For example, whenever my squad comes under fire when approaching a POI, everybody goes prone and then I yell out for a few people to push while relying on the rest of the squad to cover fire. It is so thrilling and whenever we come under fire, just lay down in some cover and regain stamina.

Hello everyone! I wanted to discuss something with everyone today. For those that don't know me, I am a clinical hypnotherapist and ex (734 days) smoker. Quitting with the help of a hypnotherapist was one of the things that fascinated me and pushed me to become one myself. Hypnotherapist is not swinging pocket watches, etc. It is evidence-based, safe and effective enough the many insurance companies have begun at least partially covering it.
That said, my work with smoking cessation is based upon my own journey. It is one of the few services that I offer a purpose driven package for; it includes something many programs don't offer: Accountability. Many times, when we slip, it is because we lose sight. We struggle and lose sight; no one is there to hold us accountable. I needed someone to touch base with me, to encourage me and keep me on track when I felt uncertain. Though effective and rapid, hypnotherapy is rarely an instant solution.
Based upon my program, my personal experience and my work, I would like to offer everyone a couple pieces of insight in the hope that someone reads something they've been needing to hear:
​

1. Quit for you: And you alone. This is not selfish, at least not unhealthily so. What it means is that your choice must be for you. You cannot force someone to quit, and another person cannot, long term, get you to quit. The desire to stop must, at its core, be your own. Not your wife, your boss or even your kids. You started for you, and you have to stop for you too.
   
2. Perfection is unrealistic: We all slip. The important thing is that when and is we slip, we recover without shame or guilt and continue forward. One mistake doesn't ruin anything, nor should it lessen your pride in the wonderful thing you are doing.
   
3. Growth can't be rushed: Many believe we are responsible for our growth, and this isn't actually true. Consider a farmer growing his crops... does he grow them? No. He tends the soil and the earth, feeds his crops and ensures, to the best of his ability, that the crops have ideal conditions to grow. Sometimes outside factors can hard or help those conditions and much like that farmer, you can only tend to your own soil and grow.
   
4. Why did you start: Understanding why you began smoking is very helpful in the process. Not in terms of the literal event, but rather the association and when. For example, associating cigarettes with acceptance, a loved one, etc... the list really goes on. It's very important to figure out what inside of yourself that you are soothing with this habit so that you don't leave it unchecked and the space open for anything.
   

You all got this. I have all the faith in each in every one of you that you can do this if you truly want to. With my help, without it or with someone else's... I know you can. I did; I see people free of the habit for the first time so often than I can say that with confidence.

Just watched AM's 10 minutes video, first and foremost I consider him to be a misogynistic guy who won S5 'mainly' because the other contestants were trash and never had a game of their own for the most part. But for some reason I feel like there's some truth to what he said (no, not the sleeping couch part).
I don't think any contestant would be desperate enough to sleep with or do any sexual favors to the show runners to be here. He might have said that in the flow (he had made a somewhat similar remark against Shobah last season) and I wouldn't take that part with a grain of salt.
But there were multiple times when the audience and us (members of this subreddit) have believed that BB is showing favouritism to some contestants (past and present). One example would be Jasmine and the telephone call from her father that never made it to the episode or live. It was obvious that there were some behind the scenes drama going on and BB trying to cover up saying it's private and personal (ig they didn't know what's personal in S3 when a disturbing call about a contestants father passing away was shown on the episode and promos for the sake of TRP's).
All these allegations against the biggest media giant in Kerala is only going to give AM's film career setbacks than gains. And as such he must truly believe what he's saying is the truth and I do hope we get to know the truth (which we probably won't)

I have been advocating for three main things my whole adult life -
1) True, universal healthcare. Not 'affordable' or 'access to affordable care,' but healthcare that covers every American no matter employment status
2) Universal education and student loan debt forgiveness.
3) Peace and the end to the Military Industrial complex.
That's what I advocate for. But apparently if I criticize Democrats for not being able to deliver those things, it makes me a Russian bot. The conservatives just think I am a communist.
My most recent sin? I said this on a liberal subreddit about Democrats failure to take meaningful action on climate change-

“You keep voting for these clowns, they will keep doing this garbage. This guy needs to abandon the Democratic party, they aren't the good guys, they are just a different flavor of bad guy”

But after 13 years, I will not stop, even though the list of subreddits I am banned from by liberals grows.

