Someone recently posted about MGM being overpriced, I'll add to that.
Today Nevada Governor announced new restrictions. Max capacity of casinos, bars, and restaurants are going from 50% to 25% starting Tuesday.
December is generally our slow season, and to add covid restrictions we had our occupancy projections pretty low. (17-25% on the weekdays, 40-60% on weekends).
With the surge, we've had massive cancellations. New projections have us around 5-10% occupancy during the week, 30-40% on weekends. This forced MGM to close 2 more casinos during the week (mirage and mandalay bay, in addition to Park MGM that was already weekends only.) We're closing more restaurants and lowering operating hours for those that remain open.
Vaccine news seems to have given MGM a massive bump, but here's the real deal. The vaccines, at best, won't be widely distributed till summertime. Most of MGM's profit is earned during the peak convention season of January-May. All those massive conventions have canceled, CES included.
Summertime is very slow for Vegas, even pre-covid. Oct+Nov are usually decent, but then December is bad again.
2021 is dead on arrival for MGM resorts and all other Vegas casinos.
The massive run up to 26/27 made no sense.
Positions: 12/4 $25 Puts. I got in on Friday when MGM was trading at 27.
Edit to say this is my first DD, hope I did it right.

At 15 weeks I (28f) found my boyfriends tinder.
Tried talking through it with him and at 17 weeks we met up and he totaled my car with me in it (he spent the night in jail and I spent the night in the hospital.
At 28 weeks my mom attempted suicide. I took 2 weeks off to be with her while she was in the ICU. She’s better now ( in a rehab facility) but has been blaming ME on her suicide attempt so I’m slowly trying to disconnect with her again.
Now at 31 weeks I have tested positive for covid.
It just seems nonstop.
I thought pregnancy was supposed to be a happy and exciting time. I wanted to have cute maternity photos, a baby shower and to have a nice calm pregnancy leading up to my first child.
I feel like I can’t catch a break. I don’t have nearly as much saved up as I wanted to, my state is looking into closing again which means my industry might not recover (casino in nevada)
And what is the stress doing to the baby? I’m trying to keep calm and not let these things get to me but it’s just one thing after another

On September 11 of 2001, 19 men hijacked four planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into an open field in Shanksville PA. These men were al-Qaeda terrorists doing the deeds in the name of a holy war against the West and not much about the attack remains a mystery unless you subscribe to the inside job theory, which isn't my case. What authorities haven't been able to explain is the hijackers' several trips to Las Vegas despite what has been dubbed to be the broadest investigation in city. All these trips happened within a few months before the attacks, but the men behind them left very little evidence of their activities in the area.
TIMELINE
May 24 - Marwan Al-Shehhi, the pilot who crashed the United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Towers of the WTC, arrived to Las Vegas from San Francisco and rented a room at Travelodge as a walk in customer. Once there, he called eight other motels.
May 25 - Al-Shehhi walked in the St. Luis Manor, a hotel that wasn't on the call list. At 12:52 pm, he rented a different car, but didn't return the first car until 3:58pm. The unaccounted mileage in both vehicles summed up to 29 miles. FBI believes that these unusual patterns were a conscious attempt to avoid detection.
May 27 - Al-Shehhi made it to New York.
June 7 - Ziad Jarrah, pilot of the United Airlines 93 that crashed in Shanskville while on its way to the Capitol Building, arrived to Las Vegas and rented a car at 3:13 pm. He was accompanied by an unidentified man described as "middle eastern looking". When Jarrah asked for directions to Circus Circus Hotel and Casino, the a rent-a-car employee tried to give him an answer but was interrupted by the unidentified man who suggested another route. The man's knowledge of the address suggests that he was familiar with the area or that he had been in Las Vegas before.
June 10 - Jarrah took a flight to the Baltimore Washington International Airport leaving his rented car with a mileage exceeding 200 miles and no trace of his Las Vegas whereabouts .
June 28 - Mohamed Atta, pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower of WTC and leader of the hijackers, arrived to Las Vegas at 2:41 pm and rented a car at 4:25 pm. At 6:40 pm Atta established an account at Cyberzone internet café and used the computer for one hour and thirty five minutes.
June 29 - Atta checked into Econo Lodge Motel at 1:01 pm. He logged in at Cyberzone again at 2:21 and 6:21 pm. Once done, the FBI believes he went back to his hotel.
June 30 - Atta accessed his Cyberzone accounts at 1:56 pm, 6:30 pm and 9:33 pm. The mileage analysis indicated that he returned to his hotel afterwards. This day as well as the day before, Atta had placed several call to Al-Shehhi as well as to two different number in Houston, TX. One number was unassigned and the other one belonged to a mobile salesman.
July 1 - Atta returned his rented vehicle at the airport at 5:12 am and took a flight to New York that connected in Denver. The vehicle had 73 unaccounted miles of usage which the FBI believes would cover a round trip to the Hoover Dam.
July 31 - Waleed al-Shehri, hijacker of the Flight 11, took a flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas where he stayed for 45 minutes while waiting for another flight to Miami. It is unclear to me whether this was a tactical flight - the hijackers were believed to take flights to study their trajectory as well as entrance to the cockpit-, or just a connection.
August 13 - Hani Hanjour and Nawaf al-Hazmi, pilot and hijackers of the American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon arrived to Las Vegas at 11:18 am. At 11:58 am, Atta arrived to Las Vegas to and rented a vehicle at 1:46 pm. The FBI assumed that the three men met, but no activity from Hanjour and al-Hazim was recorded from that trip. Atta accessed a room at the Econo Lodge at 2:55 pm and connected at the Cyberzone at 11:26 pm, getting back to his room at 12:46 am.
August 14 - Atta returned his rented car at 11:09 am leaving no unaccounted mileage and took a flight outside Las Vegas. Hanjour and al-Hazmi boarded a flight at 11:29 am.
THEORIES
A) Al-Qaeda was looking to target Las Vegas area
As noted in Atta's first trip, the unaccounted mileage added up to a round trip to the dam from his hotel. However, Atta's vehicle was not among the recorded license plates in the parking garage of the dam. If the hijackers had connections in Las Vegas area, which seems to be the case with Jarrah, Atta might have traveled to Boulder City or any other town close to the lake and gotten to the dam with someone else in a different vehicle. It should also be noted that both Atta and al-Shehhi stayed in hotels close to the Stratosphere, a hotel and casino located in the highest building of the city. Being known as the Sin City, Las Vegas could have been a attractive target for jihadists looking to rebel against what they perceived to be the westernization of their home countries and culture.
B) Hijackers were exchanging information with other Al-Qaeda members
The FBI emphasized the short duration on hijacker's trip to Las Vegas saying that it was just long enough to exchange information. Authorities believe that Atta was not only looking at flight on the East coast but he also kept in communication with Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a potential 20th hijacker who had been denied entry to the United States and acted as an intermediary between Al-Qaeda and the other hijackers. Jarrah's mystery companion and the complete lack of evidence of his whereabouts point to possible terrorist acquaintances residing or staying in Las Vegas that are yet to be identified. The FBI summary mentions two persons of interest: Lotfi Raissi and Zakaria Hassan Ibrahim.
Raissi started attending the Sawyer School of Aviation in 1998 one month after Hanjour quit. Two days after Jarrah left Las Vegas, Raissi arrived to the city with his wife and stayed there until June 18. His stay didn't overlap with that of the hijackers and he claims he went to Las Vegas to celebrate his honeymoon. On September 21, Raissi was arrested near Colnbrook, UK, where he had been living at the time of the attacks. Prosecutor Arvinder Sambei claimed that the FBI had footage of him celebrating an event with Hanjour and that his flight logs from March 2000 to June 2001 were missing. It has also been claimed that Raissi was training five of the hijackers. No such proof was presented to the courts and the man in the footage turned out to be his cousin and not Hanjour, as it had been previously claimed.
Hassan Ibrahim had previously been convicted for trafficking in fraudulent passports and visas. He was the person to provide Mir Aimal Kansi, CIA headquarters shooter , and Mohammed A. Salameh, perpetrator of the 1993 WTC bombing, with fake documents. He was reported to have spent most of July in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, not much information about this individual is accessible so I could not verify if any connection between him and the hijackers was formally established.
C) Hijackers went to Las Vegas as a final pleasure stop before committing suicide
This theory was briefly mentioned by Evan Thomas, journalist, and quoted by criminologist Adam Lankford in his psychological autopsy of Mohamed Atta. According to the author, Atta and the other hijackers - Hanjour and al-Hazmi - might have visited Las Vegas because maybe " they wished to be fortified for their mission by visiting a shrine to American decadence".
While not much is known about Hanjour and al-Hazmi, Atta has been alluded to by the people who knew him as a sexually repressed man who experienced extreme discomfort around women and the mildest hint of sexuality. When years of repression build up an uncontrollable sexual urge, the individual might end up participating is risky sexual activities. Nevertheless, the circumstances of the trip make sex and gambling very unlikely motives. Their stays were short, happened across different months and there was no evidence of them visiting casinos or any similar venues. Strippers supposedly identified al-Shehhi as one of their patrons, but evidence was not conclusive. Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that a quick visit to the strip club was anything more than a fun opportunity while pursuing a bigger goal.
I personally believe that the hijackers visited Las Vegas to coordinate the attacks with other members from Al-Qaeda who flew under the radar (no pun intended).
SOURCES:
Las Vegas investigative summary
Theories on why 9/11 hijackers visited Las Vegas
David C. Henley: 9/11 hijackers visits to Nevada remain a mystery
Wikipedia entry for Mir Aimal Kansi
Wikipedia entry for Mohammed A. Salameh
Cracking the terror code
EDIT: Thanks for the awards people!

