Becoming fluent with the concepts of procedure and sterile technique is completely different from actually doing it. There's so many steps along the way where I thought I messed up. So let's go through em.

• I boiled the water first and then added the agar and LME , this led the nutrients to clump together making it so I wasn't able to pour it into my media bottle I had to use a jar instead.

Fix: use cool or lukewarm water to resolve the nutrients, while mixing the powders in slowly to avoid clumping.

• I thought I had to add quarters to the top of my pressure cooker weight...DONT DO THIS I thought my pressure cooker exploded it was so loud but it was just the safety seal popping.also I lost like 2/3 of my agar solution, leaving me with just shy of 500ML

Fix: with presto 23qt set it on high till it's 15psi and the set to medium and it'll stay.

• Since I had to use a jar, I had to poor the jar into he media bottle outside of of the still air box because there wasn't enough room in the box.

Fix: see step 1 . Also I could have pressured cooked it again to minimize contam. I was just lazy and anxious.

• I may have poored my agar a bit too soon on some of the dishes l, the media bottle masks how hot the agar really is.

Fix: get a temp heat gun. Temp heat gun directly on agar liquid

• The portion cups I us d where very cheap and extremely difficult to seal the lids, making the agar hard to stack, meqning alot of my cups have built up condensation

Overall I have a lot to learn, and I'm exited to get the technique down. If anyone is reading this do you have any suggestions on how I can test if the agar is actually good? I have a spore swap coming in tomorrow. Should I leave the agar for a bit to see if any mold grows on the agar? Before I try to inoculate?

So I’ve seen a video a while back about what Godzilla’s roar would actually sound like, and the conclusion is that it would basically be so loud that it would kill you before you got a chance to actually hear it. But what would his famous radioactive breath sound like?
The movies themselves have different interpretations of what it would sound like. A low pitched rumbling in the Showa and Heisei series, a higher pitched hum in the Millennium series and Shin Godzilla, and the MonsterVerse Godzilla’s crackling. But after dabbling in some science hippy lore, I think the Showa and Heisei series come the closest in terms of sound.
Godzilla’s atomic breath (at least in the MonsterVerse) is a scalding 500,000 degrees Celsius (or 900,032 degrees Fahrenheit for all the American science hippies), that is way hotter than lightning and makes the surface of the sun feel like dying candle flame in comparison, and also means that the breath is comprised completely of plasma.
The closest thing we have to Godzilla’s atomic breath in our world is a lightning bolt, and the familiar thunder sound they make is likely very close to what the Big G’s breath would sound like. When lightning strikes, the air around the bolt is suddenly heated to a temperature 5 times that of the surface of the sun, and hot air expands, and it expands fast. However, air further away from the bolt doesn’t heat up as much, so it doesn’t expand, and as a result, the hot air forces the colder air out of the way, and the shoved air shoves more air, creating a chain reaction that we know as a shockwave.
Godzilla’s atomic breath would cause the same effect, air next to the beam is instantly superheated to plasma temperatures and expands, creating a shockwave. Amusingly, the beam would probably be quieter than Goji’s actual roar, but that isn’t saying much. Anyway to anyone far enough away to not get ripped apart by the shockwave, incinerated from the heat, or immediately contract stage 8,000,000 cancer from the radiation, the atomic breath would sound like a massive explosion, likely with some rumbling continuing for several seconds after the initial blast as the shockwave bounces off the nearby buildings, hills, and mountains.
Additionally, light travels faster than sound, which is why we usually see lightning first and hear thunder a few seconds later (unless the strike happens to be right next to you), again, the same principle applies to the atomic breath. So to anyone a considerable distance away, they would see the breath and then hear it a few seconds later depending on how far away they are.

80 days NC and dumper breaks it. He texted and I freaked out. I set my phone down and just ran outside to get some air. While getting air, I see his car coming down the road. In panic, I put my head down. Turns out He was in the neighborhood helping a friend move and I guess he couldn’t take it anymore and reached out. After I saw him drive by my door, that’s when I realized I had to say something back. There were some exchanges and he admitted he had been thinking about me a lot. I told him I had too. He seemed surprised and asked “Really?” I told him yes…then he asks “why?” I kept it cool and told him just some feeling in my gut. (I didn’t want to overdo it).
He hasn’t said anything back and it’s been two days. Maybe he’s processing things. Maybe he’s not. Whatever it is, I’m just here to show you that there’s so much confusion after being contacted. Also, I’m sure he got nervous when he saw me.
I’m sick and hurting because he was literally 8 feet away from me in his car and I put my head down because I was too scared to look up. And he didn’t honk or stop because he was probably too nervous too.
I’ve never been here with someone before. Usually, one person is done and over it and there’s no nerves involved anymore.
Back to NC I go. Pretending nothing happened and it was a dream because even reading this back, it seems like a dream. A dream when you think it’s about to get good but you wake up too soon.

Wife and I bought this RV heater and a/c rooftop unit and I want to build a fully sustainable electric system just not sure how much power we're going to need. I would love to just talk to someone who understands all this so it can be broke down for my toddler brain to understand.
RecPro RV Air Conditioner Low Profile 13.5K Non-Ducted Heating or Cooling Option RV AC Unit Camper Air Conditioner (White) https://a.co/d/5LUVKw8

WATCH THE SEASON HERE
Past Seasons:

S01 Polynesia
S02 Indonesia
S03 Canary Islands
S04 Antigua
S05 Tasmania
S06 All-Stars
S07 Santorini
S08 Maldives
S09 Sardinia

