My wife is extremely beautiful and gets a lot of unwanted attention from the opposite sex. I am not a jealous man. Just not who I am. My wife on the other hand is quite a jealous woman. She has a double standard when it comes to members of the opposite sex and the boundaries that we set with them and when I try to speak to her about these boundaries that she keeps crossing she labels as jealousy dismisses what I'm saying and I never get to feel heard and address the actual issue at hand and this has been going on for about 7 years now. My wife is a hair stylist and she works at a beauty salon where they do hair styling and there's an esthetician not really a place that you would think of a guy going to get his haircut I mean all the other girls she works with are old ugly and fat and they don't have any male clients but my wife has a bunch and that was from her time at a different Salon where there was a lot of foot traffic and guys would be walking by and they'd see her and go in and hit on her and get their haircut or whatever and try to get some time with her by getting their haircut so she's got a lot of male clients I'm fine with what's that my issue isn't that she has male clients my issue is the way that she doesn't set clear boundaries with these guys and puts herself into situations that make me uncomfortable and that if the roles were reversed she would lose her fucking shit over. example she has one particular mail client who brings her a bottle of Fireball every time he comes to get her his haircut from her I've caught them when I came to pick her up from work alone in his truck then make some excuse and justifies why it's okay for her to be doing that only to come to find out in the future that that was a lie because she tells me a different lie that goes against that first lie and then a third time I hear the actual truth of it and she still denies that she told me the previous two lies all red flags all causes for the alarm and not coming from a jealous place but coming from a place of why is my wife drinking alone in a truck with another male and then lying to me about it. Another example Oliver clients use the same app to book their appointments and the communicate with her about their appointments and things work related yet there's a whole bunch of male clients that have her personal cell phone that she will text at any hour of day or night and I thought it would be more appropriate if she had them use the same app as everyone else to book their appointments in the communicate with her about work related to things and to do it during business hours not at 12:30 in the morning when they're drunk and flirtatious calling her beautiful and whatever which brings me to another example of when they call her beautiful she is like I said quite beautiful or are flirtatious with her she absolves herself of all responsibility of the way they speak to her because she can't be in control of how someone else talks to her she can't be in control if they call her beautiful or are flirtatious my argument is if she set clear boundaries then they wouldn't be doing those things now my issue with that isn't that they're necessarily calling her beautiful but there's certain things that I share with my wife that I expect to be shared with only me like she expects the same of me if I was sitting there texting a girl at 2:30 12:30 in the morning 10:00 at night anytime of the day for that matter and she was calling me handsome and flirting with me and trying to get me to go to drinks with her and shit like that I couldn't then say to my wife oh she's just a client it's okay you're overreacting you're just being jealous that would never slide yet she expects me to take that spoonful of shit and believe her when she tells me it's honey and take it without protest. Another example is she will be the only one in the building and she'll have a male client it's her last client of the day and no one else is in the salon no one else is in the business building that it's located in and there's no one else in the businesses around where she's at there's no really traffic there at night and so I find that this is an inappropriate situation to put herself in because of the implications of what it tells the man she's touching in an intimate fashion regardless if it's a haircut or not being touched in that sort of way having your head shampooed and massaged by a beautiful woman and and she's talking to you while and like being kind and nice which a lot of guys will misinterpret as flirting and they'll be flirting and she doesn't set a clear boundary because she shows them that like hey I want to be alone with you get Salon with them and then they do things like bring her alcohol to drink with them while he's doing that alone with them and then there's also the aspect of it where it's dangerous because one of these guys might get the wrong idea by getting her alone and having this alone time knowing that there's nobody else around and maybe one of them does something stupid and sexually or physically assaults my wife and there's no one there to help her no one to hear her scream no one to come to her eight or her rescue if she's in distress so that bothers me because it puts her in a dangerous situation and a situation with potential for things to go wrong and a situation that is communicating with these guys the wrong message. So these are the things that she labels as jealousy and absurd and unreasonable requests that she won't even consider and she will not do anything to change because I'm just being jealous these are my my requests of my wife to help me feel better about these things and to stop crossing my boundaries there are as follows one set clear boundaries with your male clients you absolutely can control whether or not they continue to call you beautiful and flirt with you by setting a clear boundary with them by not setting a boundary with them it tells them and gives them the impression that it's okay for them to keep doing that and to push the envelope a little bit more which is ultimately what they all do she says she can't control what other people do and how they treat her and talk to her I disagree and recommend and ask that she sets clear boundaries with these men which she refuses to do second I asked her not to put herself in a situation where she is alone with these male clients for any amount of time if it's professional let's keep it professional and let's show them a clear message not one that can be misinterpreted as oh she's into me she wants me and I can make a move on her I don't want my wife to be put into this dangerous situation or to keep putting herself into these dangerous situations yet she thinks that I'm just being jealous and crazy and irrational and unreasonable another request I had was for her to have her male clients use the same app that all of her other clients have to use when they're booking or communicating with her about their appointments and to stop taking personal texts at all hours of the day and night and to be focused on home life when she's at home and not texting her flirtatious clients instead of engaging with me her husband at home taking away from our time together I feel like it's more professional and it sets a clear boundary also doesn't cross mine yet with all of these requests I am told I'm being crazy irrational I'm being jealous and that she's set a clear boundary because we're all adults and adults know that the boundaries are already set so she doesn't have to set them with them. Am I being jealous am I asking for anything that's unreasonable or crazy or overbearing or controlling like am I in the wrong here by asking my wife to respect my boundaries by settings more obvious and direct boundaries with her clientele that is male and did not put her in self into situations that are compromising and dangerous and not to mention the double standard of the whole thing because if I was to do any one of those things she'd be going through my phone bill calling up the person telling them to get off her husband and making sure that that person was not going to ever contact me again regardless of the nature of the relationship whether it was a friend of a 30 years or a new client it would be met the same hostile jealous aggression and you better believe that it wouldn't slide with her and would expect me to comply with all of her wishes immediately can someone please explain to me if I'm being a jealous irrational crazy psycho manipulative controlling husband who's a narcissist and emotionally abusive or am I being rational reasonable in my requests and are my feelings on the situation Incorrect and wrong and should I go see a therapist and figure out how to be less of a psychopath please share with me what you think about my requests and if I'm being all these crazy things my wife says I'm being or if I'm actually just coming from a good place being a loving husband with reasonable understandable requests and boundaries that I have I can take it either way but I just need to hear it from someone else who isn't screaming at me and who isn't displaying a double standard to me I have no support system outside of my wife and she does not listen when I speak she doesn't show me that she values my opinions my thoughts my feelings but I have to say any of that and so I am reaching out to a public Community because I don't really know girls to turn to to get either validation or support or be educated on how to actually behave properly so I'm turning to you all to help me work through these issues because my wife is not going to be that person to help me through these issues she doesn't give a fuck

I know the title sounds like click bait. But please hear me out. Or don't — the act of writing this down is therapeutic in itself.
This all happened when I was a child. I don't remember all the details but finally want to get it off my chest.
I have some vague but specific memories of odd behaviour between my mum and me from when I was young. I doubt it would be considered full sexual assault, but it might get uncomfortable. So, please stop reading if this is something that may trigger you (and look after yourself and ask for help).
There a few things I remember clearly. This all happened with varying intensity between the ages of around 5 to maybe 10 or 11: 1. french kissing my mum as a child and kissing her neck very intimately on multiple occassions 2. her asking about my erections in front of others 3. me calling her "princess" and "lovey dovey" in private 4. her standing in the shower naked and asking me if she looked fat 5. her lying on top of me in her bed and asking me if she was too heavy 6. having conversations with her about killing my dad and running away with her (not serious conversations, like joking ones).
There may be other things I can't remember, or don't/didn't realise were abnormal.
There are also some things she still does that make me feel icky. Nothing serious, but she calls me "prince" even after I've told her to stop, she phones or texts me while she's drunk to tell me she loves me, and if she's drunk when I see her she clings all over me. She has in the not-too-distant past referred to me as her soulmate. And tells people that she's so grateful to have her gay son because I'll never leave her, even though I live in a different city.
I've never known how to deal with it (or if it needs to be dealt with) because it's not like we had full on sexual contact or anything. A part of me also feels I don't have a right to complain, because if you were to ask my siblings or my dad they'd tell you had the easiest upbringing being her favourite. In fact, my sister has previously (as an adult) raised that I used to make out with mum as a butt of a joke.
Now here's the issue. I suspect (and I promise I'm not trying to make excuses for my own behaviours here!) some of this shit is impacting me currently, because: 1. I am currently struggling addiction 2. I hate being touched and have severe panic attacks in sexual situations (and some pretty twisted sexual kinks) 3. I have trouble maintaining any sort of meaningful relationships, and have intermittently struggled with suicidal thoughts.
The reason I'm here is because I recently got the courage to talk to a therapist about this. Buttt, it went terribly and I don't know if I have the personal reserves to try again right now. But I still want to talk and receive advice.
If anyone has any energy or wisdom to spare, I would appreciate any input. Any advice would be really gratefully received, but especially in a couple of areas:

