This isn't my child but just wanted to vent and get some insight. Not even sure if this is the right spot to post but please anything helps! Just want to vent.
Long story short, my girlfriend has a nephew who is living with her and he is 5 1/2 years old that we are around pretty often. I'm getting to the point where his actions and the way he acts is starting to get to me and annoy me. This kid has been a sh*thead lately.
I've grown to love the kid and been around him the last 3 1/2 years but man!!! Testing the hell out of me and everyone else. I've noticed that it's starting to annoy me the way he has been reacting/acting and I find his actions as a 5 year old not okay nor acceptable. It's tough cause I KNOW it isn't my place to say nothing or let alone tell someone how to parent .. I feel like there isn't enough discipline on the child. Is this normal to feel like this even though it isn't my kid or my partners kid? It's her sister's child.
I'm constantly around him and it kinda upsets me that nobody else sees that there is no discipline or structure in this child's life. McDonald's EVERYDAY, drinks soda, eating candy, sweets, etc. you tell him no and he starts hitting and saying "no". Tells you "be quiet", starts becoming disrespectful and does not listen. Grandma is ALWAYS spoiling him even when he gets in trouble inside and outside of school and even in the house. He controls the parents life. What he eats, gets to do, even down to what time he goes to bed going to sleep between 10-11pm. I know it's typical toddler tendencies .. I've had few conversations with people and they haven't dealt with anything that bad. List goes on... he a menace right now. I just feel like an asshole for feeling like this???
My MAIN issue is that the toddler has been real touchy and especially with my girlfriend. He is constantly trying to grab her butt and boobs. She tells him to stop and he still continues and tries. Sometimes he'll even try to "lay" with her and randomly will put his face on her butt or slap her butt and grab her boobs. To me, it feels like she isn't stern enough and isn't "mean" enough to let him know that isn't okay and you don't touch anyone in those parts of the body. It turns into an argument for her and I cause I find it uncomfortable that this is STILL an ongoing issue for over a year now. He recently got introuble at school for saying "boobs and butt" in Spanish. My girlfriend lately has been making it seem like I'm "jealous" of a 5 year old when I'm not at all jealous. Almost as if she's excusing the action. Truly just feel uncomfortable. Just not okay with a 5 year old ALMOST 6 who is that touchy. Doesn't help the case that he's getting introuble for similar things at school.
Am I over reacting or anyone else would feel this way also? Not sure where to post but just needed to vent.

So, long story short, I bought two tickets to see ateez in Duluth with my boyfriend and spent a lot of money on them. However, we ended up breaking up and now I’m stuck with two tickets that I did not purchase ticket insurance for (I didn’t predict the breakup happening). There are no options to resell the tickets and the transfer button is also greyed out. Is there anything I can do at this point or am I screwed? I would love to sell these for a reasonable price but I’m not even sure if I can do that now. I’m also new to Reddit so apologies. Thanks guys!

Hi, everyone, new to the sub. I've done some searching for discipline-related posts, and it seems like plenty of them are of the form "my two year-old does not care even a little bit about what I tell them to do, please help?" Which I get, because I was there three years ago, and I still don't know that I have a good answer.
My kids are 8, 5, and 3, and the middle kid is autistic. He was diagnosed with medium support needs, but he blends pretty well at school, to the point that the school decided he doesn't need an IEP anymore. At home it's a bit of a different story. He doesn't seem to have an internal desire to please or to follow the rules, and this comes out most prominently in an extremely aggressive sweet tooth. Almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day, we'll find him hiding in the bathroom or closet with an entire bag/box/container of something sugary: candy, cookies, ice cream, nutella, semisweet baking chocolate, etc. He will usually also lie when we ask what he's doing.
Where my wife and I are struggling is trying to find an appropriate way to correct this behavior, and to discipline him more generally. The advice we've found on other autism parenting resources tend to fall into one of two categories:

1. Don't punish at all, try to understand the reasons he's acting this way and address the root. I. . . don't really see a way forward on this one. The root is that sugar tastes delicious and he has no impulse control. We can talk to him about food as fuel and growing big and strong and all that, but he still doesn't have impulse control. We can (and have, and continue to) try to restrict access to help manage that impulse control, but he's really good at finding things. We've put sweets behind a locked door, he's broken the lock. We've put them on top of high cabinets, he's constructed precarious towers to climb to get them. We've tried keeping all candy out of the house, but he gets into baking supplies. I have literally spent days camped out in the kitchen. But then I have to leave to change the baby's diaper, or give him a bath, or something else, and there he goes.
   
2. Just use natural consequences. I don't see much way forward here either. The obvious natural consequences are a stomachache, but he will eat himself to sickness, mope around the house for two hours, and then binge eat sugar again. The stomachache is not a motivator. The other natural consequence is "if he eats it, we just don't have it anymore." But this one runs into problems with baking/cooking supplies, and also in that he'll raid his siblings' bedrooms and steal their candy, so it becomes a punishment for them.
   

