"I am only 5 months in, I can still improve (even though I havent changed a bit since my injury)" "Its just inflammation, I can recover" "It will happen, dont worry". Most people probably remember this phrases from the earlier stages of their injury, before they settled into a new normal.
For me is that the stubborn side of me still believes I can revive my old self. Not only it is outright wrong, since I have yet to see signs of the fog clearing, but also pointless as it pushes avoidance mechanisms that remind me of how dumb I am (like studying and the like). I hate the "n-eww normal" but you cant ignore real life.
I just wish my brain would shut up and accept the reality already. That way I either lower my expectations for life and suck it up or kill myself, which most think of "wrong but at least I wont be clinging to a person who has died anymore.

Setting the stage for context (read if you wish):
I'm a recreational player playing 4 to 5 times weekly. The facility I play at has a good community of varying skill sets. If the community has players ranked D through A, I'm somewhat between B2 and A3. The community has an active ladder which I played in previously for several months; lately, I've been content to rotate through a group of about 10 friends who are either a level or two above me or a level or two below me.
Question:
During friendlies, I often get the upper hand with my serve - occasionally going on a run of several (or more) unanswered points. Is it bad form to continue to serve hard when the opponent seems to have no answer or at best, plays a loose shot on their service return leading to a clear winner? Instead, should I lighten up on my service approach?
TL/DR:
Is it unsporting to dominate a friendly game on service alone?

Hi :) first time glasto and festival goer here! I am going with my boyfriend just the two of us and we are really stuck where to camp.
Bit of background info- we like a late night, most interested in the following stages/areas late at night (glade, icon, San remo, no where, Arcadia areas and a lot of SE corner).
We are really stuck on where we’d like to camp and if anyone could help me weigh up some positives and negatives of each camp from personal experience that would be great (yes I’ve read all of the articles!!! I’m still undecided haha)
I want to aim for Gate D and will be driving through the night on Wednesday to get there early before gates open (around 5-6am?)
We have our eyes on the following… Pennards, oxylers, dairy ground, paines ground, park home ground). If you can all give me some positives and past experience or what you’d recommend for me that would be great. I thought this would be a nice thread for people to reflect on past experience too!
Please be nice 🤪

This builds on Complete Guide to installing AnyCubic Vyper CE firmware edition by Additional-Classic-7, many thanks for his initial work! It's just a bit more structured and contains some more troubleshooting. Originally posted here.
If you follow the steps closely it really isn't complicated and it will very likely result in a better printing experience and results. Despite this, things can go wrong, and you might brick your printer, please be aware of the risks. If your touchpad stops working don't panic and scroll down to the troubleshooting section, it should be easily fixable.
Troubleshooting tips are in their own section, referenced by footnotes. Make sure to read it all at least once before starting the process, or you risk skipping important steps (such as calibrating the LCD while still in the LCD flashing screen).
Preparation

1. Download LCD CE Firmware 6.1d, extract its contents to your hard drive.
2. Download Mainboard (MB) CE Firmware 6.1d, extract its contents to your hard drive.
3. Prepare a max. 8GB¹ SD card by formatting it with FAT32, Allocation Unit Size 4096 bytes.
4. Prepare a max. 8GB¹ microSD card by formatting it with FAT32, Allocation Unit Size 4096 bytes.
5. From the extracted MB firmware archive, copy the file main_board_20220326-113231.bin directly to the SD card, not into any folder.
6. From the extracted LCD firmware archive, copy the folder DWIN_SET directly to the microSD card.
7. Make sure the printer is powered off before you begin.

Flashing the LCD and Calibrating the Touchscreen

1. Insert the microSD card into the slot at the bottom side of the LCD, contacts facing up. You might need some small tool (hex key) to push it in all the way.²
2. Power on the printer, there will be a blue screen informing you about the flashing progress. When the second line reads "SD Card Process... END !" and the numbers behind the files are not all "000", it should be good.³ DO NOT TURN OFF THE PRINTER AT THIS POINT!
3. Now, while still in the blue flashing screen tap your finger clockwise on all four corners of the touchscreen, beginning with top left - top right - bottom right - bottom left, this is the mandatory touchscreen calibration. Little pixels will light up roughly where you touched.⁶
4. Power off the printer and remove the microSD card.

Flashing the MB

1. Insert the SD card into the printer card slot.
2. Power on the printer.
3. After the flashing is complete,⁴ give it a minute until there are no more beeps.
4. Tap Setup > Reset to factory defaults.⁶
5. Power off the printer, and you're ready for the initial printer setup and calibration!⁵

Tips/Troubleshooting
¹ If you only have a >8GB SD and/or microSD card, you can use Windows Disk Management (or any partitioning tool really) to delete the existing partition(s) on the card and create a single partition with 8192MB, then format it in FAT32 with Allocation Unit Size 4096 bytes.
² If your microSD card gets lost inside the LCD case (no idea who this would happen to.. .....), you can use a hex key to get the two case screws open, then press the two long sides of the bottom part of the case and lift the upper part to open the case. Works better when it's unplugged from the printer.
³ If the numbers read "000" nothing got flashed, and you might want to try a different microSD card or simply try again.
⁴ Flashing the MB should take only a couple of seconds. If something isn't right it will tell you that "flashing takes longer than usual..", in this case turn off the printer and go through the MB preparation steps again, making sure the partition isn't larger than 8GB and the alloc unit size is 4096 bytes. If you can't get it to flash you might need a different SD card. The 4GB one that came with the printer worked for me.
⁵ In my case the automatic bed leveling was very tight and I had to set the Z-Offset to 0.1. It also makes sense to do a quick e-step calibration, as for me the default value was slightly off.
⁶ Advanced Troubleshooting: Forcing Touchscreen Recalibration
If you forget to calibrate the touchscreen after flashing and subsequent flashes don't let you calibrate the touchscreen, or if for whatever reason touch input doesn't get registered at any stage, your touchscreen is very likely NOT dead and can be saved with a little effort (kudos to ica5020). This also comes in handy if your calibration is off and you simply wish to re-calibrate:

1. Download the modified T5LCFG.CFG. Flashing it to your LCD will force calibration.
2. Format your max. 8GB microSD the same way as described above.
3. Create an empty folder named DWIN_SET on your microSD card.
4. Copy the downloaded T5LCFG.CFG to the empty DWIN_SET folder on your microSD card.
5. Put it in the LCD card slot, power on the printer, wait until the flashing is complete, and calibrate the touchscreen as described above.
6. Power off your printer, then repeat the whole flashing process (LCD and MB, or only LCD in case you just wanted to recalibrate the touchscreen and your MB firmware is already flashed) exactly as described above (including another calibration after the CE LCD firmware has been re-flashed).

Addendum: Reverting to Original Firmware
In case you want to switch back to the original firmware, you can follow the basic process for LCD and MB described above, but with the original firmware files. You can find them here.
Addendum 2: Other Custom Firmware
There's at least one other custom firmware that might be worth checking out, by Zombiej79. Haven't tried it myself, but he offers a couple of slicer profiles as well.

