Am I the only person on the planet that thinks that high health mobs should get boss health bars? The Warden would be fire to see that pop up and then the sounds of it crawling out would be sick. Sound effects for approaching a water temple would be sick to, and a health bar that totals the health of all 3 Elder Guardians, as well, to seem a little more bossy.

Is my TPM-challenged Windows 10 Pro 64-bit desktop computer "special" or, as shown in the below screen capture of my Start Menu, do all installations of TikTok always create two shortcuts in the Windows Start Menu of desktop computers?
The first shortcut is to the file location of "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\4K Tokkit" with the target of "C:\Program Files\4KDownload\4ktokkit\4ktokkit.exe".
The second shortcut is to the location of "C:\Users\>username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\4K Tokkit" with the target of "C:\Program Files\4KDownload\4ktokkit\4ktokkit.exe"
This is only an annoyance as it really doesn't cause any problems because the target for both shortcuts is the same. But it aroused my curiosity because it's the only application of the many applications installed on my computer that create shortcuts in both locations but only adds those located in the folder to the Start Menu.
​
4K Tokkit - Two shortcuts in Windows 10 Start Menu

5+ years ago, I worked in an office with a coworker (EC) that always one upped you. If you had good news, he had better news. If you had a crappy weekend, it was nothing compared to his. A coworker came in looking distraught, and we finally coxed it out of her that her mom was recently diagnosed with malignant breast cancer. EC over heard and suddenly his dad was diagnosed with penile cancer and a heart attack on the same day. If looks could have killed, he would have melted through the floor. A bunch of people went to HR after that, but in true HR style, he was too important, we can't prove its false, blah, blah, blah. Nothing ever happened. We knew he was full of it and there was no way half the stuff he said was true, but it wore you down! About 5 months later, we we're talking about our weekends on Monday. I casually mentioned that my nephew took State in both grade and weight in a recent wrestling tournament. Who shall be overhearing but EC! He swoops in, says, "My nephew has plenty of wrestling medals. I bet he's not as good as mine. What's his name? I want to pull up his ranking." I gave him the name because EC had jumped with both feet before I could tell my other coworkers that he's been Nationally ranked since he was 6 for both grade and weight class. I also didn't say that he had recently accepted a prestigious invitation to wrestle for an international wrestling club with a number of Olympians having come from the program. Winning state was a pre-qualifier to the program, but everyone knew he would get it done. I didn't know they posted stats for 4th graders online, but sure enough, he pulled him up on the office computer. It only took a minute before he closed the window and tried to change the subject. A small crowd had gathered at this point, so I grabbed his keyboard and with Ctrl, Shift, T, I reopened the window promptly. I don't know enough about wrestling stats to tell you how good he was, but others apparently did and were freaking out about his stats. I knew he was good but was apparently a savant or something. Least we forget, people then started asking about EC's nephew and his stats. EC was floundering and trying his best to back pedal, but no one would let him. We searched with his last name and got no one that it could be. EC then started saying it was his nephew on the other side. EC had bragged about being related to the governor, so we knew what name to search and still, no one the right age range to be his nephew. Suddenly EC yelled that he was in 2nd grade, so it wasn't online. My nephew's stats were online from first grade, so that was BS. Next came, "he lives in another state," but that didn't matter as he was quickly shown wrestlers from other states, clubs/leagues, amd even genders. EC's face was turning every shade shade of red before he finally stormed away yelling something about harassment and going to HR. HR did reach out, but we pointed out the blantant hypocrisy when others filed complaints about him. A strongly worded email about unity, being a team player, and respect in the work place was sent around. That everyone ignored. I stayed there another 10 or so months before I moved. EC still tried to insert himself into conversations and one up everyone, but all it took was someone saying, "how did your nephew do in wrestling this weekend?" and he shut up.

I am doing a Summer computational biology internship at a large biotech company. I thought it would cool for all the company-wide interns who were interested in bioinformatics/computational biology to get together a few times during the Summer. There are ~400 interns at the company and it would be nice to get some specialization for the events or get-togethers. I wanted a low-key space where we could discuss our work and the resources we’re using to complete our work. What else do you think would be beneficial to interns?
I have the support of my manager and the head of my department, and the general vibe of the company is super friendly to interns, so I think a lot is possible.

It's a horror game, 2 endings, and I remember it being a metaphor for depression, where the bad ending ended with a chair and a noose.
I also have a screenshot of a letter from the game, it said the following:
"Keeping yourself cooped up in the house will do you no good, you need to get out and talk to someone, go for a walk, anything. This isolation will do you no good. There are people out there that care about you. There is only so much I can do. I do wish you would come back and see me, it sounds like there is a lot going on in that head of yours. We need to get you back to baseline. You don't have to feel like you are trapped by your thoughts, you have to let them pass."
The graphics make me think of a half life mod? Though I may be misremembering that.

hi! i am newish to the world of natural medicine, supplements, and nootropics. i have two questions and was wondering if somebody might be able to give me some advice. i find that i am essentially only happy when i am on a weed edible, usually about 25-40 mg, 2-3x a day. i am able to microdose all day, but i’d rather find a way to supplement whatever i’m missing without also being high.
FIRST QUESTION: does anyone know what mood boosters/stress reducers might work the same way for the brain/body as marijuana edibles?
SECOND QUESTION: if anyone has any suggestions for changes or additions for any of the other issues listed below, can you please share?
i am a 5’8” black woman weighing about 220lbs. i’m on a number of supplements that i am listing below. i am taking them to try to correct for the following ailments: severe asthma, hay fever, anxiety, adhd, anger depression, premenstrual dysphoria disorder, long covid brain fog and decimated immune system. i am on a number of prescribed medications as well.

