Editor’s Choice: Shark APEX AZ1002
"The ability to deep-clean carpets and self-cleaning systems makes this vacuum our top pick. Duo-clean technology with 2 brush rolls not only cleans but also polishes the floor."
Runner-Up: INSE S610
"This stick vacuum cleaner has a flexible joint at the head, improving maneuverability and allowing you to feel relaxed when cleaning your house."
Best Wet/Dry Vacuum: BISSELL Crosswave Pet Pro All in One 2306A
"Wet and dry vacuum made with pet owners in mind features the two-tank technology for clean and dirt water and smart touch control making it easy to use."
Best Canister Vacuum: Miele Compact C1
"This bagged canister vacuum features a very powerful motor for great suction, which can also be manually controlled, and the exclusive AirClean Sealed System keeps all dust inside."
Best Cordless Stick Vacuum: Dyson V6
"2-in-1 cordless vacuum is extremely versatile and features a brush made of soft woven nylon and anti-static carbon fiber, which makes terrific work on tile floors."
Best Robotic Vacuum: Shark ION RV720
"Robotic vacuum with dual spinning side brushes and self-grooming feature performs well on tile floors, with no time spent on your end, and provides over an hour of cleaning."
Best for Cleaning Crumbs: BLACK+DECKER HSVJ520JMPA07
"This versatile vacuum cleaner offers stick or handheld options for cleaning not only tiles but your entire home, and the power boost increases suction for cleaning big messes."
Best for Flexible Reach: Shark Flex DuoClean HV391
"This vac can easily clean under furniture due to its Flexible Reach feature for 90-degree bend; as its big brother, it also comes with a bristle brush and a soft brushroll for any surface type."
Budget Pick: Eureka NEU192A
"Tis vac is very affordable, but comes with full functionality you’ll need to clean your tile and other flooring; its wide cleaning path and LED headlights make cleaning considerably easier."
Shark DuoClean NV803
"This upright and lift-away vac from one of the world leading manufacturers features everything we might want in a vacuum cleaner, including the unique dual brush head, and is excellent in vacuuming tile floors and any other surface."
Best Upright Vacuum: Dyson DC33
"Upright bagless vacuum that never loses suction features lifetime washable HEPA filter, versatile tools, a long Telescope Reach wand, and 30ft power cord."

