Long story short my setup is nvidia shield 2017 on 8.2.3, connected via hdmi on Sony Bravia a80k and via earc a Sonos beam gen 2. I have lip sync issues, I believe mostly with Atmos truehd, when I “stream” content on kodi. I have updated kodi to 20.1 but I had these issues also with version 20.0. Plex works flawlessly on the other hand. So my question is, is there a kodi version that I can use where audio works without problems?
P.s: I have followed all the best practices mentioned in the provided guides here and also I have disabled any processing/sync of the tv

Idea born from a previous post, Benioff Weiss should have been fired at the end of season 4 to have a decent story, but let's be satisfied with this madness of mine, with the material at the end of the seventh season you can't do miracles but certainly better than D and D.
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First Episode : The armies arrive at Winterfell , Jon and Dany talk about dragons , Dany tells Jon never to go near without her , only Targaryens can ride dragons , Cersei is really pregnant , even Dany seems to have symptoms of pregnancy , Jaime arrives Winterfell but he is not alone , he has gathered the most loyal Lannister soldiers and Bronn with some mercenaries and the surviving Frey troops ( about two thousand men in all ) . Beric , Sandor , Tormund and the Nightwatch discover that Lastheart has fallen .
Sam reveals the truth to Jon Snow as well as the fact that Dany killed Sam's family. Jon says he'll take care of Dany, Dany tells Jon she's pregnant, Jon asks Dany to marry him.
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Second Episode: Theon Greyjoy kills Euron Greyjoy in a duel in front of all the Ironborn, The Ironborn object that Theon cannot be the lord of the islands because he cannot have heirs but Theon reveals that he has found an heir, it turns out that the girl with whom Theon had made the voyage back to the islands, the daughter of the captain, had a son, in fact the fleet with which Theon arrived to challenge Euron was partly formed by ships of Essos including his father-in-law. Theon has an heir. The Iron fleet leaves for the north , they will arrive at Winterfell by sailing up the rivers .
Preparations at Winterfell, Arya and Gendry, touching reunion between Sansa and Sandor, Sansa says she is happy that Sandor has found peace, Sandor says she gave him peace.
Melisandre marries Dany and Jon , Jon reveals the truth soon after , no problem .
Jaime - Bran reunion , Jaime offers to protect Bran during the battle .
A war horn sounds , it 's not the Others , it 's the Golden company , it has arrived in the North and is attacking the Dothraki , the elephants massacre the Dothraki , Dany wants to intervene , but everyone is interrupted by the roar of a dragon , the King of the night arrived on the battlefield .
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Third Episode : Wights and White walkers attack both Dothraki and Golden Company , Jon rejects advice to let those men die outside Winterfell , Jon approaches Rhaegal and rides him , followed by Dany on Drogon , Jon defends Golden Company soldiers who return the honor not by running away but by fighting bravely, elephants against giant zombies.
Tyrion commands the defenses of Winterfell, his tricks cause many losses to the White Walkers army, but the battle goes badly, the Night King and Viseryon kill Rhaegal and Drogon, and breach the walls of Winterfell, Dany is saved from the sacrifice by Jorah Mormont. When all seems lost in the distance the Ironborn ships arrive on the river , Jon Snow orders to save the population , but all seems lost .
The Night King finds Bran , Jaime says he is the Kingslayer and engages in a duel with the Night King while Sam takes Bran away , the Night King kills Jaime .
When everyone is about to be surrounded and die Melisandre starts yelling prayers , the music ramps up ( imagine like the force music from Star Wars , with flashback images of the deaths of some characters who have had anything to do with Melisandre ) , Melisandre is lit by one in the light, it looks like the sun shining in the dark, shadows begin to come out of the light, Brienne is saved by the specter of Renly, Davos by Stannis, the army of shadows Baratheon engages in battle with the White walkers, running like this the humans retreat to the ironbron ships , Melisandre is finally killed by the Night King .
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Fourth Episode : The Ironborn have saved much of the population , which is now located between the Vale and Riverlands .
Brienne and Bronn ride to King's Landing, meet Cersei, reveal Jaime's heroic death, and ask for her help.
Bran asks to be taken to God's Eye in secret, Dany is desperate at losing dragons, friends and army, Jon consoles her.
The Others arrive in the Vale.
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Fifth Episode : Battle in the Vale , Robyn Arryn trips triggering a funny snowball effect that sets off a scorpion dart that pecks Viseryon in the eye , killing him .
The party does not last long , the night king was not on the back of the dragon . Our heroes on the run again make their way to King's Landing.
Cersei has agreed to open the gates and fight one last fight. Varys and Tyrion have a heated discussion about Cersei.
During a brief council at King's Landing thanks to the deciding votes of Cersei and Sansa , Tyrion is in command of the defense .
It is revealed in a flashback that Tyrion has promised Jaime to save Cersei and the child, no matter the cost, Tyrion ends the episode by saying to himself: a Lannister always pays his debts.
Episode Six: Wights and White Walkers arrive at King's Landing, but much of the city seems empty, it's Tyrion's trap, Tyrion detonates the wildfyre killing most of the wights, armed forces of Valyrian steel and dragonglass attack the army of the White Walkers.
The battle is balanced . Both Dany and Cersei appear to go into labor, being taken to the Red Keep.
Gregorstein falls under the control of the Night King and kills many people before being stopped by Sandor , however Sansa will give the final blow to Gregor , Sandor dies in Sansa 's arms .
Dany gives birth to a dead child , gets up and goes to the throne room where she asks Jon to kill her , Jon stabs her , when he pulls the sword from Dany 's chest the sword emits its own light , Lighbringer is born , Jon fights against the Night King , the Night King seems to win when Bran finally connected to the God's Eye trees confuses the mind of the night king making him crazy Jon kills the night King .
Bran suddenly sees Beric Dondarrion, who had accompanied him to the God's Eye, fall to the ground, Bran smiles and reconnects to the trees, probably forever.
Jon Snow falls to the ground , dying .
Cersei is giving birth , Tyrion is next to her , Cersei says : Promise Tyrion , promise .
Arya finds Varys body in the room where Dany gave birth , Arya heads to Cersei 's room , Arya approaches a dying Cersei , a crossbow bolt hits Arya , " things we do for love " , Tyrion kills Arya and throws the body from the window .
Almost sixteen years later , the kingdom is run by Tyrion and Sansa , adoptive parents of the heir to the throne " Son of Jon and Dany " , soon Aegon Targaryen will be of age to reign , Tyrion and Sansa watch the young Aegon train with Brienne , Aegon is very good with a sword , Sansa says " he is as good as his father " , Tyrion can not help but smile and answer : " oh yes that 's right "
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Hope you enjoyed, hello folks

