Wandered around crossword clue

After I put my children down for bed in 6-7 hours I'm going to open a wine my new coworker gave me as a gift and have the smallest swirl, sniff, and sip. Maybe I’ll watch a spooky ghost movie. It seems ironic and applicable to my life right now. I don’t know what I’m searching for but you probably need my origin story:
I moved my little humans to an entirely new city and state with no other contact to our prior lives and just want to feel okay for a night or even a few nights if you can withstand me that long. We escaped trauma from many different facets of life and now are left to figure out how we can make this life a happy one on our own. Today I started a new job. The old me is far too qualified and would have gawked at the daily duties. But for right now, I am safe and figuring it out. It will provide enough for us. I’ll do my job with pride and happiness I haven’t felt in a long time. It allows me to stay home with my younger babies and I couldn’t be more happy about that. Today was a half day, I spent most of it writing and editing this post. Friday is near.
We are crammed in a small apartment on over 20 acres that I am convinced ghosts might also be inhabiting. Maybe a lonely mouse or two are wandering the window sills three times painted over with shitty eggshell paint. Maybe I’ll paint a room tonight, add some color and love to these empty walls. Paint a mural. The doors creak, the floor is uneven, all the lights flicker. We didn’t come with anything of value, so this place will be our home and safe haven. I will fill it with love and honesty. I haven’t been able to feel that except in fleeting moments. Nobody will ever have to pretend and I will never raise my voice or hand out of anger.
My children are my world but just for a while I want to be myself, truly myself, without the fear of someone using it against me. I’ve tried to have relationships and friendships of various success and total disaster and they all end the same: I can’t be genuine. I was living in a burning house and I thought the whole world was on fire. I learned a few weeks ago it wasn’t. So I packed us up and drove until my eyes got wet. I had extinguished the flames and saw the wreckage that had started to occur. It broke me. What was done was done and I could not go back. People have reached out and all I can say is I’m so sorry but I have to go
The only people I want to talk to are ghosts of past attempts to make things right. I’ll learn to be okay with that one day, but not today.
If you haven’t deduced by now, I am not a good person. But I am trying to be. I owe a lot of people a lot of things through this weird life, before, and after. I can’t reach out to them now. I can’t right all my wrongs. Maybe they’re reading this now and wondering if it’s really me. Putting my small puzzle pieces together in this post. After all, stranger things have occurred under happenstance and wanderlust. I crave a simple life with simple desires. I don’t need much. I don’t know who I am but I know what I am not.
Not just: the new single lady with three kids showing up to a town under suspicious circumstances, covered in ash and soot, an eternity of bruises and scars on her alabaster skin, a mother, a friend, a lover, a stranger, someone’s sweet escape, his or hers or theirs anymore
I am not just all of those things, but so much more. What I am lies entirely up to my next course of action. I’m not sure what it is. This is a rough start to a new Season 1. You may have decided this isn’t for you. Very well then, move along. Maybe you’ll stick around for season 2 where I get my redemption arc. Or your curiosity is piqued just enough to reach out to me. Season 3 and 4 are pending production costs and fan interest.
Let me trauma dump on you on a voice or video chat like we've been friends for years, like it's a typical Tuesday night after one of you is going through it
Like we have known each other for a split second and a lifetime all at once. I might end up painting an entire bedroom tonight just to feel normal. I might end up laying on the ground listening to one of my 150+ Spotify playlists I can’t stop creating.
l might ghost you, but the odds are in your favor of me sticking around for company. Or not. You can have a drink of your own, or whatever vices you have these days. I don’t judge. We can watch something together, or just sit quietly with small talk. I’m a good listener and talker. Let me tell you a sad story with no ending because I’m still writing it. Maybe I’ll start writing again in a few months. Make sense of everything again. I had a lot of hobbies in my past life. I’m pretty good at everything, but only really good at a few things.
I have therapy three times a week and it’s the only human I’ve kept in contact with since I left. It’s been lonely, to say the least meaningful words possible. I am not looking for a sound board to gaslight or abuse, honestly I just want some company while feeling alone. Silent but comfortable understanding. Suffering together can be enlightening. I am longing for something I am not sure exists. Mutual and perpetual sadness always has a weird ring to it. I’ve felt it in raw moments before it got ripped away. Just enough of a kiss, a hug, a tug of the hair, of truth… to want to crave more and more. How selfish and cruel life can be. All I’ve ever really wanted was to be content with life, not even happy.
I can supply an endless amount of good music, TV shows, movies, jokes, and make you feel like your life doesn't suck compared to mine. I like to make people smile and laugh. I think I’m a natural caretaker and I care far too much far too easily, it’s probably my kryptonite. Someone once told me if I had just been honest maybe this wouldn’t have been this way, so I’ll pose the question: does death take drowning in a puddle or ocean differently? The end product is happily the same.
I will respond to chats or messages as I can over the next few hours. Please do not ask me for pictures or sexual advances. I’ve already said what I was looking for but it gets misinterpreted every time. Being alone at night is what bothers me the most about this life. In the sunlit hours I can pour myself into my children, art, music, the day to day mundane. The sun sets and I struggle to explain how lonely it feels. I know I can’t be alone in these thoughts. Are you even out there?
I will leave you with a quote I've been repeating in my head for weeks, often the last thing I can remember before I drift to a nothingness of dark sleep: "Those who escape hell, however, never talk about it. and nothing much bothers them after that"

Who else has to deal with their pwBPD constantly calling them lazy and telling you that you do absolutely nothing around the house?
This has been an ongoing issue since a few months into our relationship. We've been together for a little over 3 years. We currently live in a house she owns. There's two small children (5 & 2) in the house. We both work full-time jobs.
I consistently help out around the house, every single day. I cook 95% of the time. I do probably 90% of the laundry for all 4 of us. I do 90% of the dishes. I vacuum. I clean the floors. I take out garbage and recycling. I help with yard work. And so on.
The past month or so I've been dealing with some health issues related to my sinuses and allergies. I've been on multiple antibiotics, steroids, MRI, CT scan, still not feeling well. So being outside working in the yard is incredibly difficult for me. And working and doing house chores in general. But yet, I've been doing all of it anyways because we know how they are. They don't care. Your illness is an inconvenience to them.
I was outside last night helping pick up sticks in the yard with her. She didn't ask me. I went out there on my own and helped. I also did a bunch of laundry last night. I made dinner. I got the 2 year old a bath and ready for bed. This morning I got up with the 2 year old, got him ready for daycare, dropped him off at daycare, and came back home to work.
She left at 7:40 this morning with the 5 year old to take him to daycare. From 8 am until 9:30 am she was gone wandering around Target, doing whatever she felt like. During that time, I was working. She came home at 9:30 and immediately came upstairs and started yelling at me. I've been up for hours and have done absolutely nothing. I'm such a lazy piece of shit. There's dishes everywhere. The house is a mess. I haven't done anything outside. She's so sick of how lazy I am and how I do absolutely nothing unless she yells at me to do stuff. Then I magically do stuff. She's never met anyone in her entire life as lazy as me. She's so sick of it. I'm such a lazy piece of shit. I don't care about her house or respect her or her house. I need to just move out because I don't help.
Funny, considering:

• I've been working since 8 am. While you spent 90 minutes wandering around Target, doing absolutely nothing.
• The dishes she's referencing? From her and her 5 year old son (from a previous relationship) this morning.
• Nope, you're right, I didn't go outside this morning and work in the yard. I've been working at you know, my job. That pays me. And I was outside working in the yard last night.
• Never mind the fact that I do all kinds of shit around here on a daily basis.

I knew this was coming. It's a routine, repeating thing. It happens every 2-3 weeks. Or more. Usually more during the summer months because of the yard and it needing to be taken care of. For the last several days she's been making consistent comments about how there's so much to do in the yard. How she could use help. How she'd like my help. So I knew the blow up was coming. Was just a matter of when.

As soon as Bystials get here I'm buying 4k worth of packs as singles and 4k in bundles hopefully it will give us a clue on which way actually gives more URs.
I've done this before and have averaged 4 URs in 12 singles vs 2 URs in a 10 pack bundle.
With SR it's even better, around 8 in 12 singles vs 5 in a 10 pack bundle.
Will upload the purchase videos on launch day spending 2k that day and 2k on a later date to see if that also affects UR rates.

Note: I make fun of books and authors, so if you really can’t take being poked at, Spindle Manor will do the poking for you with their long, sexy legs.
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Table of Contents: ctrl + f:
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Updates: #
Stats: ^
Recs: *
Conclusion: @
Answers: ~
Theme: Ö
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Welcome back to Reviewless Review Recs of May!
A short introduction to this post: Every book is recommended, regardless of how bad it is or not. You have the brain capacity to decide if you like it or not, don’t let a stranger make a decision for you.
I speak in the second POV and describe what the book is actually about, and not the false advertising of publishing companies. I do this with shitty jokes and satire and try to convince you to pick up the book, regardless of how I feel about it.
Unlike Hoover, all books deserve a chance….Sigh, OK, fine, fine, Barbara. Even….Even...Eleventh Cycle.
ARE YOU HAPPY, NOW, B-
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May:
May was filled with disappointment that a jury vote existed and the king of Finland didn’t win Eurovision. The world unanimously cried, but couldn’t be that mad that Loreen won.
Except this bitch.
I fucking wanted Alika to win so badly. I even voted and paid for the first time to give all my votes to her. Her song spoke to me and touched me that it’s never too late to go back to my work.
If Bomanz from Black Company can become a famous sorcerer at his rickety age, maybe we can too!
My favorites of Eurovision (from music videos only, I feel like every one of my favs bombed someway except Finland, France, and Norway):
Estonia
France
Austria
Czechia (wtf was that live performance...)
Finland
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In ACTUAL book news, I’ve been waiting patiently for the library to hand me the newest Mark Lawrence book that I’ve been waiting literally 3 and a half weeks now, but I still get bumped down on Libby...for some reason. Eh.
Also since I managed to finish “She Who Rides the Storm”, I finally started “Elantris”. Was a long time coming but was saving it for a while and thought it was finally time to tackle Sanderson. I started Way of Kings with the paperback version and boy, that was a mistake for my ADHD…
And, that’s why I got a Kindle last year.
Anywho, let’s get started!
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Some Updates: #
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• I started comparing last month’s stats with this month, just to see how everything is progressing cause I like working with numbers!
• As requested by a user, I have made the recs longer
• At the end of each Rec, I put a theme song that I thought fit each book appropriately. You can tell how much I loved Eurovision this year.

