I have the arctis 7 P+ and they are really great. My only problem is, the over the ear and noise cancellation basically makes it so I can't hear things going on in my house. The immersion is nice but I wish there were a way to not have the headphones actively block me from hearing anything else.
Example, we recently had a really bad storm that triggered tornado warnings (sirens) and quarter size hail that hit my roof and car so badly our insurance is paying for a new roof. I heard none of it... My wife and kid had to come let me know it was happening.
Are there ear bud options or less noise cancell'y over ear headsets that are still good enough to hear, for example, footsteps in FPS games when I need to?

Looking for a small rural village or town in Ohio, within an hour-ish drive of Columbus or Cincinnati (and not on a route that would be a terrible commute). Things I’m seeking:

• houses (with ~an acre or more of land) in the $150k range
• near bike paths
• in a county with lower taxes (local, sales, income, property)
• good public schools
• family friendly. A place where you see kids running around outside, walking around town with friends, etc
• safe, not high crime
• low cost of living
• reliable internet

Bonus points:

• within 30-ish minute drive of a Mennonite church
• walkable/bikeable within the town/village
• a grocery store in the village/town
• some level of racial diversity, no big KKK reputation (will be adopting in the future and their race is unknown)
• if there is a college within 30 minutes
• if there is a nearby hospital
• doesn’t get a lot of tornadoes or flooding

We enjoy spending time outside (bike, backpacking, hike, camp, kayak), going to the library, participating in community events and festivals, walking around downtown, parks. Want to have a small homestead (garden, chickens, etc). Looking for a community with charm and welcoming people. Perhaps some community events throughout the year. Let me know of any nonprofits doing neat things! Enjoy volunteering for things related to foster youth, special needs, public health, habitat for humanity, animal welfare.
We don’t drink and mostly eat at home, so those things are not important to us. Not needing a place with nightlife.

I cant get the data as I dont have a sub, but on radar near Navasota and college station TX last night around 1230 cst there was some pretty wild rotation shown on the velocity radar and some very high windspeed flows of 100mph nearby as well, but no tornado warning was ever issued and as far as I can tell nothing but wind gusts and severe t storms. Can someone explain to me what I was looking at? Mesocyclone but on the leading edge of a storm maybe? Just trying to understand it a bit better. Thx. Sorry i didnt take any screenshots, next time I will. Hopefully someone can grab a few and add to this post as it looked pretty dramatic i thought.

So when I was in high school, I freakin' loved sketching and drawing. And one of the things I loved drawing were Sonic the Hedgehog characters. And it got me thinking about something that I hadn't seen in the Archie Comics during the early 2000's, which was a retelling of the classic games.
Sonic The Hedgehog was a great game, as was Sonic The Hedgehog 2... But there was just something about Sonic 3 and Knuckles that I loved more than the two previous entries.
Each Zone linked to the other, there was a feeling that the game was telling a non-verbal story about how Sonic and Tails were collecting the Chaos Emeralds and discovering that this Island had more to it than they thought, the murals showing SupeHyper Sonic vs Robotnik, it was great to play through.
But what if I could make this a detailed story, with dialogue, and give it more substance? Cue the creation of Sonic The Hedgehog: Angel Island Adventure.
It would start with the Chaos Emeralds that Sonic collected from Sonic The Hedgehog 2 reacting to something from a nearby island. They'd approach the Island very much so like the beginning, only Sonic wouldn't be Super. He'd jump off the Tornado, running on the water until he got onto the island. He'd be jumped by Knuckles, who'd steal the Emeralds from him. Knuckles would warn him that he'd suffer a painful end if he chose to pursue him. Sonic tries to get the Emeralds back, but Knuckles punches him back before he burrows underground, leaving a bruised Sonic for Tails to find. They'd hear a commotion where the Tornado was landed, seeing the plane damaged and Knuckles burrowing back underground.
The pair now stuck on the island, they'd initially begin to explore it before finding that Robotnik's machines are here as well. Thinking that there's a link between Knuckles and Robotnik, the pair set out to regather the Chaos Emeralds and find out what the pair are up to.
I planned to have each Zone consist of 2 chapters each, for one of their Acts, meaning it'd be a 28 chapter story. I also planned to have a link to other Sonic games, such as Sonic Adventure with elements of the Echidna Tribe spread out over the Island.
I also wanted to expand on the lore of the Chaos Emeralds themselves and how they were linked to the Master Emerald. I also wanted to see Sonic and Tails discover gradually that them finding the Island was no accident, since the Chaos Emeralds were drawn to the Master Emerald. And I wanted Sonic to learn of his eventual fate, in where he will battle Robotnik for the Master Emerald.
I wanted it to be a nostalgic, yet new take on a classic Sonic game and give it an adaptation that I felt it deserved. Unfortunately, being an adult sucks and I don't have the time to start this project again. But if the time comes where I can pursue this again, I hope to share it with everyone here.

My mom lives in SE Ohio at the top of a hill on a country road. One day my son (age 8 at the time) was riding his scooter up and down the road (something he wasn't allowed to do for safety reasons.) So this country road has woods on both sides, but they aren't particulary dense on either side, and fields and a utility crossing splits the roadside woods from the bigger sections of forest.
He suddenly comes running up the hill, white as a ghost, teary-eyed, and says he saw something scary in the woods. He's almost inconsolable. He finally gets calmed down and we ask him what he saw. He says it was kind of like a stick figure but thicker. It was all black, had no facial features, and looked "just like the man on the bathroom signs."
Of course we went to check. He took us to a specific area, pointed out exactly where it was, even showed us how much taller it was than a dead tree in the area (roughly 7ft tall). He was physically shaking the whole time he was showing us and talking about it.
We told him it was probably a warning to stay out of the road, but what could it have been? Anyone ever seen anything like this before?

Hundreds of Indiana doctors are rallying to defend Caitlin Bernard, an obstetrician/gynecologist, who was recently censured by a state licensing board for discussing her involvement in providing an abortion for a young rape victim.
The healthcare community response: Doctors of various specialties have expressed concern over the board's decision, suggesting it might have dangerous implications for public health. * Doctors are warning that the decision sets a "dangerous and chilling precedent." * Indiana's Medical Licensing Board has not responded to requests for comment.
Origins of the case: Dr. Bernard came under fire after sharing her experience of performing an abortion for a 10-year-old rape victim who had to cross state lines due to Ohio's abortion ban. * The case was taken up by the licensing board after Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita complained, which led to the board reprimanding and fining Bernard $3,000.
Physicians' open letter: More than 500 Indiana doctors have signed an open letter asking the board to reconsider its decision, which is set to be published Sunday in The Indianapolis Star. * The letter emphasizes the need for physicians to educate the public on controversial issues such as abortion.
Potential consequences: Some doctors fear they may get in trouble for discussing similar cases, affecting public awareness of controversial topics and health risks.
View original article on NPR
This summary was created by an AI system. The use of this summary is subject to our Terms of Service.

