Welcome prospective citizen of the stars!

Use my code STAR-F3V9-NVLK when signing up (or click this link: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist?referral=STAR-F3V9-NVLK ) to nab an extra 5,000 of the game's currency UEC when the game is eventually finished (as well as after wipes, like the most recent one which happened for 3.18). Note that you cannot add a code after creating your account!
Bonus? What bonus?!
The bonus stuff happens once you have spent at least USD40 in the pledge store; for example, in case there is a referral bonus going on when you go past that USD40 spend, using my code here would also let you get in on that if you pass that threshold during that period. Doing it any other time will still land you that 5,000 UEC, but it's usually a neat bonus and it'd be a shame to miss out on it :)
The most recent bonus ended on the 2nd of May, so there may well be a bit of a wait until the next one. There is usually one during the two large events each year, including Invictus, however since the most recent one was, well, so recent, there is not one for Invictus this year. You can always create an account with my code, and give me a poke here to send you a note when it's on (i do this for free-fly events as well, read on for that).
Free Fly Time
But! Don't spend until you're ready. Invictus Launch Week (or fortnight as it happens) is currently happening, which means the game is fully and entirely free to try out until the 29th of May. The full details are over on the ILW mini site, but the short of the long is: If you are wanting to try out the game, always do that first, before paying. It also shows the game at its roughest (because of the influx of new people), so if you can deal with how the game runs then, you'll be ok when it runs better. Importantly, until you're pretty sure you want to get in, don't spend.
To try out the game (why you're here), all you need to do is sign up for an account, and then download the client, log in, download the game itself, and then launch it. No codes or anything, just that. Click here to use my code https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist?referral=STAR-F3V9-NVLK and then just follow the instructions on the site to get the client, and don't sleep on the little helpful things in the client - while the game is downloading, check out the guides and such there, perhaps even find youself an actual guide, which is other players who are volunteering to show new people around.
Invictus Launch Week is a now two week long celebration of all the military focused ships in the game (nominally at least), and not only will get have an Avenger Titan (the wonderful space penguin) to fly around with for the duration of the event, but you can get a free short-term rental of a whole pile of ships, by going to the Bevic Convention Center in Area 18 on the planet of ArcCorp in game and pick from any of the ships that are on the daily list, which then will become just as though it was your own ship, for 48 hours. If you need guidance, just ask in global chat in game, someone should be able to help you out (though remember, many will be new, just like yourself, be patient and don't be that gamer). The schedule of what ships are available when can be found here, along with links to more information on the whole event itself, including more specific details on how to get there, and how to rent things and so on: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/19914-Invictus-Launch-Week-2954-Schedule
A fun little detail is, too, that if you attend the convention in-game at least three different days (that is, as the game counts it - they roll over 1600 UTC, so keep that in mind), you will get both a badge over on Spectrum (CIG's bespoke communications platform, with both forums and chat), and a Medivac Beacon, which is a hand gadget that you can use for, well, making yourself known as either in need of or being a supplier of medical assistance when out and about.
What Do?
If you do decide to pledge now, however: As a new player, you will likely want to hop on and actually do the tutorial that has (finally) been added. It's a fairly short one, but it'll get you familiar with the basics of the game (on-foot navigation, interaction, flight controls, that sort of stuff), and you even get a set of armour and a bit of cash at the end of it. In short, simple, but worth your time. You can also use the Guide system, which you can find over on Spectrum once you've signed up: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/guide - sometimes there's little bonuses for doing that as well, but it's always useful, as it's a real person, who plays the game, who is there to help you work out how to do things in the game.
For the moment, the servers seem to be pretty happy, but as the game is still in development, there's going to be bugs, sometimes light, sometimes extreme. So while the general gameplay is decently smooth, of course the old "it's an alpha" always applies, and you should always treat this game as one to make sure your expectations are at the correct level for jankiness. That said, you just might be able to have some outright gameplay type fun out in the big sandbox that is out little star system of Stanton.
In addition to Invictus Launch Week itself (and DefenseCon, the Drake "we are not down with the UEE" counterpart to ILW - lore stuff ;) ), the game is also currently playing host to a huge new chain of missions, which can arguably be done solo (according to some), but which are outright amazing with other people. There's even permanent bonus gifts for you if you complete the chain! I won't go into it too deeply here, but the page here has all the information you need to take part, and as you will see, it's quite a lot: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/19753-Overdrive-Initiative
What Game Package To Get
Most importantly, when picking what to get: Anything called a "starter pack" will get you in the game, and spending more doesn't equal a better ship. Specifically, don't get something called a Standalone Ship, as that will not include game access. It says as much on the store, but there is a lot of text, so it bears pointing out here.
Right now, one of the two largest sales of the year is going on, which means there is a sale on two specific starter packs as well, and either of the two will do you very well as a starter: The Aurora MR Invictus Starter Pack is 10% off the usual price, and the Avenger Titan Invictus Starter Pack is a full 25% off, which lands it as an absolutely amazing value for the cash. Both of these come with a nifty paint as well, as well as a bit of extra starting cash, and longer insurance than the default (though do note, insurance currently doesn't matter, that's going to be more a thing later on, though CIG's word on the topic is also that you'd never completely lose anything you spent cash money on).
Either of the two will do you just fine, but the Titan is one of the best small ships in the game, outright, and would be my recommendation in general. That one can be found here: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Avenger-Titan-Invictus-Starter-Pack-Warbond
If you want the cheapest option to get the game, forever, the Aurora pack should be your pick. It also is genuinely not a bad ship at all, and there is essentially nothing you can't try out in the game, outside of perhaps cargo running (though even with the Titan's larger capacity of , that still would be just dipping your toes rather than actually doing it as a career). The Aurora pack can be found here: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Aurora-MR-Invictus-Starter-Pack-Warbond
Don't forget that you can buy any ship in game, including that Titan (minus perhaps the fancy paint).
Definitely don't spend until you're ready, though - especially given it's Invictus, where you'll be able to try out a whole pile of ships, including the Titan Avenger, which will be your ship during the free-fly.
Thanks!
Thanks for you consideration, and o7 to all our new citizens from captain leinir! If you need any help, feel free to give me a poke here, and i'll be happy to try and help you (we can even do the guide thing) - in particular the basics of the game and its quirks, or if you need help working out which starter pack to buy in the pledge store.
So either use my code STAR-F3V9-NVLK when signing up, or just click right here to create a new account: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist?referral=STAR-F3V9-NVLK

The Craig films were devoid of charm and humour

A video by my fellow moderator u/Sneaky_Bond shows many examples of the Craig era having humour and charm. The humour in Craig's films are more in the vein of Connery than Moore, being drier and more subtle. The comedy of Connery's last film and then Moore's are more blatant and the films take themselves much less seriously. That being said, Craig's last two films do incorporate more gags à la Moore like Bond falling from a crumbling floor to a couch in Spectre and No Time To Die's slapstick Cuba shootout.

