Hi everyone
I am currently training for my first Ironman 140.6 and I am on week 7 of a 20 week training programme. All is going well so far and have only missed about 3 workouts total for various reasons. Not any key workouts like long rides and long runs but just a couple of easy runs.
Over the next month or so I have a week long holiday and a couple of weekends where it will make it near impossible to do the full weeks workouts. So far what I have been doing where weekends are busy is cramming my 6 days of workouts into 5 days to make sure I get them in. Is this the best approach or am I risking injury doing this and am I better off just making sure I get the key workouts in and skipping a couple of easier ones on busy weeks?
Also when I am on holiday for a week, I will not have access to a bike. Do you think just getting some extra runs in and a couple of swims is fine? My plan is to do a long bike the day before I go and then a long bike the day I get back, so essentially still get those key workouts but I will just miss a couple of other bike rides that week.
Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. In general my calendar frees up a lot more the 8 weeks leading up to the ironman so that is no issue but it is just the next month I am a bit lost as to how to approach it.

Hi everyone! I’m here to share my graduation story. 🩷 Baby is 2 weeks today! Sorry that this is long but my birth didn’t go according to plan, I lost faith in my provider, baby needed help breathing and yet we are all happy and healthy! I wanted to share because despite the negatives, overall everything turned out great.
I was scheduled for an induction at 8pm (see post history) at 40+4. That morning, I decided I just wasn’t ready to be induced so I listened to my gut and rescheduled for 41+2. That same evening of 40+4, I began having my first contractions at 9pm. Those were about 20-40 min apart and weren’t too serious — just bad period cramping.
We went to sleep and around 3:30am I woke up from contractions. I didn’t go back to sleep and started timing them. They started around 8min apart and by the time it was 8am, they fluctuated from 5-7 min apart. I called my OB to ask if I should go into the hospital because they weren’t consistently at 5 min apart yet. They told me to go in.
We decided to shower, eat breakfast, tidy up a little bit and then at around 9am I felt like we should head to the hospital. We arrived, I was 3cm dilated and 90% effaced with contractions 3min apart and bloody show so they admitted me.
Around 12pm, my OB arrived and did a cervical exam (in the middle of a contraction - not fun!). She felt my water sac and asked me if I wanted her to break it. I was in so much pain from her messing around with my very thin membranes and having a contraction that it took me a few seconds to get out “I want you to stop”. By the time I finished saying that, she had broken my water. At this point (and other things that had happened previously), I lost all confidence in her as my OB.
Once my water was broken, my contractions became so intense that I was uncontrollably shaking and honestly felt like I was having an out of body experience so I asked for the epidural.
After an hour, a student doctor placed my epidural and I got zero pain relief. Then the anesthesiologist came to figure out what happened. He tested the placement by giving my lidocaine which had no effect so he knew the placement was bad. He adjust the placement, gave me the dose of the epidural and then I finally got pain relief. Unfortunately with all the pain drugs, my legs became 100% dead weight which I was worried would mean I would have no sensation when it came time to push.
With the epidural came a never ending flow of poop 🤓💩. Just constantly pooping myself. At the time I was embarrassed and let me tell you — now that it’s all over I literally DO NOT CARE that I pooped myself for hours!!! Lol
My contractions slowed down to about 5 min apart after the epidural so I was put on pitocin (didn’t want to be but also wanted to avoid a C-section). By 8pm, I was fully dilated and ready to push.
I pushed for about an hour and baby was born at 8:47pm. I had a first degree tear and I credit that to my OB for giving my perineal massages nonstop between contractions.
My baby did pass meconium while I was in labor so we didn’t get our golden hour. They needed to take her to the nursery and stabilize her breathing, which took about 3 hours. During this time, I was only concerned about my baby and eventually got to see her after about 3 hours. Once we got some skin to skin contact, she immediately improved.
The best part of all of this — I have the most beautiful baby (who looks just like me!) and my husband proved once again that he’s the best partner I could ever ask for. He made sure I was taken care of, reminded me to stick up for myself during labor, and is the best daddy to our baby.
My advice to you all: - be sure to give your birth plan to your nurse/OB. I took mine and never gave it to anyone but I think it would have helped me advocate better for myself. - make sure your partnesupport person knows your plan. - make a code word so that if you change your mind about something you can use the code word so they know you’re serious and that it’s not just the pain meds talking. - MOST IMPORTANTLY — listen to your body. Appreciate the advice of your providers but do not take it as written in stone. There are pros and cons to every decision. Make the best decision for you and your baby.
🩷🩷🩷

Hi, I (23F) having been together with my partner (22 genderfluid, she/him) for almost 3 years now, married for soon as we got married in June of 2020. We’ve known each other for 7 years back when I was 16 and she was 15. We met online and have been best friends pretty quickly after we met — I’ve had on and off crushes on him throughout our friendship but was scared to ruin the friendship and I’ve seen him go through numerous relationships through the course of our friendship. I was totally fine with it because I didn’t want to ruin what we had, but then fast forward to close to my 20th birthday I began crushing hard of her again, and this time it felt like she had felt the same way. We were both too scared to tell each other but I had tickets to fly out and see her, and we ended up confessing our love for each other. It’s one of my favorite memories that I hold near and dear to my heart. My partner had been pretty messy in his past relationships — cheating on people, only being with people for maybe a week or two and breaking up and I knew that going in, but he promised me that he would never do that for me. This isn’t a cheating story. I fully believed her and she hasn’t to this day. The faith and trust I have in her is amazing, I’ve seen her be dishonest with others but as her best friend and wife I haven’t had to deal with dishonesty. But she always told me that since she was with me she never needed to be with another person.
Some background with my wife — when she was in middle school, she was in relationships with multiple people (and well, the relationships were about as serious as middle school relationships could be). Some of the people knew about each other, some didn’t. My partner used to look back on this memory in a completly different manner than she does now. Before it was negative, but now she is telling me she misses being in relationships with multiple people — that she still loves me, but she needs time to think how important it is for her to be in relationships with others. And it honestly hurts me because I know I can make her happy and support her but I want to be strictly monogamous. She also tells me she keeps switching back and forth between wanting it and not, and to me if poly is a label he wants to use to describe himself that is fine, but our relationship needs to remain fully monogamous. This has definitely opened up some problems for us and we are going to try marriage counseling as soon as we can, financially right now we can’t but I’ve been reading about ways to support her and help her through this and to top it all off she is going through some mental problems as well and I keep telling her she might not be in the right headspace to make a big decision regarding our relationship. My partner still tells me he loves me, but I used to feel a lot more confident on our future together and I really dont want to lose the love of my life and my best friend. I’ve beeen doing so many little things to remind her how much I love her and things to remind her how much she loves me as well. I’m looking for advice on ways I can continue to support her, or maybe anyone whose ever been in similar situations especially from a perspective similar to my partner’s.
TLDR; My partner and I have been in a fully monogamous relationship for almost 3 years and she recently feels like she might be polyamorous and she is the absolute love of my life: How can I support her without ending things or opening the relationship?