• According to experts, having nearsightedness as a youngster may indicate a higher likelihood of having high myopia later in life.
• Myopia may be delayed or prevented in youngsters who take low-dose atropine eyedrops on a daily basis, according to research.
• The results are intriguing, according to experts, but more studies are required to ascertain how well these eyedrops work to cure and prevent myopia.

Nearsightedness, often known as myopia, is the condition in which a person can see up close objects clearly while far ones are blurry.
When the cornea is overly curved or the eyeball is too long, myopia results. Nearsightedness affects roughly 30% of Americans, according to the American Optometric Association.
An early onset of myopia may be a warning sign.Eventually having excessive myopia: Reliable SourceWhen a person needs a spherical correction of -5 dioptres or more, Trusted Source is frequently used as a definition. High myopia patients are more likely to develop vision-threatening conditions such glaucoma, retinal tears, and cataracts.
"It's pretty rare when they happen, but when they do, they're devastating," said Dr. Jeffrey Walline, associate dean for research at The Ohio State University College of Optometry, to Medical News Today.
According to experts, myopia is becoming more common everywhere. By 2050, it is predicted that myopia would affect roughly 50% of the global population.
According to a study by Chinese University of Hong Kong researchers that was published in the journal JAMA, children who take low-dose atropine eyedrops every night may postpone or perhaps avoid the beginning of myopia.
In East Asian nations, myopia is more common in youngsters.
According to Dr. Evan Silverstein, a paediatric ophthalmologist at Children's Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, "we're seeing some increases in the U.S. population as well." However, the frequency is not as high as it is in East Asia, which is why many of these studies on myopia are coming from this region.

Hello, I’m in desperate need of help. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thank you!
I was pulled over for roll-stopping a stop sign just a little bit ago. The officer noticed me shaking and asked why and I told her it was bc it was a little chilly (65°) and I get nervous around authority figures. So, she asked if she could search me and the vehicle. I said yes bc in my experience being compliant has always gotten me off with just a warning and besides, all I had on me was a delta 8 cart. Big mistake. She took the cart and roadside tested it and it came back as NOT delta 8 and she slapped me with a misdemeanor drug charge. (She did not write me up for the roll-stop) I purchased the cart at a local smoke shop and they still sell the same cart. I didn’t have the original packaging so I went to the smoke shop and took a picture of the front and back of the packaging of the cart that I bought. I don’t have the receipt for it but I do have my bank statement which shows the purchase.
What can I do about this? I have court in a few days and I have no idea what I’m walking into. I’ve never been in any trouble before and I can’t afford a lawyer so I’m absolutely clueless about this. Thank you for your help.
Location: Portage County Kent Ohio

Photo was taken looking east from highway 281. This storm issued multiple tornado warnings and dropped at least 1 landspout.