• chlorella 3000 mg
• longvida curcumin 500 mg
• vitamin D2 25 mcg
• ksm 66 ashwaganda 300 mg
• vitamin c 1500 mg
• vitamin d3 125 mcg
• zinc 40 mg
• psyllium husk 1500 mg
• asorbic acid vitamin c 10 mg
• niacin vitamin b3 12 mg
• vitamin b6 1.2 mg
• folate 430 mcg DFE
• vitamin b12 20mg
• rhodiola 500mg
• magnesium citrate 200mg
• dong quai powder 100 mg
• chasteberry extract 85mg
• soy isoflavones 68 mg
• Lactobacillus acidophilus La-14® & Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001™ 10 Billion CFU 100 mg
• black elder extract 50mg
• zinc citrate 7.5mg
• ubiquonol 100mg
• biotin 50 mcg
• panthothenic acid 6mg
• inositol 3.5mg

I'm taking a course on creative writing, and came up with this short story. Hope you like it.

A relaxing life

I wake up to the ship alarms, “Warning. Hull integrity at twenty percent.”
Through the canopy I can only see the grey rigged surface of a massive asteroid. It’s blocking my entire field of view, some of its surface glowing incandescent. I turn off the mining laser and I pull the thrusters on full reverse, watching the asteroid moving slowly away from me, rotating on the horizontal axis. It has a huge protuberance on the left, and it’s getting closer to the left side of my ship. If I can’t get out of its reach, it’s going to hit me again.
This would be easier in a smaller and faster ship, but in a Type-9 this was almost impossible. Being 100 meters wide and long, piloting this ship is like piloting your own city block. I roll the ship to the left, trying to bring the left part of the ship down and evade the asteroid’s arm. I avoid a direct hit, but I’m not fast enough and we take a glancing blow. I can feel the soft tremor when the protuberance hits the ship, “Warning. Hull integrity at fifteen percent.”
The ship is as fast as it could be on reverse gear. We slowly get out of immediate danger, the massive asteroid still in front of us but no longer blocking my view. The asteroid sea surrounds us. Left, right, up, and down, there are asteroids of every size and shape in all directions. I feel a sudden punch behind me as the ship hits another asteroid, this time on our back, “Warning. Hull integrity at six percent.” I curse myself and push the throttle a bit forward, parking the ship between the two asteroids. Now I’m fully awake.
Laser mining was supposed to be relaxing and safe. Sometimes it became even too relaxing. This was not the first time that I fell asleep while mining, but it was the first time that I hammer the ship into an asteroid in the process. And without the shields, the hull took all the impact. Cmdr. Peta was surprised when I said that I ditched the shields in my mining ship to save internal space, which allowed me to get more cargo. He will find it funny that I almost blow the ship while mining alone in a desert ring.
I didn’t like to hunt anymore, so I left my bounty hunting days behind me. No more boosting the agile Fer-de-Lance, the favorite ship of bounty hunters, inside a station like an irresponsible teenager, just to hear that low-frequency hum, cut by high-pitched turbine-like whine that anticipates the fierce roar and the huge acceleration of the ship, while you maneuver it gracefully through the station entrance that resemble so much a mail slot, getting a warning from the authorities for dangerous piloting. No, the Type-9 is a massive brick that requires patience, concentration, and attention to detail. Piloting this inside a mining asteroid ring requires some kind of humble respect for the massiveness of the objects involved. I like this.
I begin to assess the situation. My cargo was at 90 percent capacity. I push away the temptation to keep mining to reach 100 percent. With only six percent of hull integrity, even the slightest hit would tear us apart. If I had put even a small capacity shield, I would probably be carrying roughly the same amount of cargo, but without the danger of getting the ship destroyed. The irony.
I think that whatever course of action, it is best to leave the ring for now. I slowly push the throttle forward and pitch the ship upwards, dodging the asteroids. We get out, my field of view expanding to contemplate the white planetary ring, reflecting the distant star’s light. It’s like a peaceful wide road, going straight for millions of kilometers, until it turns right and disappears behind the light-purple gas giant that it’s orbiting.
I make a cup of coffee, stretch my legs, and start looking for stations with good selling prices. I find one, only one jump away, in a high population system. In other words, risk of pirates. Maybe the system has good security. I come back to my chair, “Sorry girl,” I said, while checking the controllers. “We’ll arrive in a station in no time, you’re getting repaired and will be as good as new, how about that?” I engage the Frame Shift Drive, and we jump to the station’s star system. We’re now only a couple hundreds light-seconds away from the station, traversing in supercruise mode. In normal space this would take months, but in supercruise it’s a matter of minutes.
The station is just a few light-seconds away when I notice two ships behind us, getting closer. The familiar acute noise announces the interdiction, revealing that another ship is trying to get me out of supercruise. I concede to the interdiction, preventing my FSD to overload, thus making reboot faster. When we drop into normal space we are soon followed by a Python ship, and I can see it aiming at us. The pilot opens a communication channel, “Give me some of your cargo or this gets real interesting.” These guys don’t even bother to type the messages themselves; it is always this cold copy-paste communications. His friend doesn’t drop by our location for any reason. If I had shields, I could endure some shots while the hyperdrive charges and boost away. But I look at the bottom right panel, showing the hull integrity “6%”. Any shot and we’re blown to pieces. The best option is to comply.
I start to ditch the results of my honest work to this douchebag, thinking about the time that I spent in the asteroid ring. At least if the ship survives, I won’t have to buy another one, with all the right pieces, and start anew. The truth is that the ship is worth far more than this single cargo. A few moments later two Federal Assault Ships drop to normal space, “This is system security, please comply.” The battle between them and the pirate starts soon after that. Great, now I’m in the middle of a gunfight.
I hold the throttle and look at my cargo floating in space, abandoned by the pirate. The other ships are busy fighting, and I still have some collector limpets. I shouldn’t be this greedy, but I open the cargo hatch and release all my limpets, recollecting my hard-earned materials. The three ships pass beside us, and I hope that we’re not hit by mistake. When we are almost finished picking up all the materials, another ship drops to normal space. The pirate’s friend with another Python. I close the cargo hatch, engage the FSD, push the throttle all the way forward, and activate the engine’s boost. The deep rumble and the throaty roar announcing that the ship is using its full power, making the hull vibrate. I’m not betting on those cops now. I shout aloud in celebration when the hyperdrive gets us into supercruise. Take that Cmdr. Peta, who needs a shield now?
We get out of supercruise at the station location, the massive structure always rotating to provide artificial gravity. I ask for dock authorization, which they grant automatically. I’m hovering my finger on the panel, almost turning the docking computer on. The docking computer can save a lot of work and, nine out of ten times, lands the ship safely. But sometimes it miscalculates the station’s rotation and grazes the Type-9 on the mail slot. This is usually not a problem, but with only six percent of hull integrity I’m not taking any chances.
I take manual control and carefully pilot the ship to the station’s entrance. When we’re right in front of it I synchronize our rotation to the station’s, adjusting it every second. Getting a one hundred meters city block through this portal is not an easy task. I can already see the station’s interior, the two-kilometer-wide hollow cylinder. The internal surface is filled with spaceports, highways, and even leisure parks.
We’re halfway through the gate, entering the internal atmosphere when I hear the familiar low-frequency hum, cut by high-pitched turbine-like whine. I look forward and see a Fer-de-Lance boosting directly towards me. The pilot, probably a teenager, didn’t bother to check which ship was entering the station. Any other ship and he could pass beside us, but the Type-9 takes almost the entirety of the mail slot. He hammers us, his shield absorbing the hit, but to my shieldless ship this was the final blow.
I’m ejected, propelled into the station’s atmosphere, flying away from my ship. I turn myself around, floating alone inside the station, just to watch my ship exploding with hours of mining work and hundreds of millions in equipment.
I try to chuckle, thinking that Cmdr. Peta is going to laugh at this. Next time I’ll use a shield.

