Dove winter care soap costco
The Brother and Sister
2023.05.29 23:15 JoshAsdvgi The Brother and Sister
 | submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments] The Brother and Sister The Native American Story of the Brother and Sister (( This story of the Brother and Sister is featured in the book entitled the Red Indian Fairy Book by Frances Jenkins Olcott published in Boston, New York by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1917 )) An Arapaho Story The Story of the Brother and Sister There were three streams all flowing east, and near them a tribe of Indians was camping. A brother and sister were playing at a distance from the camp, and a Chief passed by them. The children called him saucy names and he was very angry. Going to the camp he bade all the people pack up, and move to another camping-ground. Before moving away, the people took the two children who had been saucy to the Chief, and tied them each to a pole. They leaned the poles against some trees, and leaving the children to die, they took their goods, and went to another place. Well, the poor children suffered hunger and thirst, and wept bitterly. At last an old Wolf, the Chief of all the Wolves, saw them, and he said to himself, "How pitiful these children are!" Then he cried out to the pack, "Come, all ye Wolves, from all directions!" In a minute Wolves and Coyotes came running from every part of the Earth, and the old Wolf said to them:— "I pity these children. Seize the poles and lower them slowly. Then chew off the ropes and free the children." The Wolves and the Coyotes did as he told them to do, and loosed the children. But when the boy and girl saw all the wild animals running about them, they were terribly frightened, for they thought that they would surely be eaten. But the old Wolf said:— "Do not be afraid! Stay with us, and we will care for you." After that he called four big Wolves from the pack, and said: "You, Clouded Wolf, who are above all others in daring deeds, provide food for this boy and girl. White Wolf, I want you also to look for food for them. Black Coyote, go out and find meat. And you also, Black Wolf, who are brave and cunning, provide meat for them." Immediately the four big Wolves ran away, and soon came back laden with the best parts of a Buffalo; and piled all the meat in front of the children. The brother and sister ate, and were made strong again. Then the old Wolf told them to go into the timber near by, and live there; and he said that he would stay with them. It was now Winter. The boy got together some poles and made a frame for a brush house; while his sister gathered long reeds, and with them thatched the house. She made a door of brush and sticks, and inside she put brush for two beds. They then made a nice comfortable bed near the door where the old Wolf might sleep. When the house was finished, it began to snow. They all went in, and the old Wolf said, "I am feeble, and suffer much from cold. I have no strength, no swiftness, no warmth. If it were not for your kindness I should be out in the snow. Therefore I thank you for letting me live with you in this comfortable house." So that night the Wolf slept by the door, the girl slept on the north side of the house, and the boy at the back. Well, in the morning the boy was the first to get up to make the fire; and he looked out, and the snow was over all the land. And what was his surprise to see great herds of Elk near by. The whole snow was yellow with them as far as he could see. In the timber, on the banks of the rivers, and everywhere, the Elk were standing, walking, or lying down. The boy shut the door quickly, and said to his sister, "Get up! There are herds of Elk close by." "Why should I get up?" said she; "I can't do anything." But the boy answered, "Just get up and look at them anyway." "I can't do anything by looking at them," said she. "My Grandchild," called the old Wolf, "get up and look at the Elk." So she rose, and opened the door; and as soon as she looked at an Elk, it fell down dead. Then she gave her brother a flint knife with a bone handle, and he ran out into the snow, and skinned the Elk as easily as if he had always known how to do it. As soon as he had skinned the animal, he threw its hide into the house, and the girl folded it three times, and sat on it. Immediately the hide became a soft and beautiful skin, all dressed ready for use. Then the girl looked at more Elk, and they fell down dead; and the boy skinned them; and so she did until they had thirty-six skins. They next sliced the meat, and hung it to dry on the trees near the three streams. After that the girl took some of the thirty-six skins, and piling them one on the other, she sat on them, saying, "I wish that all these skins may be sewed together for a tent." And when she got up, and spread them out, they had become a tent with a bird ornament on top, and four round ornaments on the sides, and rattles over the door. Then the girl said, "I wish for twenty-nine straight tent poles." And when she went outside, there were the tent poles made of otter-weeds. Soon the tent stood covered, and was very handsome. Then the girl folded three skins, and sat on them, saying, "I wish for a wall-hanging embroidered with Porcupine quills of every colour." And it was so, for when she got up the Elk skins were changed into a beautiful hanging, which she fastened behind her brother's bed. Then she folded three more skins, and sat on them, and wished for an embroidered hanging for her bed, and she got it. After that she did the same to more skins, and wished for an embroidered and ornamented blanket, and she gave that to the old Wolf. Well, after seven days it snowed again, and when the boy got up to make the fire, he looked out and saw the snow over all the land. And what was his surprise to see great herds of Buffalo near by. The whole snow was black with them. He waked his sister, and bade her get up, but she said: "What can I do? You have broken my sleep. Let me sleep longer." "My Grandchild," called the old Wolf, "get up and look at the Buffalo." So she rose, and opened the door, and as soon as she looked at some of the Buffalo, they fell down dead. The boy skinned the animals, and brought in their hides. The girl took one, and folded it three times, saying, "I wish this to become a robe with bird ornaments." Then it became an embroidered robe, and she gave it to her brother. Then she took another skin and did the same, saying, "I wish this to be a painted robe for myself." And it turned into a robe; and when she spread it out the painting was seen bright and beautiful. Then she took another skin, and, in the same manner, made it a robe with red and yellow embroidery at the four corners, and eight lines of embroidery across it, and between them black lines painted with charcoal. This she gave to the old Wolf. After that she made three pillows for the beds. On the one for her brother was the picture of an animal embroidered in yellow quills. The eye was dark with yellow quills around it. On the throat were a hundred bars of yellow quills. The ear was a yellow cross of quill-work. The head was round, and the tail and nose were bars of yellow quills. All around the edge of the pillow were fifty bars of yellow quills. The pillow for the girl was white, embroidered with an animal made of black and white bars of quill-work; while the pillow for the old Wolf was very beautiful, embroidered with red and yellow quills. Well, after seven days it snowed again, and when the boy got up in the morning to make the fire, he looked out and saw the snow covering the land. And what was his surprise to see more herds of Elk near by. The snow was yellow with them. He called his sister, and the old Wolf bade her rise and look at the animals, and she did. Immediately some of them fell down dead. Then as before, the girl folded, and sat on their skins, and wished for a fine hunting-shirt for her brother, embroidered in circles of red and yellow quills, with fringes along the edge, and tufts of long hair hanging between the fringes. Then she wished for leggings for him, and a pair of moccasins embroidered with birds. For herself she wished for a woman's dress handsomely embroidered, and with four rows of fringes, also for leggings and moccasins. As the old Wolf could not wear clothes, she of course did not wish for any garment for him. Then the boy said, "I wish I could have for a Dog a Panther of yellow colour with white sides." His sister went outside the tent, and called, "Come, Panther of yellow colour with white sides!" And immediately the Panther came walking through the timber, slowly twisting his tail. He entered the tent, and lay down by the boy, and put his head on the boy's knee. Then the boy said, "I wish you could have for a Dog a Bear with white streaks down his fore legs, and whose claws are white with black streaks." So his sister went outside the tent, and called, "Come, Bear with white streaks down your fore legs, and with claws white with black streaks." And immediately the Bear came pacing through the timber, and sat down at the foot of the girl's bed. After that the brother and sister lived very happily with the old Wolf, the Panther, and the Bear. They had plenty to eat, for the dried meat was piled up before the door of the tent, and there was meat still hanging from the trees. One day two Indians from the tribe that had deserted the children, happened to be hunting by the streams, and they saw the handsome tent in the timber. They went toward it, and, lo, there were the boy and girl beautifully dressed; while on one side of the tent sat the Panther, and on the other side the Bear, and the old Wolf was lying just in front of the door. Well, when the animals saw the men, the old Wolf rose up growling, the Panther crouched to spring, and the Bear stiffened his hair. The men were very much frightened, but the boy told the animals to lie down, and he invited the men into the tent. The girl bade them be seated, and gave them pemmican in wooden bowls. Now the men saw the wonderful tent and all its fine furnishings, and they looked at the great pile of dried meat before the door, and said to the children that they would return at once to the tribe, and tell the people to come and see them. But the girl said that if they came, they must camp down by the streams, and not approach the tent, or the animals would kill them. So the men went back to the people, and the tribe came to the streams, and made their camp. And though they could see the beautiful tent in the distance, they dared not approach it for fear of the animals. But the brother and sister gave some of their meat to the people, and after that the two continued to live happily in their tent, guarded by the faithful old Wolf, the Panther, and the Bear. |
2023.05.29 23:10 c123me Triple cream stopped working?
Hoping to get some advice! I was diagnosed with type 2 rosacea last year, after years of being told it was eczema by other dermatologists, and my skin had devolved an addiction to topical steroids. After I found a new derm last year who preformed a biopsy, to actually figure out what was going on, I was prescribed Soolantra to start with while my Skin Medicinals triple cream prescription was filled. The Soolantra did very little, but the triple cream became my savior. Typically my skin flares in the winter and is more agreeable in the summer- just the pustules, I’m still red 24/7 haha. So, over this last month, as it’s gotten a lot warmer where I live, and my skin has gone downhill. It seems like the triple cream has stopped working altogether and my skin is back to where it was before I started. I contacted my doctor and she’s stumped since the triple cream is the best option she can think of for me. I looked into some custom skin care companies like Apostrophe, Proven, and Curology. Curology seems to be the most appealing based on how they target bacteria, which may be causing my pustules? I signed up for the Trial, since I’m not sure what else to do. I use Ketoconazole shampoo for scalp, face, and body since my derm also diagnosed me with seborrheic dermatitis. Otherwise, I keep it simple and use a non-foaming Avene cleanser and an Avene moisturizer for sensitive, dry skin. Would appreciate any and all advice! Thank you :-)
submitted by c123me to Rosacea [link] [comments]
2023.05.29 22:59 marzlichto Shoulder injury May 16, not getting better
F28, 200 lbs, 5'4"
I have hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and a number of other chronic pain and chronic health conditions. On May 16th I was folding laundry and reached across my body with my right arm to set a shirt on the correct pile. There was a loud pop, I felt my shoulder move, followed by severe pain and instant tingling from above my elbow to my finger tips. When I woke up the next day, the pain was bearable and the tingling was only in the tip of my pinkie. By afternoon, the pain was getting worse in my shoulder, neck, and back; and the tingling had spread back up to my elbow, plus nerve pain. Concerned about the tingling and nerve involvement, I made an urgent care appt. As I was also entering an endometriosis flare and the pain in my shoulder continued to get worse, I went to the ER instead.
X-rays were normal. They gave me a sling and a shot of toradol and sent me home. Physical therapist on the 19th advised me to keep wearing the sling until I saw Ortho, but my appointment with them isn't until June 5th. I went to a walk in clinic last week due to increasing pain. They just advised me to see Ortho. If I stop wearing the sling, the pain gets worse. I can't lift my arm more than 60⁰ or so without pain. My range of motion has gotten better, but the pain continues to get worse when it is triggered. I can barely even push a soap pump with my right hand. Numbness and tingling is frequent in my last two fingers and my palm. Nerve pain is more frequent from mid forearm down.
Toradol and tramadol have never given me any sort of pain relief. I've been taking ibuprofen (600mg doses) and Tylenol (1300-1950mg doses) daily since it happened but they're barely helping. Any weight on my actual shoulder triggers severe pain and nerve shocks down my arm. I've been using ice packs in my armpit, heating pads on shoulder, neck, and back, and using a TENS unit as well with contact points on front shoulder, back shoulder, back of neck, and mid back. My mom has also been using KT tape to tape my shoulder for hypermobility, which does help. Wearing the sling triggers nerve pain and tingling in my forearm, wrist, and hand, but not wearing it results in overusing my shoulder. The pain worsens throughout the day regardless.
I can add my meds and diagnoses if they are a necessary addition.
Edit to add: the shoulder pain is triggering back pain and neck pain and headaches, and the headaches trigger Trigeminal Neuralgia pain.
Edit2: just rolled over to get up and go to the bathroom and there was a white hot searing flash of pain in my shoulder and now I'm super nauseous, shaky, and sweaty. I feel like I'm going to puke.
submitted by marzlichto to AskDocs [link] [comments]
I have hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and a number of other chronic pain and chronic health conditions. On May 16th I was folding laundry and reached across my body with my right arm to set a shirt on the correct pile. There was a loud pop, I felt my shoulder move, followed by severe pain and instant tingling from above my elbow to my finger tips. When I woke up the next day, the pain was bearable and the tingling was only in the tip of my pinkie. By afternoon, the pain was getting worse in my shoulder, neck, and back; and the tingling had spread back up to my elbow, plus nerve pain. Concerned about the tingling and nerve involvement, I made an urgent care appt. As I was also entering an endometriosis flare and the pain in my shoulder continued to get worse, I went to the ER instead.
X-rays were normal. They gave me a sling and a shot of toradol and sent me home. Physical therapist on the 19th advised me to keep wearing the sling until I saw Ortho, but my appointment with them isn't until June 5th. I went to a walk in clinic last week due to increasing pain. They just advised me to see Ortho. If I stop wearing the sling, the pain gets worse. I can't lift my arm more than 60⁰ or so without pain. My range of motion has gotten better, but the pain continues to get worse when it is triggered. I can barely even push a soap pump with my right hand. Numbness and tingling is frequent in my last two fingers and my palm. Nerve pain is more frequent from mid forearm down.
Toradol and tramadol have never given me any sort of pain relief. I've been taking ibuprofen (600mg doses) and Tylenol (1300-1950mg doses) daily since it happened but they're barely helping. Any weight on my actual shoulder triggers severe pain and nerve shocks down my arm. I've been using ice packs in my armpit, heating pads on shoulder, neck, and back, and using a TENS unit as well with contact points on front shoulder, back shoulder, back of neck, and mid back. My mom has also been using KT tape to tape my shoulder for hypermobility, which does help. Wearing the sling triggers nerve pain and tingling in my forearm, wrist, and hand, but not wearing it results in overusing my shoulder. The pain worsens throughout the day regardless.
I can add my meds and diagnoses if they are a necessary addition.
Edit to add: the shoulder pain is triggering back pain and neck pain and headaches, and the headaches trigger Trigeminal Neuralgia pain.
Edit2: just rolled over to get up and go to the bathroom and there was a white hot searing flash of pain in my shoulder and now I'm super nauseous, shaky, and sweaty. I feel like I'm going to puke.
2023.05.29 22:51 Spike-Tail-Turtle How do I clean up 32oz of charcoal lighter from my garage floor?
A full 32oz bottle of Kingsford Charcoal lighter got spilled in the garage. Odorless is a lie. Everything I tried to Google was how to get the stain out. I don't care if it stains. I just don't want my garage to go up.
So far I dumped a bag of flour on it to soak up the liquid because I had no better idea. Swept that up and put it outside. Now I have a bag of spicy flour and the garage reeks. It's still slick. And the smell is getting into the rest of the house even though the door to the house is closed.
Will dish soap and water do it? Or will that just spread it around?
Can I even throw away the mess?
submitted by Spike-Tail-Turtle to NoStupidQuestions [link] [comments]
So far I dumped a bag of flour on it to soak up the liquid because I had no better idea. Swept that up and put it outside. Now I have a bag of spicy flour and the garage reeks. It's still slick. And the smell is getting into the rest of the house even though the door to the house is closed.
Will dish soap and water do it? Or will that just spread it around?
Can I even throw away the mess?
2023.05.29 22:49 toxicbitcx My life should not be threatened for $18 an hour.
I loved my job and I'm sad that I had to quit. All names are made up but are based off of real people and it was a 24hr store where I worked.
I started CVS back in November 2022 as Pharmacy Technician, getting paid $18.00 an hour in the East Coast. I was 19(FTM) living with my partner in the state over from where I was hired. It wasn't too much of a drive, just 25 minutes. My coworkers were the kindest, and so were many customers...