Foundations of Humanity 27 (New Horizons) - an NoP fanfic
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Thank you u/SpacePaladin15 for establishing the Nature of Predators Universe, and for allowing Fanfics to flourish!Thank you again, u/Braquen, u/Acceptable_Egg5560, u/BiasMushroom721, and last but not least u/Liberty-Prime76 for proofreading! Also, thank you u/Frostborne for your blessing on my Gojid City name! This is my side of the Nature of a Giant crossover)!
Also Star Tours is a Disney copyright which I use in good faith and humor under fair use please don’t hurt me capitalist mouse daddy.
First -- Previous -- Next
Memory transcription subject: Valek, Venlil tourist
Date [standardized human time]: Sept 11th, 2136. Middle of 3rd Claw
I watched Maeve find an open station and investigate the helmet while I asked, “Do Humans have Visor arcades?”
“Oh, absolutely! There’s an entire League for VR!” Maeve awkwardly slipped into the seat and found the controls; after a moment the seat started to adjust itself to size, the sudden movement causing Maeve to jump.
Alvi spoke up beside me, “Maeve has a book that talks about it. It talked about headsets and digital worlds like what we have, over a hundred years ago!”
“A hundred years ago?” I couldn’t help but be skeptical. “Are you really saying that our tech is a hundred years behind yours with VR?”
“Eh, not exactly,” Maeve tilted her head as she thought, “with things like visors, there was an upper limit to how to design them. Most of the innovations were on how realistic the visors could make the media. We got video down pretty quickly, and surround-sound was pretty much figured out by then. We experimented with scent and that did not go well. Really most of the progress has been in processing, and you guys still have us beat on that!”
She picked up the viewing device. There were three kinds of stations with different sized helmets for each. The first she investigated were Dossur to Zurulian sized, but it only took a moment to find a Sivkit to Gojid size. “Looks like these could fit me. Can you two wait long enough to see if this works with humans?”
I flicked my ears in amusement and posed myself overdramatically. “I’m sure that I, your poor starving mate, can continue starving while you enjoy yourself.” I giggled while Alvi slapped me with her tail. “Go on, have fun! I’m also curious to see if the program would work with your eyes.”
With a look around to ensure no one was watching, Maeve switched her veil for the helmet, after only a few moments of effort. The collar thickness was adjustable to help the foam complete a clean seal against the jaw. I touched my pre-paid band to the tap pad, and the machine shifted colors to show it was occupied. The helmet was designed for snouted species, and so hung somewhat past Maeve’s chin, allowing us to see light reflected off her skin.
A screen beside her lit up with the mask, and we could see what she saw while she played. Alvi and I walked her through the tutorial and calibrator, and Maeve chose Jewels of the Federation at my suggestion; a simple walking simulator showcasing highlights of Federation homeworlds.
The simulator starts us in the same arcade, in the same booth! A well-groomed Venlil stands beside her and reminds Maeve of her private tour. Maeve ‘walks’ while still seated and lifts her virtual self from the digital booth, following the guide to a launch pad that didn’t previously exist. Alvi and I stopped in shock for a moment when a noticeably younger Captain Sovlin walked down the gangway of our destination shuttle; though judging by Maeve’s lack of reaction, she seemed not to recognize him; Alvi met my eye and pointedly flicked her ears. The simulated Gojid pilot wags their ears genially as they throw their arms wide in welcome.
“Good waking, citizen of the Federation! Star Tours has invited me to escort you on an introduction to the astounding marvels of our great peoples! Every species has made wondrous contributions to the enlightenment of the Federation, but the strayu is in the oven, so we’ll only get the time to visit your own Venlil Prime, The Cradle, and Nishtal today. Follow me and we can begin!”
Maeve followed Sovlin into the cockpit of the stylized shuttle and took the copilot seat; Maeve’s head was on a swivel and she took in everything around her. “Wow, this is so cool! Your whole helmet is a screen! Our VR is only in front of our eyes, tricking our brains into seeing three dimensionally.” Her voice echoed around the helmet, muffling her words before they could reach us..
The shuttle lifted gently and Maeve’s chair tilted back with it. Coming up, we could see that this arcade was in the Capitol, and they did a flying pass to show its glass spires and bustling spaceport. Sovlin spoke up beside Maeve, “The Venlil Homeworld is in a strategic position within the Federation, and you make your people proud by fulfilling your duty to the Herd; in spite of your weakness and timidity!!”
The shuttle started to pitch to the open center of the city, and a large park came into view. “But, as I-” Sovlin’s voice caught in his throat, before he cleared it and spoke with firm authority, “As we all know: Duty sometimes comes with Sacrifice. And we honor and remember that… sacrifice with the beautiful Cattle Memorial!”
The vines of Morning Light catch the sun, and I feel my ears fall as I remember my own family’s sacrifices. Alvi caught my distress, and curled her tail around me as the simulation continued, “Here we remember the lives lost from the ruthless barbarity of the Greys. We hope that this Shining Beacon may guide their bodies and souls back to the Herd.” The shuttle kept flying straight toward the ground, but the shuttle surroundings started to disappear as Sovlin and Maeve joined the mourners and wellwishers. The breeze played gently with unopened letters and fresh bouquets. Sovlin spoke softly, in respect for visitors, “It is open all claws, and many leave their remembrances. Make sure to show your support, next time you’re in the Capitol.”
After several moments of contemplative silence, the shuttle pulled up into the upper atmosphere, and Maeve’s seat began to shudder. I spoke up a little louder so she could hear me through the helmet, “Set your head back. The next part might make you a little queasy.”
Maeve did as bidden just before Sovlin hit the warp jump, and the screen was awash with a rainbow of colors streaking to the outer border.
We fall out of Warp just above The Cradle, its capital continent in view surrounded by great oceans, while other landmasses curve around the planet and out of sight. The camera quickly descends through the atmosphere and we pull into the great city of Vala’s Embrace, with its shining spires and sprawling seaports. We fly down through the airspace busy with cargo freighters and I see Maeve involuntary flinch after a close miss. “The Gojid are a proud and fierce people, but also industrious! Our Cradle and Colonies are a major food source for the rest of the Federation, in addition to the significant extractions performed by our colonies and outposts.”
The camera flies into the center of the city where stands a grand Cathedral to the Protector, Her robed form guiding believers to the grand entryway. “But my People are renowned for our stalwart loyalty to our faith and to the Federation. Our great houses of worship are monuments of our devotion to protecting the Herd from the Predator Menace!”
After a pass around the building highlighting its traditional stonework and heraldry, the camera joins the throng of worshippers, coming in low like a child beside their parent, and we see the full glory of The Church.
Our view pans up from the crowd to a ceiling decorated with murals of inlaid wood and metals. Vibrant colors, textures, and shining light tell the story of Vala driving out the Predators and forming the first Herd. Stained glass windows cover the congregation in pools of color almost as varied as the congregants themselves. A silver Gojid passes from behind us, towering tall with the kind eyes of one who knows their faith, and is safe in its love. They lay a paw on Maeve’s shoulder and guide her to a bench only a few rows from the front, with a seat on the aisle. The Priest stands before their podium and begins a sermon of service to the Herd, and one’s role within it.
The priest’s voice fades into the background as we fly backward out of an open window like a bird; words of Predators at our doorstep fading on the wind. We rise to re-exit the atmosphere, Maeve’s chair buzzing as the hyperdrive spins up.
We warp into a field of defensive space stations, glittering proudly in the Nishtalian Sun. Below, we see a planet with a great many islands, webbed with weaving waterways and small seas. Maeve pressed herself further into the seat as we entered their thicker atmosphere, the seat vibrations causing the helmet to rattle against it.
“And here we have the vibrant marshes of Nishtal!” We broke through the clouds to see massive arbors climbing back into them. We approached the Nishtal Capital sprawled across dozens of kilometers of archipelago, held above the water by meta-material supports.
“Nishtal is well known for its punishing environments, which helped to mold the Krakotl into Pan-Galactic Heroes! From Captain Kalsim, to Merchant Captain Malins, to Chief Exterminator Estela. Each renowned for holding the line against the predator taint, through fire or rail! And this is where their mettle was tested!”
The shuttle flies around a flat paved area, surrounded by landing pads as warships lift and land. In the center was a platoon of Krakotl performing training exercises. The shuttle again falls away as we start walking behind a Commander, Sovlin walking beside him as he speaks over his shoulder, “The Krakotl have been an instrumental force in maintaining our peaceful way of life. If you think you have what it takes, be sure to register for the JEOTC so you can help make the galaxy a better place!”
Sovlin met the eye of the Krakotl commander beside him, “Thank you for your service, Sir.”
We split off from the commander, and our walking transitioned back to our shuttle before firing off back into the sky.Through the vibrating chair, Maeve stuttered out, “M-M-Man Y-You-u-u Guys-z-z-z’re R-R-Real-l-ly into this-s-s W-W-War, huh??”
Suddenly the chair threw Maeve forward, almost unseating her as she suddenly fell out of warp, “We have Grey contacts! Time to turn tail and get out of here! I’ll stay on the guns and when I say Go, you push that throttle as hard as you can! OK…!” A Metallic handle started to glow in front of her, and Maeve reached out with her controller to grab it. It took her a moment, but Sovlin never gave the signal… Until she grabbed on. “GO!” Maeve rocked her body forward and slammed the throttle to its limiter, the seat beneath her rumbling with renewed vigor.
After only a moment, a Kolshian Capital Ship dropped from subspace in front of us and fired a volley of Everything in the direction behind us. Our ship slowed and Sovlin cheered from the pilot’s chair, “HaHa! The Vanguard has arrived! Thank you for your help gentlemen!”
A portrait feed popped up on and above the control panel, showing General Kalsim’s distinct banding on his beak. “This is General Kalsim, Commander of the Federation Vessel Inatala’s Will. Star tours, have you suffered any damage?” The portrait squawked as the General’s feathers puffed with pride.
“Negative General, thank you for the save!”
“Understood, let’s get you home, Star Tours.”
“We would be very grateful, General! Protector guides you.”
The chair beneath Maeve vibrates and tilts back as the hyper-drive charges up again, the screen flashing to show the sprawling oceans of Aafa, glittering brilliantly in the shining sun, dotted by its giant floating cities and lush tropical islands. A flock of broad chirping seabirds adorned with vibrant colors gliding on the calm ocean breeze flanking the shuttle. The capital of Aafa grew on the viewscreen, the sprawling Governance Center of the Federation dominating the city, swooping lines and a singular towering dome marked the chambers of the Federation senate.
“Isn’t that a beautiful view? This is what we fight for, this is the Cradle of the Federation, the very heart of our enlightened civilization. This is what we protect.”
The camera pans low, the shuttle falling away, sweeping along the streets of the capital.
The dome grew ever larger in the background until the camera began to soar over busy diplomats entering the senate floor, the camera like a very lost Flowerbird. Chief Nikonus was delivering an impassioned speech to the gathered representatives, declaring the grand aims and lofty goals of the Federation to spread peace and safety to all Prey peoples. The camera panned around the room, showing representatives listening to the speech with focused ears and attentive eyes, pausing on the Venlil Representative, swaying their tail in pride and determination. As the camera finished its rotation it exited through the rooms wide glass panes, rising up and over the city as the shuttle reformed once again, breaching through the atmosphere and up into the stars.
