Credit for the original story goes to u/spacepaladin15. This is the final chapter of NoP 2177, although I personally consider it more of an epilogue. Either way, I hope you enjoy!
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Memory transcript subject: Tressa, Venlil outlaw
Date [Standardized Human Time]: January 5th, 2178
Location: USS Washington, dark side of Venlil Prime
A bloodcurdling shriek echoed through the hall, followed by the sound of claws scrabbling against the metal floor. A frantic chase ensued, a blur of fur and scales flying down the corridor at breakneck pace. But it was over before it began. A connecting door slid shut with a quiet hiss which silenced all hope of escape, leaving the terrified predator at the mercy of an increasingly impatient prey.
“Hy, we’ve been over this. You need to take baths, or your scales will get all yucky and stop growing. You don’t want that, do you?”
Hyacii was still frantically searching over the door for some way to open it. Her lovely gray coat, matted in oil from some ill-advised exploration through the ship, left streaks of iridescent sludge across the polished floor which would need to be cleaned up. But that could wait.
“Hy…”
Finding no escape from her grim fate, the young Arxur finally turned around to face her captor. “N-no! I don’t wanna!”
“Hyacii, I’m giving you ‘till the count of five. If you don’t come with me when I hit zero, I’ll go get Sasha and she’ll bathe you instead. Fiiiiiive…”
“NO!”
“Fourrrrrrr…”
“I’ll tell Mama! I’ll tell her you’re being mean to me!”
“We’ve talked about this with her, remember? Little Arxur need to keep their scales clean to grow up big and strong. You want to grow up all big and strong like she is, right?”
“She wouldn’t say that! I want to see! I want to see what she said!”
“Sweetie… you’re just stalling. You can’t read big Venlang words yet like she uses.”
She cast her head to the side in a pout. “Yes. I. could! I’ve been practicing with Trish, this much!” To emphasize her point, she stretched her little arms out as far as they’d go.
“Threeeeeee…”
Hyacii swept her tail across the floor in frustration, further smearing oil everywhere.
“Twoooooo…”
With time running out, she employed her final weapon, an expression which Sasha referred to as ‘Puppy dog eyes’. While normally adorable, it now only served to highlight the dark smears across her face.
“One and a half…”
Her full arsenal depleted, Hyacii finally capitulated and stormed over to Tressa’s side with exaggerated stomps. She allowed herself to be picked up, trying and failing to suppress an adorable noise of comfort as Tressa rubbed the scales around her shoulders. He’d need to shower later anyway, so the sludge staining his ragged fur was hardly a concern.
—
The little Arxur squirmed playfully in his arms, kicking up splashes which cut through the layer of bubbles to soak his bedraggled wool as he tried to dislodge more of the thick oil.
“Are you enjoying your bath, sweetie?”
“Yes!”
“I thought you hated baths.” He took a moment to stop scrubbing, and stretched his arms out wide. “This much, right? Isn't that what you said?”
“N— Yes! I do, they take so long, and they’re so… I hate them!”
“That so? What are you doing enjoying one, then?”
Hyacii had no response, which he took as his cue to get back to washing. He carefully cleansed the iridescent sludge, revealing a dense pattern of gray scales which shimmered like a rippling pond. She giggled as he washed around her snout, swishing her tail in a motion which was normally adorable but now only served to push more water out of the bathtub and onto the floor.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you earlier…” He started, pointedly ignoring the irritating feeling of water soaking into his fur and pooling at his ankles, “...but James’ll be out for the next couple paws. He took Beast with him, so no checking on the garden for a little while, OK?”
She grumbled for a moment, before a curious look flickered past her eyes. “Why does he and Sassa keep leaving?”
“Why do he and Sasha keep leaving, not ‘does’. Anyway… you know how we can’t eat the same food you eat?”
“Right! That’s why you’re build— uh, growing the garden!”
“Yeah, but the garden isn’t all grown yet. Until then, we still need to get food from the city. Once our garden grows, we can stay here all the time for you. Remember how we talked about patience?”
“But I don’t wanna be patient! I want him to be back now!”
“So do I, but everybody needs to wait for things. If you keep busy, he’ll be back before you know it!”
Hyacii pouted. “You’re just trying to trick me into practicing more words, aren’t you?”
“I might be. But you want to talk to your mom all on your own, right? If you keep learning with Trish, you can tell her all about the horrible baths we make you take. Speaking of… here, ready?”
After getting a human-like nod of affirmation, Tressa lifted her from the tub and onto a towel. They weren’t sure if the heat of an air dryer would harm her scales, so getting her dry was almost as laborious as getting her clean. It was worth it, though; she enjoyed the feeling of being towel-dried almost as much as she enjoyed tearing around the halls at Mach two. A muffled peal of delight issued from the heap of towel that used to be an Arxur, as he set to work wiping the water from her scales.
—
The USS Washington was once a proud human starship, one of several hundred which had so briefly encircled Venlil Prime to act as defense. Sasha talked about that brief period sometimes, usually when she was drunk; though it lasted only months, enough history was made in that span that it felt like a full decade.
Long, beautiful months for some; the ones who talked reverently about Tarva as though she was still Governor, who made dumb jokes about the Venlil’s behavior on first contact when they still regarded humanity as violent and strange creatures. Sasha, naturally, was one of these people. She’d go on and on about what a magical time it was when they realized the universe was far bigger than they ever knew, and how incredible it was to make friends among aliens. Her closed-lipped smile, a habitual remnant of a time when most Venlil froze in terror at a human’s teeth, spoke of how much humanity was willing to give up for the chance at intergalactic acceptance.
Miserable, chaotic months for others; those who talked about it as a time of strife and mistrust, when Venlil lived in fear of predation and humans suffered the agony of constant rejection and hate. Only following the first bombing of Earth did things begin to change in earnest, and even then it was hardly a clean transition. Refugee shelters and human-friendly businesses went up in flames in a grim foreshadowing of the fate that would befall Venlil Prime as a whole, the planet condemned to burn for sheltering uncured and unpacified humans. Of course, the fact that they were sheltered instead of willingly led to slaughter painted a somewhat softer view of the time period than many would admit.
Both narratives ended the same way. There was no debate over the justice of the Federation’s rule for the generation that remembered a time before; those city-scorching flames still burned fresh in everyone’s mind. Nor was there any debate over the trustworthiness of humanity, not among the Venlil who remembered the invasion.
