Hi everyone,
Just wanted to pop in and say hello! My name is Paul, and I'm a (relatively new) writer over at Brew Crew Ball and occasional Brewers-related radio guest in the Appleton/Oshkosh area. I know you have your own robust community here on reddit (longtime observer, infrequent interactor), but just thought I'd say hi from over there. I wrote a piece today about Statcast's new bat-tracking data, and how some of it relates to the Brewers' roster, so feel free to check it out and to stop by every now and then. Also feel free to give me a follow on twittex @ paulrdietrich.
https://www.brewcrewball.com/2024/5/14/24155701/what-does-statcasts-new-bat-tracking-data-tell-us-about-the-brewers

Captains, join us as we go live with The Deck to recap Season 1 and talk about what’s coming with Season 2.
When, you say?
📆 Wednesday, May 15th
⏰ 4AM CEST / 12PM AET / (14 MAY) 7PM PT
Make sure to post your questions here for a chance to receive an answer during the stream 👉 Permathread - Livestream The Deck - AMAs
Where? 👉Ubisoft - Twitch

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My latest post
This morning, Nmom sent another text to both my daughter and I, without sending to just my daughter first, like she's supposed to. In other words, while it's addressed to my daughter, she needed me to see it too. Luckily, it was sent after my daughter left for school, so her phone is on Do Not Disturb, and she won't read the text until later. I will also decode things for her, and emphasize that she is not responsible for fixing Nana's upset at being turned down.

Hi (daughter). I'm so sorry that we haven't been able to bring your gift over and to wish you a happy birthday. Papa felt that it would be best to not try for Sunday (her birthday) and we were in (other city 3 hours away) yesterday and pretty tired but the time we got home. If it's ok with you we will bring it when we get together for MD. Love you bunches and hope your 17th was very special. (typos are Nmom's)

She wanted me to see that she's mad and she wants my daughter to feel guilty about making her mad. The part about eDad (Papa) thinking it's best to not try to come over was her way of saying that eDad kept her from coming over and yelling and making a big scene because of how mad she is.
Then I go on Facebook to browse while putting off cleaning out my fridge, where she has posted a belated Mother's Day post honoring her Mom. It was all so sugary and over the top. Then it got cringy, at least for me, knowing what she was getting at.

...Sure she made mistakes and said things that she latter regretted but I choose to remember the positive things and wanted to say, thank you mom for being the example of a godly mother to me. (typos are Nmom's)

I'm just over here laughing at her. She doesn't know what to do with herself when her grandchild rejects her. I'm pretty sure she thinks I had something to do with telling my daughter not to go. I didn't. She's almost grown up and has seen how unimportant she is to Nmom for years. But heaven forbid anyone reject Nmom.
We are supposed to go out to eat with both of my parents tomorrow. I'm really curious to see how it goes. I'm not stressing about it, but I am planning a couple exit strategies if she gets too far out of line. We are going to one of her favorite restaurants, so she will want to keep up good appearances with the servers and people she knows.

Hello, after abandoning math school in the last year and doing a BsC and a MsC in Computer Science and I work as a SWE since long time. I did some time ago some courses in ML, but decided to brush up my knowledge and get up to date. To be able to understand ML and read some papers I have realized that I have to learn some Linear Algebra, Calculus and Probabilities and Statistics. These are subjects I studied during my undergraduate school, but it seems not well enough, since I don't remember much apart from Calculus which, for some reason, I really enjoyed.
So, I started learning these Math subjects, I've found some good books and even some great video series. It seems I enjoy Linear Algebra more than I did in school, since the books I bought and videos I watch are more on applied side and use examples from geometry and physics to help to better understand. Also, trying to find myself some real world examples/applications of math using python, numpy, mathplotlib and pytorch, helps me continue to be motivated.
During some research on Reddit over subjects related to math, I discovered some math geniuses such as Lyapunov, Kolmogorov, VI Arnold, which happened to work in dynamical systems. After some reading about dynamical systems, I discovered that dynamical systems can be applied in ML, one trivial example being Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks.
Since my end goal is perfecting ML and AI, but since I also realized that math can be fun (at least a part of) it, I thought, why not mix business and pleasure and learn some more math until I can apply some dynamical systems theory in ML? Anyway, it seems that in order to understand basic dynamical systems I also have to learn subjects I need for ML.
So I devised a learning plan to, hopefully, be able some day to dabble in dynamical systems:

1. **Calculus**:

• Review calculus fundamentals: limits, derivatives, integrals, and their applications.
  
