Time to Vote in the April 2023 Book of the Month Poll. We had a lot of great nominations so we have 6 choices this time instead of the usual 5. The poll is open until March 27, 2022 11:59PM PDT. The winner will be announced on March 28th. If you are not a member of our Fantasy Goodreads Group, you will need to join. Added advantage of joining? You can connect with more Fantasy members and check out what they are reading! (Stop by the Introduce yourself post to see who is who).
This month's theme is Prologues and Epilogues. Here are our nominees:

Weyward by Emilia Hart

I am a Weyward, and wild inside.
2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret. One that lurks in the bones of the cottage, hidden ever since the witch-hunts of the 17th century.
1619: Altha is awaiting trial for the murder of a local farmer who was stampeded to death by his herd. As a girl, Altha’s mother taught her their magic, a kind not rooted in spell casting but in a deep knowledge of the natural world. But unusual women have always been deemed dangerous, and as the evidence for witchcraft is set out against Altha, she knows it will take all of her powers to maintain her freedom.
1942: As World War II rages, Violet is trapped in her family's grand, crumbling estate. Straitjacketed by societal convention, she longs for the robust education her brother receives––and for her mother, long deceased, who was rumored to have gone mad before her death. The only traces Violet has of her are a locket bearing the initial W and the word weyward scratched into the baseboard of her bedroom.
Weaving together the stories of three extraordinary women across five centuries, Emilia Hart's Weyward is an enthralling novel of female resilience and the transformative power of the natural world.

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley

Two mothers—a suburban housewife and a battle-hardened veteran—struggle to protect those they love in this modern retelling of Beowulf.
From the perspective of those who live in Herot Hall, the suburb is a paradise. Picket fences divide buildings—high and gabled—and the community is entirely self-sustaining. Each house has its own fireplace, each fireplace is fitted with a container of lighter fluid, and outside—in lawns and on playgrounds—wildflowers seed themselves in neat rows. But for those who live surreptitiously along Herot Hall’s periphery, the subdivision is a fortress guarded by an intense network of gates, surveillance cameras, and motion-activated lights.
For Willa, the wife of Roger Herot (heir of Herot Hall), life moves at a charmingly slow pace. She flits between mommy groups, playdates, cocktail hour, and dinner parties, always with her son, Dylan, in tow. Meanwhile, in a cave in the mountains just beyond the limits of Herot Hall lives Gren, short for Grendel, as well as his mother, Dana, a former soldier who gave birth as if by chance. Dana didn’t want Gren, didn’t plan Gren, and doesn’t know how she got Gren, but when she returned from war, there he was. When Gren, unaware of the borders erected to keep him at bay, ventures into Herot Hall and runs off with Dylan, Dana’s and Willa’s worlds collide.

Smiler's Fair by Rebecca Levene

Yron the moon god died, but now he's reborn in the false king's son. His human father wanted to kill him, but his mother sacrificed her life to save him. He'll return one day to claim his birthright. He'll change your life.
He'll change everything.
Smiler's Fair: the great moving carnival where any pleasure can be had, if you're willing to pay the price. They say all paths cross at Smiler's Fair. They say it'll change your life. For five people, Smiler's Fair will change everything.
In a land where unimaginable horror lurks in the shadows, where the very sun and moon are at war, five people - Nethmi, the orphaned daughter of a murdered nobleman, who in desperation commits an act that will haunt her forever. Dae Hyo, the skilled warrior, who discovers that a lifetime of bravery cannot make up for a single mistake. Eric, who follows his heart only to find that love exacts a terrible price. Marvan, the master swordsman, who takes more pleasure from killing than he should. And Krish, the humble goatherd, with a destiny he hardly understands and can never accept - will discover just how much Smiler's Fair changes everything.

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

The Yaga siblings--Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist--have been estranged since childhood, separated both by resentment and by wide miles of American highway. But when they learn that they are to receive a mysterious inheritance, the siblings are reunited--only to discover that their bequest isn't land or money, but something far stranger: a sentient house on chicken legs.
Thistlefoot, as the house is called, has arrived from the Yagas' ancestral home in Russia--but not alone. A sinister figure known only as the Longshadow Man has tracked it to American shores, bearing with him violent secrets from the past: fiery memories that have hidden in Isaac and Bellatine's blood for generations. As the Yaga siblings embark with Thistlefoot on a final cross-country tour of their family's traveling theater show, the Longshadow Man follows in relentless pursuit, seeding destruction in his wake. Ultimately, time, magic, and legacy must collide--erupting in a powerful conflagration to determine who gets to remember the past and craft a new future.

Orconomics by J Zachary Pike

Professional heroes kill and loot deadly monsters every day, but Gorm Ingerson's latest quest will be anything but business as usual.
Making a Killing in Professional Heroics
The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, a world much like our own but with more magic and fewer vowels. Monsters’ hoards are claimed, bought by corporate interests, and sold off to plunder funds long before the beasts are slain. Once the contracts and paperwork are settled, the Heroes’ Guild issues a quest to kill the monster and bring back its treasure for disbursement to shareholders.
Life in The Shadows
Of course, while professional heroics has been a great boon for Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and all the other peoples of light, it's a terrible arrangement for the Shadowkin. Orcs, Goblins, Kobolds, and their ilk must apply for to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers (or NPCs) to avoid being killed and looted by guild heroes. Even after getting their papers, NPCs are treated as second class citizens, driven into the margins of society.
An Insane Quest
Gorm Ingerson, a Dwarven ex-hero with a checkered past, has no idea what he's getting himself into when he stands up for an undocumented Goblin. His act of kindness starts a series of events that ends with Gorm recruited by a prophet of the mad goddess Al'Matra to fulfill a prophecy so crazy that even the Al'Matran temple doesn't believe it.
Money, Magic, and Mayhem
But there’s more to Gorm’s new job than an insane prophecy: powerful corporations and governments, usually indifferent to the affairs of the derelict Al’Matran temple, have shown an unusual interest in the quest. If his party of eccentric misfits can stop fighting each other long enough to recover the Elven Marbles, Gorm might be able to turn a bad deal into a golden opportunity and win back the fame and fortune he lost so long ago.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

In A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of Priory of the Orange Tree and into the lives of four women, showing us a course of events that shaped their world for generations to come.
Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.
To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.
The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.
When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

After the poll is complete, we will ask for a volunteer to lead discussions for the winning book. Head on over to Goodreads to vote in the poll.

