Deerfield beach cam today

Please take a moment today to honour the Canadian heroes that were a part of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.
https://www.dday-overlord.com/en/d-day/beaches/juno-beach

So before installing I hooked it up to power and attached a CAT6 cable to an unmanaged switch off my router.
Went to my Amcrest NVR4016E and manually added the cameras IP, username and password.
I set it up onvif Rtsp etc trying to see if I could see anything with the NVR. No joy. Any suggestions?

Just got a 2016 today and I love the little thing! It'll make for a great errand runner while also looking and feeling fun on the weekends at the beach! I needed a new car too as my old grand prix died in a wreck last week. Will miss it a little because I had it for over 5 years, but kind of glad because now I have this beauty! (Even if interest rates are horrible right now).
I'm planning to get it detailed, looked at by a mechanic, and sound dampen over time. First two are secured, but I'm not sure where to start with sound dampening. I figure the doors, floor, and spare tire area could also use it. Also, is it easy and cheaper to do it yourself?
I know it's not a crazy fast car but I still like the look and feel of it while being practical and sporty.

I am literally using a vpn right now so I won’t be tracked
So I sext online on a chat website once a blue moon when I am bored and lonely.
I have been listening to subliminals from past 1 month. Last 2 days I added H module just to experiment and see what will happen.
So today while I was chatting to some random guy. He initially asked me for a sneak pic of my picture in our native language.
Then later when I told to ask him English he started being weird and called me ms tsunami.
He goes a bit philosophical later and then when I ask him if he knows me or something.
He literally says “Things i do only 4r u Be it a friend, a guide, a philoshpher, or ur well wisher”
And then later he also says “Have fun Gudnte friend Dnt get into the wrong lane. bcause if u do i will be there to smack u…”
As if he was concerned over my sexting and I am assuming he is talking here about going further like a cam live or something.
But this isn’t the creepy part. When I ask him if I happen to know him he says “chill have fun sipping mocktail and having pesto”
The thing is, I had mocktail and pesto during my birthday and it was posted on my Instagram and WhatsApp status.
This was a very specific reference to say to someone. He could have just writes beer or anything but he didn’t.
I later figured the site takes the IP address which initially we are asked to tick in for being logged in and then your login is literally becomes the site link.
So I was being tracked via my IP address.
I am so fucking creeped out tbh. I wonder if it is my boss, as my company also tracks me and my location or it is my cousin who is a good hacker. I checked my cousin’s WhatsApp and he was last online on 12:44am
My boss though, I know he stalks me on my other social media.
Now for what I was listening - A yandere person within my company who would support me.
I am still freaked out over this and never believed subliminal would work so well.

The video originally aired on Saturday, 3 June. Unfortunately, there is not a live stream summary for this video so we are providing the transcript for those who want to know what she said, though for reasons, did not watch the video.
Note: this is from the YouTube transcript which is available to the public. Some parts of the transcript may not be accurate since it's auto-generated.
The transcript DOES NOT have timestamps but with paragraph breaks to keep the random thoughts somewhat separated, and a couple of annotations.

