Hi,
I've been literally pausing my life for the last 2 years due to physical severe anxiety and depression symptoms hoping that introspection could get me to a point where I can find the root of my bad being and solve it.
I've reached the point that I didn't find anything I wanted trough introspection and I didn't find any reliefs compared to my life when I had everything I wanted and started to being anxious and depressed with physical issues.
Today I think I've nothing left on this planet, I don't know who I am and I don't know what I want or what I can do or even have life goals/objectives it seem that there was a time where I had these objectives and even if I was dealing with obstacles I've never been doubting at this time, now 6-7 years later I'm not capable of being a normal person with a normal lifestyle and little or big life's objectives anymore. I just want to get better (health related).
I didn't try meditation seriously but I've tried many other things including journaling, therapy and adapting my life habits. But I'm still dealing with lack of appetite, focusing and memory issues (short and long term), libido and digestive issues (I have other symptoms mostly anxiety related ones).
My question is simple, I've been trying to let it go, to don't try anything specific anymore and see what would happen but it didn't work for me (or maybe I didn't let it enough time I don't know).
What if I don't find the root of my condition? What if when I was living perfectly well and I got everything I wanted (or almost) was not adapred for me? What if trying to get back on the normal lifestyle (working, committing socially with more interactions, let it flow/go) is not working for me I mean it can't fix my physical/anxiety related symptoms?
Thank you for your experiences and meaningful helps.

My friend JP and I decided to each eat two 4 gram shroom chocolate bars.
Some context: JP and I, as well as some other classmates were all attending a trade school for 7 months. The school and a local extended stay hotel had a deal where students from the school could book rooms there for months in advance at a discount.
One weekend night a few of our classmates were having a small party in one of their hotel rooms. JP was busy doing something and we wanted to eat the shroom chocolates together so I hung out with the other guys having a couple drinks and smoking until JP arrived around midnight. JP finally arrived and we decided to eat the chocolate. We each immediately ate our first 4 gram bar. We agreed that 8 grams was a bit too strong so we broke off a fee squares and shared them with our classmates. In total, we both ate about 6 grams (1 and a half chocolate bars). This was about midnight.
Around 12:30, I could feel the shrooms kicking in. JP was feeling it also. I was already having visuals and colors were very vibrant. JP was looking a little concerned and got up saying he wanted to trip in his own room. We all wished him luck and said goodnight and I told him to call me or text me if he needs anything. JP left.
Probably another 20 minutes or so and the shrooms were starting to affect my perception. I stood up off the couch and zoned out staring at the floor. Then I decided it was time to go back to my own room and lay in bed. My classmates said okay and even the guys who had only a couple squares of chocolate said they were feeling good. I said goodnight and walked the short distance down the hall to my room.
It felt good once i was alone in my room. The familiar feeling of tripping came over me. However, the trip was increasing in strength faster than usual. Soon I felt as though I wasnt in control. There were patterns on the wall and the carpet and I soon got a sinister feeling. I felt the urge to vomit and went to my bathroom. I dry heaved for s couple minutes but nothing came up. The shrooms felt like they were a separate organism living inside me, like they were growing inside me.
I decided to ride out the trip laying in the dark in bed. Being in complete darkness was comforting and made the visuals alot more vivid. Geometric patters of all different colors encompassed my entire visual field. I lay in the dark tripping.
The hotel rooms all have air conditioners and at this moment mine kicked on. The humming vibration sound comforted me. It was resonating with me, vibrating me on the inside. This helped me really relax into the trip, as the body high was accelerating rapidly. I felt myself blasting off.
Everything expanded and my mind was its own three dimensional space, separate from my body. Any substance Ive ever taken would always show itself to me. The shrooms were talking to me, something along the lines of “you wanted to trip so here you go”.
Suddenly my mind was collapsing, like how a star collapses into a black hole. It shrunk and shrunk down to microscopic size. At this point it felt like my whole being was being sliced up. I was being chopped atom by atom, getting smaller and smaller. I found myself laying on my back in bed and without trying to speak I said, “Im trapped inside here”, “Someone trapped me in here”, “Someone tricked me”. I watched as my mind was crushed and sliced smaller and smaller.
Finally, i could see myself trapped in a room inside my own mind.
I felt the fear of being trapped. The claustrophobia. I then remembered how in the Yugioh anime, Atem is trapped inside the millennium puzzle. This thought was like a wake up call and i imagined the word “willpower”. The room in my mind expanded to show that surrounding it, was a giant labyrinth. There was a maze in my mind that I was trapped in. I wasnt afraid anymore and felt confidence that I would escape.
This must have been what the shrooms were looking for. I passed their test. I was then being shown my own memories. Parts of my life passed in front of me. It looked like images of my memories on tablets which were being presented to me. I then got the feeling that I was dying. I felt my grandmother and possibly other ancestors around me. I thought, “ok this is it, Im going to die right here in this hotel room”, and I surrendered.
Thats when i saw it. The veil of our reality. It is directly in front of our eyes. Its as if our eyes are looking point blank into a screen that shows reality. But reality isnt real. I felt contained within something. We are inside a machine and our reality is being projected to us. I could tell there was more just beyond my eyesight.
I then saw, right over my eyes, a reptilian face. It flashed in front of my vision briefly, but its face is burned into my memory.
At this point i began to come back to normal. I slowly went back into my body and recovered from the trip. I lay in bed trying to remember what I had experienced, but I didnt lay for too long because from outside my room in the hallway I heard someones voice.
I sat up with a burst of adrenaline. That sounded like JP. I tapped my phone, it was 4:30am. I got up and went to the door. Poking my head out I saw JP standing in the hall talking to himself. “JP, what are you doing?” He turned to me and I knew he was tripping hard. He clearly didnt know what was happening. “Go back to your room.”, I said. JP looked very confused and walked past me, turning to look back a couple times. “JP get in here with me”, I said. “Are you Jesus?”, he asked wholeheartedly. I will admit this part made me laugh a little, but he was seriously freaking out. “Bro get in here”, I said more seriously. His expression changed and he said no and turned and briskly walked the other direction. I closed my door, put on pants and a shirt and got my room key. I opened the door again and he had wandered down the hall where the elevator was. I left my room and caught up to him. At this spot, the hallway makes a 90 degree turn and JPs room is down that way. I see near his door one of the exit signs had been ripped off the ceiling. It was apparent that JP had been wandering around the halls of the hotel tripping balls.
I got up to him, put my hand on his shoulder and coincidentally at this very moment, the elevator opened and two police officers stepped toward us. They said they got a call about someone acting strangely and knocking on peoples doors. JP uttered some nonsense to the officers. I said I was trying to get him back to his room. The officers agreed and we walked the short distance to JPs room. He didnt have his phone, wallet or room key. I agreed to babysit him in my room.
The cops left and told me to stay with him. I said sorry and thank you. For the next 2-3 hours JP frantically paced in my room, repeating the same sentences over and over. Eventually he layed on my bed and fell asleep.
Everything turned out ok and JP is fine. But he did get kicked out of the hotel for breaking their sign.
We can see two opposite trips happening, JP fighting his trip, and me giving in and being shown things.
From that day, our reality seems quite different to me and I wonder just how real that reptilian face actually was.

