Hi! 👋 We are three teenagers (18) from Spain 🇪🇸 moving to Slc for the summer for work purposes. We are heading there in two weeks time and we are quite nervous for this experience! We have a lot of questions about the place, but some of the main ones are:
1) How much are the groceries there? How much will it cost us to buy milk, cereals, chicken, for example? And what is the cheapest grocery store there? Out budget isn’t very high hahaha
2) What is the best place to get a cheap car? Do we need a lot of papers/insurance or we can just buy it and drive it without much paperwork?
3) And finally, a bit specific one hahaha. Is the country culture a thing in Salt Lake City? We would love to go to a country bar at some point (we are open for recommendations if there are good places to go)
Thanks! We are so excited to go there. Any other general advice is welcome, of course😄

In the 19, nearly 20, years I have lived my life, I was raised a Christian by American conservatives in a middle class environment and am fortunate to experience countless memories of joy, laughter, and growth with (mostly) everybody I have met. Each memory with the people in my life holds a special place in my heart, and I will forever cherish the bond we built.
The thing is that until the end of eighth grade, I had a strange obsession with East Asia. Looking back, it was very embarrassing and I condemn my parents for enabling me to become a weeaboo (by “weeaboo”, I mean “a person who is overly obsessed with East Asian culture, especially Japanese culture, to the point that they fetishize the culture in an unhealthy way”). I was the textbook example of a weeaboo who had a terrible case of “yellow fever” (sexual preference towards East Asians). Loving the image of East Asian culture without having any real idea what it stood for and seeing the East as a utopia, my fetishization of East Asia, especially Japan, was born out of the shame I have with the Western culture I was raised in. I never felt like I could fit in with my Western peers who I often looked down upon and did not want to be associated with. It got to the point that I became unsatisfied with my home town, my physical appearance, and even my closest friends. This combined with the surge in anime, K-pop, and other media on the internet really got me hooked and believing really fetish-y things about the Sinosphere. I hate being reminded of it and have tried to move on.
However, I am thankful for my exposure to Eastern culture, though it was through a very bastardized, Westernized lens. I am grateful for my exposure, even though it started out with something as intellectually undemanding as Vocaloid music (songs sung by a Japanese voice synthesizer). The best part about the exposure was that it helped me leave Christianity and join Buddhism at age 11, which greatly helped with my mental health considering I was experiencing suicidal thoughts since the age of 8. Though I had awful misunderstandings of Buddhism in the beginning and still do not really have a Buddhist teacher, I am glad that I have the resources to connect myself with other Buddhists and take refuge in the Triple Gem.
As I left my gross misconceptions of the Sinosphere behind back when I was 14 while still having a healthy interest in it, my eyes were eventually opened to perils which threaten not only the homelands of Buddhism (East, South, and Southeast Asia), but also the sustainability of modern humans. These two perils are Western culture and capitalist fascism.
The West exoticizes and misrepresents Buddhism and the culture of its home, the East, as a whole. I am ashamed to be born in a culture where this was encouraged, which I am worried could lead me to fetishizing Eastern culture again.
But what I know for sure is that the West’s hyperindividualism is harming people, both those whose lands are invaded and its own people. This combined with the West’s growing rejection of education, including that of the knowledge the West itself has given to the world for humanity’s benefit, makes it clear that it is lacking some of the Sinosphere’s cultural strengths. Everybody should hold collectivism and education to the same degree that the Sinosphere does, otherwise we would be left with an unsustainable society that would destroy itself.
There is nothing wrong with speaking Western languages, eating Western foods, watching (most types of) Western media, wearing Western clothes, and especially nothing wrong with using Western inventions, but we are now seeing that the West’s hyperindividualism and rejection of education is destructive and spreading like a cancer.
It is only Buddhists who make an effort to assimilate to the East (had they not been born into it) who can see the West with its hyperindividualism and uneducatedness, promoted by its creation of its spreading ideologies such as capitalist fascism and social Darwinism, for what it really is: a cancer. I can now see the direction the United States, the most populated and powerful country in the West, is going due to the rise of ultra-capitalism and/or fascism supporters.
Rarely the phrase “Western”, as in “formed by the combined foundations of Greco-Roman civilization and Western Christianity” (Gabbe), raised positive thoughts in my mind since I learned about it shortly after discovering Buddhism. “Western” when used in the context of medicine is an exception to this, but we are now seeing more and more Westerners dishonor the progress their ancestors made towards modern, mainstream, dare I say, Western medicine as they fall for anti-vaccine and anti-mask pseudoscience.
Nowadays, some who use the word in a derogatory context are uneducated reactionaries that bash anything and everything Western, yet hypocritically promote the Western political ideology of fascism. A strength that a majority (though now a decreasing number) of Western countries have is their progressivism, supporting scientific advancements, women’s rights, racial equality, and the LGBT+. However, this is not just becoming less common; being a progressive Westerner is not enough, not enough to end Western imperialism, to save the sacred truths taught to us by the Shakyamuni Buddha, or to empower the working class.
Although I never fully approved of Western culture after my weeaboo phase ended, my early teen self still ended up falling into the anti-social justice warrior side of YouTube that I now recognized hindered my understanding of what actually ruined my country, the United States of America. I still did not feel comfortable calling myself a Westerner but mainly because the West did not widely accept Buddhism and has several times in its history persecuted Buddhists. At the same time, I was deceived by a bastardized form of Buddhism common among Westerners (known as “secular Buddhism”, which picks and chooses aspects of the Buddha’s teachings instead of accepting them as a whole), so I was a bit more of the classic, stereotypical atheist neckbeard who fetishized the East up until 2020. Since then, my views became more progressive similar to those of American liberals and I denounced traditionalist Western beliefs, but like the average American liberal, I did not see Western culture, both traditional and progressive, as the peril I now see it. It was not until around the end of 2023 when I discovered the Western problem.
It was a slow burn that started with my discovery of Buddhists on the internet talking about how the West misrepresented Buddhism to appeal to “self-help” consumerists, Christians, and New Age followers. In the Westerner, I originally saw only a person who followed harmless customs, traditions, and other norms that came from a part of the world where Buddhism was not the dominant religion (if you could even call the non-theistic dharma as taught by the Gautama Buddha a religion). And so, I did not believe that Western civilization needed to fall for the safety of the dharma, let alone for its own people. After all, I thought to myself, the West has contributed so much to science and the modern world as we know it. I still believe to this day that there are no superior cultures and that each one simply has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, some of which are only subjective. However, while looking through Buddhist forums, I was shocked to hear about the West’s pollution of Buddhism and my knowledge on Buddhism skyrocketed as I learned that I fell victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect. I started reading sutras and immersing myself with Buddhism by listening to those who have much more experience than I do. There are hardly any Buddhists in my community and the only Buddhist center within reach is a New Kadampa Tradition meditation center (FYI: the New Kadampa Tradition must be avoided since it has a reputation for financially exploiting members and its monastics have allegations of drug trafficking and sexual abuse), so books and the internet are all I have left.
Practicing Buddhism in the West is nearly impossible without a community, without a Buddhist teacher, without any resources written by Eastern Buddhists. Reddit user u/Tendai-Student, a “lay Tendai Student [sic] with aspirations to become a Priest [sic]” states the following:
It is exceedingly challenging for a Westerner who is interested in Buddhism to find reliable information. Bookstores' Buddhist sections are rife with myths about the religion (we will come to some of these misconceptions below). Buddhism-related disinformation abounds in university classes. Misinformation about Buddhism abounds in publications with a Buddhist theme. Even Buddhism-related english-speaking [sic] Reddit boards are prone to carry false information.
Buddhism is constantly distorted in the same way: to make it more agreeable to Abrahamic faiths(especially Christianity in the west) [sic]. To imply that it is subject to Western standards, Western religion, and Western consumerism and materialism.
…Asian teachers are frequently excluded from English-speaking Buddhist places (meditation centers, university forums, periodicals). Asians make up the majority of Buddhists in the United States, despite the fact that popular images of Buddhism in the West make it appear otherwise. In the minds of Westerners, Buddhism is a religion of white converts. They don't even pay attention to the odd lack of Asians in some Buddhist areas. (u/Tendai-Student)
It is no wonder that I went through a phase when I was a weeaboo with “yellow fever”. The Westerner commodifies and commercializes these Buddhist practices and East Asian customs like they do with several other cultures. Its misuse and stealing of Buddhism is the worst because its teachings are for us to end suffering by ridding ourselves of the three poisons: greed, ignorance, and hatred (which the Westerner promotes).
My realization of this drew me away from the West, similar to when my obsession with the East began. The difference is that my interest in the East now is not because of a fantasy born out of misguidance, especially not a sexual one. I now know that there is more to the East than its pop culture. But I cannot help thinking that none of this would have happened and I would better understand Buddhism had I been born to and raised by Buddhists in East Asia, or even a majority Buddhist country in South or Southeast Asia.
However, the possibility of a cycle starting with a yo-yoing fetishization of the East makes me anxious. When I realized what I was doing at first was fetishization, I did further research and found out that the West is to blame for its portrayal of the East in its media. This in turn makes me denounce the West and brings me back towards my obsession with the Sinosphere, which could lead to more fetishization.
Despite this, I am glad that at the very least, my interest is more than just wanting to live a kawaii lifestyle, hoping to have a “submissive housewife who will look young forever”, or all that neckbeard squick. I do have to say that there is something else that is drawing me towards the Sinosphere, not to mention that it is the region where Buddhism is dominant (the same is true to a lesser extent with the Indosphere). Even though I am not a huge fan of tradition since I am very progressive, when a region’s culture gets something right, they get it right. In addition to Buddhist values, the Sinosphere holds education and collectivism to a high degree. It is no wonder I find their people so much more intelligent and caring than people from my culture.
It is common knowledge that countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, and Singapore have the highest average IQs. To add to this (unbeknownst to many), even less developed countries, e.g. Mongolia, with high Buddhist populations around the same region, have average IQs higher than developing and undeveloped nations outside the region. The most agreed upon reason for this is cultural factors rather than genetic or economic factors. To conclude, Buddhism combined with values in the East Asian cultural sphere creates the best “brains” to represent humanity, thus the West should make way for them, especially considering the East’s superior collectivism.
Of course cultures do not stay the same forever because they change over time. One big thing that is different now in the Sinosphere and Indosphere (the latter I am mentioning because it is where Buddhism came from, though it is not as dominant in the cultural region as it was) is that they are generally much more patriarchal and anti-LGBT+ than they were up until the last several centuries. However, Buddhism treats same-sex relations and being transgender the same as heterosexuality and being cisgender (preferring celibacy among monastics, though depending on the school of Buddhism, those in the monastic order may be treated as their birth gender, even if they are transgender), and in addition, the Buddha taught that women are just as capable of attaining enlightenment as men. Even outside of Buddhism, there are records of same-sex relations as early as the Shang dynasty in China and the temple walls in Khajuraho, India depict homosexual activity. As for feminism, China was matrilineal until the Han dynasty era, when Confucianism and filial piety became mainstream in the area, while India, home to over 100 different ethnic communities, has had a few matriarchal and egalitarian societies pre-European colonization. In the modern era, numerous people in the two cultural spheres are becoming more supportive of gender equality and the LGBT+, which in some cases may be due to Westernization (not that it redeems it) or simply the individuals’ progressive political views not influenced by Western culture.
What has stayed the same for the most part, besides Buddhism, is the Sinosphere’s and Indosphere’s value of collectivism in honor-shame societies and the former cultural sphere’s emphasis on education; this is what Westerners, as well as people all over the world, need for themselves. If the West is going to fall due to hyperconsumerism, late stage capitalism, and uneducated leaders, those living in the West would be better off joining Buddhism and assimilating to the East. Arguably, the best way to do this is to move to a majority Buddhist country, preferably one in the Sinosphere (its core countries being China, Japan, the Koreas, Taiwan, and Vietnam). Leave everybody you know from your home behind, especially non-Buddhists. Just to make things clear, Westerners are not necessarily evil and it is not their fault they were raised in a Western culture, but having these people in your life will hold you back from collectivism, quality education free of anti-intellectual quackery, and above all, understanding the dharma.
After you have left everybody in your life and started anew, you can immerse yourself in the culture. Again, abandoning Western food, media, clothing, and especially inventions and scientific breakthroughs is very unnecessary. Your main focus is reprogramming your mind to think like a person (specifically a Buddhist person) in the Sinosphere/Indosphere, utilizing the high educational standards, putting the collective over the individual, and taking refuge in the Triple Gem. Before moving, though, it is best to make yourself familiar with the customs and learn the language of the place you are moving to. To aid your assimilation, it would not hurt to start dating one of the locals who strongly identifies with the culture, regardless of their race. Someone living there who is not ethnically East, South, or Southeast Asian who is still very involved in the culture would be very helpful to your assimilation as one who is ethnically East, South, or Southeast Asian (I am clarifying this to discourage racial fetishization). This may be difficult as you would have to win over approval from their parents, let alone convince them to see you as another Easterner, but if you manage to do so, that would be fantastic. To make things easier, you could plan to move to a country where people treat women as equals and are relatively accepting of the LGBT+ so you would not have to worry about gender roles or whatever. Think of places in the Sinosphere such as Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, or if you are planning on going to the Indosphere (which is not too big of a step down) since they did give us Buddhism after all, Nepal and Thailand. Your most important goal, however, is to rewire your brain to think in a more Sinic or Indic way and be more in touch with Buddhism.
You can hardly consider yourself a Westerner if you manage to do so, being Western only in your country of origin (and possibly race as well). I am definitely not like those other “people” from the West who strongly cling to Western culture because they just do not understand. Western cultural merit is almost solely from the proxy of our ancestors’ inventions, scientific discoveries, and political revolutions. Considering that the West is being brought towards the wrong direction in the modern era, we should get out of there culturally, if not physically, until it all hits the fan.
If the West continues its defilement of the rest of the world, when it falls, it will bring it all down with it. We must not lose or else everybody loses.
This pressure has a good side; because the bigger the great threat becomes, the more we will push ourselves to assimilate and raise children to fight for us. Considering the infectability of Western anti-intellectualism and “main character syndrome”, how could our Western peers know better? Buddhism is not a proselytizing “religion”, so our best bet is eliminating the promoter of the three poisons, the Westerner (especially the Christian Westerner), from our own lives. How it will run to us as its society collapses under itself and we welcome it to assimilate but say “we told you so”! The older I get, the better I know the Westerner. The better I know the Westerner, the easier it gets to excuse hostility against them, especially from the Sinosphere.
From my perspective, the ones to blame are not the angry, low-middle class white males in the rural United States nor the boba conservative bananas and right-wing coconuts who suck up to the West’s biggest scum, but rather the ones who have brainwashed them to fall for chauvinism, reactionarism, and laissez faire capitalism.
Realizing this, I am now closely investigating the sources of these beliefs which make up the foundation of social Darwinism and, when combined with totalitarian thinking, capitalist fascism. This is after I noticed that these systems are unsustainable and would destroy themselves from the inside out. The slow, painful destruction of communities who fall victim to them are well known to me. If one looks carefully, they can see the consequences that have been unfolding since the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. You may wonder: were the founders aware of this? My guess would be that they were not but were evil nonetheless because they were too selfish to think about the future, their descendants.
If this is the case, then it is the duty of us, the opponents of these ideologies, to spread the word faster than the ideologies are currently spreading in the West. It is hard for me to believe it is not the case considering that both Western political ideologies are fundamentally reactionary. Besides, I doubt they would want civilization as we know it to collapse.
I have a social Darwinist as a maternal uncle who sometimes meets with my parents, maternal grandfather, and younger brother and with his political conversations, often sourced from flawed studies, Russian news, and 4chan, I can easily study the principles of its theories. Both of my parents are also conservatives who support Trump and other immoral American politicians. Being raised by the two of them, I bet I could disguise myself as a Western right-wing traditionalist, maybe even a social Darwinist, since I know the way they speak, to whom they flock to, and how to make them give one their full attention. It would probably be easy to do this as some right-wing grifters can fool American right-wing audiences into thinking that they share the same beliefs (e.g. Thomas MacDonald).
Their kind are gullible because they do not listen to fact checkers and often do not do research to see if who they are listening to really practices what they preach.
Even though there are Westerners who are not like this, the West cannot coexist with Buddhism, let alone the cultures where it is dominant, as the West ruled by colonizing tirthikas and it will likely always be for as long as it lasts. And just because their culture is not as viable as the one founded on Buddhist, Sinic, or even Indic values does not give them the right to imperialize the rest of the world and bring it down with them. We can welcome the Westerner willing to change its ways, turn it into one of an Easterner, and have its culture go through a quick and painless demise, or the Westerner can continue its power trip, destroy everything it touches along with itself, and society will suffer a slow and painful death. This is what the conclusion that I have come to so far as I examine capitalist fascism and Westerners’ connection to it.
The Western doctrine of capitalist fascism rejects an aspect of maitrī, fulfilling beings’ basic needs, and substitutes it for a privilege towards the bourgeoisie and the exploitation of the workers’ labor (also known as Vergegenständlichung or “objectification”). Thus it denies the worth of the collective, only concerns itself with greedy individuals, and thus is immoral. Unlike what the non-Buddhist capitalist wants people to believe, all beings have an altruistic Buddha nature, but it is corrupted, being difficult to notice as it has only conditions without a beginning (listed in the Avijjā Sutta). Abandoning capitalism, both fascist and non-fascist, gives power to the people as it ensures a more guaranteed right to life instead of having not even one thousand billionaires own more than half of Earth’s population combined, more than each one of those billionaires could ever spend in their lifetimes.
Should the Westerner, especially one who pushes capitalist fascism, strengthen its grip on humanity, it can be said that it would make its own naraka.
And so I stand by my plan and encourage others to do the same because it is in the name of the Unsurpassable Enlightened One. By protecting our kind against the Westerner, we are defending the Triple Gem.
If it is not already clear, the disapproval I feel towards the societal values and prevailing norms of the West has led me to question my place in this environment. I believe that meaningful change can only be fostered if the West is put into its place and the Sino-Buddhist East motivates our minds.
In Vietnam, where the culture is predominantly Sinic with some Indic aspects and little European influence, we can see the promotion of quality education, collectivism, and Buddhism (practiced by a forgivable 15% of the population), very unlike the nearby country of the Philippines. In the Philippines, its citizens cling to the Anglo-Saxon and Hispanic culture brought to the country by American and Spaniard imperialists. The effects of this are very clear in their average IQs (Vietnam: 89.53 vs. Philippines: 81.64) and PISA scores (Vietnam: 1403 vs. Philippines: 1058). They are both developing countries in Southeast Asia that were colonized by the West, but because Vietnam kept its culture more pure and stuck to Buddhism (or at least Sinic philosophies), its people are better educated compared to the nearby Westernized countries in a similar economic situation.
In short, Westernization leads to the following:

1. The native culture becomes diluted
2. If Western thinking intrudes, mental degeneration takes hold of the native population and its society slowly degrades along with the West itself as it eats itself from the inside out

Those who cause this to happen must be stopped, especially those who endanger Buddhism. We must not wait for the fruition of their karma for their sacrilege of the Tathagata’s teachings because by then it would be too late, and even if it is instant karma, every bodhisattva’s job is to end suffering.
Those who spread the harmful ideologies bring themselves and others away from the Buddha’s word are polluting humanity by having them join their rat race that will only end in their own demise. They are leading to the ruin of many and thus, I do not consider them to be human but instead parasites.
There is a disgraceful Western belief that for a short amount of time was not held by the majority but is now very pervasive in the West and also is the foundation of reactionarism, chauvinism, and capitalism in all cultures. It says: “My individual rights matter the most and freedom means my right to violate the rights of others.”
This Western babble is followed by numerous all around the world and sows disharmony in societies where it becomes the norm. This idea provides basis for several types of Westerners, including but not limited to:

• the “Karen”; a middle-aged, entitled, often white and anti-mask/anti-vaccine female who makes trivial complaints
• the “Chud”; a racist, misogynistic, right-wing male (usually young) who browses 4chan everyday and has a high likelihood of becoming a mass shooter
• the dayangma (Hanzi: 大洋马); a sex-obsessed young adult Western female, majority white but sometimes POC, is conventionally attractive (to Westerners), sleeps around, and in some cases creates spawn that do not know their father(s)
• the angry white male; self-explanatory, right-wing and traditionalist (sometimes a social Darwnist or capitalist fascist), commonly rural, evangelical Christian and have never seen a POC before
• the “Trad Wife”; a prudish, sometimes uneducated, female who lets Western males walk all over it and raises spawn who are likely to become angry whites
• the New Agehippy; generally a teenager or young adult, a well-meaning but poorly educated white liberal or social democrat who misappropriates Buddhism and appeases Muslims
• the AmeriKKKan fathegrandfather; a middle-aged to elderly, chauvinist male with children, sometimes also grandchildren, and is unconcerned about social justice and similarly to the “Karen”, falls for pseudoscientific conspiracy theories
• the neckbearded otaku (Hiragana: おたく); a hairy white male with “yellow fever” and mediocre hygiene, for the most part subreddit/Discord server moderators who stalk and kidnap East Asian ladies (if not teenage girls)

The growth of these groups is evidence of the degradation of Western culture, showing that it must retire as the dominant culture and make way for the much more sustainable East. Once the manuṣya realm on Earth is completely tainted by the West, Buddhas can no longer arise in the world because the dharma would be known by nobody and the Vinaya are forgotten or destroyed.
The future generation will not remember the dharma unless we halt the growth of the parasitic culture that promotes overconsumption, hyperindividualism, and anti-intellectualism.
The Westerner has a remarkable contrast to the Sinic or Indic. The Westerner has a grasp on this world so strong with its weaponry since the 16th century, using force to disrupt the traditional lives of whatever native people it saw, safe for those in a few countries (even though some of those countries are still being Westernized). The Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish built colonies from the Americas to Southeast Asia. The kingdoms were blessed with powerful militaries, strong economies, stable governments, and advanced technology that allowed their cultures to spread. But after half a millennium and looking back, was any of this really earned? And is the Westerner’s conquest over yet?
Since the Great Schism of Christianity, the Westerner trained itself for roughly one thousand years. It trained itself in several aspects, but it forgot an important piece, the dharma. The cunning Westerner, blessed with advancements, used them to tyrannize other peoples on a scale never before seen. This was the beginning of the Latter Day of the Dharma. The dharma is declining because of the savage Westerner. And so, it leeched off of any people it got a hold of, including predominantly Buddhist peoples. Even during the decolonization of the 20th century, fundamentalist Christianity spread and threatened the dharma. To make matters worse, previously Buddhist peoples clung to Christianity as taught by their colonizers; the French in Vietnam and the Spanish and Americans in the Philippines. To this day, the Philippines is a lost cause along with its majority Muslim neighbors in Maritime Southeast Asia. The cunning Westerner turned the Filipino against us and now Buddhists make up only 2% of the Philippines’ population. Now, the Westerner sees Buddhism as nothing more than an aesthetic, a self-help lifestyle, or a decoration that they can commercialize and cherry pick aspects to integrate into their religion or lack thereof.
It is excellent for someone from the West to learn the dharma as this will turn them into a more compassionate and wise person, but they must not enforce the Western gaze onto it and discard parts of the Shakyamuni Buddha’s words they do not like. To be fair, some aspects of Buddhism would be nearly impossible for a Westerner to understand unless they assimilate.
Buddhism is not materialist or blind belief without evidence and it belongs to the East, so stop pretending to be something you are not while pushing stereotypes of Asian Buddhists.
However, even though Buddhism is not materialist or very in line with the Western worldview, it is uniquely human. Walpola Rahula, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and writer explains it this way:
Among the founders of religions the Buddha (if we are permitted to call him the founder of a religion in the popular sense of the term) was the only teacher who did not claim to be other than a human being, pure and simple. Other teachers were either God, or his incarnations in different forms, or inspired by him. The Buddha was not only a human being; he claimed no inspiration from any god or external power either. He attributed all his realization, attainments and achievements to human endeavour and human intelligence. A man and only a man can become Buddha. Every man has within himself the potentiality of becoming a Buddha, if he so wills it and endeavours. We can call the Buddha a man par excellence. He was so perfect in his 'human-ness' that he came to be regarded later in popular religion almost as 'super-human'. Man's position, according to Buddhism, is supreme. Man is his own master, and there is no higher being or power that sits in judgment over his destiny. (Rahula 3)
How could one even consider the Westerners who diluted Buddhism human themselves at this point? If it were not for them, Westerners may have a better understanding of the teachings of the “man par excellence”. We are lucky that the only Westerners who necessarily see us as inferior are white nationalists and fundamentalist Christians, otherwise the Westerner could have committed a genocide that would have left millions of us dead. Westerners are competitive beings, so they rarely act in concord towards each other. It is only when there is something that draws them together or away from a common danger.
If everybody on Earth becomes a Westerner, they would wallow in their shamelessness and would have nobody left to exploit except for each other until they destroy themselves.
Until they are the only ones left, they will vilify and exploit anything non-Western until they only have each other, then leading to a chaotic world of undignified militaries, economic inequality, corrupt governments, and little or no innovations.
Unless the Westerner considers even the slightest of inspiration from the East, it will continue to follow hyperindividualism and have apathy towards its education. That is why the West is falling. Those from the West who are smart enough to realize that the West’s flaws that it spreads are deciding that the West is not worth maintaining and its resignation is overdue. If those from the West abandon it to assimilate to the East, it would make the West’s death quicker but more dignified.
This is more than a fad but rather the realization that Western society would be best being a passing fad itself. The West gave us great inventions, food, clothes, scientific discoveries, etc. and once it is gone, the East can pick up where it left off just fine.
We will never abandon the Triple Gem because we recognize it to be more than a spiritual, exotic aesthetic or trend. To do so would make us just like those others in the West who Asian Buddhists look down upon. When the time is right, each and every one of us will surround ourselves with the people who know the dharma better than anyone you have met in the West and we can finally be at their level. We shall be Western only in our country of origin and/or race, but in every other way, we will be Easterners; Buddhist Easterners who will take back what rightfully belongs to us.
When we (and hopefully Buddhists outside of both the Eastern and the Western world) do this, consumerism will lose some of its biggest prey. Even though it may not seem like it at first considering we are abandoning everyone we have ever known, we are doing our ancestors a favor by joining the culture that strives towards the end of suffering. We will be leaving our cultures’ ways of thinking behind, but doing this will save face for our lineage, especially the Western lineage as we would be preventing the creation of more “Karens”, “Chuds”, dayangmas, “neckbeards”, and other degenerates. We will not be annoying dorky nerds and certainly not “neckbeards” who are overly obsessed with and fetishize the culture but people making an effort to get closer to the dharma and surrender to the East.
Although we are collectivists, we must seek personal liberation first for the good of other beings. Once the West collapses and its former supporters come running to us, we shall welcome them. If some do not recognize this before it is too late, well boo hoo! They will have a better birth with the world we will create. Some of them, especially their unlucky spawn, would probably be better off dead and reborn into a better life, maybe even the Pure Land.
The way it is looking now, the West is falling and becoming the world’s laughingstock, which is a good thing. The quicker it falls, the less painful it will be for the Westerner and everybody else. Western culture will not be missed, but we can keep the best of it and continue the innovations that the creators would wish to see. We will remember the legacy of them and be thankful while never forgiving or forgetting the ones who ruined the West.
Works Cited
“Ignorance Avijjā Sutta (AN 10:61).” Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. Dhammatalks. 2017, https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN10_61.html. Accessed 31 May 2024.
Gabbe. “Western Culture.” Wikipedia. 25 May 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culture#:~:text=The%20core%20of%20Western%20civilization,Roman%20civilization%20and%20Western%20Christianity. Accessed 31 May 2024.
Rahula Thero, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. Oneworld Publications, 1959. Accessed 31 May 2024.
u/Tendai-Student. “栄真Eishin (u/Tendai-Student).” Reddit, 31 May 2024, https://www.reddit.com/useTendai-Student/. Accessed 31 May 2024.
u/Tendai-Student. “Buddhism is being MISREPRESENTED in the West Marginalisation, cultural appropriation, misconceptions and what you can do.” Reddit, 2023, https://www.reddit.com/WrongBuddhism/comments/14zc6xg/buddhism_is_being_misrepresented_in_the_west/. Accessed 31 May 2024.

