Number of household in means test

/r/SAT!

2009.04.02 03:45 Satur /r/SAT!

A forum to discuss the SAT and forms of preparation for taking the test. Please use this subreddit to ask for and offer help and to discuss both the exam itself and news about the exam.
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2011.09.13 01:56 keraneuology Classic lines from other posts

This reddit was inspired by a post by The_Big_Salad - when I read "mystery cloth on the guy's head turns out to be his underwear" I knew it had to be done.
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2009.02.01 21:29 LSAT

The Reddit LSAT Forum. The best place on Reddit for LSAT advice. The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is the test required to get into an ABA law school. Check out the sidebar for intro guides. Post any questions you have, there are lots of redditors with LSAT knowledge waiting to help.
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2024.05.14 19:33 kingfroglord How to Encounter a Combat Budget for Dummies

I realized while lurking this subreddit that many of newer GMs posting here may find themselves confused as to how to properly balance their combat encounters. This is wholly understandable as the book isn't exactly clear on the process. I thought I'd share my insight so as to help any prospective GMs design a clean and effective opfor.
Credentials: I've been GMing Lancer for ~3 years now and have run multiple successful campaigns to completion, both custom and on-module. I teach newbies how to play on the regular and have coached these same newbies to run their own combats sessions.
I will endeavor to make this guide as short as possible so as to be easy to reference. Feel free to reach out if you wanted clarification. Disclaimer: The following rules are my own method to encounter building, and while many other GMs in the community follow these rough guidelines you can expect everyone to have their own twist on it. Another GM you talk to will surely have tweaks on what I present here, but that's okay and honestly kind of cool. We all have our own signature method of playing this game and this happens to be mine!
Step 0: Nomenclature
A quick glossary of terms I'll be using frequently.
-OpFor: Stands for oppositional force. That means your entire collection of baddies used for a given combat encounter.
-Structure: The structure points for your NPCs. Normal NPCs have only 1 structure by default, but templates like Elite or Veteran can increase that.
-Activations: The number of times an individual NPC can take a turn during a round of combat. Most NPCs have only 1 activation by default, but templates like Elite or Ultra can increase that.
-Budget: The total number of NPCs you should be using for a combat encounter, based on how much Structure each individual NPC has.
Step 1: Pick a Sitrep/Budget
The first thing you need to do before you go any further is pick your Sitrep, starting at page 267 in the Core Rulebook. This is the objective that you and your players will be competing against each other to accomplish. Sitreps are an absolutely essential aspect of Lancer combat and the entire engine is designed around ensuring that you and your players have clear-cut goals with specific win conditions outlined. You can still have the occassional death match, if you're so inclined, but they should be infrequent to rare at best.
The Sitrep also determines your Budget. You'll note that each Sitrep descriptions says something like "Use the normal amount of enemies" or "Use double the amount of enemies as normal." This is what we like to call a "Single Budget" or a "Double Budget," respectively.
A Single Budget encounter should have enough total NPC Structure to equal 2x the number of players partaking in the combat. For example, if you have 4 players, you want the total Structure from all your NPCs to be 8. If you have 3 players, the total Structure from all NPCs should be 6.
A double budget encounter simply doubles that. 4 players would equal 16 total NPC Structure, 3 players would equal 12 total NPC structure, and so on. This includes reinforcements.
I'll make a comment below that lists which Sitreps have a Single Budget and which Sitreps have a Double Budget.
Step 2: Balancing Damage
It's entirely possible to do too much damage to your players. NPCs hit hard and you need to make sure they're not hitting so hard that your players don't have a chance to respond. Therefore, never have more than 50% of your OpFor be damage dealing NPCs.
The precise nature of a "damage dealing" NPC is up for interpretation. It is universally accepted that all Strikers and all Artillery archetypes are damage dealers. However, some Controllers and even Defenders fall into this category as well. Knowing who the black sheep of each archetype is comes with time and experience and every GM will tell you who they think is the biggest threat.
For now, stick to focusing on Strikers and Artillery until you get a better sense of who's who.
Step 3: Archetype Spread
In addition to having only 50% of your OpFor be damage dealers, make sure that the rest of the NPCs you're using have a healthy spread of different archetypes. You don't have to have one of each, as a rule, but if you're just starting out then that's at least a good guide rail to use until you're more comfortable experimenting.
Step 4: Don't Overdo Templates
One of the biggest mistakes I see new GMs make is to apply the Pirate Template to every single NPC in their OpFor. "But they're all pirates," they'll tell me, confused as to why their players had a miserable time going against +1d6 damage on crit from every single enemy.
Here's what the book doesn't tell you: Templates affect mechanics, not flavor. Only apply a Template to an NPC to give it the strict mechanical benefits that come with it and never for any other reason!
You can have an NPC be a pirate and not use the pirate template. In fact, you absolutely SHOULD have an NPC be a pirate without using the pirate template. The trick to this is to simply say "This guy is a pirate" and not do anything else. It's as easy as that.
Use Templates sparingly. If you're new, I wouldn't recommend using more than 1 per combat. Even now I don't really do more than 2-3, if that.
Step 5: Fair Deployment
Once you have your OpFor picked out and ready to roll, it's time to put them on the board. In an effort to not overwhelm your players but still have enough presence to apply a bit of pressure, only deploy enough NPCs so that their combined Activations equals 1.5x the number of players. For example, if you have 4 players, only have 6 activations on the board. That means 6 normal enemies, 4 normal enemies and an Elite, etc. I like to think of this as a Soft Cap for Activations.
The rest of your OpFor should be kept back as reinforcements. Follow the reinforcement rules of your chosen Sitrep to figure out when they should enter the fray, and how many.
Additionally, never have NPC activations exceed 2x the number of players. They will be overwhelmed very fast and nobody will have fun. Consider this a Hard Cap for Activations.
If you have reinforcements ready to go but you're already at the Soft Cap, you can bring more if the players are winning and you want to turn up the heat. If the players are losing, hold off and wait until they're in a better position. It's your job as GM to moderate the difficulty of combat based on active circumstances.
If you're already at Hard Cap, then no reinforcements get to enter the board yet. Wait until your players start scoring kills, the suckers.
The End
There's more nuance that goes into it than that, but this is a good starting point for anyone who just wants to wrap their heads around a complex system. As you get experienced, you'll start experimenting more with synergy, cross-classing, custom sitreps, and all kinds of crazy shit. The more experience you have, the more you'll be free to fuck around without breaking the game!
submitted by kingfroglord to LancerRPG [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:32 Aphrodites_bakubro “C’s get degrees”

As a nursing student I hear this all the time. It’s the motto whenever we take an exam. In order to pass the courses we need a 75% or higher, I’ve seen some programs do 78%, and I’ve heard of some that don’t accept anything below 80%.
We have students that are content with passing courses with the bare minimum and we have students who want nothing but A’s. My question is do you think a student could still be a good nurse even if they only pass every course by the bare minimum 75%, and I mean every course in the program all being graded a 75%. Or do you think that they’d be poor nurses?
I was talking with my Partner over it and I said some of my classmates I would still trust as my nurse despite them not making higher than a C because testing ability doesn’t mean they’d be a bad nurse, but he said the requirements to pass should be higher because of patient safety concerns that the nurse may not be as fully equipped as other nurses who did better in school.
submitted by Aphrodites_bakubro to StudentNurse [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:32 Sylesth Combat Artificer - 67

