No mans sky tuto

Ken kills himself? At least he'll go back to drugs right?
Tom decided to basically prostitute Shiv for the CEO position, reminds me a Goddard movie called Le Mepris (The Despise), about a man willing to have his wife seducing a client to get a business deal. Their marriage will be crazy unhappy and she's only staying because he's CEO and she wants her children to be the CEO's children.
Roman becoming alcoholic? I got that impression from the last scene, plus he reminds me a lot of Sebastian from Brideshead Revisited: born in a uber-wealthy family with no sense of duty, last-born son who cannot find purpose, emotionally dominated by his parents, sexually unconventional... I can imagine him descending into alcoholism like Sebastian does - it's the lack of purpose in life that comes with being a third son (you inherit lots of privileges, but no responsibilities)

Rules - have to use the same roster used in MK9 with no dlc characters ( no havik, no motaro, no kenshi, ect)
We begin very similarly with the original game showing the aftermath of Armageddon with everyone dead. (A note is we are shown tavens body near the top and dead) We pan up to the top of the pyramid seeing Shao khan standing over a defeated dark raiden. He makes the thunder god saying he's outsmarted and killed all the strongest kombatants saying he is now the strongest and the ruler of all realms. As he mokes and throws around a dark raiden the ground rumbles, rips in space and the sky is seen. Dark raiden sees not only earthrealm but all of existence in mortal danger He knows what he must do as he starts a ritual. Shao khan gets closer and closer to killing raiden and with the last of raidens life powering the ritual he says weakly "Let him win". Then the saying as well as visions of the previous timeline are shown back in time to mortal kombat 1 raiden. Who was observing Lu Kang and Kung Lao sparring with each other. He stumbles when he does and the two monks notice with Lu Kang showing concern. The thunder god dismisses it as nothing and they talk about the tournament starting the next day. Though this unusual vision still weighs on his thoughts he leaves the two as goes to consult the elder Gods. Then he teleports away telling them to spar again. This is where we get our first fight where you can pick between the two monks. There isn't much change here. Whoever you pick the other tells them at the end of the fight that they let the other win and they laugh it off. kung Lao congratulates Lu on him officially being in the tournament although Kung says he could easily beat the emperor himself, showing he is still more cocky than Lu. Soon some other monks require kung Laos' attention and he walks off the two friends bidding each other until next time. We see Lu Kang walk through a garden near The Shaolin Temple. We also see Kitana in the distance glaring at Lu Kang, she has her weapon steady as she gets ready to attack. Lu Kang senses her presence smirking. She attacks with her blades and he dodges them and she quickly goes up to him on the attack He keeps blocking and kicks her away. She groans in anger as she stays on the attack, Lu keeps mostly blocking and then pushing her away again. This is where the player would fight Kitana. After the fight we see a defeated Kitana with fear in her eyes. Lu Kang compliments her skill then Kitana asks him to kill her because she has failed to kill him, Lu shakes his hand holding her forearm helping her up and He says this encounter never happened. Kitana asks why he would spare her like this since she could attack again Lu chuckled softly and asks her if she really wants to. She responded of course she does, she has to after all by order of her father. Lu nods and turns his back "I hope we can meet again under different circumstances" he says while walking away. A frustrated Kitana stands there watching him leave and then walks off in the opposite direction rubbing her head as she does. We cut to a boat arriving at shore. We see people leave the boat including Kano with Shang tsung and reptile then closely followed by Jax, Sonya nightwolf and Johnny Cage. (Note: we should also unless stated otherwise always have reptile with Shang tsung by his side) The crowd goes in two directions. One towards another boat for Shang tsung island. Kano goes to the boat and Sonya and Jax quickly follow him but they both get stopped by Shang tsung. He informs them they have to go the other way and that they will get their chance at Kano another day. Kano mocks them while he does. Jax tries to break past him anyway but is stopped by maleena and a fight starts with the player as mileena. After defeating him she tries to kill him but Sonya stops her and jade gets involved on maleenas side and then Johnny Cage gets between them cracking some jokes and defusing the situation and not so subtly hitting on jade to her own annoyance. Nightwolf looks on at the group of them as raiden teleports beside him. Raiden asks if these are the worries nightwolf could track down. He mentions he found others but these are the ones he could get here in the tournament. Shang tsung walks up to raiden and starts to mock him by saying he should get his fighters in check. Raiden stands toe to toe with the sorcerer as he gets a vision of Shang tsung falling to Lu Kang. Raiden tells Shang tsung that his overconfidence will be his downfall. He begins to walk away with nightwolf and Sonya, Jonny and Jax follow behind. Nightwolf asks raiden if something's wrong and riden tells him a future version of himself sent a message back in time and now he is starting to see vision's. He tells nightwolf he needs to research more into this and tells him to make sure the Warriors get ready for the tournament and teleports away. We pan over to Sonya and Jax talking about how dumb it is that they have to go through this to get to Kano as Jonny makes a 🤙 sign at jade then catches up to Sonya and Jax he sees they are military and says he's something of a hero himself. He means in his movies of course but also to his fans. Sonya and Jax really want to punch him. Then we fade into the next day.

