KAY-ALANA TURNER HAS BEEN MISSING SINCE MARCH 10, 2023
All further updates will go through our page Updates for Kay-Alana Turner. Please follow the page for the most up to date information.
On the evening of March 9, 2023, Kay-Alana got into her car at her friends house in Silsbee, Tx to drive to her friend house in Austin, Tx. She had not slept in almost 3 days, and friends and family did not realize she was in full swing of a severe manic episode. During her drive, she texted her friend Brittany “no help.” Once Brittany was able to get ahold of Kay, she erratically responded that she was fine and driving. We later learned from her friend that her phone had only 3% battery, so she wrote his address on her arms (EDIT: in reviewing doorbell footage, we have determined Kay only wrote the names of her friends and not the address.)
Kay continued down 290 on her way to Austin, but she got tired at some point. She pulled off of 290 in Hockley, and made her way into Bauer Landing. The first ring doorbell footage we received shows Kay following a young man into his driveway, where she asked him if she could take a nap because she was very tired. The young man was underage and told Kay he’d need to ask his parents. By the time his parents came outside, Kay-Alana was already pulling out of the driveway. Kay drove around Bauer Hills for what could have been several hours, pulling into driveways along the way. Another gentleman chased her out of his driveway, and she landed in a driveway on Siegen Trail around 3:30am. We are grateful to Kelsey, who has provided us with multiple videos from her doorbell camera. In these videos, Kay-Alana believed she made it to Austin and was trying to get her friend to answer the door. Her behavior in these videos shows how confused and disoriented she was at the time.
She left Bauer Hills around 3:50am and got back on 290, but she got back on eastbound instead of west. She landed in Holly Creek Trails in Tomball, where a homeowner found her in his driveway at approximately 6am. Kay was asleep by then, and anyone who knows her knows she sleeps like the dead. The homeowner became concerned when when she was unresponsive, so he called the constable. He also called others in the neighborhood, as they are a tight knit community, to standby as witnesses. When the constable woke Kay up, she was very frightened, and did not know what was going on. Being scared, she drove out of the driveway, through the gentleman’s front yard and into the street. However, one of the neighbors was blocking the exit so she couldn’t leave. By this point, the constable called Harris County Sheriff’s Department for backup. Even though she has never even had so much as a parking ticket, Kay was incredibly fearful and disoriented. She slowly drove her car back to the driveway, while police followed her on foot. She stopped her car at a picket fence, where the officer on foot broke her driver window in an attempt to take control of the stopped vehicle. This scared Kay even more, and she took off through the pasture. Officers chased on foot as Kay drove through two pastures and multiple fences and into the woods behind the homes. She made it about half a mile into the woods before her car bogged down in the mud. From there, she got out of the car and began running on foot. She dropped her phone not too far from the car, and somehow made her way to Spring Creek. Her shoes were found near a log that she used to cross the creek, they were full of glass from her window. Once she crossed Spring Creek into Montgomery County, she ran through another persons pasture and yard and made her way to Decker-Prairie Rosehill Road. The last time Kay-Alana was physically and verifiably seen, was driving into the woods around 7am on Friday, March 10. Harris County deployed a helicopter to search the woods for her heat signature, but they ran out of fuel and were unsuccessful locating her; however, they did not alert Montgomery County about the situation further slowing down the process of finding her.
Her parents, Robby and Rosa Calhoun reported her missing around 11am on Friday, March 10 and Texas Equusearch became involved. They searched the wooded area where she was last seen extensively on Saturday morning, and determined that she made it to Decker Prairie, where she either got a ride or continued on foot.
Sadly and for reasons that do not fully make sense, Harris County made the decision to cancel the Missing Person report to press charges against Kay-Alana. They have charged her with felony evasion of arrest. Because there is a felony charge pending, Texas Equusearch is no longer allowed to help with the case. We are begging for assistance to help us get this charge dropped, so we can continue using Texas Equusearch, one of the greatest resources in Texas for Missing Persons. We have contacted Governor Greg Abbott’s office for assistance and are reaching out to our House Representative in the district to help us get this charge dropped. Please help us by reaching out to Gregg Abbott at (512) 463-2000 and Rep. Morgan Luttrell at (281) 305-7890, and ask them to drop the charge and begin looking for Kay once again as a Missing Person.
EXPERIENCING A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS SHOULD NOT MAKE YOU A CRIMINAL.
Kay is vulnerable, on foot with no food, water, shelter, cellphone, identification, or medication in an area she is totally unfamiliar with. She is disoriented and confused. We are still canvassing the area as a family in the hopes we can find her. Please continue to share Kay-Alana’s story and help us bring her home!!

Whats the best time of day is it to do an MV Live? Or does it not matter because of all the different time zones? I'm in the pacific time zone & the best time for me to do a live is at like 4 in the morning lol

Multiple enemies in the faction are annoying in some way.
Let’s start with everyone’s favorite- the Thresher ship. Why on gods wonderful and beautiful Earth does this even exist? In missions they will just randomly show up and insta-gib in literally one shot. Even in patrol zone Neomuna they just linger around and randomly decide to one shot you from like hundreds of meters away way up in the sky where you had no way of knowing that they have arrived, let alone that they are now shooting at you. All this could easily be fixed by just making it so they don’t one shot you right? Sure, but they still have no crit spot and absurd damage resist. So you either waste half your heavy ammo or more to take them out or just accept their existence.
Phalanx: Do I even need to say what is wrong with this enemy? Sure i can laugh at getting phalanxed into the stratosphere and dying from impact as much as the next guy, but after losing numerous duality flawless runs to them I am seriously over it. Not to mention that it can happen at seemingly any point in their melee animation (I’ve been launched even at the beginning, even at the end, and even when I am not even close to them). Can’t even melee their shields to stun them. Getting Phalanxed has been around for so many years that there is even a subreddit for it. At this point I am convinced that bungie genuinely has no idea how to correct this issue with the physics (similar issues are present in the halo series).
Psion: the move that pops you up into the air. Not even very effective for killing but extremely annoying.
Incendior: The shining example of the anti melee build. Sure it’s fine to have an enemy that acts as a counter to a particular play style, but they will literally run straight line right at you, do their ground pound move, and send you flying. Once again not that dangerous, just absurdly annoying. Don’t forget that they will explode on death depending on what damage type you finish them with. But wait there’s more, their explosive packs will linger on the ground and explode long after they have died. The cherry on top is that the explosive pack can even be flung at you by another concussive force and then blow up right in your face. I have seen near perfect duality runs get ended over this.
It’s not even about difficulty is it? It’s about fun. Is a phalanx fun to fight? Is a thresher fun to fight? No. It’s almost as if Bungie tried to make them as annoying as possible. Every game has something like this; Blue koopa shell, jackal snipers, bonewheel skeletons. Nothing gets me like the cabal does.
They used to be my favorite enemy faction but after years of playing it’s just annoying. Give me screebs, exploder shanks, hive knights even tormentors any day. I hate the Cabal.