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This story needs to be told. Those who have suffered must understand why. It’s not as simple as some have made it to be, which is why it needs to come from the person most responsible… me.
It began when I was least expecting it. But then don’t things always seem to happen that way?
***
“I’m tellin' ya, doc, people just don’t understand,” Frederick said while rocking back and forth in the chair.
“What exactly don’t they understand?” I said, trying to look more relaxed than I felt.
“There’s just something that takes over. You can’t stop it.”
“Impulse control?”
“What’s that mean?” Frederick said, struggling against his straight jacket, trying to get comfortable.
“It means that when you want to do something, you try your hardest not to. It means you try to control or suppress the urge to do things you know are bad.”
Frederick’s mouth lolled open. He narrowed his eyes in confusion.
“Why would I want to do that?”
I suppressed the urge to sigh.
“Because that’s what people do,” I said. “They think about doing bad things, but then they control themselves and don’t do them because those things are wrong and could hurt other people.”
“Hurting people is wrong?” he said.
“Yes, Frederick, hurting people is wrong.”
He shook his head as if he were trying to shake away a fly that was annoying him.
“Why?”
“Why is hurting people wrong?”
“No, why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re saying I’m bad,” he said trying to rise from his chair. “You’re saying I didn’t need to hurt those people. That I’m a bad person.”
I got up from my chair and started backing toward the heavy metal door.
“I’m not bad!” he yelled at me. “You’re bad!”
I knocked on the door and the orderly opened it as Frederick got to his feet.
I slipped through the door as it slammed shut from the impact of his body slamming into it.
“Bad, bad, bad,” he screamed.
“Badbadbadbadbadbadbadbad!”
Spit flew from his mouth landing on the small observation window with metal grates embedded in it.
“You ok, doc,” the orderly said, startling me.
“Yes, I’m fine, thank you.”
I turned and walked down the white hallway, hoping the orderly wouldn’t notice the quickness in my step. I ignored the sound of Frederick beating on the door. I ignored all the sounds I heard. I just wanted to get away.
It was a long walk to my office, through many security gates. At each one, the nurse buzzed me through and gave me an acknowledging look that used to be a smile.
I suppose this place gets to everyone eventually.
I finally reached my office, closed and locked the door behind me, and collapsed into my chair. I breathed out a sigh of relief at reaching relative safety. I turned and looked out my window to the beautiful flowers blooming on the trees in the courtyard. I looked up at the tree stretching toward the sky.
I remember when they planted those.
I turned back to my center, my means of solace, the only thing that mattered in this cruel, unfair world. I picked up the picture of my lovely wife and smiled. She was the one who kept me sane all these years. She kept me seeing the best in people. Or at least trying. Sometimes there was no good to see—especially in my patients.
It takes a special kind of doctor to care for the mental needs of those who have done heinous things that are so bad they don’t even bother sending them to prison. They send them to me.
I’m like the dumpster for the dregs of society. Just drop them in the asylum and forget about them.
I kissed my wife and set her back on the bare desk, then turned on my computer and added notes from today’s session. There was never a recommendation for release. Once patients came here the only way they left was in a body bag. There was no curing them, only trying to make them docile until they left.
Oh, there were experiments. That was a large part of how we were funded. Companies would pay for certain tests to be done. Some might call it torture, but we called it research.
I finished typing my notes and leaned back in my seat. The diplomas and degrees stared down from their perches on the bare walls, mocking me. Demanding why I hadn’t gotten a better job.
As usual, I didn’t have an answer.
My office suddenly felt stuffy. I closed down my computer and left. Driving down the packed freeway, all I could think about was collapsing on the couch beside my lovely Elizabeth. Not telling her about my day until she dragged it out of me, then listening to her encourage me to help those who have been left in my care, because I’m the only hope they have.
Traffic was bumper to bumper and not helping my overall opinion of humanity much. Especially when a car that was swerving from lane to lane, nearly sideswiped me. It kept going on in front of me, nearly hitting several other cars.
The driver and passenger seemed to be having a disagreement about how to drive the car and it looked like it was about to come to blows.
Fortunately, they were soon out of sight, and someone else’s problem.
For the next few miles, I kept watching the side of the road waiting to see the offending car sitting in a ditch. However, they surprised me. They must’ve turned off to go terrorize some neighborhood streets with their reckless driving.
I hummed to myself, not wanting to have whatever dreck was on the radio forced on me.
When I was nearly to my exit, my phone rang. I immediately recognized the number as work. I contemplated answering it for a moment, then thought better of it. There had never been a time when work called with good news. And I was in no mood for bad news.
I hummed a little louder, trying to drown out the sound of the ring before it finally stopped.
The closer I got to home the less I thought about work and the more I thought about Elizabeth. Until I turned off at my exit, I had nearly forgotten work altogether. Maybe I would take tomorrow off and go do something with my wife. We hadn’t been out for a while. The weather had been lovely and I know she would adore a walk down by the lake.
My thoughts were interrupted when I turned down our driveway and saw a car in front of the house. It wasn’t quite in the driveway, it was sitting at an angle halfway in the front yard.
I parked my car and slowly got out. Something struck me about this car, but I hadn’t figured out what. I approached the driver’s side to have words with the person still sitting at the wheel.
“Excuse me,” I said staying a few steps back from the driver’s door.
He didn’t answer me.
“Excuse me,” I said a little louder.
Still no answer.
I tapped on the window and he ignored me.
I opened the door.
“Okay, look… “ I said.
But it was I who would do the looking. The man fell out of the car, thudding on the grass. The inside of the car was covered in blood. I looked down and the man’s throat had been cut.
“Oh my God!” I said jumping back.
I watched to see if the man was breathing, but the way his neck was bent at an unnatural angle against my yard told me everything I needed to know.
I glanced through the car but didn’t see the passenger.
It was then my eyes drifted to my front door.
It was open.
I stepped through the shrubs and up onto the porch, walking in a daze. The surrealness of the moment had yet to sink in. I was going inside to check on my wife and make sure everything was ok.
It didn’t strike me as anything more than that.
‘Oh, she just left the door open, that’s all.’
My mind kept trying to tell me that. I wanted desperately to believe it. Even though she had never been that careless during the entire time we’d been married. I had pushed aside all reason and common sense in favor of pure denial.
Everything was going to be ok. With Elizabeth, everything was always ok. She could literally light up a room with her positivity. She was the best person I ever knew. I have no idea how I got so lucky as to know her, let alone be her husband.
I floated in through my front door on my cloud of denial and looked for my wife.
It didn’t take me long to find her.
There was one wall of the living room she was constantly redecorating. She always said it looked bare and empty no matter what she did with it.
She was hanging from that wall, naked, her beautiful body desecrated by slices and rips. Her throat had been slit and blood still poured from it.
I ran to her.
Tried to take her down.
Screamed her name.
And then it was my turn to scream.
I looked down and saw a knife blade sticking out from my abdomen. It was part of the cutlery set I had gotten for Elizabeth three Christmases ago.
I screamed as I slowly turned to face my attacker.
“What’s up, doc?” Frederick said wearing a maniacal grin.
The shock had punched a hole in my reasoning. I saw him standing there, but I couldn’t accept it any more than I could accept my beautiful wife strung up like a macabre painting hanging on our living room wall.
My eyes tried to focus on his face. To make me recognize him as a threat.
“How’s that impulse control workin’ for ya, doc?”
He ripped the knife out of my back.
The pain, along with his arrogance woke me from my shock-induced stupor.
“Now do you understand?” he said, as he shoved the knife into my belly.
I did understand. I understood at that moment that I was already as dead as my wife. I knew that this piece of human garbage had taken something beautiful from this world. I knew I had to do something about it before there was nothing I could do. Before my body succumbed to injuries and I was unable.
I grabbed him by the throat. He tried to laugh, but my grip was fueled by desperation.
He tried to free himself but couldn’t. He began stabbing me over and over. I refused to release him. I carried him by his neck over to the kitchen counter and began bashing his head off the marble.
