I'm 41 and going back to school taking online classes through WGU. I have to pass this stupid Statistics course, and I hate it. I find myself getting super angry while doing exercises and answering wrong not because I don't know the concepts being taught, but because math questions, generally, seem to be designed to trick you instead of actually testing your knowledge of a thing. The concepts and formulas are pretty easy to pick up and memorize. It's just that practice questions will be worded weirdly, numbers won't be in any sort of correct order, or-worse-they'll be in MOSTLY correct order so you assume they're correct and end up getting a question wrong even though you applied concepts correctly because some question designer decided to trick you with some random detail buried somewhere you missed.
That doesn't help anyone learn anything at all! Like, sure, in the real world numbers will be thrown at you randomly and you have to make sense of that. But in a classroom setting there should be some level of trust involved that you're going to actually be taught a thing and not handed a freaking level 10 Hanayama puzzle with every question. And, yeah, I know Hanayama puzzles only go up to level 6, but that's my freaking point! Even those little torture devices are easier than trying to decode whatever the sadist who designed questions is trying to get at.
And on top of that, if you miss too many questions and have to do extra review, the concepts that you already know are broken down in freaking baby talk like you're wearing a wet diaper and have a lollipop stuck in your hair. It's not like you don't understand how to do the thing. You're doing the thing the way the thing is supposed to be done. The questions are just laid out purposefully confusingly so that whoever designed them can just... sit back and laugh at you, I guess?
I hate it. I hate, hate, hate, hate it. I get so freaking angry with every wrong answer. I have to pass this class, but this is a real struggle. I have zero idea of how I'm gonna get through this. Any advice here would be welcome. I know this is an ADHD thing for me. I know that things like missing key details is tied into that. I know that I'm having outsized emotional reactions to this. I just don't know how to get a handle on that long enough to put this class behind me.

​

Tiktok: Changes Affecting Creators & Advertisers

Tiktok made major changes to its platform. With the launch of their new creator fund “creativity program beta”. They have encouraged the top 4% of creators to push more long-form content.
And this push is also delivering results for Top Advertisers in the space. This fund was launched alongside a new Tiktok Ad format, PulsePremiere. These Ads currently in beta are shown after a trending piece of content.
For Music Marketers & Artists, Tiktok launched #newmusic to support upcoming artists.
And after that boom, we got smashed with the TikTok US state ban in Montana. There is a huge controversy around it but this news isn’t affecting marketing spend.
Executional Angles 🎬
Tiktok’s Ad platform and creator marketplace are getting better. The updates aren’t public. I have tracked a few cheeky practices from the Tiktok product team to gather more user data and better their Ad platform. Expect better location-based targeting in the upcoming few months.
For organic, With the new creator fund. Many long-form content creators are seeing an engagement hike for their content. You can experiment with long-form content as a business to connect longer with the audience.
And a nice sign is TikTok is now pushing more content from “people you follow” to the For You page. As mentioned in my Tiktok marketing post, this is something new and encouraging for brands.
Upcoming: Tiktok is testing an AI Chatbot similar to snapchat. This launch will help them keep users more engaged.

Pinterest: Affecting Organic Content

In April, Pinterest got into huge issues with user safety on the platform because many users were targeting young audiences. After that Pinterest made a few changes and at the beginning of May, launched their transparency report showcasing how they are filtering harmful content.
A great callout here is “Gen-Z is on Pinterest”. Every single platform mentions that they have Gen-Z users on their apps to attract advertisers. But data from different research shows that Pinterest has a growing Gen-Z user base, especially for diverse and Female audiences.
Bring back to the latest content ranking system and algorithm changes to Pinterest. Earlier this week, I shared this blog post from the Pinterest engineering team about the latest updates to the platform.
Executional Breakdown of Algorithm
First of all, how the Pinterest algorithm ranks content is very simple and it's all based on user interactivity.
All different engaging elements like comments, save, share, and like give the content system a signal to rank your content for relevant topics. As revealed by their engineering team in this post and by the previous product manager at Pinterest on Lenny’s podcast.
The new changes to Pinterest are very simple:
Diversifying your content, Pinterest is making changes to the content system to make sure the content it ranks on the app isn’t too sensitive toward a demographic. That is why they want Pinterest businesses and creators to diversify their Pinterest boards and content strategy.
This affects niches like Beauty, Fashion, and other lifestyle-related brands. Don’t try to sell the idea of clear skin or a perfect body shape. Pinterest is looking to provide a better and healthy space for young audiences.
The second change is “keyword search”. In the blog post, there are mentions that the algorithm will try to show more of the content that includes identical keywords & sentence structure to “user search queries”. To promote more relevancy and better content to users.
These are the main changes, I will share more on Pinterest in my upcoming blogs to help you overall with Pinterest marketing.
Platform Changes: Pinterest users can now add links to every single Posting format. And added a new platform analytics feature for better insights.

Twitter: Regaining Advertiser Trust & Bots

With the new Twitter CEO coming in, One of the Top Advertisers mentioned their comeback to advertise on the Bird app. But mid-micro advertisers are still not loving the Ad platform.
Besides advertising, Twitter continues to launch new services and features for Blue subscribers. And decreasing creator monetization requirements, increasing the video upload limit to 2 hours. The other focus is on attracting more advertisers to the platform.
A lot going on forTwitter. But the biggest issue is that Bot spam is at its peak, removing bots was one of the biggest promises made by ElonMusk. Still not delivered.
I have my fingers crossed for June.
Execution Considerations:
Twitter is getting better at recommending relevant tweets under the original tweets you read. And as you know it is mentioned on Github that the Twitter connection network plays a huge role in getting content discovered.
I recommend refining your network and networking with the right audiences. Kinda old advice but the platform is testing new prompts related to this. That is why you should click on it.

Agencies & Brands: Who got the best campaign?

Starting with the world's biggest marketing agency will get even bigger with a new partnership with Nvidia. WPP is partnering with Nvidia to use its AI technology to level up its campaigns. Link!
Shorty Awards took place in May and here is the full list of winners. Have a look and get inspired for next year.
VCCP, a London-based creative agency, is launching an AI-creative agency. The usage of generative AI is increasing very fast and adaptation is the key now. Link!
This month was filled with brand and marketing events. I found a curated list of brand marketing events that took place in May. Link!
The New Bud Light is “The North Face”. The new campaign featuring a drag queen is catching negative attention like Budlight. Link!
Jaskaran: I started tracking agency news for the newsletter last week, for future monthly recaps you will find more and better recaps.

Instagram: Targeted Advertising!

Believe it or not. Meta is moving fast with Instagram now. Tiktok announced their search ads will roll out slowly to marketers, and last week Meta came in clutch and announced “Instagram search Ads”. You can access them through the Instagram marketing API. Link!
Besides that Instagram made a huge spark as the information about a new Twitter viral came up. Meta is expected to launch a new decentralized Twitter-like app for their users in June. Many are excited about it. It could be a great opportunity for businesses as many find IG very hard to scale.
Decentralized means your followers can follow you on the new app with one click. This app can help you reach more existing followers on IG & FB.
Other than these two, there was a list of updates including a new creator fund announcement. But not much impacting your organic growth.

PPC: New Policies Kicking In

For the second half of 2023, Advertisers in the UK & EU need compliance with these new Google Ad requirements. Link!
Google and Walmart both took steps to make media buying and Ad creative creation easier. You can read here about Google’s new approach to media buying and how Walmart here is trying to help businesses with Ad creatives.
Microsoft is moving fast with Bing Chat Advertising, You can now use Chat Ads API to integrate ads within Bing AI. Link!
There were a few other marketing product updates for Microsoft in terms of improving targeting and utilizing AI. One of my favorites is the recent UET update to their analytics dashboard.
For more information, I recommend revisiting our last emails & read this recent Google marketing live recap.