tl;dr:

• Regulation invariably results in unintended negative consequences and primarily serves big corporations
• It's unlikely that legislators will approach this issue with the care and nuance it deserves
• The death of live service games problem will likely resolve itself

I'm ready for the flurry of downvotes, but I'm skeptical that having legislators involved in regulating video games will bring anything but misery. I've read the FAQ on what seems to be the official website for the movement, and I can't say my concerns were much alleviated, but maybe you guys can clarify.
I get that this movement is very attractive in theory. Who wants to see games they've paid for and enjoyed get shut down? But once you involve regulators, you need to be prepared to deal with unintended consequences. For example, let's say we pass a regulation that all games as a service must provide a patch when shutting down that allows the game to live on in some fashion. If I'm an indie game developer with a couple of AWS credits who wants to try out a concept for an online game, am I going to run afoul of these regulations? A game like Palworld might never face the light of day if facing increased regulatory burden. The people you're targeting are the big corporations, but small businesses are always the ones to suffer from red tape, and often in ways that are not possible to predict.
Do we even trust legislators to find the nuance on this issue? Having read the FAQ, even I'm not sure what the solution would look like as someone who has played video games my whole life. We've established that the solution would need to be tuned correctly to avoid impacting small businesses, and the FAQ points out that we can't expect publishers to keep their online games alive forever. If the people writing the petitions can't define how to protect live service games without holding publishers at gunpoint to maintain them indefinitely, how can we expect some out of touch lawmakers to do it?
Further, I would ask how much of this is really a problem to begin with, and whether this is an issue that might solve itself given time. Gamers seem to be well aware that the live-service model is fraught with issues, and know exactly which publishers are likely to be untrustworthy. This whole thing seems to have started over Ubisoft's The Crew. There's hardly a less trustworthy publisher, and indeed Skull and Bones released as a complete flop. Gamers recognized a live service game where the rug was likely to get pulled out from under them and were savvy enough to avoid it. If nobody is playing these games, why are we forcing companies to devote additional resources by patching or maintaining them? These games are dying for a reason, and even if you don't believe in voting with your wallet (though it does, just look at Helldivers), you can easily avoid these pitfalls by not buying. Really, there are much better games out there than those made by Sony and Ubisoft, and even they seem to be slowly moving away from live service.
As for games that ARE in demand, preservationists seem to do a good job maintaining those. They may run up against a cease and desist, but there's a lesson to learn here: Copyright law and other regulations don't exist to protect consumers or enthusiasts. In practice, they invariably serve the large corporations that you're trying to hold to account.
I've seen one argument that since you're effectively buying a license, even offline singleplayer games could be revoked from you in theory. Not only would actually doing this be a massively unpopular move, but as an unintended benefit of piracy, pretty much every modern offline video game has been successfully preserved.
I'm not saying you guys don't have a legitimate issue. I'm asking you to explore your options before opening the pandora's box of legislation. You should demand transparency from vendors about what you're actually buying. You should ask CMs what the legacy support plan is for when live service ends. Before you run to consumer rights legislation, be a smart consumer first. Once you get the lawmakers involved, you might be sorry you did.

🔥 THE CHANNEL 1 CULT IS RECRUITING 🔥
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[C1C] The Channel 1 Cult has many openings for all levels of players and is full of motivated and friendly members from all over the globe. We are one of the largest and most active Clusters in Raid, with over 30 Clans. We maintain a Friendly, Helpful and Non-Toxic community environment for the enjoyment and progression of all our members, and Respect is Rule Number 1 in our server.
What will you see in the C1C Server?
⊰ 4 Years Old Server with many expert members ready to help you anytime you ask for help.
⊰ Special guide channels and information for different contents and activities in the game.
⊰ Suitable clan for you from Beginner to End Game up to the Top 200 clan in the game.
⊰ Clan Advancement for when you progress further in the game.
⊰ Special competitions for competitive players.
⊰ Entertaining Mini Games and Events.
⊰ Well Organized Tier 3 server with exclusive C1C Themed emojis and stickers.
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Hey, it's after 3am, but here's a comprehensive rundown of everything shown about Pictomancer in Live Letter 81. Well, not everything, I didn't get cast times. ** denotes one button.
**[Light single target combo] Red Fire > Green Aero > Blue Water (Grants 25 rainbow gauge and 1 white palette gauge for finishing combo. First step grants “colour magic 2 possible” and second step grants “colour magic 3 possible”, which allow for the combo actions) 200mp per cast
**[Light AoE combo] Red Fira > Green Aerora (?) > Blue Watera (?) 300mp per cast
**White Holy (Costs 1 white palette gauge per cast) 200mp
**[Dark single target combo] Cyan Blizzard > Yellow Stone > Magenta Thunder (Costs 1 stack of “Subtractive Palette” buff per cast) 300mp per cast
**[Dark AoE combo] Cyan Blizzara > Yellow Stona (?) > Magenta Thundara (?) 400mp per cast
**Black Comet (Costs 1 black palette gauge per cast and ends the “Tone Inversion” buff) 300mp
**Tempera (?) Coat (No information given)
**Rainbow Drip (No cost, Long cast time attack, grants 1 white palette gauge)
**Subtractive Palette (Costs 50 rainbow gauge, grants 3 stacks of “Subtractive Palette” buff and “Tone Inversion” buff, changes 1 white palette gauge to black)
**Smudge (Dash forward and 3 seconds of “Smudge” buff which increases movement speed)
**Picto Animal (Canvas) Preps the respective Imagine Animal spell. Long cast time in combat, instant outside of combat. Rotates through four options:

• Picto Pompom
• Picto Wing
• Picto Claw
• Pictor Fang

**Imagine Animal (3 stacks) Granted by respective Picto Animal spell.

• Imagine Pompom
• Imagine Wing
• Imagine Claw
• Imagine Fang

**[Animal Finisher]

• Moogle Stream (After pompom and wing)
• Madeen Retribution (After claw and fang)

**Picto Weapon (Canvas) Preps next Imagine Weapon spell. Long cast time in combat, instant outside of combat.

• Picto Hammer

**Imagine Weapon (2 stacks)

• Imagine Hammer

(Grants 3 stacks of “Hammer combo possible” buff)
**[Hammer finisher] Hammer Stamp > Hammer Brush > Hammer Polish (Each cast cost 1 stack of “Hammer combo possible” buff)
**Picto Scape Preps next Imagine Scape spell. Long cast time in combat, instant outside of combat.
**Imagine Scape