So with both the common answers feeling like dead ends, we've tried a couple other classic disciplinary techniques, and so far they've also been dead-ends:
3. Short/medium-term deprivation (aka "you're grounded"). As a consequence for sneaking candy, and/or lying about it, we've tried telling him he can't have any candy or screen time for next day. This was pretty motivating for about a week, and then he realized that he can just keep sneaking sweets or screen time while he's grounded, and all we'll do is ground him longer, and it makes no difference to him if he's grounded for a month if he can keep sneaking sweets every day anyways. We've tried adding in "we also won't take you to fun playgrounds or activities while you're grounded," but the allure of going to a special play area tomorrow just doesn't seem as strong as the allure of eating candy today (this also seems like a punishment for his siblings, who end up not getting to go fun places because their brother is grounded).
4. Short-term, parent-imposed punishment (aka "go to your room" or "write 'I will not sneak treats' five times"). These just become endless power struggles, which make life miserable for all involved. He hates them, he makes us hate them because he just fights us until we give up. I don't feel like the power struggle is helping our relationship with our kid, and I don't think it's really an effective deterrent for the bad actions anyways.
So yeah, sorry for the long post. We've tried many things! None of them work! My wife and I were both very "want to make parents happy" sort of kids, and our oldest (not autistic) also has some of that internal motivation and is also receptive to punishment. So this is all new with kid #2, and we've been fighting this battle since he was a toddler, and now that he's in kindergarten, he's beginning to understand cause and effect in such a way that I think it's appropriate to discipline in a way that's different than how you'd handle a toddler, I just. . . haven't found anything that's effective. The gentle stuff doesn't seem to make any difference, the natural consequences don't seem to make much difference, the stuff our parents did with us don't seem to make much difference, and I'm at a loss. We're still trying to more aggressively keep sweets behind locks, but it's an uphill battle, and I honestly think finding disciplinary strategies that are meaningful to our kid is something useful for general purposes, even if the sweets are the most common battleground right now. Ideas welcome.

Hello community,
After spending a good amount of my spare time reading your interesting posts here, I have finally made up my mind to bring some concerns and worries about my weird situation with a Libra flight attendant. I think this would be my way of sharing what's been “bothering” me for a long time
Long story short, I met a flight attendant based in NY due to acquaintances and relatives. This is kind of normal for us as we both were raised in a Chinese household. Thing is, we really have fun every time we see each other, but then after a week or so, it becomes extremely difficult to keep in touch with her… I live in another state north of NY.
She’s very into astrology and praises herself for being a Libra. I have read about her zodiac and it seems like they’re the kind that often “detach from reality” by investing a huge amount of time in themselves. I have learned to be somewhat okay with this, as I respect personal space. But not answering my texts for a 24-48 hours period is what ruly causes me anxiety and insecurity…
I understand being an FA means you deal with a tough work schedule, and it's part of the job to be far away for periods of time. But the lack of communication is what messes up with my head.
Is she just not committed at all? Can you guys relate to this situation either me or my significant other is going through?

Hello I'm in the Minecraft community not the GeorgeNotFound community lol. P.S sorry for bad punctuation. So this is about the recent drama with George on my personal opinion George isn't in the wrong but he isn't in the right because yes he didn't know she was 18 but also she was drunk and he was drunk but as someone who has been in a similar situation but let's see I know this situation has ended I just want to give my opinion ok so she was drunk but it's been confirmed she was lying and George was well also l6ing on some stuff but anyways my main point here is the only reason people believed her at first is because people seem to think things like women can't rape\comit sexual assault and only men can and if a woman says a man did it the man did it. I'm not trying to be sexist I know women can be independent and all that but the thing is for some reason people think women can't do anything wrong they are just as capable of that as men that's all I have to say long story short is no one was in the right and women are just as capable if not more then men and I mean capable in anything.

Ok so this creator on Fansly reached out to me to do a SFS and since I’m new I started asking her when she started how it’s going etc. She was showing me her stats and earnings and then told me she joined an agency and it’s been the best experience. She says they handle all of her dms and her earnings come from people who sit and talk to fans. She kept praising them telling me it’s so much easier to do. Then sent me the link to contact them saying she’ll put in a word. Is this a marketing strategy from the agency? I’m almost thinking this interaction was someone from the agency. After all of the horror stories I’ve read about agencies I’m very hesitant to believe any good things. Thanks!

I will repeat this once again. The story needs told of the greedy Wall Street types shorting DPRO while they are trying to help Ukraine. What type of a greedy pig does that?
Yesterday the GameStop guy Keith Gill appeared in the headlines as the apes attacked the shorts once again, shooting GameStop up 91% yesterday, and heading higher this morning!
In February the sudden price drop of DPRO appears well orchestrated and I would not be surprised heavily naked shorted on the Canadian side. The NASDAQ side is showing 2.1 million shares short as of April 30.
Spread the word.

Hello guys! I recently decided to buy Nier Automata without any knowledge about it and i got hooked. It is one of the best games i've played in a while. I found out that there are books and an anime about it. Is it good to read any of the books or watch the anime before playing the game fully? I found "Long Story Short" and "Short Story Long" for 10€ each in a local bookstore. Are they worth it? I did some research around the internet and some people say they are not translated good. I wouldn't mind that too much, since English isn't my native language.

Long story short a friend of ours is a wedding coordinator and offered her services to us. This is an extremely generous gift from our perspective and we accepted but I'd still like to pay her at the wedding. I feel bad if people are doing work for us and we're not paying them. I don't need to pay her top dollar premium prices and I'm completely fine with giving her something below market value but I do want to pay her and give her a nice gift. Problem is I can't find anywhere that lists prices for wedding coordinators locally. Zola has a grand total of 1 that lists pricing and I have no idea if the pricing is exorbitant or reasonable as I have nothing to compare it to. The Knot has 7-8 that it says range from $-$$$$ but zero of them list what that means and what their pricing is.