At the time we were under Jane Doe's care as she was the pharmacy manager. She hired about three other technicians who started before me, all hired for Full-Time. Jane planned on leaving CVS so she hired a pseudo-manager who worked for CVS prior to his other job, John Doe.
My interview was held upstairs in the storage closet while sitting on a cooler and Jane Doe sitting on a case of Monster, so I don't know what I expected, lol. I was warned in the interview that customers could get very upset, and I told her I understood what I was getting into and that I'm thick-skinned (which I very much am.)
Fast forward a month or so and I'm working about 25-30hours a week, alongside being a part-time package handler at a facility for the holidays for some extra money. I was also a student during this time.
The first time I cried at my job was in December. A customer and her partner came in at 10pm being inappropriate with her and her husband making jokes about how they're gonna do sexual stuff to each other later while I was trying to get her insulin out of QT... It ended up resulting in the wife asking if I was queer, to which I said I'm in a queer relationship. She then asked if I was trans and that she could tell I was before I could even say anything. I was not out to my coworkers as FTM (at the time there was only the Pharmacist and another tech there) and this made me very upset to be outed in this way at my place of work. I am a very cis-passing person (not that it really matters), so I wanted to stay stealth at this job. It was my first job fully identifying as a man, as I had Top Surgery in August and have been on testosterone for a few years.
I wanted to just be seen as a man and keep my personal life at home, not at work.
Having this be the worst experience I've had, I ended up crying in the bathroom and taking my 30 minute break right then and there. This being said, nothing else working at CVS had phased me up until these past three months.
Being the only buff kind of guy at my job, it was my duty to be the bouncer. I would kick people out of they were being inappropriate, rude, or straight up unprofessional. This one customer threatened to key my car, while another customer had threatened to shoot me on two separate occasions. I came home crying to my partner about these instances. For $18 an hour, my life should not be threatened.
I talked to my lead pharmacy tech about this at the time, but there was nothing that could be done because nothing happened. I used to be a manager prior to this job, so hearing this didn't make any sense to me. My last job would take action immediately, regardless if it happened or not because it was a threat. I should've gone to HR, but I know personally CVS HR does not care unless a Lead PT or a Pharmacist calls it in.
I grew to hate my job after this because I was scared. I used to love going in, helping to fill prescriptions and helping families out with their medications. I would cut out the company stickers that were given to us so it'd just be the smiley face without the "customers like you make us happy" shit on it. My favorite ones were the little bear stickers that said "We hope you feel better!" to give out to the kids. I'd let them choose, too! Or the really sweet older ladies who would come in a give me treats from the Costco to try through drive-thru, lol.
My hours started to get cut, and so would my coworkers. Once Jane Doe left, John Doe finally came in. He did make many things better, but with the company-wide hourly cut, it became ridiculous. I started with 25-30hour weeks, then got down to only 14 hour weeks, with coworkers (who weren't the lead PT or Pharm on duty) calling me in to help. Saturdays were the worst because it was just me, another tech, and a pharmacist who usually didn't work at that store. We would get so busy and it would stress me out so much but there was never any extra help.
This ended up with my pharmacist suggesting I travel around for work... I live in a whole different state and the CVS's that needed help were well over an hour away. I did this a couple of times, but it just wasn't worth it because of gas. For every store I was asked to go to, I would give it to my other coworker who was hired around the same time I was because he was only getting six hours a week!
With the hour cuts and the threats, my partner and I decided it just wasn't worth it for me to work there anymore. I miss my coworkers and my customers, but I have no desire to associate with that store anymore. I didn't even put a two weeks notice in, I just quit over text.
I didn't want to air my dirty laundry out, but does anyone else have similar experiences with CVS? Do you think I'm still able to go to HR about the threats, or is it not even worth it since I'm no longer an employee?
I'll answer any asked questions too. :)
submitted by toxicbitcx to CVS [link] [comments]
I started CVS back in November 2022 as Pharmacy Technician, getting paid $18.00 an hour in the East Coast. I was 19(FTM) living with my partner in the state over from where I was hired. It wasn't too much of a drive, just 25 minutes. My coworkers were the kindest, and so were many customers...
At the time we were under Jane Doe's care as she was the pharmacy manager. She hired about three other technicians who started before me, all hired for Full-Time. Jane planned on leaving CVS so she hired a pseudo-manager who worked for CVS prior to his other job, John Doe.
My interview was held upstairs in the storage closet while sitting on a cooler and Jane Doe sitting on a case of Monster, so I don't know what I expected, lol. I was warned in the interview that customers could get very upset, and I told her I understood what I was getting into and that I'm thick-skinned (which I very much am.)
Fast forward a month or so and I'm working about 25-30hours a week, alongside being a part-time package handler at a facility for the holidays for some extra money. I was also a student during this time.
The first time I cried at my job was in December. A customer and her partner came in at 10pm being inappropriate with her and her husband making jokes about how they're gonna do sexual stuff to each other later while I was trying to get her insulin out of QT... It ended up resulting in the wife asking if I was queer, to which I said I'm in a queer relationship. She then asked if I was trans and that she could tell I was before I could even say anything. I was not out to my coworkers as FTM (at the time there was only the Pharmacist and another tech there) and this made me very upset to be outed in this way at my place of work. I am a very cis-passing person (not that it really matters), so I wanted to stay stealth at this job. It was my first job fully identifying as a man, as I had Top Surgery in August and have been on testosterone for a few years.
I wanted to just be seen as a man and keep my personal life at home, not at work.
Having this be the worst experience I've had, I ended up crying in the bathroom and taking my 30 minute break right then and there. This being said, nothing else working at CVS had phased me up until these past three months.
Being the only buff kind of guy at my job, it was my duty to be the bouncer. I would kick people out of they were being inappropriate, rude, or straight up unprofessional. This one customer threatened to key my car, while another customer had threatened to shoot me on two separate occasions. I came home crying to my partner about these instances. For $18 an hour, my life should not be threatened.
I talked to my lead pharmacy tech about this at the time, but there was nothing that could be done because nothing happened. I used to be a manager prior to this job, so hearing this didn't make any sense to me. My last job would take action immediately, regardless if it happened or not because it was a threat. I should've gone to HR, but I know personally CVS HR does not care unless a Lead PT or a Pharmacist calls it in.
I grew to hate my job after this because I was scared. I used to love going in, helping to fill prescriptions and helping families out with their medications. I would cut out the company stickers that were given to us so it'd just be the smiley face without the "customers like you make us happy" shit on it. My favorite ones were the little bear stickers that said "We hope you feel better!" to give out to the kids. I'd let them choose, too! Or the really sweet older ladies who would come in a give me treats from the Costco to try through drive-thru, lol.
My hours started to get cut, and so would my coworkers. Once Jane Doe left, John Doe finally came in. He did make many things better, but with the company-wide hourly cut, it became ridiculous. I started with 25-30hour weeks, then got down to only 14 hour weeks, with coworkers (who weren't the lead PT or Pharm on duty) calling me in to help. Saturdays were the worst because it was just me, another tech, and a pharmacist who usually didn't work at that store. We would get so busy and it would stress me out so much but there was never any extra help.
This ended up with my pharmacist suggesting I travel around for work... I live in a whole different state and the CVS's that needed help were well over an hour away. I did this a couple of times, but it just wasn't worth it because of gas. For every store I was asked to go to, I would give it to my other coworker who was hired around the same time I was because he was only getting six hours a week!
With the hour cuts and the threats, my partner and I decided it just wasn't worth it for me to work there anymore. I miss my coworkers and my customers, but I have no desire to associate with that store anymore. I didn't even put a two weeks notice in, I just quit over text.
I didn't want to air my dirty laundry out, but does anyone else have similar experiences with CVS? Do you think I'm still able to go to HR about the threats, or is it not even worth it since I'm no longer an employee?
I'll answer any asked questions too. :)
2023.05.29 22:35 adventurepaul E-commerce Industry News - Week of May 29th, 2023
Hi ecommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry pretty closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of this week's top stories, which I cover in depth in the newsletter. .
-PAUL
submitted by adventurepaul to ecommerce [link] [comments]
- STAT OF THE WEEK: 70% of e-commerce shoppers experienced shipping delays without any reason provided by the business for the delay. Faced with that experience, 90% of respondents said they are less likely to buy from a brand again after a poor online shopping experience, while 29% say they are increasingly willing to share a negative review online. – According to Koerber .
- If some of Temu's deals appear too good to be true — it's because they are! An analysis of the company's supply chain costs by WIRED shows that Temu is losing an average of $30 per order as it throws money at trying to break into the American market. Most of Temu's subsidies are in the form of free international shipping, with even a small package costing the company around $14 to ship to the US (although it offers the shipping for free). When adding in the additional product discounts and cash coupons that Temu gives to customers, the average loss per order jumps to $30. .
- The FTC has proposed new rules in the US called “click to cancel” that will impact e-commerce subscriptions — but in a good way for consumers! The rules would require any business selling subscriptions to add a simple cancel mechanism on the same website as the initial transaction, and include the same number of steps. In other words, a “one click subscription” would require a “one click cancelation.” This “click to cancel” rule is part of the FTC's proposed changes to its 1973 Negative Option Rule, which establishes how subscription sellers must communicate offers, ensure consent, manage billing, and simplify cancellation. .
- BigCommerce announced new leadership including the appointment of Daniel Lentz as the company's CFO, Chuck Cassidy as its General Counsel, and Hubert Ban as its Chief Accounting Officer. .
- Google is launching Product Studio, a new tool that allows Shopping merchants to quickly edit and customize their product images for free using generative AI. According to Google's data, product listings with more than one image typically see a 76% increase in impressions and a 32% increase in clicks compared to listings with a single image. With the new generative AI tool, text prompts can be used within Product Studio to quickly make visual adjustments to product images, such as generating new backgrounds for seasonal campaigns. The tool also allows sellers to instantly remove the existing background of an image if they need a blank backdrop, and increase the quality of small or low resolution images. .
- Morning Consult published their annual report of Most Trusted Brands for 2023. The survey ranks roughly 1,500 brands in the US, most of which were dominated by big, well-established names including: #1 Band-Aid, #2 UPS, #3 Amazon, #4 Lysol, #5 Kleenex, #6 Cheerios, #7 Visa, #8 Dove, #9 The Weather Channel, and #10 FedEx .
- Axios, in collaboration with market research firm Harris Poll, also ran a recent survey to determine the Most Reputable Brands in the US. The results were very different from Morning Consult's most trusted brands. Only one company overlapped in the top ten which included: #1 Patagonia, #2 Costco, #3 John Deere, #4 Trader Joe's, #5 Chick-fil-A, #6 Toyota, #7 Samsung, #8 Amazon, #9 USAA, and #10 Apple . Bottom of the list included: #90 Family Dollar, #91 Balenciaga, #92 BP, #93 Bitcoin, #94 TikTok, #95 Spirit Airlines, #96 Meta, #97 Twitter, #98 Fox, #99 FTX, and #100 The Trump Organization .
- The latest data from PYMNTS shows that high earners are feeling the pinch of credit card debt and that their wages aren't keeping up with inflation. This is resulting in higher-end retailers who depend on wealthier households feeling the pinch as well. The data shows a number of correlations including that for bouseholds earning more than $100k annually, 42% were living paycheck-to-paycheck in April 2022. That number has crept up to over 49% this past year. .
- Netflix must have forgotten what love is since 2017 when it made its famous tweet that “Love is sharing a password.” The company has finally launched its ill-awaited crackdown on password sharing in the US and the UK. The new rules state that subscribers are permitted to share their account with members of their own household, which Netflix defines as “you and the people you live with.” Netflix will begin using a variety of tools, such as IP checking, to spot when people are using another household’s account and prevent them from doing so, or give them the option of adding a household for $7.99/month. The company expects cancellations, but optimistically (or idiotically) predicts that those same people will come back again, which will overall lead to more people paying for subscriptions. .
- Laws are changing in Australia to treat BNPL as a credit product. Finally! When was it NOT a form of credit? BNPL should have been recognized as a credit product the day the first BNPL company put up a coming soon landing page. Australia’s Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones said that a litany of issues reported to the Australia Securities and Investments Commission have added up to “unacceptable levels of unaffordable lending occurring, largely concentrated amongst low-income borrowers.” He added that “BNPL looks like credit, it acts like credit, it carries the risks of credit.” Jones promised draft legislation in the coming months and the introduction of a final bill to the Australian Parliament by the end of the year, which will include the need for BNPL firms to hold Australian Credit Licenses and comply with Resonspible Lending Obligations. .
- Bill Gates said that AI could kill Google Search and Amazon as we know them, and that the technology could radically alter user behaviors, resulting in people never needing to visit a search website again or use certain productivity or shopping tools. Gates remarked that the first company to develop it will have a leg up on competitors. .
- A recent study conducted by Lloyds Banking Group revealed that a UK consumer falls victim to a purchasing scam that originates on Facebook or Instagram every seven minutes, resulting in a cost of over £500k per week. (That man is Michael Scott.) The banking group is now urging Meta and other tech giants to take responsibility and contribute to refunding innocent victims of scams. .
- Analysts at Bernstein project that Reliance Industries is poised to outpace Amazon and Flipkart in the race for India's $150M e-commerce market, citing the conglomerate's robust retail network, mobile network, and home field advantage as its biggest assets. Reliance already operates the country's largest retail chain with over 18k stores and is leveraging its presence to form partnerships with Meta, Shein, and other companies as a strategic advantage against its competitors. .
- Shopify is introducing its POS hardware to the Canadian market. Its mobile selling device, the POS Go, which is built to run Shopify’s POS software, was first rolled out to retailers in the US in 2022. .
- Meta announced that ads in Instagram search results will now be available through the Instagram Marketing API, allowing third-party social-management platforms to offer a new Instagram ad-placement type in their apps. Meta began testing the placement in March and are now opening it up to all brands. .
- Shein is exploring plans to build a factory in Mexico as one of its manufacturing hubs outside China, which could shorten shipping time and cut distribution costs for customers in Latin America and USA. Earlier this month I reported that Shein is creating a hub in Brazil. .
- Amazon opened the first phase of its Metropolitan Park on Monday, its long-awaited second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia that can hold up to 8k employees. However not all Amazon employees are excited about the new office location (or any office location). At least 1,000 office workers are planning a walkout this Wednesday to take a stand against the company's return-to-office mandate. .
- The Vietnamese government is putting pressure on TikTok to police its content and remove videos that fall short of the state’s standards, or risk a ban. Eight government departments are targeting toxic content deemed “to pose a threat to the country’s youth, culture and tradition” — including videos that simply criticize college degrees. .
- eBay unveiled generative AI on its mobile app to help sellers list new items for sale, however the company forgot to inform sellers and didn't label the icon. When clicked, the icon replaced sellers' entire product descriptions with AI generated text, with no way to recover the original description. .
- Boozt AB, a Sweden-based online fashion retailer, blocked 42,000 customers for returning too many items, calling their actions too costly for the company and the environment. The company said that these particular customers represented less than 2% of their 3M customers, but around 25% of the total return volume. .
- Twitter withdrew from an agreement with the EU to cut down misinformation on its social network, which the company joined alongside other tech companies in 2018. Thierry Breton, the EU internal market commissioner, noted that fighting disinformation will be a legal obligation from August 25th, due to the EU's Digital Services Act, so the agreement would become irrelevant. .
- Jeff Bezos is ripped now! The Amazon founder started working with personal trainer, Wes Okerson, who's also trained Tom Cruise and Gerard Butler, and now he's gotten super buff. This is about the least e-commerce specific news you'll ever see me share in this newsletter, but the Jeff Bezos before / after photo is kind of wild! .