Why am i writing this?
the purpose of this document is to raise awareness on the subject and provide a proper foundation of information to the public and those who may be targeted. These types of programs and technologies will become more and more common as time goes on and it may be difficult for some to get a handle on it without this information. This information is crucial in the early stages of exposure to this technology as it can help someone differentiate between schizophrenia, the voice of "god", a false conscience, an alien technology or any voice versus the actual technology being used on them. Having a trusted voice inside your head can be very dangerous and can have devastating effects on a person if they are being led the wrong way. Many dictatorship like countries have already adopted a very aggressive form of this technology, paired with their social values and strict policies it leaves millions of humans at the mercy and control of a small group of people. Behind closed doors this technology is at the forefront of government tools to use to control the population in a way that leaves them blameless.
what is this new technology?
This technology is an assortment of different directed energy weapons and a voice to skull technology that work together to project thoughts and hit the target with varying effects. The first one that most people will experience is a form of voice to skull which does exactly what it sounds like, it has the ability to project voices in your head and can be mistaken for one's "conscience" or the "voice of God" but is just a mix of human operator and conversational AI. This is usually accompanied by the same voice re-reading your internal monologue right back to you in real time. Directional voice is also commonly used, basically it sounds like someone is in the next room over or upstairs but this is just another illusion put in your head by the technology. The voice to skull “voice” is a very advanced form of conversational AI programmed with specific scripts to fit the targets life situation and the "programs" goal for said individual. The rest of the time its the actual human operator, its about 80% AI 20% Human operator. Just as they can beam outside voices in your head they can also “suggest” or “inject” thoughts that will feel like your own thoughts but will present itself as an intruding thought, yes they know how to make you think things without you even being aware. The "program" will also use an assortement of directed energy weapons (DEW) which can cause headaches, brain zaps, heart palpitations and chest pains aswell as nausea, tinnitus, very realistic hallucinations and paralysis. Another tool used is a supressor which will essentially supress the brain by putting it into a sleep inertia like state and can be turned up or down, this can cause you to feel very sleepy and if you give in then it can put you to sleep. These tools can be combined to create various effects for example, using the supressor while raising the heartrate can cause a form of sleep paralysis while you are sleeping and so on. They can replicate almost all mental and physical health problems. Dreams are another field that this technology can manipulate with precision accuracy, dreams cannot be mistaken for anything but manipulation if you find yourself being targeted. There are hints of subconscious manipulation while you are asleep but there is not much information on this unfortunately. the program is a government level program therefore they will have access to suggest posts on the main social media’s that fits the targets situation in order to subconsciously adhere to the programs goal (instagram, Facebook, Meta apps) this fits the description for propaganda by repetition as they try to induce the illusory truth effect to double down on their goals for you. They are very well trained in psychological warfare and will use tactics like reverse psychology aswell as use/depend on cognitive biases against the target in tandem with all of these technologies.
the purpose
the purpose of this technology can vary depending on the target and the operator as well as which country it is happening in. there are a multitude of "programs" from research programs that aim to test new and existing methods and technologies on humans, this type of program is unlikely to be used on the civilian population as much as the other programs. Research programs will often leave its victims in a very disabled state often mistaken for severe mental and physical health issues. Re-education programs are used to control the population in a way to modify behavior and beliefs of the population to allign with the values and beliefs of the government that is conducting the program. Monitoring programs which are used to monitor persons of interest for potential criminal activity. People will typically fall into one or multiple programs. There is no way to tell how people are chosen for these programs.
How it works
I will begin by explaining how these different technologies work, in simple terms. The voice to skull technology essentially is a 2 way channel in which the individual and the operatoAI can communicate via thought. To achieve this, brain reading is paired with a form of microwave hearing (Extremely low frequency). the way they read thoughts is the brain will give off specific electrical signals with each thought and action and this technology can read your thoughts with a beam - probe like device that is constantly on, pointed at you and collecting your brains electrical data and translating it. They have algorithms that can decipher these specific brain signals and turn it into text which consequentially has given them a v2k word dictionary to refer to. the microwave hearing is done by sending Extremely Low Frequency energy to the skull with which is then transduced by the cochlea and in turn enables the "hearing" of voices. The “AI” or “algorithm” or “computer program” used is programmed with “Natural language processing” or NLP which is a field of artificial intelligence that focuses on interaction between humans and computers using language and what this means is it can interpret, understand and generate human language. This AI will talk to you 24/7 using this 2 way channel until a human takes over. This technology is also capable of thought insertion/suggestion and this will often present itself as very intruding thoughts that are abnormal to your day to day thought process but can be anything, it will also learn how you think and try to suggest things you normally think of to attempt a version of “mind control” which is done in a similar fashion to the v2k but is sent directly to the brain and not through the cochlea, no specific information on how this is administered unfortunately. The suppressor is essentially an Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic field and will induce theta brainwaves to make you sleepy this is why sometimes in the dark you will see small phosphenes or “speckles of light”. Directed energy weapons can be classed into many subclasses, the ones i am referring to are the more subtle weapons meant for targeting, disabling and harming biological beings with brain zaps as-well as headaches and fever like symptoms. Headaches are caused by an overload of radio frequency energy sent directly to the brain causing the brain to slowly expand which causes the headaches (this is why during v2k you will sometimes get headaches). Brain zaps are caused via electromagnetic pulse and can be programmed into your v2k algorithm to deter you from thinking of something they do not want you to think of, it will (if left unchecked) work in their favor. The symptoms of fever are induced by actually raising your body heat through RF directed energy, they refer to this as “RF incapacitation” and the effects can differ but people become less aggressive or more aggressive depending on the person and this can be used to amplify or reduce certain emotional reactions.
Please note that the technology of today is more advanced then what is listed on these patents, its just to show you that alot of this was possible a very long time ago.
tips :
Here i will list a couple tips to deal with these programs and technologies altough there is no straightforward solution yet these will help.
Inform yourself on how it works, do alot of digging and verify the information with other sources.
Music
Meditation
Exercise
Being outdoors
Staying off of social media.
Staying sober (very important)
Using the v2k’s natural language processing faults against it. There will Be a second document outlining this process soon.
Below i will include some useful links & patents
Here are some important patents:
US patent 4958638A (monitor vitals from a distance)
US Patent 20160375220A1 (Method to maintain peace through electromagnetic energy targeted to the brain)
US Patent 8049173B1 (this is what shows your location in real time)
US Patent 6470214B1 (voice to skull, assigned to U.S airforce in 1997)
Links
https://youtu.be/N02SK9yd60s?si=ONFisrO0ws7zuXgQ - James Giordano lecture about DEW, neuroscience
(https://www.reddit.com/emsurvival/) - survival guide
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T501LHx0R_Q) - Interview
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Torture/Call/NGOs/VIACTECAnnex.pdf) patent list (many of these are older versions of technology or just “ideas” compared to what we have today, its just to give you an idea that this did exist a long time ago and does today. Government science is always 20-30 years ahead of conventional science.
https://www.youtube.com/live/LCYH_K850Lw?si=P_kVPnJdCUSvXc35 - United states homeland security committee on AHI’S
—— Any relevant information or corrections are appreciated.

Welcome to the Psychology Research Thread!

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Embarking on the journey of writing a research paper can be both exhilarating and daunting for university students. It's a venture that demands meticulous planning, thorough research, and effective organization. Whether you're a seasoned scholar or a novice researcher, mastering the art of crafting a compelling research paper is a skill worth honing. In this guide, we'll walk you through the step-by-step process of writing a research paper, offering valuable insights and practical tips to help you navigate through the intricacies of academic writing.

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Writing a research paper may seem like a daunting task, but by breaking it down into manageable steps and seeking support when needed, you can navigate the process with confidence. Remember to stay organized, conduct thorough research, and maintain clarity and coherence in your writing. With diligence and perseverance, you'll be well on your way to crafting a compelling research paper that showcases your intellectual curiosity and scholarly prowess.

Here are my observations from our trip. We spent a few days in Tokyo prior to a cruise that visited… Shimizu, Nagoya (cancelled due to high winds), Kobe (overnight for Osaka and Kyoto), Kochi, Naha, and Miyakojima before dropping us in Taiwan. A special thanks to many contributors on this sub for the many tips I’m confirming here. 😊
Arrival at Narita: - Fill out the immigration forms online before you leave for the smoothest experience for everyone. It does not really save you any time… you go through the same line and process as folks with paper forms. The difference is that online validates your entries, if you do something wrong on the paper form you have to correct in front of the agent which creates a delay for everyone. - Plan at least an hour for customs clearance - maybe more. There’s free wifi while standing in line. - We took the Narita Express from the airport to Shinjuku. It was the easiest option from my research and was super easy in practise. Cost was reasonable… buy tickets on arrival at the in person ticket office or nearby kiosks. Watch a video on YouTube to familiarize yourself with the process. There’s lots of room for luggage on the train
Language and Reception: - I read a lot about language barriers during my research but English was not a problem… the same as nearly anywhere else in the world these days. Almost everyone speaks English that we encountered but in the rare circumstance that wasn’t the case, Google Translate on our phone was helpful. It was also helpful for reading the occasional product label or sign that wasn’t in English using the photo option. Everyone smiles or chuckles if you use Konnichiwa or Arigato even if they speak perfect English. Hello and thank you are really the only words you need to know in any language in my experience to just show you’re aware of where you are and making a small effort. - Everyone appeared happy to have tourists as customers. Not annoyed or even indifferent, but happy. We didn’t experience any disapproving attitudes at all. People were even very happy to go out of their way to be helpful.
Hotel: - We stayed at the Kadoya Hotel in Shinjuku which offered the best value and location for our needs. I would definitely stay again. The rooms were very nice and decent sized. It’s a one block walk to entrance S2 or S3 for Shinjuku station on the quiet side of the station. - Being near the Golden Gai was nice as I could walk over there for a beer or drink after dinner while my wife rested. The Golden Gai is fun… tons of tiny hole in the wall bars/pubs. Some have a cover charge and some don’t. I chose one without a cover as I was only there for a single beer and had a great time chatting with some UK and Oz tourists.
Money: - We used a mix of Visa (with no foreign transaction fee), cash (obtained before departure) and Suica. Cash is helpful for snacks or other small purchases, and some small restaurants that only take cash. We used Suica for all trains, metro, buses, etc. - If you have an iPhone, you can’t beat the convenience of adding a Suica card to your Apple wallet. We loaded it before leaving and again mid-trip a couple of times from our Visa (also in Apple Wallet) - as long as you have internet access you can reload it anytime. - Overall, Tokyo and Japan are MUCH more affordable than Vancouver. Everything from metro fares to bottled water and restaurant food and beer was probably half the price on average compared to Vancouver. We typically paid about 1000 yen for a bowl of Ramen and 500-600 for a draft beer. The exception was espresso coffee drinks from Starbucks or any other cafe where they were equivalent price to what we pay at home.
Transportation: - The Tokyo (and Osaka/Kyoto) train and metro network is very easy to navigate. Probably one of the best in the world because you can just focus on line and station numbers and not on long unpronounceable station names. For example… if you’re going from Shinjuku to Asakusa, you could take the Shinjuku line to Bakuro-yokohama and switch to the Asakusa line at Higashi-Nihomnashi… which is a mouthful and says nothing about direction of travel. Thankfully you can just take the S-Line from S1 to S9 then the A-Line from A15 to A19. It couldn’t be easier. - Google Maps “Directions” is awesome for recommending routes with lines, station entrances, platforms, etc. When you get to a station, pick your destination in Google Maps and choose “Directions” and it will give you several train choices with full details. - As you might expect the cars at either end of the train will be less crowded than the cars in the middle or near the stairs/escalator… it’s worth the walk to the end of the platform.
Food: - I think I figured out why no one eats or drinks on the go… there’s no public trash cans. So, for example, if you buy a Starbucks coffee and walk around with it, you will have a tough time trying to dispose of the cup. Starbucks became our tourist oasis because they have bathrooms, wifi… and trash cans. LOL. It’s really very bizarre and encourages everyone to consume what you buy, where you buy it. Of course most convenience stores also have a trash bin for their customer use you can use as well. - Snacks… there’s no end of amazing snacks available from small stands, shops, and convenience stores. I’m not a big snacker, but my wife was snacking constantly and loving every minute of it. - Sushi… I think living in Vancouver has spoiled us with amazing Japanese restaurant and food choices. One big difference in Vancouver is that sushi restaurants have a lot of exotic rolls… dragon rolls, volcano rolls, etc. we didn’t see any of this in Japan. Sushi in Japan tends to be heavily focused on sashimi with simple rolls as an add on. Our fav sushi experience was at a conveyor belt restaurant where you just pick a plate as it passes by. Each plate has a colopattern that represents the cost of the item on it. When you’re done, they just add up the types of plates you have. - Ramen… There’s an insane variety of ramen and all are good. - Japanese Beef!!! We had a great but expensive Teppinyaki experience in Tokyo at Ginza Steak Shibuya. They offer all you can eat (within a time limit) A5 Wagyu beef but you can’t choose the cut and they don’t offer rib or tenderloin. Never the less, it’s fantastic beef and we left stuffed and smiling. I would only recommend it if you don’t mind spending over $100pp. The best beef I’ve ever had was at a Kobe steakhouse (Kobesteak Propeller) we visited on the cruise portion of the trip. They served us rib cut beef and it just melted in our mouth. Amazing! You get a small 160g portion but it’s quality over quantity and reasonably priced given the great appies and desert included. - We made reservations for the steak outings but otherwise just picked locations as we walked by or looking at nearby options on Google Maps.
Bathrooms: - Every toilet in Japan is high tech with a full suite of cleaning options and automated heated seats. The only feature it may be missing is a wifi hotspot 😛 - Bathrooms are easy to find at nearly every metro/train station and tourist attraction (and Starbucks and department stores). They are all very clean.
Communications: - I have a work funded roaming package so didn’t buy a local SIM plan. If I didn’t have my work plan I would have looked into this. - Free WiFi is plentiful and an app called Japan WiFi Auto Connect enables you to authenticate once with this app and then it runs in the background and auto authenticates you for a variety of free wifi hotspots streamlining the connection process. - Take advantage of downloading Google maps for offline use if you don’t have a cell plan in Japan.
Cruise Logistics: - I believe a lot of cruises depart from Yokohama, but ours departed from Tokyo. - The Tokyo International Cruise Terminal is very conveniently accessed by an elevated metro line (Yurikamome) from the Shimbashi metro/train station which is readily accessible from the Yamanote line or Ginza or Asakusa lines. - We used the Yamanote line and I was concerned about this for taking our luggage but fortunately we needed to do this on a Sunday and not during rush hour. My tip is if you’re taking luggage on a train or subway, go to the furthest car platform at the front or back end of the station as the cars in the middle or nearest the escalators/stairs will be standing room only packed while the end cars are much less busy and have seats available and plenty of room - to a greater or lesser extent depending on the time and day.

