Wow outage

Bonnie: Is having a penis fun?
Cuddles: It has its ups and downs.
Lifty: Sometimes it’s a little hard.
Acc Sniffles: It’s a pain in the ass.
Fwench Fwy: Oh, Jesus, fuck, guys, come on.
/___________________________________________
MK: BEHOLD, the field in which I grow my fucks! Lay thine eyes upon it, and thou shalt see that it is barren!
/___________________________________________
Casper: Good responses for being stabbed with a knife?
Flippy: Rude.
Lifty: That’s fair.
Doc: Not again.
Dolly: Are you going to want this back?
/___________________________________________
Handy: So, according to my university, it is, and i quote "my responsability if there is an internet outage to contact the faculty and the department."
Handy: Now, if you are a critical thinker such as myself, you might be wondering one thing.
Handy: HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPOSSED TO EMAIL THE DEPARTMENT!?
/___________________________________________
Lifty, texting Doc: Im a theif
Doc: thief
Lifty: Theif
Doc: I before E, except after C
Lifty: Thceif
Doc: NO-
/___________________________________________
Iscream: Im cute as hell! Which is incidentally where i came from!
/___________________________________________
Flaky: Life problems i anticipated as a child: Ghosts, quicksand.
Flaky: Life problems i did not anticipate as a child: The crushing sence of failure associated with botched social interactions.
/___________________________________________
Lifty: We're playing scrabble, it's a nightmare!
MK: Scrabble? Scrabble is great!
Lifty: Not when you're playing with Doc, he puts words like "Ephemeral" and i put "Dog"
/___________________________________________
Cuddles: Coming in with a cannon into a 17th century bank\ Alright, everyone, be cool, this is a robbery!
/___________________________________________
Acc Sniffles: Lol heads up if you try to make a candle with food coloring, the food coloring will just sink to the bottom of the glass, and when the flame eventually reaches the bottom all the food coloring will catch fire and become one giant tall flame that you cannot possibly blow out and the glass will start to crack and then you'll throw your tea on it in a panic and then the extremely hot food coloring will boil and sizzle horribly and then the glass will shatter. Please take my word on this lmfao
Handy: What did you do, Sniffles?
Acc Sniffles: A MISTAKE
/___________________________________________
Cuddles: Toothy, Handy isn't coming out of his room.
Toothy, distracted: Tell them i said something.
Cuddles: Like what
Toothy: Something factually incorrect
Cuddles: Okay. Leaves\
Handy: Runs into the room\ Im sorry, did you say the sun was a PLANET!?
/___________________________________________
Doc is added to a group chat just named "Just Bunnies"\
Doc: Who the fuck added me to the fucking group chat!?
Bonnie: Language! >:O
Cuddles: Yeah, watch your fucking language!
Hoppy: Okay, who taught dad the fuck word?!
Frolic: 'The fuck word'
Bonnie: Are you guys dumb? You guys use the f word all the time!
Iscream: Oh my god she censored it
Frolic: Say fuck, Bonnie
Iscream: Do it, Bonnie, say fuck!
/___________________________________________
Cub: that's the largest worm i have ever seen!
Handy: thats a snake-
/___________________________________________
Cuddles: HYDRATE OR DIE-DRATE!
Cuddles: Aggresively throwing water bottles\
Flaky: What's his deal?
Lammy: He's trying to yell mental health and wellbeing to us.
Cuddles: I APPRECIATE ALL OF YOU!
Toothy, getting emotional: Its working
/___________________________________________
Henri: The moon is beautiful tonight...
Charlie: It sure is...
Cuddles: ... Should we tell them its just a tortilla you threw on the window?
Iscream: Shhhhh!
/___________________________________________
Flaky: Here is a fun idea! In Christmas, we hang a mistletoe, but instead of kissing, you have to FIGHT whoever else is under it!
Fwench Fwy: What-
Handy: Mistlefoe!
Fwench Fwy: NO-
/___________________________________________
X: Sometimes... I like to place my hands on someone's cheeks, look at their eyes... and then violently jerk their head at a 90° angle until it snaps.
Flippy: Well that took an unexpected turn-
X: Yeah, so did their neck
/___________________________________________
Honey: My friends say im the mlst charismatic of the group!
Flaky: Well, you are always smiling
Honey: Thank you!
Flaky:...
Flaky: What drugs do you take?
/___________________________________________
Cuddles: Not to be NSFW, but i want someone to hold my hand.
/___________________________________________
Iscream: Did it hurt when you fell-
Fwench Fwy: From heaven? Wow, i didn't know you were such a flirt-
Iscream: From the stairs.
Fwench Fwy:...
Iscream: ... You laid there for 15 minutes.
/___________________________________________
Response from "I have feelings for you"
Cuddles: What? Why? What's wrong with you? Are you sure you are ok? Should i call a doctor? /___________________________________________
The squad right before Handy's wedding\
Cuddles: Well I have to go, I have a wedding to attend.
Flippy: Wait... Oh! I have a wedding to attend too!
Acc Sniffles: Oh, I have a wedding to attend as well
Lammy: I THINK WE ALL HAVE WEDDINGS TO ATTEND
MK, panicked: I THINK I HAVE A WEDDING TO OFFICIATE

My parents live in an area with daily power outages lasting anywhere from 10 to 16 hours. I have bought them plenty of flashlights but nothing seems to last long enough and I have not invested in the best quality ones before. Just some average Chinese ones. I’m looking for 3 flashlights of good quality. Preferably made in the US or Japan or Germany. Id like all flashlights to use common non-proprietary chargers and non-proprietary batteries (so I can buy them top quality spare batteries).
Flashlight #1: - small /portable with a good throw and spill to use when going upstairs/ into the garden.
Flashlight #2: - large non portable one with the best throw and spill out there. They live near a forest and I want them to be able to feel safe when going out at night.
Flashlight #3: - Something that can light up an entire room when pointed at the ceiling and that can last for a very long time.
Any and all advice, be it partial or complete is highly appreciated!
Cost is not an issue. I only visit them once a year and I want to get them the best of the best. Thanks!
Edit#1: Wow! Thank you guys for all the insights and support! Such a great community! It will take me a while to research all the products suggested here and I really appreciate your feedback.
To answer some of you:
My parents live in a war torn country and they don’t have access to good quality products be it flashlights or batteries. I bought them a generator before but gas is also not readily available there. My dad also couldn’t deal with troubleshooting the thing every time it refused to start. Last time I was there I bought them two 12v lead acid batteries that automatically recharge when the power is on and then they flick led lights on when the power goes out. But because of the quality of the batteries over there… those also don’t live a long life and their output dwindles over a period as short as 3 months.
So I’m still looking at all the available options. Wind and solar are too bulky to ship over there, let alone be able to maintain with spare parts…etc.

How long does it take Wow to repair lines? We are on our third day no internet. The lines were damaged in the neighborhood during the last rain. I’m concerned if every little summer storm is days without internet working for WFH. Wow customer service is not helpful. Update: it took 4.5 days

Bitcoin

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Had an outage about an hour ago and when I called Cox they told me that it was a planned outage to increase my upload speeds. Sure enough when it came back online about an hour later I was getting 135 mbps up. They say it's only 100 guaranteed but I'm seeing 135 consistently. Talked to several friends and Neighbors around this part of Vegas and they all saw the same thing this evening. On a side note I'm now seeing over 1 GB down. Just over but typically I see about 835 to 900 max. Coz finally does something right? Wow.

