Hi everyone,
I bought a house recently in St. Louis. It's from 1929 with a concrete pour basement and a rear crawlspace. There is no sump pump.
The basement leaks from one of the walls during heavy rains, at the joint where the wall and floor meet. There is one spot it usually comes from and another 2 or so during really heavy rain periods.
It doesn't form more than a medium sized puddle but I wanted to make sure I addressed the problem properly.
It's definitely a gutters and drainage issue on that side, the gutters overflow with rain and the soil next to the house has a neutral grade. I'm having the gutters replaced and the soil regarded to address that.
I called 3 waterproofing/foundation repair companies for an assessment to ensure the foundation itself didn't need repair. All 3 of them said it was in good condition and didn't show signs of sinking, cracking or bowing which was very reassuring. One of them measured it and said it had very little settlement over 94 years.
1st guy said it was a gutters and drainage issue, do that and call him if the problem stays.
2nd guy suggested crack sealant for the joint where the water was coming in but said the water could be pushed out another way. Thought it was a gutters and drainage issue.
3rd guy offered to install an interior French drain and sump pump system. I thought at the time that was overkill and I should try exterior solutions.
I had a separate problem with my crawlspace where an animal had chewed on a sill so I called 3rd guy's company for a crawlspace assessment and 4th guy came out and I arranged repair with him. They were doing a 25% off special on all work so I considered adding the interior French drain system. He also did a walk around the basement and exterior and said the foundation was in good shape with no structural issues.
I talked with 3rd guy again and he said that the interior system warranties against water intrusion. The intrusion doesn't bother me so much as the potential damage to my foundation. He said that the interior drain would reduce hydrostatic pressure when the water table rises which is what causes walls to bow and sometimes foundation sinking if it's bad enough. (I'm not sure if it actually does this or merely channels water that's already entered in).
I thought that would be a good solution for the long term and signed a contract, but after looking it up I am thinking now the much less expensive gutter and regrading work will potentially solve the problem. There is a 3 day cancelation period and I might walk it back tomorrow and just have the crawlspace work done.
Most of the people I've talked to are saying the gutter and drainage problem is the priority and the interior waterproofing is a measure I could take if that doesn't resolve the problem.
I'm just frustrated and don't know what to do. At the end of the day I want to make sure the foundation is protected and doesn't cause my home structural damage.
If anybody has some perspectives on this or advice I really appreciate it. Thank you.

So I'm stumped, the interior wall on the other side of that gutter stays damp, but is most damp when it rains.
I have had several contractors, plumbers, drainage contractors, look at it, some doing work they believed would fix it, some saying they just weren't sure how to fix it.
Anyone here have any ideas on how I could fix this issue?
From what I've gathered it is likely to be something to do with the drain the gutter goes into, but not certainly.
The arrows show how the slope/water runs.
https://imgur.com/a/qvon2Rl

Closed on our house in April. So there are these cracks in the walls of the outside stairwell going to the basement. Water used to pool around it in rain until I cleaned the gutters. Should I be worried and what’s a fix for this?

Hi. I just came back from a two week trip. I lived in Osaka and Tokyo some years ago so this trip was really meeting up with old friends again and also going for some new adventures.
It's so affordable now (if you have USD, which is strong against the yen). I ate and drank so well! I went to a lot of izakaya, tried various local and regional specialties (unagi around Hamamatsu, akafuku in Ise, for example). All for waaaayyyyy cheaper than what I spend at home in Philly or NYC.
I also did a bit of biking. In Japan you often get a mamachari, which is like "your momma's chariot", or a bike your Mom would ride. With a basket. But hey they're fun for just cruising around! I've decided biking around the countryside is one of my favorite travel activities.
The main idea of this trip was:

• Tokyo - catch up with friends and visit my favorite hang out places and restaurants.
• Hamamatsu - I went to a beach at 7am, rented a bike, and biked around the Lake Hamana area. I took three trains, two buses, and a ferry to Ise. Yes obviously it takes longer than shinkansen to Nagoya, but this is the scenic route lol.
• Going to Ise was about Ise-jingu, of course.
• One night in Nabari. I wanted to see Akame 48, where there are a bunch of waterfalls.
• Nara - last time I was there was 19 years ago. I spent just one day doing the usual stuff in Nara-koen and two days doing a bunch of other things on the outskirts.
• Osaka - it was great to be back, but mainly I was there to get shinkansen back to Tokyo.

Some more details:
Tokyo

• I splurged and stayed at the Shiba Park Hotel. Shiba Park is near Hamamatsu-cho, which is easily accessible from Haneda via the monorail.
• I went to a Kanda matsuri (festival) that involved people parading around omikoshi (portable shrine). They're really fun if you haven't seen. While there, by chance I came upon a kabuki theater and an usher convinced me to buy a ticket. Really colorful and dramatic.
• I hit up some museum favorites such as the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in Ebisu (I used to live across the street) and Ōta Memorial Museum of Art in Harajuku (all ukiyo-e, which I love).
• Tip: if you are in Tokyo Station, have time to kill, and like art, there's a gallery near the north gate. Currently it's Japanese Paintings of Modern Osaka.

Hamamatsu

• Probably not on most people's radar, it's not a must-see city. I took a local train to Maisaka, walked to the ocean, walked around more, and found a bike rental place in Bentenjima.
• Biked up to Hamanako Garden Park. It's all about flowers. Then biked farther up to Kanzanji-cho and ate some delicious unagi (eel).
• The city is not super exciting but the Museum of Musical Instruments is really cool. They have a room with instruments you can rock out on. I banged on a djembe and plucked a koto.
• As part of the scenic route to Ise, I took trains and buses out to Irago, then ferry across to Toba, and local Kintetsu train up to Ise.

Ise

• Stayed in a ryokan near the train station. The main thing here is Ise-jingu, the most sacred shrine in Japan, the holiest of holies. Took advantage of lingering jet lag to wake up early and get in at 6am. It opens at 5!
• The early morning hours are great. The main strip leading up to Geku wasn't that crowded even in the afternoon, although the main strip outside Naiku - okage yokocho - started to get busy after 9am.

Nabari

• A small town in Mie-ken. I had always heard about Akame 48, where there are supposedly 48 waterfalls. The day was totally rained out. I took a local train and then bus to the visitors center but the rain wasn't letting up. I had a long chat with a friendly young Japanese guy who worked there. He doesn't see many visitors lately so I think he was glad for the opportunity to chat.

Nara

• Stayed at a guest house near Nara-machi. This area is so cool - some tourists visit but still very local. Great for strolling around and checking out the shops. I did the usual Nara Park stuff for one day - Daibutsu, Nara National Museum, etc.
• I rented a bike and headed out to Toshodai-ji and Yakushi-ji. It's a slight trek but there's a small river you can bike along which was cool.
• I tried and failed to finish the yama-no-be-no-michi ("mountain area path"), as detailed in the LP book. I started too late and it was too hot. There are sign posts here and there but notably lacking where there are some forks in the road. You start from Tenri station and takes at least 30 minutes walking just to get to the start of the trail. Better planning next time.

Osaka

• Stayed at APA Hotel in Umeda, rented a bike and went out to the aquarium. That's a bit of a slog but still worth it. At night walked around the usual places like Shinsaibashi, Ame-mura, etc.
• I had time to kill before catching the shinkansen back to Tokyo so I rented a bike from the Shin-Osaka station and biked along the Yodo River. It's so nice - wide paths and great scenery.
• Tip: I was reminded of how confusing it is to navigate Umeda on the street. Don't bother. If you have to find a station or something, go underground and follow the signs!

Some expenses (USD):

• Airfare: $1500
• Hotel: $1200
• Food and drink: $700, which is simply amazing. And I ate so well!
• Transportation: $325
• Various activities: $300

My takeaway: after traveling in many places, I continue to find that some of the best experiences are those unplanned. Any trip requires plans obviously, but with a little luck and a traveler's intuition, I'm getting better at arriving at those fun spontaneous moments.
Ask me any questions. Thanks for reading.

