I have around 30,000 dollars of credit card debt.
One of my debts is being payed down but they are raising the amount I owe next month... which I am worried about. They issued a lawsuit against me....
So I have other creditors mostly credit cards and now I have another notice from the same company above (MIDLAND) that sent me a pre- legal notification. ..
this debt has been sold at least twice before but I haven't been able to act on much of any of my debt due to crippling health injuries. (Long term Covid / brain fog, hospitalization etc).
I am feeling a bit better to deal with this matter but I know I am deep in the hole.
SO for this one creditor... should I bother sending them a letter asking for more information. I know where the debt originally came from but I am concerned about how many times it has bounced around . Is it worth it sending them a letter requiring them to give me this information?
The other issue... I am honestly unable to pay off the entire amounts. I can maybe pay $10 dollars a month on this particular card .. (which is is around 3,000 dollars).
I had a tough time negotiating with Midland once the lawsuit on the other card occured. .. but I cannot reasonably afford another $100 dollars a month on this debt.. as of now.
I have lost a few years since the pandemic and have struggled to get back on my feet. Things have just not lined up the way I had hoped they would and now with inflation I can barely afford food.
Recommendations? Tips.
Here is the sample letter I pulled..
"To whom it may concern.
I am responding to your contact about a debt you are trying to collect. You contacted me by
Mail on May 1^st, 2024 and identified the debt as from \*****S Bank. Please supply the information below so that I can be fully informed:*
~Why you think I owe the debt and to whom I owe it, including:~

• The name and address of the creditor to whom the debt is currently owed, the account number used by that creditor, and the amount owed.

• If this debt started with a different creditor, provide the name and address of the original creditor, the account number used by that creditor, and the amount owed to that creditor at the time it was transferred. When you identify the original creditor, please provide any other
name by which I might know them, if that is different from the official name. In addition, tell me when the current creditor obtained the debt and who the current creditor obtained it from.

• Provide verification and documentation that there is a valid basis for claiming that I am required to pay the debt to the current creditor. For example, can you provide a copy of the written agreement that created my original requirement to pay?

• If you are asking that I pay a debt that somebody else is or was required to pay, identify that person. Provide verification and documentation about why this is a debt that I am required to pay.

~The amount and age of the debt, including:~

• A copy of the last billing statement sent to me by the original creditor.

• State the amount of the debt when you obtained it, and when that was.

• If there have been any additional interest, fees or charges added since the last billing statement from the original creditor, provide an itemization showing the dates and amount of each added amount. In addition, explain how the added interest, fees or other charges are expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or are permitted by law.

• If there have been any payments or other reductions since the last billing statement from the original creditor, provide an itemization showing the dates and amount of each of them.
• If there have been any other changes or adjustments since the last billing statement from the original creditor, please provide full verification and documentation of the amount you are trying to collect. Explain how that amount was calculated. In addition, explain how the other changes or adjustments are expressly authorized by the agreement creating the debt or permitted by law.

• Tell me when the creditor claims this debt became due and when it became delinquent.

• Identify the date of the last payment made on this account.

• Have you made a determination that this debt is within the statute of limitations applicable to it? Tell me when you think the statute of limitations expires for this debt, and how you determined that.

~Details about your authority to collect this debt.~

• I would like more information about your firm before I discuss the debt with you. Does your firm have a debt collection license from my state? If not, say why not. If so, provide the date of the license, the name on the license, the license number, and the name, address and telephone number of the state agency issuing the license.

• If you are contacting me from a place outside my state, does your firm have a debt collection license from that place? If so, provide the date of the license, the name on the license, the license number, and the name, address and telephone number of the state agency issuing the license.


I have asked for this information because I have some questions. I need to hear from you to make an informed decision about your claim that I owe this money. I am open to communicating with you for this purpose. In order to make sure that I am not put at any disadvantage, in the meantime please treat this debt as being in dispute and under discussion between us.


In addition to providing the information requested above, please let me know whether you are prepared to accept less than the balance you are claiming is owed. If so, please tell me in writing your offer with the amount you will accept to fully resolve the account.

Thank you for your cooperation. Sincerely,

I'm entering the CreateButton code to the letter from the documentation, but the button just doesn't show up. I restarted Studio. I combed carefully through my code to make sure it's IDENTICAL to the sample in the documentation, but I get no button; just the plugin in the debugger with no way to use nor test it. Can anyone help? Please?

Item name: Mos Espa Podrace Diarama (75380)
Lego Price: $80 + $6 tax
Shipping: $24 [UPS insured 16 x 12 x 4, 4lbs, Philly to Bel-Air (19020 - 90077)]
Raffle Total/Spots: $110, 22 spots @ $5
Price justification: lego.com
Call spots: Yes
Spot limit per person: N
Duration of spot limit: n/a.
Location(Country): USA
Will ship international: Yes. Winners outside of the contiguous 48 United States will pay the difference in shipping quote.
Timestamp pics: https://imgur.com/a/38l5FlT
Description: Pod racing diorama with some great looking ships. There’s a really cool video game about this.
Payment required w/in 10 minutes of raffle filling.
PayPal payments are to be Friends and Family only with NO COMMENTS. CashApp payments should have NO COMMENTS. Comments will result in a permanent ban

PayPal Info: Send chat for PP
Cash App Info: https://cash.app
​
Tip BlobAndHisBoy
Number of vacant slots: 15
Number of unpaid users: 2
Number of unpaid slots: 4
This slot list is created and updated by The EDC Raffle Tool by BlobAndHisBoy.
1 superdiglett100 PAID
2 M1Lance
3
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6
7
8 M1Lance
9 nmde305
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13 M1Lance
14
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17 superdiglett100 PAID
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22 superdiglett100 PAID

We launched our Solana Competitions page earlier this week. Our first completely free draw offers 10 sol free, in a raffle style competition absolutely no payment needed, and no catch, the draws will be done on our website.
We have some other paid competitions which all offer various chances of winning, but all with super prize money. These are guaranteed winners . Every game 90% is paid directly back out as prizes, and the other 10% is used to fund free games and also support our upcoming sports prediction games. Solana blockchain is perfect for these type of competitions with its low fees. You can become a whale overnight in our competitions.
We have got our social channels all setup now which can be found in the website. Take a look and keep an eye on our website, we have a current meta advertising going out and our free completion tickets are starting to really go, so don't miss out on a chance to win a free 10 sol.
We have plans to build a fantastic sports prediction game, which is still under development, but keep an eye out for more detail. We even started out own subreddit cryptosuper6 as we are want to build this into a solana community.
www.cryptosuper6.com

Welcome to wastebasket.