Maeve’s seat rumbled as the hyperdrive spooled again, the screen clearing to show the Capital of Venlil Prime once more, soaring down to the arcade the adventure had started in. Captain Sovlin’s voice echoed from the speakers.
“Thank you for joining me today on Star Tours! Be sure to visit your nearest Federation recruitment center today and do your part!”
With fading fanfare, the seat returned to a neutral position and Maeve took off her helmet to meet our eyes. “That… was definitely a thing. It had a lot of… uh… ho boy.”
“Yeah, uh.” I shifted my weight awkwardly, “Watching that as an adult is… Stars, I remember wanting so badly to sign up. But my mom stopped me.”
“I’ll have to thank her when we get home.” Alvi sighed with exaggerated relief.
“You and me, both.” Maeve said through a relieved chuckle, “You guys want a turn? I’d like to do something more chill; cleanse the palate.”
Alvi and I politely declined, before I offered, “Actually I wanted to show you something. I don’t know how you guys have fun, but Shipper is really good.”
I guided Maeve to the catalog and pointed out the correct one. As the game started up and Maeve got the ship moving, she snorted and muttered to herself, “Of course you have Trucking Simulator In Space. Why am I even surprised.”
---
Maeve was making great progress, and had made two deliveries before the low fuel warning began trilling at her.
“Nah, see, you gotta watch your fuel too! The more you haul the more fuel you use, and you still gotta make it to your drop-off.”
“Wow, you guys do not mess around with these work simulators. We actually had a whole era of these a wh- Hey!”The screen locked up, telling us our 30 minutes were up.
“W-What does it say?”
“It says it's time to stop and get some food!”
“Ahh, man I was just getting the hang of it.”
“And I would like to get a hang of some Mel Root wedges. Come on!” Alvi chimed with a playful whine.Maeve rolled out of the station, and after a moment for her legs to remember what walking was, donned her veil and we continued to the food court. Pushing the doors open we saw a veritable swarm of Venlil of all ages, though many of the younger were already sitting while their parents fetched their meal. A child near the door caught sight of us and squeaked in surprise, alerting their parents to our presence.
Conversation died like a wave across the open expanse. Maeve stood stock still, and so did we, trying very very hard to avoid a panic and stampede.
I spoke in barely a whisper, “Maeve?”
She returned my quietness, “Yes, Valek?”
“I don’t want to do this to you, but I think it is best if we find a seat first… Then Alvi or I can get the food.” My tail began to sway in slow caution while my ears kept on a swivel.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think you’re right. Can you see any open tables?”Alvi flicked her tail at the balcony, “I see stairs there, and the balcony looks pretty clear.”
Maeve started to nod reflexively before catching herself, then back to keeping her head low and unfocused.
Alvi and I guided her gently around the outer perimeter of the court, slowly working our way to the stairwell while all eyes and ears were locked on us the whole journey. We stepped up the stairs and conversation slowly built up again, though not to the same exuberancy as before. We found our seat just outside the stairwell on the 2nd floor. We tried to avoid scaring what few families remained on the balcony, but despite our efforts, those few almost immediately grabbed their belongings and moved. It was almost comical how little they tried to hide it. Yet also surprising in that there hadn’t been any screams or stampeding. It left a strange feeling in the air. One that felt somehow both better and worse than if they had screamed.
This tension was not lost on Maeve, as she muttered to herself, “Plague bearer, or horrific monster. Decisions, decisions.”
I took her hand in my paw in a feeble attempt to offer what comfort I could. Alvi was the first to speak, “Well, Valek you got the Gravity room and Visor game, so I’ll handle food. Anything the two of you desperately want?”
We gave her our orders and she stepped down the stairs, leaving Maeve and I alone on the balcony.
I hoped to loosen the tangle of this horrid tension. “Sooo…. Biblical?”
As I had hoped, the sudden change snapped Maeve out of her stormcloud and laughter bubbled from her like the Sun! “UUh… That’s uh. Complicated. There’s a good thousand years of linguistic context that makes that word mean what it meant the way I used it. The Bible is a book of faith for a significant portion of people on earth. Not all, and not even a majority; hell, even that is fragmented because no one can agree on what it really means. This Bible teaches a great many things, some good some bad, but one of its teachings is how to… legitimize relationships. Get married, basically.”
Maeve leaned closer to me on the off chance the balcony was less empty than we believed, “And one of the more serious ways to officiate these pairings was with sex; or ‘mating’. As this faith quickly became one of the more influential faiths on our planet, most of humanity learned and still has complicated feelings about sex and intimacy. So, we talk around it. ‘Sleeping together’ ‘Do the nasty’ ‘The beast with two backs’ and more to the point: ‘To know someone biblically’.”
“So when you said…”“I was saying I had sex with one of you, yes.”
I focused my ears in feigned shock, while my tail swished with mischief, “I was that one, right?”
Maeve lightly shoved my shoulder while she straightened to her normal posture, but I stayed low. “Hey,” I whispered, nodding my head for Maeve to come closer, and she did so. I reached my paws up to her white veil, and brought it up and over her face, revealing her brightly blooming face which my lips eagerly met. Pulling away, I asked, “Perhaps once we get back to the hotel, we could… know each other biblically?”
She pulled my face back to hers, returning my affections with equal vigor, “Only if we can get Alvi out of the room. I want you all to myself.”
Alvi. Right. She’s… she’s here. Staying with us. And we would be… kicking her out. The one she admitted feeling for would be kicking her out to mate with someone else. But she understands! Right?
“Oh, looks like Alvi got us some food!”
My ears snapped behind me as Maeve looked over my shoulder.
---
Memory transcription subject: Alvi, Venlil tourist
Date [standardized human time]: Sept 11th, 2136. Middle of 3rd Claw
I stepped lightly up the stairs while balancing the trays within my arms. There were so many options! Cresting the top of the stairs, Valek stood to assist. While I covered the menu.“Ok we got all of our favorite fruit, I know how much you love starberries, Maeve.” Who smiled broadly under her now-open veil. “I was able to get us some Sunbreeze, but most of the food stands had long waits and I was hungry, so I just got a plate of fried veg and called it good. This one is the fried Deeproot, and powdered lakeseed dough balls, and some mel root wedges. The arcade’s mel root is a little heavy on the firefruit.”
“Thank you, Alvi!” Maeve picked up one of the larger wedges and broke it in half with me. We lifted our pieces in celebration and bit down at the same time. Immediately my mouth was alight with bright heat and my lips stung blissfully, but after only a moment the sweet and full flavor of the mel root complimented perfectly with the cleansing fire.
Maeve beside me scrunched her face and gasped, “Whoo!” She hooted, “That is spicy! Mm! That potato is really good though. What do you call this?”
I wagged my tail, happy to see that she appreciated the- wait. “Potato? That’s Mel Root. What’s a Potato?”
Maeve licked her fingers before taking another wedge, “It’s a root tuber; a staple food from earth. Mel root, or, well, cooked mel root, has a really similar consistency to potato! Makes sense since they’re both roots.” She took a bite of her wedge and immediately made that same face, “Ooo that was a mistake, I should have finished talking.” a few quick breaths through her mouth before she continued, “Your mel root is denser, closer to a carrot, but still really starchy. The fry really brings out a lot of sweetness; I’ll admit, it goes really well with the firefruit. Good choice Alvi!”
The praise set my tail to wagging as I bit into my food. So spicy! So good! I am so glad we came to this food court!
Speaking of, “I haven’t seen Tarlim or his human. I hope they haven’t changed their minds on meeting here.” I spoke through a masticated root.
“Wouldn’t blame them if they did,” Valek grumbled, tail curling between his legs, “I was just like everyone who’s been running from us…” He trailed off sinking into his chair.
“You could have handled it better, but so could he.” I sighed, remembering that chair. “From what I’ve heard of those places though, I can’t say I blame him.”
Maeve set down a piece of deeproot and looked at Valek. “What are those places? You guys got really scared when he said he got out of one.”
Valek was the first to speak, “They are places where we put people who are a danger to themselves or the Herd; people with Predator Disease.”
My fur flared at the mention of my almost-diagnosis. Maeve noticed and flattened the fur along my spine, “You’re not a predator Alvi. There is nothing wrong with you.”
She says while you continue stuffing your face like a hun--SHUT UP!! I AM NOT!! I AM LOVED!! I AM IN A HERD! THAT KNOWS AND STAYS! SHUT UP!
Maeve watched Valek while she continued to comfort me “And… how does one get predator disease?”
Valek continued his lesson, while I tried desperately to slow my spinning mind.
“Well… the federation tells us it can be spread by ‘predator taint’, or spending too much time around or with predators. I’m… I’m not sure I believe that. But we know it can be inherent. Sometimes symptoms begin as early as an infant. As well, it can appear randomly or be carried within family lines.”“And how does one get diagnosed?”
I thought about when my teacher first called the Exterminators. I remembered the Exterminators coming to my foster family. They talked them down, but it wasn’t long after that that they ‘couldn't take care of me’.
My voice left my mouth unbidden, “Well those born with it… they tend to get diagnosed early, but sometimes Predator Disease can come out later in life. If someone is reported for Predator Behavior, they have a chance to argue their case to the exterminator on duty. If the exterminator confirms the case, they are taken in to be diagnosed. And if it’s a yes, they are taken to a Correctional Facility to be taught how to be in a herd.”
Valek tapped his claws against the table as his tail shook with desperate hope. “See? There’s several checks on the way to a diagnosis. The system is designed to avoid false positives. If Tarlim was diagnosed, I am sure it was with good cause.”
Maeve shook her head, “I’m not so sure. By my count, there were only two people in that chain, three if you count the person reporting it, and at best only one of them was a medical professional, unless I’m misunderstanding the concept of exterminators. Setting that aside, I think I’m missing something. What is Predator Disease?”
“It’s when someone is a Predator in the body of a Prey. We can see them when they don’t work within a herd, or they don't understand our tail signals. These people are a danger to the herd, both passively and, if left unchecked, directly, so we try to teach them how to be Prey.” Valek looked desperately at Maeve after spouting the information, almost as if by rote. Like he was quoting an exterminator textbook.
“Wait, wait… so it’s a behavioral disease? They can’t grasp body language, or other people’s feelings?” Maeve was appearing more confused, more… afraid. Was predator disease so terrible among humans? Then why would she want me around?
Because she doesn’t know, stupid! But she's about to! They never stick around once they find out!
Valek was adamant. Maeve needed to know this, I know she did. “It’s not just that, they can’t even get themselves to be part of a herd! They always sit or move with nobody around them!” but once she did…
“Well then. What would that make me?”
My eyes froze in their sockets and my legs refused to flee.
The Night called us.
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Since these stats are very easily visible, I figured people would be interested in seeing how we stacked up and how various players on the team performed in their main roles.

