Costco great america
California's Great America
2015.07.19 23:44 dylanm312 California's Great America
Anything relating to California's Great America (CGA) in Santa Clara, California.
2016.11.08 15:02 The_shitty_london Keep America Great
America will no longer settle for anything less than the best. We must reclaim our country’s destiny and reclaim our bold and daring. I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America’s interest first we will deal fairly with anyone.
2016.04.06 05:32 Scotts-tots Six Flags Great America
2024.05.14 17:34 Professional_Disk131 3 Small-cap Gold Juniors to Take Notice of $ELEM $GLDR $SOMA
 | (The information on the three gold companies in this report is not definitive. Instead, this information will drive you to do more due diligence and make an investment decision.) submitted by Professional_Disk131 to PennyQueen [link] [comments] A different way to invest in gold is to look for great properties. If you bundle the three companies/properties in this piece, you could own three great properties collectively for under CDN2.00 a share. https://preview.redd.it/2a5jjgtnue0d1.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0b3e8b9fcfaec48738da64373c6f8f249e19adf3 GOLDEN RAPTURE MINING (GLDR: CSE) is a collection of premier Ontario mining properties in the Rainy River region that have done enough work to unveil potential, below but left a significant amount of gold with great g/t numbers. As of this morning, some numbers will indeed up its profile. Considering the stock has been listed for about two weeks, these results are excellent. Forgive the length of the table, but given the quality of the results, investors must get the whole picture. https://preview.redd.it/dx4gw4rxue0d1.png?width=833&format=png&auto=webp&s=78494f84852748f11fc863182e2394854238467c First, the newest, being listed in the last month, is Golden Rapture Gold. The Company intends to reactivate past mines in the Rainy River area of Ontario. The property is so new that management has only walked about 5% of it, but the numbers are already impressive over its two projects. The Company holds a 100% interest in the high-grade Phillips Township Gold Property, Rainy River District, NW Ontario. The land package totals 225 claim cells for approximately ten thousand acres located close to 4 mineral deposits. These assets include the New Gold Rainy River Mine (+8 million Oz.), the Cameron Lake Deposit (1.8 million Oz.), the Agnico Eagle-Hammond Reef deposit (3.3 million Oz.), the Tartisan Nickel, Copper, and Cobalt Deposit, and many others. Mature local infrastructure, workforce, heavy-duty equipment, hospitals, major highway systems, and local services are nearby. https://preview.redd.it/r8vp08xyue0d1.png?width=1135&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e86a9c6bf8b28f14ac73d53fb316cd8403093bc Mr. Richard Rivet, CEO of Golden Rapture, commented: “I am incredibly pleased that we have just made some essential and rapid steps toward identifying additional high-grade drill-ready targets. We were pleasantly surprised to discover many high-grade quartz veins on the surface, with the majority of them carrying gold. Unlike many exploration companies, we are not just chasing the typical geophysical anomaly but also many vast high-grade gold structures identified on the surface that can be drilled at any time. https://preview.redd.it/m5bzqc30ve0d1.jpg?width=1804&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1330fb14e92c8a55dcd3437f998209d3fc97eaeb https://preview.redd.it/nwmp4e30ve0d1.jpg?width=1732&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2fa11958d6804e1b7e1347317413903ec3161e33 The Company holds a 100% interest in the high-grade Phillips Township Gold Property, Rainy River District, NW Ontario. The land package totals 225 claim cells for approximately ten thousand acres located close to 4 mineral deposits. These assets include the New Gold Rainy River Mine (+8 million Oz.), the Cameron Lake Deposit (1.8 million Oz.), the Agnico Eagle-Hammond Reef deposit (3.3 million Oz.), the Tartisan Nickel, Copper, and Cobalt Deposit, and many others. Mature local infrastructure, workforce, heavy-duty equipment, hospitals, major highway systems, and local services are nearby. Ryan Yanch CIM, a director of GLDR, states***, ‘One extremely important fact is that GLDR’s drilling cost is an industry-leading CDN140 a meter. It is not unusual for other gold comp[anbies to spend CDN200-400 or more a meter. One major contributor to this is that one significant cost is the location of the drilling company. 17 km away from the properties significantly lowers the capital cost and allows a more robust drilling program”.*** Given the uniqueness and exceptional quality of GLDR’s properties, there could be excellent investor support. Gold is rallying, and the prospect of further rises may portend in the shadow of interest rate cuts. Previous work on the properties quickly removes the ubiquitous ‘drill’ on the property or other tropes. These are serious businessmen and women with decades of mining and entrepreneurial experience. In the world of junior mining IPOs, there is a feeling that the stars must align to profit. Au contraire***. The keys to investing success are the right properties, management, and, in this case, a rallying gold price.*** Numero Deux https://preview.redd.it/0jl49k71ve0d1.png?width=461&format=png&auto=webp&s=317b5b03c6bb0f579266a8d38f99042f0cef8e1b Element79 Gold Corp (the “Company”) (CSE: ELEM) (OTC: ELMGF) is a fascinating gold company and the second in our gold triumvirate located primarily in Peru through its flagship Lucero, Peru, property. (Full Disclosure: James Tworek, CEO of Element79, is an adviser to the GLDR Board. Your humble scribe owns a small position in each Company.) The past-producing Lucero Mine (“Lucero”) is one of the highest-grade underground mines in Peru’s history, with grades averaging 19.0g/t Au Equivalent (“Au Eq”) (14.0 g/t gold and 373 g/t silver). https://preview.redd.it/wacgvbu2ve0d1.png?width=557&format=png&auto=webp&s=af5e28a9d2941bf72eebecabb824716062a64c58 In its past 5 years of production, ending in 2005, it produced an average of 40,000oz+/yr. Assays from March 2023 yielded 21-ore-grade and high-yield up to 11.7 ounces per ton of gold and 247 ounces per ton of silver from underground workings, further validating the potential for a significant high-grade future operation. Consolidating its focus in this region and its impressive geology, ELEM acquired the Roxana Vein and surrounding 1200ha property, Lucero del Sur 28, via auction held on May 17, 2023. The property is located strategically just east of the high-grade Lucero gold-silver project. Instead of going into much history, let’s look at the Press release ELEM put out on April 23. New assays were released, and CEO James Tworek stated, “The data obtained is not just promising; it’s the cornerstone upon which our future endeavours will be built,” said James Tworek, CEO of Element 79. “These recent results, coupled with historical data, represent the bedrock upon which we are advancing our Lucero project.” Corporate Presentation. https://preview.redd.it/757zd444ve0d1.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b9b6543b7475c955bee27ce693350c718e6983c From the PR: A total of 97 samples were sent for assays, 56 of which returned greater than 0.1 g/t gold (up to 8.55 g/t gold and 523 g/t silver. Several samples also were rich in base metals (up to 23.7% lead and 9.9% zinc), all of which underscores the richness of our project, further supporting the Company’s belief a robust resource base can be delineated. (Actual assay numbers are shown in the PR) James C Tworek further states, “Element79 Gold has transformed from an asset amalgamator and seller to a near-term production story, responding to Peru’s government push for formalizing artisanal mining operations. We at Element79 Gold are thrilled to share our unwavering dedication to bringing our Lucero gold project in Peru into production. This past-producing, high-grade gold and silver mine holds immense potential to revitalize our Company and foster economic growth and prosperity in the region. “ The other ELEM property brings us back to North America. Nevada, to be precise. Reason to pay attention? https://preview.redd.it/yhcb5f95ve0d1.png?width=504&format=png&auto=webp&s=bfe06f46ebed40c20c58b486adb9d2ef29905928 Maverick Springs is adjacent to the Carlin Trend. For the uninitiated, the area contains several of the largest gold mines on Earth. The area includes a number of the largest gold mines on Earth. Maverick Springs is a blind deposit comprising a 30-120 metre thick, flat-lying zone centred on an anticlinal structure with oxidation pervasive to 120 metres and intermittent to 270 metres. (5) West Whistler property is in the same area as Maverick, closer to the Battle Mountain Trend, alongside Carlin: Near several gold deposits, including the Cortez Mine, North America’s third largest gold mine with 2021 gold production of 828,000 ounces. Finally, the Clover Property, 16 km west of the massive Hecla Mine in the Northern Nevada Rift. The property sits at the top and centre of the Carlin and Battle Mountain Trends. Nevada Gold’s active Turquoise Ridge Mine, the third largest gold mine in the United States with 537,000 ounces of gold production reported in 2020, as well as the Twin Creeks open pit mines and the dormant Pinson and Getchell mines. Element 79 has drilling programs announced for the 2023/24 years and a more vigorous program for 2024/25. https://preview.redd.it/c30916h6ve0d1.png?width=943&format=png&auto=webp&s=06c02fc942928e97ddaa5a38c0725175e5573ac7 As (GoldSilver.com) an aside, the gold price—and silver—have softened after particularly gold had a decent run. The first two in our group have slid a bit but seem to be holding in nicely. If one follows gold forecasts, the pundits call for USD 2500-3000 over the next few years. The strategy is simple: A move to USD 3,000 represents a 50% appreciation. However, that also comes with physical and liquidity issues should you want to sell. And the Gold price? On December 30, 2022, gold closed the year at $1,819.70 per ounce. Flash forward to one year later, and gold closed 2023 at $2,062.40. That’s a gain of 13.3% in a single year. With gold pushing to new record highs, it’s a fascinating time for gold investors. Predicting the future of gold prices is never easy, but to offer some insights into what 2024 might hold, we’ve (compiled an array of gold price forecasts, outlooks, and predictions from renowned banks, industry experts, and financial analysts. Let’s take a look. https://preview.redd.it/2o1f4i67ve0d1.png?width=1385&format=png&auto=webp&s=973e0778e971a7ab93672aa3ac10c4b11ea6a7b3 Numero Three https://preview.redd.it/l0fdxn3eve0d1.png?width=368&format=png&auto=webp&s=9cc5f9ec8672a68c10d2fbbde546f8b5e121122d Off we go to South America. This time, Columbia with SOMA Gold. (TSXV: SOMA) (WKN: A2P4DU) (OTC: SMAGF) (the “Company” or “Soma“) recently announced that gold production for Q1 2024 was 7,335 AuEq ounces, an increase of 8% over the same period in 2023. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. https://preview.redd.it/9soyq36fve0d1.png?width=625&format=png&auto=webp&s=00d351e23310ea8e9d2b607b5a012c302687f038 The Company owns two adjacent mining properties in Antioquia, Colombia, with a combined milling capacity of 675 tpd. (Permitted for 1,400 tpd). The El Bagre Mill is currently operating and producing. Internally generated funds are being used to finance a regional exploration program. https://preview.redd.it/55x97d2gve0d1.png?width=872&format=png&auto=webp&s=fa38819b9e52fd10910434894d64e823f2447798 Soma is further ahead than our previous companies, which doesn’t make it better; it is just a different stage of development. Corporate Presentation, 2023 results, Tech Report. https://preview.redd.it/wjhvosugve0d1.png?width=729&format=png&auto=webp&s=cbc332e83495ff1ac9e40b33f30609a7b02533ab Properties Cardero Mine
While I like the companies, I would buy them for their land positions. All have land that isn’t some dust pit but has either historical or proven assays. And most are near large producers. Element79; Nevada.Carlin Trend? Seriously? |
2024.05.14 17:32 alphariusomega123 I'm so sick of people's stupid nerfs to Superman that's why I'm making this post (long post).
 | Were Kryptonians only planet busters in the Post Crisis? submitted by alphariusomega123 to PowerScaling [link] [comments] Short answer absolutely not, long answer: let's explain this false belief. This post arises because, among other things, in several blogs and YouTube channels and tik tokThis is a very common myth. It is often mistakenly believed that Superman is a hero who is only limited to protecting the Earth and who moves on planetary scales, but the truth is that in the more than 80 years of the character's history, he has traveled to all kinds of places both within their own universe as well as outside it, and even outside their multiverse. The same can be applied to his cousin Kara. Without going any further, since the beginning of the 90s, DC's own writers have declared that Superman's adventures move on a cosmic scale, putting at risk not only the fate of the world, but often that of the galaxy or even the universe. So the idea of Superman as someone limited to saving Metropolis and little else is wrong., it is stated that in DC's post-crisis continuity, Superman and the rest of the Kryptonians who escape from him only possess a destructive power that reaches planetary (or multi planetary) at its maximum. which is absolutely false and we'll see because, although this publication will be focused for the moment on the post-crisis, I will also make one for the new 52 that is also nerfed horribly. Without further ado let's get started. 1) "SUPERMAN TENDS TO MOVE AT PLANETARY SCALES": This is a very common myth. It is often mistakenly believed that Superman is a hero who is only limited to protecting the Earth and who moves on planetary scales, but the truth is that in the more than 80 years of the character's history, he has traveled to all kinds of places both within their own universe as well as outside it, and even outside their multiverse. The same can be applied to his cousin Kara. Without going any further, since the beginning of the 90s, DC's own writers have declared that Superman's adventures move on a cosmic scale, putting at risk not only the fate of the world, but often that of the galaxy or even the universe. So the idea of Superman as someone limited to saving Metropolis and little else is wrong. https://imgur.com/a/8t9bwdj 2) "KRYPTONIANS HAVE A DIFFICULT DESTROYING PLANETS": If there is one thing that has been consistent throughout the Post Crisis period, it is how Kryptonians like Superman or Supergirl can achieve planet-level feats quite casually. Let's review some examples:
-According to Batman at the end of the Emperor Joker arc, Superman could juggle planets if he wanted to. https://imgur.com/a/NDLoiZC
-Superman dragged the weight of the Earth, the Moon and a spaceship and it has also been said that he could move the Earth if he wanted to. https://imgur.com/a/YxIUAa7 https://imgur.com/a/cBdlBp0
...among other examples. So it is illogical to think that his limit is there. 3) "SUPERMAN NEEDED HELP TO MOVE THE EARTH AND THE MOON": Not really. This happened on three occasions, and all three have a context behind them:
https://imgur.com/a/0XQsICz https://imgur.com/a/5eEnSWH
https://imgur.com/a/77Mirm9 https://imgur.com/a/mgGFkJe https://imgur.com/a/3UKvISM
https://imgur.com/a/cEY374Q https://imgur.com/a/R8zvdVo As we can see, the evidence normally used to claim that Superman needs help moving celestial bodies is not such, and even one of them, far from being a demerit, is in fact a remarkable feat against someone very powerful. 4) "BRAINIAC CLAIMED AT THE END OF OWAW THAT SUPERMAN DID NOT HAVE THE POWER TO MOVE A PLANET": This is heavily taken out of context. What Brainiac-13 claimed was that Superman did not have the power to move HIS planet away from him, referring to the War World, which Brainiac had taken control of. This distinction is not mere semantics, since Brainiac-13 has just absorbed the universal energies of Imperiex with which he wanted to cause a new Big Bang that would destroy the current universe and replace it with another. These energies were going to allow Brainiac-13 to remodel the entire universe to his whim. https://imgur.com/a/SBbc4lI https://imgur.com/a/CgW145M https://imgur.com/a/S6QhtCF That Superman needed to overload himself with solar energy to face such an enemy is not strange if we take this into account. So managing to move the War World against Brainiac's will is a very high-level feat for Superman, not a demerit. Let's remember that Superman could not destroy the War World, because if he did this he would automatically activate Imperiex's Big Bang and destroy the universe. https://imgur.com/a/uplJ0rD https://imgur.com/a/uplJ0rD 5) "SUPERMAN WAS KNOWN BY A PLANETARY ATTACK AND A MOON EXPLOSION": Once again we find two extremely decontextualized situations. Let's analyze them:
And Superman is vulnerable to magic, as we all know and as mentioned in the same instance, which makes this attack that much more devastating. But also in the next instance we discover that Superman and Batman allowed themselves to be captured to take them to Luthor, making Hawkman and Captain Marvel believe that they had defeated them. Which disproves that Superman was actually knocked out by Horus' claw. https://imgur.com/a/hIs6WU6 https://imgur.com/a/E4cNnap
https://imgur.com/a/fw4IedY I don't know Superman's weight, but according to the DC wiki he weighs 107 kg (they don't cite sources). Accelerating at 0.99 c, that's 5.86x1019 Joules. The figure Batman gives for the moon's mass is incorrect, but assuming he's right, that would be 1.8x1026 Joules. Multiplying both energies, the result is an explosion of 1.06x1046 Joules or solar system. But if we use the real mass of the moon, it generated 1.43x1032 Joules, which multiplied by Superman's energy gives a result of 8.3x1051 Joules, well into the solar system+. https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Superman_(Clark_Kent) https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=relativistic+kinetic+energy&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergyRelativistic%22%2C+%22m%22%7D+-%3E%22107+kg%22&assumption=%7B%22FS%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%7B%22KineticEnergyRelativistic%22%2C+%22K%22%7D%7D&assumption=%7B%22C%22%2C+%22relativistic+kinetic+energy%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%22Formula%22%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergyRelativistic%22%2C+%22v%22%7D+-%3E%220.99+c%22&lang=es https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=kinetic+energy&assumption=%7B%22C%22%2C+%22kinetic+energy%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%22Formula%22%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22m%22%7D+-%3E%2281000000000+t%22&assumption=%7B%22FS%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%7B%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22K%22%7D%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22v%22%7D+-%3E%227614000+km%2Fh+%22&lang=es https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=kinetic+energy&assumption=%7B%22C%22%2C+%22kinetic+energy%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%22Formula%22%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22m%22%7D+-%3E%226.4%C3%9710%5E19+kg%22&assumption=%7B%22FS%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%7B%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22K%22%7D%7D&assumption=%7B%22F%22%2C+%22KineticEnergy%22%2C+%22v%22%7D+-%3E%227614000+km%2Fh%22&lang=es So this is indeed another feat that far exceeds the planet level. It is also interesting to mention that the substance of the creator of said moon (Shadow Thief) is an apparently infinite dimension and that with that same power, Starbreaker was able to fight and defeat Dharma, who kept two universes together. https://imgur.com/a/uelOSzz https://imgur.com/a/lkuv9cX 6) FREQUENT REFUTATIONS TO SUPERIOR EXPLOITS: Faced with the constant exposure of feats above the planet level (like the ones here), a series of preeminent refutations usually arise to try to disprove them, often dishonestly distorting the context of the original scene to give it a completely different meaning. These are the most common: 6.1) "The Nebula Man is not a living universe, because his size is not that of one" A: Just because Neh-Buh-Loh is human-sized on the outside does not negate that it is a universe on the inside. In the same scan already shown from Seven Soldiers: Frankenstein, it is said that he is a sentient and mobile mass of malleable super-matter, indicating that his universe is scalable to his size; and in fact, in JLA: Classified (same story in which he confronts Superman), we are also shown its nature as a sentient universe and the Justice League traveling inside it (from which they come and go through boom tubes). ). https://imgur.com/a/qFpZ23a https://imgur.com/a/GYDphjd https://imgur.com/a/wXWHUcS In fact, in the aforementioned Seven Soldiers, it is revealed to us that if it were not for the Ultramarine Corps, Neh-Buh-Loh would have already grown to replace the current universe. This