1. How do I set boundaries with her? I don't want to tell her that I remember these things and I hate her for them, because I know that would destroy her and in turn destroy the family. Further, until very recently I remained very close to her — so it feels like it would seem out of the blue to raise the issue with her now.
   
2. Can someone give me some perspective around how serious these behaviours were? I once attended a group therapy session but chose not to partipate after hearing other people's experiences which were far worse than mine.
   
3. How do I get past my weird sexual shit? I'm lonely, and your boy wants to fuck.
   

I'm 30, if that's relevant. And I'm gay, so horny Redditors who have a mommy kink — good for you, but it does nothing for me.
Thank you Reddit!

Here is the link (Banggood): LAOTIE 60V Electric Scooter Charger For ES19 TI30 ES18P SR10
Current price is $23.99. The lowest price in my database is $29.99.There're already 3 records in DB. Price monitoring since 31.8.2022!
This post may be old (if you're here from Google), so just go here to get currently active coupons (and price alerts :)) for LAOTIE 60V Electric Scooter Charger For ES19 TI30 ES18P SR10: https://couponsfromchina.com/laotie-60v-electric-scooter-charger-es19-ti30-es18p-sr10/
I hope it's useful for you!
I think it's a nice deal with good discount.
https://couponsfromchina.com/
Image: https://i.imgur.com/gtSHLU5.jpeg

I quit collecting videogames ~5 years ago. Now I am slowly selling my entire collection. Looking for payment via Paypal, but also open to crypto or Zelle payments.
Prices at or below pricecharting averages and include shipping to CONUS. Will ship internationally at buyer's expense.
I am not looking to sell items for 50% or less of market pricing. Above that, feel free to make an offer. I am an adult, and perfectly capable of politely saying, "no."
All hardware is unmodified US/NTSC versions unless otherwise specified.

HARDWARE

Nintendo DS Lite (Dark Blue) — $40

• Console Only
• Minor scratching on bottom screen

Magnavox Odyssey² — $150

• Console
• The Voice
• RF/Coaxial adapter
• Console box
• Manuals & ephemera

Playstation 3 Slim — $100

• CECH-3001b Console
• Black Dualshock 3 Controller
• Power Cable

Super Nintendo — $100

• SNS-101 console
• OEM A/V cable
• OEM power adapter
• 1x OEM controller [SNS-005]
• 1x 3rd party controller [Interact Superpad]

Xbox One "Day One Edition" — $150

• Xbox One Console [Black]
• "Day One Edition" Xbox One Controller [Black]
• Xbox Kinect Camera [Unused]
• Power Adapter

GAMES

Dreamcast

• Soul Calibur [Disc Only. Surface scratches. Game plays.] Pics: 1, 2 — $15
• Worms World Party [Disc Only. Surface scratches. Game plays.] Pics: 1, 2 — $12

Nintendo 64

• Glover [Cart Only] Pics: 1, 2 — $10
• WWF War Zone [Cart Only] Pics: 1, 2 — $6

PC

• Fallout 4 — Pip-Boy Edition [CIB. Complete with Pip-Boy] — $80
• South Park: The Stick of Truth [CIB. Complete with Cartman figure and map] — $75

Playstation 3

• Batman: Arkham City — Collector's Edition [CIB. Complete with statue] — $65

Playstation 4

• Mortal Kombat X — Collector's Edition by Coarse [CIB. Complete with statue] — $50

TurboGrafx 16 (Note: These do not include the outer box)

• Davis Cup Tennis [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $30
• Klax [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $35

Wii

• Alice in Wonderland [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $8
• DJ Hero [Game, manual, case, and turntable. No outer box.] — $20
• Epic Mickey [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $5
• Family Fest Presents Movie Games [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $4
• Guitar Hero Metallica [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $35
• Kirby's Return to Dreamland [Sealed] Pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 — $65
• Looney Tunes ACME Arsenal [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $4
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $25
• Wreck-It Ralph [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $5

Wii U

• Assassin's Creed III [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $7.50
• Bayonetta 2 [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $25
• Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $12
• Guitar Hero Live [CIB] — $40
• Hyrule Warriors [Sealed] Pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 — $40
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse [Sealed] Pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 — $75
• Mighty No. 9 [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $10
• Nintendo Land [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $8
• Pokken Tournament [Sealed] Pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 — $30
• Rodea The Sky Soldier w/ bonus [Sealed] Pics: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 — $35
• ZombiU [CIB] Pics: 1, 2, 3 — $6

Xbox 360

• Deathsmiles — Limited Edition [New. No outer shrinkwrap. Sealed Contents] — $60
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim — Collector's Edition [CIB. Complete, including book & dragon statue] — $225