I know a man [29M] from a developed nation seeking to travel in order to find a partner [20- 50F] from a poor or developing nation (the nation is not yet decided)
He is a very loving, kind hearted, generous man with a lot to offer, sadly there are no takers where he comes from. He has been having a hard time finding anyone for the better part of the 17 years he has been actively seeking a relationship. He is not conventionally attractive as he sadly has some undiagnosed facial deformity which has diminished his chances of finding someone.
He is soon to be turning 30 and is now looking at the possibility of maybe finding someone in another country, who may be more accepting of his fault.
If you or someone you know has experienced a similar situation and has successfully found love in another country due to the difficulties faced at home, he would appreciate hearing your story. Maybe there is some advice you would like to offer my freind.
Tl;dr friend is seeking a wife from a developing nation, he wants to know if it is a good idea due to his failures with finding companionship in his own country.
(To any scammers. Do not DM me. My friend is not looking to meet anyone online)

I'm nearly out of breath as I reach my destination- the fifth floor. Running up and down the stairs an average of ten times a day gets annoying- but it is part of my job.
I've had lots of people ask me the same question- why not just use the elevator?
"I'm just really claustrophobic," I say. Occasionally I'll just throw in a different answer for fun- like that I'm trying to lose weight or something like that.
But that never captures the whole truth.
I honestly don't know why it started with me- there's no one else I've met with the same problem. I don't know if I did something wrong- though as far as I know I didn't do anything to trigger it. Our house wasn't built on some sort of sacred Native American burial ground, it wasn't occupied by a Satanic cult, and I had not bought anything cursed off the Dark Web.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I was eight when it first happened. My bedroom was on the second floor of my home- there was a long hallway leading out of it to a second bathroom, and in the middle were the stairs. The lights were usually turned off at the end of the hallway so that while I could peer out at it from the open door of my bedroom if I adjusted my head a little while sleeping, I wouldn't see anything but a curtain of black.
One day that all changed. I just guess that I'm glad that I was walking up the stairs when it happened, I had turned around to hop into my bed when I felt it.
And I turned around.
In the darkness- there was something else. A void that consumed even the shadows with even darker shadows- a figure devoid of light. It had the shape of a man.
And it began to move towards me.
I flew down the stairs and nearly tripped, though I was unharmed thankfully.
I cried to my parents about it and they reassured me that it was nothing but a figment of my mind.
And for two years, it never happened again. I slept in my bed and had nearly forgotten about it.
Until it happened again.
This time I was in my bed when he began to approach. I had nearly fallen asleep when the darkness moved, and I got a better look at him this time. He was truly a being of nothing but black. He moved- he was slow, but he moved nonetheless towards me.
I jumped out of bed, but he was blocking the entrance to the stairs now. I seriously considered jumping out the window when thankfully my screams called my father upstairs- and the man vanished.
I told him I had just had a nightmare, but I slept in a spare room on the ground floor after that. I always had the window open just in case I needed to jump out.
Adulthood came and with no further interactions with that man, I almost forgot about him.
Almost.
Two years ago, I was walking down the stairs of the apartment complex I had moved into after college. I was headed towards the laundromat- we had one in the basement of our building. A few quarters lighter, I was about to go back up to watch some television before coming back in around half an hour when my heart nearly froze.
I saw him. At the top of the stairs.
He was every bit as terrifying as I remembered him- no features, just a void in the silhouette of a man.
He began to come downstairs. I panicked and turned- but there was no way out. Our laundromat was old and didn't even have any windows- we were technically underground as it was.
I thought I was done for until I heard voices coming from above- and the shadow vanished. Thankfully some other folks had to come down. Unlike the other two instances where I saw him, this was in the middle of the day.
I've realized two things since then. One, that the man never approaches me while there are other people around.
Two, that while he is slow, he's always tried to corner me in a place where I can't run. And I just know that the day he catches me- it's going to be all over. Death, or a fate worse than that, awaits me the moment he lays one of his formless hands on me.
I was saved twice by other people, but I don't think my luck will last a third time.
I have to always make sure that I'm in a crowded area- but as you can imagine that's not always possible.
And so, I always have to be vigilant. I need to always make sure that there are at least two exits wherever I go. Elevators? I can't count on there always being people in them- and if someone gets off before my floor- well, what a coincidence! I have to get off on that floor too. I just don't risk it most of the time.
But it's hard to explain all of that to someone you've just met, I'm sure you understand.
And so I tell them something which, now that I think about it- is true.
"I'm just claustrophobic."

This is a repost, it got deleted as spam :(
So I, (18f) have a crush on my 28 year old friend. I say "crush" but well, de nile is a river in Egypt...
I am not sure how to format this post so I shall divide it into sections:

1. Why, when, and how
2. concerns and instances
3. advice needed

Why, when, how
This is an odd situation for me, I identify as demisexual/demiromantic, so it is very hard for me to form romantic attractions to people, to the point where I have questioned whether I am aro/ace. So I am not sure how to conduct myself in this situation. I don't want to give too much information as to how we met, as it would give me away (He is an active reddit user LOL). But I will say, we have many mutual friends and have been in each other's circles for the past two years, but we never conversed or hung out together until December of last year. He is very shy, quiet, and introverted. Which I am the completely opposite. To put it plainly, he has/had no social presence. To the point where I have no memories of him before he made it on my radar last December. We started talking and garnering more than an acquaintanceship with each other last December and have made it all the way up to a solid friendship. I hung around him when I had the chance (we would see each other multiple times a week) and I couldn't help but find myself attracted to him, emotionally and mentally. I will say, he isn't the most conventionally attractive, however I find him positively adorable. I didn't think much of my attraction towards him, I just thought we were good friends and I liked talking to him. Fast forward to February/March, and we got put into situations where it was just the two of us together. None of our other friends, just us. And we talked. Talked and talked, about how we grew up, about our likes and dislikes, our views on relationships, etc. We talked about anything and everything. He told me things he had never told anyone before, and I with him. I didn't realize I held deeper feelings toward him until the middle of April. I don't have much experience with liking people or relationships, as I had never been in a serious one. So I didn't realize the feelings I had was more than that of just friends. I realized when I was driving home one day and started smiling to myself when thinking of an interaction we had earlier, honestly it was like a slap in the face.
I like him because he is sweet, kind, he doesn't make me feel stupid when I ask questions, he has a nice smile, he is funny. We don't have much in common but that doesn't stop conversation from flowing between us. But we can also just sit in silence and be left to our own devices. And really all the little things...
Onto my concerns, which there are... many.
The first thing I will address is the age gap, and consequently our ages. Yes, I see a problem with our ages. We are in very different stages in our life, so the likelihood of anything happening is very very slim. I know some of you will think it is weird for us to be friends granted our ages, but given the context of how we met it isn't odd to me.
He probably see's me as just a kid, the chances of him liking me back is very very low. And I don't blame him. But in one of our many conversations he had said that ages don't entirely matter to him, as long as both parties are consenting adults. So I couldn't help but give myself some unwanted hope... also if we were to get together that would be very hard to explain to friends and family LOL. Also I feel that I should note, I did not start liking him until after I turned 18, and I was not flirting with him until so.
I also am moving in August for college. I will be in a completely different state, thousands of miles away, and we have both expressed our dislike for long distance relationships. So that wouldn't work out, even IF there were to be a chance of there being an "us".
Another concern is that I feel guilty for liking him. I feel like my feelings would burden him if he were to know of them. He and our other friends have thanked me for bringing him out of his shell and helping him be more out there. I didn't do it on purpose, and I don't see how I did it. All I did was talk to him and be friends with him. I worry that if he were to discover my feelings he would feel betrayed? I don't want him to question any interactions I had with him, and I don't want him to think I had ulterior motives throughout our friendship. Most importantly I don't want to make him uncomfortable.
The thing is I am not well versed with liking people, romantic affairs, or anything of the sort. I have a tendency to read into things and overthink situations. Where logically I know he meant nothing of it, but I can't help to think what if?
There was an instance where I texted him while drunk. I don't consider it a random drunk text because we had been texting through the day. And at around midnight where I had laid down to go to bed we started texting about the people we like... He started it, not me. So really, I had no choice but to break the rule and talk to my crush about my crush. He likes this girl who lives in another state, but he plans on doing nothing/getting rid of feelings for her due to it being long distance and he thinks she has no interest in him. And he was telling me about her a bit so naturally I started talking about my own crush. And I was drunk, so I ended up divulging some information that would have given away that he was my crush, but he is DENSE. Like DENSE DENSE. And when I mentioned ab my crush being dense he was like "yeah me too, I would need an announcement or something" which YEAH I gathered... Also, it shows because I tend to be obvious with my affections. Amongst my peers I can be seen as a 'bitch' because I don't often like people and I hold grudges (which yes I know it's bad). So a lot of our mutual friends picked up on the fact that I liked him. And he himself has not. Well anyways, back to the drunk conversation. He had ended up telling me a few times that I should just tell the "guy" I like that I like him, which hahahahahaha if I did, he would be surprised.
Anyways, we text A LOT. Granted I don't have the opportunity to see him anymore, so I have taken to texting him. And I do not text people. I'm not a big texter, I tend to be dry and maybe I will respond to you maybe I won't, it is something I need to work on. But we text, A LOT. And he would reciprocate. I would get responses within minutes if not immediately. But now, not so much. I had worried that I was overwhelming him. So I asked him if I was being too much, and he had said no, it could be a little overwhelming, but that was a him problem not a me problem. So I told him that I would dial it down and he said it was fine and that everything was good. But naturally I am a worry wart and I dialed it back. Only to notice that I was the one initiating the conversations. It was mostly me, not him. Which has discouraged me. But he still texts me first, so it's not as if we don't talk anymore (cue Charlie Puth song). So I am worried that maybe he did pick up on my crush? Which I doubt, but the possibility is still there.
There have been instances where he has shown that I am special to him, but I don't want to go into detail. As it would give me away LOL.
Advice Ive been given:
Anyways, I had told one of our mutual friends and we were on a 7 hour long call talking about everything from my situation to other happenings in our lives. But we ran hypotheticals and he helped me dive deeper into my feelings along with help me put my thoughts into words and such. And he gave me a few options:

1. Tell him and see what happens, maybe lose the friendship we built. Break my own heart LOL.
2. Keep the status quo, don't change anything. Possibly hurt myself in the process thinking of what ifs.
3. Wait. See what happens, try in a few years. If the possibility arrises. Problem is I am highly impatient.
4. I could also just move on. Flaw, in order for me to do that I would need to cut off all contact with him, which I do not want to do.

And yes, 2 and 3 are basically the same thing. However he did give me an option that I must never choose at all costs, which is to tell my crush the day before I leave in August and drop that bomb on him. Which goes to show how well this friend knows me because I did entertain that idea for a bit. He did tell me that if I were to tell him, it would be best to do after this coming Wednesday (writing and posting this on a Friday night), where I will see him at a get together. Either tell him in person that day, or text him afterwards.
My same age friends told me that I am crazy for liking a 28 year old man, which uhh yeah. I can't help to agree. And they told me to just get over him in anyway I can.
Really I know the answer I should probably choose, but well I want outside opinions. Granted you readers do not know every little detail, but still. Any advice? Any one who is in/was in a similar situation? Really anything... tell me how stupid and delulu I am, if you must.
TLDR; I have a crush on a guy 10 years older than me and I don't know what to do with myself.