Ok, forgive the formatting. This was originally a greentext post for all the /b/tards at 4chan. It's also a long read but if you can get past that then it is actually a quite interesting story that happened to me years ago.
be 22 active duty air force assigned to Nellis in Las Vegas not disclosing job, but no stranger to weapons and tactics get pulled in to supervisor's office one day told I've just been "voluntold" to participate in a training exercise with DOD no other information given other than reporting instructions pretty much any question I asked was answered with "I have no fucking idea " report to conference room at base hotel next morning per instruction see about 12 other guys from my unit also voluntold to be there five guys enter room in civilian clothes introduce themselves as the "WHITEBOX" Group Assume it's an acronym for something, but never explained told we will be upgrading our security clearances hours of paperwork, only told we are participating in a force on force exercise released back to our unit crack jokes about how the exercise is a lie and we will be experimented on return to regular job and time passes eventually assume that it was canceled and forget the whole thing
about 2 months later supervisor pulls me aside and tells me that I need to report to a briefing the next day says it’s about "some WHITEBOX exercise" has no idea what it is and doesn't seem to care. once again report to base hotel with the other 12 guys WHITEBOX guys show up and pick us up in a van driven off base to some random office building and escorted into the offices of the Department of Energy, WTF? mystery only deepens, what the fuck is happening? what if this actually is some evil experimental shit more hours of paperwork and security/safety briefings by random suits had to fill out and sign a non-disclosure agreement and that threatened arrest if violated required to turn in cell phones and any other electronic devices in our possession our cell phones get locked in a cabinet while the office phone in the room gets unplugged WHITEBOX guys finally return and fire up a power point briefing first slide just titled WHITBOX Exercise 0X slide also labeled in bold red letters "CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET / NOFORN / ORCON this is really starting to feel serious
WHITEBOX Exercise finally explained told that for the next two weeks we will be role playing as OPFOR (opposing forces) we will try to attack and penetrate a DOD facility and carry out a simulated act of sabotage facility is protected by a contracted privately owned security force security group is required by the DOD to carry out this exercise in order to audit their protection every couple of years if we succeed, security company fails the audit and looses the contract the exercise is the conclusion of a two week inspection of the security contractors and their procedures every exercise a random military unit is chosen as OPFOR "reminded that we are silent professionals and that this isn’t something we should be advertising shaving wavers granted and civilian attire only FUCKYEAH.jpg power point scrolls to a page with a google earth screenshot on it instantly recognize the picture it's Area 51 holyfuckingshit.exe are we are being told to break into Area 51? can't be real random unit bro pipes up out of nowhere "Is that fucking Area 51?" we are all fucking stoked later told not to call it Area 51 as that just makes you a total chode Groom Lake, Paradise Ranch, or Homey Airbase are the acceptable names many insiders simply refer to it as “The Base” also reminded of the possible legal action via UCMJ if we go around telling everyone about it One of the WHITEBOX guys is now our designated "insider threat" exercise is designed to simulate that someone inside has been comprised by a foreign government he will provide any information that we ask for that he has knowledge of or access to other WHITEBOX guys handle will handle exercise logistics they will provide any weapons or equipment that we request to carry out mission "within reason" told this is not a COD loadout screen
ground rules established... will only be provided with weapons that we are certified to carry weapons will be armed with blank rounds or completely empty also no vehicles will be utilized by us within the DOD property landmarkers simulating road chases are not authorized our insertion is simulated so we will already be escorted/processed through various checkpoints and dropped off near the base no impractical equipment requests, so no tanks, helos, surveillance drones, or scud missiles, lol any explosives we intend to simulate will be assessed by WHITEBOX so if we want to blow the perimeter fences we will tell them before hand, they will calculate the weight of the bang we would need, it would be simulated by rocks, and then someone would need to hump the weight number 1 rule established and stressed with a very serious tone we will be escorted by WHITEBOX evaluators at all times within the DOD landmarkers at no point are any of us authorized to be alone in the facility actual security is not laxed because of the exercise, nor is this a free pass to roam security personnel can still use real force in the event that we deviate from the established protocols shown various pictures within the airbase that most will never get to see a specific hangar is designated as our target building. we will need to gain access to that hangar and carry out an act of sabotage for our sabotage we will need to ///REDACTED/// obviously we won't be doing it for real so we will actually need complete a random task inside the hangar task will be designed to be as complex and time consuming as the real thing all while being hunted by the security force insider threat briefing continues, various elements of the base security procedures and day to day operations explained however, get the impression that the chosen source is someone with a generic admin position and is not actually involved with security we are also encouraged to do our own research and scour the interwebz for info about the base told to supply the URLs to WHITEBOX if we find anything of interest. sorry if we got your Alex Jones or Art Bell conspiracy blogs taken offline briefing finally concludes, we are reminded of our non-disclosure policy and taken back to Nellis and dismissed for the day
next day we all meet at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada we will be using this location to build our plan of attack and do rehearsals/dry runs it's actually pretty cool because it's on us to plan our op, just a bunch of random Airmen periodically grill our insider with questions and start asking our other WHITEBOX guys for gear we tried to have our insider take pictures of the interior of our target hangar, but he got caught IRL he would be arrested and interrogated by the feds, and the whole op would be dead instead though the guys that caught him received kudos from the inspectors, and he just tells us nope have to rely on a whiteboard sketch of the inside decide to keep it simple, M4 riffles only however I am certified on the Barret M82 .50 cal. we decide that I will carry that heavy mother fucker as well as an M4 and provide overwatch from the distance kind of bummed out because im not going inside it will be on me to neutralize certain security positions that we have previous identified we remind our WHITEBOX guys that the M82 is an anti-material weapon with the ability to disable vehicles they tell us that I will just need to call my shots to the evaluator that I will be partnered with he will radio to the vehicles that they are destroyed and will need to stop driving guess I should mention that is also part of the disadvantage we have we will all be paired with WHITEBOX evaluators who will sort of act as referees during this simulated battle however they will all be wearing bright orange reflective vest identifying them as exercise officials that really fucks our ability to stay hidden and stealthy, but it is what it is also should mention that this is a daytime raid despite our objections sounds like they are setting us up for failure, but they remind us not to think of it like that this is all being done just so the evaluators can get a good look at the security's incident response procedures it's not an unannounced drill, the military doesn't really like to do that kind of thing especially with large scale exercises such as this everyone on the base know we are coming, there's no element of surprise here except with what kind of attack we prep it would be a real hot clusterfuck if the security contractors failed the audit heads would roll, people would get fired, and numerous officers would be relieved of command I still get to attack Area 51 so don't care as this is the coolest thing I've done in the military
our plan is starting to come together over the days decide to sacrifice one of us in a suicide bomb attack figure out which of us is the most "FNG" or lowest ranking and make him do it he will approach one of the ECPs (entry points to the base) on foot wearing a rucksack loaded with rocks (make-believe explosives) he will be wearing a uniform and will identify himself as Air Force and will franticly yell that he needs help we don't anticipate that he will make it that far or that the security will actually swallow this ruse however his goal is to get as close as he can to the ECP and yell allah ackbar and release his dead man's switch and try to take out what he can his evaluatoescort will drop a GBS (ground burst simulator) when he detonates GBS is a little miniature explosive device that just makes a really loud boom anyone who’s been through any type of military training is familiar with them, they are used to add stress and create excitement we are hoping this will be a distraction and will get as much security as possible to converge on that location the rest of us will assault from the other side of the base and try to breach the perimeter several of us will also be rucking explosive rocks for the breach chose a breach point that will have us crossing only a minimal portion of the flightline (place where aircraft operate) if we successfully simulate breaching the perimeter the exercise will be paused and we will be inprocessed through the ECP and brought into the base exercise will resume and we will continue to assault towards the target hangar I will stay outside in my sniper position and try to smoke what I can inside the hangar the team will cover the doors with simulated claymores and take up cover two guys will carry out the simulated sabotage act while the rest cover the doors WHITEBOX doesn't have any inert claymores to provide so the will be simulated with small weighted ammo cans the weight is really starting to become problematic so we abandon the claymores and decide to just cover the doors with firepower would really help if we had a vehicle, but not happening to be fair, vehicles wouldn't make it that close to the base if they tried to attack IRL armored or not
week one down, plan looking solid considering how much of our attack is simulated two weeks of planning is actually excessive not complaining though cause two weeks of hanging out and smoking and joking compared to normal work at Nellis only downside is the hour drive back and forth each day to Creech AFB casino right outside that base with awesome steak and eggs so not too bad though one of the WHITEBOX guys tells us he's actually employed by the Department of Energy he doesn't actually work at Groom Lake, he works at the Nevada Test Range the massive amount of Nevada landscape that is restricted and owned by the feds is actually impressive contrary to popular myth there is road access to Groom Lake via the adjacent test range, but not too many people actually make that drive. the 737 shuttle from McCarran Airport is how everyone gets there since the drive is long as fuck the main paved road through Rachel Nevada that all the tourist flock to doesn't really have any operational use anymore allegedly we will be driving there through the test range via a convoluted series of paved and dirt roads route is CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET, not kidding
DOE dude gives us a tour of the test range one day load cases of water in back of van drive to Mercury Nevada and stop at checkpoint inprocessed inside, get pictures taken and issued escorted visitor passes also required to wear radiation badges once inside get to see all that shit from The Hills Have Eyes, fake towns that were blown up with atomic bombs not as intact as they are portrayed in films though, they are pretty rekt or deconstructed show us a massive crater called the Sedan Crater in the 50's they experimented with using atomic bombs for mass excavation projects hoping they could just nuke the ground and build shit instead of fucking around with bulldozers pretty stupid and impractical but they didn't know any better back then they buried an atomic bomb a half a mile underground and blew it up Sedan Crater left behind as a result and the fucking thing is huge. they allegedly herded cattle down to the bottom of the crater afterwards to test the post fallout effects pretty fuckin savage, and it was actually stunning to look at two hour drive to Groom Lake though endless desert roads now see why we loaded the water, we’d be pretty fucked if the van broke down or got stuck get first distant look at the base without having to enter their checkpoints holyshit.mp4 very few people get to actually see what we are seeing to be honest though, looks like any other air force base I've ever seen except smaller besides the obvious fact that it is in the middle of bum fuck nowhere and its main runway is long as fuck also realize one of the reasons they didn't want us operating vehicles most roads are dirt and the entire lake bed is surrounded by "moon dust" everywhere moon dust is the ultra-fine sand found in certain parts of the desert with the consistency of flour it's also a total bitch to drive in and the security patrols getting stuck is a somewhat frequent occurrence told that they even have some of the AAFES fast food joints there that you find on any other base imagine working at a Burger King that you need a Top Secret security clearance for, how the fuck does that work??? noticed that despite being authorized to be here, we are still being watched by distant security patrols wonder if they know we are the bad guys that are going to be attacking the joint make some minor adjustments to the plan since the google earth pictures lack some detail conclude tour and take the 3 to 4 hour drive back home, most of us slept in the van
arrive at Creech next day and see that more WHITEBOX guys have been added to the mix, now there's like 20 of them for the past two weeks they have been inspecting the security contractors and its procedures you can tell a lot of them are ex-military based off of language and the people that are dipping and spiting in empty water bottles the mood is light, all of the exercise planning is finished, nothing to do the last two days we managed to borrow an empty hangar at Creech and used it as a mockup of our target hangar to run rehearsals no longer asking our insider questions about security, instead start asking completely ridiculous questions about conspiracies for lulz accuse some of them of being reptilians to see how they react, some of them get legit uncomfortable before you go sounding off, doubt they are hiding anything, some folks just don’t get military humor one does, however, and shows us a velcro patch that he wears on his rucksack it's one of those standard patches you spot on a pilot’s flight suit that has the name, rank, branch, and blood type his blood type seriously says reptilian it's obvious that they embrace and poke fun at the reputation this base has, in fact they thrive off of it
