Hello everyone. I’m a 21 year old Male seeking any and all advice on how to keep my health a secret from the United States Government.
I want to join the U.S. Air Force. I have since I was 6. I have been an Army brat my whole life and I got an 84 on the ASVAB & was on the right path to do that and I suddenly was bitten by a tick. It turned my life upside down. The amount of fatigue and joint pain I feel on a daily basis is borderline crippling but I still want to serve my country. I genuinely wouldn’t be happier doing anything else but I legitimately cannot run because of my pain. I can endure it but not for long. I want to go to the doctor but I don’t want the Air Force to get their hands on the records because it would almost certainly permanently disqualify me.
Please keep in mind that when you join the U.S. Military, you have to sign over any and all medical documents which will confirm or deny any information you’ve given your recruiter, hence me not reporting joint pain would most likely come up in a medical document review especially with the U.S. Government’s new Genesis system which is designed to scour almost every health providers system for your name or other individual markers like your SSN or your birthdate etc.
Getting this procedure done in the proper channels will likely end up with me getting caught in the long run. On the other hand not getting seen by a doctor is genuinely painful and won’t allow me enough time to train my legs after an extensive physical therapy period. A constant above moderate 7 pain in both legs. As it stands now, I certainly couldn’t run 26 minutes without serious physical repercussions (yes you run that far in Air Force Basic Military Training at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland Air Force Base to train for the 1.5 mile run which is 60% of yo overall PT Score.)
This illness has seriously affected my quality of life. I want nothing more than to find a cure or any kind of relief so I can be the man I always wanted to be: A U.S. Airman.
Im under the impression I need an MRI to scan the tissues on my leg as the pain is centralized mostly around the lower part of my thigh right above my knee. I believe most people refer to it as quadriceps tendonitis but I’m no doctor. That’s just what I’ve been able to gather from the internet over the last 3 years. At home treatments for Quadriceps Tendonitis have yield no results in minimizing my pain. I need help but I don’t want it to affect my future. I wouldn’t be happy in another career field. I genuinely don’t know what I’d do if I had to be a civilian. No disrespect to civilians of course.
Please help me. Anything. If you can suggest a doctor anywhere in the Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma Arkansas area that would do an MRI off the books for some extra cash please let me know or if there’s some way I can lie about my name and not go to jail that’s be awesome too.
I can’t begin to tell you how much it would mean to me if I was to get any kind of relief and fulfill my dream. Yes, before anyone gets all uppity about it I’m aware that lying to the federal government is a crime however plenty of patriots join every year despite the risk. Please afford me the opportunity to do the same. Aim High.
TL;DR: I need to get an MRI done as soon as possible to get my joints looked at and take any preventative measures possible to reverse or stop and degeneration I have as well as combat any tick-borne illnesses without it being on my permanent medical record. Please help me. Thank you in advance for your replies 🇺🇸
Edit: I’m not particularly sure why so many of us think I’m lying, Making something up, or “Karma-farming” whatever that is? This is a new “throwaway” because I really don’t want to be associated with having possibly done something illegal? I have significantly better things to do than whine on the internet for no reason? I simply and sincerely just want help guys. If you don’t have any or don’t want to give me any, that’s fine but please do move along. I really am just looking for relief. Thank you for understanding.

I didn't expect this to be so long, but I got stoned and needed to rant. Thank you all for reading!
I was raised not to talk about politics. My parents told me that constantly growing up. They are immigrants from the USSR and patriots, but they taught me that your politics are private. Then 2016 happened.
The point is, I hate talking about the conflict so much, but I NEED to and I don't have anyone to turn to. I used to have so many Jewish friends - I was in JSU and an orthodox Jewish youth group in high school, despite being basically a Chanukah/PassoveRosh Hashanah Jew. Then somewhere in my 20's, the people I hung out with changed and it's 2024 and I have one close Jewish friend. I can't talk to my parents about it because I have learned from experience that speaking about politics with my folks in any form is a bad idea. Especially if we disagree.
I need to talk about it though, so I thank you all for giving me a safe space to do so.
One of my favorite artists posted a video on her socials calling the war a genocide and I'm just done. I got into a reddit comment debate over this, something I swore I'd never do because it's just yelling into the void. I went and read the Hamas charter because I wanted a first hand account of the language used, not just what I'm told on Reddit. I don't understand how anyone can read their charters - both the 1988 and 2017 version - and not see it for what it is. It is calling to kill all of us. Convert or be killed. In their ideal world, Hamas would basically be running the modern Inquisition.
I also do not agree with how Netanyahu is handling this AT ALL. I hate it so much, I feel for the innocent Palestinians. I know some people think that all Palestinians are Hamas because of the voting, but how fair do you think their elections are? Do you really think they are not being threatened to vote for Hamas?
The one thing that keeps coming back to my mind is the idea that Hamas knew this would play out this way. There's no way they went into 10/7 thinking they would win whatever game they were playing. They knew that if they attacked, Bibi would turn around and use all the weapons in his arsenal on them and they would in turn look like David v. Goliath. This goes straight along with the revision of the 2017 charter, where they changed the language of jihad against Jews explicitly to "the Jewish problem" and the Zionists must be destroyed. Look how tolerant they are. They don't want to kill us you guys, they just want to kill Zionists. Oh, they don't really care about the difference between the two. You think Hamas is going to ask you if you're a Zionist before they shoot you?
They knew this was going to happen; they are playing the long game and it's working.

