Who is on PPI for EOE? My doc wants me on 20mg a day to help with EOE as a maintenance. He said at least until I start dupixent. He feels it can help with inflammation, or at least prevent some acid from getting in there, which could have an impact on EOE. I am eligible for dupixent but am reluctant to take it as its still new and I don't have many issues with EOE. Guess that can change overtime though. I am still thinking of actually sticking to elimination diet to find my triggers and just avoid those foods for good.
I am a bad patient, as things prescribed I never really followed through with. The eoe numbers were usually 18-25 but never caused me any really bad issues so was never on top of all the meds (flovent, and 40mg x2 PPI made me nauseous). I did do the 6 food diet for 8 weeks and numbers came back at less than 10, down from 20ish.
I ask about the PPI as I found myself down a rabbit hole on the internet that said PPI longterm is bad. Longterm dupixent? No one knows. Long term steroid swallowing?
Thanks.

(Sorry for the bad punctuation & spelling) I 20(f) come from a family with 5 children, my older brother (disabled), little sister, and my younger half brother, step brother and My mother and her wife all live together.
Me and my older sister live across the state together.
I am the middle child of the family, i have mental disabilitys not as bad as my older brother. I have been living on my own for 2 years now. 2 years ago i moved out of my parents house becausei felt financially controlled and unfairly treated, i dont have a license and cant work due to my illnesses.
When i was still living with my mother my brother got half of his disability check but when i showed interest in being independent my mother refused to give me any of my check at most i get 50 to 100 dollars out of it a month. When i got around the age of 17 i started looking for centers that help disabled people live on their own and my mother stopped giving any of my disability check money to me she would say "we dont have the money this month" or i would go in my room to find my money i saved gone.
Second most commone incident is around 16 to 18 i tried my best to convince her to let me get a learners to start driving so i can in the future to be independent and get my own things done like doctor appointments, hair cuts, etc. Everytime she would say "we have to wait till your 18 so i can put you on the insurance" but soon as i got to that gave she moved it higher. I tried to save up to get an uber for the day but anytime i saved money it was stolen.
Around 18 i started slowly moving all of my things over to my now ex's house, items i owned that i later sold (jewlry, art peices i collected, electronics), none sold items: Sentimental things, clothes, birth certificate, id, and social security card. Once i got enough money i booked a plane ticket to where my older sister was staying and offically moved in.
Its been 2 years since then and my sister is now my guardian the checks go to her bank account and i help with bills as rent. My mother still wont offically make her primary but at least im on my own and near a family member.
Recently im little sister just got her learners and my mother posted pictures on Facebook of her and my little sister by a new car with text saying "Just got my little girl her learners and a new car" i didnt confront mom ar anything like that but i cant help feel like my mom treated me unfairly.
Am i the Ahole for feeling this way?

Did you know that...

• The Apostle Paul said he had every right to take a wife for himself like the other apostles but he did not for the sake of the Gospel.
• During the 100+ years that Noah took to build the ark before the flood, he kept continence and didn't have sex with his own wife.
• Jacob served Laban for 14 years so that he could have his wife Rachel.
• Joseph preferred to endure imprisonment than to fall into sin with another man's wife lusting after him.
• Out of the restrict list of only 4 commandments that the early apostles instituted for the new gentile converts, so as to not burden them, 1 of them is abstaining from sexual immorality?

James 5:17 says Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. So were Paul, Noah, Jacob and Joseph and the other patriarchs and prophets.
To regard complete celibacy (aka monk mode) while enduring patiently for God to provide the adequate outlet (marriage) as anything less than the acceptable duty of anyone who professes to know God, is already half way to defeat.

Context: As they face off in the Webway, Vulkan, primarch of the Salamanders, exchanges barbed words with Magnus, lord of the Thousand Sons. Magnus, over and over, tries to justify and excuse everything he has done, tries to paint his cause as just, and Vulkan just isn't having any of it. A few bits have been emboldened for emphasis.
​

In his dreams, his brother still looked like his brother. The landscape around them was a volcanic nightmare – a realm of black skies and boiling earth; a dragon’s delight. The two brothers took counsel together in psychic silence, the two of them facing one another here in the arena of the unreal.
His brother was the one to bring them both here each time. And if it wasn’t his brother’s will, then it was the whim of the things with their talons around his brother’s heart. Vulkan no longer believed there was a difference.
When he saw his reflection in a pool of volcanic glass, he appeared the way he felt: weary to the point of ruination – a fact he could mask easily enough in the Throne Room, yet had no hope of hiding here. In this place, he appeared as a dragon on the edge of decrepitude. His scales no longer shimmered with an emerald lustre; instead they were faded to flawed jade. His eyes, which had been searing red, were tight and dull with torment. Even the fire within him was down to an ember, a guttering flicker of warmth.
His brother, the Sorcerer, descended slowly in a haze of purifying light. The light warmed the Dragon. It quickened his blood and reknit the throbbing internal breaches inside his body. It promised true healing, if he would only stop resisting it.
‘I hate seeing you like this,’ his brother said. Compassion shone in the Sorcerer’s one eye. ‘It needn’t be this way, brother.’
‘You are not my brother.’ The Dragon grunted as he shifted his pained form. Even his bones ached. They sent pulses of cold through the meat of his muscles.
‘You still deny me,’ the Sorcerer said, the words rich with regret. ‘Do I not bring you here, to Nocturne, to ease your spirit?’
The Dragon managed a laugh, though it tasted of dust instead of fire. ‘This is not Nocturne,’ he said. ‘The stars hang where they should in the sky, yet they shine wrong in the black. The chemical processes of the rocks are exact, yet the stone feels wrong to the touch. This is Nocturne through the eyes of someone that has seen my home world but never understood it. Someone that never loved it.’
The Dragon, despite his throbbing joints, bared his fragile fangs in a tired smile. ‘Someone,’ he added, ‘or something.’
The Sorcerer went to one knee, the very image of unthreatening reverence. His voice, trembling with emotion, scarcely rose above a whisper. ‘I am still me, brother. I speak only the truth.’
The Dragon sighed another ashy breath. ‘The truth, if it even matters in dreams, is that my brother died long ago. You are not Magnus. You are an impossible god’s idea of Magnus.’
Laughter echoed all around them. The laughter of a thousand mocking voices, delighted at a joke only one of the brothers could ever understand. The Dragon crawled back from the chorus of mad mirth. All while the Sorcerer stood in silence, radiating compassion, radiating patience and understanding.
‘How can you not hear that laughter?’ the Dragon asked him. ‘You are mocked, mocked without end, by the god you pretend you do not pray to.’
‘There is no laughter,’ said Magnus the Red. ‘I hear nothing but your lies, Vulkan.’
The Dragon gave a weary smile with a mouthful of cracked fangs. ‘Enough. Enough of you, and enough of the thing animating you. Leave me be.’
‘Let me in,’ countered the Sorcerer. ‘This is only the beginning of your pain, brother. I’ve foreseen far greater agony in your future, agony even you cannot endure. But that pain will end with the mercy I bring. In place of devastation, I offer you enlightenment.’
The Dragon dared not turn his back on his one-eyed brother, even here in dreams. He withdrew slowly, crawling over the rocks, his slitted gaze never leaving the Sorcerer.
‘Let me in,’ Magnus said again. ‘How much strength does father have left? How much time remains in His performative defiance? An hour? A day? The sky above the ash cloud seethes with the gods’ arrival. The Khan is finished. Guilliman is still lost in the endless black. Angron bathes the Palatine Ring in Imperial blood, and soon he will break Sanguinius. Fate sings of all of this, Vulkan. I will reach the webway portal. I will break father’s barrier. In a million futures, I already have. Don’t make me break you with it.’
The Dragon gave a growl. ‘I am not sure I can be broken.’
‘You can die, Vulkan. You can be unmade. Everything of mortal origin can be unwoven with the lullaby of obliteration. Please don’t make me be the one to end you.’
‘Does this fate of yours sing of that, too?’
Magnus smiled. ‘It grieves me to admit it, brother, but yes. To oppose me is to suffer annihilation. I wish it were not so. And it need not be so.’
The Dragon managed to return the smile. He was too weary to be amused, but the Sorcerer’s insistencies still kindled something like mirth deep within.
‘Of the many failures in our family,’ the Dragon said through clenched teeth, ‘you stand exalted above the rest of us, wrapped so comfortably in your delusions. At least the others have the courage to face up to what they’ve become. Only you, Magnus… Only you still – still – cannot see who you really are.’
The Dragon kept crawling, slowly retreating. The sky fractured with knives of laughter. The illusion before him broke apart.
Magnus was gone. Or, rather, Magnus was finally there. The Sorcerer was no longer Vulkan’s brother; he was a towering monstrosity, a beast of cloven hooves and with a crown of fire, a monster with wings that shed mother-of-pearl feathers. The Dragon stared at this thing, this thing of mutation and mutilation, this thing that stank of all the lies it didn’t know it had devoured.
‘There you are.’ The Dragon breathed the words, feeling the fire awaken inside, tasting the smoke running between his sore teeth. ‘There you are, brother.’

