Hi everyone! A little info first. I'm 20M, doing a very clichéd degree (Mech Engg from NIT Hamirpur) Been a silent observer on this subreddit for quite sometime, and starting to feeling overwhelmed now that there are only a few years left before I'm expected to earn. I've read posts where people have started investing since they were 22-23 and are at 2-3Cr coming into their thirties. I'm very keen to know - 1. What profession you are in, so that maybe I can get an idea what is the real money-machine occupation. 2. Where and how did you learn about investing (some book, or a course, or yk, a blog or something, maybe even a friend) I want to be prepared for when I have money. I'm also in full knowledge that there's so such thing as being prepared for life beforehand, but still, we try. 3. Want a little advice from those who've been where I am rn. For those who can help me in point 3, a little extra info - I'm into full stack development and planning to learn a lot of other things this summer break (mostly DSA, and DevOps). Two things on my mind - look for a job right away after college / prepare for CAT as a General Engineering Male and try for MBA. Please guide.

For context, I (19) live in New Zealand, and the friend (18), who I will call T, lives in Texas. So obviously there is some distance between us.
We have been friends since late 2021 when we met in an insanely toxic and traumatising discord server and I have been sure that I was 100% there for him as he struggles a lot with mental health. And over the years as we got closer we somewhat developed romantic feelings for each other, even “fake dating” at one point. But I never thought it was that serious. Though I probably didn’t help in this case as I sometimes made gestures that could be seen as romantic such as making playlists and sending him handmade gifts. We both agreed and told each other that if it wasn’t for the distance we would be together.
Recently though, I have started uni and moved into uni halls, and with that I have started regularly hooking up with someone. And because me and T weren’t official or anything and I didn’t think it was a big deal, I somehow let it slip in a conversation. It’s not like I was really keeping it a secret from him at all. This really upset him though and this combined with some other things have caused friction in our friendship. And we are on sort of a break.
I do love him and don’t want to hurt him, but I also don’t want to put my life on hold for someone who is half the world away and is too mentally ill that he is in and out of mental hospitals and cannot complete school, let alone get a job so the chance of us ever meeting each other is slim to none. I don’t want to upset him too much because he might hurt himself and it feels like I am walking on eggshells.
Any advice or comments are greatly appreciated

Here's what's holding you back...
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Secondly, the diet "advice" you're listening to is clickbait and cookie cutter.
It's failed you in the past, and it will continue to fail you if you keep listening.
There are only 2-Steps you need to do for fantastic results:

1 Use your suspension trainer with 'Muscle-Centric Technique' ✅

2 Optimise your nutrition to improve your insulin sensitivity ✅

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If you’re pulling-pushing-hanging with your suspension trainer but never seeing any changes in your body.
You're using it with "Movement-Centric Technique."
Which is a waste of time.
Why?
Your body weight load is shared across multiple muscles.
So no single muscle takes enough load to cause a muscle and strength building stimulus.
You need to use "Muscle-Centric suspension trainer Technique"...
Isolate the muscle you want to target and don't allow other muscles to help out.
By using slow, controlled technique, and your mind-muscle connection to squeeze the muscle powerfully.
Then all your body weight load goes onto that muscle.
And you get a BIG muscle building stimulus.
Which means you build lean muscle all over your body.
More muscle, more fat burned at rest.

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You don't have good insulin sensitivity:

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A couple of weeks ago I decided to stop/quit playing video games as it has been one of my biggest addictions over the last 15 years. In a way it was a great escape from reality as I was undiagnosed for 28 years of my life. Seems like in a way I used video games to stimulate my brain and to live inside my safe zone.
The problem I faced was that It stimulated me so much that everything else in life was boring and felt like a chore. I would avoid social events or time with the family just to get some more time behind my computer. It was really an addiction and a hard one to break for sure.
The thing is that now that now that I stopped playing video games life seems to be a lot better. I end up doing a lot of chores and work around the house. I somewhat enjoy going shopping for food or essentials. I spend a lot more time with the family and we often go on fun trips together.
I don't have any social media other than reddit so for me scrolling on Tik Tok has never been an issue. But I do however see that a lot of people are addicted to it and it is just overstimulates your brain so much.
The point that I'm trying to make is that it seems that if you get somewhat get rid of or limit the fast food dopamine source in your life You will end up feeling a lot happier and life becomes just a bit more bearable.
I'm not saying that video games are wrong or that you should quit them but just take it in consideration if it is an actual addiction for you.

I (30F) recently had a first date with a woman (28F). I like her, she’s cool, different from me (example; she’s a morning person and I’m not). I would like to get to know her better. She knows this and likes me too, but she doesn’t like it when I put up a boundary.
She wants to do all sort of ‘relationship things’ together, and I just want to take things slow and don’t want to rush into a relationship. I mentioned this a couple of times and she states she is giving me time.
I’m not really a phone person (when I’m in the company of others or at work I don’t use my phone) and it bothers her that I don’t tell her when I’m busy and give ‘late’ replies. I do tell her when I’m at work or with my friends.
It also bothers her that when I say I’m going to sleep, I go to sleep. She says I make the decision for the conversation to be over, and it is something we need to decide together.
I’m getting the feeling I’m too selfish to be in a relationship. I like doing my own thing, but I also like her and would like to spend time with her, to see where this could go.
I don’t know what to do because I do like her but it seems like I keep on disappointing her with my actions (or lack of actions)

Randomly decided to look back through all of the previous ICCA winners and give em a scoring, so here you go! I only went as far back as 2015 because I couldn't find a live video for the 2014 winners.
A couple notes first:

• I only used live videos where applicable. This makes it fair for groups like SoCal, Pitchmen, and Bloom who haven't put out studio versions. For processed videos, 3 points will be deducted from the total in the name of fairness.
  
