(You can also find this story, along with the previous parts here and here.)
Five Years Later
Irving and Enterprise were busy. Irving smiled at Enterprise.
“Today’s the big day.”
Enterprise nodded as she looked up the stairs.
“Olin! Are you ready?”
Olin ran down the stairs, wearing a pair of blue jeans and an olive green t-shirt. He smiled at her.
“Yes, mama.”
Irving and Enterprise smiled. “Then let’s go.”
The family entered the car and drove to their destination. Enterprise looked at her son.
“Are you excited for your first day of school?”
Olin smiled and nodded. Irving looked at his son with a smile while they were at a red light.
“Are you going to behave yourself?”
Olin once again smiled and nodded.
They soon reached their destination. Azur Lane Elementary School.
Olin, Irving, and Enterprise all got out of the car. They walked to the entrance.
Irving saw Oklahoma and Malcolm were there, as well as Littorio, Vittorio Veneto, Fabio, and Marsala.
Littorio was holding her son's hand. She smiled at her daughter.
“Maria, are you going to say goodbye to your baby brother?”
Maria smiled as her brother giggled.
“Goodbye Vincenzo. I love you.”
Vincenzo giggled as his older sister turned to leave.
Irving and Enterprise kept walking, but they noticed Olin was not with them.
Irving and Enterprise walked back to where Olin was. Enterprise squatted down to look at her son.
“Olin, what's wrong?”
Olin’s eyes were wide as saucers as a tear went down his face. “I’m scared.”
Irving smiled and placed his hand on Olin’s shoulder.
“I know you’re scared. You want to know some advice?”
Olin nodded as he wiped away the tears with his arm.
“It’s alright to be scared. It’s how we stay alive. However, it’s what you do when you’re scared that defines you.”
Olin nodded. But he was still not budging.
Enterprise smiled as she stroked her son’s brown hair.
“Olin. I’ll tell you something that I learned. Beginnings are often scary, and endings are often sad, so enjoy the middle.”
Irving smiled. “Olin. If it makes you feel any better, your friend Louis is here as well.”
Hearing Louis's name made Olin’s eyes light up.
“They are?”
Irving smiled slightly.
“Yeah. You guys can hang out together here, learn, and even make new friends.”
Olin smiled and hugged his mother and father.
“I love you, Mommy and Daddy.”
Irving and Enterprise felt tears go down their faces. They held Olin in their arms.
“I love you too, my little tack.”
Olin giggled. He made his way to where Louis was. He noticed a dishwasher-blonde boy with hazel eyes.
“Hi. My name is Olin. What’s yours?”
The blonde boy smiled.
“My name is Lucio.”
Louis smiled.
“Hey, your name sounds like mine. I’m Louis.”
Lucio smiled. The three boys made their way inside the school.
Irving, Enterprise, Malcolm, and Oklahoma watch their children walk into the school. Malcolm smiled as he walked up to Irving.
“I told you they would be fine.”
Irving nodded as he wiped away a tear. Malcolm wrapped an arm around Irving’s shoulder. Irving smiled.
“Hey, I was thinking. You want to hang out at my place? I figured since the kids will be gone a few hours, I figured we can hang out together.”
Malcolm nodded. “Sure. Sounds like an amazing idea. You want to come also, honey?”
Oklahoma nodded. “Sure. I could use the company. I'll also call New Jersey and Samuel to see if they want to come as well.”
Irving and Enterprise nodded as they went back to their car and drove away from the school.
Enterprise noticed Irving was not taking them to the house.
“Irving, where are we going?”
Irving sighed.
“To visit an old friend. I know you were wondering why there were flowers in the trunk.”
Enterprise nodded.
Soon, the couple reached a cemetery. Irving grabbed the flowers as they walked through the graves.
Irving stopped at a dark granite gravestone. He read it with a somber look on his face.
“Robert Sharp. 1918-1944”
Irving placed his hand on the gravestone.
“Hey, Robert. It’s me, Irving. I’m here to say hello again like I do every year.”
Irving turned his head as Enterprise stared at him. She smiled slightly as Irving looked at the gravestone.
“I’ve been great. I have a wife and a beautiful son. Even gave him your surname as his middle name in honor of you.”
Irving reached for the red roses and a pack of Lucky Strikes and placed them on the tombstone.
“These are for you, Robert.”
Irving felt a tear go down his face. He wiped it away.
“Well, I suppose this is goodbye. I miss you.”
Irving saluted the tombstone and walked back to Enterprise.
They got back into the car. Enterprise and Irving were silent.
Enterprise looked at her husband with a blank expression on her face. “I never knew you visited his grave every year.”
Irving smiled slightly.
“Robert was born in September, and I told him I would always try to visit him the month he was born. It’s a promise I made him on D-Day.”
Enterprise nodded and smiled slightly. “I’m glad you still care about him and think about him. All these years later.”
Irving smiled as he looked at Enterprise.
“Hey, how about we go to the park? It should not be too busy.”
Enterprise nodded, and the couple drove to the park.
The park was quiet. The couple found a bench, and they sat on it and relaxed.
The green leaves on the trees were changing color. Irving smiled.
“The trees look so beautiful.”
After a while, the couple got off the bench and walked to a fountain. Enterprise had a gold coin ready.
“Want to make a wish?”
Irving nodded. Enterprise flipped the coin into the water.
After a moment of quiet calm, Enterprise smiled at her husband. She held his hand.
“So what was your wish?”
Irving giggled. “I thought it was bad luck to tell another person what you wished for, as doesn’t it mean it will not come true?”
“C’mon, you can tell me.”
“Alright. I wished that I could spend more time with you and the children. The Commander has been having me run around like a maniac to do things around the base. I mean, it’s honestly better than the odd jobs I had back in the day. However, they vary so much in terms of importance and energy. One moment I’m making sure that all the meowfficers are in the cattery, the next I’m helping the Commander make his coffee.”
Enterprise giggled. “So you act like another one of the Commander’s secretaries?”
Irving blushed as he scratched his head. “I guess I am, in a way. I don’t mind it, however.”
Enterprise nodded. “I know I’ve been busy, doing missions for the Commander as well. Once I finished breastfeeding Olin, Vestal cleared me for combat duty. Vestal knows we are planning on not having any more children after Olin and Little Enterprise. My missions have mostly been training Little Enterprise. And helping Bismarck, Tirpitz, and Littorio train Maria, Marlene, and Helga. Those three can use riggings like their mother, but they still need a ton of practice.”
Irving laughed. “I heard Olin and the other boys tried to use their riggings.”
Enterprise giggled. “Yeah. The only issue is that they cannot use them for long. Poor Olin. I swear, after he used his rigging longer than ten minutes, he was gasping for air like he had run a marathon. I believe they would be more useful as coastal defense and recon.”
Irving nodded. “I’m sure the Commander will find a use for Olin and the other boys in the future.”
Irving looked at the trees. The birds chirped as h closed his eyes.
“I suppose we should head home. We don’t want to keep Malcolm and Oklahoma waiting.”
Enterprise nodded, and they made their way back to the car.
Soon, the couple reached home. Samuel and New Jersey were already there. Irving smiled.
“Hey you two!”
New Jersey smiled as she rubbed her belly. She was eight months pregnant with her and Samuel’s daughter, Nicole. She smiled as she waddled to the porch.
“We’ll be inside if you need us for anything.”
Soon, Malcolm and Oklahoma joined the group. The men played poker on the porch while the shipgirls sat in the living room together.
Malcolm sighed. “Hard to believe it has been five years already.”
Samuel nodded. “Yeah. Time goes by you fast, doesn’t it?”
Irving giggled. “Hard to believe you and New Jersey are going to have a daughter soon.”
Samuel smiled. “Yeah. What about you Irving? You thinking of having more kids?”
Irving smiled. “We already have our hands full with both Olin and Little Enterprise. I don’t want to push my luck.”
Malcolm nodded. “Same here. I’m perfectly fine with just Louis.
The men went quiet. Irving pulled out a small cooler full of cherry sodas. He passed them out.
“So, how have the others been?”
Samuel giggled. “Larry’s been well. I heard he and his marines are now Nagato’s bodyguards.”
Malcolm smiled. “I heard that Arizona and Warren are thinking about getting married soon.”
Irving smiled. “How about Littorio and Fabio?”
“They’ve been busy ever since Vincenzo was born two years ago. I heard Fabio gave him the middle name Alonzo, after a man who saved his life back in Africa. Maria has been well, from what Fabio has told me. She has been an amazing older sister to Vincenzo.”
Malcolm smiled. “How about the Sakura Empire?”
“They’ve been good as well. I heard Zuikaku found someone named Arata Kondo, and she has a daughter named Hana, and Atago and Haruto got married.”
“Anything on the Northern Parliament?”
“From what I know, Mihail Larinov married Kirov. They have a daughter named Anya, and a son named Aleksei. I also know Nikolay Simornov and Gangut are also married, and they have two daughters named Nadia and Vera. They also have a son named Dmitri.”
Irving smiled. “How have you guys been?”
“New Jersey and I have been good. She's excited about having a daughter, as thought we would never have a daughter. We dropped off Merle before you guys as we didn't know when the school opened.”
Irving smiled and nodded. “So you are having an October baby like I am?”
Samuel nodded. “Yep. It looks like October is a popular month for children to be born.”
“What about you Mal? How are you, Lou and Okie?”
Malcolm smiled. “Good. We dropped off Louis at school with you guys, and now we are just hanging out.”
After a while, the small party died down. Samuel and Malcolm left with New Jersey and Oklahoma.
Irving and Enterprise were once again alone. Irving noticed a sweet smell coming from the kitchen.
Irving entered the kitchen to see his wife taking some chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. He smiled.
“Those smell great, honey.”
Enterprise smiled. “Thanks.”
She embraced Irving and kissed him on the lips.
Irving giggled. “Mind me asking, but where’s Little Enterprise? I didn’t see her get dropped off at school.”
Enterprise smiled. “Oh, she’s with Yorktown II and Hornet II. She’s training to become a KANSEN like me.”
Irving smiled. “It’s a good thing both of our children are getting an education.”
He smiled.
“You want to dance?”
Enterprise nodded, and Irving grabbed an old 78 record. He placed it on the turntable.
The notes of “It’s Been a Long Long Time.” filled the room. Enterprise and Irving were in an embrace as they slowly danced in each other’s arms.
Enterprise leaned into his ear. “I love this song.”
Irving smiled. “Why else would I propose to you with it, and it was the first song we danced to at our wedding?”
Enterprise smiled back as they continued to slow dance to the music.
After a while, Enterprise and Irving were sitting on the couch. Irving placed his arm on Enterprise’s shoulder.
“Hey, you want to hang out on the porch together? We haven’t done that in forever.”
Enterprise nodded as they both got off the couch. They walked to the back porch in the backyard. They sat on the hanging seat together.
Enterprise blushed. “Irving, I have something to tell you.”
Irving smirked and giggled. “You’re pregnant again?”
Enterprise blushed and giggled. “No.”
Irving smiled. “Then what is it?”
Enterprise sighed. “I know.”
Irving’s eyes went wide as she pulled out the photo of her and Irving on the beach together. Irving laid back, as Enterprise placed her head on his chest.
“Vestal asked me if I wanted to read what was on the back of this photo. I told her yes. I knew about the wishes before we even got married.”
Enterprise smiled as she rubbed her husband's face.
“You know. I say we did a good job.”
Irving smiled as he nodded softly. He stroked Enterprise’s hair as she fell asleep on his chest.
He stopped to enjoy this moment between them. A moment that, sometimes, he thought would never come.
He smiled. He had done everything he wished for.
And he was complete.
(And with that, that's the end of The Exploits of Irving Reese.)
(I have already made a list of people I wanted to thank for giving me both the courage and inspiration, either directly or indirectly, to write this story. You can find that list on the AO3 version if you want to read it.)
​
(Thank you for reading The Exploits of Irving Reese. I want to thank every reader who came from AO3, Reddit, or even my old Fanfiction.net account. You guys gave me the courage to keep writing fanfiction, and I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.)
(Here on reddit, I want to give a special thank you to u/TitanSlayrOG, u/ArchiveSlave, and u/Nuke87654, for giving me the inspiration to write in the first place. None of this would have been possible without you fellas, and I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart.)
(I hope you fellas have a wonderful day.)
Yours ~ LeutnantzurSeeFritz Salami Python