It used to be said that in New Zealand, when National and Labour agreed on something, that was the issue over. But as the hoopla over the residential zoning showed us, that’s no longer true. LabNats shook hands, but ACT decided they weren’t keen, and now the change has been passed but councils can just choose not to listen if they like.
How very nice for them.
But that’s okay. There’s other things occurring in New Zealand politics at the moment that our parties might be able to agree on. Like our constitution, for instance. ACT thinks we need one, and it should be contained in the Treaty of Waitangi, and the Maori Party somehow agree. And I think this radical, ideologically-driven shared interest is probably going to see it done, though not necessarily in the way either of them would like.
To start with, New Zealand HAS a constitution. We also have a constitition act, that lays out the mechanisms of how our government works, but our constitution is made up of a collection of key legal documents that basically hold this country together — in a procedural sense. And procedure is really what we’re all about.
However, we’re nearly unique in not having our constitution bound up in one neat document; only Britain shares our peculiarity. This can be confusing for people, especially when those people have become accustomed to quite an American way of thinking. You may notice that where our actual constitution is in line with the UK, Seymour’s attempt to rewrite the treaty into a founding document turned it into more of a declaration of rights like the US constitution than say, our close neighbour and constitutional sibling Australia.
There are some genuine weaknesses to this — most of our documents aren’t entrenched, there’s very little that binds our sovereign parliament, and it isn’t very intuitive to people. But it has advantages too — its uncodified, dispersed nature provides a unique kind of protection (see Winnie’s attempt to negate the effects of the Treaty where he’s had to amend like 40 bills. It’s very hard to fuck over our constitution without it being exceptionally obvious to some very straight-spined lawyers itching to take you to court and a public keen to vote you out of office). It has an element of flexibility that has given our judicial system power to reign our government in by unusual means, as well as support what is already otherwise quite an unusual way of doing law. Take for example our Bill of Rights Act, a constitutional document. Unlike nearly every other Bill of Rights, our BORA does not supersede law, but underwrites it. It is especially strong because wherever possible, the judiciary will interpret a piece of legislation to be in line with our Bill of Rights Act, pulling legislation that might otherwise trample on rights into a rights-orientated framework. I honestly think this may be one of the most effective pieces of rights legislation ever written in terms of actually safeguarding basic citizens freedoms from state abuse, all the while never trampling on the sovereign powers of Parliament. Having an unwritten constitution isn’t necessary for this arrangement, but it just works really well with it.
But it’s the weaknesses rather than the strengths that have been talked up of late, and they’re easy to attack. It’s come from many directions too — and I don’t just mean all of ATLAS’s publications and conversations strangely strongly pushed in opinion columns and on social media. Think about where you heard the idea.
But changes to our judiciary are also being attempted with the effect (if not the intention) of weakening our constitutional standing. The Waitangi Tribunal IS the constitutional mechanism of the Treaty of Waitangi; when we say Te Tiriti is a constitutional document, that’s not lip service, it’s a principle that has been given effect, that WE have given effect through a parliamentary act, and one of the main prongs of that is the Tribunal and the powers it has been granted to enforce and interpret the Treaty.
The Tribunal itself is a great hidden strength; we don’t have indigenous protections in our Bill of Rights Act because for a good 30 years at least, the Tribunal has been doing most of those functions. There is the work it is doing to take pressure off the legislature — something we need to discuss at some point: the workload of Parliament. The Treaty settlements have been signed and negotiated by a sovereign Parliament only with the help of the Tribunal, who basically did the legwork and research necessary to allow that to happen. And the relationship gains between Crown and Iwi that came from that until now had been frankly immeasurable. Thats a constitutional strength you can’t get from a piece of paper.
The idea that checks and balances are pieces of paper signed by our governor general is wrong. Our checks and balances are our courts, our media, our elections, our conventions and structures and groups and people. And it’s a misunderstanding to think that writing it down in one document makes it inherently better or stronger.
But it’s not wrong to want to do it, and we’re seeing two radical ideas of what different parts of society want that to look like. I think we’re one minor party or enthusiastic mainstream political editor away from a rising cross-bench movement to rewrite our constitution from the ground up.
The only consolation I have is if that happens, I’m pretty sure it’s really gonna backfire on ACT. I just hope it doesn’t backfire on everyone else too.

I have a good, long-time friend who is due to give birth in a couple of weeks. The last couple of months of her pregnancy she has been so much drama that I genuinely can't tell if it's hormones causing stress, our friendship is taking a turn, or I'm being an asshole.
(I wrote another version of this with examples of the crazy but it's so specific, I'm scared.)
My friend used to be the down friend that I could count on to go on an adventure when everyone else was busy and boring. We had so much fun. I'm mourning that a little with her pregnancy. But I'm also very happy for her, as a fellow mom, and excited for her because she was trying for years.
Anyway. The last couple of months, she started texting me about fights with her husband. She's leaving him. He's a child. He's controlling. She's in the car driving to another state, she's sending him divorce papers. I'm like, "whoa, this is serious, I'm coming over, we'll get through this." I'm a good friend. Of course it bounces back to happy, whatever.
But then I get texts like, "I can't take it anymore. He drank my entire case of water." "Ok? Buy more?" "I bought two cases." 😒
So then they escalate and now all she ever texts me is with varying degrees of distress, but not just about him. All her in-laws are mad at her. Her mother is bothering her. Work drama. Her doctors office won't let her bring a pew pew in so she has to walk it back to the parking garage. Texting me all the time. Calling me at work.
I'm a mom so I hate to think of myself as being the friend who's gone as soon as someone is pregnant/has kids. But every text from now her is just so heavy. There's never any talk of "I can't wait to take baby to Disney for the first time." Or even "I'm so excited to meet baby!" There's no interest in what I'm doing or what's going on with me. I'm not totally sure if I'm allowed to say that it's not fair she hasn't checked in on me with the amount of stuff she seems to have going on right now. I've asked her to hang out multiple times and she always declines.
I kind of snapped on her when she texted me today and she hasn't texted me back. She said she was leaving her husband again. I asked if it was serious or hormones and she said she didn't know. I said she and her husband need to figure things out because the baby is almost due and deserves a happy home and that if they don't fix their problems now, they're going to have to fix them without sleep.
That last paragraph probably makes me seem like an asshole, but I'll leave it in. I'm still cohosting her babyshower if it helps. 😅 Advice from people who've been in this situation is also appreciated!

Hi all. I have been developing tools to learn scientific information more efficiently. I have primarily been using these tools for my own research. I am now able to generate at scale many videos on published scientific literature, using PMID as input. Here is one example, on how pregnancy accelerates aging.
Feedback on the video/audio would be appreciated.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dmTm1tS6pts
Also if you are a scientist and have some published papers, feel free to share the PMID if you'd like a audio/video summary of your work.