• I am in no way, shape, or form a pro. These are just subjective scores I gave based on a few categories I thought mattered. The categories were vocal quality, arrangement, solos, choreo, creativity, delivery, vp/rhythm, and interest factor. Total scores are out of 100 btw. That being said, here's the rankings!
  

1. 2017 - The Nor'Easters - 93 points
   
2. 2023 - Pitchmen - 91 points
   
3. 2019 - N'Harmonics - 90 points
   
4. 2021 - Faux Paz - 86 points
   
5. 2024 - Bloom - 84 points
   
6. 2022 - Pitches & Notes - 79 points
   
7. 2018 - SoCal VoCals - 78 points
   
8. 2016 - TechTonics - 73 points
   
9. 2015 - SoCal VoCals - 62 points
   

Again, these are all pretty subjective and I'm not a pro! I'd love to hear some of y'alls opinions on this and to see some other people do this as well!

My NR200 arrived yesterday but I was gutted to realise when I opened it that I'd accidentally ordered the V2 with only the vertical GPU mounting and water cooling option. I put it all back in the box and returned it because I have my heart set on air cooled. Did I do the right thing?
My decision was based on my current system which has a Corsair H100i Elite inside. When the temps go up that thing gets noisy. Not just fans but the pump as well and I find it really grating. I know an air cooled system will also get noisier when load increases sufficiently but I'm hoping it will be less egregious. I also don't want the worry of leaks, particularly since my new build will be moved around from time to time.
Interested to know what others here think on the subject....As well as tips on getting the quietest system without compromising **too much** on performance.

History: * Heavy vaper for 10 years * Tapered down over 2 weeks with patches (21-14-7 for a few days) - was feeling confident; could have spread it out more; in evenings I would take off the patch and vape to my heart's content * I quit coffee about a week before I started patches (may have impacted withdrawal positively)
Just graduated college a few weeks ago, took this dead time between graduation and starting a new job to get off of nicotine.
Tapering nicotine patches down experience: Going from 21 to 14 was pretty seamless, felt only mild symptoms. Going from 14 to 7 was a bit more challenging for the first couple days, had some symptoms and took some hits to alleviate, but overall was consuming less nicotine. That was incredibly mild compared to day 1 without the patch.
Day 1: strong cravings, brain fog that got progressively worse (12 hour mark); can't concentrate on anything for long, doing mentally challenging things feels impossible. Frustration tolerance is low but I'm not super irritable.
Day 2: moderate cravings. Brain fog feels worse. In a panic/desparation I'm googling people's nicotine withdrawal timelines hoping that this brain fog won't last for weeks. Brain fog is temporarily better after going for a nice walk. Maybe that slight amount of adrenaline is helping.
By the evening I'm noticing that the brain fog is starting to lift a bit, but irritability is settling in. It's sinister, I don't feel completely annoyed by arbitrary things, but I'm subconsciously picking fights and giving people a hard time for no reason. I remember noticing I was more irritable/quick to anger when I started vaping years ago... ironic.
Day 3: Brain fog is definitely lighter but still present. No way I'm getting anything mentally challenging done. Ended up playing Pokemon for much of the day... haven't played in 7 years or so. I feel awesome, I tell myself, but think it's mostly relief that the brain fog is starting to fade.
Noticed I'm still coughing a good bit here and there, but not experiencing the early morning coughs like I did when I was vaping. Cravings are somehow low but the temptation is still there. Just one hit, just to prove to yourself that you don't need it... glad I didn't do it.
Been drinking the same amount of water I usually do but I'm peeing a LOT. Feels like every 15 minutes I'm getting up to pee. Like I've had coffee for the first time in a while.
Feels like I can't eat as much as I used to. Like things aren't moving through my system as fast (which is fine).
Day 4: Brain fog is 85% gone. Cough is 95% gone and when it's there, it's dry. Irritability is decreasing. Mouth is dry as hell despite drinking tons of water. It's easier to fall asleep.
Day 5: Feel less out of breath when going for moderate walks (2 miles/3.2 km). Have noticed I feel way less irritable/anxious, I'm less stressed around friends/family. More open than normal.
Second day now I've woken up 90 minutes before my alarm. Feels like my sleep is good, it's just harder to fall asleep after waking up compared to before. Took a midmorning nap.
Day 6, Day 7: More of the same. Brain fog is gone. Irritability seems gone. Mouth is still dry. Got the courage to throw out my vape/remaining juice.
I can't believe I've made it this far. I thought I'd always be someone dependent on nicotine. I recommend anyone having a go at least take a few days off from work (if possible), stay hydrated, and do some light exercise.
I feel like I definitely had it easier than some folks. Best of luck to all of you.

