Fnf big brother death

Hey everyone,
I started Zoloft one year ago for pretty severe postpartum anxiety. I had a panic attack, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t even rest. Ick. It was terrible. Across a few months I worked with my providers and landed on a dose of 150mg which has worked pretty well.
Lately I’ve felt like I wanted to trial decreasing the dose slightly. I talked to my provider and we agreed to go from 150mg to 125. I’m on day 4 of the decrease.
I have also had some serious family stuff coming up this week. Like, rehashing/reliving childhood trauma and going no contact with my brother. I’m also sending my 1 year old to daycare next Monday so that’s a big step. It’s been so much and so naturally I’ve been anxious af. My anxiety presents as an intrusive thought and immediately I have cold chills, feel flush, feel my heart racing and get all squirrely. I can usually talk myself right back down to calm, but these “surges” have been happening 3-5 times daily since Tuesday- the day I went no contact. They’re so uncomfortable and they get in the way of my life!
Long and short is- do you think I’m feeling this way because of my current social situation, or from the dose decrease? I’m not afraid to pop back up to 150 if needed, but I don’t want to if I don’t have to. I’m not trying to wean off completely, I just wanted to be on the lowest appropriate dose and since I’m now a year postpartum, thought I’d test the waters.
Help!

Stephen Smith Grand Jury Calling Witnesses, Reviewing Evidence
Cold case heats up … by FITSNews
According to our sources, the grand jury has been meeting for several weeks and has already heard critical evidence related to this unsolved murder – including evidence which “conclusively proves” Smith was killed at the site where his body was found.
Forensic expert Kenneth Kinsey has reportedly confirmed this assessment based on a review of the graphic crime scene photos of Smith’s murder. Kinsey was hired to review the evidence in this case as part of an independent investigation launched by Bland’s law firm.
To recap: Smith’s body was discovered by a passing motorist (a tow truck driver) at approximately 4:00 a.m. EDT on July 8, 2015 in the middle of Sandy Run Road near Crocketville, S.C. Initially deemed gunshot wound – and later a vehicular hit-and-run – the investigation was originally handled by the S.C. Highway Patrol (SCHP) “Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team” (MAIT). It wasn’t until nearly six years later that it became an active murder case handled by SLED.
SLED opened a homicide investigation into Smith’s death shortly after the savage slayings of 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021 at Moselle – a 1,700-acre hunting property straddling the Salkehatchie River which until recently belonged to the Murdaugh family.
Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh – a scion of this once-dominant legal dynasty – was convicted of those killings and sentenced to life in prison in March of this year.
What was the Murdaugh family’s connection to Smith’s death? It’s not immediately clear. According to 26-year-old Buster Murdaugh – who has been accused by many on social media of being involved in the crime – there is no connection.
“These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false,” Murdaugh said in a statement released back in March. “I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death.”
Others close to this story – including Sandy Smith – believe otherwise. In fact, Smith wrote a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the fall of 2016 detailing the Murdaugh family’s alleged involvement.
“Stephen had on more than one occasion mentioned to friends and his twin sister that he was involved romantically with someone from a prominent family in the county who was hiding his sexuality,” Smith wrote in her letter. “He said it would shock people to know this person was gay. We suspect this could be the young man Stephen was referring to, though he never named him.”
As this news outlet reported earlier this year, SLED is considering two persons of interest in connection with Smith’s death – 25-year-old Patrick Wilson and 25-year-old Shawn Connelly, both of Brunson, S.C.
. . .
STEPHEN SMITH CASE FILES
FILE 1: SANDY SMITH’S LETTER IMPLICATING BUSTER MURDAUGH
FILE 2: THE FIRST AUTOPSY
FILE 3: THE HIGHWAY PATROL REPORT
FILE 4: THE INITIAL INTERVIEWS
FILE 5: EXHUMATION, PERSONS OF INTEREST UPDATE
FILE 6: THE PRIVATE EYE
. . .
Both Wilson and Connelly lived in the area near where Stephen Smith’s body was found … and there is information obtained by SLED investigators which has reportedly drawn a sharper focus on them as potential suspects. Several of these same leads were followed by producers and investigators associated with the Netflix documentary – as well as the initial legal team retained by Sandy Smith. In November of 2021, Charleston, S.C. attorney Andy Savage – who at the time was representing Smith’s family – gave an interview to WCIV TV-4 in which he indicated the Murdaughs were “unconnected” to Smith’s murder and any speculation related to their involvement was “unfounded.”
“There are suspects we have in sight that are unconnected to Murdaugh,” Savage told reporters Anne Emerson and Drew Tripp. “The focus any in the media have on Murdaugh may be unfounded.”
Sandy Smith recoiled at that revelation – and parted ways with Savage as her attorney shortly thereafter.
As previously reported by this news outlet, on December 18, 2015 – five months after Smith’s murder – SCHP investigators received a tip from Wilson’s self-described step-father, Darrell Williams of Varnville, S.C. According to Williams, Wilson informed him that Connelly – another Hampton County teenager – was driving a vehicle which “struck and killed Stephen Smith.”
Who told him to share this information? Randy Murdaugh – Alex Murdaugh’s older brother.
According to case notes contained in the MAIT report, Williams “stated that the reason he was passing this information on was because Randy Murdaugh told him to call.”
As I have often noted, the crime scene in this case is “a study in contradictions.”
“The location of Smith’s body in the middle of the road was totally inconsistent with a vehicular strike – but the massive blood loss observed on the asphalt seemed inconsistent with him being murdered at another location,” I noted in a recent report.

So one of the common theories about what the Witness is doing in that triangle portal is that when they come out, they'll have power over both the light and the dark, or at least be able to wear the light like a cloak like he does the dark. A big question I have with the lore this season is... How is Xivu going to take that?
Xivu Arath, for anyone who's listened to the Ghosts of the Deep collectible, is having a bit of a bad time and is going though serious emotional turmoil at the death of her brother and king, us not taking the mantle of Taken King, and her only remaining sibling's betrayal to the light. In her final message at Oryx's grave, she echoes the sentiment that Savathûn had seeing us sitting with Crow. "What is this feeling? I do not want it." Initially, I thought that this was being used a moment to mirror her sister.
While her sister feels a longing for family and community and chooses to lay her life on the line to change sides to the Sky (while her primary goal was absolutely and always her own continued survival and she saw that more likely if she helped the traveler win or at least survive, I believe a part of it is that she sees that the light offers those things she longed for), Xivu feels a longing for how things used to be but steels her resolve and doubles down that even with that pain, this is how things should be. While I'm still pretty sure that's the case, I'm not as convinced.
Xivu Arath is no stranger to taking her enemy's power. Taken, wrathborn, and even now it seems like she condones necromancy. In one of her collectibles she effectively says that what she does cannot be blasphemy because if the sword logic is true then she survived Oryx and thus what she does to survive cannot be wrong.
I'm extremely interested to see just where her devotion lies. The Deep, as taught to her by her brother, and her brother's legacy, or the Witness? She believes she can see the Final Shape on the horizon aimed at our throats but we know from inspiral that, even if Xivu is a proper disciple now, none of them actually know what the final shape is and the Witness has and will lie to to them to keep them on side.
If it comes down to it, would she accept the Witness using the light? Would she accept it as just another tool of the enemy to be taken and used against them or would she see the Witness as not upholding the true logic of the sword?
There is effectively no chance of her turning on the Witness. I think even if she finds what he does blasphemy, she'd at best bow out and let us fight each other, or just go after us for different reasons while the Witness comes for us. To steal and paraphrase a line from Shadow keep, her hatred is as pure and potent as sunlight. We killed every single member of her family line.
Personally, I'm really hoping they keep Xivu around beyond final shape as an antagonistic force for the hive to rally behind. Savathûn, obviously, will still be there so it would be understandable if they want to rally the hive behind a single antagonist, but I really, really have been enjoying her characterization this season.