Amiibo

Splatoon

• Inkling Boy [Blue] — $15

Animal Crossing Cards
Cards are in NM condition. Will consider bulk discounts

• [001] Isabelle x1 — $5ea
• [003] DJ KK x4 — $5ea
• [004] Sable x2 — $7.75ea
• [005] Kapp’n x2 — $4ea
• [006] Resetti x1 — $2ea
• [010] Pascal x1 — $8ea
• [014] Luna x2 — $3.5ea
• [015] Tortimer x1 — $4ea
• [016] Lyle x1 — $2ea
• [017] Lottie x2 — $2.75ea
• [019] Fauna x2 — $18ea
• [020] Curt x3 — $1.5ea
• [024] Kyle x1 — $6ea
• [028] Jambette x2 — $2ea
• [029] Rasher x1 — $2.25ea
• [030] Tiffany x5 — $5.25ea
• [031] Sheldon x1 — $1.75ea
• [033] Bill x2 — $4ea
• [034] Kiki x2 — $15ea
• [036] Alli x1 — $2ea
• [037] Kabuki x1 — $10.75ea
• [038] Patty x3 — $2.25ea
• [045] Octavian x2 — $6.5ea
• [046] Winne x5 — $3ea
• [048] Sterling x2 — $3.5ea
• [050] Punchy x2 — $13ea
• [051] Opal x2 — $3ea
• [052] Poppy x2 — $7ea
• [053] Limberg x1 — $1.75ea
• [055] Snake x1 — $3.25ea
• [056] Bangle x6 — $2.75ea
• [057] Phil x1 — $2ea
• [059] Nate x1 — $3ea
• [062] T-Bone x1 — $2ea
• [066] Gruff x2 — $2ea
• [067] Flurry x3 — $8ea
• [071] Yuka x1 — $2.5ea
• [073] Flo x1 — $2.5ea
• [074] Cobb x5 — $2ea
• [078] Roscoe x2 — $1.75ea
• [080] Eugene x1 — $4.75ea
• [081] Eunice x3 — $3.25ea
• [082] Goose x2 — $2.5ea
• [085] Pancetti x1 — $2.75ea
• [086] Chief x1 — $5.25ea
• [087] Bunnie x1 — $5ea
• [089] Diana x1 — $9.75ea
• [090] Axel x2 — $2.25ea
• [091] Muffy x1 — $7ea
• [092] Henry x1 — $5.25ea
• [093] Bertha x1 — $2ea
• [096] Cole x2 — $3ea
• [097] Willow x1 — $6.5ea
• [098] Roald x1 — $9ea
• [099] Molly x2 — $15ea
• [103] Kicks x1 — $2.5ea
• [104] Labelle x2 — $2.25ea
• [105] Copper x1 — $2.25ea
• [106] Booker x1 — $2.5ea
• [109] Porter x2 — $3.25ea
• [110] Leila x1 — $2ea
• [115] Nat x1 — $4ea
• [116] Chip x1 — $2ea
• [117] Jack x2 — $12ea
• [119] Felicity x3 — $4.5ea
• [120] Ozzie x2 — $3.5ea
• [123] Fuchsia x1 — $6ea
• [128] Tom x2 — $2.25ea
• [129] Tipper x1 — $5ea
• [130] Prince x1 — $2ea
• [132] Vladimir x2 — $1.5ea
• [133] Savannah x1 — $3ea
• [134] Kidd x4 — $2ea
• [137] Cookie x1 — $7.75ea
• [139] Blaire x2 — $3.75ea
• [140] Avery x3 — $5.25ea
• [145] Carmen x1 — $2ea
• [148] Whitney x2 — $7.25ea
• [150] Coco x1 — $14.5ea
• [151] Groucho x1 — $1.5ea
• [152] Wendy x1 — $3ea
• [153] Alfonso x1 — $2.5ea
• [154] Rhonda x3 — $1.75ea
• [156] Gabi x1 — $1.5ea
• [159] Zell x2 — $5.75ea
• [162] Mathilda x1 — $2.5ea
• [165] Filbert x2 — $6ea
• [169] Bud x2 — $1.5ea
• [171] Benedict x3 — $1.5ea
• [173] Julian x2 — $13ea
• [174] Bettina x1 — $1.5ea
• [177] Flip x1 — $1.5ea
• [180] Pecan x2 — $2.75ea
• [181] Drake x1 — $2ea
• [182] Alice x2 — $5ea
• [183] Camofrog x1 — $2ea
• [184] Anicotti x1 — $1.5ea
• [186] Charlise x2 — $1.5ea
• [187] Vic x3 — $1.5ea
• [193] Keaton x1 — $2ea
• [194] Gladys x2 — $2.5ea
• [196] Freya x1 — $4.25ea
• [200] Rocket x1 — $1.5ea

Club Nintendo Rewards

• Mario & Friends Pin Badges [2011, Platinum] — $20

European warehouse
Here is the link (Banggood): MEGAWHEELS A6 250W 36V 5.2Ah 9inch Electric Scooter [EU]
Coupon code (apply in the cart!): BG7b49b1
Current price is $395.99. The lowest price in my database is $399.99.There're already 5 records in DB. Price monitoring since 14.3.2023!
Price alerts and current coupons for MEGAWHEELS A6 250W 36V 5.2Ah 9inch Electric Scooter are here https://couponsfromchina.com/megawheels-a6-250w-36v-5-2ah-9inch-electric-scooter-eu/
Enjoy!!!
That is a deal! That is a discount!
https://couponsfromchina.com/
Image: https://i.imgur.com/AcUpaEh.jpeg

hi! i'm looking for my wishlist items to keep or catalogue. i can offer bells in return.
i'm also happy to check whether i have any of your wishlist items, but my catalogue is still pretty small atm, just to temper expectations. (⁠;⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)
the items i'm looking for are:

• bistro table
• book
• bottle crate
• candy machine (yellow)
• cans
• capsule toy machine (blue/green/red/yellow)
• card tower (blue)
• cardboard box (any but plain)
• clothesline
• construction scaffolding
• counter chair (black/dark wood)
• counter table (black/brick/natural)
• crane game
• cruiser bike
• curtain partition
• fence (any but pink)
• fish container
• garbage bin (any but brown)
• garden chair (white)
• garden faucet (concrete/wooden)
• garden table (white)
• handwashing area (grey)
• karaoke system
• metal-and-wood chair
• metal-and-wood table
• plant partition
• poster stand
• projection screen (black)
• retro ice cream case
• retro transportation stop
• retro TV
• rolling cart
• safety barrier (yellow)
• scooter
• shopping cart
• short simple panel
• simple panel
• skateboard (any but pink and purple)
• stacked shoeboxes
• standing electric sign
• standing shop sign
• stepladder (silver or yellow)
• storefront
• torii (vermilion)
• TV with VCR
• upright locker (yellow)
• vertical banner
• wheat field

unless a colour is specified i'm happy with any variations. the bolded ones are the ones i would like the most.
please leave a comment if you have any of these and would be willing to trade. thanks!

I’m not really sure what’s going on. It seems like in the last week my supply has tanked.
I work 3 days a week and pump on those days. On the days I’m nursing all day my son seems fine and not extra hungry or anything. He’s 6 months old and has been taking solids for 3 weeks. He doesn’t eat a lot of solids yet.
I more so notice this on the days I’m pumping. I’ve gone from pumping 6 oz in the morning to 2-3. I get less with each session throughout the day.
My diet hasn’t changed and I’ve already had my cycle return starting last month. I had a dip in supply then but not as bad as now. It almost feels like my pump isn’t working but I get same results with both manual and electric. Any advice?