Craig's films aren't Bond films and do not resemble the previous films, totally eschewing elements like exotic locales, beautiful women, fancy cars and clothing, diabolical villains, far-fetched world domination schemes, deadly henchmen with a gimmick, lavish opening title sequences, the roaring orchestral scores, the over-the-top action scenes, the beautiful girl who ends up betraying him, the needlessly complicated death-trap because apparently a bullet just won't suffice...

Again, Sneaky's video disproves the lack of personality and charm. Every Craig films had exotic locales, beautiful women, gadgets, fancy cars and clothing, diabolical villains, lavish opening title sequences, roaring orchestral scores, and over-the-top action scenes. The beautiful traitor, convoluted death-traps, far-feteched world domination schemes, deadly henchmen with gimmicks each appeared in at least one of the Craig films. They didn't always show up pre-Craig anyways.

Craig is not a real Bond, but a Jason Bourne clone

Craig's first two films did take a more grounded and intense approach like Bourne, but the franchise has always blended the elements of its contemporaries with the classic formula to stay relevant. More importantly, following the lead of Bourne and Batman Begins finally made harkening closer to the novels (again, thanks u/Sneaky_Bond) palatable for audiences who previously rejected entries like Dalton's. The novels aren't the end-be-it-all for what the franchise should be, but their influence cannot be overstated, and Eon has said as much. The six sixties films represent the golden age for the franchise, and five of them were direct adaptations of the novels. The franchise has swung the pendulum between lighthearted fantasy (which increasingly departed from the source material with films like Guy Hamilton and Lewis Gilbert's) and more serious grounded fare (like John Glen's films), and, even putting aside the novels, there are precedence for what the Craig films did in previous films.

Craig's Bond enjoys killing and is a serial abuser of women

It's made very clear that Craig's Bond dislikes killing, with him squirming when drowning Dryden's contact in Casino Royale and refusing to look at Slate and Safin's eyes in Quantum of Solace and No Time To Die respectively. As for abusing women, Bond's relationships with Vesper, Camille, and Madeline were anything but abuse. He does seduce Fields and Lucia to achieve his goals and his sleeping with Severine is contentious, albeit presented as consensual, but these are tame compared earlier films like Goldfinger, Thunderball, and The Man With The Golden Gun.

Craig wanted to kill off Bond because he hated the role

He doesn't. The "wrist-slitting" comment that his detractors frequently use as "proof" was, according to him, an ill-advised attempt at a joke that he regrets, and was borne from a troubled production that saw him stick with a tear in the ACL for nine months to prevent delays. As for Bond's death, his comments on NTTD's ending and the influences from OHMSS and Fleming's work show a clear artistic desire to wrap up his era definitively to allow the next to start fresh while still paying tribute to the source material. While the execution may not have been the best, there were no ill intentions behind the decision to kill off Bond.

Barbara Broccoli kept Craig on for so long because she was infatuated with him

This is a rather sexist insinuation. Did Albert Broccoli keep Moore on for so long because he was in love with him? Craig was a popular Bond whose five films are all in the top half financially when adjusted for inflation. Skyfall/Spectre rivals GoldfingeThunderball, released during the franchise's peak in popularity culturally, as the most successful consecutive pair of films in franchise history. It made sense from a business perspective to retain Craig for so long.

The films are taking forever to get made; Eon is resting on its laurels.

Not exactly. using the UK release dates, for the Brosnan era, GoldenEye first released November 24, 1995; Tomorrow Never Dies December 12, 1997 (749 days); The World Is Not Enough November 26, 1999 (714 days); and Die Another Day November 20, 2002 (1090 days). That makes for an average of 2.33 years between films.
Now for Craig's first four films, Casino Royale released November 16, 2006; Quantum of Solace October 31, 2008 (715 days); Skyfall October 26, 2012 (1456 days); and Spectre October 26, 2015 (1095 days). There was an average of 2.98 years between films, meaning that the average increased by 237 days, or around 8 months, between films compared to the Brosnan era. It should be noted that Skyfall lost a year of pre-production because MGM declared bankruptcy.
No Time To Die would have originally released October 25, 2019, 1460 days after SP first released, bringing the average to 3.23 years between films. Due to the original director and writer leaving, the film's final release date pre-pandemic was April 3, 2020, 1621 days later, bringing the average to 3.34. The true release date was ultimately September 30, 2021, 2166 days later, resulting in an average of 3.72.
Making films takes more time and resources. While it would be nice to have more films frequently, it's understandable that the average time between films has increased, more so when considering the production issues Skyfall and No Time To Die faced.

Before I begin, I'd like to ask for any feedback concerning inconsistencies within the system, or just general questions about the system. Never hesitate to ask a question if this post gets your gears turning.
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"We are molded by the tears of the sun, the sorrow of the dawn. Thus, we must set those tears within aflame, we must burn away our dread, until it is ash."
Agnephagy refers to the manipulation of Divine Oil, and the flames that come from igniting said Divine Oil. Agnephagy is separated into two types, Internal and External.
Internal Agnephagy
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Inner Agnephagy stems from the ignition of one's own Divine Oil, said to be the Sun's tears itself. All individuals with an ego develop the capability of manifesting a Fountain. Through use of one's Fountain, Agnephagy users are able to ignite oil vapors that emanate from their extremities through the process called inner evaporation.
Inner evaporation refers to the process of heating up the first outer ring of the Fountain, causing the divine oil to become oil vapors, which is then carried by the arteries and can be discharged through extremities such as one's own pores.
Because these oil vapors are born from one's own Fountain, it's generally easy to ignite them. Once ignited, these oil vapors become flames, in which they can be manipulated. However, similar to blood-types, these flames do hold some differences, mainly color. While the color itself does not denote any advantages or disadvantages, the oil-type does denote the speed, intensity, and pervasiveness of the flames generated.
It's important to note that depending on the oil-type, certain colors will be more common than others.
Oil-types are discovered through a process called Scrying.
External Agnephagy
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As all things are molded by the sun's tears, External Agnephagy involves manipulating and drawing Divine Oil from external sources, such as combustible objects like gunpowder or coal. Due to the physics surrounding Divine Oil, it can only manifest as such, thus absorbing oil vapors in the air is preferential to tapping into one's own Fountain.
Divine Oil found in the natural environment is uniquely type-less, meaning that it's compatible with anyone with the capability to make use of their Fountain. This type-less Divine Oil is called Seminal Oil, and once absorbed, undergoes a process that converts it to the Fountain's main oil-type.