I just watched 4.13 of rebels (season 4 episode 13), and this stood out a lot to me. So quick summary, Sabine and Ezra have just rescued Sabines dad and are on their way back to wherever the fuck clan wren is located, Bo Katan, fenn rau and a few others are with them. They get a call from sabines mother about reinforcements, when suddenly a device known as the duchess (which Sabine built) is turned on, now, many many Mandos (excluding sab’s mother and brother, cause plot armor) are wiped out (because the machine targets beaker and superheats it, to where the wearer is disintegrated, because of the heat), they get on a ship back to base or smth, no-katan is (understandably) angry, cause a good portion of her clan was wiped out because of a machine Sabine built. Now the hypocritical part: they make a plan to destroy the duchess and it’s plans on like the main mando-imperial star destroyer, Bo katan asks: “is there a way to turn it against the empire?” Sabine says: yes, but the weapons too dangerous Now an hour later they’re on the Star destroyer, bk and Sabine are in the room where the duchess is, it gets turned on, Sabine and bk get hurt, Sabine relents and gives gar Saxon’s brother what he wants, but actually turns it against imperial armo duraplast, then bk goes: nah, this isn’t right, don’t do this Sabine’s like: but this the only way to stop empire/bro, you said to do this Bk’s like, nah, don’t do it, don’t do it. Sabine stops the machine, it blows the star destroyer and everyone who hasn’t escaped to pieces. Tl;dr: Bo katan endorses use of dangerous weapon, but when the weapon is used she says no, don’t do it Hypocrisy at it’s finest ladies and gentleman. Also can I point out that she is super stingy with how she accepts the dark saber? Ok ik it’s pointed out a lot, but I’ll make a semi-, written timeline: 1. Maul defeats pre viszla, LEGALLY, IN TRADITIONAL MANDO RULES 2. Bk doesn’t like it because he isn’t mando^, revolts against maul 3. Maul leaves dark saber on dathomir 4. Sabine gets darksaber 5. Gar saxon gets darksaber from sabine 6. Sabine takes darksaber back 7. Sabine try’s to give the darksaber to bk once, without challenge to death, just give it away, bk says no it isn’t fair and that she tried it once, didn’t work out 8. Sabine gives it again, no just takes it, without a fight, nothing, just takes it.^{^} 9. Bk becomes ruler of Mandelore with backing of all the houses 10. Bk loses saber to moff gideon 11. Bk tries to take it back (again, because mg ain’t mando) 12. Din djarin gets darksaber 13. Din tries to give darksaber to bk, she says no, because of the rules of getting the dark saber^{^} 14. Din has the dark saber for a while 15. Din meets bk again 16. Din Tries to give saber AGAIN, no says no AGAIN 17. Bk then meets her old clan/followers again 18. Din tries to give saber AGAIN, she says no again 19. Din then spouts some technicalities that allows bk to have the saber again, and no one argues it or questions it^{^} 20. Bk is now once again ruler of Mandalore
(^this is a common misconception among many, Bo Katan isn’t racist, as din state: “Mandalorian is a creed not a race”, SOOO… not racism, but creedism(?))
(^two points of hypocrisy for her, first she just takes the saber, again, without a fight, without argument, whatever, even though hours ago (in universe time) she was saying no and again, not ritualistic combat, so not fucking allowed)
(^technically din is trying to break the rules, but bk just as much doesn’t follow these TRADITIONAL rules that have been upheld for centuries, so at least like 5 points of hypocrisy)
(^again, din breaks the rules, but as bk didn’t argue, bk is just as much liable for breaking the rules, another hypocrisy point for her)
(Sorry for the weird ass spacing, reddit sucks, everything after point 20 on the timeline and before the TLDR in brackets is a comment (spread in between the points through the ^ symbol))
Tl;dr Bo-Katan is creedist, not racist, she clearly can’t follow simple rules, which definitely makes her infit for leadership, even says so herself, still does it, and still a huge hypocrite (and a bitch)

My father(51) recently got into a bike accident while coming back from work. When we got to know about it , I(21)M rushed while mother(45) was preparing herself to look decent in hospital.Father arrived in Ambulance and had a severe head injury with a major deep cut towards skull on one side. I held his head while doctor was stiching him up(being night time)while mother sat outside and never came to look while blood was flowing. In the morning doctor referred to take father for a scan at a better medical than our hometown. So I asked my uncle(mother's brother(52)) ( being well connected) to arrange for an ambulance and requested him to accompany us since I had no idea who to ask for what in big medical since doctor didn't even write what scan to do. Now fast-forward my father is well and resting in aunt house(56)(mother sister). I showed the CT scans to a top neurologisthe who asked for a test. Now when I ask for the same , my mother ,her brother and her sister casually say everything is fine and that I am being excessive. To top my anger my aunt for some reason is hell bent on making me feel guilty for everything I do. It's peak summer and when I asked whether for one hot and humid night, father could sleep in the AC , they outright refused making different excuses. Again when I was sitting in the other room , she just randomly strolls in and turn on the fan and when her husband arrives just then , reminds him how their fan went bust at their old home due to running 24/7 and him accusing me doing the same. Again she comes to the room asking why I got angry and to keep calm and never talk back to her in loud voice when I was sitting there silently browsing the internet and my mother doesn't defend me at all! My poor father( a bit naive by nature ) doesn't intervene and justifiably so since doctor told him not to talk in loud voice. Whenever they have come to our house(my aunt never leaves her house) , We always made sure they get the best hospitality and I am feeling lost as to why my family is being treated like this at this time of low. I made this anonymous accoun just for the sake of not furthering drama.

I'm going to try and make this short. My ( 24 F ) sister ( 19 F ) Have a weird relationship. I helped her, brought her into my home, became her legal gaurdian fo a time before she turned 18. During that time, she made decision that put my family and i in danger therefore, a couple of month before her 18th birthday, i had to give up my gaurdian title and let the system take care of her because her decision made me scared for my life, and i wasn't ready to take care of that kind of problem. If people are curious, i could explain, it's just a big thing. I still helped her after. Lifts to work, moving, cleaning, advice, phone lines to get help. I've done a lot for her. her behaviour is manipulative. I've said for a long time that to have what she wanted, she would kill. for a while every week or so she threatened us ( my family, mother, brother etc. ) to cut us out of her life because we are the problem in her life, cause she always felt like the black sheep and she felt out of place. I understand that aspect of thought, the thing is, i smelled bullshit from miles away. She was tired of us telling her that her behaviour is putting her and other people at risk, that she doesn't seem to care and she's going to lose every thing if she goes on like this. She was basically sick of us calling her out on her shit and behaviour. 7 months ago, i pulled the plug. I was only called when she needed my money, that i barely have, my time, my car and when she was is trouble and needed someone to get her out. I got tired of this manupulatie, backstabbing, gas lighting behaviour and i went no contact. When she got her driver's liscence it became even worse. Speeding tickets, getting stopped by the cops, car accidents etc. She technically lost her liscence months ago because of that kind of behavour that she knew could put her and others in danger.
Couple of days ago, after seven months, i got a call at 2:30 AM. My sister was calling saying that she got pulled over by the cops and needed me to come and pick her up. I suggested other solutions. Taxi - No money for it - Cops bring you to your apartment - they're on other calls. I got fed up, she was crying over the phone, i just got woken up i was upset since i've only been sleeping for an hour or two, cause my work schedule, it's easier for me to go to sleep after midnight, she hasn't contacted me in seven months and she was calling me only cause she needed a lift home. I refused to go and help.
She clearly was upset. She stopped crying on the spot. Hung up and sweared right before hanging up.
The universe is basically answering my prayers to have her hit with Karma for hurting me and my family in the past. But should i really wish misfortune because of grudges i've been holding in 'cause i don't feel like she really understand how much she hurted and hurt me ? AITA ?

Disclaimer: This includes spoilers that I'm not censoring (do I have to do that if I'm ranting about a book? This is my first post).
I'm just not sure what I read here. It's a sequel to The Savage and the Swan, which I read and enjoyed.
In the first few pages, I'm trying to figure out what the FMC's husband that was a big betrayal and why she's running off to go cheat on him. It's also been a while since I read The Savage and the Swan and it just jumps right into the world. There's zero world-building -- people, names, kingdoms, etc are just thrown at you.
So she cheats on her husband, who turns out, he had cheated on her 24 hours prior and she can warp, so she disappears. She is infertile so it was an extra painful betrayal. So at 4% in (Kindle reader), she sleeps with MMC and stays with him for a week. And it's already being alluded to that they are mates. But we get zero insight into why she and the MMC are mates - they just have a bunch of sex and feel this irresistible pull. But it's not enough of a pull, I guess because she has to go back to her cheating husband and just warps back.
The next many chapters (read: 18 MONTHS IN BOOK TIME), it's dealing with the fall-out of her husband's infidelity and her own infidelity. And at some point, I was confused because should I be rooting for the husband? Did I want them to work it out? And then, right as even the FMC is like feeling hope that they can reconcile, it turns out THE OW IS PREGNANT AND MOVES INTO THE CASTLE.
Then it's just the FMC is this pit of despair, literally wasting away, and I just couldn't understand why she didn't just leave. It was so much internal dialogue of how awful all of this was yet she felt some loyalty to stay. Not to mention there's this entire infertility trope going on that broke my heart. FMC just had to watch OW have her husband's baby so she's upset and still sort of loves her husband (but is pining for MMC too). She becomes friends with OW and it's just all ugh. You can't even hate the OW too much while she knowingly slept with a married man, she was also misled. And the husband tried throwing out the OW after she had her baby and FMC stepped in to make sure she can stay. As a mom, it was kind of traumatic to read because the OW is literally getting torn away from her newborn.
Anyway, FMC finally goes back to MMC after the husband is a Real Bad Guy who poisons her (but all of this is done out of his love for her, guys) and she's hurt and bleeding and the MMC sees her and just basically throws her down and ravages her and initiates the mating bond without her consent. There are, like, so many issues with that. It was kind of ick and also more so considering I still couldn't understand why they were even mates. The MMC has a boring personality other than being an alpha. And I love good smut but that was literally their relationship.
More stuff happens and then the PLOT TWIST, it turns out MMC is the actual heir to the kingdom and the husband had killed MMC's entire family and maimed MMC, left for dead, so MMC couldn't be king. And long story short, everyone forgives the husband/king. Like it's fine. NBD. There's zero retribution or justice for MMC's family. The MMC Doesn't. Want. The. Kingdom. He Just Wants FMC. But the husband just wants FMC too!!!! so that was the whole plot I guess.
MMC and FMC get to run off after FMC's husband permits it but only if they fake their deaths. Then there's this weird moment between FMC and OW where FMC gives her the crown and is like "This is rightfully yours" (BECAUSE it turns out OW is the husband's mate but because he only loves FMC he rejects OW's mating bond) and then they live to be HEA.
But it's like this awful-ish epilogue that 3 years later the kingdom (who has been warring with humans, for really unclear reasons - sorry, lack of world-building) has fallen and the OW-now-queen is dead. I guess he and the OW worked it out and are mates now? Idk? So the FMC's now ex-husband is like "Here's our toddler" and runs off to die a warrior's death (I guess redeemed??) and that's how FMC and MMC have their own child. I just felt so bad at that point - the OW wasn't awful per se - she was a great mother to her child and was always protecting him. And now she's dead and her child is motherless. But hey it's all okay I guess? Because the FMC and MMC get to have a kid now? Then fast forward 8 years it's this production of the now teenager asking to call the MMC "Dad" and how FMC is his real mother... end story.
This was so unlike The Savage and the Swan, and the book bummed me out. It was kind of sad for everyone except the MMC.
Thanks for reading my long rant. I haven't disliked a book so much that I've felt the need to make a rant before, so this is a first for me. I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts if they have read The Wolf and the Wildflower or want to share in general.