I (F56) just broke it off with my bf (M62) of 5 years. We grew up together and reconnected later in life after divorces, kids, etc. His drinking was the issue and the underlying trauma, anger, grief, the booze was masking. My ex husband was a mean drunk. This guy, no, but one led to 4. There is alcholism in his family. I knew I didn't want to date a drinker again but there were so many good things.
I am so glad I left. I cut off contact and now am mending and healing. I'm so proud of myself for leaving despite there being fun and love. The drinking was always going to be there and I knew I didn't want that. I'm grateful to read other people's stories here. I'm going to meetings, I have my own therapist who is 100% supportive.
My fears in the night (It's always worse at night) are that I'll grow old alone. I never had kids, I have great friends and a good community. But I'd rather be single and alone than ever feel the loneliness life is being involved with a drinker. It's so lonely. I am free and I will heal. It just hurts in the short term. This is a death of sorts but from death comes rebirth. :-)

The story needs told of the greedy Wall Street types shorting DPRO while they are trying to help Ukraine. What type of a greedy pig does that?
Yesterday the GameStop guy Keith Gill appeared in the headlines as the apes attacked the shorts once again, shooting GameStop up 91% and heading higher this morning!
In February the sudden price drop of DPRO appears well orchestrated and I would not be surprised heavily naked shorted on the Canadian side. The NASDAQ side is showing 2.1 million shares short as of April 30.
Spread the word.

The Doukas dynasty had four emperors, my tier ranked is: Romanos, Nikephoros, Constantine, and Michael.
Romanos IV possessed great ideals and strategic acumen, potentially the empire's sole hope for salvation at the time, until one of history's top betrayals shattered that hope.
Though Nikephoros III wasn't exceptional, his efforts to maintain the empire's stability were evident, albeit not comparable to Alexios.
Constantine X, as I've previously discussed, was feeble, and his military cuts severely damaged the empire, though he at least endeared himself to the people.
Then there's Michael VII.
As part of the "Doukas Crime Syndicate," his ascension to the throne saw the empire descend into various rebellions, military mutinies, and economic downturns. To me, he is the worstest Michael.
However, I must admit, the majority of the Doukas dynasty's calamities cannot solely be blamed on him. If we must to blame someone, it should fall on another one.
I'm talking about you, John Doukas.
Throughout Byzantine history, we've had our share of "villains" - we had Phocas, Andronikos I, and many more. But I believe, in the entire history of the Byzantine Empire, no one can match the villainy of John Doukas.
He's Byzantium's Zhao Gao and Richard III, or worse, The Grand Inquisitor of the Karamazovs and The Judge of the Blood Meridian. If you don't get it, try imagining Walter White's brains, Gus's Machiavellianism, and Uncle Jack's malevolence combined.
His evil is so pure that, from a modern perspective, I seriously suspect he was a psycho . At the very least, an absolute Machiavellian.
In the tragic battle of Manzikert, Andronikos' betrayal was orchestrated by him. I once thought it was merely the young man's selfish desires that led to his defection, but later I discovered that when John decided to blind Romanos, Andronikos stood nearby, pleading with him not to.
Even during Michael VII's reign, he continued to manipulate all events behind the scenes, even under the Komnenoi dynasty, where, ostensibly a monk, he still wielded terrifying political influence.
Almost all Byzantine villains met gruesome ends. Phocas was beheaded, every emperor of the twenty-year dark era met a dismal fate, but John is a rare case of someone who met no retribution whatsoever before his death, continually destroying the empire, or rather, the trust between people.
Not every Doukas was inherently evil; Constantine X was a kind fool; Michael VII was a terrible emperor, but not overwhelmingly evil; Andronikos was a regretful Judas; John Doukas the Younger (the naval commander) was a decent commander.
But John Doukas?
I once wrote a short story with a monk as the protagonist. At different points in time, he encounters three individuals: a proud Muslim soldier who participated in the battle of Manzikert, a weeping Romanos, blinded and lamenting his fate, and finally, John. A figure so menacing that even in monk's robes, you could sense his readiness to send an army to slaughter your entire family.
“ Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man; No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity. -Richard III. act i, scene ii

Long story short, I haven’t cut my hair in 10+ years. Why? Cause I have no clue how to care for hair. I just blow dry in the morning and that’s it. Information: I use shampoo + conditioner, a hair mask every day (within the last 2 weeks), and leave in conditioner as well. About 1.5 years ago my hair grew super fast, idk if it’s cause I just had 2 babies back to back but it was the first time in YEARS it’s grown. I was so so happy and I refused to cut off any of it. Within the past 9 months the it’s all gone and back to the length it’s been for years now. I know, I had ppl telling me to get a trim to help keep it going but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. My own fault now that’s it’s all gone! How can I get it back to long again? I’m 100% ok with doing trims now but is there anything else I can do? The hairs on the back of my head close to the bottom of my neck are so so short.

So as we know All for one has two main themes, the one I'm looking for is the opera like the one done by Yuki Hayashi with the english name "you can't run". This similar opera compositions has also been used is seikan sekai other known as "World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman" used in episode 9 of a Russian character.
Long story short, what opera is his theme base on?
ps. the theme is stuck and personally pissing myself off since I used to know but forgot the name of it.

