Logline: After the inhabitants from all (but one) human space colonies die at the same time, a detective from the only colony left is sent to investigate.
"Detective Ian stood beside the corpses of two scientists inside the Ceres 45 Observatory. Strewn around the corpses were the heaps of papers he perused through after he saved all the files from the computer. He pushes the last papers aside, picked his bag and strode out.
It was the twenty-eighth, and the last, colony that he inspected. This one wasn't much different than the other twenty-seven that he had checked. And what was even more bewildering was the fact that the people on all twenty - eight colonies seemed to have died around the same time.
He climbed into his flying car and took off towards the city where the streets were littered with death; As he stepped out of the car, a faint stench brought an almost mechanical grimace onto his face. That was something his nose couldn't get accustomed to no matter how many dead bodies he encountered.
Two local fauna animals were tearing apart the partly rotten corpse of a teen. Ian drew his gun, ready to shoot one of them for samples to be studied for any transmissible disease. But he lowered his gun. He had already picked ten samples from animals from the other colonies. If there ever was a common disease that spread from local fauna to humans and then to the other colonies, ten samples would be enough to figure it out he thought.
He sauntered toward the teen's corpse. The two animals glanced at him. They tore at the corpse faster and faster before scurrying away. Ian crouched next to the corpse and stared at the little creepy crawlies that scuttled all over the teen's corpse. Dozens upon dozens of thoughts were roaming through his mind. So many possibilities, he thought, but as many as they were, none of them seemed to make any sense.
There was no conflict between the colonies. There was no known disease that could have taken all at the same time, and the fact that all but one traveler between the colonies died made everything even more perplexing for Ian. The traveler was from his colony. He was carrying goods to Colony D-RtG-120(the 10th colony) when he arrived there and found all its inhabitants dead. Ian checked his file and questioned every neighbor, acquaintance and relative, but nothing hinted at the traveling courier being a diabolic and genius mind that could have eradicated so many souls.
As for the leaders on Ian's home colony, they too were suspects in his eyes, but he was yet to find a plausible reason for which they would have killed. His colony was the richest and the second least populated. So rich and vast, the leaders lived like kings, and, in Ian's mind, what king would want to rule over dead worlds when their kingdom is heaven?!
Ian stood up and took one last sorrowful look at the corpse before heading into the empty military research. He strode out of the military research at dusk with a bag full of papers, some experiments tube and small weaponry which he placed into the flying car, then took off through the gray clouds.
[...]
Ian's ship entered his colony atmosphere. Lost in his thoughts, he watched the clouds go by before two call beeps threw him back to reality.
" What's up?", he asked with a bored, tired and monotone voice.
"He's dead."
" Huh?! The courier?!", asked Ian.
"Yeah"... "
PS: "The Courier" refers to the guy from Ian's colony who delivered goods between colonies (6th paragraph in the story) and who, unlike the other "couriers" who died when their people died, he lived (just like Ian and all the people from Ian's colony). The story is very compressed (due to the word limit) and my writing may be confusing, so I added this " PS" just to make it clear. Hopefully I did.

*Management style:
Not democratic/participative. Not transformational. Not Coaching. Very much Autocratic/Authoritative/Coercive. Sometimes Laissez-faire. Style depends on the department.
*Chain of command:
The ministry is seen as a church by top management. Top management are the “elders” and the CEO is the Senior Pastor. Then there is everybody else. So, confidence is put on their positions of authority. They are, in all sense and purposes, the “spiritual leaders”. They present themselves as having spiritual authority and, therefore, as being entitled to receive immediate agreement and unquestioned compliance.
Also, there are multiple management layers or chains which this quote sums up as well:
"When you become an admiral, you never have bad meals and you never hear the truth. there are all these layers of management and buffer layers and each one is afraid to tell unpleasant truth to the top levels.... “
Not a culture of authenticity where everyone on the team, including management, is encouraged, and expected to be who they are. There is a sense that top management puts up a false front, they seem to want to appear perfect. Illusions of invulnerability exist. They always lead well, they always make the right decisions, they never admit mistakes, etc. Want people to think they got it all together- all rainbows and lollipops. Do not exhibit vulnerability. Toxic positivity is also very much present: Everything is seen as “awesome”. So, there is judgment if you have a bad (not "everything is awesome") day.
The vertical chain of command, results in less collaboration, slow communication, lack of career growth, feelings of subordination, and decreased employee empowerment. Top management sets the rules and standards without any input from the “bottom” employees. Employee questions, concerns or ideas have to go up several steps of the chain of command so that upper management can address or approve. The bottom employees do not have the ability to make decisions related to their work or a particular situation. So, not everyone feels equal.
So, if you are not a spiritual leader, you are just basically told to submit and listen to those who are in authority over you because they are the people that “hear from God” and you are not and so whatever they say goes. And they set up a scenario where they basically kept those of us who were not spiritual leaders dependent upon them.
Many in management are overconfident and overestimate their abilities. They have a simple idea of how things are and how things work. Unfortunately, they make decisions that impact entire departments without gaining the needed knowledge.
The chain of command and lack of ongoing training also results in many employees being promoted so much that they max out their competence and will remain there until they leave or are let go. So, you end up with many in the role of management that lack the training and competence of the respective department. So, employees with the most authority are often not the most experienced and not adept in the particular field leading team members. And employees with the most experience and skills and knowledge and wisdom have the least (or no) authority.
Good leaders don’t always claim the “leader” title. Oftentimes, good leaders are those with more understated temperaments. Leadership is as much about listening as it is about telling. However, people with the most open and receptive personalities often do not have much authority.
Also, how the chain of command should operate when there is a unit that acted without proper authorization, it is not a junior authority who’s going to bear a responsibility for that, but somewhat of more senior status. And that’s true in any military or business or ministry operating by a code of ethics. So, if someone at the bottom of the chain is struggling, failing, or making mistakes, those at the top of the chain bear full responsibility. Everything stands or falls on leadership. Unfortunately, the chain at FCBH is not two directional.
There is also a sense that top management promotes employees who are least-competent but pose no risk to their own position (in-group bias) to management.
*Feedback:
Work environment or culture is not set up for employees to give honest feedback/opinions or to deliver bad news or to question or disagree with management.
Sample bias is also common. Management will send an email asking for feedback but they won't consider how only the people who are open to talking and sharing their opinions will participate while others won’t. Bias arises because employees with specific characteristics (e.g., extroverts) might be more likely to agree to participate than others, making the participants a non-representative sample. People with strong opinions or substantial knowledge about a specific topic may be more willing to give feedback than those without. Management does not follow up to determine why they are unresponsive or follow up frequently to reduce attrition.
Management claims they want to hear from employees, but they only want opinions and ideas on matters that are superficial or trivial. So, few employees give candid feedback on important and significant matters.
Top management does not involve employees in the change process when changes occur.
Management does not ask for honest feedback on their leadership or on decisions that are made that affect employees. Management will not ask how they are doing as leaders, what employees need from them. No regular check-ins or 1:1 on employees’ professional and personal well-being. Are employees stressed, disappointed or feeling burdened physically, emotionally or spiritually? No growth and career discussions.
Management will ignore most feedback, comments, suggestions even when it's common knowledge but will adamantly listen to employees who preface with "God told me to tell you..." Or “I felt God say …” or “God spoke to me and said…”
For example, management started focusing on Gen Z only after a few people claimed that “God told us that Gen Z are important for our future business growth.” In another instance, someone said “God gave us this word: we as a ministry need to really consider how everyone is wired, how each person is different. How people have different personalities.” Then, management affirmed this “word from God.”
If one employee brings something up to management it is often ignored and the employee is gaslighted. If two or more employees bring the same thing to management, then God is communicating something and they take it seriously (per Matt 18). Even if it is just coincidence or frequency bias.
*Groupthink/Conformity:
Groupthink, confirmation bias, in-group bias, illusions of unanimity, and self-censorship is very prevalent in the culture and especially in their meetings. There is a lot of direct pressure to not question, to conform, to agree with the views and personal convictions of the top management. Employees condemn those who disagree or question top management and they accept those who agree, creating immense pressure for conformity.
So, many employees frequently remain quiet, preferring to “keep the peace” rather than disrupt the uniformity. Employees are pressured to hide problematic information (especially from top management).
*Disagreements/Different perspectives:
Top management will also point out the working and living conditions of international employees to “encourage” local employees to not “complain” or give critical feedback or bring up legitimate problems (e.g., fumes or loud noises from construction in the building).
Management also often commits the "ends (or goals or vision) justify the means" fallacy: the work, the production and distribution of bibles (the ends) being done is more important, so employees shouldn't complain at all about the means or their working conditions (broken chairs, broken or inadequate equipment, poor work-life balance, bad management).
And, if management disagrees with you, with your observations, feedback, suggestions, or theology, they will often try to trump you with spirituality or vague meaningless spiritual terminology instead of using Scripture (properly interpreted), facts and reasoning.
In addition, top managers will take great offense when employees question or disagree with the directions and decisions they make. Dissent is not welcomed. Respectful debates/disagreement is not encouraged. Open discussion and alternative perspectives are not encouraged. Management does not value, support, or respect diverse opinions and ideas. They do not actively seek out different viewpoints. Do not allow people to speak their perspective, their thought of mind. So, there is no psychological safety. Employees do not feel comfortable expressing dissenting opinions without fear of retribution or judgment. Afraid of breaking the little glass image. People do not feel comfortable sharing setbacks, mistakes, failures. Management does not encourage open communication. Management often seeks agreement, instead of posing honest questions that challenge the status quo and provoke critical thinking and discussion. They do not encourage employees to challenge them. In fact, they are seen as a type of complaining or critical feedback and so are viewed as sin. This makes top management seem self-centered.
*Appeals to emotion: Guilt and Shame:
Top management often shares their personal opinions and convictions (e.g., spending money only when absolutely necessary, not accepting large gifts, not buying fancy items) as something everyone should do. It’s never direct. It's always through stories. Management loves stories. The personal convictions of management are presented as more than preferences.
For instance, top management encourages extreme frugality and poverty through their personal anecdotes #loudbudgeting and stories from international cultures. Think along the lines of: “we, here in America, have no right to be sad or to complain about things or to request better things or ask for accommodations or for more employee engagement because others (internationals) have it much worse.” Even wanting better equipment and supplies or asking for better working conditions is frowned upon (in some cases seen as a sin), even if your request helps you to do your job more effectively and makes the work better (a new whiteboard, a new office chair, better computers, etc.)
Example: “You should really try to come in to work even if you feel bad, even if you are snowed in and the roads are hazardous because people need to get our bibles. And our international employees work in much harsher conditions.”
You also get this feeling from the way they communicate that top management would rather not pay their employees. They would prefer it if everyone just worked for free because “we are on a mission from God. We are doing the Lord's work.” There is also a sense that employees should be more than willing to sacrifice their well-being, career goals, financial goals, personal goals for reaching people with their Bibles.
Leadership sets the example and expectations, so this all ends up making employees confused and feeling guilty and ashamed. Guilty and shameful about asks, spending money (even their own). Guilty and shameful about having nice things (new car, new phone, new tv), about making needs known, about sharing concerns regarding work, about asking for raises to keep up with cost of living, etc.
Example: An employee has continued to use an old whiteboard. It is so old it is hard to read and difficult to erase. Management likes to tell donors: “We don't spend money on everyday things like whiteboards…. Instead, we use that money for more bible recordings, for people to hear about Jesus.”
This also causes confusion. Every few months there is a meeting where management discusses how sitting on stores of money is bad, but spending it is also bad, but also not spending it is bad... "Being rich is bad. Money is bad. let's not accumulate money, that's bad. We must think about how people will see what we have. So we should look poor and not appear too frivolous." But top management is okay with receiving gifts from donors and other ministries. Management personally does not like to have nice “fancy” things, and as a ministry, they say FCBH should also not have nice fancy things, they should use the money for other more important things. They don't like when other ministries use their money for nice fancy things, but it's okay if other ministries give FCBH nice fancy things like tote bags, key chains, mugs, phone holders, lunch bags. Another example, it took them years to repaint the parking lot. It was at the point where people did not know where to park. Before repainting, management decided to remodel the hallways and install posters and multiple monitors with language stats.
There is also a subtle sense that producing audio and video bibles is the highest calling one can have. And it's implied that FCBH is the main means God uses to fulfill the great commission: “God needs FCBH to do these bible recordings or people (specifically unreached internationals) will go to hell.” So, top management hints that working anywhere else isn't really serving God (or at least, not serving God as well as one could if they worked somewhere else). They imply that working at this ministry is the only way to truly serve God and fulfill your calling. They also use this framing to guilt and shame employees into not quitting. Management implies that employees should not take opportunities to leave or take other jobs because getting the Bible to people is God’s highest calling for us as Christians:
“If anyone leaves FCBH, then they must not really understand the vision/calling. They are not committed to saving people. We should be willing to give up things to fulfill the calling. The apostles did not pursue better jobs and so God will provide if we need better pay, benefits, career. For those of us who join the ministry to hold true to get God's word to every person, it takes discipline because we have opportunities to do other things. I'm sure that Noah had problems with Builders because he probably had hundreds of people not thousands working on the ark. They started their own businesses and started side things going on. pretty soon they'll have no time to work with him on the ark. and you can have all kinds of diversionary things happen. and so we want to understand they focused in the ministry. and that's been one of the things that I've really tried to do is what did God tell me at the time this ministry began because I was not interested in this ministry. I was interested in living by faith and experiencing God through people and seeing people experience God. and when I was praying about that here in Albuquerque the Lord said bring my church together and make disciples. and then he also told me that when his people think the same they are one. so it's not a matter of getting rid of the buildings or the leaders but it's a matter of people thinking the same. They can go to different denominations, different buildings, have different teachers, and different preachers and leaders but once they think the same, they're one and that's what his objective was. and so that's when I felt like the Lord said get God's word to every person. So I'm challenging us to stay true to what God has called us to do. and every time somebody leaves the ministry there are reasons for leaving. but it startles me a little bit, because I think well we haven't, we haven't communicated the vision very well somehow because they didn't get it. like Noah building the arc. it it's a long project it's not a month or a year two years or three years. our immediate goal is 2033 and it means that we're committed to a cause. and that means some of us we give up something. I we've given up stuff we live in a small apartment and that's what we saw that God had us do and that's our lifestyle we we tone down our lifestyle to get the cause committed to the cause. and and I know that's difficult for some, in some cases maybe there's financial needs because of family growth and stuff there they just can't afford to work in the ministry. but sometimes it's a choice and every time somebody leaves it where it's actually a choice. I think we haven't communicated the mission very good the vision very good. I've been looking at is that could you imagine read reading the New Testament. and finding out that Peter about halfway through or Paul halfway through the ministry all of a sudden got a better job offer. and stopped their portion of the ministry they held the course no matter what happened. whether it was good or whether it was bad. Paul talks about this and sometimes we want to follow the Lord. but we don't impart on ourselves the same responsibilities that those disciples did. so when God Empower them is he empowering you in the same way. and you're making choices that maybe you shouldn't make that you will impart and say the Lord is leading me someplace else when in fact maybe it isn't. it's just a better offer. if the Bible in the New Testament was reading a little bit different than Stephen left the ministry at this point or James left the ministry at this point because of something I think we need to be very very careful and why I say that is that as we work internationally.”
SO, there is a lot of guilt and shame about leaving to pursue other interests or meet needs. Guilt and shame about wanting to leave to advance and develop professionally. For this reason, many remain “loyal” and stay at the ministry.
So there is lots of control and manipulation in the work culture.
*Weekly worship meetings:
These are mandatory and there are some legitimate concerns:
Top management seems to have misconceptions about true worship and worship experiences. They often reduce worship to singing by their communication, the way “worship” is used. Worship is seen as something we do on occasion - once a week, when we gather at work for the mandatory worship time. Top management, by ignoring other styles, seems to believe that there is a single style of worship which is correct for Christians.
And it seems like just about anyone can lead worship or be on the team: anyone that can play an instrument. Top management does not require a worship class or agreement to biblical principles concerning worship as a prerequisite for employees who desire to plan and lead worship experiences. So you end up with people who have different views/philosophies on the worship team. Unfortunately, many who lead do not take the time/effort to plan and lead worship experiences, to discern from songs that are better suited for individual or private worship from songs that are corporate or public worship, to discern songs that are controversial/questionable (have bad theology, weak theology), songs that are theologically ambiguous or songs that lean more towards “feminine” attributes. Most, if not all, of our modern “Christian” worship music is written at a simplistic level of understanding and comprehension. Most music tends to appeal to our emotions. Many songs appeal mostly to women. So there is a great need for teaching on the biblical principles concerning worship. Also a need to choose theologically balanced songs with music appropriate for the people. Unfortunately, many of the songs chosen are theologically incorrect (e.g., having elements from the Word Of Faith movement, New Apostolic Church, New Age). Songs are often not theologically balanced. Songs seem to be chosen for their emotional impact, to make employees feel good; many focus on just one aspect of God (e.g., love). Many promote self-centered worship.
Most of the worship leaders just sing the songs: They do not actually “lead” people into worship. They do not help people connect the lyrics of the song to where they are at in their personal life, to teach them something about God or help the people understand what this song means and what God wants them to get out of it, so they're not just singing songs and just doing, going through the motions or help them understand the depth and the richness of what lyrics mean and how it applies to their life. What matters to them seems to be whether songs are impactful, moving, and beautiful. (Whatever that means.) Whether songs make employees feel good. They don't seem to care whether the songs actually reflect truth: Do the lyrics line up with Scripture? Do the songs glorify self or God? How would new Christians or nonChristians interpret the song?
Theology is the study of God and it's very important doxology is an expression of praise to God so the point here is that all theologies should ultimately lead to doxology if theology doesn't lead to doxology then we've actually missed the point of theology so if you have theology without doxology you just have dead hold orthodoxy which is horrible. On the other side you have the people who say “forget about theology I just want to praise.” But if you have doxology without theology you actually have idolatry because it's just a random expression of praise but it's not actually informed by the truth of who God is so God is
concerned with both he's concerned with an accurate understanding of him and that accurate understanding of him leading to a response of praise adoration and worship towards him.
*Leadership quality:
Top management has more respect for donors and guests than their employees.
Management lacks basic core leadership principles/values:
Unfortunately, many employees are not given power or resources: Management just gives them the responsibility to get things done. Before responsibility is given, employees should be equipped: be empowered, have the authority, be given resources and have the experience. Employees are not empowered as individuals to solve their own problems using their own solutions. Micromanagement is often required every time the situation changes or problems arise. Employees are not inspired to act as leaders for themselves, delivering amazing performance without guidance. They have coaching sessions but only when there’s a problem. True coaching occurs regardless of whether the individual is crushing their goals or falling behind. Management does not seem to care about unlocking a person’s potential and getting the most of their performance. They seem only interested in producing more followers, not more leaders.
No method to hold management accountable to core values listed in their own Employee handbook. Employees are expected to abide by the procedures and rules described in the handbook but top management can choose to ignore it when it is convenient for them.
-Top management are NOT learners: No desire to develop and improve their skills.
-They do not ask employees: What’s one thing you see me doing—or failing to do—that you think I should change?
-They do not ask how they are doing as leaders. Or ask employees how they’re doing.
-They do not ask what employees need from management that they are not giving them.
-No performance evaluations for both management or non-managment.
-They often fail to emotionally connect with employees.
-They do not speak to employees' needs first.
-They do not focus on what they can put into people rather than what they can get out of them.
-They do not understand basic psychology, how people think and behave.
-They are often resistant to (and even hate) change: Perhaps because they fear losing control. In fact, new information, objective facts, research, stats, and even new ideas are often ignored in favor of what's easiest to do or because of tradition. If something has been done and “works”, top management does not see a reason to question it or to improve on it. If something was tried 5, 10, 20, even 50yrs before and failed, top management does not see a reason to try it again even if the exact circumstances have changed.
-They do not empower or give the means, the power or opportunity to do to employees.
-They do not trust others to follow through managing processes and performing tasks.
-They do not lead by example.
-They do not know when to move forward and when to back off, what to improve and how radical those improvements should be.
-They often fail to see options, and plan and prioritize.
-They fail to develop leaders around them.
-Their communication is often poor.
-Their listening is also poor: do not listen for more than facts, but also the feelings, meanings and undercurrents.
-They do not take the time to get to know the people they lead: no weekly check-ins which top organizations have to discuss how employees are doing professionally and personally. Management doesn't ask “what was good this week? What was not good this week? How is your well-being? How is your family?”
Competence in leadership skills is also poor.
-They are not teachable: not willing to keep learning, growing, improving in leadership and management practices: FCBH has a yearly “leadership” summit. But, the way it is set up, it reinforces weaknesses instead of challenging leadership growth.
The summit is also just for a select few in top management. Not every employee is seen as a leader so most employees are excluded.
Top managers attend the summit but there is no followup, no post accountability by other managers and especially by the employees that are under the managers. No discussion on how management will apply what was learned.
Some of the past speakers have had questionable characters and even questionable teachings (Judah Smith). Leadership qualifications and theological background seems to be ignored in favor of charismatics, dynamics, popularity.
-Top management does not take responsibility for their part of a disagreement or failure and apologize.
-They often embrace a victim mentality.
-They often limit yourself by your job title.
-They do not invest in better tools or processes.
-They are content with the status quo.
-They allow their past achievements to stagnate their desire to keep learning.
-There is a lack of discernment, finding the main cause of problems/issues.
-They do not anticipate problems.
-They do not accept the truth of the problem: Do not face up to the reality of the situation;
-They get bogged down in the details.
-They often avoid problems.
-They don’t deal well with problems.
-They do not have their team study all angles.
-They often do not value nontraditional thinking: Don’t embrace change, ambiguity and uncertainty well.
-They do not work well with differences.
-They do not have their own mentors or provide mentorship to others.
-They do not invest to improve their own professional or leadership skills.
-They are often insecure, constantly seek validation, acknowledgement and love.
-They limit employee's success and recognition:
-They do not seem interested in making people successful: Don’t attempt to remove barriers that prevent employees from being successful.