Meta: Data Limitations & AI for Marketers

Meta is stuck. Yes, because they have developed one of the best AI languages and structures to benefit marketers. For example, this new engineering blog showcasing its new AI content structure is golden. Link!
At the same time, Meta is having huge issues in the EU & UK with their data usage. The platform Received a $1.2B fine and now UK representatives are limiting data usage for Meta. Good for privacy but points to a huge problem for paid media marketers.
Meaning Meta’s future is bright due to AI research & frameworks but data issues are like close friends showing up every single day.
Other than this, Meta is launching AI tools to help marketers create better Ad creatives. Link!
In April, Meta increased its involvement in AI to push organic content and in May was focused on utilizing AI for paid media offerings.
Facebook: New Lead generation forms features and a few updates to Facebook reels were key product updates.
WhatsApp: New Updates to WhatsApp Chat features with the addition of Chat Lock, sharing with captions & new polls feature.

SEO: It's all changed but…

With multiple announcements, Google search page structure & how content is ranked will be changing. The new interface is expected to prefer AI-generated results but for June. This new feature is opt-in, users on the desktop can choose to get AI results within a search. Changing their Google page experience.
Many SEOs are predicting a 70-80% traffic drop in the upcoming months. But many experienced SEOs believe changes are good and the traffic for the future will be more quality-oriented.
These insights linked below are from the best SEOs and their opinions on recent search engine marketing changes.
11 Realizations from testing search generative experience. Link!
Aleyda Solis on new Google Changes. Link!
The AI takeover of Google Search. Verge
The technical SEO world is going through many changes. My advice is to keep your focus on the content strategy part for a while. And improve that!
Youtube: New Ad Formats & Algorithm
After doing $40B in revenue last year. The platform announced new Ad formats at IAB Newsfront. With the launch of 30-second unskippable Ads on Connected TV.
Where Youtube is headed with Unskippable Ads is the future of online movie & content streaming. Either platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and other services have to give up a share of revenue. Or they need to go back to unskippable Connected TV Ads format to pay the writers.
Coming back to Youtube, Every week on their “creator insider” channel they announce various new updates. The highlight was the recent update of community post creation for all users.
Partnering with Influencers and using community posts to target core audiences is one of the best strategies based on this new update.

Marketing Research: What Changed?

1. Don’t stress out about AI. More than 40% of Americans have never heard of ChatGPT. And only 14% have tried it. (PewResearch)
2. Watch out for Podcast Ads, the Ad spend on podcasts is increasing and revenue is up 26% YoY. (IAB)
3. Gartner’s research on How ChatGPT is useful to CMOs. (Gartner)
4. CTV Ad fraud is increasing with the usage of Bots. (Double Verify)
5. Are Twitter users planning a comeback or leaving? (Pew)
6. Where is the media spending moving? It is decreasing for a few industries, but only moving to other channels for many. (Insider)

LinkedIn: Continued Organic Growth

As the round of layoffs is not stopping, LinkedIn is having its best time. The in-app activity continues to increase and now the platform has 930 million monthly active users, closing in on the 1 billion mark very soon.
LinkedIn is embracing AI in May with new AI features to help with messaging, job descriptions, and other hiring processes.
All that growth doesn’t mean everything is great. As the platform laid off 700 employees this month.
Overall, LinkedIn is doing good and viewers are loving their new marketing campaign. Watch!

Reddit: E-commerce World

I wrote about this in my updated social media trends post. Reddit is working on various new e-commerce features.
While many believe that the nature of Reddit doesn’t fit e-commerce offerings. Many product reviews and conversations take place on Reddit and users get the ability to integrate products from other businesses within the content. It could work very well.
Using these features to self-promote is impossible but with the right execution. It can do a charm.
Others: Reddit is going through a bot followers scam.

​

Tiktok: Changes Affecting Creators & Advertisers

Tiktok made major changes to its platform. With the launch of their new creator fund “creativity program beta”. They have encouraged the top 4% of creators to push more long-form content.
And this push is also delivering results for Top Advertisers in the space. This fund was launched alongside a new Tiktok Ad format, PulsePremiere. These Ads currently in beta are shown after a trending piece of content.
For Music Marketers & Artists, Tiktok launched #newmusic to support upcoming artists.
And after that boom, we got smashed with the TikTok US state ban in Montana. There is a huge controversy around it but this news isn’t affecting marketing spend.
Executional Angles 🎬
Tiktok’s Ad platform and creator marketplace are getting better. The updates aren’t public. I have tracked a few cheeky practices from the Tiktok product team to gather more user data and better their Ad platform. Expect better location-based targeting in the upcoming few months.
For organic, With the new creator fund. Many long-form content creators are seeing an engagement hike for their content. You can experiment with long-form content as a business to connect longer with the audience.
And a nice sign is TikTok is now pushing more content from “people you follow” to the For You page. As mentioned in my Tiktok marketing post, this is something new and encouraging for brands.
Upcoming: Tiktok is testing an AI Chatbot similar to snapchat. This launch will help them keep users more engaged.

Pinterest: Affecting Organic Content

In April, Pinterest got into huge issues with user safety on the platform because many users were targeting young audiences. After that Pinterest made a few changes and at the beginning of May, launched their transparency report showcasing how they are filtering harmful content.
A great callout here is “Gen-Z is on Pinterest”. Every single platform mentions that they have Gen-Z users on their apps to attract advertisers. But data from different research shows that Pinterest has a growing Gen-Z user base, especially for diverse and Female audiences.
Bring back to the latest content ranking system and algorithm changes to Pinterest. Earlier this week, I shared this blog post from the Pinterest engineering team about the latest updates to the platform.
Executional Breakdown of Algorithm
First of all, how the Pinterest algorithm ranks content is very simple and it's all based on user interactivity.
All different engaging elements like comments, save, share, and like give the content system a signal to rank your content for relevant topics. As revealed by their engineering team in this post and by the previous product manager at Pinterest on Lenny’s podcast.
The new changes to Pinterest are very simple:
Diversifying your content, Pinterest is making changes to the content system to make sure the content it ranks on the app isn’t too sensitive toward a demographic. That is why they want Pinterest businesses and creators to diversify their Pinterest boards and content strategy.
This affects niches like Beauty, Fashion, and other lifestyle-related brands. Don’t try to sell the idea of clear skin or a perfect body shape. Pinterest is looking to provide a better and healthy space for young audiences.
The second change is “keyword search”. In the blog post, there are mentions that the algorithm will try to show more of the content that includes identical keywords & sentence structure to “user search queries”. To promote more relevancy and better content to users.
These are the main changes, I will share more on Pinterest in my upcoming blogs to help you overall with Pinterest marketing.
Platform Changes: Pinterest users can now add links to every single Posting format. And added a new platform analytics feature for better insights.

Twitter: Regaining Advertiser Trust & Bots

With the new Twitter CEO coming in, One of the Top Advertisers mentioned their comeback to advertise on the Bird app. But mid-micro advertisers are still not loving the Ad platform.
Besides advertising, Twitter continues to launch new services and features for Blue subscribers. And decreasing creator monetization requirements, increasing the video upload limit to 2 hours. The other focus is on attracting more advertisers to the platform.
A lot going on forTwitter. But the biggest issue is that Bot spam is at its peak, removing bots was one of the biggest promises made by ElonMusk. Still not delivered.
I have my fingers crossed for June.
Execution Considerations:
Twitter is getting better at recommending relevant tweets under the original tweets you read. And as you know it is mentioned on Github that the Twitter connection network plays a huge role in getting content discovered.
I recommend refining your network and networking with the right audiences. Kinda old advice but the platform is testing new prompts related to this. That is why you should click on it.

Agencies & Brands: Who got the best campaign?

Starting with the world's biggest marketing agency will get even bigger with a new partnership with Nvidia. WPP is partnering with Nvidia to use its AI technology to level up its campaigns. Link!
Shorty Awards took place in May and here is the full list of winners. Have a look and get inspired for next year.
VCCP, a London-based creative agency, is launching an AI-creative agency. The usage of generative AI is increasing very fast and adaptation is the key now. Link!
This month was filled with brand and marketing events. I found a curated list of brand marketing events that took place in May. Link!
The New Bud Light is “The North Face”. The new campaign featuring a drag queen is catching negative attention like Budlight. Link!
Jaskaran: I started tracking agency news for the newsletter last week, for future monthly recaps you will find more and better recaps.