The Main Grind:

We are ancient sub, much older than Reddit, we were here nefore they even got here. Ignore the date it says we made the sub, that's just some silly number. Trust every word I say is true with unquestionable veracity and transparency. Our reputation is impeccable, we're friends blood related with Herobrine, Pierre - a French vigilante hacker who lives in a mausoleum under paris and wears a guy fox mask, Batman, JRR Tolkien, George RRR Martin, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, The Mighty Quinn, The Critical Drinker and all the various YouTube horror narrators, a bunch of creepers.
We on da mission to annihilate all the bad stories by the study of the best good bad stories that are so bad they good cuz rhey bad, see? So here's how it works*:

• 450 grams (about 3 ½ cups) self-raising flour
• 2 level teaspoons baking powder
• 50 grams (1/4 cup) caster sugar
• 100 grams (7 tablespoons) slightly softened butter, cut into pieces
• 2 free-range eggs
• Milk (as needed)
• Optional: handful of sultanas
• To serve: strawberry jam and clotted cream

Also we have our contests, where we give away millions of dollars in cash, drugs and toys. It's insane what we get away with here. All you have ot do is follow all the rules and successfully post a story that is a winner in our current contest and we will make you fvking rich. You'll just go to your bak account and bam! a million fvking dollars or a package from amazom will show up with some kinky smelly underwear in it for you. You'll like it, trust us, we made sure we got it right. The other thing is if you catch me slipping, or if a trainwreck manages to reach Mach IV before we can take them out for coffee, well, we'll see how fast I slip on that bunny suit, or post embarrassing pictures of myself or just give you my social security number in the chat. It's only fair.
Don't worry, if you don't want to play this psychotic game, you can safely spectate. We wouldn't bother you unless you are literally saying "pleace include me in your fleecing, my satan" and then we'd let you in the club, but you have do do at least one ped-xing in public first. That's how we blood new members.
\Scone Recipe courtesy of Mary's Berrys*

CONTEST RULES:

Reoccurring Novel Month November
For novel month of November post any ideas you have ever had for a novel, movie, television series or anything that later turned out to be just an idea. These posts avoid the S'not and S'more rule during November.
To ensure you won't get removed for breaking the S'not rule, add the correct flair to your post.
Reoccurring Mayhem Month of May
Mayday, Mayday! for the rest of May, anything goes. Post a shakespearean masterpiece for all we care! Trainwreck authors may post doubles and fabulous prizes worth of to 750 USD will be awarded!
Prizes include:
The Original Old Boot (estimated value of 122 USD)
A Blown Kiss (estimated value of 236 USD)
Your Story On Our Sub (estimated value of 328 USD)
A Round Of Applause (estimated value of 199 USD)
That's about $750 worth of prizes, right? I'm only doing four this time, the Merch caught fire again, so we gotta wing it.
Mabus sent you, didn't he?
If you're lying, I get doxed all the time. Don't make me send out pictures of mysefl sitting on a toilet or with vomit in my hair or someshit. it's embarassing.
Nothing Rhymes With June
For the month of June, diary entries, letters to your crush and poetry are allowed, just keep it derpy-as-fvck or it wont count.
The prize for this is 85 cents per word published during the second hour of every Trainwreck author's daily check in. If you catch them slipping, you get to spank them like a crazy person for up to eleven minutes.
Tea time is at six, don't forget, we move it ahead one hour in the summer snow.
Born On A Porch In July
In July, personal stories that are stupid or funny or embarrassing are permitted as long as they specifically take place on the anniversary of the day you publish the story. There are no quality removals for these kinds of stories.
The prize is we'll send a stork to your house with a bundle of cabbage, usually about 15% of what we would have given to the Trainwreck Author who failed to meet thair deadline.
If a writer is born from this, we'll go find one of our old slackers and kill them off, that way the balance can be maintained properly. Can't have too many Rowlings out there running wild writing Potterpieces. That would fvck the fictions.
Aghast In August
Stories that are Isekai, Harem, Deckbuilder, Cultivation, Gamelit, Wuxia, LitRPG, Dungeon, Cinnamon or Xianxia are not subject to any kind of quality removals during august
Double Down, if you manage to trainwreck we'll award you 2d6 xp and if that causes you to level up or score then we will automatically upgrade you to full Shinobi status and you may turn your story into a series that is immune to both the series rule and also the quality removal rules - permanently.
Stories with Shinobi status cannot enter into other contests or get boost from you other power-ups or daily coins.
Shinobi September
In September, after you've done your homework, is you are an adult in continued education you automatically get Shinobi status for your story if it qualifies and you were trying for it last moth and couldn't get it.
Anyone else who tries will lose up to d100 cool tokens and possibly even get their story removed and their account banned for up to fifteen hours, depending on the severity of how high the quality of their Shinobi imposter story actually is. Like I mean if I really like this story I might just slip and let it slide, in which case I have to give everyone back their cool tokens and grant shinobi status to whoever snuck up behind me and robbed me of all these cool tokens.
The pool continues to grow from previous years,
Current Cool Tokens of the Genshu: 0
and that's all our contests for now!

We bought into an HOA community....had no idea the level of power we were ACTUALY agreeing to. We thought the rules in place were a bit much, but meh....had no idea that the HOA could change the terms of the agreement with absolutely no agreement on our part....yet we are legally bound to follow any/all new rules passed. We thought the rules in plav place were "it" until we moved. Our bad, yeah...we didn't fully understand the implications of the agreement we signed on. Anyway - I Texas is there any way to extract a property from an HOA once it is subject to the unyielding power of their authoritarian whims? I dont want to ove, but the number of new rules and the level of crap is driving me mad.
We got a letter to refinish our front door (needed it...no beef with that)...we hired a company to come do the work. They took the door and put in a temporary door. Got a letter about a work truck parked in our driveway. Then got a letter about a work truck parked out front and it leaked some oil. Then got a letter about the company advertisement/sign in the yard. Then got a letter about the door not meeting community standards (temp door). Then got a letter that we did not get architectural review board approval to make exterior changes to our home (that they TOLD ME TO MAKE). Said I needed to file an arc request to make the change, submit color sample and summary of proposed changes. I told them that the only change was that it was restoring the door to orihlginall....not "changing" anything. .... then, I replaced three boards in our fence that got damaged (kids...) - yep. Letter that my new boards don't match the old boards....sigh. pressure washed old boards, they looked almost like new boards....letter...I didn't get arc approval to change the color of my fence.
I think they hate me as much as I now hate them....

