Hello! Just looking for a place to get this off my chest/someone maybe with a similar experience for peace of mind. I’ve been on Blisolvi Fe (21 days active/7 day placebo) for about 9 months now. I’m very scared of pregnancy so I’m super cautious about taking my pill at the same time every day. My boyfriend and I are long distance so we don’t have sex often but when we do we’re super careful with always using a condom, washing hands before changing sexual activities, etc. He visited me for 2 weeks (left about a week ago) and we continued to be super safe with all things sex (no broken condoms, etc.) so I know deep down there really isn’t any chance of pregnancy.
However, I’ve randomly started having some breakthrough bleeding/spotting this week, which is weird because I thought that was only supposed to happen during the first 6 months. (Sorry for TMI!) There was a bit of thick and fresh/bright red blood on Wednesday, “you gotta look hard to see it” amount of bright red blood once yesterday, and a single instance of super light pink blood today. Is this normal? Has this happened to anyone else? Should I be worried this is implantation bleeding? I’m a nervous googler so I know that since mine was bright red and thick it shouldn’t be implantation bleeding but the light pink bit I got today is scaring me.
Also want to note that I recently started taking buspirone/buspar anxiety meds if anyone’s ever notice any interaction between that and BC. I think a possible cause is the fact that I started doing these “pelvic floor” workouts on TikTok that left me sore down there for a day before I started bleeding- has anyone started spotting after workout out?