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Stats: ^
Books read this month: 10 (+3)
Books I started*:* 13 (=)
Total amount of words I read (approx): 1,050,508 (-414,261,565) according to last month...I read way more. Not sure why the numbers are this drastic
Books published 2010+ : 8 (N/A)
Mary Sues & John Smiths: 11, give or take (7+)
YA books: 5 (+4)
Good smut scenes: 1 (+1?) I think it was in the Witcher, say what you will about the series, the man knows how to write smut
Light Novels read: 0 (-2)
Books that felt Souls-like: 6 (+2)
Audiobooks: 4 (N/A)
How many brain cells I lost: 529 (+500)
Brain cells gain: 175 (N/A)
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What other stats do you guys want to see?
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Guessing Game:
Want to know the real rating I gave each of these books anyway, even though the true spirit of this post is to decide for yourself anyway? I know there’s one of you fuckers in here, but here, guess the ratings and the answers are revealed at the end. You anarchist, you.
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Reviewless Review Recs: \*
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Seven Faceless Saints by M.K. Lobb*:* Read if you're in the ages 14-18, as this is possibly the most edgiest thing you might read about fictional Italy. Two teens are trying to solve a murder mystery in an alternate universe where Catholicism reigns supreme. Wait.
As an adult, this is a living personification of that one prozd video.
If you ever played Phoenix Wright, you’ll figure out the murderer in 5 seconds. If you haven’t, then maybe this would come as a surprise.
Atheism is talked about on the nose, you can't stop thinking about “Friends” because of "Roz" being mentioned every other second, and our intrepid MC goes to horny jail every other second when she's literally fighting for her life and not focusing on a gun that could disembowel her.
PTSD of war is represented by the male MC who probably once could be have been the trope of the “nice guy” in school that you never had had interest in, but 3 years later, because he sported 5 o’ clock shadow and has a barotone voice, he’s automatically hot.
Oh, and there are token bi, POC, and elderly people, but they’re only mentioned for a few pages, so don’t expect that much diversity. You think Archer, Maas, and Lobb could actually be friends with each other given how they write their books. A secret society. cough
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Ö Theme: Heat Waves – Lime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOokFwrmri4
Ö Runner up clip: Moist maker (this sandwich is actually GOAT, made it several times): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9FG4kg8HNU
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Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman :
Read if Percy Jackson wasn’t edgy and dark enough for you and need something similar. Uniorinically, this is actually not satire but an actual (sorta) rec. Structure is similar to Jackson but with none of the jovial themes and tropes. Think “Lightning Thief”, only dark and edgy with grotesque monsters and, not urbanite Greek deities, but evil people from the Crusades era.
You keep thinking you’ll meet the 4th character in the Sanderson reunion tour, but there’s actually only 3 characters that are on this journey, not 4. So that Italian will actually not join us even though you liked his character a ton and curse at yourself at a potential LGBT partner dude. One day.
You will also find yourself crying, not because of how the story ended, but how the epilogue ended and boot up AO3 to fix everything.
You probably should(n’t) give this book to your aunt for reasons you know in the back of your mind but your evil AF. Maybe offer this to at Christmas and explain that it’s a book about a pilgrimage...(which isn’t totally wrong) but you’re a little bastard that is gonna get an ass whopping next Christmas, but it’ll be worth it.
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Ö Theme: Alika- Bridges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO9g5t3VSuw
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Time of Contempt (Volume (???)) by Andrzej Sapkowski (Witcher)
Read if you want to see Geralt turn into a woke ally Boomer, Yennefer going to relationship counseling, and Ciri gets her wish in more ways than one. If you’re comparing Witcher books with each other, quality has gone up since Blood of Elves if that’s what you’re concerned about. We also see the Abyss Watchers making an appearance and then you think of Jerma’s Rat song in your head for inexplicable reasons.
This book is mostly about Yennefer trying to employ questionable (albeit understandable) parenting tactics on Ciri and being caught up in the after math.
As usual, book is dated towards rape, but the only saving grace is it’s “off screen” and not in your face, “Eleventh Cycle”, knock that shit off
Let’s be real, you can’t treat this series as a separate unique book to it’s own, it’s more of a long ass story that Sapkowski decided for marketing reasons to space it out in 300+ page books.
If you ask me what makes this more interesting than the previous books, it will be like asking me which regional orange looks different and bitch, I don’t got energy for that shit.
Ö Theme: Rats Birthday Mixtape
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The Curse of the Spectre Queen / The Rise of the Snake Goddess by Jenny Moke
Read if you like to imagine Indiana Jones as a teenage girl, but loves books. Instead of meeting hot girls, we meet hot 1920s men, which you get to decide how good or bad that is.
The BAMF slays and you wish we had her as our Jones instead of our shy book loving MC, but hey, at least this MC has at least one quality to her that has way more personality that anything Shannon can hope to write in her stories. (Yes I know she writes her books as if they were history books, that’s not the point, Meredith)
Spectre Queen’s plot is literally another book that will make you hug trees and will lead our characters across to Ireland. The next book is about a girdle, that you literally had to Google wtf a girdle was. You first thought it was a grill.
You wonder if the publishing agency struck a deal with the Irish and Crete travel agencies.
You also make a startling discovery that these characters are your OC from high school and middle school and your love interest OC from college mashed up into an adventure book that is oddly less erotic than anything Maas could create. You decide how good or bad that is.
Ö Theme: Indiana Jones Theme Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bTpp8PQSog
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Mordew by Alex Pheby
Read if you want to read an MC bland as hard tack inherit powers that don’t make sense till past the 70% mark. You want to read a dark YOUTH ADULT novel. Can’t find anything that’s edgy and dark enough for you? Well, here it is!
Dark mansion with Igor from the Velvet Room with an obvious villain being obvious, befriending a young boy that supposedly wants the best for him.
What can go wrong?
There are Souls-like elements weaved in, but you’re not going to see much of it. It’s mostly a vibe/fart than a plot or atmosphere.
What this book is pretty much: boy wants to help dad, there are weird monsters living in the mud, and a mansion that totally wants to abduct/help kids. Totally. Oh, and be aware, animals die in this book. A lot. An entire species is pretty much annihilated for teenage hormonal reasons that won’t make sense even if you’re still a teen. (Yes, I was one too and I also didn’t go on genocides. Thanks, Dad, you are a gem.). Oh, and someone fucked an anthropomorphized hedgehog along the way. Yeah. That happened.
If you go into this book, DO NOT READ THE BLURB! It ruins the whole plot of the entire book. If you buy/rent it, don’t you dare flip to the back side. Just open to the first chapter and start reading. You’re welcome, Matt.
Ö Theme: La Zarra – Evidemment Unironically, I think this song fits rather well with Mordew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWfbEFH9NvQ
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Ö Runner up clip: Running in the 90s: You know why... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ0xBCwkg3E
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She Who Rides the Storm by Catelin Sangster
Read if you like Sanderson and wished he focused more on the characters rather than the world building. You also like the ooey gooey feeling of finding a red/blue ship that you wished was the main pairing, but you’ll have to settle them being the side ship. Oh god, why, every single time?!
While it does have romance tilt to it, this book focuses more on finding a cure for a mysterious illness and two of the characters are refugees from a religious cult that loves sunshine and that one weird horse mount from the Empire Strikes Back that you couldn’t take the auroshees seriously because of that.
Imagine that desert bar scene in A New Hope, but make it a whole book. But make it about a heist as a side plot that is barely touched on until the last 20% of the novel.
You also love doing puzzles in your spare time as you’ll be doing a lot of piecing together of the plot and world building from chapter to chapter. Unlike my problems, this one is pieceable and the last remaining piece is dangled over your head until the next book.
...Sangster is probably going to make you pay $20 for this singular piece, ain’t she?
Ö Theme: First Aid Kit - The Lion’s Roar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqS1MV_xA_I
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Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain
Read if you want to have a blunt conversation with Bourdain about food, the faults of the kitchens, what not to do if you want to be a chef, and to be transported to the deepest, darkest alley where you might be knifed, but goddamn, the best chicken heart can be found here.
If you’re a bitch that’s easily spooked by curse words, then this probably isn’t for you. Though...you can sneak this to your cook boyfriend if you want to break up, because he already read the fucking book, Berta, I thought you knew him better by now!...Now you can finally segway to break up. Congratulations!
You’ll see the workings of a mind that was suffering. That was the reflection of this entire autobiography. Suffering and food. That’s life in reality, ain’t it?
Don’t expect cohesion or a semblance of logical flow of pacing. This book, like Mr. Bourdain’s mind, was a cluster fuck of erotically describing food, the dark corners and reality of the cooking world, and shitting on people because they were dicks.
He is sorely missed, and this isn’t a bit, but I still mourn his loss to the world. The world needs him again.
RIP to the GOAT.
Ö Theme: Okami – Sei-an (Aristocratic Quarter II) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxXsEqNBTYE (Because he’s timeless and immortal even beyond death)
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Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
Read if you got tired of everything happy and sunshine in Percy Jackson and wanted blood, death, knives, SKELETONS, AND 12 year olds that are surprisingly self aware of the fact that they’re a teenager. You want less consumerism and capitalism than what Percy Jackson pushed down your throat. Finally, no mentions of those fucking gold arches, Riordan.
Oddly, no parents are dead in this book. In every YA book you read, there is at least one parent dead, gone to get milk, or playing Tears of the Kingdom. Pleasant surprise for this narrator.
You are also a person that hates world building that lastS for pages and pages. There’s none of that in this book. Expect pages of dialogue like it’s a transcript of my parent’s arguments.
Mom, I don’t agree with you. No, I don’t agree with you either, Dad. You fucking little….Just plant the damn fig tree, for fuck’s sake.
From other sources, apparently the book series gets darker as books go on, so take that as you will. Listening to Eminem and Linken Park between books may increase levels of angst in the subsequent books.
Side effects include: angst, a potentially bi-found family that lasts 10 seconds, fear of skeletons, mourning for fictional characters, and teenagers being oddly logical.
Post script: This would actually make an excellent autumnal book cause of spoopy skeletons.
Ö Theme: Lose Yourself – Eminem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YuAzR2XVAM (I was yesterday old when I realized “Mom’s spaghetti” lyrics was this song)
Ö Runner up clip: Spooky scary skeletons
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The White Rose (Volume 3 of the Black Company) by Glen Cook
Read if you liked having Charm flashbacks of Volume 1, but want a great dopamine rush in Volume 3.
Night Circus got nothing on this book for reasons you’ll figure out later. Expect a lot of weird crack shenanigans such as talking rocks just to name an example. The Lady’s character is fleshed out a lot more than previous volumes. Twists and turns are aplenty and Croacker complaining he’s too old like an old grandpa shopping 10 AM at a Walmart.
Funny enough, Morgenstern is a lot related to this book in more ways than one. Move over, lady, Cook was the original writer of Night Circus, caramel popcorn and candy apples be damned! We’re eating crusty bread and thickened stew, bitch!
You’re not going to be at the edge of your seat until the last percentage of the book, but it’s worth the dopamine rush and emotions that are given in the end, long after you put the book down. You will find yourself wandering around the library wondering how you returned from a reality of flying manta rays and talking rocks...to old ass Swedes loitering in the lobby, discussing where to fika next.
You’ll need a lot of Monsters to process your emotions tonight.
You also finally figure out where Miyazaki got the inspiration for the Storm King in Demon Souls. All this time, you got mad at Miyazaki for inserting a giant manta ray for disappointing climax reasons. No. He may have understood Black Company more than we thought.
Coleydoesthings is also screaming at the top of her lungs by the end of the book, crying into her body pillow.
Ö Theme: MSR – Lord of the Wolves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izFwwGx-wmo (Someone help me on the EX Stages omfg)
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Conclusion: @
I’ll be traveling soon, so the books might be on the short side, but my dumbass quality will remain. Just sprinkled with a lot of curry, chapati, and a big helping of obesity.
God, my thighs can’t take anymore of America.
I think I’ll have fun reading Elantris cause it’s literally a love letter to Soulsbourne and I might learn a bit from it! Can’t wait for it!
I know it’s not book related too much, but what were y’alls favorite in Eurovision?
(Did anyone feel like Armenia just spent money to send that girl an expensive Tinder profile?)
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Answers: ~
Seven Faceless: 2/5
Between Two Fires: 3/5
Time of Contempt: 4/5
Curse and Snake: 3.95/5 & 4/5
Mordew: 1.5/5
She Who Rides the Storm: 3.9/5
Skullduggery: 3/5
Medium Raw: 4/5
White Rose: 4.5/5
If you have any constructive feedback, I’m open to them! Hope you enjoyed this month’s Recs!