I was rewarded with spots of his blood. I knew at least I had made him bleed and that made me smile. His eyes grew wide as my grin grew maniacal. I smashed him repeatedly, crushing him against the sink, breaking the faucet, and causing water to spray into the air.
His eyelids fluttered as he lost his grip on the knife.
He was nearly gone. I would take him with me and that would be my parting gift to the world, removing something so evil.
Suddenly, my body wouldn’t obey commands. My grip loosened. I tried to tighten it, but I had lost all control. I looked down and I was standing in a pool of my own blood.
His eyes fluttered open and he coughed.
‘Nonononononono!’ I thought. ‘He can’t live. He can’t win. I had him.’
He stood as I sank to the floor.
“Looks like maybe you do understand, doc,” he said from what seemed like miles away. “Too bad you won’t be around to discuss it. We could have a session and evaluate how it makes you feel.”
His foot came down on my spine. I felt a crack. He started kicking me in the side repeatedly. Splashing water and blood on me as I felt my ribs crack.
I fought with everything I had.
My body didn’t even twitch.
‘Nooooo!,’ I screamed. ‘It can’t end like this.’
I heard a sizzling sound and then there was darkness.
***
I could feel movement.
Wasn’t I dead?
Was this what happened after?
It was still dark.
‘Hello?’ I tried to say.
Nothing. Just the sensation of movement.
Am I in a body bag? Am I on my way to the morgue or the grave? Please don’t let me be buried alive.
But I’m not alive, am I?
I don’t feel any pain. That’s a good thing, but not a good sign. The last thing I remember was lots of pain.
Suddenly there’s light and my movement stops.
I look up from the floor of a house I don’t recognize.
‘Where the hell am I?’
I’m on the floor next to a wall, looking up at an electrical outlet. Nothing around me seems familiar. I try to stand but it feels weird. It isn’t difficult, and there’s still no pain, it just carries an odd sensation with it. Like my body is just relearning things. Just like when I was a toddler. I teeter back and forth as I rise, but eventually, I’m upright.
My first few steps are tentative, but after that, I gain confidence with each stride.
Aside from the strange surroundings, there’s a sensation, like ants crawling all over me.
I pass a bathroom and glance inside. The reflection in the mirror draws me back. I slowly approach it, seeing something unique and terrifying.
It looks like someone drew an outline of a human form using a lightning bolt. The electricity shimmers and crackles as it races around the empty form of the being.
I wonder if it will hurt me.
Not sure if I want to test the limits of my newfound lack of pain, I hesitantly reach for this creature. It reaches for me at the same time. I’m mesmerized by this mutual curiosity.
My hand is about to touch the electric pulse shaped like its hand. I tremble with anticipation and fear as we touch.
Surprisingly, I don’t feel any pain. I don’t feel anything except a hard surface.
I move my hand back and forth. The creature does the same. I make quicker movements, and so does it.
Finally, out of frustration, I reach back and strike at the creature.
My hand strikes the hard surface and it splinters. There are now multiple creatures staring back at me.
I step back and come to the horrible realization.
I am the creature.
***
One month later…
“And police have been unable to find any credible leads in the string of brutal killings that began shortly after the patient escaped from the mental hospital last month,” the handsome anchorman stated from behind his desk. “They are asking people to call in if they know the whereabouts of Frederick Winston, now known as, ‘The Mangler’.”
“In other news, the Larsan Electric Company has issued a statement that the recent power surges are no cause for alarm. These surges seem to be random in people's homes and certain businesses. An LEC spokesman stated that there appears to be no pattern to the surges and that so far no one has reported them causing any harm. LEC is tracking down the problem and should have it under control soon.”
The anchorman shifted in his seat and turned to another camera.
“And on a lighter note, with Halloween months away, it seems that reports of ghosts are on the rise,” he said, wearing a half grin. “Several area residents have reported what they call a ghostlike figure, outlined in light, visiting them. Reports vary as to the duration and location of the visits, but they do seem to have a few things in common. The visits are usually short. In fact, most people say that if they blink the figure is gone. No one has reported the ghost doing any harm. And it seems like anyone within close proximity feels a tingling sensation and their hair standing on end.”
“Maybe I should be visited instead of my next hairdresser’s appointment,” the attractive woman anchor said with a laugh.
“Schedule me a visit too,” the male anchor said smiling. “And that’s our news for the evening, good night.”
Jimmy switched the channel.
“Gimme a break,” he said to the TV. “Ghosts? Who’s playing what? This’s some marketing scheme to sell Halloween crap. Like that stunt they pulled a few years back with the clowns hanging around the schools to promote that stupid movie.”
He switched off the TV and rolled over in his bed.
It wasn’t long before his breathing slowed. But before sleep could take him, he noticed a glow in the hallway. He didn’t remember leaving any lights on when he came to bed. Living alone had its advantages. If he heard someone in his apartment, he knew they weren’t supposed to be there. He slowly reached over to the bedstand and pulled out his Glock 9mm handgun, then held it close and listened.
He watched as the glow moved. It seemed like someone was looking around. But for what? He didn’t really have anything aside from his TV, phone, and video games. If anyone wanted those, they would be in a world of hurt. He had been lucky to get this apartment. If he was honest with himself, it cost more than he could afford, but when he had the chance he took it. It was too bad the opening came because the person who lived there before him was one of The Mangler’s victims. That’s probably why he was able to rent the place so quickly and get the price down to where he could almost afford it.
Maybe the glow was one of the street people who were stupid enough to see if there was an empty apartment to claim. That wasn’t gonna fly either. Jimmy had jumped on this apartment to get away from the dingy rat hole he used live in on the other side of town. And there was no way he’d let some bum come in here and take what was his.
The glow crept closer. He could feel the hairs on his arms raise. There was a sound too. It wasn’t loud, almost felt more than heard. A soft crackle, like electricity when it sparked.
The sensory input was almost too much for Jimmy to take. He pointed the gun in the direction of the glow and saw the barrel was shaking. His resolve, that he could deal with anyone as long as he had his gun, was beginning to fade.
The glow became so bright that it finally took form.
Jimmy’s eyes widened. It was the form of a person, just like the news had said.
It seemed to look around the room, then settle its gaze on the bed. Jimmy began to sweat as it approached and stared into his eyes.
It was the oddest thing, staring into what should be eyes, but nothing was there. The flashes of mini lightning bolts formed shapes that looked almost human, but it was just an outline, there was nothing inside what should be the body.
He shoved the shaking gun out from under the blanket and pointed it at the glowing figure.
The figure noted the presence of the gun, then continued to advance.
“S… stop,” Jimmy said. “I’m w… warning you.”
The figure ignored the warning.
Jimmy squeezed the trigger, setting off a deafening shot that went right through the face of the figure.
It acted as though nothing had happened, continuing to advance. The ringing in Jimmy’s ears made all sound seem muffled.
The figure stopped two inches from Jimmy’s face.
“Mangler… “ it said, sounding less like a voice and more like a transmission over an old staticky radio.
“I… I’m not the Mangler,” he said. “The person who used to live here was killed by him.”
It seemed to ponder this for a moment.
“Find Mangler… “ it said.
“I d… don’t know where to find him.”
It moved an inch closer. As the flashes of electricity arced, licked hungrily at Jimmy’s face.
“Find… him… “
“Ok, ok, I’ll find him,” Jimmy said, feeling the heat from the electricity.
The figure seemed to consider that for a moment then backed away. It moved toward the bedroom wall. Then, like someone had turned on a vacuum, it was sucked into an electrical outlet and disappeared.
Jimmy laid back in bed, breathing hard. His eyes darted left and right all around the room. But the only evidence of the figure that remained was the bullet hole in his bedroom wall.
***
The trips through the electrical conduits had become easier. There were still times when I came out someplace I didn’t intend to, but I was usually able to recover quickly and get to where I wanted to go.
But where did I want to go? At first, I wandered around, lost in this new form I found myself trapped inside. It was only after I had overheard a news report about the serial killer they called The Mangler that I gained my purpose.
Of course, Frederick was going to keep killing. Of course, they weren’t going to be able to catch him. He’d been inside away from his victims before and he didn’t like it. Not being able to torture and kill innocents was like a normal person not being able to breathe. Not that I know much about normal or breathing anymore.