1. While Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" is probably one of the crooner's best-known songs, it was originally very different. Turns out, we have Robert De Niro to thank for it! Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb were tapped to write music for Martin Scorsese's 1977 film, New York, New York, which stars Liza Minnelli and De Niro. When the duo previewed the songs they had written, De Niro thought the title track, which was connected to his character, was too lighthearted. Although Kander and Ebb said they thought De Niro seemed "pompous" in telling them to rewrite the song, they took the criticism to heart and ended up penning their new version of the song in just 45 minutes.
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is my favorite movie of all time, so it's honestly criminal that I've never done a deep dive into some behind-the-scenes moments from the film! John Hughes, known for his teen movies, ended up writing the script in just a few days in order to get a draft finished before the Writers Guild of America went on strike. The script was reportedly so strong that it was barely edited before filming started. The movie is widely considered to be a love letter to Hughes's Chicago hometown and is filled with references to his own upbringing and shots of the city's skyline. In fact, Hughes even gave Ferris the same address as his childhood home, and his bedroom reportedly resembled Hughes's.
3. If I had to learn about this giraffe mating ritual, then it's only fair that you do too, okay? Unlike other animals, giraffes don't have a set mating season. Instead, they have an estrous cycle, which resembles a human menstrual cycle, except this cycle swaps blood for urine. When a male giraffe approaches a female giraffe, he begins to rub against her, which she takes as a signal to begin peeing. The male giraffe then tastes her pee to see if she's fertile, and thus, the mating ritual begins. A typical giraffe pregnancy lasts for 400–460 days. Male giraffes typically have no role in raising their offspring.
4. In 2007, Lisa Nowak became the first NASA astronaut to be arrested when she drove across the United States to confront a woman who was dating a fellow astronaut with whom Nowak had also had a relationship. About a decade after graduating from the US Naval Academy, Nowak was selected to be an astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she specialized in robotics. Nowak said she was deeply affected by the 2003 Columbia space shuttle explosion because her best friend, astronaut Laurel Clark, died. Nowak told NASA that her children convinced her to continue on with her space career despite her unease.
5. Despite what you might believe after watching The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum was not a good guy. He had a long history of animal cruelty and was known for mistreating enslaved people and people with disabilities. He even reportedly hated the people who paid money to come see his exhibits. Barnum was allegedly frustrated that people were taking their time during visits to his museum, so he decided to post signs reading "This Way to the Egress" all over the place. He (correctly) believed that most of the visitors wouldn't know that "egress" meant "exit," so when they followed the signs, they ended up unknowingly leaving the entire museum. As a result, many people paid to reenter, bringing home even more money for Barnum.
6. Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" is essentially History 101 in song form. The track name-drops 118 historical events from 1949 to 1989, including everything from pivotal moments in the civil rights movement to details from sports and pop culture history. Joel was inspired to write the song after having a conversation with Sean Lennon, who was then in his 20s, while in the recording studio. One of Lennon's friends allegedly said that it was a terrible time to be a young person. Joel, who was about to turn 40, reportedly said that his own younger years hadn't been that easy either.
7. Coney Island's skyline looked a lot different back in the 1800s. The Brooklyn boardwalk was once home to a 200-foot-tall elephant-shaped hotel! The hotel, known as the Elephantine Colossus, was built in 1885 and contained 31 rooms, a concert hall, and a museum. The elephant's head housed an observatory, and its eyes served as telescopes. The real kicker was that the hotel was built several years before the Statue of Liberty was completed, so the giant elephant was often the first thing immigrants saw when they reached New York. At some point, the hotel was seen as gimmicky and lost most of its clientele. Soon, sex workers began moving in. In 1896, Elephantine Colossus burned down and was never rebuilt.
8. During Ronald Reagan's 1966 California gubernatorial campaign, he began eating jelly beans in an attempt to curb his pipe-smoking habit. His jelly beans of choice were the Goelitz Mini Jelly Beans from the Herman Goelitz Candy Co. Once the company caught wind of Reagan's love for the treat, they began to send the politician a monthly shipment of candy and even gifted the governor with a custom jelly bean jar. After Reagan's two terms as governor ended, the company continued to send him jelly beans. In 1976, Goelitz debuted their latest creation: the Jelly Belly. Within two years, Reagan's entire jelly bean shipment shifted to include only Jelly Belly jelly beans.
9. There are two main groups of whales: baleen whales, which include species like the blue whale and the humpback whale; and toothed whales, consisting of orcas, belugas, and sperm whales. While you probably guessed that toothed whales are named as such because they have teeth, baleen whales have baleen plates in their mouths, which help them filter out krill and other food. Toothed whales also have a "melon" in their foreheads. The melon is a mass of tissue that helps with communication and is crucial for echolocation, which they use to find food and to navigate underwater.
10. In 1997, construction on Disneyland's California Adventure Park was halted after Princess Diana was killed in a limo accident in a Paris tunnel on Aug. 31. California Adventure was supposed to include a ride called Superstar Limo, which involved guests boarding a limo and embarking on a high-speed chase through some of Los Angeles's biggest landmarks in order to get to the Disney offices in time to sign a huge movie contract. Riders also had to evade the paparazzi. Once the ride ended, passengers were encouraged to buy mock tabloids featuring the pictures the "paparazzi" had taken of them. Following Diana's death, Disney knew they could no longer debut the ride. Soon, they began to brainstorm alternative ideas to replace the limo theme.
11. Donald Gorske, who is known as the ultimate Big Mac fan, has reportedly eaten at least one McDonald's Big Mac every day for the past 50 years. As of May 2022, Gorske believes he has consumed about 32,340 Big Macs. He told Guinness World Records that he typically eats two Big Macs a day, although he revealed that at one point, his daily diet included nine burgers! "May 17, 1972, was the day I got my first car," Gorske said. "I drove to McDonald’s, ordered my first three Big Macs, went in the car, and ate them. And I said right there that I’m gonna probably eat these the rest of my life, and I threw the cartons in the backseat and started counting them from day one." Despite his Big Mac diet, Gorske and his wife say that doctors have given him a clean bill of health.
12. Although you probably picture Queen Elizabeth II wearing one of her signature colorful skirt suits, her fashion history is actually quite fascinating! Elizabeth was photographed wearing pants only once during her entire reign. In 1970, she was reportedly interested in updating her look, and asked her tailor for a custom pantsuit to wear during her royal tour in Australia. It's safe to assume that Elizabeth wasn't too fond of the outfit, as she was never again seen wearing pants in public. In order to maintain professionalism and avoid any type of fashion mishap, her dress hems were always cut below the knee.
13. In 1986, Clint Eastwood ran for mayor of Carmel, California, in part because he wanted to overturn the town's strict law regarding ice cream sales. Eastwood announced his intention to run for office in 1985 after he reportedly found the City Council very difficult to work with when he wanted to turn property he owned into office space. He also cited a 1929 law in Carmel that banned the sale of ice cream cones as another reason for his campaign. In April 1986, he defeated incumbent Charlotte Townsend. His first order of business? He removed from office all of the people who supported the ice cream ban, thus allowing the sale of ice cream cones in Carmel for the first time in decades.
14. Chances are, you read George Orwell's Animal Farm in school. In the novel, a group of animals team up to rebel against the farmer who owns them, only to end up living in a communist dictatorship led by pigs. Although Orwell said that the book was the first time he had successfully been able to blend politics and art, he had a hard time finding a publisher. Several publishing houses turned down the book because they felt uneasy about its political stance. Secker & Warburg ultimately agreed to publish Animal Farm, and the book became a hit and was even used by the CIA as a propaganda tool during the Cold War.
15. In 1928, Huey Long was elected governor of Louisiana on a promise of helping people who had been neglected by the federal government. He soon had his sights set on Washington and won a Senate seat. But before leaving for DC in 1932, he had the lieutenant governor replaced by two successors who promised to follow Long's commands. In the Senate, he created the “Share Our Wealth” program, which many thought was part of his bid for the presidency. In 1935, Long was assassinated by a political rival. Despite his death, his impact in the state lived on. In 1940, a study showed that rural schoolchildren not only had no idea that Long had been killed but also believed he was president.
16. The Real Housewives franchise put Bravo on the map for its depiction of the wild and wacky antics of wealthy women around the country, but it originally looked like a much different show! Scott Dunlop, the original producer of the Real Housewives of Orange County, got the idea for the show in 1986 when he moved from Los Angeles to Coto de Caza, one of the world's largest gated communities, located in Orange County, California. Dunlop began to notice that many of his female neighbors spent their days shopping and playing golf while their husbands went to work.
17. The first meal eaten on the moon included bacon bits, peaches, sugar cookie cubes, and a pineapple-grapefruit beverage. Bacon reportedly had a long history when it came to space travel. It was a staple during the Gemini missions and became a favorite among many astronauts. Despite all of the bacon love, it's since disappeared from space menus. Now the closest thing to bacon is a sausage patty that has to be rehydrated with warm water before being eaten.
18. Oscar Gamble, a baseball player who spent over 20 years in the major leagues, was known not only for his on-field play but also for his Afro, which sparked quite the controversy. In 1973, Gamble arrived at the Cleveland Indians training camp sporting an Afro. Although many Black basketball players had Afros, the hairstyle wasn't too popular among baseball players. Baseball was often seen as more conservative, and during the 1970s, the Afro was associated with the Black Power movement. Gamble's hair quickly became controversial. "People took one look at that hair and thought I was a bad guy," Gamble said in 1979. "There were some sportswriters who wouldn’t talk to me. They thought I was some kind of militant, with my beard and my hair."
19. In December 1990, Iben Browning, who claimed that he was a climatologist, predicted that a major earthquake was going to hit the St. Louis area on Dec. 3. In New Madrid, a Missouri town located on a fault line, people began stockpiling supplies, while others left town completely. Browning reportedly used weather patterns to make his predictions, although his exact methods were never publicized. Although scientists didn't vocally deny Browning's claims, it was believed that they didn't support his prediction, since it's impossible to predict an earthquake. The earthquake never happened. In fact, the area has not faced an earthquake at the magnitude Browning predicted in the three decades since.
20. While kangaroos are known for their hopping abilities (they can jump about 25 feet in one go!), they are unable to go backward because their big feet and long tails prohibit any backward movement. This anatomical hindrance has since been used by their native Australia as a symbol. The kangaroo was reportedly included on the Australian coat of arms to represent the idea that Australia is a nation that is always moving forward.
21. And finally, Elouise Cobell, who was also known as Yellow Bird Woman, fought for Native Americans to have control over their land and finances. Cobell was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, where her family did not have running water or electricity. Her great-great-grandfather notably stood up to the US government in the 19th century. When Cobell was 4 years old, her father built a one-room schoolhouse that she attended until she was in high school. Cobell reportedly took notice of her family's complaints about the Bureau of Indian Affairs, an agency that many suspected mismanaged the profits from land and trusts owned by Native Americans.