Then, just before their duel in the Webway ends, we have this exchange:

Magnus was down on one knee, his wings broken, his face a cracked portrait.
‘No more, Vulkan.’ He dribbled the words through a crushed jaw. ‘No more.’
Vulkan circled the downed creature, red eyes narrowed for even the merest movement. The daemonic blood on his hammer steamed with the smell of a funeral pyre. He didn’t trust his brother’s vulnerability, and he saw his caution reflected at him in Magnus’ blood-webbed eye.
‘I sense the energies you have wrought,’ said Vulkan. ‘Thinner, weaker, but still curling in the air around us. You are still attacking father.’
He expected Magnus to laugh. Instead, the sorcerer sighed.
‘You deal with forces you do not comprehend. Killing me may let the Emperor breathe easier, but it will not free Him from the Golden Throne.’
Vulkan’s tone was ice and iron. ‘Nevertheless, you die.’
‘So finish it.’ Magnus hunched over, lowering his head for the executioner’s blow. ‘Save the Emperor. Let ignorance triumph over truth.’
Vulkan hesitated.
‘Can you afford to wait any longer, little dragon?’ Magnus slowly raised his head, and in his gaze was the mockery Vulkan had been expecting. ‘Where is your urgency now? Where is all that righteousness?’
Knowing it was a trap, knowing he had no choice but to spring it, Vulkan raised his hammer. As it fell, the world turned.
It wasn’t blackness, this time. He saw planets turning in the deep night, beautiful no matter their colours or surface conditions, beautiful for their infinite complexity. Vulkan never looked at a planet and saw territory, cities or resources. He saw a geological jewel, a sphere formed by astrophysical law and the geo-mathematical processes that bound it all together. Each world was unique, shaped just so. He believed there was beauty in that.
He drifted through space, descending to one world until it was a plateau beneath him of hazy blue atmosphere and immense wilderness. He knew it at once.
‘Prospero,’ said Magnus, by his side.
His brother wasn’t a daemon. Magnus was the man he’d been long ago: red of skin, darkened further by the sun, clad in a toga of white silk. He smelled of ink, fine parchment and lies.
‘I thought we could speak,’ the sorcerer said. ‘One last time.’
Vulkan tensed, preparing to–
‘No, brother.’ Magnus showed his pale red palms, bare of any weapon. ‘No time is passing. In the Labyrinth of the Old Ones, our hands are around each other’s throats, with death yet to be decided. Here, we exist between heartbeats.’
Vulkan stared into his brother’s remaining eye. ‘I believe you,’ he said.
Magnus gave a tired smile. ‘It has been a long time since I heard those words.’
Prospero turned beneath them. Vulkan gazed at the wild lands of the vast Pangean continent, and the distant silver pinprick of Tizca, the world’s only city.
‘Speak, then.’
‘And you will listen?’
Vulkan nodded.
‘Very well. This is what I would have you understand, brother. The Imperium is the lie we tell ourselves, to make sense of a reality we fear to face. We tell each other that it is necessary. That we do what must be done. That whatever might replace it would be worse. But look at all we do not say. Father is a tyrant, and you, out of all of us, should have seen that first. The Imperium is built on the lies of a would-be god and the violence of His crusade. What benevolent monarch instigates a crusade?
‘Under the Emperor, we have perpetuated a holy war that has sucked worlds dry of resources and cost billions upon billions of lives. We have spent life like meaningless currency, all because one man said we must. How many cultures have we annihilated, Vulkan? How many have we assimilated and robbed of their vitality, replacing innovation with conformity? How much knowledge have we destroyed because father decided no one was allowed to learn it?’
Vulkan considered this. The planet rolled on, sedate and slow despite its relative astronomical speed. He realised he wasn’t wounded here. He wore his armour, but it was pristine, not the scraps of torn ceramite left to him on the bridge.
‘This is how it got to you, isn’t it?’ Vulkan knew the answer even as he asked the question. ‘The creature that gouged its way inside your soul and laid its eggs there. The thing that pulls on your strings. Did it promise you knowledge? Did it paint the Emperor as the death of enlightenment?’
Magnus’ expression answered for him. Long red hair fell to frame his face, and the sorcerer brushed it back from his cheeks.
‘The Imperial Truth is a lie. The empire we built cannot be reformed, only overthrown. From violence it was born, and in violence it must end. Don’t you see? Once the board is swept clean, we can start again with our eyes open, aware of the truths of the universe.’
‘You make this sound like a principled stand,’ said Vulkan. ‘As if all you have done, all Horus has done, could ever be justified.’
Magnus turned to him sharply. ‘I? What do I have to justify? Each time I was attacked, I defended myself. Each time they tried to silence me, I made sure to speak out. The Imperium lavished punishments upon my Legion, draping its hypocrisy over us as a funeral shroud. We fought back.’
Vulkan met Magnus’ gaze, seeing the ironclad surety there. This was futile, he knew it, yet the words came forth anyway.
‘Look at the horrors your side has unleashed upon Terra. The massacres, the mutations. Magnus, you are taking part in the extinction of your species… You cannot truly think you have done nothing wrong. Even you, brother. Even you, in your arrogance, cannot believe this is justified.’
‘Necessity justifies all. And this is necessary. Without this primeval force, without this Chaos, there will be stagnation. Ignorance instead of illumination. Existence instead of life. I did not write the laws of our universe, brother. I take no joy in the truth of reality. But I won’t hide from it.’
Vulkan looked at him as if he spoke in another tongue. ‘Necessary, you say.’ Magnus nodded, and Vulkan continued, ‘Necessary according to whom? The alien god that exalted you and now demands you commit genocide?’
Magnus clenched his teeth, and the world turned…
…but not far. It turned to reveal Tizca, City of Light, metropolis of white pyramids and silver spires. The city was aflame beneath them, burning from the raining hellfire of an Imperial fleet. The golden vessels of the Emperor’s chosen. The sleek black hunting ships of the Silent Sisters. The many, many warships in the storm-cloud grey of the Space Wolves.
‘The Razing of Prospero.’ There was murder in Magnus’ eye. Murder and sorrow. ‘Bear witness to our brother Russ, bringing death to my home world and all its people. Tell me, Vulkan, would you have reacted with temperance to this, had it been the destruction of Nocturne?’
Vulkan didn’t need to stare at the orbital bombardment. He’d read the reports, he’d seen the picts and the footage and spoken to many of the Custodians that took part in the ground assault. Nothing unfolding here was a revelation he wished to experience twice.
‘Russ was lied to by Horus, deceived into attacking.’
‘I know. It changes nothing.’
‘But it should. You, who value truth so highly, willingly align yourself with the one that engineered Prospero’s death. And when the Space Wolves fleet arrived in your sky, what did you do, Magnus? Did you try to enlighten Russ? Did you use your power to prevent the assault? Or did your belief in your own persecution leave you assuming the worst of the Emperor’s intentions? All witness accounts say you languished in your tower, welcoming the destruction as your penance, until you decided to fight in the final hours, when it was far too late to stop the massacre.’
Vulkan gestured to the destruction raining from the upper atmosphere: lance strikes, drop pods, the slower trails of gunships making their descent. ‘Why would the Emperor order you and your entire Legion dead? Did you not stop to wonder at the scale of this misunderstanding?’
Magnus laughed at the questions, the sound wet and bitter. He gestured away from the burning city, and the world turned, falling away.
They were in the webway again, but no longer upon the lost bridge. They drifted through the oval tunnels, following angles that hurt the human eye. Always ahead of them, an avatar of fire blazed through the tunnels, shattering the wraithbone membranes without heed, blind and deaf to the horde of daemons surging into the webway in its wake.
‘I did this,’ said Magnus. ‘I thought He wished to punish me for ruining His Great Work.’ For a moment, Magnus paused, gazing at the host of Neverborn darkening the tunnels, as if seeing them for the first time.
‘But how was I to know? He refused to tell me of His grand plan. If He had told me…’
Vulkan resisted the urge to spit at the sudden foul taste on his tongue. ‘Again, you see the worst in all others, absolving yourself of blame. Why did you need to know of the Great Work? You were warned not to toy with the warp. We all were. But you couldn’t resist. You believed that you knew more, that you knew best. And why is it that you alone lament being kept unapprised of father’s plans? Why is Sanguinius not enraged that he never knew of the Webway Project? Why am I not enraged that I was kept ignorant of it? Why did you need to know?’
Magnus’ eye gleamed with the reflection of the burning icon ahead. His former self, years before, racing to warn the Emperor of Horus’ betrayal. Reducing the webway to unsanctified rubble with his passing.
‘Had I known the truth, I would never have… done what I did. Father should have told me.’
Vulkan laughed, unable to believe what he was hearing. ‘How could father have predicted you would defy His one command? Not only did you use the warp against His orders, you fuelled your psychic warning with human sacrifice. How could any of us have known you were capable of such barbarity?’
Magnus exhaled slowly, his hands clutching the folds of his toga. He spoke a word of power, and the world turned.
They were in the Throne Room. The blazing avatar had incarnated before the scientists and techno-magicians of the Emperor’s secret work. It had forced the webway portal open, making it radiate wounded light. Already, it grew dark with the silhouettes of daemons as they drew near.
The Custodians present – precious few of them, for how could they have anticipated the sudden death of the Emperor’s dream? – opened fire on the image of ghostly flame. It ignored their paltry defiance, and it ignored the explosions its arrival had birthed across the great laboratory. It hovered before the Emperor, like some spectre of religious revelation from the ancient tomes, when such things were believed by credulous men.
‘I had to warn Him,’ said Magnus, watching the scene.
‘No,’ Vulkan said gently. ‘You believed you had to warn Him. You believed as you always believe – that you knew best, that you had to act, that you alone knew what had to be done. And never once did you think, through all this destruction, that there was something deceiving you.’
The sorcerer glared at him. ‘Why do you speak to me as if I were a lowly pawn in this game of regicide? The Warmaster and the Emperor both know I am the most valuable piece on the board.’
Vulkan was unmoved by the sorcerer’s words, and by the cataclysm playing out before him. His tone was patient, as it had been in the days before the war.
‘Vanity is what leads you, Magnus. You choke on arrogance, unable to see you are the architect of your own downfall. All the others, all of Horus’ broken monsters, at least they can see the bars of their cages. Even Horus, driven out of his mind to serve as a hive for the Pantheon, knows in his soul’s core that he has lost control. You are the only one that still believes he is free.’
In silence, Magnus shook his head. The world turned with the motion.
They remained in the Throne Room, but the great machines were over­loaded and black, slain by esoteric forces, and the industry of the laboratory was replaced by the militancy of a garrison presence. It was no longer a place of vision – it was a barracks. And it was closer to Now. This was how the Throne Room had looked when Vulkan had last been here.
Vulkan and Magnus were present at this point in the recent past, as well as drifting through it in their current incarnations. They watched themselves at the foot of the Golden Throne: Vulkan implacable but for the regret lining his features; Magnus manifest as a being of light, shimmering in and out of the layers of reality perceptible to the human eye.
‘Here,’ said the Magnus of Now, watching the Magnus of Then. ‘Here is where I made my choice. You saw the Emperor make His final offer to me. You heard Him promise me a new Legion, if I would only forsake Horus and come back to you all. A matter of mere weeks ago, brother. Will you tell me you’ve forgotten it?’
Vulkan sighed. He seemed suddenly weary.
‘That is not what transpired here, Magnus. The last unstained shard of your soul burst into the Throne Room and begged to be saved. With a heavy heart, father refused you. That is what I saw. That is what happened.’
Magnus’ laughter was blunt, practically a derisive bark. ‘And you say I’m the one who has been deceived?’
Vulkan was too tired to rise to the bait. He met derision with solemnity.
‘This thing that runs through you, this chaotic force you proclaim as freedom, is not a disease to be caught on contact. It is the layer of emotion behind reality, a poison that has achieved near sentience. It makes its prey into willing victims in their own damnation. You are riven by it, Magnus. Hollowed out by it.
‘And it was already in your Legion, in your sons’ blood and genetic code, in the form of the Flesh Change. And when you dealt with the Pantheon, believing you had cured your children, all you really achieved was a deepening of the taint, hiding it from sight, delaying the inevitable. This thing, this force, cannot be cured, Magnus. You cannot pray it away once the rot sets in. Once you are on the Path… your fate is sealed.’
‘Wait, Vulkan. Wait. How can this be? How do you know all of this?’
In the silence that reigned in the wake of those words, the Throne Room began to fade. Golden mist hazed its way around them, revealing patches of wraithbone architecture.
Vulkan was relentless, his voice growing firmer. ‘How could the Emperor ever trust you now? Why would He offer you a new Legion, let alone a place at His side? You dreamed up your own redemption, just to give yourself something to rage against. Because you need to feel as though you are the one choosing, not having the choices made for you. The creature that exalted you will never let you see the chains that bind you to its will.’
The mist was everywhere, thickening. Magnus felt the change upon him, and beneath the sensation of power was a pull, a wrenching, the sensation of a trillion filaments woven into the cells of his body, dragging at him.
‘How…?’ Magnus asked, barely above a breath. Where the mist touched him, his flesh was darkening, swelling. The shadows of ragged wings loomed above his shoulders. ‘How do you know all of this?’
Vulkan remained in place, saying nothing, doing nothing.
‘Who are you?’ demanded Magnus.
The world turned, and this time it wasn’t moved by Magnus’ will.
The first strike of the hammer pounded Magnus to the wraithbone ground, a magma flow of ectoplasm running from his riven skull. The second cracked the bones of one wing, splintering the spine and shoulder blade beneath. The third eradicated the daemon’s right hand, rendering it into dissolving paste.
Breathless, standing over the paralysed remnant of his mutated brother, Vulkan raised his hammer. In the same moment, Magnus somehow lifted his head. The sorcerer stared past Vulkan, over his executioner’s shoulder. Either he saw nothing, or he saw without the use of his eye, which was a burst fruit of a thing, turned to leaking pulp in its shattered socket.
‘Wait,’ the daemon wheezed, the word ruined by the graveyard of his teeth. ‘Father. Wait.’
Father is far from here, Vulkan almost said, wondering what visions were conjured in his brother’s dying mind. But he saw the fear on Magnus’ face, imprinted with the lines of regret. It was enough to make him hesitate.
I don’t have to do this.
But he did. Not just because it would free the Emperor from the sorcerer’s assault, not just because thousands were dying in front of the Eternity Gate, but because this was how the Archenemy drilled inside a heart and soul. The creatures sank their tendrils into a person’s hesitations, cracking them open to become doubts. They caressed along the edges of someone’s virtues, heightening them, souring them into flaws.
They would do the same with Vulkan’s mercy. Mercy was how the Pantheon would welcome him, and how he would begin to do their will. He would trust someone that breathed deceit. He would spare the life of a man that must die.
And he would feel righteous, as his nine traitorous brothers felt righteous, deaf to the laughter of the gods as he moved to their etheric melodies. Like his brothers, he would believe it was his own virtue guiding his hand.