Now you may be wondering, what sets this apart? Essentially, due to cultural, religious, and environmental reasons, different groups of people have developed different schools of Agnephagy. For example, The Church developed the ability to influence and artificially induce the pyrocumulonimbus phenomena and have their Agnephagy users act as conduits for the lightning that comes down.
This magic system in general will have a much more folklore-ish sense to it, as the schools can vary widely between region to region and each have a surrealist tone to them. I wanted to keep it generally soft, as making hard and faster rules for a single element system would be pushing yourself into a corner that most people can work out of.
Any feedback would be appreciated, thank you for reading :)

Ever-shifting Short Seller Claims

The short sellers attacking RILY in 2023-2024 have been relentless (currently 57% of float sold short per FinViz), with an ever-shifting list of wild accusations.
It's sickening to watch them compile a never-ending list of baseless wild theories and claims to support their short positions, which are demonstrably false. But as each is proved false, they pivot to new claims, and/or change the goalposts.
The sheer volume of shifting claims makes it hard to track how despotic they are with their "platform," and how many falsehoods they've spun. Even for someone who watched it in real-time, for almost a year

Compiled & Debunked

Sunlight kills vampires. To that end, I've compiled a list of (i) claimants (ii) claims (iii) reality (iv) definitive source proving reality.

Why Did They Target RILY?

One of the most vocal short sellers, Nate Koppikar (who also introduced Marc Cohodes to the "opportunity") has a fund Orso Partners. Based on their SEC registration document, this is their investment thesis:
"The Account’s investment objectives are to achieve capital appreciation primarily by identifying and selling short marketable equity securities of underfollowed and complex companies with misleading or corrective disclosures through a research-intensive process. The Account employs a short-biased investment strategy with an emphasis on primarily small to mid-cap companies that are underfollowed and complex (i.e., companies with market capitalizations of less than $5 billion which the market does not yet have a wellformed bull and/or bear perspective)."
RILY fits their description. The icing on the cake was the relatively large market cap, and the relatively small float. Given extremely high insider ownership (32.9% of shares per the proxy), and limitations on when and how insiders can trade, the "free float" of the stock (i.e., the shares that regularly trade) is very small for the size of the company. Moreover, the setup would only get better - given insiders have consistently used their free cash to buy additional shares hand-over-fist (further reducing the float).
That meant, with relatively small amounts of capital, the short sellers could shove around the stock price. That ability to move price opens another profit avenue - taking large derivative positions (buying puts, and selling calls), and shoving the price (or allowing it to drift up) to profit all along the way. It looked so good, the stock has been the highest-shorted on the US indices for several months. Even after the release of the 10-K, shares remain "hard to borrow" with elevated borrow fees.

Debunked Claims

The claims made by vocal short sellers could fill a book. Most were outrageous and fanciful when they were proposed. Virtually all have objectively debunked. This isn't a comprehensive list, as their claims are too numerous and varied. But it paints an illuminating picture.
With a track record this poor, one would expect the short sellers to exit - rather than continuing to spin new narratives. Perhaps the continued attacks are their exit strategy to avoid bankruptcy... Well, #Bullish.
With the highest short interest of all US stocks (albeit likely decreased from the highs of ~76% of the float), I think this is more than ripe for a return to fair value - or well above, if a short squeeze occurs.
Note: this sub disallows image posts. There is a similar post in the RILYStock sub which contains virtually all source images for the claim in the comments (too many images to embed in the post). The source images are illuminating.
Note that the list below deliberately excludes three types of posts/claims from the short sellers:
A) Juvenile personal attacks and attempts to character assassinate and dox a long list of people (RILY CEO, RILY new hires, RILY clients, Marcum the auditor, Marcum's lead audit professional, any firm or individual publicly posting a bull thesis on RILY, etc.).
B) Those that make no objective claims, but simply exist as a product of malicious degeneracy (like pictures of roasted pigs in ovens labeled Bryant Riley the CEO, photoshopped pictures of the CEO in prison chains next to convicted felons, video of an obese woman barely able to walk being gored by a bull labeled Mrs. Riley the CEO's wife, etc.).
C) Those that are impossible for short sellers to know, and impossible to objectively verify (e.g., Marc Cohodes claiming a single RILY trader front runs the CEOs personal short trades in front of clients taking following the firm's bullish advice on those stocks, to guarantee profits).

