Chart point system

I've been struggling so much to find work recently. As someone living in the Philippines, becoming a virtual assistant seemed like the perfect remote opportunity for me. But it's been one rejection after another because I'm missing that all important "experience".
Don't get me wrong, I have skills that I know would serve me well I'm excellent with admin tasks on programs like Office, and have enjoyed moderating online communities in the past. I learn new systems quickly and take pride in doing accurate work.
But without having held the official "VA" title before, no one seems willing to give me a proper chance. It's gotten me quite down lately. All I want is an opportunity to prove myself and get my foot in the door, even if it means starting with an unpaid trial. But every job posting has dozens of applicants who have the experience they're looking for.
Has anyone out there ever taken a chance on training someone new without direct experience in the role? Or know of any companies that may be more open-minded? I'm a dedicated worker and know I could excel if given the opportunity. It feels like I'm stuck in this impossible catch-22 of needing experience to get experience.
Any advice or referrals would mean so much. I'm really hoping someone can point me in the right direction. This ongoing rejection has been tough on my spirits, but I'm keeping hopeful that the right opportunity may come along if I can just find the right connection.

Hi!
I am currently 21F and single. I know I’m very young, and probably should not be overthinking these things while I am not sexually active or in a relationship.. However- my anxiety says otherwise! I’d also like to have these things ironed out prior to getting into another relationship (so I wouldn’t waste anyone’s time who wants biological children).
As of right now I believe I’d love to be a mother in the future, but I am horrified of all that pregnancy and childbirth entail. As I get further and further into my biology degree, pregnancy seems like it’s not for me. Additionally, I do not feel compelled to create a new human being while so many children already exist on this planet.
I also experienced a pregnancy scare with a hookup I had about 6 months ago. I was bedridden from anxiety, unable to eat, unable to leave my house, and unable to share what I was going through with my parents. This experience gave me a lot of time to research the physical reality of pregnancy and it scared me to no end- to the point where I began to hate my body just for possessing the ability to carry a pregnancy. I luckily was not pregnant, and I have a wonderful therapist who I’ve talked about this with.
Despite feeling confident that I never want to experience pregnancy- I have a ton of anxiety about lots of random things.

• Will I meet a male partner who will be on board with adoption the way I am? Be able to love a child (regardless of biology) the way I can?
  
• Childbirth involves physical trauma to the birth mother, and adoption involves psychological trauma to the adoptee. Am I selfish to want to adopt just to spare myself the physical trauma of childbirth and pregnancy??
  
• Permanent sterilization (I want a bilateral salpingectomy in the future) is an immensely permanent choice. Though IVF and surrogacy would both be options, I am so horrified of pregnancy that these backup options aren’t comforting to me. I would much rather regret not birthing children than birthing them and wishing I stuck to the boundaries I determined for my body. But how will I know I am ready to make this permanent choice? Would it be better to be sterilized before or after meeting Mr. Right?
  
• I am a part of a biological family, whom I love more than anything. I have a close knit and beautiful relationship with my mom, and I want nothing more than to be the mother she was to me, to my future child. I know a lot of people who don’t love their biological mothers (for good reasons), so I know unconditional love is never 100% guaranteed when it comes to parenting. But is it still possible to create this mother-child connection between adoptive parent and child?
  
• At it’s roots, adoption is traumatic and can be a corrupt process in the United States. Am I supporting a broken system by wanting to adopt my children? Does this path make me less of a mother?
  

The thought of growing a human being inside of my body and then having to push them out of a narrow cavity (or horrifyingly have a C-section) pushes me to the brink of hysteria and I feel hopeless and depressed whenever I think about it. I might never get unconditional support from my family if I choose sterilization, so I want to build my confidence around MY choice and what I want for MY body without needing their external validation. I just feel helpless and confused right now.
Thank you to anyone who reads this super long rant. Support or advice around my future plans would be immensely appreciated ❤️

What do you guys think of a Customisable Royal System where we can earn tickets via Events as the last reward( Must be 20000 points)? Each month, we can earn 1 Customisable SR ticket and only in the anniversary event and the top 100 player in the Duelist Cup/WCQ do we get a chance to earn a UR one.

I’m frustrated with myself and my experience with LEGO support. I understand this is 100% my fault but this will serve as a small warning and also by sharing I hope I might get some ideas/suggestions.
This morning I ordered the Hogwarts Castle and Grounds and NASA Artemis Space Launch.
On check out, I filled out my info, added my two discounts (redeemed $120 in points, been saving for so long), and then decided to checkout with PayPal. While breezing through the screens, I missed PayPal using my old apartment address (we just bought a house in December).
Shoot.
Contacted support which told me because of PayPal’s buyer protections, I couldn’t cancel the order (still processing, not at warehouse yet) or change the delivery address. My best course of action was to wait for the tracking number and contact UPS.
I received tracking numbers around 8:30pm tonight, and immediately reached out to UPS. I had two options, call support tomorrow and attempt a full address change (cost $$, that’s fine but I nervously was hoping for a quicker solution) or contact LEGO and have them update the address in UPS on their end. LEGO Support says because of PayPal they still can’t.
LEGO Support suggested I confirm they can create a reroute request with UPS and hope they fulfill it and “reroute the item back to the warehouse”. If they receive the package they will do a refund. Note: Only the tracking label has been created at this point and the packages are still at LEGOs warehouse.
I agreed and will be continuously checking the tracking to see if it updates to the return to sender status. I’m also going to call UPS support in the morning and see what else could be done.
TLDR: always check shipping address throughout the full checkout experience, potentially don’t use PayPal.