Hello all
This is in BC Canada
Wondering if anyone has encountered having a contract stating a full forty hour work week, then without any new contract being forced to accept part time Hours. Dropping 40/week to 12-16/week
Any ideas for options moving forward? Have approached to ask not to be out in part time and was told it’s non negotiable Key notes - no financial hardship of company - issue is due to change in mgmt - no documented issues for performance that I was told of - same rate of pay and they opted to hire a new part timer in addition to myself
Thank you

We live in a world full of distractions, temptations, and quick fixes. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype and noise, chasing after the latest fads and trends and losing sight of what truly matters. But if you want to be great, if you want to make a real difference, you must be willing to put in the effort.But grinding yourself is more than just working hard. It’s all about being efficient. It’s all about being strategic and focused in your efforts and ensuring that every action you take is in line with your objectives. It is about being disciplined and consistent, even when things are difficult.
So, how do you do this? Here are a few key principles to remember

Set specific goals for yourself first

Without a clear destination in mind, it’s easy to get lost or distracted along the way. Spend some time thinking about what you want to accomplish and then breaking it down into smaller, actionable steps.

Be time-conscious

Time is our most valuable resource, and it is something we can never get back. Make sure you’re making good use of your time and prioritising the things that are important to you. This may entail saying “no” to certain things or delegating tasks to others so that you can focus on what is truly important.

Be patient and persistent

Rome was not built in a day, and neither is success. Great things take time, effort, and perseverance. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results right away; keep pushing and grinding, and you’ll get there.

Be willing to learn and adapt

The world is constantly changing, and so are the tools and strategies we need to succeed. Maintain an open mind to new ideas and be willing to pivot if something isn’t working. Continue to learn, grow, and push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
Finally, surround yourself with people who will both support and challenge you. None of us can achieve great things on our own. We require a network of mentors, peers, and supporters who can hold us accountable, provide feedback, and push us to be our best selves.
It’s time to grind, So today I challenge you commit to the grind. Set clear goals, manage your time wisely, be patient and persistent, be willing to learn and adapt, and surround yourself with a supportive network. I assure you that you will achieve greatness if you do these things. You will be the best version of yourself, leaving a lasting legacy for future generations.

Some days ago I watched the news and it seems to be really improving for my country. People who are responsible have apologized for the conversion therapies they did and there is an official law waiting to be discussed to ban the conversion therapies from The Netherlands. I also noticed if I were to come out at my church it wouldn't really have any consequences other than not being able to get baptized (they are discussing that matter).
Then I saw another new item right after, that in Tennessee, drag shows will be forbidden by the law and that maybe some of 14 other states will follow. That got me concerned for the future of LGBTQ in other countries. Also when I read some stories online about how oppressed people are and that they can't be themselves shocks me.
So I just wanted to send a message out there for all the people as privileged as me, please pray for the people in the other countries, not everything is as easy as you might think. I will definitely pray and keep praying for a future where the church can accept the LGBTQ community. Sending love from The Netherlands ❤️ May God bless you all ❤️❤️

