https://wapo.st/3WJ4sqO
First 3 paragraphs:
A group of billionaires and business titans working to shape U.S. public opinion of the war in Gaza privately pressed New York City’s mayor last month to send police to disperse pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, according to communications obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the group.
Business executives including Kind snack company founder Daniel Lubetzky, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, billionaire Len Blavatnik and real estate investor Joseph Sitt held a Zoom video call on April 26 with Mayor Eric Adams (D), about a week after the mayor first sent New York police to Columbia’s campus, a log of chat messages shows. During the call, some attendees discussed making political donations to Adams, as well as how the chat group’s members could pressure Columbia’s president and trustees to permit the mayor to send police to the campus to handle protesters, according to chat messages summarizing the conversation.
One member of the WhatsApp chat group told The Post he donated $2,100, the maximum legal limit, to Adams that month. Some members also offered to pay for private investigators to assist New York police in handling the protests, the chat log shows — an offer a member of the group reported in the chat that Adams accepted. The New York Police Department is not using and has not used private investigators to help manage protests, a spokeswoman for City Hall said.

Job Position	Salary	Locations
	Director, Software Engineering	USD 188k - 225k
Unix/Linux System Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US
AWS Snowflake Data Engineer	USD 105k - 105k	US
Senior Embedded Linux Engineer	USD 140k - 140k	Cleveland, OH, US
Solutions Architect Manager	USD 220k - 339k	US
Mojo Compiler Engineering Manager	USD 234k - 286k	US, Canada
Associate Solutions Engineer	USD 90k - 106k	US
Staff/Senior Product Manager, Developer Experience	USD 150k - 200k	US, San Francisco, CA
Senior Security	USD 141k - 190k	Remote
Lead Technology Business Systems Consultant Supply Chain	USD 115k - 966k	US, Charlotte, NC
Primary Markets BookBuild Senior Specialty Software Engineer	USD 96k - 206k	Charlotte, NC, New York, NY, US
Primary Markets BookBuild Lead Software Engineer	USD 111k - 237k	New York, NY, US, Charlotte, NC
Network Engineering Senior Manager	USD 144k - 300k	New York, NY, US, Columbus, OH
Principal Engineer	USD 144k - 300k	San Francisco, CA, US, Columbus, OH, Charlotte, NC
Senior Software Engineer	USD 100k - 179k	US, Charlotte, NC, Irving, TX
Senior iOS Software Engineer	USD 190k - 267k	Remote, US
Sr. Manager, Engineering Console - New York, NY	USD 208k - 276k	New York, NY
Software Engineer	USD 174k - 230k	New York, NY
Senior UX Engineer Mobile	USD 135k - 220k	US, Remote
Software Engineering Manager	USD 204k - 342k	Foster City, CA
Electrical Network Integration Engineer	USD 162k - 266k	Foster City, CA
Senior Staff Backend Engineer	USD 200k - 200k	New York, NY
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer	USD 121k - 240k	US
Senior Staff Software Engineer	USD 172k - 297k	Remote, US
Senior Frontend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Frontend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Backend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Backend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Software Engineer	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Front-End Software Engineer, IXL Product	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Machine Learning Engineer	USD 132k - 171k	Canada, Remote
Senior Data Scientist	USD 123k - 206k	Remote, US
Senior Data Scientist	USD 120k - 155k	Canada, Remote
Software Engineer	USD 200k - 240k	Seattle, WA
Sr. Data Scientist	USD 132k - 172k	Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid
Fullstack Engineer	USD 105k - 150k	New York, NY, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA
Manual QA Tester	USD 80k - 90k	Remote, Canada
Staff Software Dev QA Engineer	USD 120k - 165k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Front End Development Engineer	USD 100k - 145k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Staff Software Release QA Specialist	USD 97k - 131k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Technical Marketing Engineer	USD 130k - 180k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Software Developer Golang	USD 81k - 110k	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, British Columbia
Principal Embedded Software Developer	USD 140k - 190k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Dev QA Specialist	USD 81k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Full Stack Cloud Developer	USD 115k - 140k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior C/C++ Cloud Developer FortiNDR	USD 110k - 150k	British Columbia, Canada
Full Stack Web Developer	USD 90k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Developer C	USD 90k - 150k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Engineer	USD 134k - 185k	Austin, TX, US
Engineering Manager	USD 158k - 218k	Austin, TX, US
Full-stack Developer	USD 75k - 120k	US, Remote
Principal, Full Stack Engineer	USD 85k - 179k	US, Jersey City, NJ
Senior Fullstack Engineer	USD 172k - 215k	Remote
Lead Solutions Architect	USD 123k - 159k	US, Irving, TX, Atlanta, GA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 200k	Mountain View, CA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 226k	Mountain View, CA
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 133k	Denver, CO
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 160k	New York, NY
Senior Detection Engineer	USD 125k - 180k	Remote
Senior DevOps Engineer	USD 135k - 160k	US, Remote
Lead Software Engineer	USD 195k - 218k	New York, NY
Senior Systems Test and Verification Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	Colorado Springs, CO, US
Junior Level Integration Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US, Chantilly, VA
Sr Data Scientist	USD 93k - 202k	Minneapolis, MN, Sunnyvale, CA, US, Remote, Remote Hybrid
Senior design engineer	USD 160k - 220k	New York, NY
Sales Operations Data Engineer	USD 105k - 176k	Remote, US
Senior Front-End Software Engineer – Samsung Ads	USD 165k - 190k	Mountain View, CA, US, Remote Hybrid
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Atlanta, GA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Salt Lake, UT, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, New York, NY
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	San Francisco, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Phoenix, AZ, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	US, Chicago, IL, Remote
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, Miami, FL
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Boston, MA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Los Angeles, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Washington, D.C., Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Austin, TX, Remote, US
Staff Application Security Engineer	USD 203k - 248k	Remote
Sr. Analytics Engineer	USD 125k - 175k	Remote
Senior DataOps Engineer	USD 139k - 174k	Remote
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Remote, US
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Redlands, CA
Cloud System Engineer	USD 93k - 187k	Redlands, CA
DevOps Engineer all levels	USD 114k - 221k	Herndon, VA, Burlington, MA, Denver, CO, US, Remote
Site Reliability Engineer	USD 142k - 157k	Washington, D.C., US, Remote
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Remote, US, Seattle, WA

Job Position	Salary	Locations
	Director, Software Engineering	USD 188k - 225k
Unix/Linux System Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US
AWS Snowflake Data Engineer	USD 105k - 105k	US
Senior Embedded Linux Engineer	USD 140k - 140k	Cleveland, OH, US
Solutions Architect Manager	USD 220k - 339k	US
Mojo Compiler Engineering Manager	USD 234k - 286k	US, Canada
Associate Solutions Engineer	USD 90k - 106k	US
Staff/Senior Product Manager, Developer Experience	USD 150k - 200k	US, San Francisco, CA
Senior Security	USD 141k - 190k	Remote
Lead Technology Business Systems Consultant Supply Chain	USD 115k - 966k	US, Charlotte, NC
Primary Markets BookBuild Senior Specialty Software Engineer	USD 96k - 206k	Charlotte, NC, New York, NY, US
Primary Markets BookBuild Lead Software Engineer	USD 111k - 237k	New York, NY, US, Charlotte, NC
Network Engineering Senior Manager	USD 144k - 300k	New York, NY, US, Columbus, OH
Principal Engineer	USD 144k - 300k	San Francisco, CA, US, Columbus, OH, Charlotte, NC
Senior Software Engineer	USD 100k - 179k	US, Charlotte, NC, Irving, TX
Senior iOS Software Engineer	USD 190k - 267k	Remote, US
Sr. Manager, Engineering Console - New York, NY	USD 208k - 276k	New York, NY
Software Engineer	USD 174k - 230k	New York, NY
Senior UX Engineer Mobile	USD 135k - 220k	US, Remote
Software Engineering Manager	USD 204k - 342k	Foster City, CA
Electrical Network Integration Engineer	USD 162k - 266k	Foster City, CA
Senior Staff Backend Engineer	USD 200k - 200k	New York, NY
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer	USD 121k - 240k	US
Senior Staff Software Engineer	USD 172k - 297k	Remote, US
Senior Frontend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Frontend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Backend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Backend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Software Engineer	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Front-End Software Engineer, IXL Product	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Machine Learning Engineer	USD 132k - 171k	Canada, Remote
Senior Data Scientist	USD 123k - 206k	Remote, US
Senior Data Scientist	USD 120k - 155k	Canada, Remote
Software Engineer	USD 200k - 240k	Seattle, WA
Sr. Data Scientist	USD 132k - 172k	Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid
Fullstack Engineer	USD 105k - 150k	New York, NY, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA
Manual QA Tester	USD 80k - 90k	Remote, Canada
Staff Software Dev QA Engineer	USD 120k - 165k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Front End Development Engineer	USD 100k - 145k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Staff Software Release QA Specialist	USD 97k - 131k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Technical Marketing Engineer	USD 130k - 180k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Software Developer Golang	USD 81k - 110k	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, British Columbia
Principal Embedded Software Developer	USD 140k - 190k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Dev QA Specialist	USD 81k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Full Stack Cloud Developer	USD 115k - 140k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior C/C++ Cloud Developer FortiNDR	USD 110k - 150k	British Columbia, Canada
Full Stack Web Developer	USD 90k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Developer C	USD 90k - 150k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Engineer	USD 134k - 185k	Austin, TX, US
Engineering Manager	USD 158k - 218k	Austin, TX, US
Full-stack Developer	USD 75k - 120k	US, Remote
Principal, Full Stack Engineer	USD 85k - 179k	US, Jersey City, NJ
Senior Fullstack Engineer	USD 172k - 215k	Remote
Lead Solutions Architect	USD 123k - 159k	US, Irving, TX, Atlanta, GA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 200k	Mountain View, CA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 226k	Mountain View, CA
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 133k	Denver, CO
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 160k	New York, NY
Senior Detection Engineer	USD 125k - 180k	Remote
Senior DevOps Engineer	USD 135k - 160k	US, Remote
Lead Software Engineer	USD 195k - 218k	New York, NY
Senior Systems Test and Verification Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	Colorado Springs, CO, US
Junior Level Integration Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US, Chantilly, VA
Sr Data Scientist	USD 93k - 202k	Minneapolis, MN, Sunnyvale, CA, US, Remote, Remote Hybrid
Senior design engineer	USD 160k - 220k	New York, NY
Sales Operations Data Engineer	USD 105k - 176k	Remote, US
Senior Front-End Software Engineer – Samsung Ads	USD 165k - 190k	Mountain View, CA, US, Remote Hybrid
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Atlanta, GA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Salt Lake, UT, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, New York, NY
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	San Francisco, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Phoenix, AZ, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	US, Chicago, IL, Remote
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, Miami, FL
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Boston, MA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Los Angeles, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Washington, D.C., Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Austin, TX, Remote, US
Staff Application Security Engineer	USD 203k - 248k	Remote
Sr. Analytics Engineer	USD 125k - 175k	Remote
Senior DataOps Engineer	USD 139k - 174k	Remote
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Remote, US
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Redlands, CA
Cloud System Engineer	USD 93k - 187k	Redlands, CA
DevOps Engineer all levels	USD 114k - 221k	Herndon, VA, Burlington, MA, Denver, CO, US, Remote
Site Reliability Engineer	USD 142k - 157k	Washington, D.C., US, Remote
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Remote, US, Seattle, WA

Job Position	Salary	Locations
	Director, Software Engineering	USD 188k - 225k
Unix/Linux System Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US
AWS Snowflake Data Engineer	USD 105k - 105k	US
Senior Embedded Linux Engineer	USD 140k - 140k	Cleveland, OH, US
Solutions Architect Manager	USD 220k - 339k	US
Mojo Compiler Engineering Manager	USD 234k - 286k	US, Canada
Associate Solutions Engineer	USD 90k - 106k	US
Staff/Senior Product Manager, Developer Experience	USD 150k - 200k	US, San Francisco, CA
Senior Security	USD 141k - 190k	Remote
Lead Technology Business Systems Consultant Supply Chain	USD 115k - 966k	US, Charlotte, NC
Primary Markets BookBuild Senior Specialty Software Engineer	USD 96k - 206k	Charlotte, NC, New York, NY, US
Primary Markets BookBuild Lead Software Engineer	USD 111k - 237k	New York, NY, US, Charlotte, NC
Network Engineering Senior Manager	USD 144k - 300k	New York, NY, US, Columbus, OH
Principal Engineer	USD 144k - 300k	San Francisco, CA, US, Columbus, OH, Charlotte, NC
Senior Software Engineer	USD 100k - 179k	US, Charlotte, NC, Irving, TX
Senior iOS Software Engineer	USD 190k - 267k	Remote, US
Sr. Manager, Engineering Console - New York, NY	USD 208k - 276k	New York, NY
Software Engineer	USD 174k - 230k	New York, NY
Senior UX Engineer Mobile	USD 135k - 220k	US, Remote
Software Engineering Manager	USD 204k - 342k	Foster City, CA
Electrical Network Integration Engineer	USD 162k - 266k	Foster City, CA
Senior Staff Backend Engineer	USD 200k - 200k	New York, NY
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer	USD 121k - 240k	US
Senior Staff Software Engineer	USD 172k - 297k	Remote, US
Senior Frontend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Frontend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Backend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Backend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Software Engineer	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Front-End Software Engineer, IXL Product	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Machine Learning Engineer	USD 132k - 171k	Canada, Remote
Senior Data Scientist	USD 123k - 206k	Remote, US
Senior Data Scientist	USD 120k - 155k	Canada, Remote
Software Engineer	USD 200k - 240k	Seattle, WA
Sr. Data Scientist	USD 132k - 172k	Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid
Fullstack Engineer	USD 105k - 150k	New York, NY, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA
Manual QA Tester	USD 80k - 90k	Remote, Canada
Staff Software Dev QA Engineer	USD 120k - 165k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Front End Development Engineer	USD 100k - 145k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Staff Software Release QA Specialist	USD 97k - 131k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Technical Marketing Engineer	USD 130k - 180k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Software Developer Golang	USD 81k - 110k	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, British Columbia
Principal Embedded Software Developer	USD 140k - 190k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Dev QA Specialist	USD 81k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Full Stack Cloud Developer	USD 115k - 140k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior C/C++ Cloud Developer FortiNDR	USD 110k - 150k	British Columbia, Canada
Full Stack Web Developer	USD 90k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Developer C	USD 90k - 150k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Engineer	USD 134k - 185k	Austin, TX, US
Engineering Manager	USD 158k - 218k	Austin, TX, US
Full-stack Developer	USD 75k - 120k	US, Remote
Principal, Full Stack Engineer	USD 85k - 179k	US, Jersey City, NJ
Senior Fullstack Engineer	USD 172k - 215k	Remote
Lead Solutions Architect	USD 123k - 159k	US, Irving, TX, Atlanta, GA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 200k	Mountain View, CA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 226k	Mountain View, CA
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 133k	Denver, CO
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 160k	New York, NY
Senior Detection Engineer	USD 125k - 180k	Remote
Senior DevOps Engineer	USD 135k - 160k	US, Remote
Lead Software Engineer	USD 195k - 218k	New York, NY
Senior Systems Test and Verification Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	Colorado Springs, CO, US
Junior Level Integration Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US, Chantilly, VA
Sr Data Scientist	USD 93k - 202k	Minneapolis, MN, Sunnyvale, CA, US, Remote, Remote Hybrid
Senior design engineer	USD 160k - 220k	New York, NY
Sales Operations Data Engineer	USD 105k - 176k	Remote, US
Senior Front-End Software Engineer – Samsung Ads	USD 165k - 190k	Mountain View, CA, US, Remote Hybrid
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Atlanta, GA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Salt Lake, UT, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, New York, NY
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	San Francisco, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Phoenix, AZ, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	US, Chicago, IL, Remote
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, Miami, FL
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Boston, MA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Los Angeles, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Washington, D.C., Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Austin, TX, Remote, US
Staff Application Security Engineer	USD 203k - 248k	Remote
Sr. Analytics Engineer	USD 125k - 175k	Remote
Senior DataOps Engineer	USD 139k - 174k	Remote
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Remote, US
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Redlands, CA
Cloud System Engineer	USD 93k - 187k	Redlands, CA
DevOps Engineer all levels	USD 114k - 221k	Herndon, VA, Burlington, MA, Denver, CO, US, Remote
Site Reliability Engineer	USD 142k - 157k	Washington, D.C., US, Remote
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Remote, US, Seattle, WA

