everywhere. This is how you should make people immersed into your game.
The one thing i'd like this game to get from D3 is different vendor's stories to be tied to the game's lore. I enjoyed having the same Shen and Haedrig from aI to aIV with Myriam joining in aV to the Team Nephalem. Throught the campaign Shen and Headrig had pretty interesting lines to say about the situation. Especially Shen. Well, technincally Shen was from aII but you get the point.
I missed the same in D4. Vendors are just random people without any lore behind them.
​
**Technical state.**
​
It was a beta-test, aimed to stress-test the servers and check overall stability of the game. And, at the moment of beta-test, that looked pretty bad to be honestly. Continuous rubber-banding problems and pocket losses. But Blizzard have 2.5 months to fix those problems, and i know that their technical engineers can do really magical stuff sometime. Look at the BfA or Legion starts. They were buttery smooth. Hope dies last, i guess.
But what i do have big concerns, it is about the loading stutters. I guess that is happening because of some problems with asset loading mechanics and that can not be fixed in the time remains before launch. Did not bother me a lot by the way, but a lot of people may (and will) find it frustrating.
​
**Itemization**
​
I'm not gonna compare it to PoE or even Last Epoch itemisation. If LE's system is not the same league as D4's, then PoE's is not even the same universe. PoE itemisation system is the first one that made me realise that i am too stupid for something.
So, i've found D4's one... Mediocre. At best.
White and blue items were not picked up by anyone even in beta. Even rings and amulets. They will have the same fate as D3 item's do - either left on the floor or straight into the grinder, without looking at the item. Better let it be like in D3's last season lol - let mobs drop salvaging reagents and save us all some time and not braking the combat flow.
The amount of stats on items is very small in both value of sheer numbers and variety. Stats are very, VERY situational, but in my opinion, that is even better then having general CHD / CHC / CDR / Area Damage on every item equipped, like we have in D3. You can either laser-focus your items to your build or make mediocre gear that will work in any situations. In my opinion, this variety is great.
Ookey, and now that part where i asked you to be open-minded? This is the time :) Or you will throw rotten tomatoes at me all at once, i dont know.
*Runewords in Diablo 2's variant are bad*. Hoy hoy, stop right there! Let me explain.
Tell me, dear reader, in Diablo 2, when was the last time you equipped a yellow weapon on your sorc? A yellow shield on your paladin? A yellow chestpiece on any of the characters? Oh, and here's your answer - "when i was leveling before i could do Baal runs". And even before them you have NPC literally giving to you RalOrtTal runeword that you will put in the shield and will never drop till you run the level that does not exist, get 4s monarch and make a Spirit.
*Runewords make 99% of all items in the game in this particular slot obsolete*. Exclusions are quite rare and almost all of them are uniques. How these items are different from the set pieces?
***Yes, i am for the runes, but not in Diablo 2 way.*** For example - make them add value to the item. Or add value to stats. Or add new stats to the existing item, whether it be yellow or legendary or rare. Change the base needed from only grey item to any item in the game.
Crafting is basicly non-existent at this moment. I'm not asking system where you can craft an item through 6 different systems (im looking at you, PoE), but come on, at least something.
Trading is basicly non-existent at this moment. I'm not asking about the auction house, but at least for some kind of a trading board where you can write "have X, want Y or else". Even D2R has it in it's own form.
​
**the GOLD situation**
​
Personally i found that on the beta gold wasnt the problem whatsoever. I've managed to upgrade my characters up to pre-last upgrades very fast (e.g. within an hour on all three characters combined), and i really don't think that anyone will need to do more then that.
Respec cost was also (and will also be) not a problem whatsoever. That depends on the scaling, but i guess to respec all ~60 points in the tree (with all potential locations skill bonus points unlocked) will cost us probably 20-50k gold. And that is even if you will want to change your whole build on lvl 50. One full inventory in beta was worth ~18-30k gold, and will cost even more on high lvls. That's some quick maths for ya.
The gold will not be a problem at one moment. And that moment will not be far in the endgame, many people are just exagerrating.
​
***UI***
​
Oh. My. God.
Slap the UI designer teamlead on the wrists and just redo it.
Character panel. Map. Statistics. Descriptions. Everything is made poorly, non-intuitive and unresponsive.
Why ditching the old, comfy, character screen where items were "equipped" on your character schematic picture, for this Diablo Immortal abomination?
Map overlay where?
Statistics screen is one big pile of everything.
Item descriptions are so big and unoptimized that sometimes you have to scroll to see your legendary affix on that item.
Just... No.
​
**Class designs.**
​
Oof. On some classes i thought that devs actually forgot to activate "Skill Page #2" button. But let's do class by class, from the ones that i've tried. Let's call it the "page #2" situation, okey?
Also a disclamer - i will talk about the mechanics and skill interactions. ***Not about the numbers.*** You can just draw an additional 0 in the end of all Druid numbers and *suddenly* whole community will praise this class. Class that does small numbers is not the bad class, it has the bad damage. And vice versa. E.g. i get it, numbers go brrrr, but come on - we're gonna play this game for a very long time and we want to play it without a finger in the bottoms.
​
As a Necromancer i found that they took Diablo 3's Necromancer, cut his tree in half, made some homages to D2's one, slapped 4 passives and 3 new active skills and called it a day. I mean, i understand that D3's Necro was both step up and step down from D2's. It had really, really good moments, but also had some abilities just not implemented. Like teeth, poison nova or cage. In the end, D3's necro came out a bit rushed out, some mechanics were not working either properly or as intended, but as a WHOLE it was extremely fun to play. Mechanics were not too complicated, but deep enough. Diablo 3 Necromancer was as intended - a guardian of balance. Both in lore and in mechanics. Class designers brought new ways to work with corpses, necro's second resource. Devour, Corpse Lance, Land of the Dead, all this was intended to work in tandem in corpse-oriented builds.
Diablo 4's Necromancer has, well, corpse explosion and tendrils. THAT'S IT. And this is the whole ability spectrum for his resource? Pitiful.
On the other hand, class as a whole has a very interesting potential. Blood Lance build has nice single target damage, but requires the lance to stay for at least 5 seconds in targets, 3 is too low. Bone spear is also a great one. A consistent way to proc vulnerability. Some other builds that i've found working quite fine. But the sheer amount of abilities and their synergies are very small in numbers.
​
Wich is a good point of talking about Rogues. Remember "page #2" situation? Well, divide skills that you have by 2 once more! Because the difference between range rogue and melee rogue is very, very distinct and limits the amount of spenders (e.g. almost the only damage source) to two for the melee and 3 for the ranged specs. Two skills for the melee rogue to choose from? Wo-hoo, bring me the theorycraters!
Also, the tree is very limited for the free skillpoints that you will be able to spend. Count with me. You will take Shadow Imbuement because otherwise clearing a dungeon will be a pain. You will take Consuming Shadows (30 energy regen when kill a target with shadow damage) because this way you will have effecively infinite energy (before boss). You will take Dash because duh. You will take Dark Shroud because it's a 50% damage reduction, for pete's sake, also 10% more crit chance. And these nodes alone take 11 points out of your build. Nodes that are mandatory, because if you will not take them class will be unplayable - becuase starts to lack other resource regeneration, survivability or clear speed. Effectively you will not shoot your foot, you will shove your foot into the grinder and press "on" button with a maniacal laugh. Throw here usual 2 points to start the character (or 3 if you want vulnerability or minor energy regen), 7 points in spender and you get whole 11+3+7=21 points hardlocked, living you with total of 5 points to give your character some utility. On level 50 that will be easier, but also remember that Shadow Imbuement will loose it's weight right at the moment when you will stop oneshoting trashmobs, therefore forcing you to take Poison Imbuement.
Gameplay-wise rogue is so crispy though. This is the only class i actually ***ENJOYED*** playing. It was generally fun. But each time i've opened my skill tree to change something and seeing that i can do only so much, the feeling of sadness was filling my soul... This class is two absolutely different classes blended together, requires a lot of work, and sadly enough "page #2" situation is as acute as ever.
​
I can't say that about the Sorceress though. The starting point was great, the leveling was great, the "endgame" was great, the balance was f**king abhorrent. Sorc takes all of it's defensive skills with one common affix on a gear. The only class that can kill the Butcher solo without taking any damage AND legendary affixes on it's gear. Has very good amount of CC, absolbrs, immunes. This requires a substantial nerf and it ***will*** be nerfed. Blizzard hates when you can slap infinite invulnerability on your character and call it a day, so dont expect frost blades build be alive on release.
The "page #2" situation is still here, though not as acute as in the Rogue class. The problem is that, compaired to D2 she gained mechanics, ofcourse, became quite deeper, but compaired to both D2 and especially D3, sadly, our beloved chineese girl lost a lot of knowledge. Melee focused abilities - gone. Copies - gone. Different meteors - gone. Diamond skin - redesigned, and i personally dont like the animation. Etc. etc. etc. BUT the lack of sheer skill numbers she outweights by mechanics and skill interractions... I could even say they're good! This class feels like it was done as a first one and polished enough for the people to test.
​
About our Big Boi Barbarian (Druid is the Chunky Boi) i can tell that he was also taken from Diablo 3. From Dust Devils and Vortex on WW to HoTA, Ancients and Shouts mechanics (some of them are a homage to D2, wich is respectable).
Leveling him to 20 was a painful process and i started to take a glance on what BBB can become, but beta ended. I guess he will be the most straightforward class with 1 button usage, but only when you get enough legendary powers. Especially two of them - Fortify for rage spent and Rage regeneration while a shout is on. Why are these powers on a gear and NOT in a talent tree i can't say. Without them the existence is truly miserable.
And come on, add a fifth basic ability. Where is my weapon throw?
​
As i've stated before, i didnt even touch the druid, but i've heard that it has a good chunk (pun intended) of abilities and synergies and, as a result, quite an interesting playstyle. The only thing he lacks is the actual damage. But again, that's just a matter of slapping additional zero to his numbers.
​
So, in the end, in class designs my biggest concerns are rogues and necromancers.
​
***Ending words***
At the moment of open beta, this game had tremendous flaws and tremendous upsides. Some of them flaws can be easily fixed. Some of them cries for redesigning choices being made. But in the end, as for me personally, i will play Diablo 4, of course. BUT only when the season starts and not before. First two weeks will actually be some kind of a beta-test to check how their servers work en mass, some balance patches, gold cost reductions, crucial bugfixes etc etc.
See you all when the season starts!
P.S. This post will be on both US/EU D4 forums and the d4 subreddit.