I've been working with Prusa help for about a week to no success yet, so I figured I'd see if anyone here had any ideas.
I'm trying to print these Printables Models. As you can see in the notes, no one has any issues with the cylindrical part.
I tried using a brand new Nextruder .4mm nozzle setup with brand new PETG and had issues. The purple filament is PLA. Then I tried turning off input shaper, all with no luck. Images here. The purple PLA benchy and black PETG test square both came out great, adding to the mystery. I've printed this cylinder about 6 times now with different configs and they all come out almost the same, except for a layer shift on one.
My setup is a MK4 that's been fantastic, just added an MMU3 when this problem started. I print in a makeshift enclosure that's been fantastic historically.
Prusa help has had me try all of the following.
-Clean nozzle
-Swap nozzle
-Help agent tried printing my exact bgcode on his printer in PETG and it came out perfectly (he even sent photos as proof)
-Check x belt tension (perfect at 86hz)
-Fan self check and RPM number at 100%
-Photos of my nozzle, heat block, and thermistor
-Swapped nozzle, heat block, and thermistor (.4mm diamond nozzle with V6 adapter)
-full printer self test
-IS off print
-Auto cold pulls with MMU disabled. Note on this one, the pulls kept coming out wrong, I did 5 pulls on 3 different nozzles (two .4mm, one .6mm) all of which I'm quite confident aren't clogged, and I tried cleaning. I'm wondering if maybe this is a MMU3 thing? Something about the changes you make to the nextruder setup/filament sensor etc? We couldn't get a cold pull to look good on any nozzle.
Anyone have any ideas at all on what's going wrong? Other things to test/try?
Thanks for the help!
Edit: Gonna try test printing some suggestions and I'll upload the results!

Camry 2017.
Left or right. It’s like grinding noise not loud but you can hear it… and then leather squeak when I’m turning it stationary.
Thoughts ?
Thanks

I know the devs have a billion things they are working on that are more important than this, but these are some changes I would like to see brought to the game to promote build diversity.

Armor perk with fire resistance – This would be a QoL benefit for those that really want to run pyro builds or those of us that are tired of dying to fire. Currently the pyro build fantasy of marching forward burning everything in site is hampered by the fact that you can’t march forward without dying to your own fire. Yes, it is realistic, but it is not fun, the flamethrower is already balanced by its pretty short range with this armor perk they can live that fantasy. As a added bonus some of us may actually go back to the fire tornado planets if we had this armor perk

Armor perk that allows the reloading of any support weapons on the move – Some support weapons can already be reloaded on the move, but quite a few can’t. Having a perk like this on armor would make those support stratagems that can’t be reloaded on the move more appealing. I do not think this would be too strong as you are giving up other armor perks for this one and it only benefits some support weapons.

Make Chargers have a frontal weak spot or make the leg armor breakable with medium pen weapons – This change alone would promote build diversity on the bug side. This opens up more support weapon stratagem options and also would give helldivers pause to consider bringing a medium pen primary on bug missions.

Lower the aggro on turrets/mortars or increase their health? – These stratagems appear to have high aggro. Whenever deployed I have seen them killed almost immediately by bots and I have seen bile titans and chargers seemly stop what they are doing to go destroy these stratagems. Their power is already limited by the fact they are stationary, have limited ammo, and take time to deal their damage. On higher difficulties I have given up on bringing these stratagems because why risk these stratagems being destroyed before they can do 20% of their dmg potential vs using something like the airburst orbital or an airstrike that deals all its damage up front and not risk losing them before they can deal their damage.

I am sure some of you that read this post will just think I am whining or just want to tell me to get good, and that may be true as I do suck at the game but again the point of this post is to promote more options on what helldivers feel they can take on a mission and have fun. If a helldiver wants to be a machine gunner, pyro, or combat engineer and deploy sentries and mortars for his team, why not? Ya this may make the game “too easy” to some players but at the same time probably no matter what the devs do to the game it will be too easy to those players.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post, look forward to reading others suggestions and feedback, and hope you have a good day!

This is my first post in any Helldivers community, and I have a lot of ideas stockpiled from my experience playing the game. There's a lot I want to say, and in this post I'll try to cover it as best as I can. From community polls to just community discussion in general, it's clear that Helldivers 2 has some issues with balancing new Warbonds, and the player experience in general, and I'd like to give my input and suggestions to hopefully give a few people some things to chew on.
Balancing: The biggest issue. From my perspective, Helldivers 2 is a horde shooter where you're meant to feel powerful and destroy everything in your path. What the Helldivers 2 balancing team is trying to do right now is make the over powered guns weaker so that all weapons are equally viable, and I get that. What I think should be happening is maybe a little nerfing here and there for the insanely powerful guns, but mostly generous buffing of everything so that you can really feel powerful; this sounds good, but it also comes with some issues. One of those issues is that is would decrease the difficulty of the game, and because there is a maximum difficulty, it could take away from the experience of players who want a challenge. My suggested fix to this is to make the enemies more challenging, not with more health, or more damage, but with things like higher enemy counts and higher chances of calling in a bug breach or drop ship. This way, the guns would be more powerful, but there would also be bigger swarms, longer lasting fights, and more strategy would be needed when approaching patrols.
Another hot topic in the community is the frequency and quality of Warbonds, specifically the new Polar Patriots Warbond. Personally, I haven't bought any of the premium Warbonds, but I can still get the gist of their problems. I think it would be a viable solution if, for the next while, Arrowhead focused not on making more Warbonds, but making the previous ones actually good and fun to use. I know it's kind of strange to make major changes to things that people have bought with real money, and that is a reasonable concern, but think about the possibility of giving the previous Warbonds a makeover to really perfect the feel that they were going for with this. I'm not suggesting they change their identity or the identities of weapons and armour, but things like giving more weapons cool effects, and having a more diverse range of armour levels with passives that are valid to use. As an example for the Polar Patriots armour sets, I think it would be really cool and fitting if they used the Warbond's theme that is already there and made an armor passive that could be extra useful in snowy, cold planets; maybe it would stop sliding on ice, or give an increased climbing height from the shoe spikes, and give a super high stealth modifier during blizzards or something. Passives like this, along with themed Warbonds, would give players a better reason to get them, and encourage the use of different armours and playstyles.
That's all I wanted to say for now, so thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you didn't, here's a few key points:

• Instead of doing heavy nerfing, do heavy buffing while using the enemies to balance difficulty.
  
• More enemies and higher chances of bug breaches and drop ships would make it feel even more like a horde shooter, make fights last longer, and players would need a more strategical approach to patrols.
  
• Less focus on new Warbonds and more focus on improving the existing ones.
  
• Extend the 'themed' feel of Warbonds with things like armour passives relevant to the theme of the Warbond. This would give more encouragement to get the Warbond, use different armour, and try out new playstyles for the many unique environments.
  

