Turkish dramas are irresistible because of their diverse stories, and characters, and even the actors will keep you hooked to your TV screens because of their impeccable performances. The shows have a crisp storyline, the characters, and their lives are explored in depth, and the scenic locations of Turkey are like a cherry on the top! If you want to watch some of the best Turkish dramas on Hotstar, here are some of the names for you.
1. Price Of Passion
A romance drama series that got a lot of attention from viewers in Turkey as well as globally and even got an 8 IMDb rating! It is about a woman who is a devoted doctor helping her patients and children heal their wounds and hearts. She crosses paths with a mysterious man who turns out to be a cold-blooded murderer. And, even after trying hard to stay away, she falls for this man. Two strangers with opposite motives in life- what will happen to their future?
2. Life Of Secrets
Life of Secrets is a family drama series with a 7.1 IMDb rating, it is beautiful because of the pure love story between two innocent lovers- Burak and Seher. While, the show is heart-breaking because of many secrets that come out in the open- regarding different family members of the Kuzgan family. A show that has an intense storyline as secrets will keep spilling one after the other- shocking you throughout. The aftermath of those shocks, the family relations, the love stories, and heartbreaks- everything about this show is wonderful.
3. New Life
A drama series that was released in 2020, is about a special force officer, Adam- he loves his job and has an adorable family. His life is perfect until he gets injured and has to leave his profession and find an alternative. He finds a new job as a bodyguard for a beautiful and rich woman named Yasemin, who is also the second wife of a rich businessman named Timur. What Adam does not know is that Yasemin has many deep secrets and a hidden past, and the whole family setup he is entering, is nothing less than a minefield.
Also Read: The Peripheral
4. Sisterhood
A gripping drama show about three sisters who have grown up without knowing each other’s existence. One fine day, they receive an anonymous letter revealing them about their connections as siblings. They are even invited by an anonymous person to meet each other at one of the sister’s weddings. They are happy and shocked to come face-to-face on the night of the wedding, but something more happens that day and changes their whole life. They now can no longer leave that place and have to live together.
5. Hiding Our Mother
It is an interesting story about a woman named Handan whose life takes a one-eighty-degree turn when she meets a mysterious couple. Now, she wants to have a husband and lead a better life- but this single mother of three is not such an interesting partner, why? Because of her three children! So, what happens to her three children, did the couple adopt them? And will she ever get married again? All these are answered in the show.
If you are just starting to explore the Turkish drama world- the above-mentioned Turkish Dramas on Hotstar are the best options. Once you have entered that world- you will find so many other great Turkish shows on YouTube as well.

This is geared towards deciding what kind of service/consulting business you can start, or course you could create and sell. But also works for figuring out what kind of higher-paying job you can get, product-based business, etc.
PHASE 1: IDENTIFY
Take 30 minutes today, and 30 minutes tomorrow. Actually invest this time, over two separate days. It works 1000% better that way.
Write down as many answers as you can to the following questions:
1) What tasks are you good at?
(e.g. running, fixing cars, making girls laugh, brewing good coffee)
2) What skills have you learned well?
(e.g. programming, writing viral tweets, a sport)
3) What challenges have you overcome in life?
(e.g. fixed a stutter, overcome a phobia of X, dug yourself out of debt, lost 50 lbs)
4) In jobs you've had, what tasks did you do well at? Especially if you became the "go-to" guy when anyone needed this?
(e.g. calming down mad customers, creating excel spreadsheets, selling)
5) What's easy for you, that's hard for other people?
(finding great photo ops, getting girls' numbers, picking winning stocks)
Keep going until you get a MINIMUM of 30 things. 50 is better. If you don't have at least 30, think harder, and/or start asking friends what you're good at (this is a good thing to do anyway)
Once you have done that:
6) Find at least two friends and family who have known you for years. Ask them: "What have you noticed I am good at?" Ask them in a way that they can take time to give a thoughtful and thorough response (over text works well, since then you have a written record.) If they need prompting, help them with questions like:

• "What do you mean by X?"
• "Tell me more about X."
• "Can you elaborate?"
• "What else have you noticed I am good at?"

This will give you many good additions to your list, which you would never have thought of on your own.
PHASE 2: CLASSIFY
Get a sheet of blank paper, divide it into 4 quadrants. Along the top, write "FEW <-> MANY". On the side, write "LOW <-> HIGH" (but write it sideways).
Take every single item you came up with in Phase 1, and classify it in two ways:
1) FEW vs MANY - How many people does this appeal to?
(e.g. Few: tuning your race car, advanced mathematics.
Many: get a raise at work, get more dates (for guys), find a great guy and keep him (for gals))
2) LOW vs HIGH price - what are people willing to PAY for this?
(e.g. Low: folding clothes, digging dirt, posting comments on twitter, how to throw a baseball
High: Writing advertisements that sell, finally getting in shape after failing at it for 20 years, launching a new high-paying career)
Write each into one of the 4 quadrants on your sheet of paper. If you're not sure, just guess - sort through them quickly, your first impression is fine.
PHASE 3: SORT
The sweet spot is MANY and HIGH PRICE. If you can solve a problem that many people have, and they're willing to pay an arm and a leg for, and you can actually solve that problem for people - that's the easiest to monetize.
For FEW and LOW price - forget about those.
In fact, forget about most LOW price - No one's going to give you stacks of cash for your high-end agency or course for repairing holes in socks.
The exception is something that is you feel you can serve to MANY people, at a profit. You come up with a unique product that you can sell worldwide through Walmart, for example.
Your best bets will probably be on the HIGH end. The more people who want it, the better.
PHASE 4: FILTER
Make a spreadsheet (or write it on paper) with your ideas in the first column, and then five more columns with these labels:

• Need
• Entry
• Control
• Scale
• Timing

Evaluate your ideas on a scale of 1 to 5 for each of these facets:

1. NEED. Is this something people desperately need? The more it is a "need" rather than a "want", people are more likely to pay for it.
   [5 = desperately need, 1 = completely optional]
   
2. ENTRY. How easy is it for a competitor to clone your business, and compete with you? Barriers can include copyright/IP law protections, unique reputation or brand, ingrained habits of the market, etc.
   [5 = difficult to clone and compete, 1 = no barrier to competing]
   
3. CONTROL: Do you have control over the product or service being sold, your pricing, etc.? Or is it controlled by some other entity (e.g. with affiliate marketing)?
   [5 = you have full control over every aspect of the business, 1 = some other entity has full control]
   
4. SCALE: If it becomes profitable, can you ramp up sales (and profit) by a factor of 10? 100? 1,000? What is the MAXIMUM monthly profit this may grow to?
   AND: how easily can it ramp up to that limit?
   Do you have to hire, train and retain expensive employees to scale it?
   Or can you use automation to scale up without effort?
   A food cart on a street corner has a low upper limit to its profit. A nationwide restaurant chain can scale that 1000x, but that will cost a lot of money and time. In contrast, a SaaS computer program can quickly scale up worldwide, maybe even without having to bother hiring any employees at all.
   [5 = scale to the moon easily, 1 = cannot scale high or will be difficult/expensive to scale]
   
5. TIMING - How much of YOUR time is required for the day-to-day operation? At the beginning, of course you will be fully involved. But is there at least a potential path to where it can continue to earn money without requiring a lot of your time?
   [5 = you can eventually drop off the grid for a month and it continues printing money, 1 = it only ever earns money while you are giving it your full attention]
   

Once you have ranked your ideas on these dimensions, select one you feel you can be successful with. An idea that is all 5's is likely to be much better than an idea that is all 1's, but in the end go with your gut.
PHASE 5: EXECUTE
Test it. Create an idea for how to make money on it - whether that's building a business around it (ideally), or getting a job/side hustle - and put that plan into action.
It'll either work or it won't. You'll either make $ or you won't. If not, asking people for feedback in this room. You may need to pick a different idea. Maybe the idea's great, and you need to execute differently.
But keep going, learn from your experiences, and NEVER GIVE UP. There is no failure, you either learn or succeed. The only possible failure is doing nothing and letting time pass by unused.
PRODUCTIVITY WHILE COOLING OFF.
A productive activity that takes very little effort is reading through the money room and spend a good amount of time going through it.
You’ll see how hundreds of guys are making real life building money. Go through them all, and find 5 that appeal to you, and the telegram username of who’s making money that way.
You should be able to answer basic questions. How much do they make monthly from that income source? How long did it take to make that income? How long did it take to get their first payday from that income source? Did they have any prior skills that were required to be able to start that income source? Etc.