• Study multivariable calculus: partial derivatives, multiple integrals, and vector calculus.
  
• Learn about differential equations: ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and their analytical solutions.
  

1. **Linear Algebra**:

• Understand vector spaces, matrices, and linear transformations.
  
• Study eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and their applications.
  
• Learn about matrix decompositions (e.g., SVD, QR, LU).
  

1. **Probability and Statistics**:

• Review basic probability theory: random variables, distributions, and expectation.
  
• Study statistical inference: hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, and estimation.
  
• Explore Bayesian statistics and its applications.
  

1. **Numerical Methods**:

• Learn about numerical methods for solving differential equations (e.g., Euler, Runge-Kutta).
  
• Study numerical linear algebra techniques (e.g., iterative methods, matrix decompositions).
  
• Understand numerical optimization methods (e.g., gradient descent, Newton's method).
  

1. **Dynamical Systems**:

• Study dynamical systems theory: phase portraits, stability analysis, and bifurcations.
  
• Explore discrete-time dynamical systems and their applications.
  
• Learn about chaotic systems and their properties.
  

1. **Dynamical Systems in Machine Learning**:

• Learn about recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and their applications to sequential data.
  
• Study reservoir computing and echo state networks.
  
• Explore dynamical systems approaches to reinforcement learning and control problems.
  

1. **Advanced Topics**:

• Study chaos theory and its applications in machine learning.
  
• Explore dynamical systems approaches to unsupervised learning and generative models.
  
• Learn about dynamical systems in physics-informed machine learning.
  

Is this a good plan? Is it enough for the start or I also need to study some Topology and Differential Geometry?
I do expect learning to take some time since I work full time, I have kids to take care of and I am supposed to spend some time with friends and family, so time dedicated to study can't be more than 10 hours per week (on any subject, not just math). Also, I am 44, can I still learn some math at this age? Judging that I've already learned some linear algebra, I tend to say yes, but I am not sure if it is 100% learning or remembering some stuff from former math classes I did 20+ years ago.
Thank you for answers and ideas, whatever they might be! :)

As we know, LLMs only represent the decoder part from the encoder-decoder transformer models in the original 'Attention is All You Need' paper.
Now we see a real-time version that can input/output audio, text, and images seamlessly, using a single model. This isn't possible in a pure-decoder LLM, but if we add the Encoder back in, it probably is:

• Encoders can integrate a single context across modalities into a unified semantic representation (live audio, intermittent images, text encoded within a single latent space).
• Encoders are bidirectional, meaning they can look at the entire input context simultaneously, making them better at picking up nuances in the data, like acoustic features and temporal patterns, and integrating these features between modalities.
• Encoders and decoders working together could do things like the image updating. The request for the image is within the encoder context, and when you instruct it to make changes, the context takes the original image and your new instructions and updates everything. The decoder then regenerates the image with those changes.
• Tight synchronization between the encoder and decoder can explain the coherence and contextual relevance across modes, like the real-time feedback and adjustments in the demos
• When the model is used in a Chatbot context (like 4o is right now on Chat GPT site), prompts are decoded as text completions autoregressively like a traditonal LLM (except it can also do continuous-image generation via the input being fed from the encoder).
• For the voice app, the decoder continuously processes the updated modalities from the encoder in real-time (or at a certain frame rate), outputting speech synthesis that's contextually and temporally aware (so it can speed up or slow down speech etc)

So just like an LLM, where you pretrain the general knowledge and then fine-tune for specific behaviors like a chatbot, this new model adds the encoder to integrate multiple modes, makes it real-time, and is trained with a ton of live content. Voila, you get a completion-based version of "Her" (it’s not actually thinking about anything, it’s just predicting what a "Her" would likely say next within the sliding context window it’s processing).