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The Foundations of Humanity 9 (The Next Step) - 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 u/Inkanyamba for the inspiration for Professor Tarva, relevant post and comment linked with character name
First -- Previous -- Next
Memory transcription subject: Valek, Venlil-Human Partnership Program Participant
Date [standardized human time]: August 25th, 2136. Midday
"Ahem"
My eyes snapped open as I flung myself against the opposite wall. Somehow, that stars-cursed, silent human opened the door without either of us knowing. Paralyzed with fear, I could hear Maeve stutter through an explanation, "W-We, uh- I-It’s not-"
"Please come in." The man did not yell, but his voice rumbled through my snout and down the hall. With myself frozen in place, Maeve reached out to take my paw and guide me inside. "Have a seat, please." The man gestured to two seats in front of a wide desk.
The desk was a shared workspace; the human took his seat on the left, while a male Venlil remained seated on the right. "I'm Barry, and this is Borven," Borven flicked a welcome, "we are the liaisons for the exposure program. Do you know why we have called you here?"
Maeve spoke up while I was busy hyperventilating, "I can assume, sirs, but I would like to hear it from you, if you please," Maeve had assumed a… posture that I haven't seen from her before. She sat tall, while also making herself smaller; her eyes wide with unbreaking contact to the man at the desk. She must have been terrified.
Borven spoke up this time, "We noticed that you were one of the first pairs to leave the mess hall after news of the attack, before the incident involving ensign Baudelaire. We are wondering if you have any additional information you would like to share?"
Maeve and I sat in silence for a moment, both of us expecting a very different conversation. Finding my voice, I answered, "N-No sir. Maeve made the call to leave after the notice. I asked later, and she told me that such terrible news may cause a fight, so she brought us to safety."
"Is that right, Maeve?" Barry asked, letting his voice amplify his presence.
Maeve nodded nervously, then added, "We stopped in the hallway, and we saw a patrol going to the Mess, that's all we know."
"Do you have anyone to corroborate your account?" Barry enquired.
"No, sir. Valek and I tend to keep to ourselves, but I can give you the times we left and entered our room, and that would match with camera records." Maeve's posture relaxed. It seems this was a routine investigation of the commotion we heard as we left.
"I would appreciate that, Maeve," Barry spoke while Borven typed at their station, "you should be receiving a report template to your pad in a moment, please fill that out and submit it as soon as you can, including the times you mentioned. Besides that, you are excused; we apologize for taking your time."
"Thank you, sirs." Maeve got up to move, but I saw an opportunity,
"Maeve." I whispered, motioning for her to sit back down. Nervously, she followed, and I motioned for her to continue. "Valek and I would…" She looked to me for encouragement, so I tried a human smile, which she returned in kind, "We would like to continue the program."
The two men waited, Barry glancing between us, one eyebrow raised. Borven flicked his tail expectantly.
"Indefinitely." I added.
Barry tried to hide a smirk, but Borven was more surprised, "We could hardly keep you from continuing contact. What are you asking?"
Getting Maeve's attention, I held out my paw for hers, and she reciprocated. "I would like to host Maeve at my home on Venlil Prime, if she would join me."
Barry broke into a wide grin, behind which a mischievous cackle creaked through his teeth.
"Sun-scorched sonuva…" Borven mumbled and handed a pawful of colored steel rounds to Barry, which I later learned were poker chips.
"Don't worry Borven, you'll win one eventually." Barry jibed while adding the chips to a drawer, audibly clinking against his previous winnings. "Look, no one needs to talk about why you two want to move in together, it's none of our business. But there has been talk of a 3rd step: Integration." I perked up at that! So it is possible! "I'm going to give you the contact to the Lead Empathy Scientist on the station. They will have access to your test results and get the ball rolling." Barry finished, before handing a note to Maeve.
Borven interjected, "Valek? Are you sure you want to do this? Best case scenario, your request is approved, and now Maeve lives among strangers who fear her, on a world that exhausts her, unable to eat something her body demands. This is not an easy road! And that's totally ignoring the fact that we don't know what Maeve is capable of! You could be in real danger!"
That wasn't fair, they didn't know her! My ears back, I was about to tell them off, but Maeve squeezed my paw. She would speak for herself, "Strangers are friends yet to be made. As to the gravity, you're right there will be an adjustment period, but humans are exceptionally adaptable. As for food, I have greatly enjoyed Venlil cuisine while on the station, but if there are any nutrients I'm missing, humans have developed supplements for everything we need; technically a human could live on pills alone. I think this is worth trying, and I would be thrilled if I were the first, or the last; just as long as it happens."
My mane and scruff swelled with pride at her words; my ears swiveled to Borven, "I know exactly what Maeve is capable of. Yes, I'm sure."
Borven's body language was a combination of disappointment with a healthy dose of 'not my herd to lead' before he motioned that we were excused.
Once we were back in the corridor, we could finally breathe easy; catching each other's eye, we started giggling at the fear that brought us here, but I was glad to talk to someone about us staying together. Walking down the hall, I apologized for springing the idea of hosting on her, but Maeve was glad of my invitation, and was herself struggling to ask if I would welcome her. We both bloomed in our own way, thinking about life on the farm.
“While we are up here we should check on the lead scientist; the position is admin so it should be on this floor, too.” Maeve checked her pad and found the contact information.
Hello, my name is Maeve, Barry gave me your contact. I was wondering if we could talk about what he called the next step, Integration?
We decided to wander while we waited for a response, Maeve busying herself with the incident report. This section of the station was decidedly not of Venlil make. Hard lines and right angles made full use of every centimeter. Tough cloth ran the length of the corridor, only emphasizing the oppressive silence. Every few meters was another door, many but not all accompanied by placards. And the far distance curved to one side, hinting at the circular structure of the station. After several minutes, Maeve’s pad pinged a response.
Hello, Maeve! Barry told me about you two. We are looking for volunteers for a test program, so this is great news. I see you have already completed the Empathy test, with very good results. I would like to talk in more detail. Can you meet me in Suite 4182?
On our way.
At this point we had just passed 4082, so we were on the other half of the ring. Having finished her report, Maeve caught my eye, “I’ll race you there!” and she took off in a sprint. Finding my grip on the carpet, I bounded forward, quickly overtaking her, while we giggled at the game. I had passed 4118 before my legs started burning, and I heard pounding steps behind me. Maeve was quickly gaining on me, and I tried to push for more, but my well had run dry. My heart pounding and breath heavy, I slowed to a stop, and Maeve came to a slow trot beside me. A glowing smile from cheek to cheek.
"You look barely winded! How far can a human run??"
"Me personally? I've done a few 5k's, and had fun; that's, uh, 5 kilometers. But some humans specialize, and can run for hundreds, even low thousands of klicks, over several days."
"What!?" I exclaimed between labored breaths, "Why!?"
"That's actually a fun one! I'll tell you another time. C'mon, we can catch our breath before getting there."
With our slower pace, it took several more minutes before reaching the Lead Scientist's office, but we had thankfully caught our breath by then. Stepping inside, we were greeted by a diminutive bright white Venlil, the tip of her ears only reaching my chest, and equally small in all other respects. Her yellow eyes, bright as a sunbeam, shined through the dimly lit room.
"Hello!" She called excitedly, "I'm Professor Tarva ; no relation. You must be Valek," I flipped my ears in acknowledgement, "and Maeve!" Who returned a timid hello, "oh don't be scared! I know I'm a little more energetic than the average Venlil. Please forgive the lighting, I'm none too fond of brightness. So! What's this about Integration?"
Her office was smaller than Barry and Borven’s, but her size made it proportional, though the abundance of rolling stepstools and cushions was a notable difference. She offered us the only two chairs in front of her human-sized desk, which she nimbly climbed and occupied a cushion atop it.
Having spent no small amount of our recovery walk agonizing over how to best present our case, I spoke first. "We feel that our friendship sets a golden example for Human and Venlil relations, and I would like to host Maeve in my home on Venlil Prime."
Ears back, tail tuft wagging, Tarva didn't like that. "Ooo, a human in civilian lodging on VP? And you're from…" she shifted some papers to her side, "the Grove? Buncha farmers out there, they won't like it. Why do you think this is worth risking an incident?"
I spoke up quickly. I've had this conversation before, it was just like haggling our starberries; though I've never had to haggle for freedoms before. "Whatever risk exists, I believe it is less than the value gained by early scientific information of a Human and Venlil living together."
I had barely finished my sentence before Tarva had another flaw in my argument ready, "We already have Human and Venlil cohabitating on bases and in the Gubernatorial Complex. Why shouldn't we put you there?"
"You have humans living apart from Venlil. They don't see our culture, eat our food, talk to our people. Letting Maeve live in a real home in a real town will show us how Humans can integrate into Venlil society."
"And why would we need to integrate? Humans are weapons of war against the Arxur, nothing more, nothing less. Why would we need them on VP, especially once we win?"
I had never seen a Venlil like this before. She couldn't have predator disease, she doesn't have that… off feeling. But every moment of this -- this -- interrogation has been an attack!
But I refused to back down, this will work. "It's no secret that the Exposure program has been a glowing success. I personally know a dozen Venlil on Bleat that have every wish to continue contact. Humans will integrate with Venlil, which means we need to be prepared. Maeve and I can be the litmus test."
Tarva was clearly enjoying this, so she went for the throat, "Then why should we choose You? If the Program is such a success, we would be swimming in requests just like yours! Why should we choose You over the hypothetical Them?"
My breath caught in my throat. It hadn't occurred to me there would be so much demand for this, but she had a point. Based on what I've seen on Bleat and in the Forums, more than half of the Venlil that participated want to keep contact, and I'm sure we couldn't be the only ones to stay friends or more.
"Because," Maeve spoke up from beside me, barely a whimper, "you've already decided who your early subjects are. And Valek and I are on the short list."
Tarva squealed with undisguised glee, her tail thrashing behind her, "There she is! You've got a sharp one, Valek! How did you know?"
Maeve took a deep breath before answering, "Barry and Borven already knew about… us; they made a wager based on what we said. It sounded like they were betting who invited who, and Valek was the one who asked to host me. I'm betting you have a long list of Venlil wanting to serve with human soldiers, and a shorter list of Venlil going to earth. But those Venlil were invited by their Human partner. If there is a list of a Venlil inviting a Human to Venlil Prime, I think we are the only name." By now Maeve was leaning on the armrest of her chair, this exchange clearly exhausted her.
"The only name invited to a rural town. We actually have a healthy pawful that would live in the larger cities, with larger off-world populations, but you're the only ones in such a small town. There will be conditions, of course, and the locals will not be kind. Are you sure you wanna do this?"
I looked at Maeve. She was so tired, but she still looked at me with all the love her eyes could carry, and I could feel myself blooming under the weight of it. We nodded together, then answered "Yes." as one.
"Fantastic!" Tarva declared with the same unbridled enthusiasm she has held for this entire meeting. "You're on the next resupply back to VP. Shouldn't be more than a couple sleeps. Hope you enjoyed the station, cuz you're going home!"
‐‐‐
On our return back to the room, Maeve fell forward onto the bottom bunk with an exhausted sigh, all of her energy sucked out by the surprise interrogation. Believing she needed comfort, I sat next to her on the bed and, remembering she mentioned back pain being common among humans, brushed my paw between her shoulders. My remembrance was rewarded by a contented hum I could feel reverberating through her ribcage.
Maeve rolled over beneath my hand, taking it in hers. She held my paw close to herself, pressing the pads and moving the fingers. I winced when she encouraged a claw from its sheath, at which she quickly loosened her grip. After seeing I did not pull away, she pulled my paw to her face and pressed her lips against the offending claw. The predatory action caused my ears to flutter, whether from fear or not I couldn't tell.
She played with my hand idly, before asking, "How do Venlil… show affection?"
After thinking for a moment, I answered, "Our tails do most of the talking, but where no words exist, they tend to find each other. We also enjoy grooming each other," taking her hand in my paw, I ran the tip of my tongue over the top of her hand, "And many times nuzzling," placing that same hand to my snout, and continued, "is seen as very intimate."
Her free hand brought my other paw up to her face, and she rested her cheek against it. She gently brushed my snout, before following my jaw and drifting down my neck, winding her fingers through my wool, then stroking the skin hot with passion beneath. "Humans," she croaked, as if not ready to speak. Clearing her throat, she began again, "Humans like to use parts of our bodies that are sensitive, like our hands, but also our lips, and…" She took my paw in hers and I felt a soft wetness on my center pad, sending another shiver through me, "We tend to bathe ourselves in the sensation of our lover; touch, sight, scent, and even taste. And… I'm worried that most of it will be frightening to you."
I moved to lie with her, supporting myself on my elbow. Taking her hand in my paw, I spoke gently, "Maeve… you constantly surprise me, in the most wonderful ways, and I am always excited to be surprised by you. But I won't fear you. You've taught me that what we are, is what we choose; not what we feel. And even if I feel the need to run, I will choose to come back to you. Every time."
Maeve reached out to me, and I to her, and we entangled ourselves in each other. I could feel my bloom deepening as she pressed her lips to my velvet, and I could see her color rising as my paw traced her side.
"And what do your senses tell you, Maeve?"
Licking her lips, she whispered, "I can see you're enjoying this as much as I am. I can feel your softness, and warmth. I can hear your heart along with mine. I can smell your excitement, as thick as stew. And taste…" she inhaled sharply, pressing her forehead against my crown, as her hands moved to my waist, "I'm excited to find out."
​
First -- Previous -- Next