Instagram: Targeted Advertising!

Believe it or not. Meta is moving fast with Instagram now. Tiktok announced their search ads will roll out slowly to marketers, and last week Meta came in clutch and announced “Instagram search Ads”. You can access them through the Instagram marketing API. Link!
Besides that Instagram made a huge spark as the information about a new Twitter viral came up. Meta is expected to launch a new decentralized Twitter-like app for their users in June. Many are excited about it. It could be a great opportunity for businesses as many find IG very hard to scale.
Decentralized means your followers can follow you on the new app with one click. This app can help you reach more existing followers on IG & FB.
Other than these two, there was a list of updates including a new creator fund announcement. But not much impacting your organic growth.

PPC: New Policies Kicking In

For the second half of 2023, Advertisers in the UK & EU need compliance with these new Google Ad requirements. Link!
Google and Walmart both took steps to make media buying and Ad creative creation easier. You can read here about Google’s new approach to media buying and how Walmart here is trying to help businesses with Ad creatives.
Microsoft is moving fast with Bing Chat Advertising, You can now use Chat Ads API to integrate ads within Bing AI. Link!
There were a few other marketing product updates for Microsoft in terms of improving targeting and utilizing AI. One of my favorites is the recent UET update to their analytics dashboard.
For more information, I recommend revisiting our last emails & read this recent Google marketing live recap.

Meta: Data Limitations & AI for Marketers

Meta is stuck. Yes, because they have developed one of the best AI languages and structures to benefit marketers. For example, this new engineering blog showcasing its new AI content structure is golden. Link!
At the same time, Meta is having huge issues in the EU & UK with their data usage. The platform Received a $1.2B fine and now UK representatives are limiting data usage for Meta. Good for privacy but points to a huge problem for paid media marketers.
Meaning Meta’s future is bright due to AI research & frameworks but data issues are like close friends showing up every single day.
Other than this, Meta is launching AI tools to help marketers create better Ad creatives. Link!
In April, Meta increased its involvement in AI to push organic content and in May was focused on utilizing AI for paid media offerings.
Facebook: New Lead generation forms features and a few updates to Facebook reels were key product updates.
WhatsApp: New Updates to WhatsApp Chat features with the addition of Chat Lock, sharing with captions & new polls feature.

SEO: It's all changed but…

With multiple announcements, Google search page structure & how content is ranked will be changing. The new interface is expected to prefer AI-generated results but for June. This new feature is opt-in, users on the desktop can choose to get AI results within a search. Changing their Google page experience.
Many SEOs are predicting a 70-80% traffic drop in the upcoming months. But many experienced SEOs believe changes are good and the traffic for the future will be more quality-oriented.
These insights linked below are from the best SEOs and their opinions on recent search engine marketing changes.
11 Realizations from testing search generative experience. Link!
Aleyda Solis on new Google Changes. Link!
The AI takeover of Google Search. Verge
The technical SEO world is going through many changes. My advice is to keep your focus on the content strategy part for a while. And improve that!
Youtube: New Ad Formats & Algorithm
After doing $40B in revenue last year. The platform announced new Ad formats at IAB Newsfront. With the launch of 30-second unskippable Ads on Connected TV.
Where Youtube is headed with Unskippable Ads is the future of online movie & content streaming. Either platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and other services have to give up a share of revenue. Or they need to go back to unskippable Connected TV Ads format to pay the writers.
Coming back to Youtube, Every week on their “creator insider” channel they announce various new updates. The highlight was the recent update of community post creation for all users.
Partnering with Influencers and using community posts to target core audiences is one of the best strategies based on this new update.

Marketing Research: What Changed?

1. Don’t stress out about AI. More than 40% of Americans have never heard of ChatGPT. And only 14% have tried it. (PewResearch)
2. Watch out for Podcast Ads, the Ad spend on podcasts is increasing and revenue is up 26% YoY. (IAB)
3. Gartner’s research on How ChatGPT is useful to CMOs. (Gartner)
4. CTV Ad fraud is increasing with the usage of Bots. (Double Verify)
5. Are Twitter users planning a comeback or leaving? (Pew)
6. Where is the media spending moving? It is decreasing for a few industries, but only moving to other channels for many. (Insider)

LinkedIn: Continued Organic Growth

As the round of layoffs is not stopping, LinkedIn is having its best time. The in-app activity continues to increase and now the platform has 930 million monthly active users, closing in on the 1 billion mark very soon.
LinkedIn is embracing AI in May with new AI features to help with messaging, job descriptions, and other hiring processes.
All that growth doesn’t mean everything is great. As the platform laid off 700 employees this month.
Overall, LinkedIn is doing good and viewers are loving their new marketing campaign. Watch!

Reddit: E-commerce World

I wrote about this in my updated social media trends post. Reddit is working on various new e-commerce features.
While many believe that the nature of Reddit doesn’t fit e-commerce offerings. Many product reviews and conversations take place on Reddit and users get the ability to integrate products from other businesses within the content. It could work very well.
Using these features to self-promote is impossible but with the right execution. It can do a charm.
Others: Reddit is going through a bot followers scam.

Mini-Bites: Snapchat, Airbnb & Others

Airbnb did the social listening well to steal the attention of an influencer’s audience. (Business Insider)
Peacock’s Twitter strategy and latest viral tweet. (Read)
Snapchat continues to develop its AR offerings with recent updates. Brands can take advantage of AR even more. (SMT)
Lulumelon’s Tiktok page is an inspiration board for SMMs. (Watch)
PS: Due to sub-reddit rules, no links. You can subscribe to my newsletter for linked insights and weekly marketing recaps.

I have a 2011 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited with nearly 200K miles on it. One day the brake lights came on, and so I took the car into the shop and spent nearly $1K on new brake pads and rotors. Then, literally as I am leaving the shop, the break lights come on again. The shop thinks it's an electrical error and resets the system, and I drive away once more. However, as I am driving on the highway, my break lights start flashing, the traction control light (ABS) comes on, and the AT oil temp light comes on. The shop then tells me that there is something wrong with the transmission, and refers me to another shop. The shop runs some diagnostics and the codes that came up were: p0700, p2762, c0231, and c0232. They tell me that to repair the transmission and the ABS system it will cost nearly $3,000. The value on the car is somewhere between $4,000-$7,000 (I think).
I'm having trouble justifying paying for this when my car is at 200K miles. I don't know if spending an extra $3K is worth it (although I did just spend $1K on the brakes). I am a student in school, and need a car... I could lease or take out a loan for a new car. I am not sure what would be the best option though. Thoughts on whether you think it'd be worth it to repair it or better to just get a new car?
I put the quote I received in this post too. I'm hoping someone can look it over and let me know if they think the cost is reasonable for the work. I haven't found another transmission shop around where I live (San Francisco).
If there is a better community to post this on, let me know.
https://preview.redd.it/wfga9t9zlj3b1.png?width=602&format=png&auto=webp&s=978aa1f78091740160bd927639c902a59013a289

To begin with, this is the first time I've bought a game through Johren. It's probably going to be the last time.
I decided to buy the game "Dohna Dohna" when I found that it came out in english. I was not aware of the DRM when I purchased it. The game ran fine on pc, and I decided to try and get a copy on my Steam Deck.
So I transfer the game files from my pc via usb. I had to enter the activation code again, but it ran fine when I did. Actually, it runs great since the only control actually required is the mouse.
Next day, I tried to play the game again. Got an error message saying the license is invalid. Uh... it's probably because I'm not connected to the internet. Still invalid after I connect. I start googling. Oh hey, Johren only allows THREE activations per key. But I can revoke the key and regain an activation by adding " /revoke" at the end of the shortcut. I do it.
"License Revocation Failed"
Great. So now I am stuck unable to revoke this license. I can probably try customer support, but apparently they aren't that helpful. Supposedly, their most helpful advice usually amounts to "BUY THE GAME AGAIN." Regardless, I'm probably down to just one more activation for the game.
I'm not really sure what to do. I've found that other people have managed to get the game to run on the Steam Deck using a Japanese based exe, but that requires messing with the locale settings, and also nabbing a copy of the exe. Chances are, the game is going to be fine on my pc and I'll just have to live without being able to play the game on the go, along with only being able to activate the game one last time.
But that said, these issues might end up being a problem for others, and I couldn't find any information on this topic. I don't know why my license became invalid, and why I'm unable to revoke the license.
While I personally am ok with giving up here, I felt the need to make the post for others, mostly as a warning on Johren's DRM policy and how you can screw yourself out of an activation for the license trying to get their games on the deck. If anyone has any advice for myself and others in this situation, can you please share?

