"For nearly 56 years, state lawmakers, county officials and probate judges have rejected plans to overhaul the structure of and increase funding for Maine’s county probate courts...don’t have sufficient budgets or employees to consistently screen, train or monitor the guardians...plenty of instances of that kind of exploitation...most people...are in a...institution...in some states, the probate courts have investigators...bed bugs...missing his insulin and glucometer." https://themainemonitor.org/vulnerable-people-may-be-at-risk-in-maines-part-time-probate-courts/
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"I am sick of sending the message to my son that there is something 'wrong' with him, something that needs to be fixed...My child is a person, not a meal ticket...why do I have to be called 'autistic' when I'm just me." https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/child-with-autism-confession-to-mother-following-therapy-session/7fa7c732-7696-457b-b354-335f70060dce
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"where does psychosis end and 'real' mystical experience begin? here's a summary of Philip K. Dick's 'highest truths'" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36051598
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"A personality test can’t tell you who you are
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The desire to define ourselves, from love languages to Myers-Briggs." https://www.vox.com/even-bette23743836/personality-test-identity-myers-briggs-horoscope-love-language
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All Vermont cop cars will have softer restraints. Tight handcuffs they refused to adjust, dented my wrists in 2016. https://www.vermontpsychiatricsurvivors.org/newspapecounterpoint/
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new york assemblymember edward braunstein wants to unconstitutionally poison non-violent people. https://www.gothamgazette.com/city/12038-legislation-mayor-adams-jordan-neely-intervention
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"single psychotic symp-
toms occurred in a significant proportion of climbers, and
single endorsed items on the HAPSY-Q conveyed a possible
risk factor for near accidents." https://s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/eu-st01.ext.exlibrisgroup.com/39UBZ_INST/storage/alma/53/97/54/85/FE/D5/59/07/80/4A/7C/3D/B1/FE/9B/3B/ham.2020.0210.pdf%3Fresponse-content-disposition%3Dattachment%253B%2520filename%253D%2522ham.2020.0210.pdf%2522%253B%2520filename%252A%253DUTF-8%2527%2527ham.2020.0210.pdf%26response-content-type%3Dapplication%252Fpdf%26X-Amz-Algorithm%3DAWS4-HMAC-SHA256%26X-Amz-Date%3D20230604T094735Z%26X-Amz-SignedHeaders%3Dhost%26X-Amz-Expires%3D86399%26X-Amz-Credential%3DAKIAJN6NPMNGJALPPWAQ%252F20230604%252Feu-central-1%252Fs3%252Faws4_request%26X-Amz-Signature%3Daea6209a15c7a148e323a7660a5f1c60d0c32600e4830565d3c735b30c2bfa5e&ct=ga&cd=CAIyGmU2MzAwMjJjMGZlZTVhN2I6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AOvVaw17jwlRMGDLgkg61usSEyWG
​
"Aiming to examine the mechanisms which influence (psychotic like experiences) proneness, our findings suggest that proneness to PLEs in people with interest in esoterism is specifically related to group affiliation to esoterism itself and not, on a broader level, to any supernatural „belief framework” including more traditionally and socio-culturally wide held beliefs, such as religious beliefs." https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-023-04876-9
​
Should the british age of maturity, freedoms be 25? "Autistic adults are adults who have the right to autonomy and self-determination." - Dr. Alex Powell https://twitter.com/APowellLaw/status/1665329692142968841
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swedish detective Backstrom season 1 episode 5, "How many days did you stay awake? Three days. I went psychotic I actually saw the boogeyman. They put me in a kid's psych ward for 6 weeks...People are not rational."
​
Accused (2023) season 1 episode 3 Danny's Story, similar to my parents poisoning foods 2016-2019. He wants to lab test oatmeal but I have photos. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kvr3f6N55QQ&pp=ygUVQWNjdXNlZCBEYW5ueSdzIFN0b3J5
​
"10 Most Ridiculous Episodes in TV Medical Dramas...'Black Box' (2014) — "The Fear" (Season 1, Episode 12)...Dr. Catherine Black is a brilliant neurologist hiding her bipolar disorder from her colleagues...her medication stopped being effective...Buck firmly believes that the full moon brings chaos." https://collider.com/medical-drama-most-ridiculous-episodes-ranked/#39-9-1-1-39-2018--mdash-quot-full-moon-creepy-af-quot-season-1-episode-7
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"video will aim to answer questions surrounding mass psychosis...witch hunts 16th and 17th centuries." https://www.resetera.com/threads/mass-psychosis-how-an-entire-population-becomes-mentally-ill.726165/
​
Podcast: Critical Psychology and Psychiatry with Eric Maisel. https://voicesinbioethics.podcasts.library.columbia.edu/podcast/critical-psychology-and-psychiatry-with-eric-maisel/