• They often feel threatened by accomplishments by employees who are not management:

If an employee who is not management has a great idea to improve the work, management often does not support it and may secretly try to shut it down.
When a team succeeds, management will not give other people credit and instead take the credit themselves.
It seems like some of the people working there were given the title of management, the position, and that alone made them qualified. Management or leaders assume that their position alone qualifies them to make critical decisions where they may not have the best data, insight, wisdom, skill, experience. Just because one may have the word “manger” in the job title, does not automatically make them a great leader. Leadership is about dealing with people, and the dynamics between those people, and influencing people.
*Dead end career path:
For the most part, top management assumes that team members are fine and "settled", rather than taking the time to understand their true feelings and needs. They do not ask employees where they are struggling, where they are having trouble, what frustrates them the most?
Management does not seem interested in making employees better both personally or professionally. They do not have a growth plan or professional development plan for employees. No job related training. They do not provide what is needed to help employees to grow and improve. They don't provide opportunities for employees to apply their talents and expertise. They don’t ask how they can better support employees. Employees don’t check on each other.
One is expected to work until health deteriorates and skills become obsolete so you leave in a worse place than you started. For most employees, there is no long term future with the organization. Management does not let employees know how they are doing and what the future looks like for them. What the opportunities are. They do not take the time to learn from employees what they want to be. No honest conversations to understand employees goals and ambitions. So, because there is no growth or development plan, no career path, once your skills are outdated, they will probably let you go or they will keep you in the same position and your salary will max out.
Management does not coach employees on how to manage their time, priorities, and energy; no teaching on how to problem solve, or make better decisions, or how to set boundaries or how to minimize context switching and zoom fatigue.

I've always been one to piece together storylines where some would say it's ridiculous, then again, I'm very imaginative. I love making up Half-Life mods and "expansion packs" in Garry's Mod, imagining it as some sort of custom campaign. Over all this time, there is one connection that, if an actual Half-Life enthusiast stumbled upon it, they'd laugh in disbelief, and it's the following.
I don't think the Black Mesa Incident happened in 1999, 2000 or 2003. I think it happened right after the events of Left 4 Dead 2. Seriously, think about it. The Green Flu being the way it is makes me feel like it's some sort of biological weapon, if we imagine the Combine have already been spying and infiltrating Earth, or maybe the G-Man had something to do with Patient Zero in Mercy Hospital. He caused the resonance cascade, I'm sure the Green Flu could also be his doing in a way. Either it's from the Combine, or from the G-Man.
After that, I can imagine the events of Counter-Strike happening, as the world recovers from the pandemic (due to the Green Flu fading over just a few months due to the visible decay of the Infected), and things are being rebuilt, there is a surge of gangs and terrorists attacking important positions in regions that were in quarantine, for the sake of being more covert, or because a lot of potential stopping factors like citizens and law enforcement have died in the affected regions. The Coalition Taskforce (the ones responsible for sending in the CTs, lore wise) sending in small units which survived due to being carriers, which eventually have to fight against Ts that are also either carriers or survivors of the pandemic makes sense.
I know the years are a bit behind here with the CS side of things, but honestly, a revolutionary like Valeria Jenner trying to execute her operations with Franz Kriegeld in a post-pandemic world sounds very feasible, with many traditional police forces and military being out of commission or busy fighting the Green Flu, or cleaning up the mess it left behind, some still infected in late stages of decay, or dead. There's the possibility Franz also may have been the one given the Green Flu samples by either the G-Man, or were found by Combine related actions either in Xen (Pretty sure Black Mesa isn't the only one to have access to the borderworld, to be honest) or from direct infiltration on Earth, some of which he could've used in his Danger Zone experiments.
Then, when we count the Xen infestation of Earth after the Resonance Cascade taking yet another toll on Earth's already weakened armies, it feels way more imaginable for the Combine to take over Earth in just seven hours, when most of the world's military already has been damaged, and to an extent, destroyed before they even set a proper foot on it beyond covert infiltration operations.
Half-Life 2 and the episodes always bugged me in a way. Why did the Combine not send more forces than Gordon could handle? Hell, the HECU in the first game made a successful ambush against him, which seems more feasible than the Combine constantly throwing forces his way, not really planning out a sneak attack or something like that. This makes me think, the garrison force the Combine created on Earth with genetic modification doesn't seem as powerful as it looks, and he's lucky that they are probably very busy dealing with rebellions and guerilla everywhere, almost every day, but that could also be extended to the *actual* extent of the Combine.
Remember how Dr. Mossman elaborated that the Combine did not factor in the dark energy equations? If they were as powerful as they are portrayed to be, they likely would know about the calculations in the first place. If their only crutch is multiversal teleportation using superportals, and mass enslavement of species, then they may really be more backwater than they let on to be. If the garrison force on Earth is as weak as on other Combine-controlled planets, (The Magnusson Device essentially nullifies Striders, Hunters are apparently susceptible to AR3s, but this is vague and just one small conversation in EP2, Gunships are easily countered with Resistance RPGs, so are the helicopters with the Airboat Gun) then it seems more and more likely to me that the Combine were simply opportunists. They have a competent enough main army for sure, but their garrison forces suck, which tells me that they're not really occupiers, more thieves who want to suck the Earth out of it's resources and manpower, that has been shown multiple times throughout the series.
They make a quick stab with their daggers, but they can't make a proper finishing blow, Them requiring their homeland forces so quickly after the Citadel's crown has been destroyed (I'm sure there aren't more Citadels around, with City 17's being the only one, since it's destruction caused the Suppression Field to vanish, which, I don't know if it's a global or local thing) makes me believe that this garrison force *really* is made out of wet paper at the very most. They got their Advisors, so why do they decide to blow the whole thing up and try and reorganize, which gave Humanity enough time to counter their superportal?
Maybe I'm just crazy, but I swear, something doesn't add up with the Combine, reading all this. Marc Laidlaw stating they're so much more powerful than anything Gordon or possibly the G-Man handle is reasonable, especially since he's the writer, but I have a different interpretation here.
I know I'm telling this to an audience of maybe like 5 people, all of which probably have never touched a Valve game, but putting my theory out there probably is better than not doing so.
Adios. Hope you had fun reading my borderline schizophrenic take on Valve's universes. Oh, and Portal is parallel to Half-Life in terms of universes, I think they happen around the same timeframe. That is it, everyone.