Hey all. I just finished up Dave (Lost episode, not the movie Dave). There's a lot of belief behind Dave being dead, and Hurley being able to see Dave because of Hurley's abilities. Here is why I don't think this is the case:

1. This episode is fully focused on Hurley. Yes, Libby is in it, but Dave pays her no attention whatsoever. If he were hanging around to be near her in the afterlife, he's not really attentive to her or even shows any caring towards what she does.
   
2. If Dave were wanting to be near Libby, why would he want to run off with Hurley and escape the hospital? He would want to stay in the hospital close by. He also wouldn't want to jump off a cliff for no reason and entice Hurley to die. He wouldn't see himself as in Hurley's dream. And the writers confirmed over and over that it all wasn't just a dream.
   
3. Everything Dave wants Hurley to do is really what Hurley wants to do, and is projecting. Not eat celery, listen to Dave. Run away from therapeutic treatment that's working? Dave already has the keys. I think that Hurley had a feeling of hopelessness on the island. With his bouts of fighting food addiction, and the food keeping on showing up. And just being stuck on the island in general away from his mom and life back home. Suicide may have been a way out, and Dave guiding him.
   
4. If Hurley could have seen dead people off the island, you'd think he would have known he could see dead people by then. He would have been inundated with dead people looking to communicate. He wasn't tho. The only person only he saw was Dave. Yes, it's possible he met people that he didn't know we're dead. But, I just feel they would be everywhere.
   
5. If the Man in Black disguised himself at Dave, would he really do that jump off the cliff to entice Hurley? It seems out of character even for early season incantations, including how behaved as Christian. This one is a stretch I know. Just really doesn't have the feel of the Man in Black.
   

This really is a great episode. Several great one-liners, and just overall one of the best from Season 2.
This is all of course my opinion. Let me know what you think.

Hi guys. First of all, I'm really sorry if I misspell something, english is not my first language.
Last night, I was sleeping and having a "normal" dream until something else invaded that dream. A door or portal (I'm not sure) started forming in the air right in front of me. I became very curious and as I approached, the door opened, revealing a huge, dark, and cold corridor. It was dark, and there was a spiritual aura in that corridor that frightened me. Just as I was about to give up on entering it, I felt a hand on my shoulder. When that hand touched my shoulder, I shrunk down and started crawling on the ground (I think I transformed into a snake), and that somehow made me feel safe enough to pass through the corridor.
Inside the corridor, there were many doors, and I could see glimpses of light and images through the cracks. These seemed like memories. I could hear various sounds coming from the doors, voices conversing, laughter... But I didn't want to enter any of those doors, despite my curiosity. I stopped at the end of the corridor when the last door in front of me opened, and I entered it, and then I started watching a new dream, and I'm pretty sure it was my past life - all of the sensations were TOO VIVID and I can even remember smells, writings on banners, and too many details that I wouldn't remember if it was just a weird dream.
After I entered the door, it seemed like I "returned" to being human and started witnessing several memories of a past life, but they were scrambled and out of order.
The first memory that came to mind was when I was wearing red lipstick, a long dress that didn't seem to belong to this era, and I was smoking a thing that looked like a thin stick, like, it wasn't a common cigarette. I appeared to be young but trying to portray a mature woman. I remember I was scared, not wanting to be recognized. I was on the rooftop of a condominium or hotel (I'm not sure) waiting for my mama, and a very confident, charming, and polite man with a mustache and a suit became interested in me, he was watching me from a distance. He started talking to me, I remember I was trying to be seductive and wanted to look like I was bored, but he made me smile and laugh, and that sensation was weird, it was like I haven't laughed in a while, it felt like relief. Even when I rejected him and tried to be rude, he didn't give up the interest in me, he laughed and seemed to like me even more.
The second memory was of when I was a little girl, wearing a standout red cardigan, living in a village with lots of snow. I would walk home following a train line that was still being constructed I guess, and the men in that village would fish in a large lake, that would freeze in the winter. The houses were small, there were no tall buildings, and the only vegetation was like a tundra. [When I talked to my best friend about this part of the dream, we researched similar places to this one that I dreamed, and after some time we found pictures of places in Russia that seemed veeeeeery similar to this place, specially a city called "Murmansk". I didn't even know this city even existed and never heard of that place in my life, I'M A BRAZILIAN].
​
The third memory I had was when I was a slightly older girl, but it was before the first memory, I think here I was what, 13? 16? I'm not sure. I had long, brown hair and wore a white dress with ruffled edges that went down to my calves, like girls would wear in ancient times, around 1910/1920. I lived in a house that looked like a mansion, with brick roofs and a large estate that included a grove and a fountain. I remember the memory starting with me arriving from the sky, perhaps by a small airplane or helicopter (??) or some other aerial vehicle (?? i really don't know). I was truly wealthy, with one or two servants waiting for me, and my father was a wealthy man who loved me dearly. I was his darling. He seemed to be a professor at a university or something similar, he was a man of knowledge. I remember hearing people calling me... "Masha," "Masha". I was really happy and lived a good life around that time, I remember feeling like everything was right. [When I told my best friend about that, she enlightened me that Masha is a Russian name and that it was actually a nickname for Maria. And I didn't even know Maria was a Russian name, since it's pretty common here in Latin America too. I was mesmerized. Still am.]
​
The fourth memory is precisely with my father. I remember being in some place underground, like a mine or a metro (I remember it had a train line and some trolleys) and oddly enough, that's where I studied, alongside other young people, some girls and mostly young men. I studied in a laboratory with my father's support, but what I was doing seemed to be illegal, I don't know. I think it was not allowed for me to study. I apparently had a fiancé, a blond, white man, and he was really wealthy. I loved him at first, but something involving sex happened, I'm not sure. It was after this "sexual encounter" that I completely lost interest in him, I felt disgusted by him and only wanted to know about studying, I didn't want to be his wife. I reall can't remember how, but in the end I avoided marrying him. That's when everything seemed to start going wrong, but I don't know how either.
​
The fifth memory is of my engagement party with the charming mustached man I met in the first memory. I truly loved him and was very, very happy, oh my god, I can't even describe. We were celebrating our engagement in a place that looked like a small dinebar and I remember the smell of strong perfum, food that involves garlic and sweat (but I didn't find it disgusting, it was hot inside while it was really cold outside, as always. I remember I was so happy I was ecstatic). I remember having diverse guests, some people who seemed to be on the margins of society, like black people, homosexual people, etc. They were all my friends, dear people to me. I remember reaching the back of the diner and seeing my mother wearing a fur coat and a pearl necklace, dressed in 1920s attire, all elegant compared to the rest of us, who were not simple but not so wealthy looking. She was crying because my father had already passed away and because she had no money for anything. She was devastated, and that saddened me deeply, cause I missed her and I missed the feeling of not being the mother to my own mother. I was a 100% certain she would use the money I gave her to buy alcohol since she had become an alcoholic by that point. She smiled at that moment (that was the only time she smiled the entire night) and left through the back with a friend. I remember that impacted me very much, and my fiancé comforted me.
The sixth memory is strange. I was much poorer, living in a very simple cottage with my mother and the man who had become my husband. I remember being in the bedroom with my husband, being... Y'know... intimate, and the sensations felt really real. And my mother was clueless and quite intrusive. She entered the room without knocking or giving any warning, and it was a very embarrassing moment, I remember losing my temper with her and almost yelling that she couldn't do that kind of thing. Then, I remember putting on my clothes, a long-sleeved dress that went down to my calves and was straight, and brown boots. I was skinny and lived in a village with some trees and wooden houses. I recall being a teacher at a school for homosexual boys, I was protecting them from the law, trying to teach tem how to survive while everybody thought they were there to be "reformed". My husband knew everything and was very supportive. Then there was this day when a really strict general entered the school, I already knew him from before. He was there again, wanting to see if the boys were "reformed," and I had to quickly warn the boys to maintain their composure. I remember the general wearing black leather clothes, an imposing hat/beret, and I was so afraid of him that my legs trembled and despite me being a rebel at that point of my life, I was scared like a chicken. I felt like he knew I was lying, like he caught me but acted cool, and I remember thinking that my life was in danger. [Later, when talking to my best friend, I realized that the way he dressed and his behavior reminded me a little too much of a nazi general/soldier. I'm not sure, but this could be it].
​
The last memory I recall is visiting my husband in prison during winter when there was A LOT of wind and snow. I was wearing a dress, boots, and a warm brown coat, with two pigtails on each side of my head, like "Mary Jane" style. I had a heavy heart as I entered a dark and gray corridor, searching for my husband in the cells until I found him. He was shirtless, barefoot, wearing only gray sweatpants, lying on a stone bench, and he was very strong. I remember being horrified and screaming in despair with all the strenght I had in my lungs, "They're going to kill him! He will die of cold! Cover him up right now!". It was truly horrifying to me, specially because the reason he was there wasn't fair, he didn't do anything wrong, in fact he was fighting for what was right (I don't know what it was, but I remember I kept repeating this inside my mind, like, talking to myself, so revolted for all of this situation, as if it all wasn't fair at all). I recall another man, I'm not sure if he was a corrupt prison guard or a fellow inmate who had been released, gave me the key, and I managed to open the cell where my husband was. It seems like it was planned but I didn't know, we escaped and started running. I remember running through the emergency exit, the fire stairs, and the alarm was triggered. Men in uniforms came running after us with weapons in their hands. I remember almost losing my husband of sight because he was trying to close the door so we could win time, but I waited for him until the end, and we were going downstairs, jumping the stairs. In the end, I only remember that by some miracle, we managed to escape and reached an abandoned wooden cottage where he got dressed, and there was hot soup prepared by his sister, who provided us shelter, but I don't think we had a 'plan B' to get out of there and move on. We had nowhere to go, I guess, but I'm not sure. I just remember being tired, running, the sensation of my heart pulsing so fast I could feel it in my head. I was determined to save my husband.
​
That's the last memory I have. After that, I don't remember anything else, but I woke up with a sense that our story ended badly. I remember I could'nt stop crying. And I know it all sounds too much of a fanfic but I swear I'm not lying, I swear to god - my boyfriend texted me that morning when I was talking to my best friend about this weird dream, and told me he dreamt that he was a doctor and lived in Russia with me. When I started talking to Erica (my best friend) about it, he was still sleeping. He's my bestfriend since we were little, we've been together for 5 years now and it's been a while since we started talking about marriage, which is something that we plan for the near future. I don't know if he was the man in my dreams, but what he said is stuck in my head. Could he be that man?
​
I'm certain it wasn't just some hallucination, it was a past life memory. I just don't understand, why would the universe/god/whatever's up there make me remember this life? Because it wasn't a hypnotherapy, I wasn't meditating, I was SLEEPING. It happend involuntarily. What do they want to tell me? Why couldn't I see how I died, was it too traumatizing? Who was Masha/Maria? Who was her father, what was the name of my husband? Will I ever know? I'm just so, so curious. I want to know more.
​
What do you guys think of this all? What should I do? I'd like to go to a hypnotherapy session but I'm so afraid of, Idk, feeling pain, or seeing how I died and ending up more terrified than I already am of death. I really don't know. But I want to know who Masha/Maria was, what was her last name, if she really existed... I just need to know it was real.