the day finally fucking arrives, time to attack this bitch wake up at 0400 and drive an hour to Creech dressed to kill decide to wear DCU "desert combat uniform" pants and a sand t shirt with my personally owned Blackhawk tactical vest to carry spare M4 mags sometimes the military issues some real shitty gear so our unit is somewhat lax and allows us to personally buy our own better equipment if it has command approved use and doesn't break SOPs also wear my empty gas mask pouch attached to my hip and use it to carry spare M82 .50 cal mags also wear a black turban for lulz that I bought off an ANA (Afghani Northern Alliance) dude downrange used to have a guile suite but it got lost on a deployment so that's a no go unfortunately arm up with an M4 with M68 red dot sight and attach a BFA "blank firing adapter" to the muzzle, and load six mags of .556 blanks also provided with my trusty Barret .50 M82 and five mags there is no BFA for the Barret that I'm familiar with so carry that with empty mags, guess I get to cheat with the weight load up in the vans with WHITEBOX team and drive another hour to Mercury get inprosscessed through security checkpoint and receive visitor badges for the test range drive another 2 hour on random roads passing more checkpoints /// REDACTED /// forced to surrender cell phones, personally owned electronic devices and CAC cards (military ID cards) again receive our escorted visitor passes for Groom Lake and now continue down some of the most forbidden roads in American history start unloading as close to our start point as the terrain allows and hump the rest of the distance on foot with our escorts suicide attack bro hangs back in the van with other escorts and is driven to his start point the terrain is favorable and allows us to set up out of sight hence why we chose the spot I break off and try to set up my nest at my chosen OP "observation point" as discreetly as possible not really stealthy cause I'm being followed by a guy wearing an orange reflective vest that says STAN EVAL and he's just casually walking he tells me to set up the Barret, but just simulate your shots by firing the M4 blanks now in a spot where I can observe base activity and provide cover fire for the breach, but I am also the most easy to spot sniper ever now wait for confirmation that our distraction on the other side has happened, taking a real long fucking time
my escort's radio chimes to life and starts talking "attention all WHITEBOX, we now have proper authentication via CASTLE ROCK for initiation of a detachment level exercise" voice on radio proceeds to spit out a long winded exercise safety briefing realize it's been about 40 minutes and we are just now fucking starting another 10 minutes and finally get word that suicide bro is approaching his target escorts all inform us that the security force is responding to reports of an explosion outside of the ECP later find out that suicide bro was stopped and challenged at gun point about 50 meters outside of ECP by a mounted patrol he then just fuck it and started sprinting towards the ECP until they opened fire with blanks and his escort set off the GBS he actually managed to take out the vehicle that stopped him and create several casualties (we gave him the heaviest explosive rocks loadout) overall our distraction was pretty fucking successful give it a another minute or two and finally start shooting and calling my shots to my escort/evaluator he's talking on his radio and relaying my simulated violence, "inform Merc-17 that they are dead from sniper fire" etc... I have predetermined targets to engage based off of what poses the biggest threat to the breach team I actually do some damage and get confirmation of casualties from my escort it's about a 600 meter run to the base perimeter in the open desert so it's on me to try and clear their path as much as I can the plan is to try to lure some security vehicles to our position then eliminate them with the Barret while they are en route the dead vehicles can then serve as points of cover for the breach team as they assault towards the base breach team was also aiming to see if they could snag any security radios from the dead patrols so we can monitor their comms didn't really work out that way however, in the end we simply didn't have all the info about the anticipated security response without giving away too many sensitive details, we all got ambushed by the security from unexpected locations forced to abandon my nest and the Barret to start moving towards another location to back up the breach team that was under fire trade some shots with security until my escort finally announces "ok dude, you're dead. go ahead and lay down" that's it, game over
play dead for about 20 minutes while security cleans up the area breach team gets rekt, we managed to get within 100 meters of the perimeter couple of security dudes approach me and perform a dead combatant body search on me it's a specific type of search designed to search a dead body while also checking for possible explosive booby traps pretend to be dead and let security dudes run my pockets finally one of the evaluators shouts "PauseEx" (pause exercise) we got fucking annihilated, no chance this attack was going to be successful our evaluators tell us that everyone did a great job, HOWEVER.... we are going to continue the exercise because they didn't get the chance to observe much of the internal security components we are going to resume the exercise assuming that we were actually able to get inside that target hangar this will give the evaluators the opportunity to observe the security's recap and recov procedures (re-capture and recovery) we all get magically resurrected from the dead I realize that I am actually going inside Groom Lake! Fucking Awesome...
spend about 15 minutes policing up the area for brass which means wandering around and picking up spent cartridges board vans and get driven around to ECP. realize that only half of the security force is playing in this exercise the rest are still armed with live weapons and are still performing regular protection duties forced to show our visitor passes, names and badge numbers are compared against a master list that the security has /// REDACTED /// /// REDACTED /// notice a homemade sign hanging on the wall at the security center it’s got a picture of an alien with a red X through it that says "no extraterrestrial entities or relics beyond this point" like I said earlier, everyone enjoys the reputation this base has drive to our target hangar, holy fuck! I am now inside Area 51 use of blanks not authorized indoors, everyone is told to clear out weapons rest of the exercise will use simulated firing, the equivalent of pointing your empty weapon at someone and yelling bang sadly not the first time I trained like this, military does it all the time it’s ridiculous and awkward every time, looks like a bunch of kids playing backyard soldiers with sticks security has already reset its posture, they know we are attacking but doesn't know the building we are hitting we all enter the hangar, get the impression that it doesn't actually get used IRL anymore reeks of mildew and no power inside, dust everywhere in the center there is a pickup truck covered with a tarp and roped off with red rope and stanchions, signs posted identifying it as a controlled area told that this is a simulated military asset and this is what we are sabotaging WHITEBOX evaluator pulls a box out of the bed of the truck remember when I said we will have to do a complex and time consuming task to simulate our act of sabotage? it’s a fucking Star Wars Lego kit! I shit you not! evaluators tell us we will need start building it and reach page 12 in the instructions without errors or mistakes kind of wish we went with our earlier plan and brought claymores cause I spotted some sweet chokepoints outside the building to set them up also wish we had the idea of bringing padlocks and chains so we could lock down the hangar and make life more difficult for the security force set up our spots to cover the doors, we are well versed with building clearing tactics so we know what spots to cover to make it hard
WHITEBOX evaluator authenticates over the radio with someone by passing letters and numbers back and forth, process known as sign/countersign voice on radio announces that the detachment level WHITEBOX exercise has resumed showtime! Two unit bros start opening the Lego kit and sorting parts me and the suicide bro weren't supposed to be in this hangar or even on the base to begin with so we don't have points to cover inside come up with idea and ask one of the escorts if we can go out the back on to the flightline plan to walk to two separate buildings in opposite directions and see if we can create distractions evaluators approve the plan, but tell us we can't approach or enter other buildings, nor approach any parked aircraft decide to leave firearms and my tac vest behind for clever reasons if we are unarmed the security will most likely apprehend us, and search us this is more time consuming than just shooting us and will keep them away from the hangar longer exit the back of the hangar on to the flightline and just start casually walking down the tarmac with my escort eventually hear the sound of police sirens in the distance getting louder, hear they come! get the urge to start sprinting but decide not to since it would most likely result in me being tackled on the pavement, fuck that later realize distant sirens are actually responding to hangar after reports of a silent alarm being received so much for the distraction plan
decide not to return to hangar since there is not much I can do unarmed, and continue walking down flightline all the parked aircraft I see are just normal military aircraft, although some do seem to have “enhancements” or cosmetic features that I haven’t seen before ask my escort where they keep all the flying saucers, he smirks and just replies "underground" wonder if there are actually any subterranean levels to this base, suppose a lot of these buildings could support that ask my escort if there are really underground levels, he facetiously says “who knows” white pickup truck with police lights approaching fast pretend not to notice and keep walking voice starts barking at me over a loudspeaker "stop right there! do not move! get your hands up! security mercs climbing out of vehicle with rifles drawn, don't see magazines in the riffles, they are part of the drill they actually try to challenge both of us, escort has to remind them that he is out of play security goons bark at me, "face away from me NOW! keep your hands up!" they are actually pretty intimidating, I comply proceed to have me lay on the ground face down with my arms and legs stretched out yell at me to put my hands in the small of my back, palms together, fingers up big black guy approaches me and actually puts his knee on my neck George Floyd style "don't fight me, don't resist me, or you are gonna get hurt" he says puts me in zip ties and picks me up, see other guards still have weapons drawn on me overall whole thing similar to a gangbanger getting rolled up by the cops black guy puts me in some weird and uncomfortable arm hold tells me to start walking while he steers my body with the arm hold and walks me off the flightline taken to a grassy area, get put back on the ground and searched and questioned /// REDACTED /// I try to bluff and say that the hangar will blow if anyone goes inside, see if that stalls them he tries to question me about it, but I can tell he’s not biting, I decide to tone it down and stay quiet cause the dude really looks like he’s going to fuck me up actually overhear his partner talking on the radio, he’s telling others to exercise caution and beware of possible explosive booby traps lights out, realize that someone put a bag over my head evaluator calls out "EndEX" (end exercise) all portions of the exercise are terminated, it's all over
black security guy cuts my zip ties, takes off the hood and sets me loose later find out that security retook the hangar with no problems my guys inside struggled with the Legos since it was so dark and hard to see instead of immediately going in, security tossed inert CS gas canisters inside none of us brought gas mask since it was something our insider failed to mention evaluator let us build legos for another 30 seconds then yelled “GAS, GAS, GAS” unit bros in the hangar were told to lay on the ground and pretend to be incapacitated security swarmed the place with gas mask and guns, kicked away weapons they got a similar treatment to what I received on the flightline and got hauled out of there we all regroup at the base's main visitor center for the AAR (after action review) overall security responded quite well, only some points were critiqued, nothing failing smoke cigarettes and crack jokes back and forth with the security dudes, finally get to see the human side of the guy who snagged me on the flightline tell him he’s one scary mofo, he smiles and we shake hands security dudes leave, head to base theater for full debrief WHITEBOX guys thank us for our participation, time to head home wait a sec, let’s see some fucking aliens WHITEBOX guy smirks and says he’ll give us the dollar tour another day drive back to Mercury knowing full well that we are not going to hear back from them, especially about a tour return radiation badges to the Mercury office told that if we never hear back from them that it’s a good sign told that if they do call us then our Tricare (military health coverage) will get put to good use whole experience was cool as fuck one of the evaluators hands out business cards for ///REDACTED/// and tells us to look them up when we separate from the military starting pay for the security force is pretty fucking dope and only certain military backgrounds are considered for it return to Indian Springs and hit up the casino for drinks with the original 5 WHITEBOX guys ask if any of the prior OPFOR units actually pulled it off and broke in told that a group of CCT guys from the 24th STS was the closest anyone’s ever gotten but even they still failed makes sense, I’ve heard that those dudes are legit operators tell war stories and get drunk actually receive a letter of appreciation from the Air Force Test Center Detachment 3 from Edwards Air Force Base, California about a month later it thanks me for my participation in an exercise but makes no mention of Groom Lake my participation in a vaguely worded “DOD exercise” actually gets mentioned as a bullet in my annual performance report mfw I attacked Area 51
tldr - me and my coworkers "broke" into Area 51 with automatic weapons so we could put together an X-wing starfighter out of Legos
Thanks for reading. I should mention that I have intentionally withheld a lot of details and even altered a few. I'm not trying to blow up anyone’s spot and compromise shit. Just wanted to share a true story about some cool shit I got to do in my youth. For example WHITEBOX is a completely fabricated name while the whole operation actually went under another random weird name. It still ranks as some of the most cloak and dagger shit I got to do in the military. I actually don’t really tell too many people because it is no one’s business and no one would believe me anyways. I finally figured that enough time has passed and like I said, I have specially tailored this story to avoid leaking any sensitive shit. Overall the base was actually kind of underwhelming. I didn’t really see any earth shattering secrets there. All of the alien and reptilian conspiracy theories were openly mocked and made fun of there. It’s really just a base that gets an extra layer of discreetness and physical security for more sensitive assets and projects to be kept there. The CIA, JSOC and other intel gangs from Washington even have offices out there because it’s just a quiet tucked away place to do business. I will say that their security is no joke and that they have some truly fascinating techniques to detect and deny intruders. Hope you enjoyed.

