This story began with my discovery of the greatest era of music of all time, the classic rock era. The very first “classic rock” music that I remember hearing was The Beach Boys. I came from a somewhat culturally stifled exposure to the “secular” music of mankind, growing up. So, upon hearing The Beach Boys for the first time, I simply could not fathom the pure, raw, jubilant and harmonic energy I was hearing. I believe it was in 1998 or right around the time that I was in 6th grade, and I was up at my grandparents’ cabin in Siren, Wisconsin. I remember our next-door neighbor at the cabin had a cute girl named Jenny that my cousin Josh and I were both chasing after. I think my cousin was more interested in the girl, while I was keen on getting another chance at listening to The Beach Boys on her CD player. At any rate, I remember being instantly fascinated with the sport of surfing and I wanted to know more about it. I remember downloading or looking up a video of the 1966 “The Endless Summer” documentary directly because of having listened to The Beach Boys. It was a revolutionary moment in my cultural expansion as a young boy and that was a very memorable summer for me.       As time wore on to the early 2000’s era when music downloading was only in its infancy, I once upon a time downloaded a Deep Purple song: "Hush" because I had heard about Deep Purple whisperings from my dad. I liked this “Hush” song so much I played it for my dad, asking him if he had heard of this song before as I knew it was from his era and this might trigger an interesting response or memory from him. My Father responded affirmatively. My Dad then proceeded to tell me a story, it was a story about himself; about a Deep Purple concert he had attended when he was younger. He didn't give me too many details and I’m not sure what age he was, or I can't remember all of the details, but he told me about how, somehow; during this concert-which must have been at the Met-he had ended up at the front of the speaker stacks at Deep Purple’s front stage. He told me that he continued to spend the entire show plugging his ears as hard as he could, he said it was the most awful concert he had ever been to in his life. I’m not sure if he couldn’t get away from the speakers or why he allowed himself to be subjugated to such an incessant onslaught of auditory pain, but that’s just what transpired, I guess. He told me that afterward, he was in pain and that his ears were ringing for weeks, and he told me he believed his hearing was noticeably impaired in the months and years that followed.       So naturally, having heard my dad tell this story I was instantly even more fascinated with this powerful band called: Deep Purple. And, if you didn't know or weren't aware, Deep Purple is or was considered at one point: "The Loudest Band in the World", or something to that effect. Of course, I didn't know that at the time and my dad; I’m guessing, also did not know that at the time he attended the Deep Purple concert. So, upon hearing that story as a young man-I think I might have been in junior high school at the time-again, I was intrigued with this mysterious band: Deep Purple, that had ruined my dad’s hearing at one point in his life. Unfortunately, I didn't get too many other details about that show from him at that time, as I could tell he wasn't really too fond of the experience or memory altogether and maybe he was also little embarrassed that I was so interested and fascinated having heard about it. It is really a hilarious memory.  
    Anyway, this story my father had told me really fascinated me as a young man and I knew that- whatever I did; I must remember the name of the band Deep Purple.  
    Music was somewhat difficult to acquire at this time in my young life, unless I wanted to drop $15 for a new CD at Best Buy or perchance find it discounted at Half-Priced Books, Cheapo or the like. This was far too expensive a price to pay simply to explore the music that was out there, now yes, I did have KQRS, but the scope of KQRS, like many modern classic rock radio stations; the playlists are always limited to the five-hundred or so blue-chip hits. So, what I discovered was that used records could be acquired for much cheaper, in fact only $.99 at Goodwill, but Goodwill had limited options. Also, another problem I ran into during this time was that I didn't have a vast mental capacity quite yet built up for what the “good” classic rock era albums were. Bands or artists’ knowledge hadn’t yet really accumulated in up in my head at least not enough for quick album art recall, so it was difficult to know what was good at the time. The particular Goodwill that I frequented the most as a young man was located in Hopkins, MN and it was somewhat dingy, but I loved it. One day I discovered a very used, worn-out white ring around the sleeve of a golden “Deep Purple: Live in Japan” record, which was recorded over three nights in the late summer of 1972. I remember during those days when my classic rock album knowledge wasn’t so good, but I had a crude system of helping me “guess-timate” on what might be a good album. I would tell myself that the closer an album was in year to the late 60’s and early 70’s the better chance it was good. Because I knew, classic rock sort of lost its way and got bombastic in the 1980’s, for better or for worse. At least, this was the rock n’ roll historical narrative I had created in my head at the time. So I checked the date of the Deep Purple album: 1972, not bad. So, I bought that record because this was my chance to experience Deep Purple for myself for the first time.  
    I remember biking home with the record in a plastic bag over the handlebars of my bike and it kept bumping into the bike as I rode home getting even more scuffed up. When I got home, I put the record on my parents Onkyo (ironically also Japanese) turntable and a Genesis sound system, this was a pretty decent sound system. I remember, when I got home, I was all alone in the house, so I really had the opportunity to crank up the volume to air this album out a bit. And when I listened to that album, my life and conception of rock and roll; whatever I thought that was, flipped on its head and changed me, fundamentally as a person. Granted, I had listened to some of Led Zeppelin’s material to be sure, but I had never ever heard a band rock out so fucking hard like this in my life. It was a truly amazing experience. I highly recommend that album to everyone.  
    But what you have to appreciate is that during this time it was somewhat difficult for me to know which albums were "good" and to be sought after. I just happened to hit this one time on the motherlode with this live Deep Purple album. The knowledge was out there, yet difficult to attain for a young, sheltered midwestern Christian boy. So, I spent a lot of my time seeking out records at Goodwill after this experience, where no one could filter the music, I was listening to and naturally I developed a very steeled, rebellious, pretentious and opinionated stance on my right as a human to listen to whatever the heck I wanted to around this time as well. Plus, Goodwill had the added bonus of consistently being populated with lots of interesting people to watch, not to mention lots of fun clothes to try on and just mess around and have fun. I remember one day at Goodwill, I saw these two very particular middle-aged gentlemen, guys I would call “greaseballs”; seedy types who waited at the doors from the warehouse sorting areas, in order to get their greedy hands immediately upon the incoming records from the back sorting warehouse. They took immediate authority over sifting through the records, and it was clear to me that I was going to have to wait to get sloppy seconds after these record campers. I asked myself a question:  
“Who were these music gate-keeping fucks?”  
    Of course, I didn't know how to feel at the time, and I was just sort of annoyed and confused as a young guy. I wanted a chance at checking out the records, but these two guys clearly had the goods staked out for first dibs. At any rate, I watched over their shoulders and made note of the ones that they picked from their fast-paced sorting, trying to remember the album artwork. While they were thumbing through, I even recognized the man carrying sticks on the cover of Led Zeppelin IV and reached out for it in desperation, but one of them instantly blurted out, something to the effect of:  
“Nuh, uh uh.”  
    Or something to that effect and gobbled it up into their stack of collections…It was from that point on I realized how cutthroat this mystic, esoteric knowledge accumulation about music and attaining music was, and I think it made my purpose ever more steeled and resolved from that point forward.  
    I had only begun to scratch the surface of my quest for discovering the depths of the greatest music of all time, classic rock. This quest had another nuance I will now attempt to explain. You see, classic rock is profane music of the secular world. Therefore, it was forbidden to me as a young man, or sometimes it was begrudgingly tolerated. So naturally, this created within me a burning need to rebel. I had to listen to classic rock if it meant shaking the fucking heavens and the earth. For some reason I really felt it necessary to rebel and to rebel hard. And somehow, coupling that with a saga to discover forbidden music, it had now become in the mind of this young man, a somewhat spiritual prerogative to fulfill this discovery quest, some way, somehow.  
    Why am I writing all of this? I guess I was bored during the pandemic and put a lot of thought and energy into thinking about this while at work. Music has always been a companion to me during the toughest times in my life, conversely music has also consistently been a celebration of exuberance and happiness during the good times. The music that existed during the mid-1960’s though the late 1980’s; otherwise known as the classic rock era, has always held a special place in my heart. However, I never could find a playlist that truly encapsulates or effectively represents all of the great music from this era. Most of the classic rock playlists out there were somehow for some reason exclusionary of certain groups, genres and styles for one reason or another. I have spent over a decade working with programs like Pandora and iHeartRadio doing research attempting to compile a comprehensive, inclusive and fully representative playlist, that faithfully showcases the music from the classic rock era. I used Pandora at first because I was lazy. I attempted to use Pandora’s algorithm to build this playlist for me, I spent years attempting to get the algorithm to do what I want, but it never could never be a truly random shuffle among other drawbacks.  
    Fast forward to Summer of 2020, I had finally had enough with Pandora and with the pandemic in full swing, I decided that I had to build this playlist by hand if I wanted to do it right. That meant taking on the herculean task of digging into every single notable band, group, singer-songwriter, “super-group”, ensemble and the like that existed during the years circa 1964-1989. Why those years? Chosen rather quickly and arbitrarily. Also, this task consisted of the inclusion factor, that meant digging expressly deeper into the deepest, darkest lairs of obscurity and obtusity that this musical era had to offer. The pandemic was this playlist’s ultimate inspiration, music was going to get me through this pandemic like it had all the other tough times in my life and I was resolved to utilize my classic rock knowledge over the years to build the best playlist I could. But what does the “Best” mean? To me, it meant a playlist that was as fully representative of this era in music as possible, without superfluous and capricious exclusion of artists, no matter how difficult or esoteric the listening experience may be. This was my formula. Therefore, the term “Rock” is used loosely when defining this playlist; this music certainly “rocks” but not all of it is strictly “Rock ‘N Roll”, however all of it was certainly influenced and indeed inspired by the burgeoning “rock” movement of the 50’s and 60’s. I hope that makes some sense. Also, I was sick of the corporate KQRS DJs of the Twin Cities, who play the same recycled 500 or so hits over and over with no room for pushing those boundaries, as was the original intention of the music to begin with.  
    At any rate, I decided I would use Spotify as the custodian for this playlist, simply because their catalog is the vastest compared to most music platforms, it is free to download and their prices are reasonable for subscriptions. I realize Spotify does have some scummy business practices for paying artists royalties and it’s a shame not to have Joni Mitchell and Neil Young among others on here, but it is what it is, and I had to make this playlist somehow. Just the same, I worked on this playlist almost every single day through the pandemic, researching hundreds of bands while I did it; all from that pristine era of music that had captivated me early on. In years past, I have put tremendous amounts of mental energy into reading up on band biographies and discographies before, but during the pandemic I researched music from that era more exhaustively than I ever have before. I really went at it with everything I had, even purchasing “The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll” to assist me referencing bands not covered much online. I guess this is what my history major B.A. degree brain remnant does for me these days. I’m going to be honest with you, this is not your dad’s or your mom’s classic rock playlist. It took me the entire first year of the pandemic to fill the playlist to Spotify’s 10,000 song threshold, but the playlist was still just a rough blueprint at that point. I spent the following two years honing, polishing, adding and removing songs in order to continue to attempt to make this playlist as representative of the era as possible, with a heavy leaning on “rock”.  
    So, with the pandemic finally coming to a close recently, I am finally beginning to feel confident that this playlist is finally finished after three long years of amazingly illuminating research and lots and lots of listening.  
    Without further elaboration or story time, here it is after three long years of hard work; 10,000 meticulously curated and extensively researched with zero dead or duplicate tracks as Spotify frequently adds and removes music. Consisting of, but not limited to the following genres: Folk, Country, Progressive, Early Metal, NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal), Space Rock, Fusion, British Invasion, New Wave, Punk, Pub, Blues, Psychedelic, Garage, Reggae (just Bob Marley), International, Krautrock, Funk, Soul, Disco, Art-Rock, Experimental, R&B and AOR (Album Oriented Rock) from circa 1964-1989 (dates chosen arbitrarily). This playlist is inclusive of race, gender and nationality. Be aware, this playlist is intended to expand your horizons and challenge your listening experience. Admittedly, this era did generate A LOT of challenging music that pushed the boundaries of numerous musical conventions, that was the point. I recommend putting this playlist on shuffle and just listening, thank you for your time reading all of this, I hope you enjoy listening as much as I have. Below is the link for the playlist, I hope you all will enjoy it:  
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4syEv4GeWCOv9LAQlKzq1K?si=341f43e85dfe4ff8

