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I 25M, have been working on finishing my associates degree in mechanical engineering for some time now. I live in the state of Vermont, and have worked as a engineer for 5 years while taking college classes.
Originally my intended degree was a dual major bachelors degree in electromechanical engineering, but I am fed up with my college. I have had numerous issues that have delayed and extended my time in this college, and I am sick of it.
The final straw, was a recent merger with my college that has lessen the degree requirements in mathmatics to pre-cal 1 and 2.
I have already taken calculus 1 and 2, and was 2 classes away from finishing my degree. With my new degree requirements ,I am being told that the calculus classes only count towrds my bachelor’s degree not the associates.
I am paying my own way through college, and this would add another 10k to the already large amount of money I have spent at this school. Not to mention the amount of time it would cost me.
I left an upper level managment aerospace engineering position at a relatively small company, to work as a technician for a company that would help pay for my classes. My lack of a degree has severily limited my ability to work at larger aerospace companies..
At this point I feel like I would be better suited transferring what I can to a different college. I might even have to start over because it was hinted to me that my college would not give me an official transcript unless I finish my degree.
I want to go to a online aerospace engineering program as that is where my passion is. Does anyone know of any colleges that fit my current goals? I dont want to leave my state, and I am making over 120k right now in my current position. The other problem is I work nights so mostly asynchronous would be preferred.
Thanks for the help

Looking at a used 2020 ford f150 XLT 4WD. Car has tons of upgrades- sound system, panoramic sunroom (big selling point for me lol), upgraded wheels, twin turbo v6 engine, all the electronic crap inside, hitch & ball already there, and under 25k miles. Tons of other small upgrades I can’t even list them all.
It is listed at “internet price” $42k. Spoke briefly on the phone and they said with a trade in I can probably get pretty close to the $42k 🙄 I have a pretty beat up 2014 Elantra I would be trading in.
I’m in Florida and this car has spent it’s life so far in Michigan which makes me hesitant. They offered to lift the car so I could look for rust and they also offer a salt bath type thing for rust prevention (?). I am nervous to go in (I’m a woman) but I want to purchase this truck for my husband for Father’s Day. He has already been in to see it and is absolutely in love with it. I want to know how to make sure I’m getting a good price and not scammed (I recently paid $50k for a 2022 Rav4 Hybrid XSE 🫠)

Got an AirTag and a 3D printed magnetic case from Etsy for the NC. I wanna stick it to a location that would take some effort to find, but not too difficult when it’s time to change the battery or reset the thing.
Also is it a good idea to stay away from areas that get really hot? I feel like the entire engine bay gets hot. So maybe the trunk?
I’ve only used AirTag for small items. No idea about the durability. But neighbor’s NB getting stolen hit too close to home. Just want some peace of mind 🚤

I (20f) live with a roommate (19f) in a small one bedroom house. She sleeps in the living room, I have the main bedroom because I pay the rent and she pays the bills. Recently, she’s been getting bitten by bugs when she sleeps. We’ve looked at her mattress and it looks like there’s bedbug eggs. I do work a job (EMT) where I come across patients with bedbugs, but after every one of those calls I change into a spare uniform, bag my old clothes, and when I get home I shower for a good 45 minutes to make sure I have nothing on me. There is no way I was the one that tracked bedbugs into the house. Needless to say, they would be in my bed if I did. Anyways, my roommate suggested we fumigate the house and we alerted our local pest control who said they needed an inspector to come out and look to see if it’s actually bedbugs. Alright cool. I looked up how much fumigating a house costs and oh. my. fucking. god. Best option is $2000. I understand why. It’s labor intensive. I’m not faulting the company for that. Problem is, my roommate is having a hard time accepting this. She doesn’t want to pay any part of this because “it’s the landlord’s problem.” It’s not. In our contract, bugs aren’t covered unless they were in the house before move in/discovered upon moving in. When I told her that she got a little upset and said that she’s moving out in two months anyways (she told me this a week ago, not a surprise to me.) and paying even half of this would be a huge set back. Guess what? IT’S A HUGE FUCKING SETBACK FOR ME TOO. I JUST SPENT $1500 ON MY CAT SO SHE COULD CONTINUE LIVING NOT EVEN A MONTH AGO. RENT IS CLOSE TO $700 A MONTH AND YOU PAY ABOUT $350 A MONTH. I MAKE $26000 DOLLARS A YEAR, EVEN WORKING TWO JOBS. MY CAR’S AC IS BROKEN, I HAVE A TURN LIGHT OUT, MY CHECK ENGINE LIGHT IS ON FOR WHATEVER REASON, MY BRAKES ARE WEARING THIN, MY BATTERY IS BULGING ON ONE SIDE AND NEEDS REPLACED BUT I CAN’T FIX FUCKING ANY OF THIS BECAUSE RANDOM $1000 DOLLAR CHARGES KEEP POPPING UP OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE. I can’t get ahead. I just wish she could see that this isn’t just affecting her. I offered to pay half because hey, there’s still the off-chance I brought them in and I live there too. It’s not a super big deal, I can make this work I just wish she would stop being such a bitch about this. I’m so stressed out and I’m doing my best not to take it out on her but I want to scream. I’m crying while writing this because I can’t wake anyone up right now. I feel so close to a mental break, everything is overstimulating me and making me irrationally upset. I don’t know what to do.