[Music] hey guys, hey guys-hey! what's up! I hope you're doing well so my finger is still not healing. I put Betadine on it but it's annoying -okay - I took the, uh, because I took the bandage off and started doing dishes and things... yeah, I know I should keep the bandage on longer, so, I mean it is healing but ..I..I kind of reopened it when I was doing dishes is what I should say... anyways
so, I have Wendy's here in the Middle East. I have never tried, as you guys know, I haven't done a Wendy's video or mukbang yet
so I just got a few items that I know we don't have in Canada and I thought I would try them out. So first things first- we do have Pepsi in Canada but the cans are, like, long... eh... they look like um energy drinks and we have a rice and chicken bowl.
so this is their spicy chicken, but with rice and it comes with like a Gravy Sauce. Which I can get done with gravy. So let me just do this here, I'm gonna set up and more importantly...I have Tums for post mukbang just in case. No, just in case... I never, I never, usually need them but I found them.
mmm it's like a KFC type of gravy or something
okay let me pour it on top and see what happens gravy [singing] gravy[singing] a cup of gravy...I'm in the right country [Music]
ah see if I need you
okay, and we have a nut --- chocolate and nut Frosty - so this is a different kind of flavor of Frosty here yum and last but certainly not least, .... we have a...mushroom....cheddar burger...yeah, there's like cheese sauce and,mushroom
and
I did get an extra cheese sauce as well
So- because I love cheese sauce, well Kelly, oh Chloe.... all right... let's try this Frosty. I'm craving something sweet right now. I had a halloumi. I made really good halloumi sandwiches for breakfast oh my...gosh.... oh thumbnail
all right, a lot of packaging is matching with my sofa today
okay, so...um, there's like chocolate sauce on the sides and nuts in this Frosty
Beauty bite
hmm
that's good
I was tired of french fries today
all right, so!
oh my gosh - there's like Nutella on the sides or something..what the heck...um, yeah... I think it's a Nutella. I think I misread that [Note: Chantal may not be aware that Nutella is Hazelnut-chocolate spread = nut chocolate]
um
so, today I thought I would talk about...something that literally everyone is talking about - and before I talk about it - I want to put a disclaimer no disrespect intended whatsoever with the topic. I'm just gonna be eating my meal and talking about it. You may have heard about it - it's all over the news -all over tick tock - foreign -it's The Disappearance of Cameron Robbins... this like teen from Louisiana who went to the Bahamas for like a high school graduation trip and they were all partying...on this boat because the the age of majority like the age you can drink there is like 18. and the United States is 21 right?
I used to think 21 was strict but now I understand because to me...going on a party boat and getting...hammered..is... just doesn't seem like a good idea... for like 18 year olds. I don't know. you're just a little more mature anyway. Maybe not much, but at 21 you're a little...more mature.
[Note: Chantal confuses legal drinking age of 21 in the US forage of majority]
um
so, this kid - he's - he's pretty athletic kid... from what people describe. um - I don't know... there's mixed stories...but if he was dared or if he just...decided to do it but...I heard he was dared...um by other classmates to jump off of the boat. It was like the boat was called, like, Blackbeard's Revenge - it was like a little pirate themed boat party boat. So the sides were not too, too high - it's not like a huge cruise ship...whatever happened the motivation for...that...probably just drunk kids doing stupid things as usual.
I was stupid too. I did... I don't know if I did that stupid but...you know I've done stupid things. [Note: Chantal has never gone overboard into the ocean and presumed dead by a Shark and she seems unclear of her stupid being the same as to this tragedy]
so, someone on the boat shot of footage a...small....grainy dark it was dark in the middle of the night, right? video...it shows him in the water in just like.... shorts...
and...
at the beginning of the video....he's swimming in One Direction..and you see a boat, like, a not a boy, but a lifesaver...round orange lifesaver in the water. In that direction that he's going like...let's say left- it was left -but then like when you slow down the video you can kind of see what looks, like, a huge giant like people think it's...a shark or something - it's like a white - blob or whatever...
and then you see - um - Robin's turn the other way and start swimming, like, kicking his feet more but he's swimming...in the opposite direction he goes right....and then you cut you don't see him anymore he just kind of disappears - it's...like, really eerie
so...people are speculating a lot of things...but the, the most popular Theory is that he was attacked by a shark. other people think maybe he was taken under by the undertow...caused by the boat and the. um, the current. Me, in my opinion, it could have been one of the one of the two.
um, they searched for him for like a couple of days and then they, just like, declared him lost at sea because....I mean the likelihood of him being found alive is very, very, slim unfortunately...and it's very tragic and I'm sorry for the family.
I just have, like I have human...like, basic level sympathy at this point...because...like, that is pretty much suicide. Like I won't expect any kind of, you know, sympathy if I do something that...stupid [Note: this is not how expressing sympathy works, sympathy is apparently something she's trying to learn though hard to teach an emotion or feeling]
um I don't wish ill on anyone of course and....I feel bad for the family. very young... but people do really dumb things and for internet attention. I know what you're thinking - yes if I Keel over from eating this I don't expect sympathy, okay -I don't think that he expected to happen... what happened, but, I mean he was probably drinking...um, who knows but if you look at like when I was researching, the, the.... I became interested. So I was watching more videos about it what people's opinions were on YouTube and other video recommendations would come up about other teens. [Note: Her research was watching random YouTubers]
um who were like other people, young adult - team - whatever they were attacked - there was an instance where another woman was attacked by sharks and didn't survive... so she was attacked by sharks as well in the Bahamas there are just many instances of where people were attacked in the Bahamas like by sharks - so apparently the the Caribbean Waters, especially around the area are very shark infested because all admit at first I was like, I don't think it's a shark but after watching those videos of so many shark attacks in the Bahamas I'm more inclined to think maybe you - know and the fact is if he drow - was drowning - the the Lifesaver was right there out of his reach but beside the white blob that looked like a shark he...was if it was, you know, him being taken away by a current he wouldn't be turning around and swimming the other way - it looked like he was frightened by something you know? {Note: Chantal learns sharks live in warm water, like water in Cuba]
He would reach out for the lifesaver... but then again if it was a shark attack we would more than likely see more thrashing, right? that's my thought I don't know... unless he was just pulled down by a huge...shark... that's creepy. Like, one minute he's there - one second he's there - one second this next second he's not - completely vanished.
I'm gonna try this soybean who really knows [Music]
um that's actually really nice very good but I mean spicy it's just weird
it would be really cool - you know, I of course, I like... I said.. I don't like jail, on... on anyone even if they do do really stupid things. it's too bad but I think as prideful humans we think that we're on top of the food chain all the time...and the reality is we're not.
Maybe like, people should be warned more, you know, before drinking around shark infested waters and the dangers of the Sharks. I hope it brings more attention to it but...I heard that the parents are already, like, finding someone just to...um, like, the families looking for someone. I, I, think out of grief you look for someone to blame for a very nonsensical death. Like, a death that was just completely ridiculous and could be easily avoided and in their grief, of course, they don't want to blame their son - right? - but I mean in a way he's....I would say 97 to blame in this situation, you know, becauseI mean he pretty much jumped overboard...it's not like he fell
um so I don't know
it's just I mean, I guess... maybe they could have like a warning. Like I said, on the boat like do not jump in the water...maybe they already do, who knows? maybe they could get the boat company on that. Like, there wasn't a sign warning people not to jump in the water some people don't have common sense. Especially for your -your judgment- is going to be largely impaired -if you are hammered...if you if you're highly intoxicated - you know?
um have you guys heard of this story if you want to know more about it you can just Google or research in the YouTube search engine, like Cameron Robbins, and there's a whole bunch of videos.
wow so I'm not too sure... to me it was either one drowning or shark- I mean what else can it be? who knows. it's tragic. There's also, like, apparently - they did more searching for Madeleine McCann... okay - who went missing in Portugal years ago - like years and years ago ...um...I didn't recently research the case so I don't remember what year...maybe was it like 2004 or earlier than that? 2008 - I don't remember.
I don't know that story to me is weird I, I, I... really I don't don't mean to like blame anybody when I say this, but there's, like, a weird - I get like a weird JonBenet Ramsay Vibe with that case. I don't know why - but apparently they like did some more...digging... um... and they sent away some evidence they found -maybe, or some things that they found - so we'll we'll see when that happens. it'd be nice to know what happened to her... who was responsible for her disappearance -so that's it I mean that's the case. um it's just one of those things - I guess you don't realize how dangerous those waters are especially at night, you know? he probably just thought it was like a giant swimming pool or like going swimming at the beach or in the ocean, you know?
which is like a mistake anyone could make especially if you're you're drinking so, okay...the waters can be really dangerous...foreign freaks me out - I won't be buying a burkini anytime soon.
I think, like - I don't know -I like to scare myself it's weird. Like, before going on a plane I'll watch -not just before going on a plane but, like one of my favorite... I love, like, those Mayday videos and, like, plane crash videos. I don't know how...but it somehow helps me with my phobia or maybe I don't have a phobia of flying...that's why I'm not scared - I don't know.
what is that? seasonings? I can honestly say I've never had gravy on rice...it's good - anyways guys, I just wanted to show you some different Wendy's items here. they had some other kinds of burgers like a tortilla lime crunch chicken burger. they have a double stack it looks like a chicken Big Mac. Wendy's has one of the best in my...opinion...spicy chicken burgers sandwiches. [Note: she only showed how the nutty chocolate shake tasted like Nutella and a burger, she didn't really show anything]
Did you say burger or a sandwich when it comes to chicken? I think I say Burger - chicken burger - I don't know - whatever, please.
uh, thanks for watching and uh, listening to me and I'll see in the next video... bye, guys

The first V6 offered in our beloved Rangers is none other than the forgotten Cologne 2.8 V6. The idea for a 60º V6 originated from the 60º V4 in Europe. Introduced in 1974, it produced 115 horsepower and 150 torque - not much compared to the V6 engines of today. It only lived for two years in the Ranger (83-85), but was offered in a wide range of vehicles. There were even turbocharged models produced! Sadly it did not break the 200 horsepower mark stock (to my knowledge) and there was some controversy about the numbers that Ford was reporting. I am unable to find which years/model 2.8 engines will interchange, however I imagine the one offered in the Bronco II will. As for performance, not a ton of aftermarket stuff is still produced. At one point fuel injection and turbo kits were available.
I was able to scare up some engine specs on The Ranger Station:
Specs

Engine Family	‘Cologne’
Displacement	171cid
Cylinders	6
Arrangement of Cylinders	‘V’ Shape
Bore x Stroke	3.66 x 2.70
Compression Ratio	8.7:1
Fuel System	Carburetor
Horsepower	115 @ 4600rpm
Torque	150 @ 2600rpm
Oil Pressure	40-60psi @ 2000rpm

Tune Up

Spark Plug	AWSF-42C
Spark Plug Gap	0.044
Ignition Timing	10 degrees BTDC
Firing Order	1-4-2-5-3-6
Distributor Rotation	Clockwise
Valve Clearance Intake	0.014
Valve Clearance Exhaust	0.016

Capacities

Oil Capacity With Filter	5qts
Cooling System Capacity (Quarts)	W/AC- 7.2 / W/O AC 7.8

Torque Specifications

Seat Angle Degree	45
Face Angle Degree	44
Spring Test Pressure	143lbs @ 1.22in
Spring Installed Height	1.58-1.61in
Stem-to-Clearance Intake	0.0008-0.0025in
Stem-to-Clearance Exhaust	0.0018-0.0035in
Stem Diameter Intake	0.3159-0.3167in
Stem Diameter Exhaust	0.3149-0.3156in

Crankshaft Specs

Main Bearing Journal Diameter	2.2433-2.2441in
Main Bearing Oil Clearance	0.0008-0.0015in
Shaft End-play	0.004-0.008in
Thrust on No.	3

Connecting Rod

Journal Diameter	2.1252-2.1260in
Oil Clearance	0.0006-0.0016in
Side Clearance	0.004-0.011in
Length	5.1386-5.1413in

Piston and Ring Specs

Piston to Bore Clearance	0.0011-0.0019in
Ring Side Clearance Top Compression	0.0020-0.0033in
Ring Side Clearance Bottom Compression	0.0020-0.0033in
Ring Side Clearance Oil Control	Snug
Ring Gap Top Compression	0.015-0.023in
Ring Gap Bottom Compression	0.015-0.023in
Ring Gap Oil Control	0.015-0.023in