Past Winners: S01 Lesley Martin, S02 Chris Garcia, S03 Lu Carmona, S04 Izel Xiu, S05 Raj Milano, S06 Sylvie Vesterguard, S07 Ernie Maltisanti, S08 Louie Moreno
​
For the newest season of Survivor, 20 castaways separated by age and gender have embarked on a 39-day adventure where they will be forced to lie, cheat, and backstab each other on their way to the title of Sole Survivor. Who will leave their mark on the game, and who will join the ever-growing list of Sole Survivors? 39 days, 20 people, and 1 Sole Survivor!!!
​
Sardus Tribe (wearing Yellow)
Austin Perez: 25, Beach lifeguard u/Twig7665
Carter Whitworth: 23, College Student u/JTsidol
Charya Khong: 19, Musician u/Unite-Us-3403
Liam McCurrah: 24, Animation Student u/SilverOwl24
Tommy Yamashita: 29, Food Truck Chef u/FrieNads
​
Corsica Tribe (wearing Peach)
Giselle Jimenez: 20, Model u/angiewantscookies
Kelly Wilson: 20, Student u/JTsidol
Lillith Sanchez: 24, Game dev/survivalist u/Twig7665
Rosanna Pierce(Ro): 23, Dance Instructor u/ripecornball60
Sienna Marinelli: 23, Dietitian u/dksurvivor
​
Nurra Tribe (wearing Purple)
Anais Haddad: 42, Secretary u/dksurvivor
Esmerelda Rackhelm(Ezzie): 46, Stripper u/Swoldow
Ida Cohen: 40, Flight Attendant/ Air Force Veteran u/SilverOwl24
Nari Higashikata: 45, Librarian u/somewell
Yhondra Willions: 45, bodybuilder u/asiansurvivorfan
​
Gallura Tribe (wearing Blue)
Abdul Bobi: 45, Taxi Driver u/asiansurvivorfan
Bob Hillen: 57, Marine Biologist u/FrieNads
Clint Moonshine: 46, club owneretired actor u/swoldow
Harold Baskins(Harry): 61, Restaurant Owner u/ripecornball60
Lance Vance: 68, retired rock star u/Guetguet1993
​
Summary:
20th: In the first immunity challenge Gallura tribe loses and sends Kelly to Exile Island where the promise of an advantage that could change the game lurked around every corner. At the Gallura tribal council, everyone agreed that Abdul Bobi was the weakest link, and voted him out unanimously.
19th: Gallura finished last once again at the immunity challenge and chose to send Austin to Exile Island. At tribal, everyone decided again to vote out their next biggest perceived liability. Unfortunately, that was Harry Baskins and he became the next boot.
18th: A twist resulted in the four tribes dissolving down to two. The new Sardus tribe resulted in three OG Sardus; Austin, Whitworth, and Charya three OG Nurra; Ezzie, Nari, and Yhondra 2 OG Corsica; Gigi and Kelly and one OG Gallura; Lance. On the new Gallura tribe are the OG Gallura; Clint and Bob two OG Nurra; Ida and Anais two OG Sardus; Tommy and Liam and three Corsica; Lilith, Sienna and Ro. The new Sardus tribe won immunity and elected to send Ro to exile island where she will be immune from the first tribal council. At Gallura tribal council even though there were 4 pairs of 2 from each original tribe, everyone was in agreement that Tommy Yamashita was a big liability in the game and would also weaken the young male tribe. Tommy Yamashita was voted out unanimously.
17th: At the reward challenge, Sardus tribe won and sent Anais to exile island. While on exile island, she found the hidden immunity idol! This immunity idol can be played after the votes are read. At the immunity challenge, Sardus won again, and Gallura was forced to go to yet another tribal council. At tribal council, everyone saw how big of a threat the three Corsica girls were. Sienna and Ro brought Anais into their alliance, and the power looked like it was about to shift. Lillith realized she was 4th in the alliance and flipped over to the other side of the tribe. Sienna was frustrated that Lillith would flip that easily and argued the tribe should just vote her out as she couldn’t be trusted. On the other side Lillith argued that taking out a big threat in Sienna now was the perfect time before she gained too much power. In the end Sienna Marinelli was voted out 6-3.
16th:>! Gallura lost another immunity challenge and Anais and Ro were feeling the heat as tribal council approached. Anais and Ro still gunned for Lillith as she seemed the most likely person they could flip the vote onto. So they approached Clint and Bob from the older mens tribe to try and work together. While Clint seemed on board, Bob seemed less sure which lead to Clint getting noticeably upset while at camp. At tribal council the tribe started wondering if they could trust Clint to be a cool head and work with them, so in the end Clint Moonshine was voted out 4-3. Ro and Anais scraped by yet another vote, but were still precariously balanced.!<
15th: The twist in this episode was that both tribes would go to the tribal council. Sardus won immunity so they were up first. The two young girls Kelly and Gigi had formed a strong relationship with Whitworth and Charya which really worried Nari, Yhondra, and Ezzie. Lance was relentlessly pushing Charya as he viewed him as the biggest threat. At Tribal, The three older girls convinced Austin of the threat of the relationship forming between Gigi, Whitworth, Charya, and Kelly. Austin was unwilling to vote out one of his original tribe mates though, so he pitched Gigi. In the vote, it was a 4-4 split between Gigi and Yhondra with Lance being the tiebreaker having voted for Charya. In the end Lance viewed his relationship with Ezzie and Nari as stronger and voted with them to send Gigi Jimenez home.
14th: Sardus tribe kidnaps Liam to keep him safe from the tribal, leaving only Ro, Anais, Bob, Ida, and Lillith. Ro and Anais finally broke through to the tribe and kept their flames alive for yet another vote as the tribe unanimously voted to eliminate Lillith Sanchez.
13th:>! Sardus tribe finally won an immunity challenge sending Gallura to tribal council. Everyone on the tribe seemed committed to completely eliminating the showmance that started with Gigi by voting for Whitworth. This cemented itself when Austin, Charya, Lance, Kelly, and Yhondra formed a new majority alliance. Whitworth was voted out unanimously.!<
12th: At the next challenge an opportunity to mutiny over to the other tribe was presented to the two tribes. Charya and Ezzie from Sardus mutinied over to the Gallura tribe. Charya left to try and form more relationships with players and consolidate his power with his closest ally Liam. Ezzie left her previous tribe after accurately sensing she was on the outs, and wanted to survive as long as she could. Despite a stronger Gallura tribe after gaining two new tribemates they lost another immunity challenge. This time, Ro and Anais feeling no other way to survive realized that it was going to be one of them and their streak of luck had finally run out. At tribal council, the vote was 5-2 on Anais, but she played her immunity idol making Ro Pierce the 12th person voted out of the game. I was sad to see Ro go here. I was rooting for her and she managed to survive on the bottom for a good amount of time. I could see her time in Ceph’s Survivor not being done quite yet.
11th:>! Sardus Tribe lost the immunity challenge and received a message in the bottle to be opened after tribal council. Lance had slowly taken control of his tribe and manufactured relationships with everyone in the tribe. Austin saw this and was desperately trying to put pressure on Lance. However, Lance had approached Kelly and Austin and told them the plan was to vote for Nari. Austin didn’t believe him and tried to convince everyone to go for Lance. At tribal council, Lance, Nari, and Yhondra voted for Austin, while Austin had voted for Lance and Kelly for Nari. Austin Perez was voted out here, and I was honestly sad! He had a reasonably good position through pre-merge and could make some bigger moves in his limited time in the game. I could see him coming back in the right circumstances.!<
10th: After voting out Austin, the tribe was immediately told to vote out another tribemate. With no time for scrambling the majority, Lance, Yhondra, and Nari went for an easy vote and voted Kelly Wilson out 3-1. Kelly did well to become the last member of the Corsica tribe, but unfortunately, her game after the tribe swap was left in shambles. Her allies were put on the other tribe and quickly voted out. Kelly would have had a lot to work to do at the merge.
9th: Merge time! Three of the original tribes were represented headed into the merge. For the young men's tribe, Sardus had Charya Kong and Liam McCurrah. For the Older men's tribe, Gallura had Lance Vance and Bob Hillen. Finally, all five original Nurra Tribe members, Nari Higashikata, Yhondra Willions, Ida Cohen, Anais Haddad, and Ezzie Rackhelm, had made it to the merge. At the first immunity challenge, Ezzie won, guaranteeing herself a 1 in 8 shot at becoming the Sole Survivor. Lance had introduced a plan to his allies to vote out Anais. His reasoning was her story was getting better every day she managed to survive, and she had no allies which made her a big threat. Liam who had until this point had played a very quiet game. Liam linked up with other players who had played under-the-radar games and formed an alliance with Bob and Ida. His thought process was looking at the 5 original Nurra members as a huge potential threat so they needed to eliminate someone from that tribe while also weakening the opposing alliance. Ultimately, Bob, Ida, and Liam settled on Yhondra as a potential threat. Proving Liam’s fears to be true, Nari and Yhondra wanted to work with their original Nurra tribe members and vote out Bob. At the Tribal Council, the atmosphere was tense, and everyone was on edge knowing the vote could go either way. In the end, it was a 4-3-2 sending Yhondra Willions home as the first juror after the merge. Bob, Liam, and Ida had brought Anais in from the bottom and won the first battle at the merge.
8th: Ida wins the next immunity challenge giving her a 1 in 8 shot at winning the title of Sole Survivor. At camp after the challenge, everyone was looking at the newly minted alliance of Bob, Liam, Ida, and Anais in fear worrying that if they gave way for another vote, they would run away with control of the game. With this fear in mind, Lance, Nari, Charya, and Ezzie banded together in their own mini-alliance. Liam worked on Charya to remind him of the relationship they had formed and tried convincing him to work with him. Lance recognized Charya as a potential flip, and feeling the heat tried to reinforce their relationship together too. At tribal council both alliances seemed locked in with very little wiggle room. At the vote it was split 4-4 between Lance and Bob. After a little discussion Lance bargained with the other alliance saying whoever voted for Bob on the revote would not be a target the next time they went to tribal. Anais decided to trust Lance’s word and flipped on the revote making Bob Hillen the next eliminate in a 4-2 vote.
7th: Charya wins the next immunity challenge giving him a 1 in 7 shot of winning this game. At the next tribal, and true to his word, it seemed likely that Ida or Liam would be voted out. After bonding super closely with Lance, the target seemed set on Ida. Ida Cohen was voted out 5-2 with Nari not wanting to vote out a close ally and keeping her inside the game.
6th: Ezzie wins her second immunity challenge. At camp before tribal, Nari approached Liam and Ezzie to form an endgame alliance. Nari convinced them by pointing out how big of a threat level Lance was building. Liam agreed with Nari and agreed with the points, but was unwilling to move now. Everyone agreed that Charya had played a really good social game to this point, and needed to be voted out before going further in the game. Charya Khong was voted out 5-1.
Finale Summary!>! Five players remained in one of the most explosive seasons to date. Anais Haddad started the game on the bottom with no clear alliances. Since then she saved herself with an immunity idol and has survived countless votes where she could have been the target. Can Anais scrape past 2 more votes to make it to the end as the ultimate underdog? Liam McCurrah started off struggling in this game. With his friends mostly eliminated prior to the merge and on his own, Liam assembled a team of outcasts to make a huge move in the beginning of the merge. Since then, Liam has relied on his social game and his quick thinking to make it this far into the merge. Can Liam continue strategizing his way into final tribal council? Ezzie Rackhelm has been a dominant physical player in this game. Backing up her strategy, she has worked hand in hand with Lance as the strategic counterpart to his social game. Looking to distance herself from Lance she formed an alliance with Liam and Nari to go to the final 3 together, but has she done enough to separate her gameplay from Lance’s? Nari Higashikata has played a very under-the-radar strategic game. Surviving with her strategic gameplay, Nari has never really been in danger while keeping louder more boisterous players around to hide her game. Can Nari make the moves required to finish her game and win Sole Survivor? Lance Vance has handled this game with a masterful mix of social and strategic gameplay. Starting in a tenuous position in the pre-merge, since then Lance has formed multiple alliances that have helped him get to the end of the game. Can his social game get him to the final tribal? !<
5th: Ezzie wins her third straight immunity challenge giving her a 1 in 4 shot to win this game. Everyone agreed that one person had survived too many votes to risk taking them to the end. That person was Anais Haddad, and despite her efforts to flip it to Lance, her luck finally ran out, and she became the 16th person voted out of the game. I was sad to see Anais go here. She had a great run and found the first playable immunity idol. She was able to survive many votes I frankly thought impossible, and overall she was a fabulous player to have played this season. Definitely a game-changer.
4th: In the last twist of the season, at the immunity challenge it was announced that this season will feature the very first FINAL THREE. This meant that this was the last challenge before Final Tribal Council. Everyone gave it their all, but in the end Ezzie edged it out to win her fourth immunity and guaranteed herself a spot in the final tribal council. Lance, feeling the pressure, desperately appealed to Nari and Ezzie to hold true to their alliance and vote out Liam as a big threat in the game. While Ezzie seemed good with it, Nari was convinced she had a better shot against Liam then Lance in FTC. At the tribal council, the vote was tied 2-2 and then 1-1 against Lance and Liam. Both of them were forced to compete in a fire making challenge where the loser would be sent home. In the end Liam burned through his rope faster then Lance and made Lance Vance the 9th and final member of the jury. Lance was such a fun character to have throughout the season. Lance had a great social game similar to past legends like Bridge, Ernie, and maybe even Izel. I was definitely rooting for him throughout the season and was sad to see him go.
Final Tribal speeches: Ezzie, Nari, and Liam made it to the final tribal council where they addressed the jury and tried to give examples of the games they had played. Ezzie flaunted her physicality and dominance in challenges while also doing a great job of staying on the right side of the votes. Liam made a show of his big move to start the merge, his social game to keep himself alive after losing his allies, and ended it by eliminating one of the biggest threats in Lance. Nari talked about how she managed to get her whole tribe to the merge, and while she was always clearly a strategic threat, never came up in the votes to be voted out. In the end the vote was 4-3-2 with everyone having strong reasons for voting for each of the finalists.
3rd: In third place came Ezzie Rackhelm. The jury valued her physical game and placements among the majority alliances. In the end they couldnt separate her game as much from the game that Lance had played and wanted to see more individuality in her gameplay. She becomes the second runner up recieiving 2 votes. Overall, i loved having Ezzie in this season. When I first simmed it, I honestly thought she was going to win. I think she has more she can give to survivor and would love to see her come back for redemption.
2nd: With three votes in second came Liam McCurrah. The jury applauded Liam’s big moves in the game at the beginning and end of merge, but wished that he hadn’t disappeared in between those moves. They also dinged him for immediately losing all of his allies after making the move. While Liam came close, in the end his answers didn’t adequately satisfy the jury.
1st: That means that Nari Higashikata becomes our newest sole survivor! Nari played a wonderful under-the-radar game where she was always a threat, but never the biggest one. She played a very consistent game and worked her way through the post-merge wonderfully. Overall, while sometimes its hard to write the story of an lowkey player like Nari, hopefully her gameplay came through and you can see why she was our winner. Congratulations to u/somewell for having your very first winner in my seasons!
Overall Summary: I LOVED THIS SEASON!!! I don’t know what it was about it, but everyone was so much fun to have around. I thought Lance was a highlight of the season, and we had big moves spread throughout the season. Anais was fun to see survive so many different votes after being on the bottom so long. Nari was a good winner in a great season and so many people I feel like have the potential to come back!
Potential Returnees: Austin, Lance, Liam, Anais, Ezzie, Nari, Ro, and Charya
What did you think of this season? Who would you want to come back? Who was the most robbed player this season? After season 10 would you be interested in a post showing the stats(most votes for, Fan favorites, challenge wins, etc.) that the castaways in my season have produced?
WATCH HERE WATCH HERE