Normally I'd switch from a Girsan Regard MC (Turkish M9/Beretta 92 FS clone) to a Polish P-64 as my EDC around this time of the year, but this year I'm looking at the possibility of using the Regard as an all year EDC instead of just for fall and winter. It runs so much smoother than the P-64, has an 18+1 capacity, I'm better with it than any other handgun I ever used, and I'd feel a whole lot safer carrying it because of my skill level with it after some lunatic went into one of the local big box stores with an AK platform rifle threatening to blow the place up just a couple days ago. There's just one problem: it's a full size pistol, so it's rather large. Right now I know it's going to be impossible to conceal unless I make some changes.
​
I already wanted to change up my wardrobe a bit, and this is now another reason to do it. I know it can be easier to conceal a full size pistol if you wear clothes a size larger than you'd normally wear, and it wouldn't take much to make that happen and get an IWB holster for it. I just don't like to appendix carry if I can avoid it, so now I'm wondering, everyone on here who keeps something full size as their CCW, what holster are you using? Do you prefer to keep it in any particular position or cant? Do you have any tips or tricks to share with someone who wants to try carrying something full size and keep it concealed?

So as we all know there is a very large update coming within three weeks (as one can only speculate). With that comes a phase of big change that will involve initial release, fine tuning and even finer tuning from the feedback of the community being passed along to the dev teams. I am the type of player who is very glad to see consistent updates. A game that is consistently making adjustments is a game that in my opinion can grow into something big rather than peaking and dying off fast. That being said here are my recommendations for the game in future developments.

1. Weapons

A. The hand held weapons in the game could use some fine tuning and remodeling. Certain weapons do not operate in an accurate manner and it seems that some weapons were designed and modeled by one person and others by another independent contract. Using the M1 Garand feels smooth and well design while the FG42 seems rushed and inaccurate. For both models of the FG42 the action is recocked no matter if the rifle is empty. Although I can see why the dev team might have left this it is not accurate to how the weapon operates. This same statement can be applied to many weapons in the game. To play devil's advocate some weapons are very powerful and require some handy caps so requiring a weapon to take an extra operation when reloading is an option.
B. Currently in the game there are models of weapons with small cap mags, standard cap mags, and extended cap mags. Currently there is no change in stats for any of these variants. I for one would like to see there be added features for weapons that have ranging cap in mags. Currently I notice a speed difference while carrying an MG, flame thrower, and certain AT weapons. I'd like to see adjustments be made that affect these weapons and also add weapons models with higher and lower mag caps. The MG 34 and 42 could have extended belts as an example. Weapons with smaller cap mags should be more maneuverable and quicker to reload while those with higher cap mags move slower and take longer to reload.

Some advice please.
I have received an offer for training in another city about hour and half from where I live currently. Although delighted I’ve been offered a place, I am a bit apprehensive now.
My other half is pregnant and baby is due in July. I am starting to think moving for August would be a huge undertaking. Plus, the more I’ve thought about it the more I’ve felt settled where I live and work and the prospect of upheaving is ?anxiety producing a little, especially with a little one.
At the same time, I don’t want to turn down this opportunity. I also want an adventure and don’t want all my work for exams and interview to go to waste.
Big decisions and would love to hear if anyone else is/been in a similar position and what you did and thought processes behind?