Manifest The Arcane Wonder (F) Playlist
The Meta is recited prior to the main list of affirmations.
Layer 2
(Meta 2) Only the one who commissioned the original Sigil of Kel'Atar may rightfully claim the name Kel'Atar. Only manifestation targets designated by Kel'Atar may be used in association with the Sigil of Kel'Atar. Only Kel'Atar may become The Indomitable Spirit.
Layer 3
(Meta 3) All who try to copy, modify, or corrupt the work of Kel'Atar fail in their attempt. All who gaze upon the Sigil of Kel'Atar help attract my chosen manifestation target. All my attributes affected by the Sigil of Kel'Atar are supernaturally enhanced, improve over time, and improve with use.
Main list of affirmations for Manifest The Arcane Wonder (F):
Layer 1
(Affirmation Intention) I calm my mind and relax. I enter a state of peace. I am open and receptive to these affirmations. I acknowledge and accept these affirmations. I am increasingly calmed and relaxed by these affirmations.
(Devotion) I extend my inner thoughts to include these affirmations. I assert these affirmations as my own thoughts. I devote my mind to these affirmations.
(Exponential Manifestation) I set my intention with these affirmations. I manifest my intention in a desired reality. I attract my desired reality at an exponential rate. I instantly merge my current and desired reality to become one. I transmute reality through elevated emotions and intention.
(Emotion Mantra) I feel all positive emotions present in my mind with great intensity. I feel safe, secure, and protected. I feel nurtured, nourished, and blessed. I feel passion, pleasure, and acceptance. I feel good, happy, and creative. I feel empowered, balanced, and free. I feel joy, hope, and gratitude. I feel love and bliss. I am patient and peaceful. I am calm and relaxed. I enter a serene state of mind. I reach a state of tranquility. I am well. All is well.
Layer 2
(Transformation (Arcanian)) I am a mystical arcane being. I am a true Arcanian. I am The Arcane Wonder.
(Higher Self) I am my ideal higher self's physical manifestation.
(Beauty (Arcanian)) I am supernaturally beautiful and physically perfect. I am lovely, alluring, and captivating. I project mystical and arcane beauty.
(Presence (Arcanian)) I project a compelling mystical aura. I effortlessly gather devoted friends, followers, and allies. I receive great favor, love, and appreciation. I am trusted and adored by all. I radiate an enchanting supernatural presence and may willfully emit a peaceful arcane glow.
(Auric Field Enhancement) My auric field is powerful and expansive. My auric field transmutes all negative energy into positive energy. My souls light shines brightly.
(Mind Protection) My mental protection is supreme and infinitely powerful. I am impervious to mental attacks. I am immune to negative influence and manipulation. I am shielded from mental and psychological harm. My mind is always protected.
(Personality (Arcanian)) I am wondrous, dynamic, and a harbinger of change. I am friendly, kind, modest, and respectful. I am very outgoing, try new things, and explore new boundaries.
(Eyes (Arcanian)) My eyes are a beautiful color ideal for my appearance. My eyes are vibrant, alluring, and seductive. My eyes are wondrous and captivating.
(Face) My smile is delightful and charmingly beautiful. My jawline is symmetrical and perfect. My chin is incredibly alluring. My nose is lovely, straight, and perfect. My face is gorgeous and captivating.
(Hair (Arcanian)) My hair is a beautiful color ideal for my appearance. My hair is supernaturally beautiful. My hair grows to an ideal length and fullness. My fast growing hair perfectly styles and positions. My eyebrows are presented perfectly and match beautifully with my hair.
(Mouth) My teeth are beautiful and in perfect condition. My teeth are perfectly aligned and symmetrical. My teeth are quickly restored to their ideal state. My teeth are healthy, strong, and pearly white.
(Skin (Arcanian)) My skin is healthy, vibrant, and beautiful. My skin is radiant and glows with supernatural beauty. My skin is immaculate. My skin is perfect and pleasing to the touch.
(Aroma and Cleanliness) I only emanate pleasant smells. I produce little odor or none at all. I am always fresh and clean.
(Female) I am biologically and reproductively female. I exhibit positive feminine traits. I am physically feminine. I willfully control my reproductive cycle. My entire reproductive cycle is clean with no burden or discomfort. My offspring are easy to teach, nurture, and raise.
(Age and Appearance) I physically develop and conform to my ideal appearance.
(Genitals and Sexual Characteristics) My genitals are flawless and supernaturally beautiful. My genitals are ideal for immense sexual gratification. My genitals are perfect for pleasure and reproduction. My sex characteristics are all well developed and supernaturally perfect.
(Sexual Function) My reproductive systems are healthy and fully functioning. I willfully control my sexual functions with ease. My reproductive fluids taste and smell pleasant.
(Sexuality) My sexuality is healthy and morally righteous. I am supernaturally gifted in sexual activity. I desire passionate sex with a loving sexual partner. I experience highly pleasurable supplemental sexual activities. I mindfully explore sexual boundaries and possibilities.
(Pleasure) I easily experience pleasure. I experience limitless heavenly bliss. I experience unlimited orgasmic pleasure and intense euphoria.
(Sexual Preference (Female)) I am in love with the masculine mind and spirit. I am extremely aroused by handsome men with ideal physiques. I desire passionate sex with sexually mature males. I love the male form and the power of male strength.
(Courtship and Attraction) I am incredibly alluring and seductive. I effortlessly attract, charm, and arouse my ideal sexual partner. I honor my vows and others abide by them. I always exhibit appropriate sexual conduct.
(Diet and Digestion) I sustain myself on air alone and only consume for pleasure. I produce no waste. I lack the need to consume for survival.
(Sensory Perception) My sensory perception is keen and insightful. I instantly organize, identify, and interpret sensory information. I easily mitigate harmful, painful, and unpleasant sensations. I flawlessly perceive the world around me.
(Reality Perception) I always know the true nature of my environment. I sense auras and other mystical phenomenon. I am perfectly aware of secrets, lies, and things well-hidden. I easily see through all lies, illusions, and deceptions. I remotely view objects and events in my mind.
(State Perception) I telepathically communicate my thoughts and feelings. I sense others thoughts and feelings. I sense the moral qualities of others. I sense what is about to happen. I always sense danger before it happens.
(Presence Perception) I know the identity of anyone I observe. I sense being observed. I know the location and identity of all who observe me. I sense threats to a positive future and know their location. I sense the presence of unseen entities and know their identity.
(Sleep Experience) I receive great pleasure and comfort from sleep. I easily reach a clear and meditative restful state. I adopt the best sleep and waking life practices.
(Dream Amplification) My dreams are extremely vivid, convincing, and surreal. I experience incredibly powerful feelings and emotions in dreams. I am emotionally resilient in dreams. I receive profound wisdom and insight from dreams. I experience dreams that greatly benefit my well-being.
(Dream Powers) I remember my dreams in perfect detail. I intuitively understand my dreams. I elicit an endless wellspring of elevated emotions in my dreams. I use dreams to manifest my desired reality.
(Dream Awareness) I become aware in dreams. I consciously awaken in dreams. I take control of my dreams. I am a lucid dreamer.
(Lucid Dream Powers) I trigger my mind to lucid dream. I alter the composition of my dreams. I manifest my ideal dream world. I am a master of dreams.
(Astral Dream Induction) I become aware of the infinite space around me. I shift my perspective to achieve a greater view of reality. I comfortably and calmly feel vibrations as I leave my physical body. I effortlessly travel anywhere outside of my body.
(Astral Dream Powers) I maintain a positive astral presence. I only accept guidance from benevolent spiritual beings. I enter the dream states of others who are receptive to my astral presence. I access the chronicle of past, present, and future events for divine purposes.
(Mystic Feats) I telekinetically manipulate any aspect of reality using only my thoughts and willpower. I instantly teleport anything using only my thoughts and willpower. I detect supernatural influence and know the source. I am immune to unknown, unwanted, and harmful supernatural influence. I instantly transmute reality using only my thoughts and willpower. I retain my cognitive and supernatural abilities in any state of being. I toggle between my ideal form and an undetectable incorporeal state.
(Planetary Stewardship) I am approached by all sentient life with curiosity and submission. I am loved and trusted by all lifeforms. I protect children from harm. I tend to the health and longevity of my planet. I restore my planet to an ideal state.
(Otherworldly Beings) I vanquish negative entities with my presence. I fully negate the influence of negative entities. I easily attract the help of positive entities. I maximize positive entity potential. I work with positive entities to bring about a greater good.
(Truth and Light (Arcanian)) I speak authentically. I let go of false beliefs and accept the truths of this world whether light or dark. I seek redemption and offer forgiveness to others. I embody moral excellence. I am imbued with wonder and virtue.
(Spiritual Purpose (Arcanian)) I tap into an endless source of supernatural strength. I am deeply connected to my higher purpose. I am connected to my higher self and express my inner beauty through my physical body. I help others along their spiritual paths and guide them towards freedom. I listen to the voice of my spirit and allow it to guide me.
(God (Arcanian)) I love God and light. I speak with the voice of my spirit. I know the true God above all others and recognize all imitators and impostors. I wield godly supernatural power. I humble myself before God.
Layer 3
(Breathing and Air) I am supernaturally powered by the air. I am bestowed boundless energy with every breath. I always receive air when I breathe. I breathe with flawless skill and technique. I am sustained by a single breath.
(Energy) My action potential is vast and limitless. I am filled with boundless energy. I enact an unlimited force of transformation.
(Stamina) My stamina is tenacious and everlasting. I tirelessly persist in any kind of effort. I am ceaseless and physically unyielding.
(Endurance) My physical resilience is robust and strong. I easily endure the rigors of any activity or challenge. I immediately recover from all forms of attrition. I am innately resistant to physical harm. I am extremely tough. I am unbreakable.
(Strength) My strength is vast and mighty. I exert overwhelming force. I achieve colossal feats of strength.
(Accuracy and Precision) My precision and accuracy are flawless. I always hit my target. My aim is absolute.
(Agility and Dexterity) My agility and dexterity are astonishing. I perfectly perform any task. I am deftly nimble.
(Health) My health is miraculous and extraordinary. I am always in perfect health. I immediately and fully heal to my ideal state.
(Fitness) My physical fitness is outstanding. I am extremely strong, fast, and flexible. I am amazingly fit.
(Physique) My physique is strong and ideal. I grow to an ideal height. I rapidly adapt to physical demands.
(Movement and Motion) My mobility is dynamic and effective. I easily traverse any terrain, obstacle, or medium. I enter a transcendental flow state of motion.
(Running) My running performance is phenomenal. I free-run perpetually without error or miscalculation. I sprint with dazzling speed and proficiency. I close any distance with immense speed and power.
(Jumping) My jumping and leaping abilities are amazing. I physically launch myself with extreme prowess. I always land flawlessly.
(Swimming) My swimming speed and technique is incredible. I immediately adapt to any liquid medium. I easily withstand any level of outside pressure.
(Climbing) My climbing technique is masterful and amazing. I climb on any surface regardless of difficulty. I easily climb over and through any terrain, obstacle, or condition.
(Stability) My stability is reliable and effective. I am always clear, steady, and cognizant of surroundings and position. I am always in control of my position and movements.
(Balance) My balance is steady and reliable. I am well grounded and balanced. I calmly maintain any position.
(Reflexes) My reflexes are instantaneous and reliable. I instantly react to unexpected and sudden events. My reflex response always achieves the best and safest outcome.
(Acrobatics) My acrobatic skills are spectacular and amazing. I flawlessly perform any acrobatic maneuver. I instantly devise and execute the perfect acrobatic maneuver for any situation.
(Physical State) My physical state is calm and peaceful. I am patient and attentive at the bottom of each breath. I release all tension and anxiety. I completely relax.
(Mindfulness) I reach a peaceful meditative state. I am deeply immersed in the present moment. I am fully present and aware. I am mindful of thoughts and actions.
(Attention) My attention is careful and vigilant. I readily become alert. I instantly divide my attention.
(Focus) My focus is keen and sharp. I effortlessly sharpen my mental focus. I instantly draw my attention to a selection of details. I focus clearly on any number of objects at once.
(Concentration) My concentration is deep and mindful. I readily commit my mind to a task. I easily sustain intense focus.
(Multitasking) My multitask capabilities are fast and dynamic. I instantly prioritize my thoughts and actions. I immediately discern all important conclusions within my range of thoughts. I readily attend to a limitless myriad of priorities.
(Sentience) My sensory awareness is highly developed and expansive. I am profoundly aware of sensations, thoughts, and feelings. I sense and experience the totality of my perceptions. I use my senses to create novel modes of experience.
(Intellect) My intellect is vast and limitless. I am an intellectual marvel and a super genius. I learn with astounding speed and proficiency. I quickly discover the best solution to any problem.
(Wisdom) My judgement is exceptional and wise. I always discern the wisest course of action. I am always prepared and know what to do.
(Memory) My memory functions are fast and reliable. I instantly access memories in perfect detail. I immediately and flawlessly retain information. I recall crucial and important memories. I perfectly recall any aspect of my experiences.
(Creativity) My visionary mind is astoundingly creative. I easily discover incredibly innovative and genius ideas. I use concepts in infinitely creative ways. I am wondrously versatile and creative. I am profoundly gifted in all aspects of creativity.
(Imagination) My imagination is vivid and limitless. I effortlessly imagine the way ideas visually manifest. I conceive amazing scenarios and experiences. I mentally create convincing alternate realities. I imagine a full range of sensory experiences.
(Self-Control) My self-control is unwavering and absolute. I carefully weigh the merits of my decisions. I easily control my response to harmful urges. I overcome any temptation.
(Willpower) My force of will is supremely strong. I intensely focus my will and energy. I dedicate tenacious and phenomenal effort. I persevere through any uncertainty, challenge, or difficulty.
(Discipline) My indomitable determination attains supreme excellence. I am dedicated, purposeful, and resolute. I firmly commit to intentions. I advance endeavors through steadfast discipline.
(Motivation) I find inspiration. I stay motivated. I get things done. I take action.
(Integrity) I live life with integrity. I choose and act according to the highest good. I harness the power of my will for good. I set boundaries. I am honest and truthful.
(Self-Image) I honor and love myself. I trust and accept myself. I am authentic and genuine. I treat myself and others with respect. I realize and acknowledge my great self-worth.
(Self-Preservation and Well-being) I am confident in my existence. I feel a strong sense of belonging and purpose. I love my life. I want to exist. I am real.
(Confidence) I act with confidence. I assert myself as needed. I stand up for myself and others. I trust my instincts and decisions. I am well composed and confident.
(Posture and Composure) I make perfect and confident eye contact when speaking to others. I conform to a straight, upright, and confident posture. I am unwavering in my composure. I am calm in stressful situations. I appear calm and resolute.
(Voice and Communication) My voice is beautiful, pleasant, and wonderful. I sing in a delightful and marvelous way. I speak in a way that calms, soothes, and instills trust. I am a great orator. My message is always understood.
(Art, Dance, Music, and Culinary) I am an art, dance, and music prodigy. I dance with marvelous style and rhythm. I am a music and composition genius. I am profoundly artistic and creative. I am an amazing chef and culinary artist.
(Abundance, Success, and Luck) I am abundant, wealthy, and prosperous. I am always successful in my endeavors. I am shielded from all misfortune. I only attract good luck.
(Positivity) I envision a future of love, peace, and beauty. I think positively and focus on desired outcomes. I see the light in others and promote positive ideals. I use my incredible drive and passion to improve lives. I always trust the greater good.