I am curious about both the theory of house music and how its constructed, its orchestration and arrangement. Does anyone have a deep house/techno or other EDM playlist that can help me understand it? This isn't a full theory question, but theory is definitely part of it. I don't know where else to ask about the musical building blocks of a genre including the theory. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I can pick up my instruments and play music but I know very little about making music.
I live a few blocks away from an awesome 14,000 seat venue. so I've been going to all the shows anyway. Last season they started hosting some EDM artists and these are the first EDM shows I have ever been to.
Last night Lane 8 played with a pretty big undercard. I was curious if anyone could tell me what I am hearing and watching when I see an EDM artist "play" music. Like in the context of how I play and record music at home for fun (which I have no idea is right or wrong. I just do it because I futzed with Reaper and Ableton long enough to just learn how to play and record stuff.)
When I make an "EDM" track I do it the only way I know how which is to record short pieces, say 2 to 4...sometimes 8 measures on a short scale 4 string bass guitar. Then on a semi hollow guitar...usually chord progressions and variations of the progression with a certain tone. Then I'll play some fills and short melody sections on my other guitar with a different tone. I usually play some versions of the harmonies a three octave midi controller thing I have too. Just moving between the chords each measure and taking a synth tone from Ableton and adding it. And then usually I use just a drum rack in Ableton since it's not easy to mic an acoustic kit well. Then I just lay different pieces of melody over different pieces of harmony and rhythm in the envelopes...record the arrangement with effects and a mastering mix and then send them to my friends for hahas (they often include quantized recordings of my cats funny meowing...because well, that's funny and who doesnt love cat sounds in EDM?) Like essentially this is just a chopped up version of how I record any other type of music. Like I would play the intro, verse, chorus, bridge, outro on all the different instruments and mix them together.
When I watch an EDM artist "play" Ableton live...it's hard to tell what they are doing. Like they kinda bounce around and spin a knob here and another one there. And put on their studio monitors somewhat dramatically...and then for a build/drop they wave their hands around. But are they actually adding and taking individual melody and harmony pieces and laying them in live? Like arranging the envelopes from their pre recorded tracks, the same way I would arrange an EDM song with 2 to measure sections? Like I've seen Justin Vernon/Bon Iver play and he will add synth loops by actually playing the melody sections live on stage and the harmonies they are played over range from simple to somewhat complex. But at no point last night did anyone play any instrument.
From what I heard of the house genre...the harmonies underneath were consonant and bright usually...but the minor tones were often emphasized. Like in the minor section of a progression the 2nds, m3rds, 6ths were front and center often to the leading tone then back to the tonic. Like that's where the feel/flow came from. But the harmonic progressions themselves didnt use a ton of borrowed or modal chords. And melody lines often moved in very short chromatic intervals repeated. But laying melodies over simple chords looped over and over isn't exactly a chore. So are they editing these lines on the fly and changing them up for later in the song? Is that what is happening in the monitors? There aren't a ton of changes. And I realize its not as melodically complex as playing over extended and augmented jazz chords. These loops run for no joke like 15 - 20 minutes at a time without variation. But are the variations to the melody in fact improvised in a live performance?
There is some rhythmic variation on breaks and drops and builds, but it feels like those elements all use the same variations if that makes sense. And because the 4 on the floor electronic staccato kick seems to wash out the low end...I ended up with the feeling that I just listened to essentially the same song from 4 PM to 10 PM through 5 artists doing the same knob spinning and pad pressing. But I don't know what else to listen for that makes the music more discernable and unique (the quantized drums are very overpowering to the ear.)
If anyone can talk me through what EDM is or point me to a good video on what I am listening to...I would be super grateful. This was maybe the 4th EDM show I have been to and I have no idea what I am listening to.

Creating a definitive hero tier list for Bloons Tower Defense 6 (BTD6) can be subjective as it depends on various factors such as game mode, map, and personal playstyle. However, here's a general guideline for the hero tier list in BTD6:
​
S-Tier:

1. Obyn Greenfoot: Obyn's range boost and area damage make him a powerful hero for early-game and mid-game stages.
   
2. Benjamin: Benjamin's income generation abilities and Bloons hacking make him a popular choice for players focused on maximizing their income.
   
3. Adora: Adora's strong damage output, crowd control, and versatility with her sacrifice mechanic make her a potent hero in different situations.
   

​
A-Tier:

1. Ezili: Ezili's abilities, including MOAB Hex and Bloons sacrifice, can be highly effective in certain situations, especially against MOAB-class Bloons.
   
2. Quincy: Quincy offers solid early-game damage and is a reliable hero choice for beginner players.
   
3. Churchill: Churchill is a tank-like hero with high base damage and useful abilities, making him a popular choice for late-game strategies.
   

​
B-Tier:

1. Gwendolin: Gwendolin's fire-based attacks and abilities provide decent damage output, though she may not be as versatile as some other heroes.
   
2. Striker Jones: Striker Jones is a tower buff-focused hero, mainly suited for advanced players who want to enhance their bomb towers and other explosives.
   

​
C-Tier:

1. Captain Churchill: Captain Churchill's abilities and high-level upgrades can be useful, but he is generally considered less versatile compared to other heroes.
   
2. Pat Fusty: Pat Fusty's abilities and crowd control can be situationally useful, but his damage output is generally considered lower compared to other heroes.
   

​
It's important to note that this tier list is a general guideline and may vary based on individual preferences and strategies. Each hero has unique strengths and can be effective when utilized correctly. Experimenting with different heroes and discovering which ones suit your playstyle and strategies the best is recommended.

Join other younger well spouses / partners from across the US and Canada for support, camaraderie, and community.
WSA's Younger Well Spouse support group meets by Zoom twice each month:
- the 2nd Sunday (4-5:30pm ET / 1-2:30pm PT) and
- the 4th Tuesday (8-9:30pm ET / 5-6:30pm PT).
Please contact Jeanine Jue ([email protected]) to be added to our mailing list and get Zoom details.
See you then!
-------------------------------
All of our other support group meetings are all-ages - our Younger WS group is for people who'd like to meet other spousal caregivers at a similar life stage.
If you're new to WSA, please try out 1-2 meetings without commitment to see if they are a good fit for you. If you continue to attend, we ask that you join WSA as a Supporting Member. Learn more about WSA and member benefits at wellspouse.org. (no one will be turned away for financial hardship reasons)
Looking for a support group near where you live? View our calendar here - https://wellspouse.org/events/events-calendacalendar-by-month.html.

I am considering bankruptcy. Not sure if I can qualify for chapter 7. My income is 3k from government retirement and 3k from SSDI (am 65). Also I have stage 5 CKD and expected to go on dialysis sometime in the next 6 months to a year. Expected survival of 3 years. First question is does my SSDI count as income in the means test? Also I anticipate much higher medical bills in my future. I currently have about 35k in credit cards and 25 k debt to IrS. Would really like to get my affairs in order and not leave a mess for my daughter. Any advice appreciated.

I’ve looked on TOPS, and see how to apply for one, but is there a way to protest one? 311 doesn’t seem to have an option either.
Our neighbors are gutting their row home and have both “staging area” and “debris roll off” no parking restrictions. Both permits are for 2 spaces, but they’ve positioned the signs and parked the dumpster in a way that’s actually taking up 5-6 spaces total. This has already been going on for months, and will for sure take multiple 6 month renewals before the work is done.
I assume the answer is “No” with an exaggerated eye roll, but is there any way to have someone come out and confirm they are only taking the space they are allotted?

After 2.5 years of being together, through countless campaigns including Critical Roles most recent one, we have decided to disband. The DM has other groups and not enough time between college, and two of the players are busy with exams and can't commit. I'm heartbroken (ofc without causing any drama in our group) and have no idea what to do next. They were my close friends and party members, and now it's just gone.
Now I'm not here to cry, more just looking for advice on what to do next? I feel like finding a new party and reconnecting is kinda impossible at this stage no?
Thanks!

Good evening all, hope you’re having a nice Sunday!
Here’s my doubt: I’ve been putting together a Retro machine for myself and I’m in the final stages, and testing dual booting 98 and XP.
However, when I try to install 98 first and then XP second, I’m met with a blinking cursor of death. I’ve tried install XP both from within 98 and from DOS and it always ends up the same. But if I install both individually it seems to works just fine? I’m very confused here.
For the record these are my specs:
ASRock 775Dual-VSTA BIOS: v3.10
Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
1GB [email protected]
GeForce 7600GS
Creative SoundBlaster Live 5.1
I’m trying to install both on the same drive, and would prefer that if possible. Currently testing on a 30GB IDE. I’ve tried both making separate partitions and not, same result.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Edit: Title is supposed to say “dual boot” but phone auto-correct disagreed.