is therefore the same case as the Galactic Golem, which on the outside barely measured several meters, but on the inside it was a vast dimension with many planets and stars. https://imgur.com/a/Qflwyo5 https://imgur.com/a/7wB5Zys https://imgur.com/a/CJSPuN0 6.2) "Absorbing energy to vaporize half a galaxy does not count as resistance, it is a hax" A: It's not just about the act of absorbing energy. In the same comic it is mentioned how said energy was anti-sunlight, that is, harmful to Superman. In fact, we are clearly shown Superman being damaged by said energy and Batman and Martian Manhunter initially believed that Superman had died trying to absorb it. So it's clearly scalable to the physical attributes of it. https://imgur.com/a/jTizZ8h https://imgur.com/a/1XBq9Ce https://imgur.com/a/Y9gY9SE 6.3) "Superman did not move the Mageddon, he was just trying to free himself from the chains that held him while it tortured him" A: Martian Manhunter himself explicitly mentions that Superman was turning the wheels of Mageddon. This is later confirmed, where Martian explains how Superman is now one of the components of the machine and is using his strength. On the other hand, if Superman was just being held against his will, there would be little point in him breaking the chains so easily when Batman managed to snap him out of the trance the Mageddon kept him in. https://imgur.com/a/6P1uXbz https://imgur.com/a/2IRf9Ps https://imgur.com/a/jTizZ8h 6.4) "There is no mental limiter. Superman has been defeated on previous occasions and even died against Doomsday" A: The limiter is subconscious, not conscious. Superman can't choose when he stops using it. At least not until he completed his training with Mongul. It is important to clarify that it is mentioned that his fight against Doomsday was the only time where he was able to free himself from the limiter. https://imgur.com/a/GeFw1SQ https://imgur.com/a/bFYi4tb 6.5) "The universal black hole was a dream, Superman wakes up in the following pages" A: This is half true. Sure enough, Superman wakes up from the "sleep" in the following pages. However, just before that, Death clarifies the event as something real and explains that it took place within a plane where mind and matter intersect to shape dreams and turn them into reality. Let us also remember that in DC, dreams give birth to new universes, so it matters little even if we take what happened as a literal dream. https://imgur.com/a/1l9YagO https://imgur.com/a/fhE2MMw 6.6) "Superman did not receive the Suneater explosion, in fact, he had to escape from it" A: This, on the other hand, is a complete lie. Superman received the explosion, as we can see in the panel; What he had to escape from was a cloud of red solar radiation born as a result, which Jonathan mentions would have incinerated him (not killed him) if it had reached him; Well, as we all know, red sunlight weakens Superman and deprives him of his powers. In fact, Superman had previously received several bursts of red solar radiation, making this feat even more impressive. https://imgur.com/a/Ff1c327 https://imgur.com/a/Ff1c327 https://imgur.com/a/M72EsPn 6.7) "The solar system that Superman moved was barely the size of buildings while he moved it" A: The solar system had not yet reached the size it would have according to the scale of our universe, but that does not mean that its mass was proportional to its size. The system was adjusting to the new scale from its microscopic size, since it was originally from a compressed universe. Therefore, its mass was equal to that of a real one, evidenced by the mention that very soon the gravity of its star was going to destroy Metropolis. If he didn't have it, he wouldn't be able to generate such a gravitational field, being so small. https://imgur.com/a/v35zZ8G https://imgur.com/a/v35zZ8G 6.8) "In the same story, it is mentioned that his best hits barely destroy planets" A: And where exactly is it mentioned that those were his best shots? 🤔 Because in fact, it is implied that these were casual. https://imgur.com/a/BQ4crIz 6.9) "The Void Hound did not destroy all those star systems at once. Furthermore, it is only mentioned that those systems died" A: Nowhere in the story is such a thing stated or even hinted at. In fact, the mention that the Void Hound was only tested once suggests that it destroyed all of those systems with a single attack. Regarding the other, the mention is accompanied with images of celestial bodies being destroyed, which makes it extremely unlikely that by "killing them" they were not referring to the fact that they were destroyed. https://imgur.com/a/emjfscA https://imgur.com/a/emjfscA 6.10) "Superman only covered the Mnemon fissure before it broke free, and he also had to get help from John Stewart because it was too much for him" A: Under the pretext that covering the fissure was not a feat of strength, it makes no sense to argue that he needed John Stewart's help to keep it closed. In any case, Superman himself mentions that he was enduring "unimaginable" pressure to keep his hands closed. Regarding it being "too much for him", this was due to the visions that the Mnemon sent to Superman, with the aim of driving him crazy and making him release his grip on him. https://imgur.com/a/Wk4YuSz https://imgur.com/a/GA04Vi4 As for John Stewart's "help," it simply consisted of acting as a backup for Superman (in case his hands opened) and creating the construct of a magnet to generate an electromagnetic field strong enough to reduce the pressure of the Mnemon enough that Superman could safely release it and throw it into a wormhole. https://imgur.com/a/ZwFuBAz https://imgur.com/a/0nGPfTo 6.11) "Resisting the explosion of the La Fuente wall was an outlier, since it is a structure superior to the multiverse" A: Superman only had to resist a tiny portion of the wall's destruction. Specifically, the one he had right in front of him. He couldn't do it all either, even if he wanted to. Since the Source Wall is a pan-dimensional structure that surrounds all of existence, the only way Superman could take all the destruction from it would be by being omnipresent throughout the multiverse. This does not mean that it is a great feat, since a mere breach is enough to destroy a universe. https://imgur.com/a/vsBBg06 6.12) "That Orion has a power comparable to the Big Bang is hyperbole" A: We know that it is not hyperbole because emanations of Orion have feats of a similar level, such as containing an explosion that was going to destroy the universe at a quantum level, fighting against a god that was going to destroy the universe and defeating him (along with Superman, btw), killing an emanation of Darkseid that became one with the universe, contributing the energy to destroy the universe from the anti-life equation, etc. https://imgur.com/a/ahiiHL2 https://imgur.com/a/u0CpFm9 https://imgur.com/a/hATcdrI https://imgur.com/a/CprsHWy https://imgur.com/a/3R8tsvj https://imgur.com/a/lNiMVkI CONCLUSIONS: As we can see based on all this, it makes no sense to believe that Kryptonians who have been absorbing sunlight from a yellow sun are only planetary (or multi-planetary) in attack power, at least as far as Superman and Supergirl are concerned. it means. The opposite has been proven in countless instances, and the evidence in all of them is that destroying planets is only a small fraction of these characters' true destructive potential. Therefore, to affirm that this is its limit or that the many feats that exceed this level are outliers is to speak without any type of foundation. |
2024.05.14 17:30 dreamyoureyes Looking for a Chris evans fanfiction
This one is vague and I am trusting the internet.
Could be on Tumblr, Ao3, EFP, gosh even Wattpad.
Chris evans x ofc or y/n can’t really remember. Maybe she had her own name.
Anyways, Dom!Chris Evans and she’s either bisexual or fruity in some way.
It’s long. Like multi chapter long.
Don’t really remember how it starts but she is some sort of biologist? Maybe zoologist? She had a research collector thingy in the middle of nowhere that she used to track either animals or the soil at a certain point.
The fic talks a lot about Chris’ social anxiety. I kinda remember that in the fic, Chris decides to accept the role of captain America and the two of them deal with the fame that comes with it. Her family was not nice or kinda homophobic if I remember correctly.
He is a super confident in his masculinity so I remember them playing with his back door but he’s kinda insecure about their private relationship (I think) cause i think they had a thing about threesomes for a while but he got super jealous when they involved maybe Tom hiddleston in one of them? And the girly had a bit of a crush on him?
I am actually kinda certain about the Tom Hiddleston thing cause I think that they used their Loki and Captain America costumes to have their way with her for her birthday or something (I love how random the stuff i remember about it is).
I remember Chris being jealous of Tom actually so that was a thing they had to deal with.
She may have had a somewhat colourful wedding dress? Or colourful hair?
There may have been a photos leak of them in intimate positions/bdsm attire. That created D R A M A.
Another aspect I definitely remember is that they had a thing about jelly beans. They got pregnant a few times and lost the babies and Chris started tattooing jelly beans on his pectoral (like where his heart should be) for the angel babies. This Whump was sad and tragic but a great story line.
I think this is it. Would love to find it. Thank you :)
submitted by dreamyoureyes to MarvelFanfiction [link] [comments]
Could be on Tumblr, Ao3, EFP, gosh even Wattpad.
Chris evans x ofc or y/n can’t really remember. Maybe she had her own name.
Anyways, Dom!Chris Evans and she’s either bisexual or fruity in some way.
It’s long. Like multi chapter long.
Don’t really remember how it starts but she is some sort of biologist? Maybe zoologist? She had a research collector thingy in the middle of nowhere that she used to track either animals or the soil at a certain point.
The fic talks a lot about Chris’ social anxiety. I kinda remember that in the fic, Chris decides to accept the role of captain America and the two of them deal with the fame that comes with it. Her family was not nice or kinda homophobic if I remember correctly.
He is a super confident in his masculinity so I remember them playing with his back door but he’s kinda insecure about their private relationship (I think) cause i think they had a thing about threesomes for a while but he got super jealous when they involved maybe Tom hiddleston in one of them? And the girly had a bit of a crush on him?
I am actually kinda certain about the Tom Hiddleston thing cause I think that they used their Loki and Captain America costumes to have their way with her for her birthday or something (I love how random the stuff i remember about it is).
I remember Chris being jealous of Tom actually so that was a thing they had to deal with.
She may have had a somewhat colourful wedding dress? Or colourful hair?
There may have been a photos leak of them in intimate positions/bdsm attire. That created D R A M A.
Another aspect I definitely remember is that they had a thing about jelly beans. They got pregnant a few times and lost the babies and Chris started tattooing jelly beans on his pectoral (like where his heart should be) for the angel babies. This Whump was sad and tragic but a great story line.
I think this is it. Would love to find it. Thank you :)
2024.05.14 17:13 looorzie Fishing in Brazil advice needed
Hello everyone! Currently traveling South America with my boyfriend, heading to Brazil next week. As a belated birthday gift for him I’d like to take him on a fishing trip. Anyone any ideas on places/companies/etc?
Fishing in Pantanal would be awesome but (as far as I can find online) they only offer 3+ day trips. I’m looking for ideally a day trip or maybe a 2-day trip.
Ideally somewhere in the south of Brazil since we are coming from Argentina. But if you know a great place more up north please let me know, all advice is welcome :)
PS. Yes I am aware that Brazil is a huge country but (luckily) we have a lot of time to travel somewhere
PPS. Boyfriend is an intermediate fisher, I am a noob, but always keen to learn!
submitted by looorzie to Brazil [link] [comments]
Fishing in Pantanal would be awesome but (as far as I can find online) they only offer 3+ day trips. I’m looking for ideally a day trip or maybe a 2-day trip.
Ideally somewhere in the south of Brazil since we are coming from Argentina. But if you know a great place more up north please let me know, all advice is welcome :)
PS. Yes I am aware that Brazil is a huge country but (luckily) we have a lot of time to travel somewhere
PPS. Boyfriend is an intermediate fisher, I am a noob, but always keen to learn!
2024.05.14 16:51 bloom_inthefield My (20f) girlfriend (19f) has previously felt anxious and frustrated whenever I go on overseas trips. I am finding it hard figuring out how to tell her I am going on a trip at the end of the year. Please help?
For some context: - i am 20f and live with my mother - my gf (19f) and i have been together for 3 years - 2022 dec - 2023 jan i had lots of family visiting which made it hard to see my gf as regularly as i wanted to (once a week, maybe less) - 2023 march my mother and i went on a last minute trip to america as we thought my grandfather was going to pass. it was initially 2 weeks, but we extended 2 more weeks while we were there as he needed extra support - the 22/23 issue and this extension caused a great deal of stress and frustration on my gf - i went to japan for a week with my mum in november 2023 for her birthday. this also caused some frustration and anxiety for my gf, but much less than previous trips
There is still more layers to all of that, but am happy to clarify in replies.
I am going to america again this december for 3 weeks for christmas. This time around there is no problem, my mum and i are going to spend christmas with family and have a vacation. due to prior events, i have found it difficult to talk to my gf about this upcoming trip as i know it will cause lots of frustration and make her upset.
She gets anxious and upset, as we are apart for a long time. And she also feels anxiety that i may extend my trip again similar to the 2023 extension.
I dont know what to do anymore. I dont want the relationship to end, but i find it so difficult and frustrating to deal with. I sometimes dont really understand her frustration and sometimes it is quite unjustified. For example, while I was in Japan and we would call, we would have arguments and she would not really be happy speaking to me.
I understand that its hard when your s/o is far away and for a long period of time, but i am finding it harder and harder to help this. The obvious answer is to not go on trips, but i WANT to go. I want to see my family and I want to not spend another lonely christmas with just me and my mother, when i could spend it with my grandparents who dont have much time left.
Please help me understand.
submitted by bloom_inthefield to relationship_advice [link] [comments]
There is still more layers to all of that, but am happy to clarify in replies.
I am going to america again this december for 3 weeks for christmas. This time around there is no problem, my mum and i are going to spend christmas with family and have a vacation. due to prior events, i have found it difficult to talk to my gf about this upcoming trip as i know it will cause lots of frustration and make her upset.
She gets anxious and upset, as we are apart for a long time. And she also feels anxiety that i may extend my trip again similar to the 2023 extension.
I dont know what to do anymore. I dont want the relationship to end, but i find it so difficult and frustrating to deal with. I sometimes dont really understand her frustration and sometimes it is quite unjustified. For example, while I was in Japan and we would call, we would have arguments and she would not really be happy speaking to me.
I understand that its hard when your s/o is far away and for a long period of time, but i am finding it harder and harder to help this. The obvious answer is to not go on trips, but i WANT to go. I want to see my family and I want to not spend another lonely christmas with just me and my mother, when i could spend it with my grandparents who dont have much time left.
Please help me understand.
2024.05.14 16:48 Jealous_Trip_8181 I bought used Defective Tires without Knowing (Need Advice)
Hi all, about two years ago I bought brand new Michelin Cross Climate tires from someone on facebook market place. Unfortunately, I didn't get their receipt, but once I took them to get installed, my tire guy told me they're considered defective by Michelin as some of the tires built during that period were not created properly. He said from a visual inspection, the tires look great but obviously I can't quote him on that in terms of safety. I reached out to Michelin and they said I cannot get a refund or exchange without a receipt but they did confirm my tires are part of the "defective batch" that were being recalled due to a possible safety issue. I've put about 50,000 kms on the tires at this point.
Should I be replacing these tires asap? (Was going to buy Crossclimate 2 brand new from costco this time).
submitted by Jealous_Trip_8181 to MechanicAdvice [link] [comments]
Should I be replacing these tires asap? (Was going to buy Crossclimate 2 brand new from costco this time).
2024.05.14 16:43 frostdemon34 Yesterday we discussed kaiserreich USA factions. Now we're talking about fallout factions. Who are you loyal to?
 | For those who don't know, fallout is a game set in the US (now tv show I recommend watching), where USA and China goes to war, starts ww3 and with it ending in nuclear holocaust with the whole world gone to shit. With the US ceasing to exist those who survived are in vaults (very big fallout shelters). Everyone else just straight-up died or survived but heavily irradiated. Now people are walking around in tribes wondering what to do. So here are the factions. submitted by frostdemon34 to 2american4you [link] [comments] The Brotherhood of steel: the Brotherhood is a paramilitary faction founded by a US Military officer with the goal of preserving technology and keeping it out of the hands from those who wants to do harm. preventing another apocalypse. Although they have good intentions, the barely have any moral compass when it comes to treating settlers. The Enclave: like the brotherhood, they're a paramilitary state that believe in social darwinism and racism towards ghouls and mutants. They are what's left of the US governments deep state. They seek to "purify" the world from mutants, ghouls, and kill anything that isn't genetically pure and "true human." The great khans: in simple terms, their Raiders. Inspired by Genghis khan and the Mongolian empire New California Republic: yes California being it's own republic, with old ideas of democracy, liberty, and personal freedom. They seek to expand their borders throughout America to reunite the continent. However the NCR is not without criticism. Much like the US government, it is rampant with political corruption. Outsiders see them as a imperialists and genocidal since the NCR is known to take over territory and "civilizing" the locals. The NCR has 2 sides, they can be nice and offer diplomatic treaties that ultimately benefits everyone, or the NCR can be assholes who will force you to join the republic. However, the people would much rather be under NCR influence then their greatest enemy. Ceasers legion: simply put, some dude read about history of the Roman empire and just called himself ceaser in order to bring his own version of the Roman empire. His Army is entirely built up of enslaved tribes who are indoctrinated into becoming extremely loyal to ceaser. Like the NCR, ceasers legion wishes to expand its borders but under a totalitarian, imperialistic, slave society dictatorship. Mr.House: the city of New Vegas is led by a man named Mr.House. all he wishes to do is keep New Vegas safe. Literally his entire life revolves around New Vegas and keeping it under his control. He is 261 years old and he keeps himself alive by putting himself on life support. The minutemen: based on the minutemen of the American revolution, their mission is to protect the people of the Commonwealth (new england) in a minutes notice. As it stands they're a militia built up on volunteers from different villages and towns. Probably the only faction who is objectively good. The railroad: set in the Commonwealth, they seek to liberate synthetic humans (robots) and protect them from the Brotherhood and the Institute. The Institute: a society entirely built up by scientists. Developing new and more advanced technology such as the synths (robots who look like humans) and teleportation. Their goal is to advance and preserve human society, but for the mean time, they are in hiding. They are well known throughout the Commonwealth as people who kidnap Commonwealth citizens and replace them with synths. That's all the major factions, but there is so much more tiny factions. I didn't realize how much there is when looking more into the fallout lore. |
2024.05.14 16:38 lizardRD Costco playsets! Thoughts/opinions?