Motorcraft 2150A Carburetor Specifications

Choke Pulldown Setting	.136
Fast Idle Cam Setting 1984	V-notch
Fast Idle Cam Setting 1985	Hi-Cam
Dechoke Setting	.250
Float Setting (Wet)	.810
Float Setting (Dry)	7/16″ (1984) 1/16″ (1985)
Accelerator Pump Lever Location	#4
Choke Cap Setting	V-notch (1984) 3NR (1985)
Fast Idle	3000rpm

Firing Order 1-4-2-5-3-6 / Distributor Rotation – Clockwise
Feel free to add any info you deem as necessary in the comments!
Source: The Ranger Station

I’m on a scram cam alcohol monitor, meaning if I do pickup a drink I’m pretty much screwed. But my thoughts today were, “damn if I didn’t have this on I would have definitely done the deed. I would have lost today. I called my sponsor and told him about it. He was so happy I didn’t hide this and gave me so much to think about, along with instructions: read the daily reflections, pray, and go to a meeting.
I recently got Monday’s off to be able to get a home group and get a commitment which I start in about an hour. I’m super excited about this. I need something greater than fear to stay clean.
If you’re new, get a sponsor, a commitment and a home group, the fellowship is strong and these people are just as fucked up as you. You owe it to yourself.

I’m an idiot and missed several spots while spraying my legs at the beach today and now there are giant, bright red, burning spots on them. I know someone who got melanoma and was told it was due to sun they were exposed to when they were younger. I feel so foolish. My legs are extremely pale as I usually get zero sun.

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.

I'd like to find somebody thoughtful, someone who isn't superficial. Somebody who appreciates the rich vastness of our shared multicultural past, and freely follows her curiosity in exploring it. Somebody who is trying her best to adhere to the guidance of her inner moral compass, and isn't so easily fooled by the distractions and illusions of the world.
One such illusion, that must immediately be mentioned (this is important, because it's led to a break for me, in the past): religion. Religion is man-made, and not of any higher authority. The Bible and the Quran all permit slavery—in addition to countless other horrid and divisive ideas—while claiming to be eternal wisdom, and that is indefensible. I still like to believe in the idea of some permeating higher morality, that imbues us with our general sense for justice, fairness, and empathy...but, I know that without outright proof, even my holding of such a notion can be deemed a flight of fancy, a residual remnant of a system so entrenched. However, it seems to me that life is often more than just what's on the surface. Um, but now, then—back to the person I wish to know...
I'd also love it if she were artistic. Singing, sketching, painting, writing, composing, creating. Someone who is trying to nurture their talents and passions. I know it can be difficult...
As for me, well... I adore music. Mostly voices from the past (the 1960s would have to be my favorite), because I find them to be humbler and more from the heart, at least in popular music. I’ll just give an example of something I’ve looked into, and this is nowhere near representative of my wider taste, but if you go back to early 1920s country music... (Here's an aside: a lot of what people think of as "country" today is a long cry from what the genre is actually like, historically. If you are into folk music—Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan—it is indelibly linked to "country", and if you'd like a popular example of a song that originated within the genre, look no further than the universally recognized "You Are My Sunshine", from 1939!)
Anyway. If you go back to that early period, where undiscovered niches of music were still sought out and first put to tape... a lot of those artists had no idea about anything to do with recording—no ego, no attempt to sound "cool". What came through instead was a bare expression of the life that had been lived—the inner beauty of their own personhood, and I love hearing that. It's so honest. A vulnerable and piercing expression.
So if you're into history or the beautiful music of decades (and centuries) past, if you have any aspirations for creating as a method of changing the world for the better, if you'd like to play games and watch movies together, if you'd like an accountability partner—or all of the above...please message me. I don't mind the chat function, either—in fact, it's probably easier. Also, to get this out of the way: this is what I look like.
I love beautiful things. Nature, music that tugs at your heartstrings or is so honest you're enraptured, experiences that heal. More specifically, here are some of my current interests:

• music (singing/playing an instrument/the Beach Boys are my favorite group—I also love Maybelle Carter, Cass Elliot, Pink Floyd, Lana Del Rey, The Cranberries, Sixpence None The Richer, loads of video game music, The Smiths, The Beatles, The Who, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Harry Nilsson, Joni Mitchell, The Righteous Brothers, Judy Garland, Sam Cooke, Frank Churchill, Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori... Here’s a brief go at the Beatles’ “Julia”.) And, if you liked that—a more recent one…
• drawing—here are a few I've done.
• video games (any era from Atari—I like exploring the history and evolution—to the Switch and PS4) [Currently playing, or starting: The Binding of Isaac, Catherine]
• Disney, especially the Golden Age and Renaissance—Pinocchio (my favorite movie ever), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Aladdin, The Lion King, Tarzan. I love how handmade the early films look. And yet, how no expense was spared in creating these most precious and moving works of art.
• films/series/books I've enjoyed lately: The Sound of Magic, The Little Prince, Matilda, Love Hard, The Fundamentals of Caring, This Beautiful Fantastic, Donnie Darko, Alamut by Vladimir Bartol (this book was a key inspiration for the first Assassin's Creed), The Trial of the Chicago 7, Medici: The Magnificent, Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter, Judy

To close... I suppose I should say I've been afflicted with long-COVID for over two years. It'd be very nice to keep each other company, especially if we share any of the interests up above—we could watch favorite films, have shared listening sessions on Spotify, and it'd be a godsend to find somebody up to play on PS4 and Switch! Donkey Kong Country 2 and 3 on the secret hard modes, maybe? Or sculpting our own world from scratch in Minecraft? Or maybe we could act out Ocarina of Time's storyline using all the options available on Smash Ultimate!
I'd really like to know an intelligent person with a unique identity...who puts forth effort—though at the same time, no pressure on reaching out. If you are this type of person, but can currently only muster up a few words because, hey! Life is tough, and grueling, and we don't always have a ready-made letter in us to flip out of our pockets—don't be scared away by my tower of words. I absolutely know, firsthand, what it's like to want to communicate, yet not currently have the energy or the mindpower for it. Life can really sink you... I promise I will not judge. Please send me a chat message, if you're at all interested in chatting.

I (transm16) am in a very bad depression cycle and I'm trying my best to get out of it quickly. When I get as bad as I am right now that leads me back to the mental hospital and I'm really trying to stay out of it but it's so difficult. I have no friends no social life after my parents took it away, I'm at home constantly with little kids dogs and my mom and her girlfriend. I've had to help care for my mom and my baby stepbrother because my mom injured herself which caused her to get paid off from work for a little bit, my mom is a very difficult person. With her being home all day with me and nothing to do she started snapping at me and getting mad at every little thing that happens, this also hasn't been very helpful to my mental state. I'm supposed to be on meds for depression ECT but I don't have them since no one will get them for me so I'm really struggling.
My mom has gotten better and due to go back to work soon so she's been getting up and going everywhere with my siblings. Today they went to the beach and asked me to go but I wore out my social battery this week. My dad was home for half a week and took us skating and around that many people for hours wore me out so ive been in my room hallucinating and just trying to recharge myself. (I deal with bad hallucinations) So obviously I said no I'm good, my mom started arguing with me saying that I'll never get better laying around and that I need to go out and socialize ECT. I bluntly said maybe if I had my meds I would be more open to going but you nor dad nor your girlfriend has gotten me them and I can't drive so no I'm good. She just slammed the door shut finished getting ready and they went to the beach.
Now I feel like an asshole because I know it's been konda difficult being hurt for two weeks but she's had over a month to get me my meds and nothing, now I'm dealing with my mental issues alone. AITAH?