LaVine:

​

Play Type	Frequency	Points Per Possession	FT Frequency	Turnover Frequency	Score Frequency	Percentile
PnR Ball Handler	35.5%	0.93	10.4%	11.2%	42.2%	65.8
Transition	19.8%	1.24	19.3%	10.3%	58.3%	72.7
Spot Up	16.9%	1.22	9.8%	9.1%	49.8%	88.5
Isolation	12.5%	1.09	14%	9.5%	48.9%	83.1

This covers about 85% of the plays where LaVine is on the floor. He's significantly better off-ball than on it when looking at points per possession and the team struggles with him triggering the offense. The points per possession is lower than DeRozan's in the same spot and the turnover frequency is higher. Funnily enough this is still the 66th percentile basically so it shows how ineffective the standard PnR is in the modern NBA if you're basically anyone but Denver or Philly with an elite roll man.
Zach is at his best in transition or as a spot up shooter, which I think a lot of people would've guessed. As an isolation player, he generated below league average (1.14 points per possession) on average.
Some stats that were surprising to me were that LaVine only cuts on 1.6% of plays. In those limited numbers, he scored 1.66 points per possession. Another point of interest was that with Zach as the Roll Man in a PnR, the team scored 1.33 PPP showing that the DeRozan-LaVine screens we saw in 2021-2022 were still very effective and should've been utilized more than 0.7% of the time.
What I will also say is these are stats from the year in it's entirety so take what you will with a grain of salt...especially the ones that are borderline.

DeRozan:

​

Play Type	Frequency	Points Per Possession	FT Frequency	Turnover Frequency	Score Frequency	Percentile
PnR Ballhandler	41.9%	1.06	14%	10.4%	51.9%	89.2
Isolation	15.8%	1.15	26.9%	6.1%	56.1%	88.2
Spot Up	14.6%	0.94	8.6%	6.1%	39.8%	33.5
Post Up	8.3%	1.33	28.8%	5%	64%	97.6
Transition	8.1%	1.19	19.3%	11.1%	58.5%	62.8

These play types make up DeRozan's role in 88.7% of the plays he's on the floor. Again, the frequency of PnR's gets shown here with 41.9% of the plays where DeRozan is on the floor, he is triggering a PnR. Considering him and LaVine share significant minutes, their combined frequency is impressive to say the least.
Our offense runs significantly better with DeRozan as a PnR ballhandler than LaVine. The ball is scored more and turnovers are less frequent. Isolation plays also perform better with DeRozan.
He performs well (but slightly worse than Zach) in transition, but the team struggles in plays where he's a spot up shooter. I would wager a good percentage of these plays have Zach as the PnR ball handler and would assume the decrease in production is down to a combination of Zach being worse at initiating the offense as well as DeRozan not being a strong off-ball threat.
Demar cuts on 1.4% of plays and scores 1.52 PPP. Both him and Zach are above the 90th percentile in these plays. The high scoring rate probably comes down to the system not being conducive to cuts, so they're both only cutting when they're extremely confident they have their defender beat.
Demar's post game is fantastic and the stats reflect that. The only other outliers I saw that were interesting compared to LaVine/Vucevic is just how much higher his Free throw rate is than the other players on the team.

Vucevic:

​

Play Type	Frequency	Points Per Possession	FT Frequency	Turnover Frequency	Score Frequency	Percentile
PnR Roll Man	28.5%	1.09	4.9%	6.7%	50.3%	43.8
Post Up	20.8%	1.05	10%	9.6%	53%	68.3
Spot Up	17.8%	1.05	3.3%	5.4%	39.4%	58.5
Cut	9.1%	1.39	8.1%	8.1%	68.3%	69.3
Transition	7.8%	1.12	2.8%	3.8%	45.3%	50.5
Put Back	7%	1.19	9%	7.4%	60%	61.9

These stats cover Vucevic's role in 91% of the plays that occur when he's on the floor. Percentile wise, his best areas are post-ups and cutting, but it really shows how ineffective a post-centric center is in the modern NBA in my opinion.
In Vucevic post ups, the team outputs 1.05 points per possession, which is significantly below the average 1.14 and Vucevic is in the 68th percentile in these plays. To me, it just seems like he's a solid post player, but these plays are not inherently very effective.
He cuts more frequently than DemaZach, but is marginally less effective, but I would argue that such a significant increase in frequency more than makes up for the decreased PPP. The whole team should be cutting more.
As a PnR roll man, Vucevic performs worse than Drummond (1.13 PPP) from a season stats perspective, but things like lineup matter a lot here so I'm not going to make any damning judgements. Depending on rotations, the ball handler could be different and that changes things significantly.

Just Some Other Play Types I Saw That Were Interesting:

27.8% of the possessions where Drummond is on the floor are put backs. That's insane volume and shows how great of a rebounder he is. They result in 0.97 PPP (28th percentile) so it also shows that he's really good at getting the ball and going back up, but not very good percentage-wise at getting it into the hoop afterwards. Those plays where it takes him 2-3 attempts to put it back definitely hurt this stat so it's probably a little better than it appears.
17.7% of plays Coby is on the floor he's initiating a PnR and they result in 0.89 PPP (53rd percentile). 43.1% of the plays Coby is on the floor, he functions as a spot up shooter and these plays result in 1.18 PPP (83rd percentile). The team functions better with Coby on the floor as an off-ball threat who is ready to pull the trigger.
15% of plays where Ayo is on the floor have him initiating a PnR. They result in 0.83 PPP (40th percentile). In the previous year they resulted in 0.93 PPP (74th percentile).
​
​
Well that's it, take what you want from them. Stats were obtained from here if you would like to see anything for yourself.

Company Name	Title	City
Wilo EMU USA LLC	Application Engineering Manager	Collierville
Encore Rehabilitation Services	Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant	Antioch
Hickory Hollow Acquisitions Inc	Greenway Kia Hickory Hollow - Sales Manager	Antioch
Always Best Care Senior Services - Memphis, TN	HHA needed / Arlington, TN	Arlington
Suncoast Drivers	Class B CDL Box Truck Driver	Arlington
Lehman-Roberts Company	Front End Loader- Plant Division	Arlington
Hillcrest Healthcare	Free Nurse Aide Training	Ashland City
Jackson Hewitt 2357	Customer Service	Ashland City
Amedisys	LPN Hospice Nurse	Athens
Kidzcare Pediatrics	Front Desk Receptionist	Athens
Bracken Paving	General Laborer	Blountville
Twice Daily	Full Time - Retail Cashier (Any Shift)	Bon Aqua
CareNow	Senior Financial Analyst	Brentwood
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.	Branch Manager (Network Expansion) - Greater Nashville - Nashville, TN	Brentwood
American Family Dentistry	Dental Hygienist	Brentwood
Goodwill Industries of Tenneva, inc.	Sales Associate/ Cashier	Bristol
Friendship Automotive	Volvo Sales Specialists	Bristol
Deloitte	International Tax, Manager, Value Chain Alignment	Bristol
Deloitte	VP, Product Management	Bristol
Select Specialty Hospital - TriCities	Nursing Assistant (NA) - Full Time Night Shift	Bristol
Christian Medical & Dental Associations	Continuing Education Coordinator - 4 Day Work Week!	Bristol
Bluegreen Vacations Corporation	Vacation Sales Representative	Bristol
Palmetto Moon	Store Manager - Bristol	Bristol
Mobile Therapy Centers of America	ABA Therapist	Chapmansboro
VieMed Healthcare Staffing	Clinical Respiratory Sales Representative	Chattanooga

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings , feel free to comment here if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

going to the zoo is a popular summer time activity. the weather tends to be really nice during the summer time so most families like to go to the zoo during this time. however, in my experience, it has always been best to wait for the cooler times.
for starters, since going to the zoo is such a popular summer time activity, that also means that it's super crowded. the last time me and my family went to the zoo during summer, it was damn near impossible to find parking. plus, summer is notoriously hot. being in the hot sun for three to four hours really isn't all that appealing, especially since i live in an area that gets really hot during the summer.
in my opinion, it is better to go during fall and winter. for the past three years, all of my zoo visits have been during fall and winter. not only is it not as crowded but the weather isn't as unbearable as it would be had i gone in the summer.

