how do i write a personal statement? i’m not sure what to write about, how to write it, and also what to include in it. any tips on how i can get into a top school?

So to gather more information and build confidence in previous hypothesis/assumptions, I'm running the test bigger and bettemore granular. Though the sample size is still small, with hopefully repeated tests in the future, we can get some good learnings out of them. Speaking of learnings, based on the current findings; I am rather surprised by the results. Previously, I was lead to believe based on the testing that there was indeed a weighting, but test #2 seems to display otherwise. On with the numbers...
The testing was done with a lvl 100 rogue, 100 lvl 925 gauntlets, max temper rank, 600 straight attempts tempers. The available tempers include Critical Strike Damage (CSD), Markmanship Damage (MMD), Marksmanship Critical Strike Chance(MMCS), and Rain of Arrows damage(RoA).
In 600 attempts, the follow appeared X number of times:
CSD: 143
MMD: 159
MMCS: 150
RoA: 148
The ratio is quite different from the previous test where the distribution was about 20%/25%/ 25%/30% or (55,77,74,92). The current numbers breakdown to a much closer ~24%/26%/25%/25%. The part I find weird is that even if I looked at the data at 300 attempts of the current experiment, the distribution is still much more even than the previous test(79/70/74/77 or 26%/23%/25%/26%). The variance doesn't seem to make sense to me, but if any of the math/statistics people from the previous thread would like to chime in, I'd love to hear some possible reasonings. The only thing different in this test is the scale and that it was after the patch, but I somewhat doubt they touched tempering without saying anything.
On to the feel bads(back to back often unwanted affixes):
CSD: 19
MMD: 22
MMCS: 22
RoA: 15
With a much more equal number of overall appears of each affix roll, it would make sense the amount of repeated rolls would be similar, but it seems much more often than it should to me personally as the previous experiment had 5/11/9/10 of the back to back rolls respectively for each affix.
And the feels really bad back to back to back rolls:
CSD: 5
MMD: 6
MMCS: 4
RoA: 6
Another set of numbers I personally can't quite wrap my head around because while it makes sense the numbers would be fairly equal because of the near equal distribution, the frequency going up as much as it does seems really high to me. The previous numbers for 3 consecutive appearances were 1/1/2/2 respectively.
And an instance I did not see in the previous test, the big middle finger back to back to back to back rolls:
MMD: 2
MMCS: 1
These I find these surprising because given the distribution is actually pretty close to a flat 25% each affix, the chance of hitting 4 in a row is actually about .3 of a percent.
More granular observation #1:
The number of times each affix didn't appear in a roll for an item(out of 100 item):
CSD: 19
MMD: 17
MMCS: 15
RoA: 14
This one is interesting and also a headscratcher as the numbers don't align with the number of appearances as you would expect the affixes that appear the least would have more instances of this situation, so logically it should be CSD, RoA, MMCS, and then MMD from most instances to least.
more granular observation #2:
The max number of rolls in a row where the an affix does not appear(out of 600 rolls):
CSD: 24
MMD: 21
MMCS: 16
RoA: 15
This one is also interesting because it reflects the previous observation almost exactly as it goes against what would normally be expected as something to correlate with the number of overall appearances.
Overall, the results are quite interesting since they're in a stark contrast to the last test. The numbers this time around seem to reflect an almost even weight to all affixes(at least based on number of appearances). Though with the more granular observations, there does appear to be some bias involved. However, that's speculation as there is a lot we don't know like if there is a pity system or other factors involved in rolling. If there is some other pattern or information I should be looking for, let me know and I'll go over it again. Also, this testing is a pain in the ass since I right before I started; I realized I needed 4200 veiled crystals for it. So, if I run it again, it'll be in a bit as the farming part was way more tedious than the recording of the information.

Hello all! I'm working my way through some samples and wanted to drop some reviews for you! I'm a bit verbose lmao and I don't want the post to be too long, so I will be making additional posts in the coming days. Hope these are helpful or interesting!
Evil Eye - Arcana Wildcraft

Protection against malevolent forces. An opening of bright Sicilian aniseed leads to a creamy, addictive, gourmand heart of Mexican vanilla, dark cocoa, sugar-encrusted blonde woods, warm amber, sandalwood milk, Cetalox, and soft golden tobacco. A woody gourmand with anise and chocolate.

Wet and in the bottle: Very strong, tangy wood, to me it reads like cedar. Reminds me of my parents cedar closet in the attic. I suspect it's the sandalwood. It's very very strong, you get a sense of a sweetness but it's very overpowering in this form.
Wet and just applied to skin: The intense woody tang remains, but a lactonic, no an oaty sweetness starts creeping up more and more the drier it gets. A noticable musk is peeking out here as well.
Dried down on skin: Now the frag has arrived where it should be, it's creamy and woody and sweet. The cedarey sensation remains but it's swirled into steamed, sweetened vanilla oatmilk. Like a wood latte. Feels like something they sell at dryad cafes. The musk grows with wear. I don't get a "cashmere" note that you usually find in scents that mention that. It feels more like a soft, plush musk, something there to keep it from being just gourmand, because strangely the cedar feels kind of herbal like those flower lattes. Comes a long way from the very non gourmand WOOD opening to where it reads like wood, but wood you can eat.
Final thoughts: I'm actually deeply obsessed with this fragrance. I really really love it, even the intense opening of it. This gave me a sort of paradigm shift, where I realized all my recent faves have been perfumey gourmands and not the realistic gourmands I once thought I preferred. Fantastically imaginitive frag, I certainly would've never thought of it. Does it Vampire Blood? (This is the part where I admit I layer everything with BBW's Vampire Blood bc I'm obsessed. This section of my reviews will denote if it can be layered with VB) I did layer it, and it was fine. They both kind of exist at the same time but don't really create something together. But they don't clash, which is great news because you know me and my VB.
Fleeced Skeleton Onesie - BPAL

freshly-washed fleece skeleton onesie and a little bit of smeared eyeliner

Wet and in the bottle: Sweet laundry smell. Reminds me of hugging a friend in high school and you can smell their "vanilla orchid" scented laundry soap their mom picked out. Idk why that specifically, but that's what it's giving.
Wet and just applied to skin: I saw someone say it smelled like banana to them and I get what they mean. There's a floral sweetness (like a banana) cut by something slightly vegetal, just the tiniest bit green. Finishes with a lipsticky quality, but creamy not powdery. From afar, it smells like it did in the bottle - sweet laundry, but with a proper sniff you get the separate elements making that up. The makeup sensation seems to get stronger as it warms.
Dried down on skin: Very much like Avon lipstick. My grandma was an Avon lady and had so much Avon cosmetics, and it really reminds me of her lipsticks. White floral with a creamy quality, but not lactonic. I've smelled this in other things, someone said it's giving crisco and that's almost exactly right. A smooth but sort of aggressively quality-less creaminess. There's something here that reads as very slightly lemon-ey to me, but it mostly just serves to keep it from being sugary sweet. The laundry smell is strong from afar, similar to bedsheet ghost but more floral and less "hot". This isn't just dried laundry it's a clean shirt you folded and put away the night before. But any closer inspection of the frag, a deep sniff, and it's a heady white floral with creamy elements.
Final thoughts: I usually don't like white florals, but I like this one! I wouldn't wear it all the time, it won't become a regular thing, but I do like it. It has a sense of nostalgia, and it really reminds me of scene kids for whatever reason, which I think is what she was going for. Does it Vampire Blood? (This is the part where I admit I layer everything with BBW's Vampire Blood bc I'm obsessed. This section of my reviews will denote if it can be layered with VB) Yes! I think the tangy fruity sweetness of VB calms some of the louder white florals, and it gives it maximum scene kid.
Asses Plus Long, Qu'un Siecle Platonique - BPAL

opal-gilded white rose petals, vanilla flower, and caramelized benzoin

Wet and in the bottle: Sharp, biting, headaching rose
Wet and just applied to skin: This is a true rose, leans more realistic than the kind of fantasy powder rose. It's a little peppery like fresh roses tend to be, a little astringent. Like floral in the most literal meaning of the word. Platonic ideal of a floral. Green, planty, smooth, peppery rose. Kind of arugula adjacent (this is how I feel about smelling most real roses).
Dried down on skin: I figured this would be pretty linear as a frag because of how almost solinote-ey it was for me for a good long while. It stays its perfect rose self, I can maybe get zome benzoin at the tail end, but it melds into the astringency of the rose to where it feels like it's mostly aiding in the solinote. But, after a good long while, like 3.5 hours, it becomes pure bitter zingy benzoin. Very very bitter. Like surprisingly bitter. I sniffed my wrist after a few hours to check on it and was like staggered a bit. Interesting touch, I feel like. Makes this kind of dark and spooky in a way.
Final thoughts: I like rose as an element often but I feel like this is too much rose. It's almost scary how much rose it is. I like it and I think it's well crafted and it's cool how realistic it is for me, but definitely not something I'll reach for often. I've been trying to give florals a fair shake recently, as for a long time I'd decided they were right out but for jasmine. And while this one didn't sell me on florals or rose as a whole, it made me think there's something more interesting there than I thought. Does it Vampire Blood? (This is the part where I admit I layer everything with BBW's Vampire Blood bc I'm obsessed. This section of my reviews will denote if it can be layered with VB) Yes! Makes it a bit more what I'm used to in terms of a rose. A kind of candied, fruity rose situation. More recognizable to me. I do think it gets weird with its endstage benzoin phase though.
We're Werewolves Not Swearwolves - S92

Ambroxan, trampled moss, soft tonka, boozy vanilla, smashed pumpkin, black coffee, acid-washed denim, wild grey musk

Wet and in the bottle: Dirty coffee, a bit of sweetness. Honestly not all that appealing in the bottle.
Wet and just applied to skin: Warm, delicious toasty coffee sweetened with damara sugar. Musk and something slightly salty make it read caramelled and also ground it. Amazing, almost smokey coffee gourmand here.
Dried down on skin: Becomes a spicy, salty coffee slush of sorts. So roasty toasty, but in a way that's super wearable. Doesn't smell like you just walked out of a coffee shop but rather than you ooze coffee, and it gets stuck in the threads of your lightly perfumed (choco musk perhaps) flannel. Smells like curling up to see the stars with a fancy starbucks coffee, the ones with the crunchy caramel bits on the top. So musky and addictive.
Final thoughts: Actually one of my new favorite frags, which is highly unfortunate because I have about half a slonk and don't feel comfortable ever ordering direct from S92. Will be looking for a fullsize in the swaps. I'm soso on coffee scents, I like them in theory but I think they're either very short lived or not gourmand enough for me, instead becoming a kind of interesting earthy note. But here it's all coffee ice cream type coffee but made round and full by some classical perfumey additions. Does it Vampire Blood? (This is the part where I admit I layer everything with BBW's Vampire Blood bc I'm obsessed. This section of my reviews will denote if it can be layered with VB) It's fine, not my favorite combination. They don't so much blend as sort of sit next to each other.
Boardwalk - S92

Coconut pulp, coconut milk, Coppertone, sand, sea breeze, driftwood, melted vanilla ice cream cone, sticky cotton candy

Wet and in the bottle: Very verbena-ey to me. That kind of smooth, almost creamy greenness. Touch of sunscreeney coconut, lots of sweetness. Reads like a fancy slushy summer drink.
Wet and just applied to skin: Much sweeter, coconut imparts a nice kind of nuttiness, very much like Coconut Lime Verbena from bath and body works, which I'm a fan of. Definitely has the sunscreen quality about it. I swear at the end of the sniff, it's exactly like fresh saltwater taffy. That kind of slight saltiness, nondairy creaminess. It reminds me of the blue ones in particular, which I think were blueberry but had a slight herbal quality about them. All of this comes together to really complete the "fancy, slurry summer drink" feeling.
Dried down on skin: This scent is pretty linear for its notes, it doesn't change much to me from the wet on skin phase. Maybe that taffy at the end becomes more the forefront. Not as coconuttey a drydown as I was hoping for.
Final thoughts: I like it, but I'm not a huge summer frag person these days. I think they tend to smell kind of samey to me unless they're doing something very specific. But it's very nice, very wearable, definitely sniffed myself a lot. I feel like it's missing something I'm wanting though, maybe just more coconut, or maybe it smelling like coconut lime verbena makes me want a limey note from it. Does it Vampire Blood? (This is the part where I admit I layer everything with BBW's Vampire Blood bc I'm obsessed. This section of my reviews will denote if it can be layered with VB) Yes! I love this combo bc VB reads very cotton candy to me, and I didn't really detect cotton candy in this frag, more just a general sweetness, and the VB helps to amp that.

Hi! I thought I was gonna apply this cycle, but I'm kinda unsure right now. Looking at my stats so far (traditional student, no gap year), should I apply now?
​
T20, Biomedical Engineering, NY Resident, ORM
Stats: 3.8 GPA (3.8 sGPA), 526 MCAT
Clinical Experience: 1500 hrs Collegiate EMS
120 hrs volunteer
30 hrs PCT in ER (doing more this summer)
Future: Camp Medical director (100 hrs)
​
Research:
800+ hrs in BME research lab
​
Shadowing:
80 hrs in peds, derm, ortho, radiology
​
Non-clinical volunteering:
Organizing science olympiad invies - 800 hrs
Food bank - 75 hrs
Religious center - 200 hrs
Tutoring underprivileged - 50 hrs
​
Other stuff:
2 TA jobs: 600 hrs
College MUN: 500 hrs
​
LORS: Unsure, solid prob
​
Personal Statement: Trouble drafting it, partially reason for this post
​
School List:
Harvard
NYUJ
Johns Hopkins
UPenn
Columbia
Duke
Stanford
WashU
Cornell
Yale
Mt Sinai
Vanderbilt
Mayo Clinic
Northwestern
UChicago
Emory
Case Western
UMichigan
Einstein
UVA
URochester
Boston University
Stony Brook
UBuffalo
SUNY Upstate
Albany
Tufts
Dartmouth
Jefferson
UMiami
Hofstra
SUNY Downstate