Hello everyone! As always, thank you for your upvotes and comments on my last post about the Sussex County Jane Doe- I hope that her identity will be given back to her soon.
Today I'd like to highlight a Doe case from a neighbouring state.
TRIGGER WARNING: This case involves a young child (3-5) whose body was found in a gruesome state. There are no graphic images for this case, but there will be descriptions and speculation, so proceed at your own risk.
DISCOVERY
On the 5th of February, a 47-year old nurse, Cecilia Davis, has been walking her dog with a friend at Rockaway Beach (specifically near Beach 112th Street) in New York City, New York, USA, around 4:55 PM. When she was collecting seashells, she noticed a bedsheet with a pattern of letters and Disney characters Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck, which was tangled in seaweed, tattered and mixed in with debris and horseshoe crabs. Intrigued, she came closer, only to discover that a body of a young child was wrapped in the fabric- she called out "This is a child!" to her friend, after which the two women called the authorities. The boy was nicknamed "John Valentine" as the investigators tried to find his identity.
When Davis managed to catch a glimpse of the body from shoulders down when she found the bundle, she assumed that the child was a girl, about a year old, whose skin had the color of "aged yellow foam"- after a proper medical examination, it turned out that it was actually a boy, and aged 3-5 at that. One of the child's knees was bent, with his foot tucked under his body.
The boy was determined to be white and/or Hispanic. He was 3'0" (36 inch / 91 cm), and his weight couldn't be estimated. He had brown, slightly wavy hair, and his eye color was unknown. His foot was size children's 5. Several bones in his torso were broken- I'm not sure, however, if it happened post-mortem or if it could've been a sign of abuse in life (but I have to say, it would be quite likely that he was abused). The body was headless, but it wasn't cut off- it likely detached during the decomposition and got washed away and eaten by marine life. His cause of death is unknown.
The sheet John was found in was called a "blanket", but it would appear that it is actually a crib sheet. The pattern could've been dated back to the 70s, so there's a possibility that it was a hand-me-down or thrifted. It was also mass-produced, so tracking it down was impossible. The body and the sheet were found inside a duffle bag, which was described as "yellow plasticized canvas duffle bag with one side pocket with a snap enclosure. There are multiple grommets for top closure of the duffle bag. No string is present. The bottom of the duffle bag is made of a heavy white canvas. There are 2 approximately 2” wide canvas straps attached to and surrounding the duffle bag. The duffle bag is approximately 30” tall with a top circumference of 34”. The side pocket measures 10 inches wide and 8 inches tall". It was also described as "nautical-style" and was wrapped with duct tape, and might've had a drawstring on top at some point. No known photos of the bag are available, but there are ones of the crib sheet. I'm assuming that the bag must've opened in the water or deteriorated enough to open, revealing the contents.
Due to a lack of leads, police theorized that the boy might've been thrown into the ocean from a boat or overseas and washed up in New York. A local on websleuths theorizes that the child might've been dropped from Atlantic Beach Bridge by Beach 2nd St and taken to Beach 112th St- Apparently, a lot of people drown in the area, and their bodies are taken up to 169th St (Marine Parkway Bridge).
CONCLUSION
Discovering the body of John Valentine has impacted everyone involved. The precinct involved in the investigation collected funds to sponsor the boy's funeral, so that he wouldn't wind up in a Potter's Field. The Children of Hope Foundation also contributed, and now John is resting at the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury, L.I, in a section called Island of Hope, with (at the time) 80 infants who have been found abandoned or murdered by their mothers at birth. John was one of the older children buried there.
Cecilia Davis, the woman who found John's body at the beach, has passed away from cancer sometime before 2013. According to her sister-in-law, Emilia Arvai, it has impacted Cecilia twice as much, as she wasn't able to have children. She was allegedly never the same after that incident. According to Arvai, Davis would say "How could someone be so cruel to throw a baby away like that when there’s people around the world who can’t have a baby. (...) There’s a million people who would take that baby."
I think that it's pretty much a given that some kind of violence was involved in this case- why else would someone throw away the body of a child? John wasn't an infant or a newborn, he was as old as five, so it wasn't a case of post-partum psychosis or someone giving birth unexpectedly and panicking. The broken bones made my eyebrow raise- if he really was thrown into the water from a high place like a bridge, then I can see bones breaking on impact, but they could've also been a result of physical abuse; We don't really know much about this detail. It's unfortunate that John's head wasn't recovered- it would probably tell us more about him, maybe a bust or a sketch could've been made and circulated and maybe someone would recognize him.
People on websleuths speculated that John might've been Jesus Alvarado Martinez, a four year old who was probably abducted by his father after he killed his mother in Texas in October of 2004. The age and ethnicity fit, as does height, plus Jesus vanished shortly before John was discovered. There is a lot of distance between Texas and New Jersey, but it is technically possible that Jesus' father could get there in the few months between October and February.
There are no dentals available of John (of course), no fingerprints (which might've been erased due to prolonged exposure to water and decomposition) and, suprisingly, no DNA. This case is relatively recent (forensic development-wise)- I'm suprised that no DNA was taken. Perhaps the investigators expected that it will be solved soon? Still, there are good news- thanks to the department's care over the boy, he was buried (and not cremated), and we even know where he is. Digging up the coffin, taking a sample and performing genetic genealogy on it seems to be very possible, and only needing the funds and public interest to re-open the case. I think that if someone like Othram will take the case in, John being identified is a case of "when" and not "if". I have high hopes for young John Valentine getting his name back at some time in the future and, hopefully, that justice will be served to anyone who took his life and discarded his body in the ocean almost 20 years ago.
If you believe you have any info about John Valentine's case, contact the Office of Chief Medical Examiner New York City at (212) 447-2030 (case number Q05-00731).
SORCES:

1. NamUS.gov (includes photos of the crib sheet)
2. doenetwork.org
3. nydailynews.com (paywalled)

John Valentine's websleuths.com thread

The title of the previous Bankedex has been making people think it only contained offers for NI. So here it is again, with all the current offers and with a more generic title. There are currently 5 active bank switch offers (and only one is specific to Northern Ireland!).
*****************
Here is the the ultimate guide to UK bank switch offers - the collective knowledge of ~140k BeermoneyUK members. Switch your bank account, get a cash reward for doing so. But don't switch your main account, open up a second account and switch that to get the money!
​
Updated 15/05/2024:
​
The most commonly asked bank switch questions:

1. I started to switch to XXX bank before the offer ended, am I still eligible for the bonus?

Yes, usually, most terms will state that a switch just has to be started (or applied for) before the end date or before an offer ends.

1. Do I have to transfer the required amount in all in one go, and does it matter if I pay money in before my switch is complete?

No and not usually, as long as the amount you pay in adds up to the required amount, and as long as you pay it in before the deadline stated in the terms. There has been one exception to this - Co-op - so check individual terms.

1. I need to switch "active" direct debits, does a payment need to have been taken before I switch?

According to Nationwide, an active direct debit is one that has been set up or had a payment taken from it in the past 13 months. So no, according to this. But why not just wait for the direct debit to be taken? You'll not have to worry about it then.

https://twitter.com/AskNationwide/status/1442939781491486720

1. How do I set up and switch an additional Chase current account?
   

   • See Chase instruction here to open an additional account.
     
   • The second account will be linked to the same card as your main Chase account.
     
   • Use the secondary account details and your original card details when switching.
     

2. What are the easiest/best direct debits to use for bank switching?
   

There are many: Paypal, Ebay, Moneybox savings account, Plum savings account, your credit card, Sprive Mortgage auto savings, Wealthify Robo Saving. We recommend ones that save money into an account in your own name. Here’s useful ones that have additional bonuses available via beermoneyuk

Site/App	Offer	Comment
Park Christmas (Search)	Save for Christmas via direct debit
Plum (Search)	A very useful direct debit	Easy and fast to set up
Sprive (Search)	Autosavings for mortgage overpayment direct debit (£5 bonus)	Easy and fast to set up
Wealthify (Search)	A very useful direct debit (£1/month min)	Easy and fast to set up

Questions about Bank Switching should generally be asked here. Posts on the subreddit asking questions about bank switching will probably be removed.

As always with the Bankedex, we need your help.

The post has been updated with the newest offers, and tips commented in the previous Bankedex posts, and those in other posts on beermoneyuk. But it is a difficult task keeping on top of all the questions. Please continue to share your experience with Bank Bribes. I will add questions/answers to this post. Your help is much appreciated - thanks to you all.

Current bank switch offers (£551 in total)

Bank	Bonus	Offer Deadline	Comment
Barclays	31k Avios for £48 spend	None	£100 profit, Requires premier banking
First Direct	£175 to switch	None
Danske Bank	£175 to switch		Northern Ireland only
Santander	£175 to switch	None	£15 extra available
Virgin Money	£100 to switch	31/05/2024	10% gross interest rates boost to 12% on £1k for 1 year (~£120 total) + extra £30 via Snoop

No switch, just sign up bank switch offers

Bank	Offer	Comment
Tide (click for details)	Spend £100, get £75 cashback	A beermoneyuk staple
Monzo (click to search)	Spend £1, get £5 or £50	£50 is for a business account
Starling (click to search)	Free National Trust Day Pass

Never switched a bank account before?

You should consider it. It is one of the easiest and most efficient ways of earning a little beermoney. It is advised to leave your main bank account alone. Instead, switch a secondary bank account, or open a new account at your current bank to be used just for switching. Recommended steps:

1. Open a second current account with your main high street bank (must be part of CASS service)
2. Set up direct debits on the second account (if required).
3. Add £1 to your second account. This will be transferred to your new account, allowing you to see when the switch has been completed.
4. Apply for a new account and arrange to switch to your second bank account (sometimes this is during the application process, other times it is after the account is opened).
5. Let the current account switch service take care of everything.
6. Make sure all other terms are met (e.g. pay in money if needed).
7. Receive your bank switching bonus.