Job Position	Salary	Locations
	Director, Software Engineering	USD 188k - 225k
Unix/Linux System Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US
AWS Snowflake Data Engineer	USD 105k - 105k	US
Senior Embedded Linux Engineer	USD 140k - 140k	Cleveland, OH, US
Solutions Architect Manager	USD 220k - 339k	US
Mojo Compiler Engineering Manager	USD 234k - 286k	US, Canada
Associate Solutions Engineer	USD 90k - 106k	US
Staff/Senior Product Manager, Developer Experience	USD 150k - 200k	US, San Francisco, CA
Senior Security	USD 141k - 190k	Remote
Lead Technology Business Systems Consultant Supply Chain	USD 115k - 966k	US, Charlotte, NC
Primary Markets BookBuild Senior Specialty Software Engineer	USD 96k - 206k	Charlotte, NC, New York, NY, US
Primary Markets BookBuild Lead Software Engineer	USD 111k - 237k	New York, NY, US, Charlotte, NC
Network Engineering Senior Manager	USD 144k - 300k	New York, NY, US, Columbus, OH
Principal Engineer	USD 144k - 300k	San Francisco, CA, US, Columbus, OH, Charlotte, NC
Senior Software Engineer	USD 100k - 179k	US, Charlotte, NC, Irving, TX
Senior iOS Software Engineer	USD 190k - 267k	Remote, US
Sr. Manager, Engineering Console - New York, NY	USD 208k - 276k	New York, NY
Software Engineer	USD 174k - 230k	New York, NY
Senior UX Engineer Mobile	USD 135k - 220k	US, Remote
Software Engineering Manager	USD 204k - 342k	Foster City, CA
Electrical Network Integration Engineer	USD 162k - 266k	Foster City, CA
Senior Staff Backend Engineer	USD 200k - 200k	New York, NY
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer	USD 121k - 240k	US
Senior Staff Software Engineer	USD 172k - 297k	Remote, US
Senior Frontend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Frontend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Backend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Backend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Software Engineer	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Front-End Software Engineer, IXL Product	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Machine Learning Engineer	USD 132k - 171k	Canada, Remote
Senior Data Scientist	USD 123k - 206k	Remote, US
Senior Data Scientist	USD 120k - 155k	Canada, Remote
Software Engineer	USD 200k - 240k	Seattle, WA
Sr. Data Scientist	USD 132k - 172k	Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid
Fullstack Engineer	USD 105k - 150k	New York, NY, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA
Manual QA Tester	USD 80k - 90k	Remote, Canada
Staff Software Dev QA Engineer	USD 120k - 165k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Front End Development Engineer	USD 100k - 145k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Staff Software Release QA Specialist	USD 97k - 131k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Technical Marketing Engineer	USD 130k - 180k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Software Developer Golang	USD 81k - 110k	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, British Columbia
Principal Embedded Software Developer	USD 140k - 190k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Dev QA Specialist	USD 81k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Full Stack Cloud Developer	USD 115k - 140k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior C/C++ Cloud Developer FortiNDR	USD 110k - 150k	British Columbia, Canada
Full Stack Web Developer	USD 90k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Developer C	USD 90k - 150k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Engineer	USD 134k - 185k	Austin, TX, US
Engineering Manager	USD 158k - 218k	Austin, TX, US
Full-stack Developer	USD 75k - 120k	US, Remote
Principal, Full Stack Engineer	USD 85k - 179k	US, Jersey City, NJ
Senior Fullstack Engineer	USD 172k - 215k	Remote
Lead Solutions Architect	USD 123k - 159k	US, Irving, TX, Atlanta, GA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 200k	Mountain View, CA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 226k	Mountain View, CA
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 133k	Denver, CO
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 160k	New York, NY
Senior Detection Engineer	USD 125k - 180k	Remote
Senior DevOps Engineer	USD 135k - 160k	US, Remote
Lead Software Engineer	USD 195k - 218k	New York, NY
Senior Systems Test and Verification Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	Colorado Springs, CO, US
Junior Level Integration Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US, Chantilly, VA
Sr Data Scientist	USD 93k - 202k	Minneapolis, MN, Sunnyvale, CA, US, Remote, Remote Hybrid
Senior design engineer	USD 160k - 220k	New York, NY
Sales Operations Data Engineer	USD 105k - 176k	Remote, US
Senior Front-End Software Engineer – Samsung Ads	USD 165k - 190k	Mountain View, CA, US, Remote Hybrid
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Atlanta, GA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Salt Lake, UT, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, New York, NY
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	San Francisco, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Phoenix, AZ, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	US, Chicago, IL, Remote
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, Miami, FL
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Boston, MA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Los Angeles, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Washington, D.C., Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Austin, TX, Remote, US
Staff Application Security Engineer	USD 203k - 248k	Remote
Sr. Analytics Engineer	USD 125k - 175k	Remote
Senior DataOps Engineer	USD 139k - 174k	Remote
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Remote, US
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Redlands, CA
Cloud System Engineer	USD 93k - 187k	Redlands, CA
DevOps Engineer all levels	USD 114k - 221k	Herndon, VA, Burlington, MA, Denver, CO, US, Remote
Site Reliability Engineer	USD 142k - 157k	Washington, D.C., US, Remote
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Remote, US, Seattle, WA

Job Position	Salary	Locations
	Director, Software Engineering	USD 188k - 225k
Unix/Linux System Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US
AWS Snowflake Data Engineer	USD 105k - 105k	US
Senior Embedded Linux Engineer	USD 140k - 140k	Cleveland, OH, US
Solutions Architect Manager	USD 220k - 339k	US
Mojo Compiler Engineering Manager	USD 234k - 286k	US, Canada
Associate Solutions Engineer	USD 90k - 106k	US
Staff/Senior Product Manager, Developer Experience	USD 150k - 200k	US, San Francisco, CA
Senior Security	USD 141k - 190k	Remote
Lead Technology Business Systems Consultant Supply Chain	USD 115k - 966k	US, Charlotte, NC
Primary Markets BookBuild Senior Specialty Software Engineer	USD 96k - 206k	Charlotte, NC, New York, NY, US
Primary Markets BookBuild Lead Software Engineer	USD 111k - 237k	New York, NY, US, Charlotte, NC
Network Engineering Senior Manager	USD 144k - 300k	New York, NY, US, Columbus, OH
Principal Engineer	USD 144k - 300k	San Francisco, CA, US, Columbus, OH, Charlotte, NC
Senior Software Engineer	USD 100k - 179k	US, Charlotte, NC, Irving, TX
Senior iOS Software Engineer	USD 190k - 267k	Remote, US
Sr. Manager, Engineering Console - New York, NY	USD 208k - 276k	New York, NY
Software Engineer	USD 174k - 230k	New York, NY
Senior UX Engineer Mobile	USD 135k - 220k	US, Remote
Software Engineering Manager	USD 204k - 342k	Foster City, CA
Electrical Network Integration Engineer	USD 162k - 266k	Foster City, CA
Senior Staff Backend Engineer	USD 200k - 200k	New York, NY
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer	USD 121k - 240k	US
Senior Staff Software Engineer	USD 172k - 297k	Remote, US
Senior Frontend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Frontend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Backend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Backend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Software Engineer	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Front-End Software Engineer, IXL Product	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Machine Learning Engineer	USD 132k - 171k	Canada, Remote
Senior Data Scientist	USD 123k - 206k	Remote, US
Senior Data Scientist	USD 120k - 155k	Canada, Remote
Software Engineer	USD 200k - 240k	Seattle, WA
Sr. Data Scientist	USD 132k - 172k	Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid
Fullstack Engineer	USD 105k - 150k	New York, NY, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA
Manual QA Tester	USD 80k - 90k	Remote, Canada
Staff Software Dev QA Engineer	USD 120k - 165k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Front End Development Engineer	USD 100k - 145k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Staff Software Release QA Specialist	USD 97k - 131k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Technical Marketing Engineer	USD 130k - 180k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Software Developer Golang	USD 81k - 110k	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, British Columbia
Principal Embedded Software Developer	USD 140k - 190k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Dev QA Specialist	USD 81k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Full Stack Cloud Developer	USD 115k - 140k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior C/C++ Cloud Developer FortiNDR	USD 110k - 150k	British Columbia, Canada
Full Stack Web Developer	USD 90k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Developer C	USD 90k - 150k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Engineer	USD 134k - 185k	Austin, TX, US
Engineering Manager	USD 158k - 218k	Austin, TX, US
Full-stack Developer	USD 75k - 120k	US, Remote
Principal, Full Stack Engineer	USD 85k - 179k	US, Jersey City, NJ
Senior Fullstack Engineer	USD 172k - 215k	Remote
Lead Solutions Architect	USD 123k - 159k	US, Irving, TX, Atlanta, GA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 200k	Mountain View, CA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 226k	Mountain View, CA
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 133k	Denver, CO
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 160k	New York, NY
Senior Detection Engineer	USD 125k - 180k	Remote
Senior DevOps Engineer	USD 135k - 160k	US, Remote
Lead Software Engineer	USD 195k - 218k	New York, NY
Senior Systems Test and Verification Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	Colorado Springs, CO, US
Junior Level Integration Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US, Chantilly, VA
Sr Data Scientist	USD 93k - 202k	Minneapolis, MN, Sunnyvale, CA, US, Remote, Remote Hybrid
Senior design engineer	USD 160k - 220k	New York, NY
Sales Operations Data Engineer	USD 105k - 176k	Remote, US
Senior Front-End Software Engineer – Samsung Ads	USD 165k - 190k	Mountain View, CA, US, Remote Hybrid
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Atlanta, GA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Salt Lake, UT, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, New York, NY
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	San Francisco, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Phoenix, AZ, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	US, Chicago, IL, Remote
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, Miami, FL
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Boston, MA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Los Angeles, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Washington, D.C., Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Austin, TX, Remote, US
Staff Application Security Engineer	USD 203k - 248k	Remote
Sr. Analytics Engineer	USD 125k - 175k	Remote
Senior DataOps Engineer	USD 139k - 174k	Remote
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Remote, US
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Redlands, CA
Cloud System Engineer	USD 93k - 187k	Redlands, CA
DevOps Engineer all levels	USD 114k - 221k	Herndon, VA, Burlington, MA, Denver, CO, US, Remote
Site Reliability Engineer	USD 142k - 157k	Washington, D.C., US, Remote
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Remote, US, Seattle, WA

Job Position	Salary	Locations
	Director, Software Engineering	USD 188k - 225k
Unix/Linux System Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US
AWS Snowflake Data Engineer	USD 105k - 105k	US
Senior Embedded Linux Engineer	USD 140k - 140k	Cleveland, OH, US
Solutions Architect Manager	USD 220k - 339k	US
Mojo Compiler Engineering Manager	USD 234k - 286k	US, Canada
Associate Solutions Engineer	USD 90k - 106k	US
Staff/Senior Product Manager, Developer Experience	USD 150k - 200k	US, San Francisco, CA
Senior Security	USD 141k - 190k	Remote
Lead Technology Business Systems Consultant Supply Chain	USD 115k - 966k	US, Charlotte, NC
Primary Markets BookBuild Senior Specialty Software Engineer	USD 96k - 206k	Charlotte, NC, New York, NY, US
Primary Markets BookBuild Lead Software Engineer	USD 111k - 237k	New York, NY, US, Charlotte, NC
Network Engineering Senior Manager	USD 144k - 300k	New York, NY, US, Columbus, OH
Principal Engineer	USD 144k - 300k	San Francisco, CA, US, Columbus, OH, Charlotte, NC
Senior Software Engineer	USD 100k - 179k	US, Charlotte, NC, Irving, TX
Senior iOS Software Engineer	USD 190k - 267k	Remote, US
Sr. Manager, Engineering Console - New York, NY	USD 208k - 276k	New York, NY
Software Engineer	USD 174k - 230k	New York, NY
Senior UX Engineer Mobile	USD 135k - 220k	US, Remote
Software Engineering Manager	USD 204k - 342k	Foster City, CA
Electrical Network Integration Engineer	USD 162k - 266k	Foster City, CA
Senior Staff Backend Engineer	USD 200k - 200k	New York, NY
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer	USD 121k - 240k	US
Senior Staff Software Engineer	USD 172k - 297k	Remote, US
Senior Frontend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Frontend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Senior Backend Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Backend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Software Engineer	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Software Engineer	USD 130k - 200k	San Mateo, CA
Front-End Software Engineer, IXL Product	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Senior Machine Learning Engineer	USD 132k - 171k	Canada, Remote
Senior Data Scientist	USD 123k - 206k	Remote, US
Senior Data Scientist	USD 120k - 155k	Canada, Remote
Software Engineer	USD 200k - 240k	Seattle, WA
Sr. Data Scientist	USD 132k - 172k	Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid
Fullstack Engineer	USD 105k - 150k	New York, NY, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA
Manual QA Tester	USD 80k - 90k	Remote, Canada
Staff Software Dev QA Engineer	USD 120k - 165k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Front End Development Engineer	USD 100k - 145k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer SASE	USD 185k - 250k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Staff Software Release QA Specialist	USD 97k - 131k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior Software Development Engineer	USD 130k - 185k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Technical Marketing Engineer	USD 130k - 180k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Software Developer Golang	USD 81k - 110k	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, British Columbia
Principal Embedded Software Developer	USD 140k - 190k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Staff Software Development Engineer	USD 150k - 215k	Sunnyvale, CA, US
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Dev QA Specialist	USD 81k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Full Stack Cloud Developer	USD 115k - 140k	British Columbia, Canada
Senior C/C++ Cloud Developer FortiNDR	USD 110k - 150k	British Columbia, Canada
Full Stack Web Developer	USD 90k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Developer C	USD 90k - 150k	Canada, British Columbia
Senior Software Engineer	USD 134k - 185k	Austin, TX, US
Engineering Manager	USD 158k - 218k	Austin, TX, US
Full-stack Developer	USD 75k - 120k	US, Remote
Principal, Full Stack Engineer	USD 85k - 179k	US, Jersey City, NJ
Senior Fullstack Engineer	USD 172k - 215k	Remote
Lead Solutions Architect	USD 123k - 159k	US, Irving, TX, Atlanta, GA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 200k	Mountain View, CA
Staff Software Engineer	USD 185k - 226k	Mountain View, CA
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 133k	Denver, CO
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 160k	New York, NY
Senior Detection Engineer	USD 125k - 180k	Remote
Senior DevOps Engineer	USD 135k - 160k	US, Remote
Lead Software Engineer	USD 195k - 218k	New York, NY
Senior Systems Test and Verification Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	Colorado Springs, CO, US
Junior Level Integration Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US, Chantilly, VA
Sr Data Scientist	USD 93k - 202k	Minneapolis, MN, Sunnyvale, CA, US, Remote, Remote Hybrid
Senior design engineer	USD 160k - 220k	New York, NY
Sales Operations Data Engineer	USD 105k - 176k	Remote, US
Senior Front-End Software Engineer – Samsung Ads	USD 165k - 190k	Mountain View, CA, US, Remote Hybrid
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Atlanta, GA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Salt Lake, UT, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, New York, NY
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	San Francisco, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Phoenix, AZ, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	US, Chicago, IL, Remote
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, Miami, FL
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Boston, MA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Los Angeles, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Washington, D.C., Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Austin, TX, Remote, US
Staff Application Security Engineer	USD 203k - 248k	Remote
Sr. Analytics Engineer	USD 125k - 175k	Remote
Senior DataOps Engineer	USD 139k - 174k	Remote
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Remote, US
Sr. Product Engineer	USD 89k - 147k	Redlands, CA
Cloud System Engineer	USD 93k - 187k	Redlands, CA
DevOps Engineer all levels	USD 114k - 221k	Herndon, VA, Burlington, MA, Denver, CO, US, Remote
Site Reliability Engineer	USD 142k - 157k	Washington, D.C., US, Remote
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Remote, US, Seattle, WA

Job Position	Salary	Locations
	Director, Software Engineering	USD 188k - 225k
Unix/Linux System Engineer	USD 86k - 138k	US
AWS Snowflake Data Engineer	USD 105k - 105k	US
Lead Technology Business Systems Consultant Supply Chain	USD 115k - 966k	US, Charlotte, NC
Primary Markets BookBuild Lead Software Engineer	USD 111k - 237k	New York, NY, US, Charlotte, NC
Software Engineer	USD 174k - 230k	New York, NY
Electrical Network Integration Engineer	USD 162k - 266k	Foster City, CA
Backend Software Engineer	USD 130k - 280k	US, San Mateo, CA
Software Engineer	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Front-End Software Engineer, IXL Product	USD 116k - 150k	San Mateo, CA
Software Engineer	USD 200k - 240k	Seattle, WA
Fullstack Engineer	USD 105k - 150k	New York, NY, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, CA, Remote Hybrid, Denver, CO, Los Angeles, CA
Manual QA Tester	USD 80k - 90k	Remote, Canada
Front End Development Engineer	USD 100k - 145k	US, Sunnyvale, CA
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Software Developer Golang	USD 81k - 110k	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, British Columbia
Embedded Software Developer ROS experience preferred	USD 100k - 134k	Canada, British Columbia
Full Stack Web Developer	USD 90k - 110k	Canada, British Columbia
Full-stack Developer	USD 75k - 120k	US, Remote
Lead Solutions Architect	USD 123k - 159k	US, Irving, TX, Atlanta, GA
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 133k	Denver, CO
Software Engineer	USD 133k - 160k	New York, NY
Lead Software Engineer	USD 195k - 218k	New York, NY
Sales Operations Data Engineer	USD 105k - 176k	Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Atlanta, GA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Salt Lake, UT, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, New York, NY
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	San Francisco, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Phoenix, AZ, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	US, Chicago, IL, Remote
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Remote, US, Miami, FL
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Boston, MA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Los Angeles, CA, Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Washington, D.C., Remote, US
Data Engineer	USD 120k - 162k	Austin, TX, Remote, US
Cloud System Engineer	USD 93k - 187k	Redlands, CA
DevOps Engineer all levels	USD 114k - 221k	Herndon, VA, Burlington, MA, Denver, CO, US, Remote
Site Reliability Engineer	USD 142k - 157k	Washington, D.C., US, Remote
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Seattle, WA, Remote, US
Software Engineering	USD 128k - 172k	Remote, US, Seattle, WA
Software Engineer Front	USD 115k - 194k	US, Remote
Backend Software Engineer Platforms Team	USD 136k - 228k	US, Remote
VP Product - Data Platform & AI	USD 280k - 330k	San Jose, CA, US
Lead Big Data Engineering	USD 128k - 215k	Alpharetta, GA, Plano, TX, US, Remote
Web Developer SME2 Government	USD 89k - 222k	US, Remote
Network Engineer CNE2 Government	USD 89k - 200k	US, Remote
QA Engineer	USD 75k - 100k	US
Software Engineer	USD 139k - 155k	San Francisco, CA
Lead Solutions Architect	USD 123k - 159k	Atlanta, GA, US, Irving, TX
Software Engineer II	USD 131k - 183k	Bellevue, WA
Software Engineer II	USD 155k - 183k	Bellevue, WA
Software Engineer II	USD 116k - 183k	Bellevue, WA
Machine Learning Engineer III	USD 146k - 234k	Bellevue, WA
Software Engineer	USD 231k - 231k	San Francisco, CA
Lead AI Platform Engineer	USD 200k - 250k	San Francisco, CA
Software Development Engineer	USD 140k - 223k	Remote, US
Lead Enterprise Architect	USD 113k - 182k	US, Remote
Director, Head of Growth Operations	USD 113k - 182k	New York, NY, US
Software Engineer II	USD 125k - 155k	New York, NY, Remote Hybrid
Frontend Software Developer Engineer 4	USD 160k - 190k	Seattle, WA, Remote
Software Engineer II	USD 160k - 190k	New York, NY, US
Systems Design Engineer	USD 77k - 110k	Austin, TX
GPU Machine Learning ML Performance Architect	USD 200k - 287k	Santa Clara, CA
Server DPPM Execution and Software Engineer	USD 119k - 170k	Austin, TX
Kubernetes SW Developer	USD 110k - 158k	Austin, TX
Software Development Engineer	USD 101k - 145k	Canada
MTS Product Development Engineer	USD 90k - 129k	Singapore
DevOps Engineer III	USD 115k - 180k	US, Remote
Software Engineer	USD 90k - 110k	New York, NY, US, Remote
Software Development Engineer	USD 117k - 210k	US, Atlanta, GA, Boulder, CO
Sales Engineering Lead	USD 195k - 220k	New York, NY, Remote
Software Engineer	USD 138k - 269k	Atlanta, GA, Remote, Dallas, TX, US
Software Engineer II	USD 147k - 173k	Remote, US
Digital Signal Processing Software Engineer	USD 90k - 225k	Denver, CO, Aurora, CO
Lead Big Data Developer	USD 108k - 235k	US, Remote
Software Development Engineer in Test	USD 124k - 234k	San Francisco, CA, San Jose, CA, US
Application Engineer Quality	USD 86k - 146k	Riverwoods, IL, US
Application Engineer	USD 86k - 146k	US, Riverwoods, IL
Platform - Director of Product, Search and Analytics	USD 192k - 304k	Canada
Platform - Director of Product, Search and Analytics	USD 199k - 349k	US
Software Engineer III	USD 104k - 194k	New York, NY, US
Graphics System Post	USD 151k - 227k	San Diego, CA, US, Remote