Me and my boyfriend have been dating for two months. During these two months, I have noticed that he has a tendency to raise his voice when frustrated. So far, it hasn’t been directed towards me whatsoever (until yesterday at least). For more context, he has severe ADHD and takes his prescribed adderall maybe once or twice a week versus daily. He only takes it when “he wants to focus.” I normally don’t see his angry behavior when he’s on his medication for the day, but when he isn’t, he has terrible fits of rage.
Yesterday, I was trying to set up a double date with my best friend and her boyfriend. They wanted to go to lunch, so I suggested that me and my boyfriend longboard the canyon trail before going to lunch with them. I asked my best friend if she wanted to come, she said yes, but she wanted to wait and see if her boyfriend would come. Now, my best friend’s boyfriend’s family wanted to host the lunch so I was like, okay cool. His family is super nice and it’s a Sunday, why not. My boyfriend was taking a nap so I woke him up and said that if we wanted to get to lunch on time, that we should go longboarding now (it’s like a 30 min trail). He’s rubbing his eyes while we go outside, and the bright sunny day had become cloudy and gloomy. He checked the weather app and it was supposed to rain. I was super disappointed as we walked back inside.
He took a pot pie out of the freezer and started opening the box. Confused, I asked if he didn’t want to go to lunch anymore. He said that he didn’t know what the plan was. I gently reminded him that I mentioned it when he woke up, but since he forgot, that we were going to lunch with my best friend’s boyfriend’s family. He asked which canyon we were going to (Utah has multiple). I said I don’t know because her boyfriend was lagging on telling us the full details and I was waiting to know too. He starts getting frustrated and saying well, I didn’t know what the plan is so I don’t know why you’re getting mad at me. I was still talking calm at this point, but I was sad and defeated over not longboarding. I said that I don’t know either, that I’m not mad, and that I’m telling him what I know. I said that because I don’t know, if he wants he can call my best friend’s boyfriend and ask (because I doubt he’d tell me when he’s lagging on his own gf, and because they’re much closer friends). This infuriates him and he starts yelling and cussing and throws down the pot pie. I tell him, “Don’t yell at me.” And soon as he starts spouting off curse words I say, “Don’t cuss at me.” He storms off into the room and slams the door. I leave to go to my best friend’s.
We start a text conversation in which he says that I had an attitude when I said he should call his friend. I told him that I didn’t have an attitude at him whatsoever, that I was talking with a defeated tone because I really wanted to longboard. He said this over text, “You dont see me giving you attitude when I’m depressed or something I try to make you feel better still. Cause you know something? I’m depressed/ mad/ sad all the fucking time but still give you that smile and positive attitude cause you didn’t cause any of it. But seems like that’s hard for you.” The text conversation included a lot of back and forth, but the gist of my statement was that I wasn’t trying to direct any negative emotion towards him, that I’m sorry it came across that way even though it wasn’t my intention, that I can’t instantly get over things and that my emotions are valid (he always tells me to get over things instantly and to cope like he does). One of my last messages was, “But I’m done talking about this. Never yell at me again. Or start cussing at me. You can do that around your family, but my standards are higher than that. I expect more out of my partners.” He left me on read for almost the entire day until I asked whether he was apologetic or not. His final message was, “I’m sorry for yelling.” Then he came home and pretended like nothing happened. Am I The Asshole?

Me and my boyfriend have been dating for two months. During these two months, I have noticed that he has a tendency to raise his voice when frustrated. So far, it hasn’t been directed towards me whatsoever (until yesterday at least). For more context, he has severe ADHD and takes his prescribed adderall maybe once or twice a week versus daily. He only takes it when “he wants to focus.” I normally don’t see his angry behavior when he’s on his medication for the day, but when he isn’t, he has terrible fits of rage.
It started as him being more and more comfortable displaying his road rage over time. And I don’t mean getting annoyed and a curse word here and there, I mean yelling at the top of his lungs, flipping people off, cutting people off, tailgating, speeding, and other lowkey dangerous driving behaviors that scare me. I have mentioned how I feel about this to him, and he just brushes it aside as his “normal” behavior and doesn’t see a point in changing it. He also has a big truck, which in my opinion can be extra intimidating to the car drivers that he’s directing his angry behavior towards.
Next would be his video games. I love video games, I play my Xbox and PC daily. My family is full of huge gamers and I’ve probably been playing ever since I was a small child. He plays his Xbox and whenever his friends don’t do exactly what he wants them to, he’ll mute his mic and lose his shit. Or if he loses he’ll get pissed and throw his controller at the ground and start yelling. I understand the frustration from losing, but I have never yelled for that loud and long and slammed things because of it. It’s not just video games either, he’s a sore loser. We played a couple games of beer pong and when he won the first match, he made it clear to rub it in my face. I was like, “Well, whoever wins the next match will be the beer pong god.” I won the next match and he lost his shit at me for jumping excitedly and saying that I’m the god, like we agreed, in front of his friends because it embarrassed him. He kept insisting we do “best out of 3” on the way home and tried gaslighting me, saying that we never agreed on the second match being the god match. I dropped it because he started raising his voice at me. I said we could do a rematch next time, and he responded, “cool” with an attitude.
Yesterday, I was trying to set up a double date with my best friend and her boyfriend. They wanted to go to lunch, so I suggested that me and my boyfriend longboard the canyon trail before going to lunch with them. I asked my best friend if she wanted to come, she said yes, but she wanted to wait and see if her boyfriend would come. Now, my best friend’s boyfriend’s family wanted to host the lunch so I was like, okay cool. His family is super nice and it’s a Sunday, why not. My boyfriend was taking a nap so I woke him up and said that if we wanted to get to lunch on time, that we should go longboarding now (it’s like a 30 min trail). He’s rubbing his eyes while we go outside, and the bright sunny day had become cloudy and gloomy. He checked the weather app and it was supposed to rain. I was super disappointed as we walked back inside.
He took a pot pie out of the freezer and started opening the box. Confused, I asked if he didn’t want to go to lunch anymore. He said that he didn’t know what the plan was. I gently reminded him that I mentioned it when he woke up, but since he forgot, that we were going to lunch with my best friend’s boyfriend’s family. He asked which canyon we were going to (Utah has multiple). I said I don’t know because her boyfriend was lagging on telling us the full details and I was waiting to know too. He starts getting frustrated and saying well, I didn’t know what the plan is so I don’t know why you’re getting mad at me. I was still talking calm at this point, but I was sad and defeated over not longboarding. I said that I don’t know either, that I’m not mad, and that I’m telling him what I know. I said that because I don’t know, if he wants he can call my best friend’s boyfriend and ask (because I doubt he’d tell me when he’s lagging on his own gf, and because they’re much closer friends). This infuriates him and he starts yelling and cussing and throws down the pot pie. I tell him, “Don’t yell at me.” And soon as he starts spouting off curse words I say, “Don’t cuss at me.” He storms off into the room and slams the door. I leave to go to my best friend’s.
We start a text conversation in which he says that I had an attitude when I said he should call his friend. I told him that I didn’t have an attitude at him whatsoever, that I was talking with a defeated tone because I really wanted to longboard. He said this over text, “You dont see me giving you attitude when I’m depressed or something I try to make you feel better still. Cause you know something? I’m depressed/ mad/ sad all the fucking time but still give you that smile and positive attitude cause you didn’t cause any of it. But seems like that’s hard for you.” The text conversation included a lot of back and forth, but the gist of my statement was that I wasn’t trying to direct any negative emotion towards him, that I’m sorry it came across that way even though it wasn’t my intention, that I can’t instantly get over things and that my emotions are valid (he always tells me to get over things instantly and to cope like he does). One of my last messages was, “But I’m done talking about this. Never yell at me again. Or start cussing at me. You can do that around your family, but my standards are higher than that. I expect more out of my partners.” He left me on read for almost the entire day until I asked whether he was apologetic or not. His final message was, “I’m sorry for yelling.” Then he came home and pretended like nothing happened.
Now, I have bipolar disorder. Extremely stressful situations can trigger long term mood episodes for me. I also have trauma associated with yelling and loud noises. I’m trying to be really understanding and accommodating for his needs, but for my own mental health, I draw the line and yelling and cussing AT me. When he does it around me, it makes me super nervous, which I have explained to him. But directing it specifically towards me is a relationship dealbreaker. What should I do?