Link to card!
This was my first bingo card, and I told myself when I saw the board last year that doing all hard mode would be nice, but I wouldn't push myself for it. That was a lie. Plus I always review my reads on Goodreads, so it ended up being hero mode too!
This challenge definitely changed how I approached reading for the year, especially the past few months as the deadline came closer. I put aside some books I've been wanting to read and really pushed myself to finish things I wasn't in the mood for. At the same time, it opened my eyes to some books I wouldn't have read otherwise, or maybe would have put off for longer.
I'm not going to write a review for every read, but I will list some noteworthy things and statistics.

• I tracked a total of 37 books that fulfilled at least one square of the board (though I stopped doing it towards the end when I knew they didn't fulfil any new squares). The prompts with the most applicable books was Standalone and Family Matters, with 16 books each, but 12 of the Standalone books were hard mode compared to only 5 of the Family Matters books.
• There are approximately 10,145 pages on this bingo board! The longest book was The Sword Of Kaigen at 630 pages, barely beating out Cloud Cuckoo Land and Black Leopard, Red Wolf (in the formats I read, at least).
• Cool Weapon was the only square that only had one applicable book. I didn't even have a book planned until earlier this month when I was asking for recommendations in my book club. That's the whole reason I read Song of Silver, Flame like Night so soon after release.
• The first book I read for bingo, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, also ended up being my overall favorite of last year. I finished it on 4/10/22 and already want to reread it. The scale of it was so impressive and well done. And I cried over oxen :(
• The last book I read for bingo was Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, finished on 3/26/23. I was absolutely not in the mood to read it but I forced myself to finish it anyways. I do not recommend doing that as it definitely impacted my rating :(
• Kaikeyi, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, and The Rage of Dragons were all books I was interested in and finally picked up because of bingo!
• The Space Between Worlds and Hollow Kingdom were books I didn't know about until seeing them in the bingo book recommendations thread.
• My friend gifted me Eternal Lover as a joke gift after I told her about a questionable monster romance I read. She didn't understand why I was so excited to get it. That's four authors right there! I would not recommend this book for any other circumstance. The stories ranged from okay to bad. But it was a really quick read (I think it took 4-5 hours in total) so if you're still looking for a book, I guess it's an option?
• One surprise hit was At the Break of Dawn. I picked it up on a whim after seeing a post made by the author's husband on reddit and absolutely loved it. It still only has 26 ratings on goodreads, so I highly recommend checking it out if you like adult fantasy with (spicy!) romance that has a d&d feeling setting.
• My biggest disappointment would have to be How High We Go in the Dark. I saw some rave reviews for it, and despite really liking some of the early chapters, I lost interest towards the end because the tone was too similar in each story.
• This Thing Between Us has stuck with me longest out of all the books I read last year. I got thoroughly creeped out at several points and could only stomach reading it during the day.
• The average rating for the whole board, including half stars I used in my original ratings, was 4.18! I think that's pretty good!

I am telling myself I'll be better about reading bingo books more consistently next year, but I'm probably lying to myself. Either way, I'm excited to see how the next board will challenge my reading!

Hi guy's, I guess this is what is going on with me.

1. Psychotic break that got me diagnosed with Schizotypal, PTSD, and bipolar.-13 day stay at the good ol mental hospital.
2. I wrote a story trying to explain how my psychotic break started. It is unfinished bc it brings me back. So at this point in time I have left it alone.
3. At this point I believe I am being given messages by god in an attempt to save my soul from the devil. I understand this could be delusional ideas of reference and I understand I have a long way to go before I can identify what is real and what is not.
4. You are not suffering alone, there is a light at the end of our tunnel for sure. I think if one person here can find a way then we all can. Happiness is attainable and I will relentlessly pursue it.
5. I know how wild the below story is. But as you know it was real af to me.

​
I realized I was beaten when my mom gave me my 2nd dose of drugged food.
​
*Note*-Last chapter-The man behind the curtain is revealed. It is me. (alternate story and endings for each Cartel, Illuminati(west coast and east coast)-One side is evil, the other good(wutang)., CIA, Then the best one imo-The church
vs the devil.
​
​

What a way to start the new year lol. It was on Jan 1st that all of this spiraled out of control. It all started when I was working at amazon in clay NY. I woke up one day and saw a shit ton of cops. I was growing at the time, an illegal amount of cannabis that would have landed me a felony. So knowing this I shit my pants and ran down the stairs to see what was happening. Am I getting raided or is it just some regular molly whopping bullshit going on outside? We installed a large number of security cameras due to the molly whopper problem. Anything that wasn't tied down would come up missing, not after the cameras lol. I get my coffee as two cops knock on my door. I answer and 

they let me know that a crime was committed by some kids and that they would like the videos if my camera caught it. I thought to myself, some kids.....no big deal at all. SURE I said as I ran upstairs to get my laptop while trying to keep my tents out of view. I return and both I and the two cops sit in the kitchen until I can get the videos emailed to them. They leave and I think that is the end of that. WROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
​

(insert the fact that you bought weapons, signs and didn't sleep hardly at all) 

I go to amazon about a week later and find out that the people that committed the crime in front of my house work with me. Aren't I the lucky one? Malachi(one of the assailants) was kind enough to come to the conveyor belt and leaned over and let me know that it was him and his friends. And that both he and his friends that committed the crime will be coming back to get my grow(how the hell do they know about my grow I think?). I mean mugged him and we both continued about our day. Due to me having headphones in it took me a while to put together exactly what he said. But when I did put it together, I immediately started taking all the necessary precautions to prevent a home invasion,. Such as securing all entrances and placing weapons all around the house. Identifying all routes in and out and covering them with cameras and traps if needed. Not my first rodeo(ptsd like a mfa from the first). This time was different though due to me at the time living with my sick parents. I planned on defense only and coached them on what to do in the worse case.
(RAW DATA ELABORATE on the amazon story-For example all of the people you identified and all of the tatoos that they shared. A large orginazation was identified but at the time I did not know they were after me. Later I found out they
were using the night staff at amazon warehouses to distribute their products around the globe. In 30 mins or less lol.)
​

With my home secured my mind was at ease. On my next scheduled day at amazon, I learned that my manager Caroline was working with/for Malachi. I learned this by her repeatedly placing me next to Malachi and Mike(Malachi's friend). This continued for about two weeks and I saw exactly who was playing for the Malachi's team. It turned out to be a large number of people. I identified they were a group by the matching tattoos they displayed. They had people working as janitors, and in every station and position in amazon. I am talking all the way from janitors to the managers. At least a good 10+ at amazon working to make my life hell there. One time while next to Malachi and Mike at the beginning of this. I lost my temper, pretty badly. I have a mental health issue with my anger(just learned), which caused me to say a bunch of stuff in retaliation to Malachi. This caused Malachi 

to make a phone call while shaking his head in sadness. That phone call was to someone important. Because ever since Malachi made that call my life changed for the worse. Like way worse.
​