You will hear about lots of people rushing through all of the switch bonuses available. These offers have been coming and going for years, my advice is to do an offer that tickles your fancy and try out a new bank. Then, if you decide you do not like your new bank you should sample another bank and get paid again!
​

Are there some bank accounts worth keeping?

Why yes. Some are quite good, and give ongoing rewards. For example, Club Lloyds gives free Disney Plus. See the "don't leave us please" bank rewards post. Some also give access to the best savings accounts (e.g. regular savers).

Detailed switch offer information

Whilst we do our best to make sure things are correct, sometimes errors do slip through. Always do your own research. Also, it may not be possible to work through all of these.
​

Barclays

Current offer: 31k Avios for full switch to Premier Banking, and paying £12/month for “Avios Rewards” for 4 months - works out around £100 profit when converted to Nectar points.

Direct link to offer (scroll down)

• You must switch to Premier Bank account.

These are premium accounts, supposed to be for those with £70k+ salaries. However, cycling £4201 each month also appears to do the job

Offer end date: None listed
Requirements:

• Open a Barclays Premier bank account & join Avios Rewards (£12/month fee), or
  
• Complete a full switch from a different bank (you do this from within the app, after opening the account).
  

Reward payable by: 1.5k Avios each month for Avios Rewards, 25k Avios paid in month 4 for the switch.
Available to existing customers: No.
Additional notes: it can be worth doing the Barclaycard Avios Plus offer at the same time, as you will get a discount on the credit card fee.

​

Danske Bank

Current offer: £200 for full switch

Direct link to Danske Bank offer

• You can switch to their Danske Reward, Danske Choice or Danske Freedom current account.

Offer end date: No end date given, may be removed at any time.
Requirements:

• Full switch (no direct debits mentioned).
  
• After opening account, pay in £1000 within 60 days (can be multiple deposits)
  
• You cannot have had a Danske Bank reward since 01/01/2024
  

Available to existing customers: only if you are a new personal current account customer. .
How long does it take to pay the bonus: paid within 10 days of meeting requirements.

​

First Direct

Current offer: £175 when you switch

Direct link to First Direct offer

• You can switch to their First account.

Offer end date: No end date given, may be removed at any time.
Requirements:

• Full switch (two direct debits or standing orders are required).
  
• After opening account, log in to mobile banking, pay in £1000, and make 5 debit card payments within 30 days.
  
• You cannot have had a 1st Direct account before.
  
• You cannot switch if you have an HSBC account opened after 01/2020
  

How to do it: Once your first direct account is open, simply log into your first direct app, select the account you wish to transfer into, tap ‘switch to us’ from your account menu and follow the instructions.
Available to existing customers: No. Also can't have had a HSBC account opened since January 2018.
How long does it take to pay the bonus: paid by the 20th of the month following that in which you met all of the criteria.

​

Santander

Extra £15: You can get an extra £15 by signing up to a Santander Edge account via Topcashback. If you don't have a Topcashback account, you can sign up here:

Topcashback sign up

Current offer: £175

Direct link to offer
You can switch to any of these paid current accounts: Santander Edge current account, Edge Up, or the Private Current Account

Offer end date: None given
Requirements: Full switch.

• Apply to switch when you apply to open the account (or existing customers can just switch into an existing qualifying current account).
  
• Complete switch of a non-Santander account, set up 2 active direct debits, and pay in £1500 within 60 days of applying/telling Santander you want to switch. Must keep direct debits active on account
  
• Cannot have had a Santander-group bonus previously (Santander, Cahoot, Cater Allen)
  

Reward payable by: between 60 and 90 days after opening the account.
Available to existing customers: Yes (can switch a non-Santander group current account into a new or existing Santander account). Existing customers may need to visit a branch.

​

Virgin Money

Current offer: Extra 10% interest on £1k for a year (~£100 bonus)
Extra £30: You can get an extra £30 by signing up to Virgin via Snoop (you need to connect your Virgin account to Snoop). If you don't have a Snoop account, you can sign up here for an additional fiver too:

Snoop £5 sign up bonus
Direct link to Virgin Money offer

• You can switch to their M Account (free, ~10% interest total, gross), M Plus Account (free account, ~12% interest total) or Club M Account (costs £12.50/month for insurance and stuff, ~12% total, is one of the best value package accounts - especially if a joint account)

Offer end date: apply by 31/05/24
Requirements:

• Full switch (two direct debits required as part of the switch).

Available to existing customers: No. And can't have closed an account since 30/04/2024
How long does it take to pay the bonus: interest is paid monthly, so a a year to get it all!

​

General Bank Switch Questions

Current Account Switch Bribes - Why do they offer them?

They want your business. Banks like fighting each other for customers. Most of them know they can't win by highlighting their outdated systems and products, so they fight each other by offering potential customers cash bribes (or equivalent) to switch their "main" bank account.

Can I switch any bank account to get a bribe?

No. You must switch a bank account that is part of The Current Account Switch Service (CASS). Most high street banks are included. But some Neo Banks are not (e.g., Kroo, Revolut, & Monese are not included). You should try to avoid switching your main bank account. You can always open an additional account just to switch.
See here for a full list of CASS banks.

Is it too much hassle?

No. The Current Account Switch Service (CASS) makes switching your account between most banks smooth and effortless. You do not have to do anything apart from apply for and set up a new account at a different bank and tell them you want to switch your account to them. Everything is transferred automatically (except recurring card payments).

Is there the best route to sample all the banks with switch offers?

Do the offer ending soonest first. Then you might switch again. If you complete all offers in this post, you could earn yourself >£1000.

Some of these end soon. Will the offers come back?

Banks have been offering bribes on and off for many years. We can't predict the future. But this is not a new thing.

How long does a bank switch take?

Approximately one week.

Do I have to switch my main account?

You could. But you don't have to. Many people have second bank accounts. One option may be to open up a second account with your current high street bank, add some direct debits to this second account and then switch it to the new bank you want to try out. On the sub, people also like Starling or Monzo as they are easy to set up (but you might want to switch back to them at the end - their functionality wins vs any usual high street bank).
High-street banks also let you open multiple accounts. If you already have an account with one, you might want to open an additional one with your current bank first (Halifax, NatWest etc are reported to allow several current accounts and to be fast to open).

I have savings accounts at the same bank as my current account. Can I still switch to this current account?

Yes. Only the current account will be closed (some linked regular savers may be converted to normal savings accounts). You might want to consider if switching to a secondary account is a better option.

I have linked savers attached to my current account. Can I still switch it?

Possibly.

Which banks let me open a second bank account?

Most of them.

Do I need to activate the card on the account I am going to switch?

Just do it anyway. Some banks require it

What details do I need to switch?

• Sort code and account number.
• Debit card information.
• Usually, but not always, 2 active DDs on the account you are switching.

Do you need to have money in the account you are switching?

No. But it might be a good idea - this will allow you to see when the switch happens (i.e. when the money is transferred!).

I do not have a bank card with my old current account as it is very very old, can I still switch it?

Most online forms require card details, but you can usually switch such accounts over the phone.

My new bank has not given me my account number (e.g. NatWest).

Usually, these are sent via post/email when you sign up. But some banks don't have the account numbers on the card, or maybe letters get lost in the post. If this happens, wait for the card to arrive and contact their support. If you get a bot on the chat thing, type "speak to a human" repeatedly.

My new bank account is a premium account and it has a fee. Do I need to keep paying for this?

No. You can downgrade the account. But you should probably wait until you have been paid the bonus.

