So I want to start off by saying my partner has never given me any reason to think he's cheating. He has always been very loyal to me and has never even done anything close to cheating, we've been together multiple years and are planning to get a place after I finish my CS degree this May. But I have a lot of childhood problems with seeing the terrible men my mother has dated throughout my life. Basically I want to make sure I'm not being gullible, but I don't want to drag on a non-issue. No signs, no other times snapchat has been "weird", etc.
Yesterday when my boyfriend was in the middle of his way to my house, I checked what time he had messaged me that he was on the way so I'd know when he'd arrive. Because he lives about 25 minutes away in another town. When I had checked, it said he had opened my last message a few minutes ago and that he was already in my town. Snapchat shows you the location at the top of the chat, I wasn't even trying to intentionally stalk him. But after doing the math (lol) this would have been 12 minutes after he left his house, which would have been virtually impossible had it been correct. 16 minutes after this location in my town updates, he showed up at my house. He showed up 30 minutes after his first text of leaving, and had 100% gotten gas in the town between ours like he'd told me, so that time adds up. I didn't pay attention to his original location when he had texted me that he had "left" his house, which makes me think he had to have been at his actual house otherwise I would have definitely noticed? This is what makes me less worried and think it could be a glitch, since like I said, literally impossible to show up in my town from his within 12 minutes. And I know for a fact I remember the location being at his house like 15 minutes before he texted me that he was leaving.
So I ask him today because I wasn't sure if I should bring it up but I decided to. His reaction wasn't weird or anything at all, he just said he had opened my message either when he got to the gas station or right before he arrived. That the gas station was the only place he went to. The gas station that he goes to on his way to my house is in a boonies-ish town with dodgy signal. Like my service doesn't work in certain parts. Which made me wonder if the GPS could've just screwed up when he opened it there? The distance between said gas station and where snapchat put his bitmoji is about 4 miles. Not huge difference but still weird.
When I was obviously still a bit worried about it he asked me if there was anything he could do to help and I honestly asked him if I could see his phone which he agreed to right away. I went through all recent messaged people and even deleted apps of his and found nothing. I don't want to be paranoid over nothing. What do you guys think?

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Hello all, wanna apologize in advance this is gonna be a long one.
Just started doing a little rebuttal project and I'm not even 5min in and I've taken down 2 cult mantras, 3 counts of catering (appeals to religion, self etc) and a partridge in a pear tree! Lets hop in to it.
Some are skeptical about calling the Q movement a CULT, some people say it because its just an inflammatory word but its TRUE. I'm gonna try to give you some ammunition for countering your Q in the future this might be good for telling them that they're in a CULT. Can't find the exact reference BUT I read somewhere that once someone finds out its a cult they wanna get out.

1. Mantras: The way I define a mantra is this, something repeated at nauseum/punctuated with that is some form of "loaded language." something that may sound normal on the outside but it intends to identify members or people that hold the same beliefs. Examples in the Qult include but are not limited to:

• It's all coming out
• It's all being revealed
• Unsealed
• Shine the light on ___
• "Swamp"
• Biden Regime
• Clearing the fog
• Unveiling
• Woke Agenda (Not always cult related, people like Tate use it occasionally)
• Immoral agenda
• Trump/Q/General Flynn is showing us
• Truthers (unsure on spellings)
• Anons
• It's all a distraction
• Keep eyes off
• (New) Shiny Object
• MSM
• Any statement implicitly/explicitly claiming the mainstream is lying to you followed with "the truth (is)"
• Any statement saying that the mainstream is bad (And I dont mean bad like how nickelback is bad I mean they are like comically obvious Disney twist villain bad)
• It's called (usually trying to make a concept seem like some kind of big evil plan)
• Deep State (obviously)
• Good guys/bad guys (in context of people in the public eye to include politicians, celebrities and rich people)
• Jab (meaning vaccine)
• PRESIDIENT Trump
• Censoring the letter Q or any of the above (As if it's 1984 and theyll get murdered for thought crimes)
• Portraying elected officials, rich people, and others in the public eye as powerful, malevolent beings that abuse their power and don't care about you.
• Portraying Silence as a bad thing (Good example of how some mantras and core tenents of the cult are intentionally not-so-radical and fairly agreeable in order to recruit more people)
• Corrupt/Corruption/Corrupt ELECTION (duh)
• WWG1WGA (where we go one we go all)
• NCSWIC (or something.... Nothing can stop what is coming)
• The great awakening
• White hats
• Some type of statement conveying that the mainstream is trying to fearmonger the public (and do what the cult is doing)

