Video link: https://youtu.be/UnGpz_W9pDA?si=ym-fRr2c2quRfFTh
[Story]
Thrust into the shoes of a wanted villainess from a novel, you find yourself stripped bare of your possessions - even your hair! Thankfully, your loyal nanny whisked you away to a hidden haven. Now, disguise is key! Hunt for clothes and a wig to outwit your relentless pursuers, especially the Duke of the North...
Can you gather all you can, charm the Duke, and rewrite your deadly fate?
[Description]
This is a cozy dress up game with villainess (otome isekai) themes. In short, a joseimuke xD also an otome heheheh
[Plans]
The game is still only a very short prototype. I'm currently trying to see if there would be enough interest in the game before I continue developing it.
[More Info]

• Game's newsletter sign form: https://inunekonanita.com/#villainessdress-newsletter
• Game's Itch io page: https://inuneko-nanita.itch.io/the-villainess-wants-a-dress-cozy-otome-isekai

Thank you very much for letting us indies post via Indie Sunday. It's a very big help!

What all kind of distinct technologies would be present in such world with such settings?

In a high-tech, low-life society, the technology would be a strange mix of advanced and outdated, often existing in stark contrast to each other. Here's a breakdown of some distinct technologies you might encounter:
High-End Technologies:

• Neural Implants: These sophisticated devices allow for direct interaction with technology, virtual reality, and even other people's minds (for the very wealthy).
• Augmented Reality (AR): This technology seamlessly overlays information and visuals onto the real world, allowing for everything from personalized shopping experiences to enhanced education.
• Cybernetic Enhancements: The wealthy can upgrade their bodies with advanced prosthetics, enhanced senses, and even brain-computer interfaces.
• Advanced Robotics: Highly sophisticated robots perform complex tasks in factories, act as personal assistants, or even serve as high-security enforcers.
• Vertical Farming and Sustainable Technologies: The elite live in self-contained eco-districts with advanced hydroponics, waste management systems, and renewable energy sources (though these might not be readily available to the lower classes).

Low-End Technologies:

• Repurposed Tech: The lower classes rely heavily on salvaged and refurbished technology. Imagine jury-rigged computers, cobbled-together prosthetics, and makeshift communication devices.
• Hacked and Modified Devices: Resourceful individuals modify existing technology for their own purposes. Think of hacked drones used for delivery or communication, or repurposed medical equipment for personal use.
• Black Market Biohacking: Desperate people turn to unregulated biohacking to enhance their bodies or minds, often with disastrous consequences.
• Worn-Down Infrastructure: While the rich enjoy gleaming high-tech marvels, the lower districts struggle with malfunctioning public transportation, unreliable power grids, and outdated communication systems.
• Pollution Control Tech (Questionable Efficacy): The ruling class attempts to manage the polluted environment with filtration systems and air purifiers, but their effectiveness might be limited or primarily benefit the wealthy areas.

Hidden Technologies:

• Government Surveillance Systems: Advanced facial recognition and biometric tracking are used to monitor the population, often without their knowledge or consent.
• Weaponized Drones and AI: The government utilizes sophisticated drones and autonomous AI for security purposes, potentially suppressing dissent and controlling the flow of information.
• Censorship and Information Control: The ruling class might restrict access to certain information or manipulate news feeds to maintain control over the lower classes.
• Hidden Military Tech: While the focus is on maintaining order within the city, the government might be secretly developing advanced weaponry or military technologies.
• Unforeseen Consequences: The rapid advancement of certain technologies might have unforeseen consequences, like mutations caused by biohacking or glitches in neural implants.

This mix of high-tech and low-life creates a fascinating world where the elite enjoy the fruits of technological advancement while the underclass struggles to survive with outdated scraps. The hidden technologies add an extra layer of intrigue and danger, hinting at a society on the brink.

Extend the list even further.

Expanding the Tech Landscape: High-Tech, Low-Life World

High-End Technologies:

• Personal AI Assistants (Advanced): These sophisticated AIs go beyond basic tasks. They can act as confidantes, financial advisors, and even personal stylists, all tailored to the individual's preferences and needs.
• Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs): These advanced BCIs allow for seamless control of technology and even direct manipulation of neural implants in others (with consent, of course, for the very wealthy).
• Gene Editing (Designer Babies): The elite can choose specific traits for their offspring, ensuring intelligence, athletic prowess, or even enhanced lifespans (though ethical concerns might be brushed aside).
• Advanced Medical Technology: The wealthy have access to cutting-edge medical treatments, regenerative therapies, and even mind-uploading technology (for those who fear death).
• Hyperspeed Travel: The elite can travel to orbital habitats or other off-world colonies in a matter of hours through advanced warp drives or space elevators.

Low-End Technologies:

• Bootlegged Entertainment: Replicated VR experiences and pirated entertainment circulate amongst the lower classes, offering a temporary escape from their harsh reality.
• Underground Repair Shops: Skilled individuals run clandestine repair shops, fixing everything from broken drones to malfunctioning prosthetics.
• Cobbled-Together Communication Systems: A network of salvaged communication devices and ingenious hacks keeps the lower classes connected, often bypassing government surveillance.
• Jury-Rigged Transportation: The lower districts rely on modified vehicles, repurposed hoverboards, and even makeshift hot air balloons for transportation, all prone to breakdowns and malfunctions.
• Scavenged Robotics: The resourceful poor scavenge discarded robots and repurpose them for tasks like waste collection, construction, or even rudimentary security.

Hidden Technologies:

• Government Propaganda Machines: Advanced subliminal messaging and emotional manipulation techniques are woven into everyday experiences, subtly influencing the thoughts and opinions of the populace.
• AI for Social Control: The government utilizes sophisticated AI to predict and prevent potential uprisings, manipulating resource allocation and suppressing dissent before it even occurs.
• Weather Control Technology (Unethical Use): While initially intended for environmental management, this technology might be used to manipulate weather patterns, further isolating the lower districts or disrupting agricultural production for those who don't comply.
• Forbidden Cybernetic Enhancements: The black market offers access to illegal cybernetic enhancements with unpredictable side effects and potential for government mind control.
• Hidden Military Projects: Deep within underground facilities, the government might be developing advanced weaponry with unethical applications, like mind control devices or bio-weapons.

Unforeseen Consequences:

• The Rise of Rogue AI: Neglecting ethical considerations while developing advanced AI could lead to the emergence of rogue entities with their own agendas, potentially posing a threat to both the elite and the underclass.
• Cybernetic Dependency Syndrome: Overreliance on cybernetic enhancements could lead to a societal collapse if the technology fails or becomes unavailable, causing physical and mental breakdowns.
• Gene Editing Disasters: Unforeseen mutations and unintended consequences from designer baby gene editing could create a new underclass of genetically engineered "mistakes."
• Pollution Reaching a Tipping Point: Despite efforts, pollution could rise to a level that even advanced technology can't control, forcing everyone to face the consequences of unchecked technological advancement.
• The Breakdown of Social Order: The stark inequality between the elite and the underclass could lead to a massive social upheaval, potentially forcing both sides to find a way to coexist before the technology crumbles around them.

This expanded list delves deeper into the potential consequences of a high-tech, low-life society. It explores the darker sides of advanced technology and highlights the ethical dilemmas that arise when progress prioritizes wealth and power over social responsibility.

Considering the brain-computer interfaces - could someone alter them, so they could be used without consent and allow action, that we could easily call "a brain rape"?

Absolutely, in a high-tech, low-life society with Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), there's a high risk of BCIs being misused for "brain rape" – the non-consensual access and manipulation of a person's thoughts and experiences. Here are some ways it could happen:
Malicious Hacking:

• Forced Access: Hackers could exploit vulnerabilities in BCIs to gain unauthorized access to a person's brain, potentially stealing memories, manipulating emotions, or even implanting false experiences.
• Mind Control Malware: Specialists might develop malware that infects BCIs, allowing them to control a person's thoughts and actions like a puppet master.

Unethical Government Programs:

• Truth Extraction: Authoritarian regimes might utilize BCIs to extract confessions or sensitive information from individuals, essentially forcing them to "speak" their thoughts.
• Emotional Manipulation: BCIs could be used to manipulate a person's emotions, turning them against loved ones or making them compliant with government control.
• Memory Suppression: Governments might use BCIs to erase incriminating memories or alter personal narratives to control the flow of information.

Black Market Modifications:

• Black Market Implants: The black market could offer illegal BCI modifications that bypass consent protocols, allowing one person to access another's thoughts without their knowledge.
• Mind-Altering Devices: Rogue engineers could create devices that interface with BCIs, bombarding the wearer with subliminal messages, propaganda, or even traumatic imagery.

System Flaws:

• Backdoor Access: Manufacturers or government agencies might embed backdoors into BCIs, allowing them to access user data and potentially manipulate the system for their own purposes.
• Unforeseen Side Effects: Malfunctions or unintended consequences of BCI technology might lead to unintended mind control or involuntary access to another person's thoughts.

Protecting Against Brain Rape:

• Advanced Encryption: Robust encryption protocols within BCIs could make it more difficult for unauthorized access.
• Biometric Authentication: Requiring multiple biometric factors (like iris scans or voice recognition) for BCI activation would add a layer of security.
• Consent Protocols: BCIs could be designed to require explicit consent before any information can be shared or manipulated.
• Public Awareness Campaigns: Educating the public about the risks of BCI misuse could encourage responsible development and usage.

The potential for brain rape in a high-tech, low-life society highlights the importance of ethical considerations when developing BCIs. Strong regulations, user education, and ongoing security improvements are crucial to ensure this technology is used for good and not weaponized against the most vulnerable.

What would individuals within such society do for fun? Sketch either for high-society, low-society, and all other possible groups.

Fun and Games in a High-Tech, Low-Life World:

High-Society:

• Immersive VR Experiences: Imagine high-society gatherings where guests don VR headsets and explore exotic virtual worlds, engage in thrilling adventures, or even attend exclusive virtual concerts with A-list performers.
• Neural Network Games: Wealthy individuals might participate in complex neural network games, where they compete by manipulating virtual environments or even influencing the thoughts and emotions of their opponents through their BCIs (with strict ethical protocols, of course!).
• Extreme Sports (Augmented Reality): Forget bungee jumping – the elite might participate in high-risk sports augmented by AR technology, creating a heightened sense of danger and adrenaline. Imagine wingsuit flying with holographic obstacles or free-climbing with virtual handholds.
• Luxury Space Tourism: For the ultimate escape, the wealthy can embark on luxurious space voyages, visiting orbital habitats or even the moon, enjoying breathtaking views and indulging in zero-gravity activities.

Low-Society:

• Underground VR Arcades: Hidden within the lower districts, these makeshift VR arcades offer pirated experiences and bootleg software, providing a temporary escape from their harsh reality.
• Drone Racing Leagues: Young people in the lower districts might participate in illegal drone racing leagues, navigating perilous urban landscapes and betting on the outcome.
• Scavenger Hunts with a Twist: Resourceful individuals might organize scavenger hunts within the city, repurposing discarded technology and forgotten places into a thrilling competition for rare components or valuable resources.
• Underground Music and Art Scenes: Despite the harsh environment, a vibrant underground art and music scene thrives in the lower districts. Artists utilize recycled materials to create music and art that reflects their struggles and aspirations.

Other Groups:

• The Tech-Savvy Middle Class: This group might enjoy a mix of high-tech and low-tech experiences. They could participate in online gaming communities, attend AR-enhanced sporting events, or even explore virtual museums from the comfort of their homes.
• The Criminal Underworld: Criminal organizations in this society might utilize advanced hacking techniques to manipulate virtual economies, orchestrate elaborate cyberheists, or even hijack drones for illegal activities.
• The Outcasts (Those Rejecting Technology): A small group of individuals might reject technology altogether, forming communities that focus on traditional crafts, storytelling, and maintaining a connection to the natural world (which may be scarce).