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/Complex-Wing7114
I have 2 weeks to get away from my husband
Originally posted to offmychest
Thanks to u/soayherder for suggesting this BoRU
Previous BoRU
TRIGGER WARNING: controlling behavior, threats, abusive behavior, stalking, assault, physical violence, gaslighting
Original Post Apr 27, 2024
Throwaway account as my husband and In-laws are follow my main. I, 29 F, have been married to my husband, 30 m, who I'll call Alex. Alex and I met in college during our freshman year. We started off as just friends, and got married seven months ago. I've gotten along with his family, but we aren't super close but we're friendly enough. The problem is that Alex has begun to make me incredibly uncomfortable.
Firstly, he's begun to ask me who I'm meeting with, where, what we plan on doing, how long every single time I leave the house without him. At first, I just thought he was being protective and a good partner just in case something happened, but then he started checking my phone after the visits, vetting and researching each of my friends as well.
He also has been pursuing me to link my bank account to his, as he's "in charge" of the finances when he was perfectly fine with keeping them separate before. We fight about it almost every day.
Finally, yesterday when he was preparing to go on a work trip for two weeks in California, he demanded I wear a tracker so he could keep and eye on me while he's gone. I can't do this anymore, I feel like I'm suffocating and his family who I've spoken to about his worrying behavior just said he's being careful and protective as a good husband should. I need to gather my things together and find a way to be gone before he gets home without tipping him off.
He's always threatened that if he ever found me cheating on him he'd turn in divorce papers the same day. He keeps a filled out copy in his desk. I'm going to submit those the day I leave. But there's so much to do, bergen finding a new place to live, seeing if my job has any transfers available, packing and moving in two weeks. His return flight May 11th, so I need to move quickly. I'm posting here because I don't have any close family, and I can't risk dragging my friends into this as we share the same friends.I just needed a place to vent, and ask if anyone has any advice on the easiest and safest way to do this?
Edit: oh my god you guys are amazing! I never even thought to not use his divorce papers. I'll check for cameras before I start any packing or prepping. I may also shred his divorce papers just in case and look into getting a lawyer for myself. I'm in a no fault divorce state, that much I so remember which will help. I'll update again when I know more. The tracker he wants me to use is a small clip to put on the belt or waistband. I'll wear it unless I'm going or doing something related to me leaving. No pets yet thankfully.
Update Apr 28, 2024
So I've gotten a lot of support and helpful advice along with questions I thought I should clarify before I proceed with the update. Some asked why I'd be 'hiding' things from Alex regarding going out and who I'm meeting with. I don't, and I have nothing to hide. However when he begins to then double check everything I tell him with the other people there right down to each person I talked to and what I said. Did I send any text msgs, did I order food, how much did I eat, that's when it started to feel like I was slowly being pushed into a corner. It didn't start that bad, but gradually grew worse overtime.
All of the Reddit subs my in-law's families are part of are related gardening and diy so I highly doubt they'll see this, if so by the time they do, I'll hopefully be gone. I talked to my job and explained things to my manager. And they promised to look into openings in other states to see if they could get me into one. They'll have an update on that in three days. I trust that my bank account us secured, considering he's tried to get into it before and failed. I found one camera in the kitchen, another in the living room and one in our bedroom. As such, I've left them in place for now and done all other planning, either in the bathroom pretending I'm taking a bath.
I'm honestly staying away from the domestic violence services as my sister-in-law is unfortunately higher up in those considering she volunteers there and I have a feeling if I did show up there, they would know in a heartbeat. I can't look for apartments until I get the update from my work, but either or i'm still gonna be leaving the state. The day before I do I will be changing my number carrier and wiping my laptop and all of his electronics before I do.
I've met with 2 lawyers so far and had them look over the paperwork. My husband had prepared and both said that it did it have some clauses in it. That could have caused me some trouble down the line. What alarmed all of us close the fact that several of those clauses dealt with future children, and not as a hypothetical. Like several hair suggested I have a feeling he fully intended on getting me pregnant to keep me trapped and tied to him.
There are 3 other locations. My job could send me to and I have. As a precaution Begun looking into all 3 cities and housing in the areas. Just in case one of those, this is the one they send me to. Even if they don't have an opening that they can push me into then I will just have to quit, move and figure things out on my own. I have enough money to live and survive for a few months until I can pick up another job.
Unfortunately all of our friends are mutuals and would likely be unaware of the consequences of saying or sharing anything I do or say with my husband. I don't have any surviving close family and obviously my in laws are not a good resource to rely on. I am on my own unfortunately, other than the wonderful bonds, i've begun to make here. I will update again if I get more information or something else happens. Otherwise all update when my work gets back to me. I do plan on leaving before he returns, though. Just to make sure that i'm not anywhere near here at that time.
Update 2 Apr 30, 2024
Good news! My work has an opening I qualify for that will not only shift me across the country, but also comes with a salary increase as well. I've started telling my in laws and friends that I'm planning a surprise outing for when my husband gets back for just the two of us. This way, people don't give me odd looks if they see me out and about. I've even gone as far as asking MIL to show me his favorite recipes.
Meanwhile, I've found a moving company that while small is willing to work in a storm. The reason is in five days, we're supposed to get hit with a large storm front. I plan to shut off the breaker and say we lost power if he asks just as several people here suggested and even send him a short clip of the storm.
I will have all of my stuff moved that afternoon, and I will be flying out once the weather has cleared enough to do so. I have a lawyer who will push my divorce through, and I've filled out the necessary paperwork so that I don't have to be here for it. I'm not suing for assets or alimony and I've shredded his divorce papers as well. I've set up a cheap payphone plan through cricket until this is all said and done at which point I will find a new carrier, number and phone. This one is being wiped and left behind.
My laptop is provided by my work, and the IT department inspected it thoroughly and it was clean thankfully. No other electronic aside from my laptop and new phone will be coming with me. If alex needs to talk to me, he can do it through my lawyer. Not sure if anything else will happen, my fingers are crossed that he doesn't think anythings amiss until after I leave - and I'm not turning the breaker back on when I do. He can when he gets home. My work is covering the plane ticket, so that at least is one expense I don't have to finagle in.
Update 3 May 7, 2024
Update 3: I have 2 weeks to get away from my husband.
It's been a busy week, but I've gotten so much done. Firstly, I am now out of the house and am currently in a hotel while I look for an apartment. It's a big city, bustling with people no matter where you look. We had a pretty bad storm system hit back home, that actually lasted two days. High winds, thunder, lightning and even hail everywhere. I didn't take much from the house, my documents, clothes and important sentimental items. I left all of the furniture and electronics behind. I cleaned the house top to bottom and took pictures on my phone so he couldn't claim I damaged anything when I left.
My lawyer has already started divorce proceedings, and my husband will be served on the 8th. His plane is due to land early morning, and the sheriff will be there at the house waiting for him. He is very much about public appearances and reputation. My lawyer will be calling him as well to inform him that I am more than willing to air out everything to the public about his actions if it means securing my freedom from him. I will go to court as long as I must to get this pushed through.
I haven't told our friends or his in-laws yet, I will do that while he is on the flight to prevent him from getting wind of it before he's handed the divorce papers. I will be calling around and explaining why we're getting divorced, to try and prevent him from twisting this into somehow being my fault. I don't want him trying to claim I had an affair or something so I want to get the truth out before he can twist this.
I'm... doing okay. I'm tired, but yet I feel almost jittery and off-kilter. I keep looking over my shoulder and monitoring what I say even when I don't really need to anymore. Hopefully that will fade soon. My work is covering the cost of the hotel, and I'm working on getting my other things in order. I also need to find a new GP as I want to get a full test just to make sure everything is okay. I don't know when my next update will be, probably when the divorce papers are filed or if we have to go to court to push them through. I will try to keep my head up, but it feels like I'm in a whirlwind or something with so many things to do and think about. I kinda thought it would be easier once I got out of the house but while the fear is smaller, somehow the number of tasks only seems to have grown.
Update 4 May 14, 2024
Sorry I haven't updated for a while, things got hectic and a bit chaotic honestly. Firstly, I'm working on getting an apartment still and have applications in at three different places and will hopefully hear back from them soon. I'm still going into work here at the new location, so I don't have to worry about burning through my emergency savings completely. I've gotten a lot of emails from Alex, his family and our old friend group asking question after question. I have only sent one return email to Alex, explaining that I don't believe we are truly compatible, and it is best we separate now. That his treatment of me when I'd done nothing to deserve as such was just as much of a deal breaker as cheating was for him.
I ended the email with the statement that I would not be contacting him further and anything else he needed to pass on to me or vice versa would be done through my lawyer. For his family and friends, I just typed up one email outlining everything that had happened and why I left. I told them I wished them no ill will, but that such treatment of his wife and partner was not acceptable. That should Alex get remarried in the future, I wished they would help support both partners and not just Alex.
Alex, from what my lawyer told me, was livid when he was served. The sheriff actually ended up booking him for assault on an officer and menacing due to the threats he was shouting. His father bailed him out in a few hours, but with the testimony of the sheriff, my lawyer believes I have a very good chance at getting a restraining order. Alex, upon returning to the house, apparently lost his temper again, breaking the dining table into pieces as well as the tv, and putting several holes in the walls. At least that's what one of the emails from one of our friends reported as Alex called him to help him clean up the mess.
My lawyer already has pictures of the house I took, with timestamps as evidence nothing had been damaged by me. My friend reported that Alex tried to claim I'd been the one to trash the house but the holes in the wall were at head height - Alex is 6'3", and I'm 5'4" so he knew that was false. Either way, taking the pictures definitely will help me so again thank you everyone here for the advice because I never would have thought of that on my own. My work won't share details of where I am, as I do work with some higher end clientele who value security and that information won't be gossiped about and no, I'm not some stripper or escort. I deal with contracts, notary and business management. As such, even if Alex tried to use my work to find me, he wouldn't succeed.

NEW UPDATE

Update on leaving May 26, 2024
It’s been a little bit, and I thought I’d answer some questions before giving my update. It may be a while after this until things change.
Firstly, No I didn’t bring my car. The public transport here is good enough to use without needing one. I have secured an apartment, and the building has good security. You need a key card to enter, and there is a security guard at a desk right by the entrance to the building. As part of my contract, I gave them a photo of Alex and his family so that even in the off chance they do find me, they won’t be let in.
The responses I got from the emails varied. His family said I was overreacting, and that I owe Alex an apology for the problems this has caused him. The pending criminal charges puts him at risk of losing his job if he’s convicted. Alex sent a long email, apologizing and pleading for me to come home. He said he was worried for me, that he is willing to go to therapy if it will appease me. He wants us to remain together, and he didn’t think leaving was an appropriate response to his genuine concern and worry for my health and safety. The friends gave somewhat lacking replies, saying that they didn’t think Alex was ever going to hurt me and that I shouldn’t be letting my imagination run away wild. As much as I want to say I was surprised by the lack of support, I’m honestly not.
He intends to fight the divorce. I am letting my lawyer handle it, and I am also pursuing a protective order as well. Once I got approved for my apartment, I also froze my credit. I’ve changed my phone carrier and number, as well as making sure none of my documents list Alex as next of kin or POA.
Some have asked why I was so paranoid about Alex and his possible future actions. The answer for that actually is somewhat simple – my grandmother. I loved that woman to bits. As a teen, she explained why my grandfather was never around. He was extremely abusive and manipulative, and her generation didn’t allow divorce really. She wouldn’t have been able to buy a house or get a good enough job to support her and my mother on her own. As such, she endured it, shielded my mom as she could until my grandfather died. When I felt like I may have been overreacting, I remembered how she’d said she’d always wished she’d been able to see grandfather for what he was early on when she may have been able to annul the marriage.
I don’t know when I’ll update again, maybe when the divorce goes through or if something big happens but until then, I’m just trying to keep my head above the water.
THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

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Empyrean Varus needs a complete rework. It needs to be scrapped and redone. Seriously. I can't express how HORRID this skin is. The physical aesthetics and personality of this skin are not Varus. I think you could even argue this skin has no personality.
At first glance the colours and shapes of this skin are horrible - simple and boring while all the other new Empyrean skins have so much detail and visually-appealing design. It looks like they polished a Legacy skin from 10 years ago.
Literally the only things I like about this skin:

• The design of his Q arrow looks AMAZING
• The flaming particle effect of his blight stack

If they could use the edgy, sharp elements and vibrant energy in the design of his Q and reimagine it into his entire design theme it would look AMAZING. Add some flames on his character model, on his bow when he activates his passive “Living Vengeance” on kill, on his empowered Q arrow, and maybe on his ult projectile or when the Chain of Corruption tendrils spread. Also, a pentakill animation with each enemy being consumed by a different shaped portal would be pretty wicked as I have 7 Varus pentas from the last year alone. Varus IS a pentakill champ.
Now for what I don't like:

• Why does his bow look like DJ Sona's keyboard???? Either that or it looks like he's walking with a double-handed, floating turret machine gun - with a shield?
• Why is he holding the bow horizontally?
• Why is Kha'zix's face on the shield? Why is there even a shield?
• On top of that the bow looks so bulky and awkwardly heavy that it's impossible for him to carry with one hand - hence why it looks like it's floating - especially when he is charging his empowered Q.
• His empowered Q looks like he's charging up a gigantic plasma blast; but he draws back the arrow from the center of his body, yet proceeds to hold onto it with both hands like the reigns of a horse - with no recoil.
• His E having planets and a shadow reflection as a special effect is laughable.
• The sounds are dull and need a more powerful vibration sound with a reverberating bass.
• His ult looks so cartoonish and round when it flows out. It doesn't even feel Empyrean - futuristic, dark, edgy, sleek and vibrant.
• His facial elements look absolutely nothing like Varus. Varus' ghostly glowing eyes and white hair are his most striking feature. It's actually just a blank, featureless face with some random lines - NO EYES. The lines on Empyrean Nocturne's face actually look like Nocturne.
• The colours in his ult have no unity, balance or connection to the colours on his character model. The colours also seem to be randomly different when spreading to different targets. His auto attacks are also randomly different colours. There is simply no balance or unity in this theme.
• The pink, blue, and yellow of his auto attacks clash. These colours do not complement each other.
• The blue, yellow, green, pink and red colours in his ult clash and yet again are different from his base character model. Red and green only appear in his ult.
• The shades of colours chosen are dull; not vibrant.
• It is a colourful yet bland abomination.

Continuing on:

• Why does he have cat/bat ears?
• Why does he have a kilted longjacket garment? This works for Malzahar but not for Varus.
• Why does he lift his leg during his base animation and raise his arms dramatically? He looks like a jester performing for the King's amusement. Or rather, the mocking of his fans.

That's exactly what this skin is: a joke. This is a mockery of Varus and his fans. I almost think the dev team made it horrible on purpose. To make a statement that the skins team needs more funding. Seriously.
Varus' personality is vengeful. His passive is named "Living Vengeance" and his title is "The Arrow of Retribution." And here he is dancing with graceful amusement like a jester. Varus needs to be menacing. He is an ADC, and given his versatile kit, he can be dreadful in other lanes. He needs to be feared. What does it say about Varus as an Ascended turned Darkin, unable to control his human hosts? The idea of Varus and his hosts working together - doesn't work. This is not Aphelios and his sister, or Viego and Isolde. I'm sorry but that's the truth. I know some fans want character development for Varus, but that's not it. The 3 different colours (blue, yellow, pink) in his blight stacks/ult/empowered Q, the shadows in his laugh animation, it's just so tacky. Their personalities conflict while the colours clash and create imbalance.
I haven't even begun to speak about the other skins released alongside Varus. They look so much better. And that's an understatement. Brand and Malzahar look great. I am sitting in awe watching every single part of Nocturne's animations. There is no part where he doesn't look amazing. The colours, the shapes, the lines, the lighting, the base animation, the blur effect during the base animation... the sound of his ult animation...
Empyrean Kayle looks absolutely amazing. It's actually unfathomable that her base Empyrean skin is 1350RP. This skin looks incredible. The design of her blade, the energy flowing from her blade, the particle effects, the shapes and overall design, the colours, the colour gradients, the colour changes during animations O_O... her wings, the evolutions of her skin at level 11 and 16... Her ult looks and sounds incredible. Prestige Empyrean Kayle has a special crystallized effect in her wings. The colours are so vivid and bright, and there’s so much energy coming from her swords...
And Empyrean Varus… is a Legendary skin?

Hey everyone,
I used to work at Rusty's Pizza Parlor in Bakersfield, specifically at the Rosedale location. I've kept quiet about my experience for a while, but I think it's time to share what I went through and ask for some advice.
I worked as a driver and was trained by an employee named Carlos. He has been with the company for years and knows how to exploit the system. Carlos works the morning shift along with his "co-worker," Sandra, who is also a driver. They do the easy prep work in the morning, handle the lunch rush, and often stay through the dinner rush even against the wishes of management. When they are cut early, they complain and cause a fuss. Carlos and Sandra stay through the dinner rush to take advantage of the busy hours and then leave, dumping all the hard closing work onto the night crew. This means they take money away from evening drivers who are left to handle the tough closing tasks.
Here's where it gets really unfair:
Supervisors are supposed to be the only ones who send drivers on orders, but Carlos and Sandra constantly overstep this rule. They send themselves and others out without consulting the supervisor, cherry-picking the best tipping orders and leaving the smaller tips for the rest of us. In my eyes, this is stealing from their coworkers. They scan all the receipts, looking for the highest tips, sending themselves out on those deliveries leaving the smaller tips for the other drivers, even if it is out of order.
There's also a widespread issue with drivers altering tip amounts on receipts. You read that right. THEY ARE ALTERING TIP RECEIPTS. For example, if someone tips $2, some drivers will write a 1 in front of it, changing it to $12. This blatant theft happens at the Olive location, too, and management is aware of specific individuals doing this but allows them to continue working.
When confronted, they lie about their actions, and the worst part is that management knows all about it. I've reported this behavior multiple times and have been ignored every single time. These two, among others, do it every day, get away with it, and are still working there. The franchise is owned by a woman named Cyndi, and even after personally talking to her about these issues, nothing has changed.
I’m at a loss here. Has anyone else experienced similar issues at Rusty's or any other workplace? How did you handle it? Any advice or support would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for reading.
P.S. If you've tipped a driver for a delivery from Rusty's Olive, you might want to check your bank statements!

