The vast majority of websites start out using a shared web hosting service for two obvious reasons: it is the most affordable option, and it is the easiest to use for beginners who lack advanced technical knowledge.
However, if you already have an established website that gets a significant amount of traffic, or if you are looking to start a resource-heavy website (such as an e-commerce store), the limited server resources that come with most shared hosting plans may fall short of your needs.
Your next best option would be a virtual private server (VPS). Unlike shared hosting, VPS hosting services offer higher amounts of server resources that are fully and solely dedicated to your account.
Furthermore, each VPS account on the server is almost totally isolated from other accounts and runs its own operating system and web server. The result is improved performance and security.
If you are searching for a VPS hosting service, the following are a few of the most important specifications you should gun for.
NVMe Storage
The performance of any website critically depends on the speed at which it can read and write data to the storage device, especially when using a database-driven content management system like WordPress.
When it comes to server storage devices, NVMe SSD is the fastest option. It can offer much higher I/O and IOPS rates than standard SSD drives. So, that should be at the top of your list when searching for a VPS plan.
Scalable Resources
Websites normally start small and then gradually grow in size and traffic. It may take months or even years for your website to have a sizable audience, and it may also never happen!
Anyway, once your website starts requiring more resources (CPU, RAM and/or disk space), you want to be able to scale these up with ease and without having to deal with server migration.
Cloud VPS hosting beats traditional VPS hosting in the scalability department. On-demand and instant resource scalability is one of the most useful features to look for in a VPS hosting service.
LiteSpeed Web Server
One of the advantages of VPS hosting is the ability to install and customize your own web server software.
The default web server that most providers offer is the free Apache software. This is a decent web server with proven reliability, but if you want the best option in terms of performance and speed then you should choose the premium LiteSpeed software.
Together with the WordPress-optimized LiteSpeed Cache plugin, LiteSpeed is considered the fastest web server for hosting WP sites.
Some providers include a free LiteSpeed license with their managed VPS server plans, while others offer it as a paid add-on.
cPanel Control Panel
Although experienced developers can do without a control panel, it would be more efficient to manage your sites via a user-friendly control panel.
cPanel is widely considered the best control panel that is preferred by most beginners as well as experienced users. Its only major disadvantage is that it has a relatively high licensing cost.
You can find some VPS plans that are bundled with a cPanel license at a more affordable price than purchasing the license separately.

Questions:
1.1: What Is A Roblox Exploit?

• An exploit is the use of glitches and software vulnerabilities in Roblox by a player to alter the game or gameplay for an unfair advantage.
• Exploits have been defined as a form of cheating, so basically, an exploit is a program designed by developers and hacking enthusiasts when it comes to gaming.
• An exploit can allow you to use cheats in-game that would normally be unallowed or frowned upon. Such as an aim bot to lock on players' heads/bodies ensuring every hit, as well as flying, super jump, wall hacks, unlimited money, and other useful features.
• Many users believe that the correct term for programs that change Roblox for a player's advantage is “exploiting”, and others believe “hacking” is the correct term.
• However, hacking is the act of gaining unauthorized access to a system while exploiting is abusing a vulnerability to do the same.

1.2: Why does Windows think it's a virus?

• Antiviruses usually mistake Roblox exploits as viruses due to their nature. Most if not all modern Roblox exploits work by injecting some sort of .dll file into Roblox and running Lua code (Scripts) in the environment it creates.
• .dll injection isn't just used by game cheats. They are also used by malware. Due to this antiviruses try to quarantine/delete all .dll injectors that they detect without actually knowing if they are safe or not. This does not mean that all .dlls are viruses.
• Credits to: KRNL Server for info.

1.3: Why does Google think it's a virus?

• Most exploits are false positives because google thinks it’s malicious as 1.2the question says.
• Just make sure you downloaded the exploits on their official websites, as other people can skid them and add viruses to them.
• If you have trust issues don't get an exploit.
• https://whatexploitsare.online/ will have the original links and will show you what exploits are online.

1.4: I know that the exploit is a false positive, but how am I supposed to download it now?

• Windows Solution: If you’re on google, just press CTRL + J and click “keep dangerous file”, don’t forget to turn off your anti-virus before clicking “keep dangerous file”, the reason you need to turn your antivirus off is so that it doesn't automatically delete the file.
• I don't know what the mac solution is since I don't have one to test it out.

1.5: Why does the exploit say that my DLL or other files are missing?

• It’s because you forgot to exclude the file with your anti-virus.
• in order to do this you need to go to (Windows Security > Exclusions) and whitelist the file, to prevent the anti-virus from removing it, after that, you don't have to worry about your anti-virus deleting the exploit, since it is whitelisted and won't be scanned by the Windows Defender.
• Just make sure it stays on the file parent. Basically, if you place it in your downloads folder, just keep it there, if you place it on anything else it will automatically be removed, and you'll have to redownload again.
• If you have any other 3rd party anti-viruses such as avast, disable them. Also on the other note, avast is dogshit, don't use it, it's too overprotective, and will literally think almost everything you download is a virus.

1.6: Why do some free exploits have annoying key systems?

• The reason for this exploit having a key system is to support the developers of the exploit, this is for them to keep updating the exploits, and domains and feeding their staff.
• Also if an exploit is shit and has a key system, it's most likely that they are just after the money. If this certain exploit can't run most scripts change to another one.

1.7: Why does it say "Roblox has been updated, please wait for an unpatch."?

• Roblox normally updates every Wednesday-Thursday depending on your time zone, so all exploits are normally patched. There are some cases where Roblox updates on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.
• Just wait for them to un-patch, it normally takes 1-24 hours, it depends on how fast they fix it.
• If Roblox did a rollback update you don't have to worry. Since they're still at the same version as the exploit is, basically means the exploit isn't patched since they did a rollback update.
• Be patient, and just wait for a patch, since the developers have no idea what time they'll fix it. There are some scenarios where the developers are sleeping **ahem 3ds incident 6/24/2021**

1.8: Will I get banned from using exploits?

• Injection - Yes, you will get banned for using exploits if you are using a free injector, please use exploits on your alternative/second accounts, and your accounts will/be deleted or suspended, BUT if you have Script-Ware/SynapseX (sex lol), most likely you will be safe from our community experience.
• Ingame bans - Depends, if the game has anti-cheats, if you love your account then please don't use it on the main to test them, use a dummy account first.

1.9: Why does my exploit say that it can't find Roblox?

• You are either using Windows 7, or you're using the windows/Microsoft version. Make sure you're using the web version in order for your exploit to work, otherwise it won't.

1.10: Why does it say my exploit is outdated?

• It looks like you're fucking blind and can't read what the exploit said, it literally said it's outdated. So in order to update, rerun the exploits bootstrapper, or reinstall it.

1.11: How do I prevent Roblox from screenshotting or recording my screen?

• If your exploit has an auto-execute, add this script to it

​

setfflag("AbuseReportScreenshot", "False") setfflag("AbuseReportScreenshotPercentage", "0") 

• Also, make sure your exploit supports setting the flag.

1.12: How do I prevent Roblox from IP banning me? I'll explain why this is useless.

• Now only account bans/warns/sus exist, you can't get IP banned, only if you do something badass like hacking the Roblox WEBSITE.

1.13: How do I check if I'm going to get banned in the next ban wave, or if I'm tainted?

• So if you want to know if your account is tainted or not you would have to press the following:

Win + R %appdata% Go out of the Roaming folder Go into the Local folder Find Roblox Open the Logs File. If you find an archive file in there open one of them and you'll see if you're tainted. If it says "IsTainted=false" you're basically safe If it says "IsTainted=true" you'll be banned in the next banwave.

A detailed explanation:

• Basically, if you're on your main and the log says "IsTainted=true" it means you'll get banned in the next ban wave. If you make a new account basically what Roblox does is that the logs will change into that new account, even if you stay on an innocent account the logs on your other main account will stay and will still be banned from the main account t banned. Hope this helps.
• Basically, only your account that is tainted will get banned.
• Note: ROBLOX rarely does ban waves nowadays, don't worry about this part ( Heya! Now it's important. )

1.14: Why can't I run require(id) scripts?

• Filtering Enabled is a form of anti-exploiting Roblox has implemented.
• Basically, Filtering Enabled (FE) disables client modification of server values, or in simpler words, the client can't make changes to the game (credit to scriptinghelpers.org)
• As Roblox says: Enabling Filtering Enabled is the best way of restricting exploiters from ruining your games. When it is enabled, with a few exceptions, changes made by clients will not replicate to the server (and therefore will not replicate to other clients). This means, if your game is properly designed, exploiters will find it much harder to operate in your game.
• Meaning you won't be able to run these types of scripts.

1.15: How do I copy a game?

• This is actually very simple, you just have to execute this script:

​

saveinstance() 

• Your exploit must have a decompiler in order to do this.

1.16: How do I place backdoors in a game?

• They add a hidden script in one of the parts, and when someone inserts the free model with the backdoor, and he publishes the game, the script with the backdoor will announce it to the discord via webhook and will show the game that has the backdoored model in it.
• You can go to YouTube and find how to make a backdoor if you wish to do this, but the dude who uses the model needs to have 0 IQ so good luck.

1.17: What do Auto-Inject/Attach and Auto Execute mean?

• Auto Attach/Inject basically, when you join a game and the exploit is running in the background it will automatically inject.
• Auto Execute basically, as soon as you inject your exploit it automatically executes the script that is on your autoexec folder.

1.18: Why should I not get exploits from YouTube?

• They are mostly skidded, and are most likely using an overused API, and then calling in their own exploit.
• They also probably just want money, and stop developing it later on. (Through linkvertises.)

1.19: Are levels 6-8 the same?

• EDIT - Levels today don't mean a lot, it's more about injection right now, all of the LVL ads are marketing bullshit.

1.20: Are there any exploits that support Windows 7?

• Barely any exploits support Windows 7, I'd recommend upgrading to Windows 10

1.21: Are linkvertises safe when getting keys?

• Yes, they are just making sure to remove any addons they want to add in your Chome and turn off linkvertises notifications as they can be super annoying sometimes.
• EDIT - sometimes Linkvertise asks to download something, but don't.

1.22: Is WeAreDevs/WRD a virus?

• N, o it's not, it USED to be a virus since the owner got RATTED but now he has gotten his account back, and WRD is now safe to use. Although some of the exploits there has a shady history like JJSploit, it used to be a bitcoin miner or smth happened with the owner, but it's got fixed and now it's safe but detected and crashes a lot.