TWBS Previous Next First
-
---Esme’s perspective---
---Sunday, 31st of December, 2682 Terran Calendar---
---Interior Sahul---
OK, Esme… Don’t think about the muscular arm wrapped around your shoulders! Don’t think about the muscular chest pressed into your side! Don’t think about the muscular, sweaty back that you have your arm around!
Even if this weren’t a serious, potentially life threatening, situation, now would still not be an appropriate time to be getting excited!
You just made up with this guy after nearly two months of being a petty bitch to him for what, in hindsight, was no reason at all!
“Stop… stop…” he says, weakly “…I’m gonna vomit…”
I release him and he goes to the ground, retching.
I look away as he gives me all the antiaphrodisiac I need for the moment, spewing out his guts onto the sand…
After a bit of dry heaving, he stands back up and looks to me… his sweaty, sharp featured face sunken and sallow.
“I think I might be OK to walk myself, now.”
“No, you’re not! This isn’t like alcohol poisoning! Vomiting won’t do anything! If you faint without someone to break the fall, you’re gonna get a head injury!” I say, firmly, getting under his arm to support him before he has the chance to argue.
“Reid… I think we need to call an evac… this is bad!” says Taylor, his deep voice reverberating against my side.
“Alright… so call it then.”
He freezes and looks down at me
“What do you mean, Reid…?”
Confused, I answer “You said we should call an evac… so, call an evac.”
“You have the beacon, Reid… I left the beacon for you… Please tell me you have the beacon!”
“What?! I thought you had it! I didn’t see anything on the table besides a knife, a canteen, a compass and a keyring!”
“The keyring, Reid!… That was the beacon! Did you not read the manual at all!?… Please tell me you have it!”
My stomach sinking, I answer “I… don’t, Taylor… I’m sorry! I left it there ’cause I thought someone had dropped it by mistake!”
Looking more resigned than angry, he says “So… we’re going to have to survive five days with a man down and no medical treatment then…?”
“Looks like it, yes… I’m sorry, Taylor… Maybe we could try walking to the agricultural band?”
“We’d never make it… It’s hundreds of kilometres… even if we were both healthy, we wouldn’t get there before the capsule came to collect us!” he asserts.
“I’m so sorry, Taylor!”
He gives a feeble wave of his left arm and says “It’s done now… let’s just get to the cliff…”
I nod and keep walking, supporting the massive man.
We come up the rocky slope at the foot of the cliff.
Mercifully, we’re in the shade here, as the sun is fucking fierce!
We spot a cavemouth and head for it.
“Leave me here…*huff*… and check for snakes…*huff*… I don’t want to…*huff*… get bitten again…” he instructs, breathlessly.
I bend down to lie him on the ground and hurry into the shallow cave.
I check the ceiling, the floor and every crevice I can see for snakes, spiders, scorpions or anything else that a massively envenomed person might not want nearby.
I find nothing.
When I turn around, I see Taylor sat up on the ground, drinking from his flask.
“I thought you wanted to distil that first?”
“Fuck that!” he says, swearing for the first time I’ve heard “I’m going to die…*huff*… of thirst before enough water…*huff*… goes through a…*huff*… solar still…*huff*… to be useful…*huff*… Needs…*huff*… must!” before taking another glug.
I look out across the landscape.
The little oasis where we collected the water is still visible, despite the amount of time it’s taken us to get here!
I suppose it makes sense… I originally pointed out this cliff from near there…
It just feels like we’ve gone miles and miles!
I suppose, progress is slow when you’ve got an envenomed person slung over your shoulders!
“Let’s get you inside, Taylor. The caves clean.”
---Oskar’s perspective---
I took off my sweat drenched clothes a while ago, laying them out on the rock, beside me.
Reid is off, gathering firewood and hunting for anything we might eat tonight now that the sun is lower in the sky.
I would definitely not recommend intentional envenoming as a means of avoiding work to any considering it!
I am weak, I am sweaty, I am dizzy and nauseated and, all in all, if someone gave me the choice between feeling like this and doing a bit of gathering, they wouldn’t be able to finish their sentence before I bit their hand off for the latter option!
“I’m baaack, Taylor… how’re you holding-ohgoodgodyou’renaked!”
I look up at the flush faced girl and blearily say “And… you’re sunburned, Reid… How did that happen…?” the sun should have been low enough by the time I said to go out that, even with her pale skin, she should have been fine.
Not answering my question she turns to face away from me.
“I… uhm… err… I got a tonne of deadwood for the fire… dry plantmatter for kindling too… and look…” she thrusts a sharpened stick with an enormous anuran creature skewered onto its end into the air “…eating frog’s not gonna be my finest moment but it’ll beat starving!… The daft bugger just sat there and let me spear him!”
“That’s a cane toad…” I say, drowsily.
“Alright, eating cane toad won’t be my finest moment but…”
“They’re an invasive species, introduced to Australia in the early 20th Century as a means of controlling pests. They’re rare on the continent, these days, because of centuries of consistent eradication efforts…”
“Why have we worked so hard to get rid of them?” she asks, not turning to look at me.
“Because of how incredibly poisonous they are to the local fauna… Anything not specifically evolved to deal with their toxins is quite likely to die if it eats them.”
“Oh…” she says, dejectedly “…don’t suppose we’re a creature evolved to deal with them, are we?”
“We’re not, no… There is some part of them that’s not toxic but… I can’t remember if it’s the liver or the kidneys, I don’t trust either of us to identify their liver or kidneys… aaand there’s a nonzero chance that I’ve misremembered that and it’s only their liver and/or kidneys that are toxic… not worth risking for the amount of nutrition we’d get.”
“So, I might as well not have killed this thing, then?”
“Nooo… You’re contributing to removing them from the ecosystem…”
“Great comfort that’ll be when we’ve not eaten for five days(!)” she observes, miserably.
“We’ll eat… you’ll find something tomorrow…”
“Look at you…” she says, still not looking at me “…half dead and still able to give an ecology lecture and words of encouragement!”
“You aren’t looking at me, Reid… why aren’t you looking at me?”
“Because…!” she flusters “…you’re… naked!”
I chuckle, weakly “You Christians and your prudishness! Here I am, ‘half dead’ in your words, and you’re worried about seeing my penis…?”
“I’m not a Christian anymore, thank you very much!… Been an atheist since I was 14!”
“You act like a Christian, Reid…” I smile.
Angrily, she turns around, her face beet red (in a way I now realise isn’t from the sun) and her eyes wide, she makes a point of staring intently, up and down the length of my body.
“‘Look at me(!) I’m a Pagan and totally comfortable with nudity!’” she says, doing an unflattering impression of me.
“I’m not a Pagan, as I’ve said before… I am totally comfortable with nudity.”
“So you’d be totes cool with me stripping off, then(!)” she asks in defiant accusation.
“Totes(!)… Actually, it’s probably a good idea… It’ll get cold at night and you’ll freeze if you’re sweaty!”
She looks at me, calculating.
“I’m gonna get the fire going…” she says, truculently “…that’ll keep us warm and dry!”
With that, she picks up a stick, pulls out her knife and begins carving a V-notch into it.
---Esme’s perspective---
Look at the fire! Look at the fire! Look at the fire!
Don’t look at the penis! Don’t look at the abs! Don’t look at the pecs!
Normally, I’d say it was bad practice to focus on how hungry you are in a survival situation but, right now, that’s about the only thing that has a chance of keeping my mind off the nude man I’m sharing the cave with!
This is so embarrassing!
“Erm… err… how’re you feeling?” I ask, not looking at him.
“A bit better, thank you… Less nauseated than I was earlier… I might be well enough to go out to gather, tomorrow…”
“If you were advising another pair, in the same situation as us, on whether to let the snakebit one go out and work the day after he’d received a snakebite, what would you say?”
He hesitates for a moment before answering honestly “…I would tell them it’s probably a bad idea and that the compromised one should probably regain his strength first.”
“Then what are you gonna do tomorrow?”
He sighs “I’m… going to rest here… and let you take care of the work.”
“Daaamn right!”
He reaches for where his clothes are, feeling them for dampness.
Having establish their dryness to his satisfaction, he begins clumsily trying to dress himself.
“…*sigh*…Here, give it to me.” I say, finally, holding out my hand for the t-shirt his venom addled fingers have been guddling about with for a full minute.
I meet his eyes and see the sallowness of his face.
Somehow, he manages to put a cocky expression on his pallid, clammy face and ask “You’re going to dress me, are you?”
“Don’t make it weird!… You’re wasting energy you don’t have struggling! Let me help!… That’s all there is to this!”
He gives a little shrug and hands me the garment.
I figure out how to orient it and then approach him from behind.
“Arms up, lad.”
He brings his arms above his head.
It seems like the venom has only affected his fine and not his gross motor skills. That’s… encouraging?
I pull the t-shirt over his thick arms, trying to view this as an entirely mechanical endeavour and not to pay attention to any of the contours of his irritatingly perfect body.
“Pants…” I say, holding out my hand.
He clumsily grabs his boxer briefs and presents them about 30cm away from where my hand actually is.
I take them and come round to his front, pulling his feet off the ledge he’s sitting on.
I arrange the undergarment on the floor and bring his feet to the leg holes.
I hold out my hand “Trousers…”
“Scalpel… forceps…(!)” he quips, clumsily handing me his trousers.
Ignoring him, I lay them out, the way I did with the pants, and bring his feet through the holes.
“Can you stand?” I ask, looking up at his face (taking a side detour around his crotch).
“I… think so…”
I stand up and hold out my hands for him.
He takes them and gets up, shakily.
I grab his thick arms to steady him.
“Alright… I’m gonna let go now… Just say ‘falling’ if you need me to catch you, OK?”
He nods.
I let go and quickly dive down to the floor, grab his pants and trousers and yank them up over his lower half, rendering him decent again, finally.
Good thing for my soaring pulse!
He chuckles “I really don’t remember the last time I needed someone to dress me…! That was sort of nice…”
“Oh… awakened something, have I?” I ask, flippantly, as I lower him back to the ledge “Too bad! That’s the last time I’m dressing you unless you get bitten by another snake!”
“Are you trying to encourage me to get myself bitten on purpose?!”
“You get yourself bitten on purpose, I’m leaving you for the crows(!)”
“Fair enough!” he laughs.
We sit and watch the fire for a while.
“It’s been a long day… Feels like it’s about midnight… Happy New Year, Taylor…” I say.
In answer he starts gently singing.
pp♫ Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Biiirthday dear Oskar
Happy Birthday to me♫pp
Moderately concerned that the venom may be having an effect on his cognition, I ask “You alright, Taylor? Who are you singing for?”
“Myself… weren’t you listening?” he says in a way that does not reassure me of his presence of mind!
“That’s… erm… that’s not how birthdays work, buddy! It’s New Year today…”
“It is how birthdays work when your birthday is on the 1st of January!” he smirks, blearily.
“Your birthday’s on the 1st of January?”
“Yup…” he nods.
“So, you’re 18, now?”
“Indeed… or I will be, whenever it actually turns midnight. Difficult to know without a clock.”
“Well shit, man! You should’ve just told me that! I’d’ve sung it for you!”
“It wouldn’t have felt right, asking that… When you’ve been looking after me all day…*yawn*… I’d’ve been embarrassed having such a beautiful girl be the only one singing for me, too…” he says, closing his eyes and lying down.
Flabbergasted, I ask “You… you think I’m beautiful?!”
“You’re one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever seen…” he says, his tone of voice suggesting that he’s already halfway to slumberland.
I don’t think I’d’ve got that out of him if not for the venom and the sleep deprivation!
My heart is pounding in my chest, my pulse is racing and my breathing is rapid from the information I’ve just come by!
I can’t believe the difference this day has made!
---
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---
TWBS Previous Next First