I used to take daily walks on the beach until a couple of nights ago. The entrance to it is right behind my house, under some low-hanging branches from the old trees in my backyard. My grandmother and I moved in about a year ago, when we wanted a change of scenery and to put some distance between us and our hyper-religious relatives. I liked to walk when the sun was about to set, for the view and also because the sand cooled down and felt nice on my feet. I would walk for a couple miles, sometimes listening to music but mostly just to the sound of the ocean and wildlife. My grandmother never accompanied me, she was too old to walk far and usually was asleep by the time I got home. I was okay with it, I used the time to gather my thoughts and never really liked to have conversations anyway. Colorful houses lined the beach, a few yards away from the water, but most of them were either uninhabited or was temporary shelter for squatters, so the houses were mostly uncared for. In wasn’t a very populated area, a small town in North America. The shoreline houses were mostly deserted because of the hurricanes we had been getting, with most moving farther inland or even out of state. Again, I didn’t mind much because I wasn’t a very social person. Past the rows of houses was a thin clump of tall trees, but nothing made it’s way onto the sand, not even weeds or grasses that reigned over the small low-ground plants in the forests. A few houses down, a memorial stone sat far away from the water, but still in the sand’s territory. It was too weathered to read, but the size of it indicated it was made in the honor of someone important. Despite being weathered, it stood out and was impossible to miss by anyone passing by. Every time I saw it, my stomach sank, for some unexplainable reason. It was unnatural on the line of cute little cottages, but I learned to ignore it when walking by it. The last time I took a walk, a couple nights ago, I followed my same routine. Avoiding the glare of the memorial stone, admiring the cottages and little animals, and stopping to watch the sun disappear under the ocean. After that, I walked on until the cottages dwindled in number and trees lined the sand instead. I was tired that night, which was strange because I hadn’t really done anything all day. I wanted to keep going, and persisted on even though my leg muscles burned and my breath was short. Eventually, I had enough and even though I was barely halfway through what I normally walked, I decided to turn back. Maybe I was coming down with something and if so, walking even farther wasn’t going to help my situation. Suddenly, the water started to recede quickly. I knew the warning signs of a tsunami and sprinted into the trees, tripping on roots and cutting myself up a bit, but didn’t stop for anything. Strange, I thought the group of trees was thin, but from where I was the trees grew more thick and didn’t show a breaking point into the main road. I was panicking a little, so I didn’t stop running until a thought made my stomach plummet. My grandmother was still at the house, most likely asleep and unaware of the danger. I would have continued into the direction I was going in to get to our little house, but like I said the forest only grew thicker. So I turned around and ran back towards the sand, until I stupidly tripped on another, larger root and fell right on my face. I got up, dazed, and felt my stinging face with my bare hands, finding blood on them when I pulled back. I cursed, but continued to run. I could tend to my minor injuries when my grandmother and I were at a safe distance from the ocean. I made it back out on to the sand and ran in the direction of my house, shakily throwing looks to the water to sea how much time I had, only to stop abruptly. The water was back to normal, resuming its usual motion. God, I still don’t know what made me see the water receding that quickly and that far out, but it showed no trace of ever doing that. I was confused as hell and decided at the time that I was extremely tired or sick, and walked back to my house, even slower now that the adrenaline had worn off. My joints were back to aching and my muscles were back to burning, so I had to move pretty slow. When I finally made it back to the low-hanging branches, I instinctively looked towards the memorial stone, only to find it was gone. I was surprised, that thing was huge and no one could have moved it that quickly without me noticing. There wasn’t even imprints in the sand from the stone being dragged. I hurried my way back to the house, in fear that I was hallucinating. It was all a rush from there, but I remember noticing little things, like my flower bushed were now trimmed trees, or that the front door to my house was the wrong color, or the extra step leading up to my porch that hadn’t previously been there, and this freaked my out even more. I ran up the stairs, sure that my grandmother would come into my room and scold me for being so loud, but she never came. I passed out immediately, having dreams that I can’t remember and waking up in the middle of the night in cold sweat, only for my body to go limp and fall back onto the mattress and slipping back into unconsciousness. When I finally woke up for good, it was around 6:00 am. I sighed as I read the clock, but knew I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep. I had completely forgotten about the previous night’s events, but when I touched the door handle it instantly came back to me, and my legs basically collapsed on themselves, but I recovered quickly and got back up. “What the hell?” I muttered under my breath, and stopped. I swear my heart stopped beating. My voice was somehow different, having higher pitch and a slight wisp. I spoke a few more times, small phrases that came to mind. Eventually, my voice went back to normal, and now I really was convinced I was sick with some cold. I made my way carefully down the stairs, trying not to trip or pass out again. My grandmother slept on the ground floor, because of her inability to climb stares due to an injury from years back. I was sure she would know what to do. I stopped myself before I knocked and reasoned that she wouldn’t want to get up this early for something that was probably just a cold, and to be honest, I wanted to go see if that memorial was there. I put on shoes but didn’t bother getting dressed, it would just be a quick look and then right back inside again. I ducked under the branches and walked out onto the sand, looking to my left in the direction of the stone. It was still there. Relief washed over me and I went back inside, sitting down at the table. I started feeling a lot better, and made myself a cup of coffee. I didn’t even feel sick anymore, maybe I was just really tired. The door to my grandmother’s room opened, and I was about to greet her when my mother came out, yawning with a disgruntled look on her face. “Your grandmother called last night, going on about wanting to see us again. As if what she did never happened,” She sat down at the table after making herself some coffee, and finally looked at me. “Oh my god, Sam, what happened? Your covered in cuts!” She got up and tried to touch me, but I snapped out of it and got up as well, and sprinted towards the back door, and ran out into the trees, probably cutting myself up more, but I didn’t feel a damn thing, just kept running. I heard her yelling after me as I jogged on the sand, trying to get as far away from her as possible. I ran to the end of the houses, and turned right into the trees, around where I had originally ran into. When I got there, I stopped, and walked more cautiously into the forest, dodging around branches and roots. Finally, I found the large root that I tripped over, and upon further inspection, realized it wasn’t actually a root. It was too dark at the time to notice, but what I had tripped over was actually a stone. Not natural, either, it was cut into a perfect triangle and wasn’t weathered at all, despite being in the middle of a forest. I got on my hands and knees, and started to dig around it, not really knowing what I was looking for. Maybe and hour passed, and all I did was dig. The ground was soft around it, and I made a lot of progress, and when I was finished I stepped back to admire my work. I was right. It was the same shape as the other memorial stone by my home, except this was was made very recently judging on the fact that I could actually make out symbols. Not letters, not really looking like any of the human languages. I wiped away more dirt from the surface of it, but my finger caught on something and cut it open, causing some blood to run down the side of the stone. I can’t make this up, the thing started to fucking sink into the ground, and my blood got absorbed into the stone. I backed up real quick and started running back to the sand, my head and heart pounding harder with every step. I barley made it to the sand when I fell down, no longer able to take the throbbing headache. I passed out right there, little black spots taunting me even as I slipped into unconsciousness. I woke up in my bed, at 6:00 am. My grandmother was sitting in the corner, watching me. “You came home late last night, I tried to talk to you, but you just passed out. I think your coming down with something.” She said in a worried tone, her eyebrows scrunched up. “You can probably stay home today, but that means no walk tonight. “Where’s mom?” Was the first thing that came to mind and the thing I couldn’t keep from coming out of my mouth. Her face got even more scrunched up, and said, “Back where we came from, why? Did she call you last night?” Her face didn’t change. “No, no, I guess it was a dream.” I muttered, and maybe I would have believed that. But there was no goddamn way she could have carried my up to my room, up those stares, with her bad back, and as far as I was sure, no one else was around to help her. She was good at mimicking the expressions my grandmother wore, but she couldn’t mask the dead, uncaring look behind her eyes as she watched me from her chair in the corner of my room, never leaving me.

