My girlfriend is endorsing this weekend, and part of that is taking a 3 hour e-course and are you fucking serious with this shit? This is what they're teaching new riders is "safe"?
There is so much blatantly bad and borderline dangerous advice and videos in that course. And this is the shit you nerds are holding up as the bible?
Cruising in the right hand position? Using the middle position while cornering? Basically the ENTIRE cornering section is trash. They call the Kill-Zone the "No-Zone". No, it's the KILL zone because it will kill you to hang out there. The no zone sounds like you're teaching a kid about stranger danger. A full inspection before every ride, Okay buddy. And then, shit, most all the advice is just shit you should know from driving a car. Oh, and then there the whole video examples of bikes getting passed (I had to pause and point that out, told my girlfriend "Never let this happen. Cars should not be passing you unless they're hauling ass"), riding in clumps of traffic (also paused and point out a huuuuge empty spot like 50 yards ahead), taking NINE WHOLE SECONDS to overtake a car. Saying bikes have these big blind spots, no, adjust your mirrors correctly. I can see 360 around me and once a car leaves my mirror it's already in my periphery. Engine blipping to run over a 2x4... What a fucking bad joke. And you folks eat it um, yummmm daddy, more cummies pleaaaase.
It's all 100% reactive defensive riding style. It's super dangerous. Be aggressive. Be proactive. Pass cars fast. Stay out of traffic clumps. Lean in your turns. Hit that apex. Seriously. This course is fucking stupid and bad.
Don't ride like the MSF teaches, guys. It's written by a bunch of rule lawyering office nerds. This shit is like boomer taking his harly around town a couple times a year material.

• Rob Weiss is her favorite ex-boyfriend.
• He’s the one person that was a good guy, talented, creative, and inspired her a lot. They were together for 7.5 years.
• He feels the same way about her.
• He liked her dad.
• Her mom and Weiss got along well. Her mom painted a house (her own? Weiss’?) and wanted to see Weiss’ reaction.
• Doherty avoids obstacles now, instead of trying to plow through them.
• He was on vacation in 1991, and met her at Bar One. He knew who she was. He had wanted to go into the film business.
• He made a movie, went to the Sundance Film Festival, moved to L.A.
• 2 years later, Doherty was married. Doherty started dating him around 1994.
• They moved in together quickly after Doherty left her first husband.
• They got together right before her 23rd birthday.
• He was not successful, but not a failure. He wrote “Milk Bar”. He did “American Psycho”.
• They watched Clerks together.
• Doherty says he introduced her to the indie film world.
• They were engaged. But after her first marriage, she believed a piece of paper doesn’t mean anything.
• Doherty’s mom still wears her wedding band, even though Doherty’s father died.
• They connect with each other on a soul level.
• He has a child with another woman.
• Doherty learned she needs to listen to her gut.
• They broke off the engagement a week before the wedding.
• Doherty was still following what was happening with her first husband.
• Marriage is an antiquated notion to Weiss.
• There’s no woman that’s more important to him than the mother of his child. They had dated for 3 years. But he doesn’t need to marry her.
• Doherty says Weiss is a Math Changer. (See the podcast with Doherty and Les Snead).
• Rick (another ex) was a Buyer Beware.
• Weiss says Rick has different demons. But he’s a cool cat.
• Weiss loves his dad, but he would categorize him as a toxic male. He smoked until he had lung cancer. He served in the military.
• Doherty loves Weiss’ dad.
• Doherty still adores both Rob and Rick.
• Doherty’s soul connection with Weiss will always be there.
• Rob gave Doherty the diamond heart necklace that Prue wore on Charmed.
• Weiss still has some necklaces and rings that Doherty gave him.
• Doherty had a tattoo with Weiss’ name on it. She eventually covered it up with flowers. Weiss did not want to get a tattoo with her name on it.
• He now has tattoos. Such as his son’s name. Since he likes tattoos now, he thinks maybe he would have gotten Doherty’s name on his neck, if he had to make the decision again.
• The best moment they had was in Venice, Italy. They went to get something to eat late at night. The streets were dead. Some guy started to talk to them. They told him they wanted food. They followed him. He directed them to two other people. Doherty thought they were going to get robbed. Eventually they were lead to a restaurant. It was a 24 hour restaurant. And the food was delicious.
• They went to Amsterdam. They ended up at a hostel with 5 beds in a room. She didn’t want to do that.

​

• Doherty thinks it’s hard for Weiss, because he can spend 2 years writing a show. Then he pitches it, and the people he pitches it to don’t like it.
• Weiss tries to work on 10 things at the same time.
• If he had spent 2 straight years working on only one thing, it would hurt him more.
• Doherty had a birthday party at a bar, where there was a fight.
• They had only been dating for 10 days. They started on April Fools Day.
• Greg Vance gave Weiss a weird look. Weiss went up to him and his people and asked if there was a problem. He turned around to his right, and got headbutted on his nose.
• The fight spilled out onto the street.
• He doesn’t roll with a large posse anymore.
• He stopped drinking 5 years ago.
• He loved red wine.
• He can’t be hungover at 7am, with his kid, anymore. He had to set a better example.
• His son is his dad reincarnated.
• He’s been nominated 3x for Entourage.
• Doherty just found out Weiss was nominated at the Sundance Film Festival for Grand Jury Prize.
• Doherty was so excited when she, Jason Priestley, and Luke Perry presented an award at the Emmys.
• Weiss thought Entourage was going to be horrible. He didn’t think the audience would connect with the show.
• Doug Elin had wanted Weiss to play Billy Walsh.
• Weiss’ first impression of Doherty was that she was his dream girl. She was fun. She was spicy. She smoked cigarettes like a fighter pilot. Sexy, great style. Amazing cook.
• Doherty wants another relationship. She just doesn’t want to get married again.
• Weiss does better in life on some nights when he can take a bubble bath, get up at 5:30am, and does what he needs to do, without having a conversation.
• Doherty agrees, so why can’t there be a relationship where Weiss doesn’t move in with someone, and they keep their separate places? So they can have off nights as needed.
• He thinks the guy should be older, but has nothing against men who are with women 20 years older. Whatever fits one’s preference.
• He just wants a positive energy with someone.
• He’s not looking for someone to go on a cruise together with.
• Weiss and Doherty dated for 2 - 3 years before they got engaged.
• The proposal was basically Doherty going “give me the fucking ring”.
• When they were in Italy and France together, Weiss ran into an old friend. That friend was with his girlfriend, who had a 5 carat ring. Doherty then wanted a ring. So they got that friend to make a ring.
• Weiss asked for her parents’ blessing.
• Her parents heaped concerns on him.
• Weiss was surprised, because they had been dating for 3 years.
• Their relationship was from right after she left Beverly Hills 90210, to right after she left Charmed.
• She stopped living with him at some point, and got her own place.
• Dick Wolf offered Doherty a show after Charmed. But she had to move to New York. She didn’t want to do that. She was in love. Her parents were in LA. She says she was an idiot for turning it down.
• They were on again, off again a few times during those 7 years.
• Dating was more pure back then, compared to now. Now it’s transactional. Dating is now only with people that can help someone.
• Weiss calls it opportunistic. And leveraging.
• Now, people develop a fantasy relationship with someone. Then they meet them, and it’s different.
• It was easier back then, because you dated people you knew, from within Hollywood.
• Weiss has supported Doherty during her cancer.
• Weiss was devastated when Doherty’s cancer came back.