For waking up cuddling the dead body of the love of my life, suffering PTSD, finding religion/GOD which then scared my family. AITA?
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This is a very long story and complicated AF. So I will try to make it as short as possible while still giving both sides to the story to be fair. This is so complicated though, that I am writing a book about it, or 6, so that tells you how crazy this gets. So, here we go. I will start with the back story so you can know our family dynamic and important history.

I am a single mother (45) of 3 girls, (ages 23,16,14). For most of their lives, it has always been just the 4 of us. I have always put their needs above my own. They were my number one priority, and yes, spoiled rotten. I raised them just the opposite of how I was raised, for the most part. I taught them things I was never taught or shown. I loved them above all else, including, yes, myself. I repeatedly sacrificed everything for them They wanted my food, ok, take my food, (but in all fairness, I always stole my mom's sandwiches too. They just tasted better, and to this day, my sandwiches fail in comparison. I never knew what it was and still don't. My mom took that secret to the grave with her in Nov 2008 (59 years old). *Side note: my kids and I decided that it was because it was made with love, until the kids got older, when they decided that meant that we spit in it. HAHAHA Hindsight: With Covid and us all being exposed to it by my oldest daughter in March, She hasn't lived with us in years and therefore, no longer stealing my diet coke or food. See where this is going? Meaning, she wasn't getting my spit, hahaha my love anymore and therefore she is the one that got sick. Me and my other 2 daughters were fine even though we were repeatedly exposed to it back then. Anyway, back to topic at hand. Not only did I share my food, I shared the stories of my life and what I have been through because, yes, it's some unbelievable stuff to go through for one person. I wanted them to learn from what I had been through so that they didn't have to experience it for themselves and could try to avoid it. As I said, they were the priority in my life. My own feelings and happiness didn't matter. Along the way, I would date, yes, mostly on the weekends at first. In 2009, after my mom died, I started having trouble sleeping and started to go out while my then boyfriend, who was living with us at the time, stayed with the kids and they all slept while I went to the casinos (Because what else is there to do 1AM-3AM, well, when you live in Nevada, that's an option.) Yes, you needed to know all of that. You also need to know that when I would date, I didn't bring guys home around the kids until I was sure that there was something there between us. Again, you need to know that part for a few reasons. 1: On Valentine's day 2004, Oops! I got pregnant with my second child. *Side Note: If you have done the math with the age gap between the kids, it is actually 7 years and 13 days between the 1st and the 2nd, and while were talking about it, 2 years 3 months and 1 day between the 2nd and technically 4th, with a miscarriage in the middle of them. 2: The father of my oldest and I separated before she was a year old and ultimately divorced in 2000. She went to spend the weekend with her dad from the very beginning of the split and that stayed consistent until about 14-15ish when she came to me and told me that her dad was a deadbeat and wanted to stay with me most of the time because he wasn't working and she felt guilty going there because he couldn't afford to feed himself (and his mother) let alone her. 3: Between the divorce and the pregnancy, I dated a guy for 3 years. To date, that is my longest actual relationship and we remained friends as well. Back to the point My oldest daughter never met the father of my middle child and those were the reasons why. I didn't want her to get attached to a guy that wasn't going to stick around, basically. So, I explained to her as a 6 year old, in a way that she could understand. The baby daddy decided he wasn't going to stick around and she knew that part too. He told me that he needed space and, well, I gave him too much space apparently. He died while I was pregnant and told no one before he did. I was his dirty little secret that he took to the grave. So from that point, yes, I dated but mostly tried to keep it away from my kids unless it got serious or, he needed help, usually kinda being the "sugar mamma" because I was always the more stable one, owning my own house with a nice car too. But, when my kids decided that they didn't like a guy, or his kids, I ended the relationship. Again, they were the priority. We started the ongoing quotes in my house of "No man will ever come between me and my girls." and when a man joined the team, so to speak, since the youngest loved Beauty & Beast, they twisted my favorite line to "Mama, there's a boy in the castle"! and that was the way it went until 11/30/2019. That is where the Am I the Asshole story starts.

On 11/30/2019 I fell asleep around 2:40AM cuddling with, yes, just a friend but my date that night. It was our first date... YES, I swear, we just cuddled and went to sleep. about 20-30 minutes later, I woke up. I don't know why, but after a lot of fidgeting around and trying not to wake him up, I realized that he didn't even stir a bit with all my fidgeting. No biggie, my middle daughter sleeps like the dead too, so I did to him what I always do to her, I watched for him to breathe! NOPE!!! And that is where all hell breaks loose in my life. I woke up, yes to cuddling the dead body of a man that I have known since 6th grade. Long, tragic story, yes, skipping lots of details for now. But, yes! That was the death that triggers some severe PTSD. First, I knew it had only been 20-30 minutes since I had fallen asleep and I know he was still alive then because his breath was the last thing i heard before falling asleep myself. So, I started CPR and called 911 for those that don't know or haven't been through it, when someone dies in your home, it's not like they show on TV. They don't just take the body and run to the ER with it. Nope, they rearranged my living room, moving my couch, my dog (in her crate), and so much more. They moved his body from my bedroom to the dining/living room where they proceeded to work on him in their new ER they made there. After working on him for about 20 minutes, the dreaded words, "Official time for the record, 3:40 AM." They then partially covered his body with a wool blanket. I could still see his arms sprawled out on both sides. I sat in my room and stared in disbelief. Frozen! Unable to look away from the 7 Dwarves looking back at me. (His tattoo sleeve). His body laid on my dining room floor, waiting for the coroner to come and examine him first, then still laid there as we waited for the funeral home to come take him. Oh, and let's not forget his 2 adult children coming to my home also to see him, along with his ex wife, their mother. By the time his daughter got there, the funeral home had already arrived. I will never forget the sound of the body bag zipper. The crinkle of it as they opened it, or as the picked him up and put him in it, and partially closed it. Now, he was just laying on the gurney in my living room where my couch normally would be, in the body bag waiting for his daughter to show up. She finally gets there. I was in my room at that point and all I hear is her scream, crying out "No daddy, No! Why daddy, why?!?" through her sobs. By the time they took his body out of my home, it was 6:23AM according to the video surveillance system I have in my home that caught THAT part with the motion sensor as they wheeled his body out my front door. Pretty f'ed up right? But wait, there's more. Now is when shit gets crazy.

That was a Friday night/Saturday morning. I was home alone when it happened so my kids weren't there for any of it. My middle child was spending the weekend with the oldest and the youngest was at her dads. I remained pretty level headed through all of it and remember it clearly, until everyone finally left over 3 and a half hours after he was pronounced dead. I called my oldest daughter and I just lost it at that point.