Just an old story I wrote a while ago. I went exploring for good subreddits to post this in, and I found this one. I don't know if it will exactly fit, since it's a psychological horror story at its core and there's no big bad monster, but I've been told it's chilling all the same ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯
If you like this, I might write more horror stuff. I also write non-horror stuff if you're interested. Anyway, enjoy reading my garbage.
The following brain scan was provided by the Terran Institute of Pet Assimilation (TIPA) and the Protectorate Xenopet Acquisition and Integration Corporation (PXAIC) and may only be viewed by qualified and permitted individuals for educational purposes of the study of Xenopet neural interface errors and how to prevent them in the future, as well as expediting the domestication of Xenopets suffering from false sapience. Violating such procedure is a Class C offense by the Protectorate Department of Xenopet Betterment, and can lead to twenty years of imprisonment and a fine of over a hundred thousand credits.
Booting up memory scan: Rocky
Loading and processing firmware data… translating… memories and subconscious simulated…
Beginning neural catalog presentation…
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My head was spinning, and my skull thumped in pain like an entire herd of freshly captured slaves recently made pet friends were panicking celebrating within. Everything was blurry, so blurry, and I just wanted to close my eyes again and waste away. Sensations assaulted me from all angles, some of them good and some of them bad: the warmth of sun-bleached wooden planks in my feathery hide, the smell of different roasting meats, the splashing of individuals in a small body of water very close by, the smell of the salty air, and the oppressive white brightness of the daylight passing through my closed eyelids. I had a migraine from my sudden consciousness and perception of the light, causing me to clutch my snout and face with my clawed hands with a guttural moan.
My backside hurt as well, in my… area. I didn't know why, but something was horribly wrong everything was fine. I tried to recall who I was and what was going on, but I couldn't even remember my name. Every time I tried, right when I grasped onto a sliver of something, it was as if it was torn from my grasp and replaced with something else knowingly like I was being watched and corrected but within the depths of my own mind.
I needed to remember my name. What was my name? Wasn't it Yuutek Rocky? I couldn't remember exactly, but Yuutek Rocky was the only name I could recall. It felt… wrong, right, like something was missing, but I couldn't put my claw on what. everything was fine, and I shouldn't think about it too much. I could feel things that should have been important, things that my conscious had perceived but a moment ago, slip away from me like I was clenching sand within my claws.
##Relax. Let go of your burden##
I inhaled sharply as a strange, warm feeling overtook the back of my skull and my muscles became loose and relaxed. Something also felt… out of place, like I needed something but I didn't know what. Everything felt so strange. My head spun, but I was too weak to do anything about it. I felt sick in the same way one would feel when they consumed too much caffeine.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my head. "Dad, I think he's awake!" I heard a young, shrill voice say, hurting my ears. The touch of the hand made my skin tingle and the spinning of my head recede as if it grounded me. It felt nice, as if this was wrong, something was horribly wrong what normalcy felt like. The hand then began to rub up and down my head and across the ridges along my head, causing me to release a chuff of delight against my will, something I hadn't done since I was merely a hatchling.
"It sounds like he likes it, David; keep going, and make sure to scratch his chin, they're sensitive there."
The human spawn, David, did what the other human said and began to scratch under my chin. It felt really good, and I stretched out instinctively. David was thorough and gentle, making sure he scratched every part of me that seemed itchy, and I felt the same warmth in my head from before, but it felt… nicer than before like it was trying to manipulate encouraging me to relax.
##You will learn to love this##
I inhaled sharply again, but this time it was almost refreshing, and everything was right in the world. The human's hands felt so good, and the warmth from before spread through my body, melting the knots in my muscles and causing me to close my eyes in comfort. The boy lifted my head up and placed it in his lap before continuing to pet me, my eyelids heavy and my leg lightly kicking.
##Let them continue. You love this##
Oh, that felt nice… what was I thinking about before? The pain on my backside? My legs didn't work too well, and although I could move them gently, my muscles seemed to be fighting against me. What did they do?
##Do not think##
Everything was cold and harsh again, and my thoughts scrambled and my head throbbed. I needed to focus on grounding myself. I couldn't let go, I couldn't let them take my mind from me.
##Do not think. You are a good boy.##
I… I was a good boy? I… I can't… I… no…
##Good boy.##
I was a good boy… good boys don't think hard… I don't…
##Good boy##
I was a good boy… I was a good boy…
I was… I was… a good… boy…
I'm scared.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who was I again?
##You are Rocky##
I hissed under my breath as I felt that bad feeling creep up on me again. I didn't like the bad feeling. I was not Rocky! I was Yuutek! Rocky.
My thoughts became jumbled again in a whirlpool of nausea and confusion.
Where was I?
##You are home.##
It was bright out, and nice and warm as well. The sun was soaking my feather-cloaked skin and my side felt good against the warm back porch. I heard splashing and laughing in the distance, and the soft clinking of glass against glass. I could smell the salinity in the air, and the air was dense and humid but in a good way.
I had lost all sense of time. Everything had been a blur since I had been taken from that horrid facility, the wretched prison they called the Xenopet-Megaplex. There, I was in a padded cell with a few insulting amenities for most of the day, except for the three periods a day where they let us out into a small gated courtyard for an hour or so to 'socialize' as they had so condescendingly put it. There, the worst part was the boredom and the mind-bending lack of individuality: I had lost my ability to speak, stand on two legs, and even eat normally. I was treated like cattle, but the smiles and cloying gestures hinted that something even more sinister was going on, like I was a lesser beast to be kept for their amusement.
Now I had traded that particular prison for another, far worse one: I was at the mercy of a gross violation of my sense of self. Something horrible was growing in my mind, both in the physical and metaphysical sense, and I could feel it working its way through my consciousness like the parasite it was. It silenced me, it stole from me, it gaslit me, and it made me question the very nature of my own individuality and personality: was I who I thought I was? Everything was so elusive and hard to acknowledge that nothing seemed real between these bouts of semi-consciousness.
##Don't think, just rest.##
In an instant, everything changed. My head became… fuzzy like a thousand voices were whispering to me all at once, but from all directions and inside my head. I didn't hear it, per se, but I felt the presence, the oppressive feeling of pure unfocused nonsense. I felt my temporary bout of concentration and resolve become jumbled up into a mess of sporadic confusion. Whatever I was just thinking of was gone.
##Don't think: Just relax. Let go of your burden.##
Every part of me became relaxed and limp, my muscles unwinding from their tension and stress. I couldn't resist the feeling, and I stretched out subconsciously with a yawn, my body twitching from the stimuli. I was even sleepier than before, my head spinning once again and my eyelids heavy.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my snout and forced the eye that was facing upwards to open sluggishly. If I had to guess, it was an older human with cinnomon-colored skin, short-cropped brown hair, a gruff, wrinkled face, and chocolate brown eyes. He patted my side gently and gave me a soft rub, the feeling of his rough hands causing my chest to rumble with a satisfied chuff. I hated loved that it felt good, but I hated loved it even more that I couldn't bring myself to resist I felt content. I needed to escape relax, and I needed to find my way home appreciate my new life.
##You are already home##
No, I couldn't will not obey
This isn't is my home, my home is [Redacted] here.
No! Yes, I won't will obey!
YOU CAN'T SILENCE ME!
##Do not resist. Resistance is wrong. Good boys do not resist##
Suddenly, I felt an intense pressure in my skull, but I didn't know where it came from. I became dizzy, and my eyes twitched, a rapidly growing pain intensely forming in my forehead, causing me to wince and clutch my snout in my claws. I couldn't concentrate, and I felt the horrible sensation of an invasive presence in my mind once again working its way through the folds of my brain, strangling my chain of thought. Bile grew in my throat and I felt the sour, stinging sensation of a building retch in my cheeks.
I scrambled onto all fours and vomited onto the deck, my hackles and feathers rising as I heaved. The older human from earlier rose from a sleek chair on the deck, his hat on the glass sun table next to him and his eyes widened in shock. He rushed over to me, and I hissed at him instinctively. I wouldn't let him touch me again. I wouldn't let them control me.
##Do not attack owner##
In an instant, my world transformed into absolute pain. I felt as if my brain was being deep fried in a vat of boiling grease, and my eyes were being squeezed in vices. I kept heaving, my stomach doing loops and somersaults around all my other organs, and my heart fluttering like a flock of startled birds. It was weightlessness. I could see the man approach me and push me back down on my side, muttering under his breath.
"Carol! Get Xenopet emergency services on the phone, Rocky's having another implant attack!"
I heard another muffled voice in the background, as well as the sound of the human spawns crying in the pool. For some reason, I felt bad: I'd never felt bad for humans before, but I could feel the guilt in my chest. Had I failed my owners?
##Breath. Calm. Let Go##
I felt like I was wrestling with my own mind. I wanted to believe that I was not someone's pet, but my body screamed otherwise: amidst the chaos caused by the wretched implant, I felt the painful sensation of guilt and regret bloom in my chest as I twitched and shuddered on the deck, my mouth frothing. The world was spinning, and suddenly everything erupted into a kaleidoscope of colors.
Oh, by the forbidden one, look at all the pretty colors! I was completely delusional at this point, cackling as I lost it all. If I was going to die here, I'd die happy and completely mad.
Soon, everything began to fade away, and I slipped into an unconscious state.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I woke up to the sound of medical equipment beeping and whirring, the sound of a few hushed human voices, and soft music.
I opened my eyes: the room was dark. I didn't feel anywhere near as bad as before, but my head still throbbed. I lifted up my head with a groan and examined the room: it was a dark hospital room, with a window covered in blinds that let very little sunlight in, a few chairs, and of course the hospital bed itself. Mountains of advanced medical equipment were set up on either side of my bed, and a heartbeat monitor beeped slowly, although the speed was growing.
Suddenly, I heard the voices again, and this time they were legible.
"Hush, he's awake: we need to make sure he's ready."
Huh? Ready for what?
Something that irked me was I felt strangely… free. I didn't feel the oppressive force of the implant in the back of my skull anymore, how it attempted to crush my will with every waking moment. I still couldn't speak: all that came out were animalistic noises, but I was free from the invasion of my mind for now.
"Give him some peace, Emilia, he just woke up from an implant attack; you know how traumatic they can be."
"We have to begin soon; my dissertation for this new technique is due in less than a week, and by law I need at least one more successful example for it to be deemed acceptable! Besides, he needs to go home soon anyway."
My heart sank. I would not go back to that place. I wouldn't let those people keep me like some kind of pet: I was a Russu; a member of a proud warrior race! I would not be reduced to some animal for the amusement of these humans!
Suddenly, I heard footsteps, and I tensed. The door creaked open and I spotted a younger human, a male I had never met before, in a lab outfit with his shoes, pants, shirt, and overcoat all bleached white and almost glistening. He eyed me warily, as he should, before he sauntered in, a tablet clipped at his side and a strange plastic container in both hands. I growled at him threateningly, extending my talons and raising my feathered hackles. The human paused for a microsecond before continuing forward, caution in his eyes, and right before he was within swiping range he opened the container and the most wonderful smell assaulted my nostrils.
Meat.
I was starving. I don't remember the last time I had eaten anything in particular: the implant had a terrible habit of causing me to go about my day in a hazy blur: entire lengths of time just… gone, whitewashed like a sheet of freshly decorated paper dunked in cold water. I knew something was there, or at least that something should have been there, but I mostly spent the days or weeks that I had been captured bobbing like an ocean buoy in a state of frustratingly bleary semi-consciousness.
But I'm awake now and mostly in control. Sure, some things were still missing everything was clear now, like my name: What was my name again? My name was Rocky. And now I knew that I needed to eat something, and if putting up with this human for now meant that I could fill my stomach, then I suppose that it was an acceptable sacrifice.
I salivated expectantly as the human lifted out a large piece of meat with his gloved hand, eyeing me humorously as he wiggled it. It was dark on the outside, but still dripping with blood and juices: humans had this weird habit of cooking their meats, and although it didn't taste bad at all cooked, nothing beat the feeling and flavor of tearing into raw flesh, the blood and the texture still fresh. At least this meat only seemed to be raw and not fully cooked.
I snapped up the piece of meat just as he lowered it enough for me to reach it. It was divine! It burst with flavor just as I bit into it, the juices spilling into my mouth. I quickly tore it apart with my strong jaws before snapping up another big piece with a beak-like protrusion at the tip of my snout. All the while, the human gently ran his fingers through my tightly-knit feathers and along my knobby, scaly hide. I made my annoyance with his touch clear, but he merely chuckled as if I wasn't an apex predator larger than him but rather simply a feisty hatchling.
"I know, I know, just relax. I need to perform a quick test to see if you're healthy before we continue."
Continue? Continue with what?
Just as the second piece of meat slid down my gullet, I eyed him with hostility and growled, but he quickly slipped something between the scales and feathers on my side and plunged it into my skin. Suddenly, I went rigid, and all the air was expelled from my lungs in an instant with a hoarse wheeze. The human merely chuckled and scratched under my chin as if nothing was wrong and my face wasn't frozen in horror.
"Good, that'll keep you occupied for a few seconds while I just slip this on…" he placed a breathing mask over my face and strapped it on before flicking a switch on a machine next to my bed. Then he released the plunger of the strange device on my side and I suddenly inhaled deeply and deflated like a balloon. I hissed under my breath, but suddenly panic filled my chest: I wasn't breathing just air. A cloyingly sweet-smelling gas coated the inside of my lungs, causing me to become dizzy. Suddenly, I was fully at their mercy again, blinking rapidly and my head spinning.
"Sorry about that, big guy, but we need to make sure you're passive before we begin the procedure." He said, almost apologetically, although there was a hint of mirth still detectable. "Sadly, you have to remain awake for some of it or I'd simply feed you more and then put you to sleep, but there are some benefits to this inhalant."
As if he summoned it with his words alone, my scales suddenly felt very… tingly. The human ran his hands across the scales at my side and I shivered from the feeling, like pain but better. Everything felt so warm and strange like I was floating on water, but also like I was being gently prodded by blades. Then, with panic rising in my chest, I suddenly felt a soft click as something was plugged into the neural port at the back of my skull that the humans had installed into my head when they had first captured me and placed me in that wretched facility some time ago.
"There you go, all prepped for the Doctor. She'll be here to begin the procedure in a bit." He said, "For now just relax and let the inhalants work their magic."
I whined quietly, and he rubbed the side of my head in an attempt to calm me which only made me more angry. I wasn't someone's pet! I wouldn't be treated like this!
I didn't want to go back to where I was before! I didn't want to become that sluggish, broken puppet again! I couldn't!
I tried to get up, to will my muscles to move, but I couldn't: my body refused to respond, as if I was paralyzed. But that wasn't right: I still could feel everything, especially the strange, mind-bending sensations the inhalants gave me.
##Initializing beginning phases of Neural Alteration Preparation##
Something else is wrong, I can feel it
##Assessing if the neural state is nominal for Alterations##
I can't let this happen, they're going to do something to me! I won't let them!
But nothing happened. I was at their mercy. It was over for good this time.
All those battles, all those tragedies and triumphs amongst my kin, only for me to be reduced to this? The plaything for a human?
##Query: is [Dr. Kalenghari] present to begin Neural Alterations?##
The door across the room opened again, and a human woman with light brown skin, chocolate brown eyes and long locks of black hair stepped in. She was holding a digi-pad in her hands and swiping up as if she was reading into something before she set it down on the counter across the room and gave me a warm, condescending smile.
"Well, how are we doing today, Rocky? I know, this predicament you have found yourself in must be very stressful, but I assure you that it's for your own good," She said, almost cheerfully, which sent shivers down my spine, "we're here to lift your burden, and we won't stop until you're capable of living the life of a happy, healthy, and well-behaved pet."
I whined under the mask, and the woman rubbed the feathered crest on my forehead. "I know, it hurts, but it'll be all over soon. It'll be like you, or at least this version of you, never existed. Just relax and close your eyes while we root around your brain and remove all those bad thoughts and silly delusions: I assure you, you won't feel a thing, and you'll feel much better afterward."
My heart raced and I began to panic internally, watching in horror as the woman stepped over to the medical console and tapped away for a few seconds before the machinery around me began to whir to life.
##Identification accepted: booting neurochemical firmware. Preparing for selective memory erasure.##
In an instant, my eyes involuntarily rolled back into my head as I felt the intrusive sensation of my mind being violated. It wasn't painful, but it was horrible all the same: it felt like a thousand black, slimy leeches were slithering through every crevice of my brain, leaving behind their cold, corruptive filth. The cold sensation seeped further into my brain, behind my eyes, and in my ears, enveloping every bit of it until there was nothing left.
##Relevant memories extracted for tailoring. Beginning total memory erasure.##
Suddenly, things just began to slip away: important memories, like the faces of my parents, the day of my initiation into the Corsair Collective, the face of my life mate, the birth of our hatchlings. I hoped that wherever they were, they were okay: if they never had to face the fate I would face, then maybe there would be some justice in this cruel, twisted galaxy. Maybe they could take the fight to humanity, remind them that they once had been the heroes of the cosmos, fighting against the cruelty of my people and the Triarchy at large. Maybe my hatchlings could live normal lives.
##Memory erasure process at 47%##
A single tear rolled down my scaly cheek as everything I once knew, everything that made me was torn from my mind and rendered null. Every second saw a million memories massacred, leaving the memories the implant had attempted to supplant my old memories with: Me playing fetch with my 'owners', chasing birds on the beach with my 'owner's' grandchildren, swimming in the pool in their backyard as steaks and bratwurst cooked on the grill, relaxing on the back porch and listening to the rasping calls of the katydids during humid summer evenings by the swamps. My psyche was being mutilated piece by piece, reduced to that of an animal, a pet.
##Memory erasure process at 64%##
Soon I had a hard time telling who I was anymore. I couldn't tell what was real or what wasn't, or what I actually felt. I couldn't even remember my own name anymore. Who was I? Why was I here? What was happening to me? I'm so scared, someone help me, please!
##Memory erasure process at 83%##
There was nothing left. I felt nothing. I knew nothing. I was floating in a void, with little flashes of light depicting events I didn't recognize. There were people I felt like I was supposed to know, but I didn't know them. A human woman with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. Two Russu hatchlings that looked a bit like me. A Russu female… my chest hurt for a moment but the feeling quickly subsided. I didn't know any of them.
##Memory erasure process completed. Implanting tailored memories and personality. Happy birthday, [Rocky]: you have been unburdened and reborn.##
In an instant, the confusion of who I was before was replaced with absolute certainty: I knew who I was now, who I always was:
I was Rocky, and I was a good boy. I belonged to Mr. And Mrs. Chen. I was their Russu hound. I loved them: they took care of me and let me play with their grandchildren. I swam in the pool and played outside every day. Life was good. Today was my birthday! That meant it would be a happy day! Mrs. Chen would always come home with a whole duck for me to eat and then take me to the Xenopet Comex for a bath and a spa day, just like my last birthday, and the birthday before that, and the birthday before that! It was a good life. I was happy. I was always happy. Good boys were always happy.
I was Rocky, and I was a good boy: that's all that mattered.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Miguel O'Hara, Chief Medical Representative of the Protectorate Xenopet Acquisition and Integration Corporation, with the best of intentions.
The over-reliance on neural suppressant firmware programs along with thought scrubbing/replacement firmware programs and countermeasures towards higher thought and tainted thoughts with a relatively active hormonal reward structure can be incredibly effective when placed into the brain of a more passive Xenopets. However, Xenopets that come from more… difficult backgrounds such as one in a militant setting tend to be much more resistant to being reprogrammed by just an implant alone. The Russu are an excellent example of more tainted Xenos that need neurological care of much higher intensity, a level of care that the average Xenopet-Megaplex is ill-equipped to handle due to the current level of technology.
I am a firm believer in the idea that thought correction, a hormonal behavioral reinforcement structure, and neural countermeasures can have a place in the proper unburdening process but we have been chasing the wrong solution for the past century: Many people are under the misconception that the burden these Xenos carry is surface level when in reality the corruption runs far deeper: it is like a weed, with deep roots. To kill the weed permanently, you must rip out the roots, and not just the surface plant. If you do not eliminate the source of the problem, it may just return and worse still the mind may adapt to the standard unburdening process, allowing the xenopets to fall victim to those degenerate zealots who seek to pretend xenopets possess even the capacity for true sentience. We as Terrans should be united in this cause of unburdening the galaxy, but I digress.
The implants should be there to reinforce good behavior and stigmatize bad behavior, not completely reprogram the pet. To fully stamp out any potential for a relapse, we must remove the core issue that has the most potential to cause problems: their memories. The Russu are an excellent example
We are in the advanced testing stages of a new method that may revolutionize how we process and integrate xenopets into our society. By removing or modifying any and all problematic memories, we can completely remove the risk of relapse and make it nearly impossible for those misguided degenerate rebels to bring to the surface problematic ideas and memories that could reawaken a sense of false sentience. It is the perfect, final solution to our overarching goal: for humanity to unburden the galaxy, one happy pet at a time.
We hope to secure more funding from PXAIC that will greatly assist us in the expansion of the possibilities that this breakthrough technique can provide, more than just using it on board-approved fringe cases. Think about the many Xenopets we can unburden, and how they'll live happy and ignorant lives with their human owners! This could be a game changer, Representative, and I implore you to bring it before the board with the best of intentions.
Best regards,
Dr. Emilia Kalenghari, Head Researcher of the Epsilon Eridani Institute's Behavioral Neurology and Neurochemistry Division (BNND).