Part 1
“Danny”
I grunted, resisting the literal call of the waking world and rolling over, burying my face into the pillow. “Danny” The call came again, still soft, but a little more insistent. I let out a sound which, to me sounded like “What?”, but in retrospect, was likely little more than a grumble. A moment later, I felt hands gently shaking my shoulder, and I reluctantly allowed the waking world to chase away the last vestiges of sleep. “Danny, wake up darling, it’s almost noon!” Paula’s words caused me to open my eyes and look at the old school alarm clock on the bedside table. She was right; according to the two hands, it was 11:43.
“Alright, alright, I’m up” I grumbled, the words actually passing from my lips as I forced myself to sit up in bed. Paula sat on the edge of the bed next to me, already dressed in a white button up shirt and pair of slacks. A smile played over her lips as our eyes locked. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty” she proclaimed, “How do you feel?” I rubbed my eyes, feeling the throb from last night’s rather excessive drinking session already starting. “Aside from the jackhammer team already going to work behind my temples, I’m great” I said sarcastically, earning a laugh from her. “Well, you did decide to go more than a little overboard with the alcohol, darling” I gave her a sly look. “Maybe, but you didn’t seem to mind that when we went to bed” Paula’s cheeks turned red, and she gave me a gentle push, giggling softly.
I threw the covers back, sliding my feet down onto the carpeted floor. “Anyways, what’ve you been up to while I’ve been snoring away?” I asked. She gestured to the old school television which stood at the foot of the bed. “I slept like a log as well. After I ordered up some room service, I decided to try watching some TV, see what sort of stuff Vegas has on its channels” She gave me a perplexed look, “But it’s the weirdest thing. All they were showing were reruns of extremely old TV shows from sixty years ago or so. Although, I did enjoy this sort of neat game show that was playing called I’ve Got a Secret. They should really bring that back” I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess they’re really playing up the old school angle with this hotel. Sort of a, “Stay with us and take a step back in time” sort of thing” I allowed an annoyed look to fall over my face. “Although, I’m not sure I’ll leave a glowing review, where I was forced to use my lucky vintage bill”
When we’d checked in, it had ended up being a slight bit of a hassle. For whatever reason, neither of our credit cards were able to be accepted. It’d been a surprise, as we’ve never had a problem using them before. And since we’d both decided to not carry cash with us on the trip, and get it out of an ATM once we’d reached the hotel, I was forced to use something rather precious to me. It was a vintage $1000 bill, something I’d bought years ago, before the prices on them on EBay went through the roof. Luckily, even though they haven’t been circulated in a long time, they can apparently still be used as legal tender, since it was accepted by the manager. To say it was painful to hand it over, though, was an understatement. The only thing that made it somewhat bearable, however, was the amount we had to pay. Almost shockingly, it cost a fraction of what the quoted price for The Venetian had been. For that, I was grateful.
Paula rubbed my shoulder. “Well, at least you bought two of them from that collector. You still have the other one at home” I gave a small smile and nodded at her. God bless this woman for always helping me look on the bright side. “Well, let me get dressed, and then we’ll head downstairs. I’d like to get something for brunch myself, at least a cup of coffee. Then we’ll plan out what to do today. All the tickets they gave us will give us plenty to do the next two weeks” The hotel apparently hosted a nightly show called Casino de Paris, a sort of retro, burlesque style performance which we’d been given tickets to watch for almost the entire duration of our stay. In addition, we’d been given tickets to shows playing around the city. They were all for tribute acts though, such as one for a Frank Sinatra and friends tribute act which was playing over at another hotel and casino I’d never heard of before called The Sands.
Paula smiled and hopped off the bed ecstatically as I stood up and walked to my suitcase. Ten minutes later, I’d finished getting dressed, slipping into a fresh t-shirt and pair of jeans, quickly brushed my teeth, and the two of us were locking our room and heading for the elevator. A fresh faced man who apparently operated the elevator controls greeted us as the doors opened. “Going down, sir?” he asked as we stepped into it. “Yeah, lobby please” I said, still feeling a bit hungover and sluggish. Obediently, he pressed the button, and the doors closed, our descent beginning down to the lobby. As the soft elevator music pierced my ears, I looked around and noticed that the elevator operator was eyeing me rather strangely. I looked down at myself. I don’t see anything on my clothes that would warrant him looking at me like that, I thought. Finally, he spoke. “If you don’t mind me asking, sir, are you two from the same place as the others?” he asked.
The question threw me for a bit of a loop. “Uh, what’dya mean?” I asked in return. He shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing, sir. Just, we sometimes have guests who drop in who-“ he shot me another quick look before finishing, “-who look, well, like they’re not from around here” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, that was rude of me. My curiosity just got the better of me” For a moment, I stayed silent, the awkwardness and, frankly, weirdness of the man’s question making me feel equal amounts perplexed and weirded out. But, I resolved to be polite. I shook my head. “It’s quite alright” I said, and let the silence fall over us again. I felt a particularly sharp stab of pain behind my eyes, and I closed them, reaching up and rubbing my thumb and index finger into them. Blue spots exploded in the darkness behind my eyelids, and I let out a soft groan. “Hey, do you know where the nearest place is I can get a bottle of aspirin?” I softly asked the man, still rubbing my eyes. He didn’t respond. My shoulders slumped, and I let out a soft sigh. “Excuse me, sir?” I said a little louder. I still received no reply. Feeling a little frustrated, compounded by my pounding head, I pulled my hand away from my face and opened my eyes, ready to give the elevator operator a piece of my mind.
But any verbal lashing I had built up in my throat died away. The elevator was completely empty, aside from me. Wha… Both Paula and the attendant had, seemingly, vanished into thin air. I twisted around, looking behind me to see nothing but wood paneling. Okay, what the fuck is going on? I know I didn’t hallucinate stepping into the elevator with my wife, or seeing the attendant. I fought back the rapidly rising waves of confusion and worry, stepping forward and hitting the already lit up button for the lobby two more times. As if my repeated jabs it would somehow spur it on quicker. But it simply continued descending, unhurried. Finally, the loud ding announcing its arrival to the lobby sounded, and the doors slid open.
To reveal pitch blackness. The only light was what spilled out from the elevator, lighting up a long, rectangular stretch of floor. “Okay, what the actual fuck?” I whispered quietly. I most certainly wasn’t taking a damn step out of the elevator into the darkness. Not when I had no idea what was happening. I remembered my phone suddenly, reaching into my pocket and pulling it out. Snapping the screen open, I found the flashlight icon and hit it. Instantly, a bright white beam of line sprang forward, shooting out into the dark. I stepped as close as I dare to the open doors, and leaning out slightly, panned the light around. It bounced off the massive, empty shape of a secondary employee desk, a luggage cart piled high with suitcases sitting unattended in front of it. There wasn’t a soul in sight. Is there a power outage or something? I wondered. But no, it wouldn’t explain the absence of everyone. Maybe there’s a solar eclipse or something happening outside, and everyone’s gone to watch it. I pushed that idea away as well. I hadn’t heard of any eclipse coming up in the near future, and again, it wouldn’t explain why the people behind the counter and all the guests disappeared. Not to mention where the hell Paula and the elevator guy went.
That was when the light in the elevator began to flicker. My head snapped up to look at it as it began to rapidly blink off and back on again. “Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me, really?!” I hissed out between gritted teeth. It was like the inevitable, predictable conclusion of a damn horror movie, one of the oldest tropes in the book. Swallowing hard, I looked around to see if there was anything I could snatch up to defend myself if need be. But there was nothing remotely in that category, barring if I wanted to try and rip the metal door for the elevator’s wiring system off its hinges. I felt my pulse quicken as the light flickered on and off quicker. Every time it plunged me into complete darkness, save for my phone’s flashlight, my heart pounded in my chest like a drum. I had no idea what the hell to do; it felt as though I were in a lose-lose situation.
A heavy hand suddenly fell on my shoulder, its fingers feeling as though they were jamming into the skin. I let out a half scream as I attempted to twist around to see who had grabbed me, but the grip tightened, shooting a wave of pain through me, and I was thrown forward. I sailed through the air like I was a rag doll before crashing to the marble floor. The breath was driven from my lungs, and I let out a cut off cry of pain. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, and I flipped onto my back, sitting up as quickly as I could. I still clutched my phone in my hands, somehow having held onto it during my short flight, and I aimed it back towards the still open elevator doors. I felt all the blood drain from my face as the beam landed on a figure.
It was dressed in all black. Either that, or it was all black. All except for its eyes. It was as if whoever…or whatever I was staring at had a ski mask over their face, made of a material I’d never seen before. What seemed to be like holes had been made around the eyes, and the ones that stared back at me, almost looked to be human. Except no human I’d ever met had ever had that much sadistic glee in them before. The figure stepped out of the elevator, and a pang of absolute terror coursed through me as I saw it was holding what appeared to be a fire ax in its right hand. One which seemed to already have blood on its blade and handle. Oh, hell in a handbasket… I scrambled to my feet, attempting to put as much distance between myself and the ax wielding figure.
Then the elevator doors closed, plunging the lobby, save for my phone’s tiny flashlight, into utter blackness.
My heart felt as though it were about to explode out of my chest as I saw the figure take another step towards me. It was slow, deliberate. Almost as if it were trying to anticipate my next move. I quickly looked around, making sure to keep the menacing shape in my peripheral vision as I searched for somewhere to go. I knew the second I made a break for it, the figure would make a lunge for me. I couldn’t explain how I knew, but I could simply tell it was waiting for me to make the first move. And it was relishing the tense moments in between. An idea suddenly surged forward in my brain. One which, if I didn’t time it perfectly, would likely wind up with me pulling a Dick Halloran from The Shining and ending up with an axe in my stomach. Or my head. I tensed up every muscle in my body, looking towards the left as though I were about to run towards the entrance hallway. I saw the figure also tense up, now holding the axe with both hands.
I suddenly put all force into my legs, using the floor almost as a sort of springboard. Years of track and field instinct kicked in, and I feigned starting to dash to the left. Instantly, the figure was a blur of motion, raising the axe and dashing silently towards me. I turned and shot backwards, forced to turn the light away from my attacker as I made my leap. Behind me, I could practically feel the air being parted by the axe, and a second after beginning my leap, heard it smash into the marble floor where I’d been standing not a second ago. But I was sailing through the air, praying I’d calculated correctly. Fortunately, I did, as the edge of the desk passed underneath me, and I landed on the floor behind it. On the other side, I finally heard the figure let out a sound. “Gah!” It sounded like a cry of frustration and rage, and it motivated me to leap to my feet faster than I thought possible. I flashed the light around, catching the heart stopping view of the shape running towards the desk, raising the axe over its head. I didn’t wait to see what happened next; Instead, I ran for the open partition which separated the employee area from the rest of the lobby. Behind me, I heard the figure vault over the counter, landing with a heavy thud on the floor.
But I’d already ran from behind the counter. I knew I couldn’t make it to the entrance lobby, and instead, I aimed for the first door my light caught in its beam. It was a silver metal door marked Employees Only, thank you! A moment later, I smashed into it with my shoulder, the door crashing into the wall with a massive bang! Behind me, I heard the pounding footsteps of my pursuer, and without knowing where I was going, I ran. I’d wound up in some sort of employee hallway, likely one of many which wound their way through the hotel and casino. A rack of sheets flew by in a blur on my left, and I came to a T junction, opting to turn right. I heard the door to the lobby smash open as the figure entered the hallway, and I used the sound as motivation to run faster, despite the fire that seemed to be burning in my leg muscles. A few seconds later, I came to another T junction, this one seemingly identical to the last. I chose to run to the left this time, but as I did, something I saw for a split second caught my eye.
It was a security camera, one which had been aimed down the hallway in the direction I’d come from. I didn’t have much time to see all the details on it, as I was too busy running for my life. But, there’d been enough time to notice one particular detail. The red, blinking light showing it was recording had flashed out into the darkness.
The realization flew away from my brain, as I was too preoccupied with staying a hallway or two ahead of my pursuer. I could still hear it behind me; the thundering of its footsteps drowned mine out entirely. Ahead of me, I saw another metal door, this one with no lettering on it. The hallway also broke off to the left and right, but I’d already decided I was going through the door. With any luck, I’d find a place I could hide for a while, allowing the figure to assume I’d kept running in a different direction and break away from me. It would give me not only a chance to catch my rapidly dwindling breath, but also double back and find the door I’d entered the back hallways to. From there, I could run to the entrance. My plan set, I poured on all the power I had remaining in me, the door flying up to greet me. I lowered my shoulder and smashed into it, flying into the room-
-Where I slammed into something which knocked me backwards, halfway back into the hallway. I let out a cry of pain as I landed on my ass, the stabbing feeling traveling up my tailbone and spine. I snapped my phone up, aiming the flashlight into the room to see what I’d slammed into. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that my heart stopped. My breath caught in my throat, and I felt a tidal wave of abject horror flood into ever fiber of my being.