Me and my boyfriend have been dating for two months. During these two months, I have noticed that he has a tendency to raise his voice when frustrated. So far, it hasn’t been directed towards me whatsoever (until yesterday at least). For more context, he has severe ADHD and takes his prescribed adderall maybe once or twice a week versus daily. He only takes it when “he wants to focus.” I normally don’t see his angry behavior when he’s on his medication for the day, but when he isn’t, he has terrible fits of rage.
It started as him being more and more comfortable displaying his road rage over time. And I don’t mean getting annoyed and a curse word here and there, I mean yelling at the top of his lungs, flipping people off, cutting people off, tailgating, speeding, and other lowkey dangerous driving behaviors that scare me. I have mentioned how I feel about this to him, and he just brushes it aside as his “normal” behavior and doesn’t see a point in changing it. He also has a big truck, which in my opinion can be extra intimidating to the car drivers that he’s directing his angry behavior towards.
Next would be his video games. I love video games, I play my Xbox and PC daily. My family is full of huge gamers and I’ve probably been playing ever since I was a small child. He plays his Xbox and whenever his friends don’t do exactly what he wants them to, he’ll mute his mic and lose his shit. Or if he loses he’ll get pissed and throw his controller at the ground and start yelling. I understand the frustration from losing, but I have never yelled for that loud and long and slammed things because of it. It’s not just video games either, he’s kind of a sore loser. We played a couple games of beer pong and when he won the first match, he made it clear to rub it in my face. I was like, “Well, whoever wins the next match will be the beer pong god.” I won the next match and he lost his shit at me for jumping excitedly and saying that I’m the god, like we agreed, in front of his friends because it embarrassed him. He kept insisting we do “best out of 3” on the way home and tried gaslighting me, saying that we never agreed on the second match being the god match. I dropped it because he started raising his voice at me. I said we could do a third match next time, and he responded, “cool” with an attitude.
Yesterday, I was trying to set up a double date with my best friend and her boyfriend. They wanted to go to lunch, so I suggested that me and my boyfriend longboard the canyon trail before going to lunch with them. I asked my best friend if she wanted to come longboarding, she said yes, but she wanted to wait and see if her boyfriend would come. Now, my best friend’s boyfriend’s family wanted to host the lunch so I was like, okay cool. His family is super nice and it’s a Sunday, why not. My boyfriend was taking a nap so I woke him up and said that if we wanted to get to lunch on time, that we should go longboarding now (it’s like a 30 min trail). He’s rubbing his eyes while we go outside, and the bright sunny day had become cloudy and gloomy. He checked the weather app and it was supposed to rain. I was super disappointed as we walked back inside.
He took a pot pie out of the freezer and started opening the box. Confused, I asked if he didn’t want to go to lunch anymore. He said that he didn’t know what the plan was. I gently reminded him that I mentioned it when he woke up, but since he forgot, that we were going to lunch with my best friend’s boyfriend’s family. He asked which canyon we were going to (Utah has multiple). I said I don’t know because her boyfriend was lagging on telling us the full details and I was waiting to know too. He starts getting frustrated and saying well, I didn’t know what the plan is so I don’t know why you’re getting mad at me. I was still talking calm at this point, but I was sad and defeated over not longboarding. I said that I don’t know either, that I’m not mad, and that I’m telling him what I know. I said that because I don’t know, if he wants he can call my best friend’s boyfriend and ask (because I doubt he’d tell me when he’s lagging on his own gf, and because the guys are much closer friends). This infuriates him and he starts yelling and cussing and throws down the pot pie. I tell him, “Don’t yell at me.” And soon as he starts spouting off curse words I say, “Don’t cuss at me.” He storms off into the room and slams the door. I leave to go to my best friend’s.
We start a text conversation in which he says that I had an attitude when I said he should call his friend. I told him that I didn’t have an attitude at him, that I was talking with a defeated tone because I really wanted to longboard. He said this over text, “You dont see me giving you attitude when I’m depressed or something I try to make you feel better still. Cause you know something? I’m depressed/ mad/ sad all the fucking time but still give you that smile and positive attitude cause you didn’t cause any of it. But seems like that’s hard for you.” The text conversation included a lot of back and forth, but the gist of my statement was that I wasn’t trying to direct any negative emotion towards him, that I’m sorry it came across that way even though it wasn’t my intention, that I can’t instantly get over things and that my emotions are valid (he always tells me to get over things instantly and to cope like he does). One of my last messages was, “But I’m done talking about this. Never yell at me again. Or start cussing at me. You can do that around your family, but my standards are higher than that. I expect more out of my partners.” He left me on read for almost the entire day until I asked whether he was apologetic or not. His final message was, “I’m sorry for yelling.” Then he came home and pretended like nothing happened.
TL;DR: My boyfriend blew up at me because he thought my disappointment in not being able to longboard was me being upset with him. Even after explaining that I was upset at the situation and not him, he lost his shit by raising his voice at me and slammed his food down. I said a hard boundary, but he doesn’t seem genuinely apologetic. Any advice on how to move forward?

Rannan sat on the old metal bench, shivering. His clothes soaking and wet from the pouring rain. He gazed lamentably at the rain in the gutter, bound only by the pull of gravity. Suddenly, the rain stopped falling on his head, confused he looked up, seeing the black polymer of an umbrella's canopy.
A human woman with shockingly red, waist length hair sat next to him, clad in a simple pilots outfit. She smiled at him, holding out a takeout box and an eating utensil. Rannan slowly took the container, clumsily pulling it open with cold fingers.
Fragrant steam rose from the pile of fried and sauced poultry, making Rannan's empty stomach gurgle with hunger. Without a second thought, he reached into the container and pulled out a handful of the poultry pieces before stuffing them in his mouth. He chewed just enough so he wouldn't choke before swallowing. Going back for more and more, until the container was empty.
Rannan looked down at the container in embarrassment, still hungry but not wanting to ask for more food. A strangers kindness was not to be taken for granted.
"Here kid, eat up. Your face says it all."
Rannan turned his head in surprise as the human woman pulled another container from the bag looped around her wrist. Rannan didn't know what to say as he gingerly took the piping hot container. Expecting the woman to hit or yell at him him like his parents used to.
But the woman just smiled and kept talking, the umbrella floating above them by itself with a Whoosh! of pressurized air.
"You're a Rallit right? From Rallia. Lemme guess, your parents kicked you out instead of throwing you a party for your birthday?"
Rennan nodded, using the eating utensil to shove small piles of a sticky white grain into his face. He truthfully didn't want to talk about it, but would return the stranger's kindness with answers.
The woman nodded softly, pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her jacket's breast pocket. She lit one and took a long drag as she watched the rain.
"I understand that, my parents kicked me out when they found out I liked women. I was only sixteen then."
The woman chuckled as though she told a joke.
"Some parents are just shit people kid. Don't let them define your life."
Rannan looked over at the human woman as she calmly smoked her cigarette, her eyes moist with held back tears. Swallowing his mouthful of food he softly stated.
"I'm sorry you went through that, truly. But please don't pity me, it's customary in my culture for the chick to leave the nest upon maturity..."
Feeling the tears well up in his own eyes, he quickly buried his face back in the food.
The woman's warm hand gently took him by the chin and turned his face towards her. He had been trying to hide the black eye his dad had gave him on his way to throw him out the door. The woman's face softened, but there was a hardness in her eyes.
"Maybe so... But that isn't... No parent should hit their child, ever. That's for other kids to do before they know better."
Rannan felt himself begin to cry and just keeled forward. Letting the strange woman wrap a consoling arm around him as his tears dropped into a puddle. The woman softly patted his shoulder, quietly asking.
"Do you have any siblings?"
Rannan shook his head.
"Do you want revenge?"
He bolted upright, looking at the human woman in shock. Unable to answer, he was supposed to honor his family, bring glory to their name. To defend the clan at all cost!
But... Was a clan who beat their only child for crying from hunger worthy of honor? The parents who bought booze and drugs instead of feeding their child, did they deserve glory? Did they deserve for him to defend them?
He took a deep breath and made eye contact with the woman, noticing the sharp green of her eyes.
"I... I do... I want them to pick on someone their own size for once."
The woman nodded and patted him on the back.
"Good, you should. Let's go get some."
Rennan stood quickly as the human woman bolted to her feet, Exclaiming.
"I don't even know your name and you're gonna help me get revenge? How do you even plan on taking a fully grown Rallit on and survive?"
The woman smiled.
"My name is Captain Leandra Knocktok of the V.F.S F.A.F.O. as for how, well, I'm a volunteer."
That only answered one of Rannan's questions.
...
Captain Leandra hummed as she knocked on the dingy apartment's door. The poor kid she'd picked up looked at Bobby with awe and terror. She didn't blame him, the gentle giant used to be part of Ferrick's crew. He was truly a sight to behold at nearly eight feet tall and with muscles the size and density of bowling balls. The armored chest plate made of battleship decking made him truly terrifying.
The door opened, revealing a visibly drunk and groggy adult male Rallit.
"Who is you bitch?"
Leandra smiled and asked.
"Are you Rannan's father?"
The Rallit seemed to grow suspicious.
"Yea, what's it to ya?"
Leandra's grin just grew wider as she ducked her head forward. Bobby's brick sized fist sailing through where her head used to be and into the adult male Rallit's face. The heavy bipedal was launched backwards, taking the doorknob with them. Before they smacked into the cinder block wall opposite the door. Making the building shake before they slumped into a heap. It's large, hog-like nose visibly broken and bleeding.
Leandra straightened her back and looked at Bobby, confusion writ on her face.
"How fuckin hard did you hit him Bobby? Their bones can withstand .50 bmg point blank... And you probably just broke a dozen."
The giant hefted his fist, bicep bulging.
"It was just a love tap Cap'n"
The sarcasm dripped from the giants slow, thick words.
Captain Leandra nodded, brow furrowed as she stepped into the apartment. A Rallit woman lay slumped on the couch, a needle still in her arm as she snored. She hadn't even stirred as her husband was launched across the room.
Leandra felt her heart sink, this was too much like home for her. Before she could cry for her siblings, she turned and strolled calmly out of the apartment, beckoning the two boys to follow her. Her face impassive she calmly took out a cigarette and lit it in the elevator.
"Welcome to the volunteers kid. Three square meals a day are guaranteed, you put your due diligence in and you'll be paid accordingly. Tax-free of course, we are a non profit."
Leandra stubbed her cigarette out as the mesh door of the elevator rattled open. She always liked giving those speeches.
...
Captain Leandra gasped awake in the med bay, the bullet wounds in her gut and chest bandaged and healing. A rough, four fingered hand held her left hand, a soft five fingered one held her right. She raised her head, seeing the smiling hog-like face of rannan as he put a finger to his lips before smiling around his one intact tusk, the other snapped off at about the midpoint.
She remembered now.
The refugee drawing the gun just as the relief shuttle's doors were opened. How the rounds burnt as they ripped through her. Then...
How Rannan stepped in front of her, the gunman firing at Rannan's vulnerable face. Managing to take off half a tusk before the gun jammed and Rannan's fist closed around their head. She had to admit, she felt kinda bad for the gunman after rannan dragged him across the bay by his face.
She smiled and gently caressed the cheek of the man she proudly called her adopted son.
"Good job not crushing his head."
He smiled.
"He wished I did after Helga got a hold of him."
Leandra smiled at her dark haired, heavy sleeper of a wife. Her knuckles were bruised and swollen.
"Do I wanna know what she did to that poor bastard?"
Rennan sincerely shook his head.
"I've never seen her that pissed before... And I think that guy's gonna be pissing blood for a week."
Leandra nodded and gently ruffled her wife's short, dark brown hair. She joked softly.
"I married a yandere? Didn't I?"
Helga grumbled her agreeance and scrunched her face into the blankets on Leandra's legs before bolting upright.
"You're alive! Oh my goodness never do that to me again. I broke two of Bobby's fingers when he tried to pull me off that guy."
Rannan looked at his other mother with concern. Leandra just smiled and laughed softly before becoming playfully stern.
"You apologized, right?"
Helga's head bobbed rapidly.
"Yup! Cooked him fifty pounds of turkey legs just the way he likes them."
"I bet he enjoyed that."
Rannan nodded, seeming to stare off into the distance.
"That man consumes poultry at an unholy pace. It was all gone in less than fifteen minutes."
Both women looked at him with apologies written across their faces. They both knew the terror that came from watching a four foot tall pile of turkey legs disappear into one man's stomach.
Rannan simply stared off into space.
"Where the fuck does uncle Bob put it all?"