Fast fwd to Sunday evening. The oldest, let's just call her "J" at this point, finally brought the middle, "S" home at this point. It wasn't time for "A" to come home yet. J and S were in the kitchen putting away dishes because they were told to, not by me, because this time, they actually listened and S did it. They were all standing in the kitchen/living/dining room and I was in my room and could see them all. That was when I saw a stack of bowls slide out of my cabinet. "C" (sorry, forgot to mention him, he is J's boyfriend.) He had his back to the cabinet but he heard what sounded like a sliding sound before the crash, although, I have no doubt that he has changed his story since then. Anyway, it was creepy and that was just one of the ghost/paranormal things to happen at that point. This also wasn't our first experience with ghosts. S's dad used to play with her and her toys all the time when she was little. They would constantly go off at all hours of the night. I also always felt like someone was staring at me from my hallway, especially when S was sick and in my room. From all of the crazy shit, I finally had a paranormal team come out to try to make contact with him because someone was obviously trying hard to get my attention. More fast fwd, that taught me, well, ummm, how to talk to dead people. Yes, I can prove THAT part. I can't prove who it is, that goes on faith alone. On 3/9/2020, I passed out in the shower and woke up to a pool of my blood forming under my face. I was told by the dead that Satan was trying to kill me, although now, I know that wasn't entirely true. On 3/11 I heard this loud, scary, non human voice say my name around 3 AM, Justin's actual time of death. It just said "Jen" and scared the crap out of me. Skipping ahead, I was told it was "Gabriel, the Archangel" there to tell me my story. That was when, I hear THE voice talk to me. I was told that I am a fallen angel. I called BS, and told her I'm no angel. She proceeded to tell me the story of how I got cast out. It was me and Justin that caused enough trouble that we got the boot! The heathen that I am, was like... "ok blah blah whatever you say... blah blah blah" But, because I tell my friends and daughters everything. I told them what happened. They knew that I talked to dead people. That wasn't a problem. They saw that with their own eyes. They heard me talking about how Satan was trying to kill me too, because the 3/9 wasn't the first time, that was just the only time that I have passed out in my life and it was for no reason. OK, no problem, mom. Scary, sure but, ok... But once god got involved, they told him to prove it. My asshole, in my opinion, kids told GOD to prove his existence. He said "Hell no! I'm not proving myself to anyone. You either trust me and your mother or you don't. But, at the same time, Jesus said "Hold my beer, I've got this one dad!" From that point, he told me the rest of the story of how, yes... I became Lucifer! What a mess, right? Sounds batshit crazy, right? I think so too, BUT try living it! If I didn't have the proof right before my own eyes, watching the pendulum swing to point to letters, those letters form words, those words form sentences... and ANYONE can do it! But hell yes, it's scary because you don't truly know who is on the other side. But when you are told that you are Lucifer and have already repeatedly fought with Satan many many times, (He was trying to take Justin and I wouldn't let him. Yes, I was fighting to keep his spirit with me. He told me that he was going to hell and I wasn't having it. So, we fought hahaha something I couldn't see but it didn't stop me. He was playing with my heart and making it feel like I was having a heart attack. I was having every symptom of one but the doctors couldn't figure anything out. Even when I passed out, the answer that I got was "Sometimes, that just happens"... yea, ok sure doc. So, OK I finally get the asshole Satan to agree to leave Justin but then the jerk tells me that he owns my entire family, the ones that were already dead, and the living ones too. Starting the war all over again. Once Satan entered the story back in December, around, get this... Christmas time, the pendulum was telling me that "Satan liked the feisty ones." and "Satan loves you." I kept telling him to knock that shit off and go away. NOPE! So after 3/11, it all started to make sense. Once god entered the picture he told me that He wasn't going to let Satan kill me. It was ok, in a nutshell. Neither one of them wanted me dead. They wanted to "wake me up and get me to fight", Jesus AKA Satan AKA Freewill. But that, again, another story. This is long enough as it is.

So... fast forward to the middle of April. Through all of this by the way, I was also fighting a custody battle with the A's dad. In the middle of April, I started writing the previous mentioned story of my life. My dad, who I pretty sure has dementia at this point, read part of it talking about what happened in 2008, and took it to be serious and current. Instead of calling me and talking to me, he turned me over basically to the cops. He told them that I was suicidal and homicidal then convinced my kids of the same thing, yep, enter Lucifer's story as we know it. But first, he had me locked in a mental institution because no one listened to what I said. It didn't matter that I said I would never hurt myself or my kids, EVER! It didn't matter that I told them that I fear Hell and always have. I didn't believe in god prior to all of this and I believed and now know that the bible is the work of fiction and simple logic, ok batshit logic with a simple old school "dot to dot". I was able to figure out the hidden twist. Again, another story. This story... AM I THE ASSHOLE? AKA SATAN? OR the Angel LUCIFER?? My story, I mean, I was cast out of my family and thrown to the, well, gods. Not a single person wanted me around at first. Then my best friend finally saw the links to what I was talking about but no one else would even talk to me. Everyone truly saw me as Satan when they look at me. My kids and ex husband filed restraining orders but I can talk to my youngest now. It still doesn't matter what I say. My family hates me. They have forgotten everything that have ever known about me and my father, now reduced to "sperm donor" doesn't even recognize me when I am standing right in front of his face, yet just a month and a half before it happened the first time, he was able to destroy my life by simply forgetting a story that he knew and was a part of from 2008. So, I guess I am asking the internet today, because everyone loves judging people. Am I the Asshole? If so, what the hell did I do wrong when it comes to my family? Suffer PTSD? Wake up cuddling the dead body of the man that turned out to be the love of my life, my soulmate... and ACTUALLY had the Spirit of Jesus with him when he died along with the people I mentioned in this story already, and the kicker, my stepbrother too... it just so happened that Justin, was my step brothers best friend and was trying to help him fight off his demons, but the demons won and my stepbrother ended his own life.

So, because some crazy damn ghosts, saw the Angel of Light, and wouldn't leave me alone... and because God wanted his angel back finally... and because my damn kids asked God to prove himself... I guess, my batshit crazy logic fails to see how I am the asshole in any of this. I couldn't stop fate. I can't control destiny. None of us can... but, I still just don't understand how someone could throw their own parent under the bus like that and then run like hell when they get exactly what they asked for. Not only did GOD show himself, he showed his whole hand and the whole deck of cards and how he had been stacking them for my whole life to protect me from evil. So much so that I have never been drunk in my life. I have never taken an illegal drug, but I do suffer from chronic pain and fatigue that the doctors can't figure out. I know what it is causing it, but, I'm "batshit crazy" so it's not like they will listen to me anyway. So, I'll just take God's word for why it is happening. So yes, I know WHY all of this is happening... but, I just don't see the logic with 2/3 of my girls. The youngest wanted to be with me last I heard but she has been trapped in the house with her emotionally, verbally abusive and controlling father, but because my dad told everyone that he knows what is going on in my own head better than I do... and J & S agreed. A got stuck in hell, right along with me and I can't get her out. We are trapped in this hell by the freewill of others. Their lies, that yes, I can prove most of the stuff they say is lies and or twisted truths to suit their own agenda... so that logic proves the rest on its own. But in this day and time, I am also seeing that Logic is a lost skill. So... maybe I should tell you how to prove for yourself, that the batshit crazy part of talking to dead people in this story is true and then we can just go from there with the judgements. So, Google letter pendulum chart. Print it out or even just go the more simple less tech route for those that don't have a printer. Write Yes on the right and left side of a piece of paper and write No on the top and bottom of a piece of paper. Grab a string of some sort... anything.... a phone charging cord, a needle and thread, the wire from you earbuds (for those that still have those), the draw string from your sweatshirt or sweatpants. Anything works. The needle in thread was the first thing that I used when I used the letter chart because it had the finer point and I was able to see better which letter it was pointing to for sure. After you have the paper and string, slightly weighted on the bottom helps, hold it over the center of the letters or words. I hold my right wrist with my left hand so that I can help keep it as steady as humanly possible. (Yes, I have video of this that I posted in FB back in December 2019 to prove it also, if you are scared. BUT you can also just google it and there are plenty of videos showing it also. I am not the only one. I just happen to also be, well, I guess psychic at the same time, which has always happened to me in life before this, I just didn't call is psychic abilities... so, If you go to the pendulum letter chart and not just the yes or no, be warned. If it tells you, "Trust Jen" or "Trust Jennifer" or yes, "Trust Lucifer". That is your soul telling you to stop right there. It knows more than you do AND it's scared that if you continue on your own, you may not survive it without me and my help. So, I know for a fact that I am an asshole for telling you to use the pendulum. LOL I don't need that judgement, but for trying to help as many souls as I can, by proving it, I know I am not the asshole. So, am I an asshole for becoming gods favorite angel? HAHAHA ok, yes, I probably am for wording it like that too!

If you want more information or want to read more of the story before commenting, I can do that too.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully helping me see how I can be the asshole here and still make them look good... or, lol calling my family out for actually being the assholes that they are. Because, now that Lucifer is an whole angel again, I can twist just about anything to make someone look good. But, I know the whole story with my family, and I just can't find a way to save their souls. I can even tell Morgan Wallen and Marilyn Mason how to twist their stories to make themselves look better, so how can I not find a way to make my own assholes look good? Please help this batshit crazy pain in the ass Angel fix this shit!

Thank you,

Lucifer! The Bringer of Light...The Morningstar.... god's.... SUN!

