Previous
Writer's note: My bad about the past few days. A stomach bug and work got in the way. But all's good.
Now learn some tragic backstory, a bit of Earth info, and the status of everyone's favorite omen of misfortune.
Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The King was already conversing with Colonel Muhammed when James finally caught up with him in the command room. He jogged in at a brisk pace, but stopped when he saw the two of them talking on the small tablet in front of the King.
King Farrick cocked an eyebrow as he saw James. James just shrugged while mouthing "I know." and gesturing at his beard. The King shook his head as he looked back down at the tablet.
"We're just glad our people could be of assistance sir." The Colonel said. "Even if it only ended up being during the cool down after everything had already resolved."
"It is greatly appreciated Colonel." The King replied. "Seeing as the dungeon is currently erm... ruined... we'll have to let the last few of your people there out. Though they'll still be restricted in their movements." He added. The Colonel nodded, as if she'd expected as much. "As for the weapons." He continued. "Well," He sighed deeply. "I look forward to the.... paperwork.... regarding its use in necessary situations."
Colonel Muhammed let out a quick snort. "I'll see if I can get em to keep it short and sweet." She said.
The King motioned for James, who walked over. "Captain Choi is back earlier than expected, as I'm sure you know." He said as James got next to him and he turned the tablet so its camera caught James too. "I'll let you have him for a bit."
And just like that James was looking at his commanding officer while sporting a neon pink beard.
"Evening ma'am." He said with his cheesiest smile.
Muhammmed's eyes glazed over as she saw the ridiculous facial hair.
"Do I even want to know?" She asked.
"Nope." James replied honestly. "But I made friends during my trip." Then he shook his hand in a so-so gesture. "Well... one of em might just be an...." Then he rethought his standing with the Vatrian Emperor, Vateris. He also hadn't talked with command about his personal vendetta against the so-called gods. "Look. I didn't end up in prison or dead. And things went mostly well."
And suddenly a very grainy, sand-coated, hand was holding James's. He did what he could not to jump with surprise.
"By the way. Meet Glag!" He said excitedly as he panned the camera down to the rock monster's face. Glag looked at the screen with wide, amazed, eyes. James was surprised to see that Glag looked surprisingly dark, and just a little red. "He's a new companion!"
"What in the hell is that?" The Colonel asked as she peered at the screen on her end.
"Glaaaaag." Glag replied.
"Introductions done." James said. "So, what's the deal with the Zootopia duo?"
------------------------------
"Okay. It was weird at the store." Samantha said as she looked around. "But this is just plain strange."
Around them the restaurant was empty. The bistro Fletcher had brought her to, The Blue Tree, was a ghost town. A few of the staff stood at the greeting booth on the other side of the room. But other than that it was completely deserted. It was so quiet that they could hear the kitchen staff working prep in the back, for what had to be ONLY their food.
"Admittedly I think they took this a bit too far." Fletcher said abashedly as he peeked at the small menu. "This can't be cheap for the hospital, or government or whoever is funding the rehabilitation program."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as they both tried to think of what to say. Neither of them would admit it, but it had been a while since either of them had dated.
And neither of them had ever dated in THIS particular scenario.
"So... how long have you been a lawyer?" She asked hesitantly.
"Um... about... eight years now?" He said uncertainly as he tried to do math in his head. "Close to nine. How bout you? How long were you in the Army before um.... well. You know."
She nodded. She was getting a lot better about acknowledging what had happened. But it was still a sore spot.
"I was about half way through my second term. So about six years." She answered, even though she was certain he'd probably read that in her file at some point. "Wasn't gonna reenlist again though."
"No plans to make it a career?" He asked.
"No." She said with a shake of her head. "No I intended to get out and get certified as a ration enforcement officer once I was done."
"Ration enforcement?" He said with raised eyebrows. "That's a dangerous job. Even compared to being an MP. Planning on staying near your family?"
She chuckled. "Yeah." She admitted. "My fathers shop is small and usually gets shunted by the bigger ones in the area. Wanted to stick around and keep the queues in order so it didn't happen."
"Ah. Makes sense." He responded as one of the wait staff came over.
A few minutes later, and after Fletcher had ensured that they'd been warned about Samantha's new dietary difficulties, the young woman departed with a smile and promise that their drinks and appetizers would be out in just a few minutes.
"And what got you into law?" She asked once they were alone again.
"My wife." He said, causing her to spit out the small sip of water she'd taken after asking the question. He smiled and there was a pain there. "Don't worry." He said. "I'm not married anymore."
"Divorced?" She asked, trying to figure out what was happening now.
Fletcher's mouth opened for a moment as he tried to think for a second. Did he really wanna have THIS talk on, what was hopefully a first, date. "Widower." He said softly.
And just like that she was thrown off balance again.
"I'-I'm so sorry." She said hastily. "I didn't know."
He held his hands up in warding. "It's fine." He said reassuringly. "It's been.... almost a decade now. I'm... I'm okay."
There was another awkward silence, though this time NOT because neither of them had anything to say.
Fletcher spoke first.
"She was a Paramedic." He said. "She was helping with some humanitarian work overseas and um... She got sick from some of the fallout." He nodded as he took a deep breath. "The organization she worked for was uh.... less than honorable about helping her get cared for afterwords. I started reading up on as many laws and regulations as I could to help her fight for it. But uh.... too little too late." Then he fake-smiled. "But I found out I was good at understanding legal jargon so I uh.... found my calling. I guess. Retooled my college classes and the rest is history."
"That's awful." She said quietly, not knowing what else to say given what she'd just heard.
"It was, yeah." He agreed. "But uh... thanks to that I've been able to help a lot of people who've been screwed by similar situations. So... I don't know. Guess that's something."
She smiled too. "Well you helped me." She said. "Didn't expect the ARMY of all organizations to back down from some legalese."
He pointed out at one of the windows, at the people outside walking about. Across the street a few teenagers were watching as one of them tried to levitate. The kid rose about a foot or so before beginning to wobble and then flipping over and falling on his face. The other two fell out laughing and jeering as he picked himself up.
"Between the two packs that split off and headed north and south, and all the people that have started to have ACTUAL magic powers." He said with a shrug. "I think they just have bigger fish to fry."
"Your appetizers and drinks." The server said, startling both of them.
"Ah." Fletcher said with a genuine smile this time. "I think you're gonna like the crab sliders here. They actually use REAL crab."
Her eyes widened. Real crab was rare nowadays. Then she looked at the server, who was nodding. "They closed this place and you guys serve REAL crab?" She asked.
"Sure do." The server replied with a smile. "We're one of the few restaurants in the city that gets any.
"God you weren't kidding." Samantha said as she turned back to Fletcher. "It must have cost a fortune to close a place like this for a night."
"I told you." He said jokingly with a grin.
She slumped, a little embarrassed at everything that had to have gone into this. She didn't deserve all this.
"So we'd better make the most of it before the hospital's finance department catches on." He said as he raised his glass of wine in a toast. "Again, assuming this isn't government funded. Which... it probably is."
Samantha lifted the large stein of light ale and, as gently as she could, clinked it against his glass.
"Enjoy." The server said as she nodded and stepped back.
And just like that the tone of the conversation lightened, and the rest of dinner was much more enjoyable.
--------------------------
Vickers awoke with a gasp.
Everything hurt.
He'd been beaten up pretty badly before. Had even been way too close to explosions a few times and spent weeks in the hospital recovering afterword to make sure he didn't have any unseen injuries. Then there was the time some turbulence had caused him to botch a wet insertion from a helicopter that had already been almost at the max height for a dive.
Those had all had him SORE for weeks.
This was different.
He felt both hot and cold at the same time. And not just his skin, but his entire body, inside and out, felt like they were infused with IcyHot.
And try as he might, he couldn't see, and everything was muted.
"He's awake." Someone said from outside of him. "Fetch the Archmage and master Farstorm."
"Whe-" He tried to say. But his voice was horse, and cracked as he tried to wheeze out the question. "Where?" He said weakly after struggling to swallow with a mouth that was drier than it had ever been before.
Someone touched him on the chest, and even though the touch was light and delicate he groaned in pain as every nerve in the area screamed.
And even in that excruciating moment, the part of his brain that nobody could ever fully get rid of, no matter how much training they underwent, joked.
So this is what Choi's life is like. It said sarcastically. Running through life like a marshmallow that got dropped in a camp fire every few months. Tough little fucker.
"Calm down Mister Vickers." One of those muted voices, that he thought sounded familiar, said. "We only woke you up so the Archmage could ask a few questions. We'll have you back under in a minute. Let me give you something for the pain."
"Not until the lead healer has okayed it." Another voice said somewhat harshly. "We don't even know how your Earth medicine will affect his body now."
"I do." The first voice replied. "I've used this stuff on were-people before. It works just fine. I just have to up the dosage. And Shrend knows it." The first voice, which he now faintly recognized as Choi's mom, said.
There was a pinch in the middle of a bloom of fire on Vickers' throat as a needle was pressed into one of the veins there.
And suddenly the pain, and everything else for that matter, seemed to drop away.
"Thassss..." He began. "Thasssalot... bedder."
"Shhhh." Mrs. Choi said as he felt, faintly, her touching his head. "I'm gonna take off some of your bandages so you can hear and see." She finished as his hearing cleared. "Plus we need to check your eyes and ears anyways."
A moment later Vickers' eyes opened and he was surrounded by a swirling mix of green and amber light. It was blurry, though he was mostly just happy he had any sight at all.
"Still cloudy." Mrs. Choi said as she pried his eyes open ever so slightly and looked inside. She as about to check his ears when the door opened.
Vickers turned his head with a slowness that was not intentional.
"Chief Vickers." Said the old mage who usually spoke so slowly, and looked so frail. But he didn't look or sound anything of the such at the moment as he pulled up a chair and sat where he could look at Vickers.
"Thaassss....me." He said as his head swam with whatever Mrs. Choi had given him. Probably Ketamine or something.
"I know you're in a lot of pain right now." The old mage said. "But we need to know what you saw. What was on the other side of that door before the Elemental manifested?"