It was may the 3rd a day we shan't forget soon dearest family. A rainy day indeed, the servants were drenched from head to toe, helping to fetch edward, the family bear, back inside after a most ravenous feast.
Master plootinpants arrived a quarter to the evening. After a quick visit to the bed pan he shared with our party that he had a fine sample of smoking herb. Ho ho hooo. My dear, did we smoke upon its acrid grace. So tender were the buds that I became quite moist myself!
We smoked many a tall pipe that night. Watching the sir esquire play a most enthusiastic tune. It was much fun indeed. That is until Beatrices husband, donning a wig of the finest curls, face powder white, and lips as red as a ripened strawberry let out quite a large spittle on my - dare I say face.
Yes. I was infact spat on - without question. Although this is a controversy, we must keep our heads about us in these dark matters. The young master did in fact react quite strongly. A fire poker did yield much damage to beatrices truest of loves.
Please keep this between only us. But you must send for Randall, the county herbalist, we are in dire need of his servitude.

I've been having an issue with my s5 since the beginning of the year. The issue is that the outer walls are printing separated, which leads to weak, inaccurate, unsightly parts. I've tried talking it through with Ultimaker / FBRC8 support, and nothing we've come up with has helped after months of chasing the issue.
The problem started after I replaced all of the sliding blocks. One of the blocks had completely lost its grip on the print head axle, so it was due. At the same time, I thought it would be a good idea to clean my s5 thoroughly, as it was entering its fourth year of service.
Here is a list of things I've tried to get the printer to run correctly:

• 0. Deep cleaning the entire motion system before replacing the sliding blocks. This included disassembling the print head to clean its components, cleaning the axles and pulleys thoroughly, reassembling and oiling the motion system, all according to the directions in the knowledge base.
• 1. Realigning all axles, checking for axle play, tightening belts, grub screws, and motor mounts per the knowledge base.
• 2. Different filament and printing hotter. I have multiple known-good filaments that print just fine on my other Ultimaker 3 machines. Doesn't matter if it's PLA, ABS, or PETG. Same result.
• 3. Cleaning the filament feeders (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 4. Cleaning the Print Core by hot pulling and then cold pulling until fully clean.
• 5. Swapping to a known-good Print Core from another Ultimaker.
• 6. Realigning all axles, checking for axle play, tightening belts, grub screws, and motor mounts per the knowledge base. Again.
• 7. Trimming the Bowden tubes shorter to eliminate filament play. This resulted in crisper prints, but the issue didn't go away.
• 8. Replacing the short belt loops (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 9. Shimming the X-axis printhead bearing to eliminate play in the bearing (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 10. Going through and carefully torqueing all of the printhead screws to the very light torques specified in the knowledgebase.
• 11. Disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the printhead according to documentation provided by Ultimaker support.
• 12. Made sure that both motors are mounted perfectly level and not tilted (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 13. Downgrading Cura to 4.13.1 to see if the Arachne Engine was glitching.
• 14. Slicing the test file in PrusaSlicer, then editing in the gcode header from Cura, and printing the resulting gcode.
• 15. Cleaning and inspecting the filament feeders for damage. Again (Ultimaker Support suggested).
• 16. Re-calibrating the XY Offset.
• 17. Disassembling the motion system. Realigning all axles, checking for axle play, tightening belts, grub screws, and motor mounts per the knowledge base. Once again.
• 18. Taking the bearings out of the printer frame, cleaning them thoroughly, and repacking them with grease. Two of them had debris that was making them crunch.
• 19. Disassembling and comparing the filament feeder to one that hadn't been disassembled. Turns out I reassembled the filament flow sensor wrong.
• 20. Installing a new X axis bearing into the printhead (Ultimaker Support suggested). Now the wall separation is very well-defined. (Teal test print)

At this point, if you told me that sacrificing a lamb under the blood moon would fix it, I would try it.
I'm running firmware version 7.1.3. I don't plan on upgrading any further, because:

• A. I can't downgrade later if I want to.
• B. The new features and bug fixes don't apply or matter to me since I don't use Digital Factory, have no addons, and don't have an s7.
• C. Local Management Console features were removed in 8.1.0 that I use regularly.

I'm at the stage where I'd be relieved to sell the s5 for parts if I could get most of my money back out of it.
Attached pictures:

• 1. Teal PETG test print from today, 06-05-23.
• 2. Candy Red PLA test print from 05-01-23.
• 3. White PETG test print from 04-13-23.
• 4. Orange ABS print fail from 04-13-23.
• 5 and 6. Examples of what a PETG print failure looks like when I grab the part and twist. It should be rock solid, instead, this happens...