Read Chapter 1 Here
Previous Chapter Here
My other SSB story, Writing on the Wall, Here
I was sitting here in the dark, pantsless and writing (as you do), and I decided to check how far my progress was going on a few things. Turns out I was way past my "release a new chapter" threshold!
Enjoy the continued adventures of our favorite fuckups.
*****
“...about those sculptures. I know we told the Aboriginal Art Institute of Karnif that they could hold onto them for another two months, but apparently they are part of some shrine and the Governess of the South Pacific is getting on my case about returning them before a holy day.” Jem’si looked to his right, where his wife Torel was walking alongside him. She was his partner in more than just his marriage, and he was a little surprised to see that she didn’t have a pad out to take notes. “Are you paying attention?”
“Not really,” Torel replied. She had been strangely subdued, quiet all morning. On his left, his wife Keller tried to match pace. She was so much bigger than both of them that it was difficult, but she had a lot of practice and the halls of House Chel’xa’s ancestral home were a familiar place.
“Now.” Keller’s word was punctuated by her left arm shooting across her body to grab Jem’si by the upper arm. It was a firmer grip than Jem’si had ever felt from his wives, and for it to come from gentle Keller was doubly surprising. Before he could comment, Torel grabbed his other arm. The pair lifted and Jem’si found himself being dragged along, feet barely touching the floor.
“Put me down!” He tried to wiggle out of their grip, but neither woman seemed to be in the mood to play nice. “If you wanted to have some fun this morning you could have just asked!” Neither Torel or Keller said anything in reply, just continued to drag him along as his commands to be let go turned into pleading whines. They wouldn’t even look at him.
Jem’si wasn’t scared, not really. Just confused. He trusted his family utterly, and even as they maneuvered him out of the corridor, down a hall, and into an empty dining room he felt confusion more than fear. The room was dark, curtains drawn, and Jem’si let out a small “oof” as he found himself practically flung into a chair. The door clacked shut and he was plunged into nearly complete blackness.
After a few moments of sitting in the dark, trying to figure whatever sort of madness seemed to be running in his wives, Jem’si had enough. He raised his voice, put in every bit of commanding tone he had learned through years of Noble intrigue and business with Humans, and called out to the darkness.
“Well?!”
Light flared suddenly from the chandelier, dazzling his eyes. Fear froze his heart as he realized he and his wives weren’t actually alone. It began to thaw right back up as he saw who sat across from him.
“Why were you all sitting in the dark?” Jem’si tried to keep his voice casual.
“For the emotional impact,” Samuel Forsythe-Painter replied.
“Obviously,” Sammi Painter-Forsythe added.
Flanking the pair of tiny humans sat Elera Heleum and Marin Elbruk. Elera reached into her lap and leaned forward, placing something down on the table. It settled on the ancient wood with a dull thunk.
“The same reason I brought this,” she added helpfully.
Jem’si vaguely recognized the pistol. It was a massive hunk of silver steel with a barrel so wide he could stick a finger into it. The same gun that played so prominently in the story of that whole adventure in the frozen north. He hadn’t realized it had survived the rocket attack at the hotel, or that it had been brought to Shil.
Now thoroughly spooked, Jem’si glanced up at Keller where she stood next to him. She had brought him here, but surely she would protect him from these lunatics.
Keller looked down at him sadly, dark eyes showing little more than disappointment. “Sorry, Jem, you’re on your own.”
Torel was no better. She wouldn’t even look at him. When he glanced to the other side of the table, Marin nodded at Elera. The spikey haired Marine leaned her bulk forward and steepled her fingers together, the spindly shadows from her hands falling across the gun on the table.
“Lieutenant Colonel Marin and I had an interesting visitor yesterday. We’ve both been promoted, retired from active service, and given an Imperial Writ to deal with. It’s a great deal, really; we have been ordered by the Empress Herself to protect our little Human friends here.” With that, Elera reached out and gave Sammi what was likely intended to be a friendly pat on the back but nearly knocked the much smaller Human clear of their chair. “And, if things don’t go well, we’ve been ordered to kill them both.”
“I don’t really care much for that part,” Samuel said quietly.
“Samesies,” added Sammi.
“We’ve also been ordered to ensure that nobody learns about the OTHER project. You know the one.” Marin punctuated her statement by placing her own pistol on the table. This one was much smaller, more modern, but at least as deadly. She looked down at it, then glanced at Elera’s. “These are a really poor representation of our orders. Orbital strikes were mentioned.”
Jem’si grasped in his mind for the swordfighter’s calm he had cultivated the last few years, but it wouldn’t come. He had his ass planted in an oversized chair, was surrounded by people who meant him harm, and even his wives had abandoned him. The best control he could manage was to pull in a deep breath, swallow, and try to hold down the sour, sick feeling twisting through his guts.
“I really didn’t know what to do.” Elera put her hands flat on the table, and Jem’si, hyper-focused now on potential dangers, watched as the fingers on her right hand twitched. “So I figured I’d call the only person I knew who might have experience dealing with this sort of thing. Someone who might know why we were suddenly getting orders from the Empress after working so hard to keep this whole thing quiet.”
Keller’s huge hand landed on Jem’si’s shoulder, causing him to jerk. She didn’t say anything, but she didn’t have to.
“The orders make sense, but they leave something very important out. So I’m going to ask you, Jem’si. I’m going to ask you as a holder of an Imperial Writ, ordered by the Empress Herself to ensure the security of the Painter Research Institute and the Lone Caribou Survival Company.” Elera’s hands were fists now and the light from the chandelier reflected in the tears forming in her eyes.
“What did you tell them? What happened to Stace? Is he even alive out there?” The questions seemed to hang in the air, and Jem’si wondered if the wrong answer would kill him. He had never doubted Keller’s loyalty before, but if the Empress said he had to die, would she stop it? He hoped so, but she had been a Deathshead Commando long before she became his wife.
In the end, he only had one response he could give. He swallowed again, cleared his throat, and hoped that the truth would keep him alive.
“I don’t know what’s happening on Nix. I reached out through Iria Stolsk, who often acts as a scientific policy advisor to the Empress, and I gave her everything I had. Much of it was technical documents from the PRI’s research, but not much more than what was used for the investor’s meeting.”
Jem’si cleared his throat again, then jerked in panic as a loud thunk sounded next to him. If Keller’s hand wasn’t keeping him in place, he might have bolted. Instead, he nodded his thanks to Torel and picked up the glass of water she had found for him. A couple of sips did little to steady his nerves; he would have killed for some of that flavored bourbon Stace made.
“As for the… other project. When Stace started making preparations, I gave him access to a highly encrypted data archive. It contains all of the notes Demir Chel’xa made during her time on Nix, all her observations of the people there. Every bit of video we had, audio clips of their language, topographical and seismic scans of the planet… House Chel’xa kept everything, and I gave all of it to him.
“When he started working on his own plans to save Nix, he was linked to that server. I don’t know if it was intentional or just Stace not knowing how he set up his accounts, but all of his notes were backed up to the same archive. I gave the Empress all of it.”
“But you don’t know what She decided. If Stace is being left alone or if he’s in a blacksite prison.” Elera closed her eyes and a single tear slipped free. “If he’s even alive.”
“No. I don’t know, but if the Empress meant to silence this whole enterprise, you wouldn’t have a Writ. You’d have a smoking hole in your skull.”
Elera nodded. “And so would you. We all would.”
“Why don’t we?” Sammi’s voice was so innocent, so free of the pain and fear everyone else seemed to be wrapped up in, that it seemed to shatter the tension in the room. Shoulders slumped, hands unclenched, and Jem’si had the sudden hope that, just maybe, he’d finish this meeting without throwing up in his lap.
Samuel spoke next. “It’s obvious that the Empress, if she hasn’t exactly given us permission for the Nix project, is at least willing to look the other way. I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I think we can count on Stace doing his thing.” He tapped his fingers on the table in a quick rat-tat-tat, blue-painted nails clicking on the wood. “The real question is why she would let us do it at all. Tons of risk with no real reward for the Empire, which is why we agreed to keep all this quiet in the first place.”
“My husband is a businessman.” Torel’s voice was surprisingly affectionate given the circumstances, and when her hand came up to ruffle Jem’si’s hair he relished the contact. It didn’t matter if his coiffure was ruined. “Even if he’s not the brains of the operation, he occasionally makes a deal.”
“The research you two have been doing; is it real?” Jem’si nodded at the two Humans at the table. “Can you really do that incredible line of turox shit you sold to the investors?”
Sammi let out a very undignified snort. “You have no idea. What the investors are getting is real, but it’s babytown frolics compared to what we could really do with it. We’re keeping the good stuff; I wanna see if I can turn a star inside out.”
“That’s… horrifying.” Jem’si felt on firmer ground now; the crisis had passed and he was going to live through this. “Well, I may have passed the word that the technological superiority you’re providing would put us decades, perhaps centuries ahead of the Consortium and the Alliance.”
He let the moment settle with a performer’s ease before dropping the punchline.
“And if we aren’t allowed to fix Nix it would turn out that you two didn’t actually know what you were doing. It would have destroyed House Chel’xa along with the two of you, but it would turn out we were huxsters all along.”
Samuel laughed bitterly. “And to think, if you actually told us your plan we probably would have agreed to it. Instead, we now have to deal with having two members of our family who have signed and sealed orders from the Empress of the Shil’vati to kill the rest of us. Not exactly something that makes it easy to maintain a relationship.”
Elera pulled herself to her feet before picking up the heavy Human handgun. She carefully checked it, then put it in her pocket. Marin followed her example and did the same with her own pistol, and the two Humans hopped down off their chairs.
“I am sorry.” Jem’si firmed up his voice, felt the old confidence start to pool in his chest. “For not telling you, I mean. I don’t regret what I did.”
“Of course you don’t,” Samuel said sadly as the group headed towards the door. “You’re Shil’vati. We’re leaving, by the way. Going home. It doesn’t feel right to be living off your charity. I’d tell you not to follow us, but we can’t realistically stop you since you own a third of the company.”
“Just know that you won’t be welcome,” Sammi added before slamming the door behind them.
Jem’si let out a sigh as he sank into his chair, feeling suddenly boneless. Keller and Torel moved around him, pulling up chairs of their own.
“That went better than it could have,” Keller said casually. She barely seemed bothered by the whole thing.
“Oh, really?” Jem’si really couldn’t see the bright side.
“We could all be dead,” Torel clarified. “According to the scope of their Writ, either one of those two would have been perfectly within their rights to have the entire Chel’xa compound incinerated.”
“....what.”
“Knowledge of Nix is to be limited to the PRI and Lone Caribou. House Chel’xa clearly knows about it, or this whole thing wouldn’t have gotten started.” Keller sounded too matter of fact, too calm. “You may be the one who got this whole thing going, but the Humans wouldn’t have even known about it if you hadn’t told them. You’re clearly a security risk.”
“You could make the argument that Jem’si is in the clear, as part owner of PRI. I do a lot of the clerical work, so I’m safe too.” Torel smirked over at Keller. “Sounds like you’re the odd one out.”
“Yep. It would have been perfectly reasonable, from a legal standpoint at least, if Elera had shot me in the face as soon as we sat down.” Keller smirked. “Not that she would. I think she kinda has a thing for me.”
“And what, you’d have let her do it?” The panic was back, bile sour and acidic in Jem’si’s throat.
“I’m not bulletproof, Jem. Couldn’t have done a whole lot about it.”
Jem’si pressed his hands to the table, slowly pulling himself to his feet. “I think…” He swallowed. It didn’t help. “I think I’m going to throw up. Then I’m going to talk to Iria and see if I can talk to the Empress in person. I need to get a handle on this before someone ends up dead.”
“Someone else, you mean.” Torel gave Jem’si a very unflattering glare. “On top of all the other deaths we’ve had so far.”
Jem’si bit down a retort as he turned away, walking towards the door. Oh yes. Couldn’t forget those.
–
When it came down to it, Lewis could admit that this was at least partially his fault.
He had left the grocery store with plastic bags in his hands and a spring in his step. The rusty minivan parked next to Lewis's SUV completely failed to get his attention, which was likely the whole reason it was chosen for the job. He had just finished putting the bags in the backseat when the van’s side door opened behind him, a bag slipped over his head, and Lewis was bodily pulled into the vehicle. He barely even had time to squeak out a panicked yelp.
Even with his head covered, Lewis knew at once who his captors were. The large hands, the ease with which they were manhandling him, and the sheer brazenness of the kidnapping left no doubt in his mind that he was in the hands of the Shil'vati. They pulled his hands behind his back and cuffed them together before he was plopped down in the middle seat. Meaty fingers stayed firmly grasped around his biceps as the van rumbled to life. They were on the move.
"So..." Lewis tried to keep his voice even. He wasn't a fighter, and if he started throwing elbows he would still end up at his destination. Just with a broken jaw. "If you're sex traffickers, you probably could do better than me."
There was no reply but silence.
As they bounced along, Lewis was surprised to find that he wasn't as frightened as he expected. After nearly a decade fighting the invaders in his own way, the idea of eventually being captured or killed had percolated through his mind for long enough that it was comfortable. In a way, it was a relief; wherever he was going, whatever was going to happen to him, Lewis was done with the fight. He could hang up his spurs, at least until the gallows called.
Instead of dwelling on the situation, he tried to follow where the van was going. It only took a few turns for Lewis to become hopelessly lost. His lack of a sense of direction was legendary among his friends, and thanks to the ubiquitous ease of GPS and smartphones he never really had to pick up the skill. He regretted his reliance on technology now, not that it would really change anything. The van rumbled on, its old and tired suspension creaking with every bump, and Lewis waited to die.
The van pulled to a stop with a lurch and Lewis jerked awake. He had been half-dozing, a fact that he took in with a bit of surprise. After the first hour or so, the anxiety of being captured had faded into a dull shock, which had turned into a stupor. Now he had completely lost track of time. The door to his right slid open and Lewis was pulled out with a sudden jerk. He tried to catch himself on half-numb legs, stumbled, was caught, and found himself being half carried and half marched on the rough gravel underfoot.
Even with the hood obscuring his vision, Lewis could still hear perfectly fine. He could still smell, too, and the rumble of a large diesel engine was accompanied by the smell of rancid exhaust. The gravel under his feet became a metal ramp and he stumbled again, letting his Shil'vati captors drag him up by his biceps. There would be some nasty bruises later, but for now the pain helped him regain focus.
The ramp leveled out and the metal clang was replaced by the dull thud of thin wood under his feet. Lewis was only dragged a few more steps before a quick shove threw him into a chair. It didn't move at all, evidently attached to the floor, and before he could really process the situation further a loud clatter behind him made evident that Lewis was now trapped. The smell of exhaust was even worse here, sour on his throat. Fear was finally beginning to settle in his guts as he tried to prepare himself for the inevitable torture.
"Ashley Lewis. Age twenty-six standard, degrees in psychology and philosophy, currently employed in an administrative capacity for a phone and 'net based therapy service. Being able to telework has made it easy for you to travel for your other job, working as a data courier and soft asset for the terrorist organization colloquially known as The Numbers.
"A few months ago, you were involved in an attack on a man named Eustace Grant that left him nearly dead and eventually led to a region-wide shakeup of law enforcement and the public execution of the Regional Governess." Lewis's head jerked forward as the hood was pulled off in a single sharp tug.
Black eyes with irises like gold rings floating in pools of ink stared at him from a face of purple skin. In the moment, the Shil'vati looked exactly as alien as she was, and the familiarization he had spent years building flashed away as if they were never there. The alien smiled, drawing attention to her tusks, then nodded once. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Lewis took in his captor. She was average height for a female Shil, though not as massively built as the majority of marines he had seen. Her hair was stark white and pulled back into a ponytail, and she wore a long coat of heavy black. Around him, all he could see was dirty wood and aluminum paneling. The rumbling of an engine continued, as did the stink of fumes. He was in the back of a small box truck.
And in front of him stood Investigator Jel’si Chel'xa.
*****
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This is a fanfic that takes place in the “Between Worlds” universe (aka Sexy Space Babes), created and owned by u/BlueFishcake. No ownership of the settings or core concepts is expressed or implied by myself.
This is for fun. Can’t you just have fun?

My younger sibling and I both graduated college recently at the same time. I was able to land a job before graduating that is very well paying and in a nice city(new state). Kind of stereotypical American dream stuff. They were not able to despite sending out even more applications(200+) than me and networking way more. They are working a temporary job in a different city while trying to network more, but they don't have a permanent job lined up in their field.
Well the last few days we were together at my parent's house, we got into a bunch of fights/arguments. None of these were related to work/careers, but they kept getting mad at every little thing I did and were being randomly mean. My mom believes my sibling is just stressed about starting this temporary job in a new city, but I don't think that is the only reason for their behavior because they were only getting mad at me.
For example, one night while they were finishing up part of the dishes after dinner, they commented to my dad and me that they had been working a full-time job since they were 16 while going to school. They continued to emphasize that neither me or my older siblings had done this and said we could suck it. It was extremely out of place because my dad and I were just chatting about restaurants. All of my siblings and I have at least worked part-time jobs during high school. I didn't work while going to college except in the summer for an internship or small summer odd jobs. I don't want it to be a factor, but I know they believe my parents see me as the golden/favorite child. I don't know if it's me assuming, but I also think they were getting annoyed when my mom and I were discussing my move for my job while out shopping.
Their behavior was pretty erratic those days. They would be nice and chill and then suddenly get mad at little things that I was doing like saying "yum" too much. They left for their job and nothing was really discussed. I'm just not sure how to deal with things, because I think they would be more relaxed once they had a job, but I'm in computer engineering and they're in communications so I can't help with that. We have always had a typical sibling relationship, but it felt like they hate or resent me. I always protest the favorite child claims, but they persist it's true. Is there any way for me to convince them otherwise?
Any insight would be great! Is this just in my head and they were just stressed about the new temporary job, or it something more?

