Reading through various white papers on data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the like reveals the strange and terrifying totalitarian system that's rapidly evolving towards human imperceptibility.
THE EVOLVING ROLE OF OPEN-SOURCE INTELLIGENCE

The intelligence environment has been significantly changed over recent years by many factors, including tech-savvy threat actors, the rapid spread of online communications, increased societal unrest and changing geopolitical dynamics. Government and corporate sectors alike are facing an increasing volume and diversity of threats to their communities and businesses.
These threats, combined with masses of data from exploding numbers of online platforms, create a perfect storm of challenges for intelligence teams. As the threat landscape evolves, the technology used to uncover these threats must also evolve - that is where advanced open-source intelligence (OSINT) solutions play an increasingly critical role. Open-source intelligence, often referred to as a subset of digital intelligence, is the process of collecting, analyzing, and extracting meaningful insights from publicly available data sources, including social media, news feeds, blog sites, discussion forums, and more. Terrorist groups, human trafficking networks, politically motivated extremist groups, and other criminals and threat actors are radicalizing, advertising, recruiting, and planning across a constantly evolving range of websites and social media platforms across the Surface, Deep and Dark Web, often communicating in ways that make it difficult for intelligence and law enforcement organizations to monitor their activities and understand the nature of these threats at any given moment.
The sheer volume and complexity of data presents significant challenges - monitoring online platforms and uncovering critical insights is beyond human scale and any attempt to simplify masses of data looking for anything interesting will inevitably lead to false positives and (worse still) operator burnout. This is driving a need for the advanced, AI-enabled insights into masses of online data that open-source intelligence technology delivers.
OSINT is emerging as an invaluable primary intelligence source across law enforcement, intelligence, defense, security vetting, and corporate agencies worldwide. To showcase best practices for applying OSINT to some of the world’s biggest challenges, this section explores several key use cases: — violent extremist threat monitoring, — security vetting/insider threat, — assistance to law enforcement and — corporate supply chain protection
…meme culture is where AI-enabled risk analytics prove to be invaluable in interpreting threats that appear in the form of images, videos, written text, or digital network connections. For example, Fivecast OSINT solutions have been proven to save analyst teams hours and days of manual data manipulation with ongoing, repeatable, and automated collection and assessment of these diverse data mediums, presented in a way that makes assessment efficient. The customizable risk detection framework rapidly surfaces content of interest, including user-defined keywords, phrases, and quotes in posts, while automatically assessing images and videos for objects, memes, concepts, logos, and text (extracted through optical character recognition) of interest.
…as specialist OSINT companies move into this space, with tailored products to keep pace with the vetting, revalidation, and now continuous vetting requirements of governments and corporates, the interest in online data for vetting and insider threat use cases is steadily growing.
Continuous vetting is the ongoing, “light-touch” monitoring of security clearance holders, a considered move away from the flawed paradigm of assessing a security clearance at intervals of five and ten years. Although still in its conceptual phase in Australia, the United States is moving ahead at pace.
In October 2021, William Lietzau, the Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, said approximately 4 million defense personnel, including military, civilians and contractors, are subject to their continuous vetting program, which is part of the agency’s Trusted Workforce 2.0 initiative and security clearance process.
…If Alshamrani’s (a person accused of terrorism) account had been continuously monitored, it is likely his online activity would have alerted defense vetting agencies well before the attack took place.
OSINT is well established as a source of intelligence in law enforcement, both within Australian and partner agencies overseas. In part, this early formalization of OSINT as a primary intelligence source was necessary due to the “Going Dark” phenomenon. Going Dark was a term first coined in 2015 by then Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey to describe the effect of major telecommunications providers – device manufacturers and app developers alike – enabling end-toend encryption by default across their product ranges. The effect was to freeze out (almost totally) telecommunications intercept, the ‘wiretap’ capability, and digital forensics, the capability to ‘crack’ devices in use by criminals.
Without this baseload data collection, law enforcement rapidly pivoted to alternatives, implementing strong collection and assessment of publicly available online data to provide that broad awareness of the criminal milieu so critical to effective investigations …: OSINT directly assists surveillance by building out a target’s pattern of life prior to a team deploying in the field offering critical insights such as networks of likely social interactions, frequented locations, propensity for violence, or access to weapons. The same can be said in support of human source recruitment and management, where OSINT can be used to passively observe any changes in the interactions, motivations, and activities of an individual that may be of concern to their case officehandler.
…The ANOM app: instead of providing secure communication, it was actually a trojan horse covertly distributed by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), enabling them to monitor all communications.

CORPORATE & SUPPLY CHAIN

Fivecast was tasked to seek out supply chain risk for a global corporate in vehicle manufacturing.
By examining the company’s various subsidiaries’ official presence across three key social media platforms, analysts were able to quickly establish that protest activity was occurring against one of their manufacturing plants in Germany. Although, at the surface level, this protest activity appeared to be organized by a local trade union, Fivecast was able to establish a deeper underlying motivation by exploring the online activity of the key news agency promoting this protest activity – Rote Fahne News, the news arm of the Marxist-Leninist party of Germany. From a broad brief to discover supply chain risk across a broad portfolio, OSINT was able to establish the threat, its location, and its underlying motivation
Previously the domain of well-managed telecommunications intercept, which has all but “gone dark”, enterprise-level OSINT systems are the obvious replacement to fill that data collection gap. OSINT will become the backbone for data collection on which investigations are built. Rapidly scalable, automated, high reliability, cloud-hosted OSINT systems able to reach online data anywhere (from anywhere) will capture the digital patterns of life of an individual out to 1000s of persons of interest at once.
Machine Learning is a current application of AI-based around the idea that we should really just be able to give machines access to data and let them learn for themselves. A simple way that Fivecast defines AI/ML in OSINT is any capability informed by a model that is “trained”. In this regard, there are a range of capabilities available in advanced OSINT tools now:
— Image detection and classification (including facial recognition) – searches of complete and partial images against mass datasets to return high accuracy matches. — Automated person of interest resolution – taking basic biodata of an entity/entities, finding new data and resolving it to those entities with high accuracy. — Logo detection – recognizing simple and complex (e.g. on clothing) logos in images. — Sentiment and emotion – detection and assessment of sentiment (positive/negative) and key emotions (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness) in text. — Text similarity – understanding the content and context of passages of text and finding similar meanings in other text (e.g. identifying threats of violence).
These capabilities are all loosely clustered around sifting and sorting functions – how to make the data haystack as manageable as possible for analysts and investigators. In the coming five years, we will very likely see a transition in the focus of the AI/ML from assistance to decision-making. The size of the data haystack is already well beyond human scale, regardless of your intelligence mission. Perhaps discomforting for some, but that point is approaching where the volume (and complexity) of final decision making will be too much - OSINT tools become so good at finding what the intelligence user demands that the tool must also make increasingly complex decisions on what to do with that data output.

Game-Changing, Actionable Intelligence with AI-Driven Computer Vision

Computer vision is a field of artificial intelligence that trains computers to interpret and understand the visual world. Using digital images from cameras and videos and deep learning models, machines can accurately identify and classify objects — and then react to what they “see.”
Data-driven organizations across all industries are unlocking actionable intelligence from real-time video data coupled with other edge sensor data like audio and biometrics, artificial intelligence (AI), and high-performance edge computing. Adding stored historical data enables a powerful method of using deep learning techniques on videos and digital images known as computer vision, and it’s not only transforming organizations, but more importantly, it’s changing how they build or deliver a product or service. According to IDC, forward-looking organizations that maximize their data to generate insights are two times more profitable and see eight times more growth than their peers.
Computer vision capabilities are fast becoming a significant contributor to that end. Analysts at Omdia expect the global computer vision software market to reach $33.5 billion by 2025 (growing at 42.1 percent year over year). Connecting computer vision to the edge directly impacts what customers do to drive revenue in their organizations. Whether it’s gaining a greater knowledge of customer behavior within a retail space, predicting failures in oil and gas pipelines, controlling autonomous vehicles in a smart city, or managing traveler flow in an airport, private and public organizations of all sizes are capitalizing on the petabytes of audio-visual data captured daily
Historical data can be used as a training archive to develop increasingly accurate models for compelling insights.
government agencies need real-time monitoring at public events or for agriculture, construction, or mining organizations requiring immediate response to system failures in the field
An agile edge-to-core computer vision platform and framework allow cognitive insights to be generated close to the data sources and saved for later use The addition of new systems designed to enhance protection can actually add security gaps and holes if they are not well integrated.
…an environment susceptible to ‘monitoring fatigue’.

Monitoring behaviors - from vehicles to people

Information technology and telecom, energy, banking and finance, transportation and border security, water, and emergency services. These critical infrastructures share a common threat of vandalism, theft and attack coupled with concerns for regulatory compliance and the liability associated with trespassing. By adding advanced perimeter security solutions, these sites can detect intruders before they breach the perimeter.
Radar detection solutions that warn of fast-approaching vehicles coupled with license plate recognition solutions can provide both advanced warning of an imminent threat and the analytics to quickly react to and mitigate potentially dangerous situations. AI-powered heat mapping and behavior analysis tools can also amplify a security team’s ability to proactively assess threats through crowd-gather alerts, wrong-way travel, and other data-driven information.
Milestone revolutionized the industry by leading the transformation from analog to IP cameras. The transformation set the stage for modern video surveillance technology. In 2014, Canon acquired Milestone…By 2019, our net revenue reached just over 143 million USD…by 2022, 215 million USD. …Today, we are present in 25 countries and with partners and customers in nearly every corner of the world.
Data-driven video technology increases the value of video streams—traditionally utilized for safety and security purposes—by combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) with video technology. For example, by adding Artificial Intelligence to the mix, we are getting things like Adaptive Video Analytics, which allow users to calibrate the AI model deployed at various sites. In practice, this means that the industry will continue to move towards embedding self-learning, self-calibrating video analytic technology into cameras and other devices, allowing them to self-adjust to changing scene conditions. All that data will be captured by the Video Management Software (VMS). In the future, this data will improve the accuracy of Video Analytics and make the value of the video streams captured, organized, and archived by the VMS incredibly important. Data-driven video technology will truly “make the world see.”
Threats, unlike any previously imagined have become real and commonplace
Preventing access to physical machines and networking using biometric credentials is in keeping with a broader industry trend to phase out easily compromised techniques such as passwords and pins.
Security no longer involves simply physical access; it now must embrace digital access and the authorization to execute transactions and services using personal devices. Examples include leveraging biometrics built into mobile devices such as mobile phones and electronic wearables to provide real-time requests for authorization to complete transactions, access systems, or to move data. Electronic objects and networks which may be connected and accessed using personal electronics include:

-The onboard computer system in vehicles, such as automobiles and scooters
-Medical devices, both external and inside the body
-Financial accounts, payment systems, and healthcare systems
-Entertainment platforms, such as video games and television
-Exercise equipment
-Luggage tracking
-Home appliances and HVAC Systems
-Access control door readers with Bluetooth technology

In the world of digital security these are all considered “connected objects.” Biometric solutions play a mission critical role in the new world of “connected objects” to provide verification and trust (certainty) of an individual’s identity for frictionless, secure physical and digital access. Biometrics provides assurance that only an authorized individual can access their “connected objects.”

Security trends to watch for in 2023

2023 will see significant adoption of AI-based analytics in cameras and video management systems (VMS) as more manufacturers provide this feature within their standard camera lines. There are simply too many camera streams for humans to monitor effectively, so AI-based analytics will be a catalyst that enables security departments to do more with less.
Video surveillance for education must integrate easily with other security applications to extend the power of the system.
...ditching manual methods once and for all.
Successful businesses are preparing their operations for the future and want a video surveillance system that is AI capable and has the flexibility to run advanced analytics. Dynamic shifts over the past few years in the way the world does business forced companies to use technology in new ways. Video surveillance systems, once only used for security, are now a tool to help optimize business operations. Businesses want an AI-ready video surveillance system that will generate useful insights from gathered data.
Over 50% of businesses are using AI in some way, with more than 25% reporting widespread AI adoption within their company, according to a 2022 AI business survey by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The survey shows that businesses that are not already using AI know that new, modern technologies will automate their systems and processes in the future and are budgeting for the infrastructure now.
Video surveillance systems capable of running AI help businesses scale their ability to analyze and act on data. Advanced uses include systems that can automatically detect and send real-time alerts of security threats and gather data to provide useful information like peak foot traffic or customer wait times.
In 2022 inflation broke a 40-year high. There are few indications that consumers or businesses can expect inflation relief in the cost of goods and services in the near future. Security companies must find ways to increase revenue to compensate for the higher prices in materials, overhead increases, wage inflation, and the possible attrition of customers who need to “tighten the belt.”
According to the National Apartment Association (NAA), demand for apartments is at an all-time high. The demand is driven by a number of young adults aged 18 to 24 who are delaying home ownership and an aging population sometimes choosing to live in apartments.
Parks Associates research finds that 80% of property managers plan to implement smart home devices within the next 12 months, demonstrating a strong demand for automation and operational efficiency in the MDU space (living in an apartment with a roommate, basically).
Whether for a video doorbell or freestanding camera, manufacturers are improving pixel quality, night vision, thermal vision, camera view, camera durability, battery life, and A.I. detecting capabilities.
adoption of vehicle monitoring services is on the rise
almost 50% of apartment or townhome residents report having a package theft, while over 60% of condominium residents report having a package stolen.
Overall, Swiftlane estimates $6 billion worth of packages were stolen in 2020.
Frictionless Technology Keeps Gaining Momentum
Before the pandemic, the market was moving toward frictionless options, but COVID accelerated the need for touch-free technology. Today, the frictionless user experience is here to stay, the company says, because it delivers highly secure access using biometric identifiers that are unique to each individual, have greater ease of use, and can reduce the spread of germs.
The three primary technologies used to create a frictionless experience are iris scans, facial recognition and facial authentication. Iris scans have proven to help boost security, but adoption has lagged, given the disruption it creates for movement into secure areas. Facial recognition, primarily used in mass surveillance, has shown promise, but privacy concerns have slowed adoption.
And, with the introduction of facial authentication in everyday consumer products such as the iPhone, it is becoming the go-to technology to create a frictionless environment
When facial authentication is coupled with intelligent systems, not only can someone receive real-time security alerts when unauthorized access to restricted entrances occurs, but they also get actionable data to modify user behavior.
The security industry is innovating rapidly to provide new solutions that drive revenue and customer loyalty. Product features that are cutting edge today will be expected features in base model products. Dealers need to keep abreast of the latest innovations to source products that customers will start to demand
The impact on security dealers looks to be a net positive, as the major players in the home security space are currently seeing record highs in revenue despite slowed growth and times of economic uncertainty.