Hey folks, I've been playing the patch quite a bit so I thought I'd provide some additional feedback on it now that I've had some time to digest it. I'll also include some ideas for fixes; this is gonna be long and it's impossible to TLDR so if it's not your thing just ignore me.
Some positive feedback:

1. I want to start with positive feedback because overall I have more constructive criticism, I still love this game and think the update was a good step towards your future vision.
2. I like the visual updates, solid.
3. I love the changes to stacking buffs/debuffs, they make a lot more sense thematically and open up a lot of play styles. It's also fun to get huge stacks of Power Up and smash stuff.
4. I like that boss characters in Fishmen's talk about Duncan and what an asshat he is for stealing their gold, and then on the rare occasions that I get Duncan instead of the Drunk, he gives more gold rewards than the Drunk does because he stole it from them! Some nice lore in action.

Bugs:

1. I'm getting shorted red keys I earn on Fishmen's Island; not sure if this happens in other regions but it's a big contributing factor to the difficulty of getting pink-tier items that I'll outline below. I wrote a separate bug report post on this one.
2. Whenever I go to the Regions screen from any other screen, there's a small gray overlay beneath the hero portrait in the top left. This is purely cosmetic but thought I'd note it anyway.
3. Weird card choices after finishing a fight - they have Japanese characters in them and an action bubble, and can't be chosen. Sometimes this bug forces me to close/reload the app, but I haven't seen this one in a while so I think it's been fixed.

Gear Progression:

1. In my previous post, I noted that gear progression wasn't overly punishing, but that changes after you hit gear level ~30. For example, on Louis I have 3x Skeleton gear all at level 40, and it's 66,900 gold for a single level, which is probably right around what I'd earn from a single Fishmen's Island clear. This could be fine if all I wanted to do was max my skelly gear, but I want to play with all of the item sets or potentially mix and match when I get pinks across the board, which means I'd have to grind for literally forever to level them all up. I also want to play with Orianna's endgame gear so that's two infinities of grinding to get everything up to speed. Possible fix: add some kind of event or special level that has better gold rewards; make an option to sell keys or equips for gold.
2. It's also taking forever to get pink tier items. I made my last post 23 days ago and have been grinding every day, and I'm now the proud owner of 3 pink items (with another one or two on the way soon if I get lucky with drops). I understand that it'll go faster now that I have a few pinks as I can combine those gold and red tier items into other types, but it's still going super super slow. I'd probably be a lot further along if not for the red key bug I mentioned above, no idea how many keys I lost to it. Possible fix: periodic event where you get bonus keys; bonus gem event that runs for a short time; make the bounties reset on a weekly or monthly basis.
3. The fancy chests with S-tier items are fools' gold unless you're a big-spending whale. It's a 0.5% chance for an S-tier, and even if you hit it before opening 50 it gives you an orange S-tier item - so you'd need another 5 of them to level it to red (using other items for the 3rd slot in the combine) and then another 6 to level it to pink - so it's basically pointless to invest gems into these chests because I will never get a pink out of it. Assuming you never hit the 0.5% chance, the math works out like this: 12 items required for pink x 50 opens per item = 600 opens. 2,680 gems required per 10x open divided by 14,000 = 5.22 opens per $100. 600 opens required divided by 5.22 opens = 114.94 gem purchases. $100 cost per 14k gems x 114.94 = $11,494 to get a single S-tier pink, which is literally insane. Possible fix: jack up the S-tier find % considerably; special event where you have bonus chance to find S-tier items; small % chance to find an S-tier item from bosses.
4. Gem grind is super slow. Since my last post 23 days ago I finally managed to get the 2,680 gems for the fancy chest for Louis, and once again I didn't get one of the signature items, so it'll be about another 23 days before I can try again if it wasn't pointless per #3. Possible fix: small % chance to win gems from bosses; bonus gem event that runs for a short time; make the bounties reset on a weekly or monthly basis; a special rotating deal in the store that lets you buy gems at a discount; drop the prices on gems.
5. I noticed that if you hit the 5% chance of getting an orange in the rare chest, it resets the counter - that's just mean, I've only hit this 3x, but of those three it reset counters that were at 2 and 3. It's such a small chance can't you let us have our bonus orange gear without resetting the counter?
6. Some final thoughts on fixes for gear progression: adding monthly quests that are hard to complete but have bigger bonuses would help; adding achievements with rewards (e.g. "inflict a monster with 10x Rust," "Get power up >50," "Beat the final boss of [region]" etc.

Other thoughts on itemization:

1. Lack of synergy: now that I've finally gotten some pink-tier items I'm disappointed in the abilities they confer. I'm not 100% certain of what the cards look like at Level 3 since I only have 1 pink item for three different sets, so it's possible that this could blunt some of my criticism, but I'll lay them out based on the info I have.
   1. Healer's Light - this is the best of the pink-tier cards I have access to; more action points is one of the two strongest abilities in the game, but the drawback that you have to be at full hp to use them means you are fighting against your own itemization. E.g., the gear they are on heals you 10/25/50% at the end of a fight which is a strong ability, but if you're trying to stay at full health to use your Healer's Light cards this ability won't do anything most of the time. Additionally, the other strongest ability is Power Up (probably the strongest in the game), and Louis has lots of cards that let you spend hp to power up; it seems good because you can spend hp to power up and then recover it from the gear, but the gear bonus doesn't kick in until the fight is over so you'll invalidate however many Healer's Light are in your deck unless you use them before any -hp cards. With just 3 card hands this can get really frustrating to juggle, and also there aren't a lot of healing cards (Bandages is the only one I think, and it'll never take you to full hp) so if you get an unlucky draw and take damage you might need several fights for your healer gear to get you back to full and activate Healer's Light again. Possible fix: on upgrade, give it a heal that happens before the HP check for the action points. This might be OP but would give you some leeway to stay at full hp.
   2. Grudge - I'm assuming that each level will increase the multiple from 2x to 3x and 4x, which seems pretty solid for a hyper-attacking build (3x gnoll gear). 2x isn't that good though so I'd never mix and match a Gnoll item among some other gear.
   3. Skeleton - this seems fine but perhaps a little underpowered. I mostly grind Fishmen's island so it's annoying when it hits an enemy with Thorns before you can get a shield on. Possible fix: when skeleton hits an enemy it should give you a tally towards activating your special, right now it only gives you 2 fury. Just a tiny buff but necessary IMO when you see the massive differential in power of Healer's Light vs. Skelly.
2. At my current level of itemization, there's one clear best set, and it's the one gives you an action point for every 2 greens you spend (skeleton on Louis, and spider on Ori). This makes grinding kinda boring; I always use those two sets because 1) leveling up other sets to get to 35+ would cost a ton of gold and 2) I don't even have full reds for the other sets yet. I've tried mixing and matching sets with my pinks here and there but it makes the runes suck so it's not really worth it.

A couple of random suggestions:

1. In the store, an "open all" button. I frequently grind a bunch of Fishmen's and then open chests later, so opening 15 regular chests is a pain. It's not that much of a pain but it'd be nice. Slay the Spire has this with a click toggle.
2. Can you add an option to see the upgrade paths for cards? There are lots of cards that I never take because they look bad (e.g., the rare 0-cost spell for Ori that uses all your mana and 30% of hp to cast a random spell) but might be good or at least useful in certain situations once they're upgraded.
3. When I am playing and set down my phone to do something, the game won't go inactive and yield to the lock screen, it yields to some intermediate screen where I need to finger drag to open it back up. The other day I left my phone sitting there for a while and it drained my battery, can you make it so it goes inactive and to the lock screen? I've never seen this behavior in any other app, seems like a security issue too because someone could access my phone without having to unlock it.