The Russian army continues to violate all the laws and customs of war, as well as relevant international conventions. Permanent air attacks by Russians against residential areas and critical civilian infrastructure are clear evidence of Moscow's intention to destroy not only the Ukrainian state, but also its entire civilian population. There are powerful air attacks in the frontline regions of Ukraine, which suffer not only from cruise, ballistic, hypersonic missiles and attack drones, but also from guided aerial bombs (which have very low accuracy of hitting) and long-range heavy artillery.
Odesa is one of the most affected Ukrainian cities, ballistic missiles from the coast of the Crimean peninsula (temporarily occupied by Russian troops) reach it in minutes. On April 29, 2024, Odesa was attacked with a ballistic missile with a cluster warhead. The latter has many high explosive fragmentation elements and is directed, mainly, against the manpower of the enemy located in the open area. The Russians deliberately used a cluster warhead against civilian residents of a peaceful city who do not want to join the totalitarian Russian neo-empire. This missile hit the area of high-density housing development and the building of a higher educational institution. As a result, six people died, and three dozen people were injured and hospitalized with various degrees of severity. The next day, on April 30, the ballistic missile attacked a densely populated area again (three Ukrainian citizens were killed).
It should be emphasized that during the last few months, the Russian troops began to use cynical “doble-tap” attacks with a certain time interval. For example, on March 15 of this year, the Russians struck the civilian infrastructure of Odesa with Iskander-M ballistic missiles. When the Ukrainian emergency services arrived to help the victims of the attack, the supporters of the “Russkiy Mir” launched a second missile. In total, 21 people died, including medics, police and emergency employees.
As for the kamikaze drones, the Russians, launching them from the Crimea through Odesa and Mykolaiv, use urban cover tactics. It flies over the city where residential buildings are concentrated the most. Thus, it is very difficult for the mobile groups of the Ukrainian air defense (which move in jeeps with searchlights and machine guns) to quickly move between high-rise buildings. In addition, these groups are mostly unable to open fire on targets due to the dense residential development, which, in fact, serves as a cover for Russian drones.
In general, even UN officials managed to notice the fact that Russian air attacks against Ukrainian settlements have become even more frequent, diverse and sophisticated, which has led to an increase in the number of victims among the civilian population, in particular, children.
Now, it is essential to provide Ukraine with at least seven Patriot air defense systems (or SAMP/T) capable of shooting down Russian ballistic and aeroballistic missiles. IRIS-T and NASAMS medium-range systems will also help protect the airspace over Ukraine. In addition, there is a need for short-range mobile anti-aircraft missile systems. For example, in order to protect Odesa from drones, it is necessary to place about six L3Harris VAMPIRE systems and six Crotale installations (or its analogue - FV4333 Stormer HVM) along the coastline.
All these aimissile defense systems are very important in order to protect the Ukrainian civilian population from Russian aggression. In turn, if the Armed Forces of Ukraine receives 25 Patriot systems, it will significantly improve the situation on the battlefield and positively affect the course of the war in Eastern Europe.

For example you believe you're the actual Tom Cruise or the actual Jesus or the actual Abraham Lincoln etc? Like if you're asked what your name is you say it's [insert delusional name] or if you're asked you what your date of birth is you give the date of birth of [insert delusional name] or if you're asked if you're single, you say no I'm married to [insert delusional spouse name] etc etc.
Or do you always know deep down who you are in terms of who you were born as, but now you believe you've become that delusional person? But you still know your real name, date of birth etc?

Hello! I hope this is an ok thing to post here, if it’s not please just lmk I’ll take it down. I have a few different friends with autism. I enjoy being friends with all of them and pretty much just treat the friendship the same way I would treat any other friendship. However, sometimes there are differences in the way we interact with each other compared to my NT friends that confuse me a little bit (I’m not always great with social interactions in general so this sometimes just makes me more confused). I know this probably depends a lot person to person, but if any one could give advice of what you’d do in these situations I’d greatly appreciate it!
Talking about special interests: Example: My one friend rly enjoys cruises and cruise ships. I enjoy listening to him but I don’t always know the best way to approach the conversation. I tend to ask lots of questions to try and show I am interested in what he’s saying but sometimes I get nervous that that’s like annoying or overwhelming. So would you find me asking questions annoying or rather a show of interest in what you are saying?
Texting: Another friend of mine texts rly differently than me (I feel the need to excessively answer any text i receive lol). I’ll ask a general question to a group chat asking everyone’s opinion on smt and he rarely responds. There’s also been a few instances where I tell him smt and he doesn’t respond. I don’t mind his lack of response at all- there’s nothing rly to answer, but I am usually under the impression that if u don’t answer a text it is because you are upset/mad so I just get scared that he doesn’t answer me because he is mad. So ig my question is, if a text didn’t require a direct response would u still respond/do u not answer texts when u are upset?
Getting to Better Know Someone: This is kinda the reason I thought of the post in the first place. I was at meet up the other day with an organization I am apart of (helps create friendships and connections between people with and without disabilities) and this guy was there for the first time (he has autism). I was talking to some of my other friends around me and I didn’t want him to feel excluded at all so I asked him the same questions I was talking to the others abt. Long story short I pretty much just asked him a lot of questions (they were pretty like basic questions and not like question after question cause I didn’t want to freak the poor guy out) and he would respond and that would kinda just be the end of it. I don’t have a problem with that at all, I am exactly the same way when I’m in a new situation- just kinda observe what’s happening and speak when someone asks me smt. But I just get nervous cause I can’t tell the line, when asking questions, between what comes off as trying to include him vs me being annoying. I usually follow the idea that when your trying to get to know someone you ask them questions so once the conversation kinda stops, I get kinda scared (that applies to both ND and NT people tho lol). Also, when I meet someone new I want to know literally everything about them so it’s hard for me to not ask questions lol. So ig my question is, if I was trying to get to know you better, what would be the best way to go about it?
I really have no idea if any of that made sense, I hope it did. Also, if any of that was like offensive or anything i’m rly rly sorry, I just want to be a better friend to my friends. Thank you in advance for any response!

Welcome to another TSB Thursday, where I dive deeper in to TSBs I'm running into regularly. As always, I write this from my own perspective as a Subaru technician in the US; other regions/zones may work differently. Refer to the "How To Read a TSB" post for more information on formatting and general information about TSBs. In celebration of warm weather finally coming to my area, I'm continuing some A/C system bulletins. Last post was all about Condensers. Today's post is all about A/C compressors, and there is a lot to talk about, so let's dive in.

TSB Thursday #13:

• 10-100-21R - "A/C Compressor- Manufacturing Procedure Change"
  • 2019-2021 Forester
• 10-98-20R - "New Air Conditioning (A/C) Compressor Availability"
  • 2018 Forester
  • 2018-19 WRX
• 15-237-19R - "Chattering Sound from A/C Compressor"
  • 2017-18 Forester
• 15-244-19 - "A/C Compressor Clutch- Service Parts Availability"
  • 2013-19 BRZ
• 15-210-17 - "Cruise Control Light Flashing, Possible Cancel Code 61"
  • 2017 Impreza Models with Manual A/C ONLY
• 15-209-17 - "Abnormal Sound from Air Conditioning (A/C) Compressor"
  • 2015-16 WRX and WRX STI
  • 2014-16 Forester
  • 2012-16 Impreza
  • 2013-16 Crosstrek
• 10-84-16R - "New A/C Compressor / Clutch Assembly"
  • 2015-16 WRX and STI
  • 2014-16 Forester
  • 2014-16 Impreza and XV Crosstrek

What's the failure?

Your A/C system (as well as any refrigeration system, just like the fridge in your kitchen) is comprised of 4 main components, along with hoses or pipes that connect them. The heart of the system is the Compressor. It works by squeezing the refrigerant really hard, such that the refrigerant gets pressurized and very hot. The refrigerant then moves to the Condenser, which looks a lot like a radiator. Air passes through the fins of the Condenser, where that heat and energy can dissipate into the surrounding air. Refrigerant will then flow to an Expansion Valve (or in some cases an "orifice tube"), which is just a component with a very small hole for refrigerant to flow through. This is both what provides the resistance so the Compressor can, well, compress, but also creates a low pressure zone after the refrigerant has passed through it. When this happens, the refrigerant will next flow into the Evaporator Core, which in the case of a car is inside the ducting behind/under the dashboard. The low pressure refrigerant is now free to "pull" heat and energy out of the air flowing through the ducts, and thus both removes humidity and also cools the air flowing past it. The refrigerant then returns back to the Compressor to start the cycle all over again. In essence, the whole of the system works by pumping energy out of the interior HVAC ducting and pushing it to the ambient air in the engine bay. Naturally, there are a few other important bits that the car needs to know about to use this system effectively. One key component is a pressure sensor, so that whichever module is controlling the compressor makes sure it's operating in a safe range. Another is a filtration element, sometimes called a ReceiveDrier. Lastly, within the Evaporator Core will be a temperature probe, so that if the core starts getting so cold that ice forms, the system can turn off.
Ok so what do all of these bulletins mean? They're all different part updates for the compressor part of the A/C system. In all of the above cases, if your car is in need of service to the A/C system, there is a good chance the compressor will also need to be replaced with an updated unit. You may notice that 15-209-17 and 10-84-16R overlap; this is an instance of an update on an update.
This is a video (at 4:46) with an example of a buzzing sound that can indicate a failed A/C compressor in a number of these TSBs, including 10-98-20R, 15-209-17, and 10-84-16R. It can also indicate a very low state of refrigerant charge; hearing this buzz does not automatically mean you need a new compressor, but the likelihood is high.
I also want to touch quickly here on the difference between fixed displacement and variable displacement compressors. With a fixed compressor, the A/C system can only ever be "ON" or "OFF." This is done with an electromagnetic clutch assembly on the front of the compressor, inside of the pulley that the serpentine belt rides around. When the ECM or HVAC CM commands the clutch to the ON position, the serpentine belt pulley and the clutch lock together, and now the engine RPM will match the compressor internal RPM. Inside the compressor are a series of small pistons, which will now move up and down, creating suction on an intake stroke and compression on its output stroke. The advantage here is that it's cheap. But there are a number of disadvantages; the first being the flow of refrigerant is now tied to your engine RPM, the second that the the A/C can only ever be off or full force. This is where the variable compressor comes in; Subaru's variable compressors do not use a clutch at all, but rather uses a solenoid connected to a swash plate inside of the compressor, which changes the stroke length of the internal pistons. This way, the control module can pick a percentage of refrigerant flow on the fly; it can go as low as 0% (or no piston travel) when in the OFF position, or smoothly slide all the way up to 100% where the pistons move as far as possible. The advantages here are numerous; the compressor can maintain even refrigerant flow independent of engine RPM, there is no sharp engagement sensation that a clutch would have when kicking on, and when at cruise the compressor can run at a lower ratio to improve fuel efficiency. This video (at 0:51 through 3:42) has the best animation I could find of what's happening inside a variable displacement compressor.