I'm not sure where to post this, but i need some opinions/validation/advice/whatever i just want to fix this and make my wife happy. This might jump all over, and I'm sorry but bear with me. I'm also going to attempt to describe the whole situation, but if theres questions i will be happy to answer.
I'll start by saying I(37m) have a high sex drive, and my wife(34f) has a low sex drive. I want/need an orgasm daily whether that be from sex or masturbating. I have been married for 16 years and always been faithful to my wife, and she has always been faithful to me, as far as I know and I have no reason to believe otherwise. To me, the orgasm that I need doesn't have to come from intercourse and i would never cheat on my wife. I'm attracted to her and the emotional connection is what fuels my desire for sex with her. Basically, what I'm saying is that I don't want to have sex with anyone else. I dont sleep well if I haven't had an orgasm, and i lie there in bed feeling bored and frustrated until I fall asleep and I dont feel rested when I wake up in the morning.
There's been some things lately that I'm uncomfortable with, and I don't really know how to describe how it makes me feel, but I'm going to try.
First, I'm a pleaser and my kink is making her cum. I try to be very self aware and i hear complaints about men who get in, bust, and get out leaving their partner unsatisfied and frustrated. I always initiate with foreplay, then i go down on her so she has an orgasm, then we have sex. I tried to have a conversation with her about her wants and i shared mine, and it seems like we both want the same thing. I want to be told what to do, I want to know what she wants me to do to her. I'm not a mind reader and she knows her body better than I ever could. She said she wants to be submissive and not make decisions because she makes decisions all day and doesn't want to in the bedroom. I get it, because that's how i feel as well.
When we have sex she always covers her face with a pillow, I'm not sure why. I've asked her and she says she doesn't know. When i ask her what she wants me to do to her, she shrugs or says I dont know. The only thing ive gotten out of her after years of basically begging her to tell me what she likes or wants is "the only thing off limits is any butt stuff". Got it. I'm not really the type that wants to do anal anyway, it's just not my bag. So it seems like we're compatible, i think. I mean, i dont have a need that's off limits to her, and she doesn't have a need that's off limits to me.
In the past my communication has been has been an issue, and I am aware of my flaws. I suffered an injury that caused sensorineural hearing loss. This has caused me to have a real hard time controlling my tone. Not my volume, but the tone in which I say things so sometimes things sound like I'm being sarcastic or rude when I'm not trying to be. I decided to see a therapist to learn some techniques to better communicate. I've been trying, but it it's not perfect. And hearing aids aren't an option because it doesn't matter how loud the sounds are, there are just some frequencies my brain cant interpret. Certain sounds just sound like im under water, or like im holding cups over my ears.
I told my wife about going to therapy for this and the response was "I've been with you for 13 years since the injury, I know you cant control your tone and I've learned to just listen to what words are said and not how they are said". That's great, but what about every other conversation I have in life? I want to learn skills to better communicate with everyone, because no one will know just by looking at me that I'm not trying to be a dick when I have a "snappy" tone.
During my therapy sessions we have uncovered other traumas that i want to address that have lead to trust issues that I have. And my trust issues are backwards from most peoples. When i was young, i was accused of lying all the time, even when I was being honest. I remember how this made me feel so I always try to trust people more than I probably should. So I've been going to therapy for about six months now.
Last week, my wife asks "are you cheating on me?" I was kind of shocked by this because, 1. I'm not and 2. I'm not sure what behaviors I've displayed to make her question my fidelity. I tell her no, and ask why she would think that. She tells me it's because I'm in therapy, and working on myself. I have referred to my therapy appointments as "going to the gym for my mind". She tells me that I'm perfect for her the way I am and the men that she knows that go to therapy without obvious flaws are either cheating or considering cheating or have some sort of guilt they're dealing with. I can see my therapists notes on the app, i have nothing to hide, so i downloaded them and showed them to her. I'm not sure if she read them, but i made them available to her if she wanted to read them. I know i didn't have to, but maybe this is because i was always accused of being deceptive by my parents and i could prove that i wasnt in this case so i took the opportunity to do that.
I'll add that she grew up in a dysfunctional household and was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by a close relative for many years. The other day she was complaining about a work colleague and their sexual promiscuity and infidelity. Her colleague was sexually abused when she was younger, and my wife says "abuse victims typically become hyper sexual or have little interest in sex at all. Very few have 'normal' sex lives like me".
Anyway, back to the bedroom parts. Like i said, I need to have an orgasm every day to sleep well, and to feel clear minded. Somehow it came up that I don't feel desired by her because she has never initiated sex. She says "I do too initiate sex, I know I've done it at least once." I told her "no you havent, I would remember it and it would probably be a life changing moment for me to feel desired". I try to initiate that night with her, and she turns me down so I decide to masturbate. I'm not going to the couch because I have kids that could walk in, and I'm tired of doing it on the toilet because it just feels weird to me. Plus, our bathroom is huge with the sliding barn doors so it's not really private anyway. I don't watch porn, i masturbate to thoughts about her. So, I thought to myself. If my wife wanted to have sex with me, and i turned her down, and she began masturbating, how would i feel? I think that would be hot, and perfectly acceptable. So I decide to do it in the bed. I'm not going hard and rattling the bedframe or anything, but she turns over and says "are you playing with yourself?" I brief moment passes where i try to decide if im going to lie, but i dont and say "yes" and she rolls over, climbs on top of me and rides me until i orgasm. A couple days later i try to initiate again, she turns me down, I do the same thing. I'm not doing it to pressure her into having sex, but I'm tired of doing it in the bathroom. This time she rolls over says "are you playing with yourself?" I say, yes and she gets fucking pissed. She tells me that she feels like it makes her feel like she's not loved. I tried to come up with something to say but all i could muster up was "I'm sorry" through the massive lump in my throat and the tears that were brewing in my eyes. I never wanted to make her feel that way, and i never want to do that again. How do i fix this?

eFootball gameplay seem to be going in a bad direction for the past months. To much AI defending/assistance/game balancing, game adding input lag, interceptions, poor passing, fouls not called for, hot potato football not rewarding any type of skillful play. The gameplay feels like its on rails, freedom is gone, players don't respond to your inputs and chances are created by either teams AI players mistakes or incredibly stupid runs. It's just not fun to play anymore. Neither online or vs AI.
eFootball could be fantastic if Konami would listen to ideas, criticism and improve. Here is my wishlist. Feedback based on me and the kids playing on PS4, PS5 and mobile. Offline and online.