1.23: Oh my god why does krnl.rocks, krnl.gg, and etc. say it's not working anymore?

• Their domain might've gotten removed, the new one is krnl.place, this might change in the future again, but I'll change it once I get info about it.

1.24: What do I do if an exploit database gets leaked and my information is in it?

• Check if your password is there and immediately change it, if your IP is also leaked in the DB make sure to restart your router or something.

1.25: What are some fun scripts to use?

• You can go ahead and check out my random script list in Github, although it has not been updated for months.
• You can see them here: GitHub

Before we head to other details, I'll explain what the most used scripts are and what they do.
What are some exploiting forums out there that I recommend?
1.1: V3rmillion (https://v3rmillion.net/)

• Basically biggest exploiting forum out there, a wholesome and somewhat toxic community, just need to get past the annoying captcha whenever you log in, there are also giveaways, sales, and etc., you can find scripts, and other exploits made by others, you can find almost all the good paid scripts here, super helpful community if you're asking adding more useful stuff into your script, just be careful on what you click, and make sure they do not log your IP, and make sure they are not an exe file, and last but not the least make sure there's also a virus scan before downloading a specific exe file.

1.2: Sir Memes Forum (https://forum.robloxscripts.com/)

• Same as v3rm its a pretty big exploiting forum, there are also giveaways, sales and etc., and a very active community, you can also find scripts and other exploits, just be careful on what you click, and make sure they are not a .exe file, if you do download .exe make sure there's also a virus scan before downloading a specific .exe file.

1.3: WeAreDevs Forum (https://wearedevs.net/forum)

• A good place to ask for scripts or find scripts, somewhat active community, just not the most helpful, but still good though.

I'd like to learn how to script (ROBLOX LUA), so how do I do it?
1.1: Explanation

• First of all, learning how to fully understand scripting is very hard as the progress can take to months, or years.
• What you need is dedication, you won't be able to understand the basics in just a day. But if you're autistic enough maybe you will.

1.2: Tutorials

• If you want to learn how to make simple scripts, and also intermediate ones I'd recommend wYn#0001's tutorials, they are very good and he also teaches you how UI Library works. Check his channel out.
• It's recommended to know about Roblox LUA first, or any scripting languages in general (since it's easier to understand).

What are some places to get/download scripts?
1.1: Roblox scripts (http://robloxscripts.com/)

• Probably one of the most known script-providing sites for exploiting, it normally posts 5-15 scripts daily and averages around 300+ scripts each month.

1.2: V3rmillion Forum (https://v3rmillion.net/)

• A place where you can find paid scripts, FE scripts, exclusive scripts, and other utilities. This is where the big boys are at.

1.3: WeAreDevs Forum (https://wearedevs.net/forum)

• A small community, you can get some scripts here but don't be that dumbass that sells "dark dex v2 rare" cause you're going to get shit on.

1.4: Dark Eccentric's Youtube (Youtube)

• The biggest script-providing channel on youtube, you can find some fun FE scripts, and other stuff as well such as required scripts that can only be executed with server sides.

1.5: Pastebin

• You can find a few scripts in Pastebin, but these are not very effective. But you can try to find certain scripts such as "Revis admin Pastebin"

I want to make a simple script hub, how do I do it?
1.1: How to make a simple one

• I wish I had the energy to actually just make one but I'm just going to send a YouTube link on how to do it.
• Youtube GUI To LUA Plugin

1.2: I want to use a UI Library instead of making my own UI

• If you like to spice things up a bit I'd recommend using a UI Library if you're lazy to make a GUI yourself, here's a GitHub where you can find a lot of UI Libraries: https://github.com/Eazvy/UILibs/tree/main/Utilitys

How do I make an executor with an already-made API?
1.1: Getting the APIs

• Two of the most popular APIs known are WRD API (https://wearedevs.net/d/Exploit%20API) and EasyXploit API (https://easyexploits.com/downloadexploit?id=6)
• You can find the tutorial for WRD API here and EasyXploits API here.

1.2: Tools Needed

• You need Microsoft's visual studio code in order to work on the APIs (https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/)

What are some good server sides? I'll be listing and explaining why server sides are not worth it.
ServerSides don't last long, it can end whenever the games are limited, there might be a lot of players but it's most likely just people that don't bother at all. It's like they're too shy to chat. I'm not gonna list other server sides because they're not worth it brother man. If you're looking for free server sides, NONE, and if there were they'd probably be shit.
Now that we finished explaining the basics, here are some exploits I recommend and NOT recommend. Free Exploits:
JJSploit (https://wearedevs.net/d/JJSploit)

• Most popular free exploit, I honestly don't recommend this, the UI is shitty, every time you inject it's a guaranteed crash, whenever you execute a script you literally drop 30 frames. If you execute print("hello world") it might even crash that's how bad it is, the older version could do better than the new versions.

KRNL (https://krnl.place/)

• Most popular recommended free exploit, I recommend this, good UI, rarely crashes, can run some complicated scripts, best free exploit IMO, just has a key system but it's to help the creators of the exploit.

Oxygen U (https://wearedevs.net/d/Oxygen%20U)

• Basically your KRNL backup if it's down or in maintenance, has good UI, rarely crashes, can run some complicated scripts, and also has a key system but the same as KRNL it is to help the creators of the exploit.

Fluxus (https://wearedevs.net/d/Fluxus)

• Good ol' mac exploits that merged with scripture and are now pc only. It is not available on mac anymore but this is still a very good exploit for pc. Good UI but sometimes crashes.

Paid Exploits:

Synapse X (https://x.synapse.to/)
Costs: 15.00-20.00 Dollars
The one and only Synapse X, the best of the best, hottest paid exploit in the market, heavily recommends this. Rarely crashes, has good UI, and fast updates. Also has synapssynapse-onlye only scripts available. Can execute almost all scripts, and is undetected.
Script-Ware (https://script-ware.com/)
Costs: 13.00-19.99 Dollars
Has a dashboard, and has a friends list which I think is pretty cool, good UI, and fast updates, also have a very big script hub, and a lot of featured scripts, also available on mac, make sure to keep your eyes on this exploit, it is evolving it might even be better than synapse in the future, who knows. ( EDIT it is now lol )
Important things to note:

• Do not join the fake KRNL discord serverdiscord.gg/krnl they will token log you, do not download anything that is given by the fake Ice Bear.
• WeAreDevs is safe, back in 2018 the owner got RATTED, and placed hidden viruses in the exploits that used to be there. It is now safe and there is no need to worry about it.
• We do not brute force accounts, even though the subreddit name is "hacking" it doesn't mean we're actually hackers.
• We're not KRNL support they have their own support in their discord server. (https://krnl.place/invite.html)

​
made by u/OfficiallyRandom, edited by me.

As a new comer to this new technology, I have been doing what research I can before divulging too hard into making posts and beginning to farm my own Moons! I enjoy looking at both positive and negatives to things, so I applied that here as well.
Just looking to start a discussion on what we think any potential negative outcomes of Moon tokens could be?

1. Inequality: While Moons are designed to reward users for contributing valuable content to the community, some users may earn more Moons than others, leading to a potential inequality in the distribution of the cryptocurrency.
2. Gamification: Some users may be motivated to create low-quality or spammy content in order to earn Moons, which could potentially decrease the overall quality of the community.
3. Market volatility: As with any cryptocurrency, the value of Moons could be subject to significant fluctuations in response to market conditions, which could lead to significant gains or losses for users who hold Moons, which in turn causes stress and potential mental health issues.
4. Security issues: As Moons are stored on the Ethereum blockchain, there is always the risk of security breaches or other vulnerabilities that could put users' Moons at risk.

Can you think of any more? Would love to start a discussion in the comments!

Was able to secure a reservation at Masalawala & Sons finally. I’ve been to Dhamaka several times as well as Adda. I was able to handle the heat and loved the food.
So many of the reviews for M&S says it’s so spicy it’s inedible. Is this true, esp compared to their other restaurants? I am going with my young child who can’t handle heat- does Masalawala & Sons also have any non-spicy/mild dishes?
Additionally, any recommendations for what to order?

Hi everyone,
my wife (auditor) managed to secure herself a >2 year professional qualification program in NY, USA and I am very lucky to join her. Through her visa I will receive an EAD and should be able to work, just like her.
After graduating I started working as a research assistant at an Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management (University). I've now applied on several job offers (10+), such as a (entry level) water engineer, water resilience engineer, or hydraulic modeler, which I think I should fit very well. Unfortunately I usually get rejected very quickly, sometimes even within 24 hours.
What do you think are my chances to land a job in NY as a civil engineer or water engineer? I think I get rejected because

• I don't reside in New York yet
• I am (not yet) an Engineer-in-Training (EIT), or have an EIT certification, or PE
• My application is missing something? I usually send a Resumeé and Cover Letter as well as a Letter of recommendation/employment cert.

Greetings from Germany

Matt Orfalea @0rf Tweet:

After over 2 yrs, the @publicintegrity Iraq War False Pretenses database is finally coming back online. Thank you all for sharing to make this happen!
I originally got no response for almost a year. So this absolutely would not have happened without your support over the last few days.

Matt Orfalea @0rf Mar 19:

Massive archive of Bush admin's Iraq War lies disappeared. “OOPS!” https://censorednews.substack.com/p/massive-archive-of-iraq-war-lies
I first asked CPI in May 2022 if they could explain what exactly happened and if there is any plan to bring back the archive. Last month, I followed up over the phone and email with still no response.

Github's page:

False Pretenses
A score-card of false statements by U.S. officials in the run-up to the Iraq war
Originally published Jan. 23, 2008:
Researchers at the Fund for Independence in Journalism sought to document every public statement made by eight top Bush administration officials from September 11, 2001, to September 11, 2003, regarding (1) Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction and (2) Iraq’s links to Al Qaeda. Although both had been frequently cited as rationales for the U.S. war in Iraq, by 2005 it was known that these assertions had not, in fact, been true.
The centerpiece of this project was an exhaustive, searchable, and robustly indexed database of all public statements on the two topics by President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and White House Press Secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan. These statements were painstakingly collected from the websites of the White House, State Department, and Defense Department as well as from transcripts of interviews and briefings, texts of speeches and testimony, prepared statements, and the like.
Also included were statements in the same two categories that appeared in major newspapers and on television programs, were part of public statements by other officials, or were contained in government studies or reports, books, and the like from September 11, 2001, to December 31, 2007. Secondary material from reports and books was included in the two-year database only in cases where specific dates were available. Other noteworthy material was included for context and completeness.
As a general rule, only the relevant excerpts of public statements have been included in the database; deleted material is marked “[text omitted].” (In a case of a lengthy press conference in which Iraq is mentioned only briefly, for example, only the relevant passage is included.) Where deleting text might have rendered the remaining material misleading or difficult to understand, longer passages were left intact. And in some cases public pronouncements of Bush administration officials that did not include direct statements were included if they provided useful context.