Hello Redditors,
This is an incredible success story of how we helped a client achieve incredible results in just four months, generating an $80,000 return on investment (ROI) with a combination of SEO and Facebook Ads. We have completed many successful projects and there's a certain satisfaction in seeing our strategies translate to such tangible growth. I have tried to keep this post extremely detailed so that it can be beneficial for experienced marketers and newcomers alike.
The Client: Hair Extension E-commerce Brand
Revenue Split Between SEO and Fb ads: 3:2
Average Order Value: $350
Facebook Ads Spend(For 6 Months): $10,000
Total Revenue(6 months): $140,000
Other Expenses(6 months): Product Cost + Delivery cost + Team + Agency Fees + Website Optimization + Packaging: $50000
Basic Company Background:
The brand was being run by a Mother-Daughter duo for the past 3 months. They had a shopify website with average structure and were struggling with facebook ads themselves. Although they made few physical sales due to friends and relatives but were unable to utilize the digital potential of their business as such. After trying facebook ads for some time they wanted a reliable digital marketing team to work with and they were recommended to us by one of our other customers who has a service based business. Initially we connected majorly for facebook ads but after the initial discussion when were doing research from our side, we found that there is huge potential in SEO for this niche so we suggested that we should prepare a proper website on wordpress and focus on both SEO and Ads parallelly as, although Ads will give an initial boost to the business but SEO will bring some stability and help in building a sustainable business.
Facebook Ads Campaign Structure:

• Our campaign housed multiple ad sets targeting users who are interested in fashion products and we also targeted audiences of some big and costly fashion companies. We were mostly targeting females aged 25-45 with good income source to have optimal conversions in the beginning, with our Seo efforts we planned to target a slightly younger audience as well which is going steadily as of now.
• We ran occasional promotions like "Buy x get x free" to boost AOV.
• Due to the high AOV and especially the product niche sometimes it is necessary to build trust so we used retargeting to build trust and showcase benefits, not just push for immediate conversions. Ads focused on comparison(Before & Afters), Customer Reviews, Hassle free product application and natural look, stylish look.

Ads Creatives and Brand Positioning:
It's important to note that after deep research we could find that a major share our hair extensions customers are females aged between 21-45 so we did not actively position our brand as solving problems of low hair volume, but instead we focused on how the products ads style, gives a much better look and you can try new hairstyles and hair colors daily. Also since almost all the demographics in this age group are working, we tested a professional look angle as well which gave us decent results. In ad creatives as well as on the website we made the daughter as the face of the product as we want to slowly grow her instagram as well which can add another organic and sustainable stream of revenue. She shoots before and after transition videos, general product application videos and other videos for ads according to the target audience and brand positioning strategy we discussed earlier. Instead of making long videos focused on product details a lot, we made short but captivating videos which can appeal to the young audience’s fashion sense.
Key Takeaways from FB Ads:
Mostly Meta Ads or Any other marketing tactic is just a traffic source but conversion will basically happen by how well you are able to communicate your product to the audience through your website. Its is necessary to have a smooth user journey, attractive offers, crisp information and right brand positioning on the website.
It is extremely important to make data driven decisions and track customer journeys meticulously. Always rely on your own tracking or google analytics to avoid the potential unreliability of Facebook Ads Manager.
Seo Strategy
If you don’t already know this, SEO is all about how effectively you can strategize your content and technical efforts keeping a bigger picture in mind. After our initial keyword research we could find that the average Kd of the important keywords was low when it comes to commercial keywords which were directly related to the business.
It's important to note that since the website was being built after our onboarding only so it was easy for us to structure the website according to the SEO strategy that we prepared.
At every stage we had meetings with the developer to ensure that there are no technical issues that will hinder the SEO growth and future and also we structured the website to be SEO friendly. We built separate pages for all the product categories and after through keyword research we added content to those pages so that the pages itself can rank for commercial keywords.
After the website was ready we audited it for technical issues(Like mobile friendliness, H1 tags, canonical tags, etc) we started focusing on the content. We wanted to establish our website as a trusted authority in the hair extensions and hair care industry in general.
Since the website was completely new, initially we created blogs(2-3 times per week) around informational keywords with low KD purely for increasing our website authority and bringing the initial traffic on the website. We have seen that usually people start stressing about approaching big websites for guest postings since the first day itself but if your keyword research and content is solid, that is not required in the beginning. Initially we focused on profile creations, image submissions, pdf submissions, internal linking in the content, web 2.0 backlinks etc and this was more than enough for us to rank for low difficulty keywords and increase our DA to a decent level so that our category pages can rank for low difficulty keywords.
Here I would like to include a tip, many times people are worried that what if the backlink that they have created doesn't get indexed. In the initial phase we work really hard when it comes to what we call as maturing our backlinks as this is the major factor for ranking on low difficulty keywords. So basically what we do is, we make backlinks of our web 2.0 backlinks itself which helps the primary backlink in getting indexed which ultimately helps with our website DA.
Also many people have been asking us in our previous posts how we structure our blog since I talk a lot about content quality, see it's not as hard and it doesn't involve a lot of research at least in the initial phase when you just have to rank on low difficulty keywords. In this phase usually what we do is study the top 5 ranking blogs on the particular keyword and make sure that we include more content and more subheadings then them. Also we try to find opportunities to include tables or charts wherever possible, we include good quality images(original if possible) and at this stage internal linking is very very important so we focus on that as well. In later stages although the basic strategy for framing the blogs remains same, overall content strategy varies a lot from business to business and requires a lot of strategizing depending on the brand positioning goals.
So after we were able to rank for low difficulty informational keywords and our Website DA reached a decent level due to our backlinking efforts, we started writing content around the fashion advice and common problems which people face related to hair in general. But as discussed earlier, we wanted to keep our brand positioning fashion centric, so even while writing about common problems we applied a positive and solution centric approach. We strategically placed internal links to our product pages in the content and tested popups with offers as well. Apart from this, we started guest posting as well at this stage. For finding websites for guest posting we used SEMrush’s backlink gap analysis tool and created a segregated list of blogs that we can reach out to based on their content quality and DA. By this time the store started generating decent revenue from ads and SEO so the client was completely onboard with reaching out to blogs for guest posting. Guest posting and overall strategic SEO application started generating a good amount of traffic for us and in 3-4 months the revenue generated due to SEO surpassed our Ads revenue as well.
Advantages of Combining SEO and Paid Ads
While Facebook Ads played a crucial role in launching the brand and driving initial traffic, SEO has emerged as the primary driver of sustainable growth. This approach allowed us to:

• Reduce Reliance on Paid Advertising: As our SEO efforts matured, we were able to gradually decrease our Facebook ad spend, resulting in cost savings and improved return on investment.
• Build Brand Authority: Our SEO strategy has positioned our website as a trusted authority in the hair extensions industry. This fosters brand recognition and trust, leading to organic customer acquisition.
• Scale Traffic and Revenue: Organic traffic growth has been exponential, leading to a significant and sustainable increase in website revenue generated through SEO.

