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(Descriptions of fictional crimes investigated by the story's main Character Max.)
Detective's Fate
It's august of 2008.....
Max is a detective living in Chicago He checks his pistol and puts on his police badge as he walks out his front door.
He has been searching for a serial killer known as the Caller for years and always been one step behind due to the red tape.....
More importantly the chief's lazy attitude towards getting search warrants and actions approved by the courts for raids. Twice Max had good intel on the suspect's locations and photo evidence showing him at the sites.
The department needs more vigilant, caring officers and leaders but no one steps up to do it, instead they just complain about the slow progress and officers. And hinder investigations.
Now Max has decided that it might be time to stop playing by the rules and catch this scumbag.... .... ....
Starting his car Max sets his GPS to the address that "The Caller" was last seen and pulls out of his driveway as the 50 miles of directions pop up.
The killer's nickname being for his signature of calling in as he is committing the crime.
As he drives he remembers his first case, five years ago now..... ..... .....
A woman, Joane Taylor, was found dead in an alleyway after going out for the night. She showed no signs of struggle leading the police to believe she had drank to much and expired from alcohol poisoning.... ...
The death was written off as a "party gone wrong".... That is until several more were found and the coroner decided on a whim to test for other substances.
Once it came out that the deaths were possible murders...
The calls started coming in, almost like the suspect wanted credit before revealing himself....
Then ways of the deaths began changing as the Serial Killer explored his twisted desires searching for his preferred method.
The last case being a young woman found stuffed in a dumpster after the killer apparently got scared off.... Max will never forget it.... .... ....
The GPS finishes and the car beeps its final direction, taking an exit off the highway. Ramps out here are always confusing... Which is funny since he has driven this one for five years now...
The chief says he should sit this one out but he can't... The latest victim 3 months ago.
Marie Spelner, a waitress out on her smoke break talking to her spouse on the phone.
Survived by her husband, no children or living relatives. ....
Max Spelner turns into the driveway of the house he was directed to... Stepping out of the car he walks up and knocks on the door. Looking at the house he knows the family must be doing well if they live here.... Raising his hand to knock again he hears a scream from inside....
A second later the door is answered by a middle aged butler holding a tray with wine glasses on it... "Hello Sir, I'm sorry but this house does not wish to partake in any offers at this time..."
Max calmly says. "I'm not selling anything."
The butler looks confused for a moment before his eyes dart over Max's shoulder seeing his unmarked cruiser and he nods.
Looking past the butler Max sees that a woman is cleaning up after their dog.
"Have you seen this man?" Says Max holds up a picture of the one suspected of being the killer.
The butler gives it a once over before replying. "I'm sorry sir, no I have not." His tone sounds like he is lying... ....
"Are you sure?" The detective asks.
"I would not lie about something like that, sir." He states, his eyes not meeting Max's.
The woman calls from inside "Fletcher, who are you talking too?"
"Some man asking about a killer" he calls back.
"The killer is an inside job!" The woman quickly states.
"What?!" Max says.
"The Killer, it's an inside job." She says again, louder this time. In the same Max also hears a child begin to cry in another room.
"We should start from the beginning, it will be easier to explain trust me." The woman says.
'She seems to know what is going on....
"How do I know your story holds water?" He asks out loud.
"Oh I wouldn't lie. I have been following the case myself and it seems like an inside job to me." She states, somehow sounding hurt.
"Is there anyone else in the house besides you two and the baby?" He asks noticing the baby isn't crying anymore.
"Just Fletcher and I live here, the baby is my cousins but he just stays the night sometimes." She replies.
Max draws his gun and enters the house upon reasonable suspicion of an emergency in progress or suspect on the premisses as the man seems to be deceiving.
While the woman still seems unconcerned that the child is now silent.
He pushes past the butler and rushes towards the area he heard the crying. passes the entryway, the dinning room, and a kitchen before finally finding a child in a playpen.
"There there..." He says in a sing song voice picking up the child. "I'm officer Max, do you know where your mommy is?"
The child just cries louder.
Then he sees the man from the photo walk out of the bathroom, upon seeing him he bolts for the door and Max sets the child down gently then gives chase.
He runs through the house, following the man as he can hear the woman screaming at him to stop but he doesn't."
"Stop or I'll shoot." The man doesn't even break stride.
Instead he runs out of the front door and jumps into his car.
Furious that the man might escape he fires at the car as it drives away.
The back window shatters and he hopes he got his tire, but he doesn't wait to find out as he runs to his car and initiates a pursuit....
He flips on his concealed lights in his cruiser as he reverses down the drive and into the street.
The suspects car is fast but he manages to keep up with it weaving in and out of traffic as people move over for the siren.
As they approach a red light there is heavy traffic in the intersection..... ....
The suspect slams on his brakes and Max's cruiser only just stops short of hitting it. Jumping out the Detective points his firearm at the vehicle running up beside seeing heavily tinted windows.
"Get out of the car and on the ground now!!" He shouts as he moves to the driver's side door.
After seeing no response....
Max throws open the door and the driver is gone with the passenger side open.
He quickly runs to the other side catching the man trying to sneak off tackling him to the ground and then takes his arms putting them behind his back.
Max grabs his radio and calls it in as the man cries.
As he is waiting he hears a noise that sounds like static.....
"Wrong guy moron.. Did you ever stop to think I wanted you close for this one. That I planned everything...Even framing the pothead..... I almost lost interest until you pulled in the driveway... The attic is kinda cramped tho... I think I'll go carve some meat. Maybe graduate to other things to. I'm not sure yet. Lets see if you can catch me before......" A familiar voice says over the radio then cuts off... ...
Max looks at the man on the ground. "Why did you run from me?" He asks.
"Cause I have like 19 grams of marijuana in my pocket." He replies...
"Do you know how stupid that is?! I don't care about that I'm looking for a killer."
Before he can answer Max hears the woman from the house screaming for her life and a child's cries on his radio.
Then from below Max. "He's in the house, he's in the house! My mom and the baby!" The man on the ground says crying.
Max uncuffs him and runs to his car heading back to the house as he lays down rubber on the road... ... ...
As he approaches and pulls into the driveway he notices the front door is open.
"Hold on I'm coming!" Max screams jumping out of his cruiser...
He runs into the house finding the woman's body arriving too late. Moving over to her he checks for a pulse but she is gone, a large gash in her neck.
As he stands up he slips in a fluid but gains his balance and tries not to think about what it is....
He rushes to the room the baby was in finding the play pen empty. He leaves the room searching the rest of the house and still doesn't find the child.
"Where are you!!!" He calls out....
"This is the Callers first kidnapping and the media would eat up the fact I failed to stop the man." He thinks as he blames himself.
Sirens begin to blare in the distance as backup is about to arrive... ... ...
"There's a woman dead and a baby missing! The woman is in the dinning room straight ahead of the front door, Hurry!" He yells into his radio...
Looking over at the mother seeing a piece of paper on the floor.
He walks over to it seeing writing.
"So close... Looks like I'm a kidnapper now.... Good luck finding me.... And... I so enjoyed killing that sweet wife of yours. Might do it that way again. Not to the kid tho....later Max. Ps. This game is so fun.." It says.
"He was here..." Is all he can muster as the team enters.
"He was right in this house and I missed it because her son freaked over weed and ran..." He says as another officer speaks to him gently.
"Don't beat yourself up Detective, it's not your fault. He must have hid before you got her and left after you arrived." The words do little to comfort him "First day back on the job and the killer escaped taking a child..." He says as he walks away.
The chief arrives in his new lexus with a screeching of rubber as he lurches to a halt.
He quickly exits and leaves his door hanging open as he rushes into Max's face....
"I told you to stay away from this case MAX!!!!....(takes a breath)...
"If I catch any flak from my superiors, I won't suspend you.... That'd be to easy. Desk duty and an entry level demotion. The new guy will have a higher rank than you if things go my way.... Now get outta my sight...". "(Sighs)...
"This job is gonna be the death of me..." He says walking away from Max and towards the Coroner's van..... ..... .....
On the way home the detective stops by the store close to his house which is unlike him because he usually follows the same routine.
He nears the front door and he hears a kitchen timer ding loudly from behind him as his car explodes throwing him through the storefront windows as they are blown out..... .....
Alarms around the lot and others nearby create a cacophony of noise. His head pounding as his body aches, Max pushes himself up and collapses as the store manager runs over to him telling him not to move as he dials 911.... .... ....
Waking in the hospital Max recalls the feeling of the Shockwave as he flinches in phantom pain.
"Who woulda thought its like holding a ringing metal bat that hurts your hands but all over and way more intense." He thinks.
He suddenly feels tired and falls asleep.... .... .... ....
The next time he wakes, he sees a breaking news story that Jane Saltani is reporting on....
"Young toddler Accidently Shoots Serial killekidnapper ending his life and Alerting residents in the Area." The news anchor says.
Sighing to himself Max thinks about how crazy that is and laughs.
Tho he really wanted to bring the guy in. He closes his eyes to get some much needed sleep as his door opens.
Max looks up to see a man with a silenced pistol pointed at him.
"Hm. Now they think I'm dead. Funny how they just assume they got the right guy. Just like.... You did Detect... ....." Max hears but then hears no more as his end comes at just over the speed of sound....
The Caller leaves the hair of another intelligent convicted murderer that he obtained in a spot that's believable and quickly leaves.....
He disables the surveillance system and sends a virus out to any device that has received video data from the hospital.
Erasing and corrupting the systems. Leaving a master hackers finger prints on a glass from his home....
"Sorry, no witnesses." He says to the security guard as he fires... ..... ..... .... ....