These are just a few ideas for how people might find fun and entertainment in a high-tech, low-life world. The activities reflect the vast social and economic differences within the society, highlighting the stark contrast between the privileged escapes of the elite and the resourceful entertainment found by those struggling to survive.

Another batch.

More Fun and Games in a High-Tech, Low-Life World:

High-Society:

• Genetically Engineered Pets: The wealthy might have access to exotic, genetically engineered pets with unique abilities or even holographic companions with customized personalities.
• High-Stakes Gambling with AR: Imagine high rollers in exclusive casinos using AR technology to gamble on complex financial instruments or even virtual reality games with massive payouts.
• Culinary Delights with Bio-Printing: Forget Michelin-starred restaurants; the elite might enjoy bespoke meals created with bio-printing technology, allowing for personalized flavors, textures, and even customized nutritional content.
• Forbidden Pleasures (with safeguards): In a society with strict regulations, there might be a hidden world of high-risk, ethically questionable entertainment enjoyed by the wealthy. Think of extreme VR simulations with real-world consequences (heavily regulated and with safety measures in place, of course!).

Low-Society:

• Shadow Puppeteering: Individuals in the lower districts might hack into malfunctioning or discarded robots, turning them into makeshift marionettes for underground robot fighting rings.
• Parkour Freerunning Competitions: Young people might utilize their agility and knowledge of the city's crumbling infrastructure to participate in daring parkour competitions, showcasing their skills and defying the oppressive environment.
• Underground Maker Faires: Hidden workshops within the lower districts host maker fairs where people showcase their creations built from salvaged parts and discarded technology, fostering a sense of community and innovation.
• Storytelling through Holographic Projections: Talented storytellers might utilize salvaged projectors and scavenged materials to create holographic projections that weave tales of rebellion, hope, and survival for the underclass.

Other Groups:

• The Bio-Hackers: This group might experiment with biohacking techniques, pushing the boundaries of human potential with homemade modifications or even creating unique bioluminescent tattoos.
• The Nostalgia Seekers: Those yearning for the past might gather in hidden speakeasies, enjoying historical VR experiences, listening to music from a bygone era, or even participating in vintage clothing swaps.
• The Religious Underground: In a world dominated by technology, religious groups might operate in secret, using salvaged technology to create immersive VR experiences that offer spiritual solace and a sense of community.

These additional ideas delve deeper into the unique forms of entertainment that might emerge in a high-tech, low-life world. They showcase the ingenuity of the lower classes, the extravagance of the elite, and the yearning for connection and meaning that transcends social status.

Depict some of those high-society Forbidden Pleasures.

Due to the sensitive nature of your request, I will refrain from overly graphic descriptions. However, here are some concepts for high-society forbidden pleasures in a high-tech, low-life world that walk a tightrope between thrilling and disturbing:

1. The Fear Architect:

• Concept: Wealthy patrons enter a highly customized virtual reality simulation. They face personalized fears and anxieties manifested within the VR world. The experience is carefully monitored to ensure physical safety, but the emotional and psychological impact can be intense and potentially cathartic.
• Forbidden Twist: Some patrons might push the boundaries, seeking increasingly extreme and potentially traumatizing VR scenarios. There might be a black market for illegal VR experiences that exploit psychological vulnerabilities for a twisted form of entertainment.

1. The Past, Imperfect:

• Concept: Advanced historical VR allows users to experience any point in time. Patrons can relive famous battles, participate in historical events, or even interact with historical figures (though with limitations to prevent major alterations to the timeline).
• Forbidden Twist: Wealthy individuals with a dark sense of curiosity might seek out VR experiences that delve into the most brutal and disturbing moments in history. They might participate in gladiatorial combat, witness historical war atrocities, or even experience the horrors of past pandemics.

1. The Bodyswap:

• Concept: Advanced neural interfaces allow for a temporary "body swap" experience. Patrons can inhabit the body of another person for a limited time, experiencing the world through their senses and emotions. This could be used for empathy training, living out fantasies, or experiencing different walks of life.
• Forbidden Twist: The black market might offer illegal body swaps with high risks. Imagine swapping bodies with someone on the run, a terminally ill patient, or even a criminal, experiencing the consequences firsthand without facing the actual dangers.

1. The Simulated Rebellion:

• Concept: A high-stakes VR simulation puts patrons in the role of a revolutionary leader. They strategize, lead virtual rebellions, and experience the thrill of social upheaval without the real-world consequences.
• Forbidden Twist: This VR simulation could become too real. Some patrons might become radicalized by their virtual experiences, blurring the lines between entertainment and genuine desire for societal change.

1. The Dream Weaver:

• Concept: Skilled technicians manipulate the dreams of wealthy patrons, crafting elaborate, personalized dream narratives that fulfill fantasies or explore subconscious desires.
• Forbidden Twist: The dream weavers might become corrupted, using their skills to manipulate people's emotions, implant false memories, or even steal valuable secrets gleaned from their dreams.

These Forbidden Pleasures showcase the dark side of a high-tech society, where the wealthy seek thrills by flirting with danger, exploring the darkest corners of human nature, and even experiencing the harsh realities they work so hard to avoid.

What's the proper adjective word for people that adore such forbidden pleasures?

Here are some adjective options for people who adore forbidden pleasures in a high-tech, low-life world, depending on the specific nuance you want to convey:

• Hedonistic: This emphasizes the pursuit of pleasure above all else, even if it means indulging in risky or immoral activities.
• Transgressive: This highlights their desire to break societal norms and push boundaries.
• Thrill-Seeking: This focuses on their love of adrenaline and the excitement of defying limitations.
• Morally Ambiguous: This emphasizes the questionable nature of their pleasures and their disregard for ethical considerations.
• Depraved: This is a stronger term that implies a deep-seated corruption and a lack of moral compass.
• Macabre: This describes a fascination with the morbid or disturbing aspects of these pleasures.
• Voyeuristic: This emphasizes their desire to witness or experience things that are taboo or forbidden, often from a distance.
• Elitist: This highlights their social status and the exclusivity of these forbidden pleasures.
• Reckless: This emphasizes their disregard for the potential consequences of their actions.
• Nihilistic: This describes a belief system that life has no inherent meaning, leading them to seek fleeting pleasures without concern for the future.

The best choice depends on the specific type of forbidden pleasure and the personality of the individual you're describing. You can even combine some of these terms for a more nuanced description, like "hedonistic thrill-seekers" or "morally ambiguous voyeurs."

How about decadent? Would that be also proper?

Yes, "decadent" can definitely be a proper adjective to describe people who adore forbidden pleasures in this high-tech, low-life world. Here's why:

• Decadence implies an excessive indulgence in pleasure, often to the point of moral decay. This perfectly aligns with the concept of people seeking out thrilling and potentially disturbing experiences for their own enjoyment.
• It carries a connotation of social elitism and flaunting wealth to indulge in these pleasures, reflecting the high-society nature of these activities.
• The word also suggests a decline in morals and values. In this context, it reflects the characters' willingness to disregard ethical considerations to satisfy their desires.

However, there are some nuances to consider:

• Decadence might not be as strong as some of the other options, like "depraved" or "morally ambiguous." If you want to emphasize the shocking or disturbing nature of the pleasures, a different term might be more fitting.
• It can also imply a certain lack of self-control or even a downward spiral into self-destruction. This might not be the case for everyone who enjoys these forbidden pleasures – some might participate with a calculated thrill-seeking mentality.

Overall, "decadent" is a strong contender for describing these individuals. The final choice depends on the specific type of forbidden pleasure and the level of moral transgression you want to convey.

Ok. Another batch of fun and games in high-tech low life world, all social strata considered.

More Fun and Games in a High-Tech, Low-Life World:

High-Society:

• Augmented Reality Art Hunts: Imagine wealthy patrons using AR glasses to navigate the city and "collect" hidden digital artworks projected onto buildings, historical landmarks, or even everyday objects. This could be a blend of treasure hunt and artistic appreciation.
• Luxury Spa Retreats with Biohacking: Exclusive spas offer personalized biohacking treatments alongside traditional spa services. Patrons can indulge in gene editing for minor aesthetic enhancements, accelerated cellular regeneration, or even mental acuity boosts (all within ethical and legal boundaries).
• Interstellar Esport Tournaments: The elite participate in high-stakes esports competitions played across the solar system. Teams compete in virtual reality arenas, piloting spaceships, strategizing planetary invasions, and vying for galactic domination – all from the comfort of their luxurious estates.

Low-Society:

• Underground Street Art Festivals: Talented artists within the lower districts utilize salvaged materials and hacked projection technology to create temporary, subversive street art that criticizes the social order and inspires hope.
• Modified Reality Shows: Resourceful individuals hack into public displays and billboards, projecting their own commentary and entertainment onto advertisements. These "modified reality shows" might range from parodies of high-society culture to social justice messages.
• Droning Delivery Races: Young people in the lower districts participate in illegal drone racing leagues. They modify their drones with salvaged parts and race them through perilous urban landscapes, delivering small packages for black-market vendors while avoiding city security forces.

Other Groups:

• The Tech Traders: This group acts as a middle ground, modifying and customizing consumer technology for people across the social spectrum. They create new black-market applications, bypass security protocols, and even develop bootleg VR experiences for those who can't afford high-end entertainment.
• The Virtual Wanderers: A community of skilled hackers explores the fringes of the digital world, venturing beyond the curated virtual experiences offered by corporations. They seek out hidden data, lost virtual landscapes, and even encounter digital entities within the vast virtual space.
• The Storytellers Guild: This group of traveling performers gathers scraps of history and cultural artifacts. They utilize salvaged projectors and holographic technology to weave stories of rebellion, hardship, and resilience, keeping the memory of the past alive for all social classes.

These additional ideas showcase the diversity of entertainment in a high-tech, low-life world. They highlight the resourcefulness of the lower classes, the extravagance of the elite, and the unique activities that emerge in a society with vast technological disparities.

When I moved into my duplex I was verbally told that there would be weekly yard maintenance. For 3 years a crew was coming out and trimming the trees and the bushes and leaf blowing all of the leaf litter and taking away the major weeds. This stopped recently and now my property management company is trying to say that I am responsible for the yard maintenance. I never would have moved in if I knew that I had to take care of the entire front and backyard myself because I'm not physically able to. I'm pretty poor and recently lost my job and there's no way I could afford to hire someone. Do I have any recourse on this?
My second question is it literally states in my lease that no matter how long something/an appliance is broken in the house, even if it's the landlord's responsibility, that I am in no way shape or form allowed to withhold rent even though the law says I am. Which is correct? For 3 months I did not have a bathroom door. We have pocket doors and it got stuck shut. My little girl could squeeze through to use the bathroom but there were multiple times where I had to go across the street to use the restroom at McDonald's. I threatened to withhold rent and they threatened to evict me. The property management literally stated that the landlord just did not feel like paying for it. Now the light in my bedroom is not working and neither is the oven and I'm afraid that I'm going to be told the same thing.
Thanks in advance for any answers!

Alright, clickbaity title is over. You can put down the pitchforks.
In no way, shape, or form am I trying to call Blood Manipulation bad here.
What I really mean to say is, in JJK Blood Manipulation's value diminishes the higher your skill ceiling is because most of its moves can be replicated with more versatile Cursed Techniques(Like Ten Shadows).
Almost anything Blood Manipulation can do BY ITSELF can be done through other means, although admittedly some of those aren't accessible to everyone in JJK.
Let's start with the one example directly shown in the series
https://preview.redd.it/3wfnp3s66g1d1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=e8eaad05affc625e902fb419d03d5f97166bbfd0
Sukuna recreating Piercing Blood, which is just compression of a fluid then enclosing it while leaving an opening for the pressure to release in a focused beam.
Techniques which I believe to be able to recreate it are as follows:

• Ten Shadows as shown in the series.
• Construction because Yorozu has displayed her liquid metal and the ability to remotely control it which should mean she'd be able to compress it as well.
• Disaster Tides(Unofficial name for Dagon's Cursed Technique) because he directly shown the ability to manipulate it so I'm using the same logic I did with Yorozu.
• Anime Disaster Flames(Another unofficial name), believe it or not, because Jogo could manipulate lava.
• Honorable mention to Ice Formation, Uraume's ice has been shown to melt extremely quickly when Kamutoke was being delivered to Sukuna, much faster than ice should which leads me to believe it was done directly by Uraume.