So I recently had a sales interview today for a decent company it seemed like but as I dig deeper into their KPIs and what they are looking for the more it sounded too good to be true. they expect 100 dials a day and they call these warm leads, you are lucky if you close 2 or 3 or 4 in a month. size of deals 50-100k average of 30% margin. am i being lazy or is 100 dials just absolute insanity?
oh and to top it off base compensation is minimum wage

Hello! Gaming anime nerd here looking for people with common interests in the area to hang out with. An ideal time for me is a game night with food and good company, but I also enjoy visiting the occasional river spot and smoking. My partner(29), roommate(27), and I have been dealing with the typical growing pains of mismatched schedules with friends so we thought we'd start looking for more buddies. We're silly, down to earth, open-minded people. We don't drink, but are 420 friendly! Our sense of humor is pretty low IQ/meme and we tend to laugh at ourselves often. We also enjoy hearty debates about silly things and anime. We're all left-leaning, and LGBTQIA+ friendly people are a must ☺️. We have very social, loving cats. They will want to play fetch and cuddle.
Our watch list for the anime lovers:
One Piece (anime current)
My Hero (anime current)
Demon Slayer (season behind)
AOT (anime current)
DB, DBZ, DBS (current)
ATLA & TLOK
Jobless Reincarnation (current)
Rising of the Shield Hero (current)
(I could honestly do this all day if you want to DM me about basically any other anime you can think of)
For the gamers:
Group games: Jackbox, Crawl, DST, Smash Bros, Mario Party (all), Mario Kart (all), Cuphead, and your typical card/board games.
Me (PS4 & Switch):
OW
Rocket League
Wild Rift
Pokemon Unite
Hearthstone (rip)
Stardew
FN
Any old Nintendo games (Mother 3 is my favorite) and the PS classics
Partner (PC and Switch):
Rocket League
Pokemon Unite
TOTK (80 hours)
Master duel - table top Yu-Gi-Oh too
Any and all old games
Runescape
Nintendo enthusiast lol
Roommate (PS4):
OW
Wild Rift
Rocket League
Skyrim
Dark Souls/Elden Ring
TOTK
Horizon Zero Dawn
Pokemon
MTG
I'm sure there's plenty more to add, but here's the gist lol.
Anyways, if you made it through my not so brief introduction and have common interests, feel free to reach out! 🩷 I'm an open book.
Edit to add: I personally also really enjoy crafts and thrifting! 🥺