When an exterminator fleet descended upon Venlil Prime, the UN pulled back the resources it desperately needed elsewhere to defend the planet. Earth itself was left all but unguarded in the effort to save a species that humanity had been allied with for less than a year, a task they set to with a desperate fury that hinged on madness. Hundreds of ships flung themselves at the enemy in suicidal charges once vital systems were crippled, targeting bombers and ensuring that the Venlil could not simply be annihilated from orbit.
​
The USS Washington was not one of those brave kamikaze vessels. It was one of the ships in orbit as a passive defense, knocked out of the fight with relatively minimal damage and able to make a hasty emergency landing on the dark side of Venlil Prime.
In the time Tressa had spent getting systems up and running, he’d never come across a single skeleton; the ship had been thoroughly picked clean by shadestalkers, or perhaps the crew had managed to evacuate without casualties. Or at least had the time and people needed to move the dead off the ship and hold proper burials. Whatever the reason, it made the difficult work of repairing the ship much less gruesome.
They’d fried any records for obvious security reasons, but left the backup power operational. They’d left a number of vital systems operational; if they had evacuated, they’d done so in a rush. Or perhaps they expected victory, and didn’t anticipate the need to scuttle the ship. Either way, Tressa’s job was a hell of a lot easier for it.
Restoring water had been a far simpler job than he anticipated. He’d been dreading the prospect of digging a well, but equipment scavenged from the ship itself had made that process far easier, and the onboard supply alone was enough to last months. With this abundance, they could even afford such extravagant luxuries as baths. Hyacii really didn’t know how good she had it.
—
Once he’d gotten the little Arxur all cleaned up and given her a stern talk about not crawling around the ship’s filthier corners, she was free to ignore his advice and go straight back to sprinting around the labyrinthian behemoth they called home.
He often wondered, watching her stalk around the ship, if this exploration of territory and practice sneaking through shadows was as vital to her development as physical contact was for Venlil children. Sometimes he wondered if so much affection was even natural for her species, or if they were smothering her every time they pulled her in for a hug.
She did enjoy it, but… not everything enjoyable was good for her. When she was younger and had no concept of restraint, they’d have to physically hold her back from gorging herself on berries which would make her violently ill, which she’d keep eating anyway because she loved the taste too much. Maybe it was the same thing with their parental love. Maybe they’d have to teach her how to be more independent for her own good, however difficult that change would be for all of them.
Ultimately, the idea was speculation. Depriving her of warmth would be cruel unless they were absolutely certain it would aid in her development. And the fact was, they had no idea. Despite their best search efforts, records concerning Arxur child rearing were nonexistent.
The Dominion actively suppressed any behavior seen as ‘weak’, so growing up under their reign was a harsh and loveless process; at least, that was what they’d been told by an Arxur who lived through the process, and they had no reason to doubt her. There wasn’t a way they could verify the fact, though. The Federation didn’t want anyone thinking of predators as people, so any records that might’ve existed were long since turned to ash.
As cruel as the Dominion could be, they had an interest in keeping their subjects healthy enough to fight. Without those records, and with only someone else’s faint memories to go by, they were largely on their own in regards to physical development.
Was their little Hyacii eating right? They’d been feeding her using an organ printer they’d managed to repair, but perhaps there were nutrients in bones and skin that she wasn’t getting. Her scales were getting slowly lighter; maybe malnutrition, or maybe that was a natural part of her development. Was she sleeping right? Lately, she’d been complaining about grogginess, though it didn’t seem to stop her from tearing around the halls.
And psychologically? There, they were completely in the dark. All species had different needs, especially at a young age. Venlil cubs needed a level of attention that most humans would find smothering. Human children required forms of play that reflected long-obsolete hunting instincts, games which involved chasing and manipulating projectiles. What types of play did a growing Arxur need? They played hide-and-seek with her (as best they could, though it was rapidly approaching the point where she could neither be caught nor hidden from), but that was hardly a replacement for hunting. Was she languishing without prey to chase?
A hundred different worries, a thousand different questions, and not a single easy, reassuring answer. On that fateful night, Tressa had assumed that living alongside a “true predator” would be the hardest part. In fact, that had come easy; how could anyone feel threatened by such a sweet little star?
No, the most difficult part was coming to terms with the fact that they would make mistakes. In their lack of knowledge, trial and error was the only way to gain ground. And “error” meant hurting Hyacii. No matter how much they loved her, they couldn’t help but hurt her. It was a difficult truth to swallow.
But it was a truth they had to accept. Ultimately, all they could do was try. Try, and love her, and hope that was enough to cover for their failures. Hope that one day, someone else would be insane enough to learn from their mistakes. Hope that their little Hyacii wouldn’t be both the first and last Arxur of her generation. Hope that one day, they wouldn’t have to hide. She wouldn’t have to hide.
​
In the cold shadow of Venlil Prime, it wasn’t enough to have power and heat. Plenty had fled to the frigid wasteland in search of respite, only to die cold and alone despite their physical needs being met. They’d simply lay in bed with no will to survive, waiting as their body gave up on life. It was once believed that the dark side was haunted by vengeful spirits, though modern science put the blame on Herdless Depressive Disorder combined with the harsh physical toll of living in such an inhospitable environment.
Someone with a herd could stave off death’s embrace for quite a while longer, up to months. Many on the twilight edge lived this way, dipping in and out of the darkness as their job demanded. However, they knew not to stay for too long; even with the warmth of companionship, the dark side of Venlil prime claimed all eventually. Life was impossible without light.
​
How fortunate then, that the USS Washington was flooded with light. A light like a ghostly lantern, darting through the hallways and crawling through obscure corners of the ship to come back covered in sludge. A light like a burning star, which filled their hearts with warmth every time it closed in for an embrace. The light of hope; what a strange twist of fate that it would take the form of an Arxur.
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I posted about my interest in the golden age of digital synth and I have managed to come up with a bit of a definition.
Despite great synths being produced by other manufacturers it was the period of mass production by Yamaha, Roland and Korg. Considering their offerings during this period, you can clearly separate generations by their polyphony (cpu power?), patch storage and PCM wave count/memory.
The first. (Maybe?) Golden Age of Digital Synths are;