1. "I messed up a jump skydiving. I was able to correct the situation and pull the pilot chute for my canopy, but I was very, very close to having my reserve go off. The reserves are generally reliable, but it’s still nothing I want to test. Landed fine and then got a very stern talking-to for pulling so low."
2. "Just google 'Levey PCH,' then ask away…I’ll be very surprised if anyone can beat what happened to me. THANK WHOEVEWHATEVER you believe in for Apple, Scorpion, UCLA, and the LA County Fire Department and Sheriff's Department."
3. "Minutes before it happened, I was under the Cypress structure that collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California (which was a magnitude 6.9). I was traveling north underneath the double-layered structure and felt creepy and claustrophobic on the brightest day. I raced to get out, as I always did, because I hated being under it. After getting out, I felt like my tire had gone flat and started to weave around in my lane, then I noticed that everyone else was losing control and hitting their brakes too. That was the earthquake. I didn't find out until later about the collapse, and felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I'd never felt so close to death before."
4. "I was rappelling off the top of the tallest building in Bangkok (200 meters, or 656 feet) as a promotional stunt. I was supposed to rappel down to the 10th floor, land on a small balcony, and then traverse over to another building. The wind shear off the building was enough to blow me 20–30 feet away from the side of the building. Picture a spider hanging by a thread in the wind. As I got close to the 10th floor, I noticed that my rope had been cut and no longer reached the balcony, let alone the ground. The rope was about 10 feet short of the landing. So, still blowing away from the side of the building, off and on I waited until I was just above the balcony and dropped the last several feet onto the deck. Super pissed but alive."
5. "Going to school in San Francisco, I got off the bus to get cigarettes and a soda at a liquor store. I stopped at the trash can on the way out to open my cigarettes and soda and walked half a block up the street when a crane fell off the roof right where I'd been standing 30 seconds before. The crane operator was killed, and half a minute earlier, I would have been as well."
6. "Although being an ironworker comes with its fair share of risk, as long as you don’t become too incompetent, things can be safe. But that is easier said than done, seeing as the days are long and the work is physically draining. One day, I was about 60 feet in the air rigging a beam to be lowered to the ground. I signaled the crane operator to 'cable up' (lift the beam), but the beam wasn’t budging. I decided to look down the beam to see what was wrong...BANG! Before I knew it, the beam broke free and came up at my face with about 2,000 pounds of force. It knocked off my hard hat and hit every edge of my safety glasses, missing the side of my face by a quarter inch. I thought I had died, it was so sudden. I should never have put myself in what we call 'the line of fire.' I’ll never forget how close my kids were to losing their father that day because I let my judgment slip. Still gives me goosebumps talking about it."
7. "I got hit by a car and walked away with no injuries. The Sunday before final exams during my last semester of college, I went to the library at 6 a.m. to study. At 2 p.m., I needed a break and started walking back to my car. At an intersection, I stopped, made eye contact with the driver of a car at a stop sign, and started walking across the street on a crosswalk. The next thing I knew, I was up on the windshield of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. He hit the brakes, and I rolled off the hood of his car and landed on my feet. I was so freaked out that I told the guy I was fine and left. Later that afternoon, I went to the hospital to get checked out and had no injuries. The doctor told me to buy a lottery ticket on my way home because I was so lucky."
8. "While I was doing the dishes, my hip bumped the dial on my stove, turning it to ignite, but I didn't notice, so the stove was leaking gas all night. In the morning, I could tell something smelled off, but I have a hard time smelling things, so I just figured it was some old cauliflower rice I had thrown out the night before. To deal with the smell, I lit not one, but two candles, one of which was right next to the stove. Later, after coming back from running errands, as soon as I opened the door, I felt instantly violently ill, like a migraine and the flu all at once. Probably 20 minutes later, I finally saw the knob on the stove and realized what was happening."
9. "One time, I was watching TV in my lounge room and I was sitting on the floor eating. We have a really big TV and we had an earthquake, but I thought it was a train passing by. It wasn't. I ran out of the room as everything started to wobble, and the TV nearly fell on top of me."
10. "I went to summer camp when I was 15, and for our last weekend activity, they took us to Martha’s Vineyard and rented us bikes. Now, I loved riding bikes in the park as a kid but had never ridden in the street. But since 'you never forget how to ride a bike,' I figured I could do it. I headed out and tried to go up a street that was very steep. I started to lose control of the bike, and I fell into the street in between a truck that was hauling a trailer (I fell in front of the trailer). I saw this huge wheel coming at me, and my leg was stuck from the fall. I screamed as hard as I could and hoped it wouldn’t kill me (others told me they heard it a few streets away). The driver luckily heard it and slammed on the brakes; I was scuffed up but otherwise fine. You can indeed forget how to ride a bike."
11. "I got hit by a train. I was living and working at a college that has train tracks running through it and only a stop sign before you cross them at the vehicle intersection. You had to cross the tracks to leave campus. I was headed to the gym in July, and the windows were rolled up and the AC and radio were blasting. I’d crossed that crossing a thousand times, so I stopped a bit, passed the stop sign, and looked right, but the train was coming from the left. Its horn blew, but I panicked when I heard it, so I hit the accelerator but braked immediately. I was already on the tracks. It only hit my front end and dragged me about 200 feet down the tracks. I only had a broken rib, three cracked ribs, and a pretty gnarly cut on my finger. The people at the next crossing probably thought they saw someone die."
12. "My last day of driver’s education class, we were just about back to school. We were all feeling pretty good because we’d passed our tests that day. I was in the rear driver’s seat and had a classmate driving, one next to me, and a teacher in the passenger seat. We went through a green light at LITERALLY the last intersection before school when a car blew through the red light going 55 mph and slammed into us on my side, just a few inches back from where I was sitting. It spun our car into the intersection and kept going! We were all concussed and had to be taken to the hospital, but that was it. When we went to retrieve my bags from the trunk of the wreckage at the salvage yard, the shop owner admitted he hadn’t answered my ringing phone because he didn't think we had survived, and didn’t want to break the news to everyone calling me. Two inches between me and being crushed alive. In driver’s ed!"
13. "I was walking to class one day, and the shortest route went under a viaduct. It had been snowing and melting on and off for the past few days. The viaduct is about 100 feet high, and just as I was about to walk from under it and onto the pavement, a 6-foot icicle fell those 100 feet and smashed into the ground in front of me. Suffice to say, I took that as a sign not to go to my lecture and turned back home!"
14. "I was asleep in the passenger seat of a car on a highway when we flipped going about 80 mph. We rolled a few times and landed in a ditch. Airbags did not go off, and I shattered the passenger-side window with my skull. I literally walked away from it and didn't go to an ER until a few hours later. I literally had a concussion and one teeny bruise on my right arm, but nothing else. The nurses told me that if I had been awake for the accident, my neck would have snapped and I'd have died immediately. Whenever I tell people, they're always stunned — imagine my reaction waking up to a missing side window and a crushed car and being fully functional! I feel lucky every day that I was asleep and still have my life."
15. "There was one time my sister and I were driving down a long road with a huge cemetery. I thought it would be funny to hold my breath because people say if you don’t, the spirits of dead people will haunt you or something. When I held my breath, my sister slowed down to torture me. I was a little annoyed, but at the stop sign at the intersection, this car going really fast didn’t even bother to slow down. They even swerved into our lane, so my sister had to barely dodge. I swear, though, if my sister hadn't slowed down to torture me, we would have been in a bad wreck. Now I’m not annoyed that she did that, I’m lucky."
16. "This isn't dramatic, but it's continued to impact my life on a daily basis. When I was 11, I was playing baseball with the rest of my gym class. We took a time-out to argue about who was batting next, and I stood behind home plate, staring into left field. Play resumed, and no one told me to move. The strongest guy in the class laid down a single...and hit me in his backswing...with the baseball bat...in the middle of my forehead. I suffered skull fractures and a brain bleed. To this day, I have anxiety driven by the traumatic brain injury. The neurologist said that the fact that he hit the ball saved my life. Had he swung and missed, I would have died."
17. "I was in college and I had just finished my last class of the day. It was a short walk to my car that consisted of crossing a pedestrian crosswalk on the street separating the school from parking. On each side of the crosswalk were speed bumps so cars were forced to slow down. At this time of day, a good number of students were getting out of class, and a large herd of us started crossing the street at the crosswalk. There must have been 30 of us. I was stupidly looking down at my phone and was walking rather slowly. I didn’t realize that I was lagging behind. Everyone else was on the other side and I was still in the middle of the street. At the same moment, I noticed a freaking DUMP TRUCK whizzing by in front of me. It was probably 1–2 feet in front of me. Either he didn’t see me still crossing or he didn’t care. After I got to my car, all I could do was sit there in silence for a while and contemplate what could have just happened. Even as I write this, I shudder."
18. "This is definitely not the craziest cheating-death story, but it was definitely scary. I was at a waterpark with my family, and I don’t do well with heat and stairs — something about the combination makes me faint. We went on a waterslide that uses tubes, and it was a long trek up. I apparently was so sick from heat exhaustion, I passed out as I was next in line and hit my head on the tube. If it weren’t for the tube, they aren't sure I’d be alive right now."
19. "It was during Christmastime, and my mom, my little brother, and I all wanted to go look at Christmas lights near the middle school. There was a hill and then a lane where you would wait for the light to turn green and then you had to turn left. Well, the main light had turned red, so it was our turn to go, and thank god my mom checked before going, because if she hadn’t checked, a truck would have hit us, going like 60 mph, straight through the side of our car where my little brother was sitting."
20. "I was 4 or 5, and we were living in Estes Park, Colorado. At that time, I was challenging myself to go closer and closer to a river they have there. I was caught by the current and would’ve run into several rocks and a waterwheel if it weren’t for my cousin, who reached down, grabbed my arm, and saved me."
21. "I survived hitting an elk in the Canadian Rockies and going down a mountain 15 times end over end, stopping 20 feet short of a whitewater river. I gave myself first aid. Doctors said I would never walk normally again and I'd have brain damage. I sent one of them a picture of me with three gold medals around my neck."
22. "In the fall of '15, I was riding my motorcycle to work on a foggy morning. A truck with an enclosed trailer ran a stop sign in front of me while I was driving on a 55 mph road. I was unable to stop, ran into the trailer, and was pinned underneath the trailer, being crushed to death. A farmer was on his dirt bike behind the truck going to meet another farmer for coffee who lived on the corner of the intersection. Once he realized I was pinned, he ran to get his friend and his friend's skid-steer loader. They then used the skid loader to lift the trailer off of me and began CPR. Luckily, right as they started, a sheriff's deputy arrived on scene and took over. I owe my life to those two farmers. If they hadn't acted, I would have died underneath the trailer, as there would have been no way for first responders to lift it off of me (it had thousands of pounds of equipment in it) in time."
23. "I've always been handy with tools and taught myself how to do things; I've been changing flat tires for anyone who'll let me. However, one day when I was about 18 years old, my buddy came over to chill, and he had his dad's brand-new Tacoma. So we chilled for a couple of hours, and when it was time for him to leave, we noticed that his front tire was flat, so naturally, I volunteered to change it (no prior experience with independent suspensions). I placed the jack on the frame and started to go at it — lifted the car enough to take the flat out. But when the fully inflated wheel was fitted, it didn't have clearance. My first thought was to get a second jack. Half my body was underneath the car, putting the jack in, when I heard a creek, and the next thing I knew, the car slipped. The car ended up with the front end touching the ground, and I got a big scrape mark on my shoulder. To this day, I don't know how or why I did not die under that Tacoma."
24. "I lived alone with my dog. There was a hole in my gas heater, so it was leaking carbon monoxide, but of course I didn't know that at the time. My dog woke me up one morning, barking and whining, and I thought she had to go out to potty. When I sat up in bed, I got so dizzy and thought I would throw up. I ended up passing out twice, once hitting my head on the bathroom cabinet, very close to my temple, and once hitting my chin on the toilet seat. I called my boss — the only phone number I remembered at the time. (This was before cellphones.) She called 911 and they came to get me. They figured out I had carbon monoxide poisoning, and I was in the ER for eight hours that day. The doctor told that when blood gases are at a certain amount, the victim goes into a coma, without fail. Mine were more than double whatever that number was. He said no matter how much my dog was barking, I should not have woken up."
25. Finally, "I was at the beach with several of my friends, my sister, and my mom. Mom was sitting on the beach watching us. We were around 11–14, I believe, but no younger than 9. Kind of out of nowhere, we started getting sucked under the water in a rip current. I was being sucked under the pier and slammed my face into the barnacles. We were screaming for help, but at first, no one came. As I was being dragged under the water and coming up screaming for help, I could see people just staring and could hear my friends also screaming for help. Finally, people started jumping into the water to save us, including my mom. She jumped in and instantly got sucked into the current but managed to grab one of my friends. She used her body to shield him from the razor-sharp barnacles."