It's ironic that in this day and age with the internet so accessible and social media holding so much significance over everything everyone does, that corporate america (or should i say corporate taiwan) still thinks it's ok to condemn workplace abuse (emotionally & physically). Me being naive running to HR for help but HR going directly to my supervisors and ganging up on me. Oh how silly, I guess they didn't realize who they just made their public enemy #1. Where should I even begin? Wow the endless possibilities I have here huh well I guess lets just start rocking the boat by talking about how OSHA is a gimmick and why even exist when everyone working in TSMC Arizona are in a office with unsafe working conditions every single day yet when reported to OSHA they do absolutely nothing about it. Let me put into words for you since I can't share with you any pictures. Imagine working in a office that isn't even nearly remote close to being completed and their is so much construction going on everyday you literally are either inhaling silica dust or hear drilling sounds pierced in your ears, vibrations under your foot for 12 hours on end. TSMC when first beginning their Arizona project had rented temporary office spaces that were only allowed a maximum amount of occupancy on each floor they rented but do you think they even cared about that? Nope, everyday the temp. offices were crammed so full that people were practically sitting on top of each other and shoved into random spaces not even real legal office spaces just empty areas that upper management decided "Yeah ok, that works lets just shove them there." Later on mid march when the official TSMC AZ offices announced they would start moving people in everyone was so stoked, thinking we would finally get proper office spaces, our own seating real lunchrooms accessible bathroom etc everything + anything a real billion dollar company office should have. Instead to our disappointment we were left with no running water, bathrooms that can flush but you can not wash your hands, sinks and water fountains that dispensed brown water when you tried using them every other month we have notices of water stopping to not use the bathroom and bring our own water.......12 HOUR SHIFTS WITH NO BATHROOM? In the middle of the desert? How on earth is this ethical. Not to mention the office is either burning hot like the desert air or freezing like alaska and when we asked for something to be done upper management just replied "Wear bigger jackets" So you had hundreds of employees sitting in a below freezing office 12 hours a day with heavy thick winter coats IN THE MIDDLE OF APRIL IN ARIZONA??? I was amazed anyone in Arizona owned winter coats. I literally got sick 4 times back to back working in that condition, I was so cold one time my fingers froze and stiffened up so bad I couldn't type anymore I had to keep rubbing them together inside my jacket until they warmed up enough to continue working. Look what I am trying to say is that a lot is happening inside TSMC Arizona that so many people do not hear or know about so I will gladly be the one to update you all because I want change I want a safe work environment for me and my colleagues I want TSMC to take accountability and until they do I want to be the one to expose what they're really like, what is really happening behind closed doors. Here below is a brief update list of all the that has happened from the day they allowed employees to work inside the official F21 site.
- on a daily tsmc spends about $300,000 to their contractors and vendors like ABM who are hired to work on site to help with this project but what tsmc themselves don't even know is that lately we have been having evacuations almost every week sometimes even as far as twice a week but they're not even real evacuations concerns! they are occuring because ABM workers have gotten smart and realized if they blow the emergency airhorn it will create a chaos and we have to evacuate the whole entire building for about an hour each time because there are like hundreds and hundreds of workers everywhere on each floor so it takes so long for everyone to get out safely and by the time the entire evacuation is over they come back its lunch time and then boom at 2 they go home. not only has this been happening so often but on top of that people started paying people to take turns blowing the horn and standing guard so they don't get caught.
- ABM workers are being paid to do nothing literally every day. When walking on the construction site you have no idea how many people I see sitting by the door just napping or staring at the floor. We have to wear shoe covers in some parts of the building and there was 3 workers handing out shoes covers....3 WORKERS - literally just handing out one shoe cover. It does not take 3 people to complete this task. Sometimes i ask them what they were assigned to do and they said to just stand there in the hallway literally thats it, stand.
- One day my coworker took the elevator with some people and when the elevator reached the 4th floor the cable snapped and dropped to the 1st floor. He then was stuck in there for 40 mins because nobody could find out why or get the doors opened. But then when opened he told me they hurried him away, said they would pay him for the rest of the working day but to go home immediately. I didn't even hear about this until he had to tell me himself. TSMC could've done the right thing and issued out a warning to not use the elevator for the time being until deemed safe again but instead they shoved money into the problem and hid it from all of us working there.
- the FABs where the semiconductor chips are being made sometimes have areas where there are open holes or flooring that were not properly placed yet but because as always tsmc prioritizes money not safety they rushed engineers to go inside and start working immediately and one day one of the engineers fell into these holes. Luckily he is fine! But it really could've been a lot worse
- Contractors working in these FABS are not near or have any drinking water accessible to them all day while working inside but the temperatures in these places sometimes go as high as 90 degrees inside because there is no working electricity so there is no proper airflow or windows so they are literally being suffocated in these confined covered spaces and have to wear cleanroom suites so they are so hot and humid too.
- there are no bathrooms in these places so we have found many water bottles full of pee lying around inside the FABs on top of that they were now being tossed and moved around so much when i was driving to work last week i saw a water bottle filled with yellow liquid sitting in the parking space under the hot desert sun
- the fbi had to be called in because we had one week where there was 3 fires and the police questioned that these fires were starting to be intentional and someone was risking everyones life by starting real fires on site
- a angry worker had a fight with one of the taiwanese worker that had just flown in from taiwan and that american grabbed a steel pipe and hit the taiwanese assignee over the head and he was sent to the hospital. Yet again we were not made aware of this situation and tsmc tried to hide it keep it hush hush to protect themselves not protect us
- are you ready for this one?
an employee last week brought a real PISTOL INTO tsmc. INTO. FOR 12 HOURS.... there was an active gun inside this building and the worst part of this all was that we have a whole x-ray machine + metal detectors 8 security guards working in the front more security inside the building and this employee managed to carry a whole gun inside TSMC Arizona he managed to get a whole gun inside past the metal detectors past the x-ray machines PAST the security guards who also scan you up and down when you walk inside. Now this is all made to public eye because he had gotten caught can you even imagine the employees who haven't gotten caught? If he was able to so easily bring a gun inside tsmc az then who's to say he was the first or will be the last? Who's to say there hasn't already been more or others.
Every day i go to work i feel constantly scared because they recently torn apart the ceilings above our heads so all the mechanical work the wirings the cables they all are hanging and dangling from above and i just feel like one day one of it is going to either fall or hurt me or my colleagues. Now i have to worry about my actual safety as well because they're just letting anyone bring anything up inside here. Make matters worse whats the point of all the security when TSMC Az has no security cameras working or on? They are literally all just for show the security cameras you see they are not being of use right now they don't work. Everyday our personal belongings are being stolen TSMC projectors that cost thousands of dollars are being stolen from meeting rooms, workers sneaking past wire cutters to this point where we locked our projectors to a cable and that cable is being cut and things still get stole. Anyways thats all i have for now, for today at least. Don't worry I will definitely be back even if nobody reads this i will continue to shout from the top of my lungs
GET REAL....TSMC AZ

So I just won a new gaming PC from a well known company. I wont say what the giveaway was or what the company is until they have announced the winners and I have the PC hooked up. But the specs are as follows.
Case- Corsair 5000T GPU- Radeon RX 7900 XTX CPU- R9 7950X3D MB- AUSU Prime X670 MEM- 64GB DDR5 (2X32GB) 5600MHz OS Drive- 2TB Samsung 990 PRO 2nd Storage- 2TB MP600 Pro M.2 PS- 1200W
I was wanting to know if there is anything I should know about before it arrives when it comes to those listed parts. Oh and the whole system is water-cooled with the CPU and GPU on separate cooling loops

TLDR: I cannot be the only person who sees this.... Biden is too old and frail, a bit shady, and his VP is clueless and completely unqualified.... Trump is a criminal and also too old and unfit for office and totally corrupt.... Can we please please please get a couple of reasonable candidates to vote for... literally any regular ass American would be better.
Let's start out with my intention. I would love for this post to get 69 million 420 thousand upvotes... but seriously, I want as many people as possible to see this because the media is starting to make me feel like I am the only person who sees that this election cycle is nuts.
This Presidential election is looking to be a choice between two terrible options... I will outline all of my demographics followed by my thoughts and I would really like to hear some alternative opinions because as a regular ass voter, I see nothing but terrible options from the two parties and I am starting to feel like I am the only one who sees that the current political landscape is a total shit show.
Demographics: Ethnicity: Caucasian Gender: Male Age: 35 Occupation: Military Officer Education: BS (it was a bullshit degree but also a bachelor of science) Relationship: Married (divorced once but I deserved it. I was a total shithead the first time) ... happy to provide any other demographics but at the end of the day I am a regular American with a regular salary, a regular job, a regular everything else.
Biden Let me start off by admitting that I was wrong about this guy. I voted for him in the last election because I felt like President Trump was unstable as fuck and presidential policy should not be posted on social media or be based on how one man is feeling that particular day. Biden promised a lot, I didn't expect much from him, to be honest, but I had hoped that we would at least get a president who was able to fill the role at a basic level. I was not looking for Teddy Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln. I was simply hoping for a President who would show up to work, have a reasonable foreign policy, who would put some pressure on the corporations and their CEOs making millions of dollars, and who would address the issues that the majority of Americans were dealing with like student loans, health care, unfair taxes, and loopholes that benefit the 1% and fuck the 99%. End of the day I was hoping that he would look out for the 99 and not the 1%. So far we have got some good and bad in terms of policy... he got us out of the war in the middle east even though that was completely fucked up... poor planning... total rush to failure. Thank God that more people were not killed or injured and God bless those service members who sacrificed all for this shitty plan, they were patriots and I am thankful every day that we have Americans like them willing to "stand the watch." He got some relief for parents who could use the help financially when times were tough during covid but he totally fucked it up when he fumbled the ball when it came to supporting the unions like the rail workers, amazon, etc, he fucked up student debt relief (we shouldn't ONLY forgive loans...we need to address the outrageous price tag on education in addition to the loans)... He appointed Mayer Pete who had one job as Transportation Secretary and totally fucked that up by prioritizing his image over actually dealing with airline travel (I am a pilot so a bit read in on this topic... he screwed the pooch on this one), trains, and the supply chain.... he also has been a bit short sided on Ukraine support.... (Ukraine deserves independence but there needs to be an explanation of what we are getting as taxpayers for our money... Please explain to me what the return on investment is for the billions we are spending. I do not have an issue with spending our tax dollars on helping make the world a better place but I need to know how my $50B+ is making a difference before you spend it.) Also his sons.... Beau was a naval officer who allegedly did a bunch of drugs.... should have been booted out of the military and Hunter absolutely took dirty money and it was all covered up. President Biden may not have been involved in any of that but at the end of the day, all of the sins of his sons were covered up for the benefit of their father.
Trump As a white male military officer, I thought I was definitely a Republican before this guy came into office. I mean come on, I was basically their prime demographic. At least that is what I was told my whole adult life. I was unsure when he was elected as I thought this was a publicity stunt. Then he put "Mad Dog" Mattis in office as the Sec Def and I thought "America, Fuck YEA!" he had a bunch of crazy ass tweets and I wrote most of them off because I trusted that General Mattis and the rest of the cabinet would keep the country on the right track. And then he fired Mattis. This was the point when I realized this dude is a sociopath who only cared about being "right". He gave no fucks about what the correct decision was... all he wanted was to be "right." The most respected military General since Colin Powel was fired/resigned from the office of Sec Def under President Trump.... This was shocking. But who knows what happened behind closed doors.... perhaps this was for the best. Then the election and Jan 06. And since then this dude has been the sorest loser I have ever seen. It has been 3 years and he is still talking about how the election was stolen and if you disagree with him he will blackmail you into agreeing with him or he will support your opposition candidate. Fuck this dude. That is not how democracy works..... I do not disagree with his foreign policy as a military officer... He made some solid decisions regarding China and his critique of NATO was not completely incorrect. He said things and made decisions that others were afraid to say and do and I was into it but he also said and did things that was I absolutely not into... if you want America's help then there has to be some benefit to the American taxpayer... if you want to fuck around and find out with OPEC and your pilot students shooting up an American Military Base... then enjoy fighting your wars with Iran on your own.... I full-heartedly believe that the American Tax Payer should see a return on investment for their taxes but President Trump seems to only actually give a shit about his own personal gain. Let's not be naive, his son-in-law totally got paid off by Mohammed bin Salman. He 100% had the support of the Putin regime. He gave himself and his buddies tax breaks that he did not afford the 99%. He said a lot of crazy shit. This guy is nuts and doesn't give two shits about the 99%. He will gladly give you a MAGA hat for your donation but when it comes to actual policy, he has shown that he will take your money, put some in his own pocket, some in the pockets of his friends, and then give you just a little bit back so that you feel like you got the good end of the deal.....The average American made much less than the 1%... he gave you some back in covid relief to make you forget that you were getting royally fucked.
I am not running for president but if I was this would be my platform... in other words, this would be the platform that I wish we could vote for!