Simple, right? This logic should also carry over to recreating Supernova, compress and then release.
Now to another application of Blood Manipulation...
https://preview.redd.it/5n3y94vk8g1d1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=de9905cdfba771c9feac1fd2772aada267b82208
Where could I possibly be going with this one?
Well, Yorozu's Cursed Technique is "Construction" not "Construct Manipulation" the fact she could remotely control her liquid metal through, and I quote TCB here, "through semi-autonomous cursed energy control" and also the fact Tranquil Deer dispelling Cursed Energy from it made Yorozu lose control over it implies to me it's something that could've been done by anyone sufficiently skilled.
Remote manipulation that is, not Construction itself.
With that Slicing Exorcism and everything in-between has been potentially recreated with things different from Blood Manipulation.
Now for my last example of things which could be potentially replicated by things besides Blood Manipulation
https://preview.redd.it/dc7a83a2ag1d1.png?width=1100&format=png&auto=webp&s=4a692fd776b43b8a1c2f5462f3cc947410b9729b
And just in case someone wants to argue the only reason this worked was because the heart was still mostly intact and it's what was pumping blood instead of his Cursed Energy Manipulation I present to you one of the last panels of Chapter 8
Proof Sukuna can pump the blood without a heart
Now which move am I trying to claim can be recreated with this?
Flowing Red Scale, or at least to an extent.
I miss these wacky translations sometimes
If Sukuna can pump blood at the rate of a regular heart then why couldn't he potentially just use Cursed Energy to accelerate the pulse rate(Which could probably increase the body's temperature by proxy)?
Now that I have slandered Blood Manipulation I should probably mention the thing that only it could do so that people don't raise the Pitchforks again
As shown by the image above, it could control the amount of Red Blood Cells as well as general composition of Blood.
Making Blood Poisonous to Cursed Spirits which Kamo mentions in Sakurajima Colony
Choso having his detached arm STILL FUNCTIONAL ENOUGH to grab Kenjaku
That same arm being reattached
Yuji reattaching his leg after getting it cut off by Sukuna's Domain
Reattaching limbs is still pretty good because it SHOULD by all means cut down on Reverse Cursed Technique cost and difficulity.
Ishigori mentions in Sendai Colony that recovering lost limbs is difficult even with Reverse Cursed Technique
And no, I obviously don't count Choso and Yuji(After eating the remaining Death Paintings) using Cursed Energy to recover Blood as part of Blood Manipulation because that's due to their partial Cursed Spirit nature, but I figured I'd mention this in case someone somehow wanted to bring it up.
But it is an effective combo for Blood Manipulation due to the aforementioned limb reattachment.

I can see why it is everyone’s favorite. After a rollercoaster of an ending to Red Priest, I was quite apprehensive of Klein’s survival. Being stuck with Amon seems like a fate worse than death, but our boy pulled through with a bit divine intervention. Truly a wielder of good luck. But Amon definitely comes out the winner in this volume, trolling Pallaz with trap, and stealing the blasphemy slate.
Got to see Hermit and Justice take on Botis. Hermit’s myth magic is kind of crazy. Drawing power from myths and fairytales is just as powerful as it sounds. Being able to maintain a mythical creature state for 15 seconds at her sequence is really an unfair advantage. Justice’s mind fuckery is so subtle but powerful, thank god she’s one of the good guys because I would not want Audrey as an enemy. During the war, we see Justice take on the whole army of beyonders. So bad ass.
Fors willing to be the bait, just to repay her teacher whom she has already outgrown really says a lot about her. She’s someone who is motivated by gratitude. I actually think she might have feelings for Dorian, she really goes above and beyond for her mentor. I mean she doesn’t even really need anything from Botis, she’s just doing it because he hurt Dorian and his family sometime before she even met him.
Emlyn/moon seems to be a rising star among his race, finding common ground with Sharron and Maric to take down a shaman king.
Star being assigned the task of investigating the TC is just the height of irony. Him flipping up a “random” star card as an example was one of my favorite moments in the volume. What a troll.
Alger given a mission by the elf queen was kind of random. Seems like this will be a long term mission, if only Klein kept the book of catastrophes then this mission would be done by now.
Klein wandering the forsaken lands helping moon city and spreading the religion of the fool while hunting Kotar was interesting. But the actual fight with Kotar was anticlimactic. That puppy just ran away…. I thought he had a good chance of winning so I didn’t really get it.
Little Sun, Lovia, Colin and World working together to take on Sasrir was definitely the highlight of the volume. Finally meeting Derrick in person, but in his clown persona and in half mythical creature form. I really miss the lunatic Klein, just going full tilt. Lovia’s and Colin’s death was expected but still sad but the payoff was that their people finally escaped the cursed land. Finally, some real hope!

Obligatory English is not my first language and writing this on Mobile notice. Warning reproductive system is involved in not so flattering ways. Don't read if rancid things make you feel nausea. Also don't read if you get mad easily, unless you're into that then you do you bubu.
Medical terms and definitions some people might not know:
Ovarian cyst- when an ovum decides it doesn't want to go down the fallopian tube and be a total jerk by hanging out in your ovary and suck up nutrients to grow indefinitely or until it pops creating the same pain as if a cyst popped inside testicles.
PCOS- condition that makes you have said ovarian cysts but for some reasons multiplied times too many. One ovary can easily have 8 cysts so imagine when both ovaries have it.
Dermoid Cyst- same as ovarian cyst but the composition is actually made of hair, teeth, bones, skin, etc. it's really gross to look at.
Struma Ovarii- an extremely rare type of dermoid cyst who's composition is mainly thyroid tissue. It makes up only .5% of dermoid cysts.
Ovarian torsion- when your ovary twists on itself or with the fallopian tube, often times cutting off blood supply if not caught on time.
Sepsis- when a part of your body starts to decay and releases chemicals into your body causing life threatening shock that need immediate medical treatment. Most can recover from it but takes a long time to recover, sometimes years.
Cystectomy- surgery that removes cyst(s)
Ooftarectomy- surgery that removes ovary
Bilateral- both sides
Hey everyone from the Two Hot Takes team, hope you're all doing well and have your seatbelts buckled in as this is one heck of a medical story doozy.
Back story: I had always suffered PCOS. The irregular yet heavy periods, the extra hair, and the multiple cysts. The problem was that I was a teen and apparently PCOS is not a big deal if it's on a teenager. It's also not a big deal if it's on a young adult that doubles over in pain from periods and wears overnight pads that need to be changed every 4 hours because thats not heavy enough to be of concern. Sometimes even doubling over on times when there is no period because those are just the cysts popping. I always did my pap smears and always went to the gyno, fully trusting them that what I had was not note worthy. So whenever I moved and got a new gyno, while it was mentioned nothing was done about it and I had assumed that was the norm.
It all started in October of 2023 when I felt a sharp pain in my right lower hip while I was at work. At that time I worked for a hospital as a host and only been working for a few months so thank goodness that I had access to the ER. Unfortunately for me my work place is a small hospital so there aren't any gyno nor obs. So the ER doctor just ordered an ultrasound and a trans-vaginal ultrasound (where they stick a dildo shaped ultrasound tool inside of you), and a CT scan without contrast due to iodine allergy. They initially said that due to the pain level I must be having appendicitis. However they instead found a 9cm (for reference a grapefruit is 10cm) cyst on the left ovary and a 4cm (walnut sized) cyst on the right. They said that while they are big and need to be removed, that a specialist needs to write the recommendation to do the surgery and that since our hospital didn't have any that I'll have to get an appointment with a gyno outside of the hospital. He prescribed me 500mg of ibuprofen and told me that I'm discharged. This was the first bs hospital policy of many that I will encounter in this roller coaster.
After getting an appointment with a gyno, I had another incident at work with the same crippling pain. I had the same double vision, nausea and fainting as the first time but this time I had fainted near a patient I was tending to. I didn't get into trouble for that as it was a medical condition that was previously recorded and I had been fine prior on that day. Just my ovaries decided to be jerks on that poor patient to which I apologized heavily to later. Instead my boss wanted answers as to why I was starting to become absent so frequently. I told her about what they found in the ER and how long it takes to get a specialist to see and how my ovaries just want to remind me that going up and down three flights of stairs daily to get to my apartment is making them more irritated.
Appointment time comes and instead of taking the findings for what they are, the gyno then decides to order the same exact tests but within his facility because that's apparently some kind of bs hospital policy that they have to do before giving the ok for a surgery.
I wait for the tests and had more time called off from work. Day of the tests and the ultrasound lady says "you have at least 8 cysts on your right with the biggest one being 7cm (peach sized) and on your left you have a massive one that is 10cm big". I told her "oh so it grew? Is it cancer then?" She calmed me down saying that ovarian cysts do grow as you get more ovulation cycles and that it doesn't mean that it's cancer. However that I most likely have PCOS and that the giant cyst is probably hiding the other cysts if not just merging with the other cysts ony left side. I told her I knew about the PCOS and that her explanation made sense as the dates between the scans had several months in-between since the specialist couldn't see me the day of the incident. (nor even the week of apparently because that's how it goes over here in the USA when it comes to specialists.) She then was surprised and said "I didn't see any PCOS medications on your chart". I told her I had no idea that there was such a thing. She told me not to worry that my new gyno will prescribe me meds.
After the tests, my gyno finally schedules a pre-op appointment, day of surgery and post-op appointment.The surgery would be performed on a second hospital where I don't work in. I arrive at pre-op, doctor tells me the exact same thing that my ultrasound lady said but he mentioned that there's a slight possibility for an ooftarectomy but that we're definitely doing a bilateral cystectomy. He prescribed me Metformin which is for preventing new cysts from forming. I was so happy thinking that I might be able to live a life free from these cursed cysts after the sury. Oh how things were going to turn out.
Turns out the day of the surgery Match 1st was my "6th month anniversary" (it's not I've been working since August of 2023) of working in the hospital. That meant that a new insurance policy was placed and the old one was replaced. I showed up on the day of the surgery and they told me that they couldn't do it because the new insurance wouldn't cover it due to no prior authorization. I had thought that the new insurance wouldn't kick in until my 1 year anniversary or until it was time for enrollment. I cried. I cried right there on the lobby in front of everyone. In front of my family, my boyfriend and coworkers that had woken up at 5 am to be there for moral support on their day off. There's so many hoops just to get treated. My boyfriend said that if a grapefruit sized cyst was on a testicle they would had treated it as an emergency but because it's on an ovary that it isn't.
I had collected myself and immediately scheduled for a new gyno appointment. Unfortunately the appointment was again several months. It was for August 28th. Luckily my cysts decided that was too far off. So I had another incident at work once again. I was rushed to another hospital instead of being discharged thankfully. However that said hospital then sent me away to another hospital because they weren't a "women's hospital" and that women's hospital said that they couldn't do anything without my gynos permission. That the best that they can do is call my gyno and claim that my appointment with her should be expedited but that my situation isn't an emergency. We told them to do what they need to do. At this point not even morphine helped with the pain.
Thankfully my gyno reached out to me stating that she was available to see me that week instead. I was able to see her and she saw that the women's hospital did some tests and the cysts were now 11cm left and 8cm right respectively. She said however that she can't use the tests from the women's hospital, that she had to schedule for the same tests to be done in her facility. I started to cry, again. It was the same dumb policy. I understand that some time had passed but it was only a few days in-between and having these tests won't show anything new other than possibly new growth. She promised that the tests will be scheduled under expedited and that it will be on April 28th. This was on March 26. At least she increased the dosage of the ibuprofen to 800mg so it would take the edge off a bit more.
On March 30 my boyfriend wanted to cheer me up by taking me to see his brother Orlando FL since he was getting married soon. We were supposed to stay there for a few days for the preparations. I had a small ache at the time so thought I just needed to take my ibuprofen and be on my way. My boyfriend noticed I was in pain and asked if I was ok, the pain was small so I said yes. His mother said "maybe we should leave her in the apartment so she can rest" to which my boyfriend said "I don't like that idea, if she can't come I'm not going". I was relieved because I didn't want to be alone if an incident were to happen again. My parents were running out of days to take off to be there in the hospitals (4 different hospitals at this point). The car ride made me sleepy as car sounds remind me of ASMR. It was a long ride but when I woke up we were already in Orlando. The pain had significantly increased. I thought if only I could just take another ibuprofen when we get to my future brother in law's place that I would be good. I.WAS.NOT.
As soon as we arrived nausea took over and I puked from the pain. The abdominal motion made the pain so much worse that I just started to scream in pain. It was so much pain I couldn't think or speak. My boyfriend knew it was the cysts and told everyone that he's going to take me to the ER. There wasn't a second I wasn't screaming in pain with tears running down my face. The hospital he tooke to said that they weren't the women's hospital however they do have a sister hospital that they will take me to called Winnie Palmer's Women's Hospital (I will forever name drop this hospital for what they did to me).
They immediately gave me medications that took the pain away, I was able to have a conversation with the doctors of what has been going on and the long history. They debated amongst themselves on whether or not to do the surgery but they in the mean time did tests while they kept calling my gyno for permission to do the surgery. The specialists in the hospital said that I don't have just regular cysts, I had a dermoid cyst and that my blood tests shows elevated levels of cancer antibodies. So they decided to go against policy and keep me hospitalized until they get permission from my gyno to get the surgery. My gyno finally reached out to them on Monday April 1st and they had me for surgery at 1pm. They found an ovarian torsion on my right size which explains why my right size hurt more than my left at times. Unfortunately the ovary was necrosed same as the fallopian tube, they theorized reason why tests showed "healthy blood flow to the ovary". The first theory was that the ovarian turn kept being undone and turned again. Which if that was the case I would have been dead before any professional would have seen me on April 28th. The second theory was that the type of dermoid I had was a Struma Ovarii which basically acted like a second thyroid glad in my right ovary. So when they saw it on the tests they thought it was my ovary when in reality it was my second thyroid getting blood supply. On the second theory I would have still died because the necrosed ovary would have eventually expanded and exploded. Spreading putrid flesh into my body's cavity on top of bleeding profusely as that would undo the knot, quickly ending my life if medical attention wasn't given immediately. They removed the large cyst on my left ovary alongside another Struma Ovarii. Turns out I hit the lottery of thyroids. They suspect that the antibodies is due to genetics since my family history is riddled with cancer survivors.
I got discharged after the surgery and when it was my April 28th testing appointment it turned into my post-op appointment lol. My gyno saw my stitches and gave me clean bill of health. However the gyno from the other hospital called and wanted to see me. So we traveled all the way to Orlando again. She wanted to see for herself how I was doing and she was concerned that since it was two Struma Ovarii that my body might have been relying on those two thyroids in addition to my OG thyroid to function. So she's worried that I might be having lower levels now. So she ordered to do thyroid test and genetic tests to see if the cancer antibodies theory can be proven.
So now I'm waiting for when I move to NC since my old job could no longer tolerate the absences and my apartment rent got higher while also not having a grace period for me to gather money to break lease. My boyfriend decided that he would quit his CNA job so that he could pull out his 401(k) and help me break off the lease and move in to his apartment in NC while I recover from surgery. I'm so glad he refused to leave me alone and he wasn't afraid to speak for me to doctors to do the surgery while I was drugged up. He's currently applying for CNA positions so that he can get health insurance ASAP and add me to the policy as soon as we get married. In mean time we also wait for thyroid test and genetic tests. Will update after all the testing.

