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2024.05.21 01:27 BGodInspired Is Gentleness a Forgotten Strength? Uncovering Biblical Insights
https://bgodinspired.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1716247058.png
Have you ever pondered the true essence of strength? In a world that often equates power with force and dominance, the Bible presents a radically different perspective: the unparalleled strength of gentleness. Let’s embark on an enlightening journey to uncover the transformative power of gentleness as illuminated in the Scriptures. Get ready to be inspired and discover how gentleness can redefine your understanding of what it means to be strong.
– **Moses**: Despite being described as “very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3), Moses led the Israelites with humility and patience, qualities intrinsic to gentleness.
– **Jesus Christ**: Jesus is the quintessence of gentleness. He invited all who are weary and burdened to come to Him, offering rest and teaching with gentleness of heart (Matthew 11:28-29).
– **Paul the Apostle**: Paul, in his epistles, frequently encouraged believers to exhibit gentleness in their interactions. In Ephesians 4:2, he exhorts Christians to walk “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.”
These examples illuminate the profound truth that true strength often resides not in might but in the quiet, steadfast force of gentleness.
– **Fosters Peace and Understanding**: Gentleness opens the door to meaningful dialogue and mutual respect, even in the face of disagreement.
– **Builds Stronger Relationships**: Gentle words and actions can diffuse conflict and build trust, deepening connections with friends, family, and colleagues.
– **Reflects Christ’s Love**: By choosing gentleness, we mirror the love and character of Christ to the world, drawing others closer to Him.
– **Listen More, Speak Less**: Give others your full attention. Listening is a powerful act of gentleness.
– **Pause Before Reacting**: Take a moment to breathe and choose responses that are measured and kind.
– **Ask for God’s Help**: Pray for the Holy Spirit to cultivate the fruit of gentleness in your heart and actions.
Embrace the gentle life today, and watch how it transforms your world.
If you want to want to research more Bible Answers on your own, please try our Bible Answers GPT. It’s easy to get lost in the interesting responses you’ll find… every search is like a new treasure hunt 🙂
Source =
submitted by BGodInspired to BGodInspired [link] [comments]
Discovering the Power of Gentleness in the Bible Unlocking the Secret of True Strength: Gentleness in the Bible
Have you ever pondered the true essence of strength? In a world that often equates power with force and dominance, the Bible presents a radically different perspective: the unparalleled strength of gentleness. Let’s embark on an enlightening journey to uncover the transformative power of gentleness as illuminated in the Scriptures. Get ready to be inspired and discover how gentleness can redefine your understanding of what it means to be strong.What Does the Bible Say About Gentleness?
The Bible venerates gentleness as a fruit of the Spirit, a divine quality that reflects the character of God Himself. In Galatians 5:22-23, gentleness is listed among the attributes that the Holy Spirit cultivates in the lives of believers, standing alongside love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. This divine linkage underscores the significant esteem the Scriptures place on gentleness as a virtue.Examples of Gentleness in the Bible
The biblical narrative is rich with examples of gentleness demonstrated by key figures, offering us profound lessons on its application and impact:– **Moses**: Despite being described as “very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3), Moses led the Israelites with humility and patience, qualities intrinsic to gentleness.
– **Jesus Christ**: Jesus is the quintessence of gentleness. He invited all who are weary and burdened to come to Him, offering rest and teaching with gentleness of heart (Matthew 11:28-29).
– **Paul the Apostle**: Paul, in his epistles, frequently encouraged believers to exhibit gentleness in their interactions. In Ephesians 4:2, he exhorts Christians to walk “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.”
These examples illuminate the profound truth that true strength often resides not in might but in the quiet, steadfast force of gentleness.
The Impact of Practicing Gentleness
Embracing gentleness can have a transformative effect on your life and the lives of those around you:– **Fosters Peace and Understanding**: Gentleness opens the door to meaningful dialogue and mutual respect, even in the face of disagreement.
– **Builds Stronger Relationships**: Gentle words and actions can diffuse conflict and build trust, deepening connections with friends, family, and colleagues.
– **Reflects Christ’s Love**: By choosing gentleness, we mirror the love and character of Christ to the world, drawing others closer to Him.
Embodying Gentleness in Everyday Life
Incorporating gentleness into your daily life might seem challenging, but it begins with small, intentional steps:– **Listen More, Speak Less**: Give others your full attention. Listening is a powerful act of gentleness.
– **Pause Before Reacting**: Take a moment to breathe and choose responses that are measured and kind.
– **Ask for God’s Help**: Pray for the Holy Spirit to cultivate the fruit of gentleness in your heart and actions.
Conclusion: The Strength in Gentleness
The journey towards embracing gentleness is both noble and transformative. As we reflect on the biblical teachings and examples of gentleness, let us strive to embody this virtue in every aspect of our lives. Gentleness is not a sign of weakness but a symbol of true strength, deeply rooted in the character of God.Ready to Embrace the Gentle Life?
Feeling inspired to cultivate a spirit of gentleness in your life? Start by reflecting on the Bible verses mentioned and ask God to instill His gentle nature in you. Remember, the path to true strength is paved with the quiet power of gentleness. Let’s embark on this transformative journey together, embracing the gentle grace that God freely offers to each of us.Embrace the gentle life today, and watch how it transforms your world.
If you want to want to research more Bible Answers on your own, please try our Bible Answers GPT. It’s easy to get lost in the interesting responses you’ll find… every search is like a new treasure hunt 🙂
Source =
2024.05.21 00:13 InverseNexarus 60+ Year Old DM does not charge his friends in Pay-to-Play campaign, insults the party for his amusement, and is probably a misogynist. Spoilers for Curse of Strahd.
 | Last Monday I posted a quick and dirty RPG horror story about a pay-to-play campaign. This will be a proper attempt at telling the whole story, from the alluring start to my bitter resignation. Spoilers ahead for the beginning portions of Curse of Strahd. Trigger Warning for bullying and mentions of self-harm. submitted by InverseNexarus to rpghorrorstories [link] [comments] Mondays and Tuesdays are my guaranteed days off, so that is when I am available to enjoy my TTRPG hobby. Typically I am involved in three or four campaigns a week as either a DM or a player. A year-long campaign I was running reached its finale in the middle of March. When that ended and the time slot opened up, I wanted to be a player for a while. So I started looking in all the usual places; Discord servers I am a part of, StartPlaying ads, LFG threads, and the Roll20 boards. I indiscriminately applied for free-to-play and pay-to-play games at 1 PM on Mondays and ultimately got invited to join a Curse of Strahd campaign. I’ve experienced good and bad games in both camps, so this story is not about bashing pay-to-play games. Being a DM requires time, effort, and availability; and I am willing to pay since free games are not typically hosted during that time slot. The DM hosting this Curse of Strahd campaign presented himself as a knowledgeable Grognard from the Gygaxian era. A retired man who ran D&D games to have fun and get a bit of spending money as a side hustle. He made promises that this campaign was going to be more than just an out-of-the-box 5th edition game. It would run the gambit of Ravenloft’s rich history taking elements from older editions and novels like ‘I Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire’. The game would be going from level 1 to 20, as defeating Strahd and escaping Barovia was just the beginning. He planned on the party visiting other domains of dread and dark places within the shadowfel. During a voice call interview, we spoke about table conduct, civility, respect, lines and veils, and all the things that sold me the idea he was a professional DM and cared about the integrity of his campaign. At no point did this grown-ass old man proclaim anything along the lines of, “This will be like playing D&D with two friends in a basement, and you’re the third wheel who buys our snacks”. If he had, I would not have signed up. We shall call him the Bantering DM for the rest of the story. Two weeks go by and the game fills with four players: My half-goblin moon druid named Olivia; an elf bladesinger wizard named Cayden; a purple tiefling lore bard named Eternal Cake; lastly the problem player Jormungandr the fallen-aasimar giant barbarian. We have session zero with everyone in the Discord voice channel. The Bantering DM goes over the same points from the interview and has us go around the table so that we can introduce ourselves, our characters, and the lines/veils we’d like to avoid. I don’t like witnessing instances of child abuse, Cayden does not like descriptions of spiders, Eternal Cake does not want the party to torture NPCs, and Jormungandr asks that we be patient with him as he has ADHD. I go above and beyond by making high-resolution character tokens for everyone. As we are chatting and filling out our character sheets, it is revealed that Eternal Cake and Jormungandr are longtime friends of the Bantering DM and are not paying for the sessions like Cayden and myself. Personally, I’d feel more comfortable if all the players either paid a fee or played for free, but I let it slide because everyone seemed nice at the time. https://preview.redd.it/er4ul1kgmn1d1.png?width=1129&format=png&auto=webp&s=e9a8df11e4c27d1a3f89f7fab8de05985bae6667 In session one, unfortunately, Eternal Cake was not able to join us so we had to puppet his purple tiefling. The Bantering DM uses the Creeping Mists introduction. Each of our characters was spirited to Barovia with whatever equipment we had on our person. Cayden and Jormungandr sounded mildly inconvenienced upon discovering that they were kidnapped by magical mist and then plopped into a dark forest. Meanwhile, Olivia was scared out of her mind and avoided the three strange men. She decided to climb a tree to find a road or landmarks. Survival checks were made, she discovered a road not too far away and heard the howling of wolves in the distance. Even though she did not trust these men, she motioned for them to follow her, hopefully, they’d be safe together. We were ambushed by three wolves on the road. During the surprise round, both Cayden and Eternal Cake were rendered unconscious. Pack tactics caused a critical hit on Cayden, the wolf’s bite attack damage was 13, meaning his wizard with 7 hit points was a single point away from instantly dying. Thankfully, I prepared healing spells for just such an occasion. It was at this point that I got to experience the Bantering DM and Jormungandr’s dynamic. DM: “At advantage from pack tactics, that is a 17 to hit.” Barb: “No that does not hit me.” DM: “Your token is linked to your sheet. You have 15 AC, my guy.” Barb: “What about with a shield? Ever think about that?” DM: “Even if you had a shield, that's 17, it meets it beats. But you're using a maul.” Barb: “Does Cake have silvery barbs? I demand a reroll.” DM: “Cake is unconscious.” Me: “Um, I will get him up when it is my turn. Can you drop it?” Barb: “Fine.” DM: “That is 7 piercing damage.” Barb: “7 bullshit damage! I have not even had a turn. I’m not raging so it is FULL!” Olivia played cautiously, healing the downed party members and using ranged cantrips. Jormungandr did big damage with his maul but complained and argued with the Bantering DM, extending each of his turns longer than they needed to be. Injured, but grateful to be alive, we travel down the muddy road. The party makes it to the village of Barovia. We wander the streets and eventually find the Blood of the Vine tavern. Cayden and Jormungandr do the majority of the talking, as Olivia is unsure if the villagers will be hostile or welcoming to a goblin like her. The Bantering DM laced the expositional dialog with a lot of profanity, personal attacks, and spitting on the floor. The barkeep explained that spitting was a Barovian custom, that if an evil thing is expressed one must spit quickly otherwise demons will possess the soul. The insults were primarily based on our characters' appearances. Cayden was called a knife-ear, short, girly man, hairless, and physically weak. Jormungandr was mocked for being stupid, a savage brute, and likely to get struck by lightning as he had a metal pauldron. Eternal Cake was spared as he was not at the session, though I imagine the Bantering DM had plenty to say about a purple devil man. The barkeep called Olivia an ugly greenskin, asked where the rest of her clothes were, if she was like goblins in fairytales that hide under children's beds to eat their toes, and that I may as well “get it over with as it will happen sooner or later”, implying that I should kill myself. When he said that, Olivia spat and glared at the man. Through that abuse, we learned the leader of the town recently died. His son Ismark was now in charge, but no one liked him. There was a cursed child with red hair named Ireena, taken in by the prior burgomaster. The ruler of this valley is called The Devil and he’s been sending monsters to torment the village recently. The priest of the local church had gone mad when his son died in a recent attack. Finally, there is a town further down the road called Vallaki. We rent a room and end the session with a milestone level up. After the game wrapped up, we were still in the voice call and I expressed a couple of concerns I had about the banter during combat. Saying that it made the fight drag on for longer. I also said that I could handle rude or unlikeable NPCs and that I understand Barovia is a bleak atmosphere, but I felt the barkeep overstepped into abusive language with his comments. The Bantering DM apologized, said that it was all just in character, and excused the innkeeper by saying he is scared, small-minded, and considered us a bad omen on top of recent terrible events. I chalked it up to adjusting to a new group. This will be the only time that the Bantering DM will apologize or engage with my concerns and criticisms. After this, he would ignore what I had to say. For session two Eternal Cake is unable to play again. The party woke up and left the inn. Immediately we are confronted by Ismark, he puffs himself up and banishes us from the town. Yelling for us to get out, that we were harming his people, we were unwelcome, and no merchant was legally allowed to trade with us. Then he stomped off unwilling to talk about whether or not we could help his people. Now, I’ve run Curse of Strahd before, I have meta-knowledge about things we can do in this village. There is content to explore, stuff to do, and ways to better the village. Some of which was hinted at by the barkeep last session. However, in character, Olivia was told to kill herself and a few hours later got banished. She does not belong here, she is not wanted, so the true neutral thing to do is leave. But in-character and out-of-character are very different beasts because I know that leaving would mean abandoning the story's most pivotal character Ireena. Jormungandr and Cayden both agree, well screw this town if everyone is going to be a jerk. I’m panicking, internally screaming, trying to come up with an in-character reason to force us to meet Ireena, but drawing a blank. Then as we are about one hundred paces outside of town, we hear a young woman calling out after us. It is Ireena. She is running after us, short of breath and begging us to stop for a second. She explains that we are the heroes of prophecy. Asking if she could travel with us to Vallaki. The way that Bantering DM is playing Ireena, makes me mad, as he is putting on a stereotypical airhead voice and making her sound dumb. Cayden and Jormungandr pick up on this and ask a few questions. Ireena explains that she was never allowed out of the house and that this is the furthest she’s been outside of the village. She found her dad's old breastplate and rapier, but she’d never used them before. That she’s never been in a fight. Later on, the Bantering DM would show this by having her