Microplastics, climate denial, contagious skin fungus, warlords, record temperatures, and wheat troubles. This is starting to get serious.
Last Week in Collapse: May 21-27, 2023
This is Last Week in Collapse, a weekly newsletter bringing together some of the most important, timely, useful, depressing, ironic, amazing, or otherwise must-see moments in Collapse.
This is the 73rd newsletter. Sorry it’s a bit later than usual. You can find the May 14-20 edition here if you missed it last week. These newsletters are also on Substack if you want them sent to your email inbox every Sunday.
——————————
Climate and soil scientists are warning that Europe’s soil won’t be able to absorb as much water now, after a season of terrible drought. The feedback loops spell disaster for the continent’s ability to weather the coming drought. France has given up aiming for just a 1.5 °C temperature increase, and are preparing for 4 °C rise by 2100. Scientists claim we are heading for total disaster, but the rest of the world apparently has bigger problems.
The world is allegedly on track for 2.7 °C of warming, and some experts predict that about one billion humans may be forced to migrate as a result of global warming, sea level rise, etc. Iraq is one such location, and countless migrants have already fled. On Twitter, climate scientists report seeing more hostility and climate denial.
Category 5 Typhoon Mawar blasted Guam, and took out electricity, but no humans were killed on the island. In Somalia, over one million people were displaced by drought within the last 4 months.
A ship’s draft/draught) is the distance between its waterline and the bottom of its keel/hull. This determines a ship’s displacement; the heavier a ship’s cargo, the greater its draft will be. The Panama Canal is reducing the allowed vessel draft because they didn’t receive enough rain in the last few months and cannot fully fill the Canal’s locks. As a result, more ships will be forced to make the long journey around Cape Horn—or load up with less cargo to transit the Canal. The supply chain feedback loops are compounding.
Chad saw its highest May temperature last week—47 °C (117 °F), and part of Samoa tied a new May temperature too—34.8 °C (101 °F) . New record temperatures in Southeast Asia again. The ocean around the Cayman Islands has hit 30 °C earlier than any previous year. The average sea surface temperature has been breaking daily records for every day for over two months.
Experts are warning that a heat wave would devastate Phoenix, Arizona, if it knocked out the power grid. Up to 800,000 people (half the population) would allegedly require emergency medical attention for heat stroke, etc. The study concluded that about 12,800 people would die as a result.
Although most of the world is warming, the upper atmosphere is cooling down, forcing scientists and generals to consider its potential impact on satellites and on our sensitive weather patterns. Temperatures beyond roughly 50km out in the atmosphere have been cooled by CO2 levels. Concrete implications from the study are unclear.
About 5,000 Congolese are still missing weeks after catastrophic flooding. Wildfire risk is increasing in Sweden. Heat wave alerts in Sri Lanka.
A study has claimed—again—that species are going extinct even faster than expected. About half of surveyed species have seen population declines recently (especially in the tropics), while 49% are holding relatively steady.
One species at risk of dieoff is the black sea urchin off the coast of Israel—and their dieoff hold grim implications for the health of coral in the Red Sea.
Tick season has begun, and researchers are worried that they can transfer prions from white-tailed deer to humans. Chronic wasting disease has not yet afflicted humans, though it exists in growing quantities among Canadian cervids.
——————————
The danger from fungi is growing as a result of climate change, and the rise of Candida Auris—and a resistant, contagious skin fungus coming out of India—in the U.S. is alarming epidemiologists. The combination of compromised immune systems (from COVID, increased diabetes), climate change, distrust of health entities, health insurance problems, and healthcare worker collapse are creating a terrible convergence of circumstances.
Over 5,000 new species have been discovered in the ocean between Hawai’i and Mexico—and in two months, applications will be accepted to begin deep-sea mining extraction operations in the region. Meanwhile, Shell shareholders rejected attempts to accept new emissions targets, 80% to 20%.
German police are looking into classifying “Last Generation” climate activists as part of a criminal group, amid raids targeting the traffic-stopping activists.
Greenpeace claims that recycled plastic can be more toxic than first-use plastic—but don’t worry, only 9% of plastic is recycled worldwide. A study from Hazardous Materials Advances concluded that recycling plastics produces large amounts of microplastics which later contaminate our land, water, and even air.
The U.S. Supreme Court limited the scope of the Clean Water Act, to exclude certain types of wetlands. This opens up some wetlands to nearby development and pollution.
Some Kansas wheat farmers suffered so much drought and cold snaps that they are abandoning their crops. Across the country, one third of winter-wheat acres are being abandoned, the highest percent in over 100 years. Utah’s Great Salt Lake is drying up, and strong winds are blowing dust, sometimes containing heavy metals.
Locusts in Afghanistan are threatening the coming wheat harvests in an already famine-stricken land. Argentina will face a similar problem if they don’t get rain within a few weeks.
——————————
South Africa is suffering from 33% unemployment and devastating, 10-hour load-shedding (routine power outages) every day. A senior politician is warning that the crumbling nation could become a failed state soon. Power grid troubles are expected to escalate later this winter, by August.
A teenage girl in Guyana set fire to her dorm and unintentionally killed 19 people—because her cell phone was confiscated. What will society do when their water and human rights are confiscated?
Russia is supposedly considering an export ban on gasoline, in an attempt to better control supply & prices within its own territory. Qatar warned Europe that they haven’t seen the worst of the petrol/energy crisis yet.
Global demand for goods is reportedly sinking, and the production of shipping containers is down. More and more Americans are struggling to pay bills as inflation rises. Germany is officially in recession now. South Africa’s interest rates are at a 14-year high.
Some experts are concerned that China may overtake the U.S. with AI development. Others are concerned about the implications of an AI future dominated by the United States. Experts are calling for regulation of AI before it destroys humans.
Cambodia’s ruling party is keeping the opposition party off the ballots in this July’s elections.
The ceasefire in Khartoum is largely holding, but sporadic violence by fighters threatens the fragile “peace” in the city. Once a War “begins,” what role do the civilians have in re-instituting peace—or keeping the conflict going?
The head of the Wagner Group is warning of revolution in Russia, a portent that may also be a threat. The mercenary group is currently handing over Bakhmut to the Russian Army, and claims that about 20,000 Wagner soldiers died taking the city. Meanwhile, a pro-Ukrainian group of ethnic-Russian soldiers made attacks inside Russian territory, and soon withdrew back into Ukraine.
Russia’s former President and PM claimed that this War could last for decades. Yet certain unspecified NATO member states will give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and train about 20 Ukrainian pilots, in an effort to force an earlier conclusion. Yet their impact may not be decisive on the battlefield.
Seven U.S. states agreed on a three-year water-sharing compromise over the Colorado River’s water; whether the pact will hold when the Dust Bowl 2.0 begins is up in the air. Meanwhile, troops from Afghanistan and Iran exchanged machine gun fire and some mortars, over water rights in the Helmand River.
——————————
Things to watch for next week include:
↠ It’s that time of the year again. American politicians posture over raising the debt ceiling, a massive political/economic struggle that usually ends with a last-minute compromise or a short government shutdown. The U.S. is set to default on its debt on June 1st, which would damage trust and cause market bedlam. What’s it gonna be this time?
↠ Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, is rapidly running out of water. The city’s main reservoir only had 10 days left of water—5 days ago. So the city’s supply is set to be exhausted by next Friday. How will the government react—and what will the people do? This might be a signal of what lies ahead for the rest of us.
Select comments/threads from the subreddit last week suggest:
-China will be getting 65M COVID cases—every week—if you believe the claims made in this thread and its sources, which include the Chinese government. The world’s second-most-populous nation, once the last bastion against COVID, has resigned to letting rolling waves of coronavirus repeatedly infect the masses. So it goes.
-Some rich countries will fare very poorly in Collapse, judging by the comments on this thread. Do you see your nation among them?
-Climate change may be worse than you think, says a thread and its comments. Even some doomers will be taken aback by the speed and scale of the damage ahead. What are you doing to prepare?
Have any feedback, questions, comments, resources, Collapse tattoos, recipes, aches or pains, spam mail, etc.? Consider joining the Last Week in Collapse SubStack if you don’t want to check collapse every Sunday, you can get this newsletter sent to your email inbox every weekend. I always forget something... What did I miss this week?