TRIGGER WARNING this entire post is about sexual assault and sexual violence. drugs and pregnancy are briefly mentioned.
I (31F) was sexually assaulted for the first time when I was 15 years old. I’d gotten drunk at my ex boyfriend’s birthday party, and after he put me safely to bed, another man I’d met that night came into the room. He was 21. I don’t remember very much of what happened, but I do remember the feeling. The next day, I woke up at home, and did everything in my power to lock that memory away tight. I’ve always been good at compartmentalization, so I was very efficient, even if it wasn’t healthy.
Two years later, I’d just gone through a really horrible breakup and I was crying outside my high school. A good friend of mine (M, 18 at the time) saw me crying and offered me a ride home. I took it as a gesture of kindness and accepted, feeling relieved that I didn’t have to walk. When we got to my house he asked if he could come in and use the bathroom so I said sure. That’s not why he wanted to come into my house. He assaulted me, then got up, and left me crying and bleeding in my living room.
Two months later I still hadn’t gotten my period, so I went to one of my close friends and asked her if she’d come with me to buy a pregnancy test. It turned out positive. So, the following week, I ditched school and went to have an abortion. It was a horrendously traumatizing experience, it was painful, it was emotional, it was all around awful. I was in pain for weeks, and even now (14 years later) I’m still not over the combined trauma of the assault and subsequent procedure.
Several years later, I was hanging out with a friend (17F), her brother (14M), and her brothers friend (15M). All of them enjoyed smoking pot but I really wasn’t a fan, weed makes me sick and dizzy and I generally don’t care for it, but they ragged on me and ragged on me trying to get me to smoke with them, so I finally caved. They got me extremely high, to a point I was very very uncomfortable with. The brothers friend led me into a bedroom, I thought to go to bed, but that was not the plan. That whole experience is really hazy for me because I do not handle marijuana well, which all of these people knew.
Then about six or seven years ago, I drunkenly texted my ex, who I had been trying to maintain a peaceful friendship with. I asked him to come out to the town I was in and bring me cigarettes, because I couldn’t drive to get some for myself. I remember him getting there to drop them off and each of us lighting a cigarette, and then it’s blank. I woke up 18 hours later, bleeding and bruised in his bed, with hundreds of missed calls and texts from people wondering where I was. It had been almost an entire day that I’d been missing and nobody had been able to find me or figure out where I was.
I suffer every day from C-PTSD and PTSD. I suffer every day from these events. I question myself every day, I doubt myself every day, I judge myself every day. Truth be told I’ve never fully dealt with these traumas, I’m only just beginning to do so in therapy, but they’re always there inside me. I don’t really know what I thought I’d gain from posting this, but I just wanted to get it out. Thanks for listening.

I (30F) need to vent about this. Since I couldn't just rely on my wife who keep supporting me of my job. But I'm at my wits end.
So, I'm a game developer (I'm not privy to discuss what role I'm in) in Canada, working on a well known game from a company (first-letter U, which I guess you all can guess). 5 days ago, we announced Codename Red and as all you can guess on social media these days, Codename Red garnered....a heavy criticism to say the least.
First off, I'm not involved anything on the story and the whole thing. But I enjoyed working there and everybody is nice. I'm aware some of the company reputations in the past, which yeah...it's bad. But not with these people that I'm currently working on.
Now, several of my friends are also game developer in other company, have strong views on Project Red, that like in social media, they disapprove stuffs that was made in the game and it's content. They have problems with the company and always brought up the issues of how bad it is now.
My friends are good people, but they're recently went indie and others recently got laid-off and they always brought up that they would rather die than working the company I'm working on. They told me I should quit too, because "It's gonna be dead on arrival". Maybe it is, but it's not even launch day. After I told them I working my ass off to get paid because it's my job. They got pissed off and left.
I feel bad about telling them that. I still feel I could've handled it better. The only friend and support I have is through my wife and she tells me that my friend is only overreacting.
AIW?

I hate my house. I hate everything about it. It’s always too clean, and there just seems to be something off about it. Although, I can’t ever find anything tangible that is wrong with it except for the fact that it’s dark. There is never enough light to illuminate things I need to see. I somehow always find myself squinting when I read, and turning on more lamps as the day goes on. I am well aware that I have many more light sources than the average person, but I need them. There is never enough light.
I realized this about my house after the first week of moving in. The first week was filled with the excitement of independence, however once the high wore off, the darkness settled in. It has honestly just made me uncomfortable. I feel like the house has something to hide.
I came back from work one evening and started my ritual of turning on just about every light there was in this goddamn place. It took me a couple of minutes to thoroughly go through every light source and click each one on. It made my house slightly more bearable, but still it wasn’t enough.
Finally I convince myself to go finish up some paperwork. I walk towards the living room where my desk is, and pull out a pen and a flashlight. I always need the flashlight to do any sort of writing because my eyes don’t even seem to register what I am writing if I don’t have extremely concentrated light focused on the paper.
I switch my flashlight on and begin writing. Going along, I manage to get through most of it within twenty minutes or so. Although, as time passes, the light from my flashlight seems to be brighter and brighter. Confused yet happy, I look at my flashlight and see that it wasn’t even on. I click the button a few times, and it must be dead. Confused, I look up at the ceiling where the recessed lighting is and am almost blinded as I look at it. It’s brighter than I’ve ever seen it in my life. I feel the light hit my skin and take in the beauty. I’ve never experienced this much pure bliss. Finally, light has entered my life and I feel a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
I look around the living room and find that every single light source that has been turned on is glowing brighter than ever before. So, I just sit in my office chair, basking in the artificial light that is finally enough for me.
A few minutes go by, and the excitement of light has worn off. Now, if anything, it has become too bright. I look up at the ceiling once again and see that the light is even brighter than before. How could that be possible? It almost hurts my eyes.
In fact, now it does hurt my eyes. I look down at my tile floor for a second. With the overly bright light, I can now see things I never saw before in my house. There’s huge cracks along the baseboards. The cracks even run up the walls and spider out in a million directions. I quickly run into my kitchen, and find that the cracks are there too. How could I have never seen them before? I know that my house was dark, but it shouldn’t have affected my sight that much, right?
I look to the countertop and find the set of chef’s knives sitting pristinely in the corner. I never realized how incredibly dirty they were, or how sharp the blades were. I take a closer look and find gunk practically growing on the knives. I seriously don’t understand how I could not have seen it until now.
The light is getting brighter. The colors are now becoming washed out in my kitchen by the harsh light. It’s so bright that anything even slightly reflective causes me to squint and look away. I feel my heart pounding in my chest as my brain tries to think through the situation. Why is this even happening?
I look around more at my kitchen and discover even more details that I had never seen before there was light. The window’s seal was completely broken, and there were insects flying in, hundreds a second. The pots and pans all had leftover food residue that looks like it could grow to the size of the house soon if left unsupervised. My fridge had a huge dent in the metal door, and the cabinet doors were all off of their hinges. My house was literally falling apart. All the while, the lights were getting unbearably brighter.
I had to get out of here. I wasn’t sure which would get me first, the lights blinding me, or the house collapsing on top of me, or the mold taking over almost all of the food left in my pantry. I run towards the front door, and try to leave, but the instant I touch the handle, I draw back my hand as it burns me. The light has become so bright that I can hardly see anything, and the metal in my house is starting to heat up. I realize that it is now or never, and that the flesh on my hand will need to be sacrificed to spare my life. I reach out blindly for the handle once again, turn the lock, and shove the door open. I can smell the burning flesh and I can hardly feel anything but pain in my hand.
As I cross the threshold of my door, I hear my house begin to collapse behind me. I run a few yards away from my house and look back. It’s entirely rubble now. I wonder how I could have never seen all of the signs of that decaying house until a few minutes ago.
The darkness blinded me from the problems. The light blinded me from the solutions.
It was too late.
I am homeless.
Nobody would ever believe that I hadn’t seen the cracks in my walls and foundation until now, or the mold growing on my food or the lights becoming so bright that I was temporarily blinded. They will all think I’m crazy. And the worst part is, I can feel the darkness settling over me once again. There is no more light, and even though it seemed to blind me temporarily, I missed what the light revealed. Now I am left in the dark about what my life will become once again.