Space: 1000 sf apartment, 2 carpeted bedrooms, the rest hardwood floor or bathroom tile. Will likely move into a 3-bedroom place in a few years.
Budget: $300-1000? Wiggle room depending of type of vac and tradeoffs
Main goal: something that makes it easy to keep hardwood areas free of dog hair, makes vacuuming less of a chore
Considerations: allergies and shedding dog, strong preference for a quiet machine
Context: I moved in with someone and we kept his newer Shark Navigator rather than my 90’s Electrolux, and I’ve regretted it ever since. I use it on the carpeted areas and bathrooms, but less often than I’d like to admit, and instead just run a dry dust mop twice a day on the hardwood areas to pick up dog hair and dust.
I wanted to replace the dust mop with a cordless stick vacuum, probably Electrolux and Miele. But now reading so much against corded and bagless, I wonder if I just want a new corded canister vac that I’ll like using more than the clunky Shark, hopefully enough to lug out for the hardwood twice a day (or maybe just once since it’ll be more effective?).
So the options are: Electrolux Ergopedio, Electrolux Well7, or Miele Triflex for cordless stick, or if canister: Miele C-something or Sebo E-something.
I’m having a hard time deciding whether a new canister vac will be convenient enough to replace a stick cordless in this situation? Plug and go, not feeling like weight and replugging is a blocker?
Edit: the dog doesn’t go on furniture and we have a handheld vac with pet attachment that we can use for the couch when needed.