Hey reddit, let me start out with an apology for any errors I make, I'm dyslexic, this is my first time posting here, and I'm still really anxious and upset about everything going on, in particular as I have diagnosed PTSD and G.A.D. It also is probably appropriate to give a trigger warning for just about anything one could be sensitive too, from assault, to cancer, to death, because my life has had it all lately.... This is the very long winded story of how my neighbor couple, who are a toxic combination of entitled and addicted to some kind of uppers, are trying to make my life a living hell, and, how I am not retaliating and it's somehow making them even more hateful...
Relevant backstory about me/my home situation- I (36F) bought my house all by myself (yah!) in 2016 before everything got super expensive. I am a career musician, but because what I make performing in an indie band and in royalties varies WILDLY from year to year, I also am proud to be the primary child care provider for my niece, and three other long time family friend's children who are now between the ages of 5 and 7 but have come to my home for daycare and even over nights and weekends sometimes since they were infants we're all like a little extended family. I live alone other than my little pets and the children who are often here.
In June 2022 I was misdiagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer (most deadly kind of breast cancer) and spent 6 weeks helping my parents and the kids and my friends get ready to help me... then lose me basically, before it was determined it was NOT inflammatory breast cancer (yah!) I just had Regular old precancerous tissue being made to look even worse than it was because the tissue had also developed an antibodic-resistant infection allll over the tissue under my breast. Ultimately good news except the very next day one of the moms in our little childcare group died instead. Like some kind of nasty joke God was making that wasn't funny and I'm still not over. Then, my insurance company decided to fight me over surgery to have the tissue and infection removed while cycling me through endless rounds of antibiotics and more invasive (but cheaper for my insurance) treatments. I did the best I could to keep up with my home and life and still help with the kids but I was *really really* sick until February of this year (2023) when I finally got my surgery, and I'm still really struggling with the lose of my friend both for myself and her son. I also have no money or savings or anything of a safety net left anymore. I had to access it all while I was sick and paying for my surgery/medical care (so you now know I'm American I suppose).
Now, onto the neighbors...
In August 2022, this couple moved in nextdoor and have been single handedly changing the block vibe from "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood where a few of the parents smoke weed here and there" to "Nightmare on Elm Street featuring Crack" and I am not sure that I have ever seen so up close and personal the inner workings of.... sociopaths? Or whatever the correct name for people who are habitual lairs and take pleasure in causing harm to others (and maybe each other?). They are heavy drinkers, heavy cannabis users (no shade, I got my med card before surgery and with edibles I didn't even need other prescription pain meds!! but anything can be a problem for some people), and most unfortunately they do some kind of pills or something that make them very "up". While the wife is typically too "out of it" to maintain work, the husband works from home as some type of an accountant and seems to keep it together, and make just enough money, to maintain their "lifestyle" which basically means they do a lot of drugs and super weird addict things, but with an aura of entitlement. It's a toxic combination.
The couple, who I will call Sackie (44F) and Jam(41M), originally presented themselves as an older couple with Sackie in particular having many health issues.... and I will admit I first mistook her for being older and originally assumed her manner of speaking (a bit low, mumbled and slurred, without a good awareness to social cues or appropriateness, like trying to talk to me about how her brother molested her but her mom payed off the law to make it go away or how later she started a business with said mom, but her mom started having an affair with Jam's boss and that's how they met... in front of the children and/or in maybe my second conversation with her) for some kind of stroke. It was only after many awkward rambling conversations with Sackie that I realized they were actually not much older at all, and her many health issues (more on this later) were fictional or simply from withdrawals/drug use. I did learn, however, that Jam and Sackie have a long, sorted, unpleasant history, with just about everyone they'd ever met... and somehow, it was always they who were the victims.
Now, I try very hard not to victim blame and I know from personal experience that sometimes good people have strings of unfortunate events in their lives-- but Sackie's recounts of events were often hard to understand, or contradictory to previous stories she had told, sometimes even within the same conversation. So I knew almost right away she wasn't a reliable narrator, but, with our houses being located about 12 feet apart, my original misinterpretation of them as an older couple, and with Sackie intentionally lying about some things to get my sympathy.... I had no idea how bad they both really were or what I was in for...
I first spoke with Sackie more than just saying hi in passing sometime around Thanksgiving (American Thanksgiving) when she knocked on my door to ask if she and Jam could give me an extra out door Christmas ornamental they had. I thought they were just being Christmasy and kind. I didn't have the kids at my house that week and Sackie smelled the cannabis I had been enjoying on my couch (a rarity honestly) and said, "oh is that what I think it is?" Paranoid that she was offended I blurted out, "oh yes I have a cannabis prescription, this is probably TMI but if you notice me home and slagging a lot it is because I am waiting for breast surgery."
Sackie's face lite up, "Thats not TMI, I'm waiting for breast surgery too! I had uterine cancer and now I'm waiting for a double mastectomy. And don't worry I'm a medical user too" Now, I have since learned this to be a lie, but at the time it definitely made me feel sorry for her and I was just relieved I hadn't been "caught" by a neighbor who was offended by cannabis.
However, once Sackie learned I had weed.... well, she wanted to be my best friend. In fact, she almost invented a fantasy friendship with me. Asking for my number in case they needed someone to look in on their pets during the holidays to quickly turned to her calling and texting pages and pages of messages-- about how Jam abused her, and was cheating on her, how she had nobody and was so scared approaching her (fake) upcoming double mastectomy, how he'd made sure her name wasn't on the house when they bought it and he'd locked her out of all their money... and could she please have some weed because she was so sick? Oh she had a seizure because she was so sick could she please have some weed?? It went on and on, always about wanting weed, rides places, confusing pages of texts about how she was watching "dead to me" and how it was so unfair she didn't have a friend like those characters?? Could I be that friend??
It was intense. And I didn't handle it well. I did my best to just respond to her slower and slower apart and just be nice but short and say no that I didn't have or couldn't do XYZ for her.
Her begging and neediness intensified rapidly, sometimes she would come to my door and knock and ask for weed and I would feel obligated to give it to her just to get her away. She was always on something a lot more intense than weed when she'd knock. It was scary and sometimes the kids were here. She started texting me asking if I had "anything stronger" than weed and when I was understandablely like "no I don't do those things" she sent me about four pages about how she just meant "xanxa" because she used to have a standing prescription for xanxa and it helped her so much but she had "quit all her medicine except good ol weed and seeing a chiropractor" and was doing oh so much better now but just needed some but it was okay because she found another friend to give it to her.
This was the first time I expressly told her no and not to ask me about that type of thing and where she started to turn her fantasy friendship into me into a fantasy feud.
Shortly after she sent me another page long text saying, "not to be a bitch but I'm done with our one sided friendship." I responded that I understood, at this point it was Dec 22nd (2022) and I was just trying to spend time with my family. I said something like, "I understand, I have some health problems that make it hard for me to make new friends or even keep up with my current friends, but I will see you around as a neighbor." And hoped to never hear from her again.
Oh, how short that hope was. Several days later I started getting pages of frantic apologies, but also trying to make me feel guilty, and more frantic apologies, and letting me know that Jam is not cheating on her and evil and leaving her with nothing, and they're both such great people and always here if I need anything!!!
It's honestly hard to explain how unstable even her "nice" texts would sound and I'm not sure if we can post screen shots in this sub, but trust me, this woman and her husband are just constant, intense, invasive drama. While she and Jam both made me uncomfortable, almost like watching for when I would first let my dogs out in the morning or when a friend left my house and texting me about it... waiting on their front porch chain smoking for me to come outside then rushing over to talk-block me into conversations about other neighbors they hated, Jam's bosses affair with Sackie's mom, to tell me how sick they were, about how Sackie had to quit multiple jobs because her bosses would always sexually harass her... And stupid me would just try to kinda smile and nod and get out of the conversation.
I was so uncomfortable and somewhat scared of them because of the way they would talk about other people and each other and... its hard to describe but if anyone has even been close with someone using something like meth, you know how crazy their behaviors can be, even if they are being "nice." But until April 2023, they were just a bother, not a danger.
April was when Sackie's fantasy friendship with me turned into a full blown fantasy feud...
In early April, I was supposed to be recovered enough from surgery that I could work again so I to started to watch the children every week again, and apply for music gigs again... but unfortunately got a staph infection in my left breasts wound. I ended up being in a lot of pain and back on antibiotics and pretty out of it on my couch for a few days, though I managed not to be hospitalized again (yah!).
During the few days I was pretty much out of it during the infection, Jam and Sackie decided it would be a good time to get really "uppered" to rip up all the ornamental ivy in our shares breezeway (fine) but also OFF THE SIDE OF MY HOUSE AND OUT AROUND MY FRONT PORCH. They pulled down wires on the side of my house and did this during rainy season meaning they exposed my homes foundation to massive amounts of water no longer protected by plants and top soil.
I was in total shock. They hadn't asked permission, or even mentioned disliking the ivy, and they were clearly on something and STILL trying to rip up things around my front porch.
My kind, 70 year old father was over on April 14th, to help me do some weatheseason appropriate yard work I was struggling to do one my own because of the staph infection and we decided we had to try to say something to them about it, because at this point they were out front talking about what they were going to do AROUND MY FRONT PORCH. But again, wanting to keep peace my dad and I went outside and my dad just politely asked Sackie about what they were doing and, said something along the lines of, "well okay, just please don't do anything else on our side because we are going to take care of that ourselves..." and before he could even finish Sackie suddenly, in her slurred speech, yells "Do you think I'm fucking Stupid??" at my dad.
Now, at this point I can't take it anymore. My father thought he was going to have to change my diapers while I DIED this year. He does not deserve to be yelled at by some methed out neighbor. So I said, "Sackie, don't speak to my father that way, he is just looking out for me."
At which point Sackie LOSES IT and starts hollering to Jam and possibly just herself about how my dad and I are "so rude and trashy" and how they can do whatever they want because, they want things to look nice, etc etc, at which point I was just like, "come one dad let's go inside."
My dad and I worked on some chores in the back yard, then he was like, "I know we didn't do anything wrong, but let's go apologize because you don't want to have neighbor issues."
However, when we went back out front Sackie was literally pacing back and forward in the breezeway ranting to herself about how she had every right to do whatever she wanted with what I can only describe as a look of pure and total unhinged insanity. You know how when actors play their first role on screen after doing stage acting for years and so their movements come across as completely over the top? That's a lot how Sackie looked that day stalking up and down alley talking to herself, like a director had just told her, "act really nuts!" Except Sackie wasn't acting. My dad said, "okay, well, we tried, some people just want to be upset," to me, and we went back to working on my house.
Keep in mind, I was still on heavy duty antiboditics and fighting a staph infection at this time, and was trying to get the house in shape for my kiddo who's mom had passed away to be able to sleep over at my house that night to give his dad a little break. I figured Sackie would bitch about me to Jam and whoever else she could get to listen (like how she would speak about others to me) but eventually get over it and go back to trying to have her fantasy friendship with me, because after all, she was able to nag me into giving her free weed occasionally, and all my dad and I had done was ask her not to do anything else on my property, right? How mad could she be?)