(and also how my teachers and friends saved my ass so many times🫶)
TL;DR at the end
NOTE: this is purely my own personal experience
to provide some bg info, in sec 1 i managed to barely sneak into an ip sec sch with one of the lowest cut off points - my psle score was literally 1 above the cop. by upper sec, i was failing all my subjects consistently (save for english) due to a slew of family problems and resultant mental health issues. i SHOULD have been retained in sec sch or forced to transfer to the o-level track bc i didn’t meet the promotion criteria to the affiliated jc, but my teachers chose to turn a blind eye and let me go on anyway. i was such a hopeless student (chronic absenteeism and outbursts) but in hindsight, i’m still grateful they made this concession for me because had i taken the o-levels, i probably wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere
in jc1 (2021), i never watched any lectures or did any tutorials. i was still just as hopeless as ever. anyone could tell i was still mentally unstable, still having family issues and that acads took a backseat in my mind. i didn’t have good relations with my teachers since i was such an unmotivated student. my support networks were non-existent (my closest friends were also struggling anyway). so it was not much surprise when by the end of the academic year, i had scored a measly 8.75rp (B in GP and U for everything else). still, instead of being directly retained, i was still given the chance to sit for some provisional advancement exams but ofc i failed da sht outta those anyway and actually got retained.
i think retaining made something click in my mind. despite all the past years of getting away with shit grades and not caring about school, i never truly suffered any “true” consequences since concessions were always made for me. but getting retained was now a tangible consequence i had to face. also, being placed into a new batch without the same faces from the past 5 years also helped me care less about people’s opinions and i could truly focus on myself
my family problems still persisted, sure, and school was still a scary place for me, but less than it had ever been. because i didn’t have pw or mt to worry about anymore, i also had a lot more free time in school. my friends who promoted shared lesson materials and answer keys with me, and also offered to teach me sometimes, which made getting through tutorials so much easier bc whenever i got stuck i knew i had help.
talking about external help, it really defined my retainee journey. i am immensely grateful to my friends and teachers who pushed me along. i was a pw slacker and i still got an A anyway bc my group mates carried… it’s something i still feel guilty about and i definitely didn’t deserve that A. i’m still friends with my pw mates till this day which im really grateful for. in my second jc1 year, because i actually started putting effort into my studies, it became much easier to build a rapport with my new teachers. moreover i think they had to keep an eye on me anyway since i was a retainee lol but i was able to form close relationships with them and they became an integral part of my support network as well :’)
in jc1 (2022) myes, i went into the exams with low expectations - maybe straight Ds and I would’ve been happy. i ended up scoring As for all my subjects except a B in one, which were completely unexpected since i only ever saw Us on my report slips. this kickstarted a “virtuous cycle” for me and i began to take pride in my academics. by the end of my second jc1 year, i had attained a perfect score in my second round of promotional examinations!! my friends and teachers were all really proud of me and i was really happy at that point in time :)
i also began to get more opportunities in school, like leadership positions and the chance to participate in competitions or lead events since i finally had my sht together. these all helped me with my portfolio building as well :’)
around a levels period, smth rly disruptive happened at home and i thought that perhaps the past 2 years of work would come crashing down. it was hard to study at home w everything that was going on. i left every paper unconfident. at that point, i was aiming for a pretty competitive uni course which was kind of unrealistic since i was a retainee, but i dared to dream big and since i had finally pulled myself together i thought that there was no harm in trying. however i thought my a levels score wouldn’t end up making the cut since i felt like my papers all went rly badly ;-;
for the 3 months between my last paper and a level results release, i avoided thinking about my score as much as possible. i kept all my notes and tutorials in case i ended up having to retake my a levels. on the day itself, i didn’t even show up to school to collect my results in person as i was so convinced that i had done badly and that i would end up crying in front of my classmates and teachers. in fact i even waited until the next day to open my results online. but lo and behold, i had attained a perfect score. i was so elated that i could actually apply for the course i wanted :’)
fast forward through the months, i submitted my applications and personal statements, received my interview invites, went for them, and then received my acceptances from the two local universities offering the degree i wanted. :’) everything truly worked out the best way they could have.
and that’s why, in retrospect, retaining was truly the best thing that could have happened to me. i don’t think it’d be far-fetched to say that it literally changed the trajectory of my life. i learned how to have a proper work ethic, took away a strong support network of friends and teachers, and honed important skills like leadership. i still cringe when i think about how much of a problem student i used to be, but it was only because i let things ever get that bad that now i know how important it is to stay on track.
i’m really grateful that as much as retaining is a taboo subject in jc, that i wasn’t discriminated against for having been a retainee. it might seem weird and like im making “retainee” my whole brand, but it was truly a turning point in my life and i wear it like a badge of honour almost.
i’m now excitedly waiting for uni to start in august. ٩( ᐛ )و
TL;DR: retaining helped me gain a proper work ethic and form a strong support network. i ended up scoring well at the a levels and was accepted into my desired uni course. so quite literally, retaining changed the trajectory of my life for the better🫶

Im interested in obtaining a covid positive sample for my own research. Is there anywhere a person could procure a sample of Covid-19?

I am asking this question in good faith with no expectation.

Yesterday, I had my graduation ceremony. After years of university with absolutely no help besides occasional rides to the bus stop and, very rarely, to campus, I finally graduated. Here's what my parents have done in the lead-up to graduation and the day after instead of supporting me.
My parents spent months leading up to the graduation freaking out about how I'll get a job, trying to control my hair and clothing (even implying I'm ugly when I choose my own hair and clothing), harassing me to hand out business cards to everyone I meet (especially if the situation would be an immense faux pas), grilling me on if my grades are good, lecturing me relentlessly about how I need to keep in contact with people in my class and it's soooo important and would I like to hear about how my dad got a job through nepotism for the eightieth time, asking me questions they already know the answers to (Yes, I'm still talking to my former classmates. Yes, I know that you worked in the Yukon when you were 18. Yes, I know about your friend who worked in a weather station. Yes, I know you had to move to find a job in the 1980s. Yes, I am aware that it is a possibility I might have to move too. Yes, I know that it's okay to invite people over to the house, you've only "informed" me about a hundred times. Yes, I know that school is important.) Every single thing that they "inform" me about is something I have very clearly expressed that I understand, and is just thinly veiled criticism. But my dad needs to lecture more than he needs oxygen.
Just constant nitpicking, criticism, and nothing I ever did was enough. I couldn't even focus on grades, because they would in their own words "put pressure on" me to do what they wanted. To handle their emotions for them. They're obsessed with the idea that I would have to move to a tiny town or work in a coal mine to find a job, because I'm more highly educated than my dad (who dropped out of university despite having all expenses paid by his father), and because my dad worked in the Yukon for two summers. He will never shut up about that, and he even goes so far as to hold us hostage with implicit threat of a massive tantrum to listen to him tell us the story again and again and again and to show us pictures of the place he worked on Google maps and point to everything he remembers. Sometimes he can go on for half an hour just repeating himself over and over.
Last summer, my parents even went and took action without my knowledge or approval to try and get a job set up for me cleaning up a mine contaminated with arsenic in the middle of nowhere, NWT. They tried to guilt and shame me into it ("What are your plans instead? Do you have another job lined up? Because you need to have a job. You can't sit around all day." This coming almost literally one week into summer vacation after my second-last year of university, when I could be using my energy to find interesting co-ops or explore hobbies or travel, instead dealing with their harassment and obsession with trying to literally trap me in a fucking arsenic mine.) They went on and on, lectured me over and over, implied that I would be embarrassing my grandfather if I didn't go, and so on. Eventually they said "You can go work or get a certification", and I picked the certification, but then they got grumpy anyways, and every week for the entire summer they would ask "Are you still working on the certification?". Of course, dipsh*t. I've told you fifty times how long the program lasts.
They don't care about what I'm learning in class, don't care about my hobbies or interests, only care about my friends as either a means to get backdoored into a job or a "nice French Canadian woman" to have babies with. They don't care if I'm struggling, and are completely unavailable to help in any regard. Any request for help would result in a guilt trip. Even if I actually couldn't eat dinner with the family for one day because I had a test, my father would get raw emotions and I'd have to walk on eggshells for a few days. The one time I mentioned I was having trouble studying, instead of shutting up and no longer ranting in the main floor where I could hear him or turning the TV off, he just dragged a table into the unfurnished boiler room (without asking me) and then told me that I would have to study there. I wasn't allowed to choose not to, because he'd already set it up. Ironically, my anger at him did let me study pretty well for the one day that I was forced there. He tried to keep me there long-term because he thought it was just such a great idea, but I managed to trick him into thinking I didn't need help studying anymore, so I got to study at a desk with a light on it and flooring that wasn't bare cement. Hooray for the most minor victory imaginable.
In the months leading up to graduation, did they care about how hard I was working at my capstone project and offer support? Absolutely not! Did they care about how well my sleep quality was, how many times the cat woke me up because they didn't play with her enough or give her enough attention? Nope! Did they care about how exhausting it was to deal with their constant lectures on the same topics, and to have to give them affirmations ("Yes, you're right, that's right, good job, nice, very tasty, good work, oh really?, neat, that's cool, how'd you make that?, mhm, I agree, you're being reasonable, they're being ridiculous, that's crazy") a hundred times a day? Not even in the slightest!
We spend more time talking about my dad's college friends than about anything I or my brother care about.
Then, leading up to graduation. all I've gotten are the most humiliating, infuriating, insulting messages and lectures from my parents. I get almost daily emails and texts saying "You need to get a job, it's important to look for a job" despite the fact I've told them I am looking probably fifty times. Too cowardly to say it to my face. I've been texted literal links to a Google search for "[degree name] jobs [city]" more than once. Both my parents treat me like I don't listen, when I do. They treat me like I'm lazy, when I've put myself through university with no help even after they lied to me about giving me financial aid and made me out to be a bully demanding more money when all I did was say "alright" and then pay for it myself. They must have sternly given me a talking to about how "I'm not going to pay for university, you know that, right? You need to pay. Don't expect us to pay. Because we paid for your first semesters, you know that, right? We've already paid for enough." thirty times, even after I'd made the final payment. They treat me like I'm stupid when I have expressed understanding before. They treat me like I'm a bully while I always bend over backwards for them, just because I don't play my role as "surrogate mommy but this time I get to tell her what to do" well enough.
It feels like they're almost raising me into a replacement or surrogate parent. Like my dad wants me to be his mom or dad, except this time he gets to be in charge. And my mom wants me to be her mom, except this time when she freaks out or has her deer in headlights look, she'll get someone to step up and take care of everything for her. I distinctly remember having to comfort her even for things she did to me, like tell me that a pair of comfortable shoes I picked out was good and she'd get them, and then immediately scream "take it out, take it out!" after it was scanned at the register. I could not have been older than twelve. And for my dad, he always rants and raves to me exactly like he does to his parents, except without including blame for them sending him to boarding school and instead having tons of old "life updates" like where he worked when he was 18 and what music he liked to listen to in high school, stuff like that. Then he expects me to praise him or be interested like his parents never were (he always tells me that his parents only cared about his car when they called).
So now I graduated. All they had to say in the days coming up to it was to grill me on the time I'd have to be at the venue and the time I was planning to leave the house to get there on time, with a distinct air of "you're too lazy to think of this in advance and too stupid to figure it out without a plan". Of course, I had to answer this question probably five times, because they don't care to ever listen to me. Before the ceremony I got text messages showing they were way more excited about themselves being here than anything relating to me, with multiple messages expressing how they arrived and it was exciting, then they asked me how the atmosphere was and their only reply was a one-word "nice" with no punctuation, because they don't care about me and only ask droll questions to segue into their next bit.
After grad, there was two generic sentences spoken with no emotion about how it was nice I graduated, and then they made a whole song and dance about the amazing gifts they got me. It was a degree frame I picked out myself that my dad presented as new and exciting (because he never pays attention to me, of course, when I told him I had picked one out and ordered it with my mother. Also she had another freakout about price and acted like I was holding her hostage by taking her unforced offer to buy me the second-cheapest degree frame on offer.). Then he presented the free gift small frame they got with it as though I should praise him for it, then a congratulation card that was alright I suppose if only because my brother drew a little creature in it that made me smile (my parents did not add anything special or meaningful to it). There was also a cap, which I genuinely enjoy and is nice, and a cheap ballpoint pen for some reason. He said there was more gifts at home, which okay, I don't care about gifts but I'd like him to at least be as excited for my graduation as he was for the picture frame. I didn't get any souvenirs from the bookstore because I knew if I got something he'd also gotten he'd freak out and accuse me of not listening to him or whatever, so I waited. When I got home my gift was Skittles. I don't know why I thought me might have gone to the bookstore and gotten me something special related to my actual interests. He doesn't care to know what those are anyways. I guess I hoped that at least this one day would be different.
Today, the day after graduation, all I've gotten from my parents is:
- Involved in a lecture and manufactured drama about my brother not using my car to drive to his job, even though my dad had the exact opposite position the entire rest of the year, because "what if you need to drive somewhere?", trying to manufacture a fight between my brother and me while also guilting and shaming me for not driving as a hobby like he does.
- A text message from my mother asking me if I'm awake because she wants more ammo to paint me as lazy. Nevermind that I barely slept the night before to make it to grad (of course neither of my parents would care enough about me to come with me as a family. I was literally the only person I saw who went on my own and without their family showing up early too, to support them. I walked past so many families in the parking lot knowing my mother couldn't be bothered to change out of her pajamas for me.) Nevermind I had a huge day that day, and that I was taking care of the cat's energy all that night too because attending my grad is apparently soooo draining my parents can't look after their own pet, and somehow it falls to me. All that matters is she woke up early and I didn't (after I handled all her inconveniences for her, funny how that works).
- Rapid knocks on my door because my dad is making bread as a hobby and apparently "needs" me there to help him with it, and then also "needed" me to stay and make cookies with him.
- A lecture about someone I never knew who apparently once threw something at another kid on my street when I was about 5, and about how he died and how his wife's hobby was really expensive or whatever and if I really don't remember him?
- I went to a showhome for fun and brought back the brochure. My dad jabbed his finger at the pictures on it to explain the house to me like I wasn't the one who literally brought the brochure back. Never asked if I cared or anything, just immediate launch into lecture and expecting me to stay and listen and praise him for being so smart or whatever.
- A lecture about D Day for some fucking reason. My dad is obsessed with history, and he doesn't have any friends to talk to (wonder why) so his lectures always fall on my ears.
- An email from my mother explaining in an extremely condescending way how important it is to have a cover letter when applying for jobs (just completely assuming I don't write them and also am too lazy or stupid to think about having them) including copy-pasted text from a sample cover letter that is no doubt one of the first results on google for "cover letter example"
- An angry email from my mother including a job she found on google
But, contrast that to my neighbors across the street. I was friends them in grade school, haven't seen them in like ten years, and just on my way past to the showhome we said hi and chatted in a genuinely nice conversation that wasn't a one-sided lecture like usual in my house. They could sense my emotions and didn't try to keep me there longer than I wanted to rant, they were genuinely interested in me and gave me space and interest to express myself, their mother even hugged me for graduating and it was the most genuine hug and congratulations I've ever received in person. Every other hug was my family members forcing me to hug them for their own sole benefit. I admit I cried a bit later on my walk thinking about it.
Compared to my parents, the parents of old friends care more about me, trust me more, believe in me more, have more hope for my future, are more interested in me, and understand me better. It's tremendously sad that all throughout my graduation ceremony I was worried about my parents becoming upset for some random reason and blowing up at me. I'm glad I at least focused and made myself feel some pride and joy in myself for graduating.
Even the random people I met who were also taking part in the open house were nicer and better conversationalists than my parents. A random elderly couple I have never seen in my life can have a better interaction with me than my own parents. The realtor was more chill and less perfectionistic than my parents by a mile. His million-dollar house sale was something he was less stressed and perfectionistic about and something he beat himself up over less than my parents are about my hairstyle when I'm going to class because "What if you meet someone in industry and they see you're not professional".
It's absurd.

I just had a great customer service experience with the incontinence supplies maker Seni. I personally love their wipes and diapers. Can't reccomend them enough they're extremely comfortable and really good, but I'll move on, this ain't a review of the products.
I have been using the Super Quatros for a while now, enough to notice pretty well when there's a physical difference batch to batch. Luckily they print a date on them which I'm assuming is manufacturing date. I noticed recently, that as I switched suppliers, I got the first 2024 batch so far, and for some reason it was cut way different than it usually is. By this I mean the padding was the same length, shape, and thickness, but was shifted way towards the back, so there was a much bigger gap between the padding and the end of the briefs in the front and barely a gap in the back compared to what they usually have. Now, this was just minor, different batches of diapers seem to sometimes be cut in slightly different places from what I've noticed, but this was a few inches off what they were usually, enough that I was getting more leaks from them with less padding in the front.
So I emailed Seni (USA) about this, just asking if this was an intentional change, honestly wasn't even complaining just trying to figure out if I would have to change brands because these no longer worked well for me or not. Seni not only responded super nicely saying that this wasn't intentional and that they'd investigate what went wrong (based on a sample I agreed to send them), but sent me replacements for all of the remaining affected diapers that were in my order, including some extras for my troubles, along with a care package of various items and samples.
I'm beyond happy with the response, I didn't expect this at all. So happy their customer service is as good as their products. Now I know it's suspicious to specify, but I didn't want this to seem like an ad, so I just wanted to make it clear that I was not compensated or asked in any way for this post, it's just a natural glowing review. But tbh I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a little bit self serving, I really just want to make sure they don't go out of business in NA, lol.