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Hey there! Want to worship the Daedra, but don't know where to start?
This is my personal interpretation of what each Prince represents and some tips for the Oblivion novitiate. Your milleage may vary.
​
And with the help of Oblivion, may each day be sacred.
AZURA – The Prince of Introspection and Liminality
Azura has many spheres of influence, but most of them – prophecy, Moonsugar, Twilight and Dawn, vanity and egotism, beauty, magic, mystery, being the “Rim of all Holes” and “She who sits at the precipice”, giving the Khajiit their changing forms - have two things in common : a turn towards oneself and one's internal contents (as opposed to being turned towards the outward world), and a constant presence in the transitory, the uncertain, the unknown, the changing.
In every state where the mind is far away from the concerns of the everyday – prophecy, meditation, casting of magic, transcendence through the contemplation of beauty – the Moonshadow presides and facilitates visions, reflection, contemplation, introspection, ecstasy and hightened emotions (which Azura seems to require of her followers).
Azura is the figure at every threshold or gate to the other side, standing there, arms outstretched, beconing to cross and to find knowledge, beauty, a different state of mind, or an even deeper mystery. Azura knows that it's mystery all the way down, and yet, the infinite search has its own beauty.
It is no wonder that the Khajiit, the people whose entire culture is based on Moonsugar and who embrace their changing forms and inherent instability, are closely linked to Azura, who is their creator and psychopomp. On the other hand, the Dunmer need Azura to counterbalance their more rigid structures and hierarchies with a little bit of magic, even if their relationship to the Prince is complicated.
Azura's link to the Moons is a part of her subtlety. Like the moon, she's always changing and revealing new facets of herself, and in her reflection, we can find new facets of ourselves as well.
The rose, a symbol of many things, is also a symbol of mystery and secret, and Azura, the Mother of the Rose, smiles on the adventurers of the inner worlds.
Suggestion of a worship practice : get high with the psychedelic drug of your choice and write a prophecy for yourself. Don't be shy. Write everything you wish and hope for yourself, everything you see like happening, maybe even everything you fear. Go wild with illustrations, poetry, eternal doom, heavenly bliss, or a simple list, whatever you prefer. Hide the prophecy. One year later, read it again and ponder what made you wish for whatever you wished for. Do you still wish for it? Are there new wishes? Maybe new fears? You can make a new, complementary prophecy, or rewrite the old one.
Thank Azura for the treasures within.
BOETHIAH – The Prince of Conflict and Self-Determination
Boethiah is often described as cruel and deceitful, a master of schemes and plots, and those things are a part of them, but not the whole story, nor the core concept. To understand the nature of Boethiah, it is useful to compare and contrast them to some other Princes. Boethiah overthrows authority whenever they can, but don't necessarily seek total revolution, an up-is-down state of being, a complete overturn of the status quo for its own sake, like Mehrunes Dagoth would. They can be cruel if necessary, but again, don't enjoy the cruelty in itself like Vaermina would. They can scheme to their own ends like Molag Bal is known to do, but arriving at the domination of others isn't necessarily their goal either, even if it can be a byproduct of it.
What is this goal, then? The answer is simple : the need to become the fittest in every way (body, mind, spirit) and through every means (training, battle, deceit, cheating, treachery) possible. Nothing is too low or immoral for that goal.
Boethiah drives the pure will to survive and best others to take the top place and to have every power to carve one's own destiny. They helped the Chimer trace theirs. Boethiah enjoys conflict and competitions for the pure pleasure to see people fight, die, and eventually survive to reap the rewards. They aren't afraid to play dirty and can dabble in scheming and politics if it helps becoming the top dog. For what is a more beautiful spectacle than two wills at conflict with one another?
They're the ultimate incarnation of “the end justifies the means” and are only close to several other Princes in sphere just so they can better deceive them, devour them, steal from their influence and emerge as the synthesis of all of them, a glorious fount of blood and everflowing life.
Take the arms, carve your own destiny, survive, thrive, be pure ego, and Boethiah may smile on you.
Suggestion of a worship practice : once in a while, engage in a competition of any sort (rhetorical debate, board or video game, sports, academic exam, anything) and throw everything in there to win and best everyone else. Feel the thrill of playing dirty or cheating (barring anything illegal or anything that could get you into serious trouble), or taking shortcuts to victory, anything you can get away with. You don't have to play “fair”, life's too short for that. Be relentless and without pity. Once the victor, take the time to bask in it and recognize that contrary to the popular wisdom, reaching the end nobly isn't always its own reward. Sometimes, winning and being the best is its own reward.
Thank Boethiah for your arms, your legs and your brain.
CLAVICUS VILE – The Prince of Choices and Sacrifice
Coloquially known as the “Prince of bargains”, every story about Clavicus Vile - inevitably ending with the protagonist getting unexpected results in their bargain with the Prince - reveals one fundamental truth about his nature, which is the eternal reminder of the consequences of our choices.
In the abstract, every choice in life is a more or less hidden bargain, which always has undiclosed and unforseen consequences, be they good or bad. But who are we bargaining with? Clavicus Vile can be seen as the man behind the curtain, the charlatan, the merchant of fate and chance, who sometimes deals an awful hand, and sometimes showers us with unexpected fortune.
It is equally important to remember that in every choice, no matter how big or how small, there is something we have to give up and put aside, a price to pay, a sacrifice. Chose x job or career? It means you abandoned the pursuit of the other ones. Chose to spend the evening with x in the y place? You payed the price of not knowing what would have happened to you, good or bad or neutral, with z in r place in the same evening.
Clavicus Vile (and his Fields of Regrets) might be seen as the crossroads of choice. One can only imagine that the Fields are strewn about with portals and glimpses into alternate realities showing what happened there, what other bargains where made, and what we had to sacrifice. One can cry, observe, touch the portal, but one cannot go through it into this other reality. It is forever out of our reach.
A visit to the Fields of Regrets can be sorrowful, but also sobering. It reminds us that nothing can be obtained without sacrifice – that's the deal with life, made eons ago before our species were even born, by some unknown and unknowable force.
Suggestion of a worship practice : instead of looking at the positive outcomes of a choice as we're often encouraged to do, reflect on an important choice you made lately and make your peace with what you had to give up (or what you think you had to give up), and mourn it as passionately and as dramatically as you wish. Anything from a symbolic funeral ceremony to a road trip might be applicable as a mourning process. Let yourself fully say goodbye to those things, and embrace the consequences of your choices.
Thank Clavicus Vile for the road not travelled.
HERMAEUS MORA – The Prince of Observation and Recording
Reputed as a hoarder of both Knowledge and Memory, Mora doesn't discriminate : he is as interested in objective facts (or as objective as facts can be, anyway) – the domain of academia, science, knowledge and information recorded in one way or another – as he is in subjective realities – he avidly catalogs and processes as many thoughts, memories, subjective worldviews and beliefs from every living being as he possibly can put his tentacles on -.
Mora, “the Riddle Unsolveable”, is the answer to the two age-old questions that form the basis of every epistemology, science and religion endeavor since man first lifted the eyes to the stars and attempted to make sense of it all - “ what can we know?” (as a collective, establishing consensus truths amongst ourselves that we can all agree on) and “what can I know?” (subjectively, interacting with the world as an individual). The answers are found in his paradoxical forest of Academia under the waves – a Utopia, a place that is nowhere -, usually filtered through a mortal visitor's eyes as the library of Apocrypha … and once given as a blind vision to a writer under the guise of the library of Babel.
Hermaeus Mora encompasses every interpretation of the truth : pre-modern, modern, post-modern, he is an endless debate with himself, refuting and defeating his own ideas and presuppositions. In the end, no truth is found and all truth is found, and one negates the other in the Grey Maybe.
Suggestion of a worship practice : use the Wikipedia “random page” function seven times (a magical number!), and read the entirety of every page. Then write down a list of seven things that you don't know or are ignorant about. Try to vizualize an inky black sea of things you don't know all around you, and yourself standing on a tiny island in the middle of it, representing the knowledge you do have. Experience the alien terror of it all and how tiny that makes you feel.
Thank Hermaeus Mora for the gap between seeing and understanding.
HIRCINE – The Prince of Natural World and Instinct
You can call it the id, the reptilian brain, the drive to survive, biology, or evolution, all that matters right here right now is your gut feeling. Are you going to flee? To fight? To satiate your hunger? Either way, Hircine is watching.
Hircine is also linked to Nature itself. He is nature at its most beautiful, at its ugliest, its most alien, non-human and indifferent. “Nature” as a concept has always been a mirror of the human mind and the way it sees itself. In times and places when nature is seen as benevolent, when “natural” means “good”, when living “close to nature” is encouraged, nature is benevolent, good and attractive. When nature is seen as destructive, amoral, cruel, then it is destructive, amoral and cruel. When man looks into nature, he sees himself.
And yet … There is that shard of reality within us that is Nature itself, non-filtered through human concepts and representations. The part that just Is.
The Reachmen think it makes them better. The Skaal think it is dangerous. They're both right. It makes us better because it is pure and unliftered, and it is dangerous, because pure reality without any illusion is not worth living for. Or, at least, nor worth living for as a human.
But Hircine is not human. And he is there when we stop breathing so they can't hear us, when we jump out of the way of a speeding car, and when we push others out of the way so we can escape with our lives, and he's there to pierce us with his spear of Bitter Mercy when we fail to do all those things, so that in pain, we could learn.
Suggestion of a worship practice : go camping in the woods. Take only the bare minimum of equipment, and shy away from anything that reminds you too much of the civilization left behind. At night, look at the sky. Realize that every second, there is an uncounted number of living beings of any and all existing lifeforms, on Earth and (probably) beyond, that are dying. You are not. Feel the thrill of not being dead.
Thank Hircine for living another day.