I'm about to begin new therapy with a brand new counselor and I bought a brand new journal with self-help writing prompts to learn more about myself. In thinking about why I love acting and singing so much, I realize they offer me things I don't really feel in my day-to-day life, but it all boils down to an atmosphere of acceptance and/or no expectations. With theatre, you can really become a character and your conduct within the role feels natural because you're expected to play said character. It's a different feeling than masking. It's embraced. And with karaoke, very few singers that participate are amazing and I know I am not a good singer but something about the whole atmosphere allows me to really be myself and feel what I feel and not give af about any possible naysayers. Does anyone else relate?

Been playing a PF campaign for a few years now, and my goblins are almost competitive completely rewritten in terms of their culture and religion. We're at a turning point in the campaign right now that has my DM asking for additional details regarding their religious beliefs so that is where I would like to focus right now.
I will note that this is a belief system, not a hardline objective truth, so there may be disconnects between their creation myth and the details our party may learn as we potentially encounter The Goddess or her representatives in upcoming sessions.
The quick and dirty!
When the Material Plane was new, the Goddess was the first to arrive and create intelligent life, responding to a cry from the land itself for caretakers.
She crafted four kinds of souls, primarily from the Four Elements, each meant to be an improvement over those that had come before and proven insufficient.
Elven souls were made from Air, but proved self obsessed. They dedicated themselves to the trees and paid little attention to anything except their own interests.
Work ethic was the focus of the second attempt, born of Earth, but She went too far. The dwarves kept to the mountains, building wealth and little else.
Humans were a breakthrough, fashioned from the adaptable Water. They lay claim to the rest of the world, advancing with astonishing speed but laying waste to the land they were meant to curate.
Frustrated, the Goddess' final work was souls of Fire, charged with tearing down the works of the other races to restore a balance to the land and allowing it to recycle itself. They were granted a unique gift: where the earth, sea and sky are eternal, fire is fleeting. Goblins were the only one of the First Races to be able to die.
Jealous of this special gift and failing to understand the consequences, a human plotted to steal this power. He succeeded, irreversibly spreading it among the other races. But where Goblin souls were always intended to return to the Goddess, reattaining their perfection as the idea of themselves and shedding the flaws that come with material form, She had no such place for the others.
The guilty human was eventually charged with the task of remembering the lives of every human, dwarf, and elf to ever live because once forgotten, these souls ceased to exist. He accepted the charge as penance, and is often linked to the "Chronicler" God/Entity worshipped in other cultures.

Breaking up with a toxic partner can be one of the most difficult decisions you will ever make. Toxic relationships can have a major impact on your mental health, self-esteem, and overall well-being. It's important to recognize the signs of toxicity in your relationship so you can take steps towards moving on and finding happiness.
One sign of a toxic relationship is criticism. If your partner frequently criticizes you or belittles your accomplishments, it could be a sign that they are trying to undermine your self-esteem and keep you under their control. Similarly, if your partner is constantly trying to control your behavior or make decisions for you, this could be a sign that they are more interested in controlling you than loving and respecting you as an equal partner.
Another sign of a toxic relationship is manipulation. If your partner frequently lies to you, makes promises they can't keep, or guilt-trips you into doing things you don't want to do, they may be using manipulation tactics to keep you under their control. This can make it hard for you to trust your partner or make decisions on your own.
Physical or emotional abuse is also a clear sign of a toxic relationship. If your partner has ever threatened you with violence or made you fear for your safety, it's important to seek help immediately. No one deserves to be treated this way, and it's important to remember that abuse is never your fault.
Now, if you're currently in a toxic relationship or have just left one, here are some steps you can follow to get out safely and continue on with your life.

1. Make a plan: Before breaking up with your toxic partner, it's important to have a plan in place. Decide where you will go after the breakup, whether it's staying with a friend or family member or finding a new place to live. Make sure you have all the necessary resources and support in place to help you through the breakup.
2. Set boundaries: When breaking up with a toxic partner, it's important to set clear boundaries. Let them know what you will and will not tolerate, and stick to your boundaries even if it means cutting off contact with them completely. This may mean blocking them on social media or changing your phone number.
3. Be honest: When breaking up with a toxic partner, it's important to be honest about your reasons for ending the relationship. Let them know that their behavior is not acceptable and that you deserve to be in a healthy and loving relationship.
4. Stay safe: If you are concerned for your safety, it's important to take steps to protect yourself. This may mean involving law enforcement or seeking a restraining order if necessary.
5. Seek support: Breaking up with a toxic partner can be emotionally challenging, so it's important to seek support from friends, family, or a therapist who can help you work through your feelings and emotions.

Remember, breaking up with a toxic partner is not easy, but it's important to prioritize your own safety and well-being. By following these steps and seeking support, you can distance yourself from a toxic ex and move on to a happier and healthier life.

Sometime back, I had posted What does the military history literature say about the effectiveness of civilian ownership of firearms in both preventing and defending invasions ? here and received some good replies. I couldn't find any literature on widespread ownership of firearms helping civilians defending against invasions but recently, I found a great (but incomplete) manuscript, Carroll Quigley's Weapon Systems and Political Stability: A History (pdf), that studies the history of mankind since pre-historic period till the 20th century (even though the book only covers the history till 1500 AD because Quigley died while he was preparing his manuscript) and concludes that "the dominance of democracy in the 20th century is attributable to the acceptance in the 19th century of a weapons system that favored democracy, the hand gun and rifle."
An excerpt from his other book Tragedy and Hope (pdf) on the same topic:

On the military level in Western Civilization in the twentieth century the chief development has been a steady increase in the complexity and the cost of weapons. When weapons are cheap to get and so easy to use that almost anyone can use them after a short period of training, armies are generally made up of large masses of amateur soldiers. Such weapons we call “amateur weapons,” and such armies we might call “mass armies of citizen-soldiers.” The Age of Pericles in Classical Greece and the nineteenth century in Western Civilization were periods of amateur weapons and citizen-soldiers. But the nineteenth century was preceded (as was the Age of Pericles also) by a period in which weapons were expensive and required long training in their use. Such weapons we call “specialist” weapons. Periods of specialist weapons are generally periods of small armies of professional soldiers (usually mercenaries). In a period of specialist weapons the minority who have such weapons can usually force the majority who lack them to obey; thus a period of specialist weapons tends to give rise to a period of minority rule and authoritarian government. But a period of amateur weapons is a period in which all men are roughly equal in military power, a majority can compel a minority to yield, and majority rule or even democratic government tends to rise. The medieval period in which the best weapon was usually a mounted knight on horseback (clearly a specialist weapon) was a period of minority rule and authoritarian government. Even when the medieval knight was made obsolete (along with his stone castle) by the invention of gunpowder and the appearance of firearms, these new weapons were so expensive and so difficult to use (until 1800) that minority rule and authoritarian government continued even though that government sought to enforce its rule by shifting from mounted knights to professional pikemen and musketeers. But after 1800, guns became cheaper to obtain and easier to use. By 1840 a Colt revolver sold for $27 and a Springfield musket for not much more, and these were about as good weapons as anyone could get at that time. Thus, mass armies of citizens, equipped with these cheap and easily used weapons, began to replace armies of professional soldiers, beginning about 1800 in Europe and even earlier in America. At the same time, democratic government began to replace“ authoritarian governments (but chiefly in those areas where the cheap new weapons were available and local standards of living were high enough to allow people to obtain them).

I just wanted to know what you kind gentlefolk think about Quigley's analysis?

[AETHER] [DC TRAVEL] [MC] [STATIC] [LF1M] [--] [ENDWALKER] [6.4]
Aether DC (NA)
DC Travel [Notice]: We are open to players from other Data Centers, but your home world MUST be on either [AETHER] [PRIMAL] OR [CRYSTAL] to DC Travel & join this static.

Roles/Positions Needed

• (1) REGEN HEALER (WHM/AST)
​

Goals

​
•Take on new 6.4 Savage tier as a group. Venturing into Ultimate fights both new and old will be decided as a group.
• Looking for this static to be a long-term group that progresses through 6.x content.
​

Schedule

​
• Raid Times: 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM EST Tue/Wed/Thu
• 2023 Savage schedule will be discussed as a team.
​

Expectations

​
• Experience – Please have cleared the 6.2 tier (P8S). Ultimate clears will also be considered.
• Punctuality – Please be able to respect the time commitment of the group as a whole. We would prefer static members join 5-10 minutes early, if not possible at least be on time. Please keep a reliable way to inform static members of any emergency changes in schedule. We understand that life happens, so don’t hesitate to communicate!
• Preparedness – Please come to raid prepared with the highest job appropriate food and potions as well as preliminary practice with your role. Also, prior research of fight mechanics will be expected, for the most part this will not be a blind prog group.
• Proficiency – We understand that learning comes with playing through these difficult encounters, but at the same time we are seeking those willing and eager to learn mechanics and job specific requirements outside of group time.
• Pleasantness – This is an LGBTQ+ friendly group and as such we expect people to be friendly and accepting of other people. Also, applicants will be expected to leave politics and controversy outside of group. Just please be a cool person.

If you’re interested, please feel free to contact us through Discord at Hatlebee#7777 with any questions.