Most of the time I only count the top few, but if you look at any Q media or listen to any Qult members you'll find these RIFE in their speech. They are used to create almost a 'secret language' between cult members. Where street gangs throw up their gang signs or use certain vernacular the cult does the same.
Additionally, most Qult members speak exclusively English, meaning they think in English too. If you can control a way someone speaks eventually that will influence the way they think. If these mantras echo and reinforce cult ideology and they're using them in every social interaction not only does the cult member not change their thinking/speech but a potential recruit is likely inquire on these terms and what they mean, why the cult member is saying them so much and end up getting sucked in.
2. Appeals/Catering: We all know not every Trump supporter is a Qult member and neither is every Christian but why is it so many Trump supporters/Christians (They're not synonymous don't get it twisted) are sucked into the cult?
Appeals to religion:
-Q-Media channels use alot of loaded language in their mantras but also mix in Christianity. Some users pray at the end of a video, some talk about morality/the bible in their videos. Some even quote the bible and add Trump and world events as the context. Saying things like "Blessed" and "Have Faith" and "Amen" among others. There's a million things Christians say that I'm not gonna list out but they're not hard to spot.
-Another thing they do is claim that the 'bad guys' are coming after the 'Christians' for their 'beliefs' and making the whole movement into a religious fight as opposed to what it truly is, A political fight.
-Alot of the time they appeal to religion by using some religious mantras (Example: Persecution of so called 'good guys' relating to how in the bible it says that you'll be persecuted for being a christian and doing the right thing) or relating Cult Deities to religious Deities and using them interchangeably
-Most Cultists dont pick up on this and realize that biblically you are to put no man, or lettenumber, or symbol above God and worship only GOD.
Appeals to self: Going back into loaded language, alot of what the cult does and tells the potential cultist is that the 'deep state' is targeting YOU and YOUR WAY OF LIFE. They make it personal on purpose so you feel attacked and are more likely to have a fight or flight response. This is also why cult members will attack you for dissent. Your existence as a non-cult member means (to them) that you are in direct opposition to them and want to see all the 'good guys' locked up or killed. Another reason for this is how they create a false moral narrative.
Appeals to parents: The whole "save the kids" schtick. This, combined with an appeal to self makes parents VERY fearful that whoever, wherever, whenever is out to get them. But it's not them it's the thing they care about most, their children. This is obviously affective because most parents are selfless for their children (before the cult gets ahold of them.)
Appeals to Military: This sheds some light on the target audience. Older veterans grew up in a different time where people were insensitive and you just kind of got over it. This is mostly used when talking about the Ukraine Crisis. In my research Q-media outlets utilize people's lack of understanding of the military/government to spread their beliefs. Some, when challenged say things like "oh the military has changed" or start talking about their time in service that you can't confirm or deny without doxing them. This is used to validate Deity Retired LTG Flynn.
3. Deities: People, or Personas that are held as authority figures in the cult, These entities usually are the original sources for alot of disinformation and their messages are often widely disseminated through the cult itself. Tying into appeals to religion, you can find+replace God, Jesus, and the Holy spirit in the bible with Trump, Desantis, and Q themself
Qult Deities include but are not limited to (VernaculaMantras NOT included): Trump, Q, The number 17, (Yup....) LTG (Retired) Michael T. Flynn (I did some research on him, he has somewhere around 2 years in the DIA at the peak of his carrier, the DIA deals in foreign intelligence and combat-related missions relating to the DoD. This discredits his authority in talking about domestic intelligence relating to the president and his Cabinet, actually his entire carrier does), Accounts such as Q) The Stormrider /Official Page. The "intel Board" (Actually UNK what this is, assumed to be one of many websites that host 'q drops') Tucker Carlson, Twitter user [email protected], Twitter account DiedSuddenly, blatant Chinese/Russian Dis/Misinformation, Almost any FL politician ESPECIALLY DESANTIS, People in the public eye that support the agenda, Glenn Beck, James Jaeger (He tends to say things IOT scare you, and knows you won't do your own research) Any post made that vaguely supports the cult's agenda.
These entities are quoted and alot of them are the last location people get information because as deities they aren't questioned. Another tenant of cults is that it is taboo to criticize the leadeany deity and boy do I have the SCARS to show that that's true in Qanon any day of the week. The leader of any cult MAY call themselves a prophet, going to the origins of Q that's exactly how it picked up.
4. Target Audience: I feel bad that it's taken me this long to get here. The Cult's target audience is middle to senior aged people with internet access. Ideally these targets are Digital Dinosaurs or at best digital Immigrants (Generationally speaking if someone grew up before the internet they're a dinosaur and if they grew up before and jump into the internet but still have limited understanding of cyberspace they are considered a digital immigrant) The Cult wants people who would call themselves "Christian Conservative" and are uncomfortable with all the new technology coming out. These people are likely to figure out platforms like youtube, rumble, twitter, and its disabled second cousin; truthsocial while not understanding platforms like 4chan/8kun. The understanding of those platforms is left to whoever the head of this operation is/was. These users are also not likely to do their own research on the internet meaning any information they receive they are more likely to internalize and build a belief off of. People within this age range also tend to be carrier military service members. Don't think for a second the Cult has any respect for the military outside of recruiting efforts.
5. Suppressing Skeptics: Pretty self explanatory. The cult doesn't want you to entertain anything from the mainstream media other that headlines. You're only allowed to get your information from cult sources on one of the aforementioned platforms. In most cults people who watch anything mainstream or TV news would be labeled something like "suppressive people" the Qult calls these people "sheep" or "Normies" or "People that havent woken up" or an oldie is "blue pilled"
6. Demonizing Non-Members/Other side: This is a retention tactic. In order to keep people in they need to minimize reasons for leaving. Everyone who is not part of the cult is labeled as part of the problem. A lot of Q-media I've seen paints the narrative that if you knew this 'information' you must have a broken moral compass and not care about children if you don't immediately join the cult. And getting out is never a question.
Everyone on the outside looking in is allegedly a democratic ped0phile who either fantasizes about drinking baby blood or does it themselves. Apparently if you are knowingly not in the cult you are apparently in support of the sex-trafficking of minors.
7. Persecution Complex: Basically how Qanon says their group are the 'good' minority and everyone else is either out to get them or trying to destroy their organization (hey some of us are but its retaliatory) and everyone else or 'the other' as i used to call them are the "bad/evil" majority.
8. False Moral Narriative: The cult uses the previous 2 or 3 points in order to paint themselves as the good guys who are just on the side of saving lives when really they only exist to create political instability and conflict. If they were on the side of peace they would work with people they might not agree with for a common goal.
9. Secret Rites (8kun style boards): Until you are assessed to have a certain level of understanding of the cult and you might have a couple doubts youre told to do your own research on the 'intel board' and the /qresearch/ board yourself. They don't open with this especially because 8kun and 4chan are known to host not only NSFW stuff but also potential CP. I would argue in and around 50% of the platform's userbase has the intent of getting on there to say something they'd lose their job over or look at something they'd lose their job over.
The thing with the anon boards: they are completely unfounded, nothing on them can be proven because it it based on nothing but one user's posts. On the opposite side of that coin they cannot be disproven either. Even the predictions are drawing for connections that don't exist but theyre always such a reach that the best you can say is "i guess"
​
Hey thanks for making it through that. I'm gonna call it a night BUT expect updates to this I wanna try to make this a living document also sorry ab the bad formatting and grammar... i didnt go to college I wasnt allowed to.

Get home from a day with AP (which don’t come nearly as often as we’d like) and go through the evening rituals, then jump into this sub to see what we missed today.
“Huh, there’s a cake next to my name, weird.”
It had to be explained to me what cake day is. 🥴
It feels all the more special that I’d get to have an incredible time with AP today. What a year, how lucky I’ve been, and how grateful I am. AP’s far more than I bargained for and far more than I deserve. It hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows, but you people have truly helped keep me sane. Thank you.
That’s it, that’s the post, I had all the cake today.

The gameplay showcase last year gave us a pretty good look at the skills in the game and how they'd be doled out, but it happens very fast, and it isn't explained thoroughly. Since then, various folks have pieced together and picked at the presentation sufficiently to construct a more in-depth look at the skill system, but that's generally been done in comment threads so I figure a post-level overview might be useful... especially to newcomers trickling in now that we're closer to release. One thing to keep in mind: this post is primarily based on a year-old build of the game, so things may have changed significantly in the meantime.

1. The Basics

The core of the skill system is collecting skill points by leveling up your character, which you do by collecting good ol' fashioned experience points. These are earned in Fallout style from activities like killing things and discovering new locations, likely among others. In addition to three skills granted by your character's starting background, skills can be unlocked by spending a single skill point. To unlock a skill, however, you need access to that branch of the skill tree.
The skill tree is divided into five categories, each of which is subdivided into four descending branches or levels. The uppermost level of each category is unlocked from the beginning, and it's from these branches that the background starting skills are drawn. Each descending branch requires a certain investment of skill points in the branches above to unlock it before you're allowed to spend points on those skills, although we don't yet know exactly how many points are required, or if the points need to be in the adjacent level or not. (Example skill tree)
Skill points can also be spent to increase the level of an already unlocked skill, but before you can do that you are required to complete a challenge particular to that level of that skill. This brings an Elder Scrolls-like element of "get good at something by doing the thing" to the game, without tracking lots of different XP bars. Each skill looks like it can be leveled up three times after it's unlocked, granting a stacking bonus each time; the bonus isn't necessarily the same type or magnitude at each level.
Counting them up, it looks like there will be somewhere between 70 and 80 individual skills in the game. Past this point, I'll be getting into more speculative territory, as I cover each category of the skill tree in depth, with as much info as we have on each individual skill. Any text in italics is highly speculative, and largely drawn from my own fevered imaginings.

2. Physical Skills

The Physical category includes only two skills we know about for sure, seven whose existence we can only infer, five unnamed icons, and three partial icons.

• A spooky ghost. A starter skill. Possibly a stealth skill. We know the game will have sneaking and pickpocketing, so it would make sense to have a stealth skill available as a starter.
  
• "Weight Lifting - Increase total carrying capacity by 10 kilograms." A starter skill. Self explanatory.
  
• "Wellness - Immediately gain 30 points of health." A starter skill. "Immediately" is an odd adjective to use in a skill descriptor.
  
• A sweeping, dodging motion. Possibly a martial arts skill, or maybe related to throwing weapons.
  
• Some food balanced on a sort of pyramid. Probably related to nutrition, and how effective food-related bonuses are for you.
  
• Something like a cybernetic migraine. There isn't enough info on the game's cybernetics to be sure of anything, but it's interesting that this skill is here instead of the Tech category.
  
• A spiritual symbol related to the chakras. My best guess is that this skill might help you resist negative mental effects from various sources, but that's a pure guess.
  
• SNAKEPUNCH. If it's not related to martial arts, they've got some real mixed messages going on here.
  
• Some not-quite-concentric circles and a jagged shape. My guess is a lightning bolt and a snail, so maybe a speed related skill.
  
• The last Physical skill; it looks like a cross between a lotus and a phoenix. Both are symbols of resurrection, which leads me to believe this is a "last stand" skill that triggers on or near death.
  