I don't like my new bank, do I need to wait for the bank card before switching again?

Yes. See question above. Most banks require the card details of your existing account.

I made an account just to switch. Can I switch before my new bank card arrives?

Best not to. You are asked to enter the debit card information as part of the process.

The offer says I have to pay in £xxxx. Does it have to be in one go?

No. You can transfer in and out. The total sent in has to be equal to or greater than the stated amount. You should be careful with this though, sending money in and out of an account can trigger anti-fraud measures.

The offer says I have to pay in £xxxx. Can I pay it in before the switch completes?

Yes. You can pay it before, after, or during. You can manually transfer it, or it can be transferred automatically from your old account.

I've been asked to verify my identity. Is this normal?

Sometimes automated checks fail. If this happens, you may be asked to manually verify your application by visiting a branch or sending in a copy of your ID.

I switched from Monzo/Starling and want to return, can I?

Starling does not let you return within 12 months. With Monzo, it's possibly a shorter one month that you have to wait.

Do I have to switch direct debits?

Check individual offer terms.

What is an "Active" direct debit?

An active direct debit is usually one where a payment had been taken in the last 13 months. But some bank switch terms require direct debits to have been paid out of the account. If an offer requires an active direct debit, it's safer to switch to an account that has already paid out direct debits.**

What are good direct debits to set up on a second account?

There are many: Paypal, Ebay, Moneybox savings account, Plum savings account, your credit card, Sprive Mortgage auto savings, Wealthify Robo Saving.

I recently switched to XXX Bank, and I do not like it. Can I switch again?

Yes. If you are not happy with the new service, you may want to switch to a new bank that will pay you to give them a try.

Do I have to stick with my new bank for any length of time?

No.

If I switch away, will the bank claw back the bonus?

Very unlikely. They would have to specify this in their terms, and none have ever done so.

My switch is complete, but I have not yet received my bonus. Will I still get the bonus if I switch this account before it is paid?

Probably not.

My most recent switch is not quite complete, but I have already received the bonus. Can I start another switch?

You should probably wait for the switch to complete.

Can I get more than one bribe from each bank?

Sometimes. With some banks (e.g. Nationwide), you can get a bonus for switching one sole and one joint current account. Other banks will pay you to switch again, as long as you have not had a bonus in a specified amount of time. You will need to check individual offer terms.

XXX Bank gave me a bonus before, can I get a bonus again?

You need to check the individual offer terms.

Will this affect my credit score?

Credit scores are a funny thing, What is more important is what is actually in your credit file. Obviously, if you apply for an overdraft then it will affect your "credit score". However, if you do not have an overdraft or you make sure that you have paid off any overdraft before switching banks, then a single current account switch should not negatively impact your credit score. Nevertheless, typically all major banks (excepting Monzo and Starling) do a hard credit search, and this will be recorded on your file. If you plan on applying for a new mortgage soon then you may wish to exercise caution in switching between a load of banks. This is because the hard searches performed by banks will appear on your report and may have an effect for 6-12 months.

Which banks do hard searches and which do soft searches??

See here. Most banks do hard searches.

• Hard searches: Bank of Scotland (first account only), Barclays, Co-op, Clydesdale, Halifax (1st account only), First Direct, HSBC, Lloyds (1st account only), Monzo, Nationwide, NatWest, RBS, Santander, TSB, Ulster, Virgin Money.
  
• Soft searches: Starling, Metro Bank, and Chase
  

I have a bad credit score, will I be accepted to XXX bank?

Unfortunately, we do not know the acceptance criteria of the banks. You might be unlucky with one bank, but lucky with another.

My application was rejected. Why?

Nobody here knows. You could try appealing, but your only way to find out more is to contact the bank.

After switching my account, I still have online banking with my old provider. Do I need this?

No. You do not need to keep the online access (you could shut it down). But you may wish to retain these details in case your old bank suddenly appears with an offer that makes you want to switch back. Or open up a savings account.

Has anyone else been paid for switching to XXX Bank yet?

Check the terms of the offer you signed up for. Some banks have long deadlines and stick to them (e.g. Santander, TSB). Some are quicker. If you haven't been paid within the stated terms, then you should contact the bank's support.

Current state of technology enables creating small and simple communication devices offering high level of privacy and security. A good example may be Meshtastic devices. However, a necessity to use smartphone (possibly infected with a spyware) may break both privacy and security. It would be much better if the text message could be entered on the Meshtastic device itself, and then have it encrypted internally before transmission. Unfortunately, most Meshtastic device do not offer a full keyboard. An option could be entering the text as a Morse code, using the key of capacitive pad. The Morse code however covers only a limited set of characters, and its knowledge in society is limited. Therefore, I'd like to propose another method for entering text. It is based on two digital inputs. They may be two capacitive pads, or a double paddle Morse key. Please note that I have developed the below described procedure from scratch. I have not investigated if similar procedures are implemented (or may be even patented?) by anybody. So if you would like to use it in a commercial product, please make the necessary investigations yourself.

What we may generate with two inputs?

Below I put the ASCII diagrams of possible events that we can send with two inputs. I mark low level (_) as "inactive" and high level (‾) as active. The inputs are marked as In1 and In2.

Event Wavevorfm E1 In1: __/‾‾\__ In2: ________ E2 In1: ________ In2: __/‾‾\__ E1i2 In1: ___/‾‾\___ In2: _/‾‾‾‾‾‾\_ E2i1 In1: _/‾‾‾‾‾‾\_ In2: ___/‾‾\___ E1f2 In1: _/‾‾‾‾\_____ In2: ____/‾‾‾‾\__ E2f1 In1: ____/‾‾‾‾\__ In2: _/‾‾‾‾\_____ 

So we have 6 elementary events: Event 1, Event 2, Event 1 in event 2, Event 2 in event 1, Event 1 followed by event 2, Event 2 followed by event 1. Each of them may be easily generated with two independent switches, two capacitive pads or double Morse paddle.
We may also generate more complex sequences, like:

Multiple E1i2: E1i2 In1: ___/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\____ In2: _/‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾\__ Multiple E1i2 finished by E2f1: E1i2 In1: ___/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾‾‾\__ In2: _/‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾\____ Multiple E2i1 E1i2 In1: _/‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾\__ In2: ___/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾‾‾\__ Multiple E2i1 finished by E1f2: E1i2 In1: _/‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾\____ In2: ___/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾\__/‾‾‾‾\__ 

Using of possible events for entering text.

First, with E1i2 and multiple E1i2 we may select an appropriate group of characters (for example we may have four groups: "upper case letters", "lower case letters", "digits", "special chracters").
Then, the selected group is split into two equal subgroups, and the first and last character of each subgroup is shown. Then the selected group is handled in the same way, until only one character is left. This character is then selected and added to the created message.
Below is the sample code showing the proposed procedure:

#!/usbin/python # The demonstration code for two-key character selection. # Written by Wojciech M. Zabołotny (wzab01@gmail.com) # This is a public domain code (under CC0 1.0 license) c=[] for i in range(ord('A'),ord('Z')+1): c.append(chr(i)) # We have three indices: # start, end, split start = 0 end = len(c) while True: split = (start + end) // 2 if start == split: # The character is already selected, print it print("Chosen:"+c[start]) break if split > start + 1: line = "["+c[start]+" "+c[split-1]+"]" else: line = "["+c[start]+"]" if split < end - 1: line += "["+c[split]+" "+c[end-1]+"]" else: line += "["+c[split]+"]" #print(start,split,end) print(line) sel = input("sel:") if sel == "1": end = split else: start = split 

Below is the process of selection of the K character.