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Since empires of any ethics can become fallen empires now via Cosmogenesis, I think it's time to introduce new FEs. Here's my idea of what a Fanatic Authoritarian FE would look like.
The schtick of the FE is that they used to be the core of a Galactic Imperium, and they still believe they are. They see everyone as their subjects, they refer to you as "Province of %empirename" and "Governor %rulername". The name for their personality in its fallen state is "Oblivious Despots". If you play along and feign obedience, they become patronizing. If you keep reminding them you aren't their province, they will be angry.
Possible empire names:

• %speciesname Imperial Core;
• %speciesname Dominium;
• %speciesname Capital District;

The fallen empire itself is relatively small, 3 to 4 systems. The capital system is a ringworld with 4 sections named "Imperial Core Palace", "Imperial Core Gardens", "Imperial Core Forges" and "Imperial Core Archives". The other system contains a ruined Sentry Array, and the third system contains a single colony. However, the FE itself is surrounded by 2-4 tiny 1 system vassals that belong to its unique vassal type "Imperial Province", each has a rare resource deposit they give to their overlord. These are the last remnants of the imperial core's subjects.
Quests: this fallen empire gives the quest "Imperial Census". They order you, the "governor" of your "province", to conduct a census. First, you get an event where you choose whether you'll transmit factual data (paying 500 influence and giving them full sensor link of your empire for a year) or fabricated data. No matter what you choose, the FE is angry that the data you transmit is "drivel that does not even remotely conform to Form 3692: Imperial Census" and demands to format it according to the regulations. They do not give you a sample. You have to conduct a unique intelligence operation "Steal Form 3692" in one of the imperial province tiny vassal states (unlike the FE itself, they aren't immune to espionage). It's a situation that lasts 1 year, you need to steal Form 3692 and research a special project that costs 1000 Society Research to format your census data according to their bureaucratic form. If you complete this quest before the situation runs out, the FE will be happy and become Patronizing.
Demands: if this FE is for some reason angry at you, they claim that your "Province" never paid taxes to the imperial core since the day it was founded by the Emperor's decree. They demand an outrageous amount of resources from you. If you refuse to pay, they become angry and say that "the High Tribunal has sentenced Governor %rulername to death for embezzlement. A special military operation will be conducted in the province of %empirename to restore order" and declare a standard FE war for humiliation and ruler assassination.
Awakening: this FE only has a regular awakening. Upon awakening, their personality changes to "Relentless Unifiers", and they enforce their "Imperial Province" vassal type on everyone.

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decline, decrease, deep, deeply, deer, defeat, defend, defendant, defense, defensive, deficit, define, definitely, definition, degree, delay, deliver, delivery, demand, democracy, Democratic, Democrat, demonstrate, demonstration, deny, department, depend, dependent, depending, depict, depression, depth, deputy, derive, describe, description, desert, deserve, design, designer, desire, desk, desperate, despite, destroy, destruction, detail, detailed, detect, detection, detective, determine, develop, developing, development, device, devil, dialogue, diet, differ, difference, different, differently, difficult, difficulty, dig, digital, dimension, dining, dinner, direct, direction, directly, director, dirt, disability, disagree, disappear, disaster, discipline, disclose, discover, discovery, discrimination, discuss, discussion, disease, dish, dismiss, disorder, display, dispute, distance, distinct, distinction, distinguish, distribute, distribution, district, diverse, diversity, divide, 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enterprise, entertain, entertainment, entire, entirely, entrance, entry, environment, environmental, episode, equal, equally, equipment, equivalent, era, error, escape, especially, essay, essential, essentially, establish, establishment, estate, estimate, etc, ethics, ethnic, European, evaluate, evaluation, evening, event, eventually, ever, every, everybody, everyday, everyone, everything, everywhere, evidence, evolution, evolve, exact, exactly, exam, examination, examine, example, exceed, excellent, except, exception, exchange, exciting, executive, exercise, exhibit, exhibition, exist, existence, existing, expand, expansion, expect, expectation, expense, expensive, experience, experiment, expert, explain, explanation, explode, explore, explosion, expose, exposure, express, expression, extend, extension, extensive, extent, external, extra, extraordinary, extreme, extremely, eye, fabric, face, facility, fact, factor, factory, faculty, fade, fail, failure, fair, fairly, faith, fall, 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furthermore, future, gain, galaxy, gallery, game, gang, gap, garage, garden, garlic, gas, gate, gather, gay, gaze, gear, gender, gene, general, generally, generate, generation, genetic, gentleman, gently, German, gesture, get, ghost, giant, gift, gifted, girl, girlfriend, give, given, glad, glance, glass, global, glove, go, goal, God, gold, golden, golf, good, govern, government, governor, grab, grace, grade, gradually, graduate, grain, grand, grandmother, grant, grass, grave, gray, great, green, grocery, ground, group, grow, growing, growth, guarantee, guard, guess, guest, guide, guideline, guilty, gun, guy, habit, habitat, hair, half, hall, hand, handful, handle, hang, happen, happy, harbor, hard, hardly, hat, hate, have, he, head, headline, headquarters, health, healthy, hear, hearing, heart, heat, heaven, heavily, heavy, heel, height, helicopter, hell, hello, help, helpful, hence, her, herb, here, heritage, hero, herself, hey, hi, hide, high, highlight, highly, highway, hill, him, himself, hip, hire, his, historic, historical, history, hit, hold, hole, holiday, holy, home, homeless, honest, honey, honor, hope, horizon, horror, horse, hospital, host, hot, hotel, hour, house, household, housing, how, however, huge, human, humor, hundred, hungry, hunter, hunting, hurt, husband, hypothesis, ice, idea, ideal, identification, identify, identity, ignore, ill, illegal, illness, illustrate, image, imagination, imagine, immediate, immediately, immigrant, immigration, impact, implement, implication, imply, importance, important, impose, impossible, impress, impression, impressive, improve, improvement, incentive, incident, include, including, income, incorporate, increase, increased, increasingly, incredible, indeed, independence, independent, index, indicate, indication, individual, industrial, industry, infant, infection, inflation, influence, inform, information, ingredient, initial, initially, initiative, injury, inner, innocent, inquiry, inside, insight, insist, 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layer, lead, leader, leadership, leading, leaf, league, lean, learn, learning, least, leather, leave, left, leg, legacy, legal, legend, legislation, legislative, legislator, legitimate, lemon, length, less, lesson, let, letter, level, liberal, library, license, lie, life, lifestyle, lifetime, lift, light, like, likely, limit, limitation, limited, line, link, lip, list, listen, literary, literature, little, live, living, load, loan, local, locate, location, lock, long, long-term, look, loose, lose, loss, lost, lot, lots, loud, love, lovely, lover, low, lower, luck, lucky, lunch, luxury, machine, mad, magazine, mail, main, mainly, maintain, maintenance, major, majority, make, maker, makeup, male, mall, man, manage, management, manager, manner, manufacturer, manufacturing, many, map, margin, mark, market, marketing, marriage, married, marry, mask, mass, massive, master, match, material, math, matter, may, maybe, mayor, me, meal, mean, meaning, meanwhile, measure, measurement, meat, mechanism, media, medical, medication, medicine, medium, meet, meeting, member, membership, memory, mental, mention, menu, mere, merely, mess, message, metal, meter, method, Mexican, middle, might, military, milk, million, mind, mine, minister, minor, minority, minute, miracle, mirror, miss, missile, mission, mistake, mix, mixture, mm-hmm, mode, model, moderate, modern, modest, mom, moment, money, monitor, month, mood, moon, moral, more, moreover, morning, mortgage, most, mostly, mother, motion, motivation, motor, mountain, mouse, mouth, move, movement, movie, Mr, Mrs, Ms, much, multiple, murder, muscle, museum, music, musical, musician, Muslim, must, mutual, my, myself, mystery, myth, naked, name, narrative, narrow, nation, national, native, natural, naturally, nature, near, nearby, nearly, necessarily, necessary, neck, need, negative, negotiate, negotiation, neighbor, neighborhood, neither, nerve, nervous, net, network, never, nevertheless, new, newly, news, newspaper, next, nice, night, nine, no, nobody, nod, noise, nomination, nominee, none, nonetheless, nor, normal, normally, north, northern, nose, not, note, nothing, notice, notion, novel, now, nowhere, nuclear, number, numerous, nurse, nut, object, objective, obligation, observation, observe, observer, obtain, obvious, obviously, occasion, occasionally, occupation, occupy, occur, ocean, odd, odds, of, off, offense, offensive, offer, office, officer, official, often, oh, oil, okay, old, Olympic, on, once, one, ongoing, onion, online, only, onto, open, opening, operate, operating, operation, operator, opinion, opponent, opportunity, oppose, opposed, opposite, opposition, option, or, orange, order, ordinary, organic, organization, organize, orientation, origin, original, originally, other, others, otherwise, ought, our, ours, ourselves, out, outcome, outside, oven, over, overall, overcome, overlook, owe, own, owner, pace, pack, package, page, pain, painful, paint, painter, painting, pair, pale, Palestinian, palm, pan, panel, panic, pant, paper, paragraph, parent, park, parking, part, participant, participate, participation, particle, particular, particularly, partly, partner, partnership, party, pass, passage, passenger, passion, past, patch, path, patient, pattern, pause, pay, payment, PC, peace, peak, peer, pen, penalty, people, pepper, per, perceive, percentage, perception, perfect, perfectly, perform, performance, perhaps, period, permanent, permission, permit, person, personal, personality, personally, personnel, perspective, persuade, pet, phase, phenomenon, philosophy, phone, photo, photographer, phrase, physical, physically, physician, piano, pick, picture, pie, piece, pile, pilot, pine, pink, pipe, pitch, place, plan, plane, planet, planning, plant, plastic, plate, platform, play, player, please, pleasure, plenty, plot, plus, PM, pocket, poem, poet, poetry, point, police, policy, political, politically, politician, politics, poll, pollution, pool, poor, pop, popular, population, porch, port, portion, portrait, portray, pose, position, positive, possess, possession, possibility, possible, possibly, post, pot, potato, potential, potentially, pound, pour, poverty, powder, power, powerful, practical, practice, prayer, preach, precisely, predict, prediction, prefer, preference, pregnancy, pregnant, preparation, prepare, prescription, presence, present, presentation, preserve, president, presidential, press, pressure, pretend, pretty, prevent, previous, previously, price, pride, priest, primarily, primary, prime, principal, principle, print, prior, priority, prison, prisoner, privacy, private, probably, problem, procedure, proceed, process, processing, processor, proclaim, produce, producer, product, production, profession, professional, professor, profile, profit, program, progress, progressive, project, prominent, promise, promote, prompt, proof, proper, properly, property, proportion, proposal, propose, prosecutor, prospect, protect, protection, protein, protest, proud, prove, provide, provider, province, provision, psychological, psychology, public, publication, publicity, publish, publisher, pull, punishment, purchase, pure, purpose, pursue, push, put, qualify, quality, quarter, quarterback, quarterly, queen, quest, question, quick, quickly, quiet, quietly, quit, quite, quote, race, racial, radiation, radical, radio, rail, rain, raise, range, rank, rapid, rapidly, rare, rarely, rate, rather, rating, ratio, raw, reach, react, reaction, reader, reading, ready, real, reality, realize, really, reason, reasonable, recall, receive, recent, recently, reception, recipe, recipient, recognition, recognize, recommend, recommendation, record, recording, recover, recovery, recruit, red, reduce, reduction, refer, reference, reflect, reflection, reform, refugee, refuse, regard, regarding, regardless, regime, region, regional, register, regular, regularly, regulate, regulation, regulator, reinforce, reject, relate, relation, relationship, relative, relatively, relax, release, relevant, relief, religion, religious, rely, remain, remaining, remarkable, remember, remind, remote, remove, repeat, repeatedly, replace, replacement, reply, report, reporter, represent, representation, representative, Republican, reputation, request, require, requirement, research, researcher, resemble, reservation, resident, residential, resign, resist, resistance, resolution, resolve, resort, resource, respect, respond, response, responsibility, responsible, rest, restaurant, restore, restriction, result, retain, retire, retirement, return, reveal, revenue, review, revolution, rhythm, rice, rich, rid, ride, rifle, right, ring, rise, risk, river, road, rock, role, roll, romantic, roof, room, root, rope, rose, rough, roughly, round, route, routine, row, rub, rubber, rude, ruin, rule, run, running, rural, rush, Russian, sacred, sad, safe, safety, sake, salad, salary, sale, sales, salt, same, sample, sanction, sand, satellite, satisfaction, satisfied, satisfy, sauce, save, saving, say, scale, scandal, scare, scatter, scenario, scene, schedule, scheme, scholar, scholarship, school, science, scientific, scientist, scope, score, scream, screen, script, sea, search, season, seat, second, secondary, secret, secretary, section, sector, secure, security, see, seed, seek, seem, segment, seize, select, selection, self, sell, Senate, senator, send, senior, sense, sensitive, sentence, separate, sequence, series, serious, seriously, servant, serve, service, session, set, setting, settle, settlement, seven, several, severe, sex, sexual, shade, shadow, shake, shall, shallow, shape, share, sharp, she, sheet, shelf, shell, shelter, shift, shine, ship, shirt, shock, shoe, shoot, shooting, shop, shopping, short, shortly, shot, should, shoulder, shout, show, shower, shrug, shut, shy, sibling, sick, side, sigh, sight, sign, signal, significant, significantly, silence, silent, silver, similar, similarly, simple, simply, sin, since, sing, singer, single, sink, sir, sister, sit, site, situation, six, size, ski, skill, skin, skirt, sky, slave, sleep, slice, slide, slight, slightly, slip, slow, slowly, small, smart, smell, smile, smoke, smooth, snap, snow, so, so-called, soccer, social, society, soft, software, soil, solar, soldier, sole, solid, solution, solve, some, somebody, somehow, someone, something, sometimes, somewhat, somewhere, son, song, soon, sophisticated, sorry, sort, soul, sound, soup, source, south, southern, Soviet, space, Spanish, speak, speaker, special, specialist, species, specific, specifically, specify, speech, speed, spend, spending, spin, spirit, spiritual, split, spoil, sponsor, sport, spot, spray, spread, spring, square, squeeze, stability, stable, staff, stage, stain, stair, stake, stand, standard, standing, star, stare, start, state, statement, station, statistical, status, stay, steady, steal, steel, steep, stem, step, stick, still, stimulate, stimulus, stir, stock, stomach, stone, stop, storage, store, storm, story, straight, strange, stranger, strategic, strategy, stream, street, strength, strengthen, stress, stretch, strike, string, strip, stroke, strong, strongly, structural, structure, struggle, student, studio, study, stuff, stupid, style, subject, submit, subsequent, substance, substantial, substitute, succeed, success, successful, successfully, such, sudden, suddenly, sue, suffer, sufficient, sugar, suggest, suggestion, suicide, suit, summer, summit, sun, super, supply, support, supporter, suppose, supposed, Supreme, sure, surely, surface, surgery, surprise, surprised, surprising, surprisingly, surround, survey, survival, survive, survivor, suspect, sustain, swear, sweep, sweet, swim, swing, switch, symbol, symptom, system, table, tactic, tail, take, tale, talent, talk, tall, tank, tap, tape, target, task, taste, tax, taxi, tea, teach, teacher, teaching, team, tear, technical, technique, technology, teen, teenager, telephone, telescope, television, tell, temperature, temporary, ten, tend, tendency, tennis, tension, tent, term, terms, terrible, territory, terror, terrorist, test, testimony, testing, text, than, thank, thanks, that, the, theater, their, them, theme, themselves, then, theory, therapy, there, therefore, these, they, thick, thin, thing, think, thinking, third, thirty, this, those, though, thought, thousand, threat, threaten, three, throat, through, throughout, throw, thus, ticket, tie, tight, time, tiny, tip, tire, tissue, title, to, tobacco, today, toe, together, toilet, token, tolerate, tomato, tomorrow, tone, tongue, tonight, too, tool, tooth, top, topic, toss, total, totally, touch, tough, tour, tourist, tournament, toward, towards, tower, town, toy, trace, track, trade, tradition, traditional, traffic, tragedy, trail, train, training, transfer, transform, transformation, transition, translate, translation, transmission, transmit, transport, transportation, travel, treat, treatment, treaty, tree, tremendous, trend, trial, tribe, trick, trip, troop, trouble, truck, true, truly, trust, truth, try, tube, tunnel, turn, TV, twelve, twenty, twice, twin, two, type, typical, typically, ugly, ultimate, ultimately, unable, uncle, undergo, understand, understanding, unfortunately, uniform, union, unique, unit, United, universal, universe, university, unknown, unless, unlike, until, unusual, up, upon, upper, urban, urge, us, use, used, useful, user, usual, usually, utility, utilize, vacation, valley, valuable, value, variable, variation, variety, various, vary, vast, vegetable, vehicle, venture, version, versus, very, vessel, veteran, via, victim, victory, video, view, viewer, village, violate, violation, violence, violent, virtually, virtue, virus, visibility, visible, vision, visit, visitor, visual, vital, voice, volume, voluntary, volunteer, vote, voter, voting, wage, wait, wake, walk, wall, wander, want, war, warm, warn, warning, wash, waste, watch, water, wave, way, we, weak, weakness, wealth, wealthy, weapon, wear, weather, web, website, wedding, week, weekend, weekly, weigh, weight, welcome, welfare, well, west, western, wet, what, whatever, wheel, when, whenever, where, whereas, whether, which, while, whisper, white, who, whole, whom, whose, why, wide, widely, widespread, wife, wild, wildlife, will, willing, win, wind, window, wine, wing, winner, winter, wipe, wire, wisdom, wise, wish, with, withdraw, within, without, witness, woman, wonder, wonderful, wood, wooden, word, work, worker, working, workout, workplace, works, workshop, world, worried, worry, worth, would, wound, wrap, write, writer, writing, wrong, yard, yeah, year, yell, yellow, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, you, young, your, yours, yourself, youth, zone.