So ik it’s a heavy topic that a lot of people have strong feelings for on both ends, and this is a long one, I apologize in advance. So I’m 22, F, and my new bf is 25, M.
I have a lot of insecurities about myself and I fully admit that. I also have borderline personality disorder, which adds to the insecurities within a relationship. With that being said, I have been in intensive therapy for years and my bpd isn’t necessarily an issue. I’ve had issues with my weight, and finally just dropped 30 lbs.
My new bf is very sweet, I adore him, and I am fairly happy with him. But. There’s one red flag I can’t get passed no matter how hard I try.
I think he’s a sex addict. We talked about sex before we started dating and I told him due to trauma, I sometimes go through phases where I don’t want to be touched sexually. His response “Don’t get upset if you find porn on my phone.” Not the best response, but hey as long as I don’t see it, it can’t hurt me, right? Wrong. We’ve been sexually active very frequently, but as time goes on it’s definitely changed. Going from multiple times a day, to him going off the first try after 10 minutes. But he’s always making sexual comments at me, always hinting for sex, grabbing me sexually. It was off putting but not horrible till the other day. We showered together, I had a mental health moment regarding sex and I told him I sometimes feel like I’m being used for my body, to where I legitimately bawled my eyes out, which I never do in front of people. Fast forward I get up to get dressed and do my thing, he has the door shut, and I realized I forgot my socks. Go to open the door for them and I look down to look at him and see his phone, porn. Straight porn.
I felt sick, not even minutes after I bawled about my sexual trauma and how I’m feeling used, do I open the door to see a girl giving head on his phone.
He claimed it was from the other day and he accidentally left it open, but he’s always on his google so I originally didn’t believe him, now I kinda just brushed it off as a possible tab that was opened.
Fast forward again, I felt sick all day at work yesterday, and had a bad day at work. He picked me up, and got me kinda annoyed with some jokes (non sexual) that he was making towards me so I kept to myself for a bit and laid down to calm my stomach. I knew he was outside in the garage fixing up his car so I got up, walked outside; and was going to tell him I was starting to feel a bit better and wanted to just sit with him. I walk inside and he turns around, belt buckle undone, pants undone, and very visibly aroused. He claimed he went pee and never buckled it back up.
I went to go throw up inside. I was more hurt than anything. He doesn’t ever ask for pictures or videos of me, other than 2 he took before we even started dating. We can’t even have one full session anymore because he goes limp right away and claims it’s because he’s sweating.
I’ve had this uncomfortable feeling in my stomach since, and it’s making the nausea 10x worse. I close my eyes and I see him watching those videos and I don’t know why it makes me feel so awful. I have a very specific build. I’m shortish (5’5) but have very small breasts and upper body, but a larger lower body.
When im in love with someone, I can’t find other people attractive, and I’m even bisexual. The idea of porn grosses me out. My thought process is that you have a partner, why do you have to look at someone else’s videos sexually when you can easily get your partners. But that could also be the fact I have bpd as well. Lastly, as of right now, the reason I’m writing this is because he’s in the shower for work, and he thinks I’m asleep. I hear a women’s voice from inside the bathroom (his phone obv) and the more I try to understand it the more it sounds like moaning. I’m trying not to throw up or cry. I don’t understand why it bothers me so much but it does. I don’t want to seem controlling but it’s absolutely steering me away from him, to the point where when we do have sex, if he closes his eyes I immediately dry up because i just get this thought of him imagining other women.
Am I the AH for being upset over this?