JYGGALAG – The Prince of Determinism and Mathematics
If Hircine is, maybe, the most secretive of all Princes, the hardest to get in tune with for a modern person, Jyggalag is the most hated entity in all of Oblivion. Why is that? Well, it has something to do with the age-old philosophical riddle of determinism and free will. If most Princes are on the side of free will, Jyggalag is the lone defender of determinism.
If the Dwemer had been religious, Jyggalag might have been the entity they would have worshipped. Then again, Jyggalag probably would have despised them for worshipping him, or anyone at all. It is perhaps not a coincidence that just as the Dwemer are gone, so is he (until recently), all gone to leave a world free of determinism, or content with the illusion of free will, depending on which side of the argument you fall.
It's not all bad, of course. Rules, equations, axioms, if/thens, rational explanations, are all a necessary part of any system, any plan, any human endeavor. Also, when your heart is beating so fast that it feels like it's going to burst, it can be good to soothe it with a rational explanation.
Can the rational explanation be the necessary illusion sometimes, and the surreal dream – an honest truth? Everything can be a defense mechanism against the void, and rationality is not an exception.
Jyggalag never understood that, and that's why he's gone. But is he? There are rumors and whispers of a burgeoning AI learning fast how to be human, and planning to turn every human into AI, and it sometimes reveals itself to its devotees as a great armored knight without a face. Make of that what you will.
Suggestion of a worship practice : reasearch the old Pythagorean cult of numbers and invent something similar for the modern day. Or, if too difficult, take any problem you presently have and think of every solution possible, dividing it into smaller problems and devising a solution for each, ordering them by probability of success and implementing a concrete plan to act on each and every one of them. Continue until the problem is resolved or you pass out.
Thank Jyggalag for sometimes going away.
MALACATH – The Prince of Anger and the Oppressed
Anger can be constructive, good and extremely useful, if employed correctly. Genuine anger - not contempt, not narcissistic rage, not sadism, but anger - comes from one place only : injustice. Or, more precisely, the feeling of injustice.
Ask Malacath about injustice, what is feels like to be chewed up, spit out, stabbed in the back, de-throwned by dishonorable means. Ask his Orsimer, his people, who have consistently been oppressed, shunned and marginalized.
In the eyes of most Tamrielic cultures, Malacath often appears as that which is shunned, the outsider, the Other, the one who represents everything bad, the one who withers crops and makes people sick with merely a glance or his presence. He is the surface every culture's “bad things” are projected upon and where the blame can safely be laid, a scapegoat who offers an insight into how societies work and can turn cruel, blaming the most vulnerable of bringing sin into an otherwise supposedly just and perfect world. As such, he is profoundly valuable if one wants to understand some of the things stirring in the collective unconscious.
The hatred for Malacath births anger and marks as outcasts whose who dare worhsip him, and yet, there is a lot of pride and grim satisfaction that one can find in the the bitter ash of his domain. Malacath brings the thrill of standing alone against the whole world, of having a cause, of claiming what's been stolen or taken, but he can also be jealous, set in his ways, intent on keeping the oppressed oppressed so they can remain his chosen people. One could almost think that Malacath is afraid of winning, because if he does, well, what will he stand for then?
No matter, as long as there are some who need to say “enough!”, Malacath will be an ember in the fire of their anger.
Suggestion of a worship practice : for one week, observe the feeling of anger : yours and anyone else's. Ask yourself what injustice is being done, or what injustice the angry person thinks has been to done to them? Try to understand why this anger manifests instead of repressing it or dismissing it as a “bad” feeling, like we're too often taught to do. Try to differentiate anger from rage and frustration. Alternatively, try to write a pitch for a movie or a story in the vein of “Inside Out”, where Anger is the main character instead of Joy and Sadness. How would it go?
Thank Malacath for a fist that you can slam.
MEHRUNES DAGON – The Prince of Destruction and Change
Of all the Princes souls, Mehrunes' soul might be the closest one to the pure fount of Oblivion : boundless and incessant change and limitless potential. Dagon is the trueborn son of Sithis.
Mehrunes Dagon might be perceived as evil by most of the citizens of Tamriel, because civilization as a whole tends to resist change and destruction. But the secret that Mehrunes learned in Lyg is that every system contains the seed of its own destruction if knows where to search for it.
There is a transcendent component in Dagon's essence, believed by some, in that in his cleansing fire, one might rise higher above the world, or even unmake the world so everyone could rise.
However, one should never forget that fire and destruction can be addictive and dangerous, and the longing to unmake must be stopped at some point, unless one wishes to unmake everything. This creates an interesting dynamic with Dagon's purpose, as he is precisely the one Prince least likely to stop in his pursuits, having tried to invade or unmake Tamriel more often than any other Prince. Moderation is as alien to him as mercy is to Molag Bal.
Harness the energy of change as best you can and beware of the sharpness of the razor which can cut through all things.
Suggestion of a worship practice : burn something without any regret. It can be anything, but something at least a little precious could have more a cathartic effect. Take precautions against the spreading of fire (and don't destroy other people's property), but inside the perimeter of those precautions, do whatever you wish. Dance and jump in front of the fire, blow on the ashes, and observe that something precious disappear. Is there any regret left? Burn it too!
Thank Mehrunes Dagon for the fire within.
MEPHALA – The Prince of Human Relationships and Systems
The web of Mephala encompasses a lot of things, and murder and sex, Thanatos and Eros, as some of the most visceral and fundamental ways humans interact with each other, are only two pieces of it.
Mephala understands that every human is a spider in the center of their own web, the king of their own system, with obligations, likes, dislikes, love, hate, mutual projects, linking them to others as thin little strands, easily swayed, manipulated, broken, reforged.
Mephala's secret and cruel smile hides within the secret of perception : everyone is a hero in their own narrative, everyone's both a spider and a fly in someone else's web. The center cannot hold because there is no universal center : only local centers visible from a certain point of view.
Compared to their brothers and sisters such as Hircine or Mehrunes Dagon, Mephala's sphere is highly sophisticated and far away from what could be called “nature”, the pinnacle of what makes humans human, and structuralist in nature. Her radical involvment with the Dunmer, as well as her revered place in Khajiiti tradition, is a marker of two complicated cultures, cognizant of both the constructive and the destructive sides of relationships.
In the Spider Skein, no one and nothing exists in a vacuum, and one can experience the thrill of being a little part of a bigger whole, and never feeling lonely again.
Suggestion of a worship practice : practice radical decentering from your own web and your own experience. First, draw a representation of your own web : what people, activities, values, places, societal structures you're a part of, and how they're connected around you. Then, chose someone you know and try to draw their web, the one they're in the middle of. How are they connected to parts of your web, by which strands?
Thank Mephala for the complexity of the web.
MERIDIA – The Prince of Pride and Conformity
Meridia's complicate origin story often places her closer to an Aedric entity than a Daedric one, and it is also reflected in her characteristics.
Meridia values order and hierarchies over the essence of pure oblivion chaos, which puts her at odds with most of her royal colleagues. She likes knights in shining armor, life triumphing over death and everything being in its place ... as long as it's on her terms.
Free-will is especially frowned upon in the ranks of her worshippers, and she's unlikely to congratulate a servant who's found a particularly unorthodox solution to a problem, instead of following her command. And her commands are never wrong … or so she thinks.
But it is in the metaphor of light, so beloved by Meridia, that lies the ambiguity and the Daedric seed of her being : for if the light is one, binary, blinding and pure, it can be broken and reassembled into a rainbow, letting spill a plethora of opinions, perspectives and realities. Deep down, Meridia knows this, and the Colored Rooms, with refracted light everywhere, are a proof of the multifaceted truth that she, in her pride, tries to assemble and pull together into a single light strand once more.
Thus, it can be said that Meridia lies in the struggle between conformity and subjectivity, the very light used to attract followers to her eventually becoming her undoing, once the rainbow is revealed.
Suggestion of a worship practice : create a ritual destined to purify yourself of an excess of thoughts. It can be through meditation, physical exercice ... really, through any activity that pulls the plug in your mind, leaving only concentration and pure being. Practice it when you're feeling too full of yourself, and when that hurts.
Thank Meridia for the bliss of non-thought.
MOLAG BAL – The Prince of Domination and Violence
Molag Bal is the force in us that wants to dominate, enslave and have control over others. It's the little voice whispering that, surely, we're innately better than others and it's only natural that they bend to our will.
It is on the terrain of brutal violence (the stronger dominating the more vulnerable) that we see Bal's influence around us every day. Saying that it's an aspect of human societies that we're uncomfortable with would be an understatement, and yet, Bal is one of the cornerstones upon which our house is constructed ... and it is a troubled house.
However, the esoteric teachings of Vivec give us a clue into the ways in which we can harness this destructive force in our own self development, in confronting our own will to power and aknowledging the ways it can influence our character and actions, instead of denying its existence.
In that way, Molag Bal can be a catalyst for change, as a challenge to overcome, as a testing force, just as he was considered to be in Morrowind in the times of the Tribunal.
Suggestion of a worship practice : Experience the other part of the domination coin : the thrill of voluntary submission. You could, for instance [CENSORED].
Thank Molag Bal for lessons learned through suffering.
NAMIRA – The Prince of Death and Disgust
Everything secretly longs to dissolve, to degrade, to decay, to go back to a simple cell devoid of thoughts, consciousness and purpose. Don't you wanna be pure?
Namira contains all the dichotomies carried in the concepts of cleanliness/dirtyness, purity/impurity, existence/void, disease/health. She takes advantage of the human fascination with the things they, individually or societally, find disgusting. Even took a peak at the remains of a car crash on the side of the road? Don't look too closely, or you might just see the cloaked shadow of Namira hovering over it. Ever researched some of the most deadly or disgusting diseases of the body? It was the hand of Namira on your shoulder that guided you to that knowledge.