I want to start off by saying that this story has more red flags than a Party rally, so if you're into catastrophic decisions, red flags, and a whole host of "oh no, why did you do that...", read on.
Right, how do I preface this wild story of sorts, that even my friends have gotten sick and tired of, but unfortunately I dug myself into a hole that I cannot get out of at this point. Let me explain.
A number of months ago I got appointed to the CEO post of a small-ish company (around 50 employees), owned by a bigger conglomerate. Now, my age (30) will surely raise some eyebrows, and it did in the company, but I've always been an overachiever and I always give 150% for every single thing I do. It was a culmination of all of the work that I've done in the past 6-7 years, also with some public recognition in my industry. This 150% however also includes catastrophic decisions and things you should never do, which you will see later. So when I got offered this position, I was super ecstatic, and thought nothing of but work, achieving the goals of the company and securing a very very lucrative bonus / exit package for myself after the company reaches medium-term (3-5 years) targets. Everything is set, all I need to do is guide everyone to the right path, and I'll be chilling on a beach in Monaco with 3 Ferraris to choose from. Living the dream as one should.
But... you know, it doesn't always go that way. As we are in a much larger office (together with the mother company & sister companies), about a month ago I notice a very very cute girl walking down the pathway in the office to the cafeteria, and to be frank, I had a tunnel vision of sorts. Who's this, I thought, she's very very cute, I wonder who she is. I don't get impressed easily but something, I have no idea what, clicked. It just clicked, I can't explain it. I got my answer a few days later, when I found out she's actually working in my team. (I didn't meet everyone yet by then, and some work from home all the time)
Well, that ain't good. I thought nothing of it down the line back then because hey, I'm the CEO of the smaller company, I can't be doing this. Very cute girl, glad to have her on my team, let's move on, we have a company to build. But you know it doesn't work that way. I had to start working with her as was required by my job & hers. And while keeping it professional at all times is obligatory, working with someone who you're already attracted to, and who turns out to be quite funny in a way you did not experience before, is a recipe for disaster sometimes. So as we started working together, we also started talking more personal things, sharing music, certain preferences, perfume choices, personal traumas, things got a bit problematic for me because I was clearly starting to develop some feelings. Rose (let's call her Rose, she loves flowers) is an odd mixture of someone who's very shy but when the "wall" was down, she is quite a special character.
In between the mixture of guiding the company and handling all of the headaches that come with it, I now have a massive problem - I fell in love with my coworker, and I'm obviously not allowed to as the top dog, and it would 99.9% never work out because of so many multiple reasons. But you don't choose who you fall in love with, so I tried to manage it as well as I could. Except that I couldn't.
Now, I want to mention that I kept it super elegant at all times, never asked her out or anything that would make it unconfortable, no matter how much I wanted. I don't want her to quit her job because her boss is suddenly taking a liking to her.
First catastrophic decision was to tell to a coworker (from the mother company) about this, in good faith (dumb idea), about this, particularly to someone who confessed she loves to gossip around the office. Bad idea, obviously the whole thing was a sieve, and while no rumors (that I know of) are swirling around the office, clearly at least her group of coworkers know. And this is going to be extremely difficult to get rid of, particularly since they (more than 1 of them) peppered me with light "jokes" about me being a CEO. Rubbed the wrong way, the voice of the tone was more than evident, but clearly I now have some animosity around this because I decided to operate in good faith. Red flag, something to learn from.
Second catastrophic decision is more for my own emotional management, as I prefer to engage directly with people often, and to encourage them to advance / promote / develop themselves. Like a real manager would do, or so I hope. This causes me an enormous emotional mangle, because now Rose got very confortable with me (remember, shy and not really talkative), and now she relies on me sometimes for encouragement, help, advice... all of that stuff. Clearly, from a professional standpoint, I will always help her, but I am not going to lie, this is very difficult when you really really like someone. I need her to grow in the role, to start assuming decisions, and she will require a lot of hand-holding from my side. (not exactly ideal, but I'd rather not replace her - oh, and I can't replace her even if I wanted to, because I told her coworker, so that's a case...)
Add kerosene to the fire - she's started dating someone very recently, or so the coworkers said. Rose gave me some light hints about this, but very vague, so easy to interpret.
So Reddit, my question is - how do I deal with the emotional management of this?
I can't ignore her, because she needs me & I need her to do her job. I can't ask her out on a date, for obvious reasons. I can't not see her, because we work in the same office. Forgetting what I feel won't work, 150% for everything, remember.
How do I manage this emotionally? Any advice is appreciated.

October 12 Movie: Final Destination (2000)
Synopsis
On this date, October 12, 1997, John Denver was killed when his plane crashed into Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove, California. Final Destination (2000) is the first installment in the Final Destination series, a franchise of horror films involving premonitions. Unlike other horror movies, the franchise is iconic for portraying Death as the major antagonist. Specifically, the movies build on the concept that “cheating” Death is impermissible and thus, death is unavoidable.
The film chronicles the events that unfold after Alex Browning, a high school senior, and his classmates board a plane to Paris for a school trip. Shortly before departure, Alex Browning has a premonition of the plane exploding, causing him to frantically warn everyone about the flight. After being escorted off the plane by security, Alex and several of his classmates soon learn that his vision would come to life. The students’ relief of not being on the plane quickly turns to anguish as they attempt to evade Death’s final ultimatum.
How it relates to the field of psychiatry
The plot of Final Destination revolves around the concept of premonitions; a term used to describe a psychic ability to see into the future. Specifically, Alex’s vision of his plane exploding allows him and several of his peers to “cheat” Death by avoiding an untimely demise.
As an otherwise well-functioning high school senior, Alex’s premonition calls into question his ability to see into the future. Similar tropes in other movies, such as Donnie Darko, portray psychosis as a core sign of major mental illness (schizophrenia and delusional disorder). However, new onset psychosis as part of a psychiatric disorder is viewed as a diagnosis of exclusion. Therefore, one must consider a vast array of possible etiologies for Alex’s premonition.
Hallucinations that occur while falling asleep are termed “hypnagogic.” These disturbances in reality occur while one transitions from the awake to sleep state. Commonly associated with narcolepsy, hypnagogic hallucinations often occur in adolescents and are indistinguishable from reality. Other potential causes for altered reality in Alex include substance ingestion. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (2014), 27.2% of high school students surveyed reported use of an illicit drug. Hallucinogens, inhalants, and other illicit substances are well-documented causes for psychosis in teenagers.
Following Alex’s premonition, unusual events begin to unfold in the lives of others on the plane. The events are forewarned by ‘Rocky Mountain High’ throughout the film, reminding the survivors that John Denver died in a plane crash. Thirty-nine days after the plane explosion, a
memorial service is held for victims of the tragedy. Later that evening Alex’s friend, Tod, was found strangulated to death in his bathtub. The film depicts his death as a series of events beginning with a leaky toilet; the water on the floor causes him to trip into a clothesline ultimately leading to death by strangulation. Tod’s cause of death is ultimately ruled a suicide.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition triggered by exposure to life-threatening or horrifying personal experiences. It is characterized by persistent re-experiencing, hypervigilance, and avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event. When these symptoms last longer than one month, it is diagnosed as PTSD. Acute stress disorder (ASD) is a similar diagnosis when symptoms have persisted for less than one month. PTSD carries a significant association with suicidal attempt. Perhaps Tod truly suffered from an underlying anxiety disorder stemming from the plane explosion he witnessed. One could argue that Tod’s death was a consequence of his untreated psychiatric disorder, PTSD.
Finally, the concept of Death as a personified entity has played a role in many films (The Ring, 2002) and mythologies (The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving). For Alex and several other characters in the movie, Death plays a prominent role in their daily functioning. Throughout the movie, these characters work together to outsmart Death and prevent their demise. Their constant belief in this embodiment, despite no factual evidence of its existence, relates to the psychiatric condition termed delusional disorder.
Delusional disorder is the presence of one or more delusions (fixed, false beliefs) that last for at least one month. These beliefs cannot be due to a psychotic disorder (schizophrenia), mood disorder, substance use (e.g., cocaine), or other medical conditions (e.g., infections, dementia, endocrinopathies). Alex’s fixed belief in the presence of Death is consistent with a plausible delusional disorder diagnosis.
The franchise moves forward with Final Destination 2, which picks up with Clear (the last survivor of the plane explosion) voluntarily admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Evidently the role of psychiatry in the franchise is not solely implicit after all.
Keywords: Death, Final Destination, John Denver, Rocky Mountain High, Donnie Darko, hallucinations, hypnagogic, mythology, narcolepsy, PTSD, premonitions, substance use
Michael Ullo, B.S., Maggie Yesalavage, DO & Anthony Tobia, MD, [email protected] Copyright © 2015 Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. All rights reserved

What are the hottest stocks talked about on social media today? Check out the top list of bullish and bearish stocks from the SOL Investor app (on Apple and Google Play stores) below:
Bullish:

1. Tesla Inc. $TSLA
2. Microsoft Corporation $MSFT
3. Jack In The Box Inc. $JACK
4. RPC Inc. $RES
5. Restaurant Brands International Inc. $QSR
6. Caterpillar Inc. $CAT
7. Rio Tinto Plc $RIO
8. Baxter International Inc. $BAX
9. Koss Corporation $KOSS
10. TFI International Inc $TFII

Bearish:

1. Credit Suisse Group American Depositary Shares $CS
2. JP Morgan Chase & Co. $JPM
3. Citigroup Inc. $C
4. HSBC Holdings plc. $HSBC
5. AstraZeneca PLC $AZN
6. Morgan Stanley $MS
7. Wells Fargo & Company $WFC
8. Birks Group Inc. $BGI
9. Charles Schwab Corporation $SCHW
10. Deutsche Bank $DB