Hi, I’ll try to keep this short as I’m a chronic over-sharer. But my ex (28F) and I (25f) were together for a year and a half, and were friends before then. Two months ago, I decided I needed some space because we were moving really fast and I felt like I wasn’t getting any alone time. I was also dealing with some serious depression and anxiety. I told her I just needed some space to clear my head. A week after we broke up, she told me she ran into her first love ex (of four years) while she was back home. She reassured me that it was just a small catch up and nothing else. By this time, I had told her that I do want to be with her. She then began to say over the next few weeks that she needed to “learn how to be on her own” as she has been a serial monogamist since dating her first ex. She told me she wanted to be together but she just needed time to gain trust in me again/be comfortable on her own. Fast forward a few weeks, we had decided I would move out so she could experience being on her own (while we worked on ourselves). As I was picking up the last of my things, I found out that she had had her ex over in our apartment and has been reconnecting with her. They also had sex in our bed. I honestly want nothing to do with her, but I’m so hung up on how quickly she switched her feelings off for me and is now spending time with her ex again. For reference, her and her ex dated on and off for a few years and she has told me in the past they had an unhealthy relationship. I learned that my ex had rebounded pretty quickly to the girl she dated before me (who she dated for about a year). We also got into a relationship pretty quickly after she and her “rebound” broke up. She treated me so well while we were together, and I was never insecure about her having lingering feelings for her ex. We had talked about getting engaged this year (which was partially why I needed space- I felt like things were moving really fast) and now she’s gone back to her first ex. It hurts so much, because I wonder if I ever meant anything to her or if I was just a placeholder until she could be back together with her first love/ex. It felt so real when we were together, but now that I know she’s been stringing me along and using me as a backup in case things don’t work out with her ex, I wonder if I was ever able to compare to her. She has tried to guilt me into saying that none of this would have happened (her and her ex reconnecting) if I hadn’t said I needed space. But I told her it wasn’t fair to blame everything on me, because I have been very honest throughout this entire time about my feelings and have genuinely been trying to make things work. Not only has she lied about being in contact with her ex, but she has been allowing me to think that the reason she hasn’t wanted to sleep togethe be intimate was because she just needed time to “feel comfortable again”. But now I know I was just used.
I honestly just want to know if their relationship is going to last. I respect myself too much to get back into a relationship with her, but it kills me to know that we could’ve gotten back together and he chose someone she hadn’t been in contact with for four years over our relationship. I’ve been so sick about it all. Please be kind, I’m aware of my own shortcomings.

I’m in FinServ for a small Credit Union. Prior to me there wasn’t a retirement department. I’ve built it from the ground up by myself, 100% my baby. I’ve been an FA for 7 years before at a large wire. I moved from finding your own book, cold calls, cold walking, networking; to referrals, and warm leads everywhere.
I’m going on my halfway through my 4th year. I’ve had sustained growth in tough markets, new assets, no complaints, balanced growth all around.
The Credit Union has been around 50+ years, and they have been a positive for our community.
They can’t prospect. They can’t sell. They are order takers. They can’t dig for more opportunities. They can’t track prior prospects and can’t follow up later in the year. They are successful because of their hospitality, leadership, and marketing.
Given past/current markets, they are struggling with interest rates and stifled demand for cars and home purchases.
I have been asked at the beginning of the year to be on a sales committee. Weekly 90 minute meeting discussing prospecting,sales, accountability, and tracking. Much more busy work than I need. To me, it seems I’m here for them to pick my brain, and try to replicate. It will benefit me down the road.
I have full schedule autonomy, they support me, culture is great, an assistant, love everything about my job. Pay is good and growing, 401k, and pension.
I’ve also had 3 offers to work with local FAs this year. They are both offering Triple current pay for 5 years, plus a 10% commission increase. One is a unique situation.
What option should I consider?

1. Saying nothing and continue to grow
2. Have a conversation and get a raise nearing 3x pay
3. If no, do I jump?
4. If no, revert to option 1 and plan for option 3 when it hurts them the most
5. Something I haven’t considered

Thanks and let me know what I need to clarify.