The test print is the Micro All in One 3D Printer Test by Majda107. I used the bone-stock Ultimaker profiles for PLA/PETG/ABS as applicable. I changed two settings: 3 walls, with Z seam in the rear. No other changes. I've shared my project file with Ultimaker Support, and they either didn't print it, or it printed fine for them. I can provide the project file on request.
Any and all guidance is appreciated.
Matt

[US to US] [Sell] [Perfume] $4 US shipping. Smoke free cat friendly home. No minimums. Will be shipped out within a week (usually Mon/closest weekday). I always include freebies, please let me know if you don’t want any. 1mLs ARE DECANTS IN ROLLER BALLS UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED!
Alkemia FS, $10 each (dropper tops):
- Fumé Oud à la Vanille: Tonka, Woodsmoked amber, Bourbon vanilla, Oud
- La Flamme: Rare Spices Steeped in Root Tea, Incense Woods, and Oakmoss
Stereoplasm FS (mLs differ), $8 each:
- Almost a Year (4.5mL): snuffed perique tobacco, dirty wool, cemetery air, death cap, cereus and petrichor.
- FIRE (3mL): Heat, wide-eyes, smoke, power. Stars above, flames around, smoke like grey ink in the hot, black air of a summer night.
Alkemia Samples, $2 each:
- Bohémiens en Voyage: Tabac leaf, Orris Root, Fresh Hay, Amber, Skin Musk, Sugar Cane
Andromedas Curse Samples, $2 each:
- Gryphon: Golden cardamom mane and sandalwood-scented wings.
Area of Effect Samples, $2 each:
- Syndicate (Slink): OIL, PETRICHOR, STONE, LEATHER, GASOLINE, BENZOIN, DARK AMBER, FRANKINCENSE, GINGER, BERGAMOT, BLACK TEA
- Tenpenny Tower (Slink): LEATHER, BOURBON, DARK AMBER, BERGAMOT, TOBACCO, CACTUS BLOSSOM, BLACK PEPPER
BPAL samples, $2 each:
- Danse Macabre (slink): Black cypress with oakmoss, frankincense, oude, and a sliver of toasted hazelnut.
- Tavern of Hell (slink): White gardenia, ambergris bouquet, lavender fougere, orange blossom, melissa, tobacco flower, coriander, ebony wood, ylang ylang, absinthe and aged whiskey.
- Wicked (slink): rich myrrh and jasmine draped in the subtlest rose.
BunnyNoseScents samples, $2 each:
- Obliquity: Spanish moss, Himalayan cedar, black pepper, oakmoss, juniper, bamboo, and cardamom.
Deconstructing Eden 2.5mL samples, $2 each:
- Prince of Travels: Musk and leather, Tsingani spices, dusty tobacco and exotic woods.
Luvmilk 2mL Samples, $2 each:
- Kneady Kitten (at shoulder): Warm sweet bread, melting butter, a base of rich vanilla.
Nui Cobalt Samples, $2 each:
- Skeleton Key (Slink): spiced pipe tobacco, Haitian vetiver, tangerine, honeyed almond, liatrix, and High John the Conqueror root.
Possets Samples, $2 each:
- Zombie (Rev 1) (Slink): A big dose of toasted marshmallow and oude, a bit of burnt stick, and the unmistakable fragrance of the crisp autumn air.
1mL Decants available, $3 each:
- Alkemia, 2022 Arcanum Experiments 1: Marzipan frosted sugar cookies, Crème Brûlée pipe tobacco, Bourbon vanilla
- Alkemia, 2022 Rose Musk Alchemy: A sensual alchemy of pangender musks and fresh hothouse roses.
- Alkemia, Arcanum: Eastern Spices, Aged Patchouli, Sandalwood, Frankincense, Nag Champa, and Dragonsblood
- Alkemia, Book of Shadows: A biblichor of eldritch books - heavy parchment paper, ancient iron oak gall ink, crumbling leather bindings, and wafts of rare incenses.
- Alkemia, The Highwayman: An irresistible mix of gentleman and bad-boy. Riding leathers, dark night air, forest oakmoss scattered across an old dirt road, fine linen lace, a trace of campfire smoke, and a pinch of gunpowder.
- Alkemia, The De Ceylon (Tea) Layering Note
- BPAL, Artificer: Gleaming metal, gear oil, sparking wires, shattered glass, and a blue flicker of arcane power.
- BPAL, Shortbread Diamonds: Ruthlessly minimalist but dense with pleasure: a crumbly dough made with brown sugar and butter, rolled out and slashed into simple “diamond” shapes before baking.
- Death and Floral, Half-hoping to be eaten by a bear: Woody, sweet bare skin; the lingering scent of dry leaves on a cold morning
- Stereoplasm, La Mia Magia!: Velvet carpet, melting beeswax candles, dusty vials of dragon’s blood, gilded rosewood wooden mask, labdanum, crackling electricity, well-worn playing cards.
- Stereoplasm, Mourning Glory: Thick black velvet curtains, bruised Palmarosa leaves, Shanghai spice, wilted white carnations and bible leather
- Stereoplasm The Thirteenth Hour: Powdered henna, black chai tea, saffron, cauldron iron, bleached bone, a broken wax seal, a trapdoor hidden under dry hay

Hello all!
I don’t believe that this will be possible but me and my friends are looking to rent a cabin from July 6th- Aug 24th right in between the two major holidays. We would be looking for a 2 bed 1 bath or even something bigger.
Are price range would be around 1800$ for the 8 weeks. The price can be negotiated but we would prefer to go through Airbnb or possibly a lease.
A little bit about us…. Me and my wife are avid mountain bikers and really enjoy big bear lake. We have two well behaved French bulldogs that love to join us! We would have another couple that occasionally comes up with us on the weekends. And maybe are parents once or twice.
If this interests you please dm me!
Thank you in advance.

This makes the most sense to me.
If you haven't seen "white bear" ( I recommend it) but the basic plot is that a serious criminal is sentenced to the "white bear" park - where criminals have their memories wiped each day and are tormented and hunted by members of the public over and over again as punishment for their crimes.
So when you look at the From town, it feels similar. My feeling is though it's more of a VR park.

• The nightmare creatures have specific rules that you'd give to players who are hunting the characters. Kind of like an asymmetric multiplayer game.
• The nightmare creatures talk as if it's a game.
• the town's surroundings changing and experiences of the characters can be explained if it's a VR game.
• the idea of someone watching them at all times fits with some server admin watching the game play out
• the shared experiences of the tree fallen on the road and the ballerina music box could be simple triggers you'd make the characters experience

The problems with the theory are:

• Apparently it's been going on for 40 or more years? That kind of makes it unrealistic
• The fact that entire families are put into the town makes it seem less likely that it's criminals. Unless it's like a dictatorship where they put political prisoners in the town as punishment and dump their families there too.

I dunno. It's hard to nail down a single theory since there's a lot of conflicting info in the show

It looks like it stops completely. I felt like I was disappointed but still daytime, and I was falling foreward, without a stop. So, curse you brain for putting me in her yard, during the initial crash, so she had been walking for to long.
In the dream it seemed hed already made his decision. I had to do anything. This is a Thoth deck.
So, my friend had a dream where I start seeing white shapes in my dream. The words didn't reach me, but it was a celestial colony and that I walk out and it was Bill Clinton. But I didn't really notice.
That was the same feeling as hearing an intense buzzing noise or just buzzing nonsense on my chest. It was like he didn't prey on me, I am curious about the name of it? The Orrenkaan, is what my higher self and others sad, bearing markings like war paint, and shaped like half-human half-animal beings.
Just thought I'd share as it was a freak- even though she encouraged it. Hello evrybody, A few weeks ago, I decided to wake up. As I grew older.