Power went out for me and our neighbors around south and Broadway anyone know what happened? We called Edison and they said it's not coming back on till 7:30

Previous / First
Writer's note: My bad about the past few days. A stomach bug and work got in the way. But all's good.
Now learn some tragic backstory, a bit of Earth info, and the status of everyone's favorite omen of misfortune.
Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The King was already conversing with Colonel Muhammed when James finally caught up with him in the command room. He jogged in at a brisk pace, but stopped when he saw the two of them talking on the small tablet in front of the King.
King Farrick cocked an eyebrow as he saw James. James just shrugged while mouthing "I know." and gesturing at his beard. The King shook his head as he looked back down at the tablet.
"We're just glad our people could be of assistance sir." The Colonel said. "Even if it only ended up being during the cool down after everything had already resolved."
"It is greatly appreciated Colonel." The King replied. "Seeing as the dungeon is currently erm... ruined... we'll have to let the last few of your people there out. Though they'll still be restricted in their movements." He added. The Colonel nodded, as if she'd expected as much. "As for the weapons." He continued. "Well," He sighed deeply. "I look forward to the.... paperwork.... regarding its use in necessary situations."
Colonel Muhammed let out a quick snort. "I'll see if I can get em to keep it short and sweet." She said.
The King motioned for James, who walked over. "Captain Choi is back earlier than expected, as I'm sure you know." He said as James got next to him and he turned the tablet so its camera caught James too. "I'll let you have him for a bit."
And just like that James was looking at his commanding officer while sporting a neon pink beard.
"Evening ma'am." He said with his cheesiest smile.
Muhammmed's eyes glazed over as she saw the ridiculous facial hair.
"Do I even want to know?" She asked.
"Nope." James replied honestly. "But I made friends during my trip." Then he shook his hand in a so-so gesture. "Well... one of em might just be an...." Then he rethought his standing with the Vatrian Emperor, Vateris. He also hadn't talked with command about his personal vendetta against the so-called gods. "Look. I didn't end up in prison or dead. And things went mostly well."
And suddenly a very grainy, sand-coated, hand was holding James's. He did what he could not to jump with surprise.
"By the way. Meet Glag!" He said excitedly as he panned the camera down to the rock monster's face. Glag looked at the screen with wide, amazed, eyes. James was surprised to see that Glag looked surprisingly dark, and just a little red. "He's a new companion!"
"What in the hell is that?" The Colonel asked as she peered at the screen on her end.
"Glaaaaag." Glag replied.
"Introductions done." James said. "So, what's the deal with the Zootopia duo?"
------------------------------
"Okay. It was weird at the store." Samantha said as she looked around. "But this is just plain strange."
Around them the restaurant was empty. The bistro Fletcher had brought her to, The Blue Tree, was a ghost town. A few of the staff stood at the greeting booth on the other side of the room. But other than that it was completely deserted. It was so quiet that they could hear the kitchen staff working prep in the back, for what had to be ONLY their food.
"Admittedly I think they took this a bit too far." Fletcher said abashedly as he peeked at the small menu. "This can't be cheap for the hospital, or government or whoever is funding the rehabilitation program."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as they both tried to think of what to say. Neither of them would admit it, but it had been a while since either of them had dated.
And neither of them had ever dated in THIS particular scenario.
"So... how long have you been a lawyer?" She asked hesitantly.
"Um... about... eight years now?" He said uncertainly as he tried to do math in his head. "Close to nine. How bout you? How long were you in the Army before um.... well. You know."
She nodded. She was getting a lot better about acknowledging what had happened. But it was still a sore spot.
"I was about half way through my second term. So about six years." She answered, even though she was certain he'd probably read that in her file at some point. "Wasn't gonna reenlist again though."
"No plans to make it a career?" He asked.
"No." She said with a shake of her head. "No I intended to get out and get certified as a ration enforcement officer once I was done."
"Ration enforcement?" He said with raised eyebrows. "That's a dangerous job. Even compared to being an MP. Planning on staying near your family?"
She chuckled. "Yeah." She admitted. "My fathers shop is small and usually gets shunted by the bigger ones in the area. Wanted to stick around and keep the queues in order so it didn't happen."
"Ah. Makes sense." He responded as one of the wait staff came over.
A few minutes later, and after Fletcher had ensured that they'd been warned about Samantha's new dietary difficulties, the young woman departed with a smile and promise that their drinks and appetizers would be out in just a few minutes.
"And what got you into law?" She asked once they were alone again.
"My wife." He said, causing her to spit out the small sip of water she'd taken after asking the question. He smiled and there was a pain there. "Don't worry." He said. "I'm not married anymore."
"Divorced?" She asked, trying to figure out what was happening now.
Fletcher's mouth opened for a moment as he tried to think for a second. Did he really wanna have THIS talk on, what was hopefully a first, date. "Widower." He said softly.
And just like that she was thrown off balance again.
"I'-I'm so sorry." She said hastily. "I didn't know."
He held his hands up in warding. "It's fine." He said reassuringly. "It's been.... almost a decade now. I'm... I'm okay."
There was another awkward silence, though this time NOT because neither of them had anything to say.
Fletcher spoke first.
"She was a Paramedic." He said. "She was helping with some humanitarian work overseas and um... She got sick from some of the fallout." He nodded as he took a deep breath. "The organization she worked for was uh.... less than honorable about helping her get cared for afterwords. I started reading up on as many laws and regulations as I could to help her fight for it. But uh.... too little too late." Then he fake-smiled. "But I found out I was good at understanding legal jargon so I uh.... found my calling. I guess. Retooled my college classes and the rest is history."
"That's awful." She said quietly, not knowing what else to say given what she'd just heard.
"It was, yeah." He agreed. "But uh... thanks to that I've been able to help a lot of people who've been screwed by similar situations. So... I don't know. Guess that's something."
She smiled too. "Well you helped me." She said. "Didn't expect the ARMY of all organizations to back down from some legalese."
He pointed out at one of the windows, at the people outside walking about. Across the street a few teenagers were watching as one of them tried to levitate. The kid rose about a foot or so before beginning to wobble and then flipping over and falling on his face. The other two fell out laughing and jeering as he picked himself up.
"Between the two packs that split off and headed north and south, and all the people that have started to have ACTUAL magic powers." He said with a shrug. "I think they just have bigger fish to fry."
"Your appetizers and drinks." The server said, startling both of them.
"Ah." Fletcher said with a genuine smile this time. "I think you're gonna like the crab sliders here. They actually use REAL crab."
Her eyes widened. Real crab was rare nowadays. Then she looked at the server, who was nodding. "They closed this place and you guys serve REAL crab?" She asked.
"Sure do." The server replied with a smile. "We're one of the few restaurants in the city that gets any.
"God you weren't kidding." Samantha said as she turned back to Fletcher. "It must have cost a fortune to close a place like this for a night."
"I told you." He said jokingly with a grin.
She slumped, a little embarrassed at everything that had to have gone into this. She didn't deserve all this.
"So we'd better make the most of it before the hospital's finance department catches on." He said as he raised his glass of wine in a toast. "Again, assuming this isn't government funded. Which... it probably is."
Samantha lifted the large stein of light ale and, as gently as she could, clinked it against his glass.
"Enjoy." The server said as she nodded and stepped back.
And just like that the tone of the conversation lightened, and the rest of dinner was much more enjoyable.
--------------------------
Vickers awoke with a gasp.
Everything hurt.
He'd been beaten up pretty badly before. Had even been way too close to explosions a few times and spent weeks in the hospital recovering afterword to make sure he didn't have any unseen injuries. Then there was the time some turbulence had caused him to botch a wet insertion from a helicopter that had already been almost at the max height for a dive.
Those had all had him SORE for weeks.
This was different.
He felt both hot and cold at the same time. And not just his skin, but his entire body, inside and out, felt like they were infused with IcyHot.
And try as he might, he couldn't see, and everything was muted.
"He's awake." Someone said from outside of him. "Fetch the Archmage and master Farstorm."
"Whe-" He tried to say. But his voice was horse, and cracked as he tried to wheeze out the question. "Where?" He said weakly after struggling to swallow with a mouth that was drier than it had ever been before.
Someone touched him on the chest, and even though the touch was light and delicate he groaned in pain as every nerve in the area screamed.
And even in that excruciating moment, the part of his brain that nobody could ever fully get rid of, no matter how much training they underwent, joked.
So this is what Choi's life is like. It said sarcastically. Running through life like a marshmallow that got dropped in a camp fire every few months. Tough little fucker.
"Calm down Mister Vickers." One of those muted voices, that he thought sounded familiar, said. "We only woke you up so the Archmage could ask a few questions. We'll have you back under in a minute. Let me give you something for the pain."
"Not until the lead healer has okayed it." Another voice said somewhat harshly. "We don't even know how your Earth medicine will affect his body now."
"I do." The first voice replied. "I've used this stuff on were-people before. It works just fine. I just have to up the dosage. And Shrend knows it." The first voice, which he now faintly recognized as Choi's mom, said.
There was a pinch in the middle of a bloom of fire on Vickers' throat as a needle was pressed into one of the veins there.
And suddenly the pain, and everything else for that matter, seemed to drop away.
"Thassss..." He began. "Thasssalot... bedder."
"Shhhh." Mrs. Choi said as he felt, faintly, her touching his head. "I'm gonna take off some of your bandages so you can hear and see." She finished as his hearing cleared. "Plus we need to check your eyes and ears anyways."
A moment later Vickers' eyes opened and he was surrounded by a swirling mix of green and amber light. It was blurry, though he was mostly just happy he had any sight at all.
"Still cloudy." Mrs. Choi said as she pried his eyes open ever so slightly and looked inside. She as about to check his ears when the door opened.
Vickers turned his head with a slowness that was not intentional.
"Chief Vickers." Said the old mage who usually spoke so slowly, and looked so frail. But he didn't look or sound anything of the such at the moment as he pulled up a chair and sat where he could look at Vickers.
"Thaassss....me." He said as his head swam with whatever Mrs. Choi had given him. Probably Ketamine or something.
"I know you're in a lot of pain right now." The old mage said. "But we need to know what you saw. What was on the other side of that door before the Elemental manifested?"