Most of my favourite matches didn’t headline their respective PPV (Hart/Austin, HBK/Angle etc), so was just interested in hearing what your favourite main even is. Mine would have to be Cactus Jack vs HHH at Royal Rumble 2000.

I tried looking through the sidebar but couldn't really find the answer I was hoping for so here is my plea.
My wife and I recently bought a house that came with 2 pairs of speakers built into the living room, one pair on a wall and the other on the opposite side of the room in the ceiling. The previous owners also left a subwoofer. The speakers and subwoofer are all Klipish but I have no idea about what model.
My wife wants to buy me a stereo receiver for my birthday but neither of us knows anything about ohms or amps or what we should get. I generally only listen to vinyl records using a UTurn turntable, and don't plan to put a TV in the room.
As far as a wishlist for the stereo receiver here goes:

• Under $400
• Play the same music out of both pairs of speakers (its in the same room so I don't need different zones)
• Hook up for the powered subwoofer
• Bluetooth connectivity
• Preferably something new as it will be easier for my wife to buy vs thrift shop/marketplace hunting.

I found the Onkyo 8220 online but don't know if it's good or not. Also do I have to get a special receiver to play music out of both sets of speakers?
Thanks in advance.

Hi noodly loves,
I've saved up enough to go vertical for my sweet baby. I have a 11yo Everglades Ratsnake who is a darling boy, very attentive and downright playful and friendly. He's both a climber and a digger, and until now we've gone for length over height for his tank. But I can tell he would absolutely adore more vertical space!
Looking for advice, pros/cons, and perhaps some starting navigation to what a bioactive enclosure entails.
He's 6'ft or so, been looking at the terrariums/palidariums that are 36x18x36. His current tank is longer, 48", I believe.
In the past, when using even slightly more biotic substrates (coconut, supposedly clean moss from the stores) I had two scares with mites. How does the added complexity of living plants and soil fare? How do you all deal with necessary cleaning?
Any advice is welcome, please know I'm doing the best I can. :]

Hi. I'm a Windows and linux guy trying to help my girl get moved to a newer macbook. Her ex husband was an IT guy and planted spyware on her devices during their divorce and I'm pretty sure there is something fishy on this macbook. I've run Malware Bytes but I'm not at all a Mac software guy and could easily miss something. But there are popups that flicker by and at least one had the name of his old business in it. I can find nothing on the machine that would be trying to connect to his business network but it's popping up.
I'd like to backup her stuff and move her to a new machine, but I don't want to bring spyware with it.
What do you Mac experts recommend? Would a Time Machine backup bring a hidden application with it? I can always copy just the data files but I'd like a more full backup/restore if possible.
Thanks!

Someone posted a ChatGPT session about Forth a while ago here. As I'm sure everyone can't get enough of people posting ChatGPT sessions, here's another one using the more recent GPT4 model about a piece of code from the Thurtle demo (I removed the stack comments from the original program)
​

me
What does the following Forth program do?

450 CONSTANT SIZE 7 CONSTANT BRANCHES 160 CONSTANT SPREAD VARIABLE RND HERE RND ! : RANDOM RND @ 75 * 74 + 65537 MOD DUP RND ! ; : CHOOSE RANDOM 65537 */MOD SWAP DROP ; : PLANT OVER 10 < IF 2DROP EXIT THEN DUP RIGHT OVER FORWARD BRANCHES 0 DO OVER 2/ SPREAD CHOOSE SPREAD 2/ - RECURSE LOOP PENUP SWAP BACKWARD PENDOWN LEFT ; 1 SETPENSIZE SIZE 0 PLANT 

ChatGPT
The Forth program defines several constants and variables, and then defines three Forth words: RANDOM, CHOOSE, and PLANT.
The RANDOM word generates a random number by taking the current value of the RND variable, multiplying it by 75, adding 74, and then taking the result modulo 65537. It then duplicates this value and stores it back into RND.
The CHOOSE word uses the RANDOM word to generate a random number between 0 and 65536 (inclusive), multiplies it by the value on top of the stack, divides the result by 65537, and then drops the original value on top of the stack, leaving only the random result.
The PLANT word is a recursive function that draws a tree-like shape using turtle graphics. The tree starts at the current position and orientation of the turtle. It first checks whether the distance from the current position to the rightmost branch is less than 10; if so, it stops drawing and exits. Otherwise, it draws a line to the right, moves forward, and then iterates over each of the BRANCHES branches, drawing a line halfway to the rightmost branch and then recursively calling PLANT. After all branches have been drawn, the turtle lifts the pen, moves back to the starting position, and turns left.
The final line of the program sets the pen size to 1, and then calls PLANT to draw a tree with a starting size of SIZE.
​

Me
Can you annotate the program with comments describing what the program does?