Hello everyone,
I am trying to create the center line of polygons which represent roads to then calculate the average width. As I want to do this for all the streets of a city so I am looking for the best way to automatise this.
1.I tried the plug-in HCMGIS but I get this error:
An error has occurred while executing Python code:
TypeError: arguments did not match any overloaded call: QFileInfo(): too many arguments QFileInfo(str): argument 1 has unexpected type 'QgsVectorLayer' QFileInfo(QFile): argument 1 has unexpected type 'QgsVectorLayer' QFileInfo(QDir, str): argument 1 has unexpected type 'QgsVectorLayer' QFileInfo(QFileInfo): argument 1 has unexpected type 'QgsVectorLayer'

1. I also tried the plug-in Geometric Attributes which runs well but creates very weird small lines not at all in the middle. Although I tried it on other polygons which represent the city district and there it works well, so I suppose it's the very narrow and long geometry of my street polygons which is the problem. Even if I simplify the polygons to make sure the perimeter is not made of small line segments, this does not help.

Would anyone have tips to help me either create the center line of my streets or to calculate the average width in an other way using QGIS? Or is there no way to avoid using PostGIS?
Environment:
QGIS version: 3.28.3-Firenze
MacOS: Ventura 13.3.1
Thank you very much for your help, I have been trying to solve this for hours now...

Sorry for the delay, had things to do yesterday and didn't want to upload too late.
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March 21, 2019
When I got to the pool, I couldn't believe my eyes on what I was seeing, the thing I had only ever dreamed of before and maybe seen in one or two videos, it was a shirtless male, and it also was Jerryl, Jeerial, Jeriel? She honestly couldn't remember, but there he was sitting in the same spot he was before but now he was reading some kind of book, while being SHIRTLESS, 'The goddess must be looking out for me' I thought as my upper and lower brain started a really heated argument.
'He is obviously doing it on purpose, he wants you to make a move.'
'Or maybe he is just reading a book and is shirtless because is hot today and it's normal for males to be shirtless around here, and you are just a touch starved pervert.'
'Then why would he be seated at the same spot?'
"I don't know maybe he just LIKES that spot, do you ever think on something that is not sex?'
'Can't blame me this planet is full of sexy space babes.'
'Quit it you two' I said to myself trying to get control of the situation and organize my thoughts.
'He is an alien from the alien planet in which we are on, even though they are weirdly similar to us,'
'We are going to approach with all the normalcy in the world, because the last thing I want is to scare him off'
'We just need to walk to the door and start from there'
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"Hey there cutie." was what I heard coming from my left side, I turned to see one of the marines, but none of the ones I knew, she was bigger, and not just in height, you could say she was an unit, a purple unit.
"What you doing alone here at night?"
'She doesn't even know proper english, but knows the word cutie?' I asked myself as she approached.
I sat up as I didn't know where this was going, "Uhh well jus- just reading"
"Reading ay? With no shirt in the middle of the night all alone by the pool?" She asked while licking her lips in a not so attractive way, more in a disturbing way.
"Well, yeah." I said, now a little uncomfortable with how close she was.
"Reading is boring, I know something better that we can both do." She said as she stroke my hair, even though I tried to shrink to get away.
"I- I'm sorry, I d- di- didn't get your name" I said now being really uncomfortable
"Oh yeah, I guess such a beautiful sight made me forget, the name is Margna." Margna said as she leaned in even closer
"You know what I think m- my mom is calling, she must be worried of where I am." I said as I tried to get up but was unsuccessful when Margna's Shaquille O'Neal's size hand pushed me back into my seat.
"I don't think they would worry too much, I am here to protect you, and have a good time." Margna said while having her hand still in my chest, even though now she was more of roaming over it than pushing me down.
Then I heard screaming from the door, and it wasn't any human language, when I turned I saw Delara, and she was heavily walking this way, then an argument started, one I could obviously not understand.
"YOU GET AWAY FROM HIM NOW" Delara said in an angry but almost crying voice.
"Ugh, Piss off small tits, this one is mine and it's none of your business."
"LOOK AT HIM HE DOESN'T WANT YOU TO TOUCH HIM"
"Oh please a shirtless lonely guy in the middle of the night, he is asking for it, but you wouldn't know anything about it, now piss off before I demolish you, before he can demolish me."
Delara was ready to jump at Margna, when suddenly we all turned our heads to a new voice that screamed from the door.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE EMPRESS IS GOING ON HERE"
It was Sergeant Lyria and she looked pissed, not even that she looked beyond pissed, in that moment Margna removed her hand and stood up, both of them doing what I assumed was their way of saluting.
"Margna was molesting the human, ma'am." Delara said while pointing between Jeriel and Margna
"She's lying ma'am, she's just jealous that I was talking to the human." Margna responded while looking desperately between Delara and Sergean Lyria.
"You two come and stand here." ordered Stg Lyria as she made her way towards me.
"Hey uh- Jeriel am I right?" she asked after she kneeled to which I nodded.
"Where them two harassing you or causing any trouble?" she asked in what sounded like the tone of a caring mother talking to a scared child, which to be fair felt that way, because of the size difference.
"Uhm her, she was touching me." I said while pointing at Margna, which in return made her look at me but quickly returned to facing forward when Sergeant Lyria stared back, "Delara was even defending me."
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yes ma'am."
"alright thank you and I am really sorry that you had to go through this." Sergeant Lyria said as she stood and turned to face them, and spoke again on Shil.
"Private Margna follow me, and Private Delara, I summon you later, now let's go."
Then she left the are with Margna following her, and just left Delara standing there, that now that I could really take a look at her I noticed that she was wearing a two piece bathing suit, to be honest it looked more like gym wear, it looked quite like a sports bra and workout shorts rather than swimming wear, but dear lord that uniform, or armor that she always wore, didn't do her body justice, my annoyance grew legs and walked out of my mind when my eyes took over, now, other than her magnificent assets, seeing her without her armor really showed how attractive purple skin was
"Heyyy Delara." was what I said as the gears in my brain started turning.
“Delara?”
She was just standing there, she didn't seem to be staring at anything specifically, if anything it reminded me of the people in Inside out when they are thinking.
"Do youuuu want to sit?" I asked her, unsure of how to act.
"Oh ah- thank you." she said as she sat down kind of trying to avoid me or at least trying to avoid my gaze.
'Alright the crazy bitch is gone, what do we do now?'
'Whe ask him about something, but what?'
'The night? No too basic, the weather? no what is this high school? Maybe his book, yeah ask him about his book.'
"Ahem, what is that you reading?"
“Oh this? It’s called ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth'."
"What is it about?"
"About a journey, to the center of the earth..." I responded unsure of how to answer that.
"Oh yeah that makes sense" Delara didn't really understand what that meant but she understood Center and earth, so maybe it was a geology book, maybe he was the nerdy type.
"But what about you? What brings you here?" I asked trying to keep the conversation going.
"Oh me? I got off my patrol job and wanted to go for swimming, Shil'Vati really like water, we swim really good"
"Didn't know that, interesting." I said while still looking at her still trying to avoid me.
"Is there something wrong? You seem trying not to look at me." I asked if there was something wrong maybe I could fix it.
"Well uhhh, Shil men are never without shirt, so it's weird seeing you without shirt on."
"oh, OH" I said as I scrambled to put on a my shirt, 'was I flashing her?' I thought as I turned as red as my face allowed, which passed more as pink than red.
"You can look now" I said as I finished putting my shirt on.
"Uhh thank you, I guess?" Delara answered as she turned showing her deeply blue face.
'So they flush blue huh?' I said to myself
"Soooo do you want to jump in the pool?" I asked her because that was the main reason I came out here in the first place.
"The pool?" she said as she looked around, her eyes eventually landing on the pool, "Oh yeah the poooool yeah yeah, sure."
"Alright then" I said as I got up and jumped right in.
After resurfacing I turned to face her, but there was no one it was completely quiet except for some crickets somewhere, that until she landed on a cannonball next to me, which could have killed me right there and there with a heart attack.
Then after clearing the water off my face I tried to look for her but she was no where to be seen then looked down to see if she was still submerged, but what I wasn't expecting was for her to poke me from behind, to which I jumped, jumped more than I would like to admit.
"How did you get there?" I asked after catching my breath.
"I told you we swim really good." Delara said while chuckling.
"Could you swim to the other end of the pool and back?" I asked her, I wanted to see this properly.
"Uhm sure." She said before submerging and torpedoing to the other end and on the way back, it was impressive for also not having fins or anything that could help her swim.
Delara emerged from the water and turned to me while fixing her hair "How did I do?"
"Really well I guess, at least compared to humans, are you considered good for other Shil'Vati?" Water sports would be crazy if there were people better than her, which I assumed there were, or maybe she used to be a professional swimmer.
"Oh no I just swim for fun, there are people way faster than me, but there is this species the Helkam they are REALLY good swimmers, they are like what you call fizh."
'Wait are mermaids real?' was the only thing that crossed my mind.
We swam for a while then we spotted Sergeant Lyria approaching our way.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your swimming but I need to take Private Delara with me." She said with that same motherly tone, but now was like telling their kid that they had to leave and go home, to which we got out of the pool and dried ourselves, said our goodbyes, but before leaving Sergeant Lyria approached me.
"Is everything okay?" she asked.
"Uhh yeah, everything's alright." I answered a little confused on why she was asking me this.
"I am deeply sorry again for Private Margna's behavior, I took care of her."
"Oh uhm thanks?" I responded not sure if it was the right answer.
"Alright, on a different matter, the lockdown is coming to an end and we still need to discuss your family's situation, so I need you and your mother to come see me tomorrow at 10 after breakfast, we need to discuss relocation and other pending matters." She said with a more official tone.
"Sure I'll tell her."
"Very good, Good night Jeriel." She said as she turned to start walking to the door taking Delara with her.
"Oh uh- Good night Sergeant." I said as I waved at Delara goodbye, gesture which she returned.
'Relocation...'
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I got out of the elevator and walked towards Mom's room, then I knocked, to which surprisingly she answered instead of Miranda.
"What's the matter son?" She asked in Spanish.
"Uh I wanted to check on you and tell you that Sergeant Lyria wants to talk to the both of us tomorrow morning after breakfast." I told her.
"Did something bad happened?" She asked, her tone jumping from half asleep to fully worried.
"Uhm no nothing happened, but she wants to talk to us about where are we gonna go after this, she talked about some kind of relocation."
"Oh alright, is that everything?" She said her tone shifting to a different kind of worried.
"Uh yeah that is everything."
"Bendición ma." I told her as I went in for a hug.
"Dios te bendiga hijo, buenas noches."
"Amén, buenas noches." I answered as she closed the door and I headed for my room.
When I got inside the first thing I did was take a shower to get the chlorine out of my body, followed by me laying on bed with the television on watching Pair of Kings which is one if not the best sitcom Disney ever came up with, well watching is a bit of an overstatement, I was more concentrated on the ceiling above me and what Sergeant Lyria had said, where were we going to go and what were we going to do? I really had avoided thinking about that let alone discussing it, but tomorrow it would all have an answer.
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What would happen on the next chapter of Semper Imperialis? Tune in next time to find out.
Again sorry for the delay, but the important thing is that we are here, on another note thanks to everyone for the support so far, I really enjoy reading the comments.
As always if there is anything to correct or any suggestion you can go right ahead and leave it in the comments.
Thanks again.