routinely make dexterity saving throws in combat to not trip and fall prone. Describing her as swinging wildly and whenever she did hit an enemy made it sound like an accident. Nor does she seem to have any bonds with her village, or care to say goodbye to her brother. The biggest problem is never mentioned out loud, but through meta-knowledge I know that her father has not been buried yet. This means that the Bantering DM chose to cut the funeral from the module, or that it still needs to be done but Ireena does not care about laying her father to rest. We travel down the road and come to the gallows at the crossroads. It just so happens that Olivia sees the apparition of her own body dangling from the noose. She expresses sorrow and I hint at backstory trauma, calling the event “probably a bad memory of the last time I had a rope around my neck”. Then the Bantering DM performs the final part of Ireena’s character assassination. Ireena kneels down, looks Olivia in the eye, and says, “You must have gone mad”, then laughs at her. This is not Ireena, this is a careless fool with no empathy. I don’t know why the Bantering DM made these changes. Because he is sexist? To be funny? Is it because he considers the village portion of Barovia boring? Is he ignorant or malicious? I cannot answer these questions, nor will I pretend to be a mind reader. I am just laying out what he did. We continued to travel down the road, eventually meeting an old woman with a cart headed toward the village. Ireena seemed to know this woman, calling her Granny, and spoke louder to imply the older woman was hard of hearing. She greeted us and offered pies for sale. With meta-knowledge I know that this is Morgantha, a night hag who kills people and grinds their bones at her windmill aptly named Bonegrinder. But I would never act on this knowledge nor spoil the surprise for anyone else. Jormungandr then asked, “Are the pies made of people?”, without any suspicious behavior or provocation. Granny said ‘no, of course not’. But then Jormungandr started to question the old lady intensely. Why are you traveling all by yourself? Are you not scared of wolves? How big is this woman DM? Does she look like she has an arcane focus? Is there anything weird about her cart? Can I do an insight check to sense her motivations? He hardly even let the DM answer the damn question before firing off another one. So I break character and say. “Stop meta-gaming! Knock it off!” Confronting Jormungandr seemed to get him to stop, but this should be the job of the DM, especially one who laid out a list of table etiquette during session zero. Once we resumed, in character I ran defense for the hag. Saying that as a druid I could talk to animals and giving them food often lets them know you are friendly. Just because she is an old woman, does not mean she was incapable of taking care of herself. To which the hag agreed and gave me a free pie. After that, we got to the Vistani camp and Madame Eva’s fortune-telling. The cards we got were the best pulls I’ve ever seen, super thematic, and a great fated ally. The Sunsword would be at the beacon of Agronvostholt after we light it. The Tome is hidden in Baba Lysaga’s hut, makes sense that she’d keep her darling son's diary safe. The Holy Symbol is behind the sun at St. Markovia, so we have to confront a fallen angel to retrieve an amulet of faith. And we got the G.O.A.T. - Ezmerelda d'Avenir, we could run into her at a bunch of different places. All of this was meta-knowledge, of course, and unlike Jormungandr I did not intend to start demanding we go to these places to speedrun win D&D. We ended the session at that point, and once again we got a milestone level up. I left the voice call, took a few days to cool off, and then carefully wrote out a respectful message detailing my frustrations to the Bantering DM. Both about Jormungandr’s meta-gaming outburst during the hag interaction and how he chose to portray Ireena Kolyana. I explained that she was coming across as an unempathetic ditz. The way she was acting made it difficult for my character to like or trust her. Hammering on the points about the funeral as well as her mocking Olivia at the gallows. I wrote that I understand there are many ways the community around Curse of Strahd has characterized Ireena. Ranging from Palidoozy’s disney princess version to Dragnacarta’s complete rework of her character into an arc to recover her memories. Sometimes she is a damsel in distress, other times the light that Barovia desperately needs. I never got a response to my criticisms. Perhaps I was out of line? I did not want my comments to come across as backseat DMing. I never interrupted the flow of the session, waiting until afterward to try and communicate my concerns. I felt like my issues were tangible and explainable. I did consider leaving the game if things did not improve. In hindsight, I think that it was the insane fortune pulls that got me to stay. In the third session, Eternal Cake could play with us, but Cayden could not. Also, we got a new player added to the roster. A paladin named Paul. The party travels down the road until they come across a kidnapping in progress. Several men were tying up a young woman and stuffing her into a burlap sack. We charged in, and the DM puppeted Cayden. Paul was introduced in this fight. He emerged from the bushes and went after the bandits, ready to smite evil and save a damsel. Eternal Cake passed out inspiration like candy and used spells like bless and command. Jormungandr became a big angry boy and smashed his way through the bandits. Olivia got to show off her higher AC from taking a level dip into monk. Blowing everyone’s mind when I explained how these features stacked with wildshape. However, once again this combat brought out the worst in Bantering DM and Jormungandr. DM: “The bandit disengages and runs over here. Then he fires a crossbow at George-Munger.” Barb: “Jormungandr.” DM: “That is what I said, Gorge-Gander.” Barb: “Say my name right. Jormungandr.” DM: “Your Muh Ganger.” Barb: “George is my cat. He is a milk puddle. But I am not George.” Me: “Can we please keep combat going?” Barb: “No one asked you.” Me: “Whatever…” DM: “Anyway, a 13 misses your AC. Then it is this bandit’s turn. And he kills Jormungandr instantly.” Barb: “You haven't even rolled yet.” We manage to win the fight and have one enemy restrained in my entangle spell. During combat, we decided as a group to spare one of the kidnappers so that we could question him. Untying the young woman and pulling her from the sack. Then the girl casts produce flame and murders the bandit. Everyone is miffed, as it felt like the Bantering DM took away our opportunity to gain information. The girl explained that she was a Vistana named Arabella. Asking for us to guide her back to her camp, it is not far from Vallaki. We do so, and I don’t remember much of what happened during this session. I was upset about the bantering and that our group agency was taken away. I disassociated from the conversations but got the gist of it Like with Ismark and the barkeep, the Vistani people insulted us. They gave the party a cloak of protection as a reward for saving Arabella. The Bantering DM said that we should argue over who gets to wear it. The Vistani name-dropped Strahd and called themselves his allies. Telling us that we may as well give up any hope of escaping. He briefly mentions dusk elves also being in the camp. At one point, the Bantering DM realized I was not contributing to the conversation. So Arrigal asked if Olivia was for sale. I flatly said, “I am free, don’t ever say something like that to me again!” The lines between in and out-of-character blurred. When it was about ten minutes till, I wanted to do something else. I said that I would be interested in speaking with the dusk elves. The Bantering DM said, “They are prisoners and the Vistani told you to not bother them”. I asked if I could make a stealth check. He said, “There are like 300 Vistani in this camp and someone will spot you.” On the one hand, he did not make me roll for something I could not succeed in, but it still felt shitty to be told no it is impossible. We ended the session with a milestone level-up. I did not write the Bantering DM between sessions. I should not have returned for another game. Fourth session, Eternal Cake is once again missing in action. I had hoped that in this session everyone would be able to play and we could finally all get on the same page. We were also supposed to go into the town of Vallaki. However, once we started walking down the path a dusk elf appeared. She, yes a female dusk elf named Kassy-Mira no less, asked us to go to a haunted fort to find one of her sisters named Savida. My meta-knowledge goes into overload wondering what in the hell did this Bantering DM do. For those of you in the know, I am looking forward to responses and speculations in the comments section. Kassy-Mira explains that Savida is the keeper of their lore and history, an elven leader who must be recovered. I ask a couple of clarifying questions because at this point I have no idea what is going on. The elves are prisoners of the Vistani, yet a leader was able to escape? Why did no one else escape? Where is this fort? If the fort is haunted why would they flee there? Why are the dusk elves prisoners anyway? Did you escape Miss Kassy-Mira? Do the elves want to revolt against the Vistani? But I only got answers that the fort was to the west and that returning their leader was paramount. Then she rushed back to voluntarily go back into dusk elf prison, I guess. So instead of going to Vallaki like I was hoping, I guess we are going to the house of the silver dragon. My only theory is that the Bantering DM wanted us to get started on the questline to retrieve the skull, so he shoe-horned in a way for us to redirect to Argonvostholt. But in doing so he also revealed whatever he did to the dusk elf lore. I’m guessing he reversed the gender of the events before the campaign started. Which makes me wonder, did he gender-bend Rahadin too? We wander down the road and find the haunted mansion atop the muddy hill. Seeing the statue and for whatever reason we decide to check out the collapsed stables first. The rest of the session was a combat encounter against a dozen giant spiders. Two of the three hours were dedicated to this, mostly because the Bantering DM and Jormungandr took forever to keep the turns moving along. And they were particularly toxic during this combat because Jormungandr hated that his rage did not resist poison. I knew that once the session was over, I’d be writing up my farewell message. Every time it was my turn, I simply stated what actions I took and quickly did it. Elaborating if questioned on my abilities. DM: "Make a Con save against poison". Barb: "No, make me." DM: "Do it bitch." Barb: "Fine. 21." DM: "You failed." Barb: "It says DC 11 for spider DM." DM: "Yeah, well, fuck you." Me: “I use multiattack, bite, claw, bonus action unarmed strike. 21 to hit, for 7 piercing damage. 18 to hit, for 15 slashing damage. 24 to hit, for 5 bludgeoning damage.” Barb: “You can do three attacks? That is bullshit.” Me: “Brown Bear has multiattack, monk grants martial arts.” After the fight, we had just enough time to enter the mansion and find Savida. Olivia still had some spell slots, so I tended to her injuries. The Bantering DM said that the party would question her at the start of the next session. Once we ended the call, I wrote up a few things. First I left a message in the general chat thanking the players and wishing them well. I learned from Cayden later on that my farewell message was deleted by the DM. Then I wrote my final criticisms and sent them to the Bantering DM privately, letting him know I would not be returning. https://preview.redd.it/q3vodfhvln1d1.png?width=823&format=png&auto=webp&s=d9518097a06761bceec649228aa34b8d8b786165 https://preview.redd.it/kvj7l4u3mn1d1.png?width=1225&format=png&auto=webp&s=865388fc0d5c65ff64776196f6725de01c228049 The punchline to this joke of a campaign. A week later, today, Cayden tells me that the Bantering DM canceled the session because neither of his buddies showed up to play. Eternal Flake, Geogreinanger, and the Bantering DM, despite all my complaints I hope they continue to have fun. Maybe next time though, don’t play favorites and charge people for a “fun time in Grandpa’s basement”. https://preview.redd.it/vycv0uqsln1d1.png?width=1229&format=png&auto=webp&s=2c241b09728ebc29653e384dea90a24d770e7a0b |
2024.05.20 18:00 AutoModerator ★OFFICIAL WEEKLY★ Day 1 Monday: Start here! May 20, 2024
Is today is your Day 1?
Welcome to Loseit!So you aren’t sure of how to start? Don’t worry! “How do I get started?” is our most asked question. Loseit has helped our users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds and these are the steps that we’ve found most useful for getting started.
Why You’re Overweight
Our bodies are amazing (yes, yours too!). In order to survive before supermarkets, we had to be able to store energy to get us through lean times, we store this energy as adipose fat tissue. If you put more energy into your body than it needs, it stores it, for (potential) later use. When you put in less than it needs, it uses the stored energy. The more energy you have stored, the more overweight you are. The trick is to get your body to use the stored energy, which can only be done if you give it less energy than it needs, consistently.Before You Start
The very first step is calculating your calorie needs. You can do that HERE. This will give you an approximation of your calorie needs for the day. The next step is to figure how quickly you want to lose the fat. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound of fat per week you will need to consume 500 calories less than your TDEE (daily calorie needs from the link above). 750 calories less will result in 1.5 pounds and 1000 calories is an aggressive 2 pounds per week.Tracking
Here is where it begins to resemble work. The most efficient way to lose the weight you desire is to track your calorie intake. This has gotten much simpler over the years and today it can be done right from your smartphone or computer. loseit recommends (unaffiliated) apps like MyFitnessPal, Loseit or Cronometer. Create an account and be honest with it about your current stats, activities, and goals. This is your tracker and no one else needs to see it so don’t cheat the numbers. You’ll find large user created databases that make logging and tracking your food and drinks easy with just the tap of the screen or the push of a button. We also highly recommend the use of a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much of what you're eating is more important than what you're eating. Why? This may explain it.Creating Your Deficit
How do you create a deficit? This is up to you. loseit has a few recommendations but ultimately that decision is yours. There is no perfect diet for everyone. There is a perfect diet for you and you can create it. You can eat less of exactly what you eat now. If you like pizza you can have pizza. Have 2 slices instead of 4. You can try lower calorie replacements for calorie dense foods. Some of the communities favorites are cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash in place of their more calorie rich cousins. If it appeals to you an entire dietary change like Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian.The most important thing to remember is that this selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long term weight management success. If you hate what you’re eating you won’t stick to it.
Exercise
...is NOT mandatory. You can lose fat and create a deficit through diet alone. There is no requirement of exercise to lose weight.It has it’s own benefits though. You will burn extra calories. Exercise is shown to be beneficial to mental health and creates an endorphin rush as well. It makes people feel *awesome* and has been linked to higher rates of long term success when physical activity is included in lifestyle changes.
Crawl, Walk, Run
It can seem like one needs to make a 180 degree course correction to find success. That isn’t necessarily true. Many of our users find that creating small initial changes that build a foundation allows them to progress forward in even, sustained, increments.Acceptance
You will struggle. We have all struggled. This is natural. There is no tip or trick to get through this though. We encourage you to recognize why you are struggling and forgive yourself for whatever reason that may be. If you overindulged at your last meal that is ok. You can resolve to make the next meal better.Do not let the pursuit of perfect get in the way of progress. We don’t need perfect. We just want better.
Additional resources
Now you’re ready to do this. Here are more details, that may help you refine your plan.- Quick Start Guide - Build your foundation!
- Lose It Compendium - Frame it out!
- FAQ - Answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions!