[OC Intro: The game is modded to increase basic jobs cost, seasonal events are disabled. Much of the crash details are based on NASA/SP-2008-565 Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report recommendations especially Chapter 3 "Occupant Protection".]
The ship is without power, and Tightniks can't run the radar much without draining the batteries. He has only a few minutes of APU power left, goes over the best clearing he can find, and radars it. It varies by only a few feet from the aerodynamic glideslope there. He spots it out on the cameras and circles to go after that spot. He's only at two hundred feet now. With one hand on the stick, he uses the other to open the pressure equalization valve on the side hatch, then at one hundred feet, gets it undogged. Depending on how much damage he's going to get, it's less likely to be stuck closed and trap him. The dynamic vacuum this pulls in the cockpit rips most of the survival pack data cards from that rack and scatters them across the landscape. Crap, I'm gonna need those! Refocusing on surviving the next few seconds, he turns on the radar for the final approach, takes a last look around, then straight ahead at his forward camera and PFD, he clicks his HANS and shoulder strap locks in; after that, he can barely move, but that now is better than dying in this crash with a broken neck. He's a decent pilot and brings up the flare gently. Bringing up the alpha on this delta-winged ship, he balloons a little, but keeps the nose going up and restores a zero aerodynamic sink rate just above the highest terrain indicated by the radar altimeter. The ship bumps a little in the ground effect, and he can see the radar altitude cycling irregularly up and down about five feet at a time. Rougher than it looked from higher up! The body flap protecting the dead engines hits first, and the nose comes rapidly down. It hits, the screens go blank, and Tightniks is surrounded by airbags, some lifting his feet from the rudder petals and his hand from the control stick. It's blinding, it's disorienting, it's noisy, and, to his relief, it's long! It takes several seconds before the crashing cockpit stops moving. How many times did he flip over? Did he go sideways and roll? Am I rightside up? Are we really stopped on the ground? The airbags deflate, and he can move his arms. He gets his restraints loose and inspects himself. "Uck!" he says out loud (without the 'f'). No broken bones. His pressure suit can take his blood pressure. 116/81, pulse 112, blood oxygen 99 reads off on his left arm, I'll friggin' take it!
The ship is amazingly intact from what he can tell. He can't get any readings. The systems test meter seems to be working, but can't find any voltages anywhere. The ship seems to be completely dead. Behind him, 10 passenger seats are all surrounded by airbags and the back of the cabin ends in some sort of dirt-and-gravel and there's a bit of daylight seeping in around the edges. He was the only one on board, though, so their deployment was mostly academic (they might have stiffened the structure a little during the crash, but that's probably trivial.) Tightniks gets out of his spacesuit. The air on this planet is actually breathable. He gets the hatch open, steps outside and-
"A green shimmer erupts then disappears, and you hit the ground."
The human emerges from the glowing green mist and hits the ground. Groans. Pushes against that ground, trying to get back up. Where am I? What's my name? I remember nothing. Aren't babies born naked? He's got a dark blue button-down shirt on. A uniform? A shoulder patch. Gets up, looks around. I feel really heavy. I'm not that fat, am I? He picks up a small stone from the ground, this also feels heavier than it should. He rises to his feet and holds it out somewhat (he's unable to fully extend his arm) and lets it go. The stone hits the ground near his feet quickly and with remarkable speed. It's the gravity, it's greater than it is on- ...where am I from? This is- ...not my home planet? "Oooh..."
"Ka?" it says.
What is that? It's cute, at least.
It is not tame. He has no hope of catching it on foot. The creature seems to like the berries. Maybe if I gather some of those into one place and set some kind of trap...
33s: First trap.
I got one! The human lumbers up to the trap and gets the catch open. Do you bite? It doesn't matter much to me; I'm so friggin' screwed.
It doesn't. It looks at the human with a sense of wonder, actually. A blink and tilt of the head. Seems almost to be asking, Is it you? My purpose? My savior? Once out of the trap, which is totally wrecked, he has to make a new one from scratch, it follows him around like a imprinted hatchling bird.
Wiry little fella, you are. You're going to need some bulking up to do anything useful. The- ...'trimp', I guess... The trimp seems just barely able to feed itself. The human lets him into the broken ship's intact cabin, and it curls up comfortably in a passenger seat for a nap.
1m03s: Second trap.
"Apparently the Trimps breed if they're not working. Doesn't look pleasant."
What are they doing?
The trimps appear to be androgynous, and these two have paired off in the back of the ship. They're holding something carefully within a few hours, feeding it berries, grass, and- ...corundum.
Corundum?? Whatever that is, it isn't a baby.
1m35s: Third trap.
Only it IS a baby! The third trimp he trapped immediately joined the other two in raising it. They have a strange diet of food the human has found compatible with his own body, but they also eat rocks! They're careful to crush and sort aluminate minerals from silcate ones and only eat aluminate. Actually, they don't eat aluminate, they're only feeding it to the baby.
2m06s: Fourth trap.
All four are raising the same child, who is just starting to toddle. It seems these fellas have alumina or maybe even aluminum bones. The human takes a nap and wakes to find the first child grown up and they're starting to raise a second child, all five of them.
2m46s: Huts.
The human found a working bit of electronics. He calls it a pad, but maybe it's more like a smartphone. It has plans for two residential structures. The first, the smaller one, he can build right away, but the second one needs something called "drywall", and he has to figure out how to make that before he can build it. Huts and houses, apparently.
3m13s: 10 pop, full, first farmer.
The trimp he trained to farm and make paper took an incredible 50 units of food to get bulked up to do the work, and now it's not participating in rearing the child. But less than an hour after the trimp started farming and pulping, the child was out on its own, and the trimps did not start another. The ten seats on the ship were all full. Well, eleven counting the one up front that the human sleeps in. The pilot starts exploring the area.
3m28s: Battle.
Wait, what are you do-
The hostile roars and charges at the human, but one of his trimps jumps in front of him with a stick and they fight. It started right when the human got far enough away from the ship that the hostile non-trimps away from the ship began to regard him as leaving his own territory. After the trimp defeats the first enemy, it continues after other hostiles.
3m53s: Shield I in Z1c5.
The human is easily able to recover the loot in the territory cleared by the fighting trimp. Then he sees something glinting in the- That can't be! What the heck is that? It's a data card that fits his pad. It quite clearly regards trimp combat. He gets it loaded into his pad and studies it. I can do this, it just takes some wood. He returns to the ship to discover that they had already started on a new child before the fighter had even expired in battle. The human concentrates on his research.
4m38s: Mskel in Z1c11 defeated.
The remains of this one seem rather white and shiny. It's titanium! This enemy had titanium bones! He'll store them away. They'll be useful someday, I'm sure.
5m52s: Dagger I in Z1c20.
Where are these data cards coming from? The human wonders as he loads this one into his pad, It's for a weapon it calls a dagger. He blinks. I don't know what a dagger is. I'll take your word for it, data card. Needs metal. He has gathered some, but ore is plentiful. He can just dig and smelt it whenever he wants. For now, I'll continue researching.
6m18s: Arable in Z1c21.
It's an old cave that trimps like to live in. Why weren't they able to live there before? How could these friendly critters be confined to only the exact spot where THAT thing, he looks back where he came from, not remembering that he piloted the wrecked ship to its current resting place, crashed? This is really strange. I'll let them fill up this cave before advancing further. Wait, what about defenses? The hostiles never try to reclaim territory that they've lost, so he stops worrying about that fairly quickly.
8m22s: First hut is 0.3% first ever AP.
The trimps seem fairly easy to please in terms of living quarters. Two move into his first hut and start raising a child. The human has his tent, uniform, and the heater pilfered from his space suit. Not much of a mud fan.
9m59s: Miners in Z1c30.
Oh, what's on this data card? Sl3niw? Oh, I'm holding the pad upside down. Miners. I can teach trimps how to mine ores and smelt met- 200 units of food? Each job is getting more expensive to train a trimp for. He puts his bee nickels to his eyes and spots another data card probably 10 enemies away. "Sc"? Does that means science? I can teach trimps to do science??
13m57s: Scientists in Z1c40.
Due to the expense of training trimps, the human couldn't afford to build them shields until now, he's got Sh1-3 made for the fighter to capture the science training data card. 14m02s: One head went into that turtlimp shell, that of his fighter, but two came out: his fighter still has his head on, and he managed to get the turtlimp's head off. It rushes off after the deadly penguimp in the next cell. The shields are not doing all that much good, actually, but they're better than nothing. The human picks up and loads the science data card and- Holy runny sugar-free fudge crap! 1000 food units, but it'll endow them with the ability to speak. Good. I'm getting bored with no one to talk to.
14m28s: Bloodlust purchased and AutoFight enabled (that delay after getting it is an effect of jacking up the job cost.)
As the human buries this expired little trimp warrior, he comes to the sobering realization that he has more trimp graves in his growing trimp colony than he does live trimps. And yet they seem more hopeful now than before I got to know any of them. They seem to think I'm the solution to all their problems or- Those two look east somberly, then notice that he's watching them and smile back and wave at him. ...one problem that is specific, but very, very huge for them. [The only reason I say 'east' is because that's right on a map, and the game advances right across a row, then up. I might say 'northeast' on occasion for that reason.]
20m47s: Z1c73, Miners taken.
Are you my new mining foreman? The trimp who took to the mining training has dark brown fur that lays flat on its head. It's unusual in not having any bits that stick out from its head, ahoge or whatever. This one is relatively quiet, and while it has assimilated the mining and smelting knowledge, it needs to bulk up to do any mining. Smelting is relatively easy, and getting a strong natural draft going in a furnace is almost trivial with the increased gravity. This trimp builds furnaces like nothing. And likes to nap in holes it digs right on the spot; it's weird that way. [Puchim@s Yukipo, and furnaces are not explicit in Trimps.]
21m58s: Farming in Z1c80.
The resourcing "books" are not data cards but paper scrolls, apparently lost to the trimps. It seems that they were civilized in the recent past and some calamity swept over the planet to reduce them to this. Did I have something to do with it? Amnesia sucks harder than a Dyson- ...what's a Dyson? Whatever, it sucks. This disaster happening just before I crash in the only spot with trimps still alive would be a seriously crazy coincidence! Something is really, really wrong about all this. [The author has not sought or received product placement permission or fee from Dyson Technology Ltd. or any resellers of their stuff, just they literally suck balls and made my favorite vacuum cleaner.]
23m50s: Builder in Z1c90.
They've rescued an, I dunno, gelding trimp? It just started to build a shed around the piled lumber I left to build one. It's really slow compared to me, and just banged its thumb, but it is super cute with that long reddish head fur. That particular trimp is also fascinated with pink ribbons and likes to decorate its head fur with them. Because of its inherent inability to participate in rearing children, it isn't counted in the population. [Puchim@s Io, builder on the basis of Iori seen building in 1x10.]
26m02s: Zone 2, 44 pop, 5.5s RC with Z0/1.
It's some sort of tactical manual - tactical coordination. Coordination! He's starting to sort out some trimpese on the research he has done so far. It needs a lot of metal, so they won't be able to implement it for some time. Hopefully, they're still good one at a time, but these enemies seem to be getting bigger as we go along. Uh oh!
27m33s: Gym in Z2c5.
It's some sort of training dojo or sporting arena. The human examines the ruins, I think I can back-engineer drawings for this, get one built, and see what happens.
29m02s: 1g, 47 pop, 10.8s RC with Z1/2.
The two fighting trimps now with their gym and coordination are dodging and blocking enthusiastically, and making much faster ground against the bad guys then a little while ago when it was just one trimp fighting at a time and unable to avoid the enemy hitting back.
40m46s: Fresh turkimp in Z2c74, 63 pop, 7.9s RC, Sh1-10, Da1-5, Bo1-3, Ma1-3, Hm1-3, 6g.
Oh, wow, the laborers seem really hot after this turkimp. He cooks it up and tries a slice. It's really awesome! I have to work alongside his laboring trimps to share it, but I'm getting used to the gravity now. That scroll we found back in Z2c10 really helped. Trimps' techniques and appliances for handicapped individuals, and I'm really handicapped in this higher gravity. He joins the woodcutters with the turkimp; they're the most numerous resource laborer right now, building more gyms, enough that the block/dodge ability of the fighting trimps is almost caught up to the enemy's ability to cause damage.
43m15s: Zone 3, 63 pop, 7.9s RC with Z1/2.
I'm neglecting my science and trimp scientists are really expensive. Curiously, that grey-haired one can't speak all that well, only says "Tai" and "Shijou", but it can write and draw like nobody's business. It's the only scientist so far. [Puchim@s Takanya: Online references probably still claim that she can utter the first two syllables of any word, but she can actually utter only the first two kana syllables of someone's name, most often the given name of basis human Takane Shijou, who also has that habit. (All the utterances of the puchidoru are based on the speech foibles of their basis humans except maybe Piyopiyo, where I haven't seen anything match up so far.)]
47m32s: Finally, we can make drywall and houses. 59m30s: Z3c77, 94 pop, 7.8s RC.
Oh, those poor things are really struggling up at the front. These trimps are enthusiastic and know no fear, but I still feel like telling them to stop for a while. I don't have the heart to keep them from trying while they're still doing some damage.
1h05m24s: Zone 4, 107 pop, 9.3s RC with Z3/4. 1h15m26s: Zone 5, 120 pop, 8.2s RC with Z3/4.
"What is that?" the human asks. He has three scientists. His first does all the writing, but the other two can actually speak. One of them hops up on a rock spire beside the human to reach his eye level.
At the next ridge line, over the lowest and most passable gap in the terrain, this really mean looking hovering sausage monster.
"I dunno," the scientist trimp shrugs, "But it's making me hungry. Looks like a perfectly cooked frankfurter from here." [John Morell's dubious dirigibles.]
"Oh, yeah," the human nods, "that's a blimp."
"A blimp?" the trimp tilts its head quizzically at the human, "How could you know?"
"I wish I could tell you, little buddy," the human extends his arm braces to descend the pass on the side of the zone boundary in the boss enemy's direction, then grunts, "Let's go kill it."
1h16m11s: Z1c9, 120 pop, 10.3s RC with Z4/5. 1h33m34s: Zone 6, 151 pop, 7.4s RC with Z4/5.
1h33m54s: TP in Z1c3.
"What's this?" the human asks, having picked up the little square document with the curling corners.
"Oh," the hungry scientist looks at it, "It's a garden path, follow me."
"You want to lead me down the garden path?" the human says.
"Yeah," the scientist says.
"Are you kidding?" the human asks.
"No," says the other scientist, "We don't get human humor. Listen, these fighters can't go, let them wear themselves out here, then we'll take the next group through this garden."
"Okay," the human nods, watching two more trimps join the fray as he issues the Z5 coordination orders, "they're doing pretty well after all that block training research we just wrapped up." [That's a common artifact, even in normal games, Z5 Traintacular combines with many gyms, enough population to add several trainers, affording Blockmaster, which is expensive on a run zero, plus a break on Tion Z5, a 40% all-stat increase. I don't think Zach designed it into the game on purpose, it just worked out this way.]
1h34m07s: 151 pop, 10.5s RC with Z5/7. 1h37m44s: Drop from Z6c39, TP for 3.
"Now we have these access map frags we can use to route through the old trimpopoli," the scientist explains, "Atlimpis for food, Morimpa for gems, Everimp for metal, and Impazon for wood."
"What about the garden?" the human asks.
"Well, we got lucky with Tricky Paradise," the scientist says, "but you can randomize the route and maybe get lucky. What's with that look?"
"Somehow, I'm remembering 'frag' as something that blew up with deadly pieces," the human says. [Different video games - ones with better graphics and worse gameplay Ｏ(>▽<)Ｏ]
1h39m59s: Blues back up to the top on series I...
"Tai, Tai!" the first ever trimp scientist stops the human just before he upgrades the mace and dagger to Mk.6 and Mk. 8 respectively. It has a note for him.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" the human asks, "Do you think that's my name?"
"Shijou, Shijou," it nods as though to indicate, I KNOW it is. Then it proffers its note again. The human takes it and reads, "Don't upgrade the first row equipment right now."
"Why not?" the human asks.
"Shijou," it points at the end of the mapped route, where there's a scroll sticking out of the thistles.
2h24m07s: Zone 8, 224 pop, 12.2s RC with Z7/12.
"Your settlement is getting crowded, there's Trimps in the streets, and you're taking heat. You feel a sudden strong desire to create a map, though you're not quite sure how that would help."
2h49m10s: Zone 9, 357 pop, 9.5s RC with Z8/15.
"You can't shake the feeling that you've been here before. Déjà-vu?"
The trimps really seem to like the new high capacity mansions, and the village has rapidly expanded since they started building them.
"There's something familiar about this," the human says.
"Tai," the grey one that writes clings to his arm and shows him a note that says, "Don't give up now."
"We must persist," says the yellow one has found a foothold it can grab onto and grabs the human's shoulder gently, "If you give up to early, we'll never solve this. You'll be stuck here forever."
The human puts his hand over the trimp's paw on his shoulders, then looks at him, "I can die, too."
"No, you can't," the trimp says quietly, "Please don't test that, tall one."
"Death is just another path..." he remembers.
"Gan," the grey one squeaks. [That's the first two kana syllables of "Gandalf"]
"...one that we all must take," the human continues, "The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it-"
"A green mist," the yellow trimp interrupts, "flash of fire, we're all gone and our progress forgotten. The wandering stars return to that day, and you again crash that ship- ...a little better every time."
"Wait," the human looks around, "have I been here before?"
"I-" the yellow trimp tries in futility to share what little it knows, "...or... somebody got just a little coolant into the-"
"Into the what?"
"This side up," the grey one's note says.
"Into the that," the yellow one points at the note, "It really helped. You- ...I don't think we've ever had mansions before."
Well, of course they didn't have mansions before. That was one of my ship's data cards. How did it get way out here? Will anything start to make sense?
3h02m13s: Zone 10, 387 pop, 8.7s RC with Z8/15; '28s: 11.1s RC with Z9/19. 3h16m41s: Tough snimp after food book, L10 rand dept from lo-hi-med 118/25/96, 4 Items.
"That's twice our frags led us to gem-rich Moria," the human says.
"Morimpa," the new red trimp scientist corrects, there now being 5 scientists. [There'd be more if there were more turkimp.]
"The question is how do we use all these gems?" the human looks at the village zoning plans again, "I like those mansions and all, but they use hardly any gems compared to, well-" he gestures at the pile of over two dozen thousand gems they've gathered, "-that! And still a lot of wood and lumber."
"I think there's something," the yellow one sighs, "I wish I knew more."
Quite some time later, after they're done looting that route for equipment plans, the trimps are again advancing through Zone 10, and he hears it.
"Tai?" the grey one wonders.
"Where are you going?" the yellow one asks.
"To the farm," the human answers.
"Whatever for?" the red one seems exasperated.
"Shijou?" the grey one sighs, then looks at the fighting front. It's been around long enough to remember, "Shijou!"
"You guys already get so much to eat this doesn't do you much good," the human explains.
3h32m33s: L11 112/35/78 rand sea, dropped from Z11c6 with disband, 4.
"What's wrong?" the red one asks.
The human comforts one of the wounded. Once trimps start into a zone fight, they have to finish before they bleed out. He's really bothered making them desert in front of that second turkimp. "They had a lot left in them," he sighs, rubbing his eyes, "but we can't keep that much dead turkimp at once, we have to leave it alive to use up all of this one."
"Shijou," the grey one presents a note, "We need this map right away, anyway. Don't worry about it, Tightniks."
"Tightniks?" he looks at the grey one, "Is that me? How do you know?"
"Tai," the grey one points at the top of the human's left breast pocket.
"Ah, crud," the yellow one curls its tail around in front of itself as trimps do when they're embarrassed, "Is that really a name tag?"
The human hadn't even noticed it since the green flash blew up his memory as he was stepping out of the ship.
4h04m22s: Block (sub-8h AP is only 0.3%), taking it, 504 pop, 9.8s RC with Z10/24.
It's a pretty thick book about using shields for block instead of hit points. The pad has the stats analysis. Sh3-1 is only giving us 9% of our hit points. Turning to his trimp scientists, he says, "It seems to me to be worth it."
"Let's," the yellow one nods.
"Shijou," it hands him a note, "It scales badly, but that won't matter for a long time. I think there's a way to undo it before it matters."
"Doing it." The human takes out his pad and starts scanning.
4h29m05s: L14 rand moun 137/26/80 is really good for a lo-hi-med. 4h30m52s: Hotels.
"Ah," the yellow one says, "I knew there was something. That must be it."
5h08m09s: L15 lo-hi-hi rand gard 129/28/82 (just got explorers). 5h09m32s: Picked up Wall.
"Dam," the human says.
"Damn?" the red one chuckles.
"No," the human says, "Earthen wall dam; it's a thing that makes artificial lakes by holding rivers back."
"Lakes?" the yellow one asks, "Rivers?"
"Oh yeah," the human says, "This planet doesn't have enough rain for those..."
5h48m21: Leaving Wall from about c70 to fetch Tion Z15.
"You can't resume the map from the same point if you start another," the human reads the grey one's note.
"We can go back to the same point on that route if we hold there and finish Zone 15, right?" Tightniks asks.
"Shijou!" it seems to be saying yes.
"Yes," the yellow one adds, "but we're out of Series III upgrades, and you need a fresh map route to start up Series IV."
"We should be okay," Tightniks says, "but if we have to start it over, I don't see that being a big deal." As they advance through the rest of Zone 15, Tightniks resumes his usual duties at the research desk instead building and running traps like he was before.
The trimps seem hopeful at this decision.
5h49m10s: Fresh turkimp. 5h50m16s: Zone 16, 1071 pop, 13.4s RC with Z15/75, 13m43s turkimp (skel in c1.)
"Z:16 Seriously? Another Blimp so soon?"
"So," Tightniks lowers his bee nickels and looks at the red one, "is it going to be boss fights at the end of every zone from now on?"
"Hmm," the red trimp looks up past the human at some random rock spire or cloud.
"Well?" the human persists.
"Yup," he says.
"Hmph," Tightniks grabs a Sw3-1 of the rack and advances towards the front, "Before then, we have another Mister Titanium."
"What does he like about skeletimps?" the red one asks the grey one as the human marches off.
"Shijou?" the grey one seems just as confused by that.
"He's not going back to the ship, and he's not getting himself killed," the yellow one smiles, "so I'll take it."
5h58m32s...
"Hey guys, go for the mortar!" the human suggests to his 75 fighting trimps in the Wall's boss fight.
"I can tell from your bedtime stories that you're used to the artillery in that other place," the yellow one gripes, "but fighting works differently here, there's no artillery."
And the human instantly collapses laughing, the scientists a little worried he might have injured himself in the planet's severe gravity. But he's okay, at least physically, "Mortar is the stuff between the bricks, fellas. That's is a brickimp, right?"
5h59m18s: Wall, 1076 pop, 13.3s RC, 1% AP for sub-8h finish, first L16 roll good 156/35/84 moun, 10 for the metal.
Beyond the Wall was a more edenic section of the trimpolis ruins, doubling the production of the lumberjacks. The trimps are actually really happy with the mode of all of the laborers moving between the three big jobs, along with the turkimp, except for the foremen specialized at leading the job. It isn't enough to boost their productivity, but the human goes to them with trays of sandwiches.
6h06m52s: 50 map run 0.3% AP...
6h19m13s: Zone 17, 1141 pop, 16.0s RC with Z16/94, no turkimp.
"Z:17 You climb a large cliff and look out over the new Zone. Red dirt, scorched ground, and devastation. Is that a Dragimp flying around out there?!"
"Hmm," the human surveys the new zone with his bee nickels, "Looks like crap. Any ideas?"
"You're the idea man," the yellow one groans.
"Set the map flag," he puts his bee nickels away, "We'll run a depth for practice and to load up on gems for more hotels."
"Righto," the red one gets to work.
6h44m34s: First DCP. (Draglimp Care Package; I refuse to call it a tribute.)
"Oh," the human says, "It's tame now, so it brings back gems in exchange for food?" He looks at his gaping scientists, "That's what it looks like, huh? Guys? Yo!"
"Tai..." the grey one sighs.
Draglimp, the dragimp imprinted on Tightniks, lands beside the human, drops some gems at his feet, and accepts some scratching behind its horns before diving into the food bowl.
"You tamed a dragimp???" Grey's note says.
"Well," the yellow one huffs, "I guess that happened."
8h18m53s: L20 depth of 154/27/79.
"Mapping up here?" the red one half closes one eye and tilts his head.
"Yeah," the human says while fitting together the depth map fragments, "With the coordination book not right at the end, we have an extra mark of coordination to take advantage of. Let's take our housing up to 2000 or so, shall we?"
"Okay," the yellow one says from a pile of logs, "What's all the wood for?" They had been collecting it for days now.
"The series upgrades follow a rather specific pattern," Tightniks explains, "Just on the other side of this blimp is Zone 21, where we should be able to find the Shield series V, right?"
"Shijou!" the grey one nods.
8h56m17s: 1% AP for 100 map runs, leaving it, 1751 pop, 24.8s RC with Z20/232. 8h56m54s: Zone 21...
"Ooooookay," Tightniks growls, "There is something off about this thing."
"Shijou?" the grey one looks at the yellow one with concern about their human starship pilot friend.
The human stoops, picks up the little green gem on the ridge between Zone 20 and 21, looks at it, huffs, and asks, "Any idea where this comes from?"
"Err..." the red one seems hesitant to say, "I think you made it."
"Really?" the human huffs, "How could that be?" Then he tosses it at Red, "See if anything reacts to it. It might be radioactive, so we should take turns to minimize exposure."
"Really?" Red's holding it now, "What makes you say that?"
"Because I'm pissed off for no reason I can figure out," the human says, "I think it's coming from that."
"Frags," the red one says quickly, "I think it's arranging a route. You're good with maps," it tosses the gem to the grey scientist.
"Shijou," the grey one says hopefully, and has a map drawn within a few minutes. [Whether it looks like the one in Puchim@s 1x61 is anyone's guess. That one annoyed me as well as Chihya.]
9h02m37s: L21 moun first roll was a decent 160/26/84. 9h21m00s: Starting run 5 of that map...
Tightniks had taken his anger out on some food and wood to build about 8000 traps. Now he's leaning against a rock spire in his increasingly tattered uniform. A nap begins, perhaps unintentionally.
Wild trimps are examining the pile, finding it unwelcoming, and also finding no place in the town, just mill about. It looks like they want to help.
"Ku?" it's a blue trimp, probably a farmer waiting for stuff to grow, climbs up on the rock spire the human is leaning against, starts patting him on the head, "Ku. Ku ku." [Puchim@s Chihya.]
9h23m09s: Still working that lap...
Tightniks wakes up from that nap, and the grey one is standing there. "Shijou," it says with a note of concern, although not much of one. The note it holds says, "It wasn't me."
"Oh, what wasn't you, buddy?" He stretches out a bit, feeling somewhat refreshed. It feels like somebody washed his face and hair while he was sleeping.
The grey one is also holding a small mirror, apparently broken off from a larger mirror and with the sharp edges filed down to make the edges safe.
The human takes it from the grey trimp and holds it in front of his face to discover that somebody has bound up all his hair into about twenty little pigtails. He touches them with his other hand to confirm. "Eh, whatever." He hands the mirror back and goes back to sleep. [Puchim@s Koamimami.]
9h30m08s: The following run...
"He's not throwing stuff every which way yet," the yellow one whispers to the red one, watching the human snoozing with his pad on his knee.
"You remember that, too?" the red one asks.
"'Remember'?" the yellow one turns to face the red one, "I s'pose that's better than imagining it."
"I remember it, too," the grey one says via a playing card sized note.
"If we're stuck in a time loop," the yellow one sighs, "maybe this cycle will be different."
"Tai..." the grey one admires him for a moment. Then thumbs in the direction of the mountain, "Heh, Shijou!" it laughs.
9h35m58s: Run 8, c9 of that map.
The scientists nap and take notes, and meditate and take notes, and draw stuff. The grey one often storyboards for the other nine because it's the best at drawing stuff. They have come up with a list, and most probably "order" (they're debating whether their ranking means "order" (sequence of things happening over the various loops) or "frequency" (what proportion of previous loops they have happened in). But they've come up with this, from first (or perhaps most often) to most recent (or perhaps least often):
- The ship crashes (they're pretty sure that happens every loop) - The human builds huts - The human teaches some of his trimps to speak and do science - The human builds houses - The human makes maps - The human builds mansions - The human blows up and gets himself killed somewhere around Z17 to Z21, often on a dragimp - The human only recently/occasionally builds hotels - The human only recently/rarely tamed a dragimp - The human only recently/rarely maps the Dimension of Anger
They're all agreed that that they have never finished the Dimension of Anger. What they are not all agreed on is that they've never done this conference to figure out whether they're in a time loop or what that might mean. [See also Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Cause and Effect" ...which was sort of a time loop but they weren't going back in time. It's very interesting, but its meta makes no sense - no one ever went looking for the Bozeman in 80 years? No one who went looking for the Bozeman also got stuck? No one noticed the passage of time outside the little area of space where the not-quite-a-time-loop was happening? Errr... sci-fi writers, don't be half-assed about your time loops, lmao! Be like Harold Ramis- ...what am I saying?? (That would be Groundhog Day, which grafted a time loop into a romcom; there are no other sci-fi elements. But it was a full-blown time loop and not half-assed like "Cause and Effect".)]
9h54m06s: Dropped from Z21c95...
I think it would be a bad idea to bypass that green area, as much as I'd rather not face it. Both his domesticated trimps, which are breeding up a new group of fighters, and the wild trimps he has decided just now not to open the traps for, stare at him and point in that direction. He shoulders a huge Shield V-3 and grabs an Mace IV-2 as well and announces, "We're doing it." Thus equipped, he marches off into the Dimension of Anger.
10h27m53s: Taking Pi4-2; recently had taken Pa4-2...
The group at the front had expired, and the snimp in DoAc95 glares at the advancing colony of trimps, which had halted only because of it. It refuses to counterattack the vulnerable colony and its human, instead snorting and huffing, waiting for the next bunch of 232 fighting trimps to come in range.
Tightniks runs along the line of traps, releasing the recently tamed trimps, singing a song that he doesn't remember the meaning of, that he doesn't remember was crafted by an ethnically Chinese guy out of an African language, and later mastered by two caucasians over the internet before they ever met in person. "Baba yetu yetu uliye, mbinguni yetu yetu amina..." because it just happened to be stuck in his head. [Because the Doylian author decided on a whim to. Christopher Tin got it into Civilization IV and at the time (2010 July), I made the best video for it on YouTube, which got subsequently blown to shreds when Peter Hollens and Malukah re-recorded the song from scratch in their own voices and instruments in 2014, pity with no English translation, the purpose of my video.]
Noticing the last batch of metal he needs coming out of the furnace, he waves the waiting grey scientist to fire up the forge [to use the term properly and not as the game does], for it was time to wrap up the forging dies for the Spetum IV, Mark 2 pike heads.
"Shijou!" the grey one cheers, setting aside a snack that looks like maybe ramen, and starts jumping up and down on the bellows handle.
It takes a while for the human to chip out the tip in the two halves of the forging die, and then polish it, and then heat it up in the forge, and then quench it, inspect it, and put it into service crafting thousands of new pike heads for the fighting trimps.
But only one second passed on the map frame clock (10h27m54s) four cells behind that snimp, in the case being brooded over by this huge, and if it's honest, rather concerned megablimp.
10h35m45: Portal PB, 45 He, 4.247 He/hr, 1891 pop, 22.7s RC with Z20/232, no turkimp.
The last head of the map's boss monster goes limp as one of the fighting trimps' mace heads bounces of it, and the huge thing settles on its tail, resting on the package that seems to be the prize of this map. And there's a popping sound, and then something mechanical.
Is that a scroll compressor? Tightniks looks at the package. The deflating monster's lifting envelope material drapes over everything underneath it. "Red, Shijou!" he snaps and points, "roll up that side of it. Keep this part from sucking down on the extractor nozzle!"
All ten of the scientists jump in, literally, pushing the gas in the bag towards the compressor. Tightniks as well, rolling up the front.
Until he kicks, and nearly trips over, a smaller package that might be the explanation for the reason why the center of the monster's defense seemed to be a little away from the big package he could see. It's in the right place, he realizes. He gets it uncovered and reads stenciled-and-sprayed block letters on it:
"DT TIME PORTAL / THIS SIDE DOWN"
Perhaps the Dimension of Anger is so named because of the rage suddenly rising up in Tightniks' throat. It isn't so much as the free-floating aggression suddenly has an answer, there is definitely a fresh batch of rage and anger as he grips the nearest Mace IV, Mark 3 with both hands and gets it over his shoulder, its target obviously this object, anger at the realization he screams at the top of his lungs, "We are stuck in a mutha FAH-king time loop!!" His swing begins. [Tightniks almost never cusses, unlike Snugniks.]