• Putin + Kim Jong (Dictators)
• Blackwater (PMCs & Mercenaries)
• I5I5, H4M4S or 4L-Q43DA (Terrorist organizations)
• CIA & NSA (Governmental bodies and departments)
• Foreign invaders (Military & Special Forces)
• World leader (President & Prime Minister)

In terms of a dictator:

Figures such as Putin are the ones usually giving their subordinates such as mercenaries, special forces or the regular military the order to commit any crime against humanity, so they are the true mastermind, sitting behind the scenes while their subordinates commit the crime on their behalf.
They know that the police can't do shit to them, due to being in power of the country, so it'll not make sense as to why they would arrest someone above their pay grade. It does matter if you pursue the case via the ICC, that only works in absentia but not make them physically present.
They have their own military, law enforcement and equivalent of the CIA, so the police stand no chance on approaching them, despite these people being complicit with committing any crime, such as murder, torture, extortion, kidnapping, etc.

In terms of PMCs & Mercenaries:

Usually, they are employed by a private corporation. Even though the personnel look like soldiers, they are not fighting for a nation, solely for monetary gain, the rules for typical soldiers do not apply since they are not considered as part of the conventional military.
Heads of such PMC firms know that police can't arrest them directly, shifting accountability of their crimes to a third party just to save their own skin, so it'll be a challenge. A real example, there were American mercenaries who murdered 2 Iraqi nationals in cold blood but got away with it.
The most infuriating part is that they were pardoned by the president 9 years after it happened, plus the USA is not an official member of the ICC, making it hard for the victim to pursue justice, basically the government who hired them are deemed immune from legal repercussions.

In terms of terrorist organizations:

You will be in immediate danger if you dared to confront or called the authorities on such people and organizations, since they will kill everyone without mercy if they know you alerted the police of their crimes or atrocities. (Murder: Beheadings)
Police would be too intimidated to face them (since they will also target their loved ones), from terrorists ruthless as I5I5 are known to kidnap, torture and murder anybody regardless of their status and occupation. They have no problem on murdering both the judge and jury.
You can try to pursue justice, but it'll come at a huge sacrifice, plenty of judges, jurors, cops, lawyers, prosecutors, eyewitnesses, private citizens including yourself will all be prey, as all of you will be murdered by these people, so there is no trial or prison time for them.

In terms of governmental bodies & departments:

There is no luck, since they are politicians and have such a strong upper hand over the police, you can be the next Snowden but guarantee that you'll be labeled as a traitor and a whistleblower, you are basically doomed at this point. (There's not much you can do to save yourself.)
Organizations equivalent to the NSA or CIA can orchestrate an assassination staging it as an accident, while they utilize their governmental connections to conceal their involvement. The police are heavily tied to the state, so calling them while being targeted is useless.
These governmental bodies can also hire a hitman too, that is if you know too much. Since they can just order and pay a contract killer to assassinate you, who might subject you to torture eventually on considering killing you.

In terms of the military and special forces:

In a situation akin to what happened in Iraq, the soldiers will consider policemen in the country they are in as combatants, so the police will be murdered in cold blood, as the military remains steadfast about asserting their authority over them.
Despite if the military or special forces being complicit on murdering your loved ones, you got to consider that they are following orders from the higher authorities (usually their superior or government itself) so that will pose a challenge on arresting the true mastermind.
The cloest thing you can achieve is at least arresting one of the soldiers through military justice and a court martial to convict him or her, but not the official armed force branch itself. For instance, what happened at a prison in Iraq, the US troops abused the inmates there.

In terms of a world leader:

Again, like with dictators, they are the ruler of the nation. Whilst still in their tenure, they cannot be prosecuted, the only way that would work is to wait for their tenure to end, once they are no longer in office then you can pursue justice.
For example, Trump incited the insurrection of the white house, despite him not bearing arms, but his rhetoric exacerbated the influence on his supporters to storm the white house, it was too much for the police to handle, although they did arrest some figures involved.
Though Trump himself remained immune whilst in power, although after he was no longer president, there was a case against him for that, it is still dragging on until now. He is not been officially convicted of the insurrection back in 2021.

My girlfriend and I have been together for 1 year, from Dec 2022 to Dec 2023. During that year things didn't go very smooth, we had a lot of fights, which were mainly caused by constant miscommunication of our needs and expectations. Our big fights occured approximately every 2 months. Inbetween those events, we had plenty of very good and happy times, with travelling, holidays together etc.
Eventually, the repeating negativity and issues that couldn't be resolved through talking anymore outweighed the little positive that was left, and she broke up in December 2023. After a month of being separated, where we both had time to reflect on what led to our breakup, I contacted her and we met. A month later we got back together (February 2024). Our new relationship made a 180 degree turn and things couldn't be better right now. Our relationship is healthier than ever, we communicate well, there's no fighting at all. (In our 1st RS we barely had sex more than once every 2 weeks, now it was daily)
During our "first" relationship, we didn't post any pictures together, we never talked about moving in together or introduced each other to the family. Now in our "second" try, we met each others families, we post pictures together and we plan for long term goals. The only thing that never left my mind, was the question if she met someone else, maybe slept with someone else during our time apart. I asked her openly and she said no she didn't.
Last night, she fell asleep in my bed, I was still working on my PC. I don't know her pin code, nor did I ever try checking her phone or asked her to show me anything, I had full trust in her at any given time. She fell asleep listening a Youtube Podcast, which meant her phone stayed unlocked. I took it away from the bed to bring it to the nightstand for charging. While holding it, this sudden urge of checking her phone in order to convince myself that nothing ever happened overcame me. So I checked her whatsapp conversation with her best friend, as I knew that they exchange about everything. I scrolled up to the days where she left me in December 2023 and read til the day we got back together.
I found out that she started texting and meeting this new guy, shortly before she officially broke up. They had a few dates and slept together. After we met again and talked about our past relationship, she broke everything off with him. This reassured me, because this meant that our relationship was more important to her in the end, but it also shocked me because she lied. This made my insecurity skyreocket, so I started digging deeper and looked at other chats...
I found out that shortly after we got together and we started having issues (around march 2023) here and there, she began hooking up with different men, sexting and exchanging pictures. These hookups and texts occured frequently every month or two, from february 2023 until she broke up with me. This included a married man that secretely had an affair with her, a DJ and some other profiles that were now blocked. None of these conversations or any new ones extended beyond 2023. Since we got back together she didn't text any guy, and told her best friend how happy she was with me, now that our relationship is on the right tracks. The married man seemed to be a long time friend of hers, that she occasionally hooked up with during the last few years while being single. She talked to him about our issues, showed him screenshots of our fights and was looking for comfort. She told him multiple times how she can't continue like that but doesn't have the strenght to break up. Many of the things that she complained to him about were actually things I did and they were indeed mostly my fault.
I am totally devastated, I know I shouldn't have done it and I'm ashamed of what I've done. It completely shattered anything that I believed was true about her. I didn't tell her anything or show any anger this morning as she left for work. I don't know what to do. I love her so much and everything is finally perfect since we "redirected" our relationship onto the right path. I'm not trying to defend or justify anything that she did, but I feel like her actions were linked to the things that didn't go well during that entire year.
Either I tell her that I checked her phone, which will lead to a breakup or I figure out a way to see the "old" and the "new" relationship as two separate events, since I couldn't find anything indicating that she's still seeing other people and being dishonest. On one hand, I don't know how to pretend as if I didn't know it, on the other hand I don't want to end this for something that is linked to a past relationship. This year we are invited to several weddings together, we booked our vacations, etc.
Please help me..