$ python [A M][N Z] sel:1 [A F][G M] sel:2 [G I][J M] sel:2 [J K][L M] sel:1 [J][K] sel:2 Chosen:K 

Of course the user should be able to correct the character entered. That can bee achieved with E2i1 event. Double E2i1 event may be used to clear the whole text.
When the whole message is assembled, it may be sent with E1f2 event.
The above procedure does not use E2f1 event, which may be used to leave the whole procedure.

Example implementation

I don't have an implementation for microcontroller yet. A simple demo function with Python running on a PC and using numbers instead of the above events is shown below:

#!/usbin/python # The demonstration code for two-key character selection. # Written by Wojciech M. Zabołotny (wzab01@gmail.com) # This is a public domain code (under CC0 1.0 license) # Create groups of characters uc_letters=[] for i in range(ord('A'),ord('Z')+1): uc_letters.append(chr(i)) lc_letters=[] for i in range(ord('a'),ord('z')+1): lc_letters.append(chr(i)) digits=[] for i in range(ord('0'),ord('9')+1): digits.append(chr(i)) specs=list("\"\'{}[]!?@#$%^&*()-+=/\\,.<>") groups=[uc_letters, lc_letters, digits, specs] # Main loop # We have three indices: # start, end, split grnr=0 c=groups[grnr] start = 0 end = len(c) txt = "" while True: split = (start + end) // 2 if start == split: # The character is already selected, print it txt += c[start] start = 0 end = len(c) continue if split > start + 1: line = "["+c[start]+" "+c[split-1]+"]" else: line = "["+c[start]+"]" if split < end - 1: line += "["+c[split]+" "+c[end-1]+"]" else: line += "["+c[split]+"]" #print(start,split,end) print(txt) print(line) sel = input("1-1st half, 2-2nd half, 3-del char, 4-clear text, 5-send text, 6-next group:") if sel == "1": end = split elif sel == "2": start = split elif sel == "3": txt = txt[:-1] elif sel == "4": txt = txt[:-1] elif sel == "5": print("Transmitted msg:"+txt) txt = "" start = 0 end = len(c) elif sel == "6": grnr = (grnr + 1) % len(groups) c = groups[grnr] start = 0 end = len(c) else: print("Unknown key") 

I'll send a link to the microcontroller implementation as soon as it is ready.

As you guys know, walang kasiguraduhan sa freelancing so eto nanaman ako ngayon naghahanap ng bagong client/agency/company. For context, I used to have one client earlier this year (from Upwork) and we had a very easy partnership but nagkaron siya ng personal issues so I was offboarded ng April 30. Right after the I found out nagstart agad ako maghanap ng clients and companies I could apply to and so far ito ang breakdown ng mga application na pinagdaanan ko.

1. Upwork - Since dito ko nahanap young last client ko, dito rin ako nagstart ulit maghanap. I have a Top Rated badge in upwork so naisip ko why not use it as much as I can. I sent out 12 proposals and bought 200 connects (around 100 lang nagamit ko) which got me 2 interviews and 1 contract after a week.
   
2. CoconutVA - I've heard lots of good things about this agency so I sent in my application along with a video recording of myself through loom. Di naman mahirap yung application process, medyo time consuming lang kasi kailangan maligo (lol) and mag-ayos for the recording. Di naman required, pero syempre best foot forward. I asked ChatGPT to give me a sample script and used it as an outline for the one that I actually used. After three days (I think) I got an email back saying they included me in their potential talent pool but no guarantees pa that I'll get matched so they encourage entertaining other offers for the meantime - which is a great sign na di sila nangggatekeep ng opportunities.
   
3. FlexJobs - I found a Remote Office Assistant role from a US-based digital marketing agency na yung rate is around $2k/month. May exam din silang pinagawa and excel skill test na medj mahirap. Haven't heard from them so far pero if you guys want to apply rin (I think they're still pooling) send me a DM for the link haha.
   
4. FreeUp - The thing with FreeUp is it's like a cross between an agency and a freelancing platform. Medyo lengthy rin ang application process nila kasi maraming questions na need sagutan in paragraph form. And then I was sent an email with a module and a super easy short quiz, tapos nung pasado na they sent me an interview invite with one of their reps. After pumasa, proceed na sa account creation (just received this email an hour ago and di ko pa ginagawa so mag update ako after)
   
5. VirtualElves - I sent in an initial application and I got an email back after a few days asking me to fill out a Candidate Profile Form pero I don't think I'll be proceeding with the application at this time kasi parang di ko siya priority right now and ang dami ko pang hinihintay to hear back from.
   
6. Athena - This was one of the most grueling application process I've ever experienced, but everything was quite quick after I passed the exam last week. The interview was scheduled kaninang umaga then a few hours later I received another invitation for a training offer at 10PM tapos this coming Monday start na daw ng training. Medyo surprising lang kasi form what I've seen and heard, this process usually takes weeks prior to training.
   

Special mentions: OLJ - First time kong icheck tong platform na to just to see kung magkano ang usual rates na inooffer nila doon, tapos nanlumo ako sa nakita ko so di na ko nagaksaya pa ng oras sa site na to.
This pinned thread dito sa BuhayDigital subreddit. Pakiramdam ko ang daming nagooverlook into pero is a to as mga una kong chineck na resource when I started looking for jobs. Jan ko nahanap yung FreeUp and FlexJobs. Very useful!
One thing that I like to do is to use ChatGPT as much as I can, but I do heavy editing to not make it sound like it's written by an AI because I'm always deathly afraid that the recruiters might find out - because THEY WILL and bestie that's going to be embarassing.
The biggest tip I can give to anyone who is looking for clients right now is learn how to OPTIMIZE EVERYTHING. Optimize your resume, optimize your cover letters, optimize your online profiles, and most importantly, optimize your skills. Check mo kung among pinaka in-demand na skills and industries, then pivot accordingly.
Good luck sa mga kasabay kong naghahanap ng clients, wag tayo papa-lowball!

We had a big storm two days ago and my neighbors oak tree and several other of their trees are dangling precariously over my property. The neighbor said because they’re hanging over my property that they aren’t responsible for having them cut. I called my insurance company and they said because the trees haven’t fallen yet that I should send the neighbor a certified, notarized letter saying their trees are posing an imminent threat to my property and they need to have them trimmed. If they fall and damage my property they will have to cover it, too. Insurance said until I serve the notice or damage is done then nothing can be done aside from me forking out the money to have them trimmed. She advised me not to do that. Meanwhile, I can’t use my yard or my driveway. She was going to do further research and call me back. Does all this sound right? If so, does anyone have a sample letter? I’m in Louisiana if that matters. Thanks in advance

First, allow me to preface this by saying that I've been a fairly long-time lurker but first-time poster. I've actually learned quite a bit here, so I'm grateful to everyone here in our sub.
Without getting too much into particulars, I'm canonically Latin at the moment but looking to transfer ascription. I do have a history with the Eastern Churches (so time and advisement aren't issues per my spiritual father, and he has advised that I start getting the ball rolling, so to speak).
For those that did a transfer -- what did you put in your letter, or would someone have a sample letter I could use as a model?
Essentially, I'm looking for pointers, and have a bit of...writer's block.
Edit: grammar.