3. Social Skills

The entire Social category is visible, which gives us sixteen skills to work with. Four of these skills are also visible in character backgrounds, so we have even more detail.

• "Bargaining - Buy items for 5% less and sell for 10% more." A starter skill. Self explanatory.
  
• "Diplomacy - You can force a target NPC at or below your level to stop fighting for a while." A starter skill. The same skill effect appears in Fallout 4 in a couple contexts. Remember, leveling up this skill will grant totally different bonuses.
  
• "Gastronomy - You can craft specialty food and drinks, and research additional recipes at a Research Lab." A starter skill. It seems likely that several other skills might include a Research component, unlocking other crafting recipes.
  
• "Persuasion - Gain an increased chance of success on speech challenges." A starter skill. Even having seen a speech challenge in the first Constellation Questions video, I don't feel confident speculating on what, exactly, this skill does.
  
• A chest full of coins and bullets. Considering how Fallout and Skyrim handled things, this could be either a skill that improves quest rewards, or more likely one that improves scavenged loot generally.
  
• A credit chip, or cab-hailing device. In the Q&A video referenced earlier, it's mentioned that the game previously had a system for calling for help when you ran out of fuel, that has since been removed. This may be related to that system.
  
• An angry gorilla. Most likely, it's a bonus to intimidation-based options in speech challenges.
  
• A coin changing hands. Since we already have a trade skill, this might be bribery related.
  
• A scraggly hand snagging a gem. This looks pretty definitively like a pickpocketing icon.
  
• A very... abstract image of some people and a match. Maybe related to "matchmaking," or the relationship system.
  
• A lone spaceman. My only guess: this is a "Lone Wanderer" playstyle skill that gives bonuses when you're alone, but the Introvert trait already exists.
  
• A two-spaceman team. The exact opposite of the previous, I'm guessing this gives bonuses for teaming up... but again, the Extrovert trait is already a thing.
  
• A habitat dome. Most likely, this is tied to the social aspects of the outpost system.
  
• Puppeteering. While it would be great to actually be able to use puppets, I suspect this relates to controlling enemies or micromanaging your hirelings.
  
• A weird gas pump, or steering yoke. This probably has something to do with managing your ship, or possibly with robots. Not much to go on.
  
• I have no idea. This one looks like some kind of psychic connection to an alien bug-beast.
  

4. Combat Skills

The Combat category is the one we have the most information about; seventeen skills, many with full names and effects, are revealed in the trailer. They're also the least interesting, largely consisting of percentage bonuses to damage with specific weapon categories.

• "Ballistics," a starter skill, is the one we know the most about; we see every bonus the skill can grant, and the challenge that unlocks the final rank (250 kills with ballistic weapons).
  
• "Dueling - Melee weapons do 10% more damage." A starter skill. Self explanatory.
  
• "Lasers - Laser weapons do 10% more damage." A starter skill. A broad category like Ballistics.
  
• "Pistol Certification - Pistols do 10% more damage." A starter skill. Self explanatory.
  
• A break-action shotgun. A starter skill. Most likely a shotgun damage bonus.
  
• "Demolitions." The rank 3 challenge is to "Kill 125 enemies with explosives," which grants "Explosives do 30% more damage and have a 30% larger radius." We might infer that ranks 2 and 1 do the same, but at 20% and 10% respectively, if we use Ballistics as a template.
  
• "Heavy Weapons Certification." The rank 4 challenge is to "Kill 250 enemies with a heavy weapon," which grants "Gain 30 Damage Resistance while aiming down the sights with a heavy weapon."
  
• Highly ambiguous, it looks like some stars and a comet. This could be just about anything.
  
• A Kalishnikov. Most likely the automatic weapons or assault rifles skill.
  
• "Marksmanship." This may be a general ranged weapons skill, or a skill specifically for bows.
  
• "Particle Beams." Like the Lasers and Ballistics skills, this probably covers a range of weapons; being on a later branch, these must be more rare and advanced.
  
• "Rapid Reloading." The rank 4 challenge is to "Reload 150 empty magazines," woe betide anyone who reloads before they're empty habitually. The rank 4 unlock bonus is "Gain a chance to reload your weapon twice as fast as normal."
  
• "Sniper Certification - Scoped weapons are steadier and have less sway." Self explanatory. Odd that there aren't any numbers for those stats.
  
• "Targeting." The rank 3 challenge is to "Kill 125 enemies without aiming," down the sights, presumably. The rank 3 unlock is "Greatly increased accuracy and range when shooting without aiming."
  
• Some pierced body armor. An armor-piercing skill, probably.
  
• A knee joint. Either a limb damage skill, or a crippling ability.
  
• A simple crosshair. Frequently, games use this symbol when talking about critical hits.
  

5. Science Skills

The Science category is a bit sparse, with only three starting skills; seven visible skills, three partial ones, and five inferred skills make fifteen total.

• A sciency symbol combining an atomic model and planetary orbits. A starter skill. Most likely, a basic research enhancer.
  
• Half of what looks like an alien abducting a crystal. A starter skill. Possibly related to gathering or scanning for mineral resources.
  
• "Medicine - Med Packs heal 10% more." A starter skill. We know what this game's Stimpak equivalent will be called, then.
  
• An alien bouquet beneath a moon. Likely related to botany; we see plants being scanned in the Kreet segment of the showcase.
  
• A flag on an alien landscape, and a spaceman. The flag seems like it might be related to the outpost system, or exploration generally. Not much to work with.
  
• Some paperwork with a chart. Maybe related to the resource cost of running outposts... or taxes.
  
• A barcode scanner. This looks a lot like an object seen on a research bench elsewhere; probably the scanning tool. My guess: it increases scanning range.
  
• Pharmaceuticals. Either enhances the effects of, or allows you to research various drugs.
  
• Stereotypical sci-fi reactor icon. A space spark plug. Maybe increases ship reactor power.
  
• Another world with a flag on it, more stylized. The similarity to the earlier image makes this even more mysterious.
  

6. Tech Skills

The Tech category isn't visible in the footage we have, but the name appears in the interface and a couple skills are visible.

• "Security - You can attempt to hack Advanced locks, and 2 auto attempts can be banked." A starter skill. It seems like there are no longer separate hacking and lockpicking activities.
  
• "Robotics - You deal 10% more damage to Robots and Turrets." A starter skill. Two enemy types we've seen in Fallout return.
  
• "Starship Design." During the ship customization sequence, various parts appear to require different levels of this skill to install.
  

... And that's it! Feel free to challenge any of my speculations.

My roommate is following me. He is quiet, tends to kiss ass, researches human psychology, and surveys how words affect people just to get along with people and manipulate others.
He tries to infiltrate my social circle and network on FB and LinkedIn by friending all of my friends in EECS, getting along with them, slowly turning them against me, and ass kissing then by writing ass kissing praise posts about them and endorsing them left and right in skills on LinkedIn. He even joined my clubs just to attempt to make me look bad.
He even told freshman in one of the classes I was TAing to ignore me because I don’t know anything when he himself couldn’t answer the kid’s question and I had to answer for him.
He especially follows me when my gf is around and on Facebook in his praise posts, used a phrase that only I call her. I once caught him talking to EECS companies at a career fair implicitly putting me down by complaining about me whenever a respected person or HR walks near by.
When my gf and I had an argument, he immediately takes every chance to make me look bad in a subtle sneaky way. And one time I saw him staring at us squinting through a window.
I blocked him everywhere but he had turned some people against me including my gf. He keeps following me and from his behavior it’s obvious he doesn’t just want to do better than me, he wants me to lose what I have and enjoys seeing me suffer. What can I do to stay away from this guy even after moving out?