So here is a my case. I got a TJO from an agency for a Direct Hire Position, (that is hard to fill and for which the agency has informed congress about challenges in recruiting and retention), open to the Public that mentions that a recruitment incentive can be approved. This is the definition the agency uses in their recruiting and retention guidelines:
Recruitment Incentive- A bonus an agency may pay to a newly-appointed employee if the agency has determined that the position is likely to be difficult to fill in the absence of such an incentive. ln return, the employee must sign an agreement to fulfill a period of service with the agency of not less than 12 months and not more than 4 years.
The definition of the a newly-appointed employee by the same agency guideline is :
Newly Appointed- Refers to the first appointment (regardless of tenure) as an employee of the Federal government,
or
an appointment following a break in service of at least 90 days from a previous appointment as an employee of the Federal Government,
or,
in certain cases, an appointment following a break in service of less than 90 days from a previous appointment as an employee of the Federal government when the employee's Federal service during the 90-day period immediately preceding the appointment was limited to one or more of the following:
1-A time-limited or non-permanent appoimtment in the competitive or excepted service
2-Employment with the government of the District of Columbia (DC) when the candidate was first appointed by the DC government on or after October 1, 1987;
3-An appointment as an expert or consultant under 5 U.S.C. 3109 and 5 CFR part 304;
4-Service as an employee of a nonappropriated fund instrumentality of the Department of Defense when moving to a position outside of the Department of Defense or of the Coast Guard when moving to a position outside the Coast Guard;
or
Employment under a provisional appointment designated under 5 CFR 316.403.
So here is my situation I received a Term NTE 4 yr appointment in Nov, 2023 intermittent work schedule with non pay status since EOD with a different agency so technically I am in the ranks of the federal service. This was a position open to the public in the competitive service.
The initial TJO from the new agency said nothing about a recruitment bonus. I accepted the TJO and requested the recruitment incentive and it was denied on the basis that I am in the federal ranks which true.
Now the question: If I were to resign for reasons of employment from my term NTE 4yr position from the other agency would this be consider a break in service less than 90 days of a term position meet the requirement for a recruiting incentive?
By OPM Guide to processing personnel actions a Break in Federal Service is defined as: The time when the employee is no longer in the payroll of an agency ( In computing creditable service for benefits, ie leave accrual, and reduction in force retention a separation of 1,2,3 calendar days is not considered a break in service, a separation of 4 o more days in service is considered a break in service and the days of separation are subtracted from from the employees total creditable service).
Since I have no leave, etc from that current term NTE position shouldnt a simple separation from that term position (competitive service) due to a voluntary resignation provide me that break in service (no longer be in federal pay status) and thus make me eligible for the recruiting incentive with the new agency as per OPM and their own recruiting and agency hiring policy manual as I dont have to have 90 period before the break in fed service for term positions? My concern is obviously the optics of the new agency or if the break in service must be prior to the TJO or prior to the service agreement that I would sign with the new agency? Keep in mind this is the exception to the rule as most fed employees are permanent.
Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Round 1, Pick 24 - Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama:
NFL: This is a perfect fit for Detroit, as Arnold is a clean playmaker and technician who checks off all the boxes. The Lions are upping the ante on the back end when it comes to football IQ by adding another Nick Saban defender one year after drafting Brian Branch.
CBS Sports: B. The Lions needed some corner help, so it makes sense to make a move to get one. Arnold gives them another Alabama secondary player to go with Brian Branch, another player with versatility.
ESPN: Detroit needs help in the secondary after releasing veteran cornerback Cam Sutton. Trading up with the Dallas Cowboys to get Arnold should help the team fix some of its struggles. The Lions allowed 34 completions thrown at least 20 yards downfield last season, which tied with the Houston Texans for second-most in the league. Arnold's selection marks the second time the Lions have taken a defensive back in the first round this century. The other was Jeff Okudah at No. 3 in 2020.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Cannot get over the amount of cheese it takes to make a lasagna.
Round 2, Pick 61 - Ennis Rakestraw Jr., CB, Missouri:
NFL: I mocked Rakestraw to the Lions in Round 1 back in late January, and here he lands in Detroit a round later. Rakestraw's injury and pre-draft process complicated his scouting report and pushed him behind a few other corners, but he has the mentality to fit in very well in Detroit. He's a willing tackler and a talented man-cover guy -- even if Rakestraw lacks elite length or athleticism.
CBS Sports: B. Chippy, in-your-face inside-out cornerback with good, not great athletic gifts. Plant-and-drive skills can be borderline special. Hit or miss as a tackler but the hits are huge thumping hits. Reasonable ball skills and will play the football aggressively. Size and length a concern.
ESPN: Detroit again added to its secondary. This is the first time in the common draft era the Lions have taken a DB with each of their first two picks, after trading up to get Arnold at No. 24. Detroit's defense allowed 28 passing TDs last year, which was the sixth worst in the league and marked the fifth straight season they ranked in the bottom 10 in passing TDs allowed. Rakestraw allowed one TD all season but was only targeted on 8% of his coverage snaps.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Has Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on constant repeat at home.
Round 4, Pick 126 - Giovanni Manu, OT, British Columbia:
NFL: The University of British Columbia just landed its first-ever NFL draft pick. Manu is a highly intriguing developmental OT prospect whose massive frame (6-foot-7, 352 pounds) makes him a worthy pet project for Lions OL coach Hank Fraley. But we expect Year 1 to be a redshirt one for Manu.
CBS Sports: D+. Mountain of a man with flashes of incredible burst at his size but overall flexibility and athletic profile is lacking. Of course will take time to translate to the stronger competition level but the length and burst make him a fascinating project. But long-term developmental type. Hand work needs to improve and not overly aware of complex blitzes.
ESPN: The Lions traded up to take their first offensive player in the draft with a developmental lineman. Manu measured at 6-foot-7, 352 pounds at his pro day while reportedly running a 5.06-second 40-yard dash, but he is raw. He has basketball experience, is known for his physical power, and he will be a fun project for the Lions to take on, as he adds depth to the O-line.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Helped write his own true fact, this one here.
Round 4, Pick 132 - Sione Vaki, RB, Utah:
NFL: The Lions are listing Vaki as a running back, although he also worked out with the safeties at the NFL Scouting Combine and played both spots last year for the Utes. Vaki's versatility and do-whatever-it-takes attitude will be a hit in Detroit, but his best shot might be to make it as a core special-teamer.
CBS Sports: C+. Fire-hydrant safety. Goes 100mph every play. Quickness and instincts stand out. Wasn’t a big ball hawk in college but not totally inept in that regard. Tiny frame and shorter arms than what’s normally desired. Can play anywhere. Also has some running back ability too. Strong tackler. Expensive trade up dips this grade a bit.
ESPN: The Lions traded up for a third time to take Vaki, as a running back. He probably will see reps on special teams. At Utah, Vaki was a two-way player, seeing time at running back and safety in 2023. He finished with 317 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and opposing QBs had just a 4.8 QBR when targeting him. Detroit is known for its creativity on offense, and he could emerge as a weapon at some point with his two-way ability.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Nevinyrral’s Disk - (1) tap, Destroy all artifacts, creatures, and enchantments.
Round 6, Pick 189 - Mekhi Wingo, DT, LSU:
NFL: Wingo is an undersized 3-technique with so-so career production, but I did not expect him to be available this late. His intangibles are strong, and he was rotated quite heavily at LSU, as well as having to endure nearly constant coaching changes there. He could surprise for sure as a rotational contributor.
CBS Sports: B. Smaller, upfield rusher with some pass-rush moves, he simply needs to utilize more. Dynamic off the snap and can win with his first step alone at times. Gets overwhelmed against the run.
ESPN: In their fourth time trading up, the Lions are bringing in a team captain with 98 total tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble throughout his college tenure. Once again, the Lions are adding talent to help a defense that struggled at times. His 4.85 in the 40-yard dash at the combine was second-fastest among DTs this year, behind only FSU's Braden Fiske, who led at 4.78.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: His friends only let him use the MadKatz controller because he breaks them.
Round 6, Pick 210 - Christian Mahogany, OG, Boston College:
NFL: Mahogany's tape is hilarious, watching him dispatch defenders left and right, even if that overzealous style can get him in trouble at times. He needs refinement but will land with one of the best OL coaches in the NFL and was just outside my top 100 prospects. The Lions' strong draft continues.
CBS Sports: B. Had pre-season hype but fell off many blocks and didn’t play with awesome balance in his final season for the Eagles. Has the length and squatty frame that projects well to guard. Feels about right for him.
ESPN: Mahogany was a three-year starter at Boston College. He did not allow a sack and surrendered just one QB pressure in 2023. During the 2021 season, he also did not allow a sack and posted a 0.3% pressure rate, which was the fourth-best among right guards in 2023. He played left guard in 2020 before moving over to the right side. This pick adds depth to the Lions' offensive line.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Authorization Failure: card fact not fo… Ahah kidding this was done manually.

