#The initial note in my brain-dump is from Several months ago but that's all it was - just an extremely loose premise not even an outline | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

druware · 5 years ago

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This Shouldn't Be a Problem

... Often turns out to be. When a developer writes code long enough, they will run into a development pattern that will lead to the dreaded unintended consequences, and the many lost hours to tracking down the how and why. Unfortunately, this also often leads to the other programmer problem, the complicated problems have complicated solutions, when in fact, the problem was simple, but the lost hours made it feel complicated, and the solution is likewise far simpler than it seemed.

I trapped myself in one of these this week, and I figure I will share in the hopes that someone else can learn from my series of mistakes that led me to a frustrating weekend and a couple of missed bike rides, because I got mired in the hunt for the problem.

There is a program that I maintain for customers that is essentially the heart of their businesses. When it hiccups, they get frustrated, and rightly so. Making changes in that code is usually not a big deal, as the codebase really is not overly complex on the surface. However, there are some things under the surface that are a bit more hairy. Many years ago, it moved from a model where most of the code existed within the user interface to a more modern model view controller design ( this is code that has been evolving since the early 90's and has its roots in 16-bit Windows ).

The business object layer is where most of the brains are, and the user experience is largely a thin veneer over them. I am the core maintainer of the business object layer, and because of the history with them, I am also the one that knows where most of the skeletons are within that code. So when things go wrong, things escalate back to me when others cannot find the problem reasonably quickly.

This was one of those problems.

The Problem

The original support ticket on this issue is now months old. It started like so many do: "The program randomly encounters an error and stops running. The error message was that a list index is out of bounds". Unfortunately, this information is not enough to create a reproduceable bug, so difficult to trace. Slowly, over the ensuing weeks, a few more reports come in. There is definitely a problem, but not much pattern to find it. So the hunt begins. What changed in the last release prior to the first reports? Changelog doesn't show anything that should be of significance. Most everything is enhancements. Nothing that should touch lists. Go back a a few revisions. Still nothing.

Time passes. More error reports come in, but still nothing reliably reproduceable.

Each time the error reports come in. Spend a couple of hours digging at it, but still nothing.

Another report comes in, and this has been escalated. Now it's MY problem. Spend a morning digging, literally randomly clicking between a couple of UX elements that are the most likely candidates. To tab pages with list views on them. An hour of clicking produces a few errors, but the debugger drops into Windows runtime assembler, not user space code. Cookies, M&Ms and Diet Coke acquired, office door closed, music cranked up, phone on Do Not Disturb. It is on. This bug is going down. More clicking and finally a reproduceable pattern is identified.. Select an item in a list view on tab page A. Switch to tab page B. Select an item in the list on that page. Switch back to tab page A and boom the error occurs and dumps into Window runtime land, with no reference in the stack to user space code.

With a pattern in hand, now it is time to figure out the reasons. Back to the changelogs to figure out when a change occurred that impact these user interface elements. 6 months prior, a change was made to improve performance of several list views, including one of these. However, that change had been in deployment for3 months before the first error report came in. It can't be the problem can it?

More digging and refining the test case that triggers the failure. Hours pass. Frustration sets in. Resort to calling a colleague in to just listen while I talk through it. Somewhere in the middle of that conversation, the answer hits like a lightning bolt. It is is a problem with the 6 month old performance change, but was only exposed by a months later tangential change that should have had no effect on the lists, at least on the surface.

Unintended, Unplanned for, and Unexpected Consequences

It turns out that the root of the problem was a premature optimization decision made several years prior. The relevant code comments point to the author ( me ), and a date of 2015. Evolution of code and responding to customer requests often creates these very situations.

The user interface element at the heart of this issue is a list of notes pertaining to the document currently open. As any developer who has worked with customer service type operations can reiterate, notes are the lifeblood of the operation. The constant customer requests mean that they end up expanding, and needing to be displayed like Chicago voting, early, often and everywhere. Because of this, there is a heavy reuse of the same user interface element to display these notes wherever needed.

The performance change months ago was to switch the lists from a traditional listview/listitem model to a listview/virtual list model operating directly against the business object store representing the array of notes. Everything worked fine, until a single, subtle change was made months later. One instance of the reusable notes user interface element had the option to have user filters applied to the list enabled. Since all of these reused display elements shared a common data store in the business logic, filters applied in one space applied across all of them, since they were all sharing a single instance of the business object. This was fine so long as there was never any potential overlap of having two of these instances visible at the same time, or, as it turns out switching directly between two of them.

Results

As I am sure the more experienced developers have already deduced, when one list was being swapped out, with the other, there was a brief period where it was possible (though not always true) that the state of the data store was inconsistent with the expected content of the displayable lists, the result, seemingly random failures to read a memory address that was no longer valid.

How Did We Get Here?

Honestly, it was a failure to communicate the risks. I wrote the code initially many moons ago. I authored the performance improvements, and then I approved the recent change in passing, without taking the time to fully consider the ramifications, which I am reasonably certain I would have caught given the chance to actually think about them, but in the press of a customer request while I was focused on another pressing task, I did not take the time to do so. Then to make matters worse, the situation was one that the unit test test cases would never have trapped as they existed at that point.

The Solution, and Not the Solution, and then the Solution

All of this leads to the other developer problem and disconnect in the how we think. In typical fashion, the immediate conclusion is that a hard to find problem, does not have an easy solution. So, a solution is formulated, planned implemented and enters testing. It works, but it is expensive in terms of resources. It creates separate copies of the data store per reused list view. It is a hammer, when really all that is needed is a gentle nudge.

Sometime after starting testing, the developer, who has at this point left to do something else because decompression is needed, has the "oh shit" moment. Yeah, brute force works, but is fundamentally flawed in the wasted resources, as well as user experience. Worse the business object layer already supports what is needed.

Instead of creating copies of the underlying datastore, all that is needed is to maintain multiple filtered lists that reference the allocated objects in the underlying data store. It is a 5 minute change involving about 3 lines of code ( and 30 lines of documentation to explain what is happening ). Dump it into the testing rig, and add a new test case to handle this unique tests.

Side Note

Unfortunately, there is no test case that can test for developerDidAStupidThing(); so in the interim, these types of things will keep happening. This is one of those problems that will crop up in customer driven solutions with short turn around times. No amount of automation will completely solve the problems so long as users are driving the evolution, and developers are operating in a respond to the customer model.