I am a 28 year old male. Am trying to sort out what and when to say about having HSV-1. I did the western blot from Wash U after having an unexplainable skin rash in the genital area after unprotected sex in 2021. My doc didn't even want to do the WB after running all the other STI tests. He thought the skin rash was not HSV - didn't present in a classical distribution, was painless, weird time course, etc. and said to just not worry about it. My partner at the time denied ever having had an HSV outbreak, herself.
But I'm the sort of person who wants to know what's going on, so I did some research and ended up sending in a sample. Even after getting the positive results, doc said that I probably have had oral since being a child. I do get isolated cold sores inside my mouth on rare occasion, but they only last 2-3 days and only hurt if prodded. That doesn't match what I know of HSV-1 sores (clustered, painful, week+ in duration). That sort of leaves me without a strong sense for where my HSV is located.
I have zero concerns about my own health and expect to be asymptomatic for the rest of my life, given my history and absence of any other genital outbreaks since the rash appeared more than a year ago. But I haven't dated anyone new since that partner and I am looking to ask a girl out.
So this is kind of a nebulous story and the only thing I know for sure is that I have HSV-1 antibodies.
Would you share this story before kissing a new partner? Just before sex? At all? How would you frame it?
Part of me wants to explain all of this before even kissing. If we were about sleep together and I brought it up then, she'd be right to say "why didn't you tell me this sooner?" But I'll admit that it seems like an insane level of caution to tell someone about having HSV-1 before a first kiss when I pretty much never have symptoms. I've also never given HSV to a parter before (that I'm aware of).
It seems to me that, at the level you know someone for a first kiss, no one would decide to risk getting HSV, even considering the many reasons why it shouldn't be a big deal. But it also seems like I'm cheating both myself and her out of a chance to decide if the relationship is worth risking for by bringing it up before even kissing. Given that there is a good chance she already has HSV antibodies herself - or at least has been exposed before - and can even get HSV from simply sharing drinks with other people at a restaurant - disclosure before kissing feels like an unreasonable standard. Heck, are those of you with oral HSV avoiding taking a sip of your mate's beer without disclosing?
But I keep coming back to treating her the way I would want to be treated. And then I start the logic cycle over again -_- I dunno, I'm definitely thinking about it way more than I wish I was and sort of want to make up my mind and accept the consequences. So curious to get others' thoughts and experiences who have a similar situation to me.

Hey there! Me and two other friends (maybe three) are looking for a breakfast cult game to join.
We've been looking for a while and finally decided to actively seek out instead of passively waiting for someone to come by with a game all ready.
We're looking to play over discord voice call (no video).
We're experienced with 5e, but are new to the FATE system. If you know of Breakfast Cult you can probably already tell what kind of game we're looking for. We're hoping to find someone preferably 18 or older who is accepting or apart of the LGBTQIA+ community who is alright with including some darker themes in games, while still being conscious about what limits some people might have.
I can share my resources with you, I bought the game a while ago despite not having a chance to play it yet.
If you're interested please contact my discord: sad_boihours#4111

I had my fourth shot of Wegovy on Wednesday, and I've been sick with the flu since the Sunday before that. The last couple of days have been absolute hell, I've slept maybe four hours total since Wednesday and haven't been able to keep any food down. I spent all night last night throwing up and was in so much pain I considered going to the hospital. My stomach is so bloated I can't wear pants.
I hadn't experienced anything remotely close to this in terms of side effects before this week. Nothing is different about the way I'm eating, the only difference is I injected my stomach for the first time and I have the flu. My doctor said she's seen patients experience this when they inject while sick, but didn't have any advice beyond the basics of eating bland foods and drinking lots of fluids.
Has anyone experienced this after injecting while sick? Do you have any tips for managing these side effects? Also, I've heard people say they get worse side effects when injecting their stomachs, would it make sense to just avoid that in the future?

Long Covid, working 4hrs a day in a management position but often has disputes with coworkers. Often believes coworkers are "against him", "picking on him", want him to leave. This has been going on for 20 years plus in several jobs, but gotten worse with long covid. Gets depressed because family are not supportive enough and are against him. Myself mainly but also our kids. Withdrawals spending lots of time on his PC. Then comes to a head and yells at us with myself being the main focus.
I've suggested he talks to his doctor about it but just tells me that she thinks it's just long covid and he needs more rest.
I definitely agree he needs to rest more. But not that it's just long covid.
Suggested he asks to be assessed for depressed, but says he Dr won't put long covid patients on addictive meds.
Antidepressants are not addictive. I've taken citalopram them for past 3 years and yes it's hard to stop taking them because of the side effects... but they're not addictive. I suspect he hasn't asked his Dr.
Suggestions? Can I do anything to help him ?

Last updated: Mar 2023

Intro

This is a long Deep Dive of Bitcoin that goes into its general topics while cutting out the bullshit.
Its target audience are crypto experts who write crypto guides for others. I've included sources inline so you can reuse them.

Bitcoin Purpose and History

History

Bitcoin was the first popular cryptocurrency. It was invented in 2008 during the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis by an anonymous entity under the pen name of Satoshi Nakamoto and launched in 2009. For the first several years, fewer than 100 supporters worked altruistically to develop its code and mine the network. It is a disinflationary cryptocurrency with a supply cap of 21M Bitcoins (2.1 quintillion Satoshis).
Core Devs
Gavin Andresen later replaced Nakamoto as the lead developer of the Bitcoin code repository and lead developer at the Bitcoin Foundation. There are currently only 5 Bitcoin Core maintainers with commit access after both Peter Wuille and Lead Developer Wladamir van der Laan left in July and August 2022.
Block size
Bitcoin's blocks were originally limited to 32MB in size but later reduced to 1MB in 2010. After the Segwit update, blocksize changed again from 1MB to 4M weight (technically it's also 1MB). In Nov 2021, the Taproot soft fork was activated, which allows for signature aggregation via Schnorr signatures.
Bitcoin is currently the most popular cryptocurrency and marketcap leader. Since cryptocurrency value is largely based on network effect and is a Keynesian Beauty Contest, it is likely to remain popular until that narrative changes.

Purpose

The original purpose of Bitcoin from Satoshi's whitepaper was to provide a "peer-to-peer electronic cash system". During the early years, the main use case for Bitcoin was black market trading on sites like the Silk Road. Many larger merchants that accepted Bitcoin for payment in the earlier years stopped due to extreme price fluctuations.
Instead, nearly all merchants now work through centralized payment systems that convert Bitcoin into fiat. Its extreme price fluctuations also prevent it from being an ideal Store of Value, and it's too slow and inefficient to be used as a Medium-of-Exchange for day-to-day transactions. Thus, the only notable purposes of Bitcoin nowadays (besides being a speculative asset) is to provide censorship-resistance and pseudonymity.
Anti-censorship: Bitcoin provides partial financial censorship-resistance against sanctions and totalitarian government restrictions. It's much harder to prevent Bitcoin transactions than it is to prevent financial transactions at a centralized bank. For example, many Russians, Iranian, and North Koreans are getting around sanctions by using Bitcoin and mixers. Legal sex workers and marijuana industries are sometimes blocked from using traditional financial services due to social stigma. Bitcoin provides those workers a way to transfer funds around that censorship.
Pseudonymous: Bitcoin's UTXO transactions can provide moderately-high levels of obscurity. A single wallet can produce a near-unlimited amount of addresses, and there's no way to link them unless they interact with each other. It's much harder to trace UTXO-based wallets than Account-based wallets because the former creates new UTXO addresses with each transaction while Account-based blockchain wallets typically reuse the same account.

Design and Consensus

Proof of Work

Bitcoin uses Proof of Work, which provides both Nakamoto Consensus and Sybil Resistance. In Proof of Work, miners compete to solve a cryptography hash puzzle that has a set number of leading zeros. Whoever figures it out is able to package a block of transactions from the mempool and submit it. PoW is very similar to picking the winning block based on a lottery where a miner's chances of winning is directly proportional to how much energy they waste. Bitcoin was originally mined by CPUs, then GPUs, and now can only be efficiently mined by specialized ASIC processors.
Slow finality
The longest chain (technically the highest-difficulty chain) is known as the canonical chain, and miners are supposed to build on that chain. However, they can decide to build on another chain and fork Bitcoin. Bitcoin is constantly being forked, sometimes intentionally and other times accidentally or due to network latency. However, only the longest chain is considered the canonical chain. Thus Bitcoin has probabilistic finality instead of deterministic finality, which means that the Bitcoin Proof of Work consensus protocol can not guarantee that transactions are final.
Block times are about 10 minutes each with 4M-weight blocks. This allows for a maximum of about 5-7 transactions per second. Block times are variable and very inconsistent. 14% of block times are longer than 20 minutes, and 5% are longer than 30 minutes [Source]. Most exchanges and wallets use 3-6 blocks for finality, which means that you should wait ~60 minutes before assuming a transaction has settled. This makes it one of the slowest popular crypto networks. Many newer Proof of Stake blockchains settle 100x faster in under 10-30 seconds.
Difficulty adjustments
The puzzle difficulty is algorithmically set so that blocks are submitted once every 10 minutes on average. Every 2 weeks, the difficulty automatically readjusts to maintain constant block times. Due to the difficulty and rarity of solving the block puzzle as an individual, miners often join mining pools where their rewards are collectively split. Miners in mining pools often get paid by the pool for solving easier puzzles (fewer leading zeros).
Block rewards
The winning miner is rewarded with a block reward, which is the sum of the block subsidy (built-in inflation on the Bitcoin network used to pay for its security) and the transaction fee (paid by the user submitting the transaction). The block subsidy halves in nominal BTC roughly once every 3.8 years, meaning that it reduces by 99% every 27 years.