The first essay
In the previous post, I have discussed about the skirmishes on all corners of the internet, the systematic destruction of idea by algorithms, and the apocalyptic wasteland that is the Chinese internet. All were discussed in the last post, however, one thing was neglected from the picture: the “eldritch influence“.
In the first post, I have mentioned an intensive effort launched by RT and CCP to shape the narrative in favor of the invasion. However, as previously mentioned, due to a myriad of reasons, the entire effort lays to waste in the lone and level sands that stretch far away. They have abandoned their old way of setting up positions on RT's main channel and their Donbass offshoot "Donbass Today". In fact, back then DPR was extremely successful in their propaganda machine before Belgorod attacks. The amount of DPR lies actually made me lost my shit multiple times. You would never want to know what ideas I had to deal with the people of Donbass, in fact it almost becomes a rage trigger to me. Despite that, the pro-Russians stragglers are still there, and they are adapting. Nobody has declared surrender yet, so the war will just drag on, as Clausewitz has observed. Many of them are now operating purely out of spite, resembling the worst of the trolls in the west and their rhetoric began to be more similar to their twitter counterpart. Meanwhile, the Russian influence campaign is still ongoing in a more insidious and covert way. The internet arguments become more like UkraineRussiaReport than RussianWarFootage. The main focus of Russian influence campaign seems to be dedicated to creating artificial disinfolklores and some legitimately weird channels showcasing how good life is in occupied Mariupol. Sometimes pro-Ukraine content creators will be subjected to mass report and get banned, but most of times they have a backup account to minimize damage.
As previously mentioned, the Chinese domestic "analysts", one being pro-Russia and the other being pro-Ukraine, both ended up being noncredible, with one being Chinese Chuck Pfarrer and the other making schizo claims like Zaluzhnyi has intimate relationship with several female service members (is this supposed to make him look bad?) Of course, people began to adapt. On the pro-Ukraine side, there is now a guy called "Regent Taboritsky" (塔博里茨基摄政王 yes, this is a TNO reference). He was formerly a pro-Russian who use Artermovisk but has changed to the Ukrainian side. Meanwhile, other "analysts" has also underwent evolution. (ignore the next two paragraphs if you just want to read noncredible)
Do you remember the TNO reference? Why does Chinese also know about that? Actually, it shaped all Chinese political discourse. Chinese internet is a wasteland at best, years of censorship and bitter warfare has drained the land of creativity and independent thought. Many of the counterculture guys who I refer as PANOP (pan-opposition, an umbrella term for modern anti-establishment Chinese) are actually pro-regime folks who ended up graduating from college and have to work 12 hours a day. Despite having changed side, they are actually just the same, same mindlessness and malice, nothing more, nothing less. Meanwhile, censorship algorithms have systematically salted the earth, so that no organized ideology apart from the official one can be present. These efforts are eventually made futile thanks to one man - JREG (yes, you can trust your eyes). His political compass memes successfully provided the PANOPs with enough munition to blow up the internet. Eventually everything related to him got censored, but then TNO was there, the weapons are now everywhere, no amount of salt would ever stop them again. It's like the wars in Japan that lead to Edo period in many regards, battles with salvaged foreign ideas and memes where getting hold of foreign material becomes an immense power multiplier.
In fact, I have a very derogatory comparison for Chinese internet's relationship to the global one: the anaerobic tank of a sewage treatment plant. The worst crap of 4chan and beyond sedimented into the Chinese one, just like how the large excrement particles sedimented into the anaerobic tank after the initial aerobic respiration, and our netizens feasted on it like bacteria feasted on the fresh excrements. (my knowledge of sewage treatment comes from IGCSE biology, so it might be inaccurate). One of the most terrifying case of how this can influence Chinese internet was the alt-righters in '16. Actually, the largest case of the great meme war spillover was in China. During that time, everyone was fuming about Baizuo, the Chinese equivalent of SJW, while some others do stand for Bernie, most are taking up Great Replacement Theory and mocking Trans ideology. Many began to take Breivik as a hero and claim refugees are swarming Europe. Pizzagate was also a widespread meme back then. This exposure left a mark in the Chinese internet culture, which partially contributed to the recent surge in antisemitism in '23. To be honest with you all, after spending years on Chinese internet, I just can't stand regular Chinese netizen calling Azov guys neo-Nazi, they should look into the nearest mirror.
The hybridization described above then contributes to a new evolution of Chinese online discourse over the Ukraine war. Chinese posters are expert trolls and partisans, but they have a fundamental lack of first hand knowledge regarding war in Ukraine. Thus, contact with foreign sources becomes essential. On Zhihu, there are several accounts that have access to twitter OSINT accounts (accounts that are highly regarded by professionals). The most notable being Ducling, who have been a staunch pro-Ukraine guy with liberal tendency. He made a reference to Emil Kastehelmi："The Russian 'Special Military Operation' is getting increasingly special, even after day 453" for an question about the Belgorod attack. He also made a cope compilation (the most favored tactic of Chinese pro-Ukraine accounts, known as 合订本, that collects all the past pro-Russian claims as a method of discrediting the pro-Russians. Often with great effect ) of claims surrounding Bakhmut. For people who can't understand the information presented, Chinese internet slang was often designed to evade censorship and is highly informal, so you shouldn't understand it at all. There's another OSINT guy called Suyi控, who made the best analysis of the Discord files ever. Chinese OSINT guys tend to have a boner for Syrskyi, me included. Memelords have also adopted some stuff from twitter, I remember seeing the Putin attending Nuremburg escorted by fellas wearing MP uniforms on the profile on one of the accounts. At the same time, there are also pro-Russians who use the John McBurgers of Ohio oblast under Zelensky's tweet as proof of Ukraine is losing. This tactic can be incredibly effective due to confirmation bias, and in many cases RT have used the exact same material to propagandize both Chinese and Americans.
Bilibili, due to the limitations mentioned in the first article, relies on cruder extraction. There is a guy called Deepstate-carry (Deepstate-搬运) who basically cargo-cult through deepstatemap's telegram. In my opinion, the best combat footages come from a guy called Okken sight (欧肯视线), who is a true neutral source regarding combat footage, he contain a slight Russian bias but his videos are neutral, which led to him being criticized by both pro-Russians and pro-Ukrainians. I'd recommend folks on this sub who drank too much pro-Ukraine vranyo to be tied on a chair forced to watch his videos of both Russian and Ukrainian combat losses to remove overt bias and complacency. Meanwhile there are other pro-Ukrainian accounts such as CarlPacho (卡尔帕乔) who uploads Ukrainian combat footages and is a pro-Ukraine guy himself, recently he got banned but he's got a backup account. Meanwhile there are people translating Battle Order's videos, such as a guy called 101eagle and a guy who's called Marine rifleman (四等人的步枪兵). On Bilibili the materials used are often of inferior quality such a a gal doing analysis who is called frosty leaves of a thousand spring (千秋霜叶), her sources include Weeb Union (HistoryLegends' pal) and Chuck Pfarrer. She's pro-Ukraine by the way.
Now we have talked through all the developments of the pro-Ukraine side, let's face the pro-Russian abyss. As mentioned before, Bilibili has access to inferior foreign materials. Meanwhile pro-Russians coopt the pro-Russian war blogger model. The most notorious model being a guy known as SnailColgiweibo (蜗牛柯基weibo) who is basically a Rybar copycat, he is capable of mimicking Rybar to an astonishing degree and has the ability to cheer during Kyiv bombing (what about Donbass). I'd recommend you to stay away from Chinese internet unless you want to be dehumanized like me.
Recently, another person called Atuna (阿吞啊) popped up, he is some of the most capable pro-Russian ever. At first, he came out with translation of a RUSI report. However, in his next video, he uses HistoryLegends. Calling him a "neutral pro-Ukraine source". He marked a dangerous new development of pro-Russian messaging, the ability to use actual credible western sources to their advantage. Furthermore, there is another analyst called Mt. Guandong peasant Wangdaxi (关东山农民王大喜), who made a video detailing RUSI's latest report. He took great note of the adaptation by the Russian armed forces while dismissing the mentions of poor Russian morale as "western hubris", "illogical" and "political correctness". The Wangdaxi person is actually a protégé of sort of the person who claimed Russia is going to take Lviv (that guy deserves his own article), and it seems like now there's an advanced sect of pro-Russian who have access to information. One of his fans in the comments even took a jab at Suyi控, indicating a capability to compete with even the most experienced Zhihu OSINTer. And to make it worse, HistoryLegend serves as a force multiplier of this next-generation pro-Russia crowd. He is basically an A-10 in this "comment section war", he and his pal WeebUnion exerts little use to pro-Russians on YouTube, Reddit and twitter, as the pro-Russian effort is largely focused on amplifying western internal grievances such as the border crisis and China baiting. On 4chan his soyjak face will get mocked to oblivion. However, he truly shines in China. Perun's videos are too lengthy to be translated, meanwhile military history visualized have a long interval and Lazerpig is relatively obscure in China due to meme incompatibility and being too noncredible, he is unrivaled. The way he feigned a neutral pro-Ukraine stance makes it even more damaging, even to the point of starting a disinfolklore began to be built around him, claiming he cried during the fall of Bakhmut, claiming he was a pro-Ukraine guy ostracized by other due to unwilling to follow blindly pro-UA lines.
Warning: Schizo rant below, proceed with caution
Want to hear my stance? Well, maybe they are the right guys all along. I'm not really a member of this sub, I'm always cynical, always skeptical, and always doubtful. Whenever I see the next generation pro-Russians, I become shrouded in doubts. What if they are right? In many cases pro-Ukraine folks are drawn into intellectual traps, such as the need to hold Bakhmut, a city with little strategical importance. And a lack of acknowledgement of Russian adaptation. It could be the Winter War all over again, the Finn fought valiantly, but who controls Karelia now? I have an irrational fear, may it remain irrational, that the average NCD user is no better than the new generation of pro-Russians, that we also lack any critical thinking capability like a mindless horde. The doubt just echoes inside me, it accompanies me whenever I saw a Ukraine flag on someone's twitter handle. Such cynicism often end up manifesting into outbursts against pro-Ukraine positions on reddit. I took a grim enjoyment being the "conscience of NCD" where I regard many as vranyo obsessed individuals no better than the vatniks. If there's anyone reading the passage whose uncle work at GUR, don't ask him to [REDACTED] that soyjak off the surface of the earth. Don't. Chinese opinion does not chance the course of the war. If I have a button to delete Jackson Hinkle's twitter account at the course of every single pro-Ukraine account in China, I'd press it. We can achieve nothing, absolutely nothing. It's a losing battle from the beginning. Such is the reality of Chinese internet.
I see a bad moon rising.