What would you like to accomplish?

I would like to not have to constantly provide printer support to my early 80s parents.

Are there any models you are currently looking at?

Sorry I don't know the actual models. There aren't any that I'm looking at but they had an HP all-in-one and between the ink situation and wifi issues it would work when I would fix it and then wouldn't when they needed to print later.
They also have a Canon all-in-one that would never, ever stay connected to wifi (I had to reinstall everything every time but then it would just stop in the next day or three) so I direct connected it to one of their computers ("Just send it to Mom's computer and print from there") but that's also apparently a problem.

More Details:

Questions	Answers
Budget:	There is literally no limit to the amount of money I would pay to be able to not have to deal with the slew of calls and texts saying "We can't print our medications and we have a doctor's appt tomorrow, this is a massive emergency!" several times a month
Country:	USA
Color or black and white:	I'd like to say black and white but I'm not sure if their occasional cruises/luggage tags require color
Laser or ink printer:	Whatever will work
New or used:	whatever will work
Multi-function:	They do seem to need to occasionally copy/scan stuff. No fax.
Duplex Printing:	Nope
Home or business:	Home
Printing content:	Mostly recipes from websites/LibreOffice, stuff for doctor's appts, or cruise luggage tags
Printing frequency:	several times a month (but why they can't reuse what they just printed for one doctor for the other is beyond me)
Pages per minute :	any
Page size:	usually standard 8.5x11
Device printing from:	PC
Connection type:	Wifi never seems to work for them (or rather keep working for any length of time after I connect it) but yeah ideally wifi.

Any other details:

I think I've described the situation but I'm absolutely happy to answer any questions/provide more info though Im not sure how much more there could be.
Please help me.