TL;DR: Is consciousness fundamental?
I’ve been lightly researching quantum physics as well as theories of consciousness (qualia) for the past couple days.
And it seems that the current science is clear that space and time are no longer fundamental? So is consciousness fundamental?
I’ve long felt that “consciousness” could not logically emerge from “unconscious” atoms.
The idea that it is a purely emergent property like wetness seems misleading, as “wet” is to water what “collapse” is to Jenga blocks in that the emergent properties of the collective still derive from fundamental properties of the single.
Additionally there’s no instance in our evolutionary path one could point to as the moment we became conscious. So clearly consciousness should not be thought of as a binary state but rather as a gradient or a spectrum. Our evolutionary “consciousness” never appeared, it just changed over time, as we evolved biological systems to receive or interpret the qualia that helped us survive and reproduce. Like perceiving the color red or tasting sweetness.
So if a conscious entity cannot emerge from any arrangement of unconscious entities then consciousness must be fundamental.
So are space and time actually emergent properties of consciousness?
Quantum wave collapse?
Is there a “unit” of consciousness?
Can consciousness be created or destroyed?

I have my own reasons for switching away from EmuDeck. Wonderful program, just not for me.
This is on a factory reset Steam Deck. I set up ES-DE, RetroArch, and SyncThing. Have everything working as intended on both systems (Steam Deck and Mac Studio). Next one to set up is PCSX2. Works beautifully on the Mac. Steam Deck...no so much.
I've added it to Steam. If I launch PCSX2 from game mode or desktop mode, it works just fine. No issues. If I launch a PS2 game from ES-DE, I can see the PCSX2 interface, it lasts maybe a full second at most, and then it's gone, back to ES-DE.
I'll admit, I'm relatively new to Linux. Also fairly new to Mac but have adapted well to it. I don't doubt for a minute that there's something that I'm doing wrong. Just hoping that one of you has an idea of what it is and can point it out.
Thank you for your time.

Hi all
Recently went back to Linux, installed Ubuntu 24.04 running KDE 5.27.11. Installed the synaptics touchpad driver. In KDE system settings, I've disabled the bottom right click corner but when I tap the bottom right of the touchpad, it still right-clicks.
My xinput shows this:
$ xinput ⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)] ⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)] ⎜ ↳ Keebio BFO-9000 Mouse id=11 [slave pointer (2)] ⎜ ↳ Keebio BFO-9000 Consumer Control id=13 [slave pointer (2)] ⎜ ↳ SYNA2393:00 06CB:7A13 Touchpad id=14 [slave pointer (2)] ⎜ ↳ SYNA2393:00 06CB:7A13 Mouse id=15 [slave pointer (2)] ⎜ ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad id=20 [slave pointer (2)] ⎜ ↳ Logitech MX Master 3S id=21 [slave pointer (2)]
At one point, I found that "xinput disable 15" followed by using synclient to force RightButtonAreaLeft and Top to 0 stopped right corner click from working, which was great. But now I can't get that working again. I've tried forcing these in ~/.xinitrc but it doesn't even seem like that executes (it has been a very long time since I've run Linux, and a lot has changed, so maybe I'm looking in entirely the wrong places).
What am I missing as to why KDE/xorg won't let me disable right-click in the bottom right corner of the trackpad? I have two-finger click for right click working, but I just cannot disable the right corner click. Let me know any other info it may be useful for me to provide to diagnose this.
Thanks

Pundi X, a revolutionary blockchain solution for retail payments, is undergoing a scheduled upgrade of its XPOS system on May 15th. This upgrade will improve the Pundi X ecosystem, which uses the PUNDIX token for transactions and rewards. PUNDIX offers a seamless way to use cryptocurrency in physical stores through its XPOS point-of-sale system, XPASS card, and XWallet mobile app. The platform even supports various DeFi tokens, expanding its reach and utility within the ever-growing world of cryptocurrency.

Inspired by Solomon VK's Faufreluche posts.

D20	This staristocrat's badge of office
1	is a golden diadem which projects a hologram of Old Sol from its highest tine, as well as the rest of Man's Cradle-System orbiting about it.
2	is a hideous diamondoid mask made in the image of an alien demi-god from whom their esteemed house claims descent.
3	is an auroran magneto-cloth cape which flares with the oscillations of subtle fields.
4	is a porous meteoric amulet that echoes with the music of the spheres.
5	is a blade of enchained magnetic monopoles channeling ouroboric tangles of plasma - ever-glowing, their patterned glows expressing the cyclical yet self-degrading nature of the cosmos, able to cut through all but the most unnaturally enforced materials.
6	is a scepter containing a degenerate micro-verse within its topping globe.
7	is a battered helmet pulled from the suit of one of the first humans to reach outer space.
8	is a battle standard bearing the heraldry of their family, and topped with the head of a lion, preserved and animated to roaring unlife by cybernetic tubes woven through its flesh and bone.
9	is a halo of abstract mathematics, written directly on the fabric of space-time rather than mere matter.
10	is a pauldron of fused silicon, the remains of an artificial intelligence which almost overcame humanity.
11	is a dilating-lens lantern of an indestructible, orange-green alloy - fully unleashed, its actinic brilliance can guide in a ship from high orbit.
12	is a vial of their own, genetically-perfected blood, crystallized into a ruby-like gem.
13	is a crown of golden rings hovering about each other, each engraved with the zodiac of a different solar system.
14	is a famous artifact of Earth preserved within a temporal stasis-orb.
15	is a set of infrasonic pan pipes that can manipulate the minds of men and machine alike.
16	is a holy book written by the first settler of their world, in an eclectic script unreadable by anyone yet living.
17	is a shield with a brazen, hypercubic boss and a rippling purplish forcefield about.
18	is a labrys bearing edges honed to subatomic sharpness with whetstones hewn from the preternaturally dense heart of a collapsed star.
19	is a bowl holding a fractal bonzai grafted with branches of every fruit-bearing tree of humanity's homeworld.
20	is the head-sized smaragdine egg of some voidborne beast, the inevitable hatching of which is said to herald the end of the universe.

