Demographics: Female, White, North Carolina, competitive public school, and LGBTQ+
Intended study: Economics (major), Film studies and/or English (minor)
Academics:

• ACT: 34 (R:36, E:35, M:34, S:30)
• SAT: 1500 (W: 740, M: 760)
• Class rank: 2/550
• UW/W GPA: UW: 4.0/4.0 W: 4.7/5.0
• Coursework: Classes I will take by the end of senior year: 14 APs, 2 CC classes, 13 honors, 3 regular
  • AP Scores (did not take AP Stat exam): World History (5), Macro (5), US Gov (5), Seminar (3)
    • Exams to take Junior & Senior year: Chem, Calc BC (AB subscore), Human Geo, Lang, Research, APUSH, APES, Lit

Extracurriculars:
1) Bank of America Student Leaders Program, 8 week paid internship through Bank of America but you work with local nonprofits
2) Varsity Soccer, 2 year captain, MVP as a junior, 2x All-Conference, led team to playoffs for first time in 5 years
3) Club Soccer, Girls Academy league (highest level of play for girls youth soccer), travel out-of-state (CA, FL, NJ, GA, etc.) every weekend while in season, play with D1 recruits and youth national team players
4) Student Council, Student Body VP (12th), Class Treasurer (11th), Class Rep (9th-10th), leader of annual food drive and a birthday box drive (11th), prom committee member
5) Student Newspaper, (hopefully) Co-Editor-in-Chief (12th), Staff Writer (10th-11th)
6) Habitat for Humanity, volunteer building homes in my community, 65+ hours in the organization
7) Volunteer at a local art house theater, volunteer-run venue for indie film festivals, live music, and stand up comedy, usher and help choose films and acts to showcase, 50+ hours in the organization
8) Founder of county-wide bookclub, 25+ members, monthly meetings plus occasional community service
9) National Honor Society, NHS Vice President, 30+ hours of community service
10) Duke Summer Program in Econometrics (10th), 3 weeks, research project on determinants of crime
Awards: *weak need suggestions/help\*
1) AP Capstone Diploma (completed and passed a 5000 word research paper, 2000 word literature review, 1200 word literature review, 20 minute presentation and 10 minute presentation in AP Research and Seminar)
2) Junior Marshall (participated in graduation as a junior for being top 15 in class)
3) The Future of Finance is Female conference (female leaders in investment banking and consulting lead the conference, was invited and attended in 10th)
4) AP Scholar with Distinction
5) *need to find something asap*
Schools:

• UNC-CH (EA) (applying for morehead-cain scholarship and honors college)
• UVA (EA) (applying for jefferson scholarship)
• NC State (EA)
• UChicago (EA)
• Duke (RD)
• Dartmouth (RD)
• Brown (RD)
• Cornell (RD)

LMK what you think my chances are at these schools! Also, should I submit ACT or SAT (superscored) or both? And, what awards/competitions related to my major (econ) or minors (film/english) should I do?

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: Black asf
• Residence: MN
• Income Bracket: EFC: 5k for a family of 6
• Type of School: Your average public school
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): URM? Low Income??????

Intended Major(s): Geography, Environmental Studies. I just think they're cool
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.51 UW 3.72W. I don't really got an excuse for this im just not a great student
• Rank (or percentile): N/A
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: i've taken 4 APs lmao. If we counting "accelerated" classes then that's an extra like 6 more i think idk.
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, Econ, Pre-Calc, APES, other classes that would dox my exact school so shhhhhh

Standardized Testing
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT I: didnt take that garbage #midwest4life
• ACT: 26 (26E, 23M, 32R, 23S) ???? i cant remember for the life of me but i think those were the exact scores
• SAT II: refer to the first SAT
• AP/IB: all 3s for APUSH, AP Lang, and AP bio,
• Other: nah

Extracurriculars/Activities
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. #1 UPWARD BOUND WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I could write a lot about this but oh my godd I love this shit, part of student leadership council, go to tutoring for like 2 hours a week and have to commit to the whole summer program. Worth it though. (9-present)
2. #2 Was Co-Captain of Schools archery team in 11th grade, Did it from 9-11th grade and it was cool, never won anything major so sorry y'all. Probably spent like 8 hours a week on this bru
3. #3 Research Organizer. Did some research for the University Of Minnesota, was very nice. Can't give away more cause you can dox me AGAIN. Spent like a couple hours a week on this though (12th)
4. #4 Part time job at a caribou. I mean it's just a part time job y'all, what do i gotta say. Was a cashier, handled payments, the whole 9 yards, spent like 15ish hours a week till i quit (11-12)
5. #5 Teacher Assistant. TA'd for the library and just checked in and out books. Had to handle events when they were happening in the library and managed the online system for books. So like 4ish hours a week here (started this year lol)
6. #6 Schools Tennis Team. Joined REALLY late last year but I'm doing it again this year! Never won a tournament or anything so yeah. Spent like 8 hours a week here (11-present)
7. #7 Food Shelf Stocker! Stocked food mostly, just keeping inventory checks and all that. But I did a lot of work up front handing stuff in. Really nice stuff. (11-present)
8. #8 School Event Organizer. Was with a team of 3 other seniors to set up and plan our schools African American culture night. This started kinda late though so I was only able to put it on a few of my applications sadly. (did it for like 3 months this year)

that's it.
Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.
Awards? I Barely know her!
Letters of Recommendation
English teacher for 3 years: 10/10 oh my goddddd I love this guy and he can write so well. I wish he didn't leave the school senior year though :(((. Amazing letter though truly
APUSH Teacher: I needed another letter if i'm being honest and its nothing special. 7/10 though!
Upward Bound Mentor: 10/10. For a guy I didn't really start speaking to until last year he knows his shit fr. Felt like he knew me through all of high school it was so heartfelt. <3 thank you so much bro
Interviews
St. Olaf: 8/10. We had to do these for Upward Bound and it was nice! She had to leave really quick though but I felt like we connected
Carleton: 9/10: AWESOME INTERVIEWER!!! She was so nice and we shared so many interests. The only thing that's stopping me from giving this a 10 is I was so nervous the whole time and stuttered so much oh my godd
Macalester: 5/10. First interview btw. There was a time when he asked a question and i just didn't know how to respond and had a little breakdown in my head trying to come up with something. Could've gone better but like oh well man.
Essays
Personal Statement: I thought it was pretty nice. Talked about how Formula 1 quite literally changed my life and made me who I am now in 9th grade.
Supplemental. They happened. They felt mostly good though! I ended up reusing one of the Occidental prompts for Carleton cause I just didn't wanna bother.
Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)
Acceptances: all of these below were either EA or rolling btw

• University Of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
• UMD (University Of Minnesota Duluth lol)
• Cornell COLLEGE. NOT THE IVY LEAGUE ONE!!
• Gustavus Adolphus College
• Lawrence University
• Stony Brook University
• University Of St. Thomas
• Adelphi
• St. Olaf College
• Colorado Boulder
• Sewanee
• Lewis & Clark College

Waitlists:
Carleton. Honestly I am 100% sure that my interview is what saved me from an auto-rejection. Probably won't get off but frankly I'm thrilled I'm ever here.
NYU??? IDK what these guys were thinking. I applied for Gallatin cause I'm a sucker for them liberal arts if that makes any difference. Still kind of surprised I wasn't just rejected.
Rejections:

• Macalester. Not at all surprised though lmao
• University of Denver, there goes me thinking that yeah this is a good target school. Didn't even give me the option of transferring after a year lmao
• Case Western, i mean who wants to live in ohio for college anyway bruh
• Colorado College, not rich enough ig
• Occidental, (ngl this one kinda hurt cause i loved my essays for this so much)

Additional Information
After all this I can 100% say that I hated every second of this college application process but, what can you do. Will probably end up committing to St. Olaf cause they gave me almost a full ride for some reason plus I already know the college well. Also like this is actually like one of the best kept secrets for colleges wtf. Seriously! Their financial aid is top notch and it's in the most stereotypical college town ever. Sometimes I swear it's people thinking it's one of *those* Christian colleges cause of the name (it's barely even Christian anyway.)
Hope everyone here can get what they want though! You all deserve it so much.