Intro

No one knows when the piano was invented. We have pianos surviving as early as 1726 and records of them existing by 1700, leaving their creation sometime in the late 17th century. However, it’s hard to imagine modern music without it. It’s a very versatile instrument, showing up in music from early ragtime and jazz to modern electronic and hip-hop. In the 20th century, it was a mainstay instrument in what we consider “pop music.” During that time, three men became ubiquitous with the instrument: Billy Joel, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder. I am ImADudeDuh and over the course of the next month, we will be determining which hit of these legends' is the best!

Billy Joel

Billy Joel is so entwined with the piano that he is known as “The Piano Man.” With his father as a pianist and starting piano lessons at 4 years old, the piano and Billy have been together for most of his life. After not graduating high school, he made the choice to pursue a music career, eventually signing to Columbia records. His first hit single for the label was “Piano Man,” a song that perfectly defines his legacy for the next 50 years. Billy became known for his lyrical storytelling, his piano playing, and for being the quintessential New Yorker. Joel has sold out Madison Square Garden 100 times, with the 100th being the subject of a recent TV special.
Records Sold: over 150 million #1 Hits: 3 Hot 100 Hits: 43 Platinum Albums: 20 Grammy Nominations: 23 Grammy Wins: 5 Specialties: heartfelt ballads, Motown-esque throwbacks, and love songs cheesier than a dish at an Italian restaurant.

Songs:

1. Piano Man
2. New York State of Mind
3. Just the Way You Are
4. Vienna
5. Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
6. Only the Good Die Young
7. She's Always a Woman
8. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
9. My Life
10. You May Be Right
11. It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
12. Tell Her About It
13. Uptown Girl
14. The Longest Time
15. We Didn't Start the Fire
16. The River of Dreams

Elton John

Elton John is probably the most “relevant” artist of the three today, with him currently sitting at over 50 million monthly listeners on Spotify. From albums of duets in 1993 and 2021, and soundtracking classic films like The Lion King and Gnomeo & Juliet, Elton has lent his talents to others, which may have helped keep up his musical prestige throughout the years. He’s a very versatile performer, dabbling in genres from glam rock to blues to country. In 2023, he received all the awards necessary to earn an EGOT. Elton is most known for his extravagant style of showmanship, but don’t let the feathers fool you, he can sing some heartbreaking songs.
Records Sold: over 300 million #1 Hits: 9 Hot 100 Hits: 73 Platinum Albums: 31 Grammy Nominations: 35 Grammy Wins: 5 Specialties: doing the most on piano, doing the least on piano, and totally 100% heterosexual love songs

Songs:

1. Your Song
2. Tiny Dancer
3. Rocket Man
4. Crocodile Rock
5. Daniel
6. Saturday Night's Alright
7. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
8. Candle in the Wind
9. Bennie And the Jets
10. The Bitch is Back
11. Don't Go Breaking My Heart (with Kiki Dee)
12. Sorry Seems to Be The Hardest Word
13. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues
14. Nikita
15. I'm Still Standing
16. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me (with George Michael)

Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder started his career by breaking a world record. His first charting single, ‘Fingertips Pt. 2,’ got him the record for the Youngest Solo Artist to Hit #1 at 13 years old, a record that still holds today. Throughout the latter half of the 60s. Stevie cemented himself as a Motown legend. However, in the mid-1970s, Stevie started his golden era. His album run from Talking Book to Songs in the Key of Life is one of the most legendary 4 album runs in music history, a time where Stevie became the only person to win Album of the Year for 3 consecutive releases. He was known as one of the best Soul and Funk artists ever. Even after that historic period, Stevie still managed several hits and even #1s throughout the 80s, and is still one of the most beloved artists of all time.
Records Sold: over 125 million #1 Hits: 10 Hot 100 Hits: 63 Platinum Albums: 5 Grammy Nominations: 74 Grammy Wins: 25 Specialties: Funk, Soul, whatever you call his stuff in the 80s

Songs:

1. Fingertips Pt.2
2. Uptight (Everything’s Alright)
3. For Once in My Life
4. My Cherie Amour
5. Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)
6. You Are the Sunshine of My Life
7. Superstition
8. I Wish
9. Sir Duke
10. As
11. Isn't She Lovely
12. Higher Ground
13. Do I Do
14. I Just Called to Say I Love You
15. Part-Time Lover
16. Master-Blaster (Jammin')

Rate Rules

^{credit to whoever made this originally, these have been used for so many rates}

• Listen to every song listed and give it a score between one (1) and ten (10). Decimal points are allowed, but only to one place (ex. 7.1 is acceptable, but not 7.15). Hosts do not care what score you give the songs as long as it is between those two numbers.
• You have to rate every single song in the rate. If you skip any and do not give me a score when I ask you for one, your ballot will not be counted. This is because the program used to determine the results will break if scores are not successfully put in and I will have a mental breakdown if the program doesn't work because it will be a pain in the ass to do this manually.
• You may give one song a zero (0) and one song an eleven (11). These should be reserved for your favorite track and least favorite track. If you do use either your zero (0) or your eleven (11), it is strongly encouraged to leave a comment on the track. It can be as short or as long as you want, but please leave one; it will help the sub understand if you should be canceled or not when the rate is being revealed.
• Please use the prepared link to submit your scores! That is the only form of ballot we will accept. We spent a lot of time and effort on it, so please use it.
  • Note: if you're trying to access on a mobile device or on the new reddit layout, it may not work; I have made it so the link will take you to old.reddit.com, so you should use a computer to send in your scores (if possible)!
• If you desire to change any of the scores after you have already submitted them, simply message me and I will be glad to help!
• If we believe your scores include any form of sabotage (which would be weird for a Billy Joel/Elton John/Stevie Wonder rate), we reserve the right to reject your ballot. Sabotage is defined as extremely low overall average(s) that shows a clear bias towards or against one artist within the rate. If you truly hate the songs given low scores, we strongly encourage you to write comments on them. This indicates to us that you are not trying to rig the results, meaning everything will go smoothly. :)
• Your scores should not be considered confidential! Don't be scared to share them. Go nuts. Campaign for whatever song you gave an eleven to. Or not. This whole thing really is not that deep.

 

Commenting Guideline

It is also highly encouraged that you add song comments to your ballot! Do this by adding a space after the score and then typing to your heart's desire, like this:

Your Song: 10 I can tell everybody this is a bop!

You can also leave comments for artists! In order to do so, just add a colon after the artist you’d like to comment on and leave a comment like this:

Artist: Billy Joel: Wow, he’s so good, I wish New York was real.

Any format other than this is NOT good and you will deeply hurt me if you do not follow the example given here. This includes:

Superstition: 1: this is scarily bad!
We Didn’t Start The Fire: This song is FIRE 🔥🔥🔥PUT IT OUT 🔥🔥🔥1
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart: I’m giving this a 9 cause I’m a Kiki Dee stan for life.
Mi Cherie Amour: 10, Even the French jumpscare can’t bring this song down!

YouTube Playlist

Spotify Playlist

Apple Music Playlist made by impla77!

Submit Scores

Backup Pastebin

So, to preface this post, I have zero knowledge of Phonographs nor grafonolas or anything like that other than the bit I've googled regarding this one.
​
I'm helping my grandma out after she was hospitalized, and she's wanting to sell this old Columbia Grafonola type D-2 that she has but doesn't use. As shown in the photos, it's a bit scuffed up and has some issues, so I have no idea what it would be worth (planning to sell on ebay), and I couldn't fine any of the type D-2 for sale to get a rough value.
​
The main issues I'm seeing with it are that it skips, and the turntable makes quite a loud noise and seems to be grinding against what I think is a speed adjustment setting bar. It has some replacement needles inside, so I did swap out the needle with a new one that doesn't have any flattening on it, but that didn't resolve the skipping.
​
I've uploaded photos of the grafonola as well as videos of it running with and without records. It is worth noting the records are fairly scratched up, but skipping happens regardless of the record.
https://imgur.com/a/XLVOW5i
I would have uploaded to the post directly, but I'm on my phone and it's being super fussy.
​
The part that holds the needle moves smoothly up and down, but it does have quite a bit of resistance moving side to side. Is this something I can repair myself easily enough, or is it best I just leave it alone?
​
On that note, is it best I leave it alone and just sell it as-is to someone who would buy it and restore it, or would I be able to get her more money from it by fixing parts that are easily fixed? I don't know enough to know either if this is using original parts, or has been repaired over time.
​
Any information regarding this, particularly things like value and best practices for selling, would be appreciated.
​
​

Cost-effective facility management is crucial for maintaining a facility's operational efficiency while minimizing expenses. Rizwan Shawl, a facilities management professional from Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, has developed a strategy for achieving cost-effectiveness in facility management. This article explores the key components of Rizwan Shawl's strategy, highlighting practices that contribute to reducing costs while maintaining high-quality facility operations.
Implementing Preventive Maintenance
One of the core elements of Rizwan Shawl's strategy for cost-effective facility management is preventive maintenance. Instead of reacting to equipment failures, Rizwan advocates for a proactive approach that involves regular inspections and routine maintenance. This approach reduces unexpected downtime and extends the lifespan of facility assets, leading to cost savings.
By implementing preventive maintenance, facility managers can identify potential issues early and address them before they escalate into costly repairs. Rizwan's focus on preventive maintenance ensures that facility operations remain smooth and cost-efficient.
Streamlining Facility Processes
Rizwan Shawl's strategy for cost-effective facility management includes streamlining facility processes to eliminate waste and improve efficiency. He recommends analyzing existing workflows to identify areas where resources are being wasted or where processes can be optimized. This analysis allows facility managers to implement changes that lead to more efficient operations.
Rizwan's approach to streamlining processes involves using technology to automate routine tasks and improve data management. By leveraging technology, facility managers can reduce manual labor and increase productivity, resulting in cost savings. Streamlining facility processes is a critical component of achieving cost-effective facility management.
Negotiating with Vendors for Cost Savings
Rizwan Shawl's strategy includes negotiating with vendors to achieve cost savings. He recommends establishing strong relationships with vendors and exploring opportunities for cost reductions. Rizwan's approach involves negotiating contracts, seeking discounts for bulk purchases, and exploring alternative vendors to ensure competitive pricing.
By negotiating with vendors, facility managers can reduce expenses related to supplies and services, contributing to cost-effective facility management. Rizwan's ability to secure favorable terms with vendors has played a significant role in his success in reducing costs.
Conclusion
The Rizwan Shawl strategy for cost-effective facility management offers valuable insights into practices that lead to operational efficiency and reduced costs. His focus on preventive maintenance, streamlining facility processes, and negotiating with vendors has contributed to his success in facility management. By following this strategy, facility managers can achieve cost-effectiveness while maintaining high-quality facility operations.