Well, apparently, something I have now learned, is when someone addicted to uppers decides you are their fixation, they are as addicted to causing you hell.
The following day Sackie (and Sam according to her texts) sent me pages and pages of texts, again I'm not sure on the character limits or screen shot policy here, but basically she sent me about 10 text pages about how my dad and I were so rude and disgusting and she and Jam had the right to do anything they wanted as the breezeway is "their's " (again, that is their property on that side but only up until a foot and half or so away from my house, and definitely not around my front porch) and how she and Jam have always been so nice to me and I'm just such a terrible person, and "YOU'RE WELCOME " for how that side of my house will look?
She used a lot more curse words and details than that, many of which were not even truthful and were hard to understand, and kept bringing up a Tupperware container and a cloth canvas bag that she had left some kind of soup she made for my friend (my friend who Sackie also made extremely uncomfortable but would try to be polite to her when she was outside smoking) when my friend had to stay with me for a few weeks after she had to get a hysterectomy and needed help recovering, and saying "and just throw out that Tupperware I gave you, you have no idea the kind of niceness I've constantly given to you!" (remember friends, even this major pushover knows-- kindness done with the expectation of something in return is just manipulation) Like, somehow this unwanted soup she'd left my friend when she was recovering here in March 2023, made it okay for her to do whatever she wanted on my property?
This also feels like an appropriate time to add that it was when my friend was recovering at my house that I learned the extent of Sackie's lies about her health. Remember how I said she'd gained my sympathy by pretending she had breast cancer and was waiting on a double mastectomy? Her story was that she had found out she had uterine cancer after a miscarriage and she'd had to have a full hysterectomy and the cancer had spread and so she needed a double mastectomy now but she was having trouble with her insurance and her husband, that is why she wanted to mold me into her "Dead to Me" friend, right?
Nope. Apparently not. As, she told my friend that, "she knew exactly what she was going through because she had just terrible, terrible, periods and has endometriosis too, just like my friend, but she hasn't been able to get the hysterectomy she needed yet because she didn't have a doctor because she didn't do Western Medicine anymore, all she needed was a chiropractor and weed... oh and the hysterectomy for her terrible endometriosis just like my friend." She also said something that implied her husband was getting her a boob job, for cosmetic reasons, and there had never been cancer at all. I have no idea if the miscarriage was a lie too or not, and it isn't really relevant other than to stress, that Sackie and her husband really have a hard time with the truth.
Anyway, after her round of nasty texts after the ivy incident, I sent her back an extremely polite and short text, saying I was sorry she felt so offended by my dad and I asking her not to do anything else on my property, and I was very happy to respect their wishes for us not to communicate and I wished them well.
The next two weeks or so, until April 29th 2023, Sackie and Jam made me uncomfortable but were manageable. They did things like intentionally stacking hay against my fence, talking loudly to each other about how "trashy" I was, and at one point in time even pretending to do yard work but actually just smashing the side of my house with shovels! They even had someone else over at some point they were intentionally loud explaining too about how disgusting the ivy was and what a favor they were doing "cleaning it up".... but honestly I didn't even really care.
My paralegal friend recommended I start documenting things though, because she said some of the worst people she's seen in court are functional, entitled, drug addicts and I should not assume they would return to reason, and that it would be a good idea if I let the Neighborhood Stabilization Officer know what was going on, start documentation, and draft up a cease and desist to send if they did anything else and man, she was right, so right in fact, we didn't even have time to send the cease and desist.
On April 24th, out of nowhere, she sent me another several pages of unhinged texts, once again talking about how I should thank her for ripping up my ivy, throw away her Tupperware, how I was a terrible person and she and her husband and everyone think I'm on the Spectrum (hey man, autism is highly under diagnosed in women and that isn't the insult they think it is, but I could tell she thought she was calling me the R word), and just nasty absurd abusive things.
I sent her a text simply saying "Do not communicate with me or anyone at my house or threaten me or my pets again."
I found that dumb Tupperware and canvas bag she kept bringing up like it was gold, and put them on a porch along with another letter saying the same as in my text.
Jam responded this time, by smashing the Tupperware and leaving it back on my porch....
Now on April 29th, while I was hosting a sleep over for 3 of the children, and, as bad as this couple had been, I honestly believed they weren't bad enough to cause me trouble when the children were here with me. Looking back, I can't tell you why I gave them that kind of credit. Sackie self published a childrens book in her early 30's, and spoke of volunteering at children's libraries, at least according to her, and I suppose I thought that meant she'd have a respect for kids even if they did not have respect for me.... once again, I was wrong.
Around 5 or 6pm, the kids and I went out onto my front porch to bring our pizza inside at the same time as Sackie was getting out of getting out of her drug dealers car with him, she began screaming profanities at me, saying I was disgusting, threatening the pets, and other things I couldn't really understand fully due to her slurred speech once again but verbally assaulting me but this time, in front of the children was the last straw I had.
I quickly got the kids inside, away from her, and served them the pizza. I told them not to worry about the neighbor, that she was a kind of sick that made people yell when they shouldn't sometimes and they should just ignore her. I made sure they were content talking amongst themselves and eating pizza and strawberries- and went to call the police and finally told them about all the ongoing harassment, threats, begging, drug use, and now screaming and profanities in front of the children and asked for help.
Then I got ahold of one of the other moms who came and picked up all three of the kids, and we just pretended that we decided it was a better idea for them have a sleep over at her friend's house than mine. The kids were fine, but as soon as they left I lost it. Just big gut crying. The months of being nagged for weed, rides, and favors, getting passive aggressive texts about not being Sackie's new insta best friend, feeling like I was being watched constantly, worrying about Sackie saying inappropriate things in front of the children, dealing with Jam's creepy stares and used car sales man persona, the past weeks of their new upper fueled obsession with my property line and being the new fixation of their abuse, trying to be kind to them even as I struggled with my breast disease and Sackie trying to me as an emotional punching bag and free weed. I was finally crying so so so hard, my neighbors on my other side (a lovely couple my age) heard and rushed out and had me come wait inside and were so so so nice to me while I looked insane (did I forget to mention I'd let the kids 'do' my make up, meaning they'd painted my whole face with eye shadow including giving me a sparkly beard?) until the police arrived.
Now I live in a really nice neighborhood, but I am in one of the highest crime cities in America and our politicians and police staff are internationally questioned, so I was actually really impressed that the police came, cared, and, that somehow in my state, I *still* apparently looked less insane than Sackie and Jam.
They responded fairly quickly, and patiently looked over the wild texts from Jackie, my accounts of her and Jam passively terrorizing me, and checked out the side of my yard which they had originally ripped up the ivy and started this whole insane fantasy fight with me over.
They very much believed me and said I should have called them sooner, which surprised me. Sackie refused to come out and speak with the police but Jam came out to speak to the police via using his back door so Sackie could keep hiding.
The police came back and let me know that if Jam was the lesser of my two issues that I needed to becareful because they couldn't do anything on "hear say" but that Sackie had refused to speak with them and Jam reeked of alcohol. They said they told them to leave me alone, and that I had already agreed to do the same, and to just leave me alone, but that if they did anything I needed to call them because of how bad Jam, the lesser of the two, looked.
They left, I thanked them and my kind neighbors and felt like, it must be over right? Because if you do things like send pages of rambling violent, threatening texts, destroy property, and take so many drugs that your speech is slurred 24/7, and the cops come and tell you stop bothering your neighbor, you'd be scared right?
Again, I was mistaken to assume that Sackie and Jam's line of thinking would be at all on the side of logic, even in terms of simple self preservation. As soon as the cops left, Sackie and Jam came into my front yard and began to loudly talk about how disgusting I was to each other again. At this point I have both of their numbers blocked on my phone, but Sackie must has used one of those apps that allows you to text people who have blocked you and messaged me... "Have a great weekend"
So I go ahead and call the police who again, I am both pleased, and surprised, and a little scared by how quickly they return because my city is very high crime and for them to pay any attention to my calls means they must have clocked the neighbors as actual threat.
Sackie and Jam did go inside before the police came back though, and this time they both simply refused to open the door to the police. I imagine they had done many more drugs at this point.
The police said that they couldn't do anything since technically nothing had a record yet, but suggested that I file for a restraining order and provided all of the information I needed to do so. I was still sort of wishy washy about having a legal issue with my neighbors, but after talking it over with a few close girlfriends, one of them messaged me passionately outside of our little group chat about how much this couple, Sackie in particular, was behaving like a lot like her mother, a meth addict with a sense of entitlement who made her neighbors and everyone around hers life hell, obsessing over property lines and turned down begging, until eventually went to prison for 13 years for stabbing my friends dad. He lived thankfully.
But she was right, and my earlier mentioned paralegal friend helped me put together my paper work and evidence for a restraining order which we filed that Monday (April 30th).
They were served their papers on May 4th and thankfully, that *did* scare them into leaving me alone. Jam and Sackie would still intentionally talk badly about me to each other outside when they knew I could hear, and I imagine Sackie was trying to tell anyone who would listen what a bitch I was, but as long as myself and the children were unbothered I felt fine.
The court date came and I made the mistake again of assuming court mediation would be enough. Sackie showed up using a cain and pretending to be feeble, sickly and older, like she had done to me when we first met. Jam still looked creepy but wore a suit. My lawyer, who is also my middle school boyfriends father as an aside, was pretty confident I could get a full restraining if we went to court, but they agreed to restraining order terms as long as it stayed off their record for the purposes of background checks.
The way this works in my city is if they violate the terms it then automatically becomes a full order of protection-- but if they don't it gives them a chance to keep their records clean. It also would save me some money, because even though my lawyer was handling things at friend prices he couldn't do it for free. So I agreed to that. They were to stay away from me, my guests, not contact me on any platform, not harm me or my pets, it all seemed pretty fair and reasonable to me.
But alas, Sackie and Jam are not reasonable people. Literally the moment they got home from court Jam began working on some kind of project in his back yard, cursing about me to himself and clearly back on some kind of upper, he assembled and drilled this... strange tarp thing to my fence ???? Yes, my fence, and yes, this is illegal but I didn't have any luck getting the police to come out this time.
It has continued on this way. Them trying to do everything they can to harass me as much as possible without technically violating the order.
They're still trying to make my life hell, and, I am pretty sure my only option is to wait for them to physically harm me, on camera, for anything to happen.
So yes. That is how I kept trying to give my neighbors the benefit of the doubt, and in exchange, they're making my life hell. As I type this now Jam is out in the front yard, hovering on our property line, watering the grass, breathing heavy, grunting, and giving my ring camera dirty looks.
I don't have a good way to wrap this up, but, it felt good writing it all out to share anonymously. Thankyou reddit.
neighborsfromhell

