UPDATE: Perdue driver dead after truck plummets from Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Officials say around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, a tractor trailer went overboard and into the water on the west-side of the southbound span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Read More https://www.wboc.com I’m only posting this because I know first-hand how **dangerous** this bridge _actually_ is. I grew up hearing the horror stories about it. It’s a local bridge where humans and science meet, and the majority of the time, science wins. It’s 17 miles of being at odds with physics and aerodynamics, especially if you’re a truck driver. I think it’s cursed because it sits on Native land on the Eastern Shore, but every time I hear about a death on it, it brings me sadness of how it’s taken another life. Another person has met Davy Jones locker, just crossing a bridge. Not counting the regular car accidents, about 20 people have died by falling into the ocean below since it was built. This is the Squid Game of bridges because there are so many obstacles on it, and failure to overcome just one of them often ends in death. Although I’ve been living in New York for over a decade, I’m natively from Hampton Roads, Virginia, and drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel several times a year when visiting family. The bridge is on Route 13 and connects Eastern Shore, Virginia, to Virginia Beach (a city of Hampton Roads), so I take it because it’s a shorter alternative route from taking the crowded I-64. However, I am still terrified every time I drive across it. I know I’m taking a risk. Like everyone who’s grown up here, we grow up hearing about all the freak accidents and deaths that have happened on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel; accidents are common, and the death list is long. The death list consists mostly of truckers. It’s a freight truck route between Virginia local farms and shipping docks in Norfolk and Portsmouth. I will never forget a couple of the most horrific of those accidents that happened around the 90s, where a head-on collision killed some drivers, and a truckload of live pigs flipped, leaving highway patrol chasing after packs of live pigs running down the highway. A pig truck flipping on it was not the only time that happened. A lot of us natives avoid crossing the bridge unless we really have to; outsiders may not be aware of the bad juju surrounding that bridge, so every time there’s an accident on it, it’s big local news. On top of that, it not only has one of the most expensive tolls, it’s currently $16 – $21 to cross (just to potentially die), but it’s also under forever construction, which only adds to the chance of accidents. So I guess you’re wondering what makes the bridge so dangerous? One word. **Science**. There are many mechanics of science at play on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel because of where it sits; it’s practically _in_ the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the mechanics are man-made, but most are just physics and laws of nature. And no, I didn’t research any of this. I just know because I’m _from_ here. ## The Crosswinds The crosswinds are the most dangerous aspect of this bridge and the number one cause of accidents. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel sits at the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. So as a result, it gets hit on its east side from the raw, rogue winds of the wild ocean and on its west side, the swirling winds of the bay. The two winds aren’t always blowing in the same direction, so it causes this push-pull, suction effect where the bridge sits. As a result, on windy days, your vehicle is getting rocked with hard gusts from all sides, in different directions every few seconds. For low-lying cars this isn’t too bad, and you can recover by just slowing down, but these crosswinds are dangerous for freight trucks and top-heavy vehicles, no matter their speed, and will flip them or make the driver over-correct and lose control. Sometimes, even if you can recover from the wind, this leads to deadly accidents because once you’ve lost control of your vehicle to the wind, people over-correct, and then you’re in the hands of science and will lose because you only have a small margin of error since the lanes are so narrow and there are only two, so chances are you’re going to hit somebody. A lot of people just lose control and hit the rails, or if it’s raining, they spin out and cause a pile-up. There’s only two lanes on the bridge part, so you’re either going to sideswipe someone and cause a crash or hit the guardrail, and pray you don’t flip over it or go through it into the bay like this unfortunate trucker did today. ## Idiots Speeding The bridge is at the end of miles and miles of dark, empty country road on Route 13 before it hits the city, so people get overzealous. Imagine driving hours in the dark and then suddenly seeing the oasis of city lights in the distance, far on the other side of a nearly 20-mile bridge? So people, especially outsiders and travelers, try to speed across the tunnel and lose. The speed limit is no higher than 55mph for a reason. And sometimes it’s only 35mph when the winds are high. But people don’t follow the speed signs and pay the price. Sometimes, taking innocent people with them. ## Head-On Collisions If you manage to survive the first bridge section of winds, science