Some thoughts on Louis post-update:

1. My main criticism with Louis post-update is that he's super inconsistent. Part of this is that I am using full skeleton gear so I need some decent greens to get my cycle going, but I'm sure that if I used a different set I'd face the same issue where if I didn't get a certain card archetype then my deck would be deficient. There are really only three builds that are good for Louis: Power Up decks, Shield Bash + Aegis decks, and Focus Slash decks. Power Up decks are kind of fraught because if you don't get Power Potion or Battle Inspiration and have to use the ones that don't give an action point back, it can be difficult to get the combo running because you don't have enough action points to build fury and turn it into Power Up stacks in one turn. This is because...
2. Exile is a real problem for Louis. You can build a deck with lots of the attack that gives you an extra action point or the attack that gives you +1 Fury for each card played that turn (sorry I forget the names of the cards) that will shred any/every normal encounter, and then get your faced smashed in by the Drunk or the Captain because once you run through your deck once you're stuck with 3 Slash, a Diagonal Slash, and maybe 1-2 other common/uncommon attacks that will never overcome the Captain's heals even if you manage to kill off both tentacles.
3. Louis is way underpowered compared to Ori. She doesn't even need to pick a card from Chaos packs to dominate Fishmen's, you could probably win just by upgrading the base deck a few times though it wouldn't be that fun to try. (Achievement for winning without taking any cards?) Lots of reasons why:
   1. Bleed is terrible compared to Burning stacks. Burning is super OP and should be toned down a bit, but Bleed needs to be improved because it barely does any damage. The only reason to put Bleed in your deck is if you upgrade the AOE bleed for Blind, and even then I'm only using a single copy.
   2. Louis has a lot of single target vs. Ori who has an enormous amount of AOE available. Simply put: if you get a Supernova+, you win. If you get a Meteor (which you will no doubt upgrade to Meteor+), you win. The only single card that = "you win" for Louis is Battle Inspiration (if you get it early), otherwise all his cards require a combo with another card to be good. Ori has way more viable win conditions.
   3. Exile! Almost none of Ori's good cards have exile, but tons of Louis' do. I haven't been able to try the Exile gear set for Ori b.c I don't have enough reds, so maybe it's super good, but I find myself casting a single Supernova 2-3x per match (or a Fireball, they're both so powerful that functionally the OPness of the Burning stacks doesn't matter) when on Louis you could burn all your good attacks on the first pass through the deck.
   4. Duping is easier on Ori. With more win conditions, it's way easier to draw one from the Chaos pack or after the first battle, upgrade it, and start duping. It always feels sad to not have anything good to dupe.
4. I finally made Star Slash deck after about a dozen tries! I didn't list it as a viable archetype because it's hard to get 5 copies even if you get it in your Chaos pack (and if you have 4, you might not beat the Captain because of Exile) but when it hits it SMASHES.

Some thoughts on Ori:

1. She's OP lol, once you get your gear to ~35 it's pretty hard to lose with her unless you're bad. I don't remember the last time I failed to complete Fishmen's with Ori.
2. I think she could actually benefit from Exile on some more cards, but please don't go overboard! This would make her just a little bit harder so you'd have tougher choices on what to play and when.

​
That's it, if you made it this far thanks for reading. I promised I would tag u/EquipmentHead146 to make sure he sees it - I hope this feedback is useful to your team!

As of right now there is still a hiring announcement scheduled to be open the first week of April like previously mentioned. It will be open to laterals and new hires. I won't be available most of that week, but I will try to post when the announcement goes live and I am happy to answer any questions I can now.
If any one is interested in applying, I recommend going to the NCIS website and following the federal resume guide on there. Check out my previous posts, I have answered most typical questions there. If you have not heard anything at all from a previous application, I recommend applying again this time.
The biggest thing is, do not apply if you do not want to move in the next five years. NCIS is great for people who love to travel, want to live overseas, or are married to an AD service member.
Do not self select! As long as you have a bachelor's degree and three years of any work experience you should apply, even if you are concerned you might not be qualified.
I apologize to everyone who asked questions about other job series within NCIS. I am not as familiar with those positions and it is harder to get direct information about them but i'll keep trying.

A friend wants to donate away his old car. He lost the car key as well but the car runs smoothly but has little issues. He doesn't want to spend repairing it anymore since he got a new any way.
What are some IRS-qualified charitable organizations in NY? He found the list in IRS website but cannot pinpoint which ones are in
(1) NYC or Long Island-based, and
(2) accept old, used vehicles, and
(3) provide DMV and tax-related documentation that I can later use tax-deduction.
And any word of advice while donating an old car?

So I received a ticket after getting stopped for speeding in a school zone on March 2nd. I pleaded for a reduced sentence through the online service that the county provides. I was required then to print payment information and send it off to the PO box associated with Traffic and parking violations department, which i thought i did on March 8th. The problem i have is, i realize i wrote the address for the department itself on the envelope rather than the PO box address provided. Should I re send the form again to the correct address or should it be fine with the address that was provided on the envelope. I’d be happy to answer questions that might help me further, I’m just very perplexed at the whole thing, with this being my first ticket. Any help is appreciated!

Hello!
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Today’s offer is:

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this is not a substitute for medical advice not should it be a reason to leave treatment.
~I don’t read about legal matters (that’s the only restriction)
~ Aura readings include the graphic depiction of your energy field (can be sent as a report or it can be talked about in a 30 min session)
~Payment via paypal or Ko-fi, it must be sent prior to the session if you are a new customer. thank you 🙏🏼
~ I reserve the right to do any refund. I will only provide you will a full or partial refund if I consider that I have not provided a service of quality. You agree to this statement by soliciting and paying for my services, thus you can’t demand for a refund, only I can offer it to you in compensation for what I feel I lacked.
These are some of my reviews https://www.reddit.com/nottastronaut/comments/ykeiiu/testimonials/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb

Contact me on (+44) 7593880762 on Telegram/WhatsApp if you have interest in Charilie Houpert - Charisma University course.
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I have progesterone in olive oil 2 brand new vials for sale - it’s in olive oil because I had allergy to the sesame oil that it’s usually prescribed in

Posting this here to hopefully some more attention to this issue. Framework as a company has been touted as being user serviceable and easily repaired.
There currently is an issue that if a user leaves their laptop for days to a week it is possible the RTC battery will drain and the system will be unable to boot without being plugged into usbc. Sometimes It requires disassembly and pulling the RTC battery to get it to boot. This is quite a bad design flaw and you may not be able to boot a laptop.
Below there is a rework guide to fix this in the circuit of the mainboard. I'm decent at soldering and have the necessary equipment to fix this but it is honestly beyond my skills i've replaced 0402 resistors but this was always on circuit boards where the value is much less than a laptop mainboard.
Framework has stated in these threads that they will not fix it and that the rework is up to the user and the cost is up to them. This is a horrible stance for a company to take and not service and fix their product with such a bad design flaw. This puts them right there with apple hopefully Louis will see this and maybe Linus and they can put pressure on them for not fixing their product.
Anyways disappointed framework user here and i likely won't buy from them again with how they've handled this issue.
Rework guide to fix RTC low voltage booting issues. https://community.frame.work/t/rework-instructions-for-11th-gen-mainboards-to-enable-rtc-battery-charging-from-the-main-battery/26922
Original long thread with people having this issue.
https://community.frame.work/t/viability-of-an-ml-1220-rechargable-battery-for-rtc-cmos-11th-gen/17664

Posting this here to hopefully some more attention to this issue. Framework as a company has been touted as being user serviceable and easily repaired.
There currently is an issue that if a user leaves their laptop for days to a week it is possible the RTC battery will drain and the system will be unable to boot without being plugged into usbc. Sometimes It requires disassembly and pulling the RTC battery to get it to boot. This is quite a bad design flaw and you may not be able to boot a laptop.
Below there is a rework guide to fix this in the circuit of the mainboard. I'm decent at soldering and have the necessary equipment to fix this but it is honestly beyond my skills i've replaced 0402 resistors but this was always on circuit boards where the value is much less than a laptop mainboard.
Framework has stated in these threads that they will not fix it and that the rework is up to the user and the cost is up to them. This is a horrible stance for a company to take and not service and fix their product with such a bad design flaw. This puts them right there with apple hopefully Louis will see this and maybe Linus and they can put pressure on them for not fixing their product.
​
Anyways disappointed framework user here and i likely won't buy from them again with how they've handled this issue.
​
Rework guide to fix RTC low voltage booting issues. https://community.frame.work/t/rework-instructions-for-11th-gen-mainboards-to-enable-rtc-battery-charging-from-the-main-battery/26922
​
Original long thread with people having this issue.
https://community.frame.work/t/viability-of-an-ml-1220-rechargable-battery-for-rtc-cmos-11th-gen/17664