Cryonthera, Aeroave, Geogator and Pyropent, the Weather Warning Pokemon
Type: All have Psychic typing, they have Ice, Flying, Ground and Fire as their secondary types respectively.
Ability: Frost Warning/Hurricane Signal/Landslip Warning/Very Hot Warning (Sets up Hail-Snow/Rain/Sandstorm/Sun respectively, also sharply raises user’s Def/SpDef/Atk/SpAtk in their respective weathers)
Neither evolves. Cryonthera is a white tiger made of ice, Aeroave is an eagle with typhoon signals on its wings, Geogator is an alligator made of rock and soil, and Pyropent is a snake made of flames.
Moves: Weather Ball, Hail or Snowscape/Rain Dance/Sandstorm/Sunny Day, Grassy/Psychic/Misty/Electric Terrain, Iron Defence/Amnesia/Swords Dance/Nasty Plot, Bulk Up (C, G)/Calm Mind (A, P), Leech Seed/Thunder Wave/Toxic/Will O Wisp, Powder Snow/Thunder Shock/EmbeAcid, Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Earthquake/Flamethrower, Blizzard/Hurricane/Drill Run/Solar Beam, Protect, Psychic, Psyshock, Extrasensory, Eerie Spell, Future Sight, Guard Split (C, A)/Power Split (G, P), Imprison, Instruct, Magic Room, Trick Room, Leech Seed/Stealth Rocks/Spikes/Toxic Spikes, Psybeam, Psychic Fangs, Stored Power, Teleport, Ice Punch/Sky Uppercut/Meteor Mash/Fire Punch, Wave Crash/Brave Bird/Wood HammeFlare Blitz, Icy Wind/Snarl/Mud Shot/Electroweb, Avalanche/Aerial Ace/Bulldoze/Flame Wheel, Protect, Substitute, Freeze Dry/Air Slash/Stomping Tantrum/Flame Burst, Hone Claws/Defog/Rock Polish/Coil, RecoveRoost/Soft Boiled/Slack Off, Dazzling Gleam/Body Slam/Power Gem/Discharge, Moonblast/Hyper Voice/Stone Edge/Spark, Knock Off, Giga Drain/Lumina Crash/Iron Head/Shadow Ball, Grassy Glide/Heart Stamp/Metal Claw/Ominous Wind, Counter (C, G)/Mirror Coat (A, P), Dynamic Punch (C, G)/Inferno (A, P), Icicle SpeaComet Punch/Rock Blast/Bullet Seed, Sheer Cold/Horn Drill (with the beak)/Fissure/Guillotine, U Turn
Group-Exclusive move: Warning Signal, Psychic Special move, 10 PP, 90% Accuracy, basically Ruination/Nature’s Madness but deals 3/4 of opponent’s current health and is always accurate in respective weathers
Stats: (C/A/G/P)

• HP: 90/100/100/80
• Atk: 80/100/110/100
• Def: 110/80/100/90
• SpAtk: 100/90/80/110
• SpDef: 90/110/90/90
• Speed: 100/90/90/100

Dex entries (Cryonthera and Geogator in East, Aeroave and Pyropent in West, has the generic “Usually docile and helpful of humans impacted by (weather), but highly territorial. Their appearance is said to forewarn (weather).” otherwise)

• East: “A Pokemon that forewarns snow, using it as a cloak to protect itself from harm.”, “A Pokemon that forewarns landslides, coating its claws in sediment to clear it away and increase the power of its attacks.”
• West: “A Pokemon that forewarns strong winds and rainstorms, protecting itself using the precipitation to hide itself from attacks.”, “A Pokemon that forewarns great heat, absorbing the heat to increase the intensity of its flames.”

Areas: Roaming: C in Malamar Bay, A in Seagoddess Temple, G in Eastern Theatre and P in Central Sandfield Town
Egg Group: Undiscovered
I decided to make my own non-box legendary quartet like the Tapus and the Treasures. They’re based on common weather warnings and the Elite 4’s type specialties. Some of the more wack moves are based on other aspects of the Elite 4, like secondary specialties, move variations or theming. (The Treasures are also very East meets West!)
寒天虎﹐颱風鷹﹐山傾鱷﹐炎天蛇

/LonghornNation Daily Off Topic Free Talk Thread

Today: 5/28/2023

Last Thread

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Your go-to place to talk about whatever you want. From the dumb shit aggies do on a near daily basis, to the latest whatever happening wherever. What ya got?

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Trending on Reddit

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1. [Highlight] Derrick White barely beats the buzzer and forces a game 7!
2. I really can appreciate how Disney is able to hide this from plain sight.
3. When all hope is gone…
4. One of the most difficult shots I've ever attempted, this is the moment the ISS transited the waxing crescent moon in broad daylight. Uncropped photo and video of the event linked in the comments.
5. President of Belarus hospitalised after meeting with Putin

/CFB

1. For the first time since 1974-75, Vanderbilt has defeated Florida in football, men's basketball and baseball in the same academic year
2. Joel Klatt predicts teams will eventually be dropped from Conferences
3. Over the past 18 years, the total number of "power conference" schools has increased by three. Enter Utah, TCU, BYU, Houston and UCF; exit UConn and USF.
4. Former Wisconsin HC Paul Chryst has been hired at Texas by Steve Sarkisian
5. Dartmouth football player held as suspect in Colorado armored truck robbery

/LonghornNation

1. [5/27/2023] Saturday's Off Topic Free Talk Thread
2. [5/27/2023] Saturday's Sports Talk Thread
3. Sarkisian lands longtime NFL special teams coach Joe DeCamillis as special assistant to head coach
4. [5/26/2023] Friday’s Off-topic Free Talk Thread
5. [5/26/2023] Friday's Sports Talk Thread
6. David Pierce: By the Numbers
7. [Post Tournament Thread] ⚾️ (1) Texas goes 0-2 in the Big 12 Tournament and is eliminated.