A strong gust of wind blows past Raya and Kita as they walk beneath the darkening sky. The stars beading the darkened edges, like the inside of a snow globe being covered for storage.
Their attention is shifted to the myst. Kita instinctively tries to deduce where the myst will be coming from, but the brick wall of her knowledge stops her in the process.
"Where's it coming from?" Kita asks Raya.
"It'll blow from the South," Raya answers.
"How do you know that?"
"Thunderstorms often accompany the myst,"
"So the winds suggest a thunderstorm?"
"Sure," Raya responds before pointing to the sky- in the same direction the wind came from.
Kita turns around to look up at dark, distant clouds with strobes of lightning casting menacing, white flashes on the shadowy surface below.
"So you use your eyes?" Kita shrugs, realizing the technique is not all that impressive.
"Sure, but that only works when it's too late. We won't be escaping the myst's path,"
"How do the cities escape it?"
"I'm not certain. A combination of weather analysis and the alignment of the stars,"
Kita's eyebrow raises, "How the hell would the alignment of the stars determine where the myst flows?"
"I'm no observer. I don't understand the ways of the beads in the sky," Raya chuckles.
Kita wouldn't consider herself 'unintelligent' but she knows she's not the brightest flame in the fire. Using the stars to guide the motion of a 'sandstorm' is a truly unintelligent design.
"So how long do we have?" Kita asks.
"Not long. I see a good place for shelter,"
Raya points ahead of her, at the base of a mountain with a small cave entrance at its base. Small lights radiate from deep inside the cave as the surrounding fog of the impending myst slowly starts to limit their vision.
"Ah, I'd love to camp in a cave with strangers all around me," Kita sighs, and Raya just laughs- Thinking Kita's joking, but she wasn't.
No, those people are probably poor and smelly. Ugh, she'd rather sleep in the myst than deal with the pungent smell her mind is imagining much too vividly.
"Can't we just camp out here," Kita groans.
"Are you worried they'll steal the coin you no longer have?" Raya's sarcasm has Kita rolling her eyes.
"Not all of us had servants to bring beautiful men and women to the bedroom in our castle, your Heiness,"
Raya chuckles, "Our tipi isn't strong enough. The myst is quite forceful,"
"Have you ever seen anyone get consumed by the myst?" Kita finds herself curious about watching someone die in such a horrific way. Maybe she could cast a spell that does something similar.
"I have," Raya responds, to Kita's surprise. "It's quite gruesome,"
"Oh yeah? Was it a friend of yours? Family maybe?" Kita chuckles, "Some of your citizens?"
"No…"
"Who then?"
"You," Raya responds, passing a smug smile to Kita.
"Seriously?" Kita asks in awe.
"Indeed," Raya responds. "I couldn't get to you in time, but when the myst passed. I found your… mangled body in the dirt,"
"How'd I get caught in it?"
"You didn't want to sleep in a cave with people 'lesser' than yourself, and opted to challenge the myst,"
"Haha, very funny," Kita replies, thinking Raya is messing with her.
"That's the true story," Raya chuckles.
"Huh…" Kita grunts, surprisingly unsurprised that she'd have done something so stupid. "What'd it do to me?"
"It melted away most of your skin and muscle. So much of it had deteriorated by the morning, I could see the beat of your heart through the gaps in your ribcage. Your body used over three hundred souls to stay alive throughout a single night,"
"Woah, that's pretty gross," Kita chuckles.
"It was," Raya laughs.
Ahead of Kita, the cave entrance peaks at the same size as one of those villain office doors. It tunnels deep into the cave. The walls tighten as they travel further in, following with light as they shuffle sideways through the cracks.
As Kita pokes her head out the final portion of the slender hallway. She stumbles out into a gargantuan sight. From her elevated position, she witnesses the largest cave she's ever seen- as far as she knows. Much wider than the canyon, an entire city expands amongst an isolated biome of glowing rivers and tipis scattered amongst this seemingly subsurface world.
At the cave's ceiling, dozens of large, circular tents hang suspended on chains as though they're the eggs of some gargantuan beast. All interconnected with walkways. Their only connection to the ground are long, steel wires that lead up to platforms amongst the orb-shaped homes. She can see a figure in the distance, smaller than the tip of her finger, scaling up one of these wires rapidly. With some sort of connection at their waist.
"This isn't as small as you made it seem," Kita responds. Staring into the naturally illuminated glows of purple and sapphire, coupled with the accenting glow of orange lights scattered in homes and pathways throughout the city.
"It's grown a lot since I was last here," Raya says, with an expression as perplexed as Kita's.
"When was that?" Kita chuckles," When they'd just found it?"
"... Yeah," Raya stammers.
Kita raises both her eyebrows as she whistles in shock, "Alright then, Grandma,"
Raya chuckles, rolling her eyes to look at Kita, "You're older than I am,"
At the far end of the city, a large stairway leads up to a marketplace, occupying a low, but large platform of what was probably once a gigantic boulder. With streams of people walking towards it.
"Food," Kita commands, seeing the marketplace.
"I'll set up the tipi," Rays adds. "Bring something back for me,"
"Where you thinking of setting up?"
"Over there," Raya points at a lesser occupied part of the common area. Beside the glowing lake.
"Alright," Kita nods, then heads down the pathway that leads to the marketplace.
•°•°•°•
Kita slouches over as she makes it up the last step to the marketplace, huffing heavily thanks to her poor stamina. When she raises her head she is greeted by an expansive marketplace. Stalls and stands with food and different ornaments on sale, alongside tipi's selling clothes, weapons, and all the goodies Kita could imagine. It'll be tough for Kita not to spend all of this coin.
Maybe I should have been the one to set up the tent.
She slowly walks past the plethora of stalls selling all sorts of useful items- Making her contemplate a future in which she settles down and decorates a really cute tipi with all of this useless crap she could collect. Figurines and hanging sculptures made of polished stone. With glowing liquid from the lake, flowing in all directions through the stone.
And…
Kita steps up to the table of a stall that catches her attention. And gently places her hands on a… bird. A polished dark stone accents with a purple liquid glow, flowing among its spread wings. It's shaped like that obnoxious one she'd met.
Rayn.
"Many dream of soaring the skies," Says a young, dark-skinned man with short white dreadlocks. He has an amalgamation of turquoise and white robes draped across his body.
"I'm not the dreaming type," Kita responds.
"You gaze at this piece with the eyes of one," He smiles.
"Did you make it?" She asks.
"I did," He nods.
She lifts the piece closer to her face. Casting a soft purple light into her nose as she watches this liquid flow amongst the fine details and patterns of the sculptures.
"What is that stuff?" She asks. "It flows thicker than water,"
"Most believe it stems from the depths of the cave," He lifts a larger one of his sculptures. "It does hydrate us. Some believe it does more,"
"More being…"
"We call it, Vhifet. The next life source. We see it as our world's message to us. One of future abundance. A world better than the one of the old humans. If one is to drink Vhifet, their soul will rejoin our world when the time is right, and they will be chosen to experience the era of Vhifet."
"Hmm," Kita mumbles, in an interested way. "The last thing I would want is to come back here,"
"You're not of faith?" He asks.
"The way of gods is not my concern," She responds.
"I do not mean faith in god. Do you have faith in a good future?"
"I'm not so sure I'll have one," She drops her eye contact. Taken aback by the numbness of her missing soul. Incompleteness trickles through her like an itch she cannot reach. "All that exists is now,"
"Yes, but you are not designed to only perceive now. You need not work for your future but you must believe in it,"
Kita glances up at the guy. He's got a way with words. If Kita was any more downtrodden, she'd have been converted right on the spot. Drinking the slime water and whatever other weird ritual they probably have to get a taste of that faith. But, no faith will get her soul back. To her knowledge, most faiths require their participants to have souls anyway. She's not exactly suited for the lifestyle. The religious system is rigged against the soulless.
"How much for this?" Kita asks, holding up the little Rayn statue. Trying to ignore the idiotic ramblings of her mind.
"Twenty-one coin," He smiles.
"Is a meal included? She asks, raising an eyebrow at the price.
The man laughs, raising his hand to his chest as his head leans back. "Since we had a lovely conversation, I can give it to you for Fifteen,"
Kita chuckles at the man's animated behaviour. "Alright, Fifteen it is,"
She swings her backpack around to her front and reaches in to grab some coin out of a pouch.
"Here you go," She says, taking her hand out from the bag and reaching out to him with fifteen coin in her hand. "Fifteen coin,"
The man reaches his hand out to collect the coin. And in doing so, his fingers collide with Kita's. Inducing a sudden lapse in Kita's vision. She can't see anything, or even feel her body anymore.
There is only darkness.
^{AUTHOR'S NOTES
Read ahead on RoyalRoad [https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68702/soul-stealer-anti-hero-reincarnation-fantasy](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/68702/soul-stealer-anti-hero-reincarnation-fantasy})
^{Kita's thoughts - Post Chapter 14
"B-I-R-D,"}

Hi, I have some stuff going on that I really don't know who to turn to. So a little background. As of the last few months what was once far and few between has been happening way more and randomly. I had spiritual encounters as a kid and didn't really understand them. I can see inside my mind like pictures of places, things or people. Some I know as those that have passed on and they leave me "messages" for those around me. I used to be able to ignore them but as of recent something changed.
I used to have this dream about a white church, everything was completely blank and people used to kind of float by me going into one of two doors on either side of the front of the church. I was never allowed to go beyond the middle seating and a woman in white used to sit and talk to me. She would tell me things about the spiritual realm and how they worked and as I got older the information became useful when these visions and messages would come to pass.
Flash forward to now, for the last year I randomly keep hearing the sound of under water noises. I ignored it until I couldn't anymore and kept hearing the phrases, the water is the start and that this is the door to the next step. It kind of creeped me out so I avoided it but the noise kept coming and eventually things changed. Now I get messages more frequently and from multiple spirits at a time. Sometimes it feels like whatever was over me that kept them from seeing me clearly is pulled away and then put back on. I get headaches and can feel all these energies around me. Cemeteries are just a no go at this point.
Honestly I just want to know what the water sound means and what is going on. I've also been having a dream about a lake that I can stand on, the water sounds get much louder there. I always seem to meet people or see places that I am not familiar with. That and there is a forest just near by where in the tree line there are shadow people but they are held back from entering the beach where the lake is. I'm just confused and would love some insight if anyone has any. Thank you in advance.