?????, ???????, Griffion territory
March 23rd, 2291
The Slepnir trotted down the destroyed snow-covered highway slowly.
"So a guy throws a ball at a guy holding a bat and the guy with the bat's job is to hit the ball out of the stadium?"
"Yes, that's called a home run."
"And that lets everyone standing on the bases run to home for free?"
"Yep, how did you never hear about baseball?
"Locked in a test chamber remember."
"Well yeah but still, I figured the scientists would mention it."
"It sounds fun, you should take me to a game when we get back."
"That's a promise, as long as you root for the Boneyard bashers."
"Who?"
"Nevermind. Listen I say we rest here for the night pick up in the morning."
Frank nudged the horse slightly and soon began to slowly lead it off the highway to a broken-down home.
"Which room do you want?"
"I'll take a top-floor one. Hopefully, there's a bed, unlike the last one."
Wendy hopped off the horse as Frank lifted open a garage door.
"Got any potatoes left?"
"Yeah let me grab it."
Wendy took her backpack off and reached inside. As she did Frank took the horse inside and left it unhitched.
"Last one."
"Well...it's fine give it to Unica...I hate that name still."
"Well, it's what I picked."
Wendy took the potato from the pouch and fed the mutant horse. Frank looked at Wendy and smiled from the inside of his helmet. As the horse gobbled down the last of the potato Wendy turned to face Frank who was taking out the pot and stove to cook.
"So where are we?"
"Should be near Denver"
"Then why does that sign say Wyoming?"
Frank looked up and followed Wendy's hand out to a sign by the start of the street. A small makeshift sign said Wyoming followed by gibberish. Frank took out the map he had stored with him and looked around.
....it's winter we're good.
"Alright, fuck me.....I took us the wrong way."
"What now?"
"Nothing. We just rest and go back to where. I'll stay guard when you go to sleep."
"Why?"
"I can find out where exactly we are...."
"Alright."
"Okay get inside quickly."
5 minutes later
Frank grumbled and groaned as he set up the cooking set and began cooking. Wendy held the 5.56 revolver as she stood guard, Frank seemed extra nervous he had locked the doors and even had his new colt revolver next to him hammer cocked.
"So what exactly is out here?"
"Nothing nice, we shouldn't have to worry but still."
"Okay..don't you think I ought to know-
"-Done."
Frank clattered the spoon on the pot as he called to her. She holstered the revolver and walked over.
"So what's on the menu today?"
"Chef Kingly proudly presents 200-year-old instant mash."
"Again?!"
She turned and sat down as he got her plate ready.
"Not my fault you wanted to take the shot on the radstag instead of letting me."
"I know but you couldn't have just made the mac and cheese?"
"I'm kidding it's Salisbury steak. Come on dig in."
Frank handed her a fork and the plate as she sighed.
"I believed you for a second."
"I know you did."
Frank cut a piece of meat off and shoved it into his mouth as he chuckled.
"Mmm (swallow) I remembered a joke..."
Frank cleared his throat as Wendy looked at him confused.
"Why was the mutant worried his friend was sick?"
"I......don't know why?"
"He was a little green."
Wendy groaned as she took a sip of water.
"That was awful."
"Oh please, you loved it."
Wendy smiled as she continued to eat.
"Get better material."
The two ate in silence before Wendy asked again.
"Do you know what FEV is?"
"Forced evolutionary virus, it's the thing that made all super mutants and gave you your abilities according to what I know about psykers...why do you ask?"
"Just curious."
"Yeah, we learned about the stuff in training, found out about it after Navarro...my mom was a trooper then."
"What was at Navarro?"
"Old Enclave research base forced people to evolve using the goop."
Wendy looked at her plate and then at Frank
"Frank, what's out there?" She said sternly
"Out where?"
Wendy pointed to the door behind her.
"You seemed nervous lately and even more now."
"Raptors...they're hybrid cat-bird things, according to our biologists back in California they're the same story as deathclaws. Some pre-war army bastards wanted expendable killing machines so turned to nature, mixed wild cats with old birds of prey, then they got a dose of FEV."
"Wait deathclaws were made with FEV?"
"Yeah...why do you think they're bullet resistant."
"I just thought they were tough-skinned....but you killed deathclaws with ease. Raptors can't be that big of an issue right?"
Frank ate a forkful before setting down the fork and plate.
"There were once a bunch of settlers and tribals up here in Wyoming. (Explains the wooden shacks we passed now.) Then someone had the bright idea of helping more of their kids survive."
"Why would they do that if they're so dangerous?"
"The eggs, raptor eggs usually don't all survive, those that do were the lucky ones. Arms dealers sell the young to the highest bidders. Raptors are vicious but can be tamed from birth if done right and used as living weapons, NCR polices them and makes sure no unauthorized folks get them."
Wendy looked at the window nervously.
"Our saving grace is its winter. It's too cold for most to leave their burrows so they hibernate, usually when the poachers go to find them. Most don't succeed."
"But they're animals...how are they so dangerous?"
"They're smart. Lead victims into ambushes. Their ears hear things better than ours. Even a low whisper can get you torn to shreds."
"What kind of ambushes?"
Frank chuckled as he took the pot off the stove and readied a new pot for coffee
"OK, try to imagine yourself as a person in power armor. You get your first look at this thing as you cross an abandoned street with say two other people. It looks like a small cat with wings and a bird face, feathers all up front then halfway looks like a small panther. It also moves like a cat, lightly moving back and forth its yellow soulless eyes on you. You stare at it, and it just stares right back as you level your weapon. And that's when the attack comes. Not from the front, but from the sides..."
Frank stirred the coffee powder into the water as he continued
"..from the other six you didn't even know were there. Because they're pack hunters. They use coordinated attack patterns and they are bloodthirsty. And they slash at you with this."
Frank drew his knife and spun it around
"...3 six-inch claws, like knives on each foot. They don't bother to slice your armor like other animals, they slash at you here, or here..."
Frank pointed to spots across his body with the knife, spots undefended by the armor, before continuing.
"They know exactly where to hit, they learned it. Then once you're immobilized they take their time. Peeling off the armor plating one piece at a time as you hear your friends blood gurgling screams. The point is, you are alive when they start to eat you. Nasty fuckers, always kill them on sight."
"Why are they only in Wyoming then?"
"They aren't, they're Colorado natives but they migrate, they prefer Idaho actually, and other mountain states. Last time I was through Albuquerque a whole flock tore the place up for a few days."
"Really? So that's why you asked me to be quieter near Saratoga?"
"Yep, another job for us rangers back west is pest control anything too big to deal with by locals is assigned to us. I killed 35 alone in California last year, they're just more aggressive the more east you go for some reason."
Wendy finished her food and then set the plate down, as she looked around her nervously
"Shouldn't we leave now instead of waiting then?"
"No, the big and dangerous are out at night. Those are the ones I've been looking out for."
"There's bigger?"
"Small ones are taken down easily. They vary between 2 feet tall and 6 feet tall. The rare ones are ten-foot beasts. We call them griffons. They're usually by the mountains or the ruins of big cities. They can't be bred or nurtured, we don't even know why they're huge. They usually hunt alone, use their strength to brute force any enemy they have, strong enough to take out super mutant behemoths if lucky."
"How?"
"They swoop down from above claw their skull in half in one swoop then fly away, and return for the corpse later. Saw it myself in a place in Dakota. They're different everywhere. Some in the Dakota rule as kinda chieftains perched up on those mountains with faces. The ones in Missouri kill everything that moves, even each other."
"They're slow at least right?"
"If you ever run into one alone you're gone, only a slepnier at full sprint can outrun it. They can take on everything directly except a deathclaw. If we ever wipe out the scaly bastards they're the next apex predator."
"How many have you killed."
Frank held up a single finger as he turned the pot. Wendy stared at the window, she heard a faint whooshing sound.
"Like I said we're fine. I've cut through here several times. They tend to stick to the same areas. Now get some rest I'll take watch."
1 hour later
Frank turned the pot of brew around as he looked at the map. He probably shared a little too much with Wendy but she needed the truth, it was his fault after all. How did he go the wrong way without knowing? He shouldn't have gotten them to the remnants of Laramie, it was a clear-cut road to Den-
Woosh
Frank's ears twitched as he looked up from the map he turned the stove off and covered the pot. Something was out there, he slowly approached the window with his helmet light off careful not to attract attention. A large silhouette stood bathed in the moonlight street investigating the hoove prints made by Unica.
Crap
Frank watched as the beast slowly followed the prints to the garage door. He grabbed Wendy's rifle and slowly cocked the bolt back as he gently lifted it to fire at the creature in front of him. The beast scratched its claw along the garage door leaving a sharp metal sound in the air.
Just as the rifle was set to fire into the creature's eye Frank heard something else, a small whine coming from the garage. Almost instantaneous the beast tore through the flimsy garage door and rushed the defenseless horse inside with a loud screech only capable of an apex predator.
Oh shit!
Frank held the rifle in his hand as he stared at the door to the garage. The blood-curdling scream of the horse went silent and all that remained was the ragged tearing of flesh and the snapping of bones. Frank kept his eye on the door as he slowly made his way up the staircase, he tried his best to stay quiet, taking a few steps every minute, and after 4 minutes he was finally at the top.
"Fra-"
Frank held his hand out shushing the frightened girl. He moved over to the room she was in and slowly entered with her behind him as he closed the door.
creak
Frank stopped in his tracks as the sounds of eating stopped. A low bird cry broke the silence and then tapping, it heard them and was now investigating further. Frank signaled Wendy to grab the revolver in her holster and ready it as the beast sniffed around. Frank pushed the door open slightly more and in seconds the beast tore through the wooden door that led to the garage.
Wendy let out a small gasp muffled by her hand as the beast paraded around the downstairs portion of the house. We dy mouthed towards Frank.
Is that a
He nodded
White feathers covered the head and half of the torso of the beast, think black fur covered the rest. A sharp yellow beak prodded at the pots and pans. The 6 claws of the front legs tapped away at the floor. Frank took a small step out of the room and readied the rifle. He aimed for the eye as the beast examined the stove. The griffon opened the small pot full of hot coffee brew and stuck its beak in, it pulled back rapidly knocking the tin over and letting out a scream of pain. Frank took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger, the bullet soared out of the barrel and hit the creature...in the neck.
SCREECH!
The creature ran up the stairs towards the two as fast as possible. Frank cycled another round and fired it into the creature to little effect. Wendy and Frank fired again and again till it was right on him. He dodged to the left as it pounced towards him, its hind legs knocking him to the side and down the stairs as it turned to face Wendy.
Wendy screamed as the beast stood in front of her. She threw the now empty revolver and stuck her hand out as she fired a large burst of electricity at the beast who quickly ducked into a side room. The griffon then stuck its head back out as Wendy panted. She watched it slowly come out of the room and just stare at her almost frightened.
tiink
A bolt slammed into the wall as Frank extended his robotic arm toward the griffon. He fired another shot hitting the animal in the neck again, the griffon flew down the stairs and pinned Frank to the ground by the neck as it screeched into his face. Its talons digging in but merely holding him. It turned back around and screeched up towards Wendy who looked down at the creature.
"No!"
The creature loosened its grip on Frank and screeched back up at her. As she made her way down the stairs. Rifle in hand.
"Let go of him!"
The creature stepped off of Frank who took a deep breath of air.
"Stay right there!"
The griffon sat on its hind legs as Wendy helped Frank up.
"Are you talking to that thing?!"
"Kinda...."
The griffon snarled as Frank stood up.
"She's still pissed at you."
"I can tell."
Frank massaged his neck as he looked at the beast.
"How are you doing that?"
"I don't know we just....understand."
"Huh.....you're still full of surprises kid...Well, tell her to get lost..."
"I don't think she'd listen."
The griffon screeched at Frank, who in response took a step back.
"Well she can't stay here....and I don't want her to either, besides she killed Unica..."
"And you shot her like 8 times."
"Are you defending this thing?!"
"Look, I think if we help her out she'll help us out..."
"How do you suppose we help her out?!"
Wendy slung the rifle over her shoulder and slowly approached the creature.
"Wendy!"
"It's fine...I think the FEV is acting as a kinda bond thing...I think."
"That is the stupidest thing I've heard....it's going to kill you now back up now!"
Frank drew the revolver from his holster and aimed at the griffon, the beast stood and roared at him.
"Frank!"
"I'm not letting this stupid thing be the death of us...now get back next to me before this thing gets hungry again."
"Frank! Put the gun down!"
Wendy moved closer to the griffon that simply stared at her, she reached towards its neck and grabbed the bolt lodged in it.
"This will hurt...Frank stimpak..."
"What?"
"Stimpak...toss me one."
"I.."
"Do you trust me?"
"Fine.."
Frank holstered the revolver and reached into his satchel and pulled out a stim throwing it to Wendy. Wendy caught it and then turned to the beast.
"This will only hurt just a little."
She yanked the bolt out and the griffon screeched into the air, Wendy quickly injected the stim before backing up. The griffon flapped its wings knocking Frank over. It rose a few feet in the air before slamming back down onto the ground. It turned to Wendy and bowed toward her.
"You're welcome..."
Frank stood back up. And turned to Wendy taking his helmet off.
"So what did that do... besides waste a stim."
"She trusts us...well me more than you.."
"And how does that help us?"
Wendy turned to Frank and then back to the winged beast.
"Oooh no, oooh no I'm not getting on that thing! Are you crazy?!"
"Frank this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience...you said it yourself Griffons usually attack anything well this one is helping us."
"Only help this one is doing is helping itself to a free lunch when it drops us from 100 feet up."
"She wouldn't do that...right girl."
Wendy stroked the griffon's feathers.
"Okay don't do that, that thing just killed Unica....and probably has kill a lot of other people."
"You said it yourself she's an apex predator she hunts...Unica was prey...it's faster than walking...and safer."
"You're a cold child and I'll take my chances on the ground."
"Oh come on."