I know this is just a regurgitation of all the other questions and posts ever made here but I'm still posting it anyways. Right before covid I dropped out of college and moved to a more rural area of my country,and now I'm looking at maybe going back to school. A school near me has 3 different IT courses but any IT work here would most likely have to be remote. There's a small chance I could work in the one nearby city but I don't wanna bank on that.
The courses the college offers are cybersecurity, IT Systems Management and Security, and IT Programming. I was looking at cybersecurity because somebody I know recently started that course and I've always enjoyed computers and want to learn more, but the more I researched it the more I saw it was a controversial topic over how much experience is required in cybersecurity roles and the fact that it's seen as a "fad" currently. Cybersecurity does interest me but now I'm a little scared out of the course based on what I've heard regarding the field.
But ultimately I know I'm not gonna be able to pick any field or course that will ever guarantee anything. I guess my question is can I go into an it course with the prospect of eventually working remotely or is that more of a pipe dream? I've also heard of people at this school being unable to get work placements/internships based on how little work in tech fields there are in my area. And is one of these courses maybe better for a remote job than others?
I know this is a really wordy and cluttered post but I wasn't sure exactly where to start with this

I am a btech graduate in Computer science. I really want to work in Bangalore. I am not sure what the requirements are, i mean expect for the basic knowledge requirements, I wanted to know if software companies in Bangalore hire freshers. I have 2 yrs support in technical support but not in software development (no corporate exp). Can anyone please help me land a job with sustainable salary. My current CTC is 6LPA.

[22/M] Looking for friends!
Hey everyone! Hope your day has been good I'm pretty much posting here cause I just really enjoy meeting new people (even though most of the time people just ghost) I'm pretty much just looking for some chill people who wanna build a friendship and want to have someone they can text or talk to whenever they feel like. Some of my interests include

• Astronomy
• Science and technology
• Gaming
• Computers
• Cooking
• Going for walks when I'm bored and don't feel like staying inside

I know I'm super nerdy and probably not everyone's ideal person but if I peaked your interest shoot me a message and let's see if we can get something going! I'll open up more and tell you more about myself when we get comfortable with eachother, I also use snapchat and discord so if you wanna use one of those just feel free and ask! Alright well hopefully I did this right. Thanks for reading