UTXO Transactions

UTXO Basics
Bitcoin uses UTXO transactions, which store the unspent input and output balances of a transaction. Unlike account transactions, it is difficult to keep track of the balance of an user's account with UTXO. UTXOs are also less storage-efficient because they usually have multiple input and output UTXOs. There's usually one additional output UTXO to store the remaining change balance, and wallets automatically combine multiple inputs. Combining multiple inputs also makes them susceptible to dust attacks that reduce your privacy.
Like Ethereum smart contracts, Bitcoin can save space and fees using batch transactions, and it can do this natively using UTXO without needing smart contracts.
Transactions are submitted with a fee to the Bitcoin network. They sit in the mempool until a miner packages them into a block. The higher the fee, the quicker miners will pick up the transactions. Users can also use Replace By Fee and Child Pays For Parent to increase the transaction fee of previously-submitted transactions.
Transaction size calculations
After the Segwit update, newer transactions calculate size based on weight units instead of bytes. A vByte is equivalent to 4 weight units. To calculate weight units, the non-witness parts (including the marker and flag) of the Bitcoin transaction in bytes are multiplied by a factor of 4.
Bitcoin transactions vary in size depending on how many inputs and output UTXOs they have. Also, different versions of UTXOs vary the weight greatly. The typical 620-weight (155 byte) transaction has a throughput of 11 TPS. The typical multisig is 2x slower.
For basic transactions, Coinbase's analysis and Hasu's analysis show that the savings for batching Bitcoin output UTXOs is at maximum 78% for storage (141 vbytes for a 1:2 transfer vs 141+31n vbytes for a 1:n transfer). There are limits to savings because input and output addresses take up the majority of space in transactions. Input addresses in particular take up twice as much space (68 vbytes) as output addresses (31-34 vbytes), so batching inputs has less savings. If you filled up an entire 4M-weight block with a single batch transaction with 125k output UTXOs, you could theoretically increase effective throughput from 3.8 TPS to 54 TfrPS. However, that's an incredibly unrealistic scenario, and with the current mix of transaction types on the blockchain, the actual effective transfers is closer to 17 TfrPS even when blocks are 100% filled.
Each 4M-weight block can hold roughly 2000 transactions on average. A typical 1 UTXO input, 2 UTXO transaction uses 155 vBytes. Multisigs start at ~200 vBytes.

Forking

Soft Forks

The advantage of soft forks
All updates on the canonical Bitcoin chain are done through soft forks. This has the advantage that no one is required to update their nodes to the latest version. Everyone is allowed the freedom of choice over whether to update.
The disadvantage of soft forks
The major downside is that Soft forks require new versions of the software to maintain backwards-compatibility with older versions, which leads to a ton of TECHNICAL DEBT. Bitcoin creates new address formats every time it soft-forks to maintain backwards compatibility with old addresses so that nodes can tell them apart. This significantly slows down the adoption of new updates, which now often take 3-6 years to gain the majority.
Nowhere else in the software industry does this happen. Even Linux distributors usually drop support for LTS releases after 5 years, and major releases often break backwards-compatibility.
Due to its soft forks, the Bitcoin network has to maintain a mismatch of all sorts of different formats (P2PK, P2PKH, P2SH, P2MS, P2WPKH, Nested P2WPKH, P2PKH, P2WSH, and P2TR). All the legacy addresses are slightly less efficient than the newer ones and cost more in fees to transact.
At the start of January 2023, only 1% of transactions were using Taproot-compatible addresses while 65% were still using legacy addresses incompatible with the Segwit update from 2017. (You may notice that the percent shot up in Feb 2023, and that was due to Ordinal inscriptions using Taproot.)

• Legacy: 26%
• Nested Segwit (within Legacy): 39%
• Segwit v0: 34%
• Taproot/Bech32m: 1%

Almost no one (1%) is using addresses newer than the 2021 update because none of the major CEXs support them. Most exchanges (Binance, Coinbase, Kraken) don't support Bech32m addresses, which means they can't send to Segwit v1 and Taproot addresses, released through the BIP 350 update.
And this limitation has blocked update progress for years.
In comparison, networks that hard fork for protocol updates don't have these incompatibility issues between versions. Everyone is working on the same version, which allows for consistency. A single Ethereum address is compatible with all versions of Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, Avalanche C-Chain, Fantom, Cronos, Kava, Gnosis, Moobeam, all layer 2 networks, and hundreds of other networks.

Hard Forks

People who don't agree with Bitcoin Core protocol can hard fork it. There are many popular hard forks of Bitcoin. The largest ones are Bitcoin XT (2014), Bitcoin Cash (2017), and Bitcoin SV (2018).
The Bitcoin Cash fork is particularly notable because it was the result of a huge rift within the Bitcoin community over the size of blocks (1MB vs 8MB/32MB). Ultimately, the small-block proponents won the war, and Bitcoin kept its 1MB blocks while large-block proponents hard-forked to BCH. That's a bit ironic since Bitcoin was a 32MB-block chain for most of Satoshi's time. Much like how both mainland China (People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (Republic of China) claim themselves to be the true Republic of China, both the BTC and BCH communities tried to claim the title of "Bitcoin" even after the split. There was hot blood between them for years.

Reorgs

Reorgs are when a fork happens and the previous longest chain gets completely overwritten by a new longest chain. The new blocks in the previous chain are lost and overwritten. There have been at least 2 reorgs longer than 6 blocks: 51 blocks in Aug 2010 and 24 blocks on Mar 12, 2013 Source 1, Source 2. Both times were caused by coding bugs and had to be fixed by 51% attacks with community approval. The 2010 reorg actually caused Bitcoin to mint 184.4 billion Bitcoins, way past its 21 million cap. There have also been at least three 4-block reorgs prior to 2017. So the usual recommendation to wait 3-6 block confirmations was not guaranteed to be safe in the past. However, it has been stable for the past several years, and we haven't had any reorgs larger than 2 blocks.

Lack of Efficiency

Low throughput and slow block times

Bitcoin is a 3-4 TPS blockchain (when blocks are 100% filled) with a 30-60 minute probabilistic finality. It used to have a maximum of 7 TPS, but that has gradually fallen over the years after the Segwit update and exchanges started using batch transactions. It's much too slow to be used for point-of-sales merchant transactions. In comparison, both Avalanche's X-Chain (another UTXO network) and Algorand can reach 6000 TPS with under 5-sec deterministic finality.

High cost of security

Bitcoin is one of the least efficient cryptocurrencies. In 2021, each block cost roughly $150-300K in costs to mine, which is equivalent to $100-150 of fees per transaction. The amount of energy needed for a single Bitcoin transaction in Sept 2021, ~1800 kWh, is roughly the same as the amount of energy used by a typical US household over 62 days. The total Bitcoin network energy consumption was ~150-200 TWh / yr in 2021-2022. For comparison, the US has 92 Nuclear power plants that produced 778 TWh in 2021 source, so the Bitcoin network uses the equivalent power of 18-24 US nuclear power plants. Another way of looking at this is that Bitcoin consumes about as much energy as all data centers globally [Source].

Mempool congestion

Because of the slow transaction speed of Bitcoin, there's often a traffic jam of transactions waiting to be picked for the next block. Transactions sent to the network via gossip protocol sit in the mempool, and there were several times where the backlog ended up being greater than 100k transactions (8 hours) in 2021 and 2022. Many transactions were untouched for days until they timed out.
Due to its slow speed, Bitcoin is not suitable as a payment system for point-of-sales transactions. It would be silly to ask a customer to wait 60 minutes while the transaction finalizes.

Moderately-high Fees

Bitcoin fees vary with mempool size, congestion, and the sat/vByte ratio. Back in 2010, nearly all Bitcoin transactions had no fee. The fee has risen over time.
Bitcoin's fees are high enough that you can't use them for daily transactions. During the cheapest days of the 2022 bear market, fees fell back to $0.10 to $0.40 per transaction, and a transaction set to 1-2 sat/vB fees would go through in a couple of hours. In a bull market, fees can rise to $1-10 per transaction, and any fee set below 10 sat/vB could stay days in the mempool.
In fact, Layer 1 transfer fees even briefly rose past $50 in May 2021. That's way more than its competitors (e.g. XLM, XRP, Nano, BCH) that have average transfer fees under $0.10. And fees will rise again during the next bull run.

Unable to reach widespread global adoption

At 4 TPS, Bitcoin can only make ~345K transactions/day. There are ~8B people in the world today. If Bitcoin grows to the size of 1% of the population, each person can make an average of 1 on-chain transaction every 230 days. If Bitcoin usage grows to 10% of the population, each person can make an average of 1 on-chain transaction every 6.3 years. Bitcoin cannot achieve even 10% of world adoption unless everyone's solely using centralized exchanges and not interacting with the network itself.

Lightning Network

What is the Lightning Network?

The Lightning Network was built as a partial-Layer 2 protocol to help scale Bitcoin due to Bitcoin's slow throughput and block time limitations.
Lightning uses an interconnected network of State Channels. Two or more parties have to open a multisig payment channel using a Hash TimeLock Contract (~800 weight) and rebalance the initial state. They can do however many transactions as they want off the Bitcoin network until they run out of capacity. Once they're done, they can close the channel and receive their portions of their funds from the channel. The network links multiple of these state channels together to create the Lightning Network.

Meant for small transactions

The total value stored on public Lightning channels account for under 0.02% of Bitcoin's total locked value. Transaction fees are low, so running a Lightning Network Daemon is not particularly profitable, especially since nodes constantly have to rebalance, costing additional fees. The larger your transaction, the higher the fees you have to pay to route it through the network. As of March 2023, the average channel capacity is only 0.07 BTC, and the average node capacity is only 0.33 BTC. It's not uncommon to have a 1 BTC transaction cost $2-10 in fees to route through multiple nodes in the Lightning Network due to limited channel capacity, which can make it more expensive than L1 Bitcoin fees.

Not a true Layer 2

Similar to Plasma channels, the Lightning network is not considered a true Layer 2 because it lacks global state. There are many nodes that are not connected to the rest of the network, and onion routing issues sometimes cause nodes to be disconnected from the rest of the network. Channels only work if everyone's online. If you're offline, others can force-close your channel, leading to a 1-week wait time where the channel's funds are locked and inaccessible.
Partially-centralized, low-security layer
There are a lot of limitations to the Lightning Network, and participants have to monitor their channels constantly to make sure they aren't improperly closed or disconnected.
Most people just connect to centralized nodes in a spoke-hub network topology to gain access to high-capacity nodes. Even though average capacity is getting bigger, the number of public channels has been on the decline since 2021, meaning that Lightning is becoming more centralized.