D-50, M1, SY77 all with 16 voices, about 100 patches/PCM waves and around 4mb PCM ROM.

Each subsequent generation doubled the gen before in terms of polyphony, patches and PCM data.
My Table. Not a complete list but a list of synths I am interested in as part of my research.

Synth	Year	Synthesis	Poly	Patches	PCM Waves	PCM Memory	PCM Data
Yamaha DX7	1983	6 Op FM	16	32+64	-	-	-
Roland D-50	1987	Linear	16	64/64	100
Korg M1	1988	Ai	16	100/100	100	4mb (2Mword)
Yamaha SY77	1989	RCM/ AWM2/AFM	16 AWM 16 AFM	128/64 16/16	112	4mb (2Mword)	16 bit 48kHz
Korg W.station	1990	AV	32	3x50/35/32	365	2 mb	20bit
Korg 01/W	1991	Ai2	32	2x100/100	255	48 Mbits 6mb (3Mword)
Yamaha SY99	1991	RCM/AWM2/AFM	16	128/64 16/16	267	8mb (4Mword)
Kurzweil K2000	1991	VAST	24	200/100	200	8mb	16 bit 20kHz?
Yamaha TG300	1993	AWM2	32	456/128	195	6mb	16 bit
Korg NS5R	1997	Ai2	64	1049/128 384/128	528+286Drum	12mb

I would love to hear anyone's thoughts, ideas and any omissions.

My sister got herpes at 17 possibly 16. I was hoping she was smarter than this now that she is 18. She spent $200 dollars on a green supplement she believes will cure her herpes. She said there was people talking about how it cured them. I get she is very desperate but these sick people prey on desperate. My mother believes all the scams possible and always tried to put in our heads how doctors are bad and trying to kill us. I’m afraid if she stops taking her medications she could suffer more and possibly take too many supplements which is also not good for your liver. Is there any studies I can show her that may be able to help her? I’ve sent her a few videos on green powder scams. I really thought she was smarter than this. I may never know what she’s going through but I wish I could help her. She’s explained how painful and bad it’s been for her but since she has been taking meds she hasn’t mentioned anything to me. She doesn’t use Reddit but I try to encourage her to join groups for people young like her with herpes and she refuses.