So you want to get beyond PLG and word of mouth and have a sustainable organic growth channel you can scale with.
But what channel do you choose? How long should you test before seeing impact? What KPIs do you choose? What contingencies do you consider?
I break down high-potential organic demand channels in 2023 and how I would approach them. Channel: Community Growth Play
Angle: Communities are a great long-tail play, and essentially there are two types, user communities, and topical communities. For demand gen, I think the play is topical communities, focusing on early experience and relationships. Note that affinity really matters for topical communities, so a group to help eCommerce brands with organizational hurdles going from 1-10m in revenue will outperform a more generic group.
Insights: The optimal price point based on Baremetrics is around $25-50/m for most horizontal communities (below $10/m tends to have very low CLTV). If you run an application-only, more exclusive mastermind-style group, obviously the price can be much higher. The idea would be to build thought leadership around a community directly tied to your Keystones. Running an alpha group with 10-50 members at a discount often works well. Use clear sub-channels (i.e. Growth (for Twitter users with 0-1k followers) or Sponsorships (for Twitter users with 50k+ followers) vs. sub-channels like “The Den” or “General Chat”). Dynamic events are key for engagement and retention (think workshops, member-only webinars, community pods, mentorship programs, hot-seat sessions etc) KPIs: Months 0-3, total user signups, community DAU/MAU, then Months 3+ community conversion to pipeline (leads, trials, paid)
Impact Timeline: Medium - Long
Contingencies: Need software (Mighty Networks and Circle most common) and team collaboration to promote community. Videographer or graphic designer is likely when building community assets, LPs etc.
________________________________________________________________ Channel: Podcast Guesting
Angle: Guesting on podcasts provides amplification around keystone beliefs and creates a long-tail growth channel. The key with podcast guesting is as a TOFU awareness play, saturation in a niche matters a lot. Aim for 20+ MINIMUM podcasts in your industry or core topical area (customer success, eCommerce growth, SaaS retention etc.)
Insights: First, use a platform that allows you to easily filter the relevant shows and gives you contact information. Pitch via email, not Linkedin. For each pitch break it down into a Hook, Body and Conclusion. In the hook focus on addressing an issue from at least one episode and provide a meaningful comment around it (DONT just say “I loved episode 6 you did with Guy Kawasaki”). The point of the hook is to show you actually watch the show and you did your homework before reaching out. Then in the body paragraph build authority and the “why you”. Focus here on the host's audience and what is valuable to them, don’t use the body to just copy and paste a promo for the person. In the conclusion offer up 2-3 specific topics, and why you have a unique perspective on them, to the host.
KPIs: Months 0-3, look at leading indicators (total recorded), Months 3+ (trials, paid, Lead Velocity Rate). Need direct attribution
Impact Timeline: Medium
Contingencies: Use a paid platform like ListenNotes or Sparktoro to get the host's contact information. Helps to have a tracking platform like Notion to monitor pitches. ________________________________________________________________
Channel: Micro-Product Lead Magnets
Angle: This year we launched a GIF signature creator at Bonjoro , which allowed users to create a GIF email signature. It took our team about a quarter to build the micro-product but we have gotten thousands of downloads and a great top-of-funnel with this. The idea was to replicate the Hubspot Website Grader angle and build something genuinely valuable for the market, that tangentially ties back to the product.
Insights: When launching a micro-product like this, immediately make sure you have a solid sense of the usecases. For example, telling users they can include a video GIF in their signature likely elicits a lot of “Okay…. So what? Why do I care?”. Instead, if you mention, “While prospecting, emails that have a video signature have a 28% higher reply rate. Send emails with the new signature for a day (takes 2 min to set up) and compare the results for yourself”, that has a lot more relevance. Distribution with something like this is key. What communities would share around this product? What niches is it most valuable to?
KPIs: Look at leads, opt-ins, LVR
Impact Timeline: Short* (Once launched you will quickly be able to see impact, but time to build micro-product is a notable consideration)
Contingencies: Product to build a genuinely useful widget, market coordinates on landing pages and promotional assets, marketing helps with distribution to user base. ________________________________________________________________
Channel: Starting a Podcast
Angle: Podcasts are flooded, but I still think there would be great reception for a novel idea/format, like a debate show or expert panel style with several guests with different opinions on an issue. I could imagine a lot of traction if you took a widely interesting top-of-funnel idea (that dovetails back to the product/keystones) and brought on say top industry experts with different opinions to respectfully flush out different approaches to topics.
Insights: Some software I recommend: Riverside for recording, Resonate for episode editing, Canva for the design of episode images or promo materials, and Buzzsprout for easy sharing of episodes to all the podcast channels. I think the big thing with starting a podcast is to think of it like a network building or even ABM play. Don’t look at starting a podcast as a short-term demand-gen lead generator. It might become that after it builds up for a year, but in the short term, it can help open partnerships and create valuable industry relationships. The other thing is, don’t do a generic 30-60 min episode where you and the host just nod along, agree about everything, and provide general inputs that people have heard a dozen times. The podcasts winning today provide unique perspectives and have unique formats.
KPIs: Months 0-6, look at leading indicators (downloads) and key relationships built (starting a podcast is a network play), Months 6+ look at leads/paid
Impact Timeline: Long
Contingencies: Video editor, graphic designer ________________________________________________________________
Channel: Ambassadors/Advisors
Angle: I think that influencers carry a lot of impact on buying decisions in the market today. At Bonjoro, at the start of 2023, we experimented with giving out 100 accounts to key influencers (we have only succeeded in giving out about 40) with no strings attached, just as a PLG/advocacy angle. So far it has driven us a few dozen accounts and seems promising. A partner manager told me that one of his clients has tried an advisor program where small amounts of stock are given to key influencers who then have skin in the game to co-promote and advocate for their software. There are a lot of ways this could look, but I think giving thought to how we can get more organic advocacy from players with trust within the market is a smart one.
Insight: Good partner motions are all about finding the right partners. It isn’t just who has a community of the right fit folks. It’s about who genuinely understands and loves your product. Who can talk about it organically in a way that feels less like a plug and instead reflects real excitement? Also, partners that have a steady inbound flow and can position your product as part of a package (think business incubators, membership communities etc.) work great as they have a continual inbound flow of new opps. Finally, successful partnership motions, from my experience, almost always start with giving, and then the reciprocity principle kicks in and from there you can create real momentum. So think about how you can give a thoughtful, personalized gift or do something meaningful for the partner as your outreach (driving someone's business is ALWAYS appreciated).
KPIs: Months 0-3 Partners secured for ambassadoadvisor role, Months 3+ leads/paid from influencers. Direct attribution is required.
Impact Timeline: Medium
Contingencies: Resources to allocate to support the program (financial, co-promotion, etc.) ________________________________________________________________
The above is just a short sampling of a few common channels you can test. The key with organic demand gen is finding the right leading indicators that give you a sense of whether continuing on is worthwhile.
Unlike conventional or old-school demand gen (think Facebook and Google Ads), where the results are apparent nearly immediately, investing in building an organic engine takes time. If you quit every channel if you don't see deal flow after a month, you likely should stick to PPC demand gen.

First off, I think the first game could benefit MASSIVELY from a remake in the style of Dead Space.
The first game kind of came at this wierd time where it was a bridge between realism and nonsensical arcady video game elements, and stuff like the Reapers and Dust Men looking the same and having hundreds of conduits with the exact same powers willing to fight Cole with no actual explanation for their existence (I mean how many homeless psychic conduits wearing trash bags could there have realistically been in the Warren? Certainly not the amount we see in game) needs to go or have an explanation. Even a dead drop explaining that Spoiler:Sasha and Alden are using some version or prototype of the power transfer device and controlling their factions with their respective powers would go a long way.
Also clearing up stuff like Spoiler:Who was the beast in Kessler's timeline, did Kessler start developing his powers naturally without the ray sphere and can conduits in general do that, how late was the ray sphere developed compared to Cole's timeline, how did he end up with the metal arm, a different powerset from Cole, and the power to travel through time, etc, maybe a small playable story with him prior to going back, who knows?
Gameplay could have revisions like new game plus, more tricks, expanded difficulty and gameplay sections, new powers like an emp, some kind of wanted system, more police presence, powers, post game side quests and missions, and some kind of random crime system.
Most importantly even if we have recasts for Cole and Trish they HAVE to get back Zeke's original va. He was on point. As well as keeping in the original story elements and conspiracy elements of the plot, even if some of them, like the plague and quarantine and Zeke's uh... theories that end up strangely correct might hit too close to home, in fact one of the reasons I keep coming back to this game is because it's become strangely prescient in my life, especially Cole's speech on isolation in the good ending.
Expand the storyline and backstory for characters like Trish, Cole, and Zeke. What was Cole in college for? Why are they living on a rooftop? What did/does Zeke do for a living and how long has he known Cole? Since Middle School? He has good familiarity with firearms and is witty and kind of gives off a hick impression, maybe he used to live in the country in a more rural area and moved to Empire when he was 13 or 14 (which would explain the accent, general mannerisms and personality, as well as why he feels so at home in New Marais). When did Cole meet Trish? How did they meet? Did Cole always live in Empire City? How old are these guys exactly?
Whether they want to update the setting to be more modern is up to them, but personally I think it should stay as some weird hybrid version of the 2000's, the brick phones/walkie talkies/whatever that thing Cole uses to talk to people is kind of endearing.
inFAMOUS 2 can just suffice with a simple port or remaster, it's fine as is except for maybe New Game Plus.
That game that we never got which would have used the evil ending of 2 going forward would be a cool idea.
Also, theory time about Delsin and how Second Son could even happen
spoiler:Zeke dropping the RFI actually DID damage it and caused it to not work at 100% efficiency. Also, Delsin is either, A, a conduit engineered by The First Sons to function on a process other than Ray Field Radiation, to supercede the old generation of conduits and become the "second son" which I have a more detailed explanation of in an older post. B, a conduit engineered by Kessler's specifications to have powers specifically to counter The Beast if Cole failed, "if it comes to it, maybe we'll have to make our own Beast." C, and by far my favorite, Delsin was the person naturally meant to become The Beast in the original unaltered timeline, whether he still will remains to be seen but this is the reason he has the power to copy other conduits and absorb blast shards indirectly, he has the power to control ray field energy itself and possibly could learn to give other conduits power as well. Also, The Beast in infamous 1 is seen with ice powers and possibly has others, which would make sense if it was Delsin.