Wattpad u/FallNHeartBreaker

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Before I start, I wanted to say that I've lived in many different countries (brick/concrete buildings) & I never experienced so many problems as I have with US homes. The use of cheap plywood and wood chip, poor or no insulation, flimsy siding and roofing that either blows off in high winds or just rots away after a few year, in addition to high prices have made life a living miserable hell for the average American.
I've lived in US for the past 20 years, mainly in the west coast. I owned a nice peaceful house in Seattle area back in the 90s, things were not this expensive & I had a great mortgage rate until the collapse of housing market happened in 2008, and my mortgage rate went up from 3.25% to 6%, although I paid my mortgage onetime & didn't do anything wrong. Around the same time, my utilities, and taxes went up drastically. The house was built in the 80s and the constant rain & termite damage & carpenter ants had made the wood rot underneath the house, not to mention the leaky roof & many other issues with plumbing, mainly to do with wood-structured houses.
Long story short, my house was peaceful, but because of high taxation, crime, constant rain & cold, & other problems like high utility & mortgage rate, I made a decision to sell the house and move to California.
I rented a two bedroom luxury apartment unit in Orange County around 2015 for $2500/months, but everyday there was an issue with the management, constant noise of performance cars revving their engine, garbage trucks, leaf blowers & landscapers, you name it ....
After a year, I finally got sick & tired of high rent & high taxation in Cali & moved to Nevada, Las Vegas. The apartment I moved in was ok for a few months until a loud motorcyclist moved next door to me. The guy worked all odd hours and he used to love revving his bike at nights, like 12 am, 3 am, 5 am, multiple times, when he commuted back & forth to work every day ... Calling the police, talking to Management or leaving nice notes on his bike, none of them worked, until I was forced to move out.
Everybody said rent a house, apartments are crap. oh how little I knew
So I ended up renting a home (paying $2100) to have more privacy & peace of mind. The house was fine for a few years (except the loud neighbors kids screaming & swearing, dogs barking all day & night, neighbors doing landscaping at 8am Sunday morning, etc etc), but I still put up with it, at least I had few hours of quiet at nights & I used white noise machine to drown out some of the noise. Until one day, out of the blue, the house started making weird noises, mainly coming from the ceiling/attic. It started with one loud knock/snap every morning at 8:30 am, and over a week period, the knocks went from one loud one to 20 knocks a day. Within a month, things became so bad that every time the sun would come up or go down, the roof would pop like 200 times. At nights, I would hear a lot of loud banging/popping noises coming from chimney and the attic. I let the landlord know right away (which they didn't believe me at first), I even paid for pest control (we thought it maybe rats or some other animal in the attic), which no trace of any animal was found in the attic. We brought roofers, inspectors, you name it, no one had any clue what was going on. Things got so bad that I couldn't sleep more than couple of hours every night, waking up with a very loud knock or bang, sometimes every 30 min. I lived in that house for 3.5 years, and didn't hear a beep from the structure of the place, so I have no clue how a building that quiet could go suddenly crazy & it was so frustrating that no one had any clue what was going on . Haunted house?
I was forced to move out of the lease & find another place. I ended up living in another house (1,900/mo) that had severe zapping issues (the floors were made out of cheap laminate & they wouldn't let you ground), so every time I touch a door knob or kitchen appliances or doors or windows, I would get zapped like crazy. I also would hear loud banging from pipes when I took a shower & once every two weeks I would hear loud banging from the roof/siding of the house. But at least the structural noise of this house wasn't constant, like the other property. But a few months to my lease, I discovered that the house is foreclosed and the owner has no intention to fix anything, so I moved to another single family home in a very nice area & gated community (paying $2,300/mo).
Oh boy, renting this new place was probably one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made. I moved there around December last year & the first night I slept there I realized that I have made a giant mistake. There were LOUD snaps/pops once every 30 min all over the house, I mean snaps as loud as gut shots that could be heard overheard all over the house, even in the closet or bathroom, day & night. It wouldn't go away. When the heater ran, the snaps & knocks would become so loud, as if wood is splitting in half on top of your head. No amount of white noise or ear plug could block that noise. I work from home & my clients could hear the loud snaps over the phone & often asked me what is that loud noise in the background and if someone is shooting.
Because I had moved twice in less than 3 month I ended up putting up with it & staying there for 7 month, I have a background in structural/civil engineering, so I thought I could bring inspectors & could figure out a way to minimize the constant loud popping & snapping noises. I talked to PM & they send people who had no idea what was going on, charging the owner thousands of dollars in roof & pest control. I paid out of pocket myself, bringing contractors to screw the ceiling drywall, in case the nails holding the ceiling boards were moving in & out of 2x4s. We tried re-screwing the ceiling in one room & to my surprise it made the popping noises a lot worse & even more often. By then I knew the property has serious foundation & possibly truss uplift issue. I even got covid during this whole mess around January & not sleeping, constant stress & loud noises made my illness prolong for 4 months Dry coughs, severe diarrhea, shortness if breathe, severe joint & muscle pain & high fever. At that time I was so devastated & all I wanted was to sleep & I couldn't I couldn't even go rent a hotel room for a few days, since around March the Gov had shut everything down, so I was stuck inside a big house that I couldn't sleep in any of the rooms.
Eventually when I recovered from covid, I thought I've had enough of homes with severe structural/roof issues & it's time to go back to condo/apartment living. At least, they wouldn't have serious foundation/roof issues, right? I moved to this condo a few months ago & of course it's another wood-structure multi-family home made with flimsy roof & floors. What I didn't know about this building is the fact that there is absolutely NO insulation in between the units, over the floor & walls that I share with other neighbors, NON, whatsoever, so I could hear normal conversation, dogs barking, constant door slamming, banging noises from other units. Also because of covid, some neighbors work from home, sometimes repairing heavy machinery & auto parts! Imagine , only sharing a thin plywood with the unit underneath and the loud obnoxious neighbor next door! Another issue with this condo is the shaky floor, when I walk around my unit or neighbors walk around their own unit, my floor shakes violently & ends up shaking my heavy coach as well as the bed. If I'm sleep & the noise doesn't wake me up right away, the shaking of the floor definitely would. I never thought I could hear this much from units downstairs or on the side, because I had lived in other apartments before, and I had never experienced this level of noise traveling up from downstairs neighbors or the hellish neighbors on the side.
My neighbor on the side works night-shift, I hear her coming home, all odd hours (like 1am or 4am, every day- it's Vegas so people work odd hours at the casino), I hear everything, when she is taking a shower, slamming the hell out of her bathroom door, her dogs barking, walking around her unit, I've tried to reason with them & talk to them to at least not slam doors 10 times an hour day & night, but had no luck. Unreasonable people can't be reasoned with. As a matter of fact, I think they are doubling down on their door slamming & banging noises. My neighbor downstairs also has a habit of slamming every door & drawer & leaves the house at 7 am (every morning) & my floor shakes violently every time she goes in & out of her building, which is 5 or 6 times a day
I have moved 4 times, in less than a year. I lived in single family homes as well as condos that were uninhabitable, because of poor construction & use of cheap plywood, if these structures were built with concrete/brick, none of these issues would have happened. Trust me, I have lived in many concrete/brick structures before, my first apartment in Seattle was an old building made out of brick & you still may hear loud trucks or bikes, but there is no way you would hear your neighbors talking in normal voice, taking a shower, wiping their ass, or closing their door.
This is so depressing that we pay so much in mortgages or rent in America, yet we have to live in such horrible living spaces that are uninhabitable. American houses often have the appearance of having brick walls, however these are just stuck onto the outside of the plywood walls giving a false sense of quality and strength. I understand that using flimsy wood is much cheaper than using stone, brick or concrete, but this is not really evidenced by the prices of houses. Even multi-million dollar new houses in the States are being built from the same cheap plywood, poor insulation, shabby roofing material as cheaper houses. The fact that walls are paper thin and conversations can be heard a room away is nothing strange in American houses. I'm not even gonna mention horrible loud structural problems/noises that no one has any clue how to fix (god help you if something goes wrong inside the attic), rotting walls, water getting into insulation, pest issues, termite damage or leaking roofs.
You will be surprised that the average material cost (cost of wood chip) for a cheap flimsy American home is around $5,000, but since we live in a mafia state, by the time the city, the contractors, & the utility companies are all done with you, you will end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, in some case millions of dollars for a home that's gonna end up having too many problems, in just 10 years or less.
Sorry for the long rant, i know this has been a tough year for many with people dying alone of covid, but I'm penniless, sleepless, stressed & exhausted & I can't bare the idea that I have to move again soon , to another wood chip rental, I wonder what kind of a horror is gonna be waiting for me there? costing me thousands of dollars in rent & moving cost.
> I have a masters degree in civil/construction engineering. I used to do cost analysis for different projects & I know the material cost, for just the framing of a house (the cost of timber & plywood) is around $5,000, I have worked with many reputable construction companies all over the NW. All of them used the same cheap crappy plywood, even for the construction of multi-million dollar homes.
> I have owned & rented many homes/condos, town homes/apartments all over US (mainly in NW), new & old. I understand there are individuals who have ulterior motives & are doubling their already doubled profit by enriching themselves off of consumers. But these of the realities of wood-frame residential buildings: the use of weak beams, cheap plywood, poor insulation, flimsy siding and roofing that either blows off in high winds or just rots away after a few year, termite damage, carpenter ants that chew and push out wood by finding crawl spaces underneath your house & you wouldn't even know until half of the house is gone, high expenses regarding pest control (over the years, I've spent at least 20K regarding pest control - rats, squirrels or ants, that will chew the wood & will find a way to get inside your attic/basement again & again) ... Rotting walls, water getting into insulation, moisture damage & mold, termites, leaking roofs, etc, etc. Houses built of plywood and low quality beams will not last all that long. Using staple guns to hold plywood to beams that ends up shabby. Contractors using the cheapest materials to throw up buildings as soon as they can in order to maximize profits. For some reason this shabby building tradition has become the norm in US. Simply using concrete, brick or stone will prevent all these issues related to wood.
> If the price of these flimsy wood-frame buildings were as cheap as the cost of its materials, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. At least, it's not costing consumers an arm & leg. The argument I've heard over & over is that we can't afford to build homes made of concrete or brick in US, but this is a gross lie. Even multi-million dollar homes are built with the same material as the cheap ones & how come other countries can afford to build homes made of concrete & still make money? There are so many newer technologies like building homes with precast concrete, so cost effective because they are modular homes (many parts can be per-manufactured) & are a LOT MORE cost effective & durable
> Loud popping/snapping noises in wood structured homes are a recent phenomenon, which I believe has occurred as a result of rapid changes in the climate. Super dry or humid & hot summers depending on which side of the country you live in, long cold winters, constant rain, moisture & high winds are taking their toll on wood-frame buildings. Three out of the three recent homes I lived in had severe issues to do with constant loud snapping/popping noises coming from the structure of the house, mainly from ceiling joists as well as walls. Never experienced this issue ever before & here is a video that even new constructions are not immune to this disease
Buyers be aware, there is no way to know that a property has this particular issue until you spend a week sleeping & living at the property. I know homes with this problem that were sold & the problem was concealed & the inspector never found anything wrong, because the issue is hidden from naked eyes, check out truss uplift & the effect of rapid changes in the climate on wood-frame buildings. I believe more & more buildings are gonna end up having this issue in the near future. This issue is NOT related to normal expansion/contraction of the wood, these noises are not normal home noises, they are as loud as gunshots, happen all the time, & no one can even figure out what is going on. The building you buy might not have this issue right away, but there is no guarantee that within a few years, you will not end up with this nightmare.
> I have lived in homes as old as 300 yrs old, in Germany & UK, built from brick/store & I tell you they are as solid as a rock. They are warm & cozy during winter & cool & pleasant during summer. As far as sound insulation goes, concrete, brick & stone have high mass density, and they muffle & dampen sound quite a bit, whereas wood echos the sound by reverberating it & transmitting it all over. In fact, stealth plans are mainly made of wood, in order to reduce reflection/emission of radar, so they CANNOT be detected, where as signals would bounce off other solid materials. Knock on a wall made of wood & see how it feels hollow & void, whereas concrete or brick will dampen the echo quite a lot. If you punch a concrete wall, you will end up breaking your hand, where as you can easily punch a hole in a plywood wall & if you live in a multi-family home, you may end up in your neighbors unit.
Many US houses or buildings will not be around, let's say 500 years from now, as a result of a wasteful consumerism system & a mindset of bulldozing the old & buying something new, even if it's cheaper quality. All great civilizations have left structures for us to admire: Rome, Egypt, Greece, Byzantium, Incas, Aztecs etc. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem likely that American civilization will leave any impressive physical structures behind.