I hunted monsters for an international anomaly research center
Part 2
I decided instead of telling you about the next monster I’d planned I will tell you all what I did last week. I’d heard about this anomaly before, but that was because it was contained. Not by our organization but by one we work closely with. They’d been keeping it well in their Puerto Rico containment facility, but it managed to escape during a power outage. They’d insisted on trying to capture it themselves for a couple of days before they finally let me come in. Normally I’d be mad that they couldn’t catch it, but the Scape Ore Swamp Lizard Man is no walk in the park.
Standing 10 feet long, 8 feet tall, and pure muscle this thing is practically a walking tank. It has an almost inch-thick hide of small black snake-like scales. It stands on two legs but can switch to four when needed. It has a large head with a long muzzle full of sharp venomous teeth. Its face is always contorted into a scowl adding to its frightful appearance. Its back is covered in large spiked scutes which start at the head to the tip of the tail. On its two large four-fingered hands are two-inch-long nasty claws.
They deployed me the same way as always, and I landed with a light thud on the jungle floor after I was unlatched from the parachute and harness. I looked out at the darkening jungle around me. My search would be far from easy. I knew that, as I needed more information about where it was. However, after getting my sniper railgun ready I began my pursuit.
My pursuit was aimless and tiring. I had no direction, and the heat was slowly burning me alive. The jungle was full of loud squawking birds. At one point I looked up and saw in the evening light a small group of bats flying overhead.
I walked slowly and steadily scanning the quickly darkening ground for something, but as I suspected there was nothing in sight. No sigh from the lizardman. I walked on and on until finally, I found something. They were large three-toed tracks that almost looked like ones a T-rex would’ve made. My heart leaped in joy and excitement and I began following the footprints. They were easy to follow as the heavy feet had sunk deep into the wet muddy ground of the jungle. They followed no path and almost walked the way I had been walking aimlessly. Until like me, it seemed to have found something to follow.
Its path led in an almost perfect straight line, having trampled almost anything that wasn’t a tree out of its way. I noticed as I followed its tracks large claw marks in the trees. There were three and they were long and deep.
I followed for a good long while still tired but my determination had increased 10 fold now that there was a path to follow. As I walked along I began to hear something off in the distance. It was so faint it was hard to discern. At first, I thought it might be some sort of birdcall, but then it clicked in my head. It screamed. I started running as fast as I could through the jungle tripping at one point but pulling myself back up.
Eventually, I found myself running into a field. What I saw in that field I’ll never forget. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never been bothered by dead humans before. In my youth when I’d go to funerals seeing the body never disturbed me. I’d be sure but the body itself never made me uncomfortable. And after I got this job I got completely desensitized, but something about dead animals. I could never handle seeing a dead animal. I don’t know exactly why. I guess it’s because it brought me back to my childhood.
My dad was born in Mexico in 1979, but he and his family moved to Puerto Rico 3 years later. My dad lived in Puerto Rico during the horrifying but short reign of the Chupacabra. When I was little he would tell me stories about it. Fields of livestock just on the ground dead wholly drained of blood. Those stories actually started me down the route of where I am today, but I don’t think I ever really comprehended what that looked like until I saw the massacre in the field I was now in.
It almost seemed as though a sheet of blood and muscle and meat had fallen over the field. It was absolutely everywhere and dispersed throughout this massacre I could see small bits of bones. Vertebrae there, or a rib over there. It almost looked like they’d all exploded from the inside at the same time, but I know that is not what happened. I saw the footprints in the ground, I saw the claw marks in the bones. I knew the only thing that could’ve done this was the horrible beast I was hunting.
I walked around through the massacre for a while in a sort of shock. Then I finally snapped out of it and looked around again. I saw a house separated only by a now broken wood fence to the field. I instantly knew where the screams had come from and what had likely happened. I ran toward the house and a story began to unfold as I got closer. The father or man of the house must’ve come outside to defend his family because I found his body ripped apart just outside the front door.
I stepped over the body and walked into the tiny house. It was absolutely destroyed. The walls were torn apart, furniture was left shattered on the ground, and there was lots of blood. I looked over and saw a partial body on the living room floor. I grimaced when I realized the poor thing had once been a big dog. Now it was nothing but torn meat and bones. One step at a time I made my way to the back of the house down a cramped hallway. In the bedrooms were the destroyed bodies of a woman and three children. The only peace I had was that these people died quickly. I noticed at the end of the hall was a shattered glass backdoor. I stepped through it, almost slipping on the shards of glass still on the floor, and walked into the backyard. It was a tiny cleared area surrounded by trees. The ground was littered with small dog toys and in the corner was a chicken coop. The roof of it had been ripped off and shattered. I peeked in through the hole and saw lots of blood-covered eggs. It looked like, unlike the other animals, the lizardman had actually stopped eating all the chickens. Maybe all of that butchering worked up an appetite. I thought.
After calling in for the investigation crew I continued on my trail. The sun had completely set and navigated the dense jungle even with my bright headlight showing the way. Not long into it rain began pouring which completely covered the tracks. In frustration, I turned around and made my way back to the farm.
Suddenly I heard something from the treetops. It sounded almost like a faint growl and before I could do anything else the large figure of the Lizardman jumped from the trees right in front of me. It immediately slashed at my chest and left arm tearing them open causing blood to start pouring through. I let out a scream of agony and fell to the ground.
With my good right arm, I reached for a gadget on my belt and pressed it. It instantly began spraying a strong wonderful smell of flowers into the air. If there’s one thing the lizardman cannot tolerate it is sweet solid smells. It roared in anger and then sprinted in the other direction. I lay there blood seeping from my wounds wondering if I was about to die. I’m not old, only 26, but for my line of work, I’m ancient; about half the guys die on their first or second mission. If you survive the first two you will probably last much longer, but even then people die within two years meanwhile I’ve been here for 5 years.
I lay there with my eyes slowly growing heavier and heavier and then they closed and I was consumed by the darkness.
I woke up in a bright white room. The light was so blinding I kept blinking but still could hardly see anything. I noticed a woman standing in the room who was like the room wearing all white.
“Am I dead?” I sputtered out in my half-dazed confusion.
The woman let out a slight chuckle: “No you’re not dead. You’re in the medical wing of our Puerto Rican location.” She explained.
As she was talking everything seemed to clear around me. It was a small hospital room and the woman was short in a doctor's coat with dark hair tied in a bun.
“Who’s we?” I asked.
“USDAC,” She said, busy with something at her table.
I knew USDAC they were the United States Department of Anomaly Containment. They were the ones the Lizardman had escaped from.
“Where’s my organization? Why didn’t they send the team out to get me?” I asked angrily.
“I’m not quite sure. They never even told us you went down. Our investigation team was looking around the jungle when they found you.” She said with a genuinely confused look on her face.
I scanned the room again and saw on a chair next to my bed all my gear laid out nicely. I reached for my walkie, grabbed it, and pulled it off of my belt.
“This is Trigger to dispatch, do you copy?” I asked through the device.
“We copy, you aren’t dead?” The receiver asked, obviously very confused.
“Not yet. Why didn’t you send the team out to get me?” I asked more confused than angry at this point.
“They said you were gone. They said the lizardman had got you.” He said.
“Well, he hasn’t got me yet,” I said defiantly then hung up.
“Mam, I’m going to go finish what I started, but I am going to need a few things.”
I suppose a few things were a bit of an understatement. I had them get the best tracker they could find out here, which they quickly got to do. I got a whole new set of equipment more specialized for the task at hand I filed a hasty but fierce resignation letter to my organization siting leaving me for dead as the primary cause. They never even got back to me and needless to say, I was pissed. I knew the moment USDAC found out I was no longer part of the organization they’d send me away, so I decided I’d better be quick with this operation.
I pulled the small Uhaul full of supplies down the dirt road. Next to me sat Santiago, an older Native American man with a long black salt and pepper braided ponytail. He’d worked with both my organization and USDAC for a number of years and had much experience in tracking beasties like this one.
“So, where exactly are we going?” I asked looking at him.
“Well we’re going to the most recent attack and I’m hoping to get there by noon so if you could step on it that would be lovely.” He said sounding rather harsh.
I nodded and pushed slightly more on the accelerator. I would’ve started flying down this road but this truck was not built for dirt roads so I had to do my best.
As I drove Santiago busied himself with a map. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he put small red x’s on certain spots. I assumed those were the previous attacks. Occasionally he would look up from his work to make sure I was still going in the right direction and finally, after he directed me to turn onto a smaller more unkept dirt road we arrived at the farm.
It was eerily similar to the other. The house was destroyed and the field was full of massacred goats. Although the main difference was this one was swarming with USDAC investigation teams. Four big black vans were parked in front of the home, almost blocking my view. I stopped the truck and me and Santiago both stepped out. We walked over to the house and one of the investigators met us at the door.
He was tall with a weathered face and a strong chin that made him look like an actor. He had nicely done silver hair, stubble, and hazel eyes. A slight grin appeared on his face when he saw us.
“You two must be the hunters, I’m Detective Slade.” He greeted, sticking his hand out for a shake.
I took his hand first. “Hello Slade, I’m Agent Biel,” I said shaking his hand with Santiago quickly doing the same.
After we finished with formalities Slade led us around the house and into the field behind it. It felt like deja vu looking at the field. It told almost the exact same story mine did. Dozens of torn-apart goats and a small now empty chicken coop. I looked at all of it in disgust. The animals had no time to defend themselves they were just destroyed.
Santiago began scanning the mess on the ground looking for tracks to follow. Meanwhile, I stood talking with Slade.
“This is the eighth attack in four days, it looks like it’s making two attacks every night.” Slade explained, “So far it has killed 37 people, 650 goats, 242 cows, and has eaten almost 300 chickens.”
“Have you noticed a pattern?” I asked.
“Besides attacking at night not really. It usually attacks the fields first, but even that isn’t always the case.”
“I found something.” Santiago interrupted.
He stood by the edge of the field that met the jungle. I saw the large tracks of the beast leading into the jungle.