So I finally got good and wiped out the whole first area of the town. I killed Vile, killed the priest, killed the woodsman and all the lower level enemies around the village area.
I got the key from the mayor after having a nice afternoon meal with him and am now stuck looking for the last key. I think the beggar told me it was in the military base? I have no idea where that is though and I feel like i looked everywhere for it. Any pros know where its located and how to get go it?
Edit: Got it, thanks. Now I have to kill the weird ass elephant man who I think is actually the mayor or something.

I asked over at fordexplorer, but thought I would check here as well. I’ll preface by saying I’m not a mechanical novice and I’m definitely not afraid to remedy a problem on my own. I’m not a huge fan of our local Ford dealer, and after researching this topic, I felt confident I could fix this on my own. Now I’m stumped.
Last week, my wife's 2017 Explorer sunroof got stuck open unexpectedly while she was at lunch one day. I didn't realize that was a common issue on these Explorers because we've literally never had a problem with it at all and it gave no indication or symptoms of failure. She got about halfway home and tried the button again and it closed flawlessly. I started researching and realized this issue is more common than I realized (which was a relief because I was thinking the worst with a broken track or something along those lines). So I ordered a replacement motor (Motorcraft brand) from RockAuto and received it. Pulled everything apart to swap it out and realized I had gotten the wrong motor. Ordered the correct one and it arrived today so I went back to put everything back together this evening. Got the new motor installed and attempted the reprogram procedure for it- this is where I ran into problems. Doing the door open, ignition on, then off, then back on, pressing the tilt button and releasing then pressing and holding again. Both times when I press the button the glass moves backwards about 1/2" and stops. When I release and press and hold it, does the same thing. I've tried every combination I can think of, but it will only move back. Now, it's standing completely open and can't go back any further. If I let it sit with the ignition on for like 10 seconds and press the buttons, I can hear the motor click, but it won't do anything else. Luckily we have a garage so the car is covered but I can't find anywhere showing this as being a problem with the relearn procedure. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the new motor and starting over, I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery on the car and starting the procedure over. Nothing works. So now the sunroof is wide open again, and I don't exactly know what to do now aside from tucking my tail and scheduling an appointment with my local dealer to see if they can resolve the issue which I'm afraid will result in them telling me this new motor is bad and needs to be replaced again or some nonsense. (Mind you, I called them to price a motor before I ordered one online and they told me that same Motorcraft glass motor was $485. It was $135 from RockAuto and it arrived in a Motorcraft labeled box with Motorcraft stickers on it.)
Any advice or help would be appreciated!
UPDATE: took the new motor out and swapped back in the old motor to see what would happen. When I initialize the learning procedure, it's wants to try and tilt the glass up even though it's in the fully open position. It's like it's binding up and wanting to tilt up and slide forward at the same time. I have no clue what I've done here. I don't know why it would only slide backwards when I tried to initialize the new motor and now it's like it's stuck and can't figure out what to do. What a pain in the ass. I've had countless vehicles with sunroofs and never had a single issue. I guess I was long overdue.