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2024.05.20 17:43 ProgrammingArchive New C++ Conference Videos Released This Month - May 2024 (Updated To Include Videos Released 05/13/2024 - 05/19/2024)
This month the following C++ videos have been published to YouTube. A new post will be made each week as more videos are released
C++Online
05/13/2024 - 05/19/2024
05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024
05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024
Audio Developer Conference
05/13/2024 - 05/20/2024
submitted by ProgrammingArchive to cpp [link] [comments]
C++Online
05/13/2024 - 05/19/2024
- The Evolution of Functional Programming in C++ - Abel Sen - https://youtu.be/H52B6dGgqHE
- Empowerment with the C++ Generic Programming Paradigm - Eduardo Madrid - https://youtu.be/MGal7ixwkk4
- Cpp in the Developing World, Why It Matters - Mathew Benson - https://youtu.be/lQ05xJEH-w4
- Advanced SIMD C++ Algorithms in Pictures - Denis Yaroshevskiy - https://youtu.be/uAVXVzWIIBM
- Optimising a High Performance C++ Library: Lessons Learned - Dave Rowland - https://youtu.be/c_cXuL_L0Gg
- Keynote: What Does It Take to Implement the C++ Standard Library? - Christopher Di Bella - https://youtu.be/XP21DsoPaGw
- What’s New in Compiler Explorer? 2024 Update - Matt Godbolt - https://youtu.be/28Gp3TTQYp0
- Clean C++ Code Is Not the Norm: Why? - Sandor Dargo - https://youtu.be/Rn6EMwPoHZk
05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024
- Automated Testing of Shader Code - Keith Stockdale - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqnNOhOCesc
- Progress Report: Adopting Header Units in Microsoft Word - Zachary Henkel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvliLGtaQ0c
- Templates View for Build Insights in Visual Studio - Nelson D. Troncoso - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68pOEQ5YA5s
- Optimizing Game Development Workflows with Visual Studio and AI - David Li & Greg Denton - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ4uS8_lUzM
- Debugging GUI Applications in a GitHub Codespace - Michael Price - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewLbgs1thSk
- New Editor Features in Visual Studio for C++ Programmers - Haley Welliver and Caleb Blake - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgfSJ2_2TGI
- Message Handling with Boolean Implication - Ben Deane - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIPvb_PaI1A
- Enhancing C++ development with Copilot Chat - Sinem Akinci - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpxPB6FuIAM
- I Embedded a Programming Language In Debug Information - Sy Brand - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luogje8IHpM
05/06/2024 - 05/12/2024
- Lightning Talk: Is Polymorphism in C++ Really That Bad? - Paul Tsouchlos - https://youtu.be/BujbOFNHHIY
- Lightning Talk: Program Complexity and Thermodynamics - Vadim Alexandrov - https://youtu.be/E1_AgDj_2kw
- Lightning Talk: Undefined Behavior - Toolkit to Improve Communication With Clients - Laura Kostur - https://youtu.be/zKZiWVNenVk
- Lightning Talk: Detecting Constant Folding to Prevent Substitution Failure - Patrick Roberts - https://youtu.be/Hoo9H9z-0VM
- Lightning Talk: Making Friends With CUDA Programmers (please constexpr all the things) - Vasu Agrawal - https://youtu.be/TRQWxkRdPUI
- Lightning Talk: Let's Fix Sparse Linear Algebra with C++. It'll Be Fun and Easy! - Benjamin Brock - https://youtu.be/vhpj-pQTJPA
- Lightning Talk: (Fine) Wine and MSVC: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? - Yannic Staudt - https://youtu.be/ogrJtlaZfl4
- Lightning Talk: Know Your Audience: Who’s Building Your C++ Code - Chris Thrasher - https://youtu.be/xSrEHZ6Sgfg
- Lightning Talk: Writing a Better std::move - Jonathan Müller - https://youtu.be/hvnl6T2MnUk
- Lightning Talk: Enhancing C++ exceptions with Context - Shachar Shemesh - https://youtu.be/LvzmAJ9_rDk
Audio Developer Conference
05/13/2024 - 05/20/2024
- NO MORE CODE: New Graphical Programming Language for Audio Research and Developers - ChangHun Sung - https://youtu.be/uYUblZhbG1A
- PANEL: Audio Tech Ecosystem in India: Opportunities and Challenges - https://youtu.be/ivYVCgzDzYk
- Recent Updates to MIDI 2.0 and the newest MIDI 2.0 APIs in the Apple, Google, Linux and Microsoft operating systems - Florian Bömers - https://youtu.be/EKJbUKx_WIg
- Accelerated Audio Computing: From Problem to Solution - Alexander Talashov & Alexander Prokopchuk - https://youtu.be/X9TN9la0Q0Y
- Virtual Studio Production Tools With AI Driven Personalized Spatial Audio for Immersive Mixing - Dr. Kaushik Sunder & Krishnan Subramanian - https://youtu.be/Uhf4XUQwcLk
- Workshop: An Introduction to Inclusive Design of Audio Products - Accessibility Panel - https://youtu.be/-iVDiV1Iwio
- Legacy Code for the Learning Audio Engineer: Examples In C++ - José Díaz Rohena - https://youtu.be/b9z8a2z4ZP4
- AI Generated Voices: Towards Emotive Speech Synthesis - Vibhor Saran - https://youtu.be/5FoI9JPNbo8
- Audio Technology Industry Standards - the Agony and the Ecstasy - Angus Hewlett - https://youtu.be/wVxS9Rv1y88
2024.05.20 16:31 scarsellaj The Hater's Guide To The 2023-24 Premier League Season: Final Matchday Edition
The latest and most thrilling season of English football would also be the most controversial. The amount of times we had issues with refs, VAR, red cards, and blown calls made the NFL refs seem like experts in their craft. Seriously, the best European football league can't even get a video review correct in less than 2 minutes and it drives everyone mad. We also had further proof of Rich 7 favoritism with the FFP punishments dished out. It was absolute chaos, it caused fanbases to melt down like Chernobyl, but it made for amazing shitposting. How did your team do?
Manchester City: Sigh, the Prem is not beating the farmers' league allegations after this. In some way, we all expected this. After their historic treble, everyone assumed City would take a step back. They weren't even the best team in the country and they still found a way to creep up into first place. Their fourth title in five seasons, six under Pep Guardiola. They still have a chance at a double, too. If you're still living in the "Fraudiola" camp, I suggest you touch grass. Do you know understand how fucking insane that is? Sure, you can say Abu Dhabi bankrolled him and now they may be paying for it dearly but that is serious contention for greatest manager of all time. This time he was up against the adversity, too. They went without KDB and Haaland for long periods of time. Phil Foden was rightfully voted PFA Player of the Year for his efforts in their absence. Julian Alvarez took massive strides in becoming the next great Argentine striker...when he can get into the team. Jeremy Doku showed flashes of greatness, and it might spell the end for Jack Grealish. Rodri was Rodri, Ruben Dias was Ruben Dias, you know the deal. Even academy kids made serious progress. Pep won the Champions League without Messi and with a real striker. He's now guided City to another title. Goddammit, can we please get someone to topple this monopoly?
Arsenal: You did it again...you fucking did again. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You thought you were becoming the reincarnation of Real Madrid. You ended up becoming the red version of Poch's Spurs. Some might even say that Spurs team was better than this team. Arsenal had the title in their grasp again. Then they sat back and drew with City, lost to Villa at home, and in the end, these results cost them. You bottled it again. Bukayo Saka had his best season ever. So did Martin Odegaard. Leandro Trossard made a case for a starting spot. Gabriel Martinelli was sporadic but effective. William Saliba and Gabriel locked down the backline. David Raya won the Golden Glove. Mikkel Arteta has a case for Manager of the Year (likely going to Unai Emery), and they still bottled it. We don't need to rehash how their European campaign went. You should've known Spurs were never going to give you that benefit of the doubt. Why would your local rivals help your title charge? At least you're back in the Champions League, and you showed you could shed some of those demons next campaign, so long as you don't match up with Bayern again. The painful truth is, you went trophyless again. How much longer is the goodwill with Arteta going to last? Doing this once? Forgivable. But twice? Unconscionable.
Liverpool: This was not how Klopp's Last Dance was supposed to go. One trophy, and the League Cup at that, is all Liverpool had to show for it. They hit the worst patch of rotten form at the most inopportune time. You might think losing games twice to Manchester United in a span of a week was bad enough, but to go to Italy and lose to Atalanta? And they kept a clean sheet?? Dear god, they made Crystal Palace look like prime Barcelona at one point. You are fucking cooked, and it shows. Darwin Nunez started to break out, then reverting to forgetting how to play the sport of football entirely. Virgil Van Djik's age showed. Ibrahima Konate shows flashes but is injury- and mistake-prone. Mo Salah is mentally checked out, and it showed with him in only scoring twice in the last 10 matches of the seasons. Him and Klopp arguing on the sideline was peak Liverpool banter era. You literally on the verge of a quadruple AGAIN and you scuffed the run... This team is going to need a massive reset, and that may mean cashing in a few aging stars. New manager Arne Slot will have an absolute gargantuan job ahead of him. With FSG's financial model, it'll be interesting to see who they bring in. But what do you about Mo Salah? Clearly his age is starting show.
Aston Villa: Unai Emery was sacked by Arsenal for "underachieving." When you see the job he did with Villa with half the budget he had at Arsenal and players willing to run through walls for him, you can understand how Villa managed to stay in the Top 4 most of the season. Ollie Watkins had his best season to date. Douglas Luiz become the third-best defensive midfielder in the league, and dispatched a few penalties. Niccolo Zaniolo played a smaller role and still contributed heavily to big wins. It wasn't ever perfect, and there are plenty of wayward results to point out, but Villa has got some of their old mojo back. Get ready, boys, you're going dancing next season. You'll be in the new-look Champions League for the first time since the 1980s. Don't forget: Villa has some European pedigree to them. Sure, it was back when the competition wasn't as fierce as it is now, but respect them. Otherwise all you Madrid fans are going to be shitting themselves when you rock up to Villa Park for the league stage.
Tottenham: Tottenham's season hit some very high highs, and some deeply low lows. A 10-game unbeaten streak to start the season ended with a four losses in a row. Injuries crippled all the progress they made. Ange Postecoglou's all-out attack works, but when it doesn't, it is absolutely terrifying to watch. Hueng-min Son had a nice comeback season. Richarlison finally came good for the club. James Maddison started out well enough and then had a fall-off for the ages, as did Pedro Porro. The backline of Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven showed they can be great but they need real discipline in midfield to balance out the high line. But there are still many players that can't get them over the hump. Not to mention, they were derailed by injuries all campaign. Make it 16 years since the last major trophy. Fifth seems fitting for a team still going through an identity and cultural reset. Some supporters think Ange isn't the one for the job. They often forget just how big of a rebuild is needed after losing Harry Kane and other core players over the past five seasons. Those are probably also the people that don't see the positive of the Tottenham money-making machine. Why win trophies when you can host NFL games? Sigh, I just want one Cup, is that too much to ask for? At least they clinched Europa League, I guess.
Chelsea: Todd Boehly will no longer be making the calls about Chelsea's transfers. That should make the fans a little bit happier. If you're keeping score at home, he's only got 1/30 of new signings right. Jury is still out on Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Axel Diasi, Mykhalio Mudrk, Noni Madueke, and Levi Colwill. Mauricio Pochettino was trying to build something, but it was hindered by constant setbacks. A massive pile of injuries, extreme fan pressure, and underperforming players signaled it would not be another fruitful season for the Blue Lions. You got beat by a bunch of high school students in the Carabao Cup final, and somehow that wasn't the lowest point of the season. It was the thrashing by Arsenal. Chelsea should feel lucky they snagged Cole Palmer out from under Man City. He's the real Eden Hazard regen, even though he's a bit of a penalty merchant. He dragged Chelsea from finishing outside the Top 10 again. This summer will be a major clear-out. Raheem Sterling, Reece James, Ben Chilwell, and Thiago Silva might or are already leaving. The thinner squad will allow Poch to actually build something...maybe. You're not seriously going to sell Conor Gallagher to Spurs, right?
Newcastle: Eddie Howe can feel sort of vindicated that he guided this Newcastle team to a top 10 finish. They had one of the worst injury sheets in the league this season. The delicate balance of Champions League and the English season exposed their biggest flaw: not enough depth. Sandro Tonali getting suspended for being a degenerate gambler definitely did not help. Nick Pope was out most of the year and Martin Dubravka showed why he's no longer first-choice. Sven Botman and Dan Burn spent time on the sidelines and that killed their defense. Seriously though, they were chucking out Football Manager regens to play critical minutes. That only works in video games. In reality, the club is backed up against the FFP bubble. They will need to sell to buy, and that might mean cashing in on Alexander Isak or Bruno Guiamares. Maybe they'll even cut ties with Tonali and try to recoup some of their money. The richest club in the world is playing inside the rules? I guess they don't want to be the new Man City. I honestly commend them for trying to play within the confines of the rules. Some clubs can't say they do that.
Manchester United: Jim Ratcliffe really had no idea the scope of the rebuild he inherited once he bought his stake in United. He called out the club culture and facilities in the media multiple times, but perhaps it was all reactionary. United had a shit season. And boy do I mean shit. None of their players could stay healthy. Marcus Rashford is entering Dele Alli territory with how bad his falloff has been. There was the Mason Greenwood situation, then the Antony situation, and the Brazilian managed only two league goals across the whole season. Jadon Sancho called out Ten Hag's management and was gleefully banished back to Dortmund, where he started picking up his performances. He's in a Champions League Final...lol. Casemiro and Raphael Varane showed their age. He had a solid run of form but it didn't last. Varane's already said he's done in Manchester. Rasmus Hojlund took 15 games to find his first goal of the season. Alejandro Garnacho is now the best player at the club and even he had beef with Ten Hag's coaching. Bruno Fernandes might be seeking greener pastures. They finished dead last in their Champions League group and were out of Europe by February. Take solace in making the FA Cup final, but you were losing 3-0 to Coventry City, a Championship club, and had to beat them on penalties. Old Trafford may truly be falling down, and it doesn't help with Ten Hag waffling about he is still the best man for the job. Because you know, it was his signings that set the club back so much money. Antony costing 100 million quid needs to be investigated. There's no real sign of progress under INEOS's ownership. It's still too early to judge, but it's clear they will need to make some decisions. Enjoy raiding all your rivals for executives. Apparently "We're Manchester United" still works.
West Ham: Was it a bad season for West Ham? When you deep it, you'd probably say not really. David Moyes started out kinda slow but managed to get the Hammers going in vital moments. Jarrod Bowen continued his remarkable rise even as a center-forward. The pillage of Ajax for Edson Alvarez and Mohamed Kudus was fruitful, even if Kudus's underlying numbers aren't that great. James Ward-Prowse stepped up his game after being freed from the shite coaching at Southampton. Alphonse Areola cemented himself as the true No. 1 in goal. Lucas Paqueta was the real eye candy. So much so he's looking like the heir-apparent for Kevin De Bruyne. He'll cost another small nation's GDP but he was that class. Sure, they didn't reach the Europa final like they wanted to and got knocked out by Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen, but how can you say this was a disappointing season? Disappointing enough to tell Moyes he's done after this season? You're replacing him Julen Lopetegui? I know he did fantastic work with Sevilla, and you may see yourselves as the English Sevilla, but tread lightly. Did you see what happened between Wolves and him? Or what happened in his final season in Seville?
Crystal Palace: Today's top stories: Crystal Palace finished comfortably mid-table for the 11th season in a row. In other news, grass is green. It was a strange but similar season for the Eagles. Spats between ownership over the long-term vision for the club coupled with Roy Hodgson's depressing retirement tour clouded what could've been an opportunity to pounce. With Brighton and Bournemouth shitting the bed, the time was prime to strike. But again, they were let down by inconsistent forwards. Jordan Ayew and Jean-Phillipe Mateta are still struggling to score consistently (At least Mateta is producing now). Odsanne Eduoard is made of glass bones and paper skin. Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise, and Dean Henderson were good enough to keep them afloat. Eze's got enough street cred to have City and Spurs linked to him, but we'll see what premium the Eagles charge. More credit is owed to Oliver Glasner. He was a shrewd appointment, and it showed with his tiki-taka style of play. Remember, he took Frankfrut to a Europa League final win and beat Barcelona and West Ham to do it. Next season should be a moment to capitalize on drops in quality from other mid-table rivals, but you'll probably be back here with me in 2025 with a 12th consecutive mid-table finish. At least this time it's in the Top 10.
Brighton: Brighton was my biggest disappointment for the 23-24 season. Maybe that's too harsh, but what the actual hell happened? There was a lot of squad turnover, understandably affecting the quality. But they still had Evan Ferguson, Karou Mitoma, Lewis Dunk, Danny Welback, Julio Enciso, and Simon Adringa to pick up the slack. Oh wait, almost everyone listed above was injured long-term. Roberto De Zerbi's managerial stock took a massive blow. He couldn't properly juggle the league and European football, especially as the injuries piled up and they were relying on academy kids to play key minutes. There's also rumors of him beefing with club executives about the transfer policy. The drawback of such a unique system: the falloff is inevitable. It ended up causing "irreconcilable differences," and De Zerbi promptly packed his shit and left. At least Brighton can take solace knowing they won their first European group stage and picked up sensational victories against Ajax and Marseille. Proud moments amid a rather shite season. Pick yourselves up and go again, lads. Even though De Zerbi bounced, your ownership will already have his next candidate picked out. Just pray it's not a Graham Potter return.
Bournemouth: The Cherries had another fine season where a lot started to come together. I was skeptical about them parting ways with Gary O'Neil after the job he did, but Andoni Iraola was a shrewd appointment. He actually found ways to unlock Dominic Solanke. Not even Jurgen Klopp could do that. Antoine Semenyo appeared as a servicable mid-table winger. Luis Sinisterra brought the Colombian flare to the South Coast and proved he could be the country's next great hope. Some of the English lads like Lewis Cook carved out key roles, and did just about everything right to ensure another comfortable finish. Bournemouth really were not in any danger of going down. The blueprint is there. I doubt Iraola will be able to take them into European places, but I've been proven wrong by plenty of managers before.