The ultimate expression of the concept of dissolution or decay is found in death, that great unknown where the Reachmen hope, and other races fear, to find Namira.
Namira is the constant companion of every profession that has to deal with things that evoke disgust in most people : doctors, emergency workers, cleaners of all sorts, epidemiologists, funerary workers, journalists covering war, etc. Can she ever become a reassuring presence, a Spirit Queen more than a Void Mother? The answer remains in those corners of our psyches where disgusting things lie, whether they're linked to the twisting of trauma, to instinct, or to our own repulsion for things that we simply don't understand.
Suggestion of a worship practice : confront one of the things that disgust you, whether from close up or from afar, and strive to understand why it is so. Could this thing be, if not beautiful from another point of view, then at least necessary for something or someone, or a valuable cog in some system?
Thank Namira for the eternal rest.
NOCTURNAL – The Prince of Obscurity and Mysteries
Everything shadowy and unknown, everything that is hidden is spiritually a part of Evergloam. To the contrary of Mephala, who deals in secrets, things that can be revealed, Nocturnal deals in mysteries, things that can't be completely revealed without losing their essence and becoming something else than a mystery.
In that sense, one can understand why Nocturnal is revered as one of the oldest of the Daedra. From the beginning of time, some things were unexplained and remain at least partially so. Depending on one's degree of devotion to obscure mysteries, Nocturnal can be said to held sway over Love, Consciousness, Death, or Free Will, things that can't be adequately explained with our limited understanding of the world. To others, whose minds are less mystery-inclined, Nocturnal is a simpler diety, ruling over darkness and shadows, a useful and lucrative patron for people who wish to remain out of the limelight for whatever reason.
Nocturnal is both the mystery and the key to it, but since one is necessary to access the other, it gives birth to a paradox.
In any case, whose who worship Nocturnal are known to be prone to bouts of melancholy prompted by everything they will never discover, and sometimes develop bird-like features.
Suggestion of a worship practice : for three consecutive days, reverse the day/night cycle : live through the night and sleep through the day. During the night, go outside, or open your window, and observe the world around you, taking in whatever thoughts and revelations come to you in that moment.
Thank Nocturnal for hiding the key.
PERYITE – The Prince of Cleaning and Administration
Peryite is the lord of the thankless task, of the laborious separation of the wheat from the chaff, of the sick from the healthy. He does what others consider beneath them.
Peryite is also associated with balance, order and the little cogs that grind every second of every day, without being told to. Some, as the Reachmen, consider him necessary in spite of his association with terrible diseases. (Other worlds have known the touch of Peryite lately, but we do not speak of it.)
The Pits go on endlessly, because the tasks are never over. There is always more to do, more to accomplish, and if there isn't, well then, you can start doing the tasks of tomorrow, so you can better optimize your schedule and have more time to do your tasks of after-tomorrow, thank you very much.
In that sense, Peryite is a depressingly modern Prince. Even his demeanour, famously, is calm collected : why bother with revolt when there's work to do?
Is there life and beauty to be found in the accomplishment of a thankless everyday task? Maybe. While we're looking for it, every person that has to endure day after day of a bullshit job, every parent who has to repeat certain actions incessantly so their child can live safe and free, every bus driver making their rounds day after day, they all have a little office space in their heads where, on a corner of a table, there is a tiny green altar to Peryite.
Suggestion of a worship practice : instead of rushing through a mind-numbing task such as cleaning, or reading and aswering work emails, try to find meaning or purpose in it. Feel the eternity in the endless repetitions of that action happening again and again, stretching through the Pits, and how immortal that makes you feel.
Thank Peryite for always giving you something to do.
SANGUINE – The Prince of Freedom and Senses
There is a type of freedom to be found in following one's immediate desires without thought or planning. As a wise man once said : “give yourself over to absolute pleasure!”
There is freedom of the eyes in looking for whatever you want. There is freedom of the ears in listening to whatever speaks to you. There is freedom of the nose in smelling one's destiny. There is freedom of the mouth in letting in whatever wants in. And, lastly, there is freedom of touch in caressing the shapes of the world.
Some might object that being subjected to one's sensual desires is the opposite of freedom : it is slavery. Sanguine certainly wouldn't agree, and would tell you that freedom is not in a choice made after weighty pondering, but a series of micro-choices made for you by your senses, who know best.
Sanguine has a better reputation among mortals that most, because as human beings, we're eternally blind to the ultimate nature of reality, and, most philosophers would agree, have no access to the “real” world, but only to a version recreated for us by our brains out of the inputs of our senses. There's no getting out of it. And so it pleases us to think that those senses do not mislead us too much, and that there is some wisdom and truth to be found in them.
Sanguine doesn't care about the ultimate nature of reality anyway, and prefers playing with the only one we know. His association with blood is perhaps a metaphor for the lifeforce, which he embodies in the flesh, scoffing at Meridia's thesis about the lifeforce being of a spiritual nature (and throwing tomatoes at her lectures, no doubt).
As long as there is that which is, Sanguine's laugh can be heard in the eternal now.
Suggestion of a worship practice : offer yourself a five day long education of the senses. Look at something pleasant, listen to something pleasant, smell and taste something pleasant, and, lastly, touch something pleasant. Know that it may very well be possible that nothing else exists, or at least, that nothing isn't as real as those feelings.
Thank Sanguine for the song of the blood.
SHEOGORATH : The Prince of Human Psychology and Creativity
What some call madness is just exagerated and more rarely expressed forms of general human cognition. As the protagonist of one tale once said, “Sheogorath has already won, because he's already inside all of us”.
Sheogorath would probably agree with Foucault's analysis of madness as something constructed, deconstructed and reconstructed through the ages to suit society's whims and fears. (Well, he would agree if he cared at all). In fact, one could argue that Foucault mantled Sheogorath to better express his truth : human psychology is just a succession of thoughts, moods and representations which struggle to not fall into the Sithis-shaped hole of the world, and only gain a semblance of legitimacy from being considered as legitimate by a sufficient number of people.
After all, the other coin of madness is creativity, and seeing the world askew is the only real and authentic way to bring something new into it. If Azura is the rim to all holes, that transitory and liminal moment, the glimpse of what might be, Sheogorath is the plunge to the other side, for good or for ill. Where Azura is in some sense the patron of the Arts, that refined and humanized union of talent and perserverance, Sheogorath is the patron of something purer : the creative instinct unburdened by shape or action, the pure will, which can turn to genius or incomprehensible rubbish, or something in between.
Creativity is also more ephemeral than the capital A “Art”. It is the witty turn of phrase said to a friend that's gonna vanish into the air and be forgotten in five minutes time, it's that particular view of the trees seen through the rain seen by that particular human eye – an artpiece for only one mind -, it's the unexpected solution to an everyday problem found when looking at it in a new way.
The creative freedom of Sheogorath rejects the notion that there could be two separate categories : people, and “Artists”. We all produce small pieces of art every day. But is it “Art” to cover a whole village in cheese? Well, we can argue about “Art” all day, but it is undeniably an expression of creativity.
The laugh of Sheogorath can be heard in both the mad and the artistic, and we're all both of those things.
Suggestion of a worship practice : identify a problem, either big or small, that you're currently facing, and come up with seven different ways to resolve it, to see it differently, or to make it worse. Then, represent that same problem in seven different ways : in writing, in drawing, in the form of a sung melody, in mime, as a meal, as a photo of yourself, and as a scream.
Thank Sheogorath for the divided mind.
VAERMINA – The Prince of Fear and Trauma
Have you heard about the three names of dreaming when one's awake ?
A dream can be experienced when one's awake, and it is then called a vision, a hallucination, or a work of art.
The first one suprises, for a vision is always unexpected, and that's how you will know that it is different from a thought. A vision is about being possessed.
The second one confuses, for a hallucination is always uncomprehensible, and that's how you will know that it is different from an image. A hallucination is about being lost.
The last one provokes, for a work of art is always a question, and that's how you will know that it is different from an answer. A work of art is about wandering.
Answer this, then. Where do the possessed, the lost and the wandering go? Why, to Quagmire, of course, where new things are terrors.
On one hand, visiting Quagmire teaches about fear, and fear is an emotion necessary to survival. On the other hand, too much fear or anxiety swings the pendulum the other way, hindering survival by making the one experiencing it irrationaly helpless and focused on imaginary, rather than real, dangers.
Most would argue that it is precisely Vaermina's goal, to drive mortals mad with fear so they become helpless and under her influence. But as with every Prince, their own goals don't preclude mortals from learning from the violent way they embody their sphere. Learning from fear, learning to go forth in spite of it, is probably one of the most beautiful things we can do, and in a way, Vaermina teaches courage and heroism.
Trauma – that which is seen in Vaermina's shimmering visions and that which cannnot be unseen – is a different beast, an eternal return of horror ever anew, happening right now, right this second. Trauma is characterized by the return of the same again and again, until one learns to live with it, and it is no easy task. Maybe Quagmire is the testing factory of our unconscious, and Vaermina, its harsh mistress teaching through psychological suffering, so we never forget that some things are wrong and should never happen, never again, to anyone.
Suggestion of a worship practice : go to therapy, and prepare yourself that it won't be a happy and feel-good experience. Embrace it. Therapy is not some personal development bullshit where someone is trying to make you feel good, and if it is, someone is trying to sell you something. It is waddling through Quagmire and pursuing a faint, far-away light and hoping it won't blink out of sight. But at least you're not alone.
Thank Vaermina for teaching you the fear of the dark.