Hello, and welcome to Music’s Biggest Night!
That’s right, it’s the GRAMMYs. The year is 1994 and our category is Best Alternative Music Album. We’ll be rating each of the five nominees on Indieheads, but before we get to the nominees, a quick word about rates.
Hey, quick question, what are rates?
Obviously, if you're familiar with the process, skip this. But if you're new, I'll explain so this doesn't seem like a wild block of text!
Rates are a subreddit game in which a user scores a group of songs on a scale from 1-10, with each individual also given a single 11 and a single 0 to be used exactly once per rate. They will then message their ballot to the rate host, who will tally up all the points and then reveal the final results over a weekend, eliminating songs one by one until the last track remaining wins the rate and bragging rights forever. While there's just a bit more to know, I feel this is the basics of what you'll need to understand what's going on. I do recommend this video made by our popheads brethren to get a fuller picture; while some of the info applies specifically to the way popheads do their rates, the overall format is similar.

Introduction

The GRAMMYs are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in the music industry. The name derives from the trophy, which is shaped like an old-fashioned gramophone. The awards celebrate a variety of categories, but we’re going to be looking at Best Alternative Music Album or, as it was called at the time, Best Alternative Music Performance. The question of what “alternative” really means can be debated forever, but the original intent of this award was to celebrate non-mainstream rock albums which were heavily played on college radio. The category first appeared in 1991, so in 1994 the award is still pretty new.
And now, let’s meet our nominees!