Claimant	Claim	Reality

1) Wolfpack	Wolfpack “RILY will record investment losses of up to ~$700 million in 2023” FALSE 10-K	FALSE
2) Wolfpack	“new loan to CORZQ will work out just as badly as the last and end in default (again) before June 2023”	Repaid in fullFALSE , early, on 1/6/2024.
3) Wolfpack	“The coupon rate on RILY’s seven issues of baby bonds ranges from 5% to 6.75%, which we believe to be far too low to compensate investors for the existential risk that accompanies these securities.”	Full redemption FALSE of May 2024 came early. Far more than sufficient cash to cover debt payments.
4) Wolfpack	“According to our analysis, 4 of RILY’s largest 7 corporate borrowers with outstanding loan balances of $295.3 million are at a high risk of default, or in the case of CORZQ, is already in default.”	Core Scientific Inc Exela Technologies Arena Group Holdings FALSE a. . repaid early and in full ($111MM of the “risk”) b. repaid term loan in full ($55.8MM of the “risk”) c. debt retired in full ($99MM of the “risk”). Publicly disclosed in the most recent 10-K for each company (search for "Riley" in the filing)
5) Wolfpack	“RILY’s NAV is Far Below the $1.1 Billion Minimum NAV Requirement That Is Required for the Nomura Credit Agreement Putting RILY at Risk of Collapse in 2023”	is in full compliance FALSE RILY with the Nomura credit agreement. Moreover, reflecting the strength of the relationship, Nomura even granted a no-fee extension when the 10-K filing was delayed. Also see 10-K for current status.
6) Wolfpack	“Over $200 Million of the Goodwill and Intangible Assets on RILY’s Balance Sheet is Attributable to its Telecom Rollup, which is Centered on Dial-up and DSL Internet:” - criticizing them as dying businesses with no value	extremely valuableFALSE Segment is . From just 2020 to 2023, the communications segment has returned over $212.2MM in adjusted EBITDA.
7) Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear) + Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Various	RILY committed fraud with loans and closing the FRG acquisition. "The fact $RILY closed the FRG deal while hiding the Kahn loan - an all PIK defaulted loan backed by $FRG shares - is a Hall of Fame worthy act of fraud. I thought after Enron/Sarbox we couldn't have something like this happen in US markets."	FALSE A law firm led an internal investigation, and an independent external investigation both found “The review confirmed what the Company previously disclosed: that the Company and its executives, including Bryant Riley, had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Prophecy.” “The results of the independent investigation confirmed that the Company and its executives had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Mr. Kahn or any of his affiliates. This independent investigation was conducted subsequent to the Company's February 22, 2024 disclosure of the internal review performed with the assistance of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as outside counsel.” Also see 10-K
8) Marc Cohodes (AlderlaneEggs), ParrotCapital, Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Various	The 10-K will never be filed. They can't produce audited financials.	Audited 10-K FALSE was filed. Delay was due to Audit committee fulfilling its responsibilities and proactively conducting investigations (internal and external).
9) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs) + Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear) + Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate) + ParrotCapital	Sullivan and Cromwell knew about Massive Fraud, and did a "sham investigation"	Sullivan and Cromwell FALSE is one of the most respected law firms, in the US and worldwide. "Sullivan & Cromwell continues to lead all law firm advisers in announced and completed global deals in 2023, according to Bloomberg and LSEG. The Firm advised on global announced deals totaling more than $345 billion, representing a 12.1 percent market share, per Bloomberg, and on completed global deals totaling more than $431 billion, representing a 16.9 percent market share, per LSEG." They're not compromising themselves for a relatively small client.
10) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs), Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear), Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Parrot Capital	Marcum is enabling Massive Fraud	MarcumFALSE is a respected audit firm, and 13th largest by revenue. "Marcum LLP advanced into the Top 15 in the 2023 Vault Accounting list of top-ranked accounting firms. Marcum climbed six levels to the No. 13 ranking overall and earned a ranking of 14 in prestige. The Firm also won Top 20 rankings across all Practice Area, Quality of Life, and Diversity categories, including several new classifications added this year."
11) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	Nomura is enabling Massive Fraud	NomuraFALSE is a global financial services company, and the oldest brokerage firm in Japan. They operate in a highly regulated industry. They're not putting themselves on the line for a relatively small client.
12) Parrot Capital	"The list of $RILY enablers is massive: Marcum LLP, Sullivan and Cromwell, Seeking Alpha, Holbrook Holdings, $AX Axos Bank, Many, many more."	FALSE There's no global conspiracy whereby these companies - all respected law firms, auditors, banks, and media outlets - are collectively colluding to enable RILY to commit fraud. Requires only two brain cells and one functioning synapse to know there's no grand collusion cabal between these disparate companies.
13) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs), Jonathan Weil at WSJ	Franchise Group shares used to secure Kahn loan: "It is unclear whether Kahn pledged the same shares twice—to both Prophecy and B. Riley."	stated by the company UCC search FALSE As , Simple disproves this. UCC # 202302295747
14) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	“Bryant Riley is on the Road, telling people the ‘audit partner at Marcum left’ and that ‘I have made mistakes’ “	hit the 5yr SEC ruleFALSE Marcum audit partner was working on the audit the whole time; the original audit partner had , so he was never working on this year’s audit.
15) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"So it turns out James La Rocca was Fired by MarcumLLP If nothing was wrong with prior $RILY Audits, why is he gone? This will be great in discovery of what exactly went on.	hit the 5yr SEC ruleFALSE Marcum audit partner was working on the audit the whole time; the original audit partner had , so he was never working on this year’s audit.
16) Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear)	“So Bryant Riley did disseminate MNPI back in March” in response to Cohodes claim that he told people the Marcum partner left	5 consecutive yearsFALSE Cohodes claimed Bryant Riley was telling people the Marcum auditor left. Koppikar called that disseminating MNPI. Cohodes statement was false (and thus Koppikar's derivate claim is also false). A different auditor worked on RILY, as Marcum follows the SEC rules; the lead auditor can only serve the client for . As such, Koppikar’s derivative claim of disseminating MNPI is false.
17) Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear)	“He appears to still not be familiar with the voting interest model of consolidation… why is a life science and tech partner signing an extremely complex investment company / broker dealer audit ???” i.e., auditor is unqualified	Marcum is a highly respected auditorFALSE The auditor is fully qualified. ; they don't hire unqualified people, or assign them to clients they're unqualified to audit. RILY is continuing to use Marcum as the 2024 auditor.
18) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"Now that the $RILY dividend is going away, this omission is serious stuff"	reduced 24Q1FALSE The dividend did not go away. It was from $1.00/share to $0.50/share, to allow them to opportunistically allocate capital. 23Q4 and

There are too many source images for the claims above to embed in a reddit post, and this sub doesn't allow images in comments. Images can be seen on a version of this posted to a sub that discusses RILY in the comments (~55 images). All claims can be sourced on the various social media venues and websites utilized by the short sellers. Other sources include: https://wolfpackresearch.com/research/rily/ and here https://friendlybearresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/RILY-Analyst-Day-Questions-12_11_13-Final.pdf and https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2cpgaejc45gocvoqb1ngg/corner-office/how-b-riley-garnered-the-biggest-short-interest-of-2023 and https://www.wsj.com/finance/how-an-unremarkable-deal-became-a-big-threat-to-a-small-investment-bank-f819a169 . https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/304196 form ADV. This is not financial advice. All claim summarizations reflect my interpretation of the short seller claims, and should be verified against original sources, along with all counters.

Hi Ya'll,
I recently graduated OCS and I have been bombarded myself in real life over what to expect with OCS. For context I went from basic training straight to OCS, and even graduated with honors. From the time of writing this post, it has officially been a month since I graduated. So here is a list of common questions I get and I hope I can settle some anxiety for all of you future 2nd LTs.
Warning: The cadre at OCS do read these reddit posts, so I won't be able to post answers to tests or events.