This case has already been covered, but I felt the write-up was a bit bareboned and could’ve gone further in depth. That write-up was around 500 words, my one has over 1800 words. I have linked their original reddit post, and I recommend you check it out, as they covered this case first.
https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/dipz9h/karen_louise_wilson_missing_from_albany_ny_since/
Karen Louise Wilson was born on February 10th, 1963, to Taylor and Jennie Wilson. She was a popular student in high school and a cheer leader. She was then a full-time senior political science major at the State University of New York and an unpaid, full-time intern for state Assemblyman Samuel Coleman. She aspired to have a career in the foreign service.
On Wednesday the 27th of March 1985, the 22 year old vanished without a trace.
THE TIMELINE:
On the 27th, Karen went to the Colonie Center and bought a red t-shirt and a blue t-shirt to take with her on an upcoming spring break trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She may have also gotten a tan at the Tanning Hut; she had booked an appointment that day but no one at the tanning salon could remember seeing her.
She was last seen in the 1600 block of Central Avenue in Colonie, New York at approximately 7:20 pm. She also called her roommate around this time, and said she was on her way home for dinner.
It was initially believed that Karen got on a bus near the Butcher Block restaurant on Central Avenue and took it to Fuller Avenue, but it was later determined that she couldn’t have gotten on the bus and probably walked instead. 3 credible witnesses would later tell authorities that they had seen her on Fuller Avenue shortly afterwards.
THE LAST 3 SIGHTINGS:
SIGHTING 1: The first witness told authorities that she saw Karen traveling southbound on Fuller Rd after she turned from Central Ave at 8:15pm.
She stated that as she approached a gas station on her left (believed to be the Workingman’s Friend Gas Station), she passed a very slow-moving vehicle, also traveling southbound. She could not recall any specifics of the vehicle's description, except that the driver was a white male in his forties with an intent look on his face. The male had a beard, brown hair with a reddish tint, and a long nose and face.
The witness then saw a female believed to be Karen, walking near a guide rail along the west side of Fuller Road near Sysco Food. By the time the witness reached Fuller Rd at Railroad Ave, she had already driven past the female.
SIGHTING 2: The second witness saw someone they believed to be Karen on the west side of Fuller Road. This was between 8:10pm - 8:15pm.
She stated that the female was walking south of the entrance of Six Mile Waterworks (also known as Rensselaer Lake) near the construction road leading west off Fuller Road. This area is located just north of the I-90 underpass. The female was walking on the grassy portion of the sidewalk, with her head down.
A smaller person of unknown sex was walking along the female’s right side "almost shoulder to shoulder" seemingly urging her up an embankment or incline into the Six Mile area. The smaller person was described as between 5'5 - 5'8 (165-172cm), and between 120-140lbs (54-64kg). When the female turned her head to the left, the witness thought she appeared nervous.
The witness also described a white male following 50 to 100 feet behind the two subjects. He was walking at a steady pace, not seeming to be gaining on the two. He was described as about 5'11 (180cm) with a slim build, in his early 20's, wearing dark pants and a waist length jacket which may have been beige. He had light colored hair (gold to red), and a beard or some other type of facial hair. The couple then returned to the sidewalk and began walking in a normal manner southbound on Fuller Road.
After the witness stopped at the red light at the I-90 ramp, and then continued southbound, she saw the couple past the dirt construction road on the right, just out from the I90 underpass.
She also stated that she saw a stopped or disabled small unoccupied black vehicle at Fuller Rd at Washington Ave Ext. The vehicle had a New York plate bearing partial plate 239 with unknown letters. The car was sedan style and believed to be about five years old. The driver's window was down about 6" and the passenger window was down about 2". She thought this was odd because it looked like it was about to rain. Also noted on the driver's side window was a hole about ¼" in diameter with cracks radiating from it. She thought that it looked like a bullet hole.
SIGHTING 3: The last sighting of Karen was by a third witness at approximately 8:20pm as he left work at the SUNY Albany Campus, and was waiting at the traffic light on Washington Ave and Fuller Rd.
He was waiting for traffic to clear so that he could turn right, proceed north on Fuller Rd and access the I-90 entrance ramp across from the Six Mile entrance. The female was reportedly seen standing on the northwest corner of Fuller Road for about 10 seconds while the witness was waiting for the traffic to clear. He believed that the female appeared to be waiting for the traffic light to change.
When he made the right turn onto Fuller Rd, the witness saw a male crossing Fuller Rd from the west side to the east side, just south of the I-90 underpass. He took a few steps up the driveway where the construction trailers were on the east side of Fuller but seemed to change his mind. He then walked south on the east side of Fuller Rd. The male subject did not appear to be looking towards Karen.
He was described as a white male with "sandy or light brown, messy or curly" hair, with a couple of days growth of facial hair. He was of average height, about 18 - 25 years old, and was wearing a jean (denim?) or aviator type jacket, jeans, a flannel shirt, and high tan construction boots.
As the witness turned right onto the I-90 ramp, he saw a lime green Volkswagen Rabbit (estimated to be a 1981 or 1982) parked along the road. There was no one around the vehicle. This appears to have been the last sighting of her, and she hasn’t been heard from since.
Due to these witness accounts, authorities believe Karen likely walked south on Fuller Avenue towards State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. They concluded she was likely abducted somewhere near Six-mile Waterworks, the entrance ramp to Interstate 90 westbound and the Northway. The night was not well lit, and the road was not heavily traveled, making it possible for someone to pull her into a vehicle within a matter of seconds without leaving witnesses.
DESCRIPTIONS & BELONGINGS:
Karen was a Caucasian female listed at 5’3 (160cm) and 114lbs (51kg) with brown hair and brown eyes.
Investigators were unable to locate the personal belongings she had with her when she disappeared. These included: A gray cloth notebook, a blue nylon wallet with a Velcro closure, a green and white plastic bag from Ups N Down, and possibly a blue knapsack containing a yellow dress.
She was wearing a Cream-colored raincoat, a light blue short-sleeve pullover, faded blue Levi jeans and white sneakers. She also had a 14k gold ring, size 5 ½, with a turquoise zircon in raised setting along with 1/5 carat diamond on each side, a Seiko watch with a black face and gold numerals and white plastic earrings. The ring was approximately 40-50 years old.
Her dental records are available.
SUSPECTS:
1. A strange man was seen in the area around the time Karen vanished. He has never been identified and authorities have sought him for questioning, at least as a witness or possibly even a suspect.
2. Authorities announced that another suspect in the case was killed in an accidental house fire in 2013. He was never able to be conclusively linked to the case, and it’s thought he couldn’t be the perpetrator as he had reported to work at 4:00am, just a few hours after Karen vanished.
(On a personal note, this conclusion makes little sense to me. Karen’s last confirmed sighting was at around 7:20 pm, leaving nearly 9 hours in between her last known sighting and the time he clocked in to work. The last witness reported seeing her at 8:20pm which still leaves slightly under 8 hours.)
3. Authorities investigated the possibility that convicted murderer and suspected child-serial killer Lewis Lent Jr may have been involved in Karen's disappearance, but determined it was unlikely since Lent's previous victims were all children. He has not been ruled out.
THEORIES:
1. Police did investigate the possibility that Karen traveled to Florida after her disappearance as she had planned but found no evidence that she had ever left New York.
2. Her case has possible links to Suzanne Lyall’s abduction. Both were young, dark haired SUNY students abducted in the same manner. Authorities have investigated a possible link between the two. Both cases are unsolved.
The general consensus is that Karen was abducted and murdered.
PERSONAL THEORIES:
1. Due to Unresolved Mysteries not letting me add photos to this write-up I am unable to provide a sketch of the strange man seen in the area at the time. However, he has an uncanny resemblance to convicted serial killer John Bittrolff. It might be possible he is linked to the case, but this is simply an observation.
2. 2 young women were found murdered and floating in the river close to where Karen disappeared at the same time she vanished. It might be possible that the cases were linked.
CONCLUSION:
During the first year after her disappearance, Karen's family, who now live out-of-state, mailed thousands of letters pleading for information and advertising their $10,000 reward for new details about her disappearance. They have now given up hope of their daughter coming back alive, and simply want to find her body, so they can give her a proper burial and finally know what happened to their daughter.
I don’t have much hope of a conclusion for this case any time soon. It seems clear she was abducted and murdered, and without a body there is no evidence that could lead to anything. Unless her body is found, or someone comes forward, I see this case being unsolved for years to come.
Karen Louise Wilson has been missing for 38 years. If she is still alive, she would be 60 years old.
If you have any information about Karen's disappearance, please contact New York State Police at 518-783-3212.
SOURCES:
https://oag.ca.gov/missing/person/karen-l-wilson
https://www.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/family-pleads-for-details-in-1985-disappearance-of-their-daughtearticle_36801912-fb94-5152-894d-fd9de58c0502.html
https://www.timesunion.com/7dayarchive/article/Cold-Case-UAlbany-student-still-missing-after-32-11820083.php
https://troopers.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2021/03/karen-wilson.pdf
https://troopers.ny.gov/missing-wilson-karen-louise
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/5695/details
https://charleyproject.org/case/karen-louise-wilson
https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Karen_Wilson