The beam had caught a figure, standing less than a foot or two away from where I lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. One which looked identical to the one which had been chasing me. Like the other, this one, too, carried an axe, though this one had no blood on it. I twisted around, wondering if my pursuer had shot down an alternate corridor to get ahead of me, anticipating my move. But, no. I could both hear and now see it running down the hallway towards me. Towards us. I spun back towards the newcomer. And felt, if possible, an even greater wave of horror shoot through me. The figure wasn’t alone in the room beyond. A second had moved into the beam of the light. It was joined by a third. Then a fourth and fifth. In the span of ten seconds, the light showed at least seven or eight of the figures in the room. Behind me, I heard my pursuer slow to a speed walk.
I began to scramble backwards on my hands and knees, out towards the right branch of the new hallway. The figures from the room followed, spilling out in slow, silent pursuit. They met my pursuer there, where they stood, still silently, watching me scramble away. Then, they began to laugh. They all began to laugh. It sounded like human laughter; men’s laughter, but it was filled with absolute evil and menace. And they slowly began to walk towards me. My scrambling intensified, and in my hasty retreat, I forgot to keep watching where I was going. I felt something slam into the back of my head, while simultaneously, a painful jab poked me in my left arm. The arm which had been holding my phone.
On reflex, I dropped the phone as I jerked my arm back. It clattered to the floor, the beam of light aiming directly up at the ceiling. I looked behind me and saw I’d backed into another linen rack. The stabbing sensation had been me hitting a sharp edge, which had pierced the skin. I twisted back around to see how close the figures had gotten.
And I let out a half scream. All of the figures stood almost directly over me. They’d used my moment of distraction to get in close, cutting off any way for me to escape. My breathing came in short, ragged gasps as I realized what was about to happen to me. As if they’d read my thoughts, all of the figures began raising their axes. The almost maddening sound of their laughter returned as they held them high over their heads. My life suddenly flashed before my eyes, snapshots of being a young child, a teenager, turning eighteen, meeting Paula. Then, a single, clear thought:
Oh, fuck, this is gonna hurt.
I raised my arms in front of my face in some pathetic attempt to ward off the multiple blades about to cut me to ribbons. The blades suddenly whipped down at me, and I closed my eyes, letting out one last scream in defiance of my fate.
“Danny!”
The voice cut through the sudden silence. One which was only broken by soft sound of…elevator music? Realizing I wasn’t feeling the piercing pain from multiple axe blades, I slowly lowered my arms and opened my eyes. Paula and the elevator operator knelt by my side. Both had a look of major concern on their face. I became aware I was back in the elevator. And that I was laying on the floor. For a moment, I couldn’t find the words to speak. Then: “W-what happened?” Paula let out a huge sigh of relief that I’d answered. “We had a moment where the elevator went offline for a moment. It went black for a few seconds. You must’ve fallen asleep standing up during it, because right before the power came back on, you suddenly began….screaming” Her voice trailed off, and I realized how frightened my wife was.
But I was still attempting to make sense of it all. But it felt…it felt so real, I thought to myself. The blackout, the figures pursuing me. The pain. It felt…real. My mind seemed to race at a million miles an hour. The elevator attendant spoke up. “Did you get a decent night’s sleep, sir?” he asked with a tone of concern. For a moment, I debated on my answer, then, decided to speak truthfully. “Honestly…no” I said weakly, “My wife and I…didn’t get much sleep. And…I drank a lot” The man nodded, a relieved smile crossing his face. “That’s what I figured. Sleep deprivation, combined with the large amount of alcohol will cause you to fall asleep for short periods of time, and experience horrifying dreams” He reached down and grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet. “My older brother’s a doctor, is how I know about that” he explained.
I felt Paula grab my arm to help study me as I mulled the man’s words over in my head. They made sense. A lot more sense then, what? Suddenly appearing in some alternate reality where everyone had disappeared, everything was black, and figures with axes were chasing you? I nodded, trying to push away a small voice in the back of my head that attempted to argue that, despite the man’s words, and the rationalizations my brain was attempting to make, that it had been real. But it seemed that the rational part of my brain won out. I pushed away the nagging voice and attempted to bring myself back to reality. “Are you sure you’re alright, darling?” Paula asked me, her voice soft and low. I looked at her, then nodded my head after a moment. “Yeah, yeah I’m okay” I let out a deep breath. “I guess the incident that happened in the parking lot last night is still in the back of my mind is all”
She nodded understandingly. “That makes sense” she said, then smiled and leaned forward to kiss me. “Just, please, don’t scare me like that again” I allowed myself a small smile and pulled her close to me. “I’ll try my best not to” I said. A moment later, the elevator let out a soft ding and the doors opened, revealing the brightly lit and bustling lobby. I turned to Paula. “Go ahead for a second, sweetheart” I told her quietly, “I wanna tip the attendant for helping us” For a moment, she seemed concerned with leaving me alone, and then she nodded, stepping out of the elevator. I turned back to the man, pulling my wallet out from my back pocket. “Look sir, I’d like to give you something for your troubles with me” I said as I rifled through the massive amount of bills which now filled it from breaking up my $1000 bill the night before. The man began to protest, but I held up a hand. “I insist. It’s my way of saying thank you” He looked as though he wanted to try and protest again, but instead, he stayed silent and nodded.
I finally decided on giving him a fifty; with inflation being the way it was, everyone could use a helping, generous hand every now and then. I pulled it from my wallet and pushed the bill into his hand. For a moment, he stared down at it, and I saw an almost stunned look pass over his face. He looked as though I’d handed him a solid gold bar or something. Wow, other guests must not tip these people that hot if he has this much of a reaction to just fifty bucks. Shaking my head at how sad that was, I nodded to him and stepped out of the elevator, replacing my wallet in my pocket. I turned back to look at him one final time before the elevator closed. And I involuntarily took a step backwards. The man had fixed an odd and rather intense gaze on me, one which was unblinking. I can only describe it as, more than a little eerie.
And then the elevator doors closed. I let out a bewildered snort and turned away. I’ve gotta post a tweet about that odd encounter, I thought, and reached into my pocket for it. But it wasn’t there. “What the hell?” I muttered, checking my other pockets. I knew for a fact I’d slipped my phone into my pocket before we’d left the room. In fact, I’d even said something about it to Paula. “Wait a minute, honey. I’m not leaving my phone after charging it all night” I’d said. I replayed getting up from the floor of the elevator in my mind. Had I seen it dropped when I stared down at my feet for a moment? No, I hadn’t. I raised my left hand to scratch at the back of my scalp, a coping mechanism for stress I’d done since I was a child. A sudden, stabbing pain coursed through my arm, causing me to let out a bit of a gasp. Lowering my arm quickly, I brought my other hand around to feel the back of it. Another ripple of pain emanated from the area, and I pulled my fingers back to see small droplets of blood on them.
“The hell did that happen?” I muttered quietly to myself. The memory of the waking nightmare suddenly flashed through my mind. I remembered scrambling back, straight into the linen rack which had stabbed into my left arm…exactly where the wound was. A shiver suddenly shot up my spine. It…was just a nightmare…a dream….wasn’t it? I shook my head. “It’s just a fucking coincidence, you moron” I muttered, “You hurt yourself in the elevator, that’s all. Get a damn grip and stop going mental on me” Shaking away the nagging thought, I stepped forward to rejoin my wife. Together, we walked the length of the lobby until we reached the main section and approached the check-in counter. The same man as last night, whose name, according to the nametag pinned to his chest, was Arthur, spotted us and smiled wide. “Ah, good morning to the two newlywed lovebirds!” he exclaimed, holding out his arms in a similar manner to how he had last night, “How did you two sleep last night?” Paula let out a snort. “We slept okay, but I think this one-“ she gestured to me, “is going to lay off so much of the alcohol for the rest of the honeymoon!” The man- Arthur, let out a good natured laugh. “Well, I can’t fault him, the first few weeks after being married are always a joyous occasion. But, sometimes you can overdo it”
I let out a snort. “You’re not kidding” I grumbled. Paula turned to give me an amused look, then looked back at Arthur. “Do you have any place that serves coffee and either a late breakfast or lunch here? I’d like to get some food and caffeine into him” Arthur let out another good natured chuckle, then gestured to the front hallway. “Of course. We stopped serving breakfast at eleven, but if you’d like lunch, our fabulous restaurant, Dome of the Sea is just outside, a short walk across the parking lot” He leaned forward, “And between you two and me, their lunch menu is to die for” He let out another laugh, causing both of us to chuckle at the man’s cheesy pun. I nodded. “Alright, thank you, Arthur” I said. He raised his hands. “Don’t mention it; it’s what I’m here for!” He cleared his throat as we turned away. “By the way, there’s a special show happening tonight, taking the place of Casino de Paris. It’s called La Parisienne, direct from France, and there’s going to be a special guest tonight in it”
He looked around, then grinned at us.
“Have either of you heard of a singer and actress named Diana Dors?” I looked to Paula and shrugged, my mind drawing a blank. She returned the gesture. “No, unfortunately not” I admitted, turning back to the man. He gave a shocked face. “Well, then you’re in for a treat tonight. Just use two of your tickets for the other show, they’ll be valid for this show. And just wait until you hear the singing voice this dame has on her. I’m just happy she’s been a regular on our stage for the last year or two” I looked to Paula and gave an interested look. She nodded. “Sure, thanks for the heads up, we’ll check it out!” I declared, then rubbed my pounding temples, “After I get coffee and food” He laughed, then waved us away. “Have a lovely day, you two!” he called after us.
We strode outside into the hot, arid air. As we left the shade of the entrance, I shot a look up. A large statue of what looked like an Arabic sultan stood atop the entrance area, the yellow letters spelling out Dunes stretching out to either side of him. One hell of a mascot, I thought. As we approached the entrance to the restaurant, a huge, circular building, something caught my eye. It was an old newspaper vending machine, the kind with an all glass front. Holy shit, I haven’t seen one of those newspaper machines in years! I thought they stopped using them. I stopped Paula for a second to drop a quarter into the machine and opened it, pulling a newspaper out and tucking it under my arm without looking. I’d read it inside. “What, trying to act sophisticated and old school to match the hotel, darling?” my wife asked with an amused smile. I laughed, then gently pushed her forward and into the double doors.
The inside of the restaurant was, to use a single word, beautiful. It lived up to its name, done up in an aquatic theme, with an ornate, dark blue roof stretching overhead. Water filled, grotto like areas stood around the tables, and surprisingly, a live band played in one corner. As we were led to our table, I noticed something which threw me for a bit of a loop. All of the people having lunch in here were done up to the nines in clothes. All the men wore suits and hats, looking like they’d just come from a big power meeting, and the women all wore very fancy looking dresses. That wasn’t the only surprising part about them. All the suits and dresses looked, old fashioned, to put a word on it. Even the younger patrons, ones about our age, were dressed up that way. They all seemed to stare at us as we passed, as if we’d each grown two heads. Okay, that’s honestly a bit weird.
But I put it out of my mind as we sat down and ordered our meals. The coffee was brought to me immediately, and the hot liquid pouring down my throat felt like a godsend. It almost made me forget about the horrifying experience in the elevator. As well as my lost phone and injured arm, both which I couldn’t honestly explain, and instead kept mentally pushing away. The positive atmosphere and calming music seemed to help. I set the mug down and picked up the newspaper from the table. “So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day until the show tonight, babe?” I asked Paula as I turned the front page towards me. “Well, I was thinking we could take a drive up and down the strip, get a feel for all the casinos and restaurants. Then we could find a place to maybe stop and play a few slots- I know, you always told me they’re rigged, but I’d still like to play them at least once. Oh, and then, if we have time-“
She continued on, but I wasn’t listening to her anymore. Every sound in the restaurant seemed to have been turned down, like someone with a television remote had hit the volume down button. I swear I could hear the blood rushing through my head, and I felt my mouth go dry as cotton. My heart began to beat almost as fast as it had in my chase, real or imaginary, and I felt as though the whole world were spinning. I kept staring at the front page of the paper, at the picture on the front of it. And at something else.
Finally, a sound cut through the seemingly muted noises. “Danny, what’s wrong, darling?” Paula asked me, reaching out and taking my free hand in hers. I lowered the newspaper and stared at her. My face must’ve been pale as a sheet, because I saw extreme concern crease her beautiful features. “What?!” she insisted. It took a moment to find my voice. “Uh, Paula, sweetheart?” I said weakly, “We…we might have a problem” Silence for a moment. “What?” she asked, then looked at the paper. I saw her put two and two together. “What did you read?” she finally asked, slowly.
I set the paper down in the center of the table, turning it so she could read it. I saw her lean in and mouth the words. I saw her expression change, from concern to utter shock. She snapped her head up at me as if to search my eyes for an explanation, but I had none to give.
The picture on the front of the page, was of John F. Kennedy. I can’t remember the exact headline it proclaimed above it, though I know it contained the words “President Kennedy”. But even now, almost three months being back, I can still perfectly recall the date displayed under the newspaper’s name.
July 22nd, 1962
Part 3
Final