A few days ago I got a DM from a friend of mine (V) expressing concern over someone (B) I had on my FB friends list. The guy is a creep, that's not really up for debate -- he harassed/stalked several trans women at a recent event, peppering them with uncomfortable questions, all with some really profound Lead-Poisoned Boomer energy. I looked at B's profile and saw that I had him unfollowed, something I probably did almost immediately after friending him, because his feed is a stream of turbocringe Boomer memes. By the time B did that creepy shit to my friend, I already had him out of sight and out of mind on socials.
I was accused by V, simply for having this person on my Facebook friends list, of "holding up a broken stair", and that is not sitting well with me at all. Some further context is that we all participate in a shared community in which I am a leader, and apparently by not unfriending B, I am lending him social capital which legitimizes his behavior. In my official capacity as a leader though, B is not welcome in any spaces where I have a say in who is welcome, which is something I don't really even have to deal with, because B is also not welcome at any of the events where my leadership role comes into play. If the question of whether to include B in a trusted space had ever actually fallen to me, the answer would have been a very firm no.
I pushed back a little bit at V's demand that I unfriend B. It felt pretty coercive due to the accusations of being a bad ally which could apparently only be dealt with in that moment by doing exactly what she said. Following our conversation, she also made a post to her main feed congratulating herself for DMing and shaming her friends like this, which had this line in it: "You go tell your problematic friends to start therapy then you go make a better, new friend."
I...don't talk to B. I don't have a relationship with B. B is one of hundreds of people who I met a handful of times, accepted a FB add from, unfollowed because he was annoying, and mostly forgot about. I don't have the kind of relationship with B where I would tell him to get therapy. I do not need to replace B's friendship because I never had it. FB friends =/= friends.
I also object to the demand for certain strategic reasons; nothing that applies to B directly, but which have definitely come up before. Multiple times in the past, I have remained connected on social media to people who have caused harm to people I care about, for the sake of keeping tabs on them. For example, a friend of a friend was being aggressively stalked for a long time a few years back. Most people in the victim's direct circle blocked his stalker for the sake of maintaining a good perimeter around him. But stalker was and still is barely aware I exist. And stalker had (she seems to have moved on now, fucking finally) a habit of posting a bunch of shit on social media about her victim when she was getting ready to harass him again. Needless to say, he REALLY appreciated the early detection system, and his lawyer REALLY appreciated that someone had the ability to collect screenshots of her activity.
I guess my question here is this: do people really view social media connections as an implicit sign of trust?
I assume the average person's FB friends list is much, much closer to being "a repository of every person I have ever met" than it is to defining a trusted circle of people. V told me I only get to see it that way because of my privilege as a cis man. I really just don't agree with that take, which I think should be fine, but I was made to feel that disagreeing makes me a bad ally.

1. Are people really informing their social choices like this? Do people go on B's profile, see me in his mutuals, and say "oh, u/WYLD_STALYNZ is friends with him on FB, he must be someone I can let my guard down around"?
   
2. Is this situation different from other situations involving stalking/harassing behavior because the victims are trans? Do I owe my trans friends a response that is more in line with their specific desires due to their marginalized status?
   
3. Where does rehabilitation come into play in V's philosophy? She said herself in the comments of her post that she believes, after speaking with B multiple times, that he has the capacity to improve if he put in the effort; he's not hateful, he's oblivious to the point of it being a serious liability. If she believes this person is actually capable of redemption, but then demands that everyone in our shared community cut him out and shun him, what is B's path forward?
   

One more thing to add -- V and I are coworkers, and while she is not my direct manager, she is a leader and her influence can and does have an impact on my career trajectory.
Appreciate any insight. I'm really not sure how to feel, because I do genuinely understand why V is so upset by B's behavior, but I still feel coerced into unfriending B, and overall I don't think my take on the weight of FB friends vs. real friends is off-base at all.

I am a person with narcissistic personality disorder, and the thing I want to say in this community is A person with NPD should always be held accountable for any harm they do to anyone else. Physical or emotional or mental abuse is unacceptable. People who deal with or are in relationships with people who have NPD have the right to establish clear boundaries and they also have the right to end the relationships if the person with NPD cannot respect the boundaries or the rules or the expectations.
I come from the point of view that I have a mental illness. I believe that people with NPD deserve to be treated like anyone with a mental illness. We deserve the opportunity to get help. We deserve the opportunity to recover if we choose to. And we deserve compassion.
Having said that I just want to make it really clear that having NPD is not an excuse to hurt people. Whatever deficiencies I might have as a result of my childhood and whatever trauma I might be living with, none of that is a get out of jail free card.
Unfortunately I think that because we live in the society that chooses to vilify people with narcissistic personality disorder, we wind up with a lot of false information. No one wants to believe that their partner is a monster. So a lot of people will give that person chance after chance. They are in these relationships that seem like carnival rides. They don't understand what's going on. It has to be awful because your love is the thing that keeps you going back to something that winds up being very painful.
I think that if we as a society were better educated about what NPD is, More people would either end those relationships sooner or would have a better understanding of what they needed to do to try to help repair those relationships. If you understand why it is your partner is doing the things that they're doing, then you have a better chance at countering it. And coming up with a constructive way to repair things.
But it is a deal breaker if the person with NPD is unwilling to honestly work through the issues and to try to improve. I have been in relationships where I was destroyed by the fact that the other person chose to leave, but looking back on it I admire them. And the fact that they left me actually helps me now. At that time I couldn't see what was wrong with me. I couldn't see my mistakes. I didn't acknowledge them or accept them. But the other person drew a line and stuck to it and left. And now all these years later I'm able to see that what they did was brave and that if I want to improve myself I need to be a better person. Even though I lost that person, their love for me did me some good. It also allowed them to leave the relationship and hopefully move on to something better.
I know life is not as simple as what I have just described, but I do believe that the more we know about each other the better off will be. And the more people outside of the world of NPD understand what's going on inside of a person's mind and heart who has NPD the better their choices will be. The options are better.
If it's inappropriate for me to come here and post this, I apologize. I've just been thinking a lot about this. I don't want to be treated like a monster, but that means I have to act like a human. And human beings have to take responsibility for themselves. And human beings have to be willing to make improvements when things are wrong or accept the fact that things are going to fall apart. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to be a better human.