Every individual has a baseline level of sexual energy. In the same way every person has a different height or has a different sleeping pattern. Some require 8 hours of sleep others 6 hours.
People with low baseline sexual energy need to retain desperately if they don't they end up in a very dark place. These are people that have the potential to become homeless, drug addicts and criminals if they don't retain.
People with high baseline sexual energy don't need to retain much and will still do great in life. Ofc. if they retain they will do even BETTER.
So if you have a naturally high baseline level of sexual energy you will get benefits very potently and very quickly.
Raising the baseline. Yes it can be raised by having multiple long streaks. This means that you if you've had a few streaks of 50+ days and then you relapse, you will get the benefits faster and more intensely than before. I remember at one point having raised my baseline sexual energy levels to such a degree that I had day 20 benefits on day 1.
Lowering the baseline. Ofc. if you relapse and you binge, and the next day again, the next again. You are at risk of lowering your baseline level of sexual energy and the benefits will take longer to manifest. I also had experience with this. In my previous streak it took me 40+ days to get benefits that I usually get around day 20.
What is this baseline sexual energy? I have no clue it could genetic, a concoction of hormones and neurotransmitters interacting with each other and that are readily available for each different individual. Experience wise I would describe it as the level of urge/horniness you feel. That is the strongest correlation with sexual energy.

Hello.
If this post is not allowed, please delete it.
I am NOT an ice fisher. However, I am writing a story that involves an ice fishing shack. It is a mystery novel set in northern Michigan.
I want to know if there is a device used by ice fishers that is a sort of net that could "catch" a clue that the killer deliberately throws into a hole in an ice fishing shack after murdering someone. Basically, the clue is very important (spark plugs). A smart killer would just stash them in the snow or throw them into the frozen lake through the hole and that would be the end of that. However, it is a mystery story that needs to be solvable to the sleuth.
The Problem: The clue needs to be discoverable by the sleuth or the ice fishermen.
Any suggestions on what kind of net I might have in the story where the net is not completely obvious to the killer? I want the killer to THINK they are successfully getting rid of the evidence, only to have one of the ice fishermen retrieve the "catch" and find the pivotal clue. The murder happens around 2 am in January. I don't know if that helps or not.
Anyway, I apologize if it was wrong to post here, but I had to take a shot. I don't know anyone in RL that ice fishes. If I was wrong in posting this here, please remove the post. Thank you.

I'm looking for more Beta readers! As a beta reader, you'll be mainly expected to help me with making narrative decisions and help shape the story. Editing is always great and appreciated, but not require. So if you're interested, leave a comment or shoot me a DM!
Elijah Commission
Azeline Commission
The Little Menace
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If you want to read 3 chapters ahead, check out my Patreon!
Support me by upvoting me or leaving a comment!
I also have the series uploaded to Royal Road, come leave a comment and give me a review by clicking HERE
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"I understand your plight, but unfortunately, I have my own circumstances I need to attend to," Salvanius said, leaning back in his chair. "Therefore, I'm unable to provide any transportation to Aldenshor."
Elijah had his hand covering his eyes while his elbow rested on Salvanius' desk. "I don't get it, the magical tool YOU were going to receive was stolen too," he said, looking up at the Demigod with an exhausted expression.
Having spent the better half of an hour negotiating with Salvanius, Elijah and his crew were beginning to reach the end of their patience. Each and every attempt to convince ‘his grace’ to chase after the thieves were met with half hearted excuses or flat out denials. It got to the point where Elijah glanced over to Theodius and seriously considered just taking him hostage in order to force a pursuit.
“That may be, but my duties dictate that I focus my attention elsewhere.” Salvanius replied, staring intensely at the mortal across from him. “And as much as it pains me, I cannot afford to turn around and delay my mission.”
Dragging his hand across his face, Elijah let out an exasperated sigh and asked, "Let me guess, the magical tool that I still currently hold on to will greatly enable you to complete your mission and thus, you can free up one of your ships..." He knew the game that was being played, and to be honest, he was surprised at just how shrewd this Holy Man actually was.
A smile spread across Salvanius’ face, elated at Elijah’s perceptiveness. "Indeed," he admitted. "The tool you possess is invaluable to my cause, but are you sure you’re allowed to make this decision and not your master?" He asked, looking at the fairy happily eating a biscuit on the desk.
Yana had been completely ignoring the exchange, her focus solely on the delightful treat she was consuming. Realizing the focus had turned to her, she perked up and waved her hand dismissively. "Ya, whatever, he can handle it," she said nonchalantly, going back to chomping away.
Salvanius clapped his hands together with a large smile spread across his face. "Very well," he said, turning his attention back to Elijah. "If that’s her decision, then I shall accept your gracious gift.” He said, leaning forward.
Elijah began tapping on the desk in one second intervals as he glared daggers at the Demigod in front of him. His eyes scanned the room, eventually settling on Theodius, who wore a goofy expression and shifted excitedly in place. For a brief moment, Elijah considered the idea of taking the oddball hostage, thinking it might be less painful than losing his potentially only bioscanner.
But, that thought was quickly dismissed as his gaze shifted to Rhea.
Shame consumed Rhea as she stared at the ground, her face etched with a painful look. The realization that her Liege was extorting the very people who had done nothing but help them weighed heavily on her conscience. Glancing up, Rhea noticed Elijah’s impassive gaze rested on her and for a moment, she wanted to voice her deepest apologies, but the foreign man just shook his head and turned back to Salvanius to continue their negotiations.
“... I have terms.” Elijah said, knocking his knuckles against the table.
Salvanius narrowed his eyes, “You have… Terms? Do you really think you’re in a position to dictate terms?” He asked incredulously.
Still wearing his impassive look, Elijah clenched his jaw and leaned back in his chair. "I wouldn't call it dictating terms. You’re more than free to refuse." He replied.
A rapturous laughter left Salvanius' lips as the man slapped the desk in front of him, the sound echoing in the room. "Well, you certainly have gall," Salvanius said, his expression shifting to a scowl. "But you should also remember whose presence you’re in." He growled as his hands dug into the table.
Pressing the tips of his fingers together, Elijah leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk and kept his same impassive expression. “And you should remember who understands this magical tool.” he said in a bored tone.. “Because I can guarantee you that you’ll never get it to work without my help and the cost of this tool… is significantly higher." The words were sharp, but his tone was even and controlled.
A loud crunch rang out as Salvanius glared daggers at Elijah with an enraged face. “And if I just kill you all and take the tool for myself," he snarled
Elijah didn't flinch; he maintained his calm composure, despite the literally God just across from him that seemed to be fuming. "You could," he admitted coolly, "but then you’d have a useless rock with no hopes of activating it.”
Salvanius ground his teeth, visibly struggling to control his temper. He couldn’t deny that there was a strong possibility that the mortal in front of him may be telling the truth, but his pride made it difficult to accept. The strange device used no magic he had ever seen before and functioned in a way that was completely alien to him.
“Surely my scholars and Artificiers would eventually figure it out," The Demigod argued, attempting to regain some control over the situation.
Both Elijah and Bennett looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter that had them clutching their sides. The mere thought of a bunch of primitives who didn’t even have plumbing would somehow figure out optical computing was simply too hilarious to entertain.
Managing to regain his composure enough to form a coherent sentence, Elijah wiped a tear from his eye and looked at the shocked Demigod. "Oh, trust me," he said, still chuckling, "your ‘scholars’ would be stumped for centuries, if not several millennia! Hell, I doubt they’ll ever figure it out in their lifetime!"
Bennett elbowed Elijah’s side, “I would be surprised if they managed to make an abacus let alone figure out what a logic gate was!” He added into the joke causing another round of laughter.
With pride wounded by the laughter, Salvanius couldn’t help but glower at the two mortals mocking him. Never in his life had anyone DARED mock him let alone insult him to such a degree and lived. A snap rang out as Salvanius' fingers dug through the table and squeezed into a tight fist, but just as he was about to order Rhea to kill them, the woman already had her weapon drawn.
However, he soon noticed the woman was not defending his honor, but the angry looking Vanir that somehow materialized in front of his face. One second she was happily munching away at a biscuit on the desk and the next she was floating in front of him glaring at him viciously with glowing violet eyes.
“Nuh-uh!” Yana shouted as she stuck her finger out at Salvanius'. “Don’t even try it you idiot!”
Salvanius hesitated, his rage momentarily dampened by a very primal fear that he’s never felt before. Something about this legendary creature caused his instincts to scream that he was underestimating the tiny thing and he would deeply regret any errant moves. Closing his eyes and letting out a deep breath, Salvanius composed himself to cover up the brief moment of weakness. "You have no right to address me in such a manner, Vanir." He opened his eyes and glared at Yana, his voice full of authority. “Nevertheless, in light of your contributions, I shall overlook this insult.”
Yana narrowed her eyes and held Salvanius' gaze for a few more seconds before letting out a harrumph. “No funny business, whelpling! They’re MINE and MINE alone!” She barked before floating off, muttering more insults as she returned to enjoying her treat.
Seeing Salvsnius' his hand dismissively towards her, Rhea slowly sheathed her sword but still maintained her vigilance towards the small being on the desk. Whatever the thing had done had put everyone save for the two beastkins on edge. Even her liege had second guessed lashing out against an obvious insult in the face of… whatever that thing was.
Elijah finally settled down and pulled out his datapad. "I suppose a bit of honesty is in order here." The man said with a mocking smile on his face as the device flashed to life. “It’s not magic.”
As Salvanius looked down at the display, his rage began to simmer down, and a mixture of awe and disbelief crossed his face. With just a few taps and strokes of the mortal's fingertips, the magical tool revealed astonishing moving images so detailed he couldn’t distinguish it from reality. In addition, an ethereal melody accompanied the moving images. A harmonious blend of sounds that seemed to emanate from the device itself that left everyone in the room completely speechless and spell bound by mesmerizing audio-visual experience.
“Magnificent…” Salvanius muttered.
Never in his life had he been treated to such an exquisite experience.
"Its structure and functionality are so far beyond you or anyone else's understanding in this god forsaken world, that no matter who you gave it to or where you went, you’ll never get it to work if we don’t want it to work.” Bennett explained with a bored expression.
Salvanius remained quiet as he stared at the device as it showed an individual singing and dancing through the streets of a metropolis so grand that it boggled his mind. Buildings made of glass and iron seemed to pierce the heavens themselves, bathed in a perpetual glow of colorful light. And the people themselves… What they wore was unlike anything he had ever seen, but he soon noticed the similarities to the garments the two mortals in front of him were wearing.
“You’re… You’re lying.” He said in complete denial.
Elijah scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. “By all means, take the scanner and have your people look into it.” He said with a coy smile on his face. “After you accept our terms of course.”
Even though his pride and anger were still simmering beneath the surface, Salvanius still hesitated as he continued to stare at the mesmerizing display. It was then he remembered that his brother had initially told him that he should tread carefully around these mortals. They wielded knowledge and intellect like the sharpest of blades and one misstep could lead to disastrous consequences.
Of course Salvanius waved off his brother's wisdom as another mindless ramble from a new fixation, but now he found himself stuck. Looking between Vanir happily eating on his desk and the two mortals were completely unphased by his presence, Salvanius realized he had quite literally stuck his hand into a dark pit of vipers.
“And what are your terms…?” The Demigod said in a low voice, full of frustration.
An angry snarl formed on Elijah's face as he leaned and jabbed a finger into the desk. “You help me get my stuff back, and I’ll show that you can do a lot more than find ‘miasma’ with my scanner.” He said, with his eyes burning in hatred. “I’ll even introduce you to the wonderful world of antibiotics.”
Salvanius had absolutely no clue what they were talking about, but he still understood what they were offering must have been substantial. Especially considering his brother behind him was sweating bullets in an effort to maintain his neutral stance and expression.
However, from everything he had learned today, there was one question burning in Salvanius' mind. "What are you…?" he asked, eyeing the two with suspicion and curiosity.
Even Azeline, who had been sitting at the back with an unsurprised and detached demeanor, suddenly perked up and started paying closer attention to the conversation as Elijah and Bennett exchanged meaningful glances.
“We’re Humans.”