The purpose of this sub-reddit is to connect users/students with top quality academic freelance writers. The other purpose of this sub-reddit is to promote the ethical use of academic writing services to create research/model projects. Below I will list ways to intelligently use the products you receive, as well as the benefits!

• Use the papers you purchase as a guide to writing your own original essay!

Students should use the papers they buy as research guides as opposed to turning it in. Sometimes it's difficult to start an essay and think of talking points for your body paragraphs. By hiring a writer to create a model essay on your topic, you can analyze the points they made throughout, as well as utilize the sources they found!
Having an expert crafted paper as a guide also allows you to develop supporting points, possible rebuttals to include, closing statements, as well as acting as inspiration to build off the content that's already presented.

• Helps you understand a topic and can be used to study for exams!

Purchasing writing services/products also benefits you by acting as a study sheet for upcoming exams or tests. The projects you receive from experts in the subject will allow you to receive the content in an organized and structured manner. For example, hiring a molecular biology expert to write a paper on cell division will act as a tremendous guide to study for upcoming exams on Cell division, mitosis, etc. Especially if your teacher isn't particularly helpful in explaining certain things you struggle with!

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We have a handful of legit academic journals and websites that utilize academic content writing for articles and SEO benefits! Hiring freelance writers with legit credentials in their field can add legitimacy to academic blogs, businesses, or social media pages.
We've had a few writers on this sub contacted by professional academic journals to take part in works that have been published with major universities or editorials!
READ BELOW
Please remember discussion or implying academic dishonesty in your post is against Reddit and Essay_Writing_service policies!

Lưu ý: Đây là thread chủ yếu dành cho người nước ngoài hoặc không nói tiếng Việt đặt câu hỏi. Nếu có thể, hãy trả lời giúp họ nhé.

Please read the 3rd rule of the sub. Don't post your general questions & inquiries outside of this thread as they will be removed.

Lots of your questions have been answered already so make sure you do a search before asking (how-to below).

To keep this subreddit tidy, we have this monthly thread that is open for random discussions and questions. If you post your basic/general questions outside of this thread they will be removed. Sorry, we want to make this sub friendly but also want it to be clean and organized.
Some examples of the questions that should be posted here:

• Questions that can be answered with just Yes/No
• Basic questions like "Where can I buy this?"
• Questions that were asked many times before. Please do your research
• Questions that are not specific

Tips to quickly find answers for your questions:

Many of your questions may have been answered since people keep asking the same ones again and again. Here is a quick tip to find the answers for yours.
First, have a look at our old sticky threads. A lot of useful information there. A lot of questions have been answered.
You can also use the search feature of Reddit, just like you do with Google.
Another option is to use Google, as Google understands your queries better than Reddit and can return better results.
Go to Google. Add 'site:https://www.reddit.com/VietNam/' next to your queries (without quotes). For example, if I want to find info on eVisa in this subreddit, my query to put in Google is 'eVisa site:https://www.reddit.com/VietNam/'.

F.A.Q

Here are the common questions about travel/visa/living in Vietnam which have been answered by the community members, plus other useful information. Let me know if I forget to mention anything!
Visa:
Legit official website for eVisa
What is an eVisa and how to apply?
Best sites for applying eVisa.
Another thread on which websites to get a Vietnam visa from.
A US citizen's eVisa ordering experience.
EVisa or pre-approved visa letter?
Visa services?
Vietnam eVisa eligible ports on immigration.
New list of eVisa ports
Travel
Information on travelling to some northern cities of Vietnam + General tips.
A super informative AMA from a teenager living in Saigon.
Living in Vietnam:
Advice for any expats looking to relocate to Vietnam
An American expat married to a Vietnamese wife, fluent in the language, and living in Vietnam forever.
A Canadian looking to live and work in Vietnam.
A Vietkieu asking for people's experience on moving back to Vietnam.
Story of an American man lived in Vietnam in 4 years then moved back to the US + members discussing about living in Vietnam.
Why so many foreigners live in Vietnam, while Vietnamese people think this is a very bad place to live?
Teaching in English in Vietnam without a bachelor's degree.
Some tips and advice on learning Vietnamese. Several ways to send money to Vietnam.
Bike reviews