I didn't know what tag to put on this so here we go.
TW: Mentions of death, suicide, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, dysmorphia, C-PTSD,
I'm writing this without the intention of posting it, I'm uncertain if this is something I want to share, but, I feel as if I have no other choice. This is a lot, but I'm trying to trace things back to their possible beginnings. I have no idea if I'm doing this right, I hope that I am.
I ended up posting it.
SECTION ONE: DEATH & EDUCATION
​
I am a 20M, I don't use reddit for much. I'm born and raised in the United States and I'm GEN Z. I've been in college for almost 5 years and my grades are good for the most part despite my utter burnout. I have several mental conditions both diagnosed and some which I have discovered on my own. I intend to verify with some sort of mental health professional the ones I'm uncertain of. I am confirmed to have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, ADHD, Insomnia. However I believe that I also have some sort of eating disorder as when I'm anxious I eat a lot in order to stop thinking about it, BDD [Body Dysmorphic Disorder] which i'm 100% certain about and depression. My psychologist when I was in high school argued that I have complex PTSD relating to school/academic environments. While I'm not entirely sold on it myself I thought I would include it until I can get a second opinion.
When I was younger I had constantly been told that "You are so mature" and "You look so old/big" that it had become part of my personality, and part of the way I lived my life. I typically agreed with this when I was younger, I didn't find enjoyment in school in fact quite the opposite. I loathed it.
See, I was always the "bigger" kid. I mean big, like I had childhood obesity big. My parents weren't worried however because my doctor at the time had said something along the lines of "As he grows he'll shed some of the weight" however this was not the case whatsoever. I grew up with a lot of weight and when I was younger there was plenty of teasing and bullying. I discovered how cruel people could be when I was very young, as I wasn't as physically fit I found myself unable to have fun as there wasn't something I could go do where I sat away from people. My parents as wonderful as they are never seemed to be able to comprehend why I loathed school to the point where I was pretty much willing to say I had anything just not to go. I had told them how uncomfortable school makes me and they had once proposed to me and asked if I wanted to go to a different school. (We were well off in comparison to most of our area) However what little friends I did make I wanted to keep and I worried that as a new student at a different school I would draw even more attention.
Since I stayed I had to deal with the bullying, I was too afraid to leave what few friends I had. I never understood why they were mean to me. I had always been kind, and I hadn't been afraid to talk for myself however at a certain point I started to believe everything they said. So I started staying in my house more often, the neighbors who I had been friends with since I was very young I fell out with because I didn't want to be physically outside and risk embarrassing myself as I had always done. My favorite hobby was playing video games in the living room, I had nothing else besides my Nintendo DS for Pokémon or other games that my brother and I shared. Looking back I probably made a couple of people feel bad, but I had felt awful too. If I could go back I'd change it. However there is nothing I can do.
Eventually I just stopped letting myself be seen.
My brothers friends became my friends, however as time went on one of them utterly abandoned him because he came out as gay to this friend we'll call Chad. While I didn't know this at the time, one day one of the friends I had made core memories with simply disappeared and I never found out why until I was 16. The year after another one his friends (we'll call him Wedge) lost his sister to cancer, and he eventually stopped hanging out with us due to grief and an onset of mental illness. (I still communicate with him, but for private reasons I can't go into why I can't befriend him please understand). Eventually, another one of our friends (We'll call Jack) had also gotten cancer, he had survived but had been in and out of the hospital so much that we lost our connection. Lastly, the cousin (We'll call her Allison) I was closest with someone who I really related too suddenly dropped out of my life due to inter-family drama with our parents. Bare in mind, this all happened within the span of 2 years when I couldn't have been older than 6 or 7. I became used to people coming and going. In fact it's been the key theme in my life, that people will die, and are unfortunately temporary and I had to learn this young. Some family members had come around when my great grandfather was dying assuming he had money so they started hanging out with us only for them to depart shortly after his death after realizing there was nothing he had to give. I think subconsciously I had become emotionally jaded instead of mature. It didn't become any easier when people at my school killed themselves or tried to stab one another
So I gained a fear of abandonment. Future events didn't help it much either. While my brother began to despise talks about emotions (he was 5 years older than me) I began to need someone to talk to more and more.
My family never understood why I had so many issues with education despite doing so well. I had always been bad at communicating my feelings until recently (not that it has changed anything in my life) so they always believed that it was simply me being a boy and not wanting to go to school. This never changed until middle school, it took years for them to finally listen to me when I told them I get chronic migraines I even had a diagnosis for it alongside the CPTSD and GAD. Yet by this time it was too late for anything to be done. Education had been a nightmare for me, unsympathetic teachers, difficult administration that said they didn't believe me because I wasn't one to show I was anxious.
There's more, but I feel like I've painted a clear enough picture of my early childhood. One year my migraines had gotten so bad that I spent all 365 days inside without any connection, and the year after as well. I had been so anxious about high school that I dropped out in 10th grade, and got a GED through some loopholes. I went to college the semester after, entirely online.
So for four years I was locked inside a house. Four years. This doesn't even include all the issues I had dealt with in terms of parents, or the intricate social issues I had online which was my only source of interaction, and remains to be my only source of interaction. In fact 50% of my life was either in school or at home. There was no other location which I went too. I didn't have any friends as they had all ditched me for objectively more put together people in high school. Despite all my academic anxieties doing college online was a breeze for me, I got 4.0 GPA my first three semesters until I transferred.
But we'll come back to this. I want to go over some other things.
SECTION TWO: HOME & FAMILY
All I had was home and videogames. It was what kept me going. For the longest time I had to sit in the living room in order to play multiplayer games with strangers who often treated me better than people in real life. I eventually met some people I stayed friends with for 10 years, however around year 3 I realized that I had always been the but of their jokes, or one who was always worst one in the group. There was a bully of mine in that group, but I liked the other people so much that it was worth it. However anytime I said I didn't like how they made me feel I was met with further ridicule until eventually I simply decided to play with them only when they were on. However I had the burning desire to prove myself and that I wasn't the worst in the group like I had always been in my real life. However this took me years to accomplish and by the time I did it felt hollow.
My parents often would yell at me if I spoke too loud which is typical in most families, however the walls were paper thin, so too loud was talking at a casual indoor volume which often caused me a lot of embarrassment which they never seemed to care about. Sometimes they'd break my things and I'd get super sad and only after they realized how much pain they caused me would they do anything. They didn't realize that being online was one of the most important things to me when I was younger, I don't blame them, however . . .