My car's transmission is on the fritz, so it's in the shop and I'm working from home for at least today. Thank goodness I can even work from home, or things would be a lot more complicated. Anyways, that's just a bit of a vent. I've also decided that I might do little lore-esque prechapter bits for some extra flavor. Hope you guys enjoy them! I find them to be fun little thought experiments on how people might perceive the world I've created from within vs from my own perspective. Enjoy some crafting and some romance!
First Previous Next
We know that the spots that are caused by looking at a source of light are, in fact, damage of some sort to the eye. This is confirmed by the spots rapidly disappearing should someone be healed whilst experiencing them. But why? Is there a divinity within light, beyond what our mortal eyes can withstand? Is there some sort of invisible emanation that comes alongside the light that damages us in some way? The discovery of light damaging the eye has opened more questions for me than it has closed.
-Musings on the Relations of Light and Fire, by Jarwic Leftun
\***
Xander carefully opened the door, finding Gabrelle already asleep, and sat down on a chair. Maybe he could get that adaptive camouflage to work right on bright colors. Surely he had some colorful things in his inventory.
He did in fact have a few colorful things in his inventory, and he whiled the rest of the night away making small adjustments to the runic array that was embroidered into the cloth. He was satisfied before dawn, the cloth now performing as well with light colors as it had with darker colors. Now he just needed to make a cloak out of it. He briefly considered coating his armor with the array, but discarded it. There might be times where he’d want to be seen. Besides, a hooded cloak would better break up the outline of his figure, the ripples of fabric, especially if he were to crouch or lay prone, obscuring his outline even more. In little time at all, he had a long, deep hooded cloak of the color shifting, runed cloth in his hands. He stashed it in his inventory for now, as he had no particular need to sneak up on something right now. The rest of the time before dawn he spent silently sitting in the chair he’d chosen, trying to keep his thoughts to a minimum, just daydreaming. Night dreaming? He couldn’t sleep anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to let his mind wander.
As the dawn came and the sun began to shine through the window of the room, Gabrelle slowly awoke, once more finding Xander sitting in a chair rather than in bed.
“Mmf,” She grunted as she stretched. “Morning, Xander. You got back late.”
“Morning, yourself,” Xander said, turning his head to look at Gabrelle. “Yeah... Yeah, I guess I did.”
“What were you doing, anyway?” She asked, curious. “You didn’t mention that you’d be out late, just that you were going to go to see Valteria at her shop.”
“I uh... went on a date.”
“I knew it! ‘Comparing notes’ was a date!” Gabrelle exclaimed triumphantly.
“It was not!” Xander complained. “But we went to a tavern in the evening and it sort of... turned into a date on the way there.”
“Awhh, that’s so cute,” Gabrelle said. “Did it go well? Is she nice? Did you kiss?”
“I think it went well. We talked a lot about different projects and ideas we had. I also got to meet another [Godsmarked] - he owns the tavern we went to. I think she’s nice. Maybe a little shy. I think she’s gotten used to being treated differently by people. I don’t think she really believed that I wanted to go on a date with her, at first. ...And yes. We kissed.”
“Ooooh, look at you! You’re growing up so fast!” Gabrelle teased.
“Oh hush. I’m older than you!” Xander huffed, then returned to seriousness. “But ah, if I’m going to be dating someone... we need to have a conversation, Gabrelle.”
“We need to stop sleeping together?” Gabrelle quickly deduced before Xander could say it himself.
“Yeah... It doesn’t feel right, even though it’s just platonic between us. I don’t think I would appreciate being in Valteria’s situation and knowing that the person I was seeing was sleeping with someone else at night.”
“Well, I figured this would happen eventually,” Gabrelle said. “Either you or I were bound to find someone eventually. Don’t worry, I’m not upset. Don’t get me wrong, the snuggles were nice, but like I told you a while ago, I don’t have nearly as much trouble sleeping when I’m with the team.”
“Thanks for not being upset, Gabrelle.”
“You know this means you have to start paying for your own room, though, right?”
“Ah, shit, you’re right. I forgot.”
Xander left the room to allow Gabrelle some privacy to get dressed and meandered back down the stairs to see if any other members of the team were already up. Looking around, he spied Graffus eating breakfast at at table and moved to sit with the dwarf.
“Mornin’” Graffus greeted Xander through a mouthful of bread.
“Morning,” Xander greeted back.
“Glad to see you made it back, we were wondering if you’d be out all night,” Graffus told him, after swallowing his bread.
“I was out a bit late, I suppose. I let the time get away from me.” Xander said, not really wanted to be teased again about going out on a date. “So what are you planning to do today?”
“Bah, Frazay has roped me into helping her do research for the drakeling. So reading is what’s in store for me.” Graffus tore himself off another piece of bread from his plate and slathered it with jam. “You going to be going back to that [Tinker] you’ve been spending time with lately?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’m supposed to learn more about converting mana types today, and also help her fix the suit of armor that I wrecked.”
“Welp,” Graffus said, now on his last piece of bread, “I hope ya learn something new. Never had much to do with [Tinker]s – not saying I dislike them, just that I haven’t had much experience with them – so it don’t make much sense to me. Using a hammer is about the only overlap in our professions.”
“I think your hammer is significantly larger than the one most [Tinker]s would use,” Xander chuckled. Thinking about what he should be doing before he headed to Valteria’s, he asked Graffus, “Hey, I might need to buy some monster parts or elemental cores, something like that, for practice. You know where I would go to find stuff like that?”
Graffus shrugged. “Dunno. My guess would be an alchemy and reagents shop. That’s generally what we’ve sold monster parts to that didn’t go to a smith or leatherworker.”
“Thanks, Graffus.”
The two of them chatted for a while longer, catching up on what each other had been doing. Graffus excused himself to finish getting ready for the day, saying he needed to tend to his beard, leaving Xander downstairs. Deciding to be productive and proactive, Xander stood as well and headed out of the inn to find an alchemy shop.
It wasn’t long before he found one, a familiar scene of an eclectic collection of powders, liquids, crystals, and strange organic things floating in jars inside the building. The proprietor was a dwarf, seated at a workbench. They were grinding something into a powder as Xander entered. He received a distracted greeting before the dwarf returned to his work.
Xander wandered about the shop for a few minutes, looking at the various materials throughout the shop. He identified what he thought might be an elemental core, a jagged piece of crystal looking material that seemed to have an inner flame. As for the monster parts in jars, Xander had no idea what was what. He finally felt he’d waited long enough and moved closer to the worktable that the dwarf was still sitting at, working away at the mortar and pestle.
“Excuse me,” Xander said, grabbing the shopkeep’s attention.
“Mm?” The dwarf said questioningly. “Can I help you find something?”
“I was wondering if you had any elemental cores. Something small, I just need one to practice with.”
“Aye, I’ve a few of them around the shop. You want something to practice with? So a relatively weak core, then – not all the small ones are weak. Do you need any particular type?” The dwarf stood up and stretched, moving to one of the shelves.
“Uhm no, just whatever is cost effective, I suppose.”
The alchemist rifled through the various bits and bobs on one of the shelves nearby before producing a small chip of what looked to be a semi-translucent stone. It was tinged slightly yellow with streaks of white. “This here is a chip off a lightning attuned core. Pretty weak, but it does still produce mana.”
Xander could see the dwarf’s arm hair standing up as if from static electicity as he held up the stone. “How much?” He asked.
“Twenty gold.”
Xander shrugged. Twenty gold wasn’t an issue for him anymore, and he didn’t feel like haggling. He always hated haggling. “Sure.” He fished out the coin and handed it over to the dwarf.
The dwarf handed over the stone to Xander and the pop of a static electric shock could be heard as a tiny arc passed between the two of them. The dwarf grunted and shook his hand. “Thanks for the business,” he told Xander. “Anything else you find yourself in need of?”
“Not at the moment, but thanks for asking.” Xander waved goodbye to the dwarf and pocketed the tiny elemental core. He continued down the street in the direction of Valteria’s shop, thinking about how he was going to undo the welding job he’d done on Valteria’s armor. He’d need her to guide his repair efforts.
Xander returned to the inn momentarily to grab one of his golems. He settled on Atlas for now, as it was the most basic of the humanoid forms he’d created. No extra arms or weird feet on him, no sir.
Arriving at the building that contained Valteria’s home and shop, Xander knocked before opening the door. “Morning,” he called out.
“Xander! Hello!” Valteria called out. She was at the same work bench she’d been at yesterday. Jarrett didn’t seem to be in the shop at the moment, as Xander wasn’t able to spot the man.
Commanding Atlas to follow him in and closing the door behind him, Xander started walking towards Valteria. “How’s it going?” He asked.
“Good, it’s going good,” Valteria responded as Xander brought a stool over to her workbench. “How about yourself?”
“Not bad. The upside of not sleeping is that I never struggle in the mornings now. I used to hate waking up.” Xander laughed. “I even ran an errand before I came here! Picked up this.” Xander fished around in his pocket until he found the small chip of elemental core and held it up for Valteria to see.
“Core?” She asked distractedly, staring at Atlas. She tore her eyes away and looked closely at the small crystalline stone. “Lightning attuned?”
“That’s what the [Alchemist] at the shop said,” Xander affirmed. “Said it was a very weak one, but that it did still produce mana.”
“Mmm, a good practice piece, then.”
“I thought it would be, too. Not that I know what to do with it, yet.”
“Well, how about this: I teach you to set the stone and make some conduit, and then you can help me fix my armor. All the glue has turned to dust by now, thank the gods.”
“Sounds fair enough. So, how do mana conduits work?”
“Well, the concept is simple enough. It’s a tube which conducts mana,” Valteria began to explain.
“Mmhm.” Xander nodded along.
“What you need is a setting – usually of silver, as it has good mana conductivity – which will be the first step of conduction, taking the mana from the stone. Simply wrapping the core in silver wire can work well enough, drawing in the mana that the core puts out through its surface, but for a more effecient setting, small holes are usually drilled into the core to set the wire into as well, giving more surface area to draw from.”
“So we care about the mana conductivity of the material, then? That makes sense, I just hadn’t thought about it. I actually did a little experiment with my rune work to test which fillings were the most conductive.”
“Oh really?” Valteria said, interested. “What were your results?”
“Well, gold and silver were high up there in conductivity, and probably make the most sense for someone who has to physically manipulate material without use of a skill – both for a core setting and for inlaying a rune – but I did find that sapphires and rubies were even more efficient at transferring mana than gold and silver.”
“Mmm... interesting. I’ve heard of gemstones being used in very high-grade settings, as well as various other exotic materials. I read an account of one [Mechanist] who used tubes of mercury to conduct mana, though the relative effectiveness compared to silver wasn’t mentioned.” Valteria cleared her throat. “Uhm, now, where was I? Right, basic settings. Once you have your core – or monster organ, if you’re going that route – you connect it to the conduit. Usually, this is also silver wiring. I like to braid several smaller wires together, personally. I find it to be sturdier and hold up to flexing better. From there, it needs to be tied into a device. Which is a topic for tomorrow.” Looking around the shop, Valteria seemed to identify something on one of the shelves nearby. “I have a core that you could watch me set, and then you could try setting your own, if you’d like.”
“That sounds good to me,” Xander said. “I always love to see a master as work,” he added, opting for a little flattery.
“Follow me, then.” Valteria said, standing up from her stool and waving for Xander to follow.
Xander followed Valteria as she walked over to the shelf she’d been looking at earlier and took a palm sized, bright green stone from it. “Nature attuned core,” She explained, holding it for Xander to see. “I’m told it was taken from some kind of moving tree.” Valteria then moved to another worktable, on which were several of what looked to be drill bits to Xander. There was also an apparatus that look like it was designed to hold the bits, which was confirmed for him when Valteria slotted one of the small drill heads into the device. “This thing,” Valteria said, waving the drill a little bit, “is a life saver. I used to have to drill holes with a hand cranked one. Worth every single coin I paid for it to get an enchanted one.” She turned a dial on one side of the handheld device, which Xander was coming to think of as a magic dremel tool, and it began to come to life, the drill bit beginning to spin with a quiet whirring sound.
“Neat.” Xander commented. He watched patiently as Valteria drilled a series of shallow holes in the stone, the distinct screeching of metal on stone echoing through the shop floor. “So where’s Jarrett today?” He asked.
“Oh, he has the day off today. He asked for it about a week ago, not sure what for, though,” Valteria said distractedly. Soon she was finished with the holes she was drilling into the core, and moved to another workbench. “Now we create a setting for the core. This is a fairly simple way of doing it, mind you, but it is effective.”
Xander watched as she took sections of pre-braided silver wire and fitted the ends into the holes she had drilled. Once each hole was filled with a section of wire, Valteria began to pull wire from a spool, wrapping the stone until it was completely covered with silver wire and binding the braided sections to the stone in the process. “There,” she said, setting the stone down on the workbench. “A perfectly serviceable setting."
“So, if I understand correctly, you coat the core in a mana conductive material – the more surface area, the better, hence the holes – to create a setting?”
“Mmhmm,” Valteria said, nodding.
“Seems fairly straighforward. And then you connect the silver wiring that’s wrapped around it to more wiring, and attach that to your device? Why the distance? Why not just connect the setting directly to the device?”
“You absolutely can, if space isn’t an issue. Technically, the connection between the mana battery and the device, even if it’s just a single point with no distance, is still referred to as a conduit, though, so it’s considered a three part creation.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Do you want to try making your own, now? I don’t mind lending you a little wire.”
“Sure, but I should be good on material, I can produce it with my skills. Doesn’t last without a source of mana, but I guess the core itself might provide enough. Think this little chip is a bit small to put holes in, though.”
Xander looked at the small piece of crystal in his hand. If he just need as much contact as possible with a mana conductive material, his best bet would be to embed it into a sapphire or ruby. He decided on ruby, for no particular reason. Still holding the chip of core in his hand, he concentrated on his [Creation] ability. Valteria watched, amazed, as a ruby began to take form and grow around the piece of core until it was completely coated in a thin layer of gemstone.
“So, you can just... make things?” Valteria asked, sounding jealous.
“Well, it costs mana, and anything I make that isn’t provided a source of mana that leaves my person disintegrates in a day, but, yes. I can just make things with my skills. But,” he added, cutting off Valteria’s complaint of unfairness, “I have never received a skill that actually lets me improve a material. Sure, I have runes, which generally makes up the difference, but I don’t have any skills that improve the things I make. So, if you made a mana battery, and I made a mana battery the same way with identical materials, yours is going to be better, I assume, because you have skills that passively improve the things that you make, am I right?”
“Okayyy,” Valteria huffed. “I guess that does make it a little less unfair. But ugh! It would be so nice not having to source materials.” She looked at the ruby with a piece of core set inside it that Xander had made. “Well, I guess that about does it for making a setting... I thought it might have taken you longer to make one. I guess we can move on to fixing my armor even sooner! It’ll be nice to have it up and moving again.”
“Sure, sure, we can do that. Where is it, anyway?” Xander asked, looking around the shop again like he somehow would have missed the eight foot tall suit of armor.
“It’s in a shed behind the house,” Valteria explained. “I have it on a hoist so I can work on it.”
“Ah, that would explain why I haven’t seen it around.”
Exiting the shop, stopping for Valteria to put a small ‘closed’ sign on the door, the two of them made their way around the building, where Xander saw the small shed that presumably held Valteria’s armor. It looked like it could just barely hold the armor and one person – two, if they were comfortable with each other – inside it.
“So this is where the magic happens?” Xander asked.
“If by ‘magic’ you mean maintenance and upgrades, then yes,” Valteria agreed. She opened the door of the shed, which comprised most of the front of the tiny little building, revealing her suit of armor, which was currently hanging from several chains attached to pulleys on the ceiling. Plates of armor were laying strewn about the suite, leaving the joints and inner workings more exposed.
Xander whistled, looking at the inner workings of the suit. He could see gears, cogs, and joints, and throughout the entirety of the armor were running filaments of silver wire, which he assumed were mana conduits running to and from elemental cores and the various mana powered aspects of the suit. “This thing really is impressive. Almost as impressive as the woman who made it,” he said.
Valteria giggled, “Stop it! You’re supposed to be fixing this mess, not flirting with me!”
“Awh, can’t I do both?” Xander asked, trying to sound as saccharine as possible.
“Mmm, I suppose that if you are sufficiently skilled at multitasking, I might allow it,” Valteria said in a mockingly thoughtful tone.
“Well, I just so happen to be an expert, so flirt away I shall,” Xander replied. “Now, how about the beauty in front of me shows me exactly where the other beauty in front of me needs some repairs?”
Valteria sighed at Xander’s antics, but he could see the slight flush in her face. “Well, you welded the wrist joints, elbows, and knees. They aren’t welded all the way round, it’s more like you smoothed over a portion of it like it was wet clay. So if you could just... put it back? Shape it back to how it was, that’s should be all that’s needed.”
“Pretty straightforward,” Xander said, standing behind Valteria as she pointed out each joint. He could see the misshapen parts where he’d slapped a weld onto the metal. He leaned over her and put his hands on the elbow joint that they were closest to and began to shape the metal back to its original form.
“You’re... very close,” Valteria murmured to him as he formed the metal.
“Would you like me not to be?” He asked, carefully.
Valteria was silent for a moment before answering, “No...” quietly.
Xander carefully shifted to be a little closer, but still not quite touching, as he moved on to the wrist joint of the same arm. The process itself was simple, but he was enjoying taking his time. As he finished the wrist, he turned to look at Valteria. He found himself looking right into her eyes, as she was staring back at him. Unable to resist the temptation he leaned in a little closer, gauging Valteria’s reaction. When she, too, leaned towards him, he closed the small gap between them, drawing her into another kiss. Valteria pressed herself against him, the shed hiding them from any prying eyes on the street, and let out a small noise as Xander squeezed her tight. She was breathing a little bit harder than before the kiss as they separated again.
Valteria let out a breath. “You’re… a really good kisser.”
“Yeah?” Xander said, pleased with himself. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
“And you’re a tease, looming over me like that in this tiny little shed,” Valteria continued. “Now you’ve got me all flustered, how am I supposed to work now?” She mock complained.
Xander was glad to see that Valteria was comfortable enough with him to joke like that. “Forgive me,” he said formally, making a deep bow, “How ever can I make it up to the lady?”
“Oh stop it, I will tolerate no bowing and scraping, even in jest,” Valteria said, slapping him lightly on the shoulder, as he was still holding the bow. “You can make it up to me by fixing the rest of these joints! And by taking me out to dinner?” She added, hopefully.
“I think that can be arranged,” Xander said. “Is there anywhere you have in mind? I will admit, I haven’t become very familiar with the local restaurant scene, what with my… dietary restrictions.”
“It doesn’t… make you feel bad to go out to a restaurant, does it?” Valteria asked softly, watching his face for a reaction.
“Nah, don’t worry,” Xander said, waving off the question with one hand. “It doesn’t bother me too much. Sure, I miss the taste of a good cut of steak, but I was never that into food. Eating was more of a thing I did because I had to, so I’m not completely devastated by the loss. And I can still get some vicarious enjoyment out of watching someone else enjoy their food. Really the worst part is awkwardly having to refuse ordering anything,” he said with a laugh.
“Alright, if you say so,” Valteria said, letting out a slight breath of relief. “I was just worried that it might be upsetting to you, is all. I know I would miss eating.” She paused for a moment, something clearly on her mind. “What do you miss? If you don’t mind my asking. I just… well, I’m curious what it’s like for you.”
“Mmm, in a lot of ways, life is still the same, and in other ways, I’m technically doing better than I was before. I’m incredibly resistant to damage now, even without my armor. I do miss sleeping, though. I try to give my mind a rest and just sort of daydream and let my thoughts wander or do some meditation during the nights, but it’s just not the same. Also means I’m the one that pulls guard duty through the night,” he grumbled. “Let’s see, what else, what else. Ah, right. I can’t smell anything. Or taste. I haven’t worked out how to recreate those senses, yet. Though no sense of smell can be handy sometimes, I suppose. I don’t know if you’ve done much merc work – you mentioned being surprised that I’m not just moonlighting – but uh… the smells that you encounter on a battlefield are… unpleasant. To say the least. It was weird not having a sense of touch either, but I’ve resolved that. It’s a little bit different than my previous, natural sense of touch, but I’ve become accustomed to it to the point that I don’t much think about the difference anymore. I think I’ve even got the density of receptors down in certain areas compared to others, so I'm more sensitive in some areas than others now, just like I used to be. I’m still immune to being tickled though, so don’t even think about it – that’s a fight you’ll lose.” Growing a bit more somber, Xander continued on. “I think… the biggest thing I miss is just the feeling that I fit in more. Now I always worry about being different, there’s that nagging fear that anyone I get to know well is going to reject me once they find out what I am. Like I’m secretly lying to everyone around me with this façade I have going on.”
Valteria nodded sadly. “I get that. I’ve been… rejected before, too. At least it happens or not right from the beginning for me. I get to know if they look down on me for being different immediately instead of fearing they might later down the road.”
“Yeah,” Xander said. “People can really suck sometimes. But at least I can just, like, not tell people what I am if I so chose. You, my teammates, and the guild, since it’s on my status sheet, are really the only people who know. I keep it pretty private. You can’t do that, so I think you probably have to deal with a lot worse than I do. Not that I’d want you to hide what or who you are,” he added. “I happen to be quite enamored with who you are,” he said, teasing a smile from Valteria’s sad face.
“Sorry to bring up such a dour topic,” Valteria apologized. “I didn’t think much on it before I asked.”
“No worries,” Xander told her. “Honestly, I think it’s good to be able to talk about it with someone. It’s healthy to be able to get you feelings out there. And it helps that I feel like you understand where I’m coming from with it, though from a slightly different perspective.”
“You’re surprisingly thoughtful sometimes,” Valteria said, only half teasing.
“Only sometimes?” Xander asked with a faux expression of hurt on his face. “By the way, you didn’t react much to my comment about moonlighting as a merc. Do you ever go on contracts?”
Valteria shrugged. “I certainly wouldn’t describe myself as a professional mercenary. Moonlighter is an apt descriptor, for me, I think. I have gone on a couple, here and there, mostly on kill contracts that would net me a core or organ that would be useful for my work.”
“Mm, that makes sense. I suppose it could be handy having access to the ability to take contracts that would give you access to specialty materials,” Xander said.
“It’s also good for business,” Valteria explained. “Mercs tend to like to buy from someone who has at least been out on a contract or two before.”
“Ah, that makes sense. What kind of things do you sell to mercenaries, anyways? I saw Jarrett with a crossbow yesterday, but I imagine you make other things, too.”
“Oh all kinds of little things. Portable, flameless heaters for cooking. Water purification sieves. Mm, let’s see… I’ve made a few custom order devices, too. One customer wanted to be able to shoot a jet of flame from their gauntlet, that was a fun one.”
“Ooh, that does sound fun… reminds me of my flamethrower.”
“Your flamethrower?”
“Yeah, it’s basically a big tank with a hose attached to it. At the end of the hose is a pump that causes the flammable liquid – I use dragon’s tar – to shoot out. Add a flame that the tar passes over and bam! You’ve got a giant stream of flame that will coat anything it hits with sticky, flammable tar,” Xander said, excitedly describing the device.
“That’s… impressive. And kind of horrifying,” Valteria responded.
“Mm… I guess you’re right. I mostly use it on giant spiders. Blugh,” Xander shuddered. “But yeah, I suppose it’s not the nicest of ways to go. Very effective for area denial, though. Ah, actually I have an idea for crossbow bolt head that would ignite when it shatters! We should make that sometime and see if it sells.”
“Hmm, I think that would draw some buyers. A flaming bolt head you didn’t have to light first could be desirable to certain buyers.”
“Put that on the list and we’ll get around to it sometime.”
“We have a list?” Valteria said confusedly.
“We should!” Xander said with a laugh. “Now let’s get the rest of these joints done.”
The repair of the other arm and the leg joints that Xander had locked into position during the tournament was a short affair. Looking over the bare metal frame of the armor still hanging from the ceiling, Xander clapped his hands together, mimicking dusting them off. “Good as new!” He exclaimed. Looking over to Valteria he asked concernedly, “It is good as new, right?”
Valteria had been staring at the armor as well, lost in thought about how she was going to improve it next. “Hmm? Oh, yes. It’s right as rain again, ready for use. Thank you, by the way. For fixing it,” She said awkwardly.
“Well I’m the one who broke it, so it’s only fair that I fix it. So what do you want to work on next?” Xander asked. “I could do some rune work for you. Orrr… we could kiss some more?”
Valteria flushed at the question, but didn’t immediately say no.
A few minutes later, she found herself on her tip toes and lightly pressed against the interior wall of the shed, her lips pressed against Xanders.
Once the two of them were done acting like teenagers parked in a secluded parking lot, they made their way back into the shop. Stepping inside and closing the door behind them, Valteria let out a breath. “I think… you are going to have to do a lot of rune work to make up for how much you just kissed me, Xander.”
“What, you didn’t like it?” He said with a raised eyebrow.
“I didn’t say that,” Valteria said with a smirk.
submitted by Sylesth to HFY [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:32 shaneka69 Get A Tarot Reading Today! ALL READINGS SENT SAME DAY THEY ARE BOOKED