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After 8-10 months of suffering in a degree I didn't want. I've finally reached a breaking point. I can't do it anymore. And I'm gonna risk disappointing my mother by shifting to another course
In that post about 8 months ago, i was agonizing over my mom's decision to push me into accountancy. After reaching second semester because i decided to push through, I've really really come to a conclusion that I can't keep on doing this. I really can't find it in me to love it, and even my grades are suffering because I've lost the ability to even care about the topics. Initially, i mentioned that I liked the degrees ab english, sociology and psychology, but was scared of shifting to them because they don't really make me hireable, apparently arts courses aren't very popular in the market. However, i remember writing marketing management as another preferred course. In our school, the only available courses under the college of business and accountancy part is bs accountancy, bs economics, bs entrep and bsba marketing management. I decided to remain in this college and not shift to the college of arts and social sciences because i want my other subjects credited, also I've spent a lot of money in this college.
I've made sure to research about it this time, even going to as far as asking chatgpt. I hate accountancy, and i love the arts and studying about people, but i also need a degree that will offer a good paying job but also won't make me suffer. So far, marketing management has been the best that suits all this. It's a degree under business, and it includes my interest regarding arts and social sciences, i mean it kinda includes people...right?, it doesn't focus on accounting which is too fussy and burdensome, but still i need to be totally sure about my decision.
Do you think it's okay? Based on the information i gave? What can you say about this course? Is there anything I should know about it because I'm scared i might end up saying "i hate this shit" again. I already know i can never totally please my mom, it took me 8 months of tears and convincing her that I can't do it anymore before she agreed to let me shift. I hope this time, i can take accountability for my own decisions and not the decisions of other people controlling me. What advice can you provide? Oh, I've also met with my school counselor already. They wouldn't give out direct advices because they worry that they might make the situation worse for the students, but i managed to reach an understanding that i really don't like accountancy. This is a big step of my life, i think it's the first time they've allowed me to make decisions on my own because they've been controlling me my entire life.
I'd really appreciate it if people replied to this. Initially, it was something i was supposed to talk about with my mom but she keeps on reminding me that I'm going to regret my decision which makes me all the more scared. She's upset that I'm blaming her that I'm in this course when she literally told me back then that i shouldn't show my face to her anymore if i chose anything that she didn't like. I'd like to have someone to talk to about this. It's a big decision but the fact that i rarely made any decisions for myself is making me scared. I'm scared that i might regret this again like how i regretted letting my family pressure me into something i hate.
For context about my post 8 months ago: here

I fell into the trap and have paid Splice >$200 over the past few years and have not used most of the credits. And Since you all may know I can’t just cancel without losing the credits. So can I download packs and give them away to help out some producers? Y’all recommend any packs for making Alternative rap, punk, UK garage, drum and bass packs.

See title. I saw two Reddit comments and I'm not sure who they were sent by because I can't find the post but they gave a decent explanation of why it could be non classified yet credible. 1. As skeptical as I am of this story (and all stories, absent evidence), this is easily explained. Classification brings extremely rigid document procedures. That's basically the definition of classification. If you want to really keep a secret, you don't classify it, you hide it behind private industry intellectual property.
The recipe for Coca-Cola is not "classified." KFC's 11 herbs and spices are not "classified."

1. There is one explanation for this that I can come up with, assuming all of this is true. Perhaps it's because none of this is classified because it can't be. One of the leading explanations for why these black sites are operated solely by contractors (Raytheon, Lockheed, etc) is because it keeps it away from governments' hands and oversight. These places operate with shadow budgets and operate independently of the government (but to the benefit of the corporations and US Defense).

All of this stuff not being classified would be a feature, not a bug, as it would further shield the information from the revolving door of political appointees. We have recently seen that the government logs classified information and tries its best to keep records of classified documentation. Something like this, I imagine, would be pretty high up on their "keep this secure" radar.
This is how you operate quietly on projects meant to span more than one administration, but not letting any administration in on it. Presidents come and go, but Defense corporations are forever as long as you keep paying them.
Someone please credit these commenters! Anyway, discuss.