It is hard to know where to start. So let's go to the beginning, although I (M in the 40s) will be missing a lot of things. And hard to tell so many things without potentially exposing identities. Sorry for the long text. Also sorry for the typos, English is not my mother tongue.
And, please, don't simplify and say "divorce" or whatever. This is a very complex topic, and I'm just trying to put some order in my thoughts. A bit more context is appreciated.
I met my (for now at least) wife (F in the advanced 30s) almost 6 years ago. She liked a lot the gothic scene (among others such), and seemed to be a bit too emotionaly driven [letting her emotions do the decisions, unlike me that I force myself to be rational], and also a bit insecure in some aspects and wanting reasurance by trying to get some attention (Dressing sexy, using strange color contact lenses, outfits, ... Nothing too strange in the gothic scene, on the other hand). Besides that, she was a nice person. In the other hand, I am more a standard person, a bit more kept to myself and loner, although I don't care about the differences. At first we were seing each other a minimum of 2 days per week (we both worked and we didn't live in the same area, but that time went slowly increasing over time), and spending frequently time with each other in each other's flat after a while. That went for a month before an overseas trip that she had planned long time ago with a friend of hers, involving also a cruise with concerts. In that cruise, she said that she was kissed by the singer of one of the groups, but then she backed away and nothing else happened. She said that she moved away because she thought of me. Because she was not sure of what kind of relationship we would want to have, as she had before open relationships and poli-amorous relationships. I didn't like it, but I decided to trust her. And then we spoke that I was not into open relationships or poli-amorous ones, and she agreed to a "standard" monogamous relationship (Anything else should be discussed among us). After a while, she kissed several times with some other girls. I told her that not kissing other people also included women, unless we did so both of us (For me, if we agree to experience something, should be together, to share it, or not. And I didn't need to kiss anyone, but, if she wanted that was the deal). She said she didn't want to share me, and that she thought that it was OK, but that she wouldn't do that again now that she knew.
Fast forward, we started spending way more time together, to the point where we were most of the time living under the same roof, so, after a while (1 year or so), we decided that she could move in to my flat and leave hers. After that, some rough patches, as she had some very bad experiences and some strong traumas in the past which I was trying to help her pass [I'm not an expert, so I just tried to be patient and supportive, and every progress was, at the best, very slow], so sometimes it was hard to deal with her reactions/emotions. I'm not saying that I am perfect and don't have flaws, because I do. But I always tried to keep things from escalating, because when I get angry I can't let things go easily, unlike her that is able to do so and was actually de-escalating. Some times pushing it a bit [she asked for hugs and turn things back to normality, while I was still angry after a while and not feeling like it], but I guess that, without that, maybe it would have been worse, since I tend to keep it inside for long. However, we were fighting with a decent frequency, and that was being a problem to me (It was also the reason I finished my last relationship). I make a very big effort to be a calm person, but I do so to avoid the fights and getting angry. At a given point some months later, she wanted to move the relationship forward (thinking about having a kid), but I was adamant that I would not go that far until she had solved at least partially her issues. I told her that having a kid is quite stressful and exhausting, so it would like adding gasoline to a fire, and that wouldn't be good for us and even less for a kid. It led to some more fights, but, over time, she managed to work on some of them that she had stuck and were critical, and at a given point, when I thought they improved enough (She did a great effort), I said we could try to have it. By then we were together for more than 3 years, and living together for 2. Not much, I know, but it looked better by then. And, after almost no time, she got pregnant.
To be fair, the time after that seemed quite chill and nice (as much as a pregnancy can be, you are always checking and worrying about one thing or the other, especially being first timers). And then he was born.
He was a good kid, but needed a constant supervision. He developed pretty fast and was fearless, so he was a danger for himself quite some times. Nice time, but exhausting (he also never slept good). My family was too far, and hers was close but not that available. So it was mostly us alone most of the time. Some months after the birth, we decided to buy an (expensive, as all the ones here) house. That would suit our family needs of space with the kid.
After another year, we were quite exhausted in general. Also, our sex live was getting quite bad by that time (until then it was OK, even after the birth [with the quarantine, of course]). I was getting frustrated, and we spoke about it, with temporary patches, but then falling again into lack of sex for long periods. Although I would have liked to do an effort despite being so tired, she said it was not expontaneous and it was difficult to enjoy it. And since a lot of times she said she was tired (we both were, so she wasn't lying), and the only time that we had for ourselves was one or two hours in the evening, then there was nothing. I know that it is hard to spend some energy for it in a moment when you are tired and probably need to relax mentally too before, but there was no other time. And she also said that she felt the excitement and desire as having abandoned her (although reasuring that she still was finding me sexy). And, some of the times during sex [and not just a few...], she would finish but not me, and, since she was already tired and after the orgasm that increased even, she said that I could try to finish, but her not participating that much, just laying there. And sometimes (frequently) felt that I was having sex with a doll, or she was showing how tired she was, and then I usually would feel even more frustrated and stop completely to have sex. The fun and excitement was gone for me. So, in the end, I stopped trying mostly. I am a quite sexual person, so it was better for my mental health not to propose anything than being rejected almost every time. She complained about it (me not initiating), saying that me initiating would help her to get in the mood, but I just told her I couldn't do that without getting burned out because of the rejections.
Again fast forward, by the time that he was 2 (Around six months later), we were two exhausted parents that spent most of the time taking care of him and arranging things for the house and such. And work, of course. But then, although him requiring a lot of supervision, it was not as extreme as before, and there was the posibility to do things, since one of us could take care of him without getting burned out. Since I am not from the region and my friends and family were far, she was the one who actually had the chance to start doing things (sports, going to some events, ...). And, in fair, she was from time to time taking him to some places to give me some time to rest when I was too exhausted. But the sex issue persisted. And it was frustrating in a way to see her come home horny after being partying or attending a birthday or something out. I do understand that then she could relax and have a good time, and that helped her head and also her body, but actually that frustrated me also because, well, it's not like I was the one getting her in that state).
And then we got to the point when she was going to take a 5 days trip (700kms away) to her favourite festival with 3 other girls that I know. 2 of them that we see with a given frequence. And she was also going to meet many more friends that she knew from long time ago and were going from different countries. The festival was a bit of gothic, electronic, industrial, ... ("dark music and dark culture" as self defined). And with some dressing to appear sexy or extravagant and such. I went with her before the kid, and it was not my thing, so I didn't feel like going. And someone needed to take care of the kid anyway. So I stayed home taking care of him. Days before the trip the kid mingled with the suitcase, taking clothes out, and she started complaining, and then showed me some clothes, stating that she would dress them in a fetish party. Note: I know that in the past she has gone to several of them. She also asked me to go with her to one whenever we had the chance, and I said we could consider it whenever that happened although probably not my thing (I'm quite private regarding my sex life). But fetish parties are sexual per se. And we were not having that much sex (with the exception of a trip to visit my family, but besides that, worse than ever). So I accepted, but didn't like it. I didn't appreciate to know that she was going to one of them two days before the trip, and even less when I was not going. I am not a jelous person, and I trusted her, but I didn't appreciate it. She claims that she told me before, but I have a very good memory, and that is not something that you would usually forget. And then they went to the festival. They went to concerts and such, so they were too busy going from a location to the other, and comunication was scarce. I would not have had time anyway with the kid for long chats. Then she told me that she went to a fetish party the day before and was planning to go to another in the next day (there were at least two in the festival, apparently). That started to make me feel a bit uncomfortable, but I chose to keep trusting her. After that, more of the same, until the last two days, when she started saying that she misses me and the kid, and started to be a bit more cheesy. But still enjoying the parties and concerts all the time.
Once she came back, she was quite excited despite being sleep deprived. She went telling me how she would have liked to kiss a gorgeous woman that she met, but remembered me and didn't, how she met so many people, including one guy that she said brought back memories and realized that she also loved him in a way, although not as much as me, differently, and that she would not do anything with him. She also asked me whether I thought you could love more than one people, and how somehow some parts of her reactivated there by going there on her own. He also mentioned that it felt a bit hard to not be able to let herself go and control herself from kissing people. She especified that she didn't kiss that guy, although she felt in a way inclined to do so. Also, she started speaking about how would I feel about her kissing other women. I repeated the same, in sex as a couple, if we do something together and agreeing, it's OK. But including both of us or nothing. She spoke about other men, and I told her that, since my view is the same (experimenting those things as a couple), but I am not attracted to man, that was a no. She also mentioned about potentially doing a threesome FMF (althouhg putting that as a hipothesis), which I said we would need to see in that moment, but could be, but that could take risks. She actually only likes to kiss and be touched by women, but not touching their sex, so I said I wasn't sure whether it would be fisible. And she asked about a threesome MFM, which I told her no for the same reason I said no to kissing men. And the same with other topics, bringing up ideas about how to reactivate our sex live. With some things I starting to ask myself things, such as whether she would like to go back to the kind of relationships that she had in the past, and that would be a no-go for me. But when I told her she told me that she loved me too much to risk anything, and if something was not on the table, we would move on.
A few days passed, and we were making a list of sexual acts to put in the to-do list, specifying which ones no, which ones we are not that interested but we might try, which ones we might need to think about it, which one we are interested and would like to try, and which ones we would love to try. She, of course, put love to try for kissing other men and having a MFM threesome. I put no. She spoke a bit about how she was young and how she felt that if she didn't try it now, it could be late later. Then I said that I understood her, and I didn't want her to be frustrated because of not having some of those things, so, if she wanted to, we could split ways amicably (despite I would feel bad and having a kid and a house in common, which is not easy), but that I didn't want to accept those two things. She said that she valued our relationship more, and that she didn't want to lose me for that, although she insisted a bit. After going through the list for a while, she was tired, so there was no point in keep explaining our points of view for every point in the list, and I told her that we should go to bed, because she was almost sleeping in the sofa. Then we argued low key because I told her that I didn't feel like speaking to her when she was laying in the sofa in a fetal position and with the eyes closed. In that soft argument, she came again speaking about those topics, and I repeated the same posibilities about no or going separate ways in a friendly way. And then she asked "would you divorce me about kissing another person?". And I asked her whether she did. And then she stayed silent. I said "I guess I take the silence as an answer". And after speaking, she finally admitted to have kissed the guy that she said she had some feelings for ("although not as much as for me"), and the same guy that went with her to one of the fetish parties. She said that nothing else happened (And that is probably true).
Now, after discussing how that is a breach of trust, some that we spoke long time ago, and that is not the first time, although I let that first one fly by, she was freaking out in case I would divorce because of that. And after some conversations I could figure out that one of her female friends that I know and with whom we have hanged out a lot, felt that she was having some feelings with the other guy and just said: "it's ok, don't worry". She says that she was unsure about how much that other woman knew, but I don't care. That shows that she knew enough. So that person became non grata for me automatically.
So now I am facing a decission about whether to divorce. I don't trust her now like before, even if it was only kissing. And I won't trust her about going alone anywhere, to be fair. And I don't want to be someone who said that she can't go alone to those places. And I know that she loves to go to concerts and parties. So in a way maybe the most rational way is to divorce. A divorce involving a 2 years old and a house, meaning that there would need to be some degree of relationship. And so far I am quite numb (went from numb to pissed, to angry, and then to numb again). But I have also not slept in more than 24 hours, and came from already lack of sleep from the previous days. So I leave this here to try to read some people's thoughts while I try to put order in mine.
Again, sorry for the shitty writting and the unconnected ideas, but I am not particularly fit now.
TLDR: My wife went to a trip and kissed a guy that she has some feelings for and went to a fetish party with him.