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submitted by shaneka69 to mytarotreadings [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:31 ARB1473 eGFR Fluctuations and Confusion

Hi Everyone, quick back story. In December 2021 I (35 M) got very sick (possibly COVID), and had an episode of gross hematuria. This cleared up after a day or two but I was concerned so I went to my general doctor. He ordered some bloodwork, and said everything was fine, so I forgot about it and moved on.
Then in April 2022, I got sick again, and the blood came back. Same thing, tests were "fine", and since my doctor said they were ok I didn't look too closely. However, I did notice that I had microscopic blood on all my urinalysis over the same time period. I decided to push on that, and to make a long story short, I went through the entire workup with urology, who basically gave up and said "some people have blood in their urine, you're fine).
Fast forward to the end of 2023, and the visible blood came back, again while sick. I pushed a bit harder, and got referred to a nephrologist. Another key piece of information is that I used a standard dose of Ibuprofen (either pill form or Niquil), each time the visible blood presented.
While waiting for that appointment, I discovered IGA nephropathy on my own and basically self-diagnosed. When I had my appointment with the Nephrologist, she basically said I have a "probable" diagnosis of IGA nephropathy, but didn't want to biopsy because it wouldn't change our treatment plan (Mediterranean diet and bloodwork in a year). She circled "Stage 2" on the kidney stages paper she gave me. During this same time I also dug into my previous lab results and started to look at my eGFR scores. Now, I know they changed the way they measured this at some point (removed the race from the calculation, so not sure how that plays in), but these are were my numbers:
eGFR
November 2016: 93
December 2017: 92
July 2021: 99
December 2021: 89
eGFcr:
May 2022: 88
November 2023: 71 (Morning after a late night soccer game, i was very banged up).
November 2023: 84
December 2023: 79
Since December 2023, I changed my diet: cut out gluten, far less dairy, not much alcohol, and no more protein powder. I eat regular whole foods, just nothing processed and not as much red meat as I had been. Due to the diet, I probably lost 15 lbs. (some of which is probably muscle, I am in shape).
I then went to a functional medicine doctor, just to see if they had any insight. She ordered labs through her preferred testing facility. My numbers just came back:
EGFR: 115
So, now I am completely confused. As far as I can tell, they are using the same formula to calculate this. This most recent test showed my creatinine to be much lower than it has been, maybe due to diet changes? The only other thing I changed was I didn't exercise 24 hours before the test this time.
My question is (and I of course am going to talk to my nephrologist), what do I make of this? Can diet really impact things this much? As of my last test, the microscopic blood is still in my urine, but I have never had any protein detected (and I've had probably 8 urinalysis done since 2021).
Thank you in advance for any insight.
submitted by ARB1473 to kidneydisease [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:30 hampagi Is this a pattern or a fungal infection 😭

Is this a pattern or a fungal infection 😭
Hihi fellow betta keepers. I’ve had my betta fish for 4 days now. His head had a white patch when I got him which I thought was his pattern but now I’m unsure if it’s actually a fungal infection? His fins doesn’t look too great which was what got me to research in the first place. I now noticed that he has a little hole in his body as well which I’m pretty sure wasn’t there prior. Should I start using Kanaplex? I’ve got an almond leaf in the tank for the past 3 days. Thank you!
• ⁠Tank size: 7 gallon • ⁠Heater and filter? (yes/no): Yes to both • ⁠Tank temperature: 23C/73F • ⁠Parameters in numbers and how you got them: I used aquarium coop’s test strips. Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite 0 • ⁠How long have you had the tank? How long have you had your fish?: Had the tank for 2 weeks but the substrate/rocks and plants are from a 2 year old tank. • ⁠How often are water changes? How much do you take out per change? What is your process?: Every other day 25% using a manual pump tube • ⁠Any tankmates? If so, please list with how many of each: None • ⁠What do you feed and how much: XTreme Betta and Hikari Micro Pellets. 2-3 pellets in the morning/evening. Not more than 6 pellets a day. • ⁠Decorations and plants in the tank: 4 Seiryu type stones and live plants (bacopa, dwarf hair grass, mayaca, pearlweed, frog bit, dwarf water lettuce)
submitted by hampagi to bettafish [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:29 ARB1473 eGFR Fluctuations and Confusion