15-210-17:

This is actually one of the more interesting TSBs out there, because it's super bizarre. Essentially, the clutch on the front of the compressor will back-feed voltage, which finds its way into the brake light switch's secondary circuit, which is used as the signal to turn off cruise control. For reference, only Imprezas with Manual climate control use this clutched compressor; any other trim (ie if you have an "AUTO" button on your HVAC panel) will use a variable-displacement compressor.

15-244-19:

A unique instance where Subaru has made the previously-not-sold-separately compressor clutch assembly now for sale for BRZ owners.

How do we fix it?

Generally speaking, compressor replacement on Subarus is very straightforward; evacuate the A/C system of its refrigerant, remove the serpentine belt, and then the compressor can be unbolted from the top of the block. (Depending on engine, a few other components may also need to be removed for access.) Swap out the part, reinstall the belt, and then vacuum and recharge the refrigerant. After, verify everything's working.

Coverage?

As a general rule, compressors are covered only by Basic warranty (3 y36k miles) or with an active Subaru Added Security warranty unless specifically extended in an applicable bulletin.
Happy summer and thanks for reading!

I am having issues leaving to do my hobbies or interests without my wife being overly concerned or misinterpeting. Been together 18 years.
For example, she’s binge watching a show in the living room for the past 3 hours. I want to go for a bike ride, but I have to exit the front door to leave obviously. Once I do, I always get a, what’s wrong? Are you mad at me? Type of questions when I leave. I’m not storming out, I do the whole heads up Im gonna go for a ride real quick, but its always the same thing. Anything I do that is of my own interest, seems to trigger some response that Im always mad. Making me feel like Im an asshole. So now it messes up the vibe that Im leaving because shes convinced Im mad so I end up not going. Which makes me feel pissed off because now Im just in my room doing jack shit. So now I am mad, doing nothing….then hours later she’ll be like if you want to take off and go blow off some steam go for it. 🤦‍♂️
I tried the whole just ignore it and go but then theres silent treatment when I get back until I break the ice. Then some will be like, just take her along with you. I been with her 18 years, already covered that. Bought 2 bikes, she doesnt want to go. Bought 2 motorcylces, doesnt want to ride. Bought a weekend sports car to cruise around, doesnt want to go. Bought a convertible to ride to the beach, would rather stay home. Ask her what she would like to do, doesnt commit or participate. Yet if she has plans she can go and come as she pleases with no resistance from me. This has been going on for a decade and I feel like im turning into a housepet.
What is this called and how do I break out of it? I brought it up to her attention countless times, but she’ll set some weird tone around the house where she’s overly happy and excited and if I dont match her energy somethings wrong with me.

G’Day 👋 Objy is a platform that allows you to easily create and share AR experiences of your products. It has some similarities to other 3D scanning apps such as the Shopify app on iPhones. I’ve used these a fair bit, and added some features I wished for:

• you get a public URL to share your products AR experience anywhere on the web with any device (for example Instagram/Facebook stories!)
• you can add a “view in my space” button directly to your store, or other website, as opposed to using the built in model viewer, which I could never get working on Firefox on my iPhone on my Shopify store
• create a QR code from the URL and add it to your flyers, posters, online images, or mailers (imagine showing a customer how great other products would look in their place via a QR code on a thank you for shopping note)

The platform and iPhone app is available, but as I build a Shopify App I was hoping for: 1) feedback on what you think 2) would you like to early access / free access to some premium features like custom call to action pages - let me know, I’m genuinely excited to work with small businesses to make AR product experiences easier, and help them delight their customers🤓
Appreciate your time reading. Cheers, Marcus

Can anyone help me decide if either premier or plus is worth the additional cost?
Going with 4 people total, one grandma and one 13yr son. If I go with premieplus it only applies to 2 people per cabin, so theoretically wouldn’t apply for the kid or grandma as an example.
So when we go to eat we’d need to pay for the meals for 2 / 4 of us. Same with drinks ordered, my sons pop or whatever would cost us.
Worth noting that none of us are drinkers, we might theoretically have 1 alcoholic beverage per day each (3 in total), or maybe even 0. We like nice coffees, milkshakes if they were available, water, mocktails, etc.
Outside of sit down in person dining, can we utilize the drink/food privileges of the 2 premier tickets to get free food or drink for the 2 non premier family members? Go grab a dessert and bring it to one of them on a deck somewhere, or go grab a drink and bring it to one of them etc?
I’ve never been on a cruise so just deciding if that will help offset some costs, or if it’s easier to forgo the packages altogether and just pay for everything every time?
Thank you for any insights

Ok, bear with me (or maybe BARE with me??). I have decided I love this mini trope. MC1 and MC2 are interested in each other or have started a relationship and they are apart for a day or more for some reason.
MC2 comes to the door of MC1 at a hotel or their house and someone else answers the door in a towel and MC2 is immediately like, oh nooooo! Cue the hurt and confusion and sadness that comes with that. Usually when I see this there hasn’t been any sex or intimacy with the towel-person but as long as they’re not committed I’m ok with it.
Some examples I can think of (spoilers ahead):
In {Virgin flyer by Lucy lennox}, MC1’s best friend/former mega crush answers the door in a towel when MC2 comes to bring a small but meaningful gift to MC1 to sort of be like “I love you.” the best friend is like, “he’s in the shower, but I can give him a message?” And MC2 is like “no it’s ok..” and leaves.
In {beyond the sea by Keira Andrews}, the MCs are at a hotel and MC1’s ex girlfriend shows up to support him because of some stuff that happened. MC2 comes to his hotel room, again, to admit his feelings and the ex girlfriend is either in a towel or jammies or something and is like “can I take a message?” MC2 is sad.
I know this is silly but I truly love it. I even had a third example but it slipped my mind. Thanks in advance!
Hard no’s: incest, cheating, polyamory
Other than that I’m an open book. Any pairing or subgenre is fine!

I never really paid attention to waht cards I have to optimize my money (be it rewards or cashback), but this site has helped me take this more into consideration and I am working on changing that. I typically travel 2-3 times a year (1 international, 1 domestic, 1 domestic/international) so I was leaning towards making my next card a travel card. Especially as I have a payment for a cruise coming up in August I have to pay for that should basically guarantee I get the subs.
I am also open to just suggestions in general to optimize my "card portfolio" if you guys have any suggestions, but mostly leaning towards a Travel card.
CREDIT PROFILE

• * Current credit cards you are the primary account holder of: (list cards, limits, opening date): (example: Chase Freedom $X,XXX limit, 12/2019 - be sure to mention if any are business cards)
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited, $18,800 limit February 2016
  • Chase Freedom Flex, $4,500 limit (did PC last month) April 2014
  • Chase Amazon Prime Visa, $15,100.00 April 2020
  • Citi Best Buy Card, $4,000.00 Jul 2015
  • Discover it, $8,000 limit March 2018
• * FICO Scores: Exparian 801
• * Oldest account age: 10 years 3 months
• * Number of personal credit cards approved for in the past 24 months: 0
• * Annual income $135,000.00

CATEGORIES

• * OK with category-specific cards?: YES
• * OK with rotating category cards?: YES
• * Estimate average monthly spend in the categories below.
  • * Dining $700
  • * Groceries $500
  • * Gas $120
  • * Travel $500 (this about the average spend monthly)
  • * Do you plan on using this card abroad for a significant length of time (study abroad, digital nomad, expat, extended travel)?: NO

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

• * Current member of Amazon Prime
• * Current member of both Costco and Sam's Club
• * Current member of Chase
• * Are you open to Business Cards?: No

PURPOSE

• * What's the purpose of your next card (choose ONE)?: Travel
  • * If you answered "travel rewards", do you have a preferred airline and/or hotel chain? Delta, Southwest (trying United and AA later this year to see how I feel about them)
• * Do you have any cards you've been looking at?
  • Venture X: Did the Pre-Approval and was approved
  • Saphire Preferred: Already approved for this
  • Amex Gold: Kept popping up as a recommended card