1. Reduce the heavy AI assistance / game-balancing / handholding / Auto defending / Dynamic Difficulty / momentum / whatchamacallit (scr...). I understand its for getting new players staying in the game, having a chance getting coins in the events and winning games. And perhaps make games more non-predictable "anything can happen, maybe". With the current AI handholding level its "anything will happen, constantly". So many chances are created by either teams AI players making mistakes or just making incredibly stupid runs, its like a badly scripted B-movie. The amount of goalpost hits and missed open goals is just silly currently, this goes on until the last few minutes of each match. Please reduce it, or even remove it from Co-op and other game modes where skill should be rewarded. I'd rather get smashed 15-0 and learn from a good player. Than having to play another game with: added input lag and your players turn, react with 0,5 sec delay / 1 team loses every header / 4 shots in goalpost / own goals / missed open goals from 2-3m consequently, instead you have to run the ball into goal!!! / hide n seek players with pass receiver running away from the ball positioning behind defender / every ball intercepted / misdirected passes / every pass straight to other team / passes goes through "invisible" player / player freezing or even running wrong direction vs your stick / opponent attacking with high punt or lofted pass but your defender running past the ball towards opposition goal / ball glued to opposite player in the box / every attempt clearing the ball goes short distance straight to other team, even goalie high punt / all stunning shots 3m over the goal before 85min + all the other crap that's in there. This gameplay on rails is so unrewarding. If I manage to do something skillfull the AI assistance just kills the opportunity with any means. When the AI assistance takes a break, I get an easy goal with no effort from a random through pass + tap in. Many times I can't tell if I am playing well or the game has decided I should win/lose, it kills the joy for me and it's just boring. If Konami could tone down all the weird punishments I'd be very grateful.
2. Passing and interceptions. Currently worst ever IMO. Game just decides your pass from a player in balance is 90-180 degrees of straight to opponent. Even on Beginner AI and no matter PA1, 2 or 3😂 And the constant interceptions. No flow in the game. Please work on this Konami.
3. Remove the artificial input-lag. (This is a controversial one, some players simply don't believe our experience it. For me it's obvious as it can be tested offline in several ways on PS5, on mobile I havent tried to confirm it) Stop punishing one side with artificial input lag which make the gameplay feel heavy, unresponsive and your players turn & react with 0,5 sec delay. This is not from server lag as it's there in AI matches and local Trial matches as well, just switch controller between team 1 & 2 and feel the difference. It might activate from beginning of game, or in 2nd half, usually when you are doing well. And vice versa it can dissapear in 2nd half. From my experience it can be reduced or removed by switching playstyle. When finding the right playstyle for that specific match, your players suddenly become responsive again, it can even happen after switching to lowest Manager profiency. I assume its part of the game balancing mechanics. For me this is one of the worst things in the current game, when it kicks in your players don't respond to inputs in time and gameplay just feels awful.
4. Fix the player freezing. Example: after losing a header to last defender suddenly your attacker just freezes. What's going on here? Have Konami added to much AI handholding and broken the game? 😂😂😂
5. Reward different playstyles like build up play. Currently most games seem to be high press, interception ping-pong, quick pass and no dribbles. Hot potato football. Holding the ball has become very difficult. Before the AI assistance and auto defending went berzerk, you could actually keep the ball for a second and do something creative. Without 3-5 guys surrounding your player with no options. Now the gameplay is boring with the lack of variety.
6. Create a game mode free from AI assistance & artificial input lag. Just pure skill. It could be beta, division free or whatever just let us play without the heavy AI handholding. And maybe eFootball will be esports ready 😉. To be honest if another football game is released without momentum/game-balancing /added input-lag and with gameplay based on pure skill. I think eFootball will lose a lot of players.
7. Add Dream team into Trial match. We have 2 kids who love the card collecting and building their team. But playing online is of no interest to them, and won't be in many years. They want to play local PvP or co-op but with their own Dream team. By now we are very tired of playing the same local play Trial match Argentina Vs PSG. The kids have almost stopped playing eFootball, since they cant play against each other with their own team. In addition this would be a great way to test out new players, builds and game mechanics together with a friend. Much more fun than training mode. This mode is what my family is missing most from this game. And if it would be a "pure" mode without any momentum/game-balancing things would be fantastic. Just pure skill, best player wins.
8. Please add Dream team to Trial match local co-op Vs AI. Would be so much fun to test your Dream Team against the AI together with the kids or a friend on the couch beside you. Would love this mode if it would become available.
9. Add local co-op in Events. Would be great if me and the kids could take on the events together. At least add it to the AI events. Then we would actually play them and not just sim them.
10. Myleague local co-op. Add both local and online co-op into Myleague please. A reason to play it and win the league together with the kids 😀
11. Make My League worth playing. 100.000GP for completing 38 matches and winning the league is very poor IMO. Add some skill trainers and raise the GP perhaps?
12. Add all Goal Scorers, Assists and Passes made to Half Time and Full Time game stats. So we can quickly get the overview of which player cards performed well in both teams. That information would be highly appreciated.
13. Contract renewal is way too expensive. Considering many players have paid plenty in real money to get the favourite players, and you only get to keep your player for 1 year. We are paying for this digital football Pokémon and we can't even use it as long as we would like. There should be more ways to get contract renewals, the periods should be longer, 3/6/9/12months and the price should be lower. Currently it's just irritating and another killing the fun factor.
14. Make each playstyle worth using. And reward playing different type of formations. Instead of everyone using META 4 defenders and no wingers/LMF/RMF.
15. Better & more expensive Point shop players. Can we please have some decent players? I'd gladly spend 50000-100000 pink points for a player if his stats are good. IMO there hasn't been an interesting player since Ferrer & Pires. Currently I don't see any use for points except contact renewal.
16. Remove the GP cost for player reset. Having to wait for 2-3 months and then stressing for a few free weeks to retrain and test new builds doesn't make sense. GP is too valuable for me, I use it for Legacy Transfer and Contract renewal, and the few occasional GP buys for Events or hidden gems. I enjoy training players and trying out new builds, if free it would keep me logging in even when there is nothing else to do in the game.
17. Reduce the cost for Legacy transfer. Getting your wanted skills and then transferring to your favourite player is one of the game aspects I really like. But 257,000 GP for one transfer is a lot and takes away much of the fun in Legacy transfer. You get 1 Mbappe for less than 2 Legacy transfer. I am always low on GP these days, and I think 100,000-150,000 GP would be reasonable for Legacy transfer for 1 skill.
18. Legacy transfer of skills to POTW cards. If we could add 1-2 skills to the POTW the cards would be more interesting and I'd spend more coins spinning. We would get more varied and unpredictable squads instead of everybody using the same players. Most players know the good cards, what to expect from opponents cards and how to counter. Lets say you add some strong passing or shooting skills to a player usually weak in that aspect. The unpredicability would be awesome!
19. Replace/delete added skills. Building players would be much more fun if I could replace a trained skill with another one using legacy transfer. Or just be able to delete an added skill. Perhaps my playstyle changes and I want Neymar to have Through passing instead of the previously added Long-range shooting.
20. GP an option for pack spins. But it shouldn't be easy. Hard grind should be rewarded as it gives a reason to play the game. I am thinking 7,5M GP you get 75 spins in a 150 pack. That takes perhaps 6 months to grind. And perhaps the remaining 75 spins is coins only. Lower thresholds like 10 spins för 1M GP would be great but I understand its not gonna happen, as it would hurt the coin sales.
21. Remove the 500 player cap or reduce cost of adding player slots. If you are grinding skill trainers with 0GP players and training players the 500 fills up quite easily. Or reduce the 500.000GP for an extra 50 players to maybe 100.000GP. This 500 player limit is very annoying and seems unnecessary.
22. Add skill trainers and position trainers to each match pass. Would make the Match Pass way more interesting and I would spend coins.
23. Make it worthwhile playing League / divisions. Currently I don't see much reason to play it. A few skill trainers and low GP reward can't motivate me spending the time.
24. Find a way to prevent players from forfeiting games, at least events and co-op. Maybe if you are down a few goals sometimes add a random bonus like score with player X to receive 1 skill trainer, 10000 GP or something. Just to motivate players completing the match. Or create a non forfeit streak, like 10, 20 or 30 games without forfeit and you get an free extra POTW spin. (Credit: Part of this idea is from eFootball Universe Youtube)
25. 1st celebration should also be skippable. It's just time consuming in online games. Not adding any value to except maybe noobs who scored their first goal ever.
26. An option to make Sub tactic clearly visible in Game plan if activated. I played to many games now without knowing I had sub-tactic activated 😂
27. Matchmaking. This was good for a while after the matchmaking update, but not anymore. There must be something seriously wrong here. When playing in Division 9 to 7, we constantly get division 1-2 opponents in the events. Had top 120 and top 200 in a row even. 750M downloads and nobody else playing. Really?
28. The daily penalty needs an upgrade. Suggestion: More fun If I could choose player from my Dream Team. And add random Epic goalies to spice it up 😉
29. Add statistics of headers, penalties and free kicks scored on each player card. This would add value and make it more interesting building squads. Konami you have the data, use it!
30. More variety in Events. BBVA, Turkish, Brazilian Italian, English, Japan league. Over and over and over... Cmon Konami create something different so we can rotate our squads more. Suggestion: An event where only max 4 star players are allowed? Or higher GP rewards the weaker squad you use? (Credit: idea is partly from Rockchok Youtube)
31. More Beat the Clock type of events. Both me and the kids enjoyed this one. Create something similar for skill moves. Example: Perform 5 Double touch + 5 Marseille turn across pitch with fixed dummies or defending players. Or a sequence where you have to perform skill move x and y before scoring.
32. Objectives with extra bonuses. Add weekly objectives or similar. Score a hat-trick, win on penalties or score 5 times using skill move. And get some type of rewards, GP, Skill trainers, Position trainers, avatars, whatever just variety and something to play for.
33. Co-op events. So much potential but the gameplay on rails, AI assistance and the constant random AI punishments kills the fun for me. You feel almost instantly if the AI assistance is on your side or against you. Either everything goes your way and it's too easy or Epics can't make a simple pass, the input lag kicks in and your player is even dragged out of position so the other team can score. Every game feels pre-decided with almost every touch being a mistake or fumble by the team who is supposed to concede a goal. Or its 1 goal back and forth with short sequences where the conceeding team can't touch the ball. In my experience the AI assistance is at its worst in the Co-op games. Quite easy to spot as players regularly just drop the controller. And game continues to auto defend like prime AC Milan, the non-active player is forcefielded holding the ball, every ball in the box is magically sucked to defenders feet and passes and clearings going 90-180 degrees off straight to opponent. Recent example which has happened in several co-op games: Goalie makes several stupid run outs to a perfect 4 man defending line, leaving the net wide open. Changing goalie doesn't help. Same thing with 2nd goalie until opponent gets his 2 goals. Sorry but when my player, gameplay and result is controlled by AI instead of me and my teammate I lose interest.
34. Add 2nd local player to co-op events. Why can't 2 players join the co-op events together from one Playstation? Me and the kids would play co-op events a lot if this was possbile.
35. Booster player forms. Wirtz card and several other are never on A-form. Whats the point of creating a booster card then? (credit: PES Pepe Youtube)
36. Communication. Info on gameplay changes in each update would be appreciated. Like before. (credit: PES Pepe Youtube))
37. Heavy first touch or fumble receiving the ball. +90 Ball control player cant receive a pass without starting to fumble or needing several seconds to gain control, then losing the ball, again and again and again. Does stats even matter when game balancing just decides anyway?
38. Don't launch Crossplay with mobile. I suspect the recent braindead heavy assisted gameplay is needed for upcoming crossplay console & mobile update. This might be what we are getting. Gameplay on rails, autodefend, no skill, unrewarding, boring. I hope I am wrong and the previous fun gameplay on console is not gone forever 😢.
39. Master League? Promised some years ago. I guess it does not generate enough coin sales?
40. Edit mode. Create a custom crest and kits for our dream team.
41. AI games are boring and inconsistent. Even on easier difficulties the dynamic game balancing makes you miss so many chances in 1st half, open goals whatever. Then in 2nd its just walk the ball into box and quick shot goal. But if you decide to pass the ball in the box then it's magnet to defender, why not reward passing in the box? The inconsistency in the AI is just bad. And the coding seems lazy. I watch our 11 year old play and do all the right things, but the game just kills all her self-created chances. On harder difficulties even if I read the play and position perfectly to intercept a pass, the pass goes straight through my defender. And adding to that the constant interceptions and not being able to hold ball more than 0.3sec. To my understanding the AI was better before without having to bypass game mechanics (cheat), instead it was actually playing smarter. For me playing the AI is either to easy once the early game "Thou shall not score" wears off or just boring on higher difficulties. How hard is it to develop AI gameplay which is both fun, rewarding and teaching how to play better?
42. Player speed is broken. The slowest defender will catch up in 2-3 seconds with any attacker running with the ball. No matter stats of players. You make a great pass but this broken game mechanic ruins the opportunity. This is both unrealistic and highly unrewarding.
43. Player switching. Another game mechanic which seems broken and with hidden punishments added. I have mostly been using semi-assist and player oriented switching, R stick to switch. Recently switched to ball-oriented. And in my experience. When the game is against you, it constantly punishes you with bad player switching and worst default player selection. Many times the game refuses to switch to player in front of ball when I am trying to defend. Instead I am flicking through the guys behind the attacking player, while I am trying to get control of my defender. When I have free kick against me, default player is always the worst possible option eg. my CF standing 10m behind the free kick taker. Why? I enjoy a challenge but having to fight with my controller is not one of them.
44. Sort player list by team name. Would help when choosing team for events. And a nice feature when browsing all my players.
45. Position trainers. This feature was a nice addition. But can be improved and made more interesting. (A) Remove the possibility of getting duplicates on full position slots. It's just stupid and annoying. (B) Add random playstyle rewards on the new position. So an AMF Hole Player could also be SS Deep Lying Forward after Position training. (Credit: efNuts YouTube)

Some of these are cosmetics and should be quite easy to implement, whereas others like new type of events takes more effort. Dream team in Trial mode and adding already existing local Co-op to more events/game modes shouldn't be that difficult. Gameplay affecting changes are likely hard and need to be tested so it doesn't affect game in a negative way.
I guess Konami calculates profits are better by pushing all players to online play. But at the same time they are neglecting the player group which prefers offline, and are willing to buy coins to get their favourite players cards. Hopefully Konami will reconsider, add a proper Master League and more offline modes with co-op and PvP.
All in all it should result in a more enjoyable experience for both ballers, casuals, squad-builders, card-collectors and those who just want offline couch co-op or PvP with their Dream team. More people having fun and spending time in the game usually results in praise, recommendations and growing user count = more coins spent. Konami keeps earning and customer base is happy. Everyone wins.
/ Cheers and thanks for reading
(This post is continously edited)
https://preview.redd.it/k4gl1sw8z51d1.jpg?width=731&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e99aba57f1ea3678f5d722365604e52ec97edfb4

Each month, billions of active users engage with YouTube, highlighting its significant role as a global platform for diverse content and extensive reach.
We have created YouTube Statistics 2024 report offering crucial information for marketers, advertisers, and content creators to effectively utilize YouTube’s vast network and resources.
Here is a brief overview of the full report:

General YouTube Statistics

• Every month, YouTube attracts over 2.5 billion active users.
• YouTube sees more than 113 billion site visits every month.
• More than 90% of YouTube’s global visits come from mobile devices.
• Only 12.65% of global traffic to YouTube comes from desktop computers.
• Over 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every minute.
• YouTube has been localized in more than 100 countries worldwide.
• From its launch until the end of 2023, the YouTube Kids mobile app saw a continuous rise in downloads, reaching 131 million worldwide in 2023.
• As of March 2024, the T-Series channel had garnered over 248 billion lifetime views, the highest for any channel on YouTube.

YouTube Demographics

• India tops the global chart with approximately 462 million users on YouTube.
• The United States follows as the second-largest YouTube audience, with around 239 million viewers.
• Brazil holds the third position with a YouTube audience of 144 million.
• Among adults living in households earning less than $50k annually, 76% have a YouTube account.
• In households earning between $50k-$100k, 69% of adults have YouTube accounts.
• For households with an income over $100k, 65% have a YouTube account.
• Across all age groups on YouTube, 40.6% of the active users are females.
• Males constitute 59.4% of YouTube’s active users.

YouTube Usage Statistics

• In the United States, approximately 83% of adults report having used YouTube at least once.
• Among U.S. YouTube viewers, 86% frequently use the platform to learn new things.
• Usage of YouTube among U.S. adults with high school education or less stands at 70%.
• Among adults with some college education, 86% use YouTube.
• The highest usage rate of YouTube, 89%, is seen among U.S. adults with more than a college education.
• Among Baby Boomers, 67% use YouTube, primarily for product understanding, how-to videos, and entertainment.
• 70% of Gen X individuals in the U.S. are YouTube users, often engaging with nostalgic content and DIY videos.
• Millennials constitute 75% of YouTube’s user base, frequently accessing the platform for news, product reviews, and entertainment.
• Gen Z has a YouTube usage rate of 77%, with preferences for humor, music discovery, and following content creators.