The story is from an unsuccessful applicant this year. I decided to summarize some mistakes and accentuate what could've been improved.
Some backgrounds:

• Male, applying theoretical physics major.
• From a top 5 public high school in our state
• 1540 SAT (Taken once)
• 4.55 weighted GPA
• 14 AP courses upon graduation(Most STEM courses available, lit, lang, APUSH and stuff) eight 5s so far.
• Several mediocre extracurriculars:(Club founder, Varsity sports captain, tutoring, etc)
  Before this application process, I consider my background quite robust, and in fact, I still do at this point. Yet I got waitlisted almost everywhere, all T30 schools and even those I used to consider safety.
  Looking back at the past application process, there are a few mistakes I made worth noticing for me to learn from.
  
• If you are not a genius, play by the rule.
  Compared to many outstanding applicants I've witnessed in A2C in the past few days, I've spent little to no effort building my personal figure that is to be exhibited to admission officers. I've committed overly less effort to classwork and excessive time learning stuff that is not the most cost-effective at this point in my life. While others were polishing their resume, I was playing Kaggle competition, battling with stationary Schrödinger equation in potential wells, expecting admission officers to be impressed by such advanced, college upper-class level knowledge. While learning this content out of curiosity has no practical difference from playing video games or watching TV shows, neither demonstrates my level of conformity in the pre-existing system, which is a useful metric in estimating one's future success, as well as the financial reward they can possibly receive from you. If you are a person like me who's slightly smarter than others while not genius enough to create your own way of success, play by the rule and make yourself a more ostentatious candidate. (A sport that not a lot of people play, stylish painting or dancing that could tell your culture, something unique, admission officers love these, even though they usually don't take as much effort as those competitive activities. Many people would argue that "be your self "is the best option, but as far as people I've seen, those whom deliberately package themself almost always end up with a better result as for college application than those who don't.)
  
• Cherish my family
  If you decide to go to a college far from your home, you might wanna start calculating the time in the rest of your life that can be spent with your family. The number will be lower than your expectation; It is very difficult to find someone that trusts you unconditionally. (Start cooking for them might be a good choice, it will also save money when you live in the dorm!)
  
• Don't think maliciously about people who were more successful than me in the application process.
  I was the type of student that others would be appalled if they learned that I didn't get accepted into the ivies. Yet I did not. It is a lie to say that I didn't feel a sense of imbalance after hearing that student that always gets Bs, even Cs in AP physics, receiving better offers than I do, while my average score remains at an A+. But if I happened to be in that situation again, I would ask myself, am I really sure that these people have nothing better than me? At least I didn't have a sincere heart when I wrote my application essay. I thought I was smarter, well-informed, articulate, and even more muscular. The ego from my essays can be smelled in New Zealand. I hope this experience will help me to humble myself in the future. At this stage of life, the difference between people has not fully developed into that insurmountable moat; I shall fill those inadequacies and hone these fortes.
  
• I would stick with the college I choose, even though it's not my first choice.
  

There are always resources at a university; going to a lower-ranked university might give me a better opportunity to receive educational resources since there's less competition and a lot of cases, a higher GPA as well. Due to the reason that competitions in academia are more fierce than competition between college applicants, teachers in a lower-ranked university are always gonna capable of teaching Undergraduate level courses; if not, there are always numerous textbooks and video lectures online for reference.

• Making mistakes in this early stage of life is lucky.

I do not want to self-deceive, and college is indeed a crucial part of my life that will probably be remembered forever, yet I do feel like making mistakes at this early stage of life allows greater freedom for reflection and improvements - before I got too old to stop admitting my mistakes. I can't imagine if my ego is yet boosted again by getting into a good college of my choice and what it will end up being. Some are naturally destined to fail many times and be destroyed many times, but people are not born to be defeated. If you are a person in my situation and still want to be a part of your dream college, transferring, obtaining a master, a Ph.D., or even teaching at that school are options.

At the end of the day, getting into a good college is not the only way to success; in fact, the middle class and mediocre students seem to underscore this ordinary investment unduly. As far as I see, of my friends that got into schools like Stanford, Caltech, or MIT, none seems to take this business too seriously. This passage is mainly for my own reflection and future improvement. If someone reads to this point, how about let's solve the Jane Stree puzzle of this month? I've solved it once, and It brings me as much fulfillment as being accepted into any school on this planet. 

Had the fun idea to add a legitimate class system with progression. example: Your a WarrioSwordsman Who has a Mentor that gives you quests to increase your mastery of said class where your beginner rank is “Rookie” then when you reach 100% mastery you can maybe do some kind of mini story quest (ex: find and defeat an ancient draugr swordsman and learn his techniques) making you learn a skill/gain a class exclusive item while also ranking up to “Intermediate Swordsman” I know it probably sounds like a massive project but maybe one day!

Hands down either The Rock, Batista or John Cena should headline next year's class in Philadelphia because all 3 guys are pretty much done and they are in Hollywood full time so may as well have one of them headline the class

Arkansas Arkansas @ Texas A&M Texas A&M
Game Start Time: 12:00 PM ET
Location: Kyle Field, College Station, TX
Watch: SEC Network
Arkansas Arkansas

Total Passing Yards	Total Rushing Yards	Total Yards	Interceptions Lost	Fumbles Lost	Field Goals	Time of Possession	Timeouts
458 yards	0 yards	458 yards	1	0	0/0	10:30	3

Texas A&M Texas A&M

Total Passing Yards	Total Rushing Yards	Total Yards	Interceptions Lost	Fumbles Lost	Field Goals	Time of Possession	Timeouts
0 yards	227 yards	227 yards	0	0	1/2	17:28	3

Drive Summary
away for -4 yards in 47 seconds ending in turnover
home for 27 yards in 108 seconds ending in touchdown
away for 12 yards in 32 seconds ending in punt
home for 9 yards in 104 seconds ending in turnover
away for -5 yards in 31 seconds ending in turnover
home for 3 yards in 69 seconds ending in punt
away for 67 yards in 54 seconds ending in touchdown
home for 45 yards in 14 seconds ending in touchdown
away for 70 yards in 49 seconds ending in touchdown
home for -4 yards in 76 seconds ending in punt
away for 26 yards in 82 seconds ending in turnover
home for 19 yards in 72 seconds ending in field_goal
away for 0 yards in 0 seconds ending in end_half
home for 5 yards in 117 seconds ending in turnover
away for 60 yards in 16 seconds ending in touchdown
home for 6 yards in 70 seconds ending in miss
away for 61 yards in 115 seconds ending in touchdown
away for 45 yards in 14 seconds ending in touchdown
away for 75 yards in 17 seconds ending in touchdown
home for 4 yards in 50 seconds ending in punt
away for 42 yards in 70 seconds ending in turnover
home for 57 yards in 178 seconds ending in touchdown
away for 45 yards in 91 seconds ending in touchdown

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Texas A&M	7	10	6	8	31
Arkansas	0	14	20	7	41

Game thread
Plays

Game complete, Arkansas wins!