I just bought a house and moved to this new neighborhood ~2 months ago. Today I was out walking my dog while my neighbor a few doors down was in her front window so I waved to her to be nice and she happened to come out to introduce herself. As we were chatting, mostly about her 2 dogs I could see inside, my dog was sniffing around in the grass and before I knew what was happening, lifted his leg and started to pee on the bottom of her jeans! He’s almost 6, is neutered, and has never done anything like this before in his life.
I immediately pulled him away and apologized profusely. Thankfully, the woman didn’t seem as upset as she could have been and was very kind/understanding given the circumstances, seeing as she has dogs, but nevertheless I am horrified. I offered to pay for new jeans but she said that isn’t necessary and we parted ways.
What is the best etiquette here? Is baking a dozen cookies/other baked good and writing an apology note weird in this case? Just leave it alone since she wasn’t super upset and joke about it next time I see her? Write a check to replace the pants anyway? I just can’t believe this is my first impression and I want to right the situation in the best way seeing as we just moved here and will be here for the foreseeable future.

Tell me I did the right thing!
I bought a 15inch Macbook air 16gb / 512. I work most on a desktop PC so I am more used to windows enviroment. I have used Mac before and I always get irritated with the os because I am so used to windows.
I was at Best Buy and came across the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 and I really liked it. It was like a Macbook air with windows on it at first glance + a touchscreen. They come out to the same price for the same specs just about.
I ended up buying the Mac but I keep finding myself thinking about that Surface. Theres no comparison right? I am thinking in terms of which will last longer and work better. Anyone use the Surface before? Tell me how much it sucks so I'll stop wanting one!
​

So I've been in a DnD game for a couple months now. It's the most fun I've had as a player after having 2 years of negative experiences, and I very much enjoy the sessions. But for some reason, whenever it's Saturday (the DND day) I get a sinking feeling. It feels like as the time nears session time, I'm about to go into something boring and miserable. I dread Saturdays, I dread session time right up until the moment it starts. And when it starts, I sometimes zone out and miss what's happening but other than that, it's a great time.
I constantly wish sessions get canceled or I get an actually valid excuse not to show up. My mental state pre session is seriously concerning but I cannot take a mental health break from DND, it is not a valid excuse to miss sessions for me. Besides, this isn't a one time thing. I have dreaded literally every session except the first.
I never feel hyped, I never feel like showing up but when I do, I'm always glad I did. I enjoy the sessions, there isn't any problems with the group or the game, and I don't want to leave a game again.
But this has just been getting worse and worse. I feel serious anxiety and try to look for excuses to not show up. Even though said anxiety goes away an hour in.
I have been upfront with my group on this, and rejected their offers for a break because I don't feel like I need a break from DND if I do enjoy the game. But I'm starting to have mini breakdowns before sessions and the whole group dynamic is just uncomfortable for them now. I want to be a better player, and right now they might be doubting if I really enjoy the game or not.
I seriously do not know why I feel this way. The best reason I can come up with is some trauma from previous games but none of my experiences were a complete horror story, and I've known this group for a couple months already. The fear should've went away by now. Please help.