and idiots, the danger doesn’t end there. A new danger arises. Head-on collisions. The bridge is oddly shaped because it used to be a two-way highway all the way through. But there were so many accidents that they decided to make it split, however, it is in the middle of this one-million-year-long construction to split the tunnels, so the bridges go from a split and then merge twice, and inside the tunnel, it is still two-way. Many people have fallen asleep or not paid attention or just got too close to clipping another vehicle in the opposite direction and collide _inside_ the tunnel, sometimes fatal. The bridge has two tunnels and 3 bridges, so you have to repeat the “obstacle course” a few times before you get to the land of Virginia Beach on the other side. ## Forever Construction The bridge stays consistently under construction because it’s used to be a two-way only bridge ending in a lot of head-on collisions, and heavy traffic, so they decided to expand it. However, it’s been in forever construction since 2017 and won’t be finished until 2028. The plethora labryinth of cones, lights, temporary reflectors and signs can be confusing, especially if you’re not familiar with the bridge. Even when I go to visit my family, I slow down to 35mph and pay close attention meandering through the obstacle course of construction. I have no doubt that it causes confusion and accidents. ## Weather Being Virginia, hurricanes and noreasters are common every fall. As a result, the bridge becomes super dangerous, so they just close it. The bridge sits on the ocean, so trying to cross it in those kinds of conditions would be a death sentence. But in normal weather, people driving too fast, hydroplaning, and spinning out are also common. And yes, sometimes they do go over the edge, too. I can write so much about this bridge, but I won’t because of the time it would take. The short of it is, the bridge is a guillotine. It’s dangerous. It isn’t for the weak or inexperienced drivers because there are so many obstacles. Even I didn’t drive over it for the first time until I was in my late 30s. Don’t get me wrong, the nature scene from the bridge is captivating, it’s one of the reasons why I cross it; it’s beautiful. It’s definitely a feat of geological engineering. The bridge is so long, you can’t see the land on the other side of it. It just looks like it disappears into the sea, but so many people have paid the price. If you’re interested in knowing more about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, just Google it. The accidents and deaths are just too numerous to write about them all. RIP to the trucker who died today on it, making him the 20th poor soul to plunge into its waters below and die.

UPDATE: Perdue driver dead after truck plummets from Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Officials say around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, a tractor trailer went overboard and into the water on the west-side of the southbound span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Read More https://www.wboc.com I’m only posting this because I know first-hand how **dangerous** this bridge _actually_ is. I grew up hearing the horror stories about it. It’s a local bridge where humans and science meet, and the majority of the time, science wins. It’s 17 miles of being at odds with physics and aerodynamics, especially if you’re a truck driver. I think it’s cursed because it sits on Native land on the Eastern Shore, but every time I hear about a death on it, it brings me sadness of how it’s taken another life. Another person has met Davy Jones locker, just crossing a bridge. Not counting the regular car accidents, about 20 people have died by falling into the ocean below since it was built. This is the Squid Game of bridges because there are so many obstacles on it, and failure to overcome just one of them often ends in death. Although I’ve been living in New York for over a decade, I’m natively from Hampton Roads, Virginia, and drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel several times a year when visiting family. The bridge is on Route 13 and connects Eastern Shore, Virginia, to Virginia Beach (a city of Hampton Roads), so I take it because it’s a shorter alternative route from taking the crowded I-64. However, I am still terrified every time I drive across it. I know I’m taking a risk. Like everyone who’s grown up here, we grow up hearing about all the freak accidents and deaths that have happened on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel; accidents are common, and the death list is long. The death list consists mostly of truckers. It’s a freight truck route between Virginia local farms and shipping docks in Norfolk and Portsmouth. I will never forget a couple of the most horrific of those accidents that happened around the 90s, where a head-on collision killed some drivers, and a truckload of live pigs flipped, leaving highway patrol chasing after packs of live pigs running down the highway. A pig truck flipping on it was not the only time that happened. A lot of us natives avoid crossing the bridge unless we really have to; outsiders may not be aware of the bad juju surrounding that bridge, so every time there’s an accident on it, it’s big local news. On top of that, it not only has one of the most expensive tolls, it’s currently $16 – $21 to cross (just to potentially die), but it’s also under forever construction, which only adds to the chance of accidents. So I guess you’re wondering what makes the bridge so dangerous? One word. **Science**. There are many mechanics of science at play on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel because of where it sits; it’s practically _in_ the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the mechanics are man-made, but most are just physics and laws of nature. And no, I didn’t research any of this. I just know because I’m _from_ here. ## The Crosswinds The crosswinds are the most dangerous aspect of this bridge and the number one cause of accidents. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel sits at the opening of the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. So as a result, it gets hit on its east side from the raw, rogue winds of the wild ocean and on its west side, the swirling winds of the bay. The two winds aren’t always blowing in the same direction, so it causes this push-pull, suction effect where the bridge sits. As a result, on windy days, your vehicle is getting rocked with hard gusts from all sides, in different directions every few seconds. For low-lying cars this isn’t too bad, and you can recover by just slowing down, but these crosswinds are dangerous for freight trucks and top-heavy vehicles, no matter their speed, and will flip them or make the driver over-correct and lose control. Sometimes, even if you can recover from the wind, this leads to deadly accidents because once you’ve lost control of your vehicle to the wind, people over-correct, and then you’re in the hands of science and will lose because you only have a small margin of error since the lanes are so narrow and there are only two, so chances are you’re going to hit somebody. A lot of people just lose control and hit the rails, or if it’s raining, they spin out and cause a pile-up. There’s only two lanes on the bridge part, so you’re either going to sideswipe someone and cause a crash or hit the guardrail, and pray you don’t flip over it or go through it into the bay like this unfortunate trucker did today. ## Idiots Speeding The bridge is at the end of miles and miles of dark, empty country road on Route 13 before it hits the city, so people get overzealous. Imagine driving hours in the dark and then suddenly seeing the oasis of city lights in the distance, far on the other side of a nearly 20-mile bridge? So people, especially outsiders and travelers, try to speed across the tunnel and lose. The speed limit is no higher than 55mph for a reason. And sometimes it’s only 35mph when the winds are high. But people don’t follow the speed signs and pay the price. Sometimes, taking innocent people with them. ## Head-On Collisions If you manage to survive the first bridge section of winds, science and idiots, the danger doesn’t end there. A new danger arises. Head-on collisions. The bridge is oddly shaped because it used to be a two-way highway all the way through. But there were so many accidents that they decided to make it split, however, it is in the middle of this one-million-year-long construction to split the tunnels, so the bridges go from a split and then merge twice, and inside the tunnel, it is still two-way. Many people have fallen asleep or not paid attention or just got too close to clipping another vehicle in the opposite direction and collide _inside_ the tunnel, sometimes fatal. The bridge has two tunnels and 3 bridges, so you have to repeat the “obstacle course” a few times before you get to the land of Virginia Beach on the other side. ## Forever Construction The bridge stays consistently under construction because it’s used to be a two-way only bridge ending in a lot of head-on collisions, and heavy traffic, so they decided to expand it. However, it’s been in forever construction since 2017 and won’t be finished until 2028. The plethora labryinth of cones, lights, temporary reflectors and signs can be confusing, especially if you’re not familiar with the bridge. Even when I go to visit my family, I slow down to 35mph and pay close attention meandering through the obstacle course of construction. I have no doubt that it causes confusion and accidents. ## Weather Being Virginia, hurricanes and noreasters are common every fall. As a result, the bridge becomes super dangerous, so they just close it. The bridge sits on the ocean, so trying to cross it in those kinds of conditions would be a death sentence. But in normal weather, people driving too fast, hydroplaning, and spinning out are also common. And yes, sometimes they do go over the edge, too. I can write so much about this bridge, but I won’t because of the time it would take. The short of it is, the bridge is a guillotine. It’s dangerous. It isn’t for the weak or inexperienced drivers because there are so many obstacles. Even I didn’t drive over it for the first time until I was in my late 30s. Don’t get me wrong, the nature scene from the bridge is captivating, it’s one of the reasons why I cross it; it’s beautiful. It’s definitely a feat of geological engineering. The bridge is so long, you can’t see the land on the other side of it. It just looks like it disappears into the sea, but so many people have paid the price. If you’re interested in knowing more about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, just Google it. The accidents and deaths are just too numerous to write about them all. RIP to the trucker who died today on it, making him the 20th poor soul to plunge into its waters below and die.