"No, end of the story."

The next morning
"How the hell did you talk me into this."
Frank muttered as he climbed aboard the feathery giant as it knelt.
"Relax she can tell you're scared."
"Of course I'm scared, I've seen what these things can do."
"Ya hear that girl, big bad ranger is scared of you."
Wendy rubbed the beak of the griffon as she talked cutesy to it.
"Stop doing that?!"
"Frank if she was gonna eat us she had all night."
"I was up all night keeping watch. And she spilled my coffee."
"Relax already. Diana won't kill you, she trusts us, now grab the reigns and try and ride her steady."
Frank grumbled as he grab the reigns and tapped Diana with the heel of his shoe. Instantly the beast turned its head around and stared at Frank.
"Sorry!"
Frank turned to the young girl at his side.
"Wendy how the hell am I supposed to do this?!"
"If you can't do it how can I?"
Frank sighed as he gently took the reigns once more.
"How did you even get this on her?"
"She let me."
"Oh she let you....that is such crap."
He looked down at the bird and sighed as he shook the reigns gently and leaned down to the beast's cat-like eye.
"Alright....we probably got off on the wrong foot let's just call it even and..."
Frank tapped the griffon gently on the side and it began to walk forward, he pulled the reigns slightly right and it turned accordingly.
"Holy shit!"
Frank smiled brightly as he looked at his accomplishment. He was on a fucking griffon and it wasn't trying to kill him.
"I'm doing it!"
"You look like a kid learning how to ride a bike."
"Shut it. Do you even know how to ride a bike?"
"Yeah, Sarah taught me."
Frank looked down at the beast and chuckled.
"Alright let's see about going a bit faster."
He whipped the reign gently.
SCREECH!
Diana threw Frank off and extended her wings as she took off into the air and then down into the tree line.
"What the hell did you do?!"
"I just whipped the reign gently."
Frank got up and wiped the dirt off his duster as shots rang out in the air.
"RUN GRIFFO-!"
More gunshots rang out from the tree lime, Frank drew his revolver and ran towards the trees followed by Wendy. The two ran through bushes as they came across a small clearing where Diana stood ripping apart a small squad of men, some already dead one man about to die as she flung him into the air. Frank watched as the griffon tore through the remainder of them with ease. The last person wore a suit of power armor and was now pinned to the ground as the beast squeezed
"Stop!"
Diana looked up to where the shout came from and saw Wendy. Walking towards her Frank followed close behind.
"She heard them."
"Yeah, no shit, who are they though?"
Wendy looked down at the last person and looked into their visor.
"Hey who are you?"
The person's eyes were still focused on the griffon.
"Hello!?"
"Please just let me...it's you, Dorkins is right....you're perfect."
"What?"
Wendy looked up at Frank who looked at the person through his visor.
"Wendy let me talk to her. Go...go loot the dead."
"Alright...?"
Wendy stood up and walked away as Frank and Diana remained. Frank knelt and tore the helmet off the frightened attacker with his metal arm. A woman with tribal-like markings on her face lay there still frightened.
"I take it you're a part of the Putrescent Mother thing.....why are you guys after her?"
"She's the one.....she's the perfect form....."
"What?"
"She has granted you immunity to our charms...she has tamed this beast....she's perfect..."
"English please?"
"You're not protecting her....you're holding her back...she's perfect...."
Frank stood up and turned to Diana.
"Drop her!"
"What?!"
Diana unfurled her wings and clenched the woman by her power armor tearing it apart and then taking off into the sky the cultist screaming as they ascended.
"What was that about?"
"She was....they were raiders. Followed us from Utah. They weren't expecting the ambush from-"
"AAAHHHH!"
THUD
"-From her."
"Oh...well....now what?"
"I sat we let her snack a bit, she earned it...and then we practice a bit more..."
"Sounds good."

We have a great natural pet store for cats and dogs and nothing for reptiles. Like, it seems so dumb that I have to go to Medford to get feeder roaches for my beardie. If anyone has been thinking of opening a pet store that includes reptiles in Ashland, please know I’ll be your best customer and I will recommend you to my friends who also have to drive 25 minutes for a weeks worth of roaches (the roaches cost nearly the same in gas jfc and don’t get me STARTED on bus fare. People don’t like a bag of roaches on a bus anyway ok).
I have lived here my entire life but this valley continues to confound me. No reptile resources in Ashland??????? WHY

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Is Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Release Date?
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 10, 2023, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on March 31, 2023, by Paramount Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics.
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No, Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves will not be available on Netflix — at least not anytime soon, since it will be heading straight to Peacock after its theatrical release. In the
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Is Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves streaming on HBO Max?No, Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves will not be on HBO Max since it’s not a Warner Bros. movie. While the company previously released its movies on HBO Max and in theaters on
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Is Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves Available Streaming on Paramount Plus At the time of writing, there is no official streaming release date for Dungeons & Dragons Honor
Among Thieves. However, if we look back at the gap between Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves (2022) hitting movie theaters, before becoming available to stream on Paramount Plus, we can make some guesses as to when it will be up for streaming.
Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves (2023) was released on January 14, before arriving on Paramount Plus on March 8. This means there were 53 days between the big screen release, and the streaming release. The film was also available to buy digitally a week before it landed on Paramount Plus, on March 1. With that in mind, we can expect Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves to be available to stream on Paramount Plus around May 2, 2023.
Paramount Pictures has said in the past, however, that most of their films will be available to stream exclusively on Paramount Plus after a 45-day theatrical window. If this is the case for Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves, it may arrive earlier than expected, on or around April 24, 2023.
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Is Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves streaming on Video?
Amazon Prime Video subscribers might be disappointed because ‘Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves’ is not a part of the streaming giant’s library. Alternatively, you have the option to
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The bad news is that the movie is not likely to come to Prime Video. Paramount Pictures movies used to head to Amazon Prime Video about a year after the theatrical release, but that’s changed with a lot of movies recently. Instead of heading to Prime Video, they’ve gone to Paramount+.
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Viewers are saying that they want to view the new movie Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves on Hulu. Unfortunately, this is not possible since Hulu currently does not offer any of the
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Is Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves Streaming Online?
Well, not right now. In terms of the streaming release, Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves will most likely follow the 45-day theatrical window before being available to stream online. Due to Amazon’s multi-billion dollar acquisition of MGM (the franchise’s production company), it’s most likely that Prime Video will be the main platform that will stream Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves VI.
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You can watch Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves using the on-demand feature if you have a traditional cable subscription that includes TNT, truTV or TBS. Currently, it’s available
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If you’re looking for a streaming service that’ll act as a cable replacement, Sling ($40/month) and Hulu + Live TV ($69.99/month) are both great options that include TNT and TBS. These services also come with on-demand capabilities that’ll let you watch Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves.
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At some point in my youth I heard the old cliché that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” For me—and probably for a great many other dorks—this was a moment of great clarity. You see,
as a veteran of many noble campaigns in far-flung realms, I was already familiar with the concept of a Beholder—a giant, nefarious living eyeball (also known as an Eye Tyrant or Sphere
of Many Eyes) from the original Monster Manual, Gary Gygax’s hardbound collection of foes one might face in the world of (what was then called) Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Lo! How
this fiendish creature dwelled in my nightmares, ready to pounce should I ever let down my guard! With great excitement, though, I proclaim that l’essence du Beholder is redolent in the thrilling and enjoyable Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. The entire picture exudes the wide-eyed (some might say immature) wonderment found around slobbering beasts and
magic spells. No, you absolutely do not need to know a thing about D&D to like this. But if you
have a familiarity with the Forgotten Realms, the 1980s D&D cartoon show, or if you’re just a Led Zeppelin fan, there’s something here for you. Otherwise, there’s too much going on to ever
feel left out.

I am looking to purchase quite a few house plants and i am wondering where should I purchase them from. I am located in East Brunswick so any recommendations near by other than the big box stores would be much appreciated. also willing to drive to buy fun looking plants.
THANKS

It always was a dream for me to be able to draw on iPad. It seems like such a versatile tool and it also looks quite nice. In store a seller showed me the difference between a normal pre gen10 iPad and an iPad air 4 and 5 and pro. The iPad air seemed like there was not much space between the screen and the actual glass. And it was much responsive and better to use. However the comparisons were done by using an Apple pencil 2. Which, due to the price, am not really considering.
So I'm asking, will an apple stylus alternative change the 3ms pen latency of the tablet?

“I, SILVERDENE EMBLEM O'NEILL (familiarly known to my family, friends, and acquaintances as Blemie), because the burden of my years and infirmities is heavy upon me, and I realize the end of my life is near, do hereby bury my last will and testament in the mind of my Master. He will not know it is there until after I am dead. Then, remembering me in his loneliness, he will suddenly know of this testament, and I ask him then to inscribe it as a memorial to me.
I have little in the way of material things to leave. Dogs are wiser than men. They do not set great store upon things. They do not waste their days hoarding property. They do not ruin their sleep worrying about how to keep the objects they have, and to obtain the objects they have not. There is nothing of value I have to bequeath except my love and my faith. These I leave to all those who have loved me, to my Master and Mistress, who I know will mourn me most, to Freeman who has been so good to me, to Cyn and Roy and Willie and Naomi and -- But if I should list all those who have loved me, it would force my Master to write a book. Perhaps it is vain of me to boast when I am so near death, which returns all beasts and vanities to dust, but I have always been an extremely lovable dog.
I ask my Master and Mistress to remember me always, but not to grieve for me too long. In my life I have tried to be a comfort to them in time of sorrow, and a reason for added joy in their happiness. It is painful for me to think that even in death I should cause them pain. Let them remember that while no dog has ever had a happier life (and this I owe to their love and care for me), now that I have grown blind and deaf and lame, and even my sense of smell fails me so that a rabbit could be right under my nose and I might not know, my pride has sunk to a sick, bewildered humiliation. I feel life is taunting me with having over-lingered my welcome. It is time I said good-bye, before I become too sick a burden on myself and on those who love me. It will be sorrow to leave them, but not a sorrow to die.
Dogs do not fear death as men do. We accept it as part of life, not as something alien and terrible which destroys life. What may come after death, who knows? I would like to believe with those of my fellow Dalmatians who are devout Mohammedans, that there is a Paradise where one is always young and full-bladdered; where all the day one dillies and dallies with an amorous multitude of houris, beautifully spotted; where jack rabbits that run fast but not too fast (like the houris) are as the sands of the desert; where each blissful hour is mealtime; where in long evenings there are a million fireplaces with logs forever burning, and one curls oneself up and blinks into the flames and nods and dreams, remembering the old brave days on earth, and the love of one's Master and Mistress. I am afraid this is too much for even such a dog as I am to expect. But peace, at least, is certain. Peace and long rest for weary old heart and head and limbs, and eternal sleep in the earth I have loved so well. Perhaps, after all, this is best.
One last request I earnestly make. I have heard my Mistress say, "When Blemie dies we must never have another dog. I love him so much I could never love another one." Now I would ask her, for love of me, to have another. It would be a poor tribute to my memory never to have a dog again. What I would like to feel is that, having once had me in the family, now she cannot live without a dog! I have never had a narrow jealous spirit. I have always held that most dogs are good (and one cat, the black one I have permitted to share the living room rug during the evenings, whose affection I have tolerated in a kindly spirit, and in rare sentimental moods, even reciprocated a trifle).
Some dogs, of course, are better than others. Dalmatians, naturally, as everyone knows, are best. So I suggest a Dalmatian as my successor. He can hardly be as well bred or as well mannered or as distinguished and handsome as I was in my prime. My Master and Mistress must not ask the impossible. But he will do his best, I am sure, and even his inevitable defects will help by comparison to keep my memory green. To him I bequeath my collar and leash and my overcoat and raincoat, made to order in 1929 at Hermes in Paris. He can never wear them with the distinction I did, walking around the Place Vendôme, or later along Park Avenue, all eyes fixed on me in admiration; but again I am sure he will do his utmost not to appear a mere gauche provincial dog. Here on the ranch, he may prove himself quite worthy of comparison, in some respects. He will, I presume, come closer to jack rabbits than I have been able to in recent years. And for all his faults, I hereby wish him the happiness I know will be his in my old home.
One last word of farewell, Dear Master and Mistress. Whenever you visit my grave, say to yourselves with regret but also with happiness in your hearts at the remembrance of my long happy life with you: "Here lies one who loved us and whom we loved." No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you, and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail.”
Written by the American playwright Eugene O'Neill to comfort his wife Carlotta as their child lemie was approaching his death in December 1940.