I salute you all,
Helldiver #14013745

Greetings everyone,
I served in the regular Army as a 14E (Patriot Missiles) from 2008 to 2014 and am exploring the possibility of joining the Minnesota National Guard or Reserves, with a keen interest in opportunities that offer active status in a reserve or guard unit near my home.
Initially, I was leaning towards the National Guard and have been in communication with a recruiter. However, upon deeper investigation into the workings of the National Guard, I find myself unsure. Can anyone shed some light on the differences between the two? Is one better than the other? I've heard about prior service business rules for the Army that supposedly don't apply to the National Guard. Can someone clarify this for me? Additionally, I'm concerned about the possibility of getting stuck in an undesirable MOS.
I'm particularly interested in advice or insights regarding opportunities that offer active status in a reserve or guard unit near home. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Greetings everyone,
I served in the regular Army as a 14E (Patriot Missiles) from 2008 to 2014 and am exploring the possibility of joining the Minnesota National Guard or Reserves, with a keen interest in opportunities that offer active status in a reserve or guard unit near my home.
Initially, I was leaning towards the National Guard and have been in communication with a recruiter. However, upon deeper investigation into the workings of the National Guard, I find myself unsure. Can anyone shed some light on the differences between the two? Is one better than the other? I've heard about prior service business rules for the Army that supposedly don't apply to the National Guard. Can someone clarify this for me? Additionally, I'm concerned about the possibility of getting stuck in an undesirable MOS.
I'm particularly interested in advice or insights regarding opportunities that offer active status in a reserve or guard unit near home. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

plz drop the best TENS machines below - i want to order asap i am in desperate need :,(
my pain is absolutely excruciating and it’s impacting too many areas of my life, i’m looking for something i can use on the go, but i’m open to more stationary solutions too! plz help i need relief
thank you all so much <3

Warning: very lengthy
Idk if this is the right flair, but I began writing a response to a question I saw posed here about what tornado we found the most fascinating. I began to write my answer about how fascinated I was by Jarrell and its uniqueness, when a realization hit me that ended up turning my response into a miniature essay that transcended just Jarrell. Credit to OP of that post for really getting me to think about Jarrell, a certain similar tornado, an issue in the weather community, and why I think it’s a good thing to see a potentially strong tornado not do enough damage to earn a high rating.
Jarrell is the tornado that brought my passing interest to my rotation of hyper fixations. Everything about it is so completely abnormal and it’s so well documented. Thirteen minutes and ~5 miles is so brief by (E)F5 standards, yet it did some of the most unimaginable damage by a tornado because of how slow it moved. (E)F5 windspeeds are terrifying when the tornado they’re attached to is moving at a normal pace, but when you’re getting potentially 200 mph tornadic winds staying almost stationary, the damage that can be done is frankly nightmarish.
I find it pretty haunting to think about how, if Jarrell was a more normal F5, some of the people who lost their lives may have actually survived. It went from a pretty unassuming rope doing negligible damage to a three quarter mile wide wedge doing unfathomable damage as one of the most unorthodox tornadoes ever recorded. The scary thing is, while I’ve been on an autism fueled rant about its uniqueness, Jarrell’s most defining feature isn’t so unique that a tornado like it happening is out of the question.
The day is April 30th, 2024. As we all well know, the end of April was a pretty notable time in terms of tornadoes. I’d spent most of my time during performances of the musical I’d just designed for almost entirely on my phone monitoring ongoing tornadoes. Westmoreland had happened the same day, Sulphur, Okemah, and Marietta the day before, and multiple EF3s including Harlan just a few days before. It was a weekday, so I was on a four day break between the two performance weekends. On a whim, I check this subreddit and see posts and comments about "Jarrell part 2" and the odd behaviors exhibited by the night’s storms. I hurriedly check the app formerly known as Twitter and see a PDS warning for Hollister, Oklahoma, and comments under that warning saying much the same thing.
Based on all evidence, that tornado was pretty strong, huge, long-tracked, slow-moving, had abnormal path, and had all the makings of a very notable and high rated storm. The only missing ingredient was damage. As I wrote the part of my response that was solely about Jarrell, this tornado came to mind. It could have been really bad, but it didn’t hit anything. After all was said and done, it was rated as an EF1 tornado, much to many weather enthusiasts’ ire. I am very happy about this rating.
When tornado enthusiasts think about worst case scenario tornadoes, I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that Jarrell is a name that pops up pretty often. There was no preparing for a tornado as unorthodox as the one that hit the small town of Jarrell, Texas, in 1997. As the April 30th tornado shows, though, tornadoes like Jarrell do happen. Jarrell’s most defining factor isn’t so rare that we don’t see tornadoes that fit into a similar category happen from time to time. The thing that makes Jarrell unique among these slow moving, strong tornadoes is that it hit a town, whereas many of its ilk do not. Imagine what the Hollister EF1 may have done if it had hit a town. It could have been another worst case scenario.
There are so many tornadoes that could have potentially ruined and ended lives that just did not because they stayed mostly away from places they could do harm to human life and property. There are tornadoes like Hollister that probably could’ve been EF3+ if they only hit the wrong place. I think that we should celebrate those tornadoes and their low ratings instead of finding ire within them. We should be thankful that unless something happens to change that, we’ll have made it eleven years without an EF5 in just six days from now, because there are tornadoes that could’ve possibly ended that drought if they’d only hit a populated area.
I know this was kind of rambly, but I wanted to share all the thoughts that came along when I was writing that original response that, like the tornado it was originally about, went from something small to something very, very big.