I haven't received a welcome letter, or a packing list. Where can I find it?
- Fort Moore Officer Candidate School (army.mil) I would download and print the packing list and the ISAP. The ISAP acts more or less like a syllabus from college. It will give a rough understanding of the rules, regulations, and requirements for you to pass.
Is everything on the packing list required?
- Yes. Try your best to follow the packing list to the letter. It is almost entirely dependent on the cadre and of course weather does play a part in their decision making. Some things you'll find you didn't really need or use throughout your cycle. For example, my cycle didn't use 550 Cord almost at all, but I used it to build a hooch, and secure sensitive items.
What if I don't have of the required equipment on the packing list?
- When it comes to military equipment, try your best and bring what you can. I was never issued an IFAK before OCS or after. The cadre understand they have some coming from basic and those in-service. So if you have it, bring it. If not, bring it up to your cadre and they'll schedule time to get it issued to you.
Anything not on the packing list you recommend?
- I would recommend the following: hand soap, bathroom spray, travel vacuum, wet-wipes, clipboard with compartment, pillow, very bright headlamp, multitool, and laminator. Hand soap because for some reason OCS had a hard time procuring it. Travel vacuum because you'll likely have 2 or 3 vacuums available to your platoon and having your own saves time. Wet-wipes to dust everything down. Clipboard with compartment for Land Nav as you'll be running with maps, marker, protractor, and your points so its best to have something safe and secure. Laminator for your papers because its Georgia and your papers can get wet. The pillows at OCS have this weird plastic cover on so if you want a better night sleep, get a better pillow. The headlamp is just in case, some classes inform the lumen limit while others don't, Land Nav is DARK so if you can find a lighthouse out there, do it. The multitool is just useful to have especially if you are out in the field.
Where can I find somethings on the packing list I am missing?
- Luckily there is a company called Commandos who helped us out the entire time. They have an OCS purchasing list you can take advantage of. They even deliver that weekend at the footprint.
- Visit: https://commando-military-supply-9d5038.printavo.com/merch/ocs-packing-list/
I saw you can bring your laptops? Is it required for classes? Can I opted in for a tablet or iPad?
- You can bring a personal laptop primarily for recreational use after the duty hours. OCS will provide you with a government laptop that you'll need to use your CAC to access. Tablets and iPads are not considered laptops and will be confiscated like a phone. If the majority of your class as issues with the laptops, then the cadre may allow the use of your personal laptops.
What is your day-to-day look like?
- Mostly on a non-physical or FTX event coming up you'll follow the following schedule: 0500 - wake up. First formation is at 0600, then you conduct PT until breakfast. After breakfast you will head to the classroom and stay there until lunch, return and stay there until dinner. After dinner, it will be the end of the duty hours and you'll roughly have 2 hours for personal time.
What are the most important categories/test to focus on?
- Treat everything important. Every test you do not pass can put you at risk of being recycled, and it is up to you to catch up. For example while everyone is studying for tactics, you'll be studying tactics and history if you failed history. So save yourself the hassle and take every test seriously. The big 3 recycle event have been historically, Army History (70% to pass), Land Nav (4 points or more to pass (day and night)), and the 4-mile run (need to run in under 36 minutes regardless of gender).
How many retests or chances do you get?
- You get 2 tries at everything before recycle. You get 2 tries again at the same test then you can be dismissed. For example: You are part of Alpha company. You failed history twice. You get recycled into Bravo company. You failed history twice again. You can be dismissed.
- If you happen to pass history but fail Land Nav twice, then you'll be recycled into Charlie. If you fail Land Nav twice then you can be dismissed.
What is a recycle? What does it look like in OCS? Can you get dismissed?
- A recycle is when you failed something twice and you get "recycled" into the next class. A recycle can occur for other reasons such as illness or injury. You can also be recycled for improper behavior or being "peered out". Every class starts up in a like a month (I heard they are changing that for even further out). So even though the cycle takes about 12 weeks to complete, if you get recycled you can expect more like 16 weeks or more. We had someone at OCS you has been with it for a year. You get recycled for repeat offenses, or do something majorly bad such as breaking the law, then you can be dismissed.
What is being peered out mean?
- Throughout the cycle you are put into a platoon and then a squad. Your squadmates eventually all sit down and fill out a form to give the cadre who is the weakest link in the squad. Usually squads kick out the person they do not like. We had to kick out one person because they didn't mesh well within the squad and wasn't very kind. He would then get replaced with someone else who got peered out. Luckily after that one person got kicked out, the squad improved and we tried our hardest to keep it together. We still needed to peer someone out, but we kept tabs with them and invited them to a lot of our squad functions nonetheless as my squads grew to love and respect each other as a family.
- If you do get peered out, unfortunately you get a spot report, moved to a different squad, and are at risk of being recycled if peered out again. Stay humble and help out whenever you can. I got the most respect from my squadmates as I stayed up late with them to help them with their STX lanes.
What is personal time like?
- You essentially use personal time to workout if the PT wasn't enough, clean yourself, and prepare for bed. Yes if you have time, you can contact family and friends (when you get your phones), and if you have the time, play games. I don't recommend playing games as it distracts you from the mission of graduating.
What are the different phases like?
- You are separated into 3 phases. Black, Blue, and White. You immediately enter black phase upon arrival with a traditional called "Gold to Black". Which is more or less a physical smoking session. During Black you are expected to run everywhere, not be able to drink coffee, have your phone confiscated (and given back on Sunday), and have less personnel time. Blue you get the ability to drink coffee again, and you have your phones returned and used only during personal time. During blue you get the ability to visit and explore the base (Fort Moore) and shop around. During white phase you get the ability to explore off-base (Columbus) and you get to wear civilian clothes. White phase if you leave off-post, you need to be in uniform, and on-base you can be in civilians.
Can you use your personal vehicle?
- Yes, but you can only drive it during White Phase
How can I keep in contact with my family during black phase?
- I recommend that you download WhatsApp or some other social media on your laptop and have your family members on it.
Can I visit the gym on base?
- Yes during blue phase you can visit the gym. Rule regulates that you leave the footprint in uniform and change into appropriate PT uniform once at the gym and conducting PT.
What is the DFAC like?
- The DFAC is better than basic training and offers snacks like cookies, granola bars, ice cream, and soda. They have a salad bar and the usual cycle of foods. They do have a "short-order" line which serves fries, burgers, hot dogs, etc. To stay in physical shape, I recommend eating your fruits and a side salad every meal. Drink juice, Gatorade, or water only. I only drank soda and the burger after an intense physical requirement like a long-run or a ruck march to regain my glucose and caloric levels.
Does Amazon deliver there?
- Yes you can have other things delivered to the footprint. However, the Cadre are going to inspect it for food and other contraband. Just ask the cadre for the delivery address. It may take like 2 weeks for them to deliver it.
Any final advice?
- Be helpful and noticeable amongst your squad but try not to bring attention to yourself from the cadre. Take everything seriously and give yourself proper rest and proper nutrition. OCS is not hard, but it can be if you let it get to you. OCS is designed to test your competency, commitment, and character. I luckily had an amazing squad, and I had a blast with them.

I want this to be an open forum so don't be afraid to leave anymore questions below. If the answer you are seeking is not above, then write the question in the comments, and I will try my best to answer you before you are sent off. Best of luck, thank you for your service, and be the best leaders your soldier's deserve.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic, it's clear that work can sometimes be done without an office. Many people work from home or have chosen the hybrid methods of work. But along with this change comes a new issue: more people are taking on extra work outside their primary job.
What is Employee Moonlighting?
Moonlighting refers to having a second job or doing a side job along with a full-time job. However, it can benefit employees; it can pose challenges for employers.
This blog post will examine moonlighting, why people do it, and how it affects businesses. We will discuss its positives and negatives and advise companies on managing it using remote employee monitoring tools. The aim is to help businesses better understand moonlighting and effectively address it in their workplaces.
Reasons for Increasing Employee Moonlighting
Moonlighting, or having a side job, is becoming more common for a few critical reasons. These reasons are the main things pushing this trend and include:

Needing More Money

Many people want extra cash to cover their bills as life gets pricier. Moonlighting helps them earn more and feel financially safer.