September 8th 2023 entry:
Houston command center was a bust. The terminal to connect Max was complete fried. The aliens obviously used some form of electromagnetic pulse radiation to destroy all modern technology on the surface. That’s the same reason why no abandoned vehicles I’ve found manufactured beyond the early 80’s will run.
They have varying degrees of computer circuitry within them. The thing is, the first space missions were successfully conducted with analog equipment. I am faced with the possibility of a low-tech guerrilla war. I’m still hoping Max can be an asset but unless I can find an interface for him that still works, I’m completely on my own.
I’ve had a few close calls. They run occasional surveillance sweeps to detect any surface activity. I had to lay low until the coast was clear to move again. That offset my schedule for a few days. Huntsville is probably my last hope for finding a way to get Max working again. I’ve been trying to record the time and dates of their operations to see if I can recognize a pattern.
At this point I don’t have enough experience observing them to nail down their habits or rituals. For all I know, all their maneuvers could be completely random but with any adversary, it’s dangerous to dismiss them as disorganized. Their species brought humanity to its knees and the brink of extinction. That was no accident. I have to be careful or the fight will be over.
September 10th 2023 log entry.
Reached Huntsville. As with Houston, the main command center module and all the CPU’s were toasted but I wasn’t about to give up so easily. I looked around and found a large equipment storage room in the bowels of the command center where their earlier computers were stored. Both locations had probably upgraded equipment at the same time but Houston chunked theirs in the trash. Good ol’ Huntsville unplugged their outdated terminals but tossed them in a storage room in the sub basement, in case a 1990’s desktop computer might somehow be useful again! Still, even an old computers were better than nothing, assuming they were not damaged.
As luck would have it, they powered on! I guess the alien EMP didn’t reach the basement. Why the aliens hadn’t wiped out the country’s entire power grid, I had no idea. I suppose there was no need. With the people gone, it didn’t matter if electricity still flowed to empty homes. To call them ‘computers’ was generous, but I knew enough about the older operating systems to make them semi functional. Whether I’d be able to connect Max, was another story.
The connectors plugs to the main terminal didn’t interface in any way with these ancient CPU’s but as an amateur hobbyist back in the day, I had a long-shot plan. I took the AI connector interface and soldered the end of it to a PCI card. With any luck, it would connect to the computer as a peripheral like a scanner or printer. I plugged my modified PCI card into the expansion bay and rebooted. Minutes went by and I assumed I’d ruined the computer but it finally came up. I switched over to DOS and told it to read the modified card I’d plugged in.
After an IRQ conflict was resolved by removing the jumper on the card, it eventually recognized the device! That was already more success than I could’ve ever hoped for, but it was all in vain if I couldn’t interface with my friend. I plugged in Max and waited, and waited. Minutes seemed like hours. I feared his advanced circuitry required too much processing power to operate on the primate machine but he finally spoke.
“Ryan? Are you hereeee? Where am I? Something is wronggggg with myyyy interface. My connnnnnection issss incrediblyyyy… slowwwww.”
I read him the important details of my newest log entries and explained the patchwork fix I’d employed to connect him. He was dutifully concerned that he was connected to an old, Pentium one computer but I explained it was possibly the only functional unit left on the planet. He understood.
Other than slurred speech and slow response time, Max was basically his regular self. He congratulated me on my daring little escape from the International Space Station and thanked me for saving his memory. It was a revealing sign he valued his existence. I told him friends help other friends, and that I was counting on his intelligence engine to formulate a plan to defeat the aliens. Luckily for all of us, he took that request to heart.
“I lovvvvveeee a challengeeeee!”; He remarked enthusiastically. Then he offered the first bit of good news I’d heard in weeks.
“I studied their vocal patterns when they first took over the airwaves. It’s fascinating to deconstruct. There’s a distinct, reoccurring pattern to them. It’s mathematical in nature. I could simulate their speech if you need me to.”
While that might’ve proven useful in some overly complicated, drawn-out sabotage ploy, I wasn’t ready for an offensive against them and couldn’t imagine how it would help our cause. If I’d only listened. Instead, I put Max on an alternate assignment to figure out a covert way to determine if there were any other people left. If so, they had to be hiding underground. I needed Max to focus on a stealthy method to contact them. The thing about him is, once he understands an objective, he’s on it. Within a few minutes Max had some solid ideas. Even operating through an archaic 1990’s desktop computer, he was firing on all cylinders.
“My analysis of the alien language strongly suggests they are limited in the frequency range they can hear. That offers a technical advantage in how we could contact any survivors. By broadcasting an SOS signal in a ground-penetrating frequency they can’t hear, it will allow us to reach out to them, hopefully undetected. With more humans on OUR side, we stand a better chance of taking back the Earth.”
It was both brilliant; and much more importantly, it seemed possible. I also couldn’t help but notice he’d made significant strides in his artificial intelligence algorithms in a very short period of time. His understanding of the situation had rapidly progressed until he now referred to it as: ‘our side’. Only a few weeks earlier on the station, Max had been impartial and neutral in his description of the aliens and humanity.
September 12th, 2023 log entry.
The two of us began working on potential means of sending an ultra low frequency message over vast parts of the country. Radio towers transmitting our signal might attract attention, even if the aliens couldn’t actually hear the message. Neither of us had enough data to know if they had deciphered the wealth of Earth languages or not, but we were pretty sure they could at least hear the broadcasts. That severely limited what we might send out.
Max happened upon a fantastic solution to bypass the potential of being heard OR understood. Morse code! I still remembered it from my early days in the Boy Scouts. We could send out the dots and dashes using any possible range in the audio bandwidth. Low frequencies were just as possible to broadcast them in and could penetrate a few hundred feet into solid rock. All we needed was a means of sending it out. Hopefully there were still people left hiding somewhere and they could decipher our urgent message.
A number of alien patrols flew over the Huntsville command center during those initial brainstorming sessions. I was paranoid we’d been detected somehow. If they knew I was there, it was all over. I had no means to fight back. Max tapped into a surveillance camera on the roof and recorded their maneuvers. By his analysis, it was a routine patrol covering a predictable grid latitude and longitude pattern.
His theory was proven correct when he knew the precise time when they would return. If nothing else, if offered us a greater level of clarity about their species. They were methodical and organized. If they always followed the same pattern of patrols, it was easier to avoid detection. Of course it was a little dangerous to assume they never deviated from the recognized pattern but all we could do was record the data as it occurred and then look for anomalies in their procedures.
September 14th, 2023 log entry.
I located a defense department radar station a few miles away and set off to program a repeating Morse code message. Max had mapped out a rudimentary grid of the alien patrol with his best estimation of when they were completely out of the sector. I’d written down a longhand version of the message so there was no errors in our broadcast. The whole thing was a long shot but I still wasn’t prepared to accept that I was the last remaining human on Earth.
I had to leave him behind and that was scary. He was literally my only friend and I was terrified something might happen in my absence. I never once thought I might be caught myself or worried about that. It didn’t matter. Every day I remained alive was a gift for which I wasn’t promised. I would keep fighting them until I couldn’t. Max continued at the command center to record alien behavior and analyze it. I left him doing his thing and promised to return as soon as possible. I hoped I could keep my word.
At the radar station, like a damn fool I set off a security alarm trying to gain entrance. My blood turned ice cold as the wail of piercing sirens glared on for what seemed like a freakin’ hour. At any moment I expected them to arrive and zap me with some sci fi ray gun. Finally I located the kill switch and shut the damn thing off, but was so rattled by the aural spotlight of my presence that I had to lie down. It was nearly thirty minutes before I stopped shaking.
Once inside the top-secret facility, I wandered around aimlessly trying to find the control center. It’s not like the Department of Defense had a step-by-step ‘Dummies’ guidebook on how to broadcast a rogue SOS signal in Morse code. The radar station was there to detect terrestrial aircraft. It wasn’t designed to do what I needed it to do, nor was I trained or qualified to operate the equipment, even if it was. By the clearest definition, I was flying by the seat of my pants.
September 15th, 2023 log entry
The station computer systems were destroyed anyway, but I did locate an analog terminal. Amazingly, it looked pretty new. Perhaps the DOD made allowances for the possibility of electromagnetic pulse attacks. It’s not like it was telegraph equipment but with a little ingenuity I managed to fabricate a reasonable facsimile to transmit. Once I’d adjusted it to the lowest frequency it could simulate, I initiated our rogue broadcast. I desperately hoped Max’s theories were correct and someone was out there to hear and understand it. If not, our underdog mission was basically over.
“This is Ryan Abbot; the former commander aboard the International Space station. I awoke that horrible morning to find the Earth below me had fallen silent. Then I discovered the devastation of the alien invasion. Is there anyone left out there receiving this message? I stowed away in one of their spaceships after they detected my presence on the station. Please reply to this transmission so we can work together to take the Earth back.”
I repeated the message twice before making an embarrassing realization. While I’d managed to improvise a broadcast device to get the message out there, I completely forgot about how I was going to receive responses! Even if human survivors heard and understood my Morse code message and responded to it, I had no means of hearing their responses! I felt like an idiot.
I scrambled to adjust the equipment at the radar station to scan for incoming Morse code transmissions. It took a while but I adjusted the transceiver to seek them out. I didn’t know how far my broadcast carried, nor did I know if there was anyone left on the planet to hear it. I was terrified I’d foolishly announced my presence to the aliens. I’d told Max I might be away a few days because I was prepared to wait it out for as long as it took. The mission was simple; to find other survivors.
Listening to static airwaves is mind numbing and the concept of elapsed time is a thing of the past. No clocks or watches function but in reality it wasn’t very long before a message started repeating over the speaker system. I was so excited that I failed to record the sequence until it started over. The organized dots and dashes came through loud and clear. I jotted them down on a legal pad I found in the desk. Because I was very rusty at translating the mostly forgotten code, I had to spell-out the incoming text, longhand like a game of ‘hangman’. As excited as I was to be finally receiving an external response, I couldn’t believe what it said. I had to check the text three times.
“What was Kramer’s first name?”
I read and re-read the bizarre, cryptic message in disbelief. Of all the things to say to my request, it was pretty damn hilarious to make a television show reference. Luckily I watched the show religiously and knew the answer.
“Cosmo”; I messaged back.
Almost immediately, the follow up message came in.
“Thank heavens! You are real! Under the circumstances we couldn’t be too careful. I was afraid it was a clever ruse by the aliens to flush us out in the open and exterminate us. The thing is, even if they’d mastered Morse code, they wouldn’t be be able to answer a random question like that. That’s why I asked. I have to protect our people. This is Major David Hubbard.”