• ​

Flipping open the flap of the tent, Salvanius stepped outside and beckoned Elijah and his crew to follow. “I cannot task a ship of war to you at the current moment,” he said as the group walked through a maze of pyres and gallows. “Although, tomorrow I plan on Rhea to make a return trip to our homeland in order to update my father on the spread of corruption, and Aldenshor just so happens to be on the way.”
“And we can hitch a ride with him?” Elijah inquired, his interest piqued.
Salvanius nodded as his head turned to one of his Junior Knights that had a troubled look on their face. “That’s correct, and I’ll also have Rhea, empowered with my authority, accompany you.” He said, narrowing his eyes at the Knight. The man was overseeing a contingent of town guards as they corralled a group of Ferfolk slaves and a female Beastkin near the end of the dock. “She’ll be returning to the Holy Dominion as well in order to raise another Crusade and hunt down both your items, and the Kraven thugs that orchestrated the theft.”
Just as he finished, the Demigod marched over to the scene and loomed just behind the unwitting knight as looked over the terrified group to deliberate their fate. “Are you sure there’s no evidence to corroborate whether they’re heretics or assisting heretics?” The Junior Knight asked, looking over at the beastkin guard.
“Ah… No me lord. We were only able to find the bodies of some gang-I mean heretics that were slain by uhh, yer guests in their establishment.” he guard responded, stammering slightly under the pressure.
The Junior Knight frowned, his brow furrowed in frustration. "Then we cannot simply assume their guilt. There must be a proper investigation to determine their involvement, if any."
"Sir Elic, I understand your concerns,” Salvanius, overhearing the conversation, stepped in. “but we cannot afford to let any potential heretic slip through our fingers." He said looking over at the terrified group of girls. “The likeliness of whores to be in leagues with these fiends are too great, just hang them and be done with it.”
An aghast look spread across the faces of the women as they all simultaneously started screaming and pleading for mercy, tears streaming down their faces. The gut-wrenching sobs and desperate cries filled the air, creating an atmosphere of utter despair.
Sir Elic was clearly troubled by Salvanius' order, but didn’t hesitate. "Yes, right away your grace!" He said, nodding at the town guards.
The guards begrudgingly began to move forward, their faces a mix of unease and determination. As they approached the women, their hands shook slightly, betraying their own reservations about the task at hand.
Elijah, who had been observing the situation, stood there with a frown on his face as he watched Mara and the Ferfolk women be dragged towards the makeshift gallows. He closed his eyes for a moment and turned his thoughts inwards as the guards forcibly wrapped ropes around their necks. "Wait," he interjected with a calm, but firm voice.
All eyes turned to Elijah, and the guards hesitated in their actions. Salvanius raised a questioning eyebrow, clearly irritated by the interruption. "What is it now?" he demanded, his tone impatient.
“I can vouch for them.” Elijah said, opening his eyes and looking towards the Demigod.
Salvanius' expression shifted from annoyance to curiosity. "You vouch for… whores?" he asked, studying the ‘Humans’ as if he was growing an extra head.
"Yes," Elijah replied, maintaining eye contact. "They helped us a lot and made us feel at home when we first got here." He said confidently. “And as a stranger in a strange land, I find that’s worth a great deal.”
Silence reigned as Salvanius' gaze flicked back to the women, who were still trembling with fear, before looking back at Elijah in agitation. A hand came to his head in an effort to soothe his growing headache, and sighed in resignation. "I don’t have time for this… Very well.” And with a wave of his hand, the guards began to remove the ropes from the women’s necks.
Once freed, the group of women breathed a collective sigh of relief. Mara looked at Elijah with a mixture of gratitude and pain as she slowly made her way over to the man. “I… I… I’m so-”
Elijah put a hand to stop her. “Just say thank you.” He said in an annoyed fashion, with his arms crossed.
Mara hesitated for a moment, then nodded with a tearful smile. "Thank ye..," she said softly, her voice filled with gratitude. “Thank ye for everything.”
The Ferfolk, still visibly shaken, managed to express their gratitude with soft murmurs of thanks as they bowed their heads in deference towards their savior. Their eyes conveyed a mix of relief, fear, and newfound admiration for the man who had intervened on their behalf.
“Your dick is going to get you killed one day.” Bennett said impassively as he stared at the gaggle of women being escorted out of the hellscape.
“Shut the fuck up.” Elijah responded in annoyance.
Turning towards the Demigod, he refocused his attention on the matter at hand. "So when will we be joining Rhea on her trip back to the Holy Dominion?" he asked, wanting more details.
Salvanius stared long and hard at Elijah in an effort to figure him out, but realizing that was a fruitless endeavor. "Tomorrow at dawn.” He answered, shaking his head. ”We still need to prepare provisions and the crew for departure.”
"Understood," Elijah replied, acknowledging the tight schedule. "But can we spend the night on the ship? I’d rather leave as soon as possible,” he inquired, his eyes showing a sense of urgency.
Considering the request for a moment, Salvanius weighed the risks of any potential risks or complications before ultimately nodding in agreement. "Very well. You and your crew may stay on board tonight. I'll inform Rhea of the arrangement."
"Thank you," Elijah said gratefully.
The thought of having to go back to the tavern after everything that had happened made him feel incredibly uncomfortable, and he’d just rather not deal with it. By staying on the ship, he could at least avoid a terribly awkward situation and focus on getting out of here as soon as possible.
With a nod, Salvanius spun on his heel and strode away, his cape billowing behind him as he went to oversee the inquisition's work.
Rhea however, lingered as her gaze rested firmly on the Vanir that was taking in the scenery around her with a disturbing glee. Catching the Knight Captain's gaze, Yana swiftly darted toward her at incredible speed. Rhea instinctively flinched, expecting to be hit, but found that the small being had stopped just inches from her face. Yana appeared to be examining her intently, her curious violet eyes studying every detail of Rhea's features.
The knight captain seemed just as curious, but saw the Vanir's hand stretch out in an attempt to touch her face when a voice called out. “Yana! Dont.” Elijah barked out in a scolding tone.
Yana froze in place, her hand just a millimeter away when she turned around with a scornful look. "But she smells so familiar!" she protested, her eyes darting between Rhea and Elijah, her curiosity unabated.
"What did I say about messing with people I like?" Elijah admonished, raising an eyebrow at the tiny Vanir.
Giving the Knight Captain a derisive look, Yana finally relented and slowly floated over to Elijah. She landed squarely on his head with a scowl on her face, clearly unhappy about having curiosity unquenched. Rhea, on the other hand, finally let go of the breath she didn’t know that she was holding before spinning around herself and making off to catch up with her Liege.
Heaving a sigh, Elijah turned around to look back at his crew. "Alright... Let's go get our shit and go do whatever, I guess," he said, rubbing his head.
“Ya, you can have fun with that, I’m going back to the magic shop.” Bennett replied, immediately walking off in the direction of the city center
Elijah raised his hand in order to stop Bennett, but ultimately stopped in the realization that anything he said or did would have fallen on deaf ears. Instead, Elijah simply grumbled obscenities as he turned to Azeline. "Come on, let's go get our stuff and go find Auri," he said with defeat evident in his voice.
​
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This year marks exactly 550 years since the founding of the Sistine Chapel, sacred place of Musei Vaticani and principal site of Papal Conclave
We have created its 3D virtual copy and marked in it all the main IP-attractions.
Now everyone can go to the heart of the Vatican to leisurely wander under the virtual vaults and explore the most symbolic and important frescoes for intellectual property rights.
Go without queuing at the link below, tickets and dressing rooms are a thing of the past!
Can you find all the sights? Write in the comments.
Just share the link with your friends, and then you can do the unique thing of a mass tour without people around! Isn't it wonderful? Oh wondrous new world!
Link: https://brandnew.claimsip.com/promo/chapel/

In my novel, the love established protagonist, an angel, falls into Hell after her human form is destroyed. She soon finds herself in Hell, taken captive by the faction controlled by the antagonist. She's close to being tortured and killed by her captors, however, the demon who discovered her wandering the wastes of Hell, aimlessly after the fall, sees the value in keeping someone who was deep in their enemies council. He also pities her, as he more than the other demons remembers what is was like to be an angel. He ends up making her a member of his household staff to ensure her safety from the other antagonists that would harm her. This isn't entirely selfless, he's the Prince of Lust, and is hoping to eventually corrupt her into one of servants.
Though under her protection, another high ranking Demon tries to assault her, and acting fast she defends herself, Mortally wounding him, but is overpowered and nearly strangled to death. The Prince, drawn to the commotion, arrives and tries to pacify the situation, but is forced to kill the other high-ranking demon, something he can't get away with, even being a Prince. He and the angel are dragged in front of the Queen, and the protagonist lies about the situation, to make it seem like they were attacked unprovoked, and though suspicious, the Queen pardons them.
After basically saving the Prince's life with that lie, the two realize that whatever happens going forward, they're dependent on each other to survive it. There's been a lot of physical attraction and desire up until this point, but it's around this time, that she goes to him and puts herself in a position where he'll pursue her, and they begin sleeping together. Months go by, and they're behaving like a proper couple, unofficially, as he's in the nobility and set to marry someone else.
I Hate that I wrote their chemistry so well. Because the Protagonist was in a long established relationship before she went to Hell. She assumes her husband was killed in the same battle she was, and her husband lit her funeral pyre earlier in the novel. She doesn't think she's going to see her husband again, but come the end of the novel, husband is going to manage to descend into Hell on an unrelated mission and discover her there. When they see each other under the new circumstances, I don't think I can take it.

Dude is considered a legend, made the Top 50 list in '96 before he even turned 30 years, has his number retired and a statue in the Bulls arena, was a no doubt hall of famer, made the updated Top 75 list.
Man got to play next to Michael Jordan and is SALTY about it. Like come on man, even when Jordan retired, you get more "atta boys" for taking a team to Game 7 of the 2nd round of the Playoffs as the best player than just about any Top 75 player in history.
You played a big role and you got your due, but would anybody have any clue who Scottie Pippen was 30 years later if it weren't for Michael Jordan? Jordan was a guy that was already considered the best player in the world before Scottie was an anybody, they won in '88 against Cleveland with Jordan scoring 45 PPG and Pippen a rookie playing around 20 MPG off the bench. On every team they played on together, Jordan was the clear best player, there was never a single moment where it was debatable or there was no doubt. Of course he got more media attention, he was the better player, but Pippen wasn't considered chop liver and was always viewed as the perfect #2 guy for the Bulls, so much so that "Pippen" is used still to this today to mean just that. It's not an insult.
The Bulls were a hot mess when Jordan got there, but I think you'd have a hell of a lot easier team finding a suitable 2nd best player to get at least a couple rings building around Jordan than building a champion around Pippen.
Anyways, in the grand scheme of dice rolls of how an NBA career is going to go, Scottie Pippen had it good. Like really good. Even after leaving the Bulls he played on some really good teams in Portland that were close.
Whatever is going on in his personal life, I hope he can get it sorted out, because on a basketball level, this guy has NOTHING to be legitimately salty about.

Hi, I was wandering if there would be any way to improve thermals for my Msi RTX 3080 Suprim X 10GB. On stock settings I see around 73C degrees, 82C memory temp, 87C hotspot and 1800-1900 rpm in a room with 24C degrees. I just swapped my Fractal Meshify 2 Compact to NZXT H7 Flow thinking that the extra front clearence (in Fractal case it was only 0.5 cm) would help, but it increased GPU temp by 1.7 degrees and decreased fan RPM from 2200 to 1975 which can be margin of error as I tested the Fractal case yesterday and it was cooler in my room. I have 3x120mm NF-A12x25 intake fans, 2x120mm NF-A12x25 top exhaust fans (pushed max to back) and one NF-A12x25 rear fan. Also Dual fan NH-D15s. Any suggestions what to do to lower those temps? I tried uv 1935mhz/0.956v which lowered the temps to 70C and rpm to 1700 also tried increasing case fan speed by 10% which did not change gpu temp at all.