I'm getting so drained by getting hugged so much. It feels like every hug drains like a quarter of my energy and I have to do something (listen to music in peace) to gain it back. I hate it and I feel bad for saying it, but how do I ask people to stop hugging me.
I told people I don't like hugs and this worked on my two best friends and my mom... it DID NOT work on my dad or my boyfriend. (Weird it worked on all the girls)
How do I ask without hurting feelings or ruining relationships, but also a little more firmly than, "Please stop hugging me, I don't like hugs," since that FAILED :(

So I have been playing dnd for about 6ish years now and I finally had a pretty established group of players who all play two different dnd campaigns together. I invited a friend to play with us about a year ago thinking that they would just be in our shortest running campaign temporarily.
However, once we took a break from that campaign to focus on our main one, the DM of our main campaign ended up inviting them to join. Since then it’s been awful and honestly everyone has been having issues with this player. It started out with small things but has escalated to where they definitely have a case of main character syndrome despite joining the finale of a 6 year long campaign. They often interrupt other players to focus on themselves and don’t work together with the group in general but especially during combat. They also mainly talk/interact with an NPC in the game instead of the other players.
It all came to a boiling point the other day when the DM was about to reveal a major plot point about who my character’s estranged father is and the problem player just shouts out who they think the mystery person is. They guessed the right person and honestly it ruined the moment. They didn’t apologize or anything, instead they got defensive and said there was no way they could have known that’s who it was (despite many hints and clues but whatever). Regardless this is another habit they have of interrupting the DM.
I’m going to try to talk to them, since I’m the closest to them, but have no idea what to say.

Sorry, it's me again
Just wanted to bring you full circle in case you still needed any amount of closure.
It was him using me for codependency. I was his target after he left his ex, I was groomed during our overnights, used for my insecurities, and shouldn't have drank with him at all. Lots of what happened since I would now call sexual assault. It was a challenge to him to steal me away because of how much I bragged about you at work.
Look up Netorare, it's the hentai he reads.
For my part. I had a lack of boundaries, lack of communication, and an extreme lack of trust in those that cared about me. I thought I was smart and knew what was happening then leaned in to it all due to my inability to admit my true faults.
If you ever find yourself constantly extremely confused and emotionally disregulated then you are probably in a toxic relationship. I stopped taking testosterone over a year ago because it increases my sex drive to a point I am uncomfortable with (Which contributes to his ability to manipulate my reality)
Not saying this for a response but felt the need to explain with the perspective I have been given after a recent tramatic incident. I am living at my friend's house again.
I apologize for my naivety and wish you well. I'll be doing community advocacy work and I hope that won't make you uncomfortable. If I wasn't with him and we broke up I would have handled it with grace and respect as I am giving him now dispite everything. I wish I could press rewind but always have opted to learn lessons the hard way.
From the bottom of my heart. This is my last text.