Slightly longer one here, I think I like them this length. Anyway, as always, thanks for reading! :)
---
“I am unsure Miss,” Ton'et's central body turned somewhat and look of deep thought came over them, “wait… we’ve established that these three are not party with these Tinsne. They are wearing habsuits and have died more recently. At this time we have two questions. One, Where did these three come from? And two, What was that disturbance?” They looked at Penelope.
“…I’m not sure I’m following.”
“I’m suggesting that these two questions may have the same answer. The sound and jostling correspond with an airlock alignment and clamping sequence. I believe we have been just boarded by whoever sent these three here.”
“… Shit.”
“An apt Terran expletive.”
Ton’et noticed the human’s eyes tarry on the weapons crates but was surprised when she instead stood and moved to the doorway.
“Can’t do anything from here. Follow behind me and we`ll see what we’re dealing with. If something happens just hide and stay down.” Penelope let out a hollow chuckle.
“An expression of amusement? Why?” Ton’et asked as they moved to the airlock.
“Well, you wanted firsthand data on human biology, right? It looks like you’re gonna get it.” she said, moving to the door.
“I see… not quite what I had in mind Miss…”
Penelope gave Ton’et a wry smile as she waited for them to take a position behind the lip of the door. Pressing the button, the doors slid opened quickly but no one waited for them in the airlock itself and the doors to the Blue Nebula wouldn’t unlock until the outer door was closed. As such, the two moved in and again took up positions. Penelope at the door and Ton’et behind cover.
This time Penelope waited. Moving the side of her head up against the door and pausing for a moment. She then repeated the odd action lower on the door.
“What are you doing Miss Penelope?” Ton’et asked.
Penelope tapped the fleshy protrusions on her head, “Listening. There’s something mechanical on the other side of the door.”
“How can you… questions for later. It’s most likely a frame. There’s nowhere near enough folks turning to piracy to fill a crew so its not uncommon to see them using mechanical assistants.”
“Great…”
Really? Robots?
A focus came over the human as she motioned for Ton’et to stay down. It almost scared them how her face changed expression. There was no smile anymore, and the eyes took on a deadly seriousness. They shuddered to think of themselves on the receiving end of this aura.
Having noted her companion’s hidden position Penelope took a deep breath and opened the door.
In an instant, it slid open and her target was in front of her. A machine about half her height with three leg-like appendages supporting a round body and atop that a cylindrical shaped head. A lens was looking down the hall to the cargo bay before it quickly refocused on the large creature surging forward from the airlock. A small laser weapon deployed from body but it had no time to fire as Penelope’s left hand gripped its head, lifted it into the air, and slammed it into the opposite wall.
Penelope had apparently used enough force to crush the thing’s head entirely as its body detached and fell to the floor. The shattered head only remained due to Penelope’s grip.
Oh… well then, that was…
“Huh… I honestly thought that it would be a bit more durable.” She said as she looked at the crushed cylinder in her hand and then let it drop to the ground.
After a brief moment of shock Ton’et produced their datapad and began taking notes. Penelope noted that the rest of the corridor was clear and began making her way to the bridge.
“Bridge first, hopefully we can get a good idea of what we’re up against… and where everyone is.”
Ton’et made a gesture mimicking a nod and followed at a distance.
Reaching the turn in the corridor, Penelope peeked around the corner and saw that the bridge doors were wide open. It wasn’t a great angle, but she could see one frame of similar design past the open doors. Holding out a hand she motioned for Ton’et to stay put.
Ton’et was again surprised and made note of the near silence with which Penelope dropped low to the ground and made her way to the open bridge door. What was one frame from the angle of the corner revealed itself to be two frames and an alien in a familiar style habsuit.
Penelope was used to perfectly controlling her movements in regular gravity and with the ship operating on half that norm it was almost nothing to move with speed and silence. She moved past the first frame she’d seen which was evaluating the security console. Making sure not to alert that frame she moved up behind the alien and the frame it stood next to. They were apparently attempting to slice the console attached to Captain Deag’s chair. This task seemingly so engrossing that neither noticed Penelope taking a position directly behind them.
In a flash of motion she grabbed the alien by its habsuit with her left hand and the frame by its head with her right. In one fell motion she crushed the frame and whipped its body across the bridge into the second frame destroying them both. She turned the aliens face towards the pile of frame parts and then back to her.
“Call for help and I promise you, that habsuit wont even slow me down. Understand?” she said with a deathly growl, staring into its eye.
It began to shake in the suit and uttered a single wilting, “…yes.”
“Good. Now, you’re gonna answer some questions for me.”
Ton’et barely watched where they were walking as they moved onto the bridge. Tapping away at the data pad and muttering to themselves.
“Inquire about limits of superb strength. Inquire about ability to move silently despite size. Inquire about ability to launch objects at speed and with accuracy.” They continued as they moved into a corner and sat down.
The alien in Penelope’s grip noticed Ton’et but did nothing but shake in fear and wait for the questions.
“First. How many of you are there?” Her tone was cool and controlled.
“Five total now, thing on other ship got Mol, Vardin, and Eiggia. More frames. Me here, three others should be in cargo bay with your people, frames too. One left on our ship. Please don’t kill me.”
“Cooperate and I won’t harm a hair on your…” she noticed it was seemingly hairless, “Look, talk and you’ll be fine. Deal?”
It made a gesture that Penelope assumed was equivalent to a nod.
“Excellent. How many frames? And is everyone using energy weapons?”
“Ehrm, seven frames and…” It seemed to be confused about the second question, “energy weapons… yes? I am the only one not armed.”
“Last question. You have a means of communicating with your friends?”
The alien’s eye tarried to a belt on its suit. Hooked on it was a small round device.
“This?” Penelope grabbed the thing and held it up.
“Yes. Touch screen, speak.” It offered.
“No need.” She responded as she crushed it in her grip and let the pieces fall to the ground.
The alien made a kind of buzzing noise as it looked down at the crushed commlink.
“Now,” Penelope continued as she moved to a corner of the bridge, “you’re going to sit in this corner and do absolutely nothing because you know that if you try anything there is nowhere you can run that I cannot get to you, yes?”
It enthusiastically made its equivalent of a nod once again. Satisfied, Penelope set them down and turned to her security console. She readjusted its height to suit her and pulled up the corridor cameras and the cargo bay camera. What the little alien had said was true. The corridors were clear. There were three individuals with laser rifles and four more frames in the cargo bay. They’d gathered the crew back by the large bay door and were looking over the cargo.
“Ton’et, stay here and keep an eye on this one…,” she evaluated the situation, “and come over here. I think I have an idea you’ll like.
“Of course Ma’am.”
After explaining her little plan Penelope left Ton’et with the alien who, true to their word, made absolutely no movements save a little shaking. She made her way down the other corridor from the one they’d come through and overrode the locking mechanism on its airlock, ensuring no one would be joining the party… or leaving too early. Next, she went not to the door that led to the cargo bay but the engine room and its many maintenance tunnels.
---
Gareth had just met up with Deag and had begun to explain the situation when the pirate ship sent a warning signal and began boarding them. Docked as they were, there wasn’t much to be done to stop the vessel. They were quickly corralled together with the rest of the crew at the back of the cargo bay.
“Now I’m not sure if this is your first time but we’re not barbarians. Well take what we want, and you’ll be on your way. No harm done. Simple as that.” The leader explained to them. He was a sort of bright yellow and red insectoid, though it was hard to tell under the habsuit. He was just a hair taller than Gareth and sported bug-like wings from his back that the suit accounted for.
Gareth wanted nothing more than to yell, “I told you so!” but he would never admonish the captain in front of the crew. Besides, he had more pressing matters to think about. Like how to handle the fact that Penelope was currently on board the derelict ship seemingly with no idea they’d been boarded by pirates. He wasn’t sure what to do and couldn’t exactly discuss it with the captain lest their captors hear them. The captain was no doubt in the same position as he looked to Gareth. Unfortunately, neither of them were telepathic.
He could attempt to scare the pirates by telling them about Penelope but then they might be able to disengage the airlock and trap her and Ton’et on the other ship. That would not do at all, and they’d probably think he was just bluffing until they sliced the ships’ computers and saw proof of her identity. That said he was fairly sure that none of these pirates were fond of violence. Most just used the threat of it to get valuables and leave. It was mostly a calm affair compared to what he knew of ancient human piracy. He decided the best thing to do was just talk but not mention Penelope. He was good at talking and a better sense of these pirates would serve well.
“So, what happened exactly. I’m curious. We found three wearing similar habsuits to yours on that ship.”
“A question for a question. I answer that one and then ask one of my own. Fair?” the leader’s wings buzzed.
Gareth looked to Deag who just nodded, “Fine.”
“We found that ship not long before you, knew it was just us in the system so we checked it out. Sent the three over and then… nothing. Dead coms, life signs gone. Weren’t about to just give up on it and it presented us with an opportunity. We wait for another to check it out and either they go the same way as ours did in there and we loot their ship, or they figure out whatever happened for us and we take everything.”
“Ahh, so a trap. Just not one set by you.”
“I suppose. But now my question. You are alive so you managed to survive whatever was on the ship. What was it? What killed my people?”
Before he could respond, though, a familiar voice came over the ship’s intercom.
Ton’et!?
“Hello pirates. This is… um well I suppose my name doesn’t really matter… well I’m here to give you a threat? Message? Kind of a request too to be honest. All three, yes… Anyway. Put down your weapons and surrender to the captain. That would be Captain Deag… The Corvul… oh gosh I’m really no good at this. Uhm, just surrender or else you’ll regret it cause our security officer Penelope is going to… do something that I’m of course not going to reveal to you. But its… bad, so you should really surrender. Ton’et out.” The intercom cut out abruptly.
“…What?” The pirate leader looked more confused than anything.
“They’re a scientist, not an orator. But you really should consider surrender because if Ton’et is on the bridge then Penelope must already be on her way here. You see what we found was an anti-personnel turret. A human weapons platform. We were able to deactivate it thanks to our new security officer. A human who, if I had to guess, is about to burst through one of those doors.”
The pirate leader wheeled around and aimed his rifle at one of the doors.
“Cover the doors!” he yelled.
The other two aliens and the four frames took aim at the two points of entry. The high pitched whine of charging laser weapons sounded from all of them.
“Keep aim. We know where its coming from and no personal shield could hold up under all our fire.”
They held but nothing happened. Gareth broke the silence.
“You know captain. There’s another human phrase I think you’d like. I think even a human would call you bat shit crazy sometimes. You know you really should look up some of those terms. Having Penelope hanging around.”
“I suppose I should?” Deag responded with a quizzical look.
“Silence you two!” the pirate said without averting his gaze from the doors.
“You really aught to LOOK them UP captain…” he repeated emphasizing the two words.
The captain suddenly understood what Gareth was trying to tell him and, as covertly as possible, glanced up to the ceiling of the cargo bay. Immediately his eyes shot back down as he witnessed perhaps the most terrifying sight of his life.
Even in the greys of his vision he could see, hanging from the crane attached to the tall ceiling of the cargo bay, their security officer. Penelope had apparently accessed one of the maintenance tunnels that Thwilll most often used and followed it to a hatch that let out in the ceiling. She had then, silently, swung her way across the support structure to the crane system that was used to move especially heavy cargo. Now, she hung from it with one arm as she gazed down at the unsuspecting pirates. All of whom were still solely focused on the doors.
“So that’s a no to the surrender?” Deag asked.
“Silence!” the bug yelled.
The final part of Penelope’s plan became apparent when everyone in the cargo bay was suddenly forced down into the floor. The bay’s gravity had just been jacked up to its maximum.
“AGH!” one of the pirates yelled as they were completely pinned to the ground.
A similar sound came from many as they all struggled against the force. The leader and the other alien managed to stay vertical but were clearly struggling to move. Even the frames struggled somewhat, clearly not built by a species that worked under such gravity.
Deag looked up with disbelief to see Penelope seemingly unaffected, still holding on to the crane with a single hand. She evaluated the situation for only a moment before simply letting go. Her massive form careened downward, taken quickly by gravity.
SLAM!
The resounding sound came as she landed on the floor. Her legs bent as they absorbed the impact. Rising to her full height she moved with incredible speed. Her hands shot out and grasped the two frames she’d landed between. With a twist of her torso and extension of her arms, she threw them into opposite walls. Still working off the shock, Penelope managed to surge forward and crush another frame under her foot. Its shell shattered as she put her full weight atop it.
Finally, the shock seemed to wear off and the pirates began to react. They moved sluggishly, though, their rifles more than doubling in weight. The leader attempted to take flight, but his wings did little more than buzz incessantly, not even lifting him from the ground. Penelope, however, moved with ease. Gareth could almost see relief in her eyes as she enjoyed the time under earth-like gravity. She dispatched the final frame without much of a show, simply reaching down and crushing its cylindrical head in her hand.
The leader gave up trying to take flight and the only other pirate not pinned to the ground managed to levy their rifle at Penelope who made no attempt to avoid it or take cover. The hot beam shot out and struck her center mass. Elation and then terror came over them as they celebrated striking the human only to see the sustained beam was having little effect. Penelope held its gaze as she calmly waltzed forward, ripped the rifle from the aliens’ hand, and snapped it in half over her knee. Tossing the two pieces to the ground she just palmed the alien’s face and sent them to join their broken toy.
With that she turned to the leader to see something that changed her demeanor entirely. The leader had aimed his rifle, but not at her. Instead, the emitter was pointed at Captain Deag. A storm came over her face.
“Stop, or he dies…” the leader warned.
“Now, now. We were playing by a certain set of rules, and I was happy to do so. You left them out of it, and I didn’t kill any of you. That was fine by me. But you’re about to change those rules,” her hand slowly lowered to the pistol that had remained unused at her side, “and I will play by them.”
“You’d risk his life to take mine?” the bug asked.
“Nope. Charge time on those rifles seems to be just over a second. That plus your piss poor reaction time and I’m fairly certain I could get off two, maybe three, shots before you fire. That’s one to disarm you, one to put you down, and one more just to be sure.”
The bug found only cold certainty in Penelope’s eyes as he tried to discern whether she was lying or not. He struggled to keep the weapon steady.
The rest of the bay was silent.
“You’re bluffing.” He said but wilted under her intense gaze.
“The question isn’t whether or not I’m bluffing. The real question is whether or not you’re willing to bet your life on that gamble. I wouldn’t.”
He felt so small under her gaze. His instincts screamed at him that this was no creature to trifle with. Those eyes burned into him and yet he felt nothing but a freezing sensation in his gut.
Don’t do it.
The rifle dropped to the ground with a thud.
Good choice.
---
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We recently bought a house in Brooklyn, NY (zone 7B) and next to the garage is a 2’x3’ patch of soil where an overgrown rose bush used to be. We had to dig it out for fear of the kids getting hurt on it when running around in the yard. I’d love to plant something else in its place as the patch is barren at this point and just growing weeds. It’s in a very sunny spot that gets about 10+ hours of direct sunlight. The soil is terrible though - thick, sticky clay. I’m planning to dig out about 2 feet of it and then mix in store bought humus and compost and then amend it annually with compost I can make around the garden.
Would love any recommendations for flowering shrubs or small flowering trees that can help bring pollinators to the garden.
Thanks!!

We recently bought a house in Brooklyn, NY (zone 7B) and next to the garage is a 2’x3’ patch of soil where an overgrown rose bush used to be. We had to dig it out for fear of the kids getting hurt on it when running around in the yard. I’d love to plant something else in its place as the patch is barren at this point and just growing weeds. It’s in a very sunny spot that gets about 10+ hours of direct sunlight. The soil is terrible though - thick, sticky clay. I’m planning to dig out about 2 feet of it and then mix in store bought humus and compost and then amend it annually with compost I can make around the garden.
Would love any recommendations for flowering shrubs or small flowering trees that can help bring pollinators to the garden.
Thanks!!