#code developerstories

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resmarted · 2 years ago

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just in case i haven’t made myself clear enough here is a list of things i would rather go back to than sammi sthweetheart~* on my beloved tv:

- my childhood spent in hospital beds

- my abusive alcoholic father

- getting jumped by all the boys in my grade at once until i couldn’t breathe

- eating lunch alone in the bathroom

- my dog dying

- hurricane katrina

- sleeping on the streets in the snow

- staying in a homeless shelter

- my several dozen suicide attempts

- almost dying in the hospital a couple of months ago and having my face further disfigured from trying to get a violent infection under control

- having all my teeth taken out only to be told jk we can’t actually fix this with dental implants as initially promised and just being left w no teeth

- being mistreated by nurses and doctors my whole life

- being thrown out by society in general

- the people i babysat for who used their kids as tools to emotionally manipulate me into doing what they wanted and bleeding the life from me

- the friends who dumped me when i no longer financially benefited them / gave them money / was overly generous to them anymore as well as those who stay hellbent on squeezing more out of me whether financially emotionally spiritually whatever gives them source of life i’m guessing because they died in the 1800’s

- the hailey bieber’s and buffalo bills of my life that talk mad shit about me while simultaneously doing eerie things to copy my every move including hacking into my accounts to take note on every text dm keystroke data in real time so they can conveniently show up to my location or simply to imitate each and every mannerism and style and breathing technique i’m assuming to eventually wear my skin as a sweater without a hitch idfk but you know who you are so hi was this the attention you were hoping to get bc here it is please stop breaking all of my vpn servers and changing shit i type in real time just to fuck with me you psychos 👋

- all the girls who used me for street cred and clout at the cost of my emotional well-being because it was a fun quirky thing for me to be madly in love with them and made them more interesting for other people to be around

- the only man i ever dared to trust who ended up cheating on me relentlessly and took no accountability for it (surprise surprise, girl with a violent father who can’t trust men picks the most insidious of scumbags to allow past the emotional barbed wire only to build it back 10x stronger and keep everyone at bay forever etc)

- having the cancerous tumor reappear and nearly destroy my brain and take my life again

would gladly go back to all of these things if it meant keeping the one goddam morsel of joy in this world. would even take a million more shots of nikki yawning and rolling her eyes since she’s basically a black sammi like why do we need 2. this was meant to sound funnier originally but i forgot about all the trauma til i made a lil listicle. but seriously WAY more upset about sammi returning than literally all those things i’m not jk

#sorry to make it weird 😬#or am i….

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commandershepardvasfuckit · 8 years ago

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Chapter 4 for Galaxies Apart

So after a month I finally finished ch 4 for GA after getting very distracted by some Ryder/Kandros stuff

Under a cut for length (AO3 link in blog description)

Other Chapters 1/ 2/ 3

It was a bit of a walk back from the overlook to her apartment, though about the time Julie reached the Repository she realized that she really did not want to head home yet, instead she ducked into the Repository to see if Avela had time to answer any questions.

Avela was buzzing around, picking up and sitting down relics as she made notes on several datapads and talked to herself.

“Hey, Avela” began Julie, trying not to startle her, “I was wondering if you had some time to maybe answer a few questions?”

“I’d love to normally, but your Pathfinder just had some very interesting relics shipped over from Voeld. Apparently they managed to break through a wall of a cave and found a labyrinth of rooms that haven't been touched in hundreds of years! Since before the scourge!” Avela told her excitedly.

“Wow, that's amazing” smiled Julie, “Whenever you get done studying them I’d love to learn about them”.

“Of course! But it'll have to wait, I'm going with an archeological team to Voeld to see everything firsthand! I've got a few days to study these relics and then we head out for a few weeks!” Avela was absolutely beaming at the prospect of being able to see so much angaran history for herself.

“You'll have to tell me all about it when you get back” Julie said.

“Of course I will” smiled Avela.

“Though can you maybe point me to anyone who might be willing to answer some questions?” asked Julie.

“Hmm” mused Avela, “Not sure of anyone in particular, but you're welcome to hang around here and ask anyone who comes it”.

“That's alright, I don't want to hang around and get in your way or anything” Julie said, “Seems like you've got a lot to do” she added with a smile as she made her way back out into the bright sun of Aya.

She had only taken a few steps before she heard someone call her name.

“Julie!” came a voice from behind her.

She turned to see who was trying to get her attention. It was Ajaa and Sivus’s friend from the other day, the one who had helped Ajaa walk home.

“Hello!” she called back cheerfully.

The large angaran man quickly caught up to her. “Picking Avela’s brain today?” he asked.

“I was trying to, but she's a bit too busy for that today” she answered, “and what brings you up here?”

“Dropping off some reports for the Resistance, medical applications of plants mostly” he shrugged.

“Sounds pretty important” Julie remarked.

“Sort of, a lot of it was stuff people already knew that we just never actually tested, old wives’ tales, y’know?” he said.

“Ahh, alright,” Julie said, “I'm sorry, I know we met sort of, but I can't remember your name at all” she apologized.

“That's alright. I'm Paalka, I work with Ajaa and Sivus” he smiled.

Paalka was tall, even on angaran standards, standing a few inches taller than anyone else that Julie had met. His shoulders and chest were broad and he seemed to be very well muscled, it made Julie wonder why he was working on a science team instead of fighting in the Resistance.

“You wouldn't happen to have time to chat for a minutes, would you?” she asked.

“I could kill some time” he shrugged, “we can chat while I'm on my way back to the lab”.

“Great!” Julie smiled, “I don't know if Ajaa has mentioned it, but I'm supposed to be learning more about the angara for the Initiative to make sure there's no big misunderstandings or anything” she explained.

“Ahh, a bit of a scientist too then” said Paalka, “So what are you interested in learning about?”

“Everything I can, the more we know the better we’re hoping that the Initiative and the angara can get along” she said.

“Well, that's pretty vague” Paalka noted, “And what about you? What do you actually want to learn about?” he asked.

“I don't know, I guess I really just want to know who the angara are” she said.

Paalka laughed a bit, “So just curious in general. Nothing wrong with that”.

“Could I ask you a few personal questions? I just want to get to know people for now” Julie asked.

“Sure” Paalka smiled.

Julie smiled back at Paalka, he seemed nice in the same was Ajaa and Sivus were. “So where are you from?” she asked.

“Voeld, a daar called Raesha. It was mostly just a civilian town, quiet most of the time, well hidden” he said.

“Kett didn't bother you?” Julie asked.

“Didn't know we were there. Everything was built deep into a cave system, no one really came or went, just occasional supply drops from the Resistance” Paalka shrugged.

“Sounds pretty isolated” she said.

“It was. There were a lot of people there, but people there were scared, kept to themselves, never left, but it was safe at least” Paalka said, “It was nice there though, there were lava flows under the rock so it was pretty warm at least”.

“I thought angara liked the cold” Julie remarked.

“Most of us don't like the heat, doesn't mean we want to freeze to death” he answered.

“Sounds like you got lucky and got to grow up somewhere safe at least” she said.

“Yeah, I suppose. Don't get me wrong, Raesha will always be my home, but there were problems there I'm glad I got away from” he trailed off.

Julie searched to a response to him, not sure what to say. “I suppose no where is perfect” she finally managed.

“Sorry, didn't mean to dump that on you. And it's not as bad as I probably made it seem” Paalka sighed, “It was warm enough there where we didn't need heat lamps, which sounds great, but the lamps aren't just for heat, angara need electromagnetic energy in order to thrive. Normally sun exposure is more than enough, but the people of Raesha were always to scared to go outside and the leaders refused the lamps the Resistance tried to give us, I think they were so sick and weak they didn't even remember that we needed electromagnetic radiation anymore”.

“So what happened?” asked Julie.

“My people were sick and weak, dying, and too damn scared and ignorant to do anything about it” growled Paalka. “I used to try to run outside when I was little, I'd heard the Resistance fighters talking about how we needed sunlight and I just wanted anything that might make me feel better. My family kept me under a constant watch, they thought I was crazy and wanted to die or something” he gave a bitter laugh, “I'd begged the Resistance fighters to take me away with them, they always pat me on the head and sadly tell me this was my home, I belonged here. Family is important to angara, so important that they'd let kids fucking die in that cave instead of separate families”.

“I'm sorry Paalka” Julie reached out to touch his arm, remembering what she had learned from the information Avela had given her the other day, angara were an open people and liked physical contact.

“It's in the past, I did what I could to help them and one day the Resistance decided I was useful enough to be brought here. My health has improved being on Aya, though my immune system will never be great after 20 years of damage”.