Just missing the gwent achievements and a few others to complete the witcher 3 base game (I still have to buy the DLCs). Since i still have to complete the game on Death March and get some other achievements i missed, i was thinking of starting doing the gwent achievements when i start the game again. But there's a big problem, i'm a terrible gwent player. After beating the game, i watched some tutorials and tried to play some gwent, at first i was horrible, but then i got better and it was just bad. However, i could only beat vendors, gunsmiths and etc, i went to try to play a gwent side quest and fucked myself, the bastard i played had the monster deck, i never felt so angry in my life. I even managed to win another guy from that same mission, but i only did it because he used the same deck as me, the northern realms. Any tips for me to start playing better and get better decks?

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/community_focus_cbgray
Happy time zones Guardians, and welcome to this week's Community Focus. Today we are hanging out with CBgrey, a content creator, self-proclaimed potato, and a PvE shepherd. So, let’s get into it.
Hi CB! First up, let’s talk about who you are, what your pronouns are, and what got you into gaming in the first place?
My name is Christian or CBgray but most just call me CB for short! My pronouns are he/him.
The name CBgray was a name that some of my friends called me growing up, that was just my first and middle initial and my last name! I am from Virginia originally, just outside of Washington, D.C., which will always be home to me. About a year ago I moved to Austin, Texas.
Growing up in the 90s, what really got me into gaming was Nintendo. There was something so magical about playing Pokémon on the Gameboy Color and seeing the birth of 3D gaming with games like Mario 64. I think that is what really birthed my love for video games. As I continued to get older, I had a dream to work as a game developer for Nintendo. In terms of what got me into content creation, I always wanted to try YouTube and even took a few stabs at it in high school with my cousin, Lena, and in college with one of my best friends and roommates, Gramm. Nothing really stuck though until I discovered Destiny.
Oh, I love a good cliff hanger. So how did you find Destiny?
I saw Destiny for the first time during E3. I thought the game looked like nothing I had seen before, and I recognized the name Bungie from Halo. However, despite that, I had never really played an FPS game seriously so I never would have imagined that I would fall in love with the game and still be playing it almost 10 years later. My brother, Evan, got the game on PS3 and I got the game on PS4 when it came out. I remember I was trying to win the white PS4 bundle in the Taco Bell promotion from way back when. When I started playing the game, I was hooked. I played through the whole campaign in a night with one of my best friends, Lamar, with two TV's side by side and we played all night. I had never experienced anything in gaming like that.
Around the time I started my channel, near the end of the Taken King expansion, I was going through a rough time, and I just wanted to try to create a family and a space where other people that enjoy Destiny could come together and help each other out with things inside the game and outside of the game. I had completely fallen in love with the game at this point and sank more hours in it during college than I probably should have with the amount of computer science work I had at the time, but I was really just hoping to form friendships with others and just provide an atmosphere where we could take our minds off things.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that would happen, so I'm really grateful. I can't thank my friends and family for believing in me when it could have looked like I was just wasting my time. I’m especially thankful to my mom who, without even knowing what it was, bought me an Elgato in 2016 when I couldn't afford it. Streaming was still a new concept in 2016 so I really appreciated their support. Thank you mom, dad, Evan, Kashema, Lamar, Tyler, Quan, Gramm, Nate, and so many others.

Through good and sad times, Destiny seems to be a way a lot of people find their community, and it’s really neat to hear about another one forming.
Speaking of building a community, you recently left your job to do content creation full time. How had that changed the way you play the game, create content, and interact with your community?
I did! It was a scary leap, but it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Honestly, I don't think it changed the way I play the game as much as it's allowed me to enhance what I was already doing, just putting my 100 percent info focusing on interacting with our community and making content on the game we all love. I have always wanted to see what my content could be like if I could just give it my best shot, so I am very grateful to the community for putting me in a position to do this as a job and to do what I love.
That’s really great to hear, keep on keeping on CB!
So, what type of content do you tend to focus on? Are you a PvE shepherd or a PvP no scope 360 kind of player?
For streams I mainly focus on helping players with PvE related activities! For example, I have 900 total helps for the Whisper and Zero Hour Missions. I love those missions so much, but even more than that, I love helping players cross the finish line on activities that they may have been struggling with or maybe just couldn't find players to game with. This type of content will always hold such a special place in my heart for myself and many others that I met along the way like Pause, Skarrow9, and so many others in the YouTube streaming family.
In terms of YouTube videos, we started off making helpful guides for players in the game as well as theory videos (as we would call them) where I along with Vet, Sweat, and so many others would hunt for things like Whisper of the Worm before it was out. More recently on YouTube, my focus over the past few years has been short-form content where I really just am trying to put a smile on people's faces for 60 seconds. It's mainly just a mixture of me being a goofball and trying to provide players with quick helpful information. That has kind of been my main niche for videos since Covid. I love these videos and it makes me happy to see people's reactions to them.
My next focus is on my Pokémon styled Destiny challenges, but we will talk more about that later!
Before we get to that, we have to know what your main character is, and your favorite loadout.
Titan for sure, it's been my main character since 2014.
My favorite loadout is a hard one but I'll just name some of my favorite things over the years. For armor, Lion Rampants (my babies), Twilight Garrison, and Precious Scars with the ornament to make it the tinfoil hat. (Important in our community.)
For weapons, the D1 Touch of Malice was my favorite gun in the game. Some other guns include Whisper of the Worm, Legend of Acrius in Vanilla D2, and the Duke Hand Cannon.
Alright, we’ve got a few questions left, let’s hear about the vibe of your channel for people who might want to stop by.
The vibe my channel brings is a chill escape. I try to make sure the channel feels like a place where you can just come to have a good time, feel welcomed, and not have to worry about anything else that might be going on. Just a place to hopefully leave with a smile on your face. Our community has lifted my spirits so many times that I just hope that our channel can reciprocate that for others who may need it.
Love that, truly.
What is something you wish you knew before starting Destiny?
I feel like there are things that probably could have been beneficial to know before starting Destiny, like maybe having a deeper understanding about FPS games like Halo and other games or the realm of possibilities with content creation. I genuinely didn't think I had much to offer to the community. That deterred me from starting sooner. Even to have this conversation with y’all feels like I am dreaming. So maybe if I knew what was possible, I would have started earlier. But with that being said, I'm glad I didn't know because it allowed me to follow the exact path that led me here and I wouldn't change that for the world. Also not having that much knowledge in the FPS space made for such a new and fun journey in gaming for me that felt so new.
So, I guess my actual answer is, I'm happy with what I knew.
That is a rad way to think about it. Having an understanding would have been helpful at the time, but it would have changed your experience.
So, what’s next for you and your community? Anything fun coming up or any events you are particularly excited for?
More Pokémon challenges in Destiny 2! I just recently did an ExoticDex challenge (what I call it) where I did a subathon stream where I collected all 222 obtainable Exotics in one stream! It took 16 days, but it was one of my favorite streams ever! I plan to bring more challenges like these to our community over the coming months on Twitch and YouTube side! I'm so excited and really feel a fire to try to innovate as much as and I am grateful to our community for putting me in a position to give it my all! Also, thank you to my team working behind the scenes for making that event possible.
That is absolutely wild CB. Such a neat thing to come up with.
Now having the experience that you do with Destiny, what do you want to tell any of the New Lights out there reading this?
Don't stress and play the game how you want to play it. There are so many fun memories to make in this game and that should be the focus. Everything else will fall into place as you go. Also realize that some of the friends you make in game will be friends you have for life. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be living with two people I met through Destiny, but I couldn't be happier to now share a home with Sweat and Evan. It blows my mind how much Destiny has changed all of our lives. It's just the power and magic of Destiny.
Where can people find you?