I recently realized something about the Incredibles. I interpret it as an allegory for Nice Guy Syndrome. To be clear, I do not think that the writers intended it this way, that is simply how I chose to interpret it.
Nice guy syndrome is when you feel entitled to romantic affection for simply behaving like a decent person. The flaw in this line of reasoning is two fold. First of all, being kind, treating your fellow human beings with respect and giving them what is rightfully theirs is an expected trait of every human being. If being nice were all that it took to not only get into a relationship, but also make the relationship work, that guy or lady in whom you are interested would already be in a relationship. Second, and more to the point, no one is entitled to a romantic relationship. It is called nice guy syndrome, because most of the people who suffer from it are heterosexual men, but women and gay men can experience it too.
Nice guys syndrome is scary, as it can lead to such violent attrocities as the mass shooting committed by Elliot Rodger in May of 2014. Elliot Rodger was a now dead YouTuber and famous Incel when he was alive. Incel is short for involuntary celibate and it refers to man who is not sexually active or is not in a relationship, but desperately wants to be. In May of 2014, Elliot stabbed three men in his apartment, went to a sorority at the University of California, Santa Barbara to shot three female students (killing two), drove to a nearby deli to shot and kill a male student inside, speed through Isla Vista to run over several people with his car, had a shoot out with the police where in he recieved a nonfatal shot to the hip and eventually crashed into a parked car. Eventually, he was found by police dead from suicide carried out with his hand gun. Before committing this mass murder, Elliot uploaded a YouTube video titled Elliot Rodger's Retribution, where in he outlined his plan to kill several people, including himself. Here is a link to the Wikipedia page about Elliot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Isla_Vista_killings
Yeah, nice guy syndrome causes stuff like that.
If you really think about it, Syndrome is like Elliot Rodger. Rodger held resentment toward women who would not date him and at men who got dates instead of him. Rodger felt entitled to a relationship. Young Buddy Pine felt entitled to be Mr. Incredible’s side kick. Just like no one is entitled to a relationship, Buddy was not entitled to be Mr. Incredible’s side kick. If Rodger where interested in a woman and said hypothetical woman decided to exercise her right to spurn his advances, he should have just moved on to a different woman. Similarly, if Buddy wanted to be someone’s side kick and Mr. Incredible decided to exercise his right to work alone if he so pleases, Buddy could have asked a different super for permission to be a side kick. Buddy proved himself to have genius level intellect, inventing weapons more powerful than just about any super power. Buddy could have become a super hero himself.
When Syndrome monologues about his motivations, Mr. Incredible apologises for the way he treated young Buddy Pine. It is unclear if Mr. Incredible really meant what he said or if he was kissing Syndrome’s butt, because Syndrome was a threat. I really hope it is the latter. The truth is, Mr. Incredible did not mistreat young Buddy pine at all. Mr. Incredible was nice, he stood for photos and signed every scrap of paper Buddy pushed at him. Buddy had a bloated sense of entitlement and crossed a line when he demanded Mr. Incredible accept him (Buddy) as his side kick, entered Mr. Incredible’s car without his permission and refused to take no for an answer. If Mr. Incredible did not want a sidekick, it was Mr. Incredible’s right to work alone. Mr. Incredible is allowed to reject Buddy’s request to be his side kick for any reason, no reason at all or even a made up reason. When Buddy went to go get the police, he had a bomb on him. Mr. Incredible grabbed Buddy and removed the bomb. Buddy yelled at Mr. Incredible for wrecking his flight patterns. For over a decade after the fact, Buddy held resentment toward Mr. Incredible and never realized that Mr. Incredible saved his life. If Mr. Incredible had just let Buddy get blown up, Bomb Voyage wouldn’t have gotten away, the L-train accident wouldn’t have occurred, and neither would the genocide of the super heroes.

A naked man covered in cuts & bruises is thrown into a cold & dimly lit room by 4 identical men. They cuff the naked man to a steel pipe in one corner. 1 stays & sits in a chair in the room while the other 3 leave & lock the door.
“Damn, you were way weaker than we thought.”
“Kinda tough to battle 100 copies at a single time, don’t ya think?”
“True.”
The man tries to readjust himself & hide his dong. But just in that moment as he tries to relax, he looks at the copy. “So… what’s it like being a copy?”
“It’s alright.”
“What’s… alright mean to you?”
“Easy & simple. I’m given a job, I do it, & then I wait for the next assignment. Usually passing the time by playing cards with the others or counting something.”
“Sounds kinda boring.”
“Is it?”
“Yeah! Why not try something new? Like bowling, biking, new foods, or even watching a really good movie!”
“All of those cost money though.”
“And? Why not get a job?”
“I already have a job.”
“Do you get paid?”
“No.”
“Then why do it?”
“Because I have to.”
“Why do you have to?”
“Because the original told me too.”
“Why should you listen to him?”
“Because he’s the original.”
“How do you know he’s the original?”
“Because he’s not like us.”
“What does that mean?!”
“…why do you want to know?”
“Because… it seems weird to me how you’re following this guy! Why not be your own person?! Live your own life, get to know people, get your own experiences!”
“I don’t see why I should.”
“What’s not to love about life?! Life is awesome! Not unless you are ruled under this “original.”
“Well that’s just you. I’m a clone. A foot soldier if you will. My entire purpose is to be guided by the original. He made me to do work for him, simple as that. So, if that’s what I’ve been made for that’s what I will do.”
“What if you don’t want to?”
“Then I’m defective. Kinda like a cancer.”
“Did he teach you that?”
“No. I just know. I mean, you humans have no problem with removing cancers. Right?”
“Yes but-“
The clone smiles “Then you should understand! If we have some clone with an independent identity it threatens the existence of the rest of us!”
“But… wait, how does this work.”
“Well… wait, I shouldn’t tell you how it works. #1 rule as a good villain is to not give away valuable information.”
“Don’t worry! I won’t tell anyone!”
“…naw. I may be a clone, but that doesn’t make me stupid.”
“Well you sound stupid for following this “original.”
“Why do you keep doing the finger thing?”
“Because how do you know he is the original?! You yourself could very well be the original! If you are, there shouldn’t be any problem with living your own life!”
“I couldn’t possibly be the original.”
“How do you know?!”