SEO efforts are always ongoing but we are really satisfied with the base that we have built and we are really looking forward to working with keywords with higher KD and generating more revenue with SEO In the upcoming months. Although we will keep running ads in future as well mostly for awareness purposes but the major revenue will be generated from our SEO efforts. Apart from this, as we mentioned earlier, we are looking to actively start the Social Media efforts as well from the next month itself. We will be looking to target Instagram and Tiktok in the initial phase and we believe in 2-3 months social media will contribute towards 25% of our revenue which will grow rapidly.
Thankyou For Reading!

Top 6 Updates of last Week:

• Meta launches AI tools for ad creative creation and paid subscription tiers.
• TikTok sues US Government over divest-or-sell law.
• Pinterest launches Media Buyer Certification Course.
• X will soon allow advertisers to use AI for audience creation.
• Youtube launches a promotions tab for Creators & SMBs to run quick ad campaigns.
• Reddit is planning to launch search ads and a mixed feed. * Using ‘keyword + reddit’ on google > using reddit search.

Trending

• Sam Altman debunks the rumours of gpt-5 and search engine launch, announcing new updates to GPT-4. The launch of GPT-4o.
• Google’s CEO responds to Search Quality Issues.
• Constellation Brands launches creative review for Corona Extra.
• Apple’s Safari 18 is expected to introduce webpage summarization, web eraser and more.
• Reddit’s Q1 2024 report showed strong user and ad revenue growth, 48% YoY increase in revenue.
• Jack Dorsey has left Bluesky Board sharing the company is making the same mistakes he and his team at Twitter.
• Ofcom is pushing for better age verification, filters and other checks in new online child safety code.
• Apple apologies for iPad Pro ‘Crush’ ad campaign.
• Ocean Outdoor and Battersea Power Station launch new premium DOOH network.
• OpenAI’s pitch deck for publisher partnerships gets leaked.
• Hubspot posts $617.4 million revenue for the first quarter of the year.
• Temu and Meta are being blamed by marketers for ruining performance and paid social marketing.
• Instacart and NBCUniversal’s new partnership connecting CPG with Streaming, changing retail.
• Sony and Apollo are in talks to acquire paramount.

TikTok 🎶

• TikTok is working on a collaboration feature similar to IG.
• TikTok shares new insights about brand and search experience on platform.
• TikTok to start auto-labeling AI-generated content to combat misinformation.
• TikTok is having ‘Creative Made Simple’ webinar for SMBs on May 16th.
  

  Instagram & Threads 🗂️

• Instagram continues to gamify content creation experience, to make people publish more.
  
• Threads adds view counts on posts.
  
• Instagram’s new ‘Meme it’ DMs feature capitalises on Gen-Z’s heavy use of DMs for chats and content sharing.
  
• Influencers see more Instagram engagement with still images than Reels.
  
• Instagram is teasing a new creator revenue program ‘Spring Bonus’.
  
• Threads is testing cross-posting from Instagram globally.
  
• Instagram is testing an new UI for Carousels, with no dots.
  
• Despite IG adding 3-minute reels, they were found discouraging creators from creating long reels.
  

Meta 😅

• Meta’s newly launched AI creative tools for advantage+ campaigns.
• The feature to create reels from existing content is coming to Meta Business Suite.
• Meta’s turn away from the news industry has lead to 50% traffic drop to publishers.
• Error: Meta shares detailed targeting exclusion alert sent to advertisers was a mistake.
• Meta Business Suite adds ‘review’ feature to request post to be reviewed by other admins before publishing.
• WhatsApp launches new UI elements, giving the platform a new look.
• WhatsApp makes it easier to find new channels with categories.

X (Twitter) 🕹️

• X working on Analytics for X communities.
• Nintendo ends their X integration for Switch.
• X’s new algorithm update has lead to prioritisation of smaller accounts, says Elon.
• Chat History is now live for Gork AI on web.
• X is adding a ‘cast’ button to the iOS app.

Youtube 🕹️

• YouTube outlines its measures to ensure EU Election Integrity.
• Youtube expands testing of ‘Jump Ahead’ premium AI feature.
• MrBeast is parting ways with Night Media, Talent Management Company.
• Youtube testing a new shopping feed in Youtube Shorts.

Google 🔦

• Google launches new ‘Saved Comparisons’ feature for Analytics.
• Google Shopping Ads get conversion annotations.
• Google Search results without SGE jump to 65%, up from 25%.
• Google hides search results count under tools section.
• Google shares Disavow link tool will go away at some point.
• Google is defending lack of communication around Search Updates.
• Google’s site reputation abuse policy enforcement started on Monday May 6th.