• YouTube
• Twitch
• Twitter
• Tiktok
• Instagram

Anything else you want to add?
I just need to give a big thank you to our community. I would not be having this interview without them. I want to thank you, and everyone at Bungie for creating a game and a community that has changed my life, I'm really grateful. I thank god every day that I picked up this game and got to meet all the amazing people I've gotten to meet. This game and community has saved my life. A million thank you’s wouldn't be enough. I'm grateful for the opportunity. To anyone discouraged with anything in life, follow your dreams and don't give up. Anything is truly possible with patience and persistence.
And there we have it, this week’s Community Focus. Be sure to swing by CB’s channels and give him a follow if you want to check out his content for yourself. And don’t forget to check out our Community Focus with [email protected] and Plumli. Thanks for hanging out with us!
Stay Crafty,
Sam

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/community_focus_cbgray
Happy time zones Guardians, and welcome to this week's Community Focus. Today we are hanging out with CBgrey, a content creator, self-proclaimed potato, and a PvE shepherd. So, let’s get into it.
Hi CB! First up, let’s talk about who you are, what your pronouns are, and what got you into gaming in the first place?
My name is Christian or CBgray but most just call me CB for short! My pronouns are he/him.
The name CBgray was a name that some of my friends called me growing up, that was just my first and middle initial and my last name! I am from Virginia originally, just outside of Washington, D.C., which will always be home to me. About a year ago I moved to Austin, Texas.
Growing up in the 90s, what really got me into gaming was Nintendo. There was something so magical about playing Pokémon on the Gameboy Color and seeing the birth of 3D gaming with games like Mario 64. I think that is what really birthed my love for video games. As I continued to get older, I had a dream to work as a game developer for Nintendo. In terms of what got me into content creation, I always wanted to try YouTube and even took a few stabs at it in high school with my cousin, Lena, and in college with one of my best friends and roommates, Gramm. Nothing really stuck though until I discovered Destiny.
Oh, I love a good cliff hanger. So how did you find Destiny?
I saw Destiny for the first time during E3. I thought the game looked like nothing I had seen before, and I recognized the name Bungie from Halo. However, despite that, I had never really played an FPS game seriously so I never would have imagined that I would fall in love with the game and still be playing it almost 10 years later. My brother, Evan, got the game on PS3 and I got the game on PS4 when it came out. I remember I was trying to win the white PS4 bundle in the Taco Bell promotion from way back when. When I started playing the game, I was hooked. I played through the whole campaign in a night with one of my best friends, Lamar, with two TV's side by side and we played all night. I had never experienced anything in gaming like that.
Around the time I started my channel, near the end of the Taken King expansion, I was going through a rough time, and I just wanted to try to create a family and a space where other people that enjoy Destiny could come together and help each other out with things inside the game and outside of the game. I had completely fallen in love with the game at this point and sank more hours in it during college than I probably should have with the amount of computer science work I had at the time, but I was really just hoping to form friendships with others and just provide an atmosphere where we could take our minds off things.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that would happen, so I'm really grateful. I can't thank my friends and family for believing in me when it could have looked like I was just wasting my time. I’m especially thankful to my mom who, without even knowing what it was, bought me an Elgato in 2016 when I couldn't afford it. Streaming was still a new concept in 2016 so I really appreciated their support. Thank you mom, dad, Evan, Kashema, Lamar, Tyler, Quan, Gramm, Nate, and so many others.

Through good and sad times, Destiny seems to be a way a lot of people find their community, and it’s really neat to hear about another one forming.
Speaking of building a community, you recently left your job to do content creation full time. How had that changed the way you play the game, create content, and interact with your community?
I did! It was a scary leap, but it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Honestly, I don't think it changed the way I play the game as much as it's allowed me to enhance what I was already doing, just putting my 100 percent info focusing on interacting with our community and making content on the game we all love. I have always wanted to see what my content could be like if I could just give it my best shot, so I am very grateful to the community for putting me in a position to do this as a job and to do what I love.
That’s really great to hear, keep on keeping on CB!
So, what type of content do you tend to focus on? Are you a PvE shepherd or a PvP no scope 360 kind of player?
For streams I mainly focus on helping players with PvE related activities! For example, I have 900 total helps for the Whisper and Zero Hour Missions. I love those missions so much, but even more than that, I love helping players cross the finish line on activities that they may have been struggling with or maybe just couldn't find players to game with. This type of content will always hold such a special place in my heart for myself and many others that I met along the way like Pause, Skarrow9, and so many others in the YouTube streaming family.
In terms of YouTube videos, we started off making helpful guides for players in the game as well as theory videos (as we would call them) where I along with Vet, Sweat, and so many others would hunt for things like Whisper of the Worm before it was out. More recently on YouTube, my focus over the past few years has been short-form content where I really just am trying to put a smile on people's faces for 60 seconds. It's mainly just a mixture of me being a goofball and trying to provide players with quick helpful information. That has kind of been my main niche for videos since Covid. I love these videos and it makes me happy to see people's reactions to them.
My next focus is on my Pokémon styled Destiny challenges, but we will talk more about that later!
Before we get to that, we have to know what your main character is, and your favorite loadout.
Titan for sure, it's been my main character since 2014.
My favorite loadout is a hard one but I'll just name some of my favorite things over the years. For armor, Lion Rampants (my babies), Twilight Garrison, and Precious Scars with the ornament to make it the tinfoil hat. (Important in our community.)
For weapons, the D1 Touch of Malice was my favorite gun in the game. Some other guns include Whisper of the Worm, Legend of Acrius in Vanilla D2, and the Duke Hand Cannon.
Alright, we’ve got a few questions left, let’s hear about the vibe of your channel for people who might want to stop by.
The vibe my channel brings is a chill escape. I try to make sure the channel feels like a place where you can just come to have a good time, feel welcomed, and not have to worry about anything else that might be going on. Just a place to hopefully leave with a smile on your face. Our community has lifted my spirits so many times that I just hope that our channel can reciprocate that for others who may need it.
Love that, truly.
What is something you wish you knew before starting Destiny?
I feel like there are things that probably could have been beneficial to know before starting Destiny, like maybe having a deeper understanding about FPS games like Halo and other games or the realm of possibilities with content creation. I genuinely didn't think I had much to offer to the community. That deterred me from starting sooner. Even to have this conversation with y’all feels like I am dreaming. So maybe if I knew what was possible, I would have started earlier. But with that being said, I'm glad I didn't know because it allowed me to follow the exact path that led me here and I wouldn't change that for the world. Also not having that much knowledge in the FPS space made for such a new and fun journey in gaming for me that felt so new.
So, I guess my actual answer is, I'm happy with what I knew.
That is a rad way to think about it. Having an understanding would have been helpful at the time, but it would have changed your experience.
So, what’s next for you and your community? Anything fun coming up or any events you are particularly excited for?
More Pokémon challenges in Destiny 2! I just recently did an ExoticDex challenge (what I call it) where I did a subathon stream where I collected all 222 obtainable Exotics in one stream! It took 16 days, but it was one of my favorite streams ever! I plan to bring more challenges like these to our community over the coming months on Twitch and YouTube side! I'm so excited and really feel a fire to try to innovate as much as and I am grateful to our community for putting me in a position to give it my all! Also, thank you to my team working behind the scenes for making that event possible.
That is absolutely wild CB. Such a neat thing to come up with.
Now having the experience that you do with Destiny, what do you want to tell any of the New Lights out there reading this?
Don't stress and play the game how you want to play it. There are so many fun memories to make in this game and that should be the focus. Everything else will fall into place as you go. Also realize that some of the friends you make in game will be friends you have for life. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be living with two people I met through Destiny, but I couldn't be happier to now share a home with Sweat and Evan. It blows my mind how much Destiny has changed all of our lives. It's just the power and magic of Destiny.
Where can people find you?