It wasn't just online. It was vacations, hotel rooms, in public, in private spaces, school, or anything. Every vacation we had ever taken I cried on due to the yelling and bickering that took place between my parents who continually said that it was typical for both of them. However, it never felt like that and for some reason I was always caught in the middle. No matter where I was it always felt as if something was going to go wrong, like someone was going to embarrass me. While I'm aware now the only people they embarrassed was themselves, it is awful that I live with this and feel unable to be myself in any public space. Their justification always was that's how they always were and they always explained how it wasn't going to change and that I'd just have to learn how to live with it. I fear going anywhere with them.
While they're somewhat better now, I can't help but wish they were better then.
SECTION THREE: ONLINE DATING
Being locked in a house for so long does a number on you I think its something that most people can sympathize with at least now. You wish and long for social interaction craving the feeling of someone else around you and eventually it turns to this deep obsession and longing that you cant get rid of or replace. For me, the cure was hearing "I love you." I'm not physically attractive in person, at least not conventionally. I'm 350lbs, but I appear to carry it well so I actually look lighter than I actually am (Thank God). It's safe to say I'm not someone's first choice, and that's okay. I'm good at other things and have skills in other areas. I met a girl online one day and we became friends but we lost each other in school work, a year later we had met again online by chance alone and we spent time with one another. It lasted for about three years with intention to meet up, had I been more mature I'm sure the relationship would've lasted, but it was a right person wrong time situation. She was nice and caring and taught me a lot about religion, I too this day credit her for what little faith I have left in a God.
This isn't the first time I've dated online (by online I mean no physical contact not like dating apps), nor was I the first in my family. My brother had been dating his partner for about 6 years at that point, now he actually brings his partner over and stuff which was super nice to see. She built up my self confidence and practically said every word right when it needed to be said, eventually she cheated, she had come and told me immediately and against my better judgement I forgave her, and then at the end of the relationship she did it again. Was it stupid? Yep. Did I set myself up for it? Yeah. Does it still bother me? Sometimes. However, hearing those words were sweet and gave me a reason to wake up in the morning as stupid as it may sound.
Since then I haven't met anyone, nor do I think I could no matter how much I know it would make my life better. I wouldn't want to burden someone. Plus, I've never had anyone show any interest in me whatsoever, only time people have been willing to give me a chance is if they never saw how I looked and only experienced my personality. (This does wonders for my self-confidence) [clear sarcasm]
SECTION FOUR: WEIGHTLOSS & LACK OF FRIENDS
I've heard all manner of arguments against people who are obese. From the "Control yourself" argument or "eat a salad" or just simply "eat less." However these arguments often come from people who haven't ever dealt with the condition before. It makes life a struggle to live and one would think if things were that simple everyone would be physically fit. However this isn't the case. Yes, all of those things are important, but I've been trying to lose weight since I was 14. That is 6 going on 7 years. With BDD I look myself in the mirror in self hatred, and given that I have a bigger stomach its with me everywhere I go. I predominantly wear baggy clothes in order to cover this up, but even I know that they make me look even worse. The closest I ever got to being below 300 was 310, then I was put on a medication which made me suicidal and all this progress was gone because I had basically been put on home arrest by my family (reasonably so).
Even still, I haven't gotten that close in such a long time and I'm wondering if it'll ever look how I want too. I wonder if people will ever see me as someone other than that fat guy who is mostly socially awkward but can be funny sometimes. I never got to develop the necessary social skills for dealing with people that most kids who grow up bigger do. I don't have a fun sense of humor, I'm very dry, but I feel the need to be funny which never works out. I spent my whole life without friends to the point where I don't even know where to begin in making them.
The amount of sleepless nights ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, now you know everything which leads up to my present day at my current campus and my current life. Thank you for reading up until this point, but now lets get into the finishing portion. Today and tomorrow.
FINAL SECTION: Today and Tomorrow
Remember how I said that I transferred colleges after my third semester? Well, I went to college at 16, and transferred at my last couple months as a 17 year old. I commute and it's about a 30min drive. (I don't know how to drive, COVID-19 ruined my chances at learning when I was supposed too.) At the time I just dropped off a distance away from the campus and walked there as I was embarassed that my parents had to still drive me. Freshmen Orientation was awful, I tried to make it good for myself but the people I was around wanted nothing to do with me and I knew why. I just wasn't good enough. I called the campus to see if there was anything that could be done, and the figured something out, however the second group was no different. I tried connecting with people who were having similar issues to me through digital means to arrange meetups on the campus however this went even worse and I was frequently ghosted. My psychologist at the time believed that I had become triggered from this experience on the first day of classes where I had a severe panic attack where I practically relived 20 years of pain in a couple of seconds. I was reduced to a blabbering mess wondering what I had done wrong, and where I went wrong.
See I had been told my whole life when I suffered through public school that college was going to be this wonderful experience where people find themselves and learn to do things all on their own. I was the first generation to go to college in my family and each person had told me these great things. To me it was pretty much my last vestige of hope. When it all went wrong I had been devastated. To this day I have tried to make friends, I do my best to approach first and be polite with those in my classes. I behave in a helpful fashion and always try to be useful to others. Yet time and time again I've failed. For the first three weeks of my first semester I didn't go to a single class due to horrible anxiety when my only hope was that for once in my life I could be myself.
With all this, I feel alienated, worthless, ugly. Something not worthy of love nor compassion from others, an outsider who doesn't belong. I've slowly carved at all the things I'm confident in out of my mind as I have become burnt out from years of being "so smart." Now I can barely lift a finger for an assignment that is two hours do from midnight either because I'm having a mental breakdown or I'm thinking about having a mental breakdown. I have so many conditions, fears, phobias, and health issues I feel as if my life would be better lived by someone else. All the love and praise I do receive from my professors and family feels wrong and despite my family trying to accommodate my unique needs it always seems like I have to clash with them in order for them to understand I am not the same as them as in I can't just function as they all do. I come from a very hardworking family so to them despite my conditions I'm just lazy and I don't understand how to deal with all of it.
It feels like I was in the character creator and decided to do all negative traits to see how long I would last before I die or go insane. Sometimes I don't know if I've grown to deal with it or if I have become numb to my own feelings and needs which have never been addressed. So with all of this, how do I live? How am I supposed do anything if I can't even do the simple things like go to classes or control how I respond to stress? I feel as if I'm missing out on everything from knowing what my body can possibly do if it was fit, to not getting the social experience I need and so desperately crave even though I know I don't belong.
Everyone responds to life differently and I hope everyone can understand that what may not bother you could bother someone else. I hope people understand I'm not trying to sound cringe or anything, but genuinely receive some form of help. I probably didn't do how I'm feeling justice, or what I've experienced, but this is my first time expressing myself in a online setting.
Good luck everyone! I hope everyone is doing well and if you aren't were in this together.