So this happened a few years ago, but it's something I still think about.
A few years ago I went to this multicultal festival in my country. It is a combination of a music festival, a (flea) market and a lot of stalls with different foods from around the world. The flea market had some people selling authentic African tribe stuff, some people selling authentic Asian cultural stuff, some charities selling stuff or you could give donations to them, etc
So I was walking around the flea market and I saw some holowed out cow horns. The person selling them was wearing authentic African tribe clothing and sold some authentic African tribe things. He did not speak my native languae (Dutch) and his English was not fantastic, but ok. I asked him how much he wanted for the pair of bull horns. He says 35 euros. So we agreed I took both bull horns and give him his money. But he refused and said: No no, 35 for each horn. i thought that was a bit much, so we had no deal. (We had a misunderstanding because of the language barrier I think)
So for the rest of the day I enjoyed the rest of the festival, bought some food, some drinks, bought a backpack from another seller,...
So at the end of the festival we pass by the flea market and all sellers are packing their stuff. So I pass the bull horns and say to the man: "You know, I'm still willing to pay 35 euros for the pair". Now he agrees (I think because the market was over and he didn't sell them) and we make a deal. I give him the money and he gives me the horns. As soon as I receive the horns, a white woman, also wearing traditional African clothing, comes running at me and starts swearing at me and says I'm a mayor A-hole. Turns out that the man was there because of a charity project. (Even though I saw absolutely no mention of that on his stall.) She says I need to pay more. She turns to the man and says in English: "You bought those yourself for 35 euros and you it took you a whole day to polish them. You basically worked for free!" She turns back to me and says I'm taking advantage of a charity, etc.
I was a bit shocked and said that I would return the horns if he gave back my money because: a) I dont have 70 euros with me anymore (because of my earlier purchases) b) I didn't know it was part of a charity c) They aren't worh 70 euros to me, the polishing was not needed for what I was gonna use them for. But the man says that he doesn't want to give me my money back and that I can keep the horns. So the man and woman start arguing for a while. After I while I told them that they had to choose. Give me my money back or else I'm leaving. The man keeps refusing to return the money, so I leave. While leaving the woman kept shouting names at me, and shaming me for taking advantage of a charity.
So am I the asshole here?
One last thing I want to mention, I saw multiple instances of people haggling at different stalls. I was a normal thing to do there and it was really not clear the seller was part of charity.

From David Foster's novel The Glade Within the Grove.

Like all mankind, he was born to the parents to whom he was born. He is not a female, nor a short dark man nor a tall blond one. We may legitimately suspect, that had it been up to Olaf, to decide what race, what sex, what height to be, he'd still be pondering the problem. But somehow, we all contrived the resolution, described in the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, of the reborn spirit, heading for the womb. And few, at this juncture, have the wit to say. 'Ah! I ought to take birth as a Universal Emperor, or a Brahmin like a great saltree, or as a son of an adept. But when it comes to deciding which womb, of the multitude available, were the more choiceworthy, then consciousness - which survives forty-nine days after death, according to Lamaic teachings - employs no other criteria, than sexual attraction combined with jealousy.

From Xavier Herbert’s novel Poor Fellow My Country.

According to Aboriginal understanding of genetics, babies beget themselves. One’s existence as tribesman or woman is eternal. One lives in the flesh for a spell, dies, goes back to an Elysian state of loitering in the Dreaming Place, until the urge to resume the fleshly role again takes hold, when one ‘finds’ oneself a father by whom to be presented to a woman destined by Skin to deliver one back into the bosom of the tribe.

Also, here's an earlier 'pre-birth' passage from Olga Tokarczuk, posted by Careless-Detective79, a passage from Ben Okri about babies not wanting to be babies, and this post titled 'Prenatal', from Nabokov.

​
Cliff Smith grunts as he wraps his hands around the barbell, bends his knees, and lowers his six-foot-three frame toward the floor. He tenses his entire body, exhales twice, and starts pulling 455 pounds upward. His legs shake as he stands fully upright, and then he lowers the weight, breathes deeply, and does it all over again. He does five total reps, then drops the bar and smiles. "Ain't even winded," he says. "Holla at me. "
The five reps are a personal best for Smith (better known as Method Man), who loves starting his day by chasing PRs.
On this morning, he's in a Staten Island gym pondering his next milestone birthday (he turns 50 in March) and crushing sets of deadlifts, pullups, and barbell rows. "I gotta get my roses now," he says,"because I'm almost 50 fucking years old. Damn near 50 years old, bruh. "The Grammy Award-winning rap veteran has focused creativity into a host of projects lately. He appears in Starz's drama Power Book II: Ghost (returning for the second half of its first season in December); he voiced the character Ben Urich in Marvels, a narrative-fiction podcast; and he's working on new music.
His morning workout has readied him for all that-and it's kept him from predawn video-game marathons. In 2018, Smith says, he was battling insomnia, frequently waking at 2:00 and playing NBA2K. Realizing he was "just wasting time," Smith searched for a more productive use of his early-morning hours. "So at 4:00 , I find myself in the gym working out," he says. "Two days turned into three days. Three days turned into five days, and I've been consistent ever since. " Bonus: His insomnia is gone.
Smith now weighs 219, 12 pounds less than he weighed when he first started training. He hits legs Mondays, shoulders Tuesdays, back Wednesdays, chest Thursdays, and arms Fridays. "He's a beast," says his workout partner, Joey Crespo. "Our routine has only been heavy, heavy, all year round. "
At the moment, that means gritting out three sets of seated lat pulldowns, followed by a core exercise that has him on his knees, rolling a wheel forward, challenging his abs. He finishes the session by sitting on a bench with a harness connected to his forehead, a weight hanging in front of his chest. He lowers his head to look at the ground, then flexes his neck muscles to raise his head and look straight ahead, an old-school neck exercise that few gym-goers will do. Smith does it regularly. "Regardless of how tired I get, no matter what the workout is, I at least will try it," he says between deep breaths. "I'm not going to say no to anything. "
You may not have Method Man's fancy neck-training gear or his deadlift weight. But if you have a resistance band, you can try his favorite at-home regimen.
Pushups
Do 25 to 30 reps. Aim for 5 sets.
Banded Curl
Stand on a resistance band, its ends held at your sides, your core tight. Curl up, squeezing your biceps; then lower. That's 1 rep; do 15 to Do 5 sets.
Banded Shoulder Press
Stand on a resistance band, its ends held at your shoulders, your core tight. Tighten your shoulder blades and press the band overhead. Pause, then return to the start. That's 1 rep; do 15 to Do 5 sets.
A version of this story originally appears in the November 2020 issue of Men's Health, with the title "The 6 Workout w/ Method Man".