• Imagine Sky

(Grants “Imagine Sky” buff, “Subtractive Palette possible” buff, 5 stacks of “Installation” buff, and “Star Prism possible” buff)
**Star Prism (Heal and damage, costs “Star Prism possible” buff)
//Buffs// “Colour magic 2 possible” (Swaps combo spells to the second button in the combo)
“Colour magic 3 possible” (Swaps combo spells to the third button in the combo)
“Tone inversion” (Swaps next white palette gauge to black, allowing a cast of Black Comet)
“Smudge” (Increases movement speed)
"Imagine Sky" (Unsure)
“Subtractive Palette possible” (Allows cast of Subtractive Palette for free)
“Installation” (Reduces cast and recast time)
“Star prism possible” (Allows casting Star Prism)
“Rainbow Drip effect up” (Increases next Rainbow Drip cast [was granted at the same time as both “Tone Inversion” and the final stack of “Installation” fell off])

I feel it's one of those things, that despite being "minor", brings such a huuuge PLUS to the product.
Every review i've seen of a watch with the flashlight tells about the same thing : "i thought it was a gimmick but now i have it i use it every single day".
I mean, watches improve in such incremental steps since a few years... ok the new XX sensor is better than the previous in such and such condition. Ok the battery lasts a day longer. the screen is now brighter ....
but the flashlight..... the flashlight... it's a detail but this very thing makes any other competing watch, with its "flashlight" being the screen maxed out, look ridiculous and cheap.
It doesnt' add that much to the build cost (i think) but brings so much added value to the product.
The person who came with this idea deseves a serious raise.
Garmin if you hear us, put the photo of that employee on the wall because he/she singlehandedly guided many of your clients to stay garmin clients. Once you've used that flashlight, you can't switch back to a competing watch that doesn't have it too.

So I've noticed it's about the same 10 people and all of the breakup type subs you know letters, unsent, EXNC And hell they all sound kind of familiar when you want them to don't they? So here we go... For all the ones that I see that say their people aren't contacting at all or aren't making any effort at all they haven't heard from them here or there they can't tell who's who so here we go: Hey J, I am taking steps - one already, I do love you, I do want to see you, I can't be the guy who missed showing up last night (for someone else). I am aware that I'm responsible for my actions. I'm wrapping my mind around your feelings and how you view my effort, activities, behaviors, transparency and overall kick ass attitude again self awareness should be a given. Also applies in relation to the percentage of chance or no chance, hoping for a chance. I genuinely have no interest in manipulation or gaslighting. If I'm performing those let me know and I will knock that shit straight the fuck off and moving forward you know you can assist me in eliminating that language. If I use it much it's because I'm charming and I can be pretty persuasive.... In the good way weirdos. I still see you as beautiful as ever Even if that's more difficult for yourself to do. I have saved for retirement. I do have a plan for myself for the future, I'd love for you to be in there....nope I hafta have you in there. I Have a desire to maintain proper health and wellness and watch out for you too. And I'm going to continue to front a punk band and want to included in that part of my life as well. So I hope this reaches you because I swear like five different people are you. If you're going to communicate because communication is key then we should probably jump on it within the next couple of steps or else we're going to miss something else that one of us has got to say I imagine. So I've got no idea who's who, but I want this to answer some questions if you're not getting any questions answered and you think I'm not remaining goal oriented, well I sure am.
And I think I'm missing something.....Oh yeah and I definitely want to f√¢k, please and thank you. For those that are still wondering I'm a letter C. Tada!

I received several missed calls at almost midnight last May 13 by a number I don’t recognize. I usually screen calls but those calling at an ungodly hour could mean an emergency so I answered the call. The person on the other end started to ask to confirm my mobile number and he said that he has sent Gcash mistakenly to my number. Now, I was woken up and rattled by a midnight call from an unknown number thinking it was an emergency from a family member (Thank God it’s not) and the next thing I hear was the caller telling me he mistakenly transferred money to my Gcash. So instinctively I thought this was a scam call and I told him I don’t have Gcash several times and he can contact Gcash customer service instead. I tried to end the call as fast as I can as I have read some incidents when a call that is long enough from a hacker can get the hacker access to your mobile phone and I don’t want to stay on the line so long since I also was checking my Gcash account then and I did not notice any incoming transfers during that time (the latest transaction that night were all me transferring money out of my account). I then proceeded to block the number from my phone for fear of receiving more pestering calls from the scammer.
The following night my Gcash account was put on hold! I sent several tickets and sent the photos requested from me several times. It did not occur to me that the previous night’s call was related since I never saw any incoming transactions that previous night.
The call was May 13. Today, May 16 afternoon I received an email from Gcash informing me that my account was put on hold because of a complaint of an unauthorized transfer report with details reflecting the last 3 digit of the number that called me as the complainant and the amount was worth P600 but the transfer, accdg to the report, happened May 11 (2 days before I received a call).
I have no idea if this is true or not since I no longer can access my Gcash acct and Gcash no longer texts any transfers that have been made.
According to the email I have to submit a notarized affidavit of settlement with the complainant. How am I to do that if I don’t know any details of the complainant aside from his number and I live an airplane ride from Manila. I don’t think the complainant lives anywhere we can conveniently meet face to face to have the form notarized.
I’ve read in one of the posts that the OP reached out to the scammer who had her account blocked and the scammer lifted the complaint in Gcash. Should I decide to take this route (which I will most probably will just to lessen the hassle of everything else) can anyone please tell me how to cancel or withdraw a complaint in Gcash? Just so if the complainant is willing to do so if I will transfer P600 to his account I can tell him to do so step by step?
Such a hassle and it has left me so confused why my account was on hold since I did not receive any prior notice from Gcash that there was a complaint filed. I have read that if there was a mistake in sending money that Gcash’s suggestion is to have the 2 account holders to talk and settle the issue amongst themselves. So why is Gcash dipping their toes in this or was I reported as a scammer (which I definitely am not).
So frustrating.
Thanks for reading up to this point and any suggestions are much appreciated.

Spoiler Alert: It's been weeks since I watched Aavesham in theaters, and since its OTT release, I revisited it. One scene has been running in my mind: in the final act, Ranga breaks down, expressing how he hasn't felt as casual and chat with anyone as he did with those three teens in years. Following this, Ranga steps away, and we see Amban visibly affected, shedding tears.
But I'm unsure how to interpret this moment. Is Amban truly saddened by Ranga's emotional state, or is he upset that Ranga didn't consider him a close friend or a brother? Your thought?

How?
Higher dimensional genderism.
Lilith (the) showed me a group of six Africans, in a group, sitting in a shallow pool of water. One of these individuals looked at me, and appeared as a male. I pondered in attempt to solve this puzzle. Then I realized something was wrong, and I looked up and I saw a rainbow halo above the head of the male.. and then.. the male turned into a female.
Puzzle solved.
Lilith also showed me Klaus Schwab (the) .. now this was an interesting one. Turns out Klaus is a fairy. The man is probably gay, and probably enjoys sex by stimulation of the male G-spot, which, in turn, activates a process of divine spiritual self-creationism. I saw Klaus with fairy wings, and heard him say something about "being too serious". Lilith said I was the only one to understand this, with consternation I might add.
So what do I think of this? Clearly, Sarah, whom I assume to be a lesbian, will soon take a wider role as a spokesperson. Great choice! Really smart girl! I can't pick apart a single thing she says. I was shown this lady having some kind of awakening moment.
Also, I might add, the lightworkers whom are now licking their wounds, might want to learn from this post, and understand their role is to heal, not judge, not bind, not ritually abuse, not attack.
Judgement was brought down upon certain starseeds for following the wrong path, so please use this post to help yourselves to follow the right path.