Hey everyone :) Hows your evening going? Hope you've had nice days so far, and had some coffee.
I've just come back from a swimming competition - we won yaaay!!! Thanks to everyone who sent goodluck messages it was really sweet of you :) I'm on my bed drinking a well earned coffee and doing some homework. :P anyone want to chat with me while I do? I'd like the company :)
The usual stuff about me - I'm 15, I'm at school. I have an awesome brother who has an awesome girlfriend. I'm part of the cheer squad, I model for local shops on occasion. I have an unhealthy stationary addiction and I love to read, what are you reading at the moment?
If you have read all of this please let me know your favourite specific piece of stationary (not just a 'pen' but a logitech roller ball or whatever)

My Jeep 2015 Jeep patriot 2.4 L just stalled yesterday on the road. I was stopped at a stoplight and then when it turned green I went to accelerate and it died about halfway through the intersection. At first the car wouldn’t restart but I ended up being able to restart the car after some time sitting on the side of the road and was able to make it home.
I did some research online and after finding a website called "car complaints" , it appears that engine stalling while driving is the most commonly issue reported. Some people have reported that their mechanics are swapping sensors and doing other work on the car but nobody seems to have reported definitively solving the issue.
I ran an OBDII scan on the car which came back with no fault codes and a report that the O2 sensor "passes". The Battery has been verified to be fine and there are no warning or indicator lights on the dashboard. I would not claim to know cars very well at all but with this website pointing to an engine issue, I am thinking some preventative solutions might be to clean/swap the air intake filter and to start buying higher octane fuel. I also think that it could be a transmission issue since I have noticed that the car does not shift gears very smoothly at times but a trusted family mechanic looked at it about a year ago and said that it looked fine to him.
Does this sound correct to you all? Any other ideas? Would love to hear your expertise and thanks in advance.

Edit: If you are going to comment on the length of this post, please don't. This is not a simple snark but rather an actual critical think piece about feminism and Taylor Swift.

Introduction

Pertaining to Taylor Swift, "Female Rage" has deviated from its intended meaning after Swift debuted a new performance of The Tortured Poets Department during the Eras Tour. Now, according to Swift's use of the phrase, female rage is interpreted as public backlash against Swift's dating choices rather than as a response to the broader injustices against women and women's rights. This post examines Taylor Swift's flawed feminism, philanthropy, branding, and the controversial trademark petition for the phrase "Female Rage: The Musical". Swift's background as an entertainer, indeterminate politics, and alignment with capitalism over feminism pervades her legacy, again threatening her public tolerance as not just an individual but as a brand.

Once Upon a Female Rage...

If you were cognizant in the early 2010's, you've heard countless jabs at Taylor Swift in the media. Magazines, radio, or online. Music critics did not take her seriously as a songwriter; parents put a woman on an unrealistic pedestal as the ideal role model for their children; she dated too much and used men as lyrical fodder. No matter the story, it inevitably spread, conjoined with everyone's respective opinions, and you'd be left to wonder, "Why does everyone hate this girl so much?"
Taylor's target demographic has always been young or adolescent girls, more so when Swift herself was one. She made music that spoke to the awkward misfit, cultivating a para-social relationship with fans on MySpace, then later twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, where Taylor posted relatable vlogs showcasing the life of a homegrown American girl. Taylor had a delayed public "growing up" and, compared to her female pop contemporaries, Swift never "gratuitously sexualized her image and seems pathologically averse to controversy" (and, apparently, never even had a sip of alcohol until she turned 21). She was more than happy to spin this narrative to allude to an inherent moral superiority above other women in the industry (Better Than Revenge, heard of it?), engaging in the very slut-shaming that she herself endured (the Madonna and Whore archetypes). The victim complex arose with the need to prove Taylor as a different type of pop girl. Based upon her holy and clean image, Swift had been dubbed "a feminist's nightmare", and that "[To Swift] other girls are obstacles; undeserving enemies who steal Taylor’s soulmates with their bewitching good looks and sexual availability." Feminism and Tennessee-Christian country values don't exactly mix, it seems.
Years later, Swift befriended Lena Dunham and thus experienced white feminism osmosis, where Dunham taught Swift that real feminists defend rapists, makes insensitive jokes about rape and abortion, and prioritize all-white casts. Swift then declared herself a feminist in 2014, saying,

"Becoming friends with Lena – without her preaching to me, but just seeing why she believes what she believes, why she says what she says, why she stands for what she stands for – has made me realize that I’ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so."

I suppose the male-centric songwriting subject that permeates Swift's discography contained covert feminism and that we just didn't see that. Perhaps, the "Bad Blood" song and music video were written only in jest and not about poor Katy Perry, for Swift, as a feminist, would "never make it a girl fight" or tear other women down (though all Katy did was date your terrible ex-boyfriend and allegedly steal three backup dancers from your tour). In 2013, Swift said, in response to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's joke towards her serial dating, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."
There was that time in 2015 Taylor said that Nicki Minaj was "invited to any stage [she is] on" (as if Taylor expects to have access to every stage, award, and platform that Nicki might not otherwise have as a black female artist...yikes!) in response to Nicki's criticism of the white + thin VMA nominations. Later, Nicki responded with confusion, as Swift continued, "It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..". Of course, this 'beef' was 'squashed' when Nicki performed with Taylor at the VMAs, with Nicki quite literally only having 38 seconds of stage time without Taylor. Maybe all that parading around with a legion of famous white women - similar to the way Taylor might've done with her numerous 1989-era handbags - was in fact a stance against gender inequality, and that this display of "girl power" should be enough to constitute Swift as a feminist icon.
Even while Swift says that Dunham informed her feminist outlook, she dances around the exact contents of those beliefs: "what she believes, what she says, what she stands for" is not exactly insightful towards what beliefs Swift might have inherited. Taylor never broaches women's rights topics such femicide, FGM, forced pregnancy & marriage, sex trafficking, women in slavery, women's financial and political oppression, women's educational rights, women's health, or women's autonomy, so we can assume she only gives a fuck about "girls supporting girls" (whatever that fucking means).
Despite some questionable (and sometimes vindictive) behavior, Taylor as a young woman did not deserve every media lashing that she received. We cannot deny that most headlines and criticisms perpetuated a misogynistic rhetoric which has plagued Swift for a majority of her career. Acknowledging events such as the development of her ED, her sexual assault trial, "Famous" lyric and MV depiction of Taylor, and the explicit Twitter deepfakes, for example, as both disgusting and unfortunate things that happened to a young woman in Hollywood does not negate the fact that Taylor is mostly a performative feminist.