Work Alongside the Founders of JoGo for Two days at the Outdoor Adventure X Trade Show!
June 17-18, 2023
JoGo’s an up-and-coming startup that’s disrupting the coffee and tea industry. Its first product, The Brew Straw, is a stainless steel straw with a patent-pending French press-style filter at its base that lets you brew and enjoy your coffee or tea anywhere and anytime. It’s portable, convenient, and zero waste.
The Brew Straw launched, on Kickstarter in Spring, 2021, where its preorder sales totaled nearly $400,000 in only 30 days – making it the third most backed Kickstarter of all time in the coffee/tea category. It has since been featured in Backpacker Magazine, Food & Wine, Forbes, Roast Magazine, Kitchn, and many more major publications. It was also the number 1 new release in single-serve brewers on Amazon, and was nominated for best new tea innovation by World Tea News.
The company was founded by two outdoor educators with the mission to share simple, enduring, and sustainable products that empower people to become their best selves.

A bird has built a nest in an underhang on our house. It isn't awesome having it there, but I like birds, and I'm willing to tolerate a bit of an eyesore to get more of them near me.
Right above the birds nest is a wasp nest. I am perfectly happy to kill wasps, but I can't hit them with pesticide without also hitting the nest. So that will have to wait, too.
So, what time of year is the best time to clear out the bird's nest (and then the wasp nest) so that any baby birds have time to grow up before I destroy their nursery?

I have deep overbite and 100% overjet. After taking 4 opinions, i settled with a Diamond plus Ortho near me. They made me super comfortable and explained it very well. Also offered Clincheck and reviewing treatment options at NO upfront cost. Bit the bullet 3 weeks ago and paid in full. Invisalign came in on par with Braces treatment other Orthos were suggesting.
Got my 12 attachments + 2 silver tabs for elastics and my 66 trays today. Also did my first Dental Monitoring scan. I change every trays every week. I will try my best to have them on 22 hours a day. IPR is needed at some point in the future. Not sure when.
I just started my physical transformation journey as well... 6 meals + 2 Protein shakes in the day. So that has to be revisited. But the assistant said, since I am changing trays a week, not to sweat it too much and do my best and try to fit in my 6 meals a day... she is a body builder so she understands why i'm doing it.
Overall, very excited. Hopefully I will be diligent and keep my end of the deal and wont need too much of refinements. Goal is to get best result possible.... even if its not perfect.

Work Alongside the Founders of JoGo for Two days at the Outdoor Adventure X Trade Show!
June 17-18, 2023
JoGo’s an up-and-coming startup that’s disrupting the coffee and tea industry. Its first product, The Brew Straw, is a stainless steel straw with a patent-pending French press-style filter at its base that lets you brew and enjoy your coffee or tea anywhere and anytime. It’s portable, convenient, and zero waste.
The Brew Straw launched, on Kickstarter in Spring, 2021, where its preorder sales totaled nearly $400,000 in only 30 days – making it the third most backed Kickstarter of all time in the coffee/tea category. It has since been featured in Backpacker Magazine, Food & Wine, Forbes, Roast Magazine, Kitchn, and many more major publications. It was also the number 1 new release in single-serve brewers on Amazon, and was nominated for best new tea innovation by World Tea News.
The company was founded by two outdoor educators with the mission to share simple, enduring, and sustainable products that empower people to become their best selves.

Lots of backstory to this: hopefully, I can keep it sorted out.
My addiction is porn and sexting other people drove my Betrayed Wife to leave me a few months ago, move back in with her parents out of our apartment, and file for divorce, which is currently about settled (as far as I've heard).
About 2 years ago, we got a little Jack Russell mix puppy we named Melody. I've never been a very big dog person (used to be scared of them when I was little), but it was important to my wife for comfort purposes (she grew up with household dogs), so I went along with it. Melody is technically an emotional support animal: I say "technically" because she is definitely a bit of a brat and can be aggravating at the best of times, and her status as a emotional support animal has helped us to not have to pay the pet fee at our apartment. Nonetheless, I know that BW cares very much for Melody, and I know I do too.
When it became evident that we were splitting up, the topic of what to do with Melody came up. BW said, Melody can't stay with her full-time: she both doesn't get along with her parents' dog, and is generally too much of a handful for her parents to deal with when BW is at work. Knowing that I'm not necessarily a fan of dogs in general, BW has said she was looking into finding someone who could take in Melody, with the understanding that she (BW) would still be able to visit her this is important). However, I said that I would be fine with looking after her: at the time, I was feeling very anguished, and had been missing my wife terribly, and I think the thought of our little dog having to live with someone else just seemed like too much. But I don't regret making that offer, and (to the best of my recollection) BW was fine with that.
That was the last time I saw BW in person: she had been moving some of her furniture out of our apartment, though she did come back to our apartment several times after that to finish getting her things, finally leaving her apartment key after the final time. I'd been trying to keep in occasional contact with her, but eventually just stopped getting responses to any of my messages.
So, now to the near-present: I'm going on a trip out of state over Memorial Day weekend, and I reach out to BW asking if she wants to look after Melody while I'm gone, since I can't take her with me. My intentions were mainly just to offer a chance to see her dog, since she had given me the impression that she had still wanted that: if she didn't want to or wasn't able to, I had a sitter who could manage it. Well, as usual, I got no response. At this point, I decided that I needed to leave her alone: if she needed to talk to me or wanted to see Melody, she would be able to contact me. So I arranged for the sitter, and went on my trip.
While I was there, I was talking with my brother, whose wife is still friends with BW and keeps in contact. The impression I got, from what he said, was that BW felt I was trying to use Melody to get to her, or to stay in her life, or something like that. Now, I don't think that's what I've been doing, but I also don't trust my subconscious very much: maybe there was an aspect of that. But I also know that BW loves Melody, and had said before that she'd want to see her, and I'm fine with her doing that, even if it doesn't involve seeing me. However, now I'm starting to think that it might be a better arrangement if Melody stays with someone else, so BW can visit her and just put me out of her mind.
I really torn. I love BW, and I love our dog. I want them both to be happy, even if it would mean I can't see them again. But I already feel like my attempts to contact her have been a nuisance at best and triggering at worst, so I don't know if it's a good idea to message her again to ask directly. I don't know if I'm looking for advice or not: I just don't know what to do. Thanks for taking the time to listen.
TLDR: my wife and I split up. She can't take the dog, but still wants to visit her. I'm currently keeping the dog, but I worry that my wife feels she can't see the dog if she's with me, and so I wonder if maybe I should have let someone else watch her.