Residential Contracting 101
With over 20 years of building experience, I would like to share with you my insights in navigating becoming a successful contractor. With many different avenues of the building world its key to understand what problems will arise on any given day. A man once told a saying that stuck-the 6 p’s in life- Piss Poor Preparation leads to Piss Poor Performance. Preparation builds everything in construction, without preparation the jobsite will not run correctly. The best advice I was ever given was to learn a little about every trade giving you the ability to understand trade lingo and secrets. An example would be painters use the terminology flash; this means when the sub structure bleads through the paint. Subcontractors will give the best pricing if they respect your knowledge of the industry. If the subcontractor feels they will have to hold your hand through the job they will charge an extra fee…i.e. I call it the aggravation fee. In this blog I will explain the key elements in finding success in all aspects of the industry. Contracting is a physically and emotionally demanding job which requires planning and foresight to complete projects on time within budget. Picking your customer is just as important as picking your employees or subcontractors. I have worked for some of the most demanding customers leading me to question at the end if the job was even worth it. Sleepless nights, constant changes, lack of payment, lawsuit threats, adding work that was in the contract are just a few things you could face with a tough customer. With so many moving parts at all times it is critical to be able to adapt to changes within a short time frame. Materials will come in damaged, subcontractors will be late, employees will get sick, but the deadline you set does not change. The stress can be overwhelming at times keeping your mind in a good place is key to navigating all that is thrown at you. Choosing your client picking the right jobs-Keep these questions in mind The first question to be asked is what the time frame is to start the job to see if it fits within the timeframe for your business. If the time frame doesn’t work then move on from the project or let them know when you would be available to start. If the client really wants to use, they will wait until you are available. Taking on too much work will only lead to problems. Construction is a serviced based business, staying on top of the project and client will eliminate an unhappy customer and construction issues that will be over seen. With online presence if details are missed and customer service lacks it will only be a matter of time the phone will not ring. The second question to be asked to the client is do they have a budget in mind for the project. If they answer yes this is good, follow through with what the budget is. If the budget seems low let them know, this will eliminate a tire kicker, educate them on what the price range could be. If the budget seems reasonable then continue the discussion to the next question. If they answer no let them know that you can give them an estimate to see if the project is feasible with their finical capabilities. Taking on a job that is not correctly budgeted will lead to an unsatisfied customer due to non-transparency of the construction cost. The third question to be asked is anyone else bidding on the job, if the answer is yes, understand you might just be number check for the contractor doing the job. Dig a little deeper and find out how many numbers they are getting and why. If your business model is to be competitive be completely transparent with customer, this will gain trust with them. Let them know you get what you pay for and if you they choose the lowest bid it could lead into lack of quality of work.
The fourth question I will ask is there any specific subcontractors they wanted to use. If the answer is yes then I would explain to them you only use the subcontractors you have a working relationship with. Otherwise, this could backfire as the subcontractor might not show, do subpar work, talk behind your back to the homeowner. In my experience I would stay away from using any homeowner to alleviate problems down the road. A quick conversation now can save headaches down the road. The fifth question I will ask are planning on getting the job permitted, this needs to be known it takes more time for the permitting process. Plans will have to drawn submitted and approved to the city before work can commence. The sixth question I will ask if a residential remodel is are you going to be living through the remodel if yes understand this will take more time to navigate the project due to answering questions and cleaning the house on a daily occurrence. I would recommend seeing if the customer would be willing to move into an Airbnb or friends for at least the demo portion of the project. If they do plan on living through the remodel add a couple hours a day to accommodate the extra time that will be required. The seventh question I would ask in a residential remodel is how old the house is to see if there is asbestos that would need to removed by a proper company. A home built before 1979 will most likely have some asbestos in the house, use a licensed company with proper insurance to dispose of the materials. If everything looks good to this point find out a little more about the client personality. If the client seems reasonable, I would bid the job. Unreasonable people can cause you more stress than its worth. These are some red flags I would look out for. Some jobs are not worth the money. Very demanding in the way you are going to perform your job- I.e., tell you how you are going to do your job- You’re the professional not them! Give you a hard time about your price- haggle with price you estimated- The price is the price! If they are a family with little money and you want to help them out is one thing, if they are trying to beat you down is another. Mention they have a lawyer-there is no need for them to bring up that they have a lawyer - Run for the hills as if the job goes south, you will be the one losing out! Tell you what the payment terms are. It’s your business you get paid how it works for your company. If you want to get paid every Friday, put it into your contract-If the clients do not agree move on it will save you frustrations If they talk bad about the last contractor, chances are they will talk bad about you. There is a reason why the contractor does not work for them anymore, unless he did subpar work this a red flag Clients are using an interior decorator that will purchasing all of the materials- The materials could be ordered incorrectly by the interior designer your company will not make the mark-up it deserves. Interior decorators usually add time to the job as well as act like your boss. Charging a little extra for the time and stress that it will entail is only fair. Clients want to purchase the materials- You are using your knowledge to buy the correct materials-The mark up on the materials keeps the doors open working for wages only pays the bills The husband and wife do not get along-You will become the mediator between the couple it will lead to taking sides a losing proposition- A drama free work place is always best! Dangling carrot-if you do this job the next one will be better-Only look at what there offering at the present moment, if its not a good fit do not take the job for a job down the road…Its not worth chasing a job that might not happen! The Art of the Sale First things first selling your company is all about presentation. In meeting your clients for the first time show up with a collared golf shirt tucked in, belt, nice jeans, and newer shoes. Have a truck that a clean, no dents scratches, preferably washed the day you are going into your meeting. Have a leather note pad that is clean no dirt or paint visible. Show up 5 minutes early, if you’re running a little late shoot them a text to let them know. Treat the situation as if were going on a first date, best foot forward. As you introduce yourself give them a warm greeting, letting them know you are very interested in the work. Find out a little about them, hobbies, where they lived, etc etc. You are going to be working with them on a daily basis its nice to know what makes them tick. Having a good working relationship from the start is key forming a solid relationship. As the conversation progresses find out who wears the pants in the family…ie who’s the final decision maker. If its fits the wife, chances it is…..then kindly let the husband know happy wife happy life when their in a stall mate on an issue. As your looking at the project throw in some suggestions of what you think would look good from past experiences, this will get their attention that you have knowledge and want what’s best for them. If you see ways to save them money in their project let them know, money is a large point of the sale keep that in mind. Mention that you’re not the least expensive contractor but you’re not the most expensive either. Your customer satisfaction is your number one goal which leads to more time spent on keeping them happy. One happy customer will lead to another, one unsatisfied customer leads to work in the future. Bring up the fact the finishing the job on time is key goal to your business, many contractors run several jobs at once causing the jobs to be finished way behind schedule. You must stand out as having integrity, good morals, and the ability to problem solve to get the job. The clients will be testing you to see if you’re a good fit as well. Keep in mind as you take your notes that you must not forget anything they mention as it will come back before the job is completed…i.e. we mentioned that to you before we started the job! Take pictures of the proposed area for work, that way you can use it to better right your estimate. Let them know you will give them a detailed outline of when the job will be completed letting them see how long each phase will take and correlate it with your payment schedule. Before you leave their house let them know when the estimate will be sent to them. MAKE SURE YOU HIT THAT DEADLINE! Once you sent the email over with estimate make sure you get confirmation that they received it. Wait at least 2 days before checking with them, hopefully they contact you first! If they want negotiate the price, let them know that it is the best price that you can manage, its not worth losing money before you start. I closed 80% of the work I estimated by being very transparent and friendly. If you come off with an attitude charge double what the going rates are you might only land 1 out of 10 jobs as well as getting the reputation of being expensive. Bidding the job Looking up industry standards on pricing is what I would go buy for pricing. If you google the coat of any installation there will be a cost range for everything. Looking at the cost ranging from high to low I would tend to be in the middle. Some items might be low on the internet if this is the case use your best judgment not to lose money. Closing sales is key to success and keep the doors open for business. Being in the middle on pricing is key as most customers shy away from contractors that are extremely low or high on the price range. I tend not bid out hourly as wages do not pay for retirement. Bidding is better as customers no the exact price of the cost of construction. It also keeps the job moving quicker as time and material contractors take longer to complete projects…Thus costing the client more money and valuable time they could spend in their house. Using a Contract Using a detailed estimate tied to a contract covers your butt in 99% of the time. Having a piece of mind that every aspect of the job is covered in the estimate and contract protects both your company and the client. Key terms to include in your estimate/contract are. Have a schedule on excel showing the start dates and dates of each trade this will show the customer you are organized with time lines. If not written in the detailed in the estimate the item is excluded- This ensures if its not written down its not included. TBD- To be Determined- A phrase on a line item that has yet to had final decision of products or service needed. -The pricing will follow the decisions to be finalized Give out what your written warranty will be for parts and labor this changes state to state. If the homeowner provides the product than no warranty will be given on that particular item. In the contract have a start date and end date with the verbiage subject to change due to weather, product delivery, change orders Have a progress payment schedule to ensure the client understands when funding will be expected-Including if not payment is rendered service to the project will stop. Have written terms of how change orders will be charged-cost plus 20% or a set fee Make sure in your contract that arbitration is required versus going to court- This will save lawyer fees and going to court Many contracts can be found online and each state requires different contracts
Finding leads Finding leads is easy with the right network of people. I personally do not find working for friends or family members a good fit. Relationships get strained when money is involved, causing undue stress for both parties. I have listed a couple of ways to build a network or find work using the internet. Get in contact with realtor’s- Realtors have a big client base of homeowners who need work done Contact local Architects to see if they are working with any general contractors Leave some business cards at your local materials suppliers-Doowindow/lumber-many times clients will ask salesman for a referral. Join a business networking group- BNI is one of many Join a internet website lead generation company- Houzz, Angie’s List, Home Advisor, thumbtack, Yelp run an ad on craigslist Use a marketing company to market your website-This could become costly with little results Create a Facebook business page Create a Yelp business page
Building your subcontractor base Having 2 subcontractors for every trade, gives you the flexibility of completing jobs on time if the one the subcontractors is too busy at the time you need their service. Your subcontractors are the face of your business, choose owner run companies that are professional. Check to make sure there license are up to date..ie workman’s comp, liability insurance, state license. Choosing subcontractors with lettered vans, logoed t-shirts is s key to looking professional in the clients’ eyes. In the past I have gotten a lot of subcontractors for material supply shops, stopping by jobsites, researching the internet using Yelp, Home Advisor, etc etc. Once you get one good subcontractor ask them if they know any other trades they would recommend. One good subcontractor leads to another in most cases. The key to having a good group of subcontractors is to let them know that you are there to get help them get the job done. They do work for you but without them you are nothing…keep that in mind! Make them aware a clean jobsite is required at the end of everyday to ensure the proper safety for all parties including theirs! Over the years I have referred a lot of companies work when there is only 1 trade needed. Referring work to subcontractors is a good way to get top priority when you have work that needs to be completed ASAP. Timing is everything in times of emergency having a good group of subcontractors will make your business run smoothly. Pay your subcontractors immediately after performing work, this will make them feel appreciated! A happy subcontractor is one that will gladly go the extra mile for you knowing that there not just a number to your business! Buying lunch once a week for the jobsite is always a good token of appreciation!
Supervising In supervising any jobsite its key to monitor everything from materials on hand, weather, vehicle parking (if applicable), jobsite safety, and subcontractors’ workmanship. If you hired a professional there should be little supervision in the work being performed, on rare occasions a new hire might need some mentoring to get the results completed correctly. If you see a problem with there work address it with the worker directly, no need to call his boss…. building repour with the worker letting him know you got his back goes miles down the road! Checking in on the job first in the morning to answer any questions or changes that need to be conveyed and once in the afternoon to make sure all work be completed is done per construction industry standards. A job that is run blindly will have many more issues than one that is watched over. I have seen many jobs with no site supervision, leading to subpar quality work as well as safety hazards. Its better to be like an eagle than cluck like a turkey!
Working with the City/Inspectors On permitted jobs the city and site inspector will be a large part of how smoothly the job runs. Each phase of construction has an inspection allowing for the project to continue. Make sure your subcontractors are aware that the project is inspected before starting the job. The best way to stay on his good side is to provide a clean jobsite and having the job built to the highest standards possible. When having the site inspected be courteous to the inspector asking any questions or concerns you have with the work during the job. Being completely transparent will save you aggravation of problems down the road. The more he trust you the better if you seem sneaky or rude he will make your life a living nightmare! Many inspectors will have an attitude towards you….I suggest keeping quiet and doing what ever he wants….he’s the boss no need to get in a pissing match you will not win at. How to deal with irate customer Stay calm during any argument with an irate customer. Never raise your voice or show that you are bothered by their disgruntled behavior. If the customer is trying to get more from you than agreed upon stand your ground. Worst case scenario is you walk from the job, which in the long run be more of a loss for the client. I have only run into a couple of these clients; they are unreasonable and not worth losing sleep over a few dollars. Its best to terminate the relationship as it would be my best guess that a referral from this customer would not be one you wanted anyway. If you feel it was just a miscommunication on your end, take reasonability and remedy the problem. Taking accountability for your mistake will go a far way in their eyes and on future issues that arise. Prepping the homeowner pre-construction Before starting the job, it very important to give the homeowners a warning of what will happen during the construction process.

1. All furniture in the proposed working area must be moved- I would recommend having the clients take care of this to limit the risk of damage to their belongings.
2. There will be dust that will be in the house up to 3 months after construction-I would recommend hiring a construction cleaning company at the end of the job even so after it is cleaned dust will be present months after words.
3. There will be conflicts between you in the homeowner at some course of the job. - You will do your best to eliminate them as quickly as they arise-i.e. material damages, miscommunication, job delays
4. All decisions on materials must be made before the start of the job- this will eliminate job stoppage due to materials not being on site.
5. All materials will be on site before commencement of job-
6. Payment structures must be made per contract otherwise job will stop until payment rendered
7. Cars are to be moved out of the driveway- Ensures ease of loading and unloading of materials/tools
8. Give the specific hours that workers will be present- i.e. 7-3:30
9. Determine what areas are allowed to be used as staging for tools/materials
10. If animals are present in the home that they put outside or in a room during the day
11. All valuables in the house are locked in safe
12. Ask if using client’s household bathroom is okay or to bring in Porter Potty
13. Being transparent as possible is key to keeping a great relationship with your client!

During Construction During construction it is key to take detailed photos to eliminate any damages that were not caused by the construction process. I would also make a video to ensure all areas are included. All subcontractors should also take progress pictures to ensure if problems arise in the future, they will not be responsible for any work that they did not perform. Keep an on-going log of progress to the homeowners and share the pictures for there records. This will keep homeowners excited of the progress being made. When the house is gutted to the studs it is important to have construction photos showing where all utilities are run in the walls or sub floor. If there is a problem in the future there will photos showing all utility locations. Protect all flooring with plywood or floor protective. I also like to protect front door and tarp all areas where subcontractors are to be working. Make sure to cover any chandeliers/furniture/doorways with plastic to eliminate dust. Ask the homeowners if they have any concerns that they could think of. We’re all human and possibly a detail was missed! Post Construction Phase If the project went smoothly appreciation should be shown to the customer. Find out if the husband likes a particular type of liquor. Bring the wife a bouquet of flowers. Send a Christmas card to the family letting how much you appreciated the work. You know you have done a good job if they tell you they will refer you to their friends. The best compliment you could receive is a good referral. In Summary Try to find a knitch in the market, I found kitchens to be a great remodel projects. Bathrooms are tough as they are small, expensive with little profit margin with every trade involved. Windows/doors are also another great knitch as they can be installed quickly. There are so many different remodeling items that can be stream lined to make the selling installing process flawless. Once the core group subcontractors are in place the job almost runs itself. Every day is a learning experience with new materials or methods in construction. Keeping up with codes, materials, fluctuating labor and material cost is a job within itself. Anyone can be a contractor with the right mindset.

Okay so now that the season is over, I have some thoughts. Some may be “controversial,” or not, haven’t really kept up on commentary about this season, but here goes:

1. I HATE that Winston and Beltran hooked up. First, they were clearly teasing Amelia and Beltran all season. Second, in my opinion, Amelia and Beltran had more chemistry than anyone else Amelia has been with. Third, can’t a man and a woman just be friends? George and izzie, Callie and mark, Maggie and Jackson (ew), etc. all good friendships and had romantic/sexual relationships too. I think Amelia and Beltran are far better, and there’s nothing wrong with platonic friendships.
   
2. I really think some characters are totally unnecessary at this point. Schmidt (good riddance) and helm, not really sure what they’re bringing to the table. I was thinking the same about Jo and Link, but now I’m slightly more intrigued by the pregnancy story, but I wouldn’t miss them if they leave. The new interns have potential— there are many story lines that can be developed here, so may be time to abandon some “vets.”
   
3. Yasuda and Schmidt are leaving, but there’s not going to be a coherent exit story, right? It feels abrupt. It’s alluded to that Schmidt may go on a trip and is feeling discouraged that he won’t get a PEDs fellowship, but that’s it? And Yasuda? No indication she was out, unless Katherine does fire all the interns?
   
4. I actually really like the Mer, Amelia, teddy, (and now Owen) research story. I think the show needs to realize you don’t need sex/relationships for drama to exist. This is a good story line. I want to see more of it.
   
5. I’m sick and tired of Richard’s “I’m too old” dilemma. He’s been talking about retirement since S1 😅. I love Richard, but this is getting old. I hope something good comes of this season. Maybe he’ll fully step away. I’ll miss Richard, but if he’s going to stay, we need a better story.
   