Hi ShopifyeCommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth in the newsletter. Let's dive in...
Amazon is delaying its controversial new low inventory fee for the second time as it looks to satiate the hundreds of thousands of sellers it outraged with the original announcement. The company announced via its seller forum that it would be extending the grace period through May 14th. In addition to the delay, Amazon made some general changes to the upcoming fee structure such as the fee will not apply to products that have sold fewer than 20 units in the last week, any fees incurred due to excessive inbounding and processing times caused by Amazon will be refunded, and Amazon will provide an exception to the fee on products that are part of Prime-exclusive sales for the four weeks following Prime Day.
Shein has been courting brands like Colgate-Palmolive, Hasbro, Suntory Beverage & Food, and Bella Aurora in an attempt to sell more household names on its platform. The company, which is known for selling its own cheap clothing and accessories, is moving into other categories like beauty and household items to better compete with Amazon on its turf. So far Shein has given brands and retailers access to its platform in nine European countries, United States, Brazil and Mexico. Shein says that the inspiration for adding new categories is that customers were already searching for those types of products and brands across its platform.
Kohl's is re-entering the same-day delivery business — this time leveraging the Instacart app and its network of drivers. The company says that Instacart enables 109M US households to obtain delivery in as fast as an hour from 1,172 Kohl's stores across the U.S. Customers ordering Kohl's deliveries on Instacart can still earn their Kohl's Rewards loyalty points, as well as place orders for either same-day or scheduled delivery, with the same prices as in-store. Product categories eligible for same-day delivery include accessories, home goods, beauty & skincare items, and pet supplies.
As part of its mission to enhance its e-commerce business, Nordstrom introduced a new digital marketplace on its website, initially showcasing a selection of products from Mulberry, Adore Me, Cynthia Rowley, and DXL. This move catches Nordstrom up to retailers like Macy's, Walmart, and Michaels, which have all created third-party marketplaces in recent years. As opposed to casting a wide net, Nordstrom is being very particular about which sellers to allow on its marketplace, carefully selecting brand partners “to ensure that our marketplace experience drives the relevance and inspiration that Nordstrom customers expect from us.”
Walmart is now able to sell physical goods directly to users inside Roblox for the first time. The introduction of real-life e-commerce of tangible items is a milestone for Roblox, which aims to become an all-encompassing destination for virtual life. Virtual users are greeted with a new storefront that showcases virtual copies of physical items sold at real-life Walmart stores. The customer can try out the virtual item on their avatar. Customers can then load a virtual browser window inside Roblox that imitates the experience of shopping on Walmart's website. From there they follow the traditional form of entering their payment and shipping details within the virtual checkout. (Missed opportunity! They should have had the virtual avatar fumble with a self-checkout kiosk while an angry Walmart employee avatar stares them down. LOL)
Roblox also expanded access to its video ad inventory to all advertisers last week, following a six-month beta test. Advertisers can now purchase video ads through Roblox's self-serve tool, with plans to allow advertisers to purchase ads through PubMatic in the near future. Video ads in Roblox take the form of screens and billboards embedded within Roblox’s virtual worlds. The launch of video ads is part of Roblox’s aim to get brands to view it as a full advertising platform rather than a testing ground for their innovation budgets.
Amazon reported its first-quarter earnings last week and it turns out the company is doing really well. CEO Andy Jassy and CFO Brian Olsavsky informed investors of several company milestones on its recent earnings call such as tripling its profit from $3.2B to $10.4B in the same period YoY. Net sales at its online store rose 7% to $54.7B and at physical stores rose 6.3% to $5.2B. Ad sales overall rose 24% to $11.8B.
Walmart is planning to close all 51 of its health centers across five states, changing course from its originally stated plan of expanding to 75 locations this year. The company also plans to end its telehealth services, citing operational costs and reimbursement complexities that made its healthcare business unsustainable. All centers stopped accepting new patients last week, however, Walmart said it would continue to care for existing patients during the transition, as well as help its healthcare associates transition to other roles as it winds down the business. The company plans on keeping open its 3,000 vision centers and 4,600 pharmacies, which will continue to offer health screenings and testing.
Amazon, Starbucks, and McDonald's executives say US consumers are becoming more prudent with their spending — now looking for deals, seeking lower priced items, and being more particular about where they spend their money. Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said, “We continue to feel the impact of a more cautious consumer, particularly with our more occasional customer,” noting that it had affected traffic and sales across the industry. “Many customers are being more exacting about where and how they choose to spend their money, particularly with stimulus savings mostly spent.” (Mostly spent? LOL. How long does he think that $1200 lasted?) Or maybe the true story is that consumers have ALWAYS been prudent with their spending, and these corporations simply took their price increases too far so people went elsewhere? Maybe the country is NOT headed into a recession and we're all just sick of your price gouging?
Travis Hess is joining BigCommerce as the company's new president, charged with leading its global strategic and operational expansion. Hess has spent more than 15 years in senior leadership positions at e-commerce companies, most recently as managing director of Accenture, and he's also served on partner advisory boards for Shopify, Klaviyo, SAP/Hybrid, and Rackspace.
Social media overtook paid search as the world's largest advertising channel, with Western platforms growing the fastest driven by Chinese brands targeting US and European audiences. Social media ads are forecasted to reach $247.3B this year, up 14.3% from a year ago, with TikTok estimated to earn $23.1B of that.
16% of U.S. parents surveyed said their Gen Alpha children have an online-shopping addiction, with 22% saying their kids prefer online shopping to other forms of entertainment including watching TV. Almost half said their kids buy themselves clothes online, and 32% said their kids are interested in beauty products. Sounds to me like 16% of U.S. parents could use a lesson on parenting.
TikTok said in its latest safety report that it blocked 37M attempted product listings and 2M seller registrations from July to December 2023. The company said it also remove 133k individual products after they were listed on the site and deactivated the accounts of more than one million sellers because of policy violations.
Wix launched a new feature called Wix Proposals that helps users create attractive proposals to convert leads into new clients, collect digital signatures, and manage setting up payments. The feature is powered by the Prospero business proposal platform, which is now integrated directly with Wix’s business management tools.
The Canada Revenue Agency wants to obtain large troves of Shopify merchant information including bank account info, total transaction value, birth dates, and social insurance numbers in order to check if they've paid all their taxes. Shopify has been fighting the “outrageous” request for over a year now, also arguing that it doesn't keep much of the requested information on hand, which the CRA doesn't believe.
Sam's Club is turning to AI to speed up the process of exiting its stores, allowing customers who pay either at a register or through the Scan & Go mobile app to walk out of the store through large scanners instead of having their purchases double-checked manually by employees. Since unveiling the technology this past January, Sam's Club deployed the scanners at over 120 stores in the US, with plans to expand to all its stores by the end of the year.
Kajabi, the platform for content creators to sell online courses, launched a no-code mobile app offering that lets users host their own customized native app through the App Store and Google Play. The platform previously offered a mobile app for hosting online courses, but this new product allows creators to control the user experience, send push notifications, add custom links to the menus, offer in-app purchases, and more.
Federal prosecutors are investigating the internal practices at Block, with suspicions that its subsidiary Square processed thousands of transactions involving countries subject to economic sanctions as well as multiple crypto transactions for terrorist groups. Most of the transactions discussed with prosecutors were not reported to the government as required, and Block did not correct the company processes when it was alerted to the issues.
Speaking of Block, the company announced its strategy of regularly purchasing Bitcoin for its corporate balance sheet using a dollar cost averaging strategy. The company plans to allocate 10% of its monthly gross profit from Bitcoin products towards investments in the cryptocurrency itself.
The Save Mart Companies which operates Save Mart, Lucky, and FoodMaxx grocery stores, is deploying Instacart Caper Carts, which use computer vision and AI to automatically identify items as they are placed in the cart, at select Save Mart and Lucky stores in the coming months, followed by a broader rollout later this year. The company is also implementing the Instacart FoodStorm order management system, which enables Caper Cart customers to place orders for made-to-order items like fried chicken or custom cakes and pies directly on the cart screen while they shop and receive a notification once it's ready.
ToysRUs.co.uk is seeking a partner for its e-commerce site, which launched in 2022. The company confirmed to suppliers that it is “transitioning to a non-transactional website” as it seeks a new e-commerce partner, but that the website will “continue to promote the Toys R Us brand including our much-loved mascot Geoffrey, while also fully supporting the opening of TOys R Us stores at WHSmith throughout the UK.” Really Toys R Us — an e-commerce partner? Haven't you been down that road before and been majorly burned?
Carvana, the online used car retailer, told investors on an earnings call that it became the most profitable public automotive retailer in the US for the first time after setting new all-time company record this past quarter. The record performance impacted its inventory, with the average time from posting a vehicle on its website to a customer purchasing it decreasing to 13 days in March.
Sam Ash Music, the 100-year-old family operated music instruments retailer, is closing all 42 of its remaining stores nationwide. The company noted on its website that the “unfortunate news also presents a fantastic opportunity for great deals” and marked down all of its products with sale prices that are still higher than what you can buy the same products for on Amazon right now.
Rue21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its third time in the past twenty years and began the process of closing all 540 of its stores. The company has assets worth up to $500M and liabilities of almost an equal amount, according to its submitted documents. Sounds like a great acquisition target for Overstock! LOL.
A professor from Columbia University asked US courts to affirm the legality of Unfollow Everything 2.0, a browser extension that makes it easier to stop following friends, groups, and pages on Facebook. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the browser extension does not violate Meta's TOS, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or California's Computer Data access and Fraud Act, also arguing that through Section 230, US lawmakers sought “to promote the development of filtering tools that enable users to curate their online experiences and avoid content they would rather not see.” The developer of the original Unfollow Everything was banned from Facebook in 2021 and never released version 2.0 because Meta threatened to sue him if he did.
Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Babylist have pulled weighted infant sleepwear like swaddles, blankets, and sleep-sacks from their shelves amid ongoing concerns over the safety of the products and after receiving a letter from the Consumer Product Safety Commission asking major retailers to remove them from stores. Studies haven’t been able to irrefutably demonstrate the risks of weighted infant sleepwear, however, experts are adamant that weighted products are not safe for infants and claim that the proposed benefit does not outweigh the danger — which is pretty much the same argument lawmakers are using to force the sale of TikTok.
Remember that couple from Utah who accidentally shipped their cat to Amazon in a return package? Well, the cat and her family have since been reunited. After she was discovered, an Amazon employee took the cat to a vet where her microchip was scanned. The couple was contacted and promptly flew to California the next day, rented a car, and drove back home with the cat.
Plus 10 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including T-Mobile completing its $1.35B acquisition of Ka’ena Corporation, the parent company of Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile. The deal was first announced last March, and the FTC finally approved the deal over a year later. Ryan Reynolds will continue to serve as Mint’s ambassador, and the company will continue to offer its $15/month 5GB data plan.
I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week!
For more details on each story and sources, see the full edition: https://www.shopifreaks.com/amazons-fee-delays-sheins-everything-store-nordstroms-marketplace/
What else is new in e-commerce? Share stories of interesting in the comments below (including in your own business) or on shopifreaks.
-PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter
PS: Want the full editions delivered to your Inbox each week? Join free at www.shopifreaks.com

Hi ecommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth with sources in the full edition. Let's dive in...
Amazon is delaying its controversial new low inventory fee for the second time as it looks to satiate the hundreds of thousands of sellers it outraged with the original announcement. The company announced via its seller forum that it would be extending the grace period through May 14th. In addition to the delay, Amazon made some general changes to the upcoming fee structure such as the fee will not apply to products that have sold fewer than 20 units in the last week, any fees incurred due to excessive inbounding and processing times caused by Amazon will be refunded, and Amazon will provide an exception to the fee on products that are part of Prime-exclusive sales for the four weeks following Prime Day.
Shein has been courting brands like Colgate-Palmolive, Hasbro, Suntory Beverage & Food, and Bella Aurora in an attempt to sell more household names on its platform. The company, which is known for selling its own cheap clothing and accessories, is moving into other categories like beauty and household items to better compete with Amazon on its turf. So far Shein has given brands and retailers access to its platform in nine European countries, United States, Brazil and Mexico. Shein says that the inspiration for adding new categories is that customers were already searching for those types of products and brands across its platform.
Kohl's is re-entering the same-day delivery business — this time leveraging the Instacart app and its network of drivers. The company says that Instacart enables 109M US households to obtain delivery in as fast as an hour from 1,172 Kohl's stores across the U.S. Customers ordering Kohl's deliveries on Instacart can still earn their Kohl's Rewards loyalty points, as well as place orders for either same-day or scheduled delivery, with the same prices as in-store. Product categories eligible for same-day delivery include accessories, home goods, beauty & skincare items, and pet supplies.
As part of its mission to enhance its e-commerce business, Nordstrom introduced a new digital marketplace on its website, initially showcasing a selection of products from Mulberry, Adore Me, Cynthia Rowley, and DXL. This move catches Nordstrom up to retailers like Macy's, Walmart, and Michaels, which have all created third-party marketplaces in recent years. As opposed to casting a wide net, Nordstrom is being very particular about which sellers to allow on its marketplace, carefully selecting brand partners “to ensure that our marketplace experience drives the relevance and inspiration that Nordstrom customers expect from us.”
Walmart is now able to sell physical goods directly to users inside Roblox for the first time. The introduction of real-life e-commerce of tangible items is a milestone for Roblox, which aims to become an all-encompassing destination for virtual life. Virtual users are greeted with a new storefront that showcases virtual copies of physical items sold at real-life Walmart stores. The customer can try out the virtual item on their avatar. Customers can then load a virtual browser window inside Roblox that imitates the experience of shopping on Walmart's website. From there they follow the traditional form of entering their payment and shipping details within the virtual checkout. (Missed opportunity! They should have had the virtual avatar fumble with a self-checkout kiosk while an angry Walmart employee avatar stares them down. LOL)
Roblox also expanded access to its video ad inventory to all advertisers last week, following a six-month beta test. Advertisers can now purchase video ads through Roblox's self-serve tool, with plans to allow advertisers to purchase ads through PubMatic in the near future. Video ads in Roblox take the form of screens and billboards embedded within Roblox’s virtual worlds. The launch of video ads is part of Roblox’s aim to get brands to view it as a full advertising platform rather than a testing ground for their innovation budgets.
Amazon reported its first-quarter earnings last week and it turns out the company is doing really well. CEO Andy Jassy and CFO Brian Olsavsky informed investors of several company milestones on its recent earnings call such as tripling its profit from $3.2B to $10.4B in the same period YoY. Net sales at its online store rose 7% to $54.7B and at physical stores rose 6.3% to $5.2B. Ad sales overall rose 24% to $11.8B.
Walmart is planning to close all 51 of its health centers across five states, changing course from its originally stated plan of expanding to 75 locations this year. The company also plans to end its telehealth services, citing operational costs and reimbursement complexities that made its healthcare business unsustainable. All centers stopped accepting new patients last week, however, Walmart said it would continue to care for existing patients during the transition, as well as help its healthcare associates transition to other roles as it winds down the business. The company plans on keeping open its 3,000 vision centers and 4,600 pharmacies, which will continue to offer health screenings and testing.
Amazon, Starbucks, and McDonald's executives say US consumers are becoming more prudent with their spending — now looking for deals, seeking lower priced items, and being more particular about where they spend their money. Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said, “We continue to feel the impact of a more cautious consumer, particularly with our more occasional customer,” noting that it had affected traffic and sales across the industry. “Many customers are being more exacting about where and how they choose to spend their money, particularly with stimulus savings mostly spent.” (Mostly spent? LOL. How long does he think that $1200 lasted?) Or maybe the true story is that consumers have ALWAYS been prudent with their spending, and these corporations simply took their price increases too far so people went elsewhere? Maybe the country is NOT headed into a recession and we're all just sick of your price gouging?
Travis Hess is joining BigCommerce as the company's new president, charged with leading its global strategic and operational expansion. Hess has spent more than 15 years in senior leadership positions at e-commerce companies, most recently as managing director of Accenture, and he's also served on partner advisory boards for Shopify, Klaviyo, SAP/Hybrid, and Rackspace.
Social media overtook paid search as the world's largest advertising channel, with Western platforms growing the fastest driven by Chinese brands targeting US and European audiences. Social media ads are forecasted to reach $247.3B this year, up 14.3% from a year ago, with TikTok estimated to earn $23.1B of that.
16% of U.S. parents surveyed said their Gen Alpha children have an online-shopping addiction, with 22% saying their kids prefer online shopping to other forms of entertainment including watching TV. Almost half said their kids buy themselves clothes online, and 32% said their kids are interested in beauty products. Sounds to me like 16% of U.S. parents could use a lesson on parenting.
TikTok said in its latest safety report that it blocked 37M attempted product listings and 2M seller registrations from July to December 2023. The company said it also remove 133k individual products after they were listed on the site and deactivated the accounts of more than one million sellers because of policy violations.
Wix launched a new feature called Wix Proposals that helps users create attractive proposals to convert leads into new clients, collect digital signatures, and manage setting up payments. The feature is powered by the Prospero business proposal platform, which is now integrated directly with Wix’s business management tools.
The Canada Revenue Agency wants to obtain large troves of Shopify merchant information including bank account info, total transaction value, birth dates, and social insurance numbers in order to check if they've paid all their taxes. Shopify has been fighting the “outrageous” request for over a year now, also arguing that it doesn't keep much of the requested information on hand, which the CRA doesn't believe.
Sam's Club is turning to AI to speed up the process of exiting its stores, allowing customers who pay either at a register or through the Scan & Go mobile app to walk out of the store through large scanners instead of having their purchases double-checked manually by employees. Since unveiling the technology this past January, Sam's Club deployed the scanners at over 120 stores in the US, with plans to expand to all its stores by the end of the year.
Kajabi, the platform for content creators to sell online courses, launched a no-code mobile app offering that lets users host their own customized native app through the App Store and Google Play. The platform previously offered a mobile app for hosting online courses, but this new product allows creators to control the user experience, send push notifications, add custom links to the menus, offer in-app purchases, and more.
Federal prosecutors are investigating the internal practices at Block, with suspicions that its subsidiary Square processed thousands of transactions involving countries subject to economic sanctions as well as multiple crypto transactions for terrorist groups. Most of the transactions discussed with prosecutors were not reported to the government as required, and Block did not correct the company processes when it was alerted to the issues.
Speaking of Block, the company announced its strategy of regularly purchasing Bitcoin for its corporate balance sheet using a dollar cost averaging strategy. The company plans to allocate 10% of its monthly gross profit from Bitcoin products towards investments in the cryptocurrency itself.
The Save Mart Companies which operates Save Mart, Lucky, and FoodMaxx grocery stores, is deploying Instacart Caper Carts, which use computer vision and AI to automatically identify items as they are placed in the cart, at select Save Mart and Lucky stores in the coming months, followed by a broader rollout later this year. The company is also implementing the Instacart FoodStorm order management system, which enables Caper Cart customers to place orders for made-to-order items like fried chicken or custom cakes and pies directly on the cart screen while they shop and receive a notification once it's ready.
ToysRUs.co.uk is seeking a partner for its e-commerce site, which launched in 2022. The company confirmed to suppliers that it is “transitioning to a non-transactional website” as it seeks a new e-commerce partner, but that the website will “continue to promote the Toys R Us brand including our much-loved mascot Geoffrey, while also fully supporting the opening of TOys R Us stores at WHSmith throughout the UK.” Really Toys R Us — an e-commerce partner? Haven't you been down that road before and been majorly burned?
Carvana, the online used car retailer, told investors on an earnings call that it became the most profitable public automotive retailer in the US for the first time after setting new all-time company record this past quarter. The record performance impacted its inventory, with the average time from posting a vehicle on its website to a customer purchasing it decreasing to 13 days in March.
Sam Ash Music, the 100-year-old family operated music instruments retailer, is closing all 42 of its remaining stores nationwide. The company noted on its website that the “unfortunate news also presents a fantastic opportunity for great deals” and marked down all of its products with sale prices that are still higher than what you can buy the same products for on Amazon right now.
Rue21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for its third time in the past twenty years and began the process of closing all 540 of its stores. The company has assets worth up to $500M and liabilities of almost an equal amount, according to its submitted documents. Sounds like a great acquisition target for Overstock! LOL.
A professor from Columbia University asked US courts to affirm the legality of Unfollow Everything 2.0, a browser extension that makes it easier to stop following friends, groups, and pages on Facebook. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the browser extension does not violate Meta's TOS, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or California's Computer Data access and Fraud Act, also arguing that through Section 230, US lawmakers sought “to promote the development of filtering tools that enable users to curate their online experiences and avoid content they would rather not see.” The developer of the original Unfollow Everything was banned from Facebook in 2021 and never released version 2.0 because Meta threatened to sue him if he did.
Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Babylist have pulled weighted infant sleepwear like swaddles, blankets, and sleep-sacks from their shelves amid ongoing concerns over the safety of the products and after receiving a letter from the Consumer Product Safety Commission asking major retailers to remove them from stores. Studies haven’t been able to irrefutably demonstrate the risks of weighted infant sleepwear, however, experts are adamant that weighted products are not safe for infants and claim that the proposed benefit does not outweigh the danger — which is pretty much the same argument lawmakers are using to force the sale of TikTok.
Remember that couple from Utah who accidentally shipped their cat to Amazon in a return package? Well, the cat and her family have since been reunited. After she was discovered, an Amazon employee took the cat to a vet where her microchip was scanned. The couple was contacted and promptly flew to California the next day, rented a car, and drove back home with the cat.
Plus 10 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including T-Mobile completing its $1.35B acquisition of Ka’ena Corporation, the parent company of Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile. The deal was first announced last March, and the FTC finally approved the deal over a year later. Ryan Reynolds will continue to serve as Mint’s ambassador, and the company will continue to offer its $15/month 5GB data plan.
I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week!
PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-Commerce Newsletter
PS: If I missed any big news this week, please share in the comments.