https://therevelator.org/hanford-nuclear-book/

Today Hanford — home to 56 million gallons of nuclear waste, leaking storage tanks, and contaminated soil — is an environmental disaster and a catastrophe-in-waiting.
It’s “the costliest environmental remediation project the world has ever seen and, arguably, the most contaminated place on the entire planet”

...

"It wasn’t even until the '80s that we started learning more about a lot of the stuff that had happened during its operation as far as leaks go, near accidents, intentional releases of radioactive material to test wind patterns, or potential biological weapons.
To this day a lot of stuff is still under wraps. The government still isn’t letting us in to understand the full totality of what the Hanford project has been for the Northwest.

...

There are 177 underground tanks that hold 56 million gallons of nuclear waste. We know that 67 of those tanks have leaked in the past into the groundwater that feeds the Columbia River.
We know that during its operation in the '50s and 60s the government was monitoring the water in the Columbia River, and even at the mouth of the Columbia they were finding radioactive fish. So we know that there have been leaks that made it to the river.
Right now, we know that there are two tanks currently leaking. The Washington Department of Ecology and the U.S. Department of Energy know about these leaks, but they can’t do anything about them because there’s no other place to safely put the waste.
Their answer right now is to throw tarps over these tanks so that when it rains it’s not pushing that radioactivity into the groundwater.

In Soviet Russia, tanks throw tarps over you!

There’s also the potential for an explosion to happen in one of these tanks. One whistleblower I spoke to, Donald Alexander, is a retired Department of Energy scientist who worked at Hanford for a really long time. What he was most concerned about was a hydrogen explosion — pressure building up in the tanks that would release radioactivity throughout the Northwest.
A similar accident happened at a Soviet facility called Mayak in 1957. The Soviets didn’t let the public know what had happened because it was a covert production site for plutonium.
The CIA found out about it a few years after the fact. But by then the damage had been done. Hundreds of square miles were eviscerated and communities were completely destroyed. The long-term impacts are still being felt there because radiation lasts millennia.

"the CIA found out about it later" Riiiight

The big thing right now is trying to get all this waste vitrified, which is turning it into glass so it can be stored safely and permanently. The government thought that could be done in four years, but that was 30 years ago now.
I would argue, when it comes to vitrification, they’ve made almost no progress. So far, we’ve spent $40 billion to build a huge facility that doesn’t even work yet. A couple of the whistleblowers who I talked to tell me that they don’t think it’ll ever work.
Bechtel is the big contractor for this “vit plant,” as they call it. But they have a really bad track record and are well known for reaping the spoils of U.S. military ventures all over the globe.

World-historic fascist war profiteering corporation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechtel

In October they had a test facility up and running that was going to do a run of vitrification for low-level radioactive waste. They basically had a ribbon cutting for this big machine and it ran for a week, then overheated, and they had to shut it down.
So even their test run for vitrification didn’t work.
Bechtel is a privately owned corporation and we’re spending billions of dollars paying this company to not get the job done. It’s a big mess.

Your Kickstarter Sucks The Podcast: "I've got a doozy for you JF, this one's by some feminist cartoonist or something?"

Are the people who live nearby concerned?
Richland is the town that’s closest to Hanford, and it’s basically a government town — it always has been. Richland was born out of the Manhattan Project. It used to be full of nuclear engineers and physicists [helping build weapons], and now it’s full of nuclear engineers and physicists who are working on the cleanup.
It’s interesting going to Richland because they still celebrate the atomic age. There isn’t any real talk about how polluted the place is, and there’s no mention of what the bomb did to the Japanese.

But there are also other communities nearby that have been deeply involved in trying to remediate the site. The Yakama Nation has been very active, as well as other organizations, like Columbia Riverkeeper in Hood River and Hanford Challenge up in Seattle.

new bit: fascist redditors doing land acknowledgements in a toxic wasteland like Stalker

As far as agencies go, I would say the Washington Department of Ecology is by far the most involved and is very critical of the operation, but they’re just a state agency. They don’t have a ton of power.
The Department of Energy, I have been told over and over again, is just completely understaffed and underfunded. They don’t have the personnel and expertise to manage [the Hanford cleanup], which is frightening really.
I would argue it’s going to take more ingenuity and more expertise to clean it up than it took to develop the bomb in the first place.

Deleuzeans salivating acid rn

I have an M1 Mini with a smallish SSID so I store all my files on a USB external WD Easystore 4TB drive. I've been using this setup with no issues for almost a year but this past week it has begun doing something goofy. After a certain period of time the file info disappears on the external drive. If if open it in a Finder window its blank, but Get Info indicates all the contents are still taking up space. Restarting cures this. I've run Disk First Aid multiple times and it finds no issues.
I can always tell when this happen because I have my custom desktop photos in a folder on the drive. When I wake it from sleep I know if the desktop is the Apple default desktop pattern then the directory will be blank and none of my files can be accessed. Music or Photos can't find the linked files on the drive either.
I updated to 12.6.4 but it didn't correct it. My next thing to try is just to prevent the CPU from ever going to sleep, but I hate to burn that much energy and maybe shorten the life of the computer. Has anyone else had this experience? Any advice?