Epistle Yah'ahQoB [“YHVH Follows”, Jacob, James]   INTRODUCTION  

“… a Christian revision of a Jewish work.” (Easton, 1957, TIB p. XII 21)ⁱⁱⁱ
 
In Greek, Hebrew, and Latin the title is one form or another of Jacob (Iacobi, Ιακωβος [Yakobos], יעקב), but not in English. I read somewhere that James was substituted because Jacob was too Jewish. Even allowing for the torturous etymological path by which Yah'ahQoB is transmogrified into James (J [a sound that does not exist in Hebrew] for Y in Jacob was the first step, lord knows where they got the M an S) and even Pedro (retaining not a single consonant), the question remains, why is it that New Testament references to Old Testament Yah'ahQoB are Jacob, but New Testament characters are James in the King James Version? It only now [3/28/23] occurs to me that it may have been to flatter the king!  
James’ epistle is so Jewish that Clarke cites Talmudic sources for nearly every verse. The Interpreters’ Bible posits a preexistent Jewish “Book of Jacob” adapted to a Christian audience; rather than point out Jewish antecedents it highlights the less numerous Christian accretions. The traditionally ascribed author, James the brother of Jesus, remembered as pharisaically Jewish, ridicules Pauline rejection of the Torah.  
James, as is also the case with “certain other epistles, toward the close of some Pauline letters... and in Heb. [Hebrews] 13 [has] “sequences of sayings-groups and isolated sayings arranged with little apparent logical order… this form was very familiar in the contemporary Hellenistic world, where similar somewhat miscellaneous collections of general moral instructions were widely employed in teaching ethics. If these instructions were phrased throughout in the third person such a collection was called a ‘gnomologium.’ But if the second person (singular or plural) was employed, so that the teachings were addressed – either actually or as a literary device – to an individual or to a group, then the collection was termed a ‘paraenesis.’ And in James we have a perfect example of a paraenesis…  
While James is a paraenesis, as a whole and in all its parts, in many sections another highly specialized contemporary literary form is also evident – the form known as the ‘diatribe.’… for the present purposes it may be described adequately enough as copying the style of a speaker engaged in a lively oral debase with an opponent. Among ancient writers on ethics who use the diatribe form Epictetus is particularly notable; among Jewish authors the thoroughly Hellenized Philo often employs it. In the New Testament, Rom. [Romans] 3:1-8 illustrates the form admirably.
…
The fact that the Epistle of James is written throughout as a paraenesis, with frequent employment of the diatribe, shows that its author must be sought among those whose literary associates were with the Greek rather than with the Hebrew world. For the antecedents of true prose paraenesis among non-Greek-speaking Jews are so scanty as to be virtually nonexistent.
…
On the other hand, the content of James, as contrasted with its literary form, belongs unequivocally to the Hebraic-Christian, and not to the Hellenistic world…. James, as we have it, is unambiguously the work of a Christian author, whose rhetorical training was Hellenistic but whose religious background was firmly Hebraic.  
Can the ‘James’ whose name stands as writer at the beginning of the letter be identified with any of the other New Testament characters bearing the same name? Of these there are three (not including the James of Luke 6:16): the apostle James, who was the son of Zebedee, the second (very obscure) apostle ‘James the less’… and ‘James the Lord’s brother.’ Attempts to identify the author of our letter with either of the first two now belong only to the curiosities of the history of interpretation, but the theory that the third James was the author has held sway for many centuries.  
He appears in Mark 6:3 (Matt. [Matthew] 13:55) as one of the four ‘brothers’ of Jesus – the others being Joses, Judas, and Simon, of who we know only the names. The exact relationship implied by ‘brothers’ has been, and is still, the theme of often embittered controversy as among three alternatives: children of Joseph and Mary, children of Joseph by a former marriage, and cousins. The details of this controversy are for the purposes of this Commentary unimportant.
…
Even if the actual author of the epistle was not James the Lord’s brother, does the content of the writing represent the special type of Christianity of which James was the recognized champion? Or in other words, does our letter teach a Jewish Christianity?  
By ‘Jewish Christianity’ here is to be understood the ideal taken for granted in the declaration of James and the Jerusalem elders in Acts 21:20-25, where a sharp distinction is drawn between Jewish and Gentile believers. There are ‘thousands’ (literally ‘myriads’) of the former and they are all ‘zealous for the law’… so zealous are they, indeed, that they treat as an incredible slander the report that Paul has taught Jewish converts to forsake these customs; they ask him – and he agrees – to show publicly ‘that there is nothing in what’ his enemies have been saying about him, and that he himself lives ‘in observance of the law.’  
For Gentile Christians, on the other hand, no such observance of the ‘customs’ is required; it was sufficient for them to keep the four ‘necessary’ point laid down in Acts 15:28-29 (and repeated in 21:25); if they kept these, all would be well with them. From the standpoint of non-Christian Judaism this was a miraculous, even an incredible, concession – this admission that Gentiles might be dispensed from virtually all observance of the ceremonial law and yet be regarded as inheritors of salvation. But the concession was very far from complete. It meant that in every Christian community in which there were former Jews and former Gentiles there were two sharply distinct groups of believers: those who continued to observe the Mosaic ceremonies and those who disregarded them. And – this is the important point – the former regarded themselves as representing a higher and more complete type of Christianity than the latter. In particular, the Jewish Christians simply took for granted that the seat of authority in the Christian church was in Jerusalem, the heart of Jewish Christianity…
…
[Paul] refused absolutely and passionately to admit that the high ecclesiastical rank of James and the other pillars carried with it any corresponding spiritual authority. Their rank was given them by men, not by God, and so was to Paul a matter of utter indifference (Gal. [Galatians] 2:6, 9). Therefore not only were commands from James destitute of any real binding power but – as when he forbade Jewish Christians to eat with their Gentile brethren – they actually might be commands to commit sin, so that all who obeyed him were sinners (Gal. 2:11-21)!
…
Paul’s depreciation of the authority of James finds rather more than a vigorous echo in Mark, whose narrative depreciates James himself. A portion of Mark’s depreciation has been more or less mechanically copied by Matthew, but in a softened form. Still less of Mark’s depreciation has been copied by Luke, and in a still more softened form… But the Fourth Evangelist, to whom the freedom of Christianity from all Jewish legalism was an axiomatic dogma, goes not only beyond Mark but beyond Paul: James, far from being a ‘pillar,’ was one whom ‘the world cannot hate’ – in poignant contrast to its hatred of Christ (John 7:7). Here John is writing at a time when the Christians were so nearly universally Gentiles that their freedom from the ‘worldliness’ of the Mosaic ceremonies was assumed as a matter of course. So far had this concept progressed that the (comparatively very few) Jewish believers who still clung to the ceremonies were now regarded not only as reactionaries, but as dangerous heretics against whom relentless war must be waged; compare, e.g. [for example], Ign. [Ignatius] Mag. [Epistle to the Magnesians] 9:1, where keeping the Sabbath instead of ‘the Lord’s day’ is denounced as a deadly sin. And this conviction must have been immeasurably intensified by the Roman persecution of Christianity. From this persecution the Jewish Christians, because of their ceremonialism indistinguishable by the Romans from other Jews, were exempt, since at least outwardly they were members of a religio licita; [lawful religion] ‘the world did not hate them’ as it hated the church at large.