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"Festicus…"
Marcus stared down at the felled rat, watching as his great furrowed head lulled and fell to the side.
"Festicus!"
"He issss being gone, Ssssire," Verulex said behind him.
Marcus bent low and tried to rouse the great brute that had saved his life, denying that he was about to let another rat man die for him like Gatskeek had.
"Wake up, Marrow soldier!" he yelped in the creature's vacant eyes. "There's cavalry charges still to be led!"
No response. Sullen and vengeful, Marcus let the head drop.
I hesitated, he thought. I didn't act quick enough. If I had the damn foresight to grab that blade sooner…
"Be letting him be. He isss doing hisss duty to Clan and –"
"Oh, shut up, priest," Marcus spat, turning with fury to look upon the hooded cretin who was still managing to coax his anger even now. "Your Order might consider a single rat's life to be meaningless – something to just throw away in the service of your God, but this warrior deserved more than this."
The High Priest of Glumrot fixed Marcus with his puss-filled eyes. Those eyes spoke of toxic thoughts ruminating beneath them.
"Be turning your thoughtssss to vengeancccce, Sssssire," Verulex wheezed as he shambled over to the Matron's eviscerated body and prodded at it with the staff of his office, making sure the creature's life had finally expired. He then nodded down at the still breathing form of the unconscious Yeeva below Marcus, the soft skin of her belly weeping purple blood from the perforation Marcus had made as she took Festicus's life.
He scoffed at the priest and picked up the Wakisashi that had fallen at his feet, bending low and directing his hatred at the fallen Yokra who was mumbling as though in a dream-state.
Perhaps it was a meditation practice of their kind, Marcus thought. It didn't make any biological sense for a creature to immediately collapse into unconsciousness as she just had in receiving such a near fatal wound.
He leaned closer to her as Verulex amplified his voice and called down to the army still waiting below, telling them to send a detachment and a priest to sanctify the body of one of their dead. The enemy Yokun had fallen, and they would receive some special treatment of their own.
Marcus heard general cheers resound as this proclamation echoed all through the dim streets of the putrid city. But he ignored them. Instead, he craned his neck to hear what the felled serpent was saying. There was a word on her lips that he could swear had the ring of familiarity to it.
"Matriarch…Pale…Pale Lady…"
Loyal to a fault, Marcus thought. Even in death, you sing your leader's praises. If you are a representative of one of her soldiers, I'm sure she's a force to be reckoned with among your people. That's just another reason why you have to die.
He brought the edge of the Yokun's Wakizashi to her scaled, bloody throat, tensing up as he knew that he had to do this. He had to. He wouldn't hesitate anymore.
And just as he held her head in his hand and made to bring the blade across her neck, that's when he heard it:
"…Mari…"
His hand stopped.
His brain froze.
The Wakizashi wavered as though willing him to follow-through with his desire.
But a very different desire now burned in his heart as that word traveled through his entire system and sent shivers running down his spine.
"Matriarch…Lady…Maria…"
The blade clattered against the silo platform.
"What isss happening?" Verulex asked. "Ssssire, isss thissss beasssst resssisssting?"
Marcus shook his head.
"No."
"Then be sssslaying her and let ussss go. I sssshal be honored to be ssssshowing you Clan Glumrot'sssss wayssss of debassssing the dead."
Marcus could barely even hear the words of the priest. He could register nothing in this moment except the croaking of that name – Mari's name – emanating from the slitted lips of the downed serpent.
"Bah!" Verulex howled. "Be giving me the blade. I sssshal do i-"
"No," Marcus said, then turning to the priest as though he had just been transported back to reality. "No. We take her alive."
The priest cocked his vile, hooded head at Marcus.
"Your pity for thesssse foreign hereticssss isssss doing you no favorssss, Sssshai-Alud," he said. "The Koboldssss are bad enough. Now you are even ssssshowing merccccy to the killer of your commander?"
"We…we need to question her," Marcus explained, straightening up and trying to compose himself as best he could. "We have the opportunity here to find out what she knows, where she came from, even Skegga's force composition potentially. We can't afford to lose this opportunity."
He looked into the face of the ratman and saw what he had not quite been able to see in the war-chamber earlier that night. He saw the wrinkled eyes of the holy rat narrow, and the teeth flare in anger.
"Sssssire," the priest began, slowly. "You are not undersssstanding. I am being head priesssst of Glumrot. I am favored voicccce of He-Who-Fessssterssss. The bussssinesss of dealing with dead in battle isssss up to me."
Marcus faced the rat, feeling anger take him once again.
"And I am your Shai-Alud," he said. "You should be speaking to me with more re-"
Now, he saw something else that he hadn't seen before.
He saw the Wakisashi that glimmered in the ratman's right claw.