Thinking about changing the blurb to my book. I used kindlepreneur's blurb generator for this one and tweaked it after. Tell me what you think:
From his triumphant return home to the Empire of Athos to his exile in the forsaken Ashlands of Asha, Prince Halcion Skyborn embarks on a journey of self-discovery and redemption. Born with Empyrean descent, bound by the Code of Athos, and Wielder of the Prinordial magic known as charna, Hal is the beloved Prince of the Empire, though now he sets his eyes on becoming the Crown Prince, and eventual Emperor. But when a hidden plot to overthrow the royal family is discovered, Hal's Wielding abilities are stripped away and those closest to him aid in his fall from grace.
In his exile, Hal must confront powerful cosmic forces and unravel the secrets of the Empyreans of old to regain his power and reclaim his birthright, and save the people of the Empire. Though little does he know, help will be found in the most dangerous of places and the journey is just beginning.

Hello y’all just had a quick question, last night there was a power outage and my KT400 controller lost power, the ac and dc lights are on but the middle LED for the heartbeat patterns is not showing any life. Would anyone here know what that could possibly mean? Thank you!

i know this is dry, but its over a phone call and i suck at writing anyways, judge it please. Standing there in the aftermath, getting his ripped costume soaked through by the rain, All Might pulled out his phone as he let go of his hero form, returning the sickly thin Toshinori Yagi as he dialed a certain principal. "Hello? This is All Might, yes I would like to talk to Nedzu. Thank you very much ma'mm. Hello? Nedzu, I need some help. I have found that group of monsters." On the other line, the rat god spoke. "Oh? Have you run out of time already Yagi? You should have accepted my offer for tea and let Endeavour handle it." Shaking his head, Toshinori let out a hollow laugh. "No no...the monsters were taken care of...but not by me." Having his curiousity peaked, Nedzu gave a chilling smile that could be felt through the phone. "OH? Mr. Yagi, whoever could have done that? The only other hero capable of handling such a large amount of Demon Levels would be Endeavour and he is currently at his house since you agreed to take this." Toshinori took a deep breath and sighed. "You may not believe me but...it was some kid. And before you ask, no he's not my successor, I just saw him for the first time today...Nedzu, I belive this may be that vigilante in the news, that one hit wonder." Nedzu was now hooked. "What did he look like? You say he's a kid but, may I remind you that the 'one hit wonder' debuted in the news 4 years ago! If he was a child as you say, would he not have had school still?" Seeing the reason, Toshinori nodded and sighed. "Yes...but this child...his power...it was like 'him', the true number one. I believe they are of the same cloth Nedzu."