My dog and neighbor’s dog bark at each other. But the pattern is what’s strange here.
We are on the 2nd floor balcony of an apartment and our neighbor has a home with a back patio. The neighbor’s dog barks at us and is territorial i think (or at least the neighbor thinks so). Their dog will bark at me, even if my dog isn’t present. But if they left their dog out unsupervised, she is less likely to start barking first.
Now, MY DOG: Mine is leash reactive, but I don’t think thats the problem here. Mine will bark at their dog if I am present. Otherwise, they’ll both sit there for a LONG PERIOD OF TIME just staring at each other. Neither will start the barking until I step out. The moment I got outside, mine looked at me and then turned around and started going beserk barking.
What’s happening here? What is my dog doing? Why does it depend on whether I’m there or not?
What do I do?

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To operate a successful laundromat, certain essential laundry equipment is necessary. Here are some key pieces of equipment that are typically found in a laundromat:
Washers: Laundromats require a variety of washers to accommodate different load sizes and customer preferences. This may include top-load washers, front-load washers, or high-efficiency washers. It's essential to have a range of capacities to cater to various laundry needs.
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I live in a sharehouse with 3 other people. It’s only one girl that’s recently started to have a problem with me because I can’t meet her standards. I’m not messy by any means, I just don’t dedicate my life to mopping the floors every week if work has me under the crunch, and she has traditional cleanliness OCD and quite literally needs everything done her way or it’s a hellshow.
I made the mistake the other day of thinking no one was home since I hadn’t heard any house traffic in over an hour (it was midday on a tuesday) so I spent a little extra time in the bathroom drying my hair and pampering myself since I’ve been getting absolutely ruined by uni exam season and work. That was my grave mistake, because apparently she’d been waiting for me to come out (she always waits around the bathroom 90% of the time I think it’s safe to shower) for a while without knocking. I get a bit of a talking to about how we’re gonna fix my bathroom time problem to which I reply “100% please do knock and I’ll come out, I had just thought no one was home today that’s why I decided to take my time”
This was the first I’d ever even heard of the issue, to which I was willing to fix it immediately. But today I went to dry my hair and found the metal prongs to the cord of my hair dryer were bent VERY out of shape. I had to push them back straight again and luckily repaired the shape enough to have it fit back in the plug socket again.
We keep our stuff under the sink, but this problem has literally never happened before. Am I going crazy or did she purposefully bend my hair dryer plug to be passive aggressive? That doesn’t just happen from carelessness does it? The prongs were fully bent away from each other at like a 130 degree angle. There had to have been force put behind it. It’s frustrating because I know she did but I can’t prove it.