Hi Everyone, quick back story. In December 2021 I (35 M) got very sick (possibly COVID), and had an episode of gross hematuria. This cleared up after a day or two but I was concerned so I went to my general doctor. He ordered some bloodwork, and said everything was fine, so I forgot about it and moved on.
Then in April 2022, I got sick again, and the blood came back. Same thing, tests were "fine", and since my doctor said they were ok I didn't look too closely. However, I did notice that I had microscopic blood on all my urinalysis over the same time period. I decided to push on that, and to make a long story short, I went through the entire workup with urology, who basically gave up and said "some people have blood in their urine, you're fine).
Fast forward to the end of 2023, and the visible blood came back, again while sick. I pushed a bit harder, and got referred to a nephrologist. Another key piece of information is that I used a standard dose of Ibuprofen (either pill form or Niquil), each time the visible blood presented.
While waiting for that appointment, I discovered IGA nephropathy on my own and basically self-diagnosed. When I had my appointment with the Nephrologist, she basically said I have a "probable" diagnosis of IGA nephropathy, but didn't want to biopsy because it wouldn't change our treatment plan (Mediterranean diet and bloodwork in a year). During this same time I also dug into my previous lab results and started to look at my eGFR scores. Now, I know they changed the way they measured this at some point (removed the race from the calculation, so not sure how that plays in), but these are were my numbers:
eGFR
November 2016: 93
December 2017: 92
July 2021: 99
December 2021: 89
eGFcr:
May 2022: 88
November 2023: 71 (Morning after a late night soccer game, i was very banged up).
November 2023: 84
December 2023: 79
Since December 2023, I changed my diet: cut out gluten, far less dairy, not much alcohol, and no more protein powder. I eat regular whole foods, just nothing processed and not as much red meat as I had been. Due to the diet, I probably lost 15 lbs. (some of which is probably muscle, I am in shape).
I then went to a functional medicine doctor, just to see if they had any insight. She ordered labs through her preferred testing facility. My numbers just came back:
EGFR: 115
So, now I am completely confused. As far as I can tell, they are using the same formula to calculate this. This most recent test showed my creatinine to be much lower than it has been, maybe due to diet changes? The only other thing I changed was I didn't exercise 24 hours before the test this time.
My question is (and I of course am going to talk to my nephrologist), what do I make of this? Can diet really impact things this much? As of my last test, the microscopic blood is still in my urine, but I have never had any protein detected (and I've had probably 8 urinalysis done since 2021).
Thank you in advance for any insight.
submitted by ARB1473 to IgANephropathy [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:25 person_8958 Personal Weapons, Damage, and You

I discovered some surprising information about ground weapon damage.
It all started with an effort to correct the rate of fire weapon stat for the time involved in reloading the weapon. This would take into account magazine size and reload speed of the particular weapon. The methodology was as follows: Fire as many rounds as possible for 20 seconds. Count how much ammo was expended. Multiply that number by 3 to get rounds per minute. Multiply that number by the weapon's damage to get damage per minute.
Weapon Effective Rate of Fire DPM
Big Bang 66 104544
Elegance 192 83712
Beowulf(semi) 216 64152
Tombstone 375 59625
AA99(semi) 204 53856
Revenant 534 46458
Drumbeat (burst) 315 43785
It should be noted that this test was done on a level 170 character with all relevant weapon and crafting perks. All weapons were fully modified to maximize their performance in damage. All weapons were advanced or unique.
Conclusions:
submitted by person_8958 to NoSodiumStarfield [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:24 Individual-Manner-67 STA rewrite attempt

A couple of years ago I tried writing my own version of Stones Abbigale. I never got past the first couple scenes, but I'm considering returning to it. I wanted to basically rewrite and change up a lot of things, mainly focusing on Abbi and Davis and changing some elements. Let me know what you think!

1
It's almost four in the morning and Seth is threatening suicide again. Good. Fuck him. I hope he does it. I don't text him that because I read about this girl who told her boyfriend to kill himself. The irony was that when he actually did it she got charged with second degree murder. My life is fucked as it is I don't need to make it worse. It's almost two in the morning and I have to be up for school in a few hours. I’m shivering under my comforter because we’re halfway through November. I think about the turkey that won't get made this year and the family I won't see. I think that's swell. Seth is still texting.
Its like u dont even care after everything that happened and after everything we did together i saved ur life and i stayed with u when u cried and i hugged u and i did everything for u but that wasn't enough was it? i try so hard and all u ever are is a bitch to me that's not fair u want me to die and u hate me and u dont even care and im sick of it abbi why is is so hard for u to care about me?
I don't respond. I don't like how I feel about this. This should be easy. He won't actually do it. He won't. He’s too self involved to kill himself. I put my phone face down on my bed. The sheets shake around it as he sends message after message. I was sleeping on a ticking bomb so I got off of it. My feet stick to the floor, I struggle to step. I might as well have been standing barefoot on ice. I trudge to my window so I can see my street at night. Winter is really coming. You can't hear as many birds as you used to. They've all gone. They've all flown away. I can see three streetlights from where I’m standing. If you can from right to left you can see the concrete fracture into the sand. I open my window and brace for the chill. I stick my head outside. The ocean is not far away. I hear it hitting the shore over and over. Waves of water splashing incessantly, almost beating out my text notifications. The street lights flicker. I think of last summer. When Seth and I got really high after the news broke that my Mom was cheating on my Dad. I was making out with that bong. Emptying bowl after bowl, clanking the glass on the road to empty it out. Just thinking about it makes me feel the street pole against my back again. I was laughing and crying. Seth leaned in and hugged me. “I’m a sure thing,” he said. “I love you and I always will.” I caught my reflection in his sunglasses. I looked awful. I shiver at the memory. My phone is still buzzing. I try to catch my breath. I shut my window and start to walk back to my bed. A room always looks different in the dark. Maybe you think you know where you are, but there is always something that can jump out at you on the floor. Like a ghostly paper bag or a vengeful shoe. Objects that seem to move on their own with the sole drive of tripping you. I crawl back into bed. There's the phantom of Dad’s snoring . I know he's not sleeping in his room, he fell asleep on the couch after finishing his seventh fifth. Sometimes my brain fills in the gaps so I can hear it everywhere. Funnily, I haven't actually heard him snore since Mom left. That's the one thing I ever heard them fight about. Before she turned out to be a whore, I guess. BZZT.BZZT.BZZT. I can't bring myself to read any of his messages. They're coming so fast all the paragraphs are lost to motion blur. Seth’s arms wrap around me and I think about the beating of his heart and the warmth of his lips against my skin. I open up the texts, ready to respond.
I love you
I text this over and over until I fall asleep.
Davis was the only senior on the bus. Somehow, everyone else had a car or a ride. It’s all right, though. James would probably give him one if he had a car, but he skated to school every morning. That's why he barely ever rode the bus with him. The bus thumped along the under paved roads. Davis forgot his earbuds at home, so the only music that accompanied him was his racing thoughts. Two sophomore girls popped their heads over. “Ohmigod, Davis!” One of them shrieked.. “As I live and breathe,” he smiled. “Nice,” she said. “I’m so excited to see your finished painting.” Davis took the lower level art class for a requirement. Like most things, he's not taking it very seriously. For their pop art unit, he's painting a portrait of the art teacher with a warthog face. It's one of his funny disruptions. He knows Mrs. Stanley is going to have a real field day with it, but it doesn't matter. Artistic liberties, he’d profess. “She's such a bitch, isn't she?” The sophomore girl turns to her compatriot, who only nods in response. “She's just jealous,” Davis says. “It must be depressing to teach art and see the youth soar above her.” “For sure,” the girl doesn't get it. Class clown is a semi-heavy burden. Davis doesn't really feel like talking to these girls, but his position demands it. Comedy informs everything about him. To the giant thrift store jeans, to the loud Hawaiian shirt. He and James are the ultimate combination, at least he likes to think so. Quiet brooding begs for bright distraction. The girl is still trying to talk to him and Davis is saying his preprogrammed lines. The bus stops in front of James’s street. Surprisingly, James is standing there. “Like I’m this close to just filling my hydroflask with vodka, yaknow?” says the chick. Maybe she's just trying to get a rise out of him. “Better be prepared to give me more than a sip,” Davis is watching James grumble towards the bus. The sun is beating down on the forming ice puddles. James stomps through them with small shattering steps. James turns up the bus aisle and plops in the seat next to Davis. Davis’s smile is genuine now, but he fights it from getting too wide. “Crash your vehicle?” Davis asks. “Something like it,” there's something off with him. Davis doesn't want to push it. “Well damn, hope insurance covers it,” Davis wants James to break and laugh. Is it just another mood or did something actually happen this time? “It won't, I got bad credit,” James grins and it's like heaven. “What's the move for you today?” “Surviving art and physics for me,” says Davis. “Those bastards love to keep me down.” “Who doesn't,” James eyes the girls who have since returned to whatever they were doing before. It's the judgement stare, as Davis calls it. James likes to observe his peers like a zoo-goer. Breaking them down to taxonomic types. Davis likes to think that James doesn't do this to him, but he knows he probably does. “It sucks you decided to be bad at school and take baby art,” James is still dissecting the sophomore girls down to their tropes. “We could have done Art II together.” “I wouldn't want to get between you and Alex. I know how you love it when people piss in jars next to you.” “That's disgusting,” James breaks his glare at the girls. “It's performance art, it's beautiful,” Davis gets up out of his seat to yell. “Everyone witness the wonderful work of Alex Madov! Disengage yourself from the shackles of capitalism by shouting with me: Poopy, pee pee, poop!” Davis gets a few chuckles from the other kids on the bus. “Sit down, fatso,” mumbles the bus driver. “I will not be silenced! I’m a messenger of the good word, sir!” “More of this shit and I’m skipping your stop!” “Fine, but I will make Alex remember on the day of judgement,” Davis sits back down. James is full belly laughing. “You're so retarded,” James wheezes. Davis can't even come back with a response. He's high off of it.
The bus pulls into the school lot with a short stop. The mobs get up and begin to race out. Davis follows James down the line. “You know Abbi?” James asks. Davis feels a little pit form in his stomach, but he doesn't change his expression. “Vaguely, what about her?” “She's in my art class,” James begins. “And I think … well you know, I’m going to talk to her.” He walks down the steps and out the door. “Doesn't she have a boyfr-” before Davis can descend the driver's arm blocks him. “I’ve had enough of your shit, kid,” he says. “If you keep being obnoxious, I’m gonna find a way to make you pay for it.” James looks back, but he can't stay. Davis knows that he's gotta get to class. James does a little wave goodbye and Davis salutes him. “Are you even listening to me?” the bus driver seethes. “Yes, sir. Divine retribution, got it.” Davis ducks underneath his arm and exits the bus. James has already disappeared into the crowd.
I pass the bong to Ashley. She starts another bowl. She’s the transport and I provide the material. The little things that keep our friendship afloat. I look at the clock in her car. “It's 8:45,” I pick a piece of bagel out of my teeth. “So that's it, we officially missed first period,” Ashley tops it off. “They won't mark us, you know. It's a study.” “Yeah, but when's the last time we signed in? I heard they're changing the policy again. Do you still have the lighter?” I toss it to her. I don't get it. It's always her idea to pick me up so we can smoke before school, why now is she suddenly caring about attendance? “We're pretty girls, we can get out of it. I’m next,” I tap on the clock. “Are you sure it's not fast?” She shakes her head as she takes a snap. We're parked in the pond area a block or two from the school. It's our designated smoking spot. I like it, even at the end of fall it's pretty. I’m so engrossed that I don't realize her tip out the bowl and put it back in the cup holder. “I don't know if it's wise to keep up the activity, we should probably get going soon,” she starts up her car again. “Okay,” I say. She reverses and swings out of the lot. We lean into the silence and it's super weird. “Seth texted me last night,” I wait for her reaction. “Oh,” she grimaces. “What did you say?” “That I loved him.” Silence again. Ashley's trying to put together something well-meaning while understanding that I’ll probably ignore whatever she has to say. “Abbi, I’m not trying to tell you how to run your life, but …” Her expression is now quizzical. She's said what she is about to say a number of different ways all ready. She thinks and thinks and decides to say nothing. Good call, I would have screamed at her. Not because what she thinks about my situation isn't true, I’m just in a ‘screaming at people mood’ because of it. “I’m going to dye my hair again,” she changes the subject to avoid conflict. Classic Ash. “Oh yeah? What color this time?” “I don't know,” she checks her reflection in the rear view. “The red has faded out, maybe blue or pink this time.” “You should go with a softer pink,” I say. “Since you're a soft spring.” “Yeah, maybe.” We enter the school lot. “Listen, do you want to get together when I do it? Maybe you can dye your hair too.” “I don't know, I might be busy,” I say. “Seth might want to do something,” I pause for her to protest. “Okay,” she says. She parks and we get out.
I barrel into art class. I don't care if I reek, out of all the teachers I can tell Mrs. Stanley smokes the most. It would be hypocritical of her to care. It looks like I’m the first one. Weird. I check my phone. It's 8:45. Well, fuck. Looks like Ashley needs to fix her clock. Mrs. Stanley is at her desk. She looks at me knowingly. “Eager to create today, Abbi?” I just nod and sit at my desk. I’m really feeling it. I open up my precalc notebook and just start sketching. Birds, eyes, trees, whatever. Kids start coming in. Their chatter echoes around me, I try to focus on what I’m doing. Someone bumps into my table. I look up. It's this lanky blonde kid, I think his name is James. He presses his hands underneath the desk as he leans up to talk to me. “Eww!” He shouts. Some kids turn and laugh. I don't. I just stare at him. James goes red and sits next to the kid who pissed in a jar. Once an adequate amount of students are in the room, Mrs. Stanley starts her lesson slideshow. On the screen is a dirty urinal. “How many of you are familiar with this work by Marcel DuChamp?” she asks. At this point, Jason, the designated meathead jock, enters the room. “Sorry I’m late, Mrs. S,” he booms. He looks at the slide. “We building bathrooms today?” Mrs. Stanley glares at him. “Wouldn't you like that? Considering you spend all of your time in there.” “Whatever,” Jason brushes his mullet behind his ears. “No, not whatever. Would you like me to move you into the sophomore class with Davis? Believe it or not he's getting much better marks than you are getting in here.” Jason rolls his eyes and takes his place in the chair next to me. “Up to a little extra curricular activities before art, Abbi?” he motions a joint in his fingers. I scoff and go on my phone. There's another text from Seth.
sorry about last night
and
im reading it all right now that was fucked im sorry
I start to respond, but before I can Mrs. Stanley outstretches her hand. “Give me your phone, Miss Hagerty. I’m sick of giving you warnings.” I don't have the energy to fight, I just give it to her. “You can pick it up at the end of the day.” My jaw actually drops. Jason must have really set her off, she's not usually such a cunt to me. “Anyways, found art. What is it? Well, found art is the use of everyday objects to convey an altered meaning. It can be something you find on the street or something that once held value to you. For example, My Bed by Tracey Elim.” She pulls up a picture of a messy bed that looks suspiciously like my own. “So for your final unit of the semester, you will be making your own found art. I really want you to take this project a little more seriously than most of you have been taking this class. I’m giving you the privilege of picking your own partners, but I’d like to remind you to be thoughtful with your choice. This will be worth more for your grade.” I look around. I don't have any friends here. I toy around with the idea of asking Jason for convenience and he looks like he's about to pull that move. Behind me there's that James guy. He’s sheepishly looking at me. He seems kind of nice. Okay. I don't feel like getting up so I just turn around in my chair. “Hey James, wanna be partners?” He balks a bit and then smiles at me. “Yeah, totally,” He's beaming and it's somewhat endearing. Alex and I switch seats and now I’m next to him. “I’m gonna be real with you …” I begin. He stops and shifts a little. “I have no idea what we're supposed to be doing for this.” He regards me oddly. Like he's trying to piece me together. It doesn't bother me. “She said we have to bring in an object that's special to us and present it artistically basically,” he rubs his chin. Damn, I must be baked to hell. I didn't hear her saying that at all. “So got any stuffed animals we can cut up and make Lovecraftian monstrosities out of?” “I got a hamster cage, hold the hamster,” I say. It comes out kind of weird and I probably sound stupid, but he doesn't seem to care. “Let's make a fucking zoo.” “Perfect!” He’s kind of cute actually. In a way. Something about this feels fun. I realize the bell will ring soon. “So um,” I rip out a page of my precalc notebook, still fresh with my drawings. I scrawl out my number and push it to him. “Call me so we can figure out the project some more.” I pack up all my stuff and start to head out. I can feel him watching me and it's not that bad. “I sure will,” he says. Everything feels really groovy. There's a lightness now. I’m halfway out the door when I remember my phone. I can't believe that I just forgot about Seth. I think about begging for my phone, but I feel too above that. Still, something shakes the good feeling as the bell rings.
submitted by Individual-Manner-67 to Onision [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:23 tienbien19 Cake/Cupcake Conflicting Advice - Help?