I suppose on some level I should thank him. I thought about it for a long time and the only thing that makes any kind of sense is when we were fighting, somehow the water and blood I was laying in got splashed into the electrical socket. Instead of killing me, it bonded with me, making me able to become the electrical current. To ride it like a wave to wherever I wanted.
I became faster than any person ever was. And yet, I wasn’t a person anymore. I have no idea how I retained my consciousness, let alone my memory. But somehow…
I justify it by the old adage, ‘I think therefore I am.’
My life has become an endless hunt for the person who destroyed me, the person I must destroy. I don’t even know what I’ll do when I find him. But I will find him. I will stop him. This time, I won’t fail. I’ll end him like I should’ve before.
I owe it to the people he’s tortured and killed since my failure. Most of all, I owe it to my wife. I know she wouldn’t approve of my bloodlust. She would say there must be some other option. But if she would be able to see her dead body hanging naked from our living room wall, I think she just might change her mind.
My thoughts are interrupted as I arrive at my next destination, another victim’s house. I’m not sure what I’ll find that the police haven’t, but I have to try. Maybe I can pick up his scent somehow. A plan almost assuredly doomed to failure since I lost all sense of smell in the transformation.
I’m surprised though that I can still see and hear. I suppose waves of light and sound somehow intersect with my electrical body and it senses them. I don’t question it. I’ve learned to just go with it.
On the plus side, I don’t have to worry about eating, drinking, or using the bathroom. I guess there’s an upside to everything. Elizabeth would be so proud of me.
I arrive at the room where the victim was murdered. Looking around there’s still blood everywhere, along with evidence markers where they took pictures.
The sheer amount of blood tells me he took his time. He desecrated this girl in her own room. Her parents must’ve been out because there’s no way they didn’t hear the struggle. There were books on the floor, a chair overturned, and blood everywhere. The room was a disaster. It looked like she fought him. I wish she would’ve succeeded where I had failed.
But then, I wish I hadn’t failed, and this girl was still alive.
There’s nothing I can do now except find him and end him.
Finding him was proving more difficult than I thought. I had unlimited access to anywhere with electricity, but I couldn’t use a computer or a GPS. I was limited to transportation only through electricity. Granted that still made me the fastest being alive. I say being because I don’t think I qualify as human anymore. But I was limited to traveling to a place and then trying to find out where I was and if he was there.
If he knew I was searching for him all he would have to do is live the rest of his days in a cabin in the woods with no electricity. I’d never be able to reach him.
I believe two things worked in my favor with that theory.
First, I don’t think he’s that smart, and second, I don’t think he knows I’m looking for him. I believe that surviving our fight only further empowered him to kill. When someone feels invincible, they’re bound to make a mistake.
An officer walked into the room and I ducked back into an outlet. I was able to hang on where I was and watch from inside the outlet without being transported somewhere else.
The officer looked startled and stared at the empty air that I had just vacated. She looked like she was unsure if she trusted what her eyes had seen in the instant before I vanished.
She slowly stepped over to the corner and bent down to peer into the outlet. For a moment I wondered if she could see me, and what exactly she would see. But then her radio squawked calling her to another scene. When I heard the voice on the radio say the address and that they might have the killer cornered, I didn’t waste any time.
It was maybe fifteen seconds until I was across town at the address I’d heard. There was a lot of screaming and crying going on. I came out of the outlet and saw blood on the floor beside a body that wasn’t moving.
There was a girl being beaten by a man with his back to me. He turned to take another swing and I knew my search was over.
“My psychiatrist used to tell me I needed to work on my impulse control,” he said calmly as he slapped her. “I think I’m doing pretty good. I’ve been here ten whole minutes and you’re still alive.”
I shot across the room and knocked him to the floor. He jumped back up and looked around for what had hit him.
“What the hell?”
I saw the fear in his eyes when he saw me. I know Elizabeth would’ve been ashamed, of me, but I was enjoying his anxiety. After all he had done to me and so many others, I drank it in like an elixir.
He started edging toward the door. I was there in a heartbeat. His eyes darted back and forth between where I used to be and where I now stood. The panic in his eyes doubled.
I wanted to make him suffer, but I didn’t want to make the same mistake I’d made before and let him escape with his life.
I lashed out with a bolt that used to be my arm. The energy slashed through his shirt and fried a hole in his shoulder.
He screamed in pain and horror as he looked at the smoking hole in his skin. He tried to run but in an instant, I was there in front of him firing another bolt and searing the skin across his waist to his jeans.
His screams of pain and rage were only matched by the feral desperation in his eyes.
Not knowing what do to, he went with the familiar. Attack the innocent. He grabbed the girl who had been crawling away from the scene.
He grabbed her again and held her in front of him like a human shield.
What a waste of skin.
I fired a bolt into a ceiling light beside me which ricocheted and hit him full force in the leg, nearly severing it.
He went down like a ton of bricks, trying to hold on to his hostage, but she was fighting to get away from him. She broke free and he crumpled to the floor.
“What do you want?” he screamed at me.
With everything that is within me, I wanted to tell him who I was, what he had taken from me, and what I was about to take from him.
But I didn’t want to give the satisfaction. I wanted to give him only uncertainty and fear to cling to.
I could feel the seconds ticking away. I knew I had to make the most of this opportunity or he would get away again. And after this, I might never find him.
I unleashed every ounce of energy at him. I couldn’t even see him, he was only a smoking pillar of frying skin.
Just then, the police burst through the door.
“FREE… “ the first officer started then the shock of what he was seeing stole the rest of the word from his mouth.
He stood there, mouth agape when the female officer stepped in behind him. She looked at me and her wide eyes narrowed as she put two and two together and recognized me from the last crime scene.
I had no reason to fear. I didn’t know if I could even be harmed in my current state. But when you see that blue uniform burst through a door with a gun aimed at you, all rational thought takes a vacation.
I dove for the outlet and was gone. I didn’t even care where I was going. I knew I had done what I wanted to. The monster was destroyed.
Something felt different. Was it pride at finishing my crusade? Was it shame knowing Elizabeth wouldn’t have wanted me to do it?
I don’t know but there was something else. It was like there was added weight to my existence. I guess you can have a conscious in whatever you’d call this existence.
I appeared in the place that made the most sense, ironically. It was my old home. The one where everything I loved died, including me. It was where I took on this unintended new existence.
Is that why I felt this extra weight? Was it some cathartic aftereffect of my search for revenge that was finally over?
I looked around the charred debris of what used to be my home. In my mind's eye, I didn’t see the burned-out shell of what was left. I saw it as it was when we first moved in. When Elizabeth and I started decorating. When the interior was finally finished and I turned to her and said, “For now.” Knowing she would decide to change everything at some time in the future when she was bored, just like all women seem to do.
I remember getting a paintbrush across the mouth for that comment. I smiled remembering kissing her with my freshly painted mouth and ending up in the bedroom.
As I turned toward where I’d entered the house, my smile quickly faded. For some reason, I was still connected to the outlet. That had never happened before.
Another curiosity arose when I noticed the color of my electrical body was now tinged purple. It had always been blue before.
The tail of what had yet to come out of the outlet was red. As I pulled and it came the rest of the way out, it merged with me and turned purple.
“What the hell?” I heard someone say.
I whipped around but no one was there.
“Where am I?” the voice said.
“Who are you?” I said to the air.
There was a long silence.
“Doc?” the voice said.
As far as I knew it wasn’t possible for my spine to turn to ice, since I no longer had a spine, but the feeling seemed the same.
“Frederick?” I said.
“What happened?” he said. “This crazy electric thing attacked me and now… wait a minute. How am I talking to you? You died months ago.”
My shock gave way to utter despair. My enemy was now part of me.