That last chapter was so sweet, ahhhhh, it’s nice to see the two have such a good relationship. Well let’s move on to a more suspicious chapter shall we? This is quite the big chapter so strap in, get a nice drink or snack and get comfortable. This fanfic is based off the fanfic The isolationists, by Seeyouon_otherside. Another thank you to Demon_Deity for allowing me to make another reference to his series marred migration.
Constructive criticism is appreciated.
Memory Transcript Subject: Armanne, Zeyzell toddler.
Yay! Objects! “Squeak!” I was playing with the orange cubes that daddy got me! They are very fun! Stack them. Make them into shapes! Fun fun fun! I was making a grand tower, like the one back on the white covered home we lived on. Before we went to the stars!
*thudding noises*
Aww, they fell over.
I put them back up when I see red-eyed brother in the vents! Hello- aw he’s gone. The door opened. Oh! Daddy and mommy! They brought in my fishy brother, since that’s what daddy calls him, into our room! He’s asleep. He has a blanket around him. What happened?
I tilted my head in confusion. “Squeak?”
“Hey there Armanne! How’s my best juggler!” Yay mommy!
“Squeak! Squee!”
“Aw that’s a good girl! Are you playing with the blocks that daddy got you?”
Yes I am! They are very fun! “Squeak!”
“That’s a good girl…hey Alvaro?” I looked over to daddy as he was putting wet brother into his bed.
“Yeah sweetheart?”
“Do you think it’s a good idea to bring Armanne onto the station?” Station? What station? I look to daddy for answers.
“Hmmmmm, no, not yet.”
What? Hey, I want to go! “Squeak! Squee sqeuuu!”
Dad looks at me again. “Sorry my little juggler, you're not ready yet. Nor is it clean enough yet.”
Hmph! We’ll see about that! Oh there leaving! Not without me! Quickly! After them!
I crawl as fast as I can! They have longer legs! Faster! Yes I’m gaining! Faster! Faster! Oh there stopping! Hide!
We’re through? There! The box. Oh hey it’s comfy in here! Lots of blankets, no don’t fall asleep now, but…I’m so tired from crawling, no don’t fall asleep …don’t…doooo….
[Significant time pass detected, jumping to next conscious moment.]
Ahhhh! That was a nice nap! We’re am I? Hey, the top is closed. Oh! Voices?”
“…yeah this is our area to clean…it’s a mess, protector help me I don’t wanna meet the thing that did this.
“Well you're gonna, he’s in command of this station.”
“What?! Oh that’s great. What is he?”
“Some sort of cyborg Velil.”
“Like a deathwatch guard?”
“Noooo, much more scary.”
“Wonderful, let me grab the cleaning rags. Wow, that’s a long way down. How far do you think?”
“Dunno, deep. When we get this place cleaned up I call dibs on the room with the comfortable bed.
“They all have comfortable beds, dumbass, this place was built for, well an invasion of a galaxy. The Feds would need a place to relax and hang the heads of our kits.”
“Yeah, man am I ever glad we’re getting out of that crazy place of a galaxy, dang the zippers stuck.”
Oh! Someone is opening the top! It opens! I pop out to say hello.
“SQUEAK!”
“AHHHHHHH!”
Oh! I’m falling? Why am I falling? Wow…that’s deep…uh oh. Back into the bag-OFF! OW OW OW!
*thudding noises*
Ow…that hurt! Where is daddy? Mommy?
“Squeak…squeak?”
I look up, wow I fell a long way down. Good thing the bag cushioned my fall! We’re am I? It's weird down here.
I crawl around to see if I can find anything. Maybe down this hall? Oh hey there’s someone here! Why are they lying against the wall?
I crawl over to them. Wow they smell really bad…I don’t like that smell. It smells bad…are you ok?
I touch them, ewwww, they're all slimy, why do they have feathers? Did my paw just go through his arm? Are you ok…
“S-s-squeak?” Why are they leaning over like that? They're sliding down against the wall. Oh no, they're going to hit their head on the ground! Don’t worry I can…
*pop*
D-d-d-did their head…j-j-just fall off? It’s rolling towards me…it-it has no eyes. What’s in its mouth? Is that a worm? What’s a worm…
*Hissing noise*
“…”
“SQQQUUUUEEEAAKKKKKK!!!”
Run away! Get away! Mommy daddy! Help me I don’t wanna be here! Help anyone. I pass by more people slumped against the walls!
*bang* what did I slip…?
“SQUUUUEEAAAAAAAA!”
No no this is a nightmare! They're dead!? Is this what being dead looks like! I don’t wanna die! Mommy! Daddy! Anyone. A room! Get into it! I dive into it and…there’s someone in here? Who is that? They are very big, they have metal all over their body. Wow! It has a screen coming out of his stomach that’s glowing orange, but I can’t see their face, hey there talking.
“…the human and Zeyzell are very important to my plans for my children. You know this.”
Uh oh, I walked into a conversation again! Whoops! Daddy doesn't like it when I do that. I move very fast behind a box thing.
“Yes I do.”
“You also know my children desire…no, crave to no longer be alone in this galaxy. The Humans and Zeyzell are fundamental, no, Vital for my children’s future. Mainly the Humans with their unique abilities to pack bond. Also since my children can pack bond, they will amplify each other's pack bonding ten fold creating unbreakable bonds. The Zeyzell are also changing. Even when exposed to a single human I have observed much change in them. They no longer shy away from xeno like foods, activities, or media and entertainment. They embrace and enjoy it.”
Wow, whoever is talking from that screen has a very odd voice. Loud and powerful. Yet…more? I dunno. Maybe daddy or mommy might know?
“Yeah, I know that effect very well. You couldn’t have picked a better species to bring to your children. They’ll get along VERY well. AHAHAHA!!” Wow he laughs weirdly.
“Yes indeed. The Zeyzell are no longer the Zeyzell they think they are. They are open to new species. They no longer use the term Xeno. This is all from the effect of only one Human, imagine what the Zeyzell will become when they are met with over twenty thousand!”
“Really?! You know we’re more are?! All the way out here?! Wait…do you mean…”
“Yes, I have located two ARK ships, ARK’s eight and twelve. Each has a population of over ten thousand. They have been wandering the stars for a while now. Searching for a home. I intend to give them, and the Zeyzell that have arrived at your station, a home. A place they can not only survive in, but thrive, a place to nurture and protect.”
“That’s a lot of humans! I’m all for it but can your children handle a population that big?
“Yes, I’ve been sending them more raw materials than normal, they will have more than enough. A lot of their planet is still wilderness so colonization shouldn’t be a problem. The surface area is also much larger than earths. Although I’m worried about the fragility of the humans on my children’s planet, the planet has much higher gravity then there earth, among other things. “
“Yeah, humans can be pretty tough, but they're still one of the most fragile and vulnerable species I have ever encountered. Like a child in a giant war suit. They may appear scary and intimidating, however all they wanted was to be loved, to be held and told, welcome to the greater galaxy, yet they got near genocide.”
“Yes it is despicable what happened to them, no species that kind and caring should have that happen to them. Protect the Humans and the Zeyzell, please. They are not the last of their kind, but I fear for them. I can’t bear to see anymore of their kind killed simply because of the way they look and what they eat. It breaks my heart. On this note however, I must also now keep a much closer eye on the Tesh and Wurnta. Since my discovery of them after their societal collapse I saw born survivors. However now they are threatened by a Sivkit herd that crash landed on their planet and I’m uncertain if they can survive a hatred so potent as these federation fanatics.”
“Ah, these two species again! You discovered them on one of your wanderings, yes?”
“Indeed, I remember it like it was yesterday. I passed by a planet of ice and snow, that I sensed once had a great life, imagine my surprise when I bumped into an artificial satellite. It was old, very old. It was ready to burn up in the atmosphere. My presence was obscured by the raging snow storms on their world so they did not see me. So I took a look at them. They are so full of promise these two are, working together to survive a harsh and dangerous environment. Many died and many lived. Now I see that their civilization is back. They are recovering from the collapse of their first civilization. Now however they face a danger that they have never faced before. Pure hatred, by an enemy who is pure evil to them. This Sivkit herd wishes for their extinction, their only crime? Their existence. To the Sivkits that is enough for extermination, and that makes my core BOIL. The two species are linked on a deep level for surviving on a planet together for so long. Something I’m hoping that my children will achieve with the Humans and Zeyzell.
“TWO SENTIENT SPECIES LIVING ON THE SAME PLANET IN DECENT ENOUGH HARMONY! IT IS A GLORIOUS THING! AHAHAHAH!”
“Yes it is. I do believe that my children and the Humans would find them…very cute.”
The metal man looked surprised. “Cuter than…me?”
“Mmmmm, possibly.”
“WHAT?! That’s HERESY! I DEMAND TO SEE THESE BEINGS AT ONCE!”
The belly screen changed color but I still couldn’t see anything on it. The metal man’s hands went up to his face.
“AHHHH! THERE ADORABLE! I JUST WANNA HUG AND SQUEEZE THEM AND-!” The metal man dropped their hands to their hips. “Hmph! Guess I do have some competition. Anyway, I will do everything in my power to protect the Humans and Zeyzell, my lord. For I am your disciple.”
“Oh for- don’t say that! Or call me that! We’re friends Hazard!”
“HAHAHAHAHH! I know! I just like to get under your metal!
“Ohhhh, sometimes I swear…alright I’ll leave you to it, please don’t die too quickly. I can only bring you back so fast!”
“Hehehehhe! Yeah yeah! I know! Have a good day!”
“You too Hazard, you too.”
The screen went dark and it went back into his belly, he turned around and…
“Why hello there little one? Where did you come from?”
He’s huge! Bigger than daddy, I thought no one was bigger than daddy, he looks really scary. Where is his mouth? Why is his eye like that?
“Squeak?”
“Aw you poor thing.” He bent down and I shifted away. “Hey hey don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you! I’m a friend! AH, what would Alvaro do?"
He’s a friend of daddy? I perked my ears up.
“Ah you know that name? You must be one of his kits! Great to meet you!”
He very gently picked me up. Then put me in his lap. I look over at the wall and I hear a faint sound. It sounds like…why is that person being ground up in that device?!?
“SQUEAK!”
“What? Are you-OH, I’m sorry you're too young to see something like that! He’s um, dead so I’m turning him into, uhhhhhh, fertilizer!
Is that what happens to us once we…die? “Ssss-sss-queak?”
“Oh sorry, uh your too young for that, oh I have just the thing!
He opened his chest and turned around, so I couldn't see the person anymore…oh! A plushie! Yay!
“That belonged to someone close to me. However the plushie seems to like you too. I’ll let you take care of him for now? Ok?”
Yay! Of course! “Squeak!”
“Glad you like him! I’ll turn on my heaters and get you a blanket. Better?
Hmmmmm, warm! “Squeak!”
“Glad you like my lap heaters! Built them just for this! I have an idea, I’ll tell you a story. Do you like stories?”
Yes, yes I do! “Squeak!”
“Alright let’s see…got one! This story is about a unique Venlil who was turned into a being of rage, but caring for others at the same time…I’m gonna need to work on that title. well lets get started”
The metal man clasped his hands and made a beep noise with his speaker mouth thing.
“Not too long ago on a planet called Venlil prime, a unique Venlil was born. He had odd thinking, horns, and sharper then normal teeth!”
Sharp teeth? Doesn’t everyone have those? Even daddy has some.
“Now this Venlil was strange from the beginning, he would use his sharp teeth to eat hard and tough plant foods. He would use have to hid his horns, but when he didn't he would put stuff on them, like flashlights, lights, small flags and other Knick knacks. You know what Knick knacks are right?”
I didn’t but I nodded my head yes so he would continue with the story. I love stories!
OK then! Now these oddities on him got him many odd looks. His parents however used their influence to keep the bad people away. With their tubes of fire, their suits of foil, and their tanks of flames. He would spend much of his younger years alone, but alive. Then he started school. He was shunned and bullied by all his peers, casting him out of anything they did together.”
Hey that’s mean! “SQEUAK!” I stamp my legs in protest.
“Hehe, indeed! It was very mean! They would call him names, horrible names!” His metal skin moved around. Up and down…cooool.
“He never liked his own kind much, always preferring to be around the Yotul. As they were very nice, and never judged you at first glance. They were oh so kind and very sweet. They became fast friends. This is when he developed his curiosity with technology! Always testing and building something new to show his friends! They would play and sing, and use the things the Venlil built. They would look to him for help and he would look to them for friendship. One day the little Venlil was walking on the dark side of the planet. He would walk there often. Then one day he came across a dead bird. That had been EATEN!”
Huh? We eat meat all the time. What’s so strange about that?I gave him a very confused look.
“Oh right uh you eat meat. Anyway, this was very unusual. What was more unusual was this young Venlil was not scared, he was curious! He followed the trial the creature had left behind and found an injured night hound, at least that’s what he called them. These would roam the night, hunting for anyone out in the dark side of Venlil prime. The night hound had been caught in an exterminator trap. The night hound was starving because it had had no food for a long time. So, the Venlil walked back to the dead bird and brought it back to the night hound. And feed it. The night hound was very grateful! It yelled in delight and happiness. The Venlil felt happy that he had saved a life, freeing the night hound from the trap it bounded away! The next day, the Venlil went through his daily routine, wake up, hugged his loving parents, go to school, get harrassed and bullied, meet up with his Yotul friends, and walk home by the woods. Then the same night hound appeared! The two became fast friends! Spending much time together! The two were inseparable! He would show the night hound his amazing inventions! It was a very happy time…”
Why did he look so sad?
“Then the bad people came. They had heard about the strange Venlil boy, they wanted to meet him, and so they did. They followed him home one day, and tried to kidnap him! The Venlil boy screamed in fear! Then the night hound tried to rescue him, but he was no match for the tanks of fire. Then…the night hound was no more…the boy cried and wailed, the bad people laughed and laughed at the boy. They take him and he never sees his parents again…he’s taken to a strange place. A place he did not like. They did things to the boy, cried about how the boy was the worse case of predator disease…They kept him there for many years, transforming the boy, taking his teeth, his horns, his…life. After they added things, they added…metal.”
His hand formed a fist, wait? How does he and the boy both have metal skin? Maybe they can be friends!
“Then, the Arxur came. They took everyone, even the boy. They brought them to an even more horrible place. A place of misery and pain. A place where the boy was hunted for sport. The boy was very injured on one of those hunts. He was going away to the other side. Then someone saved him. A powerful being, a chaotic being. It made a deal with him. Take revenge on the Arxur and the Federation, and he shall never truly die. The boy agreed, eager to take revenge against them. So when the Arxur were preparing to eat him, he LEAPED UP! Then the hunters became the hunted. When the boy took many Arxur lives, they trapped him and put him in a dark cold place. There was no light and little food. The boy however hung in with the fire of revenge. Then the humans came, his angels, he saw them for the amazing things they were. True people! Ones who would care about you. He traveled with them, then the powerful being came back in a dream and gave the boy new orders. Protect the humans, and so the boy did, and does, to this very day.”
Wow! That was an amazing story! “Squeak squeak!” I clap my paws together.
“Thank you thank you! Now let’s call your parents…wait…I forgot to call them!” He then put his hand up to his ear. “He Alvaro? Yeah I know she’s lost. How? Because she’s on my lap! Yeah I’ll come up. I’ll be there as fast as possible! Bye! Alright, time to see your dad again my little listener! I probably need to work on my sorry telling, not that age appropriate.”
I did not care I liked it! “Squeak!”
First/Previous/Next