Looking for advice on becoming OE if anyone is feeling froggy. I just don't know what I could do, but debt keeps slowly piling up and there's no good end in sight. Crap keeps happening and we add a little more debt each time. You all seem to have yourselves together, but I also think you are working with more knowledge & experience in the fields that make OE possible. I'm going to apologize for the length in advance.
I am 46. Intelligent, but far too dumb to do anything with it in high school when I would have qualified for full free rides to college if I'd put any effort into it. They called it gifted and put me in special & advanced classes. I outscored the valedictorian on the advanced grammar final without studying. This is relevant; I swear. I just want to lay out what I'm capable of despite the path I put myself on due to early poor decisions.
Graduated at 17 despite no effort (I started school early; back then you could do that if the kid tested high enough), working full time right away in food service. Got pregnant at 18, got a job at the bank. Started as teller and ended as the Vault Manager. Over the next few years, I did switchboard for a large construction company and Club Secretary for one of the local country clubs. Turns out I thrive in support roles. I'm a people pleaser.
Still in my early 20s, I was a legal secretary for eight years specializing in everything but criminal and domestic. I can do transcription, correspondence, and manage calendars. I can create pleadings, estate planning documents, rental and purchase agreements, corporate filings and even some PI work. Mostly my dictation for creation of documents went like, "We need a will. Use the Smith's as an example. Each other's PRs, then the daughter. Everything to each other then the kids, per stirpes. Separate share trust with distro at 25 and 30." I cannot create a full will with all the legalese, but I can edit an existing template to fit the customer. By the end, I was reminding the atty of the provisions he was forgetting to add to some agreements.
After that, I started my Exec Asst gigs. Three years for the CEO at a healthcare facility until they eliminated my position and four years for the President of a manufacturing facility. That's when they promoted my boss, he headed back to Germany, and I got the boss from hell. He fired me for refusing to come in on my day off to work for free (not to mention the subtle fat shaming). I guess they do that in Belgium, but not here buddy. HR tried to tell him. He didn't listen. I'd not been fired before, but I was mad and took the free vacation.
After unemployment and my little settlement, I took a small job as a receptionist seven years go because Exec Asst jobs are not a dime a dozen in this Midwest region and I didn't want to waste all of my savings being lazy. I tried to leave within a few months because I did find something better that still had quite a commute, but my employer had issues in the past filling this role so they threw a bunch of money at me to get me to stay. I've been answering a busy phone on top of other tasks I was assigned once they realized that I could do more than answer a phone, but still got exec asst pay. Only recently were they able to find another receptionist so I could focus all my time on being the boss' asst. I guess four lines lighting up at once isn't something everyone can handle.
I have a lot of down time while on the job, in office. I can't do remote for them because most of my job is harassing my boss to do his (the joke is he pays extra for the harassment), and another physical job is impossible because the commute is just over forty-five minutes each way. I have an eleven hour day. I'm physically driving for an hour and a half, I'm lunching for an hour, but I'm only actually working about 2-3 hours on some days while I'm here. I do like it, especially the people and my boss(es) are great. It's not overly challenging unless you count flighty customers who can't seem to decide what day they want my tech to fly there for service, and I don't have to take stress home. Kids are grown, so I only need to be in the room with the spouse for "quality time" once I get home at 6pm.
I'm proficient in all Microsoft Office programs, Google office programs, I've learned some user-unfriendly management software over the years like SAP and Prophet 21. It's been awhile since I've done much Adobe, but I can get through it and make some damned good looking business cards. I book travel and coordinate meetings, I plan events, I create flyers (Canva for this because I'm not that creative), etc. Basically, lots of support tasks and I just figure out what I don't already know. That's what Google's for, right?
I've not done any social media management nor QuickBooks, but I think learning one of those might put me in the direction I need...maybe? Seems like those might be things that would make finding remote work easier, but I'm only speculating. I want to ask you all, but that seems rude...and time consuming.
I need something either sporadic enough or with enough deadline leeway I could do it on my down time or even a tad after I get home in the evening if I couldn't get to it during the day. I was thinking Virtual Asst, but that market seems flooded with people from overseas willing to work for nothing. I can do cheap tasks, but I can't work for $5/hour. Maybe reach out to some law offices for spill over dictation? I did do that over my unwanted sabbatical through a service. I think I'm going to have to learn to market myself, maybe. I do still have a foot pedal.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Do you have advice for me on how to get started? Do you have a suggestion for what I could pull off based on what you read about me? Do you have suggestions on things I need to do/learn before I even attempt something?
Any knowledge you wish to bless me with would be greatly appreciated.

Tldr: A critical SYNDE coalition home hole is burned to the ground by HAWKS and hundreds of billions are lost or safelogged.

Starting Points

One of the more contentious elements of any major conflict is identifying when, precisely, it actually began. In EVE, as IRL, that is particularly challenging given the breadth of metagaming which takes place. Did the Wormhole War begin when SYNDE decided last summer that they wanted to replace HAWKS as the dominant high-class wormhole group and committed to making that a reality? Did it begin when they solidified their alliance with the Initiative? When they build their wormhole coalition? When they seeded HAWKS home with capitals? Any of those, had they been out in the open, would likely have triggered open hostilities. But those plans and the steps towards their ultimate objective were carefully and smartly hidden from view.
The widespread SYNDE coalition assault on HAWKS C5 and C6 holes began on March 24^th. With the information we now have available to us, the real start of the war was likely the eviction of Voidlings during the first week of March 2024. HAWKS and their future allies were almost certainly unaware of the significance of that eviction, but leaked internal SYNDE comms put truth to the notion that SYNDE viewed that as a critical first step in isolating and crippling HAWKS. It was, then, the first overt act of war by SYNDE – though its place in that broader campaign remained shrouded for several weeks.
Voidlings is a small to midsize wormhole group. A few years ago, they were a growing low class wormhole group living in a C2 with HS and C3 statics. In 2022, they moved into a new home, a C5 wormhole with a C5 static. For non-wormholers, nearly every high class PVP group lives in a C5 with a C5 static. C5 space is both where the majority of high class farms are. The abundance of C5 statics means that living on the “C5 Highway” is often the best route to all forms of high class pvp and pve content. Honor brawls also almost exclusively take place in C5 holes.
So Voidlings grew from a low-class group into a high-class group, and they continued recruiting in an effort to become one of the relevant high class PVP groups. Their zkillboard suggests they participated in most traditional high class activities – farming, feeding, fighting, evicting, ganking, skirmishing. It appears they were supported during this period of growth by one or more HAWKS members. As a result of this affiliation they were not approached by SYNDE during their coalition-building period. Instead, they were marked for pre-war eviction both to be a preliminary test of coalition coordination and also to eliminate a potential HAWKS ally. Isolating HAWKS was key to the entire war plan.
SYNDE began seeding the Voidlings home with dreads in Feb 2024, ultimately bringing in 6 to support their eviction. At the appropriate time, a robust joint fleet led by SYNDE but also including key coalition allies TURBO and Stay Feral infiltrated the Voidlings home hole, installed a staging POS and began their eviction. They diligently held hole control, adding another half-dozen capital ships to their arsenal over the next several hours. A Voidlings eviction seemed inevitable, as they simply lacked the manpower and experience needed to prevent a collection of wormhole groups that large from evicting them. As is often the case when a home hole is under threat of eviction, batphones rang out across wormhole space. HAWKS, NOVAC and SL0W answered the call for Voidlings. The future SYNDE coalition was on already on standby to support this eviction if necessary, as well as future neutral LUPUS. SYNDE had also secured a commitment from the Initiative to support should the need arise.
At first, it did not appears that the batphoning was likely to change anything. SYNDE maintained diligent hole control, not permitting either Voidlings or any allies from bringing in ships or pilots via the Voidlings static. HAWKS rage rolled from their home to get into the Voidlings home, but was unsuccessful.
For the non-wormholers, when you rage roll a C5 static in order to connect with a specific C5 wormhole, you have a 1 in 531 chance of getting connected to that specific hole with each rage roll. Rolling into a specific hole requires days of 24/7 rage rolling and even then the odds are against you. Wormhole groups really only engage in this level of commitment for really high-level situations, such as the historical eviction of HK’s home hole Rage back in 2018.
Midway through the eviction, however, a frig hole popped connecting the Voidlings home with Horde space. HAWKS, NOVAC and SL0W immediately burned in shuttles to that frig hole, and SYNDE was unable to stop the vast majority of them from jumping into the hole and docking in the besieged Voidlings fort.
Voidlings leadership distributed their home defense handout Ravens to their comrades and the stage was set for a glorious home eviction defense fight. SYNDE and friends had a large 100-ship Barghest fleet supported by nearly a dozen capitals (dreads/fax) while Voidlings and friends could field 100 cruise Ravens with FAX logi and nearly two dozen long-range dreads. Range control and capital placement was understood by both sides’ FCs to be critical to the outcome of the fight. SYNDE had a fleet advantage, but one that could be overcome. Unbeknownst to the Voidlings side, once the frig hole popped SYNDE leadership had invoked their war alliance with Initiative, The Initative pinged and mobilized a 200-man Tengu fleet, travelling quickly to the wormhole chain’s entrance. Jumping in, the Initiative fleet docked in a nearby SYNDE farm and waited.
As a critical citadel timer approached, SYNDE FC Cyrus Kurush fleet warped dreads to range the full Barghest comp along with them. Bubbles exploded all over the grid, aiming to stop the Voidlings defense fleet from warping to a good position. This was an effective stratagem, as SYNDE knew that the Voidlings defense fleet would rely on FAX logi – so pinging around grid was not a viable option. The Voidlings fleet needed a clean warp-in, to a position favorable for their cruise Ravens. The dreads began bashing the fortizar, forcing the Voidlings fleet to commit the fleet or watch their citadel burn. The Ravens and their FAX logi aligned and warped, accepting a mediocre initial position that would permit the SYNDE dreads to apply well. Once the FAX landed, the HAWKS FC leading the Voidlings fleet called for all dreads to undock, and they were warped in to support this all-in defense effort. Those dreads landed, activated siege modules, and began primarying the SYNDE dreads.
After one SYNDE dread exploded and another started taking damage, the trap was sprung. Reports on both comms noted that a 200-man tengu fleet was on dscan. Confusion turned into delight on SYNDE comms and resigned frustration on Voidlings comms as the Initiative fleet landed on grid and immediately began fragging Ravens. What might have been a closely-fought battle quickly turned into a complete rout. Voidlings was able to extract a small number of dreads – but the butcher’s toll was a heavy one. Voidlings – having supplied all the ships used by the defenders – lost the entire Raven fleet and nearly all the capitals, for a total of 327b lost against 1117b killed. https://br.evetools.org/related/31001880/202403020300
The remainder of the eviction proceeded to plan, and all Voidlings citadels were destroyed. SYNDE celebrated a successful test run of their broader vision and campaign. In recent leaks that cover the aftermath, SYNDE lead Cyrus Kurush noted that although SYNDE had shown they could take on HAWKS alone, they would take advantage of their massive alliance to simply speed the broader war goal of taking all the HAWKS high class farms and taking their rightful place atop a New Wormhole Oder.