I live in Portland Metro Area in Oregon and have been faced with a couple issues from my employer, mostly HR specifically.
Keeping it short as possible while providing enough context..
1st problem -When I got hired (back, as I’ve worked for them before and left on good terms) HR had agreed to hire me back at the rate of $xx.xx and in a couple months they could bump me to my requested $xx.xx She asked if I was okay with that and I agreed with emphasis on as long as that bump up happens in the amount of time she had stated. (I have text proof of this exchange)
Fast forward about 3 months, I send her an email asking her and following up on the bump in pay. A couple more weeks pass and I’ve gotten no response or anything that indicates she even read or acknowledged said email. Suddenly my schedule changes in a manner it never has before.
In the weeks to follow.. now pushing 4-5 months of being employed there.. I wake up one morning to a coworker texting me asking why I’m not on next weeks schedule. Turns out, my HR had fabricated weeks worth of stories to get the store manager to clear her actions and “write me off the schedule” something I’ve seen her do to many employees before (they will not formally fire anyone) So I speak with my hr and store manager and get everything sorted out.. after tons of drama my HR immediately writes me back into the schedule per store managers instructions and I keep my job (which my store manager confirmed they were not going to keep me around by simply writing me off the schedule with no formal termination)
2nd problem -Fast forward to this last month, I request my first sick paid time off day only to be met with my HR telling me in email, that because of my hours (full time 2 weeks, part time 2 weeks) I do not qualify for paid time off.
I sent her screenshots from my states labor laws and disagreed with her statement, screenshots as proof. She apologized and said she would make sure I got my paid time off hours for the requested day.
NOW. My question..
Do I have any legal ground to stand on here if I were to get a lawyer?? Or did correcting her actions throw that out the window if there ever was a possibility?
From what I can read for my states laws, retaliation for asking about wages is considered discrimination.
****Side note for further last minute context: she tried setting up a coworker of mine with her son, and when she saw this coworker and I working well with each other and socializing after work, is also when problems began to arise (around the 3 month mark mentioned above making this all feel very personal)
Edit: 3rd problem, both managers (store and intake) + hr all partake in the associates tip pool that they don’t disclose how much is totaled before split at the end of the week. Everyone knows they help themselves to more than the workers. Every week we get the same set amount no matter if we have a very lucrative day or not (where we could split tips just from that shift and garner more than what we always get at the end of the week)

Greetings everybody,
A little bit of background first: I am a bassist playing in various bands and contexts. My musical ecosystem for the last 10 years has been my bass and an amp (and some pedals).
I have always been a Hip Hop/Boom Bap/LoFi fan. In the last few months, I kicked myself in the butt and started to learn to produce these kind of music. I kind of “need” a machine because I do not really enjoy producing on a computer. Pro tools for recording different instruments on different tracks works for me but not more than that.
As of today here is my experience:
Koala Sampler on iPad: Love the workflow and how everything is laid out. The way you can organize and perform beats is amazing to me. Sadly, doing stuff for too long on an iPad makes me loose interest personally. Sampling from YT, Vinyls or any other sources is also clunky to me.
PO-33 KO: I adore this little beast. I have done 4-5 beats already and tried to maximized it as much as possible. Only negative this is that the 40s sampling is kind of limiting for some of my ideas. I also feel like I can only work on one beat at a time on the PO which frustrates me sometimes he lack of some features such as muting and solo sound can also slow down the thought process.
So I started to look around and inevitably heard about the MPC One and the SP404. I never owned these devices or their predecessors. I’m looking for something that combines the good stuff of the products I used and I am always ready to make some compromises.
So here I am asking for feedback and experiences.
Much love y’all

"Not a single human being on this planet ever saw the universe."
Grand Arbiter Albert XLIII further declared, on their return 37 years after the last broadcast failed in the middle of explaining the secrets of the universe to us.
"What you are seeing is an image of the universe that your brain created to make sense of your surroundings. A mirage, an infinitely imperfect approximation. And there are roughly 8 Billion such approximations on this planet, not even counting non-human entities. We have observed you recently - debating wether the harmonic frequencies of light hitting the rods and cones of your eyes actually generate the same image of color in your brain for all of you equally, and you came to the conclusion that they might not. That everybodies version of "red" or "blue" might be ever so slightly, or completely different. We found it amusing that you aren't drawing the same conclusion to, well, everything else. Through the scientific method and communication accelerators like the Internet, your species managed to align big chunks of those "mirage universes" in your brains, but other areas not touched by the scientific method are left completely unexplored, and therefore to the imagination of the individual. Which lead to many "unfortunate misunderstandings" among you. But make no mistake, even after this global alignment of mirages, the universe inside your mind is still infinitely wrong in the grand scheme of things and unlike any other imagined universe of your peers. Your scientific method suggests the use of calibrated measurement devices that aren't biased by human error to gain knowledge of your surroundings. Which is brilliant, we might add. Your species came up with this kind of technology very early compared to similar lifeforms in other universes. You use these devices to create a "ground truth" from which you reference the rest of your conclusions and predictions. This enabled you to make predictions about the "real universe" you find yourself in, even with this fundamental error underlying your logic system. Either brilliant, or unfathomly lucky. It doesn't really matter. You can pat yourselves on the backs for that.
However, amusingly, you failed to find the crucial detail about the one fundamental, yet completely uncalibrated device at the bottom of everything - your brain - and the sensory organs as extensions of it. No single eye on this planet is the same, no nose, no ears, everything differs ever so slightly. Every brain is folded and twisted differently.
Therefore, what you are observing, and what your scientists are finding models for, is not the real universe. It is the image of this universe your brain creates for you, that makes sense to most of you and that most of your brains are able to understand and find agreement on. Nothing more, nothing less. Especially the intricacies that you are now finding in the infinitissimally small scales and the unfathomly large scales (you curiously still differentiate these two concepts, we observed) are the footprints that the architecture of your brain leaves on these mirage universes. You find numbers everywhere and turn everything into a more and more digital version of nature because the axons that are part of your neurons generate activation signals in a digital, all or nothing kind of way. This part of the brain is what you evolved to use for, among others, your logic systems. Your thinking is in large parts digital, so most of your logic is too. This has gone so far that some of you now think you are actually living in a computer simulation. In some regards, you do, but there is no cosmic entity that generated this simulation and put you in it. You are creating this simulation yourself, in your brain, as a means to maneuver your way around actual physical reality. Imagine having to memorize a picture, but your sensory input systems only allowed you to see one pixel at a time, chosen completely at random, without any reference as to where that pixel is located in the frame. So, you found chunking techniques, the help of your collective hive mind and ideas of particularly eccentric members of your society, to bit by bit close in on a mostly impossible task. But without a paradigm shift on your end, the entirety of the original picture will stay in the shadows of reality.
You created tools like algebra and geometry to circumvent the fact that your logic is mostly digital as a simulacrum of analog information, but for how remarkably useful it is for you to make predictions, it is to what is happening in the real world like what an abacus is to a personal computer. Sure, if you enter '1 + 1', in their own ways, both give you '2'. But one is the tip to the others impossibly large iceberg. It is a sensible abstraction. But it is nowhere close to being an accurate description of what is actually happening or in what ways it useful to you.
We don't want to discourage you by saying this. Your approach, even if it happened out of sheer luck, is brilliant. It really makes the best out of the limitations that you have by your sensory organs and the architecture of your brains. Once a few evolutionary steps later your brain can conceive of more complex logical patterns and images, you will get closer and closer to having an actual copy of the real universe in front of your minds eye. Through the scientific method, you are already optimizing for this. Again, given your species' age, you have developed such a technique incredibly quickly. But what you are doing is finding (very smart) workarounds over a fundamental error you all have in common.
My lifeform, which isn't too unlike yours, just much "older", has taken a different approach in its early stages. Our biggest thinkers found early on that the answers lie within. So for millenia, we focussed our exploration on finding our deepest and truest selves, once we started to move past basic survival instincts, that is. Only after many, many "quantum leaps" in the area of self discovery in the individual and the societal level, we started to artificially accelerate our communication, and overcome physical limitations through technology. It was a slower approach in the beginning, but once we got there, our intellectual growth was exponentially explosive. The time it took us to move from living in basic, mostly local communities that lived off the land - to bending our universe to our wills - was about the time between you writing your currently most popular spiritual fiction and landing on your planets moon for the first time. Note the actual durations might differ greatly, as the concept you call time is very different in our universe and we still haven't fully studied yours.
Anyways. After this event we call "universal reframing", everything else just... fell into place.
Our strategy basically was to, first, fully align our mental universes. And then to perform a depth search from a common starting point. You seemed to have rushed over a few of the crucial bits as soon as the first approach turned out to be useful. Actually, all of the bits but one. It must be a terribly confusing existence that you are living. We can only make an attempt to relate, as our evolutionary strand optimized for alignment before curiousity. That, you could say, was our dumb luck.
Are there any questions so far?"
There was a puzzling silence in an area packed with an amount of people that would normally be present at music festivals or presidential inaugurations. For an event of this magnitude, the stage was sparsely decorated and included only the necessities. Like last time, the visit was spontaneos and unannounced. Or maybe, like last time, we just didn't understand the announcement message, as it might have again came in the form of a formerly undiscovered particle, a seemingly arbitrary number of years prior to this event. They must think they are really funny.
One of the humans chosen as representative of the planet raised their hand.
"Please, speak. As always. Our 'time' is very limited."
"If I didn't misunderstand this: You said, our brains are basically creating what we call 'simulations' for ourselves, in our mind, to make sense of the actual universe we are in and base our actions on. Is this correct?"
"Based on the very crude definition your species has for the word 'correct' I would say 'yes, that is correct.'"
"And these simulations are getting closer and closer to the real deal, right? But what if, say, we didn't want the real deal. What if we liked our own personal pocket universes and instead wanted to bend that one to our own wills instead of the real one? You said we are bad at alignment and I would agree to the point where I say we probably go extinct to our own stupidity before we all agree on even one single thing. Can't we just use your knowledge to just, manifest things into our universe just by thinking about it, like in the movie Matrix, which might have crossed your desk while researching us. Great Movie."
"It did indeed. It is esteemed by my lifeform as what you would call 'slapstick comedy'. Since we moved past what constituted our form of entertainment, the media from your universe has become very popular among my peers. It is by sending samples back to our universe how we finance the probes we are sending here."
"You still have money?"
"I was making - what you call - a joke. Never heard of it in the context of a movie, but that title is immensely funny to me given the circumstances. Anyway, you wanted to know how to bend your 'simulated universe' around you. Alright. You might be slightly dissappointed by the beginning of my explanation, but listen till the end. And make of that what you will.
Let's start by what you mean by 'manifest' exactly. As the inaccuracy of your communication patterns shall not be a hindrance to this mentorship."
"Well... I imagine it. And then it sort of poofs into existence?"
"Understood. Actually, I will start explaning how you perform this action in the actual universe you are in, before I make the transfer to how you do it in the imagined one in your brain."
"Uh.. ok?"
"What would you like to be manifested?"
"I don't know. How about we go nice and easy with a cone of ice cream and start from there?"
"So be it. So, we start imagining the cone of ice cream. What does it consist off? Milk, sugar, eggs, and some smaller additions to suit your individuals taste buds. Let's begin with milk. You are getting it from cows (a practice my society finds quite alienating. We, too, have to get used to the wildly varying customs of lifeforms of the universes). Cows can be domesticated and bred, but first, we would have to overcome the physical distance between us, and a few locations on this planet. For that, I would advice designing and constructing a vehicle that is capa..."
"Oh come on, that's how we manifest things? We go and make them ourselves?? Oh wow, thanks a lot mister transcendant being. So the rest of the stuff you told us was also bullshit?"
"Please refrain from jumping to conclusions without the full picture in mind, even if it is in your existences nature to do so. Alright, so let me offer you a shortcut."
"Please do."
"I know of a location just a few human paces down this road, where you can exchange currency for a cone of ice cream."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"What the hell is the point of this?"
"The point is, once again: you - misunderstanding your existence. Especially in conjunction with your incredibly limited ability to verbalize concepts using your own vocabulary. You are barely at the point of being able to convey emotions in every day speech, and are now expecting to understand high level 4 dimensional concepts after just a few of your incredibly inaccurate words. Tell me now, please: What do you perceive as the difference of these two scenarios I just mentioned? In a temporal manner and in the energy required?"
"Well, it would be much easier and faster to just go down the road and buy a cone of ice cream, but that isn't tremendously astounding information to us, you have to understand."
"'Much'? Let's give this word, 'much', a bit of a frame of reference. The differences between these scenarios are: About 15000 years of agriculture and animal husbandry; countless inventions that led to your current state of technology which allows for refrigeration in a way advanced enough to get the ice cream to just the right texture that your modern palate is accustomed to; An education system that allows for such inventions to occur in time for you to be standing here, demanding ice cream, and actually getting it. Not mentioning the infrastructure that makes you bridge the physical distances of every single time any of these steps needed anything. And meanwhile destroying the naturally occuring resources of your planet bit by bit.
Or, scenario 2: You take the money that you got from staring at a computer screen for about 7 minutes, choose one of the ice cream parlors that your civilization made sure to be on average a 30 minutes driving distance from every single living human. (You aren't very good at even distributions though, we found.). And go and get that ice cream. Even including the infrastructural costs existing now, we have narrowed this process down from not even being close to a reality for thousands of generations to being at most 30 minutes away and dirt cheap, assuming an amount of efficient preparation, that is part of the technology that lead you here.
If you ask me, between scenario 1 and 2, you became so many orders of magnitude closer to 'poofing it into existence' that a human mind has troubles comprehending it. And therefore, appreciating it. From '0% of the human population has access to this within their lifetime and no one will for the next couple millenia' to 'Over half the human population has access to this within 30 minutes", taking into account the total timespan, the amount of events that had to occur and the amount of incremental learnings that had to accumulate, for this to happen even once for anybody, I believe the time and energy you have to exert to access your ice cream cone right now is a rounding error in the grand scheme of things. And you aren't even close to finishing your development as humans - if you manage to not kill yourself somehow.
You are constantly manifesting things into reality, the only issue is that you severely and heavily underestimate what it means 'to imagine a thing'.
Please allow my vanity, but this is an important lesson for the following part that you are, I'm afraid, more interested in. How to do that in your head. And potentially much faster. Well assuming thaXXXxxxx----.----."
"Oh wow, not again. Mighty convenient this always happens right when it gets interesting."
"First, you have to understand that.,.......... The limitations of spacetime that you perceive.... are not present in nature..... nature is infinitely 'dimensional', and in fact XXxxx.....----..--.-.- has no concept for infinity....-.-.--. it is a human made.....-.-.-.- model to describe a perfectly natural phenomenon you lack the words for at this time..._xxxx.xxx-x---.-.--.-zzzz."
"Come on, speak faster! The battery is dying again!"
" ...physical distance...S;.,.XXXxx...currently a big bottleneck for your progres...asd.döö,,,, is also a limitation of your cortex, not nature,.....-as.d.sa......the concept of an 'extent' only exists from certain frames of references..-.-..-.a.ss.a.as.... in others everything is....a.s-d.-.---.-..-xxxx on top of each other, overlapping each other in what you call 'time' AND 'space'"
"...XXXxsasad Listen."
"I am running out of time again humans. The Hopf Fibration. It is a great first step. But move away from your digital thinking. Treat your numbers. .aD;,aC:.x.cx.ac,.as,dca.s like your waves...CKLUJCJUCCLICK"
The broadcast stopped.
"I never know if these things make me smarter, or dumber. Sadly the alien is gone now so it can't tell me that there actually is no smart or dumb."

DAY: MAY 31 2024
5-31-2024

RESEARCH SUGGESTS LEADERS’ SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS ARE TAKEN JUST AS SERIOUSLY AS FORMAL STATEMENTS

Over 180 world leaders maintain social media accounts, and some of them issue policy warnings to rivals and the public on these platforms rather than relying on traditional government statements. How seriously do people take such social media postings? A new study suggests the general public and policymakers alike take leaders’ social media posts just as seriously as they take formal government statements. The research, by MIT political scientists, deploys novel surveys of both the public and experienced foreign policy specialists. “What we find, which is really surprising, across both
5-31-2024

SCALE OF ONLINE HARM TO CHILDREN REVEALED IN GLOBAL STUDY

More than 300 million children a year are victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse, research indicates. Pupils in every classroom, in every school, in every country are victims of this hidden pandemic, according to researchers who have conducted the first global estimate of the scale of the crisis. The statistics, from the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute at the University of Edinburgh, amount to a clear and present danger to the world’s children, according to the crime agency Interpol. Online risks One in eight of the world’s children, about
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PRONATALISM IS THE LATEST SILICON VALLEY TREND. WHAT IS IT—AND WHY IS IT DISTURBING?