After both myself and Malachi were done talking shit to each other. He(malachi) let me know how much power he could get on short notice. I woke up to smoke my normal morning joint and saw Angel(from amazon), Mike, and Malachi walking around my house(in the street). Later that day I would say about ten to 15 cars made an appearance to let me know they meant business. I just sat there and smoked my joints and cataloged all of his personnel. I knew at that point I was in over my head and made a mistake in feeding into Malachi's anger. I called everyone I knew, which was two whole people(lol) and told them to stand down and not do anything to Malachi if they saw him. I also tried my best to de-escalate to the best of my ability while working at amazon. That however just seemed to make them madder. One night Caroline came up to me and asked me to go work next to people who were trying to kill me, which at that point was normal. Once I realized this I had a realization that this was wrong and should be addressed. I was experiencing retaliation for reporting a crime and it was being perpetuated by my employer(I was thinking in my head Lawsuit lol). Then Angel started going ham on me. I let my management know that they needed to do something(they did nothing). Then I let Angel know the only reason they were mad was the video I gave to the cops, and that I was not a threat to him. I also reiterated to him that he had to touch me for me to be able to defend myself. I left that 

day and made a report to the amazon ethics board on what had happened there. I quit and called the cop I gave the video to for advice and to let him know I was prepared if it goes further. I let him know I would fight to the death for the safety of my mother and father. Which was now in danger due to Malachi and the organization he is with. He agreed with me and told me to protect my family.
​

I was out of work for a couple of weeks and everything seemed to simmer down. All the cars and people that were patrolling daily seemed to stop. During my off time I was able to do a bunch of research on Malachi, Angel and Mike and I learned that they were tied to a local car dealership in fulton. I researched the car dealership and found out that they were from the Bronx and were affiliated with the Cartel. I found this out through facebook and instagram. Malachi was kind enough to throw up gang signs in his instagram posts that I was able to check on google. I battened down the hatched as much as I could. But I knew that my family was now in grave danger due to me losing my temper. They are good people and I had no intention of letting them pay the cost for my action. So I came up with an Idea. I would enter into the legal weed business by going to a multistate operator for a job. Through different research I learned that heavy cartel money has flowed into these multistate cannabis businesses. I was hopeful that I could find an ear from the cartel by applying for a job at my local out of state cannabis company called Acerage holdings. It didn't take me that much time and I landed a job for a company called acerage holdings which grows medical weed. On my first week there a co-worker named Isaiah was talking about my ethics report that I made to amazon to another employee. Lucky me, I believe I found the ear I was looking for. It turned out that he was part of Malachi's group. I worked with a small number of people at acerage holdings and I am positive that most people working there were very aware of who I was and who Malachi was. And that I was not well-liked at all, meaning malachi's influence reached there as well.I stayed to myself to the highest extent possible and just soaked up the comments like a sponge with no responses from me at all. My intent was to gather as much intel as I possibly could and identify an opportunity for a line of communication with the leadership of the Cartel. This would be hard to do. The business that I was working for was designed as part of their legal operations(It didn’t take much google to figure that out). 

​
I would go into work everyday at Acerage and people would be openly talking about my situation. One guy was joking around while we were harvesting some weed that I should put in the wood chipper. I saw he had a bunch of tattoos so I figured what are the chances he has a similar tatoo. I moved over to work with him and to my surprise he has the same tattoo as Angel. I engage in conversation and maintain my cover to gather data and identify a line of communication so I could plead my case. A worker named Tony came into our area that day and he was loose enough to say don’t trust the security because they are the cartel. I think to myself, welp that guy ain't a cartel but security seems to be my point of access to the top. Later that day I was oddly issued my badge which seemed rather thick. Me being my paranoid self began to read all of the literature that i was given when I first got the job. In fine print I read that the company has the right but not the duty to monitor your phone or other device to make sure intellectual property is not stolen. That day I immediately started talking about how the FBI got a guy at my last job for the same thing. And that I planned on using their practices for a business that I wanted to start. Needless to say I believe they would be listening on my phone for more crumbs to try to start a case.
​
I woke the next day and began to plead my case while in my truck alone. I apologized and claimed responsibility for my actions. And that I would accept any punishment as long as it was me and only me. I clocked into work that morning and oddly enough my coworkers that I had befriended seemed very sad. Almost like something was going to happen to me. I armed myself with trim scissors and was ready for the worst knowing that my message had most likely reached its mark. I was scared and happy at the same time. I was afraid because I thought I was about to die but I was happy because I thought I had brokered the safety of my family successfully. Stressfully I finished my day and luckily nothing happened. So I went home.
​
To relieve stress I started to work on some different hobbies. One of those hobbies was music. I got to the point where I had two songs written (rough copies), and I was sampling tracks and beats to put my lyrics to. While doing this, I realized that I got hacked. There were two recurring options that kept popping up on my youtube. Two live streams with people rapping, one was the west coast rap channel and one was the east coast rap channel. I had my headset with a mic and I was putting
my lyrics to their beats when they answered me and started conversing with me. They told me they wanted my music and that I had to make a choice. I told them I was not ready to make a choice and I kept switching between the two while listening to their music and then them listening to my music(it was dope af-they were freestyling a lot-me not so much but what I did do was dope af). Then I garnered attention from both sides with a proposal. I explained how darkness and corruption have taken over and now evil sits atop the societal pyramid controlling everything and everyone. I explained how words have power, especially through music to change negative energy to positive. A good example of this is
waking up in a horrible mood and then putting on a good song and magically your mood changes from negative to positive. I proposed to use that to address issues that plague communities across the U.S. My proposal was to use 300 artists,150 from one side and 150 from the other. My song would be used as the prime example(leaders lead by example). 1 person comes up with lyrics and each of the 300 make those lyrics their own(own beats/cadence) and release a song on the same day. So with one song 300 versions will be thrown out in the local dialect to address the issue simultaneously all across the U.S. Long story short it would have a great chance of changing the current negative state of the world into a positive one. By delivering a hot beef injection of positivity into this negative landscape we have found ourselves in. Everyone agreed with me and I ended the night by DJing a few songs and then calling it a night. Before I go people from both sides start making me offers to join their side and that they would pay me and this and that. I thought this was a dream but here these dudes were offering me whatever I wanted to hop on their side. I told them no offense but That I had to think about it. I understood I was a great talent and that I did not want to make a bad deal. I thought I would sleep it over and then let everyone know my choice after work the following day. So I called it a night.
​
The next day I went to work and it was a holiday so we would only be working until 11am that
day.My boss Shmalex(name changed to protect identity lol). Told me to come talk to him after we were done with work that day. I immediately put it together that not only did I gain the attention of the Cartel but I was under close watch from the FBI due to me recently buying weapons and talking about my hustling openly. I told him ok and continued with my coworker Rob to complete our task that day which consisted of picking leaves off plants. While On break I was talking with Rob after my cigarette and he was showing me his fishing gear and trying to plan a fishing trip later on. I agreed that it would be fun and then we went back into work. About an hour after we got back into work Rob dipped out to make a call. He came back in and then about ten mins later Cody came in and told us we were done for the day and that we could leave. While I was cleaning up, the robber walked up behind me and whispered I’m sorry. I didn’t even say anything because I thought he was joking. Spoiler alert he was not joking.
​
I left work that day and I was super pumped knowing that I would soon be able to solve all my money problems by choosing which side to sign with. On the ride home I kept thinking how I got in the situation that I did and why I started making music. And then it hit me, Malachi, the same person who had put me in this dangerous situation was the reason why I was about to be successful and safe most of all. I thought that both sides had my back and were upset with the Cartel coming into the U.S. and just claiming territory like that. So I was no longer concerned for either My or my family's safety anymore, which was like ten tons being lifted off of my shoulders. On the ride home I started rapping and loudly yelling that I loved this shit and would take care of everyone with money. Especially Malachi and his family as a token of friendship and a hope for forgiveness.
​
​
I get home and I see that my parents have bought pizza. I think dope af and grab some and head upstairs. So I finally made my choice to join West coast records to be in the nice weather. I let both sides know that I planned to go to the west coast and told each that I would only go if I could collaborate with both sides. Notbe limited. I told them to show up at 8 am the next morning with two million in a bag. I was communicating with them verbally through the computer and with notes written on notebooks that I was showing my mirror. They told me they had me on watch from that location, and confirmed it by giving me details that only a camera in the mirror would capture. I went to bed that night with the idea that I was going to change the world. I was able to talk to both sides and luckily they were with me in changing things for the better. I went to bed oddly knowing that I just made a work-together truce between the crips and bloods. Good night's rest would be an understatement. I slept like a fucking baby. However, I woke up mad af boy lol.
​

