How to put a theme on your facebook for mac

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2008.01.25 08:14 Mac

The community for everything related to Apple's Mac computers!

2012.10.03 15:41 moddestmouse Where Men Can Live

MaleLivingSpace is dedicated to places where men can live. Here you can find posts discussing, showing, improving, and maintaining apartments, homes, domiciles, man caves, garages, and bungalows. https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/5/23749188/reddit-subreddit-private-protest-api-changes-apollo-charges

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2010.08.26 04:04 BrowsOfSteel macOS

Reddits Home for macOS Discussion!

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2024.05.14 15:14 ButterscotchKey9269 AITA for telling my parent not to use asd as an excuse all the time?

I (27f) was brought up in a house with my brother (24m), my mum (47f) and dad (45m). When I was younger my parents decided to have 2 more children, 2 girls - now 12 and 10. I now also have my own children, 7f, 4m, and 2f, and am in a beautiful happy marriage. A little back story, I was pretty much a scapegoat my whole life, my brother the golden child, let's just say none of us are on speaking terms with him anymore due to him always getting what he wanted when he was younger. As he grew and after the 2 younger of us were born, he started hearing more "no's", he didnt like that and after a lot of threats, holes in walls, drugs etc, I decided to cut all contact with him. He then decided to cut contact with our parents 🤷🏽‍♀️ Anyway, we recently found out that our 7yo has adhd, and our 4yo has adhd and asd. I also found symptoms in myself that made me question my brain, and got diagnosed with asd, adhd and cptsd (i dont remember my childhood from 5yo-13yo). Whilst we were getting our array of diagnoses my parents decided to go through their own processes with my sisters, still in the process, no diagnoses have been made. This is where it starts, the 12yo, I'll call her Stacy, she is me, I was her, she is the scapegoat, she gets the blame for everything, nothing she does is right, she doesn't get help, doesn't get hugs and kisses or love. I see the ptsd symptoms coming out in her and it hurts my heart, I want to take her, adopt her and run away with her. I give her the love she needs because i can see she doesnt get it from our parents, not gonna lie, she has her faults, we all do, we're only human, but compared to our sister and brother, she's amazing. The 10yo, I'll call her Anna, she is horrible, she makes mean comments, she manipulates to get her own way, she falsely accuses people - and not of small things, she craves attention and loves to be in the centre, she hates when my 7yo has any sort of attention and will try her best to steal it, especially from our mum, it's like she knows how to hurt your feelings and will do it if you don't do what she wants, she's showed my 7yo inappropriate videos, one day I was looking after her because she was "sick" I was in the bathroom, heard my 4yo crying begging her to stop she didn't realise I had opened the door and caught her hitting him on the head with a pillow, I told her to stop and she did. Anyway she is always looking for approval especially from female adults, she is just mean, she doesnt do anything wrong, she gets coddled while Stacy gets the blame for everything, and gets punished for everything even if she didnt do anything. My parents do nothing, they don't explain to her what she's done is wrong or why it's wrong, they sit on their phones all day, everyday and just say "oh she just has autism", but it's not an excuse... we're really not dumb, you can teach us that it's not okay to do things. I know this is how they handle it because we live on the same property, in separate dwellings, and it's the same everyday pretty much, I try my best to keep separated from them, especially Anna because she is having a negative mental effect on our 7yo, but they come over uninvited and say "mum and dad are being boring, they're just on their phones like always". Everytime I go over they've either locked themselves in the room or are sitting on the couch looking at Facebook, and expect the kids to just watch TV all day, not doing anything. I just see the same cycle happening again, Anna turning out like our druggo brother, and Stacy ending up with CPTSD and wanting to run away. Anna falsely accused myself of scratching her today, when I was nowhere near her, she put on a whole act, crying and everything. This isn't the first time this has happened, the first time was falsely accusing my husband of something similar. I got deathstared by my mum, usually its the silent treatment, but also got told "Anna feels like you treat Your son like he has autism but you don't treat her like she has autism", she hasn't been diagnosed either so we don't know if it really is autism, and I treat my son with respect because he treats me with respect, I treat him the way he treats me, with love and kindness (i told mum this in different words). There is no love, kindness or respect in Anna, and if there is you can't see it, it's like she demands respect but won't give it, to anyone at all. If she doesnt get her way, then all hell breaks loose. So anyway I told my mum "i have autism too mum. you can't use autism as an excuse for the rest of her life. Females, especially where we live, will not tolerate these accusations and comments and she will get knocked out, instead of saying 'she has autistim' teach her what shes doing is wrong" all she said to that was "well, that's a life lesson" but I don't think it should get to that point? Just teach her while you can before you regret it? Now i know no one is the same, i know no autistic brain is the same, i know we say inapproriate things and we dont know the meanings sometimes etc. But i dont think using it as an excuse is okay? Its as if they've got the idea of autism in their head and now they dont have to discipline or teach her whats right from wrong? Anyway, I'm always the bad guy according to my parents, or am I? You tell me, I dunno. I'm used to always getting the blame so I sometimes I wonder if I actually am the AH? 🤔

submitted by ButterscotchKey9269 to AmItheAsshole [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 13:39 Honeysyedseo How I Made $11k in One Week with Less Than 3500 Email Subscribers

Here’s how I made over $11k in just one week with an Email list of less than 3500 people.
$11991.65 Systeme.io Revenue Screenshot
We all know that Systeme is a power-weapon when it comes to all-in-one marketing.
Writing this post to share that one secret that helped me to collect over 11K.
I've been talking a lot in this group about using lead magnets and micro offers to attract your ideal customers.
But there's one vital element needed for turning those leads into paying customers.
That's having a super nurtured, engaged email list.
You don't need to have a list of 1000s of people. You need a nurtured, clean list.
Once someone joins your email list, you have the opportunity to nurture that email over time.
You can share valuable content, build trust, and establish yourself as an expert in your niche.
So, I want to highlight a super important point here.

Getting someone to opt in for your email list is only the first step.

To maximise the value of your new prospect, YOU NEED TO GET THEM TO CONSUME YOUR LEAD MAGNET/ MICRO OFFER and take the next steps towards buying from you. (This is the post important point in this post..read that line again..)
Otherwise, that lead is like a feather in the wind. You don't own that lead. Your income depends on the quality of your leads.
Another important point to consider when building your list:
Let's say you are building your list with a free lead magnet.

Give attention to the naming.

This is where your copywriting skills come into the game.
There's a common mistake I see people make when naming their lead magnets.
They use something generic and bland...something that could apply to anyone in their broad niche.

"10 Tips for a Better Relationship"
"5 Ways to Make Money Online"

Sure, these might attract some leads. But those are not quality leads.
Yes, you will build a list. But that list is not going to make you big income.
You have to be super specific when you are writing your copy. Imagine you're trying to lose weight.
Which lead magnet would you be more likely to opt in for?
"10 Tips for Better Health"
or
"The 5-Minute Easy Keto Meal Plan That Helped Me Lose 10 Pounds in 1 Week"
The second one, right?
That's because it's specific.

Learn to write quality emails.

I mean, don't just randomly send emails. You should have a strategy and a planned campaign.
When you are sending your first email of the campaign, you must have an idea of when you're going to send the next one and how many emails you are going to send, etc.
You can set up and automate everything in Systeme automations.
Last tip.

Launch one-time offers here and there.

A one-time offer means you launch something only for a limited time.
It can be a 3-day or 7-day time period. After that time, you ramped up the sales page and offer is gone.
So they have to take action if they want it. You should write good copy explaining how your offer going to solve their problem.
Then plan the campaign accordingly. And also use follow-up emails, abandoned cart emails, reminder emails, last call emails to run the campaign.
No doubt my email lists have a much bigger ROI compared to Facebook organic marketing. But 90% of the time I deliver value emails. Don't try to sell all the time.
Oh, I forgot to write this point at the beginning of this post. so I'm putting it here as an extra tip.

Use Tags and divide your email list into multiple lists.

I mean, super warm leads in one list. Fresh leads in another list. People who bought high-ticket items in one list.
If you wish to attract and convert subscribers into loyal, paying customers, consider the facts I mentioned in this post.
I'm super grateful about everything Systeme team is doing to improve the software.
Best tool ever!
Source

submitted by Honeysyedseo to FoundOnMeta [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 13:09 Potnoodle2785 'Jonathan Bailey doesn’t like to bare it all. But vulnerability fueled his best performance yet' - Jonny interview with the LA Times

'Jonathan Bailey doesn’t like to bare it all. But vulnerability fueled his best performance yet' - Jonny interview with the LA Times

https://preview.redd.it/xys855b7jd0d1.jpg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c081d23cc4646d0f54d974aa14e34306180e5eb0
“This is where all the cruising happened.”
Jonathan Bailey and I are standing in Pershing Square on a bright, blustery spring afternoon, nearing the end of a homemade queer history tour of downtown L.A.: One Magazine, Cooper Do-Nuts/Nancy Valverde Square, the Dover bathhouse, the Biltmore Hotel and this, the city’s former Central Park, a haven, since before World War I, for “fairies” and “sissy boys,” servicemen on leave and beatniks on the road.
“Is it still happening now?” he asks.
“Probably not as much,” I venture.
“Well, you let me know if it’s happening,” he teases, a mischievous smile lighting up his face.
Bailey understands the uses of the charm offensive. As Sam, the handsome Lothario of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s delightful pre-”Fleabag” curio, “Crashing”; Anthony, the romantic hero of “Bridgerton’s” second season; and John, the jerk of a protagonist in Mike Bartlett’s love triangle play “Cock,” the English actor, 36, has swaggered up to the precipice of superstardom. With roles in such studio tentpoles as “Wicked” and “Jurassic World” on the horizon, he may just break through. Yet he delivers career-best work in Showtime’s queer melodrama “Fellow Travelers,” as anti-Communist crusader-turned-gay rights activist Tim Laughlin, by leaving behind the self-assured rakes and tapping a new wellspring: soft power.
Tim may be, as Bailey puts it, “an open nerve,” but as it turns out, the devout Catholic and political naïf — who falls for suave State Department operative Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller (Matt Bomer) just as Sen. Joseph McCarthy tries to purge the federal government of LGBTQ people — is formidable indeed.
Stretching from the Lavender Scare to the depths of the AIDS crisis, in scenes of tenderness, cruelty and toe-curling sex, Bailey’s performance communicates that little-spoken truth of relationships: It takes more strength to submit than it does to control. The former demands discipline, courage, trust; the latter requires only force.
“In ‘Bridgerton,’ [Bailey] is like a Hawkins Fuller character — he is very sexy and has lots of power, has that kind of confident charisma that absolutely is not Tim at all,” says “Fellow Travelers” creator Ron Nyswaner.
But any doubt about Bailey’s ability to mesh with Bomer, who boarded the project early in development, was put to bed with the actors’ virtual rehearsal of a meeting on a park bench in the pilot. “‘Well, that’s a first,’” Nyswaner recalls an executive texting him. “I cried in a chemistry read.”
‘Am I inviting people in?’
Bailey grew up in a musical family in the Oxfordshire countryside outside London, and this, coupled with an appreciation for the morning prayers, choir practice and Mass he attended as a scholarship student at the local Catholic school, fed his precocious talents. (“I loved the performance of it,” he laughs. “Not to diminish the celebration of religious process, but I did love the idea of wearing a gown.”) By age 10, he’d appeared in the West End, playing Gavroche in a production of “Les Misérables,” an experience he now recognizes as an encounter with a queer found family — albeit one shadowed by the toll of the AIDS crisis, which peaked in the U.K. in the mid-1990s.
“When I’m asked about my childhood, there’s so much I don’t remember, and I think that’s true of anyone who’s been in fight or flight for 20 years,” he says. “I would have been in a cast of people whose friends would have died in the last seven years. I think of where I was seven years ago. I had all my gay friends then. It’s only retrospectively that I can retrofit a real gay community around me [in the theater], that I just wasn’t aware of [then].”
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, American and British culture presented queer adolescents with a bewildering array of mixed signals. As beloved celebrities came out in growing numbers, and the battle for marriage equality became a central locus of LGBTQ political organizing, the media continued to propagate harmful stereotypes of gay men as miserable, lonely, perverted or worse — and, Bailey remembers, callously turned George Michael, arrested on suspicion of cruising in a Beverly Hills restroom in 1998, and Irish pop star Stephen Gately, who revealed his sexuality in 1999, fearful he was about to be outed, into tabloid spectacles.
No wonder Bailey, like many LGBTQ people of his generation, should feel the “chemical” thrill of “validation and acceptance” during London Pride at age 18, then embark on a two-year relationship with a woman in his 20s.
“Dangerously, if you’re not exposed to people who can show you other examples of happiness, you think that’s the easiest way to live,” Bailey says. “It’s funny. You look back and you can tell the story in one way, which is that I always knew who I was and my sexuality and my identity within that. But obviously at times, it was really tough. I compromised my own happiness, for sure. And compromised other people’s happiness.”
https://preview.redd.it/9q0vkj3djd0d1.jpg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c631452122b5fb2c401e95352dcc0c21d54d0d7
Disclosures about his personal life have become particularly thorny for the actor since the premiere of “Bridgerton,” the blockbuster bodice-ripper from executive producer Shonda Rhimes.
“The Netflix effect does knock you off center completely,” he says, recalling the experience of finding a paparazzo waiting outside his new flat before he’d even moved in. “Suddenly, you do start having nightmares about people climbing in your windows... Even now, talking about it makes me feel like, ‘Am I inviting people in?’”
He is also critical of the media for churning out headlines about the smallest details of celebrities’ private lives, often detached from their original context. In an interview with the London Evening Standard published in December, Bailey described a harrowing encounter in a Washington, D.C., coffee shop in which a man threatened his life for being queer — and, in recounting the experience, offhandedly mentioned the “lovely man” he’d called, shaken, after it happened. Although Bailey acknowledges that the original story handled the subject with aplomb, he felt dismayed that more attention wasn’t paid to the intended warning about rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment: “The only thing that got syndicated from that story was that I had a boyfriend, and it wasn’t true,” he sighs. “It was kind of depressing, if I’m honest.”
Still, Bailey, who once turned down a role in a queer-themed TV series because it would have required him to speed along revelations about his personal life he wasn’t ready to make, is prepared to embrace the power of vulnerability when it feeds the work. Although a member of his inner circle expressed doubts about “Fellow Travelers’” steamy sex scenes, for instance, the actor intuited that they were what made the project worth doing: “I was like, ‘I’m telling you, they are the reason why this is going to be brilliant.’”
‘He’s changed my trajectory in my own life’
To those who would complain about the state of sex in film and TV, “Fellow Travelers” is the perfect riposte. All of it matters, from Tim’s first flirtation with Hawk to the finale’s closing minutes, because the series, at its core, is about the importance of soft power: the strength required to bend, but not break; to adapt, but not abandon oneself; to survive without shrinking to nothing in the process. And depicting that through sex, specifically gay sex, makes “Fellow Travelers” radical indeed.
Bailey understands that baring so much comes with certain risks. When I tell him that research for the story has filled my algorithmic “For You” feed on X (formerly Twitter) with speculation that his onscreen relationship with Bomer has a real-life element, he notes that “shipping” fictional couples and costars alike has long been part of Hollywood fantasy. But he bristles at the implication that he and Bomer are anything but skilled actors at work.
“I would love for people to know that the success of our chemistry isn’t based on us f—. It’s actually about us leaning into the craft,” he says. “It’s a vulnerable situation to be in, talking about it on record. I don’t want to rob people of their thoughts. But I do have a set of values, and as an artist, you don’t need to be f— to tell that love story.”
Underlying that craft, Bailey adds, is the confidence to speak up, as with one scene in “Fellow Travelers” that was adjusted because he said, “I don’t want to be naked today.” He learned to use his voice the hard way: In his early 20s, he recalls, he was once “bullied” on set when “someone was threatened” by him and vowed to himself, “I’m never going to do that to someone. I’m never going to allow that to happen."
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This impulse to direct his influence in support of others has blossomed further with “Fellow Travelers.” On the day of our interview, Bailey enthuses about an upcoming meeting with legendary gay rights activist Cleve Jones and shares his idea for a docuseries recording the stories of elders in the LGBTQ+ community while they are still here to tell them. He describes lying in a hospital bed on set on World AIDS Day, in character as Tim, surrounded by gay men who had lost friends and lovers during the crisis, and finding himself thinking, “What do I want to leave behind?”
“I think he’s changed my trajectory in my own life,” Bailey says.
This is, perhaps, the most common reaction I know to diving deep into queer history — the understanding that we, like our forerunners, are responsible for shaping the queer future, whether in politics, society or art. No one is going to do it on our behalf.
As we stand on the nondescript corner now named for her, I relate the story of the late queer activist Nancy Valverde, who was arrested repeatedly while a barber school student in the 1950s on suspicion of “masquerading” because of her preference for short hair and men’s clothing, and later successfully challenged her harassment by the police in court.
“What a hero!” Bailey exclaims, wondering at Valverde’s bravery. “The thing that’s so interesting with power battles is, ultimately, identity is the thing that gives you the most strength and power in your life, isn’t it?
“Because that’s one thing people can’t take away from you: who you are and how you express yourself."

submitted by Potnoodle2785 to jonathanbailey [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 13:07 TreadmillTreats Reinventing yourself

Reinventing yourself
So if you know me or follow me you know my story. I am far from shy about telling it as I hope it helps others. I was a drug addict and back in the day, I used to drink and get high with a good friend from high school.
We lost touch after high school, fast forward 35 years, and we both have had lots of hard times. We reconnected through Facebook.We started talking about our missing years. She told me she also fell deep into drug addiction but way farther than I did. She fell so far as to do unspeakable things for drugs, and she will be quick to tell you her story. After quite a few times of trying to get clean and relapsing. After losing her parents, getting cancer and taking care of her significant other through her cancer, and then having to bury her. After her struggles with food that replaced her drug addiction, she has come to a place of peace.
She is an amazing artist, and this weekend, she finally had her first gallery opening showcasing her art. Something she had let go of through her addiction. This is a full circle moment for her, and I couldn't be prouder.
I know from hours of speaking to her how much it took her to get here. To overcome her addiction to drugs and then to food. To work on her inner self to let go and learn to forgive herself and then others. To learn boundaries that keep her on this path. To come to a place that is hers with no apology for who she is or what she's done because she already made amends with everyone and everything.
This is a victory for her, but it is also for others to see that change is possible. You can hit rock bottom, and you can lose everything, but you can also pull yourself back up. You can fight your demons, and you can win. You can overcome any obstacle if you truly want it bad enough and are willing to put the hard work in it to achieve it .
So today, my friends, this is not just about the reinvention of my friend Hassina. This is about the possibility of reinvention for anyone out there listening. You can do it. If we did it, you could too. All you have to do is want to be the change you want to see. Please check out her art sinas_fine_art

submitted by TreadmillTreats to inspiration [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 12:55 Hot_Bandicoot_3839 How to Convert RAW to NTFS Format Without Losing Data?

https://preview.redd.it/eks0x6cjgd0d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=1308983c2fa17502e258f3f11a75aaf0fe71a6b7
When you try to copy or view a file from a memory card you put into your computer, have you ever discovered it's unreadable? Any file system on memory cards, USB drives, external HDD drives, storage devices, and even internal drives might experience this regrettable circumstance. Your circumstances may make this inability to obtain that info disastrous.
When a partition becomes RAW, for whatever reason, you cannot access the data on your drive and it won't be useful until you format it. For you to obtain that data, you must therefore act. Using a data recovery program on Windows or macOS is one such way to succeed.

RAW partition

It's critical to know what a RAW partition is before we discuss recovering lost data. Said another way, a RAW partition is one that has not been formatted using the file system that the computer is using.
It's never really out of the box with removable USB devices and memory cards. If you put an SD card into one computer and it reads it correctly, the next computer may not be able to comprehend the file system structure and may destroy the partition layout, making that device inaccessible. Almost always, you've just taken out that USB device or memory card without first letting the operating system securely remove it. “
The file systems most Windows computers use, for instance, are FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, or NTFS5. Conversely, macOS supports NTFS solely in read-only mode and uses APFS, HFS+, FAT32, and exFAT. Linux systems use XFS, BTRFS, reiser, ext3, ext4, and more.
Sometimes the file system type of a device formatted in one platform can be read by another. Regretfully, there is no assurance here. You will therefore likely be told the disk was unreadable by the computer when you try to read, say, an SD card formatted with the ext4 file system on a MacBook Pro.
The important thing is that Initialize option. It is telling us, in other words, that the card is not formatted so that the computer can read it. While clicking Initialize will undoubtedly remove all of the data on the device, it is still an option.

Can I Get My Data Back from a RAW Partition?

The excellent news is that data lost or unavailable from a RAW partition can be recovered. Occasionally all that has to be done is plug the disk (or SD card) in issue into the computer that was originally used to generate the files and folders on the device. After that, you can format the card to a file system the target computer can read, copy the data back, and insert the card into the target machine.
You will have to fix the damage and retrieve the data on the disk if you can no longer access the original machine (or one with a comparable file system) or if the reason isn't incompatibility between your operating system and the current file system.

What Use Is Converting RAW to NTFS?

Said another way, if your data is kept on a RAW partition, you cannot access it. NTFS and other file systems serve the purpose of logically storing your data for simple retrieval when needed. Your data without a file system is just a disjointed mess that is almost impossible to discover anything.
Computers locate and access your data through file systems, hence a RAW disk will not be accessible. Its contents might still be there, but without a functional file system, it will be unusable.

Converting RAW to NTFS Without Data Loss

Converting a RAW partition to NTFS without losing the data on it is possible in just one way. You need CheckDisk for that.
The Windows utility CheckDisk looks for logical and physical problems in the volumes of your drive. If you need to convert RAW to NTFS without losing data, it can even fix any issues it finds with extra settings. Because CheckDisk might be able to identify and fix the damage keeping the volume from reading properly, we're utilizing it.
Using CheckDisk's Command Prompt, convert a RAW drive to NTFS as follows:

Using a right-click on Start, select Windows PowerShell (Admin). Should UAC ask you to allow it, click Yes.
Start with chkdsk D: /r. D: should be replaced with the RAW partition's drive letter. Key in Enter.

See if Disk Management displays the right file system and the volume is now accessible after issuing the command.

Recovery of Data from a RAW Partition

Sometimes the RAW partition cannot be fixed by CheckDisk or Disk Utility without causing data loss. Before manually converting the RAW partition back to NTFS, you should recover your data in such a situation.
You can recover your data using the following techniques before fixing the malfunctioning drive.

Method 1 :- Recover With BLR Tools

A few fast clicks using BLR BitLocker Partition Data Recovery Tool can allow you to recover data from a RAW partition. And you can find the files you need fast with BLR Tools's useful features like file filters. Furthermore, something the command line cannot achieve, BLR Tools adds Guaranteed Recovery and Recovery Vault data protection techniques to the mix.
Proceed as follows to recover files from a RAW partition:

Get BLR Tools for Mac or Windows and install it. Open BLR Data Recovery Tool when it has downloaded and been installed. BLR Tools will detect a drive even while the operating system cannot.
Choose the disputed RAW drive and hit Search for lost data. BLR Tools will now start looking for files on the hard drive.
Click Review identified items to start browsing the found file structure after the scan is finished (this may take some time depending on the size of the drive).
To retrieve the files, click retrieve. Choose the location to save the restored files. Choose an output location on a different physical partition, please.
Recovering will start as soon as you click OK. This can take some time depending on how many files you've chosen to recover, how big those files are, and the state of the examined device. BLR Tools will show you an overview screen with direct access to your data choice after the procedure is finished.