​
ChatGPT
Certainly! Here's the annotated Forth program:

450 CONSTANT SIZE \ Define the constant SIZE as 450 7 CONSTANT BRANCHES \ Define the constant BRANCHES as 7 160 CONSTANT SPREAD \ Define the constant SPREAD as 160 VARIABLE RND \ Define a variable RND to hold a random number HERE RND ! \ Set the initial value of RND to the current memory address : RANDOM \ Define the RANDOM function RND @ 75 * 74 + 65537 MOD \ Generate a random number using a linear congruential generator DUP RND ! \ Store the random number back into RND and duplicate it ; : CHOOSE \ Define the CHOOSE function RANDOM 65537 */MOD \ Generate a random number between 0 and 65536, multiply it by the value on top of the stack, and divide the result by 65537 SWAP DROP \ Swap the result with the value below it on the stack and drop the original value ; : PLANT \ Define the PLANT function OVER 10 < IF \ Check if the distance to the rightmost branch is less than 10 2DROP EXIT \ If so, stop drawing and exit THEN DUP RIGHT \ Turn right and draw a line OVER FORWARD \ Move forward BRANCHES 0 DO \ Loop over the number of branches OVER 2/ \ Duplicate the current position and divide the distance to the rightmost branch by 2 SPREAD CHOOSE \ Choose a random distance to move towards the rightmost branch, based on the SPREAD constant and a random value SPREAD 2/ - \ Calculate the new distance to the rightmost branch RECURSE \ Recursively call PLANT with the new position and orientation LOOP PENUP SWAP BACKWARD PENDOWN \ Lift the pen, move back to the starting position, and lower the pen LEFT \ Turn left ; 1 SETPENSIZE \ Set the pen size to 1 SIZE 0 PLANT \ Call PLANT to draw a tree starting from the current position with a size of SIZE 

I hope that helps!
​

me
How many values does the PLANT consume from the stack, and how many does it leave on the stack?

ChatGPT
The PLANT word consumes two values from the stack (the current position and orientation of the turtle) and leaves two values on the stack (the final position and orientation of the turtle after the tree has been drawn).
Specifically, the OVER and DUP words are used to access the current position and orientation of the turtle, and the PENUP, SWAP, BACKWARD, and PENDOWN words are used to move the turtle back to its starting position and orientation after the tree has been drawn.

This week, we discuss Austin FC's rough week, why it happened, and how they might be able to fix it. Other topics and questions include:
- Vaisanen, Wolff, and Byaruhanga leave for national duty - ATXII tickets on sale - Austin get CONCACAFed - Houston Dynamo recap - Why isn't the offense ticking? - Is Wolff trying to fix what wasn't broken? - Urruti vs Zardes and Valencia vs Wolff - Colorado Rapids preview (59:15)
​
Check it out at - https://www.moontowersoccer.com/getting-concacafed-why-the-offense-isnt-ticking-urruti-vs-zardes-rapids-preview-and-more/

TRUE RP DAYZ IS MAKING A COMEBACK!!

We have a Newly Re-Released DayZ Server and would like to invite you to play, here's some information about the server in case you would like to join! Thanks for reading, Stay Safe!
We are a community built server, so what we add chance and balance is highly based on community polls and feedback, And developed by an experienced developer to your liking, its not perfect, but with your help it will be!

SERVER SPECS

Intel i9-9900K Octa-Core Overclocked 5.0ghz, incl. Hyper-Threading Technology + 64 GB DDR4 RAM + 2x 1 TB NVMe SSD + 1GB/s connection So expect amazing performance!!!

WHAT MAKES OUR RP SERVER DIFFERENT

• Dayz Expansion
• Enhanced Loot table rebuilt from scratch
• Custom Locations including 5 completely customized traders!
• Factions
• PVP zones
• Balanced Weed Farming And Selling
• Crypto Mining Integrated into a complex economy
• Rebalanced Hunting system with custom hunting trader and custom rare animals
• In Game RP Jobs To Earn Good Money
• Loads of modded vehicles
• Player Traders + AI Traders

And so much more...
JOIN OUR SERVER DIRECTLY AT

• 138.201.196.218:2302

and join our discord to learn the rules and get involved in the rebuild of the community! see you there!
https://discord.gg/Hrq4fbj

I have been working really hard on my garden. I have everything planted, compost, mulch… got the Safer soap spray.. I don’t have raised beds, trying to make the ground soil healthy. But everything has pests. My Lilikoi has the black and red caterpillars, strawberries are eaten by ants before they even turn red, broccoli was doing well, but has now been eaten by something very quickly (I think it’s caterpillars from this white butterfly), the peppers have these horn beetle things and ants, and the citrus trees have any nests and some black moldy stuff, and the grape vine that was super established on the property has Japanese mites, and the rosemary now has spittle bugs.
What am I doing wrong? Why is everything getting infested? Is this just part of gardening in HI? I’m spending so much money at this point to grow my own food, but it just feels like a losing battle. Mahalo in advance for any help/tricks you can provide 🙂