…
… while in the battle against Jewish Christianity much the most important figure was Paul, it by no means follows that rejection of Jewish Christianity involved acceptance of all that Paul taught… The letters of Paul, the great Apostle to the Gentiles, bulk so large in the New Testament that it is easy for us to think that all Gentile Christianity was Pauline. It was not. When the author of II Peter says of Paul’s letters that ‘there are some things in them hard to understand’ (II Pet. [Peter] 3:16), he speaks not only for his own and later ages but for the apostolic age as well. When Paul taught that for Christians circumcision was wholly needless, that Gentile believers were every whit the equals of their Jewish Christian brothers, this doctrine was avidly adopted. But the intricacies of the logic by which he attained this conclusion were quite another matter. When he wrote ‘Christ is the end of the law’ (Rom.10:4), he wrote a phrase that bewildered many. Surely, they reasoned, Paul could not mean Christ has put an end to the law ‘Thou shalt not kill’ or ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’ And similarly with the phrase so basic in Paul’s thinking, ‘We hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law’ (Rom. 3:28). Surely, men argued, Paul could not possibly teach that if a man’s belief is orthodox, his conduct does not matter.  
Of course, in both instances they were perfectly right; Paul meant nothing of the sort… A famous saying of Harnack’s (roughly paraphrased) states the facts not unfairly, ‘No one in the second century understood Paul but Marcion – and Marcion misunderstood him!’ This saying is, to be sure, not wholly correct; B.W. Bacon observed succinctly that it should read, ‘No one understood Paul but John – and John did not misunderstand him!’ But the genius of John, like the genius of Paul, soared far beyond the reach of the rank and file of contemporary Christians.  
The consequence was that Paul’s teaching was brought into the comprehension of ordinary believers by the explanation that by the ‘law’ Paul meant not the moral but the ceremonial law of the Old Testament.
…
To come now finally to the question at issue: Is the Epistle of James a technically ‘Jewish Christian’ work? Undoubtedly very much of its material is taken from Jewish sources… But this fact does not make it ‘Jewish–Christian’ in the polemic force of the term any more than its occasional use of traditional Stoic-Cynic ethical teaching, and its use throughout of the Stoic-Cynic literary forms of paraenesis and diatribe, make it a Stoic-Cynic treatise… Nowhere is there the slightest hint of two classes of Christians – the cardinal tent of true Jewish Christianity.
…
In the last decade of the nineteenth century … a French scholar [L. Massebieau] and a German scholar, [Friedrich Spitta] working wholly independently, published almost simultaneously conclusions that were identical. Both maintained that the epistle was originally a purely Jewish writing which has been converted into a Christian work by an editor who merely added ‘and of the Lord Jesus Christ’ in 1:1 and ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’ in 2:1. Both writers stressed in support of their theory the extraordinarily difficult grammatical problem offered by the Greek genitives in 2:1 … a problem solved at once by the theory of the interpolation. And they argued further that if this interpolation is accepted, a corresponding interpolation in 1:1 may be inferred; especially since 1:1, as it now reads, contains language unique in the New Testament… Then, since these two occurrences of ‘Jesus Christ’ are the only explicit Christian terms in the letter, the remainder, they argued, not only represented a use of Jewish tradition, but was Jewish tradition and nothing else.
…
… a generation later Arnold Meyer … [n]oting that in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew, ‘James’ and ‘Jacob’ are the same word … saw that if the Christian ‘interpolation’ in 1:1 was recognized as such, the original opening words could be read “Jacob, a servant of God, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion: Greeting.’… And for a letter from Jacob to the ‘twelve tribes’ a well-known biblical precedent was provided by Gen. [Genesis] 49, where Jacob addresses the ‘ancestor’ of each tribe in turn…. Meyer undertook to demonstrate that similar references to the twelve tribes can be detected in James.
…
But even if Meyer is correct in his contention that a ‘Letter of Jacob’ forms the basis of James, it by no means follows that he is equally correct in contending that the former can be recovered by eliminating minimal Christian additions in 1:1; 2:1; 5:12; and 5:14. He seems vastly to have underestimated the contributions of the Christian editor. This appears most vividly in the long section 2:14-26 on the relative value of faith and works. … Not only is the general trend of the argument in 2:14-26 one impossible in Judaism, but the details of its wording show that the argument is directed against a non-Jewish opponent – an opponent who can be identified definitely as Paul… Only one conclusion appears to be possible: 2:14-26 was written not by a Jew, but by a Christian.
…
Nor is 2:14-26 the only Christian passage in James.
…
If this is correct, we have the solution of a difficulty in Meyer’s theory for which he has no satisfying answer. If the ‘Letter of Jacob to the Twelve Tribes’ was really virtually coextensive with James as a whole, we should expect to find the tribal allusions fairly evenly distributed throughout the work. But this is precisely what we do not find.
…
Meyer notes, to be sure, that no one writing paraenesis would tie himself down to a rigid outline; it is characteristic of paraenetic style that it permits of all sorts of apparently unmotived digressions. …. Yet the digressions never bulk very large; there is no adequate basis here for accepting the almost grotesque assumption necessitated by Meyer’s theory, that more than four fifths of the entire work is irrelevant to its plan!” (Easton, 1957, TIB pp. XII 4-11)   END NOTES   ⁱⁱⁱ The Interpreters' Bible The Holy Scriptures in the King James and Revised Standard versions with general articles and introduction, exegesis, [and] exposition for each book of the Bible in twelve volumes, George Arthur Buttrick, Commentary Editor, Walter Russell Bowie, Associate Editor of Exposition, Paul Scherer, Associate Editor of Exposition, John Knox Associate Editor of New Testament Introduction and Exegesis, Samuel Terrien, Associate Editor of Old Testament Introduction and Exegesis, Nolan B. Harmon Editor, Abingdon Press, copyright 1955 by Pierce and Washabaugh, set up printed, and bound by the Parthenon Press, at Nashville, Tennessee, Volume XII, The Epistle of James [Introduction and Exegesis – Burton Scott Easton, Exposition - Gordon Poteat], the First and Second Epistles of Peter, The first, Second, and Third Epistles of John, The Epistle of Jude, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, General Articles, Indexes   An Amateur's Journey Through the Bible