I have central aiheating. The furnace is 20 year old Goodman gas furnace and houses the fan. The A/C portion is an Amana about 10 years old. It looks like the indoor A/C portion is stacked on top of the furnace portion all connected to the same ducts. The return goes to the bottom of the furnace. It seems like the airflow goes from the return -> fan -> furnace -> indoor a/c portion -> ducts. If the indoor a/c portion were removed completely so that the setup was return -> fan -> furnace -> ducts, would the furnace provide better heat airflow than when the indoor a/c portion was on top?

Yo, listen up. Let me tell you what's good For your home's cooling and heating, we would The Amana and Rheem, they ain't too shabby But the Daikin with a heat pump, well, that's just caddie,
"But hold up, Dre, let's talk about the price The Daikin might be nice, but it comes at a heavy price Amana and Rheem might be a better choice To save some money and still have a cool voice
"I hear you, Em, but let me just say The Daikin's worth the cost, and here's why I'll portray With two-stage compressors, you get top-notch control And the Aprilaire air cleaner will purify your soul
"Well, that's a valid point, Doc Dre But we still have to think about value today If you got the cash, then go ahead And let Daikin's performance spread
"In the end, it's all about your cooling and heating needs Choose what's right for you and do some deeds Whether the Amana and Rheem or the Daikin supreme Just make sure your home's always chillin', no matter the theme."
~furnacehiphop~

Yo, listen up. Let me tell you what's good For your home's cooling and heating, we would The Amana and Rheem, they ain't too shabby But the Daikin with a heat pump, well, that's just caddie,
"But hold up, Dre, let's talk about the price The Daikin might be nice, but it comes at a heavy price Amana and Rheem might be a better choice To save some money and still have a cool voice
"I hear you, Em, but let me just say The Daikin's worth the cost, and here's why I'll portray With two-stage compressors, you get top-notch control And the Aprilaire air cleaner will purify your soul
"Well, that's a valid point, Doc Dre But we still have to think about value today If you got the cash, then go ahead And let Daikin's performance spread
"In the end, it's all about your cooling and heating needs Choose what's right for you and do some deeds Whether the Amana and Rheem or the Daikin supreme Just make sure your home's always chillin', no matter the theme."
~furnacehiphop~