My daughter is outgrowing her backyard play set and hoping to upgrade soon. The one at Costco currently looks great and the price is awesome! Anyone snag one of these play sets recently?
Also when do they put the display up for sale? I’m assuming sometime in the fall. I’d love to get a discount and my husband would kill me if he has to build another one from scratch. So having it already in large pieces would be awesome!
https://www.costco.com/kidkraft--summit-view-swing-set.product.1740697.html
submitted by lizardRD to Costco [link] [comments]
Also when do they put the display up for sale? I’m assuming sometime in the fall. I’d love to get a discount and my husband would kill me if he has to build another one from scratch. So having it already in large pieces would be awesome!
https://www.costco.com/kidkraft--summit-view-swing-set.product.1740697.html
2024.05.14 16:31 thinkingstranger May 13, 2024
Today illustrated that the Democrats have become America’s cheerleaders, emphasizing how investment in the nation’s infrastructure has created jobs and rebuilt the country. This week, the Biden-Harris administration is touting its investments in rebuilding roads and bridges, making sure Americans have clean water, getting rid of pollution, expanding access to high-speed internet, and building a clean energy economy, contrasting that success with Trump’s eternal announcements of an “Infrastructure Week” that never came.
The White House today announced that it has awarded nearly $454 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including more than 56,000 projects across more than 4,500 communities across the nation. Those include fixing more than 165,000 miles of roads and more than 9,400 bridges and improving more than 450 ports and 300 airport terminals. It has funded more than 1,400 drinking water and wastewater projects and projects to replace up to 1.7 million toxic lead pipes, as well as more than 8,000 low- and zero-emission buses. It has funded 95 previously unfunded Superfund projects to clean up contaminated sites. It has improved the electrical grid and funded 12,000 miles of high-speed internet infrastructure, and exposed internet junk fees.
The White House explained that this investment is making it cheaper to install clean energy technology and lowering families’ monthly energy bills, and highlighted today the available rebates to enable people to take advantage of the new technologies.
On Wednesday, May 8, a report from the Semiconductor Industry Association and the Boston Consulting Group explored the “breathtaking speed,” as the president of the semiconductor organization put it, at which the industry is growing. In the Financial Times on May 9, John Thornhill reported that the CHIPS and Science Act, which provided a $39 billion investment in the semiconductor industry, has “primed a torrent of private sector investment.” With the influx of both federal money and an additional $447 billion of private investment in 83 projects in 25 states, the report forecasts that the U.S. will increase its share of global manufacturing capacity for leading-edge chips from today’s rate of 0% to 28% by 2032. Thornhill compared this investment to that spurred by Russia’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite.
The Economist yesterday announced that the U.S. “is in the midst of an extraordinary startup boom,” and explored “[h]ow the country revived its “go-getting spirit.”
In contrast to the Democrats’ confidence in America, the Republicans are all-in on the idea that the country is an apocalyptic wasteland. At a rally in New Jersey Saturday, Trump announced: “On day one we will throw out Bidenomics and reinstate MAGAnomics.” He promised to extend his 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
But the gist of his speech was an angry, vitriolic picture of a failing nation full of “enemies” that are “more dangerous” than China and Russia and who are “going to destroy our country.” In his telling, the criminal case against him in Manhattan is “bullsh*t,” and President Biden has done more damage than the “ten worst presidents in the history of our country” combined: “[h]e’s a fool; he’s not a smart man…[h]e’s a bad guy…the worst president ever, of any country. The whole world is laughing at him.”
Trump lied that other countries are “emptying out their mental institutions into the United States, our beautiful country. And now the prison populations all over the world are down. They don’t want to report that the mental-institution population is down because they’re taking people from insane asylums and from mental institutions.” Then he riffed into “the late great Hannibal Lecter,” the fictional murderer and cannibal in the film The Silence of the Lambs, apparently to suggest that similar individuals are migrating to the U.S.
House Republicans this week are working to pass a nonbinding resolution to condemn Biden’s immigration policies, although it was Republicans, under orders from Trump, who killed a strong bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year.
The only way to turn back this apocalypse, Trump and his supporters insist, is to put Trump and his team back into the White House. From there, Republicans will return those they consider “real” Americans to power.
The last few days have added new information about what that means. On Thursday, May 9, Senators Katie Britt (R-AL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) introduced the More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (MOMS) act. Britt—who is best known for her disastrous response to Biden’s State of the Union speech from her kitchen—said the measure would provide a federal database of resources for pregnant women and women parenting young children, but that information excludes anything that touches on abortion.
The measure is clear that it enlists the government in opposition to abortion, but more than that, it establishes that the government will create a database of the names and contact information of pregnant women, which the government can then use “to follow up with users on additional resources that would be helpful for the users to review.”
A government database of pregnant women would give the federal government unprecedented control over individuals, and it is especially chilling after the story Caroline Kitchener broke in the Washington Post on May 3, that a Texas man, Collin Davis, filed a petition to stop his ex-partner from traveling to Colorado, where abortion is legal, to obtain an abortion. Should she do so, his lawyer wrote, he would “pursue wrongful-death claims against anyone involved in the killing of his unborn child.” Now Davis wants to be able to depose his former partner along with others he says are “complicit” in the abortion.
Antiabortion activists are also seeking to make mifepristone and misoprostol, drugs used in many abortions, hard to obtain. In Louisiana, state lawmakers are considering classifying the drugs as “controlled dangerous substances,” which would make possessing them carry penalties of up to ten years in prison and fines of up to $75,000.
More than 240 Louisiana doctors wrote to lawmakers saying that the drugs have none of the addictive characteristics associated with dangerous controlled substances and warning that the drugs are crucial for inducing routine labor and preventing catastrophic hemorrhage after delivery, in addition to their use in abortions. “Given its historically poor maternal health outcomes, Louisiana should prioritize safe and evidence-based care for pregnant women,” the doctors wrote.
Louisiana lawmakers also rejected a bill that would have allowed anyone under age 17, the age of consent in Louisiana, to have an abortion if they became pregnant after rape or incest. Passionate testimony from those who suffered such attacks or who treated pregnant girls as young as 8 failed to convince the Republican lawmakers to support the measure. “That baby [in the womb] is innocent.… We have to hang on to that,” said Republican state representative Dodie Horton.
Today, at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization promoting Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander participation and representation at all levels of the political process, Vice President Kamala Harris encouraged young people to innovate and to move into spaces from which they have been traditionally excluded.
“So here’s the thing about breaking barriers,” she said. “Breaking barriers does not mean you start on one side of the barrier and you end up on the other side. There’s breaking involved. And when you break things you get cut. And you may bleed. And it is worth it every time…. We have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open. Sometimes they won’t. And then you need to kick that f*cking door down.”
Harris’s advice reflects the history that happened on this date in 1862, when the enslaved mariners on board the shallow-draft C.S.S. Planter gathered up their families, fired up the ship’s boilers, and sailed out of the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor. The three white officers of the ship had gone ashore, leaving enslaved 23-year-old pilot Robert Smalls to take control. Smalls knew how to steer the ship and give the proper signals to the Confederates at Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and three other checkpoints.
Smalls piloted the Planter, the sixteen formerly enslaved people on it, and a head full of intelligence about the Confederate fortifications at Charleston to the U.S. Navy. In Confederate hands, the Planter had surveyed waterways and laid mines; now that information was in U.S. hands. Smalls went on to pilot naval vessels during the war, and in 1864 he bought the house formerly owned by the man who had enslaved him.
A natural leader, Smalls went on to become a businessman, politician, and strong advocate for education. After serving in the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention that made school attendance compulsory and provided for universal male suffrage, he went on to serve in the South Carolina legislature from 1868 to 1874, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until 1887. When President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the nation’s first national monument concerning Reconstruction, he cited the life of Robert Smalls.
—
Notes:
https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/05/12/trump-brings-2024-campaign-to-the-jersey-shore/
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a60774814/trump-rally-new-jersey-weird-speech/
https://www.britt.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MOMS-Act_FINAL-Britt_Rubio_Cramer1.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/11/katie-britt-proposes-federal-database-to-collect-data-on-pregnant-people
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/05/03/texas-abortion-investigations/
https://lailluminator.com/2024/05/08/rape-incest/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/13/abortion-pills-louisiana-controlled-substance/
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/05/12/america-is-in-the-midst-of-an-extraordinary-startup-boom
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/13/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-kicks-off-infrastructure-week-by-highlighting-historic-results-spurred-by-president-bidens-investing-in-america-agenda/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/13/fact-sheet-president-bidens-investing-in-america-agenda-is-helping-american-families-across-the-country-save-money/
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/icymi-the-great-american-innovation-engine-firing-again
https://www.ft.com/content/0d39e8f0-38ba-40aa-8ec8-d04e82afb690
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/politics/chips-grants-fuel-industry-growth.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/11/trump-rally-new-jersey-trial-fascists-00157482
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/presidential-proclamations-establishment-reconstruction-era-national
https://www.nps.gov/people/robert-smalls.htm
Twitter (X):
cspan/status/1790048826440503495
Fritschnestatus/1790051154887340473
rosiewestwood/status/1788291766866567439
CecileRichards/status/1789020452855140723
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-13-2024
submitted by thinkingstranger to HeatherCoxRichardson [link] [comments]
The White House today announced that it has awarded nearly $454 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including more than 56,000 projects across more than 4,500 communities across the nation. Those include fixing more than 165,000 miles of roads and more than 9,400 bridges and improving more than 450 ports and 300 airport terminals. It has funded more than 1,400 drinking water and wastewater projects and projects to replace up to 1.7 million toxic lead pipes, as well as more than 8,000 low- and zero-emission buses. It has funded 95 previously unfunded Superfund projects to clean up contaminated sites. It has improved the electrical grid and funded 12,000 miles of high-speed internet infrastructure, and exposed internet junk fees.
The White House explained that this investment is making it cheaper to install clean energy technology and lowering families’ monthly energy bills, and highlighted today the available rebates to enable people to take advantage of the new technologies.
On Wednesday, May 8, a report from the Semiconductor Industry Association and the Boston Consulting Group explored the “breathtaking speed,” as the president of the semiconductor organization put it, at which the industry is growing. In the Financial Times on May 9, John Thornhill reported that the CHIPS and Science Act, which provided a $39 billion investment in the semiconductor industry, has “primed a torrent of private sector investment.” With the influx of both federal money and an additional $447 billion of private investment in 83 projects in 25 states, the report forecasts that the U.S. will increase its share of global manufacturing capacity for leading-edge chips from today’s rate of 0% to 28% by 2032. Thornhill compared this investment to that spurred by Russia’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite.
The Economist yesterday announced that the U.S. “is in the midst of an extraordinary startup boom,” and explored “[h]ow the country revived its “go-getting spirit.”
In contrast to the Democrats’ confidence in America, the Republicans are all-in on the idea that the country is an apocalyptic wasteland. At a rally in New Jersey Saturday, Trump announced: “On day one we will throw out Bidenomics and reinstate MAGAnomics.” He promised to extend his 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
But the gist of his speech was an angry, vitriolic picture of a failing nation full of “enemies” that are “more dangerous” than China and Russia and who are “going to destroy our country.” In his telling, the criminal case against him in Manhattan is “bullsh*t,” and President Biden has done more damage than the “ten worst presidents in the history of our country” combined: “[h]e’s a fool; he’s not a smart man…[h]e’s a bad guy…the worst president ever, of any country. The whole world is laughing at him.”
Trump lied that other countries are “emptying out their mental institutions into the United States, our beautiful country. And now the prison populations all over the world are down. They don’t want to report that the mental-institution population is down because they’re taking people from insane asylums and from mental institutions.” Then he riffed into “the late great Hannibal Lecter,” the fictional murderer and cannibal in the film The Silence of the Lambs, apparently to suggest that similar individuals are migrating to the U.S.
House Republicans this week are working to pass a nonbinding resolution to condemn Biden’s immigration policies, although it was Republicans, under orders from Trump, who killed a strong bipartisan immigration bill earlier this year.
The only way to turn back this apocalypse, Trump and his supporters insist, is to put Trump and his team back into the White House. From there, Republicans will return those they consider “real” Americans to power.
The last few days have added new information about what that means. On Thursday, May 9, Senators Katie Britt (R-AL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) introduced the More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (MOMS) act. Britt—who is best known for her disastrous response to Biden’s State of the Union speech from her kitchen—said the measure would provide a federal database of resources for pregnant women and women parenting young children, but that information excludes anything that touches on abortion.
The measure is clear that it enlists the government in opposition to abortion, but more than that, it establishes that the government will create a database of the names and contact information of pregnant women, which the government can then use “to follow up with users on additional resources that would be helpful for the users to review.”
A government database of pregnant women would give the federal government unprecedented control over individuals, and it is especially chilling after the story Caroline Kitchener broke in the Washington Post on May 3, that a Texas man, Collin Davis, filed a petition to stop his ex-partner from traveling to Colorado, where abortion is legal, to obtain an abortion. Should she do so, his lawyer wrote, he would “pursue wrongful-death claims against anyone involved in the killing of his unborn child.” Now Davis wants to be able to depose his former partner along with others he says are “complicit” in the abortion.
Antiabortion activists are also seeking to make mifepristone and misoprostol, drugs used in many abortions, hard to obtain. In Louisiana, state lawmakers are considering classifying the drugs as “controlled dangerous substances,” which would make possessing them carry penalties of up to ten years in prison and fines of up to $75,000.
More than 240 Louisiana doctors wrote to lawmakers saying that the drugs have none of the addictive characteristics associated with dangerous controlled substances and warning that the drugs are crucial for inducing routine labor and preventing catastrophic hemorrhage after delivery, in addition to their use in abortions. “Given its historically poor maternal health outcomes, Louisiana should prioritize safe and evidence-based care for pregnant women,” the doctors wrote.
Louisiana lawmakers also rejected a bill that would have allowed anyone under age 17, the age of consent in Louisiana, to have an abortion if they became pregnant after rape or incest. Passionate testimony from those who suffered such attacks or who treated pregnant girls as young as 8 failed to convince the Republican lawmakers to support the measure. “That baby [in the womb] is innocent.… We have to hang on to that,” said Republican state representative Dodie Horton.
Today, at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization promoting Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander participation and representation at all levels of the political process, Vice President Kamala Harris encouraged young people to innovate and to move into spaces from which they have been traditionally excluded.
“So here’s the thing about breaking barriers,” she said. “Breaking barriers does not mean you start on one side of the barrier and you end up on the other side. There’s breaking involved. And when you break things you get cut. And you may bleed. And it is worth it every time…. We have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open. Sometimes they won’t. And then you need to kick that f*cking door down.”
Harris’s advice reflects the history that happened on this date in 1862, when the enslaved mariners on board the shallow-draft C.S.S. Planter gathered up their families, fired up the ship’s boilers, and sailed out of the Charleston, South Carolina, harbor. The three white officers of the ship had gone ashore, leaving enslaved 23-year-old pilot Robert Smalls to take control. Smalls knew how to steer the ship and give the proper signals to the Confederates at Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and three other checkpoints.
Smalls piloted the Planter, the sixteen formerly enslaved people on it, and a head full of intelligence about the Confederate fortifications at Charleston to the U.S. Navy. In Confederate hands, the Planter had surveyed waterways and laid mines; now that information was in U.S. hands. Smalls went on to pilot naval vessels during the war, and in 1864 he bought the house formerly owned by the man who had enslaved him.
A natural leader, Smalls went on to become a businessman, politician, and strong advocate for education. After serving in the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention that made school attendance compulsory and provided for universal male suffrage, he went on to serve in the South Carolina legislature from 1868 to 1874, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until 1887. When President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the nation’s first national monument concerning Reconstruction, he cited the life of Robert Smalls.