• National policies
  • Politicians are public servants - Elected officials are elected to serve the American public, not themselves. Stop being greedy!
    • If you hold a political office, you are allowed to only buy the total US stock market index. -This would force politicians to be financially vested in the US economy and prevent them from insider trading with specific companies.... if you want to serve in public office you need to sacrifice some autonomy. No one should use political office to benefit themselves personally. You were elected to enrich the lives of your constituent, not your own personal net worth.
    • Term Limits - Congress and Senate should not be allowed to serve more than 10 years.
    • Lobbyists - Lobbyists serve a purpose or so am I told but they should not be allowed to contribute any money at all to any political agenda.... period. Nothing. They can voice their opinions like any other voter but that is it.
    • There should be a public fund to pay for political campaigns. That fund should be standard for each candidate. They all get the same amount. I am not certain what the right move here is but it is not currently an equal playing field. Someone from the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder against someone from the top run should have the same chance. The candidate with the policies that best represent the people they stand for should win.
  • Abortion
    • This is a state issue. Allow states to vote on their own policy..... if California wants to allow abortion then let them. If Georgia wants to ban abortion then let them... If you live in a state that does not share your personal beliefs on this then you are welcome to move and become a resident of another state that does share those same principles. There is no reason why every state needs to be the same. Some can be conservative, others can be liberal. Use your vote to voice your opinion in your individual state elections. This should not be a federal decision.
  • Taxes
    • Taxes should be fair - There is no logical reason why Warren Buffet or the rest of the 1% should pay less than 99%. - Close the tax loopholes that allow the wealthy to pay less taxes than the average American. A consumption tax is the most practical policy here although it does unfairly tax lower income until you begin to factor in luxury taxes. I am cognizant that there is not an easy solution to this issue but that does not mean it is impossible. Cap taxes for basic necessities like food, utilities, housing (Under $1M for 1st house), and vehicle (under $100k) at 0%. Elevate taxes for luxury items (houses over $1M, second homes, Vehicles over 100K, personal jets, restaurants, etc) to 25%, and everything else at a flat 10% sales tax. Adjust income taxes to reflect average incomes and tax the lowest 50% at 0-15%, tax the top 25% of income at 15-20%, and tax the top 25% at 20-25%. Capital gains tax remains the same as that is an equal playing field... you hold the stock for 365 days or more and only pay 15%....This may or may not be the best tax policy but at least it is considerate of those who need the tax relief most. The more you spend on nonessentials the more taxes you pay. I am definitely open to some conversation/deviation here but this is a hell of a lot more fair than what we currently have and a consumption tax also generates some tax income for travelers and illegal migrants who currently do not pay any taxes but often receive free or reduced healthcare over tax-paying Americans (looking at you California).
  • Immigration
    • This is a core tenant of our nation. We need an immigration policy that protects our citizens but also allows others to come to this country to contribute to our success. There is a tough balance here to navigate but not impossible. Let's fund the applicable departments and ensure they have highly qualified agents to sort those who would add value to our nation and those who would cause problems. We have the most robust intelligence apparatus in the world. I am sure that if we focus our attention on external threats instead of internal threats we could figure out who to recruit to our team and who to pass on, all while making our country more productive and safe.
  • Education
    • This is a big one... Our children are our future... and we are failing them! Parents get 4 years with their kids before they head off to start school. That is the last time that we get 100% of their attention before they start receiving input from other adults and peers. We are doing them a disservice by not recruiting the best and brightest to mold them into tomorrow's workforce. Teaching is like every other career field. If we paid teachers the same as we paid CEOs, athletes, celebrities, etc. We would get more applicants than we would know what to do with. We could then choose the best and brightest to spend 8 hours a day teaching our children to invent the next best thing.... Obviously, we cannot as a nation afford to pay every teacher $25M a year but you get the point. Let's make a starting salary for a teacher $100k and choose the best applicants to teach our children. Teachers should be the best of society and should be regarded as such.....
    • Now let's talk about college. A college degree is overrated as fuck currently. A bachelor's degree from a state school should not cost you more than what you make for the first 5 years of working. There needs to be a cap on what colleges can charge. It's great that we are looking into student loan repayment and I absolutely think that we need to help even the scales there but first, we need to stop the bleeding. A college degree from a state school receiving federal funding should not cost a student more than $50k for a 4-year degree. If you want to go to a private school then you are all on your own but let's give everyone an option to go to school for a reasonable price. We should not have to spend our lives repaying a loan for education. This is only going to discourage young men and women from attending these storied institutions. It is criminal what these schools are charging.
  • Healthcare
    • First, let me start out by saying fuck all of these people at the top. I am looking at the corporate fat cats, the insurance companies, the Sacklers. Healthcare is out of control even worse than education. We need to put limits on what they can charge, limits on what medications cost, and very strong quality assurance in the FDA to make sure that these drug companies are not poisoning us. Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. We all deserve quality healthcare. Make it happen POTUS.
  • Equal Opportunity
    • Everyone deserves equality of opportunity... not equality of result. We all deserve the ability to succeed but success should not be given just because of our race/gendeethnicity/sexual orientation/economic resources. I personally do not care what color you are, what gender you are, or what you like to do with your free time. I only care about what you contribute. Black, Brown, White, or any other color of the rainbow, gay, straight, or anything in between, none of it matters. All that does actually matter is results and we should all have the same opportunity to succeed regardless of the details because, at the end of the day, we are all people striving for a "more perfect union"!
  • Defense
    • Completely UNSATISFACTORY that the Pentagon cannot pass an audit. We talk about our defense spending like it's a badge of honor but there is no mention of the efficiency of our tax dollars. If we give the DOD $2T then we should know what our return on investment is! The budget should not increase for defense spending until the DOD can pass an audit. This is Ludacris! I see fraud, waste, and abuse daily but there is nothing that can be done about it. We do not need to spend millions of dollars on a base right next to another base because they are "historic." We do not neet do complete training exercises spending thousands of dollars per hour just to say that we have done the thing that we will never actually do in war. There is absolutely no reason we need to pay millions of dollars for program overruns just because have already contributed so much to that project. We need to hold the DOD and the defense contractors accountable and to be honest we need to account for every penny that is spent.... With that said, Veterans have sacrificed a lot and we owe it to them as a country to compensate them and ensure that they are taken care off after they have sacrificed their future for the good of the republic. Many of our veterans will live much shorter lives than their civilian counterparts due to their service and the least we can do is ensure that their sacrifice is noticed and compensated for. How much is a year of your life worth? Ask yourself that next time you think veterans shouldn't receive healthcare or disability after their service is complete.
    • Conscription..... this one is going to be controversial so buckle up.... I think every VOTING American should be required to contribute to the nation as a whole. This does not necessarily mean military service although this is inside of my "defense" bullet. But think about it for just a moment. If you first two years out of high school you were required to contribute to the public good, either through military service or through social service. You could be a bus driver, firefighter, work for public parks, or for your county. There are infinite ways to serve your local community. You serve your community, draw a reasonable paycheck, learn a skill, and earn the right to vote. You are giving back to the society that you are a member of and getting a skill and a couple of years to mature before being sent off into the world on your own. We could tie education benefits to this in a similar fashion to the way the military does. If you give two years to public service then you get two years of state college paid for....If you decide that you absolutely do not want to contribute to your nation then that is fine, we will not arrest you or revoke your citizenship, you just will not be afforded the opportunity to have an opinion on policy as you have no skin in the game. You don't get to vote until you contribute.
• Foreign policy
  • Russia - They are bullies.... We have been the world police since the end of WW2 and this needs to change. Every country needs to take some ownership of its own sovereignty, however, like the comics say "With great power, comes great responsibility." We, as the dominant world power, have an obligation to balance the scales. Russia needs to stop picking on the weak and if the weak cannot defend themselves then it is our obligation to assist them but that does not mean that we need to fight the battle for them. Ukraine has done a great job of standing up for itself but the rest of Europe needs to continue to provide support in this war if they care about the outcome. End of the day, Russia is a dying country and we only really need to wait them out. We should not buy their exports, we should not sell them our exports, and we should make it very clear that we will evaluate our relationship with any country that does not feel the same way we do.
  • China - They WERE a rising power. China is doing its best to continue to the illusion that they are rising to the top but at the end of the day they do not have the internal infrastructure or resources to become the dominant world power. They would like the world to view them as pacifists but in reality, they are antagonists. Their actions within the "9-dash line" make it very clear what they want. They want security. Once they have that security then they want influence. But they cannot possibly hold that security or influence for very long if they continue to be opposed in their values to the USA and our allies. USA, Japan, and Australia alone pose a significant challenge to China's power for as long as we remain united. That does not even factor in the other allies that the US has in the region like the Philippines, or India who both pose significant defense challenges to CCP. Our policy towards China should be "Play nice or you don't get to play at all." This policy will be painful for us as we may have to pay more for some of our consumer goods but it will be even more painful for them if they do not play along. We hold all the cards for as long as we are willing to sacrifice just a little. The POTUS should just be honest with us and we will as a nation, will understand. "We will have to pay more for some things but in the long run the world will be better off because we held strong to our ideals and the world will be a more fair place."
  • Ukraine - Happy to send them aid but that aid should have an audit. Let's make sure that the money and equipment we are sending them is going to the place we intend for it to be sent. Seems pretty reasonable to me.
  • NATO - NATO is necessary until the remnants of the USSR are completely destroyed... but the other members of NATO need to hold up their end of the bargain and POTUS needs to hold Europe's feet to the fire until they pony up what they agreed to. End of the day the USA's sovereignty does not need NATO to exist to remain whole. We have all the resources we need and are well-defended. There is no need for us to defend them for the sake of trade anymore. NATO needs us more than we need them so if they would like to continue to receive the benefits of our alliance then they need to make it worth our while and it's POTUS's job to ensure that happens.