I pulled her card from my lockbox today. I couldn’t bring myself to remove it from its wrapping though. I’ll explain the card in a little while. Even in just that briefest of moments though, the tears became too thick. I so wanted to see her name. Instead I decided to only go back to the memories. They bring enough tears. So I put the card back but need to tell my story of that memory. So thank you for your time in letting me indulge dear Reader. I know your time is precious and I am loquacious of a sort.
The place I used to work at a long, long time ago, Croc’s, was an odd duck. It was a Transformer of sorts. During the day and early evening it was a damn good Mexican restaurant. One of the best in town. Lunch was insane. Dinner was a respite. But on Friday, Saturdays, some Thursdays, and almost every holiday eve, it was… I don’t even have words. Nothing like what went on in those walls had been seen in Denver at the time. We had lines around blocks. The plural is not a mistake. On those nights, Croc’s was THE place to be in Denver. The owners got there before everyone else and had hit a jackpot with the place. The Rockies were starting over at Mile High and moving to LoDo soon. LoDo was booming and we were in the middle of it partying like no tomorrow every night.
But this isn’t about that amazing place, that’s for another day. Nope. This is about her, her son and I. Or rather, about loss and memories. But it all started at Croc’s and you needed to know what a breath of a moment in time we shared there. Not on one of those crazy nights but one lazy Sunday when we were pretty slow.
I mentioned the restaurant was an odd duck. See, it was designed so that from breakfast through dinner and into very early evening, it was a purposeful, full-fledged, extremely popular, and well reviewed dining establishment. But after that, it was designed so we could remove every table, chair, stool and booth. We essentially turned the whole restaurant into a giant dance floor with a bar that spanned half the distance of the long wall topped with massive tequila and booze pyramids. The wells were at either end with a plant potter behind them for storage. It was split level(ish) with a few VIP areas squirreled away. State of the art DJ booth on the south end of the bar. Oh and did I mention we had a 28 foot replica of a Nile croc suspended from the roof named “Hal”.
The owners were a group of friends who had grown up in the business. One of them was from the family that started Senior Frogs and the like down in Mexico. They had all met and worked at some of the hottest places in the state and been to some of the craziest places around the Americas. So when I say no one had seen anything like it, they hadn’t. We had a person that would blow tequila from a custom bong into a partier's mouth from 30 feet away. Our DJ’s were the best in town. We poached the absolute best in talent from every bar in a 4000 mile radius. That movie “Cocktail”? Yeah, that was this place on steroids. Hell, beside myself and 1 or 2 other guys, our security eventually turned into off duty SWAT cops. All these places around Denver and, hell, around the country you see now? Yeah these guys started it right there in LoDo.
It was the paper and crayons we would put on every table though where my memory begins.
There had been other places that had done what we did with the butcher block paper. It went on every table with crayons. It wasn’t the most innovative thing there but it was fun and the patrons enjoyed it. Many great artists out there! And of course the kids loved it. A lot of the folks who lived around there would bring their kids with them for lunch or dinner. I worked a lot of Sunday day shifts because a) everyone was hung over and never wanted to work and b) it was usually a nice bit of quiet after two nights that would make Caligula jealous. Plus the people who did come in were usually pretty cool and just out for a good meal. It was pretty chill after all that joyous chaos.
My section was usually the front lifted area just in front of the potters and a few tables in the middle. I was splitting with the other server that day since it was more dead than usual. A beautiful Colorado day back then. Blue sky with puffy clouds. Perfect temperature with no wind so the front doors to the small little patio were open. You could smell the flowers from across the street. The other server let me know she had sat a couple of people at one of my four tops. Sounded good so I headed out to say hello.
It was customary for us to write our name on the paper when we showed up. It was hokie but everyone loved it. It was our way of saying welcome and have fun! Some servers could do it upside down but I could never get the hang of that.
I headed down the bar toward the front, preoccupied with getting my marker out for the intro. I remember coming around the corner of the potter and just kind of coming to a juddering stop at the top step, tripping and almost falling on my face. Luckily she was a little preoccupied with her son and getting him situated so she missed seeing me make a gobsmacked fool out of myself.
I luckily regained what little balance I could alongside some composure quick enough to walk up and say hi. She said hi and then kind of waited. “Oh yeah dumbass” I said to myself as I told her, or rather flubbed, my name as I wrote it in the corner so they could read it right side up. She giggled a little bit as most people did with my nickname at the time. I hadn’t noticed but her son had been waiting the whole time for that moment. He grabbed his crayon and wrote his name and her name in front of them. “That’s a good name isn’t it?” I asked him. I told him it was the same as mine but the longer version. He was a little surprised by this as I went by “Scooter” back then. It took a second but he quickly realized it was a nickname. He had signed the long version of our name and said that’s what he liked. Right on man, you got it. Damn smart kid. You can tell, ya know?
After that briefest of moments, I shook myself a little and introduced myself for, I think the fourth time now. She tells me her name but it is instantly gone. Not only because of the effect this moment is having on me, but just because I am bad with names on the first go around. I don’t think we heard what either was saying anyway. Our eyes were locked and in that moment, it was all that mattered somehow. I can remember how deeply they shined. Her hair was a little damp and unkempt like someone in a hurry but has that respect for herself. Dark like her eyes but shining from the light outside. A simple blue/light purple and white striped shirt. Slightly damp around the shoulders. Worn jeans. Not the designer type but jeans aged with a good strong life. Blue canvas deck shoes with the white souls if I remember that part right. Maybe black canvas. I saw all this without ever breaking her gaze.
It was as if in the same moment we both realized we were in the same place together but not there alone. A moment later we both found ourselves apologizing for talking over the other. Sheepishly, like teens on their first date. Giggling a bit. Not knowing what was happening but knowing that something most definitely was. I apologized for the awkwardness and I think I cracked a joke or something but neither of us knew what to do. There was a calm panic and, I dare to say, a longing that was unknown?
It was her son who brought us both back to reality. He had asked if we had Coke or Pepsi. I shook myself internally again and told him we had Coke but could find some Pepsi if he really wanted it. Luckily he was not a Pepsi kid. I also told him that, yes, I would be happy to add a cherry to it. This time though when I met his eyes, I looked at myself when I was that age, as I answered that question. I hadn’t noticed it. Like a mirror as they say. Dark brown hair full of cowlicks. Round face with a big smile. Getting that cherry meant the world to him. I remembered that same feeling again through him. It was like looking at a version of myself I only saw in pictures.
At this very second in time I remember being terrified. Not “scared” terrified. It was more like, holy shite is this happening? What is going on? I wanted to turn and run and hide but somehow regained what little composure was left in that split second. I turned back to her and saw that she had just seen what I had seen. I could see wonder, joy, confusion, happiness, peace, thrill, fear and hope that I am sure were being reflected in my own eyes. We both needed a few minutes. We each could see it. It was overwhelming. Again, not a bad overwhelming but one of those moments where you need to put your hands on your knees and take some big, deep breaths.
The whole 3 or 4 minutes were surreal. And I will never forget them. I will fight as hard as I can to hold onto the others I have of both of them.
Somehow I managed to Charlie Chaplin myself away to get their drink order. I believe hers was a Sprite with a lemon. Normally I would go right around the corner of the plant potter and get the sodas from the guns there. Instead I went all the way to the back station. I needed to breathe. It seemed like an hour but I headed back. By this time the son was going to town. He had talent and it showed. It seemed like we had regained ourselves somewhat but the whole meal was kind of like an episode out of a teen comedy. We giggled, laughed, blushed, and did all the other things you would expect to see from two teenagers who discover they like each other. It wasn’t like I was trying to stay with them, or they tried to keep me there. It just kind of happened. I’d start to go away and she would ask me back for something simple. I would bring something I had forgotten in case they needed it. The whole meal went that way.
When they were done and ready to go, I was dreading it. Should I ask her out? She had mentioned she was single. It felt like I should ask her out. Like I said, the whole visit was surreal. There was no ring or even a suntan line of one (Don’t judge me, it was a different time). I wasn’t seeing anyone either. We seemed to get along amazingly, both her and her son. Even my fellow server noticed and was egging me on. It was obvious. Doing something like that with a client back then happened. Not usually in the first 30 seconds but you never know. I made up my mind to walk them out as I had no other tables and see what happened. I took the check to the table. She was packing her bag. I had gotten a refill for his togo cup and handed it to him. He said thank you and said he drew something for me. They had carefully torn it from the paper and he handed it to me. It was the three of us holding hands. How I held the tears then I do not know. I was a different person there at that precise point in time. At this moment those tears are here though.
I bent down to his level and thanked him sincerely. He said he was glad I liked it and he hugged me. I heard her try to stifle her gasp. Thank any or no gods or whoever for him. He let go, grabbed his Mom’s hand and said he was ready to go. As I stood up I could see tears welling in her eyes. He hadn’t done that to another man in, what she said, was a very long time she would tell me in a quiet voice as we started to walk toward the door. That was it. I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t even noticed that when we got to the big double doors, he had grabbed my hand. It just was there.
By this time I do not think either of us really knew what to do or what was going on. I mean, this was an impromptu outing to a place her son had liked because of the paper. It was a cheap and good lunch and then off to wherever for them and another table for me while I rolled silverware in the back or stocked the empty quicks from the previous night. But it seemed like it had been years together but only moments, if that makes sense? I certainly did not know what to do at this point. I think I mumbled what a delight it was to be able to spend time with them and I hoped they had enjoyed themselves or something like that. I honestly could not tell you. By this time she had regained herself somewhat. That girlishness turned into an elegance, beauty and strength that I had not seen before. But those same feelings exchanged in that momentary glance were still there. As was still a bit of moisture along the bottom of her eyes. We made a bit of small talk till he got a bit antsy and wanted to head off.
As we said our goodbyes that day, almost at the same time, we asked our questions. I asked if she would like to come by again soon with her son. His birthday was coming up I think and I could get the guys in back to make him something special. At least I think that was it. Her’s was if it would be ok if they came back soon. You know because the little guy liked drawing and the food. More childish giggling and laughing. And before she left she gave me her card and said to call if I was going to be working again on a Sunday or just whenever. As they walked together, hand in hand down and around the corner, I just stared at them and then the card over and over.
That very card I put back in a safe place tonight.
She was a designer as it turned out. I didn’t pry into her past as it sounded like it wasn’t all that great at times. She came by the restaurant a few more times after that. I then called once or twice to say hi and how they were doing and to let her know to come by. Eventually she asked me out. We spent some time together and it started to get a little more serious. She was a few years older but not by much. She was driven and forthright. Quick witted and compassionate. And such a good Mom with a massive heart. I was young then, somewhat good looking, fairly well paid and worked at the hottest spot in the state. And I had this woman I couldn’t get out of my head. Even my coworkers knew and could see what was going on whenever we were together. Either just the two of us or all three of us. Walking on clouds was an apt statement. At this point I want to point out that while I am no saint whatsoever, I do consider myself a decent person. At least I was back then and for the most part today. Things have changed as they always do but I digress.
Eventually the moment came. The serious date. She had a small but fantastic apartment downtown and wanted to make me dinner for once. I don’t think she was done asking before I said yes. We set a date for later that week. I remember it was a Saturday because me taking a night off from that place, with all its amazing moments each night to the amount of money you walked out with each night to leaving one of the other bouncers with one of the other guys he wasn’t used to, was a pretty big deal. Had to call in favors but everyone just said go. No one there batted an eye. They all seemed to know what a big deal this was somehow.