TL;DR: No difference in natural IGM levels between severe ME patients & Long Covid patients. 85% similarity between severe ME patients & all Long Covid patients & 81% similarity between all ME patients & all Long Covid patients. Natural IGM differentiates patients from controls.
​
The following is a summary of an interview given by Dr. Bhupesh K Prusty (https://scholar.google.de/citations?hl=en&user=y7cvLpYAAAAJ&view_op=list_works) in TLC Sessions which had previously been announced. Some patients had previously voiced their dissatisfaction with “hyping” up the paper instead of just publishing it or uploading a preprint, whilst others had been eagerly waiting and revisiting the literature and previous papers by Prusty. In either case the reveal of the paper and its possible content have been discussed to a large degree and one can only hope that it meets the expectations that were made in the build up process.
I still want to warn patients not to get their hopes up too much. This is just a singular paper that by no means fully explains or solves ME/CFS or Long-Covid, nor can we currently call the content a tested and verified biomarker. Most importantly though, we haven’t seen the data yet nor has it been peer reviewed. However, it should also be mentioned that Prusty is not a “snake oil salesman” as some people were calling him. He is a well respected scientist amongst his peers, as his track record with many meaningful publications in the ME/CFS field shows.
The full interview can be listed to here: https://www.tlcsessions.net/episodes/episode-58-breakthrough-biomarker- or on Spotify
The interview is a great one and Prusty is very sympathetic in it. There definitely is not any “teasing” or “overpromising”. But it's still early days and we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Reproducibilty and an insight into the actual data is key!
Very short summary:
The paper has been submitted to publication (not peer-reviewed yet). After Covid Fibronectin 1 is elevated in the serum but not integrated into the immune complex, where it is low. IgM is statistically low in Long-Covid and ME/CFS patients. This is triggered by the initial acute infection. Some can recover from this, in others it might cause an autoimmune Long-Covid or ME/CFS disease. Other effects are also happening. A treatment that could try to address this, would for example be IVIG. However, it is far too early to say anything yet, this is not medical advice!
​
Full summary:
Bhupesh Prusty has recently presented his newer findings at various conferences and has submitted his paper containing the details of this. Prusty has mentioned that he feels uncomfortable about not revealing everything initally, which some believed to be “teasing”. However, this was necessary due to his due diligence process and to verify various cohorts and obtain the bureaucratic means needed within the various cohorts. The paper has been written in collaborations with various world renown researchers at Ohio State university, Carmen Scheibenbogen and Uta Behrends. This allowed him access to large cohorts with different disease severities and subgroups. The Long-Covid cohort have been infected for 6-12 months. He hopes that the biomarker has at least an accuracy rate of 85%.
The research started by looking for signatures of Herpesviruses (EBV, HHV-6, HSV-1, etc.). During this work they came across the work of Maria Ariza of Ohio State university (who had amongst other things previously written this great paper https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/158193) and had previously collaborated with Prusty’s lab. Maria Ariza had been working on dUTPases proteins with Prusty. They found signatures of Herpesviruses. This doesn’t mean that the virus has to be actively reproducing, however it suggests a not too long ago reactivation. In ME/CFS patients the EBV dUTPase are particularly high. In the Long-Covid subgroups this is the case for IgG responses against HSV-1, EBV is also reactivated but the antibody response is not too significant. Interestingly the the antibody response against HHV-6 dUTPase actually goes down in LC patients, which is slightly different from ME/CFS (but there’s also a difference of disease duration)!
The next step was trying to understand what these viral dUTPase proteins could be causing. The found out that these proteins could cause Hypopolarized/Hypofused mitochondria, clumping them together in certain cells. This is typical for neurological diseases. All Herpes dUTPase can change the mitochondrial morphology. Prolonged and leaky Herpesvirus reactivation can can cause autoimmunity. This is the focus of this paper.
In acute Covid we know there’s high levels of autoantibodies. They tried to find specific autoantibodies in Long-Covid and in ME/CFS due to these Herpesviruses. They started off with a small group of ME/CFS patients where they searched for IgG and IgM responses. The IgG response was not sufficient to separate ME/CFS and HC, however the IgM response differed. Out of the 120 autoantibodies that they looked at, the most relevant for differentiation was Fibronectin which was interestingly not higher but lower (other autoantibodies were usually higher similar to autoimmune diseases like Lupus). That is IgM response against Fibronectin goes down in ME/CFS.
A next step was try to understand how the very localised Herpesvirus reactivations could cause the serve symptoms patients are experiencing. They deduced that it had to be that this caused changes in the extracellular fluid, i.e. blood similar to the old saying “there’s something in the blood of ME/CFS patients”.
They looked at 30 ME/CFS patients and 30 ME/CFS patients and looked at their isolated IgG’s. These IgG’s of ME/CFS patients caused changes when applied to healthy endothelial cells causing mitochondrial fragmentation, quantified by low mitofusion 1 levels. There might be further factors that contribute to mitochondrial fragmentation, their focus are IgG’s. Using massspectrometry to try to untangle what’s happening with the blood, they discovered that Fibronectin 1, Transferrin and alpha 2 macroglobulin were decreased within the immune complex of ME/CFS patients vs HC. Since Fibronectin 1 is part of the complement pathway this might mean that ME/CFS patients are more prone to diseases and viral reactivations.
Why are these proteins reduced in the immune complex of ME/CFS patients? They now looked their values in the blood. Interestingly the protein Fibronetin 1 is higher in the serum of ME/CFS patients. That is, the protein is being produced in sufficient amounts but for some still unknown reason its not incorporating into the immune complex. These higher levels can differentiate Fibronectin levels in ME/CFS patients to a decent accuracy. The is also the case for the mild and severe Long-Covid patients. Males have lower amounts of circulating Fibronetin 1 (this might mean that woman are more prone for reaching a threshold).
Next they tried to understand why Fibronectin levels were changed. In the literature they found that it could be because of an infection. To understand autoimmunity better they developed an assay to quantify the IgM and IgG response against Fibronectin. They discovered that they could seperate the severity of ME/CFS patients by levels of IgM response against Fibronectin, that is severe ME/CFS patients have the lowest response. The same holds for Long-Covid. There is a gradual pattern of lower levels, correlating to disease severity.
These results were then discussed with Akiko Iwasaki. In the last month they did some further testing of specific IgM responses she had thought to be useful. They saw that the entire natural IgM population was going down after a Covid infection (independent of some reactivation of Herpesviruses). This was a clear pattern in Covid-19 and they found that the more severe Long-Covid patients did not recover from this. Long-Covid patients have an almost depleted amount of natural IgM. This could be a biomarker, however one would still have to see if it’s really just a cause of acute Covid and that stabilises after sufficient time or whether Long-Covid patients that have been sick for 3+ years still have lower natural IgM levels. Further studies are needed to find out more.
Their hypothesis is that B1-cells aren’t producing sufficient amounts of IgM (possibly because of Herpesvirus reactivations which affect B-cells, but the direct affect of Covid seems the more plausible explanation currently). This requires further work. Tim Henrich et al are currently doing work in this direction. A plausible hypothesis is viral reactivation or viral infection of the bone marrow. This is usually not common and very few studies exist on this.
In any case something is happening in the B1-cells which causes patients to loose amounts of natural IgM. The immune response to this is a IgG response (to do the job IgM usually would), this causes autoimmunity.
In terms of circulating Fibronectin and IgM response against Fibronectin severe Long-Covid and ME/CFS patients look similar. Interestingly woman have more natural IgM than man when healthy, however if both sexes have a Covid infection woman seem to have a lower amount than men. There seems to be a trend which motivates further studies of immunologists into this topic. This IgM response is because of Covid, Herpesviruses might be involved due to their influence on specific localised tissue, however the correlation to Covid is far more obvious. However, if we look at non-Covid induced ME/CFS there seems to be a high degree of similarity and there has to be an explanation for this. Perhaps the exact virus is not relevant. Based on the current data these 2 groups have 2 distinct mechanisms causing the IgM response.
A treatment to address this could possibly be IVIG. Other options could be Immunadsorption or combinations of various therapies including cell transfusions. One might have to reintroduce the natural IgM or start a process which does so naturally. However, it is far too early to call these things treatments. If anything there is still a lot of groundwork to be done to verify the results and further understand them. Research takes time. Reproducibilty is key!
Furthermore all these test can be done by ELISA, which is cost-effective and can be availabe to patients in the future. They are not planning to patent them (yay! Big thumps up Bhupesh :) ). In the future they want to look at animal models to try to understand the above descriped phenomena. There is potential for other autoimmune diseases like MS.
Finally there are other symptoms and aspects of the disease that could be indepent of the above named phenomena.
This is just the beginning (or not).