Episode 5: Lumens are Calling. Light Pollution News.
Show Link: https://lightpollutionnews.com/podcast/5-the-lumens-are-calling/
Guests:
Michael Rymer of the International Dark Sky Association.
Bonnie Peng, Youth Advocate.
Show:

1. Is light pollution making darkness a luxury?, Emma Beddington of the Guardian.

In her book, Enchantment, Katherine May surmises that, “Our love of electric light is leaching some of the wonder from the world.” As I pointed out when I started this show way back in episode 0, darkness suffers from very poor branding.
Beddington concurs, pointing out how “Scripture and literature” used phrases like “the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light,” or how philosophical awakenings, such as the Enlightenment, disentangled us from the “dark” illiberal thinking of the past.
And what about cultural insinuations, such as “Dark and Scary” and “Safety in the light.” Beddington brings up the British television series, Scared of the Dark, in which eight celebrities enter a “pitch-black reality space for eight days” to face their primal fears.
But is darkness already a luxury? Beddington points to the emergence of “dark-sky communities” and “dark sky” festivals at national parks as a way to “reintroduce us to the pleasures of stargazing and moonlit walks.”
As many of you know, during April, many communities celebrated Dark Sky Week. To confirm Beddington’s inclination to think of Darkness as a luxury I decided to list a few of the many articles focusing on nighttime tourism this month.
Dark skies, bright future: Japan looks to the heavens for tourism appeal in the Japan Times.
Four Nighttime Spots to Celebrate Dark Sky Week in Maryland in Baltimore Magazine. For those whom are curious, these include Assateague Island, Greenridge Forest, the former Civil War prison camp of Point Lookout, and Tuckahoe State Park.
and
Tourism department plans dark sky promotion, Register-Herald. West Virginia. Department of Tourism plans to entice dark sky tourism by offering up 100 dark sky themed prizes to potential tourists, including 15 GoPro Hero 11s.

• Here Come the Lumens a blog article by a HAAS School of Business professor Lucas Davis.

To start, I believe Davis sums up the current LED movement in one fell swoop. “LEDs are great even if they won’t necessarily result in large net energy savings.” And by that, he means that the economic value of LEDs outshine all competing lighting technologies. Per Davis, “Replace your incandescent with one of these and your energy consumption goes up, not down.”
“LEDS are the latest example in a long history of humans finding ingenious ways to consume more lumens,” Davis argues. Using the example of the Amazon best seller 120 watt LED bulb that produces 12,000 lumens, a brightness so intense that the instructions actually warn users to not look directly at the light for fear of eye damage.
Let me put this in [COM-POR-ABLE] comparable terms. Compared with a traditional incandescent light bulb, lumens, the measure of brightness, sat at roughly 13 times the wattage. So if you purchased a 60 watt incandescent light bulb, you’d receive 800 lumens. Let’s baseline this against a corresponding 60 watt LED, all calculations being equal, I’d assume we’d expect to see 3,000 lumens, an increase of 2,200 lumens!!
Davis believes that the LED revolution is still relatively juvenile, with outdoor lighting ripe for mass consumption. He posits, “maybe it didn’t make sense to have so many lumens in your backyard before, but now it probably does. And wouldn’t it be nice to have brighter street lighting, particularly in areas with lots of pedestrians and cyclists?”
To sum up Davis’s thesis – LED lights are about to reshape how we experience our day to day life, perhaps in ways we couldn’t imagine. Already, street lights in most cities that convert to LEDs are set to daytime levels of brightness, many using daytime color spectrums.
I don’t believe Davis is arguing specifically for brightness, rather he appears to just be stating the trends as he sees it. On our site, LightPollutionNews.com, you can find links to a series of unique and dark sky compliant lighting fixtures.
In my estimation, the LED revolution enabled everyone and every business to now utilize stadium level brightness in their own backyards. What we tend to see now often jets out unshielded in an aimless manner splattering in windows and windshields.
I know this is speculative, but where do you see the future of outdoor light going? I know last time you were on, Bonnie, you mentioned that gen Z just want everything lit up.

• The New Light Is Bad There’s something off about LED bulbs — which will soon be, thanks to a federal ban, the only kind you can buy.

Scocca discusses many aspects of LED lights that he finds both hopeful and troublesome. From our vantage, this piece contained some interesting tidbits including a discussion on color rendering. At the heart of the discussion was his assertion that obtaining light characteristics derives primarily from two different schools of thought: the engineers and the doctors.
Per Scocca, the idea of modern LED color output derives from the Nobel winning application of gallium nitride to create a standardized blue hue which can be found in everything from streetlights to flashlights to headlights and more.
From the engineer’s perspective, blue light is rational – in line with solar daylight. Offices, malls, and factories came to embody oppressive 5000 Kelvin lighting temperatures.
Conversely, on the medical science end, doctors preferred to peg light colors closer to that of a candle rather than the sun. Overall, better health derives from warmer nighttime lighting. But how do we arrive at warmer lighting?
It should be noted that calibrating LED lights to be a standard color is more difficult than the average consumer would envision. LED lights require coatings. Very delicate coatings as I am led to believe by Buddy Stefanoff, and hopefully future guest, of Crossroads LED.
These coatings do not just inflate the price of LED lights, they often are applied inconsistently by manufacturers. Whereby even though the light technically may be rated warm, say 3000 Kelvin, it still may contain a very sizable amount of blue spectrum due to the coating mixture they utilized.