Yes, you read that right. I think that Gallienus was better than everyone's favourite sunboy. Let me explain why:
Gallienus was responsible for pulling Rome through what was till then it's worst decade ever - the 260's. The east was turmoil with Shapur, plague ravaged the empire, the west had broken away, barbarians tribes penetrated the frontiers, and an insane amount of usurpers kept popping up. For all intents and purposes, the empire should have fallen during this decade.
But Gallienus was able to ride out this absolute shitstorm, crushing usurpers left and right and creating the Comitatenses to better handle the raids. He attempted to revive Rome itself with an artistic renaissance and entrusted defence of the east to Odenathus, which proved effective.
It's for this reason that I think Aurelian is somewhat overrated nowadays and I've come to realise how much his success was built upon the back of Gallienus's efforts.
He himself had been able to rise up through the ranks due to Gallienus's more meritocratic military reforms and if ,you ask me, the empire was in a better position in the 270's than the 260's. The Plague of Cyprian had mostly subsided, Shapur had died, and the intensity of the barbarian raids were starting to wind down. These were much more favourable conditions for Aurelian compared to what Gallienus had to work with.
Aurelian is applauded for reuniting the empire but his conquest of Gaul has been made easier by the beachheads established by Gallienus and Claudius II Gothicus and I think the threat Palmyra posed has been overstated. The Egyptian grain supply may have been cut off, but Rome could have still been supplied with grain from Africa.
And I've got to drop a bitter red pill - Aurelian made a catastrophic decision in his reign which has really irked my traditionally positive view of him.
According to modern historians (e.g. Potter and Kaldellis), it was Aurelian who caused the empires mass inflation by issuing a new coin to celebrate his military exploits in the west and east. Now, it seems that the currency had been losing value from the Severans onwards due to mass debasement to pay the army, but the inflation hadn't truly set in until Aurelian issued his new coins.
This meant that the economic crisis Diocletian had to deal with, that Constantine began to solve through introducing the solidus, that turned Rome's economy from a monetary based one into a goods based one until the times of Anastasius in the 6th century can be traced back to Aurelian. I cannot stress what a blemish on his career that is.
So yeah, that's why I think Gallienus was better than Aurelian. A spicy, controversial opinion for sure, but I'm interested to hear others thoughts.

So for context: I’ve been at my company for nearly 3 years now. The company, A, is pretty big and somewhat regularly acquires other smaller companies and their software. Around a year ago our team randomly received meeting invites to “new hire onboarding” sessions for a much smaller company we had acquired, B. But the thing is the communication from leadership was basically non-existent as to what expectations are and what direction we were heading in.
This was literally the first we ever heard of it. My manager didn’t even know this was happening at the time or what company B was.
During these meetings it became clear very quickly that the people leading the onboarding session actually thought we were all brand new employees who needed to be trained on their technologies at company B. They were treating us like subordinates and asked us to all turn our cameras on, which none of us did because we never do and who the hell were these random people giving us orders like we’re new here? It was genuinely so strange.
Over the next months we began incepting new epics for integrating the two companies’ products, but it became even more clear very quickly that company B had a much “stronger” culture (more dominant personalities basically). They were joining our meetings and essentially telling us how to do our jobs and driving things with their standards. There was definitely some push back at first, but then the team got split up by leadership seemingly strategically to kinda put a wedge between those who were more standoffish about the changes. B also didn’t seem to understand that A was a much larger company essentially made up of a bunch of smaller companies, and that there was a really big dead-sea effect going on. There were no real code owners or domain experts for lots of our tech the way they had for their smaller pool of products. But leadership doesn’t really understand nuances like this and just expect that more resources = more production.
There are some really, really overbearing personalities from company B who now work with us regularly. I know I’m not the only one bothered because I’ve had coworkers reach out to me privately basically just to vent about all of this, which I totally agree with. Some of the things company B does are definitely better, but they seem to think they can do no wrong and will often argue about things passive aggressively. They also don’t realize that scaling up the way they did things at their smaller company doesn’t really work by just forcing people into roles they were never hired for.
This whole thing somehow very quickly went from a “let’s integrate these two products” to an entire engineering culture shift. Leaders have been let go and also resigned, our managers and even our manager’s managers are seemingly as lost as we are. One of our senior architects literally said in a meeting to us privately “I really have no clue what they’re expecting from us for this.” a few weeks ago. B has imposed their culture from a much smaller company onto the dozens of other dev teams now somehow. Now all of a sudden cameras on is a soft requirement in meetings, but there’s a pretty clear divide between those who don’t bother to follow this rule and those who originally worked for company B. Our SDLC has also completely changed. The high up leaders speak about this as if it’s “so much more agile and efficient”, but really it’s feeling incredibly forced and driven by a small minority of engineers.
The biggest problem is that I find myself kinda just totally caught in the middle. There seems to be this expectation from B that I and the other members of A are experts on all products from the A side of things, which is so far from reality. There is so little documentation and testing in place, and lots of our previous efforts had been towards just kinda cleaning up the mess others had left behind. A is a huge company with lots of individual products. I was already struggling to stay up to speed with all of those, and now I also have to be an expert in B’s side of things as well and how to tie them all together. It’s like, if any of this was discussed with anyone actually working on the software it would be really apparent how big of an issue it is, but that has been completely ignored because the culture shift was a “success” for leadership despite things moving at a snail’s pace now. They just see all these big changes and fancy presentations and are expecting revenue to follow, but it hasn’t so far. I was already kinda one foot out the door before all of this, but now I’m really feeling undervalued, underutilized, and under-appreciated. I barely get any real work done because every week I’m having to get up to speed on a new thing, which feels way above my pay grade tbh. It has been super demotivating, which has unfortunately been a theme throughout my career so far. I know the job is meant to be about problem solving, but I’d also love just a tiny bit of stability.