In ancient Chinese literature, there was a magnificent horse by the name of Red Hare mentioned during the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It was a horse said to be unmatched in speed and was ridden by some of the greatest warriors. It's because of this that I have begun to notice something about D&D and mounted warriors in particular.
There are three main types of horses available to players. Racing, Draft, and Warhorse, but the variations end there! One warhorse is no different from another in terms of their stats, speed, and even use in combat, but cultures have recognized special warhorses that were greater in breeding and training than the common types you would seen ridden by the rank and file. So, as a DM, I felt the best way to provide this for players is by providing a Warhorse with "Normal" levels in Monk, essentially meaning you provide levels in Monk without most of their class abilities. This would allow a powerful Warhorse, who on paper would have five levels of Monk to benefit not just from extra HP, but also from 10ft bonus speed, and if you're feeling particularly generous a proficiency in saving throws specific to Monks.
This method can also be used to empower animal companions, providing them with more HP, and even can use the Monk's unarmed attack damage to further their growth. By removing all of the major class traits that come with Monk, it also prevents any sort of animal pet, companion, or mount from overshadowing any player at the table, allowing the players to feel a bond with the animal that is growing with them along the way, without making it feel like they are gaining too much from having said animal.
I felt it was something worth sharing and I hope you guys like this, if nothing else, as a springboard to help you come up with your own ways to give your mounted players a reward for choosing what is becoming a dying playstyle in my experience.

Nie Li, one of the strongest Demon Spiritist in his past life standing at the pinnacle of the martial world , however he lost his life during the battle with Sage Emperor and the six deity ranked beast, his soul was then reborn back in time back to when he is still 13. Although he’s the weakest in his class with the lowest talent at only Red soul realm, with the aid of the vast knowledge which he ... Read Tales Of Demons And Gods - Chapter 423.5 - MangaPuma. Read more at https://mangapuma.com/tales-of-demons-and-gods/chapter-423-5

I have a husband and a child who's in his terrible 2's. My husband is jobless, and I get disability. We're both veterans. We are in an interracial marriage, and everything seemed fine until we got married, had a kid, and tried to relocate to be closer to his family in rural Mn.
Both of our families showed who they really were when we needed them most. They suck. Full of racist. Biased and narcissistic people. The hate spewed, and I isolated having many ptsd and suicide crises throughout the past 2 yrs. We moved back to Texas, and my family has shown they aren't dependable and have opinions with me marrying outside my race too. Both families talked crap about us behind our backs, and we lost all our friends because we noticed their 2 faced behaviors too. We both called them all out, and we're left with nothing. Currently homeless. No one likes us. Not even our mothers. Both families have disowned us bc we don't agree with their politics and beliefs, so we're the enemy. His family even got his uncle, who's a private investigator on us. That has shook me, and now I'm paranoid. I'm being stalked all the time and have 0 trust. We both confronted him, and he vowed to stop, but I don't trust it since he's retired military and law enforcement. One time at a gamily gathering to their lake, he made me specifically, collard greend bc that's what "black folk eat".
His family is mad he married a lower class, and my family thinks I think I'm better than them, and we're both just trying to make it and live in peace. This has caused us both to want a divorce, but we're trying our best bc we are all we have. However, the isolation and pain of not feeling wanted, loved, or stable is messing with both of our mental health. Not to mention, our kid is speech delayed and cries every one 1hr about something that's so fixable.hes a kid, and we get that. We are careful not to blow up on him bc he's really doesn't understand.
We were supposed to get a house here, but my husband hasn't found the right job that best fits him. He also has terrible anxiety. The realtor flaked on us, and we lost our dream house while in the process of putting in an offer. We switched lenders, and I feel like retaliation could be a cause bc we went with a different branch of the same lender. The houses we love are in a great neighborhood with schools, but now we can't afford that. I feel like we have lost everything besides each other, and our lives are going down the drain. If it weren't for my son and love for my husband, I'd kill myself.
I am hopeless. I know his family wants me out of his life as his 2 sets of parents suggested. I know they hate everything about my skin color and have a hard time accepting our kid. We used to live 42 mins from them, and in 1.3 years, his siblings nor his parents made efforts to visit or mend things. Instead, we both got hacked, left alone on holidays, and met with contempt. Only 1 sibling and his mom came to our small wedding, and even that was a big deal.
I could go on, but I'm babbling and just lost. This is new for me, and I'm having an extremely hard time navigating this.

First DWI and I got it in Denton County. I have an attorney. My 1st hearing is coming soon. My BAC is 0.12 (blood test) since I refused to blow. However, in the meantime I have attended over 30 AA Classes, 3 hr MADD session, 36 hrs DWI Training, Drug Alcohol Evaluation (result is Low Risk).. , I would like to explore all the options in advance given the nature of my job (sensitive position that is strict on background checks). As such, I would like the best outcome that won't jeopardize my career. Here are my questions: 1. If this is reduced to a lesser charge like reckless driving/road obstruction, do I then qualify for a differed adjudication? 2. Is differed adjudication expungible or only non disclosure? 3. What is the minimum probation period for a differed adjudication? 4. Is there a differed adjudication option to avoid interlock? 5. Does Denton county offer Pre- Trial Diversion program?
Anyone who can advise best options especially for Denton County in Texas?
Best regards

I have a husband and a child who's in his terrible 2's. My husband is jobless, and I get disability. We're both veterans. We are in an interracial marriage, and everything seemed fine until we got married, had a kid, and tried to relocate to be closer to his family in rural Mn.
Both of our families showed who they really were when we needed them most. They suck. Full of racist. Biased and narcissistic people. The hate spewed, and I isolated having many ptsd and suicide crises throughout the past 2 yrs. We moved back to Texas, and my family has shown they aren't dependable and have opinions with me marrying outside my race too. Both families talked crap about us behind our backs, and we lost all our friends because we noticed their 2 faced behaviors too. We both called them all out, and we're left with nothing. Currently homeless. No one likes us. Not even our mothers. Both families have disowned us bc we don't agree with their politics and beliefs, so we're the enemy. His family even got his uncle, who's a private investigator on us. That has shook me, and now I'm paranoid. I'm being stalked all the time and have 0 trust. We both confronted him, and he vowed to stop, but I don't trust it since he's retired military and law enforcement. One time at a gamily gathering to their lake, he made me specifically, collard greend bc that's what "black folk eat".
His family is mad he married a lower class, and my family thinks I think I'm better than them, and we're both just trying to make it and live in peace. This has caused us both to want a divorce, but we're trying our best bc we are all we have. However, the isolation and pain of not feeling wanted, loved, or stable is messing with both of our mental health. Not to mention, our kid is speech delayed and cries every one 1hr about something that's so fixable.hes a kid, and we get that. We are careful not to blow up on him bc he's really doesn't understand.
We were supposed to get a house here, but my husband hasn't found the right job that best fits him. He also has terrible anxiety. The realtor flaked on us, and we lost our dream house while in the process of putting in an offer. We switched lenders, and I feel like retaliation could be a cause bc we went with a different branch of the same lender. The houses we love are in a great neighborhood with schools, but now we can't afford that. I feel like we have lost everything besides each other, and our lives are going down the drain. If it weren't for my son and love for my husband, I'd kill myself.
I am hopeless. I know his family wants me out of his life as his 2 sets of parents suggested. I know they hate everything about my skin color and have a hard time accepting our kid. We used to live 42 mins from them, and in 1.3 years, his siblings nor his parents made efforts to visit or mend things. Instead, we both got hacked, left alone on holidays, and met with contempt. Only 1 sibling and his mom came to our small wedding, and even that was a big deal.
I could go on, but I'm babbling and just lost. This is new for me, and I'm having an extremely hard time navigating this. I wish I never met him if my presence would cause this much Heartbreak and loneliness. I hate this for us. I hate myself. I just wish I had family and friends who cared.