(Pt. 1) An additional thanks to u/An_Insufferable_NEWT for letting me borrow one of his characters.
...And now for the conclusion.
​
= = =
​
Evelra swore. They had come here to uplift humanity from barbarism, not let the powers that be enable humanity’s worst elements while the selfsame Noble cunts indulged in their own pubescent masturbatory power fantasies. Fuck this. She thought to herself with a growl and flicked her comms channel to all units.
​
“All forces, this is Captain Evelra. The goddess-damned governess’s private militia have opened fire on the civies. Arrest those brother-fucking [bastards] on sight before they can fuck this mess up any further!” She barked over the comms, a bit of local English slipping into her words. She couldn’t call them stiffs; the latter had more class than this.
​
“Capt, we’ve got three APCs in militia markings barreling down the road in front of the Governess’s mansion from the west. ETA 30 seconds. This is about to get messy.” Prex’s voice cut in with a false calm lent by years of experience.
​
Evelra could feel the material of her suit creak as her hands briefly tightened into hardened fists. “All west side Pods converge on Pod 7, support Lieutenant Eleynor. Eastern Pods, evac the civies. And Prex? Keep the late arrivals occupied. Don’t let these fuckers get another shot off.” She growled, her Second giving a brief click of acknowledgement over the comms before switching channels to give orders of her own.
​
Turning back to face Isaiah, Evelra reached a hand down to grab the elder by his medical exoskeleton and hoisted him to his feet. “Looks like the Governess ran out of patience. Get your people out of here, we’ll deal with this.” She explained brusquely, jabbing one finger towards the eastern side of the boulevard. She could apologize for womanhandling him later, right now every second counted.
​
The moment she was sure he had his feet under him, the marine captain let go and tried to move on Eleynor’s position with all due haste. “Out of the way! MOVE!” Evelra shouted as she strode forward, the sea of humans doing their best to get out of her path. Already, people were starting to scramble as panic spread like wildfire. She could hear the cries of terror and confusion all around her; shouted orders from the protest organizers and her own marines were almost inaudible against the din as they tried to control the chaos.
​
As she neared pod 7’s position, a horrifying scene unfolded before her. In the shadow of the buildings, at least a dozen of the protesters were currently on fire. Harsh yellow and orange flames rose from the flailing figures to form hazy gray clouds of smoke that hung heavy in the air. Even more humans were covered in burn marks and charred clothes. One woman just sat there, trembling and numb from shock as she stared her bloody arm; the melted remains of her synthetic shirt peeling away with boiled skin. Amidst the chaos, the other protesters were doing everything from trying to help the wounded and burning to running in panic and terror; the latter creating a solid wave of bodies in front of Evelra as they stumbled over one another to flee the danger.
​
From out of sight, she saw one of the Governess’ militia-kitted thugs go flying; only to watch them get back up and charge in to fight whom Evelra assumed to be Pod 7. Shil’vati might be stronger, but when equally equipped, outnumbered and against human reflexes she knew that fight wasn’t going to end well for her girls if the rest of the western Pods didn’t reach them soon. Then, one of the militiamen stepped forward towards the crowd.
​
As he strode boldly through the mayhem, Evelra could only watch while one of the protesters tried to confront him; the tide of humans preventing the marine captain from intervening. Inaudible words were exchanged, the protester shouting something as they gesticulated wildly. The Governess’ thug merely responded with two swift strikes of his rifle butt, first to the gut, then to the back of the head, the other man dropping like an anchor. In the distance, out of the corner of her eye, she numbly noted that the rest of the governess’ thugs had arrived and were using their APCs as cover between them and the Pods under Prexith’s command.
​
Evelra felt her gut sink as the militiamen shouldered his rifle once more, stepping out of the building’s shadow to take aim at the crowd. “EVERYBODY DOWN!” The marine captain roared as she planted her feet and pulled her sidearm in one smooth, practiced motion. Drawing a bead on the Governess’ thug, the panicked crowd tried to clear out of her way; but there were just too many people. She wasn’t going to make it in time. No, no more. Not-
​
The militiaman’s head disappeared.
​
A split second later, the now infamously familiar thunderous crack and echoing roar of a large bore human chemical ballistic rifle rolled over them as the corpse spasmed on its feet; a shockwave visibly rippling through the suit it was wearing. “SNIPER!” Somebody bellowed. It might have been her, but in that moment she honestly couldn’t tell. As the headless body crumpled to the ground in a fountain of red, the same gun roared out again… and again. In the distance she could see two sudden sprays of red splatter up the sides of the Militia APCs, one right after the other.
​
The echoes of gunfire galvanized the crowd into a further panic, a stampede of human protesters slamming into Evelra in their attempt to get away from the violence. For a moment, the marine captain thought she was going to get dragged under by the wave, but then they rolled past her, leaving her staggering into the clear. With the screaming of the crowd now behind her and her ears still ringing from gunshots it was oddly quiet once more, save for the groans of the wounded.
​
Not letting herself fall into the lull, Evelra kept moving forward only to nearly gag at the smell as she approached the corner of the building. Like a Blue Grail left in the summer sun for a week, the air was heavy with a putrid smoke, reminiscent of the scent of death itself. Quickly sealing her helmet, she took a shuddering breath of fresh air before looking up just in time to see a pair of the Governess’s thugs get bodily tackled into the pavement by Eleynor. The rest of treasonous Militia were either surrendering or trying to run like the Deep-Minder itself was behind them as more Marine Pods came charging around nearby street corners.
​
Watching the last treasonous bastards eat pavement, the marine captain strode up to the Militaman’s corpse and picked up his blood-stained rifle. Quickly turning the weapon over in her hands, Evelra took one look at its settings and nearly threw the gun away in disgust. Medium power, maximum dispersal. Against even the most basic of modern armor, such settings would be practically useless; but would make for a decent, if imprecise, fire starter. Which is exactly what they’d done. Of course, leave it to the humans to figure out how to turn the most basic of weapons into a tool of terror. She thought bitterly, adjusting the beam spread back to something more logical before strapping it’s sling to her harness.
​
Now properly armed for anything else the Deep-Minder might decide to throw at her, Evelra flicked open her wrist-mounted omnipad, the integrated AR display in her helmet seamlessly linking to it. A couple quick taps later and the captain had an outgoing call. As the phone line rang in her ear, she tried not to tap her foot, every second feeling like ten.
​
“911, what’s your emer-”
​
Before the woman on the other end could even finish her sentence, Evelra interrupted her. “This is Captain Evelra of the Imperial Marines, 4032nd company. We have at least a dozen, I repeat, at least a dozen critically injured burn victims at the corner of 3rd and Main. I need emergency Medivac for the critically wounded.” She barked into the mic.
​
There was a momentary pause on the other end accompanied by the sounds of a physical keyboard before shortly being followed by a muffled “Fuck.” Evelra shifted impatiently as one second dragged into the next. “Is something the matter?” The marine growled.
​
“Ahh… No ma’am.” The other woman’s voice was uncertain for a moment before steadying back out. “Just bypassing some red tape. Consider it done. ETA, ten minutes.” She said with a thermocast firmness. Evelra briefly considered hounding the woman for what exactly she meant by ‘red tape’ but decided against it. She sounded confident in her statement and ultimately there was nothing else Evelra could do about it at the moment.
​
“I’m going to hold you to that.” The marine captain growled before hanging up. One down. Looking up, she glanced over the growing crowd of Marines. Already, some of her girls were pulling out medkits and burn patches as they moved to help injured protesters; her AR display highlighting their ranks and names.
​
“Sergeant Quixana!” Evelra barked over the din.
“Ma’am!” The medic shouted back over one shoulder, barely looking up from the burn victim she was currently treating.
​
“We have civilian medivac for the burn victims inbound, ETA ten minutes. You have command over Triage. Anyone in critical condition they can’t airlift out is your responsibility. Clear?” She commanded, watching the Governess’s thugs like a shark as her girls disarmed and secured them. At this point, Evelra honestly didn’t expect them to try anything else; but as always with humans, one never quite knew what they’d do.
​
“Affirmative!” Quixana replied. Taking a moment to ensure the woman she was treating wasn’t in immediate danger, the medic ushered another marine over to help and began shouting orders of her own. Two down. Satisfied that the situation was under control, Evelra keyed into her comms again.
​
“Prex, Sitrep.”
​
A couple moments later, the other woman’s voice came to life in her earpiece. “After the gunshots went off, the little fuckers started stumbling over each other to try and surrender. What in the Deep just happened?” Despite the horror around her, Evelra gave a short, mirthless chuckle. “Seems a certain… somebody decided to more than just ‘play’ at being security. And seeing as I still have my head, they’re not a complete bloodthirsty idiot.”
​
“You certain it’s… them?” Prex asked, a hint of dubiousness in her voice.
​
“Given that there’s one of the Governess’s thugs sans their head while I still have mine? Yeah. About as certain as I can be. Fits what little we know about their M.O.” Evelra shot back.
​