Was out today at the 18th Ave Trailhead/Bonneville Shoreline Trail next to the Morris Reservoir and saw a small, white dog that looked like a terrier-mix with short hair. The dog wore a reddish collar with no tags. I tried to approach but the dog didn’t let me. Came across another hiker who said she tried approaching the dog with no success and was on her second attempt to bring the dog some water. The hiker told me the dog has been out on the trail alone for a few hours already.
I made a report to Salt Lake County Animal Services and they said they already had a couple of phone calls about the dog and would be out there to try to help it. If you were out in the area around the greater Avenues or even below at City Creek Canyon Trail and lost your little white dog then this might be yours.

I went on a trip to Des Moines this weekend and holy crap the billboards get ridiculous in some areas. I was seeing ten Kris Lindahl billboards for every one Jesus or anti-abortion billboard. Sometimes you’d see two or three Kris billboards in a row. It’s just a blight on the landscape.
Can we just get rid of all these eyesores? Advertising and consumerism is just shoved in our faces at every level of life. It’s so dystopian looking. Also if Jesus were here, he probably wouldn’t like his face plastered everywhere and Republicans would reject him for having the audacity to care about the poor, sick, and hungry: Something something socialism something something.
I know this isn’t a huge issue, but I figure it would be good to address it at some point. MN has been kicking ass so far: the first state to codify abortion rights after Roe v. Wade, voting rights for felons, protections for LGBTQ individuals, free lunch for school kids, a transportation bill, a climate bill, legal weed, tax rebate checks, etc.
With less than 2% of the US population, living here feels like being in an exclusive club lol. Minnesota is showing what a 21st century America should really look like. I’m a cisgender, straight white man, so I’m not in a marginalized group, but it feels awesome to live in a place that gives a damn about all human beings. Minnesota is truly the Star of the North. ⭐️💙

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Coco - GP	$2
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Doctor Strange - Vu	$3
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Santa Clause 2 - GP	$3
Santa Clause 3 - MA	$4.50
Santa Clause 3 - GP	$3
Saving Mr. Banks - MA	$4
Saving Mr. Banks - GP	$3
Sleeping Beauty - MA	$4
Sleeping Beauty - GP	$3
Snow White - GP	$4
Soul - MA	$3
Soul - GP	$2
Spies in Disguise - GP	$2
Star Wars Last Jedi - GP	$2
Star Wars: Force Awakens - MA	$3
Star Wars: Force Awakens - GP	$2
Star Wars: Last Jedi - MA	$3
Star Wars: Last Jedi - GP	$2
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - MA	$4
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - GP	$3
Star Wars: Rogue One - MA	$3
Star Wars: Rogue One - GP	$2
Strange World - GP	$3
Super Buddies - MA	$3
Super Buddies - GP	$2
Sword in the Stone - MA	$5
Tangled - MA	$5
Tangled - GP	$4.50
Thor: Dark World, The - MA	$3
Thor: Dark World, The - GP	$2
Thor: Love & Thunder - MA	$4
Thor: Love & Thunder - GP	$3
Thor: Ragnarok - MA	$3
Thor: Ragnarok - GP	$2
Tomorrowland - MA	$3
Tomorrowland - GP	$2
Toy Story 3 - GP	$3
Toy Story 4 - GP	$3
Toy Story: That Time Forgot - MA	$5
Toy Story: That Time Forgot - GP	$4.50
Turning Red - GP	$3
West Side Story - Vu	$2
West Side Story - GP	$1.50
Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo - MA	$4.50
Zootopia - MA	$4
Zootopia - GP	$3

HD

Title	Price
13 Hours Secret Soldiers - Vu	$2
A Madea Christmas - Vu	$1.50
A Quiet Place - Vu or iT	$3
Boss Baby - Vu	$2
Bourne Legacy - MA or iT	$0.75
Bring it on World CheerSmack - MA or iT	$0.50
Croods - MA or iT	$3
Deadpool - MA	$1.50
Despicable Me 2 - MA	$2
How The Grinch Stole Christmas - MA	$3
E.T. - Vu or iT	$4
Edward Scissorhands - MA	$3
Emoji Movie - Vu	$2
Extreme Prejudice - Vu or iT	$4.50
Fast & Furious 6 - MA	$2
Fast & the Furious - Vu	$2
Frozen Ground - Vu	$2
Furious 7 - Vu or iT	$3
Fury - MA	$2.50
Heavy Metal 2000 - MA	$6.50
Hell or High Water - Vu	$5
Hitchcock - Vu	$2
House with a Clock in its Walls (2018) - MA	$4
How to Train Your Dragon 2 - MA	$3
Hugo - Vu	$2
Hugo - iT	$2
Independence Day: Resurgence - MA	$2
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - Vu or iT	$2
Jarhead 3: The Siege - MA	$2
Jigsaw - Vu	$3
Jurassic World - Vu	$3
King of Staten Island - MA	$4
Kingsman: Golden Circle - MA	$2
La La Land - Vu	$2
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Vu	$2
Mission Impossible Fallout - iT	$2
Mummy Tomb of the Dragon - MA	$3
Neighbors - iT	$2
Norm of the North - Vu	$2
Now You See Me - Vu	$2
Power Rangers - iT	$2
Resident Evil: Retribution - MA	$5.50
Rogue - Vu	$2
Schindler's List - Vu	$4
Secret Life of Pets - MA or iT	$2
Selma - Vu or iT	$3
Show Dogs (2018) - MA	$3
Sing - MA or iT	$2
Sinister - iT	$2
Snow White & the Huntsman - MA	$1
Split - MA	$3
Star Trek Beyond - Vu or iT	$3
Star Trek: Into Darkness - Vu or iT	$1
Super Troopers 2 - MA	$4
Superfly - MA	$3
Taken 2 - MA	$3
Terminator Dark Fate - Vu or iT	$2
The Bad News Bears (1976) - Vu	$4
The Purge - MA	$3
The Women in Black - MA	$2
TMNT - Vu	$1.50
TMNT Out of the Shadows - iT	$2
Transformers: Age of Extinction - Vu	$1.50
Trolls - MA	$2
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Vu	$1
Tyler Perry's Temptation - Vu	$2
Tyler Perry's Witness Protection - Vu	$1.50
Venom - MA	$3
War for the Planet of the Apes - Vu	$2
Wind River - Vu or iT	$5

SD

Title	Price
21 Jump Street - MA	$1
Adventures of TinTin - Vu or iT	$1
Amazing Spider-Man - MA	$0.50
Annie - MA	$0.75
Concussion - MA	$0.50
Divergent - Vu	$0.50
Equalizer - MA	$1
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra - iT	$1.50
Here Comes The Boom - MA	$1
Hugo - Vu or iT	$0.75
Justin Bieber Never Say Never - iT	$1.50
Miss Bala - MA	$3
Safe - iT	$0.50
Star Trek: Into Darkness - iT	$0.50
Star Trek: Into Darkness - Vu	$0.50
The Last Stand - iT	$0.50
The Last Witch Hunter - Vu	$1
The Smurfs 2 - MA	$1
The Spectacular Now - Vu	$1
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - Vu	$0.50
Warm Bodies - Vu, iT or GP	$0.50
X-Men: Wolverine - iT	$1