1. The ‘Genesis GV80’ Features An Unapologetically Sporty Aesthetic, Rahul Kalvapalle of Trend Hunter.

As we spoke about on an earlier show, it’s an exciting time to be a car maker. For the first time in what feels like ages, we’re seeing car companies pour money into design and aesthetics. The concept of headlights is being completely rethought.
Luxury SUV maker, Genesis, looks to take things to the next level by wrapping the head and rear lights around the sides of the car in hopes of making the car appear visually streaky. Overall, a pretty sharp looking upgrade from a car series that currently looks like grandpa’s Sunday cruiser. Though, I imagine you might get murdered if you take that to a star party and, say, decide to reenter the vehicle at midnight.
In case you were wondering, GV80s currently start at $55k USD.

• Shenzhen’s Xichong named first International Dark Sky Community in China, from the China Daily.

Exciting news from our Chinese friends! In the first of its kind in China, the International Dark Sky celebrates Shenzhen’s amazing dedication to preservation of a natural night. The [Shen-ChJen] Shenzhen Dapeng New District, sits toward the southern tip of China, roughly an hour’s drive from the city of [Shen-ChJen] Shenzhen.
Michael, congratulations on this, by the way! Anything else you’d like to add, any history you may be aware of for this site?

• ‘Donegal Dark Sky’ aiming to draw more young people to the world of astrophotography, from the Donegal News

The brilliant northern lights this year have piqued the interest of more than just a few Irish folk. Photography enthusiasts looked to keep the ball rolling by enticing folks of all ages, especially young, into taking photos of the heavens. And with cell phone cameras as good as they are these days, nearly anyone can do at the very least some rudimentary lunar or milky way shots!

• De’Aaron Fox LIGHTS THE BEAM after Kings’ FIRST playoff win since April 30, 2006 🚨, ESPN.

Sacramento Kings fans have reason to rejoice. As of the recording time of this show, game 7 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs has just begun. Should Sacramento win, expect a mega purple signal akin to channeling your inner batman, into the sky.
The bright, glowing purple beam, which had to be cleared by the FAA, is lit up following every victory until midnight, as a symbol of unity for the city and the team. Outside of the arena, a giant purple LED board calls out “Light the Beam.”
For those of you who are having trouble visualizing this, take the dual Trade Center Towers’ light beams to nowhere, turn them purple and move them to Sacramento, California.
e) “Mysterious spiral” that looks like hazy, glowing galaxy seen hovering in Alaska’s northern lights, Li Cohen, CBS News.
Many of you are aware that we’re entering our sun’s solar maximum, which provides brilliant nighttime aurora shows in high latitudes. However, how about this?
Northern Lights photographers became mystified when a giant, white galaxy like spiral began appearing in their images.
Elizabeth Withnall witnessed the phenomenon from her home in Northern Alaska. Per Withnall, “I always see strange things in the sky, but this was insane.” Withnall hoped that the mystery spiral signaled the emergence of an alien spaceship. But much to her dismay, it appears that the spiral was frozen fuel ejected from a Space-X Falcon 9 rocket.
Maybe next time Elizabeth.

• Next Up – Why It’s Time for a Worldwide Lights-Out Program, Brian Handwerk of the Smithsonian Magazine.

Per Handwerk, “Lights have allowed us to capture many more hours for work and play. They’ve driven economic growth and social connections. They’ve made us feel safe. Turning out the lights seems unthinkable; yet a lack of thought has produced enormous amounts of unnecessary and misdirected lighting.”
Handwerk continues, “80% of the world’s population” lives under skyglow. And in the US and Europe, make that 99%. Light pollution increased by over half in the past 25 years, growing 2% at a compounding rate per year – currently outpacing population growth.
The article shows side by sides of night sky images taken in Cambridge, Mass. One, taken on at 2:40am on May 13, 1850, shows roughly 150 stars. The other, taken at 2:40am on May 13, 2020, shows 8. Note, cameras were obviously not as sensitive 170 years prior.
The article goes on to cite numerous examples of how Artificial Light at Night disrupts and endangers nighttime species. As the light goes up, insect populations continue their staggering fall. Take, for instance, the cabbage moth, which only operates and reproduces in the dark. Light disrupts the female moth’s ability to produce pheromones and attract mates.
Per the article, some flowering plants, including bananas and mangoes only open at night to attract pollinating bats and insects, and are thus at risk when the nocturnal environment stops being nocturnal.

• In a similar article, Blaine Bronell of Architect Magazine discusses Johan Eklof’s new book, the Darkness Manifesto: On Light Pollution, Night Ecology, and the Ancient Rhythms that Sustain Life in his article The Consequences of Light Pollution.

Bronell recounts that “in many contexts, electric lighting may be altogether unnecessary. Photoluminescent materials can be incorporated into path surfacing to enable effective wayfinding without risking light pollution – or the need for [carbon emitting] light pollution.
Eklof uses a Polish bike path as an example of photoluminescent design. The path, glows fully blue across its whole width. Harnessing the power of sunlight to produce nighttime a more natural nighttime light, the path can emit light for upwards of 10 hours.
In the end, Bronell surmises, that any curtailing of humanity’s addiction to increasing and excessive external nighttime light must overcome our very own ‘fear of the dark.’ Bronell goes on to suggest the counter intuitiveness is extra deep for architects, who have long defined their relationship in architecture as the “masterly, correct, and magnificent play of the masses brought together in light.”
6) On the ecology front, a new study out of Ohio State suggests that light pollution may impact mosquito metabolism. Light Pollution Disrupts Seasonal Differences in the Daily Activity and Metabolic Profiles of the Northern House Mosquito, Culex pipiens, From the Journal Insects.
Given that light pollution affects circadian rhythms of other insects, it should be no surprise that previous findings indicated that (a) the length of day determines when mosquitos suspend their development in winter months and (b) that increased levels of light at night drove mosquitos to continue being active later into the fall, past day-length hours that normally would have triggered their circadian rhythm to suspend their development (otherwise known as diapausing).
The authors concluded that artificial light at night affected the patterns of mosquitos to obtain necessary nutrients for surviving the winter. Thereby suggesting a longer mosquito season, bad for humans; but a more challenging environment for mosquito longevity year over year due to inadequate nutrition in surviving their diapause.
The research team used a total of 24 mosquitos in their observations. They are currently looking to test their hypothesis in the field.

• How about this, coming to us from the San Francisco Gate, an unnamed 61 year old woman went missing after she left her Death Valley Astrophotography group to retrieve something from her car. The group, who were headed to Badwater Basin, alerted Rangers when she didn’t return. Park Rangers arrived around 2:30 AM, and commenced searching on foot with the help of bright vehicle lights to light the way. Fearing for the worst, Park Rangers even requested assistance from a California Highway Patrol helicopter. However, the woman was eventually spotted 2 miles past the Badwater Basin parking lot at 8:20am.

Very glad to hear that she ended up safely reuniting with the group. In such environments, I suspect that flashlights don’t provide as much assistance as folks may give credence to. In my experience, light, especially white light, can sometimes make trails and natural areas look two dimensional. However, I don’t want to speak for what occurred here, as it’s obvious there’s any number of potential issues that could have popped up.

• And in other news, a rather interesting device out of the CONEXPO, that is a construction industry expo, allows road workers to utilize better lighting when working at night.

Blue Vigil developed a high intensity tethered LED array to a drone to provide more direct and uniform lighting in a road work environment than potentially ever before.
Compared with current set ups that use lighting towers, often poorly angled ones at best, the tethered drone offers both brighter and better directed lighting, potentially negating “dangerous glare and shadows” that affect workers, residential environments, wildlife and motorists.

• Keeping with the topic of innovative lighting, this one comes to us from the hellscape that is Twitter; a video showing correspondingly green/red glowing traffic signal poles. Currently in use in various parts of the world including South India and Turkey, such uniform light switches harness the lumen power of LEDs to provide a solid color traffic signal – from traffic light down the pole to the curbside. To put in other terms, the whole pole, including the traffic light itself, lights up green or red depending on its signal.
• Before we move on to our policy segment, I came across this article. You’re Definitely Suffering the Effects of Light Pollution—But We’re Here to Help, in House Beautiful, by Medgina Saint Elien.

Among the many useful tips in this article, Saint Elien suggests that if your spouse can’t turn that tv off while you’re in bed, it may be time for a sleep divorce!
Quoted in the article, Corbin Philhower of Development for Visual Comfort & Co, “Dark-sky lighting directs light downward and away from the sky,” reducing light trespass. Further to Philhower’s point, he suggests utilizing motion sensor lighting to ensure lights aren’t left on all night.
The article lists out six feature products, including two dark sky compliant wall sconces…. and one 7000 lumen unshielded barn light….I’ll just leave that last one right there.
To Saint Elien’s credit, the article does touch on the dangers of blue light at night and implicates lighting in a series of issues ranging from ecology concerns to sleep issues.

• It’s time. You thought I forgot about it. Let’s talk policy – and maybe we’ll transition into our Afraid of the Dark segment. Do you remember that idiotically named “Inflation Reduction Act?” Did you expect the money to be used for new street lights? Well, I’ve got news for you. If you said no, well….I’ll just say I admire the optimism.

I guess the issue with street lights really isn’t the fact that streets are lit – that’s not the concern right? It’s the boneheadness of public officials that nearly always accompanies them.
$3M in Federal dollars are headed to Norfolk, Virginia to upgrade all of their 28,000 streetlights away from high pressure sodium. Currently, city officials cite HPS lighting as hindering law enforcement from identifying the color of vehicles and identifying perpetrators. Apparently, their high pressure sodium lights only emit a strong orange spectrum that prevents anyone from seeing color.
The new lighting will no doubt be much whiter, though temperatures were not given, and much brighter.
Per the Norfolk city website, “Although it is recognized that a certain amount of illumination will spill onto private properties as a result of the installation of the streetlights, NOOO shielding or shading of any type will be authorized in order to prevent this from occurring.”
And there’s more! Mayor Gloria highlights federal funding for streetlight repairs in multiple areas of San Diego. It looks like San Diego has marginally better congressmen than Norfolk, as their guy scored them $3.5M in federal funding for streetlighting repairs.
Unlike in Norfolk, where the city had the common courtesy to use downlighting, instead of parting ways with problematic decorative streetlighting, San Diego is looking to repair, and without a doubt significantly brighten, acorn style street lights that sit atop a pole (kinda resembling a candle) in Pacific Beach, Point Loma, and Logan Heights sections of the city. The current lights are over 70 years old and suffer from sizable electrical failures.
Career tip, if you’re an electrician, your golden age is here.
One last note, Frederick, Md plans to update its street lighting to the lumen power of 11. Because, why not, bright lights prevent crimes, right?
But good news for those of you who live there. The Mayor appears to have heard both ends of the story and will look to provide shielding so that light does not enter the home owner’s property.
Rounding out to our Afraid of the Dark segment – the segment where we enjoy humankind’s beloved infatuation with extinguishing nighttime – we take a stroll through two topics before we make it to our final destination this month. Both dealing with light’s apparent safety, never mind the fact that most crimes occur from noon through 9pm.

1. We start with an article by Maria-Cristina Florian on Arch Daily, The Safety of Light: A Short History of Light in Public Spaces. Florian attempts to recount the history of lighting, specifically with a bend on safety. Some of the more intriguing points Florian showcases include the following.

The first documented use of light at night being used to discriminate and subjugate comes from 18th Century New York City, whereby non-white people were required by law, to carry lanterns when walking unaccompanied at night. Unaccompanied meaning without a white person that is.
Second, American mid-Western towns employed a French idea of light towers, pinning downward facing lights up 150 – 450 feet tall to lighten whole towns at night. A project “more spectacular than efficient,” according to one commentator.
Third, per Florian, modern day city lights can reveal discrimination through both “restricted access to adequate light resources or being imposed harsh and bright lights to impose surveillance and public order.”

• Second, we take a look at a story closer to home for, well me, at least. Yet again the media conflates poverty with crime. Per NBC 10, Camden Working to Fix Street Light Outages to Help Make Community Safer.