I'm getting conflicting advice and I'd love to hear what y'all think to see if I can figure out what to do here. It's not a huge deal, but I just can't make up my mind.
The lady baking our cake has multiple bookings for the weekend of our wedding, so was unable to do a multi-tiered cake, like we'd initially wanted. This isn't a huge deal to me, so we are just doing a two-tier cake in raspberry/chocolate, and lemon cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes on the side to make up for the extra cake. Sounds great to me, since I know not everyone likes the same flavors anyway.
We met with our caterer last week and when we gave her the number of RSVP's we had so far and cake/cupcake info, she said that she didn't think we were going to have enough for everyone and that we should order more cupcakes, to make sure everyone gets some cake.
She also said that we should get the additional cupcakes in the same flavor as the cake, because what she usually sees at weddings is that a lot of people want to try all of the flavors, so they take a slice of cake and one of each different cupcake flavor. Which means that if we get an additional cupcake flavor, it won't actually help make sure everyone gets some cake. She was very adamant about this.
When I asked my cake person about this, she suggested that a different flavor would be better.
Having never done this before, I have absolutely no idea. And getting conflicting advice from my two vendors that do it all the time. I'm just confused. Would love to hear your thoughts on this, especially if you had a similar cake situation at your wedding - what/how did your guests actually eat?
submitted by tienbien19 to weddingplanning [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:23 BeneficialCow1 How oral THC testing actually works

Please educate yourself on how the oral THC tests actually work.
Currently approved THC tests in Canada only tests for THC, and not the metabolites. THC only remain in oral fluids for a few hours after consumption. Unlike urine tests, if you used THC the night before or consumed CBD oils, the oral tests will unlikely come up positive.
Oral THC tests return either a positive or negative test based on a set threshold, rather than a number like an alcohol breathalyzer. So it's a zero tolerance policy above a set threshold, rather than zero THC at all.
There is evidence suggesting that THC remains in oral fluids days after use for chronic users or if you're exposed to second hand smoke. However, the levels detected are much lower than the threshold set for the oral tests and the tests should still come up negative.
There is legitimate concerns over false positives, but it is a small percentage and there is a greater percentage of false negatives.
Concerns over whether random check stops are okay is another matter but please educate yourself before you go around fear mongering.
TLDR: The oral tests are designed to only test positive if you've consumed THC in the past few hours. If you aren't driving around impaired, you probably have nothing to worry about.
References
https://www.draeger.com/en-us_us/Products/DrugTest-5000#technical-data
https://www.workplacesafetynorth.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/Mining-2019-Drug-Test-5000-Drager.pdf
https://www.ccsa.ca/sites/default/files/2020-04/CCSA-Oral-Fluid-Drug-Screening-Policy-Brief-2020-en.pdf
https://journals.lww.com/drug-monitoring/fulltext/2014/12000/detection_time_for_thc_in_oral_fluid_after.19.aspx
https://academic.oup.com/jat/article/39/7/497/819441?login=true
submitted by BeneficialCow1 to saskatoon [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:23 GABAAPAM Perion Network (NASDAQ:PERI). Cash equivalent to 75% of market cap

I wanted to share a company that caught my attention and I've been looking into lately.
It's Perion Network, an Israeli-based AdTech company specializing in online advertising and search monitoring services, with revenue segmented into: CTV, DOOH, Video and Search.
The attractive of this company is, that in my opinion, it has been severely punished by the market due to the downward revenue forecast adjustment of the search section, which depends on a contract this company has with Microsoft and its search engine Bing.
In FY2023, revenues from this category (search) were ($344.91M), a 33% increase from FY2022 ($279.56M). Projected guidance for FY2024 at the end of 2023 was revenue of ($860-$880M) and EBITDA of ($178-$182M).
In Q1, revenues were split between Search ($82M) and Advertising Solutions, which integrates revenues from the other areas ($75.8M). In this quarter, video category revenues fell by (52%) YoY, while DOOH and CTV increased by (25%) YoY and (108%) YoY respectively. As mentioned earlier, the company reported a decline in search advertising activity due to recent changes in advertising pricing and mechanisms by Microsoft Bing, hence, the company has cut its FY2024 expectations to revenues of ($590-$610M) and EBITDA of ($78-$82M).
This guidance cut has caused a roughly 40% drop in stock price.
I believe the market is excessively punishing this company; currently, Perion has a cash balance of ($479.7M) and its market cap, considering diluted shares (50,600,750) at a price per share of ($12.52), is ($633.52M). Perion has no debt but it's relevant to note ($73.7M) in short-term payment obligations related to acquisitions.
Taking this into account, the market is valuing Perion's business at ($153.82M), which means Perion's business is valued at an EBITDA multiple of x2.8 and x0.38 of revenue approximately.
In my opinion, risks are associated with the realization of pricing changes in Bing, which, according to management, will be reflected from Q2 onwards, the deterioration of the video section (which, according to the company, in response to a question from the earnings call, will decrease by the end of Q2 and return to normal growth in Q3), the sustainability of CTV and DOOH growth, as well as the company's capital allocation (with the danger of overpaying for acquisitions).
They are currently completing a share repurchase of ($75M), which will be finalized by the end of May.
This is my first post of this kind, and I would like to emphasize that I am posting to share this idea and I’m not focusing too much on the numbers as I believe there are analysis done by much more competent people like Sandeep Nital David and Atlanticus Capital (I recommend reading their analysis on Perion available on Seeking alpha).
Disclosure: I hold a long position in Perion Network
submitted by GABAAPAM to ValueInvesting [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:23 tempmailgenerator Resolving Background Color Display Issues in Outlook for HTML Emails

Understanding HTML Email Design Challenges in Outlook

Email marketing is a pivotal aspect of digital communication strategies, often leveraging HTML templates to create visually appealing and engaging messages. However, designers frequently encounter challenges when ensuring these emails display correctly across different email clients, with Outlook being particularly notorious for its rendering issues. Among these, setting the background color in HTML email templates can be problematic, leading to inconsistencies that detract from the intended user experience. This hurdle stems from Outlook's use of Microsoft Word's rendering engine, which interprets HTML and CSS differently than web browsers and other email clients.
To navigate these challenges, it's essential to understand the nuances of Outlook's rendering engine and the specific CSS properties it supports. Crafting emails that look consistent across all platforms requires a blend of technical knowledge, creativity, and a keen eye for detail. This introduction aims to shed light on why background color issues occur in Outlook and provide a foundation for exploring solutions that ensure your emails look as intended, regardless of the client. With the right approach, overcoming these obstacles is not only possible but can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.
Command/Property Description
VML (Vector Markup Language) Used to specify graphical elements in XML. Essential for Outlook background compatibility.
CSS Background Properties Standard CSS properties to define the background of HTML elements. Includes color, image, position, and repeat settings.
Conditional Comments Used to target HTML/CSS code specifically to Outlook email clients.