**Me and Santiago lugged the heavy equipment through the jungle we were tired and hot, but we continued knowing that the lizardman was likely close by. The sun had begun to sink low in the sky as we marched on. I was surprised at the path of the lizardman it had literally walked a straight line for miles upon miles. Only ever turning for a large tree or a hill. We were hoping we would get to the things nest before it went on its next night excursion but we weren’t extremely hopeful. I could only hope that the wretched thing was still wherever it rests.** **Suddenly their hike was interrupted by a loud call. I looked above to see a large tropical bird eyeing me from a branch. It was brightly colored vaguely reminding me of a parrot. Oddly I gave the bird a nod and then caught up to Santiago who’d ignored the bird and kept walking.** **Eventually, the sun set and we both had to turn our lights on. My body was beginning to grow heavy and I could tell it was the same for Santiago, but right as we seemed to the point of giving up we arrived at the edge of a lake. It was small and had short sandy beaches separating it from the jungle. Perfectly outlined in the sand were the feet of the lizardman. It had clear as day walked straight into the lake. We both looked at each other. He was clearly as unsure about the situation as I was. We stood there contemplating when I noticed something.** **The lake had a few logs floating in it but one didn’t look like the other. It was far too symmetrical. I scanned my light over it and realized the texture I’d thought of as bark was actually scaled. Then suddenly my light scanned over to the head and its bright red eyes opened wide. It let out a roar and started swimming toward us. I dropped my bag and hurriedly put my remaining gear on. Santiago dropped his and took aim with his rifle.** **BANG! The shot echoed through the quiet air and I saw it clearly hit the thing right in the center of the forehead. The bullet tinked off like it had hit thick steel. The Lizardman swam closer and as the water got shallower it transitioned from swimming to sprinting. The second it took a step on shore I struck. I slammed one of my gauntlet-bearing fists into the thing's face. There was a loud audible crack as it fell over. It quickly stood back up and slashed at my thick steel armor. It did nothing but scrape off some paint and I pulled my fist back and punched it again. It stumbled again and before it could recover I punched it again and again.** **Immediately after the punch it lunged forward its jaws latching on to either side of my helmet. I heard the sounds of it and felt the metal beginning to bend in on itself. I kicked the thing where I knew it would hurt. It unlatched from my face and I uppercut it right in the lower jaw. It fell into the water letting out a whimper-type noise as it did.** **I stood over the beast having misjudged it as defeated. In a second wind, it grabbed me by the leg and threw me into a tree. I heard my suit crack and crunch having been badly damaged. The lizardman started over at me threateningly and in a quick burst of speed it charged over to me.** **BANG! BANG! BANG! His first shot struck the side of its head getting its attention, and as it turned the second bullet struck it directly in its left eye. The third and final bullet struck its nose harmlessly. It roar in pain and charged towards Santiago, but I jumped up and grabbed it by the tail. I held it still for a moment before it did something that caught me off, guard. It turned around and bit off its own tail. It then continued charging toward Santiago. His bullets struck it again and again but its hide was far too strong. Quickly I dropped the tail and pulled out a canister pulling the pin and throwing it. A wonderful smell erupted from it as it soared through the air and landed right in front of Santiago.** **The Lizardman backed away from him dizzy from the overpowering smell. I pulled myself off the ground and charged towards it. I jumped on top of the thing pinning it to the ground.** **“Meds!” I yelled to him as the Lizardman was already struggling.** **Santiago reached into its mouth that I held open and shoved the tranquilizer down its throat. After another minute of shaking and struggling it finally blacked out. I pulled out my walkie and called in dispatch.** **“The lizard is down,” I said simply.** **Within minutes they had a dozen helicopters out there and had the creature properly restrained.** **I walked over to the man who appeared to be in charge. He was average height with blonde hair combed to the side, aviator glasses, and a nice gray suit. “I’d recommend you step up the security on that thing,” I suggested.** **He turned around and looked at me for a moment, almost studying me.** 

“We will be.” He said finally. “I am personally seeing that it is brought to our most secure location.”
“Good, good, I don’t want to ever deal with that thing again.” I chuckled.
He looked closer at me after I said that and it seemed to click in his head who I was.
“Agent Biel, I’m very happy to see you. I got word of your resignation at UARF.” He said sounding oddly sad.
I prepared for the worst as I was technically not supposed to be here.
“Yeah, I wasn’t exactly happy with being left for dead,” I grumbled.
“Well sir I promise if you take my offer you won’t be left for dead,” He said smiling now.
I paused for a moment unsure what he meant. Then it seemed to click he was hiring me and I took his hand and shook it vigorously.
“I do accept your offer, sir,” I yelled excitedly.
“You can call me Dr.Barclay,” He said politely shaking my hand back.
So that is how I was hired here at USDAC and I’ve already discovered that they do things quite differently here but that is a story for another day. Biel out.