We set it for a little later in the evening so I could get things in proper working fashion up front of the house and then head over. Any of you who have worked in a restaurant know that smell you get. Kind of need to have worked in that environment to know I guess. So that night, I didn’t have time to head home then come back. So I had a change of clothes and a vanity bag so I could clean up in the back. Wouldn’t be the first time I got sprayed down by the dishwasher but probably a first for this reason. Cleaned up pretty well, freshly shaved and quaffed, walking so far above Cloud 9 I lost track of which one I was on. Headed out to put the work kit and bag in the truck. On the way out a few who knew what had been going on smiled or waved.
And off I went. I was a little late but she said she had expected it given the night of the week. Back then, downtown Denver was different. Colorado was different. I guess everywhere was different back then. But in this instance, I mean in an architectural way. You didn’t have the towers all around LoDo as you do now. From some rooftops you could still watch a sunset over the mountains. Say what you will, even I have to admit that a purple and orange sunset over the mountains is quite possibly the most beautiful natural thing I have seen. It is immense but oh so fleeting. Just like our lives I guess. You could still hear birds and bugs over cars at times. I wouldn’t say it was peaceful but it was at least calm?
She was lucky as her apartment, though smallish, came with a hidden bonus. Her window allowed her to access the roof on the next building. A part of it anyway. But this little slice of hidden wonder allowed a view down Market Street, across Spear, over Auraria and then the mountain view. It was stunning. Like the apartment, the space was just cozy enough for two to enjoy a little rooftop barbeque and dining. She gave me the quick tour and we poured some wine. She was going through the menu as we “headed outside”. The door was a small little window. I remember scratching my head and thinking I may not fit out there. She handled it with the grace of a ballerina and said I could do it. It took a minute or two but I contorted my clumsy self outside. And she was right. It was spectacular.
Not just the view but what she had done with her little corner of peace. She had talked with the building owner who agreed that she could use this space as he didn't even know about it. It was like something out of a commercial today. A nice little seating couch type niche. Well built trellis with some small Christmas lights for effect. A little brick grilling area with a hibachi going. I can still smell it. The table with candles and dinnerware. Decking. I was taken aback. The way it was situated insulated her from the sounds down below. You could hear them but it was almost like distant white noise. It was just peaceful. I remember remarking about this. She said she discovered it by accident when her son thought it might be a good play area.
Dinner was wonderful. The night went on. There wasn’t a sense of time. Just us there in that little part of the universe that was only hers. To this day I do not think I felt that safe before anywhere nor since. Someone was letting me into one of their most sacred spots. Literally and figuratively. I felt privileged. Almost as though I was treading somewhere I shouldn’t be. I think that thought was my downfall however. Don’t worry dear Reader, you will understand all that very soon. We watched that sunset. It was perfect. The right contrast of colors. Just the right amount of clouds to change those colors ever so slightly. A reminder of how something can change for the simplest of reasons.
As night grew darker it started to get cold. The goosebumps we were feeling on each other's skin holding hands and looking at the stars weren’t just from feelings. It was getting cool so we moved inside. After safely dousing the grill and making sure the coals were in their proper place, we cleaned up. Since it was easier, I stayed outside and handed them into the house to her. We figured it would be safer for the dishes. Giggled some more as we came to realize more and more things about each other at the same time. Finally the outside was clear. I stood outside for another minute to take in what was happening. I think that is then that little bit of fear weeded its way in without my realizing it. This was as close to perfect as I could ever dream I thought.
After squeezing back inside, assisted again but ok with that, we cleaned up the dishes and opened another bottle of wine. The inside was just as cozy. At some point she had lit some more candles and had some soft music going. Light jazz if I remember. Not loud at all. Again, there, just outside the periphery. Sitting on the couch I can feel her sitting next to me. We are close. Two people holding each other wanting to believe but not sure if this is real. There was almost a vibration. The constant goosebumps were not because of the cold anymore. Once we were both comfortable and we just talked. For hours and hours. There were the intimate moments but nothing scandalous. A tenuous kiss from one to the other.
We talked about what two people talk about who truly want to know the other. I believe we asked as many honest questions of ourselves as we did of the other. We really, truly, wholly wanted to know each other. And that is what we did. The more we talked the more comfortable we felt. Each of us had our scars that were not easily revealed. Nor did we reveal all of them that night and guarded them well. But we each wanted to know if the other was someone we could trust with those deepest places that we all hide in the darkest parts of our soul.
We talked a little about her son’s father but not in depth. It was easy to see that was one of the scars. We talked about her son. Why she was so astonished that first day. My heart wrenches this very moment dear Reader upon remembering that. Her hopes for him. His likes and his dislikes. Some of the stories parents tell others to embarrass their children later in life. We talked about what futures there could be not for us but for him and his world. He really was an amazing kid and I am sure has grown up to be someone she can be proud of. Time did not exist that night. Feelings and thoughts were exchanged that did not need to be said. We just knew each other that night.
We never did finish the second bottle if memory serves, we talked, laughed and sat together in peaceful comfort and gave no care about anything else. But tomorrow was coming as it always does and we had to leave each other. I remember the closeness as we held each other. The pressure of two bodies at that singular moment in time. That one instant that feels as though it could last through infinity. When two become one and feel the safety, love, compassion, trust and sameness that is rarely, if ever experienced.
Pardon me dear Reader but must ask a moment to compose myself. We are getting close to the end of my tale so also ask for just a bit more of your time. I know how so very precious it is. Thank you for allowing me to continue.
I do not know how long we held each other. To this day I wish it had been so much longer however. I do remember leaving. Working where I did, I was sadly but actively very familiar with many different levels and types of inebriation. That feeling that morning however was something that surpassed all that I had experienced in my life. I had never felt like this. I knew that the sun was starting to come up as I parked my car. I knew that I got through the door, downstairs and then fell asleep. I wasn’t drunk. It was pure. A pure love, happiness, joy and trust I had never felt from someone else. This feeling was so powerful it had knocked me for a loop that I just was not ready for.
I awoke later that day, thankful I didn’t have to work. It was late in the afternoon and I felt like I had been hit by a bus but didn’t care. I believe that the night before we both had excised many things that we had held inside for so long. I could (and can) still remember the whole night if not the words. I felt like one does after you give everything physically possible to something and have nothing left to give. But it felt right. Regardless of the ending, I do believe that, even though brief, that night, two people who had needed to find each other did. I think they needed to know that there was at least one person who understood, even if they hadn’t needed to actually say anything.
Now dear Reader I must ask you to remember that part about fear. Given my early life and life up to that point and to this day, I do find it very hard to trust. So this was something I had to confront. And so I started to. Instead of seeing what she saw in me, I saw the things I thought were ugly. I got scared that those scars would be peeled away and she would be repulsed. And these thoughts and fears grew. We still saw each other and talked for a while after that night. But my fear took over quickly. Before I knew it I had driven her away. There was no maliciousness about it. The thoughts that had ruled my life for so long before her and then after her, to this day, always got to the same thing. If you let her in, she will leave because of who you are. It was idiotic but it was ingrained at this point. I eventually told her I didn’t think it was going to work out. The truth was that I was scared. Scared to let her in. I hated myself for not being honest with her. She would have understood. Probably more than any other.
After that, I went on with my life as a young person does in that atmosphere. I saw her one time after that final talk. She waved as she and her son sat in a section away from mine. I waved back and remembered going out back and beating the hell out of our cooler there. I was so mad at myself then. While the anger passed as life threw one thing at me after another as it does until I find myself here today writing this, the pain of losing her has never healed. Nor do I want it to. That pain also brings memories that I so rarely experience anymore. I buried it for a long, long, long time but recently I find myself thinking about her and her son more and more. What would have been?
For you see dear Reader, that moment was my perfect chance. Not long ago in my life I was diagnosed with cancer. I eventually beat it but it has long since ruined my life. But that is not why I tell this tale. I ask for no sympathy. My life is where I am supposed to be. I have come to peace with that. To an extent I guess anyway. The reason it was my perfect chance is this. I was also diagnosed with a genetic defect which essentially makes me a cancer producer with no natural way to fight it. My mothers father died of colon and pancreatic cancer. My Mother has beaten 5 different bouts of cancer. I have been tested and confirmed. So if I had had a child, I would more than likely have passed that to them. After listening to what my mother watched her father go through. After watching my own Mother fight this monster 5 times and win each time. After all that I was horrified to learn that I could have passed this monster to someone I would have loved with all my heart.
I never married and never had a child. For most of my life I regretted that most of all to the point of shame. I am the last person in my familial lineage that will ever carry my name. My line dies with me. For the longest time that has been a great burden. However, after the geneticist confirmed me and a great deal of internal contemplation, with the aid of hindsight, part of me is glad that I never had a wife and child who would have to go through the horrors I have heard about, watched and gone through first hand and personally. That at least brings me a modicum of inner peace. Do not be fooled ever though. This monster is evil. It takes everything from all but the luckiest.
And I had my moment of perfect chance. Even though I did not know it at the time, I had an opportunity to spend the rest of my life with two someones who I truly believe to this day, loved me. Even if for so very briefly. I gave up the chance to be able to be a husband and care for someone I believe I loved and loved me. I had a chance to be the father I wanted to be without passing on my monster. To see a child grow into their best self. I get angry at times that I did this. Not necessarily my own selfish needs. I am also mad that this person trusted me and I couldn’t do the same in the end. That I let a child down who for his own reasons let me in when he shut others out. That we could have been the family we could have been. And I ran because I was scared. I can never forgive myself for doing that to them. This may sound selfish and perhaps it is but it is my history.
And now dear Reader we come to the end of my tale. Where it all began.
Her card.
I think you will understand why I put it away instead of taking it out after this. I mentioned that she was a designer. Her card is exquisite. I don’t need to see it to describe it. There is a silver cord ribbon wrapped around a waxed paper tied in a bow. It sparkles silver but is brittle after all the years. I can slide the card out carefully but don’t want to take a chance of damaging it. My hands aren’t the best anymore. The writing on the card is done with a most excellent penmanship in purple over white with black. The backing is white with the black used as border highlighting with purple as the border and main color. There is a bit of sparkle in one of the purples but not a garish amount. Just enough to catch the eye. The back is similar with details of her work at the time as well as some contact information. I don’t know if she did this on all of them, but there was a scent of her perfume that accompanied it for a while. It, like much else, has faded.
We all have a place to keep our most precious items. This one rarely leaves that place for me.
So in the really bad times dear Reader, I try to look at that card. I say try because it is very painful to try to do so. Today was one of those days and I wanted to share it. In the end I couldn’t get past the tears to look at it so returned it to its safety. Not really because of the pain. Believe me, the pain is there in vast amounts. But because of that first moment. I needed to remember what that feeling was like. I needed to remember what it is to look in another's eyes and see the whole universe and all its infinite possibilities. Some regrets, regardless of time, will always follow you. Be honest about that with yourself dear Reader. Today I needed to remember her and him. I needed that acceptance. That peace. That joy, That trust. That love.
This time however I needed to commit this to our history so that perhaps at least one other will read it and maybe it will impact somehow. This is not meant to be a moralistic tale. It is just a tale of love lost. A life that could have been different. I hope, dear Reader, that your life is filled with wonder and love. Do not miss a single chance in your life because of fear. Be cautious but be open. Your world is massive but also miniscule. The chances don’t happen often anymore so grab them and hold onto them when you can. Try to think of all possibilities and look through others' eyes. But most importantly. If you do find your perfect moment, do not let it go dear Reader. It may never come again.
That is the end of my tale. I thank you so much dear Reader. As I have said many times, your time is precious and I have taken enough. Safe journeys to you my friend.