During the forecast period from 2024 to 2030, the global automatic stamping machine market is expected to exhibit a notable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 4.5%. This growth trajectory is primarily fueled by the rising need for precision and efficiency in manufacturing processes across diverse industries including automotive, electronics, and aerospace. The increasing adoption of automatic stamping machines is driven by their ability to meet these demands effectively. Furthermore, continuous technological advancements, particularly the integration of robotics and automation, are augmenting the capabilities and overall performance of these machines, thereby contributing to the expansion of the market.
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Market Trends:
Integration of Automation and Robotics: There's a significant trend towards the integration of automation and robotics in automatic stamping machines. This integration enhances productivity, accuracy, and flexibility in manufacturing processes. Automated stamping machines equipped with robotics offer capabilities such as precise material handling, complex part manipulation, and adaptive tooling, leading to improved efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Advancements in Precision and Speed: Continuous advancements in stamping machine technology are focused on enhancing precision and speed in manufacturing operations. Manufacturers are developing high-speed automatic stamping machines capable of producing intricate components with minimal cycle times. These advancements enable manufacturers to meet the growing demand for complex and customized parts across various industries.
Digitalization and Industry 4.0 Integration: The adoption of digitalization and Industry 4.0 principles is transforming the automatic stamping machine market. Smart stamping machines equipped with sensors, data analytics, and connectivity features enable real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and optimization of production processes. Integration with digital platforms allows for seamless communication and synchronization with other manufacturing systems, leading to enhanced productivity and agility.
Customization and Flexibility: There's a rising demand for automatic stamping machines that offer customization and flexibility to accommodate diverse production requirements. Manufacturers are developing modular and configurable stamping systems that can easily adapt to changing production needs, product variations, and batch sizes. Flexible stamping machines enable manufacturers to respond quickly to market demands and achieve higher levels of efficiency and competitiveness.
Energy Efficiency and Sustainability: With increasing focus on sustainability and environmental conservation, there's a growing emphasis on energy-efficient and eco-friendly automatic stamping machines. Manufacturers are incorporating energy-saving features such as regenerative braking, variable speed drives, and efficient cooling systems to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint. Sustainable stamping processes contribute to cost savings, regulatory compliance, and corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Market Opportunities:
The automatic stamping machine market presents numerous opportunities driven by evolving industry dynamics and technological advancements. Firstly, the increasing adoption of automated manufacturing processes across diverse industries, including automotive, electronics, and aerospace, creates a growing demand for advanced stamping machines capable of delivering high precision and productivity. Moreover, the rising trend towards customization and product differentiation fuels the need for flexible stamping solutions that can accommodate varying production requirements and product specifications. Additionally, the integration of Industry 4.0 principles and digitalization presents opportunities for the development of smart stamping machines equipped with predictive maintenance capabilities and real-time monitoring systems, enhancing operational efficiency and reducing downtime.
According to the recent report published by RC Market Analytics, the Global Automatic Stamping Machine Market is expected to provide sustainable growth opportunities during the forecast period from 2024 to 2030. This latest industry research study analyzes the automatic stamping machine market by various product segments, applications, regions and countries while assessing regional performances of numerous leading market participants. The report offers a holistic view of the automatic stamping machine industry encompassing numerous stakeholders including raw material suppliers, providers, distributors, consumers and government agencies, among others. Furthermore, the report includes detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the global market considering market history, product development, regional dynamics, competitive landscape, and key success factors (KSFs) in the industry.
Browse the Full Report Discretion @ https://www.researchcorridor.com/automatic-stamping-machine-market/
Geographically, the automatic stamping machine market report comprises dedicated sections centering on the regional market revenue and trends. The automatic stamping machine market has been segmented on the basis of geographic regions into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Automatic stamping machine market estimates have also been provided for the historical years 2020 to 2023 along with forecast for the period from 2024 - 2030.The report includes a deep-dive analysis of key countries including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, China, Japan, India, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa, among others. Thereby, the report identifies unique growth opportunities across the world based on trends occurring in various developed and developing economies.
The Automatic Stamping Machine Market Segmentation:

By Type:

• Mechanical
• Hydraulic
• Servo-driven

By Material:

• Metal
• Plastic
• Paper
• Foil

By End-Use:

• Food & Beverages
• Automotive
• Building & Construction
• Cosmetics & Personal Care
• Military & Other Security Purposes
• Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices

By Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East & Africa

Prominent players in the global automatic stamping machine market include AIDA Engineering Ltd., Amada Holdings Co., Ltd., Schuler AG, Komatsu Ltd., and JIER North America. These companies are strategically navigating market dynamics through expansion, new investments, service diversification, and collaborative ventures. Moreover, they are pursuing geographic expansion and strategic acquisitions to leverage joint synergies and gain a competitive edge in new markets.
To know more about this study, request a free sample report @ https://www.researchcorridor.com/request-sample/?id=158394
Key Questions Answered by Automatic Stamping Machine Market Report:

• Product popularity and adoption based on various country-level dynamics
• Regional presence and product development for leading market participants
• Market forecasts and trend analysis based on ongoing investments and economic growth in key countries
• Competitive landscape based on revenue, product offerings, years of presence, number of employees and market concentration, among others
• Various industry models such as SWOT analysis, Pestle Analysis, Porter’s Five Force model, Value Chain Analysis pertaining to Automatic Stamping Machine market
• Analysis of the key factors driving and restraining the growth of the global, regional and country-level markets from 2020-2030

About Us:RC Market Analytics is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities to optimize strategies. Our expert’s team of analysts’ provides enterprises with strategic insights. RC Market Analytics works to help enterprises grow through strategic insights and actionable solutions. Feel free to contact us for any report customization at sales@researchcorridor.com.
Media Contact:
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In 2023, the global aerospace wiring harness market reached a valuation exceeding USD 2 billion, with projections indicating a notable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 5.5% throughout the forecast period from 2024 to 2030. This market's expansion is underpinned by various factors that steer its upward trajectory. Advancements in aircraft design and technology, marked by the integration of sophisticated electronic systems and avionics, are driving the demand for high-performance wiring harnesses capable of accommodating complex electrical architectures. Additionally, the surging global air passenger traffic, alongside rising aircraft deliveries to meet escalating demands for air travel, underscores the necessity for dependable and lightweight wiring solutions to bolster aircraft efficiency and safety.
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Market Trends:
· Lightweight Materials: Aircraft manufacturers and operators are increasingly prioritizing fuel efficiency and performance. To achieve these goals, there's a growing emphasis on the use of lightweight materials in aerospace wiring harnesses. Materials like aluminum alloys, composite materials (such as carbon fiber reinforced polymers), and high-strength plastics offer the dual advantage of reducing overall weight while maintaining structural integrity and reliability. By employing lightweight materials, aircraft can improve fuel efficiency, extend range, and enhance overall operational efficiency.
· Miniaturization: As aircraft systems become more advanced and space within the aircraft cabin becomes increasingly limited, there's a trend towards the miniaturization of components, including wiring harnesses. Miniaturized wiring harnesses occupy less space, allowing for more efficient utilization of available space within the aircraft. Additionally, smaller harnesses contribute to weight reduction, which is critical for achieving fuel savings and optimizing aircraft performance. Despite their smaller size, miniaturized wiring harnesses are engineered to maintain robustness, reliability, and performance under demanding operating conditions.
· High-Speed Data Transmission: The rise of connected aircraft and the growing demand for high-speed data transmission have necessitated the development of advanced wiring harnesses capable of supporting rapid data transfer rates. Fiber optic cables and advanced copper wiring technologies, such as twisted pair and coaxial cables, are being increasingly utilized to meet the bandwidth requirements of modern avionics systems. These high-speed data transmission capabilities enable seamless communication between onboard systems, ground control, and satellite networks, facilitating enhanced situational awareness, real-time data exchange, and operational efficiency.
· Modular and Flexible Designs: In response to evolving aircraft configurations, technologies, and operational requirements, there's a shift towards modular and flexible wiring harness designs. These designs allow for greater adaptability and scalability, enabling easier integration with new systems, components, and upgrades. Modular wiring harnesses are composed of interchangeable modules or segments, facilitating simplified installation, maintenance, and repair procedures. Additionally, flexible harnesses can accommodate changes in routing, bends, and angles, ensuring optimal fitment within the aircraft structure while minimizing installation time and complexity.
· Integration of Smart Technologies: The integration of smart technologies into wiring harnesses is transforming traditional electrical systems into intelligent, interconnected networks. Embedded sensors, microcontrollers, and diagnostic algorithms enable real-time monitoring, analysis, and optimization of electrical performance. These smart features provide proactive fault detection, predictive maintenance alerts, and enhanced system reliability, contributing to improved safety, efficiency, and operational readiness. By leveraging data-driven insights, operators can identify and address potential issues before they escalate, reducing downtime, maintenance costs, and operational disruptions.
Market Opportunities:
The aerospace wiring harness market presents a myriad of opportunities driven by several factors. The ongoing advancements in aircraft technology, including the emergence of electric propulsion systems and autonomous flight capabilities, create demand for innovative wiring solutions capable of supporting these cutting-edge technologies. Additionally, the increasing focus on sustainability and fuel efficiency in the aviation sector opens avenues for the development of lightweight and eco-friendly wiring harness materials and designs. Furthermore, the expanding commercial aerospace sector, particularly in emerging markets, offers opportunities for market penetration and expansion. Moreover, the growing adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and urban air mobility (UAM) platforms necessitates specialized wiring harnesses tailored to the unique requirements of these applications.
According to the recent report published by RC Market Analytics, the Global Aerospace Wiring Harness Market is expected to provide sustainable growth opportunities during the forecast period from 2024 to 2030. This latest industry research study analyzes the aerospace wiring harness market by various product segments, applications, regions and countries while assessing regional performances of numerous leading market participants. The report offers a holistic view of the aerospace wiring harness industry encompassing numerous stakeholders including raw material suppliers, providers, distributors, consumers and government agencies, among others. Furthermore, the report includes detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the global market considering market history, product development, regional dynamics, competitive landscape, and key success factors (KSFs) in the industry.
Browse the Full Report Discretion @ https://www.researchcorridor.com/aerospace-wiring-harness-market/
Geographically, the aerospace wiring harness market report comprises dedicated sections centering on the regional market revenue and trends. The aerospace wiring harness market has been segmented on the basis of geographic regions into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Aerospace wiring harness market estimates have also been provided for the historical years 2020 to 2023 along with forecast for the period from 2024 - 2030.The report includes a deep-dive analysis of key countries including the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, China, Japan, India, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa, among others. Thereby, the report identifies unique growth opportunities across the world based on trends occurring in various developed and developing economies.
The Aerospace Wiring Harness Market Segmentation:

By Product Type:

• Wing
• Fuselage
• Interior
• Engine

By Application:

• Commercial Aircraft
• Business Jets
• Helicopters
• Military Aircraft

By Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East & Africa

Several prominent companies in the global aerospace wiring harness market include Yazaki Corporation, GKN Aerospace Services Limited, Glenair Inc., TE Connectivity Ltd., and KSaria Corporation. These firms are actively pursuing market opportunities through expansion, investment, service diversification, and collaborative ventures. By expanding into new regions and engaging in strategic acquisitions, players aim to enhance their competitive edge and leverage synergies for growth.
To know more about this study, request a free sample report @ https://www.researchcorridor.com/request-sample/?id=158391
Key Questions Answered by Aerospace Wiring Harness Market Report:

• Product popularity and adoption based on various country-level dynamics
• Regional presence and product development for leading market participants
• Market forecasts and trend analysis based on ongoing investments and economic growth in key countries
• Competitive landscape based on revenue, product offerings, years of presence, number of employees and market concentration, among others
• Various industry models such as SWOT analysis, Pestle Analysis, Porter’s Five Force model, Value Chain Analysis pertaining to Aerospace Wiring Harness market
• Analysis of the key factors driving and restraining the growth of the global, regional and country-level markets from 2020-2030

About Us:RC Market Analytics is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities to optimize strategies. Our expert’s team of analysts’ provides enterprises with strategic insights. RC Market Analytics works to help enterprises grow through strategic insights and actionable solutions. Feel free to contact us for any report customization at sales@researchcorridor.com.
Media Contact:
Company Name: RC Market Analytics Pvt. Ltd. Contact Person: Vijendra Singh Email: sales@researchcorridor.com Visit us: https://www.researchcorridor.com/

Q: Do UFOs exist?

A: Yes. The way humanity interprets the word 'fact' is for the observation to be independently verified by a community which often includes evidence and supporting material. For UFOs, multiple governments, agencies such as NASA and key scientist/astronaut/military personnel have independently affirmed the existence of UFOs. Famously multiple presidents of the US have been quoted to acknowledge them as well.
Note: Be wary, as with enough scrutiny almost any claim can be reduced and dissected to the point where almost any 'fact' can be questioned, UFOs are no different. Using the term 'fact' in a society of subjective sentient beings is a logical slippery slope. But we can certainly say, as far as the word and loose interpretation of the word 'fact' goes, it is a fact that UFO's exist.