Ok this is a long story that lasts about 4 years, but I promise it’s a weird one and I’m going to leave out a bunch and try to tell the most important details to make it as short as possible. At the time I was 18 and had met a guy my freshman year of college, he was sweet, we got drunk and hooked up. Mind you I wasn’t the only girl this year he had slept with, he was with a lot of girls before we met and I even found out there was another one at the same time as me. We started hanging out more and it was fun, we became really close and had a fun friend group, then it came out he was in an “open” relationship with a girl in his home town still in high school. He told all of us he tried breaking up with her multiple times but she would threaten to harm herself if he ever did. They ended up actually breaking up towards the end of the school year and after that we continued to hang out, he and another friend even came to visit me that summer in my home town and meet my family. Then the next school year guess who decided to show up and go to college at the same university… the ex. He gets up one morning and says he has to do some errands, so I let him borrow my car so that I could continue laying in bed, about an hour later I get a notification he’s coming back with the ex and I needed to leave his bed(mind you he is in MY CAR). So I am pissed, they get back together we stop anything that was happening between us, I end up forgiving him overtime blah blah we hang out as friends time goes on. The ex always hated me because I was a girl and she didn’t want him to have any girl friends, she was horrible and toxic, and lost any friends she ever made and was always in drama… should have been a red flag I would think. Eventually one of the girls I know decided to tell her we had a thing our entire freshman year, and through the summer. She flips out says he has to drop all his friends blocks me on everything from his phone and I know nothing about what’s happening. She ends up texting me saying she has forced him to break contact with me for the time begging so they can heal their relationship. All I know is he has become my best friend and I had no one to surf with and do my normal routine with, it really hurt me and I was in a bad place for a while. This whole time she would message me saying I was a whore, had no morals, and spread countless rumors about me. After doing all this she then makes him stay home from all the Halloween parties, and wouldn’t let him see friends on his birthday which was right after, but he was too deeply in love at this point to notice anything. He lost all of his friends in the end anyway for how he played me and her in the situation. After his favorite time of year is over and she made it miserable for him she broke up with him in the morning and told him to never speak to her again. He then texts me, and asks to surf. I was still really angry at this point but I just missed my best friend and was in a really bad spot mentally so I agreed. This is when I found out they had broke up, and that’s the only reason he had wanted to hang out again. I was hurt because I had deeply fallen for him and he had lied and broken my heart multiple times, then to find out the only reason he was wanting to see me was being she broke up with him and he had no one. He is my kryptonite I can’t help it so we became close again, still not hooking up or anything just friends. She ends up texting him after and playing with him, having him come over to hook up convincing him they have a chance to get back together. One night she texts him saying she took a bunch of pills trying to OD, he runs over there worried she’s not ok and it ends up she took two migraine meds which is not an OD. They hooked up again that night and after she told everyone he took advantage of her because she was in an intoxicated state from too many pills… like what??? You took two migraine meds?? So at this point he is over it and at home all the time sad over this chick. Well she joined my sorority, and at a sisterhood event she walks up to me point blank and says “I heard you hit it raw I need to know if you have anything”. Like I’m sorry what??? Not the time or the place, not ok. Then she proceeds to yell at me for being horrible and tells the whole story of how they were never in an open relationship, they never broke up besides for about a week or two at the end of summer, and turns out he had been actually cheating on her with me the entire time, including over the summer when he had said they broke up. I was pissed, he lied the entire time, we didn’t talk for a few months because I never knew I had actually helped him truly cheat, but this gave him time to grow. It came out that the ex had slept with his best friend at home while he was at college anyway that year, the ex continued bad talking me to everyone, she then started sleeping around campus, and overall just exactly what I would expect from her. Eventually I forgave him, we became friends again, and he definitely starting growing for the better. At the beginning of the year he had let her borrow his mini fridge and coffee pot in the dorms so he texted her to say he needed them and asked if he could pick them up because she decided to leave after the semester, the only reason she came was to chase him, why would she stay. She ends up spraying whatever food she had all over the inside of the fridge, letting it sit and get all moldy and disgusting, then chucked it outside of her dorm and told him to come get it. Last I heard she moved home to her toxic family, and is doing nothing with her life as he was her entire life. I hate this girl with a burning passion, and she is a nut case for many instances I haven’t shared on here, but at the same time I feel for her and understand what it’s like to be cheated on… but she also cheated on him at the same time. Now almost two years later the guy has done a lot of self growth and has actually become an amazing person, he treats me well, and is very faithful after finding out what it feels to be heartbroken and betrayed by his best friend from when he slept with the ex. We are now together, and he really makes me happy, but I have this constant feeling over my head that I am a horrible person for ending up with him. The whole thing made me question everything about me, and I feel horrible for helping him cheat but I never knew I was, she was states away and he was a good liar. She made my life miserable for a year, and I never understood why she was so horrible to me until it all came out. So overall I’m just wondering, am I the asshole in this situation? Was it all my fault?