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I have a gutter that was overflowing when i moved in. I had the gutters cleaned and gutter guards installed, but it seems to be overflowing again and hurting some wood trip on my Tudor style house. There isnt a clog, which makes sense cause there is gutter guards, plus that side of the house doesnt have trees near it at all.
The roof above this particular gutter is a much longer roof than any other gutters.(Tudor style house, so the overflowing side is at the biggest angle)
All of my gutters are about the same length, but im starting to wonder if the longer roof is causing so much water to go in that the gutter is overflowing because it can't keep up with the water flow? In that case I guess Ill need to add a second pipe to the gutter, but I wasnt sure if anyone has experienced this before. It only overflows when the rain is particularly heavy so it's never really an ideal time to go up a take a look.
Edit: here is an example
on the left side of this house where there is a very long slanted roof, that is what mine is like.

Last weekend my daughter Kayla came over to stay for her court-appointed visit. Ever since the divorce, I’ve been a lot more lenient than when I was married. I let her do whatever she wants and give her anything she requests. ‘No’ is not an option and she knows that. Let mom be the bad guy. She’s the one that wanted all this, not me.
That Sunday, as I was shaving, my daughter commanded me to stop and hold still, as if posing for a portrait. She climbed up on the bathroom sink- with a little help from myself- and begun to draw a rudimentary third eye on my reflection in the middle of my forehead. I watched her clumsily lean against the mirror and trace out a large cartoonish eye. She leaned back to admire her work and kissed her little fingers. “A masterpiece,” she proclaimed. I’ve had a good chuckle everyday this week, brushing my teeth, getting ready for work, and having a little of Kayla’s art work staring at me, reminding me how lucky I am that she’s still in my life. Still, I worry. There’s a new man in my ex-wife’s life, a possible new daddy, maybe even a better daddy than me.
Next Friday, I had come home early from work. My head was pounding, one of the many migraines I get. I was just going to wet a rag with cool water, put it on my forehead, and lay in the dark. No partying this Friday, just a date with darkness and some strong medication. I was soaking a rag when I heard an explosion outside, a thunderous crack that shook the house.
I opened the front door, but I couldn’t see much past the wall of water that was falling from my gutter. It was a downpour, one that I hadn’t expected. I didn’t remember seeing anything on the weather report this morning about a storm. Go figure, the weatherman was wrong again. Suddenly, the hair on my arms stood straight up. I heard another explosion, but this one was much louder. Th screen door shook, and I felt a thump in my chest. There was an immediate flash of light and then the rain ceased. The clouds quickly dispersed, and the sun appeared, glaring light reflecting from the scattered pools all along the road.
Although the rain had stopped, I could still hear falling water, or at least what I thought was water. I looked all around to see if there was rain still falling somewhere in the vicinity. Maybe I had caught the tail end of the storm and it was still raining close by as the clouds methodically moved through the neighborhood, but that wasn’t the case. The clouds were moving quick and to the west, far from the neighborhood where I live. I could see a little rain in the distance, but the sound was coming from the east, at the top of the cul-de-sac.
I live in a modest neighborhood on a cul -de-sac. My house is near the end of the street, three houses down from the top of the street. There at the end of the cul-de-sac is an abandoned property, with no grass, and one large Magnolia tree. Nothing grows there but that massive tree. It’s as if it sucks the life out of everything else nearby. The property is a barren, rocky, Martian landscape.
The white flowers on the tree had increased and opened wide. The tree looked infested with a patchwork swarm of ravenous white aliens. Some flowers were depositing a heavy stream of objects to the ground, like a busted pinata. Others were moving side-to-side, attempting to begin their reproductive dance, and new ones were blooming in rapid succession. Soon every flower on the tree was depositing its contents to the ground, the sound of which reminded me of hail falling onto a tin roof, but with the volume magnified ten times than normal, causing curious neighbors to gather in the street.
I met one of the neighbors, Jared, in the street. He approached me and was talking but I couldn’t hear him over the falling tree debris.
“I can’t hear you,” I mouthed.
He walked up and spoke into my ear, “What in the world is happening?”
I shrugged my shoulders and was about to yell something in response when the noise suddenly stopped. The flowers on the tree had ended their little escapade and were folding back into themselves. Lying all around the tree was a hill of debris, but debris that looked to be squirming. Some of the hill collapsed and cascaded into the street.
“What came out of those flowers?” I heard another neighbor, Mrs. C ask. We called her Mrs. C because no matter how hard she tried, no one knew how to pronounce her name.
“I don’t know, but whatever it was, it seems to be alive.” I answered.
There was a buzz of conversation in the street as everyone had gathered around to see what was happening. No one was approaching though, so I took it upon myself to investigate. Seeing me approach the pile, motivated Charles to follow behind.
I approached the moving mound of living biomass. It was a slow creeping glacier of pinkish two-inch grub worms, with bulbous veins running throughout, and dark green heads. They were fighting and the victors were consuming the losers whole. As they consumed, the bigger they got.
“Holy Shit. I’ve never seen anything like this. I mean, Cicadas, yeah, but this is sick.”
“Maybe they’ll eat each other up, or at least until a few are left and then we can get rid of those,” I reasoned.
The rest of the neighborhood had found enough courage to approach. There was talk of calling the police, but what could they do. Randy, my neighbor, who was crazy anyway, wanted to pour gas on the pile and light it up. I admit, I kind of thought that would be fun myself, but Mrs. C stated that the smell would be awful, and the fire might get out of control.
“No,” I said, “It’ll work itself out. Just let it be. It’s confined to this yard and the top of the street. Let’s see what it looks like tomorrow.”
People mulled around for a while, taking photos with their phones and talking to one another about this being something that probably only happens once-in-a lifetime. Over the next few hours, people got bored and headed back inside their homes.
At around six in the morning there my doorbell rang. I picked up my phone. It was Randy, looking nervous and pounding his hand against his thigh.
“Man, come on out. I told you we should have lit them damn things on fire. Hey man, you awake.”
I got out of bed and put on some clothes. I went downstairs and opened the front door, but Randy didn’t need to say anything. I saw over his shoulders what was left of the massive pile of grub worms. It had been reduced to six, but they were as large as men, clumsily writhing in place, smashing their large heads against the road. They were trying, with little success to move back towards the grass. Most had utterly failed except for one. It had made its way into Mrs. C’s yard.
Their appearance had grown more grotesque. They had become segmented and the green in their head was now matched by green spots in various places on their pink bodies. With the larger size, some of their other features became more noticeable. The veins heaved up and down with laborious effort. They had numerous small jagged teeth with large flat black tongues that incessantly fell out their mouths. Strangest of all though, was the eyes. They weren’t monstruous, but human, perfectly human, and perfectly out of place.
“Get this thing out of my yard!” Mrs. C yelled out of her window.
“I’ve got an axe,” said Randy.
“Go get it. Jared has a chainsaw. I’ll get him up,”
Randy ran back home. I made my way to Jared’s house. His house was adjacent to the empty lot, so I was surprised he wasn’t already up cleaning up the leftovers. He was meticulous about his yard; he had one of those golf green yards. He would even sweep the driveway.
I rang his doorbell but there was no answer. I walked around back and saw that his garage door was open. I yelled for him but no answer. I did hear a moan. I immediately thought that Jared was hurt, but I didn’t anticipate the kind of hurt he was experiencing. Jared was lying on the floor, face down and not moving. Next to him was one the grub worms, but the upper part of its body looked just like Jared. The lower half of its body still looked like a worm. It was a fat, clumsy version of Medusa, a merman flopping its tail in exasperation. It was the worm moaning, not Jared. To see Jared’s face and his expression rudely attached to a body of a warm made me sick. There was an appendage from the worm’s body connected to Jared’s gut.
Although the worm’s Jared-like face manifested fear, apparently its hunger was not satiated. I hadn’t noticed before, but Jared’s arm was severed and lying next to the worm. The worm picked up the arm and started to eat it. I realized at that point that this I how they blend in. They clone their human hosts and then eat the body to get rid of any evidence.
“Holy horseshit. What the hell?” Randy said as he ran up beside me.
“I don’t know. Just be careful. They can attach to you.” I was going to mention something else but before I could Randy had walked over there and put his ax in the beast’s neck. There was a high pitch screech and thick green blood exuded from its wound. The tail start flapping in pain.
“Move!” I grabbed Jared’s chainsaw and finished the job, chopping off the cloned head, the torso falling back against the garage floor. The tail moved sporadically and finally stopped.
We were silent for a moment, standing in awe at the unbelievable once-in-a lifetime scene we were staring at.
We heard Mrs. C screaming frantically. We both ran to the front yard. Next door we could see that the worm in her yard had sprouted its lethal appendage and was trying to work it through her open window. Randy ran over and swung his axe down through the appendage, easily breaking it from the worm’s body. With the chainsaw still running, I ran and plunged it into the side. I pushed in deeper and I could hear Randy cussing and grunting as he worked vigilantly on the head. Soon, with green blood all over my face and shoulder, I shoved the chainsaw even further in the side of the creature. With that last effort, the creature stopped moving.
Mrs. C came out of her house and even though I was covered in blood, she gave me a hug.
“Oh, thank you. Thank you. I love you guys. What about all the rest?”
“We’ll take care of them. Just stay in your house.” Something felt odd about the hug. Mrs. C was a hugger. When I first met her, she hugged me. It was a little unusual at first but I got used to it. Whenever she hugged me, she always put her head over the top of my shoulder, since she was about the same height as me. This time she hugged me and rested her head on my chest. I watched her walk back inside her house. She seemed to be a little shorter.
Randy and I didn’t want to chance it, so we called the police and explained the story at the beginning of the cul-de-sac. They didn’t believe us at first, but when they saw the scene, they called the National Guard, then they called the FBI. The entire street was quarantined. We were asked to stay inside until we were instructed that we could leave.
After explaining everything to the authorities, I went home. I was beat and filthy. I took a shower and when I got out to brush my teeth, I noticed Kayla’s eye was no longer on my forehead, but moved over the center of my nose. I ran through the house looking for clues. Those things were too clumsy and with their burdensome bodies, how could they ever get up the stairs? There was nothing to suggest that one had gotten in the house, but when I looked out my bedroom window, I saw one of those appendages, lying loose and bloody in the backyard. I don’t feel different, but I can’t help to wonder, if Kayla will ever notice the difference.