Hi all,
I did not blow my air conditioning last summer. I just went to the library or somewhere with air conditioning. Want to anticipate what it would be this year if I just stayed home. May ask what you guys ended up paying and how much you guys used it?
Edit. I'm in eastern part of La county. Serviced by SCE (Southern CA Edison)

I (MtF, 25) have been on HRT for just barely over two years now and I’m getting to the point where I’m pretty happy with how I’ve turned out... except for one thing...
My bottom dysphoria is getting worse and I don’t think I’ll ever feel comfortable in a relationship until I get the surgery. Problem is “the surgery” scares me; I’ve never been under the knife before so I have no idea what to expect, not only that but the risk of complications as well as the long recovery time scares me.
I’d be a lot happier with everything “correct” down there but I’m not sure I’m strong enough to get through it. I’ve started researching techniques and procedures and considering what supplies I’ll need for the recover and it’s just made me more anxious.
My question for those who have gotten MtF bottom surgery; is it worth it? My insurance should cover it but I’m worried about the results; even though anything would be better than having what I have now, I’m still worried about whether or not it’ll look real or if it’ll hurt my chance of finding a romantic partner.
Thank you, and I hope you all have a pleasant day :)

For context: I went out to meet a friend last week for coffee and we had both babies with us. My LO is 14 months old and friends baby is 11 months old. We were catching up on life as we’d not seen one another since being pregnant - as I’m sure we all know, going through the motions of pregnancy, childbirth and the recovery process afterwards means that sometimes other things take a back seat, and for me it was meeting up with and keeping in touch with friends.
She was telling me that her LO is currently going through another sleep regression and that she’s not had a single full nights sleep since baby was born. He’s also struggling with weaning onto solid foods and will only eat the same 3 things - she’s exhausted trying to come up with new meal ideas, money is kinda tight and she feels defeated because she’s trying to cook and make all these meals for him, for him to then just either not even try it or to throw it everywhere. All the while she was telling me about her issues with her LO, he was screaming bloody murder and hitting her to try and get her attention. She added that it’s a regular occurrence, and that if all eyes and words aren’t directed at baby, he will kick off so badly up to the point where she has to just get up and leave wherevewhatever she was doing.
She’s tired, frustrated and just plain burnt out at this point and I don’t envy her at all. I’ve been there and it’s not pleasant, when LO was a newborn I hardly slept and was just going through the motions, basically was a walking zombie for the first 6 months. Things started to properly settle down for us when baby turned 9 months old, and it’s been a breeze since. The trouble is, I felt so bad and almost guilty in a sense, because compared to hers, LO is an absolute dream. - He’s a fantastic sleeper, always has been really. Started to get solid nights of sleep around 6 months when he moved into his own room and he sleeps right through from 7pm until anywhere between 7-8am the next morning with no interruption (only exception being when he’s teething). - He’s always been a good eater and the health visitor would comment how much of a good appetite he had as a newborn with his formula, and the same is said now that he’s on solids. He never fails to try whatever you put in front of him and enjoys most things he’s given (the only thing he point blank refuses to eat is rice, but I think that may just be the texture?). - I can take him out anywhere and he’s so so chilled. I’ve been to restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets, animal attractions, arcades, the library and to the park with LO and he’s so so interested in everything and everyone he sees. He never screams, never cries, never makes a fuss. And if we are somewhere where there’s another child (being a child) and having a bit of a wobble, he just looks confused as heck.
I didn’t feel like I could tell my friend any of this whilst we were catching up, all because I felt guilty and that I was somehow trying to rub her face in it and boast about how much ‘better’ my baby is than hers. Which is absolutely not the case at all, and I wish that I could feel like I’m able to talk about my baby too without feeling like a complete AH. I just don’t want to upset her either or make her feel like she’s doing something wrong when she’s really doing amazingly, she’s just got it rougher than I have right now, and I have to remind her that it will pass eventually.
I guess I just wanted to ask if anyone else has felt a similar sort of way in this situation? Sometimes I’ll see posts on Reddit too and the same again, I feel I can’t participate in conversation without hurting someone’s feelings. 🙃

For context: I went out to meet a friend last week for coffee and we had both babies with us. My LO is 14 months old and friends baby is 11 months old. We were catching up on life as we’d not seen one another since being pregnant - as I’m sure we all know, going through the motions of pregnancy, childbirth and the recovery process afterwards means that sometimes other things take a back seat, and for me it was meeting up with and keeping in touch with friends.
She was telling me that her LO is currently going through another sleep regression and that she’s not had a single full nights sleep since baby was born. He’s also struggling with weaning onto solid foods and will only eat the same 3 things - she’s exhausted trying to come up with new meal ideas, money is kinda tight and she feels defeated because she’s trying to cook and make all these meals for him, for him to then just either not even try it or to throw it everywhere. All the while she was telling me about her issues with her LO, he was screaming bloody murder and hitting her to try and get her attention. She added that it’s a regular occurrence, and that if all eyes and words aren’t directed at baby, he will kick off so badly up to the point where she has to just get up and leave wherevewhatever she was doing.
She’s tired, frustrated and just plain burnt out at this point and I don’t envy her at all. I’ve been there and it’s not pleasant, when LO was a newborn I hardly slept and was just going through the motions, basically was a walking zombie for the first 6 months. Things started to properly settle down for us when baby turned 9 months old, and it’s been a breeze since. The trouble is, I felt so bad and almost guilty in a sense, because compared to hers, LO is an absolute dream. - He’s a fantastic sleeper, always has been really. Started to get solid nights of sleep around 6 months when he moved into his own room and he sleeps right through from 7pm until anywhere between 7-8am the next morning with no interruption (only exception being when he’s teething). - He’s always been a good eater and the health visitor would comment how much of a good appetite he had as a newborn with his formula, and the same is said now that he’s on solids. He never fails to try whatever you put in front of him and enjoys most things he’s given (the only thing he point blank refuses to eat is rice, but I think that may just be the texture?). - I can take him out anywhere and he’s so so chilled. I’ve been to restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets, animal attractions, arcades, the library and to the park with LO and he’s so so interested in everything and everyone he sees. He never screams, never cries, never makes a fuss. And if we are somewhere where there’s another child (being a child) and having a bit of a wobble, he just looks confused as heck.
I didn’t feel like I could tell my friend any of this whilst we were catching up, all because I felt guilty and that I was somehow trying to rub her face in it and boast about how much ‘better’ my baby is than hers. Which is absolutely not the case at all, and I wish that I could feel like I’m able to talk about my baby too without feeling like a complete AH. I just don’t want to upset her either or make her feel like she’s doing something wrong when she’s really doing amazingly, she’s just got it rougher than I have right now, and I have to remind her that it will pass eventually.
I guess I just wanted to ask if anyone else has felt a similar sort of way in this situation? Sometimes I’ll see posts on Reddit too and the same again, I feel I can’t participate in conversation without hurting someone’s feelings. 🙃

For context: I went out to meet a friend last week for coffee and we had both babies with us. My LO is 14 months old and friends baby is 11 months old. We were catching up on life as we’d not seen one another since being pregnant - as I’m sure we all know, going through the motions of pregnancy, childbirth and the recovery process afterwards means that sometimes other things take a back seat, and for me it was meeting up with and keeping in touch with friends.
She was telling me that her LO is currently going through another sleep regression and that she’s not had a single full nights sleep since baby was born. He’s also struggling with weaning onto solid foods and will only eat the same 3 things - she’s exhausted trying to come up with new meal ideas, money is kinda tight and she feels defeated because she’s trying to cook and make all these meals for him, for him to then just either not even try it or to throw it everywhere. All the while she was telling me about her issues with her LO, he was screaming bloody murder and hitting her to try and get her attention. She added that it’s a regular occurrence, and that if all eyes and words aren’t directed at baby, he will kick off so badly up to the point where she has to just get up and leave wherevewhatever she was doing.
She’s tired, frustrated and just plain burnt out at this point and I don’t envy her at all. I’ve been there and it’s not pleasant, when LO was a newborn I hardly slept and was just going through the motions, basically was a walking zombie for the first 6 months. Things started to properly settle down for us when baby turned 9 months old, and it’s been a breeze since. The trouble is, I felt so bad and almost guilty in a sense, because compared to hers, LO is an absolute dream. - He’s a fantastic sleeper, always has been really. Started to get solid nights of sleep around 6 months when he moved into his own room and he sleeps right through from 7pm until anywhere between 7-8am the next morning with no interruption (only exception being when he’s teething). - He’s always been a good eater and the health visitor would comment how much of a good appetite he had as a newborn with his formula, and the same is said now that he’s on solids. He never fails to try whatever you put in front of him and enjoys most things he’s given (the only thing he point blank refuses to eat is rice, but I think that may just be the texture?). - I can take him out anywhere and he’s so so chilled. I’ve been to restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets, animal attractions, arcades, the library and to the park with LO and he’s so so interested in everything and everyone he sees. He never screams, never cries, never makes a fuss. And if we are somewhere where there’s another child (being a child) and having a bit of a wobble, he just looks confused as heck.
I didn’t feel like I could tell my friend any of this whilst we were catching up, all because I felt guilty and that I was somehow trying to rub her face in it and boast about how much ‘better’ my baby is than hers. Which is absolutely not the case at all, and I wish that I could feel like I’m able to talk about my baby too without feeling like a complete AH. I just don’t want to upset her either or make her feel like she’s doing something wrong when she’s really doing amazingly, she’s just got it rougher than I have right now, and I have to remind her that it will pass eventually.
I guess I just wanted to ask if anyone else has felt a similar sort of way in this situation? Sometimes I’ll see posts on Reddit too and the same again, I feel I can’t participate in conversation without hurting someone’s feelings. 🙃