Q: Do aliens exist?

A: Almost certainly, the majority of the scientific community agrees it would be astronomically unlikely for terrestrial life to exist in isolation. Despite significant observations of life living in seemingly impossible inhospitable environments on earth, critics rightfully question "if life is abundant, why have we not seen it yet".

Q: Are the UFOs we see due to alien visitation?

A: The strategy to answer questions which don't have scientific consensus is to logically consider it with the information we do have, making the fewest assumptions with the available facts. As with the case of the visitation hypothesis, we can consider many angles and reach a logically sound position.
Most of you know that out of a sample of 100 reported sightings, only a handful are truly anomalous, the vast majority being misreported as known origin. Of the handful left we can say these are anomalous genuine UAPs. Of these, we must first consider the least assumptions and first look to whether they are anomalous in nature, but human in origin.
Before we can do that we need to briefly discuss the credibility of witness testimony. Society places a significant credibility with witness testimony. People's lives can be judged based on the testimony of a witness, such as in the case of a murder trial. Indeed the vast majority of our entire scientific understanding is based on experimental data and whilst such data is often from instruments and computers there is often a human element. Ultimately a human witnesses the experiment and records the measurements and readings. Many things can affect the credibility of a witness testimony and of particular significance are independent witnesses reporting the same observation. As is the case with the scientific methodology and 'reproduced experiments'.
To Ufologists, a large component of lore and supplementary evidence to the existence of UAPs is built on witness testimony. We should consider events such as Rendlesham Forest where a sighting was reported by multiple expert, trained military personnel who are specifically trained in identifying even advanced aircraft and weather phenomena. A report based on multiple trained, sane personnel with consistent observations to the description of a UAP sighting is what we would call a water tight witness testimony. Such a testimony would be ruled true in any court for a petty crime or murder scandal for example.
However, on the topic of "NHI" our sample size of witness testimony is lower than the case for UAPs. The cases of multiple, credible witnesses coming forward with testimony for the case of NHI are less and I struggle to think of a good example. (Please drop any in the comments).
However, in the case of supposed NHI visitations we do have a colourful array of high ranking officials and representatives of military or government who have disclosed personally that they knew of NHI visitations.

• Robert Dean
• Paul Hellyer

In these cases the credibility is more individually focused on the trustworthiness of the person rather than a coherent multiple sighting event. We must consider such testimony carefully for there are many logical explanations for such testimony being false.
For example, David Grusch is a high profile contemporary whistle-blower who has claimed the existence of NHI. Using purely logic and removing any emotional or subjective intuition we can consider at least one likely explanation for his testimony. It's very possible that Grusch is operating as per a larger more convoluted Psy-Ops on behalf of the government. We know he is a very diligent patriot with a pristine record and presents as the perfect soldier to take one for the team and blow his career and personal circumstances to lie under oath and rattle off something he's been asked to say for some greater agenda to serve his country. Such agendas we can only speculate on, but domestic manipulation of the public as well as cold-war game theory plays against adversary countries such as China. Obviously such a hypothesis is fantastical and imaginative. But so is the NHI visitation hypothesis and a global conspiracy. For those versed in the US's history of Psy-ops, particularly in the case of the CIA and NSA - such an operation involving Grusch as a false agent is absolutely consistent with some of their previous endeavours.
Disclaimer: I am not disproving Grusch, my personal opinion is he is likely telling the truth. But I am allowed my personal opinion and my personal opinion is you cannot guarantee his legitimacy without the application of some element of faith. I have always been extremely careful whenever faith is introduced to objective deductions. I hope we all are. I don't operate with beliefs so I can't answer whether I believe in Grusch or not. But I can consider both sides as a matter of consistent statistical likelihood and it's much healthier for me to assume both possibilities going forward rather than feeling the very precarious and human desire to conclude. Again I hope this is something that is common practice amongst my peers.
So answering the question of NHI having operated the UAPs we know to exist is ongoing. So far we have explored the very likely idea that life exists outside the earth. We have also considered witness testimony and found that whilst witness testimony is credible in many scenarios, it's particularly problematic to be relied on in this case. Of course Grusch is not the only one who's claimed NHI visitations but our analysis on him is applicable to others.
There is good hope for the Alien hypothesis, but first more bad news. If we believe Grusch and similar witness testimony (in Grusch's case he's not a direct witness). We must also consider that these same witnesses also claim a US government UAP project. Depending on the witnesses and whistle-blower testimony, we either have a reverse engineering capacity of UAPs to even a downright working production of UAPs ourselves. So when we consider the handful of genuine anomalous sightings for every 100 reports, when we apply further statistical analysis, we now need to account for the likelihood such sighting (especially near air force bases or military facilities) may just be human operating UAP experiments.
Obviously we have a paradox "you can't refute the NHI origin hypothesis by saying they're humans, if humans only have the technology because we reverse engineered it" and that is true so let's be clear. Using statistics and logic we may say that a truly anomalous sighting may be humans operating craft. But we may also say that craft may have been inspired by a NHI origin.
So far the answer is skewed slightly towards the likelihood of the NHI hypothesis to be false. However there is a very compelling element to the facts that critics of the NHI hypothesis struggle with.
We have a very clear and comprehensive record of UAPs in history which predates a reasonable likelihood of us having the technology at that time. Obviously the endeavours of the ancient astronaut hypothesis is colourful, fantastical and well refuted. But amongst the popularly scrutinized theory there are strong elements of logical significance. Almost all religions and teachings of native indigenous people overwhelming talk of people coming from the sky in craft, appearing different in their looks, possessing knowledge and technology and interacting with early humans. Such stories are controversial of course but enough of them exist to merit consideration.
But much more relevant to us in this argument is the existence of the Project Bluebook and the incidents which inspired its necessity. For those that aren't aware it's common knowledge to Ufologists as the allied investigations into apparently very common UAP reports known as foo fighters observed by pilots during the word war.
Our logic tells us that if any global human power at the time had that capability we would have used it. The reason for that is because as soon as we had the atomic bomb capability we used that. It's absurd to assume that a human government was responsible for the UAPs in the bluebook but didn't use them, but would use an atom bomb. It's absurd but we must remember, history is littered with absurd events that did happen. So we don't rule it out, but it more or less provides a significant and compelling argument to the NHI hypothesis for UAPs. In simple terms, they existed before we could have created them. We deduce that, because if we had UAP tech we would have used it before needing to rely on atom bombs.
Ultimately if you want an answer it has two parts; a pragmatic answer and then a severe personal caveat.
Part one: Pragmatism

For any truly anomalous sighting, it very well may be of human origin dabbling in potential NHI tech. It also may be of NHI origin. We don't have clear enough evidence to know. Whilst US military officials claim they don't have the tech or that their adversaries don't, belief of that position requires faith as they do not provide a logical argument for their hypothesis. But if we look back at the sightings throughout history it becomes more and more likely the sightings were of NHI origin.

Part two: Caveat

My personal caveat is that some FAQ's shouldn't have conclusive answers. Our scientific method which underpins our most prestigious and rigorous institution of science in the world; does not always conclude. Sometimes a question has multiple likely answers and it will take more information to reduce those to one answer. I emphatically preach this is an attitude we employ as Ufologists as ultimately we are a community of speculators and researchers. So let's leave faith at the door.

Q: Why can supposed advanced beings master interdimensional/intergalactic space traversal but then crash land on earth like amateurs?

A: This question usually has a very loaded and dangerous assumption which I don't think we can make without careful consideration. The question implies that UFOs crash landing is as problematic to NHI as it would be to us. If a military pilot crashes a plane, they may die and as an asset they are worth hundreds of millions to the government, big loss. Additionally the plane they used is extremely expensive too and may have trade secrets. For us, a pilot crash landing is a huge net loss in life and assets. When we consider the idea of UAP crash landing we are applying our human bias on them.
Firstly, the UAP may be being operated by AI, biological artificial intelligence, pilotless etc. Even if there's a biologic body inside it's very possible the actual sentient pilot was operating the body remotely the same way we operate robots remotely. The biological body left behind may be like a robot we left on the moon which we used remotely to navigate the lunar landscape. Our operators don't die if the robot is broken.
Additionally, the craft itself is likely not a multi billion dollar craft. It's probably extremely cheaply made with the avenue of advanced technology. The 4chan whistle-blower (whether you believe them or not) introduced a logically sound idea that a craft was in the sea making purpose built UAPs all the time and sending them on missions. The "mother craft" just mines the materials it needs from our sea floor and pops out a UAP, it's probably entirely automated.
Little fiction here but it paints a story which is good to consider. Imagine a un manned probe lands in the sea after having identified using photo spectrometry that our planet has certain elements. It lands and the AI finds a spot in the sea away from detention and starts mining for a probe craft. It mines and creates a probe craft. The probe craft goes out and does some recon and then either makes new craft for whatever but eventually instigates a protocol which fires up the organic biological 'pilots' which are either artificial purpose built intelligence or biological vehicles operated by remote consciousness which a sentient life form will operate from afar. Then these guys go and crash whether it's a magnetic anomaly or something else and the NHI doesn't really care and are hardly inconvenienced.
It's possible to encapsulate or hide or lock the main functions of their technology upon crashing in the same way that our advanced technology may self destruct if crash landed in a foreign land. There's also speculation that some secret key is needed to operate them.
That is all fiction, but it paints a compelling alternative to us just projecting our bias on the crash hypothesis.
Remember, to a civilization that in theory has automated its outreach reconnaissance, the most pristine system design for their drones and vehicles isn't to somehow guarantee 100% crash proof technology. But instead it's to assume crashes will happen and make sure they're not damaging nor give away their tech too much.

Q: Can we simulate or 'fake' UFO's in the sky?

A: Yes to an extent. Using lasers we have technology to create lights that can move. However radar is another matter.

Q: Why haven't we had material evidence of UAP's released to the public?

A: Grusch has kind of answered this by saying that destabilisation factors are too great.
And for those interested, this post comprehensively considers this angle and attempts to explain in layman terms why disclosure is so complicated for a government and what those reasons mean.

Q: Is there an alternative to official disclosure and catastrophic disclosure?

A: Yes, I believe there's a route forward that a community such as this one can start making progress on. With the introduction to a pragmatic disclosure which has a simple goal; remove the 'valid' reasons that disclosure is being hidden and it will no longer be hidden.

~Space sensor market~ is anticipated to grow at a considerable CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period (2024-2031). Space sensors market growth is attributed to increasing demand for space sensors in satellite development, expansion in the space exploration market, growing commercial satellite industry, and growing application in defense. The market is highly influenced by investment from state-run organizations for developing and innovating space sensor technology to enhance space and defense capabilities. The major trend in the market includes miniaturization of space sensing technology, demand for remote sensing and observation-based sensing technology, and integration of novel technology such as quantum sensors.
Get Free Sample link @ https://www.omrglobal.com/request-sample/space-sensor-market
The growing need for space-based assets in defense and security is driving demand for sensors in the marketplace. Space sensors are used to monitor, acquire intelligence, and provide early warning systems. Satellites equipped with high-resolution optical sensors, synthetic aperture radar SARs, or other advanced imaging technologies provide critical intelligence data for monitoring potential threats, assessing military operations, and obtaining strategic information on a timely basis. Also, hypersonic missiles and ballistic missile systems leverage space sensors to work. For instance, in January 2024, the Space Development Agency granted L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, and Sierra Space $2.5 billion for 54 satellites in its new missile warning and missile tracking (MW/MT) and missile defense networks. The MW/MT satellites are designed to detect and track missile launches from orbit using infrared sensors with a large field of view. The missile defense satellites will have a mix of wide and medium-field-of-view infrared sensors to provide high-quality fire control tracks, assisting ground forces to intercept missiles.
full report of Space Sensors Market available @[ https://www.omrglobal.com/industry-reports/space-sensor-market](%20https:/www.omrglobal.com/industry-reports/space-sensor-market)
· Market Coverage
· Market number available for – 2024-2031
· Base year- 2024
· Forecast period- 2024-2031
· Segment Covered- By Source, By Product Type, By Applications
· Competitive Landscape- Archer Daniels Midland Co., Ingredion Inc., Kerry Group Plc, Cargill
· Inc., and others
Market Segmentation
Global Space Sensors Market by Type
o IMU Sensors
o GPS Sensors
o Star Sensors
o Optical Sensors
o Synthetic Aperture Radar Sensors
o Pressure Sensors
o Temperature Sensors
o Others (Vibration Sensors, Gas Sensors)
Global Space Sensors Market by Platform
o Satellites
o Space Station & Testing Probes
o Rovers/Spacecraft Landers
o Launch Vehicle
Global Space Sensors Market by End-User
o Civil
o Commercial
o Defense
Regional Analysis
o North America
o United States
o Canada
o Europe
o UK
o Germany
o Italy
o Spain
o France
o Rest of Europe
o Asia-Pacific
o China
o India
o Japan
o South Korea
o Rest of Asia-Pacific
o Rest of the World
o Latin America
o Middle East and Africa
Company Profiles
o InnaLabs Ltd. Analog Devices, Inc.
o Bradford Engineering BV
o CEDRAT TECHNOLOGIES
o InnaLabs Ltd.
o L3Harris Technologies Inc.
o Moog Inc.
o MinebeaMitsumi Inc.
o Safran S.A.
o Sierra Nevada Corp
o STMicroelectronics NV.
o Teledyne Technologies Inc.
o Texas Instruments Inc.
o Raytheon Technologies Corp.
o Renesas Electronics Corp.
o UAG Group
The Report Covers

• Market value data analysis of 2023 and forecast to 2031.
• Annualized market revenues ($ million) for each market segment.
• Country-wise analysis of major geographical regions.
• Key companies operating in space sensors market. Based on the availability of data, information related to new product launches, and relevant news is also available in the report.
• Analysis of business strategies by identifying the key market segments positioned for strong growth in the future.
• Analysis of market-entry and market expansion strategies.
• Competitive strategies by identifying ‘who-stands-where’ in the market.