Method 2 :- Try TestDisk to Recover

Use TestDisk to recover the whole partition. Restoring missing or lost partitions is the goal of the open-source recovery program TestDisk. Not to mention totally free. Its absence of a graphical user interface makes it difficult for novices to utilize. Still, you may quickly recover your lost partition by following the detailed methods.
This is a little video demonstrating how TestDisk can recover a lost partition:

Get TestDisk and extract its zip. Try testdisk_win.exe.
To start a fresh log file, hit Enter.
To continue, choose the drive holding the RAW partition and hit Enter.
Choose a partition table type. The one TestDisk thinks it used gets chosen automatically. Press Enter.
To examine the partition structure and search for lost partitions, press Enter.
Once more hit Enter to start the Quick Search.
Press Enter when finished.
Choose the partition and hit Enter.
If nothing shows up, choose Deeper Search to do a more thorough search.
Find the partition and choose Write.
After you confirm by pressing Y, restart your computer.

Method 3 :- Recovering with a Data Recovery Centre

Sometimes data recovery is still not possible with even sophisticated recovery software. Alternatively, you could merely feel uneasy trying to retrieve the info on your own. Still, there is the choice to use a data recovery facility.
To complete the task, a data recovery center hires data recovery experts with sophisticated knowledge of file recovery and equipment of the highest calibre. The most successful approach to recovery is frequently to use a data recovery facility, but it is also the most expensive.
What to anticipate generally if you decide to use a data recovery service to recover your data is as follows:

Launch Recovery by clicking
Complete every field as required. This covers the kind of service you would like, how to get in touch with you, and any drive specific details.
When ready to submit, click Complete my work order. You will be instructed to send your drive away for repair from this point.

Techniques for NTFS Conversion of RAW

It is now time to consider drive repair after data recovery. Generally speaking, once you are not concerned about losing your data, repairing a RAW partition is really simple. It only means replacing the broken or incompatible file system with a fresh one during formatting.
These solutions will walk you through configuring a disk and converting a RAW hard drive to NTFS.

Method 1:- Method with File Explorer

One of the simplest methods, formatting a drive with File Explorer just requires a few clicks. As you are ready to complete the format, just click Restore device defaults if you are not sure what values to use.

Start File Explorer.
To format a partition, do a right-click on it in the left navigation pane and select Format.
When you're ready, set the format's values and hit Start.

Method 2:- Format using Disk Management

A Windows program called Disk Management lets you examine and modify the storage disks on your computer. It provides an overview of the data allocations and general health of your disks. One can format their drives with it as well.

Choose Disk Management with a right-click on Start.
Give the volume a right-click and choose Format.
Specify the format's values, then click OK when done.
Please click OK to verify the format.

Method 3:- Presentation with DiskPart

Though it manages the storage drives on your computer through a command-line interface, DiskPart is a potent command interpreter. Should File Explorer and Disk Management prove ineffective for you, this is a helpful alternative.

With a right-click on Start, choose Windows PowerShell (Admin).
Just type diskpart and hit Enter.
Press Enter after typing list disc. Notify the disk number containing the RAW partition.
Please choose a disk. Replace 2 with your own disk number.
Type list volume and hit Enter. Note down the RAW volume number.
Put in volume 3 and hit Enter.
Kindly enter clean.
Put in create partition main and hit Enter. In doing so, a fresh blank primary partition is created.
Enter format fs=ntfs. This NTFS-formats the volume.
Enter after typing assignment. One is given a drive letter as a result.

Advice on Avoiding NTFS Partitions from Converting to RAW
By now you're undoubtedly thinking, "How can I keep a partition from going RAW?" That raises a really interesting issue. Ultimately, you want to avoid having to perform RAW partition recovery each time you plug in an external HDD, USB flash drive, or SD card into your computer. Thankfully, you have a few options to lessen the likelihood of this happening.
Never take out a USB drive or SD card without first "Safely removing" it with the built-in feature on your computer. A RAW partition is likely if you just remove the drive without letting your operating system safely unmount or eject the device.
As widely used a file system as you can, format your drives with. Almost all operating systems can read the file systems FAT32 and NTFS, hence those are excellent options. NTFS is read-only on macOS, which is one issue; FAT32 is always your better choice. Choosing one of these file systems should leave you with no issues with your platform of choice needing to start a drive or just not being able to read it.
Put your machine to a proper shutdown. Processes on your computer may be interrupted by sudden power outage. The corruption of your file system may follow from this. Avoid forcing a shutdown of your computer whenever possible.
See how your disk is doing. You can get early warning of any possible problems your drive may run into by using a disk monitoring program that can read the SMART data on your drive. You can stop additional damage by acting right away as problems arise.
Naturally, a drive can still turn RAW at any time even with all of this done. Thus, you should regularly backup your data so that a secure duplicate is always accessible if you want to really protect it from such an occurrence. Easy to configure and maintain snapshot copies of your data so you can even restore to a prior version if necessary, built-in Windows backup solutions like File History are a fantastic option.

Conclusion

A RAW partition or drive can be avoided really easily. Know, nevertheless, that you have the resources to handle the situation if it should come up. Data recovery from RAW drive or partition is highly likely with BLR Tools. If in doubt, run BLR Tools's free Basic edition through your RAW drive or partition. Get the Pro license and safely restore your inaccessible data if BLR Tools can locate it.

submitted by Hot_Bandicoot_3839 to datarevivalsquad [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 12:45 Errora403 PUBG MOBILE VERSION 3.2 UPDATE ANNOUNCEMENT

Report bugs here and earn rewards: https://pubgmobile.live/support

PUBG MOBILE will begin pushing out the update on 5/13 at 2:00 (UTC+0). Service will not be interrupted. To ensure a quick and smooth update, please be in a good network environment and make sure you have enough available storage on your device.
Update Reward: Update the game between 5/13–5/27 (UTC+0) to get 3,000 BP, 100 AG, and a Mecha Warship Theme (3d).

Key Updates

New Themed Mode "Mecha Fusion": Engage in thrilling battles in a brand new battleship themed area with new mecha vehicles!
World of Wonder Updates: Bring your competitive experience to the next level with new mecha gameplay!
Firearm and Vehicle Updates: P90 and Skorpion have been rebalanced. QBZ added to Erangel and Miramar. Select vehicles now have a delayed explosion mechanic. Experience a different kind of battle!
Collection System: The Collection System is here! Start growing your collection today!
Home: The mysterious Elegant Ancient Capital resource pack is coming soon! Build your dream Home and show off your creativity in the Home Competition!

New Themed Mode: Mecha Fusion

Available: 2024/5/13 at 2:00 (UTC+0)–2024/7/9 at 20:59 (UTC+0)
Supported Maps: Erangel, Livik, and Miramar (Ranked and Unranked)
https://preview.redd.it/6m82y04sfd0d1.png?width=1384&format=png&auto=webp&s=a0ce25f8079e2fabcfe43c9bb5b98fb3d648170e

New Mecha Vehicles

Strider: A two-seater vehicle with the ability to jump. It's armed with missiles that can be used to bombard designated areas. Missiles can be replenished at the Repair Station in the Assembly Base.
Levitron: A special vechile that can switch between a speed form and a magnetic form. Serves as the upper-body component that combines with a Strider to form the Armamech.
- In speed form, the maximum speed and hover height will be increased, and the vehicle gains a "collision acceleration" ability: it will not slow down when it hits an obstacle. Instead, it will accelerate using the stored magnetic energy.
- In magnetic form, the maximum speed and hover height will be reduced, but it can activate a "Magnetize" ability to grab and toss characters, vehicles, and specific objects.
Armamech: A four-seater vehicle combined from a Levitron and a Strider. It can also be directly summoned from the Steel Ark.
- It possesses 2 weapons that it can freely switch between: the Strider's missiles, and the Levitron's "Magnetize" ability.
- It has a boosted jump that enables it to leap high and far with the assistance of jets.
- Bring a Levitron and a Strider close together to combine them. After combining, the pilot of the Levitron becomes the pilot of the Armamech. It can also be separated at any time.

Brand New Environments

Steel Ark:
- A giant space battleship that will land on the map at the start of a match. You can enter it and explore inside. The core of the Steel Ark is a platform where you can summon the Armamech from the skies! You can launch yourself into the air in this mecha for everyone to see.
- The ark consists of many areas. You can find all kinds of supplies and Supply Crates at the Command Post, Dormitory, Warehouse, and more.
- From the landing pad, you can board an evacuation Wingman, which will take you straight to the Playzone!
- You can use elevators and ziplines in the ark to get around.
- Steel Ark Air Drop: A Steel Ark loaded with supplies will fly around during the match and drop supplies consisting of an Air Drop Crate and several Supply Crates at specific drop points.
Assembly Base:
- The Assembly Base contains a Mecha Repair Station. Approach it in a mecha to replenish the mecha's health, fuel, and missiles.
- On the top floor of the Assembly Base, there is a detector that can determine the location of crates within the Assembly Base. An Access Card can be found in one of the crates, which can be used to open the door to the Secret Room and get loads of supplies.

New Items

Jetpack: Pick it up and equip it to increase movement speed. It possesses the ability to hover in the air for a short duration. It consumes Energy rapidly when lifting off. Energy will only be replenished when you reach the ground. The Jetpack has a Health bar that protects you from damage to your back and arms. It will be destroyed after taking a certain amount of damage. When reaching a certain speed while moving forward, it can switch to a speed form. You will perform a special action when you tap "Lift Off" as it switches to the speed form. The Jetpack comes with the "Magnetize" ability, but you will not be able to fly fast when using it.
Personal AED: If you have this item, you can tap self-rescue after being knocked down. Once successful, you will recover from the knocked down state. Each player can only carry one of these items. Self-rescuing will be interrupted if you move while using this item.
Magnet Gun: This is a downgraded version of the Levitron's "Magnetize" ability in gun form. Switch to it by tapping on the firearm bar. It works the same as the Levitron's "Magnetize", but with reduced values.
Respawn Beacon: Throw the beacon on the ground to mark a location that the plane will pass over. Recalled teammates can parachute into the match again at the cost of a respawn chance. Teammates who have used up all their respawn chances cannot respawn.
Quick Parachute: When parachuting, a quick parachute button will appear at a certain height in the air. Tap it to immediately deploy the parachute which can also be freely put away.
Repair Station: Approach the Repair Station in a mecha to replenish its health, fuel, and missiles.

New Legendary Pilot Challenge

Get themed items, special vehicle cosmetics, Armamech dance emotes, special Elimination Broadcasts, and more by completing this difficult themed mode challenge.

World of Wonder

Available: Releases with the version
https://preview.redd.it/p1fd1vgtfd0d1.png?width=1384&format=png&auto=webp&s=e85c32e7ca039909f454cf08cf359f0df7137de5

World of Wonder Updates

Fuzzy search is now supported. You can search for maps by creation ID, creator UID, creation name, and description.
Added the friends tab to check what creations your friends have made at a glance.
Gift Access Point: You can now send Space Gifts from the creation details page and the creator's profile page.
You can view your play data and creation data in WOW on your player information page.
Ranking Improvements: Added support for more variables. Matches will now announce when a ranking player is in the match.
Copied Creations Limit: The number of copied creations you can have (including creations that are already published or those under review) is limited based on your Creator Level. When the limit is reached, you can only publish original creations unless you take down an existing copied creation.
Improved map recommendations and showcasing. Updated the WOW Creator page.

New Gameplay Devices

Contested Object Device: Use this device to spawn a contested object, which players can hold in their hands similar to "capture the flag".
Contested Object Handover Device: Contested objects can be handed over to this device for rewards.
Defensive Tower Device: Use this device to generate a fixed defense tower and configure its weapon type.

Gameplay Device Improvements

PvE Enemy Spawn Device: Supports spawning PvE enemies at random, configuring the PvE enemy's type, and randomizing their weight. You can also configure the PvE enemy's team.
Random Action Device: Supports storing the result of a random integer in a custom variable.
Special Vehicle Device: Added mechas.
Map Indicator Device: Supports real-time display of icons and text in the game.
Area Trigger Device: The action of the specific object entering the zone can be detected by the Area Trigger Device.
Overall Action Device: The action of players leaving the match can be detected.
Humanoid Enemy Spawn Device: Can now add buffs to spawned humanoid enemies.
Grouped Object Action Device: Supports configuring grouped objects. Loading any one of them automatically removes the others.
Item Issuance Device, Item Spawn Device, Custom Shop Device: Added 5.7mm ammo and the MG3.

New Interactive Objects

Target Dummy: A target dummy from the single-player training stage that shows damage numbers when hit and has several poses.
Soccer Ball: A soccer ball that moves upon contact.

Interactive Object Improvements

New Dynamic Moving Object Actions: Every new movement method for moving objects has a corresponding action. They can be activated by the detectable actions of other devices.
Guiding Lines: Launch pads and trampolines have guiding lines that show the trajectory of the player being launched into the air.

Controls & Interaction

Guiding Lines When Placing Objects In Midair: When placing objects in the air, guiding lines that project the current object's position on the ground can be shown.
Backpack Objects Can Be Interactized: You can take out interactized attachments such as a spinning ferris wheel from your backpack.
Object Interactization—Collidable Interactization: Set whether interactized objects move when hit by characters, vehicles, bullets, or throwables.
Object Interactization—Holding Interactization: Interactized objects can be held and tossed by characters.
Coordinate Editing in Free Editing Mode: In Free Editing Mode, you can select an object directly and move, rotate, or resize it by modifying its coordinates.
Object Editing Interface: Each object has an editing interface where you can directly edit the object's orientation, scaling, interactization type, or gameplay device parameters.
Object Placement and Alignment Improvements: Improved the usability of object snap and area grid, as well as added more object alignment parameters.
Auto Snap Option When Re-Editing: In the previous version, objects automatically snapped to their initial position when brought close to it during re-editing. This setting can now be toggled on and off in the editor's parameter settings interface, and is off by default.
Object Movement and Rotation Increment: Added movement and rotation increment settings to the editor's parameter settings interface.
Free Editing Top View Now Perfectly Flat: In Free Editing Mode, the previous top view editing was not perfectly flat, resulting in inaccurate positioning when placing objects from midair. Now, the editing view has been changed to be perfectly flat.
Added temporary resources. They will be replaced with default resources when they expire.

Game Parameters

Retaining Shop Tokens: Shop Tokens can now be kept during a match or across matches.
Overall Action Management: Added tag customization and filter features. You can create tags for gameplay devices to classify and filter them based on the tags.
Armed AI Customization Interface: Attributes for armed AI and defense towers can be customized, including health, attack, and more.
Match Log Interface: In-game logs now include the save feature. You can save and view all logs generated during play tests.

Other Updates

Group Editing: The team leader can edit the permissions of team members for better team management.
Enchantopia Updates: You can invite friends to Enchantopia and edit your team there. Added more interesting gameplay to the stages.
Cost Calculation Improvements: Fine-tuned how the system determines the cost of an object.
New map templates.

Classic Updates

Livik Map Updates

Added 4 new XT Upgrade Crates on top of the existing ones. New firearm upgrades are for the UMP45, SKS, DP-28, and M762. Upgrade Crates for these 4 firearms can be found in Livik or purchased from the Shop for 10 tokens.
- UMP45 Upgrade: Reduced hip fire bullet spread by 20%.
- SKS Upgrade: Faster recoil recovery after firing.
- DP-28 Upgrade: Faster reload speed.
- M762 Upgrade: Reduced muzzle shake.

Erangel Map Updates

Improved the quality of models seen by players at high altitudes, and resolved the issue of buildings disappearing.

Home Updates

The Home System is permanently available, and will be updated each version with interesting gameplay and building cosmetics.

Home Competition

Submission Period: 2024/5/13 at 00:00–2024/6/1 at 8:59 (UTC+0)
Selection Period: 2024/6/1 at 9:00–2024/7/1 at 9:00 (UTC+0)

You must reach at least 200 Home Prosperity before you can register for the Home Competition.
If players miss the submission period, they can still register during the selection period. After registering, they will be placed in the next round's matchmaking pool.
After registering, the selection criteria will be based on the current look of the player's Home.
During the selection period, you'll be matched with players of similar Home Prosperity at random every 3 days, for 10 rounds in total.
During the face-off, the player that obtains more votes wins. The winner gets to loot points from the loser.
Participate in Home Face-Offs to win Home Points and increase your Home Face-Off Level. The higher the Home Face-Off Level, the better the rewards.
Home Votes can be obtained by completing missions and by sending Home gifts. Note: Regular Popularity gifts do not grant Home Votes.
Home gifts given during each face-off round of the selection period will count towards Home Votes. Home gifts given outside a face-off round will not count towards the number of votes.

Home Events

Elegant Ancient Capital Style Event:
- Available: 2024/5/18 at 2:00 (UTC+0)
- Purchase Elegant Ancient Capital Home items during the event to get Style Points that can be redeemed for amazing rewards.
Ancient Capital Theme Debut Celebration:
- Available: 2024/5/18 at 00:00 (UTC+0)–2024/5/31 at 23:59 (UTC+0)
- The Event Center is launching an event to celebrate Elegant Ancient Capital's arrival. Get a Congratulatory Ancient Capital Object Pack when you reach Home Lv. 3, and use it to build an Ancient Capital Style Home in an instant!
- Visit your Home and upgrade your Home Level to get additional rewards, including Home Coins, Classic Crate Coupons, AG, Ancient Capital themed items, and more.

Home Building Updates

Build With Blueprint & Group Editing:
- Improved the process of building with blueprints. You can now go to More - Save Blueprint to copy and save the draft.
- The Home Level required to build with blueprints and publish blueprints has been reduced to Lv. 3.
- You can set the level of the blueprint you want to edit with a tap.
- The Home Level required to access group editing has been reduced to Lv. 5. You can go to Blueprint Editing - More - Group Editing to invite your friends to build your Home together.
Home Resource Updates:
- The mysterious Elegant Ancient Capital resource pack will be coming soon, along with a surprise event that will reward the Elegant Ancient Capital doorplate and exclusive background music for a limited time.
- Reach Home Lv. 3 to get a basic Elegant Ancient Capital object pack.

Home Resource & Content Updates

Added an access point to the Home Shop in Home. Not only can you browse and edit freely in your Home, you can also enjoy the fun of shopping at any time.
Added an access point to the Home Lucky Spin in the Home Shop, so you can more conveniently acquire your favorite items:
- Upgraded the Lucky Spin event. There are now multiple Lucky Spins available at once, providing you with more diverse shopping options.
- Elegant Ancient Capital themed items will be available in the Home Lucky Spin.
The Elegant Ancient Capital themed items are now available in the Home Shop. Give your Home style a unique twist.
Upgraded the Home's lighting effects so players can take more quality photos.
Added customizable atmosphere modules that can be adjusted in visit mode.
Added privacy settings so you can now control who has access to your Home. Additionally, after reaching Home Lv. 15, you can enable the private channel feature to enjoy private time with your friends.
Improved object interactions. Added new facial expression changes after sitting down. Added new interactive objects: Smith Machine, Treadmill, Bathtub.
Improved butler actions. Butlers can now turn around and look at the player when they are within a specific range.
Home Tree Status Notification: When coins can be collected from the current Home Tree, you will see a notification icon on the Friends tab, the Enter My Home button, and the Home details page.

Metro Royale Updates

Available: 2024/5/15 at 1:00 (UTC+0)
Matchmaking: 2024/5/15 at 2:00 (UTC+0)

Collectibles Cabinet Updates: New Chapter 20 Collectibles
After obtaining specific Fabled collectibles, they can be displayed in the player's Personal Space.
After obtaining specific Fabled collectibles, turn in collectibles to get certain Fabled collectible decorations for the Home.
New Honor Rewards: Chapter 20 Elite Avatar, Chapter 20 Hero Avatar Frame, and Chapter 20 Legendary Name Tag. These rewards can be claimed after reaching the corresponding Honor level.
New elite PvE enemy in Misty Port and Arctic Base: Strider.
New firearms: P90 (Cobra), P90 (Steel Front).
Player EXP can now be earned via Metro Royale matches.
Companion EXP can be earned by bringing companions to Metro Royale matches.
You can now tap to repair all items at once on the loadout page.
You can now tap to open multiple inventory gift packs at once.
Improved the firearm status at the preparation stage at the start of the match. Firearms will be reloaded by default and set to full auto firing mode.
Fixed the issue of incorrect models for some drop items.

Firearm & Vehicle Improvements

Firearm Adjustments:
- P90 damage adjustment.
- QBZ added to Erangel and Miramar.
- Skorpion Improvements: Base damage increased from 22 to 24, 15% faster reload time, 20% faster aim down sights time, 30% reduced bullet spread when moving, 10% less sway when shooting.
Delayed Explosion Mechanic for Select Vehicles: When a vehicle's health reaches 0, it won't explode right away. Instead, its engine will stop working and it will catch on fire before exploding after 5 seconds. If the vehicle is damaged by an explosion during this period, it will explode immediately. (Some special vehicles aren't affected by this change.)
Mobile Shop Vehicle Modification: Added a new item to the Mobile Shop in Erangel, Livik, Miramar, and Sanhok. Use Shop Tokens to purchase its key and turn the Mobile Shop into a drivable vehicle. Items can only be purchased from the Mobile Shop when it's parked. If the vehicle is destroyed, it can no longer be used as a shop.

General Improvements

Victory Dance: The A7 Victory Dance comes with an exclusive camera view. Select it from Creation Mode's Victory Dance tab.
In-game Mark: When marking supplies with universal mark/quick chat, the quantity of the marked supply will also be shown.
Customize Buttons: When customizing controls, you can now quickly copy your Arena Mode layout to use in Classic Mode.
Improved Highlights:
- Companions that you bring into matches will now show in highlights.
- When recording highlights, all emotes that meet the requirements will be recorded and displayed during playback.
- Adjusted the retention priority of highlights and the recording conditions of some clips to make it easier to retain them.
- Teammate numbers now show in highlights.
- Smoke from exploding grenades now shows in highlights.
Auto Pick Up: You can now choose whether to discard or put your previous melee weapon into your backpack after picking up a new one.
Sprinting Interrupts Peek Mode: This new setting is enabled by default. When disabled, if you perform a sprint while peeking, it won't interrupt peek mode and you won't start sprinting.
New Individual Companion Display: Players can now choose to display their companions, and companions added to the companion system will take turns showing off. This can be done in the Lobby or in a match.
Device Update: 120 fps and 90 fps are now available for select devices for you to enjoy a smoother gaming experience.

System Improvements

New Collection System: Collect firearms, finishes, and more to get awesome rewards.
Themed Event Shop additions: Mecha themed gameplay cosmetics, social items, fun items, and more.
Chat Room Feature Updates:
- Improved the list of featured chat rooms and added filters for chat room type, language, and more.
- Added Speaking Mode: In regular mode, the host's permission is required to speak. In free mode, any player can freely speak.
- Added new discussion topics to the chat room. Share your thoughts to increase the interactive atmosphere.
- Added new ways to send Space Gifts.
- Added chat room status updates in the Friends List.
Birthday Care System: You can now add your birthday to your Social Player Card as part of the new birthday care system. You'll receive surprise care rewards when you log in on your birthday.
Synergy: Complete missions such as adding friends and teaming up during the event to get Synergy items and the Underworld Outlaw Set (time-limited).

New Season: Cycle 6 Season 18

Available: 2024/5/18 at 2:00 (UTC+0)–2024/7/15 at 23:59 (UTC+0)
https://preview.redd.it/4125d8rwfd0d1.png?width=1384&format=png&auto=webp&s=a74a0f8340ef11eecf1c7d4c0e9f9104b22ad806

Reward updates: New legendary items: C6S18 Glasses, C6S18 Set, C6S18 Mask, C6S18 Cover, C6S18 - DBS
Season Token Event Shop Update: C6S18 - Parachute

All-Talent Championship S19

Available: 2024/5/20–2024/7/4 (UTC+0)

New Event Shop Rewards: Pop Sensation Set (Epic), Elven Tracker Cover (Legendary), Elven Tracker Set (Legendary), Finest Flavors - QBZ (Epic)
New All-Talent Championship S19 Crate Rewards: Pop Sensation Set (Epic), Elven Tracker Cover (Legendary), Elven Tracker Set (Legendary), Finest Flavors - QBZ (Epic), Labyrinth Scale - M24 (Epic), Inked Battleground Parachute (Epic)
New First and Second Runner-Up Rewards: Ducky Fighter Set (Legendary), Ducky Fighter Cover (Legendary), Time Traveler - Kar98K (Legendary), Round Parachute (Camo) (Epic), Mr. Bronze Set (Epic)

Popularity Gift Events

New Redemption Shop

Popularity Gift Redemption Shop: The Redemption Shop is permanently available and its rewards will be continuously updated. Use tokens earned from Popularity Battles and Team Popularity Battles to redeem rewards.