There were several long moments of silence before her subordinate let out a low whistle. “Make that three. I’ve got two more over here. Definitely explains why the little Turoxes were so fucking panicky. What now Cap?”
​
“How many of your Pods do you need to secure your prisoners?” Evelra asked.
​
“Less than half. They’re more terrified of stepping back into the sights of that sniper than anything else, I think.” Prexith snorted, a dry hint of amusement in her voice.
​
“Take as many as you think you can spare from guard duty and go arrest the Governess. Alive. Though preventing her from causing any more damage takes priority. Clear?” Evelra’s voice was firm, the unspoken message clear. Try not to kill the bitch if at all possible, but ice her tits if she’s going to make this a problem.
​
“As a laser lens. Prex out.”
​
When the line clicked dead, the marine captain took a deep breath and tried to center herself. Now came the hard part.
​
Politics.
​
= = =
​
Evelra stopped outside the governess’ office and took a deep breath to steady herself. Within two hours of getting the fiasco under control, one Agent Lohun had arrived… along with three Pods of Death’s Head Commandos. Upon giving him her report, the petite male had thanked her and politely requested that she remain in her quarters until further notice. The marine captain had known better than to try and test those particular boundaries. It was only now, three days later, that she’d been summoned once more.
​
In spite of the not quite lockdown state that was currently in effect, word still traveled. Her orders to arrest the governess had been upheld and the bitch had been transferred out to some Interior facility goddess knows where. A minimal local press release had happened; condemning the governess’ actions and requesting cooperation with the authorities as they investigated the incident. Things were still tense, but the daily gathering of thousands of protesters had dwindled to a hundred or so of the most stubborn.
​
With a little shake to clear her head, Evelra opened the office door and stepped through. Behind the governess’ massive polished wooden desk sat Lohun. The petite male was almost comically out of place; his simple take on the Interior uniform clashing with the room’s ostentatious opulence. Rumor had it that since he was investigating the room’s previous owner, he’d simply co-opted the office rather than bother to set up another workspace elsewhere. Looking up from his omnipad and what she assumed was a proverbial mountain of reports, the Agent gave her a tired nod of acknowledgement.
​
“Good. You’re here. Please, take a seat Captain D’saari.” He said, gesturing to a much simpler chair in front of the desk. Wincing internally at his usage of her long-abandoned family name, Evelra complied and settled into the offered seat in silence as she tried not to look at the silent woman in the corner with the three-eyed skull mask. Lohun gave his omnipad one last glance before setting it down and letting his carefully focused gaze settle onto her.
​
“Six deaths.” He stated simply, letting the fact hang there in the air for a moment. “Only half of which were not the aggressors in this situation. That could have gone much, much worse. A job well done Captain.”
​
Evelra gave an awkward shrug. “Without the… unsolicited fire support it would have been. My girls just did the mop up.”
​
Lohun hummed, double-checking something on his omni-pad. “About that. The audio logs between you and your second indicated a certain familiarity with this assumed insurgent sniper, yet I can’t find any combat reports that you two share featuring any opposition with this kind of firepower. Care to explain what I’m missing here?” He asked calmly, a polite smile on his face; the Commando in the corner shifting her weight slightly.
​
Right. That.
​
A bundle of nerves did somersaults in her gut as she felt her throat go dry. “Ah, yeah. About… one local year ago we had a human male turn up dead. Clear signs of abuse. Autopsy report indicated he had both Nightfel and Viagra in him at the time of death. I had my suspicions, but the ensuing investigation never turned up any evidence.” The marine captain grimaced, scratching at one tusk with her thumbnail. “A few months later, A pod on a routine patrol got ambushed. All three of their heads were blown clean off. Big gun. I think you can guess what we found when we cleared out their belongings.”
​
“Nightfel and Viagra.” Lohun said cooly, his face grim.
​
Evelra nodded. “Yeah. The Governess covered the whole thing up in the name of keeping the peace. Released a statement that the young man’s murderers had been found and executed while redacting my report.”
​
Briefly adding a few notes on his omnipad, the Interior agent gave her a careful look. “Why didn’t you report this breach of protocol to the Interior?”
​
“Because it worked.” Evelra sighed. “Approval ratings ticked up, minor incidents went down. Didn’t hurt that I also publicly doubled down on mandatory etiquette training for my girls. I’ve seen enough of the Empire’s bureaucracy over the years to know better than to stir up the seabed over something like this. Justice was served, even if it was in a less than ideal manner.”
​
“And what about the young man’s family?” Lohun pressed, his gaze tightening.
​
Coughing slightly to clear her throat, Evelra looked away as she felt her cheeks heat up. “Officially, they were given the same story as everyone else. However, I… I may have taken one Shel to visit their home and correct that mistake. They deserved to know.” She finished quietly, leaning forward in her chair to look down at the ground. Anywhere but at the male in front of her.
​
After several agonizingly long moments of silence, the marine captain glanced up to catch sight of Lohun slowly starting to nod. “Good. That’s good. We can work with that.”
​
At his words, Evelra let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. In response, a ghost of a smile pulled at the edges of Lohun’s face. “Yes, you can relax now. You’re here to help me fix this mess, not to have your tits burned off.”
​
Evelra bobbed her head, eager for the change of topic. “Gladly. What can I do?”
​
The ghost of a smile on Lohun’s face broadened slightly, hovering on the edge of a smirk. “Simple. You will be taking over as the Local Governess.” The marine captain felt her jaw go slack as the Interior Agent calmly continued along as if he was discussing something as simple as dinner reservations.
​
“Of course, there’s a plethora of steps to take along the way. In recognition of your service to the citizens of the empire, you will be promoted two ranks to Lieutenant Colonel and discharged with full honors. We’ll then need somebody to fill your current position. One Sergeant… Prexith Van’sar, your current second, should do nicely. With her service record she's certainly earned herself a commission, I think.” He scoffed in amusement, shaking his head at some distant thought. “Deep, her accolades are almost as impressive as her penchant for avoiding promotions. It’s my hope though that continuing to work with you should be enough to dissuade her of that particular tendency.”
​
Lohun finally took a proper pause, as if he was only now taking in her shock. “Is something the matter Captain D’saari?”
​
As Evelra heard him refer to her by her family name again something inside her broke. The sheer absurdity of it all was just too much, and a noise of amusement escaped her mouth. It started as a snort, before growing into a full-on barks of laughter as Evelra shook her head in disbelief. “I- I’m sorry, but you want me, the legally disowned, stiff-sprung cunt to be a local governess? Goddess, you all must be getting desperate if you’re willing to dredge up the cast-off chaff of the noble houses.”
​
Lohun merely quirked an eyebrow at her before briefly consulting his omnipad again. “So that explains the three separate attempts to change your last name… aannd probably why all three of them never went anywhere.” He let out a small humph as a flicker of distaste crossed his face. “An easy enough fix.”
​
“Goddess. You’re serious.” Evelra muttered as she slumped back in her chair, trying to process the implications. “Ok. Why me?” She asked, throwing a hand wide.
​
The Interior agent’s gaze focused in on her as he leaned forward onto the table, steepling his fingers. “Because Captain, over the past three days I have spent an exhaustive amount of time interviewing and interrogating people to get a better handle on what happened and why. Your name came up just as, if not, more frequently than the governess’s; and rarely in a negative light. From both Shil’vati and humans. Deep, even some of the ones that looked like they wanted to spit in my face refused to speak ill of you. Do you understand how goddess-damned rare that is?” Lohun finished, his voice raised and projected, not quite reaching an actual shout.
​
Evelra was sorely tempted to argue. She’d spent most of her adult life trying to get as far away from the nobility and politics as she could, as nothing good in her life had ever come from them. Then her conversation with Isaiah flashed through her mind. Fuck. The marine captain let out a disgusted groan of frustration as she rubbed her face with one hand. “Alright… but how?” She asked, her brain fervently grasping at straws. “I mean no offense, but… isn’t that a little outside your authority as an Interior Agent?..”
​
Once more, a slight grin pulled at the agent’s face. “Ah yes. Perhaps some reintroductions are in order. Independent Investigator Lohun Vey’elquiese of the Empress’s own and an Agent of her Interior. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Lady Evelra?..” He said smoothly, letting the end of his sentence hang as he leaned across the massive table to offer a petite fist.
​
Oh.
​
For one long moment, Evelra’s brain short-circuited. The petite little male sitting across from her answered to only perhaps a dozen people in the entire Empire, and had the authority to make individuals such as system governesses simply disappear. Of course, abuse of said power carried the death penalty, not that one of the Empress’s own handpicked agents were likely to make that kind of mistake. Suddenly, the three pods of Death’s Head Commandos accompanying him made much, much more sense.
​
After a couple seconds of slight panic, her brain caught back up and she processed the question he’d carefully interwoven into his reintroduction. Taking a moment to think, she settled on her answer. With a slight smile of her own, she reached out her hand to tap her knuckles to his.
​
“Van’sar. Evelra Van’sar. And the pleasure is all mine Investigator.”