YouTube Content Statistics

• YouTube now hosts 3.9 billion videos, with 826 million of these being YouTube Shorts.
• Comparatively, the total count of videos on YouTube last year was about 3.1 billion.
• Daily, 2.4 million new videos are uploaded to YouTube.
• YouTube content creators upload more than 100,000 videos every hour.
• Every minute, YouTube sees the upload of 1,740 videos.
• Remarkably, 29 new videos are uploaded to YouTube every second.
• For every second that passes, 6 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube.
• The average length of a YouTube video is 12 minutes and 26 seconds.
• YouTube Shorts constitute 20% of the total video count on YouTube.
• Over 14 million videos were created monthly using YouTube’s clipping feature in 2023.

YouTube Monetization and Revenue Statistics

• YouTube reported having around 100 million subscribers for its Music and Premium services combined.
• In 2023, YouTube generated $31.51 billion in global advertising revenue.
• YouTube’s advertising revenue represented approximately 10.25 percent of Google’s total revenue for the year 2023.
• For long-form videos on YouTube, creators receive a 55% share of the revenue generated, while YouTube retains 45%.
• The average Revenue Per Mille (RPM) for long-form videos on YouTube is around $3.
• Conversely, the average RPM for YouTube Shorts is approximately $0.05.

YouTube Creator Statistics

• 60% of YouTube users express openness to viewing content from creators who utilize artificial intelligence in their production process.
• Over half (52%) of YouTube viewers already engage with content produced by virtual YouTubers.
• Nearly half (47%) of Gen Z YouTube users have watched videos created by fans of a particular topic or person.
• YouTube channels with followers between 100,000 and 1 million boast the highest engagement rate at 3.47%.
• Channels with more than 1 million followers experience a slightly lower engagement rate of 3.40%.
• YouTube channels that have between 1,000 and 5,000 followers show the lowest engagement rate among the groups listed, at 1.90%.

YouTube Shorts Statistics

• YouTube Shorts has reached a milestone of over 70 billion daily views.
• The majority of YouTube Shorts are created with a duration between 20 and 40 seconds.
• Shorts within the 30-40 second range are the most popular in terms of creation.
• YouTube Shorts that are 50-60 seconds long receive the highest views, averaging 1.7 million.
• Over 70% of YouTube Shorts are longer than 15 seconds.
• Videos with an average watch time of 50 seconds or more garner 4.1 million views on average.
• Videos with a watch ratio of 60% or lower typically underperform.
• Videos achieving a watch ratio between 70% and 90% perform the best.
• Long-form videos contribute more to subscriber growth per 10,000 views compared to Shorts.
• Earnings from 1 million views on YouTube Shorts are about $32.

YouTube’s Economic Impact Statistics

• In 2022, YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed over $35 billion to the US GDP.
• YouTube’s activity supported more than 390,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the US.
• 83% of businesses with a YouTube channel report that it has helped them develop a local following.
• 78% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) using YouTube agree that it is crucial for their business growth.
• 80% of SMBs consider YouTube a cost-effective method for providing staff training.

Our “YouTube Statistics 2024” report is designed to give you valuable insights and actionable information for maximizing your effectiveness on YouTube, where billions of users connect every day. By understanding user demographics, emerging content trends, and key performance metrics, you can improve your strategies and achieve success on this vibrant platform.
Here are some additional sources if you’d like to explore more statistics:

• 50+ Important LinkedIn Statistics to Know in 2024
• Facebook Statistics 2024 [Revenue & User Insights]
• Instagram Statistics [2024] Key Insights and Trends
• 2024 TikTok Statistics: Users, Revenue, Demographics
• Google Ads Statistics 2024

1. Click-and-drag scrolling for easier navigation through the game menus.
2. Photo mode that allows players to hide the HUD, perfect for capturing those heroic moments.
3. Simpler notifications: Relocate objective and mission completion notifications to the top of the screen and reduce their size. It is hard to aim when there is a big wall of text in the middle of your screen.
4. Help: Add a “Help” voice command to the Q radial menu wheel.
5. Hiding nameplates / Streamer mode: Option to toggle "full" player names on and off. Indicators like A1, D4 are enough to call out players.
6. Equipment preview: Armor and helmets should be shown as sets when you hover your mouse over them or choose them instead of the default diver armohelmet. OR previewing a helmet shouldn’t change the player's armor to the default and show the current set that the player has equipped and vice versa for previewing armor.
7. SOS Beacon don't show up on the stratagem menu when your team doesn't have 4 players or after a player leaves the mission.
8. Versatile Jump Packs: Allow the use of primary or secondary weapons with jump packs.
9. Increase jump distance or jump height of jump packs slightly.
10. Super Punisher: Add a flashlight to the Punisher shotgun and to some other primary/support weapons that do not have them, so divers can shed light on the darkest enemies of our way of life.
11. Standardize weapon ergonomics: Some primary weapons handle like autocannon while some handle like a pistol gun.
12. Fix Delay on EAT: Sometimes EAT do not fire after you equip and aim it. Nothing happens when you try to shoot.
13. Arc Thrower & Blitzer: Lightning arcs should do damage to Terminid eggs. Don't make their arcs jump between the eggs if you think it would be OP, but being able to kill a charger with an arc thrower and yet failing to destroy a small egg doesn't make sense.
14. Arcs need to stun enemies for a very short moment. They just interrupt their animations for like 0.5 seconds or something and without even slowing them. I think getting hit by a lightning needs to stop an enemys movement for 0.5 more seconds at least.
15. Booster Icons: Add booster icons next to team stratagem list that show up when you press CTRL, so we can see what our fellow divers chose to bring.
16. Warn player when it tries to join a mission without a booster or with empty stratagem slot.
17. Shield Generator Relay: Sometimes explosions happening outside will kill, stagger or damage the player standing inside the shield. Outside explosions should have much less or no effect on player.
18. Bile Titans tanking Hellpods: Sometimes -almost always lol- Titans don't take any damage, get staggered or die even if you land directly on their head or body with a hellpod.
19. Improved Incendiaries: Prolong the burn time of incendiary grenades for a few more seconds. They seem to go out before they even kill anything or deny an entry.
20. Convenient Flamethrower: Remove the movement speed penalty of firing the flamethrower OR increase the flamethrower’s range by 3-5 meters. Enemies mostly start to attack you as soon as they enter the range of your flamethrower already. If you believe first option would be unbalanced, then you can make it only avaliable for armors with speed stats above +520?
21. Improve Patriot Exosuit: Fix the aiming and accuracy of the Patriot Exosuit missiles. Also, we need much better gun&pod elevation and depression for a 10 minute cooldown stratagem imo.
22. Fall damage variation: Fall damage needs to differ between armor sets that you have equipped. Light and heavy armors shouldn't take the same damage.

Please note that these are just my *opinions* and feel free to explain why (if) you disagree in the comments or share your own suggestions.

(⬆️example - not me) I’m an (almost) 15 year old girl living in Australia and basically since march of last year (2023) I’ve doing two braids on the side of my head and pulling them extremely tight to lift my eyes & brows up. I’ve caused severe SEVERE traction alopecia (worse than i can even find on google) but I don’t want to stop, what should I do? Basically this all started because I felt super ugly. I was 13 turning 14 at the time and had recently stopped wearing like a proper full face of makeup + lashes (which lifted my eyes). I could not look at pictures of myself and if i went out to the shops after school with my friends I had to avoid all the mirrors. I would frequently sob about how gross I looked. I know for a fact that this was not all in my head as I barely had any friends, nobody had taken romantic interest in me since I was a small child and I never received any compliments. I was also bullied pretty bad over my looks and had people mistaking me for a GUY. I still do not think I am attractive with my natural eyes at all. Although I took notice of how much better I looked when I had just woken up - my eyes were much more lifted and nice. I started trying to get as much sleep as possible, but it was never enough. One day I got home from being out all day and saw myself in the mirror. Suddenly all the good memories I had made that day vanished with me now realizing I looked that ugly all day. I stand in the mirror and lift my eyes up with my hands and again wish my eyes were naturally lifted as I look so much better this way. While crying I found a hack on tiktok where you braid the hair next to your eyes tightly and put it in a high ponytail and pull tightly, but I extremed it by using 4 hairties and pulling extremely tight after each individual one, this lifts my eyes, eyebrows and my cheeks. You can guess where it went from there. Immediately at school everybody pointed out I had noticeably changed, but they couldn’t figure out what exactly had changed (thank god) and I got lots of compliments. Obviously a rash began to form though and my hair started falling out but I always asked myself: would I rather have “thin” hair or have a pretty face?I’ve adapted my basic high ponytail since many times as I had to hide the balding. Now it’s been well over a year, almost 15(?) months and I’m at a loss. My hair is almost completely gone and my eyes aren’t lifting as much anymore. I physically can’t go back to how I was, I’ve already grown more friends now then I’ve ever had, I’m so much happier, confident and I can stand going to school and looking in mirrors, boys have actually taken an interest in me and i’m not constantly sobbing over how I look. If I have to stop lifting my face and have to go back to how I look naturally I will not be able to go to school. I won’t leave the house. I’ve looked almost completely different daily now and I’ve grown to love myself more than I ever could before. Everybody will notice the difference, and the bullying will probably come back when people realize what I’ve been doing. Boys will regret talking to me and the friends I have will think I’m a complete freak! Plus, most importantly, I want to look how I do now. I’m happy with how I look and how I’ve looked for the past year. I like liking how I look, I like being excited to get ready and leave the house and I like not hating what I see back in the mirror. Now, I would 100% get plastic surgery if it was that easy. But as aforementioned, I’m only 15 and the ways things are going lately I’m definitely not making it three more years with my two strands of hair. But I’m happy with everything else, all my other features and I have been since. Is there any way I can get my eyes surgically or non surgically lifted at my age? If so, how? Please. My life has improved so drastically since I started looking better and my happiness is through the roof compared to before. At the top of the post you’ll see an example of how my eyes are pulled everyday and also the look I’m surgically hoping to achieve.

Quick Summary

Luma Nutrition Berberine offers a high dosage of berberine hydrochloride aimed at supporting weight loss, appetite control, and blood sugar regulation. However, user feedback reveals mixed results, with some experiencing significant benefits while others report no effect or adverse side effects such as gastrointestinal distress and dizziness.
I think overall, it's a decent berberine supplement for various berberine related health effects.
But given the variability in effectiveness and the potential for severe side effects, it appears that Luma Nutrition Berberine may be overly hyped, especially for those looking for consistent and safe results in weight management and metabolic health.
For appetite suppression & weight loss, I'd rate it at 3, I'd rather recommend something like PhenQ and Instant Knockout for appetite management & weight loss (both are better appetite suppressants than Luma), while Blood Sugar Optimizer does a better job in blood sugar management , being my top pick as (Berberine + Ceylon cinnamon supplement).
Introduction
If you've stumbled upon Berberine while searching for natural supplements to aid weight loss or control appetite, you might be curious about what it actually does.
Berberine is a compound found in several plants that is often used in traditional Chinese medicine. It’s known for its potential to impact blood sugar levels and improve metabolic health. Recently, it's also been gaining attention as a weight loss and appetite control aid and as a natural supplement that cna have some ozempic like effects..
Luma Nutrition is just one of many brands offering Berberine, but they promote their product with some pretty appealing features like being all-natural and vegan-friendly.
If you're curious about trying Luma Berberine, especially for controlling blood sugar and cholesterol, it might do some good.
Now different people have different kinds of expereinces with Berberine.