• YouTube
• Twitch
• Twitter
• Tiktok
• Instagram

Anything else you want to add?
I just need to give a big thank you to our community. I would not be having this interview without them. I want to thank you, and everyone at Bungie for creating a game and a community that has changed my life, I'm really grateful. I thank god every day that I picked up this game and got to meet all the amazing people I've gotten to meet. This game and community has saved my life. A million thank you’s wouldn't be enough. I'm grateful for the opportunity. To anyone discouraged with anything in life, follow your dreams and don't give up. Anything is truly possible with patience and persistence.
And there we have it, this week’s Community Focus. Be sure to swing by CB’s channels and give him a follow if you want to check out his content for yourself. And don’t forget to check out our Community Focus with [email protected] and Plumli. Thanks for hanging out with us!
Stay Crafty,
Sam

A bit of background before my story begins. I live with my (emotionally abusive) parents, an older sister and a younger brother. My sister and I do not speak to my brother. My brother has a history of destructive behavior (has punched many holes in walls and other things), he's misused/caused damage to so many of my belongings, and he is also the golden child, my parents are exhausted by him but never follow through on any of the consequences they tell him they will. I feel its also important to mention that I have also always been the scapegoat of my family. Last weekend I (25 F) pulled out my KitchenAid stand mixer out for a little project and found the bowl had been pretty badly dented (it got hit with my childhood metal softball bat) and the whisk attachment bent completely flat. I was distraught and immediately knew that my brother (23 M) had been the one to cause the damage. I went to my parents because I knew if I went to my brother and confronted him he would deny it and a huge fight would ensue. They felt bad for me and said they would talk to him and do what they could to get him to admit it. To no one's surprise he refused at first but them came clean. My parents said they would replace it, have my brother get a job to pay them back for it and he would apologize to me (they were also told many times that I did not want to be blindsided by this apology and that I wanted a set time and place for it to happen). My parents told me the next morning that he agreed to apologize but needed a few days to do so, then spent the majority of the conversation trying to justify his behavior by saying things like "he's got a lot of shit going on" and "he did it on his birthday , he was going through some things and he did it impulsively" this is just the current variation of my parents bullshit for the shit that he pulls. On Wednesday my brother apologized to me without warning, my parents didn't do anything to stop it and just said that we would talk about it more later. Fast forward to yesterday (6/8) my sister and I were talking when my mother came into the room. My sister knows how devastated I am about this and was upset about the apology bomb that happened. My sister calmly asked my mother how that happened and immediately got defensive about it. She said that they hadn't had a chance to tell my bother that the plan was to do it on Thursday evening after dinner. My mother explained that when she tried to talk to him he said that he didn't want to talk about it that moment because they were trying to figure out what to have for dinner. My sister tried to get my mother to understand that since he was the one to pause the conversation he knew there was more to discuss and just chose to drop the apology on me anyways. She started fighting with my mother about how this whole time it seems they have been more concerned with my brothers feelings/well being rather than mine, the person who had their things destroyed. This caused my mother to go into a full blown shouting spree, she said that my sister and I have nothing to show for our lives, nothing to show for the people who love us and that if we are so upset about the things happening that we should "just go and get out". Neither my sister or I have plans to speak to her for now, and it's 50/50 with my father, he has a habit of telling us he sees where were coming from and that my mother should have never said the things she does but when it comes down to it, sides with her and nothing changes. I feel so numb at this point, I don't know what to do. I apologize for the long post, there was way more that happened but I didn't want to make this an essay basically. My family history is so fucked up and complicated, so if this seems like its not a big deal please know this is literally 25 years in the making of my parents abusive crap and 15 years of my brothers.

Nearly one in three Gen Zers want the government to install surveillance cameras in everyone's homes
Patrick Henry was 38 years old when he said, "Give me liberty or give me death."
#BigBrother #1984 #SurveillanceState #Communism
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/nearly_one_in_three_gen_zers_want_the_government_to_install_surveillance_cameras_in_everyones_homes.html