Get Your Fucking Ass Up and Be a Philanthropist, It Seems Like Nobody Wants to Be a Philanthropist These Days

In 2013, Taylor Swift cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Taylor Swift Education Center at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. The donation amount - $4 million - was the largest individual artist gift ever donated to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is, of course, mentioned on Swift's website. The two-story facility features three classrooms, an instrument room, and an interactive children's exhibit gallery. Swift also performed at "All for the Hall" charity shows and has donated numerous artifacts from her career (such as notable guitars, tour costumes, etc) to the museum.
This was over 11 years ago, and it is still the only notable philanthropic contribution Taylor Swift has made.
For a woman of her net worth and stature, and a woman who recognizes the difficulties for women in film and music, you would think that Taylor Swift might establish a scholarship program for women to study the arts or something. Perhaps Swift might even consider becoming a member of organizations that support female artists, or one that supports LGBTQ+ causes (since she is now proudly an ally), yet she remains superficial with her graces. Broader philanthropy, such as donating relief aid to Palestinian women or women impacted by violence and discrimination will probably never receive any financial support from Miss Swift because then she'd be using her money towards philanthropies involving anyone but white entertainers.
She even says herself in Miss Americana, "My entire moral code as a kid and now is a need to be thought of as 'good'." Well, she's certainly thought of as good, though her actions say otherwise. She's more than happy to do a vaguely altruistic song and dance for a clip-worthy interview quote and mass appeasement, then fuck off to one of her mansions on a 20 minute private jet flight, rather than actually contribute to anything pertaining to the causes she has endorsed. Yet, far too many people continue to give a woman such as her their money, time, and energy, and she hoards these resources to herself.

I Like Some of the Taylor's Songs, But What the Fuck Does She Know About Feminism?

Swift continued with her self-proclaimed feminist campaign, positioning herself as a political activist and LGBTQ+ ally in the Miss Americana documentary. The primary focus of the documentary consists of the sexual assault trial, Andrea Swift's cancer diagnosis, Taylor's ED and body dysmorphia, media scrutiny, and, largely, finally speaking up about her politics publicly, mostly her opposition to the 2018 Tennessee Republican senate candidate, Marsha Blackburn, and Blackburn's beliefs. Swift says, following a scene discussing her experience during the trial,

"I just couldn't really stop thinking about it. And I just thought to myself, next time there is any opportunity to change anything, you had better know what you stand for and what you want to say."

We must ask ourselves, though: when has Swift ever spoken up to change anything? Okay, pulling her entire catalogue from Spotify because they didn't pay their artists enough and similarly pulling her catalogue from Apple Music are changes that she leveraged due to her revenue potential and power, but they are not pertinent to the average woman's rights. Moreover, these are issues that directly impacted Taylor's income, which was enough reason for her to protest in the first place. Swift has sold the most units for a female artist in first week sales, is the first female artist with 100k monthly Spotify listeners, is the first female artist to win the Album of the Year Grammy 4 times, and is the first female artist to do X, Y, and Z, all while being inoffensive and family-friendly to boot. The actual Taylor Swift seems unwilling to compromise the brand of Taylor Swift by contributing in meaningful ways to feminist causes, especially if it is for women outside of America and Hollywood.
The reason political anthems such as "The Man" and "Only the Young" of the Lover era feel disingenuous and corporate is because, well, it is. Taylor has taken every opportunity to advance her career or public image at the expense of other women. What is truly genuine to Taylor's outlook on other women is vying for male attention, taking down female competition, and vocalizing feminist injustices only if they directly impact her and her money. Some will argue that it's satisfactory for a woman with such a huge platform to even TALK about feminism, but that just isn't enough. It's even less impressive when you candidly look at the scope of her feminist lens: "If I was the man, then I'd be THE MAN", or "I really resent the ‘Be careful, buddy, she’s going to write a song about you’ angle, because it trivialises what I do", and, of course, "We all got crowns". Feminism, but only when it happens to me. It gets worse when you look at Taylor's track record of copying other famous women and removing other female artists as potential threats to her pop prowess.
It's good for PR to align yourself with certain blanket feminist and political beliefs, therefore good for branding, therefore good for ticketing and merchandise sales, therefore good for business. And Taylor Swift is a business.
She's not a feminist. Taylor Swift is a capitalist.

I Can't Pay Those Sweatshop Workers a Livable Wage or Benefits! How Else Would I Make My Billions?

Recently, Taylor's team filed to trademark the phrase "Female Rage: The Musical" after Taylor said during Paris N1 of the Eras Tour,

"So you were the first ones to see The Tortured Poets at the Eras Tour...or as I like to call it, 'Female Rage: The Musical'."

This trademark petition was filed last week on Saturday, and news comes about just as numerous unofficial fan-made merch designs have cropped up with this phrase plastered on Fruit of the Loom basics. I'm of the opinion Swift's team motioned for a trademark so that they can send out cease & desists to all those that make knockoff merch, which disrupts potential sales for Bravado, UMG's choice merchandising company; however, since it was filed earlier, perhaps Swift has bigger plans with the bizarre use of the gendered phrase. One Swiftie referred to the phrase "female rage" as "a funny Eras Tour joke". Could it be a possible fourth version of the Eras Tour Movie? Whatever the reason, the motion to capitalize off of such a concept is disgusting, but not unsurprising, for a woman that profits on her vain feminism.
Swift, through her company, TAS Rights Managements, has also trademarked over 200 phrases, including "1989", where she owns the property rights to this calendar year on keychains, phone cases, sunglasses, stationary, bags, beverage ware, clothing, entertainment services, your subconscious, and, of course, Christmas ornaments.
The vapid consumerism in Swiftie culture is, frankly, disgusting. Bravado's sustainability statement is non-existent, the quality control is abysmal, and the materials they use are horrible. The materials, such as acrylic and polyester, are made from petrochemicals. This means they are non-renewable, shed microplastics, and are quite toxic in production. The manufacturing process to make all of those lazy-rushed Eras Tour logo graphic tees is a huge blow to environmental well-being. Apparently, though, Swifties don't give a fuck. They sell out products in seconds and either have to face the manufactured scarcity or buy from a scalper that resells for 200% of the already ridiculous retail price. This doesn't include the environmental impact of vinyl records, CD, and cassette production, of which Taylor produces many variants that sell unsustainable amounts.
If we're talking about women's rights violations, why is no one acknowledging the women that work in the inhumane sweatshop conditions that have to pump out fugly t-shirts and hats? The millions of plastic microfiber dander they are inhaling, or the toxic dyes that touch their bare skin? Are they being compensated fairly for their skilled labour and are they in safe working environments? Do these women have minimal bargaining power, and do they have authority over their worker's rights? Is Taylor Swift female raging at their injustices? Does Taylor Swift ever feels bad that her wealth was built on the backs of women of color, disadvantaged by the demands of the global economy and garment industry? Do you think she ever says a little white feminist prayer for them before she goes to sleep at night?
What's even crazier is not that Taylor herself doesn't care, it's that Swifties don't care. There CANNOT BE ethical billionaires. You only make a billion dollars if you are exploiting other human beings for capital gain. Based on public perception of the possible "Female Rage: The Musical" trademark, it seems like Swifties are already asking for merch with this phrase. "If Taylor made it, I'd buy it." Oh, cool. So not only do you champion Miss Swift's avarice and billionaire status, but you also are unashamed to admit to your blind consumption of her music and merchandise, no matter where they might originate in production or sincerity. Just as Swift takes and takes and takes, Swifties' consumerism of Taylor Swift cannot be quelled.
The tortured artist's most vulnerable and sincere poetry...available now in 21 different versions!