First Chapter/Previous Chapter
Keoki felt something sting his right flank; it was a sensation he had become familiar with. He would be fine for a minute or so, the heat of the shot having destroyed his nerves, but sooner or later, the laser burn would damage the surrounding skin, and the real pain would begin.
There would be time to wince later as Ha took a shot to his leg, Keoki grabbed him, and they began to retreat. The vo’rul formed the rearguard, relying on their armour to protect them from the laser fire.
A shot struck Melia’s shoulder and nearly stripped all the armour from her suit. Melia realised the Gretsu company had a few plasma weapons in their armoury.
Realising they were horrendously outmatched, Melia threw down a smoke grenade to cover their retreat.
“Let’s just pretend we weren't that stupid,” Keoki said as he shut a bulkhead.
“Are you and Ha ok?” asked Polumnus, inspecting the obed’s injury, amazed the man was still standing and had a leg.
“Yeah, it’s not the first time we’ve been shot; luckily for us, you’re type likes to keep everything on low power,” Keoki replied, trying to ignore the growing pain near his ribs.
Polumnus was not sure how he was supposed to react to that. He, too, had been shot by a laser rifle out of armour, and Polumnus had been floored instantly and needed a new kidney.
“We can’t stand out ground; they’re too many of them; we need to resort to guerrilla tactics,” Melia said.
Then she had an idea. “Keoki can you make more of those bombs you used to blow me up?” she asked.
“Now they’re a sentence I never thought I’d ever say,” Melia thought.
Keoki paused to think as they heard banging on the other side and began to retreat.
“Maybe, it’s doing it soon enough to matter that’s the problem,” Keoki replied.
“What about that laughing gas you used on me? Do you have any more of that?” he asked, his eyes flitting about for anything they could use.
“We do have two bottles left, but I don’t know if they will get through the masks they’re wearing,” Qerik explained.
“We might be able to use it, Qerik; get back to medical and grab those!” Melia ordered, and Qerik did just that.
“We need to slow them down; if they find Tres, Mu or Ka, we’ll be forced into a direct confrontation,” Keoki said, “and that won’t end well for us.”
“Is there another chokepoint we can use?” asked Polumnus.
“No, they can just burn through the door, and we don’t have the time to manufacture one,” Keoki replied after a few seconds of hoping there was something he had overlooked.
“Then we will manage,” Melia said as she noticed a vent in a nearby room.
“Keoki, where does this lead?” she asked, pointing at it.
“Um, it connects to all the other vents on this floor and the ones above,” Keoki explained; he had gained a pretty good mental map of the ship during his time aboard.
“Good, then we use this room, fire some shots off, lock the door and then retreat into the air ducts. The Kireet are too large to use them,” Melia explained.
“It’s about as good as we can expect,” Keoki replied.
“I’ll inform Qerik; tell him to meet us on the floor above,” Polumnus said, contacting the Rating.
“Make it quick, Pompom, we’ve got company,” Keoki said as the locked door was kicked open.
Keoki instructed the obed into the vent while he, Polumnus and Melia fired shots from behind the cover of the door frame.
“What’s Pompom mean?” Polumnus asked as he struck a kireet right between the eyes.
“Do you people have fluffy balls you attach to clothing?” he asked before being grazed on the arm.
Polumnus thought about, as he saw Melia shoot a merc in the leg, “I think the Folriothis Priests wear something like that.”
“In my language, a pompom is one of those, Polumnus, pompom,” Keoki explained.
“Interesting,” Polumnus thought as he removed a frag grenade from his belt and threw it down the corridor.
“Frag out!” he cried as the kireet got as far away as possible, but in the confines of the ship, that was easier said than done.
Three mercenaries were struck, one killed outright, and two badly injured.
Melia, Polumnus and Keoki used the lull in the fighting to retreat into the vent. The Obed had been sent ahead to meet with Qerik.

“Level with me Melia. What are the odds we’ll all get out of this alive?” Keoki asked as he slid from the vent and into a hallway.
Melai considered lying, but it seemed kind of pointless at this point.
“Slim,” she answered.
“That’s good; I was worried I was being pessimistic,” Keoki said.
Qerik was waiting for them and was carrying two glass containers.
“You called this stuff laughing gas; why? What does laughing mean?” Qerik asked as he placed the jars on the ground and stopped the obed from inspecting them
Keoki then recreated that rhythmic noise he had made in the captain's cabin and said, “That’s laughing; humans do it when we’re happy.”
“Or when subjected to Nitrous oxide, I don’t know why; I do know it was used as an anaesthetic, and some people use it as a recreational drug,” he added.
“An anaesthetic, so when we threw the jars in that room with you, all it did was….” Melia said.
“Make it easier for me to tank the explosion, yes,” Keoki said, finishing her sentence.
“Are we sure this will work? They are wearing masks,” Keoki inquired, inspecting the bottle.
“It was your idea,” Qerik said.
“I know; I was relying on your superior knowledge of the local anatomy to fill in the blanks,” Keoki replied.
“It should do; using this stuff if a war crime for a reason,” Polumnus explained, “can be absorbed through the skin.”
“Are you lot sure you’re up for being war criminals?” inquired Keoki
“They’re slavers; you can drown a slaver in their own piss, and it's morally justifiable,” Qerik countered.
Keoki could not really argue with that. He looked down the corridor and asked them, “Do you three think you could hit these jars from two hundred metres away?”
“Yes,” Melia said without hesitation.
“I suggest we put them over there at that T-junction and shoot them with a low-powered shot, zero risk of the rest of us getting doused in the vapour cloud or stray shards of glass,” Keoki explained.
Keoki glanced at the mangled remains of Melia’s shoulder guard and asked, “Are you going to be alright? You took quite the blow there.”
“Yeah, my suit’s not compromised; I just have to make sure I don’t get shot there again,” Melia said.