First
Capes and Conundrums
“Alright, so what’s so important?” Pavel asks as he arrives at the firing range. Everyone else on duty is there and that also means a quarter of the people posted on Skathac aren’t here. Still, it was odd for everyone to show up all at once.
“So glad you can join us your majesty, hopefully this isn’t a problem for you.” The sarcastic tone of one of the officers states before anyone else can so much as offer a peep.
“Considering that the notice went out twenty minutes ago and my shift starts in five I can categorically tell you to go fuck yourself. What’s going on?” Pavel retorts to the amusement of the rest of the crowd.
“Well seeing as how I can’t discipline you until you’re on the clock I suppose I have to let that slide. Gentlemen, and ladies of course, we are now faced with the greatest trial that any member of The Undaunted can face. The largest and most difficult challenge of your careers and these coming days will make or break you as a soldier.” The base commander states to stop any oncoming arguement. He was very, very rarely seen outside of his office these days. Like most Admirals under The Grand Admiral he was overworked, pushed to his limit, but managing. However Admiral Cistern had very much set the trend that the commanders of The Undaunted needed to be almost literally dragged away from their work.
Planetary Admiral Hynala was a stern man of Indian heritage who had grown out his moustache since leaving Earth. He was also the anchor of sanity and reason in the sheer crazy that was the method of behaviour that Skathac brought out of his men and was VERY aware of just how easily things could go off the rails in a place like this.
“Alright, now that everyone is here, including those who would normally be here on the next meeting like this. We have had our greatest temptation delivered. New equipment patterns are now released to The Undaunted after testing. This includes new weapons. Such as the army shattering Bouncer as it’s been nicknamed, The Frozen Fire Rods and explosive gel in several grades. Ranging from Batman, to Bomberman, to The Key.”
“Why The Key sir?” Someone asks.
“Because Explosive Gel of that grade is powerful enough to open any door you will ever come across, no questions asked. Anything else?”
“Does that include doors that exist only in your mind?”
“So long as you have something to put the gel on, you can make a door there. Furthermore Pop-Gun pattern weapons are now fully approved for the entirety of The Undaunted. Meaning you can, on request, get a handheld artillery piece. May whatever gods there are have mercy on us all.” Admiral Hynala says in a wry tone and there’s some laughter. “To get back on topic. We are going to have a demonstration of both the weapons and a list of the requisition forms required to carry around these absolute monsters. We will begin with the one I will be refusing on principal if you don’t give me a damn good reason why you want it. The Bouncer.”
“Really? An easily transported bomb that can be applied almost anywhere without issue isn’t the scariest thing?”
“The Gel is the least scary of the three if you have any understanding of thermodynamics and understand the sheer amount of Axiom screwery going on with The Frozen Fire Rods. Which are primarily fire fighting equipment that can be used as something other than a bludgeon or a smokescreen in a fight.” Admiral Hynala says before walking further into the firing range and then modifying the control panel to turn up the defensive shields up as high as he can.
The weapon he picks up resembles a toy more than anything. “This is The Bouncer, also known as a Bouncing Plasma Bomb Launcher. This is a weapon that can and WILL clean out an armoured position with one shot if you get it into the hardened position. It operates by producing unstable plasma at a rapid rate and will propel itself around on an unending series of explosions to create more explosions in different places. This weapon I hold in my hand is the only one I ever want on Skathac as the requirement to have another means things have gone to shit in ways I cannot describe without violating codes of conduct and decency.”
He then fires a single shot into the weapon’s range and a single ball is launched from the device like a toy and there are several snorts just before the ball hits the far wall.
The blue and white explosion of plasma shuts everyone up. The second third and fourth that come faster and faster widen eyes and the fact that the weapon is done warming up and is now causing roughly five explosions per second at seemingly random has the crowd staring boggle eyed.
“It’s an endless use plasma grenade that detonates on impact and then hurls itself to it’s next destination. At it’s current power level it will overwhelm a Cannidor’s plasma resistance in under five seconds and completely eat through an Undaunted Brand in ten! The practical use of this weapon is area destruction! It is NEVER to be used in any location where any item of value is held! The device in question is designed to shatter shields and wear down and all known forms of armour and resistance. Firing this device in a confined space is a death sentence! Firing it into a confined space is a confirmed kill!”
“How do we stop this thing? Worst case scenario someone teleports into this room, grabs that gun and points it at us, what do we do sir?”
“Well assuming that such an individual isn’t shot full of so many holes that they collapse into a pile of bone shards and blood, Nulling an area will shut this device down with ease. However, Null use is not without side effect. So assuming that we have say... oh I don’t know, some sort of tour of Gravia Saints who each personally hold entire planets together politically and without them there will be trillions of deaths a day, containment can be done with shield rings to form a small area to trap the ball in. So long as it’s airtight it will not have sufficient material to create more plasma. This weapon is also useless in a vacuum. So on a space ship opening the nearest airlock can and will disable the weapon.”
“And what if you misfire or miss with it? How do you shut it down if you control the weapon?” Pavel asks and Admiral Hynala pushes a button on the side of The Bouncer and the unending cascade of explosions abruptly stop. “Ah... good to see sir.”
“The code on a Bouncer is universal and can be easily mimicked by a standard communicator. This is a deliberate failsafe in the weapons. We’d rather have a weapon of massive destruction easily stopped than unstoppable. It is the opinion of the Admiralty, including myself, that it is better for so dangerous a weapon to lose effectiveness than to have it retained in potentially hostile hands.”
“This Bouncer will remain within this room and will be available for testing. You are permitted to place whatever targets you like for it to destroy within the testing area at your leisure so long as the field remains clean and functional when you’re finished. If there is even a single loss of life, be it Undaunted, Civilian, or even an animal I will have this weapon destroyed and the pattern deleted from our personal archives with a note of warning to the rest of the Admiralty. Is this understood?”
“Sir, Yes Sir!” The room responds.
“Very good. Onto our next new toy.” Admiral Hynala begins as he uses a touch of Axiom to telekinetically retrieved the inactive bouncer munition and places it back within the weapon. He then turns it off entirely and stores it for everyone to see before retrieving a pair of batons roughly the same size as a cheerleader’s baton. “Now to quite literally, play with fire.”
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“It’s rather intimidating to know that some novel series are thousands of volumes long especially that this monster is one of the smaller novels.” Robin notes as he flips through a massive textbook scale book that is heavy and strong enough that he could realistically use it as a battering ram. He mentally judges it about... twenty pounds? Damn...
He comes across another splat page that gives a visual to the character descriptions and the gear they’re using. He gets a stern reminder that many of the characters are women with the character he had described as a great seducer and foul tempter actually being a man with a thin build and a vague hint of a six pack abs. He closes the book and tries not to laugh at the thought. Sure, maybe the pretty boy could cause some damage, but he looked like the type to have a full blown panic if his credit card was rejected even once.
“Something you don’t like?” Alviara asks him.
“Just trying... just trying to put that stick figure of a pretty boy into the slot of the great and terrible seducer and corrupter the back of the book painted him as. It’s very hard when he looks like a stiff breeze might make him break down and weep.” Robin notes as he struggles not to laugh.
“What? Really? You need to read deeper then, he causes some real damage with just a few words in the right ears.”
“Really?”
“Not every man expresses their power by going out and slugging things in the face. Men are the masters of soft power, especially in this story. The Dark Enchanter rarely does anything directly, but there are a dozen different... hold on a moment.” Alviara explains as she takes the heavy book from him and then flips through it. She stops on a page showing the image of six different men seducing six different women. “The Dark Enchanter kicked off the war not for profit or any real desire beyond their own boredom. They’ve shattered families, lives and dynasties just to see if he could.”
“Terrifying. Still, to you he looks like a great and terrible seducer. But to me, he seems horribly underfed and is swanning around flippantly. The kind of person who boasts about how rich his parents are. The kind of person who cries when he doesn’t get a fourth luxury car to crash.”
“Wow...” Alviara says trying not to laugh at that image. “One of the greatest villains in one of the greatest sagas ever written. As a spoiled child... Oh my...”
“Let’s call it cultural differences and leave it there.”
“The Saga of the Seventeen Systems is one part historical thriller, one part fantastical retelling of real events and one of the most beloved stories the galaxy over. And you’re that dismissive of the main villain?”
“What were the real events like?” Robin asks actually fascinated.
“Most of that information has been lost. But the Seventeen Systems Calamity was a massive on and off war that took place over a thousand years. This was about six hundred years after the introduction to Healing Comas so much of the galaxy was still adjusting to their newly unending lives. Little is actually known about the personal life of the major rulers and leaders in that time. But one thing that is known is that one man was connected to literally everyone. In the span of that thousand years, one person touched nearly a sextillion lives and then vanished.”
“So they were someone with their fingers in every major pie, was exceptional at getting around and even better at surviving, to the point they may even still be alive today.” Robin says before chuckling. “Well... isn’t that a revelation?”
Then his communicator goes off and he checks it quickly before shrugging. Just a text.
“What was that about?” Alviara asks.
“Just an alert that there will be a meeting halfway through my next shift. Likely something dull and tedious. Many of my duties are.” He says dismissively.
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“And THAT is how you make a tornado out of a perfect balance of thermal energies!” Admiral Hynala declares as the Undaunted around him cheer at the sight of the whirlwind ripping through the target range. “So, to summarize, with one Frozen Fire Baton you can easily have a flamethrower or an instant freeze effect on command. Careful balance will let you shatter almost any hardened surface. With a second one you can more easily juggle the thermal forces and kick off electrical discharges from the friction of the air rubbing against each other and even more entertainingly tornadoes!”
He then gives a final flourish of the batons and sets the tornado on fire before turning to the crowd. “Any questions?”
Everyone talks at once.
“Beyond who gets to use these next?”
Dead silence.
​
First Last Next