From my own year-long experience with berberine, not Luma specifically but a similar product, I found that it really helped with things I wasn't even targeting initially—like my chronic migraines pretty much vanished, and to my surprise, my thinning hair got thicker. It also worked wonders for my sleep; I can pretty much clock out the minute I hit the pillow and get a solid 7.5 hours without a hitch. But don't expect miracles in weight loss—I didn't shed pounds, and frankly, it didn't make a dent in my appetite at all.

Now, it's important to talk about how you might feel when starting out and as you continue.
Early days, you might notice some mild stomach issues like gas because your body's getting used to it.
Berberine is tough to absorb, so take it on an empty stomach, about 30 minutes before you eat, to get the most out of it. Luma is no exception!
As time goes on, if you don't give yourself breaks from it, you might see some downsides.
For some people , taking it continuously may lead to some sexual dysfunction and mess with gut health, so I switched to a schedule—500 mg once daily for five days a week and then a break every few weeks.
This routine keeps the side effects in check and helps maintain the benefits without overwhelming my system. So, if you're planning to try it, consider a similar approach to manage any potential issues effectively.

Pros & Cons of Luma Nutrition Berberine

Pros:

• High Dosage: Each dose contains 1200mg of pure berberine hydrochloride, which is higher than many other berberine supplements on the market.
• Sugar-Free and Diet-Friendly: Suitable for individuals on vegan or gluten-free diets, and the capsules do not contain sugar, unlike gummy alternatives.
• Quality Assurance: The product is 3rd party tested for purity and quality, ensuring that what you consume is safe and effective.
• Made in the USA: Manufactured in GMP certified facilities, which guarantees a high standard of production and product safety.
• Veteran-Owned Business: Supports a veteran-owned business that is committed to providing customer support and addressing any product-related inquiries.
• Convenient Supply: Each bottle provides a 30-day supply, ideal for monthly subscriptions to maintain a regular intake without running out.

Cons:

• Potential Side Effects: Some users report side effects such as dizziness, intestinal distress, and heart palpitations.
• Inconsistent Effects on Appetite and Weight Loss: While some users experience benefits in terms of appetite suppression and weight loss, others see no effect, indicating variability in individual responses.
• No Return Policy on Amazon: The product cannot be returned if purchased through Amazon, even if unopened, which might discourage first-time buyers.
• Subscription Issues: There are reports of subscription delivery problems, including delays and receiving fewer capsules than promised.
• Does Not Suit Everyone: Not all users can tolerate the product; some report severe adverse reactions necessitating medical consultation.

Overview of Luma Nutrition Berberine
Luma Nutrition's Berberine comes in capsule form, which I found pretty standard for most dietary supplements. Each bottle contains 60 capsules, with a recommended dosage of two capsules per day.
This means each bottle is essentially a one-month supply if you follow the recommended dosage. The capsules themselves are a bit on the larger side, which might be a concern if you have trouble swallowing pills, but I managed fine.
One of the big selling points Luma Nutrition pushes is that their Berberine is made from all-natural ingredients, is vegan-friendly, and manufactured right here in the USA.
These are nice boxes to check off for anyone who's mindful about the ethical aspects of their supplements. They also claim that their product contains no GMOs, and is free from artificial fillers or dyes—something I appreciate since I try to keep my consumption of unnecessary additives to a minimum.
An independent company has verified the contents and safety of the product, which helps in building trust, especially if you're cautious about the purity of supplements. I found these details important not just for peace of mind but also because when it comes to supplements, you really want to make sure you're ingesting something safe and as advertised.

My Ratings Evaluation of Luma Nutrition Berberine as a Natural Ozempic Alternative

Blood Sugar Regulation

Rating: 4/5
Luma Nutrition Berberine contains 1200mg of Berberine HCI derived from Berberis aristata per serving, which is known for its potent effects on lowering blood sugar levels. Clinical studies have shown that Berberine can be effective in managing blood sugar, making it a strong natural alternative for mimicking some of the glucose-regulating effects of Ozempic. However, it might not be as consistently powerful as Ozempic, hence the deduction of one point.

Appetite Modulation

Rating: 3/5
While Berberine is primarily known for its impact on blood sugar and cholesterol, its effects on appetite are less direct. Some users report reduced appetite possibly due to better blood sugar control, which can decrease cravings and help with weight management. However, it's not specifically an appetite suppressant like Ozempic, so it scores a middle range for this category.

Metabolic Enhancement

Rating: 3/5
Berberine is reputed to have positive effects on metabolic health, primarily through the enhancement of glycolysis, which helps the body break down sugars more efficiently, and by improving insulin sensitivity. These actions can contribute to a higher metabolic rate indirectly. However, compared to Ozempic, which has a more direct role in enhancing metabolic outcomes, Berberine's effects are more moderate.

Energy Optimization

Rating: 2/5
While Berberine has been noted for its metabolic benefits, it is not primarily known for directly boosting energy levels. Users may experience increased energy indirectly through improved metabolic health and better blood sugar control, but it does not inherently contain energy-boosting properties like caffeine or other stimulants. Therefore, its capacity to support increased physical activity and vitality is limited and not as pronounced as the effects you might see with Ozempic.

Weight Management Support

Rating: 4/5
Berberine has shown promising results in supporting weight management through its ability to improve insulin sensitivity and enhance the breakdown of fats and sugars in the body. This can lead to reduced fat accumulation and support gradual weight loss, which aligns well with some of the weight loss mechanisms seen with Ozempic. While not as directly impactful as Ozempic, which is specifically designed for weight management in diabetic patients, Berberine holds its ground as a supportive supplement for natural weight management.

Safety and Tolerability Profile

Rating: 4/5
Berberine is generally considered safe when used appropriately, with common side effects being gastrointestinal discomfort such as cramps, diarrhea, or constipation. These side effects are typically mild and can often be managed with dosage adjustments. It is well-tolerated by most individuals, making it a viable alternative for those looking for natural supplements with minimal adverse effects. However, like any active compound, it's important to consult with a healthcare provider, especially for those with existing health conditions or those taking other medication.

Inflammatory Response Reduction

Rating: 3/5
Berberine has demonstrated some anti-inflammatory properties, which can contribute to overall health improvements, including enhancing insulin sensitivity and metabolic function. These benefits are crucial for managing conditions like diabetes and obesity, which are often accompanied by chronic inflammation. However, the anti-inflammatory effects of Berberine are not as extensively documented or as potent as those of some pharmacological treatments like Ozempic, which have broader systemic impacts. Therefore, while Berberine supports inflammation reduction, its effectiveness in this area is moderate compared to more targeted treatments.

Gut Health Improvement

Rating: 2/5
Berberine's impact on gut health is less clear and direct. Some studies suggest that Berberine can alter gut flora, potentially leading to improved gut barrier function and reduced permeability, which can indirectly support nutrient absorption and overall gut health. However, these effects are not as well studied or as pronounced as its effects on blood sugar and metabolism. Therefore, while there may be some potential benefits to gut health, they are not a primary function of Berberine, making it less effective in this category compared to Ozempic, which can have more noticeable effects on metabolic health and weight management through gut-related mechanisms.