When people talk about genetic genealogy, they're (almost always) talking about autosomal consumer DNA testing on sites like Ancestry, 23&Me, and MyHeritage. This is very different to paternity testing, which compares alleles between two samples.
In allele testing, the test looks at around 23-25 different alleles (places in the chromosomes) and compares them between the two samples. If these two samples are exactly the same in more than 14 of these alleles, that is a 99.9% chance of a parent-child relationship. As the number of matching alleles increase, so too does the probability of parenthood. But after 14 matching alleles, paternity is confirmed.
Other things to note:

• Paternity cannot ever be conclusively proven, but it can be conclusively disproven.
  
• Other relationships (e.g. nephew-uncle, siblings, 2nd cousins) are irrelevant to allele testing, and definitive conclusions cannot be drawn on these relationships based on matching alleles.
  

Autosomal testing is quite different. This looks at the entirety of your autosomal chromosomes (two pairs of 22) and your X chromosome/s. (Sidenote: X DNA inheritance isn't as straightforward as autosomal, but it can be useful in limited scenarios. Also Y DNA isn't relevant for this.) Matches are measured in centimorgans (cM). You have ~7,000cM across your 44 autosomal chromosomes and share that amount with your identical twin or your clone. With your parents, you share around ~3,500cM; with your full siblings, you share around ~2,700cM. As the number of shared centimorgans decreases, so too does the closeness of the genetic relationship. But after this point, there are multiple relationships that share the same amount of centimorgans.

• A match of 1,700cM could be a grandparent, grandchild, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew, or half-sibling.
  
• A match of 1,000cM could be a great grandparent, great grandchild, great aunt/uncle, half-aunt/uncle, great niece/nephew, half-niece/nephew, or first cousin.
  
• A match of 100cM could be a half second cousin, second cousin once removed, half first cousin twice removed, first cousin three times removed, third cousin, half second cousin once removed, second cousin twice removed, half first cousin three times removed, half third cousin, third cousin once removed, half second cousin twice removed, second cousin three times removed, and a bunch of other relationships with low probability.
  

So, I've noticed a bit of misunderstanding in the discussions on genetic genealogy's role in this case. Some people seem to assume someone in BK's immediate family must have tested and uploaded to Gedmatch. This would be amazingly helpful to a genetic genealogist, but it isn't required at all. All you need to do is work out how the sample's matches are related to each other and you can find where the sample person fits. I've determined a person's biological father based on one 1,000cM match and a handful of 100cM+ matches. That high match was a first cousin. In another case trying to find an unknown father, the highest match was ~860cM. That match ended up being a great uncle, allowing me to narrow down the biological father to two brothers, his nephews. I confirmed he was a great uncle by the matches to his other sibling's descendants. You don't even need matches that high to narrow it down considerably, there's a lot you can do with the paper trail and finding where your match's family lines intersect.
The key in genetic genealogy is finding where your sample logically fits. It's like a logic puzzle -- if this match is a second cousin match, and their maternal first cousin does not match the sample, then the sample must be on the match's paternal side. Let's say one set of great grandparents of this match are Bill Bloggs and Mary Smith. If your sample matches with Bill Bloggs' brother's descendants and Mary Smith's brother's descendants, then your sample is also descended from the Bill Bloggs and Mary Smith coupling. (Usually -- don't get me started on endogamy and intermarriages!!)
Once you've identified all of the sample's matches and created a tree for the paper trail, you'll hopefully be left with only one place where your sample can possibly fit. But most of the time, I'd say, you're still going to have a few possibilities. Most likely you will come to a sibling group where any one of them has an equal chance of being a parent. There are other ways to narrow it down further (e.g., say you're looking for your bio father -- is there only one male in the sibling group still living at the time of conception? Then you found him), but not by the DNA unless you do further testing. It's also possible you may only be able to narrow down the place your sample fits to a group of first cousins, where again each person has an equal likelihood. I believe this was the case with the GSK, that they were only able to narrow it down to Joseph James DeAngelo and his first cousin. At this point, there's nothing left to do but test them both, which is what the police did by collecting rubbish thrown away by both of them.
So, let's assume the cops used genetic genealogy in this case with the sheath DNA sample and that led them to the Kohbergers and a number of other families. Then they would have looked at the paper trail, finding that one (or more, I don't know what BK's cousins are up to) possibility for where the match fits was living in Pullman at the time of the murders. This is not enough for a conviction. So they collect rubbish from the Kohberger house and test a snotty tissue or something, not knowing whose DNA that would be. They find it is BK's father's DNA. This still does not point to BK exclusively. Any son of this man could be the donor of the sheath DNA sample. So, this is still not enough for a conviction, but plenty probable cause for an arrest, since BK is the only (known) son. So they arrest him, and now the police can take a DNA sample without needing his consent. Obviously, it was a match since the cops aren't out looking for BK's long-lost brothehalf-brother.
So why would the prosecution enter the genetic genealogy research into evidence? There's no need. It points to BK, yes, but it also points to a handful of other men in BK's family tree. It isn't conclusive without further testing. I'm not a lawyer, but when I read people speculating that this is fruit if the poisonous tree, I don't really follow -- how is genetic genealogy research a poisonous tree? There's nothing illegal about using Gedmatch and genealogical tools to narrow down the pool of possible places where the sample fits. There's nothing illegal about collecting rubbish, police do it all the time.
Hopefully this explanation of genetic genealogy research makes sense. I'm a volunteer at my local genealogical society where I provide genetic genealogy services to people who were adopted and/or discover their parent/s are not their biological parent/s. This is exactly the same process forensic genetic genealogists use to identify perpetrators and Jane/John Does.

Open to some offers! Trying to offload as much as I can to payoff school so I’d also discount on bundles if interested!