Have you ever wanted to get off opiates so badly you'd be willing to do anything?
Summer, 2017. Orange County, California
I park my car in another part of the same neighborhood. I don't bother to check my surroundings. I pick a water bottle up off the floor, get my works ready, and prep an extremely strong shot of furanylfentanyl for myself. My heart is racing, I'm shaking, I'm sweating, I feel sick to my stomach. How is it possible that I feel this sick and terrible so soon after my last shot?
I'm in trouble.
I use the seatbelt to crudely constrict blood flow to my arm. I inject the furanylfentanyl and cap the needle. I open my car door and lean my head towards the opening, in case I have to vomit.
The rush hits too quickly. My heart slows. My muscles relax. My stomach does a backflip. I try to cling to what pleasurable sensations I can, but nausea overwhelms me and an encapsulating weakness dulls the entire experience. I start to salivate, a sure sign that I am about to throw up. I start to feel very dizzy.
"NO!" I scream. "Don't overdose! don't overdose!" I yell, slapping myself in the face. The sudden movement of slapping myself causes my nausea to worsen. I let my head hang over the opening in my car door to the asphalt below.
"Stay awake. Stay awake. Stay awake," I yell, out loud, to keep me engaged. I hear a dog bark and do my best to look up from the asphalt. There is a woman walking her dog away from me. Did she see me? Does it matter?
If she calls the cops, does it matter? I try to keep watching her as she continues to walk away. Does anything matter? Does anyone even see me? Am I just a ghost, stuck on this hellish plane with my only relief being small chunks of fake feelings that I buy for hundreds of dollars and shoot into my veins, until my body finally breaks down and dies on me?
Something snaps within me.
This has to end – NOW.
Later that night.
"Ok, Bryson sent you here, and he always sends good people, so we can just do all the intake stuff tomorrow. Your bed is upstairs. Hey, Logan!" the chunky, tan, toothless house manager turns and yells towards the living room of my new flophouse, at the two 20-somethings playing Call of Duty on a gigantic HDTV.
"What," one of them snaps, quietly and unenthusiastically, not looking away from the TV. All I can see is the Boston Celtics flat-brim hat that he has on backwards.
"Can you show the new guy here to his bed? It's in your room," the house manager says.
"What? Why is he in my room?" Logan asks, irritation plain in his voice.
"Because I said so," the house manager says, walking towards them now, as if he is going to get in front of the TV and block their view of it.
The kid with the Celtics hat gets up suddenly and starts to walk towards me. He strides past me, not even looking at me.
"Thanks," I say to the house manager, before turning away from him to follow the lazily bobbing Celtics hat upstairs.
"See you tomorrow morning! Don't forget to come see me in the morning!" the flophouse manager calls after us. Despite not having me fill out any paperwork or giving me a drug test, I will be able to start living here right away because I have private health insurance. I might as well have swiped my health insurance card at the door of this flophouse hotel.
Logan walks like he can do no wrong and the world owes him something, which makes me hate him instantly. He leads me to the first bedroom at the top of the stairs, which is indistinguishable from any other middle-class suburban single-family home. It is smaller than my childhood bedroom, with two twin beds maybe 5 feet apart, two small nightstands that practically touch each other, and one dresser.
"This is my bed. Don't touch any of my stuff. That dresser is mine," he says, pointing to the indiscriminate wooden dresser against the wall opposite our beds. I feel a flash of anger.
"Nah. There’s only one dresser. We'll split it up tomorrow," I say. He turns towards me and looks me in the eyes. He’s taller than me, with long dark hair and a lean frame. I stare at him, my jaw clenched in rage, daring him to touch me, so I can take my anger out on something besides myself. I don't care if he knows how to fight and whips my ass right now, I'm at the absolute end of my rope with living on this Earth. He scoffs and walks out of the room. I sit on the twin bed that is now ‘mine’. It feels brand new. New beds means that a new flophouse has arrived in Orange County.
I wish I didn't have to precipitate my withdrawal, but this has to end sometime, and there is no time but now. I have four somas, six xanax bars, and half a naltrexone pill - 25mg - in my pocket. I pull the loose pills out of my pocket and look at them.
Six xanax bars is definitely not enough to make me black out. Six xanax bars isn't even enough to fully get rid of the restlessness, let alone cause me to sleep through the night, but at least I have 4 somas. The muscle-relaxing somas will have to do some heavy lifting, but I know they can do it.
Somas absolutely wreck me. I haven’t taken one in a long time, but I know I respond strongly to them. Taking six xanax and four somas would ordinarily be enough to cause me to black out for a full day, but I don’t know if they will even work through 25 milligrams of naltrexone.
Just thinking the word ‘naltrexone’ causes my stomach to drop and my heart to start racing. I am absolutely petrified at the thought of taking this naltrexone.
Well, it’s time to nut the fuck up and do it, Lonnie. You decided to go on your little furanylfentanyl binge, now you have to take this naltrexone. You made your shitty flophouse bed, now you have to lay in it. You’re going to be sick either way by the time the morning comes.
I try to swallow, but my mouth is dry with anxiety. How much do somas contribute to respiratory depression? I can’t remember off the top of my head. I don’t remember what the median lethal dose is, what the mechanism of action is, or even what receptors it interacts with, aside from the same GABA receptors that xanax acts upon. I wonder if there is an increased risk of respiratory depression from combining soma with xanax.
I pull out of my phone, so I can google just how sedating the soma is when combined with xanax, to make sure I am not going to stop breathing during the procedure.
You’re wasting your time, Lonnie. You have to be conscious in the morning and able to talk to the house manager. You’ve overdosed 3 times in the past few weeks. If you can inject enough fentanyl to kill 5 people, you can take 4 somas with 6 xanax. It isn’t going to kill you – and if it does, who cares? Either way, it’ll finally be over.
This has to end. I’d rather die than keep doing this, anyway.
I walk into the bathroom, the pills clenched in my fist like a loaded revolver, and close the door. I turn on the sink and put all 4 somas in my mouth. I stick my head in the sink and part my lips slightly, drinking from the stream as if I had a straw in my mouth. I swallow the pills and then put all 6 xanax in my mouth. I turn the tap off and start to chew.
My mouth fills with the incredibly bitter taste of the xanax. I used to watch people do this and nearly throw up at the mere sight alone. Now, my mouth salivates with excitement as the bitterness overwhelms me.
I hate how much my brain loves the bitter taste of chemicals. I wish my brain hated the bitterness, like normal people. I hate being a drug addict.
I swallow a few times to clear my mouth out and then drink more from the tap. I look at the orange half-pill of naltrexone in my hand. I sigh. This is going to suck.
Hurry up and swallow it, bitch boy. You don’t want to black out and start throwing fruit around before the withdrawal kicks in, like you did at Amelia’s house.
I can’t look away from the orange half-pill.
Just take it and get it over with. Put the naltrexone in your mouth and swallow it.
I know this is going to make me sick within 3 minutes of taking it. I might as well swallow dynamite – in fact, I would prefer to swallow dynamite. The taste of the xanax lingers in my mouth. I have to take the naltrexone. There is no avoiding it.
I put the pill in my mouth and drink from the tap again. I swallow the naltrexone, turn off the sink, and go back to my new flophouse bedroom, my heart pounding with overwhelming anxiety, feeling like I just made the worst decision I have ever made in my life, which is saying something. I turn off the lights, close the door, and get into the bed. I lay down on my side and close my eyes firmly. I am going to sleep, right now.
5 minutes into self-induced ultra-rapid detox.
My stomach is cramping. It hurts so bad that I can’t move my hands away from it. It feels like I swallowed poison. There is an odd sensation of electricity attached to the pain that is coming from the back of my neck. I am curled in the fetal position because my stomach hurts so bad, but everything else hurts too. How did it hit this hard and this fast? It wasn’t supposed to hit this hard or this quickly.
I throw the blanket off of me. It’s so hot, I can’t bear to have that blanket anywhere near me. The heat is so intense, I can feel it radiating off my skin. I am covered in sweat.
Why does my stomach hurt so bad? It has never hurt this bad before. I can barely breathe through the pain.
9 minutes into the procedure.
It’s so cold, my sweat feels like prickly ice water. I reach for the blanket and wrap it around me as tightly as I can. I move my feet, so the blanket is wrapped completely around them. I can feel my toes writhing back and forth, my legs moving uncontrollably. I am shaking uncontrollably, so I shake intentionally. Where is the xanax? Please, kick in. Please. Please.
God, if you’re listening, stop playing with me and kill me or let that xanax through my first-pass metabolism and into my bloodstream. I chewed it. It should be kicking in and making these symptoms milder.
T+ 14 minutes.
I feel an electric zap in my stomach that becomes a cramp. I hold my abdominals and try to massage them to stop the cramp, which is so painful I can’t breathe. I have the sudden need to use the bathroom. I jump out of bed and powerwalk to the bathroom. Luckily everyone is still downstairs playing video games or not home yet. At least this flophouse doesn’t have a curfew.
I sit down on the toilet and try to sit still. I cannot stop my body from moving for even one second. It feels like my insides are on fire. This is discomfort beyond anything I have ever experienced or imagined.
T+ 20 minutes.
It is so hot. I can’t believe how overheated I feel. I must be on the precipice of brain damage. I lay on the bed, curled in the fetal position, drenched in sweat, forcing myself to shake as vigorously as I can so that I can pretend that I am complicit in this. The xanax has to be kicking in any second now. I should be nearly unconscious right now.
A fresh electric cramp hits my stomach, driving the air from my lungs. I get up from the bed, power walking back to the bathroom, doubled over with pain. I sit down on the toilet and feel the urge to scream. I leave my body bent forward because I can’t sit up straight with this cramp. I see the trash can right across from me. My stomach is so fucked up, maybe I just need to throw up.
T+ 1 hour.
I inhale. I exhale. I inhale. I exhale.
I am not asleep, but I am not awake. I can tell that horrible things are happening in my body and brain, but I am too sedated now to be able to maintain full awareness. I am scared that I will be aware of the moment when I stop breathing – that I will suffocate while I am fully conscious, since that is exactly what I deserve.
I am no longer panicking, but my stomach is beyond fucked. I have been getting up every 5 minutes to go to the bathroom, and now my roommate is in here. It is 12 AM. I have 6 hours left to go.
The soma has all but gotten rid of the cramps. I can now lay still. The temperature swings aren’t nearly as bad – it almost seems as if they’re happening to a body that I can feel but is not mine.
You’re going to do it, Lonnie. You’re outsmarting addiction. Before you know it, you’re going to be getting the naltrexone implant, and then you’ll be back to training hard for college basketball.
I get up from the bed. I walk back to the bathroom, now having to walk carefully, my arms outstretched. The combination of the xanax and the somas has me extremely uncoordinated. I walk towards the bathroom, closing one eye to combat the double vision I have now. I slowly reach for the door and open it. I close it behind me, carefully and slowly. I walk to the toilet and sit on it as quickly as I can, due to the growing urgency of the signals from my stomach. I put my head in my hands and my elbows on my knees. One of my elbows slip immediately, and I almost fall off the toilet.
I fix my seat and put my head back in my hands, more carefully this time. Though I feel physical sensations of pain and discomfort, they are being sent through a deeply dizzying diversion. The discomfort is distant. I can’t be bothered to worry about it right now.
Stay awake, Lonnie. You can’t pass out on the toilet. You’ll get caught and kicked out or taken to a hospital. I cradle my head. I’ll get up in a second.
I hear a loud crashing sound and open my eyes. I’m sandwiched between the toilet and the wall. I reach up for the toilet and successfully pull the seat down after several failed attempts, so I can use it to help me up. Slowly and carefully, I get up from the floor. I pull the seat up and sit back down on the toilet.
I stand up from the toilet and start to walk out of the bathroom. Before I even make it to the door, I feel the need to sit back on the toilet.
This is not good. The soma probably relaxed everything too much. I might have to sit on this toilet for the rest of the night, shitting my brains out. I cradle my head in my hands, so I can relax on the toilet.
Don’t relax too much, Lonnie. You might fall asleep on the toilet. Just keep breathing. You’re probably not breathing very much. You should NOT be conscious right now. Just because the naltrexone is painful enough to force you to maintain consciousness doesn’t mean that your body isn’t barely clinging to life.
I inhale. I exhale.
I feel myself slipping off the toilet. Fuck, I need to get up. I need to do something to stay awake. I can take a shower; I just have to get up from the toilet. Give it another second, though.
I can just wait here for one more second.
​
I woke up 3 days later in the ICU as they were pulling the breathing tubes out of me