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9240103/

Patterns of Gender-Based Violence in Conflict-Affected Ukraine: A Descriptive Analysis of Internally Displaced and Local Women Receiving Psychosocial Services

Arbitrary Displacement Is a Structural Rot that Hegemonizes Economic Abuse and with it Economic Collapse
Checkpoints for the displaced showed the most violence, literally predating on women when they were the most vulnerable by armed men.
Almost 8% of violent incidents against displaced women occurred at checkpoints or at reception centers for internally displaced persons (IDP) and 20% were perpetrated by armed men.
Majority of Ukrainian female respondents described their household economic situation as bad or very bad (59%)
A survey of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine found that a majority of respondents described their household economic situation as bad or very bad (59%), and only 22% held regular employment (Roberts et al., 2017).
Women fleeing violence are most likely to be exposed to sexually violent men exactly at the moments they were most expecting protection. This suggests a pattern of men who watch for the female victims of their enemies, and then violate them when they come to them, simply out of nationalist/ethnicist hate crime, with no care about their status as a victim.
Meta-analytic findings estimate a 21% prevalence of sexual violence among female refugees and IDPs (Vu et al., 2014).
A 2014 national survey conducted shortly after the start of the conflict found that 19% of 15–49 year old women had experienced violence since the age of 15 compared to 17% in 2007 (Martsenyuk et al., 2014).
Displaced women were more likely to experience sexual violence
Furthermore, we hypothesized that among GBV survivors: 1) proportionally more violent acts against displaced women would be non-domestic and associated with combat operations (i.e., demobilized and active governmental and non-governmental soldiers); 2) displaced women would be more likely to experience sexual violence than local women; and 3) patterns of reporting and referrals would differ depending on a woman’s residency status.
UN Women’s Framework for emergency response and preparedness (UN Women, 2013) was used
The adaptation process followed the recommendations of the GBV-IMS Rollout Guidelines (UNFPA, n.d.) and the UN Women’s Framework for emergency response and preparedness (UN Women, 2013), and entailed piloting the tool with several mobile teams and incorporating the feedback from the field.
Definition of internally displaced person
Ukrainian law defines an internally displaced person as “a citizen of Ukraine, a foreigner or a stateless person who is in the territory of Ukraine legally and has the right to reside permanently in Ukraine, and who was forced to leave his place of residence due to armed conflict, temporary occupation, widespread violence, human rights violations or emergencies of natural or man-made nature” (On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons, 2014).
Forced marriage with economic abuse followed with rape and sexual assault
Determination of GBV type was made by mobile team members using the GBV-IMS classification tool (UNFPA et al., 2011). The form instructs providers to select only one GBV type per case based on a series of questions asked in a specific order, as follows: 1) rape (if any type of penetration occurred); 2) sexual assault (if there was unwanted sexual contact); 3) physical assault (if there was physical battery); 4) forced marriage; 5) economic violence (in cases of denial of resources, opportunities, or services); 6) psychological or emotional abuse (if the incident involved insults, name-calling, and humiliation); and 7) no GBV (if none of the above). If, for example, a woman reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact, the provider would classify the case as “sexual assault” and continue to the following section.
One in five women who experienced violence were unemployed, showing these violent perpetrators may keep their victims from employment or sabotage their employment purposefully to put them in harm’s way.
More than one in five (21.6%) women who experienced violence were unemployed, with no differences between the groups. Overall, slightly less than one-third (30.7%) of the women engaged in unpaid labor such as elder and childcare, with significantly higher proportions among local women. Proportionally more displaced women had a professional occupation (24.6% vs. 20.0%, p<0.001).
78.3% of women reported that a man raped them. Half of the women reported psychological abuse in addition, showing many rapists are psychologically abusive before and after as a tell-tale sign.
More than three-quarters (78.3%) of women reported that a man was the perpetrator. In nearly half of the cases, the perpetrator was an intimate partner (49.5%); and in roughly one in five (21.8%) a family member. Psychological abuse (48.4%) was reported by almost half of the women (See Table 2).
Compared to local women, proportionally more displaced women reported an incident of rape or sexual abuse (3.1% vs. 2.1%, p<0.001) or economic abuse (23.4% vs. 14.4%, p<0.001).
Gender based violence affects one million women annually in Ukraine
GBV is a grave human rights violation that affects an estimated one million women annually in Ukraine (Barrett et al., 2012). Social disruption and frail economic conditions in humanitarian settings further aggravate women’s vulnerability to violence, particularly for displaced women (Stark & Ager, 2011; Stark et al., 2017). This analysis supports our primary hypothesis that the experience of violence differs by survivors’ residency status. Specifically, we found differences in terms of relationship to the perpetrator, type of violence experienced and access to care between local and displaced women.
Checkpoints, or borderlines, nebulous zones of power shifts were huge points of violence to Ukrainian women, showing power shifts are often signaled by violence, especially to the most vulnerable.
Notably, 20.0% of displaced women in our sample experienced violence at the hands of armed men compared to 5.3% of local women. We also found that checkpoints between government-controlled and non-government–controlled areas and IDP reception centers posed a particular risk for displaced women in our study.
38% more displaced women reported experiencing sexual violence than local women, meaning people were actively preying on people who were displaced, not protecting them. This shows Ukrainian women are at huge risk of opportunistic rape by the very men pretending to be safe.
Whereas sexual violence was the least common type of reported violence, 38% more displaced women reported experiencing sexual violence than local women.
Ukrainian women come from a long history of corrupt police, so they did not report to the police because the police do not work for them and never have. That is not their fault; it is their country and area’s fault.
Studies in conflict-affected Ukraine found that a majority of survivors were unwilling to report GBV incidents to the police, particularly among internally displaced women (UCSR, 2018).
Because of this violence around the very people that were supposed to protect them, Ukrainian women are less likely to file a police report. Displaced women were even more unlikely. It is an intelligent decision to not have a faith that has been factually and with evidence violated repeatedly.
we found that displaced women were less than half as likely than local women to have filed a police report.
Younger women seek gender based violence services more than older women, showing Ukrainian women are often being targeted for their fertility and not receiving justice can help them remain to be seen as a fertility commodity instead of a human being, making European countries very wary of the nation seeing how their women are treated. Women's rights feature largely in European economic inclusion.
For example, among GBV survivors in Ukraine, younger women seek services for GBV more often than older women (41% of those aged 15–29 vs. 26% those aged 40–49) (Martsenyuk et al., 2014). Therefore, this analysis is not representative of all women experiencing violence.
Domestic violence within the ranks of the warring country increased during war for Ukrainian women, instead of coming together in solidarity and mutual support
Studies in complex emergency settings have found stigma among GBV survivors, normalization of domestic violence during times of conflict, unwillingness to report men living in the home for fear of forced military recruitment, and reluctance to involve law enforcement as major reporting barriers, especially among displaced women survivors of violence (Ager et al., 2018; Stark & Ager, 2011).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9240103/

https://reddit.com/hiking/comments/1cn4uy4/best_hiking_shirts_for_extreme_heat/l34xw28/?context=20
An insult to toe socks calls a user's reputation into question. Is cotton actually a good choice when hiking in the desert? Or is OP practicing "orientalism" by fetishizing the clothes worn by Arab cultures?
A sampling of the dispute:

Yeah that's nice bro, but you live in Ohio. I actually live in a desert and have done my whole life, and I've tried everything on the market. Pure cotton sucks if you have any kind of pack on. The best fabrics I've found are lightweight synthetic blends which are free flowing, loose fitting, and dry quickly. Some of them include cotton in the mix, others don't.
I'm sure cotton robes are great when you're walking around casually. I usually wear cotton when I'm not hiking, because it works fine outdoors in a dry heat. But then, so does any other lightweight breathable fabric, including plenty of synthetics. There's nothing magical about cotton, and when it comes to underclothes and socks in particular, it's massively outperformed by light wool weaves and most synthetics.

I live in Ohio now. Not that it has any bearing on my experience, but keep on taking those L’s. It’s hilarious watching you dance and spin because you can’t actually refute the point and have tried to resort to insults and personal attacks.

It has a lot bearing on your experience because it's obvious that your only experience has been one specific style of desert clothing in one specific environment and context, and it's not something you're at all up to date on. I think my toe sock dig hit close to home for some reason and you've worked yourself into such a self-righteous rage that you don't even understand what I'm saying. Bedouin outfits are fine. They just aren't the end-all be-all, and cotton has some pretty significant drawbacks if you're wearing anything that'll press it against your skin for long periods.

Here you go again with your assumptions to build up straw men. Not surprising. You spent more time diving into my profile looking for a gotcha than actually refuting the argument with meaningful evidence of your own. For the record, I am completely anti-toe sock. But I’m even more anti-Fuddlore of the type you’ve been pandering.

Ah, I see now. You're one of those goofy operator types who likes Keffyiahs because they remind him of his military service, but you can't just like that style of clothing for aesthetic reasons. You've got to justify it to others by pretending it's the only correct choice and has no downsides, because deep down you're a sweaty nerd.

https://old.reddit.com/hiking/comments/1cn4uy4/best_hiking_shirts_for_extreme_heat/l34xw28/?context=20

These are things that collected over time that i would like to eventually see, in no particular order.
Lvl 85 / 300ish hours in.
1) emote wheel (with even more emotes)
2) missions for more than 4 players
3) stack of c4 stratagem. 4x on deployment.
If you have none to place- you hold the trigger. Sticks to surfaces and enemies.
4) infiltration objective. Where it's an underground bunker with a sealed door and you need to break in and destroy valuable data inside / kill VIP without orbital help (cause underground)
5) A delivery mission where squad has to deliver the flag (tutorial one) on a vehicle (ideally) into an area outside of destroyer control, place beacons for destroyer that map out the area and then- come back. (Like a setup for the missions we are doing) should kind of feel like old school halo capture the flag
6) random primary weapons to be in the mix on the map to pick up and try out, including warbond ones.
7) ability to drop EVERYTHING. Once had a bug in a helldive where my character dropped without any gear. Was very hectic 4 minutes but very fun where i ran around just with stratagems looking for a dead body to get some guns. (Character worked fine empty handed otherwise. Melee didnt work i guess it used pistol animation)
8) thermal/night vision but i heard theres plans for helmets in the works
9) weapon attachments silencemuzzle break/sights variations/stock (where applicable and i guess tied to weapon use or something) which would modify weapon slightly and nerf it elsewhere depending on attachment for a net neutral change.
10) more voicelines. To be exact- more voicelines representing things we mark. As new things get added and they have names. Marking targets can be wonky when character doesnt call the thing correctly.
Notorious lines/variations of lines missing:
"Need assistance"
"Bunker located" - triggered by marking either of the buttons
"Stalkers spotted" - last noticed marked stalker even if they are about to stealth. Just keep the marker there longer even after it's gone.
"(Factory) strider incoming" - marked strider
Idle chatter when someone spaces out or has to wait a while. This could be a comedy gold mine. Especially if it's a few players together.
*"Wonder how mom is doing?"
1- Do you ever wonder why we're here?
2- Is that Treason I'm hearing?
1- Uh... no... nevermind
11) animations for certain commonly used military commands/comms and certain useful comms missing.
1- wait
2- on my mark/countdown
3- go
12) creatures museum. Where you need to complete the entries on each unique enemy type (maybe you can find some maybe you can spend samples/sc on some rare ones)
13) shooting range / room that can simulate specific enemies based on completed museum entries
14) let me run on my destroyer... with a tradeoff. Let there be an rng leak with a wet floor sign and turn on ragdoll if we run on it.
15) destroyer upgrade: "patriotism pad".
A little table on the little balcony of the destroyer with a square foot of premium super earth Grass (totally not astro turf)
With a prompt "press e to feel inspired" and you proceed to touch grass. Not like you'd know with those gloves on... or what actual grass is supposed to feel like. Has no effect. Can support up to 4 helldivers touching grass.
Costs "whatever the current sample cap is"
Thanks if you read it all, I guess.
I just think some of this could be fun if done right.

Here are the goodies.

I am excited about the butter. It's dairy free, and you can't tell the difference for most of the baked goods I make!

Total: $19.84

Coupons: None!

Total Cash Back: $20.45

Final Cost: -$0.61 - Money Maker

 
Here is the complete break down and sites used. The stores are listed in the breakdown image. I don't include sites that take any receipt on my breakdown.
Note: Individual deals vary by user for most apps. If you don't have the deals right now, you can try checking back later.
 
My Guides

1. All rebate apps/sites I use and/or know about
   
2. How I do my hauls
   
3. Beginners guide to using rebate apps/sites - for those who don't know where to start
   

 
If you aren't interested in this kind of thing, please keep your comments to yourself. If you don't like what I buy, you can buy different products. If you don't like hunting for deals, you can do surveys, microtasks, games or whatever else you like instead. There is no need to discourage other users just because you aren't interested in the same things!
 
If you don't need feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, soaps, etc - consider donating them to your local women's shelter, church, or school!
 
Some Additional Deals

• Stem Fly Trap Starter Kit - Money maker after IB + SB
  
• $10 back on 7 Kellogg's Products (specific products only) - Military Commissaries only - Refund is a digital gift card (includes Prepaid visa - view the website for all the options) - Expires 5/31/24 - (Thanks to u/Kicker774 for mentioning it!)
  
• Nature Valley Wafer or Breakfast Bars (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Nature Valley Lunch Box Bars, Mott's Baked Bars, Fiber One Donuts (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Fresh Fizz - Free can at Fresh Thyme - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free at Whole Foods (PA, VA, MD, DC) - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Pepsi - Free after Rebate. Expires 6/17/24
  
• Tru Water - Free can at Walmart - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Cheesecake Factory GC - $10 bonus card when you buy a $50 one - Expires 5/12
  
• Fromm Diner Can - Free after coupon. (It's pet food)
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free after rebate. PayPal or Venmo. Whole Foods only.
  
• Beneful - IB + SK
  
• Suja Protein Shake - Free at Target in-store or online.
  
• Coffee (Any?) - You get a coupon for up to $10 in free coffee when you buy 3 participating special K cereals. I don't see anything mentioned about specific brands, but I also don't quite know how it works. - Expires 5/30/24
  
• Gooey - Free after rebate - Venmo/PayPal - (It says Walmart at the top, but it also says "from any store")
  
• Perfect Bar - One free bar - PayPal, Venmo, Amazon - Rebates are often instant
  
• CHKP - Free after Aisle - Fairway, Whole Foods, ShopRite
  
• Dr Elsey's Cat Litter - Up to $22 back on a bag up to 40 lbs when you purchase at Target, Walmart, or a local business pet store. You need to cut out the barcode and mail it in with the receipt. One rebate per person/household/address. Must submit within 90 days. There's also a handful of $1 coupons on this page.
  
• Free bag of Like Air Puffcorn - Refund via PayPal or Venmo. Must purchase in-store or for curbside pickup. Expiration date unknown.
  
• Kellogg's Promotions - Various stuff ranging from coupons for free products, movie tickets, various merchandise, and more.
  
• Various Sampoll offers
  
• Offers on Aisle Referrals: Halfday Rockstar - Buy 2 get $5 back. No gas purchase needed. Can do every other week. Free HOP Water (using my ref will give me another rebate offer) Pays out via PayPal or Venmo
  
• Various freebies on Ibotta.
  
• Various deals I've done in previous weeks can still be done.
  