D20	This staristocrat's holdings
1	lie under a dimming sun, weakened by its fusion-harvest which forms the foundation of the staristocrat's wealth.
2	contain no life-bearing worlds, its population sustained only by technocratic hydro-pneumatic despotism.
3	bear the glassy-green sheen and asymmetrical mutations left by ancient nuclear war.
4	are mineral-rich but poor in organics and water, expending most of their export-wealth on life-giving imports just to survive.
5	produce a unique and inimitable spice, and are thus coveted by an extra-solar rival.
6	are either watery or gaseous, with dry, solid ground an unimaginable luxury - the populace living on great rafts or aerostats.
7	have recently absorbed a mass of refugees fleeing a black swan xeno-threat.
8	were enclosed from the common space of comet-cowboys, who plague it with their raids to this day.
9	are nestled among the ruins of an extinct alien civilization, probed only gently for fear of waking their automatic guardians.
10	are slowly but surely having their life-giving atmospheres stripped away by the rapacious solar wind of their red gigantism-suffering sun.
11	are deliberately kept ignorant of the wider galactic community to reduce their capacity to revolt, and so that the ruling class can portray themselves as deific through their technological capabilities.
12	are undergoing a long and delicate process of terraforming which structures cultural and religious cycles around these artificial seasons and critical thresholds.
13	are overgrown with a police state only nominally under the staristocrat's authority, and the computational bureaucracy that's arisen to process all their surveillance.
14	are infamous for their permissiveness, and abound in every sort of vice.
15	are torn apart on a planetary scale for the sake of resource-harvest and industry, and what unruptured ground exists is blanketed in choking smog outside sealed habitats.
16	were recently seized from a treasonous vassal and bestowed upon this staristocrat - the old holder's sympathizers still lurk within the population, evading the claws of inquisition.
17	exist mostly fictitiously, as moving shell-games of companies and titles.
18	are centered on an ecumenopolis with some roads paved with stones hewn before humanity's ancestors came down from the trees - its corners hide occultic dens of our darkest imaginings.
19	are generally scorching, deserts or liquid hells, their structures mirrored and extending tubes of heat exchanges and radiators like a seraphim wings.
20	are verdant in all forms of life - none go hungry, yet many are eaten, and a clan of masked physicians go about the populace to rebuke the tides of plague.

D20	This staristocrat is attended by
1	a harem of genetically-engineered Willendorfian Venuses, bearing a continuous stream of heirs who will duel over the matter of their inheritance in the arena of their crèche.
2	artful historians hunchbent over data-tablets, preserving every moment and detail of the staristocrat's life in imperishable crystalline records.
3	nigh-invisible bodyguards swaddled in light-bending metamaterial cloaks, heat haze auras ready to strike down any offense against their master.
4	clanking cyborg-knights - behind their cuirasses are tanks preserving the most loyal and chivalrous parts of their mortal brains.
5	slaves bearing explosive collars - the tribute of many conquered worlds.
6	a squadron of musclebound eunuch-janissaries raised from childhood with size- and strength-stimulating hormones and non-stop brainwashing.
7	clones of themself educated according to various traditions as diverse yet biologically-partial advisors.
8	the cryogenically-preserved heads of their forefathers, which sometimes dispense shivering, crackling counsel.
9	hovering laser-turrets fitted with targeting algorithms able to anticipate their master's desire to kill before it's consciously felt.
10	an enormous parrot with impeccable skill at mimicry, whose mind has been overwritten with every song recorded by humanity up until the time of its creation.
11	a pair of titanic wolfdogs, with metallic teeth that could rend apart a tank and hides that have turned aside artillery-shells.
12	the plush animatronic companion of their childhood, its digital personality updated to be a competent advisor.
13	a caste of butlers who've served their family for generations, bred like pedigreed dogs.
14	a choir singing their praises, the choir's lungs replaced with cybernetic jet-intakes slatted between ribs, so that they might sing unceasing.
15	a former whipping boy, their oldest friend, bearing the delicate scars of tremendously sophisticated tortures.
16	tumbling jesters dressed in patchworks of impossible colours captured from the coronas of half-real suns.
17	technotheologic angels dancing through the air on wings of incandescent blazons.
18	abductees from primitive worlds fitted with neural implants which make them believe they are simply in an extended dream.
19	a team of chefs who can prepare the delicacies of a dozen worlds, never repeating the same twice in their master's lifetime.
20	grey masters of anagathic science, whisper-arguing over the injections and ointments that will quicken them a while longer.