As they waited for the kireet to arrive, Keoki went over the plan again; admittedly, it was not complicated or lengthy; shoot the jars and then run. He did not want to get caught out again, and after septuple checking his mental map, he was certain the only way the kireet could get through was down this corridor.
Keoki believed they would be doing a lot of waiting before this thing was concluded; he just hoped it ended in their favour.
Polumnus, Melia and Qerik had their rifles squarely aimed at the jars while Keoki and the obed kept watch for the Gretsu Company. Sure, the vo’rul could probably multi-task, but snipers had spotters for a reason, division of labour and all that.
Keoki noticed a face carefully peering around the corner, and he shouted, “Now!”
The vo’rul fired immediately, and within two seconds, both jars had been shattered, and Melia ordered a retreat.
The kireet fired at them, but Melia and company were out of sight before any damage could be done. They did not remain to check if it worked; time was of the essence, and they needed to plan their next move.
Though as he and Melia closed the next door and locked it tight, he did not know what more they could do; they were outnumbered, outgunned, and his tricks would only work when the kireet were scattered and terrified.
They were clearly cut from a different cloth than the uren.
That is how it went; for two floors, they picked out a spotted fire for as long as they could before retreating. It was costly Keoki took a couple more shots, one of them getting dangerously close to his neck.
Boh took a hit and, while not fatal, would require medical attention.
A plasma round had also struck Qerik; much like Melia, it had not harmed the boy, but unlike Melia, it had damaged his suit integrity, which meant the bacteria on the ship would soon be getting to work on his body.
The only small comfort Keoki could take was that none of the plasma rounds had been aimed at him or the obed. The Senator must have really wanted them alive.
They were running out of room; soon, they would be forced into the canteen, putting Mu and Ka at risk.
For their trouble, it seemed the nitrous had done some damage, and they had managed to bring down a couple more kireet with weapons fire, but not nearly enough to make a difference.
Polumnus slammed the canteen door shut and locked it as Qerik and Keoki closed the other entrances, preventing a repeat of their last cock up.
Mu poked his head out from the kitchen, the young man had had very little to do as of late, and while the rectangle was impressive, it could not distract forever.
“Mu, rest,” Keoki said in the obed language.
“I help,” Mu replied, stepping into the canteen.
“Others have guns, no help, I no help much,” Keoki explained.
Mu was having none of it though; despite how it may appear to outsiders, Keoki was not in charge of the obed. As a matter of fact, from what Keoki could tell, the obed did not even have a leader, period.
The obed listened to Keoki because he was the most knowledgeable about their current predicament, but they still made their own decision, which meant if Mu truly wanted to fight, then Keoki could do nothing to stop him.
Keoki supposed if he had crashlanded on their homeworld, he would be expected to defer to their judgment.
Slapping his legs, Keoki finally said, “Push tables to door. Others no get in.”
Mu did as he was asked, pleased to have something to do for a change; a break was nice and all, but he was not built to sit idle.
“I’m going to try and get Ka to move,” Keoki told Melia as he vanished into the kitchen.
Melia heard him but did not respond; she was too busy converting the tables into a makeshift fortification.
Qerik came by and picked up the rotten food.
“Hungry?” Melia asked, not deviating from her task.
“No, I thought we could put it on the floor, help make it slippery,” Qerik explained.
Melia did pause at that and said, “Good thinking.”
“Just keep the slime away from the hole in your suit. You’re going to get sick enough as it is,” Melia added.
“Don’t remind me,” Qerik replied.

Does anyone else agree that the biggest issue above all else is the hygiene? Why are dog owners lying to themselves? I truly think the love they have for their dogs overcomes the desire to have a clean home. I come from a culture where we don’t wear shoes in the house, and am absolutely baffled when people dont wipe their dogs paws and just let it walk all over the floor while US HUMANS are removing our shoes to now step on the shit, dirt, asphalt infested floors. If the owners don’t wipe their asses after a shit, WHY are they cool with them ever sitting on their furniture??? Or anything? When they have a backyard, the dog will roll in the grass they piss and shit on, then they let them in bed with them?? The constant sweat then letting them rub on beds and sofas? They’ll never brush their dogs teeth but share saliva??? Even if you brush its still not enough, all of them lick their unclean assholes. Don’t even get me started on the fur and how airborne it gets. I just don’t understand how dog owners aren’t bothered, it feels like everything is covered in shit, fur, dandruff and bacteria. Are they choosing to ignore?