This last week has been the week where I've been pulling consistently good shots - shots which when used for a short Americano have me savouring every single sip, noticing the tasting notes described for the coffee, and just genuinely enjoying a cup of great coffee at home.
Although I've never posted in here - everybody elses questions and threads have been instrumental in to helping me get to where I am today and pulling espresso feels much less voodoo now.
I've started out with a SAGE Bambino (non-plus) and the SAGE DCP grinder but I quickly started to upgrade bits and bobs - a naked portafilter, IMS basket, WDT tool, better tamp, dosing cup and funnel and scales.
The coffee I'm on at the moment is Square Mile Red Brick which is currently a 50/50 mix of Brazil / Columbia and it's a beautiful coffee, probably my favourite so far after having been through many bags of top notch coffees from local Manchester roasteries.
There's been so much frustration and failure but it's all been underpinned by determination and on the whole it's just been good, scientific, experimental fun.
A few of the beans I've been through:

• Heart and Graft: Brazil Mogiana Eagle, Loveshack (Finca el Trompillo), Mystere et Prestige (Sumatra Dolok Sanggul)
• Ancoats Coffee: Warehouse City, A LEL CHAUNG, Myanmar
• Square Mile: Sweetshop, La Bermeja (Peru), Red Brick

Heart and Graft is a 7 minute drive from my house, Ancoats about 15 minutes, I feel spoilt.
I certainly don't think I made life easy for myself with most of these being single origin coffees on the lighter side of medium roasts, especially when the Bambino is locked in at 93c max.
If I was to highlight the things I feel have truly made a difference, they'd be:

• Stopping using the volumetric shot button and moving to manually pulling shots
• The IMS basket (huge difference, far less channelling)
• Learning when to stop the shot in order to have the last drop land at the target weight (i.e. 26g stop, 38g goal)
• Flushing the grouphead between shots to keep the temp up
• Stopping using way too much pressure when tamping and learning how to tamp consistently
• Finding a WDT method that worked for me - I used to just randomly wiggle it around but now I use repeated circular motions which gradually work their way in to the middle until all the coffee has "collapsed", finished with a quick repeat just for the top "fluff", and this really seems to work for me now
• Stopping whacking the portafilter several times after WDT to level the coffee before tamping - I now just do one singular authoritive tap

A final comment would be that this subreddit is brutal for causing envy and jealousy. I now have this burning desire to go out and buy an Ascaso Steel Duo and a Niche Zero but I must be sensible and resist. The Niche Zero is definitely going to happen in to the not too distant future, the Bambino is doing a good enough job for now.
So yeah - thanks to everyone for all the interesting posts, problem solving and advice that can be found in abundance in here, it's been invaluable.

Can you recommend an independent shop in and around Columbia? I'm in Augusta but there are no great options and I'm looking for an alternative to the dealership.
First a time owner (991.1 S manual cab) here with no service records and two issues I want to look into — creaky backend at slow speeds and one exhaust fan gets stuck periodically.