For Malcolm and Simone Collins, declining birth rates across many developed countries are an existential threat. The solution is to have “tons of kids,” and to use a hyperrational, data-driven approach to guide everything from genetic selection to baby names and day-to-day parenting. They don’t heat their Pennsylvania home in winter, because heating is a “pointless indulgence.” Their children wear iPads around their necks. And a Guardian journalist witnessed Malcolm strike their two-year-old across the face for misbehavior, a parenting style they apparently developed based on watching “tigers
5-31-2024

HOW SCIENCE, MATH, AND TECH CAN PROPEL SWIMMERS TO NEW HEIGHTS

One hundred years ago, in the 1924 Paris Olympics, American Johnny Weissmuller won the men’s 100m freestyle with a time of 59 seconds. Nearly 100 years later, in the most recent Olympics, the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo, Caeleb Dressel took home the same event with a time that was 12 seconds faster than Weissmuller’s. Swimming times across the board have become much faster over the past century, a result of several factors, including innovations
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BANNING SEX CRIME OFFENDERS FROM CHANGING THEIR NAMES DOESN’T MAKE US SAFER

The government of British Columbia recently introduced a bill to ban people convicted of serious offenses from legally changing their name. The proposed amendment to the province’s Name Act would also prohibit those found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder from changing their name. The government announced the move after media reports that Allan Schoenborn legally changed his name to Ken Johnson. Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible for the deaths of his children in 2010 because of a delusional disorder, and was placed at a psychiatric hospital.
5-31-2024

SILICON VALLEY ISN’T THE START-UP UTOPIA WE THOUGHT, RESEARCH FINDS

Silicon Valley—considered the world’s hub of technology and innovation—can breed inequality and sameness among budding entrepreneurs, according to new research. Behind the multi-million-dollar deals and tales of start-up utopia, Silicon Valley’s “uneven” investment landscape is in fact a barrier to many budding businesses, says the study from the University of Stirling and Georg-August-University Göttingen. But the researchers suggest other countries could still learn from the more discerning entrepreneurial ecosystem that bred giants such as Apple and Google, to be more selective in backing start-ups. While it is not uncommon for
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I WANT TO KEEP MY CHILD SAFE FROM ABUSE—BUT RESEARCH TELLS ME I’M DOING IT WRONG

Child sexual abuse is uncomfortable to think about, much less talk about. The idea of an adult engaging in sexual behaviors with a child feels sickening. It’s easiest to believe that it rarely happens, and when it does, that it’s only to children whose parents aren’t protecting them. This belief stayed with me during my early days as a parent. I kept an eye out for creepy men at the playground and was skeptical of men who worked with young children, such as teachers and coaches. When my kids were
5-31-2024

OVER 300 MILLION YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE EXPERIENCED ONLINE SEXUAL ABUSE, EXPLOITATION, FINDS METASTUDY

It takes a lot to shock Kelvin Lay. My friend and colleague was responsible for setting up Africa’s first dedicated child exploitation and human trafficking units, and for many years he was a senior investigating officer for the Child Exploitation Online Protection Center at the UK’s National Crime Agency, specializing in extra territorial prosecutions on child exploitation across the globe. But what happened when he recently volunteered for a demonstration of cutting-edge identification software left him speechless. Within seconds of being fed with an image
5-31-2024

CYBERFLASHING IS A FORM OF GENDERED SEXUAL VIOLENCE THAT MUST BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

Sexting—sending sexually suggestive or explicit messages and images—is now a widespread practice, and can be a healthy way to express and explore sexuality. However, there is a need to distinguish between consensual sexting and forms of sexual harassment like cyberflashing. Cyberflashing refers to the act of non-consensually sending sexual imagery (like nudes or “dick pics”) to another person. It is facilitated through communications technologies including text, AirDrop and social media applications like Snapchat and Tinder. Similar to flashing—when a person unexpectedly and deliberately “flashes” their genitals to others—that occurs in
5-31-2024

VIRTUAL TRAINING MAY BE AN EFFECTIVE, COST-EFFICIENT OPTION FOR CHILD EDUCATORS

Teachers and other child educators can benefit from regular professional development, but in-person training can be expensive. New research found that virtual training can be a budget-friendly alternative—and especially effective for certain groups of educators. The study—a collaboration between researchers at Penn State and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and published in the International Journal of Professional Development, Learners and Learning—found that educators who took a virtual training reported feeling more confident in their abilities to implement practices shown to support positive youth development. In particular, after-school providers who did not
5-31-2024

HUMBLE LEADERS BOOST EMPLOYEES’ WORKPLACE STATUS AND LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL, FINDS STUDY

There are many different types of workplace leaders, from those who prioritize the needs of team members and the organization above their own, to authentic leaders who foster openness, trust and transparency. A recent study by the University of South Australia published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior has highlighted the significant benefits of humble leadership in the workplace. According to the study by UniSA’s Dr. Xiao Lin, humble leadership can effectively elevate the workplace status of employees by boosting their sense of respect and prominence. It also leads to
5-31-2024

WHY ARE GROCERY BILLS SO HIGH? A NEW STUDY LOOKS AT THE SCIENCE BEHIND FOOD PRICE REPORTING

Rising food costs are squeezing Canadians around the country. Nearly everyone is feeling the pinch, and it’s not just an inconvenience—high food prices are a major threat to food security for many Canadians. Understanding why food prices are so high and why they are changing is critical to the well-being of our society. Unfortunately, consensus on why food price are so high is in short supply. Explanations given in reports like Canada’s Food Price Report and the news media range widely, from the war in Ukraine to supply chain issues
5-31-2024

WILL GENERATIVE AI CHANGE THE WAY UNIVERSITIES COMMUNICATE?

Is artificial intelligence an unprecedented opportunity, or will it rob everyone of jobs and creativity? As we debate on social media (and perhaps use ChatGPT almost daily), generative AIs have also entered the arena of university communication. These tools—based on large language models that were optimized for interactive communication—can indeed support, expand, and innovate university communication offerings. Justus Henke has analyzed the situation of German realities about six months after the launch of ChatGPT 3. “The research was conducted about a year ago when enthusiasm was high, but it was
5-31-2024

STUDY SHOWS RELATIVELY LOW NUMBER OF SUPERSPREADERS RESPONSIBLE FOR LARGE PORTION OF MISINFORMATION ON TWITTER

Classification of superspreader accounts. A large portion (55.1%) of accounts are no longer active. For each class annotated with political affiliations, colors indicate the ideological split. The last group aggregates all accounts with political affiliations. Credit: PLOS ONE (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302201 A small team of social media analysts at Indiana University has found that a major portion of tweets spreading disinformation are sent by a surprisingly small percentage of a given userbase. In their study, published in PLOS ONE, the group conducted a review of 2,397,388 tweets posted on Twitter
5-31-2024

HOW LIFE’S BIG MOMENTS CAN CHALLENGE STARTUPS

Life-changing events like the birth of a child, the purchase of a new home, or a lottery win could threaten the survival of a new business venture, the positive family events had a comparatively greater influence, albeit negatively, on the survival of a new venture, compared with
5-31-2024

RUDE AT WORK? FEELING GUILTY CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER, KINDER WORKER

We’ve all done it. A bad night’s sleep or a tough commute made us cranky, and we lashed out at a coworker who did nothing wrong. What can we do to make up for it? According to a new study published in the Journal of Business Ethics, embracing our guilty feelings can help us make up for our bad behavior by encouraging us to act more politely and work harder the next day. “We found that anyone can be rude at work, because anyone can
5-31-2024

RESEARCHERS INTRODUCE A PLANETARY INCLUSION SCALE TO FOSTER BROADER ETHICAL THINKING

Social inclusion and having a sense of belonging with other people are key elements of a good life. However, the fate of humanity is a challenge that extends beyond our social reality. Experiences of belonging and inclusion, understood in a broader sense than before, may be crucial for a sustainable future. In an article published in the International Journal of Social Pedagogy, a team of researchers propose a new planetary inclusion scale that structures our planetary relationship three-dimensionally based on temporal, spatial and ethical orientation. The temporal element relates to
5-31-2024

‘LEAN IN’ MESSAGES CAN LOWER WOMEN’S MOTIVATION TO PROTEST GENDER INEQUALITY

Women in leadership are often told to “Lean In,” designed to be motivational messaging demonstrating that they are more confident, strategic and resilient to setback. However, new research indicates that such “lean in” messaging can hinder women’s motivation to protest gender equality. Popularized in a book by American technology executive Sherly Sandberg, the “Lean In” solution to gender inequality advises women that demonstrating personal resilience and perseverance in the face of setbacks is key to career advancement. Now, a new study led by the University of Exeter, Bath Spa University
5-31-2024

ALGORITHMS COULD HELP IMPROVE JUDICIAL DECISIONS

A new paper in the Quarterly Journal of Economics finds that replacing certain judicial decision-making functions with algorithms could improve outcomes for defendants by eliminating some of the systemic biases of judges. Decision makers make consequential choices based on predictions of unknown outcomes. Judges, in particular, make decisions about whether to grant bail to defendants or how to sentence those convicted. Companies now use machine learning based models increasingly in high-stakes decisions. There are various assumptions about human behavior underlying the deployment of such learning models that play out in
5-31-2024

DIGITAL CAMPAIGNING IS A HUGE PART OF ELECTIONS NOW—BUT GOING VIRAL ISN’T EVERYTHING

The election has commenced and the race is on—to amass as many likes, shares and comments as possible. Digital campaigning, particularly through social media, is now a key part of political candidates’ communication toolkit. In fact, every general election campaign since 1997 has at some point been lauded as the first to make effective use of digital campaigning. But it was in 2015 that David Cameron’s campaign first made strategic use of social media to drive an election victory. As political reporter Tim Ross outlines in his excellent book, Why
5-31-2024

WHY ARE ORGANIZATIONAL COVER-UPS SO COMMON?

The TV dramatization of the UK Horizon Post Office scandal evoked outrage and disbelief. However, as another example of dysfunctional organizational behavior, it was expected rather than exceptional. The Post Office saga joins a long list of cover-ups or scandals that includes Hillsborough, Enron, Grenfell, the infected blood scandal, the Tuam babies scandal in the Republic of Ireland, Boeing 737 Max and Nasa (Columbia space shuttle). They represent what happens when there is a move within organizations and institutions to cover up the causes of
5-31-2024

AMONG GEN Z AUSTRALIANS, 38% IDENTIFY AS SPIRITUAL AND HALF BELIEVE IN KARMA. WHY IS SPIRITUALITY SO POPULAR?

Spirituality is increasingly popular with young Australians: recent research shows 38% of Gen Z Australians identify as spiritual. It also reports 50% of them believe in karma, 29% in reincarnation and 20% in astrology. When it comes to activities equated with spirituality, 28% of Gen Z Australians practice meditation and 22% practice yoga. In Australia, spirituality is strongly, enduringly central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and culturally and religiously diverse communities. Yet until recently, spirituality has received far less attention than religion. Spirituality may be
5-31-2024

COMPANIES CAN IMPROVE THE SUSTAINABILITY OF THEIR PRODUCTS IN THE EARLIEST PRODUCT-DESIGN STAGES

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Lithuanian and Italian universities propose a tool that allows companies to assess the circularity of their future products. The self-assessment tool emphasizes the co-creation of circular design in the early (creative) stages of product development, encouraging entrepreneurs and designers to think more systematically and collaborate better by integrating related stakeholders into the product development process. The study is published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology. “The majority of existing practical tools (systems of indicators) are aimed at measuring the environmental impact of products already
5-31-2024

RESEARCH EXAMINES HOW RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION AFFECTS A STATE’S COLLEGE ENROLLMENT

New research has revealed up to a 9% increase in college first-year enrollments in US states that have legalized recreational marijuana compared with states without such legalization. The study, which is published in Economic Inquiry, found that the increase was from out-of-state enrollments, with early adopter states and public non-research institutions experiencing the most pronounced increases. Recreational marijuana legalization did not negatively impact degree completion or graduation rate, and it did not affect college prices, quality, or in?state enrollment. The findings suggest that some students perceive recreational marijuana legalization as
5-31-2024

RESEARCH EXAMINES HOW RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION AFFECTS A STATE’S COLLEGE ENROLLMENT

New research has revealed up to a 9% increase in college first-year enrollments in US states that have legalized recreational marijuana compared with states without such legalization. The study, which is published in Economic Inquiry, found that the increase was from out-of-state enrollments, with early adopter states and public non-research institutions experiencing the most pronounced increases. Recreational marijuana legalization did not negatively impact degree completion or graduation rate, and it did not affect college prices, quality, or in?state enrollment. The findings suggest that some students perceive recreational marijuana legalization as
5-31-2024

HOW THE ‘MODEL MINORITY’ MYTH HARMS ASIAN AMERICANS

May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month, a time when Americans celebrate the profound contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—a group that is commonly abbreviated as AAPI—to U.S. society. It’s also a time to acknowledge the complexity of AAPI experience. And as a professor who studies equity and inclusion in business, I think the focus on AAPI communities this month provides an excellent occasion to push back against a stereotype that has long misrepresented and marginalized a diverse range of people: the myth of the “model minority.” The
5-31-2024

WONDERING HOW TO TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT CONSENT? HERE’S AN AGE-BASED GUIDE TO GET YOU STARTED

The Australian government’s new campaign Consent Can’t Wait challenges us all to improve our understanding of consent. It asks a series of questions to illustrate this issue is more complex than simplistic “no means no” messaging. The campaign invites viewers to consider the nuances of consent, so we can raise these important issues with children and young people in our lives. But what is a good age to start talking about consent? How do parents tackle such conversations when this information probably wasn’t readily discussed in our own upbringing? How
5-31-2024

A PRODUCT OF NATURE OR NURTURE?