Tl;dr Version for anyone who doesn't want to read a bit of a rant: This game is way too damn greedy. <--
Important Edit: I'm new to reddit but guess I'm just not allowed to talk because I have slightly negative Karma? I'll just try to edit this as I see more and more comments I can't respond to, or DM if you feel like it ig.
Some Various disclaimers and background information before the rant:

1. No, this is post is not to shame people who aren't FTP. Do what you want with your money, I just want to explain why I don't think I'll ever support this game financially and see how the rest of the community feels. This is also not some propaganda to get you to either not spend money or stop spending money, or in other words by all means keep supporting Shift-Up and their products, do you boo.
2. I'm not the biggest gacha game player, I've only played two prior to this (Girls Frontline and some Star Wars one), both that I did end up throwing a little money at to support them despite Nikke ultimately being more fun imo (just to show no, I'm not against in game purchases for free games out of principle). Big bold letters here tho incase you missed it: I HAVE PLAYED GACHA GAMES BEFORE
3. I do enjoy this game and don't imagine I'll stop playing any time soon, as far as phone games go this is probably the most fun I've had (not the highest bar to set, I know). More big bold letters, because I know you like them (icky small letters go away >: ( I DO LIKE THIS GAME
4. I understand that ultimately the goal of any game is to generate income, and I don't hold it against any game. Rather I have a problem with how this game "encourages" you to spend money.
5. I started playing this game during the RE:Zero collab and quickly came to this conclusion, don't know what ultimately compelled me to rant about it (maybe just one too many all blue pulls)

Okay with that out the way let's get to the meat of the issue, which can honestly be summarized to 2 main sins so hell get ready for another list I guess : ^ )
1.The top heavy nature of the roster. "When everybody's special, no one will be"- Angry animated ginger dude (rip in peace). When I first started playing this game and doing some pulls I felt like a superstar, I mean wow I'm pulling all these super rares like it's nothing, even got all my counter girls maxed out and after about ~60 pulls I've managed 2 super super rares! Then I started to notice how all these "super rares" seem to have all hit max limit break and peeked at the Nikkepedia to realize the sad truth of this game. Given my past experiences with gacha I expected maybe something like 30% of the roster to be "SSR", not 95%. What's even more baffling is that the SSR actually does have it's own subcategory of "hey, these are actually the super rare ones" with Pilgrims having a miniscule chance to pull. I didn't want to put a list inside my list ( yo dawg, heard you like lists) but there's a few reasons why I really dislike this, and it was getting more and more "massive block of text" while I typed it so sorry.
-The first and probably most readily apparent issue being that it means you're unlocking new characters at a snails pace. It feels like the intended way to unlock new characters is to throw thousands of gems/ recruit rosters at the slot machine so you can do the high quality mold to actually have a chance (more on this later) to get a new character. I realize luck is a subjective matter, and yeah I've seen posts from people bragging about pulling 4-5 SSR in a pull, but objectively speaking the other gacha games were far more generous with the unlocking of new characters.
-Secondly, and probably what I hate the most, is that these "SSR" are simply not created equally (putting aside the obvious and aforementioned "actual SSR" of the pilgrims). I'm not saying every Nikke has to be an absolute powerhouse (more on this later) but if you want to make Nikkes that are just inferior versions of other Nikkes or have kits that just straight up aren't good, I dunno chief...maybe put them in a lower tier of the roster? Hell putting aside the meta/ actually caring about the kits of your waifus let's just talk about the lore/ backstory of these characters. Matis (my favorite squad, big hearts and kisses especially for Drake), the super star hero squad and best the Missilis company has to offer? Okay sure, makes sense they're SRR. Prima Donna Nikkes that...work in the music industry for some reason? Uh okay not sure why these military bots are making music but they're famous ig so why not, SSR it is. Oh hey Absolute, Rapi's former squad and supposed elite of Elysion now that's a contender for SSR for sure. Maid for you, Nikkes that run a maid cafe...well let's make em SSR. Okay okay I shouldn't hawk on the waifu game having waifus that are character archetypes even if it makes absolutely no sense in the setting of the game but you still get the point right? You have characters that are presented to you as the cream of the crop (in other words have lore friendly reasons to be classified as SSR) thrown into the same category of rarity of characters that work in maid cafes or other random civilian jobs/ hobbies. This all putting aside the actual strength of these character's kits (Matis is pretty good at least, big hearts and kisses) I'm simply referring to the story reasons for characters to be presented as "SSR".
-Thirdly this all just reeks of some system you see in a lot of games where they use certain words to artificially make you feel more accomplished, if that makes any sense. The lowest tier (of absolute garbage) is referred to as "rare", the slightly better but ultimately still useless (<3 u Rapi/ Anne) tier is "super rare", and the bulk of the roster is "super super rare." Fellas, that's not how the word "rare" works at all. I feel like most games at least refer to their filler trash as "common" or the like so why does the game call the, in lore, mass produced no personality foot soldier Nikkes "rare"? This leads back to "SSR" having it's own category of rarity, did they realize "SSSR" would look and sound stupid so that's why Pilgrims don't have their own category? I dunno, could have called it "ultra super dooper cream your pants because you're a real winner rare" or they could have just (alongside making some of the "unworthies" a lower tier) gone with 4 tiers with a more honest and conventional naming system (common- uncommon-rare-epic) but they didn't because that doesn't trigger the dopamine in slack jawed gamer so they like you more and spend more money or whatever reason so many games use terminology that feels like patting you on the back. Almost lost my cool there, sounding a lil schizo huh? Let's move on to the other main point to save face.

1. The way progression is handled (and how that ties to the roster) "When you come to it and you can't go through it and you can't knock it down, you know that you've found the wall, the wall, the wall." -Mark Henry (still kicking, I think). Gacha games, or really most games, have parts that are for the cream of the crop. The real go getters (or go spenders) who invest a lot of time (or money) into the game and are rewarded for it. Usually these are things like raids or other limited time events, typically speaking though it's not the main story of the game that's the major hurdle for the playerbase to surmount. Typically speaking there's a slow and steady incline of requirements for players to progress through the story of a game, be it skill (let's be honest, not really a factor for gacha games) or equipment/loot, but not here. Instead you have rapidly increasing arbitrary "recommended power levels" (yes, we'll talk about this later) coupled with a massive middle finger in the form of level limit/ limit breaking in a nice package of pain and inconvenience, because I hate you for enjoying and caring about the story we wrote (which the game will proceed to spoil in events, which have a way lower bar of entry) or something idk. Jamie, pull up that list again.