Meditation is one of, if not the most important tool in any spiritualist has at their disposal. Meditation is a great way to ground yourself, it's an amazing tool to relieve stress and anxiety but most importantly it connects us to the universe. Through meditation, or prayer as some people call it, we can learn to listen to the universe and hear what it's saying to us.
Actions based on love and universal direction never go wrong, so learning to meditate, is learning how to be at peace with yourself, your surroundings, and your personal universe.
In recent years there have been recent scientific studies on meditation and its effects On people. I encourage doubters to do their own research into it because what you find could change your perspective on meditation entirely.
I know a lot of you reading this are probably moaning and rolling your eyes at me just for the thoughts of meditation. And I can understand that, I used to do the same thing. Meditation can be difficult to begin but the outcome is worth the effort you put into it. I’ve heard all of the excuses, “I’m too busy”, “my brain’s too fast”, “I don’t have time”, “ My mind is too scary” blah blah blah. I used to say the same things and I used to believe the same way that I wasn’t able to meditate because my brain doesn’t stop and it doesn’t rest and it’s impossible for it to, but I’m here to say that it is possible and you can do it.
So let’s begin, to start there is no wrong way to meditate. You can sit on the floor, sit on a chair, lay in bed, you can keep your eyes open or close them, whatever makes you comfortable. Do you have a hard time sitting still? Then maybe it would be easier if you considered yoga or Tai chi, both of which have been compared to meditation in motion. So go find your little niche, get comfortable and most importantly believe that you can.
To beginners just starting out, I always give the same advice. If you follow my 7 simple steps for 30 days then you will be able to meditate and improve your life in small ways. If you continue meditating after the 30 days and continue trying to better yourself and grow, the limits of what meditation can do for you are endless.
Step 1: Buy a journal or notebook. Always be journaling, and dedicate one journal specifically to meditating. This way you always have a record to look back on to see how things have changed.
Step 2: your first journal entry. To start write about yourself, your goals, your likes, what you wish to improve about yourself and what your goals for meditation are, or what your expectations are. At the end of this I always recommend that you write a loving note to your future self.
Step 3: Time and location. Try to roughly choose the same time every day to meditate, this will train your brain into making it more of a habit and be easier to achieve your trance state. Also choose a location where you feel safe and comfortable, and also where you can be uninterrupted during the process.
Step 4: length of time. For the first few days set a timer for 10 minutes and try to last the full 10. If not that’s OK aim to do a minute longer than you did the day before. Once 10 minutes is easy try 15, then try 20, 30, and so forth until you no longer need a timer and you just meditate.
Step 5: get comfortable. Get into whatever position you feel is most comfortable try to make sure your spine is straight, or as straight as possible, and just relax. Allow that tension that’s in your body too drain into the floor. Feel the stress dissolve from your mind down your shoulders down through your spine, through your legs and out into the floor. Back into the earth.
Step 6: begin. Once you’re comfortable and decided on music or no music, silence any and all interruptions and get ready. Start by simply counting slowly backwards from 100. You will lose count and that is fine, either shift focus to your breathing or start over back at 100. Random thoughts will also appear, and this is also fine, it will happen. Don’t dwell on them, just release them and focus back on your counting or breathing. Over time you won’t need to count or focus on your breathing to stay empty minded or calm and when you achieve that, that is considered a trance state.
Step 7: journal. After your meditation write down any and all experiences you might have had during it, and what you think it could mean. Write down how long you meditated for write down if you feel happy or calm or whatever comes into your mind that you feel like you should write down after your meditation and write it down. I swear by journaling for every occasion so write, and keep on writing.
And then you just repeat the process every day and you keep going every day. But after hearing the seven steps I’m sure you’re wondering why is this so important, well I’m gonna tell you. Simply put meditation is sleeping for the brain. You see, when you go to sleep every night your brain doesn’t stop working. It still pumps your blood it still makes you breathe. It creates your dreams. It doesn’t stop working, so meditation gives the brain the much needed rest it needs. You see, the universe only speaks to you in the quiet and stillness within, so without meditation, without ever giving your brain a rest, and you'll never know what the universe truly wants with you.
On a side note: as with everything spiritual / holistic, if you don’t go into this with an open mind it won’t help you much. If you go into meditation thinking that it’s stupid or that it will never work, then stupid it will remain and work, it never will.
I strongly encourage anyone with further questions to reach out and ask or look it up yourself. I will also be going deeper into meditation and different techniques in the future. So until next time my friends,

 Live through Love Best wishes Floki 

Anyone else have trouble with customer service not really giving you details when it comes to order status? My show room purchase went from quick ship 1-2 weeks, to finding out(myself) that it’s back ordered. Which is fine but i wasn’t alerted, nor given an actual time frame other than it’ll be ready maximum a month out from purchasing. Then i requested that whatever was ready to be shipped and i still haven’t received any notice days later. Every time i ask for an update, customer support just gives me a vague timeline. No actual confirmation that anything is processing. I reached out and a worker told me they would request for my readied items be shipped even though a worker told me they already did that 4 days before. I feel like i’m getting the run around. Anyone feel similar with their buys?

Just broke up with my girlfriend of nearly 4 years.
We did so much together. We traveled all around the country together, we did so much together that I never did with someone else.
Around a month ago we broke up (mutual breakup), but I stayed at hers due to me saving money to move into somewhere else. I found out two days ago that she had been cheating on me and is now seeing someone else.
I found out because she has a very regimental routine. Up at 4am and asleep at 8:30pm. Two nights ago she stayed out until 10:30pm on a week day (she has work the next day) and immediately took a shower before she came to bed. She lied to me and said she met her Dad but I knew she hadn't.
Finally she admits everything after I continue questioning and I run out of the house. Crying, shaking and having a panic attack. I go to meet a friend who calmed me down and when I went back I knew I had to move out then and there.
While packing my things in a rush, she was shouting at me the whole time (I shouted back) and she rang her friends who were gonna come round and god knows what they would do.
So, I packed as quickly as I could.
I got to my friends house who's sofa I am staying on and it was such a horrible night.
I had thoughts about how close we were to getting married, having a baby and doing so much more. Most importantly I reflected our whole relationship and that is one tough experience to go through.
Unfortunately there were many signs towards this bad break up. Even though we both agreed to split up (she wanted to not me, I just wanted it to be civil), I never thought she would do something like this. I had always noticed how flirty she was with virtually any guy and it stopped me going out with her as I didn't want to see it. I always just thought this is just her personality (lets face it, you never want to acknowledge the truth).
We got a dog together around a year ago and to be honest, leaving our dog behind and to accept this other guy will replace me is fucking heart breaking.
I have been through a terrible break up before, so in a way this does not feel too bad, but the dog part sucks.
Now I am stuck in the middle of nowhere in my life. I had everything all planned.
I know the road I have to take to get better and it is just time. Previously my last break up nearly killed me, so I do have a lot of strength when it comes to this but it still hurts.
I just needed to get this out as I don't really have any friends who will listen to me (my friend currently is too occupied with his girlfriend, which is understandable). Unfortunately I am kinda socially awkward and I am so lazy at keeping friendships, so I don't really have anyone I can talk to.
I am not expecting any responses, I just want people to know that no matter how hard your life is, right now you CAN get out of it. Just work on yourself, do the things you have always wanted to, start a new hobby, play some games. All these things have helped me in the past, so here I am starting all over again.
I do just wish I had someone to talk to, but hey, I do this to myself.
If anyone would like to have a chat, please feel free to message me. I am open to give advice, just generally talk or to play some games online.
Have a great day everyone. Just remember, bad times come to an end, you just have to work on it.