As the little priest spoke, he watched as the tip of the blade slowly rose to touch Marcus's reverberating heart.
"You are not ssssspeaker for the Unclean," the priest told him in a cold whisper. "You ssssshal never be. A human isssss a human, jusssst assss a Kobold isssss a Kobold and a sssssnake-bitch isssss a sssssnake-bitch. Hereticsssss, all of you. And one day, sssssooon, there ssssshall come a day when you are purged from our gloriousssss empire. And on that day, Ssssshai-Alud, you may sssssee which ratssss in thisssss realm are truly holding the power."
Marcus licked his lips. His eyes now swam to watch the edges of the podium. And he became acutely conscious of just how isolated they were up here, surrounded by the dying and the dead. Like the vicious little creature said, it was his domain.
He maintained his composure. He stalled for time.
"Are you threatening me, Verulex?"
The sly smile that crossed the priest's lips then was more chilling than anything Marcus had seen thus far in the Kingdom of the rats.
"I am but a humble sssservant, Sssshai-Alud," he replied. "We all have our placcce in ratman sssssociety. Even you, Ssssshai-Alud. It issss a beautiful thing, issss it not? He-Who-Festerssss issss a mossst generoussss God. He is even giving sssscum like you a placccce among Hisssss chosen people."
Marcus stepped back as the tip of the knife inched closer to his abdomen. He could swear, still smirking, that the ratman moved with him.
And so when there finally came the rattling of chains from the lip of the silo platform's edge, Marcus was more relieved than ever. And the knife that Verulex once dangled before him simply evaporated into ash.
Magic, it seemed, could hide even the greatest crime.
"Shai-Alud!" the voice of Deekius yelped from the edge of the platform, panting as he and a retinue of soldiers threw themselves over the lip and caught their breath. "You…are you being hurt, Lor-"
"Gloomraava Deekius," Verulex interrupted. "You are coming in good time. I am taking charge of thisssss Yokun bitch. We will be exxxxecuting her publicly tomorrow, after I take sssssome time to – time to –"
The priest collapsed suddenly, coughing up a miasma of his blood in the process.
"Gloomraava Verulex," Deekius said. "You are being maimed. Be coming down, we shall be administering to you."
"Be dealing with Brother Fesssssticusss firsssst, Brother," the old priest coughed as he allowed himself to be helped away. "He issss needing your care more than I."
Marcus watched as the small retinue of rats then took stock of their surroundings, seeing the chaos and carnage that unfolded in such a tiny area over such a short space of time.
"He was being a credit to his Clan," Deekius said. "This is great loss for our people."
Verulex, meanwhile, said nothing at all.
Marcus watched as the Yokun woman was spat on and then trundled off down the silo with the others, thankful that the old priest's wounds at least stopped him from having her slain then and there. Perhaps even he knew he couldn't go against the Shai-Alud's wishes publicly.
But he'd just confirmed something that Marcus had already begun to fear – something that became far too obvious to him now after seeing the hatred burning in the eyes of Redwhiskers and Verulex both.
And, more than that, he needed to speak to that snake. He needed that more than anything. He needed to know…was it chance? Or…was Mari really..?
"Marcus," he heard Deekius say outside himself. "It is being alright now. Yokun are not being known to send more than single assassin team. If they are failing, it is because they are not blessed by their heretic Gods. Defeating them here is great victory for us all, and now, you are having nothing to fear."
The ratman lifted his arm to try and guide Marcus away but the latter rejected the help entirely. He crossed to the edge of the platform and looked down upon the city, seeing the crowds cheer to see him alive, wondering which of them truly did have any real love for him at all.
Then his eyes lighted on the descending form of Verulex, and he felt a very different idea take root within his mind.
"No, Deekius," he said. "I have plenty still to fear. But now I know what to do about it."
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I don’t have this (I’m a man lol) but I was looking up Zofran to help my ulcerative colitis and came across a few of these threads on this subreddit. Read through some posts out of curiousiyyand I googled HG and I just wanted to say that I empathize with y’all. Especially after Mother’s Day! Like I said, I have ulcerative colitis and a lot of people don’t understand how debilitating constant nausea and GI sickness feels. It’s awful… my wife and I don’t have any children yet but I don’t even want to imagine her going through HG.
I hope each of you feels better and I’m glad I now know more about HG! If everyone would just 2 minutes to do a quick google search on the diseases and disorders a lot of us have then I think the world would be much more understanding to those with more invisible diseases. Awareness is everything.
I don’t know why I posted this - just felt compelled too and totally understand the BS of your body turning against you. Y’all got this and congrats on the future children!