My normal maximum budget for any week of racing is around $400, which I am comfortable with losing should I not hit a race. While I personally do not like to lose that much any week, the only other options are to bet less money or pass the races entirely. Playing less money will cause me to far short of my monthly and/or yearly goals and not playing at all is like the saying goes "You have to be in it for any chance of winning." On big race weekends, I will budget more, not to spread out my risk anymore, but to bet more of the better races and fuller fields that comes around only so often. Good Luck and hopefully you can knock down a big score which is so much more enjoyable than trying to nickel and dime the tracks to death (never works long term).
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Race 1: Maiden Special Weight --- Purse $90,000 --- 3 YOs & Up F&M ---- 6 Furlongs Turf:
2) Get Respect (8-1) is making her first start of the year. However, with maidens, they do not have to be the fittest a trainer can get them because most are not anywhere near their full potential until after a few races of experience. This one has 7 works for her first start this year, the first two were leg stretchers, the next four were decent and has the look of a trainer trying to get horse fit and the last work, 3 days before scheduled start, simply an exercise to keep her happy until race day. 3x5 to Storm Cat.
6) Quiescent (15-1) has started twice this year, setting the pace to the top of the stretch before tiring slightly to finish third while losing the photo finish at the wire to the Brown entry just above her, then setting the pace for a half before tiring badly in her last race which obviously her first start of year took enough conditioning out of her that she was still tire when entered back despite one average work after that first start (better known as a bounce). Now she has one good work, indicating she is not tired now and expect a rebound in this start. 5x5 to Mr. Prospector but also has a crossing influence to Never Bend through the dam line of Arch on her sire side and thru the 3rd dam, Stiff Breeze, a daughter. Fifth dam, Whirl Right, is a full sister to 1941 U.S. TC winner Whirlaway.
3) Roman Goddess (12-1) has started once this year and stumbled at the start which basically eliminated her from having any chance to impact the race. She has five more works since that effort and most of them were designed only to give her some leg stretching exercise. 4x4 to Mr. Prospector & Danzig.
10) Cindylouwho (15-1) has started 4 times this year, with 2 third place finishes in 5 furlongs grass sprints her only board finishes and the starts on dirt with little effort put into each race. She now has 3 placings in 4 lifetime attempts on grass and only needs to produce a race similar to any of them to be a major factor against these. She has what looks like two good works since her last, but both came on the Palm Meadows training track which is one of the fastest training tracks in the nation and those works are average at best. However, based off her actual races, she fits with these. 4x3 to A.P. Indy, 5(C)x5(C)x4(F) to Northern Dancer, 5x4 to Mr Prospector, 5x5 to Secretariat & Roberto.
My Risks: $8 WP 2, $5 Ex Box 2-6, $1 Tri Box 2-3-6, $.20 Super Box 2-3-6-10, $1 Super Key 2 with 3-6-10 with 3-6-10 with 3-6-10. Total Risk $42.80.
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Race 2: Allowance --- Purse $80,000 --- 3 YOs & Up F&M NY Bred N/W $18K 1x or N/W 2 Races Lifetime --- 7 Furlongs Turf:
8) Silver Skillet (10-1) has one start this year which he chased the early pace for 6 furlongs before tiring, which is a typical first start back for most front runners after getting five months or longer break. Trainer put one easy or leg stretching type work in her since that start simply because he already saw her speed was still there in works prior to her first start back. This will be her first start on grass in her career. See a likely gate to wire effort for her against these. 5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Mr. Prospector.
6) Lisa's Vision (8-1) has started once this year where she sat mid-pack early edge herself up to the edge of being a serious contender into the stretch before flattening out and stalling. Again, this is a typical first start back for a horse with this running style and you should expect improvement this out. Her last two efforts just before the break in races with same class, distance, and surface, she was nearing an effort to move on to the next condition or better races. Trainer has put 5 more works in her since her last effort, an easy work followed by 4 decent to good works. If she gets a little help with a pressured early pace which she did not get in her first start back, she could easily win this. Contender. 5x3 to Storm Cat.
7)Royal Dancer (12-1) has one start this year where she was eyeing the early pace as two ahead of her duel for a quarter, then the leader shook free and open a clear lead, forcing this one to pick up the chase much earlier than preferred, but then chase the loose leader to the top of the stretch before tiring after breaking from the 12th post, a slot that has very little chance to win in NY grass sprints. Trainer has put 5 more works in her since that effort, mostly leg stretching type works but a couple that could prove very helpful, including a bullet work five days before this start. She has two NY bred stakes placings on grass before she broke her maiden. Has some talent. 4(C)x5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Northern Dancer, 5x4 to Fappiano.
1)I'mhavingamoment (5-1) has four starts this year, the first race was a state bred stakes race which she was overmatched against coming off a maiden win, then finished second and then 2 thirds after a drop down in class and a slow rise back up into condition allowance in her last start while also her first effort on grass. Has two works since that last effort, a good work followed by a decent and useful work. 5x4 to Danzig, 5x5 to Cyane, 5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Northern Dancer. Her 5th dam is U.S. Champion Filly, Tempted, who has a stakes race named in her honor for 3 YO fillies.
My Risk: $6 WP 6, $5 Ex Box 6-8, $1 Tri Box 6-7-8, $.30 Super Box 1-6-7-8, $1 Super Key 8 with 1-6-7 with 1-6-7 with 1-6-7. Total Risk: $41.20.
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Race 3: Pass on betting.
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Race 4: Allowance --- Purse $85,000 --- 3 YOs & Up N/W $18K 1x or N/W 2 lifetime --- 7 Furlongs:
4) Bezos (50-1) has started 4 times this year, has flashed front running speed in all of them but then tired badly. In his last start, he carried his speed further than he has all year long or since he was last in his best form. This type wins only when they can control the early pace and he looks like he found a spot where he can do just that. Most of these horses have not tried stakes races in their career but the few that have has done so against young 2 YOs or 3 YOs, except this one when he set the pace in a G3 and a listed stake race against proven older horses. In addition, he will carry light race in the field due to his jockey receiving a 7 lbs. apprentice break. May seen foolish but will take a shot with this one with the speed to top of the stretch angle I have used successful plenty of times.
9) Twelth Man (6-1) has started three times this year with a second in his first start his only board finish this year. However, his current form cycle began with his last start last year after a 7-month break and he returned in close to same physical form as when he was stopped on. After a couple of pretty good efforts, he had a couple of not so good efforts. He is working on his third race since a good effort, and this is an angle I read about years ago that suggested betting horses back in their third start after a win if next two starts were not as good as his winning effort, but tweaked this angle to include all horses that gave a solid effort because it worked more often that way and with higher odds than the third race after a win.
2) Shipsational (15-1) has started 4 times this year with a second in his third start back as his only board finish this year. Next two races were poor and would normally be enough to consider a horse has tailed off his best form. But he has 5 works since that last effort, all of them decent to good that were also likely very useful. His current form cycle began in October last year when he came off almost a 7 month break after a second and third effort in a G2 & G3 stake races that obviously knocked him off his best form.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 4-9, $1 Tri Box 2-4-9, $2 Quinella 2-4, $2 Quinella 4-9. Total Risk $20.00.
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Race 5: Poker Stakes(G3) --- Purse $200,000 --- 4 YOs & Up ---- One Mile Turf:
3) Mackinnon (15-1) is making his first start of the year. Has six works to prepare for this start but also a trainer that brings his trainees back in top form often. 4x5 to Storm Cat.
1)Chez Pierre (1-1) threw easily a career best in last. A bounce candidate for sure. Under no circumstance would I accept 1-1 odds or less on a horse whose biggest win in the U.S. before his last race was a listed stake and has shown he is vulnerable against this class.
5) Anaconda (8-1) looks in best shape of the rest in a weak field for a G3 stakes race.
My Risk: $8 Exacta Straight 3-1, $1 Tri Box 1-3-5, $6 Tri Straight 3-1-5. Total Risk $20.00.
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Race 6: Brooklyn Stakes(G2) --- Purse $250,000 ---- 4 YOs & Up --- 1 1/2 Miles:
6) Forewarned (20-1) has five starts with one win and one third his placings this year. I normally try to find horses that run late in these marathon type races, and he looks like he maybe can though this far is a question mark for him like every other horse in this field.
11) Code Runner (50-1) was originally trained by Asmussen and showed a little ability but not enough to impact graded stakes races. Horse was eventually put in hands of a trainer that has shown no ability or idea of how to properly prepare or get a horse fit. So, his race record looks much worse than it should and in a race like this, anything can and usually does happen.
9) Calibrate (10-1) won a stakes race at this distance two back while finishing in front of a couple of these, then was kept wide by the jockey throughout in his last start when beaten by several of these (per equibase footnotes). Switch of trainers and two good works since his last start. Which one will show up today? Guess right and you could make a decent score.
7) Warrant (5-2) won his last start under a drive after stalking and putting only front runner away heading into the stretch. Will likely have more pace to run at in here, so if jockey times his move slightly later, he will have a better chance of holding the late runners safe. A move a little early, like his last, likely results in a board finish only. 3 works since his last start, an easy leg stretching type work followed by two good works suggests he will be antsy to go earlier than usual.
My Risks: $4 Exacta Box 6-11, $1 Tri Box 6-9-11, $.30 Super Box 6-7-9-11. Total Risk $21.20. (a wild guess).
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Race 7: Ogden Phipps S(G1) --- Purse $500,000 --- 4 YOs & Up F&M ---- 1 1/16 Mile:
1)Pass The Champagne (8-1) ran a monster type race when just getting caught at the wire by the eventual Ky Oaks winner in the Ashland Stakes in her very first start against winners two years ago. However, that race not only knock her off form, but she needed almost a year off after a dull effort in the Oaks, then won an O/C race in her only start before taking another year break. A typical scenario of being asked to do too much too soon. She has four starts this year but in her last start, she suggested she has returned to her best form. Two useful works since her last start and she is sitting on go. 3x4 to Mr. Prospector, 4(C)x5(C)x5(C) to Northern Dancer.
4) Secret Oath (2-1) has started three times this year, winning her first start and then just missing in both of her next two starts, finishing 2nd in each race. Her Ky Oaks win remains her only G1 triumph through she has placed 2nd or 3rd in six more G1 races, all in her last 10 starts. 4x3 to Fappiano, 5(C)x5(C)x4(F) to Mr. Prospector.
2) Search Results (4-1) has started once this year and finishing third after trying the length of the stretch to get by the top two with no results. She has three works since that start, a good work followed by two useful works. Complete outcross in her first five generations. However, 8th dam, Iron Maiden, a daughter of War Admiral, produced 1957 Ky Derby winner Iron Liege and is 2nd dam of 1955 Ky Derby winner, Swaps.
6) Clairiere (6-5) has started twice this year, finishing second in the first start and then turning the tables on that rival in their next start. Both again shows up for the next major test for older females and either one could win without it being a major shock. She has 5 works since her last start, 2 easy leg stretching type works followed by two good and useful works and then another leg stretching type work 6 days before scheduled start. 3x4 to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Northern Dancer.
My Risks $5 Ex Box 1-4, $1 Tri Box 1-2-4, $3 Tri Key 1 with 2-4 with 2-4, $2 Super Key 1 with 2-4-6 with 2-4-6 with 2-4-6. Total Risk $34.00.
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Race 8: Woody Stephens Stakes(G1) --- Purse $400,000 --- 3 YOs ---- 7 Furlongs:
2) Gun Pilot (20-1) has started five times this year with 1 win and 2 seconds his best finish. In his last start, lasix was removed from him for the second time and for the second time he ran a flat race, especially in the stretch but this time it was an even race where his late kick was missing. It will be interesting to see what he does when lasix is remove for the second race in a row for the first time of his career. He has four works since that start, an easy leg stretching work followed by 2 bullet 5 furlongs works then another blowout type work 5 days before his scheduled start. Sire, Gun Runner, was a late developer mostly because he was thrown against top competition that set him back a few months, but trainer has brought this one along more slowly and waiting for the light to click on for him. 4x3 to Storm Cat, 4x4 to Quiet American, 5(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Fappiano. His 5th dam, Ocean's Answer, is a full sister to Storm Bird who developed her own important line and is named a Reine-de-Course mare because of her influence on the breed.