In-depth Analysis of Outlook's Background Color Dilemma

Email marketers and web designers often face significant challenges when creating HTML email templates that are compatible across different email clients. Outlook, in particular, has been a source of frustration due to its unique rendering engine. Unlike most email clients that use web-based rendering engines, Outlook uses the Word rendering engine, which can lead to discrepancies in how HTML and CSS are interpreted, especially concerning background colors and images. This difference means that techniques that work flawlessly in web browsers and other email clients may not work in Outlook, leading to emails that look different than intended. This inconsistency can undermine the effectiveness of email campaigns, as the visual aspect of an email plays a crucial role in engaging recipients and conveying the message.
To address these issues, developers have come up with various workarounds and best practices. One such solution involves using Vector Markup Language (VML) for defining background properties in emails intended for Outlook. VML is a Microsoft-specific XML language that allows for the inclusion of vector graphic definitions directly in HTML emails. By leveraging VML, designers can ensure that their emails display consistently in Outlook, with the intended background colors and images appearing as expected. Additionally, conditional comments are used to target Outlook clients specifically, ensuring that these VML-based styles do not affect the email’s appearance in other clients. Understanding and implementing these techniques is essential for creating engaging and visually consistent emails across all platforms, helping businesses and marketers to maintain a professional image in their email communications.

Fixing Background Color in Outlook Emails

HTML & VML Coding
[if gte mso 9]>     Your email content here... 
[if gte mso 9]>

Exploring Solutions for Outlook Email Background Issues

Creating HTML emails that render consistently across various email clients is crucial for maintaining the integrity of email marketing campaigns. The disparity in email client rendering, particularly with Microsoft Outlook, poses significant challenges for designers. Outlook's reliance on the Word rendering engine, as opposed to the web-standard engines used by other email clients, results in frequent discrepancies in how CSS and HTML are interpreted. This often leads to issues like background colors not displaying as expected, which can impact the visual appeal and effectiveness of an email. Addressing these issues requires a deep understanding of both the limitations and capabilities of Outlook's rendering engine, and the development of creative solutions that ensure emails look consistent and professional across all platforms.
Adopting specific strategies, such as utilizing Vector Markup Language (VML) for backgrounds and employing conditional comments to target Outlook, can significantly improve the consistency of email presentation. These techniques allow designers to bypass some of Outlook's rendering limitations, ensuring that emails maintain their intended design. Moreover, understanding these workarounds and best practices is essential for designers and marketers aiming to create effective, engaging email campaigns. As the email marketing landscape continues to evolve, staying informed about these challenges and solutions is crucial for anyone looking to leverage email as a powerful marketing tool.

Email Template Design FAQs for Outlook

  1. Question: Why do background colors often not display correctly in Outlook?
  2. Answer: Outlook uses the Word rendering engine, which interprets CSS and HTML differently from web browsers and other email clients, leading to display issues.
  3. Question: What is Vector Markup Language (VML), and why is it important for Outlook emails?
  4. Answer: VML is an XML-based format for vector graphics, used in Outlook emails to ensure background colors and images display correctly, bypassing some of Outlook's rendering limitations.
  5. Question: Can conditional comments be used to target email styles specifically for Outlook?
  6. Answer: Yes, conditional comments can target Outlook clients, allowing for the inclusion of VML and specific CSS that corrects rendering issues in Outlook without affecting other clients.
  7. Question: Are there any general best practices for designing HTML emails for Outlook?
  8. Answer: Yes, using inline CSS, avoiding complex CSS selectors, and testing emails across multiple clients, including different versions of Outlook, are recommended practices.
  9. Question: How can email marketers test their HTML emails across different email clients?
  10. Answer: Email marketers can use email testing services like Litmus or Email on Acid, which provide previews of how emails will look across various email clients, including Outlook.
  11. Question: Is it possible to create responsive email designs that work well in Outlook?
  12. Answer: Yes, but it requires careful planning and testing, including the use of VML for backgrounds and conditional comments to ensure responsiveness in Outlook.
  13. Question: Do all versions of Outlook have the same rendering issues?
  14. Answer: No, different versions of Outlook may render HTML emails differently due to updates and changes in the rendering engine over time.
  15. Question: Can web fonts be used in HTML emails viewed in Outlook?
  16. Answer: Outlook has limited support for web fonts, often defaulting to fallback fonts, so it's best to use web-safe fonts for critical text.
  17. Question: What's the significance of using inline CSS for HTML emails?
  18. Answer: Inline CSS ensures better compatibility across email clients, including Outlook, as it reduces the risk of styles being stripped or ignored.

Wrapping Up the Outlook Email Background Color Conundrum

Addressing the Outlook email background color issue is a testament to the intricate balance between design creativity and technical acumen in the realm of email marketing. This challenge underscores the critical need for adaptability and innovation within digital communication strategies. By understanding the unique rendering behaviors of Outlook and employing specialized techniques such as VML and conditional comments, designers can overcome these hurdles, ensuring their messages are conveyed with visual integrity across all platforms. The journey through troubleshooting to solution not only enhances the effectiveness of email campaigns but also serves as a valuable learning experience. It highlights the importance of continuous learning, testing, and adaptation in the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing. As we move forward, the key to success lies in our ability to navigate these complexities with grace, ensuring that our digital communications are as impactful and engaging as intended, regardless of the medium through which they are viewed.
https://www.tempmail.us.com/en/outlook/resolving-background-color-display-issues-in-outlook-for-html-emails
submitted by tempmailgenerator to MailDevNetwork [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:23 Annieoakleymay Rheumatologist did not order ANA panel

Hi all, Just looking for some feedback. I went in in August and had a positive ANA of 160 homogenous and a slight SSB at .2 positive. All my other bloodwork was normal. At the time I had an undetected UTI that finally got treated. In late September, I had a negative ANA and in December another negative ANA.Lately I’ve been having a lot of dry eye, dry mouth, aches and pains, and I’m following up with my rheumatologist for the four month Follow up later this month. She ordered a full blood count, metabolic panel, CRP, and SED, but when I asked her about the ANA, she said she didn’t feel it was needed because it was negative in December. I had also put in a call to my primary care at the same time and he was able to put the ANA panel in..All my blood work has come back and there within normal ranges. I’m still waiting on the ANA results. I’ll talk to my rheumatologist later this month but I guess I’m a little frustrated and not understanding why she wouldn’t order the ANA panel. Especially if it comes back positive isn’t that something she would have liked to have known for my treatment. I mean why order all the other tests that were run last August, but not the ANA again.
submitted by Annieoakleymay to Sjogrens [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:21 Ill_Biscotti1175 Seeking advice in dealing with a schizophrenic.

So I come from a single mother household and currently the only ones working are my brother and mom. Me and my sister are in college and are just chugging along doing our thing. But about a month ago her mental psyche has just completely broke down. They found her on a street naked just laying there. They checked her into a facility and we took her home afterwards. My mom quit her job to care for her 24/7 and now we're just working off of one income for 6 people. We were in the process of moving her back into her apartment when she had another episode. She assaulted my brothers and my mom and ran put of the house, stripping herself and walking around the neighborhood naked. We called the cops and they took her in for a 50150 hold. As of now we're struggling to find someone to take her apartment as the lease lasts another year and that would mean we're 11k down the drain already. We also have to worry about any possible medical costs that isn't under Insurance. I also worry for my little sisters who had to witness some of this happening. She's made her episodes so public that my brother might lose his job if she goes back to her apartment and has an episode there. My family is at a loss at how to deal with her at this point.
I'm here asking for help In either treating her or finding somewhere to place her because I fear that next time she will be more violent with her episodes. I can't always be home and it's the same with my brother. If something happens to my family because of her I don't know what I'll do.
submitted by Ill_Biscotti1175 to mentalhealth [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:20 No-Singer4911 I (21f) have never been happier than in my current relationship...but I've never felt more insecure. My boyfriend's (25m) abusive ex (26f) has a lot of say in our relationship, and I want to feel confident in myself while I help him navigate some really heavy stuff. Advice on feeling more secure?

TW: Domestic violence, ideation, SA
These past couple months of my life have been transformation, but exhausting. I recently lost my grandfather to a terminal illness, the man who supported me in countless ways and really brought our family together when he first got sick. His death was crippling for the first couple weeks, but I have since been able to see that his suffering coming to an end is worth more than the rest of us having him still with us on earth. His passing put a lot of things in perspective, including my deep rooted unhappiness in my long term relationship and my unhealthy relationship with substances. Throughout this time, I lost a number of friends to the breakup, many of which led with the whole "bros before hoes" mentality, so much so that not a single one of them reach out when my grandfather did eventually die, and I had never felt so alone. In the mean time, I was able to grow very close with a group of coworkers my age, all in their twenties. On nights where all I wanted to do was get drunk and ignore my problems, they would drive me out to the dam and sit and listen to me sob about how I felt like I wasted the last couple months of my grandfather's life getting drunk with people who threw me away when I didn't want to party any more, all in the name of distracting myself from his inevitable death. They stepped up to the plate when I broke up with my ex and he lost his mind thinking I was a horrible person for not wanting him to come to my grandfather's funeral and just wanting to be alone instead of in a relationship where I was doing so much heavy lifting for little payout. I also had to come to terms with the fact that my ex and I only ever had sex when we were drunk because I really didn't enjoy it, but there was one time where he blacked out and didn't even remember us sleeping together. During that encounter, I had begged him to stop, but he couldn't hear me I guess, and he kept going until he finished and I just laid there and cried while he passed out next to me. I now know that was rape, but in the moment I felt like I did something wrong. That period of my life was so fucking hard, but I made it with the help of some awesome people and newfound sobriety.
Among the group of coworkers was Jack (25m). I will admit, I got butterflies the moment he walked into work that first time, but I never planned on acting on it; it was just a surprising thing that had never happened to me before. He and I started a friendship when he opened up about being new to the area, his desire to move up the ladder in the industry we both work in, and told me all about his dog who he loved so much. His girlfriend at the time, Alyssa (26f) had gotten a job here and they moved three hours north for her job, and he figured he might as well start working at a serious job in his dream industry. Our friendship grew when he commented to my good friend Tony (23m) and I about the growing resentment he had for the area and his girlfriend. Apparently, for years she had always been very dependent on him while still controlling most aspects of his life, but since they moved up here, she had stopped doing any house work, taking care of their dog, and demanding that he stay home to spend time with her instead of going out to meet new people in town (we work in a very social industry, and when he first started, we all got together and offered to take him out to see new things in town, meet other big people in the industry, etc, but didn't take it personally when he said no. However, this convo made it very clear that he wanted to go those four times we tried, but he was informed by Alyssa that he was a selfish bastard for wanting to go out without her and she felt like he hated her so much that he was trying to use work as an excuse to leave her alone. I can't make this up). He started crying about how he felt like a maid, like a doormat that she walked all over and how he wished he had never moved up here, how every time he tried to break up with her she threatened to kill herself and he couldn't live with the thought of being responsible for her death. Tony let Jack know that none of that behavior was okay, and we as a group talked about what Jack really wanted to do with his life and what was holding him back. Shortly after, Jack broke up with Alyssa, who once again threatened to kill herself, got violent with him, and blamed him for throwing in the towel when she did nothing wrong. Tony gave Jack a room in apartment to stay in when it became clear that Alyssa would attack Jack anytime he was home, and he officially moved out within the week. Our coworkers all banded together to make sure he had furniture for his new room, bought him a dresser and a bed frame and we each took our cars over to his old place to move him out. It took a village, but he now has a safe apartment of his own with Tony and he has repeatedly thanked us all for letting him fall apart without judgement. A few months later, my grandfather passed and I was shown the same love by our little group. I have some amazing coworkers.
I was sitting next to Jack in the back of Tony's truck when I got the call my grandfather died. In that moment, it became clear that he really did care about me, and I am so grateful that he was there for me even when I swore I didn't need anyone. This all happened shortly after my breakup and newfound sobriety, so I was an absolute mess, but Jack didn't care. I opened up to him about my assault, my problem with drinking, and all the ugly parts of myself and he never once treated me like damaged goods. He and I fell apart and helped each other try to stitch together new lives at the expense of our old ones. I constantly am reminded by friends and family how much happier I am now, and I can give a lot of that credit to Jack and his patience and care. The same can be said for Jack, too. He and I hooked up one night months after I was single and felt slightly more in control of my emotions, and after doing that a couple more times, we started dating five months ago.
Now here comes the kicker. Jack has made some shitty choices in the past that I did not know about until we got together. Apparently, he had cheated on one of his exes at college, and when he and Alyssa first got together, he had been sleeping with two other girls who he cut things off with pretty suddenly when he got the chance to sleep with Alyssa, then they started dating a few weeks later. There are a number of girls that he kinda fucked over before the age of twenty, but he doesn't talk to any of them anymore and knows that he was in the wrong for all of them. Growth, I hope. I found out that he was still somewhat connected to one of them, and when I told him how worrisome that made me, he immediately apologized for not realizing earlier how that would make me uncomfortable and quickly (per his own volition) let her know that he did not want to continue talking because he felt it was clear she only really wanted to sleep with him and she had very little respect for his monogamous relationships. She flipped shit and he was glad that he was able to cut ties because apparently that wasn't the first time she tried to guilt trip him into staying in touch with her. But mostly, Alyssa has become a fairly constant fixture in our relationship. Because they had a dog together, Jack has to ask Alyssa when he can go over there to see the dog. She only does it on her terms, which is understandable, but she will constantly blame him for not taking care of the dog (Tony has two cats, and while Tony wants Jack to take the dog to their apartment, he doesn't think the cats would feel safe and they are already very skittish). She texts him biweekly saying that she found something of his, like a box of ties, a thing of utensils, etc, and demands he come get them and walk the dog asap. More than once, she has called him early in the morning asking him to come over because something is wrong with the dog, but most recently she called at 7 am saying "You need to get over here now, something is wrong with the dog. This shouldn't all be my problem and you should be the one taking care of this." He tries to get more info but she refused and said it shouldn't matter, he should just drop everything and take her to the vet and stop asking questions. He asked her to wait a few hours and if she still needed help he would come. Turns out, she clipped the dog's nail too short and the dog was bleeding a little, and that's what the phone call was for. But most alarming, Alyssa texted Jack repeatedly when we were on a lunch date saying that he needed to come take the dog because she was going to the mental hospital for suicidal ideation. Understandably so, we get the bill and Jack loses his mind in the car. He was terrified. She never did go, and when Jack reached out to her mom, she said Alyssa was fine and had no idea what he was talking about. She texts him randomly telling him he better come spend time with the dog because she's thinking of moving south again, three hours away, and will basically text him threatening stuff all the time all with the guise of him seeing the dog. I know this is all something I signed up for, but between the crazy shit with Alyssa and his cheating in the past, I don't know how I got myself involved in something so messy. Yes, he was being abused and now he is so grateful for the love I give him, but I still feel somewhat insecure based off how much say Alyssa has on his mood. He doesn't fold for anyone like he does for her, and while she or us will move out of state within the next year, I guess I mostly need to know what people recommend in terms of me feeling more secure in myself. This is a bug weight on my shoulders and while I do love him and am happy he his around, I need to prioritize myself above all else. Please help.
TL;DR: My boyfriend (25m) and I (21f) have been through a lot. His ex girlfriend is very manipulative and I want to make sure I am taking care of myself to be the best version of myself after having a very transformative year (newfound sobriety, death of my grandfather, loss of many friends, and grief over a past relationship). I don't doubt that he loves me, I just want to look out for myself and make sure I am making healthy choices while we navigate a very heavy period of our lives together. Thanks in advance.
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2024.05.14 19:18 natnat1919 Tickets