Hey there ! I'm Axel, aka BigDud, a passionate DM who produces all kinds of third party content for your enjoyment.
I'm back with some encounters for you to enjoy ! These are part of the adventure I'm currently working on, The Winds of Aetherhelm, which will release next Friday in full.
Just like most of my adventures, they were made to be ran with no prep : just read the page once before running it and you're good to go !
In "The Winds of Aetherhelm", your players explore the city of the same name, which recently re-appeared on the Material Plane after having been gone for decades. Floating above fields and forests, the city is ravaged by elemental magics after the spell meant to make it fly went wrong ; elementals and large chunks of debris descend and fall from above, causing heavy damage to the surrounding land, and the weather keeps getting stranger as Aetherhelm comes closer and closer to major cities. The party must find what is causing this disturbance, and stop it before it's too late !
These encounters represent our party making their way to the city itself, where they'll find the secrets of the Astromagi ; to do so, they'll have to traverse dangerous floating platforms and deal with the elementals constantly summoned around the city. Can they make it in one piece, or will they end up as a mere red stain on a rock below ?
Platforming challenges, beautiful vistas and objective-based combat awaits you in this gusty adventure that's easy to modify and adapt to your own campaign setting.
You can find the PDF of the encounters, the battlemap (128 PPI), and the token for the monsters at the bottom of the post.
For the mods : all art in the adventure was made by me using Midjourney and image editing software like GIMP and Krita. The adventure itself was tested by my players.
ED