Houston Internet Outage Suspicious???
I have three different providers and all three are down??? Is this an intentional internet blackout or are all three connected to the same sat feed??? I have redundancy so this won’t happen also on Thursday the power went out but I have a backup generator so didn’t loose power or internet but the power was restored and I lost all internet….seems very strange to me……

Houston Internet Outage Suspicious???
I have three different providers and all three are down??? Is this an intentional internet blackout or are all three connected to the same sat feed??? I have redundancy so this won’t happen also on Thursday the power went out but I have a backup generator so didn’t loose power or internet but the power was restored and I lost all internet….seems very strange to me……

1. Researchers from Snap present SnapFusion, a new approach that, for the first time, unlocks running text-to-image diffusion models on mobile devices in less than 2 seconds .
2. StabilityAI adds a new feature Uncrop to their generative AI tool, Clipdrop. It creates AI-generated backgrounds to automatically expand any image using Stable Diffusion XL as a foundation model. It’s free to try in the Clipdrop web app, with no need to log in.
3. Google has updated Bard with a new technique, implicit code execution. This lets Bard run code in the background when it sees math-related prompts, making word problems and math calculations about 30% more accurate. Bard can now also directly export any table it creates to Google Sheets*.*
4. Microsoft develops Orca - a 13-billion parameter model outperforming smaller open-source models and at times equaling or outperforming ChatGPT, though it lags behind GPT-4.
5. Google presents and open-sources Visual Captions, a system that uses spoken words to add real-time images to video chats.
6. AlphaDev, Google DeepMind’s AI, discovers small sorting algorithms from scratch that outperformed human benchmarks. These algorithms have been added to the LLVM standard C++ sort library. This is the first time an algorithm designed by AI has been added to this library. AlphaDev also discovered a new hashing algorithm, now released in the open-source.
7. Adobe opens its Firefly generative AI model to enterprise customers, allowing them to customize the model with their own branded assets.
8. HuggingChat, the open-source alternative to ChatGPT by HuggingFace added a web search feature.
9. Tafi, the owner of Daz 3D announces the launch of a text-to-3D character engine, that will allow users to create high-quality custom 3D characters using simple text prompts. Tafi is using a massive 3D dataset derived from its proprietary Genesis character platform.
10. Runway’s much-awaited Gen-2 for text-to-video is available now with free triaL.
11. Europe wants platforms to label AI-generated content to fight disinformation..
12. Google presents SQuId, a 600M parameter regression model that uses the SQuId dataset and cross-locale learning to evaluate speech synthesis quality in multiple languages and describe how natural it sounds.
13. Together released the v1 versions of the RedPajama-INCITE family of models, allowing commercial use. RedPajama-INCITE-7B-Instruct is the highest scoring open model on HELM benchmarks, outperforming Falcon-7B. RedPajama, is a project to create leading open-source models, and it reproduced LLaMA training dataset of over 1.2 trillion tokens in April.
14. Wordpress launches Jetpack AI Assistant for generating blog posts, detailed pages, structured lists and comprehensive tables from within the Wordpress editor.
15. Google Research presents StyleDrop: a method for generation of images from text prompts in any style described by a single reference image. StyleDrop is powered by Muse, a text-to-image generative vision transformer.

If you like this news format, you might find my newsletter helpful - it's free to join, sent only once a week with bite-sized news, learning resources and selected tools. I didn't add links to news sources here because of auto-mod, but they are included in the newsletter. Thanks

I've recently had my basement renovated and I was thinking of adding a backup sump pump because my pump runs often and I want to be prepared for power outages, but also in the event of a pump failure. Ideally, I'd like a redundant pump using a Y connector to the original discharge line, and battery power.
I've seen a bunch of options online, but I'm having trouble understanding the differences or if there's a much cheaper way of doing things.
Option 1: Basement Watchdog
Option 2: Zoeller Basement Sentry
Option 3: (DIY) Regular Sump Pump & a Computer UPS Backup Battery
I understand option 3 presents challenges with matching the draw/current correctly. Does anyone have any experience to share? Thanks!

Our property (in CT, USA) has an egress to the power company to allow power lines to cross (mostly around driveway area). A tree company hired by our power company has come out to assess the risk of trees by the power lines in order to limit outages in the future.
They have marked 13 trees and when I spoke with them, they wanted to take them all down, but did indicate we could have the branches shaved on some.
I am wondering what the options are here (since a lot of these trees provide privacy/barriers to neighbors) and would prefer they all not come down.
Thank you!!

I'd love to get feedback on an extension I've built: https://github.com/nvms/wingman
The README and demo video (linked above) pretty much tell you everything you need to know about what it is and what it can do for you, but in a nutshell: it's a general purpose, AI-powered extension that helps you with your code. HOW it helps you with your code is entirely up to you, and completely customizable.
At the core of the extension are template expressions that give you the ability to to define your own generic, language-independant prompts, like (very concise example):
"I have this {{language}} code: {{text_selection}}\n\nQuestion:{{command_args}}"
Where:

• {{language}} becomes the current language ID of the active editor, e.g. "typescript"
• {{text_selection}} becomes the currently highlighted text
• {{command_args}}, if present in the prompt, will prompt you for input

There are other interpolations available, and probably more to come.
User-defined commands (in vscode's settings.json) are surfaced in the Wingman UI (cmd-j by default) and can be categorized based on their purpose, e.g. there are default categories for "refactoring", "documentation", "completion", "analysis", "tests", "pull requests". You're able to create your own categories and hide the built-in ones if you want.
Really, the goal here is to create an extremely modular tool that can be formed to your own workflow. I hope you find that to be the case with this extension, and I really hope you find value in customizing it to meet your needs.
Edit: I probably should have mentioned that there a bunch of built-in commands to help you get started and to give you an idea of what you're able to do.