Hey everyone,
I'm looking to start investing since I have some money laying around and definitely won't be putting it in banks anytime soon. As a beginner, I wanted to ask for advice on a few things:
First, which brokerage platforms do you recommend for investing from Lebanon? I've heard about Interactive Brokers, but I really know nothing about this stuff, hence why I'm here asking.
Also, are there any local regulations or tax implications I should be aware of?
Finally, what investment strategies would you recommend for a beginner? Any tips for getting started and common pitfalls to avoid? Whether it's about choosing the right broker, understanding market trends, or managing risk, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve been a greg for a while but I don’t really post on here but after seeing the starbucks controversy i feel like i have to say something. the way you guys are acting on this subreddit is so disgusting. it isn’t just a cup it represents a company that has sued its union workers who have publicly supported palestinians (not to mention their horrible treatment of their union workers in general). while we should focusing on the bds boycott list, it doesn’t mean to continue to support companies outside of it that support israel. the idea is to boycott as many companies as possible and starbucks is pretty easy to boycott! i have seen danny’s community post and im glad he addressed it. i don’t expect him to be very outspoken on international conflicts but him being silent about it + having the starbucks on display did put a bad taste in my mouth. you guys need to stop idolizing internet people and start to do some critical thinking.

Hello, I just want to let this out on my chest, and express what I feel throughout the years because now halo halo na nararamdaman ko. Hindi ko alam sinong ku-kwentuhan, and ayaw ko rin mag kwento sa mga kakilala at mga kaibigan ko. To begin with, growing up, I was used to my lola’s sermon. Minor mistakes lang na magawa ko palagi akong nakakaramdam ng kabog sa puso kasi I know tatalakan niya ako buong araw and she will never forget it, kaya lumaki ako na sobrang takot magkamali dahil kapag nagkakamali ako, I should expect an insults and harsh words. Whenever she’s not in the mood, she will always tell me na “Wala kang kwenta kagaya ng magulang mo” “Kasalanan mo lahat” “Kaya ka ganyan kasi ganyan ang mama at papa mo” “Wala kang silbi” “Wala kang alam gawin” and all other hurtful stuffs a human being could said, hindi lang kapag mag-isa ako, even when I am with my friends, cousins, strangers, family gatherings and even sa mga co-teachers niya.
I don’t want to have a grudge on her even if she’s like that, marami rin siyang ginagawa for us, siya ang nag babayad sa ilaw namin, and sometimes pumupuna sa mga bagay na dapat ginagawa ng parents ko. My dad provides the foods, needs, and wants, while my mom pays for the water, and nagbibigay ng baon. They are working both so we are left with her, our lola, na may ari rin ng bahay.
Today, hindi ko nalinis yung timba na pinapalinis niya para sa panligo niya, not because I don’t want to, but because I bought a cord sa kanto namin, mainit, nag pahinga agad ako kauwi and nawala sa isip ko, not until she mentioned it while I was eating spaghetti, and fuck I know where this thing would go, kaya agad ako tumayo and iniwan yung pagkain ko, diretso sa banyo where the bucket is, not until she stopped me, pinabalik niya ako, so I thought, it was okay.
I go back to eating my food, and she started blabbering about things, I was eating spaghetti while she’s doing that, I was eating spaghetti when she reminded me how useless I am and that I am not capable of doing anything, I was eating spaghetti when she blame me for all the misfortune she has, I was eating spaghetti while she cussed and said that my friends just pretend they like me even if they really don’t because I can’t clean a simple bucket, I was eating spaghetti when she praised my cousins and throw harsh words at me saying why can’t I be like them, I was eating spaghetti when she said I was a pest in her life, I was eating spaghetti my favorite food.
This is the first time na nalabas ko ang mga na ffeel ko sa kanya. She’s still my grandmother, and I respect her so much. Pero, now, punong puno ako, gusto ko ng bumukod at mamuhay nalang na ako mag-isa when I have the money, pero iniisip ko yung nakababatang kapatid ko, I am afraid na siya naman ang pagdiskitahan niya, hindi naman ako/kami sumasagot sa kanya, I have never talk back to her, kahit ngayon na she reached my limit. Because of what she did and she’s still doing, mga maliit lang na bagay iniisip ko agad na magagalit ang tao sa’kin at madidismaya ko sila. I have this feeling na wherever I go, I won’t be loved nor accepted, and that people around me has projected their mind na I am what she said I am.
I don’t remember doing things to her na makakasakit sa kanya, so why? Bakit niya ginagawa sa’kin ‘to? Anyway, things will be okay, and I am hoping for it. Mabigat lang talaga nararamdaman ko, and writing it down makes me feel at ease.
Whoever reads this, I hope I won’t pass my energy on you, and I hope you feel loved, appreciated, and blessed today. Thank you.