I chopped the text into two chapters, hers the first, how is it? New word count of 1589.
Waking up, I felt the beginnings of a throbbing headache in my temples as soon as I opened my eyes. My already constantly mood soured further until vinegar. For one It was quite dark, so my eyes had to adjust to the light, yet I could already tell something had gone wrong. Brown-gray splinters littered a black floor and the periphery of my eyes; light and shadows danced in swinging motion, and the unmistakable smell of burnt hair and flesh filled the air. Huffing, I dove into my disoriented memories for answers as I slowly moved my body in small rotations. Legs-check, torso-check, arms-1/2 shit, head? I might have a concussion. Directive: seek semi-immediate medical assistance.
Breathing slowly through my nose, I waited as my vision flickered until it matched the low light. My head now pounded like a mariachi band with a residence notice inside my head. The notice says 'fuck you'. Groaning like an old piece of oak, I wriggled myself on what I now recognized to be the tile floor of my lab, covered in soot. That’s not good. Struggling to take in fresh air as ruffled bits of sawdust filled the air, a sudden wave of nausea hit me like a ton of bricks, and I had to reconsider my prognoses for my torso as I hurled yesterday's lunch into one of the furthest ash piles. What happened?
But that was only the beginning of my misery. As a sharp pain flared and shot through my shoulder, I cursed under my breath as I slowly maneuvered myself from beneath the battered and worn-out wooden cabinets. If I get out of this, I’m going to strangle gramps for buying it. Jagged splinters grated against my flesh, causing me to wince in agony with every inch of movement.
Yet the world would still mock me as Every now and then, my body twitches as residual electrical charge dissipates in small sparks from my mad scientist static hair. So, there was electricity, fire, and perhaps a chemical explosion, which would explain the soot. Did my last test do this? How? However, my scientific curiosity was momentarily forgotten as I grasped a nearby countertop for support, leaving me breathless and trembling.
Breathing laboriously, my eyes wandered over the slightly charred laboratory countertops until they fell on my sister's old-fashioned chicken clock, still ticking away annoyingly with its head bobbing side to side. Despite the gravity of the situation, I couldn't help but let out a peal of laughter along with a few tears.
Suddenly feeling better, I propped myself up and confirmed my suspicions with pained eyes. My once glories lab, filled with years of my work, was reduced to nothing more than ash and cinders. To be honest, it wasn't that grand—just a renovated basement with whatever villain and power tech I could scrounge off the market for cheap, but now all of it was gone! Gripping the counter top till my knuckles turned white, I breathed through my nose again as I prepared to finish sorting through this mess.
Holding my breath, I looked down at myself, taking in the state of my clothes. My left foot was snugly fitted into a scuffed black sneaker, while my right foot was bare, the other shoe missing in action. My jeans were ripped and filled with soot and wood chips, grating on my exposed skin. The gray wife beater I wore was smeared with black soot, running from my belly up to my chest. Wearing over this mess was my generic white lab coat, now in tatters and stained with black and red; one of the sleeves was even missing!
Choking back bile from seeing the ‘crimson’ fluid, I looked down at myself and saw the culmination of my life's work: a partially liquefied forearm—my forearm—dripped like a leaky roof onto the floor with opalescent goo. Emotionally done for the day, my only reaction was mute shock rolling through my stomach as primitive survival instincts warred with new foreign impulses. Tentatively, I mentally and physically poked at my sloughing bicep and cringed in both abject horror and delight as the remains of my arm twitched.
My mind ground to a halt as the world around me collapsed in chaos. Even my own agony and discomfort paled in comparison to the maelstrom of emotions that flooded my being. I had poured years of blood, sweat, and tears into my research, experimentation, and innovation, all to create the perfect environment for my awakening. But as I stared in disbelief at the twitching remnants of my arm, I was struck with the realization that my quest for power had never been about the greater good, as it is for heroes, or about personal glory, as it is for villains. No, my motives were purely self-serving and driven by an all-consuming jealousy. The realization sent a chill down my spine.
Stopping that train of thought, I took a deep breath of the air, recognizing hints of sharp-ozone, acrid-smoke and sterile plates and willed my new instincts to the forefront of my mind's eye. Eager to leave that personal mess for later and explore the rest of my power set with both arms. Holding my stump outstretched I visualized in painful detail regular human anatomy and pushed the thought into the folds of my new instincts. Feeling a reaction my heart pounded with excitement and apprehension the sensation of a sluggish fluid moving from the center of my being. I watched in wonderment and astonishment as my arm began to piece itself back together, with flesh, blood, and bone reconstituting themselves before my very eyes as opalescent goo polled itself from hidden nooks and crannies of soot.
The whole process took less than a minute but felt like hours as my flesh turned from opalescent to white to grey to brown before finally matching my skin tone. Experimentally, I wiggled and flexed my hand and fingers, noticing a slight delay before even that was worked out seconds later. The only proof that my hand was missing was shredded sleeves. Speaking of which, I turned to my blood-soaked shoulder, fighting back my gag reflex as I shimmied my coat off without disturbing the splinters of wood. Exposed, I saw red, angry flesh intermixed with long shards of wood, peppered with splints, and some bits of glass. Wondering for a moment, I remembered the cabinets having glass windows to see inside. Nodding slowly, I silently promised to send that grisly bastard to the closest retirement home as revenge.
Sighing slowly as to not disturb the wound, I held my hand over the spot and thought of turning my shoulder very slowly to goo, just enough to pull out the unwanted bits without my arm falling off. Can it fall off? Would it even matter though? Blinking those thoughts away, I watched with interest as the red became green and truculent like Jell-O, revealing more fragments trapped deeper than what my eyes had seen. Grabbing hold of the larger bits, I almost stabbed myself as the thing came out like it wasn’t an inch deep. I repeated this without the stabbing part until all that was left were the subdermal fragments, walking over to one of the still-standing lab drawers and taking out a pair of tweezers.
Holding them over my shoulder threateningly, I sighed as I lost whatever steam I had, the idea of doing what amounted to self-surgery not meshing well for me. Sitting down on one of the cleaner spots of the lab floor, I propped my head like a famous philosopher and did my most horrid of tasks: future planning.
It felt like hours passed as ideas were thrown left and right, with lazy solutions popping up like weeds. It had only been like 5 minutes at most. Done with my deep thinking, I stood up and began to monologue. Don’t question it; it helps me think better. "First rule of every Super: keep it in your pants until you make it big." I’ve seen too many schoolmates and friends trying to become would-be heroes or villains and falling like dominoes over their own feet trying to get into the gig without any backing or research.
Walking over to the center of the lab I picked up the remnants of the last experiment and bagged them with my coat to be later dispose of it with whatever remained of my research into the incinerator. Not like anyone would appreciate the research as is, as each awakening environment needs to be fine-tuned for each person. Helps to be cautious as said by, “Rule two of every super: trust no one.” The number of backstabbing girl/boy/them friends is staggering, about 1/3 of all failed beginner supers are ratted out for money with another 1/3 for the prestige. “That’s kind of depressing isn’t it?” The question echoed as I finished collecting the rest of my stuff into one of the Jumbo-Mini Flasks. It’s a novelty lab equipment that can grow or shrink based on the amount of fluids inside.
The guy who made them was a size manipulator villain called Sky-Reaper, guy would steal sky scrapers and ringed the owners for insane ransoms. Most supers leaved him be as he had the nasty habit of throwing relativistic missiles when threatened. Terrifying, and that brings me to “Rule number three of every super: Understand what you got before toy start punching bad guys in the face.” Lest you become the pavement that they walk.

Sorry in advance, I have dyslexia and writing this on my phone at work.
I (25f) is struggling with life in general. I come from dysfunctional chaotic family (which has it's own issues), and being the only girl in the family and being the first born (which also comes with a few issues), have been struggling with just taking care as myself as adult. My parents never really gave me moral values, never really prioritizes my health (unless it was my brothers who all mental health issues), and never taught me life skills that will help on the long run. Unfortunately, bullying and violent were the solution to all of my problems. I'm an introvert and due this I didn't really know how to defend myself and it cause my to stonewall and just let things happen around or at me until they stop. Plus I was being bullied at school too and unfortunately didn't really trust the 2 friends I had, so I felt like I couldn't go to them. Unfortunately due to more indepth family issues, it will probably take another post or 2 to explain all the bs I've been through.
Now to the main point, I had a few relationships that have been tough on me especially with the one I'm with now. I had people tell me that I'm stupid, idiot, and just dumb for trying to do things on my own like adult should do. Unfortunately I lack some skills just one, one ever really taught to prioritize and care so I had to learn it to catch up. Due to a lot of ignorance on my part, I would ask my bf (23m) to explain or help, and because of this my bf get mad and starts to escalate because 'I didn't think for myself' and 'doing it your way is dumb'. When it comes to what a discussion looks like between us, it more like him parenting me and me feeling like a bad dog at the end. Yesterday was so confusing cause as he was lecture me about getting certain priorities right, he gotten even more upset that I had emotional face and if I stand there and look at me with no expression then he complained about me 'looking like a deer in headlights'. I try to defend myself, but apparently I was also doing that wrong, it feel like I really can't do anything right, and what sucks it that some of these phrases are repeated overtime and I heard some them from my family and friends/relationship. I know I getting my shit together, slowly but surely, but I don't think it fast enough for him and he uses his 'logic' to tell me what's wrong about me and why it's a fact and my 'logic' doesn't even make sense at all, even if I could explain to him and simplify the issue I had.
Tbh I'm starting to think that I am not meant to be in relationships, and I'm not really good at being adult, I have 4 friends but they are busy with life and don't want to burden to anyone. Thank you for reading this. I know it alot and all over the place but that's how I've been and I starting to think it's a fact.
Btw You can ask questions if it helps. Thank you again.

I have a few questions concerning connecting low voltage wire to fully enclosed gear motors (< 12V) in a Zone 2 environment. The motors are being mounted next to an enclosure that has an exhaust hood removing an atomized solvent. 1. Is RMC required for the low voltage wire or can I use flexible metal or plastic conduit? Is open air acceptable?

1. The motors have DC quick connects on the back - would those need to be sealed or would insulated quick connects be sufficient? Do the backs of the motors where these connections are need to be sealed?
   