Hey. Can someone explain how I can tell from this graph that this titration is a 1:1 ratio?

Yo, listen up. Let me tell you what's good For your home's cooling and heating, we would The Amana and Rheem, they ain't too shabby But the Daikin with a heat pump, well, that's just caddie,
"But hold up, Dre, let's talk about the price The Daikin might be nice, but it comes at a heavy price Amana and Rheem might be a better choice To save some money and still have a cool voice
"I hear you, Em, but let me just say The Daikin's worth the cost, and here's why I'll portray With two-stage compressors, you get top-notch control And the Aprilaire air cleaner will purify your soul
"Well, that's a valid point, Doc Dre But we still have to think about value today If you got the cash, then go ahead And let Daikin's performance spread
"In the end, it's all about your cooling and heating needs Choose what's right for you and do some deeds Whether the Amana and Rheem or the Daikin supreme Just make sure your home's always chillin', no matter the theme."
~furnacehiphop~

Yo, listen up. Let me tell you what's good For your home's cooling and heating, we would The Amana and Rheem, they ain't too shabby But the Daikin with a heat pump, well, that's just caddie,
"But hold up, Dre, let's talk about the price The Daikin might be nice, but it comes at a heavy price Amana and Rheem might be a better choice To save some money and still have a cool voice
"I hear you, Em, but let me just say The Daikin's worth the cost, and here's why I'll portray With two-stage compressors, you get top-notch control And the Aprilaire air cleaner will purify your soul
"Well, that's a valid point, Doc Dre But we still have to think about value today If you got the cash, then go ahead And let Daikin's performance spread
"In the end, it's all about your cooling and heating needs Choose what's right for you and do some deeds Whether the Amana and Rheem or the Daikin supreme Just make sure your home's always chillin', no matter the theme."
~furnacehiphop~

Yo, listen up. Let me tell you what's good For your home's cooling and heating, we would The Amana and Rheem, they ain't too shabby But the Daikin with a heat pump, well, that's just caddie,
"But hold up, Dre, let's talk about the price The Daikin might be nice, but it comes at a heavy price Amana and Rheem might be a better choice To save some money and still have a cool voice
"I hear you, Em, but let me just say The Daikin's worth the cost, and here's why I'll portray With two-stage compressors, you get top-notch control And the Aprilaire air cleaner will purify your soul
"Well, that's a valid point, Doc Dre But we still have to think about value today If you got the cash, then go ahead And let Daikin's performance spread
"In the end, it's all about your cooling and heating needs Choose what's right for you and do some deeds Whether the Amana and Rheem or the Daikin supreme Just make sure your home's always chillin', no matter the theme."
~furnacehiphop~

Yo, listen up. Let me tell you what's good For your home's cooling and heating, we would The Amana and Rheem, they ain't too shabby But the Daikin with a heat pump, well, that's just caddie,
"But hold up, Dre, let's talk about the price The Daikin might be nice, but it comes at a heavy price Amana and Rheem might be a better choice To save some money and still have a cool voice
"I hear you, Em, but let me just say The Daikin's worth the cost, and here's why I'll portray With two-stage compressors, you get top-notch control And the Aprilaire air cleaner will purify your soul
"Well, that's a valid point, Doc Dre But we still have to think about value today If you got the cash, then go ahead And let Daikin's performance spread
"In the end, it's all about your cooling and heating needs Choose what's right for you and do some deeds Whether the Amana and Rheem or the Daikin supreme Just make sure your home's always chillin', no matter the theme."
~furnacehiphop~

I don't expect you to read all that I'm surely about to write down. But if you do, well...thank you. I have few people to talk to, and even fewer who will listen.
Last week, I went to get a new set of tires for my car. On my way home from the tire shop, I was nearly involved in a collision due to another driver's inconsideration. I won't get into the details of what led to that near-wreck other than to state that the driver of the other vehicle was operating his vehicle in an extremely dangerous manner that put both myself and others at risk.
When we approached the stop light side-by-side (the aggressive driver to my left), I looked over and saw the him with his middle finger in the air directed at me. So, I rolled down my window and asked what the hell his problem was, and told him that he nearly caused a multi-car accident because of his reckless driving. Instead of admitting his error, he tried to turn it around on me and others, claiming that we were too slow and were in his way (despite that all the other drivers were driving in accordance with the law and posted speed limit). I argued with him and told him that he was the one in error, he was the one speeding, he was the one cutting people off, and he was the one who made several people veer off the road. Then he said, "It's not my fault you f---ers are too slow. Maybe learn to drive faster, fa--ot.
Now, it was at this point that I made a choice. I chose to tell the guy to go f--- himself and I drove away when the light turned green.
It should have stopped there. Well, honestly, it should have stopped before it even started - before I said a single word. I should have let it go. But I didn't. I was ENRAGED. And I stayed angry all day, and all evening.
I realized my problem. Instead of 1) engaging with him, and 2) carrying that anger with me for so long, I had another option. What I realize now that I should have done is to not hold other people to my expectations. Because I had these expectations that everyone should drive safely and considerately, and because I have expectations that people should be intellectually and emotionally honest enough to admit their faults and apologize to others, I was severely discouraged and angry when neither of my expectations were met. Not only were they not met, but the guy decided to do quite the opposite of everything I (and most people) would expect in that situation. And this led to a snowball effect that pulled in to the front of my mind everything I see wrong with this country and humanity, and of course this just made me even angrier.
Then, the next day, I had an interesting moment where I understood that the better course of action would have been to treat the gentlemen like the moron he was so insistent on behaving like. I don't mean that I should be rude to him or anything, but rather that I should have treated him the same I would a child who insists that he's right in his belief that unicorns exist.
This whole ordeal reminded me of a Louis CK skit about arguing with his 3-year-old child about how to pronounce Fig Newtons, and the child insisted they were right and that they were called "Pig Newtons". But really, Louis CK has an excellent point!
"Any time you're like this with a 3-year-old, 'DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!?' then you're the idiot."
"No, dad. No, I haven't I haven't developed enough. You're just going to have to wait."
I've learned that you really have to just lower your standards when interacting with other people. At some point, you're going to find that they do, say, or believe in something that is either misinformed, hurtful, offensive, or selfish. I chose to get angry, but I had another choice.
I should have stopped and realized that this guy who nearly ran multiple people off the road or into oncoming traffic and who was then flipping me off is, for all intents and purposes, a moron. Clearly he's uneducated and inexperienced to the point that he has little knowledge of the workings of the world around him, or of the feelings of the people around him.
He was no different than a 3-year-old insisting that unicorns exist and that anyone who doesn't believe in unicorns is stupid.
I should have said (to myself) "Oh, I see now. He's an idiot in the literal sense of the word. I figured maybe he knew better and would just apologize, but nope....I see that my judgment was incorrect. This man indeed knows no better." I should have smiled at him and said "Have a great day!"
That one realization would have instantly prevented me from boiling over. Going along with that analogy of boiling over, it's like watching a boiling pot of pasta with the gas turned on high. The pot of pasta is my reaction to the situation. With enough heat, the starches of the pasta will form bubbles at the top and will eventually overflow onto the stove, creating even bigger messes. To prevent that from happening, you have two options: 1) Turn down the heat, or 2) Put a lid on the pot. Either option will almost instantly stop the pot from boiling over. Since I had no control over the heat (the reckless actions and behavior of the other driver), that left me with one option - to take control of the situation myself by putting a lid on it. That lid is the realization that there are forces actively trying to elicit a response from me by applying heat, and that I have a responsibility to myself to not make a bigger mess of the situation than it needs to be, and - moreover - I have the authority over my reactions, not him.
Unfortunately, I failed to put a lid on the pot that day, and I burned myself. Not only was I angry for the remainder of the day, but I also made my spouse uncomfortable because I wouldn't let it go.
Anyway, that's all. Here's a link to the Louis CK skit in question.
TL;DR: Louis CK yadda yadda yadda anger yadda yadda yadda oopsie I forgot they were an idiot yadda yadda yadda.