Chapter LXXXVIII
​
Somewhere, West Virginia, USA.
​
"Oh he's coming!" She said excitedly.
​
Casius rolled his eyes. He sometimes forgot that She was an eldritch entity that had the power to tear the fabric of reality when She sat in Her chair bouncing around like a little kid waiting for their favorite cartoon to come on.
"Aren't you excited too Casius?!"
​
"Positively vibrating Mistress." He stated with mock enthusiasm.
​
"We knew she was going to tell him, but We didn't think it would be right away!" She did a little clap in excitement as She and Casius waited the arrival of Jeb.
​
Jeb, meanwhile, was less than thrilled. The talk he just had with the 3 kobolds was amusing at first. But grew more and more annoying as they insisted that what they said was true. That not only was his mother some horror from the void. But that HE was one as well!
​
He was not amused, Jeb thought as he stomped his way up the mountain to his mother. He didn't know what trick she pulled to make the kobolds think that she was some kind of monster or that he was one too. But it needed to be sorted. It was bad enough hearing from his dad that she was some sort of creature. Now he had to hear the same from the kobolds?!
​
Sure she was getting up there in age, he thought. But there comes a time where playing her little mind games takes it too far!
​
But then he remembered the image in the mirror. The nightmares. Dan Mathers. He shook his head though.
"Just stress is all. That's all it is! All it WAS!"
​
That's what he kept telling himself at any rate. But the more he said it, whether aloud or in his head, the more it felt wrong. Like he was telling himself a lie to make himself feel better. The more he told it, the more he wanted to believe it.
​
He growled and slammed a fist into a nearby tree. He scratched his head like there was an itch that just wouldn't go away. He shook his head again but it did little good. It seemed like the more he thought about it the worse his head got.
​
Before long he was burning a path to his mother's cabin. Every greeting he got from his kin was ignored or unnoticed. His ears were ringing and his heart pounded as his breathing grew ragged with every step.
​
He was just going to have a simple talk with his Ma is all, he thought. But it felt like he was walking through a battlefield. His nerves were on high alert and his head ached. His fingers twitched from the adrenaline pumping its way throughout his system.
​
He was a jittery mess as he stood at the threshold. He forced himself to breathe. He balled his hands up into fists and placed them on either side of the worn wooden door and held his head down with his eyes closed. Or maybe he slammed them, he couldn't even tell with how wired he felt.
​
"Breathe. Just Breathe. 1. 2. 3." He resorted on his old breathing trick he would use whenever his temper started to flare up. He hasn't really needed it lately. Probably because he's been so busy being productive trying to get the kobolds sorted that he hasn't been anything more than mildly annoyed about things.
​
He still felt like he was getting into a ring when he finally opened the door. But at least he didn't feel like he was on crank.
"Hay Ma."
​
"Jeb!" His ma cheered as she stood and embraced him in a warm firm hug.
​
"Casius." Jeb greeted simply.
​
"Jebadiah." Casius returned with a smile.
​
His mom returned to her seat with a wide smile on her face as Jeb took a seat of his own. He shifted uncomfortably for a moment before speaking to Casius.
"Can me and my Ma have a moment Casius?"
​
But his mom put a hand up.
"It's alright Jeb."
​
"Ok. Fine. You need to stop your little mind games on my friends!" Jeb snapped.
​
"Oh? What mind games?" She asked with an innocent smile.
​
"You know damn well! I don't know what you did but now it's got the lizardfolk thinkin' your some sort of demon!"
​
"Us? Or you?" She asked simply.
​
"What?"
​
"Do they think WE are, or are you afraid that they now think YOU are?"
​
"T-t-that's not the point! The point-"
​
"Is you're worried that those looks your Pa gives Us, he gives to you when your not looking? That YOU killed Dan Mathers all those years ago? That what you see in the mirror is what you truly are? That those nightmares don't make you feel scared but instead feel good?" She asked, each question feeling like a knife that dug itself deeper into his head and chest.
​
With a roar he got up and pointed his finger at her.
"THIS ISN'T A FUCKIN' JOKE!"
​
"Does it look like We're laughing?" She said, smile still on her face.
​
"You know what?! I don't have to deal with this!" Jeb stated as he turned to leave the cabin. Only to find the door was gone. Not that there was a hole where it had been, but that it was just plain gone! A solid wall was where it was as if there hadn't ever been a door there in the first place.
​
Jeb chuckled bitterly.
"Ok. Real funny."
​
Jeb ran his hands over the wall looking for the doorlatch. But the more he searched the angrier he got. He growled and turned to yell.
"ENOUGH OF YOUR FUCKIN' GAMES!"
​
He found himself surrounded in gloom and darkness. Only himself and his mom were illuminated in a pale blue glow. Casius and the cabin both were gone. She leaned forward and crossed her hands.
"Why don't you say what you REALLY want to say Jeb?"
​
Jeb looked around the darkness. His heart hammered and his body twitched and shook. His head was a mess as it felt like it was trying to pull itself apart. One part didn't want to say anything, the other was screaming to utter the words.
​
"It's all true isn't it."
​
It wasn't a question.
​
His mother smiled. Not the usual quirky smile she had whenever she played her tricks and games. Just a smile a mother would have when she would speak to her children.
"It is."
​
Everything stopped. Every nerve in his body stilled and his mind went silent. The silence stretched even as the darkness faded and the cabin and Casius faded back into view.
​
"What I saw in the mirror. The nightmares. That's me isn't it?"
​
She just nodded.
​
"And Dan Mathers? The other kids?"
​
"Got what they deserved in the end." She replied.
​
"They were just kids Ma!"
​
"And they made your life hell for months."
​
"That doesn't mean they deserved to die! At least not like they did!" Jeb went quiet after that.
​
An uncomfortable silence filled the air. Jeb wasn't sure if his Ma and Casius was just trying to give him time to think or if they weren't sure what to say either. He wasn't sure what to think let alone say. His life was a lie. Everything he knew and thought was a lie.
​
His father lied to him, Ruby lied to him, everybody lied to him.
"Why didn't you ever say anything when I was lil?"
​
She just shrugged her shoulders.
"It wouldn't have mattered. Whether it was 20 years ago or 20 minutes. This was still going to happen. Sam wanted all this kept from you "for your own good". He wanted nothing to do with any of it. We didn't say anything because, as We said, it didn't matter. This would've happened anyway. We figured you would be better prepared, mentally, if you were older. Telling children they have the potential to be gods either humbles them or turns them into monsters. So We waited."
​
"What if I don't want to be a god?! What if I just want to be normal?! Regular, normal, Jeb?!"
​
"That isn't in the cards Jeb. The day is fast approaching where you will have to decide. Either you accept you're not a mortal human, or you die."
​
"What do you mean I'll die?"
​
"As bad as you think you'll become. You can become much worse. Your humanity is what will damn you and those around you when the time comes. It will shatter and break and you'll be nothing more than a mad dog. And you'll be put down like one."
​
His head hurt. Not the existential force he was feeling when he came here. But just a regular headache. Like trying to force yourself to do paperwork. It was just too much. Her words were true, he knew that much. His Ma might like playing mind games but this was too much for her to play, especially on him. It all made some sort of sick sense in a way too.
​
Like waking up and remembering what happened after too much drinking. You might not like what you remember, but at least it all made sense, sorta. But that didn't make his head any better.
"I-i gotta go."
​
Jeb got up. Casius made to put a reaffirming hand on Jeb's shoulder. But he snapped and smacked away the hand.
"D-d-don't touch me! J-j-just don't."
​
He made for the, now reappeared, door and left. No calls or greetings were returned even as he left. He had too much that now occupied his mind.
​
The Crone and Casius watched Jeb leave.
"Will he be alright Mistress?"
​
"He's a strong boy. Give him time." She stated in return.
​
Jeb didn't feel very strong though as he descended the mountain. His head felt fuzzy. He wanted to just stop and cry against a nearby tree. His limbs were heavy with every step he took. It felt like he was moving in slow motion.
​
At some point he had enough. He screamed and yelled and thrashed. Pain, sorrow, anger. Like a dam broke he swung his fists at anything around him, even the air, just trying to let off steam, to feel better, to feel normal again.
​
He was tired. Just tired. Eventually his rage gave out and he sat with his back to a tree. Everything felt numb. Then he felt something on his face. It took him a moment to realize he was crying. Then the dam broke again, and he wailed and sobbed.
​
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A truck took down wires at the intersection of Jackson St/Highland Ave/Essex St a couple hours ago. Jackson St is closed and traffic is a mess in the area. Power is out for a chunk of the streets around the accident. Word is it was an Amazon truck that caused the issue. Apparently the outage is wreaking havoc for the cities IT services.
There was also a fatal accident on Highland Ave last night by Olde Village Drive. A pickup truck and a scooter just before midnight. The side heading towards Lynn was closed for most of the night.
The Salem News isn't running either story of course.