2. Does the electrical box that contains the on/off switches and power supply need to be dust or explosion proof?
   

I recognize zone 2 has wiring requirements but wasn't sure if the low voltage had any effect on the process for wiring.
Thanks

Ok so everyone here is 14f and in Year 9 and from an all girls school
About 3 weeks-ish ago, there was a girl (L) in my grade that had doxxed someone, created a fake insta account and posted pics of other people with really like “vulgar” captions as well and bullying another girl calling her names like whale and gas cylinder. Her rep was already bad as it was since she was also openly racist, shittalks everyone and just rude in general. After her little instagram fiasco, her friend group said that they needed space from her and that if she wanted to keep being friends with them, she would have to change.
L just so happened to be in most of classes and regularly sits next to me and 2 other people from my friend group. I think she thought that since we let her sit with us we like her or something but in reality none of us do.
After she started following us and coming to sit with us, we started being dragged. This didn’t explicitly happen in school but outside of school like at tutoring centres that L would go to along with my friends, people would start to avoid my friends because of L’s rep.(Things travel fast in the high school community.)
Honestly, at this we were all done with her and wanted off our backs. I more of a straightforward person BUT since it’s Ramadan I didn’t wanna be too harsh or mean so for like the past week i would vaguely tell her that she should make amends with her old friend group and maybe be more nicer towards ppl. All she got from that was my friend group hates her which is true but she completely missed that point. Then we tried to like help her write apologies and stuff but she would immediately be like “bruh i hate them so much” after sending them. We tried telling her what she did was wrong but it goes straight over her head.
I was sick and tired of it. I didn’t get much sleep last night AND it was raining and cold (the weather i hate most). I go into class, sit down in the two seater next to door with my friend and rest my head on my arms waiting for the teacher. L walks in and sits behind us but she's not even in this class and starts whining about no one likes her and how she doesn’t understand what she did was wrong and that it was a joke.
I didn’t look up from my napping position and straight said “no one likes you cause your a bitch and have no manners or morals.” before snoozing again.
After that, bad candid pics of my friends and I started circulating around the boys school ( they’re next to us with no fence). L has been glaring at us, snatching our stuff (bro really took my earmuff from my ears). The other girls from school have been super nice but L has a group of boys that worship the ground she walks on. If it wasn’t Ramadan I would’ve done something to get her suspended at least but I’m tryna be civil.
I feel like it's my fault for her spreading pics and being harassed by "her" boys, even though my friends thank me for finally getting rid of her.
Plus, our year advisor doesn't do shit.
TL;DR
- L is a girl with a disgusting, annoying rep (she doxxed, cyberbullied, slurred etc). Her old friend group told her she had to be nicer if her wanted to be friends again so she became my friend groups problem. My friend started getting dragged so when she started whining while I was trying to nap I told her to stop being a parasite and the truth so, she went off and sent a bunch of bad (like ugly, bad angle, goofy) pics to the boys school and some of my friends would get harassed on public transport by the boys. Feel like it was my fault that my friends are being harassed and our pics are circulating and I fucked up with being to direct towards someone who will spin your words.

I wonder if you'll understand someday the way I do that...
his dandruff laden, dark brown hair could have been properly maintained with Tresemme products.
his clothes in dire need of a wardrobe replacement could have been purchased at Walmart without going overboard financially...
he could have trimmed his nails...
he could have brushed his teeth and used mouthwash ...
he could have eaten his vegetables and relied less on a diet of meat, Gatorade, coffee, and cigarettes.
he should have taught you how to ride your bike without training wheels...
he should have potty trained you...
he should have taught you to aim properly into the toilet bowl ...
he should have yelled less, and had more patience.
he should have played with you in your room with toys instead of telling you to play by yourself on his game ...
he should have taught you how to fish...
he should have taught you how to work around the yard to earn an allowance...
he could have treated Mommy better...
he could have refrained from emotionally cheating or giving Mommy attention on his own terms...
he could have gotten his act together and Mommy would have married him...
** I wonder if you'll understand someday that...
● your grandfather has an admirable work ethic, but that getting things done to militant standards is not realistic. You should do everything the best way you can.
●your grandfather struggles with an inability to control his environment, his spouse, as well as Mommy; trying to assert dominance over another individual is not healthy whatsoever. It's important you speak up and be assertive, but strive to focus on yourself, always.
● your grandfather routinely picks at Nana's figure/wardrobe choices. His vision of a woman is one who wears rouge, lipstick, pantyhose, heels and dresses. The woman is also slender with 0% body fat and does not drink diet Coke, eat junk food, etc. This is not ideal. Woman have curves.
**
Last but not least, I wonder if someday ...
●you'll realize that I'm not trying to model my behavior off of your Nana. She was forever emotionally unavailable to my needs growing up. She fell into the category of "cold mother syndrome". She thought because she worked herself to the bone that meant me, your aunt, and uncle were okay. Her parenting style could best be attributed to us being left with an around the clock babysitter.
A lot of the time, we were left to fend for ourselves. With no stringent guidelines in place, we basically did whatever we wanted, and that impacted the way we function as adults today.
Your grandfather by blood, was not present to care for us. And if he were to take us over the weekend, again, we could do whatever we wanted.
**
I'm your parent, I'm not your friend. I'm not "mean" because I'm trying to get you to eat . I'm not "ignoring you" when you throw tantrums after me expressing that no, you cannot play on your console or watch TV all night: no, you cannot have anymore cookies or snacks. I'm setting limits. Your continual manipulation and desire to be in charge is never going to happen, bub.
The baby has to sleep in his own crib. He has to learn to self soothe and fall asleep. At 10 months old, he is reliant upon drinking a bottle to fall asleep, or having his back rubbed, or even music. The music, and bottle drinking has to stop. He can get bottle rot . He doesn't need the extra calories. He needs to sleep soundly. I can and will buy you noise canceling headphones, but remember, you too need to get used to sharing a space with your brother.
When I say it's bedtime, I mean it. Don't come back in my room and continue to chat up a storm in order to prolong the inevitable. You need to not push the wood guardrail out in your bunk and say that it just "fell". You need to stop falling down on purpose for negative attention and actually sit properly on the couch.
You're going to start doing your own dishes and cleaning up after yourself. You're going to stop raising your voice at me and respect my authority. If you ask a thousand times, it's still no. You'll lose something you love. You might resent me but you'll grow to learn that Mommy doesn't like you when you misbehave.
The pretending to have seizures has to cease as well. Joking about death is not funny. Eavesdropping on conversations that don't involve you or reading Mommy's journal is an invasion of privacy. You know how to use your indoor voice when it's quiet time. You also know how to read your sight words.
ALSO, your "Gram" loves you very much. She was never prepared to have grandchildren. She didn't think it was wise for your father to reproduce given his mental and substance abuse issues. She wasn't surprised we had you, as she knew your dad didn't use protection. Unfortunately, she will never be the sort of grandma who travels all the way to see you on a routine basis. Even when your birthday neared, she chose to go visit your uncle and his girlfriend. She easily could have arranged to pass through, but she chose not to.
I had a weird dream the other night where I called your gram on Duo. She was visibly unsettled and asked that I refrain from contacting her. Obviously, she would never act that way in real life. But , she doesn't return texts that often nor has she ever asked how you and your brother are doing unless I reach out and initiate the conversation.
She has even missed out on your brother's growth. The last time she saw him was when he was six months old. The first time she saw him was when he was 2 months. I'm not entirely certain she knows how to grandma . She takes a lot of photos with you both when she visits but her interaction with you is limited to playing games on her tablet. Even when she does things, she's more focused on uploading every moment to Fakebook.
So don't take it personally, if she doesn't call regularly or visit. Our trip home in June when we stay at her house will have to suffice. Your brother will be one, you will have graduated kindergarten, and we'll stay at her house. And you'll see our cat. After the trip, the next time she will probably visit is when you're six years and 6 months and your brother is 18 months.
And if I don't fully disclose details pertaining to the why and how behind your dad's demise, it's because you're not emotionally mature enough to process all of it. It doesn't matter how he died. You're not going to really comprehend alcoholism . Your dad even referred to his beers as "grown up drinks " when he was alive.
Also, people like my stepsister that is your step-grandfather's daughter are not used to kids' . She is mentally ill and when she drinks to cope, doesn't always conduct herself in a composed manner. So if you want to chase her with your plastic sword or shoot off your nerf gun, be aware that she has limited patience. She will yell at you. She will grow uneasy. It's more her than you.
As for your little baby bro, try not to stand within hair grabbing range of him. He doesn't mean anything by it, he's too little. Just he patient with him. Show him how to do things.
Above all, I love you to the moon and back, little man.
Always know that.