In 2022, Canada gave a 50 homeless people $7,500 in cash. It saved them $8,277 per person in shelter costs.
There isn’t a shortage of social schemes to help people who are struggling. By god, as someone who’s been forced to navigate them recently, there are so many social support organisations that they’ve had to make social support organisations whose only purpose is to help you navigate other social support organisation.
And despite that, it’s still incredibly difficult to find help.
This Canadian study highlights a phenomenon that we are seeing at play in New Zealand politics right now, and that is the introduction of financial controls resulting in reduced access to help for those who need it. It’s nothing new — community services cards are fantastic, but not everyone who is eligible has one. Free prescriptions for low income earners are great, but how many people are going to not go to the effort of updating their income with the government or the health system before they get unexpectedly unwell, and therefore miss out?
But National’s use of this strategy to limit the spending of the disability scheme is perhaps the most overt recent demonstration we’ve had that restricting access to help can be used as a cost-saving measure.
There are many, many problems with this authoritarian approach — for example, spending less on basic social supports for a person will often result in more expensive remedies required for them later. Dental treatment only being publicly funded in emergencies in nz is a good example of this. And it can get even more cost-inefficient, as sometimes the savings across an entire population can actually work out greater than the costs of the more prescriptive alternative.
This Canadian study is an example of that; homeless people who were given cash deposits of $7500 spent so much less time in homeless shelters on average that the state saved more money than it would have spent housing them.