​
A rule breaking truck driver takes a forbidden detour.
​
Don't Feed the Pumpkins
I'm typing this as a record of what has happened to me. If someone should find me out here, where ever here is, this is what happened and who is responsible. Also, out of the dozens of vehicles bogged down in this field, mine is the Blue Jay 2013 Freight Liner. If I should die and it is recoverable, it should go to my son, John Grainger in Antioch, Illinois.
I left Litchfield Illinois around 2pm on Halloween with a last-minute load of pumpkins destined for the Antioch Walmart. Despite the fact I was once that told Illinois is the #1 pumpkin producer in the country the itself state appears to be in the midst of a shortage. I was due in about 8pm, but I was trying get in by 6pm and after unloading, I was going to visit my wife Carly and my son for Halloween. It was going to be the first Halloween in my son's life that I was going to be there for trick o treating. My wife was making a big deal out of it and John was 10 now, so, she said he would be “scarred with disappointment” if I didn't show now. So, I probably should have gotten better sleep the night before and sue me, I was gear jamming and popping go-pills like popcorn. Don't look down on me, don't be fooled, this is just the nature of the trucking industry. Everyone does it and I'm not afraid to tell it like it is.
Just after Normal on 39 I hit a wall of traffic. I could hear on the CB that there is a hazmat incident up ahead and they require special teams to clear it off. I, like the other truckers, get to gabbing on the radio, looking for shortcuts. To my surprise, after scrutinizing this route several times before, I was informed about a “gutshot” shortcut just ahead that could get in me into my destination at least an hour earlier, even with the fact I had sat in the backup for at least 45 minutes at this point. A second comrade in gears piped in and stated that the shortcut was closed. The first driver contradicted him and stated, he had used it two weeks ago, it was wide open country land you could go 70 the whole way, and the only town along the way had burned down in an industrial accident 30 years ago. The second trucker chimed in again. He said it was closed for tonight and only tonight and not to use it. I disregarded the second trucker, exited the interstate and followed the directions of the first trucker.
Well, Carly, you always said it would be this way. You always said, I needed to learn how to follow directions to not cut so many damn corners all the time. You always told me didn't put in the work, and the funny thing is, for the first time, on this drive, get there, I did. Sure, I cut all the corners, but I wanted to to put in the work. But you're right, I never put a second of effort in, and if this is how it ends, I suppose you're right, I never will. But I guess, one way or another, you're getting what you've wanted, what you text me, what you don't tell me about, and what I didn't care about. I was coming home for him and damn it, I know it won't hold up in court but I want my boy to get the damn truck!
Anyway, I found the road, 2 lanes clear to the sky, surrounded by corn and then pumpkin fields forever. My straight shot, I pushed 80 the whole way flying on cracked asphalt, diesel, and go-pills. Ahead, there were barricades and I applied the brakes and barely stopped in time. I got out and saw they were chained up with a padlock to concrete posts in the ground. In theory, I could blast through them but I would sustain serious damage. The ground was a bit wet so I didn't think I could cross the ditch and field and not get stuck either. The barricades were not official in the least. They had a sign on them made out of it mailbox stick-on letters which said: “Do Not Feed The Pumpkins”. As far as I could see from my cab and binoculars, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the damn road. I said hell and I knew it would take hours to reverse course and get back in time – in time to even unload much less make it in time to go trick o treating.
And I said it wasn't worth it. I didn't bother to call. I'd just show up now. Because it wasn't my fault. So I started back, turning around with great difficulty. I traveled back 2 miles and saw small signs for a rest area. I must have missed it the first time, too deep into the zone I suppose now. I needed to pee and probably eat a bit before starting a roundabout way back, so I stopped. It was a little old 2 story joint with a small dinner on the 1st level and looked like 4 or 5 small motel rooms on top and oddly an outhouse for a restroom. I want to emphasize the outhouse because that is how you'll find and catch this guy, the guy who did this to me. It was Bill Shaw of Shaw's Shack, who did this to me. It had a sign with the building, it too was made of stick-on letters and vaguely resembled a huge ransom note. It read “Yes! We are open! We are the only rest area for 67 miles and 1 of 2 “tombstones” for the late great town of Pumpkin Grove Illinois – the former pumpkin capital of Illinois. Ask Your host, Bill Shaw about the Pumpkin-beef-bean stew!
The parking lot had three vehicles in it, not including my own, a silver Prius, a grand cheeroke with wood panels, and an older model chevy pick up truck. I went inside. The dinner was small, set in a rustic décor with old license plates nailed to the walls. The cafe had eight counter seats and two smaller tables near the two windows. There were two witnesses to what happened that night, to what Bill Shaw did – at least partial witnesses. There was the older man with stringy white hair and octagonal glasses – unfortunately, I didn't get his name. There was that irritating millennial – All I remember is the metal crap in her ears and lip. Hell, if I die and John starts ever pulling that crap, I'll come back and haunt the crap out of both of you. Anyway, now, I wish I could remember their names or something else about them to put here. I didn't care about either one of them enough to remember.
I guess that goes for Shaw too. He was a bit taller as sometimes I couldn't see his face while sitting at the counter because of the low lights in the ceiling blocking his face. He had gray hair. Hell. That's it. Anyway, the old man said he was part of a historical society, said he spent the better part of his past two years tracking down anyone or anything about Pumpkin Grove. The college student – of course – it was college student said she was from the school newspaper, looking for a spooky story. When she asked me where I was from, I didn't respond.
Shaw came from the kitchen with two big bowls of the famous Pumpkin-beef-bean stew for first two. He seemed taken back by my presence for a bit before saying “howdy” and trying to get real friendly with me. He asked what media I was from. I told him I wasn't from no media and I was trying to get through the barricade up ahead. Neither of the other two seemed to know about the barricade. Shaw said he didn't know anything about it either. I was suspicious of him then because of the lettering on the signs. But I didn't push it. I wanted to eat and he said my choice was the stew or stew. So the stew seemed fine. He said he wished he had more time to chat with me but he promised to tell the story of Pumpkin Grove to the two others but I was welcome to listen and ask questions. I didn't say it but I couldn't care less, I was going no where fast and I needed to eat.
He started off by saying he and his wife are among a handful of survivors of the fire that consumed the town of Pumpkin Grove some 30 years ago on Halloween night. Then his story descended into a cross between a rambling fading nightmare and a ghost story. He said, without hesitation, fear of consequence or remorse that he was accessory to a murder in his childhood. Specifically, some 40 years ago, again on Halloween, he was friends with a small group of young men including one named Donnie, who was a little slow and had a slightly misshaped head. He was picked on a lot by the Gerst Brothers, notorious town bullies and teenage thugs of a bad seed thanks to their neglectful alcoholic single father. Long story short, he said, the Gerst Brothers lured Donnie, himself and another 2 boys out to a pumpkin field where they gave back Donnie's missing dog. Apparently they kidnapped the dog and wrapped every inch of it in duct tape a few days ago. They watched us try to peel and pull the duct tape off while the weakened, hungry, and thirsty dog whimpered away its last in the field. Unbeknownst to any of us, Donnie had a pocket knife and he lost it as the Gerst Brothers cackled around him and the dead dog. He leaped up as they laughed and sliced the vein on their necks. One of the Brothers died quickly while Donnie and the two others fought the other to death. Shaw said he just stood there, covered in arterial blood splatters, watching Donnie and the others finish off the Gersts.
Much of the town was shockingly grateful to hear the Gerst Brothers were dead and everyone was all too happy to sweep it under the rug rather than have 4 of their sons incarcerated for decades when they were needed to help with the town's bread and butter – the Pumpkins. So, they buried the Gerst Brothers in that field and grew pumpkins on their corpses and no one really talked about it. The town paid off their father, who was too inebriated most of the time to care and he gleefully drank himself to death on the payoff only about a year later.
I didn't have much of a reaction to the story. The historian on the other hand, was hesitant to stay and keep writing and he made a brief protest concerning whether or not the story was true and whether or not he could legally listen to it. Shaw said it was both true and legal. After all, there was nothing left of the town and the remains were long gone and he himself, would not bare witness to himself. The college student's dumb metal encrusted mouth was agape in a mix of horror and disbelief.
I was waiting, patiently, might I add, for my stew. Shaw promised it would be up soon. He continued the story, stating that the fields produced abnormally well afterwards and 10 years later he was visiting his parents with his girlfriend for the annual Pumpkin fest. It was just that the pumpkins weren't just more numerous and larger, or more resistant to the rains and the fungus, they were alive and nothing could keep them tame or from spreading wider and wider. And everyone thought this was great at first, the profits were never higher but then weird things began to happen. Equipment went missing and two farm hands were crushed by a wagon full of pumpkins tipping over onto them in what was at first called a freak accident. Shaw recounted how he took his girlfriend through one of the patches and the vines seem to wind and grapple her legs, of course, Shaw's folks passed it off as her not being used to the mud but Shaw said he knew better.
Shaw continued to describe that over the days that led up to Halloween, the Jack O Lanterns on people's porches and elsewhere began to do some unusual things. Things like seemingly move by themselves from dusk to dawn, changing the carvings of their faces slightly, or appearing to “jump” off a table onto the porch without damage or apparent cause. On the morning of Halloween, Shaw said that he found his black cat, Lucky, incinerated in front of a jack o lantern as if it had breathed fire on to it from its mouth though they had long ago blown out the candle inside.
After the cat burning, the elderly man from the historical society tossed his spoon in his bowl. Shaw asked if something was wrong. The elderly man got up to leave and he said it tasted like bitter cold bull and his story was bull and thanked him for nothing. After checking the remaining contents of his bowl of stew, Shaw chased him out of the door, to his car, asking him what direction he planned to go home. When he peeled out of the parking lot he was headed southwest. Shaw came back in and threw up his hands.
I tell nothing but the truth, he said, most people can't handle it. Part of me wanted to go, but I was cozy there, it was warm and the story, while bull to me at the time, was entertaining enough. The SJW sitting down the way looked exhausted, barely keeping her eyes open as Shaw finished out the story. In short he said, Donnie approached him at dusk on Halloween while he and his family sat on the porch eagerly awaiting trick o treaters. Donnie said the Gerst Brothers are alive in the pumpkins and that they planned to burn the whole town down tonight. Donnie said, he had to tell Shaw because Shaw wasn't supposed to die, he was supposed to watch.
I rudely stopped him and demanded more stew. I was still hungry and the stew was somehow unsatisfying. When he returned, he finished the story, stating the town was suddenly engulfed in flames and their house in particular with Donnie on the porch, flash burned to the ground like napalm from an exploding pumpkin. He escaped with his family and his future wife in the pick up truck sitting outside now.
The college student said she felt like she needed to lay down, that she didn't think she could make back to the campus to the north. Shaw attended to getting her one of the rooms upstairs. I stayed down stairs and went to the back for more stew. I rubbed my eyes intensely and felt as if I too should stay for the night. But in the tug of war between fatigue and dexrine, the dexrine was slowly coming out ahead.
Next to the stew was a cutting board and a knife and on it was some bluish whitish powder which I found peculiar. On floor was a bottle of medication. It was Insomnex – a sleeping pill I use when I'm coming off of dexrine. The stew was dosed.
I ran to my truck and pulled out my dexrine and my revolver. As I climbed out of the driver's side, I could see Shaw running out of the dinner with a huge kitchen knife. I ducked under the trailer and back out on his side and pointed the gun at him.
What the hell I asked as I slowly advanced on him with my snub nose pointed at his head. He dropped the knife. He said, I just wanted to puncture your tires, I had to do something to stop you. I know you want to go north and I know you might be crazy enough and your truck tough enough to smash the barricades but I can't let you. I can't let anyone else go through, he said hysterically. I asked the dumb question about whether or not he set the barricades and just as I previously suspected, he did.
I'm supposed to watch, Shaw cried. No one can get through tonight, no can be allowed to. I told him to shut up as he rambled on about how he and his wife took it upon themselves to ward off travelers on Halloween Night. Its a cursed road tonight, he said, we're cursed to stay here and this is the best we can do to stop it from spreading. Its been calling us for 30 years, he went on, we tried to walk away but it kept on spreading, the pumpkins, he said gritting his teeth in anguish.
Maybe it was the dexrine and the insomnex working together, hell maybe it was the stew by itself but I just started to laugh as I guided Shaw back into the dinner and proceeded to duct tape him down to the dinner chair to make sure he could not cause anymore harm to anyone else until the police arrived. I had some cash on me, I wasn't a criminal, I wasn't going to make it seem like I tied him up and dinned and dashed, I was in the right, I was doing the lawful thing. So I left him exact change, no tip for the food. In the process of making change for myself, I found the padlock key in the cash drawer, I was certain of it at the time as I waved it in front of Shaw and he gasped and thrashed behind the duct tape the hardest.
I got into my truck and gunned it north towards the barricades, which, as I suspected was easily opened with the key I confiscated from Shaw. I got on my CB and started making emergency calls to the State Police, I gave them my name, the location of the diner, and Shaw's name. I was in the middle of nowhere so it didn't surprise me when I got static and no acknowledgment. I had no bars on my cell phone either but that is typical of central Illinois.
I was going along about 70. The sun was almost down but I hadn't seen the moon yet. I turned on the radio and found a classic rock station. The song was Born on the Bayou from CCR. The opening riff perked me up and reassured me that I had done everything all well and all good. If things held, there was a chance, I could get my freight unloaded and see John tonight. I was eagerly tapping the steering wheel waiting to bust into “When I was just a little boy...” But just as the lyrics should have entered, the radio station seemed to have accidentally reset the song, it just started over.
The sun faded away entirely and yet no moon came up. The sky was so dark but I didn't remember seeing any clouds or expecting any for that matter. The song continued restarting itself, the same opening again and again. I flipped through the other stations and all of them had it playing. Eventually, the digital clock on my dash began to spin wildly like the LCD numbers on the tuner while in scan mode. The truck buffeted and shook side to side despite my headlights showing no cause for it.
To my shock, ahead, in the distance was single traffic light. It was went from green, to yellow, and red, as any other traffic light but there were no lights or towns on this road. I slowed to 40, then 35 then to 30 as I entered an unnamed densely populated area with small buildings, stores, and houses and one traffic light. I came to a stop at the light and I looked around, locked my doors and tried to glimpse where I was. Where ever I was, I felt, I felt like I shouldn't be there. There were dim orange lights in some of the rooms of the houses at the edge of the intersection.
I looked up at one of the windows and I saw a figure with large head in the window. I couldn't believe my eyes at least not until the figure turned to face outward. It was a jack o lantern, a classic one with a black glow where the eyes, nose, and mouth sat. It was held up right by a thin vine structure that seemed to grow and stretch as it stuck its head out of the window and let out a barely audible shrill whistle and stared directly at me.
I gunned it. I blew the red light as the town seemed to collapse into nothing by dark green swelling pumpkin vine and a sea of glowing jack o lanterns in my side view mirrors. I hit the radio off because all I could hear on it was that whistle filtering through. I drove and the mass of jack o lanterns grew in the mirrors. I glimpsed the left and right windows and the plains were glowing black with more pumpkins rolling and creeping towards the road.
The road began to warp and bend as I started to red line my truck. The buffeting side to side became difficult to control as the engine groaned. I couldn't explain how the road began to shift nor how the moon, blood orange began to circle around me from horizon to horizon. Aside from the moon, I thought I was making progress as I couldn't see the vines nor the hundreds of blacklight pumpkins swirling after me.
The moon slowed and dipped down and I started climbing a hill. As I crested, the moon filled the entire windshield and more. It spun and then settled on a black light pumpkin face and bore down on the cab.
I don't know what happened next but I woke up in my cab. The was engine smoking. All I could see was mud and putrid rotten pumpkins as far as I could see. My Blue Jay was sunk up to the cab down in mud, vines and rot. It wasn't going anywhere in it without some serious assistance. To my right and left I saw dozens of other vehicles, most of them at least ten years old, also up their doors in mud and rot. Swarms of flies were visible all around in the boiling midday sun. I'm not really sure how long it has been or what time it really was because the clock on my phone is broken and simply reads as 99:99. I don't know what day it is. I have no cell signal and no radio.
Carly, I need to be honest with you. I cheated on you. Maybe a dozen times. I did it before I thought, before I knew you were doing it to me. I can't live by the rules of trucking, or marriage or anything. It is the road and you command it and that is the only rule. But now, I'm worried I've broken my last rule. I have no food and no water. There is no road here. There is only rule of a blazing sun with jack o lantern face that never sets. I fear that in time, unless I find help or help finds me, I will be feeding the pumpkins.
​
Theo Plesha