Hello! Just returned to ESO after a few years and starting fresh after switching to xbox. Looking for a guild to relax in and possibly find some people to chill with.
A little about my play style, I'm between casual and fluctuating obsession (so I'm either on for hours or have enough energy for 45 mins), I understand mechanics but if it's just me playing I'm just mindlessly button smashing PvE stuff. I usually avoid tanking due to pressure and I've dabbled in healing, once I get back into the game(basically be at a decent CP level) I'll try out healing again but my main focus now is leveling.
Social aspect I'm usually quiet till I get comfortable, I keep out of drama and pretty much stay out of any conflicts as possible. Games are supposed to be fun.

Hello, I was editing my photos in LR classic, and it had some grain/noise but not much. I saved and closed, and reopened today. For some reason I am noticing much more grain/noise today and idk why? Has anyone else noticed this? Or is it just fresh eyes?

So a while back as stated, shared what nutritional yeast is, and how it can easily and effectively supplement your B vitamin needs, among many other needs, all in powder form, there to sprinkle on your food whenever, it tastes like cheese and it's quite flavorful.
Well, I got another thing to share and show some of you. Is it a supplement? In a sense, once again, it kinda sorta is. It's a string of cloves just as you'd find with regular garlic! Only, there's something different about this, with it being turned black through fermentation, not only has it become stronger and more advanced in many ways, not only is it a bite sized treat that can be used in food or as a stand alone, but it really is just all of that. This little morsel you can eat a couple to a few of, or hey, more, like me, and gain all the amazing benefits of a freshly peeled clove of garlic, only, it is magnificently better, and once again, TASTY!
A while back I tried this for the first time, I love garlic, on everything and anything garlic mostly goes on, but black garlic isn't just for those who love it, it could also be for those who may be indifferent, or maybe even dislike it. After reading all the descriptions of how it tastes, me personally can only describe it as a texture and even taste of a sweet raisen, with a hint of chocolate, and fine very mild tame aftertaste of garlic. You can eat these pretty easily without thought.
Imagine all the healthy benefits of garlic, but you skip the steps of prepping, and increase the consumption of said garlic per sitting, and ingest it easier. Let's read some highlights of this wonderful supplemental chewable, regarding facts and actual studies.
-"Garlic contains calcium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamin B1. Studies have shown that the fermentation process increases the amount of nutrients in garlic and makes them easier to absorb by the body."
-"One study showed fermented garlic had higher levels of riboflavin, α-tocopherol, and most amino acids, but lower levels of thiamin and ascorbic acid (vitamin C)."
-"Its polyphenol content, for example, is 9.3 times higher compared to that of fresh garlic. S-allyl-cysteine levels in black garlic increase 4.3 to 6.3-fold during processing."
-"S-allyl cysteine (SAC), an organic compound in garlic, protects against oxidative stress and inflammation. Its levels are significantly higher in black garlic compared to its fresh counterpart, as noted in the Journal of Food and Drug Analysis review. This nutrient is also found in aged garlic extract. Research suggests that it inhibits oxidative damage, a contributing factor to stroke, neurodegenerative diseases, premature aging and cardiovascular problems."
-"This functional food has been shown to induce cancer cell death, prevent metastasis and inhibit tumor growth. Furthermore, it may protect against obesity and its complications. Black garlic also benefits your brain, due to its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and neuroprotective effects. In clinical trials reported in Intechopen, it was found to improve memory performance and slow cognitive decline."
-"Black garlic may improve cardiac function by increasing plasma antioxidant levels. This spice may also protect against diabetes, a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Compared to fresh garlic, black garlic is about five times higher in polyphenols. As a result, it's more effective at protecting your heart from free radical damage."
-"Also notable to point out regarding black garlic benefits and heart health is that black garlic, in particular MORE than non fermented garlic, has been shown to help reduce the concentration of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), When BUN is high, it signals to your body to produce the hormone vasopressin, which can increase your blood pressure and cause an electrolyte imbalance. This can be very dangerous to individuals that have a weak heart and can cause heart failure."
-"Black garlic may help with insulin resistance and prevent cancer, many studies support this, however, it can potentially react with medication you may be taking, and it's not some magic pill, it's just extremely good for you, this is a much simpler way to ingest more garlic in your life, it's a unique and exciting taste, it's tolerable, easier on the stomach, is bite sized, and is proven to be far more effective in most all the positive things garlic brings to the table."
This is black garlic, instructions are usually to eat 2-3 a day as is, you can totally eat more and feel it out, and you can add it on food like regular garlic, however you want it is perfect. It's great for detox, great for shielding of many important body processes, preventing disease, and it's just plain healthy, more than any garlic supplement in a capsule with one simple pathway of targeting, and more than the actual white garlic.
Once again, this could interact with medications, this is not a cure or magic pill, this is an amazing supplement to support health in several ways. Do your own due diligence on black garlic.
Thought I'd share this one with my supplement people, so here it is, there's much more to discover about it and I hope you enjoy the knowledge and use if you so try it.
Good day.

Hello Guardians, my name is u/PandaPaxxy. Today I am here to go over my process for evaluating weapons. From hand cannons to glaives I will go over what I look for in weapons and why. A lot of the time it will fall into “Reload gun and get damage.” But in terms of other stats to look for, why I choose certain perks sometimes and other perks other times. My guides serve to educate Guardians on weapons for the season. I work hard to test and find out what works on weapons so you can dedicate your time to playing with them instead of testing them for yourself.
Ultimately my guides and wishlists are a jumping off point. They serve as a great baseline but are neither gospel, nor all-encompassing. I build them to get you to a point where you can look at perk pools and decide for yourself what you want on your weapons.
Exotic armor builds are always a great place to start, see what exotic you gravitate towards and build your weapons around that. Do you like mowing through enemies? Well then Subsistence might be your best friend. Do you like punching things? Pugilist, Swashbuckler, One-Two Punch, and Trench Barrel just became your best friends. Depending on your build and what you use can drastically change perk recommendations one way or the other. Building into a specific play style with your weapons can not only get you to a point where clearing activities is easier, but it can also create your own identity within Destiny. Two players using the same subclass and exotic can choose very different weapons to pair with it and have very different play styles. My recommendations are purely that. Recommendations.
This guide not only serves as what I recommend on weapons but also a peek behind the curtain into my brain. To set you off right, I LOVE high handling weapons, if I could have Ophidians or Dragon’s Shadow on my Titan, I might never take them off. Any way I can bump up handling on my weapons is always going to be my forefront choice, that’s why a lot of the time I recommend Fluted Barrel, Fastdraw HCS, or QuickDot SAS. The faster the animation the better.
With all that being said, let me get into the meat and potatoes of this breakdown of my breakdowns.