Traditional approaches to addressing homelessness have focused on the provision of emergency services, healthcare, and housing supports. While these programs help prevent more severe forms of homelessness, they do not directly address a core cause: lack of money. Because poverty impairs cognitive function and mental health, cash transfers help address both financial and psychological barriers.

Cash transfers can allow a homeless person to have the freedom to spend money how they want. Just the act of giving them this freedom and security can improve mental and physical wellbeing — imagine the immediate stress relief of being told you suddenly have enough money to feed and clothe yourself for the foreseeable future. That has a real effect.
The study overwhelmingly found that these effects compounded over time; nearly every improvement brought with that money had increasing gains later on.

The analyses suggest that the overall effects were primarily driven by impacts within the first 3 mo after the cash transfer. For example, the benefits in housing stability and spending were immediate, but diminished as the control group eventually gained stability over time.
The cash transfer did not have overall impacts on employment, cognitive function, subjective well-being, alcohol use severity, education, or food security, yet there were some short-term impacts on these outcomes. For example, more cash recipients achieved food security than control participants 1 mo after the cash transfer. Cash recipients also showed higher positive affect at 1 mo, had greater total income, and showed higher accuracy on an executive function task at 3 mo. The only detrimental effect was lower social connection at 9 mo, which could be due to moving to a new housing environment and a new community away from the shelter.

This is because there are barriers created by “supports” that just cannot be overcome in comparison to the freedom of cash. A homeless person is the least-equipped person to travel and call around a number of different organisations in order to ask and apply and inquire for the different types of help available to them. They are very likely to be especially ill-equipped to navigate such a system even before you add in the adverse circumstances of homessness.
You can lower these barriers by spending more money on more supports, but you never remove them. Cash removes them. You don’t have to locate a shelter or an emergency accomodation provider (most of whom right now are actually full — I don’t know the complete range of overloaded social supports around the country right now, but from personal interactions, there’s frequently no room in domestic violence shelters, rehab facilities, and mental health wards). Cash solves this by getting you a hotel room. You are unlikely to have anywhere near the same level of difficulty finding a hotel room as a free bed in a shelter.
The process of having to apply for help can cause homeless people to lose access to housing. Having to lodge for help with bonds can slow down the process or prevent someone from trying altogether; even just disclosing that this will be needed may cause a landlord to pick someone else. Cash gives the recipient the ability to cover their own bond.
To understand how “false barriers” can be harmful, you either need a lot of experience with that particular situation, or you need a vast and accurate imagination. If you haven’t been homeless, will never be able to predict the issues that may crop up to stump you, and these systems that we external have decided are “good enough” to do the job only create more problems for people.
At the core of the issue is the idea that those receiving help have already failed at self-management, so for money to be spent on them efficiently, it must be prescribed. But this is based on a false belief that this prescription will automatically serve the recipient better, when in reality, as flawed as the money management of a homeless person is, it is still likely to be more efficient and better informed than a series of calculated rules and funds that take into account none of the individual circumstances the person is facing.
It turns out, when you let people determine and meet their own needs, they can be kinda good at it.