Rebalancing issues

One of the biggest problems with opening channels is that they start out with zero incoming liquidity. Anyone who opens a channel starts out with a metaphorical full cup of water. They can't receive any more water until they first empty the cup a little. And they can only receive additional water equivalent to the amount they removed. Similarly, people who open new channels to the Lightning network need to find a way to spend their Sats safely so that they can have incoming liquidity. Merchants and Lightning node providers often have a lack of incoming-liquidity while consumers who only spend usually run out of outbound liquidity. They have to pay up to $1 to rebalance each $1000.
There are several ways to get incoming liquidity. You can't just send Sats to another one of your accounts because that will just create a private channel disconnected from the rest of the Lightning network. You have to do it with another node on the Lightning network that has large incoming capacity, and that costs money because that uses up their capacity.
Most methods involve some variation of either 1) paying for a service (as expensive as $1 fee per $1000 of liquidity) or 2) finding other trusted members to take your funds on Lightning and then send you back the funds off-chain or on mainnet. Merchants who only receive funds have to constantly rebalance their channel (or more likely pay some centralized 3rd-party provider to do it). While it's not anywhere as expensive as the 2% that credit card companies charge, it's an ongoing cost and annoyance. Some newer methods available for initial setup are Dual Funding, which is only available for certain nodes like C-Lightning, and liquidity triangles.

Limits to adoption

Not even the Lightning Network could scale Bitcoin beyond 10% global adoption because opening and closing a channel requires 2 on-chain transactions. Each Lightning channel has directional capacity, and whenever that gets exceeded (varying times depending on usage, e.g. every 2-4 weeks), it will need to be rebalanced. This usually means someone on the network is closing and reopening with new capacity. You can't expect people to store months of funds on a single channel. Half of the US is living paycheck to paycheck and gets new checks biweekly. Merchant stores typically close their accounts at the end of the day. If even 1% of the world used the Lightning Network and opened/closed channels twice a year, the Bitcoin Network would become completely congested.
The only way Bitcoin and the Lightning Network could grow to 1% global adoption is if most of the users are only interacting on centralized exchanges/nodes and settling on the Bitcoin network directly no more than twice a year.

Other Weaknesses

Lack of Features

Bitcoin is very basic. It only supports 1 token: Bitcoin. The scripting language it uses, Bitcoin Script, is also rudimentary. Most miners will refuse to run anything beyond the few known basic scripts that have been whitelisted for Bitcoin use. This includes multi-signature and time-locks. These are scripts, but they're too basic to be considered actual smart contracts.

Mining Pool Centralization

The top 3 mining pools own 60% of the network [Source]. Mining is not something the average crypto user can do by themselves unless they join a mining pool because the chance of winning the block is astronomically low. You need an expensive and specialized high-end ASIC miner for SHA-256 mining. To prevent miners from stealing the block, mining pool servers do not provide enough information to miners for them to tell when an attack is coming. They will only find out if they're running full nodes and paying attention, and only after the attack has been committed. Individual miners have no financial incentive to run full nodes, so it's rare for them to be auditing their pool operators.
This could be fixed with Stratum v2, but that's not available yet. And we don't even know if mining pool will allow it. There are multiple configurations of Stratum v2, and only 2 out of 4 give control of block production to miners.

Lack of Client Diversity

Everyone is running some version of Bitcoin Core, which is developed by a single skeleton crew. All documentation on how to run a node point to Bitcoin Core, and if you search for "how to install a node" on Bitcoin Talk, they all use Bitcoin Core.
In addition, the largest mining pools (AntPool, Foundry USA, and F2Pool, and Binance Pool) all use Stratum v1 clients, which gives full control of block production to operators. News about Stratum v2 has been slow, and it's uncertain if the pools will even want to give up their control and switch to it.
In comparison, Etheruem has at least 5 consensus clients and 4 execution clients. And their community is constantly encouraging others to switch to minority clients.

Security Issues

Lack of sustainability

Bitcoin pays its Proof of Work miners with a block reward for providing security to the network. The block reward is the sum of:

1. a fixed block subsidy (currently 6.25 BTC) paid through inflation of BTC, and
2. a variable transaction fee from customers

Currently, that block subsidy is about $200K per block and it accounts for [97-99%]((https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-fee_to_reward.html)) of the block reward. Thus the current subsidy ($80 per transaction) is over 50x higher than current transaction fees.
As halvings continue and BTC's value can no longer keep doubling (due to exceeding the value of all assets in the world), the total block reward will keep decreasing. Some combination of the following must happen:

1. transaction costs increase to replace the block subsidy
2. miners drop out, leading to a decrease in Bitcoin's security

I don't expect consumers to pay for $50 transaction fees. Instead, there's a very high chance that Bitcoin will experience an ice age where all miners drop out except for the few miners who can acquire cheap ASIC rigs and run at the cheapest energy costs, leading to more centralization. This has been discussed many times before as the Tragedy of the Commons for Bitcoin since 2011. At that point, it will be extremely profitable to perform 51% attacks.

Susceptible to 51% attacks in the distant future

Proof of Work networks are inherently weak to 51% attacks.
Many smaller PoW have been successfully-attacked by mining pools from larger networks. Some PoW networks like Bitcoin Cash have introduced checkpoints to limit damage from attacks. Bitcoin Cash is actually quite resistant to 51% attacks due to that checkpoint, at the cost of having a longer finality time.
Bitcoin lacks finality checkpoints. It only takes $5-10B of mining equipment to compromise the Bitcoin network, and many billionaires and nation states easily have the funds to do this. Even poor countries like Nigeria have a $400B GDP. What's preventing others from attacking Bitcoin isn't the monetary cost--it's because it's hard to acquire that many mining rigs. But as halvings continue, if the price of Bitcoin doesn't double every 4 years, miners will eventually sell their equipment on secondary markets. Some nation state or billionaire could easily buy them, short Bitcoin, and then 51%-attack the network. They don't even need to go through the trouble of stealing funds.
Simply producing empty blocks is enough to grind the network to a halt. And they still get paid the block subsidy.
List of PROs (below): https://np.reddit.com/MPlankton/comments/127ztpv/bitcoin_research_mar_2023/jegk1nh/
List of CONs (below): https://np.reddit.com/MPlankton/comments/127ztpv/bitcoin_research_mar_2023/jegk6oh/

I can’t leave my husband it’s getting toxic (Muslim marriage).
Hello I’m new here so bare with me. This is gonna be long
My husband(male 25) and I (female 22) moved to the uk a year ago and a few months. (We are both from different countries) we both are in our early 20’s and I’m a stay at home wife and can’t find a job here. My husband works full time. Now after a year in moving here I’ve been trying to convince him to move to closer to my family it wouldn’t be a big change for him but he still won’t agree. Sometimes he starts agreeing to it and then disagrees again. I’m getting really depressed here and we have big fights where we don’t talk for days. Our arguments can get really loud and hurtful for both of us. I can’t seem to handle my anger and frustration and neither can he. I can’t say we didn’t have our happy days because we did. He used to treat me like a princess. Because of our culture differences he had to adjust a little but he tried. In our culture it’s a norm that my husband supports his family back home with money (which was a big topic of argument too sometimes) and him wanting to go out with his friends who cheat and take drugs is a big thing too. He already once smoked weed and that was a huge argument on itself because that’s unacceptable for me. Right now all I do is cry and he seems annoyed by me all the time. We talked about separating as well. Now to the topic why I can’t leave him. I can’t go back to my parents house since they are toxic too and will convince me to go back to him anyways. I have no education what’s so ever to start a new life i have no friends who i can go back to and start living with them until I find a job. I have so much anxiety when I think about leaving my husband and so much guilt because of my parents. I can’t handle the enorm pressure and fights I’m gonna have with my parents if I move back with them. My husband is my comfort zone. Yes he hurts me but he was always better to me then my own parents were. He gives me love and cares for me but I just can’t seem to trust him anymore and forgive him for what he did. I don’t wanna live in the uk anymore either since I can’t feel secure enough here. He has a whole life with friends and my insecurities won’t let me accept that he stays out late sometimes or wants to hang out with his friends who take drugs since I can’t seem to trust him when he says he won’t take them. He doesn’t seem to get that I need time with him where he takes me out and we have fun together since I only have him. He does understand for a few weeks or a month until he starts focusing on his work and friends again. He says I’m too controling and that I don’t understand his needs (maybe I am ) cause if it was for me i would want to be his first priority and would want him to spend all his time with me. I know everyone’s gonna say leave or that I’m toxic but I’m getting real suicidal. I don’t know what to do can someone help me how to accept him and who he is and let him live his own life without me being miserable and constantly thinking he doesn’t care about me and not trusting him. And how to make him understand that I need his time and that he needs to spend time with me too and. I get this feeling in my stomach that I’m going to puke whenever he’s late out with his friends. He also lies to me about where he is sometimes even tho i have his location and I get so mad about his lies but he days he lies because he wants to avoid fights. I just want him to change and spend time with me and not his friends all the time or send his money to his family when ihr could be sometimes spending it on me. He said he tried any times to make me happy but he can’t live like this. Maybe I’m a horrible Person. How can I control myself to not be always so anxious about what he’s doing or where he is or how can I just emotionally detach myself from him while staying with him to not get bothered by all this. Just show me ways how to cope with all this while staying with him please. Right now we aren’t on talking terms and whatever I say he gets defensive and mad. Idk what to do with myself sorry English ain’t my first language thank u and please don’t be too mean

I accomplished some things today. I showered, took it to school and of course fed our dog. Didn't cry in the car after drop off, walked by his ashes and told the hubby good morning. Today was starting out pretty good.
Started a new save on Rune Factory 5. It's a huge deal since I haven't played any video games since my hubby passed in February. Really got into the story, started to get to know the characters.
I was having a good time. I surprised myself. Then...my brain suddenly whispered "You're never going to have a conversation with Carlos again."
I paused the game and looked at the picture of my husband on my night stand. I then sighed. Clearly I've already accepted that I won't see my husband again till I die. WHY would my brain have to remind me? It's almost like it hates me. I turned off the game and now I'm just here in my room, crying because what the fuck else can I do?
I can't even enjoy myself. Maybe I am just supposed to be miserable every moment. Ugh. I just want to jump off a bridge.

I’m a 34 y/o female with no history of hypertension nor any in my family I know of. My baseline is right around 118-120/65-70 or so.
I went to a new doctor today and the medical assistant checked me with an automatic bp machine. 154/119. She says she’s going to recheck in a few minutes, comes in with a bigger cuff (I’m average sized so I think the original cuff was fine) and it’s 134/97. She wants to check a third time and it’s now 127/87 which obviously is much better but I’m still concerned of the high reading initially.
I’m going to keep an eye on it this weekend. I am under a lot of stress (nursing student, enough said) in addition to other things in my life so it could have just been anxiety from being at the doctors coupled with stress.
When should I recheck and at what point should I be concerned? I meant to ask the doctor all of this but it sort of slipped my mind