Using Talents

Moonlighting often means doing something you're good at or love that you don't do in your primary job. People might have hobbies or skills they want to explore outside of work.

Remote Working

Working from home makes having side gigs alongside your main job easier. Fitting other jobs around your main schedule is simpler when you can work from anywhere.

Following Passions

Many people have creative or business dreams they want to pursue outside of their regular jobs. Moonlighting lets them explore these passions without risking their primary income.

Flexibility

Side gigs often offer more flexibility in schedule and workload than regular jobs. This flexibility appeals to people who like having control over their time.

Multiple Income Sources

Several income sources can make you feel more secure in an uncertain economy. Moonlighting lets you earn from different places, not just one.

Paying Off Debt

With more and more people dealing with student loans and other debts, having a side gig can help pay off loans faster and get out of debt sooner.

Career Growth

Some people use side jobs to learn new things or meet new people who can help them advance in their careers. Whether freelancing or taking on part-time work in a different field, moonlighting can be a smart career move.

Testing Business Ideas

For people who dream of starting their own business, having a side job allows them to test their ideas and see if they will grow without quitting their job. It's a way to measure interest and attract customers while still earning from their regular jobs.
While employee moonlighting offers various benefits, it also challenges employers, including potential conflicts of interest, productivity concerns, and compliance issues. However, remote employee management software can effectively manage these challenges.
Effective Strategies for Managing Moonlighting
Dealing with moonlighting in remote or hybrid work setups can take time and effort. Remote work tracking software like Talygen ensures employees remain focused and engaged in their primary roles. Here are some ways companies can handle it:

Set Clear Rules

Make sure everyone knows the rules about moonlighting. Policies should say when it's okay and when it's not. For example, moonlighting might be allowed if it doesn't interfere with someone's main job.

Talk Openly

Encourage people to talk to their bosses about their side jobs and help employers and leaders sort out any problems early on.

Keep an Eye Out

Regular check-ins can help managers identify employees struggling to manage their jobs.

Be Flexible

Offer flexible schedules so people can balance their time better.

Learn and Grow

Encourage people to grow within their primary job, making them less likely to seek other work.

Teach Everyone

Help everyone understand the rules and why they matter, which can stop problems before they start.

Use Tech Tools

Tools that track what people are doing can help spot any issues early on.

Offer Support

Give people support if they are finding it hard to manage their jobs. It could be counseling or flexible hours.

Be a Role Model

Show that it's okay to have a life outside of work, setting an excellent example for everyone.

Stay Ethical

Ensure everyone knows what's okay and what's not regarding side jobs, and keep things fair and honest for everyone.
Conclusion
Moonlighting is a growing trend in the workplace today, presenting both opportunities and challenges for companies. Integrating remote work tracking software with live webcam screenshots is crucial to address this phenomenon. This technology offers invaluable benefits, such as boosting productivity. However, organizations must adopt these tools to be better positioned to manage moonlighting effectively and foster a productive and harmonious work environment.

What makes career coaching and counselling crucial for your child's future?
Professional assistance and coaching are crucial in helping your child navigate successful careers. They offer individualised advice on career paths, academic future planning strategies, and customised support based on your child's specific goals and situation. While embarking on a rewarding career path frequently calls for the advice and assistance of an expert. Many career counsellors are available in Bangalore, a busy metropolis, to provide their advice and assistance. Based on research from several sources, including parent and customer reviews, this is a carefully curated list of Bangalore's top career counsellors. They are all well-known for their dedication to assisting students and working professionals in finding their ideal career path.

List of 10 Best Career Counselors/Career Coaching in Bangalore

In summary
In summary, making wise career decisions is essential to guaranteeing a successful future. The top 10 institutions in Bangalore provide career coaching and counselling services that are essential for assisting people in choosing rewarding career pathways. These organisations provide a variety of services catered to the particular requirements of professionals and students alike, ranging from psychometric testing to individualised counselling.
It's important to note that all of the data presented here was obtained straight from the websites and Google ratings of the relevant institutes, guaranteeing accuracy and dependability when making decisions. People can boldly set out on their journey towards success and happiness in their chosen vocations with the help of professional guidance and all-encompassing assistance.
What makes career coaching and counselling crucial for your child's future?

27m from Spain looking for something serious...
A little bit about me:
blue eyes, 1,85 height, straight hair
I'm a very introverted person. I like to do activities at home such as reading, watching movies, playing board games, talking, etc.
I also like nature and walking
I like to talk about interesting and serious things, for example about history, art, philosophy, psychology, etc.
I'm not much of a gamer but I can also talk about video games. Not into animes either
What I am looking for:
A girl between 23-31 years old
Who likes to read, intelligent, understanding, patient
Who is comfortable with a long distance relationship but can soon escalate to something more.
Can live anywhere, but if it's in Europe it´s even better
you have to be willing to send voice notes, calls, etc., more than just chatting, although we can start there.
send me a message!

Here's my notes throughout the Google Marketing Live. Some stuff may be omitted and I phrased everything how they would have in the presentation (overly positive).

Google Marketing Live 2024

~Philipp Schindler – Introduction~
New era of AI
-A few years ago the conversation was: What is AI?
-Now the question is: What can AI do for me and how can I implement it as fast as possible?

15% of searches are new on Google every day
-This number has held steady for more than a decade
“The perfect search engine should understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you need.”

AI Overviews

People who use AI Overviews use search more
Higher quality clicks/more time on site
Rolling out to US

Trend 1 – The “Exactly-What-I-Want” search
The volume of searches with 5 or more words grew 1.5x as fast

Instead of “men’s running shoes”
“how to pick the right running shoes for a runner beginner with high arches”

Trend 2 – Complex Search Made Easy
“What are good options for aa day out in dallas for kids? What are some options with ice cream shops nearby?”

Trend 3 – Search Beyond Words

Search for things that are difficult to describe.
12 billion visual searches a month using lens
1 in 4 visual searches has commercial intent
You will soon be able to search with visual

Circle to Search
Search anything on your screen with just a circle, highlight, or tap.

Trend 4 – Beyond Answers
Some people are not looking for answer, they are looking to explore, or be inspired.