My biggest pet peeve is slow drivers and people who don’t use their blinkers are almost never pulled over. When they are some of the highest accident causing behavior….. why?????? “Individuals who choose to drive 10 miles under the speed limit are six times more likely to be in a car accident. This means if the speed limit is 65 mph and a person drives 55 mph and another person drives 70 mph, the individual who drives under the speed limit may be more likely to have an accident.”
“According to the SAE, turn signal neglect causes over two million auto accidents every year. That number represents nearly one in five accidents and is more than twice the number of annual accidents attributed to distracted driving.” Seems like they are always focused on the wrong infractions and maybe accidents would decrease if the focus was on the highest accident causing mistakes.
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2024.05.14 19:16 Classic_Job_7575 Hours worked push hourly salary under minimum wage

I've been working at my current company for over 5 years, and in my current job since July 2022. I work in the UK. The job is full time.
There is part of the job that means I have to cover a phone line for various problems when the office isn't open, and there is a small payment extra for that when I do it (I have a phone from the company for this)
My problem is that the extra payment doesn't count until a couple of hours after I finish my normal hours for the day. To my mind that means the extra hours count towards the hours I'm paid in my salary. So if I normally work 40 hours a week, but for 2 weeks of the month I cover the phone lines, then because of the 2 extra hours a day after normal working hours before the extra payment counts from, this should surely mean my salary for those 2 weeks is for 50 hours, pushing the hourly rate down?
This then puts my hourly salary rate below minimum wage based on the number of hours worked against my annual salary. Some times no one calls but sometimes they do and I would be working in those extra hours.
Is my thinking on this correct, and do I have enough legally to ask the company to change?
Edit: I am in England
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2024.05.14 19:16 Firefox72 In China Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes remains 3rd on Tuesday and falls below $1M after grossing just $0.97M/$13.50M. Twilight of the Warriors leads with $1.30M(-40%)/$63.80M. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga confirmed for a 2024 release. History/War movie Hengyang 1944 announced for a June 28th release.

In China Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes remains 3rd on Tuesday and falls below $1M after grossing just $0.97M/$13.50M. Twilight of the Warriors leads with $1.30M(-40%)/$63.80M. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga confirmed for a 2024 release. History/War movie Hengyang 1944 announced for a June 28th release.
https://preview.redd.it/13y8p49ndf0d1.png?width=610&format=png&auto=webp&s=465088c4ae6907adc32afbeb2f719f328bf120af

Daily Box Office (May 14th 2024)

The market hits ¥33.7M/$4.7M which is down -9% versus yesterday and down -39% versus last week.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga has been confirmed for a release. No date yet.
https://weibo.com/2236550925/5033951259525186
Hengyang 1944 a wahistory movie depicting the Battle of Hengyang has been announced to release on the 28th of June.
https://vod.pipi.cn/fec9203cvodtransbj1251246104/a3e25d621253642697066265502/v.f42905.mp4
Province map of the day:
https://imgsli.com/MjYzOTE5
Apes almost entierly pushed out only holding out in Tibet.
In Metropolitan cities:
The Last Frenzy wins Beijing
Twilight of The Warriors wins the rest with Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Chengdu.
City tiers:
Twilight of the Warriors up to 1st in T3.
Tier 1: Twilight of the Warriors>Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes>The Last Frenzy
Tier 2: The Last Frenzy>Twilight of the Warriors>Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Tier 3: Twilight of the Warriors>The Last Frenzy>Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Tier 4: The Last Frenzy>Twilight of the Warriors>Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
# Movie Gross %YD %LW Screenings Admisions(Today) Total Gross Projected Total Gross
1 Twilight of the Warriors $1.30M -6% -40% 69395 0.23M $63.80M $90M-$93M
2 The Last Frenzy $1.27M -7% -39% 78736 0.23M $74.56M $99M-$103M
3 Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes $0.97M -16% / 81117 0.17M $13.20M $28M-$29M
4 Formed Police Unit $0.47M -4% -58% 52164 0.08M $65.64M $74M-$76M
5 Spy X Family: Code White $0.18M -14% -60% 28598 0.03M $36.73M $39M-$41M
6 Howls Moving Castle $0.17M -10% -51% 17438 0.03M $20.08M $23M-$24M
7 I love you to the moon and back $0.05M -5% -54% 10045 0.008M $6.02M $6M-$7M
9 Godzilla X Kong $0.03M +11% -50% 3969 0.004M $131.63M $131M-$132M
8 The Boy and The Heron $0.02M -10% -50% 2409 0.003M $109.00M $109M-$110M
*YD=Yesterday, LW=Last Week,
Pre-Sales map for tomorrow
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes only with a few provinces left.
https://i.imgur.com/AKJVPhG.png

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes remains 3rd as it continues to split. Already below $1M after just 4 days.
Audience Figures:
WoM figures: Maoyan: 9.0 , Taopiaopiao: 9.2 , Douban: 6.5
Initial opening weekend gender split leaning Male with around a 59-41 split. Women have however rated the movie higher by quite a big 0.5 point margin.
Age wise its a somewhat balanced split all the way from the early 20's to the 40+ crowd. Ratings wise however its a U shape curve with younger people and older people rating the movie higher while the late 20's early 30's have generaly rated it lower.
# FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU Total
First Week $2.96M $3.76M $4.65 $1.16M $0.97M / / /
Scheduled showings update for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes for the next few days:
Day Number of Showings Presales Projection
Today 81860 $47k $0.97M-$1.03M
Wednesday 79287 $41k $0.81M-$0.86M
Thursday 53131 $10k $0.75M-$0.76M

Spy X Family:

Spy X Family continues to hold poorly. $40M total very much in doubt which would mean Japan remains the movies highest grossing market.
Audience Figures:
WoM figures: Maoyan: 9.3 , Taopiaopiao: 9.5 , Douban: 7.4
In its 2nd weekend Spy X Family continues to sway towards women with a 55-45 gender split in their favor. They have also remained more favorable to the movie in ratings with a tiny 0.1 point different.
The movie is predominantly leaning towards people in the 20-30 age bracket. These people have also naturaly been most favorable to the movie in reviews.
# TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON Total
Second Week $0.52M $0.45M $0.37M $0.35M $0.74M $1.27M $0.21M $36.55M
Third Week $0.18M / / / / / / $36.73M
%± LW -60% / / / / / / /
Scheduled showings update for Spy X Family for the next few days:
Day Number of Showings Presales Projection
Today 28730 $25k $0.18M-$0.19M
Wednesday 28093 $25k $0.16M-$0.17M
Thursday 18936 $6k $0.15M-$0.16M

Howls Moving Castle:

Howls Moving Castle continues to hold better and has now almost matched Spy X Family dalies. It has crossed $20M today.
Audience Figures:
WoM figures: Maoyan: 9.7 , Taopiaopiao: 9.6 , Douban: 9.1
Howl's Moving Castle remains very women skewed with a 65-35 gender split in their favor. Women have also remained more favorable to the movie by a 0.2 margin.
Continues to be dominated by people under 30 who have also rated the movie the highest with a 9.7 average.
# TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON Total
Second Week $0.38M $0.35M $0.31M $0.25M $0.46M $0.80M $0.19M $19.91M
Third Week $0.17M / / / / / / $36.73M
%± LW -51% / / / / / / /
Scheduled showings update for Howls Moving Castle for the next few days:
Day Number of Showings Presales Projection
Today 17432 $26k $0.17M-$0.17M
Wednesday 17570 $26k $0.16M-$0.16M
Thursday 11821 $6k $0.14M-$0.15M

The Last Frenzy

The Last Frenzy remains 2nd as the drops for the top movies are somewhat stabilizing now. It will pass $75M tomorrow.
Audience Figures:
WoM figures: Maoyan: 9.2 , Taopiaopiao: 8.9 , Douban: 5.9
After the 2nd weekend The Last Frenzy's gender split remains in favor of Women with the same 52-48 split as last week. Women have continued to rate the movie more favorable by a 0.2-0.3 point margin.
Age brackets wise it remains dominated by the 20-30 brackets but also has a significant portion of older brackets pulling 15%. It remains almost non existent with under 20's which make up just a 2-3% margin. People in their 30's have rated the movie the best.
# WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE Total
First Week $11.98M $11.98M $11.63M $10.99M $7.45M $2.84M $2.41M $59.28M
Second Week $2.08M $1.84M $1.70M $2.89M $4.14M $1.36M $1.27M $74.56M
%± LW -82% -85% -85% -74% -44% -52% -39% /
Scheduled showings update for The Last Frenzy for the next few days:
Day Number of Showings Presales Projection
Today 78705 $43k $1.21M-$1.21M
Wednesday 79520 $46k $1.16M-$1.20M
Thursday 51686 $7k $1.07M-$1.10M

Twilight of The Warriors

Twilight of The Warriors comtinues to lead just slightly ahead of The Last Frenzy. Its not a wide enough gap to catch up in the total gross. Especialy as The Last Frenzy is looking to perform better on weekends.
Audience Figures:
After the 2nd weekend Twilight of the Warriors remains faily highly rated. Still sways male with a 54-46 split. Women however have given the movie a more favorable review by a 0.3 point rating on average.
Age groups wise it sways a bit younger than The Last Frenzy. Ratings wise its very consistent across the age groups with only a 0.1 variation across the under 20's to the over 40's.
Scores: Maoyan: 9.3 , Taopiaopiao: 9.4 , Douban: 7.4
# WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE Total
First Week $6.91M($15.67M) $7.08M $7.37M $7.65M $5.92M $2.89M $2.51M $49.09M
Second Week $2.17M $1.94M $1.67M $2.74M $3.50M $1.39M $1.30M $63.80M
%± LW -69% -73% -77% -77% -41% -52% -40% /
Scheduled showings update for Twilight of The Warriors for the next few days:
Day Number of Showings Presales Projection
Today 69271 $48k $1.27M-$1.34M
Wednesday 70118 $52k $1.21M-$1.22M
Thursday 46384 $13k $1.12M-$1.12M

Other stuff:

The next holywood releases currently scheduled are Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes on May 10th, The Fall Guy on May 17th, Inside Out on June 21st and Despicable Me 4 on July 12th
Civil War has been aproved and will release this year. Likely targeting a June release.
Some rumors suggest Garfield could release around Childers Day on the 1st of June.
On the Japanese front with Spy X Family and Howl's Moving Castle now out Doraemon 43 is next on the list with a confirmed May 31st release which was expected as its right on the verge of Children's Day on June 1st.
Haikyu!! The Movie: Decisive Battle at the Garbage Dump will release on the 15th June.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! The Movie will also release at some point.
So loads of Japanese content ariving to China in the next month and a bit.