It happens to me a lot, I play 1/2 and after an hour or two people leave all at the same time and we're left at a 3-5 handed table. I love playing short handed too and dominate harder there. I always change my seat or table when I see no clear advantage, but i have a knack for making people annoyed or leave the table. I don't say anything it's probably just how I play or maybe it's because I'm too quiet. I used to play live at TCH Dallas but now I play at TCH Social.
Maybe i play too tight but i adjust to how the table is playing and who I'm heads up against so sometimes i use a polarized limp in strategy along with TAG. I also counter players like letting the maniac bet into my made hand, or checking to a TAG when i raised pre flop and smashed the flop to trap them.
I'm a losing player though but I did have one winning session at Winstar 2/5 out of 2 sessions which put me at a net profit for $700 at 2/5, but I'm -8k in 1/2 after 4 years of playing like once a month. If I had 3k I would for sure take a shot at 2/5 with 3 buy ins, but I'm 15k in credit card debt, from food delivery and not having a job and i also hate my life lul
Should I just save 1k and run it up to the moon or should I take a break while I fix my credit and start another business? I pay myself about $100-200 a week from my business which is 10% of the net profit and i can't change that because of my partner but if i start a new business I'll be able to use all that money for whatever i want.
I want to play 5/10 at Bellagio and Tournament circuits and WPTs, EPT, PCA, and WSOP but I don't know how to win in low stakes, is it the same in higher stakes? But still my biggest weakness is the straddle, the double board bomb pot, and when the maniac sits to my left. I'm 25 and single no babies so i don't have to stress about chasing my dreams for a few years.

So I'm getting into and learning the ropes of pixel/sprite animations (alongside 3d) for a series I'm working on, but to make the development go faster I've been using free assets (mainly from itch.io and various pixel artists giving them away for free or Patreon) and was wondering if any of y'all ever used free assets before in your creations and is it okay for commerical work. All the assets I've gotten say it's okay to use how I please (as long as I don't redistribute them as my own) but I'm concerned that I might not credit someone (alot of them didn't have names attached) and if it the project gets big I don't want to really have anyone accusing me of being a thief. Just looking for some opinions, I was gonna try on the official Pixelart reddit but they don't allow text posts.

So, I was diagnosed back in 1994, my parents did everything they could to keep me healthy, but I was in and out of hospitals growing up, at one point had a reaction to what is believed to be anesthesia and developed Stephen Johnson Syndrome and almost died when I was 8 years old. I have never been very compliant with my medications, I have always been under weight and small, but for some reason my lung function was above 100% until I was 18 years old, I’m now 28 after years of drinking and smoking pot, I’m the healthiest I have ever been in my entire life, this was verified at my last doctors visit, want to stress that I hardly smoke anymore, just doesn’t do it for me. I hardly take anything besides Trikafta, which I credit with making me able to pretty much live my life without being affected by this disease, but even then I’m not the most compliant. I’ve always told myself I would never be one of the…I don’t mean to be mean but overdramatic CF kids that I knew, the ones who thought the hospital was a hotel and cried and moaned up until they were damn near 23 on the pediatric floor still. I know I am lucky, but recently I have just found myself worrying that I am carrying on as if I don’t have this illness and I’m gonna be struck down randomly. I grew up, as many of you probably did, being told by doctors “You better do your treatments and take your meds or you will die young, you’ll be in the ground” and being told to avoid smoke, obviously, and drinking and to live life in a bubble almost doing medication regimens that run your life, and now those doctors all seem to be shaking their heads in disbelief that people like me are fine, Trikafta really is incredible, if I don’t live to see a cure I’ll take this as the closest we can get.
I have a bachelors in education, former teacher, I’ve been on my own since I’ve been 18 and currently I have two dogs and a fiancé, I am a funeral director apprentice about to graduate mortuary school to start an embalming apprenticeship as well, I’m often putting in at least 60 hours a week at work, many times through the night. For the first time in my life I’ve thought about starting a family, something I had never considered, if my kid had CF I would not care. I’m so glad to hear that Make A Wish does not consider this illness terminal anymore, I never have. Perhaps it’s dealing what I deal with everyday, but recently I’ve just been feeling guilty about all of this. I wasn’t aware of any mental health side effects from Trikafta and now that I am, I’m sure I’ve experienced this. Perhaps this is just me venting, I’ve always thought I’d live to 80 years old doing no treatments, eating and doing what I want, and barely paying attention to my health and just knowing this is a reality that could be the case, I’m getting rid of my med port soon as time will allow, I am not sure how to feel. Does anyone get what I am talking about or expressing?