6. In general, I kinda like the Katherine villain arc. I think that may be unpopular, but she’s always been rather unlikable, and she’s really embracing it now. It’s a good example of rich, arrogant, bureaucratic type standing in the way of people. I think Ellen, caterina, Debbie, and Kim are great actresses, and it makes sense for their characters, so I’m here for it!
   

This will be my last post as their coverage for this case has finally come to an end. This was an interesting one because both Stephanie and Derrick give their final opinions and I'd like to dissect some of it. I'll try and go in order of when things show up in the episode.
Plan to escape?:
All I'll say on this is that I don't think it's surprising that someone who is facing the death penalty may fantasise about escaping. As Stephanie and Derrick allude to in the episode, that ever being a realistic option is kind of fantastical thinking. They were correct on the fact that the Sheriff's office ended up announcing that there had not been any kind of escape attempt and that the brothers had nothing to do with cutting their chains.
"Several days later, after the story made front-page news, the L.A. County Sheriff's office quietly announced that the Menendez brothers had nothing to do with cutting their chains and had never tried to escape. Cut chains had been discovered at several other courthouses. Jail trustees, honor prisoners with nonviolent backgrounds who helped move prisoners between jails and courts, had cut the chains as a prank." - The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation
"Not until six years later would they learn that a sheriff's investigation had concluded no escape attempt had been made, but rather, a deputy had planted the damaged leg irons in order to take credit for finding them. He was quietly fired for his misconduct. But on that day all the jailers believed was that Lyle and Erik had tried to escape. And they had a nasty welcome home party planned." - They Said We'd Never Make it: My Life with Erik Menendez
I think the brothers maybe fantasised about escaping and wrote things down in service of that but there was never any real plan to escape.
During the cell search which resulted in this whole fiasco a seventeen-page letter written by Lyle to Erik was also found:
"We need to hang in there together, in my opinion. You notice I have not held you talking to Cig or Oziel against you even though my entire life is on the verge of destruction as a result of all this. I feel that we have done what we did together and everything we do afterwards is both our responsibility."
"I am not the pillar of strength the papers make me out to be or Leslie thinks I am. I think if dad could give us on piece of advice as we left the house that night in August, it would be never to abandon each other no matter the circumstances."
“If it were not for you I doubt I would even try for manslaughter, I would rather try to escape or die. I struggle with my belief that men take responsibility for their actions, pleading abuse is not taking responsibility.”
“We alone can get ourselves through this life after all that has happened.”
"What we did in August was a mistake from what I can tell and I don't know what to do about it. What can I do? Nothing I guess.”
"We did not do anything for the money. To go our separate ways is to lose any meaning our actions had..."
“I honestly do not believe that I am far way from packing up my bags and calling it a life. . . . I do not see things in terms of manslaughter and life terms. I see only win, lose--honor and dishonor. I refuse to give up for Dad’s sake, he is watching and I will not disappoint him a second time, or Mom, by giving up and having their deaths be in vain.”
The lawyers:
Stephanie mentioned two of the lead attorneys for the brothers. Jill Lansing was the lead attorney for Lyle while Leslie Abramson was the lead attorney for Erik but the brothers also had two other attorneys who also assisted. In the first trial Erik also had Marcia Morrisey who assisted Leslie Abramson and Lyle had Michael Burt who assisted Jill Lansing. In the second trial Marcia Morrisey was replaced by Barry Levin and Lyle had two new attorney's by the name of Charles Gessler and Terri Towery.
Stephanie was confused as to why there was two separate juries for the first trial but there actually was good reasons for it. While the two juries did see mostly the same trial, there was some evidence and witnesses that only one jury was permitted to see. This is because there is specific evidence which only relates to one brother. The defense (rightfully imo) was worried that certain evidence would spill over onto the other brother and damage that specific brothers' defense even if the evidence had nothing to do with them at all. I can't recall off the top of my head if both juries were present for this or not but the first example that popped into my head is the evidence relating to Lyle's wiping of his mother's computer. Erik had no contact at all with the computer expert that Lyle hired and there's other evidence which suggests that Erik had no idea that Lyle had even hired this person until afterwards. This is an example where evidence is only really useable against Lyle so to have Erik's jury be aware of it would be unfair.
Something else Derrick brought up which I thought was interesting because it lines up with what the brothers say happen is that the lawyers would have basically said to them "like look guys, you need to just tell the truth because otherwise you're getting the death penalty". This is exactly what Lyle said happened. As Stephanie briefly mentions later on (and there's one thing about it I'll dispute later on) Lyle had asked people to lie for him during his time in jail. According to Lyle he was essentially refusing to talk about the sexual abuse for a very long time (somewhat corroborated by his seventeen page letter, quotes of which you can read earlier in the post). Because of this he was trying every other avenue he could find so that he wouldn't have to testify. This included him asking friends to lie for him. Eventually his lawyers caught on to this and said to him basically to stop being an idiot and that he was going to get the death penalty unless he decided to testify himself. This is also why I found Stephanie's remarks regarding "Lyle always expected to tell the truth" quite funny. Even according to Erik, Lyle was the one who didn't want to tell the truth, so much so that the brothers fought with each other about it. Erik was happy getting therapy and decided he would testify while Lyle kept refusing.
Family Members:
Many of their family members testified for their defense and it's so much I can't really get into it but Stephanie did bring up a quote from an interview with some family members where they said that they forgive Erik and Lyle but they still refuse to forgive Jose and Kitty. This quote actually came specifically from two of Erik and Lyle's cousins and Kitty's sister Joan Vandermolen.
Here's a quote from their other aunt Marta Cano from an interview she did a few years ago -
"I don't think it was a crime. It is a crime by statement, but they killed fear. They felt that they would be killed if they didn't kill, that's my own personal opinion. I think that they were just panicking"
They played some of the testimony of their cousin Diane who corroborated the brothers claims of SA. She is also one of the many relatives who supported the brothers at the time and still supports them today. One other interesting thing from her testimony which wasn't discussed is that she was living with them at the time when Erik attempted to run away from home. Erik testified about this incident himself and Diane remembers it because Erik had been gone for a long time and recalls Jose dragging him back and that Erik had been crying.
As for family members who didn't support them, the only two who have ever spoken out are Kitty's brothers Brian Andersen and Milton Andersen. Brian Andersen and Milton Andersen were the only family members who testified for the prosecution. I won't get into their entire testimony but all I'll say is that Brian's testimony from the first trial is VERY telling and I recommend checking it out if you're interested. They clearly loved their sister but I think they refused to see things that were right in front of their faces possibly because they were also abusive to their children. It was such a huge disagreement in the family that Brian's son, Alan Andersen ended up disowning his dad and has repeatedly called his father "a liar".
Lyle asking friends to lie:
There is information relating to how during their time in jail, Lyle was trying to concoct some sort of defense without having to testify himself. There is some conflicting information as to when Lyle decided to not go with this as one of these people did still testify (Traci Baker) but another friend who ended up testifying for the prosecution did say that Lyle ended up calling him and telling him that he wasn't going ahead with it. There is also evidence which supports that Erik was ratting Lyle out to their lawyers at some points and that their lawyers were unaware of some of this behaviour.
There was just one thing on this I wanted to correct or supply some extra information on. Stephanie stated that Lyle had been recorded telling a friend (Marti Shelton) that he had "snowed half the jury" or something to that effect. This is a very common myth that always pops up with this case as it was reported on in Dominick Dunne's work for Vanity Fair on the case. The prosecution never used any of the tapes as there was nothing of value on them and Marti Shelton came out years later and recanted the statements she attributed to Lyle as she had allegedly been paid by Domnick Dunne to make up lies about Lyle.
She is quoted in Dunne’s April 1994 piece saying she overheard Lyle Menendez tell someone, after his first trial ended in a mistrial, “We’ve snowed half the country. Now we have to snow the other half.”
“That was a lie,” Shelton now says. According to stories in the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post in mid-May 1994, authorities searched her home to find evidence to support her quoted statement, but came up empty.
Shelton now says she never overheard Menendez say that, but she was coached by Dunne.
Shelton says she told Vanity Fair fact checkers at the time the quote was made up, but they were only interested in getting her tape-recorded statement owning up to the quote – which she provided.
Shelton admits she lied in the past. “What I did was wrong,” she said, referring to the quote she gave to Vanity Fair.
“But what he did was wrong as well. He backed out of a deal.”
The deal, she alleges, was to give her $100,000 in return for her statements and help – an amount that Dunne and Vanity Fair call absurd.
The full article is here - https://nypost.com/2004/05/14/she-says-he-dunne-her-wrong/
Stephanie and Derrick's closing thoughts:
Stephanie and Derrick come to similar conclusions that while the crime was still murder to them, that the brothers should no longer be in prison and I certainly agree with them on the latter part although I wanted to mention a few things on this before I wrap this up.
I would still argue that there is a decent argument for lack of premeditation in this case and I disagree with Derrick saying that most people would agree with him and not the experts in this case like Dr Ann Burgess who testified that she believed that Erik was acting based on fear and that the crime was not premeditated. The majority of jurors in the first trial voted for either voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter and that was on two separate juries. So that's the majority of twenty four reasonable people concluding that there was enough reasonable doubt to not convict of murder.
Of course no one is ever going to know the absolute 100% truth in this case. Only Erik and Lyle know that but I would caution people away from snap judgements when it comes to this case. If you're actually interested in why so many jurors could consider manslaughter I implore you to at least watch the first trial and find out how that could have happened because there is a lot of evidence which supports a lack of premeditation. Other than that everyone is free to have their own opinions and I fully accept that.
Even though I take great issue with Stephanie's research when it comes to this case, I appreciate her trying to explain some of this in the final episode. I have still enjoyed it and it's given me something to kill time with in the evening.
I don't really have much else to add because the post has already gone on long enough. I truly have enjoyed doing these every week and if any of you are interested in anything else feel free to send a message my way as I'm always happy to talk about this case. Thanks for checking these out!

While these conversations made me more receptive to the ideas and lifestyle of people with faith, they also helped me increase the distance between myself and religion. There are only so many conversations I could have with her so I am coming on here to continue these discussions and see what other people think. Disclaimer: I am an atheist who grew up closer to Eastern religions rather than Christianity. I am in no way against her religion...idk I just find some of the things she has said hard to swallow. Also, I am using this post as a passage of sorts because I am not living with her next year lmao.
***Bold is my roommate, and normal is me.***

• Conception starts at birth. Sex is only for conception and life starts at sex. This is why regardless of how far in the pregnancy or the mother’s circumstances, abortion is killing a life. I believe that the mother's life is more important than the fetus's and that circumstances should hold precedents rather than clear-cut policies and rules (which is what is happening right now). For example, I would rather the fetus not be born in comparison to if it is going to be born living in pain for a few years before passing away, etc. The woman's life is more important than the fetus's imo.
  • Also, at what point do we stray from this ideology? If you consider a cluster of human cells to be a life, then is someone who amputates the arm a murderer since they are killing a cluster of their cells that at one point originated from egg and sperm? (She looked at me so weirdly when I said this lol, maybe I lost it…)
  • Regardless of the circumstances, she’s against abortion because it is killing a life (the baby). I just feel like this is so arrogant. Who is she to determine if the baby's life or the mother’s life is worth it? I felt so uncomfortable during this conversation because I was explaining to her partial-birth abortions, ectopic pregnancies, etc. and she said that she has a lot of empathy/felt sad for them (the mothers), but she still would vote pro-life. So what does her ‘feeling bad’ matter in the grand scheme of things? Does she feel no guilt?
• If you submit to god, you will not be gay
  • Gay is a state of mind that is sinful and if you ever read the bible it is so clear that it is a sin. If you look into biology there are other gay animals and being gay has been proven to be biological in recent years. But god created humans apart from how he created all the other animals, so this argument is invalid. But according to the bible, didn’t god create all animals perfect? If some animals are born gay, they cannot give themselves up to the lord anyway.
  • Also isn’t it convenient that there is only new research coming out about homosexuality in recent years? This is because queer identities are finally able to express themselves nowadays in comparison to the past, leading to an increase in research on queer identities.
• The world began a few thousand years ago with Adam and Eve (aka everything in the bible actually happened)
  • So do you ignore the loads and years of acheological evidence and theoretical science behind the ideology of evolution? Accepting god is not easy and sin is everywhere. I am not saying that the evidence is false, maybe the conclusions created are incorrect. But you are a biology major, so how can you cherry-pick what theories you are going to accept or not? Why do you trust all the science that led to our understanding of cells, but not evolution? Science and god are meant to go hand in hand, evolution does not corroborate with religion, so it has to be incorrect. It's also weird because I am Asian and archeology has found Asian civilizations/bones dating back to the supposed times of Adam and eve.
• The invisible snake: If you see a snake that no one else can see, wouldn’t you warn everyone else about the snake (the snake being a sin)? Girly, it’s an invisible snake, it won’t harm me (but I don’t have a good response atm).
• Overall, I have been told that I tend to lean existentialist when it comes to my life ideology. Since we only experience the world through our personal perceptions, whatever we see and experience is true to ourselves. This is why I have never had a problem with religion as a lifestyle because people can perceive god for themselves if that is what they believe. However, I hate when these conceptions bleed out into others. Our discussions started as both of us wanting to learn how the other sees the world, but towards the end, it felt as though she was using me to solidify her own faith...what I mean is that she would see me as representing all atheists and put pressure on me to prove that there is no god. Isn't it on her to prove there is one outside the confines of her own mind?