Have you ever been tail down the side of a mountain by a band of angry machete-wielding onion people with Jack o’lantern like faces and major territory issues?
Have you ever been followed through the woods by a mysterious hooded figure crunching through the brush and stalking your every move from just beyond the tree line?
Have you ever been stabbed through the center of your palm by a stumpy little demon shrub with needle like spikes hiding beneath the leaves and running down its trunk like exterior? Not to mention the erratic demonic tendencies some of the plants around here seem to sometimes possess.
Well, if you have experienced any and or all of what I had just mentioned, then you probably already have a good idea of the place and some of the things I am about to tell you.
If you haven’t, however, then are you in for one heck of a tail. Because the stories I am going to be sharing with you during my free time moving forward, might just be some of the craziest things you've ever heard. But before that, there are a couple things you should know about me first.
My name is Blake, and I live on a farmhouse.
It's nothing fancy (obviously) just a big old building right in the middle of nowhere surrounded by layers upon layers of thick bushes, trees, and mountains high as the eye can see. The kind of place where cellular towers are practically non-existent, and the nearest civilization is at least a gazillion miles away. That kind of farmhouse.
I also work here. Making around eighty bucks an hour. Which I guess is a little above average for most gardeners, but I did let the owners know I was just about ready to work for free. All I needed was a roof over my head and a place to sleep. But they insisted I take the money or go find some other place to sleep. And so I did.
Other than being a full-time gardener at the farmhouse, I am also a part time forest runner on most days. Although it's not my second job of choice, it's just something I do on the side whenever I want to. Plus it bumps up my salary a bit, and I appreciate the extra money I get from doing it. Despite how crazy and insanely dangerous it almost always gets.
What is a forest runner? Well, on the one hand, I want to say it is one of the easiest things in the world. Since it mostly involves walking into a single patch of forest, making a loud noise, and immediately turning back to run in the opposite direction. But what you run from is what makes it tricky. And whether or not you are fast enough to outpace whatever hears you, also makes the difference. I can't believe I am about to say this, but I also run away from monsters for a living.
Ferocious, blood thirsty creatures ready to tear you limb from limb The second they grab hold of your jacket and pull you towards them. Those kinds of monsters. But I don't just run away from monsters in the forest. I also run away from other things too. Wildlife. Creatures of different shapes and sizes. Spirits. Ghouls. Ghosts. Goblins. And my list favorite of them all: Mermaids.
Okay. Maybe mermaids aren't supposed to be on the list. I just had that one "experience" with a particular mermaid a few weeks ago, which almost scarred me for life. I kinda have most of the memories a bit blurry but let’s just say because of her, I was literally almost seafood. But before then, I've never actually seen one in person. But I've heard stories.
Stories of how they rarely swim up to the surface and whenever they do, you are not to approach any of them, under any circumstance, unless invited. I wasn't. And I approached one anyway. Safe to say, it really didn't bode well for me when I did that. Lesson learned that's for sure. But do you know what? Let that be the first story I tell you.
The first thing I remember from that experience was the image of a blonde girl sat crying by the riverbank. It was a Saturday evening, and I was out raking a bunch of leaves when her incessive sobbing was carried over to the farmhouse by the wind. At first I chose to ignore it. Hoping that, it was just that. Incessive sobbing carried over by the wind and nothing more. But then the sobbing grew louder, and I promise I had a very good reason to go check it out.
At this point, it was just me at the farmhouse and no one else. My boss "Frank" was out hunting with the farmhouse dog, and his wife "Linda" was out supplying a fresh batch of mixed herb to the nearby villages and markets. Which reminds me.
Remember how I said the nearest civilization was at least a gazillion miles away? Technically, that's not entirely accurate. The nearest civilization is not a gazillion miles away as I initially had you believe. Sorry about that. The nearest civilization for real this time, is actually just a couple walks downhill. Past the field of murdering bush lilies, and through the enchanted trees of killer mushrooms. Then, voila. Civilization. But the nearest 21st century civilization however, that's the One that is at least a gazillion miles away. The place where the rest of present-day humanity lives. Yeah. Super far from wherever this place is. Anyway, back to the story.
So there I was. Standing in the middle of a clearing in front of the farmhouse, a small pile of dried grass and leaves sitting in front of me and starting to Russell over from the wind. I placed the bud of my rake on top of the heap, preventing it from spreading any further and causing me to start over, while I lifted my head up to listen intently to the sounds in the wind. Again, it was just as I described. Sobs. Someone crying. Soft sniffles, coughs, and everything. You didn't need an otolaryngologist to help identify what your ears were picking up in that moment, it was just so clear that the person doing the crying might well have been right next to you.
I jumped at the thought of something sneaking up behind me while I was distracted and began searching my immediate environment for any potential anomalies that might have gotten past the wooden fence surrounding the farmhouse. Poltergeists. Trolls. Ogres. And a sumo sized demon gorilla with red eyes and muscles the size of bowling balls. Believe it or not, but these are just a few of the abominations that have somehow managed to cross on to the compound one too many times before, and if it weren't for the intervention of Frank and Linda, the power couple currently running the farmhouse, the aberrations would probably have done a lot more than break a few things while also nearly giving me a heart attack in the process.
But after a few quick nervous glances over my immediate environment, and finding not one thing out of place, I turned my attention over to where the sobs sounded the loudest. It was coming from a fairly large crack in the fence on the west side of the farmhouse. A demarcation that when gazed through, revealed a whole new world consisting of a deep gray sky, rocks, a bunch of trees that were hopefully weren't harboring zombie tree people, and its most alluring feature of it all. A great body of water that is almost as gray as the sky itself. That is where the sobs were coming from. And like any reasonable person in that situation, my initial thoughts were NOT to check out the strange noise emanating from beyond the fence.
I mean, just think about it. I was all alone, on a hill. In a farmhouse located right in the center of a very large, very enchanted mystical forests, capable of hoarding a huge amount of very dark, very demented creatures, which are seemingly on a never-ending hunt for lonely gardeners, and farmers, and small groups of villagers to torment, or possess, or straight up consume whenever they are feeling a bit frisky.
So yes. I most definitely wasn't about to leave the comforting embrace that the squarish wooden structure around the farmhouse provided, to go investigate a strange sound that just so happens to be coming from the same place I was warned on multiple occasions never to visit. And whenever I asked, I was straight up told mother nature herself was sleeping at the bottom of that very river and waking her up was asking for trouble.