Catacombs ( or just flooded basements) in your chase sites
Happen to have catacombs? Well you can make them if you don't (at least something similar to ones). If you would need inspiration, I recommend to look at an abandoned psychiatric hospital in Owinska, located kind of near the German border in Poland, if you want to build a make a place or design one, since it is a good mix between catacombs and practicality as well as they are an right size as an side thing. But the place, from what I know when I asked about it, is renovated for some purposes. A shame. Anyway. Back to catacombs. There isn't much that you will need. Some good looking walls, darkness ( with natural daylight maybe here and there ), the smell and of course the flooded floor. If you are doing it from scratch, add some walls. The walls should be just open holes in the wall in a shape that would not hinder much running. But here and there you can make of course some gap spaces, crouch tunnel shapes or just plain door shaped ones. Try to make some corners, so it would be better for waiting for the chased. If you will keep the water clean from harmful organisms, you can make the gaps go under water ( not recommend. It is gross and can make you sick if you don't end chase soon and dry yourself. Not for people with some hair ) which makes some decent shortcuts. Try to make at least one narrow section where you will have to go through for at least 5 metres. Makes some tactical space. If you have the resources, you can try making an crouch tunnel, which makes the chases last longer and be more fun. Keep it vented tough, so nothing lives there. Try to keep minimum of 5 small areas, 3 medium areas or one large area with two small rooms.
A nice touch is to keep some areas dry. It can be done by having dirt,sand,gravel or rubble mounds, but you can put some crates or install a metal floor on the wall/walls with holes/gaps, so if you have a skylight, won't tamper with the floor much when the water level would rise after rainfall. Crates and metal flooring are expensive tough.
The mentioned before skylight is a good way to have some natural lighting. Some narrow holes from the sides are fine too. It is good to have an ecosystem, but you don't have to make it. But if you want to, add some animals, plants or organic matter. You can leave an opening for stuff to get in somehow, but add just some plants or protists from puddles. Both ways will give you the right smell as it develops.
Flooding of the place can be done artificially by doing some tubing, but try to fill it with rainwater, would it be possible. Keep the flood bellow the shoulder line for best experience, it should not be a swimming pool in this case. Recommended depth is variation between ankle high and knee high.
For those who have a place that is kind of in progress, you can try and follow the advice above. Also you can add some personal touch, but try to not pverdoit, so the place is... Flexible.
Catacombs can be amazing sub sites or sites for chasing. Sure, you do get dirty but it is worth for the chase. They also are out of site and harder to escape from by the chased.
Hope this helps.

I was an avid player on Xbox a few years ago with hundreds of hours played on an account with a lot of progress, I want to get back into the game but I have a ps now and there’s no cross progression on Psn. Will it ever be a thing? Don’t see why Sony would be so greedy, every other platform does it. I feel like if enough people make noise about it , something could be done.