- Amazon will close its official Amazon app store in China on July 17, which launched in 2011 as an alternative to the Google Play Store. Amazon noted that its marketplaces and AWS services will remain operational in China. However while it may be leaving China, the Amazon App Store will soon be bringing more Android apps to the Windows ecosystem. The expanded partnership will allow Windows users to access a wider range of Android apps seamlessly. .
- Google updated the badges some merchants display for their product listings in Google Search to say “Top Quality Store” instead of the original “Trusted Store” badge. Google said this is just a name and title change and won't have any impact on search rank or performance. .
- Auctane, an e-commerce shipping specialist that operates brands such as Metapack, ShipStation, Packlink, ShipEngine, Stamps.com, and others, appointed Albert Ko as its new CEO, who previously served as CEO of EWS, which is best known for the Zelle payments network. Current CEO Nathan Jones will join the company's Board of Directors. .
- eCampus.com, a website that sells textbooks and course materials, announced that it would keep offering textbook rentals, even though its retail partner Amazon was exiting the business. The company had been powering the program behind the scenes for Amazon since 2012, and plans to keep it going through its own website. .
- Walmart is partnering with Pawp, a veterinary telehealth provider, to offer Walmart+ subscribers free access to virtual veterinarians for a year, starting this week. Currently Pawp charges $99 for an annual membership. .
- Alibaba Group said that it aims to hire 15,000 people this year, dismissing rumors circulating that the company planned to cut 20% of its staff. They also mentioned that more than 3,000 of those hires would be newly-graduated students. .
- Plus 7 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including a $12M Series A round by Laced to grow its resale marketplace for authenticated sneakers.
-PAUL
2023.05.29 22:35 adventurepaul What's new in e-commerce? - Week of May 29th, 2023
Hi ShopifyeCommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of this week's top stories, which I cover in depth in the newsletter. .
What else is new in e-commerce? Share stories of interesting in the comments below (including in your own business) or on shopifreaks.
See you next week.
-PAUL
submitted by adventurepaul to ShopifyeCommerce [link] [comments]
- STAT OF THE WEEK: 70% of e-commerce shoppers experienced shipping delays without any reason provided by the business for the delay. Faced with that experience, 90% of respondents said they are less likely to buy from a brand again after a poor online shopping experience, while 29% say they are increasingly willing to share a negative review online. – According to Koerber .
- If some of Temu's deals appear too good to be true — it's because they are! An analysis of the company's supply chain costs by WIRED shows that Temu is losing an average of $30 per order as it throws money at trying to break into the American market. Most of Temu's subsidies are in the form of free international shipping, with even a small package costing the company around $14 to ship to the US (although it offers the shipping for free). When adding in the additional product discounts and cash coupons that Temu gives to customers, the average loss per order jumps to $30. .
- The FTC has proposed new rules in the US called “click to cancel” that will impact e-commerce subscriptions — but in a good way for consumers! The rules would require any business selling subscriptions to add a simple cancel mechanism on the same website as the initial transaction, and include the same number of steps. In other words, a “one click subscription” would require a “one click cancelation.” This “click to cancel” rule is part of the FTC's proposed changes to its 1973 Negative Option Rule, which establishes how subscription sellers must communicate offers, ensure consent, manage billing, and simplify cancellation. .
- BigCommerce announced new leadership including the appointment of Daniel Lentz as the company's CFO, Chuck Cassidy as its General Counsel, and Hubert Ban as its Chief Accounting Officer. .
- Google is launching Product Studio, a new tool that allows Shopping merchants to quickly edit and customize their product images for free using generative AI. According to Google's data, product listings with more than one image typically see a 76% increase in impressions and a 32% increase in clicks compared to listings with a single image. With the new generative AI tool, text prompts can be used within Product Studio to quickly make visual adjustments to product images, such as generating new backgrounds for seasonal campaigns. The tool also allows sellers to instantly remove the existing background of an image if they need a blank backdrop, and increase the quality of small or low resolution images. .
- Morning Consult published their annual report of Most Trusted Brands for 2023. The survey ranks roughly 1,500 brands in the US, most of which were dominated by big, well-established names including: #1 Band-Aid, #2 UPS, #3 Amazon, #4 Lysol, #5 Kleenex, #6 Cheerios, #7 Visa, #8 Dove, #9 The Weather Channel, and #10 FedEx .
- Axios, in collaboration with market research firm Harris Poll, also ran a recent survey to determine the Most Reputable Brands in the US. The results were very different from Morning Consult's most trusted brands. Only one company overlapped in the top ten which included: #1 Patagonia, #2 Costco, #3 John Deere, #4 Trader Joe's, #5 Chick-fil-A, #6 Toyota, #7 Samsung, #8 Amazon, #9 USAA, and #10 Apple . Bottom of the list included: #90 Family Dollar, #91 Balenciaga, #92 BP, #93 Bitcoin, #94 TikTok, #95 Spirit Airlines, #96 Meta, #97 Twitter, #98 Fox, #99 FTX, and #100 The Trump Organization .
- The latest data from PYMNTS shows that high earners are feeling the pinch of credit card debt and that their wages aren't keeping up with inflation. This is resulting in higher-end retailers who depend on wealthier households feeling the pinch as well. The data shows a number of correlations including that for bouseholds earning more than $100k annually, 42% were living paycheck-to-paycheck in April 2022. That number has crept up to over 49% this past year. .
- Netflix must have forgotten what love is since 2017 when it made its famous tweet that “Love is sharing a password.” The company has finally launched its ill-awaited crackdown on password sharing in the US and the UK. The new rules state that subscribers are permitted to share their account with members of their own household, which Netflix defines as “you and the people you live with.” Netflix will begin using a variety of tools, such as IP checking, to spot when people are using another household’s account and prevent them from doing so, or give them the option of adding a household for $7.99/month. The company expects cancellations, but optimistically (or idiotically) predicts that those same people will come back again, which will overall lead to more people paying for subscriptions. .
- Laws are changing in Australia to treat BNPL as a credit product. Finally! When was it NOT a form of credit? BNPL should have been recognized as a credit product the day the first BNPL company put up a coming soon landing page. Australia’s Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones said that a litany of issues reported to the Australia Securities and Investments Commission have added up to “unacceptable levels of unaffordable lending occurring, largely concentrated amongst low-income borrowers.” He added that “BNPL looks like credit, it acts like credit, it carries the risks of credit.” Jones promised draft legislation in the coming months and the introduction of a final bill to the Australian Parliament by the end of the year, which will include the need for BNPL firms to hold Australian Credit Licenses and comply with Resonspible Lending Obligations. .
- Bill Gates said that AI could kill Google Search and Amazon as we know them, and that the technology could radically alter user behaviors, resulting in people never needing to visit a search website again or use certain productivity or shopping tools. Gates remarked that the first company to develop it will have a leg up on competitors. .
- A recent study conducted by Lloyds Banking Group revealed that a UK consumer falls victim to a purchasing scam that originates on Facebook or Instagram every seven minutes, resulting in a cost of over £500k per week. (That man is Michael Scott.) The banking group is now urging Meta and other tech giants to take responsibility and contribute to refunding innocent victims of scams. .
- Analysts at Bernstein project that Reliance Industries is poised to outpace Amazon and Flipkart in the race for India's $150M e-commerce market, citing the conglomerate's robust retail network, mobile network, and home field advantage as its biggest assets. Reliance already operates the country's largest retail chain with over 18k stores and is leveraging its presence to form partnerships with Meta, Shein, and other companies as a strategic advantage against its competitors. .
- Shopify is introducing its POS hardware to the Canadian market. Its mobile selling device, the POS Go, which is built to run Shopify’s POS software, was first rolled out to retailers in the US in 2022. .
- Meta announced that ads in Instagram search results will now be available through the Instagram Marketing API, allowing third-party social-management platforms to offer a new Instagram ad-placement type in their apps. Meta began testing the placement in March and are now opening it up to all brands. .
- Shein is exploring plans to build a factory in Mexico as one of its manufacturing hubs outside China, which could shorten shipping time and cut distribution costs for customers in Latin America and USA. Earlier this month I reported that Shein is creating a hub in Brazil. .
- Amazon opened the first phase of its Metropolitan Park on Monday, its long-awaited second headquarters in Arlington, Virginia that can hold up to 8k employees. However not all Amazon employees are excited about the new office location (or any office location). At least 1,000 office workers are planning a walkout this Wednesday to take a stand against the company's return-to-office mandate. .
- The Vietnamese government is putting pressure on TikTok to police its content and remove videos that fall short of the state’s standards, or risk a ban. Eight government departments are targeting toxic content deemed “to pose a threat to the country’s youth, culture and tradition” — including videos that simply criticize college degrees. .
- eBay unveiled generative AI on its mobile app to help sellers list new items for sale, however the company forgot to inform sellers and didn't label the icon. When clicked, the icon replaced sellers' entire product descriptions with AI generated text, with no way to recover the original description. .
- Boozt AB, a Sweden-based online fashion retailer, blocked 42,000 customers for returning too many items, calling their actions too costly for the company and the environment. The company said that these particular customers represented less than 2% of their 3M customers, but around 25% of the total return volume. .
- Twitter withdrew from an agreement with the EU to cut down misinformation on its social network, which the company joined alongside other tech companies in 2018. Thierry Breton, the EU internal market commissioner, noted that fighting disinformation will be a legal obligation from August 25th, due to the EU's Digital Services Act, so the agreement would become irrelevant. .
- Jeff Bezos is ripped now! The Amazon founder started working with personal trainer, Wes Okerson, who's also trained Tom Cruise and Gerard Butler, and now he's gotten super buff. This is about the least e-commerce specific news you'll ever see me share in this newsletter, but the Jeff Bezos before / after photo is kind of wild! .
- Amazon will close its official Amazon app store in China on July 17, which launched in 2011 as an alternative to the Google Play Store. Amazon noted that its marketplaces and AWS services will remain operational in China. However while it may be leaving China, the Amazon App Store will soon be bringing more Android apps to the Windows ecosystem. The expanded partnership will allow Windows users to access a wider range of Android apps seamlessly. .
- Google updated the badges some merchants display for their product listings in Google Search to say “Top Quality Store” instead of the original “Trusted Store” badge. Google said this is just a name and title change and won't have any impact on search rank or performance. .
- Auctane, an e-commerce shipping specialist that operates brands such as Metapack, ShipStation, Packlink, ShipEngine, Stamps.com, and others, appointed Albert Ko as its new CEO, who previously served as CEO of EWS, which is best known for the Zelle payments network. Current CEO Nathan Jones will join the company's Board of Directors. .
- eCampus.com, a website that sells textbooks and course materials, announced that it would keep offering textbook rentals, even though its retail partner Amazon was exiting the business. The company had been powering the program behind the scenes for Amazon since 2012, and plans to keep it going through its own website. .
- Walmart is partnering with Pawp, a veterinary telehealth provider, to offer Walmart+ subscribers free access to virtual veterinarians for a year, starting this week. Currently Pawp charges $99 for an annual membership. .
- Alibaba Group said that it aims to hire 15,000 people this year, dismissing rumors circulating that the company planned to cut 20% of its staff. They also mentioned that more than 3,000 of those hires would be newly-graduated students. .
- Plus 7 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including a $12M Series A round by Laced to grow its resale marketplace for authenticated sneakers.
What else is new in e-commerce? Share stories of interesting in the comments below (including in your own business) or on shopifreaks.
See you next week.
-PAUL
2023.05.29 22:34 NationOfLaws [PSA] Clean your watches
Human beings are disgusting creatures whose arms are in constant contact with the world outside. Arms are where you wear watches. Just as you clean your arms, so should you clean your watches.
Just today I gave six pieces from my collection a bath. Three of them had been exposed to seawater, and the others have been exposed to the horrors of our world, such as they are, incomprehensible as they may be.
My process is simple: first, make sure the crowns are screwed down (where applicable). Do not clean watches without doing this first. You will have a very expensive paperweight.
Next, fill a bowl with tepid water and mild dish soap. If your watch is water resistant to a depth greater than two inches, submerge the watch in the water. Scrub the surfaces gently with a soft bristled brush. (If the watch does not possess sufficient water resistance for cleaning I suggest binning the watch. Buy a watch made for adults.) It would probably be a good idea to separate the watch bracelet from the head, especially if the bracelet is made of some sort of leather, or sugar? Do not neglect the bracelet or strap. It has shared trauma with your watch head and with you.
I did not say this earlier but I feel you should have anticipated it: fill a different bowl with clean water. Do not put soap in here! This is water for rinsing. Rinse your scrubbed and washed watch thoroughly. Or do so under a sink. I do not care.
Finally, dry your watch with a soft, lint-free cloth. Admire it as it sparkles and remember that nothing lasts, things fall apart, the center cannot hold, and the paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Repeat this process occasionally until you have sold your watches or until you have died.
submitted by NationOfLaws to Watches [link] [comments]
Just today I gave six pieces from my collection a bath. Three of them had been exposed to seawater, and the others have been exposed to the horrors of our world, such as they are, incomprehensible as they may be.
My process is simple: first, make sure the crowns are screwed down (where applicable). Do not clean watches without doing this first. You will have a very expensive paperweight.
Next, fill a bowl with tepid water and mild dish soap. If your watch is water resistant to a depth greater than two inches, submerge the watch in the water. Scrub the surfaces gently with a soft bristled brush. (If the watch does not possess sufficient water resistance for cleaning I suggest binning the watch. Buy a watch made for adults.) It would probably be a good idea to separate the watch bracelet from the head, especially if the bracelet is made of some sort of leather, or sugar? Do not neglect the bracelet or strap. It has shared trauma with your watch head and with you.
I did not say this earlier but I feel you should have anticipated it: fill a different bowl with clean water. Do not put soap in here! This is water for rinsing. Rinse your scrubbed and washed watch thoroughly. Or do so under a sink. I do not care.
Finally, dry your watch with a soft, lint-free cloth. Admire it as it sparkles and remember that nothing lasts, things fall apart, the center cannot hold, and the paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Repeat this process occasionally until you have sold your watches or until you have died.
2023.05.29 22:23 Wolven91 Humans are so small compared to all other intelligent races they are almost always disregarded as nothing more than Jewelry or Accessories
 | In ssypno culture and biology, abundance of resources have direct results with a ssypno's size. submitted by Wolven91 to WolvensStories [link] [comments] A well fed and heated ssypno will technically, never stop growing. Long before humanity came along and changed how their society worked, the 'Noble Class' were the larger of the ssypno classes. Often a noble ssypno could realistically rival an ursidain for sheer mass if not girth, baring in mind a ssypno's tail. These noble families could have been put in charge of entire planets and thus could, reasonably, enjoy all it had to offer. That said, there is one such class of ssypno that rivaled even the nobles for available resources. Royalty. Her Majesty was of catastrophic size. Her mass and length rendered her unable to go to many public locations outside of her palace. Her iridescent scales, a trait unique to the royal bloodline, shimmered beautifully despite her age and size. Her family, numerous and handling the day to day running of the Ssypno Hegemony, her Majesty was left to be a figurehead, beloved by the people, but ultimately with very little to do. That said, she holds the ultimate power of the hegemony. When it came time for the balls and events of the year, she took part because she had to, but also to break up her day. All was as it was expected, until a stolen pre-contact was brought before her. It was brand new, unseen before now. "You would look stunning Your Majesty! They are quite popular amongst the secret few!" The Queen rested her chin against a closed fist. Her seat, engineered to hold her as she looked down upon a team of fashion advisors and seamstresses. Held up, gripped between two floating robotics, was a golden chain. Attached to the chain was a dressed up creature, its hands crossed over its chest. "I am not convinced." She held no desire to 'use' this thing. "Please your Majesty, just try it on. You will see why they are so popular, but you are in the position to uniquely to set the trend of the decade!" The Queen resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she leant forward and exposed her neck. The chain would not connect round the back thanks to her hood, but instead pinch scales either side and hold the necklace in place over her front. No different from a normal necklace worn by the common folk, just upscaled for her. As the creature was laid flat against her front, she felt heat emanating from it. She raised a perfectly scaled and manicured hand to briefly touch it and adjust where it sat, but was stopped. The creature, spoke, oh so quietly to the point where the queen was certain only she heard it. "Please don't hurt me." Without hesitation, the queen reacted. "You!" Pointing at the one that had wheeled the creature and chain into her expansive dressing room in the first place. The serpant in question cowered immediately. "The creature, is it sentient?" "No your Majesty." "According to whom?" "Both our own records and the Community's records. They score a four on the Jes'Rakins Sentience Scale." The ssypno responded with a respectful bow. "So they can speak?" "Yes, but they aren't sentient, it's just rambling... your, your Majesty!" The feshionista added quickly. "I will not wear a life. Unshackle it immediately. " the queen atated, removing the necklace and placing it down in front of her carefully, without jostling the creature. "Your Majesty, it's a wild creature, it may not be safe." "You're disobeying?" The ssypno in question dove for the human rather than answer to rapidly untie the intricate crisscross of golden thread holding him. "I will not suffer any further debates, the humans are not welcome as gimmicks to my events." An advisor, previously silent to the events of the room. They were the queen's personal advisor and were always at her side. "If we outlaw or deny these creatures, any on planet will be killed or sold as dangerous contraband. We should not ban them yet your Majesty but note who has access to them." The queen touched her fingers to her eyelids. She hated that he was right, she could not damn these stolen being because their unfortunate luck had brought them here. "Make note of who arrives with them, find their suppliers. We will need a taskforce to capture all of the elements at the earliest moment..." The human, now rising from his previous 'cage' was unsure what to do, so stood to one side, rubbing their wrists. He and the queen shared a glance. Neither knew what to do, but were, at least for the time being, each other's problem. WolvensStories Tip Jar |
2023.05.29 22:17 Jynandtonics Has anyone tried Magnesium L-Threonate to offset akathisia?