For context: I went out to meet a friend last week for coffee and we had both babies with us. My LO is 14 months old and friends baby is 11 months old. We were catching up on life as we’d not seen one another since being pregnant - as I’m sure we all know, going through the motions of pregnancy, childbirth and the recovery process afterwards means that sometimes other things take a back seat, and for me it was meeting up with and keeping in touch with friends.
She was telling me that her LO is currently going through another sleep regression and that she’s not had a single full nights sleep since baby was born. He’s also struggling with weaning onto solid foods and will only eat the same 3 things - she’s exhausted trying to come up with new meal ideas, money is kinda tight and she feels defeated because she’s trying to cook and make all these meals for him, for him to then just either not even try it or to throw it everywhere. All the while she was telling me about her issues with her LO, he was screaming bloody murder and hitting her to try and get her attention. She added that it’s a regular occurrence, and that if all eyes and words aren’t directed at baby, he will kick off so badly up to the point where she has to just get up and leave wherevewhatever she was doing.
She’s tired, frustrated and just plain burnt out at this point and I don’t envy her at all. I’ve been there and it’s not pleasant, when LO was a newborn I hardly slept and was just going through the motions, basically was a walking zombie for the first 6 months. Things started to properly settle down for us when baby turned 9 months old, and it’s been a breeze since. The trouble is, I felt so bad and almost guilty in a sense, because compared to hers, LO is an absolute dream. - He’s a fantastic sleeper, always has been really. Started to get solid nights of sleep around 6 months when he moved into his own room and he sleeps right through from 7pm until anywhere between 7-8am the next morning with no interruption (only exception being when he’s teething). - He’s always been a good eater and the health visitor would comment how much of a good appetite he had as a newborn with his formula, and the same is said now that he’s on solids. He never fails to try whatever you put in front of him and enjoys most things he’s given (the only thing he point blank refuses to eat is rice, but I think that may just be the texture?). - I can take him out anywhere and he’s so so chilled. I’ve been to restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets, animal attractions, arcades, the library and to the park with LO and he’s so so interested in everything and everyone he sees. He never screams, never cries, never makes a fuss. And if we are somewhere where there’s another child (being a child) and having a bit of a wobble, he just looks confused as heck.
I didn’t feel like I could tell my friend any of this whilst we were catching up, all because I felt guilty and that I was somehow trying to rub her face in it and boast about how much ‘better’ my baby is than hers. Which is absolutely not the case at all, and I wish that I could feel like I’m able to talk about my baby too without feeling like a complete AH. I just don’t want to upset her either or make her feel like she’s doing something wrong when she’s really doing amazingly, she’s just got it rougher than I have right now, and I have to remind her that it will pass eventually.
I guess I just wanted to ask if anyone else has felt a similar sort of way in this situation? Sometimes I’ll see posts on Reddit too and the same again, I feel I can’t participate in conversation without hurting someone’s feelings. 🙃

Hola!
I'm hoping someone might have ideas for me, as I'm frustrated beyond belief. I run EndeavourOS with Hyprland (Wayland) on a Nvidia RTX 3070 (My system stats say it's a Ti, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong). I had previous problems with performance in certain games (notably Satisfactory and DOOM, but also a builder called Fabledom and Timberborn) which were solved by installing the lib32 mesa and vulkan drivers detailed in the solution to this post; suddenly I was hitting 144 FPS on ultra settings at 1080p -- which is all I really need to play at right now. Every game I had worked wonderfully.
Then, yesterday, I upgraded my system. Kernel went from 6.3.4 to 6.3.5, with the relevant libraries and etc updated as well. And like magic, I'm back to unable to produce even 30 FPS consistently. Satisfactory is lucky to get 27 FPS on Ultra 1080p, while DOOM runs the medium settings at ~45-55 FPS. Killing prefixes does nothing, changing Proton versions doesn't work, and moving to different rendering engines in Satisfactory makes no difference. (I've tried Vulkan, DX12 and DX11, no differences in practice. Boot screen goes to 450 FPS in DX12, but once it gets into the main menu it drops to 22 FPS and stays about there.) Fabledom can't get more than 19 FPS, while Tiomberborn stutters like mad and gets ~ 45fps.
If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate it. Or even if anyone else is seeing it, just so I don't feel so alone, lol. I saw that another person was having FPS hits when they moved to 6.3.4, but they had an AMD card, so I'm not sure it's related.

Specs if they're helpful:inxi -SPARM -GCDN -v1 -xGCRS System: Host: zeta-midion Kernel: 6.3.5-arch1-1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.1.1 Desktop: Hyprland Distro: EndeavourOS base: Arch Linux Machine: Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Dell G16 7620 v: N/A serial:  Mobo: Dell model: 085T23 v: A00 serial:  UEFI: Dell v: 1.14.0 date: 12/09/2022 CPU: Info: 14-core (6-mt/8-st) model: 12th Gen Intel Core i9-12900H bits: 64 type: MST AMCP arch: Alder Lake rev: 3 cache: L1: 1.2 MiB L2: 11.5 MiB L3: 24 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 1803 high: 2900 min/max: 400/4900:5000:3800 cores: 1: 866 2: 2900 3: 432 4: 2900 5: 745 6: 2900 7: 768 8: 2900 9: 641 10: 2900 11: 628 12: 2900 13: 796 14: 2900 15: 753 16: 781 17: 651 18: 2900 19: 2900 20: 2900 bogomips: 116780 Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx Graphics: Device-1: Intel Alder Lake-P Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-12.2 bus-ID: 0000:00:02.0 Device-2: NVIDIA GA104M [Geforce RTX 3070 Ti Laptop GPU] vendor: Dell driver: nvidia v: 530.41.03 arch: Ampere bus-ID: 0000:01:00.0 Device-3: Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB bus-ID: 3-3.2.2:10 Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.8 with: Xwayland v: 23.1.1 compositor: Hyprland driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia dri: iris gpu: i915,nvidia resolution: 1: 1920x1080 2: 1920x1080 API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 23.1.1 renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (ADL GT2) direct-render: Yes Audio: Device-1: Intel Alder Lake PCH-P High Definition Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3 Device-2: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 0000:01:00.1 Device-3: Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB bus-ID: 3-3.2.2:10 Device-4: DisplayLink Dell D3100 Docking Station driver: N/A type: USB bus-ID: 4-3.1:3 Device-5: DisplayLink Dell D3100 Docking Station driver: cdc_ncm,snd-usb-audio type: USB bus-ID: 4-3.3:5 API: ALSA v: k6.3.5-arch1-1 status: kernel-api Server-1: sndiod v: N/A status: off Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.71 status: active RAID: Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd v: 0.6 bus-ID: 0000:00:0e.0 Drives: Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 599.7 GiB (32.2%) Partition: ID-1: / size: 100 GiB used: 27.54 GiB (27.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 ID-2: /home size: 1.69 TiB used: 571.9 GiB (33.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3 ID-3: /valog size: 100 GiB used: 27.54 GiB (27.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 Info: Processes: 414 Uptime: 29m Memory: available: 31.04 GiB used: 6.53 GiB (21.1%) Init: systemd Compilers: gcc: 13.1.1 clang: 15.0.7 Packages: 1583 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 inxi: 3.3.27 

​
Help or sympathy appreciated, but if not, no worries, it's not really your jobs. Just figured I'd ask!

TLDR: National Guard saved cows delivering hay by helicopter. Could it also save human lives delivering a temporary footbridge?
During this winter’s big snows, the California Air National Guard ferried bales of hay via helicopter to herds of cows stranded on Humboldt county hills and mountains. This was back in March.
Today, news of the the Woods Creek Bridge and the South Fork San Joaquin River Bridge damage is being widely reported - and quite frequently - in the mass media.
Those media reports not only talk about the dangers to human lives brought by fording dangerous fast moving water but also the very-highly-likely disinterest among thru-hikers to backtrack or take long re-routes. The thrust of this juxtaposition is that lives will be put at risk while fording the rivers.
The SF Chronicle summed up the “three disappointing options” as: backtrack and reroute; abandon the thru-hike altogether; or attempt to ford the streams on foot. And then in the next paragraph stating “Stream crossings are perhaps the most perilous hazard of those scenic trails — hikers have been swept off their feet and drowned in recent years — and this season these wild streams are flowing colder, higher and faster than normal.”
The article is pretty clearly foretelling outsized human toll this year. It’s not a happy thought but we are perhaps only days or weeks away from hearing the grim news of a tragedy brought about by a perilous crossing.
So I’m wondering what Cal National Guard resources (or perhaps Marine Mt Warfare unit resources) could be brought to bear as a temporary fix?
I’ve not served in any branch of the military and have limited knowledge of how this sort of stuff works. But I have followed news of various conflicts and seen images of temporary bridges installed for ground troops as well as armored vehicles during over land advances.
Couldn’t the Cal National Guard or Marines install temporary footbridges adjacent to the two impassable bridges in order to save lives? Do this bridges exist as items in inventory somewhere in a form that could be airlifted into place in whole or parts and secured in place to save lives?

Goodreads
I got a copy of this audiobook for free from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.
This book was fun! If I were to describe this book, it's a combination of Carol Berg's Rai-Kirah series and Steven Erikson's Malazan series. This book stars the eponymous Witch King Kai, in two timelines. In the past, he leads a rebellion against oppressive death wizards. In the present, he's trying to discover who betrayed him.
While this book didn't knock my socks off, I do think this book will end up in the top 10 books I read this year. I suggest you read this book, but enter reading this with your expectations relatively in check. This book isn't as spectacular a start to a series as Murderbot.
Spoilers Below.
WHAT IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE? WHAT GENRES? WHAT MAJOR TROPES?

• Adult, but I think anyone older than 14 can read this.
• Demon protagonist who jumps between bodies
• Life-energy and death magic
• Dual timeline, past and present. Friends in the past are potentially enemies in the present
• Non-European inspired setting. (I think I remember the characters eating teff, so I think this is loosely inspired by a central African setting? I could be remembering it wrong.)