Agency News

• Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media unveils Ensemble, a branded entertainment company.
• Omnicom is shuttering Honey & Sparks and the talent is being distributed.
• Nestlé Canada appoints Citizen Relations as Confectionery PR AOR.
• GE Lighting, a Savant company appoints Bakery as Social AOR.
• Rocket Cos. Puts its media account in review.
• We Are Social US partners with Valerie Moizel, CEO of The Woo to form Hello US.
• Virgin Active appoints We Are Pi for global brand transformation.
• Famous Footwear appoints Yard NYC and THE MAYOR as Creative AOR.
• Warner Bros appoints BigSmall to launch streaming service Max.
• Lovesac appoints Hearts & Science as media AOR.
• BUNTIN appoints Trex as Media Agency of record.
• IPG Health consolidates agency brand roster, launch of new Rise & Run brand.
• THIRD EAR appointed by Nissan North America and INFINITI USA as Multicultural AOR.
• Indie Agency Boathouse creates supplier diversity program, expanding external DEI efforts.

Brands & Ads 🏓

My Fav; Liquid Death’s latest campaign ‘The Adventures of Murder Man’ is a creative masterpiece as usual and a corporate parody.

• New Balance’s seven-minute film shares seven stories of its influence in subcultures.
• Coca-Cola’s new ad ‘Coke Spills’ celebrates the joyous moments of coke spilling.
• The Ordinary and Uncommon’s new OOH campaign embraces science instead of celebs.
• Jung von Matt’s UK ad debut for Wayfair takes a very simple approach but the vibe matches.
• Volkswagen’s new brand platform ‘Your Wagen’ celebrating customer journeys.
• PG Tips launches their first campaign in eight years, starring Ashley Walters.
• Another Ad campaign featuring dogs but this time it’s for dog food from the brand tails.com.
• Currys new ad spot is funny and aligned with Euro 2024 vibes, you can’t miss it .
• Budweiser uses song lyrics mentioning the brand to launch new Spotify ad “UninterruptAds”.
• Impossible Foods new ad campaign sticks out with very digestible message to make people vegan.
• Nescafé’s kettle ad campaign speaks sustainability and stands out as a loner, but on a broader look, it doesn’t align with Nespresso.
• EasyJet goes into Eurovision mode for the new ‘All Aboard the Orange Plane’ ad campaign.
• Peroni 0.0% joins Formula 1 as Ferrari Team Partner, hoping to ride the non-alcoholic beer growth train.
• McDonald’s new plan to invest more dollars (Millions) in Digital marketing and its reward program.

AI 🤨

• OpenAI increase AI content transparency with launch of new detection tools.
• Etsy’s plan to improve delivery tracking using new ML model.
• Absolut & Copy Lab launch copyright-free diverse images for fashion content.
• OpenAI and Stack Overflow announced an API partnership.
• OpenAI introduces Model Spec to better the model behaviour and explores how AI can generate explicit content.
• Eleven labs preview their music AI model.

Reddit & Pinterest

• Reddit announces new Public Content Policy, setting new parameters for data usage.
• Pinterest hires Former Levi’s CEO to Board of Directors.

Microsoft & LinkedIn

• Microsoft is building a bigger and better LLM ‘MAI-1’ to fight Google.
• Bing tests clear distinction between free and paid search results.
• LinkedIn shares new insights on measuring B2B marketing campaigns.

Marketing & AdTech

• Bluesky adds new features; DMs, Improved custom feeds, Video and more.
• Shopsense launches retail media platform for second-screen shopping.
• GAP names Fabiola Torres new global CMO.
• Ocean Outdoor becomes official OOH supplier to London Fashion Week.
• Curb, a ride/hailing app launches Curb journey Connect, one-stop ad solution.
• Constant Contact launches new AI feature for Brandkit and Campaign Builder.
• 160over90 launches Integrated Creator Commerce service with Lumanu.
• Omnicom announces major expansion in India.
• Kantar Media hires Lucy Bristowe as CEO for UK & Western Europe.
• Instacart and Uber Eats partner, allowing customers to order Uber Eats food via Instacart.

I hope this helps to plan your week ahead. All the sources can be found in the newsletter archive post.

Hi all. Using this website for predictions, but I'm a little confused on what their chart means for if a personal essay/short story will come up. can someone explain it to me? https://www.625points.com/2016/05/leaving-cert-predictions-english.html

Top 6 Updates of last Week:

• Meta launches AI tools for ad creative creation and paid subscription tiers.
• TikTok sues US Government over divest-or-sell law.
• Pinterest launches Media Buyer Certification Course.
• X will soon allow advertisers to use AI for audience creation.
• Youtube launches a promotions tab for Creators & SMBs to run quick ad campaigns.
• Reddit is planning to launch search ads and a mixed feed. * Using ‘keyword + reddit’ on google > using reddit search.

Trending

• Sam Altman debunks the rumours of gpt-5 and search engine launch, announcing new updates to GPT-4. The launch of GPT-4o.
• Google’s CEO responds to Search Quality Issues.
• Constellation Brands launches creative review for Corona Extra.
• Apple’s Safari 18 is expected to introduce webpage summarization, web eraser and more.
• Reddit’s Q1 2024 report showed strong user and ad revenue growth, 48% YoY increase in revenue.
• Jack Dorsey has left Bluesky Board sharing the company is making the same mistakes he and his team at Twitter.
• Ofcom is pushing for better age verification, filters and other checks in new online child safety code.
• Apple apologies for iPad Pro ‘Crush’ ad campaign.
• Ocean Outdoor and Battersea Power Station launch new premium DOOH network.
• OpenAI’s pitch deck for publisher partnerships gets leaked.
• Hubspot posts $617.4 million revenue for the first quarter of the year.
• Temu and Meta are being blamed by marketers for ruining performance and paid social marketing.
• Instacart and NBCUniversal’s new partnership connecting CPG with Streaming, changing retail.
• Sony and Apollo are in talks to acquire paramount.