8 am comes and goes and no one shows up lol. At this point I am unsure if I got hacked by Malachi, actually am about to start the 300, or am being trolled by the govt.... so many possibilities at this point lmao. So I don't go to the computer until the afternoon. Then things kinda get pretty crazy, but not as crazy as it will get..... I hop on the computer and hop on the west coast live stream. They start rapping about how they are going to torture me and kill my family and friends(someone on there said they were in jail and mad af at me). I see an Eminem video pop up on the screen and click on it. It is Eminem and he is rapping live about me and he kept giving me the shhhhh with the finger thing when I went to talk. He was saying that he was going to lock me up and not let me out and a whole bunch of shit. I closed my computer and just went and laid down and thought about the situation that I found myself in. I knew they had cameras on me in my house and in my truck(they told me how much gas I had!). I just laid there and thought about the situation, 1. Am I crazy...no 2. Am I hacked....yes 3. How do I save my family? idk yet 4. Am I beat beyond belief? yes. The criminal organization that Malachi was with(some cartel) was using amazon prime to deliver their product across the U.S., they knew I knew this and I know they wanted me dead so that is the opponent I was planning against it. Now looking back it could have been the FBI(I am loose so could have been watched), Cartel-the most likely, West or east coast rappers... so fucked lol. So I planned to wait it out to protect my family and engage if needed. This meant I always had to have weapons on to carry that plan out(pain in the ass(prison pocket)). 

​

I hopped up from my bed and went downstairs to eat a fish dinner that my mom had picked up. They were hurting for money and I was helping them out financially for months before that. Suddenly it clicked. The night before they bought 4 pizzas. Then tonight they bought fish dinners,.....WAIT. Where did they get the money to order out twice in a week, so so out of the ordinary? I recognized this and went upstairs with the fish dinner trying to think why they would order out two days in a row. I hop on my computer and start to eat dinner. I start listening to a 90s hip-hop live track and the dude who said he was in jail starts talking. Lets me know it cost 100k to get my mom on his side and that the food I was eating was drugged, and when I go downstairs my mom will make a fake police report on me to get me to jail. I stop eating the fish and go downstairs and just try talking to my mom to disprove what I just heard. 

She looked at me and immediately started to make a scene. She told me to "calm down and go to sleep or she'll have to call someone". I deescalate, throw out the dinner and then head upstairs. My brain starts working overtime in attempting to solve the situation. My playlists keep changing on my laptop so I start clicking on the top choice every time it changes. I finally realized that another party was communicating with me that was different from the previous ones(Anonymous). They altered songs in the top choices to deliver a subliminal message. I can’t describe how the words would jump out at me but I was able to gather the message after playing about 5 songs. They wanted me to go to a mental facility for safety for both me and my family. I didn’t know why, but I had no options at that point so I had to trust them.

 It was my job to decode that message in the limited amount of time that I had. I spent about an hour listening and grabbing applicable information from the slightly changed songs. I felt myself at a loss trying to find the subliminal path laid out. A gospel live stream popped up on my laptop and there was a different group that wanted me to sing with them(The church). The song was hallelujah. About halfway through the song I had a religious epiphany. I blacked out for a couple of seconds, and came to singing the song hallelujah while holding my arms out toward my mirror in a hugging motion. The people in the gospel livestream were rejoicing loudly and I heard someone say it's him. I immediately knew they thought I was the second coming and I dropped to my knees to denounce that. 

​
I took my notebook and started writing in my notebook a message. It said me for my family. I looked at the shotgun on my floor for a brief moment. But that was not an option due to my upbringing and marine background. The path became clear when I mentally snapped. They had accepted my deal, me for my family. I briefly looked at my shotgun and then headed downstairs to tell
My parents that Ineeded to go to a mental hospital to meet anonymous. I went outside to wait and my mom went and made a phone call that took about ten minutes. I don't know who she was talking to but when she came out I knew we were good because the cops didn't show up. And then off we went, I played the part quite well on the ride I remember. I told my parents I loved them and then after listening to faded with a stranger one last time, I went in to accept my fate. I asked for one last cigarette and my dad gave me a half a one that tasted quite odd.
​

A lady came in once I was laying in the hospital bed to "take blood" and give me something to sleep. I thought this was the end but it was not. I woke up the next day and could have sworn my mom said the doctor wanted to see me. I told her I was still tired and rolled over and went back to bed. Then when I woke up they brought me into a room with a security guard posted up right near me. My mom told me they were going to move me to come after I eat. Then they moved me to omh. I checked in and now this is where things get crazy. However, the memories are still very blurry 