I have been fortunate to have been accepted to the following two programs and need some help deciding between them…
Yale SOM Asset Management:

• Scholarship
  
• 1 year but can possibly do an MBA alongside to make it 2 years.
  
• Ivy status
  
• Slightly higher roi according to some sources online (tbh they didn’t consider the exact programs here so I’ll assume they have the same roi)
  
• Business school and ranked #7
  
• Cheaper on average for living off campus but more expensive to live on campus (I think)
  

Uchicago MS in Financial Mathematics:

• Scholarship (seems like I’d be paying around the same for both)
  
• 1.25 years (but can’t do a joint/dual degree)
  
• Ranked #3 for mathematics
  
• This program is part of the physical sciences division but i can take classes at Booth, which is tied for #1 business schools
  
• Chicago is a hub for finance so potentially better networking opportunities(?)
  
• Since the school is very academically inclined, maybe the gyms will be emptier(?)
  

Both locations seem to have shitty winters and above average crime so I’ll assume they are the same insofar as location too.
I’m sure there’s other stuff I haven’t addressed so if you can let me know, that would be great. There’s a poll below in case you don’t want to type. I’d love to get your guy’s opinions and any advice is much appreciated!
View Poll

From today's budget:

Currently, the dividends that financial institutions receive on Canadian shares are not treated as business income and are effectively exempt from tax. Financial institutions rely on this treatment to lower their tax burden, which reduces tax revenues that are important to delivering benefits and services to Canadians.
Budget 2023 proposes to amend the Income Tax Act to treat dividends received on Canadian shares held by financial institutions in the ordinary course of their business as business income.
This measure would apply to dividends received after 2023, which would increase federal revenues by $3.15 billion over five years starting in 2024-25, and by $790 million ongoing.

Does this affect anything other than dividends received by banks and insurance companies?
Could it effect any structures used for investment products like certain structures of Corporate Class ETFs? Or other investment structures?

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Race/Ethnicity: Nepalese/Asian (rip)
• Residence: North Carolina
• Income Bracket: ~130k (upper middle)
• Type of School: semi-competitive public (Sends a few to T20s but most of the smart kids end up at UNC/NCSU)
• Hooks (Recruited Athlete, URM, First-Gen, Geographic, Legacy, etc.): None

Intended Major(s): CS (rip)
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 4.38W/3.79UW
• Rank (or percentile): 86/415 (barely outside of top 20%). Hasn't updated tho.
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 7 APs, 7 DEs, 15 honors by end of high school
• Senior Year Course Load: 3 APs (Psych, Stats, CSA) 3 DEs (5 including summer after Junior year) and 2 honors.

Standardized Testing
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT I: 1500 (710RW, 790M) superscore, highest single was 1460 (670RW, 790M)
• ACT: 29 didn't submit (was half asleep)
• SAT II: N/A
• AP/IB: APWH (4) CSP (3), Calc BC (3 w/ 4 AB subscore)
• Other (ex. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.): N/A

Extracurriculars/Activities
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. Foundepresident of STEM club in school (more theoretical/conceptual STEM)
2. Temporary teacher at my hometown in Nepal
3. Internship at SW startup
4. Crypto trading, 45k+ revenue
5. Online tutoring younger cousins from back home
6. Virtual Camp counselor
7. Initiated a school-wide vigil for Uvalde Shooting Victims (didn't wanna list but everyone told me including counselor)
8. DECA Member
9. Key Club Member
10. Photog acc, amassed a decent following

Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. NHS
2. AP Scholar
3. Some Python certification
4. Some AutoCad certification

my awards were ass
Letters of Recommendation
DE Supervisor: Read the rec, also my club advisor, everyone who has read it said it was very well-written
English Teacher: Heard she writes solid recs but was kind of in the background in the class, mostly slacked off but still did well, can't say for sure how it was
Counselor: Had a really good relationship w her, she helped me through tough times and I just had an overall really good relationship with her.
Interviews
Didn't have any
Essays
Think these were my strongest piece. My personal statement was sort of relatable but also somewhat unique (talked about a teacher who helped me find my voice and how I dealt with switching to 12 different schools and the growth that ensued. Most of my essay focused on my growth). Everyone who has read it so far has said it's incredible.
I think my strongest supplements were my UMD Supplements by far but all of them were also really well written.
Decisions (indicate ED/EA/REA/SCEA/RD)
Acceptances:

• Northeastern (ED1). Admitted to Boston for CS+Econ but switched to CS+Business (comitted)
• Pitt (Rolling) admitted CS
• ASU (Rolling), 16.5k/yr scholly, admitted CS
• CU Boulder (EA) not for CS though, Exploratory program and 6.25k/yr scholly
• UMD (EA) L&S undecided
• Rose-Hulman (EA) 25k/yr scholly+really good aid, also admitted CS

Deferrals:

• NC State (EA). This kinda hurt ngl
• Ohio State (EA). Who tf wants to go to Ohio.
• UW-Madison (EA). Expected it.

Waitlists:

• UNC (EA). Didn't have high hopes even as an in-state applicant, the cutoff seemed to be 4.4 since nobody with a gpa lower got in and pretty much everyone with that gpa or higher did. Same with NCSU.

Rejections:

• Case Western (EA). Didn't hurt in the slightest
• Grinnell (RD). Didn't even realize I applied lmfao

​
Other:
Withdrew all my applications. Northeastern initially gave me 77k/yr and to say those 9 days were pretty hell for me would be an understatement. Thankfully the appeal worked, and now it'll put me in less debt than my state flagship :D. Think there was an error when doing some calculation w/ CSS, not sure if the error was on my part or theirs, but it doesn't matter anymore. My NPC was met on the dot.
My advice: Don't panic, it'll all work out, one way or another.

FIRST / PREVIOUS

Subject: Commander Jack Garnet
Vessel: RMV Cambyses
Date: 13th June 3544 (Earth date)