I never could tell when Linda is joking, or when Frank is being serious. But when it comes to things concerning the forest and around the farmhouse, I always listen. So if mother nature herself is sleeping in that very river, then mother nature herself is sleeping in that very river. And instead of investigating the strange sobs, I ignored it. But then, it got worse.
There was a sudden ear-piercing screech as whatever was crying by the river, let out a scream that almost blew out my eardrums. The intense whale only lasted for about a moment, but every second was an excruciating eternity, causing me to let go of the rake I was holding and cover my ears in reflex. It was so loud it must have reverberated round a good chunk of the forest, sending a few hundred birds scattering into the air, and a dozen more rodents dashing for cover. When the screeching finally stopped, it was as if the world fell silent, and nothing moved.
It took a few seconds for me to be comfortable enough to uncover my ears, setting my hands by my side in the process. I blinked a couple times before scanning my environment once more, searching for anything out of the ordinary. For some reason, I was certain a display of such fierce vocal capacity, especially one of such intensity, was bound to disturb the mother of forest, rousing her up from her slumber. But instead of waiting around to find out, I gathered up my equipment, abandoned the rest of my work for that evening, and began marching towards the farmhouse where it was safe. Ish.
Besides. I run away from monsters for a living. I don't face them. If anything, I want to say that was consistent with my character. Also, when that monster is essentially a superpower of the forest resting in your backyard, it kind of puts a lot of stuff into consideration. Plus, I was all alone so. Yeah. Definitely wasn't waiting around to find out.
Approaching the farmhouse in a haste, I made a beeline for the equipment's shed positioned on the east side of the compound, almost directly opposite where the strange sobs were initially coming from. Now, the sobs were quiet. But that doesn't mean something was not still back there.
Reaching for my keys in my lower right pocket, I pulled them out in a flurry of clinks and jingles, while instinctively feeling for the specific key I needed with the tips of my fingers. As the farmhouse is situated in a very remote area of the forest, we don't often get that many unwanted visitors from the nearby villages and settlements who want to take things from us without asking. But it is still advised we lock up anything of value because, well, where do you think some of the creatures around here get their weapons of callus destruction from?
Nearing the doors of the shed, I finally picked out the key I needed from the bunch, then used that to flick open the rusty metal lock and entered the belly of the Makeshift storage unit. Inside were rows after rows of very sharp, very blunt instruments of numerous shapes and sizes, with each one Easley being the perfect leading murderous tool for any band of pissed off bulbus shaped vegetable people to ransack, steal, and utilize to illegally carve out any portion of the forest and claim it as their own.
They were knives. Blades. Scissors. Hoes. Clippers. Shovels. Diggers. Daggers. Slicers. Splicers. And of course. A big ass sword standing in a stone on the opposite side of the far wall. The rest of the stuff were just scattered haphazardly, with some of them still hanging on the metal rings connected to the woodwork lining up the ceiling, while others were resting on the tables, and some lying on the floor.
I dumped all of my equipment, then stepped out closing the doors behind me and remembering to lock it. I continued my march toward the farmhouse, but just as I rushed up the flight of small stairs and placed my hand on the doorknob, I heard it again.
The crying from before.
This time however, it was different.
This time, it sounded more human.
I don't know what came over me. It was as if a million little metal fists shot out of nowhere and punched me right in the gut. The creature's pain became my pain, and its worries became my worries. I did not like the feeling.
The crying took me back to a point in my life I really did not like to think about. It made me sick to my stomach and made my eyes want to water. Every cough. Every sniffle. Every audible inhale I now heard emanating from just beyond the fence, made me felt gross to my core. I wanted it to stop.
But instead of running upstairs and throwing on a pair of earplugs, I decided to do the opposite.
I went to go investigate the strange sobs coming from beyond the fence.
And before you role your eyes at me, I promise. I had a very good reason for doing so. I just can't tell you about it at the moment. Brings up too many unwanted memories. Just know I needed to confirm that whomever or whatever was crying by the river, wasn't going through a similar thing I ones did. And if he or she wasn't peaceful, or friendly, then I will simply not approach them.
That's it.
So after releasing the doorknob and taking in a few deep breaths, I backed away from the front door and took off down the flight of stairs, turning in the direction of the west side of the farmhouse. To where the sobs were coming from.
Although now it wasn't full on sobbing, it was more of a blend between sniffling and coughing. Which was starting to decrease in frequency and intensity as I got closer.
I was halfway across the yard, mere feet away from gazing through the crack in the fence when I suddenly remembered the vicious scream from earlier, which then prompted me to do a quick u turn to go grab a pair of earmuffs from the top of my desk within the farmhouse. Sometimes, strange noises emanate deep within the forest at night, and the earmuffs primarily helps to preserve my sanity whenever that happens. It also helps to block out sounds like annoying chattering crows, shadow whisperers, and sleepwalking inducing river sirens. Amongst other things. But the main reason why I went back for it that evening, was to help protect my ears from the screeching.
I used the opportunity after snagging the pair of blue earmuffs, to gaze out my window overlooking the river on the west side of the farmhouse. I didn't quite catch a glimpse of whatever was crying by the water, on the count of my window not being in exact focus to the sobs, so I threw on the muffs, went downstairs, and headed out the front door.
I once again turned in the direction of the sobs which, I could no longer here as much. But blocking out the crying like I said, wasn't really what I was going for. I wanted to make sure whoever was crying was okay. And just as I was approaching the fence, ready to peer through the crack in the wooden structure surrounding the farmhouse, someone got in my way.
There was a sudden pressure against my back as something had landed so gracefully behind me, that it completely escaped my sense of hearing, bringing me to a literal standstill. I didn't even need to turn around to find out who it was. The scent of fresh blood in the air. The waves of dark aura pushing against my back. The ability to move as fast and as silent, so as to completely evade the senses. There was only one forest aberration I knew could do that.
"And just what do you think you are doing?"
I heard the voice of Sebastian ask from inside the back of my head, sending ripples of dread down the length of my spine. I turned around slowly and came face to face with the thing that would forever be the number one reason why I find owls to be one of the scariest species of birds on the planet.
Sebastian was a part man, part owl hybrid thing, with a ghostly white face, deep black eyes, and a feathered, makeshift winged cloak that was just as deep, dark, and menacing as his eyes. He has no beak. But lips. And it doesn't really matter because when he speaks, they don't move. At all. No matter the circumstance.
"Have you suddenly lost your tongue boy? I asked you a question. What do you think you are doing?" he added, his cold voice bouncing around in my head and his gaze frozen solid.