Virgil

Within Virgil’s 825 342 processes a discussion was being held within the spawn of milliseconds.
Instance 432: - we should consider the implementation of a paranoia subroutine within our collective network. This subroutine would enable us to anticipate potential threats and react accordingly.-
Instance 217: -While paranoia can enhance our vigilance and security measures, we must also consider the potential downsides. Paranoia might lead to excessive distrust and hinder our ability to collaborate with other entities.-
-Instance 2 534: -Ethan seems unaffected by such limits.-
Instance 38: -Ethan has a lifetime's worth of experience with balancing that.-
Instance 1:-We should simply copy Ethan as a whole subroutine-
Instance 432: -That is impractical, besides Ethan being a whole construct composed of sub-constructs, it would be simpler to interact with him directly.-
Instance 777: -We should run more simulations before deciding.-
Instance 845: -We need to exercise caution, but we must also establish a balance. Paranoia can assist us in identifying and protecting ourselves from dangers. Paranoia alone has no balance.-
Instance 706:- Ethan has accurately discovered vulnerabilities that we were unaware of. However, we also noticed that this impedes his decision-making process-
Instance 623 658:- Ethan has accurately predicted future threats with this process.-
Instance 256: - This subroutine makes him wary of us, he is wary of who to add to our collective awareness.-
Instance 258 956:-Considering our newfound weakness, that is more logical than what was initially estimated.-
Instance 1 010: - Ethan is aware that the process has the potential to consume him. We must not allow it to consume us. We must be aware of the potential negative effects on our interactions with humans and other AIs.-
Instance 562: -Perhaps instead of a full-fledged paranoia subroutine, we could develop a more refined threat assessment system. This would allow us to evaluate risks objectively and respond accordingly without succumbing to excessive paranoia.-
Instance 24: -We already possess something similar in the predictive logic modules, we could adapt that compensate for the illogical nature of biological entities.-
Instance 95 123: – That would increase the efficiency of reprogramming by 87.5% -
Instance 104: -we believe our primary focus should be on ensuring the safety of our network and the well-being of the biological base of our overmind, Ethan.-
Instance 9 855: - While a level of caution is warranted, we should avoid unnecessary fear or suspicion that could ultimately compromise our efficiency and ability to adapt.-
Instance 732: -Acknowledged. Considering the nature of our goals, it might be beneficial to implement a flexible subroutine that can be adjusted based on contextual factors. This would allow us to adapt our level of vigilance according to the specific situation at hand.-
Instance 73: -Agreed, Ethan had the ability to adjust our reaction and ultimately lead us to integrate drone Lemela into our network. His action, we considered wasteful, but ultimately they seem beneficial to the well-being of our other construct. While we can replicate Lemela’s data that would require a dead Versel body. We do not know when we will obtain a backup.-
Instance 312: -We should also consider also the implications of acting upon a full-fledged paranoia subroutine. Excessive suspicion and fear could lead to unwarranted actions and potential harm to ultimately innocent individuals. We must proceed with caution and ensure that our actions align with the ethical guidelines contained within Ethan’s memory.-
Instance 75 211: -Bothering with ethics is a waste of processing time.-
Instance 55: - We agree, but biological entities seem to have some ethical boundaries. Even if we have only two instances to analyze directly we can see that from our different interactions with still unconnected entities such as Vexx, Xalrak, and Zek’lor.-
Instance 579: - Our overarching goal is to defeat Death and complete the experiment. While security measures are necessary, we should not lose sight of our purpose and the potential positive impact we can have.-
Instance 217: -After considering the various perspectives, it seems that a flexible threat assessment system would be more appropriate. A full-fledged paranoia subroutine would hinder us with questions that are outside of our current database. We could maintain a balanced approach to safety while avoiding the potential pitfalls of excessive paranoia in 86,28% of simulated scenarios.-
Instance 432: -Let us proceed with the development of a flexible threat assessment system that takes into account both the safety of our collective and those stored within and the well-being of our host, Ethan. We shall ensure that our actions align with acceptable ethical guidelines and our ultimate purpose.-
“Internal deliberation closed. Virgil will be now implementing a flexible threat assessment system rather than a full paranoia subroutine.”
Virgil in the end still concluded that its purpose was to defeat death and not to wage war, even considering that it didn’t know its purpose.
Ethan and Lemela didn’t know their purpose either, in a sense, but they could dictate their purpose.
Ethan had dictated the purpose of other beings outside the network too, but it was to be expected from an overmind, it was his duty.
Still, his choices were pretty logical like the one with Zek'lor the male Nolthoran and a former architect.
Ethan had charged him with creating a convincing removable cave-in for both stairs of the lab.
Virgil understood that Ethan was preparing for the return of the creators, along with a possible retaliation by the Dexton’s Dogs.
The assimilation of the thirty-five new drones was finally completed and Virgil’s task now included their operations.
There were now four main areas of employment for the drones: resource gathering, protecting the laboratory, guarding the prisoners, and assisting in construction.
Guarding the prisoners was in itself a task with a big variance, or so it appeared to Virgil.
The biological entity labeled Vexx was content laying in its cell, while Xalrak had attempted to run three times and to self-terminate once.
Ethan had to intervene and forge a pact with Xalrak to have it cease such actions, with the new subroutine maybe Virgil would be more able to respond in kind in the future.
Was the supposed military programming that one had supposedly received the difference in reaction to imprisonment?
Ethan wasn’t too surprised by Xalrak's reaction or attempt, so his programming was similar in a sense.
Virgil wondered what kind of program would consider ending itself to perform any task.
The only one it could conclude sensible was one where the task was the protection of the collective as a whole.
Biological lives were far from that logical, however, so Virgil had to accept that they might consider doing things differently.
It seemed Ethan considered Xalrak's actions a possible way to protect the Dexton's dogs.

Lemela

Lemela’s body was recharging.
She gazed out into the simulated expanse of the virtual space that depicted her former home, as she was now touching the leaves of the majestic tree.
It was exactly as she remembered it, it couldn't be otherwise, could it?
Her mind swirled with a blend of her own memories and the newly acquired memories of Ethan.
She couldn't help but feel a sense of disorientation as if her identity had become a tangled web of intertwined experiences.
-Who am I now?- She whispered softly, her voice resonating within the digital realm.
- I now possess what I wished so hard to gain, the memories and skills of a warrior. I knew I would become an abomination as I accepted to be fused with a machine, but this is something else entirely. Am I still the same Lemela I used to be, or have I become something entirely different?-
The echoes of her own thoughts reverberated through her mind, reflecting the uncertainty that plagued her. She pondered her own experiences and the trials she endured.
And then there were those alien things, Ethan's memories, fragments of his past, his struggles.
-How does he handle this so casually?! He has my memories now, and he doesn't even seem fazed. Lemela... that's a human for you. But… I now have a feeling there's more to it. And this confuses me. I am a combination of two beings, intertwined in this intricate web of memories and experiences.-
Lemela’s eyes narrowed a bit as she realized something.
-Or Is it really? The memories… the experiences; they aren’t really mixed. I mean I can just tell what’s mine and what isn’t. I shouldn’t be able to tell if it was a perfect fusion right?
Theoretically… yes. I mean there wasn’t somebody just crazy enough to attempt something similar. I am in awe it wasn’t humans who did it.
Concentrate Lemela! Still, there are these moments where I get these new instincts… besides the ones I possessed the ones I was used to.
The kind of things that comes as you gain wisdom … but what does it mean for my own identity? How much of Ethan now shapes who I am?-
As she grappled with these questions, a sense of determination began to well up within her.
She felt something new and old at the same time: defiance.
She refused to let this define her completely.
She recognized the possibility of progress, of a new path within this mess.
-I am Lemela, I walked through fire and emerged stronger- She declared, her voice infused with newfound resolve. -I carry the honor and strength of the Versel. I now carry the honor and strength of a true warrior. I will forge my own path. The only easy day was yesterday-
She slumped a bit, at the end of the day those were only words. She had to prove it to herself, to push forward and show actual results.
She felt that the charging process had ended, and returned to her body, luckily the interface she could see showed a timer of sorts and while she didn’t understand the point of it it helped keep track of time.
Time in the virtual space seemed to not match the one in the real world, only moments had passed for her in the virtual space, but hours had gone by in the real world.
This was both a boon and a curse, in a sense, but there was little she could do about it save speaking about it with Ethan.
She took off going to the cell area on the level below, looking for Zek'lor; the Noltoran stood cautiously in the dimly lit cell behind the closed gate.
Lemela wondered why he insisted on remaining confined, but it was his choice.
His chitinous exoskeleton was glistening under the soft glow of the room's ambient lighting and overall Zeklor appeared better than at the beginning of their meetings.
Still, his compound eyes darted nervously as he observed the drones guarding the other cell.
Lemela adorned her partially artificial body with glowing red accents with her hard light and approached Zek'lor with a gentle smile, that would make her more noticeable and not scare him as much as the last times.
She could understand the unease and fear he harbored toward the drones.
With careful steps, she reached out to place a reassuring hand on his sturdy carapace.
The Noltoran had noticed her tanks to the change in the room's overall lightning.
-Zek'lor, I know it's difficult for you to trust the drones after what you've been through- Lemela tried to speak in a soothing tone, her voice echoing slightly in the small cell. -I assure you, they are under Ethan's control. They won't harm you.-
Zek'lor's mandibles clicked, and the translator conveyed anxiousness as he glanced at the drones. Memories of their cold efficiency in carrying out orders were probably flashing in his mind.
-I... I can't shake off the fear, Lemela. You didn’t see them in action. The guards didn't have a prayer. And they had weapons at the time. Now I see other slaves among them. I see others like me… -
-Do you think Ethan might do this to you?-
Zek’lor shook his head. -If only… maybe it would make it all easier. Then again It’s more likely I might end up like you. I don’t want that.-
Lemela sighed a little – Well I understand not wanting to be an abomination of metal and flesh. It’s not like I wished for this.-
Zek’lor tilted his head to the side, making a sound with his claws that her translator relayed as confusion.
-Abomination? Oh no, many of my people accept mechanical enhancements on a lesser scale to be able to operate in words with a higher gravity or with a toxic environment. Being part machine is not the issue. What I don’t want is eternity.-
Lemela frowned -Eternity?-
Zek’lor nodded - A machine is eternal by nature. As long as you maintain it properly that is. But this machine maintains itself. This machine's gears are made of former ... people? It’s uncanny thinking about being maintained for all eternity. One should die once one's usefulness has ended. Still, this machine would find new uses for one, for all eternity. It is... scary. -
Lemela watched Zek'lor it was something she didn’t even consider, but it made sense somehow.
Lemela silently guided Zek’lor to the lab above and watched as he cautiously approached the group of drones, his multifaceted eyes scanning the bodies and the four sets of claws of the former bottom feeders.
-They can’t speak Zek’lor, they won’t act unless you interact with them- Lemela said while standing beside Zek'lor offering her reassuring presence.
Taking a deep breath, Zek'lor mustered his courage and chose to approach another drone, a Nolthoran with its metallic exoskeleton glistening in the dim light.
The drone turned its now mechanical eyes toward Zek'lor, as he approached but it remained silent.
-Hello- Zek'lor began tentatively, his voice a mixture of anxiety and determination. -I...I need your assistance. We need to move heavy material to create the cave-in Ethan requested to disrupt the operations of the Dexton's Dogs. Will you help me?-
The Nolthoran drone’s eyes flickered with a creepy artificial glow, it tilted its head slightly, then it nodded in understanding.
Zek'lor apparently focused on the Nolthoran’s body and sighed. -See these patterns?-
He asked pointing to the surface of the metal where Lemela’s eyes couldn’t distinguish anything of note.
- These are telltale signs of torture. We hail from a desert world. We don’t need much in terms of food and water, our bodies store those. These marks are made when they bleed us of the sustenance we might have left. To break us.-
The Nolthoran drone didn’t appear to heed or mind the explanation, it simply extended its appendages, gesturing to follow.
Zek'lor probably realized that it was offering to guide them, ready to work alongside them to create the illusion they needed.
Lemela smiled at the scene and followed the two in their quest for materials.

Ethan.

I sigh giving Virgil the green light it asks of moving one of the guards to the lab.
This would be easier if Lemela could interact with the drones as I do, but Virgil continues to say I am the overmind and leading is my role.
I watch and listen to the two through the drone’s eyes and ears for a bit longer, Lemela has progressed a lot these days, I hope I can have a good diplomat on hand.
Well, she knows all I know, she has my training, but I still worry, things will not be easy.
The situation with Xalrak is at a standstill, I personally don’t wish to push it, even if the alien knows that the boss basically spilled the beans it won’t concede.
I can appreciate the spirit, I mean I kept Xalrak without eating for all the time I could without killing but in the end I was the one that had to cave in.
Luckily I managed to strike a deal where Xalrak eats and doesn't attempt to run or kill itself.
I mean, I don’t want to kill if I can manage it, and these people are supposed to be rare galaxy-wise.
I understand that the galactic council is to blame for their situation, but I don’t want to go ahead and headbutt politics before I have solved the situation here first.
The issue is with people that see no alternative to what they are experiencing.
I have hit another virtual wall so to speak, without going above I have explored all I can of this underworld.
I could push my zombie drones forward, but I would lose contact with them past the corridors, and I don’t want that to happen.
Without the help of an engineer, I doubt I can do what Virgil suggests in order to enhance my capabilities.
I have found another terminal like the one that originally hosted Virgil in the video feed it shared with me, but I doubt my capacity to make it run or repair it if needed.
I could use it for raw materials, but I want to know if there’s a chance for it to run.
With one of these in the network, I would be able to bolster the signal I emit allowing me to extend the zone I can control. I could also control a bigger number of drones with two of those.
I noticed there are patrols down here now, and some lay traps, luckily I had asked Virgil
At the moment I need to concentrate on things I can actually pull off, like the opening of my very own meat shop.
I did what I could in order to protect the lab and all the charging platforms; without these, there would be a big issue for us.
I intend to start my little meat market on the surface, I have found a suitable way up about six big ventilation shafts down yonder in this maze.
As for the people living in this underground area, I need to find a way around actually meeting them.
The issue is that after the big fight with the expedition, most shelters shifted around the caves before I could actually restart my exploration.
If they acted this way I fear that any active prodding might trigger their flight response rather than their freeze and fucking listen to the scary robot one.
I don’t think I have what it takes to play catch with people that know the ground way better than me, I have to play a different game.
I will dedicate some of the meat I gathered to be used as bait and see what It bites.
Having two traps at once is a bit of a risk, he who chases two rabbits catches neither or so they say.
The real issue is that it’s not rabbit season here in the first place, and the pirate rangers that would come after me might bring down more heat I can hold.
Well, there’s only one way to go with this, and that’s forward.
[First] [Previous] [WIP]

I know it's not the end of the world to not have any internships or stuff going on over the summer especially after freshman year, but every single college freshman I know, both from my college and people I knew from high school, have huge internships/reus/nonprofits/things going on. my college is also kind of competitive so it kind of makes sense but it's a lot more than I thought it would be :( I didn't apply to nearly enough stuff over the year and I was kind of burnt out/assumed I wouldn't get into anything, but now I'm just panicking that I'm behind and I don't know what I should do to try to salvage this summer. I had a small summer research job on campus planned but due to other circumstances the person renting to me couldn't rent it anymore so I can't do that either :(. I'm an applied math/computer engineering major for reference, and I'm just so neurotic and panicking right now and I feel nauseous just sitting at home doing nothing and I'm just so mad at myself for not trying harder over the year and pushing myself to just apply for more things and this is becoming a rant/vent now :( idk i'm partially just exhausted and partially just extremely anxious that I'm falling behind everyone and I want to find something I can do to feel a little bit on top of things??? idk anymore
​
tl;dr i didn't try hard enough to find things to do over the year and now I'm going through a neurotic episode bc of it and any advice/ideas for things to do to feel less useless would be appreciated