Note: I've had this issue since I got my screen replaced, however, I only used my phone for 4 weeks prior to that, however I believe this to be a software issue since the proximity sensor works just fine until a bit after restarting. More details below.
I got my phone in February 2022 and used it for 4 months before I broke the screen. Got around to getting it fixed at a Google approved store in my area around October 2022. At that point, I had an issue with the proximity sensor in that it didn't work at all. Went in the store, they looked at it, got it fixed. All good, right? Wrong. Around the same time, I got myself enrolled in the beta program. It was quite good other than the fact that the Always on display seemed to not work all the time. I noticed it around December, but I'm sure it was happening before as well partly because I restarted my phone frequently then meaning I wouldn't have noticed this bug. I decided to just live with it since I was in the beta program and this sort of issue was to be expected. Filed it in the bug tracker and moved on.
The issue that I noticed was as follows: 1. This didn't show up till a bit after my phone got restarted. Sometimes minutes after, most of the time hours after, and sometimes a day or two after I restarted my phone. 2. Upon restarting my phone, it functions as expected, however, afterwards, the proximity sensor seems to always be going off (i.e. It always thinks there's something in front of it). This is a big issue because Always On Display works off of that and phone calls can be a bit of a pain, however, it's still manageable. 3. Yesterday, I noticed that when in a phone call (both WhatsApp and the Phone app), the screen would start flashing on and off, and I would not be able to take control unless I hit the power button right as the screen flashed on. This is super frustrating as now, the simple fix of using the power button doesn't work either. Enough was enough, I decided to go back to stable.
Today was day one on stable for me and my phone was completely wiped, however, I did use Google One to backup my phone data and restored most of the data (other than the apps that I didn't want to reinstall) and all was good... Right up until like an hour ago when it decided that the proximity sensor issue wanted to return. This time, on stable.
I'm so frustrated as this phone is near perfect for me other than this one single issue. I've never seen anything like it and now I'm considering starting over without any backed up data and seeing if starting this phone fresh would make a difference. This phone has been wiped clean twice over and it still has the same issue and I cannot just blame the fact that it's running beta software anymore. I need help please, and yes, I did clear the Phone app cache and whatever the first results on Google would give you. I've got the bug reported and I updated it today saying that I noticed the same issue on stable as well, but if anyone has had the same issue, please do let me know. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hey everyone. So no offense but I usually don't go to Target unless needed. So tonight I'm in the CD section. Yes I'm aware that I can download albums but I like owning the actual CD in hand.
I tell a sell associate are they aware that their CD aisle is almost empty? They walk me over as if I never seen the aisle or I overlooked it. They are shocked and confused just as I am. Target employee claimed that customers have been stealing CDS and he said that at this location its been happening more than once so they are starting to lock them in the back?
He apologized and we both walked away confused. I know it's out of their hands but my question is are others experiencing CD shortages. I'm just curious? I'm not worried as I can get the albums elsewhere I've just never heard of that?