“I'm glad you're doing better at least” Julie said, trying to find a silver lining in everything.

“Thanks, it's been a while since I've talked about my family and all that, didn't mean to off load all that on you” Paalka apologized.

“That's alright, I did say I wanted to get to know people” Julie smiled. She had not realized how far that they had walked from the Repository until Paalka stopped in front of a freight elevator.

“Lab’s down on the planet floor, won't drag you down there” Paalka told her. “I know you've been chatting with Ajaa, and Sivus already told me that Ajaa got you to try laia”.

“That was like 30 minutes ago, how the hell does everyone know already?” Julie asked.

“Ajaa and Sivus are close, so Ajaa tells him everything, and the Sivus passes everything along to me” he shrugged.

“So you three are close?” she asked.

“Yeah, Ajaa and Sivus have been friends for years, and Sivus and I are together. Sivus likes to joke about me and Ajaa having to share him” he smirked. “But on a serious note, Ajaa doesn't make friends easily, well he could if he wanted to, but he gets anxious about losing people he's close to so now he just doesn't get close to people. He likes talking to you so far, and it's good to see him happy, but if you're just on Aya for work and leaving soon don't let him get too attached to you. Just better that way”.

“No, I get it” Julie said, she really did not know how long she would be on Aya, the Initiative had stationed her on Aya indefinitely though now that Aya was allowing settlers she might just be able to live there. She joined the Initiative alone and had not spent enough time on the Nexus to really make friends with anyone there, it would be easy just to stay on Aya, “It would be nice to stay here, I don't have anyone back on the Nexus waiting for me and Aya seems like a good place to start a life in Heleus” Julie smiled.

“Well, if that's the case you should come by the lab later, come see what we actually do, and I don't think you've met Allya yet, have you?” he asked.

“I haven't” she said.

“Come by later today, we usually leave around sundown, maybe 7pm or so, so come by maybe around 6:30? I'll keep Ajaa there so you can surprise him” he said.

“Surprise him?” asked Julie.

“He'd like it. We’re down in building 5c, go through the doors on your right when you get out of the elevator and follow the path all the way back, you'll see it, it's the only building surrounded by farmland” he told her.

“I'll come by later then” Julie smiled.

They parted ways at the elevator. Part of Julie was surprised to learn that Ajaa was not always this open and friendly, that apparently Ajaa was typically kept himself pretty walled off from people. She could not help but smile to herself, something about Ajaa liking to talk with her made her quite happy.

She strolled back to the market, she did not really have the chance to explore earlier with Ajaa like she had planned to, but it was still pretty early in the day. The same women was still standing behind the stand where Ajaa had bought the laia fruit earlier, she had giggled when Julie tried the fruit and had been watching them a bit with a smile, she seemed like someone who might answer some of Julie’s questions.

Before Julie managed to make it to the stand she heard a loud voice approaching her and the pitter patter of small feet.

“Mooooom! It's a human!” came a young voice from behind her, “Look! It's like the Pathfinder!”

Julie turned around to find an angaran child that barely was as tall as her hip looking at her with curiosity. “Hello” Julie said with a smile to the child.

“Hi! Do you know the Pathfinder?” the child asked.

Julie went to answer, but before she had the chance an angaran women quickly ran up to them, “Taeli! Don't run off like that!” scolded the woman, “I’m sorry, she's always been a friendly child” the women smiled.

“That's alright” Julie told her, “And I don't know the Pathfinder unfortunately” she told Taeli.

“Don't bother the human” the angaran woman said as she scooped up her child.

“That's alright,” said Julie, “I'm actually supposed to be talking to people and learning about the angara for the Initiative, I'd love to talk with you two if you have a moment”.

“I wanna talk to the human” wailed Taeli, trying to struggle free from her mother’s grasp.

“I have some time” said the women as she sat the child down.

“Wonderful, I'm Julie by the way” she introduced herself.

“Amra” the woman said. She stretched her arm out in front of her, “It’s an angaran greeting, here” she gently reached out and took Julie’s wrist to bring her arm up to rest against hers, “Any angara will be surprised you know that, it'll do you good, shows you've taken the time to learn about us” she smiled.

“Thanks, I'll keep that in mind” Julie smiled back, “Is Taeli your only child?”

“Of course not!” Amra laughed, “I have three more at home with my wife Setta, Taeli is our little ball of energy, had to get her out of the house while the others were napping before she woke them up”.

“Do you know Jaal? He travels with the Pathfinder!” chimed in Taeli.

“I don't know him either” Julie told Taeli, “I know a few people here on Aya though, I know Sivus and Paalka and Ajaa”.

“Ajaa is nice” smiled Taeli, “He always has candy”.

Julie covered her mouth as she giggled a bit, there was something very endearing about the thought of Ajaa carrying around candy.

“Ajaa has a sweet tooth,” Amra explained, “He always has bits of candied fruit with him and the kids noticed, now the kids follow him around whenever he's working up here”.

“Yeah! And he knows about plants!” Taeli added.

“I'm going to go visit Ajaa where he works later to see all the plants he's growing” Julie said.

“That's cool!” Taeli said with wide eyes.

“Ajaa does well with kids, he's patient with all their questions and he takes the time to explain whatever he’s working on so they can understand too” Amra began, “I can't believe he's not married, he's a sweet man and so good with kids, but he's already 25. If he has any hope of having a family he really should get started”.

Julie furrowed her eyebrows, it seemed like a rather personal topic to be discussing. And was it really so strange to be 25 and not starting a family?

Luckily before the topic could become more uncomfortable Taeli started to tug at her mother’s hand and yawn, “Are you tired my little one?” Amra said as she picked up Taeli, “Ready to go home?”

The little girl nodded and rubbed her eyes.

“It was nice to talk to you Julie, perhaps we’ll bump into you again sometime” Amra smiled.

Amra seemed nice enough, maybe everyone on Aya just knew everyone else's business and gossiped.

Julie spent the rest of her day wandering the market and the adjacent areas finding people who did not mind chatting with her. For the most part things went smoothly, except for one younger angara who snarled at her and called her vesagara . The word did not mean anything to her, but it angered an older man who happened to be walking by at the time.

“Didn't your mothers teach you any manners?” the older man asked.

“They taught me to fight for our home, that means not letting these aliens just invade!” the younger man snarled.

“And if it wasn't for these aliens the kett probably would have killed us all by now. Either learn some manners or learn to keep your mouth shut” the older man said calmly.

“When they turn on us too all of you will finally see what's going on” the younger man said as he left.

“I'm sorry about that,” the older man began, “There’s still some Roekaar sympathizers around, ignore anyone who calls you vesagara, I promise that most of us are glad your Initiative is here”.

“Thanks, a friend told me to be careful but I really didn't think I'd run into anyone like that” Julie said.

“They're cowards, people like that wouldn't dare do anything in public, but that guy knew this area was more isolated and didn't think an old man was going to stand up” the man said with a smile, “I might be old but I'm not dead yet”.

“I'll make sure to stick to busy areas” Julie nodded. This time things had just been a bit uncomfortable, and the other man seemed like he was all talk, but it was not hard to imagine that things could have gotten bad.

Julie parted ways with the kindly man and began to make her way back to where the freight elevator was, making sure to keep to the busy well lit areas. It was a luckily uneventful trip there, a few people watched her as she waited for the elevator, though they only seemed to watch in mild curiosity. The freight elevator moved slowly and creaked but seemed safe enough and before long the doors slide open revealing a cargo bay that opened out to the planet floor. A few more people looked on in curiosity, though no one approached her.