So the house has no gutters since most of the water during rain is going away from the house due to the slope. However in the backyard it’s mostly flat so just noticed water is pooling up by the house.
https://imgur.com/a/P525eqy
Happens only during heavy storm but I can’t imagine it doing any good to the house/foundation. Please advise a newbie on a solution or let me know if it’s something worth paying a professional for.
Thank you

There’s a thunderstorm yesterday, normally we would sit inside and do nothing, my kids, wife, and I would watch a TV show, or play a imaginary game.
My wife, in an attempt to assuage the kids fears of thunder, turned on “Rain.” Before the episode was half over we were all outside, barefoot, trying to dam up a flow of water coming from our gutter. It was magical and it felt like a core memory for my oldest child.

Respect The White Lotus

"All old people know each other. Don't you know that?"

The White Lotus is an ancient and secretive society of scholars and philosophers which transcends the boundaries of the four nations. Drawing inspiration from the White Lotus tile in the game Pai Sho, and using the game to covertly communicate their membership to one another, the White Lotus stayed hidden for many years before revealing themselves during Sozin's Comet and assisting Team Avatar in liberating the world.

Source Key Avatar: The Last Airbender Season & Episode = S#E# The Legend of Korra Season 2 Episode 10 = LoK The Lost Adventures = LA The Promise = TP Smoke & Shadow = S&S Archived Nickelodeon Website = ANW 

Notes:

• All firebending occuring during S3E20 & 21 was enhanced "a hundredfold" by Sozin's Comet
• Relevant scaling: 1.Aang 2.Katara 3.Sokka 4.Toph 5.Zuko 6.Zhao 7.Azula

Iroh, The Dragon Of The West

"Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame."

Iroh was born the eldest son of Fire Lord Azulon and the rightful heir to the throne of the Fire Nation. However, after a long and historic career as a General, Iroh lost his son, retired from the military, and ceded the throne to his younger brother Ozai. He became a dedicated mentor to his nephew Zuko and a Grand Lotus of the Order of the White Lotus.

Physicals

Strength

• Smashes thrown boulders with a lenth of chain, then wraps the chain around one boulder to shatter it on his attackers ^S1E7
• Does situps to begin a workout regime in prison ^S3E4
• Does clapping pushups, and quickly shifts positions when a guard hears him to make it seem as though he were simply senile ^S3E4
• Does handstand pushups ^S3E4
• Eats his meal with one hand while doing pull ups with the other ^S3E4
• During an eclipse that rendered firebenders powerless Iroh busted himself out of prison, his prison bars were broken apart, and he is described as a "one man army" ^S3E11

Durability

• Rolls down a rocky hill barechested and buried under an earthbender's landslide, but suffers no lasting injury ^S1E7
• Knocked down and hurt slightly by an unexpected attack from Toph ^S2E8
• Body checks Azula, who soon after catches him off guard and downs him with a blast of fire that renders him unconscious ^S2E8
  • He recovers not long after, but sustains discomfort from his injury ^S2E9
• Leaps down a higher story to the ground below and lands safely ^S2E20
• Takes several thrown rocks from the Dai Li unhampered ^S2E20

Speed

• Intercepts Zhao attacking Zuko and flings him away ^S1E3
• Throws several attacks at Zhao, and quickly dispatches his four soldiers ^S1E20
• Catches Azula's lightning before she fires it and redirects it into a cliffside it blows a chunk off of, then kicks Azula overboard ^S2E1
• Kicks away a flail thrown at him ^S2E11

Firebending

• Together with Zuko, releases a fireblast that brings down a large chunk of glacier that buries half their ship ^S1E2
• Intercepts Zhao attacking Zuko, blocking Zhao's fire ^S1E3
• Heats a bath for himself with steam from his nose, making the water steam up the surrounding area ^S1E7
• Issues steam from his nose that makes his shackles red hot, then kicks out a fireblast while shackled that startles his guards' mounts ^S1E7
• Throws several attacks at Zhao, and quickly dispatches his four soldiers ^S1E20
• Takes down several of Azula's men with a combination of firebending and hand-to-hand ^S2E1
• Breathes fire in a circle around himself, using it to fend of Dai Li agents he escapes ^S2E20
• Holds a flame in his hand for light, and extinguishes it when he no longer needs it ^S2E20
• Releases large blasts of flame that hold Azula, Zuko, and the Dai Li at bay until Katara and Aang escape ^S2E20
• Uses comet enhancement to release a charged blast of fire that destroys a section of Ba Sing Se's outer wall ^S3E20
• Burns the Fire Nation flag off a Ba Sing Se Wall ^S3E21
• Lights a spear aflame before the spearman can throw it ^S&S

Lightning

• Generation
  • Speaks to the philosophy and technique behind lightningbending, saying it requires peace of mind ^S2E9
  • Creates a bolt of lightning as a demonstration ^S2E9
  • Blasts a hole in a wall with lightning while fleeing the Dai Li ^S2E20
• Redirection
  • Redirects natural lightning ^S1E12
  • Catches Azula's lightning before she fires it and redirects it into a cliffside it blows a chunk off of, then kicks Azula off the ship they are on ^S2E1
  • Developed the art of redirecting lightning by studying other bending styles and says he came up with it by himself ^S2E9
  • Explains the technique behind redirecting lightning, saying it is crucial to redirect it correctly or else risk death ^S2E9

Skill

Tactics

• The only person in history to pierce Ba Sing Se's outer wall ^ANW
  • The damage done to the wall during his siege is visible here ^S2E7
• Uses the story of his 600 day siege on Ba Sing Se to segue into a ruse that leaves behind a clue of his capture ^S1E7
• Tricks guards into touching his shackles Iroh uses to burn them, briefly escaping capture and leaving further evidence of his trail ^S1E7
• Bound by Dai Li pinning his limbs with crystals, but somehow escaped soon after ^S2E20
• Exercises in secret while convincing the guards he is senile so that he can break out later during an eclipse when they are powerless ^S3E4&11

Combat

• Wraps his chains around an earthbenders' ankles to pull them over mid-attack, burying them under their own stones ^S1E7
• Separates Zuko and a pirate in the midst of their fighting to talk sense into them ^S1E9
• Throws several attacks at Zhao, and quickly dispatches his four soldiers ^S1E20
• Takes out several of Azula's guardsmen in hand-to-hand before taking down several more with a combination of firebending and hand-to-hand ^S2E1
• Kicks away a flails so its chain wraps around a precise spot ^S2E11
• Disarms a mugger and steals his knife, then corrects his stance ^S2E15
• Says that he is not sure he could defeat his brother Ozai ^S3E19

Spirituality

• Sees a spirit that nobody else can ^S1E7
• Can sense some of the Moon Spirit's life in Yue ^S1E20
• Chose to leave his body to live out his afterlife in the Spirit World ^LoK

Invention

• Developed the art of redirecting lightning by studying other bending styles and says he came up with it by himself ^S2E9
• Invented bubble tea ^TP

King Bumi, The Mad Genius

"I didn't know what or when, but I knew I'd know it when I knew it!"