D20	This staristocrat's court
1	is entertained by a vapourous alien intelligence which takes possession of lesser courtiers through a fanciful hookah.
2	has its lesser members partially memory-wiped when they attend it - able to recall their skills, yet unable to remember much of their own identities, and so how to apply those skills for personal benefit.
3	is deliberately, performatively humble, held in barns and suchlike.
4	is overlooked by a cine-dome showing stars, moons, and constellations in fortuitous alignments.
5	is addicted to novelty, and constantly seeks new performances and grotesques.
6	is made up nepotistically of their siblings who did not win the contest to inherit the throne.
7	are waited on hand and foot by fragile ceramic robots imprinted with the tightly-enchained engrams of political criminals.
8	takes place entirely remotely - members are provided radio-devices with frequencies that trigger voice-like vibrations in great bells this staristocrat is in the constant presence of.
9	were at first ironically and now legitimately entranced by a bloody cult of sacrifice and agonies.
10	has been forced to accept elected representatives from among the populace by a revolt - to the grumblings of those who attained their positions through inheritance.
11	is wracked by a scandal involving mistresses overspending from public coffers.
12	is perpetually-wrapped in augmented-reality projections of mythic mimesis.
13	is burrowed among the roots of the biggest mountain of their throne-world, so that it could survive all but the most devastating attacks.
14	are all accompanied by a member of an order of courtesan-assassins implanted with acid-glands in case their charge shows overt disloyalty.
15	solve disputes among themselves with duels, and drill daily with various weapons and fighting styles.
16	is held within a hollow pyramid, with this staristocrat at the top point and many stairs and levels filtering petitioners between them and the entrance at the base.
17	is largely taken over by a conspiracy to poison this staristocrat, and even the uninvolved have begun to circle like vultures.
18	is a ring of stone thrones built to scale with the renown of the one who sits upon them - this staristocrat themself sits like a small child on a throne fit for giants - their seneschal on a stool.
19	is held around a colosseum, where gladiators and vicious alien beasts fight for their amusement and haruspexies.
20	is itinerant, a grand airship which hovers above the realms of hosting vavasours.

D20	This staristocrat's noble flaw
1	is hubris - they believe they can become like God by funding breakneck scientific process.
2	is bravery - they will fight to the last in the face of overwhelming odds, even if better options present themselves.
3	is honour - their thinking is rigid and totally un-utilitarian.
4	is generousity - they give without thinking, disrupting economies and fostering dependence with their largesse.
5	is parental love - they spoil their children on a terrible, cosmic scale.
6	is a thirst for justice - a continent has burned due to their need for a punishment fitting a truly awful crime.
7	is filial piety - their increasingly-senile dowager-mother has them tied around her bony finger.
8	is tolerance - they've cultivated cosmopolitan communities, yet failed to confront division and rising extremism.
9	is an aesthetic sense that is souring into decadence.
10	is persistence - they are a dogged obsessive.
11	is realpolitik - they've alienated possible allies with ruthlessness.
12	is faith - they lean often into outright zealotry.
13	is cautiousness - they often dive into outright paranoia.
14	is competitiveness - they're innovative, but often only in the tortures applied to defeated rivals.
15	is cleanliness - they have advanced to a purgative germaphobia.
16	is contentment - they have come to peace with all things, even if others demand their action.
17	is honesty - they will never lie, even if it benefits them and their people.
18	is is humility - they are overly-convinced of their own incapacity.
19	is romantic love - their spouse manipulates them to their knowledge yet total acquiescence.
20	is imagination - their fancies often end up unproductive or outright destructive.

The best most unobstructed place to put my dish at my new place still has about 10% obstruction to the west by the horizon from a tree. If the dish could point south instead of north i could get the dish less obstructed. We just stream….a lot…on several devices, like 3tb of data a month currently with fiber. I haven’t had a chance to actually setup the system yet, but is that clear enough or do i need to do some tree trimming? The app says some interruptions for streaming and not good for gaming, but not sure what that actually translates to IRL.

Hello! I am 37F looking for a (best?) friend. I’ve tried this before and it went … surprisingly well? Except there were too many people and I got overwhelmed but I made 1.4 friends out of it, so I figured I’d try again, with better knowledge!
FIRST THING: No cis dudes. It’s not you, it’s me. It’s just not a thing I’m comfortable with. Sorry not sorry.
SECONDER THING: Friendship is hard! And requires work for both parties! Because we’re communicating via the internet and we can’t just count on the rhythms of third grade to force us to spend time together. I am willing to put in the work, but reciprocation and a willingness to communicate is not only key, it’s basically the whole point!
FOURTHLY, I am long-winded. This should be self-evident.
THIRDEST, I’m a little weird. I like that about me. I’ve had problems in the last where I people-please too hard and wind up not being able to be true friends because the other person has gotten to know/like the facade, and bringing out the real me is almost like disingenuous, at that point? So trying to not do that anymore! Not gonna dump all my weird on you at once, but best you know it’s in the forecast and can dress appropriately (ponchos recommended for the first three rows).
I recognize this probably doesn’t sound Totes McGoats for most! That’s OK, we can just be internet acquaintances where you smile awkwardly when we make eye contact in line at the coffee shop and I desperately fail to remember why your avatar looks so familiar.
But you’ve made it this far! So about me:

• I don’t like coffee or beer. It’s fine if you do! Just not my thing.
• I am an aspiring gamer, in that in my head I play games a lot more than I do one the real world. But I’m trying! Hades II is pretty good, and I played Marvel Snap for a hot second. Maybe Balaatro? You tell me!
• You don’t have to be queer, but it helps. Not looking for anything more than friendship, but I am queer and not only does game recognize game, game also commiserates and understands game. Especially if you want to talk about books because basically I only read sapphic romances.
• I do read a lot and have passing knowledge of sci fi and comedy TV shows/movies from before 2019. My personality was The Simpsons and Futurama for most of my 20s.
• Pop culture stuff is fun to bond over, but I also want to know about you as a person! We are more than our obsessions

Interested? Hit me up on messages (not chat), though we’ll probably move it to Discord if we hit it off because all Reddit communication systems are terrible. And please bring more than “hey!”