“Outfit Ideas”
“Best Places to Eat with Kids”
“Rainy Day Activities”

Rather than just getting a simple AI response, they will be getting a catered ai page specifically created for their request.

Small YouTube Blurb

YouTube #1 most watched streaming platform
1B hours of YouTube on CTV daily
Generative AI is the next playground for YouTube creators

Gen AI x Creativity

Suite of tools for content creators

~Vidhya Srinivasan~
People have limitless options to browse across devices

2 out of 3 consumers say making purchase decisions requires more effort than ever
Have to be on every surface consumers touch
- Grab their attention
- Show them you are their solution
Google is supposed to be the matchmaker for consumers and businesses
Showing the perfect ad on every surface is difficult

“This is where Gen AI will unlock enormous opportunities”

Last year they were just getting started with images
They’re applying the latest Gemini models to teach their other models
- EX: teaching their algorithm about queries that have never been seen before
Gen AI is still early-stage tech so they won’t get everything right
Will become more powerful and helpful as they learn about your business

AI will influence the entire marketing cycle

Creative
- Building creative will only take days/hours
- AI will draw on hero assets and create variations
- Every ad will be a better match for each consumer’s intent in the moment
Media
- No trade-offs between precise targeting and growth
Measurement
- Real-time adjustments based on campaign results

"AI doesn’t have taste, it doesn’t have ingenuity, creativity, and strategic insights"

Google Search – Generative AI

Search in new ways
- More complex questions
- Searching with images
AI overviews will appear in search results when they are particularly helpful beyond SERPs
- They will be stay focused on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creative
More choice leads to more opportunity for advertisers
The will be testing search and shopping ads being integrated into AI overviews
- Not just above or below
Match the ads, not just to query context, but also with the information within the AI overview
- Example: “How do I get wrinkles out of my clothes without an iron”
  - AI overview gives tips
  - Within the AI generated blurb, a wrinkle free spray sponsored ad appears

~Sylvanus Bent~
AI Applications in Search Ads

Ads in Visual Search
- EX: You see a piece of luggage at the airport you love, but you don’t know how to describe it or what brand it is. Use visual lens to search for it, then sponsored product ads will show up within the results
Every search ad is more than an offer, it’s an experience
Exploring AI ads with recommendations across different verticles
- EX: Search for “short term storage” – ad shows up, but now you can click into a new dynamic ad experience, where you can customize your needs.
Takes the definition of a helpful ad to the next level

Conversational Experience in Google Ads

Can give your URL to Google Ads to generate relevant assets
- Helpful for smaller businesses

Power Pair

Combination of Search and Performance Max campaigns
Delivers the strongest ROI

Profit Optimization

Making it a new goal in PMAX and shopping campaigns
Maximize profit by optimizing bidding for gross profit on products

~Tim Frank – Asset Generation~
Advertisers who improve their PMAX ad strength to Excellent see 6% more conversions on average.

Creative Controls & Customization

Brand Colors
Brand Fonts – only closely matched
Upload reference images for AI to generate based on

Additional Reporting & Controls

Placement reporting and exclusions for YouTube
Asset Level Reporting
- Asset reporting for each creative asset

~Nicky Rettke – YouTube~
AI-Powered Video Campaigns

Video Reach drive awareness
Video View drive consideration
Introduced Demand Gen
- Reaches over 3 billion monthly users
- Demand Gen will roll out to Display and Video 360 and Search Ads 360
- Audience list threshold lowered to 100 users for Demand Gen lookalike audiences
Over 40% increase in view through rate when utilizing vertical video
Viewers can swipe left on shorts ads to go directly to a landing page
Introducing animated image ads
- Pulls images from your product feed and animates them in on unite
Demand Gen with Product feeds
- 33% more conversions at a similar CPA
Shop while you watch

~Matt Madrigal – Shopping~
Product Studio

Create custom scenes
Change backdrops
2 new features
- Create visuals that match brand style w/ reference image
- Image to video
Brand profile on search
- To be rolled out in the coming months

Shopping Ads

Will start highlighting key attributes and stuff from reviews
3D shopping ad formats
Immersive Ad Experiences
Virtual Try-On
Video Highlights
- Rolling out for beauty brands first

~Gaurav Bhaya – The Data Guy~
Good AI requires good data

First party data delivers better results and helps protect your campaigns against privacy changes
Collect, protect, and use your data.
Google Ads Data Manager is now available to everyone
Simplifies putting first-party management all in one place
Have an active pipeline from all data sources to one place
Measurement diagnostics is being introduced to Google Ads
- Check Engine Light for your site
Google’s goal is for us to not have to worry about first-party data

Measurement

Generated Insights and Reports
Generate a report with a prompt.
Generated insights

Marketing Mix Models
Meridian is Google’s Open Source MMM and will be available later this year.
tl;dr - very tasty nothing burger.

Note: I asked on Stack Overflow too: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78508622/authentication-flow-for-a-service-that-uploads-to-onedrive-via-microsoft-graph-a/78509859#78509859
I'm tasked with writing a report destination provider to uploads reports to OneDrive, and I am getting extremely confused on how to do authentication for this.
I've tried many, many tutorials and examples but still can't figure it out. For this kind of scenario, I'm supposed to use a windows service account, right? How do I authenticate that to work with OneDrive? I created an app in Entra, have tried authenticating with client id and secret, but get errors like "Either scp or roles claim need to be present in the token." -- I can't figure out if I'm supposed to use delegated or app permissions -- and IT are reluctant to give the app permissions. Not sure if I'm supposed to use on-behalf-of flow or what; surely this can be made to work without an interactive browser login? I'm completely lost. Help!

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

27m from Spain looking for something serious...
A little bit about me
blue eyes, 1,85 height, straight hair
I'm a very introverted person. I like to do activities at home such as reading, watching movies, playing board games, talking, etc.
I also like nature and walking
I like to talk about interesting and serious things, for example about history, art, philosophy, psychology, etc.
I'm not much of a gamer but I can also talk about video games. Not into animes either
What I am looking for:
A girl between 23-31 years old
Who likes to read, intelligent, understanding, patient
Who is comfortable with a long distance relationship but can soon escalate to something more.
Can live anywhere, but if it's in Europe it´s even better
you have to be willing to send voice notes, calls, etc., more than just chatting, although we can start there.
send me a message!