Unpacking the Light Police. Light Pollution News.
Show Link: https://lightpollutionnews.com/podcast/unpacking-the-light-police/
Subscribe: Apple Podcast Spotify Google Podcast
Social: Instagram LinkedIn
Guests:
John Barentine of Dark Sky Consulting, LLC.
Kaitlyn Evans, Conservationist.
Show:
I was busted by the light police. They had a point, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post.
Dana Milbank purchased a home in, soon to be not, rural Virginia. At night he kept the formerly vacant property lit to the degree that spurned one commentator to call it “spaceship lighting.”
Milbank recaps being visited by the “light police,” a group of concerned citizens who help educate neighbors and instill a sense of pride in the brilliance of their starry night skies.
At first, he was taken aback, but later, not only did he appreciate their efforts, but he also converted his blinding always on, white light flood lights to warm 2700 Kelvin motion sensing lights.
Per Ruskin Hartley, executive director of the International Dark Sky Association, “for 4.5 billion years there was no artificial light at night. It’s really only in the last five human generations that we transformed that. It’s one of the most profound transformations of our environment.”
Many of you may recall an earlier story, way back in our Hormone of Darkness episode, showcasing concerns by local residents prior to a 760 house (now 761) plus town center development moving into the Culpepper County, VA area. Per the Rappahannock News, this development features “a resort style swimming pool, clubhouse, tot lot, and multiple sports fields and sports courts, all connected by a network of biking and walking trails.”
The forgotten medieval habit of ‘two sleeps’ by Zaria Gorvett of the BBC.
Gorvett opened my eyes to something I never knew about, the medieval custom of two sleeps. For those of you unaware, two sleeps are exactly what it sounds like.
Folks would partake in a communal nap, complete with rigid sleeping arrangement conventions, between 9 – 11pm, then awaken for a few hours to do everything from hang out to brew beer! In fact, the idea of multiple sleeps crossed cultures and was found in places as far from Europe as indigenous South America.
How can one’s circadian rhythm make sense of all of this?!
Well, for starters, until the invention of the alarm clock, which humorously was invented by a clocks salesman so he could wake up and sell more clocks, people had no firm way to wake up at a consistent time. The industrial revolution enforced a new circadian standard.
And there’s some science behind this! In the 1992 study, In Short Photoperiods, human sleep is biphasic, researcher Thomas Wehr found that after four weeks of 10 hour days, his subjects began to engage in this two sleep cycle, involving a one to three hour period for which they became awake and engaged in between.
Want to Learn About Light Pollution? There’s a mini-course for that!, Jennifer Sensiba of Clean Technica.
Quoting Sensiba, “As I got older, I traveled a lot more and saw the problem more for what it is. Not only did I see that in many places there is no refuge from it, but I also saw that it was slowly growing worse. Places that had been dark 30 years ago had more and more light creeping upon the horizon.”
If you’re interested in learning more, or more importantly, know someone who might benefit from learning more, Sensiba links up to an International Dark Sky Mini-Course on light pollution, call it Light Pollution 101!
There’s a Play Date at the National Museum of Natural History: Lights Out exhibit!
But unfortunately, by the time you listen to this, and hell, by the time we talk about this, it has passed.
Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan. Sarah Parlette for Click on Detroit.
Evidently gambling websites have decided to honor April’s International Dark Sky week in a strange new content marketing campaign, which was to rank the best places in each state to see sunrises and sunsets. My favorite one, “Ann Arbor named best place for sunrises, sunsets in Michigan,” comes from Click on Detroit, whereby a quote “study” examined Michigan’s most populated cities.”
According to Click on Detroit, “to celebrate International Astrology Day on Saturday, staff at Great Lake Stakes, a Michigan online gambling news site, looked at light pollution in the five most populated cities around the Mitten state to determine which offers the best views every morning and evening.”
Star bathing is the new outdoor travel trend we should all be trying for Summer 2023, according to Amy Beecham at Stylist.
Evidently, as an attempt to destress and promote mindfulness, romanticism about sleeping under the stars has birthed a 70% increase in searches for the term ‘star bathing’ on Hipcamp. And to be sure, “Hipcamp recommends checking a stargazing calendar which outlines major astrological events – like supermoons, pink moons, and star showers.”
“Industry Must Face an Inconvenient Truth — Most LED Lights at Night are Unhealthy”
Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, a circadian clock expert, recently published an article in LEDs Magazine chastising the lighting industry for not recognizing and reigning in the negative externalities of its products. Per the piece, such effects are, obesity, diabetes, depression, cancer, and more.
He cites three categories of industry responses, making the correlation that long term Denial or outright Ignorance of the Facts, may result in “asbestos-scale liabilities or draconian regulations.”
Per the piece, a recent survey by the Circadian Light Research Center of 2,697 peer reviewed scientific articles confirmed that human circadian clocks are highly sensitive to blue wavelengths, and that exposure to such wavelengths leads to major health disorders.
Moore-Ede calls for the industry to harvest the “commercial opportunity” to greatly limit future liability by creating and managing its own standards for circadian modulated lighting.
Unpacking the Wallpack, by Dan Weissman in LD+A Magazine.
Weissman, who recently purchased a telescope for his family in Cambridge, MA, discovered that the scope could only afford him views of some solar system objects and a few brightly burning stars.
The ire of Weissman’s pen takes the shape of a rectangular fixtures, be it box like or simply a panel these days, that typically hang off the side of an exterior wall or above an exterior door. “Devoid of aesthetic value” this light is often put up under the “pretense of security and safety” by “recommended practices and adopted municipal codes.”
Weissman recognizes labels that often accompany, what he calls, “Glare bombs,” including “contractor-select,” “energy efficient,” or “light pollution friendly.”
Further, per an earlier LD+A article, such lighting driven by its extreme contrasts is exceedingly common in minority communities where light is weaponized as a tool of power. It becomes a “device of alienation, creating a zone of control and separation.”
Weissman recognizes that the true reason such fixtures are selected often comes down to cost. He recognizes that it may take equally as much cost to persuade building and homeowners away from such lighting into the realm of more responsible, lower lumen, shielded lighting.
Weissman calls for producers of these glare bombs to be labeled as polluters, putting them in line with fossil fuel manufacturers and PFAS makers.
Songbirds, dusk and clear skies: Scientists explore migratory flights, by Erin Blakemore.
Bird migration season is ending here in the Mid-Atlantic. I was lucky enough to catch several Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Buntings last week. Researchers looked at 400 songbirds from 9 major species, “including the yellow-rump warbler, American redstart and Bicknell’s thrush.”
The question they hoped to answer was how are these birds so darn precise in identifying the best time to take off for their nightly migration? Scientists found that 90% of the migrating birds in the study took off within 69 minutes of dusk. A “much narrower takeoff window,” that even shocked the research team!
Per the study, taking off at night is all about maximum flight time. In addition to being able to precisely schedule their take offs, a feat that every airline I’ve flown with over the past few years has proven inept at, birds also are apparently good meteorologists! They often depart when the atmospheric pressure rises over a day’s span. Other factors also trigger migration, including sex, age, and celestial cues.
‘Lights Out’ initiative appears to be saving birds from crashing into Philly buildings by Sophia Schmidt.
Preliminary results indicate that bird death counts are down 70% at one Market Street tower, since it began its participation in Lights Out. As we spoke about on a previous show, birds utilize the stars to navigate, but city lights can disorient the birds. Combine the lights with reflective or transparent glass, and that spells fatal trouble for our migrating warblers!
Per Keith Russell, a program manager for urban conservation with Audubon Mid-Atlantic, “We’ve lost almost a third of our birds – and [collisions] contributing to that. If we’re going to want to preserve the bird populations here in North America, we have to look at these types of problems. And this is a preventable one.”
The Knoxville, TN Zoo is offering up what they call “Twilight Tours” per WVLT 8. Each event will feature a guide to showcase nocturnal critters.
I did something similar in Singapore years ago. The zoo had very dim lights in the exhibits – and they kept those lights dim as you walked so that you didn’t lose your night vision. It was a very different and, might I say, peaceful experience than the typically chaotic daytime zoo.
Flashlights posing major threat to nesting sea turtles. Fox35 Orlando
Apparently, a single flashlight can deter female sea turtles from coming onto a beach and nesting. Florida, as I did not know, is home to 90% of the sea turtle nests across the world, so losing sea turtles can affect the global ecosystem.
One visitor to Cocoa Beach stated, “Just leave them alone. Stand back and look. You don’t need a flashlight.”
Another, “It’s not super surprising because more buildings go up, more technology. As it increases, nature and stuff like that decreases,” said Zoe Jovaag, whose grandfather used to take her on walks to see sea turtles.