Rallying Cries and Motivations

This leads to another critical element for how the war would unfold. Wars in EVE are won by motivated pilots first, and a war chest second. For some time, SYNDE and their primary allies had planted the seeds of resentment towards HAWKS among their members. This is not a challenging task, as most wormhole groups generally dislike each other to begin with. In casus belli discussions with HAWKS immediately prior to the war, and in coalition and leadership meetings with their side, SYNDE was fairly consistent about their war aims: take all HAWKS C6 farms, take HAWKS C5 farms, and take HAWKS home. Those farms were to be distributed to SYNDE and their allies, although the specifics were studiously avoided in discussions.
The leak of the SYNDE pre-war CTA gives real insight into members motivations going into the war. Typically, pre-war CTA meetings in EVE are full of hype, energy and enthusiasm. The Synde CTA, by contrast, seemed a much more pragmatic event. Members were concerned about their current farms, about the plan to deploy out of home and into a C6 staging, about working with blues, and about their ability to participate in NPSI fleets during the war. SYNDE lead Cyrus Kurush needed to make clear several times that the expectation was that even though many SYNDE members were also members of other LS and NS groups, they were expected to devote their full effort and focus to the upcoming war against HAWKS. It is almost impossible to take away from that CTA meeting anything other than a rather shocking lack of enthusiasm for the war from SYNDE line members.

The War in Heaven

On the other hand, HAWKS motivations were much easier to discern. This War presented an existential threat. In the eyes of the SYNDE coalition, HAWKS farms and home were both forfeit. Everything they had built over the preceding decade was destined for destruction. Isolated and outnumbered, this would be the ultimate test of HAWKS members’ commitment. The sudden and shocking rebirth of Hard Knocks was mirrored by a large number of longterm HAWKS members also resubbing.
Another critical and perhaps overlooked element of motivations on HAWKS side was the war vs peace element. Although “peace” in wormhole space is a decidedly violent affair in general, with pretty much every group killing every other group on a daily basis, it had been many years since there was a major, sustained conflict in wormhole space. Nullsec often differentiates between “Skirmish FCs” and “Strat FCs”, with the former leading normal day-to-day fleets of battlecruiser sized ships or smaller, and the latter leading the heavy fleets, cap fleets, super fleets or the sizeable, complicated fleets deployed in major conflicts. In the cartel world that is wormhole space, it might be more appropriate to differentiate between “Territory FCs” and “War FCs”. The former freely leads the wide range of fleets that fight, gank, camp and brawl throughout wormhole space on a daily basis. The latter wants to lead larger, more complicated fleets in direct support of a broader strategic initiative. In gaming as IRL, it is normal for highly skilled players to want to be challenged – and at some point, the normal day-to-day fights no longer satisfies those urges. In some cases, that leads to corps fading away (HK), in others, it leads to limited participation (many HAWKS members/FCs).
When this Wormhole War kicked off, it was promptly dubbed “The War in Heaven” by the HAWKS/HK side. This name refers directly to the biblical conflict between two rival groups of Angels – that led by Michael, and that led by Satan. Revelation 12:7-10:

7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

It is not particularly challenging to figure out which side HAWKS was associating themselves with, given that the name of their CEO is Michael1995.
Perhaps more pragmatically, among members in both HAWKS and the reborn HK, this war was indeed a gift from Heaven above – a chance to dive into a massive, complicated campaign against a foe who was willing to violate wormhole norms in order to achieve their goals. During the first two weeks when HAWKS farms were burning, there is a sense that many of the HAWKS and HK leads were genuinely giddy about the opportunity to take the field and leverage all their accumulated skills, knowledge and experience against an increasingly-reviled opponent. Yes, things looked dire from the outside but internally, there was a mixture of enthusiasm and cautious optimism.

Headshots and Flipping

During normal wormhole fights, both brawls and skirmishes, it is generally considered poor form to headshot the other side’s FC. It happens sometimes, but is definitely looked down upon in the wormhole community. This is the sort of norm that disappears in the context of a large war, or any sort of existential threat situation.
At the strategic level, “headshotting” generally refers to destroying or debilitating the other side’s capacity to fight by taking home holes or staging holes. This would be a key element in the HAWKS strategy, and one surprisingly absent from the SYNDE side. From the very first week, HAWKS looked to take advantage of any opportunity, however fleeting, to headshot SYNDE and their allies. The early ATRAX eviction was the first example of this. It would not be the last, not by a long shot.
Another key tactic is flipping. Not flipping as in changing sides, but rather flipping as in unanchoring and then re-anchoring an Upwell citadel. Recall that when a citadel dies in a wormhole, every pilot’s possessions that remain in that citadel drop as loot cans on the grid. 100% loot drop, 100% of the time. Over time, as pilots join and then leave a group, hangar containers accumulate. Over the years, in successful wormhole groups, this frozen hangar trash can reach into the tens or hundreds of billions. This can make evicting a wormhole resident or group an increasingly attractive over time. A hole that has been owned for a year will not have much loot drop. One owned for many years will likely have a great deal more.
Years ago, intrepid wormhole residents realized that a good way to counter this mechanic was to “flip” their citadels: unanchor, get all the AFG/left corp loot for yourself, then re-anchor. There is risk to this, but for a pvp corp that maintains hole control, the risk is quite minimal.
HAWKS had lived in their current home for nearly a decade. A large, successful group like HAWKS accumulates a large amount of hangar wealth over a period like that, much of it frozen as members AFG or leave corp. During the first week of the War, HAWKS recognized this large oversight and unanchored all the structures in their home hole. A neutral observer might have thought that HAWKS were self-evicting. Through their spy, SYNDE knew that they were planning to flip them and stay in the fight. Unwilling to entertain a HAWKS home eviction at this early stage in the war, SYNDE watched as HAWKS unanchored all their citadels and replaced them with a dozen newly anchored fortizars – and clearing their citadel grid of thousands of loot cans. A steady stream of DSTs transiting in and out of HAWKS home confirmed that wealth was quickly transferred out to kspace.
In that first week, by “flipping” their citadels, HAWKS eliminated the majority of the financial incentives that generally come with evicting a pvp corp’s home hole.