Primary Ammo

Auto Rifles:
Auto rifles need some stability and a good recoil direction to make them work. Any base recoil direction less than 70 needs Arrowhead Brake, and even above that it might be necessary. It depends also on what magazine perks the auto rifle gets. Ricochet Rounds is the best as it marginally increases range while heavily increasing stability. Steady Rounds almost never gets recommended as it lowers the next best stat being range.
In terms of perks a lot of the time it will either be consistency for PvP or damage + reload perks for PvE. Reload perks come in all forms; Surplus, Threat Detector, Outlaw, and Overflow are easy choices. Ambitious Assassin and even Envious Assassin are also great choices depending on how you use this auto. They pseudo-bypass reload by giving you a bigger base mag each time the perk activates. They fall under Overflow because with Overflow you will never see your reload animation but get all the benefits.
In terms of damage perks all of them work perfectly. Golden Tricorn is the best overall and will be for most weapons as it has the highest damage increase and stacks with surge mods. As long as you keep the same element you will be golden.
For PvP there are few choices. Consistency perks like Tap the Trigger, Dynamic Sway Reduction, Zen Moment, and even Threat Detector are fantastic for keeping bullets on target. Autos need your full dedication to the engagement to kill and keeping your bullets on their head is the only way to succeed. There are “Win More” perks like Kill Clip that allow you to slay past that first engagement, but most autos I recommend will have full consistency unless there isn’t a consistency perk in the stereotypical “damage” column.
Combat Bows:
Bows were a fantastic addition to the game and provide a nice balance between scouts and snipers. Harder hitting than a scout but less damage than a sniper. Primary ammo over a sniper, but less damage per second (or shots per second) than a scout. Very cool choice. Most of the time I will recommend dropping draw time as low as possible and bringing up accuracy after the fact. This will make the damage per second go up a bit as you can fire more shots and keep your “range” and feeling sticky the further away the enemies are.
There aren’t a wide variety of perks to choose from on bows. Crowd control perks and reload perks are the only things. There are a few choice perks for builds specifically. Wellspring, Demolitionist, and Pugilist are great for specific builds or general ability uptime. However, I will, more often than not, recommend Archer’s Tempo or Rapid Hit over them. Bringing up the base reload speed and draw time means you won’t have to invest as heavily into dropping draw time, though the two do help together.
In the final column going with your damage perks or crowd control perks are the best. Headstone, Dragonfly, Explosive Head, or Frenzy. All of them work to clear rooms faster. This comes mostly down to player preference and what build you will ultimately use.
Bows in PvP have two main play styles, swap (blinting) or laning. With either Opening Shot is the best in slot whenever it is available. It allows you to almost always get a crit which will be helpful in either play style. With the swap builds you could also opt for Explosive Head for some added flinch, but you definitely want Quickdraw or Moving Target for added Flexibility. For a more laning approach I would always recommend Rapid Hit for a faster draw time after you get that first crit with Opening Shot.
Hand Cannons:
Well these are certainly my favorite weapons in the game. They really don’t feel good in higher end PvE. Shame. For the most part I look for a decent mix of stability, range, and handling. In that order. If the weapon has decent stats for each of those that aren’t way out of band I usually default to handling. Range does help in PvE but it can be mitigated through Explosive Payload or Timed Payload. You also can pseudo-break range with higher damage. Hand cannons experience a hard damage drop off, so investing into range isn’t a terrible choice either.
For the first column usually a reload perk resides here. Ensemble, Outlaw, Rapid Hit, Surplus, etc. Almost all hand cannons follow in the footsteps of Midnight Coup for PvE. Outlaw and Rampage was a beast in year 1, and while it still works in year 5 it isn’t as versatile. Headstone has replaced most damage perks for me, though there are some good alternatives like Frenzy and Thresh.
In PvP there are only really a few choice perks to look for. Even after the Rangefinder nerf it will still be a very sought after perk. Eye of the Storm is S tier on everything it rolls on, so are Opening Shot and Rapid Hit. Snapshot, Zen Moment, and Moving Target are great supplemental perks. Explosive Payload and Timed Payload might become more sought after if you want to consistently win your 1v1s.
Pulse Rifles:
The most important stat on pulse rifles is the recoil direction. Anything less than 100 should be dismantled immediately. That makes Arrowhead Brake almost a requirement on all pulses. Depending on the pulse and more specifically its archetype will determine what magazine perk is best. If the magazine is less than 30 I would usually go for Appended Mag or Tactical Mag. If the pulse has low reload I will often recommend Flared Magwell as an alternative or best in slot. It also bumps up the stability which definitely helps with a good recoil direction.
Almost all perks within the reload and damage column work here and will be great to maximize your pulses utility. Golden Tricorn is best when applicable. But I have been enjoying Void with Repulsor Brace for a small overshield in the legendary campaign. Being able to keep up a small overshield almost all the time is incredibly helpful in all activities you feel squishy in.
In PvP most of the above applies that recoil direction and stability are important. Range isn’t as important depending on the archetype You might even be able to go for Steady Rounds if you wanted more stability and aren’t utilizing all the range pulses get. I would recommend anything that helps you secure bursts on target, Moving Target, Heating Up, Rapid Hit all come to mind as they each help your burst patterns. Firmly Planted is an incredible shout out too if you slide into engagements or hold lanes instead. Lots of consistency perks. There are a few archetypes that are able to two-burst with a little help from damage, or that damage makes the bursts you need to kill more forgiving. Each of those are great ways to utilize damage perks; not all the time are they necessary in PvP.
Scout Rifles:
Scout rifles are most people’s first weapon type. They help you stay safe and far back while still doing respectable damage. I know I used them, and they still hold up in higher tiered content. High recoil direction is important but not necessary. None of the stats really do a lot on scouts until you get down into the faster firing scouts in which case you’ll want stability to keep shots on target. I always look for consistency perks over damage perks because the rise and fall of damage really shifts gameplay in higher level content. In GMs you’re not always running around with max stacks of damage so something neutral like Explosive Payload will pull way more weight.
In PvP scouts fall into a weird hot and cold. They are either the top of the meta or bottom. Scouts cater to a passive play style so depending on how games go they are either the best thing or you’ll get rolled for being too passive. Damage perks are great for streaks, and consistency perks are plenty. Depending on the archetype I might opt for one damage perk over another to push down the TtK but overall I tend to mix both damage and reliability perks.
Sidearms:
Sidearms are super interesting. Outside of exotic sidearms you don’t see too many people using them aside from niche builds or players looking at a shiny new toy. Range is what makes sidearms even remotely useful in this sandbox as you don’t want to use a sidearm that literally any other weapon could do the same job. Swords could even be better than sidearms sometimes. Pushing out the range as far as it can go, and pumping the sidearm full of damage will give you some great results but will be very hard to take into higher level content. Rat Pack go back in your dens, that is not a sidearm.
In PvP sidearms live and die by their range. Similar to PvE they need to compete outside of melee range. Shotguns will eat them up and fusions will turn them into space air. I find that the best sidearm users make effective use of their space and by manipulating sight lines. If you can control a small space effectively you can use sidearms, otherwise any other primary weapon might be better.
Submachine Guns:
Submachine guns in PvE are great weapons for being aggressive and spraying down enemies. While auto rifles do this job excellently, submachine guns are just smaller and faster versions. They make you feel agile running and gunning while doing great dps but less good sustained damage. They might be great against rank-and-file enemies but won’t scale up with their low magazine, high RPM, and medium damage. In order to make these weapons strong you will want to look for a way to circumvent the reload entirely or speed it up so it feels non-existent. That way you’ll be able to output incredible damage while still being able to weave in and out of cover.
In PvP SMGs will always have a place. They exist as shotgun deterrents and act as breaching tools. They can spray down targets faster than auto rifles while keeping your mobility up. Technically no weapon lowers your native speed, but SMGs with their high RPM allow you to hit your TtK fast in a way that auto rifles cannot. With damage perks they can really reach into auto rifle range, but those few are usually outliers. SMGs exist alongside hand cannons for fast paced, aggressive game play