Release Schedule:

A table including upcoming movies in the next month alongside trailers linked in the name of the movie, Want To See data from both Maoyan and Taopiaopiao alongside the Gender split and genre.
Remember Want To See is not pre-sales. Its just an anticipation metric. A checkbox of sorts saying your interested in an upcoming movie.
Not all movies are included since a lot are just too small to be worth covering.
520 Day(May 20th):
The 20th of May is seen by many as an unofficial Valentines Day. Which means a lot of romance/drama coming out to make use of the date. Given its linked to a weekend this year many are using the chance to release as early as Friday to then link it to the Monday.
Movie Maoyan WTS Daily Increase Taopiaopiao WTS Daily Increase M/W % Genre Release Date
Hovering Blade 92k +2k 44k +1k 37/63 Action 17.05
You Are By My Side 30k +897 7k +95 36/64 Drama/Romance 17.05
Strangers When We Met 24k +1k 52k +2k 38/62 Drama/Crime 17.05
The Fall Guy 17k +525 19k +215 49/51 Action 17.05
Even If This Love Dissapears 42k +2k 17k +655 28/72 Drama/Romance 18.05
April Come She Will 22k +741 14k +400 41/59 Drama/Romance 18.05
18x2 Beyond Youthfull Days 84k +4k 26k +1k 34/66 Drama/Romance 19.05
Nobody But You 137k +1k 48k +212 44/54 Drama/Romance 20.05
Childrens Day(June 1st):
Childrens Day is more official with Children under 14 getting half a day off. It mostly sees the release of a few animated movies and this year should be no different with Doraemon releasing on the date alongside a local animation.
There will probably be atleast a few more movies scheduled for that weekend including potentialy Garfield.
Movie Maoyan WTS Daily Increase Taopiaopiao WTS Daily Increase M/W % Genre Release Date
Doraemon 43 163k +3k 31k +615 52/48 Animation 31.05
The Adventure with Dragon 4k +149 3k +55 52/48 Animation 01.06
Dragon Boat Festival(June 10th):
The Dragon Boat Festival lands on a Monday this year which means its gonna be a single day holiday linked to the weekend.
Movie Maoyan WTS Daily Increase Taopiaopiao WTS Daily Increase M/W % Genre Release Date
Walk The Line 116k +2k 58k +1k 34/66 Comedy/Crime 08.06
Gold or Shit 18k +651 42k +2k 60/40 Comedy/Family 08.06
Be My Friend 56k +2k 10k +610 30/70 Drama/Comedy 08.06
Crisis Negotiators 6k 865 8k +765 41/59 Drama 08.06
June:
A few other noteworthy releases in June.
Movie Maoyan WTS Daily Increase Taopiaopiao WTS Daily Increase M/W % Genre Release Date
Haikyu!! The Movie: Decisive Battle at the Garbage Dump 184k +2k 99k +1k 36/64 Animation 15.06
Inside Out 2 39k +1k 26k +567 29/71 Animation 21.06
Hengyang 1944 16k +9k 16k +11k 62/38 History / War 28.06
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2024.05.14 19:15 P15T0L_WH1PP3D I can't believe how selfish and shallow my stepson has been

Not sure how else to phrase it, because I love him but he has a really bad way of being thoughtless and selfish. Our first Christmas, I was impressed with a gift that he made for his mom. It was cheap, literally just a bunch of notes in a paper bag labeled "reasons I love you" and each was a sentiment or story or inside joke. It was cheap and I understood because he was a broke-ass teenager who couldn't hold down a job.
Since then, though, I've come to experience his assumption and expectation for what he will be receiving for birthdays and Christmas. For example, he'll assume we were going to spend a few hundred dollars on gifts, and ask for it in cash instead of gifts. He asked for us to renew his medical weed permit ($250 at the time) and claimed that's all he wanted, then acted all shitty when there wasn't much else to open. He knows he gets money from his grandpa, so he's asked for advances on it. Every gift he treats as an expected transaction, taken for granted, not as a gift. For Christmas, his mom got him a necklace I think, that was sort of silly but there was a reason she got it. If he didn't like wearing it, I didn't blame him, but he could hang it from a tac on his wall or something. Instead, he actually gave it back to her right there within moments of opening it, saying it wasn't his style.
What finally pissed me off enough to write this was Mother's Day. I asked him weeks ago what he was going to do for his mom. He's 24 and no longer lives with us, but he has a job and is still getting food stamps from his brief unemployment, Actually has more than he needs to the point of stocking up before the benefits expire. Anyway, I remind him weeks ago that Mother's Day is coming up, his mom doesn't want anything but a nice heartfelt card or note because we know he's working hard and trying to save for a car and a better place. We tell him Mom wants to go to ihop, nothing fancy at all. We didn't offer to pay, but I assumed we would. We pick him up and take him after work. While we are waiting for our food, he gives her a card.
The card was literally a picture on the front and a sentence on the inside that he said "this kinda says how I feel so I didn't write anything else." And to be clear, what I mean is: the card had a sentence printed on the inside. He did not write anything, he didn't even sign his name. If we wanted to return the card, we could have. It was literally right off the shelf, and obviously a last minute purchase that he bought from work just moments before we picked him up.
Number one, I hate how shitty it makes me feel when WE show emotional investment in him with not only our thoughtful gifts but also very sincere cards and notes. We show a ton of support, love, and appreciation for him and everything he does and has done. For him to gloss over that while searching for the money inside the card is like holy shit, you're an adult, are you not aware of how selfish you look? If you're going to be an asshole, at least pretend to not be one in front of us. Second, and this is important: You will not be successful in relationships if you are an emotional slug like that. I can't imagine how his girlfriends would feel or how his wife would feel with this approach to her birthday or anniversary. You cannot half-ass something that is significant to you in any way, especially when it is equally or more significant to people you love.
My wife, who often suppresses her reactions to these kinds of things, actually broke down and told me how disappointed she was when she got that Mother's Day card. If she's willing to say something about it, I can only imagine it's more than what she's expressed because she doesn't want to be negative toward her son. I get that. So I can't imagine how low she felt when after all that she's done for him, especially in the past year, his only gift is a last-minute purchase of convenience, no thought, and not even his own words. Not even a signature.
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2024.05.14 19:15 Sagara- How our party Wizard is hilariously overpowered, and is on track to be utterly invincible

So, a couple friends wanted to start a 5E game with mostly beginners at DnD, DM included (all of them very experienced at other games, though). As a forever GM, this was a godsend, so I pushed to get in and we start setting up, nothing fancy, fighter, rogue, cleric (me) and wizard.
I tell the DM I can set my character on my own, and I'll just ask him to double check when I'm done and let him focus on the others, meaning I don't follow what they are doing.
We get started and something feels off about the wizard. Like he's throwing a lot of spells around. A lot a lot. DM doesn't seem to flinch, and nobody else seems unfazed. Hell, everyone's having quite a bit of fun, so I decide against asking questions. Things gets weirder when he starts casting Guiding Bolt. Raised eyebrow, but again, not worth making a scene.
A fair few sessions later, the wizard asks me to check over his sheet because he feels like his skill ratings are weird. Nothing too big, a couple mistakes here and there. Then we start talking spells and the story begins to unfold as we compare our classes.
So, what they understood from the book is that the Wizard gets a number of spells [slots] at each level, and there is no limit to the number of spells casts per day. I realize how hilariously busted that is, but tell him that "if everyone's fine with your kinda-sorta-homebrew, you have your fun" and suggest he picks Fireball as soon as he reaches lvl 5 (which he did, to the DM's deep dismay).
A few weeks later, we start talking Counterspell and it becoming very important later (also even more hilariously busted with no cast limit), and I start talking about upcasting, since it's so important there. He does mention that Guiding Bolt has upcasting rules, and he didn't understand how it worked.
So we bring up the upcasting problem to the DM, whose answer had me struggling to not explode in laughter. "Oh. Okay then, you can always use the max level you can use."
That man has no idea what he just started, and I'm going to be giggling on the sidelines watching the fireworks. The best part is that the Fighter and Rogue don't mind being overshadowed in combat, so everyone's actually having a hella lot of fun! And if something doesn't melt instantly, I'll be right there using very normal Cleric rules to create the opening for Mr Wizard to throw another overpowered spell in :)
submitted by Sagara- to DnD [link] [comments]


2024.05.14 19:14 Naive_Salamander395 AITAH - Partner wants me to be sole provider while he studies

Hey everyone, I really could use some advice and I didn't see the rules of the AITA, so my original post got deleted.
So, for some context: Me and my partner have been together for 4 years now. 1.5 years ago, we changed countries and are still adjusting to our new lifestyle in a way. We came from a poorer country, and now we finally have a better life in general.
I (25F) came with a permanent contract, and he (27M) came with a fixed-term contract (1y), my salary being the highest salary by a large margin. So, for a while, I was already being the main provider, which is totally fine with me. In the meanwhile, we managed to save some money, but just enough so that if anything happens, we have some back-up.
Now, to the current situation: He has been unemployed for the past 5 months, and it was really tough for us. He started getting really moody, and the first 1-2 months were completely hellish. However, after leaving his job, he realized how he felt so unappreciated by his previous bosses and I suggested that maybe it was good to have a break and get some education (which was an opportunity he had never had previously and I wanted him to experience it too). He gave it some thought, and decided to apply for a bachelor, and thankfully, he got in! Very happy for him for that.
The problem starts here: I was always very vocal about how I preferred that he found a part-time and studied full-time, or the opposite, to ensure we could maintain our heads afloat. What I didn't know was that he actually never thought much about this, and that his goal is to focus only on studying for the next 3 years.
His perspective is, and I quote: "If I find a full-time job until my university starts, fine. If not, I'll just study." I have asked what about summer jobs, part-time jobs or even internships, and he always seems to dismiss it and say that there's nothing for him, and that you need to know the local language to get those, etc. In these 5 months, there was absolutely no effort on his side to learn the local language, he has been playing games and doom scrolling for most of his day. Sends some applications here and there, and that's it. Lately, and after being accepted for university, the number of applications sent is almost getting to 5 per week.
This has become concerning to me, because it means I will be the only one handling everything for 3 years. I want to be a supportive partner like I have been so far but his lack of interest in getting a job is making my belly twist, specially considering we have made great efforts to get him stuff he wants (e.g: his first car) and that when we talked about it before he got accepted, he seemed to be really motivated to do that.
We have argued about this, and he's pissed, saying that he thought he could count on me and apparently that has changed. The one friend I have told this to says I'm being dumb and that he would never put his girlfriend in this position, but I don't really know.
Reddit, AITA for wanting my partner to find a job and study?
submitted by Naive_Salamander395 to AITAH [link] [comments]


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