13) Drew's Gold (8-1) has started four times in his career, winning all 4 starts, including 3 this year. Now, he will get the acid test to find out just how good he might be. Many of you probably do not know this trainer, but he started his training career in Southern California and a few years later was sending horses back & forth to compete in Florida and California. But he, like several others, closed their California barns due to workers compensation laws that cause many good barns to struggle, then practically disappeared for a decade before resurfacing again in Kentucky & then NY. He has one workout since his last start, a bullet work 10 days before scheduled start. Contender. 5x4 to Storm Bird, 5x5 to Northern Dancer, Secretariat, & Blushing Groom. His dam line traces back to La Troienne which simply means this is a dam line influenced by Domino as 10 of her 11 daughters and one son was bred to Domino line sires.
11) Victory Formation (10-1) has started 3 times this year, winning a listed stakes in his first start followed by a poor effort in a G2 stakes race and then leading until deep stretch before finishing 3rd in another listed stakes. However, if you look at the distance of all three races (1 mile, 1 1/8 mile and 1 1/8) and then you look at his dam line, you will see his problem. His 2nd dam is a daughter of a solid sprinter and good sprinting sire, 4th dam, White Jasmine, is a granddaughter of Crimson Satan and his 6th dam, Sister Satan, is a 1/2 sister to Crimson Satan. Crimson Satan hails from the Domino sire line who was best known by how fast he was sprinting. He has four works since his last start, the first two good works followed by 2 decent works where trainer looked intent on trying to get him to rate by slowing his works down, something he did for the first time. 5x3 to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to In Reality, 5(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Seattle Slew.
4) General Jim (7-2) has started three times this year, finishing unplaced in his first start though blocked most of the stretch run, then winning his next two starts in a G3 and then a G2 stakes races. He has three works since his last start, a leg stretching type work, then a good work, followed by another leg stretching type work six days before scheduled start. Looks as ready as any in here to me. Outcross in his first 5 generations but has plenty of Mr. Prospector & Northern Dancer influences on both sides.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 2-13, $1 Tri Box 2-11-13, $.30 Super Box 2-4-11-13, $1 Super Key 13 with 2-4-11 with 2-4-11 with 2-4-11. Total Risks $29.20.
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Race 9: Jaipur Stakes (G1) --- Purse $400,000 ---- 3 YOs & Up --- 6 Furlongs Turf:
5) Dr, Zempf (8-1) has started twice this year with his first start being a win in an O/C race on a GP turf course that played much faster this year than normal. Then tried G1 stakes company in his next out, set most of the pace to the top of the stretch before tiring at one mile on Keeneland's grass course. Believe he will enjoy the cutback to 6 furlongs. 3x4 to Machiavellian but sire line and broodmare sire line flows back into Northern Dancer.
13) Front Run The Fed (30-1) has started once this year in an allowance race, was near the back early, then started his rally soon after a half was complete and came with a rush in the stretch and was up and clear in time for the win. Has two leg stretching type works since that start. The stretch-out to six furlongs should suit him even more but will need to avoid trouble for best opportunity. 4x4 to Rahy, 4x5 to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Roberto.
10) Big Invasion (6-1) has two starts this year, winning his first start in a listed stakes at 5F on grass, then finishing unplaced in a G2 stakes race at 5 1/2 furlongs on grass but had trouble near the eight pole that likely caused him a better finish. Has 2 decent and useful works since his last start. 5x4 to Mr. Prospector. His 5th dam, Really Blue, is an unraced full sister to 1969 G1 Ky Derby & Preakness winner Majestic Prince and 2nd dam of 1998 Ky Derby & Preakness winner, Real Quiet.
6) Ice Chocolat (30-1) has three starts this year, the first to at 5 1/2 furlongs on grass and he finished unplaced in both of them, then switched to the AWT and stretched out to six furlongs when he edged closer to the leaders in the stretch run but a closing late kick was lacking. Now his fourth start of the year and one good work since his last start should help him find that needed punch late. 4(C)x5(C)x5(F) to Northern Dancer, 5(C)x4(F)x 4(F) to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Special.
My Risk $5 Ex Box 5-13, $ 1 Tri Box 5-10-13, $.30 Super Box 5-6-10-13, $1 Super Key 5 with 6-10-13 with 6-10-13 with 6-10-13. Total Risk $29.20.
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Race 10: Metropolitan H(G1) --- Purse $1,000,000 --- 3 YOs & Up One Mile:
6) Zandon (5-1) has started once this year and finished second in what obviously trainer considered a prep for this start. The total purse for that race was $175K and no real help in raising a stallion's value, the purse for this race is $1M along with a likely raise in a stallion's value. He has three decent to good works since that effort and follows exactly the type of works he put in the horse before that race. 4x5 to Mr. Prospector.
2) Slow Down Andy (10-1) is making his first start of the year. He has 8 works to prepare for this start, the first 2 blowout type 3 furlongs works followed by 3 4 furlongs works that were simply leg stretching type works then a good 5 furlongs work and 2 good six furlongs works, none of them too fast to suggest he may leave his race in his works but not too slow to get no help from them. For reference, you can look how he brought Goldencents back off a 7-month break after winning the previous year BC Dirt Mile and finished 2nd to Palace Malice in the Met Mile. The favorite beat him last year in the BC Dirt Mile but his trip in the race (stumbled at the start, then became rank when rushed) before heading to biggest race of his life was a major reason why and usually knocks top horses off their best form. 5x4 to Mr. Prospector.
1)Cody's Wish (7-5) has made one start this year and made it a decisive win in a G1 stakes but everything in there were not of G1 quality except him which made an average win look like a romp. These are much tougher and trainer is acting concerned by how fast he has worked the horse since that race. 3 blistering fast works. Normally, horses that works this hard in works are tosses for me but I have not seen Mott put these types of works into his trainees in decades (thought he learned the hard way that super-fast works rarely works). He might run away and hide but the opposite happens way more than not. Am using caution. 3(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Mr. Prospector.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 2-6, $3 Tri Straight 2-6 with 2-6 with 1, $5 Tri Key 6 with 1-2 with 1-2. Total Risk $26.00.
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Race 11: Manhattan Stakes(G1) --- Purse $750,000 --- 4 YOs & Up --- 1 1/4 Mile Turf:
3) Warren Point (5-1) has one start in the U.S. this year where he was near the back early closed with a rush and taking a brief lead into the stretch before hanging and dropping back to fifth at 3-5 at 1 3/8 mile on the grass. Horse has shown he would much prefer the 1 1/4M distance as all 4 of his grass wins have come at that distance and his one 1 1/2-mile win was on the AWT. He has three works since that start, a leg stretching type work on dirt followed by two bullet works on grass around the dogs. 4x4 to Mr. Prospector, 5x5 to Northern Dancer, but also has a crossing to Never Bend through his grandsons Shirley Heights and Irish River.
10) Highest Honors (20-1) has one start this year where he was near the back early, was in a grind mold throughout the race but never really reach serious contention to finish 4th. Trainer has put 11 works in him, the first 5 works a little faster than he normally puts into his trainees, then gave the horse 13 days before returning to the work tab for six more weekly works, all of them good and decent though again faster than what he usually asks from his trainees. Likely as ready as he can be without a race in between some of these works. 4(C)x5(C)x4(F) to Mr. Prospector, 5x3 to Northern Dancer.
5) Soldier Rising (12-1) has one start this year where he sat mid-pack early, then eased back to last nearing the far turn while he waited for others to offer their best move, then came with a rush down the stretch to finish 2nd though no threat to winner who got away while he waited. Has 2 works since that race, a bullet work followed by a leg stretching work 6 days before scheduled start, both on grass around the dogs. 3x4 to Sadler's Wells & Danehill, 4(C)x5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Northern Dancer, 5x5 to Special.
1)So High (50-1) has three starts this year and has not placed yet this year though he has carry his speed to the top of the stretch in each race. This race is lacking on front runners who has shown ability to beat good horses but this one will likely be the last one to stop. He has run respectable in a G1 stakes race last year at 1 3/8 miles but was never going to beat Channel Cat who won several big G1 grass stakes in his career. 4x5 to Northern Dancer, 5x5 to Northern Dancer.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 3-10, $1 Tri Box 3-5-10, $.20 Super Box 1-3-5-10, $.60 Super Key 3 with 1-5-10 with 1-5-10 with 1-5-10, $6 Super Straight 3-10-5-1. Total Risk $30.00.
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Race 12: Belmont Stakes(G1) --- $1,500,000 --- 3 YOs --- 1 1/2 Mile:
1)Tapit Shoes (20-1) Has three starts this year, the first two in o/c races where he finished 4th, then 3rd and then finished 2nd (by a head) in a stakes race at OP that offered an all fees paid to the winner to enter the Preakness S. But before that start, trainer had him under consideration for a start in the Blue Grass S by working him three times at Keeneland including on the day of the race but opted to wait while he tried to qualify Verifying for the derby. He worked again on Lexington Stakes Day which suggests that race was also under consideration before deciding on the race he did race in. Since that near miss, he has 4 more good works and this horse is sitting on a big effort. 4(C)x5(C)x5(F)x5(F) to Mr. Prospector but has a Seattle Slew crossing in the sire line and as grandsire of the 4th dam, Trithenia.
7) Hit Show (10-1) has started three times this year, winning a G3 stakes in his first start, then missing a G2 win by a nose when second followed by a fifth in the Ky Derby after getting caught in the melee near the rail turning into the stretch. Has three works since that start, a leg stretching type work followed by a good work and them another leg stretching type work one week before scheduled start. 4x5 to Fappiano, 5x5 to Mr. Prospector.
8) Angel Of Empire (7-2) has three starts this year, finishing 2nd in a listed stakes then winning his next 2 starts in a G2 and a G1 stakes races following by a fast closing third in the Ky Derby. He has three works since his last start, a useful work followed by two very good works but not too fast that it takes anything out of him. 4x5 to Miswaki, 5x4 to Mr. Prospector.
3) Tapit Thrice (3-1) has 4 starts this year, winning his first three starts in an o/c race, then a G3 win followed by a G1 win. In his last start in the Ky Derby, he was never able to get involved because his Blue Grass win caused him to use to much fitness trying to catch a speed type on Keeneland's notorious speed favoring track. A blunder his trainer makes almost every year that has caused him several derby wins. He has three works since that race, a useful one followed by a good work and then a leg stretching type work one week before scheduled start. 3x4 to A.P. Indy & Unbridled.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 1-7, $1 Tri Box 1-7-8, $4 Tri Key 1 with 7-8 with 7-8, $.30 Super Box 1-3-7-8, $1 Super Key 1 with 3-7-8 with 3-7-8 with 3-7-8. Total Risk $37.20.
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Race 13: Allowance --- Purse $80,000 ---- 3 YOs & Up NY Bred N/W $18K 1x or N/W 2 Lifetime --- 1 1/16 Mile Turf:
9) Curly Larry And Mo (8-1) has started three times this year and has not placed. However, all three starts came against open bred and he should relish the return to NY bred foes. He has no works since his last race but expect him to set the early pace and play a catch me if you can game, much like he did in last year's one mile BC Juvenile Turf S. Complete outcross in his first 5 generations but has a Caro crossing in the sire line and in the broodmare sire line as sire of the dam of Maria's Mon, who is the broodmare sire. Also has Crafty Admiral influence through Danzig and Crafty Admiral himself as the sire of the 4th dam, Won't Tell You, dam of Affirmed.
6) Mighty Atlas (30-1) has started twice this year, the first in a state bred o/c race where he trailed for a half mile then put in a run to get into contention into the stretch but could not chase down the gate to wire winner at one mile on dirt. Next start was in a state bred allowance, also at one mile on dirt, he never got involved after two works just before that race were on the dull side also, indicating he regressed slightly off that first effort. Now has two more works since his last start, a good work followed by a leg stretching but useful work and will now make the first grass start of his career. Good shot at upsetting this field. 5x2 to Capote with crossing help from the influential broodmare Alanesian.
8) Barrel Of Quests (15-1) has started twice this year, the first which he made a move to get into contention going into the far turn but had no further response in his first start in seven months in an open bred condition allowance race, as should be expected. He then shipped back to NY and was entered in a state bred allowance and cut back to a mile on grass when he ran an even race but again had no response in the stretch run. Will likely keep moving forward and is not far off his best race, so any improvement off his last likely results in a board finish. Complete outcross in his first 5 generations but has plenty of Domino blood on both sides of pedigree.
2) Let's Go Big Blue (4-1) will be making his first start of the year. However, last year, hew broke his maiden in his first start, then his next three starts came against open bred stakes horses, and he held his own in the first two before by far the worst race of his career when blinkers were added. That last experience did not help, and trainer will remove the blinkers for this start, and he will go with first time lasix. He has six works for this start, the first 4 were leg stretching type works followed by 2 good works. Will be tough to deny if he comes back anywhere close to the fitness he had when he took a break. 4x4 to Al Hattab.
My Risks: $5 Ex Box 6-9, $1 Tri Box 6-8-9, $.30 Super Box 2-6-8-9, $1 Super Key 6 with 2-8-9 with 2-8-9 with 2-8-9. Total Risk $29.20.
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Race 5 $3 Triple Play: 3 with 5-10 with 3-10. Total Risk $12.00
Race 7 $1 P6: 1 with 2 with 5,10 with 2,6 with 3 with 1,7. Total Risk $8.00.
Race 8 $.50 Mandatory P5: 2 with 5,10, with 2,6 with 3,10 with 1,7. Total Risk $8.00.
Race 9 $.50 Late P5: 5,10 with 6 with 3 with 1,7,8 with 2,6,9. Total Risk $9.00.
Total Risks All Bets: $397.00.