There's an incredibly addictive loop to content that makes you mad, makes you fearful, and then soothes those two feelings. Qanon does this a lot. "Vaccines are poison! (fear), they stole the election! (anger), but [insert politician here] has a secret plan to out the cabal and bring military justice and keep us all safe and free (soothing)".
Red and [the other pill that shall not be named] content uses this same loop. Here are statistics on infidelity or paternity fraud or divorce, be mad about it - Here's a diatribe about why women won't fuck short guys, be fearful and afraid - it means you're never going to feel love. In the red pill, that soothing turn is to say, "But don't worry, you can follow our plan of self-improvement to cheat the system and get women and be happy". In [the other pill], that soothing message is more along the lines that it is totally fine to just stop trying.
The alt-right movement does this too. "The BLM movement is a symbol of your oppression! Fight it! Trans people are ruining society! Be fearful and afraid - join our brotherhood and take back what's ours!... Congrats you just became a Neo Nazi full of racism and hate.
The red pill offers proactive solutions that you can use to overcome your issues even if they are unethical at times. The [other pill] soothes with the notion that you don't have to try, it's over, you can relax and just play 12 hours of league of legends in your room every day because you can't do anything about it. This bifurcates two groups of men who are coming to youtube or whatever else totally depressed, lonely, and upset about dating. Some of them want solutions and they only have one set of content. Some of them are struggling too much for solutions. Their social anxiety or their depression is too high, they are too geographically isolated, they've faced too much trauma, or for whatever other reason they want to stop. They want to be told it is okay to quit trying because they can't change the outcome.
And since loneliness is a driving force to being hooked on this content in the first place, one added bonus is that you can find a community of people who have also taken this in and who will be your friends in online spaces. That's important to the grift too, because this isn't a message you hear just once and then you just accept it and go on with your life secure in the knowledge. You have to keep listening, keep watching the videos, reading the blogs, taking in the content. That's the rage loop activated. You need to be surrounded by people who are in agreement with the content and who will rehash and support you in agreeing that this is right and true.
So people join social enclaves (discord, subreddits, whatever else) and gain a social group dedicated to this content. The tiniest bit of critical thinking and logic will break the shelf on the ideology because it was poorly crafted and, well, you know, totally bullshit to begin with. So you need to keep coming back to places where you'll find content that reinforces your negative worldview.
It's also worth mentioning that the anger-fear-soothing loop is SUPER ADDICTIVE. This is fucked up but it makes sense. It's a functional kind of emotional regulation. Think about how politics for centuries has used this method. "Look at those immigrants coming over here taking your jobs!" - meanwhile the rich get richer and we all end up divided and powerless.
When you encounter experiences that make you fearful or angry in real life, you can turn to the "friends" you have online (either parasocial youtube personalities or members of your group) to channel those uncomfortable feelings through the content and achieve a kind of peace. It becomes a huge support system in the mental health of people who are deep down the rabbit hole and one of the main challenges of leaving is learning to use new and different emotional regulation structures, which can be a steep learning curve.
There will be people like myself who will constantly challenge the views of the red pilled individuals and we will feel that by putting across what we believe are sound, logical responses, then these men will benefit and learn and move on and everything will be ok, except that's never the case due to the repetition processes of where these guys constantly congregate online. As the saying goes, you cannot reason someone out of a position that they never reasoned themselves into.
The negative emotions mimics a lot of the patterns within abusive relationships. It borrows a fair bit from BITE models of high control groups. The red pill and the man who had swallowed the pill is the abusive relationship here. Before, indoctrination would occur in the real world where a person had to attend meetings in person but with the internet age, you can do it all from your phone in your own living room which is what makes it so terribly fucking dangerous. It's absolutely devastating to the emotional landscape of an individual, and the manosphere is usually targeting people without great emotional resources in the first place, so climbing out of the hole is pretty fucking difficult. It's sad, really.
If this describes you, get help - it means you have been indoctrinated to believe something which has in turn worsened your situation. You were probably depressed to begin with, but by falling down the many dangerous rabbit holes online, things have gotten beyond awful. Please seek professional help at the earliest opportunity.
Edit: Spellings

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Cover

42 – A possible future

[Temporary timeline, possible future.]
The portal shimmered. On the other side was the access route to the CARF, operated by unmanned machines and subroutines that not even Samantha knew what they were really there for, or who put them there in the first place. Still, the family lingered on the known side of the portal for only the least amount of time necessary before taking the plunge, deciding not to waste any rewindable time when they were this close to their target. Albert was back on full mana and the others were as ready as they could ever be.
The room on the other side, an unknown variable up until the very moment the trio emerged from the opaque portal, was empty. Albert was quick to scan it with his enhanced senses, draining a negligible amount of mana from his reserves, and confirmed that there was nobody there. It was, as predicted, an access route most people didn’t know, its presence a well kept secret. There were no windows to the outside, just a single reinforced door that could only be opened from the inside using a secret code.
Samantha entered it, looking at the numbers and letters appearing on her phone in quick succession. The Quadrangle was once again making their job much easier than it would have been otherwise. Then, as the door hissed open, the absence of windows in the room suddenly made total sense. They were several hundred meters up in the air, inside a concrete cube built almost at the summit of a rocky plateau of deep red stone, tall enough that the whole valley below was clearly visible, together with the signs of yet another storm brewing at the horizon.
At the top of a few flights of stairs carved in the stone, surrounded by tiny bushes of shy green leaves cooked by the cold, a helipad was built in the side of the massive rock pillar.
“I guess it’s time to show your grandson your skills as a pilot, old man.” Samantha said.
“Finally. Time to be useful!”
They were up in the air in a matter of moments, with the old man showing no signs of being rusty in the way he handled the helicopter like it was one of his own limbs. Now it was all a matter of reaching the CARF and land on its roof, a journey that was already not very pleasant due to the conformation of the land and the path the helicopter was forced to take in order to leave the valley they were in, and was made even worse by the rapidly deteriorating meteorological conditions. The storm, previously only a dark path at the horizon, now took up almost all of the sky, with tendrils of dark clouds obscuring the sun and taking over what little blue was left with incredible speed.
Strong air currents tugged at the helicopter, making it sway and move around.
“We are heading straight into the storm, get ready because it’s gonna get very bumpy from now on.”
Right on cue, the real turbulence began. And it ramped up quickly, turning the flight into a very disorienting and frightening experience for Albert, who had never even taken a plane his whole life. He tried his best not to look down, but it didn’t help that the helicopter was of the open variety, like those used by the military just without the guns, and the wind and hail pelted him with icy cold blasts and soaked his clothes.
Beside him, his mother was impassible. It was like she wasn’t even aware of the weather and of the discomfort, instead looking around and scanning the sky in search of something, her fingers gripping the trigger of her rifle. It wasn’t long before the shield around Albert began to shimmer to protect him from the elements, but even then his mother simply kept looking, disregarding everything else.
He didn’t speak. There was enough wind and noise to drown out any conversation, but even if that hadn’t been the case he still felt that he didn’t have anything to say. He knew the plan and he knew what to do once they reached the CARF, and until then it was all a matter of waiting and keeping his eyes open, careful about whatever threat his mother was worried about.
In truth, he knew well what she was worried about. He had seen PsyOps take off flying after he wounded him at the Pylon outside of Tryte. He wondered, though, if the man would be able to fly even with this weather and this far high without trouble.
His question was soon answered.
“We got incoming!” Lloyd yelled on the internal comms, while alarm bells went off and added to the already deafening cacophony of sounds that invaded the open cabin.
The helicopter suddenly left its former straight flight pattern and the world around Albert lurched, gravity no longer working as intended for a moment, and he caught glimpse of a shadow in the clouds, like a little floating silhouette in the distance. Then the missile that had been locked onto the helicopter, responsible for the alarms and the sudden evasive maneuver shot past, chasing one of the flares his grandpa had deployed instead of hitting them.
Albert cranked both [Perception] and [Bullet Time] to the max right as his mother shifted to grab the heavy guns she had loaded on the heli before taking off. She scanned the sky, taking stock of the presence of the silhouette after a few seconds of searching, and immediately started to shoot. The explosions inside the rifle accelerated the bullets to incredible speeds, and even with a five-factor time dilation Albert was almost unable to follow their path as they shot towards the shadow in the distance.
But he saw it. He saw it ditch the rocket launcher and dodge so fast it was almost impossible to follow it. Before a shot could hit it, the shadow moved and danced around, getting closer and closer and avoiding the shots like it knew exactly where they were being aimed at before they were even fired.
Because that’s exactly what he’s doing, isn’t it? He can read minds.
Then the mental attacks started. Right when Albert was about to join the skirmish with his fireballs, that’s when he felt his mental defenses trigger. [Mental Fortress] was a passive skill, and it activated immediately in response to the attacks, drawing whatever mana it needed to fend off the alien power trying to take over his mind. He resisted the attack, but it was clear that the other two passengers had not. Samantha groaned, realizing too late that her grip on the weapon had loosened and that her rifle was now tumbling down and into the void below.
Albert didn’t help her. He shot to the control cabin of the helicopter just as they were about to lose their upright position and shook his grandfather awake before it was too late. The old man woke up with a jolt and grabbed the stick tight, trying to stabilize the helicopter before he lost control of their flight. As he did so, Albert ran back to the open section and tracked the movements of the attacker, readying fireball after fireball and making them split into two right as they were about to be dodged.
There was a plan to deal with PsyOps, which made use of his telepathic powers to trick him into a false sense of security. Samantha made her firing patters more predictable. Albert kept throwing with just enough accuracy to scare but not to hit the flying man. After a while the fireballs, and the hail of bullets from Sam’s many weapons (she had packed many more than she could ever use for the occasion) forced the psion into a predictable flight pattern.
Then Samantha made her next shot a bit too easy to read, displaying it clearly in the front of her mind.
The psion bought it, dodging right where albert was aiming his next shot.
Both fireballs managed to hit, and the shadow seemed to fall, but then it resumed flying and disappeared into the storm.
“Shit. He’s still flying! How far is the CARF?” Samantha yelled.
“5 minutes out! Can you hold on?” Lloyd replied.
“Of course. You keep flying!” She said, and turned to Albert, who had disabled the time dilation skill to listen in. “It’s okay. This is all within plans.”
She was heaving, clearly fatigued after having been mentally attacked by the psion. “But! Another attack and I’m out.” She said, spitting some blood from a ruptured capillary in the back of her nose. “Fuck that guy. Listen, you nicked him. Good job. Now, we just fly straight and if you see anything move – shoot it.”
“Understood.”
***
There they saw it, the helipad at the top of the CARF. It was a bright green circle, drawn in a special metamaterial that could be visible in any weather, glowing in a field of utter black. All around the descending helicopter was only darkness, but it was not because it was night – it was barely afternoon after all – but it was the storm that had robbed the day of its light. The powerful spotlights both on the helicopter and on the roof of the CARF, around the landing pad, barely managed to penetrate a few meters of darkness before the rain and hail ate their glow and swallowed it.
The whole roof was a blurry shadow of blacker black, without edge.
“Stay close.” Sam ordered, and the helicopter’s engines died, and the lights stayed on. They hopped off together, but when they went to the cabin to see why Lloyd was not joining him, they found it empty.
“Something is wrong.”
Albert looked around. Then he felt something.
He turned to face his mother. She was gone. What he had felt was a rush of space mana, and it was too late now to activate his Hazegem – even in bullet time – because a powerful force had sent him flying and his grip on the gem loosened. It tumbled on the ground, a luminous dot of purple.
But Albert was still outside the teleportation wards of the CARF. He tried to use teleportation to disappear in a hurry and reappear right where the gem was to snatch it and rewind before it was too late.
A fatal mistake, because as he concentrated on the Teleportation Map, his mental defenses went momentarily down. That’s when PsyOps attacked.
As images of his own plan to take down the psion flashed his awareness, mental attacks digging through his brain and finding old memories, the world shifted. He was falling. In his mind the conversation he had with his mother and grandfather played again and again, while Albert thrashed on the ground, spasming and convulsing. Then, as semblance of reason returned to his mind, he realized that he had indeed teleported and was clutching the gem in his hand.
But he also felt pain flaring in his arm. There was a boot there, he could only see the boot, pushing him down against the wet concrete. It ground and pressed until his hand was forced to open from the pressure on his tendons, unable as he was to use any skill with his mind turned to mush like that.
It was now or never. He struggled to push mana into the gem, feeling it activate.
PsyOps bent down to examine the Hazegem. He hummed. “So this is how you planned to take me down, eh? Interesting.”
He poured his own psionic energy into it, right when the gem activated.
Instead of Albert traveling to the past, PsyOps did. He appeared right at the CARF, alone, in the past.
“What the fuck?”
But it didn’t take him long to understand, not with the memories he now had. Pocketing the now unusable gem until its cooldown was over, PsyOps took flight, determined to kill Albert before he even had a chance to enact his plan. He knew where he was now.
***
“Albert, if you ever need to rewind, rewind back to this moment. If you do that we’ll see you disappear before our eyes and then teleport in, right?”
“Yes, that’s how it looks from the—”
Silence. Suddenly Albert looked distressed, as if in a state of panic.
“Shit. The Hazegem is gone.”
Then there was the sound of a phone ringing.
“Were you expecting calls?” Lloyd asked.
Samantha took out her phone. “This is impossible.” She muttered.
The others looked at the screen. The Quadrangle itself was calling her.
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Hi! I am an 18yo Vietnamese student, who just got accepted into BCIT's Industrial Network Cybersecurity program. While being in security is fine, I want to become a fullstack developer for the following reasons:

• There seems to be not much programming in Cysec. I absolutely love programming, and scripting doesn't give me that feeling.
  
• The pressure is insane. If anything goes wrong, it can be very hard to solve, and the responsibility for keeping everything in place is heavy. Sure, being a FS person must be careful too, but it's not at stake that much.
  

I can only see stories of people becoming cybersecurity engineers from a SWE background and not the other way. I have even tried to search ways to get a web dev job without any degrees, as well as free courses on web development, and I am now starting with Khan Academy. What should I do?

I (F26) recently moved in with my boyfriend (M31) of 1.5 years. I had been staying here 6-7 days a week for months prior.
We both work from home and up until this point have had scuffles surrounding libido, and that’s the extent of our conflict.
4 weeks ago he was the kindest, most supportive, close, most caring man. Cooked every meal for us, would plan spontaneous trips, forehead kisses all the time, morning and nightly cuddles. Each morning he would wake up, roll over, and tell me how lucky he felt to have me.
3 weeks ago we both went on separate trips. Zero chance of cheating.
2 weeks ago he became cold out of the blue. Zero affection, flat hugs, little eye contact, complete emotional and physical withdrawal. When I tried to address it and also let him know some things I am working through in therapy (i.e., learning to love myself more, healing from childhood/past relationship trauma) he shut down even more.
Every few days we’ve had the same talk where we both cry and he says a combination of these things: “i’m scared to lose you,” “i’m scared we can’t bounce back from this,” “i will never be enough for you,” ”you deserve better,” “it’s too early for us to be having this conflict.”
Recently he has been saying things like “what if this is just me,” “what if i can’t change,” “what if this just doesn’t work”
I am crushed.
He has a very hard time expressing his emotions and opening up. I’ve tried my best to create a safe space for him.
He says it’s nothing I did. But it’s clear he is pushing me away and self sabotaging something incredible.
I’m literally still unpacking my shit from moving in with him… I leased my adorable studio apartment that was my safe space, to move in with a human that was the definition of safety and security for me.
Someone pls give me some insight as to if you and your partner have gone through anything like this. I’m trying my best to support him but I have to be authentic to myself as well.
I LOVE our life together and I am willing to hold his hand while he breaks his walls down, as he did for me very early on.
Help :’)

The recent uproar around changes to the UCC seems are the result of a fundamental lack of understanding of commercial law, and we may be shooting ourselves in the foot and hampering bitcoin adoption if we don't change course quickly.
Texas Blockchain Council, Bitcoin Today Coalition and Bitcoin Policy Institute are now coordinating to try to correct misperceptions being advanced by some in the bitcoin space around the impacts of recently proposed UCC amendments being voted on at the state level.
The crux of the UCC issue is very well laid out by Carla Reyes in her recently released paper: Emerging Technology's Unfamiliarity with Commercial Law - "Far from advantaging CBDCs, the 2022 UCC Amendments promote stability and predictability in commercial transactions involving cryptocurrency."
If you read nothing else in the paper, please focus on this paragraph. The bottom line is that these UCC amendments actually enshrine bitcoin's core tenets in state laws around the country, while doing nothing to advance CBDC adoption.
If you are going to reach out to your state legislatures, please read Carla Reyes's paper first and gain an understanding of the issue.
You can view Carla Reyes's paper online in your browser by following this link and I will also include a copy of her paper below.

• ABSTRACT

Over the course of a three-year, collaborative process that was open to the public, the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) and the American Law Institute (ALI) undertook a project to revise the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) to account for the impact of emerging technologies on commercial transactions. The amendments, approved jointly by the ULC and ALI in July 2022, touch on aspects of the entire UCC, but one change has inspired ire and attracted national media attention: a proposed revision to the definition of “money.” The 2022 UCC Amendments alter the definition of “money” to account for the introduction of central bank digital currencies, such as the Bahamian Sand Dollar, and create a separate asset classification category for cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin — controllable electronic record. Opponents of this change state concern that the UCC seeks to “ban” cryptocurrency or otherwise advantage central bank digital currencies and disadvantage cryptocurrencies. This essay examines this dispute over the 2022 UCC Amendments, and argues that it stems from a misunderstanding of core commercial law concepts. Ultimately, it seems, diminishing familiarity with commercial law — a side effect of expanding reliance on emerging financial technology products — stands as a key obstacle to the enactment of a legal changes designed to give the objectors the very legal effects they desire.

• INTRODUCTION

Cryptocurrency stories of woe have dominated the news cycle since May 2022. Some of this news coverage reveals the general public’s lack of familiarity with commercial law concepts. For example, when a ruling in the Celsius bankruptcy determined that certain customer deposits belonged to Celsius, and, relegated customers to unsecured creditor status, the world generally seemed shocked. Well, everyone seemed shocked except commercial lawyers. Those lawyers familiar with the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and its interaction with the Bankruptcy Code might have predicted such an outcome, and, indeed, had they been consulted, might have helped prevent it. Unfortunately, as the regular use of checks and other negotiable instruments dwindles in favor of emerging financial technology products, commercial law familiarity also diminishes.
In a somewhat twisted turn of fate, emerging technology’s unfamiliarity with commercial law now threatens the adoption of key commercial law changes designed to improve the use of emerging payment mechanisms in commerce. This essay examines the proposed 2022 UCC Amendments6 and recent claims that the Amendments seek to “ban” bitcoin and facilitate the adoption of a controversial asset called Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The essay argues that such claims rest in a failure of emerging technology’s advocates to understand commercial law terms of art and the purposes they serve in the UCC. Far from advantaging CBDCs, the 2022 UCC Amendments promote stability and predictability in commercial transactions involving cryptocurrency.

• I. THE BACKDROP: BITCOIN VS. CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES

Recent concerns that the 2022 UCC Amendments push a pro-CBDC and anti-bitcoin agenda9 stem from a deep cultural and value clash between proponents of bitcoin and proponents of CBDCs. By way of brief background, bitcoin is a cryptocurrency intrinsic to the Bitcoin network. Introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, the Bitcoin blockchain protocol provides a mechanism for recording electronic transactions through a distributed adversarial network in which it is computationally impractical for any party or group to retroactively modify transactions. Bitcoin enables the cryptographic demonstrability and relative permanency of each digital transaction, facilitates direct peer-to-peer financial transactions without intervention by a third-party intermediary, and incentivizes network support and security by issuing new bitcoin, subject to a cap, according to pre-determined rules coded into the network. Bitcoin is a medium of exchange laden with a variety of values, including preferences for: deflationary monetary economics, privacy, autonomy, and freedom in financial transactions.
These values stand in stark contrast to many of the technical and cultural elements of proposals to create CBDCs. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB) defines CBDCs “as a digital liability of the Federal Reserve that is widely available to the general public.” Even while lauding potential benefits of CBDCs, such as convenience, safety, and liquidity, the FRB also expressed concern for potential negative effects. In particular, many worry that CBDCs will increase government financial surveillance, restrict financial autonomy, and potentially disincentivize savings, among other economic implications. Ultimately, as a result of these issues, the face-off between bitcoin and CBDCs acts as a battleground over important value and political differences.
While this value-laden and politically-tense debate over the nature of money and alternative payment mechanisms brewed, a variety of stakeholders began a completely unrelated, deliberative, and open process to amend the UCC considering the last decade’s technological advances. One key issue posed by emerging technology centered on improving the commercial law rules for digital assets such as bitcoin.