WEEKLY COVID STATEWIDE REPORT FOR MAY 21, 2024
TOTAL NEW COVID CASES REPORTED WEEK (Sun-Sat) OF: 02/04-02/10: 6,191 (VDH corrected from 5,663) 02/11-02/17: 5,432 (VDH corrected from 4,814) 02/18-02/24: 4,978 (VDH corrected from 4,494) 02/15-03/02: 3,891 (Figure is estimated from VDH data) 03/03-03/09: 3,134 (VDH corrected from 2,843) 03/10-03/16: 2,118 (VDH corrected from 1,909) 03/17-03/23: 1,764 (VDH corrected from 1,591) 03/24-03/30: 1,667 (VDH corrected from 1,449) 03/31-04/06: 1,255 (VDH corrected from 1,273) 04/07-04/13: 1,232 (VDH corrected from 1,113) 04/14-04/20: 1,151 (VDH corrected from 1,029) 04/21-04/27: 991 (VDH corrected from 899) 04/28-05/04: 885 (VDH corrected from 782) 05/05-05/11: 830 (VDH corrected from 730) 05/12-05/18: 903 (preliminary figure) Counts reported after 4/30/24 are incomplete
VDH's reporting of the numbers above (Sun-Sat) is by illness date.
COVID CASES SINCE LAST REPORT BY DAY This runs report day to report day, not Sun-Sat Case numbers are from the previous day unless indicated otherwise Previous week's cases day count in parentheses after this week's day count Report covers 05/15/2024 to 05/21/2024

Wed: 166 cases (162) Thu: 186 cases (138) Fri: 169 cases (180) Sat: 158 cases (149) Sun: 103 cases ( 91) Mon: 85 cases ( 51) Tue: 218 cases (157)

As counts reported after 4/30/24 may be incomplete, I will not be computing percentages as accuracy can not be guaranteed. I will post what the 13-week graph shows.
Total new cases reported (Wed-Tues): 1,085 (928 previous Wed-Tues) 7-day average of new cases: 155.0 (132.6 last report) Cases per 100,000 Population: 1.747 (1.494 last report) Some Figures and Percentages are usually slightly rounded by VDH
The 13-week graph has been posted. Curve shows a +16.92% increase. This may or may not be accurate due to voluntary reporting. But cases seem to be have been increasing for the past two weeks.
REPORTED DEATHS PER WEEK Week of: 04/21-04/27: 1 (VDH corrected from 5) 04/28-05/04: 3 (VDH corrected from 2) 05/05-05/11: 4 (VDH corrected from 3) 05/12-05/18: 0 (preliminary figure)
The VDH death rate is never put out completely up to date due to delays in death data, which can run months. The death data above has been corrected to current reported deaths from VDH sources and is always subject to change.
The larger updated death chart covering more past weeks had not been updated when I posted, so it was not uploaded. Sometimes it seems they update it late, or even later in the week.
CURRENT POSITIVITY RATE AS OF MAY 17, 2024 CDC Region 3 7-Day Positivity Rate: 1.9% (was 2.2%, -13.64%) US National level is 3.2% (was 3.3%, revised, last week). Highest is Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV) at 6.5% These are preliminary figures which the CDC may revise next week.
Tests this week were done on 1,395 samples, which is low. A low sample rate can cause the Positivity Rate to report lower.
Region 3 has the lowest Positivity Rate in the U.S., but low sampling numbers may cause a correction next Friday.
HOSPITALS
NOTE: COVID-19 hospital reporting requirements expired April 30, 2024. Data is incomplete after this date.
After more thought, I am changing the Weekly's Hospital report. The only graph that has meaning now is the ER visits. All others are corrupted by a lack of reporting (and labeled as so). I saw one report on X/Twitter that in one State, 91% of hospitals were voluntary reporting. By the next week it dropped to just over 50%. So bed counts, admissions, etc., are all guesses and may lead to the wrong conclusion. But it seems hospitals are still required to report how many Covid people they diagnosed. I noticed it tracks with the Covid rates for the past several months quite closely.
VDH reported an increase of +9.7% in ER visits last week that were diagnosed as Covid (0.34% of visits). Corrected last four weeks are now listed as 0.37%, 0.34%, 0.31% and 0.34% of ER visits. Graph posted. This graph has no special wording on it about the end of hospital reporting, so it is now the only hospital chart that is accurate week-to-week.
The stopping of formal reporting, has made, for now, the hospital admissions and bed count graphs inaccurate. So while watching them and hoping of more info, I am not going to post them in the future unless reporting is restarted in the Fall. For example, this week Covid bed use dropped by -16.7% which conflicts with the increase of ER visits. The admissions chart is basically empty.
You can look at all the charts here.
FINAL NOTES
My best guess is we bottomed out a couple of weeks ago, and are starting to see a slow increase in cases (+9% to +15% in the past week). We'll have to watch the ER chart, Positivity data, and wastewater to try and get an idea of what is going on in Virginia.
LAYOUT
First up is the total number of new Covid Cases for last week based on Sunday to Saturday. As the corrections VDH is putting in a week after the initial release makes following a trend impossible, I have stopped computing in this area as it would probably be incorrect.
Next is a listing of the cases from the last report to this one. It usually runs from last Wednesday to Tuesday, but could move based on holidays.
Reported deaths are next, which are based on Sunday to Saturday for the weeks listed.
The CDC Region 3 7-Day Positivity Rate is next, which at the moment just confirms or changes what the CDC put out Friday. They do another run on Monday nights taking a second look at things.
Hospital information for last week is next.
VDH's main summary page is located here. You can see all the latest trends at the link above - most graphics are interactive
EXPLANATION OF FIGURES ABOVE
Total New COVID Cases Reported Week (Sun-Sat) Of: cases reported for last week running Sunday to Saturday.
Reported Deaths Per Week: Number of deaths reported in the week (Sunday-Saturday) to VDH by dates listed.
Covid cases since last report by day: The previous 7-days since VDH's last update listed by day.
7-day average of new cases: Average number of daily COVID cases over the last 7-days
Cases per 100,000 population 7-day average: Within 100,000 people, how many were positive for COVID on a rolling 7-day cycle.
CDC Region 3 7-Day Positivity Rate (if included): The last state average percentage of PCR coronavirus tests performed that are positive. The lower the better.
Hospitals: Hospital information for last Sunday-Saturday.
Data from VDH, CDC

I'm on boarding 2 more talented video editors to the team (examples for the style we're looking for are attached)~https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CrPVakFzJG_93AlegLUvvzpB1gJYhsCa?usp=sharing~
requirements:

Uses premiere pro, and after effects (capcut is fine too)
24 hour delivery time
Creative freedom and the ability to adapt to each video and not wait for specific notes, we want you to be creative, and we’re always open to suggestions
The ability to handle bulk work
Honest and always being on time
Willing to do a short sample to see if you understood the above requirements
The budget is $25 for a 60second reel

What to do:

DM me your portfolio (put it on the first line of your message)
briefly introduce yourself and talk about your experience and why you’re a good fit

Thank you

Soap note counseling examples