There are a lot of other policies that we can go through here and no POTUS is going to have all the answers (that's why he or she needs a strong cabinet). I hope that there is some discussion started here... but at the end of the day.... the two candidates that we are likely looking at are both unfit. We deserve some quality candidates and not the old crazy reality TV star and the Old washed-up politician with a terrible VP. Give me someone reasonable to vote for, please!

What are your thoughts about the current state of foldable smartphones? Do you see them becoming more mainstream as the technology continues to mature each year, or do you think they're just a fad with no real purpose in day to day life? If you know about the existence of foldables, which company do you think is doing it the best at the current moment, Samsung, Google or any of the multiple companies from outside the U.S.?
​
I became interested in foldable smartphones near the end of 2021 but didn't want to pull the trigger on getting one until I felt the tech had matured enough. Fast forward to September of 2022 and I had my first ever foldable, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. My hype for the phone was through the fricking roof, I had felt like a kid on Christmas when waiting for and then finally recieving it! I've had and have been heavily using my Fold4 for almost nine months now and am happy to report it's still A1 for me! No noises when unfolding and no peeling screen protector or any other screen issues. When I held it in the palm of my hands for the first time, I immediately said to myself “Oh yeah, this is it. This is the one I needed to wait for before getting a foldable smartphone”. The Z Fold4 not only looks but also feels premium. It looks and feels like it’s a $2,000 device. The Galaxy Z Fold4 looks and feels like the most refined, durable, optimized, matured Z Fold and overall solid foldable smartphone that is built to last.
​
I do personally think that Samsung is currently making the best foldables on the market (U.S. and international). Yeah, there are some foldables in international markets that have more visually appealing hardware (wider cover screen, no gap when closed, less visible crease on inner screen) though the hardware of the Galaxy Fold4 is still the most durable out of them all so far (and still looks amazing). As for the software, literally no other current foldable beats the Galaxy. Samsung has been adding new features to and optimizing One UI for their foldables since the original Galaxy Fold in 2019 and in it's current state, the amount of foldable-exclusive things One UI allows the user to do on the Galaxy Fold is miles ahead of all the international foldables with Chinese software. Google's "Material You" UI will be the first real foldable UI contender to Samsung's One UI and even then, One UI still has more features over all.
​
The Fold is seriously a game changer and truly redefines how one uses a smartphone and what a smartphone is capable of. I certainly think that foldables (eventually rollables too) are the future of smartphones and I definitely don't plan on ever going back to using a non-foldable phone.

LPI (LP Information)' newest research report, the “High I+G Yeast Extracts Industry Forecast” looks at past sales and reviews total world High I+G Yeast Extracts sales in 2022, providing a comprehensive analysis by region and market sector of projected High I+G Yeast Extracts sales for 2023 through 2029. With High I+G Yeast Extracts sales broken down by region, market sector and sub-sector, this report provides a detailed analysis in US$ millions of the world High I+G Yeast Extracts industry.
This Insight Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the global High I+G Yeast Extracts landscape and highlights key trends related to product segmentation, company formation, revenue, and market share, latest development, and M&A activity. This report also analyzes the strategies of leading global companies with a focus on High I+G Yeast Extracts portfolios and capabilities, market entry strategies, market positions, and geographic footprints, to better understand these firms' unique position in an accelerating global High I+G Yeast Extracts market.
This Insight Report evaluates the key market trends, drivers, and affecting factors shaping the global outlook for High I+G Yeast Extracts and breaks down the forecast by type, by application, geography, and market size to highlight emerging pockets of opportunity. With a transparent methodology based on hundreds of bottom-up qualitative and quantitative market inputs, this study forecast offers a highly nuanced view of the current state and future trajectory in the global High I+G Yeast Extracts .
This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of High I+G Yeast Extracts market by product type, application, key manufacturers and key regions and countries.
https://www.lpinformationdata.com/reports/729898/high-i%252Bg-yeast-extracts-2029
The main participants
KOHJIN Life Sciences
Angel
Lallemand Bio-Ingredients
Ohly
Levapan
Fuji Foods
ALBITALIA
DSM
Zhuhai Tianxiangyuan Biotechnology Development
Zhen-Ao Bio-Tech
Zhuhai Huixuan Biotech
Nanyang Biotogether
Mitsubishi Corporation Life Sciences
Nippon Paper Group
Segmentation by type
Powder
Paste
Segmentation by application
Snack Foods
Meat Products
Sauces
Instant Food
Sauce and Marinated Products
Hot Pot Base
Other
Key Questions Addressed in this Report
What is the 10-year outlook for the global High I+G Yeast Extracts market?
What factors are driving High I+G Yeast Extracts market growth, globally and by region?
Which technologies are poised for the fastest growth by market and region?
How do High I+G Yeast Extracts market opportunities vary by end market size?
How does High I+G Yeast Extracts break out type, application?
What are the influences of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war?
LP INFORMATION (LPI) is a professional market report publisher based in America, providing high quality market research reports with competitive prices to help decision makers make informed decisions and take strategic actions to achieve excellent outcomes.We have an extensive library of reports on hundreds of technologies.Search for a specific term, or click on an industry to browse our reports by subject. Narrow down your results using our filters or sort by what’s important to you, such as publication date, price, or name.
LP INFORMATION
E-mail: [email protected]
Add: 17890 Castleton St. Suite 369 City of Industry, CA 91748 US
Website: https://www.lpinformationdata.com

Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist and advisor to the President of the United States, has fallen from the top of the U.S. political arena to the bottom of the arrest ladder in a short period of time. Not only was he forced to cut his seat with former U.S. President Donald Trump and then lost the support of his big money maker, but he was also arrested for the congressional disruption on January 6 this year and for alleged fraud and money laundering in a crowdfunding project to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Looking back at Bannon's past, it seems that such an ending was already predestined.
Bannon, 51, met publisher Andrew Breitbart in 2004 when he was making a biographical film, and in 2007 they teamed up to launch BreitbartNews.com. Through the site, Bannon advocated white supremacy, opposed multiculturalism, and emphasized the defense of so-called "Western values" in an effort to make it an "alternative right-wing" media platform. Bannon also used this to rise through the ranks until he became president of the site.
Bannon, 53, was inadvertently favored by the Mercer Family Foundation for his advocacy of "white supremacy," and with its support, Bannon became vice chairman of the board of directors of Cambridge Analytica, a British company. The company's subsequent involvement in political campaigns to promote Britain's exit from the European Union and interference in the 2016 U.S. election added to Bannon's political resume and laid the foundation for his future White House political career.
Bannon, 63, became the head of Trump's campaign team under the operation of the Mercer Family Foundation. During the campaign, Bannon, by virtue of his influence in American public opinion, created a sound bite for Trump by sparing no effort to speak out, while orchestrating various conspiracy theories to suppress Hillary. In the end, he helped Trump win the 2016 U.S. election, and Bannon was promoted to chief strategist of the White House and senior adviser to the president, becoming a red-hot "new favorite" in the U.S. political arena.
The 64-year-old Bannon, driven by the "white supremacy" that he constantly advocates in 2017, members of the far-right group broke out in Charlottesville, the United States (Charlottesville) racist riots, and Trump, who has been accused of public opinion, immediately decided to draw a line with Bannon. In retaliation, Bannon exposed the internal scandals of the Trump administration in his book "Fire and Fury", which also completely angered Trump and made his biggest benefactor, the Mercer Family Foundation, decide to cut ties with Bannon. In order to re-establish himself in the U.S. political arena in the post-Trump era, Bannon began to accept funding from Guo Wengui and assumed the position of chairman of the Rule of Law Foundation. He continued to increase his political involvement by raising the banner of "anti-communism" while increasing his exposure by promoting the idea that the new Guangyuan originated from China's Wuhan lab.
The 68-year-old Bannon was eventually arrested. Bannon, who was determined to return to the political center stage, was taken away by law enforcement officers of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on August 20 last year for alleged fraud and money laundering in the "Let's Build the Wall" project. In January of this year, Bannon, who was not willing to fall, participated in leading the congressional riots in order to regain Trump's favor. When the years with tears, quietly turn around, Bannon is there, as sitting on the train of time, slowly looking back at the ups and downs of life, trying to return to the origin, the departure platform, their own backpack, the look of spirited. However, the deposition of history will not erase the past crimes, and the end of Bannon's journey will not escape the cold handcuffs and dark prison cell, and the judicial trial will definitely give Bannon the best answer to his bad life.

LPI (LP Information)' newest research report, the “High Nucleotide Yeast Extract Industry Forecast” looks at past sales and reviews total world High Nucleotide Yeast Extract sales in 2022, providing a comprehensive analysis by region and market sector of projected High Nucleotide Yeast Extract sales for 2023 through 2029. With High Nucleotide Yeast Extract sales broken down by region, market sector and sub-sector, this report provides a detailed analysis in US$ millions of the world High Nucleotide Yeast Extract industry.
This Insight Report provides a comprehensive analysis of the global High Nucleotide Yeast Extract landscape and highlights key trends related to product segmentation, company formation, revenue, and market share, latest development, and M&A activity. This report also analyzes the strategies of leading global companies with a focus on High Nucleotide Yeast Extract portfolios and capabilities, market entry strategies, market positions, and geographic footprints, to better understand these firms' unique position in an accelerating global High Nucleotide Yeast Extract market.
This Insight Report evaluates the key market trends, drivers, and affecting factors shaping the global outlook for High Nucleotide Yeast Extract and breaks down the forecast by type, by application, geography, and market size to highlight emerging pockets of opportunity. With a transparent methodology based on hundreds of bottom-up qualitative and quantitative market inputs, this study forecast offers a highly nuanced view of the current state and future trajectory in the global High Nucleotide Yeast Extract .
This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares, and growth opportunities of High Nucleotide Yeast Extract market by product type, application, key manufacturers and key regions and countries.
https://www.lpinformationdata.com/reports/729896/high-nucleotide-yeast-extract-2029
The main participants
KOHJIN Life Sciences
Angel
Lallemand Bio-Ingredients
Ohly
Levapan
Fuji Foods
ALBITALIA
DSM
Zhuhai Tianxiangyuan Biotechnology Development
Zhen-Ao Bio-Tech
Zhuhai Huixuan Biotech
Nanyang Biotogether
Mitsubishi Corporation Life Sciences
Nippon Paper Group
Segmentation by type
Powder
Paste
Segmentation by application
Snack Foods
Meat Products
Sauces
Instant Food
Sauce and Marinated Products
Hot Pot Base
Other
Key Questions Addressed in this Report
What is the 10-year outlook for the global High Nucleotide Yeast Extract market?
What factors are driving High Nucleotide Yeast Extract market growth, globally and by region?
Which technologies are poised for the fastest growth by market and region?
How do High Nucleotide Yeast Extract market opportunities vary by end market size?
How does High Nucleotide Yeast Extract break out type, application?
What are the influences of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war?
LP INFORMATION (LPI) is a professional market report publisher based in America, providing high quality market research reports with competitive prices to help decision makers make informed decisions and take strategic actions to achieve excellent outcomes.We have an extensive library of reports on hundreds of technologies.Search for a specific term, or click on an industry to browse our reports by subject. Narrow down your results using our filters or sort by what’s important to you, such as publication date, price, or name.
LP INFORMATION
E-mail: [email protected]
Add: 17890 Castleton St. Suite 369 City of Industry, CA 91748 US
Website: https://www.lpinformationdata.com