Before I start, I wanted to say that I've lived in many different countries (brick/concrete buildings) & I never experienced so many problems as I have with US homes. The use of cheap plywood and wood chip, poor or no insulation, flimsy siding and roofing that either blows off in high winds or just rots away after a few year, in addition to high prices have made life a living miserable hell for the average American.
I've lived in US for the past 20 years, mainly in the west coast. I owned a nice peaceful house in Seattle area back in the 90s, things were not this expensive & I had a great mortgage rate until the collapse of housing market happened in 2008, and my mortgage rate went up from 3.25% to 6%, although I paid my mortgage onetime & didn't do anything wrong. Around the same time, my utilities, and taxes went up drastically. The house was built in the 80s and the constant rain & termite damage & carpenter ants had made the wood rot underneath the house, not to mention the leaky roof & many other issues with plumbing, mainly to do with wood-structured houses.
Long story short, my house was peaceful, but because of high taxation, crime, constant rain & cold, & other problems like high utility & mortgage rate, I made a decision to sell the house and move to California.
I rented a two bedroom luxury apartment unit in Orange County around 2015 for $2500/months, but everyday there was an issue with the management, constant noise of performance cars revving their engine, garbage trucks, leaf blowers & landscapers, you name it ....
After a year, I finally got sick & tired of high rent & high taxation in Cali & moved to Nevada, Las Vegas. The apartment I moved in was ok for a few months until a loud motorcyclist moved next door to me. The guy worked all odd hours and he used to love revving his bike at nights, like 12 am, 3 am, 5 am, multiple times, when he commuted back & forth to work every day ... Calling the police, talking to Management or leaving nice notes on his bike, none of them worked, until I was forced to move out.
Everybody said rent a house, apartments are crap. oh how little I knew
So I ended up renting a home (paying $2100) to have more privacy & peace of mind. The house was fine for a few years (except the loud neighbors kids screaming & swearing, dogs barking all day & night, neighbors doing landscaping at 8am Sunday morning, etc etc), but I still put up with it, at least I had few hours of quiet at nights & I used white noise machine to drown out some of the noise. Until one day, out of the blue, the house started making weird noises, mainly coming from the ceiling/attic. It started with one loud knock/snap every morning at 8:30 am, and over a week period, the knocks went from one loud one to 20 knocks a day. Within a month, things became so bad that every time the sun would come up or go down, the roof would pop like 200 times. At nights, I would hear a lot of loud banging/popping noises coming from chimney and the attic. I let the landlord know right away (which they didn't believe me at first), I even paid for pest control (we thought it maybe rats or some other animal in the attic), which no trace of any animal was found in the attic. We brought roofers, inspectors, you name it, no one had any clue what was going on. Things got so bad that I couldn't sleep more than couple of hours every night, waking up with a very loud knock or bang, sometimes every 30 min. I lived in that house for 3.5 years, and didn't hear a beep from the structure of the place, so I have no clue how a building that quiet could go suddenly crazy & it was so frustrating that no one had any clue what was going on . Haunted house?
I was forced to move out of the lease & find another place. I ended up living in another house (1,900/mo) that had severe zapping issues (the floors were made out of cheap laminate & they wouldn't let you ground), so every time I touch a door knob or kitchen appliances or doors or windows, I would get zapped like crazy. I also would hear loud banging from pipes when I took a shower & once every two weeks I would hear loud banging from the roof/siding of the house. But at least the structural noise of this house wasn't constant, like the other property. But a few months to my lease, I discovered that the house is foreclosed and the owner has no intention to fix anything, so I moved to another single family home in a very nice area & gated community (paying $2,300/mo).
Oh boy, renting this new place was probably one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made. I moved there around December last year & the first night I slept there I realized that I have made a giant mistake. There were LOUD snaps/pops once every 30 min all over the house, I mean snaps as loud as gut shots that could be heard overheard all over the house, even in the closet or bathroom, day & night. It wouldn't go away. When the heater ran, the snaps & knocks would become so loud, as if wood is splitting in half on top of your head. No amount of white noise or ear plug could block that noise. I work from home & my clients could hear the loud snaps over the phone & often asked me what is that loud noise in the background and if someone is shooting.
Because I had moved twice in less than 3 month I ended up putting up with it & staying there for 7 month, I have a background in structural/civil engineering, so I thought I could bring inspectors & could figure out a way to minimize the constant loud popping & snapping noises. I talked to PM & they send people who had no idea what was going on, charging the owner thousands of dollars in roof & pest control. I paid out of pocket myself, bringing contractors to screw the ceiling drywall, in case the nails holding the ceiling boards were moving in & out of 2x4s. We tried re-screwing the ceiling in one room & to my surprise it made the popping noises a lot worse & even more often. By then I knew the property has serious foundation & possibly truss uplift issue. I even got covid during this whole mess around January & not sleeping, constant stress & loud noises made my illness prolong for 4 months Dry coughs, severe diarrhea, shortness if breathe, severe joint & muscle pain & high fever. At that time I was so devastated & all I wanted was to sleep & I couldn't I couldn't even go rent a hotel room for a few days, since around March the Gov had shut everything down, so I was stuck inside a big house that I couldn't sleep in any of the rooms.
Eventually when I recovered from covid, I thought I've had enough of homes with severe structural/roof issues & it's time to go back to condo/apartment living. At least, they wouldn't have serious foundation/roof issues, right? I moved to this condo a few months ago & of course it's another wood-structure multi-family home made with flimsy roof & floors. What I didn't know about this building is the fact that there is absolutely NO insulation in between the units, over the floor & walls that I share with other neighbors, NON, whatsoever, so I could hear normal conversation, dogs barking, constant door slamming, banging noises from other units. Also because of covid, some neighbors work from home, sometimes repairing heavy machinery & auto parts! Imagine , only sharing a thin plywood with the unit underneath and the loud obnoxious neighbor next door! Another issue with this condo is the shaky floor, when I walk around my unit or neighbors walk around their own unit, my floor shakes violently & ends up shaking my heavy coach as well as the bed. If I'm sleep & the noise doesn't wake me up right away, the shaking of the floor definitely would. I never thought I could hear this much from units downstairs or on the side, because I had lived in other apartments before, and I had never experienced this level of noise traveling up from downstairs neighbors or the hellish neighbors on the side.
My neighbor on the side works night-shift, I hear her coming home, all odd hours (like 1am or 4am, every day- it's Vegas so people work odd hours at the casino), I hear everything, when she is taking a shower, slamming the hell out of her bathroom door, her dogs barking, walking around her unit, I've tried to reason with them & talk to them to at least not slam doors 10 times an hour day & night, but had no luck. Unreasonable people can't be reasoned with. As a matter of fact, I think they are doubling down on their door slamming & banging noises. My neighbor downstairs also has a habit of slamming every door & drawer & leaves the house at 7 am (every morning) & my floor shakes violently every time she goes in & out of her building, which is 5 or 6 times a day
I have moved 4 times, in less than a year. I lived in single family homes as well as condos that were uninhabitable, because of poor construction & use of cheap plywood, if these structures were built with concrete/brick, none of these issues would have happened. Trust me, I have lived in many concrete/brick structures before, my first apartment in Seattle was an old building made out of brick & you still may hear loud trucks or bikes, but there is no way you would hear your neighbors talking in normal voice, taking a shower, wiping their ass, or closing their door.
This is so depressing that we pay so much in mortgages or rent in America, yet we have to live in such horrible living spaces that are uninhabitable. American houses often have the appearance of having brick walls, however these are just stuck onto the outside of the plywood walls giving a false sense of quality and strength. I understand that using flimsy wood is much cheaper than using stone, brick or concrete, but this is not really evidenced by the prices of houses. Even multi-million dollar new houses in the States are being built from the same cheap plywood, poor insulation, shabby roofing material as cheaper houses. The fact that walls are paper thin and conversations can be heard a room away is nothing strange in American houses. I'm not even gonna mention horrible loud structural problems/noises that no one has any clue how to fix (god help you if something goes wrong inside the attic), rotting walls, water getting into insulation, pest issues, termite damage or leaking roofs.
You will be surprised that the average material cost (cost of wood chip) for a cheap flimsy American home is around $5,000, but since we live in a mafia state, by the time the city, the contractors, & the utility companies are all done with you, you will end up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars, in some case millions of dollars for a home that's gonna end up having too many problems, in just 10 years or less.
Sorry for the long rant, i know this has been a tough year for many with people dying alone of covid, but I'm penniless, sleepless, stressed & exhausted & I can't bare the idea that I have to move again soon , to another wood chip rental, I wonder what kind of a horror is gonna be waiting for me there? costing me thousands of dollars in rent & moving cost.
> I have a masters degree in civil/construction engineering. I used to do cost analysis for different projects & I know the material cost, for just the framing of a house (the cost of timber & plywood) is around $5,000, I have worked with many reputable construction companies all over the NW. All of them used the same cheap crappy plywood, even for the construction of multi-million dollar homes.
> I have owned & rented many homes/condos, town homes/apartments all over US (mainly in NW), new & old. I understand there are individuals who have ulterior motives & are doubling their already doubled profit by enriching themselves off of consumers. But these of the realities of wood-frame residential buildings: the use of weak beams, cheap plywood, poor insulation, flimsy siding and roofing that either blows off in high winds or just rots away after a few year, termite damage, carpenter ants that chew and push out wood by finding crawl spaces underneath your house & you wouldn't even know until half of the house is gone, high expenses regarding pest control (over the years, I've spent at least 20K regarding pest control - rats, squirrels or ants, that will chew the wood & will find a way to get inside your attic/basement again & again) ... Rotting walls, water getting into insulation, moisture damage & mold, termites, leaking roofs, etc, etc. Houses built of plywood and low quality beams will not last all that long. Using staple guns to hold plywood to beams that ends up shabby. Contractors using the cheapest materials to throw up buildings as soon as they can in order to maximize profits. For some reason this shabby building tradition has become the norm in US. Simply using concrete, brick or stone will prevent all these issues related to wood.
> If the price of these flimsy wood-frame buildings were as cheap as the cost of its materials, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. At least, it's not costing consumers an arm & leg. The argument I've heard over & over is that we can't afford to build homes made of concrete or brick in US, but this is a gross lie. Even multi-million dollar homes are built with the same material as the cheap ones & how come other countries can afford to build homes made of concrete & still make money? There are so many newer technologies like building homes with precast concrete, so cost effective because they are modular homes (many parts can be per-manufactured) & are a LOT MORE cost effective & durable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZxskJojRLY
> Loud popping/snapping noises in wood structured homes are a recent phenomenon, which I believe has occurred as a result of rapid changes in the climate. Super dry or humid & hot summers depending on which side of the country you live in, long cold winters, constant rain, moisture & high winds are taking their toll on wood-frame buildings. Three out of the three recent homes I lived in had severe issues to do with constant loud snapping/popping noises coming from the structure of the house, mainly from ceiling joists as well as walls. Never experienced this issue ever before & here is a video that even new constructions are not immune to this disease: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c07aIV-ddR0
Buyers be aware, there is no way to know that a property has this particular issue until you spend a week sleeping & living at the property. I know homes with this problem that were sold & the problem was concealed & the inspector never found anything wrong, because the issue is hidden from naked eyes, check out truss uplift & the effect of rapid changes in the climate on wood-frame buildings. I believe more & more buildings are gonna end up having this issue in the near future. This issue is NOT related to normal expansion/contraction of the wood, these noises are not normal home noises, they are as loud as gunshots, happen all the time, & no one can even figure out what is going on. The building you buy might not have this issue right away, but there is no guarantee that within a few years, you will not end up with this nightmare.
> I have lived in homes as old as 300 yrs old, in Germany & UK, built from brick/store & I tell you they are as solid as a rock. They are warm & cozy during winter & cool & pleasant during summer. As far as sound insulation goes, concrete, brick & stone have high mass density, and they muffle & dampen sound quite a bit, whereas wood echos the sound by reverberating it & transmitting it all over. In fact, stealth plans are mainly made of wood, in order to reduce reflection/emission of radar, so they CANNOT be detected, where as signals would bounce off other solid materials. Knock on a wall made of wood & see how it feels hollow & void, whereas concrete or brick will dampen the echo quite a lot. If you punch a concrete wall, you will end up breaking your hand, where as you can easily punch a hole in a plywood wall & if you live in a multi-family home, you may end up in your neighbors unit.
Many US houses or buildings will not be around, let's say 500 years from now, as a result of a wasteful consumerism system & a mindset of bulldozing the old & buying something new, even if it's cheaper quality. All great civilizations have left structures for us to admire: Rome, Egypt, Greece, Byzantium, Incas, Aztecs etc. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem likely that American civilization will leave any impressive physical structures behind.