“5c, 5c,” Julie mumbled to herself, “everything is in Shelesh, don't know what I was expecting” she raised her omni tool up to each building sign to scan and translate them, eventually making her way to the last building. It was a small building surrounded by farmland, just as Paalka had described.

The door was not locked and Julie let herself in.

“Julie!” came Sivus’s excited voice as he bounded over to her, “Paalka said you'd stop by to see Ajaa” he said with a smile. “He's in the dark room working with climbing stars, but you haven't met Allya yet!”

Sivus quickly grabbed Julie's arm and led her through the door in the back out into the fields surrounding the building.

“Allya!” he called, “Julie is here!”

“Over here!” came a woman’s voice from around the other side of the building, “I'm coming!” she called again before rounding the corner.

Allya looked tired, her gloves coated in dirt, but she was smiling, “So you're the one that the guys keep talking about, good to meet you”.

“It's good to meet you too” Julie raised her arm up like Amra showed her earlier, hoping it was the right thing to do.

Allya laughed, “No need to be formal! Come here” she said as she pulled Julie into a hug, “It took years for Sivus years to befriend Ajaa, took Paalka a few months, and it took me a few weeks, but it only took a few days for you. It's good to see Ajaa starting to relax more”.

“Apparently it just took tripping over him” Julie joked.

“Whatever you're doing has worked” Allya smiled, “I won't keep you here, I know you came to see him”.

Julie blushed a bit, she had not come specifically for Ajaa, but it would be a lie to say that she was not happy that she would get to talk to him again.

“I'm sure Sivus wouldn't mind if you came with us for drinks after we’re done here, would you Sivus?” Allya said as he elbowed Sivus in the side.

“Of course not! Anyone who can befriend Ajaa is more than welcome to come over for drinks” Sivus chided, “Enough of that for now though, Ajaa still doesn't know you're here”. Sivus led Julie back in and pointed her to another door, apparently leading to where Ajaa was working.

“Ajaa?” Julie called as she opened the door. It was dark in the room, just lit by the strange soft glow of plants that had climbed the walls and ceiling.

“Julie?” came Ajaa’s voice from somewhere behind the tables in the room, “What are you doing here?”

“I bumped into Paalka earlier today and he said I should come by and see what you've been working on. I've got to say, this is actually pretty beautiful” Julie said in amazement. The room had almost entirely overtaken by climbing vines, most of the leaves on them were large normal leave, but about a quarter of them had several points and were emitting a decent glow.

“They're called climbing stars” came Ajaa’s voice from behind the tables, “They're native to a few caves on Havarl, the plant normally don't glow, but these specimens have actually formed a symbiotic relationship with a local bioluminescent bacteria! It's rather fascinating, the plants can actually get enough light to live just from the bacteria!”

“That is pretty interesting, but why are you down there behind the tables?” she asked as she walked over to where Ajaa was laying behind the tables.

“I thought it would be nice to lay down and look up at them” Ajaa told her.

“I'll join you, it does sound nice” Julie laid down next to Ajaa. The ground was hard and cold, but there was something peaceful about laying there looking up at the plants, they really did look like stars. “How long have you been laying here?”

“Thirty minutes, I can't get up” Ajaa said, sounding rather embarrassed.

“Legs?” asked Julie.

“Legs” confirmed Ajaa.

“Should I get Sivus?” she asked.

“Yeah, I thought I could wait it out and get up, I was very wrong” he mumbled.

“I'll get him, be right back” Julie said as she got back up to get Sivus.

Great time for her to come by, when you're stuck on your back like a kaerkyn, Ajaa growled to himself. He had not actually decided to lay down in the lab, he had slipped and fallen, landing hard enough on his back to disrupt the neural connection and leave him stranded, but he felt to pathetic to actually admit that to Julie.

It was only moments before Julie and Sivus returned.

“Alright Ajaa, what did you did this time?” asked Sivus.

“Nothing, just can't get back up” Ajaa lied.

“Well, that sounds absolutely fake but alright” Sivus said as he knelt down next to Ajaa, “can you roll over so I can get to your back at least?”

“Yeah, I can” muttered Ajaa as he rolled onto his stomach.

“Alright” began Sivus as he lifted up the back of Ajaa’s shirt like he had done the other day.

“Do you really have to do that?” asked Ajaa.

“What? Lift your shirt? It's easier to find where the impulses are being stopped, you know that, and I really don't think Julie cares about your scars” said Sivus as he lifted up Ajaa’s shirt.

“That's alright, I can wait outside” Julie said as she went to leave.

“It'll just be a minute, sorry” said Ajaa.

Sivus waited until he heard the door close behind Julie, “Do you really think she'd care about your back?” hissed Sivus? “I'm pretty sure she saw your back the other day when she tripped over you anyways. You like talking to her, she likes talking to you, just chill out”.

“It's off putting, I know she probably saw my back before but it doesn't mean I like it” hissed Ajaa back.

“Just hold still” said Sivus as he directed his own bioelectric field and use it to bridge the gap in Ajaa’s nerves to get the impulses flowing again, “Can you wiggle your toes?” he asked.

“Yeah, thanks” muttered Ajaa, he rolled back onto his back and sat up.

“C’mon, I'll get Paalka and we’ll all head up to and grab drinks, it'll do you some good” Sivus said as he gave Ajaa a pat on the back.

“Yeah, sounds good. Maybe Julie will forget that I got stuck on my fucking back” he mumbled.

“That's the spirit, nothing some tavum can't fix” Sivus told him.

It was a longer walk back up than Julie remembered. Sivus led the group, often walking backwards and gesturing with his arms excited my as he spoke. Ajaa walked with Paalka’s support, his arm over Paalka’s shoulder and Paalka's arm around his waist to hold him upright. Allya walked next to Julie, smiling and chatting about what their team had been working on the past few months.

“Home sweet home” Sivus announced as the reached the door to an apartment, “Not much, but cozy, make yourself at home” he told Julie.

Paalka deposited Ajaa on the couch before following Sivus into the kitchen to help with drinks, he wrapped his arms around Sivus’s waist from behind for a moment and kissed the side of Sivus’s cowl while they smiled and laughed over something before Paalka went to get a few glasses for their guests.

“I don't suppose you've had tavum yet, have you Julie?” asked Allya as they settled down on the couch next to Ajaa.

“No, I haven't. What is it?” she asked back, trying to get comfortable in between the two angara.

“The base is distilled from fruits, then it's mixed with an extract from the leaves of the ahdi’s eye plant, it’s an intoxicant” explained Allya.

“So alcohol?” asked Julie.

Allya shrugged, “If that’s what it's called in the Milky Way”.

“Alright!” chimed in Sivus as he and Paalka made their way into the main room, arms laden with glasses and bottles, “No work tomorrow! It's still early, time to have some fun!”

“I don't think rest days extend to us” Ajaa said, finally speaking up.

“You heard Paaran Shie, Fev and Bav are rest days again like how they were before the kett invaded, that definitely extends to us” said Paalka as he sat everything down on the table in front of the couch.

“Allya?” asked Ajaa.

“If Paaran Shie says they're rest days then they're rest days, I've got no problem with a few days off” Allya shrugged.

“We’re not fighting a war anymore, we can actually afford to have down time now” Sivus said as he passed out glasses to everyone, “I'm going to guess you haven't had tavum before, have you Julie”.