My parents are big on camping, especially deep wilderness camping (no toilets, no cell service, hike/canoe only site access, no one else around). I despise camping and have refused to join them since my late teens.
My mom wants to bring my 2 yr old camping to one of these deep wilderness sites this summer on an island in a lake. I've said no, I think 2 is too young for this type of camping and I'm not comfortable with it. I think being around a large body of water without knowing how to swim is dangerous. My kid is just too young to listen to direction, take it seriously and understand the "whys" of what he's being told (stay away from the water's edge, don't wander off etc). I'd like him to be older when he can understand instructions and also articulate his needs better. I also think it's an unsafe sleeping situation (2 adults plus toddler in a hot tent in a very humid climate). He still sleeps in a crib without blankets so switching to a tent and sleeping bag is a big change. I worry he'll get eaten alive by bugs, won't sleep or eat (has some eating issues we're working on with his doctor) and will be all around miserable.
My mom thinks I'm being biased because I don't like camping. She insists it'll be fine because she went camping with me when I was just 2 weeks old. I was horrified to hear this because there's no way my mom packed a travel crib for that, she didn't even have a real crib at the time. So I would have been just a few weeks old in a sleeping bag with her which is just....yeah. Survivorship bias happens a lot when it comes to discussions of how I'm raising my son vs how she raised me.
I've offered to reconsider next year but she's adamant I'm overreacting and need to be less worried. I tried to compromise and say she could try sleeping in a tent with him in her yard (she lives on a large rural property). That way if it wasn't working out she could easily bring him in to his crib, but she refused that too. Apparently she's already talked to family members and has partially planned a trip, but outside of vague statements of taking him camping "someday" she didn't bring it up to me until now which irks me. And now that I'm thinking about it I feel like I shouldn't need to compromise on where my son goes, who he's with, and where he sleeps in order to keep her happy. I'm the parent and I'm not comfortable with this at this age.
So, am I right to put my foot down and say no? Should I try to compromise? What age would you allow your kid to camp without you (but with family)?

This year marks exactly 550 years since the founding of the Sistine Chapel, sacred place of Musei Vaticani and principal site of Papal Conclave
​
We have created its 3D virtual copy and marked in it all the main IP-attractions.
Now everyone can go to the heart of the Vatican to leisurely wander under the virtual vaults and explore the most symbolic and important frescoes for intellectual property rights
Go without queuing at the link below, tickets and dressing rooms are a thing of the past!
Can you find all the sights? Write in the comments.
Just share the link with your friends, and then you can do the unique thing of a mass tour without people around! Isn't it wonderful? Oh wondrous new world!
​
Link: https://brandnew.claimsip.com/promo/chapel/

So this is somewhat convoluted but here's what I got going on .

1. I clone a bard from an Inn (e.g,, Lisette) using Cheat Spell.
2. I have this clone follow me using Amazing Follower.
3. I bring this bard to my home (Castle Valdmire)
4. Tell the bard that this is their home (My Home is Your Home) and tell them they can work in the dining room (preferably playing tunes)
5. My big empty castle is filled with life

But it's not. They just wander around, standing, leaning, sitting - that's it. I've tried giving them instruments. Tried leaving some laying around. The dialogue option to request a song is also missing. I've tried it with different bards and it seems to happen to all of them.
Relevant Mods used:

• Immersive Amazing Follower Tweaks SE
• Cheat Room (XB1)
• My Home is Your Home
• Castle Valdmire (Xbox One)