Popularity Battle Event

Registration Period: 2024/5/14 at 00:00–2024/5/19 at 8:59 (UTC+0)
Battle Period: 2024/5/19 at 9:00–2024/6/18 at 9:00 (UTC+0)

Main Updates:
- New widget tool: Popularity Battle progress can now be synced to your device.
- New rewards: Popularity Coin, Stickers
- Lowered the points required to reach each level so obtaining rewards is easier.
Rules:
- Register to participate in the Popularity Battle event. During the battle period, get randomly matched with a powerful opponent every 3 days for a popularity contest. Lasts 10 rounds in total.
- During the battle period, the Popularity of both competitors will be compared. The one with the highest Popularity wins.
- The winner can claim some of their opponent's points.
- Participate in Popularity Battles to win Battle Points and increase Battle Level. The higher the Battle Level, the better the rewards.

Team Popularity Battle Event

Registration Period: 2024/6/17 at 00:00–2024/6/23 at 8:59 (UTC+0)
Battle Period: 2024/6/23 at 9:00–2024/7/9 at 9:30 (UTC+0)

Main Content:
- New widget tool: Popularity Battle progress can now be synced to your device.
- New reward: Popularity Coin
- Lowered the points required to reach each level so obtaining rewards is easier.
Rules:
- Matchmaking: There will be a total of 8 rounds. Teams of similar strength will be matched every 2 days. Players within each team will be ranked by Popularity through 1v1 Popularity Battles.
- Battle: Both sides will compete to see who can gain the most Popularity during this phase.
- The total score will be determined by the win-loss record of each player on the team. In the event of a tie (2:2), the total Popularity of both teams will be compared.
- The team with the higher total score will be declared the winner, and can loot Battle Points from the defeated team.
- If all players within a team have the same score, they can jointly claim the level rewards and ranking rewards.
- Teams that have registered can have their team leader create an exclusive Nickname Badge for the team, which serves as a symbol of the close bond between team members and gift recipients.
- Nickname Badges support custom text and are unique.
- Players can obtain a Nickname Badge by registering a team or by completing gift missions.

Security & Game Environment Improvements

Account Security

Players who are conducting video reviews will now show the status, "Reviewing Video", on the Friend List.
You can now log in via QR code with accounts linked to certain platforms.
Improved account protection system with better account linking and unlinking procedures, and improved security verification and abnormal login reminders. Enhanced in-game notifications for better player awareness on how accounts are stolen to minimize their occurrence.
Improved account recovery tool to enhance account retrieval and self-unlinking, to help more account owners in retrieving their accounts.

Security Strategy Improvements

Improved cheat detection for X-Ray vision, auto aim, no recoil, speed hacks, modified resource files, and more.
Improved violation detection for unfair cooperation and teaming up with cheaters.
Improved the in-game detection and countermeasures against account farming, prohibited transactions, escorting, botting and other violations to better regulate in-game behavior and improve players' gaming experience.
Improved detection and penalties for inappropriate text, voice messages, avatars, and Home designs to better regulate in-game behavior.

submitted by Errora403 to PUBGMobile [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 12:27 Flamewakerr To EA and whom it may concern, sincerely, from one of us

Hey everyone, amidst the thousands of rants, in light of Nick's movement, I think it's time for me to say something, maybe no one cares, I don't have a major platform to get my word out, but I still think that it's good to get these things out here and perhaps the best thing all of this can do is change the way we perceive the game as a player base. This will be long, so those of you willing to, bear with me.
Let me tell you something from a point of view of someone who loved the game for a long time. We're a bunch of very versatile people from all over the place and maybe it can also teach us a lesson or two. On one hand, you have kids who play it for the same reason I played it some good 15 years ago, and you've got us, the older players, who loved the game for what it was growing up because it was the best football themed game out there in many aspects, although FIFA entries weren't the only good thing about that era (shoutout to PES 2006 and 2010). It's a game that I used to enjoy because I love football as a sport, I used to play it basically on a professional level, this is the best "active" form for me to engage with the game. I'm probably too stupid for Football Manager though I believe it's only a matter of watchin a few videos to get into it and understand the in-depth mechanics. I always tried playing it and got lost in the menus within 5 minutes. But for what it's worth, I understood FIFA, I understood FUT and the shell of what it once was, the grind was fun to me, using players from past and present that I like, well, until it all got burned to the fucking ground within a year. I was never an Elite div or Rank 1 or even Rank 2 player. But I had certain results, I would get 9 to 11 wins most of the time and with enough free time I could always climb to atleast div 2 in Rivals. Sure, many of you are better and I realize that, but it's not about that. To me it was always about getting better at the game for myself, on my own terms, there would be some progression to it and getting better throughout the years always made me happy. Adult life is adult life and it's very individual, some of us have more free time on our hands, others don't. In my case, I barely have time to do my daily play matches, some SBCs and play Champs on the weekend because of work.
But the question is - how can I consistently enjoy the game if:

a) every single thing and tactic that I figure out, gets nerfed within a few months - and I'm not talking about ratty shit, I'm talking things like finesse shots, trivelas, some useful passes, just gameplay stuff
b) they don't do shit to fix broken things in-game, like OP cutbacks, I came to peace with them, but still, it's too OP, or doing things to somehow nerf or balance situations when people pass between the GK and CB from the 70th minute onwards. Idk how many of you were around when they banned Kurt, but they pulled up a whole statement about policies regarding in-game toxicity for building towards a fun experience for everyone, yet they don't do shit with the game itself.
c) the game itself wants you to feel bad about your gameplay and even tries to pass off DDA as skill issue. Of course, at times it really comes down to your skills, but how often do you hear the commentators praise you? At times even when you're leading, they keep repeating how it's a matter of time until you concede an equalizer. You know those graphics on the pitch itself? The win probability stuff. It shows up only when you're losing, even if you are let's say one goal behind and it's the 65th minute, they'll show you a whole statistic all over the fucking pitch, telling you that you have a 2% chance to win the game. To demoralize you. To make you feel like you need to keep upgrading and upgrading and upgrading and once you run out of fodder and luck, to go dump your money into store packs. And even that doesn't help you, the pack weight is shit, you just get quick fodder for unreasonable money, and the theories that spending money on the game improves your gameplay, it's all bogus. To put it simple, if you achieve something, you will not see anything positive. No congratulations screen, just infographics, but when you do something bad, God forbid, you will get fact-bombed about how shit you are. From a psychological point of view, this game is toxic to it's core and it's very, very, very unhealthy for one's mental health. If you're an adult, trying to relax after tons of stressful shit in your daily life, this is not the place for proverbial relaxation. If you're a kid who's going through your teen years, those years are stressful for many reasons and once again, this cannot possibly help you. I hold no grudge towards many players as I am aware that many players are very young (less than 18) and perhaps that generation is simply like that and there's nothing we can do about it. I'm talking only about FUT, I believe that Pro Clubs are probably way more lighthearted and fun and I treat Career Mode which has been abandoned, as a separate game basically.
d) Obvious gambling issues. Enough has been said. I am one of the minority in thinking that there is nothing wrong with buying a pack here or there if you're an adult and if it doesn't impact serious aspects of your life. If you earn money, it's entirely up to you how you spend it. Some people like fine dining and dump money on food. Some people collect stuff and dump money on collectibles. Some people overspend to impress their s/o. So, in theory, there is nothing wrong with spending money on or within a game as a concept. But what is wrong is how it works in this game in particular. You get new packs over and over again, the store is full of things to spend money on, but the core game itself is neglected gameplay-wise. Content is okay, SBCs are okay, with exchanges and stuff, it's really good actually. I am one of those who actually enjoy both the menus and the gameplay itself, equally. All of it is a part of the experience. But you have really bad things going on with your games and the only thing that you do as a dev is dump packs? And even those packs, the pack weight is absolute shit, it's turned into a casino, a slot machine, because it's all rigged towards you ending on a loss, thus having the psychological effect of you not getting your dopamine shot of packing something nice, often you're not in a situation to buy another one, so this will linger in the back of your head, that you didn't complete the process and you need to see if next time you'll finally get something good. Or, you bought it with coins and now you lost a good amount of coins, so you think of buying the next one with FP, or even worse, you can afford it and you just successfully gave them twice the intended amount of money. This is a serious, self-destructive behavioral pattern, take it from someone who has some education in a field very close to all of that. Teach children that and you can legitimately ruin their lives. Say, if you knew what you're getting, exactly what, or atleast if you knew that there is a smaller pool of what you can pack, or guaranteed something for a symbolic amount of money, I'd say it is what it is, since we truly do live in an era full of microtransactions and that's just something that's a part of online gaming nowadays. The bad part is overspending on something that will just not reward you anyhow or grant you any sort of benefit. Even games with battle passes have better options in this regard. You're getting better progression in exchange for a symbolic amount of money.
e) The game itself doesn't work properly! You're getting DNFs left and right, you can't even navigate through SBCs and your club without the game freezing multiple times. EA keeps fucking up with "unintended rewards" first it was Messi, I did the SBC, got nothing, life goes on. Several times I had issues where objectives didn't count, whatever, life goes on, it's a game. Or some rewards got bugged and fucked me over multiple times, whatever, life goes on. This most recent L1 red pick stuff, that was honestly the last straw, not even the fact that I didn't get them simply because I have a life and don't camp in front of my console each Friday to sweat my ass off for the very start of the Champs Finals, but because they finally spilled the beans, told us we were never supposed to get good cards out of it with a decent percentage and on top of that, they ruined the small amount of fun I had playing with Paletools between meetings at work (by that I mean killing the droprate and nerfing pack weight).

The whole situation is very stupid, because there is no viable alternative in terms of football games, and frankly, playing FIFA is a habit and something I've been doing for one half of my life. It's tough for me to get invested into an online competitive game, though I used to play League, Overwatch, stuff like that, but those games became shit over the years as well. That's why, though I'm only one of way too many, from my point of view, my actions bear some value, because as of today, I just don't want to feel like shit because of a game anymore atleast on a weekly basis. As things stand, dumping my time into this game is simply pointless. If I want to play Weekend League, I'll get shat on by the servers, or the gameplay will be horrendous and my cards will feel like freezers getting dragged across the pitch by a rope. Cards with great finishing, will feel like bronze cards, whatever. We're not supposed to get good rewards, and the game will call us out for being "bad" when we get DDAd. At this point, there is nothing positive about it. I will perhaps return for Futties, not that anyone cares, but building fun cards is kinda fun and good, so I'm looking forward to that. Otherwise, I will return only if all of this actually changes something. If the assholes from EA release a statement and actually change something, then I will return earlier, and even then, I'm not giving them a single euro this year. And maybe, for the first time in way too many years, I won't even preorder, maybe I'll play it later on, if it turns out to be better and different. Other than that... there's no point playing if the game is like this. I'm done with feeling negative emotions because of a game designed to gaslight and manipulate us into feeling like shit.
Sorry for the long post, I guess I just felt like I needed to tell someone.

submitted by Flamewakerr to fut [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 12:18 MagicalMusical1 Snow White vs Snow White Debunk

https://preview.redd.it/p94gmf5jbd0d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=c46cb17b87dbca0da690eb4fb1e31af33a82523b
Hey everyone, MuscialMagical-1 here. I’ve been noticing a lot of debunks recently, so that must mean that they’re really popular and that I should make one as well. And luckily for me, there’s some idiot named MagicalMusical1 who just so happened to make what I consider the WORST matchup ever, so I’m going to absolutely debunk it now.

I’ve wanted to do this for a while, since my original post on the matchup was when I was just starting out writing connections. It’s still my number one favorite matchup of all time, and I’m not going to stop pushing for it, so let’s run this back again.

Didn’t ask. Moving on.

Note: SINoALICE lore is confusing and there’s just straight up multiple different versions of Snow White. I’m getting all my information from what I believe is the main incarnation of the character (Character Descriptions of the original classes, and the Main Story of SINoALICE ~~Though even in the main story there’s like three different versions of Snow White in the lore but shhhhh~~) Also, there’s going to be a lot of yapping, so take caution

Why are you debunking yourself not even a minute into your connections list. Are you stupid? Also, I am absolutely prepared to yap back, so you’re the one who should be taking caution

Core Theme: Two similarly named characters who fight for justice by taking down those who are evil after the loss of those close to them. As their journeys progress, both will struggle with being their ideal selves, and be filled with self-doubt. However, there’s a very notable contrast with their paths of justice and how they handle their flaws.

You’re already putting these connections on your connections list anyways, so I don’t have to debunk this part at all

Two major characters in series that are darker takes of their respective genres (Magical Girls/Fairy Tales) with the two taking direct inspiration from those older media (MGRP Snow White’s design is based on classic magical girl outfits/SoA Snow White is literally a stand in for the Snow White in the original fairy tale)

First connection in and there’s already so much wrong here. First of all, Magical Girls and Fairy Tales are not similar in the slightest. Second of all, bro have you seen magical girl and fairy tale shit dude. This weird girl named Minky Mono literally gets hit by a truck and in the original Snow White, The Prince literally orders the Queen to wear a pair of red-hot iron slippers and to dance in them until she drops dead. Those both are so much darker than whatever you’re trying to say here. And lastly (Yes I’m still not done yet), comparing clothing to in your words “literally a stand in for the Snow White in the original fairy tale” What an absolutely comparable connection

They were initially naive, believing in the good in others despite the many times they’ve been proven wrong (MGRP Snow White believed that magical girls were pure, righteous champions of justice, even as the death game was ongoing and after she’d been attacked multiple times by other magical girls/SoA Snow White didn’t recognize the seven dwarves treating her like a slave, and even after her mother tried to kill her, she still wanted to forgive her)

This one isn’t too bad, since at the very least you’re comparing people that tried to kill both, but then you decided to put slavery into this one, really?

However, their breaking point would come after the deaths of those they were close to (La Pucelle and Hardgore Alice/The Prince). Both would blame themselves for these incidents (MGRP Snow White would believe that she was useless as she didn’t take any action that could’ve prevented these incidents/SoA Snow White would blame herself for letting the death of her prince occur, exclaiming that she’ll never forgive what happened)

Okay and now we’re back to the bad stuff. See, MagicalMusical1 uses “those they were close to” to hide how incomparable these people are. The Prince is literally her lover and husband, while La Pucelle and Hardgore Alice are just her friends.

From there, both would swear to use their strong senses of justice to never let these events happen ever again, deciding to go out and defeat those who are evil to make the world a better place (MGRP Snow White taking it upon herself to capture rogue magical girls/SoA Snow White swearing to punish all evil and enforce justice).

Erm, actually one is only fighting a certain type of person while the other is punishing all evil. This isn’t comparable in the slightest

Their personalities shift into stoic fighters who are ruthless to their enemies, yet still kind to those they consider allies.

Generic as fuck.

While we would never directly see these characters administer their justice (It is only stated that MGRP Snow White was able to capture around 30 rogue magical girls/It’s implied that SoA Snow White ruled over her nation as an good enforcer of justice and changed some endings of stories for the better), we will see their paths changing as they go on a journey for another person important to them. (MGRP Snow White goes around trying to look for any clues regarding the whereabouts of Ripple/SoA Snow White goes around killing nightmares in order to revive her authors, The Grimm Brothers)

Firstly, MagicalMusical I know that you don’t actually have the evidence that SoA Snow White ruled her nation as a good enforcer of justice and only are getting that from her TV Tropes page. Secondly, bro why are you doing the “person important to them” shit again. The Grimm Brothers are literally SoA Snow Whites’ creators while Ripple is just MGRP Snow White’s friend.

On these new paths, they try to hold on to their ideals, but over time, their flaws become apparent, and they begin to doubt themselves. (MGRP Snow White continues to get roped up into deadly situations but unable to save everyone like she wants to, causing her to not believe herself to be deserving of her title of Magical Girl HunteSoA Snow White begins to doubt her justice as she continues the immoral path of killing sentient and potentially innocent beings in order to achieve her goal, with the voices of those she killed haunting her)

Ah yes, one is regretting not saving enough people while the other is regretting killing. I can absolutely see the connection there (Breaking character for a moment, holy shit that’s actually another badass contrast this matchup has now that I think about it.)

Extra connections that aren’t really about major story beats/are kinda a stretch thanks to the aforementioned multiple different versions of SoA Snow White in the main story, but still interesting to note the coincidental similarities these two share:

Again, please stop debunking yourself in your own connections list please. And these aren’t even safe either.

Both deal with manipulative mascot-type characters that try to drive both, and other characters like them to kill each other. (Fav, manipulating the events of Unmarked to turn it into a magical girl death exam/Parrah and Noya, who force the cast kill each other, most notably in Act of Elimination)

Parrah and Noya are puppets, please tell me where the “mascot-type” comes from.

While initially put off by these characters at first, both would eventually have a friendship with an Alice in Wonderland inspired character with a darker color scheme and a theme of obsession (Hardgore Alice, who is very focused on being with Snow White and protecting heAlice, who has a theme of bondage and feels heavily attached to her author)

Okay, not only are these characters obsessed with two different people, but one’s named Alice and the other is named Hardgore Alice. Completely incomparable.

Both are noted to be very beautiful (Magical Girls in MGRP are described to be “too beautiful to be human”/SoA Snow White, similarly to the story she’s based on, has incredible beauty that mesmerized everyone in her country)

Bro this connection is so generic that I literally cannot find anything to debunk about it.

Both would eventually be reunited with the person they were looking for, only for an unforeseen event to occur that caused them to lose said important person once again and cause the two to be broken once again (MGRP Snow White would be able to find Ripple, but in her mind control we state, Ripple would kill someone and run away once the mind control wore off, leaving MGRP Snow White to feel helpless and lose hope for a moment/SoA Snow White eventually revives her author in Act of Authors, only for Henrietta Dorothea Wild to be revived instead, and after Snow White killed her, her justice was put into question, leading to herself falling into despair)

Okay, I already said how the important people here aren’t comparable so I'll just say that MGRP Snow White’s friend is killing someone while SoA Snow White is the one doing the killing.

In different points in their stories, both get involved with deadly mobile games with the same name as their series. (The death exam that MGRP Snow White would be involved with would begin due to the Magical Girl Raising Project mobile game/Act of SINoALICE takes place in the real world, with the characters having to deal with nightmares that spawned due to the in-universe SINoALICE mobile game)

The death exam happens in the beginning of MGRP Snow White’s story while Act of SINoALICE happens near the end of SoA Snow White’s story.

Unsure about this one yet as MGRP: Red isn’t translated yet, but from what I’ve heard, both would battle, and lose, to another version of themselves who has less qualms with killing (Homunculus Snow White/Reality Snow White)

I’m skipping this one too as I haven’t read MGRP: Red either. It’s probably wrong tho.

Both have a connection to Batman of all characters (MGRP Snow White has been called the Batman of Magical Girls by the fanbase due to her backstory and the fact that she has a supercomputer assistant mascot/SINoALICE did a collab with DC Comics, with Snow White getting a class where she dressed as Batman) (Yeah this is a huge stretch, but the fact that you can make this stretch at all is the funniest thing ever)
Both are the fan-favorite characters of their respective series, even placing first on official popularity polls.
Oh yeah they have the same name.

Damn all three of these connections are actually solid (especially the Batman one) I have nothing to say here

Contrasts:

What? These aren’t connections. I don’t have anything to say here because the only thing that really matters are connections.
So that’s all for the connections, but the potential is bad as well. There’s literally no reason why MGRP Snow White wouldn’t just ignore SoA Snow White, and I don’t see why SoA Snow White would care about MGRP Snow White since she didn’t really care about Reality Snow White in Act of Elimination.
And the fight potential reeks as well, you’re taking SoA Snow White, a character with swords, bows, polearms, hammers, orbs, instruments, books, staffs, literal nightmares, against someone with only one weapon and then MagicalMusical1 then tries to say that Half-Nightmare Snow White will be used in the fight when that’s never happened in the main story of SINoALICE.

Debate:

I’m skipping this. I literally do now know what MagicalMusical1 is yapping about here.

So in conclusion, aside from debatability this matchup literally appeals to me on all fronts. A combination of good and funny connections, coupled with an amazing contrast. Interesting dynamics in both the fight and interactions. The potential for a very emotional story. And it uses obscure series and characters, one of whom is my favorite fictional character of all time and the other is also a strong contender. Yeah in my opinion this matchup is peak.

Nah bro, in conclusion this matchup sucks. It has bad connections, bad potential, and I forgot to say anything about the story but that probably sucks as well. And you’re using two obscure characters that will never be on Death Battle in the first place, so why even bother? So no, this matchup isn’t peak at all.
Besides, both have better anyways with Snow White vs Madoka Kaname and Snow White vs Kafka Hibano
…What the fuck did I just write?

submitted by MagicalMusical1 to DeathBattleMatchups [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 10:51 mtufekyapan Marketing Guide For Shopify

Marketing is one of the most crucial operation for a Shopify store. There are lot’s of tactics Marketing is one of the most crucial operation for a Shopify store. There are lot’s of tactics to grow quickly and none of them not working. Well, if you looking for a way to create solid marketing plan, then this guide is for you. In this guide you’ll learn

Definition of Marketing
Market Research, Competitor Analysis and Defining Your Target Market
Brand Identity and How to Create Your Branding
Go-to-Market Strategy and Defining Your Marketing Strategy
Inbound and Outbound Marketing Channels
Marketing Plan Template
FAQs

Definition of Marketing

American Marketing Association defines marketing as activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Source
What do you see here?

Marketing is not about activities, it contains activities, set of institutions and process.
Function of marketing is not generating sales. It’s creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that has value.
In this post we’ll focus on Shopify stores marketing. However in the big picture marketing has not limited with companies. Marketing can be done within organization or society.

Let’s summarize what marketing definition for a Shopify store. Marketing will create, communicate, deliver and exchange offers that have value for customers. As you can see main subject in here is customers. Because of this, I’ll put customers as the center of this guide. Everything we’ll do has to something with them.

Market Research, Competitor Analysis and Defining Your Target Market

This is a practical guide for marketing so I want to continue with a hypothetical Shopify stores for each steps.
Let’s say we have a Shopify store that has some high-end, organic baby clothes targeting new parents.

Market Research

How can we do the market research?
Let’s say you have a new Shopify store that has less than 500 order per month. You can hire expensive agencies, expensive experts to research the market, create market reports for you, etc. Even if you do that, I highly suspicious if it helps you.
However you can talk with your new-parent friends. Ask them about how do they decide to buy baby clothes? What they are looking for before completing their purchases? Do they get any expert opinion before making buying decision? How do they search online and what they want to see? Is there any great YouTube channels about this.
Don’t have any friends? Checkout your friends not a new-parents but parents and ask similar questions to them. If you also don’t have them, try to make new born friends. I know how hard it is but let’s be honest here. If you don’t know anybody in your target audience, how do you manage to get know them? All of the successful stores I saw they have direct relationship with their target audience.
When you make your research with real people, then you can extend your project to online. Try to search as they do. What do you find? Deep in dive and take your notes.

Competitor Analysis

When you done this market research, you’ll also see there are some other brands. This is a huge subject but let’s call these brands as competitor for now.
Now it’s time to analyze them.

Checkout their branding strategy.
What are their value propositions?
What is hot about them? Return guarantee, free shipping etc.
What is not hot about them? Poor product or store design, low UX on the website, etc.
What people think about them? Google reviews, Trust pilot reviews, product reviews on the store.
Are there any partnership or influencer program they’re running?
What is their Google/YouTube campaign strategy? Check it here.
What is their Facebook/Instagram campaign strategy? Check it here.

Create a spreadsheet with all of this information. We’ll use this when working on positioning and marketing strategy.