* I split all splitable codes; so, please ONLY redeem what we agree upon. Thanks in advance!
****DISNEY HD SPLIT CODES (**port to MA)
101 Dalmations 1961 (GP)
Aladdin 1992 Animated (GP)
Aladdin Live Action (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Aladdin Live Action (GP)
Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Bad Day (MA)
Ant-man (GP)
Avengers Age of Ultron (GP)
Avengers Age of Ultron (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Avengers Infinity War (GP)
Avengers Infinity War (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Bambi (iTunes)
Beauty and the Beast Animated (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Big Hero Six (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Captain America First Avenger (GP)
Captain America First Avenger (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Captain America Winter Soldier (GP)
Captain Marvel (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Cars 3 (GP)
Cars 3 (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Cinderella 2015 (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Finding Dory (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Finding Nemo 4K (MA)
Frozen (GP)
Frozen (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Frozen Sing a Long Edition (GP)
Frozen Sing a Long Edition (MA)
Frozen 2 (MA) 4K
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 (GP)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (GP)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Hercules 1997 (GP)
Inside Out (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Into The Woods (MA)
Iron Man 2 (GP)
Iron Man 3 (GP)
Iron Man 3 (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Jungle Book 2016 (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
The Lion King Animated (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
The Lion King Live Action (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Maleficent (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Maleficent (GP)
Maleficent Mistress of Evil (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Mary Poppins 1964 (MA)
Mary Poppins Returns (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Million Dollar Arm (GP)
Monsters University (GP)
Mulan 1998 (MA) 4K
Muppets Most Wanted (MA)
Onward 4K (MA)
Oz The Great and Powerful (iTunes)
Oz The Great and Powerful (GP)
Petes Dragon 2016 (iTunes)
Pinocchio (iTunes)
Planes (GP)
Planes (MA)
Planes Fire and Rescue (GP)
Planes Fire and Rescue (MA)
Queen of Katwe (iTunes)
Return to Neverland: Peter Pan (MA)
Saving Mr. Banks (MA)
Sleeping Beauty 1959 (GP)
Spies in Disguise 4K (MA)
Spies in Disguise (GP)
Star Wars Rogue One (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Star Wars The Force Awakens (GP)
Star Wars The Force Awakens (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Star Wars The Last Jedi 4K (MA)
Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker (GP)
Super Buddies (GP)
The BFG (iTunes)
The Finest Hours (GP)
The Good Dinosaur (MA) (iTunes redeems 4K)
The Little Mermaid 4K (MA)
The Little Mermaid 2 Return to the Sea (iTunes)
The Little Mermaid 3 Ariels Beginnings (iTunes)
The Lone Ranger (GP)
The Lone Ranger (MA)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (MA)
The Pirate Fairy (MA)
Thor (GP)
Thor (MA) (iTunes redeems 4K)
Thor Ragnarock (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast (GP)
Tomorrowland (MA)
Toy Story 4 (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Wall-E (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
Zootopia (GP)
Zootopia (iTunes) (redeems 4K)
SONY BUFF PASS x1 (Choose 1 of the following options...)
Annie (1982)
Armored
Boogeyman 2
Buck and the Preacher
Julie & Julia
Little Man
Not Another Teen Movie (4K)
Starship Troopers (4K)
The Suburbans (SD)
To Sir, With Love (4K)
HD CODES (VUDU or MA)
007 Skyfall (vudu/GP)
2 Fast 2 Furious (MA)
47 Ronin (MA)
A Dogs Purpose (MA)
A Good Day To Die Hard Extended (MA)
A Quiet Place (VUDU HD/iTunes 4K)
American Girl Isabella Dances into the Spotlight (MA)
American Girl McKenna Shoots for the Stars (MA)
America Imagine The World Without Her (VUDU)
American Made 2017 (MA)
American Reunion Unrated (MA)
Anchorman 2 (VUDU split)
Annie 2014 SD (MA)
Apollo 13 (MA) Split
Atlas Shrugger Part 3 (MA)
Babylon (Vudu 4k/iTunes 4K)
Bad Grandpa: Jackass Presents (VUDU split)
Barbie and her Sisters in A Pony Tale (MA)
Barbie and the Secret Door (MA)
Barbie in Princess Power (MA)
Barbie in the Pink Shoes (MA)
Barbie Mariposa and the Fairy Princess (MA)
Barbie Starlight Adventure (MA)
Battleship (MA)
Ben Hur 2016 (vudu split)
BlackHat (MA split)
Bones and All 2023 (Vudu)
Book Club (VUDU split)
Buttons A Christmas Tale (Vudu split)
Captain Underpants The First Epic Movie (MA)
Concussion (MA) SD
Cult of Chucky unrated (MA) split
Curse of Chucky unrated (MA) split
Daddy's Home (VUDU split)
Daddy's Home 2 (VUDU split)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K iTunes)
Deadpool (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Despicable Me 1 (MA)
Despicable Me 2 (MA)
Despicable Me 3 (MA)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days (MA)
Divergent (SD) (VUDU)
Dracula Untold (MA)
Dragonheart Battle For The Heartfire (MA split)
Dredd (Vudu)
Dr. Seuss's The Lorax (MA)
Dungeons and Dragons Honor Among Thieves (Vudu HD/iTunes 4K)
Eddie The Eagle (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Ender's Game (VUDU split)
Epic (MA)
E.T. (MA)
Everest ( MA) split
The Fast and Furious 2001 (MA)
Fast and Furious 2009 (MA)
Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift 2006 (MA)
Fast Five Extended Edition 2011 (MA)
Fast & Furious 6 Extended Edition (MA)
The Fast and Furious 2017 Theatrical (MA)
The Fast and Furious 2017 Extended (MA)
Furious 7 Extended Edition (MA)
Fences (Vudu split)
Fifty Shades of Grey unrated (MA)
Flashdance (Vudu 4K)
Flight (vudu split)
Foxcatcher (MA)
Friday the 13th Part 3 (Vudu/iTunes)
Get Out (MA)
G.I. Joe Retaliation (vudu split)
Hail, Cesar! (MA)
Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters unrated (Vudu split)
Heaven is for real SD (MA)
Hercules 2014 (vudu split)
Home Alone (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Hop (MA)
Hotel Transylvania SD (MA)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas 2000 (MA)
Hunger Games (Vudu)
Hunger Games Catching Fire (Vudu)
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 (vudu)
Ice Age Continental Drift (MA)
Interstellar (VUDU split)
Jackass 3 (Vudu Split)
Jack Reacher (Vudu split)
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit (vudu split)
Jason Bourne (MA)
Jaws (MA)
John Wick 1 (HD Vudu/4K iTunes)
John Wick 3 (vudu/GP/iTunes 4K)
Jurassic Park (MA)
Jurassic Park The Lost World (MA)
Jurassic Park 3 (MA)
Jurassic World (MA)
Katy Perry The Movie (vudu split)
Kingsman The Secret Service (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Kung Fu Panda 3 (MA)
Last Knights (SD) (Vudu)
Les Miserables 2012 (MA)
Life of Pi (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Love Actually (MA) SD
Lucy (MA) 4K
Madagascar 3 Europes Most Wanted (MA)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (MA) 4K
Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas (MA) split
Minions (MA)
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (vudu split)
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation (Vudu split)
Mission Impossible Fallout (vudu split)
Monster High Electrified (MA)
Monster HIgh Fright ON (MA)
Monster High: Welcome to Monster High (MA)
Mother! (Vudu split)
Mr Peabody and Sherman (MA)
Nebraska (Vudu split)
Noah (vudu split)
Non Stop (MA)
No Strings Attached (VUDU split)
Oblivion (MA)
Office Christmas Party (VUDU) split
Only The Brave (MA)
Olympus Has Fallen (MA)
Pain and Gain (vudu split)
Paper Towns (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Paranormal Activity 1 (vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 2 unrated (Vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 3 extended (Vudu split)
Paranormal Activity 4 unrated (Vudu Split)
Parental Guidance (MA)
Penguins of Madagascar (MA)
Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters (MA)
Perks of Being A Wallflower (vudu)
Pitch Perfect 1 (MA)
Pitch Perfect 2 (MA)
Pitch Perfect 3 (MA)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (HD VUDU/4K iTunes)
Rango (VUDU split)
Red 2 (SD) (VUDU)
Ride Along (MA)
Rio 2 (MA)
R.I.P.D. (MA)
Rise of the Guardians (VUDU)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Runner, Runner (MA)
Safe House (MA)
Sausage Party (MA)
Scream 2022 (Vudu HD/iTunes 4K)
Selma (vudu split)
Sherlock Gnomes (Vudu split)
Silent Night, Deadly Night Collection 3,4,5 (Vudu)
Sing (MA)
Sisters (MA)
Snatched (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Snow White and the Huntsman (MA)
Son of God (MA)
Split (MA) 4K
Start Trek 4 The Voyage Home (VUDU HD/iTunes 4K)
Star Trek Beyond (Vudu split)
Star Trek Into Darkness (Vudu split)
Straight Outta Compton Dir Cut (MA split)
Suburbicon (Vudu split)
Super 8 (VUDU split)
Super Mario Bros Movie 2023 (MA 4K)
Taken 2 (MA)
Ted unrated (MA)
Ted 2 unrated (MA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 (vudu split)
Terminator Dark Fate 4K (vudu split)
The Adventures of Tin Tin (Vudu split)
The Amazing Spiderman 2 (MA)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (MA)
The Big Short (VUDU split)
The Boss Baby (MA) (4K through iTunes)
The Boss Unrated (MA)
The Bourne Identity (MA)
The Bourne Legacy (MA)
The Bourne Supremacy (MA)
The Bourne Ultimatum (MA)
The Croods (MA)
The Dark Tower (MA)
The Dentist Collection 1,2 (Vudu)
The Dictator (VUDU split)
The Dilemma (MA)
The Fault in our Stars (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
The Gambler (Vudu split)
The Girl On The Train (MA)
The Guilt Trip (Vudu split)
The Heat 2013 (MA)
The Impossible (Vudu)
The Internship (MA)
The Last Stand SD (Vudu split)
The Mummy 2017 (MA)
The Mummy Dragon of the Tomb Emporer (MA)