• II. THE PROBLEMATIC TREATMENT OF BITCOIN UNDER EXISTING UCC PROVISIONS

A variety of lenders secure loans using cryptocurrency as collateral. As early as 2014, commercial lawyers and scholars pointed out the potential limiting effect of existing UCC provisions for the negotiability of encumbered cryptocurrency. Under the existing UCC provisions, bitcoin (and other cryptocurrency) is a general intangible. When a lender takes general intangibles as collateral for a secured loan, the lender may only perfect its security interest by filing a financing statement in the relevant filing office. As discussed in further depth below, bitcoin’s treatment as a general intangible caused two problems for those lending against bitcoin as collateral: (1) crypto-native lenders lacked an optimal method of perfecting bitcoin collateral, and (2) bitcoin users could only ensure they received unencumbered bitcoin by conducting a search in the Article 9 filing system.
First, crypto-native lenders expressed concern about filing financing statements for fear of reducing the privacy interests of debtors. Lenders worried that third-parties could ascertain when a debtor owned cryptocurrency (including, say, bitcoin) and had perhaps borrowed against it. Debtors sought more privacy than that. As a result, some lenders began taking “control” of the bitcoin collateral by, for example, taking the bitcoin into a wallet the lender controlled. While this was good for gaining access to the collateral upon default, under the existing UCC, that lender, without filing a financing statement with the relevant filing office, remained an unperfected secured creditor. Such status, of course, would pose a problem if the debtor defaulted to another, perfected, secured creditor, or if the debtor became insolvent and filed for bankruptcy. In either case, the crypto-native lender with control of the bitcoin but no filed financing statement would lose in a contest for the value of the bitcoin collateral to a secured party who filed a financing statement or to the bankruptcy trustee. Second, treatment of bitcoin as a general intangible imposed a severe limitation on the negotiability of bitcoin. An onward transferee of bitcoin could never be sure without searching the filing system whether the bitcoin they received was encumbered or not.
Many initially think the answer to the problem of treating bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as general intangibles lies in making bitcoin “money” under the UCC. Under the UCC “money” receives treatment as super-negotiable; a recipient of encumbered money from a debtor takes it free of a security interest granted by the debtor. However, ultimately, this solution remains suboptimal. Making intangible bitcoin “money” for UCC purposes is problematic because a security interest in “money” can only be perfected by possession. Possession in the UCC is a physical, tangible concept. You must be able to hold a thing in your hands in order to possess it. So, if you make bitcoin “money” for UCC purposes, you make it impossible to perfect a security interest in bitcoin, which is worse for lenders than classifying bitcoin as a general intangible — at least as a general intangible, an actual way to perfect a security interest exists.

• III. THE 2022 UCC AMENDMENTS RESPECT BITCOINS NEGOTIABILITY AND DECENTRALIZATION

The 2022 UCC Amendments offer nuanced resolutions to these issues. First, the amendments create a new category of asset for UCC purposes (and for UCC purposes only). That category of assets is called a “controllable electronic record” (CER). A CER “means a record stored in an electronic medium that can be subjected to control under Section 12-105.” In an innovative move, the technology agnostic 2022 UCC Amendments defer to the technical system of the CER to determine what constitutes control as a technical matter, so long the person who has control obtains: (1) the power to enjoy substantially all the benefit of the CER; (2) the exclusive power to prevent others from enjoying “substantially all the benefit” of the CER; and (3) the exclusive power to transfer control of the CER.34 Notably, exclusivity is not lost if it is shared by agreement (or by technology — such as multi-signature arrangements).
This definition of “control” serves two purposes: (1) it serves a definitional purpose — namely, not all electronic records are CERs, just those capable of being subject to the defined term control, and (2) lenders who take cryptocurrency, including bitcoin, as collateral, may now perfect security interests by control.36 Indeed, the amendments make control the preferred method of perfection for CERs over filing. This, of course, is exactly what existing industry players had already been doing — just without the legal benefits they would have wanted under the existing provisions of the UCC. The 2022 UCC Amendments seek to bring the law up to speed with what bitcoin-native secured lenders thought was best all along. Additionally, the 2022 UCC Amendments provide that if a purchaser of a CER (such as bitcoin) is a qualifying purchaser, the purchaser will benefit from a take-free rule; the purchaser gets an unencumbered CER. In this way, treating bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as CERs resolves the two prominent problems lenders taking bitcoin as collateral face under the existing UCC provisions.
Far from favoring CBDCs, the 2022 UCC Amendments seek to facilitate the negotiability of CERs such as bitcoin. Without such rules as the take-free rules, bitcoin and other CERs would be at a disadvantage to CBDCs in terms of negotiability. Instead, the 2022 UCC Amendments preserve the negotiability of bitcoin and other CERs in a way that should better enable individuals to freely transact in bitcoin without worry that they are taking the bitcoin subject to a secret lien. This represents an extremely important change to commercial law rule for the maintenance of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as freely transferable bearer-like instruments.
As the 2022 UCC Amendments were being drafted and debated, El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender. Arguably, El Salvador's move made bitcoin “money” under the existing UCC. Of course, this presents a problem because no lender can now perfect a security interest in bitcoin. Recall that “money” must be perfected by possession and possession is a concept for tangible things you can hold in your hands. The existence of intangible bitcoin as “money” does not fit within that model of perfection by physical possession. Further, some countries already developed CBDCs like the Sand Dollar. The Sand Dollar, as e-currency authorized by the Bahamian government, clearly falls under the UCC’s existing definition of “money,” leaving lenders with no way to perfect security interests in Sand Dollars or other CBDCs, because possession, as a physical concept simply does not work.
Further, as a form of legal tender, many expect CBDCs to integrate with the existing banking system, and the existing UCC rules already account for how to perfect in collateral like a deposit account (namely by control, defined in a different way). Notably, even El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin integrates with the existing banking system similarly to CBDCs. El Salvador implemented its adoption of bitcoin as legal tender through the Chivo wallet, a custodial wallet that does not give users control over their private keys. The 2022 UCC Amendments could have taken its cue from the El Salvador implementation and required that perfection of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency take place via a custodial wallet provider or deposit account. The 2022 UCC Amendments opted for a different approach. Namely, to address the likely integration of CBDCs with the existing banking system while also attempting to honor the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies and blockchain protocols like that found in bitcoin, the 2022 UCC Amendments kept the CER category for bitcoin and created a separate concept of “electronic money.”
“Electronic money” includes any “medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government,” but excludes “an electronic record that is a medium of exchange recorded and transferable in a system that existed and operated…before the medium of exchange was authorized or adopted by the government” (like El Salvador and bitcoin). Notably, this change does not preference CBDCs, but instead deals with unique issues. Namely, if electronic money is credited to a deposit account (which in UCC-speak means a bank account, and could include an account at a central bank), then the normal deposit account perfection rules will apply. If the electronic money collateral is not credited to a deposit account, then a security interest in electronic money could be perfected by control. As a practical matter, because of the nature of CBDCs, the default method of perfection in electronic money in practice will likely be by perfection of deposit accounts. It should come as no surprise, then, as to why treating bitcoin like “electronic money” and folding it into the definition of “money” would be sub-optimal. Namely, such treatment would likely encourage recentralization of bitcoin holdings through deposit accounts or intermediated securities accounts. Such recentralization would be a step in an incredibly wrong direction. Rather, enabling maximum party autonomy by allowing individualized control over a CER to act as a method of perfection for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies represents a more beneficial approach, as signaled by the fact that crypto-native secured lenders employed this approach before the 2022 UCC Amendments project began. The separation between “electronic money” and CERs, far from somehow favoring CBDCs, respects existing commercial practice and the decentralized nature of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.

• CONCLUSION

The worries raised about the UCC including CBDCs in the definition of “money” while excluding bitcoin center on a concern that other laws might copy the definition for other purposes. In this regard, the private law nature of the UCC plays an important role. The UCC is not regulatory in nature, and the definition of “money” in the UCC has no direct impact on the definition of “money” for other legal purposes such as in taxes, anti-money laundering, money transmitter regulations, security regulations, commodities regulations, or even which mediums of exchange serve as U.S. legal tender. The definition of “money” in the UCC serves a narrow commercial law purpose: to provide predictability and stability in commercial transactions relating to a specific type of medium of exchange. The unique and decentralized nature of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency require a different approach to enabling stable and predictable commercial transactions involving those assets.
The 2022 UCC Amendments seek to preserve the decentralized nature of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, enable secured lenders to enjoy legal benefits of their existing commercial practices, and by protect the negotiability of bitcoin by allowing onward transferees to take bitcoin and cryptocurrencies free of existing encumbrances. Without an understanding of the role that the definition of “money” plays in the UCC, however, bitcoin’s proponents may miss the opportunity to support a law that respects some of bitcoin’s core values. Although unfamiliarity with blockchain-related terminology often motivates sub-optimal legislation and regulatory schemes for cryptocurrency, smart contracts, and other emerging technology, this battle over the 2022 UCC Amendments stems from the opposite: unfamiliarity with commercial law among proponents of emerging technology. Emerging technology’s language wars, it seems, run both ways.
In the case of South Dakota, while the governor’s rhetorical response reflects well on her political judgment, this proposed bill does not, unlike the Governor and others claim, tilt South Dakota toward a CBDC purgatory. Nor does it restrict Bitcoin’s adoption. It’s actually bullish for Bitcoin.
How this misunderstanding has metastasized through political discourse — from state governors to Bitcoin-friendly Congressmen — deserves its own deconstruction, but I’ll leave that to others.
The bill in question — based on an update to the Uniform Commercial Code — not only expands definitions and protections for Bitcoin, but actually creates a legal mechanism for recognizing self-custody and for the protocol’s inclusion in traditional lending, insurance, and commercial transactions.
In a sense, it’s an upgrade to existing commercial law that would allow Bitcoin to be used as collateral for all future financial contracts. It’s “not your keys, not your coins” in commercial law.
Not only would this bill protect your Bitcoin in any commercial transaction, but it would also better define and protect ownership of your Bitcoin in a bankruptcy scenario like FTX, Voyager, or BlockFi.
More at https://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/in-attempt-to-stop-cbdcs-states-are-rejecting-ostensibly-pro-bitcoin-legislation

Are you considering different website builders and management platforms? If so, you may be wondering which one is right for you. In this post, we'll compare 10web with Wix, highlighting the unique benefits and features of 10web.
First, let's start with the basics. Both 10web and Wix offer drag-and-drop website builders that allow you to create a website without any coding knowledge. However, 10web offers some unique benefits that set it apart from Wix.
One of the key advantages of 10web is that it's built on WordPress. This means that you can take advantage of the vast ecosystem of WordPress plugins and themes to customize your website. Additionally, if you're already familiar with WordPress, you'll find it easy to use 10web.
Another advantage of 10web is that it offers an all-in-one platform for website management. In addition to website building, it includes hosting, backups, security, SEO optimization, and more. This means that you don't need to manage multiple services to keep your website up and running smoothly.
Finally, 10web offers some unique features that aren't available on Wix. For example, it includes a built-in form builder, image optimization, and automatic website speed optimization.
While Wix is a great option for many users, 10web offers some unique benefits that may make it a better fit for your needs. Ultimately, the best choice depends on your specific requirements and preferences. Consider the features and benefits of each platform carefully before making a decision.
Checkout our in-depth review HERE