I joined a new company a few months back as a Principal Data EngineeTechnical Lead. I lead a very small team of two other engineers. One of them is great, good attitude and when he makes mistakes always willing to improve. Good code reviews etc. The other one is horrible. I come to find out that my manager and him are friends and my manager hired him.
I am at a loss for what to do to handle the situation. He was hired by my boss as a “Lead Data Engineer” but has absolutely no leadership skills. I myself am Indian, but have extreme difficulty understanding him, he also lacks comprehension. My boss has split his work into two teams, me and the other manager have 1:1s and he is also having having difficulty managing him on his side.
I have given him specific examples of where his work didn’t have good quality.

• “When I review the PR you removed X functionality and it was supposed to be a refactor”
• “When you respond to a customer’s ticket please do validation ahead of of responding instead of making them validate that the fix you did worked. Both validations should happen”
• Make sure you are in the right directory when running a script
• During the last 2 week sprint you completed 2 tasks, one of them updating a string on a monitor the other one adding comments to code. This doesn’t meet the expectations.

It is like coaching an intern.
I also brought it up with manager and asked him what are your expectations for this Lead Engineer? His answers were all over the place and there is no job description or job competency matrix to use. And I also told him the engineer is not meeting those expectations and then he made a bunch of excuses for him, saying he is really busy etc.
TLDR: My manager hired his friend who has barely any technical or social skills. I brought it up to my manager and he is awkward and avoidant. What should I do as the team leadenot wanting to have my team look bad in front of others/ need more capacity for development work with him not executing.

So I am in the process of going to merge some of my (used all the time) cc in package form. I am following a few tutorials on package conversion/merging/cleaning cc but no one mentions how many items can be in a package.
On CC Magic they say you can add a package to a set or create your own sets which I want to do with my common cc. However no one mentions now many packages should be in a “set.”
For example: I own the Fresh Prince car collection and I would like to make this all into one package. However there are like over 20-30 cars in the collection and I want to know how big I can make the package. If it means making a cars 1 and cars 2 package for easier reading I’m ok with it.

I have been married for 6 years now,with three kids and my husband is in jail. He has been in Jail for two years,and my husband is in so much debit. He’s parents are so entitled that they tried to blame my family for their sons debits,saying that since he’s their only SIL they should pay off their son debits,and that went on and off for sometime,demanding to talk to my family or ask my father to loan me 50k or sell my jewelry to my father and get him to give me at least 25k(my jewelry doesn’t reach 25k) or to open a business with my name and credit card or take a loan……and this list go off a lot !!!’ After some fighting and cornering me,I decided to sell my jewelry except a bracelet my father bought me. However, they found out about the bracelet,and my phone started ringing demanding I sell everything I own,including the bracelet. And I got a call from my SIL calling me all sort of name saying that I’m hiding my jewelry and didn’t sell everything… After some fighting and yelling,I decided to sell it……. After I sold it my father knew and he blow off on my In-laws,calling them all sort of name and he talked trash about them,LIKE A LOT!!!! But after that each time a have a fight or disagreements with my SIL she would tell this::
OH!!! WE KNOW WHAt YOUR FATHER SAID ABOUT THE US SELLING THE JEWELRY,AND MY BROTHER ALREADY KNOWS!!!
I said yes he knows because he called my father and they had a talk!!! In this two years my mom was responsible for my necessities and would drive everywhere(i don’t have a car) they never took my to an appointment or elsewhere,even my kids are in The same pre school as my SIL and she never picked the kids to take them to school or take them home back from pre school!!!
Now my dear father bought me car,not that fancy but it does take me places,and guess what!??!? My SIL feels entitled to it…
(My dad put the car under his name so they can’t try to pressure me to sell it or not to ask me to take them places)
First time my father took the car at Friday,my husband had a visit in jail planned on Sunday,but my SIL calls me Saturday night demanding I tell my father to take the car back so I can go visit her brother!!!
(Since he got jailed I was the only one visiting him,my in-laws visited him once and the rest was me alone)
At the phone call with my SIL I told her that my father needs the car in the meantime and he can’t give it to me ,she started yelling saying I never loved her brother and never visited him while he’s in jail..I fought back and called my
Other BIL (he’s decent unlike my SIL) he said that it’s not a problem and he can assure I have a car in the morning to go to see my husband. Which he DID!! He brought me his wife’s car but I didn’t use it because my young SIL was home and she was happy to drive me their (she’s young like 20 years old ) And we went and visited my husband.
Second story my two kids were at my parents and my mom called to come pick them up,I went!!!and when I reached home my SIL was standing at the porch fuming demanding to know if they gave me the car forever or for sometime…
What do I do with this peace of S$&@??!