I don’t know how else to word the title so be please bear with me..
I’m a 23f hairdresser with BRIGHT red hair. I work fulltime 9 hours a day, I get 1x 30 min lunch so I fit 2 smokes and food in that time.
I know this is a gross habit, I don’t want any of my clients to see me so I normally smoke out the back of my building in the garden behind cars but can be seen from another businesses loading dock and our toilets are around there. NOT open to public.
One time about a year ago it was raining and I didn’t want to get wet, so I sat flush against the wall on a bottom step not near any door but the toilet and smoked. He came and told me too move and i honestly did.
We also have a big butcher shop in our building and they all smoke in the open and right next to doors. Sometimes large groups, this guy installed a bunch of signs. But none are actually within my countries legal laws with smoking but I did not want to step on toes so I sat in my garden and chilled for 30 mins a day 6 days a week. I will even sit there in light rain with an umbrella.
Today was heavier, i did try to sit in my garden but it wet my outfit and I just wanted to sit down. So, knowing he has seen me in my garden every other day… I thought today he would understand..so I sat out of anyones way on a bottom step, he doesn’t use them steps. And can still only be seen by that business. Believe me, if there was anywhere else I could go I really would!! I had only just “lit up” and he came out and said to me “yep, another one that can’t read a f***ing sign” And started slamming the boxes he had in the bins. I said “hey, I’m never here, I’m a hairdresser , I can’t get my hair wet” (I do hope yall understand, I’m too busy to just fix it)
He replied “that’s not my f***ing problem!” And stormed off. I was shaken and literally just went and sat in the rain a tree, my lunch got wet damn but idk I felt I didn’t need to be shamed out that bad for my habit. I don’t sit there all day…the butchers are all over there and I see him say nothing to them, just them signs.
I think I want to go and say something about the way he spoke to me but I wanna see what a bunch of strangers think about the situation first…
AITA????
Tl;dr I 23f was Having a smoke on my 30 min lunch out the back of my work building in the rain under cover.
I am embarrassed of my habit so I normally smoke in garden far enough back that only A loading dock to a business can see me.
Well heavy rain drenched my garden oasis and even though I was a bit aware a staff from the business I thought he had seen me stay away enough and that he would understand and lots of butchers in groups hang there all day, everyday.
I say hidden from public but defs closer for cover he came out swearing at me and I ended up in the rain missing out on lunch lol. Minimal defense from me tbh. Which is why I want to say something about the way he spoke to me. But AITA for smoking there anyway?

so right now, i’m out of work and have been since i lost my job late last year. i have a boyfriend who i love and 2 friends who i see sometimes, im terrible at replying and i feel awful for this but for some reason, being in constant conversation with someone, even over text just drains me.
it was honestly actually a relief in a way when i lost my job, every single day i would constantly be obsessing over small interactions with coworkers, the smallest thing makes me so angry, if i feel disrespected or not listened to, it invokes a rage into me that i know i absolutely cannot show at work. i am completely unable to be ‘diplomatic’, i will let resentment build until i can’t take it any longer and fly off the handle, using anger as a way to voice how i feel. i feel i literally cannot explain to someone that they’ve upset me, unless im angry. of course, this is very unhealthy and has led to a lot of situations where im the one having to apologise for my reaction, rather than addressing why they upset me in the first place. this behaviour haunts almost every relationship i have. the ones id doesn’t impact, are the friends which i make sure i don’t get too close to, in order for this behaviour to not ruin our friendship.
i am thinking of doing some voluntary work one day a week so im getting out my apartment more, but honestly the thought of being around a group of people, even just 1 day a week, fills me with dread and anxiety. its the same thing every time, i start a job, its the best job ever and everyone and everything is perfect to begin with, then a few months down the line, i become paranoid, i find out someone has said x about me behind my back, now i absolutely hate them, they’re a horrible person and no one can convince me otherwise. at every job i look back on, and this may sounds really silly, but it actually feels like i’ve been through some kind of social trauma due to the way i obsess, hyperfixate and catastrophize every slight miscommunication, every comment, every look. i sit in my room for hours thinking and obsessing, sometimes sending me into panic attacks about the way people are treating/perceiving me. i start getting suicidal thoughts, feel as though everything is fcked, i am fcked, my whole life is fcked forever. it is honestly draining. i actually amaze myself at how much i drain my own energy literally just by *thinking.
i’m in a trauma based therapy right now for sexual abuse i went through during my teens by my step father. i hope it helps because honestly i don’t know how much longer i can take living like this. isolation is comfortable, yet so lonely. i tell myself i would like to be alone, yet every time i am left alone in my apartment for a few days, i turn to drink, drugs and self harming because i feel so lonely. i thought i loved being on my own, so why do i always feel like this when im on my own? i feel like every single emotion and feeling i feel, conflicts another. if im around people, i can’t handle it. if im on my own, i also can’t handle it.
i dont want to be this way. i want to do things with my life, i wanted a career and i want healthy relationships yet, it all seems so out of reach. every social interaction feels like the mental equivalent of someone poking at an infected wound, whether it’s a genuine interaction or not. my brain will always tells me its negative, that people are out to get me, that people are conspiring against me, using me, that they hate me, they are repulsed and disgusted by me and i feel such deep, deep shame about myself.
sometimes, i look back on the times before the trauma during my teens happened. and i am so envious of the little girl i was, who trusted so willingly, who loved so freely, so openly, without fear of consequence. the girl who wasn’t constantly ashamed, angry, frightened and paranoid. i wish i could go back and tell her how lucky she is.
sorry for the rant. i am so tired of feeling this way and if anyone else feels the same, i hope soon enough we can find a way to work through these dreadful feelings and soon become people that will make that little girl/boy inside of us proud. and thank you for taking the time to read my rant :)

I used to weigh nearly 170 lbs, and then a few years ago I finally lost the weight.
I used to be a fat, smoking, pothead of a loser who didn't exercise at all. I'm proud to say I'm 5 years smoke free, lost 50 lbs and now only use weed on the weekends.
When I first started losing weight, I didn't exercise at all and lost about 15 pounds without any exercise. However, I was MISERABLE. I felt constantly deprived. Once I hit around the 150s, I added in exercise. I upped my calories to 1600 and still reliably lost around 5 lbs a month. Furthermore, exercise has lead to a MASSIVE uptick in my mental health. Here is what I do:

• I work Mon-Fri and work out for 30 minutes every morning before work. Tues-Thurs I run a 5k, and Mon/Wed/Fri I do a strength training video.
• I have two big dogs that need to be walked on a 2 mile loop at least twice a day. My husband walks them in the mornings, and I walk them in the evenings (he also takes them out to play on his lunch break.)
• A couple times a week I'll go to a yoga class (GAME CHANGER for my mental health.) I started doing that instead of constant happy hours with coworkers.
• One day a weekend we'll hike with the dogs. The other day is rest day.

I get around 10,000 steps a day. I'm not trying to lose weight anymore - I'm actually trying to put on a bit of muscle now. I realize not everybody can exercise due to disabilities, life circumstances, etc. but this is what works for me. Exercising more + eating more is WAY better for me than being sedentary and eating less for many reasons. I try to keep my breakfast to around 400 kcal, lunch is around 550, and dinner is around 700 kcal and that leaves me 450 if I want a little ice cream after dinner, if I want to split a bottle of wine with my husband during dinner, or just if I want snacks for the day.
I'm glad I found something that works for me.

I’m having a bug where my multiple lobsters I’m catching only count as one when donating. I would like to split them into singles to see if that solves the problem.