They were married for over 15 years, and during the time, she suffered verbal, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse. My wife has a jaw implant thanks to his hitting her more than once in the face. She has no toenails thanks to things he did to her. She only stuck it out because they had two children . . . one of which he threatened to rape if she didn't give him sex whenever he wanted. He's a convicted child sex offender, but due to some crazy nonsense circumstances involving his family's money, he was given primary custody of the two children and she, who was unemployed, had to pay child support. One of the children now lives with us and is a couple years out of high school, but he still claims her as a dependent for tax purposes. He cheated on her, once had sex with his cousin, and ultimately married a woman who looked at my wife in the face and told her that she would replace her as her children's mother since she was dying and it wouldn't matter (my wife fought cancer and survived, much to her then-husband's dismay). Unfortunately, this "mother replacement" has pretty much happened with the youngest child who's now graduating high school.
I need the hold this man has on my wife to end. We don't see him. We have no communication with him, but with the youngest graduating and going away to college later this year, it's been so difficult. She, a victim of grooming and who knows what else is happening in that house, has cut us off. We've reached out. We've tried to be there for her. She doesn't want it, and continues to do things that hurt her mother. I've spent so many nights holding my wife as she cries herself to sleep.
The thing is I'm not a bad person. I've never held grudges or gone after people for things. But this man (and by extension, his wife) put me in a place that I don't know well. I want revenge. I want justice. My wife shouldn't have had to pay child support. My wife shouldn't have had to live in fear until mid-2022 that he would show up since the youngest daughter had a key to her house which meant the ex could have shown up here armed (the locks have been changed). She shouldn't have had to suffer and continue to suffer because her ex put his hands on her, beat her, raped her, gaslit her, and got upset when she survived cancer.
Oh, yes, he's armed. We live in an area in which the sheriff's department refuses to enforce certain gun control laws when it comes to who can and who can't own a firearm. His criminal record should preclude him from owning a gun, but he has one nonetheless.
I don't know what to do. We're going to the youngest daughter's graduation - it's a public event outside - and I'm anticipating it's going to be hell on my wife. Sure, the youngest daughter is 18 and an adult and I'm trying to allow the daughter enough grace in that I recognize she's lived with that man for so long and have heard all kinds of garbage from him. She herself has no memory of the time he held her up as a child and shook her by the ankles, breaking her leg.
As for the oldest child, the minute she turned 18, she moved out of the father's house and moved in with my wife. The oldest was more aware of what was happening and sees what is happening with her sister.
How do I stop this man from living rent free in my wife's head? How do I ensure he's not hurting anyone else? How do we free the daughter from his influence? I'm at a loss . . .

So, the window opens and closes when I put the key in the ignition, and put it to on position.
But, once I start the engine, the window will no longer open and close.
Thought it might be a fuse?
The other windows fully function in both power on and engine started modes.
Any ideas?
Edit: looks like another poster suffered the same fate! https://www.reddit.com/NissanRogue/comments/113ukon/2015_nissan_rogue_rear_left_window_wont_go_up_or

I’m hoping someone can help me out here. Last week, my wife’s 2017 Explorer sunroof got stuck open unexpectedly while she was at lunch one day. I didn’t realize that was a common issue on these Explorers because we’ve literally never had a problem with it at all and it gave no indication or symptoms of failure.
She got about halfway home and tried the button again and it closed flawlessly. I started researching and realized this issue is more common than I realized (which was a relief because I was thinking the worst with a broken track or something along those lines).
So I ordered a replacement motor (Motorcraft brand) from RockAuto and received it. Pulled everything apart to swap it out and realized I had gotten the wrong motor. Ordered the correct one and it arrived today so I went back to put everything back together this evening. Got the new motor installed and attempted the reprogram procedure for it— this is where I ran into problems.
Doing the door open, ignition on, then off, then back on, pressing the tilt button and releasing then pressing and holding again. Both times when I press the button the glass moves backwards about 1/2” and stops. When I release and press and hold it, does the same thing. I’ve tried every combination I can think of, but it will only move back. Now, it’s standing completely open and can’t go back any further. If I let it sit with the ignition on for like 10 seconds and press the buttons, I can hear the motor click, but it won’t do anything else.
Luckily we have a garage so the car is covered but I can’t find anywhere showing this as being a problem with the relearn procedure. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the new motor and starting over, I tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery on the car and starting the procedure over. Nothing works. So now the sunroof is wide open again, and I don’t exactly know what to do now aside from tucking my tail and scheduling an appointment with my local dealer to see if they can resolve the issue which I’m afraid will result in them telling me this new motor is bad and needs to be replaced again or some nonsense. (Mind you, I called them to price a motor before I ordered one online and they told me that same Motorcraft glass motor was $485. It was $135 from RockAuto and it arrived in a Motorcraft labeled box with Motorcraft stickers on it.)
Any advice or help would be appreciated!
UPDATE: took the new motor out and swapped back in the old motor to see what would happen. When I initialize the learning procedure, it’s wants to try and tilt the glass up even though it’s in the fully open position. It’s like it’s binding up and wanting to tilt up and slide forward at the same time. I have no clue what I’ve done here. I don’t know why it would only slide backwards when I tried to initialize the new motor and now it’s like it’s stuck and can’t figure out what to do.
What a pain in the ass. I’ve had countless vehicles with sunroofs and never had a single issue. I guess I was long overdue.

I am looking for a simple way to bind a key with VIA to a batch file or to do something like launch the command prompt / terminal in windows. There are several premade shortcuts for things like "My Computer" and "Calculator" but the one I really need is a key that opens a terminal. I've tried creating a macro that goes through the keypresses, but it keeps getting stuck when the Run window is launched and won't actually submit the command. Thanks!