My girlfriend and I both played Diablo 2 as kids and recently ran through it together, and had fun: nostalgia, gameplay, etc.
We've run through Fable and Skyrim when we had an XBox, passing off the controller, and that was a good time, but we'd prefer to play together, and all we have right now is two new-ish mac computers.
We're looking for decent RPGs that we can play together, preferably ARPGs. I don't like turn-based. Diablo 3 was pretty boring, and we just got Torchlight 2 and if it ever works I'll report back.
Thanks in advance fam.

[Friendship] 22M looking for some cool people!
Hey everyone! Hope your day has been good I'm pretty much posting here cause I just really enjoy meeting new people (even though most of the time people just ghost) I'm pretty much just looking for some chill people who wanna build a friendship and want to have someone they can text or talk to whenever they feel like. Some of my interests include

• Astronomy
• Science and technology
• Gaming
• Computers
• Cooking
• Going for walks when I'm bored and don't feel like staying inside

I know I'm super nerdy and probably not everyone's ideal person but if I peaked your interest shoot me a message and let's see if we can get something going! I'll open up more and tell you more about myself when we get comfortable with eachother, I also use snapchat and discord so if you wanna use one of those just feel free and ask! Alright well hopefully I did this right. Thanks for reading

Hi there, I am currently working on my phd thesis and would love to talk to some elder queers about their experiences during the aids crisis. The thesis is mainly centred around the crisis within Glasgow but I would also love to feature some more worldwide stories.
If anyone would be willing to talk to me please comment or shout me a DM!!
Apologies for any incorrect grammar currently typing quickly from my phone on a long bus journey.