“I haven't, though Allya was just telling me about it” Julie said.

“That's fine, I've seen the human Pathfinder drinking it, so it must be safe for you guys, just got to find what to mix it with for you,” Sivus looked over the bottles he and Paalka had brought over, “Ajaa already mentioned you didn't like laia so we’ll skip the laia juice”.

“Try neffa juice” chimed in Paalka.

“Yeah, maybe everything is all backwards to you,” Sivus reached for a bottle full of something green and uncapped it, “does this smell sour or sweet to you?” he asked Julie as he passed her the bottle of juice.

Julie took a tentative sniff, hoping that Sivus was not messing with her, “Sickeningly sweet” she said.

“Well, better than sour” shrugged Sivus.

“Mix it with laia” suggested Allya.

“Now that's an idea” Sivus busied himself pouring together some of the neffa and laia juice together and handed the glass to Julie, “How's that?”

“Sweet, but not too sweet” Julie said.

“Good, good” Sivus reached out to take the glass back, “And this is Tavum, don't drink it too quickly” he said as he topped the glass of juice off with it.

Julie took a sip of her drink, the tavum gave it an earthy bitterness but it was mild, and the burn from tavum was a lot less intense than Milky Way alcohol.

“It's stronger than it seems,” warned Ajaa, “And you're smaller than us, don't worry about finishing it”.

The others mixed their drinks, Sivus and Paalka both drinking mostly laia juice with a bit of neffa mixed in with the tavum, Ajaa chose just the laia and tavum, and Allya just mixed the tavum into hot water.

“So, Julie,” began Sivus, “Why spend 600 years traveling here? Milky Way got boring?”

“Something like that actually, there wasn't really anything left there to study, well for me anyways. I did research for interspecies cultural studies, but there was a lot less to do than I hoped. I got an offer to join the Initiative to help with first contact should there be any and I signed up without even thinking about it. It's funny how you can make a big decision without even realizing what you've done until it's too late” Julie said somewhat sadly. It is not a good feeling to wake up in a strange place and realize everyone you have ever known was in another galaxy and long dead.

“It must be exciting though” smiled Allya, “So many new things”.

“It is. The first thing anyone told me when I woke up was that we had made contact with a new species and they needed people to learn about them and help a few adjusting to living on the Nexus” recounted Julie.

“Well, at least you've been busy, I heard there's been people on the Nexus for over a year with nothing to do” said Allya.

“Yeah, I suppose. Can we talk about something else though? Just feeling a little homesick” asked Julie.

“Of course” smiled Allya.

The night passed by pleasantly, Julie finally managed to sit back and relax wedged between Allya and Ajaa on the couch. Sivus and Paalka were cuddled together on a large armchair-like piece of furniture, smirking and not so subtly sneaking kisses, too intoxicated to notice that everyone else noticed them. Julie struggled to keep her eyes open, fighting the pleasant sedative-like effect of the tavum. It was different than alcohol, her mind still felt clear and she was pretty sure her balance was still intact, but it was pleasant.

Julie realized that at some point she had started leaning on Ajaa, not that he seemed to mind. She had nestled her head against the front of his shoulder and curled up against his side and some time during the night Ajaa had draped his arm over her shoulder. It was comfortable and rather cozy.

The next time she was aware of what was going on it was dark. Julie woke up, the side of her face resting in Ajaa’s lap as she stretched out on the couch. There was no sign of Allya, Sivus, and Paalka, though the slight snoring coming from the bedroom suggested that Sivus and Paalka had gone to bed.

Julie sat up and moved Ajaa’s arm off of her side, feeling a bit odd about sleeping on Ajaa’s lap.

Ajaa grumbled as he woke up, “The sun’s not up yet, what are you doing?”

“Heading home” Julie told him.

“It's dark out, it's not safe for you to go out by yourself” Ajaa grumbled.

“Then walk me home” she said.

“Not really possible right now, sleeping upright on the couch didn't really do wonders for my back” he said.

“What about Sivus and Paalka?” Julie asked.

“What about them? It takes me a bit even after the nerves reconnect to be able to walk on my own, you saw Paalka half carry me here. And they're asleep, I don't trust Sivus to try to reconnect nerves after he's been drinking” Ajaa said.

“Couldn't one of them walk me home?” she asked.

“If either of them is coherent enough to walk. You passed out before everyone else, everyone else kept drinking. Plus if you go in there to wake them up I make no guarantee that either of them is wearing pants” he said, “Just go back to sleep”.

Julie went to lay back down the other direction on the couch so she would not use Ajaa as a pillow again.

“You can just lean on me, I really don't care” Ajaa said.

“Just didn't want to invade your personal space” she said.

“Personal space,” Ajaa snorted, “Angara don't mind being close with friends and family. Just seems more comfortable to lean on me. Plus you're really warm and it kind of feels nice”.

Julie blushed a bit, it had been comfortable sleeping against Ajaa, and if he did not mind it either then it would be alright she told herself. She laid her head back down on his lap and work on getting comfortable again. Ajaa placed his hand on her back and gently began to trace circles absentmindedly.

It had been an interesting first few days on Aya, but at least the people were nice.

#galaxies apart #MEAfics

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feynites · 8 years ago

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I saw the Power Rangers reboot! It was surprisingly good! And then my brain got all ‘what about a Frat AU Power Rangers crossover’ for some reason, and it wouldn’t let me go.

So, here’s some of it, I suppose?

I mostly just redid all of the introductions. There are some mild spoilers for the movie, but only because everyone’s character intros follow the model from the film to varying degrees.

Selene lets out a breath, as her father pulls up to the grey brick façade of Angel Grove’s highschool. It’s Saturday afternoon, and she is due for her mandatory detention. A new weekly ritual that’s going to be part of her life until she graduates, by court order.

The bracelet on her ankle feels clunky, and the air in the car is stifling.

For a moment, there’s just silence. She wants to open the door and go, but Elrogathe hasn’t unlocked it yet.

He stares disapprovingly at the steering wheel, rather than her.

“So this is what you want to do with your life,” he finally says. “Waste everything you have been given, and spend your days rotting with delinquents in detention facilities.”

Selene feels cold. A chilled flash and then a numbness, as the accusation lands more with hollow resignation than any kind of sting by now. She should be used to his disappointment, she thinks. It’s just about the only time he bothers to pay attention to her, when he feels the need to tell her that she’s doing something wrong. Not giving enough effort. Not making enough strides. Angel Grove is one of the largest elven settlements left in Thedas, and she was considered a promising and upstanding youth, up until a couple months ago. Even made the paper a few times, for her promising contributions to the field of magical healing.

And then there was The Incident.

Elrogathe keeps frowning at the steering wheel.

“Do you think it is noble, not giving up the names of those who summoned the demon?”

Selene just shakes her head.

It doesn’t matter how many times she tries to explain that no one summoned the demon, that it somehow found its way through and all her study group could do afterwards was try to seal it again. The templars investigating were convinced that someone had summoned it, and when Selene refused to say who else was with her that day, she volunteered for the role of scapegoat.

It’s not really fair. But it’s not the others kids’ fault, either.

“Can I go to detention now?” she finally asks.

Elrogathe huffs.

“A waste of time,” he grumbles. “You will spend your hours here, instead of helping your mother or I. The shop will lose money.”

“Yes, I know, we’ve been over this,” Selene replies, softly; the cold in her chest unfurling in waves of frustration. Because of course it’s all her fault, and she’s responsible for all their losses, and her parents never should have had her to begin with, they were just doing their duty, and it’s such a tragedy that Selene doesn’t want to waste her life and make herself miserable every day of the week, too.