Has anyone got any experience being overemployed in medicine?
Currently work doing outpatient clinics for NHS as my main jon but due to staff shortages have managed to wrangle an excellent job plan with admin time and good secretarial support. As such am seeing 4 or 5 private patients a day online in-between consultations and have managed to delegate a lot of the pointless grunt work that doesn't require my time to admin staff or juniors. I have managed to double my income plus while only working a few extra hours on a Sunday morning by moving some professional development to that time. My wife writes my private letters I dictate and pre writes prescriptions I just check and sign (and she gets paid well through my LTD company for doing so).
I assume there is some risk as if discovered the trust would take a harsh line as they probably have the attitude that I should be maximising bringing down waitlists and that time is theirs. There currently falling anyway. but I've personally found ways to be more efficient and I don't think even a top end consultant salary (I earn just under 100k from them so lower end) is reflective of the risk responsibility and qualifications of the job. If I wasn't doing private work, I'd probably just be doing nothing with the time or personal developelment anyway because no way am I doing extra work when the pay and conditions are so crap relatively speaking. The only thing I worry about is referral to the GMC and a warning. Has anyone else got any experience in healthcare?

Hello,
I have all the bits I need to submit my application. However my mother's ID both passport and driver's license is 10 years expired. My mum was diagnosed with Frontal Lobe Dementia in her early 50s, so we never looked at renewing either (especially licence as she wouldn't be able to drive). Has anyone run into this issue before? I was going to submit both pieces of ID with a cover letter to explain the situation and provide her diagnosis document as proof of her dementia. But just wondered if anyone had any advice.
Thanks 🙏

N is for Narcissist… anyone have the “I” covered? Or is there a better word for the letter N?

I feel like they both go hand in hand and will make me look better in terms of jobs and internships. At my college, they’re a few courses apart from each other. I’ve searched to see if anyone in this group was into administration or obtained the degree and how that benefited them, but I’ve seen nothing.

I’ve had these two tattoos for about a year now, the moon/sun one was on a whim and the minecraft one i wanted for a while.
i don’t think i like the moon/sun one anymore, the person who did it was very heavy handed and i don’t like how it’s turned out :( the minecraft one i like, but again, she was very heavy handed so some of the letters have blended together and i’m not a fan of the flowers anymore.
i wanted to get advice and see if these can be salvaged by a cover up or if it’s easier to remove and cover up eventually. i wanted to rework the flowers into like a vine type thing around it instead, and wanted to fix how heavy the letters are. with the moon one, if anyone has any ideas on how to cover it up or what would look good, i would appreciate it a ton! or am i just overthinking and they look fine? i don’t know, i’ve just recently had this thought of removal or covering.
i have another tattoo from someone else and i love it, i just think this person was too heavy handed :/ i’m nervous because i’m still young and these were my first tattoos last year and i don’t really know where to start. thank you so much for any advice or opinions!

This is the final update on my situation with this house: I'm a sitter, and I've just arrived at a house in an unlivable situation :
I hope this update helps out anyone else who might be in a similar situation, and for anyone else who might need it in the future.