Seeding an Apple

During the period where HAWKS farms were burning and SYNDE was soaring, on Tuesday April 2^nd, HAWKS rolled into the SUGAR home hole. Some of SUGAR’s pvp toons were supporting SYNDE, some were farming, others were out participating in NPSI roams in kspace. Few of them were in their home hole. HAWKS sent in a bait RF fleet of a trio of Leshaks while at the same time pinging for a Nighthawk fleet. SUGAR panic pinged as the Leshaks began RFing one of the many citadels in their home. With confusion reigning, SUGAR undocked a kitchen sink fleet including armor and shield, capital and subcapital. Once SUGAR began engaging, HAWKS brought in their heavy shield fleet. HAWKS then began dismantling the haphazard SUGAR home defense fleet, as captured in the first 3 minutes of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZKgFPbSaLk
After fragging much of the SUGAR defenders, HAWKS proceeded to reinforce every citadel in the SUGAR home. SUGAR lost 35bn in ships in a one-sided fight. SYNDE was dismayed by the poor SUGAR showing. https://br.evetools.org/b66452e6803aec30012694316
Those structures all repaired over the coming week.
On April 12^th , HAWKS returned and again reinforced all SUGAR structures, this time with no opposition. Following that second round of reinforces, SUGAR pinged and directed its members to return to home and adopt a defensive posture with rigorous hole control to prevent a HAWKS return.
Many SUGAR members by this point were now opposing their corp’s direction. They certainly disliked HAWKS, but they had historically disliked SYNDE and their allies just as much. Joining them struck many members as a short-sighted, unwise adventure. They had actively participated in reinforcing and blowing up HAWKS structures, only to discover that SYNDE was most often dropping replacement citadels as they got cleared. SUGAR line members felt they were doing a lot of work for little or no benefit.
On April 13^th, HAWKS rolled into the SUGAR home hole for a third time – this time with amor timers only hours away. SUGAR immediately sought to roll that incoming wormhole, throwing yacht after yacht at it, as well as a lone praxis. They were able to crit the hole despite losing yachts every few passes.
Sigils are a common ship used most often by Nullsec farmers looking to roll wormholes that threaten their peaceful farming, These Sigils are referred to by wormholers almost universally as “suicide sigils”. The SUGAR FC directed his members to get into Sigils, undock, nullify, and warp to the hole. That hole needed to die. It needed to die now. “Even mains?” one member – Scott Appleblade - inquired. “Even mains,” replied the FC.
Scott hopped into the sigil, and warped to the hole, forgetting to nullify. He landed in the bubble, and was immediately fragged by the HAWKS on grid. https://zkillboard.com/kill/116986540/
Scott, now sitting in Jita, asked for a route back into his home. The FC replied they had no kspace entries at the minute. Scott asked if one could be found. The FC replied not now, quiet, we’re still dealing with this hole. Scott logged off, seething.
Scott had not wanted this war from the very start. Scott had recently upgrade from a Class 3 farm to a Class 5 farm of his own. Scott enjoyed farming combat sites in Leshaks and dreaming of a brighter future. Scott had always dreamed he might one day save up enough to afford a faction FAX: the Loggerhead. He knew they didn’t make much sense and were rarely used, but Scott loved the “Poggerhead” meme. Scott prided himself on his memes. He would often meet people and knew right away that they would become a meme. That was just life, but an elite meme could memorialize that. Scott just wanted to undock from his home fort in a Loggerhead and enjoy the moment. That seemed less and less likely now that the SUGAR home was being reinforced weekly. SUGAR leadership was either absent or, frankly, being dicks. Scott was over it. He had worked too hard. He deserved better. His fellow SUGAR members did, too.
Scott waited until later in the day when he was able to get a kspace entry for his main back into SUGAR’s home chain. He flew his inty in, still seething but with a plan for exacting revenge coalescing in Scott’s mind.
For the non-wormholers, it is important to explain that when you are a member of a wormhole corp, you have a lot more access to corp assets than you likely ever would in a Nullsec or Lowsec corp. Due to wormhole mechanics, wormhole corps almost always have a “Shared” corp hangar in each citadel where commonly used ships and modules are available to all members. This usually includes rolling ships, and handout pvp ships, among other things.
Scott docked in their home fort. He hesitated for a minute as he surveyed those familiar surroundings, but then the rage came back. He just wanted to farm, and now he might lose that. All because of SUGAR leadership. He knew his corp mates understood and would appreciate his actions. Scott proceeded to move everything in the SUGAR shared corp hangar to his personal hangar. He did a double take – he had just acquired over 30b of assets. That would go a long way towards a down payment on the Loggerhead if he could get that to a trade hub.
One good idea begets another, and Scott repackaged every assembled ship he had just taken. He then put the most valuable elements into his two DSTs. He shuttled those out to Jita and back, and then repeated the round trip several times. During the monotony of the transits, Scott realized that nobody – not leadership, not his corp mates – had noticed anything. Even though he was now much wealthier, SUGAR was still in need of a wakeup call.
As he warped to the next wormhole, it hit him – the bookmarks! This is another major difference between Nullsec / Lowsec and wormhole groups. In kspace, one can navigate very easily, or at least with confidence about where you’re going. In wormholes, one needs corp mates scanning wormholes and making bookmarks, basically a temporary map that wormhole pilots use to navigate the ever-changing wormhole landscape. All members need access to those bookmarks, and the ability to create, edit and delete them.
Scott deleted them. All of them. No more going to help SYNDE. No more warping your dread to a safe because HAWKS had bubbled the fort. No more finding your way back after getting rolled out. With no bookmarks, SUGAR would need to stop and consider where they were and why. Scott was pleased with the neat metaphor. At least he thought it was a metaphor. Might also be an analogy. He wasn’t sure, but he was sure it was brilliant.
His DSTs landed on the next hole and Scott jumped. It was then that Scott noticed he had no bookmarks in the next wormhole. That knowledge, combined with his decision not to fit probe launchers on either of his DSTs, was not a positive development. Scott, priding himself on his judgment, weighed his current situation against all he had achieved this evening – over 20b of ships and mods in Jita, and a powerful statement to SUGAR leadership. That was worth the loss of two DSTs that only had about 1.5B combined between them. Scott self-destructed the DSTs, returned to Jita, and went to bed contemplating a brighter future.

When Espionage Meets Opportunity

Prior to shutting the doors a few years ago, Hard Knocks had been regarded in the wormhole community as the top wormhole group for espionage. In a world where information is power, they have always had a remarkable abundance of critical information. Unlike HAWKS, HK was aware of the SYNDE plans and coalition building not long after they were conceived. As allies joined the SYNDE effort, HK sought to penetrate those groups. SUGAR accepted a key HK spy in January of this year. Over the next two months, this spy would quickly work his way up the SUGAR hierarchy, demonstrating strong FC and leadership abilities. When the war broke out, he was one of the main FCs. His background in HK and HAWKS affiliated groups was no concern for SUGAR leadership as they committed to the SYNDE coalition.
When Scott pilfered everything from SUGAR shared and deleted all bookmarks, the spy noticed both. He consulted with his HK mates and decided it might be a fantastic opportunity. The spy reached out to SUGAR directors and offered to do his part in resolving the matter – they needed to cut off access to Scott and his alts, they needed to do it 5 minutes ago and they needed to tighten things up. He knew how to do it, and he was happy to help. There was only one SUGAR director online. He was unsure of how to best resolve the Scott situation, so he called up the CEO on his cell. The CEO and director huddled up and agreed that their best FC was the man to fix it. They gave director roles to a spy who’d been in corp less than 3 months. During a war. A war against HAWKS and HK.
SUGAR members woke up the morning of Sunday April 14^th, logged on, and discovered that every one of the structures in their home hole had been transferred to an HK holding corp. Their implant sets were all gone. Every single one. They were unable to dock. Most of their combat pilots were not even in their home hole. What was in the SUGAR home was a massive HAWKS coalition fleet.
And NOVAC was in it.

Stay on the Sidelines and You Will Burn

SYNDE’s diplomatic efforts had been widespread for the months leading up to the Wormhole War. They had enlisted the support of both large wormhole groups and small in building their expansive anti-HAWKS coalition. Two of the biggest pvp groups in wormhole space had consistently declined their overtures: LUPUS and NOVAC. Strong, independent, brawling groups, they did not like HAWKS, but they also didn’t like SYNDE. In proper cartel fashion, they were not interested in helping either of those groups achieve more power or territory. Truth be told they wanted both sides to lose. Better to remain neutral and pick the best course at a later time.
SYNDE did not push much until the first two weeks of the war. During that first week of burning HAWKS farms, according to SYNDE lead Cyrus Kurush, 16 or 17 C6 farms were transferred from HAWKS to NOVAC. LUPUS was the beneficiary of a smaller number of HAWKS farms. It was clear that under the weight of the broad offensive, many HAWKS members had opted to sell their farms to neutral wormhole groups. In most cases, it was HAWKS members selling farms to long-term EVE friends in other wormhole groups.
Cyrus Kurush was livid. He had already earmarked every HAWKS C6, and now many of them seemed to be passing out of the war and into the hands of neutrals who continued to refuse to join his coalition. He directed his lead diplo Zelvig to reengage with NOVAC and clearly relay his message. Zelvig did so, informing NOVAC of two key things: one, further receipt of any HAWKS farm would be viewed as an act of war, and two, while NOVAC was welcome to remain a friendly neutral during this early part of the campaign, the C6s they had already received from HAWKS should be seen as being held in trust for the wormhole community. Following the now-inevitable HAWKS eviction and removal from high class space, NOVAC would have to settle their farm accounts with SYNDE. With his customary enthusiasm, Zelvig gave NOVAC a timeline for their decision to join the coalition: as soon as the last HAWKS C6 farm fell, SYNDE would turn to the NOVAC C6s unless they had already joined. Zelvig estimated that gave NOVAC 2 or 3 more weeks to make a decision.
NOVAC made their decision that night, informing HAWKS leadership that they would be joining the HAWKS side. They asked only that they have a week to get their group organized and prepared. At the end of that week, NOVAC joined HAWKS, HK, Voidlings, and 418 in infiltrating a Vulture fleet into SUGAR’s home hole.