As magnesium L-threonate is the form of magnesium that can best elevate magnesium levels in the brain I am hoping this particular form will have a great impact on the akathisia. It gets delivered tomorrow and I'm sort of hanging on to this hope that it can cure me. Would love to hear anyone else who's tried it?
Just some background on my current akathisia issue... I went to the ER Monday May 22nd for severe stomach pain. I get stomach strictures and severe pain a few times a year thanks to a stomach surgery in 2017. This wasn't my usual local hospital as we were out of town but I gave them my background and list of meds. Doctor told me he was giving me something for the stomach pain as he started to push the medicine into my IV. He didn't tell me the name or even what type of med it was. I assumed it was Dicyclomine which is a muscle relaxer that works well on stomach issues and is usually what they give me in the ER.
Turns out he gave me 2.5mg of Droperidol. Which is confusing on many levels. I wasn't complaining of any nausea or vomiting. That dose is on the higher end. I've learned that a starting dose would generally be 0.625mg and it's usually given in a drip not a push. Droperidol is also not supposed to be given unless other meds were unsuccessful. He was monitoring my heart rate at least.
As soon as it went in the IV my stomach pain stopped but the worst feeling I've ever had in my life came over. I wanted to rip the IV out and leave the hospital immediately. I couldn't get comfortable. I couldn't stop moving my legs. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. No one asked me about any of these symptoms or mentioned akathisia. I still didn't even know the name of what they gave me.
They finally released me and an awful night began. Finally I managed to drive myself to a motel, rent a room, take some of my rx Ambien that I thankfully had with me, and get some sleep. The worst came the next morning. I needed to get up and get a shower and leave since the motel had an 11am checkout. I couldn't do it. I had no idea what was wrong. I just stayed in bed wrapped in blankets, shaking, crying, moving my legs restless. I forced myself into the shower thinking it may help but ended up jumping out halfway through with soap still all over me and practically throwing myself back into the bed crying the whole time. I thought I was losing my mind.
I finally called the front desk and asked if I could extend my stay another night and thank God they were able to charge my card on file without me coming in. My husband was expecting me and I had to call him next and tell him, "I'm so sorry, I know you need me there, I don't know what's wrong with me I think I'm having a nervous break down I can't get out of bed." thank God as well that he was so understanding and took care of everything then showed up with some benadryl and magnesium.
We still did not know it was akathisia but benadryl and magnesium are good for anxiety so that's what we tried. He logged on to the mychart app to see what they had given me then looked droperidol up and saw all the info about akathisia. That's when we finally figured it out. He called my psychiatrist (thank God I see her every month anyway for adhd) and she was able to do a telehealth visit and see what bad shape I was in. She called in Ativan 3x a day for 2 weeks and I see her for another appointment when they run out.
I luckily had a lot of "experimental" type meds because I've been trying to biohack some other health related issues and I think they came in handy. One is an injection combo I get from Unchained Sarms called sweet dreams that has 100mg GABA, 50MG Theanine, 100mg Taurine, and 100mg magnesium per ML. It never did help me sleep enough for me to stop taking the ambien so it was just sitting around mostly unused in what I (jokingly) call my pulp fiction kit but I believe it came in really handy for the akathisia. 1ml of that pinned in my thigh and my legs calmed down immediately. I also had some BPC157 intranasal and some nad+ intranasal and I think they helped a little as well.
The thing is... It's been a week today and while I'm not as bad as I was I'm still a long way from my normal self. Really hoping the delivery of magnesium threonate is the cure I need. If it's helped anyone else let me know.
submitted by Jynandtonics to Akathisia [link] [comments]
Just some background on my current akathisia issue... I went to the ER Monday May 22nd for severe stomach pain. I get stomach strictures and severe pain a few times a year thanks to a stomach surgery in 2017. This wasn't my usual local hospital as we were out of town but I gave them my background and list of meds. Doctor told me he was giving me something for the stomach pain as he started to push the medicine into my IV. He didn't tell me the name or even what type of med it was. I assumed it was Dicyclomine which is a muscle relaxer that works well on stomach issues and is usually what they give me in the ER.
Turns out he gave me 2.5mg of Droperidol. Which is confusing on many levels. I wasn't complaining of any nausea or vomiting. That dose is on the higher end. I've learned that a starting dose would generally be 0.625mg and it's usually given in a drip not a push. Droperidol is also not supposed to be given unless other meds were unsuccessful. He was monitoring my heart rate at least.
As soon as it went in the IV my stomach pain stopped but the worst feeling I've ever had in my life came over. I wanted to rip the IV out and leave the hospital immediately. I couldn't get comfortable. I couldn't stop moving my legs. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. No one asked me about any of these symptoms or mentioned akathisia. I still didn't even know the name of what they gave me.
They finally released me and an awful night began. Finally I managed to drive myself to a motel, rent a room, take some of my rx Ambien that I thankfully had with me, and get some sleep. The worst came the next morning. I needed to get up and get a shower and leave since the motel had an 11am checkout. I couldn't do it. I had no idea what was wrong. I just stayed in bed wrapped in blankets, shaking, crying, moving my legs restless. I forced myself into the shower thinking it may help but ended up jumping out halfway through with soap still all over me and practically throwing myself back into the bed crying the whole time. I thought I was losing my mind.
I finally called the front desk and asked if I could extend my stay another night and thank God they were able to charge my card on file without me coming in. My husband was expecting me and I had to call him next and tell him, "I'm so sorry, I know you need me there, I don't know what's wrong with me I think I'm having a nervous break down I can't get out of bed." thank God as well that he was so understanding and took care of everything then showed up with some benadryl and magnesium.
We still did not know it was akathisia but benadryl and magnesium are good for anxiety so that's what we tried. He logged on to the mychart app to see what they had given me then looked droperidol up and saw all the info about akathisia. That's when we finally figured it out. He called my psychiatrist (thank God I see her every month anyway for adhd) and she was able to do a telehealth visit and see what bad shape I was in. She called in Ativan 3x a day for 2 weeks and I see her for another appointment when they run out.
I luckily had a lot of "experimental" type meds because I've been trying to biohack some other health related issues and I think they came in handy. One is an injection combo I get from Unchained Sarms called sweet dreams that has 100mg GABA, 50MG Theanine, 100mg Taurine, and 100mg magnesium per ML. It never did help me sleep enough for me to stop taking the ambien so it was just sitting around mostly unused in what I (jokingly) call my pulp fiction kit but I believe it came in really handy for the akathisia. 1ml of that pinned in my thigh and my legs calmed down immediately. I also had some BPC157 intranasal and some nad+ intranasal and I think they helped a little as well.
The thing is... It's been a week today and while I'm not as bad as I was I'm still a long way from my normal self. Really hoping the delivery of magnesium threonate is the cure I need. If it's helped anyone else let me know.
2023.05.29 21:51 hlma96 What do you think of this and what would your answer be?
 | submitted by hlma96 to DaysofOurLives [link] [comments] |
2023.05.29 21:41 svifted I need to let go, but I love her.
My 17 year old daughter is my middle child and my only with BPD. My oldest is 23 and says she has a happy life with love and adventure, my youngest is 12 and says he loves me and his father and has a good life, yet my middle daughter feels none of this. She hates us all. She claims to anyone who will listen that she had a terrible childhood, was beaten everyday, locked up, and we never took care of her. The problem is that she has never been hit, ever. We have had her with a psychiatrist for two years, they have tried many medications, it just gets worse and worse.
Reality is we always tried to give each of our kids what they wanted and made absolutely sure they had what they needed. She has never been hit, never missed a meal, always had cloths, soap, a nice home.. When she wanted to try dance we paid hundreds a month for the best dance school in the area, same with karate, guitar lessons, horseback riding lessons, then volleyball, then jiujitsu, then hockey….when she wanted to learn to ride a motorcycle we bought her a dirt bike and headed out to teach her, when she was 15 I took her out to teach her to drive…
We were there cheering for her as much as possible, yet she got angry any time one of us had to take another kid to a sport or worked. She never stayed with a sport more than a year, and always ended them with an embarrassing tantrum because she claimed she was being bullied or the instructor was not giving her any attention. She could not handle that anyone else might be as good as, or better than her and would get angry, yet absolutely would never practice.
We go out to dinner a few times a week and we have spent 100s of dinners with her sobbing at the table trying to get the wait staff to give her attention because she did not get to pick the restaurant. If anyone orders barbecue she will start shaking and sobbing and swear we have to leave because it gives her a panic attack (she does not like to see people eat it). If we go anywhere when she’s at a sleepover or party she is furious and will have a full scale meltdown when she gets home.
She is vindictive and has set her siblings and “friends” up to get them in trouble so many times. Not just the usual kid stuff, but things like laying down in the middle of the road and claiming they pushed her in front of a car (lucky for my oldest a neighbor had a camera), stealing from a neighbor and framing my oldest, and following my sons hockey team to where there were no adults and making fun of him in front of his friends. She can’t handle friends spending time with anyone other than her and claims they hurt or bully her if they try.
Her latest attention grab was to set up discord channels where men can pay her to get naked. She has different “lives” for each guy or group of guys, mostly that she is an abused teen who needs them to send her money and burner phones so that she can escape the room she is kept locked up in. We caught her, we were on vacation at a beach and caught her posting that she had been beaten so bad that she could not be on camera for a week. She was sitting at a beach side restaurant in a bikini eating freaking oysters when she posted that. We looked through her computer and phone, she had been telling people these lies for years. She even told some of them that I committed suicide and it caused her to have daddy issues. We took away all internet and omg our lives have become hell.
She ramped up by a million times due to this “betrayal” of grounding her. She claims that we took away her happiness and deserve everything she has done since. So far she has tried to have us arrested multiple times for abuse, tried to take an order of protection out on us, claimed I tried to abort her, claimed we tried to force her to get a sex change operation, and claimed we beat her every day.
Currently she’s hiding at a guys house. She has demanded our computers, pets, and all of her things be given to her, along with money of course, and that we leave her alone.
CPS says we should just leave her alone, that she is as safe as she will allow herself to be and we need to protect our son from her. Our village chief of police will not go get her, states she is just going to keep hurting herself and framing us, but the county sheriff says we should get her before she ends up dead. Our attorney says legally we need to keep trying to bring her home. Her psychiatrist says they have a few places for people with her issues, but they are more likely just a temporary relief and not covered by insurance since her issues are not curable and she is not a real physical danger to herself or others.
I can’t see that this can get better while she is in denial that she has any mental illness. She’s not taking her meds and I can only imagine what is next. I do not know how to stop loving her and let her go, or how to love her like I did before her illness destroyed so much of our lives. She will be 18 in a few months and I have to figure out how to deal with the fact that she will never remember her actual childhood or how much she was loved.
submitted by svifted to parentsofkidswithBPD [link] [comments]
Reality is we always tried to give each of our kids what they wanted and made absolutely sure they had what they needed. She has never been hit, never missed a meal, always had cloths, soap, a nice home.. When she wanted to try dance we paid hundreds a month for the best dance school in the area, same with karate, guitar lessons, horseback riding lessons, then volleyball, then jiujitsu, then hockey….when she wanted to learn to ride a motorcycle we bought her a dirt bike and headed out to teach her, when she was 15 I took her out to teach her to drive…
We were there cheering for her as much as possible, yet she got angry any time one of us had to take another kid to a sport or worked. She never stayed with a sport more than a year, and always ended them with an embarrassing tantrum because she claimed she was being bullied or the instructor was not giving her any attention. She could not handle that anyone else might be as good as, or better than her and would get angry, yet absolutely would never practice.
We go out to dinner a few times a week and we have spent 100s of dinners with her sobbing at the table trying to get the wait staff to give her attention because she did not get to pick the restaurant. If anyone orders barbecue she will start shaking and sobbing and swear we have to leave because it gives her a panic attack (she does not like to see people eat it). If we go anywhere when she’s at a sleepover or party she is furious and will have a full scale meltdown when she gets home.
She is vindictive and has set her siblings and “friends” up to get them in trouble so many times. Not just the usual kid stuff, but things like laying down in the middle of the road and claiming they pushed her in front of a car (lucky for my oldest a neighbor had a camera), stealing from a neighbor and framing my oldest, and following my sons hockey team to where there were no adults and making fun of him in front of his friends. She can’t handle friends spending time with anyone other than her and claims they hurt or bully her if they try.
Her latest attention grab was to set up discord channels where men can pay her to get naked. She has different “lives” for each guy or group of guys, mostly that she is an abused teen who needs them to send her money and burner phones so that she can escape the room she is kept locked up in. We caught her, we were on vacation at a beach and caught her posting that she had been beaten so bad that she could not be on camera for a week. She was sitting at a beach side restaurant in a bikini eating freaking oysters when she posted that. We looked through her computer and phone, she had been telling people these lies for years. She even told some of them that I committed suicide and it caused her to have daddy issues. We took away all internet and omg our lives have become hell.
She ramped up by a million times due to this “betrayal” of grounding her. She claims that we took away her happiness and deserve everything she has done since. So far she has tried to have us arrested multiple times for abuse, tried to take an order of protection out on us, claimed I tried to abort her, claimed we tried to force her to get a sex change operation, and claimed we beat her every day.
Currently she’s hiding at a guys house. She has demanded our computers, pets, and all of her things be given to her, along with money of course, and that we leave her alone.
CPS says we should just leave her alone, that she is as safe as she will allow herself to be and we need to protect our son from her. Our village chief of police will not go get her, states she is just going to keep hurting herself and framing us, but the county sheriff says we should get her before she ends up dead. Our attorney says legally we need to keep trying to bring her home. Her psychiatrist says they have a few places for people with her issues, but they are more likely just a temporary relief and not covered by insurance since her issues are not curable and she is not a real physical danger to herself or others.
I can’t see that this can get better while she is in denial that she has any mental illness. She’s not taking her meds and I can only imagine what is next. I do not know how to stop loving her and let her go, or how to love her like I did before her illness destroyed so much of our lives. She will be 18 in a few months and I have to figure out how to deal with the fact that she will never remember her actual childhood or how much she was loved.