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/health/watch-michelle-oneill-faces-ferocious-grilling-at-uk-covid-inquiry-first-minister-asked-why-she-wiped-phone-messages-despite-clear-legal-advice-4627731
Health WATCH: Michelle O'Neill faces ferocious grilling at UK Covid inquiry: First Minister asked why she wiped phone messages despite 'clear' legal advice By Adam Kula Published 14th May 2024, 12:31 BST Updated 14th May 2024, 17:03 BST
Michelle O’Neill is facing a ferocious grilling at the UK’s Covid inquiry, where she has been accused of simply blaming others – particularly the UK government – instead of reflecting on her own role. She was sworn in using a secular oath as opposed to The Bible.
The First Minister of Northern Ireland began her testimony by confirming that yes, she led the country’s government, that she was a leader of her party both north and south, and that she was responsible for not just leading the response to the pandemic but leading by example too.
Having established her senior position in these slow, solemn opening exchanges with Clair Dobbin KC (barrister for the inquiry), Ms O’Neill began with the frequently-cited Sinn Fein line about “public services being decimated with 10 years of austerity cuts”.
A selection Ms O’Neill’s own words were then put to her, taken from her witness statement to the inquiry.
“Blaming others – that’s something you’ve done throughout your witness statement, isn’t it?” said Ms Dobbin.
"The constant theme throughout it, do you agree, is that you blame the UK government for the slowness of this approach in the initial stages of the pandemic: do you agree?”
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"I don’t accept I blame others throughout the statement,” replied Ms O’Neill.
Michelle O'Neill at the hearing on May 14, 2024 Michelle O'Neill at the hearing on May 14, 2024 "I accept I point out where things are wrong. In particular, I do believe my position is vindicated in terms of the fact Boris Johnson and his government were too slow to act at the start of the pandemic.”
The following was also put to her by Ms Dobbin: “Ms O’Neill, there’s no reflection I think, nor any insight in your witness statement, about any of the hurt or any of the problems you caused by attending the funeral of Mr Storey [the IRA enforcer who died while receiving NHS care in England].”
"I think I have addressed that in my statement,” Ms O’Neill replied, then asked to “address the families” directly.
"You are here to give evidence, not to address people,” came the reply.
Clair Dobbin and Michelle O'Neill at the Covid inquiry, May 14, 2024 Ms O’Neill went on to say of the Storey funeral: “I am sorry for going – and I’m sorry for the hurt that has been caused.”
In 2020, she had said: “I will never apologise for attending the funeral of my friend.”
MINUTIAE OF THE MINUTES: The handwritten minutes of an Executive meeting just after the funeral were then shown to the inquiry.
These minutes recount that Ms O’Neill had told her colleagues she was “honoured” to be invited to funeral, that he was “a huge figure”, that she knew “thousands would want to attend”, that “people vote with feet,” that there was “no dilution in my mind of public message”, and there was “no offence intended”.
A section of the minutes was read out covering comments made by Conor Murphy (the former Sinn Fein finance minister, who is not attending the inquiry on grounds of ill-health).
That section of the minutes has him saying: “Rules relaxed – not same circumstances; breach of regs – technicalities; I attended, but not in cortege; chapel – soc dist – stewardship…
"People can say what they want to say – entitled to opinion, I’m entitled to be sceptical.”
Ms Dobbin turned to Mrs O’Neill and said the minutes showed her to be “entirely unapologetic on July 2, weren’t you?”
“It was immediately after the funeral itself. I think what I said there in terms of not diluting the public message, that was wrong, because clearly I did – and I have acknowledged that, and have worked every day ever since to regain public confidence and trust.”
She added, her voice appearing almost to break: "I would never, ever set out to hurt people.”
PARTYGATE ‘HYPOCRISY’: The chairwoman of the inquiry herself then quizzed her, putting it to her that “wasn’t it a bit hypocritical” to criticise Boris Johnson over ‘Partygate’ given her involvement in the funeral?
"I don’t think so because they’re two very different things in terms of the Boris Johnson approach of partying the whole way through the pandemic and blinking their way through it to be quite blunt…”
The chairwoman interjected: “We didn’t find out about the partying ‘til after the panedmic. What you did was to do something that the bereaved couldn’t do – the normal bereaved couldn’t do – because you wanted to go to a friends funeral.
"Isn’t that then saying what Boris Johnson’s government did was wrong was hypocritical?”
Ms O’Neill responded: "No, I don’t think so because what I did was under the understanding of the regulations at that time.
"I know we don’t want to open that up my lady but I have answered that.
"But I do accept wholeheartedly that I, in some way, damaged our executive relations with colleagues who had been working very hard with me the whole way through.
“I also accept wholeheartedly I damaged the public health messaging…
"I should have anticipated the outworking of what I did.”
Ms Dobbin then asked: “Was it really that difficult to anticipate the outworking of what you did Ms O’Neill?”
Ms O’Neill replied: “It was insofar as I was concerned on a personal invite attending a cortege of 30 people and I tried not to open this up but that’s the basis on which I attended.”
Ms Dobbin said: “One of the first questions I asked you was whether or not people from Northern Ireland got the leadership they deserved from you: how can you maintain that they did, in light of what you’ve just accepted?”
Ms O’Neill: “I didn’t say everything was perfect all of the time.
"I do believe that I did lead from the front the whole way through the pandemic, as did all of my executive colleagues.
"We’ve had difficulties, we’ve had challenging times, we’ve worked through very difficult times – which I’m sure you’ll want to speak about – but I do believe I led the whole way through; albeit I put my hands up in terms of the funeral itself and how I shouldn’t have done that, because that took away from all the work I’d put in to trying to lead us through the pandemic which was hard on everybody right across society…
"I worked day and night to get us through this pandemic, so apart from this one time I do believe my leadership was strong through the pandemic.”
Ms Dobbin said: “Well, let’s examine that...”
DELETED MESSAGES: Later in the session, Ms O’Neill was asked if she accepts that she “cleansed or wiped your devices when the powersharing arrangements came to an end”.
"That’s right,” she replied.
"Did you delete them in and around February 2022 or was it later than that?”
She responded: “I’m assuming whenever I left office, yes”.
Ms O’Neill went on to tell the inquiry she would periodically wipe and reset devices to delete personal information.
It was put to Ms O’Neill that, based on the phone records which the inquiry does possess, it was clear that she and Arlene Foster had used their phones to “discuss substantive matters about the response to the pandemic”.
Ms O’Neill said: "There may well have been the to-ing and fro-ing outside a meeting. All decisions were recorded on the official record in terms of what the civil service hold."
Ms Dobbin said: “It’s not just decisions that have to be recorded though is it? It’s discussions around them. there are rules aren’t there there’s guidance about what should be retained and committed to the official record.”
Ms O’Neill replied: “...I’m confident all those decisions were recorded. I’ve been a minister for health, I’ve been a minister for agriculture and rural affairs, and I noted other ministers – minister Long – had the same approach as I in terms of clearing your device because of sensitive information before you hand it back to the department because it’s going to be redistributed to another member of staff.”
Ms Dobbin then quoted from Ms O’Neill’s witness statement in which the Sinn Fein MLA had said: “I did not use WhatsApp, text messages, or iMessages to communicate about matters related to the response to the pandemic during the specified period other than logistical and administrative matters.’”
Ms Dobbin added that Ms O’Neill had been given “clear advice that you should be retaining WhatsApps” to which the Sinn Fein vice-president said: “Yes, but I believe I’ve misunderstood exactly what I should retain and thought I had retained everything that was relevant to the Covid decision-making process…
"Firstly I wiped the device, as minister Long explained, because we thought that was our custom and practice in terms of departmental phones being returned.
"Secondly that I believed the official record was recorded and populated.”
Thirdly, there was “a misunderstanding on my part” in terms of what constituted formal and informal communication.

Just get a friend with a juiced up cloak, have them make a new character, go straight into dungeons, one shot bosses = profit
My friend’s damage meters were saying my dps was 2.2million (they were a 70 scaled and I was level 11 shadow priest). On top of that you’re virtually unkillable
Now if only I could lock my character at level 10. This scaling feels entirely backwards to what was advertised, I know (hope) they’re fixing it

How much do you trust your partner with finances?
TL;DR My partner wants to be a SAHM but also have a maid and get expensive gifts but I am not sure it will be feasible. How to deal when we have different outlook on life?
Context: I (29M) and my girlfriend (27F) Alice have been together for about 2 years now and our families (well mostly herself and her family) would expect me to move things to next stage sometime soon. I do want to get married and don’t mind doing it now but I would prefer having kids in 4-5 years from now at least, while Alice wants kids before 30 but that’s a whole different thing to talk about. Mainly reasons for me wanting kids late are: 1) I want to do some more travelling but not me-with-kids-travelling type, I would like to get on a motorbike and cross Australia and Africa type of travelling and 2) finances. I want to be in a stable position in my life, owning a home and so on.
Now that I am considering proposing in the next year or so, I have started thinking that I have major trust issues when it comes to sharing my finances with Alice. She comes from a wealthy family, grandparents from both sides are very rich, most of the women in her family work part-time jobs so they don’t get bored but in reality don’t need to work at all, they get huge gifts (like 3-4K$ gifts) constantly, send their children to private school etc. Alice never said out loud she expects similar treatment from me until recently. She has an office job and has been becoming increasingly frustrated with her job. Constantly complaining she is super tired, she cannot get anything done outside of work, doesn’t like working etc. I have tried to offer her some help with how to improve things (she has very unhealthy lifestyle) but refuses to do anything about it. Her solution obviously is… once she gets pregnant, she wants to be a stay at home mom and look after the kids. But not just a regular stay at home mom, she would prefer us to have a maid so she gets help with housework as well (everyone in her family has a maid, or multiple ones).
Now, I don’t have anything against SAHMs, I am okay with her taking a longer non-paid paternity leave to recover (like a year off). But I don’t want to be a sole breadwinner in the family. I do have a very good job and I am massively lucky and grateful for it! But it’s not like my job is guaranteed (especially in today’s market). Her theory is that I will become a C-level executive and she will be free to not work for the rest of her life. The thing is, people at such a level have even less security of keeping a job, which concerns me a lot. I come from a poor country and my family, I love my parents and everything they have done for me, is not one of a financially well background and I always feel less secure when I spend money so I try to live very very well below my means and even Alice doesn’t know (or suspect) how much I make. We had an argument about the whole of it recently and explained her that I prefer to have the security of 2 working parents, why we should live below our means and invest the rest and the fact that I don’t have a rich family behind me to fall back on, if I lose my job and can’t find a well paid one then we would be in trouble. It’s not like if I cannot make mortgage payments then I would take a small loan from family or just ask my family for the keys of one of the properties the family owns. I am not sure she gets that and keeps telling me that it’s okay and all about the women in her family or the wives of some people from work or friends and how they do it (all of which come from a richer background). I am at the point where I don’t trust to even tell her how much I earn or what savings I have as she would immediately start wanting me to buy things for her. I have offered to take her on a holiday backpacking across Japan but she instead wants me to splash for some top notch hotels and Michelin star restaurants, which I am not interested in. I have also offered her that if she doesn’t want to work as much, we can go down the FIRE path, save as much as we can, my parents have previously said they would gladly relocate to give me a hand with raising kids so I can focus on career etc and I explained her that with some luck and planning we get to semi-retire in early 40s but she refuses that also.
So, how much are you people aligned on these things with your partners and how do you make it work? I feel like I should not be hiding things from my partner and not have to restrict myself from enjoying backpacking because they cannot deal with not sleeping in an expensive hotel, hiking in the nature and travel across a country on the back of a motorbike or on a train.

I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into my corporate job, working relentlessly without a single day off for the last 8 months. My dedication and hard work have been acknowledged by my boss, and I’ve always taken pride in my honesty and integrity, even when facing discrimination as an expat.
But recently, things have taken a drastic turn. My boss is under immense pressure from management to complete our project quickly, and he's been pushing me harder each day. I’m overwhelmed, juggling the responsibilities of three projects. I made a minor mistake in one of them, which had no significant impact. Yet, my boss humiliated me in front of everyone, threatening to fire me if it wasn’t fixed by next week. If it were truly critical, he’d have assigned someone else to fix it. Instead, he’s blaming me for things beyond my control.
Thank goodness I have evidence to support my innocence, but when I showed it to him, he didn’t even respond. This experience has left me unable to concentrate on anything. I've always been a top performer, and never in my career have I been treated this way by a supervisor. The public scolding brought me to tears, and I had to hide in the restroom just to compose myself.
With a huge mortgage hanging over my head, I feel trapped and hopeless. My boss doesn’t communicate with me or any of the other expats; he only commands us to complete tasks without issues. I don’t know how to navigate this situation or find a way to cope. I feel so lost and depressed.