So, I have owned an Audi e-tron for almost a year now. And during this time I have accumulated a number of impressions.
All this is undoubtedly subjective, of course. But, perhaps, to someone, who chooses a car, it can be useful.
I will begin with the Pros :)
Range.
Despite the fact that the range on this car is not super great, it is enough for me by the eye. With a charge up to 80% (as advised by the manufacturer) written on the display range is 300 km. This is when driving in the city. In reality it is about that. It is possible to drive up to about 50 km.
Outside the city, on the autobahn, the range drops to about 220-230 km, I think. That's at my normal cruising speed of about 130-140 km/h.
I charge at home, I have a 3 phase outlet from the house to the parking lot. Charging (on the power of 5 kW) goes 8-10 hours. This is the charger that comes with the car. It can pull 10kW, but in my particular case, the circuit breaker in the panelboard starts to get hot, so I don't turn it on full power. Either way, the car is fully charged overnight.
On the autobahn, a quick charge (the car supports up to 150kW) from 20 to 100% (when driving long distances, the manufacturer allows charging up to 100%) takes about 30-40 minutes. It turns out, when we go somewhere, we charge every 200 km or so. For someone it is too often. For me and my family - normal, since the kids and the dog, regularly still need to stop. Of course, it would be cool if the range was more, but I (so far) and so do not bother.
Comfort
The car is super comfortable. Especially rented a Tesla model Y for a day to compare. Tesla - squeaky, hard balalaika compared to the Etron.
And now about the things that piss me off, even to the point of "I'll never buy another Audi in my life. The things described below are not so much about the fact that it is an electric car, but about the crookedness, lack of experience in UX, absence of normal testing, absence of lined up processes of software development by Audi engineers.
The Cons
- I live in Berlin, Germany. That is in the country which makes this car and everything inside it. And yet there are navigation glitches that can lead to big problems. For example, in Berlin, in the Staaken area deep in the city limits, the car suddenly begins to think it is outside the city and sets the limit of 100 km/h. It's a half kilometer long section of a city street, I guess. Especially funny when you are driving on autopilot and the car in the middle of town suddenly starts speeding up. Elsewhere, the navigator just took me on the opposite side of a one-way street.
- At first calmly :) - Every time I get in the car and my phone connects to the car in any way, the myAudi app automatically launches. Now with emotion: F**K WHY every time I get in the car, the fucking myAudi app launches. Why the f**k do I need it at this point? Why do the engineers at Audi think they have to make me see their useless app every time I get in the car? And not just when I get in, but also when I plug the USB cable into my phone. Or when I unplug the USB cable. The f**king app still pops up on my phone. And there is NO WAY to disable it! I contacted support, the answer was "log out of your account". Great! But then why do I need the app at all if I sign out of my account and can't see my car data in the app? Then you can delete it altogether.
- As a driver, I stop the car, get out of it (e.g. to open the gate at home. My wife and child are sitting in the car at the same time. As soon as I get out of the car - the car turns off the "ignition" after a very short time, i.e. the ventilation, air conditioning stops working, it starts going into sleep mode. WHY???? Did I tell her to do that? When I get back in the car after 30 seconds, I have to do the "wake up" operations again (press the "ON" button, confirm which user settings to apply for the driver. In addition, while I'm gone, my family is sitting in the car without ventilation and air conditioning). I'll even say more, this kind of crap even if I leave my key in the car! I mean, it senses by the sensor in the seat that the driver has left and triggers the "since you've been gone for 30 seconds, I think I'll turn it off" mode.
- Why does it take 30 seconds to 3 minutes to switch user profiles? What secret complex calculations are going on there, that it takes so long to move seats and mirrors, to turn on the required interface presets?
- Periodically, the car doesn't see one of the keys until you take it out of your pocket. The other key in this case sees fine. Ie all these fancy chips like "swipe a foot under the rear bumper and the trunk will open" does not work. What is this - the door can't be unlocked! Question to Audi engineers: haven't you tested the keys? The UX is so bad, I want to throw this key away.
- When I send a destination from my phone (say, from google maps) to the car for navigation purposes - sometimes it takes 20 seconds, sometimes it takes several minutes. The problem is definitely not the internet connection, since I'm in Berlin and the mobile internet is pretty good here (at least where it happens). And I get different speeds of this point to navigate in the same place (it's my parking space in front of the house). It's a nice feature, and many people could use it - but only if it's reliable. The way it works now (sometimes 20 seconds, sometimes 3 minutes, sometimes not working at all) is so unreliable that I stopped using it.
- The app on my phone very often shows errors related to connecting to the car (i.e. I get "error number 12345" when I try to update my car information in the app) . I would say 25-30% of my attempts to update the car information in the app return "connection" errors. Which is odd - considering that the car is in mobile coverage most of the time. Also, even when I'm sitting in the car and the phone is directly connected to the car with a cable - still the connection seems to go through the servers rather than directly from the phone to the car (whether wired or wireless). It seems unexpectedly odd that this connection takes so long and often doesn't work - it all looks like Audi doesn't want users to actually use the app.
- Audi's driver assistance system has a nice "Lane Keeping Assist" feature. But the way it works is that the car doesn't stay in the middle of the lane, but goes conditionally straight until it "hits" the lane markings in the road, at which point it bounces in the opposite direction, like a ping-pong ball. Then slowly begins to move to the other side of the lane and there it bounces back again. This behavior is so far from what you would expect from "autopilot" (Tesla like lane keeping). And the Tesla does a great job with the same thing.
- And one more thing not related to the car: support. It works like this: you write them an email. After 2-14 days (in my experience) they deign to respond. They will ask some clarifying question. Then in another day, or a week maybe they respond again. You ask them the question again - and it may gurgle into the swamps of the maze of Audi digital services tech support forever. By the way, I've described almost all of the above to tech support. None of the problems were solved. At the most they offered me - "please re-login or reinstall the application, or don't log in at all". Every time it sounds like "there are different people coming here, distracting us from our work. If you don't like it, don't buy our brand anymore". And frankly speaking, I have less and less desire to buy Audi again.
If it were a car for 30К euro money, I would not even have any complaints. But this miracle costs 120K euros!
Whew!

I'm hoping those with more experience can assist in my quest to go solar. I've received quotes from 4 installers so far (waiting on a 5th but they are being pretty slow and unresponsive, so they are probably out on that alone). I've asked for roof and ground mount options from each, since we have a decent chunk of space to work with. Any roof mount system would be 2-4 sections with 2 being south facing and the other possible 2 being E/W.

• We're nearly 100% electric (only non-electric is propane for backup heat when the heat pump + supplemental baseboards can't handle it).
• Annual usage is 22,000 kWh.
• Our utility does net billing so any grid export would be credited at the current generation rate ($0.104 as of this month) and grid import would cost me gen + distribution (distribution is a flat $0.035).
• I'm currently thinking batteries just don't make financial sense, even with net billing vs net metering but I'm trying to get some info from company A (the most responsive so far) on the upcoming Enphase 5P since they are claiming a significant reduction in cost.
• We've added attic insulation and new windows in the last year. New siding + a small amount of exterior insulation is up next. The heat pump is far and away our biggest consumer, currently.
• Company A has offered an addition $1k off if I sign by EOM (unlikely at this point but they offered)
• Company D has been pretty terrible in the communication department, but I’ve been giving them the benefit of the doubt because they are a well regarded small local company recommended by my municipal utility. Their refusal to quote specific equipment has me all but writing them off at this point.