—
Notes:
https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/05/12/trump-brings-2024-campaign-to-the-jersey-shore/
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a60774814/trump-rally-new-jersey-weird-speech/
https://www.britt.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/MOMS-Act_FINAL-Britt_Rubio_Cramer1.pdf
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/11/katie-britt-proposes-federal-database-to-collect-data-on-pregnant-people
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/05/03/texas-abortion-investigations/
https://lailluminator.com/2024/05/08/rape-incest/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/13/abortion-pills-louisiana-controlled-substance/
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2024/05/12/america-is-in-the-midst-of-an-extraordinary-startup-boom
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/13/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-kicks-off-infrastructure-week-by-highlighting-historic-results-spurred-by-president-bidens-investing-in-america-agenda/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/13/fact-sheet-president-bidens-investing-in-america-agenda-is-helping-american-families-across-the-country-save-money/
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/icymi-the-great-american-innovation-engine-firing-again
https://www.ft.com/content/0d39e8f0-38ba-40aa-8ec8-d04e82afb690
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/politics/chips-grants-fuel-industry-growth.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/11/trump-rally-new-jersey-trial-fascists-00157482
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/presidential-proclamations-establishment-reconstruction-era-national
https://www.nps.gov/people/robert-smalls.htm
Twitter (X):
cspan/status/1790048826440503495
Fritschnestatus/1790051154887340473
rosiewestwood/status/1788291766866567439
CecileRichards/status/1789020452855140723
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-13-2024
2024.05.14 16:26 Sw33tAdonia Scary Debt Collectors
Hey lads,
have a 24 month Billpay contract with 3, started it in November but now I'm having to move to South America for family. Called 3, explained the situation and asked if anything could be done even if I still paid every 6 months to keep the SIM active. They flatly said no, either keep paying the monthly bill or pay a whopping €700 now. I'm 22 and definitely don't have that money. What will happen if I refuse to keep paying and leave the country? I know it's not a great plan but 3 aren't even trying to help
submitted by Sw33tAdonia to CasualIreland [link] [comments]
have a 24 month Billpay contract with 3, started it in November but now I'm having to move to South America for family. Called 3, explained the situation and asked if anything could be done even if I still paid every 6 months to keep the SIM active. They flatly said no, either keep paying the monthly bill or pay a whopping €700 now. I'm 22 and definitely don't have that money. What will happen if I refuse to keep paying and leave the country? I know it's not a great plan but 3 aren't even trying to help
2024.05.14 16:25 Mophandel Archaeotherium, the King of the White River Badlands
 | Art by Bob Nicholls submitted by Mophandel to Naturewasmetal [link] [comments] Nowadays, when we envision the words “prey,” among modern mammalian fauna, few taxa come to mind as quickly as the hoofed mammals, better known as the ungulates. Indeed, for the better part of their entire evolutionary history, the ungulates have become entirely indistinguishable from the term “prey.” Across their two major modern branches, the artiodactyls (the “even-toed ungulates,” such as bovids, pigs, deer, hippos and giraffes) and the perissodactyls (the “odd-toed ungulates,” including horses, rhinos and tapir), the ungulates too have created an empire spanning nearly every continent, establishing themselves as the the dominant herbivores throughout their entire range. However, as a price for such success, their lot as herbivores have forced them into an unenviable position: being the food for the predators. Indeed, throughout the diets of most modern predators, ungulates make up the majority, if not the entirety, of their diet, becoming their counterparts in this evolutionary dance of theirs. They have become the lamb to their wolf, the zebra to their lion, the stag to their tiger. If there is a predator in need of lunch, chances are that there is an ungulate there to provide it. Of course, such a dynamic is not necessarily a recent innovation. For the last 15-20 million years, across much of the world, both new and old, the ungulates have served as prey for these predators through it all. Over the course of whole epochs, these two groups have played into these roles for millions of years, coevolving with each other in an eons-long game of cat-and-mouse. The shoes they fill are not new, but have existed for ages, and within their niches they have cultivated their roles to perfection. Indeed, with such a tenured history, it seems hardly surprising the ungulates are wholly inseparable from the terms “prey,” itself. However, while this is the case now, as it has been for the last 15-20 million years, go back far enough, and we see that this dynamic is not as set in stone as we would think. Indeed, back during the Eocene and Oligocene, during the very earliest days of age of mammals, things were very different for the ungulates. While today they are considered little more than food for modern predators, during these olden days, the ungulates weren’t quite so benign. In fact, far from being fodder for top predators, the ungulates had turned the tables, instead becoming top predators themselves. Indeed, though nearly unheard of today, throughout much of the Eocene and Oligocene, carnivorous ungulates thrived in abundance, developing specializations for catching large prey and establishing themselves as top predators that competed alongside the more traditional carnivores, and even dominating them in some instances. Given such success, it’s no wonder that multiple such clades had arisen during this time. Such predators included the arctocyonids, a lineage of (ironically) hoof-less ungulates with large jaws and sharp teeth for capturing large prey. There were also the mesonychians, a lineage of dog-like ungulates with massive skulls and jaws that allowed them to reign as the top predator across much of the Eocene. However, among these various lineages, one stands stands out among the rest, by far. Arising during the Eocene, this lineage, though superficially resembling modern pigs, hailed from one an ancient lineage of artiodactyls far removed from swine or most other ungulates in general, with few close relatives alive today. Through perhaps not the most predatory of the bunch, it was among the most formidable, as their superficially pig-like appearance came with giant predatory jaws and teeth unlike anything from the modern era. And of course, as if all of that wasn’t enough, this lineage also went on to earn arguably one of the most badass nicknames of any lineage of mammals, period. These predators, of course, were the entelodonts, a.k.a the “hell-pigs.” More so than any other predatory ungulate lineage, these formidable ungulates were the ones to turn the current paradigm upside down, becoming some of the largest and most dominant carnivores in their landscape, even with (and often in spite of) the presence of more traditional predators. Through impressive size, fearsome teeth and sheer tenacity, these animals became the top dogs of their time, ruling as behemoth-kings of their Paleogene kingdoms, domineering all comers, and throughout the ranks, one entelodont in particular demonstrated such dominance the best. Though not the largest or most powerful of their kind, it is one of the most iconic, being among the most well-known members of its lineage to date. Moreover, this enteledont also has some of the most complete life histories ever seen out of this clade, with its brutality and predatory prowess being displayed in the fossil record in a way seen in no other member of its kind. More than anything else, however, it was this predator that best turned the notion of “ungulates being prey” on its head, living in an environment that bore some of the largest carnivoran hypercarnivores to date and still reigning as the undisputed top predator of its domain. This fearsome beast was none other than Archaeotherium, icon of the entelodonts, terror of the Oligocene American west and undisputed king of the White River badlands. The rise of Archaeotherium (and of entelodonts in general) is closely tied to the ascendancy of carnivorous ungulates as a whole, one of the earliest evolutionary success stories of the entire Cenozoic. Having become their own derived clade since the late Cretaceous, the ungulates were remarkably successful during the early Paleogene, as they were among the first mammalian clades to reach large sizes during those early days after the non-avian dinosaurs had gone extinct. As such, it was with incredible swiftness that, as the Paleogene progressed, the ungulates swooped upon the various niches left empty by the K-Pg mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. This of course included the herbivorous niches we would know them for today, but this also included other, much more carnivore roles. Indeed, early on during the Paleogene, it was the ungulates that first seized the roles of large mammalian predators, becoming some the earliest large mammalian carnivores to ever live, well before even the carnivorans. Such predators included the arctocyonids, a lineage of vaguely dog-like, hoof-less ungulates with robust jaws and sharpened teeth that acted as some of earliest large carnivores of the Paleocene, with genera such as Arctocyon mumak getting up to the size of big cats. Even more prolific were the mesonychids. More so than what pretty much any other lineage of predator, it was the mesonychids that would stand out as the earliest dominant predators of the early Cenozoic. Growing up to the size of bears and with enormous, bone-crushing jaws, the mesonychids were among the most powerful and successful predators on the market at that time, with a near-global range and being capable of subjugating just about any other predator in their environments. Indeed, they, along with other carnivorous ungulates (as well as ungulates in general), were experiencing a golden age during this time, easily being the most prolific predators of the age. Given such prevalence, it should be no surprise that there would be yet another lineage of predatory ungulates would throw their hat into the ring, and by early Eocene, that contender would none other than the entelodonts. The very first entelodonts had arisen from artiodactyl ancestors during the Eocene epoch, at a time when artiodactyls were far more diverse and bizarre than they are now. Through today known from their modern herbivorous representatives such as bovines, deer, and antelope, during the Paleocene and Eocene, the artiodacyls, as with most ungulates of that time, were stronger and far more predaceous, particularly when it came to one such clade of artiodactyls, the cetacodontamorphs. Only known today from hippos and another group of artiodactyls (one which will become relevant later), the cetacodantomorphs emerged out of Asia around 55 million years ago, at around the same time that artiodactyls themselves had made their debut. These animals included the first truly predatory artiodactyls, with many of them possessing large skulls with powerful jaws and sharp, predatory teeth. Among their ranks included animals as puny as Indohyus, a piscivorous artiodactyl the size of a cat, to as formidable as Andrewsarchus, a giant, bison-sized predator often touted as one of the largest predatory mammals to ever live. Given such a predatory disposition, it wouldn’t be long until this clade produced a lineage of truly diverse, truly successful predators, and by around 40 million years ago, that is exactly what they did, as it was at that time that the entelodonts themselves first emerged. From their Asian homeland, the entelodonts spread across the world, spreading through not only most of Eurasia but also colonizing North America as well, with genera such as Brachyhyops being found across both continents. Here, in this North American frontier, the entelodonts began to diversify further, turning into their most successful and formidable forms yet, and it was around the late Eocene and early Oligocene that Archaeotherium itself had entered the scene. Just from a passing glance at Archaeotherium, it is clear how exactly it (as well as the other entelodonts) earned the nickname of “hell-pigs.” It was a bruiser for starters; its body bore a robust, pig-like physique, with prominent neural spines and their associated musculature forming a hump around the shoulder region, similar to the hump of a bison. With such a bulky physique came with it impressive size; the average A. mortoni had a head-body length of roughly 1.6-2.0 m (5.3-6.6 ft), a shoulder height of 1.2 m (4 ft) and a body mass of around 180 kg (396 lb) in weight (Boardman & Secord, 2013; Joeckel, 1990). At such sizes, an adult Archaeotherium the size of a large male black bear. However, they had the potential to get even bigger. While most Archaeotherium specimens were around the size described above, a select few specimens, labeled under the synonymous genus “Megachoerus,” are found to be much larger, with skulls getting up to 66% longer than average A. mortoni specimens (Foss, 2001; Joeckel, 1990). At such sizes and using isometric scaling, such massive Archaeotherium specimens would attained body lengths over 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and would have reached weighs well over 500 kg (1100 lb), or as big as a mature male polar bear. Indeed, at such sizes, it is already abundantly evident that Archaeotherium is a force to be recorded with. However, there was more to these formidable animals than sheer size alone. Behind all that bulk was an astoundingly swift and graceful predator, especially in terms of locomotion. Indeed, the hoofed feet of Archaeotherium, along with other entelodonts, sported several adaptations that gave it incredible locomotive efficiency, essentially turning it into a speed demon of the badlands. Such adaptations include longer distal leg elements (e.g. the radius and tibia) than their proximal counterparts (e.g. the humerus and femur), fusion of the radius and ulna for increased running efficiency, the loss of the clavicle (collar-bone) to allow for greater leg length, the loss of the acromion to enhance leg movement along the fore-and-aft plane, the loss of digits to reduce the mass of the forelimb, the fusion of the ectocuneiform and the mesocuneiform wrist-bones, among many other such traits (Theodore, 1996) . Perhaps most significant of these adaptations is the evolution of the “double-pulley astragalus (ankle-bone),” a specialized modification of the ankle that, while restricting rotation and side-to-side movement at the ankle-joint, allows for greater rotation in the fore-and-aft direction, thus allowing for more more powerful propulsion from the limbs, faster extension and retraction of the limbs and overall greater locomotive efficiency (Foss, 2001). Of course, such a trait was not only found in entelodonts but in artiodactyls as a whole, likely being a response to predatory pressures from incumbent predatory clades arising at the same time as the artiodactyls (Foss, 2001). However, in the case of the entelodonts, such adaptations were not used for merely escaping predators. Rather, they were used to for another, much more lethal effect… Such notions are further reinforced by the entelodonts most formidable aspect, none either than their fearsome jaws, and in this respect, Archaeotherium excelled. Both for its size and in general, the head of Archaeotherium was massive, measuring 40-50 cm (1.3-1.6 ft) in length among average A. mortoni specimens, to up to 78 cm (~2.6 ft) in the larger “Megachoerus” specimens (Joeckel, 1990). Such massive skulls were supported and supplemented by equally massive neck muscles and ligaments, which attached to massive neural spines on the anterior thoracic vertebrae akin to a bisons hump as well as to the sternum, allowing Archaeotherium to keep its head aloft despite the skulls massive size (Effinger, 1998). Of course, with such a massive skull, it should come as no surprise that such skulls housed exceptionally formidable jaws as well, and indeed, the bite of Archaeotherium was an especially deadly one. Its zygomatic arches (cheek-bones) and its temporal fossa were enlarged and expanded, indicative of massive temporalis muscles that afforded Archaeotherium astoundingly powerful bites (Joeckel, 1990). This is further augmented by Archaeotherium’s massive jugal flanges (bony projections of the cheek), which supported powerful masseter muscles which enhanced chewing and mastication, as well as an enlarged postorbital bar that reinforced the skull against torsional stresses (Foss, 2001). Last but not least, powerful jaws are supplemented by an enlarged gape, facilitated by a low coronoid process and enlarged posterior mandibular tubercles (bony projections originating from the lower jaw), which provided an insertion site for sternum-to-mandible jaw abduction muscles, allowing for a more forceful opening of the jaw (Foss, 2001). All together, such traits suggest a massive and incredibly fearsome bite, perhaps the most formidable of any animal in its environment. Of course, none of such traits are especially indicative of a predatory lifestyle. Indeed, many modern non-predatory ungulates, like hippos, pigs and peccaries, also possess large, formidable skulls and jaws. However, in peeling back the layers, it is found there was more to the skull of Archaeotherium that lies in store. Indeed, when inspecting the animal closely, a unique mosaic of features is revealed; traits that make it out to be much more lethal than the average artiodactyl. On one hand, Archaeotherium possessed many traits similar to those of herbivores animals, as is expected of ungulates. For instance, its jaw musculature that allowed the lower jaw of Archaeotherium a full side-to-side chewing motion as in herbivores (whereas most carnivores can only move their lower jaw up and down)(Effinger, 1998). On the other hand, Archaeotherium wielded many other traits far more lethal in their morphology, less akin to a herbivore and far more akin to a bonafide predator. For instance, the aforementioned enlarged gape of Archaeotherium is a bizarre trait on a supposed herbivore, as such animals do not need large gapes to eat vegetation and thus have smaller, more restricted gapes. Conversely, many predatory lineages have comparatively large gapes, as larger gapes allow for the the jaws to grab on to more effectively larger objects, namely large prey animals (Joeckel, 1990). Such a juxtaposition, however, is most evident when discussing the real killing instruments of Archaeotherium — the teeth. More so than any facet of this animal, the teeth of Archaeotherium are the real stars of the show, showing both how alike it was compared to its herbivores counterparts and more importantly, how it couldn’t be more different. For instance, the molars of Archaeotherium were quite similar to modern herbivores ungulates, in that they were robust, bunodont, and were designed for crushing and grinding, similar in form and function to modern ungulates like peccaries (Joeckel, 1990). However, while the molars give the impression that Archaeotherium was a herbivore, the other teeth tell a very different story. The incisors, for example, were enlarged, sharpened, and fully interlocked (as opposed to the flat-topped incisors seen in herbivores ungulates), creating an incisor array that was seemingly ill-suited for cropping vegetation and much more adept at for gripping, puncturing and cutting (Joeckel, 1990). Even more formidable were the canines. Like the modern pigs from which entelodonts derived their nicknames, the canines of Archaeotherium were sharp and enlarged to form prominent tusk-like teeth, but unlike pigs, they were rounded in cross-section (similar to modern carnivores like big cats, indicating more durable canines that can absorb and resist torsional forces, such as those from struggling prey) and were serrated to form a distinct cutting edge (Effinger, 1998; Joeckel, 1990; Ruff & Van Valkenburgh, 1987). These canines, along with the incisors, interlock to stabilize the jaws while biting and dismantling in a carnivore-like fashion. More strikingly, the canines also seem to act as “occlusal guides,” wherein the canines help align the movement and position of the rear teeth as they come together, allowing for a more efficient shearing action by the rear teeth. This function is seen most prevalently modern carnivores mammals, and is evidenced by the canine tooth-wear, which is also analogous to modern predators like bears and canids (Joeckel, 1990). Indeed, going off such teeth alone, it is clear that Archaeotherium is far more predatory than expected of an ungulate. However, the real stars of the show, the teeth that truly betray the predatory nature of these ungulates, are the premolars. Perhaps the most carnivore-like teeth in the entelodont’s entire tooth row, the premolars of Archaeotherium, particularly the anterior premolars, are laterally compressed, somewhat conical in shape, and are weakly serrated to bear a cutting edge, giving them a somewhat carnivorous form and function of shearing and slicing (Effinger, 1998). Most strikingly of all, the premolars of Archaeotherium bear unique features similar not to modern herbivores, but to durophagous carnivores like hyenas, particularly apical wear patterns, highly thickened enamel, “zigzag-shaped” enamel prism layers (Hunter-Schraeger bands) on the premolars which is also seen in osteophagous animals like hyenas, and an interlocking premolar interface wherein linear objects (such as bones) inserted into jaws from the side would be pinned between the premolars and crushed (Foss, 2001). Taken together, these features do not suggest a diet of grass or vegetation like other ungulates. Rather, they suggest a far more violent diet, one including flesh as well as hard, durable foods, particularly bone. All in all, the evidence is clear. Archaeotherium and other entelodonts, unlike the rest of their artiodactyl kin, were not the passive herbivores as we envision ungulates today. Rather, they were willing, unrepentant meat-eaters that had a taste for flesh as well as foliage. Of course, even with such lines of evidence, its hard to conclude that Archaeotherium was a true predator. After all, its wide gape and durophagous teeth could have just as easily been used for scavenging or even to eat tough plant matter such as seeds or nuts, as in peccaries and pigs, which themselves share many of the same adaptations as Archaeotherium, include the more carnivorous ones (e.g. the wide gape, using the canines as an occlusal guide, etc.). How exactly do we know that these things were veritable predators and not pretenders to the title. To this end, there is yet one last piece of evidence, one that puts on full display the predatory prowess of Archaeotherium —evidence of a kill itself. Found within oligocene-aged sediment in what is now Wyoming, a collection of various fossil remains was found, each belonging to the ancient sheep-sized camel Poebrotherium, with many of the skeletal remains being disarticulated and even missing whole hindlimbs or even entire rear halves of their body. Tellingly, many of the remains bear extensive bite marks and puncture wounds across their surface. Upon close examination, the spacing and size of the punctures leave only one