The concept of cultural entrepreneurship has many facets. It encompasses both the cultural and social impact of entrepreneurial training, and the environmental factors that influence its development. Some societies, such as the U.S., have a strong entrepreneurial culture. This means that certain characteristics are celebrated and encouraged, such as the ability of individuals to assume risks, patience when confronting challenges, and innovative problem solving, especially in uncertain situations. However, not all countries have such an entrepreneurial culture. Entrepreneurship struggles to take off in Europe In general, entrepreneurship can drive economic
5-31-2024

STUDY BRIDGES ANIMAL BEHAVIOR RESEARCH AND COMPUTER CODING TO ENGAGE CHILDREN IN STEM

A graphic depicting a student coding. Credit: Carnegie Mellon University Teachers today face a bit of a conundrum, according to a new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Rochester Institute of Technology. Their goal is to prepare young students to enter a rapidly changing world. Even basic jobs require technical proficiency, which requires computational and analytical skills. To address this need, many educators are pushing to fold these important STEM skills into elementary curriculum. Here’s the problem. Young students can lose interest and even develop an aversion
5-31-2024

STUDY SHOWS VR CAN HELP TEACHERS BETTER DISTRIBUTE THEIR GAZE

On the left, a bird’s-eye view of the virtual classroom; on the right, screenshots of each of the four gaze-visualization conditions. Teachers need to know their material, but they must also keep their students engaged and interested. Part of that involves making eye contact with their students—all of them. A multidisciplinary team of researchers tested several methods of data visualization in an immersive virtual reality (VR) classroom, to give teachers a way to gauge
5-31-2024

MARKETERS CAN MANAGE ‘FEATURE CREEP’ SO CONSUMERS FEEL LESS INTIMIDATED BY TOO MANY FEATURES IN A PRODUCT

Wifi-enabled washing machines. Voice-controlled microwaves. App-enabled TVs, vacuum cleaners, and even window blinds you can control from the comfort of your couch. Many of the technological features now included in everyday products are useful and accessible. But research has shown that having too many can overwhelm potential buyers, making them less likely to make a purchase. In recent research, Wayne Hoyer, marketing professor and James L. Bayless/William S. Farrish Fund Chair for Free Enterprise at Texas McCombs, digs into the phenomenon of “feature creep” and its impact on consumer sentiment.
5-31-2024

RESEARCHERS EXPLAIN SOCIAL MEDIA’S ROLE IN RAPIDLY SHIFTING SOCIAL NORMS ON GENDER AND SEXUALITY

A new paper summarizing decades of research demonstrates how social media has supported an explosion of diversity in gender and sexuality in America during the 21st century, and also how these technologies have equally enabled a cultural backlash. The paper’s authors, UC Santa Cruz Psychology Department faculty members Phil Hammack and Adriana Manago, identified five main narratives about gender and sexuality that they believe emerged through social media as people have strived to be “authentic” on these platforms. The findings, along with resulting recommendations for psychology researchers and practitioners, were
5-31-2024

KEY FACTORS IN TRAINING ASSESSORS FOR ENHANCED PERFORMANCE RATINGS

New research is examining how organizations can improve their training programs by customizing frame-of-reference training to emphasize identifying negative behaviors critical to their goals. While assessors naturally identify positive behaviors, C. Allen Gorman, Ph.D., associate professor in UAB’s Department of Management, Information Systems and Quantitative Methods, says targeted training helps them recognize harmful actions that can hinder organizational objectives. Involving assessors in defining important performance dimensions and examples of behaviors, both good and
5-31-2024

STUDIES CHALLENGE WIDELY HELD BELIEFS ON APPLICANT DIVERSITY AND WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

Justin Frake is interested in cause-and-effect relationships in real-world data and the hidden dynamics that shape workplace behavior and equality—or inequality, as the case might be. His curiosity has led to research that challenges some popular beliefs as well as published studies related to women in the workforce. One study shows that firms promoting flatter hierarchies inadvertently discourage female applicants and another study counters several recent studies that claim women CEOs negatively impact career outcomes of other women. Both are published in the Strategic Management Journal. The assistant professor of
5-31-2024

CHALLENGING LEWIN’S MOTIVATIONAL CONFLICTS THEORY

A recent series of experiments challenges the longstanding theory of motivational conflict resolution introduced by Kurt Lewin. According to Lewin, conflicts between two undesirable outcomes (avoidance–avoidance conflicts) are typically harder to resolve than those between two desirable ones (approach–approach conflicts). Lewin posited that avoidance–avoidance conflicts, where individuals must choose between two undesirable outcomes, are typically more challenging to resolve compared to approach–approach conflicts, which involve choosing between two desirable options.
5-31-2024

MEN WITH ‘TOXIC MASCULINITY’ ARE MORE LIKELY TO MAKE SEXUAL ADVANCES WITHOUT CONSENT, STUDY FINDS

No means no when it comes to sex. But what happens when a woman makes a more passive response to a sexual advance? According to new research from Binghamton University, men differ in how they interpret these types of responses, and men who display hostile masculinity, known commonly as “toxic masculinity,” tend to act on them regardless of whether or not they think it’s consensual. A team of researchers, including Binghamton psychology professor Richard Mattson and graduate student Michael Shaw asked men between the ages of 18–25 to respond to
5-31-2024

WHY WE DEHUMANIZE OUR POLITICAL OPPONENTS

Some of human history’s greatest atrocities—genocide, slavery, ethnic cleanings—are rooted in our ability to dehumanize people from other social, political, or cultural groups. Whereas prior research has traced dehumanization to the belief that others think or feel less than we do, new research co-authored by Haas professor Sameer Srivastava shows that our tendency to dehumanize can also be influenced by how we think others view important facets of the world. The greater the difference between our perceptions of an outgroup’s worldview
5-31-2024

STUDY SUGGESTS CHILDREN ARE OFTEN EXPOSED TO PROBLEMATIC CLICK BAIT DURING YOUTUBE SEARCHES

When a child peruses YouTube, the content recommended to them is not always age appropriate, a new study suggests. Researchers mimicked search behaviors of children using popular search terms, such as memes, Minecraft and Fortnite, and captured video thumbnails recommended at the end of each video. Among the 2,880 thumbnails analyzed, many contained problematic click bait, such as violence or frightening images, according to the Michigan Medicine led research in JAMA Network Open. “Children spend a significant amount of time on free video sharing platforms that include user-generated content,” said
5-31-2024

STUDY FINDS WOMEN ARE VULNERABLE IN POST-WAR PEACE PROCESSES

Post-war peace processes are a dangerous period for women. Many are forced to live close to men who committed serious abuse during the war or are expected to testify in various types of truth commissions, which can be both retraumatizing and stigmatizing. These are the findings of a new study by peace researchers at Uppsala University, published in the journal PLOS ONE. “In short, peace projects can force women to live side by side with ex-combatants who committed atrocities during the war. This puts them at risk of further threat
5-31-2024

HOW EMBRACING THE CRINGE CAN HELP YOUR DATING LIFE

We can all agree that dating is hard. Getting to know people can feel vulnerable, but at the same time, exciting. We can also agree that feeling rejected can be one of the worst feelings, especially after we put ourselves out there. Dating can also expose us to a lot of cringey things, maybe even something we didn’t know we’d consider cringey. Think of cringe like something that makes you uncomfortable, or something about someone else that you don’t find attractive. Before dating, most of us consider what we’re looking
5-31-2024

PERSONAL CONNECTIONS AT WORK POSITIVELY IMPACT RETENTION AND MENTAL HEALTH, SAYS REPORT

New survey results from Wiley suggest people still feel connected at work despite the prevalence of hybrid and remote work environments and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). According to the latest Wiley Workplace Intelligence report, “Human Connection: The Crucial Secret to Thriving in the Digital Age,” nearly 8 in 10 employees surveyed (78%) said they feel connected with their coworkers, and almost 7 in 10 (69%) said they also enjoy making connections with their colleagues. Around half even said they want to learn more about their coworkers by doing
5-31-2024

RESEARCHER DEVELOPS MODEL OF INFLUENCER IMPORTANCE WITHIN INSTAGRAM NETWORKS

A study has provided new insights into social media influencers, particularly focusing on those in the women’s fashion sector on the well-known image and video sharing platform Instagram. In a departure from the approach taken by earlier studies, Jens K. Perret of the International School of Management in Cologne, Germany, has used network statistics and centrality measures to establish a model of influencer importance within their network. Perret analyzed data from 255 influencers covering a four-year period. Influencers are loosely
5-31-2024

MOST PEOPLE TRUST ACCURATE SEARCH RESULTS WHEN THE STAKES ARE HIGH, STUDY FINDS

Rank (X-axis) does not affect the evaluation of trustworthiness (Y-axis, mean-centered) of accurate results. This lack of relationship is robust across experiments (columns) and for clicked results (top row, red) as well as non-clicked results (bottom row, blue). The trend lines represent the predicted change in trustworthiness ratings per unit decrease in rank fitted by the linear regression models. Credit: Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-61645-8 Using experiments with COVID-19 related queries, Cornell sociology and information science researchers found that in a public health emergency, most people pick out and click
5-31-2024

MISLEADING COVID-19 HEADLINES FROM MAINSTREAM SOURCES DID MORE HARM ON FACEBOOK THAN FAKE NEWS, STUDY FINDS

Despite the greater potency of “fake news” on Facebook to discourage Americans from taking the COVID-19 vaccine, users’ greater exposure to unflagged, vaccine-skeptical content meant the latter had a much greater negative effect on vaccine uptake. Credit: Jennifer Allen, Duncan Watts, David G. Rand Since the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021, fake news on social media has been widely blamed for low vaccine uptake in the United States—but research by MIT Sloan School of Management Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Allen and Professor David Rand finds that the blame lies
5-31-2024

CRITICAL DIALOGUE HELPS STRAIGHT MEN CONFRONT SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC BELIEFS

Adult heterosexual men with sexist and homophobic views can potentially improve their attitudes toward gay men and women by engaging in critical dialogues that use illustrations as a springboard, according to a new University of Michigan study. The work is published in the journal Sexual and Gender Diversity in Social Services. The process by which people shift from a prejudicial stance to one of relative acceptance is a key innovation of the study. Guided by trained facilitators, critical dialogues reflect illustrations depicting different gender roles and sexual identities. The images
5-31-2024

RELIEVING A FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

If you dread public speaking you are not alone. It is a leading social phobia, one that can cause a state of anxiety that reduces otherwise articulate people to nervous incoherence. A strong fear of public speaking is known as glossophobia. Academic studies estimate it affects 20% of the population, but depending on the sample and methodology, the figure could be as high as 40%. As American writer and humourist Mark Twain said, “There are two types of speakers: Those who get nervous and those who are liars.” But help
5-31-2024

HOW SOME PRIVATE COMPANIES ARE MARKETING TECH AND AI SOLUTIONS

How do universities and colleges decide who to admit? Given the earnings advantage of a post-secondary degree both globally and in Canada, this is an important social mobility question. While the answer varies from one institution to the next, most focus on education criteria like exam scores and grades. However, Canada’s new intake cap on study permit applications puts increased pressure on Canadian institutions to also consider immigration criteria when admitting international undergraduate students. This is just the latest example of immigration’s growing influence on the societal roles of Canadian

Hello! Hope everyone is well. So an introduction about myself since this is perhaps my 20th search post. I am from the east coast of the USA, preferably would like to have a RP partner set within the same timezone within the US as I am since communicating with people halfway around the world proved to be more difficult.
My schedule is a bit iffy sometimes, but you’ll always catch me in the evenings except Tuesdays & wednesdays. Being an adult forces you to contribute to what society demands of you. Such as work, being a parent, being a spouse, all the while revolving how will you find enjoyment of your own time before you go to sleep and do that routine again. If you’re looking for someone for fast replies, or responds with 10 posts a day, I’m not that RPer for you. I can, however, throw at least two responses, more if I am lucky.
Here are my guidelines:
• Radio silent for five days typically means dead RP. We both move on, I would hope everything works out for you for the better.
• This is becoming a common occurrence over the years when I RP, sadly I’m going to say it. If you have specific traumas or triggers, let me know. However, although I may be lenient on some things, don't use it to have me walk on egg shells.
• For those of you who cannot read good, the ad says M4F, which means I as a male looking for female to write with. Not as a character, or a side character. But as a male RPer who wants to write with another RPer who is female. This is my preference, you cannot convince me whether you read my guidelines or not.
• I only play in third person and ask my partner to do so as well. I can play multiple characters whether male or female, that being said I only play as a male character that’s in the spotlight 75% of the time.
• If you have idea to fill in for plot points, do say so! Don’t be intimidated or think it’s going to ruin the RP because of ideas. Communication is a two way street. The worst I can do is say no, but I am open for options where it’s appropriate.
• To know that you have indeed read through all of this and not skim through my ad, answer my most basic question. However, I will ignore messages AND chats if no one answers it. Is a hotdog a sandwich?
• I write anywhere between 4-10 paragraphs. More to set up the scene if necessary and adding a lot of lore. I follow the principle that if you give me something to work with that has effort, you will get it as well. Matching replies? That’s great, but I don’t want to turn my passion into a chore.
• What I write is typically within the category of NSFW. This includes but not limited to: Gore, blood, body horror, darker themes, steamy scenes, etc, etc.
• All characters are 18+, all RPers 18+, no exceptions.
• You can view my samples message me. I would also like to point out that I am in the hobby of writing roleplays for fun and not anything serious to the point it would make grammar nazi’s blush. However, as writers who RP, punctuation, capitalization and grammar are key. Though I am lenient on some mistakes and will not be that guy.
• OOC discussions are fine. Talk to me about music, art, movies, or tv shows. However there’s a fine line between chatter and sharing personal info, in which case I don’t share mine and kindly ask the same to my partner.
PLOT:
Imagine a world where men are warriors, and women are beautiful. Set between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the unwritten records of ALL civilizations, there was an age undreamed of...
Princess (your character’s name), renowned for her wisdom and beauty, had long been the target of envy and malice. The Red Priest, a powerful and treacherous figure in her father's court, scorned her for rejecting his dark propositions and for her influence over the king. One night, a haunting dream of her father being slain plagued her sleep, and her worst fears materialized when a violent coup, led by the Red Priest, erupted within the palace walls. Fleeing for her life, she was shepherded to safety by an old and loyal retainer. As they traversed the darkened city, they encountered Jorro, a formidable warrior who had just escaped prison, where he had been unjustly held on the Red Priest's false accusations.
Jorro, driven by a burning desire for vengeance against those who wronged him, formed an uneasy alliance with (your character). Though their paths had crossed by fate, their goals aligned: to overthrow the Red Priest and reclaim what was rightfully theirs. Together, they navigated through treacherous landscapes and evaded the Red Priest's minions. (Your character's) royal knowledge and Jorro's unmatched combat skills made them a formidable pair.