Special Ammo

Fusion Rifles:
Fusions in PvE are either hit or miss. The charge time is a weird mechanic to get behind at first, and can cause some frustration compared to other special weapons. I always try to maximize the recoil direction to land all my bolts, and then try to stack damage after the fact. There are few perks I look for in order to really create a PvE fusion. Other things to look for are magazine replenishing perks. Subsistence, or Reconstruction. In terms of magazine I either opt for Accelerated Coils for more damage per second, or a larger mag. Oftentimes the extra damage per bolt from Liquid Coils is beaten by Accelerated Coils shooting a whole other burst.
Fusions in PvP are all about consistency. Sure you can find a few rolls that offer kill chaining potential. The biggest threat that came from the fusion community was the Xur Main Ingredient that offered only consistency perks. Under Pressure adds aim assist and stability. Tap the Trigger works on every burst. Firmly Planted works in a slide and pairs well with Kickstart. Rangefinder bumps out the stability and pushes out the zoom for deep one-bursts.
Glaives:
Glaives are interesting, they take out your charged melee, and offer both protection and a fusion rifle-lite experience. The damage protection and resistance is perfect for higher level content, but pushing out the range means your shot is more likely to connect. Depending on the roll you might want to bump one or the other. Impulse Amplifier is the real kicker so that will help with range and projectile speed, so bringing up their shield duration will keep you alive.
In PvP I don’t feel personally well equipped to speak upon. Every time I try to use them myself I get absolutely bodied. There are some quirky builds like a one-shot glaive or blinting with them, but I cannot use them to save my life and try to remain as neutral as possible when giving roll recommendations. I can see how to use them, my body just doesn’t input the right Konami code to win in PvP.
Grenade Launchers:
Grenade Launchers are great for chip damage and setting up for other weapons. Disruption Break is legendary tier on grenade launchers and I always look for it to boost not only your weapon damage but your teams. Debuffing an enemy so that all kinetic damage deals an additional 50% damage is incredible. I always try to maximize blast radius and velocity at the same time. Reload and handling are also incredibly useful as you will be swapping weapons often or reloading your single shot to become a double shot when applicable.
Grenade Launchers in PvP are as good as the other weapon attached to them. They live and die by how good their pairings are. Fighting Lion is the best as it can pair with anything and make things work. Special grenade launchers have a harder time because of the ammo economy. You’re almost always stuck with a primary ammo weapon and only sometimes is that a good thing. It can set up sweeps and kill chaining, but it can also mean your GL shot bounces thirteen times and blows up in your face and not theirs.
Shotguns:
Shotguns are the leading example of a DPS weapon. They shoot things good dead quick. They do high damage at the cost of range. Even the rapid-fire frames have great damage because they shoot so fast. Anything to boost that damage is worthwhile. Surrounded, Trench Barrel, and my favorite One-Two Punch. You are close enough to melee so throwing one or two in there will enhance your shotgun, or your melee. Kinda cool right? I also love seeing things like Grave Robber and Auto-Loading Holster on shotguns as they are one of the few weapons that reload each bullet one at a time. This can be both great and awful at the same time.
In PvP right now we are at a weird divide. You want to bump up your handling as high as you can, and bump up your range as high as you can. Preferably in that order. Things that enhance your animation speed or your handling are greatly preferred. Surplus is great if you keep your abilities but the gold standard right now is Threat Detector. This applies an animation scalar based on the number of enemies around you. Even at 1x it is incredibly strong and hopefully you won’t find yourself where 2x is active because you might be dead.
Sniper Rifles:
Sniper rifles serve one of two purposes. Add clear or DPS weapon. There is no inbetween. There are a handful of snipers that can bridge both but typically don’t particularly excel at either. A jack of all trades, master of none. DPS snipers are hallmarked by some sort of damage bonus natively like Firing Line, High-Impact Reserves, or Focused Fury. Alongside a magazine enhancing perk like Fourth Time’s the Charm, Triple Tap, Rewind Rounds, or Reconstruction. Anything to limit reloading by shooting. Add clear weapons have perks that are great at AoE such as Incandescent, Firefly, or Voltshot.
Snipers are not as meta in PvP but are the strongest weapon in the game. A one-shot from any range at any time without a charge up. They can be used as a shotgun, a follow up, an opening kill, set up, and many more things. They are great at doing high damage from anywhere, and most Destiny maps are not made to see sniper’s damage drop off they will maintain that high damage throughout the map. Snapshot is a must have for some users, other users like high handling. Opening shot is incredible for adding range and aim assist for some bullet bending capabilities.
Trace Rifles:
Trace rifles are beefed up auto rifles. Anything auto rifles can do, traces do better at the cost of special ammo. Without it, you’ll feel like you’re missing a weapon entirely, but with it you’ll wonder why autos and SMGs exist.
In PvP there is a similar handicap where you live and die by the special ammo you do or don’t have.

Heavy Ammo

Grenade Launchers:
Grenade launchers in your heavy slot are primarily used for damaging bosses but have small niches where they can be used for add clear. They don’t have the best damage but they make up for it in continuous damage. Being able to fire repeatedly and quickly for high burst damage makes them good for short damage phases and champions.
In PvP think of a rocket launcher, now cut it in half. That’s what you want in a heavy grenade launcher. A quick firing easy kill that you can run around with.
Linear Fusion Rifles:
Very few times are you using a linear fusion rifle on a red bar enemy, and far less often are you using it to clear rooms. Linear fusion rifles excel in high damage per shot and as such you want to make it easy to hit crits for getting the most per shot. Arrowhead Brake or Fluted Barrel will make it easier to swap to this weapon when it is time for damage, while specifically the former will be best for lining up shot after shot. I prefer faster firing fusions too so Accelerated Coils and a charge time MW would be best DPS. You do lose some impact but you will be able to make up for that loss in impact in more shots fired.
In terms of first trait you’ll want either Field Prep or Triple Tap / Fourth Time’s the Charm. While the latter doesn’t roll on any linear fusion, yet, it will still be a great perk to look out for.
Linear fusions in PvP should have the fastest charge you can obtain while giving you the highest range possible. The idea is to have less of a fusion rifle and more of a sniper with a charge time.
Machine Guns:
Machine guns are the kings at clearing rooms. Either through AoE perks like Dragonfly or Incandescent or through pure damage like Rampage, or Killing Tally. I like perks that either keep the ammo in the magazine or make it so I never have to reload my machine gun. Auto-Loading Holster is perfect, but Subsistence and Reconstruction are fantastic too. Mag boosting perks like Appended Mag and Extended Mag also keep my shooting going.
In PvP Machine Guns are pretty niche. They used to be incredibly strong and they still are but the time to kill has gone down with more grenade launchers and it's been getting harder to hit enemies with abilities that cause them to zoom around the map or change directions on a dime. Consistency perks are the name of the game as I don’t think kill chaining will be as strong anymore.
Rocket Launchers:
Rockets are both the Gold Standard for damage as well as the bar. If you can beat rockets in terms of DPS either for an encounter or boss, you’re on a good track. These weapons do insane single shot damage only lessened by the fact they cannot do precision damage. If a special weapon beats out a rocket for damage, we are in for a wild meta. Rockets need two things in order to succeed. A damage boosting perk and a reload perk. Which feels like I am saying this often. The downfall of rocket launchers is the fact you cannot shoot more than three at a time and even that is under specific use cases. Rockets would be incredibly strong if you could still stack multiple rockets into one tube to keep firing.
In PvP Rockets will obliterate almost anything so your goal is to get splash kills either via Chain Reaction or Cluster Bomb for multikills, they are often fire-and-forget weapons that don’t need a lot to succeed. Just fire in the general direction of an enemy and hope it kills.
Swords:
For the most part these weapons are the easiest to choose, you will want high Impact, decent guard depending on what the weapon tries to enforce. A shorter Charge Rate is better for damage, and a better Guard Resistance is better for add clearing or general use. If you have a zoom sword with Valiant Charge you will want decent Guard Resistance to stop damage from coming through. On a different zoom sword with Eager Edge you will want high ammo capacity for as many zooms as possible.