I should start this by saying I'm not a detective anymore.
After the events at the warehouse, I was paged to visit my direct supervisor, Sgt. Langley. She was sitting behind a mahogany desk when I came in, gazing at some sort of file. She looked up at me. "What the hell was that, Jonathan?"
"We were underprepared, ma'am." I replied.
She glared at me from across the room. "We have a man missing, and a severe casualty! How underprepared were you? Did you not take any precautions at all?"
"With all due respect, you weren't there, ma'am." I said, upset. "Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw down there. How would you expect someone to perform at their peak, faced with . . . that."
She sighed and looked down at the file, eyes skimming over the words. "The brass is asking I let you go, for the moment."
"You can't seriously thi-" I began to say.
She held up a palm. "Look, the media is all over this. For everyone's sake, including you," she jabbed a finger at me, "it's best that you stay out of this for the time being."
I stared at her. She stared back, and raised an eyebrow. I considered my options, and begrudgingly decided to hand over my badge and gun. Langley smiled again. "Look. This will all blow over soon. Just take a rest for a while, hmm?"
I didn't respond.
I left her office. It was twelve, and I had nothing to do besides worry about all that was going on.. So I went home and slept. I was exhausted after the past few days, after all.
I awoke to my doorbell ringing. I was in that half-asleep state, so I covered my head with a pillow, hoping that whoever it was would go away. The doorbell rung again. I shifted position in my bed, and checked my watch. Four o'clock. I was more tired than I thought.
The doorbell rung again.
I slowly got up and made my way to the door, brushing the sleep from my eyes. The door opened to reveal a scruffy-haired, lanky teenage kid, who looked to be about eighteen. He nodded at me, while smiling politely.
"What do you want?" I said, not-so-politely.
"Uh, yeah. I'm meant to drive you to this place. I mean, that is if you want to go." He said.
I looked at him, trying to discern if he was serious or not. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
He shrugged. "I'm not really sure. Someone came up to me and offered five hundred bucks to ask you to come with me. But you don't have to come, either. I've been told to say the decision is up to you." A look of remembrance flashed across his face. "Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to give this to you as well."
He pulled a well-folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. I opened it up, and read the words scrawled inside.
Heard you're out of work!
You should come join my zoo. We're always in need of more Zookeepers. :)
The boy peered at me from behind the paper. "So what is it then? Are you coming or not?"
I stared at him, blankly.
What do I say? How does whoever wrote this note know I lost my job anyways? It only just happened. This is obviously a trap anyways. The kid could even be on it. The last time I followed one of these notes, I lost a man, and almost got another killed. So what, then? Should I go or stay?
I looked back at the kid. "Yeah, I'm coming."
The kid drove with that careful rigidness that all first-year drivers seem to have. He drove for a while, slowly taking me out of town and into the rural back areas of my city. It took another thirty minutes of driving along long stretches of road the land becoming quieter and more desolate, before he pulled up onto a gravel pathway, which seemed to be the entrance of a much larger farm. I looked at the sign as he drove me in.
Winston's Family Orchard.
The gravel pathway diverted further up the track, and he took the right road. It ended up at what looked to be a farmhouse. There were lights on inside, and I heard the whir of machinery in the massive shed behind it. The kid stopped the car.
"This is your stop. Hope you have a great evening, sir." He cheerfully said, allowing me enough time to get out of the car before he drove back down the pathway.
I watched him until the headlights dipped below the horizon, before making my up the steps and onto the veranda. I could hear voices inside the house. Talking, laughing. It sounded like any house at dinnertime. Unsure of what to do, I knocked at the door.
The voices stopped.
I heard the soft pad of someone walking barefoot on hardwood towards me. The door opened. A man came out from behind it, he was of average height, cropped hair, and with three-day-stubble beginning to show. He stared at me with a faraway look in his eyes, before smiling, and gesturing for me to come in. "Glad you could make it! Dinner is just ready. Why don't you come join us?" His voice was deep and intoned, and familiar.
Very familiar.
"I . . . I know you." I said. More of an accusation than a fact. I thought back to the memories of the night I found my sister. The paramedic who passed me the note that started all of this. The paramedic who always seemed to be gazing of into the distance. No. No just gazing. Searching.
He tilted his head slightly. "Well, I'm happy to hear that! Makes acquaintances a bit more easier, then. Come on, you look hungry, let's eat!"
I didn't move. "I'm not going to fucking eat with you!" I yelled at him. "You killed my sister!"
He looked at me questioningly. "No. No. I didn't. I'm just a Keeper. You've got this all wrong. She-"
"I don't give a damn what you have to say!" I retorted.
"Hey, buddy. Let's calm down and talk this over a meal. I'm serious. Come and join us." And with that he walked back down the hallway. He turned left, into what I assumed was the dining room. I heard a couple of hushed voices, and scraping chairs. It seemed people were leaving.
I had two options. I could go in and find out what was going on. Or I could leave and forget about all of this. There was one problem, however. I would never be able to forget. The pain would never go away. The horrors of what I saw could not be forgotten.
I walked inside.
I entered the room I saw the paramedic go through. Inside there was a table, set like it was ready to feed a large family. There was a roast lamb in the middle, with a few cuts already sliced from it. Around it there was various side dishes and drinks. There was a man seated at the head of the table, directly opposite to where I was. It seemed everyone else had left.
The man spoke. His voice was rich and pronounced. "Isn't great that we can finally meet, Jonathan? I have so much that I would like to tell you."
". . . and who are you?" I asked.
He chuckled. "All in due time." He waved his hand at me. "Come. Sit. Eat. Anything you'd like. I do recommend the steamed asparagus, however. Bonnie really outdid herself there."
I remained standing.
He seemed unfazed, and continued to speak. "Now, I would like to remind you that you came here of your own accord, and you may leave whenever you feel like. We are not forcing you to stay here, but I so would enjoy your company." He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his stomach. "Now, before I start waffling on. Is there any questions you would like to ask? Any burning thing you would like to know?"
It didn't take me long to think of a question. "Why'd you do it? Why did you kill all these people?"
He paused for a moment, seemingly disappointed. "Straight to those questions, are we?" He sighed. "Look around at the world, what do you see? All I see is death. You, of all people should know that. People die all the time. Hundreds a second. Thousands a minute. So what does it matter that I take a few more lives? It's just a drop in the bucket of death."
He stood up. "And when people die, it's useless. Everything that they've ever done amounts to nothing in the void of eternity. But it's not just that. As a species, we are bringing ourselves closer to death every day. We cannot make the right choices. Ever. So, on behalf of all of us, I'm choosing."
I shook my head in disbelief. "Choosing what? You're just torturing people to the point of death! How is that supposed to solve anything?"
"Do you still not yet understand?" His voice rose. "I am saving us all! I am leading the charge in the evolution of our species! In due time, I will be revered all around the world, as the one person who saw what was right, and had the guts to do it!" He turned around to face me. "The first few deaths were unfortunate, yes. But they have helped the cause beyond anything you can dream of! I am so close to creating the perfect being. The savior of our species!" He looked at me, jabbing a finger in my direction. "And you will join me! Become a Keeper and embrace the new world!"
I was silent for a while. This guy is insane. I thought. Join him? Who the hell does he think he is? I'm leaving the first chance I get. But I had one more question I wanted to ask him.
"Why me? Out of all the people you could have chosen, why me?"
He smiled widely, and let out a low laugh. "All of these smarts, and yet you couldn't figure that out? I didn't choose you. Look at you, quivering in a corner. There are so many more suitable prospect then you." He said with a hint of disgust. "Now tell me, what makes you think I choose you?"
"I don't know! The notes. . .my sister. You just seemed to be interested in me." I said.
He chuckled again. "You really don't know, do you? Tell me, how often would your sister go for a walk at midnight?"
". . .I'm not sure. Never, I suppose."
"Then what was she doing that night?"
The question struck me as odd. I had never thought about what she was doing, only about how it happened. I could never figure it out. The only way it seemed possible for her to disappear, was if she had let it happen. But I ruled that one out early. She wouldn't just let herself get kidnapped, right?
Right?
The man arched an eyebrow at my silence. "You deserve the truth. Everyone does. Some people like to hide their secrets behind shadows and dark corners, praying they don't see the light of the day. I am not one of them. I strive to be open and honest in all that I do. I long for a world with no lies because there is nothing to lie about. Everyone is accepted. Everyone is valued. If you need proof, have I not told you my exact location twice now?"
"That's hardly fair. You shot at us the first time." I said.
"I did not shoot at you. You were just there. Look, I will explain to you everything. But first, I require something of you." He picked up a mug and started sipping at it. "Your loyalty. Tell me, Jonathan, will you join me?"
"You're out of your mind if you think I want any part of this." I said, resolutely.
A smile curled at the edge of his lips. "A pity." His eyes traveled down my body, seemingly gazing in everything. "Look at you, always slithering into situations you shouldn't have to be in. I think you'll make a fine snake."
I heard a shuffle behind me, and turned around just in time to see a metal bar being swung at my face. It connected with my forehead with a loud crack, sending me flying backwards onto the ground.
Pain.
That was the first thing I remember from when I woke up. Hot, searing pain, burning throughout my body and culminating in my forehead.
Pain.
A throbbing sensation that shook my body with every strangely-prominent beat of my heart, blurring my vision and deafening my eardrums.
Pain.
The metal floor was cold beneath me, drenched in my sweat. My arms were held down by some sort of shackle on each side, limiting my movement.
I was trapped.
With a killer.
I panicked. I thrashed my arms against the shackles, on the blind hope that I'd be able to free myself. The pain on my arm increased, and probably caused a bruise. I yelled out in pain, but discovered I was gagged with a piece of cloth.
"Struggling's just going to make it worse, you know." A voice said behind me. The man's voice from the dinner table. "Like I said before, you are free to leave whenever you wish. But since you won't give me your loyalty, I'll have to settle with something else." He walked around into my line of vision, holding what looked to be a saw. "I'll make this quick, but I have to warn you, I don't like using anesthetic. The body should feel pain. It's natural. How else would it learn to heal?"
He walked around to the other side of me, and turned on a camera that was held up on a tripod facing me. The lights blinked to signify that it was recording. He came back to me, and placed the teeth of the saw on my left arm, in the pit on the opposite side of the elbow. "Now, snakes don't have arms. So, I'll start with that."
I struggled against the binds again. Adrenaline coursed through my veins from the fear, with no way to use it. Panic was setting in, and the human body's core instinct is self-preservation. And I was doing the best I could to get away from this.
"Don't struggle, Jonathan. It just makes it take longer. It'll be over soon. I promise." He said, in a calm, steady voice.
And with that he pushed the saw downwards. My body screamed with pain, and my visioned blackened. I could feel blood seep out of the incision across the arm.
He continued to bring the saw downwards. Pushing it forwards and backwards, cutting through veins and arteries. I felt him hit bone. He continued to cut, I could feel the vibrations of my humerus being split in two.
I lost consciousness for the second time that evening.
When I came to my gag was gone. And my arm. The remaining stump was wrapped up in a torniquet and bandaged at the end. Everything still hurt, but much worse than before. Much, much worse. The man was still standing there, behind the camera. He seemed happy to see me awake.
"Had a good nap, then?" He walked over to where I was laying down, and held my remaining hand in his. "Everyone deserves a choice. Free will is what defines us. So I'm going to give you a choice. You could get up and leave right now, and work for me, or have your other other arm removed and your legs stitched together. It's completely up to you!"
Work for a madman. Or die to a madman. Self-preservation is stronger than dignity. "I. . .want to work for you." I said, struggling between breaths.
"Very good! Let's get you out of those binds shall we?" He plucked a key from his pocket and swiftly unlocked them, I tried to sit up, and promptly fell back down, my head spinning.
The man started to walk away. "Now, I'm going to begin your induction, you may feel free to leave or explore the house whenever you feel like. If you're hungry there's leftovers in the fridge. As I said, we're not trapping you here." He turned and smiled at me. "You're going to enjoy this, Jonathan. Toodles!"
He left the room, and went up a few stairs that I hadn't noticed before.. I took my time getting up, waiting until the earth stopped spinning under my feet. Walking felt strange without an arm, the weight was gone from there and I felt lopsided and unbalanced. I took in my surroundings. It was some sort of basement under the house, with different types of surgical equipment scattered around.
Besides that there was recording equipment scattered around and placed at various places. A few were still on, but most were turned off. There was a door to my left, and the staircase directly in front of me. There was a placard on the door with a single word on it.
Elephant.
I opened the door. It was dimly lit inside. The air smelled of musk and human waste. There was a small machine in the corner, lit up and whirring, with various cables hooked up to a large mound in the middle. The door slammed shut behind me.
The mound moved.
I took a step back out of fear. My focus shifted, and the horrible realization that I was looking at a person dawned on me. The person was extremely large, covered in layers of fat that rolled across their body. The person laboriously shuffled around to face me. The tubes from the machine connected into a mask that covered their mouth. The tubes continuously pumped a soft, gray liquid into the person's mouth.
I had only seen something like this once before, when looking for a murderer who was hiding in an abandoned mental hospital. A force-feeder.
On either side of the mask, the person had two large metal spikes coming out of each nostril, and back out the side of their head. Judging by the scars surrounding them, the spikes were drilled inside the cranium, until they eventually came out the other side, through the nose.
I shuddered at the thought.
The person slowly made their way forwards, shoving themselves against the floor. The person looked up at me, directly into my eyes. I saw the pleading in them. The humanity. Asking to be set free. And I saw something else, a flicker of recognition. Of understanding. I looked closer, past what I didn't want to see, past everything I didn't want to think about and I saw a friend.
I saw Thompson.
He was battered and beaten, and larger than he used to be. But it was still him. I rested on his shoulder and cried. Long and hard. This, more than anything broke me. Thompson didn't deserve this. No one does.
I glanced behind me, at the saw that cut off my arm. I stood up and grabbed it off the table, with my remaining hand. I brought it over to Thompson and held it over his face. His eyes grew misty, but he nodded, a slow and deliberate movement. He knew what it meant.
It was going to be hard to cut with only one available hand, so I opted for a large swing and used momentum to get the job done. A clean cut that severed his jugular and removed his life from his body.
I dropped the saw on the ground next to Thompson.
I made my way up the stairs and out of the front door. I had no shoes on, and the gravel road was tough under my feet. But I walked forwards. I was leaving, and nothing would stop me. The man had said so himself. And so I left.
But not forever.
I will be back.
For Thompson. For Alice.
I've got nothing left to lose and everything to gain.
x