Hi all. Every day I see people saying they struggle with bots and how they just aren’t fun. As a certified bot diver, I know how those missions can turn into absolute disasters in a second. However, there is a loadout that I think is the most flexible and efficient in almost all situations that I think will greatly help you and might even change your mind about playing bots. If not, at least I tried. This is what I take with myself when I just want to win.
A summary first, then some explanations.
Armour: heavy fortified (explosion resistance) Primary: Pummeler SMG Secondary: grenade pistol Grenade: stun
Stratagems: ballistic shield, AMR, rest to taste. I like Eagle airstrike and railcannon.
Armour: go heavy. While mobility is everything against the bugs, positioning is everything against bots. Speed isn’t essential, so pick protection. The Fortified perk gives you explosion resistance which is crucial because trust me, there will be times when it feels like the entire world is blowing up around you. There is also the white heavier medium suit whose name I forget, that one works well too if you find yourself too slow.
Primary: the Pummeler. If you don’t have it, the Defender works well too. They both reliably kill everything except the following: hulks, tanks, scout striders, factory striders. The reason we’re taking the Pummeler instead of the higher DPS Defender is the stagger effect it has. Its time to kill isn’t fantastic but you can lock down groups of enemies by alternating between them, kind of like how you used to with the pre-nerf Slugger. The reason for taking an SMG in the first place is the ballistic shield. More on that later.
Secondary: the grenade pistol. Two reasons: fabricators and close scout striders. We’re not bringing other explosives, so the GP is our factory killer besides any Eagles or orbitals you might take. Its real strength, however, is its ability to one-shot scout striders at ranges too close for the AMR. It’s not always consistent and you might have to hit them another time, but that’s not a problem because you’ll be reloading behind your shield, which the striders cannot penetrate. You can also use it against devastators but probably not much, since it does have limited ammo. Although it is fun arcing a grenade over a heavy dev shield and nailing them in the face.
Grenade: stun. We’re taking this for hulk hunting. I don’t know how long exactly the stun is, but it’s really good. Easily long enough to switch to the AMR, line up a shot, fire, line up another, and fire again. No more hulk. It can also shut down groups of smaller enemies but that’s mostly handled by our primary.
Now for the stratagems.
Ballistic shield: this is the centerpiece of the loadout. Underrated, underutilised, unbelievably good. This thing is bulletproof, literally. It will block everything ranged except explosions and fire. Small arms? No problem. Raider or heavy dev machine guns? Ping right off. Scout strider cannons, tank MGs, even the heavy frontal miniguns on factory striders? Not getting through this bad boy. The best thing about it is that it’s directional, meaning that you can choose which side you want to protect. Just carrying it covers your left, aiming covers your front, and pulling out your support weapon covers your back.
Now I did say it doesn’t work against explosives. This is a downside, but that’s why we’re bringing armour with the fortified perk. I suggest against trying to block rockets and cannons since they can break the shield, but this is unlikely to happen if you use it as intended. It’s also useless against flamethrowers, which is why we’re carrying stun grenades for disabling and hopefully eliminating those hulks that carry them.
What’s great about bringing the shield is that it makes you think about your positioning in a way fighting bugs never does. Against bugs you run and kite, never stopping because if you do, you’re dead. Against bots, this will not work. You will be killed, over and over again. You have to be slower, more methodical. Unlike bugs, bots are easy to outrun, but if they catch you out of cover, especially if they get a flank on you, you’re toast. With the shield, however, you can pick the weaker flank, take a deep breath, and attack them instead of them attacking you. What’s neat about this is that this tactic is viable even without the shield but doing it with it first builds up your skill and especially confidence; it’s a bit daunting at first.
I could ramble on and on about the ballistic shield but I think I’ve gone on long enough already. Let’s move on to the last part of the loadout, which is...
The anti-materiel rifle, or AMR: yes, materiEl. In my opinion, the true Swiss army knife of the automaton front. Some might protest and say the autocannon is it. I disagree, because while the AC is a great weapon, it lacks two things the AMR has: a free backpack slot needed for the shield, and good sights. If I’m not bringing the shield, I do take the AC sometimes. Despite its name, the AMR is perfectly good against personnel too. Since we’re bringing an SMG, we’ll be using the AMR for long-range chaff clear too. It’s also usable, if not ideal, for close range, although the massive recoil makes it challenging for that purpose. Still, if you get cornered with it you can forsake accuracy and just mag dump anything in front of you and chances are it’ll work because despite appearances, this thing has an insane fire rate. It’s not ammo efficient, but it’s better than dying. However, we’ll primarily be using the AMR for precise shots at weak points. It kills all devastators with one shot to the head, scout striders with one or two shots to where the legs attach, and hulks with two shots to the optic. It destroys the factory strider’s miniguns with four-ish shots, kills them outright with one and a half mags to the underside. It downs gunships with four to an engine. It’s useless against tanks unless you can get a shot at the backs of their turrets, but we still have two unused stratagem slots for those.
As for those, nothing else is “mandatory" for this build so pick what you like or what suits the mission. I like the basic Eagle strike because of its utility in killing everything. The railcannon is great for those moments when you see a hulk you want to absolutely, positively just delete in an instant. Precision strike works wonders against tanks, as do the 110mm rockets. 120mm is great for groups and factory striders. 380mm levels big bases and stuff like dropship depots and command bunkers. You get the idea.
So there you have it, IMO the most versatile bot loadout you can bring. As I said, this is my win button for when I’m not interested in experimenting and just want to get the job done. It’s effective and it’s fun. If you’re a bugdiver struggling against the socialist menace or just need something different to mix up your Scorcher & AC life, give it a try. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Any questions, feel free to ask. SES Queen of the Stars, over and out.

Here are the assumptions that I am basing my view on:
OVERALL STANDARDS AND GOALS

1. All states, organisations and actors should act according to international humanitarian law. This applies to all sides equally and carrying out war crimes is still just as unacceptable if you are fighting for a just cause or if you are responding to war crimes committed against you.
   
2. A two state solution is the solution that should be sought. There is a general international consensus on what form this solution should take and the rights that each side has, so any agreement should match this with the aim to have two peaceful sovereign independent states. This solution will be a final settlement that will end the conflict.
   

VIEW OF THE CURRENT PARTIES

1. Palestine, as represented by Fatah, has no issues acceding to a peace deal. In past peace negotiations they have offered peace deals to Israel where the Palestinians don’t receive the accepted minimum of their rights and still been refused.
   
2. Israel has shown itself unwilling to agree to offer peace on the basis of the international consensus. While it has made peace offers to Palestine in the past, these have always been combined with restrictions that conflict with the goal of full Palestinian independence. It has also been unwilling to make deals which respect the rights due to Palestinians.
   
3. Any current Israeli position which alleges to aim to bring about a two-state solution is made in bad faith as Netanyahu has campaigned and won on the basis of not allowing a two-state solution and has secretly been recorded in the past bragging about ruining the peace process.
   

APPROPRIATE ACTION

1. Other countries should therefore put pressure on Israel to pursue the peace process honestly and with the aim to deliver an independent Palestinian state where Palestinians have been accorded their full rights. Only the appropriate level of coercion should be involved, so if Israel halts all immediate efforts which could constitute ethnic cleansing, genocide, etc then this should not be done militarily but should be done through economic and diplomatic sanctions.

BUT WHAT ABOUT HAMAS

1. My view is that a real peace process will disarms the issue of Hamas. Hamas is a populist party and a real peace process which allows freedom to the Palestinian people will constrain their actions, stop them acting against Israel and could require them to release hostages. Palestinians will not support Hamas if Hamas align themselves against a real opportunity for Palestinian freedom. Depending on the level of involvement they could neither be made party to the negotiations or be a post-independence problem for Fatah to handle.