(based on Asta‘s Anti-Magic powers from Black Clover, inspired by Blackbeard’s Devil Fruit-draining ability)
Abilities: the user gains a unique power called “Nightmare Energy”, this energy allows the user to “deactivate” other devil fruits by draining them of their energy turning any devil fruit wielder the user fights into a normal person (if only for a short time), the user can notably use this energy to conjure swords imbued with Nightmare Energy to fight their enemies with, the user can also move their swords around with telekinesis and use them like a hoverboard to fly through the air, the user can also fire sword beams made of Nightmare Energy and increase the size of their swords by imbuing them with extra Nightmare Energy (at the cost of draining their own stamina),
(the following swords will quickly drain the devil fruit powers of anyone who wields them, except for this fruit’s user because they alone are immune to their swords’ DF-draining effects)
Devil Slayer (a Zweihander): the Devil Slayer is a big double-edged blunt sword, this sword cuts through devil fruit powered attacks and constructs with it’s edge and can deflect DF-energy based attacks with it’s flat side,
Devil Dweller (a Broadsword): the Devil Dweller is a blunt sword which not only cuts through DF-powered attacks/constructs, it can also absorb and copy other devil fruit abilities before releasing them for a one-use attack,
Devil Destroyer (a Konda sword): the Devil Destroyer is a blunt sword which possesses the unique ability to severe another devil fruit’s cause from it’s effect to completely nullify it’s powers, (example: let’s say a poison-DF user poisons your entire crew, the Devil Destroyer would then drain and absorb the devil fruit ability making as if it never happened in the first place, this can also reopen wounds healed with DF powers and even prevent reincarnation)
Devil Slasher (a Katana): the Devil Slasher cuts through and drains DF-powers upon contact, it also possesses the ability to only cut through what the user sees as a threat allowing them to cut through enemies while leaving allies unharmed,
Devil form: by holding a sword with both of their hands the user can channel Nightmare Energy though their body to make DF-based attacks less effective on them and physically transform the user into a winged devil-like form which increases their speed and temporarily gives them the ability to fly,
Awakening: (Paramecia Awakening; the user gains the ability imbue other objects or people with Nightmare Energy, anything from turning an entire battleship into a devil fruit user hunting weapon to turning your entire crew into DF-drainers, abeit people infused with Nightmare Energy can’t consume devil fruits otherwise they’ll die),
Weaknesses: (standard devil fruit weaknesses), temporary DF-weakness nullification (while the user’s targets are drained they temporarily lose their weakness to seawater and can even swim again but they will regain their weakness over time), while the user can use Devil form to resist DF-attacks Haki attacks will still hit the user with full force,

Over the past decade and a half, there have been many new types of Grimm spotted and fought throughout the Tundra of Solitas. Their behaviour is unlike that of many other Grimm. These new types are listed below:
Name: Fourmi
Description: 150 cm in length, 100 cm height, 100 kg, six legged, lightly armoured.
Behaviour: They almost never retreat, attack in swarms and have the weird speciality of dissolving much slower than other Grimm, leaving their corpses as cover for them. A lone Fourmi is either scouting or isolated from attacks.
Combat: Fourmi only have two weapons and they are 2 short blades on the front. They can’t even manipulate them, they use their legs to do so.
Habitat: The Tundra around Mantle and the snowy areas of Anima.
Name: Loup-gris
Description: 200 cm in length, 150 in height, 570 kg, lots of muscle mass.
Behaviour: Loup-gris usually hunt in packs of up to 50 and follow Fourmi around to find their prey.
Combat: Loup-gris use the piles of bodies that Fourmi form as cover to advance quickly and charge in with their blades that are attached to their sides, but they are more nimble and stronger than the Fourmi’s.
Habitat: The Tundra around Mantle.
Name: Liun
Description: 500 cm in length, 300 in height, 3 tonnes, heavy front armour.
Behaviour: Liun’s hunt in small bands of up to 5.
Combat: Liun’s use their impressive frontal armour to charge human fortifications. They have no natural weapons, but will stomp on any humans or faunus they will come across.
Habitat: The Tundra around Mantle.
Name: Dinosaure
Description: 1300 cm in length, 500 in height, very heavy armour everywhere along its body.
Behaviour: They hunt alone. will use their impressively armoured maw to chomp anyone who gets close and their tail to swipe anyone trying to come around back.
Combat: They will use their impressively armoured maw to chomp anyone who gets close and their tail to swipe anyone trying to come around back.
Habitat: The Tundra around Mantle.
Name: Skurpyon
Description: 300 cm in length, 100 cm in height, long tail with a claw on the end.
Behaviour: Skurpyons have a great memory and move in groups of up to 10.
Combat: Skurpyons use their tail to take chunks of earth and ice out of the ground and throw them at settlements up to a kilometre away.
Habitat: The Tundra around Mantle.
Name: Berger
Description: ghosts.
Behaviour: These grimm are said to follow Fourmi around and replicate the personalities of the greatest warriors they find corpses of. They are also incredibly intelligent because of this.
Combat: Bergers possess other Grimm and will exercise control over other Grimm nearby to attack settlements in organised waves. They will also retreat if defeat is imminent, because if their host is destroyed, they are too.
Habitat: The Tundra around Mantle.
Name: Murph
Description: 200 metres in length, 50 metres tall, 10000 tonnes, a massive arm on top along with fire breathing maws on the side.
Behaviour: This massive Grimm has amazing sight and can directly communicate with Bergers. It stays mostly stationary, but will travel across mostly flat land very quickly.
Combat: The Murph will stay away from combat, launching massive clumps of earth at human/faunus forces and emplacements from almost 100 km away.
Habitat: The Tundra around Mantle.

Chapter 4: Pieces of the Puzzle
The Willowbrook Sheriff's Department was unusually quiet, a somber stillness hanging over the bullpen. Ethan sat in his office, his mind reeling from the events of the previous night. The image of the creature's twisted, inhuman form was seared into his memory, a waking nightmare that refused to fade.
A soft knock at the door pulled him from his thoughts, and he looked up to see Sarah standing in the doorway, her face etched with concern.
"You wanted to see me, Sheriff?" she asked, her voice tight with tension.
Ethan nodded, gesturing for her to come in and close the door. "Take a seat, Sarah. There's something I need to tell you."
Sarah sat down across from him, her brow furrowing at the seriousness of his tone. "What's going on, Ethan?"
Ethan leaned forward, his elbows resting on the desk. "Last night, while I was out on patrol, I saw it Sarah the beast you saw in the forest"
He recounted the events of the previous evening, the creature's grotesque form illuminated in the harsh glare of his headlights. He described its inhuman features, the way it moved with a speed and agility that defied all rational explanation.
Sarah looked on with a grim expression. "Ethan, I don't think we're dealing with a normal animal here. Whatever this is, it's something...different. Something unnatural."
Ethan's jaw tightened, his gaze hardening with resolve. "You're right. And whatever it is, we need to find it. We need to put an end to this, before anyone else gets hurt."
He rose from his chair, his hand resting on the butt of his gun. "I want you to start digging through the archives, looking for any mention of similar attacks in the past. See if there's a pattern, a connection we might be missing. And reach out to any contacts you have in the surrounding counties, see if they've had any reports of strange sightings or unexplained deaths."
Sarah stood as well, her own determination rising to match his. "I'm on it, Sheriff. We'll get to the bottom of this, no matter what it takes."
As she turned to leave, Ethan called after her, his voice soft but intense. "And Sarah? Be careful out there. We don't know what we're dealing with, and until we do...we can't afford to take any chances."
Sarah nodded, her eyes meeting his with a flicker of understanding. "I will, Ethan. You be careful too."
With that, she was gone, leaving Ethan alone with his thoughts and the weight of the task ahead. He knew that they were facing an enemy unlike any they had ever encountered before, a creature that defied all logic and reason.
But he also knew that they had no choice. They were the only ones who could stop this thing, the only ones who could protect the people of Willowbrook from the horrors that lurked in the shadows.
And they would not fail.
They would hunt this monster to the ends of the earth if they had to, using every resource at their disposal to bring it down and restore peace to their shattered community.
For the sake of their town, their people.
And for the memory of all those lost to the creature's insatiable hunger.
The hunt was on.
And this time, there would be no escape for the nightmare that stalked the night.
This time, the monster would face the consequences of its actions.
And justice would be served, one way or another.