Rank Team Total Dunks Dunks/Game Top Dunker 1 Cavaliers 543 6.6 Evan Mobley (215) 2 Rockets 523 6.4 Kenyon Martin Jr (173) 3 Nuggets 518 6.3 Aaron Gordon (181) 4 Hornets 482 5.9 Mason Plumlee (90) 5 Jazz 460 5.6 Walker Kessler (130) 6 Hawks 455 5.5 Clint Capela (146) 7-8 Raptors 436 5.3 OJ Anunoby (103) 7-8 Timberwolves 436 5.3 Rudy Gobert (200) 9 Lakers 429 5.2 Anthony Davis (138) 10 Knicks 425 5.2 Mitchel Robinson (130) 11 Pistons 414 5.0 Jalen Duren (1`53) 12 Pelicans 408 5.0 Trey Murphy III (85) 13 Magic 395 4.8 Wendell Carter Jr (84) 14 Clippers 391 4.8 Ivica Zubac (130) 15 Kings 390 4.8 Sabonis (81) 16 Grizzlies 387 4.7 Jaren Jackson Jr (83) 17 Wizards 377 4.6 Daniel Gafford (135) 18 Warriors 374 4.6 Jonathan Kuminga (90) 19 Nets 373 4.5 Nic Claxton (191) 20 Trail Blazers 361 4.4 Drew Eubanks (76) 21 Bucks 351 4.3 Giannis (198) 22 Celtics 337 4.1 Tatum (91) 23 Bulls 329 4.0 Andre Drummond (66) 24 Pacers 326 4.0 Isaiah Jackson (84) 25 Thunder 320 3.9 Jalen Williams (77) 26 Suns 306 3.7 Deandre Ayton (110) 27 Mavericks 304 3.7 Christian Wood (86) 28 Heat 289 3.5 Bam Adebayo (140) 29 76ers 266 3.2 Embiid (75) 30 Spurs 265 3.2 Jeremy Sochan (60)
Link to original https://www.reddit.com/nba/comments/1421w8u/most_dunking_teams_this_season/ ​

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Currently I have the Blue Cash Everyday card from Amex. I'm planning on adding the Blue Cash Preferred card, while still using the BC Everyday card for online purchases.
However, I've wanted one of the 2% back cards for anything that doesn't fit into one of the categories that my Amex cards cover. So aside from the $200 I can get back on the WF Active Cash card, which one is better - the Wells Fargo or the Citi?

ANCC Testing Experience (FNP)
Hey all, I just passed my ANCC boards and there was a super helpful Reddit post from an AGPCNP who had shared about the board prep and testing experience which I found SO helpful. There have been some updates since then and I wanted to share a bit of my personal experience, in hopes it might help some of you!
Why ANCC:
In deciding between AANP and ANCC, I was so close to taking both but I decided on ANCC because I wanted to test at a Prometric site for the better interface (which now both AANP and ANCC use Prometric so that doesn’t matter). I also thought ANCC had more options for license renewal, but AANP recently updated/expanded their options for certification renewal. The pass rates for both are really similar, and actually ANCC FNP had a slightly higher pass rate than AANP FNP most recently.
Many people choose to take AANP because it has multiple choice questions only, whereas ANCC has select all that apply and picture questions. ANCC also tests more on professional role/nonclinical content; approximately 20 to 30% of the exam, whereas AANP has ~5 of those questions. I’ll be honest, I felt the least confident in professional role/non-clinical content straight out of school, but much of it is very straightforward and easy to pick up, especially with Sarah Michelle NP Reviews. I personally had zero select all that apply and zero picture questions on my board exam.
For a more detailed breakdown in the current difference between the two, the Sarah Michelle NP YouTube page has a great video that talks about the up to date differences on the two tests.
Test prep:
I graduated with my MSN-FNP on 5/5 and studied 5 weeks before testing the ANCC FNP certification on 6/3. I started studying my last week of school, because I had most of my school work and exams out of the way by then and I was eager to get started with test prep.

• Sarah Michelle Nurse Practitioner (SMNP) comprehensive bundle: I split this up into 4 weeks, worked part-time, and even fit in a celebratory trip to LA to hang out friends/family, attend a wedding, and go to Disneyland! (For the record, I also don't have any kids; I understand everyone's schedule & time management will look very different.)
• SMNP Q bank: In my opinion, this Qbank is the closest to the real exam, in regards to the level of difficulty and the content. I would say many questions on the ANCC exam were even a little easier than the SMNP Qbank questions.
• FNP Mastery Qbank (3 month subscription): I liked the FNP Mastery Q bank and was scoring in the high 70% range before I tested. Sarah Michelle recommends you scoring above 65% on this Qbank before testing. I used this a lot for exam prep for my courses as well. I wish I had invested in this when I started my clinical courses.
• Board Vitals ANCC-FNP Bank (6 month subscription + practice test): I do not recommend Board Vitals overall. They do have a pass guarantee, but the test questions were too difficult to the point they weren’t relevant to the board exam (ANCC or AANP). *One positive note is that the difficult questions helped mentally prepare me for zebra questions and practice my anxiety plan.
• Fitzgerald review: My school required us to purchase this, which was way too in-depth and lengthy for FNP exam prep. Also, the speaker’s voice is SO SLOW; it was really tedious and difficult to get through the videos. The interface is also terrible to use and doesn’t let you adjust the playback speed. I used this review for the practice questions/practice exams mostly, but I do not recommend.