Alight, I know many of you are pretty burned out on balance discussions, but hear me out. I haven't seen anyone suggest this idea. I'll try to keep it brief.
A good deal of balancing decisions in HD2 so far have me thinking of tactical shooters: small weak points, unforgiving hits from enemies, constant nerfing of weapons (often described as being linked to exploits). And the treatment of primary weapons makes it feel like the devs have a very narrow idea of what each should do.
But HD2 isn't Counter Strike, or Valorant, or Splitgate for that matter. It's not all about finding that perfect angle around the corner to headshot somebody. It's not about careful and precise planning.
It's a lot more like Doom. Constant motion, a variety of enemies with exploitable weaknesses, a large arsenal of weapons, training instincts to survive a hectic and fast-paced battlefield.
So, devs, if you end up reading this, take a page out of Doom's book while you discuss the future of balancing this game.
Doom focuses on every weapon feeling powerful and useful. There are no replacements, every weapon is a unique and viable part of your arsenal. And they all do their jobs well, without being so strictly tuned to one job that they become restrictive. That last part is especially important.
To some degree, it feels like that's what you've been wanting to do. But, in practice, it hasn't been panning out. I feel like that's where the CS balancing mentality is getting in the way. Embrace when players surprise you with how they use weapons, focus more on each weapon feeling powerful in its role and still having a slight overlap with others. The wellroundedness will benefit the player base a ton.
Sure, Doom has a weapon mod system that isn't in HD2, but even without it you can use the first shotgun in the last level and it's actually helpful. So my argument stands.

Captains, our construction crew is ready again after their previous work on the telegraph system, and they're gathering their tools and resources to build today. All they need is instructions of what to make.
​
Stat Chart:

Healthcare: 3/5 (Average) Capacity: 28 Treating: 27 (Sick 10, Injured 12, Gravely Ill 5) Healed per Day: 21 Untreated: 0	Carehouse Capacity: 15/15 Treating: 10 Engineers (Amputees), 5 Workers (Amputees)	Hope: 5/9 (Optimistic)	Discontent: 5/7 (Resentful)
Raw Materials: 215 +58/Day +10% Hope Bonus	Coal Production: +462/Day +15% Foreman Bonus on two mines Coal Usage: 435/Day Coal: 2915	Ration Production: 33/day Ration Consumption: 28/day Rations: 685 Estimated Days of Rations: 24	Steam Cores: 1
Natural Temperature: Freezing (-25°C)	Home Temperature: Citizens Living in Warm (+10°C) Housing: 336	Work Temperature: Sufficiently heated workplaces: 10 Insufficiently heated workplaces: 12	Fatigue: 3/7 (Overworked)
Population: (368 Citizens) (136 Workers) (32 Guards) (63 Engineers) (32 Medical Personnel) (32 Administrators) (14 Scouts) (59 Children)	Coal Mine Safety: 3/5 (Hazardous) -1 Base Safety -3 Toxic Fumes +1 Air Shafts +1 Ventilation Plant	Scouts: Unit #01 - 4 Unit #02 - 5 Polaris Scouts - 5	Guards: 0/32 Guard Posts - 30 Guard Booth - 2
Workers: 11/136 Coal Miners - 45 Steel Workers - 5 Lumberers - 15 Gardeners - 30 Amputees - 5 Hunters - 15 Prostitutes - 5 Cookhouse Amputees - 5	Engineers: 1/63 Researchers - 5 Amputees - 12 Gardeners - 10 Lumberers - 15 Steel Workers - 10 Foremen - 3 Generator Maintenance - 10	Medical Personnel: 9/32 Medical Cabins - 20 Care house - 2 Arrested - 1	Administrators: 7/32 Public House - 5 Guard Office - 6 Child Shelter - 4 Department of Information - 10

Now Captains, a variety of basic buildings have been displayed as usual. Note that special buildings, such as the promised factory, will be available after this regardless of the vote. There are simply always helpful smaller projects to work on. Peruse through the options, and cast your vote!
​
Hunter's Hut "We can hunt more if there's new buildings with more gear to hunt with." +15 Rations per day. Costs 25 Raw Materials and 10 Workers.
Care House "Those unable to be treated will be cared for in one of these shelters. " Holds 15 ill citizens and prevents their condition from worsening. Residents eat half as much. Costs 25 Raw Materials and 2 Medical Personnel.
Medical Cabin "Improved insulation compared to the previous medical tents. Extra medical capacity is always useful." Treats up to 5 patients. (affected by bonuses) Costs 25 Raw Materials and 5 Medical Personnel.
Sawmill "We can gather more wood for construction with a new sawmill." +15 Raw Materials per day. Costs 20 Raw Materials and 10 Workers.
We Won't Construct Any Basic Buildings "Perhaps none of these of these options seem particularly useful." Nothing will be spent. Special Buildings will still be available.
View Poll