Uranium is a chemical element with symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium radioactively decays by emitting an alpha particle. The half-life of this decay varies between 159,200 and 4.5 billion years for different isotopes, making them useful for dating the age of the Earth. The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 (which has 146 neutrons and accounts for over 99% of uranium on Earth) and uranium-235 (which has 143 neutrons). Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and slightly lower than that of gold or tungsten. It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-bearing minerals such as uraninite.[6] Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties. Uranium-235 is the only naturally occurring fissile isotope, which makes it widely used in nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. However, because of the tiny concentrations found in nature, uranium needs to undergo enrichment so that enough uranium-235 is present. Uranium-238 is fissionable by fast neutrons, and is fertile, meaning it can be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor. Another fissile isotope, uranium-233, can be produced from natural thorium and is studied for future industrial use in nuclear technology. Uranium-238 has a small probability for spontaneous fission or even induced fission with fast neutrons; uranium-235, and to a lesser degree uranium-233, have a much higher fission cross-section for slow neutrons. In sufficient concentration, these isotopes maintain a sustained nuclear chain reaction. This generates the heat in nuclear power reactors, and produces the fissile material for nuclear weapons. Depleted uranium (238U) is used in kinetic energy penetrators and armor plating.[7][8]
The 1789 discovery of uranium in the mineral pitchblende is credited to Martin Heinrich Klaproth, who named the new element after the recently discovered planet Uranus. Eugène-Melchior Péligot was the first person to isolate the metal and its radioactive properties were discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel. Research by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner, Enrico Fermi and others, such as J. Robert Oppenheimer starting in 1934 led to its use as a fuel in the nuclear power industry and in Little Boy, the first nuclear weapon used in war. An ensuing arms race during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union produced tens of thousands of nuclear weapons that used uranium metal and uranium-derived plutonium-239. Dismantling of these weapons and related nuclear facilities is carried out within various nuclear disarmament programs and costs billions of dollars. Weapon-grade uranium obtained from nuclear weapons is diluted with uranium-238 and reused as fuel for nuclear reactors. The development and deployment of these nuclear reactors continue on a global base as they are powerful sources of CO2-free energy. Spent nuclear fuel forms radioactive waste, which mostly consists of uranium-238 and poses significant health threat and environmental impact. Uranium is a silvery white, weakly radioactive metal. It has a Mohs hardness of 6, sufficient to scratch glass and approximately equal to that of titanium, rhodium, manganese and niobium. It is malleable, ductile, slightly paramagnetic, strongly electropositive and a poor electrical conductor.[9][10] Uranium metal has a very high density of 19.1 g/cm3,[11] denser than lead (11.3 g/cm3),[12] but slightly less dense than tungsten and gold (19.3 g/cm3).[13][14]
Uranium metal reacts with almost all non-metal elements (with the exception of the noble gases) and their compounds, with reactivity increasing with temperature.[15] Hydrochloric and nitric acids dissolve uranium, but non-oxidizing acids other than hydrochloric acid attack the element very slowly.[9] When finely divided, it can react with cold water; in air, uranium metal becomes coated with a dark layer of uranium oxide.[10] Uranium in ores is extracted chemically and converted into uranium dioxide or other chemical forms usable in industry.
Uranium-235 was the first isotope that was found to be fissile. Other naturally occurring isotopes are fissionable, but not fissile. On bombardment with slow neutrons, its uranium-235 isotope will most of the time divide into two smaller nuclei, releasing nuclear binding energy and more neutrons. If too many of these neutrons are absorbed by other uranium-235 nuclei, a nuclear chain reaction occurs that results in a burst of heat or (in special circumstances) an explosion. In a nuclear reactor, such a chain reaction is slowed and controlled by a neutron poison, absorbing some of the free neutrons. Such neutron absorbent materials are often part of reactor control rods (see nuclear reactor physics for a description of this process of reactor control).
As little as 15 lb (6.8 kg) of uranium-235 can be used to make an atomic bomb.[16] The nuclear weapon detonated over Hiroshima, called Little Boy, relied on uranium fission. However, the first nuclear bomb (the Gadget used at Trinity) and the bomb that was detonated over Nagasaki (Fat Man) were both plutonium bombs.
Uranium metal has three allotropic forms:[17]
α (orthorhombic) stable up to 668 °C (1,234 °F). Orthorhombic, space group No. 63, Cmcm, lattice parameters a = 285.4 pm, b = 587 pm, c = 495.5 pm.[18] β (tetragonal) stable from 668 to 775 °C (1,234 to 1,427 °F). Tetragonal, space group P42/mnm, P42nm, or P4n2, lattice parameters a = 565.6 pm, b = c = 1075.9 pm.[18] γ (body-centered cubic) from 775 °C (1,427 °F) to melting point—this is the most malleable and ductile state. Body-centered cubic, lattice parameter a = 352.4 pm.[18]
The major application of uranium in the military sector is in high-density penetrators. This ammunition consists of depleted uranium (DU) alloyed with 1–2% other elements, such as titanium or molybdenum.[19] At high impact speed, the density, hardness, and pyrophoricity of the projectile enable the destruction of heavily armored targets. Tank armor and other removable vehicle armor can also be hardened with depleted uranium plates. The use of depleted uranium became politically and environmentally contentious after the use of such munitions by the US, UK and other countries during wars in the Persian Gulf and the Balkans raised questions concerning uranium compounds left in the soil[8][20][21][22] (see Gulf War syndrome).[16]
Depleted uranium is also used as a shielding material in some containers used to store and transport radioactive materials. While the metal itself is radioactive, its high density makes it more effective than lead in halting radiation from strong sources such as radium.[9] Other uses of depleted uranium include counterweights for aircraft control surfaces, as ballast for missile re-entry vehicles and as a shielding material.[10] Due to its high density, this material is found in inertial guidance systems and in gyroscopic compasses.[10] Depleted uranium is preferred over similarly dense metals due to its ability to be easily machined and cast as well as its relatively low cost.[23] The main risk of exposure to depleted uranium is chemical poisoning by uranium oxide rather than radioactivity (uranium being only a weak alpha emitter).
During the later stages of World War II, the entire Cold War, and to a lesser extent afterwards, uranium-235 has been used as the fissile explosive material to produce nuclear weapons. Initially, two major types of fission bombs were built: a relatively simple device that uses uranium-235 and a more complicated mechanism that uses plutonium-239 derived from uranium-238. Later, a much more complicated and far more powerful type of fission/fusion bomb (thermonuclear weapon) was built, that uses a plutonium-based device to cause a mixture of tritium and deuterium to undergo nuclear fusion. Such bombs are jacketed in a non-fissile (unenriched) uranium case, and they derive more than half their power from the fission of this material by fast neutrons from the nuclear fusion process.[24]
The main use of uranium in the civilian sector is to fuel nuclear power plants. One kilogram of uranium-235 can theoretically produce about 20 terajoules of energy (2×1013 joules), assuming complete fission; as much energy as 1.5 million kilograms (1,500 tonnes) of coal.[7]
Commercial nuclear power plants use fuel that is typically enriched to around 3% uranium-235.[7] The CANDU and Magnox designs are the only commercial reactors capable of using unenriched uranium fuel. Fuel used for United States Navy reactors is typically highly enriched in uranium-235 (the exact values are classified). In a breeder reactor, uranium-238 can also be converted into plutonium through the following reaction:[10]
Before (and, occasionally, after) the discovery of radioactivity, uranium was primarily used in small amounts for yellow glass and pottery glazes, such as uranium glass and in Fiestaware.[25]
The discovery and isolation of radium in uranium ore (pitchblende) by Marie Curie sparked the development of uranium mining to extract the radium, which was used to make glow-in-the-dark paints for clock and aircraft dials.[26][27] This left a prodigious quantity of uranium as a waste product, since it takes three tonnes of uranium to extract one gram of radium. This waste product was diverted to the glazing industry, making uranium glazes very inexpensive and abundant. Besides the pottery glazes, uranium tile glazes accounted for the bulk of the use, including common bathroom and kitchen tiles which can be produced in green, yellow, mauve, black, blue, red and other colors.
Uranium was also used in photographic chemicals (especially uranium nitrate as a toner),[10] in lamp filaments for stage lighting bulbs,[28] to improve the appearance of dentures,[29] and in the leather and wood industries for stains and dyes. Uranium salts are mordants of silk or wool. Uranyl acetate and uranyl formate are used as electron-dense "stains" in transmission electron microscopy, to increase the contrast of biological specimens in ultrathin sections and in negative staining of viruses, isolated cell organelles and macromolecules.
The discovery of the radioactivity of uranium ushered in additional scientific and practical uses of the element. The long half-life of the isotope uranium-238 (4.47×109 years) makes it well-suited for use in estimating the age of the earliest igneous rocks and for other types of radiometric dating, including uranium–thorium dating, uranium–lead dating and uranium–uranium dating. Uranium metal is used for X-ray targets in the making of high-energy X-rays.[10]
The use of uranium in its natural oxide form dates back to at least the year 79 CE, when it was used in the Roman Empire to add a yellow color to ceramic glazes.[10] Yellow glass with 1% uranium oxide was found in a Roman villa on Cape Posillipo in the Bay of Naples, Italy, by R. T. Gunther of the University of Oxford in 1912.[30] Starting in the late Middle Ages, pitchblende was extracted from the Habsburg silver mines in Joachimsthal, Bohemia (now Jáchymov in the Czech Republic), and was used as a coloring agent in the local glassmaking industry.[31] In the early 19th century, the world's only known sources of uranium ore were these mines. Mining for uranium in the Ore Mountains ceased on the German side after the Cold War ended and SDAG Wismut was wound down. On the Czech side there were attempts during the uranium price bubble of 2007 to restart mining, but those were quickly abandoned following a fall in uranium prices.[32][33]
The discovery of the element is credited to the German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth. While he was working in his experimental laboratory in Berlin in 1789, Klaproth was able to precipitate a yellow compound (likely sodium diuranate) by dissolving pitchblende in nitric acid and neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide.[31] Klaproth assumed the yellow substance was the oxide of a yet-undiscovered element and heated it with charcoal to obtain a black powder, which he thought was the newly discovered metal itself (in fact, that powder was an oxide of uranium).[31][34] He named the newly discovered element after the planet Uranus (named after the primordial Greek god of the sky), which had been discovered eight years earlier by William Herschel.[35]
In 1841, Eugène-Melchior Péligot, Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (Central School of Arts and Manufactures) in Paris, isolated the first sample of uranium metal by heating uranium tetrachloride with potassium.[31][36]
Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity by using uranium in 1896.[15] Becquerel made the discovery in Paris by leaving a sample of a uranium salt, K2UO2(SO4)2 (potassium uranyl sulfate), on top of an unexposed photographic plate in a drawer and noting that the plate had become "fogged".[37] He determined that a form of invisible light or rays emitted by uranium had exposed the plate.
During World War I when the Central Powers suffered a shortage of molybdenum to make artillery gun barrels and high speed tool steels they routinely substituted ferrouranium alloys which present many of the same physical characteristics. When this practice became known in 1916 the USA government requested several prominent universities to research these uses for uranium and tools made with these formulas remained in use for several decades only ending when the Manhattan Project and the Cold War placed a large demand on uranium for fission research and weapon development.[38][39][40]
A team led by Enrico Fermi in 1934 observed that bombarding uranium with neutrons produces the emission of beta rays (electrons or positrons from the elements produced; see beta particle).[41] The fission products were at first mistaken for new elements with atomic numbers 93 and 94, which the Dean of the Faculty of Rome, Orso Mario Corbino, christened ausonium and hesperium, respectively.[42][43][44][45] The experiments leading to the discovery of uranium's ability to fission (break apart) into lighter elements and release binding energy were conducted by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann[41] in Hahn's laboratory in Berlin. Lise Meitner and her nephew, the physicist Otto Robert Frisch, published the physical explanation in February 1939 and named the process "nuclear fission".[46] Soon after, Fermi hypothesized that the fission of uranium might release enough neutrons to sustain a fission reaction. Confirmation of this hypothesis came in 1939, and later work found that on average about 2.5 neutrons are released by each fission of the rare uranium isotope uranium-235.[41] Fermi urged Alfred O. C. Nier to separate uranium isotopes for determination of the fissile component, and on 29 February 1940, Nier used an instrument he built at the University of Minnesota to separate the world's first uranium-235 sample in the Tate Laboratory. After mailed to Columbia University's cyclotron, John Dunning confirmed the sample to be the isolated fissile material on 1 March.[47] Further work found that the far more common uranium-238 isotope can be transmuted into plutonium, which, like uranium-235, is also fissile by thermal neutrons. These discoveries led numerous countries to begin working on the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. Despite fission having been discovered in Germany, the Uranverein ("uranium club") Germany's wartime project to research nuclear power and/or weapons was hampered by limited resources, infighting, the exile or non-involvement of several prominent scientists in the field and several crucial mistakes such as failing to account for impurities in available graphite samples which made it appear less suitable as a neutron moderator than it is in reality. Germany's attempts to build a natural uranium / heavy water reactor had not come close to reaching criticality by the time the Americans reached Haigerloch, the site of the last German wartime reactor experiment.[48]
On 2 December 1942, as part of the Manhattan Project, another team led by Enrico Fermi was able to initiate the first artificial self-sustained nuclear chain reaction, Chicago Pile-1. An initial plan using enriched uranium-235 was abandoned as it was as yet unavailable in sufficient quantities.[49] Working in a lab below the stands of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, the team created the conditions needed for such a reaction by piling together 360 tonnes of graphite, 53 tonnes of uranium oxide, and 5.5 tonnes of uranium metal, a majority of which was supplied by Westinghouse Lamp Plant in a makeshift production process.[41][50]
Two major types of atomic bombs were developed by the United States during World War II: a uranium-based device (codenamed "Little Boy") whose fissile material was highly enriched uranium, and a plutonium-based device (see Trinity test and "Fat Man") whose plutonium was derived from uranium-238. The uranium-based Little Boy device became the first nuclear weapon used in war when it was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Exploding with a yield equivalent to 12,500 tonnes of trinitrotoluene, the blast and thermal wave of the bomb destroyed nearly 50,000 buildings and killed approximately 75,000 people (see Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).[37] Initially it was believed that uranium was relatively rare, and that nuclear proliferation could be avoided by simply buying up all known uranium stocks, but within a decade large deposits of it were discovered in many places around the world.[51][52]
The X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, formerly known as the Clinton Pile and X-10 Pile, was the world's second artificial nuclear reactor (after Enrico Fermi's Chicago Pile) and was the first reactor designed and built for continuous operation. Argonne National Laboratory's Experimental Breeder Reactor I, located at the Atomic Energy Commission's National Reactor Testing Station near Arco, Idaho, became the first nuclear reactor to create electricity on 20 December 1951.[53] Initially, four 150-watt light bulbs were lit by the reactor, but improvements eventually enabled it to power the whole facility (later, the town of Arco became the first in the world to have all its electricity come from nuclear power generated by BORAX-III, another reactor designed and operated by Argonne National Laboratory).[54][55] The world's first commercial scale nuclear power station, Obninsk in the Soviet Union, began generation with its reactor AM-1 on 27 June 1954. Other early nuclear power plants were Calder Hall in England, which began generation on 17 October 1956,[56] and the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, which began on 26 May 1958. Nuclear power was used for the first time for propulsion by a submarine, the USS Nautilus, in 1954.[41][57]
Prehistoric naturally occurring fission Main article: Natural nuclear fission reactor In 1972, the French physicist Francis Perrin discovered fifteen ancient and no longer active natural nuclear fission reactors in three separate ore deposits at the Oklo mine in Gabon, West Africa, collectively known as the Oklo Fossil Reactors. The ore deposit is 1.7 billion years old; then, uranium-235 constituted about 3% of the total uranium on Earth.[58] This is high enough to permit a sustained nuclear fission chain reaction to occur, provided other supporting conditions exist. The capacity of the surrounding sediment to contain the health-threatening nuclear waste products has been cited by the U.S. federal government as supporting evidence for the feasibility to store spent nuclear fuel at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.[58]
Above-ground nuclear tests by the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s and by France into the 1970s and 1980s[23] spread a significant amount of fallout from uranium daughter isotopes around the world.[59] Additional fallout and pollution occurred from several nuclear accidents.[60]
Uranium miners have a higher incidence of cancer. An excess risk of lung cancer among Navajo uranium miners, for example, has been documented and linked to their occupation.[61] The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a 1990 law in the US, required $100,000 in "compassion payments" to uranium miners diagnosed with cancer or other respiratory ailments.[62]
During the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, huge stockpiles of uranium were amassed and tens of thousands of nuclear weapons were created using enriched uranium and plutonium made from uranium. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, an estimated 600 short tons (540 metric tons) of highly enriched weapons grade uranium (enough to make 40,000 nuclear warheads) had been stored in often inadequately guarded facilities in the Russian Federation and several other former Soviet states.[16] Police in Asia, Europe, and South America on at least 16 occasions from 1993 to 2005 have intercepted shipments of smuggled bomb-grade uranium or plutonium, most of which was from ex-Soviet sources.[16] From 1993 to 2005 the Material Protection, Control, and Accounting Program, operated by the federal government of the United States, spent approximately US $550 million to help safeguard uranium and plutonium stockpiles in Russia. This money was used for improvements and security enhancements at research and storage facilities.[16]
Safety of nuclear facilities in Russia has been significantly improved since the stabilization of political and economical turmoil of the early 1990s. For example, in 1993 there were 29 incidents ranking above level 1 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, and this number dropped under four per year in 1995–2003. The number of employers receiving annual radiation doses above 20 mSv, which is equivalent to a single full-body CT scan,[63] saw a strong decline around 2000. In November 2015, the Russian government approved a federal program for nuclear and radiation safety for 2016 to 2030 with a budget of 562 billion rubles (ca. 8 billion dollars). Its key issue is "the deferred liabilities accumulated during the 70 years of the nuclear industry, particularly during the time of the Soviet Union". Approximately 73% of the budget will be spent on decommissioning aged and obsolete nuclear reactors and nuclear facilities, especially those involved in state defense programs; 20% will go in processing and disposal of nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, and 5% into monitoring and ensuring of nuclear and radiation safety.[64]
Along with all elements having atomic weights higher than that of iron, uranium is only naturally formed by the r-process (rapid neutron capture) in supernovae and neutron star mergers.[65] Primordial thorium and uranium are only produced in the r-process, because the s-process (slow neutron capture) is too slow and cannot pass the gap of instability after bismuth.[66][67] Besides the two extant primordial uranium isotopes, 235U and 238U, the r-process also produced significant quantities of 236U, which has a shorter half-life and so is an extinct radionuclide, having long since decayed completely to 232Th. Uranium-236 was itself enriched by the decay of 244Pu, accounting for the observed higher-than-expected abundance of thorium and lower-than-expected abundance of uranium.[68] While the natural abundance of uranium has been supplemented by the decay of extinct 242Pu (half-life 0.375 million years) and 247Cm (half-life 16 million years), producing 238U and 235U respectively, this occurred to an almost negligible extent due to the shorter half-lives of these parents and their lower production than 236U and 244Pu, the parents of thorium: the 247Cm:235U ratio at the formation of the Solar System was (7.0±1.6)×10−5.[69]
Uranium is a naturally occurring element that can be found in low levels within all rock, soil, and water. Uranium is the 51st element in order of abundance in the Earth's crust. Uranium is also the highest-numbered element to be found naturally in significant quantities on Earth and is almost always found combined with other elements.[10] The decay of uranium, thorium, and potassium-40 in the Earth's mantle is thought to be the main source of heat[70][71] that keeps the Earth's outer core in the liquid state and drives mantle convection, which in turn drives plate tectonics.
Uranium's average concentration in the Earth's crust is (depending on the reference) 2 to 4 parts per million,[9][23] or about 40 times as abundant as silver.[15] The Earth's crust from the surface to 25 km (15 mi) down is calculated to contain 1017 kg (2×1017 lb) of uranium while the oceans may contain 1013 kg (2×1013 lb).[9] The concentration of uranium in soil ranges from 0.7 to 11 parts per million (up to 15 parts per million in farmland soil due to use of phosphate fertilizers),[72] and its concentration in sea water is 3 parts per billion.[23]
Uranium is more plentiful than antimony, tin, cadmium, mercury, or silver, and it is about as abundant as arsenic or molybdenum.[10][23] Uranium is found in hundreds of minerals, including uraninite (the most common uranium ore), carnotite, autunite, uranophane, torbernite, and coffinite.[10] Significant concentrations of uranium occur in some substances such as phosphate rock deposits, and minerals such as lignite, and monazite sands in uranium-rich ores[10] (it is recovered commercially from sources with as little as 0.1% uranium[15]).
Some bacteria, such as Shewanella putrefaciens, Geobacter metallireducens and some strains of Burkholderia fungorum, use uranium for their growth and convert U(VI) to U(IV).[73][74] Recent research suggests that this pathway includes reduction of the soluble U(VI) via an intermediate U(V) pentavalent state.[75][76] Other organisms, such as the lichen Trapelia involuta or microorganisms such as the bacterium Citrobacter, can absorb concentrations of uranium that are up to 300 times the level of their environment.[77] Citrobacter species absorb uranyl ions when given glycerol phosphate (or other similar organic phosphates). After one day, one gram of bacteria can encrust themselves with nine grams of uranyl phosphate crystals; this creates the possibility that these organisms could be used in bioremediation to decontaminate uranium-polluted water.[31][78] The proteobacterium Geobacter has also been shown to bioremediate uranium in ground water.[79] The mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices increases uranium content in the roots of its symbiotic plant.[80]
In nature, uranium(VI) forms highly soluble carbonate complexes at alkaline pH. This leads to an increase in mobility and availability of uranium to groundwater and soil from nuclear wastes which leads to health hazards. However, it is difficult to precipitate uranium as phosphate in the presence of excess carbonate at alkaline pH. A Sphingomonas sp. strain BSAR-1 has been found to express a high activity alkaline phosphatase (PhoK) that has been applied for bioprecipitation of uranium as uranyl phosphate species from alkaline solutions. The precipitation ability was enhanced by overexpressing PhoK protein in E. coli.[81]
Plants absorb some uranium from soil. Dry weight concentrations of uranium in plants range from 5 to 60 parts per billion, and ash from burnt wood can have concentrations up to 4 parts per million.[31] Dry weight concentrations of uranium in food plants are typically lower with one to two micrograms per day ingested through the food people eat.[31]
Production and mining Main article: Uranium mining Worldwide production of uranium in 2021 amounted to 48,332 tonnes, of which 21,819 t (45%) was mined in Kazakhstan. Other important urmom mining countries are Namibia (5,753 t), Canada (4,693 t), Australia (4,192 t), Uzbekistan (3,500 t), and Russia (2,635 t).[82]
Uranium ore is mined in several ways: by open pit, underground, in-situ leaching, and borehole mining (see uranium mining).[7] Low-grade uranium ore mined typically contains 0.01 to 0.25% uranium oxides. Extensive measures must be employed to extract the metal from its ore.[83] High-grade ores found in Athabasca Basin deposits in Saskatchewan, Canada can contain up to 23% uranium oxides on average.[84] Uranium ore is crushed and rendered into a fine powder and then leached with either an acid or alkali. The leachate is subjected to one of several sequences of precipitation, solvent extraction, and ion exchange. The resulting mixture, called yellowcake, contains at least 75% uranium oxides U3O8. Yellowcake is then calcined to remove impurities from the milling process before refining and conversion.[85]
Commercial-grade uranium can be produced through the reduction of uranium halides with alkali or alkaline earth metals.[10] Uranium metal can also be prepared through electrolysis of KUF 5 or UF 4, dissolved in molten calcium chloride (CaCl 2) and sodium chloride (NaCl) solution.[10] Very pure uranium is produced through the thermal decomposition of uranium halides on a hot filament.[10]
It is estimated that 6.1 million tonnes of uranium exists in ore reserves that are economically viable at US$130 per kg of uranium,[87] while 35 million tonnes are classed as mineral resources (reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction).[88]
Australia has 28% of the world's known uranium ore reserves[87] and the world's largest single uranium deposit is located at the Olympic Dam Mine in South Australia.[89] There is a significant reserve of uranium in Bakouma, a sub-prefecture in the prefecture of Mbomou in the Central African Republic.[90]
Some uranium also originates from dismantled nuclear weapons.[91] For example, in 1993–2013 Russia supplied the United States with 15,000 tonnes of low-enriched uranium within the Megatons to Megawatts Program.[92]
An additional 4.6 billion tonnes of uranium are estimated to be dissolved in sea water (Japanese scientists in the 1980s showed that extraction of uranium from sea water using ion exchangers was technically feasible).[93][94] There have been experiments to extract uranium from sea water,[95] but the yield has been low due to the carbonate present in the water. In 2012, ORNL researchers announced the successful development of a new absorbent material dubbed HiCap which performs surface retention of solid or gas molecules, atoms or ions and also effectively removes toxic metals from water, according to results verified by researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.[96][97]
In 2005, ten countries accounted for the majority of the world's concentrated uranium oxides: Canada (27.9%), Australia (22.8%), Kazakhstan (10.5%), Russia (8.0%), Namibia (7.5%), Niger (7.4%), Uzbekistan (5.5%), the United States (2.5%), Argentina (2.1%) and Ukraine (1.9%).[99] In 2008 Kazakhstan was forecast to increase production and become the world's largest supplier of uranium by 2009.[100][101] The prediction came true, and Kazakhstan does dominate the world's uranium market since 2010. In 2021, its share was 45.1%, followed by Namibia (11.9%), Canada (9.7%), Australia (8.7%), Uzbekistan (7.2%), Niger (4.7%), Russia (5.5%), China (3.9%), India (1.3%), Ukraine (0.9%), and South Africa (0.8%), with a world total production of 48,332 tonnes.[82] Most of uranium was produced not by conventional underground mining of ores (29% of production), but by in situ leaching (66%).[82][102]
In the late 1960s, UN geologists also discovered major uranium deposits and other rare mineral reserves in Somalia. The find was the largest of its kind, with industry experts estimating the deposits at over 25% of the world's then known uranium reserves of 800,000 tons.[103]
The ultimate available supply is believed to be sufficient for at least the next 85 years,[88] although some studies indicate underinvestment in the late twentieth century may produce supply problems in the 21st century.[104] Uranium deposits seem to be log-normal distributed. There is a 300-fold increase in the amount of uranium recoverable for each tenfold decrease in ore grade.[105] In other words, there is little high grade ore and proportionately much more low grade ore available.
Calcined uranium yellowcake, as produced in many large mills, contains a distribution of uranium oxidation species in various forms ranging from most oxidized to least oxidized. Particles with short residence times in a calciner will generally be less oxidized than those with long retention times or particles recovered in the stack scrubber. Uranium content is usually referenced to U 3O 8, which dates to the days of the Manhattan Project when U 3O 8 was used as an analytical chemistry reporting standard.[106]
Phase relationships in the uranium-oxygen system are complex. The most important oxidation states of uranium are uranium(IV) and uranium(VI), and their two corresponding oxides are, respectively, uranium dioxide (UO 2) and uranium trioxide (UO 3).[107] Other uranium oxides such as uranium monoxide (UO), diuranium pentoxide (U 2O 5), and uranium peroxide (UO 4·2H 2O) also exist.
The most common forms of uranium oxide are triuranium octoxide (U 3O 8) and UO 2.[108] Both oxide forms are solids that have low solubility in water and are relatively stable over a wide range of environmental conditions. Triuranium octoxide is (depending on conditions) the most stable compound of uranium and is the form most commonly found in nature. Uranium dioxide is the form in which uranium is most commonly used as a nuclear reactor fuel.[108] At ambient temperatures, UO 2 will gradually convert to U 3O 8. Because of their stability, uranium oxides are generally considered the preferred chemical form for storage or disposal.[108]
Salts of many oxidation states of uranium are water-soluble and may be studied in aqueous solutions. The most common ionic forms are U3+ (brown-red), U4+ (green), UO+ 2 (unstable), and UO2+ 2 (yellow), for U(III), U(IV), U(V), and U(VI), respectively.[109] A few solid and semi-metallic compounds such as UO and US exist for the formal oxidation state uranium(II), but no simple ions are known to exist in solution for that state. Ions of U3+ liberate hydrogen from water and are therefore considered to be highly unstable. The UO2+ 2 ion represents the uranium(VI) state and is known to form compounds such as uranyl carbonate, uranyl chloride and uranyl sulfate. UO2+ 2 also forms complexes with various organic chelating agents, the most commonly encountered of which is uranyl acetate.[109]
Unlike the uranyl salts of uranium and polyatomic ion uranium-oxide cationic forms, the uranates, salts containing a polyatomic uranium-oxide anion, are generally not water-soluble.
Carbonates The interactions of carbonate anions with uranium(VI) cause the Pourbaix diagram to change greatly when the medium is changed from water to a carbonate containing solution. While the vast majority of carbonates are insoluble in water (students are often taught that all carbonates other than those of alkali metals are insoluble in water), uranium carbonates are often soluble in water. This is because a U(VI) cation is able to bind two terminal oxides and three or more carbonates to form anionic complexes.
Effects of pH The uranium fraction diagrams in the presence of carbonate illustrate this further: when the pH of a uranium(VI) solution increases, the uranium is converted to a hydrated uranium oxide hydroxide and at high pHs it becomes an anionic hydroxide complex.
When carbonate is added, uranium is converted to a series of carbonate complexes if the pH is increased. One effect of these reactions is increased solubility of uranium in the pH range 6 to 8, a fact that has a direct bearing on the long term stability of spent uranium dioxide nuclear fuels.
Hydrides, carbides and nitrides Uranium metal heated to 250 to 300 °C (482 to 572 °F) reacts with hydrogen to form uranium hydride. Even higher temperatures will reversibly remove the hydrogen. This property makes uranium hydrides convenient starting materials to create reactive uranium powder along with various uranium carbide, nitride, and halide compounds.[111] Two crystal modifications of uranium hydride exist: an α form that is obtained at low temperatures and a β form that is created when the formation temperature is above 250 °C.[111]
Uranium carbides and uranium nitrides are both relatively inert semimetallic compounds that are minimally soluble in acids, react with water, and can ignite in air to form U 3O 8.[111] Carbides of uranium include uranium monocarbide (UC), uranium dicarbide (UC 2), and diuranium tricarbide (U 2C 3). Both UC and UC 2 are formed by adding carbon to molten uranium or by exposing the metal to carbon monoxide at high temperatures. Stable below 1800 °C, U 2C 3 is prepared by subjecting a heated mixture of UC and UC 2 to mechanical stress.[112] Uranium nitrides obtained by direct exposure of the metal to nitrogen include uranium mononitride (UN), uranium dinitride (UN 2), and diuranium trinitride (U 2N 3).[112]