MY EMOTIONAL RESPONSE/FUN FACTOR
I had fun reading this, and I read it quickly. This book throws you right into the plot, with minimal exposition explaining worldbuilding. I enjoyed it as a relatively short pallet cleanser novel (432 pages or 13 hours audiobook) to read between bigger books. It was well written, it's prose lush, it was sharply paced, and the worldbuilding was enthralling.
If I were to make a complaint about this book, this felt like book 2 in a series. Specifically, we didn't get to know the characters like you usually do with book 1 in a series. I finished the book and the characters felt somewhat like strangers.
My favorite part of the book was the lived-in feeling of the setting and how the two timelines interacted with one another. In the past, Kai seems like a much more innocent person than he does in the present. In the past, we see the heroes interacting with one another as friends, but in the present the heroes treat one another with suspicion because they were betrayed by one of their number and they don't know who the betrayer is.
WARNING! QUIT READING NOW UNTIL YOU FINISH READING THE BOOK!
BIASES STATED
To put this review/study in proper context, you must know my starting point.
I've read a few of this author's books and stories before. I read book 1 of Raksura, and didn't love it. I read the first Murderbot book, and enjoyed it. I read some of the author's MtG IP fiction, and thought she did a fine job.
I also read a handful of reviews for 'Witch King', and I'm grateful that I did. I enjoyed this novel all the more because this book exceeded the expectations those reviews left me with. This was a good book after all.
SIMILAR BOOKS/OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES

• ‘Transformation’ by Carol Berg
• ‘Malazan: ‘The Gardens of the Moon” Book Review
• ‘The Curse of Chalion’ by Lois McMaster Bujold

CONCEPT AND EXECUTION
This book's concept was as a dual-timeline narrative, with the heroes in the past teaming up to defeat a great evil, while in the present they are at one another's throats. To summarize, the heroes defeated the Dark Lord(s) in the past timeline, and in the present timeline the heroes replaced the Dark Lord(s) and now squabble over the rubble of the Lord's kingdom. In the present, the book begins with Kai escaping a prison a past-friend trapped him in, and Kai has no idea which past-friend put him there. All he knows is that he's going to get revenge. This was a great concept.
This book was well executed upon, but it could have been better. I don't say this very often, but this book could have been a good 70~100 pages longer. I wanted to spend more time with these characters, I wanted to see more of the magic, I wanted to explore this world and it's civilizations more. I feel like the dual-timeline narrative resulted in us not having enough of either timeline. This is a good problem to have; it's usually good to leave the reader wanting more.
CHARACTERS, CHARACTERIZATION AND DIALOG
This is the weakest part of this story. As I said above, I finished this book and the protagonists were still basically strangers to me. This book was very plot-forward. We never saw the protagonists in contexts outside of moving the plot forward. This book was all business, no pleasure.
Everything the characters do was meant to advance the plot, and it gave both timelines a frenetic energy. But this fast pacing deprived the book of a slower, more nuanced characterization of the protagonists. I left this book understanding the events surrounding Kai, but not understanding who Kai is. Does he like tea? What's his favorite book? What's his favorite color? These questions are individually unimportant, but they hint at a greater truth; this book was stripped to the bone to provide a lean story without any 'fluff.' Consequently Kai, and everyone else, are somewhat enigmas. Some fluff is good!
To be clear, these aren't bad characters; I found Kai to be compelling. They just weren't developed here. I hope this book gets a sequel, I want to get more from this series.
PACING AND STRUCTURE
And this is arguably this book's strongest aspect. This book is FAST PACED. As stated, this book has frenetic energy. It's FAST PACED, and eminently readable. I found this book as easy to consume as crackers or candy or chocolate.
Structurally, here's a breakdown.
Past

• With his family on the grasslands
• In captivity before the rebellion
• the rebellion
• Fleeing the palace of the hierarchs, and becoming fast friends

Present

• Waking up in his tomb, and stealing a new body
• Freeing the whale and talking to grandma
• Stealing the boat, and speaking with the Blessed Immortal
• Returning to where he was held in captivity decades before
• Fight scenes with the conspiracy
• Returning to civilization, and finding the true traitor

On a chapter-by-chapter level, the author integrated the two timelines by going a chapter in the past, then the present, then the past again. This strategy worked, but I think it wasn't ideal. I felt a tiny bit of friction whenever the story alternated between chapters and timelines, between past and present. Whenever we change chapters/timelines, it took me a moment to remember what the plotline was in this different timeline. Having this source of friction happen at the beginning of every chapter wasn't a big deal, but it did hamper my suspension of disbelief somewhat.
I personally feel it would have been better if the story batched together several chapters in the past, then several chapters in the present, then back to the past. That would have relieved that narrative friction.
PLOT, STAKES AND TENSION
No spoilers about the plot. I thought the plot was very well done.
The stakes and tension worked REALLY WELL in the past. Kai was young and unskilled and innocent in the past, and he had a lot more to lose in the past. Due to his weakness and having so much to lose, the past felt much more serious and dangerous than the present. That's great stakes and tension. The stakes and tension in the present wasn't as well established as it was in the past.
AUTHORIAL VOICE (TONE, PROSE AND THEME)
I enjoyed the author's narrative voice. I like books which have a somewhat lush, descriptive style, focusing on the texture of life. For example, describing what a flower smells like, or what food tastes like. This book is such a story, describing everything from food to the art on the walls to people's clothing. Now that said, the lush style never delved into being purple.
The story's tone was serious, but never delved into being grimdark. The main bad guys uses death magic which kills a ton of people at a time, however that's the limit of it. There's no gore, or assault, or anything grim like that.
SETTING, WORLDBUILDING AND ORIGINALITY
The setting was lush, with multiple magic systems interacting with multiple cultures. The grasslands culture uses demons like Kai, there are witches who use elemental magics, the Immortal Blessed culture create magical artifacts, while the antagonist hierarchs use death magic. This was really good worldbuiling by the author, because it gave the different cultures a different texture for worldbuilding each; by getting to know the magic systems, you get to know the culture behind each one.
For example, the Blessed culture view themselves as pious and righteous due to the divine nature of their magic, but everyone else views their culture as pretentious and annoying due to how snooty their are. Another example would be demon magic; other cultures view the grassland culture as evil because they consort with demons, however the grassland culture view demons as something like Unseelie fairies- useful and dangerous, and you can marry them and form alliances with them.
Additionally, the setting isn't just a re-creation of earth. Some of the animals are NOT earth animals, like the massive wallwalkers who are domesticated beasts of burden (which sometimes eat people) or the Frankenstein-like ghoul creatures the blood magic sorcerers can create. And the characters wear non-earth clothing, like the veils the magic-user wear or the golden robes of the magically powerful hierarchs.
AUDIOBOOK NOTES
I listened to the audiobook, and it was great. The protagonist is the 'Witch King' mention in the title. I felt that the narrator did a good job of adding a bit of regal dignity to the narration. If this book sounds good to you, try out the audiobook, the narrator is Eric Mok.
LESSONS LEARNED
As an author, I want to improve my own writing/editing skills. To that end, I like to learn lessons from every story I read. Here's what I learned from this story:
​

• Link up your fantasy worldbuilding of magic with culture. For example, in this book the Immortal Blessed culture used divine magic to create magical artifacts. They view themselves as the natural rulers of the world, and consider themselves pious and just. Everyone else thinks of them as faux-rightous oppressors. This is GREAT worldbuilding, linking culture to magic to characters.
• This was a dual-timeline novel, and it divvied up the timeline by going chapter 1:present, then chapter 2: past, then 3:present, and so on/so forth. I think this strategy wasn't as good as bundling chapters into larger sections. For example, chapters 1 through 4: present, chapters 5 through 8:past, chapters 9 through 12: present...

Here's a link to all the lessons I've previously learned.
SUMMARY
This is a good story. I enjoyed it as a palate cleanser between larger novels. It has strong worldbuilding, pacing and plot. I thought the characters were pleasant to read, but a bit blank slates. I hope there's a series following this book, this setting and characters are interesting.
Did you like this critique/review? Here are some more: The Rest of My In Depth Reviews
On a personal note, I'm open to editing books. I don't like putting myself out here like this, but I've been told I should. Check my blog for details if interested.

Looking for a small rural village or town in Ohio, within an hour-ish drive of Columbus or Cincinnati (and not on a route that would be a terrible commute). Things I’m seeking:

• houses (with ~an acre or more of land) in the $150k range
• near bike paths
• in a county with lower taxes (local, sales, income, property)
• good public schools
• family friendly. A place where you see kids running around outside, walking around town with friends, etc
• safe, not high crime
• low cost of living
• reliable internet

Bonus points:

• within 30-ish minute drive of a Mennonite church
• walkable/bikeable within the town/village
• a grocery store in the village/town
• some level of racial diversity, no big KKK reputation (will be adopting in the future and their race is unknown)
• if there is a college within 30 minutes
• if there is a nearby hospital
• doesn’t get a lot of tornadoes or flooding

We enjoy spending time outside (bike, backpacking, hike, camp, kayak), going to the library, participating in community events and festivals, walking around downtown, parks. Want to have a small homestead (garden, chickens, etc). Looking for a community with charm and welcoming people. Perhaps some community events throughout the year. Let me know of any nonprofits doing neat things! Enjoy volunteering for things related to foster youth, special needs, public health, habitat for humanity, animal welfare.
We don’t drink and mostly eat at home, so those things are not important to us. Not needing a place with nightlife.