Selfish child.

Her father unlocks the car doors, and she all but flees. The open air of the parking lot is less stifling, at least, and she’s always liked school. Spending Saturdays there would have sounded like paradise to her younger self.

So the joke’s on the police department, really, she thinks. Shouldering her pack a little higher, and making her way past the double doors, and down to the basement classroom, to serve detention with all the other failures, delinquents, and hooligans.

Dirthamen doesn’t really mind serving detention.

It is, in essence, a chance to catch up on extra academic material and studies. The basement classroom is not a particularly studious place, though, especially before their teacher arrives. Echoes tend to carry strangely through the room, which is distracting; the unnatural florescent lights hurt his eyes, and the other students do not seem to like him very much.

He lays out his writing implements, carefully setting them into a row based on size and colour, and focuses on the smooth, dark blue surface of his textbook.

But then the desk jostles, violently, as one of the other students crashes into it. Dirthamen’s specially marked pens and pencils all clatter to the floor, and his textbook falls into his lap.

Sethtaren Anavys lowers a hand onto the desk.

“Oh, whoops,” he says. “Here, let me get those for you.”

Leaning down, he scoops up several of Dirthamen’s writing implements.

“Thank you,” Dirthamen offers, tentatively. Perhaps if he is simply polite, this time, Sethtaren will leave the matter alone, and not damage or steal more of his property.

“This is a nice pen,” Sethtaren notes, holding up his favourite writing implement. “Fancy. Your rich parents buy it for you?”

“It was a gift from my father,” Dirthamen confirms. “May I have it back, please?”

He extends a hand, but Sethtaren holds the pen outside of his reach.

“Oh, from your father,” he says, twirling it between his fingers. “He died, right? Look, he even got your initials put on it before he croaked. Isn’t that cute. I guess a pen like this is pretty durable, huh? Or is it more the fancy, delicate type of thing?”

“It is delicate,” Dirthamen confirms.

Sethtaren holds the pen between both of his hands.

“Are you sure? I think we should test it. Maybe find out so we can do a proper product review, hm? Fancy pens. Just how well do they handle the stressors of the school environment?”

“Please-“

Dirthamen’s heart sinks as the pen snaps. Not cleanly in half, as a pencil might. But enough so that he can hear the internal chamber crack, and the tip breaks awkwardly off, clattering to the floor.

Sethtaren laughs.

“That didn’t go too well,” he says. “Do you think any of the others will do better?”

“Please do not break any more,” Dirthamen asks.

“Please do not break any more,” Sethtaren mimics. “Gods, Evanuris, you’re such a little pissbaby. All that family money and you can’t even stick up for yourself. Not unless that asshole brother of yours is around, and he’s not here now, is he?”

Then he reaches down and plucks up another pen, and Dirthamen resigns himself to losing most of them before detention has even begun. He has a spare pencil in his bag, a 2b that might not be suitable or called for in all of his assignments, though. He probably should have kept at least one of his pens in this bag, but the desk looks wrong when it isn’t organized properly to anticipate all the likely needs for his assignments.

Sethtaren tightens his grip on Dirthamen’s good red editing pen, and then a hand reaches out as a shadow falls over the other side of the desk, and snatches it away from him.

Sethtaren blinks.

Dirthamen does, too, as Selene Lavellan – one of the most notable teens in Angel Grove – puts his pen back on his desk, and gives Sethtaren a withering look.

“Do you think it would be at all possible for us to not start out detention with a demonstration on the ABC’s of bullying?” she asks.

Sethtaren’s lip curls.

“Selene Lavellan,” he notes. “The Demon Summoner. Aren’t you supposed to be in jail for terrorizing the populace or something?”

Selene folds her arms.

“I’m on parole,” she declares.

There’s a moment of tension, as Sethtaren seems to size up the mage across from him. Dirthamen feels unpleasantly as if violence might be impending; and yet he can scarcely look away from Selene, who is very striking in person, and who – it seems – has come to his defence.

He does not know why she would. He has never spoken to her before.

Then Sethtaren moves as if to grab Selene’s bra strap. But before he can complete the motion, she raises a hand, and slaps him soundly across the side of his face.

Sethtaren staggers in surprise. The sound of the smack echoes through the classroom.

“Did you just slap me?!” he demands of Selene.

Before she can respond, though, their detention substitute arrives. The man barks at them all to get to their seats, and Selene whirls to do just that; leaving Sethtaren with no real option but to seethe, his cheek red. He knocks some more of Dirthamen’s writing implements to the floor as he passes by again. Most of the class settles down, though a girl in the back actually gets up from her desk.

“Pardon me, I have to go to the bathroom. Lady troubles,” she declares, and skips out of the door before the teacher can even blink twice.

Serahlin gets the text just as detention is actually set to begin. She has one eye on the confrontation between that oaf, Sethtaren, and the newest detainee, Selene. Selene Lavellan, popular mathlete and prodigy, from one of the town’s oldest and most established families – and the talk of the local paper for weeks, now, after her reputed demonic summoning activities and fall-from-grace.

She seems set on sticking up for Dirthamen Evanuris’ pens, for some reason. Serahlin would warn her about the Evanuris twins, but then her phone goes off with a certain text.

The ladies room, waiting for you.

She gets up, straightening her skirt a little and shoving her phone into her bag, before speeding her way there. If she can just explain her side of things, she thinks, there will be no reason to cut her from yearbook planning and prom committee. Certainly not just because she dumped a boy who was cheating on her anyway.

With her little sister, no less.

Her throat feels thick just thinking about it, as she makes her way into the bathroom. She spares a moment to wonder if it’s the wrong one, as she opens the door to see an empty line of sinks, and quiet stalls.

But then one of the stall doors opens.

Serahlin lets out a breath, as Celene and Sylaise emerge.

“There you two are,” she notes. “What were you doing in the stall?”

Sylaise checks her nails, as Celene circles around her.

“Well, according to the rumours you started, we were ‘fooling around’,” she says.

Serahlin freezes.

“What?” she asks, genuinely confused. What rumours?

“You really outdid yourself,” Sylaise drawls. She’s less dressed up than usual, wearing her hair pulled back, and with a pair of her sister’s boots on, it seems. Celene is wearing a very fashionable summer dress, with a matching clutch that she settles down next to one of the sinks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Serahlin insists.

“Oh, there’s no need to play coy with us,” Celene tells her, unzipping the top of her purse. Sylaise straightens up, and moves a little closer. “Only one person could have taken that photo of Sylaise and I kissing behind the bleachers, and posted it all over the school website. Do you know Bria broke up with me?”

Serahlin’s stomach starts to twist, and she thinks quickly. The photo. She knows that photo, she did take it, but that was last year. She never had a need to actually use it. It was on her hard drive at home, but…

…Her sister wouldn’t, would she? Set her up like that? So deliberately, and in a way that would hurt Celene and Sylaise, too?

You told the whole school I slept with Darris!

You did sleep with Darris!

“No, no, it must have been-“

She cuts off as Sylaise reaches out, and snatches a handful of her hair, and pulls.

Celene draws a pair of scissors from out of her clutch. The big, heavy, kitchen kind.

“Shut up,” Sylaise hisses. “If June breaks up with me over this, we’ll do a lot worse to you, you frigid bitch!”