I have a telescope that is hosted in Spain that needs repair - it needs to be sent to me here in the UK, and then I will return the repaired part. On the UK side I can get relief from the Import duty/VAT with "Returned Goods Relief". I think I will need the same on the Spanish side to avoid being hit with Import duty/VAT when returning the repaired part.
The HMRC (UK) page at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-business-eu-returned-goods-relief points me at a removed page at the Spanish Tax Agency - can anyone advise me how to go about this process, or help me find an updated page please?
Thanks!

Good old Bobby Byers has put up a post in /creation: 'Hey I say creationism can lead to better results in medicine or tech etc as a byproduct of defendind Gods word. They are holding back civilization in progress.'
Ugh. Titlegore.
Anyway: within this article, he espouses the view that since creationism is true, there must be utility value to be derived from that. The unfortunate reality, for creationists, at least, is that there doesn't appear to be any utility value to creationism, despite a half century of 'rigorous' work.
At best, they invented the religious theme park.
Let's break it down:

hey. We are missing the point here. The truth will set you free and make a better world. Creationism being rooted in the truth means we can and should and must lead in discoveries to improve things.

Yeah... here's the thing: nothing creationists are doing can lead to any discovery like that. Most of their arguments, be it genetics or biology, are simply wrong, and there's nothing to be gained from making things wrong.
So, yeah, you've been missing the point for a while.

Evolutionism and friends and just general incompetence because not using the bible presumptions is stopping progress.

It seems much like the opposite -- I don't know where the Bible taught us how to split the atom, or make robots, but I reckon it didn't. Given the improvement in cancer survival rates over the past 50 years, it would seem like the 'general incompetence' of 'not using the bible presumptions' has made great strides, mostly because the Bible doesn't really say much about the proper treatment of malignant cancers.

if the bible/creationism is true then from it should come better ideas on healing people, moving machines without fossil fuels, and who knows what.

Weird how it doesn't do that. Almost like it isn't true?

creationism can dramatically make improve the rate of progress in science. the bad guyts are getting in the way of mankind being happier.

Problem is that creationism has never dramatically improved scientific discovery -- in fact, it seems the opposite, that holding that creationism knows absolutely nothing and knowledge needs to be derived from real observation, that seems to have powered our society greatly in the last two centuries.
In many respects, today is as good as it has ever been, and it is largely due to the push by secular science to describe biology in real terms, and not the terms required to maintain an iron age text.

how can we turn creationist corrections and ideas into superior results in science? Creationists should have this goal also along with getting truth in origins settled.

Your goal is simply unattainable.
The simple answer is that the Bible is not like the holy text of Raised by Wolves: we aren't going to decode the Bible and discover dark photon technologies. At least, I'm pretty sure we won't. That would be compelling though.

Directly through photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly through concentrated solar power, solar energy is the process of transforming the sun’s energy into a usable form on Earth. If you want to learn Solar BootCamp Training course, Burraq Engineering solutions is an Engineering institute that provides the best Online online and physical Solar BootCamp Training in Lahore. The photovoltaic effect allows for the conversion of light into electricity in solar cells. To harness the power of the sun and turn a steam turbine, concentrated solar power systems employ lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus the sun’s rays on a small area. At first, photovoltaics was only used to power low- to medium-sized devices, such as calculators with a single solar cell or off-grid dwellings using rooftop PV systems.

Solar power plants

The first large-scale, commercial concentrated solar power plants appeared in the 1980s. Since then, as the price of solar electricity has decreased, the number of solar PV systems that are linked to the power grid has grown at an almost exponential rate. The number of PV installations has reached billions, and by 2021, solar will account for 50 percent of all new capacity in the power sector. Location matters regarding solar power, with more abundant sunlight available towards the equator.

Solar energy potential

Photovoltaics that can follow the movement of the sun can expand the scope of solar energy applications in latitudes other than the equator. Due to the lower level of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface at night, the solar energy potential decreases as the day progresses. Because of this, solar panels can only absorb so much energy each day. As clouds obscure the sun, the amount of energy produced by photosynthesis decreases. Semiconductor materials such as N and P are used in solar panels to convert solar energy into a usable form. These materials can generate electricity by using the sun’s energy to eject electrons from their atoms and send them rapidly through the material.

Photovoltaics effect

The term “photovoltaic effect” describes this transformation of light into energy. Modern solar panels are able to convert approximately 80% of the visible spectrum and 50% of the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums into usable solar energy. Solar systems collect solar radiation and convert it into usable forms of energy like electricity or heat. The Southwestern United States is home to most of the country’s utility-scale solar power installations. Smaller photovoltaic cells and hot water systems installed on rooftops, however, are viable options worldwide. Although the United States possesses some of the world’s top solar resources, solar generated only 0.4% of U.S. energy in 2014.

Solar power generation

The initial investment has been a major deterrent to wider deployment, however, costs have been steadily decreasing in recent years. Many states also provide financial incentives in addition to federal tax credits. Feed-in tariffs and other policy tools have helped countries like Germany achieve global leadership in solar power generation. At present, the sector in the US is expanding, creating new jobs. Passive solar heating systems are an efficient and affordable option to heat a home or business without using any additional fuel or electricity, such as natural gas or electricity.