My GF [18F] says I [18M] have no right to say a word about her conservative parents.
We've been dating since almost 2 years, we've known each other since we were 12. She's recently fought a seemingly terminal deasese. I've recently gained control over my situation of extreme parental abuse (drunk dad who physically beat me and mom). We've both been there for each other through this.
Over the last year, through the things she tells me, I've noticed some things about her parents which bother me. and today I finally confessed it to her.
Here are the things that bother me.
1) her dad has 3 kids despite having a govt job, my GF is middle child, who is officially not their child, not on paper. Not only this thing could cause her legal issues related to her rights, but it also indicates that they are extremely conservative. How? My GF is born almost 10 years after her sister. Why? Apparently they kept trying for a baby for all that time but her mom had multiple abortions due to her being unfit for a child. But they kept on trying for 10 fucking years and finally has their 2nd child(my GF), who was also born prematurely, and yes, she had to face many deaseses, including this terminal desease(pulmonary Fibrosis). Had to live her entire childhood with restrictions.
You would think her parents would stop after barely having a second child, who is unfit and will have to face hell. But no, they went for a 3rd one, immediately. Yes, the 3rd child who is the only boy is born less than a year later.
And the reason for this I think, is obvious. They wanted a boy (lots of Indians used to have a hate for girlchild), and her father would rather break the law and risk the life of his wife multiple times for years, just for a boychild. (Not to mention he is born with extreme harmonal issues)
Correct me if I'm wrong but this is the first thought that comes to my mind based on the facts, please tell me if there's another possible reason.
2) After that there are other things like how he actively and verbally hates people of other religion, and is possibly also castiest, which concerns me since I'm SC (lower caste in India, it's like being black in US)
3) Then there are other concerns like how parents have left her alone while she was in ER on fucking life support, and her parents were legit "attending a family funtion" or paying a visit to family members who lived near the hospital. But they were mostly absent.
4) They were reluctunt for letting her eat nonveg which was recommended by the doc. Especially her mom was very against it. They are vegitarians for religious reasons. Actually it's since I almost forced her to go against them and eat nonveg more often and in her house, when her issues regarding weightloss and immunity statrted to go away.
I stated my concerns that their conservative behaviour is causing her issues and will definately become an issue when it comes to marriage (yes, we are stupid for thinking that far. But consider the ammount of suffering we have faced together, I can't imagine a life without her, and she says she feels the same. Also know that we've known each other since more than 5 years)
After I said all that, her response was "shut up". Followed by how I have no right to say anything about her parents, how she owes me zero explaination for these concerns and that her parents are always right.
If her parents are always right as she says, will she also listen to them when they tell her to stay away from me? Which they will Since I'm SC and they're hella conservative.
Not just that, she said stuff like...
They've been there for her and I haven't. This hurts because she used to call me from the ER, with a tired breathless voice, just because her parents were absent and she'd feel alone. I left everything when I used to see her call, even abandoned college classes in the middle, basically left anthing at hand once I saw her call. Because sometimes she'd talk about giving up and I had to give her hope. Now she's saying I haven't been there for her?
When I found out her desease was terminal, I legit went dark for 20 days, Didn't go to college, didn't see anyone except my parents maybe once a day. Stayed locked in my room trying to scour through all the 100s of pages research papers which were so hard to find it since it was a rare desease and most of the patients were above 65. It's a lung desease which was said to be 100% fatal. I stayed up all nights, made a mess of my own health while doing so, until I came accros a study, which showed only 5 patients in the entire world, who susrvived, all were minors, I figured the desease is said to be fatal because it mainly attacks old people and they don't have any regen power in their lungs. But a 17 year old girl's lungs are constantly growing, she should survive this. (I was right)
I gave her hope, that alone improved her health from needing support to walk to jumping around in just one day. I forced her to get more involved in her medical process and make the doctor give her curative care instead of end-of-life support like her parents wanted. and it worked, she went to a doctor in Pune and the retests showed she's curing that desease (which is impossible on paper).
In this process, I lost 15 kgs of my weight and the will to eat anything due to severe deppression. I still haven't recovered from the physical impact. After all of this, she compleatly discredits me and my concerns, says I wasn't there for her and all that.
I feel deeply hurt.
I legit feel like I'm nothing to her, I feel like she always thought like this about me.
In her defense. She's a mature person and doesn't have traditional or conservative thoughts, neither does she seem all that proud of her parent's being so conservative. So I know she doesn't share her parent's thoughts. she was never like this, NEVER. And maybe this isn't the person in her talking, maybe she just said this because she got triggered, I understand many Indians are conditioned to blindly trust their parents and never question them, so I'm not sure if I blame her.
Please don't start teasing about age, we're not nibba-nibbi. We've both supported each other through life threatening situation. I have got physically injured due to family fights, have had to lock myself in a room for days with my mom to fend from my dad. Been forced to spit on my own mom, hit her with a sandal and other types of torture. she has had to face extreme pain and illness all her life, had to witness a rape and murder as a pre-teen, been through therapy. So please understand our bond is really strong after been through all this.
Should I let it go or should I say something more to her? How can I let her know what she can simply counter my opinion if she has an answer or agree with it? How can I let her know she doesn't have to gatekeep her parents?
And what mistakes am I making on my end?
TL:DR GF's parents show extreme signs of being conservative and casuing a problem for us. GF gets hella triggered and says I have no right to talk about them, they are always right and she owes me no explaination regarding this. I feel undervalued and basically got shut up for stating my concerns.

I have a narcissist older sister. We have a few family events that we are both invited to coming up next year. One of them is a wedding. I'm also looking ahead to the eventual funerals that we might have to both attend. I avoided a relative's funeral last year and deeply regret it. She doesn't speak to any of our family because we are all beneath her. However, she has a nasty habit of photographing and filming people without their knowledge. She then alters her footage and distributes it. What can I do to keep her away from me? I've tried to make peace with her, but she said that I need to grovel at her feet before she would forgive me, and that I don't deserve boundaries. How can I go about this?