Define Your Target Market

What do you say about our target market? Can all of new parents be our target market?
Nope, it can’t. You need to deep dive into your market and find a sub-segment, a niche that will need your products much better than anybody else and afford it easily.
This is what I called ideal customer profile (ICP). Check out what is ideal customer profile and how to create your ideal customer profile posts to learn more about the concept.
For our hypothetical store, ICP can be something like this;
Demographics

Age: 25-45 years old
Gender: Primarily women, but also some men
Education: College degree or higher
Income: $75,000+ per household
Location: Urban areas
Occupation: Professionals, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home parents

Psychographics

Values: Health, wellness, sustainability, social responsibility
Lifestyle: Active, eco-conscious, family-oriented
Interests: Organic food, natural products, children’s activities
Media consumption: Social media, parenting blogs, magazines
Shopping habits: Researches purchases thoroughly, values quality over price

Pain Points

Concerns about harmful chemicals in baby clothes
Difficulty finding stylish and affordable organic baby clothes
Wants to make sustainable choices for their children

Needs

High-quality, organic baby clothes that are safe and healthy for their children
Unique and stylish designs that make their children look and feel good
A brand that shares their values and commitment to sustainability

Buying Behaviors

Researches products online before making a purchase
Reads reviews and testimonials from other parents
Shops at specialty stores and online retailers
Willing to pay a premium for quality and sustainability

After creating ICP, it’s important to spend some time on empathy map. Don’t forget to check it, too.
Now we know our baby clothes Shopify store market, customer’s buying process and our ideal customer profile.

Brand Identity and How to Create Your Branding

I’ll follow the American Marketing Association (AMA) in here too.
First look at brand definition. AMA defines brand as “any distinctive feature like a name, term, design, or symbol that identifies goods or services”.
Branding is for creating and managing your brand’s identity. It involves your mission, values, culture and public image.
I’m not an expert on brand, but I know how branding can be effective for your conversions and performance. Here are some checklist for you.

Design consistency is the key. Your visual identity should be consistent across social media, Shopify store, emails, product detail pages, etc.
Copy consistency is the key. Your communication style should be consistent across social media, Shopify store, emails, product detail pages, etc.
Experience consistency is the key. Let’s say your brand looks like a high-end brand and when a new visitor visit your store first they see is an annoying popup saying want to get 10% OFF. This is simply how to destroy your brand.
Craft a story and stick to it. What makes you create this brand? Faces behind the brand. This is a huge leverage for creating trust and building bonds.

Go-to-Market Strategy and Defining Your Marketing Strategy

So far we identified our target market and ideal customer profile. Check out competitors and creates the branding for our store.
Now it’s time to work on go-to-market strategy and crafting our marketing strategy.

Go-to-Market Strategy

Let’s say you recently launched your Shopify store or add a new line of products.
You need a plan to introduce your store or new products to the market. This is what we called go-to-market(GTM) strategy.
Main goal of the GTM is letting people know that there is a new brand or product line. It’s similar to launch marketing. Key message here is there is a new products/brand launched and it offer the best for you. Give it a try, you’ll love it.
All of your messages and communication should be parallel to this process.
Our focus is convincing people to try our products/brand. So I always offer a special campaign just for the launch to give people to a reason to try your products/brand.
For our hypothetical Shopify store we can run a special campaign for launch like;

Free shipping until X date.
5 different boy and girl bundle with 40% OFF to try our products.

Marketing Strategy

This is your plan of actions to sell or advertise your products. Now we can talk about selling part of the marketing.
Let’s say you have GREAT advertising creatives and a huge budget and just spending it. Don’t wait to crack the code and having lot’s of sales.
Your marketing strategy should be follow sales funnel. If you don’t have a high-converting sales funnel, you can’t expect people to buy from you. Check out How to Build High Converting Sales Funnel For Shopify post.
AIDA Sales Funnel Framework
Now we can continue with our hypothetical store example. We’re selling high-end, organic baby clothes on our store. We crafted our ICP, empathy map, work on branding and created our story.

Example Marketing Strategy

First step we’ll work on attention step. Our focus is getting attention of our target market attention.
We can create a educative e-book like “7 Harmful Chemicals Commonly Used in Baby Clothes and How to Avoid Them” and run some campaigns targeted new parents on social network (Facebook, Instagram or YouTube)
This ads will land on a landing page that gives brief information about why we should pay attention to chemicals in baby clothes for our little ones and make a promise like “I spend my last 5 years about researching chemicals on baby clothes and prepare this book for you and your little one”. Also there can be a quick video about our story explaining our expertise in this field and why we’re building this brand.
We can ask for their email address to share the book with them. When they enter their email address, we’ll send them this ebook.
After first email with the ebook, we can send a few more emails with easy to digest information about chemicals.
This will create an expertise image on our target customers and start to create a bond with them. Not a bad start, right?
At the same time we can use this content on our social media, right? Quick videos, infographics and posts about the chemicals in the baby clothes.
After getting a few thousands subscribers we can organize a webinar to answer questions. This will also a great content for re-used social media content and creating trust and expert image.
Then we can share a time-limited promotion with this people for a bundle. Like we’re running a campaign and these 5 chemical free baby clothes bundles 10% discounted until next week!
We can send emails about it and use this campaign for remarketing for only people who show interest in our e-book and webinar.
This is a very brief template of marketing plan.
Now let’s take a look at more common one.

Post product photos on social media with lot’s of hashtags
Run a Meta campaign without any targeting, land people on product detail page
Give them WELCOME10 discount if they enter their email address
Send them 15 emails in the next 5 days to maximize your sales.

It’s time for you. Which one do you want to choose? All of the experts recommending this without even asking who are your customers. Can you believe it?
Don’t forget that marketing strategy is not a hope. It’s a well documented plan of actions designed for turning strangers into customers.

Inbound and Outbound Marketing Channels

Inside the marketing strategy, channels plays a vital role. There are lot’s of ways to group channels. I’ll use most basic one.
Inbound Marketing Channels: With the inbound marketing your customers will find you and start the interaction. Most common channel for inbound marketing is organic search engine optimization.
After creating high quality content, when customers search something online, they can see your articles and first interaction happens.
Outbound Marketing Channels: With the outbound marketing you reach out to customers. Facebook/Instagram/YouTube ads, influencer marketing, display ads, podcast ads can be count in this category.
As you can imagine inbound marketing channels takes lot’s of efforts and time however over the time you’ll have organic marketing channel and it brings you customer without needing any budget.
Outbound marketing channels generally works with advertisement models and you need budgets to run these channels.
Most of time I recommend to start with outbound marketing channels and then invest inbound marketing channels overtime. Don’t forget to check Mastering Paid Ads For Shopify post.
Succesful marketing plans should be supported by high converting growth and conversion plans. Don’t forget to check Growth Guide For Shopify and Conversion Optimization Guide For Shopify too.
to grow quickly and none of them not working. Well, if you looking for a way to create solid marketing plan, then this guide is for you. In this guide you’ll learn

Definition of Marketing
Market Research, Competitor Analysis and Defining Your Target Market
Brand Identity and How to Create Your Branding
Go-to-Market Strategy and Defining Your Marketing Strategy
Inbound and Outbound Marketing Channels
Marketing Plan Template
FAQs

Definition of Marketing

Marketing is not about activities, it contains activities, set of institutions and process.
Function of marketing is not generating sales. It’s creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that has value.
In this post we’ll focus on Shopify stores marketing. However in the big picture marketing has not limited with companies. Marketing can be done within organization or society.

Market Research, Competitor Analysis and Defining Your Target Market

Market Research

Competitor Analysis

When you done this market research, you’ll also see there are some other brands. This is a huge subject but let’s call these brands as competitor for now.
Now it’s time to analyze them.

Checkout their branding strategy.
What are their value propositions?
What is hot about them? Return guarantee, free shipping etc.
What is not hot about them? Poor product or store design, low UX on the website, etc.
What people think about them? Google reviews, Trust pilot reviews, product reviews on the store.
Are there any partnership or influencer program they’re running?
What is their Google/YouTube campaign strategy? Check it here.
What is their Facebook/Instagram campaign strategy? Check it here.

Create a spreadsheet with all of this information. We’ll use this when working on positioning and marketing strategy.

Define Your Target Market

Age: 25-45 years old
Gender: Primarily women, but also some men
Education: College degree or higher
Income: $75,000+ per household
Location: Urban areas
Occupation: Professionals, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home parents

Psychographics

Values: Health, wellness, sustainability, social responsibility
Lifestyle: Active, eco-conscious, family-oriented
Interests: Organic food, natural products, children’s activities
Media consumption: Social media, parenting blogs, magazines
Shopping habits: Researches purchases thoroughly, values quality over price

Pain Points

Concerns about harmful chemicals in baby clothes
Difficulty finding stylish and affordable organic baby clothes
Wants to make sustainable choices for their children

Needs

High-quality, organic baby clothes that are safe and healthy for their children
Unique and stylish designs that make their children look and feel good
A brand that shares their values and commitment to sustainability

Buying Behaviors

Researches products online before making a purchase
Reads reviews and testimonials from other parents
Shops at specialty stores and online retailers
Willing to pay a premium for quality and sustainability

Brand Identity and How to Create Your Branding

Design consistency is the key. Your visual identity should be consistent across social media, Shopify store, emails, product detail pages, etc.
Copy consistency is the key. Your communication style should be consistent across social media, Shopify store, emails, product detail pages, etc.
Experience consistency is the key. Let’s say your brand looks like a high-end brand and when a new visitor visit your store first they see is an annoying popup saying want to get 10% OFF. This is simply how to destroy your brand.
Craft a story and stick to it. What makes you create this brand? Faces behind the brand. This is a huge leverage for creating trust and building bonds.

Go-to-Market Strategy and Defining Your Marketing Strategy

Go-to-Market Strategy

Free shipping until X date.
5 different boy and girl bundle with 40% OFF to try our products.

Marketing Strategy

This is your plan of actions to sell or advertise your products. Now we can talk about selling part of the marketing.
Let’s say you have GREAT advertising creatives and a huge budget and just spending it. Don’t wait to crack the code and having lot’s of sales.
Your marketing strategy should be follow sales funnel. If you don’t have a high-converting sales funnel, you can’t expect people to buy from you. Check out How to Build High Converting Sales Funnel For Shopify post.
This article first published at MarketingLib.
Don't forget to check Growth Suite on Shopify App Store.

submitted by mtufekyapan to GrowthSuite [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 10:50 The_Way358 Essential Teachings: The Meaning and Purpose of Life

The Purpose of Life for Man

One of the most direct verses on the subject of "the meaning (or purpose) of (human) life" in the Bible can be found in Revelation:

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."-Revelation 4:11

This, of course, should prompt us to ask what exactly does God take pleasure in?
Conversely, what doesn't He take pleasure in?

"Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"-Micah 6:6-8

God does not take pleasure in mere outward religiosity and ritual, but rather finds honest acts of love towards Him and others as more important when pertaining to our fulfillment of what God expects from us as His creation. God takes great pleasure in us doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with Him. This is what He requires of us. In other words...

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."-Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

The Book of Ecclesiastes is an existential treatise on the futility of finding any meaning or fulfillment in life apart from God. In it, "the Preacher" (or "Teacher" in some translations) explores the limits of human experiences which may provide meaning or fulfillment in this life before the author of the book inevitably concludes that the only thing we can do that has any kind of meaning or permanence in the end is fearing God and keeping His commandments. The reason for this is because the march of time and our own mortality effectively make most human endeavors hevel. The Hebrew word "hevel" is translated as vanity in the King James.
The following is taken from BibleProject:

In Hebrew, hevel literally refers to “vapor” or “smoke.” The teacher uses this word 38 times throughout the book of Ecclesiastes as a metaphor to describe how life is temporary and fleeting, like a wisp of smoke, but also how life is an enigma or paradox. Smoke appears solid, but when you try to grab it, it’s like nothing is there.

[...]

The author’s basic goal is to target all of the ways we try to build meaning and purpose in life apart from God and then let the teacher deconstruct them. The author thinks that people spend most of their time investing energy and emotion in things that ultimately have no lasting meaning or significance. And so he allows the teacher to give us a reality check.

The Preacher gives us a "reality check" by demonstrating how time and death effectively make things like scientific and artistic discovery (1:10-11), mirth (2:1), alcohol (2:3), architecture (2:4), amassing property (2:7-8), and luxury (2:8) all hevel. Materialism and hedonism fail to fulfill, and though wisdom and righteousness are acknowledged by the preacher to be advantageous, the righteous and wise are still often victims of injustice and unfairness in the world while the wicked get to prosper and have longevity at times (1:13-18). Generally, your life will probably be better by living in the wisdom given in Proverbs (Ecc. 7:11-12; 9:13-18), but it's no guarantee that you will have a good life as bad things still happen to good people, and good things still happen to bad people. This isn't entirely "hevel" but it's confusing and disorienting because things don't always work out the way we think they should in this life.
Again, from BibleProject:

So what’s the way forward in the midst of all this hevel? Paradoxically, the teacher discovers that the key to truly enjoying life is accepting hevel, acknowledging that everything in your life is totally out of your control. About six different times, at the bleakest moments in his dialogue, the teacher suddenly talks about “the gift of God,” which is the enjoyment of the simple, good things in life such as friendship, family, a good meal, or a sunny day.
You and I can’t control the most important things in our lives. Nothing is guaranteed, and, strangely, that’s the beauty of it. When I adopt a posture of complete trust in God, it frees me to simply enjoy life as I actually experience it and not as I think it ought to be. In the end, even my expectations about life, my hopes and dreams, are all “hevel, hevel. Everything under the sun is hevel.”
The teacher’s words come to an end, and the author takes over, bringing the book to a close. He says that it is very important to hear what the teacher has to say. He likens the teacher’s words to a shepherd’s staff with a goad, a pointy end that will hurt when it pokes you. But that pain can ultimately steer you in the right direction towards greater wisdom.
The author warns us not to take the teacher’s words too far. You can spend your entire life buried in books trying to answer the existential puzzles of human life. Don’t exhaust yourself, he says. You’ll never get there. Instead, the author offers his own conclusion that we should “fear God and keep his commands; this is the whole duty of humans. For God will bring every deed into judgment, every hidden thing, whether good or evil” (Ec. 12:13-14).

Fearing the Lord doesn’t guarantee success in this life, but it is the right thing to do, and ultimately God will clear the "hevel" and bring His justice on all we have done. Therefore, we ought to keep God's commandments.
Through Jesus, we see the Bible clearing the confusion many have, and still have, about God's commandments and what exactly they are (in essence, at least):

"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."-Matthew 22:37-40

The apostle Paul puts it like this:

"For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."-Galatians 5:14

The apostle John, like this:

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."-1 John 4:16

In other words, the first and second greatest commandments can be seen as inextricably intertwined, as one cannot truly love God without loving their fellow man, and vice versa.
So, to put it bluntly, the meaning, or purpose, of (human) life according to the Bible is simply love.

"What Does It Mean to Love Biblically?"

But, what exactly is love anyway? We know that, according to the apostle John, God is love. But, what does that mean exactly?
The ancient Greeks had anywhere between four and eight different words for love (depending on the source):

Storge: affection
Philia or Phileo: friendship
Eros: sexual, erotic
Agape: unconditional, divine, selfless
Ludus: flirtatious, playful, casual, uncommitted
Pragma: committed, long-standing
Philautia: self-love
Mania: obsessive, possessive, addictive, dependent

The word translated as "charity" in the KJV's rendering of 1st Corinthians 13 is agape. A more accurate translation of the word would be "love," more specifically, the love of God. In this passage, Paul talks about the importance of having this kind of love for others compared to all the things we might typically obsess over concerning the things of God. Even things like charity to the poor itself, if not motivated by agape, does not impress God! Our motivations and heart matter to God just as much, if not more, than our actions themselves.
This is what the Bible defines as true love, or at least, is the kind of love it's most concerned about.
In order to demonstrate to another that we love them, we sacrifice something. For God, He sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins (John 3:16). For Jesus, he sacrificed himself to save us from our sins:

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."-John 15:13

In essence, true love is self-sacrifice. Putting others before ourselves is the greatest kind of sacrifice.
God didn't have to send His Son, but He did. Jesus didn't have to accept the mission, but he did.
God loves you, and Jesus loves you.
We demonstrate to others that we love them by sacrificing our wants and desires for them. These sacrifices can range from really small, to really big. Loving others is a daily practice of making greater and greater sacrifices.

“You can will to love people. Love is not a feeling. Love is a willing, and the Lord says to love people. He did not mean [to merely] feel love for them” — A.W. Tozer

A stumbling block for many in their walk with God is the inability to love one's enemies and to love unlovable people as Jesus did. It’s difficult for us to show love to people we don’t feel love for; to people we despise or dislike. We also tend to struggle with extending grace and mercy to those who’ve hurt us. I myself often wonder whether I am even capable of loving everyone the way Jesus does.
As I grow in my faith, I realize it’s not that I’m incapable of loving like Jesus; I’m just not always willing to. My unwillingness to love indicates that I am unwittingly adopting the worldly view of love, which is based on feelings and merit. I am choosing not to love people I feel are underserving of my love. The more I study Scripture, though, the more I realize Biblical love is not a feeling or an emotion; it’s a decision. It is an action, and it’s sacrificial. It’s not something you feel; it is, again, something you practice.

“Biblical love is a choice to do good for another person regardless of what we feel. It is a decision to compassionately and righteously pursue the betterment of another person. This is why you can even love your enemies according to Christ’s command.” — Tony Evans

Jesus commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). He also said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34). Since the Lord commands us to love, that means it is within our power to do so; therefore, love is a decision we make. Although feelings will accompany love, it’s not an emotion; it’s the decision to love regardless of how we feel.
As believers, we’re taught to love our enemies, and do good to those who hate us, and if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, "turn to him the other also" (Matt. 5:39). It’s not easy to do; hating our enemies comes naturally to us because of our evil nature. It is impossible to love our enemies on our own strength; we need the help of the Spirit of God.
The decision to love your enemies arises from the decision to obey the will of God and the desire to be Christlike. We choose to love our enemies because God said so and loved us first. Jesus said we are to love as he loved us.

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”-Romans 5:8

So Biblical love is sacrificial love. It is not a feeling but an act of will; the desire to put the welfare of others above your own. This type of love is not a love based on affection or emotion. Instead, it’s agape love, a love that is not concerned with self but is concerned more with the good of others.
We are not going to like everyone, nor are we called to; we are called to love everyone regardless of how we feel about them. It’s possible to love someone without feeling love for them when we decide to love everyone the way God loves us. The more we love through our actions, the decision to love will become a choice the heart is more willing to make.
Again, this doesn’t mean you will like or feel love for everyone, but when you put your trust in the Lord and pursue wisdom and holiness through prayer and Scripture, you will naturally develop a love for others.
To put it succinctly: Biblical love seeks the best interests of others, even our enemies, often to the detriment of ourselves. "Best interests" here doesn't necessarily mean what the other person thinks are their own best interests. It just means we do for them what we know or believe is best for them, and what we know or believe is best for them should be informed by an active participation with the Spirit of God and by His Word (the Bible) itself. Feelings may or may not accompany this, but how we feel towards the other is not what determines whether or not we're exhibiting the love of God, in the view of Jesus and the apostles. In their view, it's about whether or not we can still decide to seek the best interests of those who might harm us, or who we might not even like.

What the Real Heavenly Treasure Is

Now, this all brings us to an important question that needs to be answered: Is it wrong to love God and others while making a reward the objective for doing so?
We must ask this question, because all throughout Scripture we are told that the faithful followers of God will be "rewarded" some day for everything they've done to merit this. Giving an exhaustive list of passages that proves this point would be endless, but here are some examples of just a few:

"Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."-Luke 14:12-14
"I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."-Acts 20:35
"But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil."-Luke 6:35

The answer to this question depends on what we define as "rewards." Most will typically adopt some vague idea of material possesions that await the believer when they get to heaven as one's reward for faithfulness towards God, or that the reward is simply an escape from punishment for one's own sins, or perhaps even some combination of these things both.
However, none of these are the "rewards" the Lord is promising to those who obey the first and second commandments. If they were, our motivation to love God and others would ultimately be selfish. Think about it. Our motivation for rewards would inherently be me-centered, and not other-centered.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ gives the following command:

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."-Matthew 6:19-21

We know there are heavenly treasures, because Jesus says so, but what are they? The issue of heavenly treasures or eternal rewards is riddled with question marks. It’s a subject that has been abused by some (“Store up treasure by giving to my ministry”) and left in the too-hard basket by others.
But the answer here is simple, and two-fold. One of our rewards are God Himself:

"After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."-Genesis 15:1
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."-Hevrews 11:6

What is the reward of the seeker but to find that which is sought? If you are searching for God, you will find Him and He will be your very great reward.
Now, if you are the newest believer or the eleventh-hour worker, you will be as richly blessed as the oldest, most faithful saint. Eternity will not be divided into the haves and have-nots, for we are all one in the New Jerusalem.
But we can distinguish God our reward from the heavenly treasure that Jesus said can be stored up. You cannot "store up" more of God, after all.
So what are heavenly treasures? The answer may surprise you, but it’s people.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."-Psalm 127:3

What is the only thing you can take with you? People, a.k.a. eternal friends, a.k.a. spiritual offspring. This Psalm is not just talking about biological children. God has bigger plans for you and they involve spiritual children. Lots of them. Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands. Millions. Don’t limit God.
So much time and effort is spent debating heavenly treasures as though they were some great mystery. What are they? Jesus makes it plain: it's people.

Just as Abraham was called to be the father of many nations, so are you.
Jesus said those who followed him would be fishers of men. What is a fisherman’s reward? It’s fish, or people in this case.
What is the reward of the one who sows and waters the good seed? It’s a harvest of people.
What is treasure that never wears out and cannot be stolen? It’s people.

God's heart cries, “I treasure children. The more, the better!” In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus introduces God as our heavenly Father. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus says God is a Father who rewards us. And what is a father’s reward?
It is children.
“Sounds great, but I am no evangelist.” You don’t need to be an evangelist to win eternal friends. Believers can live such godly lives that unbelievers will be won to the kingdom (1 Pet. 2:12; Matt. 5:16).
God's desire is to grow the world’s largest family and He treats people like treasure. This is obvious once you see it. Indeed, it’s a theme that runs throughout Scripture:

"For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth."-Deuteronomy 7:6
"For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth."-Deuteronomy 14:2
"And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;"-Deuteronomy 26:18
"To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;"-1 Peter 2:4-9

Like Jesus, Paul eagerly gave to the poor (Gal. 2:10). He did not give out of religious duty or to put a shine on his reputation. He did it because he loved people and wanted to share the love of God with as many as possible (1 Cor. 13:3).
Life is a gift that is easily wasted. We can waste it running after inferior rewards that rust, or we can do what Jesus and Paul did and invest ourselves in the only reward that lasts: people.