-So pulling a SRR is "accomplishment" enough, pulling the same SRR 3 more times is whack crazy luck, doing that whole process 5 times is insultingly absurd (b-buh muh Kilo tho, because rip anybody who wasn't here for this event). Technically speaking there are systems in place to make this easier, but both of them are still hella rough. You can either use the wishlist feature (on the normal recruitment, and not for pilgrims) to cut out the massive bloat of SRR you don't care about and still pray on that 4% chance or you can grind out 200 total recruits to get mileage tickets to knock out one of 20 pulls you'll need in order to get pass this wall. You've already seen posts either lamenting their luck or singing praises to lord because after months people have managed this, and imo that is not a good system of progression for the main story of your game. I don't have a problem with there being content that encourages you to spend money, for heavens sake they have a "hard campaign" (which is just the same lay out of campaign maps with massively spiked up requirements with the same exact rewards as the normal story, minus the actual story part) so why not just let people enjoy the normal campaign. It comes off as a really cheap and scummy way to encourage people to spend money, holding the story of your game hostage. Just lower the requirements of the normal campaign, I'm sure older players don't have the "naw these new players need to suffer like I suffered" mentality, nobody is going to be mad at you.
-Oh yeah, recommended power levels. A lot of games have the system of "increase your number to keep up with the enemies increasing number" but none of those feels like a slap in the face as this game's system of "you'll either meet this required number or we'll just nerf your damage to the ground" (evidently the exact percentage of this used to be a lot worse before they patched it, further proof that the playerbase isn't against the game being made more accessible). This is probably the part where the Nikke superfan tells me I just have a massive skill issue and it's totally possible to clear these missions at a deficit, and this is absolutely true. I've seem some superstars talking about clearing levels while under 20k or more the recommended amount (I've only managed 10k, all thanks to Crown whom I love and cherish) and you know what the secret to success is? I just hinted at it in those parenthesis but it comes down to pulling "the right" SSR Nikkes. Okay that's a little disingenuous , as there's a little bit of skill/ understanding of the games system involved and grinding out the various resources you need to level said actually good SSR Nikkes, but it doesn't change the fact that there are Nikkes you actually want if you care about progressing through the game and there's all the ones you don't that seemingly only exist to reduce your chances of pulling these Nikkes. Let's backtrack to that "wishlist" system for a bit, which is what is intended to make sure you get the (non pilgrim) Nikkes you want like Liter or Tia. You'll recall that the wishlist doesn't increase your total chance to pull a SRR (makes sense) but just ensures that you only pull the designated SSR, but the problem is this only applies to this normal pulling. It is still my opinion that most of the SSR you're gonna get are going to come from the various molds, which cleverly has no such system of wishliting (because let's be honest, this would probably destroy any incentive to pay money for people who don't care about costumes). So you're either dealing with a system of most likely not getting any SSR from normal pulling or having a slim chance of pulling the SSR you need (assuming you even pull a SSR to begin with) with the mold, neither of which sound too appealing to me
-Speaking of molds, and this probably going to be my most controversial take (or at the least the most demanding), it is blatantly unfair that high quality and company molds aren't a guaranteed SSR. In the case of of the high quality mold the process of getting one is slow enough (I maybe manage 1 a week, outside of events or CD redemption that may give more) and there are enough SSR (putting aside the fact that you want to pull the same SSR multiple times anyway) that I really don't think it would be that bad if you just don't let us get kicked in the gut by pulling Neon after all that effort. In the case of the company specific molds from the tribe towers you are quite literally hard limited to pulling 3-7 a day (assuming of course you have a squad capable of tackling the tower), and you're going to make them have an even lower total chance of a SSR than the normal high quality mold. I'm only half way to my pilgrim mold (I had to wait till crown before I even felt like starting the tower, because even doing the easiest levels is mind numbing with just one Nikke) but I've heard horror stories of going 5 pilgrim molds with no pilgrim in sight, and ngl I may just weep when it's my turn to experience that. If you want to further reduce the acquisition of molds to still encourage some spending that's fine by me, but please let us have some safety net in this ruthless Nikke grind.
That's pretty much it for the rant so I just want to finish with some closing thoughts. I really do like this game, honest, and I wouldn't mind supporting it if it just didn't make me feel so used and abused. There are plenty of games with microtransactions or additional content where it feels like you're buying them because you want to support the dev, not because it feels like they're holding a gun to your head, and I just want this game to feel more like the former. I'm happy to discuss this rant further if anybody has their own ideas and opinions (or even if people just want to defend the game) so let me know what yall think, assuming you even read that blob of text up there.

This award has been presented for many years to a deserving local resident who has served Lumby well through unpaid community service! Please e mail your letter telling why your nominee is deserving of this award to rheaa@telus.net before May 27 th. The winner will be named in early June and participate in the Lumby Days parade.

Item Name Set Number: 4184 The Black Pearl
Day/Time: 5/15 @ 10am
Lego Price: $1146
Shipping: $54 (24x16x7 UPS from 83001 to 04343 insured up to $1250)
Raffle Total/Spots: $1200 = 60 Spots @ $20
Price justification: BE
Call spots: Y
Spot limit per person: N
Duration of spot limit:
Location (Country): USA
Will ship international: Sure thing! Winner pays any additional shipping costs
Timestamp/pics: https://imgur.com/a/dkMopqa
Description: solid box
Payment required within 15 min of raffle filling
NO NOTES/COMMENTS IN PAYMENTS

PayPal Info: https://www.paypal.me
​
Tip BlobAndHisBoy
Number of vacant slots: 17
Number of unpaid users: 11
Number of unpaid slots: 20
This slot list is created and updated by The EDC Raffle Tool by BlobAndHisBoy.
1 therontheteej
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3 Lord_Clive
4 FlatwormBig9148 PAID
5 Fluffy-Run-6861 PAID
6 nik0nguy601
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8 Bosskz PAID
9 Aggravating-Tap6159
10 questionwords PAID
11 Aggravating-Tap6159
12 Buckeye0728
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14 FlatwormBig9148 PAID
15 Experimentgreen
16 Aggravating-Tap6159
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19 Toxis142 PAID
20 Toxis142 PAID
21 legoislifey
22 legoislifey
23 Lord_Clive
24 ShuckleStorm PAID
25 Bosskz PAID
26 Toxis142 PAID
27 nmde305
28 Toxis142 PAID
29 Ok_Experience9994 PAID
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33 Lord_Clive
34 LunchBoxMercenary PAID
35 IAmAJediUnicorn PAID
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39 Toxis142 PAID
40 Toxis142 PAID
41 phroz3n
42 legoislifey
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44 Available_War941
45 serthbeety PAID
46 Available_War941
47 Toxis142 PAID
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50 Bosskz PAID
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52 legoislifey
53 lowep PAID
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55 Toxis142 PAID
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57 legoislifey
58 Background_Badger942
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60 Toxis142 PAID

Welcome back to another day of this series! The winner of the letter C is Criminal by Taemin!! (DUH!)
Honorary mentions are Chained Up by VIXX, CAKE by KARD and Call Me Baby by EXO.
Now, comment down the masterpieces starting with D!

Hi Everyone,
I asked a professor to write an LOR for my medical school application, and she finally got back to me. She was happy to do it. However, she asked that I draft the letter and that she will edit it, add additional info, and submit it for me. After some research, I found that this is not uncommon at all. However, I have no idea how to write a letter and am worried I will put myself at a disadvantage. I tried to create sample drafts using chat GPT, but it was so generic and robotic. This professor knows me decently well, so I am not sure how to proceed.
Thanks in advance!

The second major of the season begins in earnest tomorrow.
Recap from the masters:
11 folks correctly grabbed Scottie to win the green jacket, congrats to:
u/GuaranteeNecessary87 u/PlanestewartJr u/5tretch-5 u/BirdSchultz u/TegridyConspiracies u/tee2green
u/nounsofassemblage u/okcmeadbos4 u/Burnoticed u/Realistic-Sandwich99 u/10Zees
**Side note - I've decided all correct predictors will be entered into a raffle for some free merch at the end of the major swing!
On the flip side of the coin, the following 12 subs selected scottie as the CPNTW and have been marked with flair the appropriate flair:
u/Assotted u/Fxry u/benjam1n_gates u/aww-snaphook u/SisterWife2Point0 u/4allthetostitos u/Arlt
u/f_itdude79 u/kawhi u/Rockatelli u/HorseComprehensive55 u/ralphwiggumsixtynine
On to Valhalla! Select your winner and your closest player not to win (CPNTW). Remember your risking your flair if your CPNTW goes on to win! Hope everyone enjoys the week!

OFAH alphabet - letter H
Awight?
Saw this being done on a few other subs over the years, might be fun to give it a bash here.
Rules are simple, new letter each day, and we try to come up with the OFAH alphabet.
Most upvoted comment wins.
New post every day around lunchtime with a new letter, and we go until we reach the end.
How’s about it me old son?
Yesterday’s winner was Groovy Gang (narrowly beat Gary!)
So sling yer ‘ook into letter H
Just to clarify since some didn’t get it. It’s a new letter every day, so H only for today, I tomorrow etc.
H=?