Camden, New Jersey has been a rough town for quite some time. It’s no secret that Camden is a community which has faced hardship and challenges. However, that narrative of fear and crime falls into place a bit too well in this one, it’s almost as if the politicians and media are colluding here.
Camden leaders cheered on a new initiative to put in functioning street lights in neighborhoods. Camden hopes that once street lights are up and running, gun violence will be a forgotten thing of the past!
Per the Camden police representative, “This is very important, uh, for Crime Prevention in the City, um, there’s many studies out there on the benefits of a well-lit community. It’ll encourage people to stay outside later.”
The narrative of fear and crime, especially in a historically disadvantaged community like Camden, is even more perplexing when the numbers indicate that crime has not only fallen flat year over year, but it’s significantly down from where it was ten years ago.
Many things have changed in that time, including deeper community-police integration (hence the new street lights), and outside investment into the general area.
On that note, I’ll bring up a recent research article in Urban Planning, titled “Natural Surveillance for Crime and Traffic Accidents: Simulating Improvements of Street Lighting in an Older Community.” This article essentially says, more lighting equates to safety. However, this study isn’t a crime study, instead, safety was narrowly defined as simply being able to identify the facial features of another person.
Street lights certainly have their place in safety, they help prevent pedestrian death and can help law enforcement identify criminals. However, in the past year, I’ve had no less than four people tell me that, quote “there’re many studies out there,” but not one of those folks has been able to present one study.
The study that often becomes the go to for “many studies” tends to be a University of Chicago study indicating a dramatic reduction in crime when you light up the projects like a prison yard with all of the accompanying noises and smells that come from hearty diesel powered light fixtures. To my knowledge, I do not believe that this study was not peer reviewed, although I may be incorrect on that.
Moving over to the Featured Research Article of this month, we look at the “Impact of Solid State Roadway Lighting on Melatonin in Humans,” in Clocks and Sleep. Now I have to preface this article with the following. I came across this article due to a very boastful Virginia Tech press release that was a bit over the top. I’m not sure for what reason, but the study presents some interesting findings nonetheless. In all honesty, the boastful and excited nature of the press release reminds me in some respects of the aforementioned University of Chicago Crime Labs study’s overview.
In an effort to reconcile an apparent the public health threat of vehicle collisions to the American Medical Association recommendation of utilizing less than 3000 Kelvin temperature lighting (that is lighting containing very limited amounts of short wave light, often known as blue light), researchers found that roadway lighting did not impact melatonin levels of drivers, pedestrians or homeowners. Thereby suggesting that health is not compromised by bright and blue roadway lighting.
The article did not take into consideration any ecological impacts, solely focusing on human effects. It appears to be an important step in testing roadway lighting’s health impacts.
It should be noted that the study utilized a very small sample size of 29 individuals. It determined impacts to melatonin levels by use of salivary testing. The article suggests future research could use plasma studies which may offer more “sensitive” results.
This appears to be the first test of its kind to seek scientific understanding of how street lights directly impact human melatonin levels. Previous studies associated, even dim levels of light, with impacting nighttime melatonin levels.
Before we close up, it’s always good to leave on an up note, right? This comes to us from YourTango.com, written by NyRee Ausler. If Street Lights Go Out When You Pass Them, You May Have A Very Specific Psychic Power.
Wow, now here is a super power I can get behind!
Allegedly, certain people in society possess the ability to turn street lights off simply by walking by them! They are known as “SLIders,” with the root SLI standing for ‘street light interferers!’
You know you’re one of them if the street light turns off as you approach on foot or by car, and then promptly turns back on after you pass!

Tl;dr: Until Verizon learns to treat their home internet customers differently than their cellular phone customers, the fast speed advertised for their 5G Home Internet service is not worth risking an outage that is met with their lackadaisical attitude toward their home internet customers.
I’ve had Verizon’s 5G Home Internet since it was available in my area (the mmWave 5G tower is right across from my my apartment). Speeds have been consistently fast (1500+ Mbps from my phone and 700+ on my devices connected to the 5G gateway/router via Wi-Fi. Last Thursday, I noticed that my app updates were taking a lot longer than normal, so I did a speed test and it was SLOW. I went out on my balcony and tested from my phone. It failed to pull the mmWave speeds from the tower across the street as well. I restarted both the gateway and my phone, just to be sure, and then called Verizon and spoke to the Home Internet tech support team. This is where things started to go downhill.
The tech asked me to restart my gateway, and I told him that I had already done that, as well as restart my phone, and neither are connecting to the tower across the street. He then asked me to reset my device, essentially setting up as new again. I politely declined, because neither my phone or the gateway would connect to the tower, and it’s a pain in the ass to have to reconnected 25 devices to the network. Plus I t’s not an issue with my devices. He opened a ticket and set up an appointment for a network engineer to come on Saturday morning between 8a-12p. Shortly after hanging up, I noticed that none of my Alexa devices, my work computers, my iPads, phones, security cameras, HomePods, etc. were connected to a network. I opened my Wi-Fi settings to find that they remotely reset my gateway after I told them I didn’t want to do that. It was in the middle of my workday. I called back for help setting up the gateway. They confirmed my appointment for Saturday. It took me two days to get everything reconnected.
Saturday morning and afternoon came and went with no technician and no phone call. I called again on Saturday and was told that it takes 7 - 10 business days for tickets to be reviewed. Up to two weeks with substandard internet. I live in a high-traffic area with a mall and large Chase Bank operations center, so falling back to LTE speeds often means I don’t have ANY bandwidth.
The speeds are really fast when it works, but when you have an issue that’s when the experience sours. They essentially treat their Home Internet customers like cellular phone customers. As a cell phone customer, a downed tower is an inconvenience. I may get slow speeds on my commute. Or if a tower goes down near my house, I can fall back on my home Wi-Fi. But when Verizon is both your cellular provider AND your home internet provider, you have no fallback. And if there is an outage with another dedicated internet provider like Wow, AT&T, Breezeline, they at least acknowledge the issue and say they’re working toward a resolution and give an estimation. Not so with Verizon. They won’t acknowledge the issue or give you an ETA on a fix, they just parrot the company’s standard 7 - 10 business days line.
I work from home and have to be in video calls most of the day, and my internet has to meet a specific speed requirement that LTE speeds don’t meet. I can’t just go work from another location.
Verizon has almost nailed the home internet experience, but the way they treat you when a tower goes down means that their home internet offerings can’t be relied upon. I’m on day 5 of not being able to work effectively.
UPDATE: 5/9 the executive escalation team reached out to me and we’re able to dispatch a truck and get the tower fixed. Speeds are back to normal (1380⬇️ 275⬆️). But I should not have had to raise hell to get this resolved.

Hi community, I was playing some WoW on my computer when it suddenly shut down, as if the was a power outage. After that the PC does not start anymore. When I press on the power button, the PC gives me two click sounds and nothing happens.
Pictures from the insides of the PC: https://imgur.com/a/LTGErLu
Two things I have noticed:

1. The Ram sticks (I have two), both glow steadily.
2. The Mobo glowed in a steady orange after the initial shutdown, since then it doesn't glow anymore though.

These are the steps, I have already taken:

1. I have re-seated the Ram Sticks.
2. I have taken out the GPU and re-installed it.
3. I have checked the Power cable, replaced it and directly plugged it into other walls which work for other electronic devices.

I have checked a few sources online, and most of them tell me that it is probably the PSU. How can I be sure though?
Here is my set-up which I have been using without any issues for about 2-3 years:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X GPU: MSI Geforce RTX 2080 ti trio RAM: Corsair vengence Pro rgb 2x 16gb
Mobo: Gigabyte B550 Aorus elite v2
PSU: Corsair CS 750M
cooling: Arctic liquid freezer 2 360
SSD: Samsung 1tb sata

Guys after joining this subgroup and several youtube reviews on all DACs I decided to get the Ifi Zen DAC 2...I now believe! 😭
I thought my laptop had the best sound card, never believed anything would push the volume up and improve some of my favorite youtube songs that sound bad on youtube
To be honest the Ifi Zen DAC 2 did by 50% if not more
I use a 2021 Hp Envy laptop with bang& olufsen and the zen blew these away using the 2.0 usb
I Use the Fidelio X2hr and have never had them so loud had to turn off Xbass but the power match is the trick and the DAC does not need external power just via USB wow!
Next test is on PS5 for gaming-Update
Dac connected to PS5 and having set my PS5 to auto detect output, it picked up the ifi zen dac by itself and on the front USB port... No issues here..
Testing the headphones :
First the Pulse 3D, these became louder and even very very pleasent to listen to on Spotify, the Pulse 3D were awesome on Spotify, way way better
2nd the X2hr Fidelio, these were on par but less immersive on Spotify but Sounded very very good on YouTube, they definitely were louder than plugging on controller by 50%, spent the whole night listening to my liked collection again, I think I have to change my Spotify setting to output higher quality, because the zen reads the quality of music from source and tries to better it
PCX38 did not like the dac with Ps5, but so awesome on laptop with dac
I had to switch off other USB peripherals on PS5 so I get dedicated power to dac, becoz I head Ps5.. will spit power outages if all are being used, it was just precaution but did not notice lower power outages
I will definitely use the dac for Gaming next time...with Pulse 3D or Fidelios
Next, to try some Plannar, maybe The Maxwells