God Is Faithful

Someone once asked me, "Why would God be concerned as to whether or not we 'have trust and confidence in him' when He's judging us and when He determines what our fate will be?"
Having trust and confidence in God, according to the Biblical authors, is required for us to fulfill His commandment that we love Him, and thus also love others. (See Hebrews 11.)
As with a spouse, you cannot truly love them if you do not have some level of trust or confidence in them, and vice versa. All relationships require trust, from both parties. God wants us to trust Him that He will keep His promises towards those of us who love and follow Him. He also wants to trust us that we will enter the kingdom of heaven with a righteous and loving character. He doesn't want another rebellion in paradise, so He's trying to see if we truly love righteousness for righteousness' sake. A truly righteous person wouldn't want to rebel against Him when the time comes that they enter the kingdom of God themselves, because a person with a righteous character wouldn't ever do such a thing.
As Open Theists, we believe we're being consistent in our belief that God, at times, puts trials before us to test whether or not we will remain trustworthy enough in our character to be deemed worthy of entrance into His kingdom. The Classical Theist doesn't have the luxury of being consistent if they have this same belief.
In the Book of Job, Satan makes an accusation towards someone God has deemed as truly righteous: Job.
Satan assails God’s wisdom and character in running the world by alleging that people only serve Him because of what they get out of it. God protects them from disaster and blesses them in other ways. Their obedience, he is suggesting, isn’t really a free choice. "There is no genuine virtue in the world," Satan is claiming. "There are only self-serving bargains, and obedience for the sake of being protected and blessed is one of them. Hence, true holiness and virtuous obedience are an illusion." "Take away a person’s protection," Satan insists, "and let me have my way with people, and they will stop living for God" (Job 1:9-11; 2:4-5).
God has so much faith in Job that he will not succumb to proving the false accusations being levied towards him and God's way of running things in general that He ends up accepting the challenge. For God, this is as much a test of His faith towards His servant as it is for Job for his Lord. The adversary, we see, was assailing God’s integrity and wisdom in overseeing the creation. Satan was, in effect, accusing God of being a Machiavellian ruler. In the context of this narrative, it was an assault that could only be refuted by being put to the test.
Had God simply forced Satan into silence, without proving him wrong, it would have simply confirmed the accuracy of Satan’s charge. It would have shown that there is no integrity or wisdom in how God runs the world after all. "There is only the exercise of power, used to manipulate beings into obeying Him. People serve God only as a bargain, not out of genuine love."
No, the challenge had to be answered by having it put to the test. The most righteous man on the earth was thus chosen to be tested. If Job failed, the narrative suggests, then Satan will have made his point. If he succeeded, however, then God’s wisdom and integrity in running the cosmos will have been vindicated. Hence, the protective fence around Job is removed and Satan is allowed to afflict him.
In the end, Job proves faithful to God and is even referenced in the New Testament as an example of the kind of faithfulness He expected of first century believers facing persecution and trials:

"Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."-James 5:11

While most of us aren't dealing with the life-threatening kind of persecution that believers faced in the first century, for the very fact that the eschatological end of physical Israel and the Old Covenant system was fastly approaching for them (and already has approached), we still each face our own trials that God puts in our lives as individuals to see if we truly love Him. Job is simply the ultimate example of one who loved God because they chose to, not because God forced them to.
After all, you never know if your love is pure if it isn't tested...

submitted by The_Way358 to u/The_Way358 [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 09:36 Khorde__the__Husk BattlePostings Game Rules

i like Warhammer 40k, but 40k doesnt afford you the abilty to let you play your own custom character or faction if it isnt up to certain specs in tournaments(lore strict rules). and running an army battle in dungeons and dragons is overly complicated unless you ignore a bunch of rolls and rules.
i propose a blend of both. who's cannon takes place in the cosmos of perspective.
(you make your own faction cannon. )
each unit type has user generated has one data sheet, each named character you have would have their own data sheet.
the models can be 3-D printed or kitbashed, but they must be at 1/36 scale. essentially one infantry= one of those cheap plastic army men standing at 5 cm tall.
from here, this was typed up before today, by a few months. there is no campaign.
but i would imagine a new fandom in table top roleplay would be born regardless
___________________________________________________________________________________________
WELCOME TO BATTLEPOSTINGS T.T.R.P.G.
A tabletop rpg for diy, model painting, kit bashing, 3-DPrinting, and plastic army battling enthusiasts.
all parts of this game are user generated, with the exception of the rules. Though u/Khorde__the__Husk sent this to a bunch of redditors for help in balancing the game and setting up basic play structure.
Things to note:
· You must have one “advisor” per two warlords in the session. Advisors, act as the game master to make sure no one is cheating. If there is confusion on what kind of weapon a unit has in their hands or equipped to their armor, the Advisor has final say. The advisor is supposed to keep the game fair.
· In theory you could have as many players as you want, but no more than four is recommended because turns consist of multiple phases that are meant to organize the battle strategy for each player.
· Players are encouraged to kit bash, 3-D print, or purchase traditional plastic army men. For the sake of scaling, follow the scaling of the image below. But you must have your own general. It is recommended that your general be unique, make it yours. Have fun.
· Players can make their own campaigns and lore. Such attempts are encouraged. For the purposes of release, you can follow the campaign I have written.
· For any session, you will need a handwritten or typed general’s reference stats Dossier, 1D20, tape measure, and an army of which you will fight with. (painted)
· When rolling on a check, higher is always better. 20 is always a success
· Your armies stats are fixed and defined in this document. Your general’s stats are dictated by the roll of a 1d20. These stats are:
o morale
o Movement speed
o Accuracy
o Health points
o Punch
· Turns are split into phases.
o bombardment
o Movement
o Attack/counter attack
· The different types of units are:
o Infantry
o Armor
o Airborne
o B.A.M.(BIG ASS MACHINES)

· We play at a 1/36 scale. All models are at that scale.

TERRAIN AND COVER

make your own terrain and cover. kitbashing, 3-D printing encouraged. terrain is the battleground, the floor the pieces and obstacles stand on. obsticles can be anything. debris, nature, etc. obstacles are cover. if an attacking piece can see the defending piece in its entirety, the defending piece is in the open. if the defending piece is partially seen by the attacking
· Ability checks logic below:
20=crit hit/sucsess
1=jam(gun)/woopsie(melee)/crit fail
To succeed , a unit must roll their combined ability score. This is their base ability +general ability. Debuffs such as kickback only are applied to whatever you rolled when you roll for an ability check.
Regardless, the fundamental rules of this game will apply to your creations. these are an assortment of rules designed to keep the game fair and guard against unfair players(referred to as God-Emperors or God-empresses) and hopefully combat power creep.
Now lets expand upon these ideas so you can have fun kit-bashing and army smashing quicker.
GENERAL’S (named character) STAT DOSSIER
Your army’s stats are based on your general’s stat Dossier. The leader of a nation is oft a good indication of how high of a quality their army’s going to be.
The first thing you should write is your general’s name, then write their bio. Their bio includes their background, their homeland, what politics are involved (if any). It is not recommended that you write a novel, you have a game to play. What are the weapons that your general will have on their person? What are their character traits? How will those traits affect how the game is played?
The next thing to do is to make a picture of your General that resembles the piece you kit-bashed for your general to be. It can be menacing, wholesome, serious or whacky. As long as the design choices resemble what your army has for their design and your general’s character traits. It doesn’t have to be hand drawn. A photo of your piece will suffice. no general may have a skill number higher than 16.
ARMY STAT DOSSIER:
what good is a king without a kingdom?
terrible.
each type of unit gets one ARMY STAT DOSSIER. you can have as many scout infantry you want, but you need a dossier on how they are deployed, what weapons they use, and most importantly, THEIR STATS. make sure your unit type description is comprehensive including what styles of combat they are trained for. this could influence your decisions on how you play. give them lore for shits and giggles. no unit may have a skill number higher than 15.
WEAPON STAT DOSSIER
this is the list of weapon types and their ability modifiers.
when attacking bare handed, you go by your unmodified stats.
STATS EXPLAINED AND BORING SHIT
Now comes the part with the dice. You only need 1d20. This is to reduce the confusion.
· Morale
Rolled by 1d20, checked by 1d20 per unit.
Morale is basically moral law. How far will your troops go to follow your orders? If your morale over a given unit is 1, the unit in question is shell shocked for one whole turn, to be marked with a yellow slip. If your unit is shell shocked, it is traumatized to where it cant follow any orders on the next turn. If for some reason the morale hits 0, that unit defects and must be marked with a red token. Units that defect are now under control of your enemy. If defected units hit 0 authority again, it simply dies. Suicide. Cowards way out.
The Morale that your general has over friendly units is base unit morale +the general’s modifier. Your general’s base Morale is the number you rolled the 1d20 for. If for any reason your general’s morale score goes below 0, the general must rally all nearby troops (within 30cm) to protect the general for one turn on the next turn. If your general’s morale hits zero, you get shell shocked, and your general cannot take action for one turn and if your general was within line of sight of any other allied unit, the observing unit cannot take action either.
· Movement Speed
Rolled by 1d20, measured by cm on a measuring tape or meter stick because inches suck.
Movement speed is how much ground a given unit can cover. Unless your object has a punch score higher than the hp of an obstacle, or can fly, you will have to go around the obstacle. There are exceptions. If the obstacle is below the knee of an infantry unit, the infantry or whatever can climb over at the cost of the individual unit climbing modifier.
The base movement speed of your general influences the movement speed of your troops. To find a troops total movement speed:
Your unit’s base movement speed + your general’s base movement speed = total troop movement speed. See army stat dossier or named character stat dossier.

· Accuracy
Rolled by a 1d20, checked by 1d20 per unit
Accuracy must be rolled every time a unit attacks an enemy unit.
Accuracy is basically the chance of your selected troop hitting their targets. Different weapons and vehicles have different accuracy modifiers(aka kickback or x-range), and different types of troops have different base accuracies. Accuracy can affect enemy/friendly Health points or morale. If a shot hits near enough to a troop, or makes a kill close enough to another troop, the troops affected must undergo a morale check with the exception to nearby friendlies of any troop who gets an enemy kill.
Explosives and artillery have an area of effect. any troop within the inner blast radius (with the exception of troops behind sufficient cover) is dead. Any in sufficient cover, or within the outer blast radius must make a morale check. Sufficient cover is a piece of the environment which has an assigned hp that is higher than the punch of an explosion.

Small arms fire requires line of sight for targeting. The path of bullets is a straight line, keep this in mind when deciding collateral damage. Friendly fire is a thing and it is a war-crime. If you want to play nightmare mode, your general gets summoned to a military court tribunal and executed if three friendly troops or more die as a result of friendly fire that occurred by your command.

Melee combat can only be conducted during movement phases. If its melee vs gun there is the variable of line of sight. If the melee unit is within line of sight, the gun unit has advantage. If the melee unit is outside of line of sight of the gun unit, the melee unit has advantage.
To find your troop’s accuracy:
general’s base accuracy+ troop base accuracy- kickback. The higher the accuracy the better.

· Punch
Punch is how much damage a unit causes to another unit or object should they pass their accuracy check. Different weapons pack a different punch. Remember to add their bonus to the punch check roll.
When attacking an obstacle or object, units must roll against the hp of the object. If the roll lands on a number that meets or beats the hp, the object or obstacle is destroyed.(marked with red sticky note and can be traversed as if the object was destroyed. Bullets pass thru within reasonable trajectories, no ricochet)
When attacking units, whatever is rolled is subtracted from the victim’s hp. The victim can only move at half of their normal movement speed afterward.(treaded, wheeled, and airborne vehicles excluded from the debuff even if they are hit. They are treated as obstacles with the addition of the passed accuracy check requirement.)
· Health points(hp)
Health points are what determines how close your units or general is to kicking the bucket. In any game mode, If your general kicks the bucket, you lose. If you have no units other than your general, you lose and your general must go into hiding. each unit and general may have no more than 10hp. powercreep is bad
UNIT CLASSES
Unit Classes are determined by how big the individual unit is, and how it traverses the battlefield. The smallest and most common all the way to the biggest and most intimidating of units are all fit into several categories by what they look like. To solve disagreements on what class your unit is, the advisor has final say. Disagreements should be easy to avoid if you design your units properly. It would be useful to stick to a theme. Candy punk, steampunk, horror, medieval, sci-fi, and historical designs are all fine, you could even come up with your own. A theme will be better for discerning friendlies from you enemies. At the same time, make your units discernable enough that players and especially advisors can easily determine what classes your units are.
· Your general/warlord, whatchacallit
Your general is the most valuable unit because it is what you have to control your forces. Without a wise and strategic leader, your forces will fall into disarray and you will lose the war. You can only have one general, and you made it yours. Kitbashing and 3D printing would likely be your most common means of gaining a general. They must take resemblance of the general on your general stat dossier they can swim in water terrain for two turns before they drown.
· Infantry
The easiest to acquire and kit bash. This allows for vast hordes of infantry, or small fireteams, or something in between. Find your play style. Your infantry should be as tall as the plastic green army men in the image below. These men and women are the bravest of them all.
they can swim in water terrain for two turns before they drown.
· Armor
Mainly made up of vehicles and smaller mechanical suits, must be land based. Expect tanks, jeeps ,Humvees, calvary mounted animals etc. here is an image I ripped for scale as to the largest example of armor you can have. Not my drawing. Its basically the largest tank ever built replace the man in the image with one infantry and you have your scale. Or 0.283333333 m* 0.283333333 m *0.5m
these machines will break down in water terrain.
· Airborne
Airborne units can only fly. They can drop bombs, airdrop armotroops, and attack up to one target per gun that the aircraft is equipped with(within range) as they move. Their biggest weakness is anti-aircraft weaponry and enemy aircraft weapons. How big can an aircraft be?
2.44 meters. X 2.44 meters by 0.60 meters is your maximum for all airborne units.
any airborne that fly like a plane have a +4 to their movement stat but can only bomb ground units 15 cm in front and attack any unit that is in front of it
anything that flies like a helicopter does not have this buff or debuff, they can shoot at any target, but can only use missiles for up to 15 cm on ground units.
NAVAL VEHICLES
Naval vehicles can be big or small, but they can only operate in the designated water terrain area. they can carry troops, they can fire artillery, depth charges, missiles, torpedoes, and submarines can hide below water for three turns before air runs out. but they can be spotted by sonar. if a submerged vessel is within 10 cm of an enemy surface or submarine vessel, the enemy vessel can act as if they know where the submerged vessel is even if the submerged vessel is still submerged.
· B.A.M. ‘s
Big Ass Machines are basically giant robots and massive land ships. These can be Game breaking depending on how you build them and how big you build them. They can fire upon one target per weapon. how big Can these be? They cannot be more than 1.5 meters tall or take up a ground area larger than 4 meters. Players are not allowed to use functioning motor vehicles including, but not limited to cars, trucks, busses, etc. rule of thumb, if you can ride it, you can’t play it. It might as well be just fan art. The maximum distance these can move at any time is 2000cm. to move these, they must make a special movement check. War machines of that size can get stuck easily, so subtract your general’s movement speed from your final roll on each check. If they are larger than the specified limits, you’ve built a giant immobilized obstacle for one turn.
Mobile terrain essentially is a whole battlefield or obstacle of its own. The biggest difference is that anything other than B.A.M. compatible units that are attached to the B.A.M'S can’t be removed from the B.A.M.'S. Artillery such as main guns can’t move, only rotate. same with S.A.M.S. , C.R.A.M.S., and anti aircraft weaponry.

EQUIPMENT AND ARMAMENT
Guns and RE’S(ranged explosives)Require a reload period(one full turn) every so often. Dual wield is an ability that is only applicable to infantry equipment . dual wield only applies when two identical weapons are in both hands of a single unit. Range is how far a weapon can fire before a debuff is added to your accuracy roll. For every 10 cm beyond the stated range, an x-range debuff of -1 is added.
Overheat can only occur on weapons that are labeled with overheat. Every time a gun with overheat is about to fire , a coin must be tossed. If the coin lands on heads, the gun overheats. Overheating will cause the unit to explode. The explosion will deal 1d20 damage to anyone/anything within a 6 cm radius. You only need to roll once.
Cone is a special debuff. Weapons with cone Can only fire at sequential targets within 25 degrees of original target.
im having trouble with deciding the individual weapon stats. so ive decided that i am going to leave those up to you. (the moment i hear people are getting into fights IRL, i will be putting in an elaboration which will settle all disputes regarding equipment and artillery... and i wont be happy about it.)
players are encouraged to record their battles in battle reports and post it online in their relevant subreddits. if they win/lose, then the player is encouraged to come up with a lore reason for any change in tactics, named characters(generals), or stats.
an army is considered overpowered if they can take out all opponents in as little as 10 turns. they must be nerfed if this happens. dont forget to add a lore reason for this occurrence in the battle report.
unlike overpowered, underpowered armies can be taken out in 10 turns. they must be buffed if this happens. dont forget to add a lore reason for this occurrence in the battle report.
this is sci-fantasy/high fantasy, battles are supposed to be epic and economically exaggerated.
write the name of the weapon, the type of weapon.(melee or gun) and its accuracy and punch modifiers.(bare hands is melee and equal to. magic is gun)
spells must be vetted in good faith by advisors prior to the game to prevent game breakage. spells may not kill units or generals in one blow. spells effects can only last one turn unless its a healing spell. healing spells cannot heal more than 5 health points at a time per unit. write out the spells you have for your units and have them vetted by an advisor, advisor will determine gamebreakability of the spell. if spell is determined to be game breaking, mid game, the advisor will have the offending spell removed and the turn undone. at wich point the offending player effectively must alter their strategy in the spirit of good sportsmanship.) There are three approved arcane focuses, wands, staves, and hand casting, (one must not make them look like the caster is going to punch something, have them hold an orb or something.)
(the moment i hear that people get into IRL fights over spells, i will make a list of approved spells and a LONG LIST of forbidden spells. and no one will be happy. )
THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE
Dont be a dick, be a good sport, and have fun.breaking thegame intentionally is a dick move. advisors are encouraged to post their reports of game breaking spells so it may help me in the event Khorde__the__Husk has to revise the rules.

submitted by Khorde__the__Husk to Battlepostings [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 09:11 SuccessfulContact175 How To Start A Vending Machine Business: Everything You Need To Know

vending machines

If you’ve ever enjoyed picking out a snack from a neat array in front of you, looking into the vending machine business could be for you. In addition to chips and soda, vending machines now offer healthy snacks and even electronics or pharmacy items. It can be a very lucrative side business or a full-time operation. Here’s what you need to know to get started.

Benefits of a Vending Machine Business

Owning anywhere from a few to a few hundred vending machines can be a manageable, successful business for owners of any experience level. Starting a vending machine is just the cost of stocking some machines like pizza vending machines — you won’t need an office space to house them. Additionally, you must maintain the machines through repairs, restocking, and collecting the money from the transactions.

Before You Get Started: Choose Your Business Structure

When starting a vending machine business, the most important acquisition is a few vending machines. You'll have to set up an LLC or corporation to scale up your business, collect the profits legally, and claim business expenses on your taxes. Additionally, you might need a license to do this kind of business in your region. Once you figure out if you need a business license to own and operate vending machines, you can get all of your paperwork in order and start a business seamlessly.

Step 1: Consider Your Possible Products

Food vending machines are popular and simple, but there are also options for vending machines that vend items in bulk or provide specialty products. If you’re starting food vending machines, you can choose a theme for your machines. Providing healthy snacks in schools could be a good road to go down because schools want to provide students with good nutrition. In general, you can tailor your offerings to the market space you want to break into.

Step 2: Find the Right Location

Depending on what kinds of machines you have, you can start to find space in commercial businesses and craft a route. Since it will be you or an employee refilling and repairing the machines, you’ll probably want them to be not too far away to start. As you expand your business and bring on more employees, you can start to cover more territory. Placing vending machines in local businesses means you’ll want to start making connections with local business owners and talking up your services. If you’re looking for a contract with a school district or a business that has several locations, you’ll want to get in touch with a regional manager or whoever does larger-scale location management projects.

Step 3: Choose the Right Type of Machine for Your Business

There are three types of machines: bulk, electronic, and mechanical. Bulk machines hold a single product in bulk and dispense a certain amount for a quarter or a dollar. You often see this in restrooms, dispensing sanitary products, for example. Mechanical machines are the classic break room vending machines. They provide multiple products and cost about $2,000 initially. However, they do have higher profits than bulk machines. Finally, the most sophisticated version is an electronic vending machine. These cost at least $3,000 per machine, often have touch screens, and can take credit card payments easily. The more drinks and food offered, the higher the cost of the machine. They are incredibly reliable and intuitive, and the ability to use a credit card often means they receive a lot of business as fewer people carry cash and coins — just make sure you choose a payment gateway that doesn’t charge exorbitant fees.

Step 4: Find the Right Market

Your vending machine should be in an optimal place for the kinds of customers you want to serve. For example, vending machines with microwavable foods and other meal-like offerings do well in places where people are spending a lot of time and can’t cook, like offices, hospitals, and universities. Snack vending machines are also great for offices. However, vending machines that dispense novelty trinkets or small candies can do well in specialty small businesses, if you are interested in making those connections. Finally, vending machines that dispense medicine or electronics are great to place in airports, highway rest stops, or train stations. These are necessities for travelers and these machines could therefore have a high-profit margin.

Step 5: Stocking Products

For food vending machines, some states mandate a certain percentage of healthy options to be included. Be sure to have sources for healthy snacks if this is the case for your region. When looking into food stocking in general, you should make connections with wholesale suppliers so you can get the lowest cost per unit. Saving money on the upfront costs of food will help you get more profit from your vending machines in the long run.

How To Purchase Vending Machines

If you want the most flexibility for starting your business, you should buy your machine and source locations yourself. If you’re ready to get started and leverage contacts in buildings and commercial spaces for vending machines, this is the best way to get started. It’s also possible to buy an existing fleet of vending machines. Before doing this, you should try to get as much information as possible about why the owner wants to sell their vending machine route. If it’s because they want to retire, that’s perfect. However, if there are issues with their chosen locations, you’ll want to know about those. If you buy into a franchise, you’ll have an established business and have fewer decisions to make at the start. However, the franchisor does take a cut from the franchisee.

Repairs and Maintenance

Since vending machines are in public spaces, they are subject to vandalism and occasional theft. You can work this into your business plan, even though it’s frustrating. Even if you bought your vending machines new instead of used ones, they require regular spot checks just to be sure. Any downtime in your vending machine will be a lost profit. Working a regular checkup of your machines into your schedule will also lead to better profits in general.

Do vending machines make good money?

Vending machines can be very profitable. If you can get products to stock machines at good prices, and your vending machine is in a place that a lot of people go to, you can make a decent amount of money with little investment and time.

Where is the best place to put a vending machine?

Any place where a lot of people are going is a good idea. Apartment complexes, schools, offices, and airports are all great places for vending machines.

Can you buy a vending machine and put it anywhere?

You can buy a vending machine, but you have to have permission from a business owner to place it. If you think it’s a good opportunity, approach the business owner and see if you can get a contract.

What type of vending machine options are available?

The most common types of vending machine options include snack vending machines, soda vending machines, and coffee and hot beverage vending machines. However, there are other options, including laundry co-op vending machines, gumball machines, toy vending machines, video games, water vending machines, crane game machines, family fun center gaming machines, DVD vending machines, and coin-op car washes.
Starting a vending machine business can be an exciting and profitable venture, offering flexibility and scalability for entrepreneurs of all backgrounds. By following these steps and considerations, you can embark on a journey

submitted by SuccessfulContact175 to VendingVibes [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 08:33 McComfortable I'm in serious need of help and it feels like it's too late for me

I don't really no where to start. I feel I've lost myself, consumed with anxiety and guilt and fear and regret and I fear, this new fear, that it's going to be the end of me if I don't start to get it out in some way, shape or form.
I guess I'll begin at the beginning...