Fulham: Another solid finish for Fulham. Look at you, not yo-yoing even amidst Tony Khan's ridiculous pro wrestling PR drama. The Jaguars of English football showed a lot of fight and a lot of class. The signing of the season is surely Rodrigo Muniz. The Brazilian revolution between him, Andreas Pereira, and the aging Willian was glamorous. Antonee Robinson played like a man reborn and may get a move to a bigger club. USMNT fans couldn't be happier. It was tough not seeing Tim Ream playing week in and week out but he's clearly slowing down and might need replacing. But you can't get rid of Tom Cairney! It's not allowed by order of the streets. I doubt Marco Silva will read this, but he may not even have a choice in the matter. Joao Palhinha likely played his final season at Craven Cottage. Even at his age, he's good enough to get into the Bayern or Arsenal first team. Cash in and replenish, you know the drill. They'll have a lot of work to do this summer.
Wolves: Gary O'Neil is a top manager for the jobs he's done with Bournemouth and Wolves. It was not an easy season for Wolves, but compared to past campaigns, this was fantastic. O'Neill successfully unlocked Hwang Hee-Chan and Matheus Cunha. That alone is massive. Toti Gomes flourished in midfield. As did Pablo Sarabia. Pedro Neto showed flashes of brilliance...when he wasn't struck down by injury. Jose Sa returned to form and kept the team comfortably floating between between the top half and upper-mid talbe. What more can you say of Wolves? They were one of the better mid-tier teams this season, and that was after Julen Lopetegui walked out just days before the season began. You thought the Wolves were dead? Oh no, they are still on the hunt. Unfortunately, their pack is likely to find new homes with more money. I think you get the metaphor.
Everton: It was meant to be a Sean Dyche masterclass. Playing attractive football has never been his repertoire, yet that was exactly what he did with this Everton. Meanwhile, Everton fans are still steaming about the points deductions they underwent. I can understand why they feel this way, considering there are much worse violators and they're being made an example of. Yet Dyche thrives on these situations. He could only collect so many points with this Everton group but they did play well enough and have some decent talent. Jared Branthwaite is clearly an upgrade over some of their past center-backs. Consider this his window-shopping season. DCL flirted with injuries and still managed to score key goals. Beto hasn't come good yet but give it a little time. Idrissa Gana Gueye played well for his age, and Amadou Onana too had his window-shopping season. Fear not, Toffees. Even with the points deduction, you will finish comfortably bottom-half, and had it not been for the Premier League's hypocrisy, you would've been as high as 12th. This is a huge moment, because you're also moving into Bramley Moore next season. Godspeed, Everton.
Brentford: Ummm, hello? Anybody here want to win a fucking football match? Anyone want to collect three points? The good vibes at the Gtech Community Stadium are starting to falter. Brentford's feel-good story is starting to get a reality check: they lack significant quality. The plan was to continue Thomas Frank's Nordic Connection since it had produced results in the past. They got Ivan Toney back around mid-winter, but did it really change their fortunes? He wasn't anywhere close to his past self. Too much time on the couch will do that. Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbuemo did step up in attack, but without Rico Henry and Ethan Pinnock in defense it was too easy to carve through them. Mark Flekken did his best to mitigate the damage, but it was not enough to save them from a 16th-place finish. Nathan Collins was ok business but he clearly needs more time to develop to the system. Sergio Regulion put in some decent shifts on load, but not enough to justify keeping him permanently. You passed: DON'T! GET! RELEGATED! But for the love of god, please fix this shit before 24-25. Time to reset on the squad, find another plucky veteran willing to take a pay cut for playing time.
Nottingham Forest: Speaking of points deduction, nobody feels bad for Forest. They made more signings than Chelsea and clearly did it by some fishy means. It was mostly because they couldn't get Atletico Madrid to buy Brennan Johnson, so they had to accept Tottenham's lower offer. That doesn't excuse past transgressions. Then that wild social media statement that called out the Premier League's officiating. Secretly, everyone loved it but also wondered how they had the audacity to say such a thing. The only thing they can't defend is themselves. Steve Cooper, the architect of their return to Premier League and first-season survival, was canned for Nuno Espirito Santos. It kinda worked...I guess. They're not in a relegation spot even with their punishment but they definitely look the part. Gio Reyna came here on loan and had minimal impact. Morgan Gibbs-White looks good but clearly has flaws. Chris Wood is still their only reliable striker. Matt Turner was benched for a 32-year old Mats Sels and that didn't fix any of their goalkeeper problems. They're like a frat house toilet: always leaking. They'll definitely be another clear-out this summer.
Luton Town: At some point, results start to matter. It felt like Luton realized that too late. They did put up some impressive results like a 4-4 draw to Newcastle and a 4-goal dismantling of Brighton, but they struggled mightily. It was expected, but they really did give better teams runs for their money. Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend came off the couch to help. Barkley made a case for Comeback Player of the Year. Townsend provided some experience but football skills...not so much. Elijah Adebayo and Alfie Doughty tried to get the creativity going. Carlton Morris managed to post a double-digit goal season. They had pieces but could never put it together fully. The defense...good god, the defense! It couldn't stop a beach ball from going over the goal line. You brought in Daiki Hashioka to stabilize things, and all he did was score own goals and turn the ball over. It's sad that Luton is going back to the 2nd tier. Rob Edwards's job is probably safe, but can he remake the magic of 2022-23? Might be a step too far. Honestly, I'm more sad to see Jeffrey the Labrador go. The goodest of boys makes the goodest of club mascots.
Burnley: I can only applaud Burnley's ownership for not thinking like a yo-yo club. They chose Vincent Kompany because he is the anti-Sean Dyche. Free flowing, tiki taka football, playing out from the back with inverted fullbacks. Even if all the haters wanted to see him go to bring in a relegation dogfighter like Big Sam, the executives kept their man. Truly cut from the same cloth as Pep, but without any of the Pep players. That was the real downfall of Burnley's return to the Prem. This group won 101 points in the Championship last year? They didn't even manage to get 30 this time around. Kompany played anti-survival ball, and it didn't work. Sure, they had talent with guys like Vitinho and Jacob Bruud Larsen, but after it was shite through and through. At least Kompany had the audacity to play an expansive style, but survival needed more defensive rigidity. Go win it again, Clarets.
Sheffield United: If Burnley was ass, Sheffield United was mega-ass. They played like a Championship club, so it's only natural they got clobbered like a Championship club. They brought in Ben Brereton-Diaz and his fake Chilean skillset and he was...actually kinda good. It can't be said for the rest of them. Ollie McBurnie and Cameron Archer seem like the standouts, but nobody on this team was convincing enough to warrant a move to a bigger team except maybe BBD. He'll likely sign for Everton as the replacement for DCL. The club thought bringing back Chris Wilder in place of Paul Heckingbottom was the move, and it did next to nothing. Setting a record for most goals conceded in a single season is hilarious levels of incompetent defending. Conglats, you are now the new Norwich. Wear your badge of shame in anguish and go win the bloody lot in the Championship.
submitted by scarsellaj to UrinatingTree [link] [comments]
Manchester City: Sigh, the Prem is not beating the farmers' league allegations after this. In some way, we all expected this. After their historic treble, everyone assumed City would take a step back. They weren't even the best team in the country and they still found a way to creep up into first place. Their fourth title in five seasons, six under Pep Guardiola. They still have a chance at a double, too. If you're still living in the "Fraudiola" camp, I suggest you touch grass. Do you know understand how fucking insane that is? Sure, you can say Abu Dhabi bankrolled him and now they may be paying for it dearly but that is serious contention for greatest manager of all time. This time he was up against the adversity, too. They went without KDB and Haaland for long periods of time. Phil Foden was rightfully voted PFA Player of the Year for his efforts in their absence. Julian Alvarez took massive strides in becoming the next great Argentine striker...when he can get into the team. Jeremy Doku showed flashes of greatness, and it might spell the end for Jack Grealish. Rodri was Rodri, Ruben Dias was Ruben Dias, you know the deal. Even academy kids made serious progress. Pep won the Champions League without Messi and with a real striker. He's now guided City to another title. Goddammit, can we please get someone to topple this monopoly?
Arsenal: You did it again...you fucking did again. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You thought you were becoming the reincarnation of Real Madrid. You ended up becoming the red version of Poch's Spurs. Some might even say that Spurs team was better than this team. Arsenal had the title in their grasp again. Then they sat back and drew with City, lost to Villa at home, and in the end, these results cost them. You bottled it again. Bukayo Saka had his best season ever. So did Martin Odegaard. Leandro Trossard made a case for a starting spot. Gabriel Martinelli was sporadic but effective. William Saliba and Gabriel locked down the backline. David Raya won the Golden Glove. Mikkel Arteta has a case for Manager of the Year (likely going to Unai Emery), and they still bottled it. We don't need to rehash how their European campaign went. You should've known Spurs were never going to give you that benefit of the doubt. Why would your local rivals help your title charge? At least you're back in the Champions League, and you showed you could shed some of those demons next campaign, so long as you don't match up with Bayern again. The painful truth is, you went trophyless again. How much longer is the goodwill with Arteta going to last? Doing this once? Forgivable. But twice? Unconscionable.
Liverpool: This was not how Klopp's Last Dance was supposed to go. One trophy, and the League Cup at that, is all Liverpool had to show for it. They hit the worst patch of rotten form at the most inopportune time. You might think losing games twice to Manchester United in a span of a week was bad enough, but to go to Italy and lose to Atalanta? And they kept a clean sheet?? Dear god, they made Crystal Palace look like prime Barcelona at one point. You are fucking cooked, and it shows. Darwin Nunez started to break out, then reverting to forgetting how to play the sport of football entirely. Virgil Van Djik's age showed. Ibrahima Konate shows flashes but is injury- and mistake-prone. Mo Salah is mentally checked out, and it showed with him in only scoring twice in the last 10 matches of the seasons. Him and Klopp arguing on the sideline was peak Liverpool banter era. You literally on the verge of a quadruple AGAIN and you scuffed the run... This team is going to need a massive reset, and that may mean cashing in a few aging stars. New manager Arne Slot will have an absolute gargantuan job ahead of him. With FSG's financial model, it'll be interesting to see who they bring in. But what do you about Mo Salah? Clearly his age is starting show.
Aston Villa: Unai Emery was sacked by Arsenal for "underachieving." When you see the job he did with Villa with half the budget he had at Arsenal and players willing to run through walls for him, you can understand how Villa managed to stay in the Top 4 most of the season. Ollie Watkins had his best season to date. Douglas Luiz become the third-best defensive midfielder in the league, and dispatched a few penalties. Niccolo Zaniolo played a smaller role and still contributed heavily to big wins. It wasn't ever perfect, and there are plenty of wayward results to point out, but Villa has got some of their old mojo back. Get ready, boys, you're going dancing next season. You'll be in the new-look Champions League for the first time since the 1980s. Don't forget: Villa has some European pedigree to them. Sure, it was back when the competition wasn't as fierce as it is now, but respect them. Otherwise all you Madrid fans are going to be shitting themselves when you rock up to Villa Park for the league stage.
Tottenham: Tottenham's season hit some very high highs, and some deeply low lows. A 10-game unbeaten streak to start the season ended with a four losses in a row. Injuries crippled all the progress they made. Ange Postecoglou's all-out attack works, but when it doesn't, it is absolutely terrifying to watch. Hueng-min Son had a nice comeback season. Richarlison finally came good for the club. James Maddison started out well enough and then had a fall-off for the ages, as did Pedro Porro. The backline of Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven showed they can be great but they need real discipline in midfield to balance out the high line. But there are still many players that can't get them over the hump. Not to mention, they were derailed by injuries all campaign. Make it 16 years since the last major trophy. Fifth seems fitting for a team still going through an identity and cultural reset. Some supporters think Ange isn't the one for the job. They often forget just how big of a rebuild is needed after losing Harry Kane and other core players over the past five seasons. Those are probably also the people that don't see the positive of the Tottenham money-making machine. Why win trophies when you can host NFL games? Sigh, I just want one Cup, is that too much to ask for? At least they clinched Europa League, I guess.
Chelsea: Todd Boehly will no longer be making the calls about Chelsea's transfers. That should make the fans a little bit happier. If you're keeping score at home, he's only got 1/30 of new signings right. Jury is still out on Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Axel Diasi, Mykhalio Mudrk, Noni Madueke, and Levi Colwill. Mauricio Pochettino was trying to build something, but it was hindered by constant setbacks. A massive pile of injuries, extreme fan pressure, and underperforming players signaled it would not be another fruitful season for the Blue Lions. You got beat by a bunch of high school students in the Carabao Cup final, and somehow that wasn't the lowest point of the season. It was the thrashing by Arsenal. Chelsea should feel lucky they snagged Cole Palmer out from under Man City. He's the real Eden Hazard regen, even though he's a bit of a penalty merchant. He dragged Chelsea from finishing outside the Top 10 again. This summer will be a major clear-out. Raheem Sterling, Reece James, Ben Chilwell, and Thiago Silva might or are already leaving. The thinner squad will allow Poch to actually build something...maybe. You're not seriously going to sell Conor Gallagher to Spurs, right?
Newcastle: Eddie Howe can feel sort of vindicated that he guided this Newcastle team to a top 10 finish. They had one of the worst injury sheets in the league this season. The delicate balance of Champions League and the English season exposed their biggest flaw: not enough depth. Sandro Tonali getting suspended for being a degenerate gambler definitely did not help. Nick Pope was out most of the year and Martin Dubravka showed why he's no longer first-choice. Sven Botman and Dan Burn spent time on the sidelines and that killed their defense. Seriously though, they were chucking out Football Manager regens to play critical minutes. That only works in video games. In reality, the club is backed up against the FFP bubble. They will need to sell to buy, and that might mean cashing in on Alexander Isak or Bruno Guiamares. Maybe they'll even cut ties with Tonali and try to recoup some of their money. The richest club in the world is playing inside the rules? I guess they don't want to be the new Man City. I honestly commend them for trying to play within the confines of the rules. Some clubs can't say they do that.
Manchester United: Jim Ratcliffe really had no idea the scope of the rebuild he inherited once he bought his stake in United. He called out the club culture and facilities in the media multiple times, but perhaps it was all reactionary. United had a shit season. And boy do I mean shit. None of their players could stay healthy. Marcus Rashford is entering Dele Alli territory with how bad his falloff has been. There was the Mason Greenwood situation, then the Antony situation, and the Brazilian managed only two league goals across the whole season. Jadon Sancho called out Ten Hag's management and was gleefully banished back to Dortmund, where he started picking up his performances. He's in a Champions League Final...lol. Casemiro and Raphael Varane showed their age. He had a solid run of form but it didn't last. Varane's already said he's done in Manchester. Rasmus Hojlund took 15 games to find his first goal of the season. Alejandro Garnacho is now the best player at the club and even he had beef with Ten Hag's coaching. Bruno Fernandes might be seeking greener pastures. They finished dead last in their Champions League group and were out of Europe by February. Take solace in making the FA Cup final, but you were losing 3-0 to Coventry City, a Championship club, and had to beat them on penalties. Old Trafford may truly be falling down, and it doesn't help with Ten Hag waffling about he is still the best man for the job. Because you know, it was his signings that set the club back so much money. Antony costing 100 million quid needs to be investigated. There's no real sign of progress under INEOS's ownership. It's still too early to judge, but it's clear they will need to make some decisions. Enjoy raiding all your rivals for executives. Apparently "We're Manchester United" still works.