Timeline and produces

1. The owner was unavailable for 14 hours due to travel. We had to wait until 3 am for her to return.
2. We struggled to reach THS Customer Service. When we finally got through at 9 pm, they advised us to stay put until they found a replacement or resolved the issue. We insisted on finding another solution with the supervisors because we couldn't afford alternative housing or a hotel for that long. Staying there risked our health, and neither THS nor the owner would cover our healthcare expenses.
3. At 12 a.m. the next day, the supervisor's team in London contacted us. They informed us that taking the pets to a shelter could have legal consequences. They assured us they would coordinate with the owner once available, and we could leave after speaking with her. They mentioned sending an "Emergency Sitter" if necessary, but leaving before a replacement arrived would forfeit any reimbursement, which we didn't ask for anyway.
4. Uncertain of what to do, we stayed outside with the pets as long as possible. Eventually, we entered the house at 3 a.m. to avoid attracting attention from the neighbors. At that moment, we tried to contact the owner, but initially, she was somewhat evasive until she saw THS emails. We finally reached her at 4 a.m. and explained the situation. She seemed a little disconcerted, upset, and sad, and also denied that the house was in such bad condition; she believed it was okay. Later that day, after sending her some evidence, she texted us, indicating she understood and allowed us to leave. She arranged for a friend to care for the pets until THS resolved the situation, or she returned. She acknowledged the infestation issue and her efforts to address it, albeit unsuccessfully. Also, admitted that she didn't notice the cleaning issue and blamed the cleaner. She said she would address it with them.
5. By 10 am, we had resolved matters with THS on good terms. We were free, and the owner committed to cleaning the house. THS agreed to monitor her listings and inspect her house before publication. They asked us to share our experience with the THS community to help other sitters prepare for similar situations.

Regarding the house, the owner is committed to improving its condition for her and her pets' well-being. Please refrain from harassing her. I've been given permission to share this information to prepare others for similar situations.
The house is in Sebring, Florida, in a nearby retirement community with various amenities. The owner has three pets, and there was an additional dog present that wasn't mentioned in her post.
Best wishes for her, and we're open to another opportunity if it arises.
Edited: Leaving was the best option for the owner. She preferred that we leave before encountering further issues, such as being responsible for our health. She was unable to quickly resolve the cleaning problem because it would have required time, money, and effort, especially with the pets involved. Given the time constraints and the potential risk to our health, she opted to seek an alternative solution, possibly returning herself at a later time.

Disclaimer Not An American. I'm in New Zealand. Culturally we are generally more liberal and egalitarian than the USA. More USisms have been creeping in. Espicially since 1984.
We still have some things that I'm guessing Americans would live. For example, universal welfare, healthcare, 4 weeks holiday as standard, around 10 additional paid holidays. If you work a public holiday, you get a day in lieu and time and a half. Essentially 150%.
Talking with American friends and working worth some it's better here for some blue collar jobs worse for sone specialist jobs or limited fields eg STEM. Income tax tops out at 33% iirc and GST is 15%. Prices include GST.
We built a welfare state here. Boomers got cradle to grave welfare. Great depression sucked here but it was far from the worst place. No one starved we ate comparatively well in the war years.
Boomers got free tertiary, dentist, healthcare. State helped you buy your first house, state paid an allowance to mothers having children. Immigration was comparatively low at one point we had 3 people unemployed.
Country was isolated, boring and conservative by most accounts. Imported consumer goods were really expensive assuming they were available. Lits of restrictions and protectons.
1973 oil shocked UK entered EEC. Things started to fall apart. Boomer world was coming to an end. 1984 new Labour government party of the working man. Deregulation, privatization, user pays. 1990 new government that doubled down on it. 1991 new contract law passed that shattered the unions. We called it Rogernomics it was basically Reaganomics and Thatcher dialed up to 11.
I watched the USSR collapse in 1991 and sone follow up wars on TV.
Fast forward to now. Work in the 90s was kind of harder. Less regulation in terns of health and safety. Better conditions better pay (assuming you had the good jobs). Those good jobs have mostly been eliminated clinging on I'm a few places eg ports. Politicians comparatively got paid conservative to teachers, police things like that than now.
Current thoughts.
Postwar boomer prosperity was going to end no matter what. Other industrialized nations would recover from the war. Places like China and USSR were cut off from world economy. That didn't last.
Communism doesn't work. USSR existing meant concessions to working class however.
Late stage capitalism doesn't work.
A 4th way would be nice. Third way was fascism btw.
Culture war is a sideshow.
Left wing parties are just a different faction of the technocrat elite. Useless, serve themselves hijacked by urban middle class or better liberals. They tinker at least they can be influenced. Smarter ones have figured it out but can't fix it.
Right. Throughly compromised, toxic, not even trying. Looks like they will defeat themselves vs anything the left achieves. Comparing the right here from 1972 is very different than now.
While inequality increases populists will thrive trust in government and each other will decline. Populists offer simple solutions to complex problems.

I am sorry my husband a NYS court officer is it worth it to be on his insurance or should I put him on VA benefits ? And does he pay a copay … or if I am under his insurance and use non VA doctors can I send the VA the bill ?