22M Looking for a genuine friendship!
Hey everyone! Hope your day has been good I'm pretty much posting here cause I just really enjoy meeting new people (even though most of the time people just ghost) I'm pretty much just looking for some chill people who wanna build a friendship and want to have someone they can text or talk to whenever they feel like. Some of my interests include

• Astronomy
• Science and technology
• Gaming
• Computers
• Cooking
• Going for walks when I'm bored and don't feel like staying inside

I know I'm super nerdy and probably not everyone's ideal person but if I peaked your interest shoot me a message and let's see if we can get something going! I'll open up more and tell you more about myself when we get comfortable with eachother, I also use snapchat and discord so if you wanna use one of those just feel free and ask! Alright well hopefully I did this right. Thanks for reading

Hi all lovely engineers, hope your day is awsome, and if you take the time to read all this you a REAL G
So I've been doing nothing but "research" on how server hosting is set up for the past 3 days and I haven't gained much ground. Here's the situation
I've owned the game since 2019 (200hr). Me n a buddy play on a world using in game multiplayer features and it started out great. Now that the factory has gotten in to late early game (just after green science in beginner spaghetti base) it now lags and rubberbands at an unplayable level no matter who's host. I would like to put in the work and make a dedicated server on my pc that also runs the game, so that I'll never lag again (potentially). I'm not super techincal with computers, but I feel like I can learn alot from this. I'm running windows with a 1660 nvidia gpu with i7 processor, and I have FAST internet. I have the game through steam. I'd rather not pay for server hosting and host the server at my house where I can keep track of everything (even if its much harder) . I've port forwarded for minecraft but it's been awhile.
So questions I have I guess are:
Is this possible/practical?
Where do I start? (There are no complete modern tutorials that I know of)
Any tutorials aside from the factorio website that are any good?
I have no idea what im doing so, any advice?
Will I really be free from extensive lag? or are my hopes too high.
If I end up paying for a server host that's within 100mi of where I live will that really be good enough? I just don't want to cuz im afraid of lag and making the server might be a fun challenge
Is this really harder than I think? Im expecting the whole process to take about a weekish
Thanks for all y'alls help!!

Log is located here
​
Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Nov 17 2022)
4 threads
Using shader api: shaderapiempty.dll
materialPath: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2\materials
Loading C:\SAVE\CombineEscape_3.vmf
Could not locate 'GameData' key in c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\half-life 2\hl2\gameinfo.txt
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (0)
writing C:\SAVE\CombineEscape_3.prt...Building visibility clusters...
done (0)
Creating default LDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_08*.vmt
! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Creating default HDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials:
skybox/sky_day01_08*.vmt
! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps.
Finding displacement neighbors...
Finding lightmap sample positions...
Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Building Physics collision data...
done (0) (44774 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Compacting texture/material tables...
Reduced 146 texinfos to 129
Reduced 16 texdatas to 16 (402 bytes to 402)
Writing C:\SAVE\CombineEscape_3.bsp
0 seconds elapsed
​
** Executing...
** Command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2" "C:\SAVE\CombineEscape_3"
​
Valve Software - vvis.exe (Nov 17 2022)
4 threads
reading c:\save\CombineEscape_3.bsp
reading c:\save\CombineEscape_3.prt
347 portalclusters
1132 numportals
BasePortalVis: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
PortalFlow: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (15)
Optimized: 590 visible clusters (0.86%)
Total clusters visible: 68438
Average clusters visible: 197
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 346
visdatasize:33162 compressed from 33312
writing c:\save\CombineEscape_3.bsp
15 seconds elapsed
​
** Executing...
** Command: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2" "C:\SAVE\CombineEscape_3"
​
Valve Software - vrad.exe SSE (Nov 17 2022)
​
Valve Radiosity Simulator
4 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[45 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']
​
Loading c:\save\CombineEscape_3.bsp
Setting up ray-trace acceleration structure... Done (0.08 seconds)
1129 faces
1 degenerate faces
1216781 square feet [175216544.00 square inches]
0 Displacements
0 Square Feet [0.00 Square Inches]
1128 patches before subdivision
22996 patches after subdivision
sun extent from map=0.000000
sun extent from map=0.000000
3 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2)
BuildVisLeafs: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
transfers 1794637, max 489
transfer lists: 13.7 megs
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #1 added RGB(24718, 28197, 20794) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #2 added RGB(7642, 7248, 3276) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #3 added RGB(2773, 2277, 647) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #4 added RGB(1091, 781, 142) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)

Bounce #5 added RGB(432, 271, 32) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #6 added RGB(174, 96, 8) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #7 added RGB(70, 34, 2) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #8 added RGB(29, 12, 0) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #9 added RGB(12, 4, 0) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #10 added RGB(5, 2, 0) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #11 added RGB(2, 1, 0) 

GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)

Bounce #12 added RGB(1, 0, 0) 

Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.0090 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
FinalLightFace Done
0 of 0 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ThreadComputeLeafAmbient: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2)
Writing leaf ambient...done
Ready to Finish