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Hi! I'm hunting for a bunch of pop vinyl for my collection to fill in some gaps, and I wanted to check here before I looked on resale sites. Please PM me if you have anything and are willing to sell! Here is the list as of now (in alphabetical order):
Adele

• Chasing Pavements - 7", 45 RPM, Single
• Cold Shoulder - 7", Single, 45 RPM
• Hometown Glory - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Stereo
• Hometown Glory - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition
• Make You Feel My Love - 7", 45 RPM, Single
• Rolling In The Deep - 10", Record Store Day, Limited Edition
• Skyfall - 7", 45 RPM, Single

Allie X

• CollXtion I - 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, EP, Limited Edition
• Super Sunset - Analog - Cassette, Mini-Album, Limited Edition, Yellow

Aly & AJ

• Insomniatic - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Grey & White Swirl
• Into The Rush - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Clear w/Yellow Splatter
• Potential Breakup Song Explicit - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Stereo, Black & Red

Ariana Grande

• Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Clear
• My Everything - LP, Album, Lavender
• Thank U, Next - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition
• Stuck With U (w/ Justin Bieber) - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Window Cover
• Boyfriend (w/ Social House) - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition

Billie Eilish

• All The Good Girls Go To Hell - Flexi-disc, 7", 45 RPM, Single Sided, Limited Edition
• Bad Guy - Flexi-disc, 7", 45 RPM, Single Sided
• Everything I Wanted - Flexi-disc, 7", 45 RPM, Single Sided, Single
• Party Favor - 7", Record Store Day, Single, Limited Edition, Pink
• You Should See Me In A Crown / Bitches Broken Hearts - 7", Limited Edition, Amber