I (30+F) have been interested in microdosing and psylocibe mushrooms as medicine since I’ve read about its amazing effects on depression, anxiety, and in particular, alcohol dependence, all I’m having issues with. I’ve been having hardships with AUD since I had my first beer ever and after all these years I’m now determined to put an end to this family curse. MDing helped but not to the extent i’d hoped.
After some troublesome events in my life (also alcohol related, in the family) I had to take some off days from work and decided this was the chance to try and ask for some higher guidance, even though I was sure anyone would advised against it in the way i was.
As a complete beginner in tripping or any psychedelics at all, but not a complete beginner in meditation, I’ve educated myself on hundreds of tripreports and scientific articles. I kind of had an idea of the tools and mindset I needed, and after appx 35 hours of fasting (accidental, due to above mentioned unforseeable events), slowly chewed that handful of truffles, and washed them down with lemon water at around 10pm. No problem, they were like kinda off walnuts to me.
I sat down to play some Hogwarts Legacy but soon felt lightheaded and at loss of my physical capabilities. I began feeling very weak, I just assumed it had to do with my not eating for almost 2 days. I turned my PC off and said goodnight to my BF just before 11pm. I laid down in my room (yeah we have separate rooms but that’s how it works for us bc of mismatching circadian rythms and sleep issues on my side) and put on some binaural relax beats with „forest creek” sounds.
Tried to meditate for what felt like hours, but didn’t feel a thing. Put down my headphones and gathered my weighted blanket and other comfort-stuff and cuddled in, lights still on, and started to fiddle with my phone. 11.40pm.
A few minutes might have passed until I realized I have insane nausea and can’t really see what I’m reading, so put the phone down and tried to comfort myself with things like „i have felt worse and I’m OK now” or „bad things have happened to me and I’m still here now” or „I’m here for guidance and wherever it may lead I must let it come, accept it and learn my lesson”. With these thoughts, I slowly began dissociating, like the stuff in my room was unrecognizable, foreign, distant, and just overall, not „there” in a certain sense. And I began losing sense of my body as well, felt as if I was just a brain without a body, then just a mind without a brain, then just a single hair of thought without even a mind.
Some mild hallucinations came up, like when drifting in and out of dreams, with every few seconds I closed my eyes i experienced dozens of lives, emotions, situations, states and beings, all with beautiful imagery and etheric music, but nothing I could describe in detail. Felt a thought coming up, ’this is just playing around’. And it was, me learning that I can drift in, and I can drift out to anchor into ’reality’ if I wished, but it’s not what I came here for. I came for guidance.
By this time, I totally lost contact with my body and some troubling imagery came up as well.
This felt really scary, I’m sure I’ve had moments (probably only seconds) when I was crying and wailing silently for help and said I’d accept anything, I just want some help, and if I have to die so be it, they would know I tried so hard to cope with everything.
I realized what I’d read in many reports, that you really have to let the guidance come, come what may. So I decided to let it come.
I felt very small. Very useless. Frail and insignificant. A shadow came above me, a shadow of a vengeful Bison God, wanting to gobble me up.
I cried and woke. I was very afraid but couldn’t help not drifting back.
I was weak, a newborn calf, I saw the sky above, smelled the grass beneath myself, smelled milk i couldn’t have, and had an overlooming feeling of being small and feeble, and knew I was about to die. And I let it come.
I cried really badly then, and woke again for a few seconds. It was midnight on the dot. Felt like whole lifetimes had passed. But I thougt I’d died already and yet I was there again, so let’s see where we go next. Turned the bedside lights off and turned on my back from the baby pose I’ve been huddled up in. Darkness immediately made everything go deeper and I felt some kind of power beginning to surge.
I was a huge bison. My muscles bulging. I knew that I had to die so that someone else can have my muscles to grow large and strong on. And although dying still felt scary, there was a certain calm, natural acceptance to it.
Then the power really began to surge, I felt like I was running on all fours with a certain speed only panic and fear can induce, I felt my muscle fibers contract and that I had to run as fast as I could, if I had to die anyway, I might even fight to live for another day. Then felt pain in my neck.
The animal I was on all fours now, had a huge chest, strong thighs, bulky traps, claws, and I ran as fast as I could, with all my muscle and nerve fibers engaged, I ran in a way only need can induce, that I had to kill if I don’t want to die anytime soon.
Then something very strange happened. Those strong muscles I’d been feeding transformed to feel more human. I was, or in the same way, was not, a Native American shapeshifting shaman who seemed to have no gender nor age, and they were the one who came to help me and showed me the trials of the Grass, the Calf, the Bison, the Deer and the Cougar.
They told me that being nurtured by grass, bison and deer, I must be strong enough now.
And I was, I felt glowing and growing.
Growing into something dark and threatening I tried to validate. I tried rationalizing that this kind of power can be harnessed too, and that it wasn’t that bad, but inside I knew it was a lie. I tensed and was throwing myself left and right on my bed and I wanted to scream and shout and roar.
All of a sudden, when my muscles just wanted to rip, I saw the whole thing from the outside, and the Shaman, the Cougar, the Deer and the Bison came forth, then my BF, and my cat, even my therapist. And the demon that was so strong it could’ve killed me, was nothing but a mere glass bottle now.
And I screamed at it, „you said you would help but I don’t need you know! I don’t need you anymore! You could make small (me) believe that I did, but I have help now, I am strong now, I’ve got the Bison and the Deer nurturing me, and I do not need you anymore, get out of my life, get out of me!”
I remember mouthing this, I am just hoping that I wasn’t really shouting.
I don’t know how long I screamed and yelled, but after a while I grew very very tired and spent.
I slowly gained control of my limbs and began noticing my breath, my sore muscles, my bed and the cool rough linen sheets on my skin.
I said thanks to the Shaman, the guiding animals and spirits, and of course the mushrooms for helping and teaching me today, and laid idle for a few minutes (not sure about that tho) wondering whether I had anything else to do there.
When I came to, I still was dizzy and shaky, but I got up as soon as I could, to write the first draft of my report in my journal. Took a leak, almost freaked out by my huge pupils in the mirror, then ate the juiciest, tartest, tastiest apple of my life and journaled. Almost fainted into sleep at some minutes short 4am.
Since then, I had the luck to talk this experience over with my amazing therapist, who was really open-minded and understanding, not to mention knowledgable on the topic.
I understood that I am loved; linked with all the grass, deer, bison and everything, that I have helpers, and that I am never again giving so much power to something so deceptive as alcohol. I now have tools to help relax, I have people and spirits around me to guide me, I have people around me who love me and deserve that I learn to love them and myself just as dear.
Even though this wasn’t SUCH a big dose, the trip was very intense, lively and vivid. I am happy I had a clear intention to begin with and immensely grateful to have received such a clear guidance.
I am happy.
TL;DR: title
note 1: in the recent months, I have gravitated towards a ketovore diet, consisting mainly of organic grass-fed beef and sustainably hunted wild deer (friends as reliable sources, as my luck would have it) so I even felt kind of silly that I got this trip. Still, this way of eating has helped tremendously with my gut and autoimmune issues so it might have something to it, I’m feeling notably better.
note2: few days prior to this trip I’d watched a trailer of a new animated movie relating to Native American mythology which felt very intense. Might be related as well.
2 weeks later
I’ve had an integration session with my therapist about this experience. The Calf, the death of the Calf, I just didn’t, couldn’t understand; no matter how much I meditated on it, I just felt that its death was in vain. During that guided meditation my therapist led me in, I revisited that feeling. All those spirits came up to me and I asked them why they came in the first place; I knew I kind of understood them all but the calf. And then the calf showed me all that frail feeling, how does it feel when you’re waning out of life, and how the whole herd stepped above them, how crows and coyotes and bugs and snails came to integrate that small body that once me, the calf was. I realized that the death of the calf was part of the cycle as well, but on a different level.
I now know that weakness and feebleness has a place in the whole picture. I am just unable to accept my smallness yet. My feelings of being meek, small, weak, left, inapt. And it hurts a lot. And this is my weakest point.
wrap-up
it’s been 20 days since, and I’ve had 15 dry days. A score that hasn’t happened in years. I’m grateful. But yearning to learn. Looking forward to my next experience, even though I am not ’called’ by another trip rn.
This was an extremely interesting trip. I've had very clear intentions and I felt confident with letting it come. All as a story, a very vivid dream, almost like written and directed, as much so it even feels unreal, or silly. I often have very interesting and dramatically „written” dreams but this was something else. I see it as a very suprising and uncommon element, that I felt everything in my muscles. EVERYTHING in my physical, mortal, biological dirtbag of a body.
Shrooms are medicine. to be respected. And a powerful ally. I am grateful for all I have around me.