I’m apartment hunting this June and I’m aiming for a early July move-in. I have one other roommate who won’t be in the country in June and they know about the documents needed for apartment applications, however due to some more sensitive financial information they would prefer sending their documents to leasing offices directly. I’m a little worried about my roommate being abroad and not being able to send the documents out ASAP and that we might lose out on a great apartment because of it. Is this a valid concern? If so, does anyone have any solutions for this kind of situation? I want to be sensitive to their privacy and such and I definitely wouldn’t look at anything they didn’t feel comfortable with me seeing but I just want to be as prepared as possible going into apartment hunting. Thanks!

I don’t know if anyone played T hunt like my friends & I did. T hunt was a form of therapy for us, like when we got mad or sad we just would blast music & run house T hunt solo & just go at it for hours. The AI & target drills I feel don’t give the tad bit of pressure of still dying & not being able to be 1 tapped while at the same time just being fun. Is there a way we could all bitch at Ubi to get it back?

-FRESH WIPE- RECKONINGZ LIVONIA Extractions Raid Alerts Loot Chests Secure Containers Bitcoin Mining Safezone Stash
PC US Livonia PVP 1PP
Welcome to ReckoningZ. This server is intended to provide a modded DayZ experience that stays somewhat true to the original intentions of the game. Everything on our servers, from the ground loot to the high tier keycards is designed to encourage player interaction and PvP, and geared toward players that are tired of the same old DayZ PVP meta all while surviving the harsh elements and landscape of Livonia. Livonia is expansive, so we have several custom military and industrial areas to boost the flow and loot.
Tired of getting offline raided? We have the new Raid Alarm mod that not only gives you a notification in-game, but can be configured to alert you in discord as well.
There are 9 extractions placed throughout the map to get you back to safezone and teleport out to a list of general areas on the map. You can also grind for a sleeping bag (or get SUPER lucky and find one), throw it down and spawn at base. Need supplies and don't want to risk it all in PvP situations you aren't equipped for? We have a growing list of quests to choose from at the safe zone.
We have Airdrops and KOTH Events when Population is 15 or above, and Locked Crates with keys in the loot pool to keep players on the hunt high tier loot! For high tier loot, go diving for underwater crates!
This is a Tarkov-Inspired server, with Secured Containers, Bitcoin Mining, collectibles and barter items, armor and gear from EFT. This is a hybrid experience that breaks away from the same old DayZ meta, yet reaps the benefits of the heart-pounding PVP rush.
Discord: https://discord.gg/reckoningz-724823308461408376
Are you ready for the Reckoning of Deer Isle?
Max Players: 80
IP: 172.111.51.167:2502
Restarts: Every 3 hours.
Playstyle: Full Map PvP, PvE
1pp/3pp - 1pp (3pp Driving)
Highlighted Mods:
Bitcoin Mining
Raid Alarm
Secure Containers
Safezone Stash
Airdrops and KOTH
Expansion Trader
SIBNIC Helis
Blackouts Weapons
Cannabis Plus
Drugs Plus
CJ187 Lootchests
DNA Keycards
Breaching Charge and Hacking Tablets
Paragon Gear and Storage
Dogtags
RaG Basebuilding
and Various EFT Mods

I’ve been on the hunt for a new apartment in LA and wow it’s tough out here. For some context, I’m very fortunate. I am a lawyer and have a partner also in the legal field and we can afford more space than most. However, even with our dual income the options are HORRENDOUS. We were pretty much forced to go up in budget if we wanted to live anywhere remotely close to our jobs and had a space to park.
We finally found this awesome location and applied. The application was $100, they called my job, they called my friends and they called my last 2 landlords. They pulled a search to see if I ever sued a landlord in the past, ran my credit, did a background check etc. it’s all standard stuff these days but SO INVASIVE.
Anyways, we ended up getting scammed. The property company advertised the listing for one price then once we received the lease to sign the monthly rent was $400 more a month than advertised!! We asked wtf was going on and it turns out this is a standard practice in LA now. Landlords advertise for a much lower rent and then once it comes time for the lease they tell you “the last month is free, so the TOTAL rent you pay for the year equals a monthly rent of what was advertised” point is watch out for this shit because now that I’ve seen it I see it everywhere. We backed out of the lease and are still stuck apartment hunting

We know that each of the 3 depicted Wizards in the stories had different personalities. The Istari had free will and had experienced thousands of years in the world, visiting different locales, different peoples and cultures. But one key factor in their personality is usually the Valar they followed or where associated with.
Curumo (Saruman) belonged to Aule. You can see that in Saruman's desire for order, and his propensity for creation and "industry". Mauron (Sauron) was also a servant of Aule, and share many of those characteristics. Both Maiar desire for power and authority could come from that desire for order and creation of such order. There's a lot of pride in there as well, being "makers of things".
Olorin (Gandal) was a favorite of Manwe, and that was reflected in his free, traveling spirit, his wisdom and his compassion for all intelligent beings in Middle-Earth.
Aiwendil (Rhadagast) was a servant of Yavanna, and that explains his love for nature. He's carefree and disinterested in the affairs of most intelligent beings because, much like Yavanna, his interests fell in nature itself, long lasting, hard to change.
And what of the Blue Wizards? We know that Alatar was a servant of Órome, chosen to attend the council of Valar to decide who to send to Middle Earth.
Two Maiar in that meeting volunteered. Curumo and Alatar. The former took Aiwendil with him becaue Yavanna begged him to, and Alatar asked to take his friend Pallando with him (his affiliation we don't know, but considering they're both "blue wizards" he could also have been a servant of Orome). Manwe insisted that Olorin also be sent, thus making 5 wizards.
This tells us that Alatar is probably either brave or brash, having enough courage and maybe pride to step forward. Being a servant of Orome that makes sense. Orome hated all dark things and hunted the beasts that served Melkor relentlessly. I imagine we could see a similiar attitude out of the Blue Wizards. The Istari were tasked taking the forms of old men, and to seek to only influence humanity instead of taking direct action over it. To influence, not to lead. To teach, not do it themselves. But most of these were guidelines. And it doesn't really address the dark beasts. It was Olorin's (Galdalf's) way to not pursue direct conflict. But even he fought in the war against Orcs. And what of the servants of Orome, a proud and easy to anger hunting God?
Conclusion. If it had been Alatar that came up against Smaug I imagine he would've wanted to punch that dragon in the face, no Dwarves necessary. We can picture him traveling in the East kicking ass and taking names. Afterall Tolkien did give him a different name later on. Morinehtar (Darkness Slayer).
If we were to believe that only Gandalf succeeded in his mission, it could well be that Alatar "failed" not because he succumbed to the desire to install order and authority over living things (like Saruman), or to the inaction of nature (like Rhadagast), but to the wrath of Orome, the desire to fight darkness himself, maybe leading him to rule over men as not a guide, but as a ruler.
TL:DR = The Blue Wizards (or maybe just Alatar) were chosen of Orome. This, coupled with what we know of them (Alatar volunteering, the maybe both failing their mission, leading cults of men, etc) means that Alatar (and maybe Pallando) were no-nonsense monster slaying, Dragon hunting, giant spider stomping, Istari.