The Other Woman (MA)
The Purge 2013 (MA split)
The Purge: Election Year (MA) split
The Scorpion King 4 Quest For Power (MA) split
The Secret Life of Pets (MA)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (MA)
The Sponge Bob Movie Sponge out of Water (VUDU split)
The Wolf of Wallstreet (VUDU split)
The Wolverine Extended (MA)
This is 40 theatrical (MA)
Top Gun (vudu split)
Transformers Dark of the Moon (vudu split)
Transformers Age of Extinction (Vudu split)
Transformers The Last Knight (Vudu split)
Tremors A Cold Day in Hell (MA)
True Grit (VUDU split)
Turbo (MA)
Unbroken (MA)
Unfriended (MA)
Warcraft ( MA)
War For the Planet of the Apes (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
Warm Bodies (VUDU split)
What to Expect When You're Expecting (vudu split)
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (Vudu split)
World War Z (Vudu split)
X-Men Days of Future Past (MA) (redeems 4K through iTunes)
X-Men Trilogy (One Code) (MA) (X-Men 2000, United, Last Stand)
XXX Return of Xander Cage (Vudu split)
TV SHOWS HD (Will trade for single movie)
Game of Thrones Season 2 (iTunes redeem)
Game of Thrones Season 3 (iTunes redeem)
ITUNES HD CODES unless otherwise stated
A Quiet Place (redeems 4K) Split
Alien Covenant (redeems 4K)
Alvin and the Chipmunks The Road Trip (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Anchorman 2 The Legend Continues (split)
Bad Grandpa Jackass Presents (split)
Ben Hur 2016 (split redeems 4K)
Captain Underpants The First Epic Movie (ports to MA)
Cowboys and Aliens (ports to MA)
Daddy's Home (split redeems 4K)
Daddy's Home 2 (split redeems 4K)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Deadpool (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Despicable Me 2 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Diary of A Wimpy Kid (ports to MA)
Dredd (redeems 4K)
Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (ports to MA)
Eddie the Eagle (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Exodus Gods and Kings (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Fast and Furious 6 extended 2013 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Fifty Shades of Grey (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Friday the 13th Part 3
G I Joe Retaliation (split) (redeems 4K)
Hansel and Gretal Witch Hunters
Hercules 2014 (split redeems 4K)
Hidden Figures (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Home Alone (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Home Alone 2 (ports to MA)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas 2000 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K split)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Hugo (Split redeems 4K)
Hunger Games (split redeems 4K)
Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 (split redeems 4K)
Ice Age (ports to MA)
Ice Age 5 Collision Course (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Identity Thief (ports to MA)
Independence Day Resurgence (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Interstellar (split redeems 4K)
Jack Reacher (split) (redeems 4K)
Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit (split redeems 4K)
Jason Bourne (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Jurassic World (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Keeping Up With The Joneses (porst to MA) (redeems 4K)
Kingsman The Secret Service (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Kingsman The Golden Circle (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Kung Fu Panda 3 (ports to MA)
Les Miserables 2012 (ports to MA)
Lets Be Cops (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Logan (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Lucy (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
MikE and Dave need Wedding Dates (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Minions (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol (split redeems 4K)
Mission Impossible Rogue Nation (split redeems 4K)
Mission Impossible Fallout (split redeems 4K)
Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Monster High 13 Wishes (ports to MA)
Monster High: Welcome to Monster High (ports to MA)
Mr Peabody and Sherman (ports to MA)
Nebraska (split)
Neighbors (ports to MA)
Night at the Museum Secret of the Tomb (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Noah (split)
Oblivion (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Office Christmas Party (redeems 4K)
Paranormal Activity 1 (split)
Paranormal Activity 2 (split)
Pitch Perfect 1 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Pitch Perfect 2 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Playing with Fire (redeems 4K)
Poltergeist 2015 Extended Cut (ports to MA)
Rise of the Planet of the apes (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Safe House (ports to MA)
Schindlers List (ports to MA) (redeems 4K) split
Selma (split)
Serenity 2005 (ports to MA)
Sisters unrated (ports to MA)
Snatched (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Snow White and the Huntsman (ports to MA)
Spectre (redeems 4K)
Spy unrated (ports to MA)
Star Trek Beyond (redeems 4K)
Star Trek Into Darkness (redeems 4K)
Super 8 (redeems 4K split)
Ted (ports to MA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 (redeems 4K)
The Best Man Holiday (ports to MA)
The Big Short
The Book of Life (ports to MA)
The Boss Baby (ports to MA)
The Bourne Legacy (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The BoxTrolls (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Change up (ports to MA)
The Fault In Our Stars (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Gambler (split)
The Last Stand (SD)
The Longest Ride (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Martian (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Maze Runner (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Maze Runner The Scorch Trials (ports to MA) (redeems 4k)
The Peanuts Movie (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (ports to MA)
The Secret Life of Pets (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
The SpongeBob Movie Sponge Out of Water (Split)
The Wolf of Wall Street (split redeems 4K)
Transformers Age of Extinction (split redeems 4K)
Transformers The Last Knight (split redeems 4K)
Trolls (ports to MA)
True Grit (redeems 4K)
Unbroken (ports to MA)
War for the Planet of the Apes (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Warm Bodies (split redeems 4K)
Waterworld (ports to MA split redeems 4K)
Wild 2014 (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
Why him (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
World War Z (split)
X-Men Apocalypse (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
X-Men Days of Future Past (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
X-Men Days of Future Past ROGUE CUT (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
X-Men First Class (ports to MA) (redeems 4K)
X-Men Origins Wolverine (ports to MA)
XXX Return of Xander Cage (redeems 4K)
ITUNES XML (SD) Redeems
A Nightmare On Elm Street 2010 (ports to MA)
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (ports to MA)
Alien vs Predator Requiem (ports to MA)
Alpha and Omega
Alvin and the Chipmunks The Movie (ports to MA)
Alvin and the Chipmunks The Squekeul (ports to MA)
Alvin and the Chipmunks Chip Wrecked (ports to MA)
Another Earth (ports to MA)
Arthur (ports to MA)
Babylon A.D. (ports to MA)
Black Swan (ports to MA)
Bridesmaids (ports to MA)
Chronicle (ports to MA)
Chronicles of Narnia Voyage of Dawn Treader (ports to MA)
Crank 2
Crazy Stupid Love (ports to MA)
Date Night (ports to MA)
Daybreakers
Diary of A Wimpy Kid (ports to MA)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Rodrick Rules (ports to MA)
Doc McStuffins Friendship is the best Medicine
Dr Deuss Horton Hears A Who (ports to MA)
Due Date (ports to MA)
E.T. (ports to MA)
Fame 2009
Family Guy It's A Trap
Family Guy Something Something Darkside
Final Destination 5 (ports to MA)
From Paris With Love
Hall Pass (ports to MA)
Hangover Part 2 (ports to MA)
Hall Pass (ports to MA)
Hereafter (ports to MA)
Hitman 2007 (ports to MA)
Horrible Bosses (ports to MA)
Ice Age A Mammoth Christmas (ports to MA)
Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs (ports to MA)
IMAX Hubble (ports to MA)
Jake and the Neverland Pirates Peter Pan Returns
Jumper (ports to MA)
Juno (ports to MA)
Kick-Ass
Knight and Day (ports to MA)
Love and Other Drugs (ports to MA)
Mamma Mia The Movie (ports to MA)
Marley and Me (ports to MA)
Mr Poppers Penguins (ports to MA)
My Bloody Valentine
Orphan (ports to MA)
Percy Jackson The lightning Thief (ports to MA)
Phineas and Ferb The Perry Files
Predators 2010 (ports to MA)
Prometheus (ports to MA)
Public Enemies (ports to MA)
Rio (ports to MA)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (ports to mA)
Robin Hood (russel crowe) (ports to MA)
Saw The Final Chapter
Secret of the Wings (ports to MA)
Something Borrowed (ports to MA)
Strawberry Shortcake Berry Bitty Mysteries (ports to MA)
Taken (ports to MA)
The A Team (ports to MA)
The Croods (ports to MA)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (keanu) (ports to MA)
The Descendants (Clooney) (ports to MA)
The Expendables
The Eye
The Forbidden Kingdom
The Help (ports to MA)
The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emporer (ports to MA)
The Sitter (ports to MA)
The Spirit
The Watch
The Means War (ports to MA)
Transporter 3
Unknown (ports to MA)
Unstoppable (ports to MA)
Wanted (ports to MA)
War Zone Punisher
We Bought a Zoo (ports to MA)
X-Men First Class (ports to mA)
X-Men Origins Wolverine (ports to MA)
X-Men 2000 (ports to MA)
X-Men United:X2 (ports to MA)
X-Men The last Stand (ports to MA)
Yogi Bear (ports to MA)
**ALL codes have been verified
MY ISO/Request list:
Cocaine Bear MA
Evil Dead Rise MA
Fast 10 MA
John Wick 4 iTunes
Magic Mikes Last Dance MA
Mummies 2023 MA
Renfield MA
Scream 6 iTunes