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Memory transcription subject: Chief Hunter Isif, Arxur Dominion Sector Fleet
Date [standardized human time]: December 17, 2136
Proxima Centauri was the site of many human endeavors, which I had guessed due to its constant ship activity. The nearest stellar system to Sol had once been where the Zurulian hospital fleet amassed, to tend to an ailing Earth. Now, it was a bastion of human ships and drones; rapid deployment was possible with a snap of their fingers. This went beyond the colony, which had temporary housing, and the hastily-assembled stations around the worlds.
The fleet that the Terrans were constructing was enormous, and ripe with novelties that I had never seen. Identifying these devices proved difficult, with how out-of-the-box humans could think. An excessive amount of patrollers prowled the system, ready to warp off to Earth or Venlil Prime at a notice. Anti-FTL buoys and other mines saturated the system.
Even Olek and Lisa were wowed by the sights in the viewport. Probes propelled by solar sails could maneuver without emissions. Asteroids had FTL drives strapped to them, and other debris had engines attached as well. Artificial rods and slabs of metal were ready to be slingshotted at an enemy. There were other projectiles I failed to classify, though I was glad none deigned to attack me.
“Fascinating. I thought that visiting a system outside of Sol would lessen the military presence,” I murmured.
Felra’s whiskers twitched. “I had no clue they’d built so many ships, so fast.”
“Our industrial power’s something else in a war economy, huh?” Olek rubbed his eyes, as he strained to make out the details. “Who knows what secret weapons the UN is ready to deploy? Maybe even those death rays they denied existed during the Satellite Wars.”
Lisa looked exasperated as ever. “Olek, the Grand Gulf meltdown and those fires were caused by hacking, not a death ray. And don’t tell me, ‘That’s what they want you to think.’”
“But it is!”
The Dossur giggled, as she paced back and forth across my console buttons. I couldn’t believe how quickly the prey animal had grown accustomed to me; she seemed determined to help me. Felra had drilled me on every aspect of Betterment, from their policy goals to the powers of a Chief Hunter. It didn’t seem that there was a suitable way out, but I was hoping the United Nations would have some advice.
I stiffened, as a blinking icon appeared on my data feed. “There’s a civilian transport approaching us, on an intercept course. Transmitting a looping message…”
“Well? What’s it say?” Olek prompted.
Lisa crossed her arms. “I hope it doesn’t say, ‘Isif is a fraud and a liar.’ If he isn’t what he claims to be, we’re guilty of dereliction of duty.”
“Hey! Siffy brought an entire fleet just to rescue me.” Felra swept her tiny tail across the console, and bared her teeth in an aggressive gesture. “If that’s not honest and caring, what is? Besides, he hasn’t eaten me yet.”
“I would not dream of such a thing,” I hissed. “The message says that humanity is sending a diplomatic envoy aboard.”
My blood burned, as I recalled the last boarding party to breach my ship. Waltzing into the heart of Terran territory again wasn’t my first option, but I was in hot water. There was no one else to turn to, except the lukewarm United Nations. Knowing General Jones, she’d been keeping tabs on me and expecting my visit.
It seems she was able to keep Zhao from siccing the dogs on me. Our shuttle hasn’t been attacked or confronted.
I brought my vessel to a standstill, and tried to trust that Jones had the situation under control. Making my shuttle easy to breach should signal my compliance. A thunk passed through the hull, as the diplomatic transport latched into the side. After affirming that the airlock was sealed and affixed to the UN ship, I unlocked the entrance from our side.
The two UN soldiers, whose formal names were Oleksiy Bondarenko and Lisa Reynolds, snapped upright. Their postures were as stiff as if someone jabbed a taser in their spines, and their flat palms looked glued to their foreheads. My maw locked with disdain, as I recognized the uniformed man flanking General Jones. She had the nerve to alert Secretary-General Zhao of my movements, and bring him to greet me?
“Chief Hunter Isif,” Earth’s leader proclaimed. “We’re pleased to welcome you to Proxima Centauri.”
General Jones offered a smug smile. “Everything you see here is only the tip of the iceberg. If the Kolshians think they can pick off our allies, one-by-one, and have us sit by and watch, they’re in for a rough week.”
“We can’t defend all of our allied territory with the full might of Terra. But we’re putting the finishing touches on our military spearhead. If we take the fight to them, they’ll have to withdraw their forces,” Zhao concluded.
I chuckled with derision. “You tried that tactic with Kalsim, and he let his own world burn. You humans have a saying about doing the same thing, and expecting a different result, correct?”
“Perhaps it is the definition of insanity. The difference is, the Kolshians care about control and defending their core worlds. Giznel even knows this, from what you passed along to Jones.”
“Zhao knows about me?”
“The SecGen isn’t blind, Isif, he’s not a Feddie,” Jones remarked. “Five Eyes had some knowledge pertinent to the Dominion’s upper echelons that we couldn’t explain. Zhao put two and two together.”
“As much as I’d like to chew her ear off for withholding intelligence, we can’t afford to be divided.” The Secretary-General clasped his hands behind his back. “Earth is fully committed to a total war. If we don’t demolish the Federation’s foundations, we can’t guarantee our citizens’ safety. Would you like to finish, spymaster Jones?”
“Gladly. In essence, we have no idea what we’re walking into. The Kolshians’ true strength, and any concealed weapons they have up their sleeves. They clearly believe that Aafa is impenetrable, and we’ll need to pass through other species’ space to get to them. They know our stealth tactics, so we have to fight.”
I narrowed my eyes. “So you have to work your way up to the top.”
“Precisely. The Farsul are the quiet conspirators, and got taken down a notch post-extermination fleet, but they still held out against an Arxur raid with minimal damage. They claimed to have committed their entire arsenal, yet that clearly couldn’t be further from the truth. We can’t discount their trickery either.”
“That’s what we’re up against,” the Secretary-General said. “We’re calling this operation the Phoenix Fleet. Built from the ashes of Earth. Might I give you a personal tour, Isif, as a peace offering between us? Your friends are welcome to join.”
The fact was, with my cover in shambles, I needed the United Nations’ direction just to survive the next week. My interest in interacting with Zhao was negligible, but I offered a grudging nod. Olek and Lisa were given permission to stand at ease, and relaxed their postures. Jones then sauntered up to the console, inputting a flight course that steered us around various sights.
That glint in her eyes…she already knows the trouble I’m in. Betterment will want my head.
Just to cement her disconcerting omniscience, Jones handed Olek a pair of glasses. The male soldier looked taken aback, muttering something about matching his prescription. I was sure the fact that the UN was spying on me wouldn’t embolden his conspiracies at all. Lisa was studying me, and I recalled her suggestion on the shuttle ride for me to defect. As easy as that escape may be, it wouldn’t salvage my people’s future.
The two human soldiers annoyed me at first, but they were growing on me a tiny bit. They felt more authentic and representative of their kind than Jones or Zhao. With Jones especially, it felt like she was hoarding information as a weapon. The Arxur never plotted to the lengths that Terrans did; that’s why, even with Felra’s aid, I failed to recover my facade after saving Mileau.
As we glided into the Proxima system, Zhao gestured to a rocky planet. It appeared to be a testing ground for bombs, with occasional missile launches from the planet’s surface too. Felra squeaked in alarm, spotting the humans practicing orbital raids. I agreed with the Dossur, at least in pinpointing Earth’s motives. There were no uses for long-range antimatter besides pure destruction.
“We are practicing precision strikes from above with smaller warheads, and with larger-yield weapons too.” The Secretary-General pulled up some specs on his holopad, including a few cruise missiles that could be launched from airdropped platforms. “Rest assured, my Dossur comrade, there is a dual purpose for these exercises.”
Felra’s ears quivered. “You’re…practicing raiding Federation planets. Do you intend to let any survive?”
“The United Nations is prepared to reciprocate hostile actions, after what happened on Mileau. However, while civilians may wind up as collateral, they are not explicit targets. The smaller missiles are designed to contain the impact to areas and structures vital to military operations.”
“Then why are you practicing with full-scale warheads?”
“That is a training exercise. We’re attempting to construct a ground intercept system, which can detonate orbital munitions before they hit the surface. It’s the same idea as a missile defense system such as the Iron Dome.”
“We’re practicing how many planetary strikes we can intercept and improving our technology,” Jones added. “Also, with all the reverse engineering we’ve done, we have many new additions to our fleets. If I may…”
My shuttle continued on its charted course, peeling away from the testing ground. If Earth had been able to stop missiles before they impacted the ground, perhaps their losses would’ve been less severe. It was incredible how quickly the humans were improving. Their innovation was unsurpassed, and I could see the beginnings of a galactic superpower falling together.
If the Terrans had a few months to get everything in order, this would all be a different story. They are a driven species, to come from their first FTL ship to this in months.
Felra’s fear scent still lingered in the air, but her eyes glistened with curiosity. I could only imagine how she felt, touring a predator’s killing devices after learning that her friend was an Arxur commander. To exacerbate our dilemma, she had watched me tear four Kolshians apart like it was nothing! I reminded myself to explain to the Dossur that humans couldn’t have done this without allied manufacturing power. Even in war preparations, they proved themselves a social species that outshone the Arxur.
“Are you okay?” I whispered. “This is a more up-close-and-personal view of human killing abilities than you likely intended.”
Felra chuckled, though the nerves seeped into her tone. “I was curious about joining an exchange program, but this is more than I bargained for. I could do with a little more petting, and less bombs.”
Lisa coughed. “I heard that. Careful what you wish for.”
The shuttle approached a drone hub, which appeared to include self-piloted hospital ships. The Terrans wouldn’t need to divert any qualified helmsmen to ferry the medics into battle. General Jones fiddled with my console, determining how to highlight items on the viewport. Her binocular eyes sparkled with pride; the drone program was her brainchild.
“Not only are we experimenting with varying drone sizes, and with automating certain functions even in manned ships…but we’ve also crafted mini-drones.” The spymaster’s rosy lips turned up, and she highlighted a handful of specks. “Small enough to fit in my hand, and you can fly ‘em like steered bullets. Good luck targeting something so tiny.”
My growl vibrated with appreciation. “They could find chinks in armor and be rigged to explode. Or be used as scouts, alongside those solar sail probes you have.”
“I’m glad to speak to someone who appreciates our craftsmanship. Tarva, bless her heart, gets this blank look in her eyes when I delve into military details, and General Kam just acts like a cheerleader. I’m not sure he knows what he’s applauding.”
“You’ve learned of our shield-breaking technology, with how we kicked Shaza’s hind end with it.” Zhao flashed his teeth, insufferable in his haughtiness. “You see the drones in a simulated engagement, portside? They can take out enemy shields now, optimally, without human input.”
“Hrrr, shield-breakers. That’s all well and good until they turn that tactic back at you, yes? Element of surprise…gone.”
“Keep watching. The ships they’re firing at—look what happens during a shield outage.”
My pupils surveyed the viewport, and I parted my maw with curiosity. Felra climbed up onto my shoulder, getting a better view of the action. The human armaments were duking it out with phony weaponry, and that included a simulation of shield breaker input. They had accounted for such devices being used against them, after all.
Terran craft that lost shields deployed a platform in front of them, which assembled itself into a wall. These fortifications provided an extra layer of defense for human ships, and could absorb lethal munitions being used against them. It was easy enough for the UN to shoot through the gaps, while the enemy’s return fire couldn’t thread the barrier. I wasn’t sure if it was the simplicity or the far-reaching effects of their ingenuity that impressed me.
“That is clever, Zhao. Whenever you are done showing off, hrrr, I could use your help,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
The Secretary-General glanced at me. “The showing off has a point. We are aware of your troubles, but there’s no walking back what happened at Mileau. You should call for an open rebellion against the Dominion.”
“Zhao is right. You have access to the rebel forums to share what you know, and you have the confidence of two sector fleets,” Jones ascertained. “Remind them of how well Earth fed them. We’ve shipped the non-sapient cattle, which we agreed to at Sillis, to your headquarters. A start, if you’re smart with it.”
“That is madness!” My roar reverberated throughout the ship, making every human but Jones flinch. “We’re not ready to fight Betterment. Not without human help, which you won’t give! Food won’t fix that.”
“It’s the hierarchy of needs, Isif. Feeding your people will free their focus to fight intelligently. You have access to fleetwide communications. Perhaps you could offer sanctuary to ‘defectives’ as well.”
“What about human help, Jones? You refuse to fight a two-front war. And you say it has a point, but you haven’t expanded upon the purpose of your boasting either!”
The Secretary-General pursed his lips. “I’ll answer this one. What I’m showing you here is that we have a fighting chance against the Federation. We’re going to slay a giant, or at least try to. We can’t offer you anything today, Isif…but if we make it out in decent shape, humanity will aid you.”
“That’s not now! I’m supposed to campaign on hope and an empty promise?”
“I don’t make empty promises. Look at how far we’ve come; you must believe that we can end the Federation. You need to hold out, to keep yourself and your movement alive, until we finish this fight. Will you give it a shot?”
Felra twitched her whiskers, a sign of encouragement. If my Dossur friend thought this crackpot plan was worth the effort, then perhaps I could try to stand up to the might of Betterment. An influential Arxur like myself was the leader figure a rebellion needed; I’d proven my might in battle, and I knew how to command fleets. The question was whether I could convince enough soldiers to join me.
“I guess we’re going to try to overthrow the Dominion,” I sighed, ignoring Felra’s happy squeak. “Humans, if you believe we could ever have a better future, as I do, you will help me. Any way you can.”
“We will.” Zhao extended his hand, and I gripped it reluctantly. “Not to sound like Jones, but you can’t trust anyone. Keeping you alive will be key. You know that; that’s why you’ve wandered for weeks without an armed escort.”
“Your point is?”
“Perhaps you would trust human soldiers as your full-time guards? If Bondarenko and Reynolds here are up to the task, that is; I cannot give them that order in good faith. It’s a dangerous assignment, beyond the scope of what any soldier signed up for.”
Olek grinned. “Being on the inside of spy insurrection shit…sir? I’m in.”
“If it helps the United Nations, and swings the balance toward galactic peace, I’m in too, sir,” Lisa responded.
I narrowed my eyes. “I could live with keeping them around. Thank you. And Felra, do you want to stay with the humans? It won’t be safe, and there’ll be…lots of Arxur. War and death.”
“You’re not getting rid of me. I said we’d figure it out together. Someone’s gotta teach you how to express your emotions, and who better than a special gal like me?”
Zhao wandered to my console. “You’ve got yourself a crew then. Now, let’s help you draft your statements, shall we? Unofficially, of course.”
If someone had told me before the cradle’s fall that I would start a rebellion with generals of pack predators, I would’ve thought it was absurd. That was without mentioning the fact that I had one of the smallest herbivores perched on my shoulder. Our unlikely posse began penning the words of sedition, and I wondered whether any Arxur would come to my side at all.
The state of affairs in the galaxy was heating up in a hurry. I hoped that Zhao’s bluster bore tangible results; my species’ fate hinged on the humans’ success against the Kolshians and the Farsul. For all the primates had accomplished, while staring down insurmountable odds, this was the stretch that would determine victors and losers.
The military Earth had spawned in a matter of months needed to be enough to take down the Federation’s kingpins, or all of us were doomed.
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About a week ago on Thursday I was plying wow with my wife and our internet cut out for a good 10 seconds and came back this happened 3 times that day and ever since then it’s been ramping up. Today we were playing FFXIV and it kept booting us offline I went and check if there was an outage or anything but nothing reported so I restarted the router and still the same thing happened. We decided maybe we can just stream the office and relax and then all the office would do is buffer. do you guys know how to fix this? Want to enjoy playing games with my wife. Again.

I never thought hardcore wow would appeal to me, but watching streamers like Xaryu got me to try it, and I fell in love with a seemingly near-perfect recreation of my childhood vanilla experience due to the nature of HC forcing one to slow down and appreciate every moment. Fast forward two and a half weeks, and my first Character is level 31, chugging along, beating some HC quest achievements and avoiding others (test of endurance is deathtrap holy hell), and really loving it.
​
This morning around 1AM the power went in my local area due to severe weather. I waited 20 minutes, but with the power still out I went to bed. I wasn't in combat or too near any mobs so I felt okay about the abrupt game exit and tried not to think about it. This morning I logged in to a ghost and my heart sank into my gut. I had no logs or death screenshot due to the full power outage, but I had receipts of the internet service outage and severe weather warning. I sent an image of my ISP's webpage with the Service outage Banner with date and time, along with the severe weather notification text message I received from the local military base emergency notification system.
It kills me that my HC journey is going to be cut short for arbitrary reasons. Do the mods who denied my local outage evidence really believe I'm trying to cheat the system and undermine the entire point of HC here? Do people actually do that?
The mod ended the conversation with me after simply saying "please read the pins" after the initial rejection. I get that they are busy with all the appeals. What more proof can I send in this situation? My entire play session was wiped from the logs when the power went out. The incident is from 9 hours ago at this point, and I asked guildies if anyone captured the death event to try to correlate that with the power outage time, but beyond that I'm at a loss, and slightly devastated that my HC experience is due to RL winds and rain.