Just wanted to bring a discussion up about this now that society has gotten to play around with LLM technology.
While I think EVENTUALLY this kind of tech will lead to truly amazing advancements in human civilization, I think the ‘new car smell’ is misrepresenting todays capabilities, and even the near-term ones as we look out over the next few years.
At current glance, LLMs appear to be super-human in their capabilities. And in some ways, they are. They have more knowledge than any one single individual on the planet and they can access it, in some ways, more quickly. However, their ability to REASON is extremely poor and elementary at this stage. And when you start really diving deep into it, you truly understand it’s limitations. We’re at the baby stages. GPT4 is the most advanced and I would still describe it as toddler status. Bard can’t solve elementary arithmetic to an accurate degree because it’s simply not DESIGNED to be a reasoning engine. It’s designed to predict your next word to its best ability. GPT4 with Wolfram can do some amazing things mathematically, but it still falters, it can still be inaccurate, and more importantly it’s not integrated into the knowledge-base of GPT. Once you realize it’s just being fed JSON and working back and forth with an API, you realize how truly limited all of this currently is.
Humans are amazing creatures. We have an uncanny ability to reason. We have an enormous “context” window. And LLMs are only one part of solving the AGI problem. There is a lot more work to be done before AGI can effectively replace lots of jobs. Many companies will soon realize their dreams of saving billions of dollars by replacing employees with AI will only lead to more problems and the eventual rehiring of people to fix the messes they started.

Cardano is perhaps one of the more controversial cryptocurrencies in the space. Many people absolutely adore it and believe it’s the future. Many completely despise it. In this post I will go over the advantages and disadvantages of Cardano
If you prefer to read on substack, here is the link

Advantages

Parallel processing from the UTXO model

There are 2 ways to store users’ balances. The simpler and more intuitive model is the account model. This model is like how you have an account with a balance at a bank account. It’s very simple and easy to understand.
The other model is the UTXO model which is what Cardano uses. This model is more like a list of coins with the current owner of the coins. When users want to spend a coin, they will destroy the coin(s) they own and create new coin(s) with new owner(s). The new coin(s) need to have the same value as the destroyed coin(s).
This model is more complicated to understand at first, but when it comes to parallel processing, the UTXO model is much simpler. If you have 2 transactions trying to spend different coins, you can easily have different cores of a processor process each transaction. It’s only in cases where two transactions are trying to spend the same coin that you need to have agreement between the nodes on the order they came in.
With the account model it is more complicated to parallelize transactions but newer chains like Algorand and Solana have done it which makes the UTXO model less of an advantage compared to before.

UXTO’s and state bloat

The UTXO model also seems like the easier model to prevent state bloat. Cardano has set it up so that the more data you want to store in the UTXO set, the more ADA is required in the UTXO. This sets a limit on the maximum state size so prevents the state from growing too large. State bloat is a big issue with EVM based chains so this is a big advantage.

Native assets

Compared to the typical ERC20 style smart contract for managing secondary tokens in the network, native assets are a nicer solution.
Native assets have a much better UX as they are treated as first class citizens of the chain and don’t need things like setting approvals which is an annoyance with ERC20 tokens.
They are also much cheaper to use than ERC20 tokens as they are just a field in the UTXO instead of a smart contract that you need to interact with.

Easy to verify (Good decentralisation)

It’s very easy to verify the Cardano blockchain. Block sizes are small and occur roughly every 20 seconds. To verify the correct staker posted the block, you just have to verify a simple verifiable random function. This means you can run a Cardano node on lightweight and accessible hardware which allows for high decentralisation.
Currently the node specs might actually be too low. One of Cardano’s main selling points is using the UTXO model so it can do parallel transactions however nodes only require a 2 core CPU. Parallel processing is not much of an advantage with only 2 cores so I’d expect node specs to increase a bit in the future.

Low to zero inflation rate

Cardano’s current inflation rate is only 3% and is expected to slowly drop to 0% by around the year 2050. This inflation rate is already pretty low so gives Cardano good tokenomics for potentially being a store of value.

Fairly good distribution

It’s not as well distributed as Bitcoin or Ethereum but compared to the vast majority of cryptocurrencies, Cardano tokens are well distributed. Distribution tends to get better over time and generally more distribution happens when the price goes up. ADA is now a fairly old token and has gone through multiple hype cycles so should be fairly well distributed.
The initial distribution of tokens is not bad either. Again, not as good as Bitcoin or Ethereum who mainly distributed via mining but compared to most cryptocurrencies, not too many tokens went to the founders and VC’s. Most tokens were distributed via a public ICO which is the second best way after mining.

Large development fund

If you are not the first mover who already has the majority of developers, having the funds to develop the protocol and ecosystem is important.
Network effects are incredibly important for blockchains. Dapps and users attract more dapps and users to a chain. However it’s incredibly difficult to attract developers and users away from the status quo in the first place so being able to tempt them with money to bootstrap the ecosystem is a valid strategy. Cardano has a sustainable source of funds to do this through its treasury which gets built up through fees.

Designed for robustness

Cardano uses a consensus method called Ouroboros which is based on the longest chain style of consensus methods. Longest chain methods tend to be more robust than BFT based methods as they don’t need to receive a vote from every single participant to stay live and instead just use probabilistic finality based on how the recent participants have voted with their blocks. BFT style methods will shut down if more than 34% of the participants are offline but longest chain methods will keep going even if 99% are offline, albeit at a much slower speed.

Disadvantages

Slow

When you use the longest chain model for consensus, you get improved liveness but generally sacrifice speed. However, even taking that into account, Cardano is slow to reach a solid level of finality.
Consensus methods are voting models. With longest chain models, every time there is a fork, each validator votes on the chain they want to win by adding a block to the chain they prefer. Whichever chain ends up longest will have had the most votes so will be the winner.
The problem for Cardano is that only 1 validator votes every ~20 seconds and each vote doesn’t have much voting weight behind it. Ethereum also uses the longest chain model but each block added has many validators attesting to it so has much more voting weight behind it.
With Cardano, every epoch, a random set of validators, based on their stake, are selected to produce blocks/votes. These chosen validators will have 100% of the voting power within this epoch. For Cardano, an epoch 21,600 blocks. This means there are 21,600 votes over the epoch, each one represents 1/21600 or 0.0046% of the voting power for the epoch.
Ethereum has 100% of validators split into 32 equal committees every epoch and each committee is responsible for producing a block/vote. For Ethereum, an epoch is 32 blocks. This means each block represents 1/32 or 3.1% of the voting power.
It would take almost 4 hours for Cardano to have the same amount of voting weight on a block as Ethereum does after one 12 second block making it 1200x slower.
This method of comparison probably isn’t the best but it’s very hard to find a good way to model the voting weight for each Cardano block.

Low Throughput

Cardano is currently not scalable at all and is in fact one of the lowest throughput chains in the space being only able to handle around 7tps of basic transactions and more like 1-4tps when smart contract transactions are mixed in. Bitcoin which is known for low throughput does 7tps.
Increasing the node specs and future updates like Input Endorsers should increase the throughput significantly so it should get better over time. However, it’s unlikely to compete with high throughput chains like Algorand or Solana unless it makes the same sacrifices to decentralisation as them.

Lack of actual finality

Longest chain models do come with the major advantage of being robust but this comes at the cost of only having probabilistic finality.
More modern PoS longest chain models such as the ones used in Ethereum, Polkadot and Near, tend to use an Ebb and Flow model where they use the longest chain model to produce blocks but also have a BFT finality gadget running on top of it to provide finality. These models get the benefits of the longest chain model whilst also being able to provide finality.
Cardano does not have this and should think about adding a finality gadget on top of Ouroboros. There’s little to no downside of the Ebb and Flow model compared to a pure longest chain model.

No priority mechanism

Cardano has static fees. If there are more transactions than the network can handle then people don’t pay higher fees but instead join a queue and just have to wait. The mempool for Cardano is not that big so the queue gets full quickly. This means people have to keep posting their transaction over and over until there is room in the mempool again. There is no in-built method to guarantee your transaction reaches the blockchain during times of congestion.
If this scenario were to play out for a significant length of time, you will end up with users contacting stake pools directly and giving them a fee to guarantee their transactions will be included in blocks. If there is demand for block space, people will be willing to pay extra to get it, even if it’s outside of the protocol.
Fee markets are inescapable if there is not enough supply to match demand so whilst Cardano may not have an on-chain fee market, an off-chain fee market would develop if people actually used the chain. If a fee market is inevitable, it’s better to have it on chain where it’s transparent and fair.

Concurrency issue

Every block, each UTXO can only be spent by 1 person as when they are spent, they get destroyed. For simple transactions this is fine. If you own the UTXO then being the only person who can spend it is not an issue.
However smart contract UTXO’s are UTXO’s that can be spent by anyone. If more than one person within a block wants to interact with a DEX to buy a token, they can’t. The first person will spend the UTXO destroying it so the second person can no longer interact with it. This means you can’t have multiple people concurrently interacting with a smart contract per block.
To get around this limitation, apps have had to force users to interact with them off chain using centralised services. Here they are more prone to censorship or things like sandwich attacks.
The concurrency problem is not something that is unavoidable with the UTXO model. FuelLabs have created a smart contract language using UTXO’s that don’t suffer from the same issue but they sacrificed being completely deterministic to do it. Cardano could go in the same direction to get rid of this issue. The current situation where users are forced off chain already sacrifices determinism for users so FuelLabs’ UTXO model seems like the better option.