​

	A - Roof 1	A - Roof 2	A - Ground	B - Roof	B - Ground	C - Roof	C - Ground	D - Roof	D - Ground
Price	$59,000.00	$51,000.00	$58,700.00	$45,900.00	$59,119.00	$52,610.00	$54,780.00	$60,690.00	$49,850.00
Array Size (kW)	23.6	20.4	20.0	18.0	17.0	18.4	16.0	20.0	14.4
First Year kWh	26,729	22,928	23,735	23,297	23,181	22,127	21,557	21,000	20,000
$/kW	$2.50	$2.50	$2.94	$2.55	$3.48	$2.86	$3.42	$3.04	$3.46
Panel Maker	Silfab	Silfab	Silfab	Q Cells	Mitrex	SunPower	SunPower	"Tier 1"	"Tier 1"
Panel Model	SIL-400 HC+	SIL-400 HC+	SIL-500 HM	Q.PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10+ 400	M405-L3H	U-400-BLK	U-400-BLK	Unknown	Unknown
Panel Watts	400	400	500	400	405	400	400	Unknown	Unknown
Panel Qty	59	51	40	45	42	46	40	Unknown	Unknown
Inverter Model	IQ8PLUS-72-2-US	IQ8PLUS-72-2-US	SB 7000/5000TL-US-22	IQ8PLUS-72-2-US	IQ8PLUS-72-2-US	IQ7HS	IQ7HS	Unknown	Unknown

Explore This Series
HEALTH
The mRNA Vaccines Are Extraordinary, but Novavax Is Even Better
Persistent hype around mRNA vaccine technology is now distracting us from other ways to end the pandemic.
By Hilda Bastian
📷
Alastair Grant / AP
JUNE 24, 2021
SHARE
SAVED STORIESSAVE
At the end of January, reports that yet another COVID-19 vaccine had succeeded in its clinical trials—this one offering about 70 percent protection—were front-page news in the United States, and occasioned push alerts on millions of phones. But when the Maryland-based biotech firm Novavax announced its latest stunning trial results last week, and an efficacy rate of more than 90 percent even against coronavirus variants, the response from the same media outlets was muted in comparison. The difference, of course, was the timing: With three vaccines already authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the nation is “awash in other shots” already, as the The New York Times put it.
Practically speaking, this is true. If the FDA sees no urgency, the Novavax vaccine might not be available in the U.S. for months, and in the meantime the national supply of other doses exceeds demand. But the asymmetry in coverage also hints at how the hype around the early-bird vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna has distorted perception. Their rapid arrival has been described in this magazine as “the triumph of mRNA”—a brand-new vaccine technology whose “potential stretches far beyond this pandemic.” Other outlets gushed about “a turning point in the long history of vaccines,” one that “changed biotech forever.” It was easy to assume, based on all this reporting, that mRNA vaccines had already proved to be the most effective ones you could get—that they were better, sleeker, even cooler than any other vaccines could ever be.
But the fascination with the newest, shiniest options obscured some basic facts. These two particular mRNA vaccines may have been the first to get results from Phase 3 clinical trials, but that’s because of superior trial management, not secret vaccine sauce. For now, they are harder and more expensive to manufacture and distribute than traditional types of vaccines, and their side effects are more common and more severe. The latest Novavax data confirm that it’s possible to achieve the same efficacy against COVID-19 with a more familiar technology that more people may be inclined to trust. (The mRNA vaccines delivered efficacy rates of 95 and 94 percent against the original coronavirus strain in Phase 3 trials, as compared with 96 percent for Novavax in its first trial, and now 90 percent against a mixture of variants.
Read: The differences between the vaccines matter
Pandemic-vaccine success, as I wrote last year, was never just about the technology. You needed a good vaccine, sure—but to get it out the door quickly, you also had to have a massive clinical-trial operation going, and it had to be situated in places where the virus would be spreading widely at just the right time. Even if your candidate worked amazingly well, if you weren’t testing it in the middle of a huge outbreak, you’d have to wait a very long time for the evidence to build.
The precise timing of these studies mattered a great deal in practice. The Phase 3 clinical trials for Pfizer and Moderna, for example, were up and running in the U.S. by late summer 2020, and so they caught the nation’s giant wave of infections in the fall. By the time Novavax had finished recruiting in the U.S. and Mexico, in February, case rates had been dropping precipitously. This fact alone, independent of any aspect of vaccine technology, did a lot to shape the outcome.
Corporate strategy was another crucial factor. To “win” the vaccine race, a company would need to be able to produce high-quality vaccine doses reliably and quickly, and in vast numbers. It would also need to field the challenges of working with multiple regulatory agencies around the world. And it would need to do all of this at the same time.
BioNTech, the German company that developed the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, could not have accomplished so much, so quickly by itself. Last October, the company’s CEO, Uğur Şahin, told German interviewers that BioNTech had sought out Pfizer for help because of the scale of the clinical-trial program necessary for drug approvals. That strategic partnership, and not simply the “triumph of mRNA,” was what propelled them past the post. (Moderna had the advantage of its partnership with the National Institutes of Health.) Consider this: The BioNTech-Pfizer first-in-human vaccine study appeared on the U.S. government’s registry of clinical trials on April 30, 2020—the same day as the first-in-human vaccine study for Novavax, which would be going it alone. In a parallel universe where Novavax had paired up with, say, Merck, this story could have come out very differently.
In the meantime, the early success of two mRNA vaccines pulled attention away from the slower progress of other candidates based on the same technology. Just two days after last week’s Novavax announcement came the news that an mRNA vaccine developed by the German company CureVac had delivered a weak early efficacy rate in a Phase 3 trial, landing below even the 50 percent minimum level set by the World Health Organization and the FDA. “The results caught scientists by surprise,” The New York Times reported. CureVac is the company that President Donald Trump reportedly tried to lure to the U.S. early in the pandemic, and the one that Elon Musk said he would supply with automated “RNA microfactories” for vaccine production. In the end, none of this mattered. CureVac’s mRNA vaccine just doesn’t seem to be good enough.
The “sobering” struggles of CureVac perfectly illustrate what epidemiologists call “survivor bias”—a tendency to look only at positive examples and draw sweeping conclusions on their basis. When the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines triumphed, The Washington Post suggested that a bet on “speedy but risky” mRNA technology had paid off with a paradigm-shifting breakthrough. Anthony Fauci called the gamble “a spectacular success.” Such analyses usually had less to say about the non-mRNA vaccines that had gotten into clinical trials just as quickly—and about the other mRNA vaccines that were hitting snags along the way.
Now we’ve seen what happened to CureVac, and that some mRNA formulations clearly work much better than others. By one count, nine groups were testing mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in animal studies as of May 2020, and six were expected to be in clinical trials a few months later. By the end of the year, only BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna, and CureVac had reached Phase 3 testing, compared with 13 non-mRNA vaccines. Of the nine mRNA-vaccine candidates that were already testing in animals in mid-2020, just two have proved efficacy at this point, while no fewer than nine vaccines based on more traditional technologies have reached the same mark.
These other, non-mRNA vaccines have been widely used throughout the world—and some could still make an important difference in the U.S. Although the U.S. has plenty of doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines available right now, demand for them has cratered. The Washington Post reports that in 10 states, fewer than 35 percent of American adults have been vaccinated. An international study of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, published in May, found that among the most common online rumors were those alleging particular dangers of mRNA technology—that it leads, for example, to the creation of “genetically modified human beings.” The CDC has also made a point of debunking the circulating falsehood that COVID-19 vaccines can change your DNA. For a time, it looked as though the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would help address this worry. It’s based on a fairly new technology, but not as new as mRNA. However, concerns about tainted doses made at a Baltimore factory and the emergence of a very rare but serious side effect have pretty much dashed that hope. The Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine has reportedly accounted for fewer than 4 percent of doses administered in the country.
Read: Microchipped vaccines, a 15-minute investigation
In this context, the success of the Novavax vaccine should be A1 news. The recent results confirm that it has roughly the same efficacy as the two authorized mRNA vaccines, with the added benefit of being based on an older, more familiar science. The protein-subunit approach used by Novavax was first implemented for the hepatitis B vaccine, which has been used in the U.S. since 1986. The pertussis vaccine, which is required for almost all children in U.S. public schools, is also made this way. Some of those people who have been wary of getting the mRNA vaccines may find Novavax more appealing.
The Novavax vaccine also has a substantially lower rate of side effects than the authorized mRNA vaccines. Last week’s data showed that about 40 percent of people who receive Novavax report fatigue after the second dose, as compared with 65 percent for Moderna and more than 55 percent for Pfizer. Based on the results of Novavax’s first efficacy trial in the U.K., side effects (including but not limited to fatigue) aren’t just less frequent; they’re milder too. That’s a very big deal for people on hourly wages, who already bear a disproportionate risk of getting COVID-19, and who have been less likely to get vaccinated in part because of the risk of losing days of work to post-vaccine fever, pain, or malaise. Side effects are a big barrier for COVID-vaccine acceptance. The CDC reported on Monday that, according to a survey conducted in the spring, only about half of adults under the age of 40 have gotten the vaccine or definitely intend to do so, and that, among the rest, 56 percent say they are concerned about side effects. Lower rates of adverse events are likely to be a bigger issue still for parents, when considering vaccination for their children.
Don’t get me wrong—the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been extraordinary lifesavers in this pandemic, and we may well be heading into a new golden age of vaccine development. (This week, BioNTech started injections in an early trial for an mRNA vaccine for melanoma.) But even the best experts at predicting which drugs are going to be important get things wrong quite a bit, overestimating some treatments and underestimating others. Pharmaceuticals are generally a gamble.
But here’s what we know today, based on information that we have right now: Among several wonderful options, the more old-school vaccine from Novavax combines ease of manufacture with high efficacy and lower side effects. For the moment, it’s the best COVID-19 vaccine we have.
The Atlantic’s COVID-19 coverage is supported by grants from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Hilda Bastian is a scientist, writer, and founding member of the Cochrane Collaboration. She was formerly the editor of the PubMed Health project at the National Library of Medicine.