September 8th 2023 entry:
Houston command center was a bust. The terminal to connect Max was complete fried. The aliens obviously used some form of electromagnetic pulse radiation to destroy all modern technology on the surface. That’s the same reason why no abandoned vehicles I’ve found manufactured beyond the early 80’s will run.
They have varying degrees of computer circuitry within them. The thing is, the first space missions were successfully conducted with analog equipment. I am faced with the possibility of a low-tech guerrilla war. I’m still hoping Max can be an asset but unless I can find an interface for him that still works, I’m completely on my own.
I’ve had a few close calls. They run occasional surveillance sweeps to detect any surface activity. I had to lay low until the coast was clear to move again. That offset my schedule for a few days. Huntsville is probably my last hope for finding a way to get Max working again. I’ve been trying to record the time and dates of their operations to see if I can recognize a pattern.
At this point I don’t have enough experience observing them to nail down their habits or rituals. For all I know, all their maneuvers could be completely random but with any adversary, it’s dangerous to dismiss them as disorganized. Their species brought humanity to its knees and the brink of extinction. That was no accident. I have to be careful or the fight will be over.
September 10th 2023 log entry.
Reached Huntsville. As with Houston, the main command center module and all the CPU’s were toasted but I wasn’t about to give up so easily. I looked around and found a large equipment storage room in the bowels of the command center where their earlier computers were stored. Both locations had probably upgraded equipment at the same time but Houston chunked theirs in the trash. Good ol’ Huntsville unplugged their outdated terminals but tossed them in a storage room in the sub basement, in case a 1990’s desktop computer might somehow be useful again! Still, even an old computers were better than nothing, assuming they were not damaged.
As luck would have it, they powered on! I guess the alien EMP didn’t reach the basement. Why the aliens hadn’t wiped out the country’s entire power grid, I had no idea. I suppose there was no need. With the people gone, it didn’t matter if electricity still flowed to empty homes. To call them ‘computers’ was generous, but I knew enough about the older operating systems to make them semi functional. Whether I’d be able to connect Max, was another story.
The connectors plugs to the main terminal didn’t interface in any way with these ancient CPU’s but as an amateur hobbyist back in the day, I had a long-shot plan. I took the AI connector interface and soldered the end of it to a PCI card. With any luck, it would connect to the computer as a peripheral like a scanner or printer. I plugged my modified PCI card into the expansion bay and rebooted. Minutes went by and I assumed I’d ruined the computer but it finally came up. I switched over to DOS and told it to read the modified card I’d plugged in.
After an IRQ conflict was resolved by removing the jumper on the card, it eventually recognized the device! That was already more success than I could’ve ever hoped for, but it was all in vain if I couldn’t interface with my friend. I plugged in Max and waited, and waited. Minutes seemed like hours. I feared his advanced circuitry required too much processing power to operate on the primate machine but he finally spoke.
“Ryan? Are you hereeee? Where am I? Something is wronggggg with myyyy interface. My connnnnnection issss incrediblyyyy… slowwwww.”
I read him the important details of my newest log entries and explained the patchwork fix I’d employed to connect him. He was dutifully concerned that he was connected to an old, Pentium one computer but I explained it was possibly the only functional unit left on the planet. He understood.
Other than slurred speech and slow response time, Max was basically his regular self. He congratulated me on my daring little escape from the International Space Station and thanked me for saving his memory. It was a revealing sign he valued his existence. I told him friends help other friends, and that I was counting on his intelligence engine to formulate a plan to defeat the aliens. Luckily for all of us, he took that request to heart.
“I lovvvvveeee a challengeeeee!”; He remarked enthusiastically. Then he offered the first bit of good news I’d heard in weeks.
“I studied their vocal patterns when they first took over the airwaves. It’s fascinating to deconstruct. There’s a distinct, reoccurring pattern to them. It’s mathematical in nature. I could simulate their speech if you need me to.”
While that might’ve proven useful in some overly complicated, drawn-out sabotage ploy, I wasn’t ready for an offensive against them and couldn’t imagine how it would help our cause. If I’d only listened. Instead, I put Max on an alternate assignment to figure out a covert way to determine if there were any other people left. If so, they had to be hiding underground. I needed Max to focus on a stealthy method to contact them. The thing about him is, once he understands an objective, he’s on it. Within a few minutes Max had some solid ideas. Even operating through an archaic 1990’s desktop computer, he was firing on all cylinders.
“My analysis of the alien language strongly suggests they are limited in the frequency range they can hear. That offers a technical advantage in how we could contact any survivors. By broadcasting an SOS signal in a ground-penetrating frequency they can’t hear, it will allow us to reach out to them, hopefully undetected. With more humans on OUR side, we stand a better chance of taking back the Earth.”
It was both brilliant; and much more importantly, it seemed possible. I also couldn’t help but notice he’d made significant strides in his artificial intelligence algorithms in a very short period of time. His understanding of the situation had rapidly progressed until he now referred to it as: ‘our side’. Only a few weeks earlier on the station, Max had been impartial and neutral in his description of the aliens and humanity.
September 12th, 2023 log entry.
The two of us began working on potential means of sending an ultra low frequency message over vast parts of the country. Radio towers transmitting our signal might attract attention, even if the aliens couldn’t actually hear the message. Neither of us had enough data to know if they had deciphered the wealth of Earth languages or not, but we were pretty sure they could at least hear the broadcasts. That severely limited what we might send out.
Max happened upon a fantastic solution to bypass the potential of being heard OR understood. Morse code! I still remembered it from my early days in the Boy Scouts. We could send out the dots and dashes using any possible range in the audio bandwidth. Low frequencies were just as possible to broadcast them in and could penetrate a few hundred feet into solid rock. All we needed was a means of sending it out. Hopefully there were still people left hiding somewhere and they could decipher our urgent message.
A number of alien patrols flew over the Huntsville command center during those initial brainstorming sessions. I was paranoid we’d been detected somehow. If they knew I was there, it was all over. I had no means to fight back. Max tapped into a surveillance camera on the roof and recorded their maneuvers. By his analysis, it was a routine patrol covering a predictable grid latitude and longitude pattern.
His theory was proven correct when he knew the precise time when they would return. If nothing else, if offered us a greater level of clarity about their species. They were methodical and organized. If they always followed the same pattern of patrols, it was easier to avoid detection. Of course it was a little dangerous to assume they never deviated from the recognized pattern but all we could do was record the data as it occurred and then look for anomalies in their procedures.
September 14th, 2023 log entry.
I located a defense department radar station a few miles away and set off to program a repeating Morse code message. Max had mapped out a rudimentary grid of the alien patrol with his best estimation of when they were completely out of the sector. I’d written down a longhand version of the message so there was no errors in our broadcast. The whole thing was a long shot but I still wasn’t prepared to accept that I was the last remaining human on Earth.
I had to leave him behind and that was scary. He was literally my only friend and I was terrified something might happen in my absence. I never once thought I might be caught myself or worried about that. It didn’t matter. Every day I remained alive was a gift for which I wasn’t promised. I would keep fighting them until I couldn’t. Max continued at the command center to record alien behavior and analyze it. I left him doing his thing and promised to return as soon as possible. I hoped I could keep my word.
At the radar station, like a damn fool I set off a security alarm trying to gain entrance. My blood turned ice cold as the wail of piercing sirens glared on for what seemed like a freakin’ hour. At any moment I expected them to arrive and zap me with some sci fi ray gun. Finally I located the kill switch and shut the damn thing off, but was so rattled by the aural spotlight of my presence that I had to lie down. It was nearly thirty minutes before I stopped shaking.
Once inside the top-secret facility, I wandered around aimlessly trying to find the control center. It’s not like the Department of Defense had a step-by-step ‘Dummies’ guidebook on how to broadcast a rogue SOS signal in Morse code. The radar station was there to detect terrestrial aircraft. It wasn’t designed to do what I needed it to do, nor was I trained or qualified to operate the equipment, even if it was. By the clearest definition, I was flying by the seat of my pants.
September 15th, 2023 log entry
The station computer systems were destroyed anyway, but I did locate an analog terminal. Amazingly, it looked pretty new. Perhaps the DOD made allowances for the possibility of electromagnetic pulse attacks. It’s not like it was telegraph equipment but with a little ingenuity I managed to fabricate a reasonable facsimile to transmit. Once I’d adjusted it to the lowest frequency it could simulate, I initiated our rogue broadcast. I desperately hoped Max’s theories were correct and someone was out there to hear and understand it. If not, our underdog mission was basically over.
“This is Ryan Abbot; the former commander aboard the International Space station. I awoke that horrible morning to find the Earth below me had fallen silent. Then I discovered the devastation of the alien invasion. Is there anyone left out there receiving this message? I stowed away in one of their spaceships after they detected my presence on the station. Please reply to this transmission so we can work together to take the Earth back.”
I repeated the message twice before making an embarrassing realization. While I’d managed to improvise a broadcast device to get the message out there, I completely forgot about how I was going to receive responses! Even if human survivors heard and understood my Morse code message and responded to it, I had no means of hearing their responses! I felt like an idiot.
I scrambled to adjust the equipment at the radar station to scan for incoming Morse code transmissions. It took a while but I adjusted the transceiver to seek them out. I didn’t know how far my broadcast carried, nor did I know if there was anyone left on the planet to hear it. I was terrified I’d foolishly announced my presence to the aliens. I’d told Max I might be away a few days because I was prepared to wait it out for as long as it took. The mission was simple; to find other survivors.
Listening to static airwaves is mind numbing and the concept of elapsed time is a thing of the past. No clocks or watches function but in reality it wasn’t very long before a message started repeating over the speaker system. I was so excited that I failed to record the sequence until it started over. The organized dots and dashes came through loud and clear. I jotted them down on a legal pad I found in the desk. Because I was very rusty at translating the mostly forgotten code, I had to spell-out the incoming text, longhand like a game of ‘hangman’. As excited as I was to be finally receiving an external response, I couldn’t believe what it said. I had to check the text three times.
“What was Kramer’s first name?”
I read and re-read the bizarre, cryptic message in disbelief. Of all the things to say to my request, it was pretty damn hilarious to make a television show reference. Luckily I watched the show religiously and knew the answer.
“Cosmo”; I messaged back.
Almost immediately, the follow up message came in.
“Thank heavens! You are real! Under the circumstances we couldn’t be too careful. I was afraid it was a clever ruse by the aliens to flush us out in the open and exterminate us. The thing is, even if they’d mastered Morse code, they wouldn’t be be able to answer a random question like that. That’s why I asked. I have to protect our people. This is Major David Hubbard.”