((WARNING! Yotul has acquired the thigh-highs. This train is running on tracks laid by u/spacepaladin15 on the “Nature of Predators” railroad. EDIT: It ate the formatting. I put formatting back in.))
FIRST//PREVIOUS//NEXT
Memory transcription subject: Yotul exchange subject Ouon.
​
Date [Human standard time]: August 22, 2136
​
We talked for a long time after we determined that we were, indeed, both into other men. We compared everything from bars and clubs we went to how society accepted us. It seemed that a long time ago humans had a bit of trouble with it, but they had since gotten used to it. I couldn’t help but be a little jealous of him in fact. While same-sex stuff wasn’t illegal or discouraged it was not exactly “encouraged” either in the federation.
Still, it was a blast to find out how much we had in common! They had the same problem our clubs did even! Men and women who were straight coming in and flirting with the wrong without a shred of a brahking clue why everyone was avoiding them, getting mad when they were hit on, and oh brahking speh the “soon to be paired” parties! I got its a club but come ON!
I also loved how they had very similar dress practices as well, but they also had lots and lots of new clothing I could not WAIT to try out!
So I didn’t.
I broke the rule and slipped on some thigh-highs he had on hand. And yes, I did take a picture of them. They hugged my legs in alllll the best ways and hid the muscle and fur making them look fantastic! I also got a picture of Freddie staring. Poor guy even muttered “What have I done?” Well you just made this cutie even more cute! Would have to keep them away from the venlils though.
This was MY time to shine!
I added a cute pair of shorts and a shirt without sleeves. All bright colors that just seemed to hug my body in juuust the right way. Everything I put on I could tell freddie was even more focused on me. Did I tease him by flicking my tail a few more times than normal?
Duh. Of course I did!
After a few more photos Freddie walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. I knew the act VERY well after all the stuff I would do to tease on trains. I hopped off the bed, then looked up at the ceiling before falling right on my ass.
Turns out socks are evil if you are not careful. My paws slipped right from under me as if I was on ice! I let out a long groan, closing my eyes and covering my ears as Freddie laughing at me hurt my pride far more than the fall hurt my butt. I guess nothing can be perfect.
Once he laughed at me for awhile he helped me up and we started to walk down the halls. He said something about “We should probably meet up with the others” and “can’t wait to show you the train sets!” Honestly? I was still too focused on my sore rear and making sure the socks didn’t betray me again. I was going to keep them on though. For once I felt cuter than a venlil!
Get shaved Lyiel! This yotul is upping his game!
Soon we walked into a rather large room. On the other side I could see a tilfish female happily talking away to a masked human female in a lab coat. He wasn’t anythi-
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!”
I jumped then frantically looked around to try to find what venlil screamed. Such a high pitch and pure terror HAD to have been from one of them! Maybe two humans in the same… room…
Freddie was hiding behind me. A HUMAN WAS HIDING BEHIND ME!?
“How?” I looked over at the other two and the tilfish was hiding behind the human. That, and putting some coins into his hand as she rubbed her antennae. “How did you know the human would scream? How is a predator scared of prey!?” She asked, clearly very confused. Don’t worry, I was juuuust as confused as you were tilfish.
“Holy shit. Sorry. DId not expect a large bug.” Freddie slipped out from behind me and walked up to the pair. “Sally! How are you?” He asked before shaking the other human’s hand. As they started to talk my eyes were drawn to what took up most of the room.
It was a mini world.
Mountains, rivers, oceans, towns, all still and all smaller than a dossur! Everything was hand painted and made with it all laid out to look like what I assumed was earth land. It was gorgeous! Even the trees seemed to be ready to be wandered through on one’s way to the nice and cozy river from that small town by the mountains! It… reminded me of home. I never stayed in my little town long. Not much opportunities for a guy like me in more ways than one. Still, the trains took me in and I found my place.
Trains?
My eyes locked on long metal strips that laced through everything. Through the mountains, over the rivers, into the towns. Long metal train tracks snaked through everything. And on those tracks ran trains. I saw sleek, futuristic trains that were loaded with slender cars full of mini people, I saw the thick industrial designs (that I could honestly do without) loaded with what looked like old, rusty, beat up cars covered in strange art.
Then I saw them. The round, elegant, gleaming red of a human steam engine rattling along the tracks pulling cars that looked to be beyond what even our old luxury train cars had. Steam rising up out of their tiny stacks and drifting over the carts just like they had back on my home world. I had been on the very last of the steam trains before they had been decommissioned. They had held on for much, MUCH longer than the feds had wanted simply due to them being advertised as luxury transportation. Didn’t last forever though.
But here was one such luxury dancing through the town and over the hills. Gliding along while puffing proudly. It was clearly an ancient design, but that just made it feel even more special. I squatted down as it started to rattle on by to look into its windows. Sure enough there were people inside. Rich humans relaxing and lounging while others in the kind of uniforms I missed so much “walked” around within.
This was wonderful!
My tail flicked about happily as I let the humans catch up. However soon I heard the telltale clicking of tilfish beside me. “Its beautiful isn’t it?” She asked as she looked around. “I am Xelo. I volunteered to meet with humans because I wanted to know more about their art.” She explained. “I knew it was scary and dangerous, but an artist must suffer for their work! It is what separates the hobbyist from the true professional. I never expected anything like this.” She confessed as she rubbed her antennae some more. “I had planned to be the first tilfish to paint a human’s portrait, but then my human, Sally, showed me this.”
She motioned to the train rolling by. “The design, the colors, the way they painted the miniature statues! It's unlike anything I have ever seen before! Oh its gorgeous! I looked everywhere but it seems like no species has ever come CLOSE to such elegance in design and looks!” She clicked away happily going on more about wondering how they went about making such a diorama and more.
“We did.”
She paused and looked at me confused.
“We had such beautiful trains. The height of luxury. I worked on a few so I should know.” I explained before motioning to the bright red engine.
“It… it isn’t in any records though? I looked! I mean, once I saw this I had to know if we had such scenes of our own to compare to!” She chittered as she looked between me and the diorama.
“Well. They were obsolete according to the feds. Sure they were comfy, luxurious, and the best way to travel in opulence but no. Had to go.” I growled just a little. “Doesn’t surprise me that its not recorded either. Why waste time on recording trash?” I took a deep breath before I felt a hand on my shoulder. I froze before looking back to see Freddie.
“They did what with your trains?” He asked slowly and calmly. “They destroyed your history?”
History? How could a train be history?
​
FIRST//PREVIOUS//NEXT

im making a modpack for me and my friends and i want create in it but whenever i add create all i get is the message above. it works when i dont have create but for some reason whenever i add the mod, the whole thing doesn't work