West Ham: Was it a bad season for West Ham? When you deep it, you'd probably say not really. David Moyes started out kinda slow but managed to get the Hammers going in vital moments. Jarrod Bowen continued his remarkable rise even as a center-forward. The pillage of Ajax for Edson Alvarez and Mohamed Kudus was fruitful, even if Kudus's underlying numbers aren't that great. James Ward-Prowse stepped up his game after being freed from the shite coaching at Southampton. Alphonse Areola cemented himself as the true No. 1 in goal. Lucas Paqueta was the real eye candy. So much so he's looking like the heir-apparent for Kevin De Bruyne. He'll cost another small nation's GDP but he was that class. Sure, they didn't reach the Europa final like they wanted to and got knocked out by Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen, but how can you say this was a disappointing season? Disappointing enough to tell Moyes he's done after this season? You're replacing him Julen Lopetegui? I know he did fantastic work with Sevilla, and you may see yourselves as the English Sevilla, but tread lightly. Did you see what happened between Wolves and him? Or what happened in his final season in Seville?
Crystal Palace: Today's top stories: Crystal Palace finished comfortably mid-table for the 11th season in a row. In other news, grass is green. It was a strange but similar season for the Eagles. Spats between ownership over the long-term vision for the club coupled with Roy Hodgson's depressing retirement tour clouded what could've been an opportunity to pounce. With Brighton and Bournemouth shitting the bed, the time was prime to strike. But again, they were let down by inconsistent forwards. Jordan Ayew and Jean-Phillipe Mateta are still struggling to score consistently (At least Mateta is producing now). Odsanne Eduoard is made of glass bones and paper skin. Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise, and Dean Henderson were good enough to keep them afloat. Eze's got enough street cred to have City and Spurs linked to him, but we'll see what premium the Eagles charge. More credit is owed to Oliver Glasner. He was a shrewd appointment, and it showed with his tiki-taka style of play. Remember, he took Frankfrut to a Europa League final win and beat Barcelona and West Ham to do it. Next season should be a moment to capitalize on drops in quality from other mid-table rivals, but you'll probably be back here with me in 2025 with a 12th consecutive mid-table finish. At least this time it's in the Top 10.
Brighton: Brighton was my biggest disappointment for the 23-24 season. Maybe that's too harsh, but what the actual hell happened? There was a lot of squad turnover, understandably affecting the quality. But they still had Evan Ferguson, Karou Mitoma, Lewis Dunk, Danny Welback, Julio Enciso, and Simon Adringa to pick up the slack. Oh wait, almost everyone listed above was injured long-term. Roberto De Zerbi's managerial stock took a massive blow. He couldn't properly juggle the league and European football, especially as the injuries piled up and they were relying on academy kids to play key minutes. There's also rumors of him beefing with club executives about the transfer policy. The drawback of such a unique system: the falloff is inevitable. It ended up causing "irreconcilable differences," and De Zerbi promptly packed his shit and left. At least Brighton can take solace knowing they won their first European group stage and picked up sensational victories against Ajax and Marseille. Proud moments amid a rather shite season. Pick yourselves up and go again, lads. Even though De Zerbi bounced, your ownership will already have his next candidate picked out. Just pray it's not a Graham Potter return.
Bournemouth: The Cherries had another fine season where a lot started to come together. I was skeptical about them parting ways with Gary O'Neil after the job he did, but Andoni Iraola was a shrewd appointment. He actually found ways to unlock Dominic Solanke. Not even Jurgen Klopp could do that. Antoine Semenyo appeared as a servicable mid-table winger. Luis Sinisterra brought the Colombian flare to the South Coast and proved he could be the country's next great hope. Some of the English lads like Lewis Cook carved out key roles, and did just about everything right to ensure another comfortable finish. Bournemouth really were not in any danger of going down. The blueprint is there. I doubt Iraola will be able to take them into European places, but I've been proven wrong by plenty of managers before.
Fulham: Another solid finish for Fulham. Look at you, not yo-yoing even amidst Tony Khan's ridiculous pro wrestling PR drama. The Jaguars of English football showed a lot of fight and a lot of class. The signing of the season is surely Rodrigo Muniz. The Brazilian revolution between him, Andreas Pereira, and the aging Willian was glamorous. Antonee Robinson played like a man reborn and may get a move to a bigger club. USMNT fans couldn't be happier. It was tough not seeing Tim Ream playing week in and week out but he's clearly slowing down and might need replacing. But you can't get rid of Tom Cairney! It's not allowed by order of the streets. I doubt Marco Silva will read this, but he may not even have a choice in the matter. Joao Palhinha likely played his final season at Craven Cottage. Even at his age, he's good enough to get into the Bayern or Arsenal first team. Cash in and replenish, you know the drill. They'll have a lot of work to do this summer.
Wolves: Gary O'Neil is a top manager for the jobs he's done with Bournemouth and Wolves. It was not an easy season for Wolves, but compared to past campaigns, this was fantastic. O'Neill successfully unlocked Hwang Hee-Chan and Matheus Cunha. That alone is massive. Toti Gomes flourished in midfield. As did Pablo Sarabia. Pedro Neto showed flashes of brilliance...when he wasn't struck down by injury. Jose Sa returned to form and kept the team comfortably floating between between the top half and upper-mid talbe. What more can you say of Wolves? They were one of the better mid-tier teams this season, and that was after Julen Lopetegui walked out just days before the season began. You thought the Wolves were dead? Oh no, they are still on the hunt. Unfortunately, their pack is likely to find new homes with more money. I think you get the metaphor.
Everton: It was meant to be a Sean Dyche masterclass. Playing attractive football has never been his repertoire, yet that was exactly what he did with this Everton. Meanwhile, Everton fans are still steaming about the points deductions they underwent. I can understand why they feel this way, considering there are much worse violators and they're being made an example of. Yet Dyche thrives on these situations. He could only collect so many points with this Everton group but they did play well enough and have some decent talent. Jared Branthwaite is clearly an upgrade over some of their past center-backs. Consider this his window-shopping season. DCL flirted with injuries and still managed to score key goals. Beto hasn't come good yet but give it a little time. Idrissa Gana Gueye played well for his age, and Amadou Onana too had his window-shopping season. Fear not, Toffees. Even with the points deduction, you will finish comfortably bottom-half, and had it not been for the Premier League's hypocrisy, you would've been as high as 12th. This is a huge moment, because you're also moving into Bramley Moore next season. Godspeed, Everton.
Brentford: Ummm, hello? Anybody here want to win a fucking football match? Anyone want to collect three points? The good vibes at the Gtech Community Stadium are starting to falter. Brentford's feel-good story is starting to get a reality check: they lack significant quality. The plan was to continue Thomas Frank's Nordic Connection since it had produced results in the past. They got Ivan Toney back around mid-winter, but did it really change their fortunes? He wasn't anywhere close to his past self. Too much time on the couch will do that. Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbuemo did step up in attack, but without Rico Henry and Ethan Pinnock in defense it was too easy to carve through them. Mark Flekken did his best to mitigate the damage, but it was not enough to save them from a 16th-place finish. Nathan Collins was ok business but he clearly needs more time to develop to the system. Sergio Regulion put in some decent shifts on load, but not enough to justify keeping him permanently. You passed: DON'T! GET! RELEGATED! But for the love of god, please fix this shit before 24-25. Time to reset on the squad, find another plucky veteran willing to take a pay cut for playing time.
Nottingham Forest: Speaking of points deduction, nobody feels bad for Forest. They made more signings than Chelsea and clearly did it by some fishy means. It was mostly because they couldn't get Atletico Madrid to buy Brennan Johnson, so they had to accept Tottenham's lower offer. That doesn't excuse past transgressions. Then that wild social media statement that called out the Premier League's officiating. Secretly, everyone loved it but also wondered how they had the audacity to say such a thing. The only thing they can't defend is themselves. Steve Cooper, the architect of their return to Premier League and first-season survival, was canned for Nuno Espirito Santos. It kinda worked...I guess. They're not in a relegation spot even with their punishment but they definitely look the part. Gio Reyna came here on loan and had minimal impact. Morgan Gibbs-White looks good but clearly has flaws. Chris Wood is still their only reliable striker. Matt Turner was benched for a 32-year old Mats Sels and that didn't fix any of their goalkeeper problems. They're like a frat house toilet: always leaking. They'll definitely be another clear-out this summer.
Luton Town: At some point, results start to matter. It felt like Luton realized that too late. They did put up some impressive results like a 4-4 draw to Newcastle and a 4-goal dismantling of Brighton, but they struggled mightily. It was expected, but they really did give better teams runs for their money. Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend came off the couch to help. Barkley made a case for Comeback Player of the Year. Townsend provided some experience but football skills...not so much. Elijah Adebayo and Alfie Doughty tried to get the creativity going. Carlton Morris managed to post a double-digit goal season. They had pieces but could never put it together fully. The defense...good god, the defense! It couldn't stop a beach ball from going over the goal line. You brought in Daiki Hashioka to stabilize things, and all he did was score own goals and turn the ball over. It's sad that Luton is going back to the 2nd tier. Rob Edwards's job is probably safe, but can he remake the magic of 2022-23? Might be a step too far. Honestly, I'm more sad to see Jeffrey the Labrador go. The goodest of boys makes the goodest of club mascots.
Burnley: I can only applaud Burnley's ownership for not thinking like a yo-yo club. They chose Vincent Kompany because he is the anti-Sean Dyche. Free flowing, tiki taka football, playing out from the back with inverted fullbacks. Even if all the haters wanted to see him go to bring in a relegation dogfighter like Big Sam, the executives kept their man. Truly cut from the same cloth as Pep, but without any of the Pep players. That was the real downfall of Burnley's return to the Prem. This group won 101 points in the Championship last year? They didn't even manage to get 30 this time around. Kompany played anti-survival ball, and it didn't work. Sure, they had talent with guys like Vitinho and Jacob Bruud Larsen, but after it was shite through and through. At least Kompany had the audacity to play an expansive style, but survival needed more defensive rigidity. Go win it again, Clarets.
Sheffield United: If Burnley was ass, Sheffield United was mega-ass. They played like a Championship club, so it's only natural they got clobbered like a Championship club. They brought in Ben Brereton-Diaz and his fake Chilean skillset and he was...actually kinda good. It can't be said for the rest of them. Ollie McBurnie and Cameron Archer seem like the standouts, but nobody on this team was convincing enough to warrant a move to a bigger team except maybe BBD. He'll likely sign for Everton as the replacement for DCL. The club thought bringing back Chris Wilder in place of Paul Heckingbottom was the move, and it did next to nothing. Setting a record for most goals conceded in a single season is hilarious levels of incompetent defending. Conglats, you are now the new Norwich. Wear your badge of shame in anguish and go win the bloody lot in the Championship.
2024.05.20 15:30 Biaswords_ SR20DET Cyl 2 Misfire.
Ill start by saying, I am not a mechanic, but have a general idea of whats going on under the hood.
I have a high milage SR. 200k+ miles. Ive recently developed a random misfire that im trying to diagnose.
At idle, if i pull the coil packs, only cyl number 2 doesnt change engine speed. I believe its getting spark, but smells rich. No wideband in the car. I changed the injectors with oem 370cc injectors maybe 2 years ago, ~1k miles ago. I can hear the injectors pusling, im thinking maybe injector 2 is stuck open?
Any suggestions on how i should go about diagnosing this? ive never compression tested it, was going to compression test it, then put in new injectors and plugs.
any recommendations for an idiot?
submitted by Biaswords_ to 240sx [link] [comments]
I have a high milage SR. 200k+ miles. Ive recently developed a random misfire that im trying to diagnose.
At idle, if i pull the coil packs, only cyl number 2 doesnt change engine speed. I believe its getting spark, but smells rich. No wideband in the car. I changed the injectors with oem 370cc injectors maybe 2 years ago, ~1k miles ago. I can hear the injectors pusling, im thinking maybe injector 2 is stuck open?
Any suggestions on how i should go about diagnosing this? ive never compression tested it, was going to compression test it, then put in new injectors and plugs.
any recommendations for an idiot?
2024.05.20 05:46 michachu FMD and fanaticism - the dangers of it, and navigating it (spoilers)
Of everyone I've read, the one I'm most consistently reminded of day-to-day is Dostoevsky. This isn't because I spend too much time on dostoevsky (I do) but because the news is constantly filled with what I've come to call examples of "possession" - people acting against their better judgement and often their own self-interest in spectacular ways.
Just from the last day's page from news:
And obviously there are the more enduring examples:
But I was keen to get thoughts on how relevant FMD's work still is, in light of all this. How complete do people think his thoughts are around it (they're not) and where are the gaps? Who else have you read has been helpful navigating the topic?
The obvious gaps for me in FMD's work is his general optimism. Raskolnikov repents, Svidrigailov and Smerdyakov go to America, Demons is a farce, Stavrogin confesses. Napoleon didn't repent and history is full of people who haven't. FMD underestimated humanity's stomach. But also it doesn't always help to compartmentalise on 'ideological reasons' as that line is getting blurrier (kill the rich).
There's the dilemma of being true to oneself, e.g. "to go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's" - which I could see many of you appreciate is terrible advice. It underscores the importance of critical thinking but also the relative difficulty of it, e.g. am I really going my "own way"? Moreover, is it enough?
I still fall back to Camus sometimes for his thoughts on this from The Plague - rather than any single sweeping philosophy, he stresses the importance of kindness in the face of the unknown and treading carefully ("No, we should go forward, groping our way through the darkness, stumbling perhaps at times, and try to do what good lay in our power").
At the end of TBK, FMD stresses the importance of the family unit and love in forming a well-adjusted next generation, and others have echoed this (I'm currently getting through Steinbeck's "East of Eden"). This is one that was originally lost on me on my first reading, but I see it everywhere now (youth crime, general crime, terror events, bad manners). "Going one's own way" is important once it's fully formed; family sets that up, and until maturity it's generally helpful to err on kindness.
Then there's the question of education - and I think FMD either outright misses this or glosses over it because he was riling against the Europen intellectualism of the time, but I don't think it can be ignored. Love is plenty but is it ever enough? Would 2 parts love to 1 part education be better than its reciprocal? 9 to 1? Maybe you raise well-adjusted boys who are just less suicidal when they're finally charmed by some smooth-talking heel - but maybe that's still better than an orphan looking for any family they can be part of. The examples above certainly don't come from one demographic.
I'll stop there for the moment.
I realise this is a bit of a ramble, but I've been keen for a while now on getting people's thoughts on how Dostoevsky's thinking is still very relevant today. I think fanaticism is one topic that's still very relevant that you don't specifically have to be atheist/theist to appreciate.
submitted by michachu to dostoevsky [link] [comments]
Just from the last day's page from news:
- Man sentenced for an attack on a US democrat's spouse
- K-pop fans sending death threats to media for exposing a scandal
- A man sets a French synagogue on fire
And obviously there are the more enduring examples:
- the 'culture wars' in the US
- the partisanship around the Gaza war
- "ideologically motivated" attacks, often perpetrated by marginalised young men
- valorisation and demonisation of high profile individuals
- activism and doing ABC in the name of XYZ
But I was keen to get thoughts on how relevant FMD's work still is, in light of all this. How complete do people think his thoughts are around it (they're not) and where are the gaps? Who else have you read has been helpful navigating the topic?
The obvious gaps for me in FMD's work is his general optimism. Raskolnikov repents, Svidrigailov and Smerdyakov go to America, Demons is a farce, Stavrogin confesses. Napoleon didn't repent and history is full of people who haven't. FMD underestimated humanity's stomach. But also it doesn't always help to compartmentalise on 'ideological reasons' as that line is getting blurrier (kill the rich).