I ended up doing about 3600 practice questions total (including my practice tests).
These are the scores I got on my practice tests. I took about one a week and three in the last 2 weeks before my exam:

• FNP Mastery (175 Qs): 73%
• Fitzgerald Exit Exam (155 Qs): 79%
• Fitzgerald Pre-Test (150 Qs): 77%
• Fitzgerald Post-Test (150 Qs): 81%
• Board Vitals 175 Qs (175 Qs): 71%
• Board Vitals Practice Test (175 Qs): 72%
• SMNP Practice Test #1 (175 Qs): 78%
• SMNP Practice Test #2 (175 Qs): 81%
• SMNP Practice Test #3 (175 Qs): 82%

Overall, I’d recommend SMNP comprehensive bundle, SMNP Qbank, and FNP mastery. If you feel like you need a little more guidance or structure, they have a Sarah Michelle live review course that plans out each day for you and includes a little a few more resources to help you study and prepare. I had some reservations about Sarah Michelle, mostly because it was a relatively new course compared to other existing exam prep courses, but it did a great job of focusing on the need-to-know for the exam, and I felt well-prepared on exam day.
Signing up for the test:
AANP: You’ll get your eligibility to test (ETT) way sooner than ANCC, and may even be able to test before you graduate! I did not end up taking this exam. I know people who have a pending job offer choose to take AANP because you get your ETT a lot sooner than with ANCC.
ANCC:
I graduated 5/5
Final transcript was sent to ANCC 5/11
University sent my VOE to ANCC 5/16
ANCC received my VOE 5/22
I received my eligibility to test 5/26
I stayed in touch with the ANCC nurse registrar in charge of my application and she was fairly responsive by the next business day and told me an estimated time frame for my ETT.
I scheduled my test for 6/3. I tested in Portland, OR.
*You must make an online ANCC account and PAY for your ANCC initial certification exam before they process your application and send you an ATT!
*There is a discount code you can use that supposedly never expires for ANA members and nonmembers. You can find it easily on their website.
*There is also an option to pay a $200 fee to expedite your ANCC application process, just FYI.
Test logistics:
As of now, ANCC and AANP both use Prometric testing centers now. You have the option to highlight, strikethrough, and flag questions. I had no IT issues or complaints.
They gave me two dry-erase sheets and 2 dry-erase markers.
Test day misc.
I also spent some time preparing to manage any anxiety that I might have on test day. I would say I have mild test anxiety (dry mouth, palpitations). So I made a point to exercise regularly and practiced some breathing meditation for the weeks leading up to the test. By about question 10, I found my groove and was able to focus without feeling anxious. I also made a checklist for myself on my scratch paper, so I can check off every 25 questions as I go and take “mini-breaks” every 25 questions (or more often as needed). This usually meant some arm stretches, closing my eyes, taking a few deep breaths, or doing some neck rolls. After the hundred question-mark, I took a restroom break, stretched, and walk around for a few minutes. I also brought my own foam earplugs because those noise canceling headphones can feel pretty tight around your head (some of you may remember from NCLEX days).
I did NOT go back and review each question or change any answers! I only went back to a few flagged questions I had no clue about and had left unanswered.
After the test:
At the end of the exam, the screen said I would have my results via email within the hour. My passing email was in my inbox by the time I walked to my car.
I took ANCC 6/3 and they processed my certification by the next day (Sunday). Hope this helps!

Hello, the thing I mentioned in the older pinned post has come into fruition!
https://admiral-chair.github.io/neurodiversity-toolkit/pages/announcements.html
The website does not contain all of the wonderful sources and links provided, however that is fine, because I have created a solid foundation to build atop!
Please check it out! My ambitions for this project did not start off this lofty and ambitious, however, I realised that I could. And that I should! :P
That a collective organisation of organisations, communities, and action groups! Which fulfill roles and functions which I would like to see.
https://admiral-chair.github.io/neurodiversity-toolkit/pages/affiliates-allies/collective-of-nd-orgs-advocates.html
I feel like I have explained most of the things I need to, but I would like to add lots more content to the webpage, and also elaborate further on what any of these things mean:
Communities:
Places like this sub, and any other form of online neurodivergent communities which exist and could be described as an organised community.
Organisations:
This theoretically includes real proper organisations which may or may not yet exist. Currently I have managed to get a small community project organisation called the High Needs Autistic Advocates, which is a network dedicated to trying to better platform the voices of Autistics who have more communication issues which may even mean Non-Verbal Autistics. There is an article they made which I have hosted on my webpage already, which can be found here.
Action Groups:
Action Groups a smaller more autonomous, and self accountable, but for that at the cost of not having any collective voting powers. An action group might be a group of people smaller than a community, which are more focused and dedicated to the actual goals of the Neurodiversity struggle. There is no one way an action group operates, only that they are small and agree to take part in plans established by the democratically decided plans established by the communities and organisations.
Anyone can form an action group, and if you would like your work to be credited and acknowledged on the website itself, I am happy to display your action group on my webpage as a form of recognition.