"Not a single human being on this planet ever saw the universe."
Grand Arbiter Albert XLIII further declared, on their return 37 years after the last broadcast failed in the middle of explaining the secrets of the universe to us.
"What you are seeing is an image of the universe that your brain created to make sense of your surroundings. A mirage, an infinitely imperfect approximation. And there are roughly 8 Billion such approximations on this planet, not even counting non-human entities. We have observed you recently - debating wether the harmonic frequencies of light hitting the rods and cones of your eyes actually generate the same image of color in your brain for all of you equally, and you came to the conclusion that they might not. That everybodies version of "red" or "blue" might be ever so slightly, or completely different. We found it amusing that you aren't drawing the same conclusion to, well, everything else. Through the scientific method and communication accelerators like the Internet, your species managed to align big chunks of those "mirage universes" in your brains, but other areas not touched by the scientific method are left completely unexplored, and therefore to the imagination of the individual. Which lead to many "unfortunate misunderstandings" among you. But make no mistake, even after this global alignment of mirages, the universe inside your mind is still infinitely wrong in the grand scheme of things and unlike any other imagined universe of your peers. Your scientific method suggests the use of calibrated measurement devices that aren't biased by human error to gain knowledge of your surroundings. Which is brilliant, we might add. Your species came up with this kind of technology very early compared to similar lifeforms in other universes. You use these devices to create a "ground truth" from which you reference the rest of your conclusions and predictions. This enabled you to make predictions about the "real universe" you find yourself in, even with this fundamental error underlying your logic system. Either brilliant, or unfathomly lucky. It doesn't really matter. You can pat yourselves on the backs for that.
However, amusingly, you failed to find the crucial detail about the one fundamental, yet completely uncalibrated device at the bottom of everything - your brain - and the sensory organs as extensions of it. No single eye on this planet is the same, no nose, no ears, everything differs ever so slightly. Every brain is folded and twisted differently.
Therefore, what you are observing, and what your scientists are finding models for, is not the real universe. It is the image of this universe your brain creates for you, that makes sense to most of you and that most of your brains are able to understand and find agreement on. Nothing more, nothing less. Especially the intricacies that you are now finding in the infinitissimally small scales and the unfathomly large scales (you curiously still differentiate these two concepts, we observed) are the footprints that the architecture of your brain leaves on these mirage universes. You find numbers everywhere and turn everything into a more and more digital version of nature because the axons that are part of your neurons generate activation signals in a digital, all or nothing kind of way. This part of the brain is what you evolved to use for, among others, your logic systems. Your thinking is in large parts digital, so most of your logic is too. This has gone so far that some of you now think you are actually living in a computer simulation. In some regards, you do, but there is no cosmic entity that generated this simulation and put you in it. You are creating this simulation yourself, in your brain, as a means to maneuver your way around actual physical reality. Imagine having to memorize a picture, but your sensory input systems only allowed you to see one pixel at a time, chosen completely at random, without any reference as to where that pixel is located in the frame. So, you found chunking techniques, the help of your collective hive mind and ideas of particularly eccentric members of your society, to bit by bit close in on a mostly impossible task. But without a paradigm shift on your end, the entirety of the original picture will stay in the shadows of reality.
You created tools like algebra and geometry to circumvent the fact that your logic is mostly digital as a simulacrum of analog information, but for how remarkably useful it is for you to make predictions, it is to what is happening in the real world like what an abacus is to a personal computer. Sure, if you enter '1 + 1', in their own ways, both give you '2'. But one is the tip to the others impossibly large iceberg. It is a sensible abstraction. But it is nowhere close to being an accurate description of what is actually happening or in what ways it useful to you.
We don't want to discourage you by saying this. Your approach, even if it happened out of sheer luck, is brilliant. It really makes the best out of the limitations that you have by your sensory organs and the architecture of your brains. Once a few evolutionary steps later your brain can conceive of more complex logical patterns and images, you will get closer and closer to having an actual copy of the real universe in front of your minds eye. Through the scientific method, you are already optimizing for this. Again, given your species' age, you have developed such a technique incredibly quickly. But what you are doing is finding (very smart) workarounds over a fundamental error you all have in common.
My lifeform, which isn't too unlike yours, just much "older", has taken a different approach in its early stages. Our biggest thinkers found early on that the answers lie within. So for millenia, we focussed our exploration on finding our deepest and truest selves, once we started to move past basic survival instincts, that is. Only after many, many "quantum leaps" in the area of self discovery in the individual and the societal level, we started to artificially accelerate our communication, and overcome physical limitations through technology. It was a slower approach in the beginning, but once we got there, our intellectual growth was exponentially explosive. The time it took us to move from living in basic, mostly local communities that lived off the land - to bending our universe to our wills - was about the time between you writing your currently most popular spiritual fiction and landing on your planets moon for the first time. Note the actual durations might differ greatly, as the concept you call time is very different in our universe and we still haven't fully studied yours.
Anyways. After this event we call "universal reframing", everything else just... fell into place.
Our strategy basically was to, first, fully align our mental universes. And then to perform a depth search from a common starting point. You seemed to have rushed over a few of the crucial bits as soon as the first approach turned out to be useful. Actually, all of the bits but one. It must be a terribly confusing existence that you are living. We can only make an attempt to relate, as our evolutionary strand optimized for alignment before curiousity. That, you could say, was our dumb luck.
Are there any questions so far?"
There was a puzzling silence in an area packed with an amount of people that would normally be present at music festivals or presidential inaugurations. For an event of this magnitude, the stage was sparsely decorated and included only the necessities. Like last time, the visit was spontaneos and unannounced. Or maybe, like last time, we just didn't understand the announcement message, as it might have again came in the form of a formerly undiscovered particle, a seemingly arbitrary number of years prior to this event. They must think they are really funny.
One of the humans chosen as representative of the planet raised their hand.
"Please, speak. As always. Our 'time' is very limited."
"If I didn't misunderstand this: You said, our brains are basically creating what we call 'simulations' for ourselves, in our mind, to make sense of the actual universe we are in and base our actions on. Is this correct?"
"Based on the very crude definition your species has for the word 'correct' I would say 'yes, that is correct.'"
"And these simulations are getting closer and closer to the real deal, right? But what if, say, we didn't want the real deal. What if we liked our own personal pocket universes and instead wanted to bend that one to our own wills instead of the real one? You said we are bad at alignment and I would agree to the point where I say we probably go extinct to our own stupidity before we all agree on even one single thing. Can't we just use your knowledge to just, manifest things into our universe just by thinking about it, like in the movie Matrix, which might have crossed your desk while researching us. Great Movie."
"It did indeed. It is esteemed by my lifeform as what you would call 'slapstick comedy'. Since we moved past what constituted our form of entertainment, the media from your universe has become very popular among my peers. It is by sending samples back to our universe how we finance the probes we are sending here."
"You still have money?"
"I was making - what you call - a joke. Never heard of it in the context of a movie, but that title is immensely funny to me given the circumstances. Anyway, you wanted to know how to bend your 'simulated universe' around you. Alright. You might be slightly dissappointed by the beginning of my explanation, but listen till the end. And make of that what you will.
Let's start by what you mean by 'manifest' exactly. As the inaccuracy of your communication patterns shall not be a hindrance to this mentorship."
"Well... I imagine it. And then it sort of poofs into existence?"
"Understood. Actually, I will start explaning how you perform this action in the actual universe you are in, before I make the transfer to how you do it in the imagined one in your brain."
"Uh.. ok?"
"What would you like to be manifested?"
"I don't know. How about we go nice and easy with a cone of ice cream and start from there?"
"So be it. So, we start imagining the cone of ice cream. What does it consist off? Milk, sugar, eggs, and some smaller additions to suit your individuals taste buds. Let's begin with milk. You are getting it from cows (a practice my society finds quite alienating. We, too, have to get used to the wildly varying customs of lifeforms of the universes). Cows can be domesticated and bred, but first, we would have to overcome the physical distance between us, and a few locations on this planet. For that, I would advice designing and constructing a vehicle that is capa..."
"Oh come on, that's how we manifest things? We go and make them ourselves?? Oh wow, thanks a lot mister transcendant being. So the rest of the stuff you told us was also bullshit?"
"Please refrain from jumping to conclusions without the full picture in mind, even if it is in your existences nature to do so. Alright, so let me offer you a shortcut."
"Please do."
"I know of a location just a few human paces down this road, where you can exchange currency for a cone of ice cream."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"What the hell is the point of this?"
"The point is, once again: you - misunderstanding your existence. Especially in conjunction with your incredibly limited ability to verbalize concepts using your own vocabulary. You are barely at the point of being able to convey emotions in every day speech, and are now expecting to understand high level 4 dimensional concepts after just a few of your incredibly inaccurate words. Tell me now, please: What do you perceive as the difference of these two scenarios I just mentioned? In a temporal manner and in the energy required?"
"Well, it would be much easier and faster to just go down the road and buy a cone of ice cream, but that isn't tremendously astounding information to us, you have to understand."
"'Much'? Let's give this word, 'much', a bit of a frame of reference. The differences between these scenarios are: About 15000 years of agriculture and animal husbandry; countless inventions that led to your current state of technology which allows for refrigeration in a way advanced enough to get the ice cream to just the right texture that your modern palate is accustomed to; An education system that allows for such inventions to occur in time for you to be standing here, demanding ice cream, and actually getting it. Not mentioning the infrastructure that makes you bridge the physical distances of every single time any of these steps needed anything. And meanwhile destroying the naturally occuring resources of your planet bit by bit.
Or, scenario 2: You take the money that you got from staring at a computer screen for about 7 minutes, choose one of the ice cream parlors that your civilization made sure to be on average a 30 minutes driving distance from every single living human. (You aren't very good at even distributions though, we found.). And go and get that ice cream. Even including the infrastructural costs existing now, we have narrowed this process down from not even being close to a reality for thousands of generations to being at most 30 minutes away and dirt cheap, assuming an amount of efficient preparation, that is part of the technology that lead you here.
If you ask me, between scenario 1 and 2, you became so many orders of magnitude closer to 'poofing it into existence' that a human mind has troubles comprehending it. And therefore, appreciating it. From '0% of the human population has access to this within their lifetime and no one will for the next couple millenia' to 'Over half the human population has access to this within 30 minutes", taking into account the total timespan, the amount of events that had to occur and the amount of incremental learnings that had to accumulate, for this to happen even once for anybody, I believe the time and energy you have to exert to access your ice cream cone right now is a rounding error in the grand scheme of things. And you aren't even close to finishing your development as humans - if you manage to not kill yourself somehow.
You are constantly manifesting things into reality, the only issue is that you severely and heavily underestimate what it means 'to imagine a thing'.
Please allow my vanity, but this is an important lesson for the following part that you are, I'm afraid, more interested in. How to do that in your head. And potentially much faster. Well assuming thaXXXxxxx----.----."
"Oh wow, not again. Mighty convenient this always happens right when it gets interesting."
"First, you have to understand that.,.......... The limitations of spacetime that you perceive.... are not present in nature..... nature is infinitely 'dimensional', and in fact XXxxx.....----..--.-.- has no concept for infinity....-.-.--. it is a human made.....-.-.-.- model to describe a perfectly natural phenomenon you lack the words for at this time..._xxxx.xxx-x---.-.--.-zzzz."
"Come on, speak faster! The battery is dying again!"
" ...physical distance...S;.,.XXXxx...currently a big bottleneck for your progres...asd.döö,,,, is also a limitation of your cortex, not nature,.....-as.d.sa......the concept of an 'extent' only exists from certain frames of references..-.-..-.a.ss.a.as.... in others everything is....a.s-d.-.---.-..-xxxx on top of each other, overlapping each other in what you call 'time' AND 'space'"
"...XXXxsasad Listen."
"I am running out of time again humans. The Hopf Fibration. It is a great first step. But move away from your digital thinking. Treat your numbers. .aD;,aC:.x.cx.ac,.as,dca.s like your waves...CKLUJCJUCCLICK"
The broadcast stopped.
"I never know if these things make me smarter, or dumber. Sadly the alien is gone now so it can't tell me that there actually is no smart or dumb."

Hi everyone,
On May 27th the union held an open house and invited all REM employees and many union members to join and discuss what happened, what's next and to answer questions first hand. These are some of the topics discussed.

The Decision and What to Do Next

(Click here to view the decision)
REM had enough signed cards to auto certify for unionization. The employees of REM were denied their right to representation because the LRB accepted REM's position that supervisors and car cab workers should be part of the collective agreement. The LRB denied that shop workers, office workers, drivers etc. should be part of the agreement.
This technicality voided the application. Unfortunately cards signed and votes taken could not be counted because of this, even if they pulled out supervisor and car cab votes and added them to mechanics and apprentices.
REM supervisors testified that they work in the field upwards of 4 days a week on the tools. We are all aware this is obviously untrue.
The union lawyer stated that he fully believes this decision to throw out the application would be overturned in court, however that would be a lengthy process (months to years). Local 82 and their legal representation believe that applying again with the new terms the LRB has set out for their application is the simplest and fastest way to proceed.
So the plan is simple. Local 82 will apply again with the terms the LRB has supplied. We know we had enough votes last time, and know we can do it again. We just need you to sign a card again and discuss with your co-workers what we can accomplish together.
If you believe that you have a right to better wages, benefits, pension, safety and more, the answer is simple. Stand together with your co-workers and work together to achieve something great.
United we bargain. Divided we beg.

Former Richmond Employees

Former Richmond/current union members spoke up, each and every one explaining how they cannot recommend joining the union enough.
Some of their statements were...
"I'm much happier"
"I wish I could have gone sooner."
"I went over as a first year apprentice 6 years ago and I have never made less than 150k a year here"
"The grass is definitely greener here."
"It was one of the best decisions I've ever made."
"The union feels more like a family than Richmond ever did."
These are people many of you have worked with before. They are respectable former REM employees.

Negotiations

The union presidents talked about giving REM 6 months to negotiate. During this period, all contracts must first be voted on BY US before being ratified and before paying dues. The decision whether to accept an offer from REM will solely rest on us.
If we do not come to an agreement and we do not believe REM is bargaining fairly, we will likely take a strike vote. During a strike, all members' jobs are protected by the Anti-Scab Legislation and REM can not fire us and replace us.
A union's real power resides in its ability to shut down the means of production. We are not contractually bound to the contracts; REM is.
Local 82 has shown great interest in striking with us if it came to that. Their members would still need to vote but everyone present at the meeting was in favor.
The question was raised if REM would fall under the same collective agreement that L82 has set out for other companies already.
The answer is that nobody can say anything for sure until bargaining begins, however union reps stated that their plan is to present their current agreement within 10 days of certification.
There is a large difference in the company composition of a large multinational company such as KONE compared to REM. It is quite possible that the first negotiation will be under a separate agreement with the aim for us to be bridged and caught up in time for the next negotiation (current contract expires Oct 2027).
However, the last time the IUEC certified a company as large as Richmond was Fujitec and they signed the current agreement at the time.
Union reps followed this with a statement explaining how their past bargaining is proof that they do right by their members. Each time they complete a bargaining agreement the increases they earn for their members are larger and larger, proof of this being in their last incredible agreement.

Supervisors in the Collective

Since supervisors have made the choice to testify that they are active mechanics working multiple days a week in the field, they will be part of the collective agreement. Should there be a strike, they must not cross the picket line. If they chose to do so would result in fines and possible expulsion from the collective. This would bar them from working for any IUEC union affiliated company in North America.

MIT's in Mechanic Positions

MIT's in service/maintenance or other departments that have their own routes and are not certified mechanics WILL be protected by the union in the current roles until they have achieved their ticket. You will NOT be removed from your position or have any other negative effects because you do not hold a ticket. You will not be replaced by a ticketed mechanic and your position is yours to keep, as it should be. You will be flagged in the union system until you complete your education and receive your TSBC accreditation.

Contact Info

If you have questions, concerns or anything that may have not been answered here in this subreddit, please reach out to Local 82 reps to ask your questions directly to them. Their phones are always on and their door is always open. They ask that you reach out to them through the phone, text, email or in person to discuss anything you like.
Blair Macmillan - 604-329-4832 - [bmacmillan@iuec.org](mailto:bmacmillan@iuec.org)
Tyler Dunlop - 604-968-3735 - [tdunlop@iueclocal82.com](mailto:tdunlop@iueclocal82.com)
Local 82 Union Hall - 2581 Shaughnessy St, Port Coquitlam, BC V3C 3C4 - 604-293-1281

I will be taking over as president for my university's investment club this year, and part of that is creating weekly powerpoints to teach people about investing. I whipped up this mini curriculum for the semester to try and get a condensed, comprehensive idea of what investing is all about. Please give any notes you have on anything that I should add/drop from this. Apologies if this post breaks any rules.
Week 1: Introduction to Investing

• **Why Invest?**: Importance of investing, inflation, and the power of compound interest.
• **Types of Investments**: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, real estate, and commodities.
• **Risk and Return**: Basic concepts of risk and return, risk tolerance, and the risk-return tradeoff.

Week 2: Understanding the Stock Market

• **How the Stock Market Works**: Stock exchanges, major indices (S&P 500, Dow Jones, NASDAQ).
• **Market Participants**: Retail investors, institutional investors, market makers.
• **Order Types**: Market orders, limit orders, stop-loss orders.

Week 3: Fundamental Analysis

• **Financial Statements**: Income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement.
• **Key Ratios**: P/E ratio, P/B ratio, ROE, and others.
• **Qualitative Factors**: Management quality, competitive advantage, industry analysis.

Week 4: Technical Analysis

• **Charts and Trends**: Reading stock charts, identifying trends.
• **Technical Indicators**: Moving averages, RSI, MACD.
• **Patterns**: Support and resistance levels, head and shoulders, double tops and bottoms.

Week 5: Portfolio Management and Diversification

• **Asset Allocation**: Diversification across asset classes.
• **Risk Management**: Hedging strategies, correlation between assets.
• **Rebalancing**: When and how to rebalance a portfolio.

Week 6: Bonds and Fixed Income Investments

• **Types of Bonds**: Government bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds.
• **Bond Ratings and Yield**: Credit ratings, yield to maturity, current yield.
• **Interest Rate Risk**: Impact of interest rates on bond prices.

Week 7: Mutual Funds and ETFs

• **Mutual Funds**: Types, advantages and disadvantages, fees.
• **ETFs**: Differences from mutual funds, how they are traded, benefits.
• **Index Funds**: Advantages of passive investing, popular index funds.

Week 8: Behavioral Effects on Market / Consumer Sentiment

• **Common Biases**: Overconfidence, anchoring, herd behavior.
• **Market Anomalies**: Bubbles, crashes, irrational exuberance.
• **Strategies to Mitigate Biases**: Systematic investing, checklists, diversified portfolios.

Week 9: Macroeconomic Indicators and Their Impact on Markets

• **Key Indicators**: GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates.
• **Central Banks and Monetary Policy**: Role of central banks, tools of monetary policy.
• **Global Events**: How international events affect the markets.
• **Election years?**

Week 10: Introduction to Financial Derivatives

• **Options**: Calls, puts, how options work, basic strategies.
• **Futures**: Futures contracts, hedging with futures.
• **Risks of Derivatives**: Leverage, margin calls, market risk.
• **Other Derivatives?**

Week 11: Real Estate Investment

• **Types of Real Estate Investments**: Residential, commercial, REITs.
• **Evaluation Criteria**: Location, market trends, rental yields.
• **Financing and Risks**: Mortgages, interest rates, property management.

Week 12: Socially Responsible and ESG Investing

• **ESG Criteria**: Environmental, social, and governance factors.
• **Impact Investing**: Strategies for investing with a positive social impact.
• **Performance and Trends**: How ESG funds perform, growth in ESG investing.

Week 13: Developing an Investment Strategy and Staying Informed

• **Creating a Personal Investment Plan**: Setting goals, risk assessment, time horizon.
• **Research and Due Diligence**: Reliable sources of information, financial news, analyst reports.
• **Continuous Learning**: Books, courses, seminars, staying updated with market trends.

I'm not sure about ESG investing for week 12, so if anyone can think of a better topic I'm all ears. Thank you!