First
Capes and Conundrums
Pavel stretches in the stillness. The tapping of the keyboard and swearing under the breath makes Pavel consider his new partner a bit. Silicon Blake has an interesting background. Pavel made a point of looking into it. The man was... genetically human, currently. But he had been born of a brain scan of a Tret man. Sionis Blake. The man’s father. Legally.
Silicon had made the jump from a fully synthetic body to a human clone body with dataports about two weeks ago. Freshly after his training as an Undaunted. Legally he was considered to still be both a Tret and a synthetic. But for all practical purposes, he was a human cyborg.
One who wasn’t used to the sheer requirements of his body. Pavel suspected a good chunk of his bad attitude was the fact the man was only eating once a day and only small portions.
The morning shift started shortly after breakfast and went right to lunch. So when Pavel went for lunch, he went alone at first before doubling back.
“Hey, we’re supposed to be together. Like it or not you’re coming with me to the mess hall.” Pavel says and the man groans in frustration and closes his computer.
“Fine, but I’m taking my damn work with me.” Silicon states as he stands.
“Fair enough.” Pavel states and the walk goes in silence. There’s a small, out of the way table near the edge of things and Silicon starts working again, only to be interrupted when Pavel comes back with two trays. “You’re not eating enough.”
“What? The hell is going on?” Silicon demands as Pavel forces him to take the laptop off the table and puts a tray full of food down in front of him.
“I looked up your medical profile...”
“Why?”
“Because humans can eat what other beings consider biohazards, and if we were going to have forced contact I didn’t want to accidentally kill you with onion breath. Which is something that can make a Feli very sick and cause a standard Tret to vomit.” Pavel explains.
“Okay...”
“However, I noted that you volunteered for the Endurance Program. An initiative to give other races more staying power akin to humans.”
“Yes, and it’s worked very well. I’ve nearly doubled my productivity.” Silicon says and Pavel nods.
“It did, however, you’re not feeding yourself enough. Your breakfast is big enough, for a breakfast. You need Lunch and Dinner too.”
“What?” Silicon demands.
“To put it in mechanical terms, you’re operating on emergency power. This cripples many major systems. You need to fuel up more consistently.” Pavel states before pointing to the loaded plate. “What I grabbed you is called a ham and cheese sandwich. To it’s side is kettle chips with sea salt, opposite is a garden salad and the cup of brown substance is a dessert called chocolate pudding. It’s a small lunch, but a decent one. Consider this the minimal intake.”
He then pulls out a pair of large water bottles and places them on the table. “You also need to hydrate more. Water is converted into the lubricant of your physicality and without it the whole system will fail.”
As Pavel had been speaking Silicon had pulled out a bioscanner and gone over everything before pausing on the salad. “Why is there an acid here?”
“You’ve got stronger stuff in your stomach. Turn that scanner on yourself.” Pavel says dismissively as he grabs his larger and much more loaded sandwich off his own plate. Three types of meat, hot mustard, lettuce of some kind and tomato with swiss cheese. Good stuff.
“Look, if this is some kind of ill conceived peace offering...”
“Peace nothing, you’re hangry half the time. Humans get aggressive in times of desperation. Basic instinct. You have that instinct now so even if you aren’t consciously looking for a fight, you’re ready to haul off on someone because you need food.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Now eat for god’s sake.”
“I’ve had breakfast. Two of those pancakes, a fruit cup and a glass of water. That’s plenty.”
“Nowhere near enough for breakfast. Let alone breakfast for someone in a high stress job. Besides, breakfast in only one of three meals.” Pavel counters and Silicon glares at him. “Seriously eat, it will help.”
Silicon gives him an odd look before grabbing his sandwich and taking a bite out of it. Pavel concentrates on eating his own much larger meal and he finishes within ten minutes. The spice in the mustard forced him to slow a little and he sits back to watch as Silicon goes at the pudding cup. For what the man claimed of not needing the food he outright inhaled it.
“So?” Pavel asks as Silicon finishes up taking a swig of his water. “Feel better?”
“... yes.” Silicon admits with his eyes screwed shut in frustration. “... I just thought it was Apex aggression not...”
“Hunger and desperation? You need thousands of calories a day. Also, don’t forget to use the bathroom when you need it. Our digestive tracts are powerful but not perfect. You will need to let it out.”
“really? You’re telling me to excrete? How simple do you think I am?” Silicon asks tartly.
“I think that you’re used to living in a body that required only energy and only have memories of a body that needed very little in the form of physical nourishment. So I’m not making any assumptions and telling you everything.” Pavel says as he finishes off his own water. “Now, I’ve got something to do. Our lunch break ends in a half hour and I’ll see you back at the test chamber for the remainder of that shift. Then we’re moving onto mine. I hope you’re ready to play spotter.”
“Oh goody. Using chemically propelled murder tools to NOT actually kill.”
“You have a problem with your orders?” Pavel asks him and he sighs.
“No. I’ll see you in a half hour.” Silicon says and Pavel nods before taking his own tray, then grabbing Silicon’s depleted one and taking them both out. “... Damnit, I hadn’t thought that humans would require so much damn food. I’m pulling in Axiom to feed, so why aren’t I being sustained?”
•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•×•
And it was back to the programming. Silicon was working faster and actually humming to himself a bit so that seemed alright. But not ideal. Pavel was really starting to get bored though. After yesterday’s test of things the drones had not been reactivated as Silicon seemed to be of the belief that things were a purely programming issue. If they were great, the problem is that there was no way of telling if things were just a programming issue or something mechanical.
Pavel pulls out his communicator and brings up the specs of the drones. They were basic, off the shelf prosthetic bodies designed to be piloted by a person, but a program in it’s place instead. They had been reinforced and upgraded a few times, but none of it seemed too egregious.
Similar codes and programming had been used in travelling shows and other such bits of entertainment to serve in the role that a minimum wage worker would slowly have their soul worn away doing. The repetitive, thankless tasks that need to be done over and over and over again.
Providing a low level opponent to be beaten in a fistfight or outsmarted by someone sneaking around shouldn’t be too hard. A videogame AI could get the behaviours down and then it was controlling the body.
Which was where Silicon and several other people were stuck. There was something wrong with their sense of balance and often they struggled to stay standing at all. All of them. Despite the code.
“If it was a gun I’d be checking it for cracks.” Pavel mutters to himself.
“What was that?” Silicon asks looking up from his laptop.
“All the drones are failing in the same way. You think it’s coding but... if it was a gun I’d be checking for structural damage.”
“These aren’t guns.”
“But both are machines. I think the hardware should be tested a bit. The coding has a lot of eyes on it. But the hardware?’
“The hardware was bought from a reputable source and passed their safety inspections.”
“Safety means that my necklace breaks if someone tries to strangle me with it.” Pavel says and Silicon pauses and looks up at him. Opens his mouth to say something then reconsiders and giving the nearest drone a look.
“Grab a toolkit. We’re taking it apart.” He says as he closes the laptop.
It takes five minutes to carefully take apart the chest of the drone and start examining the internal components.
“Here. These little gyroscopes are all over the place in the drone to give it a kinesthetic location sense. If you’re mentally linked to it then you can feel the direction of down from both gravity and the internal scope.” Silicon explains and Pavel gives one a tap. It does not move. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“Is this jammed?” Pavel asks as he pokes it again before reaching in with his fingers and feels... “There are metal filings in here. A dirty production line?”
When he removes his finger from thy gyroscope it moves easily in response. He brushes out a few shavings and Silicon is muttering something foul under his breath as he tests the other gyroscopes. One in every five of them are jammed in someway and after they clear out the chest they put the plating back on and move to the other limbs.
The pattern holds. One stuck internal gyroscope in every batch of five. It takes a full hour to clean out them all and give the internals of the drone some extra cleaning. It’s sealed back up again and Pavel is tightening the last screw as Silicon is tapping away at his laptop again.
“Okay! Take a step back. Let’s see if that helped.”
“If nothing else it’ll fail faster with it knowing which way to fall.” Pavel notes as he steps away and the drone activates. It sits upright the same as it could before and then turns over and stands upright. There was markedly less wobble this time and Silicon sends a command. It snaps it’s arms out and begins to turn.”
“Hey! That did it... shit. We need to clean out all the drones.” Silicon curses.
“We report this in and get fifty other guys to help, this is not a two man mission.” Pavel says wryly. “Not to mention the quartermaster is going to be looking to kill someone for having shit product forced on us. They do not take this shit lying down.”
“The sale’s rep will either be looking for a new job or finding a new fetish by the time those monsters are done with her.” Silicon notes. “Hey, think you’re ready to test it for fighting ability?”
“Sure thing.” Pavel says closing up the toolbox and then sliding it away with a foot. “Send it.”
“Alright, let’s test it’s tracking and offence. I need to dodge the attacks and move around the drone. Get it to follow you.” Silicon says sending the command and the Drone suddenly snaps it’s head towards Pavel and then turns as one. “That was a little stiff, I’m going to have to iron things out a little...”
The drone opens with an attempted haymaker and Pavel hops to the side and keeps going until he’s standing behind the drone. It follows him the whole time and then tries a cross. He fades back and takes a few steps away and it keeps pace as best it can.
As the drone goes for a grab he uses Axiom to leap clean over it and land on the other side then weaves to the side to avoid the snap kick as the logic tree self updates and the drone gets a fraction better at fighting.
“There we go! Living code! Finally!” Silicon cheers! “Start deflecting it’s attacks. Block and parry, I need to see how it responds to that.”
“Sure thing.” Pavel says and he swats away the next attempted haymaker.
“Interesting, okay, it’s correlating with that code chunk...” Silicon says as Pavel blocks two jabs boxer style and prevents it from grabbing onto him. “Hey that’s weird! Can you hit it back? Don’t break it or nothing, but see how it responds...”
“This good?” Pavel asks as he palm thrusts it in the middle of the chest and Silicon lets out a confused sound. The drone stumbles back in response to the light blow and regains it balance.
“Well how the hell did that happen? Do it again!” Silicon says as he squints at his screen.
Pavel rushes the drone and then gives it another, slightly firmer, smack in the middle of the chest. Silicon swears under his breath.
“This is weird! Alright, I’m deactivating the drone. Can you drop it off in it’s charging port?”
“Easy enough.” Pavel says as he catches the suddenly powered off robot and hefts it over his shoulder. It slots into it’s place easily and he walks over to where Silicon is squinting at the screen. “So what’s it look like?”
“There was a weird bit of...” Silicon says before looking up at Pavel. “Right, okay, basically every step of the program is like a huge tree right? You start at the tip and by evaluating a situation you go down one of the branches. Basically it’s like a plan flowchart, is this happening? If yes, go this way, if no then go down to the next question. A computer’s processing speed lets it go through this fast so it can keep up with reality.”
“But only if you’ve got enough questions for all the things that happen.”
“Right, well that’s where the Virtual Intelligence comes in. Where it compares situations and while likely not understanding them, it does know how to mimic them. This is where you get things like chat-bots or a video game enemy that seems to learn. It’s almost learning, but it’s not. Not really. That’s what we’re trying to get to, and we have the start of it.”
“Did something go weird?”
“I’m not sure yet? I think... maybe yes? Maybe no?” Silicon says as he turns the laptop to let Pavel see the lines up on lines of code. “This is literally the drone’s brain here. The thing is about an evolving program is that it can cause itself to bloat. That was the issue I was having yesterday and still today. Although it’s not as big as it was yesterday now that we know there’s hardware problems too. We put a lot of code into making these things balance and now that we’ve solved the problem... how much of that can be taken out and how much has to be left in is going to be the work of weeks.”
“Ah got it.”
“You do?”
“I’m a sniper. I have to focus on not only aiming for the target, but I have to accommodate for the wind drag at different temperatures and humidity levels, particles in the air like ash or dust, the gravity of the world I’m on, the movement of the target and the things around them. To say nothing of the make of the weapon firing the bullet and the make of the bullet itself. It’s very much a science.” Pavel says pulling out his little book and handing it to Silicon.
The formally synthetic man looks through the small black book and sees rows upon rows of calculations without any answers written he lets out a little hum before closing it and handing it back.
“I think I understand. Still. There’s more to do... and not much more time to do it. This shift is about to end.”
“It is. Which means it’s time for you to see all that dread math in motion.”
“Oh no! Not the dread math!” Silicon’s sarcasm could peel paint.
​
First Last