The Plainsfield UFO sightings, as they are referred to by enthusiasts of Fortean phenomena, occurred during the summer of 1998 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, took place in the farming community of Plainsfield, California. Plainsfield was, and still is, a very small settlement, with perhaps a couple hundred residents at most, and an hour and a half drive to the nearest large town. This perhaps accounts for the unusual degree of obscurity that the sightings have enjoyed over the decades, though some of the more paranoid students of UFO folklore insist that information surrounding the incidents was purposefully suppressed by the federal government.
The subsequent documents represent countless hours of research into the unusual happenings of that summer, and should conceivably display a clear timeline of events.
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Newspaper clipping from the Thompson County Tribune, July 8th, 1998
Earthquake Leaves Huge Sinkhole in Plainsfield
This past week, the sleepy town of Plainsfield received quite a rude awakening courtesy of a series of hitherto unprecedented earthquakes. At approximately 4:30 PM on Sunday, July 5th, Plainsfield residents experienced a series of intense tremors lasting about 15 minutes. There was minor damage to some buildings, and a handful of temporary power outages, but more striking was the surprise found by local farmer Theodore Albertson.
"It was like nothing I've ever felt in all my years of living here", says Albertson, 57, "It was real odd. The ground kind of pulsed all rhythmically, you ever see one of those kids with a subwoofer and they've got the volume cranked all the way up, so you feel the bass in your bones? It was like that, but everywhere, and without the sound. Just the feeling of shaking, pulsating like a heartbeat. Anyway, after all the rumbling was finished, I went out to the field to check to make sure none of the fences collapsed, only to find this massive hole! Must be over a hundred feet across at least. I can't really get a good look at the bottom, it's like it's at an angle or something, so the shadows cover it up, but it looks deep."
Theodore has expressed some interest in turning the hole into a tourist attraction, but some Plainsfield residents have expressed doubts as to its profitability. "I don't see what's so interesting about a great big hole in the ground", says Rebecca Carlton, 65, "Besides, just being near it makes me feel sick, and if I look down there for too long it sets off my tinnitus something awful, Lord knows why. If you ask me he ought to get it filled up with cement."
Statement of Jessica May, mailed to the California Unidentified Flying Object Society, July 10th, 1998
To whom it may concern
I was out stargazing in my backyard last night and I experienced something most unusual. There's not too much light pollution around here, thanks to it being so remote, so you can really get a good look at the milky way. I was peering through my telescope, when I noticed something odd. There was a star that shouldn't be there, just under the big dipper.
Now of course I double checked my star charts, these things don't just appear out of nowhere, but try as I might I couldn't find anything that corresponds to it. I was starting to get a bit excited, I mean, who gets a chance to find a whole new star? But before I could go put in a call to the nearest university, the damn thing moved!
Now I don't want you thinking I'm just some nitwit farmgirl who's never seen a plane before, I mean this star was sitting completely still one moment, and then the next it was rushing around like some sort of whirligig! Couldn't have been a helicopter either, there wasn't any sound of whirring or anything like that.
Anyway, I watched it bounce around the sky for a bit, hardly knowing what to think, until eventually it started coming towards me! Now I'd assumed this thing was real high up, since I couldn't hear anything at all, but it must have only been a couple thousand feet at the highest! As it got closer I saw more of a definite form to it, and I swear on my life it was saucer shaped!
Now I didn't really get a good look at the thing, I was so panicked I bolted back inside, leaving my telescope behind in my rush. There was a bright light like a searchlight, and then it passed over the house. I remember it was headed over in the direction of the Albertson place.
When I finally calmed myself down and went back outside to get my telescope, the thing was gone. I felt nauseated, and I remember dry heaving a bit but I can't tell if that wasn't just from the stress of the whole ordeal. In any event, I figured you UFOlogy folks would be interested.
Newspaper clipping from the Thompson County Tribune, July 15th, 1998
Flying Saucer Sighted In Plainsfield
Still recovering from the unusual earthquake that occurred earlier this month, the little town of Plainsfield is once again flung into the spotlight with yet another strange event. Multiple residents have reported seeing a strange light in the sky night after night, which some have claimed is none other than a spacecraft of extraterrestrial origin.
"People don't like the phrase flying saucer", says Jessica May, 23, "but if you ask me there isn't a more apt description. It's not a case of mistake identity with a weather balloon or something like that."
Theodore Albertson, 57, says "Darn thing keeps appearing in the sky every night! It wouldn't be so bad, really, but then after it's all done with its zipping and zooming it comes down in my field! Not landing in the field, mind, but it goes down that sinkhole left over from the earthquake. Call me crazy, I don't mind, but I bet there is some sort of secret base down there or something. I'd go down there and check, but the angle of the pit is much too steep at my age."
Skeptics have claimed that the event is a hoax, or perhaps even a publicity stunt. Rebecca Carlton, 65, a neighbor of Albertson, says, "I bet Teddy just got one of them remote control toy helicopters and tied a flashlight to it or something. Easier to drum up visitors for his weird pit if he makes people think there's a spaceship down there."
Letter written by Alejandra Valdez to her sister, Felicia Valdez, July 23rd, 1998
Dear Felicia,
I'm writing you today because of some very unusual news! Do you recall that old plot of land with the barn on it that I've been trying to sell for the past couple years? Well I've finally secured a buyer! Paid in cash too, the whole thing only took a week or so to get squared away.
Now that in of itself is a bit strange, but the really weird part about all this is who bought it. The gentleman who toured the property said his name was Jupiter Seven, and that he represented the "Church of Intergalactic Brotherhood". Quite a strange fellow he was! Dressed up in a shiny silver suit like something out of one of those science fiction movies I know your husband loves so much, and his head was shaved down bald as an egg! He had a funny little goatee too, at the very end of his chin.
Now of course I got to asking him about his silly name and what on Earth the "Church of Intergalactic Brotherhood" could be, and bless his heart he was just as polite as could be, but goodness gracious was the answer he gave strange. He started talking all this nonsense about how aliens from outer space have been visiting Earth for millions of years, and that all of our religions are just misinterpretations of their visitations. He said that he himself was a reincarnation of one of those aliens, and that's why he changed his name!
Now you know me Felicia, I'm not one to go judging folks for their faith or lack thereof, but I'll be honest with you, it took a lot of effort to keep from laughing. I managed to keep my sense of decorum, for politeness's sake, but wow!
Anyway, I asked him what he and his so-called church (more of a cult if you ask me!) wanted with my barn, and he said that our little town of Plainsfield was in the middle of a "visitation" from beings from another world! Now I bet you've already heard about how recently some of my more impressionable neighbors have claimed to see some strange lights up in the sky recently, but I never would have guessed that it would lead to our very own UFO cult!
Anyway, the amount this Jupiter character was offering was so generous that I just had to accept, regardless of his attire and beliefs. I signed away the deed later that week, and that was that!
Since then I've seen a few of those CIB fellows gathered at the barn, with a bunch of RVs, camper vans, and tents set up over there. The folks there seem polite enough, hippie types mostly, they don't really say much when I see them at the general store or out around town. There's only about two dozen of them or so, Mr. Seven included.
Anyway, you ought to stop by sometime! With the money I got from the sale I've been able to fix up the house a little bit and get a few nice things. I even bought a brand new television, and switched over from cable to satellite! There are so many new channels I don't even know how to keep up! I keep getting interference something awful though, but only at night. Must be some quirk with the damn thing.
With love,
Alejandra
Complaint letter sent by Alejandra Valdez to a certain television provider (company name withheld), July 24th, 1998
To whom it may concern,
I recently switched over to [company] as my television provider, and at first I was thrilled at the wide selection of channels and high picture quality, but I've been having a lot of difficulties at night specifically.
Oftentimes I'll be sitting there, watching one channel, when suddenly it will change to a different one, without me doing a thing! Sometimes the whole screen will just become a mess of static, with this positively awful shrieking sound! It's gotten to the point that I just have given up watching TV at night.
At first I thought maybe it's just that I live in a somewhat remote area, but that doesn't make sense! Why would it only stop working at night? I don't pretend to know much about how television works, but that just doesn't sit right with me. Besides, I see the satellite in the sky at night sometimes. Much too bright to be a star.
The worst part is that sometimes the static isn't entirely static. There are these blurry half-images of what I can only assume are distorted faces, and these weird garbled words in some foreign language. I must be partially picking up some other broadcast.
One more thing: sometimes the TV set will turn on by itself in the middle of the night, and when it does I always get that weird half-broadcast with the faces and the babbling.
Please send someone around to fix this issue as soon as possible, otherwise I want a full refund!
Sincerely,
Alejandra Valdez
Diary entry of Brandon Adams, July 25th, 1998
I don't even know where to start with this. I have to write it down though. I have to get it out of my head otherwise I feel like I'm going to go insane. I hope I'm just crazy. I really just want to be crazy.
I was out watching the moving star last night. The one that's got the whole town worked up and that weirdo "church" is focused on. It was very strange to watch, to see it just zip around overhead, then stay still, then move somewhere else. It moved like a hummingbird, or a bee. But it was completely silent.
This went on for a few hours I guess, just me sitting in a lawn chair watching the sky, that distant orb of light zooming about overhead. I don't know why I didn't get bored of it, Lord knows it wasn't that interesting. But there was this constant sense that I was seeing something truly out of this world. Something beyond the normal scope of things.
My property borders on Pete Richards's place, the cattle rancher. There's no animals dangerous enough around here to threaten a cow, so he just leaves them outside at night. Most of them were just asleep in the field, but a couple were grazing. Insomniacs getting a midnight snack I suppose. Some of them joined me in looking up at the star that moved.
I started noticing that the star was getting bigger. Brighter. It took me quite a long time for me to realize it was coming down. Falling from the sky like Lucifer expelled from heaven.
There was no sound, no hum of extraterrestrial engines. It just got brighter and bigger, till I could see the vague outline, flat and circular. A saucer.
Just writing it out makes me feel like a lunatic. Everyone knows there's no such thing as a flying saucer. Everyone knows it's just made up stories repeated by idiots who want so desperately to feel less alone in the universe. But that night the universe seemed to have other ideas about what is and isn't real.
As soon as I could see the thing for what it was, I hightailed it to my porch and hid underneath it, scraping my knees a bit. I'm still not sure why I did that instead of just going inside and locking the door. I guess I was worried it would see me through my windows.
From underneath the porch I didn't get too good of a view of the sky above, nor that baleful false star, but I could see Pete's field just fine. I wish I just went inside and hid under the covers until it went away. A bright light, like the warning gleam of a lighthouse, shone down upon a cow in the field, one of the insomniacs.
The animal froze, instantly, as if it were spontaneously turned to stone. Slowly, it began to be lifted by some unseen force off the ground. It didn't struggle, it didn't cry out, but I could see its sides began to heave in and out quickly, hyperventilating from stress, its eyes widening. Then came the cutting.
Thin slices like a surgeon's scalpel, peeling through layers of hide and into the flesh beneath. A flap of skin pulled softly by invisible fingers. Perfectly precise, as deliberate as calligraphy. And the blood. Oh God the blood. It flowed up and out from the geometrical wound towards the light above, shimmering like rubies.
I would have vomited, if I could have worked up the strength to move. Organs began to be extracted from the wound, fleshy objects which I could not identify. I'll admit am a stranger to the butcher's charnel art. All the while, the cow's eyes spun maddeningly, its breathing sharp and swift, but there were no cries, no screams.
The other cattle kept their distance, but didn't panic. They seemed more confused than frightened, the total alienness of the present danger not clear to their animal brains.
Eventually, the levitating cow's breathing and eye movements ceased, and I knew it was finally quite dead. I watched as a handful of organs and an enormous cloud of crimson ichor were sucked up above my sight, until finally, as abruptly as the light appeared, it vanished. The exsanguinated corpse of the cow collapsed to the ground in a heap of pallid flesh.
I skittered out from under the porch and got back inside my house. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so I didn't try to. Instead I just sat on the floor in silence until morning.
I'm going to make some arrangements to stay with friends, I don't want to be in Plainsfield right now.
Transcript of a statement given by Robert Hebert, recorded by the Thompson County sheriff's department, July 30th, 1998
HEBERT: I've already told you all this, what do you mean I have to go through it again?
DEPUTY: Just one more time if you please Mr. Hebert, just so we can get it all on tape.
H: Fine, but after this I want to go home.
D: Of course. Please, give your statement.
H: I was driving back home from the city, I'd been spending a few hours on the road, so it was pretty dark, something like 10, 10:30 maybe?
D: We got your call at 10:23. Please, continue.
H: Anyway, I'm getting a little tired, since I've been driving for so long. Nearly dozing off if I'm being completely honest here. Must have closed my eyes for a second, because all of the sudden there was this... pile in the center of the road. God, I don't want to think about it.
D: Please continue. We just need it on tape, then you can go home.
H: Alright, alright, just give me a second.
D: Take your time.
H: I didn't really know what I was looking at at first. I was pretty out of it, you know? But I get out of the car to try and get a better idea of what I was seeing, and, it was, well, it was a mound of bodies. About a dozen of them. Human ones. All broken and bent like a pile of puppets with their strings cut.
D: Did you recognize any of them?
H: Not by name, but they were all those cult folks, the Church of Intergalactic Brotherhood or whatever it's called. It took me a while before I realized one of them was still breathing. A girl, maybe 17, 18, on top of the rest. She looked like every bone in her body was broken, but she was still alive. Anyway, you know the rest. I called you guys, she was taken over to the hospital, and now we're here. Can I go home now?
D: Give me a moment to talk with the sheriff, but after that you're free to go. Thank you for your time Mr. Hebert.
Newspaper clipping from the Thompson County Tribune, July 31st, 1998
UFO Cult Mass Suicide Leaves 13 Dead, 1 Injured
Last night, the Thompson County Sheriff's Department identified the bodies of 13 members of the religious movement known as the "Church of Intergalactic Brotherhood", an organization that some have characterized as a cult. Authorities have not revealed the cause of death, but are tentatively labeling the event a mass suicide. The bodies were discovered on a stretch of highway just outside of Plainsfield, apparently in the middle of the road.
There is reportedly one survivor of the event, who authorities have identified as Alice Brown, though according to Plainsfield residents, Brown currently goes by the name Venus Five. Brown has not yet awakened since being recovered on top of the 13 dead bodies on the highway, and hospital staff describe her as being in critical condition. The remaining 12 members of the Church of Intergalactic Brotherhood have not been located.
The sheriff's department investigation into the Church's compound have turned up no significant leads. According to reports, the site was entirely empty, with a number of vehicles and tents left behind. The building used by the Church as a place of worship, a repurposed barn, is reportedly in extreme disrepair.
"It's damn eerie", says Deputy John Higgins, "so far we have no leads as to where they ran off to. The barn they were using as some sort of temple has no clues either, it doesn't make a lick of sense. The roof looks like it was torn off or something, we found some bits of smashed wood on the ground nearby. It looks almost like a bomb went off, but there isn't any signs of an explosion. We found some sort of broadcasting equipment in there, but nothing that could explain what on Earth blew the darn roof off. The damnedest thing though, are the scratches. All the way up the side of the wall, like someone was being dragged up and clinging on for dear life. Gives me the willies just thinking about it."
Journal entry from Melinda Flanagan, researcher for the Californian Unidentified Flying Object Society, August 1st, 1998
I arrived in Plainsfield a little past noon. It is a ludicrously tiny town, little more than a main street and a few acres of farmland. It's one of those places that might be completely left off a map and nobody would even notice.
I had a conversation with Ms. May about her UFO sighting in a run-down old diner that looked like it hadn't changed since the mid 50s. The discussion was neither particularly illuminating nor particularly interesting. She didn't tell me anything she hadn't already said in the letter she has previously sent, and when I asked her if she'd seen the object since her initial sighting, she reported that she hadn't, and had in fact been avoiding stargazing since the incident. She claimed that others had seen the UFO as well, but didn't feel comfortable sharing their names with me. Apparently she was worried that the others might think she was "off her rocker" if they found out she was talking with "people like yourself, no offense".
I thanked her for her time and was about to chalk up this whole trip as a huge waste of time before I noticed the headline of an article peering up at me from the newspaper stand next to the door. "UFO Cult Suicide Leaves 13 Dead, 1 Injured".
I paid for the newspaper and read it quickly in my car. The article didn't specify which hospital the survivor, Alice Brown (AKA "Venus Five" according to the article), was being kept at, but a quick peek at my map showed only one nearby; Shaver Memorial Hospital.
I gave the hospital a call on the single payphone in the entirety of Plainsfield, and put on my best impression of a worried relative. I claimed that Ms. Brown was a cousin of mine, and that I wanted to see her if possible. Fortunately for me, it appeared that she had since woken up from her unconscious state, though they warned me that she seemed far from lucid. I thanked the hospital staff for their time and started on the long drive to the hospital.
When I arrived I once again presented myself as Ms. Brown's cousin, and was swiftly escorted to the room in which she was being kept. The nurse who guided me there then left to give us some privacy.
She didn't look good. Two broken legs, cracked ribs, a shattered pelvis, and a fractured arm. IV drips and all manner of wires covering her in a tangled mess like cobwebs. I have no idea how the cops thought something like this could be the result of an attempted suicide. Maybe a jump from a high building, but she was found on the highway in the middle of the flattest landscape I've ever had the displeasure of driving across.
"Who are you?" she asked, justifiably confused, "Are you with the police?"
I did some quick thinking, trying my best to guess how well she would cooperate with the police. Given what little I knew about her membership in a cult, I figured it maybe wouldn't be the best move. I decided to give her the truth.
"No Venus", I said, purposefully using her chosen name from the Church, "I'm with an organization called CUFOS, I wanted to ask you if you remember anything about the night they found you on the highway?"
"Don't call me that name", she muttered before coughing slightly, "it was all a bunch of crap. They aren't angels, or gods, or whatever the Hell Harold wanted them to be."
"Harold?"
"The real name of that idiot who called himself Jupiter Seven, the guy who ran the Church of Intergalactic Brotherhood. He's probably dead now though."
"What happened?
She looked at me for a moment. Sizing me up. "You wouldn't believe me" she finally said after a few moments.
"Try me. I can guarantee I've heard stranger things." I quietly turned on the tape recorder in my purse, which she didn't seem to notice. With a sigh, she began to tell her story, which I have transcribed below in full.
Statement of Alice Brown, abductee
I joined the Church of Intergalactic Brotherhood because I was lost. I just got out of a bad relationship, and didn't really have anywhere to go. I suppose I was going a little crazy I guess. This guy, Harold, though he preferred to be called Jupiter Seven, promised a life of happiness and peace, and helped with giving me a place to stay and food to eat.
I guess Harold was independently wealthy or something, some trust fund kid. He had the money to rent or buy property in places where weird stuff happened. UFOs, bigfoot sightings, alleged miracles, you name it. He claimed that those places were where "visitors from the stars" have made their mark on the world.
Nothing ever really came of it. We'd stay there for couple weeks or months, make ourselves pretend we saw something of note, and move on. I believed all this nonsense at the time, of course. We all want to believe in something, whether it be God, aliens, whatever. It gives us hope.
Anyway, Plainsfield was different. Like clockwork, every night we'd see that moving star in the sky. Too quick and agile to be a plane or helicopter. Dead silent too. And every night it would zip down over at the Albertson property and disappear, like it was landing there or something.
Harold made a bunch of offers to buy out Teddy Albertson's land, but it never went anywhere. Eventually he threatened to get a restraining order, and Harold stopped bothering him after that.
Harold got this idea in his head that he should try and make contact with the star. He bought a whole bunch of radio equipment and set it up in the barn we used as a church. He'd spend all night fiddling with the frequency, trying to find the right one to "commune with the visitors" while we watched that distant ball of light zooming around in silence.
One night he called us into the barn and told us that he had made contact. We were all excited of course, and believed him. You've gotta understand, he convinced all of us that we had some sort of alien soul inside of us, that those things that piloted the UFOs were our kin in some way. To us, this was a big deal, like coming home to your family afters years of being away.
Harold started turning on the radio equipment and began to speak into a microphone, giving some speech about universal friendship. We waited in the pews patiently while he gave his sermon. Then we felt the rumbling.
The ground felt like it was heaving beneath us, and a bright white light started to shine through the gaps in the wooden roof. There was tinnitus in my ears and my hair started to stand on end, like someone was rubbing a balloon against it. Then the roof just got clear ripped off and we saw it.
A flying saucer. Just like they show in the movies. Gleaming chrome, bright lights, the whole deal.
We started to float up into the air, and I don't know exactly what I was expecting to feel, but it wasn't pain. It hurt as we started getting pulled up into the air. It felt like someone had stuck a meat hook in our guts and started tugging. Most of us started crying out, I even saw someone trying to claw his way back to the ground, though he only succeeded in leaving scratches from his fingernails against the barn wall. There was no escaping it, it was stronger than us.
Before we knew it, we were inside. It was as dark on the inside as it was bright on the outside. We were in a circular room, with metallic walls and no visible doors or windows. Harold tried to calm us down, telling us that we were going to be taken to some sort of utopia, and that we should all be grateful.
After a few minutes we all stopped hyperventilating from fear, and managed to calm down a bit. It was then that a panel of the wall receded and slid to the side, like some sort of door, but I could have sworn there were no seams when I last looked. Out of that door came... a being.
Based on what Harold had told us about the beings which visited this planet, I was expecting a tall, beautiful creature, shining with radiant light. This was quite the opposite.
The room was far too dark to get a good look at it, but it seemed stunted, shriveled even. It stood at about the height of a child, and was wearing some sort of grayish uniform. Its bald, nearly featureless head seemed too large for its body. The main thing that I noticed were its eyes. Dark, soulless, and unblinking.
It waved a thin, stick-like arm in a signal to something behind it, and that same agonizing tugging sensation from before forced us against the wall. We were held in place, completely immobilized and unable even to speak. It walked up to each of us, pulling some sort of device off of its hip, and pointed it at our heads one by one. When it reached me, I felt an intense burning pain in my skull, like someone was branding my brain. I wanted to cry out, to scream, but I couldn't.
It eventually passed me over and moved on to the rest. When it was finally finished, it jabbered something in some language I didn't recognize, and pointed to 12 of us, including Harold. The ones who it pointed at seemed to be released from their paralysis, slumping to their knees. The thing pointed to the doorway where it came from, and barked an order of some sort. The ones who were set free from their paralysis began filing out through the doorway in mostly silence, though I think I heard one or two of them swallowing back tears. Finally, that short thing in the uniform exited the room through the same doorway, and the wall sealed up behind it.
The remaining 14 of us were released from our paralysis, and a few of us began to sob. We didn't know what was going on. Then the floor began to open up.
It was like a camera aperture, but slower. We heard metal scrape on metal as we saw hole in the center of the room expand, revealing the landscape far below. We all clung to the rapidly diminishing edge, screaming to be saved, until finally there was nothing left to cling to.
I remember falling, watching the saucer speed away in the distance, rapidly descending towards the Albertson farm. I recall wondering to myself as I fell, time seeming to slow to a crawl, If they're supposed to be from outer space, why do they keep on flying down to that sinkhole? That's all I remember before I woke up here.
Journal entry from Melinda Flanagan, researcher for the Californian Unidentified Flying Object Society, August 2nd, 1998
After my exciting conversation with Ms. Brown yesterday, I had to retire to a nearby hotel. The nurses insisted she needed her rest. If what she told me was true, she certainly did.
The next day however, I came across an unusual sight as I pulled into the hospital parking lot. Ms. Brown was in a stretcher, evidently either sedated or comatose, and being carried into the back of of an unmarked black van by two men in suits.
I got out of the car quickly and approached the men, asking what they were doing with my "cousin". The taller of the two men, bald with a well kept goatee, turned mechanically towards me and smiled blandly, though I could tell there was no mirth behind the black sunglasses that obscured his eyes.
"She is very sick sir or ma'am. We are taking her to a special facility. She will receive excellent care. Do not be afraid." Those were his exact words. He spoke them with all the warmth and sincerity of a meatgrinder. I was dumbfounded as he and his companion finished loading Ms. Brown into the back of the van. I could have sworn there seemed to be something wrong with the top of the man's head. It looked like a very thin white line around the circumference, but it was far too faint to tell for sure.
I tried to protest as they shut the doors to the back of the van and clambered into the front seats, but they acted like I wasn't even there. They drove off and I was left alone in the parking lot, with a pit at the bottom of my stomach.
I'm heading back home tonight, and I hope to God I never have to come back here. Something about those men makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end just thinking about them. I have a feeling that Alice Brown is gone for good.
---
After the disappearance of Alice Brown, there have been no more UFO sightings in Plainsfield. The sinkhole in Theodore Albertson's field collapsed, seemingly of its own accord, on August 4th, 1998. The location of the missing 12 members of the Church of Intergalactic Brotherhood remains unknown.
Certain elements of the incident, such as the unusual earthquake, appearance of the entity encountered by Ms. Brown, and the bizarre behavior of the man encountered by Ms. Flanagan, correspond closely with the Stevensville incidents of 1987, but the significance of these similarities is unknown.