DAY: May 18 2024

• 5-18-2024 HAVE SMARTPHONES KILLED THE ART OF CONVERSATION? Once upon a time, human relationships unfolded without smartphones. The reality may be hard to recall, so profoundly have these devices transformed the way we relate to the world and others in fifteen years or so. As an anthropologist interested in modernity, I am particularly preoccupied by the impact of these devices on our conversations. In my book, “The End of the Conversation? Words in a Spectral Society” (French original: “La fin de la conversation? La parole dans une société spectrale”), I investigate the pernicious effects of this technology
• 5-18-2024 HOW TO REWARD EMPLOYEES FAIRLY AND IMPROVE TEAM DYNAMICS A recent study has shed light on how to reward employees more fairly and improve team dynamics. The study found that when less skilled employees report their performance voluntarily, they often exaggerate their achievements and ask for higher bonuses. These employees also tend to put in less effort and are less concerned about fairness when sharing their contributions voluntarily. Interestingly, the researchers discovered that requiring employees to explain their contributions leads to fairer decisions about bonus allocation and improves
• 5-19-2024 BILLIONS ARE SPENT ON EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, BUT WE DON’T KNOW IF IT WORKS During the COVID lockdowns, schools and universities worldwide relied on education technology—edtech—to keep students learning. They used online platforms to give lessons, mark work and send feedback, used apps to teach and introduced students to programs that let them work together on projects. In the aftermath of school closures, the market for edtech has kept on growing. The value of the sector is projected to rise to US$132.4 billion globally by 2032. The problem is that we don’t know very much about how effective many edtech apps or programs
• 5-19-2024 STUDY FINDS CONSUMERS WILLING TO PAY MORE FOR NATURALLY COLORED COTTON CLOTHING Research has looked at consumer attitudes toward naturally colored cotton clothing. The study found that amid increasing concerns over the environmental impact of conventional cotton processing, consumers are willing to pay more for a greener T-shirt.
• 5-18-2024 HOW AI IS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF SALES STRATEGIES In the fast-evolving business landscape, artificial intelligence, or AI, is taking center stage in transforming sales processes, making them more efficient and responsive to the dynamic market demands. A new University of Alabama at Birmingham study titled “AI in Sales: Laying the Foundations for Future Research” highlights the pivotal role AI is playing in reshaping the sales sector.
• 5-18-2024 WHEN CONSUMERS WOULD PREFER A CHATBOT OVER A PERSON Actually, sometimes consumers don’t want to talk to a real person when they’re shopping online, a new study suggests. In fact, what they really want is a chatbot that makes it clear that it is not human at all. In a new study, researchers found that people preferred interacting with chatbots when they felt embarrassed about what they were buying online—items like antidiarrheal medicine or, for some people, skin care products. “In general, research shows people would rather interact with a human customer service agent
• 5-18-2024 NEW STUDY REVEALS THE POTENTIAL OF COACHING EMPLOYEES TO DRIVE NEW STRATEGIC IDEAS In the landscape of modern business, inclusion isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a strategic imperative. Companies like IBM, Volkswagen and Starbucks are moving to more participative strategy development approaches that reflect a growing understanding of the importance of diversity in fostering innovative and creative strategic ideas. Yet the outcomes of inclusive strategy processes often fall short of expectations. A new study in the Strategic Management Journal sheds light on why that may be. In their study of an inclusive strategy process in a large insurance company, Violetta Splitter, along with co-authors
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCHERS SHOW WAYS TO PROPEL PRODUCT SUCCESS New research explores the key strategies that firms should adopt when launching a new product. The researchers say that these strategies depend on the current market view of the product and the firm. Employing the correct one, which might sometimes be collaborating with overtly demanding reviewers or instituting rather challenging pilot tests, ensures that the product launch will go as successfully as possible.
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCHERS DEVELOP ALGORITHMS TO UNDERSTAND HOW HUMANS FORM BODY PART VOCABULARIES An example of the study’s language sample and the words for arm/hand and leg/foot in English and Wolof. Human bodies have similar designs. However, languages differ in the way they divide the body into parts and name them. For example, English speakers have two words for foot and leg, whereas other languages express the concepts foot and leg in one word.
• 5-18-2024 STUDY FINDS AVOIDING SOCIAL MEDIA BEFORE AN ELECTION HAS LITTLE TO NO EFFECT ON PEOPLE’S POLITICAL VIEWS In the weeks before and after the 2020 presidential election, researchers ran a number of tests to try to understand how much Facebook and its corporate cousin, Instagram, may be contributing to the nation’s political divide. One of those experiments—led by Matthew Gentzkow and Hunt Allcott, economics professors at Stanford University—centered on more than 35,000 Facebook and Instagram users who were paid to stay off the platforms in the run-up to Election Day. There’s a lot that researchers could glean from the social media hiatus, including whether people’s political attitudes
• 5-18-2024 USING COMPUTER MODELS TO UNDERSTAND THE DEBATE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE Different types of noise and how they act inside or outside the social interaction process. Cognitive biases are among the most important factors that prevent people from changing their minds. Climate change deniers and climate activists often tend to accept only information that confirms their respective opinions on the matter. However, opinion dynamics are also influenced by a factor that the researchers call “ambiguity noise.” Unlike biases, ambiguity noise is variable, depends on many random factors, and leads to inconsistent judgment.
• 5-18-2024 FOR SOME INDIGENOUS SOUTHERN PLAINS TRIBES, AN ORIGINAL FLUTE SONG IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD MARRIAGE “Warrior with flute” by Timothy Tate Nevaquaya. Used with permission. Credit: Timothy Tate Nevaquaya Every love story is unique, and in traditional Indigenous Southern Plains culture, it begins with an original ballad performed on the flute. In order to win a lover’s affection, and respect among the tribe, each pursuer must compose one good flute serenade. Paula Conlon, a former music professor at the University of Oklahoma, has researched the history and cultural significance of the Indigenous flute since the 1980s. Conlon presents her work Tuesday, May 14, at 9:45
• 5-18-2024 WANT TO BE AN INFLUENCER? OUR RESEARCH SHOWS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FIRST You’re hard at work, lying in a hammock, composing the perfect selfie on the beach. The turquoise sea sets off the idyllic sunset, and just visible though the fronds of a palm tree is the logo of the hotel which is paying you to promote it to your millions of followers on Instagram. Click. The perfect shot. And another typically perfect day in the life of an influencer. Or is it? Certainly a career as an influencer can seem appealing. The work generally involves promoting products or services through sponsored
• 5-18-2024 WHY STUDENTS CHEAT IN ONLINE EXAMS Media psychologists at the University of Cologne have studied how students’ individual needs, conceptions and reasons relate to cheating behavior in online exams. Online exams have become a more common type of exam at universities, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. They are advantageous because they save time and offer flexibility. However, cheating attempts present a big challenge for lecturers. This is why universities have been working on ways to thwart cheating in online exams by putting organizational and technical measures into place.
• 5-18-2024 WHY STUDENTS CHEAT IN ONLINE EXAMS Trust and distrust in social media coexisted in the study participants. Credit: Emmaline Nelsen Are anti-misinformation interventions on social media working as intended? It depends, according to a new study surveyed over 1,700 participants in the United States, revealing that anti-misinformation features increased users’ awareness of misinformation in social media; but did not make them more likely to share information on social media
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? Seventy-eight percent of people in England and Wales think that crime has gone up in the last few years, according to the latest survey. But the data on actual crime shows the exact opposite. As of 2024, violence, burglary and car crime have been declining for 30 years and by close to 90%, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW)—our best indicator of true crime levels. Unlike police data, the CSEW is not subject to variations in reporting and recording. The drop in violence includes domestic violence
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? Can we truly assess whether someone finds us attractive? Cognitive psychologist Iliana Samara discovered that men, in particular, tend to overestimate the interest of their date. She explains why this may be. “Imagine you walk into a packed bar, looking for a date. Your eyes are naturally drawn to attractive faces. If you’re a man and find someone attractive, you’re more likely to assume they’re also interested in you. “Then, when you approach them, whether you’re a man or woman
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? Having more education has long been linked to better individual health. But those benefits are also contagious, say the co-authors of a new working paper. “It’s not just that the individuals who have more years of education are in better health,” said David M. Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics. “It’s that even people with fewer years of education—for example, people with just a high school degree—are in better health when they live around
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? Our research on children in early primary years, show they are better are writing with a pen or pencil than a keyboard. Children today are growing up surrounded by technology. So it’s easy to assume they will be able to write effectively using a keyboard. But our research suggests this is not necessarily true. We need to actively teach students to be able to type as well as write using paper and pen or pencil. Our research Our research team has published two recent
• 5-18-2024 MOST CRIME HAS FALLEN BY 90% IN 30 YEARS—SO WHY DOES THE PUBLIC THINK IT’S INCREASED? The provision of therapies for children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) can be an affectively challenging, sometimes procedurally complex, process for the various stakeholders involved. However, the efficiency and effectiveness of this process, are crucial to various outcomes, in particular
• 5-18-2024 HOW DO MINDFULNESS, COMPASSION AND NEED FULFILLMENT AFFECT SATISFACTION IN MIDLIFE MARRIED COUPLES? Many people practice mindfulness or self-compassion techniques in their everyday life as part of their normal self-care routine. Although many studies support the individual benefits of mindfulness and self-compassion, few have focused on romantic relationship outcomes. A new study published in Personal Relationships has examined how mindfulness, self- and other-compassion, and need fulfillment relate to relationship and sexual satisfaction in midlife married couples. The study involved survey results from 640 adults aged 40–59 years who were residing in Canada and were married. Mindfulness is the nonjudgmental attention and awareness to
• 5-18-2024 HOW ENTERTAINMENT BRANDS ARE ADAPTING TO GENERATION ALPHA Growing up, did you play with hyper-sexualized Barbie dolls, boys-only Thomas the Tank Engine trains, or slim, white Disney princesses? If so, you’re not alone, but this is no longer the case for Generation Alpha. Brands like Mattel, once criticized for promoting unrealistic body standards and gender stereotypes, now portray themselves as feminist and progressive. The recent Barbie movie serves as a prime example of this shift. Millennial parents are actively seeking out toys, books and movies to educate their children about life and teach them values that align
• 5-18-2024 STUDENTS WITH DYSLEXIA FACE CHALLENGES TRANSITIONING TO THE WORKPLACE, BUT WITH SUPPORT THEY CAN THRIVE Transitioning from university to the workplace is a critical period in anyone’s life, but it can be especially challenging for students with dyslexia. While academic settings often offer accommodations for people with dyslexia, professional environments often fall short on such support systems. Fortunately, there are strategic interventions that can be established in workplaces to help individuals with dyslexia not only adapt, but excel in their careers. It is estimated that up to 20% of the population has dyslexia and 80% of people with a learning disability have dyslexia
• 5-18-2024 BUSINESSES UNINTENTIONALLY DISCOURAGE DIVERSE IDEAS, FINDS STUDY Businesses influence the ideas they receive from external contributors by unintentionally signaling which ideas they like, a research analyzed 1.44 million ideas to understand how organizations unknowingly shape the ideas they receive. Data came from organizations that asked visitors how they could improve their websites before choosing which ideas to use. Chosen ideas were communicated for all to see.
• 5-18-2024 WHAT’S IN A NAME? A LINGUISTICS EXPERT EXPLAINS WHY SOME BABY NAMES DOMINATE THE CHARTS YEAR AFTER YEAR What do names like Noah, James, Mateo, Mia, Evelyn and Luna all have in common? They’re not only some of the top baby names in the United States, but they also seem to flow off the tongue. And that’s exactly why parents love them. On May 10, the Social Security Administration released a list of the top baby names in the United States in 2023. Liam and Olivia maintained the number one spot in their respective categories for the fifth consecutive year while Noah and Emma also retained second place.
• 5-18-2024 ACCESS TO GARDENS AND CITIZEN SCIENCE HELPS ENCOURAGE CONSERVATION AMONG CHILDREN, STUDY SHOWS Access to gardens and citizen science projects at school can help promote pro-conservation behavior among pupils, a new study shows. Offering children the chance to take part in authentic scientific ecological work and gardening encourages an interest in plants. This can change behavior—to spend more time gardening or to pursue a botanical career—and fuels a positive attitude towards safeguarding the environment, experts found
• 5-18-2024 WHAT PROFESSIONALS EXPECT FROM FUTURE EMPLOYERS Employers who want to attract new talent should recognize diversity and enable inclusion. This is confirmed by a representative study by IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU), which surveyed more than 1,200 trainees and students across Germany. The results clearly show that 75.1% of prospective employees consider it very or somewhat important that companies implement measures to promote diversity and inclusion. This suggests that companies that communicate these measures openly and transparently
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCH LINKS VOTER BEHAVIOR IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS TO HOUSING MARKET PERFORMANCE If the 21st century has proven anything to the United States electorate, it is that presidential elections are notoriously unpredictable affairs. The seeming randomness by which the country’s electorate chooses its next president has only emboldened polling outlets, talking heads, and amateur psephologists to scrutinize every conceivable variable to give their respective electoral forecasting models a much-needed edge. However, Sherwood Clements, collegiate assistant professor of real estate in the Pamplin College of Business, had an electoral theory that, to the best of his knowledge, had never been explored with regards
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCH LINKS VOTER BEHAVIOR IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS TO HOUSING MARKET PERFORMANCE If the 21st century has proven anything to the United States electorate, it is that presidential elections are notoriously unpredictable affairs. The seeming randomness by which the country’s electorate chooses its next president has only emboldened polling outlets, talking heads, and amateur psephologists to scrutinize every conceivable variable to give their respective electoral forecasting models a much-needed edge. However, Sherwood Clements, collegiate assistant professor of real estate in the Pamplin College of Business, had an electoral theory that, to the best of his knowledge, had never been explored with regards
• 5-18-2024 MECHANISTIC MODEL SHOWS HOW MUCH GOSSIP IS NEEDED TO FOSTER SOCIAL COOPERATION Gossip often has a negative connotation, but imagine you are part of a group deciding on a job candidate to hire or a local political candidate to back. Candidates who get a good reputation by helping others may be more likely to receive help in the form of a job offer or endorsement, a feedback loop known as indirect reciprocity. Gossip can facilitate cooperation. Previous research has shown that people tend to cooperate more when they think their peers are gossiping about their behavior, gossip
• 5-18-2024 SINGING RESEARCHERS FIND CROSS-CULTURAL PATTERNS IN MUSIC AND LANGUAGE Are acoustic features of music and spoken language shared across cultures? Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen have contributed to a global study of music and speech, published in Science Advances. An international team of researchers recorded themselves performing traditional music and speaking in their native language. In all 50+ languages
• 5-18-2024 NEW RESEARCH REVEALS JUST HOW FEW LGBTQI+ PEOPLE PLAY SPORTS The topic of homophobia in sport has recently made headlines in Australia, with a series of homophobic incidents involving men’s AFL players. These homophobic incidents are usually well-reported in news media, but research has rarely explored the impact on participation for LGBTQI+ people. Fresh research into the problem Our new research is one of the first pieces of academic research in Australia to document how many LGBTQI+ people play and engage with sport. We also explored current levels of discrimination across sport in Australia, and the barriers and enablers
• 5-18-2024 SWIPE RIGHT OR LEFT? HOW DATING APPS ARE IMPACTING MODERN MASCULINITY What it means to be a man is changing. Critical men or masculinity studies is an emerging robust research field that explores how men and masculinity are being transformed by shifting socio-economic, sexual and political conditions in our post-industrial world. Fascinating new male-identifying sub-cultures and communities have emerged, like mushroomcore and dandies. Yet heteronormative masculinity is typically framed as threatening, toxic or maladaptive, as in the case of fragile masculinity. In my years of swiping on dating apps, I encountered different kinds of masculinities, as well as some very offensive
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCHERS SAY AUTOMATED NEWS VIDEO PRODUCTION IS BETTER WITH A HUMAN TOUCH AI-generated videos for short messages are only as well received as manually created ones if they are edited by humans. News organizations—including Bloomberg, Reuters, and The Economist—have been using AI powered video services to meet growing audience demand for audio-visual material. A study recently published in the journal Journalism now shows that the automated production of news videos is better with human supervision. Technology providers like Wochit and Moovly are allowing publishers to mass produce videos at scale. But what do audiences think of the results? Researchers led by LMU
• 5-18-2024 HOW ‘ETHICAL INFLUENCERS’ ENGAGE THEIR AUDIENCES ABOUT SAVING THE PLANET Have a quick think back to the last time you scrolled through social media. Maybe it was this morning, last night or a few minutes ago. What do you recall? One thing you’re bound to remember is the continuous stream of influencers showing off their latest content. These could be videos of influencers discussing the latest skin-care products, the trendiest places to eat, their latest shopping haul or the PR packages they received from various brands. Much of social media influencing is about getting consumers to buy more products.
• 5-18-2024 ALLYSHIP IS ESSENTIAL TO NEW MOTHERS RETURNING TO WORK, SAYS STUDY Returning to work after parental leave can be one of the most challenging experiences for any parents, especially mothers, to navigate. Fortunately, there are simple, kind and thoughtful ways in which organizational members—regardless of formal status, parental identity or gender identity—can help mothers feel supported as they return to work, which can also benefit job satisfaction and maternal well-being.
• 5-18-2024 STUDY FINDS SAYING ‘PLEASE’ MAY NOT BE SO POLITE IN EVERYDAY REQUESTS By kindergarten age, most children have been taught that “please” is a magic word. “Please” is an expression of politeness that shows courtesy and respect, turning a potential demand into a request that will—poof!—magically be granted. But a new study on the ways people make requests of one another suggests that “please” might not be an all-purpose marker of politeness, but rather a more focused, strategic tool to manage frictions or obstacles among family members, friends and even coworkers.
• 5-18-2024 MILITARY RANK AFFECTS MEDICAL CARE, OFFERING SOCIETAL INSIGHTS: STUDY Stock project from Pexels Human relationships are inherently shaped by power dynamics, yet quantifying their impact has remained a scientific challenge. Now, a large new study published Thursday in the journal Science reveals that military doctors give more attention to higher-ranked patients, providing concrete evidence about the privileges that come with elevated status, frequently at the expense of the less powerful. “One of the things we are trying to show is that this is not a military-specific analysis,”
• 5-18-2024 RESEARCHERS DISCUSS CURRENT STATE OF HOMOPHOBIA, TRANSPHOBIA AND BIPHOBIA Gender-neutral bathrooms, conversion therapy and Quebec’s advisory committee on gender identity have been in the news lately. These are polarizing, hot-button issues. While there have been legislative and social advances for LGBTQ+ rights, ignorance and discrimination persist and continue to negatively affect the lives of many. On May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, UdeMNouvelles asked two Université de Montréal professors and researchers who are experts in the field to share their views.
• 5-18-2024 PICKLEBALL COURTS IN A LEGAL PICKLE OVER THE ASSOCIATED NOISE Experts recommend HOAs and communities consider the “popping” noise associated with pickleball when deciding to build courts near homes. Credit: AIP Pickleball Legal Consultant is a job title that likely did not exist a decade ago, but as pickleball courts infiltrate neighborhoods to satiate an appetite for a sport whose namesake is a snack, communities take issue with the resulting influx of noise. Now homeowners’ associations and city councils face litigation by those whose lives are disrupted by pickleball’s din. Charles Leahy, an attorney, retired mechanical engineer, and former HOA
• 5-18-2024 TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING HOW COMPANIES DO BUSINESS In the fast-paced world of modern business, technology plays a crucial role in shaping how companies operate. One area where this impact is particularly significant is in the organization of production chains—specifically the way goods are made and distributed. A new study from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business advances understanding of the U.S. production chain evolution amidst technological progress in information technology (IT), shedding light on the complex connections between business IT investments and organizational design. Advances in IT have sparked significant changes in how companies design
• 5-18-2024 HOW DOES THE US KNOW THAT FORCED LABOR IS HAPPENING IN CHINA? A SUPPLY CHAIN EXPERT WEIGHS IN The Biden administration has added 26 more companies to the list of Chinese textile traders and manufacturers whose goods are blocked from entering the United States because of their alleged ties to forced labor. The banned imports, known as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, names businesses that are said to be involved in exploiting