Hey there friends how's it going? I'm here once again asking for assistance in acquiring Grey Hack. The sell ends tomorrow and then it goes back up to 19.99.
What is Grey Hack?
Grey Hack is a massively multiplayer hacking simulator. It is a completely open ended MMO hacking game. It's pretty awesome. In my spare time I run capture the flags on Hackthebox.com for fun and I've just begun doing bug bounties on Hackerone.com to try to start making a living out of what I've found to be an immense passion of mine. Needless to say a game where I can write my own code and hack other players and defend from them as well using Unix commands and a virtual Linux OS is something I've been dreaming of.
The terminal commands and exploits have been built using the in game scripting language so you can modify any existing command or create your own. That means the world is your oyster. You can write reverse shells, firewalls, XSS, etc.
Grey Hack has been out since 2017 and it receives constant updates I believe it's a one man development team as well and you can tell a lot of heart has gone into the games development.
Grey Hack is a great way to sharpen your coding skills while learning more about cyber security and if you're a nerd like me you'd probably love to check it out as well. It is probably the most realistic hacking game you can buy right now.
Grey Hack is on sale until tomorrow! for $16.99 US I'm in the process of selling my steam gift cards but I will not have them sold by tomorrow so if anyone is willing to help me out with this I will be eternally grateful if anyone does decide to bless me with the gift of games I plan to use the money from my steam cards to pay it forward and gift a game myself.
Thank you once again for your time and consideration <3
Grey Hack
https://store.steampowered.com/app/605230/Grey_Hack/
Steam Profile
https://steamcommunity.com/id/Kritkal_11C/