I hunted monsters for an international anomaly research center
Part 2
I decided instead of telling you about the next monster I’d planned I will tell you all what I did last week. I’d heard about this anomaly before, but that was because it was contained. Not by our organization but by one we work closely with. They’d been keeping it well in their Puerto Rico containment facility, but it managed to escape during a power outage. They’d insisted on trying to capture it themselves for a couple of days before they finally let me come in. Normally I’d be mad that they couldn’t catch it, but the Scape Ore Swamp Lizard Man is no walk in the park.
Standing 10 feet long, 8 feet tall, and pure muscle this thing is practically a walking tank. It has an almost inch-thick hide of small black snake-like scales. It stands on two legs but can switch to four when needed. It has a large head with a long muzzle full of sharp venomous teeth. Its face is always contorted into a scowl adding to its frightful appearance. Its back is covered in large spiked scutes which start at the head to the tip of the tail. On its two large four-fingered hands are two-inch-long nasty claws.
They deployed me the same way as always, and I landed with a light thud on the jungle floor after I was unlatched from the parachute and harness. I looked out at the darkening jungle around me. My search would be far from easy. I knew that, as I needed more information about where it was. However, after getting my sniper railgun ready I began my pursuit.
My pursuit was aimless and tiring. I had no direction, and the heat was slowly burning me alive. The jungle was full of loud squawking birds. At one point I looked up and saw in the evening light a small group of bats flying overhead.
I walked slowly and steadily scanning the quickly darkening ground for something, but as I suspected there was nothing in sight. No sigh from the lizardman. I walked on and on until finally, I found something. They were large three-toed tracks that almost looked like ones a T-rex would’ve made. My heart leaped in joy and excitement and I began following the footprints. They were easy to follow as the heavy feet had sunk deep into the wet muddy ground of the jungle. They followed no path and almost walked the way I had been walking aimlessly. Until like me, it seemed to have found something to follow.
Its path led in an almost perfect straight line, having trampled almost anything that wasn’t a tree out of its way. I noticed as I followed its tracks large claw marks in the trees. There were three and they were long and deep.
I followed for a good long while still tired but my determination had increased 10 fold now that there was a path to follow. As I walked along I began to hear something off in the distance. It was so faint it was hard to discern. At first, I thought it might be some sort of birdcall, but then it clicked in my head. It screamed. I started running as fast as I could through the jungle tripping at one point but pulling myself back up.
Eventually, I found myself running into a field. What I saw in that field I’ll never forget. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never been bothered by dead humans before. In my youth when I’d go to funerals seeing the body never disturbed me. I’d be sure but the body itself never made me uncomfortable. And after I got this job I got completely desensitized, but something about dead animals. I could never handle seeing a dead animal. I don’t know exactly why. I guess it’s because it brought me back to my childhood.
My dad was born in Mexico in 1979, but he and his family moved to Puerto Rico 3 years later. My dad lived in Puerto Rico during the horrifying but short reign of the Chupacabra. When I was little he would tell me stories about it. Fields of livestock just on the ground dead wholly drained of blood. Those stories actually started me down the route of where I am today, but I don’t think I ever really comprehended what that looked like until I saw the massacre in the field I was now in.
It almost seemed as though a sheet of blood and muscle and meat had fallen over the field. It was absolutely everywhere and dispersed throughout this massacre I could see small bits of bones. Vertebrae there, or a rib over there. It almost looked like they’d all exploded from the inside at the same time, but I know that is not what happened. I saw the footprints in the ground, I saw the claw marks in the bones. I knew the only thing that could’ve done this was the horrible beast I was hunting.
I walked around through the massacre for a while in a sort of shock. Then I finally snapped out of it and looked around again. I saw a house separated only by a now broken wood fence to the field. I instantly knew where the screams had come from and what had likely happened. I ran toward the house and a story began to unfold as I got closer. The father or man of the house must’ve come outside to defend his family because I found his body ripped apart just outside the front door.
I stepped over the body and walked into the tiny house. It was absolutely destroyed. The walls were torn apart, furniture was left shattered on the ground, and there was lots of blood. I looked over and saw a partial body on the living room floor. I grimaced when I realized the poor thing had once been a big dog. Now it was nothing but torn meat and bones. One step at a time I made my way to the back of the house down a cramped hallway. In the bedrooms were the destroyed bodies of a woman and three children. The only peace I had was that these people died quickly. I noticed at the end of the hall was a shattered glass backdoor. I stepped through it, almost slipping on the shards of glass still on the floor, and walked into the backyard. It was a tiny cleared area surrounded by trees. The ground was littered with small dog toys and in the corner was a chicken coop. The roof of it had been ripped off and shattered. I peeked in through the hole and saw lots of blood-covered eggs. It looked like, unlike the other animals, the lizardman had actually stopped eating all the chickens. Maybe all of that butchering worked up an appetite. I thought.
After calling in for the investigation crew I continued on my trail. The sun had completely set and navigated the dense jungle even with my bright headlight showing the way. Not long into it rain began pouring which completely covered the tracks. In frustration, I turned around and made my way back to the farm.
Suddenly I heard something from the treetops. It sounded almost like a faint growl and before I could do anything else the large figure of the Lizardman jumped from the trees right in front of me. It immediately slashed at my chest and left arm tearing them open causing blood to start pouring through. I let out a scream of agony and fell to the ground.
With my good right arm, I reached for a gadget on my belt and pressed it. It instantly began spraying a strong wonderful smell of flowers into the air. If there’s one thing the lizardman cannot tolerate it is sweet solid smells. It roared in anger and then sprinted in the other direction. I lay there blood seeping from my wounds wondering if I was about to die. I’m not old, only 26, but for my line of work, I’m ancient; about half the guys die on their first or second mission. If you survive the first two you will probably last much longer, but even then people die within two years meanwhile I’ve been here for 5 years.
I lay there with my eyes slowly growing heavier and heavier and then they closed and I was consumed by the darkness.
I woke up in a bright white room. The light was so blinding I kept blinking but still could hardly see anything. I noticed a woman standing in the room who was like the room wearing all white.
“Am I dead?” I sputtered out in my half-dazed confusion.
The woman let out a slight chuckle: “No you’re not dead. You’re in the medical wing of our Puerto Rican location.” She explained.
As she was talking everything seemed to clear around me. It was a small hospital room and the woman was short in a doctor's coat with dark hair tied in a bun.
“Who’s we?” I asked.
“USDAC,” She said, busy with something at her table.
I knew USDAC they were the United States Department of Anomaly Containment. They were the ones the Lizardman had escaped from.
“Where’s my organization? Why didn’t they send the team out to get me?” I asked angrily.
“I’m not quite sure. They never even told us you went down. Our investigation team was looking around the jungle when they found you.” She said with a genuinely confused look on her face.
I scanned the room again and saw on a chair next to my bed all my gear laid out nicely. I reached for my walkie, grabbed it, and pulled it off of my belt.
“This is Trigger to dispatch, do you copy?” I asked through the device.
“We copy, you aren’t dead?” The receiver asked, obviously very confused.
“Not yet. Why didn’t you send the team out to get me?” I asked more confused than angry at this point.
“They said you were gone. They said the lizardman had got you.” He said.
“Well, he hasn’t got me yet,” I said defiantly then hung up.
“Mam, I’m going to go finish what I started, but I am going to need a few things.”
I suppose a few things were a bit of an understatement. I had them get the best tracker they could find out here, which they quickly got to do. I got a whole new set of equipment more specialized for the task at hand I filed a hasty but fierce resignation letter to my organization siting leaving me for dead as the primary cause. They never even got back to me and needless to say, I was pissed. I knew the moment USDAC found out I was no longer part of the organization they’d send me away, so I decided I’d better be quick with this operation.
I pulled the small Uhaul full of supplies down the dirt road. Next to me sat Santiago, an older Native American man with a long black salt and pepper braided ponytail. He’d worked with both my organization and USDAC for a number of years and had much experience in tracking beasties like this one.
“So, where exactly are we going?” I asked looking at him.
“Well we’re going to the most recent attack and I’m hoping to get there by noon so if you could step on it that would be lovely.” He said sounding rather harsh.
I nodded and pushed slightly more on the accelerator. I would’ve started flying down this road but this truck was not built for dirt roads so I had to do my best.
As I drove Santiago busied himself with a map. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he put small red x’s on certain spots. I assumed those were the previous attacks. Occasionally he would look up from his work to make sure I was still going in the right direction and finally, after he directed me to turn onto a smaller more unkept dirt road we arrived at the farm.
It was eerily similar to the other. The house was destroyed and the field was full of massacred goats. Although the main difference was this one was swarming with USDAC investigation teams. Four big black vans were parked in front of the home, almost blocking my view. I stopped the truck and me and Santiago both stepped out. We walked over to the house and one of the investigators met us at the door.
He was tall with a weathered face and a strong chin that made him look like an actor. He had nicely done silver hair, stubble, and hazel eyes. A slight grin appeared on his face when he saw us.
“You two must be the hunters, I’m Detective Slade.” He greeted, sticking his hand out for a shake.
I took his hand first. “Hello Slade, I’m Agent Biel,” I said shaking his hand with Santiago quickly doing the same.
After we finished with formalities Slade led us around the house and into the field behind it. It felt like deja vu looking at the field. It told almost the exact same story mine did. Dozens of torn-apart goats and a small now empty chicken coop. I looked at all of it in disgust. The animals had no time to defend themselves they were just destroyed.
Santiago began scanning the mess on the ground looking for tracks to follow. Meanwhile, I stood talking with Slade.
“This is the eighth attack in four days, it looks like it’s making two attacks every night.” Slade explained, “So far it has killed 37 people, 650 goats, 242 cows, and has eaten almost 300 chickens.”
“Have you noticed a pattern?” I asked.
“Besides attacking at night not really. It usually attacks the fields first, but even that isn’t always the case.”
“I found something.” Santiago interrupted.
He stood by the edge of the field that met the jungle. I saw the large tracks of the beast leading into the jungle.
Me and Santiago lugged the heavy equipment through the jungle we were tired and hot, but we continued knowing that the lizardman was likely close by. The sun had begun to sink low in the sky as we marched on. I was surprised at the path of the lizardman it had literally walked a straight line for miles upon miles. Only ever turning for a large tree or a hill. We were hoping we would get to the things nest before it went on its next night excursion but we weren’t extremely hopeful. I could only hope that the wretched thing was still wherever it rests.
Suddenly their hike was interrupted by a loud call. I looked above to see a large tropical bird eyeing me from a branch. It was brightly colored vaguely reminding me of a parrot. Oddly I gave the bird a nod and then caught up to Santiago who’d ignored the bird and kept walking.
Eventually, the sun set and we both had to turn our lights on. My body was beginning to grow heavy and I could tell it was the same for Santiago, but right as we seemed to the point of giving up we arrived at the edge of a lake. It was small and had short sandy beaches separating it from the jungle. Perfectly outlined in the sand were the feet of the lizardman. It had clear as day walked straight into the lake. We both looked at each other. He was clearly as unsure about the situation as I was. We stood there contemplating when I noticed something.
The lake had a few logs floating in it but one didn’t look like the other. It was far too symmetrical. I scanned my light over it and realized the texture I’d thought of as bark was actually scaled. Then suddenly my light scanned over to the head and its bright red eyes opened wide. It let out a roar and started swimming toward us. I dropped my bag and hurriedly put my remaining gear on. Santiago dropped his and took aim with his rifle.
BANG! The shot echoed through the quiet air and I saw it clearly hit the thing right in the center of the forehead. The bullet tinked off like it had hit thick steel. The Lizardman swam closer and as the water got shallower it transitioned from swimming to sprinting. The second it took a step on shore I struck. I slammed one of my gauntlet-bearing fists into the thing's face. There was a loud audible crack as it fell over. It quickly stood back up and slashed at my thick steel armor. It did nothing but scrape off some paint and I pulled my fist back and punched it again. It stumbled again and before it could recover I punched it again and again.
Immediately after the punch it lunged forward its jaws latching on to either side of my helmet. I heard the sounds of it and felt the metal beginning to bend in on itself. I kicked the thing where I knew it would hurt. It unlatched from my face and I uppercut it right in the lower jaw. It fell into the water letting out a whimper-type noise as it did.
I stood over the beast having misjudged it as defeated. In a second wind, it grabbed me by the leg and threw me into a tree. I heard my suit crack and crunch having been badly damaged. The lizardman started over at me threateningly and in a quick burst of speed it charged over to me.
BANG! BANG! BANG! His first shot struck the side of its head getting its attention, and as it turned the second bullet struck it directly in its left eye. The third and final bullet struck its nose harmlessly. It roar in pain and charged towards Santiago, but I jumped up and grabbed it by the tail. I held it still for a moment before it did something that caught me off, guard. It turned around and bit off its own tail. It then continued charging toward Santiago. His bullets struck it again and again but its hide was far too strong. Quickly I dropped the tail and pulled out a canister pulling the pin and throwing it. A wonderful smell erupted from it as it soared through the air and landed right in front of Santiago.
The Lizardman backed away from him dizzy from the overpowering smell. I pulled myself off the ground and charged towards it. I jumped on top of the thing pinning it to the ground.
“Meds!” I yelled to him as the Lizardman was already struggling.
Santiago reached into its mouth that I held open and shoved the tranquilizer down its throat. After another minute of shaking and struggling it finally blacked out. I pulled out my walkie and called in dispatch.
“The lizard is down,” I said simply.
Within minutes they had a dozen helicopters out there and had the creature properly restrained.
I walked over to the man who appeared to be in charge. He was average height with blonde hair combed to the side, aviator glasses, and a nice gray suit. “I’d recommend you step up the security on that thing,” I suggested.
He turned around and looked at me for a moment, almost studying me.
“We will be.” He said finally. “I am personally seeing that it is brought to our most secure location.”
“Good, good, I don’t want to ever deal with that thing again.” I chuckled.
He looked closer at me after I said that and it seemed to click in his head who I was.
“Agent Biel, I’m very happy to see you. I got word of your resignation at UARF.” He said sounding oddly sad.
I prepared for the worst as I was technically not supposed to be here.
“Yeah, I wasn’t exactly happy with being left for dead,” I grumbled.
“Well sir I promise if you take my offer you won’t be left for dead,” He said smiling now.
I paused for a moment unsure what he meant. Then it seemed to click he was hiring me and I took his hand and shook it vigorously.
“I do accept your offer, sir,” I yelled excitedly.
“You can call me Dr.Barclay,” He said politely shaking my hand back.
So that is how I was hired here at USDAC and I’ve already discovered that they do things quite differently here but that is a story for another day. Biel out.