Camila Cabello

• Crying In the Club - 7", 33 ⅓ RPM, Single, Limited Edition
• Romance - Album, Limited Edition, Red [Translucent Red], Single Sided, Etched

Charli XCX

• Boom Clap - 7", Single Sided, Single, Etched, Limited Edition
• Stay Away - 12", 45 RPM, Single, Promo, Stereo
• Sucker - LP, Album, Pink Marble
• Sucker - LP, Album, Mispress, Reissue, Pink Opaque
• True Romance - LP, Album, Reissue, Silver
• Vinyl [No Fun] - 7", 45 RPM, Sampler

Conan Gray

• Sunset Season - 10", 33 ⅓ RPM, EP, Reissue, Sea Glass & White Marble

Doja Cat

• Say So - 12", 45 RPM, Single, Coke Bottle Clear

Dua Lipa

• Dua Lipa - 3 x Vinyl, LP, Album, Complete Edition
• The Only EP - 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, EP

Gracie Abrams

• Minor - 12", EP

Halsey

• Color Therapy - (Manic) / Double Feature - 7", Single, Limited Edition, Stereo
• Colors - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Numbered, Coke Bottle Clear
• Manic - LP, Picture Disc, Metallic Rainbow, Album, Deluxe Edition, Lenticular Cover
• Now Or Never - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Promo
• Without Me - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Clear Blue

Janelle Monáe

• Dirty Computer - LP, 45 RPM, Album, Limited Edition, Neon Pink
• Dirty Computer - LP, 45 RPM, Album, Limited Edition, Special Edition, Stereo, Yellow, Lenticular

Jess Glynne

• Always In Between - LP, Album, Blue
• I Cry When I Laugh - LP, 45 RPM, Album
• This Christmas - 7", 45 RPM, Single Sided, Single

Kacey Musgraves

• Golden Hour - LP, Album, Picture Disc
• High Horse / Remixes - 10", 45 RPM, Maxi-Single, Limited Edition, White, 180-gram, Record Store Day Black Friday 2018
• Same Trailer Different Park - LP, Album, Club Edition, Reissue, Remastered, Stereo, Green Galaxy, 180g
• The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Show - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Red Translucent

Katy Perry

• Ur So Gay - 7", 45 RPM, Promo, Pink
• Waking Up In Vegas - 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, Single, Promo
• Witness - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Exclusive Cover

Kelsea Ballerini

• Spotify Singles - 7", Record Store Day, Single, Limited Edition
• The First Time - LP, Album, White

Kim Petras

• Turn Off The Light - LP, 45 RPM, Green Galaxy & Pink Galaxy, Album, Limited Edition

Lady Gaga

• Artpop - LP, Album, Original Pressing
• Born This Way - The Remix - LP, Compilation
• Joanne - LP, Album, Deluxe Edition, Limited Edition, Pink Fluorescent
• The Remix - LP, Compilation
• Rain On Me (w/ Ariana Grande) - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Stereo, Yellow Translucent

Lana Del Rey

• Born To Die - LP, Album, Deluxe Edition, Repress
• Honeymoon - LP, Album, Red Translucent, 180g
• Honeymoon - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Red Translucent, Alternative Cover
• Love / Lust For Life - 7", Shape, Single, Limited Edition, Red Translucent Heart-Shaped
• Lust For Life - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Coke Bottle Clear
• NFR! - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Blue Translucent
• Norman Fucking Rockwell! - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Pink

Laufey

• Everything I Know About Love - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Blue [Dark], Alt Cover
• Typical Of Me - 12", 45 RPM, EP, Limited Edition, Clear

Lizzo

• Big GRRRL Small World - LP, Album, Special Edition, Purple
• Good As Hell - 12", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Clear
• Lizzobangers - LP, Album, Reissue, Unofficial Release, Red
• Paris / Faded - 7", Record Store Day, Numbered
• Truth Hurts - 12", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Baby Blue

Lorde

• Pure Heroine - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Clear
• Tennis Court - 7", 45 RPM, Single
• The Love Club EP - 10", 33 ⅓ RPM, EP, Limited Edition

Melanie Martinez

• After School EP - 12", 45 RPM, EP, Blue
• Cry Baby - LP, Pink [Baby] Opaque, Blue [Baby] Opaque, Album, Deluxe Edition, Reissue
• Dollhouse EP - 12", EP, Record Store Day, Limited Edition, Numbered, Baby Pink / Translucent Blue Split
• Gingerbread Man - 12", 45 RPM, Single Sided, Single, Etched, Limited Edition, Apple Red
• K-12 - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Lilac

Miley Cyrus

• Bangerz - LP, Album, Record Store Day, Limited Edition, Numbered, Pink

Poppy

• Choke - Cassette, EP
• I C U (Music To Read To) - LP, Album, Limited Edition, White
• Time Is Up / In A Minute - 10", 33 ⅓ RPM, Shape, Single, Picture Disc

Rina Sawayama

• Cyber Stockholm Syndrome - 12", 45 RPM, EP, Limited Edition, Orange, 180g
• RINA - 12", Mini-Album, Yellow Butterscotch

Sabrina Carpenter

• Evolution - LP, Album, Limited Edition

SZA

• Ctrl - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Coke Bottle Clear
• Ctrl - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Reissue, Clear
• Ctrl - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Teal Marbled

Tate McRae

• The One Day LP - LP, Repress, Light Blue (Opaque)

Taylor Swift

• Fearless (Taylor's Version) - Cassette, Album
• Red - LP, Album, Limited Edition, Promo, Red Opaque, ACM
• Reputation - Cassette, Album, Limited Edition
• Teardrops On My Guitar - 7", Jukebox
• Love Story - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Jukebox
• Should've Said No - 7", Jukebox
• Picture To Burn - 7", Jukebox
• ME! (feat. Brendon Urie) - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Sitting Cover
• ME! (feat. Brendon Urie) - 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Jean Jacket Cover

Hello guys, a bit on me if you'd like: I'm a person who's always been fond for writing, but never really had my hand in it though, in fact, I wrote this incomplete should-have-been series a year ago, but never really completed it. I've only dabbled in it for a bit, writing scraps and throwing them away, but this is the only thing I found that was noteworthy and decided to share it, it's a copy-paste directly from the writing program, but I cleaned it up a bit of course, anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy!
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You don't know who I am, or where I come from, you don't know anything, but if you're reading this that's good, it means you're alive, and maybe the world is better, maybe it's enjoyable, and there are parks again, and kids laughing and cheering. But that's all a maybe, an outcome with an unfair possibility of not happening, but I guess it makes sense, someone decided to destroy the world, and with the technology we had, it probably wasn’t that hard. What happened? well, I don't really know, all I know is that the world is falling apart, it's cracking, small cracks are apparent in almost every surface I come across that's been untouched or unmoved for a while, and they aren't normal cracks, they have a dim white glow, when I say dim I mean almost non-existent but the glow was still there nonetheless, and it feels like the world isn’t as bright, the world just lost all its life, all the grays got greyer and every other color looks dull and monotonous, but that’s just what came about.
​
After the first day, all available power disappeared, it was an exposition, a cardinal signal foreshadowing the apocalyptic future yet to come, of course, people started to panic. after one week the water shut off, at this point people had started to get irritable, and heated arguments were becoming a much too common thing to see in a lonely town like mine, then the third week hit, it's when the cracks became noticeable, it's also when people were being discovered, dead people, not many in the first few days, only two or three found a day. Soon enough people had run out of supplies, it's not like people were restocking the stores so no one could get any food or drink.
​
The streets were littered with bodies, most died from asphyxiation or gunshots, which was unlike the first killings, the first body found had his throat ripped out and his guts spilled, yet there was no blood anywhere on the body and no signs of a struggle, although I noticed this, I paid little attention to it. Nothing happened after that, aside from me staying in the basement which held enough food and water to sustain me for about a month and then some if I rationed carefully. It sucked in there, I had to have the little lamp in there off most of the time because of the lack of power, and the battery was already three-quarters full when I got down there, but I managed for thirty-two painfully slow and lightless days, then I emerged into my home.
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I saw what I had expected, shattered glass everywhere, tables turned on their sides, and everything else characteristic of a ransacking, but I was not expecting to find a body stuck in a wall, his waist and below stuck in the wall, the wall wasn't broken, it was like something had made the wall a liquid, stuck him in, and made the wall solid again. I didn’t see any fractures in the wall's surface aside from the small squiggly white cracks that remained on almost every surface. At that point I realized I hadn't shed a single tear or even once felt the need to vomit, I felt ashamed of myself, I felt emotionless and lifeless, I could have gone ahead and made my morning coffee and watched the news without giving a care in the world about the body that lay in my home… too bad there was no coffee, or tv.
10/16/2027 Stock:
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• Food: Can of Beans(6x cans). Can of Mangos (2x cans). Jack Link’s Beef Jerky (2x bags).
  
• Drink: Water(4x bottles). BodyArmor(3x bottles). (Empty Large Canteen).
  
• Items: Empty Large Canteen. Flashlight. Extra Batteries.(2x)
  
• Weapons: Colt 1911 (2x 8-Round Magazines, .45 ACP(44x)
  Remington Model 700(2x 3-Round Magazines, .308 WIN(18x) Hunting Knife
  