Timestamp
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I'm selling out all my mechanical keyboard stuff.
Shipping: $5 for smaller items / $10 for lager items
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Keychron Q2- Keychron Q2 Black fully assembled minus switches (= barebone + Keychron keycaps)
- includes extra POM plate (KeyboardKustoms)- includes KeyboardKustoms poron plate foam, PCB foam, and PE foam
- stabilizers with wires balanced and lubed with BDZ
- used for a year, and still in great condition
- importantly, the hotswap PCB is NEW, UNUSED (if you need, I can send you an extra older PCB with a few broken hotswap sockets, which can be fixed by soldering tools)
- $110 + shipping
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Keychron Q4- Keychron Q4 silver barebone
- includes extra Keychron PC plate and gaskets
- TX AP stabilizers (rev 4, 2023). wire balanced and lubed with BDZ. currently one normal stab on the spacebar and four long-pole version on the rest stabs. I will include the remaining sets (a few normal stabs).
- includes KeyboardKustoms poron PE foam- again, the hotswap PCB is NEW, UNUSED (if you want, I can send you an extra older PCB with a few broken hotswap sockets, which can be fixed by soldering tools
- $90 + Shipping
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GMK Space Cadet II with PBTfans Keycap Storage Trays
- used about a few months, so shining a bit. But in my opinion, it looks fine due to the space cadet color.
- Novelkey has recently sent me a few replacement keycaps for minor cosmetic issues, which I'll include.
- $80 + shipping
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GMK Belafonte
- like new. tested once (used less than 10 mins)
- comes in the original package
- $90+ shipping
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Cherry NIXIE switches (lubed & stock 143pcs)
- 87 pcs: film and lubed with Krytox 205G0 (stems) / 12 pcs: lubed with Krytox 205G0 (stems) : (rarely used)
- 44 pcs: stock (never used)
- $70 for the total 143pcs + shippingHaimu Midnight switches (lubed & stock) 90pcs
- seems identical to Wuque Studio Morandi switches (which is also manufactured y Haimu)
- 74 pcs: factory lube removed & stems and springs lubed with Krytox 205G0 / 16 pcs: stock
- used for two months (lubed ones)
- $35+ shipping
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TTC Flaming Purple switches (lubed) 90 pcs
- stems and springs lubed with Krytox 205G0
- rarely used (about a week?)
- very nice sounding switches.
- $35 + shipping
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Wood wrist rest 60% (from Amazon)
- I tried several wrist rest from Amazon, and it was the best among those I tried.
- in great condition.
- $10 + shipping
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Wuque Titanium Switch Puller (Prism) & 2-in-1 Aluminum Switch Opener & Geon Plate Support Fork
- all in excellent condition
- $15 + shipping
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Kensington Slimblade (modded)
- I hated the original button, so I swapped them all with Kailh silent switches.
- I have owned it for a few years, bur rarely used it.
- $45 + shipping

Human rights: Food for a life or death thought ‘The right of nature’
HRR 682
[TLDR (too long didn’t read): If you are reading this, chances are you care about HR. This Reader is about three arbitrarily-selected issues related to the rights of nature. For a quick overview, just read the bolded text]. Traducitraduire los/les Readers; usautiliser deepl.com
--The destruction of nature is the destruction of ourselves. (Louis Casado)
Three subthemes (some unsystematic tidbits)
Climate
--As Greta Thunberg once put it: “Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling”.

1. It is clear that having a specific limit, rather than fighting to stop every fraction of a degree in temperature rise, has actually been counterproductive. There is a perennial problem with targets, and that is that they are always still reachable --until they are not! In this way, they can be used to justify inertia right up until it is too late. And this is exactly how fossil-fuel corporations, world leaders and others have used the 1.5C target, that is, as a get-out-of-jail card to justify inaction on emissions. Continuing to present this temperature threshold as doable provides a fig leaf for business as usual. Take it away, and this dangerous jiggery-pokery is exposed for all to see.
   
2. Only if the Conference of the Parties (COP) acknowledges that 1.5C is now lost, and that dangerous, all-pervasive climate breakdown is unavoidable, will corporations and governments no longer have anywhere to hide, and no safety net that they can use as an excuse to do little or nothing. (Bill Mcguire)
   
3. Pledges made by duty bearers, including funding commitments, are not meaningless yet are not meaningful as results either. Let us not lose our focus and get distracted by comforting words. Biodiversity loss and climate crisis goals must be taken together, and it is action with results that must be demanded! As usual, any good news remains suspect and highly compromised until proven. (David Zakus)
   

Energy

1. There are a number of issues to which human rights (HR) law has paid inadequate attention. I will mention one here: Energy. While energy for heating and food has been addressed repeatedly by international HR bodies in the context of the right to adequate housing, there has as yet been no recognition of a free-standing right to energy. Given the recognized impact of (the lack of) access to energy on a range of different HRs, it was strongly argued before the current crisis whether there ought to be a solo HR to energy linked to other rights such as the right to housing or to the right to health. However, the linkage between energy and HR has been thrown into sharp dispute by the current crisis as pertains to both individuals and collective rights.

Has the time come to make an argument for a universal human right to energy? (Aiofe Nolan)

1. If so, five questions here:

· What should this right look like?
· Should it be a right to energy for specific, limited life-sustaining activities (for instance, cooking, home-heating or cleaning) or should it be conceptualized more broadly?
· How may its components --adequacy, availability, access (including affordability), sustainability, appropriateness, acceptability, and quality-- be defined?
· What obligations (progressive, immediate, core, or otherwise) should it impose? and, crucially,
· How may the recognition and implementation of that standard impact on, and be balanced against other HR, on both the here and now and on future generations?

1. These questions (and their implicit recognition that the right to energy requires careful definition if it is not to undermine other rights) cannot be ignored given the damage done by the established global energy system in relation to ecosystems, as well as the fact that it continues to pose the greatest environmental health hazards to those who have benefited the least from increased energy production.* (A. Nolan)

*: Swapping oil for electricity is just another business opportunity. The question is who controls the production. [The European Union has decided that, after all, nuclear energy has its advantages --among them that of generating profit...] (L. Casado)
Does Nature have Rights? Why not? (Colin Tudge)

1. The nay-sayers to these questions fall into three main categories:

· First, there are those who say that to grant nature rights is not rational. Morality, in the end, is non-rational, it is said. The idea that Nature has rights is indeed in large measure non-rational. But it is certainly not irrational, meaning mad. Indeed, if we aspire to live in a harmonious world then the idea is entirely rational. It is certainly irrational to reject what is non-rational out of hand.
· Second: Some theologians argue that the idea that Nature has rights is somehow blasphemous. This line of thinking implies that man is in a quite different category from the rest of Nature and further suggests that the norms that attach to us (including the idea of HR) need not and indeed should not apply to the rest.
· Third: Many simply declare, peremptorily, that there should be no rights without responsibilities. But does it mean Nature has responsibilities…?

1. For the benefit of the hard-heads, we can point out: There are very good practical reasons to declare that Nature has Rights!

Why we should declare that Nature does indeed have Rights
--The concept of Rights helps to prevent abuse and therefore helps to protect.

1. Human beings need to protect the natural world much better than we do now, because only Nature can protect us against the extremes of Nature. We should protect wild nature for its own sake. It ought to be self-evident. The feeling that Nature really matters should never be overridden. It must be cultivated.
   
2. As we look more closely at nature, as indeed Darwin did, we find more and more examples of cooperativeness within species and between species. Overall, Nature is far more cooperative than it is competitive and if it were not so life itself could not have come about. (C. Tudge)
   

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
Your comments are welcome at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
All Readers are available at www.claudioschuftan.com
Postscript/Marginalia
--John Locke argued that whoever used land most efficiently --which really meant most productively, in material terms-- had the most right to make use of it. Since the white-man’s agriculture produced more food per acre than the native farmers using their own kinds of farming, the ‘incomers’ had more claim on it. (C. Tudge) …?