Sugar Free: J104037 Bleeds and Falls

Two things happened from the jump: HAWKS took and held hole control in SUGAR’s home hole while infiltrating additional pilots, and SYNDE pinged hard to get their coalition members to consolidate in Waffle House, the C6 hole that they had made their staging at the start of the war. It was chosen due to its C6 static, which permitted SYNDE to roll into HAWKS C6 farms and reinforce then destroy them at will.
With the HAWKS fleet swelling in numbers with NOVAC’s addition to their alliance, they openly docked in SUGAR’s citadels – now owned by HK. SUGAR members could only watch in horror as the citadel showed more and more reds docking in their fortizar.
SYNDE began rage-rolling in earnest, hoping to connect to SUGAR’s home. Cyrus Kurush was eager to test the new coalition Cyclone Fleet Issue doctrine they had theorycrafted to counter the HAWKS Vuilture doctrine. He preferred their blaster Megathron Navy Issue doctrine, but that had proven ill-suited to deal with the Vultures in the earlier brawl in the HK staging C6.
As would happen often throughout this campaign, luck favored the bold. SYNDE rolled into SUGAR’s home at a high point for SYNDE fleet participation. SYNDE immediately jumped sabres into system and fully bubbled their “in” hole, giving them the time they needed to warp their entire fleet to the hole. They avoided a repeat of the prior fight where they were unable to get their entire fleet in due to poor hole control. The full SYNDE fleet jumped through the hole, rolling it as they sent in the full 3b+ in ship mass. All told, over 150 Cyclone Fleet Issues flooded into the SUGAR home, along with support. The HAWKS fleet undocked to reports of 20 dreads on dscan as the SYNDE fleet warped to the (former) SUGAR main fortizar. SUGAR members had logged on the caps they were still able to pilot – some undocked from that forts, others from deep safes in system. As the CFI fleet connected with the increasing dread bomb, siege modules were engaged and the battle was joined.
The fight was a back and forth affair for a short period before some aggressive FCing by the HAWKS/HK/NOVAC FC team forced the SYNDE fleet to extract. At that point, a dynamic unique to wormhole combat emerged. SYNDE, realizing they could not win on grid, focused on extracting as many SUGAR capitals as possible. They would scan the new static C5 connection – as would HAWKS – and then each would race subcap fleets to that new hole and contest it. If SYNDE was able to get there first and keep the hole clear of sabre bubbles, SUGAR would warp their capitals to that hole and jump 3 of them out. That would kill the hole, causing a new static wormhole to appear one minute later where the two sides could repeat the process. With each new static wormhole, SYNDE continued to feed ships and lose combat capability.
A highly comedic situation occurred on one such hole. HAWKS warped their lone rolling carrier to it blind. In so doing, they hoped to be able to jump the carrier and briefly assert hole control – preventing more than one SUGAR cap from getting out, and also giving the HAWKS fleet time to tackle the others. The carrier landed right after the SUGAR caps did – but in a critical communication gap, the SUGAR caps did not know which 3 were supposed to leave on this hole. SYNDE sabres bubbled up, but the carrier was already on the wormhole. It jumped the hole with its prop on. A clamor erupted on SYNDE comms as they awaited guidance about which cap, if any, should leave. The HAWKS rolling carrier burned untouched back to the hole on the other side. A SUGAR Moros Navy Issue, frustrated at the indecision, jumped anyway. Most of the time, that would have rolled the wormhole, trapping the Moros Navy and rolling carrier on the other side. Luckily for the HAWKS carrier, it was a high-mass hole. The wormhole went critical but did not close. The HAWKS rolling carrier jumped back.
The Moros Navy had extracted, but the remaining SUGAR caps were now sitting around the now-dead hole’s bookmark. Many began burning away and out of the bubbles from the SYNDE sabres who had tried to protect that hole. SYNDE FC Cyrus Kurush ordered his sabres to get off the hole and stop bubbling their dreads, and they did. Forgotten in the chaos and indecision, the HAWKS rolling carrier decloaked, aligned out, cycled prop and initiated wrap. It was immediately primaried by both dreads and the SYNDE CFI fleet. Chaotic calls to bubble the carrier were met with hesitation as those same sabres had only recently been told not to bubble. The carrier entered warp as the bubbles were deployed. The carrier pilot shared this video of the bold carrier roll and escape. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDgzA8J6j44&t
The carrier escape from a heavily bubbled grid marked the final turning point in the SYNDE extraction efforts. HAWKS sabres flooded the grid, tackling most of the SUGAR caps. After more fighting, the SYNDE coalition CFIs extracted from the grid, leaving the caps to their fate. As the caps began exploding and with the HAWKS fleet committed to their destruction, the SYNDE subcap fleet left via the new static.
The final totals for that fight were 48b lost by the HAWKS side, 144b lost by the SYNDE coalition side. https://br.evetools.org/b6633f295132a2a0012c77eb6
SUGAR had extracted 4 dreads, but at a heavy price.

Blue Balls and Explosions

With the clock ticking on the armor and hull timers of the SUGAR structures, SYNDE tried to reset in their C6 staging. Again, they pinged for their coalition to reassemble in that system. Again, they began rolling. That process continued for many hours.
The following day, on April 15^th, SYNDE would roll into the SUGAR home not once but twice. Both times, SYNDE only had a partial CFI fleet docked in their fortizar while the HAWKS side maintained a full Vulture fleet ready to undock on a moment’s notice. The HAWKS, HK and NOVAC leadership team knew that this was a critical moment in the campaign, and every effort was made to complete the SUGAR eviction.
SYNDE rolled into SUGAR’s home twice on April 15^th. And they immediately rolled the connection both times.
SYNDE lead Cyrus Kurush was personally scanning and rolling. He knew exactly what HAWKS had on hand, knew he could not contest for hole control, and just rolled the connection off quietly. Twice.
Cyrus Kurush knew that the integrity of his coalition required him to make every effort to save a key member’s home hole – but he was also very frustrated by SUGAR’s lack of readiness to defend their home. He had expected a lot more caps, more ships, more support. He felt he had beaten the HAWKS fleet in that large initial brawl, and had been let down by SUGAR. He did not want to risk sacrificing another major loss for a group that could not stand on their own two feet.