2023.05.29 21:38 Orphandestroyer98 Proceed with Caution 3
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Memory transcript subject: Vila, Venlil huntress in training Date: [standardized human time] October 25th 2136
I entered my house and put my bag on the hanger. I heard the tv, an episode of Clan of Hunters was on.
“Hey mom I’m back!” I heard mom walking out of the kitchen. I watched as she approached me.
“Hello welcome back my little huntress” moms tail gave a happy flick. She was eating some jerky.
“Wheres the human?” Mom looked over to me. Her wool was still nice. Her claws seemed like they were washed recently
“Oh Chris is in his room over there” mom pointed to the blue door. I walked over my tail wagging in anticipation.
I grabbed the door knob and opened the door. Looks like Chris set his room up pretty well. There was so much space in the room because the humans belongings were so small.
“Chris where are you?” I looked around the room but I couldn’t see the human anywhere. I opened his closet and saw a bunch of glass boxes with insects in them. I also saw a couple toy guns that looked kinda real along with a poncho and a hat.
I shut the closet and looked around the room before heading to the bed. Speh this bed was huge for a human yet there was still lots of space. I was looking at the bed when.
“HOLY SPEH!” I screamed as the human dove out from under the bed and grabbed my leg. I pulled away and saw the brown haired human sticking from under the bed.
“Hello you must be Vila” Chris pulled himself out from under the bed. He was wearing what humans call a sweater. It was a green one with a yellow stripe in the middle.
“I am and you must be the human mom adopted” Chris extended his hand towards me and gave a slight smile without showing his teeth.
I carefully grabbed his hand with my claws and we shook. I then let go and he ran and jumped onto his bed.
“I saw you looked at my pets” he got up and walked towards the closet and opened it. He then flicked a switch and the boxes were lit up.
“This is my pet scorpion” he picked up the insect carefully and let it crawl on his hand. Chris made sure to be still so it wouldn’t sting him.
“Do you wanna hold him?” He looked up at me with those light brown eyes of his. He held the scorpion up to me.
“Uh no no I couldn’t” I waved my tail dismissively. Chris than frowned slightly and put the scorpion back in its box.
He then got up and turned on his tv. He went ahead and turned on some animated show like some nice calm show. He sat on his bed and watched the screen.
“Hey Chris?” Chris turned towards me. He was sitting like a pup. His face was that of curiosity.
“Would it be ok for my friends to come over and meet you?”
“How about tomorrow I’m still getting used to the house” understandable I didn’t want to overwhelm Chris. Prey species obviously couldn’t handle that right away so was best to give him the time necessary.
I started to walk away when Chris got up and went over to me. He motioned for me to kneel down and I reluctantly agreed. If my friends and classmates saw me listening to a prey species I’d be the laughing stock of the school.
I knelt down and head reached his hand over my head and started to scratch it. It actually felt really good his tiny hands going through my wool.
After a while he stopped and headed back into his bed to watch his show.
I exited and closed the door to his room. I then headed to my room to do some work and talk with my friends.
submitted by Orphandestroyer98 to NatureofPredators [link] [comments]
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Memory transcript subject: Vila, Venlil huntress in training Date: [standardized human time] October 25th 2136
I entered my house and put my bag on the hanger. I heard the tv, an episode of Clan of Hunters was on.
“Hey mom I’m back!” I heard mom walking out of the kitchen. I watched as she approached me.
“Hello welcome back my little huntress” moms tail gave a happy flick. She was eating some jerky.
“Wheres the human?” Mom looked over to me. Her wool was still nice. Her claws seemed like they were washed recently
“Oh Chris is in his room over there” mom pointed to the blue door. I walked over my tail wagging in anticipation.
I grabbed the door knob and opened the door. Looks like Chris set his room up pretty well. There was so much space in the room because the humans belongings were so small.
“Chris where are you?” I looked around the room but I couldn’t see the human anywhere. I opened his closet and saw a bunch of glass boxes with insects in them. I also saw a couple toy guns that looked kinda real along with a poncho and a hat.
I shut the closet and looked around the room before heading to the bed. Speh this bed was huge for a human yet there was still lots of space. I was looking at the bed when.
“HOLY SPEH!” I screamed as the human dove out from under the bed and grabbed my leg. I pulled away and saw the brown haired human sticking from under the bed.
“Hello you must be Vila” Chris pulled himself out from under the bed. He was wearing what humans call a sweater. It was a green one with a yellow stripe in the middle.
“I am and you must be the human mom adopted” Chris extended his hand towards me and gave a slight smile without showing his teeth.
I carefully grabbed his hand with my claws and we shook. I then let go and he ran and jumped onto his bed.
“I saw you looked at my pets” he got up and walked towards the closet and opened it. He then flicked a switch and the boxes were lit up.
“This is my pet scorpion” he picked up the insect carefully and let it crawl on his hand. Chris made sure to be still so it wouldn’t sting him.
“Do you wanna hold him?” He looked up at me with those light brown eyes of his. He held the scorpion up to me.
“Uh no no I couldn’t” I waved my tail dismissively. Chris than frowned slightly and put the scorpion back in its box.
He then got up and turned on his tv. He went ahead and turned on some animated show like some nice calm show. He sat on his bed and watched the screen.
“Hey Chris?” Chris turned towards me. He was sitting like a pup. His face was that of curiosity.
“Would it be ok for my friends to come over and meet you?”
“How about tomorrow I’m still getting used to the house” understandable I didn’t want to overwhelm Chris. Prey species obviously couldn’t handle that right away so was best to give him the time necessary.
I started to walk away when Chris got up and went over to me. He motioned for me to kneel down and I reluctantly agreed. If my friends and classmates saw me listening to a prey species I’d be the laughing stock of the school.
I knelt down and head reached his hand over my head and started to scratch it. It actually felt really good his tiny hands going through my wool.
After a while he stopped and headed back into his bed to watch his show.
I exited and closed the door to his room. I then headed to my room to do some work and talk with my friends.
2023.05.29 21:33 LalaAqua Red flags everywhere
So I interviewed clients to watch their dogs and everything was going well with the schedule and terms so far. All until I went to check the environment, seeing how they care for their dogs and asked about past sitters.
First red flag. I noticed that they never changed the bucket of water used to clean up their mess. Plus the product they used for the clean up was super strong to the point it smelled like chemical fumes. I asked what did they use. They said some pet friendly brand. Now I don't know any pet brands for floor cleaning. I use a bit of soap, bleach and mainly water and always swap out for a fresh bucket after every mess. Keep in mind that bucket was still dirty for more than 2 hours of my free unpaid time.
Second red flag. Ventilation needed major update. I was there for an hour or so and with the fumes it caused me concern for not only for me but for the dogs. The client didn't have a estimated time to update ventilation.
Third flag. Their current sitters seem either done or tired. Apparently two sitters before them must have quit at the same time. The dogs couldn't have been the reason because they seem chill and easy to manage. One of them pulled me to the side and told me that there was communication issues. After back and forth emails for more details with the clients it was confirmed that the clients lacked to communicate more clearly and direct.
Final flag. Clients decided to change their pay to under minimum per hour then a change in hours.
I decided. Sorry no. Been there done that. Sorry. It was just more insulting after I turned someone else down for them. They had the nerve to ask me to show up the next day. I immediately emailed them to say I'm sorry but I have to withdraw after all factors considered.
Let me know your thoughts pet sitters. How would you responded or handled this?
submitted by LalaAqua to petsitting [link] [comments]
First red flag. I noticed that they never changed the bucket of water used to clean up their mess. Plus the product they used for the clean up was super strong to the point it smelled like chemical fumes. I asked what did they use. They said some pet friendly brand. Now I don't know any pet brands for floor cleaning. I use a bit of soap, bleach and mainly water and always swap out for a fresh bucket after every mess. Keep in mind that bucket was still dirty for more than 2 hours of my free unpaid time.
Second red flag. Ventilation needed major update. I was there for an hour or so and with the fumes it caused me concern for not only for me but for the dogs. The client didn't have a estimated time to update ventilation.
Third flag. Their current sitters seem either done or tired. Apparently two sitters before them must have quit at the same time. The dogs couldn't have been the reason because they seem chill and easy to manage. One of them pulled me to the side and told me that there was communication issues. After back and forth emails for more details with the clients it was confirmed that the clients lacked to communicate more clearly and direct.
Final flag. Clients decided to change their pay to under minimum per hour then a change in hours.
I decided. Sorry no. Been there done that. Sorry. It was just more insulting after I turned someone else down for them. They had the nerve to ask me to show up the next day. I immediately emailed them to say I'm sorry but I have to withdraw after all factors considered.
Let me know your thoughts pet sitters. How would you responded or handled this?
2023.05.29 21:32 Beautiful_Repair1771 Merchandise (Kumakawa edition)
Seria: I can't believe this child! I throw everything I got at her and it doesn't even-
Squeaky sounds
Seria: Looks down What. Are.....Those!?
Touma wearing mental out shoes: I don't know, I think they look kinda dashing.
Seria approach Touma menacingly: I got 24 hrs to take care of this bozoo before the entire scheme I've been planning for the past few days goes up in smokes. And. You. Are Wearing!
Touma: 😱
Seria: HER MERCHANDISE!!!
Sipping sound
Maria:......... Heh thirsty!!
Seria in soap opera mode: AHHHHHH
submitted by Beautiful_Repair1771 to toarumajutsunoindex [link] [comments]
Squeaky sounds
Seria: Looks down What. Are.....Those!?
Touma wearing mental out shoes: I don't know, I think they look kinda dashing.
Seria approach Touma menacingly: I got 24 hrs to take care of this bozoo before the entire scheme I've been planning for the past few days goes up in smokes. And. You. Are Wearing!
Touma: 😱
Seria: HER MERCHANDISE!!!
Sipping sound
Maria:......... Heh thirsty!!
Seria in soap opera mode: AHHHHHH
2023.05.29 21:29 AlienNationSSB #Alien-Nation Chapter 168: Now or Never
Alien-Nation Chapter 168: Now or Never
All Chapters First Chapter of Alien-Nation Previous ChapterChapter summary: Elias wanders the grounds inspecting everything he can, has a fatheson moment with Larry then sends Vaughn to go try and spring people from jail.
I gave it a pass after measuring against a rod. Certainly it was far from the highest of technologies at our disposal, but certainly it would be either lethal, injurious, or at the very least, extremely loud. The gathered mishmashed array of weaponry pointing outward was impressive enough, but the real piece de resistance was the sheer number of railguns we'd had returned to us, frequently carried by a two man team. I signed off on it for final inspection, noting the plug in place over the end, and went to the railgun positioned further down the trench near the intersection.
This was one I recognized. This shared at least something in common to the cannon, insofar as it was far from the latest model at our disposal. I spotted some of my own extremely crude handiwork, a far more rough set of welds performed along the plate's protective, unsanded metal edges. Mister Singer, if he were ever presented with it, may have recognized the shoddy, unstable hand that welded together some of the protective casing. The service flap told me the model without needing to even open it, the household door frame hinges pulled from Verns' stock of spare parts bin, before we implemented something even so basic as refined latches with catch points.
That had to make this a Mk. II. Sentimentality had no place on the front lines. I sucked in a breath at the sight of another old muzzle-loader being carried into the workshop for upgrades, already laid out on the timber worktable and ready for use and sucked in a breath.
I just hoped the earliest design of managing power flow wouldn't give out from the faster firing. Complex but beautifully arrayed piping had given way to simpler, more streamlined designs as we incorporated a greater number of readily available alien parts. Some of which we were supplied an initial batch of in the bag with the blueprints, and then we were told how to work free those same parts from various broken pieces of technology we'd reclaimed off the Shil'vati, or even the freely given away omni-pads. With every iteration we demonstrated a degree of adaptation to using the parts we had available, and each generation marked a leap forward in our own understanding of Shil'vati technology, courtesy of G-Man and his father's handiwork.
The final barrels of the extremely limited run of the second batch we'd paid handsomely for were marked 'present,' too. They had gone the least far afield, with one already slagging itself during the attack on the data center. I frowned at the spreadsheet, as if my impression of it might cause their fate to improve.
The latest blueprints could maintain a decent rate of fire without burning out its power management system located in the welded together case. Or, rather, the barrel gave out first. For the first time, perhaps as a result of being coupled with the magazines and a relatively rapid-fire exchange meant the neosteel barrels we received had finally become the weak point in the design.
It was only after we'd returned to Camp Death that I'd noticed the difference.
The new batch we'd paid dearly for seemed somewhat altered from the first batch we'd been building all the others out of, made from an alloyed material that shone somewhat dimmer under the sun as George and I worked in the shed elbow-to-elbow, though the contrast was not immediately obvious until one held the two against each other. It was slightly thicker, too, all of which to me indicated a change in supply in some manner, but our supplier had hardly announced themselves to Sam.
This was a troubling puzzle to me. I still couldn't be sure it was the new microbatch of barrels alloys being far from equal to the originals we'd finally finished building out? Or was it the expanded magazines and power couplings' ability to fire faster creating an overall volume of fire that overheated the barrel from overuse? Or was the power management design faulty, generating more heat per shot? Were we misusing them?
I measured the barrel of the Mk. II, just to be sure the shelf life of the barrel hadn't come due. So far, inspections of the original batch of barrels had mercifully indicated they'd all been brought back here were in comparatively great shape, with this one being no exception. That lent me some comfort that these new barrels were just not up to the task of heavy, sustained fire. I couldn't know that for certain, and an unreliable weapon was cause for anxiety.
Indeed, there was almost no wear on this version at all, disproving the worst case scenario that these were only good for a certain number of rounds before they'd be worn down to uselessness. Certainly, they'd eventually give out, but it seemed we were still far off from that point.
"Sir?" Asked the gunner, staring at me.
I stared at him, then down at the spreadsheet. "This thing fires three rounds a minute. Do you think that rate of fire is sufficient?"
I could tell he wasn't sure whether a 'no' would have him replaced with someone professing to be more accurate.
"Get it upgraded." I took the white gel pen and scribbled on it- make ready for an upgrade as soon as the final repaired railgun clears the shed. Assigned to casemate #4, Operator... "Call sign?"
"Brut," he answered.
"Brut...with the Umlaut?" He gave a thumbs up and I added them. Costing nothing but a drop of gel ink for a little personalization if it made for a happy gunner was a good investment. "Use it well. Get it upgraded if there's time, keep an eye on the work shed. Once the repairs stop, you can take this to the front of the line, Brüt."
There was no point dismantling all our old ones and creating a backlog while some still needed repairs. I wrote on the hatch Upgrade from Mk. II to Mk. IV. That would give it a magazine and more than triple its firing rate. Anything more than that, I quietly held my doubts for the feasibility of upgrading in a timely manner. The Mark V's took too much time and effort to build their complex power management systems for not enough gain, stuffed too tightly into the protective case to be completed quickly. The Mark VI's tended to overheat their crude fire control circuitry, the consequence of an overcorrection back to simplicity; they could maintain a high fire rate, but were too delicate. The VII's were the ones with the new barrel. Promising, but those barrel faults...I still worried it might have been the power management system.
We'd started considering adding water tanks to help maintain them, but it brought the weight higher than that of a Mk. I, and successfully swapping a boiling hot tank off a delicate, electronically-loaded railgun in combat seemed like a very questionable use of the time. We'd just have to ask the crews manning the railguns to be a bit judicious in our fire, and hope that the flaw was limited to the new little batch of barrels.
How many rounds, exactly, and exactly how fast was yet to be determined; we hadn't conducted the amount of testing a proper military might carry out, but while we had no shortage to man, we also did not have so many as to test dozens until their point of failure, weighing and comparing all their possible conditions.
All this uncertainty kept bouncing around my head. How many troops did we have here? How many rounds for every type of rifle, including the more exotic variants? How reliant on them were we to deal damage, and was it all stored somewhat safely? On the less direct side of things, how many tons of food did we have stored, and was it distributed well? How many thousands of gallons of water could we draw? How many pounds of soap to wash utensils, cups, wounds, and shower with? How many pounds of food over how many men, to last how many days? If it rained, some of these might be alleviated, and yet might kick off a whole host of other issues. There was no way of knowing, no way of taking a perfect stock. But I could estimate.