I woke up to an artificial voice speaking to me:
"Commander, you've got an urgent video conference with the Hamilcar" - said Isaac.
A video conference? What could Captain Petrov want so urgently?
“Accept it, Isaac”
When the video feed was activated, I heard a robotic voice:
"This is a confidential meeting, class 3A. No information obtained via this meeting shall ever be shared with anyone except given direct authorisation. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I do"
"Connecting video feed"
When I got connected I couldn't believe my eyes. Praetorians were in the Hamilcar. What were they doing there? Then a man came into my field of view. he was dressed in formal navy uniform, with four stars on each one of his shoulder boards. That's why the Praetorians were here, they were escorting an admiral, a four star one, nonetheless.
"Commander Garnet, my name is Admiral Reynard. I have urgent orders for you"
"Yes sir, I'm listening"
"Right about now a shuttle should be docking with the Cambyses. That shuttle is filled with a unit of 12 Praetorian soldiers. They will escort you to one of the two alien ships, UV-2 or UV-3, where you will serve as a formal link between me and whatever autority they have aboard those ships. We want to see if we can reach an agreement over this, let's say, misunderstanding. The Praetorians will be there to protect you in case anything bad were to happen. Is everything clear? Do you have any questions?"
"Yes sir, almost everything is clear but I have one question"
"What is it?"
"Why Praetorians, sir? Why not send a squad of Phalanx soldiers, or just regular troopers?"
"Because Praetorians do what I say, when I say it. They don't question my orders and carry them out to perfection. They are also the most elite combat unit in the whole galaxy, as far as we know. They're the perfect choice for your protection, and that's all you have to know"
"Yes sir, understood"
"Great. You will receive further instructions in the future"
"Thank you, sir" - I then saluted him as the conference terminated.
Whoa. Praetorians? I can’t believe that I’m going to be interacting with them!
"Commander, the Praetorian shuttle is on final approach. You might want to look out the window, it’s an amazing ship" - said Isaac.
When I got to the window, the sun was shining on the ship, which had an angular look to it, more than normal. It must be true then what they say about those cloaking capabilities they have, that they can turn invisible to sensors and to the naked eye. I decided to go to the docking bay to receive them, now that I had seen their ship. Hell, I could look at it more in detail in the bay.
As I made my way down, I wondered where would the Praetorians sleep. At that moment I remembered the VIP quarters just outside the officer’s:
“Isaac, send word to maintenance to ready VIP quarters 1 and 2. The Praetorians will be staying there”
“Right away, Commander”
As I got to docking bay 1, I saw my first officer already waiting for me at the door:
"Is it true, sir? Are Praetorians coming on board?"
"Yes, it is. Who told you though?"
"No one, sir. I just ran to the nearest window, as everyone else did. Then we recognised the shuttle from the Earth Day broadcasts as a Praetorian one"
"Well, we better get in there now, as they must've already landed"
"Yes, sir"
Then, he opened the door to reveal the back of the ship, where a ramp was lowering. Once it touched the ground, two very tall Praetorians got out of the ship and walked towards us:
"I'm Master Sargent 'Shocker'. I need for you to show me to my unit's quarters. Once there, I will speak to you privately about the mission, as none of it shall be discussed in front of unauthorised personnel" - he said, as he looked at my first officer.
"Sure, I will show you personally to your quarters. Follow me"
Then I started walking, and heard the rest of the unit come out of the shuttle. When I turned around, I noticed how intimidating the Praetorians really were. They were at least 2.2 meters tall, and judging by the sound their footsteps made on the ground, they packed a punch. The capes they were wearing gave them an even more intimidating look, as if they were some sort of magical beings. Their suits also looked out of this world. One of these suits costs more than my ship, 10 times over. And their weapons, too. I heard these were prototype PR-13s, a gun specially designed for Praetorian soldiers. Rumors said the gun linked to their mind via special implants, and this plus the suit, which was also linked made the gun literally an extension of their arm. Not that they needed the guns, though. The Praetorians were trained in all known ways of hand-to-hand combat, which made them deadly even outside the suit.
I kept walking through the ship and I looked back to see how they were doing, and they were marching in perfect formation, all in sync, looking forward. I couldn't help but notice all of the crew that were on the same corridor immediately make way for them, hugging the walls.
At once we reached the VIP quarters on the front of the ship:
"This is where you'll be staying, Master Sgt. 'Shocker'. What is your name, anyway?"
"My name and rank are confidential, sir. I shall only be adressed by my codename"
"Alright. Let’s go in and discuss those mission details you wanted to talk about"
Then he and the rest of the unit went into the room, which I entered last, closing the door behind me.
"Commander, you have been chosen as the provisional ambassador for the Second Human Republic. My unit has been selected to protect you at all cost, were the mission to fail. You have been given limited command capability over my unit. We still respond to the admiralty, but in case of emergency we can also take order from you. Do you understand?"
"Yes. If you don't need anything else from me, I will go back to the bridge"
"Sir, there's two more things we have to talk about" - 'Shocker' said, as he took out some things from his pocket - "This is a transmitter. You have to have it on you at all times, for us to be able to locate you. This other thing is a special communications device, that lets you talk to us wherever you are, no remote link needed. Also have it on you at all times"
"Is that all?"
"Yes, sir"
"Great, thanks. Now I must leave for the bridge"
As I saluted them, the 12 Praetorians got up and saluted me. When I went for the door I heard footsteps behind me, so I turned around to see what was happening. Two soldiers were headed for the door as well:
"Sir, we have orders to escort you wherever you go, just for safety"
"Okay, come if you have to"
So I turned and left, with the heavy footsteps behind me. When I arrived to the bridge everyone was shocked to see my newly acquired escorts:
"Commander, incoming video conference from the Hamilcar" - said Isaac
"Accept it"
"Connecting live feed now"
My HUD lit up with the image of Admiral Reynard:
"Commander, I see that you have got the new escorts. I hope everything went smoothly with the Praetorians. I have mission details I'd like to share with you. The Cambyses and the Faramond are to approach UV-2 and UV-3's positions in 2 hours. The Hamilcar will be ready to fire on them if any hostile actions were to take place, and two more Apex-class battlecruisers are on standby on the Gunides system, just in case. Before you jump to the alien ships, your ship-board AI will broadcast a message stating your peaceful intentions. From there on you will have to agree with the aliens on which ship to board to engage in peace talks. Your escorts will be with you all the time and you will report only to me via the communicator they gave you. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir"
"You will recieve a full briefing by the Agency soldiers aboard your ship on what to say and what not to say. Any questions?"
"No, sir"
"Great. I'll contact you again before you get on the shuttle to give you a final briefing"
"Understood, sir. Garnet out" - I said, as the conference terminated.
Shit! I was going to board the enemy ship? That's why they brought Praetorians, so any attempt against me would have no effect at all. I bet my two escorts could get rid of an entire ship’s crew by themselves, if needed.
“Isaac, get everything in the ship checked and ready for when we have to go visit those aliens. Also, alert the Faramond of their duty to come with us and send out probes to the Euclidean travel lanes’ exits to give us an early warning if more alien ships are to come”
“Yes, Commander”
And then I headed for the Agency’s part of the ship. It was located near the bridge, so I didn’t have to walk for long. The Praetorians where behind me, so I decided to ask them their names:
“Praetorians, what are your names? If you’re going to be escorting me I want to know how to address you”
“Sir, I’m ‘Mamba’, and this is ‘Duster’”
“What are your names?”
“Sir, our real names and ranks are classified along with any other relevant information about the program”
“Are you allowed to tell me your age, or that is also classified?”
“Our exact age is classified too, but I can tell you that we’re above 25 years of real age”