In my uninformed view private equity functions mostly like this:

1. Buy struggling company
2. Do unethical things to increase profits
3. Sell the company for profits

The most debated point will be point 2 obviously.
Some examples:

1. Buying out doctor's offices

Healthcare is relatively price insensitive meaning that you can raise prices and still your consumers will come back, since they have a personal relationship with the doctor. This leads private equity to buy out doctor's offices and raise prices and reduce staff, which leads to profits. However, the consumer receives no benefits.

1. Buying out nursing homes

When private equity buys out nursing homes, they give patients more drugs, so they can get away with lower staffing levels, which saves money and increases profits. This leads to more money for the private equity firm, but more deaths.
"The combination of fewer nurses and more antipsychotic drugs could explain a significant portion of the disconcerting mortality effect measured by the study. Private equity firms were also found to spend more money on things not related to patient care in order to make money — such as monitoring fees to medical alert companies owned by the same firm — which drains still more resources away from patients."- Source

Generally, which of the following have been the most helpful resources to add a new feature for your app, in terms of feature development guidance, issue resolution, etc. when leveraging Apple SDKs?
(For example, adding a new Augmented Reality feature leveraging ARKit or a healthcare feature using CareKit etc,)
Feel free to comment if you think of other resources which are more useful.
View Poll

Hey guys, anybody here have experience being billed with university diagnostics? I thought everything in the UT care system was covered by my United Healthcare student plan (grad worker) and anyway, back in Nov. I was sent to get some scans and then a few months later I've started getting multiple bills in the mail. The largest ticket item is a vascular study, which to my knowledge my doctor never requested, and to my knowledge never occurred. I'm also receiving bills for the other two items, which my doctor did recommend and which I do remember taking place. But I'm getting billed by University Radiology AND University diagnostics for both of those exams.
Do I have any chance of fighting them on the vascular study??? And is there a reason I would get billed for the same two exams by both University Diagnostics AND University Radiology?

Stand:「Down In A Hole」
Namesake: Down In A Hole by Alice in Chains
User:「“The Rooster”」
Character Background: ███████ ████, more prominently and professionally known as “The Rooster”. “Rooster” is a skilled assassin and gun-for-hire who takes jobs from whoever pays the highest. Those who hire him often remark that “Rooster” is “the best at what he does as long as you don't tell him how to do it”. As of recently, “Rooster” has been secretly approached by Anderson Smith to be the second in command of a PMC group leading an expedition to find an artifact of great importance.
Character Design: “Rooster” sports military-grade combat gear that has a M90K pattern, various satchel pockets that hold whatever “Rooster” finds handy for jobs, a standard combat knife, and a Glock 19 with four magazines (one loaded, three additional mags). He also wears a rooster mask, similar to the Richard mask from Hotline Miami, over his face. He is well built and stand at 6’2”.
Character Aspect(s): Wanting to keep his identity undisclosed, “Rooster” chooses not to speak in most conversations. Instead, he uses American Sign Language, ASL, to communicate.
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
Appearance: Down In A Hole is a standard humanoid figure that has the same proportions as “Rooster”. Tightly wound ringlets cover the Stand from head to toe. Down In A Hole also has a concave chest that spirals inwards and seems to not end.
Ability: Down In A Hole has one ability.
“Auger”: Any object, whether it be a bullet or a throwable object, touched by Down In A Hole is imbued with the power to bore holes straight through objects, living and nonliving, with ease. When an object passes through another, it will make various dragging indents that look similar to cylindrical holes. Depending on what kind of weapon he is using, “Rooster” can imbue five objects per ninety seconds.
For example, let's say that Down In A Hole touches a bullet, imbuing it. This bullet is now able to pierce through, say a wall, all the way through instead of being impeded by it.
Stats.:
Power: D (While having an overwhelmingly destructive ability, Down In A Hole itself boasts physical power at a human level.)
Speed: B (Down In A Hole possesses immense speed, capping out somewhere around at ninety-five miles per hour. With this could of maneuverability, Down In A Hole is deadly in close quarter combat.)
Range: E (Touch Ability and 3 meter physical range.)
Durability: B
Precision: A
Developmental Potential: E (Mastered)
ゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴゴ
If I place in the top three, I will gladly take「Down In A Hole」as my flair. However, if I place first, I would like next week's theme to be Non-Humanoid Stand Appearances.