We had a lot of people. And a lot of guns. And a lot of defenses, and literally countless tons of high explosives, triggered by various means and methods. And we were mad as hell. While exactly how mad was less concrete a figure, I knew this many men away from home could end poorly.
Ultimately, whether it was the fault of the new barrel or the design had finally reached the limitations of its potential rate of fire without causing other issues, I couldn't say for certain. So I had to do my best.
I gave the railgun a clean bill of health to operate if needed, 'priority upgrade,' and noted the rate of fire for the defensive position at 'three a minute.' This one being one of our oldest models, I left it to the operator with my blessings, and made a mental note to add the next railgun we had to be stationed nearby, just so that we weren't under strength from that angle.
I craned my neck from the trench to behold even more insurgents trickling into the old clearing. The arrivals always came in ones-and-twos, their body language telling me the story of the journey it had taken to get here. They'd had to have abandoned their vehicles to the traffic-snarled roads almost certainly some miles away unless they knew the path George and I would occasionally take;.
Those who brought their own heavy weapons lay them down at their feet before collapsing. Water and food was distributed, though I couldn't speak to the quality, and a trash run would have to be made, tossing the empty tins into ammunition containers.
Of all the newcomers who had yet to be organized into place, I counted two mortars, several more volunteers grouping up to retrieve ammo after taking down descriptions of the vehicles from their exhausted owners and sprinting back out into the night to fetch whatever had been left behind.
The resourcefulness lifted my spirits. No one entertained the notion that these men were taking their leave to flee a certain doom. All present felt some degree of faith, understood who they were, why they were here, and what we were setting out to accomplish. Cells worked to find one another in the darkness, congealing themselves into a more coherent, practiced fighting force by virtue of familiarity with one another. Discipline was sharp and needed little enforcement past an initial reminder. No flashlights switched on inside the premises or campfires were lit despite the encroaching edges of the cold front. Insurgents were guided to whatever defensive positions, pillboxes, trenches, battlements, or bunkers still sat empty, depending somewhat on their expected role after detailing their skills to sentries or those otherwise familiar with the camp carefully explaining sight lines and our overall defensive strategy.
Whispered word overheard from those arrivals seemed to indicate a mixture of panic and outrage was fast spreading through the state's populace, carrying them on frightened wings as they took flight in the night, from here to the southernmost beaches and bays. It seemed word had gotten out successfully, then. That knocked down one more obstacle to our success, or at least set the pieces in place. Soon, all that would remain would be the ugly business of following through, and hoping, no praying that I hadn't massively miscalculated in my hubris.
I took the ramp out of the trench so they could pour some loose gravel into it, helping ensure that if those threatening looking storm clouds opened and if the drains clogged, we still would have some footing, and retired to the command cabin, eyeing how empty it felt with all the finished products being set into defensive arrangements; only the workshop still retained all its rather explosive concoctions.
The manpower situation was such that those familiar in reliably manufacturing complex bombs were spending their time setting up defenses in the fields beyond and settling in our new arrivals.
And then I had the couple hostages, weakened by months of captivity, restrained and kept under guard, but still sitting right on top of the half-done armaments.
I told myself that we had taken precautions- the most reactive sets separated by a thin membranous bag of water to prevent chain reactions from taking root and a few emergency containment systems, but they relied on someone present. I'd need all hands on deck- and what if a direct lance of energy landed from some heavy weapon hit the shed, perhaps to try and make a point? No mere bag of water would make a difference then.
Then again, if they brought that king of weaponry to bear, then the outcome would be certain. The Shil'vati would still lose their hostages, and have tacitly admitted I'd forced their hand, and that they'd declared we were enough of a threat to sacrifice noblewomen just to put a stop to.
I hunched over a smaller map in the command cabin, pinning down the garrisons and jails Verns might be held in. Perhaps I'd been premature in my assessment in lacking a future need of a good map when I'd jumped atop the table for my little motivational speech. I'd gotten caught up in the moment; I hadn't foreseen the need for an offensive element.
I was sorely missing my Lieutenants. Vendetta wasn't here, which was one of the greater anxieties weighing on my shoulders.
The one word I'd whispered in his ear all that time ago to bring him around to believing I did, in fact, have a plan: Victory. He should be here already.
He'd sprinted off across the field in glee back when I told him of this plan's possibility, that "Plan C" might come about due to a few cells going dark and my suspicion that it wasn't moles. The null hypothesis, that there were in fact moles, had put him in direct danger by sending him to double-check.
I cursed my blindness. My eagerness to take a night off, to get him out of the way so he wouldn't clash with the others, so I could be a 'normal boy' for a night and attend a party- one I wouldn't be kicked out of, To find social acceptance.
All part of a 'coming of age,' even after I'd already spilt blood, led a war campaign effort, kissed, earned more money than most would see in a lifetime, and mentally cut ties with my family. By almost any account, I already was a man, yet I'd gotten obsessive in imitating the modern trappings of defining such things. I should have seen the cells reporting members' absences and even going dark as a whole for what it was. I could have called off Town Hall, started assembling even more people here.
Then again, if I had, then perhaps...the shil'vati might not have started grabbing everyone. I hated to think of Verns as 'sacrificial.' They likely didn't have much on him, just a neighbor's report. Then again, we'd had that meeting right after the bar fight at Lucky's, right? How thoroughly had George cleared out his house, if they went back to rummage around and investigate? How well could George cover his tracks? We'd left that ammo crate in the hallway, for starters- clumsy of us, yet we were in a panic. Like children. I tensed as I remembered so vividly the sudden sharp report of the gun, watched Patrick's empty eyes stare up. But not children.
There was nothing I could do for Vendetta. We'd sent the Bat Signal out. Either he'd be here, or he'd miss it.
I weighed the value of sending George away once he got here. The order would certainly annoy him after he'd just arrived, something of an arduous task given how far backed up the traffic had become. I also knew it meant I'd have one fewer lieutenant here, where I desperately needed him. I could hardly ask him to burn down the childhood home, and it would certainly reek of hiding evidence.
"Sir," A sentry stood in the door frame, and I stretched from where my muscles had tensed up, pulling my shoulders back and yawning silently beneath my mask, lumbering toward him.
I didn't realize how tall I'd gotten until I realized he was staring up at me and had taken a half-step backwards- not to make way so I could lead from the door, either, but almost defensively.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked, stopping in place.
"We've received a message for you, sir. Radio is reporting that a 'Hex' has checked in from her position. She and Binary report 'Green as Grass,' sir."
I wasn't used to being called 'sir,' and it caught me off guard. I realized he was standing there, waiting for a response from me of some sort, too.
What should I say for him to send back to Hex? I momentarily remembered the sensation of the kiss, the warm, slightly wet softness, the tenderness, and felt a bit of a blush under my mask. While every instinct screamed at me to not air even a hint of my romances or inner turmoil about a kiss over the unencrypted connection, there was a level of 'not talking about it' that I was unfamiliar with and hadn't planned for. Could my message back be coded into something subtle? Nothing came to mind.
"G-good," I finally stuttered a little awkwardly. "That's very good."
"What does it mean, sir?"
I pushed the distractions out of my head. This was no time to be thinking about girls- and my mind stubbornly disobeyed, wandering right back to Natalie. At first to the hug she'd offered me, when I was scared. Frightened of the mind-wiper device. That tenderness she'd offered- I pushed the memory from my mind, too. This wasn't the time to fantasize, either. I had to live in the world that was before me, here in the present. People were relying on me. I could figure out all that other stuff- girls, hope, my future- sometime later.
"It means the operation can proceed as planned."
If the Twins stopped reporting or got caught with the hostages, then we'd have a lot less leverage stopping Azraea from blowing us all sky high. A couple noblewomen- who I wasn't terribly familiar with and seemed to be somewhat less important, provided they were truthful to me of their station. This unfortunate pair had relied on connections to already-stationed family members to arrive, rather than on their raw political power to muscle their way to Earth's then-closely guarded secret coordinates, and were present only for evidence of said hostages' presence.
"Sir, beg your pardon," I could sense something bubbling under his words, against his better judgment, but some sense of desperation demanded he ask me this anyways. "But what is the operation? I've been manning the airwaves with Radio, helping spread word, but everyone I make contact with seems to want to know."
"I don't see the wisdom in broadcasting the finer details of our plan, I'm sure you understand."
I sensed the inner conflict by the way he froze up. He wanted to object, probably, to swear he wouldn't leak more than the minimum. The problem was, anyone listening for long might take a morsel here, a morsel there, and bring it all together and undo us.
"You have all you're meant to have at this point, frustrating though that must be to try and inform others of the going-ons. Our objective is right before us. When the time comes and the enemy appears, blast them." I didn't want to say there isn't much else to plan. At least, not for them to consider.
"And you, sir?"
"I'll be right here, alongside you," I promised. That seemed to ease some of his pressing curiosity, at least. "We'll be here together, to watch the birth of a miracle." That, or we'd die together. Those words didn't quite have the same catchy ring, though.
I looked over my shoulder back at the map. What more good could be wrought over pondering what jail he might be in, without more details?
"Another matter. Hex said G-Man should arrive in a few minutes."
"Thank you. Anything else to report?"
"No sir, the shortwave beckons." They gave a hand-on-heart and stepped out, leaving the doorframe empty.
I told myself I may as well follow. There was no good to come of disappearing into a tent, secluded for long periods, not when anxiety might run through the gathered troops. I had to make myself seen at least periodically. Besides, it was easier to get a more complete picture from out here than in there.
Radio looked like a one-man-band by the way he was surrounded by boxy electronics of varying sizes, their glows dimmed slightly by thin pieces of fabric taped over the tiny glowing screens, and the trap stretched over his head. Wires snaked their way along the ground, a trooper trying to lay the cable into a thin channel of dirt with a spade to reduce the tripping hazard.
Pierce crouched next to him with a laptop plugged into something wired together, the final outlet of which looked vaguely like an international travel inverter, her fingers flying across the trackpad.
"Radio, how are we?"
"We've made lots of contact, I think. So much traffic on the airwaves it's actually hard to find a clear channel to broadcast on."
"Do they have our encryption keys?" I asked, the question almost automatic.
"No, having one kind of defeats the purpose of being heard and getting the signal out. Besides, encrypting's probably easy for the Shil'vati to crack. Less easy for human intelligence agencies, but impossible for the people who we want to hear us."
I already knew most of this, but humoured him. Little entertained radio quite like his namesake.
"What's our chance of discovery, then? Rough time to them figuring out it's us here, and finding the signal's origin."
"At least with a somewhat uncountable number of HAM signals being thrown across the airwaves, we are a really big needle in a gigantic haystack. Besides, how many times have we actually been where we're broadcasting from?"
That was a point I hadn't considered.
The Shil'vati would likely regard our signal as just a relay point, rather than the source, let alone the destination.
Would they strike it just to silence the orders, once they figured out how many of them were originating from the same point?
I comforted myself by staring upstream of the creek that wandered to the south of Camp Death, following its course with my eyes to where it flowed under the concrete tunnels under the highway, under the train tracks, to where it ultimately ran back to where Radio and I had visited Saint Michael's. Then I turned my head back across the field, toward where the foundation of Mojo and Mister Pasta's had been, where Vaughn had called in the kill team on the Fed's sting operation,
We'd certainly set up plenty of remote broadcast towers before, to entice them into launching strikes on collaborationists. That Saint Michael's was still standing after we'd broadcast all kinds of propaganda from there meant they'd almost certainly learned to be a bit more cautious about lashing out blindly.
In the darkness I saw a familiar figure materialize, and with a bit of relief, I ran up to greet Larry. I wanted to give the old mechanic a hug, but knew that expressions of intimacy while standing near the middle of the camp's defensive perimeter in front of everyone was more than a bit inappropriate, and settled for a nod of acknowledgment.
"I cleaned up the mess at Jules place," he said, going back to referring to his friend by their code name, glancing at Pierce.
I felt a moment of shame. We'd panicked and grabbed everything. Perhaps we were like children after all, leaving our toys out and in the hall. "Thank you."
"Saw Patrick."
"Patrick saw," I said back. "Patrick- called."
Whatever Larry was about to say, that brought him up short. "Oh. Oh." The words seemed to leave him pained. He'd known Patrick, too, and I felt the weight of guilt. It seemed he moved on faster than I could, because he changed the topic quickly.
"What's up?" He gestured at the radio setup.
Pierce seemed to be quite engrossed in her work, trying to connect the laptop to a radio via a USB cable, fumbling with the port in the dark. The laptop's screen was showing a shaky handheld video of a mass arrest- and I thought I could hear my own voice echoing the words I'd spoken just a short while ago.
"Just uploading the speech. I've spliced it up to some footage that one of the newcomers brought. We'll also be exporting raw versions of both- just the audio, the video, make sure people have the record and can decide for themselves."
Sometimes the truth was the best propaganda.
"How are you getting video out? I thought the internet was down."
Radio held a hand up, and then put it down, as if I'd been a teacher asking a question and he'd been chasing extra credit. The next few sentences were practically a foreign language to me, uttering a series of numbers in rapid succession, followed by what sounded like a name. That may've been a model, an edition of a model, a make, a special form of broadcasting- all of it may well have been bounced off the ionosphere for how far it went over my head. I wasn't used to being so completely out of my depth, but everyone seems to have specialized in some skill or another. I'd preferred getting involved in all aspects of the revolution, but at a certain point delegation was a necessity, and I was watching not just the task's needs, but also the capabilities of my lieutenants grow well past my ability to offer useful insight and guidance.
"I...see." I didn't, but I wasn't sure what else to say. I wanted to express curiosity, but I felt like this new capability was something we'd discuss later, if there was a later. "And people can receive high definition video over shortwave? It just takes a long time?"
It seemed to me to be an apparently somewhat technical process to perform over shortwave, and only when finally pressed for details, Radio at last admitted something I did understand: "I am not sure most people know how to collect the signal, or have the right equipment to, but I'm sure someone will, Maybe that person will redistribute the videos."
There. Actionable, useful information.
"Then continue," I said. "At least unless anything more pressing jumps up to do."
"Let's hope it's good for more than the history books," Pierce commented mildly.
"The world has to know, and I am certain the shil'vati have no interest in putting such footage out there. That's reason enough for us, isn't it?" I watched Radio nod and then scurry about the camp, tracing one of the wires toward the antenna array nearest the highway. I turned to Larry, breaking off from the amusing spectacle. "Do you remember my promise?" My question was genuine, but he seemed to waver slightly, now that the possibility of actually delivering on it was here and present. Perhaps the aura of our inner circle's invincibility had been shattered with the loss of his neighbors, and it would be best to set his mind to something productive. "If you want it to come true, see to it that the mortar teams are trained. Get the cannons in position, and make sure we're good for more than just one wave."
Larry snapped a salute, fingers on brow, and I clumsily approximated one in return, though I had never done a salute before in my life. I could sense the slight smile from behind his mask, and with a quick check over his shoulder that no one was watching, he reached out, straightened my palm out slightly, then brought the edge of my palm higher until it was a bit more level. "That's better," he judged, then leaving me alone once I dropped the hand a few seconds later.
George showed up a few minutes earlier than Hex had predicted, out of breath and escorted by a sentry. "Ditched the truck," he wheezed. "The huge bags of claymores and equipment were really heavy. Had to haul it under the interstate." His shoes shone with creekwater; He'd almost certainly taken the path Larry had forbade us from trying, and I couldn't imagine doing it in the pitch black darkness at any speed.
I motioned to the sentry. "Help him get that bag into the workshop." He was the best bomb maker, but he also had helped build this place. I wanted to pick his brain, but I would give him time to rest, first.