What should be my next steps? Is it time to prioritize my needs, or should stay to see if he can overcome this?
I met my husband 10 years ago. He kept his binge eating a secret until a month before our wedding, and he only came clean after I walked in on an apartment full of evidence. He had a breakdown that day and promised to never keep anything from me again. I didn’t want to leave him over an eating disorder because that felt ugly, but I’m reaching a point now where I’m at my limit and needing to think about my own well-being.
His binging has gotten really bad over the years. He’s incredibly obese, to the point where he breaks furniture, he can’t get off the couch without rolling to the floor first, his hygiene is suffering, he’s constantly out of breath, and he just can’t move like a healthy person. It’s embarrassing and very unattractive.
In addition, he has lied and manipulated me soooo horribly over the years to cover up his addiction to binging. He’s spent money, toyed with my emotions, and gone to great lengths to get away with his binges.
His emotions are also all over the place. He escalates rapidly, he’s very emotionally immature, constantly defensive, always looking to be the victim, and throwing fits over everything. Even when these things aren’t related to his binging. He’s just an emotionally unhealthy person.
There is no trust. I don’t feel emotionally safe. I don’t feel like my needs are being met. I’m depleted. I’m not in love with him. I wonder if I’ll ever be attracted to him or feel romantic feelings about him ever again. We live as roommates and right now I have no desire for anything more. I just want peaceful distance. I feel myself protecting myself by not letting myself be vulnerable with him anymore. But it’s also not leaving room for growth.
The catch is we have 2 children together. My husband can be a really good dad at times, when he’s not exploding, and my children love him dearly. I don’t want to break up our home. We’re in marriage counseling but my husband admits that his pride prevents him from exploring all treatment options that are available.
I don’t know what to do. I wish I could go back in time and not marry him, but here we are. For the sake of my children, I’m thinking I should keep trying to figure this out.
At what point do I say enough it’s time to think about what I want? At what point is it justifiable to break up my kids home? I feel stuck.

I thought this would be insightful for you guys as much as it was for me when I found it. I wish I had taken it more seriously when she sent it but I didn't realize how much she was struggling. My wife and I got married in April 2021 and she sent this in early May 2021. In early April 2021 she had went off her medication because we wanted to have another baby and she was concerned about the effects on a potential pregnancy. So she was off her meds about a month at this point. Her text message below. I have formatted it to make it easier to read. When she sent it, she sent it as a huge run on blob of text. She also sent this pretty much out of nowhere, so there's no context to include. Here is the message she sent:
I feel like a dog who’s been starved of human touch and gets rescued by good people yet lashes out and bites and growls when I see a friendly hand coming to show me love. Not for any reason other than stopping my meds but that’s what it feels like, my body has entered fight or flight, my body feels like it’s in danger because it knows it’s been suddenly robbed of the crutches that it leans on and it’s trying not topple over and get hurt falling to the floor.
Anyone who reaches out their hand to me right now is going to get bit no matter what soothing and comforting words my mind has to tell my body, no matter how much I try to tell my body that it’s ok and safe, it remembers what it’s like to constantly fight to stay alive and I don’t think it wants to fight that fight anymore, or at least it’s worried that it’s going to have to. I keep trying to say it’s okay, you’re not going to die, believe me, you don’t even want to. Let’s not go there. Let’s not reason with the grim reaper again, he has nothing for you. Just turn around and walk the other way.
It’s like there’s two of me and I’m holding myself back by the arms. So far I’m stronger than me but it’s a god damn brawl and I’m getting bruised up as well as everyone around me having to take the occasional punch and I’m embarrassed and want to apologize for it but if I turn around for one second to do so I’ll get the shit kicked out of me by this monster. I’m trying to hold it down on the floor until it calms the fuck down. This cunt is feisty, nasty, and full of energy, and she feels like she just got her legs kicked out from under her so I can’t say I don’t get it but god I cant talk any rational sense into her. She’s a snapping Rottweiler. An absolute hurricane. She’s trying to claw her way out of my very skin.
If you want to get really specific, she’s wearing lingerie and smoking a cigarette looking at me like she can do this all day. And it’s not only my job to suffocate her with a pillow, but also to protect her and show some understanding, grace and sympathy because she’s here to guard me. I just can’t get the message through that I don’t need or want it right now. So instead we’re rolling around on the floor throwing punches, both trying to take our place on top, and constantly taking turns wearing the crown for a few minutes. She wants to go backwards and I’m trying to shove us both forward. We never need to go back to where we came from. We’ve healed from it but this bitch is trying to rip open the wounds I spent so god damn long stitching up. And all I can do is try to understand, because she’s only scared and acting in desperate self defense because she doesn’t have the capacity to see that I can take care of us both on my own if she’d just take a deep breath and let me.

Hey guys, I new I was thinning at the front, but had no idea how bad it had gotten at the back until the barber mentioned it today. I started Fin about a week ago and picked up some liquid minoxidil today which I’ll use twice a day, I’ll also start derma rolling once or twice a week. Has anyone been in a similar position and had their hair regrow? I don’t need it super thick, but would like it a bit thicker again as I’m only 25. I used foam minox and a derma roll a few years ago to grow facial hair and had great results, but don’t know if this will be the same.