“What do you mean ‘real age’?”
“Our physical age is 25 years old, and we stay like that for many years. Our real age is the time since our birth, not the age our body displays”
“Oh. Well, If you want to know anything about me just ask”
“We’ve read your file, sir. We know almost everything about you”
“Well, if curiosity gets the better of you, you can ask anything”
“Alright, sir”
By that moment we had reached the Agency’s part of the ship, so I pressed the button beside the door to come in. The door then opened to reveal an armed soldier wearing full black armor. When he saw me, he saluted and made the gesture for me to go in. When I did, my escorts followed me, leaving the Agency soldier astounded. He saluted them as well and closed the door. I followed the corridor until I got to a desk:
“Good morning, Commander. Your briefing is in meeting room 2. Follow the corridor and turn left to get there”
“Alright, thanks”
Then I went left and turned the corner. When I got to the meeting room there was a soldier waiting outside for me:
“Sir, your escorts can’t come into the room” - said the soldier
“You heard him. Stand guard here”
“Yes, sir” - answered the Praetorians.
The soldier then opened the door for me, which I walked through. Sat inside was an officer dressed in black:
“Good morning, Commander. I’m Sgt. Chau, and I’m here to brief you on first contact protocols. Take a seat, please”
I sat down, and he opened a folder in front of him:
“Alright, first thing is you will follow the OpSec protocol as you would with a civilian. But you will have to take care not to reveal anything related to Earth or the Republic’s history. From now on, the words ‘Earth’ and ‘Sol’ are to be removed from your vocabulary. Your main objective is to de-escalate the situation and to avoid any immediate response from their part. We also have a device for you that we took from one of the captured officers aboard UV-1. We believe it’s a universal translator, and the engineering teams aboard the Hamilcar have tweaked it to adapt the English it has to a more modern version. Any questions for now?”
“No, everything is clear”
“Great. Your secondary objective is to try to get the aliens to have a higher power of their ‘Federation’ communicate with us to make this a more formal matter. You will maintain radio silence for the duration of your mission in order to maintain our radio frequency’s as hidden as possible. The only contact you will have will be with your escorts. You will report everything back to us once you’re back on the Cambyses, and then write a full report for the Admiralty”. Any questions?”
“No, everything remains clear”
“Ok. You will also carry a microfiber camera, implanted directly into your cornea to film the entire mission. Once we’re done here you will go to the infirmary to get it implanted. We also believe it’s in your best interest to wear some under-uniform protective equipment, which you’ll find on the armory”
“Is that all?”
“Yes. Any questions?”
“No”
“Great. Head to the infirmary and then the armory to get ready”
Then we got up, saluted each other and he accompanied me to the door. He handed me another dossier:
“This is what our medical staff aboard the Hamilcar has learned about the aliens aboard UV-1. Take a look at it so you know how they look like and you don’t get shocked to see them”
“Okay, I will. Thanks for everything, Sargent”
Then I walked out of the room and headed for the infirmary. The trip was quick, and when I got there a nurse was waiting for me:
“Commander, right this way”
I followed her to a small room and she gestured me towards a padded chair, on which I sat down. Then, a doctor who was holding a metallic device came into the room:
“Hello Commander. This device will implant the microfiber camera into your cornea. Do you have any preference on which eye you want it?”
“My right eye is my dominant, so put it on my left one”
“Okay”
Then he put the device over my face and a whirring noise started to sound. I felt a needle go into my neck, and I assumed it was some anesthesia. Then, a light shone in my left eye and I felt a small pinch inside of it. When the whirring stopped, the doctor removed the device from my face and said:
“We’re all done! Now drink this” - he handed me a cup full of a light blue liquid - “It will break up the anesthesia in your body and you’ll feel completely normal in about 15 minutes”
“Okay. How does this camera work?”
“Blink three times for it to start recording, blink three times again for it to stop”
“Okay”
After that, I tried to get up from the chair, only to be met with the effects of the anesthesia:
“Wow! You have to stay here at least 20 minutes, for the anesthesia to go away” - said the nurse.
Then she left the room, so I took out the folder abvout the physiology of the aliens to take a look at it.
After a while, the nurse came back in and told me I was good to go. I left the room hastily and headed for the armory, which was close. I looked at my watch to see I had half an hour until I had to get the ship moving. Then, I arrived at the armory and a soldier that was waiting for me handed me a vest:
“Sir, this is a under-uniform bulletproof vest. It will stop any small caliber kinetic round as well as any plasma rounds”
When he finished speaking I said thanks and left for my quarters. One I got there I grabbed my formal tie and swapped the everyday jacket for the formal one. I got dressed and when I was ready, I headed for the bridge. While I was on my way I told Isaac to broadcast our peaceful intentions in all frequencies for the aliens to hear, and to also start charging the Halcyon drive and link it with the Faramond’s. When I got to the bridge, I saw everyone was neck-deep into getting us ready for jumping:
“Commander, the Halcyon drive is charged and we’re ready for jump” - said Isaac - “estimated travel time is 2 minutes, and we’ll be traveling at an estimated speed of 252c”
“Jump when ready”
Then, I saw the blinding white flash that meant we had jumped. I turned toward my escorts and told them:
“‘Mamba’, inform the rest of the unit to head towards docking bay 1, ready the shuttle and wait for us”
“Yes, sir”
Before I turned around, I felt the ship getting out of warp. I turned to face the windows and for the first time saw the alien ships. They were a combination of angular and circular, smooth shapes. Like UV-1, they had clearly defined engine sections and a prominent bridge.
“Commander, incoming video conference from the Hamilcar”
“Accept it”
My HUD lit up with the image of Admiral Reynard:
“Commander Garnet, I hope you are ready. We definitely are and our backup on Gunides station is too. Good luck”
“Thank you, sir” - I said as the conference ended.
“Commander, we’ve received a message from UV-2 indicating that you’re to dock with them, and they will host the diplomatic talks” - said Isaac.
“Okay. Keep broadcasting the signal until I come back. Do not lower shields and keep weapons ready, but not powered up, in case we need to use them”
Then I turned around and headed for docking bay 1. Once I got there, I got into the shuttle and felt it take off and accelerate towards UV-2. The entire ride was silent, until ‘Shocker’ said:
“Sir, get ready. We’ll be docking in 30 seconds. The rest of you, you know what do”
Then, precisely 30 seconds later, I heard a thump that indicated we had docked. I got up, straightened my uniform and walked up to the door. I heard my Praetorians load their weapons and check their systems. Once I was ready I blinked three times, pressed the button and the doors to a new chapter in human history opened before my eyes.

Author’s note: Wow! This was a long chapter, a lot longer than I anticipated. It got dragged on partly because of dialogue but mainly because I didn’t want my third chapter to be a filler one.
I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!
:)

I love Arda. I believe he is going to be a world class player. But this is getting absurd. Fener fans are doing and NT fans are also doing it. Hakan gets injured? Arda chants. Minute 50? Arda chants. Minute 60? Arda chants. Team is behind? Arda chants. Team is ahead? Arda chants...
This is an insane amount of pressure to put on an 18 year old. He is not allowed to come in the game and be an inexperienced teenager. He has to be extraordinary every time. He has to create magic with every touch. He has to come back and distribute the ball and go forwards and make decisive through balls.
He has to perform at least as good as Hakan Calhanoglu, an experienced midfielder for Inter. He has to perform better than Orkun Kokcu, captain of Feyenoord at age 22.
We are not helping him by chanting his name every match. Then there are the losers who love going against the consensus and criticize his every mistake. Took a bad corner? "wOnDeR KiD LMAO"
Just let him be normal and stop putting all your hopes on one kid. It's not his fault that we as a society have pent up rage and broken dreams. He is not gonna fix our terrible football culture, he is not gonna fix our shitty politics and he is not gonna fix our crumbling economy.