Capture the Dark 2023 officially is under way!
The International Dark Sky Association opens up its annual photo contest complete with prizes across eight categories and an additional People’s Choice category. Voting begins on July 3rd, entries must be received by June 30th.
City Tests Traffic Light That Only Turns Green for Drivers Who Obey the Speed Limit. Erin Marquis for Jalopnik.
And hey, you better not speed in Brossard, Quebec….otherwise you may be waiting around for a while. Brossard is testing out a new traffic light that will stay red until it senses oncoming traffic. However, it will only change to green if the car is going the speed limit. Per the Jalopnik article, “FRED [the French acronym for “educational traffic calming light] forces fast drivers to stop and gives them a chance to reconsider their life choices.” Such lights are already used in Europe, but this will be the first for the Great White North.
Why the Greatest Threat to Star-Gazing Isn’t Light Pollution, and this comes to us from Dorin Elin Urrutia at Inverse.
Elin Urrutia writes, in her compelling piece, that the greatest threat to star-gazing is actually the weather. Citing notable examples of the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia (which burnt down due to bushfires) and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (which sustained structural damage following the winds of Hurricane Maria).
While the threat of human-caused climate change has presented new challenges, Elin Urrutia references proactive burns that saved Los Angeles’ Mount Wilson Observatory from flames in 2020.
On a similar note, ABC News (the Australian Broadcasting Company, not to be confused with the American Broadcasting Company), brings us “A World Without Darkness Could Be a Reality within a Few Years.”
Per Carol Redford of Astrotourism Western Australia, “There are some people in the world now who don’t actually experience darkness anymore. They’re in a city like Beijing, Toyoko, or London. In all those big cities, it’s never dark, it’s always light. During the day of course with the sun, but then during the night with all of the artificial light. They’re not experiencing darkness, and definitely not seeing those beautiful stars…”
In the 66 years since the implementation of the UN Convention on the Peaceful Use of Outerspace, around 11,000 satellites orbit the Earth. But it’s about to get wayyy busier. Driven by innovations that have led to dramatic reductions in costs, over the next ten years, Per attorney Steven Freeland, it’s anticipated that somewhere between 100,000 to 500,000 objects will be sent up. Let me pause on that for a second.
On the travel front, we stay in the land down under, “Aussie region determined to keep its darkness is a stargazer’s dream” by Chantelle Francis of News.com.AU.
The town of Swam Reach, population 270, resides in a 3200sq km region of Southern Australia that received its International Dark Sky Reserve status over three years ago. On a scale of darkness between 0 – 22, the River Murray Dark Sky Reserve at Swam Reach, measures in at a whopping 21.9!
Tourism has become a growing business. The reserve hosts numerous telescope pads and offers tours of the night sky. There’s hope that an observatory and/or planetarium may also arrive in due course.
Best smart lights for outdoors in 2023, Brittney Vincent of CBS Essentials.
Oh there’s a lot not to love here, but it does fall in line with last month’s ‘Lumens are Coming’ article.
For those of you who feel the need to light your trees, because for some reason they need light at night I guess…I’ll try and pretend it’s not solely for ostentatious and narcissistic reasons. By the way, does anyone remember when those were negative characteristics?
The article features spotlights that can be programmed to over 16 MILLION colors including…lucky for us, ALL shades of white….which you can also do for a 500 lumen flood light set.
And hey, Ring now has solar path lighting. Don’t worry though, the fixtures themselves put out up to 80 lumens of sideways light.
You know, it’s astounding when you look at some of these pictures. The amount of redundant lighting. It honestly makes no sense to me. You have a porch light, which lights up the path. Path lighting, which lights up the path. And, in the one picture, god awful frontward facing flood lights, which also light up the path. How bright do you need these paths!? I digress. But the lumens are indeed coming.
LDS Church will get to light up its Heber Valley Temple after all, but the faith didn’t get everything it wanted, Blake Apgar of the Salt Lake Tribune.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fought hard to rid itself of any nighttime lighting responsibility by pressuring Wasatch County, Utah officials to approve new lighting rules that would enable the church to light a proposed new temple the same way it does for every other temple.
The Church received permission to uplight the temple, enabling an exception to be made in Wasatch’s rather stringent nighttime lighting rulebook. However, the temple will be restricted by the level of lumens it can use, and it must have exterior lighting turned off an hour after sunset or an hour after normal business hours.
Smart Street Lights Market is Expected to Hit USD 14,751.1 million at a 23.4% CAGR by 2030, Market Research Future Press Release
The pandemic is officially over, smart street lighting is about to boom. Combine the rush to LED fixtures with the Internet of Things, and expect to see street lights moonlighting as traffic and parking monitors, air quality meters, and more. Not to mention, “it is anticipated that camera-connected smart street lighting will increase road safety by lowering the likelihood of accidents and criminality.”
Texas now has 7 dark sky communities for spectacular star gazing, Sana Ameer, MRT.
Let’s cheer on the city of Bee Cave, everyone! Bee Cave joins a growing list of dark sky places already in the Lone Star State, including 2 Dark Sky Sanctuaries, 5 Dark Sky Parks, and 1 Dark Sky Reserve. Nighttime is alive and well in some parts of Texas!
Our Afraid of the Dark article is a bit scary! Hilton Head’s dark roads and pedestrians are deadly combo. What the town is doing about it, Blake Douglas at The Island Packet.
Per the article, 9 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occurred since 2018, with five occurring after dark. Prior to that period, there were 28 recorded deaths from 2000 – 2016, with 20 of them taking place after dark.
In 2018, an 11 year old resident was struck and killed while walking her dog across an intersection one night. Lighting advocates began taking shape in what otherwise is a very conservation focused island. Hilton Head, SC has a limited number of street lights, priding itself on “avoiding light pollution and blending nature with construction.”
Lighting advocates appear to be, at the very least, asking for flashing crosswalk lights on the island to indicate when an individual is crossing.
It should be noted that the article shows a chart of 9 after-dark-deaths since 2014, only two of them occurred at crosswalks. In fact, during the same time frame, 6 additional deaths occurred at crosswalks during the daytime.
As a whole, the National Safety Council reports that 74.5% of pedestrian deaths occurred at night, whereby 39.1% took place in lit areas and 35.38% took place in unlit areas.
Bryan Bloch, an auto safety expert, surmises that car companies bear some of the blame – producing cheap or ineffectual headlight fixtures, and drivers themselves, who don’t realize that they need to regularly clean their headlight lenses.
Despite opposition from residents, it appears that Hilton Head will be receiving lights at two new intersections and possibly more depending on engineering studies currently in progress.
Is lighting the key variable here? Is more light going to solve pedestrian deaths?
Our featured research article of the month comes to us from Animal Conservation, “Manipulating spectra of artificial light affects movement patterns of bats along ecological corridors.”
Bats are already known to have a wide range of responses to artificial light at night (also known as ALAN). Fast flying species tend to be more opportunistic in the presence of ALAN while slower ones tend to be more light averse. We know that “long wavelengths and reduced intensity” can minimize their environmental effects on bats. It’s not unheard of for bats to travel upwards of “tens of km per night.” Furthermore, bats are very dependent on the landscape and the structures within those landscapes.
Despite the nuances between species, the consensus is that ALAN, especially high intensity ALAN, negatively affects bats. This study attempted to answer what exactly bats do when they encounter ALAN – how do they react depending on different types of ALAN.
The study used three different light fixtures – one green, one red, and one white. The control was devoid of light fixtures. The researchers attempted to ascertain the behavior of bats as they encountered lights adjacent to woody areas. The researchers looked at three different bat groupings based on their foraging-echo location behavior, that being one of open field foraging, forest edge foraging, and narrow space – or more aptly forest foragers.
Researchers found that open and edge foraging bats increased their activity close to white and green lights, and to a lesser extent red lights. However, narrow space bats were more likely to veer away from all colors of lighting. Edge foragers were also less likely to cross a white light.
The positive effects of white and green light on open and edge foraging bats appear to be attributed to the accumulation of insects around light sources containing more blue light.
The nighttime sky over Oahu will be lit up with green lasers in the coming days. Here’s why. Hawaii News Now
Before we close up today, do you live in Hawaii? I know I wish I did!
If so, do you recall seeing green lasers streak across the night sky? Well, the Army Corps of Engineers was using lidar at night to complete a coastal mapping survey.
Why did they survey at night? Specifically, why did they do this between midnight to 5am? Simply b/c the airspace is so busy, that time was the only chance they had to complete the survey. The remaining survey was completed during daytime hours.