​

I was given a mask, and I swear it felt like I had my memory wiped about 5 minutes after putting it on. I enjoyed it quite a lot. I was under the impression that I would die (I was very surprised I woke up). I went into the mental hospital and I went through the check-in process for entering into inpatient(explain in detail the process of checking in). It was pretty demeaning to say the least. I thought I would make contact with the resistance or whoever gave me the subliminal messages to go to the mental hospital. But that did not happen. I thought to myself, Why would the security guard drug me if I am in a safe place? I immediately knew I was in grave danger and that I had to be on guard at all times. I was shown my room and I introduced myself to my roommate bob. (I would later come to find out that bob was a former marine). My head was really really messed up from the medication that they had given me. I chilled in my room for a while and finally went out to walk up and down the hallways to attempt to identify any possible way out. I needed that information later to break out if needed. I identified a weak link in the armor. It consisted of one door that would get me access to one side and a fence that once jumped would lead me to the running part. I started walking up and down the halls and I noticed a woman that was also doing the same thing. I couldn't help but overhear what she was saying. And to my surprise, she referenced the situation that I had found myself in. She sat down and I sat down next to her. She leaned in and told me that they were going to kill me and skin 

me alive. And she just started maniacally laughing. I knew I was in a facility run by the organization after me. I sat there and then it came to me. Don't feed into it gather as much intel as possible and plot your next chess move carefully. So I fucking laughed with her and we began to laugh together. I made small talk and then I went into the cafeteria to grab some water(which I usually drank a ton of). I grabbed a glass and I shit you not it was like it had corn syrup in it. It was water but THICK. I had no choice so I drank the liquid. It was my only source of water and at this point in my information gathering, I dared not bring up any intel that I was finding out about.
​

I saw a couple of people in the cafeteria and decided to make small talk. I met a female named Angel and another female named Haley. They seemed nice enough but I couldn't get it out of my head that something just seemed very very off about this place and the people that I was meeting. They told me about the groups they offer as therapy and told me I should make an appearance. I tried my best to remember but I could not for the life of me and ended up missing it and just roaming the halls. Nighttime was fast approaching so I ducked into a place that they had labeled the quiet room and I was lucky enough to meet a man named Scooba Steve. He introduced himself and made it a point to tell 

me that he was a man of god. I noted this and we continued to make some small talk which consisted of religion. I asked him to say some prayers for me that night and I left him there to read his bible. I later found out he was very devoted to and any bit of free time he had was devoted to reading the bible. They called for nighttime meds so I went to the counter to get mine. They gave me a sleeping pill and an antipsychotic and then to my surprise they gave me a nicotine lozenge. I was extremely happy about this due to fiending for some good ol' nicotine. I planned on staying up all night which I did. I needed to see exactly how many staff they had and if they were involved in this or if they were legit(spoiler alert, they were not).
​

In the hallways there were nooks where you could sit down and admire the artwork. I posted up in one of those nooks near my room and just kept an eye on everyone that night. Nothing happened, but i did notice that the security guard makes one pass a night. If I needed to get out I could easily use him as a plan b so I noted that in my playbook and in my spare time fashioned me a toothbrush shank. 

At this point, I am 100% convinced that the big bad is, indeed, the Borg, and they’re trying to bring back Locutus. Here are my reasons.

• When Vadik was speaking with hovering face dude, he mentioned, “…your resistance will also be meaningless.” Not exactly “futile” but pretty close.
  
• He mentioned that her species is not so special. I think that’s a veiled allusion to the Borg being able to assimilate changelings now.
  
• When the Borg assimilate someone, the nanites alter DNA and presumably stay in the body - even if powered down. Perhaps Locutus’s nanites were able to stay powered up and…
  
• I think Locutus’s nanites created Jack in a way when Picard slept with Crusher. They ensured pregnancy and transferred themselves to Jack.
  
• These nanites can pick up on transmissions, perhaps from Vadik or the Borg, and that’s part of what Jack is hearing. The nanites perhaps also have predictive abilities which give Jack his one-step-ahead fighting ability.
  
• The nanites can also be transferred by touch. We saw this in Picard Season 2. Perhaps they were passed on in some small way to Laforge’s daughter and that’s how Jack was able to “tell” her telepathically how to move and fight the changeling.
  
• DataLore mentioned Soong realized irumadic syndrom wasn’t what Picard actually had, and he indicated the changelings stole Picard’s body for extraction. Extraction of what? Locutus.
  
• Frontier Days was conceived of by the Borg, and implemented with embedded changelings in Starfleet, to bring the entire fleet together in one place.
  

In short, the Borg are seeking to exctract the part of Locutus that remains in Picard’s body and assimilate Jack all the way so that he can become the new Locutus (since Picard’s original body is useless at this point). And, with the entire fleet in one place, the Borg can surprise attack and eliminate all resistance from Starfleet all at once eliminating their ability to resist. In so doing, Locutus will fulfill again the title of the only Borg so deadly they actually gave him a name.
Thoughts?

This happened two days ago. Just to put things in context, I’m a 22yo struggling student. That means, I study while working a part time job and I don’t have much money right now. My parents try to help me a bit, but I don’t want it because they are far from rich themselves.
Anyway, I have this friend that I know for a long time, we were in high school together and after we went our separate ways, because we made different studies. We were able to stay close and still hang around each other.
My friend took a year off her studies to pursue one of her hobby, interest, which is photography. She started taking pictures for weddings , a lot events, things as such. Her career started to take off and I was very happy for her, supportive as well. She told me that, it was what she really wanted to do in life. It seemed to me, that this was working so well, that she was able to buy a few expensive things. Things, like a bag from a luxurious brand, expensive shoes as well. She recently went on a few vacations and was eating in fancy restaurants from time to time. She told me she was making quite a lot of money with her activities as a photographer and that she had saved to buy things she couldn’t afford before. I was pretty impressed and not suspicious at all.
Some people we both knew, started to make jokes about it, saying things like: who’s dick did she suck to be able to buy all these things ?They were probably joking ( not sure), but since she was my friend, I defended her and told them that it was mean and all, that this want her type. I was just happy that her passion made her get some good money. She wasn’t from a rich family either. Probably, I didn’t want to see anything and was too naive, because she was my long time and I would never have thought she would do that.
Everything changed, two days ago, when she contacted me and was like, don’t you want to eat outside tonight. I had just came home from uni. I told her that want sure, since I don’t really go out, unless it’s the weekend and she know damn well I don’t really have the money to do much. She wanted to go to this fancy and expensive restaurant. We live next to a big, cosmopolitan city. I told her: you know that I dont have the money for that. I said: why can’t we just go to this pretty cheap pizzeria I like to go sometimes ? She agreed. We met up there and she told me straight up, that she needed to talk to me about something. She proceeded to ask me if I wasn’t tired to be a broke student and if I didn’t want to make a lot of money. I told her, sure, but for now, I can’t get any good money since I’m just working this shitty job.
That’s when she admitted that she had met someone, when she was doing some photos at a pretty important event. It was some older man with a good situation, who told her he could help her with her career, because he had relations and contacts. Then, he started to introduce her to some of his supposedly rich friends (all older and most of them foreigners).
I was like wtf, what are you doing with them, fucking with them ? She admitted that she was having sex indeed, but she was seeing them more as friends, opportunities, than clients.
So she’s fucking older men for money but she didn’t call that prostitution at any time. ( she admitted she only saw them for sex), but there were only friends who just wanted to help. Then, she asked me to meet one of them, because she knew I would his type. She was like, he could help you and you could quit your shitty job ( and that it would be a few nights a months only).I was in shocked, and asked her: do I look like a prostitute to you ?
I couldn’t believe it. It was like I didn’t know or recognise her. I was in disbelief and went home. I wanted to tell my mom but eventually didn’t. I was scared that she would think I had anything to do with that ( even know I know it’s not my type to do that).
We didn’t talk since ( with the friend). I just don’t know what to do about her. I know it’s her choice and all, but I still can’t believe it.
Sorry if I was too long.