Belly - Star

Belly are the act here that seem discussed least frequently on Indieheads, so I’m excited to see what everyone thinks of them. By the time of starting Belly, Tanya Donelly (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) had already been in two other classic indie rock bands. She was a co-founder of Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersch, contributing vocals and guitar for the band’s first decade, though she’d only get a handful of songs per album. Donelly would later start The Breeders with Pixies bassist and vocalist Kim Deal. The Breeders’ debut, Pod, featured Deal as the primary songwriter because existing record contracts prohibited the two from sharing primary writing credits. While they originally intended to alternate albums, Tanya had begun to form Belly by the time it was her turn to do a Breeders album. She recruited Fred Abong (bass) and brothers Tom (guitar) and Chris (drums) Gorman as they’d all known each other while going to high school in Rhode Island.
Belly co-produced most of their 1993 debut Star with Tracy Chisholm. Gil Norton, who’d previously produced Throwing Muses’ self-titled debut, produced four tracks, including singles "Gepetto," "Slow Dog," and "Feed the Tree." "Feed the Tree," one of the album’s highlights, would be the band’s highest charting hit, reaching 95th on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Modern Rock Chart. Star is an effective fusion of alternative rock with jangle pop, dream pop, "haunting" folk, and even some light country influences. At the 1994 GRAMMYs, Belly were also up for Best New Artist with Blind Melon, Digable Planets, and SWV, ultimately losing to R&B singer Toni Braxton. Belly released a sophomore album King in 1995 and Donelly released several solo albums before reuniting with the King lineup to release a third album in 2018. While Star may not have achieved the canonical stature of some of 1994’s other nominees, it is nevertheless a very enjoyable release from a strong songwriter who’d finally gotten the chance to make an album-length statement of her own.
Are Indieheads gonna feed the tree? Will this be an album to die for?
Tracklist:

1. Someone to Die For
2. Angel
3. Dusted
4. Every Word
5. Gepetto
6. Witch
7. Slow Dog
8. Low Red Moon
9. Feed The Tree
10. Full Moon, Empty Heart
11. White Belly
12. Untogether
13. Star
14. Sad Dress
15. Stay