Solar construction material

Buildings, both old and new, can benefit from installing south-facing windows, planting shade trees, and using Tromba walls, which are absorbent materials that store heat during the day. and leave it slowly at night. Rooms with south-facing windows or sunrooms can meet up to 60 percent of a home’s winter heating needs. Solar energy can be used in any weather if the building is properly insulated and ventilated. Location, orientation, and construction materials all play a role in a building’s ability to regulate the temperature inside.

Photovoltaic (PV) panels

In just over an hour and a half, the sun provides enough energy to meet global demand for a calendar year. Solar technologies use photovoltaic (PV) panels or mirrors to focus sunlight into usable electrical current. In addition to power generation and battery and thermal storage, this energy can also be used to heat and cool buildings. Explore the links below to learn more about the fundamentals of solar radiation, photovoltaics, concentrating solar thermal technologies, grid system integration, and the intangible costs associated with solar power. You may get more information about the solar energy sector and how to make the switch to solar power. The US Solar Energy Technology Administration is at the forefront of cutting-edge solar energy research and development, which can be explored in greater detail here.
Click here

I've been reading a lot of the feedback and one of the things that grabbed my attention was some of the repetitiveness of dungeons. Then another article about how mobs like The Butcher encourage players to change their playstyle on the fly. It gave me an idea. The pattern in dungeons in all of the Diablo games have been, clear a group of mobs, move up, clear a group of mobs, move up. And you know that the path you cleared previously is safe to retreat to. But what if.... there were groups of mobs that patrolled. So the once cleared area you thought was save, now has increased the difficulty of your escape. Just an idea. Thoughts?

Hi everyone, I'm really hoping someone can help!
I'm having an issue with my Windows computers and wifi. I recently moved, and was upgraded to 1.5 gb Fibe internet. All of my devices are testing speeds properly when plugged in, but on wifi my two Windows computers are limiting my speed to exactly 50mbps. I've narrowed this down to a windows issue as a mac laptop, samsung phone and playstation are all showing the correct speeds on wifi.
I'm seeing this issue a lot when I google it, but can't seem to find a solution. Both computers are within 5 years old, running Windows 10. A hardware limitation COULD be the issue but I don't know how to check the capabilities of my computers.
Any ideas? I eventually will hardwire to the modem, but as I said I just moved and it's going to be a while before I can get that setup running.
Happy to answer any questions if I wasn't clear enough!

I'm a third-year management student writing my thesis on crisis management and I need help if anyone had some work experience to answer these questions please id really appreciate it, you can message me the answers :)

1. What is the name and nature of your business?
2. What is your position in your company?
3. What country is your company residing in?
4. How long have you been working for this business?
5. What type of crisis has your business faced in the past (e.g., economic downturn, natural disaster, political unrest, pandemic, etc.) (choose as much as you can)
6. How did this crisis affect your business?
7. Was it an External, internal, or governmental issue?
8. Did it result in any changes in the way your business operated or any changes in the workforce?
9. How did your business manage the crisis? Did you receive any external support, such as government aid or community assistance?
10. Were there any positive outcomes or opportunities for growth that emerged from the crisis?
11. Looking back, what lessons did you learn from this crisis? What steps have you taken to prepare for future crises?
12. What lessons did the company learn from the crisis and what steps have they taken to prepare for the future crisis?

i'm 22 and making about USD$26k/yr ($2k/month) after taxes and deductions. right now i'm not saving a lot of money because i live at home, and i'm basically responsible for everything as the rest of my family is unemployed. i'm looking to move out soon into a cheap place so i can start to save more, and pay off my student loans.
i live in a LCOL area so my rent will be between $500-$800, without utilities.
can y'all give me some advice on how to maximize my income and save money? i have some things i'm going to do, like shower exclusively at the gym (only $10/mth) so my water bill stays minimum, unplug everything but the fridge, get diet staples at food banks. i only have two subscription services that yearly, come to $80 total. but i don't know what else i can skimp on. i'm not a big spender on leisure (~$100/mth—some months i don't buy anything at all), and i try to buy used/discount items when i can.
i'm not eligible for SNAP/TANF/section 8 because i have no kids and my gross income is too high🙄
recs for literally anything essential i can spend less on when i move out? like phone plans and internet? or is renting an apartment too ambitious and should i live in my car 😂

I am currently in a relationship with someone who has 3 children. Age 6 and below.
We have been together a little over a year. I love him to death but I am having big doubts about the future of our relationship at the moment. There are talks about furthering our commitment (moving in/engagement etc) and it has me getting cold feet.
I knew what I was getting into from the beginning but I guess now that things are getting more serious its kind of a reality check and I am stressed out. I am unsure if I want to be responsible for someone else children(Mentally, physically, financially). All my weekends being his kids.... Ex's and drama. The most recent ex gives issues and it affects the kids as well and I know if I move in or we further our commitment that she will cause problems. I have given her no reason to have an issue with me and if anything I am way more than understanding and hands off with his relationship with her for the kids purposes. I could go on more about the ex issues but for the most part I will just leave it at drama and him not wanting confrontation. He needs more boundaries in my opinion or it will affect our relationship.
Anyways have you dated someone with children? If so how did it work out?
I dont know if i can do it. I am scared I will go to far and be miserable. But I am also scared id be miserable without my bf. I am in a hard place right now and my mind is eating at me.
At this point I am either going to go all in or all out....

I have a couple of questions concerning IRAs:

1. I have a side business (side hustle) that I would like to start contributing income to an IRA. Can I do this if I already have a 401k with my main job (currently contributing 10% to)?
2. If I can start an IRA from my side job, what kind of IRA do I need to open (thorough Fidelity ideally) and how much can I contribute annually?
3. I have a regular brokerage account with Fidelity. Is there any way to roll the stock I already own in the brokerage account (less than $1k) over into the IRA?

THANKS!

I wanted to share another banger passage from Angron: The Red Angel. Leidis is a renegade Space Marine who has abandon his Blood Angels successor chapter and is now aboard the World Eater's flagship Conqueror. Thanks to some meddling by the Grey Knights the ship is overrun by demons of Slaanesh, turning a chaotic situation on the ship into an insane bloodbath. A daemonette corners Leidis and tries to lure him into Slaanesh's embrace. I want to share this passage because it shows just how tantalizing a demon's offer can be.
​