I Am Tortured Poet, Hear Me Whinge

Look - even if Taylor's intention is to characterize TTPD as more "tortured" and "angry", the main thread of the album is "I was ghosted by my decade-long situationship with a controversial indie boy and my fucking stupid fans wrote a 'Speak Up Now' open letter prompting me to drop him" anger, which is adequately expressed in the lyrics and performances. The extent of Taylor's "female rage" on TTPD is on tracks such as "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?", which contends with relentless media scrutiny; "But Daddy I Love Him", where Swift firmly states she'll date whoever she likes no matter how "Sarahs and Hannahs" may react; and "The Albatross", a track mythologizing her reputation and the consequences of dating her. Of course, these coincide with deep psychological wounds that formed during Swift's early years in the media, and so, from her feminist perspective, these subjects tackle the misogyny and double standards that she faced.
Yet Taylor Swift still has no grounds to be claiming that TTPD best exemplifies female rage and therefore she, in the context of this album, is female rage incarnate. As the daughter of a stock broker and mutual fund marketing executive, Taylor was born into wealth and allowed privileges like trips and subsequent relocation to Nashville all so that she might get a record deal. Her father even invested at least $120,000 into the then-fledgling label, Big Machine Records, which ensured Taylor's place with Borchetta after leaving her dead-end development deal with Sony. The fact that her parents were able to buy her a fucking brand new guitar for Christmas and pay for music lessons says so much about the financial security and safety of her childhood.
Money is privilege and protection, and despite Swift's experiences with misogyny and loser boyfriends, she does not know what female rage is.
Her rage is derived from her frustrations with her obsessive fans pulling the moral superiority card on Taylor in response to her rebound with Matty Healy. That's literally it. She's just pissed that the monster she created is no longer obediant, it's become a feral, sovereign entity that depletes the world of its natural resources and thinks it is more intelligent than it actually is because it's mommy has started to talk to it with big words. Apparently, 'illicit', 'elegy', 'nonchalant', and 'precocious' are considerably big words for the oafish monster, and I find it strange that this level of literacy is present in a group of fans that allegedly have GPAs of 3.5 or higher, but I digress.
Taylor Swift has never been one paycheck away from destitution. Taylor Swift has never experienced racial discrimination. She may have instances of gender discrimination, but she possesses the ideal white, blonde American beauty standard and therefore reaps the benefits of being a conventionally attractive woman. Taylor Swift has sufficient social capital. Taylor Swift is a billionaire woman prolonging her victimhood though she, as a woman, has mostly had control over her image and music (unlike her contemporaries). Taylor Swift is NOT entitled to be championed for her "female rage", nor should she be. Taylor Swift has never even been the struggling artist, for fuck's sake. I don't give a fuck if she's trying to fill the empty lunch tables of her past. Taylor Swift purporting herself, her unpolished album, and her lukewarm feminism as a musical bleeding with female rage is asinine.

Sigh Try and Come For My Job, Poors

Out there in the world right now is a 23-year-old woman, a recent college grad, who works as a barista. She has to wake up and get ready to go into a minimum wage job because she cannot get a job in her field. She doesn't have healthcare benefits or sick time, so she has to go into work no matter how she's feeling. All day long she is berated by vicious customers and creepy men, and, exhausted from being on her feet, she knows she has to go home to her shitty roommate that never does the dishes and her roommate's shitty dog. To comfort herself, she considers getting a treat, but thinks against it when she remembers that matcha lattes cost $15 and they taste like milky dirt. She knows that she needs to buy groceries this week, and so the woman resolves to go home, but notices that her gas tank is low. She goes to put gas in the car, but the pump stops at $27.86 because that's all that she has in her checking account. The woman, bereft and reeling, sinks into the driver's seat. "Well," she thinks, her head in her hands, "at least I don't have Taylor Swift's job. I just couldn't imagine."
Fame is somewhat of a choice. If at any moment Taylor feels that she is misunderstood, misconstrued, or overwhelmed by public opinion, she can LEAVE the public eye - Lord knows she has the retirement fund and residuals to do so. In "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart", the TTPD song about meeting the demands of your career-zenith mega-tour while in the relationship trenches, Taylor ends the song by rambling,

"You know you're good when you can even do it with a broken heart...you know you're good...and I'm good, cause I'm miserable, and no one even knows!...try and come for my job."