culprit: Archaeotherium. Of course, such an event could still have been scavenging; the entelodonts were consuming the remains of already dead, decomposed camels, explaining the bite marks. What was far more telling, however, was where the bite marks were found. In addition bite marks being found on the torso and lumbar regions of the camels, various puncture wounds were found on the skull and neck, which were otherwise uneaten. Scavengers rarely feast on the head to begin with; there is very little worthwhile meat on it besides the brain, cheek-muscles and eyes, and even if they did feed on the skull and neck, they would still eat it wholesale, not merely bite it and then leave it otherwise untouched. Indeed, it was clear that this was no mere scavenging event. Rather than merely consuming these camels, Archaeotherium was actively preying upon and killing them, dispatching them via a crushing bite to the skull or neck before dismembering and even bisecting the hapless camels with their powerful jaws to preferentially feast on their hindquarters (likely by swallowing the hindquarters whole, as the pelvis of Poebrotherium was coincidentally the perfect width for Archaeotherium to devour whole), eventually discarding the leftovers in meat caches for later consumption (Sundell, 1999). With this finding, such a feat of brutality leaves no doubt in ones mind as to what the true nature of Archaeotherium was. This was no herbivore, nor was it a simple scavenger. This was an active, rapacious predator, the most powerful in its entire ecosystem. Indeed, with such brutal evidence of predation frozen in time, combined with various dental, cranial, and post cranial adaptations of this formidable animal, it’s possible to paint a picture of how this formidable creature lived. Though an omnivore by trade, willing and able to feast on plant matter such as grass, roots and tubers, Archaeotherium was also a wanton predator that took just about any prey it wanted. Upon detecting its prey, it approached its vicim from ambush before launching itself at blazing speed. From there, its cursorial, hoofed legs, used by other ungulates for escape predation, were here employed to capture prey, carrying it at great speeds as it caught up to its quarry. Having closed the distance with its target, it was then that the entelodont brought its jaws to bear, grabbing hold of the victim with powerful jaws and gripping teeth to bring it to a screeching halt. If the victim is lucky, Archaeotherium will then kill it quickly with a crushing bite to the skull or neck, puncturing the brain or spinal cord and killing its target instantly. If not, the victim is eaten alive, torn apart while it’s still kicking, as modern boars will do today. In any case, incapacitated prey are subsequently dismantled, with the entelodont using its entire head and heavily-muscled necks to bite into and pull apart its victim in devastating “puncture-and pull’ bites (Foss, 2001). Prey would then finally be consumed starting at the hindquarters, with not even the bones of its prey being spared. Such brutality, though far from clean, drove home a singular truth: that during this time, ungulates were not just prey, that they were not the mere “predator-fodder” we know them as today. rather, they themselves were the predators themselves, dominating as superb hunters within their domain and even suppressing clades we know as predators today, least of all the carnivorans. Indeed, during this point in time, the age of the carnivorous ungulates had hit their stride, and more specifically, the age of entelodonts had begun. Of course, more so than any other ettelodont, Archaeotherium took to this new age with gusto. Archaeotherium lived from 35-28 million years ago during the late Eocene and early Oligocene in a locality known today as the White River Badlands, a fossil locality nestled along the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Though a chalky, barren landscape today, during the time of Archaeotherium, the White River Badlands was a swamp-like floodplain crisscrossed with rivers and interspersed with by a mosaic of forests concentrated around waterways, open woodlands and open plains. As with most ecosystems with such a lush disposition, this locale teemed with life, with ancient hornless rhinos, small horse-like hyracodonts and early camels roaming the open habitats while giant brontotheres, small early horses and strange, sheep-like ungulates called merycoidodonts (also known as “oreodonts”) dwelled within the dense forests. Within this locale, Archaeotherium stalked the open woodlands and riparian forests of its domain. Here, it acted as a dominant predator and scavenger across is territory, filling a niche similar to modern grizzly bears but far more predatory. Among its preferred food items would be plant matter such as roots, foliage and nuts, but also meat in the form of carrion or freshly caught prey. In this respect, smaller ungulates such as the fleet-footed camel Poebrotherium, a known prey item of Archaeotherium, would have made a for choice prey, as its small size would make it easy for Archaeotherium to dispatch with its powerful jaws, while the entelodonts swift legs gave it the speed necessary to keep pace with its agile prey. However, the entelodont didn’t have such a feast all to itself. Just as the badlands teemed with herbivores, so too did it teem with rival predators. Among their ranks included fearsome predators such as Hyaenodon, a powerful, vaguely dog-like predator up to the size of wolves (as in H. horridus) or even lions (as in the Eocene-aged H. megaloides, which was replaced by H. horridus during the Oligocene). Armed with a massive head, fierce jaws and a set of knife-like teeth that could cut down even large prey in seconds, these were some of the most formidable predators on the landscape. There were also the nimravids, cat-like carnivorans that bore saber-teeth to kill large prey in seconds, and included the likes of the lynx-sized Dinictis, the leopard-sized Hoplophoneus and even the jaguar-sized Eusmilus. Furthermore, there were amphicyonids, better known as the bear-dogs. Though known from much larger forms later on in their existence, during the late Eocene and Oligocene, they were much smaller and acted as the “canid-analogues” of the ecosystem, filling a role similar to wolves or coyotes. Last but not least, there were the bathornithid birds, huge cariamiform birds related to modern seriemas but much larger, which filled a niche similar to modern seriemas or secretary birds, albeit on a much larger scale. Given such competition, it would seem that Archaeotherium would have its hands full. However, things are not as they appear. For starters, habitat differences would mitigate high amounts of competition, as both Hyaenodon and the various nimravids occupy more specialized ecological roles (being a plains-specialist and forest-specialist, respectively) than did Archaeotherium, providing a buffer to stave off competition: More importantly, however, none of the aforementioned predators were simply big enough to take Archaeotherium on. During the roughly 7 million years existence of Archaeotherium, the only carnivore that matched it in size was H. megaloides, and even that would have an only applied to average A. mortoni individuals, not to the much larger, bison-sized “Megachoerus” individuals. The next largest predator at that point would be the jaguars-sized Eusmilus (specifically E. adelos) which would have only been a bit more than half the size of even an average A. mortoni. Besides that, virtually every other predator on the landscape was simply outclassed by the much larger entelodont in terms of size and brute strength. As such, within its domain, Archaeotherium had total, unquestioned authority, dominating the other predators in the landscape and likely stealing their kills as well. In fact, just about the only threat Archaeotherium had was other Archaeotherium, as fossil bite marks suggest that this animal regularly and fraglantly engaged in intraspecific combat, usually through face-biting and possibly even jaw-wrestling (Effinger, 1998; Tanke & Currie, 1998). Nevertheless, it was clear that Archaeotherium was the undisputed king of the badlands; in a landscape of hyaenodonts and carnivorans galore, it was a hoofed ungulate that reigned supreme. However, such a reign would not last. As the Eocene transitioned into the Eocene, the planet underwent an abrupt cooling and drying phase known as Eocene-Oligocene Transition or more simply the Grande Coupure. This change in climate would eliminate the sprawling wetlands and river systems that Archaeotherium had been depending on, gradually replacing it with drier and more open habitats. To its credit, Archaeotherium did manage to hang on, persisting well after the Grand-Coupure had taken place, but in the end the damage had been done; Archaeotherium was a dead-man-walking. Eventually, by around 28 million years ago, Archaeotherium would go extinct, perishing due to this change in global climate (Gillham, 2019). Entelodonts as a whole would persist into the Miocene, producing some of their largest forms ever known in the form of the bison-sized Daeodon (which was itself even more carnivorous than Archaeotherium), however they too would meet the same fate as their earlier cousins. By around 15-20 million years ago, entelodonts as a whole would go extinct. However, while the entelodonts may have perished, this was not the end of carnivorous ungulates as a whole. Recall that the cetacodontamorphs, the lineage of artiodactyls that produced the entelodonts, left behind two living descendants. The first among them were the hippos, themselves fairly frequent herbivores. The second of such lineage, however, was a different story. Emerging out of South Asia, this lineage of piscivorous cetacodontamorphs, in a an attempt to further specialize for the fish-hunting lifestyle, began to delve further and further into the water, becoming more and more aquatic and the millennia passed by. At a certain point, these carnivorous artiodactlys had become something completely unrecognizable from their original hoofed forms. Their skin became hairless and their bodies became streamlined for life in water. Their hoofed limbs grew into giant flippers for steering in the water and their previously tiny tails became massive and sported giant tail flukes for aquatic propulsion. Their noses even moved to the tip of their head, becoming a blowhole that would be signature to this clade as a whole. Indeed, this clade was none other than the modern whales, themselves derived, carnivorous ungulates that had specialized for a life in the water, and in doing so, became the some of the most dominant aquatic predators across the globe for millions of years. Indeed, though long gone, the legacy of the entelodonts and of predatory ungulates as a whole, a legacy Archaeotherium itself had helped foster, lives on in these paragons of predatory prowess, showing that the ungulates are more than just the mere “prey” that they are often made out to be. Moreover, given the success that carnivorous ungulates had enjoyed in the past and given how modern omnivorous ungulates like boar dabble in predation themselves, perhaps, in the distant future, this planet may see the rise of carnivorous ungulates once again, following in the footsteps left behind by Archaeotherium and the other predatory ungulates all those millions of years ago. |
2024.05.14 16:13 Shagrrotten FG Decades Tournament, the 2010’s: Round 1
Well here we are, FG, our first decades tournament, the 2010’s. Thank you to everyone who nominated movies, and let’s get right into it!
Results of Round 1
submitted by Shagrrotten to IMDbFilmGeneral [link] [comments]
Results of Round 1
- Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse (2018) (9) beat 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) (8) and Sorry to Bother You (2018) (6)
- Snowpiercer (2013) (11) beat 12 Years a Slave (2013) (7), and Spotlight (2015) (6)
- Skyfall (2012) (9) beat 127 Hours (2010) (8) and Spring Breakers (2012) (7)
- First Reformed (2017) (10) beat Skate Kitchen (2018) (3), and Steve Jobs (2015) (3)
- 1917 (2019) (9) beat Sing Street (2016) (6), and Stoker (2013) (6)
- Silence (2016) (14) beat 20th Century Women (2016) (4) and Stray Dogs (2013) (3)
- Sicario (2015) (17) beat Sunset (2017) (3) and 50/50 (2011) (3)
- Shutter Island (2010) (11) beat A Field in England (2013) (5), and Tabu (2012) (2)
- A Ghost Story (2017) (13) beat Short Term 12 (2013) (6), and Tehran Taboo (2017) (1)
- A Separation (2011) (7) tied with Shoplifters (2018) (7), and beat The Act of Killing (2012) (3)
- The American (2010) (8) beat A Silent Voice (2016) (2), and Shin Godzilla (2016) (2)
- The Assassin (2015) (11) beat Shame (2011) (7), and A Star is Born (2018) (5)
- Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010) (11) beat Ad Astra (2019) (6), and The Avengers (2012) (4)
- The Babadook (2014) (10) beat All is Lost (2013) (7) and Rubber (2010) (4)
- Annihilation (2018) (15) beat Room (2015) (5), and The Babysitter (2017) (2)
- Roma (2018) (12) beat April and the Extraordinary World (2015) (4), and The Conjuring (2013) (3)
- The Big Short (2015) (7) beat Aquarius (2016) (5), and Right Now, Wrong Then (2015) (0)
- Arrival (2016) (16) beat Raw (2016) (3), and The Big Sick (2017) (1)
- Atomic Blonde (2017) (6) beat Rango (2011) (5) and The Captain (2017) (3)
- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) (8) beat Post Tenebras Lux (2012) (3), and Bait (2019) (1)
- Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) (10) beat Barbara (2012) (1), and The Counselor (2013) (1)
- The Death of Stalin (2017) (8) beat Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) (6), and Beasts of No Nation (2015) (3)
- Birdman (2014) (7) tied Phoenix (2014) (7) and beat The Double (2013) (2)
- Black Swan (2010) (11) beat Phantom Thread (2017) (8), and The Drop (2014) (3)
- Blade Runner 2049 (2017) (11) beat The Florida Project (2017) (9), and The House That Jack Built (2018) (2)
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) (15) beat Blindspotting (2018) (2), and Paddington 2 (2017) (1)
- Blue is the Warmest Color (2013) (7) beat Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) (6), and The Great Beauty (2013) (2)
- The Handmaiden (2016) (11) beat Bone Tomahawk (2015) (7), and Only God Forgives (2013) (4)
- Once Upon a Time....In Hollywood (2019) (15) beat The Hateful Eight (2015) (8), and Bridge of Spies (2015) (4)
- Boyhood (2014) (7) beat Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) (5), and The Hollars (2016) (2)
- O.J. Made in America (2016) (10) beat Parasite (2019) (9), and Brooklyn (2015) (5)
- Nightcrawler (2014) (12) beat Burning (2018) (7), and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013) (1)
- Nebraska (2013) (7) beat The Hunt (2012) (4), and Byzantium (2012) (4)
- Mysteries of Lisbon (2010) (4) beat Carlos (2010) (3), and The Imposter (2012) (2)
- Carol (2015) (12) beat The Irishman (2019) (6), and mother! (2017) (3)
- The Lighthouse (2019) (9) beat Moonrise Kingdom (2012) (8), and Cemetery of Splendour (2015) (4)
- Moonlight (2016) (9) beat The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) (5), and Chappie (2015) (3)
- Molly’s Game (2017) (8) beat Coherence (2013) (7), and Cloud Atlas (2012) (4)
- The Master (2012) (11) beat Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018) (6), and The Martian (2015) (5)
- Cold War (2018) (5) ties Meek's Cutoff (2010) (5), and beats The Missing Picture (2013) (2)
- The Nice Guys (2016) (14) beat Contagion (2011) (5), and Mary Poppins Returns (2018) (2)
- Margaret (2011) (9) beat The Place Beyond the Pines (2012) (6), and Creed (2015) (2)
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) (8) tied with The Raid 2 (2014) (8), and beat Maps to the Stars (2014) (3)
- Drive (2011) (17) beat The Revenant (2015) (6), and Mandy (2018) (4)
- Django Unchained (2012) (11) beat The Salesman (2016) (3) and Made in Dagenham (2010) (2)
- Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) (9) beat Train to Busan (2016) (5), and Diamantino (2018) (1)
- Eighth Grade (2018) (5) beat Elle (2016) (4), and Long Way North (2015) (2)
- The Turin Horse (2011) (10) beat Logan (2017) (9), and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) (0)
- The Way Back (2010) (8) beat Locke (2013) (5), and The Tree of Life (2011) (4)
- Embrace of the Serpent (2015) (10) beat Little Women (2019) (6), and The Whispering Star (2015) (2)
- Enemy (2013) (6) tied with The Wind Rises (2013) (6) and beat Like Someone in Love (2012) (3)
- Life of Pi (2012) (9) beat The Witch (2015) (8), and Evangelion 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012) (1)
- The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) (7) beat Leave No Trace (2018) (6) and Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) (3)
- Ex Machina (2014) (9) beat Thoroughbreds (2017) (4), and Le Havre (2011) (3)
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) (13) beat Ladybird (2017) (9), and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
2024.05.14 16:13 Rathivis Are we eating ourselves in amnesia? Is it a time-loop?
In taking a break from The Elder Scrolls, I dove into NieR Automata and then into many of the titles surrounding that. Currently I’ve been deep-diving NieR Reincarnation’s story, and I feel like that has done a great job of answering a lot of questions that I had, but left me with one glaring one that I was hoping to get some assistance with.
In Chapter 1 of NieR Reincarnation, you follow the story of Levania and Fio as they adventure through The Cage repairing memories within weapons that Fio perceives as dreams. Throughout all of these memories, except seemingly one, the story takes place in a world that was undisturbed by the 6/12 Incident. There is seemingly no mention of WCS, they do not use dragon magick equipment, and there’s no mention of Project Gestalt. Instead of the typical issues, this world faces an infestation of horrible man-eating Flowers that appear to add people to a collective. We are shown the stories of Lars and Griff, clones living in countries that are desperate for genetic diversity, and we are shown stories of what appears to be a YoRHa-like organization in the far-future that is full of people that, seemingly, worked with the Hamelin Organization and led to the creation of the Flowers in the first place sometime in the distant past and wield equipment that appears to be powered by the Power of Song.
The odd one out of these memories comes from Noelle, whose story we are introduced to right before we get Fio’s own. Noelle is part of a project by - seemingly - the Hamelin Organization seeking to create Living Weapons utilizing the mysterious illness that befell Eleanor in North America back in 2003. As we explore the facility, we are eventually greeted with the sight of Caim’s weapon held in a containment unit, which shows to us that this particular timeline — while utilizing cloning for a specific project — is not the same as the others shown to us before. This story eventually leads to the creation of Dragons, the Cathedral City, and seemingly a confrontation with the Black Flower in the Kingdom of Night which is (accidentally?) teleported back in time to 856AD.
With all of this in mind…
How does the Flower, which is seemingly born in the clone-dominant timeline shown to us in the majority of the memories “break containment”? It does not appear, to me, like the Flower from F66x and 063y’s timeline has the means to escape out and begin its metamorphosis progress to eventually becoming the Machine Network, which is at least what my take away was from the FFXIV crossover storyline.
“Facts” that I am operating with: - The Flower was created by the original human that would serve as the genetic material for F66x in a timeline where the 6/12 Incident never occurred. - The dragons were created by manipulation of Eleanor’s mysterious illness. The Hamelin Organization began these experiments and the Army of Humanity finished them within the NieR games’ timeline. - The Black Flower, the dragons, and the Cathedral City all were sent back in time from a confrontation in the Kingdom of Night to 856AD, leading to Drakengard 3. - 2003 serves as the dividing line in the sand where things begin to differ from our world. Eleanor gets sick regardless of the 6/12 Incident. Is this our “original” difference? - The Power of Song ≠ Magic. I’ve not been able to find a source on this, but it has been parroted so many times that I have just decided to trust it. - Nier was made into the Original Gestalt because his body was capable of purifying or processing maso into a useable form that would keep others from degrading. There are humans born in the world with more / less affinities for or strange interactions with Maso — which seems to occur naturally as an element in the world (unsourced, but mirrored by a lot of folks’ POV so running with it for now).
My biggest questions at the moment are — 1. How does the Flower “break containment” from the clone-dominated timeline? 2. If the Flower does “break containment”, how do we get to the events of Drakengard 3 with the dragons, city, and Flower being sent back in time to 856 from ~6200. 3. If there are “stable” time-loop shenanigans going on and Maso is naturally occurring, could the Flowers not create dragons using Eleanor’s illness and clones in their timeline, travel to ~6200s, and things “right themselves” for them to exist there? I admit I’m not as versed on some of these paradox concepts as others.
It is worth mentioning that in F66x and 063y’s timeline, there are seemingly already man-eating machines and the Flowers that exist in the timeline act like a network to collect everything into itself and from there can replicate. The Organization serves to run experiments, which seem to help the Flowers improve themselves.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Always been a distant fan of NieR, but really enjoying giving it its due.
submitted by Rathivis to nier [link] [comments]
In Chapter 1 of NieR Reincarnation, you follow the story of Levania and Fio as they adventure through The Cage repairing memories within weapons that Fio perceives as dreams. Throughout all of these memories, except seemingly one, the story takes place in a world that was undisturbed by the 6/12 Incident. There is seemingly no mention of WCS, they do not use dragon magick equipment, and there’s no mention of Project Gestalt. Instead of the typical issues, this world faces an infestation of horrible man-eating Flowers that appear to add people to a collective. We are shown the stories of Lars and Griff, clones living in countries that are desperate for genetic diversity, and we are shown stories of what appears to be a YoRHa-like organization in the far-future that is full of people that, seemingly, worked with the Hamelin Organization and led to the creation of the Flowers in the first place sometime in the distant past and wield equipment that appears to be powered by the Power of Song.
The odd one out of these memories comes from Noelle, whose story we are introduced to right before we get Fio’s own. Noelle is part of a project by - seemingly - the Hamelin Organization seeking to create Living Weapons utilizing the mysterious illness that befell Eleanor in North America back in 2003. As we explore the facility, we are eventually greeted with the sight of Caim’s weapon held in a containment unit, which shows to us that this particular timeline — while utilizing cloning for a specific project — is not the same as the others shown to us before. This story eventually leads to the creation of Dragons, the Cathedral City, and seemingly a confrontation with the Black Flower in the Kingdom of Night which is (accidentally?) teleported back in time to 856AD.