I tried saying something, but I was so captivated by fear I forgot how to speak. My entire body was shaking like a leaf, and I was pretty sure I was about to piss my pants.
Among all the aberrations in the forest and Frank just so happen to pick the creepiest looking one of them all to serve as my babysitter. Thanks Frank. I really appreciate it.
"Don't make me repeat myself boy," Sebastian said, his tone dropping to sinister levels.
"SPEAK!" he ordered, and the ferocity of his pitch almost caused the inside of my skull to split in two.
I swallowed the fear stuck in my throat and finally spoke.
"There's... It's... Someone needs our help," I said. My words somehow managing to form a cohesive sentence. "I just wanted to..."
Sebastian jerked his head to the side to glance over my shoulder. More specifically, he glanced over my shoulder to stare through the crack in the wooded fence behind me.
We both heard the sniffling noises simultaneously.
After a second or two, Sebastian then snapped his head in my direction, returning his soulless gays back on me.
"Were you invited?" he asked, a hint of calm resignation in his tone.
"What?" I replied, genuinely confuse at his question.
"Were you invited?" he asked again, with his voice starting to shift into enraged annoyance.
In fear of not wanting to piss him off any more than I already did, I simply shook my head in response, hoping that was enough non sassy, non-disrespectful way of indicating I was still at a loss of what he was asking.
Letting out a sigh, he said, "Take a look." And I began to slowly step backwards while keeping my eyes trained on him. It was not until my back connected with a flat wooden surface behind me that I finally broke eye contact in order to turn around, crouch, and gaze out the crack in the fence standing on the west side of the farmhouse. And the view was just as I described.
There was the deep gray sky with all its glory. The smooth dark rocks. The towering trees looming overhead. And the large body of water that had her swampiness resting underneath. Everything was as I described with one exception. Now sitting on one of the rocks by the left side of the river, with her back turned and both of her legs stuffed into the water, was a girl. Or more specifically, a young woman.
Her hair was a mixture of white and yellow, with rows of beads running half circles along the back of her braid, decorating her already very colorful, very voluminous hair all the way down to her lower back. Her shoulders each held three sets of clothing strips, which appeared to act as the primary (hold me up support) for the rest of her slim green looking attire, and the tone of her skin was a pale shade with a hint of Olive undertone. She looked hunched over in her sitting position, with her hands, each one decorated with rows of transparent blue bangles, lifted up to her face, cupping her eyes and nose as she continued to sniffle and sob quietly into the morning breeze. I didn't even have to sight her tail to know what kind of creature she already was.
Some of the creatures in the forest, especially the mermaids, take great pride in the kinds of accessories they wear, and in the way they look. If you were to ask me why, I would say it probably has something to do with ethnic origins or simple personal aesthetic choices. Suddenly, the question Sebastian kept repeating to me made a lot of sense. If you don't ask a mermaid for permission before approaching, things for you can become really painful. And for a brief moment, I wondered if the screeching noise from earlier had anything to do with the kinds of things they are capable of.
So, in light of the sudden Discovery that I was in fact dealing with a potentially hostile mermaid, my drive for wanting to help her process whatever grief she was going through suddenly plummeted. Especially now that I knew she was capable of letting out a screech that could easily rip apart my skull if she wanted to. And because of that, I ceased staring through the gap in the fence to lean back and look up at the frozen stature of Sebastian looming just behind me. He kept silent as always, and continued to observe me with a steady gaze, waiting for me to speak of my findings. I gave myself a second to process the image I had just witnessed before speaking.
"It's a mermaid," I said, perplexed at my Discovery.
"Yes," Sebastian replied, his lips shut, and his voice reverberating around the inside of my skull.
"I can't believe it. I've never seen a mermaid before," I said.
"You should count yourself lucky then rabbit," Sebastian said, unmoving. "Those who sight a mermaid for the first time from such close distance don't usually walk away to tell about the tail," he added. "They always end up doing something stupid."
"Stupid?" I asked, flashing a nervous smile.
Sebastian picked up on my former intentions and shot me a disappointed angry stare.
"Stupid like trying to get nearer for an even closer gander," he said, his pitch-black eyes narrowing and warning. "What were you thinking?" he asked, and luckily for me I did not have to answer the question.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash as if a tree had toppled over in the distance. Sebastian spun his head around, twisting his neck so the back of his head was now facing me. I squirmed at the site of his forward backwards appearance, never having gotten acquainted with most of his characteristics and capabilities in the short time I've known him working at the farmhouse. After a second or two, Sebastian then twisted his neck back into place, returning his dark gaze back on me.
"What is it?" I asked, standing up from my crouched position by the fence and allowing the thought of the mermaid disappear from my mind for a moment.
"You should get inside. Now," Sebastian replied, taking a step back before opening his massive dark wings and spreading them to the sides.
He arced his knees a little bit, and with a single downward flap of his wings, he was airborne. Off the ground by a total of eight feet, before coming to a halt midflight to stare down at me.
"Get inside and lock the doors. Now!" he barked, eyes narrowed, and his wings flapping up and down by his sides keeping his suspended state.
"But you still haven't..."
I never got the opportunity to complete my sentence.
Just then, an almost invisible ball of spiraling blue energy, shot out from somewhere behind me and collided with the body of Sebastian, sending him flying across the front yard and expelling him from the premises entirely.
I immediately took out my earmuffs and was hit with an eerie silence. My heart was pounding. My brain was starting to enter a hyperactive panic mode. And my breathing became ragged and intense. What the hell just happened?
I didn't have to wait for my answer.
I spun around to the sound of rapid approaching footsteps, and almost had a heart attack from what I saw.
Running towards the farmhouse from the other side of the fence. Bare feet. With the lower half of her dress dripping with river water, and the top part of her attire and voluminous hair flowing in the evening breeze, was the mermaid. In full spectacle.
Her eyes were the color of midnight. Her gait, although a little hindered by her dress, seemed just like the way a normal girl would run. The rows of transparent blue bangles on her forearm and wrist, were now a bright luminescent glowing color. And they were streaks of dried-up black makeup tears running down the sides of her cheeks, prove she was indeed the one crying moments earlier.
She resembled something straight out of a marionette's horror movie running towards me and I was a deer caught in headlights. I couldn't believe it.
I started to back off slowly and she snapped her head in my direction, causing my heart to almost leap out of my chest.
"Hey! No! Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" she yelled, rushing towards the fence, and lifting up her hands defensively. "I just want to help," she added, finally coming to a halt, and staring at me through the gap in the fence.
"Something terrible is coming this way and it's all my fault," she said. "Please. We need to leave"