In light of the new is-2 being revealed I’m thinking of dismantling my is-2 to make an isu-152, it shouldn’t be to complex to put together and I reckon it’ll look pretty damn good when I get it done. What do you guys think? On a side Note Ik I haven’t posted any of the custom tanks I said I would but I’m gonna do that tonight because I have my last a level today so I’ve been bogged down over the past few weeks with work, sort of like every big cats transmission once it reached the end of the factory floor

Are you using a variety of lab bottles? It’s effortless to grab the bottle from the shelf without giving it a second thought. But, a lab bottle is not just a bottle.
Are you certain that you have selected the most suitable type of container for your intended purpose? Bottles provide versatile options that can be utilized for the handling, transformation, and storage of both liquids and solids. Available in a variety of sizes and shapes, they can be constructed from either plastic or glass materials.

Selection goes beyond deciding glass versus plastic lab bottles

You’ve decided on using plastic lab bottles over glass but that’s not the end of your decision.
Selecting the appropriate bottle involves more than just choosing its size, shape, and color. It’s also crucial to consider the type of plastic material that will be used, as the performance of the bottle can be impacted by factors such as temperature and chemical exposure.

Variables to consider when choosing lab bottles

In the interest of saving time, it can be tempting to simply grab the nearest bottle on the shelf. However, before making a selection, it’s crucial to ask yourself several important questions regarding your lab bottles.

1. What chemicals will the bottles come in contact with?
2. What shape of bottle suits your application?
3. Do you need bottles to withstand extreme temperatures and resistance or do you need bottles for low temperature long term storage?
4. What kind of Transparency and Translucency should your bottle have?
5. Do you need bottles that take care of your light sensitive samples?

Temperature considerations

Will you be exposing your bottles to a hot or cold environment? Temperatures can also affect your bottles. Bottles may need to withstand extreme temperatures such as autoclaving for sterilization as well as freezing temperatures for long-term storage. Take a look to how different bottle materials withstand a wide temperature range:

• Polypropylene (PP) Temp range 0°C to 135°C
• High-density polyethylene (HDPE) Temp range -100°C to 120°C
• Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) Temp range -100°C to 80°C
• Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) Temp range -70°C to 60°C
• Polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) Temp range -70°C to 60°C

Chemical compatibility for plastic lab bottles

Selecting an appropriate bottle could potentially create a safety hazard. Place the wrong chemical in the wrong type of bottle material, and the chemical could eat right through the material. Preventing chemicals from spilling onto the floor, or even worse, onto your lap, is essential.

• Polypropylene (PP) – Offers good resistance to non-oxidizing acids and bases, fats and most organic solvent
• High-density polyethylene (HDPE) and Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)- Compatible with most chemicals and are resistant to strong acids and bases, as well as gentle oxidants and reducing agents
• Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – Compatible with Aldehydes, Amines, Ketones, Detergents/surfactants, Oils/Lubricants, Silicons
• Polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) – Compatible to weak or diluted acids, bases and alcohols

Utilize this convenient chart to assist you in identifying the suitable material for the bottle required for your application.

Plastic Materials Overview:

Amber versus Transparent
In certain procedures, it is crucial to determine whether to utilize a transparent or amber media bottle. Amber bottles are necessary to safeguard light-sensitive substances from natural, infrared, or ultraviolet light, which can cause their degradation. Solutions like organic solvents should be stored in amber glass. Transparent media bottles are a popular choice for storing non-volatile chemical compounds that are not sensitive to light.
Square versus Round Bottles
When it comes to autoclaving processes, square media bottles are frequently utilized due to their ability to be densely packed into autoclaves for maximum space utilization and efficiency. Micro labs, which must process samples quickly as various steps in the process are time-sensitive, often need to produce substantial quantities of media and agar on a regular basis; they find that racks of square bottles are much more manageable and practical for this purpose.
Square media bottles are also commonly used to store solid chemicals in their granular form. In analytical laboratories, round media bottles are more commonly used. The reason behind using a rounded container instead of a square one is that it facilitates the mixing and stirring of solutions. In these laboratories it is important to ensure solutions are effectively mixed to form homogeneous solutions.
Wide Mouth versus Narrow Mouth
Certain laboratory procedures can be simplified by utilizing a wide-mouth bottle as opposed to a narrow-mouth one. If it is a medium bottle that contains granular solids, it is easier to scoop the chemical out for weighing when the mouth is wide. A narrow mouth bottle can be useful when pipetting solutions into a media bottle. The bottle’s shoulders are designed with a steeper slope to facilitate the effective mixing of any added chemicals with the solution inside the container.

CONCLUSION

Accumax Media bottles and Reagent bottles are manufactured in 100K clean room facility from premium grade material with low leachable and extractable materials.
Original Source: https://accumaximum.com/blogs/choose-the-best-lab-storage-bottles-for-your-applications/