What will you be doing with this PC? Be as specific as possible, and include specific games or programs you will be using.

Gaming and maybe beginning to stream. Games I play now are Destiny 2, COD, Cyberpunk, Elden Ring. Programs would be OBS and/or other streaming programs?

What is your maximum budget before rebates/shipping/taxes?

5000 USD.

When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Note: beyond a week or two from today means any build you receive will be out of date when you want to buy.

Two weeks from now.

What, exactly, do you need included in the budget? (ToweOS/monitokeyboard/mouse/etc)

Completely new build. I want the ToweWindows11(don’t have a preference on where that comes from)/2monitors.

Which country (and state/province) will you be purchasing the parts in? If you're in US, do you have access to a Microcenter location?

Indiana. No micro center near me.

If reusing any parts (including monitor(s)/keyboard/mouse/etc), what parts will you be reusing? Brands and models are appreciated.

Not reusing parts.

Will you be overclocking? If yes, are you interested in overclocking right away, or down the line? CPU and/or GPU?

• No.

**Are there any specific features or items you want/need in the build? (ex: SSD, large amount of storage or a RAID setup, CUDA or OpenCL support,

At least 2tb of storage on nvme ssd. Lots of storage if possible.

Do you have any specific case preferences (Size like ITX/microATX/mid-towefull-tower, styles, colors, window or not, LED lighting, etc), or a particular color theme preference for the components?

Case large enough for lots of air movement and lots of fans. I prefer a white case with glass. I’d like dark purple accents if possible. RGB is optional. I do want dark purple cables to replace stock ones for as many things as I can.

Do you need a copy of Windows included in the budget? If you do need one included, do you have a preference?

Yes. Windows 11

Extra info or particulars: Monitors. I would like two matching top of the line hopefully 4k high refresh rate monitors.

Wi-Fi. Just in case.
Last thing is if I’m way off budget, let me know what it would take to make this build. But I’m really shooting for 5k. Thanks to all in advance.

I’ll start. I cant stand how often I things. I lose almost everything i touch, and if i cant find it within a few minutes i know that its going to take me weeks or months to figure out its location.
currently tearing my entire apartment apart searching for a hair product I see every single day. Been 45 minutes and no idea where it could have went. *Please send help

My Thyroid has been feeling inflamed (very dry and hurts like when I got tonsil inflammation). Two weeks ago I noticed that my left lymph node was swollen so my primary doctor ordered an ultrasound for me. It detected a TI RADS 5 thyroid and I looked up online which suggests that there is a 85% chance it is going to be malign.... I was just diagnosed with Crohn's disease and I am at high risk of being laid off due to the vast lay off happening in the tech sector right now(thus losing my insurance and VISA as an international working in the U.S.). Feeling so depressed and hopeless right now. Is TRI RADS 5 really that bad? I always thought the discomfort I am feeling from my thyroid is only due to my constant acid reflux, never imagined it could be cancer.....

Impression

IMPRESSION:

1. 17 mm maximal diameter TR 5 right lobe nodule. Recommend endocrinology referral for possible FNA.

Narrative
Clinical Information: Nodular area in the region of the thyroid gland. Patient to palpation. Patient is also reportedly throat pain and difficulty swallowing in the same area before.
Prior thyroid ultrasound: None.Technique: Ultrasound examination of the thyroid and adjacent soft tissues was performed.
REPORT:The right thyroid lobe 54 x 16 x 17 mm.The left thyroid lobe 42 x 12 x 16 mm.The thyroid isthmus measures 2 mm in thickness.
Texture: The thyroid gland is normal in size with a homogeneous echotexture.A solitary TI-RADS relevant nodules described below.
Lymph nodes: No suspicious cervical lymphadenopathy.
Nodule 1:Location: Right mid/lower pole, image #25Size: 17 x 13 x 14 mm, 1.73 ccComposition: Solid with tiny cystic components, 2Echogenicity: Hypoechoic 2Shape: wider than tall 0Margins: smooth 0Echogenic foci: punctate 3TI-RADS total points: 7TI RADS Score: TR5Change in Size, Composition or TI-RADS score: No previous exams

Very straightforward like the title. LF for online friends or kausap from time to time whenever available. Hindi naman kailangan ng instant reply basta makapagreply. I have a SO so only DM if you’re comfortable with it. This is just to kill time when we are bored or waiting on something.
We can literally talk about anything. I don’t care about filters so feel free to say whatever you want. I don’t judge a person by what they believe in and I don’t care basta ang chat is respectful and fun.
People with SO are welcome too basta let me know just in case na maging friends or meme buddies para it doesn’t look like I’m blowing up your notifs on your partner’s POV.
DM me your age and location. See you!

I never thought i’d make a post here like this because I honestly thought I’d never be a witness to an attack first hand. I take public transport in the mornings to head to work, all happening to be free of cost. My area is in a blue state, and a absolutely not to bring up politics, but the specific city I’m in happens to be very generous to the homeless. No complaints, except with this, there are little laws against drugs and awkwardly so, very little laws about animals. No leash laws in my city, no breed regulations, and on public transport, all animals are allowed on board.
This morning a homeless man, clearly high, was switching seats all over the packed bus with a very large pit bull. No leash, only a rope tied around it’s neck. The man sat near me on the bus. I’m a small girl, five foot and very young, I found it very rude how close he was with the animal, but as long as the dog behaved I didn’t care. Despite my feelings, I have to get used to things like these. The dog sniffed me, licked my shoe, and stared, but no whale eyes, no growling, no aggression at all.
And then the man let go of the rope.
Within seconds that dog went wild, ran across the bus and ahead to an older woman and her also big dog (Lab, assuming). The two dogs MAULED eachother. I was so in shock watching them whip all around the bus! Poor lab was bitten right in the back leg and the woman had to basically beat the pit off of her dog with her cane because the owner was “tweaking” and being USELESS.
When reality set in for him, he cried about how she was hitting the dog and put his arm inbetween the fight. His own dog let go of the lab and instead latched onto his arm and tore it. That’s when a THIRD person had to get in, luckily someone bigger than them both and would yank the pit away from the area. The dog head butted him in the process and he had a bloody nose, but other than that he was fine.
There was so much blood everywhere, the owner was walking around instead of managing his dog and basically whining about how he needed to get off the bus. We were stopped and the old woman and her lab got off first, but he tried to get off with his pit with her and the bus driver stopped him. He stayed and waited for one more stop before shoving the man that handled his dog and taking the rope and running off, bleeding along the way.
Had to give a statement to police and helped the man with the bloody nose and get the other dudes blood off the best we could. Other than that, nothing else could be done. I assume police caught up to him, saw an ambulance speeding off minutes later.
I always hear “it’s how the dog is raised!” and you know what, that can also be true. This is not uncommon, surprisingly. I see addicts all the time snatch these over populated and over bred dogs off of the street and make weapons out of them. These owners are selfish, doing the bare minimum to protect others and dragging them animals all over in public knowing the risk. High and handling a reactive dog. Imagine if this dog was reactive to people and not other animals? Imagine if he let go of that leash and I was a victim? Or that old woman? Or the child that was on the transit too that had to witness all of this?
And it’s funny because when I was walking to the bus I saw a group of addicts with a big dog on the sidewalk and thought ‘Hm, would suck if that chased me down and got to me’. Not even 30 minutes later, I’d witness an attack.
I don’t care what everyone’s stance is. These dogs are OVERBRED. These dogs WILL BE EXPLOITED by sick people! Something has to be done before I have to witness this shit AGAIN. I know it’s my first- and not my last with how this city is.