I had a difficult childhood with fairly neglectful parents. A mother who openly expressed she never felt she really stepped into her mom shoes until she gave birth to my younger sister, who is three years younger than me. She is my only sibling. My mother told me when I was a kid that she "had to love me", but when my sister came around "she was finally a mother and over the moon", or simply "I always always wanted a girl". I'm not sure if this could be attributed to Post-partum depression, not that she ever researched that or was daignosed with it. That's probably just me trying to pardon my mother or something to the effect. She was 17 when she had me and I'm sure times were different then, my parents both were raised religious, father christian, mother mormon. Maybe their guilt. I ask myself why they brought me into this world if I wasn't wanted to begin with. Or, give me up for adoption to a set of guardians that would have loved me better. I know I was an accident and that's not what gets me down, I get that life be lifing and what happened happened. My difficulties stem from the feeling that my presence never gave my mother any sense of purpose, responsibility or love, or concern. She was emotionally unavailable to me virtually my entire life and I feel like that caused many issues later in my life and how I perceive myself and what I deserve. Coupled with the fact that my neglect met such extremes that I am frankly shocked that I was never picked up by child care services, maybe things were different in the 90's. I'm not sure, I was just a child then.
Much of my upbringing I didn't receive a lot of the things most people would consider essential. As a baby my crib was the sock drawer, then I grew large enough to have a closet, then slept on the floor of a walk-in closet, then I had a single bed from what I recall for maybe a year or maybe two years and I remember feeling metal springs poke me in the my ribs and I recall it being uncomfortable enough for me to move back to sleeping on the floor next to the ratty old used mattress my father found from who knows where. I remember feeling like I had to keep that secret, that the mattress they gave me was uncomfortable enough for me to sneak sleeping on the floor next to it. I think I was really afraid as coming across as ungrateful. My father came from a third world country, so the "gratefullness issue" was address frequently by my mom because "I don't have it even half as bad as what my father had to endure. And she was probably right. But it just silenced me ultimately, didn't put things into a mature context for me. I just learned that I can't complain about anything ever. Anyway, that trend didn't really change when I grew older. grade 9-10 I was sleeping on the living room couch so my sister could have privacy and a bedroom to exist in for herself - which I realize is important for an individual so I encouraged her to have the bedroom. Although I figured my parents expected me to do this for my sister regardless. I was okay with making sacrfices for those I love, it was instilled in me from a very very young age.
I do feel like my father took advantage of me in the form of labour as well, having to do custodial work with my father from 10pm to 3am, at two highschools I believe he was contracted, at that young age I honestly enjoyed just spending time with my father I think, working alongside him. When I was in grade 2 and 3 I had garbage bag duty for all the students bathrooms, and I remember loving snapping the bags open by rushing air into the bag and making it blow up like a baloon. I remember the scary unlit shadowy hallways that I couldn't perceive the ends of. No bodies to see, it felt eerie but exciting in a way - like it was a whole different world.
School was a different experience for me. It was very stressful, my parents had to move a few times a year because they would dodge rent or just generally be selfish with their dual income. They loved to party hard on the weekends. I remember wondering why my father did this to himself all the time. Hoping that we could spend quality time on a saturday, but he wouldnt get out of bed until just before dinner. I didn't really understand hangovers or alcoholism and how it meant our plans would get cancelled. I think I remember trying to wrap my head around willful self-poisoning for entertainment and how could that be more enjoyable then spending time with your son? I couldn't tell my mother why I was so sad about it. Why I didn't want to move again and again and again. Why I found it so difficult to make new friends everytime I had to switch schools. Why I couldn't just do one single full school year with one class of students. It was so hard and at the time, I didn't know anything different. It was so hard to make friends and I think it created this approach to making a "new family" of friends when I became a teenager and young adult.

I remember always wanting to be a "good kid". The "best kid" for my parents. I feel like my parents attached this moniker to me that made things harder for me to mature into a rounded adult later in life. My parents always flaunted me as this point of accomplishment, the accomplishment that I was "so extremely well behaved". I would strive to be super polite, and a good host, try to help out when my parents had their friends over, literally fill their cups when the opportunity presented themselves. I think I did this because I must have made the conclusion that if I was quiet, super polite, helpful and useful then I had value. That I could be loved. That I could earn this love from my parents through acts of service.
I remember feeling like my sister and I had extremely different experiences growing up. When my parents were at work I took care of her, cleaned and cooked. one time my sister told my mom to eff off when she was 5 and I was 8. My mind was blown. I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that she had the bravery and courage to defy my mother. Looking back, my sister was just mirroring the language she learned from my parents from whenever they fought. I remembering seriously worrying and getting scared that my father was going to belt her, or use the coat hanger, which was his preference with me. I feel like my mom was always checked out and I'm hurt that she allowed my father to take his rage out on me. That my mom could care less about me being beat, but never my sibling. It was very confusing and difficult for me to process. Not that I really processed it much as a kid. I honestly just wanted to be loved and be the best child possible. Honestly though, 'm seriously so glad that my sister was spared all of that complete non-sense. I don't wish that on anyone in the world. There were some punishments where he would walk in and tell me to pull my pants down without explanation. I have memories of tearing up and saying I didn't know why this was happening, asking what I did wrong and he would just remind me that if I resisted then I would get it worse and to hurry up and get ready. My father has since apologized. I think it is how he was raised. I didn't know what to say in response, but I told him I loved him and it's in the past. But I don't know if I was being honest when I said that. My mother would still gaslight me to this day if any of this became topic of discussion, not that I'm guessing. A year ago she told me that much of my pained memories were false and this never happened. My father on the other hand typically stays pensive and unchallenging.
It seems so damned crazy writing all of this out, it feels like a heartbreaking novel and not my life at all. But it was and is my life. I have difficulties opening up and expressing my feelings and advocating for myself when the moments are true and appropriate to do so. I know it's the healthier way to communicate, but I was literally taught to stay quiet and be useful. Fast forward 20-25 years and I'm going to be 35 and I feel like just ending it all. Every year my birthday passes and I'll get a text from my family happy birthday. But they know I'm in a difficult place, they know I miss them, they know I love them and forgive them, I try the high road whenever I can but I just don't see the point anymore. they won't celebrate my life and existence, but they'll throw family gatherings for each other, birthdays, christmas, fathers day and mothers day.
On that note, another mother's day has recently passed and my mother never invited me over, I texted my father three weeks in advance in hopes of securing a time to come over and celebrate my mothers life with my family as a family. I felt particularly stung this mother's day when they celebrated and didn't text or call to invite me over. I live in the same small town so it's easy to hop over. I literally live three blocks away.
Anyway, my mother was diagnosed with cancer over christmas this year and I have been worrying for my mother ever since and thinking about my life with her and the mortal coil and the finite mount of time I may have with her. I feel like there is a large empty part in my heart that wishes my mother and I could go grab a coffee together. She can show me her ipad app art that she has been really excited about for a couple years now. She loves showing off her digital art and I love seeing her joy and how proud she is about her art. I just don't know why she couldn't feel the same for me, her only son. Maybe I'm just a her dissapointment.
I dropped out of highschool and left the family home when I was 16. I just couldn't work for my dad during the night AND go to highschool AND socialize. Something had to give. Unfortunately it was highschool and my parents didn't really care about that at all. They were just... fine with it. they supported my sister through college and she was fortunately able to graduate with a veterinary degree of sorts. she still lives with them now as she pays off her student debt, but I left and travelled and worked on music for over a decade so I admit that I was entirely out of the family picture for some time. But as I get older, not wanting to repeat the mistakes of my parents I fear that that is precisely what's been creeping up in my life.
five years ago I met the absolute most wonderful human being and I am so lucky to have my partner in my life. She and I are engaged now and set to be married. I hoped that the news would overwhelm my parents with excitement and joy. Maybe a facebook post about their son, share some family pictures or something. But they did nothing at all. I think they showed off pictures of the trip to Mexico that week instead.
I just don't really understand how I'm this unworthy of their love and unfortunately now I'm realizing that illusion that I am unworthy has infected my relationship with my fiance. I love her so much but when I can't fix everything in her life I feel like I am the failure and the guilt overhelms me so much and the guilt is such a strong motivator for me, and it usually motivates me into becoming the biggest doormat in the world. I've never worked harder for a relationship or invested this much energy. I feel she deserves it. But I don't advocate for myself. So I build up resentment. Like I clean the house constantly and work and help bail out of her bad spending habits and cover her rent without question and this and that. To be clear, she doesn't take advantage of me and that's not how I feel about it. But I do let this annoyance build up inside of me because I don't know how to communicate my feelings in a healthy way. I'm scared I'll lose the person if I speak up, or I'll be gaslit. Again, that's not my partner that gaslights. That's just generally how I feel I'll be treated if I open up with people. It all goes back to my childhood. It's affected every friendship and work relationship I've had since.
When I was 20-ish, 15 years years ago I did the classic, "seek the relationship that most comfortably fits into the patterns you experienced with your parents". And so I trapped myself in a horrific and extremely damaging relationship with a girl I'll call K. She has undiagnosed bipolaBPD, she would never seek help but self-medicate. She ended up in the hospital maybe four times for self-harming and this where she was considered to have these diseases by a few doctors on different occasions. Anway, it turned into a relationship of abuse and it wasn't exactly new territory for me. I was ashamed in that 8 year relationship. I wanted out so bad, but she would threaten to unalive everytime I tried to get away. Of course, some weeks would go by and i would get my hair pulled out of my scalp, a knife waving in the air in front of my face, spat in the face, kicked, punched, bit, a pot of freshly boiled ramen soup thrown in my face and eyes. What's worse is that I seeked police intervention on multiple occasions. Every single time the police visited, they talked me out of pressing charges, asking me " well if she doesn't have any place to go, then do you have a place you can stay at, or the shelter?". twice they talked me out of a restraining order, that legal proceedings would take forever. Adn de-escalting me from wanting to take measures to ensure my safety because she may end up on the street as a result. To this day, I absolutely wish I advocated for myself here and pushed for a restraining order. I'm so mad at myself for not doing so.
Unfortunately, fast forward a couple years into that relationship and one evening everything would finally hit the fan. I told her to never touch me again and I absolutely meant it. she had just yanked out the largest chunk of my hair to date, to the point where my scalp was bleeding and I could even see epidermal matter still attached to the folicle ends that were in her clenched fingers. My head bled a bit and I pushed her off of me. Telling her that I needed to leave, that I was walking to my secure jam space just a 10 minute walk away. It had a leather couch in a cold concrete basement, but hey at least I would be safe for the night and I could play my drums and try and blow off this anxiety and fear in a way that was safe albeit very noisy.
She hated that I wanted to leave and convinced herself I would never return. To be fair, that was the energy I had. I never wanted to see her face again and have her name on my lips after that night. So her tactic was simple, to threaten me with calling the cops and tell them that I violently pushed her. I called her bluff and said "go ahead and I will just tell them everything you've done - yet again. All I am doing is going to the space to sleep, I said, maybe play drums." She called the cops and told them she was pushed into a wall, and she felt very unsafe. Which yes, I did push her off me when she attacked me. In the past, I tried various tactics, to run away didn't work, she just always chased me down. Or sometimes I would just sit there while she was violent against me and I just "dissapeared" kind of like how I would when my dad used his coat hanger. This time, I just pushed her off of me, I was done with the relationship at that point and we both knew it. Anyway, she called the police, they arrived and when questioned I told them that I pushed her off of me in self-defence. I was drinking that night and it didn't help my case as I was arrested without question that evening and I was charged on the spot without question with domestic assault. It devasted me. I asked the police how this could happen lawfully. That she is an abuser and there is a history of this multiple times. That I've requested a restraining order. They explained that in quebec the laws are a little different and in the case domestic cases, if there is a male aggressor against a female, then the male is automatically charged to the fullest extent. I was absolutelyu devasted by this. I can't tell you the amount of fear and anger I felt in that jail cell that night.
I feel so incredibly betrayed by the justice system, keep in mind, this is law that from what I understand is only in Quebec, I was there for music at the time with an old friend whom I am no longer in contact with. I don't think the rest of the country operates under law in this way. Now I appreciate that they are vigilant about woman abuse victims, but the law shouldn't be this absurdly biased. It just doesnt feel just and fair to me. Covert abusers shouldn't be able to take advantage of the justice system in this way, but it happens.
It was an awful experience, I was homeless for a couple months afterward, not allowed to retrieve my belongings, so I lost all of my life "crap" that I had built up, years of hardwork and investment. I mention this because I realize later in life that I have intense collecting behaviour. maybe as a self-soothing behaviour. But I love building up collections of my hobby stuff as I have many and I feel they keep me regulated and it's a form of therapy for me. In any case, I lost everything when I left that whole situation. It sucks, although ultimately it's clearly best that I got out of that dreadful circumstance. I flew across the country to my hometown and to be closer to my family and old friends from highschool. It's quite a small town mind you.
Unfortunately, my classic tendency to hide and not advocate for myself created an opportunity for my abusive ex. A year following those events, despite me assuring her that I had to block her because I flew away to start a new life provinces away. That I wished her the best. That I even promised I would never tell a soul what she did to me. Not to mention that unfortunately we live in a society where nobody really has an ounce of sympathy for a male abuse victim. I had every intention to keep that promise, but she couldn't trust me ultimately. I think her logic was maybe to just beat her ex to "the punch". Kill or be killed or something like that. I don't live my life like that so I don't really know what her plan was. But she made a bunch of posts on various social media platforms for all of our mutual friends, music friends, coworkers etc. that the relationship was over and she was free. That she got out of a cycle of abuse and she was ready to start a new chapter of her life. She never used my name, just that she was glad she got away from her toxic and abusive ex once and for all.
It was exactly like that night a year prior, she threatened me with this outcome she could design for me, and I called her on her bluff by saying I was still going to block her and I can't control what she does with her life or how she conducts herself, but that I was out and to never contact me ever again. She made me regret that decision.
The posts she made that day got so many likes and support from so many of our mutual friends, even musician mates that were closer to me than her, and it absolutely destroyed me, not just internally but socially. I no longer make music anymore and it hurts to go outside into the world because it feels like everybody sees me as this monster. And still I don't have a voice to inform anyone otherwise - except my family and my fiance. I have no friends anymore. They all left my life with the belief that I did all of these horrible and awful things.
I just don't trust people anymore as a result and it's just caused me to become extremely bitter and depressed. I ruminate on the past, maybe in attempts to fix the past so I can move on. So I could do better, so I don't have to punish myself for my mistakes in the past. But it just reopens every emotional wound I have and they never get a chance to heal. That was maybe 7 years ago now and I'm still replaying these events in my head every single morning for about 1 - 2 hrs. Then I go completely numb for the majority of the rest of the day, shallow breathing, and the mildest sadness that mascarades as fatigue and disinterest.
There are some days where I seriously fear for the future and I just feel like every cruel soul will inherit this earth and that's the future, they built this world of suffering and they deserve to inherit it. Their toxic flag staked so deep into the earth in reclamation. The future isn't holding any seats for people like us. I'm so heartbroken and defeated. I feel like white-wolfing my fiance because she deserves better than this traumatized person that hides from the world. I feel like giving her my collection of collections so she can sell it all off and pay off her 10k of credit debt, then with this act of kindness I can go out not feeling like a guilt-ridden defeated loser. And leave on a high note.
When I'm alone, I get trapped in these ruminating cycles and it's the angriest I ever get. It's reached the point where I feel like I am actually reliving all this past trauma every morning and I can't do it anymore. I just feel like I am so at the end of whatever this ride was.
I don't have any friends anymore and everyone but my fiance thinks I am a monster and it's just unbearable.
I just don't even know. I am even afraid that someone will read this post and suss through all of this and make the connection. Then I'll get another new email or random throwaway account with an insta message that says "I told you you would never be able to get over me. You can move on, but you will never be able to erase the past. Never truly. You know where to find me."
It's haunting and it's poisonous. I just feel haunted and poisoned and I don't know if there is a snake oil potent enough or antitode true enough to get me back to the generous, lighthearted, energetic kid I once was.
To whoever was willing to read through all of this, thank you for hearing me out. I don't know what advice I am even asking for here. I'm hoping just speaking this out into the world in some way can alleviate this misery. I don't know.

submitted by McComfortable to Healthygamergg [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 08:09 comradewoof Christian youtubers can't stop talking about being Christian...

...even when it has nothing to do with the content they make.
I like horror genre stuff, especially analog horror, ARGs, video games, etc. and I usually enjoy watching YTers that coveexplain analog horror series both to cover things I might have missed, get different perspectives/theories, and so on. And it's all fine and dandy, except that some popular YTers in the field feel the need to bring up that they're Christian. Constantly. And it's so off-putting, but there's no point trying to point out that it's off-putting or out of place because they're guaranteed to just respond with "Well it's my belief and I won't be silenced! You're trying to prevent me from spreading the Truth of Jesus Christ!"
It's the whole "religion is like a penis" thing. Great to have one, great to be proud of it, but please stop whipping it out in public. I have no problem with your penis. It's great. I just don't want to see it. I don't want to hear you talk about it. I'm here for your horror analysis videos and let's plays.
The worst is when they cover a series that has religious themes or when the horror has to do with demons or Satanic cults. Then they go full God Warrior and have to talk about their beliefs and how they're not afraid because they've got Jesus, or they get absolutely offended and have to derail the whole video to bitch about it. I essentially had to stop watching one YTer after they were doing a Let's Watch that had a horror short film in which a character threw away her rosary, and he stopped the video to throw a fit about how awful it was she was giving up on her faith and deserved to have what happened to her and so on. Just made me lose all respect for him in that moment. Stopped watching another popular horror YTer's streams because he'd talk about Bible shit constantly inbetween waiting for videos/games to load.
It's not just annoying, it's borderline triggering. They have no respect for their audience members who survived religious trauma. Oh, you don't want a heaping helping of Jesus with your horror videos? Go watch someone else, then! I'm a loud and proud Christian and I won't be silenced!
Come on, man. Just let me get my spooks and giggles in peace.

submitted by comradewoof to exchristian [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 08:09 just_melancholia How to set boundaries with my racist narcissistic mother?

For context, I’m a 25yo female, that comes from a mixed background (my mother 56F is a white woman from southern Europe, my father is from the Balkans and migrated to my country when he was younger). This is relevant and you will understand later.
I moved away from home as soon as I could when I was 18 after a not so good childhood, and currently live in another European country. My parents are divorced, my father is not really in the picture, I keep in touch with my mother on a daily basis and come visit her and the rest of the family once or twice a year. We never had the best relationship but since I moved out it improved a lot. I’d say we get along better when I’m far away from home.
Anyway, back to the reason of this post. I’ve been seeing this guy for more than a year, he’s great, we’re slowly getting to know each other and see where this is going. We are not in a rush but of course this is a relationship and I felt it was time to tell something more to my mother. I’ve always been quite open about my relationships and people I was dating, however since getting older I started being more private as I don’t think it would be good to mention every failed date to my mother (lol). We come from a typical small town in southern Europe, where people are bigots and close-minded. The news on the tv are constantly complaining about immigrants coming to our country and jadajadajada. The government is mostly right wing. So yeah, I didn’t really mentioned much about this guy, first of all cause I’m trying to keep it private but also because I could imagine her reaction, since she’s the standard average middle age woman that you find on Facebook without much culture. She is ignorant not as an insult but as in the real sense of the word: she ignores, she doesn’t inform herself and just believes whatever the media tells her.
Anyway, she suspected I was seeing someone for a while, I never really said much but I’ve been giving her a few hints in the past weeks and now that I came back to my hometown for a week she started being very curious. The day after I arrived we were casually talking before bed and she just kept asking “C’mon, don’t you have a pic of this guy? Show me! C’mon c’mon! I’m your mother!” so, one side of me didn’t wanna show her, the other one was excited cause at the end of the day I’m proud of my relationship and I was happy to tell her more (maybe naively hoping for a good outcome…). So without thinking much I showed her one of the best pictures of him. Literally in the millisecond while I was showing her the picture she said something like: “hope it’s not a n****” (WHATTT???).
At that point the phone was already on her face. It was done. She said it, and at the same time she saw the picture. She was speechless and I was too. I was ashamed of her. And sad.
She didn’t say anything more for the following 10 minutes, she went to her room and I went to mine. Afterwards she just asked “does he even work?!” And I told her “don’t worry about it, he’s better off than the both of us” just to make her shut up about that question that I found so disrespectful. This made me just so sad, and disappointed.
But the worst had yet to come. We didn’t speak much about it at all until today.
We were having a casual conversation during the afternoon when the relationship topic came out. In particular, we were talking about how your partner should improve your life and not making it worse, meaning he should make you happy, he should bring good positive vibes, get along etc. that’s what I was thinking and referring to. But she started being very materialistic, she asked me “so, in which way is he improving your life?!” in a very aggressive sassy tone “I don’t see anything changing“ she said. I was mentioning that he makes me happy when the conversation degenerated. All sort of things came out of it.
She started by saying:
“well, I truly hopes this will be just a friend and you will keep it like that”
then she continued with:
“please take birth control precautions before you regret it”
“don’t come to me later saying I didn’t stop you”
and the cherry on top was:
“I would have preferred if you told me you were a lesbian cause at least that is cool nowadays”.
I was speechless and I still am.
I asked her what is it that she doesn’t like and what is she basing her opinions on, since she literally knows nothing about him. She couldn’t answer. She kept repeating the same things over and over and she also said she would never want to meet him.
I have to mention that the few guys she met that I was dating were of different cultures, but she never had a problem with them, I guess because the skin color was the same… and in her mind there are probably foreigners of Class A, B, C…
I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I neither expected such a bad reaction.
All this hurts me so much.
I don’t know what to do.
In my mind it neither makes sense cause she married an immigrant but it seems like she never really came to terms with it, she never really accepted it. For instance, I know nothing about my father’s culture, I never learned the language or interesting facts about it because nobody ever thought me anything about it. I only learned about my mother’s culture, the one of the country I lived in. And I always felt out of place because this country is extremely racist. The fact that my father was not a good husband or father has nothing to do with where he comes from. If a person is an idiot, is an idiot no matter what. And I told her this when we were talking. The fact that she had a bad experience doesn’t mean that I will, just because I’m seeing someone from a different culture. I also explained to her that I am myself an immigrant, since I’m living in another country. But it doesn’t seem to click in her head. And when I told her, to her face, that she is indeed racist, she obviously denied it, because how can she be racist if she married an immigrant herself?
And of course during today’s conversation there was some victim behavior on her side, because every time I come back here it’s certain that we are gonna fight and every time it happens I say stuff like “let’s see when and if I will come back again!”. So she was bringing that up cause the other day I said “the first racist comment I hear I’m gone”. She mentioned that, saying I don’t care about her, that she has to beg for me to call her (mind you, we write good morning, good night, text here and there during the day and we talk on the phone 3/4 times a week…). She even said that “she lost me already the moment I left”. Honestly, I don’t know what else more than this she expects from me if what I do is not enough already.
I don’t really know how to handle this. And I’m also just venting and need some support. I wished we could all act as adults, respect each other, have a normal relationship. Am I asking for too much?!
Any advice is highly appreciated.
I’ll be stuck in her house for the next two days and finally I’ll leave on Thursday. I want her to think about her actions and realize where she did wrong before I leave. I don’t wanna put this under the carpet cause it’s unacceptable.
TL;DR: my 25F mother 56F doesn’t approve of my boyfriend 28M just because of the color of his skin. Her opinion is based solely on a photo I showed her and at the same time she plays the victim and claims she lost me the moment I moved abroad and I don’t care about her even if we talk everyday. I wished there was a way to behave like adults. Advices on setting boundaries?

submitted by just_melancholia to narcissisticparents [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 08:05 _Lucie_ I need a sanity check. Friend won't be induced until 43 weeks (+ Bonus Post)

I am NOT OP. OP is u/BlueMillennium with one post being by u/Resource-National
Posts were originally posted to BabyBumps and pregnant
Trigger Warnings: may be distressing to those suffering from infertility, mentions of babyloss/stillbirth, mental health issues
Original Post : Posted on May 2, 2024 (12 days ago) by OOP
I have a weird situation and I need a sanity check. Please tell me I'm not crazy for being concerned and skeptical.
Background: a friend of mine is 34 years old, first time mom, and currently 42.5 weeks pregnant. She says her doctor is not concerned at all. After her 41 week appt, I asked when she would be getting induced, since generally doctors don't let you go past 41 weeks. She said her doctor didn't even talk about induction and baby is healthy, etc. Then a week later, she said her and her doctor briefly talked about induction and because she's dilated, doctor thinks she's in labor and to just come to the birthing center that night to check on progress. She ended up not going in at all because "she's not cramping" and made another appointment with her doctor, which was yesterday. She just let me know that her doctor said they'll induce her on Friday when she's 43 weeks! I'm absolutely baffled. I've given birth 3 times and every single time, they've told me that they rarely let women go past 41 weeks.
I'm starting to think something is going on. This friend is a bit of an odd duck. I have not seen her in person since she told us she was pregnant. She's turned down every offer for baby items, baby shower, walking buddy, etc. She has sent over baby bump pics over the last few months. She has a really small build but does have a small bump I guess. Nothing that would make me think she's 3 weeks overdue.
This is weird, right??
Comments agree that it is indeed strange but a few comments offer potential explanations.
Relevant Comments
mrun1: Midwife here. I think it’s entirely possible your friend and her doctor are going off different due dates. As many others have commented very few providers would be so relaxed about someone going >42 weeks. We often see a due date change after the dating scan but sometimes folks really latch onto their first “due date” that was based only on their last period.
MabelMyerscough: That would also make me very suspicious.. please let me/us know what the 'end result' is! Something sounds indeed shady.. but she's not in the same country as you guys right now? Is she in a country with very weird healthcare?