There's the dilemma of being true to oneself, e.g. "to go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's" - which I could see many of you appreciate is terrible advice. It underscores the importance of critical thinking but also the relative difficulty of it, e.g. am I really going my "own way"? Moreover, is it enough?
I still fall back to Camus sometimes for his thoughts on this from The Plague - rather than any single sweeping philosophy, he stresses the importance of kindness in the face of the unknown and treading carefully ("No, we should go forward, groping our way through the darkness, stumbling perhaps at times, and try to do what good lay in our power").
At the end of TBK, FMD stresses the importance of the family unit and love in forming a well-adjusted next generation, and others have echoed this (I'm currently getting through Steinbeck's "East of Eden"). This is one that was originally lost on me on my first reading, but I see it everywhere now (youth crime, general crime, terror events, bad manners). "Going one's own way" is important once it's fully formed; family sets that up, and until maturity it's generally helpful to err on kindness.
Then there's the question of education - and I think FMD either outright misses this or glosses over it because he was riling against the Europen intellectualism of the time, but I don't think it can be ignored. Love is plenty but is it ever enough? Would 2 parts love to 1 part education be better than its reciprocal? 9 to 1? Maybe you raise well-adjusted boys who are just less suicidal when they're finally charmed by some smooth-talking heel - but maybe that's still better than an orphan looking for any family they can be part of. The examples above certainly don't come from one demographic.
I'll stop there for the moment.
I realise this is a bit of a ramble, but I've been keen for a while now on getting people's thoughts on how Dostoevsky's thinking is still very relevant today. I think fanaticism is one topic that's still very relevant that you don't specifically have to be atheist/theist to appreciate.
2024.05.19 20:27 Far_Detective_6783 God's Gospel Of Love To His Human Creation
God created you because He wants a human family to love !!! He wanted us to bear His image/be His representatives, to be in His family forever, living in love and harmony with God who loves us deeply, and enjoying His perfect creation.
In order to allow us the free will for that choice to love Him back and be part of His family, sin entered and put all the plans on hold.
The world may be a mess, but God never gave up on His human family, and is planning on restoring His original plan for His created children to be in His family forever, living in love and harmony, and enjoying His perfect creation, in the new heavens/earth.
Sin separated humanity from God, we were doomed to its penalty, which is death and separation from God.
In a mission of unsearchable love and amazing grace, Jesus Christ, who was God, became man, lived a sinless life, was killed and buried, and was physically resurrected by the power of God.
This is God's gracious provision of love to redeem humanity into His family forever in heaven, a perfect world as this one was originally intended.
Due to human rebellion in the earlier times of creation, God decided to work through one man Abraham and his seed. Israel would have been a kingdom of priests by through which all other nations (“all other nations” are called gentiles) could be blessed and reconciled to God. Israel rejected Jesus (this is recorded in Matthew Mark Luke and John up until the final rejection in Acts 7). God knew this would happen and had a plan to save gentiles (non-Jewish people) and the world in spite of Israel’s rejection of Jesus. He converted the Apostle Paul as the Apostle to the gentiles in Acts 9 and revealed to him that now anyone could be saved (Jew or gentile) directly by trusting in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. No longer would gentiles have to go through Israel and follow the law to be blessed/saved by God.
God is currently not judging the sin and evil in the world, instead He is pouring out His grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ, wanting all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. That is why there is evil in the world now. After the rapture, or removing of the church/the body of Christ from the earth, which can happen at any time without notice, God will THEN judge sin and evil in the world during the 7 year tribulation of judgment on the earth. At this time God will turn His attention back to Israel to save them through a remnant that believes. Gentiles in the tribulation, will need to once again be saved by going through Israel’s program which includes faith and works, endure to the end even if it means death for your faith, and not take the mark of the beast. It is much EASIER to be saved now up until the rapture, which can happen anytime without notice.
Jesus paid the difficult price so you may have forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. It is easy to be reconciled back to God for all eternity.
This offer is to all that recognize their sin has separated them from God, and trust in God’s solution to reconcile you back to God forever. Jesus paid the price of your sins to reconcile you back to God.
To be saved what you need to do is simply believe and trust ONLY in the death burial and resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, to receive Jesus’ righteousness imputed to your account, and eternal life with God.
It is important to not add any works from Israel's program in the Old Testament, Matthew Mark Luke John, or Acts 1-7 to the gospel of salvation. The Apostle Paul called adding works to the gospel an accursed gospel that does NOT save. Galatians 1:8-9 KJV (King James Version)
Salvation comes from believing and trusting in the death, burial , and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is God's provision for you.
No amount of good works (you think you are saved because you are good enough on your own), no water baptism, no cleaning up your sins (wrong definition of repent), special prayers or things to accept are necessary to be saved by Jesus Christ.
Once you are saved you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and have full assurance of salvation and sin can no longer separate you from God. You cannot lose by moral imperfection what you did not attain by moral perfection.
Once you are saved by believing and trusting the gospel that saves 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV the next steps to learn and grow in God’s grace and learn your new identity and blessings as a member of Jesus’s church (not a denomination of building) , the body of Christ, renew your mind daily by reading and applying the doctrine Jesus gave to the body of Christ through the Apostle Paul in Romans-Philemon KJV. We earn rewards in heaven now by applying and building sound doctrine to the inner man.
We all can definitely sense the increase in evil and the decrease of love in the world. This world is temporal and the new heavens/earth will be beautiful and perfect version of this life for all eternity.
God wants you there in His family for all eternity to show you the riches of His grace and love for you !!!
Acknowledge the your sin has separated you from God and trust and believe the simple gospel that saves today !!!
1 Corinthians 15:1-4. KJV
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
For more info my blog is
GraceNotWorks dot com
submitted by Far_Detective_6783 to TrueChristian [link] [comments]
In order to allow us the free will for that choice to love Him back and be part of His family, sin entered and put all the plans on hold.
The world may be a mess, but God never gave up on His human family, and is planning on restoring His original plan for His created children to be in His family forever, living in love and harmony, and enjoying His perfect creation, in the new heavens/earth.
Sin separated humanity from God, we were doomed to its penalty, which is death and separation from God.
In a mission of unsearchable love and amazing grace, Jesus Christ, who was God, became man, lived a sinless life, was killed and buried, and was physically resurrected by the power of God.
This is God's gracious provision of love to redeem humanity into His family forever in heaven, a perfect world as this one was originally intended.
Due to human rebellion in the earlier times of creation, God decided to work through one man Abraham and his seed. Israel would have been a kingdom of priests by through which all other nations (“all other nations” are called gentiles) could be blessed and reconciled to God. Israel rejected Jesus (this is recorded in Matthew Mark Luke and John up until the final rejection in Acts 7). God knew this would happen and had a plan to save gentiles (non-Jewish people) and the world in spite of Israel’s rejection of Jesus. He converted the Apostle Paul as the Apostle to the gentiles in Acts 9 and revealed to him that now anyone could be saved (Jew or gentile) directly by trusting in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. No longer would gentiles have to go through Israel and follow the law to be blessed/saved by God.
God is currently not judging the sin and evil in the world, instead He is pouring out His grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ, wanting all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. That is why there is evil in the world now. After the rapture, or removing of the church/the body of Christ from the earth, which can happen at any time without notice, God will THEN judge sin and evil in the world during the 7 year tribulation of judgment on the earth. At this time God will turn His attention back to Israel to save them through a remnant that believes. Gentiles in the tribulation, will need to once again be saved by going through Israel’s program which includes faith and works, endure to the end even if it means death for your faith, and not take the mark of the beast. It is much EASIER to be saved now up until the rapture, which can happen anytime without notice.
Jesus paid the difficult price so you may have forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. It is easy to be reconciled back to God for all eternity.
This offer is to all that recognize their sin has separated them from God, and trust in God’s solution to reconcile you back to God forever. Jesus paid the price of your sins to reconcile you back to God.
To be saved what you need to do is simply believe and trust ONLY in the death burial and resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, to receive Jesus’ righteousness imputed to your account, and eternal life with God.
It is important to not add any works from Israel's program in the Old Testament, Matthew Mark Luke John, or Acts 1-7 to the gospel of salvation. The Apostle Paul called adding works to the gospel an accursed gospel that does NOT save. Galatians 1:8-9 KJV (King James Version)
Salvation comes from believing and trusting in the death, burial , and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is God's provision for you.
No amount of good works (you think you are saved because you are good enough on your own), no water baptism, no cleaning up your sins (wrong definition of repent), special prayers or things to accept are necessary to be saved by Jesus Christ.
Once you are saved you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and have full assurance of salvation and sin can no longer separate you from God. You cannot lose by moral imperfection what you did not attain by moral perfection.
Once you are saved by believing and trusting the gospel that saves 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV the next steps to learn and grow in God’s grace and learn your new identity and blessings as a member of Jesus’s church (not a denomination of building) , the body of Christ, renew your mind daily by reading and applying the doctrine Jesus gave to the body of Christ through the Apostle Paul in Romans-Philemon KJV. We earn rewards in heaven now by applying and building sound doctrine to the inner man.
We all can definitely sense the increase in evil and the decrease of love in the world. This world is temporal and the new heavens/earth will be beautiful and perfect version of this life for all eternity.
God wants you there in His family for all eternity to show you the riches of His grace and love for you !!!
Acknowledge the your sin has separated you from God and trust and believe the simple gospel that saves today !!!
1 Corinthians 15:1-4. KJV
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
For more info my blog is
GraceNotWorks dot com
2024.05.19 20:25 Far_Detective_6783 God's Gospel Of Love To His Human Creation
God created you because He wants a human family to love !!! He wanted us to bear His image/be His representatives, to be in His family forever, living in love and harmony with God who loves us deeply, and enjoying His perfect creation.
In order to allow us the free will for that choice to love Him back and be part of His family, sin entered and put all the plans on hold.
The world may be a mess, but God never gave up on His human family, and is planning on restoring His original plan for His created children to be in His family forever, living in love and harmony, and enjoying His perfect creation, in the new heavens/earth.
Sin separated humanity from God, we were doomed to its penalty, which is death and separation from God.
In a mission of unsearchable love and amazing grace, Jesus Christ, who was God, became man, lived a sinless life, was killed and buried, and was physically resurrected by the power of God.
This is God's gracious provision of love to redeem humanity into His family forever in heaven, a perfect world as this one was originally intended.
Due to human rebellion in the earlier times of creation, God decided to work through one man Abraham and his seed. Israel would have been a kingdom of priests by through which all other nations (“all other nations” are called gentiles) could be blessed and reconciled to God. Israel rejected Jesus (this is recorded in Matthew Mark Luke and John up until the final rejection in Acts 7). God knew this would happen and had a plan to save gentiles (non-Jewish people) and the world in spite of Israel’s rejection of Jesus. He converted the Apostle Paul as the Apostle to the gentiles in Acts 9 and revealed to him that now anyone could be saved (Jew or gentile) directly by trusting in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. No longer would gentiles have to go through Israel and follow the law to be blessed/saved by God.
God is currently not judging the sin and evil in the world, instead He is pouring out His grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ, wanting all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. That is why there is evil in the world now. After the rapture, or removing of the church/the body of Christ from the earth, which can happen at any time without notice, God will THEN judge sin and evil in the world during the 7 year tribulation of judgment on the earth. At this time God will turn His attention back to Israel to save them through a remnant that believes. Gentiles in the tribulation, will need to once again be saved by going through Israel’s program which includes faith and works, endure to the end even if it means death for your faith, and not take the mark of the beast. It is much EASIER to be saved now up until the rapture, which can happen anytime without notice.
Jesus paid the difficult price so you may have forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. It is easy to be reconciled back to God for all eternity.
This offer is to all that recognize their sin has separated them from God, and trust in God’s solution to reconcile you back to God forever. Jesus paid the price of your sins to reconcile you back to God.
To be saved what you need to do is simply believe and trust ONLY in the death burial and resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, to receive Jesus’ righteousness imputed to your account, and eternal life with God.
It is important to not add any works from Israel's program in the Old Testament, Matthew Mark Luke John, or Acts 1-7 to the gospel of salvation. The Apostle Paul called adding works to the gospel an accursed gospel that does NOT save. Galatians 1:8-9 KJV (King James Version)
Salvation comes from believing and trusting in the death, burial , and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is God's provision for you.
No amount of good works (you think you are saved because you are good enough on your own), no water baptism, no cleaning up your sins (wrong definition of repent), special prayers or things to accept are necessary to be saved by Jesus Christ.
Once you are saved you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and have full assurance of salvation and sin can no longer separate you from God. You cannot lose by moral imperfection what you did not attain by moral perfection.
Once you are saved by believing and trusting the gospel that saves 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV the next steps to learn and grow in God’s grace and learn your new identity and blessings as a member of Jesus’s church (not a denomination of building) , the body of Christ, renew your mind daily by reading and applying the doctrine Jesus gave to the body of Christ through the Apostle Paul in Romans-Philemon KJV. We earn rewards in heaven now by applying and building sound doctrine to the inner man.
We all can definitely sense the increase in evil and the decrease of love in the world. This world is temporal and the new heavens/earth will be beautiful and perfect version of this life for all eternity.
God wants you there in His family for all eternity to show you the riches of His grace and love for you !!!
Acknowledge the your sin has separated you from God and trust and believe the simple gospel that saves today !!!
1 Corinthians 15:1-4. KJV
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
For more info my blog is
GraceNotWorks dot com
submitted by Far_Detective_6783 to Christianity [link] [comments]
In order to allow us the free will for that choice to love Him back and be part of His family, sin entered and put all the plans on hold.
The world may be a mess, but God never gave up on His human family, and is planning on restoring His original plan for His created children to be in His family forever, living in love and harmony, and enjoying His perfect creation, in the new heavens/earth.
Sin separated humanity from God, we were doomed to its penalty, which is death and separation from God.
In a mission of unsearchable love and amazing grace, Jesus Christ, who was God, became man, lived a sinless life, was killed and buried, and was physically resurrected by the power of God.
This is God's gracious provision of love to redeem humanity into His family forever in heaven, a perfect world as this one was originally intended.
Due to human rebellion in the earlier times of creation, God decided to work through one man Abraham and his seed. Israel would have been a kingdom of priests by through which all other nations (“all other nations” are called gentiles) could be blessed and reconciled to God. Israel rejected Jesus (this is recorded in Matthew Mark Luke and John up until the final rejection in Acts 7). God knew this would happen and had a plan to save gentiles (non-Jewish people) and the world in spite of Israel’s rejection of Jesus. He converted the Apostle Paul as the Apostle to the gentiles in Acts 9 and revealed to him that now anyone could be saved (Jew or gentile) directly by trusting in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. No longer would gentiles have to go through Israel and follow the law to be blessed/saved by God.
God is currently not judging the sin and evil in the world, instead He is pouring out His grace through the finished work of Jesus Christ, wanting all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. That is why there is evil in the world now. After the rapture, or removing of the church/the body of Christ from the earth, which can happen at any time without notice, God will THEN judge sin and evil in the world during the 7 year tribulation of judgment on the earth. At this time God will turn His attention back to Israel to save them through a remnant that believes. Gentiles in the tribulation, will need to once again be saved by going through Israel’s program which includes faith and works, endure to the end even if it means death for your faith, and not take the mark of the beast. It is much EASIER to be saved now up until the rapture, which can happen anytime without notice.
Jesus paid the difficult price so you may have forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. It is easy to be reconciled back to God for all eternity.
This offer is to all that recognize their sin has separated them from God, and trust in God’s solution to reconcile you back to God forever. Jesus paid the price of your sins to reconcile you back to God.