Im (20F) and my partner is (20M). We been in this relationship for year and two months. He been now very rough. He wants to “play fight me” but it comes with him holding my wrist tight and me unable to defend myself. He calls me a p***y and bitch. Now he says im a liar threatens to break up with me or send me mental hospital. He even told me if i cry he lock me in a room and i come out only when he says so but i pay the rent and under my name . I have bruises up and down my body and my mental state is horrible. I love him but i dont feel he lives me. Im afraid of him or to even talk or speak my mind. He tells me he doesnt care about mine. Idk what to do…

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I could really use some advice because i'm honestly feeling gaslit. So I (m35) met this friend(f27) on a dating app around ten months ago. After our first date she displayed some behavior that made it very apparent that we were completely incompatible romantically. I still thought she was a cool person aside from that and wanted to be friends. While she was initially disappointed, we quickly became very close, even best friends. We talked a lot but honestly hung out only a few times total, because literally all of her free time was taken up by dating a bunch of different guys. I of course have no problem with her dating people. That would be weird to say the least. The problem ended up becoming apparent, in my opinion, as her inability to balance dating and friendship. This point of view only became clear to me after I went on a trip a few months ago.
A couple of weeks before the trip she invited me to a st patricks day event. I was going to return from my trip before st patricks day and she was aware of this. During the trip we kept in touch with her saying how she can't wait for me to get back. When I got back I was feeling mentally pretty crappy. It felt like the trip had pointed out things in my life I needed to change. Some sort of existential ennui. I messaged her on a messaging app letting her know I was back, we exchanged multiple messages back and forth in under two minutes in which she stated she was happy I was back “Although idk when ima see u but still.” st patricks day was in a few days. I was like “wait what?! I thought you invited me to your st patricks day thing?” she then set her status to invisible and did not reply for three hours, until I eventually texted her that I needed to talk to her. When we got in touch, she answered asking what was up, appearing completely oblivious to the situation. I was polite and asked how she was, as she acted as though she had no idea what I wanted to talk about. She sounded strange, very flat, in my opinion. Honestly she sounded like she had been caught or something. But maybe that was just in my head. After the awkward mechanical platitudes were exchanged, I inquired about the st patricks day thing. she then non-nonchalantly stated that is was actually last week and that she didn't go. She did mention that she had a date that weekend of course. If there was an apology it was so brief and emotionless I don't remember it. I was quite hurt by the entire situation, and it was clear in my voice. I ended the call. She then messaged me asking if I was ok. We ended up having another conversation soon after about how I was feeling but I only spoke about the problem of my ennui, but not my biggest problem at that moment, her behavior. Later that night after the call I decided to travel some more. The next day I spoke with her about her handling of the situation. I repeated myself multiple times in an effort to let her know that I was hurt by her actions and didn't think what she did was ok. After initial defensiveness she finally seemed to accept fault and and became apologetic. She then said “we are going to hang out when you come back, when are you coming back?” I gave her the date and after my reply she said “it's gonna be our weekend we're gonna do xyz fun things.” The convo went on longer after that. just regular friend stuff. This was two weeks from my return date.
After returning from my trip in the middle of the week I messaged her. At one point I brought up our plans for the weekend. she then said that she couldn't hang out. She had a date that weekend on the day I was expecting us to hang out. I was shocked. I asked her if it was a bad joke. She loled and replied no, the guy was cool and they had been talking for a while. This time I was pissed, but felt like there must be something I'm missing. She can't really be doing this. I called her the next day rather than that day, in an effort to talk in a better, calmer frame of mind.
Now according to what her online “friend” later told me, she had been telling him that she wanted to be with him romantically for quite some time. She had previously told me not to mention anything about her dating to him. I found that an odd dynamic between “friends” but not my business. Also, they met online I believe when she was 14 and he was 21. I don't know. maybe that's neither here nor there.
Anyways apparently, he had found out about her dating very recently. They had apparently had a fight over it the night before and he had said some cruel things. She believed their “friendship” was over. Shortly thereafter is when I got in touch with her, Unbeknownst to me.
When she picked up my call she sounded strangely flat again, and again acting completely unaware of any problem. Exactly like before in my opinion. I was deliberately non-accusatory, asking her about her understanding about the previous situation in an attempt to see what her thought process was that would lead her to do a very similar thing two times in a row to her “best friend.” She then said she didn't recall me saying much about her actions being a big problem. All she really remembered was my travel ennui. I tried to explain yet again how it wasn't cool then, and it was even less cool now - in the calmest least accusatory way possible, but her demeanor was unchanged, emotionless, and totally unapologetic. What was worse is she started getting defensive about the previous incident all over again. After a while I became angrier and began to mirror her disposition. She explained that apparently when we talked, she didn't mean that we were going to hang out the weekend when I returned. She meant at some unknown point in the future after I got back. A week from then, a year from then, who knows. After she told me it was ok if I was disappointed, I corrected in a calm tone that i was "pissed." She graciously said that that was ok. She gave me a very brief, very half-assed very emotionless, “sorry for the miscommunication.” I could practically hear a shrug in her voice. I was in disbelief of her coldness and lack of caring as we sat there in silence for a while before I ended the call. That is where the messages start (i did link them in an AITA post). The tldr of the conversation can be summarized by the first 5 exchanges
her:i know I was non-chalant but I just had a friend breakup I care about our friendship, me:then you should have told me that because I just wrote off our friendship, her:yeah i'm sorry he was really mean to me, me:i'd rather feel physical pain than emotional, I can't have you hurting me like this i'm trying not to cut you off emotionally right now, her: “I know and i share that shutting down. And thats why i feel like youre already trying to shut me out but OP thats not fair. Im going to make mistakes. Im human. What matters is owning it, you sharing with me openly the problem ive caused, and you have to forgive me because i would hope by now youd know i am NOT other people. I am not those people. I essentially mentally kill myself when i fuck up and i dont need you to add to it[...] I always feel very deeply when ive caused any issue for anyone or made a mistake big or small so you being really hard on me is unhealthy for me and very hurtful. I need you to express your issue which you have now done and let me take it and apologize and you forgive me because you know me better than that OP.” I can't accept someone saying sorry I care so much while simultaneously being defensive, telling me i'm in the wrong for saying anything, and telling me that I need to instantly get over it - as an apology. The conversation ended with me telling her to just get some sleep and we can talk about it later.
A day passed without communication. The day after that she messaged me if we were going to hang out the next weekend or not. Her intent was to ask me if I was over it, or if she needed to replace my presence with the guy she had not yet gone on a date with, and didn't even know if she liked (it was confirmed by her during our next call weeks later that this was the meaning behind her inquiry, with her admitting to it being “bitchy”). On the day of the first call I didn't want to exacerbate her stress. I wanted to give her time to recover from her emotional distress and have a proper conversation later, and hopefully a proper apology. The problem is she never changed her tune from that first day. The subsequent messages over the span of two months was the result of my efforts to properly address the situation. In my opinion it was nothing but her refusing to talk about it, minimizing all her actions as a “miscommunication,” telling me i'm really the one responsible for the ongoing conflict for needing to talk about it and that my feelings aren't valid, and her asking if I want to hang out like normal. When we finally did talk, it was like pulling teeth to get her to see how anything she did was wrong when it came to her handling of the situation. To get her to see everything as more than a simple miscommunication. Asking her how she would feel if I had done x,y, and z as she did. After I finally managed to get her to see some wrong, she explained that she too was “pissed.” Pissed at me from day one, and remained pissed at me the whole time. She was pissed at me - because I was angry with her about her actions and response when confronted about them. So in response to having to be dragged kicking and screaming into seeing/admitting some tiny modicum of fault, and giving me the most forced, single sentence, half-assed apology, she then asked if I could understand her point of view of her being pissed at me. I absolutely can not. is the way she handled this situation worthy of ending a friendship. or should I just “get over it” as she has been directly saying and implying ever since the beginning of the issue? how can i make her see my point of view?
TLDR, I feel like my friend was careless about my feelings and was willing to throw our friendship in the trash for every random guy in the city. After raising the issue, I feel the way she reacted with defensiveness, indifference, and passive aggression was pretty much as bad as it gets. Is this worthy of ending the friendship or should I just “get over it” like she says.

The reset (I think) is somewhere in-between September so what will be the next big event?

Is it the aging method or is it a quality thing ? I’m just curious.

What are people's opinions of the KSA keycaps?
I recently purchased a barebones V3 and a set of KSA keycaps (actually two, the BoW and the WoB, so I could combine the two and get a mostly black set with some white accents). I'm a fan of the OSA keycaps so I wanted to give these a try. Plus, I've pre-ordered a Q5 Pro which comes with KSA keycaps as do all of the Q Pro boards.
Anyway, I've been typing on them for a couple hours now and I'm not certain I care for them. They might just take a little longer to get used to, but I'm still undecided. I did (very briefly) type on a friend's keyboard who had a set of MT3 keycaps, which are similar in height and shape and thought they were fine, so I thought I would enjoy the taller profile. Perhaps not?
What are other people's thoughts on the KSA keycaps.