Nirvana - In Utero If you were wondering where “Heart Shaped Box” was in the Guitar Hero Rate, well I’ve got a treat for you!
Kurt Cobain (vocals and guitar) and Krist Novoselic (bass) met while attending Aberdeen High School in the late 1980s. They shuffled through various names, ultimately deciding on Nirvana because Cobain wanted a name that sounded beautiful and nice instead of mean and raunchy. In their early years, they worked with several different drummers, recording 1989’s Sub Pop debut Bleach with Chad Channing on drums. Channing left the band as they worked on their follow-up to Bleach. Kurt and Krist met drummer Dave Grohl days after he’d moved to Seattle following the break up of his Washington DC band Scream. The addition of Dave solidified Nirvana’s classic lineup. The trio began seeking a major label to buy them out of their Sub Pop contract as they were dissatisfied with the label’s lack of promotion and distribution of their debut. They eventually signed with DGC Records per the recommendation of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon. Upon signing, they began work on their major label debut, Nevermind, with producer Butch Vig. 1991’s Nevermind was an unexpected success, bringing grunge and alternative rock to the mainstream and even surpassing Michael Jackson on the Billboard albums chart.
In the aftermath of Nevermind’s success, Cobain felt he needed to reclaim his punk ethic. Wanting to depart from Butch Vig’s slick production on Nevermind (don’t worry, we’ll still be hearing from Vig a little later), he sought to work with Steve Albini. Albini was pretty famous in the underground for his work as frontman for Big Black and various production work, including PJ Harvey’s Dry, which he sent a copy of to give Cobain an idea of the acoustics in his studio. Albini dismissed Nirvana as "R.E.M. with a fuzzbox" (more on R.E.M. soon!) but decided to work with them because he felt bad for them, recognizing them as "the same sort of people as all the small-fry bands I deal with." The band pushed for minimal label oversight and recorded In Utero fairly quickly, wrapping recording sessions in as little as 13 days. The album was noisier and more abrasive than Nevermind, resulting in much dispute between the band, Albini, and the label. Cobain sought to make the kind of record he’d enjoy owning as a fan and began having second thoughts about the sound when listening to it at home. The press picked up on conflict about the album’s sound. The band denied this and even DGC president David Geffen called Newsweek to explain they would release whatever Nirvana recorded. Behind the scenes, the band tried to fix the album’s sound in the mastering process, which Albini was strongly against, though he’d later supply an alternate mix for the album’s 20th anniversary re-release. R.E.M producer Scott Litt was brought on to remix “Heart Shaped Box” and “All Apologies” which were intended to be the album’s singles.
In Utero was released in September of 1993 following a low-key release strategy which released “Heart Shaped Box” as a promo-only single to various rock station formats but not Top 40. Walmart and K-Mart initially refused to stock the album due to its back cover and the title of the song “Rape Me.” (A content note on that song, while it is interpreted as commentary on the invasive music press, it was intended to be a lyrically literal anti-rape song from the perspective of a victim. As this is a rate, you can score this song however you see fit, but I hope it goes without saying that everyone should please be respectful of this subject matter in their comments.) Despite In Utero’s abrasive sound and reduced mainstream promotion, the album still debuted at number one on the Billboard album charts and was well-received by critics. The music often hits harder and faster than Nevermind, containing more of the “punk” feel that Cobain was aiming for compared to the grunge of Nevermind and the band’s Seattle contemporaries. Check out this MTV clip if you’d like to see how college students in 1993 received this one. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiwhwy7S4qA) The band toured America shortly after In Utero came out and embarked on a European tour that was cut short as Cobain suffered from a drug overdose. A couple weeks later, Cobain died by suicide. As with the subject matter of “Rape Me,” I want to request that everyone is respectful of this in their comments, I will ask for edits (or omit comments myself) if they are inappropriate. Despite the tragic ending, Nirvana is still seen as one of American and alternative rock’s most important bands and In Utero remains highly regarded to this day.
Will our comments be all apologies? Are the results of this rate gonna be, uhhh, dumb?
Tracklist Serve the Servants Scentless Apprentice Heart-Shaped Box Rape Me Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle Dumb Very Ape Milk It Pennyroyal Tea Radio Friendly Unit Shifter Tourette’s All Apologies
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People If there’s a band who can rival Nirvana’s stature in the American rock canon, it’s gotta be R.E.M. They are often cited as one of the first “alternative” rock bands and were important for the college radio format. Formed in Athens, Georgia in 1980, Michael Stipe (vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass), and Bill Berry (drums) released 5 albums with independent label I.R.S. Records, evolving from a jangle rock sound on their early albums to a louder, more anthemic sound on their final record for the label, Document. After “The One I Love” became their first mainstream hit, the band signed to Warner Brothers, kicking off a second act that resulted in yet another 5 album run of great music.
At the start of the 90s, R.E.M. opted out of touring and became a studio band. The band recorded demos for the songs “Drive,” “Try Not to Breathe,” and “Nightswimming” at Prince’s Paisley Park Studios while mixing their 1991 album, Out of Time. Out of Time was a huge success, arriving as alternative rock was becoming mainstream. It spawned the massive single “Losing My Religion” and even ended up winning the GRAMMY award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1992. After concluding some promotional duties in early 1991, the band returned to the studio to continue work on what would eventually become Automatic for the People. This would be the fourth of six records the band would produce with Litt. The band traded off instruments in the studio, with Buck playing the mandolin famously featured on “Losing My Religion,” Mills playing piano or organ, and Berry playing bass. Their initial attempts to make a harder rocking follow-up did not pan out, as the band found they were writing better without drums. The material began to take on a more melancholic tone. The lush orchestration of Out of Time is rendered in a somber greyscale, with arrangements contributed by Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. Lyrically, the album muses on loss and mourning, prompting rumors that recently balding Michael Stipe was dying of cancer or AIDs. Luckily, he was not but that is the lens through which some critics and listeners received this work. The album also finds room for political commentary, most noticeably in “Ignoreland” which pushes against Republican politics of the time, but also in opener “Drive” which calls back to the group’s work with the Rock to Vote movement, for which they added a petition on the longbox packaging of Out of Time.
Automatic for the People released on October 5, 1992 (gotta love the GRAMMYs odd eligibility window) debuting at number 2 on the Billboard 200. Unlike its predecessor, it never quite reached the top spot, thanks to Garth Brooks. Six of the album’s 12 tracks were released as singles including “Drive,” “Everybody Hurts” which has unfortunately been watered down through years of ironic use in comedies, the cryptic, Andy Kaufman referencing “Man on the Moon,” and “Nightswimming,” an emotional piano ballad that has become a fan favorite. The album was critically acclaimed upon release and, while perhaps not as fun as something like Murmur, this nocturnal bummer is regarded by many as one of the band’s masterpieces.
Will everybody hurt? Are R.E.M. going to get a raw deal?
Tracklist: Drive Try Not to Breathe The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite Everybody Hurts New Orleans Instrumental No. 1 Sweetness Follows Monty Got a Raw Deal Ignoreland Star Me Kitten Man on the Moon Nightswimming Find the River
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream The Smashing Pumpkins formed in 1988 when Billy Corgan (vocals and guitar, he prefers William Patrick Corgan now though) met James Iha (guitar) while working at a record store in Chicago, Illinois. They performed as a duo with a drum machine, eventually adding bassist D’arcy Wretzky after meeting her at a show by the Dan Reed Network. Jazz drummer Jimmy Chamberlain was recommended by a friend of Corgan’s after the trio were booked to perform at Cabaret Metro under the condition that they’d play with a live drummer instead of their drum machine. With Chamberlain on board, the band’s classic lineup had been formed and their sound began to shift in a harder rock direction.
Siamese Dream, the group’s 1993 sophomore album, expands on their 1991 debut Gish in every possible way. The band switched from Virgin subsidiary Caroline Records to Virgin itself. Butch Vig, who produced Nirvana’s massive Nevermind right after finishing work on Gish, returned to produce the follow-up. Where Gish’s $20,000 budget and month of recording time was “unprecedented” for Vig, Corgan and Vig spent four months on Siamese Dream and went $250,000 over budget. This is what happens when you let Billy overdub everyone else’s guitar and bass parts (something the rest of the band wasn’t particularly happy about) to get as many as 100 guitar parts compressed into one song.
The meticulous studio process paid off, as Siamese Dream was a bigger hit than Gish (peaking at 10 on the Billboard 200.) The band’s influences from metal, dreampop, and shoegaze give the album a layered and unique sound compared to the grungier alternative music of the time. Singles “Cherub Rock” and “Today” have been featured in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band videogame series. While never released as a single, “Mayonaise” has become a fan favorite and won a Rolling Stone poll for best Pumpkins song, beating out singles from Siamese Dream and the band’s follow-up double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Judging from some early discussion since this rate was announced, some of you seem pretty excited to rate “Mayonnaise.” While Mellon Collie took the band to the height of their popularity, Siamese Dream is often regarded as their masterpiece and one of the best rock albums of the 90s.
Will we be sweet sweet to the Pumpkins? The rater in me is the rater in you, I’ll send this ballot over to you
Tracklist: Cherub Rock Quiet Today Hummer Rocket Disarm Soma Geek U.S.A. Mayonaise Spaceboy Silverfuck Sweet Sweet Luna
U2 - Zooropa Formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1976, U2 (Bono on vocals, The Edge on guitar, Adam Clayton on bass, and Larry Mullen Jr. on drums) have become the top-selling Irish musical act of all-time, with an estimated 170+ million records sold. Across the 80s, U2 evolved their early post-punk sound to the anthemic rock of The Joshua Tree. While touring America for that album, the band recorded Rattle and Hum, a hybrid live/studio record (and accompanying concert film) which documented the tour and the group’s fascination with American roots music. Despite the album’s commercial success, most consider it a misguided failure. Even Bono admitted at their final show for the album’s Lovetown Tour that “we have to go away and dream it all up again.”
1993’s Zooropa catches U2 at their most adventurous. 1991’s Acthung Baby and its subsequent Zoo TV tour rebranded the band for the new decade. While they continued working with Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, they updated their sound with influences from electronic, dance, and industrial music. On stage, they dabbled in irony to counter the sincerity of their 80s output with Bono playing characters such as The Fly and Macphisto. Emboldened by the critical and commercial success of this album and tour, they began working on a promotional EP during a break between Zoo TV tour legs. Despite working quickly in the studio, this EP expanded into a full-length album, requiring the band to travel between concerts and the studio in Dublin to finish working on the album during the first month of the “Zooropa” leg.
Zooropa finally arrived in July of 1993 and it shows the band doubling down on their early 90s ideas. The sound of the album, built from loops of soundcheck jamming and leftover sketches from Achtung Baby, ventures even further from traditional rock instrumentation and songwriting, bolstered by production from Brian Eno, Flood (moving from an engineering to production role), and The Edge, credited as a producer for his first time. The fragmented nature of the album’s production is reflected in the eclectic tracklist which bounces between the multi-movement art-rock of the title track, dancefloor fillers like “Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car,” and ballads like “For the First Time” and “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” Unique vocal choices like The Edge’s spoken-word rapping on lead-single “Numb,” Bono’s falsetto on “Lemon,” and a Johnny Cash feature on closer “The Wanderer” help the album feel more varied than U2’s previous material. The album’s lyrics often examine Zoo TV’s concepts of “sensory overload” and technology more explicitly than Achtung Baby.
While U2 are reluctant to acknowledge Zooropa now (likely influenced by the failure of 1997’s Pop, a rushed, mixed bag of an album that stretched audience’s tolerance for 90s U2’s tendency toward electronic music and irony to a Rattle and Hum-like breaking point) the album was successful when it came out. Zooropa debuted at number one in several countries and finished ninth on 1993’s Pazz and Jop poll. It would also go on to win this GRAMMY award for Best Alternative Music album, with Bono shrugging on stage, shouting out Smashing Pumpkins, and promising to “the young people of America” that they will “continue to abuse our position and fuck up the mainstream” in his acceptance speech. (https://youtu.be/-DNXfFy8Ido?t=69)
Will U2 stay the champions in our rate or will they be faraway so close to the top?
Tracklist: Zooropa Babyface Numb Lemon Stay (Faraway, So Close!) Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car Some Days Are Better Than Others The First Time Dirty Day The Wanderer
Bonus Rate Since this rate is 5 albums instead of the usual 4, a bonus rate has been omitted.

I requested a DVRO. It was denied. I sent it to another DV org and had it looked over by the police. They believe because I used screen grabs as supporting evidence that didn't have sufficient date/time stamps.
I want to file the full .txt transcripts with date and time stamps as supporting documentation prior to trial (I have time to meet the 5 day requirement.)