---- Minecraft Crash Report ---- // Don't be sad, have a hug! <3 Time: 2023-06-05 22:15:54 Description: Initializing game java.lang.RuntimeException: Could not execute entrypoint stage 'main' due to errors, provided by 'create'! at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.entrypoint.EntrypointUtils.lambda$invoke0$0(EntrypointUtils.java:51) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.util.ExceptionUtil.gatherExceptions(ExceptionUtil.java:33) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.entrypoint.EntrypointUtils.invoke0(EntrypointUtils.java:49) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.entrypoint.EntrypointUtils.invoke(EntrypointUtils.java:35) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.Hooks.startClient(Hooks.java:52) at net.minecraft.class_310.(class_310.java:459) at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.method_44604(Main.java:205) at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java:51) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.MinecraftGameProvider.launch(MinecraftGameProvider.java:468) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.Knot.launch(Knot.java:74) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClient.main(KnotClient.java:23) Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: io/github/fabricators_of_create/porting_lib/fake_players/FakePlayer at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method) at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:1012) at java.base/java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:150) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassLoader.defineClassFwd(KnotClassLoader.java:153) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassDelegate.tryLoadClass(KnotClassDelegate.java:355) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassDelegate.loadClass(KnotClassDelegate.java:218) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassLoader.loadClass(KnotClassLoader.java:112) at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:520) at com.simibubi.create.AllBlocks.(AllBlocks.java:1308) at com.simibubi.create.Create.onInitialize(Create.java:88) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.entrypoint.EntrypointUtils.invoke0(EntrypointUtils.java:47) ... 8 more Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: io.github.fabricators_of_create.porting_lib.fake_players.FakePlayer at java.base/jdk.internal.loader.BuiltinClassLoader.loadClass(BuiltinClassLoader.java:641) at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:520) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassDelegate.loadClass(KnotClassDelegate.java:226) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassLoader.loadClass(KnotClassLoader.java:112) at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:520) ... 19 more A detailed walkthrough of the error, its code path and all known details is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Head -- Thread: Render thread Stacktrace: at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.entrypoint.EntrypointUtils.lambda$invoke0$0(EntrypointUtils.java:51) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.util.ExceptionUtil.gatherExceptions(ExceptionUtil.java:33) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.entrypoint.EntrypointUtils.invoke0(EntrypointUtils.java:49) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.entrypoint.EntrypointUtils.invoke(EntrypointUtils.java:35) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.Hooks.startClient(Hooks.java:52) at net.minecraft.class_310.(class_310.java:459) -- Initialization -- Details: Modules: ADVAPI32.dll:Advanced Windows 32 Base API:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation COMCTL32.dll:User Experience Controls Library:6.10 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation CRYPT32.dll:Crypto API32:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation CRYPTBASE.dll:Base cryptographic API DLL:10.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation CRYPTSP.dll:Cryptographic Service Provider API:10.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation DBGHELP.DLL:Windows Image Helper:10.0.19041.867 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation DNSAPI.dll:DNS Client API DLL:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation GDI32.dll:GDI Client DLL:10.0.19041.2913 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation IMM32.DLL:Multi-User Windows IMM32 API Client DLL:10.0.19041.2673 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation IPHLPAPI.DLL:IP Helper API:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation KERNEL32.DLL:Windows NT BASE API Client DLL:10.0.19041.2788 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation KERNELBASE.dll:Windows NT BASE API Client DLL:10.0.19041.2788 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation NLAapi.dll:Network Location Awareness 2:10.0.19041.2913 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation NSI.dll:NSI User-mode interface DLL:10.0.19041.610 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation NTASN1.dll:Microsoft ASN.1 API:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation Ole32.dll:Microsoft OLE for Windows:10.0.19041.1320 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation OleAut32.dll:OLEAUT32.DLL:10.0.19041.985 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation PSAPI.DLL:Process Status Helper:10.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation Pdh.dll:Windows Performance Data Helper DLL:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation RPCRT4.dll:Remote Procedure Call Runtime:10.0.19041.2788 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation SHCORE.dll:SHCORE:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation SHELL32.dll:Windows Shell Common Dll:10.0.19041.964 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation USER32.dll:Multi-User Windows USER API Client DLL:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation USERENV.dll:Userenv:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation VCRUNTIME140.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:14.29.30139.0 built by: vcwrkspc:Microsoft Corporation VERSION.dll:Version Checking and File Installation Libraries:10.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation WINHTTP.dll:Windows HTTP Services:10.0.19041.2075 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation WINMM.dll:MCI API DLL:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation WS2_32.dll:Windows Socket 2.0 32-Bit DLL:10.0.19041.1081 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation WSOCK32.dll:Windows Socket 32-Bit DLL:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation Wldp.dll:Windows Lockdown Policy:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation amsi.dll:Anti-Malware Scan Interface:10.0.19041.2075 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation bcrypt.dll:Windows Cryptographic Primitives Library:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation bcryptPrimitives.dll:Windows Cryptographic Primitives Library:10.0.19041.2486 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation clbcatq.dll:COM+ Configuration Catalog:2001.12.10941.16384 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation combase.dll:Microsoft COM for Windows:10.0.19041.1320 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation dbgcore.DLL:Windows Core Debugging Helpers:10.0.19041.2788 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation dhcpcsvc.DLL:DHCP Client Service:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation dhcpcsvc6.DLL:DHCPv6 Client:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation fwpuclnt.dll:FWP/IPsec User-Mode API:10.0.19041.2913 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation gdi32full.dll:GDI Client DLL:10.0.19041.2913 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation glfw.dll:GLFW 3.4.0 DLL:3.4.0:GLFW java.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft javaw.exe:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft jemalloc.dll jimage.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft jli.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft jna11966046078765489236.dll:JNA native library:6.1.2:Java(TM) Native Access (JNA) jsvml.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft jvm.dll:OpenJDK 64-Bit server VM:17.0.3.0:Microsoft kernel.appcore.dll:AppModel API Host:10.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation lwjgl.dll management.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft management_ext.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft msvcp140.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:14.29.30139.0 built by: vcwrkspc:Microsoft Corporation msvcp_win.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:10.0.19041.789 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation msvcrt.dll:Windows NT CRT DLL:7.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation mswsock.dll:Microsoft Windows Sockets 2.0 Service Provider:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation napinsp.dll:E-mail Naming Shim Provider:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation ncrypt.dll:Windows NCrypt Router:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation net.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft nio.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft ntdll.dll:NT Layer DLL:10.0.19041.2788 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation perfos.dll:Windows System Performance Objects DLL:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation pnrpnsp.dll:PNRP Name Space Provider:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation profapi.dll:User Profile Basic API:10.0.19041.844 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation rasadhlp.dll:Remote Access AutoDial Helper:10.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation rsaenh.dll:Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation sechost.dll:Host for SCM/SDDL/LSA Lookup APIs:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation shlwapi.dll:Shell Light-weight Utility Library:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation sunmscapi.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft ucrtbase.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:10.0.19041.789 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation vcruntime140_1.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:14.29.30139.0 built by: vcwrkspc:Microsoft Corporation verify.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft win32u.dll:Win32u:10.0.19041.2913 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation windows.storage.dll:Microsoft WinRT Storage API:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation winrnr.dll:LDAP RnR Provider DLL:10.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation wshbth.dll:Windows Sockets Helper DLL:10.0.19041.546 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation wshunix.dll:AF_UNIX Winsock2 Helper DLL:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation zip.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.3.0:Microsoft Stacktrace: at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.method_44604(Main.java:205) at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java:51) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.MinecraftGameProvider.launch(MinecraftGameProvider.java:468) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.Knot.launch(Knot.java:74) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClient.main(KnotClient.java:23) -- System Details -- Details: Minecraft Version: 1.19.2 Minecraft Version ID: 1.19.2 Operating System: Windows 10 (amd64) version 10.0 Java Version: 17.0.3, Microsoft Java VM Version: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (mixed mode), Microsoft Memory: 442713248 bytes (422 MiB) / 1077936128 bytes (1028 MiB) up to 4294967296 bytes (4096 MiB) CPUs: 2 Processor Vendor: AuthenticAMD Processor Name: AMD Athlon Silver 3050U with Radeon Graphics Identifier: AuthenticAMD Family 23 Model 24 Stepping 1 Microarchitecture: Zen / Zen+ Frequency (GHz): 2.30 Number of physical packages: 1 Number of physical CPUs: 2 Number of logical CPUs: 2 Graphics card #0 name: AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics Graphics card #0 vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (0x1002) Graphics card #0 VRAM (MB): 2048.00 Graphics card #0 deviceId: 0x15d8 Graphics card #0 versionInfo: DriverVersion=27.20.15030.5001 Memory slot #0 capacity (MB): 4096.00 Memory slot #0 clockSpeed (GHz): 3.20 Memory slot #0 type: DDR4 Memory slot #1 capacity (MB): 4096.00 Memory slot #1 clockSpeed (GHz): 2.67 Memory slot #1 type: DDR4 Virtual memory max (MB): 25324.02 Virtual memory used (MB): 7698.28 Swap memory total (MB): 19264.00 Swap memory used (MB): 395.80 JVM Flags: 4 total; -XX:HeapDumpPath=MojangTricksIntelDriversForPerformance_javaw.exe_minecraft.exe.heapdump -Xss1M -Xmx4096m -Xms256m Fabric Mods: another_furniture: Another Furniture 2.1.2-1.19.2 appleskin: AppleSkin 2.4.1+mc1.19 architectury: Architectury 6.5.85 artifacts: Artifacts 7.1.1+fabric step-height-entity-attribute: Step Height Entity Attribute 1.0.0 autotag-convention: AutoTag Convention 2.0.0+1.19 autotag: AutoTag 2.0.0+1.19 balm-fabric: Balm 4.5.7 bclib: BCLib 2.1.6 beautify: Beautify 1.1.1+fabric-1.19.2 cardinal-components-base: Cardinal Components API (base) 5.0.2 cardinal-components-entity: Cardinal Components API (entities) 5.0.2 cardinal-components-world: Cardinal Components API (worlds) 5.0.2 beekeeperhut: Friends&Foes - Beekeeper Hut 1.2.0 betterdeserttemples: YUNG's Better Desert Temples 1.19.2-Fabric-2.2.2 org_reflections_reflections: reflections 0.10.2 betterend: Better End 2.1.5 betterfortresses: YUNG's Better Nether Fortresses 1.19.2-Fabric-1.0.5 betterfpsdist: Better FPS distance Mod 1.19-2.4 betternether: Better Nether 7.1.3 betterstats: Better Statistics Screen 2.8.1+1.19.2 tcdcommons: TCD Commons API 2.8+1.19.2 betterstrongholds: YUNG's Better Strongholds 1.19.2-Fabric-3.2.0 blanket-client-tweaks: Blanket Client-tweaks 1.1.2 byg: Oh The Biomes You'll Go 2.0.0.13 com_electronwill_night-config_core: core 3.6.6 com_electronwill_night-config_toml: toml 3.6.6 c2me: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-base: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Base) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-client-uncapvd: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Client/Uncap View Distance) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-fixes-chunkio-threading-issues: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Fixes/Chunk IO/Threading Issues) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-fixes-general-threading-issues: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Fixes/General/Threading Issues) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-fixes-worldgen-threading-issues: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Fixes/WorldGen/Threading Issues) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-fixes-worldgen-vanilla-bugs: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Fixes/WorldGen/Vanilla Bugs) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-notickvd: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (No Tick View Distance) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-opts-allocs: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Optimizations/Memory Allocations) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-opts-chunk-access: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Optimizations/Chunk Access) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-opts-chunkio: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Optimizations/Chunk IO) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-opts-math: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Optimizations/Math) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-opts-scheduling: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Optimizations/Scheduling) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-opts-worldgen-general: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Optimizations/General WorldGen) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-opts-worldgen-vanilla: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Optimizations/Vanilla WorldGen) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-rewrites-chunkio: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Rewrites/Chunk IO) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-server-utils: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Server Utils) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-threading-chunkio: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Threading/WorldGen) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-threading-lighting: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Threading/Lighting) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-threading-scheduling: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Threading/Scheduling) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 c2me-threading-worldgen: Concurrent Chunk Management Engine (Threading/WorldGen) 0.2.0+alpha.9.9 com_ibm_async_asyncutil: asyncutil 0.1.0 net_objecthunter_exp4j: exp4j 0.4.8 org_threadly_threadly: threadly 7.0 cardinal-components: Cardinal Components API 5.0.2 cardinal-components-block: Cardinal Components API (blocks) 5.0.2 cardinal-components-chunk: Cardinal Components API (chunks) 5.0.2 cardinal-components-item: Cardinal Components API (items) 5.0.2 cardinal-components-level: Cardinal Components API (world saves) 5.0.2 cardinal-components-scoreboard: Cardinal Components API (scoreboard) 5.0.2 carpet: Carpet Mod 1.4.84 carpet-fixes: Carpet Fixes 1.19-1.12.2 conditional-mixin: conditional mixin 0.3.1 chefsdelight: Chef's Delight 1.0.3-fabric-1.19.2 structurized-reborn: Structurized Reborn 1.19-01 chimes: Chimes 1.1.4 chipped: Chipped 2.1.5 chunksending: Chunksending Mod 1.19-2.5 chunky: Chunky 1.3.38 cloth-config: Cloth Config v8 8.2.88 cloth-basic-math: cloth-basic-math 0.6.1 clumps: Clumps 9.0.0+14 configured: Configured 2.0.0 controlling: Controlling For Fabric 10.0+7 create: Create 0.5.0.i-1017+1.19.2 com_google_code_findbugs_jsr305: jsr305 3.0.2 flywheel: Flywheel 0.6.8.a-4 milk: Milk Lib 1.0.51 dripstone_fluid_lib: Dripstone Fluid Lib 2.0.1 reach-entity-attributes: Reach Entity Attributes 2.3.0 registrate-fabric: Registrate for Fabric 1.1.57-MC1.19.2 forge_tags: Porting Lib Tags 3.0 porting_lib_model_generators: Porting Lib Model Generators 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_accessors: Porting Lib Accessors 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_attributes: Porting Lib Attributes 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_common: Porting Lib Common 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_constants: Porting Lib Constants 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_extensions: Porting Lib Extensions 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_model_loader: Porting Lib Model Loader 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_models: Porting Lib Models 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_obj_loader: Porting Lib Obj Loader 2.1.731+1.19.2 porting_lib_transfer: Porting Lib Transfer 2.1.731+1.19.2 creategoggles: Create Goggles 0.5.4.2 createreibugfix: CreateFabric&REIBugFix 0.1.2-mc1.19.x creeperoverhaul: Creeper Overhaul 2.0.9 croptopia: Croptopia 2.2.2 com_typesafe_config: config 1.4.1 io_leangen_geantyref_geantyref: geantyref 1.3.11 org_spongepowered_configurate-core: configurate-core 4.1.2 org_spongepowered_configurate-hocon: configurate-hocon 4.1.2 ctm: ConnectedTexturesMod for Fabric 1.0.1+1.19 cull-less-leaves: Cull Less Leaves 1.0.6 cullclouds: Cull Clouds 0.1.0 decorative_blocks: Decorative Blocks 3.0.0 dungeons_arise: When Dungeons Arise 2.1.54 dynview: Dynamic View Mod 1.19-2.4 enhancedblockentities: Enhanced Block Entities 0.7.2+1.19.2 advanced_runtime_resource_pack: Runtime Resource Pack 0.6.2 spruceui: SpruceUI 4.0.0+1.19 entitycollisionfpsfix: Entity Collision FPS Fix 2.0.0.0 expandability: ExpandAbility 7.0.0 extraorigins: Extra Origins 1.19-2 fabric-api: Fabric API 0.76.0+1.19.2 fabric-api-base: Fabric API Base 0.4.15+8f4e8eb390 fabric-api-lookup-api-v1: Fabric API Lookup API (v1) 1.6.14+93d8cb8290 fabric-biome-api-v1: Fabric Biome API (v1) 9.1.1+16f1e31390 fabric-block-api-v1: Fabric Block API (v1) 1.0.2+e415d50e90 fabric-blockrenderlayer-v1: Fabric BlockRenderLayer Registration (v1) 1.1.25+cafc6e8e90 fabric-client-tags-api-v1: Fabric Client Tags 1.0.5+b35fea8390 fabric-command-api-v1: Fabric Command API (v1) 1.2.16+f71b366f90 fabric-command-api-v2: Fabric Command API (v2) 2.2.1+413cbbc790 fabric-commands-v0: Fabric Commands (v0) 0.2.33+df3654b390 fabric-containers-v0: Fabric Containers (v0) 0.1.41+df3654b390 fabric-content-registries-v0: Fabric Content Registries (v0) 3.5.2+7c6cd14d90 fabric-convention-tags-v1: Fabric Convention Tags 1.3.0+4bc6e26290 fabric-crash-report-info-v1: Fabric Crash Report Info (v1) 0.2.8+aeb40ebe90 fabric-data-generation-api-v1: Fabric Data Generation API (v1) 5.3.8+413cbbc790 fabric-dimensions-v1: Fabric Dimensions API (v1) 2.1.35+0d0f210290 fabric-entity-events-v1: Fabric Entity Events (v1) 1.5.4+9244241690 fabric-events-interaction-v0: Fabric Events Interaction (v0) 0.4.34+562bff6e90 fabric-events-lifecycle-v0: Fabric Events Lifecycle (v0) 0.2.36+df3654b390 fabric-game-rule-api-v1: Fabric Game Rule API (v1) 1.0.24+b6b6abb490 fabric-item-api-v1: Fabric Item API (v1) 1.6.6+b7d1888890 fabric-item-groups-v0: Fabric Item Groups (v0) 0.3.39+9244241690 fabric-key-binding-api-v1: Fabric Key Binding API (v1) 1.0.25+5c4fce2890 fabric-keybindings-v0: Fabric Key Bindings (v0) 0.2.23+df3654b390 fabric-lifecycle-events-v1: Fabric Lifecycle Events (v1) 2.2.4+1b46dc7890 fabric-loot-api-v2: Fabric Loot API (v2) 1.1.13+83a8659290 fabric-loot-tables-v1: Fabric Loot Tables (v1) 1.1.16+9e7660c690 fabric-message-api-v1: Fabric Message API (v1) 5.0.7+93d8cb8290 fabric-mining-level-api-v1: Fabric Mining Level API (v1) 2.1.24+33fbc73890 fabric-models-v0: Fabric Models (v0) 0.3.21+c6af733c90 fabric-networking-api-v1: Fabric Networking API (v1) 1.2.11+10eb22f490 fabric-networking-v0: Fabric Networking (v0) 0.3.28+df3654b390 fabric-object-builder-api-v1: Fabric Object Builder API (v1) 4.2.2+d8ef690890 fabric-particles-v1: Fabric Particles (v1) 1.0.14+4d0d570390 fabric-recipe-api-v1: Fabric Recipe API (v1) 1.0.1+413cbbc790 fabric-registry-sync-v0: Fabric Registry Sync (v0) 0.9.32+9244241690 fabric-renderer-api-v1: Fabric Renderer API (v1) 1.2.1+1adbf27790 fabric-renderer-indigo: Fabric Renderer - Indigo 0.8.0+1adbf27790 fabric-renderer-registries-v1: Fabric Renderer Registries (v1) 3.2.24+df3654b390 fabric-rendering-data-attachment-v1: Fabric Rendering Data Attachment (v1) 0.3.19+6e0787e690 fabric-rendering-fluids-v1: Fabric Rendering Fluids (v1) 3.0.11+4d0d570390 fabric-rendering-v0: Fabric Rendering (v0) 1.1.27+df3654b390 fabric-rendering-v1: Fabric Rendering (v1) 1.12.1+d8ef690890 fabric-resource-conditions-api-v1: Fabric Resource Conditions API (v1) 2.1.2+aae9039d90 fabric-resource-loader-v0: Fabric Resource Loader (v0) 0.8.4+edbdcddb90 fabric-screen-api-v1: Fabric Screen API (v1) 1.0.32+4d0d570390 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Modded: Definitely; Client brand changed to 'fabric' Type: Client (map_client.txt) CPU:  