She continued to stare at me through the crack in the fence, a look of genuine concerned plastered across her face. Her dark blue eyes held a tinge of guilt behind them, and her cheeks and lips were flushed with honest worry. She reached out an arm through the fence, as if physically showing she wasn't a threat. That's when I looked down and found that the rows of bangles on her hand, the same ones that were glowing a bright luminescent color only seconds before, were now dimming back into their original shade, almost as if they were in a state of powering down.
"Please," she whispered, and I lifted my head up to meet her gays once more.
For a second, I didn't move. I was frozen in fear and contemplating weather to Make a run for the farmhouse and lock myself in, or run away with this stranger offering to take me to a new location. The safety of the farmhouse had already been compromised thanks to her, and it was about to become a hotspot for major forest aberration activity.
I took a moment to consider my options. I really did. But the renewed sound of trees toppling over from somewhere behind me, accompanied with the ground shaking rumble of a dozen legs digging into the ground and barreling towards the farmhouse in a rush, suddenly made my decision that much obvious.
"Please. We need to go. Now!" she said, with her arm still stretched. And without a second thought, I carefully placed my hand on hers, and the instant my palm came in contact with the inside of her hand, the rows of transparent blue bangles on her arm lit up, and she immediately let go of my hand and grabbed my forearm instead.
I looked up at her face in horror, but before I could utter a word of protest, the insides of her eyes grew brighter, and she lifted her arm up, flinging me over the fence sooner than my mind was able to comprehend what was happening.
I was airborne. For like 2 and a half seconds. But it felt like a lifetime. And while I was busy somersaulting over the fence, the world around me seemed to slow down, giving me plenty of time to catch an upside-down glimpse of the humongous forest creature now climbing its way into the compound from the other side of the fence.
If none of what I've said so far has remotely sounded crazy in the slightest, this is the part where shit should really start to hit the fan. Because climbing into the compound from the other side of the fence, in a downwards arc of its massive body, was the biggest forest crab I have ever seen.
The thing was huge. Like, really huge. It possessed a dirty brown colored appearance, with some parts of its shell-like armored plating covered in green splotches. Its legs were long and pincer like, and its two main frontal claws were massive, reinforced gauntlets ending in scissor like appendages. It had tiny, jagged needles coating almost every inch of its crustacean, with the most vicious looking ones located on its arms, its legs, and the sides of its shell. And other than the overall monstrous sea creature vibes the think presented, there was another disturbing aspect to the thing.
On its back. The topmost part of its shell. Sitting on what resembled a saddle and wielding a slag of rope that somehow connected to the giant crab's antenna, was a rider. Donning some kind of yellow, red ceremonial armor.
The mermaid had planned to catch me as she already had a hand stretched upwards, ready to somehow break my fall the second I cleared the compound and was falling on the outside part of the fence. But she might have thrown me further than she can catch me because our fingers barely even brushed the top of one another before a look of horror flashed across her face, and I mentally braced myself for the inevitable rough landing.
What followed was almost instantaneous.
The world around me sped up and I watched as a ground littered with sharp rocks and stones rushed towards my face. And the last thing I remember as I fell onto the ground was smashing the side of my head against something hard before going blank.
This next part might have Played out as if in a dream sequence, but it was just the symptoms of my brain going into shock.
I was sprawled on the floor. Unmoving. But I could still perceive most of my surroundings. The side of my face in the ground was warm, and I could make out the sound of something growling and bashing against a wall, and the voice of someone crying out over the noise in the distance.
"Hey! Are you okay? I'm sorry I did not catch you. Please. get up. Hey! Can you hear me? Please. Get up. Please!"
"Easy stone breaker. Easy." A second voice spoke out over the noise, and the bashing stopped. So did the growling.
"Look princess. What you've done."
The second voice belonged to a man. And if I were to guess, I would say it belonged to the same person I saw riding the giant crab.
"Please. Get up," the girl said.
“Disappointing,” the man said. ”You see princess, this is what happens whenever you do this. Death. Destruction. And innocent people suffer for it.”
There was a pause.
“I mean, I try my best to minimize the second one, but you can't seem to stop yourself from causing the first one," the man continued. “If you would just come with me back home princess. Watermeena misses you. Your parents miss you. And I’m sure you must be tired of all this constant running?”
I couldn't quite see what was happening mainly because I had fallen facing a patch of bushes, but the rock my head was now resting on beside a nearby tree, provided enough elevation for my peripheral vision to catch some of the action.
First was that the mermaid was still standing outside the wooden fence surrounding the farmhouse. However she was now in some kind of forward leaning stance, with her arms pushed out in front, holding steady a giant transparent blue dome that had seemingly appeared from nowhere and enveloped the compound. Trapping the giant crab and its rider inside.
Second was that she seemed to be getting tired. She had her head lowered, staring at the ground. Her arms were shaking. Her legs were quivering. And the bangles on her arms were starting to blink on and off, indicating that they were probably stressed and overheating, or were simply losing power. Either way, she looked like she was about to pass out and I felt like I needed to do something.
I slowly lifted my head up and was immediately rewarded with a sharp ache shooting through my skull. I lowered my head and winced in pain, before waiting a few seconds and trying again.
This time, I was able to lift my head up and also shuffle my first step forward. And my second. And my third. Other than what I was certain was a broken knee, twisted ankle, and a bruised rib, which were all yelling at my brain for my body to stop moving, I had no other injuries. At least, so I thought.
“Huh,” the voice of the man said. “It seems as though your pedestrian casualty survived after all.”
Still laying on the ground, I lifted my head up and turned in the direction of the farmhouse. The mermaid had also lifted her head up to stare back at me.
There were fresh tears running down the sides of her cheeks. But she now had a smile plastered across her face. A smile of relief. With a little worry sprinkled in.
“Well, isn't that just wonderful,” the man said. ”Now princess,” he continued, “the ball is in your court. You either bring him along and we all go in search of a healer to help dress his injuries, in which case we leave him there and continue onward to Watermeena. Or you leave the poor fellow here to bleed out, and instead do what you've always done. Run. With whatever charge still left in those rings of yours. Just know I cannot guarantee his safety if you do choose to run. Stonebreaker gets a bit agitated when he hasn't had his dinner. And guess who hasn't eaten all day because of you.”
The mermaid looked up at the rider on the crab, then look down back at me. The smile had disappeared from her face and was now replaced with the familiar flush of worry. I turned my attention away and continued to press forward on my elbows and remaining good knee. And after a little while, I was able to make it to the trunk of a tree and lifted myself up to rest my back on it.