Exion has finally started to respond to my posts. It would be easier if Exion would unblock me and engage with me directly but they still refuse to do so. It would also be nice if they linked the posts they are responding to so anyone reading his posts can look up my posts. I made sure to do that for all his posts. In this post I’ll be responding to https://www.reddit.com/Quraniyoon/s/98oVSczZYe.
For the list of parts in my series see https://www.reddit.com/Quraniyoon/s/01K9X3Pjxj

In this post, I will be answering and refuting the individual who keeps writing posts about me and comments every second he gets trying to "refute" me and "expose" me. I am only doing this because some brothers and sisters have allowed themselves to be fooled by this dude.

In his last post before he started addressing my criticisms he made it clear he wouldn’t engage with my criticisms. It’s only after the mods told him to either respond or they’d remove his posts, as can be seen here https://www.reddit.com/Quraniyoon/s/c1XSgLQlZe, that he started responding to me. Given those facts I find it hard to believe his reasons given here for responding to me.

He begins by discussing my translation of the word "ישוחח," which I interpret as "argue" or "put forth."

That’s not where I begin. There is some important context before that. The first part of my first post was about showing the general sloppy nature of his posts using examples which he acknowledged his mistake, are things someone who knows Hebrew would be unlikely to make, and which he later copied elsewhere without fixing the mistake. The issue of ישוחח is just one part of this.

Firstly, in Biblical Hebrew, verb forms such as Qal and Piel (often referred to as Polel in some grammatical traditions) are distinguished by their specific diacritic markings (i.e., vowel points and consonantal diacritics).

Nope. The difference between the Qal and Polel forms in this case are not just in the diacritical marks but also have consonant differences.

Since I believe that the Masoretes distorted the Old Testament by adding these diacritics to reach a deviant interpretation, I do not consider them at all. I read the Old Testament without any diacritics. This is something he has yet to understand

Again in this case it’s not just the diacritical marks. I also understand Exion rejects them and in my responses I give reasons why his diacritical mark suggestions don’t work.

He later argues that the ancient Christian manuscripts (such as the Codex Sinaiticus, Septuagint, etc.) must agree with my claims and not with the Masoretic renderings of the Hebrew text, a conclusion he bases on thin air. I ask: Why is that so? Can you give us one good reason for this conclusion? You can't! He says this only because he considers these Christian manuscripts as divinely revealed criteria and translations.

Note the Septuagint was written by Jews not Christians. I’ve also given my reasons for why those should agree with Exion. He ignores those reasons and then attributes different reasons I never said. I’ll repeat again, Exion’s theory that he’s stated multiple times is that when the Masoretes added the diacritical marks they intentionally added ones that change the original meaning of the text to cover prophecies about Mohammed and Islam. He then claims he is discovering the original true meaning of the verses. If this is true then pre Masorete texts would still have the original meaning. Also any sources from after the Masoretes but which weren’t influenced by them should still have the original meaning. Also any before Mohammed and Islam wouldn’t have the same motivation to hide prophecies about Mohammed and Islam.

The Masoretes could even have been influenced by Christians and their manuscripts,

This is a textbook example of an ad hoc assumption. An ad hoc assumption is when an assumption is added without any evidence to modify a theory for the sole purpose of avoiding falsification of the theory by some evidence. Since these sources that should agree with Exion don’t agree he added a new assumption without evidence to modify his theory to avoid falsification.
It’s also a problematic assumption. The Masoretes were Jews. Jews and Christians were split a few hundred years earlier and so didn’t really influence each other. For the Septuagint this was written even before Christianity. It’s so far before Islam and Mohammed that it’s extremely unlikely they were trying to hide any prophecies about them. It’s one of our oldest sources for the text making them a good source for how early Jews understood the text. It serves as an excellent source for testing Exion’s claims since if they’re true we’d expect, at least a significant portion of the time, they’d agree with Exion. If no one else in history, even before the diacritical marks were added, agrees with Exion then Exion is not speaking the same language as everyone else.

In other words, both Qal and Polel essentially mean the same thing.

Here is what Exion said previously, “Regarding the phrase "Who will argue...", an alternative rendering could be "Who will claim..." However, using the word "argue" may be more faithful to the original text, as it carries a connotation of "complaining" or "disputing" rather than simply making a statement or engaging in ordinary conversation. This nuance helps capture the intended meaning more accurately.”
They specifically note the nuance of the meaning ‘complain’. What they failed to notice is that meaning is only part of the Qal form not the Polel. Both their original and new dictionary citation show this. Since the verb in question is in the Polel form that meaning doesn’t apply. Both source clearly listed the two different forms and the meanings for both. Either this is another case of Exion not reading his sources properly or he didn’t realize the correct form of the verb. Either way it shows the general unreliability of Exion.

Thus, he has fixated on this specific word, insisting it is (without a shadow of a doubt) in the Polel form (because his Pauline forefathers said so)

Actually I insist it’s in the Polel because I understand the different verb congregations. It’s not just diacritical marks but consonant differences as well. A key way we can tell is that the final consonant, ח, is duplicated.

Let's see if the Polel form does anything to save him:

This whole section is a lengthy that follows completely misses the point. Here is the original discussion, https://www.reddit.com/DebateReligion/s/f3XrmqDNqi. Like back then his response misses the point. I go on to note how is translation depends upon connecting two parks of the sentence where the diacritical marks have a break. I asked given all the mistakes he’s made up to that point, with the mix up of the Qal and Polel being the most recent at that time, why should we trust him over the Masoretes. The idea was to show how Exion is unreliable and doesn’t know Hebrew so he can’t be trusted over Hebrew speakers. He doesn’t justify why we shouldn’t take a break at that section, we’re just supposed to trust him but with all the mistakes he makes we can’t trust him. Furthermore after adjusting his translation to accommodate the Polel meaning the next day he copied his post to this subreddit without making the same correction but leaving the mistaken Qal meaning.

I believe (if I remember correctly) that he translates it as:

Nope. I never gave my own translation for this verse. He could have just checked the discussion but instead he made another sloppy mistake where he misrepresented what someone else has said. The discussion is public for anyone to read it themselves and see I never said that.

He goes on to say that I quoted from a fictitious source, which is not true at all. I simply didn’t bother looking through my entire library to find a quote I mistakenly mis-referenced, mainly because the quote turned out to be quite irrelevant, and I don’t waste my time like that.

That’s just an excuse. After giving the original citation a few people tried and couldn’t find it. He was pressed on the issue. Finally after some back and forth he gave a new book name and new author. However, the citation still couldn’t be found in that new book. It was at that point where he just ignored any further requests for proving the source exists. This is the first time since then he’s acknowledged it. Given that course of events it’s strong evidence the citation doesn’t actually exist. Until he provides proof the citation actually exists we should take the citation as fictitious. Though even if the source does exist his acknowledgment of a wrong citation is still evidence of his sloppy work and unreliability with representing sources, something he does very often.

So, I will not bother to refute every single point of the old stuff that I’ve already conclusively answered.

He never did. For the issue about copying the verse number and making it part of the verse all he could say before is that it’s a minor mistake that I’m overblowing. However, as I note the error is not a minor one but actually requires several points of failure, some of which are hard to accidentally make. E.g. removing the space between the verse number and first word after copying takes intentional action. For the pronoun suffixes his response boils down to just claiming every single person who has ever translated it is wrong and he is right. He refused to give a general account of pronoun suffixes that supports his translation along with a source to back up his account. I on the other hand took a picture of my Hebrew textbook showing the full chart to prove he is wrong.

Regarding the stone God mentions that was to be placed in the Temple of God, he says that it is saying

Notice in this section of his response he changes his original translation to include the second instance of the word stone that he previously missed. This acknowledges that he was originally wrong and missed that word. He just tries to rework the translation have that second occurrence of the word stone while still referring to God’s stone. Let’s see if it works.

The next word is אל: This is taken as a preposition according to them, and it generally means "to" or "toward," and never "upon." It is used to indicate direction or movement towards something. While the following word is, again, a stone "אבן."

I deal with his simplistic view of Hebrew pronouns in my pt 2. Once again we have the same problem. The relationship between pronouns in Hebrew compared to English is complicated. The pronoun in my pt 2 analysis has 8 pages in the BDB. אל has 2 pages. For על, which we be relevant in a moment, it has almost 6 pages for the proposition part. It’s far more complicated than giving a short list and only limiting translation to that list.
Regarding אל the BDB under note 2 points out there is a tendency to use it interchangeably with על. For על it lists upon as one of the meanings. Exion goes on to argue the limited set of meanings he gives don’t make sense and from that argues אל should instead be taken to be God. However, when we realized prepositions are more complicated than he makes them out to be and that אל can mean upon this argument fails.

Here, "אל־אבן" would translate to "God's stone" or "stone of God."

Here is the chapter from my textbook on the construct relationship singular. https://imgur.com/a/TWa8x4B. Take the first example. The first word on Hebrew is סוּס which means horse. The second word is הַמֶּלֶךְ which means the king. The translation given is “the horse of the king”. The second page gives examples of how this is translated into English with a ‘s. Based on that “the horse of the king” would be “the king’s horse”. This example shows us if we accept Exion’s claim אל means God and this is a construct relationship then the translation would actually be “God of stone” or “stone’s God”. Exion has flipped the words in his translation.

Thus, the phrase "מטרם שום־אבן אל־אבן בהיכל יהוה" would be understood as "before placing a stone as God's stone in the temple of YHWH" or "before placing a stone, God's stone, in the temple of YHWH"

Actually with the correct word order we’d have “before placing a stone, God of stone, in the temple of YHWH”.

Or you could simply not take "El" as a construct state. In Hebrew, a noun followed by another noun can indicate possession without needing a construct state (i.e. the equivalent of adding 's in English). This is often called "smikhut" or construct form, but it is not always necessary to explicitly form it.

This is confused. He thinks construct state refers to a specific different form or the noun but the possession meaning doesn’t require that different form. My textbook shows that’s mistaken. Yes it’s true the possession meaning doesn’t require a different form, however it’s still called the construct state. This is evident from my textbook. It notes at the bottom of the second page the construct state is sometimes the same as the absolute state. I didn’t mean to say Exion was taking it as having a different form from the absolute state but was pointing out he takes the phrase as indicating possession. That’s why I said if we add the missing word at take the phrase as indicating possession we’d get “stone’s God’s stone”.

This is something he doesn't know because, well, who knows why.

As my textbook proves it’s him that doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Explicitly contradicting your claim that it doesn't exist, but you didn't know that because you have probably never even read the entirety of the chapter to begin with. The Temple was already there. A stone was to be placed in it, God's stone, the black stone of the House of God, and not that it was to be built or built anew. This is why I even wrote the article, because the temple of God was already in existence. How you could have missed this, if you've read the chapter in it entirety, is very baffling to me.

What’s baffling to me is how someone can be so confident and condescending while being so wrong. Not only did Exion fail to research the historical context of the literature he tries to interpret, he failed to notice my summary of the history. Haggai gives explicit historical markers for when the prophecies were made. “In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:” Haggai‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬ ‭ESV‬‬. This places the prophecy in 520 B.C. This was after the Babylonians conquered Israel (specifically the southern kingdom as the northern was already conquered), brought them into exile, destroyed the first temple, the Persians conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews back to Israel to rebuilt the temple. They started to built the temple but stoped when opposition arose. Haggai’s prophecies are about pushing the Jews to continue rebuilding the temple. You can read about the fall of Israel by the Babylonians at the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. You can read about the return to Israel in Ezra and Nehemiah (note the events in Ezra are before those in Nehemiah).
Exion mentions Haggai 2:3 to disprove me. This is another case of him misrepresenting his sources. Let’s analyze it carefully part by part.
"Who among you is left, who saw this house in its former glory?” The word former indicates it had that glory in the past but no longer has it. That is because the previous temple was destroyed.
“And as you see it now”. This calls to attention a comparison of the former glory with the current glory.
“is it not as nothing in your eyes?" This expresses the current glory calling it nothing in their eyes. That’s because the previous temple was destroyed and not yet rebuilt.
Also check out these verses: ““Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.” Haggai‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭11 ‭ESV‬‬. It’s pretty clear the previous temple lies in ruins and God is calling them to rebuild it.

This is why Jacob

Jacob lived long before the temple was built. His life is recorded in Genesis. There is a lot of history in between Jacob’s life in Genesis and the building of the temple in 1 Kings/2 Chronicles. Either Exion is completely ignorant of the history he is commenting on or he’s cherry picking which parts he wants to accept.

Lying and adding words to the Word of God to make it look like another House would be raised.

But that’s literally what happened in history. The first temple was destroyed and the later rebuilt. Again check out the books I mentioned for the historical background, especially Ezra which records the events during the time Haggai was prophesying.

The preposition "the" is not there before "Chemdat," while it is before "Goyim" (heathens), which makes sense because "Chemdat of all the heathens (will come)" and doesn't translate to "The treasure of all the heathens (will come)," as they have it.

Exion takes the lack of the definite article before chemdat as indicating it shouldn’t be translated with a “the” as its indefinite. He then argues taking chemdat the traditional way doesn’t make sense without the definite article so we should instead take it as a name. This again shows he doesn’t know Hebrew.
Note Exion translates it as Chemdat of. He interprets it as possession indicating he takes the Hebrew as being in the construct state. I linked above the chapter on the construct state. The first page notes a noun in the construct state never has the definite article. Instead the the last noun as the definite article then the noun in the construct state is also definite, and if the last noun is indefinite then the noun in the construct state is indefinite. Exion also acknowledges the last noun as having the definite article. When we actually understand the construct relationship we see that while there is no definite article on chemdat it’s still definite since it’s in the construct form with the last noun having the definite article. This undermines his argument for why chemdat is a name.

The phrase "הגוים" (ha-goyim) translates as "the heathens,"

The BDB lists this word as meaning nations/people. Heathen has very negative connotations which are not necessarily implied by the word.

He then says He will fill this house, which they saw as nothing, with glory. The house already exists;

Again look at the historical markers Haggai gives and the historical books for the historical background. Also look at the passage I quoted from Haggai 1 which clearly mentions the current temple in ruins and God calling the people to rebuild it. The promise God is making in Haggai 2:7 is about the new temple being greater than the former.

Going back to Haggai 2, the 18th verse also confirms that the Temple already was there:
"Consider, please, your heart from this day and onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the temple of the Lord was founded, consider your heart."

This particular section is Haggai 2:10-19. By this time the Jews started rebuilding the temple again and had laid the foundation. Haggai 2:15 and 18 are parallel passages calling the people to consider the time since that work on rebuilding the temple was done. God then points to the blessing they’ve experienced since then. That is in contrast to the hardships listed in Haggai 1:10-11 that God says we’re because they weren’t rebuilding his temple.

Nevertheless, he is right about one thing regarding this chapter: it does not mention the new moon to new moon and the end of the Sabbath—that was in Isaiah 66. My mistake.

Yes it is a mistake and it is one of way too many to count where he messes up representing his source in some way.

the second phrase can be interpreted as an end (if we interpret "Shabbat" as "End")

Actually it can’t. I missed this in my post but u/c0d3rman caught it in his comment on Exion’s post. The definition Exion gives in his post is the verb “to cease”. However, “an end” is not a verb but a noun. His translation doesn’t match his own definition.

but it is Biblically and generally interpreted as "Sabbath."

Because as a noun it means Sabbath.

A literal translation of the phrase in the 23rd verse would be:
‎>שבת (shabbat) - "Sabbath"
‎>בשבתו (be-shabbato) - "His Sabbath"
‎>יבוא (yavo) - "it will come"

Putting יבוא as part of this phrase has 3 problems. First it breaks the parallel in grammar and idea with the previous phrase. Second the subject of the verb then becomes the sabbath but that’s not possible. The gender of the verb and subject need to match but sabbath is feminine while יבוא is masculine. Third Exion’s translation has יבוא translated twice, both as part of this phrase and as part of the following phrase. However the word only occurs once in Hebrew so it can’t be translated twice into English as a part of 2 different phrases.
I also explained how this phrase is an idiom in my first post. I referenced the BDB which explains how we know it’s an idiom and what the idiom means, which corresponds to the traditional translation. The verse is not talking about a sabbath coming to a sabbath or coming to an end. It’s saying the frequency that all flesh shall come to worship before God.
I’ve mentioned the BDB often as a source. For those unaware there is an online version where words can be searched, https://www.sefaria.org/BDB. I’m mentioning this because unlike Exion I want to be sure people can easily find the sources I reference. If anyone has trouble finding any particular word I’m not sure how to link to specific words but I’m happy to take pics of my physical copy.
u/TheQuranicMumin you said “If he fails/refuses to do this, we will remove his posts for misinformation.” Can we agree already this counts as a failure to respond and consider his posts misinformation or do I really need to continue addressing his posts/responses?