Será André Villas-Boas capaz de por fim aos 42 anos de reinado do histórico líder dos dragões? "Estou confiante", responde o candidato, que falou à SÁBADO de vários temas: do sonho de ser futebolista à paixão pelos carros e motas, da zanga com Mourinho ao susto com os dois tumores, e das aventuras na Rússia e na China às ameaças e às polémicas da campanha.
Nascido no Porto, a 17 de outubro de 1977, André Villas-Boas cresceu perto da Avenida da Boavista, no seio de uma família aristocrática, mas liberal. Chamavam-lhe Cenourinha no colégio, pelo seu cabelo ruivo, e era indisciplinado. Queria ser jornalista, como o avô, colecionava tudo (tem um capacete de Ayrton Senna), andava de skate e adorava velocidade. Viveu depressa e ia morrendo novo – o facto de ter desco berto um tumor em consequência de um acidente, fê-lo acreditar ainda mais no seu destino.
A sua primeira experiência como treinador foi com uma seleção das Caraíbas (e perdeu 14-1), garante que não saiu do FC Porto por dinheiro (até foi para o Chelsea ganhar o mesmo que Jorge Jesus no Benfica) e abdicou de 12 milhões de euros na China para fugir da corrupção.
A sua candidatura à presidência do FC Porto (as eleições são a 27 de abril) é "um ato de loucura absurdo", conforme admite. E a sua lista tem causado uma guerra com o histórico líder dos dragões, que via como "um ídolo" na infância. Pinto da Costa trata-o como um inimigo do clube. No meio deste clima, a Assembleia Geral dos dragões, em novembro, foi marcada por agressões, a casa de Villas-Boas foi vandalizada, o líder da claque Super Dragões foi preso e o ex-técnico passou a ter dois guarda-costas.
​
Vida pessoal: A família, as paixões e a doença
Cresceu no seio de uma família aristocrática, mas liberal. Chamavam-lhe Cenourinha e era indis ciplinado. Queria ser jornalista, colecionava tudo (tem um capacete de Ayrton Senna), andava de skate e adorava velocidade. Viveu depressa e ia morrendo novo – o facto de ter desco berto um tumor em consequência de um acidente, fê-lo acreditar ainda mais no seu destino
André Villas-Boas distraiu-se uns segundos a olhar para o GPS durante a quarta etapa do rali Dakar, no Peru, em janeiro de 2018. Ocupava a 43ª posição. De repente, o Toyota Hilux que pilotava galgou uma duna e aterrou num buraco. “Não houve distribuição de força. Se tivesse capotado, teria havido essa distribuição. Ali não. Foi seco, direto”, diz à SÁBADO. “Parti a coluna. Um tipo não sabe que partiu a coluna, claro. Mas entrei imediatamente em espasmo muscular nas costas e não me conseguia mexer.”
Retirado de helicóptero para o hospital do bivaque, foi submetido a um raio-X e informado de que estava fora de competição: “Tinham-me dito que ia ao hospital e que podia regressar ao carro. ‘Por favor, não me lixem’, respondi-lhes, mas não havia nada a fazer.” O sonho de pilotar num Dakar aos 40 anos estava cumprido, apesar das sérias mazelas. “Nada me tira aquela sensação extasiante de completar uma etapa.”
Regressado ao Porto, repousou quatro dias. Hiperativo por natureza, desafiou os seus amigos de infância para um passeio de mota no Gerês. “Mal arrancámos de minha casa, aquilo tem um monte, e eu aí levanto-me sempre. Eu ando bem de mota. A traseira bateu-me no rabo e eu senti uma dor muito forte a subir-me pela espinha. Vi logo que algo de mau se tinha passado”, afirma. Estava certo: os exames médicos revelaram que tinha a vértebra L1 completamente comprimida, no limite do nervo e da paralisia.
Em consequência dos exames à coluna, os médicos encontraram-lhes uma mancha na tiroide. Era um tumor. “Tiveram de me remover meia tiroide. Acontece que ia morrendo na operação, porque foi aquele 1% das cirurgias que corre mal”, revela Villas-Boas. O susto ocorreu quando estava em recobro, após a visita da mulher, Joana, e dos seus pais. “Passados 10 minutos, comecei a sentir-me mal e lembro-me de pensar: ‘Vou morrer, vou morrer.’ Carreguei no botão, veio o enfermeiro e só me recordo de o ouvir gritar, de pegarem na minha cama, correrem pelo hospital diretamente para as urgências, as portas abrirem à força, injeção e… quando acordei estava na última.”
Hemorragia interna. “Mais uns minutos e morria asfixiado”, diz o antigo treinador. “Foi tudo muito curioso porque, por conta dos exames na tiroide, descobriram-me outro tumor nas costas, que tive também de retirar. Se não fosse o acidente, nunca teria detetado estas doenças.”
Este episódio aumentou a sua crença inabalável no destino. Na cabeça de André, os desejos nunca foram metafísicos, mas materializáveis, bastando para tal colocar-lhes uma dose reforçada de obstinação: “O meu percurso tem provado que consigo alcançar o que ambiciono. Sempre fui obstinado em atingir objetivos, em desejar, querer e obter”, afirma. Foi assim, acredita, que se tornou treinador principal aos 22 anos, que venceu uma Liga Europa com o seu clube de infância aos 33, que conseguiu pilotar num Dakar e comprar uma vasta frota de automóveis clássicos e desportivos.
​
O sonho do futebol e da F1
Agora, enfrenta aquele que é talvez o desafio mais difícil da sua vida: destronar Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, que idolatrou na juventude, e tornar-se presidente do FC Porto.
Esse não foi, porém, o seu desígnio original. Em criança, queria ser piloto de F1 ou futebolista. Mas há coisas que a vontade, sozinha, não alcança: o talento para a bola nunca foi abundante. Com 15 anos, após uma época como guarda-redes no Ribeirense, onde entrou em apenas quatro jogos, foi levado pelos colegas de liceu para o Ramaldense. Aí passou a jogar a médio, por decisão do treinador, Joaquim Magalhães. “Era reservado e educado, mas já dava ordens aos colegas dentro de campo, notava-se que era um líder”, revelou o técnico no livro André Villas-Boas – Special Too, de Luís Miguel Pereira e Jaime Pinho. Seguiu-se o Marechal Gomes da Costa, cujo treinador, Manuel Ribeiro, destaca o seu mau perder: “Ele convivia mal com os resultados negativos, ficava triste e cabisbaixo.”
André continua a lidar mal com a derrota, mas não reconhece, nessa altura, a capacidade de liderança que Magalhães viu nele: “Era um daqueles fenómenos de introversão completa, muito tímido, fechado em mim mesmo, falava apenas com os meus pais, com os meus irmãos e com os meus amigos de infância. Era um bicho do mato”, confessa. “Foi por imposição do futebol que saí da casca. Liderar implica comunicar, e isso aconteceu à custa dos desafios que fui enfrentando na vida.”
​
O avô jornalista e a mãe na capa da revista
A vontade de comunicar estava lá, ao ponto de se ter preparado para ser jornalista. Desportivo, de preferência. Para tal, escolheu o agrupamento de Humanidades, onde se estabeleceu como um aluno mediano: “Nunca chumbei, mas era muito relaxado. Estudava na véspera, só me aplicava no terceiro período para conseguir notas para passar”, diz. Encontrou a referência para a escrita dentro de portas: “A minha mãe foi criada por um padrasto porque o seu pai, o meu avô Álvaro, morreu muito cedo. Ele era jornalista desportivo. Escreveu para A Bola e para a revista Flama. A minha mãe chegou a ser capa da Flama”, conta.
Nascido a 17 de outubro de 1977, Villas-Boas cresceu no Porto, perto da Avenida da Boavista, no seio de uma família de origem brasonada: o seu bisavô paterno, José Gerardo, foi o 1º visconde de Guilhomil, juiz e figura influente do governo do primeiro-ministro Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro, no início do século XX. O seu avô Gonçalo casou-se com a inglesa Margaret Kendal, cuja família tinha vindo para Portugal para trabalhar no comércio de vinho do Porto. Foi com essa avó que, ainda criança, aprendeu inglês. E também experimentou um pouco de austeridade: “Ela recolhia os netos para a Páscoa e para o verão. Era um género de estágio. A língua inglesa estava sempre presente. Era uma amante de ténis, consumia horas a fio de Eurosport. Uma mulher de ideias fortes, um baluarte da família, que aplicava uma educação mais rigorosa”, diz à SÁBADO.
Em casa, o ambiente era mais liberal. O pai, Luís Filipe, foi professor e engenheiro químico, doutorado na Universidade de Kent, enquanto a mãe geria lojas de roupa no Porto. Nunca se opuseram à paixão do mais rebelde dos seus filhos – André tem duas irmãs e um irmão – por bolas de futebol e motores. Com algumas exceções, naturalmente. Ainda sem carta de condução, André comprou um Fiat 127 na sucata do Castelo do Queijo (“por 20 contos”) e, com um amigo, espatifou-o contra três carros que estavam estacionados. O pai castigou-o, forçando-o a trabalhar nas férias da Páscoa numa fábrica de peças de automóveis, de que era administrador. Nem por isso parou: continuou a adquirir carros no ferro-velho, com a intenção de os conduzir para a quinta da família em Guimarães. “Alguns ficavam sem motor no caminho”, diz.
Travessuras pouco habituais no elitista Colégio do Rosário, onde estudava e era conhecido entre os colegas por Cenourinha, devido ao cabelo ruivo. “Ainda é a minha alcunha, apesar de ser pouco usada”, afirma. Foi sempre louco por futebol e tornou-se sócio do FC Porto em julho de 1980, muito por responsabilidade do tio e padrinho, irmão da mãe, que, aos 3 anos, já o levava ao estádio das Antas: “As minhas primeiras memórias são da bilheteira, com a arquibancada em frente, o barulho dos torniquetes, e de ver a equipa do Porto entrar em campo, às cavalitas do meu padrinho, na arquibancada, com confetti azuis e brancos a caírem-me em cima”, afirma. “Curiosamente, a vista do consultório da minha dentista também dava para a bilheteira, o que me ajudava a aguentar aquele pesadelo. Na altura, chumbavam-nos os dentes todos.”
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O capacete de Ayrton Senna
Embora defenda a modernização do FC Porto e tenha recebido milhões com o negócio do futebol, o ex-treinador revela saudosismo da década de 90, quando os clubes ainda eram controlados pelos associados. Fala com nostalgia da escuridão do túnel de acesso aos balneários das Antas, dos cartões de sócio plastificados e do videojogo Championship Manager, em que passou horas como treinador virtual dos dragões.
Não admira que tenha, desde criança, guardado tudo o que o ligasse ao passado e às suas raízes: “Sempre colecionei muito e espontaneamente. Guardei os meus primeiros bilhetes, envelopes, selos, memorabilia, miniaturas de carros, carros a sério, motas, camisolas de futebol. Têm muito significado para mim”, afirma. A sua aquisição mais recente foi uma camisola da equipa argentina Boca Juniors, dos anos 90. Mais um adereço para o seu “museu” pessoal, que tem várias peças valiosas, como o capacete do piloto Ayrton Senna, uma mota de Ciryl Despres e uma prancha de surf feita pelo lendário Gerry Lopez.
Mais uma das suas obsessões, por pranchas, que começou com o skate (seguir-se-ia o snowboard, o wakeboard e o surf), aos 15 anos, época em que também passou a frequentar a claque Super Dragões no topo sul do estádio das Antas. Apesar de ser visto como um beto da zona nobre da cidade, André diz ter-se misturado facilmente com os jovens dos bairros pobres, descendo com eles, efusivamente, os degraus das bancadas até à rede, para celebrar os golos. “Considero-me uma pessoa humilde, simples, sem tiques de riqueza. Sempre me dei com toda a gente.” E acrescenta: “Não me parece que essa imagem que me querem colar, de menino da Foz, de classe social alta, pegue entre os sócios.”
Aos 17 anos, participava no campeonato nacional de motos todo-o-terreno. Fez apenas duas provas no Troféu XR. Ao preparar-se para a terceira competição, partiu o braço numa pista de motocrosse. Mais uma vez, o destino empurrou-o para outra direção: ao entrar no elevador do seu prédio, cruzou-se com um homem inglês, que tinha acabado de visitar o apartamento disponível no oitavo andar. Esse cavalheiro era Bobby Robson e estava na cidade para treinar o FC Porto.
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Gostos e preferências Já fez skate, snowboard e wakeboard. Há uns anos apostou no surf – aprendeu com surfistas nas praias de Matosinhos. A Lista de Schindler é um dos filmes favoritos. Quanto aos livros, aponta Antes que o Café Arrefeça, de Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Cabrito assado no forno é o prato preferido. E o restaurante? O Umu, em Londres. Em relação ao melhor destino de férias, elege a África do Sul.
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A praia, a "cadeira de sonho" e os milhões
A primeira grande experiência de André Villas-Boas como treinador foi em 1999, no paraíso das ilhas Virgens Britânicas, a quase 6.000 km do Porto. Com apenas 22 anos, candidatara-se, por fax, ao cargo de coordenador técnico e foi aceite. “Fui às escuras. Pensei que ia encontrar algo minimamente estruturado”, revelou, em 2019, ao Expresso, recordando as “praias excelentes” da ilha caribenha.
“Na altura fiquei horrorizado. Eu chego de fato, todo bonito, e sou recebido pelo Charlie Cook [diretor da Federação] de chinelos e calções de banho.” Chegou de noite, cansado da longa viagem, mas foi logo ver “um jogo de topo”, que opunha os polícias aos bombeiros.
Kenrick Grant, antigo presidente da Federação, admitiu ao site MaisFutebol que ficou impressionado com as suas qualidades, embora no começo ele estivesse “sempre na praia”. “Fez logo um plano completo para todas as seleções, um manual com planos de jogo e de treino. Vinha para as seleções jovens, mas ele queria trabalhar na principal.”
E conseguiu-o, participando mesmo na fase de qualificação para o Mundial 2002 – foi eliminado na primeira ronda perante Bermuda, com um 14-1 nas duas mãos (5-1 em casa e 9-0 fora). Em abril de 2000 regressou ao Porto, reassumindo as suas funções de adjunto na equipa de juvenis dos dragões, à qual chegara com 17 anos, depois de meter conversa com um vizinho ilustre no prédio onde morava – o técnico do FC Porto, Bobby Robson, que achou piada aos argumentos e táticas do miúdo atrevido, que o questionou desiludido pela pouca utilização de Domingos, e passou a levá-lo para os treinos. “Andava sempre com ele, e até me chamavam Robsonzinho”, aponta Villas-Boas, recordando à SÁBADO esses tempos.
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Estatísticas na arquibancada
“Íamos para o estádio das Antas e no caminho apanhávamos o Mourinho. Havia muitas conversas à volta de táticas e estatísticas. O Bobby Robson punha a equipa a jogar um futebol de ataque e numa dessas viagens surgiu a ideia de contabilizarmos os cruzamentos, as entradas pelo corredor, os remates. Eu ia ver os jogos para a arquibancada, com o meu bilhete normal, e levava papel e caneta para apontar, tinha uma tabela já pré-feita.”
Robson aconselhou-o a fazer cursos de futebol e André acabou por desistir daqueles para os quais estava inclinado, Educação Física ou Jornalismo, e obteve as licenças de treinador C, B, A e Pro, feitas na Federação Escocesa de Futebol. “Era muito dedicado e estudioso, devorava tudo o que lhe aparecia nas mãos”, contou Jim Fleetin, diretor do departamento de formação.
E os pais nunca o pressionaram para ir para a universidade? “Eles encararam a situação do Bobby Robson com curiosidade. Estava no 12º ano, tinha aulas de manhã e, à tarde, quando não ia com ele para os treinos, encontrávamo-nos no Oporto Cricket e discutíamos mais um pouco. É aí que começa a nascer o bichinho de ser treinador de futebol.”
Em 2002, já com José Mourinho à frente da equipa principal do FC Porto, Villas-Boas foi ter com ele e pediu-lhe uma oportunidade na observação de jogadores. “Mandou-me ir ver o Salgueiros-Beira-Mar (ainda hoje tenho esse relatório). Ele ficou entusiasmado e repeti as observações, no resto dessa época e na seguinte, em que ganhámos a Taça UEFA, em Sevilha. Ainda era observador não oficial. Só entrei profissionalmente na SAD do FC Porto na última época dele, em 2003/04, quando ganhámos a Liga dos Campeões e depois saímos para o Chelsea.”
Mourinho, diz, foi “o melhor professor” e um “verdadeiro agitador do futebol mundial”. “Estivemos juntos sete anos, vivemos muitas aventuras e éramos grandes amigos”, nota. A separação aconteceu em 2009. Farto de ser apenas um “treinador de gabinete”, André pediu para ser adjunto no Inter Milão, mas Mourinho recusou, surgindo na altura notícias a dar conta de que o Special One considerava que ele não dominava “a parte prática”. “A separação foi intensa e acabámos por perder o contacto. Falámos recentemente, nos seus 60 anos”, conta.
Em 2010, depois de um ano na Académica, André Villas-Boas chegou ao FC Porto, onde viveu os maiores êxitos, ao conquistar a Liga Europa, o campeonato, a Taça de Portugal e a supertaça. Apesar do sucesso, o início foi complicado, face ao clima de fricção vivido entre os jogadores. “Como éramos novos e estávamos sempre em picardias, o mister montou um ringue no relvado e disse que quem tivesse problemas devia resolvê-los ali, não no treino”, contou à SÁBADO o ex-defesa Rolando, que esteve nos dragões entre 2008 e 2013.
No verão, Villas-Boas seguiu para o Chelsea, que pagou os €15 milhões da cláusula de rescisão, fazendo o mesmo percurso de Mourinho, o seu mentor, com a imprensa inglesa a batizá-lo de Special Too (também especial). Já o universo portista ficou desanimado com a saída repentina, logo depois de Pinto da Costa ter dito que ele encontrara ali a sua “cadeira de sonho”.
André conta à SÁBADO que isso não foi bem assim. “Eu ganhava tão pouco no FC Porto que medi-me por baixo e fui para o Chelsea ganhar o mesmo que o treinador mais bem pago em Portugal na altura [Jorge Jesus, do Benfica]. Contrapus ao FC Porto o que ia receber no Chelsea e disseram-me que não podiam pagar. Eu disse-lhes: ‘Tenham paciência, mas o gajo [Jesus] ficou a 21 pontos no campeonato, não vou para o Chelsea por dinheiro.’ E então começaram a falar da cláusula de 15 milhões. A verdade está entre três pessoas: eu, o Antero [Henrique] e Pinto da Costa. E como há o entendimento público dessa história, o presidente aproveita para dizer que eu deixei a cadeira de sonho.”
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O lateral comprado na China
Garante que não se arrepende das decisões que tomou na carreira de treinador, que terminou em 2021 no Marselha e incluiu ainda as experiências na China e na Rússia. No Zenit, voltaria a conquistar troféus (campeonato, Taça e supertaça).
Na Rússia, há um episódio curioso com os amigos que o foram visitar a São Petersburgo, conforme soube a SÁBADO. Estava um dia muito frio (nevava e a temperatura era de 10 graus negativos), e quando a equipa entrou no relvado do velhinho estádio Petrovsky, para fazer o aquecimento, o treinador viu-os na bancada e foi ter com eles. Ao vê-los ali a sofrer, pediu ao team manager para os levar para uma área coberta, numa espécie de zona VIP, com aperitivos e bebidas. Acontece que estava lá uma velha glória do Zenit, e de cada vez que a equipa marcava um golo, ele bebia um grande shot de uma vodka fortíssima e apontava para quem estava ao seu lado, para beber também. Ele ainda tentou dizer que não, mas explicaram-lhe que era uma falta de respeito. Podemos imaginar o alívio desse amigo no fim do jogo, que ficou “só” 4-1.
Na China, onde esteve em 2016 e 2017, no Shanghai SIPG, Villas-Boas denuncia o nível de corrupção que encontrou, e que associa ao grupo Evergrande. “Antes dos jogos, tinha o meu diretor desportivo a dizer: ‘André, hoje o lateral direito está comprado. Se puderes, joga com outro.’ Mas o suplente era pior que o titular comprado. As coisas eram demasiado evidentes. Eu punha tudo cá para fora, e ali eras pago principescamente para estares calado. E a essas coisas eu nunca consegui obedecer.”
Apesar de ser então o quarto treinador mais bem pago do mundo (atrás de Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancellotti e José Mourinho), recebendo 12 milhões de euros por ano, não quis renovar o contrato e saiu da China – “não havia dinheiro que pagasse aquela situação”.
Ainda assim, foi talvez por ser pago principescamente na China que pôde agora investir mais de 500 mil euros na campanha para a presidência do FC Porto (conforme apurou a SÁBADO). A sua fortuna permite-lhe ter ainda uma coleção de carros clássicos que inclui um Porsche 911, um Ferrari F40 ou um Lamborghini Miura, além do carro de Peterhansel que venceu o rali Dakar. E também viver num bairro (perto da Avenida da Boavista), onde uma vivenda pode custar 2,5 milhões de euros. Segundo a consultora Casafari (especializada na avaliação de imóveis), o preço de mercado na zona é de €3.554/m2. A Casafari revela ainda que, em média, uma casa com um valor entre os €2,5 milhões e os €5 milhões demora pouco mais de um ano (15 meses) a ser vendida.
A sua candidatura à presidência do FC Porto é, como ele admite, “um ato de loucura absurdo”. Como André lembra à SÁBADO, um amigo inglês com quem fala regularmente (o broker que lhe compra os carros clássicos) insultou-o “de morte” quando deixou a China, face ao ordenado milionário. E ao saber que ele ia ser candidato à presidência do FC Porto, disse-lhe: “Tu conseguiste fazer pior do que na China. Lá pagavam-te 10 vezes mais do que na Europa, mas agora vais ser presidente para ganhar zero!?” “Isto obedece a padrões de loucura, nada mais”, ri-se.
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De ídolo de infância a inimigo feroz
Há dois anos, André Villas-Boas foi informado de que Pinto da Costa tinha uma doença grave e que poderia ter seis meses de vida. Embora planeasse trabalhar como treinador por mais uma época, numa liga fora da Europa, e de um convite de última hora para orientar a seleção de Marrocos no Mundial do Qatar – que não se concretizou por detalhes contratuais –, começou a preparar-se para a candidatura à presidência: “Não podia permitir uma linha de sucessão direta no FC Porto”, explica à SÁBADO. Já indignado com os resultados financeiros desastrosos do clube, temia que Pinto da Costa apontasse um dos vice-presidentes do clube à sucessão, e que este ganhasse apoio junto dos sócios através dos resultados desportivos. “O tempo foi dando a saúde necessária ao presidente para continuar e eu, perante esta incerteza, acabei por abdicar de treinar noutro lado e por me focar totalmente neste projeto.”
Primeiro passo: reunir-se com os melhores empresários e CEOs portugueses. Falou com Carlos Moreira da Silva, da BA Glass, Carlos Tavares, da Stellantis, e José Neves, da Farfetch (entretanto caído em desgraça com o colapso financeiro da plataforma de moda de luxo, que vendeu). Objetivo? Reunir informação e sentir o pulso à banca. Houve um outro que recusou o encontro, alegando conflito de interesses por ser sportinguista.
Apostou depois na formação. Ingressou num curso de gestão executiva, com a duração de seis meses, na Columbia Business School, nos EUA. “Ali ouves um professor dar uma aula de duas horas sobre estratégia de vendas, de determinado modo, depois entra outro que defende o oposto dele”, diz o candidato. “Fez-me lembrar o meu curso de treinador na Escócia. Não te educam para um só caminho de gestão, provocam-te para escolheres um dos caminhos possíveis.”
Por fim, apostou em empresas estrangeiras e lisboetas para a comunicação da campanha, para o design da página web e logótipo. “Se tivesse contratualizado uma empresa do Porto, a probabilidade de acertar num tipo com ligações à direção do FC Porto era enorme. Ia saber-se tudo”, diz. “Falava-se que eu me andava a preparar, mas ninguém sabia onde, e a malta foi desvalorizando. Acho que assim ganhei um pouco de terreno.”
A 19 de março, na Casa do FC Porto de Cantanhede, esse terreno conquistado era visível pelo entusiasmo dos sócios que enchiam a sala. Alguns dias antes, num momento para si marcante, em Argoncilhe (Santa Maria da Feira) tinham-no levado ao quarto de uma idosa (90 anos), doente, que desejava conhecê-lo.
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Ameaças e proteção policial
Uma intervenção alinhada com a toada da campanha: Villas-Boas nunca criticou pessoalmente Pinto da Costa, e em Cantanhede até admitiu que o estádio do Dragão pudesse ser rebatizado de Pinto da Costa. Não admite, porém, que os seus adversários o rotulem como traidor: “Para a outra candidatura é tudo traidores. Há ideias opostas, mas também há ideias iguais porque a outra candidatura copia o nosso programa, como a aposta no futebol feminino, vou passar a pôr marca registada. […] Se fosse assim tão traidor não seria recebido por esta moldura humana.” À porta, dois seguranças armados controlavam as movimentações. Villas-Boas vive há meio ano com proteção policial.
A fagulha que incendiou a campanha surgiu a 13 de novembro do ano passado, altura em que ainda não tinha oficializado a sua posição, quando a Assembleia Geral do FC Porto ficou marcada por confrontos físicos entre sócios, suspeitando-se que a coação foi da responsabilidade da claque Super Dragões, afeta a Pinto da Costa – aliás, esta foi uma das razões que levaram à detenção do seu líder, Fernando Madureira, que continua em prisão preventiva.
Poucos dias antes, os muros da casa de Villas-Boas, na zona da Boavista, foram vandalizados e o segurança do condomínio agredido (roubaram-lhe o telemóvel e o carro). Os quatro suspeitos, entretanto detidos, e que só nessa noite terão cometido 40 crimes na zona da Foz, entre vandalismo de montras de estabelecimentos comerciais, assaltos e tentativas de carjacking, estão também a ser investigados por alegadas ligações aos Super Dragões.
“Não estávamos no Porto nesse dia, mas fui alertado e fiz a participação à polícia”, relembra, não querendo responder se já recebeu mais ameaças. E é por esse clima intimidatório que a sua mulher e os seus três filhos nunca apareceram na campanha? “Sempre fomos reservados em relação ao fenómeno futebol, sempre tive o cuidado de por a minha família o mais longe possível do lado desportivo”, adianta.
Sobre a questão das claques, garante à SÁBADO que se for eleito presidente irá reunir-se com os seus líderes, para refazer os protocolos, porque “não pode haver desigualdade de direitos no acesso aos bilhetes, que é o que se tem vindo a passar”. “Vamos avançar com uma análise forense à bilhética, para se perceber porque é que temos o estádio cheio mais vezes e fazemos menos receita que os principais rivais.”
Pinto da Costa tem sido muito crítico de Villas-Boas, referindo-se a ele de forma acintosa e jocosa – até o tratou por Luís André numa entrevista. Isso entristece-o? “Os ataques a mim dão-me igual”, aponta, reconhecendo que em miúdo via o presidente dos dragões como “um ídolo”.
Após a sua saída do FC Porto, em 2011, foram-se afastando e nos últimos anos o antigo treinador só esteve com Pinto da Costa mais duas vezes: na final da Champions de 2021 (Chelsea-City), disputada no estádio do Dragão; e no funeral de Fernando Gomes, o bibota, em novembro de 2022. E como foi? “Os reencontros foram normais, um cumprimento, não tivemos grandes conversas.”
O ex-treinador tem sido também criticado pela sua ligação a Antero Henrique e Joaquim Oliveira – que refere serem apenas “amigos”, e sem cargos diretivos se ele vencer as eleições. O ex-guarda-redes Vítor Baía revelou que saiu do FC Porto em 2011 por discordar do então diretor-geral da SAD, que “transformou o clube num entreposto de jogadores”, garantindo que Antero é “o mentor” de Villas-Boas e “é chamado de cancro” pelos adeptos do PSG, pelas suas ligações à Qatar Stars League.
Quanto ao empresário Joaquim Oliveira, o terceiro maior acionista do FC Porto, Pinto da Costa (que conta na sua lista com o irmão dele, António Oliveira, o segundo maior acionista), aponta-o como “o grande inimigo” dos dragões. E tudo, afirmou, porque o clube preferiu receber “os 450 milhões da MEO em vez dos 320 milhões da Olivedesportos” no contrato sobre direitos televisivos.
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A questão dos empresários
Em 2020, quando apoiou a recandidatura de Pinto da Costa, Villas-Boas chegou a dizer que ele deveria manter-se presidente enquanto fosse vivo. Mas mudou de ideias face à calamitosa situação do clube, que “chega aos €500 milhões de passivo e €310 milhões de dívida financeira” – apesar de o FC Porto ter feito, “desde 2015, 1,3 mil milhões de receitas”.
Uma das explicações para isso, aponta, tem a ver com o “dispêndio absurdo em custos de agenciamento, de intermediação, pagamentos a terceiros e a clubes detentores de partes dos passes”. Sobre as suspeitas de que o FC Porto privilegia a ligação a alguns empresários em detrimento de outros, falando-se do “poder excessivo” de Pedro Pinho ou de Alexandre Pinto da Costa, filho do presidente dos dragões, o candidato diz que pretende “trabalhar com todos os agentes”. Mas já deixou o alerta: “Há jogadores que estão a ser obrigados a assinar por determinados agentes, seja para renovar ou para continuar a jogar.”
Se vencer as eleições, Villas-Boas iniciará um novo capítulo na sua vida: não deverá ter tempo para passeios de jipe, aprender um novo desporto ou gerir a sua ONG. Mas não teme que as suas funções sejam enfadonhas. Nem que sejam tão estimulantes que o levem a perpetuar-se no poder: “Tem de haver uma limitação de mandatos que vá ao encontro dos ciclos democráticos normais. Para que o FC Porto não se volte a tornar na ‘galinha dos ovos de ouro’ de interesses alheios.”
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E o líder da claque?
“Isso é falarmos em ses. Conhecemo-nos, já trocamos cumprimentos várias vezes, mas nada desculpa o que se passou. São factos que estão a ser investigados pelo Ministério Público, uns relacionados com a Assembleia Geral [agressões] e outros com a bilhética. Quando reunirmos com os líderes [das claques] temos de caminhar no sentido de um bom entendimento.”
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https://www.sabado.pt/desporto/detalhe/villas-boas-o-rebelde-que-quer-o-trono-de-pinto-da-costa