 

Afterthoughts

Small haul for a small bonus today. I put together that part of the haul last night, and once I saw the $5 / 10 bonus, I completely forgot to check every other app, haha. Technically a slight profit loss meeting my IB bonus today, but that's okay because I'm making progress towards my bigger bonus. If I were to prorate that bonus, that'd be an extra $4.52, so it's definitely worth it.
 
My Beneful finally stopped resetting, unfortunately. Hopefully the Mac a Roni and butter keep resetting. I was going to get a couple other things too just to work towards my big bonus, but my store was out. I'll be going out of town later this week, so maybe I'll get lucky and find some good deals at stores that aren't around here.
 

Time Spent

I glanced at IB last night for like 5-10 minutes. I was planning to finish planning the haul today, but I didn't need to find any more deals. I was in the store for 50 minutes today, which included my regular shopping as well as browsing through the plants and clearance aisles.
 

Food From Deals

Here's an idea: Mix up a white cheddar Mac a Roni, with your choice of ham, sausage, chicken, pork, or one of the vegan meat alternatives. Add a little soy sauce, and some green peas if you wish. You could even add some extra butter and milk (or plant based milk) to make it a bit creamier. Serve with a slice of buttered toast or some Jasmine Rice. Perhaps make a little Banana bread for dessert. (Note: Everything mentioned has Ibotta deals available.)
 
Here's some things I've made in the past: High Protein Tomato Crackers, Hot Sausage Cups, Peanut Butter Fudge & Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, Chocolate Cherry Pie
 
Do you guys want me to continue showing things I've made using ingredients I got from rebate apps on these posts? Let me know in the comments, or you can vote on this poll if you want to remain anonymous.
 

Mini FAQ

• If you're new or confused - check out the guides near the top of the post. They go into detail about everything.
  
• I'm from the USA and these posts are tailored as such, but this post of mine does list things from other countries that I know about.
  
• My posts are tailored to being money makers to suit this subreddit. There are tons of great deals that aren't money makers but can still save you a lot of money.
  
• A lot of what I get is given away to friends, family or is donated. I do this more as a hobby than anything.
  
• I generally do not share my spreadsheet since the one shown in this post is not the one I actually use (it's put together with a script from my usual spreadsheet) and there are a ton of little things that will give you wrong values if you don't know about them and even then you have to be careful. It's super easy to make a spreadsheet with Google Sheets though.
  

Please, feel free to add any events below! Check out the Visitor's Guide for more things to do around town!
Looking to meet up with people? Check out Meetup St. Louis.
Be sure to continue scrolling past the Weekly Events for Trivia Nights, Live Music, Sporting Events, Local Comedy, and more!
​

• Bacon Fest at Alpha Brewing Company
  • May 19, 2024
  • Bacon lovers, rejoice! Alpha Brewing Co. is hosting a sizzling event on May 19. Tickets to Bacon Fest include all the bacon and beer that you can consume – plus, live music from two bands.
• Cardinals HOF Presents: Flashback Fridays
  • May 17, 2024
  • Visit the Cardinals Museum for a candid interview in our Sportsman's Park Theater with former Cardinals Catcher Mike Matheny on Friday, May 17th at 4:30pm.
• Cardinals HOF Presents: Saturday Signings
  • May 18, 2024
  • Saturday, May 18th is Saturday Signings with former Cardinals Catcher Mike Matheny from 2-4pm in the Cardinals Museum!
• Chess at the Brewery
  • Every Wednesday
  • Local meetup group of chess players that meet at breweries on Wednesday nights. They rotate locations each week.
  • See their Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/chessatthebrewery/) for the location this week.
• Chinese Culture Days at Missouri Botanical Garden
  • May 18 - 19, 2024
  • Chinese Culture Days at the Missouri Botanical Garden feature colorful Chinese pageantry, music, dance and art.
  • At the event, you can also immerse yourself in the history and legends of China while enjoying traditional cuisine.
• E.T. Bracket Series at World Wide Technology Raceway
  • May 18, 2024
  • The E.T. Bracket Series presented by Carl’s 4WD & Performance Center at World Wide Technology Raceway allows drivers in different vehicles to compete on an equal basis against each other.
• Family Night with Fredbird
  • Wednesdays
  • Join others at Cardinals Nation Restaurant & Bar for Family Night with Fredbird on select Wednesday evenings this off-season! Bring your family down for games, prizes, and meet Fredbird from 6:30-7:30pm.
• Karaoke Wednesdays at HandleBar
  • Every Wednesday
  • Browse the catalog and find your favorite songs to sing! Songbookslive.com/stlredcarpet
• Karaoke Wednesdays at Mack's Bar & Grill
  • Every Wednesday
• Landmarks Downtown Walking Tours
  • Every Saturday
  • Landmarks Downtown St. Louis Walking Tours: History, Culture, Architecture, and Exercise: What could be better on a Saturday morning.
• Native American Art of the 20th Century: The William P. Healey Collection at St. Louis Art Museum
  • February 23 - July 14, 2024
  • Native American Art of the 20th Century: The William P. Healey Collection celebrates a transformative gift of outstanding works by Native American artists active across the 20th century. The promised gift of 100 works establishes a critical junction between the Saint Louis Art Museum’s deep collection of pre-1920 Indigenous art and a growing emphasis on the contemporary.
• Open Mic Night at Schlafly Bottleworks (Maplewood)
  • Every Wednesday
  • Join others every Wednesday evening and showcase your talents with our Open Mic Night! Open sign up begins at 6:30PM with music starting at 7:00PM. They welcome original material, covers and spoken word! Grab a beer, then play and listen every Wednesday! There are no cover charges and no drink minimums to attend.
• Pointfest
  • May 18, 2024
  • POINTFEST returns to Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre - St. Louis on May 18.
• Ranken Technical College Midnight Madness at World Wide Technology Raceway
  • May 17, 2024
  • The Ranken Technical College Midnight Madness program fueled by NOS Energy Drinks offers a safer alternative to illegal street racing.
  • Organized yet informal drag racing will take place on the confines of World Wide Technology Raceway’s NHRA-sanctioned ¼-mile drag strip on select Fridays throughout the season.
• Soulard Farmer's Market
  • Wednesdays - Saturdays
  • Soulard Farmers Market is located at 730 Carroll Street in St. Louis, Missouri, a half mile north of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. The market is open Wednesday through Saturday, year round. They feature locally grown and shipped in goods, including: produce, meats, cheeses, spices, gourmet kettle corn, flowers, baked goods, and general merchandise. There are also several different eateries that have many food options, which allows customers the convenience to grab a quick bite to eat and a drink while shopping.
• St. Louis CITY Block Party
  • May 15, 2024
  • Before the St. Louis CITY SC vs LAFC match kickoff, get the party started early with happy hour on Lou Fusz Plaza at CITYPARK and live DJ entertainment! CITY SC presents the free CITY Block Party featuring DJ Chris Brown as well as local food and beverage vendors, fan giveaways, and games and activities for all ages. The block party is free and open to the public.
• St. Louis CITY SC Street Party at Schlafly Tap Room
  • May 15, 2024
  • In celebration of ALL home soccer games, Schlafly will close down "Louligan Street" and support our team the only way they know how: great food, drinks, and fun. There are beer tents, food trucks, special (game day and late night) menus, and more. Get here early and park!
• Sunday Bingo at Tim's Chrome Bar
  • Every Sunday
  • Get in the mood for some fun with an afternoon of BINGO at Tim’s. They'll supply the cards and daubers. Just bring yourself and your BINGO loving friends. Play for some good laughs and a variety prizes. Bar opens at 12 p.m., they'll start BINGO at 3 p.m. Cheers!
• Sunset Rooftop Yoga at Ballpark Village
  • May 16, 2024
  • Unwind on the rooftop of Ballpark Village in St. Louis during a one-hour yoga class led by YogaSix.
  • After the session, nama-stay for exclusive happy hour offers such as $3 domestic beers and $5 select cocktails.
• Taste of Maplewood
  • May 17 - 18, 2024
  • The Taste of Maplewood brings together our area’s most renowned restaurants, beloved boutiques, and one-of-a-kind novelty shops for a street party with live music on two stages, all in the heart of downtown Maplewood. Join us on Friday night for live music and a sampling of food vendors before the main event kicks off on Saturday.
  • In its 16th year, the festival’s vibe is distinct and unmistakable, radiating the culture and character of the local businesses.
• Thursday Nights at the Museum
  • Every Thursday
  • Kick off your weekend at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park! Each Thursday Night at the Museum will be the most fun, engaging, uplifting, thought-provoking, perspective-shaping night of your week. And there are drinks.
  • Join others starting at 5:30pm for happy hour and pop-up activities, such as brief tours, games, and performances. The main stage comes to life at 6:30pm, light appetizers and drinks are available for purchase until 7:00pm, and the Museum’s exhibits are open until 8:00pm for you to explore!
• Tower Grove Farmer's Market
  • Every Tuesday & Saturday
  • Join others every Saturday of the 2023 Tower Grove Farmers Market Season. They'll have over 100 vendors with local produce, meat, flowers, eggs, honey, prepared foods, art, jewelry, live music, and so much more.
• Vietnam: At War and At Home at Soldiers Memorial
  • Running until May 27, 2024
  • In 'Vietnam: At War and At Home' at Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, the story of the war’s origins, execution, conclusion and legacy are presented in engaging, accessible and evocative ways. The exhibit presents a diverse and holistic snapshot of the turbulent times in Vietnam, in the U.S. and in the St. Louis region.

​

Sporting Events This Week	Attractions Around the Area	Comedy This Week
St. Louis Cardinals schedule	Anheuser-Busch Brewery	Funny Bone Comedy Club
St. Louis Blues schedule	City Museum	Helium Comedy Club
St. Louis City SC schedule	Gateway Arch	The Improv Shop
St. Louis Battlehawks schedule	Missouri History Museum
St. Louis Billikens schedule	National Blues Museum

​

Trivia Nights
Location	Date/Time	More Information
Anheuser-Busch Biergarten	Tuesdays 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
Bar K	Tuesdays at 7:00 pm
City Foundry	Thursdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Crack Fox	Mondays 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm	They host a weekly free tournament and game night. Emphasis on Non Alcoholic refreshments and camaraderie.
Joey B's on the Hill	Mondays 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm	Trivia Details
Nick's Pub	Mondays
Felix's Pizza Pub	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
ITAP (Delmar Loop)	Wednesdays at 7:00 pm
ITAP (Soulard)	Tuesdays at 7:00 pm
Schlafly Brewpubs (Any Location)	Tuesdays 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Rockwell Beer Co	Tuesdays	Trivia Details (Reservations required)
The Mack	Tuesdays at 8:00 pm	Trivia Details
The Pat Connolly Tavern	Wednesdays at 7:00 pm
The Post	Wednesdays 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm	Trivia Details
Pieces Board Game Bar & Cafe	Wednesdays	Trivia Details
HandleBar	Thursdays at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Trivia Details
Steve's Hot Dogs	Tuesdays 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Trivia Details
Wellspent Brewing	Thursdays at 7:00 pm

​

Live Music This Week
Music Venues	Live Music Around Town
Blueberry Hill Duck Room	1860 Saloon
Chesterfield Amphitheater	BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups
Delmar Hall	Broadway Oyster Bar
Enterprise Center	City Foundry
The Fabulous Fox Theatre	Gallery Pub
The Factory	Game 6 Honky Tonk
Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre	Gaslight Lounge
Off Broadway	The Heavy Anchor
Old Rock House	Jazz St. Louis
The Pageant	Joe's Cafe
Red Flag	The Lot on the Landing
The Sheldon	Tim's Chrome Bar
St. Louis Music Park	McGurk's
St. Louis Symphony Concert Calendar	SoFar St. Louis Secret performances around town
Stifel Theatre	Venice Cafe
	Yaquis on Cherokee

​

Recurring Outdoor Activities
Big Muddy Adventures – STL Riverfront Adventure	Big Muddy Adventures was established in 2002. They are the first professional outfitteguiding company providing access to the wild wonders of the Middle Mississippi and Lower Missouri Rivers.
Gateway Arch Events	There are a variety of things to do along the Mississippi River.
Hidden Valley Ski Resort	Ziplining, scenic chairlift rides, and hiking trails opened during the summer. Skiing, snowboarding during the winter.

​

Small Pitch LED Display is a kind of LED Display, is collectively set the system, including LED display system, high-definition display control system and cooling system, with pixel-level control point technology, the display pixel units for brightness, color and uniformity of reducing state control. The Small Pitch LED display displays the greatest competitive completely seamless and natural true color display. Small pitch LED display LED dot pitch means less P2.5 indoor LED display, including P2.5, P2.0, P1.8, P1.5 etc.
The global Small Pitch LED Display market was estimated at 1.79 Billion USD in 2021 with CAGR 11.11% during 2021-2030. The objective of report is to define, segment, and project the market on the basis of product type, application, and region, and to describe the content about the factors influencing market dynamics, policy, economic, technology and market entry etc.
The report includes market size, upstream situation, market segmentation, market segmentation, price & cost and industry environment. In addition, the report outlines the factors driving industry growth and the description of market channels. The report begins from overview of industrial chain structure, and describes the upstream. Besides, the report analyses market size and forecast in different geographies, type and end-use segment, in addition, the report introduces market competition overview among the major companies and companies profiles, besides, market price and channel features are covered in the report.
Get Research Sample: https://altusmarketresearch.com/reports/sample/65093
Based on Pixel Pitch, the report describes major products type share of regional market. Products mentioned as follows:
P2.1-P2.5 mm P1.7-P2.0 mm P1.3-P1.69 mm P1.0-P1.29 mm Below P1mm
Leading vendors in the market are included based on profile, business performance etc. Vendors mentioned as follows:
Leyard Unilumin Liantronics Absen Qiangli SANSI AOTO Electronics Barco Vtron Elec-Tech International (Retop) Triolion Kingsun Optoelectronic (Coleder) Chip Optech SiliconCore Christie Samsung
Based on Application, the report describes major application share of regional market. Application mentioned as follows:
Commercial Government organization Military institution TV&Media industry Transportation industry Others
Based on region, the report describes major regions market by products and application. Regions mentioned as follows:
Asia-Pacific North America Europe South America Middle East & Africa