Crafting a Personal Brand Statement is not just a task; it's a journey of self-discovery. It's about defining who you are, what you stand for, and how you want to be perceived. Your personal brand statement is the essence of your identity, the foundation of your reputation, and the promise you make to the world about what you bring to the table.
To create a compelling personal brand statement, consider the following steps:

• Start with self-reflection: Look inward to identify your values, strengths, passions, and purpose. Understand what sets you apart and drives you forward.
• Define your target audience: Who do you want to connect with? Who can benefit from what you have to offer? Tailor your brand statement to resonate with your intended audience.
• Communicate your unique value proposition: Clearly articulate what makes you special, what you excel at, and what value you bring to others.
• Be authentic: Your personal brand statement should be a true reflection of who you are. Authenticity builds trust and credibility.
• Keep it concise and memorable: Aim for brevity and clarity. A strong personal brand statement is easy to remember and leaves a lasting impression.
• Test and refine: Share your brand statement with trusted peers or mentors for feedback. Refine it based on their input to ensure it truly captures your essence.

Crafting a Personal Brand Statement is a process that evolves as you grow and develop. It's not a one-time task but an ongoing journey of self-discovery and self-expression. Embrace the process, stay true to yourself, and let your personal brand shine through in everything you do.
For personalized assistance in crafting your personal brand statement and building a strong brand image, feel free to reach out to me at https://MCurtisMcCoy.com/brand-manage

A Daily chronicle of AI Innovations May 16th 2024:

🤔 Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions 🪫 Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell
🍎Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts
🤖Humane’s AI Pin upgraded with GPT-4o
💸Stability AI seeks buyer amid financial woes
📽️Mozilla Firefox incorporates NVIDIA RTX video to improve video quality on Windows
☁️Musk's AI firm xAI In talks with Oracle for $10 billion cloud deal
❄️Snowflake invests in Metaplane to enhance data quality
😱 Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike leave OpenAI
📱 Android phones enter the AI era
🗣️ How to clone your voice using AI
🤔 Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions

• Microsoft's commitment to being carbon-negative by 2030 is threatened by a 30% increase in its carbon emissions, largely due to its growing focus on AI technologies.
• The company's expansion of AI operations necessitates building more data centers, which rely on energy-intensive materials like steel, concrete, and microchips, further complicating their carbon reduction goals.
• Despite its renewable energy claims, Microsoft is acknowledged for using instruments like renewable energy credits (RECs) that might mask actual carbon emissions, indicating a challenging path ahead to meet its sustainability targets.
• Source

Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell

• Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion.
• The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney.
• Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023.
• Source

Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts

Apple recently unveiled new accessibility features that will launch later this year. One of these features is Eye Tracking, which enables users with physical disabilities to navigate their iPhones and iPads using only their eyes.
By leveraging the front-facing camera and AI, Eye Tracking allows precise control through a “Dwell Control” feature, eliminating the need for additional hardware.

Another noteworthy addition is Music Haptics, designed for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. When enabled, the Taptic Engine in iPhones plays taps, textures, and refined vibrations synchronized with music audio.
Additionally, Apple has introduced Voice Shortcut, which allows users to create custom voice commands for specific actions on their devices. With Voice Shortcut, users can perform tasks hands-free by simply speaking their personalized commands
Why does this matter?
This would encourage the development and advancement of AI technologies in the accessibility domain, ultimately benefiting individuals with disabilities across different platforms and devices.
Source

Humane’s AI Pin upgraded with GPT-4o

Humane has upgraded its popular AI Pin product with the GPT-4o model. This upgrade aims to enhance the AI Pin’s performance. The new version runs faster, provides more accurate answers, and offers richer information.
[ca
Why does this matter?
As more sophisticated AI models become accessible, we can expect further improvements in various applications, from digital assistants to natural language understanding and generation.
Source

Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike leave OpenAI

OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever announced that he is leaving the company — following months of speculation of Sutskever’s role from the November 2023 Sam Altman ousting.

• Sutskever said he is confident that OpenAI will ‘build AGI that is both safe and beneficial’ under the current leadership.
• Also leaving is Sutskever’s superalignment group co-lead Jan Leike, announcing his departure with a cryptic resignation post.
• The news follows months of departures largely coming from OpenAI’s superalignment and safety teams, fueling speculation.
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman named Jakub Pachocki as the new chief scientist, a key researcher on the creation of GPT-4.

After months of tensions, the speculation around Ilya’s future with Sam is finally put to rest. But questions surrounding the safety team departures still remain. Also important to watch is where Sutskever and Leike land next, with two of AI’s brightest minds now officially on the market.

Android phones enter the AI era

Google announced a host of new AI integrations coming to Android phones at its I/O Developer Conference, bringing its powerful Gemini model on-device to enable upgraded smartphone experiences.

• Google’s Gemini Nano model will be integrated into the Pixel later this year, allowing for enhanced multimodal capabilities.
• Gemini features will be easily accessible with a new overlay, which improves and understand context to provide dynamic suggestions.
• A Circle to Search feature, allowing users to query anything on screen, gains homework help features via a LearnLM model.
• Google is also bringing a new AI security feature soon, providing real-time alerts on calls that appear to be scams.

While everyone awaits the iPhone AI announcements, Google’s Android AI era is rolling. With Gemini coming directly on-board, the potential is there — but if Apple integrates ChatGPT, it may remain tough sledding against the dominant market leader.
Source

AI TRAINING How to clone your voice using AI

A new model on Replicate called OpenVoice lets you clone any voice for free with just an audio file and the desired text to be turned into speech.
Step-by-step: Access OpenVoice on Replicate here and log in with your GitHub account. Upload the audio file of the voice you want to clone where it says ‘audio’. The longer, the better. Fill the ‘Text’ field with the text you want to convert into a speech. Click on the ‘Run’ button and listen/download the generated audio with the cloned voice!

New AI Job Opportunities on May 16th 2024

• Lambda - Manufacturing Quality Engineer
• Anthropic - People Operations Coordinator
• Figure AI - Humanoid Robot Pilot
• Luma AI - Senior Software engineer- Data infrastructure

What Else Is Happening in AI on May 16th 2024

‍Instagram co-founder joins Anthropic as head of product
Anthropic has appointed Mike Krieger, the co-founder of Instagram and Artifact, as head of product. In this pivotal role, Krieger will steer the company's product engineering, management, and design efforts as Anthropic expands its suite of AI apps and aims to bring Claude to a wider audience. (Link)
IBM plans 800 new jobs in Ireland
IBM plans to hire up to 800 more people in Ireland to help build advanced software underpinned by AI technology. This is the biggest job announcement in the country’s multinational sector this year. The roles will be in research and development, digital sales, and consulting. (Link)
Mozilla Firefox incorporates NVIDIA RTX video to improve video quality on Windows
Mozilla Firefox has incorporated NVIDIA RTX Video, a technology that leverages AI to improve video quality on Windows PCs and workstations. This brings a host of AI-powered enhancements to online videos, including upscaling and HDR, for a more immersive viewing experience. Users can easily access these features by updating GeForce RTX drivers and activating Windows HDR. (Link)
Musk's AI firm xAI In talks with Oracle for $10 billion cloud deal
Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is in talks with Oracle executives about a $10 billion deal to rent cloud servers from Oracle over several years. This move comes as Musk’s company seeks to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google to dominate the AI field. (Link)
Snowflake invests in Metaplane to enhance data quality
Snowflake, a data cloud platform, has invested in Metaplane, a Boston-based startup. Metaplane focuses on helping enterprises identify and rectify data quality issues using an end-to-end AI-powered platform. The investment aims to enhance integration between Metaplane’s data observability offering and the Snowflake data cloud. (Link)