"Hey, Radio. Radio!" I heard the shortwave radio he'd set at the top squawk to life with a familiar grumble on the other end, distorted somewhat by the tinny speaker. I scooped it up. Someone with a vocoder- Radio gave those out sparingly.
"'E' here," I answered for him, but didn't want to announce myself. Not right away.
A moment's pause.
"What are your orders?"
"Vendetta?" I wanted to confirm.
"I'm here with over fifty people waiting at Warehouse Base for something to do," I knew the transmission would likely be monitored, but the time for subtlety was over. "You're on speakerphone, by the way."
The line was likely tapped, or at least would be intercepted, its contents determining priority for being passed upward or presented to someone with authority, possibly even Azraea herself.
Whatever orders I gave, they'd have to be in code, or at least sound like something unimportant, low-priority so that we might give him as much opportunity to get the drop on the enemy as he could be afforded.
"Don't bother trying to come here yet," I quickly supplied. "By now, if you're not on your way here, you have your own party to go to." I took a moment to survey the grounds. "We've practically got a full house. See about getting a house party of your own, though you'll have to pull the guests out of their own company. Or something to flank."
"Any idea where to start?"
The map fresh in my mind, I found the answer sprang to me.
"There's a rest stop along Route One. If you've got any party poppers, you can get them to open up to you like a can opener. You know, it's all about introducing yourself well."
I heard him laugh mirthlessly, the sound coming through like a cheese grater run over the asphalt.
"That one's a big bite, maybe more than we can chew without choking. Why don't we start with something smaller?"
I wanted to protest, to direct him to the biggest ones first. Then again, how much did they have on Verns? How likely was he to be somewhere heavily defended?
"What do you have in mind?"
"Well, right across the river from where the naughty girls all get sent. Why don't we start there? Every party needs a few ladies, right?" I could hear a roar of assent from the background.
I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that- was he going to try and attack the Shil'vati base? Surely not those women? He wasn't that insane. Then it clicked- the Women's Correctional Facility in Wilmington, just upstream of the Christina River from where he was broadcasting from at the old Warehouse Base. Easy to get to, certainly, and right near the interstate with pedestrian bridges and neighborhoods to scatter in after the strike made it an excellent candidate. Almost certain to succeed.
The strike wouldn't yield us Verns, though forcing the Shil'vati to admit that they couldn't both take and hold their prisoners at the same time might force them to at least pause rounding up ever more people.
If I gave it my blessing, I would be sacrificing any chance of rescuing Verns for...for what? The tradeoff strained my soul to even consider.
"If you feel that's best, you know your crowd. That said, they got Jules- we want him back." He'd helped build Camp Death. He knew its ins and outs, though my real reasons were somewhat sentimental. "Keep an eye out for Morningstar and a few other cells. I've little doubt they can party with the best of them." They were one of my heaviest hitters, routinely bragging they could go clay pigeon hunting with an unguided RPG, yet I was pretty sure I'd never rallied them to Camp Death- if they were to rally, Warehouse Base was where they'd be.
There was a moment of silence, until Vaughn reported back- "Yeah, they're here. They were going to move up to you once they got everyone together. Should we leave instructions for where to find us, or to find you?"
"Do it- supplies are overall good here. Lots of...uh, balloons, confetti..." I felt like I was stretching the analogy too far, so I gave up trying to equate weaponry to party paraphranelia. "...you know, the works. Take Morningstar and use 'em as you see best fit. What've you got for your party? Any good party supplies?" We certainly could make a trash run and see if we could also deliver them some RPGs at the same time.
"Got some Bump-n-Grinds, and you know those are always good for an up-close-and-personal encounter."
I laughed. "From what I read about bumping and grinding? The closer, the better." Their accuracy left a fair bit to be desired. Still, it would be a good, even vital carry just in case those dreaded Security Forces Technicals made an appearance, and would probably be 'good enough' against a stationary target like a wall, especially in the hands of a capable squadron like Talonstar.
"What time are you thinking?"
"I'd say as soon as we're all ready. You really overestimated how many people know where Camp Death is. A fair number showed up here, and are still trickling in."
"Enough to throw several parties at once?" I asked, suddenly hopeful.
"Well, I suppose, maybe, but I'd be wary of partygoers without someone in charge to, uh..." the metaphor seemed to be breaking down, but I got what he was going for.
"Yeah, I see."
"Are you thinking if there are too many noise complaints at once, it'll keep the party going longer?"
"That's part of it, but I'm hoping we might find a particular person we're missing, lost him when we were playing unexpected host. Someone of G-Man's, you'd know him as Jules. A divide and conquer might maximize our odds of finding him."
"Plus, maximize the number of partygoers we pick up as we move. I like it. A few small house parties for every big house. Any special orders?"
"None. K.I.S.S. principle applies. Good, bad, I want it all out on the streets. 'KISS' 'em until they can't see straight." Keep It Simple, Stupid.
"You're certain?" I could hear the hesitancy in his voice. "This is going to be the greatest thing we've ever done, and I want to be by your side for it 'til the end. I don't want any last-minute cancellations, and I sure as hell don't wanna miss it. How long should I party?"
We'd be letting absolute chaos loose. Fire. Looting. The worst of humanity, turned loose, with Vaughn potentially at its head if he decided to recruit for some reason. Could I still claim to be the good guy if I turned those kinds of people free to wreak havoc on the state I claimed whose denizens I was protecting?
Blackstone's Ratio holds that it is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer. It would still hold me no less accountable for whatever followed from this mass prison break, though.
I looked over to the recently arrived George, and hung my head.
So be it.
"Confirmed, Vendetta. I'll next talk to you when you're here in person- call it when you start either getting tired or if the hosts hire a doorman, a bouncer, or something you can't handle. Bring any good partygoers and favors you find, guide them here, O Pied Piper. Over and out." The signal went quiet again, and I turned off our radio, standing and yawning. The hour was late, and it would be my last opportunity for some shuteye.
I pulled aside a few sentries to my first order. I felt it was a strange one, and likely futile: I asked everyone to 'try and get some rest.'
The sentries were going to be exhausted, and I needed them to start working in shifts if we were to maintain our vigil and perimeter. Doubtless, more would be coming, and giving them at least some rest might be a difference-maker. G-Man helped lead the newcomers to the subterranean bunkers and tunnels, trying to make sure everyone had a place to stay the night and resources got split, even if it was throwing tarps and blankets on hard-packed dirt. I eyed the tunnels, knowing which one of them would spit me out near the stream, itself running so low I might as well refer to it as a ravine. Digging that had been cramped, paranoia-inducing, but we'd dug out so much of the hill and filled it with enough weapons to wage a full-scale war. What had begun as almost make-work and a place to store things when we'd started out
I couldn't sleep well on the cot that night, tossing and turning- I even tried resting with the mask off, held in my hands, but the risk to my identity if anyone barged in caused me enough stress. Eventually, I stood and donned it, making my rounds around the camp, trying to calm myself. Instead, I felt eyes following me, and I had to force myself to stand tall. For the thousandth time, I thought of this as my Valley Forge.
The sentry at the door to the command cabin gave me a hand-on-heart, and I returned it.
As I patrolled, I could hear whispered prayers, muttered plans of action, and mercifully, snores. At least some were getting some sleep. I could see orange lights reflecting off the clouds, near where I knew Wilmington lay.
I almost jumped a foot in the air when I felt the tap on my shoulder, only to find G-Man's mask staring into mine. How strange that such a haunting visage was a comfort to me.
"Hey. Can't sleep?"
"I can't," I confessed. "G-Man, I'm sorry what happened with your father. Hell of a birthday." I hadn't even had a chance to give him the present I'd bought him- a couple new filters, and vintage craftsman toolkit, "from before they sold out," Verns had told me. The memory of his voice already felt distant somehow- no. I'll see him again.
"Wasn't your fault. Even if Town Hall wasn't your big idea to get them to retaliate, you know? Then they'd still have done something. But, uh, thanks for saying that. And thanks for trying to get dad out. I'll remember that." George said quietly, then the conversation ended when he turned away and went to the edge of the embankment. Just like that.
I could never quite get a read on him.
I went inside, and tried to force myself to get at least some shut-eye.
Thanks to Inmutabilis-Ratio for helping with the site, it was very helpful in importing the text.
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2023.05.29 21:25 ReauxChambeaux Apologies if it’s been asked but I’d love some advice on keeping mourning doves and blue jays out of my feeders. Does anything work?
I live in the northeast US and my feeders get inundated with doves and jays. I wouldn’t care if they didn’t just sit in/on the feeders taking up all the space. If anybody has advice or links to specific feeders that will eliminate these “feeder-pigs”from coming around I’m all ears. Thanks!
submitted by ReauxChambeaux to birdfeeding [link] [comments]
2023.05.29 21:20 anonyma9822 Small breed recommendations
1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?
7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?
10) What size dog are you looking for?
*small ideally under 10 pounds however no more than 15
11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?
13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?
*snuggly
14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?
18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?
25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.
submitted by anonyma9822 to dogs [link] [comments]
- no, I currently have an elderly terrier mutt
- I’d prefer to go to an ethical breeder
- small ideally under 10 pounds, a large dog in a small dogs body. Very confident and out going willing to go on adventures easy to train and biddable. Has a good off switch and is cuddly
- I’ve looked into various breeds and have been mesmerized by papillons and Chinese crested. I love that they are very Velcro dogs and are eager to please. And how you can do a lot with them.
- apart from basic obedience, fun trick training would be fun
- it would definitely be very fun to be able to dabble into things like rally or agility I’ve never done anything like that before though so it would just be for fun
7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?
- an hour at minimum everyday most likely more though
- an hour at minimum most days, I’m not a fan of dog parks unless they’re empty. Walks would be the most common exercise but depending on what the dog likes more I’d go with that.
- I’d love to do most grooming myself however I’m open to a professional
10) What size dog are you looking for?
*small ideally under 10 pounds however no more than 15
11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?
- I can’t do drool hard pass for me, shedding I’d prefer to be very minimal but a little is okay. Barking as well is okay but I don’t want a yappy dog unless it can be worked on with training
- it would be nice but isn’t a deal breaker
13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?
*snuggly
14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?
- eager to please
- alert barking is fine however I’m not a fan of dogs who will lose there mind and not know to to settle and calm down when asked to stop
- no, doesn’t have to love every dog they meet however can’t be aggressive
- and overly anxious and nervy dog, I want a dog that is confident and not scared of the world around it. That is adaptable, I know a lot is training however a part also is genetics and temperament.
18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?
- depending on my housing situation anywhere between only 2-4 hours some days each week to maybe 8 hours max a day a few days a week
- not overly yappy and minimal shedding
- I have an elderly dog and a cat
- yes semi frequently
- I don’t have any plans as of now
- there are no breeds bans as far as I’m aware in my area
- summer 90-80 but we do reach the hundreds winter typically 20-50 degrees F
25) Please provide any additional information you feel may be relevant.
- No additional information.
2023.05.29 21:06 Saucyross Bowbik and the Rot: the Making of a Spore Druid
Bowbik and the Rot
Most of Bowbiks life was rather simple and uneventful. Like most Tortles he left his home young and lived a rather solitary life, but while most Tortles live a nomadic lifestyle, Bowbik liked to plant roots. He married his childhood love at the relatively young age of 17. Her name was Binda and she gave Bowbik's life meaning. They built a simple farm in the woods, and Bowbik lived off the land, growing what he needed and fishing from the nearby river. Binda had a way with plants, learned some simple druidcraft from the local wood elves, and spent her days tending to the garden and filling the farmhouse with flowers. They hatched a number of children who went off into the world to live their own lives, as Tortles do. The years passed and Bowbik and Binda had their good years and bad years, but isolated in the woods they lived a rather pleasant life. They grew old together.
Life was good, until it wasn't. In old age Binda was struck with a wasting illness. It was a long, slow, and painful illness and as it progressed Binda became too sick to work the garden and the flowers disappeared from the farmhouse, and the quiet, peaceful happiness was replaced with anxiety and melancholy. As the loyal husband he was, Bowbik stood by Binda throughout her trials and did what he could for her. He learned simple natural medicine from the wood elves and used it to care for her and ease her suffering. After years of misery Binda finally was able to rest and she was burried on the farm that they built their life around. The years of sadness and pain were too much for Bowbik and he could no longer stay on the farm. The flowers were gone, but the memories of Binda were everywhere so Bowbik decided to leave the farm. He ventured deep into a nearby swamp, built a shack, and decided that he would live out the remainder of his days there.
The next chapter of Bowbik's life is one of monotony, quiet contemplation, and reflection on a life well spent. The swamp was strangely devoid of life, and not much grew in it aside from various types of Fungus, so Bowbik spent his days foraging for and eventually growing mushrooms. The days, months, and years blended together in the swamp and Bowbik eventually lost track of how much time he had spent there. He knew he was rather old by Tortle standards when he moved into the swamp, at around 55, and it was obvious he was turning into an old reptile and would soon die here in his little shack. He did not mind that, as it meant he would soon be reunited with Binda, and until then the shack had all he needed. He had been so good at cultivating mushrooms that they seemed to overtake his shack, they grew out of the walls, the floors, the roof. He no longer needed to even leave his little hut to feed himself. One winter he developed a deep, rattling cough that soon became accompanied by breathlessness and fevers. He knew he would die, so he laid down in his bed closed his eyes, and dreamed of Binda. It was a long strange dream filled with lichen, mushrooms, molds, and spores. He dreamed that Binda was in his arms and they were lying on a bed of fungus but then she seemed to slip away from him, swallowed up by the mushrooms beneath her. When he awoke, he did not know how long he had been sleeping, but it was spring, the mushrooms were blooming, and he felt better and more alive than he had in years. Thus began the 3rd Chapter of Bowbik's life.
At first it seemed like life just went on the way it had before his illness, but he felt younger and more vibrant. He also did not feel so alone anymore. It was as if the mushrooms had become his companions and he spoke to them to pass the time. One day when he ventured out of his shed he looked into a puddle and in his reflection he saw that he looked much older than he felt. He also noticed mushrooms growing on his shell. Lichens and molds spiraled around his limbs. Instead of feeling disgusted and strangled, he felt empowered and embraced. As time went by, he not only felt the presence of the mushrooms and felt strengthened by them, but when he spoke to them, he could hear them whispering back. As the years went he got to know them well, and they taught him many things. They called themselves “the Rot”. They told him about the cycle of nature. About how all living things are split up between the Green, the Red, and the Grey. The Green is a force of nature that infuses all of the plants that grow from the earth. The Green helps to feed and sustain the Red, which is the domain of all living and breathing things. Both the Red and the Green feed the Grey which is composed of the mushrooms, fungus, and bacteria; the forces of rot and decay which nourish the earth allowing the cycle to continue. They explained that these forces remain within a delicate balance and if the balance is shifted too far it can result in the end of all life as we know it upon this plane. They also talked of another power that lives outside of the cycle and is feared by all three domains. This is the power of undeath, which breaks things out of the cycle, permanently weakening and sapping power from all three domains. They told him that occasionally when there is an existential threat to the cycle, or when a being too evil or powerful attempts to bend these natural forces to its will and the balance has been too dramatically shifted an Avatar will be chosen which these powers of nature may work through. They told him that he, Bowbik, had been chosen as an Avatar of the Grey and that the Rot would work through him to restore balance. They taught him how to harness the powers of the Rot, from the spores floating in the air all around us, to the yeast growing on our skin and within our bodies, to the slime mold under our feet. Through manipulation of the Rot we can magnify our strength, heal wounds, and manipulate the very fabric of the world around us.
One day, while preparing his customary evening meal of roasted mushrooms he saw an animated skeleton shambling through the bog. Enraged and disgusted by this perversion of nature Bowbik sprang into action, grabbed his walking stick and ran towards the monstrosity, before he was even close enough to strike he felt the powers of the Rot flowing through him, he raised his arm, and fibrous vine composed of Lichen shot from his arm, wrapped itself around the undead monster and pulled it into range. He then raised his staff and felt the power of the Rot flow through it. With one blow he struck the monstrosity down. Then a voice rang out in his head, no longer a whisper, now clear as day, “It is time. We are ready”.