'Yes,' the daemonette whispered. Its voice was sultry and hard-edged, gently coaxing and subtly cruel. 'You have always appreciated artistry, haven't you, Leidis.'
Leidis nodded, his eyes lost in the allure of its form. 'How...how do you know my name?'
The creature gave him a bewitching smile of fish-comb teeth. 'It was not for the crime of slaughter that your ignorant brothers cast you from their home. No. It was for the joy you took in it.'
Leidis stared dumbly. His rapture deepened.
It was so obvious, when it was put to him in such dazzling simplicity, he could not believe he had never considered himself in that light before.
'You are a child,' it said sympathetically, mockingly. 'It is no fault of yours that you did not seek us out of your own desire. It is only unhappy chance that led you into the company of Arkhor the Redbound and his crude worship of blood. It is he, not you, who set your path. It might easily have been another, and it is not too late to find the true delight of slaughter.' It extended a pale lilac claw smeared in transhuman offal.
Leidis pulled his gaze from the daemonette's. He looked at the outstretched hand.
Beyond it lay a disembowelled corpse, so thoroughly remade by the needs of the creature's art that Leidis did not immediately recognize it. He blinked to clear his eyes and to reset his still-glitching lenses, working his mouth to revive his horribly parched tongue.
'S-Strykid?'
The warrior, unsurprisingly, did not answer.
Leidis had never seen a Space Marine more dead. The lavender-skinned siren crouching between them was wearing a good proportion of his insides, as a mortal might don a robe.
'You would be welcomed into the carnivals of excess, Ortan Leidis, celebrated as a prodigal son returned and a shining example to all such wayward souls. You would be embraced as a brother. Please,' it said, though Leidis did not feel it was truly asking for his permission. 'Allow us to show you the delights of the paths not taken. The Dark Prince knows better than to deny his servants the sensation they crave.'
Leidis' mouth opened and closed without forming a sound.
The sight of Strykid lying there, defiled and profaned in the name of art, unsettled something deep in him. Strykid had been the least of Leidis' brothers, but he had been a brother.
He tried to find the words to deny it.
Any words.
He looked inside himself for the familiar anger, the rage with which to throw the creature's temptations back in its hideously perfect face, but it was not there.
What if the creature was right?
If only Arkhor had been able to offer him the Butcher's Nails.
What if he-
There was a loud bang followed by the bursting of something vacuously ripe as his temptress' head exploded.
Even that, Leidis noted, did it balletically. Too absorbed by the inherent beauty of its death to be startled by the unexpected suddenness of it, he watched as blood and brain and bone fanned out into an abstract art form that made part of him yearn to put a bolter in his mouth and emulate it.

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I (25M) had been casually seeing a girl (26F) for 4 months until we decided to make it official and exclusive at the start of this month (March). Things have been going great, however one day while I was over her place I had seen she had gotten a phone call from her ex - which she brushed off as him being crazy and wanting her back.
There was an incident a few days after we became official, where she checked my phone and found DMs from back in November (when we first started talking) where I exchanged some flirtatious messages with someone I knew from college. She blew up at this situation, as well as with a few other DMs she found from that same time period, and basically considered ending our relationship then and there. She was upset because when she asked about some of these girls in the past, I just described them as being friends. Would I be hurt about that too? Sure. However there was plenty of evidence and even more recent interactions with those same women where I either ignored them or gave dry responses.
Her checking my phone like that however got me a little suspicious of her, and I know it’s toxic but a few days later I decided to check her phone to see what she might’ve be hiding. My curiosity about her ex given that she had received calls for him lead me to searching his name, only for me to find messages talking about how she actually saw him in late January, and even hung out with him to celebrate his birthday. She wrote to a friend: “we’re getting mani pedi’s and French food” which she explained meant her, the ex, and a larger friend group - however I really wasn’t sure what to believe given she had lied about them hanging to begin with.
Regardless, this had happened before we were officially dating and exclusive. So regardless of how upset I was I decided to let it go given that I myself wasn’t super clean before we started dating either.
Flash forward to a week later, she’s been acting really strange with me saying that she’s feeling off and see’s us differently. She starts talking about how her timeline in life was to get married and have kids in the next two years, and mine is in the next 4-5 so she doesn’t feel good about waiting that long. Totally understandable stuff, but we discuss it and put it behind us.
Later that same day, I’m having friends over for a housewarming. She gets a little too intoxicated and goes to bed early. By the time I say bye to my friends and clean up a bit, it’s around 1:30AM. I walk into my room and see her asleep with her phone just out of reach from her hand. I then notice she’s gotten a few text messages from her ex.
I know it’s wrong, but it was so late that my intrusive thoughts got the better of me. I see two messages sent at 1:30 responding to a message she had sent that I couldn’t see since she deleted it. She actually went as far as to delete the messages from her recently deleted folder as well. He was using that iMessage feature where you reply to a specific message so I could see that she had sent him something that same night but not it’s contents. I lost my cool and searched more threw her messages to find recent messages from her friends telling her to block her ex, and even a message from back in January where she was complaining that her and the ex didn’t make love the night she saw him because he found out about me.
The worst part? I replied to the ex with “??” Since I had no context to the conversation. He proceeds to ask why I’m up so late, and if I plan on picking him up or should he Uber to her place… him so casually asking that set me off and I went ahead and asked him to Uber. We were at mine, and by the time he arrived there it was already 4am. I put her phone down and saw the string of calls he made after arriving. My proudest moment? No, but I regret nothing.
The next morning when I confront my gf about it she says the usual it’s not what it looks like. She claims she had only texted him to share some recent changes in her life that would legally allow her to get married in the next two years. She then tells me she kept talking to said ex as he was sharing his plans to buy a house soon, and that he apparently told her he wanted her back and that she could move in and in two years they could be married and have kids. It turns out this legal issue she had was the main reason she and her ex broke up, because they couldn’t get married because of it.
She’s claiming all that doesn’t matter to her, and that she loves me so much that she’d rather be with me than follow the timeline she had set in mind. But none of that really sits right with me anymore, and to be honest I don’t know how I can trust anything she says now.
Writing this out already shows me what I should do. But I do really love her, and outside of all this messy stuff we really make each other happy. We've spoken on end about our futures together, I even met her parents and there were plans for her to meet mine. Is it possible to move past something like this? Could you even trust someone again after all that? I'm struggling to feel like I ever could.
TLDR: Caught my gf texting her ex and deleting the trail of messages. Only to find out one of the things they were talking about how their plans for the future were now aligned.

*Once you have finished the questions please do read the last document and get to the 'finished survey' page, or your answers aren't counted*
Calling all cat owners!!
Hi everyone, my name is Lauren Purves and I am a Student Vet Nurse in the 4th year of my course. I am currently undertaking a dissertation for my Honours Project, it’s called ‘ An investigative study into cat owners’ knowledge of feline osteoarthritis and the need for further education.’
I want to find out how much cat owners know about cat arthritis, and which techniques would help people to learn more! It’s a topic I am very passionate about, and hopefully my project will help Veterinary Nurses come up with ideas to help people learn more about it.
The main part of my research will be an online survey which I have linked down below. It will ask you some questions about your current arthritis knowledge, then give you a little information on the topic. Then it will ask which learning method you would appreciate the most. If you want to take part in my research the only requirements are: you must be at least 18 years old, and you must have a pet cat!
The survey is anonymous, so any data you do submit will be untraceable back to you. The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes, and you are free to withdraw at any point until the data is submitted.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask myself or my supervisor, our contact details are on the ‘Participant Information Sheet’. Please read the additional sheets that come before and after the survey to make sure you know how the data is used and stored!
Thank you very much for reading, and I look forward to seeing what the results are!
Lauren
https://survey.napier.ac.uk/n/zz83h.aspx