Bunbunmaru news network is a fake youtube news channel that was made on June 18th 2021 and is currently still running. In the channels early days they uploaded bait and switch gore videos but now about half of the videos uploaded have been removed by YouTube.
Removed videos:
the first removed video I will talk about was one called “nyanners singing meme” which is of an anime character dancing then it cuts to a quick beheading in the top corner before cutting back to the anime character. I actually got to see the video before it was removed by youtube and in my opinion it really wasn’t that bad. Another video that got removed which I also got to have the opportunity of seeing before it’s removal was a video called ventas rumba and it shows a clip of the venta waterfall in Latvia before cutting to a beheading in a pink colored tint and cutting back to the waterfall. In my opinion that video was worse than the first beheading but still not the worst I’ve seen. Another removed video was called anime meme and it began with an anime character with a chainsaw before cutting to the infamous cartel murder video 2 guys 1 chainsaw (never heard of it but wanna learn more without watching it? Here is a short article I wrote about the video https://www.reddit.com/thingsnottogoogle/comments/199g3fj/2\_guys\_1\_chainsaw/). I didn’t get the chance to see the bait and switch video on youtube with 2 guys 1 chainsaw but I’ve seen the actual video of it and it is very disturbing and graphic. Another removed video that I didn’t get to see was a video called “old film from Iraq” and it is an isis beheading and other clips of isis killings which from seeing past videos I know are very graphic. Another one that I didn’t get to see and in all honesty didn’t want to because it’s gross was one called narco arc said something naughty and it was a video of a character (I think anime) saying the n word before cutting to a video called snake ass or 1 man 1 snake where a man sticks a snake up his…I’m sure you can figure it out. There’s supposedly another video on the channel called Pearl fish’s gross hiding spot that also cuts to 1 man 1 snake and oddly enough hasn’t been removed from the channel. Another removed video is a video called SpongeBob’s naughty tv show and it shows SpongeBob watching tv then cuts to a man masturbating with a mcchicken sandwich. Another removed video and probably the least disturbing removed video because it doesn’t have actual gore or gross content was called ducktales molestar psa and supposedly it was just the ducktales characters saying inappropriate racist things in a song but I never got to see it and can’t find any further details on it. The last of the removed videos and probably the most disturbing of the removed videos is one called tourist trolled in Mexico and it’s the infamous el patron or 1 man 5 bullets video and it shows the murder of a man named Leonardo Alexander Caripe Brito. I also wanted to say that the video wasn’t even from Mexico and the murder actually took place in Peru so the name of the video was wrong. In the video Brito is sitting on steps near a building and a man named Frank Anthony Lopez Quiroz approaches him yelling “tu dile el patron” which means “you told the boss” and before Brito says anything Quiroz pulls out a gun and begins shooting him in the face and in the video Brito’s eyeball pops out after being shot and his nose pours out blood as he collapses bleeding out and then the video ends. I saw the video before (not on bunbunmaru tho) and it was so bad that I would consider it to be about as bad as some cartel videos I’ve seen and maybe even worse than some of them. Unfortunately Brito was only 34 and he left behind a wife and 3 young kids. Quiroz was also arrested prior to killing Brito for murdering 2 people and was connected to 8 other murders and went by the nickname“mata por gusto” which translates to “kills for pleasure” so he is obviously a piece of work. Rest in peace Leonardo Brito
Videos that are still up: I am currently watching some of the videos that are still up to help write this post and I won’t lie I am watching them out of curiosity too. The first video that is still up and I believe I watched it when I first found out about the channel about 6 months ago but I don’t feel like watching it again because it was really gross. It’s called “wtf gumball watchin” and it supposedlyshows gumball from the amazing world of gumball walking in on banana Joe (another character from the show) watching a video on his computer and the video shows multiple other pictures and videos with 2 being of scat porn, one being a dead animal with “fuck (n words) on it”, 2 characters from a show called ongezellig, and the nazi swastika symbol. From what I remember luckily the videos and photos were super small and hard to tell what they are but again I don’t feel like seeing anything related to scat so I won’t be watching that again. The next video which I actually just watched now 5 seconds ago and it really isn’t that bad is called “hodomoe cat mp6” and it shows a cat dancing with multiple gore images that are so small that you can barely tell what they are and the one looked like a guy missing his face and according to screamer wiki the one picture is of a motorcycle accident but the pictures are so small that you can barely see them. The next video which I’ve also opted out of watching I already talked about and it is called “Pearl fish’s gross hiding spot”. The next video which I watched about an hour ago right before I began writing this post (yes these posts take me a while to write) is called “decipher this song” and it shows an all black screen with a song playing and at the very end it shows a very quick clip of a decomposing body. There are also 2 very mild videos on the channel called cat bbc and sound 100% koin which are just bait and switch videos that cut to Jeff the killer. The channel also uploaded a few other videos that screamer wiki hasn’t written about yet and I am taking breaks from writing to watch them and returning to writing right after I finish watching each. The one I just watched is called “I like touhou” and it’s another highly disturbing video that begins some anime character and then shows an isis beheading and a picture of a very decomposed body who’s face is completely blue. The next one I just watched is called fainal rickroll and it is just a video that cuts to Jeff the killer with a rickroll at the end nothing crazy. The last one is called oh pretttty Roman and it shows a series of gore images with one being the guy missing his face from hodomoe cat and a picture of the infamous shock image “tubgirl” where a girl is in a bathtub with her own diarrhea shooting on her face and a few memes and more gore pictures with one being a person missing a hand and another decomposing body then a picture of Jeff the killer. After the disturbing images the video cuts to a color changing screen that is probably a seizure warning for some people so don’t watch that if you have issues with flashing lights. If the channel posts more in the future then I might make another post talking about it as well but based on past similar youtube channels they probably won’t be up too long because people report that type of content. Thanks for reading and thanks for helping grow this subreddit you guys are cool people and I hope that didn’t ruin your day like seeing some of it ruined my night.
Anyway if reading about it wasn’t disturbing enough here is the link to this somewhat entertaining mess of a youtube channel https://youtube.com/@bunbunmarunewsnetwork?si=kEYDZD6id3hgdCQL

My catfish story - trigger warning talk of suicide and abuse
Soo this still lives rent free in my mind though its been about a year since loss of contact with said catfish. The emotional and mental damage that came from my experience still haunts me and the constant questions I have constantly cross my mind. Who was he? Why? Was anything real? What was the end goal? Are my pictures floating around? Did he sell photos of my son? That last one hits right in the mom guilt...
My story starts the end of 2019 early 2020. I was a new mom struggling with PPD on-top of my already bad depression, untreated ADHD, insomnia and my then husband was no help. For example I had issues with breastfeeding and would often try to nurse for a small amount of time then supplement with formula. One night I was going down to warm up the bottle after another failed attempt of nursing that night. It had been a difficult night and sleep at this time was none existent. I heard my son crying harder after a few moments and heard my ex yelling at him to stop crying. By the time I got upstairs I walked in on him shaking him out of frustration. I took my son, got him settled and fed them attempted to have a conversation with my ex about what happened and as per usual it ended in a verbal fight. I took over all night time wake times from this point forward. I took care of the house, cooking, cleaning, paying bills etc. it was a very hard time in my life and I started having small joints or bowls after giving up breastfeeding to help control my constant anxiety and sleep. I never did this when I was alone with my son and only once he was asleep at night. My ex began to get more and more verbally abusive in the relationship and my mental health took a downward spiral. He blamed my smoking for my lake of affection towards him, my baby weight staying on and causing me not to be a 10 among many other nasty things. He began to pressure me to quite and seek help for my addiction but for free and online as I needed to be home with my son and had minimal money. (My ex hide a huge amount of debt before we got married, had me build us a brand new home to fit his life style as I was fortunate to be in a good finical standing at that time so money was tight) So I joined an app called Sober grid. And that's how I met "Michael"....
So I joined as mentioned about late 2019 earlier 2020, I had received numerous messages on the app from people reaching out to support me becoming sober. Michael was one of them. He was sweet and extremely charming. He came off extremely carrying and empathetic to my situation. As time progressed we chatted more and more and it slowly became more about our personal life's then sobriety. He would make jokes, send memes, listen to me cry over my house situation.. basically became my best friend. We stopped talking on the app and moved to what up as we live in seperate countries but only a few hours apart (he is in the states and I am in Canada) . He began to open up about his personal situation, informing me of his childhood trauma and war traumas as he had been a marine during the height of the Afghan war. I was 27 at the time and he 33. He knew I was married and had a son. He would ask questions about my son, never anything to personal or sus and about my husband. Eventually we began talking on the phone, I was enjoying the feeling of being desired, being appreciated, being dodted on even though he was hours away, he always seemed to make time for me.
Eventually as you all can assume that friendship grew feelings. So I began an emotional affair seeking all the things I was missing and to supplement my lack of self love. We talked from sun rise to sun down. Text and phone calls. The feelings grew, the texts and phone calls became more and more intense and pictures were sent. He sent me millions of photos of himself in different cloths, doing different things, and they mostly matched what he said he was doing at the time. I attempted FaceTime a few times but things just didn't work out. I didn't think much of it as I was addicted to the feeling I was feeling and my mental health was a mess...
Things between my wx husband and I deterated. I was primary caregiver and 9months after having my son I had to return to work so we wouldn't lose our home and could afford food. Mat leave in Canada is 12-18months.. I opted 12 and returned early. At this point my mental health went further down the gutter, my ex and I were seperation and getting back together on repeat and constantly fighting. I am so glad my son will have no memories of this time due to being so young. My choices became worse and judgement continued to be clouded by this delusion that me and "Michael" would be together as he promised. In sept 2020 I began having suicidal ideation a believing I was a horrible human and mom and absolutely useless. I spent sometime in therapy and got medication but I didn't continued the treatments as in my mind once I get to make a plan and remove my marriage I can be with this person who makes me feel like a queen and talks to highly of my son.
I did send him a few photos of my son solo and some of me and him. Never anything exposing just mostly of us playing and what we were up to. He always spoke so kindly of my son, told me he wanted to be a bonus dad and take care of us.
Like I said, I really just ran past those flags..
In Jan 2021 everything in my life came to a crashing end. I ended up informing my ex of "Michael" and explained that this man was going to get himself killed because of me. At the time "Michael" had convinced me that he was going to rejoin the marines and remove himself from this situation n find peace in death as he couldn't live without me and couldn't commit suicide.. Due to the poor state my mental health came to a crashing point in this moment. My ex said some harsh things (deservingly so I was an idiot at this time - though he was abusive an ass what I did was wrong) and "Michael" walked away... I thought... To get himself killed because of me.
I ended up in a spiral and attempting suicide believing that was the only way out. Michael began calling and texting me off 2 numbers (his work and personal cell) to tell me he made a mistake and he wanted to stay in my life. I ended up on a form and in inpatient mental health unit for treatment. I was there for 4 days.
Upon discharge I attempted marriage counseling and personal counseling but things between myself and ex never improved only worsened. And "Michael" had gotten in contact with me and sweet talked his way back into my life..
I left my husband a few weeks later in 2021..
I fully committed to "Michael" and hung off his every word, photo and phone call. He spoke to my friends, my son, and sent me surprise flowers and pizza all the time. Though hours away always tried to look out for me...
This is when I started to become more aware of the flags. Through 2021 and the beginning of 2022 we continued down our path of on and off relationship, him always leaving and coming back. He said he was afraid of me leaving him over his PTSD and wounds from war. That's what he stated then.. the facetiming never happened, he always face timed when I was busy or never answered mine. I became aware of the toxicity that had began happening, him leaving saying he was not good enough for me and my son, me fighting, him coming back and promising me things and then repeat. One time he told me he had obtained a job in my area and was moving here. He was apparently here, completed some training and then the night we were to meet he chickened out and pulled one of his I'm not good enough, I'm a horrible person act as he always did. He would get jealous easy, he had found an inactive dating profile once from a period of time we were not talking and lost his mind. He called me "mo" as he always wanted more of me.
I could provide so many stories and examples of these fights, toxic behavior, red flags I ran past etc.
Then one day he told me he wasn't who he said he was, his storyline was true but the person was not. I asked him to explain and he covered it up with a war PTSD storey, foster home story or homeless teenage story that would distract me to thinking he ment personality wise and decency wise not looks.
I was very on my toes with him at this point but trusted him...why I do not know...
This continued till the end of 2022 when I bought a home and started to live life and not wait for him to join me. We slowly driftes apart as clearly after basically 2 years of this I was at a point where he needed to meet me or leave me.. in early 2023 all contact stopped. Not blocked but I had started treatment a few months earlier, got medicated and mentally stable.. I noticed the red flags and began calling him on them. Asking him about his pipe fitting at "Nicor" and how they let him leave to go to Ukraine. He was trying to convince me he had went to Ukraine to stand with them, text me as if he was there in war fighting to get back to me. Purposing to me over the phone, telling me he placed me as his beneficiary, giving me a marine number that would identify him and allow me access to his fund if something happened.
I did some digging as things just didn't add up. At this point I asked more questions and became more stand off.
This man never told me who he was, why, or that he was even a catfish.
He began to distance himself from me and I to him.
Later 2023 I found out about face ID websites and uploaded one of the images I still had of him just put of curiousity. He had never had any social media - told me he didn't like it but I'm assuming my guliable ass just fell for a lie there.
Well.... He was not in fact the person he sent me all those photos of.. I'm genuinely concerned how he got all these photos of this person he had so many different ones.. the person in those photos was an Italian soccer player..I attempted to confront him up n both numbers but have never recieved an answer. Just silence... He's never blocked me either and clearly still has the number as the person never responds.
I have come a very far way from who I was when I met this man. I have come even further since becoming more active in my mental health care. I am at the most stable I have ever been, the happiest I have ever been, and overall just happy with who I have grown into. I have done some stupid shit and this was probably the number one thing (though it did help me leave a horrific situation I should of handled it way better).
Don't be me.. ask the questions, do the face times and ask for all the proof. Don't be left haunted by a bad choice and if this person, who you have no idea what they look like, could be around you or your son. If your in an abusive relationship, find a safe way out and take your time to heal.
I hope someone who reads this avoids being dragged through it like I did and asks all the smart questions..
Remember it's not capture the flag ppl