Good evening. I am experiencing trouble with my 2011 sportwagen tdi.
A week ago I was driving on a road trip. We had been going for 2 hours and it was raining the entire time. We stopped to eat, and when we came back out to the car, it would not turn on. When the key was put into the ignition and in the on position, the only electronics that would work were the cluster, the rear wiper which never shuts off, and the power door unlock (only unlock).
After a lot of vehicle swapping and towing, I have it back in my yard. Now, I know the sunroof drain is an issue and it get clogged constantly. The drivers side is very often damp after a storm. This is where I believe the problem lies. Once my wife complained of water dripping on to her foot. I thought I had cleared the blockages, but I guess not. I believed the water leaked into the cabin behind the dash and has gotten into my electronics. So I started digging.
I discovered that the BCMPQ35 had water stains on it. I removed it and removed the cover and discovered 3 spots on the board that have burned out, pics below.
Should I keep looking? Or is this the culprit? And if it is the culprit, can this be replaced or does it need to be reprogrammed at a dealer? The nearest dealer to me is 150 miles away.
I’m an electrician, like to build robots and computers and the like, and I’ve fixed a few vehicles and am not afraid to try and fix it. I got it for a good deal and would rather not see it gone. I’m looking forward to any feedback and constructive suggestions as to how I can proceed. Can I fix the contacts on the board? Should I try and by a replacement? Thanks again.
https://imgur.com/a/Msfy13b/

Hey all, found this recently through a Bot basically dming me and telling me its a great game for me cause Im into Gaming. Ah yes, the infamous Gaming Genre of Gaming. I am definitely into Gaming, especially when it comes to Gaming and Gaming. Yea.
​
Anyhow, the game itself is marketed as a Web3 FPS game and has direct NFT tie-ins. If that wasnt bad enough, lemme point out some HEAVY issues with not just the marketing as they have a trailer but also other issues besides it.
​

1. If you look up Havens Compass Thirdperson you will find as the first and second result that the game is a Thirdperson Shooter. This is from an old Bio that somehow is still active in google. The new bio however mentions none of it and neither does the Trailer they put it recently show it as Thirdperson. https://i.ibb.co/tJzTSF5/image.png
2. There is already before release a heavy marketing campaign on NFTs as well as the advertising of NFT Marketplaces. https://i.ibb.co/HFBznDk/image.png
3. Right now the game supposedly is in Beta with the actual release launching in 2025. But their trailer says none of that and only says its gonna release in June. At which point they also already sell or Mint Gamekeys?? https://i.ibb.co/rGxHQGC/image.png
4. Both the Trailer and the Website market the game as an extra ordinary shooter with cool abilities and with heavy focus on Strategy and Action: Which on its own is fine if it wasnt for the fact that its trying to sell itself as more than any other game while describing itself as literally any other game. - They literally describe a shooter like Borderlands or Overwatch with Abilities that are customizable and more realistic guns. Realistic Guns btw which are modeled by modern standard but are supposed to be from 2140. Watch the trailer, I am not making this up. https://i.ibb.co/4VKTWCL/image.png (There is also a HUGE issue with how vague they are with their descriptions. Its like listening to someone talk for hours but they said nothing of value)
5. The next smaller issue you will find is the fact that the account is 100% botted and boosted. 12.5k followers with their trailer getting just around 1000 likes and rts. Which fine is not shabby but then the rest of their tweets maybe get like 50 likes and rts at best. https://i.ibb.co/d079gsw/image.png

​
Now onto the Trailer. I will not go over it in its entirety but more so over the key points that stuck out as to what was said.
​
The first thing they say is that its the ultimate FPS Shooter. Alright, confident. Like it.

1. The Lines between the Virtual and Reality are blurred and thus the players would need to adapt to survive. For one, what does that sentence even mean? The Virtual World and Reality? Virtual stuff on its own? You can kill people with PNGs and Gifs now. Oh wait I guess that makes sense since you can mint NFTs and even Game keys with this game.
2. This game is not your ordinary FPS, in fact it has a high focus on Tactical and Strategic Gameplay! Like... Literally every other FPS game. Even TF2 has a high focus on Tactical and Strategic Gameplay, its called "Dont go around the Corner, the Enemy team has a hacking Sniper!" Jokes aside, no seriously, this describes every shooter in the world. Not that the trailer itself shows you any tactical gameplay aside from cornerpeeking and Aim Down Sights gameplay.
3. Brother the sound effects and Ragdolls... They dont mention this but when you listen to it and watch it its just genuinly sad. This screams Unreal Asset Flip.
4. As the player you have a Robotic Spine which can be used to customize your player character. This way players can add new abilities to their character which however only work for a limited amount of time (and likely on a cooldown, thats me saying this btw, they dont mention it). So damn, they got special abilities? In a shooter? And you get to customize character? Well hot damn, Ill buy 500 keys! Oh wait thats like literally every modern shooter that isnt Cod plus customization on top.
5. The weapons from the year 2140 are design with Realism in mind! Damn! Thats good! So sad they sound like crap. Oh and of course we use bullets in the year 2140. You know cause Creativity rots once you get too much money I guess.
6. The trailer makes no mention of the fact that the game is completely based on NFTs. You can only buy game keys by minting them. You can only buy packs as NFTs. You can get ingame items as NFTs. You can get all this info by looking at their website and account itself. But the trailer mentions NONE of it and I feel its obvious as to why they dont. https://www.havenscompass.com/ https://twitter.com/HavensCompass
7. The Trailer thus far although obviously boosted, has gotten the most attention out of all their tweets. Its already sus but whats even worse is that most if not all accounts commenting are already cryptobros. So not only does the trailer which says nothing about the game mislead new possible customers by not stating that there is an NFT thing going on, people who never heard of NFTs or Crypto (yes normies exist) may end up falling into the trap of wanting to buy the game and wanting to just mint a key cause why not. Game seems neat to them so hey its not big deal. And down the rabbithole of scams they fall.

I don't know if it has been discussed here before, but I'll share a compilation of images that relate network connections Systems to Death Stranding - DS2 , giving a whole new meaning to the lyrics of the song "Ludens". and the Bridges part looks exactly what the player is coneccting on Death Stranding inside of a Well Scrypted Drama inside a simulation "Matrix Style".

• Bridges - Here are some key aspects of bridges in computer science:

Network connection: Bridges are used to connect separate local area networks (LANs), either by connecting segments of the same network or by interconnecting different networks, such as an Ethernet network and a Wi-Fi network.
Address learning: Bridges analyze the Media Access Control (MAC) addresses of devices connected to the network segments to learn which devices are connected on each side of the bridge. This allows them to make decisions about data forwarding based on the learned MAC addresses.
Filtering and forwarding: Bridges analyze the data packets that pass through them and make decisions on whether to forward or discard them. (Like when the player find other packets on the way) They use learned MAC address tables to determine which side of the network a packet should be sent to, thus avoiding unnecessary data transmission.
Network segment extension: Bridges can also be used to expand the capacity of a network segment. (Expand the Quiral Network) By connecting multiple bridges in cascade, multiple network segments can be connected into a single larger logical network.
https://ibb.co/nM3rTFS

• DrawBridge - Refers to a solution that allows the interconnection of two "LOCAL" Networks or two Network segments to a device or software

https://ibb.co/rbRf7kG

• DHV - Data-Handling Vehicle: DHV is an acronym used in the field of computer science to refer to a data-handling vehicle. This term may be related to systems or tools used to manage, store, and process data efficiently.

https://ibb.co/Ms8ztY7

• APAC - Adress & Port Alocation control : is a technique used to asaign and control IP adresses & Ports in a Network

As we can see, coincidentally, all the terms are related to network connectivity.

• Ludens Song: Some resist the future, some refuse the past Either way, it's messed up if we can't unplug the fact That a world covered in cables was never wired to last So, don't act so surprised when the program starts to crash. We plot in the shadows, hang out in the gallows Stuck in a loop for eternity.
  
• The Final loop to me. lets Conecting Worlds ! i Hope you enjoy the info !
  

https://twitter.com/KaiserGames1989
On Construction