• Do I do that as an "exhibit" via efile?
• Can I include SMS, Facebook Messenger, and emails with timestamps on one exhibit?
• Do I need to "serve" that in any way (eg: the trial stuff I had to hire a process server to hand-serve.)
• I now have two police reports pending-- one that is still in "report" stage and another that has been forwarded to the district attorney with recommendation of charges. I would like to wait and bring those to trial in triplicate, vs efile them now, in case anything is added or changes before trial. Will they be admissable?

I am also going to call the county self-help desk Monday.
Thank you!

Order, Order.
We turn now to a Stage 1 Debate on SB229 in the name of the Scottish National Party. The question is that this Parliament approves the general principles of the Digital Library Service (Scotland) Bill

Digital Library Service (Scotland) Bill

An Act of the Scottish Parliament to establish a Scottish Digital Library Service; and for connected purposes.
Section 1: Scottish Digital Library Service
(1) There shall exist a body called the Scottish Digital Library Service, in this Act called "the Service".
(2) The purpose of the Service is to—

(a) promote the digitisation of applicable works by Scottish libraries;
(b) assist libraries with this digitisation; and
(c) make digitised copies of applicable works available to the Scottish public.

(3) The Service shall consist of the Chairperson and a number of other members not exceeding 8.
(4) The Chairperson shall be appointed by the Cabinet Secretary and the other members of the Service shall be appointed by the Chairperson.
Section 2: Digitisation of library contents
(1) In this Act "applicable work" means any work to which the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 applies.

(a) However, "applicable work" does not include any work which cannot be digitised or which would be damaged by the process of digitisation, even if the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 would apply to that work.

(2) By 1st January 2025 libraries must ensure that at least 50% of applicable works are available in a digital format.
(3) By 1st January 2030 libraries must ensure that all applicable works are available in a digital format.
(4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply to the National Library of Scotland.
(5) By 1st January 2030 the National Library of Scotland must ensure that at least 50% of applicable works are available in a digital format.
(6) By 1st January 2040 the National Library of Scotland must ensure that at least all applicable works are available in a digital format.
(7) The Service must assist libraries in digitisation by providing—

(a) equipment,
(b) expertise, and
(c) funding

to libraries where necessary.
Section 3: Unification of digital collections
(1) The Service must maintain a website on which Scottish people can access works held by libraries that have been digitised.
(2) The Service must create an app to allow access to digitised works from mobile devices.
(3) Libraries must provide copies of their digitised works to the Service to be added to its website and app.
Section 4: Consequential
(1) Section 5(1) of the Heritage Expansion (Scotland) Bill is amended to read—

(1) This Act may be cited as the National Museums Scotland & National Library of Scotland Expansion (Scotland) Act 2022.

(2) Section 3(2) of the National Museums Scotland & National Library of Scotland Expansion (Scotland) Act 2022 is repealed.
Section 5: Commencement
This Act enters into force on the day six months after it passes.
** Section 6: Short title**
This Act may be cited as the Digital Library Service (Scotland) Act 2023.
This bill was written by the Rt. Hon. Dame Faelif CB GBE PC MP MLA MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Culture, on behalf of the Scottish National Party. It is inspired by the National Digital Library Service Bill.
Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003
National Museums Scotland & National Library of Scotland Expansion (Scotland) Act 2022
Opening Speech by Faelif:
[Leas-]Oifigear-Riaghlaidh,
Over the last few years it has become increasingly obvious that more and more Scottish people are relying on digital access to public services. Be it remote working, food delivery apps or video calls, more and more is being done over the Internet rather than in person. But libraries haven’t kept up - to take out a book one must still physically go to a library and literally speaking take out the book. The technology is there to enable online access - all it really requires is a website and a photocopier, in most cases - but this simply hasn’t yet happened.
Inspired by similar efforts in England, this Bill would require public libraries to put digitisation procedures in place, and sets out a timescale for this to occur. There’s a different timescale for the National Library of Scotland due to the size of the task, though it is my belief that this remains eminently possible - it just gives more leeway to the Library due to its holding significantly more stock than the average public library. It also creates the Scottish Digital Library Service to coordinate these efforts and provide a single unified website and app for Scots to access library books.
Oifigear-Riaghlaidh, I hope this is a measure that Members of all political persuasions can get behind - the free and unfettered access to information is an incredibly important part of building a fairer society.
Debate on this bill will end at the close of business on 7th June at 10pm BST.

I’m a beginner. Woman.
My goals is to lose weight (diet changes and cardio) and build muscle for strength.
My current body is flubber and I’m about 50 lbs overweight.
My current workout plan at gym includes weights 4 days a week (cardio about 3 days). I’d love thoughts on if this weight resistance plan is enough.
My goal is to progressively increase the weights per machine about every three weeks 5-20lbs (depending on machine)
Currently I do 3 sets of 10 reps per machine (no free weights - not a fan at this stage)
I’m not designating days as leg or arm days yet as I seem to do fine mixing.
Tricep extension (40lbs) Chest Press (15lbs) Lat Pull-down (85lbs) Torso Rotation (90lbs - on each side) Tricep Press (50 lbs) Seated Leg Press (130lbs)
Is this good?

I have realized my preferences, ideas of fun, and ideas for improvement differ from most, on the topic of Vr and what I want "out of the experience". My first gaming system was a Sega genesis, got that when i was around 5 years old. With sonic 2. Good old days... So naturally I came into gaming before 3d really even made it to consols, I remember once it did, (playstation) , and then Nintendo 64.. those were amazing times, and the way games were made and structured (level design, music, story, artistic direction) IN MY OPINION, was more creative, fun, and replayable. Of course I'm not discounting the greats like halo, etc etc. But there is some thing about the NON super realistic graphics that has a place in my heart.
So as to not drag this on TOO far about retro gaming, lets connect the two (retro gaming and VR)
I find the hyper realism in so many games, and the cookie cutter setup of game play and story and etc, is making gaming boring.
I'm afraid we may be going that same route with VR. See, my foray into vr was not inspired by ready player one. I actually have never seen the movie. But it seems most large vr content creators like to reference the movie and their hopes to be able to "full dive". Where as I'm enjoying this stage of vr. I do wish there were more games and more creative content, but I feel we are so focused on making the tech better, or making the graphics look better, we are enjoying what we have as much, or being as creative with it.
DONT GET ME WRONG, I'm not saying I don't want that [full dive] available, or that it shouldn't be. But, I'm not really into replacing reality with vr. I don't want to sound pretentious about that, but it's just... not my thing.
And so, games being hyper realistic in vr doesn't really excite me, or the whole , "physics based game play for immersion" Is not the pennacle of vr gaming for me. It is cool some times. But I find it makes melee combat feel silly.
I just want good games with fun game play mechanics, and that aren't all cookie cutter, or take 15 years to develop bc they look like real life, but the game play is bland and predictable.
Vr has so much potential, we all say that and mean it. But I think maybe our definitions of potential may vary. I don't think any of us are wrong.
And I'm not saying I wouldn't want to "full dive" sky dive. Or some thing like that.
But I am saying, I'm not clocking every new vr development hoping that it gets me closer to (full dive)
I'll try to wrap this up, I also prefer my rift cv1, over my quest 2 for PC vr.
There is some thing about the quest 2 I just can't put my finger on... that doesn't hit the spot in terms of feeling as good as my cv1. Idk if it's field of view, or maybe I can get my IPD Perfect with the cv1 but not Q2, or compression from airlink/link cable... idk. But I sincerely hope for more PC vr headsets that are affordable. I don't really care much about pixel density as much as I care about field of view and outside in tracking.
This is getting long I suck at expressing my thoughts And I hope I don't come off as a butthole or opinionated. I want all of us with our different preferences to have options. I want all of us to win!