TikTok 🎶

• TikTok is working on a collaboration feature similar to IG.
• TikTok shares new insights about brand and search experience on platform.
• TikTok to start auto-labeling AI-generated content to combat misinformation.
• TikTok is having ‘Creative Made Simple’ webinar for SMBs on May 16th.
  

  Instagram & Threads 🗂️

• Instagram continues to gamify content creation experience, to make people publish more.
  
• Threads adds view counts on posts.
  
• Instagram’s new ‘Meme it’ DMs feature capitalises on Gen-Z’s heavy use of DMs for chats and content sharing.
  
• Influencers see more Instagram engagement with still images than Reels.
  
• Instagram is teasing a new creator revenue program ‘Spring Bonus’.
  
• Threads is testing cross-posting from Instagram globally.
  
• Instagram is testing an new UI for Carousels, with no dots.
  
• Despite IG adding 3-minute reels, they were found discouraging creators from creating long reels.
  

Meta 😅

• Meta’s newly launched AI creative tools for advantage+ campaigns.
• The feature to create reels from existing content is coming to Meta Business Suite.
• Meta’s turn away from the news industry has lead to 50% traffic drop to publishers.
• Error: Meta shares detailed targeting exclusion alert sent to advertisers was a mistake.
• Meta Business Suite adds ‘review’ feature to request post to be reviewed by other admins before publishing.
• WhatsApp launches new UI elements, giving the platform a new look.
• WhatsApp makes it easier to find new channels with categories.

X (Twitter) 🕹️

• X working on Analytics for X communities.
• Nintendo ends their X integration for Switch.
• X’s new algorithm update has lead to prioritisation of smaller accounts, says Elon.
• Chat History is now live for Gork AI on web.
• X is adding a ‘cast’ button to the iOS app.

Youtube 🕹️

• YouTube outlines its measures to ensure EU Election Integrity.
• Youtube expands testing of ‘Jump Ahead’ premium AI feature.
• MrBeast is parting ways with Night Media, Talent Management Company.
• Youtube testing a new shopping feed in Youtube Shorts.

Google 🔦

• Google launches new ‘Saved Comparisons’ feature for Analytics.
• Google Shopping Ads get conversion annotations.
• Google Search results without SGE jump to 65%, up from 25%.
• Google hides search results count under tools section.
• Google shares Disavow link tool will go away at some point.
• Google is defending lack of communication around Search Updates.
• Google’s site reputation abuse policy enforcement started on Monday May 6th.

Agency News

• Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media unveils Ensemble, a branded entertainment company.
• Omnicom is shuttering Honey & Sparks and the talent is being distributed.
• Nestlé Canada appoints Citizen Relations as Confectionery PR AOR.
• GE Lighting, a Savant company appoints Bakery as Social AOR.
• Rocket Cos. Puts its media account in review.
• We Are Social US partners with Valerie Moizel, CEO of The Woo to form Hello US.
• Virgin Active appoints We Are Pi for global brand transformation.
• Famous Footwear appoints Yard NYC and THE MAYOR as Creative AOR.
• Warner Bros appoints BigSmall to launch streaming service Max.
• Lovesac appoints Hearts & Science as media AOR.
• BUNTIN appoints Trex as Media Agency of record.
• IPG Health consolidates agency brand roster, launch of new Rise & Run brand.
• THIRD EAR appointed by Nissan North America and INFINITI USA as Multicultural AOR.
• Indie Agency Boathouse creates supplier diversity program, expanding external DEI efforts.

Brands & Ads 🏓

My Fav; Liquid Death’s latest campaign ‘The Adventures of Murder Man’ is a creative masterpiece as usual and a corporate parody.

• New Balance’s seven-minute film shares seven stories of its influence in subcultures.
• Coca-Cola’s new ad ‘Coke Spills’ celebrates the joyous moments of coke spilling.
• The Ordinary and Uncommon’s new OOH campaign embraces science instead of celebs.
• Jung von Matt’s UK ad debut for Wayfair takes a very simple approach but the vibe matches.
• Volkswagen’s new brand platform ‘Your Wagen’ celebrating customer journeys.
• PG Tips launches their first campaign in eight years, starring Ashley Walters.
• Another Ad campaign featuring dogs but this time it’s for dog food from the brand tails.com.
• Currys new ad spot is funny and aligned with Euro 2024 vibes, you can’t miss it .
• Budweiser uses song lyrics mentioning the brand to launch new Spotify ad “UninterruptAds”.
• Impossible Foods new ad campaign sticks out with very digestible message to make people vegan.
• Nescafé’s kettle ad campaign speaks sustainability and stands out as a loner, but on a broader look, it doesn’t align with Nespresso.
• EasyJet goes into Eurovision mode for the new ‘All Aboard the Orange Plane’ ad campaign.
• Peroni 0.0% joins Formula 1 as Ferrari Team Partner, hoping to ride the non-alcoholic beer growth train.
• McDonald’s new plan to invest more dollars (Millions) in Digital marketing and its reward program.

AI 🤨

• OpenAI increase AI content transparency with launch of new detection tools.
• Etsy’s plan to improve delivery tracking using new ML model.
• Absolut & Copy Lab launch copyright-free diverse images for fashion content.
• OpenAI and Stack Overflow announced an API partnership.
• OpenAI introduces Model Spec to better the model behaviour and explores how AI can generate explicit content.
• Eleven labs preview their music AI model.

Reddit & Pinterest

• Reddit announces new Public Content Policy, setting new parameters for data usage.
• Pinterest hires Former Levi’s CEO to Board of Directors.