Yeah, obviously we wouldn't know, you recently passed the billionaire threshold and are the most famous and in-demand performer in the world right now. Taylor Swift makes an estimated $10 to $13 million dollars A NIGHT on the Eras Tour. Furthermore, the Eras Tour movie grossed $261.6 million globally, (which, as the producer, Taylor takes home 57% of the ticket sales) not counting the streaming revenue from Amazon Prime Video and the estimated $75 million deal that Disney paid to have it on Disney+. We're not even considering the income from cheap plastic popcorn buckets and drink cups plastered with colored squares in her Era-specific likeness.
It's funny. Taylor Swift often said that being famous wasn't hard, that she "isn't complaining". I'm sure it is difficult to always have to present in a good mood, else you'll end up misrepresented in the media, and I'm sure it's invasive to virtually have no privacy or semblance of anonymity. Still, Taylor Swift shows up each night of tour and performs. For a majority of her career, she has penned her sad songs while on the road. Most of "Red", her breakup album, was written in the thick of the Speak Now World tour. Now, some Swifties say they almost "feel bad" for attending the Eras Tour with Swift's revelations in this song, that they have had a 'dimmed experience' upon hearing Taylor's misery whilst performing. Despite the fact that Taylor said that "this was the happiest she's ever been" at Gilette Stadium in May, the lyrics "boohoo, woe is me, smile for the cameras and make the fans happy!!!" are jarring for Eras attendees.
While Taylor Swift was making double-digit millions a night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and feeling miserable, Ana Clara Benevides Machado passed away due to heat exposure. The concert promoters, Time For Fun, are now the subject of a criminal investigation due to their lack of adequate hydration and safety. Taylor Swift cancelled the Sunday show that was to follow and offered VIP tent tickets to Benevides Marchado's family, which was a kind gesture, but perhaps incongruous to the incident of which they were offered as consolation. Everyone grieves differently, of course, but I'm not sure attending the very show at the very same venue that my daughter or sister passed away in two days prior, where the singer CONTINUED the show despite her death, would be healthy for closure.
There was no female rage at the show as Swift never saw Benevides Machado pass out. There was no female rage towards the disregard for fans as humans while Swift elected to proceed with her Brazil tour dates despite the country being in historic heatwaves (at risk of overheatting herself). If Taylor Swift was so shaken by touring with a broken heart or a fan's passing, she wouldn't have added an additional North American leg of Eras just two months after the Matty breakup. She's brokenhearted but willing to mend the cracks with your money and move onward with her worldwide female rage induced pillaging.
No matter what happens, even if you die at a Taylor Swift concert, Taylor collects a big fat check and flies away. She doesn't know you as anything other than a conversion rate or earning potential despite what her nearly 20-year long parasocial relationship with fans might otherwise indicate. She knows that, while some Swifties are without disposable income, they feel obligated to spend on a "48 Hours Only!" exclusive vinyl variant instead of necessities because they are so entrenched in Taylor Swift's intoxicating celebrity, they'll prioritize materialistic fandom before their needs. This is good enough for her because this means she can expand her real estate portfolio and finance her cat's lavish lifestyles. They're worth an estimated $100 million dollars. Her three cats could pool their net worth and solve world hunger.
While you and I might be denied bereavement leave and barely surviving the current political and economic climate, Taylor Swift has to, instead of gets to, perform for stadiums at full attendance for three nights in a row across the globe. You and I might be replaced by AI at our longtime jobs, but Taylor Swift is threatened with losing more and more money each time you listen to a "Stolen Version" of her songs. If we don't buy every variant of all of her albums, then who is going to pay for the fucking cats?
It is tone deaf to spend as she spends and lives as she lives in this economy, but this is her reality. She was able to donate $100,000 to all of her tour truck drivers, and that's wonderful, but it leads me to wonder about the ethos of the 2020s where one woman can hoard such life-changing amounts of money. Remember in 2014 when she gave a fan $90 ($120 in today's money) to get Chipotle because she had no fucking clue how much it cost? This is a 34-year-old woman who is increasingly out of touch with the reality for working class people and women in general. Normal everyday adults must wake up and go to their thankless jobs, and yet Taylor Swift, despite all her riches, incessantly references the lows of her life and career as a public figure and entertainer to farm sympathy and drive sales. And still, the corporate women have latched onto "I cry a lot, but I am so productive! It's an art!" as their cubicle battle cry.
Do you think that, from up in her private jet, Taylor Swift gazes at the world through her poetic, tortured eyes, and thinks, "All the little people, in their cars, walking, going about their lives...all those girls that don't support girls...do they know that I've made an album about female rage?"

Conclusion/TLDR

Thank you for reading. I would love to hear your critical insights towards this entire ordeal: TTPD, the trademark, the implications of it all.
TLDR: Taylor Swift is a bad feminist and is delusional to think that the TTPD eras set exemplifies female rage at women's injustice.

Hey Pats fans! I'm doing a research project on songs that fans associate with their respective teams. I'm asking fans across all professional leagues if there are any songs in particular that you associate with your team. With that being said, are there any songs that are important within the Patriots community or that remind you of the team? If it is a song that would be consensus amongst most fans, that would be most helpful.
I appreciate any input! Mods feel free to delete if this breaks the sub's rules.
Thank you!

I just sent coffee bean grinder with original packing box, espresso machine, 2 bags coffee bean, some doucements, stationary, cultery and tableware. Royal mail rejected my parcel, and unfortunaely, I had been left UK. This parcel is sent to my Hong Kong office.
What can I do now? Ask my freind re-pack my parcel with 2 seprate boxes for easy scanning? or use DHL is better? I am so confuse about this. Thank you.

1. "The Greatest Generation" 1901-1927 (Thanks Tom Brokaw) were so named for their resilience and patriotism in dealing with both the great depression and WWII.
2. "The Silent Generation" 1928-1945 were named after their strong sense of conformity and watching McCarthyism happen and basically doing nothing, but also for a very strong work ethic and doing their jobs without complaint.
3. "The Me Generation" 1946-1964 (Thanks Tom Wolfe) were so named for being very self-absorbed and narcissistic. They prefer to be called 'baby boomers' of course. And so-named because they were part of a large population explosion.
4. "Generation X" 1965-1980 were called thusly because of a shifting variable (x) and a desire not to be defined, though we are also sometimes called 'the slacker generation', which, hey, spot on.
5. "Millennials" 1981-1996 were originally called 'generation y' because it comes after x.
6. "Gen Z" 1997-2010 were called that because z comes after y.
7. "Gen Alpha" 2011-20?? are called that because they ran out of letters and started over at the beginning of the alphabet again.

Even though Millennials do have another name besides "generation" + [a letter], the name 'millennials' still really just refers to the years in which they came of age and says nothing about their personas or situations.
And gen z and gen alpha we seemed to have thrown in the towel and just said 'yeah, next!' and waved them on through.
Having those descriptive names is like Maverick, Iceman, and Goose having their navy pilot call signs! It's a badge of dubious honor! Well what the hell? Are we going to let them go on without stamping their foreheads with some moniker they will initially resent but eventually grow to accept with a weary sigh?
What do you think generations Y, Z, and A should be called and why do they deserve it?