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News & Insights

1. Researchers from Snap present SnapFusion, a new approach that, for the first time, unlocks running text-to-image diffusion models on mobile devices in less than 2 seconds [Paper].
2. StabilityAI adds a new feature Uncrop to their generative AI tool, Clipdrop. It creates AI-generated backgrounds to automatically expand any image using Stable Diffusion XL as a foundation model. It’s free to try in the Clipdrop web app, with no need to log in [Details].
3. Google has updated Bard with a new technique, implicit code execution. This lets Bard run code in the background when it sees math-related prompts, making word problems and math calculations about 30% more accurate. Bard can now also directly export any table it creates to Google Sheets [Details].
4. Microsoft develops Orca - a 13-billion parameter model outperforming smaller open-source models and at times equaling or outperforming ChatGPT, though it lags behind GPT-4 [Paper].
5. Google presents and open-sources Visual Captions, a system that uses spoken words to add real-time images to video chats [Details].
6. AlphaDev, Google DeepMind’s AI, discovers small sorting algorithms from scratch that outperformed human benchmarks. These algorithms have been added to the LLVM standard C++ sort library. This is the first time an algorithm designed by AI has been added to this library. AlphaDev also discovered a new hashing algorithm, now released in the open-source. [Details Paper].
7. Adobe opens its Firefly generative AI model to enterprise customers, allowing them to customize the model with their own branded assets [Details].
8. Apple announced a number of AI features without mentioning ‘AI’ [Details].
9. HuggingChat, the open-source alternative to ChatGPT by HuggingFace added a web search feature [Link].
10. Tafi, the owner of Daz 3D announces launch of a text-to-3D character engine, that will allow users to create high-quality custom 3D characters using simple text prompts. Tafi is using a massive 3D dataset derived from its proprietary Genesis character platform [Details].
11. Runway’s much-awaited Gen-2 for text-to-video is available now with free trial [Details].
12. Europe wants platforms to label AI-generated content to fight disinformation [Details].
13. Google presents SQuId, a 600M parameter regression model that uses the SQuId dataset and cross-locale learning to evaluate speech synthesis quality in multiple languages and describe how natural it sounds [Details].
14. Together released the v1 versions of the RedPajama-INCITE family of models, allowing commercial use. RedPajama-INCITE-7B-Instruct is the highest scoring open model on HELM benchmarks, outperforming Falcon-7B. RedPajama, is a project to create leading open-source models, and it reproduced LLaMA training dataset of over 1.2 trillion tokens in April [Details].
15. Wordpress launches Jetpack AI Assistant for generating blog posts, detailed pages, structured lists and comprehensive tables from within the Wordpress editor [Details].
16. Google Research presents StyleDrop: a method for generation of images from text prompts in any style described by a single reference image. StyleDrop is powered by Muse, a text-to-image generative vision transformer [Details Paper].
17. Why AI Will Save the World by Marc Andreessen [Link].

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4K

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Pet Sematary (1989) 4K Vudu $3 Pitch Perfect 4K iTunes (ports 4K to MA/Vudu) $2 Saw (Unrated) 4K Vudu/iTunes $3 Snow White & the Huntsman 4K MA/Vudu $3 Thor 4K MA/Vudu/iTunes $4 Toy Story 4 4K iTunes (ports 4K to MA/Vudu) $3 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 4K iTunes $1 Warcraft 4K MA/Vudu $3 Warm Bodies 4K Vudu/iTunes $4 A Wrinkle in Time 4K iTunes (ports 4K to MA/Vudu) $3

HD

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The Last Witch Hunter HD Vudu $1 The Lion King (2019) HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) (2 Available) $1 The Lone Ranger HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $3 Looper HD MA/Vudu $3 The Lords of Salem HD Vudu $2 Lucy HD MA/Vudu $2 Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted HD MA/Vudu (2 Available) $2 Maleficent HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) (4 Available) $1 Mama HD iTunes (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $2 Mary Poppins HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $2 Mary Poppins Returns HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $2 Men in Black 3 HD MA/Vudu (2 Available) $2 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol HD Vudu $1 Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation HD Vudu (2 Available) $1 Monsters, Inc. HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $3 The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones HD MA/Vudu $3 Mortdecai HD Vudu $3 The Mountain Between Us HD MA/Vudu or 4K iTunes (ports 4K to MA/Vudu) $3 Mud HD Vudu $2 Mulan (2020) HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $1 Now You See Me HD iTunes (2 Available) $1 Now You See Me HD Vudu (2 Available) $1 Oz the Great and Powerful HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $2 Parental Guidance HD MA/Vudu $2 Pinocchio (1940) HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $3 The Pirate Fairy HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $3 Pitch Perfect HD MA/Vudu (2 Available) $1 Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 3 HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) (2 Available) $3 Planes HD MA/Vudu/iTunes (2 Available) $2 Planes: Fire and Rescue HD MA/Vudu/iTunes $2 Red Sparrow HD MA/Vudu $2 The Rescuers Down Under HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $3 Robin Hood (1973) HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $3 Rush HD MA/Vudu $2 Saving Mr. Banks HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $3 Scrooged HD iTunes $3 The Secret Life of Pets HD MA/Vudu $2 The Shack HD Vudu $2 The Shack HD iTunes $2 Shaun the Sheep HD iTunes $2 Sleeping Beauty HD MA/Vudu/iTunes (2 Available) $3 Spider-Man: Homecoming HD MA/Vudu $2 Star Trek Into Darkness HD Vudu (2 Available) $1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) (8 Available) $1 Star Wars: The Last Jedi HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) (4 Available) $1 The Strangers: Prey at Night HD MA/Vudu (2 Available) $3 Taken 2 HD MA/Vudu (3 Available) $2 Terminator 2: Judgement Day HD Vudu $2 Thor HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $2 Thor: Ragnarok HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) (5 Available) $1 Toy Story 4 HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $1 Transformers: Dark of the Moon HD Vudu $1 True Grit (2010) HD iTunes $2 Turning Red HD GP (ports HD to MA/Vudu) $2 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 HD Vudu (2 Available) $1 Victor Frankenstein (2015) HD MA/Vudu $3 Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year HD MA/Vudu/iTunes $3

SD

Act of Valor SD iTunes $1 Divergent SD Vudu $1 The Hunger Games SD Vudu $1 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs SD iTunes (ports SD to MA/Vudu) $1 Immortals (2011) SD iTunes $1 Mirror Mirror SD iTunes $1 Star Trek (2009) SD iTunes $1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 SD Vudu $1