As we all know AWE is broadcast on ITV4 which is a free channel in the UK. You don't need a satelite or cable tv contract to watch it.
You may remember Tony Khan loved the ITV deal and is really happy with it
Lets look at the numbers. Its been a good week for AWE!
Minder 109k (106k) up 3k
AEW 164k (143k) up 21k
AWE closes the weekly gap again!!! The product is really, really doing well in the UK! Minder now only leads the weekly ratings raw 38 to 21....
AWEs lead in was Quantum of Solace which had 285k viewers. So AWE only lost around 42% of its lead in! which was a movie from 12 years ago.
Tony Khan and AWE is MONEY!
Lets look at the programmes that beat AWE last week on ITV4 and you'll know how well they did and how successful and proud Tony and the boys should be
High Plains Drifter (1973)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Quantum Of Solace (2008)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Nevada Smith (1966)
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Casino Royale 2006 (2006)
The Motorbike Show
Quantum Of Solace (2008)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Pale Rider (1985)
Casino Royale 2006 (2006)
Nevada Smith (1966)
ITV Racing: The Opening Show
The Motorbike Show
AWE beat Coogans Bluff (1968) AND Griffs Great australian adventure!! Wow! Oh before you ask if a show is on the list twice it means it was on more than once that week/was on the +1 hour variation of the channel.
Well done DUB!

20 “Just Another Girl”
One of The Killers’ more underrated singles, “Just Another Girl,” gives fans an easily digestible song, easter eggs from old music videos and Glee’s Dianna Agron posing as Flowers. (She embodies the role well.) —Lexi Lane
19 “Bones”
Amidst the stark desolation present through tales of drug-addled uncles and familial death on Sam’s Town, “Bones” is a shining moment of light. The album was partially recorded at the Palms Casino in Vegas, which might be why this song is increasingly extravagant. —Lexi Lane
18 “Run For Cover”
From their 2017 album Wonderful, Wonderful, “Run For Cover” opens with a supercharged guitar loop and in just the first verse, alludes to both a Nevada senator’s affair and boxer Sonny Liston. It’s a somewhat mismatched pairing, but the song’s background instrumentals make it work. —Lexi Lane
17 “Battle Born”
One of the many homages to their hometown on this list, “Battle Born” is a brilliant title and closing track. It has one of the most triumphant Killers’ choruses and lines ever: “The season may pass / But the dream doesn’t die.” —Lexi Lane
16 “This Is Your Life”
The first entry from 2009’s Day & Age on this list, “This Is Your Life” has one of the most interesting opening verses of any Killers song, digging into the perspective of sex work in Nevada without feeling exploitative (“Candy talks to strangers / Thinks her life’s in danger / And no one gives a damn about her hair”). —Lexi Lane
15 “Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll”
Convinced The Killers aren’t really “indie rock?” Here’s a whole song about the debacle from 2007, where they even predict the hipster thrift store culture popularized in years to come. Also, the heavy guitar breakdown is incredible. —Lexi Lane
14 “Runaways”
2012 single “Runaways” is a love story that falls apart, where Flowers takes the blame for the relationship’s destruction. He also wails “We can’t wait ‘til tomorrow” several times. —Lexi Lane
13 “Spaceman”
Another big hit from Day and Age, “Spaceman” is supposedly about being dissected and abducted by aliens, but it’s easy to make a lot of great metaphors for the song. Plus, the chorus is one of the better hooks on the record. —Juan Gutierrez
12 “Caution”
This is the first single and only entry on this list from their brand new album Imploding The Mirage. “Caution” has hardly been out long enough to make an impression, but it closes with a stunning solo from Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham—enough said. —Lexi Lane
11 “Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine”
The opener to their debut album, “Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine” serves as an extension of Flowers’ inspirations: Morrissey and a real-life murder case. Told from the perspective of an interrogation, it’s also one of the best songs from Hot Fuss and one of their best performances. —Lexi Lane
10 “A Dustland Fairytale”
“A Dustland Fairytale” is the hidden gem of Day & Age, traditionally outshined by radio-friendly singles like “Human” and “Spaceman.” Here, Flowers spins a powerful story inspired by his parents’ romance. However, lines like “Out here the good girls die,” take on a heartbreaking new meaning, as the song was released a year before his mother’s passing. —Lexi Lane
9 “Sam’s Town (Live From Abbey Road)”
Another underrated cut is the Sawdust live version of “Sam’s Town.” This slow piano version allows listeners to focus on its words and depth. There are no frills or synths here—it just gets right to the heart of Flowers’ talent. Like so many Killers songs, it always brings us back to Las Vegas, with the titular casino (Sam’s Town) acting as a beacon of hope. —Lexi Lane
8 “On Top”
From the second the loop starts on “On Top,” it’s instantly addicting. Similar to “Mr. Brightside,” this Hot Fuss track contains exhilarating repetition, even if it’s not as widely beloved as that aforementioned song. Once again, they drop a hometown reference to Las Vegas’ Rio casino in the opening line. —Lexi Lane
7 “Smile Like You Mean It”
One of the Killers more melancholic songs, “Smile Like You Mean It” is about growing up, growing old and as time passes, going to the places that now only exist in memory. With a mellifluous synth lead, it’s one of those songs that carries you into that nostalgic, contemplative space in your head. —Juan Gutierrez
6 “Somebody Told Me”
Even though “Somebody Told Me” is one of the most recognizable Killers songs, when it was first released it actually did pretty poorly. However, when re-released, the song slowly grew in popularity to become one of the band’s biggest songs. Flowers said that the song is about “trying to meet someone in a club.” The heavy introduction is seductive, and its incessant beat makes those legs start to move. —Juan Gutierrez
5 “Miss Atomic Bomb”
Imagine there was a part two to the story of “Mr. Brightside,” made for crying after your karaoke session ends… Well, actually there is one: “Miss Atomic Bomb” from 2012’s Battle Born. The Killers use both the lyrics and music video as a continuation of the story of the one that got away. “Mr. Brightside” serves as the anger and initial reaction to pain, while “Miss Atomic Bomb” is what comes after it simmers, leaving listeners alone with the memories. —Lexi Lane
4 “Human”
With its sharper, EDM-influenced sound, 2008’s Day and Age was a shift from previous records. “Human” is one of the highlights of the album, bringing a catchy magic dust to some nonsensical philosophical pondering (“Are we human or are we dancer?”). —Juan Gutierrez
3 “Mr. Brightside”
“Mr. Brightside” is the classic Killers song that everyone knows. It’s a karaoke standard because of its anthemic qualities and simple repetition—no unnecessary words to memorize, just jam and scream it out. We swear the second verse goes just a little bit harder than the rest, though. —Lexi Lane
2 “All These Things That I’ve Done”
“All These Things That I’ve Done” serves as a contrast to the rest of Hot Fuss with its inherent earnestness. It’s a song that deals with life’s suffering and lack of meaning, while featuring the band’s most oblique line, “I got soul, but I’m not a soldier.” Plus, the song ends with the climactic gospel build-up with vocals from the Sweet Inspirations, a R&B group founded by Whitney Houston’s mother. —Juan Gutierrez
1 “Read My Mind”
“Read My Mind” offers up some of the best lyricism in The Killers’ repertoire: “A teenage queen / A loaded gun / A drop-dead dream / The chosen one.” It’s as nostalgic as it is painful, tied together by the contained power of Flowers’ vocals—not too harsh, not too quiet, just the right pacing. —Lexi Lane
https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/the-killers/the-15-best-songs-by-the-killers-august-2020/#12-caution-