Hope you enjoy this first is NEW BLOOD
By a river, a female Archosaur stalks a herd of dicynodonts called Placerias, looking for weak members to prey upon. Downstream, a male feathered dinosaur resides in a tree with his family. A female Postosuchus, a rauisuchian and one of the largest carnivores alive in the Triassic, attacks the Placerias herd, and wounds one individual; the herd scatters, leaving the wounded Placerias to the Postosuchus. Early bats are depicted feeding on dragonflies and cooling themselves in the little water remaining during the drought before being eaten by a larger dragonfly. Searching for food, a female badger like mammal, alongside another badger, discovers the dinosaur nest; the female wards them off. Later that evening, after he goes off hunting, an inquisitive chick follows but falls onto land trying to follow its father and is caught by the female badger. At night, the dinosaurs pick up their remaining pups and then move away. On the next day, the badgers work to collapse the tree. The female Postosuchus meanwhile is shown to have been wounded by the Placerias, a prior attack on them leaving her with a tusk wound on her thigh. After being unable to successfully hunt another Placerias, she is expelled from her territory by a predatory phytosaur. Wounded, sick, and without a territory, the female Postosuchus dies and is eaten by a pack of archosaurs. As the dry season continues, food becomes scarce. The Placerias herd embarks on a journey in search of water, while the archosaurs begin to cannibalise their young, and the male dinosaurs also resorts to hunting baby badgers at night. Finally, the wet season arrives; the majority of the archosaurs have survived (including the lead female), and the dinosaur pair have a new clutch of eggs. The episode ends with the arrival of a herd of giant Procoptodon like mammal which are followed by a large fox like mammal which fights and kills a Postosuchus.
TIME OF THE TITANS
This episode follows the life of a female prosauropod, beginning at the moment when her mother lays a clutch of eggs in the heart conifer forest. Three months later, some of the eggs hatch; the young prosauropods are preyed upon by fox like mammal and other dinosaurs. After hatching, the hatchlings retreat to the safety of the denser trees. They face many dangers as they grow, including predation by the foxes and existing Smilodon like mammals which are replacing the foxes increasingly . Even a giant Deinotherium like mammal accidentally also kills one of the hatchlings by swinging its tusks while fending off a pair of Smilodon like mammals and a weird crocodile like cetan. Elsewhere, adult herds of prosauropods are shown using their massive weight to topple trees in order to reach cycad leaves and giant ferns. Each one hosts a small mobile habitat of damselflies, bats, and beetles. After some time, the creche of cute creatures have grown into subadults. Nearly all are killed by a huge forest fire; only three survivors emerge onto the open plains, including the young female. They encounter several Paracetherium before only two reach safety of a herd of adult prosauropods. Several years later, the female mates, and a few days after, is attacked by a bull smilodon like mammals. She is saved when another prosauropod strikes the Allosaurus with its tail. She rejoins the herd, albeit with deep wounds on her side, but she will recover. The closing narration notes that their successors the sauropods will in the Cenozoic become the largest animals ever to walk the Earth but currently its the paracetherium.
CRUEL SEA
episode begins with a small elephant like mammal being snatched from the shore by a male Liopleurodon. It then cuts to show how dinosaurs have dominated the European islands with fauna similar to the ones in Jurassic Impact. Meanwhile, hundreds of cetans arrive from the open ocean to give birth but they are attacked by a Basilosaur look a like. Hybodus and a Liopleurodon are on the hunt; when a mother cetan has trouble giving birth, a pair of Hybodus pursue her. They are frightened off by the male Liopleurodon, which eats the front half of the cetan. Meanwhile, a Andrewsarchus like mammal the last of its kind if you forget the fox like mammals swims to an island and discovers a turtle carcass; it fights over the carcass with another. Later, during the night, a group of horseshoe crabs gather at the shore to lay their eggs, which attracts a flock of bats in the morning to eat the eggs. However, a few of the bats are caught and eaten by a giant dragonfly . While the cetan juveniles are growing up, they are hunted by Hybodus, which in turn, are prey for the Liopleurodon. While the male Liopleurodon is hunting, he encounters a female Basilosaurus like mammal; after the male bites one of her flippers, she retreats from his territory, and a group of Hybodus follows the trail of her blood. A cyclone strikes the islands, killing many animals, including several bats and the basilosaurus, who is washed ashore and eventually suffocates under his own weight. A group of small dinosaurs feed on her carcass. At the end of the episode, the juvenile cetans that survived the storm are now large enough to swim off and live in the open sea but are hunted by some other cetans.
GIANT OF THE SKIES
The episode begins with the last giant Dragonfly dead on a beach. Six months earlier, the last Dragonfly, resting among a colony of breeding giant bats in Brazil, flies off for Cantabria where he too must mate. He flies past a migrating group of chalicothere mimics and the nodosaur Polacanthus. He reaches the southern tip of North America, where he is forced to seek shelter from a storm. He grooms himself, expelling his body of fleas; the wings begin to change colour in preparation for the mating season. He then sets off across the Atlantic, which was then only 300 kilometres wide, and after a whole day on the wing, reaches the westernmost of the European islands. He does not rest there however, as a pack of dromaeosaurs are hunting horses; a young one is bullied off an Horse carcass by the adults. The Dragonfly flies to the outskirts of a forest to rest after stealing a fish from a bat, but is driven away by a flock of new fliers called Anurognathids. Flying on, he reaches Cantabria, but finds no other dragonflies and consequently he does not mate. After several days under the sun trying to attract a mate, the protagonist dragonflies dies from a combination of heat, stress and starvation. . The new replacements bats feeds on its corpse.
SPIRITS OF THE ICE FOREST
A few hundred kilometres from the South Pole, a clan of Leaellynasaura emerge during spring after several months of total darkness. They feed on the fresh plant growth (which has adapted to the changing seasons), and build nests to lay their eggs; a Koolasuchus also wakes and heads to a river, where he will stay during the summer. Out on the banks of the river, migrating herds of Macraucheia have also arrived to feed and lay their eggs. When summer arrives, many of the Leaellynasaura clan's eggs have been eaten; however, those of the matriarch hatch successfully. Meanwhile, a male Polar Smilodon like mammal and its pride hunts both the Leaellynasaura and the Macraucheia, the latter species also having to deal with blood-sucking birds the Smilodon male deals with being attacked and exiled by a larger male. When autumn arrives, the herd begins to migrate, and the Koolasuchus leaves the river to find a pool for hibernation and all the cubs of the old male Smilodon are killed. During the migration, some Muttaburrasaurus become lost in the forest; they vocalize loudly while trying to return to their herd, preventing the Leaellynasaura clan's sentries from hearing the male Smilodon approaching. It manages to kill the matriarch of the clan. Winter descends and the forest is shrouded in darkness, but the now matriarch-less Leaellynasaura clan is able to stay active, using their large eyes to help them forage for food. The clan and other creatures are also shown to use various methods of coping with the cold.. Finally, spring returns, and two Leaellynasaura males challenge each other for the right to mate, and the clan establishes a new dominant pair and the old male Smilodon kills the new male Smilodon and takes the pride back. The closing narration acknowledges that soon this landmass will be pulled closer to the South Pole and when that happens, this unique ecosystem and its inhabitants will disappear.
DEATH OF THE DYNASTY
Several months before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the last mammals are living under intense environmental stress due to excessive volcanism. A female giant Entelodont like monotremes abandons her nest, the eggs rendered infertile due to acidic pollution. Her calls for a mate are answered by a smaller male, who kills a young rhino like mammal to appease her. Three days later, after repeated copulation, she drives him off. The mother fasts as she tends to her nest, contending with raids by dromaeosaurs and Squirrel like mammals. Meanwhile, herds of deer like mammals wander between islands of vegetation among the volcanic ash, and rhinoceros rut for the right to mate, while losing their young to attacking dromaeosaurs. Only three of the Entelodont hatches ; the mother hunts one of the last elephants to feed herself and her brood. One of the last giant bats flies into the area and is killed by the last cetans. Several days later, while defending her two surviving offspring, the mother is fatally injured by the tail of an Ankylosaurus. The juveniles remain expectantly next to the carcass of their mother the next morning; several hours later, they are killed along with the other mammals in the region by the impact of a comet in the Gulf of Mexico. The impact, said to be as powerful as ten billion Hiroshima bombs, resulted in 65% of life -the mammals included- dying out in the ensuing cataclysmic changes to the climate. In an epilogue, the present-day African plains are shown; while they are now dominated dinosaurs after millions of years of recovery from the impact, they are still populated by a small group of mammals that did survive the extinction: the rodents, the squirrels and many other small vermin like mammals.
THE GIANT CLAW- TO EDIT
searches the late Jurassic islands for Therizinosaurus, who has massive and very long claws.
The episode starts off with Nigel in his ship where he shows a giant claw that scientists originally thought to be the rib of a giant turtle but was actually the claw of Therizinosaurus. He is interrupted when a giant turtle passes through and he films them. The turtle sneezes on him and Nigel sets off on his journey
Nigel comes across a nesting ground of heterodontosaurs that he crosses by using a red flag to draw their attention while one snaps at his cameraman. They travel into a forest where they watch a pack of cassowary like dinosaurs and their friends hunt heterodontosaurs. In a different forest, Nigel sets camp and finds a scorpion that he keeps. At night, a group of Mononykus like creatures approach the camp site and Nigel tries to catch one. After he caught one, he discovers that they have feathers but he puts his thumb in its mouth causing it to bleed. The next morning, Nigel finds that the Mononykus have eaten his scorpion and he packs up his camp. In the scrublands, Nigel hides in the vegetation urging his cameraman to turn off the camera when he spots a feathered predator that spooks some Mononykus.
Then Nigel waits out at a beach with some Heterodontosaurs and Mononykus as a perfect place for theropods to hunt prey. There he finds a hatched nest with the skeleton of a baby Therizinosaurus in a partially hatched egg as well as herbivore dung. Not far away, he finds a full skeleton of a Therizinosaurus. A large crocodile notices him and chases him and his cameraman into the forest. They climb onto tall tree stumps out of their reach and use a bicycle horn to scare of the raptors. After hearing commotion from the heterodontosaurs, Nigel returns to the watering hole where a feathered apex comes to scavenge and drink but is interrupted by the roar of a Therizinosaurus leading to a clash of the titans. The Therizinosaurus fends off the Tarbosaurus with its formidable claws forcing it to back down. Nigel then finds whole herd of Therizinosaurus emerging from the forest and it is a herbivore that uses its sickle-claws to hook tree and bush branches towards its mouth. Nigel ultimately concludes that it was gentle herbivore by touching one that licks him and knocks him over.
Land OF GIANTS
Nigel travels back in time with his film crew. He travels to a nearby lake, where large mammals named Brutodontids nest every year. There Nigel sees a juvenile Brutodon, where he is attacked by a giant mosasaur. Nigel then coaxes it out of the lake by splashing a stick in the water. It lays on the shore. Nigel attaches a video camera to his head and walks towards it, and demonstrates it's biting power by pushing a stick into it's mouth and having it bite down on it.
Later Nigel climbs up the volcanic slopes to get a panoramic view of the area to see Brutodon herd. Instead he finds a herd of small horses. His search leads him all the way to the coast, where he views a colony of medium sized bats on the cliffs hunting fish. Nigel doesn't return to the campsite until night, where he finds that a large predator has attacked his tent, and left all the provisions littered across the surrounding ground. He finds a single theropod dinosaur tooth jammed in a can of meat.
The next morning Nigel has set up an alarm system outside the camp so that if something breaks the laser tripwire, a loud alarm will sound, alerting Nigel. Later he tracks down the predator, where, around midday, Nigel hears a commotion further ahead. He finds a wounded horse in a rocky gully. He walks further upstream to find a smaller dead individual with a strange feathered apex predator eating it.
Later Nigel is shown flying over the ash-fields in an ultralight. Soon he finds another Sea Bat flock. After breaking away he sees a giant bat, one of the largest animal ever to fly. Soon Nigel discovers the Brutodon herd far below, so he lands the ultra light nearby his jeep. He then drives off towards the herd and locates it without any trouble.
After appreciating their gargantuan size, Nigel drives into a natural 'funnel', caused by a break in some trees. He then sets up some weighing scales designed for lorries. After several fruitless attempts, an Brutodon steps on the scales, showing that it weighs 92.3 tonnes, and Nigel explains that that's the same as 30 African elephants.
The next morning Nigel in chasing an horse 20 miles away from the camp in the jeep, when he realizes that it is actually running because a Giganotosaurus is chasing them both. Nigel narrowly escapes the predator only to meet up with the herd later in the morning to find an entire pack of Giganotosaurus mobbing the herd but most are killed.
By the afternoon the pack has singled out a juvenile, and are inflicting wounds, waiting for her to bleed to death. The hunt continues for the rest of the day and into the night, when filming is no longer possible and Nigel must leave.
The next morning, Nigel finds the herd at the nesting site beside the lake. While the females lay their eggs Nigel comments on what a magical ending this is for his dinosaur safari. Suddenly a Mosasaur lunges at him out of the water
NEW DAWN- WWB REALITY
The episode starts by showing how the mammals were dominating the land and that dinosaurs were small. Then it shows how "an asteroid the size of Mount Everest" struck the Earth and demolished the mammals, and how dinosaurs evolved into new forms thereafter. The first episode depicts the warm tropical world of the early Eocene, sixteen million years after the extinction of the giant mammals. Bats, the one of the surviving lineage of the mammals, including the giant carnivorous Mega Bat, rule this world, while dinosaurs are still very small. The setting is near the Messel pit in Germany. Due to volcanic activity, sudden bulk escapes of carbon dioxide trapped underneath lakes pose a significant hazard to the local wildlife. The episode centers around a Parkosaur family, a leaping, shrew-like dinosaur, which has emerged in the dawn hours to forage for food. As the mother forages, first in solidarity, and then with her pups, she wanders near a large predatory mammal, identified as an Ambulocetus the last cetan. A female Mega Bat, who has been taking care of the single undeveloped baby in her nest, makes two attempts to hunt a small herd of Protoceratops like dinosaurs, early ceratopsians. The first attempt fails when sounds among the vegetation betray her presence and they mob her. The second attack proves successful when the Protoceratops consume fermenting grapes and are unable to evade her attack also defends her territory from another. Unfortunately, while the mother hunts, a horde of Titanomyrma, giant carnivorous ants, encounter the baby when it dropped out of the nest, and successfully kill and eat the chick. When the female discovers her dead offspring at dusk she leaves the forest to try and start another family.
With the arrival of night, a band of lemur-like Godinotia, socialize and copulate in the dark the narration reveals how they will be the most successful in this new world. Ambulocetus finally manages to catch a Flamingo like bird near the lake edge. As the night wears on, an earth tremor unleashes trapped carbon dioxide out from underneath the lake and the gas suffocates most of the surrounding life. The Parkosaurs survive because the nest was upwind of the gas while the Bat was killed because she stayed in that area in the forest.
It is mentioned that although they survived the gas, they would ultimately leave many descendants, while the Ambulocetus, who was killed by the lethal gases, would leave none.
WHALE KILLER
This episode introduces the Mosasaur, an ancient type of mosasaur. Mosasaur became the new king of the ocean after the giant cetans of the Mesozoic died out alongside the mammals (see Cruel Sea). It was much bigger than the sharks it shared the ocean with, and it regularly ate the sharks. However, Mosasaur was still less advanced than the modern species; it still had rear flippers (that helped it during the mating) and lacked the blubber. At the same time, this program depicted the beginning of 'climate chaos' - a relatively minor extinction event between Eocene and Oligocene, also known as "The Great Cut". On land dinosaurs too have become big and huge. This episode featured Torosaurus like ceratopsians and the Andrewsarchus, a mammal that was considered to be a relative to the kings of the Cretaceous the Entelodont. Both were much bigger than the land dinosaurs featured in New Dawn episode, but their brains were still small and their behavior - primitive. They were the first true dinosaur rulers of the land and most of them would die out during "The Great Cut". As the El Nino continues and the extinction event is beginning, the female Mosasaur is forced to change her hunting ground from open seas to mangrove swamps (the future Sahara desert). There she encounters small sharks, Apidium, and Moeritherium. It is described as the last stronghold of the mammals A spinosaurid like dinosaur eats an Apidium but is too small to attack Moeritherium, The mosasaur hunts and eats one alive. She leaves.
The Torosaurus continue to strive but most of the juvenlies are killed young by the poisonous plants of their home Two Andrewsarchus steal such a calf, but begin to fight over it in order to determine which of them gets to eat it first. The calf's mother decides that the calf is alive and fights off the Andrewsarchus - for a time, but leaves when the rest of her young hatch.
The female Mosasaurus discovers a lagoon where dolphin like mammals that appeared after the mass extinction of cetans are beginning to calf. At first the smaller whales use their numbers' advantage to chase away the giant, but the female Mosasaurus eventually returns and begins to hunt and devour the calves - and this time the adults can't stop her.
Several months later Basilosaurus gives birth to her own calf, but the episode ends saying that both the mother and child are doomed to perish - but whales as a group will survive.
LAND OF GIANTS
The third episode takes place in late Oligocene Mongolia, where seasonal rains are followed by long periods of drought. It follows a mother giant hawk, an enormous herbivorous bird , and her young male calf. The mother struggles to raise her calf, fending off predators such as Dromaeosaurs and trying to teach the calf to survive on its own. The episode also follows other animals in the surroundings, including a Therizinosaurid, tyrannosaurids and iguanodontids, and the hardships they endure as the new animals from the south move in.
NEXT OF KIN
A family group of the descendants of the Apidium is down; yet another female was killed by the Troodontids that hunt them, leaving behind an orphan daughter. The males of the group, Grey and Hercules, are beginning to challenge each other for leadership, and the females are supporting Hercules rather than Grey, A bigger, more numerous group attacks, driving the focus group from their old home. Because of this, they start to migrate through the highlands of Ethiopia, searching for a new one. During their travels they meet a large stegosaurid in musth which chases them away from its territory as it tries to wow a much larger female. They settle in a area with a waterfall where many iguanodontids roam they try to scare them off but can't. However it is also home to a large allosaur type creature which kills many and drags the rest for its chicks to eat. Grey is killed in the process and using some planning they steal some of the allosaurs chicks and cause it to migrate for the safety of its chicks. That night one of the babies is stolen by a Troodontid which now rule the area without the constriction of the Allosaur. One day the female orphan is attacked by the Troodontids in full daylight when the rest rally together and try and kill the Troodontid. They settle down and some evolved descendants of the protagonist from the first episode comes and eats the lice in their fur.
SABRE TOOTH
The fifth episode shows the strange fauna of the isolated continent of South America and explores the effects of the Great American Interchange, which had happened 1.5 million years earlier. Since South America had drifted apart from Antarctica 30 million years ago, many unique dinosaurs had evolved, including a Ankylosaurus like creature , an armored armadillo-like ankylosaur with a cannon ball-sized spiked club on its tail; An edmontosaurus like dinosaur, a camel-like dinosaur with a long trunk and though not a dinosaur a large heron like pterosaur has evolved larger than the largest of the bats.
Before the continents of South America and North America collided, a 10-foot-tall predatory bear called with sabre teeth like Smilodon, had reigned as top predator. However, the great birds, migrating from the north, soon displaced them as top predators. The episode focuses on a male bear, a saber-toothed ursine, called Half Tooth, who lives a lone life in a territory of females all of their cubs are his one day two males chase him out and try to become the individuals the females mate with.
Next, the episode shows The new birds hunting down the edmontosaurs and the bears trying to protect the young from the two brothers (in vain) but they are eventually killed when they go hunting. In the background, the mammals still hunt, but give way to the birds. However, a therizinosaurid, who wanted to eat meat as diet supplement, charges the pack while the males attempted to mate, in order to eat some of the carrion. In the process, it kills the dominant rival male, enabling Half Tooth to return, kill the other male and reclaim his territory. Then he had another litter of cubs. Meanwhile the pterosaurs arrive for their winter migration.
Mammoth JOURNEY
narrator reveals that the world's climate is starting to deteriorate, bringing on an ice age. This means all animals, even the mighty titanosaurs and their symbiotic bird partners are struggling with the last of their kind living in the focus herd. One of the herd falls through a pond concealed by ice. Her sisters comfort her, and in the morning the scavengers Troodontids and humans gather gather. The herd then have no choice but to leave their fallen sister to prepare for the coming Ice Age winter. The narrator also reveals that so much water is frozen at the poles, causing sea levels to drop. A vast Ice Age forest, which today is the North Sea, supports an array of dinosaurs including a herd of titanosaurs. Also residing on the plains in summer is a new creature: Human.
Despite having no physical adaptations for the cold, they wear animal hides to keep warm. The episode's main focus is the mammoth's 400 kilometre migration to the Alps and back in the spring. Meanwhile, two stigymoloch like dinosaurs are fighting for a harem of females, but are then ambushed by the humans who kill one of the males. As the titans migrate, one of the herd and the juveniles under her care are separated and stalked by a woolly giganotosaurus, but survive.
Upon reaching the Alps, the mother and the juveniles are reunited with the herd. Here in the valleys, one of the herd lays her eggs to return next year to raise the survivors and the birds mate with each other and a new generation is born, some leave into the Alps but many stay with their parents. The episode also focuses on the Neanderthal, who, despite being built for the cold, is struggling as a result of the Ice Age. One of them is attacked by a Woolly Pachyrhinosaurus, but survives because of his shorter stature and thicker bones.
As the titanosaurs migrate back to the plains, they come into Neanderthal territory where the juveniles is annoyed by the mammals and one is killed by the largest of them all Cave Foxes which drag them down to their cliff home where several giant Parkosaurs watch. they arrive back in their forest where the Gigantosaurus the only thing an adult fears attacks and kills the matriarch. The humans scavenge on the carcass. The titanosaurs are revealed to be going extinct with their herd being the largest thanks to the Ice Age while their birds have a different story thanks to their big partners. The scene then changes to the Oxford Museum and the narrator reveals that "If all this has taught is anything, it's this: no species lasts forever.
BALLAD OF BIG AL
The special begins at the University of Wyoming's Geological Museum, showing the bones of a baby prosauropod followed by an Allosaurus (2.1 metres tall is the maximum height) named Big Al. After the ghost of Big Al wanders the museum passing by his own skeleton and a burrow with some fossilized eggs, the film then travels back in time to 150 Mya) showing a similar nest. Al and his siblings are hiding in the burrow when they are called by their mother. She brings them to a river bank and the hatchlings start to hunt for insects and lizards. When the mother leaves the hatchlings temporarily, a predatory Dilephodon like mammal comes out of hiding and kills one of them (luckily, the victim was not Al).
Al is then shown at the age of two years. He tries to hunt a flock of Dryosaurus. He has not yet learned how to ambush from his mother so he fails to kill one of the swifter, smaller dinosaurs. Later, he snatches a lizard from a branch to keep him satisfied. Al comes across a dead Deinotherium like mammal and an Allosaurus waiting for death in a pit of sticky mud, which forms a predator trap. Meanwhile, a two-year-old female Allosaurus, attracted to the carcass, also gets stuck. She struggles to free herself, but fails. Al luckily avoids the same fate, because he has learnt to avoid carrion and the large carnivores that it usually attracts. Unable to escape, the trapped Allosaurus pair die of exhaustion, their corpses left to the bats. Al returns to his mother and his three siblings and feasts on the carcass she has caught.
Three years pass, and a herd of juvenile Prosauropods are migrating across their forest home and into the grasslands, heading for a herd to the south. Al, now 1.2 meters long, is joined by several other Allosaurus (possibly, his siblings) and they manage to successfully panic the herd into leaving a weakened sick individual behind. But as the Allosaurus gather for the kill, Al is struck down by the neck of the prosauropod. The pack decides to wait for a few hours until the prosauropod is brought down by heat exhaustion and his illness. Though they feed, within the hour, a five-year-old female Allosaurus scavenges the kill. Al takes some remnants of the carcass for himself and leaves, trying to find a safer place to eat.
3 years pass by, and Al, now 1.8 metres long with the crests over his eyes reddening, is shown drinking at a pond. His presence however makes other mammals around the pond nervous and the smell of blood he brings with him puts off a pair of Deinotherium that were attempting to mate. Away from the pond, he discovers the scent of a nearby six-year-old female Allosaurus and issues a mating call. She is interested, but as Al attempts to mate, a Smilodon like mammal out on the prowl pack attacks and kills the female. Al is lucky enough to escape from the ensuing fight with his life, although he sustains injuries to his right arm as well as smashed ribs. Later the dry season comes, and Al is attempting to hunt a flock of rabbit like mammals as the Dryosaurus have moved away. Whilst ambushing them however, he steps on a hedgehog like mammal and kills it but then it is stuck in his foot so he ends up breaking something in his right foot in the resultant fall; he limps away the, his chances of survival as prey gets scarcer now very unlikely. As the dry season turns to a drought, Al's limp from the fall gets worse and his right middle toe -which he broke in the fall- has become badly infected. Soon, unable to hunt because of this handicap, he dies in a dried-up riverbed, where two hatchling Allosaurus are hunting for bugs and come across his emaciated carcass where they eat his eyes and tongue and leave. He is said not to have reached full size, dying as a mature adolescent and that the process of his fossilisation was so perfect it preserved even the injuries he sustained in his lifetime including -amongst others- lumps where his ribs healed after their break and the raging infection on his middle toe even the hedgehog he stepped on. The narrator concludes the special stating how Big Al, in death, represents a frozen moment in the fast and furious life of a carnivorous dinosaur.
Now I'm going to do the worst part of WWD, Walking With Dinosaurs 3D and I'm going to remove the voices and keep it as an actual documentary
In the early cretaceous a few million years before the fourth episode of WWD a thing that was actually good and next to the western interior seaway. Patchi is the youngest and smallest in a litter of tiny baby Torosaurus like dinosaurs that are being out competed by pronghorn like mammals. Their father Bulldust the leader is the leader of the herd. Patchi is also attacked by a bird, which attempts to eat him, but he is saved by his caring mother, resulting in Patchi having a hole in his frill as an injury.
Later, Bulldust moves his herd south as well, but when they try to pass through a forest, they are forced to flee when the local Dromaeosaurs make fire to flush out some pronghorns and a forest fire erupts. Taking advantage of the chaos, a pack of dromaeosaurs attacks the scattered herd. They kill most of Patchi and Scowler's family, while their leader and alpha, Gorgon, fights and kills Bulldust while he’s trying to run away as he cares nothing about his children thanks to his kind's ability to breed like rabbits. Afterwards, Patchi's herd, now led by Bulldust's mate, combine with a female named Juniper's herd as they continue their migration. Gorgon's pack attacks them again, and in the ensuing chaos, Patchi, Scowler, Juniper (and many others) fall into a river and are swept downstream to the ocean all juveniles but Juniper, Scowler and Patchi killed in the process, with a scavenger bat following them from above. At a beach, Scowler follows a herd of rhino like mammals to find food, leaving Patchi and Juniper behind as they are scarred up and Juniper's eye is destroyed. The two make their way through a forest and eventually are able to find their herd and Scowler.
After years of making the same migration from north to south and vice versa, the leader of the herd is killed in a river by two cetans Scowler confronts his brother and his gang of friends and challenges him for a battle in exchange for leadership of the herd. Scowler, as he is much stronger and larger than Patchi, quickly gains the upper hand and defeats his brother by trapping him under a young tree before disowning him and ordering Juniper, along with the rest of the herd, to leave Patchi behind. Despondent and heartbroken, Patchi, now trapped underneath the tree and unable to do anything, attempts to accept his fate by allowing scavengers to kill and eat him but thanks to a pterosaur literally pecking out his eye while looking at a butterfly he has the rage to go out fighting.
Reinvigorated by the bat, Patchi and his friends (actually just a bunch of dragonflies that live on his back but like him despite their intelligence) escapes and fights off the scavengers, before catching up to the herd, only to find them confronted by Gorgon and her pack once more (now its gets dark) they manage to scare most of the herd and a bunch of Pronghorn like mammals into a river which causes most to drown, during the battle between Gorgon and the ceratopsians. Scowler pushes Juniper accidentally into a hole with a spike and kills her. patchi in a fit of rage fights Scowler and has his last remaining eye gouged out but he manages to push him off a cliff that was there and while Patchi looks like he's contemplating his action when he is just standing there when Gorgon and her pack kill him, meanwhile a male approaches Gorgon and drops the head of Juniper in front of her she accepts this and leaves to mate.
It then cuts to the survivors who are building up their nest and thanks to their rerouted migration which saves them and their kind from extinction from the Pronghorns. Gorgon's pack have to move away and the lovely gory ecosystem collapses a few million years after this thanks to the arrival of Brutodon which out compete the definitely not sauropod replacement mammals that look like giraffes that will become the largest creatures on earth and it ends on one of Gorgon's young evolving WWM style into the giant theropods from Nigel Marvin's adventures with the largest creatures on earth. The credits this time are of a before and after showing the area in Patchi and friends era and in Nigel marvin's adventures era showing the river area where Patchi was killed into the river area where the Brutodon laid their eggs.
Species/ replacements
Nanotorosaurus replaces Pachyrhinosaurus
Nanogigantosaurus replaces Gorgosaurus
Pronghornodontids replaces Parkosaurus
Parkosaurs replace Chirostenotes
Loxodontamimus replaces Edmontonia
mega Dragonfly, Nanoanurognthathus and mega bats replace Quetzocoatlus
Brontomimus replaces the hadrosaurs
Atroxodontids replace troodontids
Tiny Compusnathids replace Alphadon
Avitelmessus replaces Avitelmessus (crab evolution wasn't that impacted)