The winds of Aetherhelm

The city of Aetherhelm, jewel of the Astromagi, and long lost to time, has returned. Hundreds of years ago, the society of powerful magi disappeared suddenly, following a particularly ambitious ritual they were attempting.
Finally, their goal is revealed : the spell was intended to make the city fly. Unfortunately for both them and our adventurers, it worked too well. Now, the city is halfway between the Material Plane and the Elemental Plane of Air, floating in the skies while ravaged by tornadoes and powerful winds. Its ruins fall over the fields, destroying homes and harvests, while elementals descend from above, threatening to invade nearby villages.
As the local heroes, our party has been tasked to head towards the city, find what has been causing the incursions from the Elemental Plane of Air, and end the phenomenon for the safety of all.
EDIT : Fixed the links.

Setup

The party knows the following information at the start of the aventure : - Aetherhelm, a city of powerful mages has been missing for the centuries, after disappearing suddenly during one of their rituals.

• It has reappeared a few weeks ago without warning and since floats in the sky, slowly moving across the landscape.
  
• Its presence has been causing tornadoes, strong winds, falls of dangerous debris, and even the attacks of some elementals in its vicinity. They need to be stopped for the safety of neighboring villages.
  
• According to what is known about Aetherhelm, its center, the Palace of Zephyrs, is likely where the strongest magic will be present. Reaching it should be the party's focus.
  

Gear

Due to the difficult environment the party will be in, they've been given a number of scrolls to allow them to traverse the city and reach its center.
The party starts with two scrolls of Fly and four scrolls of Feather Fall.

Flying, featherfall and challenges

The adventure is heavily based on its terrain to make it challenging and fun for our players. The initial scrolls the party is given will allow them to bypass or make some of the challenges a lot easier : that is intended !
The choice of which encounter to make easier is theirs, and if the more they use early, the less they'll have later. Keep in mind that since the adventure is happening on a floating city, falling off without a contingency plan is almost certain death. Make this clear to your players !

Part 1: The Floating Ruins

The party travels to the floating city, reaching the fields above which it's slowly traveling. Above them, a dangerous path presents itself along the ruins, as the bridge that allowed entrance to the city now hangs in the air, its parts spread like stepping stones to the city.
They'll need to climb the ruins to access the city, but beware of what remains within : the influence of the Elemental Plane can be felt even there.

Encounter 1: The Climb

The path upwards is made of disconnected ruins each floating from a dozen to a few hundred feet apart. The challenge for them to traverse the landscape while avoiding the strong winds and moving tornadoes that could toss them off the platforms.

Skill challenge : ascension

In this challenge, the party needs to acquire as many successes as there are players to reach the next part.
To acquire successes, one party member takes the lead and must explain how they help traversing from one piece of ruins to the other. They can then make an appropriate skill check. If it beats the DC, they add one success to the counter !
The DC for these skill checks should be between 15 and 25, but can change based on how difficult you think their strategy would make the traversal. Using tools such as rope or one of their Fly scrolls can give advantage on the check or simply offer an automatic success ; limited resources give stronger bonuses.
If the check fails, the party member's strategy fails, and a consequence occurs. Here are a few ideas for consequences : - The piece of ruins the party is standing on crumbles, forcing them to dangerously catch another piece of ruins as they fall. The party takes 3d6 bludgeoning damage from the fall.

• The party accidentally damages the next set of ruins. The skill check of the next party member is made at disadvantage.
• The party has made some noise and attracted the attention of a nearby air elemental. For now, it hasn't noticed them, but if they fail again, it'll engage in combat.

Keep in mind that the party can use their scrolls to either provide help, or to negate the consequences of bad skill checks. They might also find a scroll or two amidst the ruins if they look hard enough !

Encounter 2: Tumbling Tornadoes

The party is getting closer to the city, now reaching its outskirts. Their goal, the Palace of Zephyrs, is still far in the distance, but the presence of elementals is starting to be felt more and more.
The last platforms until they arrive on the floating city proper are all formed from a long bridge that used to connect the city to the landscape around it. Now, the bridge is broken in multiple parts, each floating not too far from each other, but distant enough to form a challenge.
Worse, small elementals have appeared all along the bridge, threatening to push any passersby off to their deaths.

Tumbling tempests : (map in appendix)

The party's goal is to cross the bridge. Once they're successfully on the other side of it, they're out of danger, and the encounter is finished.
Traversing the bridge would be difficult, even in normal circumstances. just like for the previous part, the party will need to advance using their skills and tools to traverse the bridge.
However, this time, they're in a hurry : small, tumbling air elementals patrol the bridge, and are hostile to passing creatures. As the party crosses more of the bridge, more tumbling tempests notice their presence.

Falling off the bridge

Tumbling tempests are weak fighters, and do little damage. The main threat they pose is pushing party members off the bridge, which forces them to use their scrolls or other resources if they want to avoid falling damage.
A creature that falls from the bridge can make a DC 10 Acrobatics check to catch ruins below to save themselves, but they'll take some damage based on the height fallen, and will need time to climb back up and get back in the action !

The encounter is ran like a combat except that the goal isn't to take down the elementals : they'll reappear a round after they're taken down a bit further from the bridge, and make their way back as soon as they can.
Each round, the party can use their movement to go through traversable portions of the bridge. There will be sections that can't be crossed with normal movement : the party will either need to use their tools, their skills or even the ruins themselves to fashion themselves a passage or jump over large chasms. They might even be able to use the tumbling tempests to push them in the right direction !
In addition, additional tumbling tempests appear as the party makes their way further and further onto the bridge, increasing the tension until they are finally safe.

Tumbling Tempest

Small Elemental, neutral

• Armor Class 14
• Hit Points 14 (4d6)
• Speed 0 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover)
  

  STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
  11 (+0)	18 (+4)	10 (+0)	6 (-2)	10 (+0)	6 (-2)

• Damage Resistances lightning, thunder; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
  
• Damage Immunities poison
  
• Condition Immunities exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious
  
• Senses passive Perception 10
  
• Languages Auran
  
• Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)
  
• Proficiency Bonus +2
  Air Form. The elemental can enter a hostile creature's space and stop there. It can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
  

Actions

Tumble. The elemental moves up to half its speed, then pushes a creature within 5 ft of it. The creature must make a DC 10 Strength saving throw. On a failure, they take 3 (1d6) bludgeoning damage are pushed 10 ft back in the opposite direction of the elemental. On a success, they are unaffected by the push. A creature can willingly fail this saving throw.