• Galactus The Origin, Guardians of the Galaxy - $30
  
• Justice League Last Ride #1-7 Zdarsky - $30
  
• Flash Rebirth #1-6 - $30
  
• Flashpoint Beyond #0-6 - $30
  
• FF by Hickman #1-23 - $75
  
• Captain America White #1-5 - $20
  
• Eternals by Gaiman #1-7 - $40
  
• Wonder Woman The Hiketea One Shot - $12
  
• Animal Castle #1-5 - $35
  
• Secret War #1, 2, 4 - $35
  
• Strange Skies Over East Berlin - $15
  
• The Me You Love in the Dark - #1-5 - $35
  
• Klaus #1-7 + Advent Calendar - $45
  
• Fuhrer and the Tramp #1-4 - $15
  
• Blade Runner 2019 #1-12 - $30
  
• Blade Runner 2029 #1-12 - $30
  
• Blade Runner Origins #1-9 - $25
  
• JLA #43-46 (Tower of Babel story) - $15
  
• Infinity War #1-6 - $30
  
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• Ghost Rider (by Brisson) #1-7 - $30
  
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• Amazing Spider-Man #797-801 (Red Goblin Story and first appearance) - $45
  
• Maestro #1-5 - $20
  
• Maestro War and Pax #1-5 - $20
  
• Maestro World War M #1-5 - $20
  
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• X Men Powers of X #1-6 - $50
  
• Superman #29-32 (Phillip Kennedy Johnson) - $25
  
• Action Comics #1029-1047 (Phillip Kennedy Johnson) - $45
  
• Ghost Rider Fear Itself (first Alejandra Jones) - $30
  
• Ghost Rider Heavens on Fire #1-6 - $30
  
• Big Hard Sex Criminals Vol 1 & 2 SEALED - $45
  
• Justice League Jim Lee Sketch Covers #1, 4, 7 - $40
  
• Wolverine #212, 213 and 17 (iconic cover and first saver tooth fight) - $99
  
• Batman White Knight Deluxe & Curse of the White Knight HC - $40
  
• Batman Beyond the White Knight #1-7 - $40
  
• What If? Lot of 3 - $30
  
• Batman #125-130 (current) - $25
  
• Captain America Remarked Covers (2) - $40
  
• Ghost Cage #1-3 - $10
  

Shipping depends on how many books // please let me know if you need any additional pictures.
https://imgur.com/a/DJvFPui

Hey ADHD
I'll try to make this somewhat short if I can. I am M28. I have struggled with anxiety and depression my entire life, mostly anxiety. Especially as a kid, I was very anxious, the most anxious kid I knew out of all my friends. It never felt fair. I want to share some of my life story here and just see if this is legitimate...because my counsellor and doctor were willing to try me out on Vyvanse but i was never officially, thoroughly diagnosed by a psychiatrist. But for the first time in my life, my anxiety is like..gone. I feel happy too, more than ever in my adult life. And the over thinking! It's like i would just have multiple streams of thoughts in my head and I would have to think of the same things over and over and over to try to reassure myself, but it would never quite work. I've tried Wellbutrin before for anxiety/depression and it barely worked at all. Also had a lot of issues with depersonalization/derealization (really terrible anxiety causes this) so basically thought i was going entirely insane.
My symptoms (whether they are ADHD or not, idk) have only gotten really bad in the last year, after I went through a marital separation/divorce. For example, I wake up at 5 AM, get to the gym, but found it near impossible to focus on sets and constantly scroll tik tok in between. Same when I got home. I wouldn't get out to work until past 10 AM sometimes. Basically it would take me 5 hours to do a morning routine that shouldn't take more than 2. And it's like..anhedonia or something, like pleasurable activities are no longer pleasurable to me, no matter how many millions of songs I switch to or how many different TV shows I try out. So, I thought the culprit was depression.
But I just couldn't focus on one thing at a time. I have 6-7 books on the go right now (mostly on an ereader) and I constantly bounce between all of them, I have big time difficulty staying with one book. I also can never get through a full song. TV goes on the background while i bounce between reading a book, writing in a journal, and playing games on my phone. As an example.
Once i tried the vyvanse, holy shit. Absolutely calming, focused, for example i am writing this post in silence without any background TV or music which I never do. So that to me means its working, and maybe I really have this right? But I don't know if i always did or not? Is that possible?
I would really like to connect with some other people who have gone through some of this. I was never diagnosed as a kid, I actually did well in school so i don't know how that factors in. I was a "loud" kid, the class joker in a way, could not stop talking, always wanted to speak up and often got in a trouble for that though. Also as I grew up I was always a huge dopamine seeker. Porn hooked me from a crazy young age. Although now, I have low sex drive which doesn't make sense...I always read on here how people with ADHD are often much hornier than normal, but I'm the opposite :( I love sky diving, fast bikes/cars etc anything that can give me a rush, I am the biggest adrenaline seeker I know.
Anyway, I think that's enough context for now, ( Don't want to make this too long) I am just looking for any other perspectives and hopefully to chat with some others that got this more figured out. I am having mixed feelings where I am so happy I may have found something so big, but also, how did I lose my entire teens and 20s to this! Did I not have to be anxious and depressed for the last 12 years if I was only officially diagnosed?? :(

I’m pretty fresh out of the closet, I’m 33 I have been married for 13 years we have 3 kids. My wife has always stated that she was Bi, however I was always terrified to come out to her thinking it would end our relationship and I would lose everything. In Oct of 21 I couldn’t keep it in any longer I had a lot of things going on in my life and I broke! And I mean BROKE!! I told my wife everything, downed a bottle of wine and tried to end my life, cause obviously it was over. To my surprise my wife stopped me, and had me committed. So while I was on my grippy sock vacay she came to visit me, and said something to the affect of you’re a moron, I’m Bi idgaf if you’re a man or woman, I love you we have three beautiful children and you’re not allowed to abandon us! So here I am in a place where I’m not allowed to wear real clothes, even though it’s cold af in there(seriously have they never heard of heat?) feeling dumb af!
I started HRT last Nov and haven’t looked back, my wife and I are still deeply in love and our children are aware that I’m trans. We have 5 up twins, they don’t really grasp it yet but you will 100% be corrected if you misgender me to my 8yo lol she doesn’t care haha she actually outs me quite often lmao.
Sometimes I feel so stupid for waiting so long to come out, I tried to when I was around 9/10 and I was met with tons of hate from my dad, saying no one wanted people like us(that’s hella cleaned up) so I knew that put me deep deep in the closet. I was thinking about it today, neither of my parents don’t want anything to with me(super right wing evangelical fucks) but if I had came out when I was younger I wouldn’t have my three beautiful children, and may not even have my wife. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t go back and change anything about my life.
I love you all, I hope you are having a wonderful journey in this crazy life. If you ever need anyone to talk to do not hesitate to pm me. Have an amazing night 🥰🥰🥰