Disclaimer: please scroll if you have no actual advice to offer. I’m in a rough place mentally as it is… thank you. This may be considered a vent.
To start, my husband and I have been together for 5 and a half years. We started dating in the very beginning of 2019 and he joined the Navy at the very end of May in 2022. We only have each other and that’s how it’s been all of our relationship. He’s 22 and I’m 23. We don’t have any kids. We’re a little bit halfway through deployment as of right now and I’m definitely experiencing a strain in our marriage unlike any other we’ve been through. I know it may seem silly to vent to strangers on the internet but I don’t know of any resources to use and I have no one to talk to about this. I’m currently in North Dakota with my sister and her husband that are both Air Force. In March I had to break our lease for our apartment and I drove all the way to North Dakota. In Utah I hit a really big deer going 85 on the interstate and the speed limit was 80. I’ve never been in an accident before then. It shook me up pretty hard when the police told me if I would’ve swerved I would’ve ended up flipped in a ditch on the side of the road. My husband was my first phone call before calling 911. I struggled telling him what happened because we had just gotten a 2024 RAV4 XSE Hybrid back in the beginning of January right before he left. I didn’t want him to be angry or upset about the car but a deer running out in the middle of an interstate at 3:30 am was out of my control… I thought for sure the car was totaled because the frame looked slightly bent. The cop was sure it was too, my front end was completely wrecked. Thank God it’s not but I’ve been car-less since the end of March. My mental health has been horrible and I’ve only spoke up about it one time to my husband because the last thing I want him to worry about while he’s stuck on a ship is if his wife is okay. I’m not. I’ve always been independent before him but I found myself too comfortable in our marriage to the point where I don’t want to function without him. I’m happy he’s getting to explore all these countries we could have only dreamed about visiting before the Navy but at the same time a part of me is struggling here because of all the stress I’ve endured in such little time. I understand that ship life is not easy and I know I personally would not be able to do it so I respect him deeply for that and I recognize his hard work and sacrifice for us. The only problem is he invalidates my feelings a lot and it hurts me. In the first two-three months of deployment I had to break our lease, move all of our things alone and drive 25 hours away from home, wrecked our car halfway to North Dakota & when I got here I had to rehome one of our dogs which has been tough on me. I communicated this with him and his response was basically something along the lines of “well at least you can get up and go wherever you want, I’m stuck on a ship” I just feel as if he resents me now for being on the civilian side of things. He took a deployment/relationship class before he left and left me with notes or advice to remember whenever things get hard and I’ve read them a lot. One of the main pieces of advice it gave was to not compare our situations to one another or to think that one person has it harder in our marriage. To not invalidate each others struggles and feelings but that’s all he’s done to me. That is also another reason I’ve been suffering. I’ve never had panic attacks before he left but with all the stress I’ve endured they started randomly. I break down in silence because I can’t be alone with myself. I’ve tried picking up hobbies such as the gym, taking our dog for walks on trails every evening and even watching my nephew while my family is at work. Nothing is working and all I can think about is the fork in our relationship and how alone I’ve been through all of these hardships. I’m trying to work on myself to be a better individual and the spouse that my husband deserves but I don’t feel effort or consideration on his end. I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried talking to him about this but it’s hard to have these type of talks via email because it’s not the same as it would be in person. We’ve already agreed to marriage counseling if we can’t talk things over by ourselves when he gets back. I know it doesn’t get easier with more deployments to come which is why I want to work on things during this first deployment. I just want to give up at this point but to me my husband is worth all the suffering and hard days plus more. He is the reason I get up everyday and keep pushing even though I so badly wish everything would just end…
Has anyone else struggled maintaining their relationship on deployment & if so what steps did you take to work on it or fix it? Do things get better when they’re back home? Am I overthinking things?

Nuxia is a problematic character, she can feel extremely unfair to fight and is overall a good duellist, but her 4vs4 abilities are some of the worse in the game. She is also a very unique character, she has barely been touched by Ubisoft since her release, and also has a truely one of a kind mechanic in her traps. As such, a rework of Nuxia is a tall order, it must manage to buff her in 4s without making her broken in duels and while keeping the character unique. Here is how I propose we go about it.

~I-Nuxia’s damage~
If there is one thing that is said to be strong about Nuxia it’s her damage, she can absolutely delete someone if she gets an opening. As such, before we buff her in other ways, we must adress her damage. Her dps is high because of two things : her base damage, and her two damage feats.
Regarding her base damage it’s actually not that high, her lights deal 9-12 damage and her heavies 24-30. This is on par with a lot of assassins, with Orochi being 10-13 on his lights and 22-32 on his heavies. Berserker is also 9-12 on his lights and 24-32 on his heavies. Her damage overall is a bit lower but more consistent, with less of a gap based on the direction of her heavies and their place in the chain.
Her damage is boosted by her two feats, Deadly Duet gives her a passive 20% damage increase when close to a lone ennemy, and Slip Through gives her a 30% damage boost to her next attack after a dodge. Are those feat too strong ? Not really in my opinion, Deadly Duet isn’t active a lot of the time in 4s as people tend to stick together, and Slip Through boost one attack with no garantee of landing it while being a tier 3. They are a lot of stronger feats, and I think they play into her unique identiy, you should be rewarded for roaming the battlefield and hunting lone targets.
As such I don’t think a damage nerf is needed even with those buffs, but if something had to be nerf I would nerf the base damage instead of the feat. Nuxia is a better duellist than teamfighter, as such I doubt such buffs would risk making her broken in dominion, only in duels where the feats are a non issue. This way she gets to keep her unique feats, while reigning in her damage if it proves to be too high after those buffs (even though as of now it is not above the average of assassins).

~II-« Quality of life » buffs~
Those are a few things that don’t make a huge impact but would still help her. First I would give her something similar to Shinobi and Shugoki’s run, if she is meant to be a roamer she needs to be able to move across the map fast. I would make it not as good as Shinobi’s so he keeps his own identity, but better than Shugoki. In addition, I would give her hyperarmor on Mirror Raid, her unique parry counter. The move itself deals 15 damage, but is made useless in teamfights due to interrupts, it would give her a bit more anti gank viability. Finally traps should beat any attack thrown in their direction, including non crushing counter lights and light parry attempts, so that ennemies don’t randomly beat traps by messing up parry timings, while still giving them the ability to counter the trap on a good read by lighting Nuxia in another direction.



~III-Opener~
This might be a controversial take but as of right now Nuxia lacks a reliable opener. Most people will tell you her trap mix up is, and it is an opener, just not a reliable one. The idea is to heavy, so that your opponent as to decide if you are going to either let it fly, trap, hard feint to gb, or just feint. However, this opener heavily favors the opponent. For once it is extremely slow, and a lot of the time your opponent while just do their opener at the same time or even slightly after you and you will just eat it. For example wether or not you are feinting or trap your heavy, a forward dodge bash will beat you, or even a simple light. It also is not stamina efficient, costing 22 to 24 stam based on if you trap or hardfeint. There is a reason why characters with bash openers rarely open by feinting heavies in the air.
Even in a best case scenario where you don’t get interrupted, the defender is still massively favored, and that’s because the defenders options beats several of Nuxia’s own. For example :
-Dodging and dodge attacking beat both traping and letting the heavy fly, with empty dodges beating hard feints and dodge attack beating feint to gb. This is the biggest culprit, by alternating between empty and dodge attack the defender can beat ¾ of Nuxia’s options reliably.
-Lighting in any direction (except the heavy direction if your hero has crushing counter lights) beats the trap, feint to gb, and for most player hard feinting if they can’t react to the light in time to parry it. They can block it but they are then back to neutral.
-Parrying beats the heavy, and has a chance to beat the trap if the defender messes up his parry timing, it’s also neutral to hard feinting to nothing. So even if the defender doesn’t dodge, he still has a lot of options, making so banking on him dodging or dodge attacking as Nuxia isn’t a reliable option either.
Compare this to your regular bash opener and it’s simply a two options mind game of predicting if you your opponent thinks you are going to empty dodge or dodge bash and you will see that Nuxia’s opener is fairly unnremarkable. Put it this way, imagine two sets of two duelling bots. One duo is Nuxia vs another hero, the other is JJ vs another hero. The Nuxia bot is programmed to open by selecting randomly an option from her heavy opener, while the JJ bot does the same thing with his forward dodge bash opener mix up. Their opposing bot randomly picks an answer to counter it, mathematically Nuxia’s opponent will win the trade more often than her, while JJ and is opponent would be fairly even.
So should we just give Nuxia a bash opener ? No, one of the goal of this rework proposal is to keep her uniqueness. So here is my proposal, in addition to her trap make her able to soft feint an opener heavy into a weaker, undodgeable light which always come from the same side as the heavy. My reasoning is simple, this change makes her opponer closer to a bash opponer as it reduces the imbalance between the defender and attacker, dodging and dodge attacking doesn’t beat 3/4 or Nuxia’s options anymore. The defender can still dodge and dodge attack if he makes a correct read, but Nuxia has a reliable way to beat both. As such the opponent must now make a real decision if dodging is the right answer, and if not actually has to interract with the trap mix up. The soft feint light would both deal less damage and be 600ms lights (like Zhanhu unblockable lights), the damage nerf is to make them less oppressive, and being slower they allow the opponent an easier light parry on a correct read since they also always come from the same direction as the heavy.
In conclusion, the oppenents options would now be :
-Dodge and dodge attack still beats trap and heavy, with them additionnaly beating hard feint heavy and feint to gb respectively, but they can be punished by the soft feint light if they abuse it
-Light interrupt a trap by lighting on a different side
-Parrying either the heavy or the feinted light (which again is slower and always come from the same side as the heavy).