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Shon slept fitfully. He kept having dreams that he'd missed the bell to wake up and was left sprinting after the others who had already started their morning run. In tight formation, they ran ahead of him. Getting further and further out of reach no matter how hard he pushed himself. Until he tripped over something and crashed down into a frozen puddle that reflected his face back at him. Except he had white hair like an old man. His reflection smiled sadly at him, mouthing something Shon wasn’t saying and couldn’t hear…
He woke up to find himself alone for the first time in his life... He could see the sky through his window, dark blue with no stars. Just before sunrise then. A bell sounded, deep and clear through the still air. Shon closed his eyes and counted, one… two… three… four… the ringing stopped, and he rolled over to sit up on the edge of the bed. There was no point in trying to sleep with only one hour left.
He looked around the small room, running his fingers through hair now cut to regulation length the night before. The door was barely a step away. There was no way he could do his kata in here. Kneeling on his bed, he looked out the window and down to the courtyard. It was empty, but he didn’t know if he was allowed to go there early and hadn’t thought to ask the day before. With a frustrated sigh, he slid down the wall and surveyed the tiny room again.
His own room… He'd never had a private room before. Thom and Rerves seemed unimpressed by the size, but they'd never had to share before coming to the Temple in Smilnda where they'd slept in the group barracks with Shon and the girls.
Shon had unpacked his limited belongings, only his civilian clothes remaining in his pack under the bed. He wondered if he would ever have a chance to wear them again. He'd set up his old journals on the desk, leaning them against the wall in the corner, his current journal in front, with his pencil set neatly on top. Other than those, he only had a simple deck of playing cards and a collection of miniature wooden statues of Hengist’s knights, both given to him as Winter Solstice gifts and placed in his desk drawer with his spare pencils.
An hour before he started training… for real this time…
The entire year had felt like a series of false starts to the next chapter of his life. The test to determine if he would even be allowed to train as a Paladin had been the first. But even after passing, he had a year with the Temple as a junior Squire before the actual training started. Then he'd left the city. Walking out those gates had felt like the first steps toward his future! Then they'd spent six days on the road, stewing. He'd arrived at Hamerfoss! Was given uniforms, a room, measured for armor, and had his hair cut! Surely that was the beginning… But no. He'd gotten the tour and eaten dinner with the rest of the Squires, but it didn't really feel like he'd started yet.
Everything up until now was like getting ready to get started. Taking out his book and opening to a clean page, but not drawing anything yet. Today he was finally going to draw that first line. Today he would start turning that blank paper into art, into the man he was going to become.
He stood, then immediately dropped into a horse stance. He might not be able to do his kata, but he could at least do his drills. Focusing on the movements, he let his mind wander just a bit. Walking through the fortress again in his memory to try and make sure he knew where everything was and going over the schedule described by the exiting seniors. He felt more relaxed this morning than he had yesterday. A little excited, yes, but he wondered how much of Thom and Rerves' obvious nervousness had affected him. There was no reason to be nervous. Everyone started at the beginning. At least that’s what he told himself.
The fifth bell sounded, and Shon felt his heart speed up in direct contrast to the slow, measured rings. He continued his drills. He only had a few left but could hear movement from the other rooms through his window and door. People began to leave the barracks, and he rushed through the last few strikes. Dropping to the floor, he hurried to get ready, kicking the box back under his bed before dropping the uniform and making the bed as quickly as he could. He dressed, then sat on the bed to put on his boots, wrinkling the blanket. But only a little, he could straighten it again afterward…
“Shon? Are you ready? Let’s go!” Rerves called through his door, and Shon hurried to swing it open and join his fellows in the hall. They had sworn to each other that they would stay together. And that they wouldn’t be last.
They rushed down the hall to keep up with the leading group, though there were still a few behind them. The cool spring air washed over them as they exited the fortress, and Shon hesitated with Rerves and Thom as the others fell into formation.
“Over here,” one boy, not much older than them, called out, waving his hand and pointing to the spots next to him, “Tallest in the back, shortest in the front.”
Shon fell in behind Thom, with Rerves behind him and next to the helpful Squire. No one spoke, and everyone stood at attention. Shon did his best to imitate them, standing stiff with his arms at his sides and trying not to lock his knees. They waited like that for what felt like an hour but must have been minutes. Eventually, four Paladins and Master Daunas exited the fortress at a casual walk. No one moved, not even to salute.
“Dress right, DRESS!” one of the Paladins, an older man with a light build, shouted at the head of the formation.
As one, the experienced Squires lifted their left arms and looked right, shuffling to adjust themselves slightly, so they stood at precisely the proper distance from each other. Shon, Thom, and Rerves hurried to imitate them just trying to keep up.
“Ready, FRONT.”
All arms dropped, and heads snapped forward.
“Right, FACE.”
The Squires, all to Shon’s right, turned their backs on him in perfect unison, snapping their heels and maintaining formation. The newest Squires did their best to mimic them a step behind.
“Forward, MARCH.”
They started marching, their feet moving as one and their arms swinging together. Being left-handed, Shon stepped off with the correct foot, but he was the only one. The others had to double-step quickly to bring themselves back in line with everyone else. They marched all the way out the gate before they were given the command to run. Two of the Paladins set the pace at the front, with the other two in the back behind Shon and the others. Master Daunaus ran beside them.
They stayed in formation for two full rounds of the curtain wall, but eventually, some began to lag. No one stopped. The stronger runners gently passed the stragglers, returning to formation as the slower people fell back. Apparently, it was more important that they continue to run than that they stay in formation. Shon found himself grateful again for all his training -which included endurance running- with Master Veon-Zih. No matter what Master Daunaus said about him needing to unlearn his lessons.
They made ten rounds of the complex before being led back into the courtyard. They were allowed to get water and catch their breath before Daunas shouted, “Get your weapons, boys.” and they all scrambled for the weapons rack full of swords.
Shon followed behind, unsure what to do but watching to try and figure it out before it was his turn. Everyone seemed to grab a different type of true sword, some huge two-handed greatswords, some thinner one-handed longswords with shields, and others hand-and-a-half, or bastard, swords. Remembering Daunas’s sword assignments Shon made for the rack with the bastard swords, but was stopped before he could reach one by another Paladin shouting out names.
“Shon, Rerves, Thom, and Uther. To me.” Shon’s fingers brushed off the hilt of a practice sword, and he turned to follow Rerves, Thom, and an older boy. They approached the Paladin nervously; the fact that the older squire's shoulders were slumped in abject misery did nothing to ease the younger boys' fears.
The Paladin had a stern face and barked, “Follow me.” before any of them had a chance to ask anything. They followed him back into the fortress and up the stairs to the barracks, where they found four more Paladins, each standing outside one of their rooms. “You were instructed to keep your rooms clean and your beds made.” the stern Paladin said, “You will do it again, and you will do it until you get it right.” Shon hadn’t fixed his blankets, was that what this was about? It shouldn’t take long to fix...
He entered his room to find it completely upended. His uniform box was pulled out, its contents scattered across the floor and bed, which had its sheets and blankets pulled off and thrown over the desk. The drawer to his desk had been removed and dumped on the ground, left upside down with pencils and cards scattered all about.
Rerves' call of shock and protest could be heard from the hall, “I didn’t do this! Someone-”
“You might as well have.” the Paladin interrupted flatly, “You have ten minutes, do it properly.” They had done this. The Paladins had inspected their rooms, and finding them less than perfect, had torn them apart so the Squires could clean them again.
Shon steeled himself and started with the bed. He would do as he was told. Follow orders. There was no use complaining about something that needed to be done. When he was finished, he left his room and stood by the door, opposite the still quiet, and waiting Paladin. The stern Paladin waited for all of them to be done and by their doors before he marched down the hall, sticking his head in each room. When he reached the oldest boy, three doors down, he made an about-face and stated, “Again.”
All four of the waiting Paladins went into their respective rooms and began to trash them again. Thom whined in protest, and Shon flinched as he heard his drawer being pulled out and upended for a second time. When the Paladins were done, they returned to their positions by the doors, and the serious one stated, “You have ten minutes.”
They cleaned their rooms again. And again. And again. Occasionally the Paladin would shorten their time limit. By the time he was done, Shon was surprised how much he could finish in five minutes. He could hear the other Squires doing their drills in the courtyard and snuck a peek when they filed back into the fortress for breakfast. And still, they cleaned and recleaned their rooms.
They worked through breakfast and prayer and were finally dismissed to their lessons. Shon trudged with the rest towards the classroom, disgusted with himself. He'd had a full hour before anyone else to get his room ready. Why hadn’t he done that first? It wasn’t a mistake he would make again. Glancing over his shoulder, Shon watched the older boy, Uther. He'd been here at least a year and looked utterly defeated. How had he not learned to do it right after so long, and presumably so many such punishments?
No one spoke as they entered the classroom. The Paladin giving the lecture for the day didn’t even turn from what he was writing on the board. Shon took an empty seat in the back and fell into it, flinching at the sound. Though no one else seemed to notice.
There was a notebook and pencil in front of each chair, and Shon opened his to find a hastily scrawled message on a scrap piece of paper,
'Don’t worry about it. It happens to everyone their first year. Welcome to Hamerfoss.'
Shon looked around as if he actually expected to recognize the writer amongst the group of eighteen strangers. No one looked up from their notes. Shon stuffed the message quickly into his pocket before picking up his pencil and trying to follow the lecture. Something about water use and regulation in Halakon verse Talkar…
He had known it was going to be strict. Had known that they would demand perfection. And Shon swore silently to himself and Hengist that he would give it to them.
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Comments welcome!