So I’ve noticed lately that there’s been some confusion in this sub about the rules (which are dumb and weird and complicated) about the relationships between the Canadian Hockey League (CHL/Major Juniors/Juniors), the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association/College hockey), the AHL (American Hockey League/for us, the San Jose Barracuda), and the NHL. I thought that I could try to clarify a little bit, because hooo boy I had to spend some time reading stuff to figure it out for myself and if I can help anyone else that’s good. If I get anything wrong, please tell me!
For the purposes of this post, I’m only going to be looking at players drafted during Mike Grier’s tenure as GM, because anyone before that is already either signed or probably not going to be.
THE CHL: The CHL is made up of three different divisions, the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)/Ligue de Hockey Junior Maritimes Québec(LHJMQ), and the Western Hockey League (WHL), and each of them has a different chunk of North America they can draft from. There’s also the import draft, where they can draft kids who aren’t from North America - but they can only have two imports on a team at a given time.
I have many, many, many issues with the culture of the CHL as a general thing, but hands down the worst thing about it is waiting for prospects to age out of that system. For lo, the league has an agreement with the AHL that no prospect drafted out of the CHL can play for an AHL team until they have either played 4 full seasons in the CHL or turn twenty. (The actual rule is that the player must turn 20 by midnight of December 31st of that season, but that’s generally speaking a detail situation and if a kid isn’t 20 when the season starts they stay the entire year.)
Between the 2022 and 2023 drafts, we have four prospects in the CHL:

• Jake Furlong: Drafted 140th OA in 2022, currently with the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL. DOB March 4th, 2004. Eligible for the AHL in 2024-2025
• Quentin Musty: Drafted 26th OA in 2023, currently with the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL. DOB July 6th, 2005. Eligible for the AHL in 2025-2026
• Kasper Halttunen: Drafted 36th OA in 2023, currently with the London Knights in the OHL. DOB June 7th, 2005. Eligible for the AHL in 2025-2026
• Luca Cagnoni: Drafted 123rd OA in 2023, currently with the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL. DOB December 21st 2004. Eligible for the AHL in 2024-2025

Of course, that agreement is only with the AHL. These players can all come down for training camp with the Sharks and may play up to 9 games before they must be on the roster for the entire season. Otherwise, they need to go back to their CHL teams. The one to watch on this for the Sharks will absolutely be Musty. My guess is that Furlong, Halttunen, and Cagnoni all go back to the CHL without their nine day look-see. Musty might get his day in the sun. We’ll see.
THE NCAA- The NCAA is made up of multiple divisions and conferences within those divisions, but for our purposes the only division that matters is Division 1 (Div 1) and the main conferences our prospects are in are the Big 10(Go Blue!), Hockey East, and the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). Any of the following prospects can sign literally whenever they want to, but they will not be allowed to return to their college team at that point, as college hockey currently maintains a strictly amateur status, and signing your ELC means you’ve gone pro.
Our NCAA Prospect list is a long one, as Mike Grier seems to favor that route (understandably so, given his background):

• Cam Lund: Drafted 34th OA in 2022. Currently playing at Northeastern University. Hockey East.
• Michael Fisher: Drafted 76th OA in 2022. Currently playing at Northeastern University. Hockey East.
• Joey Muldowney: Drafted 172nd OA in 2022. Currently playing at the University of Connecticut. Hockey East.
• Eli Barnett: Drafted 195th OA in 2022. Currently playing at the University of Vermont. Hockey East.
• Reese Laubach: Drafted 217th OA in 2022. Currently playing at Penn State. Big 10. (From San Jose and a former Jr Shark!)
• Will Smith: Drafted 4th OA in 2023. Currently playing at Boston College. Hockey East.
• Brandon Svoboda: Drafted 71st OA in 2023. Currently playing at Boston University. Hockey East.
• Eric Pohlkamp: Drafted 132nd OA in 2023. Currently playing at Denver University. NCHC.
• David Klee: Drafted 196th OA in 2023. Currently playing at the University of North Dakota. NCHC.

And, as I’m sure we’re all extremely aware of, Macklin Celebrini currently plays at Boston University in Hockey East and will be drafted 1st Overall by the Sharks at the 2024 NHL draft, and WOW do I still get chills typing that.
We also have a couple of prospects in Europe and Russia, but I’m not familiar with how the rules affect the European leagues wrt playing in North America, and Russia is a whole other ball of wax.
Anyway, I hope that this was somewhat helpful! If anyone has any questions, hit me, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Hello! I am 37F looking for a (best?) friend. I’ve tried this before and it went … surprisingly well? Except there were too many people and I got overwhelmed but I made 1.4 friends out of it, so I figured I’d try again, with better knowledge!
FIRST THING: No cis dudes. It’s not you, it’s me. It’s just not a thing I’m comfortable with. Sorry not sorry.
SECONDER THING: Friendship is hard! And requires work for both parties! Because we’re communicating via the internet and we can’t just count on the rhythms of third grade to force us to spend time together. I am willing to put in the work, but reciprocation and a willingness to communicate is not only key, it’s basically the whole point!
FOURTHLY, I am long-winded. This should be self-evident.
THIRDEST, I’m a little weird. I like that about me. I’ve had problems in the last where I people-please too hard and wind up not being able to be true friends because the other person has gotten to know/like the facade, and bringing out the real me is almost like disingenuous, at that point? So trying to not do that anymore! Not gonna dump all my weird on you at once, but best you know it’s in the forecast and can dress appropriately (ponchos recommended for the first three rows).
I recognize this probably doesn’t sound Totes McGoats for most! That’s OK, we can just be internet acquaintances where you smile awkwardly when we make eye contact in line at the coffee shop and I desperately fail to remember why your avatar looks so familiar.
But you’ve made it this far! So about me:

• I don’t like coffee or beer. It’s fine if you do! Just not my thing.
• I am an aspiring gamer, in that in my head I play games a lot more than I do one the real world. But I’m trying! Hades II is pretty good, and I played Marvel Snap for a hot second. Maybe Balaatro? You tell me!
• You don’t have to be queer, but it helps. Not looking for anything more than friendship, but I am queer and not only does game recognize game, game also commiserates and understands game. Especially if you want to talk about books because basically I only read sapphic romances.
• I do read a lot and have passing knowledge of sci fi and comedy TV shows/movies from before 2019. My personality was The Simpsons and Futurama for most of my 20s.
• Pop culture stuff is fun to bond over, but I also want to know about you as a person! We are more than our obsessions

Interested? Hit me up on messages (not chat), though we’ll probably move it to Discord if we hit it off because all Reddit communication systems are terrible. And please bring more than “hey!”

Got hired at a place full time with a sign on bonus. Working full time means I also get benefits. I work there a month and for some reason the system is saying I’m part time? Takes all my benefits but vision away. I’m confused so I reach out through email then in person to see what is up. They say they don’t know and will sign some documents to make me full time and see if I can get my benefits back. At this point I’m furious.
Now I’m at my three month mark. I’ve been bugging them nonstop about my benefits and now my bonus is no where to be found. I’m going in the next day I’m working to see what is going on about that. This just seems like a weird game and I’m not trying to play at all.

My Saturn return has been complete shit. Nothing is going in my favor I am feeling very alone&quite frankly $u!€!d4l. I need some form of guidance of how to go about this with my chart. I’m at my wits end.
Since last year I have been in a chronical of bad events, from getting in a toxic relationship where i lost myself, self worth and self identity. I have gained weight and have bad acne and really depressed. I got laid off, then hit by a car, sprained my ankle, told by my ex I’m a lack of air and space when i was at my lowest and he broke up with me via email. I lost friends, i am working a part time job where I thought I was doing well but have a manager who sabotaged my chance to get a promotion, that i studied and practiced extremely hard in. Been rejected from multiple jobs from the degree i got and am in huge debt, oh and on top of that I have roommates that have me walking on eggshells. I may have to move back with my mom because I am just so low. I feel like anytime i want to have a purpose for something , it goes down the drain, i try to pursue and push though but nothing has been aligning so I’m at a point of thinking why should i even be here and why am i continuously feeding something that will just get me back to where i am. I am constantly being left behind because I’m told i don’t have a drive when little do people know I’m trying my hardest but it’s not good enough.
I’m ready to give up, i need help. I don’t know where to go what to learn or what to do? I am in such a low place right now