It’s been about a year and a half of “sobriety” for my boyfriend. The quotation marks are because we don’t talk about it. He doesn’t talk about triggers, claims he’s never relapsed, etc. I’ve gone through his phone several times and come up w nothing but we all know that doesn’t really mean shit. He stopped going to therapy due to switching jobs and losing insurance temporarily and we stopped doing couples therapy long ago. He’s always refused working a program which has never made me feel good. I have no idea if that sobriety date is real or not.
Although it’s been this long and I’m choosing to believe he really is sober, and I truly do see many differences in him, I’m still so fucking paranoid. I can’t tell anymore what’s my gut instincts and what’s just straight up paranoia and anxiety. I’m still so fucking broken. I still have so many thoughts of the past and if he’s continuing to do it in the present. I’m still so uncomfortable around beautiful women, going to the gym with him, at the beach (which is quite literally my favorite place in the world and was our favorite place to go together and now I’m so triggered going with him) I hate who I’ve become, I hate what my mind has become. I used to never feel threatened by women. I used to never sexualize women. I used to not think twice and now it’s all I can think about. I just need to know for those who stayed… does it ever get better? I’m much better than where I was at a year ago. But god damn. It’s this long into recovery and I’m still so fucked. Am I crazy? Is this normal? Do you ever feel like you can trust them again? Do you ever feel like you have a ‘normal’ relationship again? Is this even worth it? I can’t imagine I’ll ever look at him the same way and that breaks my heart.
Sorry for the rant. My mind is in shambles today and I’m extremely triggered for no reason at all. I hope you’re all having a better day than I am 🫶🏼