Proton released its new AI called Lumo almost a year ago. Lately, I’ve been moving away from using Perplexity (PP) and ChatGPT because I’m pretty sure they’re just psyops. Perplexity isn’t a cheap subscription, so after getting my one-millionth free access code, which I’ve been getting consecutively since 2022, you just get kinda sus. I don’t think PP devs have given me free access for almost 4 years out of the kindness of their hearts and moreso because they just want to harvest my behavior patterns for their overlords. Hence why I’ve started using Lumo. But anyway, if you’d like to use Lumo as your browser’s default search engine when you search for something in your address bar, I’ve put the steps here on how to do that. ## Chrome Open your browser > **3 lines** in top right > **Settings** > **Search Engine** > **Manage search engines and site search**. Under **Site Search** section go to **Add** and enter: Name: **`Lumo`** Shortcut: `:**lu**` URL with %s in place of query: **`https://lumo.proton.me/u/c/search/?q=%s`** Select **Save**. It will be a new entry in the list. Next click the**3 dots** beside the Lumo entry you just made. Select **Make Default**. **Restart browser**. Now you’ll have Lumo as your default search engine in your top bar. You’ll even have the little purple Lumo head icon in your address bar too. Do a test search and it will automatically answer your query in Lumo. ## Firefox Firefox is setup the same way, but I haven’t gotten it to fully work yet. It doesn’t like the search url and the same search url that’s used in Chrome-based browsers won’t fork for Firefox. Go fig. But anyway: Open Firefox > **3 lines** in top right > **Settings** > **Search**. Scroll to the bottom. Click **Add**. Enter the following: Search Engine Name: **`Lumo`** URL with %s in place of search term: **`https://lumo.proton.me/u/c/search/?q=%s`** Keyword (optional): `:**lu**` Click **Add Engine**. Scroll to the top. Under **Default search engine** , select **Lumo**. **Restart your browser.** And this is the part where it breaks. If you do a search, it tries to search, but then just goes back to the Lumo home page. Don’t know why it does that, but I’ll figure it out and update these steps. Otherwise, if you’re on Chrome-ish browser, you’re welcome.

MSN Read More https://www.msn.com “The harshest punishments are typically imposed on poorer citizens, while wealthier individuals or those with political connections can often avoid execution by bribing officials.”