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 39%. (I'm a bot)

Brazilian meatpacker JBS said that its subsidiary BioTech Foods has started construction in Spain on its first commercial-scale plant to produce lab-grown meat, which is set to be completed by mid-2024.
The factory, which JBS says will be the world's largest lab-grown meat plant, should produce more than 1,000 metric tons of cultivated beef per year, JBS said.
"The new BioTech plant puts JBS in a unique position to lead the segment and ride this wave of innovation," said JBS USA's head of value-added business, Eduardo Noronha.
JBS acquired a 51% stake in Spain's BioTech in 2021 in a $100 million deal, with $41 million directed to building the plant, which will be located in San Sebastian.
JBS said BioTech plans to gradually increase its production capacity to meet growing consumer demand, and sees Australia, Brazil, the European Union, Japan, Singapore and the United States as key markets.
BioTech produces its cultured meat from a sample of cells collected from livestock and grown into a tissue, similar to that produced in the animal's body.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: JBS^#1 BioTech^#2 plant^#3 produce^#4 meat^#5
Post found in /worldnews.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

Hello! First time posting in here, looking for some advice on my current weight loss journey. I've tried a few times before in the last several years and always fell off of it, and I thought this time was working but I'm hitting a plateau after not much progress. Let me know if I need to provide more details..
I (29f, 5'5) started around 425 lbs, and began in mid-January this year. I use the Lose It! app for calorie tracking and while I have my off days for sanity, I am generally at or under my calorie limit. The app is set at the highest deficit, which should yield about 2lbs lost a week purely based on the math.
I go to the gym sometimes, but work and life are very busy and it is hard to make the time. When I do go, I stick to a little treadmill and mostly elliptical.
The past few weeks I have been hovering at 390-395, with the lowest being 389 about 3 weeks ago. I realize that there's a lot of little factors that affect weight and cause it to fluctuate. I only weigh in the morning and not every day.
The app has my calorie limit at about 2800 calories, which is a decrease from when I started as it changes with your progress. I have very few days I go over, and most days I am well under, in the 1500-2000 range.
I have all but completely cut out soda and drinks with sugar, sticking to zero sugar energy drinks for my caffeine fix and unsweetened tea or sugar free flavored watedrink mixes. Fast food is a minimum and when I do, I watch the calories. Mostly cooking at home and bringing homemade lunch to work, with dinner being my biggest meal. I tend to have several small low- calorie snacks throughout the day so I don't get as hungry, things like granola bars, apples, fruit snacks, string cheese. Lunch mains are usually simple sandwiches, soup, salads, or the small lunchables. Dinners vary a lot but I am meticulous about the calorie counts when I cook something thats not so simple, usually a meat and bread/pasta/potato side, or low calorie microwave meals if short on time.
All this to say, I feel like I shouldve made some progress in the last 3 weeks but I am stuck around 395ish. Am I doing something wrong? I realize I could exercise more but if I don't have time, shouldn't the calorie deficit be enough with my current weight? I looked at many different website calculators and they all say I need over 3000 a day to maintain my weight.
Any advice would be appreciated!

Hello peoples of the internet, I'm just here asking for your opinions on opening a takeaway restaurant that does custom grilled cheeses, like a subway or five guys but for grilled cheese specifically. This would be with high quality bread and a wide range of cheeses and other fillings. Obviously drinks will be sold and there will be a variety of sides I haven't decided on yet. Now there will be a sit down and eat option but it would primarily be takeaway. I live in the midlands of the uk and was wondering if you peoples think it could become a popular place to eat or atleast won't flopp.
Also !feedback "heres a brief overview of my business idea"

I’m a mid-30’s male, 5’ 10”, 160 lbs.
I feel pretty good overall, but have a few issues that concern me:

1. Dry eye - this started 5 months ago, never had this problem in my life. It’s mainly my left eye and comes and goes.
   
2. Joint pain - my wrists, hands, fingers, and toes will flare up every now and then with pain. I also developed a volar ganglion cyst in my right wrist, but it is small and not painful.
   
3. Had a lipid panel done recently:
   

Cholesterol - 277mg/dL Triglycerides - 61mg/dL HDL - 71mg/dL
Doctor immediately recommend I go on statins without any investigation into my diet or activity level.
DIET
For the past 10 months, a typical day of eating would be 2 eggs, cup of diced potatoes fried in tallow, glass of OJ, glass of milk with maple syrup or honey, 8 oz of beef, some fruit, cheese, another 12-16 oz of meat (beef, chicken, pork, or salmon), cup of rice with grass fed butter, and then another glass of milk with syrup/honey or some ice cream. 1-2 nights a week I’ll eat out and pretty much go off the diet which usually means eating bread and meat cooked in seed oils, maybe some random vegetables, but I stay away from fried foods.
I haven’t had a drink in the past 6 months and before that I had ~6 drinks/week. I don’t use any drugs, take medications, or supplements.
I work out ~4 days/week. Mostly squats, bench press, walking, sled work, and ab work.
I’ve read a little about dry eye and it basically sounds like it could be an autoimmune/allergy thing or a lack of omega 3’s/saturated fat in the diet. I started eat sardines and wild salmon once a week to try to increase omega 3’s about 2 months ago. Seen some improvement, but also could just be the changing of the season (it was worst during the dry winter).
Joint pain is minor, but it’s there and doesn’t seem right to me. Doctor said don’t worry about it. I’ll do ice baths for my hands and feet 3-5 nights a week to help with the pain.
Not very concerned about my cholesterol numbers, but they do seem quite high. I read somewhere that it could be a sign of thyroid problems. Not sure what I could do to improve thyroid health or what I could do to investigate further.
Any ideas are appreciated. Doctor was no help so I’m posting here and related communities to get different perspectives.

I get Hello fresh every week which I know must be a pain to deliver. This was the first time it was delivered to my door instead of the lobby, and I just wanted to give a thank you or shout out to them. Is there a way to do that?