Hair loss is a common problem in the sense that it affects both men and women. It can be caused by a variety of factors such as genetics, stress, hormonal imbalances, and ageing. Hair loss shampoos are a popular solution to this problem. Here we would talk about some of the benefits of using such shampoo.
Promotes hair growth
These shampoos are formulated with ingredients that promote hair growth. These ingredients, such as biotin, niacin, and caffeine, help stimulate hair follicles and promote the growth of new hair. Using a hair loss shampoo regularly can help to thicken and strengthen hair.
Reduces hair loss
Hair loss shampoos are designed to reduce hair loss by strengthening the hair and reducing breakage. They contain ingredients such as keratin, amino acids, and vitamins that help to strengthen the hair shaft and prevent it from breaking. This can result in less hair loss and a fuller, thicker head of hair.
Improves scalp health
A good hair loss shampoo Singapore contains ingredients that improve scalp health. These ingredients, such as tea tree oil, menthol, and peppermint, help soothe the scalp and reduce inflammation. A healthy scalp is important for hair growth as it provides the necessary nutrients and oxygen to hair follicles.
Cleanses hair and scalp
Hair loss shampoos are formulated to cleanse the hair and scalp without stripping it of its natural oils. They contain gentle cleansers that remove dirt and oil from the hair and scalp thus leaving it clean and fresh. This can improve the overall health of the hair and scalp, and promote hair growth.
Affordable solutions
You can be sure that even the best shampoo for hair fall from a leading brand in this domain such as andSons SG would be a more affordable solution to hair loss than treatments such as hair transplants or medications. They are widely available and can be purchased at a fraction of the cost of other treatments. Using these shampoos regularly can be an effective and affordable way to promote hair growth and reduce hair loss.
In the end, it can be said that hair loss shampoos offer many benefits for those who are experiencing hair loss. They promote hair growth, reduce hair loss, improve scalp health, cleanse the hair and scalp, and are an affordable solution. While choosing a hair loss shampoo it is important to look for one that contains ingredients that promote hair growth and improve scalp health.

I have finished the heresy books, think I'm up to speed with siege of terra, and have read a fair amount of bolter porn, old and new.
I'm quite keen to get up to speed with the 8th Ed onwards lore, and I've only read one book that basically followed some administratum drone carrying a message to guilliman.
I want to read the cool bits where big G comes back, kicks off the indomitus crusade etc. What is my time line of books from then until now?

Get the course here: https://www.genkicourses.com/product/epc-institute-email-marketing-specialist-incl-bonus/
[Get] EPC Institute – Matt Bacak – Email Marketing Specialist (incl. Bonus)
📷
Matt’s passion is helping people like you make more money from email because Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools in your digital marketing repertoire.
Email Marketing is a dynamic and intelligent Marketing strategy to sell your product or service. Email marketing has the ability to reach thousands, even millions of people. Matt Bacak, a pioneer in the email marketing world, has condensed his 20+ years of expertise into a specialist level course. The course will walk you through his, S+C+E formula, for earning big profits using Email Marketing.

Hey all,
I'm looking for a new game/series to get into, and got curious about the Xenoblade series. I actually don't know anything about these games, so I'm wondering if this is something I'll like.
I've been a big JRPG fan for a long time, and really enjoy games like Persona, the Tales series, Final Fantasy, and recently completed Octopath Traveler after putting it off for many years.
How is the gameplay/story/characters/world building in the Xenoblade games?
For me, the world and story is generally the most important, and I don't really care about whether a game is linear or open world (I actually prefer semi-linear games since open world games distract me from the story too much, which is probably why I actually really liked Final Fantasy XIII). Any opinions, advice or information is welcome!
(also, if this is the wrong place, apologies!)

I've posted this before in an ASOIAF-themed discord but never got around to it here. I apologize for the length, but there are a lot of instances throughout the series I want to highlight to help support my case.
If you've seen any of my previous posts or comments (hard to say because I comment/post irregularly nowadays), I believe the motivation behind both the White Walkers and Rhllor is to make respective agreements with powerful humans (Kings or equivalent) in exchange for sacrifices to help them breed.
One big question is: what is "Rhllor" or The Great Other, or The Others in general? I believe Martin has been telling us in plain sight this whole time. They are factions of shadow-like beings. There are numerous examples in the text that point to and foreshadow this.
“ICE” SHADOWS
White Walkers are described as white shadows.

Will saw movement from the corner of his eye. Pale shapes gliding through the wood. He turned his head, glimpsed a white shadow in the darkness. - AGOT, PrologueA shadow emerged from the dark of the wood. It stood in front of Royce. Tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk. Its armor seemed to change color as it moved; - AGOT, Prologue
"We have white shadows in the woods and unquiet dead stalking our halls, and a boy sits the Iron Throne," he said in disgust. - Jeor Mormont, AGOT JON VIII
"What gods?" Jon was remembering that they'd seen no boys in Craster's Keep, nor men either, save Craster himself. "The cold gods," she said. "The ones in the night. The white shadows." - Gilly to Jon, ACOK Jon III
The horn blew thrice long, three long blasts means Others. The white walkers of the wood, the cold shadows, the monsters of the tales that made him squeak and tremble as a boy. - Samwell I, ASOS
"Come with me," said Sam. "Maester Aemon's woken up and wants to hear about these dragons. He's talking about bleeding stars and white shadows and dreams and . . . if we could find out more about these dragons, it might help give him ease. Help me." Sam to Daeron, AFFC Samwell III

“FIRE” SHADOWS
Asshai is literally called Asshai-By-The-Shadow, and Illyrio says dragon eggs originate there.

"Dragon's eggs, from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai," said Magister Illyrio. - AGOT, Daenerys.

Mirri Max Durr says her teacher was a bloodmage from the shadow. She uses shadows to “heal Drogo” aka pretty much steal his soul and birth dragons.