Serahlin struggles, and thinks to herself that she should just scream it. That it was her sister, not her, that she took that photo ages ago and almost forgot about it; that Celene might have been dating Briala then but she could lie and tell her it’s even older, or that it was just a lark. That June surely won’t hold it against Sylaise, when he wasn’t attending the same school back then.

But Sylaise’s grip is tight, and the scissors are, sharp, and she thinks of what they’ll do to her sister – her younger sister – and the words don’t come out.

The first snip echoes through the bathroom, as Sylaise presses her against the sinks with enough force to bruise, and Celene cuts off random clumps of her hair. Letting them fall into the cracked porcelain, and over the counter, and onto the floor. Long, dark strands.

Snip, snip, snip.

Serahlin’s nails chip on the sink, she grips it so hard.

When they’re done, they leave her staring at her shorn reflection. Uneven and deliberately horrible, and nearly too short to work with. Sylaise gives her a slap, and then they make their way out of the bathroom. Celene brushing a few stray hairs off of her fashionable sundress.

Serahlin stares and stares at her reflection.

The scissors are still one the bathroom counter.

Her hands shake, just a little, as she reaches for them, and then silently starts to even out the cut.

There’s a ‘finders keepers’ rule for the salvage yard near to the old lyrium mine, that once had Angel Grove serving as a hub of activity, back when the vein was still new.

Ana takes full advantage of it, although some days, her best profits come from the wilderness beyond the yard and the mine and the dump at the edge of the town’s limits. Sometimes the salvage yard has copper and scraps, which she can sell as they are. But the wilderness is where she finds the things to make her teas and soaps and lotions, that she stock up her online business with.

Today’s a poor haul, though. Nothing good in the salvage yard, and mostly just crowberries and pinecones from the forest. She found a crop of edible mushrooms, one of the local restaurants pays for those sometimes, but she’ll have to huff it across town to sell them, and she’s already trekked further than usual today.

Ana pauses as she stands over one of the cliffs, near to the mine’s tailings pond. She catches sight of a distant figure, standing on top of a far-off boulder, going through some stretching exercises.

“Oh,” she murmurs to herself. “It’s that guy again.”

Her legs hurt.

With a long breath, Ana settles down at the edge of the cliff, and pulls out her binoculars and her water bottle. She might as well take a break and catch her breath. She can sell the mushrooms tomorrow, and make some soap tonight. Check on her uncle, and see how he’s doing. He’s gonna need his pain medications refilled soon, and he’ll probably worry if she’s out too long past dark. He’ll worry if he finds out she skipped school again, but Ana’s really not that bothered about it.

She can make up the difference. Find work, maybe go back to school when she’s older.

She’s only got one uncle, though. And he’s sick. She can’t just… pretend to be a normal kid, when that’s going on. She can’t pretend that there’s nothing she can do. Staring at her schoolwork just makes her brain go blank these days; it’s hard to care about how many watermelons hypothetical strangers can fit in their trucks when it’s not putting food on the table, or medicine in the bathroom cabinet.

The stranger in the distance stretches his arms outwards. Further past him, an unfamiliar van curves down the road towards the mine.

Victory takes in a deep breath through his nose, and lets it out again through his mouth.

He thinks about leaving.

He thinks about leaving a lot, actually. It’s a fairly consistent notion in his mind’s eye. He could pack a bag, and buy a train ticket. He doubts his foster family would hurry to report that he was gone. As soon as they did, they’d stop getting their government stipend for looking after him. He could lie about his age – it’s not hard to; no one ever expects that an elf as big as him is still a teenager – and maybe join the military, or get a job working at a garage.

He breaths in, stretches, and breathes out.

And then again, he thinks of the two little girls who are also living at his foster home. He can’t take them with him, and if he goes, there won’t be anyone standing between them and their foster father whenever he gets back from his tour of duty.

And Victory’s pretty intent and standing between that man and little girls.

He sucks in another breath, and lets out again.

His foster mother went snooping in his internet search history. He got careless. Didn’t clear it well enough this time. He can still hear her voice in his ears, shrill, shouting about sins and purity and the Maker despising his kind.

Victory’s read the chant of light, though. And he’s pretty sure that Andraste would disapprove of his foster father much more. At least, for this kind of thing, anyway. Even most people in town hardly care if someone likes men or women or anyone else; but there’s a diehard sect of ‘traditionalists’ who think otherwise, and of course it would be Victory’s luck to have the government place him with them.

He liked his old foster family better.

At least they ignored him more easily.

Breath in through the nose, and out through the mouth. The world is silent up here, out in nature. He likes it. He likes going and getting things from the salvage yard, tinkering with them. Watching the beautiful boy from school who comes up here to do yoga in the mornings. Catching glimpses of that strange redheaded girl who disappears into the trees, or that rich boy who follows that exposed, empty lyrium veins that have been dug up to the surface, and seems to be making some kind of a map out of them.

He sees the rich boy’s van, winding its way down the old mining road.

Back at it again, Victory supposes.

For such a small town, it certainly seems to chase a lot of its young people away.

#frat au #power ranges au #filled prompt #that nobody asked for #but hey SUPER HERO TEAM #uthvir is tommy so i didn't do them

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blockheadbrands · 7 years ago

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Investing in CBD Companies? Watch Out for These Warning Signs

The Associated Press by way of Leafly Reports:

Interest in cannabidiol (CBD) has taken off over the past five years since Sanjay Gupta, the Chief Medical Correspondent at CNN, highlighted its promise in the documentary Weed. GW Pharma (NASDAQ: GWPH) has submitted a New Drug Application for its CBD-based Epidiolex with the FDA, and it is probable that the agency will approve it later this year. That would mark the first time a pharmaceutical derived from botanical cannabis, which is likely to fuel even more interest in the cannabinoid.

Consumer interest in cannabidiol has skyrocketed. The US market for hemp-derived CBD was $50 million in 2014. By 2020 it's expected to hit $736 million.

CBD can be produced in a variety of ways, including both naturally and synthetically. Several biotech companies are developing pharmaceuticals based on synthetic CBD. This method may prove to be more economical in the long term if synthetic CBD is as efficacious as plant-derived CBD, but it’s too early to make that call. Zynerba (NASDAQ: ZYNE) has experienced two clinical trial failures to date, though it’s not clear that the source of CBD in their trial drug played a role in those failures. Synthetic THC has never been able to deliver the efficacy of plant-derived THC and appears to have more risk factors.

Botanical CBD can be extracted from cannabis plants, including the low-THC variety known as industrial hemp, which is defined as having a THC content of 0.3% or less. Many researchers believe that CBD is most efficacious when it’s delivered in combination with small amounts of THC, producing what’s known as the entourage effect. Additionally, industrial hemp plants contain relatively low amounts of CBD, meaning that a lot of plant material has to be processed to produce a small amount of CBD. That can lead to a greater risk of pesticides and other impurities in the final product.

And, of course, CBD may be extracted from higher-THC cannabis plants. From a business perspective, extracting CBD from non-hemp cannabis is not as legally limiting as it was just a few years ago, as most states now allow some form of legal CBD production for medical patients. But it still restricts a company to sales only within the state in which the CBD was produced.

CBD derived from industrial hemp gets around this limitation, though the legality isn’t particularly clear. Historically, much of the source material for hemp-derived CBD has been imported from Europe, though the Farm Act of 2014 has led to some companies perhaps pushing the envelope a bit and using domestic industrial hemp to extract CBD.

CBD and the Brain: What Does It Do and What Is It Good For?