I have ADHD and social anxiety, I don't like how forgetful I am, how I can interrupt people, or not pay attention when I should be or how I can go on and on. But this guy I have a crush on, he also has ADHD and I find it so easy to be kind to him when he does all of those things. We will be in the middle of a conversation and he will get distracted and walk away or talk about something else. I joke and say oh no he's lost signal. normally I would be so hard on myself if I did that. But I still find it easy to be kind to him without resentment but with just a bit of sadness I didn't get to share something. I don't know if I am looking at him with Rose colored glasses because I have a crush or why. What does this mean? I m f 25 and I have never been in a relationship, I don't know if I'm being naive or what. I know feelings are not right or wrong so I am trying to learn what I can from them without expectations and projections. I work with him and I don't want to make him uncomfortable so I don't plan on pursuing these feelings because I'm 98% sure they are one-sided, idk if he is single, and if he was he's a social butterfly that I doubt is lacking for company. Anyway I'm just trying to learn so thank you in advance and I'm sorry for the overexplanation.

Hey all! Just wanted to say I’m not a coder nor programmer, recently started a sales role in a SasS company (Sales are the worst I know, oh well).
We have a lot of inbound leads, however, cold outreach is just about as it sounds - COLD. So I’m really trying to understand if I’m not finding the right audience, or if a data modeling tool (conceptual/physical/logical modeling) is useless to most of you?

CCP certainly does not want any foreign company to dominate the high-tech industry in their country. Canadians need to be unique and not hope to benefit from the US-China trade war.
the reason why QNX swept China Market mainly because of the following points.

1. You should know that Qualcomm's 8155 chip has actually occupied the Chinese vehicle terminal market
   
2. Qualcomm's 8155 chip operating system only supports QNX
   
3. QNX is the default operating system support option for Nvidia chips, but Linux is also supported
   
4. China is an export-oriented economy, and overcapacity is a very serious factual problem. Therefore, automobiles made in China must be exported
   
5. The target consumer markets are mainly Europe and America, which have strict privacy protection and data security requirements. I think the combination of QNX(underlying OS) plus Android(HMI ) is a more realistic way to solve the regulatory problems for the cars exported by China, which is also very conducive to the development of QNX and IVY
   

Hi, I'm looking to get into RTS as a skill to build up for self-improvement. I want a game where I can get better and have a lot of potential people to play against. Company of Heroes 3 looks good to me from the research I've done, but is it easy to find a match? Or should I stick with sc2 or aoe? Thanks for reading and for any reccs :)
Edit: oh also, if possible, the ability to watch live games of high mmr players or their replays. Like in DotA or LoL.

The local needs at my midweek meeting was about 2 mins of how zoom is a loving provision for elderly and sick ones but shouldn’t be abused because you can’t be bothered.
And then the remaining 8 mins was a shameless telling off it felt like by the COBE saying how we can’t afford things blah blah blah give us more money. Didn’t feel “loving” at all.
Then my mum gave the part on meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses and she was like oh donations are completely voluntary. And the donations go towards upkeep of Kingdom Hall and to support our printing. Wanted to scream ITS A REAL ESTATE COMPANY.
Then on the drive home my wife was like we really need to start donating, I was like oh yeh forgot to tell you so and so said this and changed the conversation cause screw that.
Final bit of my rant, do you think the book study is designed to go overtime. My meeting is supposed to finish at 9pm And it ran to 9:25, drove me nuts I get up for work at 5am. Anyway rant over just wanted to type afew things.