To be saved what you need to do is simply believe and trust ONLY in the death burial and resurrection of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, to receive Jesus’ righteousness imputed to your account, and eternal life with God.
It is important to not add any works from Israel's program in the Old Testament, Matthew Mark Luke John, or Acts 1-7 to the gospel of salvation. The Apostle Paul called adding works to the gospel an accursed gospel that does NOT save. Galatians 1:8-9 KJV (King James Version)
Salvation comes from believing and trusting in the death, burial , and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is God's provision for you.
No amount of good works (you think you are saved because you are good enough on your own), no water baptism, no cleaning up your sins (wrong definition of repent), special prayers or things to accept are necessary to be saved by Jesus Christ.
Once you are saved you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and have full assurance of salvation and sin can no longer separate you from God. You cannot lose by moral imperfection what you did not attain by moral perfection.
Once you are saved by believing and trusting the gospel that saves 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 KJV the next steps to learn and grow in God’s grace and learn your new identity and blessings as a member of Jesus’s church (not a denomination of building) , the body of Christ, renew your mind daily by reading and applying the doctrine Jesus gave to the body of Christ through the Apostle Paul in Romans-Philemon KJV. We earn rewards in heaven now by applying and building sound doctrine to the inner man.
We all can definitely sense the increase in evil and the decrease of love in the world. This world is temporal and the new heavens/earth will be beautiful and perfect version of this life for all eternity.
God wants you there in His family for all eternity to show you the riches of His grace and love for you !!!
Acknowledge the your sin has separated you from God and trust and believe the simple gospel that saves today !!!
1 Corinthians 15:1-4. KJV
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
For more info my blog is
GraceNotWorks dot com
2024.05.19 14:08 Yurii_S_Kh Monotheism, Part 3: Islam
 | Islam: Origins submitted by Yurii_S_Kh to SophiaWisdomOfGod [link] [comments] Jibril (Gabriel) appears before Mohammed, drawing The religion of the Law, which for 15 centuries prepared the chosen people for the coming into the world of the its Savior, the Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, preceded New Testament religion. According to the Holy Apostle Paul, "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (Gal. 3:24). It was all in all only "a shadow of good things to come" (Heb. 10:1). When the Savior came into the world, Old Testament religion had fulfilled its purpose. Our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to us the mystery of the Heavenly Kingdom and established the New Covenant, which was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jer. 31:31-33). Man was redeemed from original sin and its consequences by the voluntary death on the Cross of Jesus Christ as Savior of the World. He entered into an entirely new period in terms of his relationship with God in comparison with the Old Testament: instead of the law, there was a free condition of sonship and grace. Man received new means for achieving the ideal set for him of moral perfection as a necessary condition for salvation. Islam, having arisen in Arabia in the seventh century, appeared as the religion of the law six centuries after the God of the chosen people of the religion of the Law fulfilled its purpose. The difference between the Old Testament religion of the Law and Islam is not only that the latter emerged more than two thousand years after God gave on Mount Sinai the Ten Commandments and other precepts that governed life for the chosen people. The most important difference is that the Law of Moses has a Divine source. The book of Exodus gives a narrative of the majestic Epiphany. "And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up" (Exod. 19:17-20). The founder of Islam, however, did not have a Divine revelation. How did Islam arise? We read about this in the Hadith “Al-Jamii al-Sahih”. A mysterious being began to visit Mohammed. He slept in a cave on the slope of Mount Hira. On the night of the 24th of the month of Ramadan in year 610 someone appeared to him in human form. This event is considered the beginning of Islam. This story about it is from the Sunnah: “[A]n angel appeared to him and bade him 'READ!' 'I am no reader!' Mohammed replied in great trepidation, whereon the angel shook him violently and again bade him read. This was repeated three times, when the angel uttered the five verses that commence the 96th chapter: 'READ! in the name of thy Lord, who did create—who did create man from congealed blood. READ! for thy Lord is the most generous.’” Mohammed puzzled over whether a demon or angel visited him. He confided his experiences in his wife Khadijah. I will introduce more of the story of Mohammed's biography, generally accepted by Muslims: “She said to the messenger of God, ‘O son of my uncle, are you able to tell me about your visitant, when he comes to you?’ He replied that he could, and she asked him to tell her when he came. So when Gabriel came to him, as he was wont the apostle said to Khadija, ‘This is Gabriel who has just come to me.’ ‘Get up, O son of my uncle,’ she said, ‘and sit by my left thigh.’ The apostle did so, and she said, ‘Can you see him?’ ‘Yes,’ he said. She said, ‘Then turn round and sit on my right thigh.’ He did so, and she said, ‘Can you see him?’ When he said that he could she asked him to move and sit in her lap. When he had done this she again asked if he could see him, and when he said yes, she disclosed her form and cast aside her veil while the apostle was sitting in her lap. Then she said, ‘Can you see him?’ And he replied, ‘No.’ She said, ‘O son of my uncle, rejoice and be of good heart, by God he is an angel and not a satan’” (Ibn Hisham, Biography of the Prophet Muhammad). It is surprising how easily and, gently speaking, naively this question, which in the spiritual realm is a question of life or death, had been answered with the help of a woman. Before all else, an Angel is a bodiless being, and for his sight there are no actual barriers: one can see through even clothes. Clothes hide nudity only from the eyes of man. Even so, the body of man in and of itself is not something perverse or shameful. It is a creation of God. The lust of man is sinful as well as is carnal desire, but not the body. In paradise the progenitors were naked and were not ashamed (see Gen. 2:25). The nature of an Angel is inviolate. They are alien to passions of man. But if this was a demon, then he could easily resort to trickery. Knowing how they tested him, he especially would be able to take leave of himself, so that they would take him for an Angel. The attitude of Islam towards the Bible Islam emerged as something syncretic out of several sources: ancient Arabic cults, Judaism, Christianity, Hanifism (a pre-Islamic monotheistic movement in Arabia) and Mazdaism (an ancient Iranian religion). There is no doubt that the Old Testament holy books and the Gospel had an influence on the formation of Islam. In the Quran many people and events from biblical history are mentioned. However, these stories are presented completely arbitrarily and inaccurately. According to the Quran, man was created from water. "It is He Who has created man from water: Then has He established relationships of lineage and marriage: for thy Lord has power (over all things)" (25:54). In another surah, it says: "Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood" (96:1-2). In another part it speaks about clay, "He created man from sounding clay like unto pottery" (55:14). In contrast to the Bible, the Quran does not say that man was created in the image and likeness of God. This discrepancy is most profound. With God's image and likeness, man is summoned to commune directly with his Creator. He can become one with the Lord. This is not so in Islam. The book of Genesis tells the story of how the entire family of the patriarch Noah (in Arabic, Nuh) was saved in the Ark. The Quran speaks about the death of Noah's son: "So the Ark floated with them on the waves (towering) like mountains, and Noah called out to his son, who had separated himself (from the rest): ‘O my son! Embark with us, and be not with the unbelievers!’ The son replied: ‘I will betake myself to some mountain: it will save me from the water.’ Noah said: ‘This day nothing can save, from the command of Allah, any but those on whom He hath mercy!’ And the waves came between them, and the son was among those overwhelmed in the Flood" (11:42-43). Another surah tells it somewhat differently: "(Remember) Noah, when he cried (to Us) aforetime: We listened to his (prayer) and delivered him and his family from great distress" (21:76). There is no need to provide more examples. In the Quran, things are especially distorted when discussing New Testament events. Here the differences are purely fundamental. The Incarnation, the Crucifixion on Golgotha, and the Resurrection are all denied. Even the event of the Nativity of Christ, known to the whole world, is described very strangely. It is alleged that Maryam retreated to a faraway place and gave birth to a Son under palms (19:23). In this surah, called Maryam, She is called the "sister of Harun," i.e. Aaron. He indeed had a sister named Miriam, but she lived 15 centuries before the Nativity of Christ. Probably due to so great a number of errors and distortions, many representatives of Islam, in order to escape from this quandary, allege that the modern Holy Scripture of Christians has been distorted (a circumstance known as tahrif). Immediately, the question arises: what evidence do they provide? There is no evidence. Characteristically, the view of Muslims toward the Bible has undergone significant change over the course of several centuries. Early Islamic writers such as al-Tabari and ar-Razi believed that the distortion comes down to tahrif bi'al ma'ni, i.e. the corruption of the meaning without changing the text. However, later authors such as Ibn Hazm and Al-Biruni introduced the idea of tahrif bi’al-lafz, i.e. the corruption of the text itself. At that, both of these positions have been preserved to the present day. Thus, the level of acceptance among Muslims of the Bible depends on one's understanding of tahrif. The very existence of these fundamentally different positions indicates that there is no concrete evidence. It is impossible to ignore one interesting feature of the attitude that representatives of Islam have toward the Biblical text. In that they do not have their own "undistorted" biblical text, they cite our canonical text as undistorted. However, when they need to support a point, for example, negative examples from the life of Banu Isra'il (the children of Israel) with a reference to parts that do not conform to Islam, they proclaim the text to be distorted. Muslims allege that the New Testament (Injil), which the Quran refers to positively, is not in fact the current four Gospels. We have already said that they do not provide any evidence. The falsehood of the accusation that Christians distorted the Scriptures stems from the internal inconsistencies of the very Islamic authors who wrote on this theme. According to the Quran, the New Testament was originally a true, sacred text. "And in their footsteps We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Law that had come before him: We sent him the Gospel: therein was guidance and light, and confirmation of the Law that had come before him: a guidance and an admonition to those who fear Allah" (5:46). In another section: "Say: ‘O People of the Book! ye have no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord.’ It is the revelation that cometh to thee from thy Lord, that increaseth in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy" (5:68). This excerpt clearly demonstrates that the Quran itself does not speak of the distorted Scripture, but about "rebellion and blasphemy" related to misunderstanding. There is one part of the Quran (10:94) which is very problematic for Islamic commentators: "If thou wert in doubt as to what We have revealed unto thee, then ask those who have been reading the Book from before thee: the Truth hath indeed come to thee from thy Lord: so be in no wise of those in doubt." This ayat refers the Muslim "in doubt" to the authority of the biblical Holy Scripture. Abdul-Haqq writes: “The learned doctors of Islam are sadly embarrassed by this verse, referring the prophet as it does to the people of the Book who would solve his doubts” (Abdul-Haqq, A. A. (1980). Sharing Your Faith With A Muslim. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers. As cited in Geisler, N.L. (1999). Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group). According to the logic of this verse, the biblical Scripture was undistorted in the 7th century at the time of the Quran's creation. Then one must recognize that the current text is also correct, since we use manuscripts written over several centuries prior to the Quran. Textual criticism of the New Testament has achieved outstanding breakthroughs in the 20th century. Currently, there are over 2,328 manuscripts and manuscript fragments in Greek, coming to us from the first three centuries of Christianity. The most ancient New Testament manuscript, a part of the Gospel of John 18:31-33, 37-38, is the Rylands Library Papyrus P52, dated 117-138 in the era of the reign of emperor Hadrian. Adolf Deissmann acknowledges the possibility of the emergence of this papyrus even under the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117). It is preserved in Manchester. Another ancient New Testament manuscript is the Papyrus Bodmer, P75. The 102 surviving pages contain the texts of the Gospels of Luke and John. "The editors, Victor Martin and Rodolphe Kasser, date this copy to between 175 and 225 A.D. It is thus the earliest surviving known copy of the Gospel according to Luke available today and one of the earliest of the Gospel according to John" (Bruce M. Metzger. The Text of the New Testament. p. 58). This precious manuscript is located in Geneva. Uncial script on parchment: leather codices with uncial script, (in Latin uncia means inch) letters without sharp corners and broken lines. This script is distinguished by its great refinement and precision. Each letter is disconnected. There are 362 uncial manuscripts of the New Testament. The most ancient of these codices (Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and Alexandrinus) have already been mentioned. Scholars complemented this impressive collection of ancient New Testament manuscripts with the New Testament text, which consisted of 36,286 excerpts of the Holy Scripture of the New Testament found in the works of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church from the first through fourth centuries. This text is lacking only 11 verses. Scholars of textual criticism in the 20th century did a tremendous job on the collation of all—several thousands of—New Testament manuscripts and identified all textual discrepancies caused by scribal error. An evaluation and typologization was performed. Precise criteria for determining a correct variant were established. For those familiar with this rigorous scientific work, it is obvious that allegations of the distortion of the current holy text of the New Testament are unfounded. In terms of the number of ancient manuscripts and the brevity of time separating the earliest surviving text from the original, no one work of antiquity can be compared with the New Testament. Accusations that the Bible's text is distorted are puzzling. How could it actually have been done? How could Christians and Hebrews have come together to do this? Everyone knows the degree of their mutual [doctrinal—Ed.] alienation. And yet both Christians and Jews use one and the same canonical text of the Old Testament. Furthermore, the entire New Testament was preserved in the Chester Beatty Papyri, composed in approximately 250 A.D. It is inconceivable to accept that under the conditions that existed in Christian society, hundreds of exemplars of the New Testament text were miscopied for the purpose of distortion. On the Monotheism of Islam Historians and religious scholars regard the three "Abrahamic" religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, as monotheistic religions. For the researcher, the doctrinal principles that representatives of each of these three religions formulate are sufficient. However, on a theological level, the insufficiency of such a formal approach becomes clear. Monotheism is a necessary but not sufficient condition for true religion. Only a religion that has Divine revelation as a source has the true and spiritually accurate doctrine concerning God. Christianity not only maintains that God is the living, absolute source, "the only true God" (John 17:3; 1 Thes. 1:9; cf. John 5:20), but also teaches thoroughly and in depth of the nature of God as without beginning, without end, and of a perfect Spirit. The chief characteristic of the Divine nature is love. "God is love" (1 John 4:16). These words of the apostle contain the principal idea of the New Testament as the good news of salvation. The ineffable goodness of God created the world. The Lord housed man in paradise. Even after the Fall, God continued to love mankind. The greatness of God's love was revealed when the incarnate God died a most agonizing death for us. Christians know from not only the Holy Scripture, but also through the power of spiritual experience, that God is all-knowing and all-wise. The apostle says: "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:13). God knows not only all that has happened, and all that is, but he has also perfect knowledge of the future. The mirror of the supreme Wisdom of God is the universe which He created, astounding man with its extraordinary complexity, beauty, and harmony. God demonstrates his ineffable Wisdom also in the dispensation of our salvation. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out" (Rom. 11:33). True religion is not limited by the demand of worship for the Creator. Its ultimate goal is the spiritual unity of man with God. The Savior speaks about this in a prayer to his Father before his suffering on the cross: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us" (John 17:21). From the aforementioned characteristics of the Divine follows the concept of true, Christian monotheism. There can be only one all-powerful and all-just God. The concept of God in Islam does not have a source of divine revelation. It developed on the basis of ancient Arabic religion. The word “Allah” was used in the polytheistic pantheon of Arabs to denote “God”: Allah (al - the definite article; ilah - god). Among the pagan Arabs, prior to their adoption of Islam, Allah was the supreme lunar deity, worshipped in north and central Arabia. The father of Muhammed, who was a pagan, was named Abdullah ("Servant of Allah"). In pre-Islamic times, the crescent moon was the symbol of the worship of the moon-god among the Arabs. This is confirmed by archeological evidence. The crescent moon was carried over as the main symbol of Islam. Arabs of the Syrian desert called the wife of Allah as Al-lāt, and in the south of central Arabia, Al-‘Uzzá. In other areas of Arabia, they, along with Manat, were worshipped as the daughters of Allah. This genetic trail was preserved in the Quran. There is mention of this in the 53rd surah: "Have ye seen Lāt, and ‘Uzzā, and another, the third (goddess), Manāt? What! For you the male sex, and for Him, the female? Behold, such would be indeed a division most unfair!" (53:19-22). In Islam, Allah is a created religious image by the human consciousness. He does not express the real almighty divine personhood. Consequently, monotheism in Islam is imagined. In a number of places in the Quran, he is endowed with intrinsically human characteristics and traits. Allah says:
The idea of monotheism, (tawhid, from the verb wahhada—to reckon something as one) was formulated in the Quran in several surahs. For example, in the 16th surah, "The Bee": "For We assuredly sent amongst every people an apostle, (with the Command), "serve God, and eschew evil" (16:36). In the terminology of the sharia, anything people worship except for Allah is "taghut". Since Islam does not know of direct revelation, nor the holy Manifestation of God to the world, nor the unification of man with God on the foundation of love, its monotheism is imagined, formalistic and abstract, requiring not that man change himself or his way of life, but only worship and daily prayer. Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) |
2024.05.19 03:09 GorgeousGordon The Whole Enchilada
This is my rig rundown. Fixed jamming stations in my man cave of Lust. I have several stomp pedals as well, when needed.