April's big inflation reveal: The meme trade has been a fun diversion, but the serious business is here: the April Consumer Price Index reading is set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Prices rose 0.4% over the prior month, matching March's pace and bringing the annual inflation rate down to 3.4%. Stripping out food and energy costs, economists expect core inflation fell to 3.6% annually in April, which would be the slowest pace in about three years. ‌
Biden hits China with tariffs: The White House announced a suite of new tariffs on Chinese goods on Tuesday, with a key focus on EVs. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, President Biden painted cheap goods flooding the market — subsidized by the Chinese government — as an attempt to "put everybody else out of business and then they take over." Biden also said he expects China to retaliate but that the trade conflict would be manageable. ‌
GameStop and AMC continue to surge: GameStop followed Monday's 74% gain with a 62% surge Tuesday as the company continues to ride the recent meme stock rally. AMC also saw a second day of gains, finishing Tuesday 33% higher after gaining 80% Monday. Shrewdly, the company disclosed it raised $250 million issuing stock after Monday's pop. ‌
Google's new search: Google unveiled a new way of googling at its I/O conference that, yes, involves a lot of AI. The biggest overhaul to its search engine in years will integrate its AI engine to provide complex answers to queries — with citations. This time, we hope they're real. Users will also be able to perform compound searches for more targeted results without resorting to googling multiple times. For example, the ability to search for "a gym that offers discounts for new members — and how far it is from where I live." ‌
Powell plays down PPI: Fed Chair Jerome Powell provided a timely response to Tuesday's hotter-than-expected headline number for the Producer Price Index, speaking from a panel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Powell downplayed the hot overall number, pointing at the mixed data and backward revisions. Still, the central bank head again stressed a need to be patient and "let restrictive policy do its work." What we're watching Morning Brief is written and edited by Ethan Wolff-Mann. For the web version, click here. Follow all the action throughout the day on Yahoo Finance and on the Yahoo Finance app.
GameStop’s 'Roaring Kitty' surge doesn’t mean meme stock rally has legs. ‌ Vanguard appoints BlackRock veteran Salim Ramji as next CEO. ‌ Justice Department says Boeing violated 737 Max crash settlement. ‌ ️ Musk ordered to resume testimony in SEC Twitter probe. ‌ 3M shareholders vote down executives' pay packages. ‌ Biden expects China to retaliate to new tariffs. Here's what that might look like. ‌ Why Biden's tariffs on Chinese EVs will have little immediate impact on the US auto market What we're reading AD • SPONSORED BY SMART ASSETHave This Much Money? You May Want a Financial AdvisorMoney can't buy happiness, but research finds that if you have this much in household assets, hiring a financial advisor could potentially help. Just how much money do you need? Find out here.
Today's Takeaway is by Jared Blikre, Markets Reporter ‌ Meme stocks survived another volatility-fueled session Tuesday. ‌ Taking a page from the 2021 playbook, GameStop and AMC Entertainment led the charge. ‌ Both meme stalwarts notched gains over 74% Monday and had further doubled their share prices on the open Tuesday — only to sell off most of the day into the close. Nevertheless, after dozens of volatility halts GameStop closed the day up 62% while AMC jumped by 30%.‌ Amid some gentle coaxing by Keith Gill (aka Roaring Kitty), a slew of names familiar to Reddit boards followed — companies like Koss, Tupperware, Virgin Galactic, Hertz, and BlackBerry. ‌ But while the explosion in volatility rightfully invites comparisons to the well-known 2021 saga that played out on Reddit and across US stock exchanges, 2024 is already proving to be quite different. ‌ This year, Wall Street is driving the bus. ‌
Vanda Research crunched the numbers and reported in a note to clients that GameStop and AMC have only seen a fraction of the inflows experienced in early 2021. Flows into these names at the peak of the early 2021 frenzy were over four times Monday's volume. ‌ "Do we think more retail traders can jump in on the trend in the coming days? Yes. Do we think this is a repeat of 2021? No, and the chances we reach that stage are low," said Vanda. ‌ Without glancing at a single stock chart, it's easy to point out that 2021 was likely a historical aberration fueled by bored recipients of pandemic stimulus checks. ‌ Wall Street was caught flat-footed. Hedge funds like Melvin Capital were obliterated. ‌ But institutional investors learned from the 2021 episode and are better prepared now, argues Vanda. ‌ "Quant/hedge funds are much better equipped to handle these situations nowadays," Vanda senior vice president Marco Iachini noted. "If anything, we believe the chances that they participate along with retail in the squeeze but also lean against and then exit these trades ahead of retail traders are high." ‌
As of Monday's close, the portion of share turnover in GameStop attributable to retail investors averaged 7% over the prior five days — and that number was only slightly higher for AMC. In 2021, the averages and spikes were materially higher, indicating much greater participation by retail traders. ‌ Data in the options market confirms a similar story. ‌ But the biggest difference this year might just be the lack of one single, coherent narrative like the meme story that captured headlines in 2021. ‌ Only last week, we wrote about the recent resurgence of volatility in meme names. "In a critical break from prior trading epochs, much of the recent meme stock volatility is being fueled by material news and fundamentals, like earnings, as opposed to Reddit posts," we wrote. Why the 2024 meme stock action is much tamer than 2021 — so far Indeed, our (unofficial) Yahoo Finance meme stock heat map reveals impressive returns over the last two days that are mostly green across the board. But aside from GameStop and AMC, these daily returns are decidedly not triple digits as they were three years ago. ‌ In fact, the bigger names on this list — like Coinbase, Carvana, and Palantir — have been making their gains the old-fashioned way: around earnings and bitcoin fundamentals.
How much Wednesday's inflation print surprises economists — up or down — will be of particular importance during Wednesday's trading day. ‌ But analyzing market action from CPI release days back to May 2023's print, the equity research team at Goldman Sachs led by David Kostin found that "interest rate sensitive pockets of the equity market typically experience particularly large moves on CPI days regardless of the magnitude of the surprise." Chart of the day As seen in the chart above, non-profitable tech and the small-cap Russell 2000 index (^RUT) have moved significantly more depending on where the inflation print lands over the past year. ‌ — Josh Schafer, Markets Reporter
Wednesday ‌ ‌ ‌ Thursday ‌ ‌ ‌ Friday ‌ ‌ Earnings and economic calendar Economic data: Consumer Price Index, month-over-month, April (+0.4% expected, +0.4% previously); Core CPI, month-over-month, April (+0.3% expected, +0.4% previously); CPI, year-over-year, April (+3.4% expected, +3.5% previously); Core CPI, year-over-year, April (+3.6% expected, +3.8% previously); Real average hourly earnings, year-over-year, April (+0.6% previously); MBA Mortgage Applications, week ending May 10 (+2.6%); Retail sales, month-over-month, April (+0.4% expected, +0.7% previously); Retail sales ex auto and gas, April (+0.1% expected, +1% previously); NAHB housing market index, May (51 expected, 51 previously)
Earnings: Cisco, Dole, Monday.com, Super League Economic data: Initial jobless claims, week ending May 11 (233,000 previously); Housing starts month-over-month, April (8.6% expected, -14.7% prior); Building permits month-over-month, April (+1.6% expected, -3.7% prior); Philadelphia Business Outlook, May (8.7 expected, 15.5 prior); Import prices, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.4% previously); Export prices, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.3% previously); Industrial production, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.4% previously)
Earnings: Walmart, Applied Materials, Baidu, JD.com, John Deere, Take-Two Interactive, Under Armour Economic data: Leading index, April (-0.2% expected, -0.3% previously) Earnings: No notable earnings.