‘I cannot trust tech companies with that kind of personal data’: Discord users are furious about its new age verification checks – and they have a point Discord has announced that it’s rolling out age verification checks globally from March – and the decision has sparked fury from many privacy-conscious users. Read More https://www.techradar.com I will absolutely **not** be giving my face scan and government ID to Discord. The world elites are literally sitting in a death cabal cult, trafficking children, but they are worried about underage kids talking on a voice chat app. Not only will it not stop anything, kids will still be on there, but I also know that Discord is ghetto and can’t handle storing that kind of sensitive data. It’s a fucking voice chat app for Christ’s sake. In no way, shape, or form should something so trivial be requesting such dire personal information. Not even CoD does that and I’ve seen illegal shit on there. It’s weird. What, will they want my social security number next? I’ve been on Discord since the week it launched. It was my World of Warcraft guild’s replacement for Ventrilo and Mumble from back in the day, so I wouldn’t have to pay for them anymore. I would be lying if I said my account didn’t have sentimental value to me. So many celebrations of bosses killed. So many game and xpac launch parties over voice chat. So many raids conquered and so many wipes. So many drama fights between us. So many of us who also didn’t make it this far, but I still read their old chats for nostalgia. So many times where I’m just chilling in the channel playing D3, and guildies jump in just to shoot the shit while running rifts. I have also built my entire livestreaming ecosystem around Discord and my hobbies, work, study groups and clubs from school. I _just_ bought a lifetime subscription to MEE6 last year because I figured why not since I use Discord every day and had no plans on stopping. But hell, if it comes to sacrificing my security just to keep it, it will be hard, but I will let that shit go! I’ll let it go like a fart in a hurricane. This is indicative of another problem. I’m getting _real_ tired of building my daily life’s itinerary around software that has no longevity. Like what’s the point of incorporating a daily tool in my life only for them to just yank the rug from under it when they see fit, making it useless? I am _very_ aware of how loose and ragtag Discord is run. And it will only be a matter of time before they get hacked again, but then not only will the hackers have your ID, but also now your face. Hell, one of my guildie’s Discord accounts got stolen last week, likely from the most recent breach because he didn’t put 2FA on his account. They claim the data stays on the device, but I don’t believe them anymore. Everything leaves a paper trail, or else how did the IDs of 70k people get leaked in the last hack? They’re lying. And now with the added threat of Israel and Palantir being roaches with their spyware slithering around social platforms now, I believe they are the ones behind all these recent hackings lately to build their stupid global database. So I’m not expecting Discord to reveal that that data will not be shared with them behind our backs. The trust contract was broken years ago. No one trusts tech bros with our data anymore. I’ll just ride out Discord until the fat lady sings, but I won’t be giving them my personal data. Discord can get fucked🖕🏾

Not much has gone on lately. I’m still at my mom’s house trying to figure out how I’m going to look for an apartment to get back to NY. My better judgement says I should probably forego a whole apartment for now and just rent a room, then look for an apartment when I get up there, so I can get what I want, but I really don’t want to do that. I hate living with people. The last couple times I’ve had roommates, I had to listen to them bang out their boyfriends and leave the bathroom dirty, and I’m just not down for it. Not anymore. I’m too old for that shit. Rents for apartments have skyrocketed since I last had a place. When I first got my other place in 2020, the rents started at around $1,800; now a decent apartment is $2,000 a month, and that’s considered the lower end. You’d think making $85k a year that it wouldn’t be a struggle, but $2k a month _is_ still in the struggle range to me once I add in the cost of living, making sure my aging Mom has everything she needs, and to put aside to buy my own home one day, not in NY of course. A house in NY is well into starting at $1.5M. And that I’m going to have to pay for my own tuition to complete my degree. Right now, everything is on pause. Nevermind that, I hate talking about money. I just want to get back to having my own apartment so I can get my entire life out of storage before something dumb happens and I lose it all, and get back to being me again. I wasn’t meant for a life living with people because I enjoy the quiet solitude. I like my things being in place and besides, when I as living with my boyfriend, it was endless daily cleaning because he was a slob. Living with my family has been fine, though; I’d never have a problem with that. I’ve loved living here with them for the last 2 months. She’s also planning on moving into a nice new apartment in a couple of months, so there’s that. I mean, living a life with roommates and a boyfriend. I was _never_ meant for a life living with a boyfriend. I should have just stayed there temporarily and then went back to finding my own place. As Mom says, Live. Learn. Burn. Sleeping is becoming a problem again. But some good news, I’m down to 208 lbs. My first milestone is to get down to 200, then I’ll try to achieve my next milestone to get down to 180, until I can get down to 150. Hopefully.