My boyfriend [21] and my [22] have been dating for 2 years and 7 months. We met in high school and were reunited in college. I’m not sure how much background to give considering it’s my first time posting. Anyways, when we first started talking I had recently gotten out of a relationship and thought what are the odds he came back into my life when I was heartbroken. Everything was going great, I finally felt really happy and was high on life. After a month or so, he asked me out and I said yea. I know now that I probably shouldn’t have dive into a relationship so early. As time goes along around 2 months later I realized he would hide a girl’s notification and would only open it when I wasn’t around. Once I realized what was happening, I looked and she was sending him nudes and explicit messages. Although he said he didn’t send nudes back his response to her messages were enough. I know some might think it’s not cheating but it definitely hurt. I wanted to leave but ended up giving him a second chance. Since then I’ve been brushing things off and kind of forgetting them after a while. I also learned he has a mental illness, he has ied. To be honest I had no clue what that was and just heard past stories. I never thought much of it and just felt bad he had to deal with such thing. I then noticed how bad it could get. All I wanted to do was help, he was taking medication but sometimes it didn’t seem to work. It was until one day I was in the room and he was angry, threw things and punched a hole in the wall. I was scared but I just thought oh it’s just his condition ! He is a kind person but he is being blinded by rage right now.
Fast forward I have tried the best that I can to help him but sometimes it’s not enough. There have been instances where I don’t feel safe/am not safe and am scared but since he is angry it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to be too descriptive with what all he has done because I don’t want him to be labeled as a bad person, but lord knows what I’ve been through. I’ve tried to just shove those memories away but have recently resurfaced in my head. I do admit he has been getting better but I recently have been carrying a lot of weight and all those memories surfaced back up. I feel like he has weigh me down a lot at times and I haven’t been able to succeed in life how I’ve always wanted to. Since I’m older I am also closer to graduating and finding my career job. It would be ideal if I found a job not so far from where we live but I would also not turn down if I received an opportunity else where. I understand we have been through a lot but I feel like I’ve lost myself and don’t think I’m mentally okay to be with someone right now. I’ve always been taught that a person needs to love themselves before they can love someone else. I tried explaining it to him that maybe we should just take a break. I would never plan on doing anything to hurt him, I just want time by myself and learning new things about myself as well as working on things I need to resolve. He hated the idea and said if we took a break we were over. I am just mentally and physically exhausted. I can’t take someone’s feelings into account before putting myself first anymore. I forgot to mention that we live together so it does make it really hard to have alone time. I am moving out soon but it feels like it won’t change. Am I the asshole if I were to break up with him to personally heal myself and grow as a person? I do think it’s something he should do as well.

Hi, I was wandering if there would be any way to improve thermals for my Msi RTX 3080 Suprim X 10GB. On stock settings I see around 73C degrees, 82C memory temp, 87C hotspot and 1800-1900 rpm in a room with 24C degrees. I just swapped my Fractal Meshify 2 Compact to NZXT H7 Flow thinking that the extra front clearence (in Fractal case it was only 0.5 cm) would help, but it increased GPU temp by 1.7 degrees and decreased fan RPM from 2200 to 1975 which can be margin of error as I tested the Fractal case yesterday and it was cooler in my room. I have 3x120mm NF-A12x25 intake fans, 2x120mm NF-A12x25 top exhaust fans (pushed max to back) and one NF-A12x25 rear fan. Also Dual fan NH-D15s. Any suggestions what to do to lower those temps? I tried uv 1935mhz/0.956v which lowered the temps to 70C and rpm to 1700 also tried increasing case fan speed by 10% which did not change gpu temp at all.