With all of this in mind…
How does the Flower, which is seemingly born in the clone-dominant timeline shown to us in the majority of the memories “break containment”? It does not appear, to me, like the Flower from F66x and 063y’s timeline has the means to escape out and begin its metamorphosis progress to eventually becoming the Machine Network, which is at least what my take away was from the FFXIV crossover storyline.
“Facts” that I am operating with: - The Flower was created by the original human that would serve as the genetic material for F66x in a timeline where the 6/12 Incident never occurred. - The dragons were created by manipulation of Eleanor’s mysterious illness. The Hamelin Organization began these experiments and the Army of Humanity finished them within the NieR games’ timeline. - The Black Flower, the dragons, and the Cathedral City all were sent back in time from a confrontation in the Kingdom of Night to 856AD, leading to Drakengard 3. - 2003 serves as the dividing line in the sand where things begin to differ from our world. Eleanor gets sick regardless of the 6/12 Incident. Is this our “original” difference? - The Power of Song ≠ Magic. I’ve not been able to find a source on this, but it has been parroted so many times that I have just decided to trust it. - Nier was made into the Original Gestalt because his body was capable of purifying or processing maso into a useable form that would keep others from degrading. There are humans born in the world with more / less affinities for or strange interactions with Maso — which seems to occur naturally as an element in the world (unsourced, but mirrored by a lot of folks’ POV so running with it for now).
My biggest questions at the moment are — 1. How does the Flower “break containment” from the clone-dominated timeline? 2. If the Flower does “break containment”, how do we get to the events of Drakengard 3 with the dragons, city, and Flower being sent back in time to 856 from ~6200. 3. If there are “stable” time-loop shenanigans going on and Maso is naturally occurring, could the Flowers not create dragons using Eleanor’s illness and clones in their timeline, travel to ~6200s, and things “right themselves” for them to exist there? I admit I’m not as versed on some of these paradox concepts as others.
It is worth mentioning that in F66x and 063y’s timeline, there are seemingly already man-eating machines and the Flowers that exist in the timeline act like a network to collect everything into itself and from there can replicate. The Organization serves to run experiments, which seem to help the Flowers improve themselves.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Always been a distant fan of NieR, but really enjoying giving it its due.
2024.05.14 15:41 lambchopsuey "The 'five S's' of giving a good experience"
This analysis also comes from Cults and Nonconventional Religious Groups: A Collection of Outstanding Dissertations and Monographs, "Shakubuku: A Study of the Nichiren Shoshu Buddhist Movement in America, 1960-1975", David A. Snow, 1993, pp. 175-177 - it's a section within the analysis here about how the SGI's "discussion meetings" were carefully planned and choreographed sales pitch performances aimed at convincing any "guests" to convert. I thought this part about the carefully structured "experiences" deserved its own post:
While these specific "five S's" aren't around any more, there are still guidelines for how to give an "experience":
submitted by lambchopsuey to sgiwhistleblowers [link] [comments]
In addition to the general supportive role, members are provided with instructions regarding the more specific role activity. That is, they are coached as to how to give explanations of what NSA [former name of SGI-USA] is all about, to lead songs, and to give testimonies. Regarding the latter, for example, members are reminded to respond to the emcee's request for experiences with great alacrity and enthusiasm by thrusting their hands in the air in a vigorous manner and yelling out "hi."Actually, it's "Hai!", which means "Yes/Okay/I'll do it" in Japanese.
And if called upon, they are reminded to attend to the five major points or the "five S's" of giving a good experience.That "coaching" is done before the live performance at the "discussion meeting", of course, not reminded within that performance context. That would break the illusion, as you can imagine.
The first point is Shakubuku. Remember, the guests have absolutely no understanding of this practice or any NSA terminology. Always talk to the guests and not to the members. The sole purpose of an experience is to make the guests curious enough to join ... Don't use Buddhist terms and names the guests won't understand...That's obviously a typo; it should be either "I wasn't satisfied with my life" or "I was dissatisfied with my life", as confirmed by part (b):
Point number two is story. Make sure an experience is just that - something which happened to you and which you either changed into a benefit or changed an aspect of your life-condition through chanting. Basically , an experience should be structured as
(a) I had a problem or I was satisfied [sic] with my life and
(b) then I chanted, solved the problem or changed that aspect of my life which I wasn't satisfied with...Clearly, this is all about crafting the most persuasive sales pitch, not about honestly and authentically communicating anything real.
Make sure that you stress that chanting was the ingredient which changed those aspects of your life. Otherwise, the guests won't be able to connect just how chanting and a person's problems relate.
The third point to keep in mind is simplicity. Make each point of the story simple and to the point. Don't clutter the issue with unnecessary details. Try to be as brief as possible.
The fourth point is that of a seeking mind. What this means is that the person giving an experience should try to find out what type of experience the leader wants to have conveyed to the guests that will most benefit them.
We're not saying that there is a "one" type of experience that is sought, but experiences have to be geared to the guests at the meeting. A middle-aged person is definitely going to have hard time relating to the change in values of a college student... The point is, make sure you are perceptive enough to give the type of experience which the guests at the meeting can relate to best.Keeping in mind that no one knows for certain WHO these "guests" will be - this sort of "adjustment" in the details has to be made on the fly, which demonstrates the inauthenticity of the "experience" performance. But the culties are supposed to make it appear "authentic":
The final point is one of the most important - sincerity ... Even if your experience isn't that spectacular or full of content, the guests can relate to a person' [sic] sincere way of giving the experience...The "5 S's" section is footnoted as coming from:
"The Five S's of Giving a Good Experience," World Tribune (September 11, 1974). Also, see the NSA Quarterly (Winter, 1975), p. 13; and the World Tribune (October 25, 1974).It was obviously a structured thing that was explicitly taught (indoctrinated).
These five pointers on how to construct and give a "good" experience are mentioned repeatedly in the movement's literature and by its leaders. Furthermore, members can learn how to construct testimonies in accordance with these instructions by simply watching and listening to other members, and especially core converts, when giving their respective experiences.You can probably surmise that after a while, these "experiences" will all start to show the same standardized structure; this will be accepted within the cult (because that's the goal), but the guests won't realize just how structured it is - and the focus on making it as manipulative as possible.
Indeed, rank-and-file members and new converts are often told to watch and listen to how so-and-so gives an experience.That's true - I remember that.
It should thus come as no surprise that the testimonies given at these meetings, or wherever, are usually structured in accordance with the above pointers or instructions. And when they are not, the violators are usually pulled aside after the meeting and provided with corrective suggestions. At the end of several meetings, for example, I overheard the district chief reprimanding and re-instructing members regarding the unsuitable testimonies they had given earlier in the evening. This sanctioning and corrective work occurs not only when unsatisfactory testimonies are given but whenever meeting or movement-related roles are performed in an unsatisfactory manner and whenever members visibly engage in conduct that is inappropriate from the standpoint of NSA. During the San Diego Convention weekend, for example, I observed on several occasions members who were being brought back into line for engaging in unbecoming conduct, such as smoking grass on the bus while en route to the convention. That members who conduct themselves and perform their roles in an unsuitable and unconvincing manner are frequently pulled aside and provided with corrective guidance thus suggests a third consideration pointing to the highly orchestrated and theatrical character of discussion meetings in particular and of NSA in general.Everyone must be "on" at all times; they must at all times display the SGI-defined image that SGI believes will impress the public and be most appealing to draw in potential new members.
While these specific "five S's" aren't around any more, there are still guidelines for how to give an "experience":
How do I write an experience for SGI budhist meeting?REHEARSE it, in other words. These "experiences" are NOT spontaneous!
State the difficulty you faced.
State how long you have been struggling with it, and how it affected you.
State what you did to resolve it, and how much you chanted.
State the resolution, and what that means to you.
Keep it to under 3.5 minutes.
Before you give your experience, read it to someone who cares about you, someone you know, and ask for an honest opinion on how your delivery is. from 7 years ago
2024.05.14 15:24 Stat64 RCA Studio New York Sessions
Most fans would agree Memphis was where Elvis made some of his greatest work. The sessions at Sun and American Sound yielded some of the most important songs in his career and popular music in general. And while most of his other recordings were in Nashville or Hollywood, Elvis recorded eleven songs at RCA Studio 1, New York in 1956.
This is right as Elvis was starting to become the biggest sensation in America, and these recordings show him mastering his iconic style of rock & roll. Most of these recordings would end up on his debut album, the most notable of course being "Blue Suede Shoes". Something that immediately sets these sessions apart from anything else Elvis recorded was the drums. They really help add power and muscle, and their sound on these recordings are so in your face.
Compared to the sessions Elvis did in Nashville and Hollywood the same year, the New York sessions have a rawness to them. Even the most popular song from these sessions, "Hound Dog", has a real bite and growl to it. Pun intended. It's obvious comparing the raw sound of these sessions when listening to Elvis' second album, Elvis. Most of the album was done in Hollywood, but holds over one song from the New York Sessions "So Glad You're Mine."
Even the one ballad he did at this studio "Any Way You Want Me" has that very jagged guitar that surprises any listener during their first listen. The most 'pop' of these songs recorded was "Don't Be Cruel". This was apparently Elvis' favorite of his hits, and has such a unique sound to it. That great patting rhythm by Elvis slapping the back of his guitar and catchy backing vocals really give this song an identity all its own. This sound was recreated on later hits like "Teddy Bear" and "All Shook Up", but "Don't Be Cruel" is my personal favorite of all these.
I feel like these sessions are never held in the same regard as the Sun sessions, despite having some of his most iconic hits. But I think they strike a good balance of untamed rock & roll and commercial pop so well that it makes me wish Elvis recorded more. Here's a playlist of the songs recorded at the Big Apple.
submitted by Stat64 to Elvis [link] [comments]
This is right as Elvis was starting to become the biggest sensation in America, and these recordings show him mastering his iconic style of rock & roll. Most of these recordings would end up on his debut album, the most notable of course being "Blue Suede Shoes". Something that immediately sets these sessions apart from anything else Elvis recorded was the drums. They really help add power and muscle, and their sound on these recordings are so in your face.
Compared to the sessions Elvis did in Nashville and Hollywood the same year, the New York sessions have a rawness to them. Even the most popular song from these sessions, "Hound Dog", has a real bite and growl to it. Pun intended. It's obvious comparing the raw sound of these sessions when listening to Elvis' second album, Elvis. Most of the album was done in Hollywood, but holds over one song from the New York Sessions "So Glad You're Mine."
Even the one ballad he did at this studio "Any Way You Want Me" has that very jagged guitar that surprises any listener during their first listen. The most 'pop' of these songs recorded was "Don't Be Cruel". This was apparently Elvis' favorite of his hits, and has such a unique sound to it. That great patting rhythm by Elvis slapping the back of his guitar and catchy backing vocals really give this song an identity all its own. This sound was recreated on later hits like "Teddy Bear" and "All Shook Up", but "Don't Be Cruel" is my personal favorite of all these.
I feel like these sessions are never held in the same regard as the Sun sessions, despite having some of his most iconic hits. But I think they strike a good balance of untamed rock & roll and commercial pop so well that it makes me wish Elvis recorded more. Here's a playlist of the songs recorded at the Big Apple.
2024.05.14 15:20 Pad132 23 year old married guy looking for an online best mate.
Hi all,
Im a 23 year old married guy from the UK. I would love to find someone online to chat to consistently whether that be about big, important life updates or incredibly simple things like what you’re having for dinner!
A little about me: - I LOVE TV shows but get bored with films ( Weird, right?)
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
submitted by Pad132 to MakeNewFriendsHere [link] [comments]
Im a 23 year old married guy from the UK. I would love to find someone online to chat to consistently whether that be about big, important life updates or incredibly simple things like what you’re having for dinner!
A little about me: - I LOVE TV shows but get bored with films ( Weird, right?)
- I love animals and have a 7 month old beagle
- My wife and I love America and try to travel there every year.
- I love American football (both college and pro)
- I’m a big foodie (can’t cook, can eat)
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
2024.05.14 15:16 DrT_47 International Student here thinking of applying for University of Melbourne(medicine)
(I apologize in advance if I make any mistakes, this is like my second time using reddit and I'm looking for some opinions from the students of unimelb)
I'll try to make it short, I'm from Brazil and I have to make a choice. I can either study here in my own country in one of the most advanced unis in latin america(and perhaps in the world) in terms of technology and medicine, which also has one of the best hospitals in the world(Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, ranking 28 in the whole world in 2024)
Or I can study abroad in Australia, which is considered one of the best countries to study medicine, and I think it could be a really valuable experience. In this case, I would like to study in any of the good ones, but my main goal would really be unimelb. Furthermore, Australia seems like a great country to live in, and Melbourne seems amazing(never been there tho).
In summary, what I really wanna ask is, is it worth going to study there, do you think I should? Or do you think I should just stick to my country? This is a really tough decision, if I could get some opinions it would really help, thanks in advance
(Btw, I am aware that the medical schools are different in in these two countries, Brazils is a 6y bachelor medicine course and Australias is a 3y bachelor + 4y MD, this is not a problem to me though, any of the two is good)
submitted by DrT_47 to unimelb [link] [comments]
I'll try to make it short, I'm from Brazil and I have to make a choice. I can either study here in my own country in one of the most advanced unis in latin america(and perhaps in the world) in terms of technology and medicine, which also has one of the best hospitals in the world(Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, ranking 28 in the whole world in 2024)
Or I can study abroad in Australia, which is considered one of the best countries to study medicine, and I think it could be a really valuable experience. In this case, I would like to study in any of the good ones, but my main goal would really be unimelb. Furthermore, Australia seems like a great country to live in, and Melbourne seems amazing(never been there tho).
In summary, what I really wanna ask is, is it worth going to study there, do you think I should? Or do you think I should just stick to my country? This is a really tough decision, if I could get some opinions it would really help, thanks in advance
(Btw, I am aware that the medical schools are different in in these two countries, Brazils is a 6y bachelor medicine course and Australias is a 3y bachelor + 4y MD, this is not a problem to me though, any of the two is good)
2024.05.14 15:01 aznpersuazion Why Vancouver has THE BEST FOOD IN NORTH AMERICA
Alright, buckle up because we're diving into why Vancouver's food scene is straight-up legendary. Forget the regular city vibes; Vancouver is a melting pot of flavors, a culinary carnival that beats anything else in North America. Join me on this personal quest to unravel why the combo of Asian influence, Pacific Northwest goodness, and chill dining vibes makes Vancouver the top pick for foodies.
Asian Culinary Delights: Tradition and Creativity Unleashed
Vancouver's streets resonate with the aromas of traditional Asian dishes, prepared with a touch of authenticity that transports you across borders. Picture slurping savory ramen in Chinatown or savoring hand-pulled noodles in a cozy corner of East Van. But what makes Vancouver's Asian food scene truly exceptional is its fusion of tradition with modern creativity.
In this city, innovation meets tradition on a plate. Take, for instance, squid ink brioche with sea urchin pâté – a daring yet harmonious blend of flavors that pushes the boundaries of culinary expectations. Vancouver's chefs are culinary artists, creating dishes that not only pay homage to traditional recipes but also elevate them into extraordinary, palate-pleasing experiences.
And let's not forget the matcha mochi croissants that have taken the city by storm. A fusion of Japanese mochi and French croissants, these delectable pastries are a testament to Vancouver's culinary diversity. Each bite is a dance of textures and tastes, showcasing the city's flair for seamlessly blending cultures and cuisines.
Pacific Northwest's Grocery List: Seafood Galore and More
Living next to the Pacific Ocean is like having a seafood aisle in your backyard. Fresh salmon, sweet Dungeness crab, and chubby spot prawns – Vancouver's seafood game is on point. And let's not forget the local veggies and meats, straight from the region's green landscapes. It's like nature’s way of saying, "Hey, enjoy the good stuff!"
Nature Vibes: Dining with a View
Vancouver's layout is like a dating app for food and nature; they're a match made in heaven. Whether you're brunching in a leafy neighborhood or devouring seafood with an ocean panorama, the city serves up an Instagrammable backdrop for every meal. Picture this: a patio, a breeze, and the scent of fir trees – eating out just got a whole lot cooler.
Neighborhood Chronicles: Culinary Adventures Off the Beaten Path
Downtown is cool, but venture out, and you'll hit foodie gold. Commercial Drive's eclectic spots or Richmond's legit Asian flavors – Vancouver's neighborhoods are like culinary treasure maps. Each area has its own flavor story, tempting you to be the food explorer you were born to be.
Conclusion
Vancouver isn't just a city with good food; it's a food fiesta waiting to happen. The Asian vibes, the Pacific Northwest's goodies, and the city's chill connection with nature make dining here a full-blown experience. Vancouver isn't just North America's food champion; it's a vibe, a journey through flavors, and a big, fat stamp on your foodie passport. So, next time you're craving a culinary adventure, Vancouver's got your back, fork, and knife.
**If you found any of this helpful, consider checking out a referral link. You get additional sign up and welcome bonuses. Signing up and using Rakuten for cash back is free!*\*
submitted by aznpersuazion to travelfooddiaries [link] [comments]
Asian Culinary Delights: Tradition and Creativity Unleashed
Vancouver's streets resonate with the aromas of traditional Asian dishes, prepared with a touch of authenticity that transports you across borders. Picture slurping savory ramen in Chinatown or savoring hand-pulled noodles in a cozy corner of East Van. But what makes Vancouver's Asian food scene truly exceptional is its fusion of tradition with modern creativity.
In this city, innovation meets tradition on a plate. Take, for instance, squid ink brioche with sea urchin pâté – a daring yet harmonious blend of flavors that pushes the boundaries of culinary expectations. Vancouver's chefs are culinary artists, creating dishes that not only pay homage to traditional recipes but also elevate them into extraordinary, palate-pleasing experiences.
And let's not forget the matcha mochi croissants that have taken the city by storm. A fusion of Japanese mochi and French croissants, these delectable pastries are a testament to Vancouver's culinary diversity. Each bite is a dance of textures and tastes, showcasing the city's flair for seamlessly blending cultures and cuisines.
Pacific Northwest's Grocery List: Seafood Galore and More
Living next to the Pacific Ocean is like having a seafood aisle in your backyard. Fresh salmon, sweet Dungeness crab, and chubby spot prawns – Vancouver's seafood game is on point. And let's not forget the local veggies and meats, straight from the region's green landscapes. It's like nature’s way of saying, "Hey, enjoy the good stuff!"
Nature Vibes: Dining with a View
Vancouver's layout is like a dating app for food and nature; they're a match made in heaven. Whether you're brunching in a leafy neighborhood or devouring seafood with an ocean panorama, the city serves up an Instagrammable backdrop for every meal. Picture this: a patio, a breeze, and the scent of fir trees – eating out just got a whole lot cooler.