Enemy locations

• Beginning of the bridge : 1 tumbling tempest per PC.
• Middle of the bridge : 3 additional tumbling tempests.
• End of the bridge : 1 additional tumbling tempest per PC.

Making the encounter more challenging

If you feel like the encounter is too easy and your players are breezing through it, you can add a number of additional challenges to keep them on their toes ! Choose one or several of the following effects to add to the battlefield :

• On initiative 30 every round, choose a piece of the bridge and point it out to your players. On initiative 10, a tornado passes by, destroying the chosen piece of the bridge. Characters on the chosen piece must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw or take 4d6 bludgeoning damage and be knocked back 15 ft in a random direction (roll 1d8).
  
• On initiative 30 every round, each piece of bridge moves either up or down 15 ft. Characters on pieces that move down must make a DC 10 Acrobatics check or take 3d6 bludgeoning damage from falling. Traversal DCs between bridge pieces at different elevations have a +2 to their difficulty.
  
• On initiative 30 every round, a 20 ft wide current of strong winds forms on the battlefield in a random direction and location. The current crosses from one edge of the battlefield to the other. Roll 1d4 for direction (left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top). Characters inside the current are pushed 15 ft in the direction of the current for each 5 ft they move.
  

Once the party has reached the end of the bridge, the remaining tumbling tempests are caught in the winds and disappear. Our heroes have reached the edge of the city proper, and are now ready to step on Aetherhelm !

PDF, battlemap, and supporting me

I've copied the text of the encounters in here, but I personally think it's much easier to read as a separate PDF.
You can download the PDF here : PDF
And the battlemap here (it's 128 PPI for VTTs) : Battlemap or Battlemap (if the other one doesn't work)
And the token here : Token
If you want to run this in a different environment, you can also use this transparent version of the battlemap and change the background : Bridge without background
I hope you enjoy the encounters ! If you did and you'd like to not only support me, but get some more content for yourself, I invite you to go check out my Patreon at www.patreon.com/bdhb ! I post content every single month including full adventures, standalone encounters, new game mechanics, magic items, and much more.
Have a great day and I'll be back soon with more content !

Okay Crew, I want to see some peace here…. It’s not about me… but peace for those who have been dragged into this… Followers, Friends and Bystanders. Please prove me wrong today, in my assumptions, that unlike previous moments, this will not create another feeding frenzy for drama.
Am I to blame for the mess, the answer is maybe! I made contact with ODA regarding the visitors permit into Ohio for Melissa and the monks. The understanding was always for a once a month visit to Ohio to help her mom. I made the request, as screen shot have shown to my contact in Ohio.
He responded that it was possible for out of state residents for 48 hours. Some time passed before I even told Melissa what they had said, as I forgot to let her know. In the meantime she felt she also got answers from USDA. They gave her the right answer for an individual who is licensed under Class A, B, C which is to file and submit itinerary plans for each travel date. Form 7010 is required for a licensed person to travel and display animals in a state other than that of the licensed state of residence. USDA oversees only those individuals licensed.
Since that time ODA asked me about the situation, to which I responded it was resolved. They asked how, and I told them that Melissa had spoken to someone and had it taken care of, not knowing that it was USDA. Melissa and I did not speak in enough details for me to know this.
I Later asked ODA again specifically about the exceptions for multiple visits in state granted to Melissa as I had another person inquiring and wanted to understand. It was at that time I was told multiple trip exceptions were not permitted and I asked how it was possible for Melissa.
I believe in whole that it was this conversation that was a catalyst for ODA to look into the things further. And as a result, I will say, should I be guilty of causing anything, this would be it.
Since the events of May 22, I have spoken to ODA to understand. And I even provided to them in writing, which I will attach below, that I did not have interest in being a resource for the Monkeys if they were taken. I have had and have expressed no interest in having the monkeys in question. Again, these are items I would press in and say further, you can contact ODA for further details.
I cannot speak to the further circumstances of the events of May 22, and the methods of law enforcement. But as I stated prior, and ODA will again clearly show when reports are made available, no claim of a dangerous animal was made. This is the classification of animals that are deemed illegal in the state, as you can see here: https://agri.ohio.gov/divisions/animal-health/resources/dangerous-wild-animals
In the end, there are a lot of details that aren’t shared by all parties to make sure the chosen narratives are believable. Had a gun been in the face of child, that is not good. And Melissa, I would never intend for that to happen to your child or for you. I know that you are a good mom to those monkeys, I have even stated this with ODA. I can only say that by my understanding and what ODA will publish when the case is closed and report is available, that they had reason to believe that all facts pointed to a situation that resulted in the actions of May 22.
The report is not available now, and will not be until the case is closed. Filing a FOIA with APHIS or others will not return the report, that can only be requested through the Ohio Department of Agriculture. I have no access to the report, nor anyone until that time. But, you can make a request to that office should you want to further understand the details.
In the end, If you want to blame me, well, that’s your choice. I do not have any influence or power of persuasion to influence the actions of the Ohio Department of Agriculture. In fact, if you speak to them, you will find a tension. We became acquainted as a result of Rico Exotic, when he was raided and I saw it online, I reached out and offered a place for Mike. Rico defied his quarantine and brought the monkey to me. At which time I was in hot water with the enforcement team at ODA. And I was then subjected to oversight of the Tennessee dept of AG as well as ODA. When I began my relationship with Union Ridge and Cy, the same folks warned me to stay away, and I pushed through because I saw someone who needed help. Anyone at ODA will tell you these facts. Yet, in the end there is a mutual understanding with ODA that I will work for the good of the animals. Thankfully ODA does not operate like the Department of Natural Resources in that state, they will not euthanize animals unless it is a last resort. And the team at ODA is just and subjective.
I am humbly asking once more for you to stop the harassment of others. Followers, friends and bystanders are not guilty of anything, and should be left at peace. The actions have cost resources to the efforts in Ecuador as well. The distortion of facts, the drama and emotions are overwhelming good people. My skin is thick and I handle things well….. But many have suffered as a result.
When we are hurting, we can find things that appear to support our anger, frustration and fears. When we are hurting we will hurt others. When we are angry this can be amplified. And I am not innocent of making statements during this last 10-12 days of saying things that are snarky, and for that I apologize.
In the end, if you actually believe like I do that the truth will always win out, then step back and stop forcing it. Dragging in family members, bystanders, friends, messaging family, making defamatory statements of those not involved, dragging up peoples pasts…. Well, it serves no purpose but to create a frenzy…. And I would ask that everyone leave this to a process and allow the truth to do what it always does… Win! And if you feel you are on the side of truth, then rest assured, your victory is coming.