For those who are unaware, there was a very recent change (January 1, 2024) in the residency requirements for foreign Taiwanese nationals - people with Taiwanese parent(s). For these people, Taiwan has what is called a National Without Household Registration (NWOHR) Passport. It is green and looks like a normal Taiwan passport, but it doesn’t convey full citizenship rights as it didn’t include residency and household registration. (I posted mine here in the passport sub).
Prior to this year, in order for someone with a NWOHR passport to qualify as a full citizen, they had to first live in Taiwan for 366 days in a row without leaving the country (there were some other options that allowed you to leave for short times involving 2 and 5 years, but also quite impossible for most, unless you were in Covid lockdown or found a job in Taiwan.)
But earlier this year, Taiwan’s government removed this requirement for NWOHR passport holders who had at least one parent with household registration at the time of their birth. Hence, to get your own household residency and full citizenship, you no longer have to live in Taiwan for a year without leaving. You can just go to Taiwan, spend a few weeks there and complete the application process to obtain residency and a National ID, and become a full citizen of Taiwan. Taiwan will also allow you to keep your other citizenship (as long as they allow dual citizenship with Taiwan, which the U.S. does).
I kept really detailed notes and will post below some tips from my experience. The most important one is that what was formerly known as the TARC is now folded into the 定居證 (permanent resident certificate). So you just skip having to live in Taiwan for a year but provide almost the exact same documents as the old TARC for your 定居證.
There is a process listed here which says that you can start the permanent residency certificate from outside Taiwan to shorten your time in Taiwan by just exchanging your permit in 3 days. However, when I spoke to people at TECO a few months ago, and then more recently immigration in Taipei, they said I had to start the process in Taiwan. A friend’s parents in Taiwan also called immigration the other day and they told them the same thing. So not sure how one would go about the shortened process that is in on their website. But if anyone has successfully done the shortened process themselves, please post and let us know how you were able to get it done since it would cut the process by 1.5 weeks and help out a lot of folks who can’t spend 2-3 weeks in Taiwan.
This older post in this sub covers military conscription and also has many previous links about what to do if you are male and 18-36 written by FewSandwich6. (This was not applicable for me).
This very helpful post here contains a list of definitions for commonly used terms in Chinese and English that are often used in this process, written by HongKonger85. There is also an image of a 定居證 (Permanent Residency Certificate) after immigration has issued it to you, and this is what you need to swap for household registration (covered in Part 2 below).
My detailed notes for folks are as follows. Part 1 based on my experience getting my NWOHR passport, and Part 2 getting residency, my National ID, and full citizenship in Taiwan. Some info repeats what has already been mentioned in previous threads, with the difference being the new 2024 rule change. There are probably other ways to get this process done, but just sharing my own recent experience to help others looking to do this now.
In all, I am so glad I did this. I travel a lot to Taiwan to see friends and family but do not work there, so there were minor inconveniences in not having residency. My NWOHR passport was fairly useless in Taiwan, but once I got my 身分證, I can now do things like open a bank account, get a permanent cell phone number, qualify for health insurance (after waiting 6 months), and vote in Taiwan elections. I also have a second passport to travel with if there is a country more hostile to the U.S.. Doing this will also allow any future children of mine to qualify for Taiwanese citizenship if they choose to at some point in their lives. I could also consider retiring in Taiwan or taking a gap year from work in the U.S. and still have health insurance. The total costs from start to finish ran me about $550 (excluding the costs for my trip to Taiwan).
Happy to answer any questions for folks about the process. Cheers! Hopefully my notes below are helpful.
Please note that this was written in May 2024, so things may change over time. Also, there are parts where different forms, documents, or processes may be acceptable instead of what I did, so what I outline here might not be the only possible process.
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Part 1. Getting the NWOHR Passport:

If you do not have any Taiwanese passport start here. If you already have the NWOHR passport then skip to Part 2 (converting the passport to residency under the new 2024 laws).
The first step is to get what they call a NWOHR (National Without Household Registration) passport. This part is actually not done in Taiwan at all, and are issued by what are de-facto embassies, which in the U.S. are called the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO). There are 12 in the US and the U.S. National Office TECRO based in DC. (Other countries have a similar versions of this like the TRO in the UK).
I was told to use the TECO office closest to where you were born and/or where your parents were married. Luckily, this was the same office - the LA branch. If it happens that you were born closer to a different one than where your parents were married, call them and ask what they recommend. One reason for this is that it makes it easier to authenticate documents that the office is familiar with, which tend to be in the areas around it.
So what is authentication? This is a process that involves notarization where someone essentially authenticates your documents and verifies that they are real. For example, you bring a copy of your official birth certificate to TECO, then the TECO office will go through the process of contacting the relevant authorities where you were born to verify that this document is indeed real. Once TECO deems it authentic, they authenticate and notarize that document for you. You need to have this done for your passport application documents.
Here is what you need to submit to your local TECO for the NWOHR passport (these guidelines are from the TECO LA Office). TECO needs to first authenticate your birth certificate and parent’s marriage license. Then they use these for the NWOHR passport application. Documents cost $15 each to authenticate. The passport application for a 10-year passport is $45.
I highly advise you make an appointment with TECO. They even advise you to book two back-to-back appointments if you need both authentication and passport services done - which is what you need to do anyway. They cut off the number of walks ins per day (in LA it was 35 max walk ins).
The authentication of documents are usually done in a few weeks and your passport around 8-10 weeks. LA TECO gave me a pick up date and a receipt (save this to give them when you pick things up). If all goes well, you should have your NWOHR passport in about 2 months! If there are any issues, like inconsistent spelling of names between documents, and something is rejected, TECO will let you know and you will have to get the docs amended before your passport can be issued.
This whole process is done outside of Taiwan. Once you get your NWOHR passport, there is no time limit to complete Part 2 in Taiwan (though if your NWOHR passport expires after 10 years, you do need to renew it).
Congrats! You now have your NWOHR passport and can continue to Part 2 whenever you are ready.

Part 2. Getting household registration, your National ID with full citizenship rights, and converting your NWOHR Passport to a NWHR Passport to finish the process.

There are now two more things you need. A health check and an FBI background check (or other relevant agency of your country; apologies that this is U.S. focused). You will also need to figure out your household registration in Taiwan (more on that later). The FBI background check took about 4-6 weeks to get, and you need to have this authenticated and notarized by TECRO. This was done outside of Taiwan while I was still in the U.S. The FBI check result is valid for one year, while the health check is only valid for 3 months, so plan accordingly.
(I chose to get the health check later in Taiwan since I did not know how to go about getting an acceptable health check done in the U.S. and also did not want to bother having the results translated into Chinese. Doing it in Taiwan also ensured my health check wouldn’t be rejected, delaying my application.)
FBI Background Check
For the FBI check, there are two steps here and it’s kind of confusing.
The first is initiating an FBI background check for yourself through the online request form on the FBI site and getting a secure link and pin. (FBI emails this to you). Get your fingerprints done at a verified USPS, it's super quick and easy. Once your background check is complete and you get your electronic results, you forward that email with the PDF directly to TECRO. The website is not super clear so I emailed them for clarification and they wrote back to me more detailed instructions after I had received the completed PDF of my background check. What they said in their email:
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For authentication of electronic FBI Report, there are 2 steps:
Step 1:
Please forward the digital FBI Report (.pdf format) and the email of pin number (under FBI email account) to our consular email at [consul.tecro@mofa.gov.tw](mailto:consul.tecro@mofa.gov.tw) directly.
Step 2:
Meanwhile, please prepare and mail the relevant documents listed below to our office for further proceeding:
* fill out the application form for authentication as attached
* a copy of the applicant's passport (including Taiwan passport if have)
* print out the FBI Report and the email of pin number for crossing reference
** For overseas Applicants:
* a US bank draft (美金匯票) $15 in Taiwan local banks with payable to TECRO
* a prepaid shipping label from FedEx or USL or DHL (for mailing the authenticated document back to you)
** For domestic Applicants:
* authentication fee: USD 15 (either money order or casher's check with payable to TECRO)
* a stamped self-addressed return envelope (to mail the authenticated documents back to you)
Also, please allow additional time for mail delivery. Thanks
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In about 4 weeks or so, TECRO will mail you back a physical copy of your TECRO authenticated FBI background check using the self-addressed stamped envelope you sent them. Now that you have your FBI background check, you have one year to get your citizenship done in Taiwan before it expires.
Chinese Translation and Authentication/Notarization of your documents:
For this next part of the process, you need to get all your docs that were submitted for your NWOHR passport and the FBI background check translated and authenticated into Chinese. People on the internet mention that you can do this yourself. I recommend hiring professionals here who know what they are doing and also do the notarizing since you don’t want the translation of your documents to be rejected by immigration, wasting time and money. The docs also need to be formatted in a certain way. Given this, I went with a place in Taipei that charged about 6200 NT (~$200 US) for doing all my docs (background check, birth certificate, and parents marriage license, with notary). I used: 口藝國際有限公司(翻譯/公證代辦) and they took a little over a week to get these translated and notarized for me. (TECO actually told me to save money and do the translation in Taiwan, since places in the LA area were quoted as more, maybe in the $300-400 range, but if others have found cheaper US or Taiwan options please let us know who you used and how much they charged).
Plan a 2-3 week vacation in Taiwan (possibly with your parent(s) whose household registration you will be joining). 2 weeks if your health check is done already and all your docs are translated and notarized, 3 weeks if you need to do a health check in Taiwan. Less than a week might be possible but unclear if anyone has successfully done the 3-day exchange version mentioned here.
Enter Taiwan with your NWOHR passport on the Taiwan resident/citizen side and make sure to get your NWOHR passport physically stamped with your entry date.
Health Check in Taiwan
For my health check, I went to MacKay Memorial Hospital, 16th floor (No.92, Sec.2, Zhongshan N. Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City). I called all the Taipei hospitals on this approved list of health check hospitals, and MacKay was the shortest guaranteed turnaround at 7 days. Walk-ins only, no appointments, - 8am-11am, 1:30-4pm M-F, and Saturday but only in the morning. Exam fee was 2050 NT, an additional 750 NT if you need a booster shot. The turnaround was 1 week and there was no way to speed this up. Bring passport, face mask (maybe not required now), and money. You can use your U.S. passport for the application and might actually be easier as they don't need stool samples for U.S. applicants. They draw some blood and take a chest x-ray.
After getting all your documents translated and authenticated, the health check, and entering Taiwan on your NWOHR passport, you can begin the 3-step process of getting your full citizenship and new NWHR passport in this order:

1. 定居證 (permanent residency certificate) ->
2. 戶口名簿 (household registration) and 身分證 (National ID) ->
3. New NWHR Passport (and leaving Taiwan on it).

1) 定居證 (Permanent Residency Certificate)
For your 定居證 (permanent residency certificate), go to a National Immigration Agency office in Taiwan with all the necessary documents that have been authenticated and translated. (I used the one in Taipei on 15 Guangzhou Rd). Once you start this part, you cannot leave Taiwan until you get your new passport, and when you next leave Taiwan, you must do so on your new NWHR passport. In your application, you need to show that you have the ability to establish household residency (easier to do if joining your parents), along with the original and one set of copies of all of your translated/notarized documents and yours and your parents' Taiwan passports. They will also ask for a photocopy of the dated entry stamp in your NWOHR passport. You will also need pictures, and the basement of the Immigration Agency has a booth where you can get 6 photos for 120 NT. Those 6 pictures should be enough for the rest of the process - just keep them with you for each step.
The permanent residency certificate process takes 7 working days, so essentially 10 days. This is the longest part. If someone has successfully done the shorter 3 day exchange, please let us know how you did this, since it would likely help out a lot of people given that this was the longest part necessary in Taiwan.
2) 戶口名簿 (Household Registration) and 身分證 (National ID)
In 10 days, once you get your 定居證 permanent residency certificate, to get your household registration you must go to the household registration office in the district you plan to register in. The easiest is to have a parent add you to theirs, but their household registration has to be current and not expired for you to be able to do this, and best updated within the past 3 months (what TECO told us). If you can’t do this, then you need to register a household yourself using a lease/other steps that you should look up how to do.
At the household registration office, you give them the 定居證 (permanent residency certificate) and other documents they need to establish your residency (parent’s household info or lease etc). Don't forget your picture. Then you get your 戶口名簿 (household registration). Also remember to get a copy of your 戶籍謄本（transcript of household registration) since you will need it in 6 months to apply for health care if you plan to do that.
Right after this, they will print out your 身分證 (National ID). You get your household registration and 身分證 the same day at the same place (took me about 1-2 hours).
At this point, you are actually considered a citizen of Taiwan. However, when you choose to leave Taiwan, you must get a NWHR Passport and leave on that passport.
3) Getting your NWHR Passport
You now need to go to BOCA to apply for the new passport. I did my household registration and national ID in the late morning, so I still had time to go to BOCA before they closed at 5pm.
Their Taipei office is near the Shandao MRT stop. Bring your national ID, NWOHR passport, 2 pictures, and cash for payment. Normally for a passport there is a 10-day turnaround at 1300 NTD. Expedited next business day service is available for an additional 900 NTD. So I paid 2200 NTD for my passport since I needed mine the next day as my trip to Taiwan was planned for exactly 3 weeks and by now, I had only 2 days left in Taiwan.
Pick up your passport the next day (and they give you your previous NWOHR passport back with the corner clipped off)! Don’t forget, when you eventually leave Taiwan, you must leave Taiwan with your new NWHR Taiwan passport but there is no deadline to leave (and I got mine stamped in case that was required, but not sure if it was or not).
CONGRATS on finishing the entire process, getting full Taiwan Citizenship/Household Residency with your National ID, and your new NWHR passport to allow you to leave Taiwan!
Health Insurance: 6 months after doing this you can qualify for NHI (and is technically mandatory). To apply, go to any district office and bring your 戶籍謄本 (transcript of household registration), National ID, and a chop stamp. (Yeah, they still use those lol). I found a chop stamp place near my household registration office that did a wood stamp for 100 NTD, and had them do multiple in case I lost one, since any duplicates have to be done at the same time for them to match. Someone else can even apply for you if you are not in Taiwan as long as they have a copy of your ID, 戶籍謄本 (transcript of household registration), and chop stamp.
If all your income is outside of Taiwan, health insurance payments should be about $25 a month. If you pay monthly, you qualify for full health benefits in Taiwan. You can also suspend your payments if you plan to leave Taiwan for more than 6 months and do not plan on using their health care system. You can also keep coverage and continue to pay into the system even when gone for long periods of time. However, don't forget that your household registration will be suspended if you are gone from Taiwan for more than 2 years, and while you can easily renew it when you come back, this will pause your health coverage.
Total Cost for Taiwan Citizenship
The total cost, was about US $75-100 for the NWOHR passport, depending on if you have to get new copies of your original birth/parental records. The cost for the Part 2 were roughly: FBI check ($32), U.S.P.S. fingerprinting ($50), Health Check ($85, mine was more than the usual $63 because I needed a booster shot for one of my MMR vaccinations), Translations and notarizations ($200), residency permit (~$30), National ID ($5), expedited passport next day ($68). So my out of pocket costs for the residency conversion in Taiwan was roughly $465 or so.
So the entire citizenship process from start to finish was about $550 USD.
You only have to do this once, and now you are a full citizen with all the rights to live and work in Taiwan and can vote! I would have never been able to do this without the new rule change, so really thankful that the process is so much easier now.
Let me know if there are any questions!
(Edits for clarification.)