I’m gonna offer $2500 and see what they say. But wanted opinions on this 09 mercury Milan. 155k miles, looks like it was very taken care of. Has the V6 engine. I’ve read up on the Milan’s and people said they’re pretty underrated. I know Ford and Mazda were in bed together for a little bit so is that why? Would love to hear what yall have to say, a lot more of you are educated on cars than I am. I just need something to get me from point A to point B, at least for a year, 2 years tops until I’m more established.

AEW has been limited by a lack of hours and a horrible division of those hours, combined with a surplus of world class talent. 1 hour has always been a failure in wrestling post 97 for any organization regardless of the time slot or day of week. Combine that lack of hours and how they are divided up, with such a surplus of talent, and you are setting yourself up for failure.
Tony Khan realized this and rectified the situation as soon as he could. We now have our Smackdown where Miro, Starks, Big Bill, Lance Archer, Ethan Page, Keith Lee, The Gunn Club, Top Flight, Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta, and the entire womens divison can be given proper air time to shine.
Watching all the cross promotions they are not limited to someone in AEW having two belts, they can compete Title vs Title against other promotions creating endless possibilities. With All In coming up this should help reignite Wembley ticket sales which have stagnated. Stagnated yes, yet alredy it is still far and away the biggest gate ever for AEW.
Things are heating up boys, I'll see you at Dynamite.