TL;DR - If you're familiar with or have been to southern Utah, then you may have been to Sand Hollow or Sand Mountain in St. George, UT. There's a land swap proposed between the BLM and a land developer that would trade 1050 acres of BLM land for 89 acres the land developer currently owns. If you have time, please submit a public comment via email to blm_ut_sgfo_[email protected] and express your concerns.
The Issue:
BLM and the Washington County Water Conservancy District have proposed a land exchange that would involve swapping 1050 acres of the Western Edge of Sand Mountain near Warner Valley with 89 acres of land in Washington near Green Springs, apparently owned by His Family/Brennan. Washington County is designated as the Facilitator of the Exchange. You can learn more at the BLM E Planning website, EplanningUi (blm.gov). You can also see the Public Scoping Notice which is attached.
We also obtained plans by the City of Washington to annex much of the acquired area into their City, which may be a significant influence in the exchange.
The proposed action just entered the Public Scoping phase, which is scheduled to conclude at 5:00 PM on April 13, 2023. UPLA, DRATS, Mayor Nanette Billings (Hurricane), BlueRibbon Coalition, and Tri State ATV have been meeting with BLM, Water Conservancy, and the City of Washington to learn more about the project.
We were previously informed when the reservoir was done, we would lose the lower parts of Fault Line and Sandcutter, as well as the camping/staging area near Hwy 7, but when we learned that, we constructed the Ridgeline Trail at substantial expense to maintain access from Warner Valley.
We are extremely concerned for many reasons, including the following:

• BLM will give up 1050 acres of Sand Mountain in exchange for 89 acres in St George
• We will lose access to the West Rim Trail, the Restroom on Pipeline Road, the disbursed camping areas, and possibly the Ridgeline Trail we constructed to mitigate the reservoir loss.
• We will lose staging and camping in Warner Valley
• There has apparently been no decision about what agency would oversee recreation in the newly acquired area, but it seems likely it will become a fee area.
• If access to Sand Mountain is impaired from Washington Dam, it will impact the load on other roads including our newly constructed Waddy’s Corral Staging area.
• We are extremely concerned that the City of Washington will be annexing the land surrounding Pipeline Road and West Rim, and that they may permit development on top of the Rim; the views over a lake will skyrocket land values. Development would bring a whole host of issues including loss of the tremendous views from above by having buildings/homes on top of the ridge, user conflicts between residents/occupants and OHV users.
• We only have 30 days to inform the public and submit scoping comments.

We have been working hard on this for 4 weeks to get this information. This is the part where we need you!
What we need you to do:

• Submit Your Comments Electronically using your choice of methods:

1. By email sent to [blm_ut_sgfo_[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) with a copy to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
2. Visiting Blueribbon Coalition’s Action Alert at https://www.sharetrails.org/stop-the-sale-of-sand-mountain/#/104/
3. The deadline has been extended till Midnight April 19, 2023.

• Stay Engaged. We are only in the first inning of an overtime game. If you’re not getting the UPLA and DRATS Emails, sign up for them today to stay informed. UPLA site link.

Following is a brief description of the Scoping process in the NEPA Review that may guide you in formulating your questions/comments for the meeting. We will have a handout for you when you enter the meeting.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to involve the public in the planning process and seek their input through a scoping process. Effective NEPA scoping comments for BLM should pose the questions or issues to be looked at, not provide answers.

1. Specific information about the proposed project and its potential impacts on the environment and local communities.
2. Identification of any alternatives to the proposed project that could mitigate or avoid potential negative impacts.
3. Discussion of the potential cumulative effects of the proposed project in combination with other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions.
4. Analysis of potential impacts on wildlife, water resources, cultural and historic resources, and other sensitive environmental resources.
5. Request for meaningful public participation throughout the NEPA process, including opportunities for public comment and involvement in decision-making.
6. Request for transparency and disclosure of all relevant information, including scientific data and analysis, underlying assumptions, and potential conflicts of interest.
7. Discussion of any potential economic impacts of the proposed project, including impacts on local jobs, property values, and tax revenue.
8. Recommendation for monitoring and mitigation measures to minimize or address any adverse environmental impacts.
9. Discussion of any potential long-term impacts of the proposed project on the environment and local communities.
10. Request for BLM to consider the full range of alternatives and potential impacts, rather than limiting the analysis to a narrow set of options.

Hi, hello. One 35 year old boring, jaded male seeking equally dull and cynical female for special relations, emphasis on the special part.
It needs to be said that I'm only looking for someone in the UK or relatively nearby. Flights are expensive and long distance relationships are hard. When the oceans dissipate or Elon lets us use his rockets I'll consider something further afield, but until then I am simply a yokel. I'd also like to add a specific disclaimer that I am not actually a tour guide for temporary visitors to the UK. Sorry.
I've lived a life, been through the storm and out the other end and now I'm hoping to find a little something to make my big everything. I've been up, I've been down, but I'm still around. Somehow, someway, I am still me and I've reconciled with me the way for me to be. I am not a success, whatever that means, and I don't always know the way; but I have confidence that between us we can chart a course. I don't have all the answers but I sure can pretend I do for you or pretend I don't and have that be okay. I'm salt cured and partially chewed by wild animals but under that grimy crust there is still something tender.
I'm searching for romance. I don't mean modern sitcom romance, I mean where art thou for I much desire to speak with thee romance. In short, I want to be vulnerable with you. We spend our lives worrying away the good things until all that's left is dust and memories. I don't want that for us. I want us to be a full-bodied entwining like old trees until we're petrified in time, forever a monument to how it's supposed to be done. The roots go deep and it's difficult to tell where I begin and you end. There's innuendo in there somewhere too.
More seriously though, I'm looking for someone that is an open book. I respect delivery if the package is honesty, no matter how much it hurts. Integrity is all we have in this life and without it we are nothing. Say what you mean and mean what you say. We all have history and that's okay, but communication is key to success. A relationship is a team game and I like to win. Be a warrior poet and lets write an epic.
Looks don't matter to me, but attraction is important. It's an unfortunate reality but worth mentioning so we don't labour under illusion. I'm content with what I look like and maybe even a bit beyond that. Ideally, you would be the same. I have insecurities and things about myself that I work on, so it's okay if you do too, but don't don't be consumed by it because you are more than that as a person. Also if you have pets, it's your humanitarian duty to surrender their pictures to me.
I try to be thoughtful. I have a big brain that I use to try to be considerate of needs. I like to listen. I have a dark and/or crude sense of humour. I find most things to be funny but for all the wrong reasons. I have my moments of depression but tend to have a solid grasp on it these days. I want to be serious about you while poking holes in everything else.
I'm extremely driven. I have my passion and while I am not quite there yet, it is a clear trajectory. I am single, and have been for a long time by choice. I live with family by choice. I have no children or desire to have them. I have no ghosts or skeletons hanging around. What you get is one whole me with nothing unpleasant attached. One person to make of or do with as you wish.
Me: Hiking, nature, most forms of media specifically movies and music, games, cooking, gardening, writing, art in various forms, animals.
You: Like me but with lady rump to go with my sugar lumps. Must be able to laugh at fart jokes. Must enjoy warm bodies.
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So it goes.