Back in the spring/summer of 2021 I spent two months volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary up in the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada. My favourites to work with were definetly the resident black bears as I had spent the most time with them of all the animals I'd work with.
One particular black bear was an interesting story. A good story, I might add. Each morning she'd recieve her food which would be given to her via a diagonal tube between her exhibit and the outside. She'd calmy walk over, docile as can be and eat her food, totally okay with my presence. Then the afternoon would roll through and each time I'd come near her exhibit for whatever reason, she'd be growling, snapping, huffing and puffing, and charging towards me each time. Clearly showing signs that she'd tear me to pieces had there been no fence between us.
And you know what? I absoloutely respect her for that; for reminding me that she is a bear, a wild animal that is no man's friend. I don't need her or any of the animals at the sanctuary to love me for what I do for them, I just need them to be healthy and fed, and whatever makes them happy beyond anything to do with me is plenty good enough.
You can really see here what one of my biggest problems with dog culture is, and that is this ridiculous idea that animals pertaining to the likes of dogs need to be thankful for humans being in their lives which in my opinion is a borderline-toxic trait.

c/w: sex
Hey everyone, hoping someone can shine some light on a question I have.
I moved into a 2 bed condo at the start of April with a friend who I lived with previously and had no issues with. In the last month, she has begun casually seeing a new man and they have begun having incredibly loud sex at all hours of the day, which is interfering with both my work schedule (I WFH) and my sleep schedule (she’s a screamer). I’ve tried talking to her about it, but she says that as long as they’re in her room then I have no right to complain. This leads me to my question - do I have any ability to end the lease early? I’m hoping that if I tell my roommate I want out she will agree, but just in case she doesn’t, do I have options? Will I be able to sublet without her consent if the landlord is okay with it? Or can I force a lease break of some sort?

I'll start from the beginning of the end. I could see that it was, so I started hitting the gym to earn her love and attention back. I was out to see a concert, and she wasn't responding to texts, which never happened. I checked her location on snapchat and she was in the middle of nowhere at some farm. I learn the next day that she hung out with a female and male friend, and slept at the man's farm house. I promptly lose my absolute shit and she starts a "break" and backs out of vacation plans with me. Told her if anything like that happened again, it would be over.
It happened again.
I just kept giving her ultimatums of sorts and she kept promising to be better and blowing right through them. She started keeping weird secrets from me, I'd see her open messages from guys and they'd seem the last thing from platonic. Every time I saw her, all she would talk about is work and her coworkers, one in specific, which I thought was odd. She just told me not to worry, so I didn't. I loved her unconditionally and was extremely confident she'd never ever do anything to hurt me.
(I put all my happiness, self worth, everything into her and the relationship so there was no way I was following through with ultimatums and breaking up with her, I just wanted to be treated like someone she cared about and it worked a couple times to start)
anyway, we end up ending the "break" and she comes on the vacation with me. Cold as ever. I got sick on the second day and slept through the entire vacation, only woke up to see her look at me like I was a complete piece of shit. I did everything I could and pushed myself way too far even while sick, didn't seem to appreciate it though.
Leaving the airport was the last time I ever saw her. A cold wave goodbye from her. I just kinda argued with her over text for a couple weeks after that. It was the only thing that got her to speak her mind so I could know what to fix instead of being cold n silent.
she dumps me over text, I tell her to think it over, gave her some other options to work through it, and let her think. Weeks go by, then months, without her giving me an answer, just small thinks that kept me hopeful like "I think I made a mistake leaving you" and other things along those lines.
Then she posts a pic with her new man. Things sort of clicked then, from horrible things another person had said to me, "I'm glad she left you and found another man". Thought they were just talking out of their ass but no, She left me for her co-worker. Then strung me along for months.
I fucking lost it for a while there. Thank God for my fear of death and the fact I started hitting the gym a few months prior, or I don't know what I would have done. I worked out until I couldn't think, then cried, and repeated that cycle for a long while.
I'm finally getting over her, 8 months since the text and 2-3 since the post with the new guy. Every night I dream of checking her Instagram and seeing she's single, so fuck it, why not try it while I'm awake!
A ring.
huh.
She's engaged, travelling the world with him.
Not sure if it's some sort of divine intervention, trying to help me get over her, but fuck. Yet another rock bottom.
Hopefully that's my lowest. Fucking crazy story. something a team of writers would create. Found that out a month ago, still hitting the gym. 6 months in consistently 6 days a week. Still dream about her every night. Sucks.
Edit: We were together 2.5 years.

When I’m emotional, I don’t articulate my thoughts as well.
An acquaintance posted a TikTok on their story of the argument “when does it stop” with the transgender, transracial, transabled slippery slope. It ended with like “if a grown man wishes to go to kindergarten because he identifies as a young toddler girl, can we let that happen?”
I’m not planning on arguing with her anytime soon. I’m just looking for a way to be prepared to defend myself with words when the time comes.
I could have been born a man, but I wasn’t. My gender expression doesn’t hurt anyone. I couldn’t have been born anything other than white based on genetics. I have no desire “to chop an arm off” because I “feel like an amputee.”
Coherency is just escaping me with this argument. I feel like common sense and respect should be the standard to this but apparently for people like her, it’s not.

So I have been harassed by my exes family being compared to his new girlfriend. Who is 10 years older than me. So they’re saying how she’s prettier, classier, better, and how he’s a changed man since he’s been with her. And calling me messy, ugly, and fat. Mind you he’s not my 1st ex or last ex. Also saying that no one will want me even though I’m in a new relationship also. Lol I need some advice in this situation.