Bumi was the King of Omashu and an old friend of Avatar Aang's. 112 years old by the time Team Avatar meets him, Bumi remained physically fit and referred to himself as the greatest earthbender in the world. A master of "neutral jing," Bumi's specialty was in patient opportunism, waiting for the right moment to attack and then unleashing immensely powerful earthbending at his opponent. Aang also considered him a "mad genius" for his idiosyncratic behavior and unique perspective.
Physicals

• Is 112 years old ^ANW
• Shrugs off Aang throwing him back with an air blast ^S1E5
• Quickly defends himself with earthbending from his own attacks, reducing one boulder to sand around him and splitting another in half ^S1E5

Mobility

• Leaps across a significant distance himself ^S1E5
• Burrows down through the ground and up to a higher level in moments ^S1E5
• Rides along a wave of earth and uses it to enhance his jump ^S3E19
• Carries he and his allies on a charging mesa before leaping off it ^S3E20

Throwing

• Hits Aang with an earth attack that flings him a distance away ^S1E5
• Throws several rocks at Aang, using one to collapse the ceiling above Aang after he avoided Bumi's direct projectiles ^S1E5
• Pulls a large boulder from behind Aang and rips out a chunk of the surrounding room to throw it, then levitates a boulder above him for another attack ^S1E5
• Raises a section of earth as large as a building, using it to push a building aside before launching several buildings into the air ^S3E19
• Pulls out columns of earth that fling away attackers approaching form behind, then fires the columns a vast distance away to make a smiley face before toppling over a giant metal statue ^S3E19
• Blocks comet-enhanced fireblasts with a wall of stone, plugs the canons with fired boulders, and stacks tanks atop eachother by launching them into the air with columns of earth ^S3E21

Utility

• Kicks up several jutting rocks to impede Aang's progress toward him, then raises a shield to block Aang's attack before launching several more attacks of his own ^S1E5
• Turns the ground beneath Aang to quicksand and tries to smash Aang between two large rocks ^S1E5
• Pulls apart rock candy and catches a shard ^S1E5
  • It's clarified that this is crystalline and "pure rock candy" ^ANW

Skill

• Called a mad genius as a child, demonstrating an ability to look at familiar surroundings in unconventional ways ^S1E5
• Using only his chin he raises a column of rock that blocks Azula's charged attack, then raises another that to stand his coffin upright ^S2E3
• Uses only his chin he pushes his own coffin up a slide with a moving mound of rock ^S2E3
• Using only his chin he pulls rocks toward him with enough force to crush his metal coffin apart and free himself ^S3E19
• After freeing himself Bumi liberates Omashu from the Fire Nation during the few minutes their firebenders were powerless ^S3E19
• Fought Toph to a draw, with their clash tearing out chunks of mountainside, although neither combatant fought with intent to injure their opponent ^LA

Master Pakku

"You want to learn to fight so bad? Study closely!"

Pakku was the leader of the Northern Water Tribe's waterbenders and preeminent among them, teaching their benders and commanding their military forces. Initially a conservative man with a strict policy against teaching women, Pakku came to make an exception for his ex-fiance's granddaughter Katara and overturned the tradition.
Pakku was a central figure in the attempted siege of the Northern Water Tribe and was at one time the greatest waterbender on the planet, but retired to the Southern Water Tribe where he rekindled his romance with his fiance and settled down teaching waterbending students there.
Physicals

• Takes a water whip to the back of the head from Katara ^S1E18
• Evades Katara's attack, surfing and sliding around the battlefield with agility ^S1E18
• Evades Katara's jabs before washing her a distance away with water ^S1E18
• Deflects and evades Katara's icy projectiles ^S1E18
• Takes out several groups of soldiers surrounding him while evading their fireblasts ^S1E20

Waterbending

• Puts on a performance with his students, swirling large masses of water through the air in tandem ^S1E18
• Washes away Aang with a wave of water ^S1E18
• Stirs his soup with waterbending while teaching Aang ^S1E18
• Pulls in two pools of water that wash Katara away from him to start their duel ^S1E18
• Encircles Katara and himself in water during their duel, limiting their combat zone ^S1E18
• Evades Katara's jabs before washing her a distance away with water ^S1E18
• Overpowers Katara with a wave of water ^S1E18
• Slices apart 3 tanks in quick succession ^S1E20
• Rides atop a water spout he creates that helps him evade attacks, expanding it out for a radial attack ^S1E20

Icebending

• Steals away water Katara is bending and turns it to icicles that embed in the ice around him ^S1E18
• Practices manipulating a blob of water, then raises a chair from the ice beneath him ^S1E18
• Creates a large shield of ice he then converts into a watery attack ^S1E18
• Evades Katara's attack, surfing and sliding around the battlefield with agility ^S1E18
• Turns falling columns of ice into a harmless snowy powder ^S1E18
• Rains down spears of ice that pin Katara's limbs together, trapping her in place ^S1E18
• Melts away Katara's icy bonds with barely any motion ^S1E18
• Sinks 8 men into ice before dodging a fireblast from behind him ^S1E20
• Encases several spearmen attacking him from behind in ice simultaneously ^S1E20
• Turns a large encasing of ice to water to free a student ^S1E19
• Together with others he commands Pakku raises a large spike of ice to catch firebending artillery ^S1E19

Skill

• Is the best waterbender in the world ^ANW
• Single handedly incapacitates groups of Fire Nation soldiers in quick succession ^S1E20
• Bends a wave of water over Ba Sing Se's wall for he and his allies to slide along, then reforms it into a shield to defend them ^S3E20
• Combines an attack with Jeong Jeong's flame to create a wall of steam ^LA

Jeong Jeong, The Deserter

"Fire is a horrible burden to bear. Its nature is to consume. And without control, it destroys everything around it. Learn restraint or risk destroying yourself and everything you love."

Jeong Jeong was once an esteemed Admiral of the Fire Nation Navy, but he became disillusioned by the cruelty and destruction of his nation over time. Training students like Zhao who relished in the power of such destruction only further disgusted Jeong Jeong, and he became the first person to ever abandon the Fire Nation military and live to tell the tale, earning his nickname as he moved from village to village followed by a loyal tribe of companions.
Jeong Jeong was one of the greatest firebenders of his time. He repeatedly emphasized the virtue of control and exemplified that quality in his bending. His style largely depended on defensive moves and emphasized extremely powerful yet finely controlled walls of flame.
Skill

• Considered a firebending prodigy as a child, and a master by his teenage years ^ANW
• Referred to as a living legend, a firebending genius, and the first person to desert the Fire Nation military an live ^S1E16
• Catches a falling leaf without looking at it, and burns a hole in its center ^S1E16
• Combines an attack with Pakku's water to create a wall of steam ^LA

Firebending

• Blocks a blast of fire ^S1E16
• Raises a massive fire wall that closes halts the passage of ships down a river, then lowers it shortly after Zhao passes through ^S1E16
• Creates a fire shield that guards against several firebending attacks, and seemingly vanishes from enemies surrounding him ^S1E16
• Ambushes Toph, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka and surrounds them in a ring of flame ^S3E19
• While comet-enhanced, blocks large fireblasts with a massive column of flame he sends down sections of Ba Sing Se that pushes tanks into piles, all while hovering midair ^S3E20

Master Piandao

"The way of the sword doesn't belong to any one nation. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all."

Piandao was abandoned at an early age for being born a nonbender, and dedicated his life not only to becoming the world's foremost swordsman but a student of philosophy and art from every nation. Piandao retired from the Fire Nation military to live a quiet life as a noble member of the citizenry, turning away most of the students who came to him for teaching. Eventually he accepted Sokka as a student, and later assisted in the liberation of Ba Sing Se.
Strength

• Pushes Sokka a considerable distance back during their duel ^S3E4
• His sword gouges into stone and when Sokka steps on its blade he launches Sokka off of it ^S3E4

Speed

• Draws on Sokka, who narrowly evades, and clashes with him ^S3E4
• Swiftly cuts through bamboo sprung at him and runs and outpaces Sokka during their duel ^S3E4
• Sheathes Sokka's sword impossibly fast and this is not a continuity error ^S3E4
• Deflects a piece of rock from Toph and Bumi's duel ^LA

Skill

• The greatest sword master and sword maker in Fire Nation history, and once defeated 100 Fire Nation soldiers in combat ^ANW
• Explains the philosophy behind swordsmanship ^S3E4
• Trained Zuko in swordsmanship ^LA
• Guides Sokka through picking the proper steel for his sword ^S3E4
• Spars with Sokka, pushing his student to rely on wits and agility to survive before ultimately prevailing despite being blinded by dirt ^S3E4
• Catches his sheath on his sword blade perfectly despite being blind ^S3E4
• Slides down a wave of ice Pakku creates and chops aparts the spears of Fire Nation soldiers ^S3E20