The following morning Bowbik and the Rot pulled the heavy oak door from his shack out of its frame and fashioned it into a shield. He knew that it would be his duty to restore balance to this plane, and he would seek out where that walking skeleton had come from so he could return more like it to the earth, where they belonged. However, before he did that there was something he needed to do. He finally understood that if Life and Death are just links in an endless circular chain, that there is no true death, just a change of state. He made his way to his old farm. It took him some time to find it, because without the care of Bowbik and Binda it had fallen into disrepair and was completely overtaken by the forest around it. The tiny farmhouse was little more than a mound of debris, covered in vegetation. It suddenly became clear to Bowbik that he had been in the swamp even longer than he originally believed and he wondered how long he had "slept" before the Rot brought him back... He walked over to the edge of the garden where Binda lay, and stood above her simple grave marker. Fittingly several mushroom caps grew in the ground above her gravesite. "Come my love, we have things to do." With that, the mushrooms bloomed and released a cloud of spores into the air around Bowbik and slime mold climbed out of the dirt and up his legs. For the first time in years he felt Binda's presence and knew he would never be alone again. "Now, we are ready," he said, and he turned and headed back the way he had come.
submitted by Saucyross to DnDGreentext [link] [comments]
Most of Bowbiks life was rather simple and uneventful. Like most Tortles he left his home young and lived a rather solitary life, but while most Tortles live a nomadic lifestyle, Bowbik liked to plant roots. He married his childhood love at the relatively young age of 17. Her name was Binda and she gave Bowbik's life meaning. They built a simple farm in the woods, and Bowbik lived off the land, growing what he needed and fishing from the nearby river. Binda had a way with plants, learned some simple druidcraft from the local wood elves, and spent her days tending to the garden and filling the farmhouse with flowers. They hatched a number of children who went off into the world to live their own lives, as Tortles do. The years passed and Bowbik and Binda had their good years and bad years, but isolated in the woods they lived a rather pleasant life. They grew old together.
Life was good, until it wasn't. In old age Binda was struck with a wasting illness. It was a long, slow, and painful illness and as it progressed Binda became too sick to work the garden and the flowers disappeared from the farmhouse, and the quiet, peaceful happiness was replaced with anxiety and melancholy. As the loyal husband he was, Bowbik stood by Binda throughout her trials and did what he could for her. He learned simple natural medicine from the wood elves and used it to care for her and ease her suffering. After years of misery Binda finally was able to rest and she was burried on the farm that they built their life around. The years of sadness and pain were too much for Bowbik and he could no longer stay on the farm. The flowers were gone, but the memories of Binda were everywhere so Bowbik decided to leave the farm. He ventured deep into a nearby swamp, built a shack, and decided that he would live out the remainder of his days there.
The next chapter of Bowbik's life is one of monotony, quiet contemplation, and reflection on a life well spent. The swamp was strangely devoid of life, and not much grew in it aside from various types of Fungus, so Bowbik spent his days foraging for and eventually growing mushrooms. The days, months, and years blended together in the swamp and Bowbik eventually lost track of how much time he had spent there. He knew he was rather old by Tortle standards when he moved into the swamp, at around 55, and it was obvious he was turning into an old reptile and would soon die here in his little shack. He did not mind that, as it meant he would soon be reunited with Binda, and until then the shack had all he needed. He had been so good at cultivating mushrooms that they seemed to overtake his shack, they grew out of the walls, the floors, the roof. He no longer needed to even leave his little hut to feed himself. One winter he developed a deep, rattling cough that soon became accompanied by breathlessness and fevers. He knew he would die, so he laid down in his bed closed his eyes, and dreamed of Binda. It was a long strange dream filled with lichen, mushrooms, molds, and spores. He dreamed that Binda was in his arms and they were lying on a bed of fungus but then she seemed to slip away from him, swallowed up by the mushrooms beneath her. When he awoke, he did not know how long he had been sleeping, but it was spring, the mushrooms were blooming, and he felt better and more alive than he had in years. Thus began the 3rd Chapter of Bowbik's life.
At first it seemed like life just went on the way it had before his illness, but he felt younger and more vibrant. He also did not feel so alone anymore. It was as if the mushrooms had become his companions and he spoke to them to pass the time. One day when he ventured out of his shed he looked into a puddle and in his reflection he saw that he looked much older than he felt. He also noticed mushrooms growing on his shell. Lichens and molds spiraled around his limbs. Instead of feeling disgusted and strangled, he felt empowered and embraced. As time went by, he not only felt the presence of the mushrooms and felt strengthened by them, but when he spoke to them, he could hear them whispering back. As the years went he got to know them well, and they taught him many things. They called themselves “the Rot”. They told him about the cycle of nature. About how all living things are split up between the Green, the Red, and the Grey. The Green is a force of nature that infuses all of the plants that grow from the earth. The Green helps to feed and sustain the Red, which is the domain of all living and breathing things. Both the Red and the Green feed the Grey which is composed of the mushrooms, fungus, and bacteria; the forces of rot and decay which nourish the earth allowing the cycle to continue. They explained that these forces remain within a delicate balance and if the balance is shifted too far it can result in the end of all life as we know it upon this plane. They also talked of another power that lives outside of the cycle and is feared by all three domains. This is the power of undeath, which breaks things out of the cycle, permanently weakening and sapping power from all three domains. They told him that occasionally when there is an existential threat to the cycle, or when a being too evil or powerful attempts to bend these natural forces to its will and the balance has been too dramatically shifted an Avatar will be chosen which these powers of nature may work through. They told him that he, Bowbik, had been chosen as an Avatar of the Grey and that the Rot would work through him to restore balance. They taught him how to harness the powers of the Rot, from the spores floating in the air all around us, to the yeast growing on our skin and within our bodies, to the slime mold under our feet. Through manipulation of the Rot we can magnify our strength, heal wounds, and manipulate the very fabric of the world around us.
One day, while preparing his customary evening meal of roasted mushrooms he saw an animated skeleton shambling through the bog. Enraged and disgusted by this perversion of nature Bowbik sprang into action, grabbed his walking stick and ran towards the monstrosity, before he was even close enough to strike he felt the powers of the Rot flowing through him, he raised his arm, and fibrous vine composed of Lichen shot from his arm, wrapped itself around the undead monster and pulled it into range. He then raised his staff and felt the power of the Rot flow through it. With one blow he struck the monstrosity down. Then a voice rang out in his head, no longer a whisper, now clear as day, “It is time. We are ready”.
The following morning Bowbik and the Rot pulled the heavy oak door from his shack out of its frame and fashioned it into a shield. He knew that it would be his duty to restore balance to this plane, and he would seek out where that walking skeleton had come from so he could return more like it to the earth, where they belonged. However, before he did that there was something he needed to do. He finally understood that if Life and Death are just links in an endless circular chain, that there is no true death, just a change of state. He made his way to his old farm. It took him some time to find it, because without the care of Bowbik and Binda it had fallen into disrepair and was completely overtaken by the forest around it. The tiny farmhouse was little more than a mound of debris, covered in vegetation. It suddenly became clear to Bowbik that he had been in the swamp even longer than he originally believed and he wondered how long he had "slept" before the Rot brought him back... He walked over to the edge of the garden where Binda lay, and stood above her simple grave marker. Fittingly several mushroom caps grew in the ground above her gravesite. "Come my love, we have things to do." With that, the mushrooms bloomed and released a cloud of spores into the air around Bowbik and slime mold climbed out of the dirt and up his legs. For the first time in years he felt Binda's presence and knew he would never be alone again. "Now, we are ready," he said, and he turned and headed back the way he had come.
2023.05.29 20:51 viewbob Finally trying to get into Animal Collective. Here're my thoughts on Sung Tongs:
Naturally, I've heard about how good this band is for years. I tried getting into them in high school, specifically with Sung Tongs, since it seems to be the beginning of their most acclaimed period. Back then, I could only listen to the first two tracks before giving up, probably because I was in class and the amount of noise going on in the background rendered the quieter songs totally incomprehensible. I finally decided to buckle down for 53 minutes and hear the whole album.
Here're my thoughts, if you care to read:
Leaf House and Who Could Win a Rabbit, like I said, are already very familiar to me. I like both of them a lot. The strange, see-sawing layered vocals in Leaf House in particular are so gorgeous. I'll also randomly find the "Sometimes I can't find my good haaaaabits" melody getting stuck in my head years later. A nice little ditty. Super fun. Was good to hear them again.
The Softest Voice seems like one of those songs that takes more listens to really enjoy. This is a trait I noticed all throughout the record. It just sort of floats. This is also where I first noticed the lack of bass on the album. I'm a bass player myself, so not having that lower octave to direct the motion of the songs is a little disappointing. There's a lot of empty space, I feel, and not in the way Avey and Panda probably intended.
Winters Love has a really nice, sweet, swaying chord progression to start that frankly sounds more summery than anything. The use of delay is great. The vocals are a little chintzy at times, though.
Kids on Holiday is fantastic. I thought the weird electronic sounds were just going to be an intro thing, but having them just drone the way they do is great. The trilling overdubs bouncing from ear to ear are so fucking weird. The lyrics are also great, but I really don't enjoy the use of the word 'retard'. I'm on the autism spectrum, and while I'm generally not too too sensitive to things like that, it did shock me the first time, and it irritates me that such a good song has a word like that so audible.
Sweet Road... exists? I don't know. I don't get a lot out of it. It was weird to realize that the high-pitched vocals are just processed, and not in fact a child singing.
Visiting Friends is great. So serene and frosty sounding. I love how the overdubs are just filtered mouth sounds by-in-large (the little 'PEW's and 'MOW' sounds are goofy as hell). More great use of delay, too. The delivery of the lyrics reminds me of Mark E. Smith, which I think is pretty funny. The spaciousness is impressive for two people, one guitar and a sample loop. They do a lot with it. Probably my favorite track on the album.
I'm conflicted on whether the sizzling and bubbling in College is off-putting or inspired. I guess it can be both. Naturally, when anything this harmonized pops up in a record so full of Americana influence I think Beach Boys. That comparison also cropped up in Winters Love and Kids on Holiday, but I doubt many people share this opinion.
We Tigers was initially unconvincing, but I like how raucous it gets. The toms are unusually aggressive for the album, and I dig it.
Mouth Wooed Her is fucking awesome. The way the melody is interrupted by those staccato phrases is really interesting. The last 3rd (the 'I need mouth water' bit) kinda lets it down for me, though. I like how calm it is, it's just a little goofy.
Good Lovin Outside comes across like there was no established strumming rhythm before the guitar track was laid down. Just five or so chords that're played pretty haphazardly. The sound effects are hit-or-miss for me.
Whaddit I Done is similarly aimless to my ear, and a little annoying with the sounds it uses. That low, warbling synth booming is cool, though. After a record so full of interesting moments, it feels like it kinda limps to the finish line, honestly.
So there it is. I'd give it like a 7.5/10. The best moments are fantastic, but for me it's not the all-round stunner that it's been hyped up as. I'm looking forward to another re-listen (so far I'm only on 2) and hearing Prospect Hummer and Feels. I usually like to go in chronological order with bands I don't know, but I have tinnitus and Alvin Row nearly ruined my day, so it'll be awhile before I can deal with that part of their discography, if I even end up wanting to. Are my opinions at all like a typical first listen for this record? Anything you think I'm not getting? Feel free to tell me.
Toodles.
submitted by viewbob to AnimalCollective [link] [comments]
Here're my thoughts, if you care to read:
Leaf House and Who Could Win a Rabbit, like I said, are already very familiar to me. I like both of them a lot. The strange, see-sawing layered vocals in Leaf House in particular are so gorgeous. I'll also randomly find the "Sometimes I can't find my good haaaaabits" melody getting stuck in my head years later. A nice little ditty. Super fun. Was good to hear them again.
The Softest Voice seems like one of those songs that takes more listens to really enjoy. This is a trait I noticed all throughout the record. It just sort of floats. This is also where I first noticed the lack of bass on the album. I'm a bass player myself, so not having that lower octave to direct the motion of the songs is a little disappointing. There's a lot of empty space, I feel, and not in the way Avey and Panda probably intended.
Winters Love has a really nice, sweet, swaying chord progression to start that frankly sounds more summery than anything. The use of delay is great. The vocals are a little chintzy at times, though.
Kids on Holiday is fantastic. I thought the weird electronic sounds were just going to be an intro thing, but having them just drone the way they do is great. The trilling overdubs bouncing from ear to ear are so fucking weird. The lyrics are also great, but I really don't enjoy the use of the word 'retard'. I'm on the autism spectrum, and while I'm generally not too too sensitive to things like that, it did shock me the first time, and it irritates me that such a good song has a word like that so audible.
Sweet Road... exists? I don't know. I don't get a lot out of it. It was weird to realize that the high-pitched vocals are just processed, and not in fact a child singing.
Visiting Friends is great. So serene and frosty sounding. I love how the overdubs are just filtered mouth sounds by-in-large (the little 'PEW's and 'MOW' sounds are goofy as hell). More great use of delay, too. The delivery of the lyrics reminds me of Mark E. Smith, which I think is pretty funny. The spaciousness is impressive for two people, one guitar and a sample loop. They do a lot with it. Probably my favorite track on the album.
I'm conflicted on whether the sizzling and bubbling in College is off-putting or inspired. I guess it can be both. Naturally, when anything this harmonized pops up in a record so full of Americana influence I think Beach Boys. That comparison also cropped up in Winters Love and Kids on Holiday, but I doubt many people share this opinion.
We Tigers was initially unconvincing, but I like how raucous it gets. The toms are unusually aggressive for the album, and I dig it.
Mouth Wooed Her is fucking awesome. The way the melody is interrupted by those staccato phrases is really interesting. The last 3rd (the 'I need mouth water' bit) kinda lets it down for me, though. I like how calm it is, it's just a little goofy.
Good Lovin Outside comes across like there was no established strumming rhythm before the guitar track was laid down. Just five or so chords that're played pretty haphazardly. The sound effects are hit-or-miss for me.
Whaddit I Done is similarly aimless to my ear, and a little annoying with the sounds it uses. That low, warbling synth booming is cool, though. After a record so full of interesting moments, it feels like it kinda limps to the finish line, honestly.
So there it is. I'd give it like a 7.5/10. The best moments are fantastic, but for me it's not the all-round stunner that it's been hyped up as. I'm looking forward to another re-listen (so far I'm only on 2) and hearing Prospect Hummer and Feels. I usually like to go in chronological order with bands I don't know, but I have tinnitus and Alvin Row nearly ruined my day, so it'll be awhile before I can deal with that part of their discography, if I even end up wanting to. Are my opinions at all like a typical first listen for this record? Anything you think I'm not getting? Feel free to tell me.
Toodles.
2023.05.29 20:39 Temporary_Island_491 Inexplicable hair loss at 19
I'm a 19 year old male, and for the last 2 years, I've had some pretty bad hair loss. My hair used to be very luscious and thick, but now it's thin and not very dense anymore. It just started out of nowhere really, but once I noticed in early 2020, I've been trying to take care, but it doesn't seem to do much. I drink collagen protein powder everyday, I take these Hair Gro pills, and I take vitamin D and iron everyday (as prescribed by my doctor). If it helps, I have had arthritis and Crohn's since I was 8, and my health has been very stable these last few years, which adds to part of the confusion as to why nothing seems to help.
Any advice on what to do would be appreciated!
submitted by Temporary_Island_491 to Hairloss [link] [comments]
Any advice on what to do would be appreciated!
2023.05.29 20:38 BroMandi [Costco Wholesale] Kirkland Signature ProCare with Dual HMO's, Non-GMO Infant Formula 42 oz, 2-pack - $42.99 [Deal Price: $42.99]
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