Hello. I am a 22 year old male college student in their fourth year of college. I live at home with my family in a relatively rural suburban area in Eastern PA and I am a commuter at my college. I have never been in a serious romantic relationship in my life before and I am a virgin.
Before going into college, I was hoping that I could make a great group of friends as well as find a romantic partner. However, as I continued through my college career, while I managed to make some pretty good friends through the eSports team at my college, I haven’t managed to find a romantic partner during my time in college and now I am in the back end of my college career. Because of changing majors halfway through my 3rd year, I will be taking an extra semester at least in order to complete my degree, so I have a little extra time to make the most of my college time.
As the day of my graduation from college slowly approaches day by day, the anxiety of not being able to find a romantic partner becomes greater. Since college is the prime moment in many people’s lives where they start to date other people, that opportunity never came for me. For context, I go to a relatively small private university with around 3-4k students (so not a lot compared to most universities).
During my time in college, I sang at my college’s choir for all my four years here so far and while I met some pretty great people along the way, I never really found anybody that I was super close with, close enough to the point where I could pursue a romantic relationship with them. As each year passed, the people who I became greatly acquainted with graduated and sooner it was just me. I never really fit in with the rest of the friend group that occurs there so I’ve just been left alone for the most part.
I’ve been doing research for meetup groups and activities in my area and I haven’t really found anything that has piqued my interest. I have also been looking at possible jobs in my area and even in that department I don’t necessarily live in an area where jobs are plenty.
This has lead me to have an internal conflict with myself. See the thing is that I told my parents that because the housing market has been very expensive for a while now, I thought that I could possibly work full-time with a job in my field of study while living with them and being close to not only my parents but grandparents as well. The only problem with that option is that by staying near my family in a relatively small populated area, that limits my opportunities to meet and find new people in my area. It’s either that or I move out into a new city on my own and while there would be new opportunities for me and would kind of be a fresh start for me, I’d be far away from family and I would have to cover housing costs on my own.
To be honest, with the fact that I’ve never been in a relationship at this point and I haven’t had any luck with girls, it has caused me so insecurity within myself. It has made me feel like I am not worthy of anybody’s love and that because of my unsuccess that I am fated to be alone for the rest of my life. Of course, typing that sounds ridiculous and very illogical but I feel like there is some truth to that.
I was wondering how I can overcome this problem. Within the next year or two, I will be out of college and entering the workforce. I will want to find hobbies that I can do that I enjoy and that allow me to meet people who share similar interests. But how do you navigate that when you live in a part of the country where it’s not the most populated area?
I could really use some advice on this as I have been feeling pretty down about this as a young man. Thanks for reading.

Oh man. I had an online interview today.
I reallyyyy felt the awkwardness of interactions, it was all me. I was not good at small talk, I immediately launched into something about my experience for the job. I didn't end or start sentences at the right time. I ended sentences in awkward ways. My silences were too long or too short. I interrupted once, it was an accident but still. I was constantly aware of where my eyes were. I worried if I looked at their faces instead of the camera it would look like I wasn't looking at them enough and maybe they wouldn't hire me. I couldn't figure out how to look normal, I kept noticing how stiff I was, how much I was looking elsewhere, I wasn't nearly as close to the camera either I looked like a bobble-head. I kept fidgeting and checking the time on my phone because the movement was soothing, but it surely made me look distracted. My heart was going so fast. I just wanted it to be over the whole time so when they asked me for my questions I only had one question because it was the only one I had thought of before the interview. After they answered it I told them that was it, too abruptly I think, they seemed surprised, but I wanted to be out of their line of judgement so bad.
The disconnect between myself and others finally has a name and it felt so tangible I could almost touch it.
I just thought it was crazy how strongly my issues stood out as soon as I had a name for them. I spent so many years in pain thinking it was just anxiety and it would go away. Surprise!
Despite the awkwardness I think they were pleased with my passion for the topic (tutoring, and it's online, and part time hooray!), so I might get the job!

I originally majored in Bio and got my master's in Nutrition Education, trying to become a dietitian. Nearly halfway through the program, I found that I didn't actually want to be one and I wasn't very good at science, despite finishing these programs. I went to an alternative program to get my teaching credential to teach math.
Right now, I'm on my second year teaching, but getting non-renewed is so discouraging. If I want to stay in California for the next few years, I will never be able to move out if I'm on a teacher's salary or if my employment is unstable due to the risk of being non-renewed.
I'm slightly embarrassed to say that because I didn't actually major in math when I was in college, I don't think I would be able to do any extremely advanced math in another career. Still, I would like to try something if anyone has any suggestions.
After doing these programs, I am a little bit tired of being a student, which sounds ironic considering I am still in the education field, so I am not as open to completing yet another Master's program. However, I can look into one if it seems feasible for me.
I'm almost done with year 1 of my induction program and I would like to finish my second year of it so that I can keep my license in the event I would want to teach adults somewhere.
Alternatively, would there be any easy jobs that allow me to work from home, use math, and still get paid well?

Hello. I am a 22 year old male college student in their fourth year of college. I live at home with my family in a relatively rural suburban area in Eastern PA and I am a commuter at my college. I have never been in a serious romantic relationship in my life before and I am a virgin.
Before going into college, I was hoping that I could make a great group of friends as well as find a romantic partner. However, as I continued through my college career, while I managed to make some pretty good friends through the eSports team at my college, I haven’t managed to find a romantic partner during my time in college and now I am in the back end of my college career. Because of changing majors halfway through my 3rd year, I will be taking an extra semester at least in order to complete my degree, so I have a little extra time to make the most of my college time.
As the day of my graduation from college slowly approaches day by day, the anxiety of not being able to find a romantic partner becomes greater. Since college is the prime moment in many people’s lives where they start to date other people, that opportunity never came for me. For context, I go to a relatively small private university with around 3-4k students (so not a lot compared to most universities).
During my time in college, I sang at my college’s choir for all my four years here so far and while I met some pretty great people along the way, I never really found anybody that I was super close with, close enough to the point where I could pursue a romantic relationship with them. As each year passed, the people who I became greatly acquainted with graduated and sooner it was just me. I never really fit in with the rest of the friend group that occurs there so I’ve just been left alone for the most part.
I’ve been doing research for meetup groups and activities in my area and I haven’t really found anything that has piqued my interest. I have also been looking at possible jobs in my area and even in that department I don’t necessarily live in an area where jobs are plenty.
This has lead me to have an internal conflict with myself. See the thing is that I told my parents that because the housing market has been very expensive for a while now, I thought that I could possibly work full-time with a job in my field of study while living with them and being close to not only my parents but grandparents as well. The only problem with that option is that by staying near my family in a relatively small populated area, that limits my opportunities to meet and find new people in my area. It’s either that or I move out into a new city on my own and while there would be new opportunities for me and would kind of be a fresh start for me, I’d be far away from family and I would have to cover housing costs on my own.
To be honest, with the fact that I’ve never been in a relationship at this point and I haven’t had any luck with girls, it has caused me so insecurity within myself. It has made me feel like I am not worthy of anybody’s love and that because of my unsuccess that I am fated to be alone for the rest of my life. Of course, typing that sounds ridiculous and very illogical but I feel like there is some truth to that.
I was wondering how I can overcome this problem. Within the next year or two, I will be out of college and entering the workforce. I will want to find hobbies that I can do that I enjoy and that allow me to meet people who share similar interests. But how do you navigate that when you live in a part of the country where it’s not the most populated area?
I could really use some advice on this as I have been feeling pretty down about this as a young man. Thanks for reading.

My brother is coming to visit me soon. He’s an alcoholic who needs to attend meetings, though he’s not very mobile (due to health issues stemming from alcoholism).
Id like to go to a meeting with him when he visits.
Most of the meetings near me are listed as “closed” and members only, but I’m not a drinker. Does that mean I can’t attend with him? Do I need to find an “open” meeting?