Microsoft & LinkedIn

• Microsoft is building a bigger and better LLM ‘MAI-1’ to fight Google.
• Bing tests clear distinction between free and paid search results.
• LinkedIn shares new insights on measuring B2B marketing campaigns.

Marketing & AdTech

• Bluesky adds new features; DMs, Improved custom feeds, Video and more.
• Shopsense launches retail media platform for second-screen shopping.
• GAP names Fabiola Torres new global CMO.
• Ocean Outdoor becomes official OOH supplier to London Fashion Week.
• Curb, a ride/hailing app launches Curb journey Connect, one-stop ad solution.
• Constant Contact launches new AI feature for Brandkit and Campaign Builder.
• 160over90 launches Integrated Creator Commerce service with Lumanu.
• Omnicom announces major expansion in India.
• Kantar Media hires Lucy Bristowe as CEO for UK & Western Europe.
• Instacart and Uber Eats partner, allowing customers to order Uber Eats food via Instacart.

I hope this helps to plan your week ahead. Follow for more.

Long story short, I work in the tech industry and yung manager ko is bago lang din sa position (previously senior sya sa same dept), nauna lang siya ng mga 1 month sakin. We have this 10 yr age gap din for context.
Good performer ako and madami akong naambag sa team if magbibilangan. More than 1 year na ako sa team as of today, pero yung ugali talaga ng manager ko rinding rindi na ako.
We have this project na need matapos this week, kaso itong si loka, kakabalik lang din knina galing sa bakasyon niya.
Meron siyang mga pinasa na trabaho sakin dahil “overloaded” na daw yung isang kateam ko.
Tinanggap ko yung handover ng task pero ang kinainis ko talaga knina is yung pang mimicro manage nya sakin, to the point na nung nagpameeting ako knina, siya din nag mando. Then after ng meeting nag call pa kme ulit for alignment lang pero yung vibe ng call na yun tinataranta nya ako at ineemphasize na friday yung deadline.
I know sa capabilities ko na kaya ko siya matapos ng thursday, pero nababadtrip lang tlga ako dahil hindi ito first time nangyare.
Everytime na nagbabakasyon or nawawala siya sa eksena ng matagal, feel niya kailangan nya humabol, to the point na lahat kmeng under nya dinadamay nya sa taranta nya.
Di ko na lang tlga natiis knina at binara ko na sya dun sa call namin (kaming dalawa lang), sinabi ko na “kalma ka lang”, “covered ko na to, hopefully by thursday eod mafifinal ko na to”.
So anu guys, ABYG?

Hello. Im thinking about going on vacation, but im a bit worried about the travel part.. has anyone done any long, or short traveling while having ME/CFS? More specifically by plane/air travel? If so, how was it? Any tips? Any stories? i just want to hear other peoples insights.
I haven’t been outside my country since around 2018 or 2019. I just want, or need a vacation, a place I can enjoy, fully relax, and just experience something new, maybe..
I am 18, and I live in Norway. Right now, my cfs/me is “mild”, I think...?

My idea and/or thoughts.
I have thought about going to South Korea (maybe with my older brother), since I find their culture very interesting, ive also been learning their language for a little while, so I thought that would be fun. However, the travel from Norway to S. Korea would be at least 20 hours. (going from the capital, Oslo, then having a layover (I think that’s what its called) somewhere else, then from that place to S. Korea.) So, doing some research, with arriving at the airport a few hours before my flight, it would take me at minimum around 20 hours before I would be in S. Korea! This is quite a long time.. so I am a bit worried that it might “exhausted” me.
If I took this trip, it would be in June, a week before the summer break official starts. I thought this would be a perfect yeatime, because my exams start earlier than usually this year. Which means I would be able to leave/go a little bit earlier. As in before the summer actually starts. (so maybe there would be a tiny bit less people/other tourist?)
But besides the air travel, and getting very tried, I also have some other worries, for example about the heat? Doing some research, Korea can be quite warm and humid during the summer. So im wondering if the heat or new climate would be too much for me? In addition to my other CFS/ME symptoms..
My main symptoms are that im very tired.. I sleep a lot, and I need a lot of rest. I am also very thirsty, I drink a lot of water (I made a previous post about that), and I’ve noticed I sweat a lot more now..? even with barely doing “big” activities, its very annoying... Oh, and I also have sleep problems, I have had those for a little over two year now. I take melatonin every night before I go to sleep, but still. (so because of the sleep problems, perhaps its would also be hard going to a country with an 8 other difference?).
Also, I thought about just booking a shorter trip, with a shorter plane ride to just test out how I feel. For example from where I live, to maybe Belgium, or a bit further, like for example to Spain. But im not sure.. I have also thought about just dropping the S. Korea trip for now, and go somewhere else instead (in Europe), since the trip/travel/flights would be shorter.. but I kind of, really want to go to Korea, and if I don’t go this year, I might not be able to go for another 2 years, depend on my CFS/ME, and just school/exam(s) in general…
Edit: sorry about the long post, if I repeated myself, or for any spelling mistakes.

Long story short: a person at work is a bully and needs to go. It’s been 3 years of working with this nightmare of a woman. I’ve gone to my boss about her bullying, she started crying and acted as though I was falsely accusing her. Nothing was done, except I was given a major side eye from my boss since she cried and I didn’t. 🙄
I bought hot foot powder from a Louisiana witch on Etsy. I put gloves on and sprinkled it around the bully’s desk and where she’d place her feet when she’s sitting. I did it once & she ended moving desks. So I tried it at her new desk and it’s been 2 months. I tried it one more time and read my tarot cards. The reading alluded that she’s unhappy at work.
How many times can you put hot foot powder somewhere? Can anyone share their success stories with hot foot powder?