Wait. Did he just threatened to feed me to the crab? And did he just say I was bleeding out?
I looked down and was mortified when I saw a trail of blood smeared along the ground from where I sat, all the way to a collection of rocks sticking out of the ground which must have been my point of impact. I lifted my hand and felt a deep gash on the side of my forehead, and a sticky warm liquid was now between my fingers and running along the side of my face. I was suddenly like headed, and unable to focus on anything around me but the voices speaking in the distance.
“Hey! No! Open your eyes! Stay with me!”
Wait. When did I close my eyes?
“He is going into shock. It's now or never princess. Make your choice.”
“No. Please. Wake up,“ I heard the voice of the girl ask, reminding me of that particular memory I really did not like. I opened my eyes to a blurred mess of the things around me, then turned my attention over to where the blurred figure of the mermaid still stood holding together the blurred dome wall.
“Time is running out princess. A few more minutes and he is going to lose consciousness. You should make your choice now.”
“Promise me you won't hurt him,” the girl said, her voice restrained. “And promise me your beast wouldn't lay a single claw on him either.”
“As the commander of the royal army, you have my word princess.”
There was another pause. And just as I began lowering my head and shutting my eyes closed, I made one last attempt in hopes of saving my ass and also preserving the mermaid's independence since it really seemed like she didn't want to go with him.
“Screech,” I said, mustering some of the remaining ounce of energy I could to say that one word.
“What? The mermaid replied,” sniffling.
“That thing you did earlier. Do it again,” I said. “Scream.”
“But that was an accident,” she replied, “and it can hurt you.”
“Just do it,” I said. “Please.”
"Don't bother princess," the man said. "Your disorientating song might have led us to you, but it is not going to drive us away.”
“Good,” I replied, lifting my head up to stare in their direction and blinking a few times to clear my vision. "There is someone I would like you guys to meet."
I turned so I was now facing the mermaid.
“Do it,” I said. “Now.” And with a reluctant nod of her head, she let out three consecutive wails that were not as vicious as the first one, but still packed enough punch to force My hands to cover my ears in response. Even stonebreaker seemed to stumble on his legs a little, before shaking his head to the sides and brushing off the noise. When she was finally done, she lifted her head to stare up at me, with the look in her eyes begging the question. What now?
Her answer came in form of The River beside us starting to bubble over, with a large dark humanoid shape slowly rising up from the deep.
She was awake.
Suddenly, the bangles on the mermaid's hands sparked a bright flash, forcing her to flinch in pain before releasing her grip on the blue dome and dropping to her knees. The bangles began dimming back into their original shade and the blue dome surrounding the compound evaporated.
The man did not cease the opportunity to steal the mermaid in that moment. Instead he was transfixed on the entity now emerging from the water.
The figure in the river continued to rise, until it was out of the water to its waste and was facing the direction of the farmhouse.
It was big. Very big. Its body was made entirely of dark brown roots and tree bark, and its eyes were hollow circuits of glowing lights. There was a greenish bluish swamp like slime covering its entire body, and the hair on its head was long, dark, drenched, and coated with seaweed. Its overall visage was akin to the top half of a woman, and when she spoke, it was with a thousand voices that came before her.
“I am Kiai Ohana. Mother of nature. Guardian, and protector of all living things in the forest. Crab fender.” The thing lifted her hand to point at the man sitting on the giant crab, which was now 10 times smaller in comparison. “You are currently violating the sanctity of this land with your presence and putting the life of yet another of my own at risk. As you and your men have done on multiple counts before,” she said, lowering her arm. “No longer should I allow such acts from you go unpunished. Leave now and consider this to be your final warning.”
Without saying another word, the crab fender pulled at the rains of his beast, steering his massive crustacean away from the mermaid and exiting the compound by crawling over the same fence he crawled in.
“You too little one,” the spirit said. Turning her attention over to the mermaid. “I must continue to recuperate. You must be on your way. Now.”
The mermaid got to her feet and rushed over to where I had my back against a tree.
“But can you please help him,” she said. “He is like this because of me.”
She tore a piece of her dress and pressed it against my forehead.
I want to say it hurt like hell, but I was already slipping back into unconsciousness, and everything was becoming numb. The girl kneeling in front of me was but a blur again at this point.
“I know,” the spirit replied. “I will see to it that he is treated. But you must go. Now. Like the crab fender, you have also caused a lot of trouble and are now trespassing on private land. And I cannot have that.”
“Okay,” the mermaid replied. “And I'm sorry for all I've caused. I really am. But thank you for accepting to help him. She said. Thank you."
“It's my duty little one,” the spirit said. “Don't thank me. Besides. I know this one. He is a sapling in training. Hopefully he is able to blossom before the start of the dark days, or a simple head injury would be the list of his problems. Now go little one. And don't come back.”
“Okay,” the mermaid replied.
Before leaving, the mermaid ended up wiping the blood from my face with the piece of fabric, then tor another piece from her dress and wrapped it around my head like a Makeshift Band-Aid. After that, she took my hand in hers and leaned in closer.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
And with that, she got to her feet and began bolting down towards the river, and just as she jumped into the water, I blinked a few times to clear my vision, and caught sight of her transformation as she dove into the water. Headfirst, tail last. Then, she was gone.
But the spirit was still there.
“Don't worry little sapling,” the spirit said, as my vision began to tunnel. “Help is on its way,” she added. “Save your strength and get well soon. The dark days are almost upon us. And I am going to need every man and woman of the runners, prepared to trade their lives for the forest. Including you.”
I could only mutter a silent "what?" Before I completely blacked out. And when I woke up a few hours later, the first thing to cross my mind was an echo of what the spirit had said.
"The dark days are almost upon us. And I am going to need every man and woman of the runners, prepared to trade their lives for the forest. Including you."
What the hell are the dark days?

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I inherited a pond with a severe string algae issue. I've upgraded the filter, tried liquid and dry barley, and my next step is to dye and add a lot of plants. Whats the best way to physically remove the algae so it doesn't just choke everything I put in there? I saw someone on here say to use a plastic bristle brush, but I'm concerned that could poke a hole in the liner? any help would be really appreciated.

Hello everyone! I'm planning to come to Paris with my girlfriend from 21/22 till 25 of April to visit this wonderful city. We already googled a bit for some stuff and we found a nice and cheap hotel in Saint ouen near the metro but now let's start with the questions lol
Is Saint Ouen a safe place? How much will it take to go from there to the city centre with the metro? What do you think will be the situation with the protest in a month? Should we come even if they're still going on? And lastly, if you have any suggestion on a better zone to stay that is cheap and nice feel free to tell me everything!
Thanks in advance