Nearly one in three Gen Zers want the government to install surveillance cameras in everyone's homes
Patrick Henry was 38 years old when he said, "Give me liberty or give me death."
#BigBrother #1984 #SurveillanceState #Communism
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/nearly_one_in_three_gen_zers_want_the_government_to_install_surveillance_cameras_in_everyones_homes.html

I just want to vent about this somewhere. It isn't abuse and it isn't something worth leaving over but it also isn't what I deserve and I just want to get it out. I can't talk to anyone IRL about it because I don't need people hating my husband.
We were at a school presentation today where my 8-year old's class presented this huge months-long project they have been working on. It was impressive and cute and everyone was so happy and proud etc. We are too! They had just started this project when I was at school for parent-teacher conferences a couple months ago, and so I pulled my husband over to see the big starting-point graph thing and explain it to him and tell him what I already knew about it, before the presentation began. I was excitedly telling him things about our child. It was cool stuff!
So we sat through the presentation and beamed with pride etc and one girl mentioned "the web." I remembered the web, this fairly involved question/answer diagramming process they did, and so after the presentation I pulled my husband back over to show him "the web" and explain what that girl had been talking about in greater detail, because I thought it was super-cool comprehension and investigation skills. The web was next to the starting graph thing and he said, very curtly, "You already showed me this." He said it loudly and the teacher turned briefly in surprise because the tone was just so shitty and off. Like, no adult at this school would ever talk to a child that way. My husband would not talk to any other adult there in this dismissive, condescending tone. Just me. Lucky me.
I said, "Okay," and walked over to look at the art section of their project instead. I just did not want to even get into it there but of course my husband has to follow me over and be like, "What?? What??" and I'm just sinking as this wonderful, happy, joyous gathering is starting to feel bad, like so many other things. I very calmly explained that I was trying to show him something else, and that I was hurt that he spoke to me in a way he would not speak to anyone else like that, and I didn't want to fight, I just wanted to enjoy looking at their things so I wanted to be done talking about it. He kept being like, "Okay, so tell me what you were going to say" but I didn't want to, because it just felt fucking bad by then. And he's like, "This feels really petty, you won't tell me something about our kid just because I didn't say something nicely" and I'm just, like, trying to look like we are having a normal happy hushed conversation instead of this weird passive-aggressive war.
He is extremely stressed. We both are, but he has an enormous amount going on at work right now, and his mom is emotionally abusive, and his special-needs brother is in legal trouble, and it's just a lot. He deals with stress and anxiety badly. Mostly, when he's anxious, he lashes out at me, verbally. We talk about it a lot. We have done couples counseling and it comes up a lot. But he still does it. And I am so tired of being so fucking UNDERSTANDING of his precious fucking anxiety and stress level, all the fucking time. I am so tired of comforting him after he grieves the shitty ways he treats me.
Today, his phone was ringing off the hook the whole time we were at the school. I know how stressful that is. I work full time too and it’s a terrible feeling, especially this time of year when there’s just so much going on, so much work to miss. I know it was sending his anxiety sky high and I understand that. He left to go to work and we parted on good terms and I took a deep breath and told him I love him. And mostly I do. I love him as an action. I just hate feeling this way. I keep replaying the moment when the teacher turned around and then rapidly turned away, after hearing him talk to me that way. I feel so mortified and sad. I wonder sometimes if I will ever get to have a memory of these kinds of things that just feels GOOD. I am just so sad for all of us, sometimes. I hate feeling like we are all held hostage by his anxiety. Like none of us ever deserve to just feel purely and uncomplicatedly good, because we are all such shitty imperfect people that life has to be SO HARD. Oh, yeah, it sucks that he yelled at the 6-year old on his birthday, but the 6-year old dumped Legos all over the floor right when we told him it was bedtime and the sound of them skittering all over the floor just set his already-sky-high anxiety over the edge, so he couldn't help himself. Someday, some mythical future day, we will all be good enough and tidy enough and work will be calm enough and his mom will be sane enough - someday, we will finally stop setting off his precious ANXIETY and that day, that day he will finally stop snapping in all these tiny little ways, death by papercut. But not today. Certainly not today. Probably not tomorrow, either.

So, my brother has been out to me for 5 years. This day is very special to me, because it's the day I saw a light in his eyes that I hadn't seen for years. He's still a teen right now but is on hormones and my parents and surrounding church, family, and school support him too.
However, my family cherishes old memories. I have 2 brothers, my teen brother being the only trans one in the family. So for his 5th anniversary of being out, I thought about updating some things.
My parents have baby pictures of him until his first year with a pink background and flowers. I'm thinking about buying a new template that's blue to put the pictures in. We all also have a Gerber baby spoon with our names engraved. I want to get him one with his chosen name engraved.
We have ornaments of his name on them, bunches of them. I want to get him some silly craft things to he can remake ornaments with his chosen name to hang on the tree.
We each have a cup with our name on it, but my parents already got him one with his chosen ne for Christmas, so I'm getting him another one.
Some other ideas I had was getting us 3 kids some new caricatures with his new appearance and name, because my parents loved our old caricatures but took them down because they love my brother more.
One last idea I had was getting him a custom book. We each got one as a baby. Basically, it would be a story and some printing company would insert the kids name into the book. So mine was about Elmo and me saving the alphabet parade. I want to get him a Dora the explorer one, but with his chosen name. He loved that book to death as a kid and I think it would ne nice to receive an updated version.
I want to know if these are good ideas? I don't want to ask him because I want to surprise him. My parents think it's a good idea, but I wanted to ask the community. I am open to any criticism, I want to make sure I get him good things. Thank you in advance.

Hi. I'm looking to talk to new people, maybe make a friend
They are:
History, especially the 19th-20th century but with more broad and general knowedge in other time periods. I'm not an expert or anything but I am pretty passionate about it and tend to read/listen about one event or the other on a pretty regular basis.
Literature, especially old novels. I recently read Demian (my all time favourite book), Day of the Oprichnik, Heart of Darkness, the Perfume and Little Prince. Some of my other favourite works would include: "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "Faust part I" (need to get to part II) and "No Longer Human". I also like to write short stories and book reviews. I'd also really like to read the same book with someone and discuss it. I just started reading Grimm's fairy tales.
Languages. I know three, with one being a bit rusty. I'm currently working to scrape off the rust and then when I'm finished with that will begin to learn a fourth language. It's fun to go through different works in multiple languages. For example, I read the aforementioned Faust part I in all three.
Games. I recently played Cyberpunk 2077. Now that the dust has settled and the bugs mostly removed...It's not that bad! The main questline at least, Fallout 76 (Very average, I'm dissapointed with what they made the "RPG" system) and will try out Deus Ex Manking Divided again ( Got inspired since it's somewhat similar to Cyberpunk). I was waiting to play Elden Ring but it ended being too stressful for me. Go here and get beaten up go there and get beaten up, repeat...Besides that I'm a big fan of Paradox strategy games...like EU IV and HoI IV (also thinking of making my own project for HoI IV). I am definitely looking forward to try out Victoria III, after they add more content to it. I also got Modern Warfare 2, since the first MW had great multiplayer gameplay.
Anime and Manga. In recent times my interest has waned but I still watch the occasional series here and there. Like Cyberpunk Edgerunners (Which I found to be rather mediocre) and the very good new season of Bleach. Some other favourites include: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Death Note, Fate;Zero, Psycho Pass , Higurashi (season 2 is a bit weak but the first one is a masterpiece of horror), Code Geass, Attack on Titan and others. My favourite Manga is Berserk...I hope it gets a good ending..the first couple of new chapters were...a bit rough but the new author seems to have got his footing.
Anyway, that should be enough information to give you a good picture... Before I go, I would like to ask for you to include the title of the last book you read in your reply. A small request, I feel. I'll be ignoring those that don't.