In light of recent events:

It is worth asking whether this subreddit should partake in the blackout, I am willing to discuss this with the rest of the mod team, but as we are a smaller community, it might not really mean much. However I will be using these events to spread the news of this collective organisation which we ought build!
So please share around the announcement page links and well... For those more dedicated and convinced among you. Message various mods of subreddits and all sorts! Get this announcement link in their face. Hopefully the ongoing site wide reddit drama should result in the news of this spreading slowly. Because ultimately the concept of Neurodivergent subreddits confederating into an inter-community alliance cant overextend itself too quickly, fast growth while good, also means you have a lightning in a bottle situation, I wish to keep it sustainable and keep our strength sustained.
Additionally there is a few guidelines for solidarity:

• Aspie Supremacism will not be tolerated, any subreddits known for Aspie Supremacist, are not to be included in solidarity organisation as they are fundamentally chauvinists^\1]) and simply are not fit for this kind of organisation.
• No other kinds of chauvinism^\1]) will be tolerated. This means no Neurodivergent communities which align themselves with TERFdom, Inceldom, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Aphobia, Queerphobia, among many others of the same sort. Ableism obviously included but obviously - if you don't know which phobias are allowed, please learn the difference between bigotry, and standard phobias.
• Lesser known conditions are easier to bring to the table, but you must know how to bring them to the table. This includes many of the subs which are found in the about section, or the sidebar. If you wish to spread the word, the sidebar is a good list of targets to spread our organisation.
• Solidarity with Physical Disabilities is implied and explicitly encouraged. This is about minds, but the mind and body have extreme overlap. Neurodiversity organisation of this type includes Physical Disabilities as well. Our platforming of them goes for the same of them platforming us. We help each other. And I do not see this changing forward. And Neurodiversity needs to do a better job of not forgetting Physical Disabilities, as Neurodiversity is but a member of the Disability Rights family.
• If you are a member of, or high up in any organisations related to Neurodiversity or Disability Advocacy, you should contact them about these plans and arrangements I am trying to make. Ultimately Organisations are a key pillar of this collective organisation, they might be harder to reach out to, but their solidarity is always appreciated, and their membership shows their willingness to support online advocates. These firm, strong, foundations which are ripe for the solidaritying! Reach out to them, and inform them who to contact. Any and all irl disability and neurodiversity orgs are welcome so long as they agree with the former guidelines already set out!

Utilise your skills and connections to help out! But remember:

1. Mental Health breaks are IMPORTANT, we understand that moderators are Human and all of this would be lots of pressure. Ideally for the most user participation and retention of mass and collective action, spacing out these strikes or operations is an essential part to maintaining the passion of such a movement. So in a same light, this also applies to the top level of the network, DO NOT overwork and burn yourselves out.

- Hypothetical Strategic Doctrine
That's about all I have to say for the moment, remember,
Solidarity Forever! <3

Hey Everyone,
New player here and was curious about getting the most credits per dollar. I know that Celebrations gets the most per pack, but is it worth it per dollar?
I just opened my account, so no boosters to start or anything carried over from PTCGO.
I purchased 220 Pokémon GO boosters for $20 USD and earned 35,000 credits, or 1,750 credits/$1 USD. Additionally, the last 10 packs netted 2,000 credits/$1 USD.
I also purchased 110 Celebrations boosters for $33 USD (cheapest I found on eBay). This earned 38,000 credits, or 1,200 credits/$1 USD. Again, the last 10 packs netted 1,500 credits/$1 USD.
If you don’t have either set complete like me, I recommend buying Pokémon GO at $0.09 per booster, NOT Celebrations at $0.30 per booster. Unless you’re in for the long haul, because eventually you would earn enough gems in game to purchase Celebrations packs to exceed the net of GO.

By $bidding you agree to my terms.

Beware: Capital One only allows for three referrals, make sure I have room before signing up.

Capital One Quicksilver is offering a $200 cashback bonus when you spend $500 within the first three months of opening an account.
To get your bonus:

• Open and get approved for an account.
• Spend $500 within 3 months of the account being opened.
• I'll send you $50 as soon as my bonus hits.

Terms

Please $bid if interested.

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I just left the hotel my girlfriend is staying at before she gets shuttled to basic training. I’m very emotional right now and have been looking for advice (Reddit, YouTube, Facebook groups), but everything I’ve seen is about boyfriends leaving. Since we are both girls, I was wondering if sending lovey letters or making it clear we are together would be okay. I don’t want her to be treated badly for being gay, and I don’t know how progressive it is in basic. I’m also not able to talk to her parents, they don’t know we’re together (she isn’t out yet). I’m getting her phone call tomorrow to know she’s safe, but I wish I could go to her graduation. I’m really just clueless about all of this and would really appreciate any advice.