second update- looks like I should just wait and see how the new incentives are rolled out as I am a single income household with family of four so our income should qualify! https://www.searshomeservices.com/blog/what-is-heehra#:~:text=Implementation%20of%20HEEHRA%20rebates%20is,set%20by%20the%20federal%20government.
​
UPDATE - just did the math. Heating costs for months of OCT 22 - March 23 equaled 1600. 60 dollars on heating oil, 1080 on firewood, and 459 on electric. so the question is, with a 1600 budget for just heating those 6 months, does it make sense to install a few mini splits? would be a lot less work than running wood stove full time during those months.
​
If my electric bill doesn't go up more than 250 a month with mini splits, then to me, this seems like mini splits would be a good choice.
​
​
Here is my usage over past 2 years.https://imgur.com/L5cmTql
In april 22 I found out oil was now 5 bucks a gallon. so I didnt burn, and switched to small heaters - which is why my usage of electric went up. You can also see the month of august 22 was hot, with 3 acs running fulltime.
I currently spend about 1200 on wood for 4 cords. I am thinking that if I only use wood when it's below 20 degrees or so, I might only use 1 cord, and then that 900 in savings could be spent on the cost of running the mini splits during winter - also being less manual labor for me with the firewood.
Same for summer - I dont have to install 3 acs.
I dont know how long I plan to stay living in this house. Maybe 4 years, maybe 20. But my interest rate is 2.99 and I am thinking it might be easier to keep this house as a rental if I have mini splits installed as primary and use my oil heat as secondary? I wouldn't keep this house as a rental if heating required running the wood stove.
I am not sure how to approach this and what else to consider. Any suggestions?

When my daughter was 2, I left her father due to his abuse and alcohol and drug use. When she was 5, I took him to court and he received supervised visitation of her due to some neglectful acts on his part and his alcohol and drug use. She never really asked about him and her I an had a wonderful relationship. She was well provided for and my family loved her dearly and provided summer vacations, horse riding lessons etc. for her. Between the ages of 5 and 16, she only spoke to her father a handful of times. Her father never called her on her birthday, Christmas, no gifts, nothing. When she was 16 he came back into her life and promised her a car and told her he was building a bedroom for her so she could come live with him. That's when the problems between her and I started. Her father was still drinking and doing drugs. The promises he made to her were a bunch of crap. He never bought her a car, never build her a bedroom, nothing. She did visit him a couple of times and his trailer was old and roach infested and, during her visits, I know he spoke badly about me in order to deflect from the awful parent and person he was and the fact he abandoned her. She is now 22 and ever since she was 16, we've had some knock down drag out fights. She's told me she doesn't allow me to be friends with her on social media because she embarrassed I'm her mother, its my fault her father is the way he is, my family is not her family, I will get everything I deserve, she likes her father better because he "understands" her, I'll never be invited to her wedding, and so much more. Almost 2 years ago, I allowed her boyfriend to move in with us because he wanted to attend a 6 month trade certification program. He and his parents had gotten in a fight and he moved out with nowhere to go. Well, the 6 months turned into 1.5 years and all during that time I told him he should talk to his parents about renting one of their rental homes or apartments. He told me his parents did not care about him and would never rent him anything. There were also instances of verbal abuse towards my daughter by him. Sometimes he did it right in front of me. A few instances of fights I overheard that led my daughter to crying and him blaming her for the way he acted. I said something to her about his abuse a couple of times and she told me he doesn't abuse her and to my to mind my own business so I didn't push it. In December of last year he told me his father agreed to rent him a house. I figured my daughter would be moving in with him but that was not the case. He told her he did not want her to move in but maybe she could move in "eventually". He moved out in January and he and my daughter are still together. She spends most of her time at his house but all of her belongings are at my house. Sometimes she will sleep at his house for a week or so, then come to my house and sleeps there for a week or so but goes over to his house all the time still. I recently found out she has told her friends she moved out of my house in January and has not spoken to me "in months". That is not the case. Again, she lives in my home still. She has a decent job with benefits but has been told she cannot move into higher positions because she does not have a college degree. When she graduated high school, she wanted to stay home and go to college so I offered to let her stay rent and bill free while she went to school. She enrolled twice and dropped out both times. All I have ever asked of her is basic respect and I feel she thinks because she's an "adult" she doesn't have to answer to me and can treat me like crap. I also pay for her car insurance and, until a week ago, her cell phone bill. I asked her to get her own cell phone plan because, when she got mad at me, she would block me from her cell phone that I was paying for. I have asked her to find her own place to live but she says she cannot afford it. When she is home, I just do not speak to her. I've tried to speak to her and if I ask her how her day was, I get snapped at. If I ask her, what her plans for the weekend are, she tells me its none of my business. If I open my mouth, I get snapped at so I just don't talk to her anymore. I know she is paying for her boyfriends groceries and some of their dinners out. She is not paying rent to me or providing me any money for bills. Her father is also in jail again and I know she is paying so he can make phone calls and providing him some money so he can buy stuff from the store in jail. I've always brushed our arguments off and have still been there as her mother, taking her out for coffee, dinner, etc. I guess I figured we'd get past all her anger and hatred towards me but I don't think we will. She is 22, this is not teenager stuff anymore. She has never been in trouble with the law and I know she doesn't do drugs. She does drink on occasion but not often. I'm not going to lie, the things she has said to me have been very hurtful and I believed for a long time they were just said in anger and it wasn't how she really felt but I don't believe that anymore. In the past couple of weeks, I have really stepped outside of all of this and realized she just doesn't like me. She uses me for what she can get from me and that's it. I read about other parents experiencing similar issues and they're always told to "keep the door open" and "reach out" every once in awhile to let their child(ren) know they care but I don't ever want to see her again. I don't even want to talk to her again. I have made mistakes. I'm not perfect, none of us are, but I have done nothing to her to receive the amount of hate she has towards me. And I feel guilty for feeling the way I do about her. Mothers aren't supposed to dislike their own children. Should I keep trying or just let go?