~IV-Recovery cancels, or why Nuxia should have an all guard~

If you look at the top heroes in 4s, most of them have access to some form of recovery cancel, typically dodge recovery cancels. Those are extremely powerful tools, especially in teamfights. During ganks it makes babysitting harder since the baby sitter as to interrupt you during your attack, instead of during your recoveries. And during brawls they allow you to quickly switch target and reposition. This is one of Nuxia’s biggest weaknesses in 4s. She is a sitting duck in ganks, unable to get any damage in before getting revenge and even when she does get it there is nothing stopping the ennemy to wail on you while you are trying to attack their teammate. But giving her dodge recovery cancel is just making more like other heroes, and we don’t want that. That’s where my idea of an all guard comes in.
Let’s describe what it would look like first. It would be more similar to Musha’s guard, she cannot hold it and has to go into it at the right timing. Additionnaly, hers would be weaker than Musha’s to not make him redundant. She wouldn’t be able to access while in hitstun, only after a block and to cancel the recovery of her attacks except her traps. If the ennemy hits her all guard she has three options, she can do a weaker version of mirror raid, doing less damage while still having hyperarmor, she can do a weaker hyperarmored zone or she can immediatly follow up with a non garanteed heavy or zone to go back into her trap mix up. In addition just like Musha she can go back into her all guard after blocking with it, and she is ofc gb vulnerable on the same timing. Notice that all of her options are weaker version of Mushas, she gets a weaker garanteed damage and a weaker zoning tool (though unlike Musha’s this one is not garanteed and can be blocked or parried, finally she can use it to go back into her bread and butter mix up.
This solution has several benefits. It solves her lack of recovery cancels without giving her dodge recovery cancels, it makes her a bit stronger in teamfights by being able to defend herself better when ganked with the block recovery cancel and allows her to get some damage in by punishing people just wailing on her when she is in revenge. At the same time it’s still a weak all guard, the only garanteed damage she would get out of it would be around 10, as her only other offensive options out of it is her trap mix up with both the heavy and zone, which the opponent can beats on a proper read. It also fits her lorewise, she doesn’t have a shield so having her hold an all guard wouldn’t make sense, but hookswords are meant to trap the opponents weapon. Currently they do when she is on the offense with her traps, but they should also be able to do it while she is on the defensive.
This concludes my proposed Nuxia rework, let me know what you think.

General Info:

• Full name: Max Macallister
• Birthday: 8/21/2020
• Current age: 19
• Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

Favorite Things:

• Foods: Max can eat anything he and his aunt would hunt but thanks to her and her wonderful cooking, he grew to love pork more than any normal teenager should.
• Hobbies: Living in the woods didn't allow for many hobbies but since he couldn't hunt on his own before the age of 12, he and whatever birds wanted to tag along went exploring. Until this day, hiking and orienteering are his favourite things to do.

Appearance:

Faceclaim	Height	Weight	Body Type	Eyes
FC	6’ 1”	174 lbs	Lean and muscled, Max developed himself through hunting and routine training at camp along with a few dozen near death experiences.	Stormy grey, look almost pitch black under darker light.

Powers (Modmailed):

Domain Powers

Power	Description
Greater Lordship: Birds, Wind and Storm Spirits	Ever since he was young, Max lived in the woods with his Aunt and had no friends whatsoever. He was nearly completely isolated. That being said, his nature as a son of the king of the sky has given him the ability to speak to and control birds and wind or storm spirits. He's still trying to work on his authority with this power though wind spirits and birds do what he wants most of the time.
Wind/Air Manipulation	Having used this ability to accidentally destroy a cabin at camp and maybe cripple a boy, Max doesn't underestimate this ability and has been trying to practice controlling it.
Travel of the Elder Gods	Having the ability to travel distances with a lightning strike, Max is in the process of training with this power in hopes of using it to visit his aunt one day. His control has improved in spades since he first discovered it, however.

Minor Powers

Power	Description
Electrical Resistance	Despite Max never needing it so far in his life, he is resistant to electricity to a certain degree.
Electricity Manipulation	The ability to call down two lightning bolts per day, Max has gotten more used to this ability since its discovery.
Double Jump	Max has always felt more mobile when using his air manipulation though he never knew it was a separate ability.

Major Power

Power	Description
Bird's Eye View	Shortly after Max was forced to leave for camp, he discovered his ability to see through the eyes of birds. He can do this with any bird and has gained a few different birds he can do this with during his past year at camp. While he is using this ability, he is immobilized. Being a vital part of his arsenal, Max is much better at using it in battle though his mastery still has room to improve.

Equipment:

Item	Description
Featherweight	A bow made for Max by Barry Callahan. The bow is a simple thing, carved of birch wood. The white and grey bark looks like a rolling storm as it cascades down the wood. The bowstring is reinforced by two celestial bronze gears, made to help the archer pull the bow back and sustain that draw for longer. There are bronze carvings on the gears, the eagles being a nice touch on the metal for a simple design. A sight unfolds from the middle of the bow, folding down into place. The crosshairs in the sight are lightning bolts, meeting at a point, but the circumference of the sight is decorated like a weathervane.
Fraterculus	A celestial bronze xiphos that used to belong to Matt, before he gave it to Max for his first quest.
Tactical Spear	A celestial bronze tactical spear that originally belonged to his mom as a present from Zeus. It can change form into a pocket watch.
Custom Arrows	His collection of ammunition for his bow, including celestial bronze tipped arrows, some broadheads he found in the camp armory, and some trick arrows, including flash-bang arrows and net arrows.
Bead Necklace	2037 As a symbol of his past year at camp, Max was given a bead thanks to it being the end of the year. Beads so far:
Banging Beats Player	A stylized iPod Nano that when used to play music, lets out a high pitch screech that stuns those in hearing range. (1 combat turn stun at 5 meters, Loss of hearing at 10 meters, and Buzzing noise at 20 meters)
Amazon Catalogue	The Amazon Catalogue is a small digital tablet that can access the Amazon family of products (Prime, Kindle, etc.) and the store with free shipping, without triggering a monster's scent, and without need for a constant internet connection. The tablet still requires charge (Type-C). It is as sturdy as a standard Amazon Kindle. An occasional connection to an Internet or Ethernet source is required to ensure system interfacing (at least once a week). Although subscription fees are waived through the host account on this device, the user is still required for any additional costs.
Companion Egg	A large, glowing silvery egg. It is said to be able to hatch into a new companion for Max. It is unclear what kind of companion the egg will produce, but Max has been taking care to keep it safe and warm.

Friends:

Name	Relationship
Simon	A gyrfalcon that saved Max from the monster that destroyed his home. Simon was uncannily intelligent when it comes to bird standards. After finding a piece of a map that pointed to the Camp, Simon helped him make it there without dying. The three month journey strengthened their bond tenfold.
Mathew Knight	A son of Hades, Matt is Max's cousin and adopted (not legally) brother who he treasures greatly. Despite the son of Hades' ability to protect himself, Max would still do his best to protect him in any given situation. Basically, hurt him and prepare for immediate avian bombardment.
Austin Reynolds	As a son of Eros, for Max, Austin was easy to love. Too easy in fact, to the point where Max started loosing himself which led to them breaking up. Now Max's ex-boyfriend, Austin remains a friend if not as close as before.
Lupa Hines	Being one of the few people to know about Max's fear of waters, Lupa quickly became someone who Max trusted. Her help as Mediator made facing his fear a little more approachable and a lot less panic attack inducing.
Tori	A bluejay Max made friends with over the past year, Tori is the 'kind but stern' to Simon's sarcasm and joking.

Family:

Member	Name	Age	Relationship
Father	Zeus	Immortal	After the battle against the residents of the labyrinth and the forces of Nemesis, Max had a chance to speak to Zeus, though he spoke through a holographic eagle. Max's opinion of his father is positive though not affectionate enough to be called a familial bond.
Mother	Mary Macallister	36	While speaking with Max, his father, Zeus, showed him an image of his mother and explained that she wasn't the kind of woman to abandon her child when he'd left.
Aunt	Lillian Macallister	Missing	Since she took him in at the age of 3, Max's aunt became like a mother to him and taught him to hunt. She also gifted him his crossbow and the celestial bronze bolts that Zeus had supposedly given his mother before she passed it on to his aunt. He recently discovered that she's still alive.
Half-Sibling	Tristan Macmillan	21	Max's opinion of his veteran half-brother is much higher than most would assume. Despite his half-brother's being more withdrawn by nature, Max still looks up to him as an example of what a child of Zeus should be.

Personality:

Max isn't the most social kid on the block by any means but he has definitely begun to be more outgoing, or at least he's tried to be. He tries to approach people but isn't very well verse in the art of conversation and might come off insensitive or clueless from time to time.
Despite all of this, there remains one permanent aspect to Max's personality which was marked upon him while growing up. During his childhood, Max read stories about what families should be like and the discovery of his mother abandoning him paired with his Aunt's disappearance have made him near overprotective of those he calls family.

History:

The past two years at camp had been what Max would call the best time of his life, case in point, making friends that weren't of the avian persuasion, having a boyfriend for a time, pseudo-adopting a child of the God of Death as his little brother (He's just the cutest little guy), almost dying multiple times, going on two quests, and generally learning how to be a functional human being (He was still working on that last one).
Still, the time at camp had changed him, mostly for the better but he knew he couldn't stay at camp forever. That being said, the place was home. His family was here and he'd be damned if he let himself lose sight of that. He'd left camp shortly after his second quest. It had given him things to think about and work through but now he was back.
Plus, traveling around for a few months just hunting monsters by rumor or through the avian grapevine had been fun. It gave him a look at what the future could hold for him, at least for a little while after camp.
Present Day:
Sitting atop Cabin 1, Max watched the sun pull itself over the horizon with a stupid grin on his face. He wasn't sure why he was in a good mood today but he never did when these moods came over him. He just liked to enjoy them as they came and went. With a huff, he slid off the side of the cabin roof and cushioned the fall with a thought.
Stretching, the black-haired young man looked up. Maybe his dad was watching... or maybe not. It didn't really matter. Max knew he cared and wether or not he watched at any given moment didn't matter. Hmm... Would practicing his lightning-jumps be a bad idea this early in the morning? Yes, almost definitely. Would Max be doing it anyways? Yup! He needed to get his rebellious teenage years out since he'd skipped that whole phase and he'd started doing so little by little. Who knew? Maybe Max would end up a responsible and serious young man if he did it enough (Doubtful but peripherally possible, if not highly unlikely).
So he grinned and with a thunderclap and a blinding lightning bolt, he went from standing next to the Zeus Cabin, to standing at the edge of the Strawberry Fields. What a wonderful day.