Note-1: After digging through my dad's closet and finding a false floorboard that always creaked, I gained access to two guns, a Remington Model 700 and a Colt 1911, and their corresponding ammunition.
Note-2: due to me living here for long enough I had the insight into areas of suspicion, an example is the floorboard, it’s unlikely I’ll get the luck to find hidden spaces like that again, but maybe when I’m skillful enough at looting, finding hidden spaces would become more common.
10/16/27
I gathered all of my supplies and put them in a backpack, aside from the M1911 and the 700, I put the M1911 in a holster on my hip and slung the 700 on my back, after I was ready, I left, the first thing I noticed was the lack of wildlife, I don’t live in a big city, it’s just a somewhat sparsely housed town, there’d always be an acre or two between homes at the very least, and birds were usually everywhere, but now I only see a few, only hear a few chirps here and there, I haven’t seen any terrestrial animals yet aside from insects, it seems there are fewer insects though as well. After I left my home I stood on the doorstep, I looked around at the dull scenery, I used to step outside to just look at the trees and the sky, but now everything is unappealing, I took the steps through the grass to my beat up car, all the glass was broken, I opened the door, sat inside and turned the ignition, nothing happened, as I expected cars don’t work anymore either, which put me on edge, what if guns don’t work anymore? But I silenced that thought, I still have a knife if guns won’t work.
​
I stepped out of the car and went to the trunk to see if anything was left of value. I opened it and found nothing, with no new supplies I decided the first place I’ll go to is the gas station, there was bound to be something there, even if it was only a little something. I started my two-mile trek to the gas station, I hiked a lot before all of this happened, two miles was nothing at all. There was a trail not too far from my house that I and my dog used to walk at, my dog died a few months back luckily enough, I wouldn’t have been able to support him now, not with the looming fear of starvation following me around. I had walked about one mile when all of a sudden everything went quiet, birds stopped chirping, the wind stopped blowing.
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I got off the road and hid in a bush, I heard things moving, rustling the brush, stopping every now and then, almost as if they were looking for something, I’d hear what sounded like someone taking a knife to glass, it pained my ears and I felt they would start bleeding if the sounds lasted a second longer. I never saw them, I don’t know if it was because they were behind me or on the other side of the road in a ditch or something, but after 10 minutes it went away, nature’s sounds returned after 5 minutes, I had to wait another 10 minutes, my body, shocked and stiff, wouldn’t allow me to move. I stood and dusted myself off, since I didn’t know where the sounds came from I just started searching on the opposite bank of the road, no signs of anything being there, no tracks, no broken twigs, no blood.
​
I thought I had gone insane while wallowing in my lonesome, but then I remembered the birds reacted to whatever it was, or whatever they were, I don’t know how many there were, it constantly alternated between the sound of one of them and the sound of an uncountable amount. Happy to get out of the area, I continued to my destination. When I got to the gas station there was only one broken window, and a body with characteristics of the first killings laying on the floor near the register, a broken knife next to him. I looted his body without remorse or disgust. I found a pack of cigs and pocketed them there was also a scrunched paper.
​
I read it once, then twice, and even a third time, my stomach churned and felt like it was about to implode, it looked to be a message from the man’s daughter saying how much she loved him and she wants him to be safe because of all the “bad people”, a smiley face sat at the top of the paper, I flipped the paper over to find distinctly different handwriting, presumingly the man’s, it detailed how he was sorry, as well as how he’d been at the station for 3 days, said he couldn’t leave because if he did they would get him, his last words, being written hastily were hardly legible, but I could read enough to understand that the cracks in the world that appeared in the station were much more distinct than in other places, and those things could come in, but they were just staring at him tauntingly. I could barely hold myself back from puking, it wasn’t hard to look at someone’s corpse, it had no effect on me, but the second I realized that man had a family, and had ambitions and potential… I continued looking around the store. I realized there would be more loot on dead bodies because people don’t want to touch them. After looking through all the shelves and in all of the back rooms I found a lighter under the lip of a bottom shelf, lucky me.
10/20/27
I had hoped there would be more, more of everything, but there’s nothing, I’ll put another list of my supplies soon but at this rate, I won't make it to see next week, every single store has been ransacked completely, all the bodies always have empty already eaten foods, I don’t know what to do. I’ve not seen a single soul, everything is dead, not even the insects anymore, the birds are gone too, maybe it has something to do with the cracks, they’ve progressed enough to where they are visible from up to a foot away, I’ve had to hide from those screeching things a couple of times, still haven’t seen them yet, I realized when the wind abruptly stops they’ve appeared, it’s a good thing the birds were still singing those few days ago or I wouldn’t have realized the pattern, I’d probably be dead, just like everyone else.
10/23/27
Nothing much has happened, I’ve seen a bird or two, and it’s nice to know that at least for a little bit longer animals will still be alive, I’ve theorized that whenever I hear the noise it’s only one entity doing it, I think this because I’ve heard an exceptionally large commotion a way off, I assume there was two there. Fortunately, the screeching has only happened near me only once, I’ve heard them in the distance though, in the night while I sleep I hear them far off, searching, waiting for their sinister roulette to hit, hoping, anticipating the kill. I decided to head to the(SO AND SO) I’ll update this then or if something happens along the way.
10/26/27
I’ve come across a hunting stand in the woods, it’s a jackpot. There’s too much stuff to carry, there was a map too so I’ll mark the general location once I find a landmark to orient myself with, I’ll put a list after this log but there’s more to talk about. The fragmentation, It’s what I’ve come to call the cracks, is still spreading of course. I’m starting to see a noticeable separation between the two edges of some individual fragments, still not big enough to stick anything in but instead of being small white lines spread wildly around, They’ve become a prominent feature of every object, I’ve been to some areas where the fragmentation is severe, white snakes slithering across any surface they can find, trying to fracture this world, they do end up doing it I suppose, that’s how the screechers exist, but the breaks only hold for so long until they close. That’s what I think happens at least, it’s not like I’ve seen them yet, and as long as I continue to find zones with little to no fragmentation as I have been, I think I’ll be fine, I just hope my luck doesn’t run out.
PUT A LOG HERE
10/29/27
I think I’m near (VarA), I should be out of the woods soon, but for now, I’ve got my bedroll down and am cooking some beans over the fire I’ve made, I’ll be fed for a while.
This may sound stupid but the fire keeps going out, the flames just disappear, no more heat. The charcoals lose their ember, everything becomes the regular temperature of the air around me. It still works though, there is no reliable frequency I can predict so sometimes it’ll die out as soon as I light it, and other times it takes an hour or two.
11/02/27
()()(())()()(()()()…I was walking when the wind stopped, the biggest problem for me at first was the fact there was nowhere to run, no depressions to dip in, I heard what sounded like a sharp camera shutter that immediately followed the deadening silence, the second I heard it I ran, a branch caught the strap of my bag, pulling it away from me. I couldn’t care though, all I could do was run, the trees vied for me, closing in. I was tripping and falling over and over, nearly impaling myself on the branches of trees I could hardly see.
​
I felt a push and fell over, I knew that running couldn’t have saved me, I knew it was there, right behind me, I couldn’t hear it though, I could only hear my breath but it wasn’t like that, I couldn’t hear it because it wasn’t making any noise, I thought for sure it would be screeching out for as long as it’s astral body would allow it to, but it didn’t, in fact, it lay on the ground, the white body, which looked as if it consisted of bolts of white grey lightning and string, pulsated, morphing into a consuming goop of unlight, and then back into it’s shimmering somewhat humanoid form, that process took a minute. I too lay there, my foot just a stone toss away from its hungry hand, the tips of its fingers eager to detach from its parent body, but was disallowed. I lay on the ground staring at it, and for some reason, it didn’t move, I took that opportunity to regenerate as much of my energy as possible, but from fear of losing my safety, I stood up slowly, emphasizing my steadiness, even though it probably detects me through a different means, I shouldn’t let it hear me, some caution is better than no caution at all.
​
I rose and took a gradual step back, but my back was met by a thick, gnarled arm of wood, as if that wasn’t enough, I had also stepped on a branch, probably from the same tree. The screecher stirred, its spectral head raised, maybe it used its sight for precision. It tried to raise the rest of its body, but its foot was stuck in a root, not like it was trapped under it, its foot was fused with the root. I guess it noticed it too because immediately the tone of its body got dimmer, I knew it was going to morph into the darkness, to free itself, to kill me. I took the chance I had, the 10s of seconds I had left were diminishing, and every second I wasted increased my chance of death. I turned, and immediately crouched and ducked under my guard that was the trees arm, I didn’t expect to have the keenness I had during that run, I’ve never been a particularly agile person, but in that moment I could see, without any blur caused by my abrupt motions, ducking and weaving through what seemed like the thickest forest I had ever seen.
​
I collapsed after only minutes of running, which was unsurprising though, the previous running and endless walking cost me an obscene amount of energy, taxing my body till the end, draining it of its power. I could hear them now, screaming, coming for me, it shouldn’t take as long as it’s taking them, but I guess they’re fighting each other, that’s why there is noise. I turned around and waited, I saw the two of them approaching me, they kept pushing and shoving each other, they were walking so slowly, as if they were sapped for energy, and the density of their body was low, it seems most of the strings of white grey abandoned the parent body for some reason, and with every step they took a few more disappeared, falling off into the ground. One of the entities fell to the ground, and the second took the opportunity and fell on top of it, tearing it to shreds, and repairing its own body with its meal, it seems it was only able to regain a menial percentage of its power back though, it’s speed only bolstered for a minute or so, still not fast enough to keep up with a hasty back step.
​
It fell to the ground after a while, and everything below its torso disappeared shortly after, it desperately sunk its claws into the soil, pulling with its full ability, trying to get me. It disappeared, shortly after, leaving quite a thick strand of vibrant white light. I pondered whether picking it up or not would be a good idea, in the end, I decided a little glowing string couldn’t hurt me that much. I plucked it from its place on the ground and immediately felt a strong, radiant sensation, a pulsating heat and cold piercing my body as if it was filling me with energy, I dropped it, even holding it for a few seconds easily removed most of the exhaustion from my body, I wanted to grab it again for another hit of pure energy, but I felt if I did I would explode, my body was not meant for this type of power, although it seemed capable enough to absorb what I presume was a little bit of it, I think it’s capacity is quite high, and powering what was but a little bit of myself was probably the least intensive thing this string could do.

谢谢 (xiè xiè) - This is the most common way to say "thank you" in Chinese. It is used in both formal and informal situations.
多谢 (duō xiè) - This is a more formal way to say "thank you". It is often used in business settings or when expressing gratitude to someone of higher status.
感谢 (gǎn xiè) - This is a more formal way to express gratitude. It is often used in written communication or formal speeches.
谢谢你 (xiè xiè nǐ) - This is a way to say "thank you" that includes the pronoun "you". It is often used in informal situations to express personal gratitude.
谢谢您 (xiè xiè nín) - This is a more formal way to say "thank you" that includes the honorific pronoun "您" (nín). It is often used to express gratitude to someone of higher status, such as a boss or a teacher.
非常感谢 (fēi cháng gǎn xiè) - This is a more emphatic way to express gratitude, which means "thank you very much". It is often used to express deep gratitude or appreciation.
多谢关照 (duō xiè guān zhào) - This is a way to express gratitude for someone's care or concern. It can be translated as "thank you for your attention" or "thank you for your concern".
谢过 (xiè guò) - This is a way to thank someone for their help or service. It can be translated as "thank you for your trouble" or "thank you for your efforts".

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6446808354
  
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dubydu.Hanzi
  

(ftm 19 btw) Today I had my first day of training at my new job as a sales associate, I had worked registers even solo at my old work however that was a very small town (500 people) where I knew most people. I moved to what I call a city but to most people its probably just a town, I've never lived anywhere with more than 1,000 people and it's still very hard to process even six months later. I suppose I should've expected worse but I really honestly thought I'd be fine despite the fact it's a pretty busy store. I made multiple pretty big mistakes because they wanted me to work solo only after about 30 minutes of watching someone else do it. I kept asking for help honestly but no matter what I did it was wrong. I made a pretty big mistake when trying to process a return and the woman who was helping earlier in training fixed it but could tell I wasn't doing very well. No costumers were rude but it was just agonizing for me. I had no time to prepare for what was just thrown at me really, I've never worked with clothes or most the items there. I tried asking for more time to watch and learn but they literally refused and basically said the only way I'll learn is throwing me into it which caused me to panic a lot honestly. I wanted to also say I don't understand what I am just expected to know how to do? Such as where I was just supposed to figure out where to go to after putting things in my locker. There were no directions which I really really need, I did mention this in the interview. Is it common knowledge to know miraculously what you're supposed to do when you get to work? Is there never directions on what's going on? Once my shift was over (which they didn't let me leave for an extra 20 minutes that I won't be paid for) I cried for a couple hours and I have been crying again for the past hour. Everything was overwhelming there. I have had similar experiences my first couple days at my last two jobs but not nearly this bad. I tend to cry whenever I'm alone after working or even while working almost automatically. Even before I took this job which I only got to appease others and seem "normal" and to have a better life with my boyfriend I knew I didn't think I could handle working. I feel so stupid for taking the job. Everything surrounding getting the job made my heart sink and my stomach hurt from panic and anxiety. My boyfriend suggested I try a mall job instead like Spencer's because it's darker in there (light sensitivity) and much smaller and not as scary to me. I'm not sure what I'll do. All I feel is dread at the moment. I will mention I work at a TJX store, had no idea they were huge sponsors of autism speaks and that alone makes me want to not come back especially with my new knowledge that they do donations in April. Please be kind, I have a very hard time with harsh words and would greatly appreciate gentleness especially right now.

谢谢 (xiè xiè) - This is the most common way to say "thank you" in Chinese. It is used in both formal and informal situations.
多谢 (duō xiè) - This is a more formal way to say "thank you". It is often used in business settings or when expressing gratitude to someone of higher status.
感谢 (gǎn xiè) - This is a more formal way to express gratitude. It is often used in written communication or formal speeches.
谢谢你 (xiè xiè nǐ) - This is a way to say "thank you" that includes the pronoun "you". It is often used in informal situations to express personal gratitude.
谢谢您 (xiè xiè nín) - This is a more formal way to say "thank you" that includes the honorific pronoun "您" (nín). It is often used to express gratitude to someone of higher status, such as a boss or a teacher.
非常感谢 (fēi cháng gǎn xiè) - This is a more emphatic way to express gratitude, which means "thank you very much". It is often used to express deep gratitude or appreciation.
多谢关照 (duō xiè guān zhào) - This is a way to express gratitude for someone's care or concern. It can be translated as "thank you for your attention" or "thank you for your concern".
谢过 (xiè guò) - This is a way to thank someone for their help or service. It can be translated as "thank you for your trouble" or "thank you for your efforts".

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6446808354
  
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dubydu.Hanzi
  

AM: Native Sensitive Facial Cleanser, The Body Shop Hemp Face Protector, Neutrogena Invisible Daily Defense Sunscreen
PM: Native Sensitive Facial Cleanser, Paula’s Choice 2% BHA Exfoliant (every other night), The Body Shop Hemp Face Protector
I’m (25M) looking for a new moisturizer because no physical stores near me carry The Body Shop’s Hemp Face Protector and I’m tired of having to order it and pay for shipping. I’m considering Weleda Skin Food Cream but wanted to get other recommendations!
Also I’ve tried CeraVe Moisturizing Cream and my skin does not like it.

谢谢 (xiè xiè) - This is the most common way to say "thank you" in Chinese. It is used in both formal and informal situations.
多谢 (duō xiè) - This is a more formal way to say "thank you". It is often used in business settings or when expressing gratitude to someone of higher status.
感谢 (gǎn xiè) - This is a more formal way to express gratitude. It is often used in written communication or formal speeches.
谢谢你 (xiè xiè nǐ) - This is a way to say "thank you" that includes the pronoun "you". It is often used in informal situations to express personal gratitude.
谢谢您 (xiè xiè nín) - This is a more formal way to say "thank you" that includes the honorific pronoun "您" (nín). It is often used to express gratitude to someone of higher status, such as a boss or a teacher.
非常感谢 (fēi cháng gǎn xiè) - This is a more emphatic way to express gratitude, which means "thank you very much". It is often used to express deep gratitude or appreciation.
多谢关照 (duō xiè guān zhào) - This is a way to express gratitude for someone's care or concern. It can be translated as "thank you for your attention" or "thank you for your concern".
谢过 (xiè guò) - This is a way to thank someone for their help or service. It can be translated as "thank you for your trouble" or "thank you for your efforts".

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6446808354
  
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dubydu.Hanzi
  

I have no knowledge of headphones whatsoever but I did try the AirPod max at the Apple Store and it was really good however I can’t spend 600 on headphones. Looking for something in the 150-200 range with similar or hopefully better quality.