OOP: She's in the US at a large health system. Her boyfriend lives in Europe. It's a weird situation all around. The boyfriend was supposed to come down for the birth but she's made excuses on why he's not here. At first it was because he only had a week of vacation time and didn't want to get here too early and now it's that he'd rather spend that time with the baby after she's born. This friend was originally going to move to Europe for the birth but that never happened either...

MabelMyerscough: Interesting.. I'm not in the US but from what I read the US is even stricter with inducing early if needed and not past 41 weeks! Where I come from in EU they let you go until 42 weeks if all checkups are good, but not longer than that, ever..
Yeah maybe surrogate or something? I'd still be willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.. has she shared pictures of nursery or something?

OOP: No pictures. We even asked for an ultrasound picture when we got suspicious (we have a friend chat group) but she said she never got copies of the images. It's so shady!! I've offered her my baby stuff that she might need but she doesn't want it for various reasons.
So I'm actually a surrogate and she's well aware of my experience with it. I don't think she could afford it 😕

DeepBackground5803: Is she someone you would have seen in person before pregnancy?
The 43 week induction is concerning to me. Weird especially that her doctor told her to go to the birthing center that night to get checked out, but she didn't because she wasn't cramping.
What do you think is going on? Do you think she secretly has a surrogate? Lying about being pregnant altogether?

OOP: We see each other maybe once or twice a year so not super concerning. She has a boyfriend who she visited overseas, which is supposedly where she got pregnant. I'm thinking there's something shady going on but at some point... There's no baby.. lol

UPDATE: Friend won't be induced until 43 weeks : Posted on May 5, 2024 (10 days ago) by OOP
My friend said her water was starting to leak on Thursday around 2pm. She said her doctor told her not to come in until her contractions are 4 min apart. She was not currently having contractions but more sharp cramps. Friday morning, I checked in on her. She said she's still not having contractions and she still plans to go in that night (last night) around 8pm. I text her around that time to wish her luck and I hope things go well, yadda yadda. She just said "thank you" and nothing else. No updates overnight.
My friend is a nurse at her delivery hospital and called me this morning, asking for an update because she's concerned about her water breaking nearly 48 hours ago and she hasn't had the baby. So, she called her hospital to see if my friend was there and they have no record of her checking in at all. She plans to text her this morning and see if she says she is in the hospital or what. We are all in the same group chat, for reference.
This is all just so crazy. My nurse friend said there's no way her doctor wouldn't have her immediately come in if she's 43 weeks and her water broke. I have no idea what to think. This friend is always really open and texts us all the time with random updates so the radio silence is not normal for her.
Update: friend says she's currently at the hospital and doing well but it's possible she put herself on the privacy list.
{Edited to remove private information}
**I get it. Nurse friend may crossed a line. I have no idea. Just updating with what I was told.
To be continued! 🤷🏼‍♀️
Update 2: it's now been almost 48 hours since she's arrived at the hospital, supposedly. She has said multiple times that she's there and all is well. Zero pictures, updates, or information. She's responding to other messages like normal. It's been 72 hours (I think) since her water broke and she's past 43 weeks now. This friend is one who sends tons of pictures when she's doing anything exciting so... This is definitely not like her. She has volunteered pregnancy related information the last several months.
We don't know how long to let this go. We all agree that we think there is no pregnancy or baby. We've all been friends since elementary school so this is hard for us to accept. There's 3 options. 1) she's pregnant and lied about her due date for whatever reason. 2) she truly believes she's pregnant even though we are pretty sure she hasn't been a doctor. 3) she's just straight up lying. This is hard for us because she hasn't posted on social media so if she wanted the attention, why not post there too? We are thinking that she's lied about previous life events. She was once engaged for years without any wedding or meeting the supposed fiance. I'm sad for her and mad/disappointed she is lying to us.
What do we do??
Update 3: I don't even know how to start. Friend has supposedely been in the hospital for several days at this point. I'm actually in St Lucia right now on vacation so don't have access to our chat group via texts so trying to get updates via FB.
One friend in that text group said she reached out privately and the friend said she had the baby but was too stressed to send pics or updates. So she reached out to the other friend in the chat who said she also reached out to the pregnant friend who said she has NOT had the baby and was starting pitocin that day. So she's now telling people different things
And now, another reddit user reached out via PM. She posted a topic on the Pregnancy subreddit about this exact story. Someone linked her to my posts. I can confirm it is indeed the same person. The main details she has shared are the same with a few things that are off from what I was told.
We are actively trying to get a hold of her parents. They moved recently and no longer have the landline number but we are very concerned.
Edit 4: one friend in our group was able to find pregnant friends home address. This friend is closest to her between all of us. She is going to go over this evening and is prepared to talk to her. We talked to someone we know who is a psychologist and helped us with what to say, how she might react, etc. her parents should be there as well.
Pregnant friend has told one friend that she had the baby yesterday and another friend that she just had the baby an hour ago and is being discharged, which is just impossible. We think she truly believes she is pregnant based off a pregnancy test and it was likely a chemical pregnancy. She never met with a doctor because other tests were negative and I think deep down, she was afraid a doctor would confirm that there is no baby. So, she decided to carry on as if she was pregnant and now she has tricked herself into thinking she is pregnant.
We also found the baby daddy from Europe. He is married. We believe maybe they had an affair. His wife may have already tried talking to pregnant friend and accused her of lying. Or, maybe she found some random guy and made the whole thing up. We have no idea. We are going to urge her to go to a mental health facility in her town.
Relevant Comments:
ruebarbara_: Dude! I had a life long friend do this to me in 2022. Lied the whole way through the pregnancy. Had a baby shower. Bought a fake bump. Boyfriend was excited to be a dad. But none of us actually hung out together. Literally no one knew it was all a lie until she went in for her “induction” and instead she actually fled the state because she was in too deep and didn’t know what to do. Her mom called me and asked what doctor she sees, I gave her the name. She called the clinic and this friend never showed up for her confirmation of pregnancy appointment. Her mom was so embarrassed but also worried. Friend ended up going to inpatient psych for a few days. She’s a pathological liar. We are no longer friends as this wasn’t the first time she had lied about something major and I just don’t have the mental space for that. It was a wild ride that actually caused me a lot of anxiety.

OOP: Oh my God 😲😲 that's what I'm thinking now.. how is she going to get out of the lie??

NoYesterday_6662: I wonder if she feels like she’s “ behind “ in the friend group. So she makes stuff up to feel better. Idk if any of the other friends maybe are married or have kids? So she’s making things up to feel like she’s not “ left out “?

OOP: Yeah she's always wanted kids. There's one other friend who is unmarried, no kids. 🤷🏼‍♀️

bananapajama1: when is the last time you saw her in person? :o is that normal for your friendship?

OOP: It's probably been a year but yeah that's normal. We try to see each other twice a year. I did offer to see her; throw a shower, be her walking buddy, go shopping for baby stuff. She didn't take me up on any of it. Now that is odd. Originally when she told us she was pregnant, she said she was moving to Europe with the boyfriend so it was just so chaotic there for a while, according to her.

Beckella: She’ll claim she had a stillbirth for the attention.

OOP: I think she's convinced herself that she's really pregnant. She did maternity photos and everything but she doesn't really look pregnant. Bloated maybe

JG0923: Is she one to lie about things in general? I had a friend like that who lied about A LOT of things in her life and we didn’t realize it for years and years.

OOP: Looking back at the things she's said over the years, it's possible. She had a fiance for 5 years that I never met. Wondering if that was a lie. Ugh

Resource-National: This is crazy! I “met” a woman on a fertility fb group who is telling me the exact same thing! She lives in Kansas City apparently and has no baby bump and has told me for months she’s been bullied by friends and co workers. She has sent me bump pictures and even photos from her maternity shoot. Literally same story- leaking fluid on Thursday and it’s Sunday and no baby. Today she told me she’s 42 and 6!!! And even said her friends are “attacking” her saying she’s not even pregnant! Really curious if it’s the same woman.

OOP: Wow, same woman. I saw your PM. Holy shit this is wild.

Going past 42 weeks? : Posted on May 6, 2024 (8 days ago) by u/Resource-National
I think I may have befriended a person who is faking their pregnancy. We met on an online fertility community and both got pregnant around the same time. We’ve checked in on each other through our “pregnancies”. She claims to have a very small bump, which I know can happen, and has more or less been bullied by friends and co workers. She’s sent me bump pics throughout her pregnancy and there is no bump.
She’s post term now. Around 40 weeks she claimed to be spotting for a week saying it was her “bloody show”. I tried to keep an open mind because even tho this is my second pregnancy and none of my friends had a bloody show like that, hey, anything is possible right? Now she claims to have been leaking amniotic fluid since Thursday night. She messaged me Friday afternoon and my response was to call her dr or go to labor and delivery to be checked. She claimed that it was confirmed to be amniotic fluid and she was told to go home since she wasn’t having contractions. I found that odd considering she was past the 24 hr mark.
Today she says she’s still leaking fluid and has no contractions. Then I asked her how far long she is and she said 42.6. Prior to this, the first thing she said to me was how she was so upset because her close friends were accusing her of faking a pregnancy. I found that really odd. But after the 42.6 I have to wonder. When I suggested she got to l&d immediately it seemed like groundbreaking news to her (“will they help labor speed up?”). She said she was treated at the er on Friday, which my understanding is that anything pregnancy related always goes through l&d.
I realize not everyone has a provider who educates them or takes it upon themselves to learn the basics of pregnancy. Maybe she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. But now I’m thinking this person is either fake or totally lying about being pregnant. Either way it’s bizarre!! Does any ob permit pregnancy past 42 weeks in the us?!
Edit:
Wow- the number of comments saying they’ve seen this similar story questioning this woman’s pregnancy is insane. For the record I’ve never told this woman any identifying features other than I live on the west coast. No photos etc. this is through Facebook and my profile is extremely private and we are NOT Facebook friends! Thank you for your concern. My mind def went to all of the horror stories.
Update: It’s safe to say this woman isn’t pregnant. In a shocking turn of events here is a post about the same woman written by her irl friend https://www.reddit.com/BabyBumps/s/LpIboHfJT5
Here is the final Update #2 to this very sad and bizarre saga: https://www.reddit.com/BabyBumps/s/Zm4ARKWcW1
Relevant Comments:
Possible_Library2699: I feel like someone else posted about this same woman!?

ppaulapple: The OP in the other sub just confirmed it’s the same person 2 hours ago 🤯

Final Update: 43 week pregnant friend has admitted to not being pregnant. : Posted on May 7, 2024 (7 days ago) by OOP
A lot has happened in the last 24 hours. Previous posts can be found in my history. I'll link to them later.
Pregnant friend will be called El in this post for simplicity sake.
El has told different friends different stories over the last couple days. She told one friend that she gave birth yesterday, but another friend that she gave birth today and is already home and doing well. The friend closest to her was able to find her home address (she moved recently).
Friend went to the delivery hospital to double check that she wasnt there. They confirmed they had no patient with that name. She called El. She asked El where she was and El said she was leaving the hospital right now. Friend said "well I am here so I'll help you walk out". That's when El broke down and admitted everything after my friend was able to meet her at her house. Here's the gist:
El visited her boyfriend in Europe. A few weeks later, she thought she might be pregnant. She took a test and it had an incredibly faint line. She started posting in pregnancy FB groups asking for confirmation. Then she went to the doctor and asked for an ultrasound. They confirmed that there was no baby. El was convinced they were lying to her. She says she went to another boutique ultrasound place and they did a 3d scan and found a baby and did an entire pregnancy scan. (We don't believe this actually happened). Then El started getting symptoms, her belly starting growing and she fully convinced herself that she was pregnant. She did maternity photos, prepped for a baby and told her workplace and parents. She never went back to the doctor because she was convinced they were all lying to her.
Once she hit "full term", she starting getting anxious. She thought she was cramping, losing her mucus plug, and her water broke. She didn't know what to do because the doctors wouldn't help her. Once she went past 43 weeks, she decided to go to the hospital (yesterday). She showed up with her hospital bags packed and her parents went with her. She told the front desk that she was 43 weeks pregnant and was ready to have her baby. I don't know what all happened here but they basically turned her away and told her she was not pregnant or having a baby. We think her parents started to figure it all out a week or so ago, but didn't know the extent of the lies. They have always let El do whatever she wants and pay for her entire lifestyle. We assume she lied to them about everything.
Friend said El does have a swollen belly that looks like she's 20ish weeks. They talked for a long time and she is grieving this lost pregnancy/baby. She legitimately thought she was going to give birth.
We think she is suffering from a phantom pregnancy. Thank you to the redditor who told me about this. I had never heard of it.
We are all very upset for her and realize that we need to be very careful. We are not going to attack her or confront her as a group. We have a mental health resource ready to help her, if we can delicately get her to agree to go.
This is not how I thought this would all play out. This is all so unbelievable. I appreciate everyone who reached out and commented with words of support. 🩷
Relevant Comments:
linny93: You mentioned in your last post that the “father” is married. Did you get any update on that situation? Did she choose a random European guy and say it was her fiancé?

OOP: She seems to think they are together but his FB says otherwise. He has posts with his wife on trips, etc. we just don't know yet 😕

cherb30: I’m a little confused, forgive me for being skeptical!
Do women who lose a baby 20+ weeks ago still have a noticeable baby bump? What do you mean they “turned her away and told her she was not pregnant”… did they take a pregnancy test or just turn her away? Did any of your friends become concerned that she waited til 43 weeks to go to the doctor to deliver? That is super late. Also I’m really surprised the hospital would have disclosed she was/was not a pregnant patient there. Anyway just my initial questions on this!

OOP: We all started getting very suspicious at 41 weeks when she said her doctors didn't want to induce her and it grew with each week she went past. We were very very concerned, hence my initial post on this subreddit.
I don't know if the hospital did any tests or checked her in any way. I'm shocked they wouldn't have her meet with a social worker or something. She def does not look pregnant enough to give birth. She's a very tiny girl normally so any weight gain in her stomach would be very noticeable. She probably weighs 100-110 pounds. I think it was probably obvious she wasn't ready to give birth and they maybe told her to go to the ER when she wasn't in their patient system.
We are trying to sort between the truth and lies she's spun trying to convince herself and others.

OOP (in response to a deleted comment): She isn't actually pregnant but she truly believes she was pregnant, enough to convince her body that she was. It's called a phantom or hysterical pregnancy. She's having a mental health episode. She's not insane but she does need professional support. She thought she was coming home with a baby. That's what she is grieving. She's wanted to be a mom so badly.
PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT IN ANY LINKED POSTS OR COMMENTS
Marking as concluded due to OOPs friend being confirmed to have not been pregnant.

submitted by _Lucie_ to BestofRedditorUpdates [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 08:00 Grade-Long Invited to post this here Re: Social Media marketing (mainly IG)

Gday team. I have a note I add to when I learn things about SM. I got sick of seeing the same questions so I every time I answered I added to the note and just pasted a generic reply. I’ve been invited to post it here, so here you are!
Here’s my ever-growing, non-specific copy-paste reply, built from my own notes:

Remember, followers are only for your ego. If you’re a business, Would you rather have a million followers who never buy anything or 1000 followers who purchase everything? (Read Kevin Kelly’s 1000 true fans article). However, if you’re trying to build an account for a brand or human deals, you need as many as possible. I.e. athletes wanting future deals/contracts, actresses wanting future roles, etc
Dollars are the only score that matters in business. You can sell 1 million $1 items or 1x $1m item, it’s still a million dollars
How do you get your first ten followers/sales? ASK. Start with your friends/family/personal socials. “Hey, I've started this thing; I'd love for you to follow”. Then contact everyone you've ever known (see cold outreach later, but this is warm haha). THEN ask them all for referrals: “who do you know that could use my help?”
Re: cold contacting. Have a framework, but don't automate. Solve their problems. Say something personal (” [mutual person] told me to reach out to you” / “I really like your x” /”congratulations on y”). I noticed that [problem]. Fix their problem. Wish them a nice day. Have an offer in your email signature.
Your profile description should be a hook/tagline / USP and link to your offer. Remember you’re building your house on rented land if you use socials as your client base. Algorithm changes, and they’re gone. Try sending them off socials to your email list, learn storytelling in email marketing (Russell Brunson has good advice), and you will own that contact for life.
Choose a monetisable niche, find the most successful person in that niche, and put your spin on what they’re doing (ask AI)
Make GOOD content that is visually appealing, entertaining, and has hooks (you have 3 seconds to get attention), but most importantly, ADDS VALUE to your target market (ask AI for suggestions - you can even ask AI to create a customer avatar for you and then ask it how to make good, relevant IG posts for that avatar)
Keep your ears and eyes out for trends. Can you throw a trending song over a clip?
Leverage pop culture. Search for what’s trending daily. Can you combine a movie or album release with your product? For example, if you’re in the auto niche, create an image of a car covered in green slime coinciding with the new Ghostbusters movie
Document your process. Humans evolved on stories & we love to feel part of something and/or have front-row tickets to the show. For example, If you post art, film yourself making the art, not just the final product; talk about your decisions along the way. Also, it is easy content for you, and you’re just filming something you’re already doing
Share as many success stories/testimonials as possible, preferably videos. Tag them. Make it easy for users to share themselves.
In a similar vein, and with permission, share your audience questions in your stories (and tag them)
Remember the rule of 100 (you need to do something 100x before you get “good” at it). Have you posted 100x and made changes as you’ve observed what worked and what didn’t?
Every 5th or so post, add a Call To Action
Always have something to invite people to, such as an event (e.g. Facebook live, face-to-face), a giveaway, a new product, etc. Ensure all your social media banners, popups, CTAs & email sig reflect this (read Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port)
Use the right hashtags (be discoverable)
Post at the correct times for your target market (I like 6-630am so when they wake up and scroll, it’s on their feed, their lunch break and a story at 8 pm in the relevant timezone). Steven Bartlett credits the daily 8pm personal thought post the most important part of his success.
Follow the top 100 people in your niche with between 10k & 100k followers. Engage with them daily. Share their posts. Comment on Their work. As always, be sincere and say something meaningful
Comment relevant things on important people pages (Gary Vees $1.80 strategy)
Spend $10 a day on ads of targeted content to targeted people (don’t “but I want to grow organically” - Do you want to be seen or not?). Start ad sets at midnight.
Russell Brunson recommends ads are only for offers; posts that aren't offers aren’t to be paid for ads—two separate things. Ads get your customers into the funnel and upsell makes you a profit. Say you sell a $10 ebook and a $300 course. Spend $10 per click for the ebook, so it’s a break-even cost, and everyone who buys the upsell is pure profit. Ad budget for testing is the price/profit of ONE upsell, so $300 in this example. Then, reassess, test and adjust. If it’s working, keep it going, but also test variations regardless. Brendan Kane suggests 50-100 variations from memory. Again, get AI to help. Start with your headline. Ask for ten variations. Then your pic. Get ten variations. Then your hook. Get ten variations etc.
Pay relevant influencers to share your stuff
Read all of Gary Vees and Brendan Kane’s books
Do these things 30-50x a day (Gary Vees' advice for new accounts, search for his eight tips 2024 YT vid) across all your platforms for months, maybe years, and you’ll grow. Perhaps someone famous will share your stuff, and you’ll go viral. But remember, each platform has its nuances, so you need to rework content for it (again, use AI - create one piece and ask AI to brainstorm how to recreate for each platform - you can start with the longest form, say a YouTube vid or blog post and ask it how to make tweets or IG posts from it) however you can still “push”. For example, you can post native Facebook content, but you can also put your YouTube vids and IG posts there
Make at least three posts a day for a month, that's 90 posts, and report back what you learned, what worked and didn’t for everyone else’s benefit. *I've had some pushback on this: A) I don’t make the rules; this seems to be current best practice; B) 1st post = a BTS post of you developing the post, 2nd post = the post, 3rd post = a story summing up your day. OR make all your content in one day and schedule it to post throughout the week. If you don’t have money, you have time; if you have money, outsource it.
Good luck!

submitted by Grade-Long to creators [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 07:32 codewithbernard I compared new GPT-4o and GPT4 on different tasks. Here are the results.

GPT-4o is available for all free users so the question arises. Do you really need PRO subscription now?
I want to find out by comparing the models on 3 different tasks.

Task 1: Summarize

Prompt: Summarize article from URL: https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o and provide key takeways.

Spoiler: GPT-4o wins this round
GPT-4o Response
OpenAI introduces GPT-4o ("o" for "omni"), a multimodal model that processes text, audio, and images, offering real-time responses and improved multilingual support. GPT-4o is faster, cheaper, and more versatile than its predecessors, excelling in vision and audio tasks. It integrates safety features and undergoes rigorous evaluations. Initially available in text and image modes, with audio and video capabilities to follow, GPT-4o aims to enhance human-computer interactions.
Key Takeaways:

Multimodal capabilities (text, audio, image).
Real-time processing.
Improved multilingual performance.
Faster and more cost-effective.
Enhanced safety and rigorous evaluations.
Gradual rollout of features.

For more details, visit OpenAI's announcement.
GPT-4 Response
The article introduces OpenAI's new flagship model, GPT-4o, which stands for "omni." This model integrates text, audio, and image inputs and outputs for a more fluid human-computer interaction. It boasts improvements in language processing, especially for non-English languages, enhanced audio and vision understanding, and better performance metrics while being faster and more cost-effective. GPT-4o combines these functionalities in one model, unlike previous versions that used separate models for different tasks, offering quicker response times and more contextual interactions. It is currently being rolled out, with plans to gradually introduce more features and capabilities.

Task 2: Brainstorming

Prompt: Summarize article from URL: https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o and provide key takeways.

Spoiler: It's a tie
GPT-4o Response

Holographic Personal Assistants: Develop AI-driven holographic assistants that provide real-time, immersive support for both personal and professional tasks.
Eco-Interactive Art Installations: Create eco-friendly public art installations that generate energy through interactions with viewers, blending sustainability with creativity.
Augmented Reality Storytelling Parks: Design theme parks where visitors experience stories through augmented reality, blending physical environments with digital narratives for immersive adventures.

GPT-4 Response

Virtual Reality Time Travel Agency: A service that provides hyper-realistic virtual reality experiences allowing customers to "visit" any historical event or era.
Personalized Dream Streaming: A platform that records, analyzes, and allows users to share or revisit their dreams in high-definition video.
AI-Curated Life Paths: An AI-driven service that analyzes a person's talents, passions, and life data to suggest personalized, optimal career and life choices.

Task 3: Creative Writing

Prompt: Write humorous email to my boss explaining why I'm not coming to work today.