The Initiative to Regain the Initiative

The SUGAR Fortizar hull timers were on Tuesday, April 16^th.
A key early-war HAWKS ally, a small EUTZ pvp group called Czarna-Kompania, had infiltrated two dreads overnight. Two other groups had brought in one each. That dread force would give HAWKS the flexibility of hitting concurrent hull timers. There were multiple structures that needed to get hit over a two hour period. The dreads would let the HAWKS side bash those citadels while also keeping their subcap fleet free to fight for and maintain hole control if at all possible.
Hours before those timers, disaster struck the HAWKS effort. An A009 wormhole connection popped into the SUGAR home.
For an eviction, the worst possible wormhole connection is an A009 wormhole. It is a 16-hour frigate-sized wormhole that connects to a shattered wormhole that will also have a number of frig holes connecting outward to kspace systems. Frig holes cannot be rolled.
This meant that for the time leading up to the critical hull timers, there would be an unrollable hole into the eviction target, into SUGAR’s home.
By this time, it was clear to all involved parties that SYNDE had a close partnership with the Initiative. Although this was fraying some of the wormhole groups in the coalition, it still afforded SYNDE a chance to salvage the situation. SYNDE lead Cyrus Kurush formed an attack plan with Initiative leadership. During the hours immediately prior to the hull timers, SYNDE would assemble a heavy fleet in their staging, and rage roll for the SUGAR home. The Initiative would form a full bomber fleet, and travel to the C13 shattered wormhole. The second that SYNDE rolled in, they would execute a lethal 3-pronged attack: the SYNDE fleet would explode into the SUGAR home, all remaining SUGAR capitals and subcapitals would undock, and the Initiative bomber fleet would jump the A009. They would time those 3 critical elements based on the location, strength and composition of the HAWKS fleet. It was a good plan. If they could connect those three prongs, they would have 3 times the number that HAWKS could muster. Pings went out and the fleets assembled. Init travelled with a 300 bomber fleet to the shattered hole. SYNDE began rage rolling. About 50 SUGAR pilots sat on logon screen and waited on SYNDE comms.
HAWKS was aware of all of the above. HAWKS, working closely with HK and NOVAC strategists, devised a counter for the two concerning prongs. The SYNDE rolling threat had two counters. Within the SYNDE staging, there was a small fleet of yachts and a seeded, cloaked rolling carrier. In the SUGAR home, another rolling carrier sat ready to suicide roll if needed. Should SYNDE warp their fleet from the fort to a new wormhole, HAWKS was prepared to simultaneously warp both carrier and yachts to that same hole. They were confident they could stop the majority of the SYNDE fleet from making it through the wormhole.
The real threat was the Initiative, and that damned frig hole. HAWKS placed three sniping fleets around the wormhole and dropped a massive number of anchorable bubbles around it. On the hole itself were a mixture of smartbombing battleships and suicide dictors, each orbiting patiently. When the report came of the 300 Initiative bombers entering the shattered hole on the other side, the HAWKS team was ready and waiting.
The Initiative FC team, with a scout already in SUGAR staging, saw all of this. War-seasoned FCs, there was no scenario where they were jumping their bombers into that future charnal house. Unless SYNDE could pull those fleets away from the hole, it was an impossible standoff. The HAWKS battlecruiser fleet could not jump the hole. The Initiative bombers would not jump the hole. The Initiative bombers sat there and waited for SYNDE to roll in.
Meanwhile, in SUGAR staging, citadels came out of reinforce for hull timers and the allied dreads went to work. And everyone else waited. The SYNDE fleet waited on their fort while their FC rage rolled. The Initiative fleet waited in the shattered. The HAWKS alliance fleet waited on the other side of the shattered. One by one, the citadels began blowing up.
The SYNDE fleet stood down. The Initiative left the shattered wormhole and headed back to Fountain. SYNDE had gotten the full Nullsec batphone allied response, but been unable to take advantage of it.
Unconfirmable reports are that the HAWKS alliance looted nearly 200b from the various structures, including a large number of capital ships, on top of the 150b+ exploded. https://br.evetools.org/b661f2a2eddb48200112d82c5 (The three “friendly” caps that were destroyed were looted SUGAR caps that the allies decided to blow up rather than keep and exfiltrate from the hole.)
Some SUGAR members would still try to participate, but SUGAR was done as a fighting unit in the Wormhole War.
The next part will focus on what would become the most important battlefield in the Wormhole War – Waffle House, the SYNDE coalition staging C6.

this is not me trying to sound like a crazy ex employee . i used to work at a certain dog boarding / daycare , i left for personal reasons . a big one being that this place had obviously been for the money rather than the care of the dogs they take care of , which was why i went into this type of business . they already had underlying issues , but after i left it seemed to have gotten worse . my partner still works at the same place , with this i get updated on what's going on . i am genuinely scared for these dogs , there is harm being done with zero repercussions . my partner and an ex employee i work with now have been seeing what we can do . our only problem , there's no kennel regulations in texas and the best we've been told is to tell police . we're wanting to see if there is anything else we can do before going to them . examples of things that's happened with little to no repercussions , and why i'm fearful for these dogs . content warning for what is being brought up next : harm on dogs .

• a few weeks ago someone left a silver lab out in the high 80s with no water or anyway to cool off for 15 - 20 minutes, possibly more . the dog could barley walk and was basically dragged back to his kennel . person did not let anyone know of this , leaving him in his kennel with no water or anything to cool him down . the only reason someone had noticed something was wrong was that the manager could hear his breathing through the wall that was connected to the office . his temperature had reached at least 106.7 , he was going in and out with his eyes rolling back . he soon had to be rushed to the vet , set with ivs to rehydrate and antibiotics . if they hadn't caught this in time it could have been worse . the person who left him and did nothing for his care , had no repercussions and is still able be in charge of the dogs . best they did was set up flyers for heat stroke . the manager back pedaled on some of the things and has been trying to play off as no big deal .
• there is constant outbreaks of kennel cough plus others as the owner does nothing to quarantine . when i first started to work there we had an area , which kept getting moved , to which then became nonexistent . there is very little care when sickness spreads . the owner will mix infected dogs with non-infected .
• got info that one of them employees is now strictly grooming and reception . why ? they beat a dog so bad with a stick the dog had to be rushed to the vet with possible brain damage . sadly don't know the dog as my partner only found this out due to the object being banned . the person still works there , main reason i'm scared is due to being able to groom dogs still . grooming is in its own room , where they can be alone with the dog .
• medication is constantly missed , but this does not seem to issue the manager or owner .
• the place is infested with rats and bugs , and the place is quite literally falling apart . no exterminator , nothing to help repair the building .

my partner is willing to get any proof that they're able to . it's a difficult situation as this is their only source of income at the moment , so they can't lose this job . they do not keep security footage either , but my partner is willing to get what they can . i fear for these dogs as the manager and owner obviously show no care to the actual animals . with the heat thing , i worry for the summer . mainly with the fact it was a single dog , yet the person has already showed enough neglect . somehow they can still be in charge of a whole group and staff . is there anything we can do ?

Hey, yall!
I've been on 6 cruises so far, all of them four or five days. LOVED the party atmosphere and the "live it up hard and fast" vibe of them. I'm taking my first 9 day cruise soon.
I keep seeing everyone say that the difference in clientele on a four day cruise is vastly different than five days, and then it changes again on 8 days and up.
Could someone please Explain Like I'm Five? Are the 9 days cruises still crazy party atmosphere, or is it more low key? Some examples of differences you've seen would be great.
Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone!
ABOUT ME
I'm José, a freelance Graphic Designer. I have worked with small and medium sized companies both as a freelancer and for long term work. You can count on me for getting the design you want as I can work with different styles and techniques!
SERVICES OFFERED
Business-related designs (logos, flyers, business cards, menus, etc)
Edit/retouch/colorestore photos
Edit casual pictures
Ads, banners, posters
Logo design
Posts, stories, highlights
Illustration
And more, let me know anything else you might need!
Feel free to reach out to me on DM and provide details about the kind of work you need, I will happily send you some examples of my portfolio and provide the rates for the designs you need done.
Looking forward to hear from you!
CONTACT INFO
Direct message link: /message/compose/?to=DarkWiccan&subject=Hiring)

Hi everyone!
ABOUT ME
I'm José, a freelance Graphic Designer. I have worked with small and medium sized companies both as a freelancer and for long term work. You can count on me for getting the design you want as I can work with different styles and techniques!
SERVICES OFFERED
Business-related designs (logos, flyers, business cards, menus, etc)
Edit/retouch/colorestore photos
Edit casual pictures
Ads, banners, posters
Logo design
Posts, stories, highlights
Illustration
And more, let me know anything else you might need!
Feel free to reach out to me on DM and provide details about the kind of work you need, I will happily send you some examples of my portfolio and provide the rates for the designs you need done.
Looking forward to hear from you!
CONTACT INFO
Direct message link: /message/compose/?to=DarkWiccan&subject=Hiring)

I saw a cruise video explaining you can get cheap last minute cruises on VacationToGo. I went to go check the site and some of the big % discounts scream fake to me.
What do i mean by this. I opened as an example FastDeal#12388 on the 90 day ticker for a cruise with Norwegian Escape.
9 Night Mediterranean 98% discount. To a price of: 506€ on the inside cabin. This means that the "brochure price" is 20,252€
They also had Balcony 819€ - "brochure 13,640€" And balcony oceanview 780€ - "brochure 10,921€"
I can understand some finessing with numbers to make things seem more "appetizing". But if this is how they handle things is this site trustworthy at all?

Hello, My partner has severe flight anxiety. Since we are both working online, I thought we can cruise to certain destinations instead of flying, since we can work normally on a ship the length of the trip has no actual meaning. We are both Europeans and are looking at Mediterranean, Western Europe, and Transatlantic cruises.
I understand that it is not common to join a cruise in the middle, or leave the cruise in the middle, but it is possible? That's the only way it would make sense for us to do it, since the port in our town is a very popular port of call for many cruises, yet no cruises start or end there.
Assuming it is possible, I am trying to find a website that will allow me to filter based on ports of call and I can't seem to find any. I only find filtering based on start/end countries.
For example, lets assume we live in Spain and want to cruise to Italy, and there are no cruises that starts in Spain and end in Italy. But there are cruises that leave from Portugal and end in Greece, but visit both Spain and Italy, and we would like to board them in the middle and leave in the middle. I have no way to find those with all the main sites I found online. Does anyone know of a search engine that will allow me to find such cruises? Thanks!