Spirits are the least conventional lifeforms in Gnosis and the people of its worlds really don't understand what they are or how they function. As they are so highly unconventional, I'm looking for a little feedback on the core concept. I'll keep it as quick as I can, but this is a big complicated topic and spirits are weird so I may need to explain a lot.
From the Outside:
Let's pick a common spirit for an example, in fact the most common spirit species, fey. From the outside, they look like a tiny winged humanoid of some description. We'll go right to the one of the two contenders for least common of four subspecies because they'll require the least explanation, fairies. They basically look like miniature glowing humans with large butterfly wings, coming in every imaginable color for their skin although some are more common for each part than others and that means they're glowing those colors. Fey have some size-changing going on but in their smaller default form fairy women typically range from about 45-50cm and fairy men about 35-40cm in both height and wingspan, and in their larger form they go up to 1.5x scale. Spirits don't need to sleep, can if they want to and there are reasons they might even if usually only for a couple minutes to fix some recent major injury.
Most species of spirits are 75% female and fey are in that group, so let's look a bit closer at a fairy gal. The first thing you'll notice about her is that she is very colorful her surface has zero texture, but you may not notice from a distance because her surface is using artistic tricks to imitate texture without actually having it. Her various features are simplified, yet either exaggerated or understated. Her usually quite a bit of head hair is usually also a pretty loud color but it's also actually just part of her head which is one rigid piece and if this gal has long hair you'll notice it only bends at the top of the neck one time to keep the rest "hanging" where it "should be", and trying to change her hairstyle is painful and fruitless. Her jaw stretches and twists to imitate an actual joint being there but there also clearly isn't one if you look closely. Spirit hands and moreso heads, especially their eyes, are larger while their legs are slightly shorter relative to their height and their feet are tiny, meanwhile secondary and tertiary sexual characteristics are exaggerated overall but with a larger standard deviation from the average in each area between individuals to the point where they still reach 0 if less often. They're not a very convincing imitation, to put it lightly, they should be well on the "less human" side of the uncanny valley.
Spirits are regenerating shapeshifters, in the case of fey it's mostly size-changing, but all spirit sophonts also have the ability to imitate clothing, weapons and equipment even if the imitated gear is not nearly as good as the real thing. It and the body part it's on are not separate and the false gear cannot be taken off or set down except by shapeshifting it out of existence, nor can they imitate chemicals or complex machinery like the magitech in nearly all proper melee weapons, which of course means imitating any sort of ranged weapon or explosive is off the table. It also means they aren't rendering their body underneath the gear, if she's wearing a shapeshifted knee skirt and you were to look up it you'd see an opaque void the same color as the skirt which her knees are sliding freely along the surface of, there's nothing between it and where the shapeshift gear ends, everything from hem to waist currently IS the skirt. (Of course if she's wearing actual clothes this does not apply.) Same if she shapeshifts a sword into her hand, the sword and hand are a single piece so it only looks like she's holding it, like a cheap action figure. It also needn't be a sword, most hand tools can be imitated effectively, from hammers and saws to ladles and spatulas, just note that it's part of her and smacking it on things or getting it too hot will hurt even though shapeshift gear is not very sensitive.
Fey also can control the brightness of their glow or generate spotlights, generate and manipulate magnetic fields, of course fly and pretty quickly, they swim fine too which is extremely odd for fairies given their apparent butterfly wings, and all but pixies have easy if slow contact healing albeit the fairy's healing is stronger and pixies have their own benefits (stealth, sensors and a 3-day forecast). Healing is a fairy's main ability, when in water it's strengthened (as is a nymph or ghillie) and in emergencies fairies can massively drain their energy reserves even to the point of depleting them in order to staunch more severe wounds than they would be able to normally, although that's something they can't do more than once or at most twice without a refill and it's still got its limits, "already dead" is beyond those limits, "decapitated" also counts, if somebody's heart got bisected that's somebody they're not fixing, but this burst of frenzied automatic medical treatment is just the thing for some poor sap who's just taken multiple bullets to the chest and head. They're pretty good at self-repair and generally have less downtime than some fey when the poor things get severely injured very easily. (Not because they're little, being a spirit makes that difference often less than it appears, but because they're spirits.)
But what if you touch her? Well, then you'll discover her textureless surface isn't actually a surface at all. You'll start feeling resistance just before you make contact, like trying to touch like poles of two magnets. This is pretty mild, but intensifies as you go on and once your finger passes through her stomach miss fairy will scream and hit you but more importantly you'll contact something solid not far beyond it, many somethings solid spaced apart, teeny-tiny balls and stands. That's odd, so let's put on a mask with goggles and stick our face in this fairy who hopefully agreed to that but it seems unlikely on account of how much this is going to hurt. (Maybe for science. And food. ...And a hug or five or six.)
On the Inside:
What you'll find in the little lady is exactly what it felt like, many less than one millimeter thick strands connecting hundreds of millimeters-wide orb-shaped nodes and thousands more nodes no bigger around than the wires leading to them. Most of the spirit's body is empty space, covered by a gradient forcefield and projected light. These internal structures are brightly colored, in the case of fey blaze orange and notably each part of their facade is most commonly an orange/brown of various hues, brightnesses and saturations (including super dark brown or super pale orange for their pupils and sclera), but if broken open are transparent or translucent white/grey inside. For ages there was no even vaguely comparable material to the unusual lipid-derived organic stuff these nodes are made out of, but the Drachentäller invented a very similar one half a century ago called "plastic" (though only they make it right now so it's still pretty pricey). The nodes have openings on them of different types which differentiate their function, but these aren't well understood, except the biggest ones outside the core that are just storage tanks for slurries of liquid nutrients. The wires feel like normal rubber-insulated wires but super thin, but under a microscope they look to be another bioplastic and if split open will reveal themselves to actually contain both piping for transporting material between nodes and actual copper wire that carries a current too low-gauge to be powering anything so it's speculated to effectively be her nervous system.
This explains her shapeshifting, seeing as her body's not real she just needs to re-arrange her wires and nodes, alter the shape of her outer fields and the image she's projecting. To grow from 50cm to 75, she just increased the distance between her nodes by 50%, her "surface area" by 125% and her "volume" by 237.5%, her mass and weight are completely unchanged. This also explains how such giant variations can exist within one species or even subspecies, they aren't really nearly as big of a change as they externally look to be. Fairies can project light and generate powerful magnetic fields, those are also being done by her nodes, with the very projectors that create her outer fields and holographic "self" which she doesn't know isn't real unless you tell her (she probably won't believe it). It also explains why they feel pain when you attempt to penetrate their fields, for starters they think there's actual physical flesh you're pushing into except for how it visibly doesn't react like it once you've started (and that confusion's only going to make them freak out more), and it makes sense if this imitation is a defense mechanism for a pain response to exist to reduce the odds of you or them discovering what's inside or either of you being able to make sense of what little you do see.
Of course, passing through their fields doesn't always hurt, only if they're expecting it to, the field projectors will even roll inwards to create an opening if one is expected in that spot. IE she bites things by rolling her face fields inwards to "open" her "mouth", then uses them to apply pressure, but as she has no actual teeth this is blunt and often she'll need to yank at it with her entire head, neck and even engage her torso to, for example, tear a chunk off a steak and swallow it. If you were to observe this hunk of steak you'd watch it get passed by repair nodes down into the woodchipper-like opening of one of her digestive nodes in her core, where it will be broken down into proteins and lipids and sent to storage through her piping. We know that because people have in fact stuck periscopes inside spirits to see what goes on inside them. As she uses energy, you may notice a tiny bit of fine dust descending from around her, this is ash and it's all that's left of the nutrients she efficiently consumes in exorbitant amounts to power everything she does. As she repairs damage, her repair nodes can produce the plastic of her tubing her core production nodes print complex components, even required metals coming out of what she eats.
The Core:
The core is the center of a spirit's being, a series of seven dreamcatcher-looking rings large nodes and thicker wire in rings stacked front to back with cross-crossing wires notably devoid of metal instead having silica fibers and flashing lights on each node for signalling between them, making sure every one in each ring is directly connected to each other for redundancy. Here you'll find, in her notably female case, from front to back, half her reproductive system, forward core nutrient storage, forward core cognitive ring (memory and motor control nodes are scattered throughout the body), central digestive and manufacturing ring, aft core cognitive ring, aft core nutrient storage and her other ring of reproductive nodes, and notably there is lots of tubing running between rings 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7. If she was male instead both reproductive rings would be at the back as the purpose of them is different.
In a fey, any humanoid spirit really, this is in the chest where you'd expect the heart to be. Some spirits have two cores, the second will be lower down, in a humanoid it'll be in the pelvis and/or abdomen, as low as it can be at its size and still fit without blocking the leg tendrils. These nodes require more exotic materials less common in food or that are more difficult to work with and even with recycling as much as possible are usually significantly harder to repair and replace. Losing digestive and manufacturing nodes is a big hit to regeneration rate, enough that they usually start by replacing those if at all possible. The way spirits die is by receiving too much core damage, or losing too much mass overall, to the point where they don't have the manufacturing nodes to fix themselves despite all being multiple redundant, or they lack both material in storage and the functionality to go get them. If starved, they will eventually enter an inert state and be left laying as a bundle on the ground until somebody revives them or they decay which takes a very long time even though their plastic is biodegradeable as it is coated in a preservative (in this case orange) chemical that takes years to corrode and is frequently replenished during normal activity. Even then, if you go grab the bundle and drop them into a bunch of loose resources like a bowl of ground beef and fruit preserves that'll solve the lack of resources and if they didn't lose all the required nodes they'll start fixing themselves up.
Damage control and repair:
As mentioned, spirits regenerate. As also mentioned, this is an internal repair system with distinct parts performing distinct tasks, which when they are unconscious gets all of their energy and resources allowing it to work significantly faster, whether they're unconscious because they were nearly destroyed or because they decided to go lie down for a minute because they just saw their wires and nodes for the first time. You may think this could be defeated by severing a part, since they wouldn't be able to reach out and grab it, but what'll actually happen is microwaves will be emitted by the repair nodes on each end of the breach and it'll fly right back into place to get fused back together, and if a node is is destroyed that node'll be replaced a part at a time which will take longer than patching a wire and it won't be working until it's fully reconnected, but the bioplastic that makes up most of it is pretty easy to print and paint if they've got proteins and fats on hand. If she takes too much damage, though, to the point where she's at risk of being destroyed she will involuntarily bail on this entire situation, dropping her outer fields and image, curling her wires into a tight ball, coating herself in a much denser forcefield, rocketing into the distance in a direction with nobody (detected) in it and as clear of a shot as possible. This launch is very forceful, reaching hypersonic speeds in a matter of seconds before the thrust stops and she cruises ballistically to a different post code and at quickly slows to a gentle landing. (Assailants: Brace for the backblast, or it may knock you on your ass.) She is semi-conscious during this process and once she's landed will fully lose consciousness in order to dedicate all her energy to self-repair until she's either back to 100% or as close as she's getting without getting up and finding something to eat. Significant damage to her core, whether it's that "enough core cables are cut to defeat their redundancy" or "a core node is destroyed", will usually result in her blasting off right away, as will her ending up in a situation where destruction otherwise seems unavoidable. Take a moment to absorb the implications of this while you imagine how much worse her being swallowed by a giant frog or something is going to work out for it than her even if she has to clean that mess up. Spirits actually dying due to violence is a rarity because of their remarkable ability to bail in the nick of time, although it does happen. They get hit with a 7-ton naval shell they're absolutely donezo, but dropping them in a volcano won't work because they'll blast off into the sky.
Reproduction and Development:
In her core, this fairy has two rings dedicated to reproduction, one at the very front and one at the very back. These are rings of dedicated manufacturing, wire-printing and assembly nodes, which create and keep in stock a set of redundant nodes, enough to make 1/2 of a new spirit minus their core. If we look in the chest of Sir Mothwing next to her he has none of the assembly or wire-printing nodes but he's got a bunch of dedicated manufacturing nodes in two rings at the back of his core and between them is kept the fruits of their labour: One entire spare core, in addition to half the nodes needed for the rest of a spirit stored stored between the reproductive rings and the back of the spirit which these nodes also manufactured. All they need to do is keep their cores together so a single opening through both their fields can allow them to interact. The actual internal process is unconscious, any activity that'll align their cores and press their bodies together will do the job. They mimic humans generally, but they don't always know how humans do it so this might just be hugging.
The spirit man will pass his spare parts into the spirit woman's chest, one at a time as she needs them, that's his entire job in the actual reproductive process. Granted, those are hard to replace parts, especially all those core cognitive and manufacturing nodes, so he can't do this nearly as often as she can and that puts the bottleneck on the side of the less common sex, giving them a slow reproductive rate. (Then again, they're massive resource hogs for their size, have indefinite lifespans and are hard to kill. Maybe slow reproduction's a good thing long-term.) As for her part she'll be externally paralyzed and unresponsive while her unconscious works as fast as it can making wire and connecting these parts together. In the mean time, he'll be semi-conscious, cuddled as close as humanly possible, only able to move if it's strictly necessary (if a coyote's wondering if they're edible he can go deal with that real quick and come back). The rest of the time while this process is going on, both of them will be tripping balls. No, that's not doing it justice, they're having a life-changing psychedelic experience. Why is unknown, only they're seeing the same things, communicating somehow and by the end they usually claim to "feel" the newborn's presence before they're born, if their estimates are right seemingly a couple hours after the core's done being assembled. Some think it's how the newborn's consciousness is formed, some think it's how all the child's various traits superficial and meaningful alike are determined, some think it's a deep spiritual experience meant to make them reflect on and prepare for the life-changing thing they're doing bringing another tinier person into the world, some think it's just meant to keep their conscious mind entertained while their unconscious does all the actual work. It's also notably intensely euphoric. Regardless, after about one day in 5d technicolor dreamland, the new infant spirit will be assembled and will exit the mother however makes sense to her. They may just pop right out of her chest as a little rolled-up ball, unfurl and form their facade mid-air before any of them wake up, only provided nobody's there to witness it (as far as any of them know).
The even littler one will as usual typically resemble hehis parents in many ways except often with several completely random minor variations like a ginger and a blue-haired parent may have a violet-haired child and have no idea why even if most of the time most of their traits seem to be inherited from their parents. Mutations that large shouldn't be occurring that often with biology as we know it, but this is not biology as we know it. Their sex is determined by how their mother assembles their core, whether they left room and connections at the front and back (female) or all at the back (male), and their facade matches their core in what may be a "natural" metaphor. As the father donates the core nodes the child will always be their father's subspecies, in fact this is how subspecies are classified because it's that reliable. ...And the exception is there are two species of hermaphroditic spirits who all have one male and one female core and each parent provides one of each and this means that if they are of different species you get actual hybrids, for example an ant myrmidon queen and a bee myrmidon queen make a wasp myrmidon queen with one ant core and one bee core. (Myrmidon queens look like little half-meter anthropomorphic insect queens, they make even tinier autonomous frameworks called "workers", "soldiers" and so on who are full-fledged sophonts. They have a limited cast of minions, a bee queen has six workers, four soldiers and two drones whose minds, memories and personalities are backed up every night in the queen's caboose in case they get smashed and they have to print a new copy. They usually don't understand the original is actually permanently dead and has not come back.)
A newborn fairy is already about half the mass of their parents despite looking externally like the infant they are and being the right size relative to them. The extra weight goes into thicker wire and fitting just as many forcefield and repair nodes into the way tinier body. At birth both sexes are always of identical actual mass, even if there's an apparent size difference, and will not appear to age externally despite accumulating actual mass as they go until suddenly overnight they appear to age years all at once complete with a change in their otherwise permanent hairstyle that seems to be subconsciously or even unconsciously decided and only usually has any continuity with the last style. This will first happen at 2, then at 5, then at 10. Their reproductive tract will grow in during their equivalent of puberty, until then there's just empty space, and even once it's there (age 14-16) it'll need just as much time to generate the parts as will be needed between kids later. If the kid's a girl that's only about six weeks, but for boys it's about two years, notably roughly coinciding with one of their overnight metamorphoses episodes when they turn 17, the previous having been at age 10, and they will suddenly go from looking like a kid in their pre or early teens to somebody vaguely in their late teens or early twenties, as they usually appear to be about the middle of the age group they're in, but it is while they are asleep on their exact birthday that these visible changes occur, all at once, exactly at midnight if they're already out. There is no upper limit on their age, after the "adult metamorphoses" at 17 they stop gaining actual mass (except they can always make more storage nodes if they need to) and their final visible change is at 82 at which point they look about a hundred years old indefinitely.
Combat Performance and the Framework:
Spirits aren't very strong, tend to be sent flying to the next county over from the next county over with one swing of a sword and their nutrient stores aren't much for how fast they can burn through them. That itty bitty fairy eats as much as a human toddler who appears to be several times her size and is many times her mass. Most of that normal operating cost is her facade, its fields and holograms are not cheap and she's not nearly as dimly glowly as other spirits even if turns it down as far as it'll go she will illuminate dim surroundings rather than only truly dark ones so that's more energy spent. All of that's coming from food eaten, and although their metabolism is more efficient and only leaves a fine ash she's still eating several times her actual mass on a daily basis. She also only has at most a couple days of nutrients stored, far less than if she spends that time, say, on a battlefield repairing damage to herself and others and shooting electro-lasers out of her wizard's staff in which case she'll be eating nearly as much as a physical folk-sized caster and more than any of the non magic-using soldiers. Thankfully, all spirits are omnivorous and not super picky about what they eat. Fat's got the most calories for them to use, sugar's the quickest to burn, carbs are sugars with extra steps and they need protein for their bioplastics that's most of what they'll need. They need other organic materials and minerals sometimes too, sometimes they'll eat rocks and even they can't have no explanation to give, but anything even vaguely edible to the least discerning and most voracious of goats will work just fine for them and they don't seem to be subject to poison or disease. (Corrosion is a different matter.)
They're really resistant to projectiles, they're mostly empty space after all a bullet could potentially go right through them and hit nothing, their forcefield does well against explosions, heat and corrosion, nor is cold really very effective, but a sword with good edge alignment faces comparatively little resistance from the forcefields and will cut them right in half straight through the core. Also, blunt impacts work fairly well, as although the force transferred through the fields is distributed between multiple projector nodes an impact can still jolt them hard enough to snap the wires they're connected to, it's not like they're spread across the entire facing side of the spirit's body like a blast wave and the forcefield is good at deflective most of the force of a blast wave away. This amounts in total to a significant melee weakness, especially since regeneration takes time and melee combat tends to be more short-lived than ranged combat. Although they are very hard to actually kill and all have interesting abilities, they tend to lose fights with physical sophonts pretty hard and may have issues with creatures that a physical sophont would demolish, since physical sophonts are stronger than they are, are capable of faster reaction times and can dish out a hit after taking one in a way a spirit won't because they'll probably be in the stratosphere. Of course, all of these people are probably wearing armor and that complicates this entire subject considerably, as does the fact that direct one on one duels are not exactly common.
Frameworks are their built-in attempt to make up for this, vaguely resembling a "wicker man" in the shape of one specific form of theirs complete with any and all shapeshifted gear as actual solid pieces. It's actually made bioplastics and glass as usual with them and it's articulated, it's got nutrient storage tanks, more forcefield and motor-function nodes, more holographic nodes too so their appearance gets more detailed (her hair even becomes a seperate piece from her head and flexible along its length) and they generally look more life-like with slightly less exaggerated proportions. Once in a framework, they can't shapeshift until they get back out, but while they're in it they're more protected, faster, stronger and have room for considerably greater reserves. They're both too metabolically expensive to manufacture and take up too much space to keep one of every possible gear variation, and while frameworks can be re-configured this is also metabolically expensive despite recycling as much as possible and being way cheaper than a whole new framework, so usually frameworks use shapeshift gear only if absolutely necessary even though framework gear is much more effective than normal shapeshifted gear between stronger fields and backing them up with various plastic and glass. Instead, spirits who have call for them tend to cap out at one framework for each of their major forms and not waste resources or space making more. Little miss fairy probably has a 50cm and 75cm framework, for example, and if she's not in danger often they'll last her until she outgrows them, and even then she can recycle them to mitigate the cost of the new ones. They last despite being made of bioplastic because thankfully, the framework is coated in a preservative coating just like her insides are that takes anywhere from months to decades to decay and is constantly being replenished when she's in the framework, it'll also take about as long for the bioplastic to degrade, and it can still be saved for a little while because her own repair system can also repair her framework. Of course, when you compare plastic and glass to actual armor and weapons it comes up short, but once forcefields are added to the mix... They still do in the balance, but only because the real armor and weapons can have internal magitech or be a different kind of weapon that couldn't be replicated, the framework weapons and armor tend to directly deal more damage and provide more protection by weight although that's "more protection" compared to lighter armor and "lighter weight" to denser armor.
What the IU Meat-People Think:
As you may have guessed, a common early "hypothesis" was that spirits were ethereal beings and their internals and frameworks were believed to be some sort of congealed ectoplasm and their connection to the corporeal realm. That belief died pretty hard when they were clearly reproducing, except to the kind of religious nutcase to whom reality is always irrelevant. Actual scholars who study things that exist are currently arguing as to whether to settle on "mechanical lifeform", "semi-physical lifeform", "holographic lifeform", or something like that except they all seem to think only their suggested term is acceptable and everybody else is WRONG BECAUSE (17 paragraph diatribe here). Still, they're at least seen by the scientific community as being an extremely bizarre lifeform. You might think they'd have a little issue accepting them as a lifeform because of all the plastic and metal wiring, but there's one important background detail I should mention: Spirits first came from the Otherlands.
In the Otherlands of west Sohei, meat grows on the ground, plants get up and walk around, animals come from spores, giant clonal colonies of sedentary animals grow throughout forests seeping caustic sludge, meteors sometimes fall from the sky followed by crystals that forge themselves mecha made of the ossified remains of what died in the blast, you get in too deep and all electronic sensors are jammed, electroreception is hit with a signal so overwhelming the sense goes completely dead to keep the creature from ripping its sensory organs out, concrete buildings grow on their own by millimeters per day, random paved roads with painted lines exist and change shape so slowly you don't notice until you're hopelessly lost, usually after running into a vertical loop or something unreasonable like that which those among us overly prone to antropomorphising might attribute to spite, sometimes broken glass falls from the sky, you get giant lightning storms where the strikes are so powerful they produce enough ionizing radiation to create a secondary electromagnetic pulse, the wind sounds like an unintelligible modulating electronic tone, people swear the clouds are watching them.... My point; Spirits are only debatably the strangest thing coming out of that place, and they're definitely not the most artificial-seeming thing that seems to be occurring there without outside intervention. At this point the answer to "Could spirits be natural creatures?" is "Uh... Oh I don't know, why the hell not?" or sometimes "Insufficient data; Please define the term 'natural' within the context of The Otherlands.".
But what do YOU meat-people think of them? (And what term would you choose to describe them?)