Soo this still lives rent free in my mind though its been about a year since loss of contact with said catfish. The emotional and mental damage that came from my experience still haunts me and the constant questions I have constantly cross my mind. Who was he? Why? Was anything real? What was the end goal? Are my pictures floating around? Did he sell photos of my son? That last one hits right in the mom guilt...
My story starts the end of 2019 early 2020. I was a new mom struggling with PPD on-top of my already bad depression, untreated ADHD, insomnia and my then husband was no help. For example I had issues with breastfeeding and would often try to nurse for a small amount of time then supplement with formula. One night I was going down to warm up the bottle after another failed attempt of nursing that night. It had been a difficult night and sleep at this time was none existent. I heard my son crying harder after a few moments and heard my ex yelling at him to stop crying. By the time I got upstairs I walked in on him shaking him out of frustration. I took my son, got him settled and fed them attempted to have a conversation with my ex about what happened and as per usual it ended in a verbal fight. I took over all night time wake times from this point forward. I took care of the house, cooking, cleaning, paying bills etc. it was a very hard time in my life and I started having small joints or bowls after giving up breastfeeding to help control my constant anxiety and sleep. I never did this when I was alone with my son and only once he was asleep at night. My ex began to get more and more verbally abusive in the relationship and my mental health took a downward spiral. He blamed my smoking for my lake of affection towards him, my baby weight staying on and causing me not to be a 10 among many other nasty things. He began to pressure me to quite and seek help for my addiction but for free and online as I needed to be home with my son and had minimal money. (My ex hide a huge amount of debt before we got married, had me build us a brand new home to fit his life style as I was fortunate to be in a good finical standing at that time so money was tight) So I joined an app called Sober grid. And that's how I met "Michael"....
So I joined as mentioned about late 2019 earlier 2020, I had received numerous messages on the app from people reaching out to support me becoming sober. Michael was one of them. He was sweet and extremely charming. He came off extremely carrying and empathetic to my situation. As time progressed we chatted more and more and it slowly became more about our personal life's then sobriety. He would make jokes, send memes, listen to me cry over my house situation.. basically became my best friend. We stopped talking on the app and moved to what up as we live in seperate countries but only a few hours apart (he is in the states and I am in Canada) . He began to open up about his personal situation, informing me of his childhood trauma and war traumas as he had been a marine during the height of the Afghan war. I was 27 at the time and he 33. He knew I was married and had a son. He would ask questions about my son, never anything to personal or sus and about my husband. Eventually we began talking on the phone, I was enjoying the feeling of being desired, being appreciated, being dodted on even though he was hours away, he always seemed to make time for me.
Eventually as you all can assume that friendship grew feelings. So I began an emotional affair seeking all the things I was missing and to supplement my lack of self love. We talked from sun rise to sun down. Text and phone calls. The feelings grew, the texts and phone calls became more and more intense and pictures were sent. He sent me millions of photos of himself in different cloths, doing different things, and they mostly matched what he said he was doing at the time. I attempted FaceTime a few times but things just didn't work out. I didn't think much of it as I was addicted to the feeling I was feeling and my mental health was a mess...
Things between my wx husband and I deterated. I was primary caregiver and 9months after having my son I had to return to work so we wouldn't lose our home and could afford food. Mat leave in Canada is 12-18months.. I opted 12 and returned early. At this point my mental health went further down the gutter, my ex and I were seperation and getting back together on repeat and constantly fighting. I am so glad my son will have no memories of this time due to being so young. My choices became worse and judgement continued to be clouded by this delusion that me and "Michael" would be together as he promised. In sept 2020 I began having suicidal ideation a believing I was a horrible human and mom and absolutely useless. I spent sometime in therapy and got medication but I didn't continued the treatments as in my mind once I get to make a plan and remove my marriage I can be with this person who makes me feel like a queen and talks to highly of my son.
I did send him a few photos of my son solo and some of me and him. Never anything exposing just mostly of us playing and what we were up to. He always spoke so kindly of my son, told me he wanted to be a bonus dad and take care of us.
Like I said, I really just ran past those flags..
In Jan 2021 everything in my life came to a crashing end. I ended up informing my ex of "Michael" and explained that this man was going to get himself killed because of me. At the time "Michael" had convinced me that he was going to rejoin the marines and remove himself from this situation n find peace in death as he couldn't live without me and couldn't commit suicide.. Due to the poor state my mental health came to a crashing point in this moment. My ex said some harsh things (deservingly so I was an idiot at this time - though he was abusive an ass what I did was wrong) and "Michael" walked away... I thought... To get himself killed because of me.
I ended up in a spiral and attempting suicide believing that was the only way out. Michael began calling and texting me off 2 numbers (his work and personal cell) to tell me he made a mistake and he wanted to stay in my life. I ended up on a form and in inpatient mental health unit for treatment. I was there for 4 days.
Upon discharge I attempted marriage counseling and personal counseling but things between myself and ex never improved only worsened. And "Michael" had gotten in contact with me and sweet talked his way back into my life..
I left my husband a few weeks later in 2021..
I fully committed to "Michael" and hung off his every word, photo and phone call. He spoke to my friends, my son, and sent me surprise flowers and pizza all the time. Though hours away always tried to look out for me...
This is when I started to become more aware of the flags. Through 2021 and the beginning of 2022 we continued down our path of on and off relationship, him always leaving and coming back. He said he was afraid of me leaving him over his PTSD and wounds from war. That's what he stated then.. the facetiming never happened, he always face timed when I was busy or never answered mine. I became aware of the toxicity that had began happening, him leaving saying he was not good enough for me and my son, me fighting, him coming back and promising me things and then repeat. One time he told me he had obtained a job in my area and was moving here. He was apparently here, completed some training and then the night we were to meet he chickened out and pulled one of his I'm not good enough, I'm a horrible person act as he always did. He would get jealous easy, he had found an inactive dating profile once from a period of time we were not talking and lost his mind. He called me "mo" as he always wanted more of me.
I could provide so many stories and examples of these fights, toxic behavior, red flags I ran past etc.
Then one day he told me he wasn't who he said he was, his storyline was true but the person was not. I asked him to explain and he covered it up with a war PTSD storey, foster home story or homeless teenage story that would distract me to thinking he ment personality wise and decency wise not looks.
I was very on my toes with him at this point but trusted him...why I do not know...
This continued till the end of 2022 when I bought a home and started to live life and not wait for him to join me. We slowly driftes apart as clearly after basically 2 years of this I was at a point where he needed to meet me or leave me.. in early 2023 all contact stopped. Not blocked but I had started treatment a few months earlier, got medicated and mentally stable.. I noticed the red flags and began calling him on them. Asking him about his pipe fitting at "Nicor" and how they let him leave to go to Ukraine. He was trying to convince me he had went to Ukraine to stand with them, text me as if he was there in war fighting to get back to me. Purposing to me over the phone, telling me he placed me as his beneficiary, giving me a marine number that would identify him and allow me access to his fund if something happened.
I did some digging as things just didn't add up. At this point I asked more questions and became more stand off.
This man never told me who he was, why, or that he was even a catfish.
He began to distance himself from me and I to him.
Later 2023 I found out about face ID websites and uploaded one of the images I still had of him just put of curiousity. He had never had any social media - told me he didn't like it but I'm assuming my guliable ass just fell for a lie there.
Well.... He was not in fact the person he sent me all those photos of.. I'm genuinely concerned how he got all these photos of this person he had so many different ones.. the person in those photos was an Italian soccer player..I attempted to confront him up n both numbers but have never recieved an answer. Just silence... He's never blocked me either and clearly still has the number as the person never responds.
I have come a very far way from who I was when I met this man. I have come even further since becoming more active in my mental health care. I am at the most stable I have ever been, the happiest I have ever been, and overall just happy with who I have grown into. I have done some stupid shit and this was probably the number one thing (though it did help me leave a horrific situation I should of handled it way better).
Don't be me.. ask the questions, do the face times and ask for all the proof. Don't be left haunted by a bad choice and if this person, who you have no idea what they look like, could be around you or your son. If your in an abusive relationship, find a safe way out and take your time to heal.
I hope someone who reads this avoids being dragged through it like I did and asks all the smart questions..
Remember it's not capture the flag ppl