Mirri Maz Duur's voice rose to a high, ululating wail that sent a shiver down Dany's back. Some of the Dothraki began to mutter and back away. The tent was aglow with the light of braziers within. Through the blood-spattered sandsilk, she glimpsed shadows moving. - AGOT, Daenerys VIII
…The breath went out of her; it was all she could do to gasp. The sound of Mirri Maz Duur's voice was like a funeral dirge. Inside the tent, the shadows whirled. - AGOT, Daenerys VIII
…She glimpsed the shadow of a great wolf, and another like a man wreathed in flames. - AGOT, Daenerys VIII
"Only shadows," Ser Jorah husked, but Dany could hear the doubt in his voice. "I saw, maegi. I saw you, alone, dancing with the shadows." - AGOT, Daenerys IX

Rhllor in the ACOK Prologue is referred to twice as “The God of Flame and Shadow”

"I will speak her name," Cressen told his stone hellhound. "Melisandre. Her." Melisandre of Asshai, sorceress, shadowbinder, and priestess to R'hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow. - ACOK, Prologue
"He has an ally," Lady Selyse said. "R'hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow." - ACOK, Prologue

Mel Kills Renly using a shadow. Catelyn witnesses it.

She thought she glimpsed movement, but when she turned her head, it was only the king's shadow shifting against the silken walls. She heard Renly begin a jest, his shadow moving, lifting its sword, black on green, candles guttering, shivering, something was queer, wrong, and then she saw Renly's sword still in its scabbard, sheathed still, but the shadowsword . . . "Cold," said Renly in a small puzzled voice, a heartbeat before the steel of his gorget parted like cheesecloth beneath the shadow of a blade that was not there.” - ACOK, Catelyn IV
The shadow. Something dark and evil had happened here, she knew, something that she could not begin to understand. Renly never cast that shadow. Death came in that door and blew the life out of him as swift as the wind snuffed out his candles. - ACOK, Catelyn IV
"I do not know. Sorcery, some dark magic, there was a shadow, a shadow." Her own voice sounded wild and crazed to her, but the words poured out in a rush as the blades continued to clash behind her. "A shadow with a sword, I swear it, I saw….” ACOK, Catelyn IV

Quaithe is considered a “shadowbinder” (as is Mel) and called a spawn of shadows by the Dothraki. What is a “shadowbinder” if not someone who binds themselves to shadows and has relations with them?

The woman stepped closer and lay two fingers on Dany's wrist. "You are the Mother of Dragons, are you not?"
"She is, and no spawn of shadows may touch her." Jhogo brushed Quaithe's fingers away with the handle of his whip. - ACOK, Daenerys III

Mel talks about the spells on Storm’s End keeping shadows out… sounds a lot like a huge, massive Wall up north that has spells to keep white shadows out.

"There was no need," she said. "He was unprotected. But here . . . this Storm's End is an old place. There are spells woven into the stones. Dark walls that no shadow can pass—ancient, forgotten, yet still in place."
"Shadow?" Davos felt his flesh prickling. "A shadow is a thing of darkness."
"You are more ignorant than a child, ser knight. There are no shadows in the dark. Shadows are the servants of light, the children of fire. The brightest flame casts the darkest shadows." ACOK, Davos II
"Is the brave Ser Onions so frightened of a passing shadow? Take heart, then. Shadows only live when given birth by light, and the king's fires burn so low I dare not draw off any more to make another son. It might well kill him." Melisandre moved closer. ASOS, Davos III

GENERAL SHADOW STATEMENTS
Patchface has prophetic visions. This one, if this theory is correct, is extremely prophetic and could hang over the whole series.

"Clever bird, clever man, clever clever fool," said Patchface, jangling. "Oh, clever clever clever fool." He began to sing. "The shadows come to dance, my lord, dance my lord, dance my lord," he sang, hopping from one foot to the other and back again. "The shadows come to stay, my lord, stay my lord, stay my lord." He jerked his head with each word, the bells in his antlers sending up a clangor. - ACOK, Prologue

An ominous line by Varys

"So power is a mummer's trick?" "A shadow on the wall," Varys murmured, "yet shadows can kill. And ofttimes a very small man can cast a very large shadow." - ACOK, Tyrion II

People discount Mel’s purpose, but what if she’s right? Her means might be misguided, but this may be the real war of the whole series.

"The war," she affirmed. "There are two, Onion Knight. Not seven, not one, not a hundred or a thousand. Two! Do you think I crossed half the world to put yet another vain king on yet another empty throne? The war has been waged since time began, and before it is done, all men must choose where they will stand. On one side is R'hllor, the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Flame and Shadow. Against him stands the Great Other whose name may not be spoken, the Lord of Darkness, the Soul of Ice, the God of Night and Terror. Ours is not a choice between Baratheon and Lannister, between Greyjoy and Stark. It is death we choose, or life. Darkness, or light."

AFFC Prologue

"Dragons and darker things," said Leo. "The grey sheep have closed their eyes, but the mastiff sees the truth. Old powers waken. Shadows stir. An age of wonder and terror will soon be upon us, an age for gods and heroes." He stretched, smiling his lazy smile. "That's worth a round, I'd say." - Lazy Leo, AFFC Prologue

Mel’s ADWD POV

"The Lord of Light in his wisdom made us male and female, two parts of a greater whole. In our joining there is power. Power to make life. Power to make light. Power to cast shadows." - Mel to Jon, ADWD Jon VI
My spells should suffice. She was stronger at the Wall, stronger even than in Asshai. Her every word and gesture was more potent, and she could do things that she had never done before. Such shadows as I bring forth here will be terrible, and no creature of the dark will stand before them. With such sorceries at her command… - Mel I, ADWD

TL:DR: The overarching conflict of the entire series is between two literal shadow factions, one residing in the deep north (White Walkers) and in the deep south (Rhllor). These two races of beings are pulling the strings like puppet masters and try to bend our trusty characters to their will using dreams, sorceries, and power.

I’ve seen an overwhelming popularity of captaining Rashford this week, even though he’s been flagged and only taking part in light training. If goals are to come from United for the double is it not also welcome to consider Fernandes for the captaincy?
This gameweek is one of the tightest we’ve had for captaincy in a long time, some really big swings are on the way. I’d like to know what your opinions are.

6'2, 23(M) here. Ive suffered from depression ever since my senior year of high school and never had a relationship in grade school cause of it. In college when i started dating casually i quickly noticed none of my exs would 100 percent get over me. Due to my depression and low self esteem i would be emotionally unavailable, do hard drugs, and drink alot. Would be insecure and get into arguments over things like ignoring my calls. A total man child i was. They would get angry at me and leave for a week maybe but would be saying they miss me on the weekend with almost no specific explanation. Obvious it was for sex. I know it sounds crass but without my big D i dont think half the women wouldve stayed.