Spoiler: GPT-4 wins this round
GPT-4o Response
Dear [Boss's Name],
I hope this email finds you in good spirits and free from any surprise mythical creature invasions. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that I won't be able to make it to work today due to an unexpected and rather unusual circumstance.
As I was getting ready to leave for the office this morning, I encountered a particularly tenacious unicorn in my backyard. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Unicorns don't exist!" But believe me, this one was very real, very sparkly, and very insistent on staying put.
Despite my best efforts to coax it away with promises of rainbows and magical meadows, the unicorn refused to budge. It seems it has taken a liking to my garden gnomes, which is both adorable and problematic. The local authorities and animal control were no help, as they understandably don't have a protocol for unicorn-related incidents.
As a result, I'm currently in negotiations with a local wizard who specializes in mythical creature relocations. He assures me that he can safely transport the unicorn to a more appropriate habitat, but it will take most of the day to complete the spell.
I apologize for any inconvenience my absence may cause and assure you that I will be back at my desk as soon as this magical situation is resolved. In the meantime, I will be available by phone and email if you need anything urgent (assuming the unicorn doesn't eat my Wi-Fi router).
Thank you for your understanding and patience with this rather fantastical predicament.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
P.S. If you hear rumors of a rainbow appearing over my neighborhood, don't be alarmed. It's just the unicorn's farewell gesture. 🌈
GPT-4 Response
Hi [Boss's Name],
I hope this message finds you well—or at least better than I am currently faring. I regret to inform you that I am unable to make it to the office today due to a highly unusual and unexpected situation. This morning, as I was preparing to brave the perilous journey to work, I stumbled upon a daunting challenge... a jigsaw puzzle!
You see, last night, I made the mistake of saying, "How hard can it be?" while looking at this 5000-piece enigma. Little did I know, it took this as a personal challenge. I’ve been recruited by the pieces themselves, which have conspired to keep me at home until the entire landscape is meticulously pieced together. They have taken my cat as a hostage, who, as I type, is comfortably sleeping atop the partially completed puzzle.
Despite my best efforts, every attempt to leave has been thwarted by another piece mysteriously fitting into place, compelling me to continue. It’s a vicious cycle, but someone has to solve it, and that someone appears to be me.
On a more serious note, the real culprit of my absence is a stubborn cold that has decided to visit me without an invitation. I thought it best to keep my germs confined to the puzzle battlefield, rather than share them with the team.
I will be checking my emails regularly in between my bouts with the puzzle (and my sneezes), so I should be reachable for any urgent matters. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
Wishing you a less eventful day at the office!
Best regards,
[Your Name]

Summary

GPT-4o: Good for simple tasks. It's also much faster than GPT-4. It looks like a really good replacement of GPT-3.5
GPT-4: Still better option for complex tasks that require multiple steps.
PS: IF you want to see me doing more experiments like this: join my ChatGPT newsletter

submitted by codewithbernard to ChatGPT [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 07:24 ZeldaTheOuchMouse My idea for an open world crime based action adventure game:

Heres my idea for an open world crime based action adventure game:
I want a modern open world game with modern graphics, modern physics, driving and combat mechanics, the whole 9 yards, but it takes place in New Orleans LA in the Early 2000’s, the game would have hundreds and hundreds of licensed cars, licensed songs ALL period correct and as many licensed brands as i can get in the game to make the setting more resemble real life, we’ve seen so many fantasy brands and fake cities and companies based off real life companies and i want to change that, i want all electronics of the era to be 100% accessible and usable in the game, everything from Motorola Razr’s, PDA’s, Laptops and The Internet in FULL early 2000’s style, Alpine and Sony X-Plod Car Headunits etc
Im going to say this now: there would be ZERO references or mentions of Hurricane Katrina in this game, the timeline would be 2002 to Summer 2005 before Katrina, Katrina wouldn’t be mentioned as it wouldn’t exist
The story is about a young transgender woman in her 20’s who lives in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, she drives a beat up 80’s-Early 90’s Pontiac at the start of the game and lives with her sister, at the beginning of the game nobody respects her, misgenders her and deadnames her, the idea is to hit the nail on the head with how trans people are treated on a daily basis, she progresses through the underground hustling ranks of New Orleans after being offered a job and proves to be someone who will go to great lengths to get the job done, everything from street racing in a scene that fully captures Early 2000’s tuner culture, winning cars in pinkslip races, shootouts from deals gone bad in nightclubs, encounters with corrupt police officers etc, at the end of the game shes a wealthy kingpin in the city and has earned the respect of mostly everyone and everyone speaks highly of her, i also want to slip in alot of little references to games and franchises i love like Earthbound, Clock Tower, Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Bad Boys, Need For Speed etc and make the user interface and menus feel like its from the Early 2000’s but also pay homage and respect to New Orleans Mardi Gras and jazz culture and for the world to be crammed full of life with NPC’s, animals, weather, random events, random encounters and interactions and basically how it would be in real life
The map i want to be the most accurate virtual recreation of New Orleans ever done just circa 2002-2005, i want as many enterable interiors in the game as possible, i want to include everything from Jazzland Theme Park, the Bayou areas, Lake Pontchatrain, East New Orleans, The SuperDome, the then New Orleans Arena next door, Shopping Malls, Car Dealerships for each brand in the game, Upper class Neighborhoods, Trailer Parks, Nightclubs, bars and of course the French quarter and Canal Street
I also want to take customization to a whole new level, give a Sims like ability to customize, furnish and build your home and character however you like, and of course the Early 2000’s fashion will be in full swing here, i want the most in-depth car customization of any game ever, its the early 2000’s after all, i want body kits, bumpers, hoods, wings, headlights and tail lights, the ability to customize the headunit in your car, put subwoofers in the trunk, rims, spinners, donks, lambo doors, underglow and of course in depth performance upgrades ALL parts be name brand, like Bomex body kits, TYC tail lights, JL Audio Amps, Subwoofers, Lowenhart, Lexani, Asanti, DUB and TIS rims, APR aluminum wings etc, i basically want to make the customization in Need For Speed Underground 2 look like a mobile game
And the car list, i want to have over 600 fully licensed cars in the game minimum and be fully customizable down to every single part, since the plot of the game starts in 2002 and ends in 2005, i want NOTHING newer than 2006 in the game
Cadillac Escalade, Hummer H2 and Chrysler 300C are a must, but i also want to have the 99-04 Mustang, both V6 and GT, Ferrari 360 Modena, Spider and Challenge Stradale, Ferrari 550, Lamborghini Murcièlago and Gallardo, but also include more common lesser loved cars like the Chevy Cavalier, Pontiac Sunfire, Pontiac Grand Am, Geo Metro, Dodge Neon, Chrysler Concorde, Chevy Celebrity, Ford Taurus etc, and of course i’ll have bikes, boats, planes, helicopters and all other types of vehicles
Yeah its a GTA/Saints Row type game, but i want to raise the bar, push boundaries and do something different thats never been done before

submitted by ZeldaTheOuchMouse to gameideas [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 07:16 Sherman8019 Why

Why can’t I ever get over this hump, why can’t I just get a single result that’ll ease my stress, why can’t I just win one small thing.
I have been applying to med for a while now and this is my fifth application cycle. Ontario resident, 514 MCAT in 2019, retook in 2021 for 520, but with a 127 CARS so it’s basically good for nothing in this country, and 3.99 OMSAS overall GPA/4.0 AMCAS GPA.
In 19/20 I got waitlisted for an interview at Mac, got the interview and then COVID happened which turned the admissions to a lottery after the first 100 pre-II top scores got in. I knew I wasn’t in that 100 because I was waitlisted, so I needed the lottery to get in, but that didn’t amount to anything so I got waitlisted again for admission. I didn’t get in, although a bunch of my friends did.
Thankfully they postponed our interviews to the 20/21 cycle so I had another shot then, but they had technical difficulties during the first first round of interviews (which is when mine took place) and made us redo our interviews a week later. This was a bummer since I thought my first MMI went quite well. Unfortunately, the second round of interviews was worse because I had to respond to text-based prompts instead of actual interviewer interaction, so my succeeding interview was much worse. I got waitlisted again for Mac, and again, did not get accepted. But hey blaming others for my mistakes is loser mentality, so onto the next year.
21/22 I took on a full-time job at a clinic to get some clinical experience and retook my MCAT so that I could apply to American schools. However, I applied late which is apparently a big no-no in the States. Somehow, I pulled an interview from a pretty good school (WashU in St Louis), and thought the interview went great. Apparently not, because I got waitlisted again. I'd like to keep the reader in mind that I have consistently been applying to every Ontario school, UBC, Manitoba, and 20 American schools from this point onwards. WashU was my only interview that year though, and as you'd expect, my waitlist did not go anywhere.
22/23 I started a master's in biomed eng., which was super ambitious for me considering I didn't have any experience in engineering as my bachelor's was in biomed science. This year I get 0 interview offers, but that's ok since it gave me more time to complete my master's and strengthen my ECs and stuff.
23/24, aka this year, I finally get some luck with interviews. Got one from UBC, Western, uOttawa, and an interview from a really amazing US school that I won't name. Interview with the US school felt great to me - waitlisted. UBC interview felt fine - rejected last week. Western felt great - waitlisted. So now I am waiting for uOttawa at the dead of night, and remembered that uOttawa was by far my worst interview. But you know, that's not even what I am upset about right now.
I think it is absolutely comical how many times I have gotten waitlisted now. I am put in this perpetual loop of getting my hopes up, having a train ran through those hopes, and then slowly thinking "gOLly MaYBe I wIlL gEt iN oFf tHe WaItLiSt tHiS tImE" and then I never do. I don't get it, I don't get why I am just never good enough. My PI has been praising me saying she is amazed by how fast I have been working to complete my thesis on time because of the June 30th deadline, and she is praising me for all sorts of things and saying how she hates that she's going to lose me to med school and wish I could stay to do a PhD with her. Well Dr. H looks like I am not going anywhere so don't you worry!
I have been busting my ass for the past several months trying to get my thesis completed in time, and apparently it's been for nothing. I have wasted so much money on applications throughout these years, and it's been for nothing. Sorry to mom and dad and for anyone else in my life who was rooting for me, you will never see this post but I am genuinely sorry for disappointing you all, I don't have the courage to actually say it to your faces. Whatever man, I'm so tired.
PS: if anyone here asks me to move out of province, or to apply to DO schools, or gives advice to strengthen my app or interview by doing X or Y, or any other suggestions I see million times on these kind of posts. No. I am done. You know why? Because my MCAT expires after this application cycle in the States. I am not retaking a 520 MCAT.

submitted by Sherman8019 to premedcanada [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 07:14 ScholarGrade Juniors - NOW is the time to start brainstorming essays

There have been an increasing number of juniors visiting this sub asking for advice about writing essays. Below are some tips and advice for making your essay stand out as excellent. Feel free to ask questions because I will answer every single question in the comments.
I know from experience that many of you are struggling to identify a good topic for your essay. Conventional wisdom says to start by brainstorming a list of potential topics, and chances are, you have already started a mental list of ideas. You might think you only have a few choices for topics, based on your activities or experiences, or essay examples you read, or the rough draft you already started (or worse, that GPT started...). I advise, however, that you put down your list of topics and back away from it. Forget that exists for a moment. Seriously - thinking about this initial list tethers you to certain ideas that might not actually be your best options.
Now you can begin brainstorming with a clean slate.
Start with thinking about what you want to show in your entire application, not just one essay. Every single component in your app has one purpose – to tell more about YOU. Filling out the rest of the application by rote and focusing solely on the essay is short-sighted and will leave so much potential untapped in your application.

It's About You. Tell Your Story - And Be The Protagonist

An admissions officer’s goal is to understand you fully, in the context of your background and the rest of the applicant pool. They will begin this with assessing your academic abilities and potential. Then they will evaluate how you will fit into the student body they’re trying to curate. All of this can be somewhat broad and diverse and touch on several institutional goals. But they will dig deep to find out what each applicant is like, what your core values and motivations are, what kind of student you will be, how you will contribute to the vibrant and intellectual campus community they’re building, etc.
Your goal with essay brainstorming is to ascertain how to powerfully tell your story in a manner that will fit these criteria. The entirety of your application (again, not just one essay) aims to showcase your abilities, qualifications, and uncommon attributes as a person in a positive way. Before you begin outlining or writing your application, you must determine what is unique about you that will stand out to an admissions panel. All students are truly unique. Not one other student has the same combination of life experiences, personality, passions, or goals as you do. Your job in your application is to frame your unique personal attributes in a positive and compelling way. How will you fit on campus? What personal qualities, strengths, core values, talents, or different perspectives do you bring to the table? What stories, deeper motivations/beliefs, or formative experiences can you use to illustrate all of this?
It is always helpful to start with some soul-searching or self-examination. You might not immediately know what you want to share about yourself. It’s not a simple task to decide how to summarize your whole life and being in a powerful and eloquent way on your application. Introspection prior to starting your application takes additional time and effort rather than jumping straight into your first draft. But it is also a valuable method to start writing a winning application that stands out from the stack.
You'll see the advice everywhere that all essay prompts are really about the same thing - you. The goal of each essay then is to showcase who you are, what matters to you, and how you think. I guarantee if you're on this sub enough, you'll hear the advice to "show, don't tell" when writing about yourself. But what does this mean really, and how do you do it well? How do you even get started on an essay that does this?

Introspection Questions

It’s often easiest to start thinking in terms of superlatives, especially those related to personal insights -- what are the most meaningful things about you, and what do you value the most? Here is a list of questions to help you brainstorm broadly before you narrow down your focus for writing:

What are your interests?
What sparks your curiosity?
About what topics do you enjoy reading?
With whom do you enjoy spending time? Who has impacted your life the most?
Reflect upon “superlatives” in your life. What moments were most memorable, formative, enlightening, enjoyable, or valuable? What physical possessions, experiences, dreams, or lessons could make your superlatives list?
Stop and think about what things, people, or circumstances in your life are really unique, fascinating, or outlandish. Are there any that really have a lot of "cultural flavor" (whatever your culture is)?

I have a free introspection worksheet with over 100 questions like this designed to help you find ideas worth exploring in your essays. You can find it on the A2C Discord or download it directly here.

Find Your Story And Arc

Think of a small anecdote or story from your life that you could share that serves as a microcosm of who you are and what is important to you. It will massively help you narrow this down and find a gem of a story if you first start by thinking about your application arc or theme. This is the one-phrase summary of your entire application. It could be "brilliant entrepreneur who started her own successful business" or "talented athlete who wants to study economics and finance as they pertain to sports", or even "avid baker whose hobby sparked an interest in chemistry". It doesn't have to be related to your intended major, but it can help your arc be stronger and clearer if it is.
Once you have an arc determined and a story to share, think about what you want that story to say about you. This is where it can help to think of this as something you would share on a date - what impression does it make about you to the reader? Once you know this, start showing, not telling this attribute of yourself through your story. For example, instead of saying that you're compassionate toward others, you show an example of a time you were compassionate, then elaborate on why, and what it means to you.

Essay Brainstorming Techniques

If you are having trouble finding a story, or simply have writer’s block once you have picked your topic, here are some ideas to get your juices flowing:

Stream of consciousness writing -- Start writing whatever is in your head, and don’t stop for 30 minutes. You probably won’t use what you just wrote for your essay, but it will help you find a starting point.
Journaling -- Answer the prompt as if you were writing in a journal. This will get you in the habit of writing about yourself and establish comfort with the concept. It will also take you to a new level of introspection and self-awareness.
~~Twitter~~ X style -- Write several rapid-fire responses to the prompt in 280 characters or less. Choose an idea from these responses to expound upon in your essay.
Read each essay prompt, then go through your introspection worksheet responses and connect the stories and insights to one or more of the prompts. Some students like using color coding to visually see how their different ideas might work together.

Why Essays Matter

Here's the thing a lot of people don't realize about college admission: it's not an award for being the smartest, most accomplished, or most impressive. It's an invitation to join a community. Far too many students think that if they can just show that they're smart enough, they'll get in. Yale even says right on their admissions website that 75% of their applicants are academically qualified to succeed at Yale. But only ~4% are getting in. That should tell you that they're looking for more than just top tier test scores and grades. To be perfectly clear, you will need top tier grades and (optionally) test scores to show that you're qualified, and the vast majority of my students come to me with this part already in the bank. But what sets the admits apart? It's personal insight - sharing who you are, how you think, what matters to you, and how you engage community. You can't just say "/IAmVerySmart, please admit me," or even "I did a cool thing guys! Isn't that neat!" You need to go deeper and show them your core values, personal strengths, motivations, aspirations, character traits, foundational beliefs, personality, etc. And you need to do it in a charming, winsome way that makes them like you and want to invite you to join their community.
So how do I get students to do this? All of my students complete that introspection worksheet. We go through it and find the stories, examples, anecdotes, conversations, memories, relationships, and other things from their life that will help us craft a strong and personally insightful narrative. We also make lists of the values, strengths, and key personal qualities we want to showcase. Once we have some topics, outlines, abstracts, or rough drafts, we talk about which stories to tell where, how to tell them well, and what details to include to present the best they have to offer. Then we refine, edit, polish, and enhance over and over until the story sings, but more importantly shows their heart and soul. We also go through all the other application components to ensure consistency, quality, and distinctiveness.
Here's why this works so well: at most highly selective colleges there is a primary reader (or 2-3) who will review everything first and then present it to the admissions committee, who then votes on whether to admit you. That presentation typically goes one of three ways:

Total enthusiasm, energy, and excitement. They strongly advocate for admission and paint a clear picture of how you will contribute to their goals and community. Everyone in the room picks up on that energy and is leaning forward in their chairs, looking for reasons to admit you. This is quite rare, generally less than 5 out of every 100 applications, even among those which are "fully qualified." When you do this right, you show depth, meaning, and valuable personal insights so the reviewer is learning about who you are and how you might engage the community they're curating. You come alive off the page as a person, not just another file.
Business as usual. You're another great applicant in a pile of great applicants. They share a basic review of the facts, your profile, stats, strengths, weaknesses, etc. Maybe someone on the committee finds something they love, and they really push for admission. More likely, not and you get deferred/waitlisted even though there wasn't anything "wrong" with your application. They just didn't love you enough to commit.
"Here's a stack of 20 applications that I didn't find all that compelling, so we won't present them individually, but you guys are the committee and you make the decisions. So let me know if there are any you want to talk about." In this case, unless there's a letter of endorsement from an athletics coach or your last name matches several buildings on campus, you're probably not getting additional consideration, much less admission. They will regret to inform you.

Everything we're doing is designed to help them get to know themselves, present the best they have to offer, and land in that first group. Having top tier essays is the single best way to get there. Get started on brainstorming in the next few weeks so you'll have time to get a few essays completed over the summer.

submitted by ScholarGrade to ApplyingToCollege [link] [comments]

2024.05.14 06:48 xie-chan AITAH for refusing to hang out with a past friend?

Can I ask for some advice about something? What would you do if you are in my place. my best friend let's call her Ruby. Ruby moved about two years ago now, she was going to come back and visit for graduation week and wanted the friend group to hang out like we used to, when i told her i didn't believe it would be possible she has continued to push for us to all hang out. I finally told her the reason that it would not work out she completely ignored me. Now the reason the friend group hanging like we used to won't work out is because this ex friend of mine who I'll call cici randomly after a school essay I wrote quite talking to me and started to spread rumors about me the essay was supposed to carry so sort of theme that means somthing to us so I wrote mine on how it can feel to be in the middle of a friend group that is arguing and not knowing what to do. I will copy and past the essay below the rest of the story. After I turn the essay in cici somehow gets a hold of it and spins it to sound like I'm attacking her and im bullying her and so for the month of February everyone ignores me which really hurt because I had no idea why as they just on day started to ignore me it also was my birthday that month and I had no one to share it with. After a while lila,Taylor and Sara realize what happened and apologized for what they did and I quite trying to communicate with cici. After I quite reaching out to her and trying to protect a dying fire my mental health improves to a point where not only I noticed but my teachers noticed also. Back to my earlier topic I told ruby that I refuse to hang out with cici because she has been treating me like shit and my parents won't even let me see/talk to her outside a school sanctioned event because at are very last sleep over before she she started to ignore me almost ended with me In the hospital because her brother threatened me with a knife and their dog attacked me because i used self defense to get the knife from her brother. During this sleepover cici's parents were awar of what happened and didn't tell my mom so after that I wasn't allowed back to their house. Even after all that I still tried to keep that friendship alive if not only because I cared for cici but also for ruby. Still despite all these reasons ruby refused to split her time between us and Is no longer coming. AITAH for refusing to hang out with someone who has betrayed my trust and put me in a dangerous situation just because my friend who moved away wants us to hang out together?
Here is the essay
Just because your friends are friends doesn’t mean they will always understand. A few days after spring break in 8th grade my friend Cici started hanging out with a girl that the rest of our friend group doesn’t like because she is mean and rude. So we told her what we thought of this girl and that she could hang out with her but we didn’t want to be near a person like that, however Cici did not listen and kept inviting her to hang out with us. My other friend Sara was starting to get really upset because this girl was calling her names and bullying her. This same girl had also left intentional bruises on my body because I told her I already had a partner in pe. Finally, after months and months of off and on fighting it was the last day of school. Sara had finally had enough of how the girl had treated us and snapped as she listed off all the hateful and violent things that this girl had done to me, Lila, Ruby some of our other friends. The girl then started to ball saying how all of us are liars and cici shouldn'tlisten to us about anything that we say. During this entire situation I stayed quiet and listened to what the others had to say, because I wanted to say something but didn't know what to say to fix the situation.For weeks after that cici and sara refused to talk to each other, until I finally managed to get them to both apologize. Then for a while after that everything seemed good. A new girl who I will call Tyler moved to town and we basically absorbed her into the friend group. Things were going well until about four weeks into our ninth grade year. Sara started to be exceedingly hostile the rude girl Cici had been hanging out with sense last year, Which caused fighting to break out. So then Sara started to distance herself from us to hang out with a guy who i also used to consider a friend i will call him jem. Now the reasonme and jem are no longer friendsis becausehe told my to off myself several times over the course of about two months.So as they are hanging out jem is also constantly flirting with her, so we make a joke that they were dating. This caused sara to explode at everyone in the group chat. When she texted in the group chat she directed all of the texts about it to Cici and when I confessed that it was me who was made and the joke she proceeded to say that it was Cici’s fault and that it “ IS NOT SOMETHING TO JOKE ABOUT!! You know what I think of rumors and dating.” We all replied saying it didn't mean for it to be a big deal and we weren't making fun of her that it was only a joke. Sara proceeded to snap back “If we are in relationships with guys, it's not something to joke about. When other people believe it, then it's too much.” So in response Ruby answered with “You literally would make fun of me and my old boyfriend tim back when we were dating.” Then Lila added, “Yeah you make me feel like crap about me and Carl all the time and guess what you coming after Cici being a jerk to Cici for everything saying that everything that everything the "rude girl" knows and does is because of her. There's also the fact that when you tease and make fun of us we are supposed to deal with it, but when we do it to you we are rude horrible people." Sara’s only response to that was “You guys never said that you weren't ok with it. You just need to tell us, and we will stop. No one ever said anything, so we thought it was ok.” I responded with “who is the we in this situation, because I told people to stop when they crossed a boundary and that one of the only people who never listened or apologized for it was lila. I haven't even taken anybody's side throughout this whole situation” after I say this, Sara goes off again. “I'm done ok. Just leave me out of all this. Be your own friend group. I'll be a singular person, and then I won't have to be a burden to anyone. Sorry I was such a bad friend. Also I don't want any pity.” At this point everyone is annoyed and tired of this situation so Ruby speaks up again telling Sara that she is not the main character and to grow up, and that she started it. After this Sara separates herself from us and as a week turns to two weeks then two weeks turns into a month. Between all of the fighting, homework, sports, and everyday stress I start to become irritable and snappy because no matter how much I try to stay neutral to keep peace, Sara and Cici are always fighting. So one time when the fighting over text picks up again I end up snapping at my family and yelling something at them that everyone would probably be happier if i just died. The next day I tried to act like everything was fine. I ended up making it until PE where I ended up breaking down infront of my teacher and skipping school for the rest of the day in the office crying my eyes out to the guidance counselor. I told her everything that happened and that sometimes when I tell my friends things I don't like or feel comfortable with, they sometimes will forget or ignore what i say. Which always makes me angry or sad because I always take the time to understand and respect my friends boundaries. that's when I realized that just because your friends are friends doesn’t mean they will always understand. Despite that fact I will always respect others boundaries even if they don’t respect mine and I will always remind others of my boundaries or distance myself from them. Just because your friends are friends doesn’t mean they will always understand and just because you can/want to say or do something hurtful doesn’t mean that you should. Know where to darw the line.

submitted by xie-chan to AITAH [link] [comments]

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