When interest rates go up, the price of bonds goes down. As Tyler and I discuss in Modern Principles, the inverse relationship between interest rates and prices holds for any asset that pays out over time. In particular, as Patrick McKenzie points out, when interest rates go up, the value of a loan goes down. McKenzie suggests that you can use this fact to buy back your mortgage from a bank when interest rates rise.
For example, suppose you get a 500k 30-year fixed rate mortgage when interest rates are 3%–that loan obligates you to pay $2108 per month for 30 years. Now suppose that interest rates go to 6%, now that same stream of payments is only worth, in present value, about $358k. Thus, the bank should be willing to let you buy your mortgage for $358k–that is, after all, what the market would pay for such a stream of payments if your mortgage was securitized.
I am skeptical that I could find the right person at the right bank to actually authorize a deal like this but it turns out that the Danish mortgage system is built to allow this relatively easily. The Danish mortgage system is built on the match principle:
JYSKE Bank: The match-funding principle entails that for every loan made by the mortgage bank, a new bond is issued with matching cash-flow properties. This eliminates mismatches in cash-flows and refinancing risk for the mortgage bank, which also secures payments for the bondholder. In the Danish mortgage system the mortgage bank functions as an intermediary between the investor and borrower. Mortgage banks fund loans on a current basis, meaning that the bond must be sold before the loan can be given. This also entails that the market price of the bond determines the loan rate. The loan is therefore equal to the investment, which passes through the mortgage bank.
In essence, in the Danish system, mortgage banks are more like a futures clearinghouse or a platform (ala Airbnb) than a lender–they take on some credit risk but not interest rate risk.
Thus, if a Danish borrower takes out a 500k mortgage at 3% interest and then rates rise to 6%, the value of that mortgage falls to $358k and the borrower could go to the market, buy their own mortgage, deliver it to the bank, and, in this way, extinguish the loan. Since the value of homes also falls as interest rates rise this is also a neat bit of insurance. Remarkable!
The Danish mortgage market appears to be very successful and so may be a model for American reform:
JYSKE Bank: The Danish Mortgage Bond Market is one of the oldest and most stable in the world, tracing its roots all the way back to 1797 with no records of defaults since inception. Furthermore, the market value of the Danish Mortgage Bond Market is approx. EUR 402bn, making it the largest mortgage bond market in Europe.
The post In Praise of the Danish Mortgage System appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
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Hi all! Good morning from my part of the world! :)
I am needing some advice, as you can see by the WWYD tag. I got my BSW in 2019 and started at my current position in 2020. I am a satellite office, meaning I work for another organization inside a different organization. I am the only social worker and only one in my position. My other colleagues do not have experience in social services. Besides one with experience in the organization and community. With that being said, they are unethical.
In the past I have pointed out some of the things they do and tried to help them with bettering their practice but I am typically shut down. Which makes me feel so defeated and i’ve had an internal battle for awhile. I feel that my perspective is devalued because of my ‘emotions’ and my age. (28, youngest in office, more liberal than everyone else)
I’ve tried to find articles and trainings that are relevant to my situation but I’m having a hard time finding anything. I don’t have any social work connections that I am comfortable enough with to talk about this. That’s what brought me here!
With that being said,
Help! How do I be the best social worker I can in a situation like this? The last thing I want to do is be silent but I also feel so anxious because I feel like it’s ‘me against the world’. It isn’t a fun feeling.

This is my attempt to summarize these YT video. These videos have nothing to do with stuttering, but I will try to make a connection with stuttering.
Introduction:

• Beliefs can limit our potential and actions. For example, during a speech block unhelpful beliefs are subconsciously limiting our action of moving speech muscles (e.g., laryngual, respiratory, tongue, jaw, lips and other speech muscles)

Tips to improve stuttering:

• Identify what beliefs (that you have) limit your action: for example, fear of failing to move your speech muscles
• Identify how you apply this limiting belief: for example, IF you fear failing to move your speech muscles, THEN blame it enough to stop moving your speech muscles (resulting in a speech block)
• Reason the validity: Ask yourself, is this fear valid or rather, is this fear part of the never-ending loop? Is the fear really too much or is this just my exaggerated opinion? What is too much fear, is there such a thing as fear that is so much that I would stop the movement of speech muscles (since I'm just trying to do a normal / casual conversation and I'm doing my best)?

Homework: this stutter exercise is your homework

1. Always breathe calmly (no matter what happens)
2. Each time you block, stop speaking and really experience this fear of failing to move your speech muscles
3. In this strategy, don't reduce this fear. Rather, the goal of this strategy is to feel as much fear as possible (desensitization: evoke fear to instinctively adjust to conditioned stimuli to reduce the compulsion, rituals, overthinking/overreacting, avoidance responses, corrections and other responses)
4. Without convincing yourself, adding conditions or analyzing, let your body digest this fear by learning that the fear is not as dangerous as it initially thought. In other words, your only job in this strategy is to make the fear bigger (and let your instinct adjust automatically). In this strategy, your job is to feel excited if you stutter (excitement but more in the sense of 'I don't care that I stutter, but I do prioritize this strategy'). An argument is that you can then apply this strategy
5. Learn to notice how you are subconsciously applying blaming this fear to stop moving your speech muscles. Normally what we often do is, we try to reduce this fear, however, we have never succeeded to outgrow stuttering by doing this. In this strategy (instead of reducing fear, we feel as much fear as possible while) we interrupt ourselves if we 'blame this fear to stop moving speech muscles', in other words, interrupt yourself if you blame this fear. Of course, you'd need to change your whole perspective how you view your process of stuttering, so if you stutter from now on, then you should perceive this as 'I stuttered just now, because I blamed this fear to stop moving speech muscles'

You can read about stutter research in these posts.

Hello everyone! I just wanted people's advice on some questions I had with tools. I've built stuff from wood in school as a theater tech, but that's about the extent of woodworking I've done. So here are my questions: 1.) Would you guys recommend I get good quality tools right off the bat or get some cheaper ones to start with and then work my way up? I've heard both sides where "you might as well get the good ones and have them and if you don't like it, sell them". But I've also heard that I should start with cheap so I can get my feet wet and learn more before investing. I just want some more opinions from people that have actual experience in doing this. 2.) What are good tools brands? I know it sounds dumb, but I know in the automotive field, there is no "top" brand. Every brand has certain good thing and certain bad ones. So I was just curious which ones were good at what in woodworking. I'm looking more for and tools and simple power tools for now. I'm not sure how much variance there is in hand tool brands, but any info or experience people have with as many as you can will help. I appreciate everyone's time reading this and hope you guys can help me!

I didn’t actually sleep with my lacrosse stick last night, even though I felt like I was gonna need it in bed with me every day until the end of March. To help me feel better after the end of my friendship with my best friend and to help me feel better after some weird aggression people displayed toward me after.
Did so many actions yesterday to reflect on the strength and the beauty inside me, as well as to process and express some of my feelings and thoughts about him.
It’s nice to know the lacrosse stick is still there for me if I need it. I’m going to get started with my day. I hope you have a good one.
Something I want to do, but am not going to, is — I actually can’t think of anything on that front right now.
Something I’m doing is getting ready to go ride my bike.
Some pieces of advice: -remember to charge my batteries -there’s no such thing as a situation in life that you don’t have the right to respond to -polo is only an expensive sport from a distance; in reality, there are all kinds of ways to make it affordable for many circumstances