Hydra as the main scaling method

If you are unfamiliar with Hydra, I have a video explaining how it works here: https://youtu.be/Mx79j_-HRmk
Hydra can give potentially unlimited scaling between a small group of users as long as they are all online, have powerful enough computers to do it and are in complete agreement with each other. However the use cases for this are limited.
It’s very difficult to keep a large group of people in complete agreement over something for long periods of time and you are always prone to trolls who just like to disagree for no reason. This limits the number of people per Hydra head to around 10 people which limits its use cases.
Many dapps have community owned assets like liquidity pools which users interact with for things like trading or taking loans from. You can’t move these pools to hydra heads so the heads are limited to whatever assets the group of users bring with them. This means that the majority of defi is not possible on Hydra.
State channels like the lightning network (BTC) and Raiden (ETH) have largely been a failure but it looks like Cardano is still pursuing them heavily with Hydra. It’s hard to see why Cardano has so much confidence in a technology that doesn’t have a good track record.
Hydra is meant to be made up of two parts, Hydra heads and Hydra tails. Very little information has been revealed on Hydra tails so maybe they have something up their sleeve that will solve the problems with Hydra heads but we will have to wait and see.

Sidechains for scaling

Sidechains also seem like a big part of Cardano’s scaling roadmap. Sidechains don’t share security with Cardano and each sidechain needs to find its own security. This is incredibly difficult. Not only do side chains need a token with a large market cap, they need it to be well distributed as well if they want a good level of security. This is not an easy problem so the number of secure side chains will be limited.
Again, this is another technology that the rest of the crypto ecosystem has tried and deemed not good enough but Cardano seems to be spending a lot of resources pursuing them.

No slashing

If you are a staker then no slashing will be an advantage for UX but staking is meant to be about security first and foremost. and slashing brings added security to the protocol. Proof of stake protocols that don’t implement slashing are more open to bribe attacks or collusion between validators. In Cardano, if a validator adds a block to 2 conflicting forks there is no punishment.
If consensus methods are voting models and validators are being paid to choose a side, shouldn't there be a punishment if they vote for both sides?

Delegated stake being more prone to bribery attacks

If I am running a staking pool I may have staked with just 1 ADA out of my own tokens and have 64,000,000 ADA delegated to my validator node. In this scenario, I will have little alignment with keeping Cardano secure and yet I will have quite a bit of power within the ecosystem.
If an attacker came along with a large bribe for helping with an attack, it would be rational behaviour for me to accept the bribe. I don’t have a lot of tokens locked up that can be slashed and I don’t care if my 1 ADA loses some value.
No slashing combined with the majority of stake being delegated and not owned by the validators makes Cardano more prone to bribe attacks than other proof of stake protocols that do have slashing and don’t have delegation.

Untested by actual users

Cardano may spend a significant amount of time researching the best ways to do things but this has meant it doesn’t really have real world experience on what is needed. When I look at Ethereum or Solana’s roadmaps I see things addressing MEV and fee markets due to the unpredicted ways in which users used their chains.
For Cardano there’s nothing on MEV. Barely anyone is using Cardano so they don’t have a problem with it but if they ever start to get an active DeFi economy they will realise it’s inevitable and something that will need to be researched. We’ll then have to wait years for a solution to be researched and built.
When I look at Ethereum L2’s, I can see they already tried building state channel solutions and plasma chains which failed. Them failing with these experiments completely changed their roadmap and was one of the best things that happened because these failures eventually developed into rollups.
Cardano decided it wanted to use state channels with Hydra years ago and is only trying it now. The ideas it is developing haven’t actually been tested in the real world.

Conclusion

Despite listing a lot of disadvantages here, I actually like Cardano. The tokens are fairly well distributed, they prioritise keeping node specs modest and they value robustness. Their core values are great.
They also actually try different things. They aren’t trying to recreate Ethereum with slight improvements. They have their own methods for trying to achieve the same goals.
Unfortunately, different is not always better and they have been very slow to implement their ideas. To me when I look at Cardano I see a chain that is trying to become the ideal cryptocurrency from the ideas available in 2015. The rest of the space has largely moved on from experimenting with side chains and state channels but Cardano has not.
So whilst the core values may be good, they are too slow at implementing them. The rest of the space is racing ahead. By the time Cardano will have completed its roadmap and realised it’s not good enough, other projects will already be far ahead.
Looking at it as an investment, Cardano has largely lived on hype. Reality will never match the hype so when it launched smart contracts that didn’t solve all the world’s problems, it was seen as a disappointment.
I struggle to see Cardano being able to generate as much hype as it did in previous bull cycles. It can no longer live on the promise of smart contracts and Hydra solving everything as these both now exist on main net and neither have lived up to the hype. For this reason, I see it struggling to reach the same heights in the next bull cycle unless it gains significant adoption.
If you enjoyed this post, check out my previous posts for other cryptocurrencies. I’m planning to create posts like this for all the major layer 1 cryptocurrencies so subscribe to my substack if you don’t want to miss them.

First of all, English is not my first language so excuse my grammar and Im sorry this is a long post. Thank you.
I (27 F) married my husband (28 M). We have 2 sons together, 4 yrs old and a 4 months old. Our relationship is the best I've had. When we have disagreements we settle immediately before going to sleep. We dont fight often. We are each other's support and strength. He loves us more than anything in the world. At first we live at his parents house, but not for long cause FIL is so nosy and loves to create drama (dont want to give details). This caused me a lot mentally. I was depressed. I was so traumatized that i don't want to hear even his footsteps (i memorized the sound of him walking around near our room just to snoop).So we decided to move out. My brother (32 M) married and had 3 kids (1F and 2M) offered us their spare room. It's been years since we lived here peacefully. Niece's room is beside ours, across is her parents'. Our room is at the end of the hallway. The other day at 5 am, i went down stairs to cook breakfast. It's weekdays so niece (13 F) is preparing for school too. After taking a bath, she went up her room to change (she's in her towel) to her school uniform. My bro is insomniac and its one of those days that he doesn't even have a minute of sleep. When insomnia attacks he tends to go down stairs every now and then. This time, he left their door ajar. My husband and my eldest kid is going down stairs as he is going to work. Something happened on their way. Later that day, SIL messaged me if i have time to talk to her after classes (she's still studying) I was nervous, maybe she wanted us out. After classes, SIL, Bro, and I are in the living room. After a while SIL broke the silence 'I dunno how to say it but i hope u understand what im trying to say' This is our FIRST serious conversation. We get along so great we never had disagreements. Not even once. 'Your bro saw what ur husband did' SIL added. I honestly felt relieved that its not about them being done with us in their home and want to evict us. But i was worried what my husband did to warrant a session like this with bro and SIL. 'I saw your husband peeping at my daughter through the gaps of her bedroom door this morning' I was shocked and disbelief was clear on my face. I can't even react, I was still processing what he just said. He told me he saw my husband with my kid beside him peeping as my niece was changing and when husband turned his head he saw bro, their eyes locked and he hurried down stairs. Bro was too stunned to react as he can't believe what just happened. They just wanted to talk to me so that i know what husband did and warned me if this happen again they can't promise his safety. I understand their sentiment, I REALLY DO (can't divulge more info). That night when husband came home, SIL and bro acted as if nothing happened but u can feel their wariness towards him. I talked to husband after kids were asleep. I want to know my husband's side of the story. He told me he never saw niece in the room. He was just curious of what her room looked like as he never saw it before, not even once. I asked him what were they doing in front of her room. He said as they were going down our son was crying and he tried to console him but failed (everytime son wakes up, he would cry and he's inconsolable but stops after a couple minutes). It just so happened that as they were passing by the hallway son sat down to cry. He didn't notice they were next to niece's room at first. After the failed attempt to console our son, he was tempted to look at niece's room. That was it. I believed him. I've known him for years. He is the type of man who believes women empowerment and truly hates perverts. Deep down I really believe him but wants to stay open minded. I know my brother too. He doesn't lie. He became a parent to me once when our family was broken. Said it was his job cause he was the eldest and need to protect his little sis. I know what he saw was true and i also know husband isn't a pervert. He's respected in our neighborhood because he is not the type of person who acts on impulse. He is not perfect but he is a good person. I need advice from you who doesn't have emotional involvement with any of us. Am I just blinded by my live for him? Am i an enabler? I need your unbiased advice.
I really can't process anything as of now, im still struggling with post partum depression, I am still fighting for my sanity and this happens. Help me.

Work Alongside the Founders of JoGo for Two days at the Outdoor Adventure X Trade Show!
June 17-18, 2023
JoGo’s an up-and-coming startup that’s disrupting the coffee and tea industry. Its first product, The Brew Straw, is a stainless steel straw with a patent-pending French press-style filter at its base that lets you brew and enjoy your coffee or tea anywhere and anytime. It’s portable, convenient, and zero waste.
The Brew Straw launched, on Kickstarter in Spring, 2021, where its preorder sales totaled nearly $400,000 in only 30 days – making it the third most backed Kickstarter of all time in the coffee/tea category. It has since been featured in Backpacker Magazine, Food & Wine, Forbes, Roast Magazine, Kitchn, and many more major publications. It was also the number 1 new release in single-serve brewers on Amazon, and was nominated for best new tea innovation by World Tea News.
The company was founded by two outdoor educators with the mission to share simple, enduring, and sustainable products that empower people to become their best selves.