Enjoying these updates? Support me by downloading and subscribing to my AI educational Apps below: Wonderland Bedtime AdventuresRead Aloud For Me - Safe AI for All - WebRead Aloud for me - Safe Ai for All - iOS Read Aloud for me - Safe AI For All - AndroidRead Aloud For me - Safe AI For All - Windows

Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions

• Microsoft's commitment to being carbon-negative by 2030 is threatened by a 30% increase in its carbon emissions, largely due to its growing focus on AI technologies.
• The company's expansion of AI operations necessitates building more data centers, which rely on energy-intensive materials like steel, concrete, and microchips, further complicating their carbon reduction goals.
• Despite its renewable energy claims, Microsoft is acknowledged for using instruments like renewable energy credits (RECs) that might mask actual carbon emissions, indicating a challenging path ahead to meet its sustainability targets.
• Source

Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell

• Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion.
• The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney.
• Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023.
• Source

Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts

Apple recently unveiled new accessibility features that will launch later this year. One of these features is Eye Tracking, which enables users with physical disabilities to navigate their iPhones and iPads using only their eyes.
By leveraging the front-facing camera and AI, Eye Tracking allows precise control through a “Dwell Control” feature, eliminating the need for additional hardware.

Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions

• Microsoft's commitment to being carbon-negative by 2030 is threatened by a 30% increase in its carbon emissions, largely due to its growing focus on AI technologies.
• The company's expansion of AI operations necessitates building more data centers, which rely on energy-intensive materials like steel, concrete, and microchips, further complicating their carbon reduction goals.
• Despite its renewable energy claims, Microsoft is acknowledged for using instruments like renewable energy credits (RECs) that might mask actual carbon emissions, indicating a challenging path ahead to meet its sustainability targets.
• Source

Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell

• Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion.
• The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney.
• Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023.
• Source

Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts

Apple recently unveiled new accessibility features that will launch later this year. One of these features is Eye Tracking, which enables users with physical disabilities to navigate their iPhones and iPads using only their eyes.
By leveraging the front-facing camera and AI, Eye Tracking allows precise control through a “Dwell Control” feature, eliminating the need for additional hardware.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-ai-push-imperils-climate-160020868.html
🪫 Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell
Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion. The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney. Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023. Source: https://the-decoder.com/stability-ai-reportedly-runs-out-of-money-and-in-negotiations-to-sell/
Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts
Apple recently unveiled new accessibility features that will launch later this year. One of these features is Eye Tracking, which enables users with physical disabilities to navigate their iPhones and iPads using only their eyes.
By leveraging the front-facing camera and AI, Eye Tracking allows precise control through a “Dwell Control” feature, eliminating the need for additional hardware.
Another noteworthy addition is Music Haptics, designed for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. When enabled, the Taptic Engine in iPhones plays taps, textures, and refined vibrations synchronized with music audio.
Additionally, Apple has introduced Voice Shortcut, which allows users to create custom voice commands for specific actions on their devices. With Voice Shortcut, users can perform tasks hands-free by simply speaking their personalized commands
Why does this matter?
This would encourage the development and advancement of AI technologies in the accessibility domain, ultimately benefiting individuals with disabilities across different platforms and devices.
Source: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-announces-new-accessibility-features-including-eye-tracking
Humane’s AI Pin upgraded with GPT-4o
Humane has upgraded its popular AI Pin product with the GPT-4o model. This upgrade aims to enhance the AI Pin’s performance. The new version runs faster, provides more accurate answers, and offers richer information.
Why does this matter?
As more sophisticated AI models become accessible, we can expect further improvements in various applications, from digital assistants to natural language understanding and generation.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/15/24157731/humane-says-its-ai-pins-just-got-a-gpt-4o-upgrade
😱 Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike leave OpenAI
Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike leave OpenAI OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever announced that he is leaving the company — following months of speculation of Sutskever’s role from the November 2023 Sam Altman ousting.
Sutskever said he is confident that OpenAI will ‘build AGI that is both safe and beneficial’ under the current leadership.
Also leaving is Sutskever’s superalignment group co-lead Jan Leike, announcing his departure with a cryptic resignation post.
The news follows months of departures largely coming from OpenAI’s superalignment and safety teams, fueling speculation.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman named Jakub Pachocki as the new chief scientist, a key researcher on the creation of GPT-4.
After months of tensions, the speculation around Ilya’s future with Sam is finally put to rest. But questions surrounding the safety team departures still remain. Also important to watch is where Sutskever and Leike land next, with two of AI’s brightest minds now officially on the market.
📱 Android phones enter the AI era
Android phones enter the AI era Google announced a host of new AI integrations coming to Android phones at its I/O Developer Conference, bringing its powerful Gemini model on-device to enable upgraded smartphone experiences.
Google’s Gemini Nano model will be integrated into the Pixel later this year, allowing for enhanced multimodal capabilities.
Gemini features will be easily accessible with a new overlay, which improves and understand context to provide dynamic suggestions.
A Circle to Search feature, allowing users to query anything on screen, gains homework help features via a LearnLM model.
Google is also bringing a new AI security feature soon, providing real-time alerts on calls that appear to be scams.
While everyone awaits the iPhone AI announcements, Google’s Android AI era is rolling. With Gemini coming directly on-board, the potential is there — but if Apple integrates ChatGPT, it may remain tough sledding against the dominant market leader.
Source: https://blog.google/products/android/google-ai-android-update-io-2024
AI TRAINING 🗣️ How to clone your voice using AI
How to clone your voice using AI
A new model on Replicate called OpenVoice lets you clone any voice for free with just an audio file and the desired text to be turned into speech.
Step-by-step:
Access OpenVoice on Replicate here at https://replicate.com/cjwbw/openvoice and log in with your GitHub account.
Upload the audio file of the voice you want to clone where it says ‘audio’. The longer, the better.
Fill the ‘Text’ field with the text you want to convert into a speech.
Click on the ‘Run’ button and listen/download the generated audio with the cloned voice!
New AI Job Opportunities on May 16th 2024
🔬 Lambda - Manufacturing Quality Engineer: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59796724-manufacturing-quality-enginee
📋 Anthropic - People Operations Coordinator:
https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59882127-people-operations-coordinator
🤖 Figure AI - Humanoid Robot Pilot: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59875233-humanoid-robot-pilot-evening-shift
💻 Luma AI - Senior Software engineer- Data infrastructure: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59880695-senior-software-engineer-data-infrastructure
What Else Is Happening in AI on May 16th 2024❗
🧑‍Instagram co-founder joins Anthropic as head of product
Anthropic has appointed Mike Krieger, the co-founder of Instagram and Artifact, as head of product. In this pivotal role, Krieger will steer the company's product engineering, management, and design efforts as Anthropic expands its suite of AI apps and aims to bring Claude to a wider audience. (Link: https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/15/anthropic-hires-instagram-co-founder-as-head-of-product)
💼 IBM plans 800 new jobs in Ireland
IBM plans to hire up to 800 more people in Ireland to help build advanced software underpinned by AI technology. This is the biggest job announcement in the country’s multinational sector this year. The roles will be in research and development, digital sales, and consulting. (Link: https://www.reuters.com/technology/ibm-add-800-ai-related-jobs-ireland-2024-05-15)
📽️Mozilla Firefox incorporates NVIDIA RTX video to improve video quality on Windows
Mozilla Firefox has incorporated NVIDIA RTX Video, a technology that leverages AI to improve video quality on Windows PCs and workstations. This brings a host of AI-powered enhancements to online videos, including upscaling and HDR, for a more immersive viewing experience. Users can easily access these features by updating GeForce RTX drivers and activating Windows HDR. (Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-decoded-rtxvideo-firefox)
☁️Musk's AI firm xAI In talks with Oracle for $10 billion cloud deal
Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is in talks with Oracle executives about a $10 billion deal to rent cloud servers from Oracle over several years. This move comes as Musk’s company seeks to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google to dominate the AI field. (Link; https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musks-xai-nears-10-bln-deal-rent-oracles-ai-servers-information-reports-2024-05-14)
❄️Snowflake invests in Metaplane to enhance data quality
Snowflake, a data cloud platform, has invested in Metaplane, a Boston-based startup. Metaplane focuses on helping enterprises identify and rectify data quality issues using an end-to-end AI-powered platform. The investment aims to enhance integration between Metaplane’s data observability offering and the Snowflake data cloud. (Link: https://venturebeat.com/data-infrastructure/snowflake-invests-in-metaplane-to-solve-data-quality-issues-plaguing-ai-development)
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This is more of a workplace relationship post, but I work in a law firm and I share an office with my counterpart. A few months ago, I went to a training conference for work and made connections with other professionals in my industry. Fast forward to last week - I received a call from someone I met at the conference who expressed interest in me coming to work for them. I took the call in my office while my co-worker was sitting across from me, and the call lasted maybe two minutes. Basically, this person has an open position in their firm and she called me to ask if I would consider leaving my current job and coming to work for her. She told me the job wouldn't be available until the fall, so nothing was ever set in stone. As soon as I hung up, my co-worker asked me what the call was about, and I kept it very straightforward and told her that someone I met at the conference offered me a job in the future. That was the extent of what I had told my co-worker.
Now - I just found out today that my boss has been asking multiple people in my office if I was planning on leaving my current job. One of my other co-workers came up to me and told me that our boss had asked her if I was taking another job. I was in shock because I had not mentioned this to any other person (other than my counterpart who was in my office during the phone call). I know that my counterpart had to have either told my boss or told someone else who then mentioned it to my boss. I feel like I need to speak to my boss directly and set the record straight because it's unprofessional for my supervisor to be hearing about this from anyone else other than myself. But I also have not even thought about taking the job because it's months away and I haven't spoken to the woman since our phone conversation (she doesn't have my resume or anything). I also haven't been actively looking for a new job or even applied anywhere else - this literally isn't a thing and now I feel like my boss is viewing me differently. Do I need to confront my boss about this? And is this something I need to bring up to my counterpart?
I would never share my job offers with anyone at work unless I have already accepted and my boss knew before anyone. I realize that I should have answered the phone call and stepped out of my office so that my counterpart couldn't hear, but I truly didn't think anything of it since it wasn't something that would even be happening for a while. I feel betrayed by my co-worker as she is the only person who would have mentioned something to my boss.
TL;DR: My co-worker overheard a phone call where I was offered a job that wouldn't start for months. She told my boss about it and now my boss has been asking other co-workers about my job status without coming to me directly, even though I have not accepted the job offer or made any indication that I would.

So here's the full story.
My dad, who is 74 and is in regular health for his age (and is neither a drinker or a smoker) had something strange occur two months ago.
Even though he's been retired since 2012, he dreamed one night two months ago that he had to go some work-related function. To him, the dream seemed so real that he was actually getting ready to go to this non-existent function. As the morning went on he realized that it was just a dream and wasn't real. Same thing happened next morning as well.
Early in April he couldn't his car at a Walmart parking lot that he's been to many times before. He found it after an hour. Later that very same day he asked me when this year's Super Bowl was. I told him it already happened this year and for a bit he didn't believe me but eventually he remembered that it was this year.
Later in April he had another dream about how his former employer had an employee appreciation day Busch Gardens (a theme park here in Tampa) for employees and their families where they get free admission for that day and he asked if I wanted to go. I told him it was just a dream and he agreed.
He also had accidentally locked himself out of the house like five or six times over the past two months when he stepped out for a little bit to do an outside chore like take out the trash. This never really happened before the past two months.
Other than that he hasn't had any real trouble with things. He can talk normally and follow conversations normally the vast majority of the time. He also has no trouble driving anywhere.
But, just to determine what is going on, he had an appointment earlier today with his doctor for a memory test. I didn't go with him but he told all of the above information (he actually had a piece of paper with all of that written on it) to the doctor and the doctor also had him take him a memory test.
After the appointment, dad told me how it went and he said that the doctor really diagnosed him with dementia or Alzheimer's. Like the doctor never said that he has those things but in their long conversation the word "dementia" but it wasn't an official diagnosis. She said that whatever he has it's very mild right now. She seemed upbeat during the whole appointment and wasn't solemn at all. In fact, she was very glad that he came to get help because she said that most people don't come until the major warning signs start appearing. Hell, even he was in a good mood when he was telling how the appointment went!
So, she prescribed him Donepezil. The official description for that drug says that it is primarily used for the treatment of dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease and has FDA approval for use in mild, moderate, and severe stages of the disease. But like I said before, the word "Alzheimer's" never came up during their conversation. He has another appointment in three weeks.
So like, what exactly am I supposed to think here? Should I be worried? Cause right now my heart is racing. I can't seem to process all this right now. Is it possible he just has regular cognitive impairment from just aging and the doc prescribed him Donepezil as some sort of precautionary measure (even though Donepezil doesn't cure dementia and just simply slows it down a bit if he indeed does have dementia)?
I don't know who to turn to for support other than my mom. I don't have a wife or kids.
Thanks for reading!