Neighborhood Chronicles: Culinary Adventures Off the Beaten Path
Downtown is cool, but venture out, and you'll hit foodie gold. Commercial Drive's eclectic spots or Richmond's legit Asian flavors – Vancouver's neighborhoods are like culinary treasure maps. Each area has its own flavor story, tempting you to be the food explorer you were born to be.
Conclusion
Vancouver isn't just a city with good food; it's a food fiesta waiting to happen. The Asian vibes, the Pacific Northwest's goodies, and the city's chill connection with nature make dining here a full-blown experience. Vancouver isn't just North America's food champion; it's a vibe, a journey through flavors, and a big, fat stamp on your foodie passport. So, next time you're craving a culinary adventure, Vancouver's got your back, fork, and knife.
**If you found any of this helpful, consider checking out a referral link. You get additional sign up and welcome bonuses. Signing up and using Rakuten for cash back is free!*\*
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2024.05.14 14:29 TearRepresentative56 I'm a full time trader and this is everything Im watching and analysing in premarket 14/05
ANALYSIS:
BABA
submitted by TearRepresentative56 to swingtrading [link] [comments]
- FX analysis:
- We see looking at EURUSD that skew is v elevated as IV is elevated on calls vs puts.
- EURUSD is stuck under 1.08 but traders are looking for a break towards 1.09. Note that traders seem to be pricing in softer inflation data. If PPI comes hot and CPI too tomorrow, we can see strong downward move in EURUSD as traders are seemingly complacent from positioning on soft inflation data
- BTC:
- BTC positioning shows traders sell calls. Skew points downward. Can see some pressure for this OPEX as a result, but should push up after that. Hence why price is lower in premarket.
- https://imgur.com/a/mShRPhn
- Oil:
- Range bound as traders waiting for US economic data this week. But skew is still pointing higher. Buyer momentum is higher, so it is positioned for a move higher but I suppose traders hold their breath waiting for the data.
- Silver:
- Looks like can continue higher. Skew is higher, IV change is rising.
- Calls on 28 adn 29 are the main options.
- https://imgur.com/a/q3KxHuN
- USDJPY - gamma wall at 157C. Can get stopped there, before move higher after. Positioning on JPY v bearish.
- Japan PPI:
- YOY came 0.9% vs 0.9% forecast, last month was revised to 0.9% YOY too.
- So is gradually increasing since November.
- German Final inflation revision showed no change to preliminary reading. Confirmed the prelim reading. inflation of 2.2% vs 2.2% last time.
- UK EMPLOYMENT DATA
- 178k people got laid off in the last month, less than the 215k expected.
- More than the 156k last month.
- So labour market is continuing to weaken.
- Unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in line with expectations. Highest reading in over a year.
- Average earnings still came hot though, at 5.7% growth YOY vs 5.3% forecasted. Last month was 5.7% YOY.
- Average earnings growth has come down a lot though in the last year and is now near yearly lows of growth.
- So UK labour market data showed weakening of labour market.
- EURO ZEW Economic Sentiment index:
- Came 47 vs 46.1 expected.
- Highest economic sentiment reading in over a year.
- Economic sentiment in Eurozone continues to improve.
- German economic sentiment index came 47.1 vs 46 expected. Highest in a year.
- US PPI Data
- Fed’s Powell is due to speak at 10am, unlikely to say anything in particular.
- Markets are flat, waiting for PPI.
- SPX trading flat around the levels it was at yesterday, ahead of PPI. Market waiting for PPI
- Nasdaq: 18,200. Trading flat around these levels.
- DJI flat at 39.5k
- GEr40: Trading flat at the highs, trading at 18,700.
- HKG trading lower by 0.8%. Tested close to 19k and held.
- OIL trading flat the last week or so around 77-79.
- GOLD: trading flat at 2,344.
- GBP down due to weak employment data, which points to firstly, rate cuts being on the horizon, and weakness in UK economy.
- Also down because BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
- Recovered somewhat with EURO which headed higher after ZEW Economic survey
- Yen continues weakness after failed intervention
- DXY flat ahead of PPI
- EURUSD trading t the 1.08 resistance
- AUDUSD trading at 0.66. Still stuck under the downtrend trend line.
BABA
- EPS of 10.14 vs 10.21 expected. Miss by 0.7%
- Revenue of 221.8B beat by 1%. Up 6% YOY
- Adjusted EBITDA was 30.81B yuan, beat by 1.4%
- Segment revenue:
- Taobao group was 93B, beat estimates by 1%, down 28% QOQ
- Cloud intelligence was down 8% QOQ
- Local services group revenue was 15B Yuan
- Cainiao Smart logistics network was 20.12B yuan
- So mixed segment revenue.
- Approved a $4B dividend for Fy 2024.
- One time extraordinary cash dividend
- Repurchased $12.5B worth of shares in Fy 2024.
- They are focusing on enhancing customer experience and growing AI product capabilities
- Significant investments in strategic business priorities, particularly in ecomm
- CEO comments:
- Returning to growth, our china and international commerce business saw double digit GMV growth
- Accelerated revenue in cloud computing
- NOT GREAT EARNINGS ON THE WHOLE. EPS was dissapoitning, segment revenues were dissapointing.
- Down as they say that delayed spring selling is hurting sales.
- Weak current quarter, comps were down worse than expected. But they maintained the Full year guide, which was better than many expected imo
- Rev $36.4B vs $36.7B est. missed narrowly
- Comps -2.8% vs -2.2% est. worse than expected
- EPS $3.63 vs $3.60 est. slightly better than expected
- Customer transactions were down 1% YOY
- Average ticket down 1.3% YOY
- Sales per retail square foot were down 3.4% YOY
- Maintains FY guide
- FY EPS of $15.26
- FY sales of 154.2B
- The 1Q weakness is in-line with what we highlighted, but FY guide maintained = better than feared by some.
- Delayed start to sprint and softness in larger discretionary projects hurt sales.
- Still seeing challenges
- But are trying to look forward to rest of the fiscal year with robust plans to engage customers.
- Announced new leadership structure.
- Is adopting a new dual CEO structure for their video game Unit.
- Net profit was 189B yen , up 34% YOY and beat by 26.8%
- Revenue was 3.48T, up 14% YOY, beat by 14%
- EPS of 153.6, beat by 34%
- Segment performance:
- Game Business revenue was 3.481T, up 14% YOY
- Game business operating profit was 105.9B, more than double YOY
- Moving business operating profit was nearly double YOY
- So strong quarter results
- GUIDANCE FOR FY2025:
- Revenue of 12.31T, down 5.5% YOY
- Net profit of 925B down 4% YOY
- Planning partial spin off of financial unit
- Conducting 5-1 stock split
- Announced buyback of 250B shares
- Seen strong performance in game and movie business, leading to robust quarter.
- MSFT - OPENAI announcements yesterday:
- Releases voice assistant, which acts as a translator in real time.
- OpenAI GPT 4o which is faster, omnimodel and easier. It will launch on desktop version too. Said this model will be available for free.
- Showcased use of AI for tutoring.
- Announced they have over 100m+ users using chatGPT worldwide.
- TSLA - rehires their key Supercharger Team, reversing recent cuts.
- GOOGL, AMZN - Anthropic, which is backed by these companies is launching its GenAI chatbot Claude throughout europe including EU countries Switzerland and Iceland.
- GOOGL - has their own IO developer event today. Is expected to showcase its latest AI tools and AI linked enhancements to products.
- AAPL - Foxconn reported earnings. Whilst their results jumped a lot YOY, they missed estimates. They said they saw strong server demand due to AI, but consumer electronics sales were down 9%, weakness in iPhone in CHina.
- Said they are cautious about near term consumer electronics demand.
- AAPL - preparing o sell Vision Pro device outside of US for first time, plans to expand to CHina, Japan and France.
- SPWR up as part of a short squeeze of meme stocks, and other heavily shorted stocks.
- GME - Up 40% in premarket. The squeeze continues.
- AMC up 50% too, BB up 15%
- The meme stocks are seeing momentum continuing on from yesterday, after coming into focus due to Roaring Kitty’s tweet during weekend.
- Chinese EV company, BYD is unveiling Plug in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico. It’s called the shark and will be distributed globally except for US.
- RUM - Rumble sues Google for $1B over anticompetitive ad practices. Files lawsuit
- WMT - to lay off and relocate hundreds of corporate workers. Remote workers have been asked to move to larger corporate hubs. Small office employees in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to relocate
- UBER - Willa acquire FoodPanda’s Taiwan business for 950M
- ULTA - maintained at hold by Stifel
- Meme stock rally this morning continues.
- US small business index ahead of expectations, but much below the historically average level. Cost pressures remain the main issue as many small businesses still raise wages to retain workers.Inflation still the main issue for small businesses in US, but less so than before.
- Yesterday’s trading saw the lowest volume day since Thanksgiving 2023. This is as traders await the key economic news coming out this week.
- Yesterday saw inflation expectations rise for next year to 3.3%, highest since November 2023.
- From the data this morning then, we can see that the macro trends are:
- UK labour market continues to weaken
- Euro economic sentiment improves
- Bank of America sees slower growth but still positive spending in the US. People are getting user to higher rate environment.
- US administration increases tariffs on $18B of Chinese imports. Including semiconductors, batteries, solars, EVs etc. Trying to bolster domestic manufacturing.
- Yesterday, Yellen said that China is not really playing by the rules on trade, said it is unacceptable to be dependent on China in key industries.
- B of A fund manager survey shows fund managers are most bullish since 2021. Not seeing signs of big pullback here. Cash allocation decreasing as fund managers INCREASE exposure to the market too. Lowest cash level since 2021.
- BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
- Said we can cut rates and still have restrictive policy.
- OPEC sees demand for doc crude in 2024 at 43.2M BPD in 2024, and says they will now only forecast demand for doc crude
- OPEC said that despite some downside risks, there is further upside potential for global economic growth in 2024.
2024.05.14 14:28 TearRepresentative56 I'm a full time trader and this is my total premarket report ahead of PPI so that you know what is going on before you trade today
ANALYSIS:
BABA
submitted by TearRepresentative56 to Daytrading [link] [comments]
- FX analysis:
- We see looking at EURUSD that skew is v elevated as IV is elevated on calls vs puts.
- EURUSD is stuck under 1.08 but traders are looking for a break towards 1.09. Note that traders seem to be pricing in softer inflation data. If PPI comes hot and CPI too tomorrow, we can see strong downward move in EURUSD as traders are seemingly complacent from positioning on soft inflation data
- BTC:
- BTC positioning shows traders sell calls. Skew points downward. Can see some pressure for this OPEX as a result, but should push up after that. Hence why price is lower in premarket.
- https://imgur.com/a/mShRPhn
- Oil:
- Range bound as traders waiting for US economic data this week. But skew is still pointing higher. Buyer momentum is higher, so it is positioned for a move higher but I suppose traders hold their breath waiting for the data.
- Silver:
- Looks like can continue higher. Skew is higher, IV change is rising.
- Calls on 28 adn 29 are the main options.
- https://imgur.com/a/q3KxHuN
- USDJPY - gamma wall at 157C. Can get stopped there, before move higher after. Positioning on JPY v bearish.
- Japan PPI:
- YOY came 0.9% vs 0.9% forecast, last month was revised to 0.9% YOY too.
- So is gradually increasing since November.
- German Final inflation revision showed no change to preliminary reading. Confirmed the prelim reading. inflation of 2.2% vs 2.2% last time.
- UK EMPLOYMENT DATA
- 178k people got laid off in the last month, less than the 215k expected.
- More than the 156k last month.
- So labour market is continuing to weaken.
- Unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in line with expectations. Highest reading in over a year.
- Average earnings still came hot though, at 5.7% growth YOY vs 5.3% forecasted. Last month was 5.7% YOY.
- Average earnings growth has come down a lot though in the last year and is now near yearly lows of growth.
- So UK labour market data showed weakening of labour market.
- EURO ZEW Economic Sentiment index:
- Came 47 vs 46.1 expected.
- Highest economic sentiment reading in over a year.
- Economic sentiment in Eurozone continues to improve.
- German economic sentiment index came 47.1 vs 46 expected. Highest in a year.
- US PPI Data
- Fed’s Powell is due to speak at 10am, unlikely to say anything in particular.
- Markets are flat, waiting for PPI.
- SPX trading flat around the levels it was at yesterday, ahead of PPI. Market waiting for PPI
- Nasdaq: 18,200. Trading flat around these levels.
- DJI flat at 39.5k
- GEr40: Trading flat at the highs, trading at 18,700.
- HKG trading lower by 0.8%. Tested close to 19k and held.
- OIL trading flat the last week or so around 77-79.
- GOLD: trading flat at 2,344.
- GBP down due to weak employment data, which points to firstly, rate cuts being on the horizon, and weakness in UK economy.
- Also down because BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
- Recovered somewhat with EURO which headed higher after ZEW Economic survey
- Yen continues weakness after failed intervention
- DXY flat ahead of PPI
- EURUSD trading t the 1.08 resistance
- AUDUSD trading at 0.66. Still stuck under the downtrend trend line.
BABA
- EPS of 10.14 vs 10.21 expected. Miss by 0.7%
- Revenue of 221.8B beat by 1%. Up 6% YOY
- Adjusted EBITDA was 30.81B yuan, beat by 1.4%
- Segment revenue:
- Taobao group was 93B, beat estimates by 1%, down 28% QOQ
- Cloud intelligence was down 8% QOQ
- Local services group revenue was 15B Yuan
- Cainiao Smart logistics network was 20.12B yuan
- So mixed segment revenue.
- Approved a $4B dividend for Fy 2024.
- One time extraordinary cash dividend
- Repurchased $12.5B worth of shares in Fy 2024.
- They are focusing on enhancing customer experience and growing AI product capabilities
- Significant investments in strategic business priorities, particularly in ecomm
- CEO comments:
- Returning to growth, our china and international commerce business saw double digit GMV growth
- Accelerated revenue in cloud computing
- NOT GREAT EARNINGS ON THE WHOLE. EPS was dissapoitning, segment revenues were dissapointing.
- Down as they say that delayed spring selling is hurting sales.
- Weak current quarter, comps were down worse than expected. But they maintained the Full year guide, which was better than many expected imo
- Rev $36.4B vs $36.7B est. missed narrowly
- Comps -2.8% vs -2.2% est. worse than expected
- EPS $3.63 vs $3.60 est. slightly better than expected
- Customer transactions were down 1% YOY
- Average ticket down 1.3% YOY
- Sales per retail square foot were down 3.4% YOY
- Maintains FY guide
- FY EPS of $15.26
- FY sales of 154.2B
- The 1Q weakness is in-line with what we highlighted, but FY guide maintained = better than feared by some.
- Delayed start to sprint and softness in larger discretionary projects hurt sales.
- Still seeing challenges
- But are trying to look forward to rest of the fiscal year with robust plans to engage customers.
- Announced new leadership structure.
- Is adopting a new dual CEO structure for their video game Unit.
- Net profit was 189B yen , up 34% YOY and beat by 26.8%
- Revenue was 3.48T, up 14% YOY, beat by 14%
- EPS of 153.6, beat by 34%
- Segment performance:
- Game Business revenue was 3.481T, up 14% YOY
- Game business operating profit was 105.9B, more than double YOY
- Moving business operating profit was nearly double YOY
- So strong quarter results
- GUIDANCE FOR FY2025:
- Revenue of 12.31T, down 5.5% YOY
- Net profit of 925B down 4% YOY
- Planning partial spin off of financial unit
- Conducting 5-1 stock split
- Announced buyback of 250B shares
- Seen strong performance in game and movie business, leading to robust quarter.
- MSFT - OPENAI announcements yesterday:
- Releases voice assistant, which acts as a translator in real time.
- OpenAI GPT 4o which is faster, omnimodel and easier. It will launch on desktop version too. Said this model will be available for free.
- Showcased use of AI for tutoring.
- Announced they have over 100m+ users using chatGPT worldwide.
- TSLA - rehires their key Supercharger Team, reversing recent cuts.
- GOOGL, AMZN - Anthropic, which is backed by these companies is launching its GenAI chatbot Claude throughout europe including EU countries Switzerland and Iceland.
- GOOGL - has their own IO developer event today. Is expected to showcase its latest AI tools and AI linked enhancements to products.
- AAPL - Foxconn reported earnings. Whilst their results jumped a lot YOY, they missed estimates. They said they saw strong server demand due to AI, but consumer electronics sales were down 9%, weakness in iPhone in CHina.
- Said they are cautious about near term consumer electronics demand.
- AAPL - preparing o sell Vision Pro device outside of US for first time, plans to expand to CHina, Japan and France.
- SPWR up as part of a short squeeze of meme stocks, and other heavily shorted stocks.
- GME - Up 40% in premarket. The squeeze continues.
- AMC up 50% too, BB up 15%
- The meme stocks are seeing momentum continuing on from yesterday, after coming into focus due to Roaring Kitty’s tweet during weekend.
- Chinese EV company, BYD is unveiling Plug in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico. It’s called the shark and will be distributed globally except for US.
- RUM - Rumble sues Google for $1B over anticompetitive ad practices. Files lawsuit
- WMT - to lay off and relocate hundreds of corporate workers. Remote workers have been asked to move to larger corporate hubs. Small office employees in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to relocate
- UBER - Willa acquire FoodPanda’s Taiwan business for 950M
- ULTA - maintained at hold by Stifel
- Meme stock rally this morning continues.
- US small business index ahead of expectations, but much below the historically average level. Cost pressures remain the main issue as many small businesses still raise wages to retain workers.Inflation still the main issue for small businesses in US, but less so than before.
- Yesterday’s trading saw the lowest volume day since Thanksgiving 2023. This is as traders await the key economic news coming out this week.
- Yesterday saw inflation expectations rise for next year to 3.3%, highest since November 2023.
- From the data this morning then, we can see that the macro trends are:
- UK labour market continues to weaken
- Euro economic sentiment improves
- Bank of America sees slower growth but still positive spending in the US. People are getting user to higher rate environment.
- US administration increases tariffs on $18B of Chinese imports. Including semiconductors, batteries, solars, EVs etc. Trying to bolster domestic manufacturing.
- Yesterday, Yellen said that China is not really playing by the rules on trade, said it is unacceptable to be dependent on China in key industries.
- B of A fund manager survey shows fund managers are most bullish since 2021. Not seeing signs of big pullback here. Cash allocation decreasing as fund managers INCREASE exposure to the market too. Lowest cash level since 2021.
- BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
- Said we can cut rates and still have restrictive policy.
- OPEC sees demand for doc crude in 2024 at 43.2M BPD in 2024, and says they will now only forecast demand for doc crude
- OPEC said that despite some downside risks, there is further upside potential for global economic growth in 2024.
2024.05.14 14:27 TearRepresentative56 Everything Im watching and anlaysing in premarket ahead of PPI. more updates to come during the day. 14/05
For more of my daily analysis please join Tradingedge
ANALYSIS:
BABA
submitted by TearRepresentative56 to u/TearRepresentative56 [link] [comments]
ANALYSIS:
- FX analysis:
- We see looking at EURUSD that skew is v elevated as IV is elevated on calls vs puts.
- EURUSD is stuck under 1.08 but traders are looking for a break towards 1.09. Note that traders seem to be pricing in softer inflation data. If PPI comes hot and CPI too tomorrow, we can see strong downward move in EURUSD as traders are seemingly complacent from positioning on soft inflation data
- BTC:
- BTC positioning shows traders sell calls. Skew points downward. Can see some pressure for this OPEX as a result, but should push up after that. Hence why price is lower in premarket.
- https://imgur.com/a/mShRPhn
- Oil:
- Range bound as traders waiting for US economic data this week. But skew is still pointing higher. Buyer momentum is higher, so it is positioned for a move higher but I suppose traders hold their breath waiting for the data.
- Silver:
- Looks like can continue higher. Skew is higher, IV change is rising.
- Calls on 28 adn 29 are the main options.
- https://imgur.com/a/q3KxHuN
- USDJPY - gamma wall at 157C. Can get stopped there, before move higher after. Positioning on JPY v bearish.
- Japan PPI:
- YOY came 0.9% vs 0.9% forecast, last month was revised to 0.9% YOY too.
- So is gradually increasing since November.
- German Final inflation revision showed no change to preliminary reading. Confirmed the prelim reading. inflation of 2.2% vs 2.2% last time.
- UK EMPLOYMENT DATA
- 178k people got laid off in the last month, less than the 215k expected.
- More than the 156k last month.
- So labour market is continuing to weaken.
- Unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in line with expectations. Highest reading in over a year.
- Average earnings still came hot though, at 5.7% growth YOY vs 5.3% forecasted. Last month was 5.7% YOY.
- Average earnings growth has come down a lot though in the last year and is now near yearly lows of growth.
- So UK labour market data showed weakening of labour market.
- EURO ZEW Economic Sentiment index:
- Came 47 vs 46.1 expected.
- Highest economic sentiment reading in over a year.
- Economic sentiment in Eurozone continues to improve.
- German economic sentiment index came 47.1 vs 46 expected. Highest in a year.
- US PPI Data
- Fed’s Powell is due to speak at 10am, unlikely to say anything in particular.
- Markets are flat, waiting for PPI.
- SPX trading flat around the levels it was at yesterday, ahead of PPI. Market waiting for PPI
- Nasdaq: 18,200. Trading flat around these levels.
- DJI flat at 39.5k
- GEr40: Trading flat at the highs, trading at 18,700.
- HKG trading lower by 0.8%. Tested close to 19k and held.
- OIL trading flat the last week or so around 77-79.
- GOLD: trading flat at 2,344.
- GBP down due to weak employment data, which points to firstly, rate cuts being on the horizon, and weakness in UK economy.
- Also down because BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
- Recovered somewhat with EURO which headed higher after ZEW Economic survey
- Yen continues weakness after failed intervention
- DXY flat ahead of PPI
- EURUSD trading t the 1.08 resistance
- AUDUSD trading at 0.66. Still stuck under the downtrend trend line.
BABA
- EPS of 10.14 vs 10.21 expected. Miss by 0.7%
- Revenue of 221.8B beat by 1%. Up 6% YOY
- Adjusted EBITDA was 30.81B yuan, beat by 1.4%
- Segment revenue:
- Taobao group was 93B, beat estimates by 1%, down 28% QOQ
- Cloud intelligence was down 8% QOQ
- Local services group revenue was 15B Yuan
- Cainiao Smart logistics network was 20.12B yuan
- So mixed segment revenue.
- Approved a $4B dividend for Fy 2024.
- One time extraordinary cash dividend
- Repurchased $12.5B worth of shares in Fy 2024.
- They are focusing on enhancing customer experience and growing AI product capabilities
- Significant investments in strategic business priorities, particularly in ecomm
- CEO comments:
- Returning to growth, our china and international commerce business saw double digit GMV growth
- Accelerated revenue in cloud computing
- NOT GREAT EARNINGS ON THE WHOLE. EPS was dissapoitning, segment revenues were dissapointing.
- Down as they say that delayed spring selling is hurting sales.
- Weak current quarter, comps were down worse than expected. But they maintained the Full year guide, which was better than many expected imo
- Rev $36.4B vs $36.7B est. missed narrowly
- Comps -2.8% vs -2.2% est. worse than expected
- EPS $3.63 vs $3.60 est. slightly better than expected
- Customer transactions were down 1% YOY
- Average ticket down 1.3% YOY
- Sales per retail square foot were down 3.4% YOY
- Maintains FY guide
- FY EPS of $15.26
- FY sales of 154.2B
- The 1Q weakness is in-line with what we highlighted, but FY guide maintained = better than feared by some.
- Delayed start to sprint and softness in larger discretionary projects hurt sales.
- Still seeing challenges
- But are trying to look forward to rest of the fiscal year with robust plans to engage customers.
- Announced new leadership structure.
- Is adopting a new dual CEO structure for their video game Unit.
- Net profit was 189B yen , up 34% YOY and beat by 26.8%
- Revenue was 3.48T, up 14% YOY, beat by 14%
- EPS of 153.6, beat by 34%
- Segment performance:
- Game Business revenue was 3.481T, up 14% YOY
- Game business operating profit was 105.9B, more than double YOY
- Moving business operating profit was nearly double YOY
- So strong quarter results
- GUIDANCE FOR FY2025:
- Revenue of 12.31T, down 5.5% YOY
- Net profit of 925B down 4% YOY
- Planning partial spin off of financial unit
- Conducting 5-1 stock split
- Announced buyback of 250B shares
- Seen strong performance in game and movie business, leading to robust quarter.
- MSFT - OPENAI announcements yesterday:
- Releases voice assistant, which acts as a translator in real time.
- OpenAI GPT 4o which is faster, omnimodel and easier. It will launch on desktop version too. Said this model will be available for free.
- Showcased use of AI for tutoring.
- Announced they have over 100m+ users using chatGPT worldwide.
- TSLA - rehires their key Supercharger Team, reversing recent cuts.
- GOOGL, AMZN - Anthropic, which is backed by these companies is launching its GenAI chatbot Claude throughout europe including EU countries Switzerland and Iceland.
- GOOGL - has their own IO developer event today. Is expected to showcase its latest AI tools and AI linked enhancements to products.
- AAPL - Foxconn reported earnings. Whilst their results jumped a lot YOY, they missed estimates. They said they saw strong server demand due to AI, but consumer electronics sales were down 9%, weakness in iPhone in CHina.
- Said they are cautious about near term consumer electronics demand.
- AAPL - preparing o sell Vision Pro device outside of US for first time, plans to expand to CHina, Japan and France.
- SPWR up as part of a short squeeze of meme stocks, and other heavily shorted stocks.
- GME - Up 40% in premarket. The squeeze continues.
- AMC up 50% too, BB up 15%
- The meme stocks are seeing momentum continuing on from yesterday, after coming into focus due to Roaring Kitty’s tweet during weekend.
- Chinese EV company, BYD is unveiling Plug in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico. It’s called the shark and will be distributed globally except for US.
- RUM - Rumble sues Google for $1B over anticompetitive ad practices. Files lawsuit
- WMT - to lay off and relocate hundreds of corporate workers. Remote workers have been asked to move to larger corporate hubs. Small office employees in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to relocate
- UBER - Willa acquire FoodPanda’s Taiwan business for 950M
- ULTA - maintained at hold by Stifel
- Meme stock rally this morning continues.
- US small business index ahead of expectations, but much below the historically average level. Cost pressures remain the main issue as many small businesses still raise wages to retain workers.Inflation still the main issue for small businesses in US, but less so than before.
- Yesterday’s trading saw the lowest volume day since Thanksgiving 2023. This is as traders await the key economic news coming out this week.
- Yesterday saw inflation expectations rise for next year to 3.3%, highest since November 2023.
- From the data this morning then, we can see that the macro trends are:
- UK labour market continues to weaken
- Euro economic sentiment improves
- Bank of America sees slower growth but still positive spending in the US. People are getting user to higher rate environment.
- US administration increases tariffs on $18B of Chinese imports. Including semiconductors, batteries, solars, EVs etc. Trying to bolster domestic manufacturing.
- Yesterday, Yellen said that China is not really playing by the rules on trade, said it is unacceptable to be dependent on China in key industries.
- B of A fund manager survey shows fund managers are most bullish since 2021. Not seeing signs of big pullback here. Cash allocation decreasing as fund managers INCREASE exposure to the market too. Lowest cash level since 2021.
- BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
- Said we can cut rates and still have restrictive policy.
- OPEC sees demand for doc crude in 2024 at 43.2M BPD in 2024, and says they will now only forecast demand for doc crude
- OPEC said that despite some downside risks, there is further upside potential for global economic growth in 2024.
2024.05.14 14:25 TearRepresentative56 Everything I'm watching and analysing in premarket ahead of PPI more updates to come later. 14/05
For more of my daily analysis please join Tradingedge
ANALYSIS:
BABA
submitted by TearRepresentative56 to TradingEdge [link] [comments]
ANALYSIS:
- FX analysis:
- We see looking at EURUSD that skew is v elevated as IV is elevated on calls vs puts.
- EURUSD is stuck under 1.08 but traders are looking for a break towards 1.09. Note that traders seem to be pricing in softer inflation data. If PPI comes hot and CPI too tomorrow, we can see strong downward move in EURUSD as traders are seemingly complacent from positioning on soft inflation data
- BTC:
- BTC positioning shows traders sell calls. Skew points downward. Can see some pressure for this OPEX as a result, but should push up after that. Hence why price is lower in premarket.
- https://imgur.com/a/mShRPhn
- Oil:
- Range bound as traders waiting for US economic data this week. But skew is still pointing higher. Buyer momentum is higher, so it is positioned for a move higher but I suppose traders hold their breath waiting for the data.
- Silver:
- Looks like can continue higher. Skew is higher, IV change is rising.
- Calls on 28 adn 29 are the main options.
- https://imgur.com/a/q3KxHuN
- USDJPY - gamma wall at 157C. Can get stopped there, before move higher after. Positioning on JPY v bearish.
- Japan PPI:
- YOY came 0.9% vs 0.9% forecast, last month was revised to 0.9% YOY too.
- So is gradually increasing since November.
- German Final inflation revision showed no change to preliminary reading. Confirmed the prelim reading. inflation of 2.2% vs 2.2% last time.
- UK EMPLOYMENT DATA
- 178k people got laid off in the last month, less than the 215k expected.
- More than the 156k last month.
- So labour market is continuing to weaken.
- Unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in line with expectations. Highest reading in over a year.
- Average earnings still came hot though, at 5.7% growth YOY vs 5.3% forecasted. Last month was 5.7% YOY.
- Average earnings growth has come down a lot though in the last year and is now near yearly lows of growth.
- So UK labour market data showed weakening of labour market.
- EURO ZEW Economic Sentiment index:
- Came 47 vs 46.1 expected.
- Highest economic sentiment reading in over a year.
- Economic sentiment in Eurozone continues to improve.
- German economic sentiment index came 47.1 vs 46 expected. Highest in a year.
- US PPI Data
- Fed’s Powell is due to speak at 10am, unlikely to say anything in particular.
- Markets are flat, waiting for PPI.
- SPX trading flat around the levels it was at yesterday, ahead of PPI. Market waiting for PPI
- Nasdaq: 18,200. Trading flat around these levels.
- DJI flat at 39.5k
- GEr40: Trading flat at the highs, trading at 18,700.
- HKG trading lower by 0.8%. Tested close to 19k and held.
- OIL trading flat the last week or so around 77-79.
- GOLD: trading flat at 2,344.
- GBP down due to weak employment data, which points to firstly, rate cuts being on the horizon, and weakness in UK economy.
- Also down because BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
- Recovered somewhat with EURO which headed higher after ZEW Economic survey
- Yen continues weakness after failed intervention
- DXY flat ahead of PPI
- EURUSD trading t the 1.08 resistance
- AUDUSD trading at 0.66. Still stuck under the downtrend trend line.
BABA
- EPS of 10.14 vs 10.21 expected. Miss by 0.7%
- Revenue of 221.8B beat by 1%. Up 6% YOY
- Adjusted EBITDA was 30.81B yuan, beat by 1.4%
- Segment revenue:
- Taobao group was 93B, beat estimates by 1%, down 28% QOQ
- Cloud intelligence was down 8% QOQ
- Local services group revenue was 15B Yuan
- Cainiao Smart logistics network was 20.12B yuan
- So mixed segment revenue.
- Approved a $4B dividend for Fy 2024.
- One time extraordinary cash dividend
- Repurchased $12.5B worth of shares in Fy 2024.
- They are focusing on enhancing customer experience and growing AI product capabilities
- Significant investments in strategic business priorities, particularly in ecomm
- CEO comments:
- Returning to growth, our china and international commerce business saw double digit GMV growth
- Accelerated revenue in cloud computing
- NOT GREAT EARNINGS ON THE WHOLE. EPS was dissapoitning, segment revenues were dissapointing.
- Down as they say that delayed spring selling is hurting sales.
- Weak current quarter, comps were down worse than expected. But they maintained the Full year guide, which was better than many expected imo
- Rev $36.4B vs $36.7B est. missed narrowly
- Comps -2.8% vs -2.2% est. worse than expected
- EPS $3.63 vs $3.60 est. slightly better than expected
- Customer transactions were down 1% YOY
- Average ticket down 1.3% YOY
- Sales per retail square foot were down 3.4% YOY
- Maintains FY guide
- FY EPS of $15.26
- FY sales of 154.2B
- The 1Q weakness is in-line with what we highlighted, but FY guide maintained = better than feared by some.
- Delayed start to sprint and softness in larger discretionary projects hurt sales.
- Still seeing challenges
- But are trying to look forward to rest of the fiscal year with robust plans to engage customers.
- Announced new leadership structure.
- Is adopting a new dual CEO structure for their video game Unit.
- Net profit was 189B yen , up 34% YOY and beat by 26.8%
- Revenue was 3.48T, up 14% YOY, beat by 14%
- EPS of 153.6, beat by 34%
- Segment performance:
- Game Business revenue was 3.481T, up 14% YOY
- Game business operating profit was 105.9B, more than double YOY
- Moving business operating profit was nearly double YOY
- So strong quarter results
- GUIDANCE FOR FY2025:
- Revenue of 12.31T, down 5.5% YOY
- Net profit of 925B down 4% YOY
- Planning partial spin off of financial unit
- Conducting 5-1 stock split
- Announced buyback of 250B shares
- Seen strong performance in game and movie business, leading to robust quarter.
- MSFT - OPENAI announcements yesterday:
- Releases voice assistant, which acts as a translator in real time.
- OpenAI GPT 4o which is faster, omnimodel and easier. It will launch on desktop version too. Said this model will be available for free.
- Showcased use of AI for tutoring.
- Announced they have over 100m+ users using chatGPT worldwide.
- TSLA - rehires their key Supercharger Team, reversing recent cuts.
- GOOGL, AMZN - Anthropic, which is backed by these companies is launching its GenAI chatbot Claude throughout europe including EU countries Switzerland and Iceland.
- GOOGL - has their own IO developer event today. Is expected to showcase its latest AI tools and AI linked enhancements to products.
- AAPL - Foxconn reported earnings. Whilst their results jumped a lot YOY, they missed estimates. They said they saw strong server demand due to AI, but consumer electronics sales were down 9%, weakness in iPhone in CHina.
- Said they are cautious about near term consumer electronics demand.
- AAPL - preparing o sell Vision Pro device outside of US for first time, plans to expand to CHina, Japan and France.
- SPWR up as part of a short squeeze of meme stocks, and other heavily shorted stocks.
- GME - Up 40% in premarket. The squeeze continues.
- AMC up 50% too, BB up 15%
- The meme stocks are seeing momentum continuing on from yesterday, after coming into focus due to Roaring Kitty’s tweet during weekend.
- Chinese EV company, BYD is unveiling Plug in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico. It’s called the shark and will be distributed globally except for US.
- RUM - Rumble sues Google for $1B over anticompetitive ad practices. Files lawsuit
- WMT - to lay off and relocate hundreds of corporate workers. Remote workers have been asked to move to larger corporate hubs. Small office employees in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to relocate
- UBER - Willa acquire FoodPanda’s Taiwan business for 950M
- ULTA - maintained at hold by Stifel
- Meme stock rally this morning continues.
- US small business index ahead of expectations, but much below the historically average level. Cost pressures remain the main issue as many small businesses still raise wages to retain workers.Inflation still the main issue for small businesses in US, but less so than before.
- Yesterday’s trading saw the lowest volume day since Thanksgiving 2023. This is as traders await the key economic news coming out this week.
- Yesterday saw inflation expectations rise for next year to 3.3%, highest since November 2023.
- From the data this morning then, we can see that the macro trends are:
- UK labour market continues to weaken
- Euro economic sentiment improves
- Bank of America sees slower growth but still positive spending in the US. People are getting user to higher rate environment.
- US administration increases tariffs on $18B of Chinese imports. Including semiconductors, batteries, solars, EVs etc. Trying to bolster domestic manufacturing.
- Yesterday, Yellen said that China is not really playing by the rules on trade, said it is unacceptable to be dependent on China in key industries.
- B of A fund manager survey shows fund managers are most bullish since 2021. Not seeing signs of big pullback here. Cash allocation decreasing as fund managers INCREASE exposure to the market too. Lowest cash level since 2021.
- BOE’s Pill says that Rate cut is likely to come under consideration in Summer, after employment data. Gilts are up in UK as a result. V explicit mention of rate cuts to come.
- Said we can cut rates and still have restrictive policy.
- OPEC sees demand for doc crude in 2024 at 43.2M BPD in 2024, and says they will now only forecast demand for doc crude
- OPEC said that despite some downside risks, there is further upside potential for global economic growth in 2024.