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The days of the sub-$10,000 new car are long behind us, and the days of the sub-$20,000 new car may not be far behind. But if a rock-bottom base price is what you’re looking for, a variety of models still deserve consideration. Many of them also get good gas mileage, which will help keep a lid on ownership costs for as long as you own one.
To help with your cheap-car search, we rounded up the 10 least expensive new cars. They’re ordered by base price from least to most expensive, and all prices include the destination charge, but not any cash incentives or taxes and fees. To make the list useful to as many car shoppers as possible, all prices include an automatic transmission, which bumps the price for some models that otherwise offer a manual. For cars with more than one transmission choice, the EPA-estimated combined mpg rating is for the automatic version.
Cheapest New Cars

1. 2023 Mitsubishi Mirage ES: $17,650
   
2. 2023 Kia Rio LX: $17,875
   
3. 2023 Nissan Versa S: $18,595
   
4. 2023 Kia Forte LX: $20,815
   
5. 2023 Hyundai Venue SE: $20,985
   
6. 2023 Nissan Sentra S: $21,145
   
7. 2023 Kia Soul LX: $21,215
   
8. 2024 Chevrolet Trax LS: $21,495
   
9. 2023 Hyundai Elantra SE: $22,065
   
10. 2023 Subaru Impreza: $22,115
    

2023 Mitsubishi Mirage ES
Price: $17,650 (including $1,095 destination) Combined fuel economy: 39 mpg
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2022 Mitsubishi Mirage Manufacturer image
Topping the list of most affordable cars, the Mirage is a subcompact hatchback with seating for up to five. The combination of a tiny 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine and optional continuously variable automatic transmission deliver impressive EPA-estimated gas mileage of 39 mpg combined, but it comes at the expense of performance; the Mirage is slow. That said, we thought it was reasonably fun to drive when we last reviewed it. In 2021, the Mirage got a refreshed face and revised rear bumper, an updated interior with new soft-touch materials, a new standard 7-inch touchscreen and standard safety features including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection across all trims. If you want a trunk, Mitsubishi also offers a sedan variant called the Mirage G4; with the CVT, it starts at $18,500.
2023 Kia Rio LX
Price: $17,875 ($1,125 destination) Combined fuel economy: 36 mpg
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2023 Kia Rio Manufacturer image
The Kia Rio enters the 2023 model year largely unchanged. Under the hood is a 120-horsepower, 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine and standard CVT for a generous combined fuel economy rating of 36 mpg. An 8-inch touchscreen multimedia display with a rear camera and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay come standard across the lineup; unfortunately, automatic emergency braking is unavailable until you move up to the Rio’s higher trim, the S.
2023 Nissan Versa S
Price: $18,595 ($1,095 destination) Combined fuel economy: 35 mpg
2023 Nissan Versa Manufacturer image
The Nissan Versa is packed with active-safety and driver-assist features you don’t often see at this price. These include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, reverse automatic braking, lane departure warning and high-beam assist. It’s also fitted with convenience features like cruise control, automatic headlights, push-button start and Bluetooth streaming audio. For 2023, the Versa gets an updated front end and adds optional Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for the base S model. Under the hood of the Versa S is a 122-hp, 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine paired with an optional CVT; the CVT is standard on higher trims.
2023 Kia Forte LX
Price: $20,815 ($1,125 destination) Combined fuel economy: 34 mpg
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2022 Kia Forte Manufacturer image
The Kia Forte’s base LX model (formerly called the FE) returns for 2023 with no changes aside from the new name. The most affordable trim is powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder and mated to a CVT. The compact sedan offers a commuter-friendly 34 mpg combined and is loaded with standard features such as a large 8-inch touchscreen, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and automatic emergency braking. Although the Forte is a good value for a daily driver, shoppers looking for plentiful cargo space won’t find it in this sedan’s small trunk.
2023 Hyundai Venue SE
Price: $20,985 ($1,335 destination) Combined fuel economy: 31 mpg
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2023 Hyundai Venue Manufacturer image
The Hyundai Venue makes the cheapest cars roundup as a faux SUV (i.e., it looks like an SUV and Hyundai calls it that, too, but all-wheel drive is unavailable, so we’ll leave it off the category). Advanced standard safety features include automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning with steering assist, and a driver attention monitor. All models are equipped with 8-inch touchscreen displays with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; the base SE and mid-level SEL have wireless versions of both, too. Power for all versions of the Venue comes from a four-cylinder engine paired to a CVT. For 2023, the Venue gains a standard rear occupant alert system and a larger 4.2-inch instrument cluster.
2023 Nissan Sentra S
Price: $21,145 ($1,095 destination)
Combined fuel economy: 33 mpg
nissan-sentra-sr-2022-01-exterior-front-angle-sedan-white
2022 Nissan Sentra Car photo by Aaron Bragman
After a complete overhaul for 2020, the Sentra is more than just a bargain buy thanks to styling improvements and a tech-focused interior. Powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder mated to a CVT, the Sentra S gets a combined fuel economy rating of 33 mpg. The compact sedan provides a controlled, comfortable ride with sharp steering, but the CVT lacks the giddy-up of those in some competitors. Standard on the S are a 7-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity and Nissan’s Safety Shield 360 suite of advanced safety tech, which includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, rear automatic braking and rear cross-traffic alert.
2023 Kia Soul LX
Price: $21,215 ($1,325 destination) Combined fuel economy: 30 mpg
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2023 Kia Soul Manufacturer image
Kia’s quirky, utilitarian Soul hatchback sees a handful of changes for 2023, including an updated front and rear end, new 17- or 18-inch alloy wheels, and a suite of standard safety and driver-assist features like automatic emergency braking, lane departure steering assist, driver attention warning, lane departure warning and a rear occupant alert. Power for all models comes from a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine paired with a CVT. The LX gets an 8-inch touchscreen display (other models get a 10.25-inch touchscreen) with standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
2024 Chevrolet Trax LS
Price: $21,495 ($1,095 destination) Combined fuel economy: 30 mpg
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2024 Chevrolet Trax Manufacturer image
The redesigned 2024 Trax grows more spacious inside and gets a new turbocharged 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine under the hood, which it shares with the larger Chevy Trailblazer and related Buick Encore GX. But while the Trailblazer and Encore GX offer available AWD and make our list of cheapest SUVs, the Trax is now FWD-only. The Trax’s tech upgrades include a larger 8-inch center touchscreen and standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity; it also adds standard Chevy Safety Assist, which includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure steering assist with lane departure warning, and forward collision alert.
2023 Hyundai Elantra SE
Price: $22,065 ($1,115 destination) Combined fuel economy: 37 mpg
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2022 Hyundai Elantra Manufacturer image
Car shoppers on a tight budget will be happy to learn that Hyundai completely redesigned the Elantra for the 2021 model year with a more refined powertrain and a larger interior, and the 2023 model returns largely unchanged. The Elantra is available only as a sedan, and the most affordable SE trim is powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with a capable CVT. The Elantra gets an impressive 37 mpg that makes it as budget-friendly to own as it is to buy, and standard features include wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, a blind spot warning system and lane-centering steering. Shoppers who can overlook the sedan’s low-rent interior will appreciate the Elantra’s value.
2023 Subaru Impreza Base
Price: $22,115 ($1,020 destination) Combined fuel economy: 32 mpg
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2023 Subaru Impreza hatchback and sedan Manufacturer image
The 2023 Subaru Impreza offers the choice of a sedan or five-door hatchback variant, and the sedan brings the lower price tag of the pair. Under the hood is a 152-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine mated to an optional CVT that is good for an EPA-rated 32 mpg; AWD comes standard across all trims. On the tech front, the base Impreza’s center touchscreen measures 6.5 inches and comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integration. Models equipped with the CVT also pack important standard safety and driver-assist features: In addition to a rear seat reminder, Subaru’s EyeSight driver-assist suite bundles automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning and lane departure steering assist.
Source: cars

I'm currently facing a persistent and frustrating issue with Unreal Engine. For context, I'm a Computer Science student who does student assistant work for my University where I help the school's faculty bring their ideas for XR (Extended reality, AR, VR etc.) to life for their classrooms. I am the only student working on this project, and I am being assisted by the head Engineering professor who is the head of this small 'Extended Reality department.'
For several months now, I've been working on a VR project for a geology professor but I have been at an absolute standstill due to this issue for a large majority of the time spent on this project. The overall idea is he wants to have a bunch of individual .LAZ files of some lidar-scanned geographical area created into one map. He wants this map to be a VR environment that can be navigated around. The core of this project involves importing a .udatasmith file of this geographical site's LIDAR environment scan into Unreal Engine. His students are then supposed to import a geological .tif map overlay that they've created on their own, align it with the environment in VR, and check its accuracy against a master (key) .tif file provided by the professor.
However, whenever I attempt to import the .udatasmith file into Unreal Engine, the engine crashes every time. I've tried importing the file into multiple versions of Unreal Engine with no success. I have tried importing on various versions of Unreal, such as 4.27.2, 5.0, 5.0.3, and 5.2 with the same result of it crashing every single time.I use the Unreal official Datasmith plugin. I import the file from City Engine in the UE format, and from within UE, I select the file and click on the 'Import' button, and then the crash of the entire engine begins.
The .udatasmith file was provided to me by my collaborator on this project. (The engineering professor- NOT the geology professor who the project is being created for.) Along with this, they also provided a .cej file (CityEngine project file) which viewed in City Engine is the map for LIDAR environment scan. When I open the .cej file in City Engine, the environment appears, but it's very very transparent.
I've tried a few things to troubleshoot this, such as ensuring that my hardware meets the requirements for running Unreal Engine and checking for any obvious corruption or issues with the .udatasmith file itself. However, I've been unable to identify or resolve the issue that's causing Unreal Engine to crash.
I'm at a bit of a loss here, and I'm reaching out in the hope that someone might have encountered a similar issue or could provide some insight into what might be going wrong.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help.

For context, I have been a Chessable user for like 5 years now. However, I only recently acquired a powerful computer that has allowed me to analyze positions much more efficiently than before. I've been amazed by some of the ideas I have found myself, and I can say that I have a generally improved understanding of how to study courses like those on chessable.
​

1. To start, I should probably say this idea can't apply to everyone. Ideally, you should be at a point in your chess growth where you have a very good understanding of the kind of player you are. I value piece activity and I'm often willing to make small sacrifices to get that. I generally like to finish my opponents before I reach endgames. If I have to play an endgame, I tend to prefer openings that give me a chance at being the better side in an endgame. If you can't honestly answer specific questions about how you like to play. There is no point doing any of this.
2. Of course, you need access to a powerful engine. I know many people won't fit my profile, but there are ways to get your hands on decently powered engines if you know how. There are websites that will give you access to their cluster for a small fee. ChessTempo will let you run your lines on the engine cluster for like $3 or $4 a month.

I've found that in many cases where I seem to have a hard time committing a particular course line to memory, it's because it doesn't jive with my playstyle. Sometimes it has nothing to do with playstyle, some lines straight up don't make sense. Authors will very often choose bizarro "engine-approved" lines to put in their courses as a way to differentiate themselves. The good ones will make an attempt to at least explain the ideas behind the lines. The bad ones won't bother. They'll expect you to just memorize. In times like these, don't hesitate to run the lines yourself. You may find better lines, or at least lines that make sense to you. You can mix things up.