Big Tobacco Entering the Space

The Hemp Business Journal suggests that the market for CBD derived from industrial hemp will grow from about $50 million in 2014 to $736 million in 2020.

Look for independent reviews on the products being sold, and ask people in the industry if they are familiar with the products or the companies.

Earlier this month, a global tobacco company, Alliance One (NYSE: AOI), invested $10 million to buy a 40% stake in Criticality, a company that is one of ten that are licensed by the state of North Carolina to grow industrial hemp. The company states that it intends to be a major producer of CBD from industrial hemp.

In Canada, several federally licensed producers of medical cannabis have made substantial investments in advance of potential regulatory changes there that will permit CBD extracted from lower-THC plants to be sold legally to all adults, not just registered medical patients.

With so much interest in CBD, and bigger companies starting to make investments in the sector, many investors are interested in capitalizing on the trend. Several publicly-traded companies offer the ability for anyone to invest, but I suggest being very cautious, as many of them have red flag issues in my view.

Four Key Considerations

Over the course of five years, I have built a list of over 600 companies that purport to be in the cannabis industry. One trend I have noticed lately has been a lot of new entrants focused on CBD extracted from industrial hemp. There are a few filters I apply when I evaluate them before diving in deeper:

Do they file with the SEC?

Are they generating significant revenue?

Does the company clearly explain the source of its CBD and the methods of production?

Is there any sort of independent evaluation of their products?

When it comes to buying into publicly traded cannabis stocks, I always caution investors to avoid companies that don’t file with the SEC, as they lack transparency. For example, company insiders can dump stock without having to file electronic disclosures. Unfortunately, a lot of these publicly traded CBD companies don’t file with the SEC.

Another caveat: Several of the companies that purport to be in the CBD business don’t have material operations. It’s a highly competitive space, and companies with no traction to date are very risky in my view. It’s easy to say that you are in the business, but much more difficult to actually produce and sell successful products.

Is More CBD Better? The Science Behind CBD Dosing for Anxiety and Other Conditions

Another thing I like to do when investigating these companies is to go to their website or read through their public disclosure documents to learn more about how they are making or acquiring their products. Surprisingly, many of them don’t share this information.

Finally, I like to look for independent reviews on the products being sold, though often they don’t exist. I will ask people in the industry if they are familiar with the brands or the companies. If that brand awareness isn’t there, I become concerned that the products may lack quality. The FDA has called out several companies over the past few years for quality issues and marketing violations (ie, making health claims). Here’s a tip: If the Hemp Business Journal doesn’t list the company, it is likely not a leader in the space.

Be Careful With These CBD Sellers

The list of companies that I find to be potentially troublesome as investments is much longer than those I am discussing today, but the three that stand out include Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA), PotNetwork Holdings (OTC: POTN) and Ubiquitech Software (OTC: UBQU). One common characteristic is that none of them file with the SEC.

Medical Marijuana Inc. (MJNA) began trading publicly in 2009, the first publicly-traded cannabis stock, though its original founders exited in 2011. Control of the company went to a group led by San Diego-based entrepreneur Michael Llamas. His group began developing CBD from industrial hemp in 2008. The company promised to get audited financials in 2013 and begin filing with the SEC, but still has not done so. (Llamas exited in 2012; the company is now run by CEO Stuart Titus.) In its financials for the quarter ending 9/30, it reported over 3.2 billion shares, meaning that the company has a market capitalization in excess of $325 million. Most of its sales are derived from its multilevel marketing arm, Kannaway. The company regularly generates large operating losses and has a significant amount of convertible debt (in excess of $11 million). Despite its long operating history, the company is very weak financially, and the valuation seems very high.

PotNetwork Holdings (POTN) acquired First Capital Venture Holdings, the maker of Diamond CBD, a year ago. The company has been heavily promoting its stock, which is always a red flag. But it’s the lack of info about its products and the people behind the company that I find most disturbing. Take a hard look at the products the company markets: There’s no mention of the amount of CBD per serving or per package. The company does post some lab tests, though many them are not current. The company also makes questionable claims on its website: “Our products are legal across all fifty states, USA-made, and produced with federally-legal Cannabidiol (CBD).” The issue is that phrase “federally-legal.” In late 2016, the DEA declared CBD a federally illegal Schedule 1 drug, although a coalition of hemp and CBD companies are currently challenging the DEA’s move in a San Francisco federal court.

DEA’s Ban on CBD Challenged in Federal Court

Further, many states have cracked down on the sale of CBD from industrial hemp, most notably Indiana. The company’s unaudited financials suggest the company had sales of $14.5 million in 2017, with a net profit of $213,802. With 570 million shares outstanding, the stock has a market cap of $308 million, or about 20X sales, which is not justifiable in my view.

Ubiquitech Software (UBQU), which operates HempLife Today and markets CannazALL CBD Products, is extremely promotional with respect to its stock as well. While the absolute valuation of the company isn’t nearly as high as the other two I have discussed, it’s important to understand that the company issues shares at $0.001 through convertible notes, a price that is about 95% below the price at which the stock trades. In fact, in the quarter ending 8/31, it issued over 147 million shares for conversion of debt. The company reported sales of $3.3 million in the first nine months of its fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2017, and operating income of $316,000, though it’s not clear if all of the sales are from CBD products. There are few, if any, independent reviews of CannazALL products, and the company’s website provides little information about the sourcing of its CBD offerings (made in the USA) or the people running the company.

CBD vs. THC: Why Is CBD Non-Intoxicating?

Three That Look More Promising

There are three companies that pass my initial screening criteria. I will mention these as being worthy of further investigation and share some brief background, but readers should not construe my comments as a recommendation.

CV Sciences (OTC: CVSI) was actually spun out of MJNA in 2013, but it looks to be a much better company to me. Their products can be found on the shelves of health food stores, and the financials are decent. Sales in Q3 ending Sept. 30, 2017, were $5.6 million, which represents growth of 90% from a year ago. The company has a decent balance sheet with slightly positive cash flow from operations. The company is also developing a synthetic CBD and nicotine gum that it hopes to get through the FDA regulatory process. One issue that concerns me is that the SEC is suing the company and its CEO for alleged fraud related to the spin out from MJNA. Were it not for this issue, I would be even more enthusiastic about the stock, which has a market capitalization of about $35 million, which compares quite favorably to both MJNA and POTN at over $300 million.

Elixinol Global recently conducted an IPO in Australia and trades exclusively on the Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol of “EXL.” Elixinol has a highly regarded CBD product marketed out of Colorado, but the company has an even larger hemp food company in Australia and is expected to enter the Australian medicinal cannabis market in the near future.

Isodiol International (CSE: ISOL) (OTC: ISOLF) is based in San Diego but began trading last year in Canada. The company sells CBD products derived from industrial hemp and posted sales of C$5.06 million (roughly $4 million) for the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2017. Many of the members of the management team left MJNA to join Isodiol. The company has been able to raise significant capital through the sale of equity, and it’s vertically integrated, using its own raw ingredients to develop and offer both consumer products as well as wholesaling to other pharmaceutical companies.

Bottom line: CBD from industrial hemp is taking off, but investing in the industry is challenging. A few companies that are doing things the right way in my view may be worth considering, but the others are too speculative for long-term investors.

Next up: I discuss publicly-traded companies with a significant focus on the California cannabis market

As an owner of New Cannabis Ventures, Alan works with several publicly-traded and privately held cannabis companies as he discloses here. In the event he mentions a company that is a client, he will disclose it in the article as well.

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