Hi, 46F, no meds, normal weight, no smoking/drugs/alcohol. I live in Spain. Used to be a gym owner and avid exerciser. Now unable to work or exercise except for 20-30 min horizontal bike (i lay on the floor and put my feet on a stationary bike pedals) and horizontal strength training (10-15 minutes).
History of orthostatic intolerance, presyncope daily for 3 years and a few syncope episodes (standing in line, sitting for 3 hours, after IV fluids that were too cold, during a pulmonary test with valsalva, during the catecholamine 10 min standing test, doing light exercise standing).
Today I had a TTT. BP stayed normal (126/82 supine and 130/90 standing), heartrate went from 70 to 112. They gave me nitroglycerin after 20 min and after 3 minutes I fainted. The report says ”atypical syncopal response after 30% drop in heartrate without bradycardia, asistoli nor hypotension”. It says my pulse went to 130 with the nitro and then i fainted before it had dropped to 90, BP maintained at 110/60 minimum and there were supraventricular extrasistolis. Once they lowered the table, i regained consciousness in seconds, maintained BP and heartrate didn’t go lower than 55.
The dr who did the tests didn’t know why i faint/almost faint based on the TTT. I have a cardio appointment in september. In the mean time, i’m here to see what you all think could be the cause and other tests that might need to be done.
BP halter showed postprandial hypotension (90/60) at lunch and hypotension (90/60) once at night. The rest of the BP measurements were normal.
EKGs are all normal.
MRI showed 8 ”white lesions” and the report said possible chronic ischemia but neuro said it was nothing.
All blood work normal except: -high venous sO2 95-100% -low venous sCO2 22% -High lactate (30) -Once high ammonia (75), next time normal -high b12 without supplements (1200) -High folate without supplements (no number it just says high). -ferritine saturation index was 20%
I have a halter EKG and a stress test coming up.
Any advice welcomed! Thank you! 🙏🏻💜

Good Morning Patriots
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Free place to chat and a good place to discuss whatever you like with other sub users
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2024 Opponents Set.

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Meet New England’s 2024 Rookie Class.

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New England Patriots News Catchup Links - Gonzalez, Douglas, Wallace, Maye’s footwork, and More!

• Transactions: Patriots sign three of their eight 2024 draft picks and nine rookie free agents.
• Patriots announce Eliot Wolf has been named Executive Vice President of Player Personnel.
• Mike Dussault reports new head coach Jerod Mayo and the Patriots rookies took to the practice fields on Saturday for the media’s first access in 2024.
• Evan Lazar goes inside QB Drake Maye’s day at Saturday’s rookie minicamp.
• Mike Dussault’s Draft Profile: Fourth-round draft pick WR Javon Baker has an intriguing skillset that could be just what the Patriots ordered.
• Alexandra Francisco reports DL Davon Godchaux and his wife, supermodel Chanel Iman, hosted the ChauxDown Foundation’s first annual Mother’s Day Luncheon at Gillette Stadium on Thursday.
• Press Conferences: Jaheim Bell - Marcellas Dial - Ja’Lynn Polk - Caedan Wallace - Drake Maye - Jerod Mayo.
• Transcript: Jerod Mayo.
• Photos: Patriots Rookie Minicamp - Day 1 & 2 and Day 3.
• Mike Reiss shares some quick-hit weekend thoughts: QB Joe Milton III had ‘too much talent’ to pass up; Possible joint training camp practice with Eagles; Wallace-Robinson duo; Reaction to 18-game season; More!
• Ben Volin’s Sunday Football Notes: Beyond Drake Maye, what should we make of the Patriots’ first draft post-Bill Belichick?
• Steve Balestrieri’s Sunday Patriots News: Rookie mini-camp, Eliot Wolf IS the GM; Ernie Adams; More.
• Andy Hart’s Sunday 7: Jerod Mayo and Drake Maye go camping.
• Doug Kyed’s Rookie Minicamp Notes: Observations from Drake Maye, draft class. Top takeaway: Quarterback play will look different for the Patriots this season.
• Taylor Kyles shares his observations from rookie minicamp: Rookie weapons stand out.
• Tom E. Curran’s Rookie minicamp observations: Drake Maye as advertised, a work in progress with all the physical tools to, someday, maybe, approach his much-discussed ceiling; Joe Milton has a cannon of an arm; More.
• Chris Mason gives us 7 takeaways from Patriots rookie minicamp. 1. Both QBs have big arms.
• Alex Barth’s Rookie minicamp notebook: First look at the Class of 2024.
• Mike D’Abate’s Patriots Rookie Minicamp notes: Jerod Mayo reveals ‘a-ha’ moment; More.
• Sophie Weller posts her photos from rookie minicamp at Gillette Stadium.
• Zack Cox tells us how Drake Maye was taking charge at Patriots rookie minicamp.
• Mike D’Abate points out that based on their usage during rookie minicamp, rookie offensive linemen Caedan Wallace and Layden Robinson may each be facing a possible positional switch.
• Christopher Price hears from rookie offensive linemen Caedan Wallace and Layden Robinson, who say they have been ‘inseparable since we got out here’ at minicamp.
• Doug Kyed spotlights how the rookie receivers and offensive linemen are forging early connections at minicamp.
• Alex Barth posts the Patriots rookie jersey numbers for 2024.

Hello! I'm going to be moving for weeks at a time to study away from home, which means i only have a laptop with me to waste some time on if nothing esle happens around campus or town.
so what i am looking for are games that a laptop can comfortably run, it is a ASUS VivoBook 15 OLED D1505YA. Coming from a rather decked out stationary, im trying to find some comfort in games when abroad!
i have previously enjoyed a lot of games that are along the lines of Monster sanctuary, the binding of isac and other 2D games. im concidering Hollowknight, all of this with hardware limitation in mind, i might be playing it too safe. Im sure fallout 3 and skyrim can run "okay" on this.
Im willing to try any game atleast once.
If anyone has any reccomendations im willing to search them all up! Thank you!