Part 53
TW: Intense, masochistic sexuality.
Caliope, Clever Little Shit
Caliope sat in the back of the transport, still parked in front of the fancy house somewhere in south LA. Finally, she had her hands cuffed in front of her body, and she could reach her crotch. She dug fingers in her panties and inside of herself, reaching deep, into her posterior fornix. The thrill of stimulation there barely registered, even though it was her favorite spot for a cock or dildo to hit. She was too angry.
She pushed hard, twisting at the cuffs until she fit her entire hand inside of herself, and she could finally reach the scar. It had been there for years, waiting for this exact opportunity.
She dug her fingernails in, the sensitive tissue sending howling signals of pain to her brain, where her own psychology twisted them into signals of pleasure. Blood flowed as she scratched and clawed at herself, but she eventually found what she was looking for. Flesh parted, revealing a small, artificial lump.
She seized in in slippery fingers and pulled it out. It was a tiny handcuff key, with a tiny bit of her own brand of magic stored inside of it, wrapped in layers of cling-wrap. She quickly unwrapped it as blood soaked through her panties and smeared the seat.
She finally got it unwrapped and wasted no time unlocking her handcuffs. The bleeding did not concern her, she knew she would heal rapidly once she was done. She touched the key to the collar around her throat and felt the relief as its magic failed. She quickly used the sharpened tooth on the key to saw through the strap of the collar.
Her own magic filled her, and she let some of it turn to healing. She turned some more into physical strength. Then she checked the doors.
Locked, of course. The DCM was not known for ignoring non-magical security measures. She saw the two officers moving towards her vehicle, and decided that violence was the way to go. She placed her hands in her lap and waited.
They climbed in and started the vehicle.
"Listen," the driver said. "Here's how this works. You don't give us any problems, we don't give you any problems, okay?"
She nodded. "I understand," she said. "No problems."
"Good. We're probably gonna hit a drive-thru on the way. You can get something if you're hungry," the passenger said. Caliope nodded. "Thank you," she said, demurely. A drive-thru would be the perfect time to strike.
She sat in the back quietly as they drove her north. Around Anaheim, they pulled into a Jack in the Box, stopping in front of the menu. "Figure out what you want," the passenger said, turning to face her. "It's my treat."
Caliope smiled at him. He smiled back, then turned to face forward, and that's when Caliope struck.
She felt like she'd gotten a raw deal, the last time. She had never really gotten the chance to fight, except when she faced off with that psycho lunatic who'd surprised her and beaten her to within an inch of her life before she even understood what was happening. She had been training to fight for years and years, and yet when the time came, she managed to catch the guy who was, according to everything she understood, out standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the gods themselves.
But these two, they were former soldiers or cops. Not demigods, not magical beings of immense power.
She surged forward and grabbed the driver by the head, digging fingers into his eye sockets. The man let loose a howl that brought a smile to her face as she blinded him and slammed his head against the seat rest. She brought her feet up and wedged them against the back of his seat even as the passenger spun, a can of paper spray coming up. She ignored him, even as the magical shield triggered by the can popped into place on the man's face and tried -unsuccessfully, thanks to her fingers- to form over the driver's face.
The man let loose and the liquid splattered her face, immediately causing an intense burning sensation. She shuddered as the pain made her cum and redoubled her efforts. With magically enhanced strength, it didn't take long to bend the headrest back, hyperextending the man's neck. His struggles abruptly stopped as she felt something pop in his body and he slumped against her.
The passenger had apparently realized that the pepper spray was just this side of worthless and drawn his sidearm. He thrust it towards he, and she had just enough time to duck her head and seize his wrist before it went off.
The sound was deafening in the enclosed space. Caliope's ears rang as she squeezed the man's wrist and slammed it into his own headrest. He reached back with his free hand and grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking forward and slamming her face into the back of his seat. She felt her nose break and another orgasm swept through her as she grabbed the hand holding her head.
She slammed his wrist again and again, and finally he dropped the gun. She tried to catch it, but missed and it clattered to the floor. She reached down for it, but the man's grip on her hair kept her from it. She strained against him, reaching for the gun.
His right hand vanished, then she felt a heavy impact in her side. She glanced down to see the man drawing the four-inch blade of a combat knife out of her ribs. The impact began to throb and burn as she whipped her head around and warded his knife off with one hand, still straining for the gun with the other.
The knife darted and slashed, opening her arm in two places. She brushed the gun with her fingertips, shifting it. Caliope sucked in a deep breath, ignoring the burning in her side and her arm that made her want to touch herself, and yanked down hard on the hand holding her hair. Her scalp erupted into more burning as he yanked a large clump of hair out by the roots, but she could now reach the gun.
She picked it up and pressed it to the back of the seat, squeezing the trigger until the slide locked back. The cracks of the shots were loud, but her still-ringing ears muted them. The guard slumped, his hands going limp. He dropped the knife into the foot well.
Caliope leaned back and gave in to the urge that had been with her ever since the pepper spray struck her. She wiped her face, wetting her hands and then stuck them both in her panties, coming immediately as her vulva began to burn. She played with herself for several minutes, until she couldn't afford to remain here any longer. Someone in the restaurant or the buildings nearby would have heard the gunshots and the local police might be on the way already.
She grabbed the driver and hauled him into the back, then climbed up to the driver's seat. She put the vehicle, still idling, back into drive and spun it around, pulling back out of the parking lot.
She glanced at the body next to her. "You don't give me any trouble, I won't give you any trouble," she said with a grin.
----
A few miles later, she pulled into a mostly empty parking lot in front of a strip mall. She turned onto the road as she reached over and patted the pockets of the dead guard. She found his cellphone in his pants pocket and pulled it out. She used his phone to unlock it and opened the web browser, typing in a URL that she knew by heart. It took a second to load, and when it did, it immediately loaded a chat room.
U there? she typed and hit send. She waited.
Less than ten seconds passed before the indicator that someone was typing flashed on. A few seconds after that, a new message appeared.
Waiting on u, it said. Caliope grinned.
I no where theres guns an shit, Caliope typed, pausing to check the history of the vehicle's on-board GPS. in san clemente. im in anaheim rn
The typing icon appeared, cycled through its animation and vanished.
Coming there where r u? the chat read. Caliope's grin widened. She hit back on the GPS until it showed her current location, giving the intersection at the top.
Euclid st n katelia ave, in a car w dcm stickers by the arbys
A second later, the icon appeared and then vanished before it could animate.
Omw, the chat read.
Caliope turned and wrestled the other guard's body into the back, then got out and opened the rear hatch. She found raincoats, rifles, a shotgun and assorted gear, mostly tools that would be useful in a rescue situation. She grabbed a raincoat and a blanket and then closed it up.
She threw the blanket over the bodies in the back, then stripped out of her bloody clothes and threw the raincoat on. It was translucent, but she didn't care. She checked their pockets and then the center console of the vehicle, finding a few bills in their wallets and a mass of change in the center console. She took it and walked into a laundromat that was part of the strip mall.
She washed her clothes, smiling at the men who kept sneaking peeks at her body through the raincoat. After they came out of the dryer, she stripped right there and pulled them on. Two of the younger men cheered for her when she pulled the raincoat off.
She left and went to sit in the driver's seat of the DCM vehicle. She waited for another thirty minutes, until a beat-up old Toyota pulled into the spot next to her, and her sister and two men climbed out.
She rolled down the window. "Hulks or ninjas?" she asked the two men. Both sneered at her. "Hulks," one of them said, sounding offended. She smiled. "Good. There's only four guards left to watch the place until the cops come. If we hurry, this should be easy."
----
"Griselda, are you done?" Caliope asked, sticking her head into the kitchen. Griselda sat there, in front of the last survivor of their assault on Garcia's home. He was slumped over, insensate, the hand she had duct-taped to the table by the wrist flayed open to expose muscle and tendons.
Griselda pouted at her sister. "He fainted," she said.
"We're all geared up," Caliope told her. "We're ready to decide what to do."
Griselda stood. She picked up a sewing needle from the table and jammed it into the man's shoulder as she passed him by, but he didn't react. He really was out cold.
The two hulks, Johnny and Bob, stood in the living room, next to the shimmering portal.
"So where we going? We splitting up, or sticking together?" Bob asked.
"Well," Griselda said. "We don't really have any money. Just a couple hundred bucks. And we're on the run, so we need money."
"These guns are worth a pretty penny," Johnny said, hefting a shotgun. Caliope shook her head. "They're not worth enough for us to split up and vanish, the way we need to."
"Duke told us what to do," Bob pointed out.
"He goes by 'Dylan' now," Griselda told him, glancing at Caliope for confirmation. She nodded.
"He did, but the question is whether we want to work for him again," Caliope said.
"I don't give a shit who I work for, as long as I get paid," Johnny said.
"Duke was always good about making sure we got paid," Bob agreed.
Caliope was less sure. She looked at her sister, who shrugged. "Why not?" Griselda asked. "I mean, it's right there. The dead world. We don't even have to look for it, it's right in front of us."
Caliope nodded. Finding the dead world had always been the 'tricky part' of Duke-er, Dylan's emergency plan. But there it was, right through that portal. With that problem solved, the idea of teaming back up with their old boss was a bit more appealing.
"Fuck it," Caliope said. Griselda grinned at her. "Let's go."
They all walked through the portal, checking behind them to make sure the way back was still there as they emerged onto a concrete road, surrounded by concrete buildings and dried-out corpses. It was, the dark ritual room a shocking contrast to the midday sun around them.
"Okay, now which way?" Johnny asked after they'd all walked through. As if in response, a thunderous roar sounded from off in the distance.
"Towards the monster," Caliope said. Griselda took her hand, digging her nails in, making Caliope whimper. She slipped a hand down the back of her sister's pants and slipped a finger into her ass, wiggling it. They smiled at each and turned to share a deep kiss for a moment before they took off, following the two men.
They trudged through the city for over an hour, not seeing any sign of whatever had done the roaring. Caliope noted the bodies and made a game of trying to guess what they'd been doing when they died. She soon roped Griselda into it, and they began guessing out loud. Before too long, Johnny and Bob joined in.
"Those two were fucking, for sure," Johnny said, pointing to a pair of corpses, one piled on the other.
"With their pants on?" Caliope asked skeptically.
"Fine, but those two were definitely fucking," Bob said, stopping and pointing down an alley. Caliope looked, and sure enough, another pair of corpses were piled there. The one on top had pants around its ankles, and the one on the bottom had a skirt that was hiked up.
They all stopped to laugh at that pair, killed in the middle of their tryst.
Johnny walked over and began messing with the corpses before throwing his head back and laughing. Griselda crouched down next to him, then began to giggle and raised the man's hand to slap her palm against it.
"What?" Caliope asked?
"She's got a toy in her asshole, and the dude is still inside her," Johnny explained, wiping tears from his eyes. Caliope grinned. "Adventurous," she quipped.
"Jesus," Bob said, checking it out for himself. "How fucking jaded do you gotta be to have to get your rocks off by getting DPed in public?"
Griselda jabbed him in the ribs, hard. "Don't mock people's kinks," she said.
Bob turned a look on her. "Oh, you like getting DPed in public? Maybe Johnny and I could help you out a bit," he said. Caliope noted a certain gleam in his eyes and decided to speak up.
"How could you do that, Bob, after my sister cuts your dick off?"
"Heh," Bob chuffed, straightening up. "I know you two have your tricks, but I wouldn't need to get big to toss you both around like rag dolls. Trust me, if I decide to fuck you, I'm gonna fuck you."
"Jesus fuck," Johnny objected. "Shut the fuck up, Bob. If you try to rape one of them, I'll help them beat the shit out of you. We've got more important shit to worry about, right now."
Caliope nodded in agreement. She was beginning to like Johnny. He had that big, blonde gringo thing going for him, and he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.
"Johnny's right, Bob," she said. "And we can target our silence, you know. We could stop you from getting big, while letting him."
Bob laughed, though she detected a tinge of nerve in his tone. "You guys are way too uptight. Can't even tell when you're being fucked with."
"Well, let's stop fucking around," Caliope said. "In fact, we should stop talking, so we can hear if anything's approaching. I'd hate for whatever made that roar to catch us flat footed, talking about whose dick is going in whose asshole."
"My dick," Griselda said, "Goes in everyone's asshole." She stood and brushed sand off her pants, walking away from the fateful lovers.
Johnny joined her, leaving Bob to trail behind as they set off again.
They walked the rest of the afternoon in silence. As the sun set, they stopped to confer about what to do, deciding to stop in an intact building. They had Bob go out and gather grass and leaves and crumbling sticks to make a fire with, and then they heated up some of the camp food they'd found.
After eating, they cleared spaces on the floor and set up their sleeping bags, then went to sleep.
Caliope waited until she could hear three voices snoring before she climbed out of her bag. She stripped down to nothing and walked out of the building. The night sky looked different, she thought. The stars were different and the milky way was thicker and less bright.
She found the bench she'd spotted on their way in. It had small, sharp looking fins protruding from the arms which had caught her eye. She placed a leg on the seat and lowered herself, grinding her hips back and forth. The fins tore at the skin of her vulva, the tugging, burning pain making her body tingle. Blood dripped onto the rusty metal, and she wondered idly if she'd get tetanus from it.
The idea excited her. It was suppose to be a painful condition.
She didn't hear the footsteps approaching over her own whimpers and gasps. She didn't know anyone was behind her until she felt a pair of large hands grab her hips.
She spun, expecting to see Bob there, but it was Johnny. She smiled, seeing him.
"You want to help?" she asked.
"I'm not sure I can, now... You're all torn up," he said. She looked down to see the blood in her pubic hair and on the bench's arm.
"I heal," she said. "Like Dylan used to. It's part of the magic."
"Wish they'd given us that part," Johnny said. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. She nipped at his upper lip, making him pull back. "Don't bite," he said.
"How else do I get you to bite back?" she asked playfully. She ground herself against the bench again, feeling the slight pop as each fin caught and then came loose of her flesh.
"Ask nicely," Johnny said.
Caliope grinned, then contorted her face into a parody of pleading. "Please bite me," she whispered. Johnny eyed her skeptically for a moment, then suddenly dipped his head and sank his teeth into her neck. She gasped as he did and moaned.
"Harder," she whispered. His teeth clamped down more.
"Harder," she murmured. She felt the sudden release of tension as he broke the skin.
"Harder," she said. He let go, and she could see blood on his lips. He lifted her up and bit down on one of her nipples, and the heat of an orgasm swept her mind away for a moment. When she regained her senses, she cried "Harder!"
He flipped her around and dropped her onto the arm of the bench. It jabbed painfully into her stomach and ripped skin at the tips of each fin. She came again, shuddering as Johnny pressed one hand down on her back. She felt him roughly shove a finger into her ass, followed by a second, making her moan.
As she felt his knuckles slip inside of her, another pair of hands, smaller and softer, grabbed her head and pushed it down, smacking her cheek against the backrest. Caliope caught a glimpse of her sister between the metal bars and grinned. Nobody could hurt her quite like Griselda.
"Here," Griselda said. "Let me show you what she likes."
Caliope melted away in an ocean of delicious agony.
----
Bob seemed oblivious to what he had missed out on the next morning. Caliope moved slowly, not because any injuries lingered, but because a slight ache remained low in her stomach, and she wanted to savor it.
Johnny managed to avoid getting clingy, which Caliope appreciated. Too many men thought that fucking her meant they were now a couple of some sort, and that she needed catering to. Johnny didn't care. He packed his own bag quickly and then started the fire up again and began cooking, never so much as offering to help either of the sisters with their stuff.
They got packed up, then got some food, and then set off. Caliope was beginning to worry that they might be moving in the wrong direction, but they had no other clues to tell them where to go.
It was shortly after noon, and they had left the city, moved through a small suburb and out into the dead countryside when she heard voices. She brought a hand up, then turned and pressed a finger to her lips. Everybody crouched down, Johnny and Bob readying their guns.
The voices were getting closer, coming from the left side of the road. Caliope crept into the dead trees as quietly as she could, until she could see a break and the shine of another concrete road.
Eventually, they clarified, and Caliope could hear what they were saying.
"It's not that," one voice said, a woman's voice. "All things considered, especially with how fucking promiscuous he is, I don't really care about you two fucking. I care about him. He's been my friend for a while, and he's in a bad place."
"I did not initiate it," a second woman's voice said. "I know what he's going through. I don't want to do anything that would hurt him worse than he's already hurting."
"See, that's the thing," the first voice said. "I don't know that's true. Let me be clear, okay? I don't trust you. I know where you come from, and while I believe that you are your own person, with your own goals and whatever, I know that all of... You, comes from her. And the reason I came here is because I want her dead. I want her to die in agony, and you're a part of her."
"I am not her."
"I believe you. My concern is how much like her you are."
"Are we just going to talk about how little you trust me the whole day?"
"Nope!" the first voice said brightly. "I was just wrapping up. So if you do anything, and I mean anything, that I could possibly see as a betrayal, I'll cut your arms and legs off, stop you from healing, and feed you to Shadow."
"I understand," the second voice said coldly.
"I knew you would," said the first voice as two figured came around a bend on the other road. Both were young women, maybe in their mid twenties. One had jet-black hair with blonde roots pulled back into a ponytail, and was dressed in black tactical gear with goth makeup on. The other also had black hair, but it was longer and let free to fall down her back. She wore body armor over a t-shirt and gray cargo pants. The goth one carried a rifle, and the way her arm was casually draped over the stock suggested that she was very familiar with it.
Caliope froze, knowing that the slightest sound might draw their attention. She crossed her fingers, hoping the others wouldn't give away their presence, either. The two women walked, silent now, down the road, heading in the same direction they were moving in.
She watched them pass. When they vanished, she waited a minute or two to be sure before she returned to find the others gone.
She didn't have long to wonder where they'd gone, though. A moment after she got there, while she was still deciding which way they must have gone, the dead bushes rustled and began to shed leaves. Griselda and the two hulks appeared.
"Why'd you hide?" Caliope asked.
"There was a dude flying around," Johnny said.
"It was him," Griselda hissed, her face a mask of anger.
"The guy from the TV show," Bob added, though Caliope already knew who her sister was referring to. "The one that led the attack on the compound."
"Shit," Caliope cursed.
"What are we going to do?" Griselda demanded. Caliope held up a hand, demanding time to think.
After a moment, she gave voice to her thoughts.
"He has to be with the two I saw. At some point, he's got to land. If we follow them, we could get the jump on them."
Griselda's angry look turned into an eager grin. "I want him, after we kill the other two."
"Shit," Bob said. "If the other two are hot, I want one of them."
"So we'll kill one and capture two," Johnny said. "You recognize these fuckers, what do we have to deal with?"
"Nothing important," Caliope said. "Nothing dangerous, at least not once my sister and I take away their magic."
They all shared in Griselda's eager look, then.