—// Gordon’s Rig Rundown —\
Bass Rig #2 - [ ] Ampeg SVT VR200 w/2x12 200w cab, Tech-21 Bass Flyrig V2 pedal.
Guitar Rig #1 - [ ] Orange CR120C 2x12 combo, Eventide H90 Harmonizor.
Guitar Rig #2 - [ ] Marshall DSL40CR 2x12 Celestions, Dunlop Wah, Pedal block w/MXR, Boss, Ibanez.
Guitar Rig #3 - [ ] Boss Katana 100/212 MkII 2x12.
Guitar Rig #4 (Rack) - [ ] Kemper 600W Rackmount Profiler Amp Head - [ ] Friedman ASC-12 500W Cab - [ ] Behringer 3D Virtualizer - [ ] Korg Pitchblack X Pro tuner - [ ] Fulode Power Sequencer
submitted by GorgeousGordon to Guitar [link] [comments]
—// Gordon’s Rig Rundown —\
- [ ] BC Rich Hummingbird Legacy ST, Trans Honey Burst
- [ ] Charvel Pro-Mod DK24, Transblack
- [ ] Charvel Pro-Mod So-Cal HSH FR, Cherry Kiss
- [ ] Charvel Angel Vivaldi Pro-Mod DK24-6 Nova, Aqua Firemist
- [ ] Dean Z Select 24 Kahler, White
- [ ] Dean KK Sig Flying V, Black
- [ ] Epiphone Firebird Bass, sunburst
- [ ] ESP LTD Phoenix-1000, White
- [ ] Fender Stratocaster, Sunburst HSS (US)
- [ ] Fender Strat, Buttercream SSS (MX)
- [ ] Fender Strat HH EMGs, Black (US)
- [ ] Fender Telecaster HS, Seafoam Green (US)
- [ ] Fender Vintera 50s P-Bass, Seafoam Green
- [ ] Fender Jazz Bass, Orange
- [ ] Gibson Les Paul Standard, Iced Tea
- [ ] Gibson Les Paul Standard, Ebony
- [ ] Gibson Flying V Mustaine Sig EXP, Kona
- [ ] Gibson Les Paul Jr. 1955 (original my dad owned when I was born)
- [ ] Gibson Melody Maker 1965 (modified)
- [ ] Ibanez Prestige S S6570Q, Blue (Japan)
- [ ] Ibanez Artcore Semi-Hollow, Red burst
- [ ] Ibanez SR Mezzo Bass, Green
- [ ] Ibanez RG-550, Purple (Jap)
- [ ] Jackson S Series Soloist SL1X, Yellow
- [ ] Music Man Valentine, Pink Champagne
- [ ] PRS S2 McCarty 594, Cherry
- [ ] Schekter Diamond Bass, Blk-Cherry
- [ ] Firefly FFLX Explorer, Purple
- [ ] Enya NEXG SE Acoustic Electric, Green
- [ ] Enya Nova Gold Sonic, White
- [ ] GTRS S801 HHS, Baby Blue
- [ ] EART Vintage VS-60 SSS, Sunburst
- [ ] Guild F-2512E 12-String Acoustic
- [ ] Taylor 310e Acoustic
- [ ] Alvarez 5505 Acoustic
- [ ] Alvarez S100 Acoustic
- [ ] Winzz 4/4 Acoustic, Classical
Bass Rig #2 - [ ] Ampeg SVT VR200 w/2x12 200w cab, Tech-21 Bass Flyrig V2 pedal.
Guitar Rig #1 - [ ] Orange CR120C 2x12 combo, Eventide H90 Harmonizor.
Guitar Rig #2 - [ ] Marshall DSL40CR 2x12 Celestions, Dunlop Wah, Pedal block w/MXR, Boss, Ibanez.
Guitar Rig #3 - [ ] Boss Katana 100/212 MkII 2x12.
Guitar Rig #4 (Rack) - [ ] Kemper 600W Rackmount Profiler Amp Head - [ ] Friedman ASC-12 500W Cab - [ ] Behringer 3D Virtualizer - [ ] Korg Pitchblack X Pro tuner - [ ] Fulode Power Sequencer
2024.05.18 23:18 Tesa_Tesanovic1988 Technology Sovereignty Influence on the Development of Emerging Markets
Rapid technological development and global big tech have contributed to the widening of the gap between rich and developing countries. Social media networks, fintech, and the internet as a whole have become powerful tools for collecting and using personal and business data. It is no secret that big tech has been collecting, using, and trading personal data without people’s consent solidifying the competitive advantage.Rapid technological development and global big tech have contributed to the widening of the gap between rich and developing countries. Social media networks, fintech, and the internet as a whole have become powerful tools for collecting and using personal and business data. It is no secret that big tech has been collecting, using, and trading personal data without people’s consent solidifying the competitive advantage.
Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends.The data collected has been used to target users with ads and commercial messages for profit. As a result, these digital technologies have been fueling Digital Colonialism, where the rich are fortifying their financial dominance. This phenomenon provides large technological companies from the West a tool for controlling emerging markets and extracting profits and has caused the stagnation of underdeveloped nations.
Unarguably, big tech has an influence over the policies that govern how they do business. In other words, they use their power and influence to set the business standards and rules however it suits their interests. Consequently, technology giants often venture into other industries that were initially dominated by state and local organizations. Often it is the case that governmental and local private organizations cannot compete with large-scale technological companies due to the sheer volume of their resources (Coleman, 2019).
Large, monopolistic companies use their limitless resources to dominate underdeveloped markets. A good example is Uber, which has been running local taxi services out of business wherever they set their operations, like in South Africa. Furthermore, the advertisement and marketing sectors have seen this in action too, as Facebook and Google have brought local media in developing countries on the verge of extinction (Kwet, 2019).
What is Technology Sovereignty?
Technology sovereignty is a country’s ability to develop and implement technology crucial for its technological independence and welfare. It also includes alternative ways of acquiring technology, such as provisioning it from other nations without causing dependence or violating the country’s freedom (Crespi et al., 2021). For a nation to achieve technology independence, it must be able to avoid unilateral dependency, as we see in the case of developing countries where large-scale technology corporations entirely control the infrastructure. In essence, technology sovereignty is reached through independent technological and scientific development, or by adopting external technological solutions but without developing a dependent relationship with the external partner.Often, the term “technology sovereignty” is used interchangeably with data sovereignty and information sovereignty, in which case the focus is on the country’s ability to provide the IT infrastructure and technology to fulfill the nations hosting interests, needs, and policies (Coleman, 2019). However, no single nation can be entirely self-reliant when it comes to IT, and technology sovereignty goes beyond technological autonomy that allows the adoption of new technology without dependence (Crespi et al., 2021).
Technology Sovereignty and Innovation Sovereignty
Technology sovereignty and innovation sovereignty are directly related, with the former serving as a bridge to the latter. To achieve short and long-term economic goals, innovation sovereignty involves developing technologies at the local level (Crespi et al., 2021). Both technology and innovation sovereignty are reached by generating relevant scientific and technological knowledge. It is important to note that scientific and technological knowledge does not have any real impact on the economy if there are no resources and prerequisites, such as a regulatory framework and infrastructure, for its application (Edler et al., 2021).Innovation sovereignty serves to guarantee that the technologies employed in a society do not lead to dependence on monopolistic foreign companies. As a product of technology sovereignty, innovation sovereignty ensures that a country can satisfy its long-term technological requirements with local experts.What is Technology Sovereignty? Technology sovereignty is a country’s ability to develop and implement technology crucial for its technological independence and welfare. It also includes alternative ways of acquiring technology, such as provisioning it from other nations without causing dependence or violating the country’s freedom (Crespi et al., 2021). For a nation to achieve technology independence, it must be able to avoid unilateral dependency, as we see in the case of developing countries where large-scale technology corporations entirely control the infrastructure. In essence, technology sovereignty is reached through independent technological and scientific development, or by adopting external technological solutions but without developing a dependent relationship with the external partner. Often, the term “technology sovereignty” is used interchangeably with data sovereignty and information sovereignty, in which case the focus is on the country’s ability to provide the IT infrastructure and technology to fulfill the nations hosting interests, needs, and policies (Coleman, 2019). However, no single nation can be entirely self-reliant when it comes to IT, and technology sovereignty goes beyond technological autonomy that allows the adoption of new technology without dependence (Crespi et al., 2021). Technology Sovereignty and Innovation Sovereignty Technology sovereignty and innovation sovereignty are directly related, with the former serving as a bridge to the latter. To achieve short and long-term economic goals, innovation sovereignty involves developing technologies at the local level (Crespi et al., 2021). Both technology and innovation sovereignty are reached by generating relevant scientific and technological knowledge. It is important to note that scientific and technological knowledge does not have any real impact on the economy if there are no resources and prerequisites, such as a regulatory framework and infrastructure, for its application (Edler et al., 2021). Innovation sovereignty serves to guarantee that the technologies employed in a society do not lead to dependence on monopolistic foreign companies. As a product of technology sovereignty, innovation sovereignty ensures that a country can satisfy its long-term technological requirements with local experts.
Technology Sovereignty and Economic Sovereignty
Adequate infrastructure and the ability to innovate create a favorable environment in which technology sovereignty may lead to economic sovereignty. Economic sovereignty refers to the ability of a country or a country bloc to benefit from independent ventures and partnerships with similar entities without being dependent on any of them (Crespi et al., 2021). Technology sovereignty helps establish innovation independence and eventually results in economic sovereignty, which stems from the need to provide free access to important resources, financing, critical technologies, and data (Edler et al., 2021). Technology sovereignty aims to help the domestic industry by enhancing innovation locally, which makes it intrinsically nationalistic (or regional) in nature. By stimulating innovation, technology sovereignty becomes necessary for achieving development priorities.How Can Developing Nations Attain Technology Sovereignty
Essential technologies for technology sovereignty are defined using theoretical and conceptual frameworks. Correctly understanding the most critical aspects of technology sovereignty as they relate to technology requires expertise in analysis and relevant procedures (Edler et al., 2020). The initial stage in this process is deciding on the essential skills and knowledge to obtain. This stage is followed by researching the impact of the selected technology on society and the economy and, finally, providing the technology to the local community.Technological alternatives help strengthen technological independence. Determining the economic viability of a particular alternative helps define its role as an alternative. (Edler et al., 2021). It is, nevertheless, critical to guarantee that technological options are accessible and can be built in developing nations. Technology sovereignty requires creating young talents and obtaining the necessary resources. To produce appropriate technologies in today’s volatile environment, developing nations need to acquire science and technology know-how by utilizing complex R&I instruments and creating knowledge carrier groups (Edler et al., 2020). They can achieve this by simplifying and reforming the curriculum at the relevant institutions of higher education (BCSD, 2020). For instance, the curriculums should be designed to promote research in agriculture tech and data analytics. University education and training must have clear strategies to eliminate knowledge gaps that slow down alternative technology innovation in developing nations.
Nonetheless, the resources and infrastructure necessary for alternative technologies to become a reality are almost always an unsurmountable obstacle for emerging economies. This is often due to the sheer scope of the research that needs to be performed and the need for more equipment and raw materials to develop and test new technologies (Edler et al., 2020). Consequently, to tackle these obstacles, countries and their educational institutions need to choose a narrower field to focus on. Research collaboration and information exchange regarding essential knowledge helps access the necessary technology and prevents unilateral dependencies.
Emerging nations must foster a technology culture and support scientific and technical knowledge throughout the educational system. Children must be allowed to interact with digital technology and develop capabilities while they are very young. For example, using the relevant technology to enable internet access for children in school and at home is a strategy that will improve the quality of learning (BCSD, 2020). To achieve this goal, teachers, researchers, local and state governments, and other stakeholders need to show intent to work together. The path of attaining technology sovereignty for emerging nations starts with understanding the importance of the right approach to technology.Technology Sovereignty and Economic Sovereignty Adequate infrastructure and the ability to innovate create a favorable environment in which technology sovereignty may lead to economic sovereignty. Economic sovereignty refers to the ability of a country or a country bloc to benefit from independent ventures and partnerships with similar entities without being dependent on any of them (Crespi et al., 2021). Technology sovereignty helps establish innovation independence and eventually results in economic sovereignty, which stems from the need to provide free access to important resources, financing, critical technologies, and data (Edler et al., 2021). Technology sovereignty aims to help the domestic industry by enhancing innovation locally, which makes it intrinsically nationalistic (or regional) in nature. By stimulating innovation, technology sovereignty becomes necessary for achieving development priorities. How Can Developing Nations Attain Technology Sovereignty Essential technologies for technology sovereignty are defined using theoretical and conceptual frameworks. Correctly understanding the most critical aspects of technology sovereignty as they relate to technology requires expertise in analysis and relevant procedures (Edler et al., 2020). The initial stage in this process is deciding on the essential skills and knowledge to obtain. This stage is followed by researching the impact of the selected technology on society and the economy and, finally, providing the technology to the local community. Technological alternatives help strengthen technological independence. Determining the economic viability of a particular alternative helps define its role as an alternative. (Edler et al., 2021). It is, nevertheless, critical to guarantee that technological options are accessible and can be built in developing nations. Technology sovereignty requires creating young talents and obtaining the necessary resources. To produce appropriate technologies in today’s volatile environment, developing nations need to acquire science and technology know-how by utilizing complex R&I instruments and creating knowledge carrier groups (Edler et al., 2020). They can achieve this by simplifying and reforming the curriculum at the relevant institutions of higher education (BCSD, 2020). For instance, the curriculums should be designed to promote research in agriculture tech and data analytics. University education and training must have clear strategies to eliminate knowledge gaps that slow down alternative technology innovation in developing nations. Nonetheless, the resources and infrastructure necessary for alternative technologies to become a reality are almost always an unsurmountable obstacle for emerging economies. This is often due to the sheer scope of the research that needs to be performed and the need for more equipment and raw materials to develop and test new technologies (Edler et al., 2020). Consequently, to tackle these obstacles, countries and their educational institutions need to choose a narrower field to focus on. Research collaboration and information exchange regarding essential knowledge helps access the necessary technology and prevents unilateral dependencies. Emerging nations must foster a technology culture and support scientific and technical knowledge throughout the educational system. Children must be allowed to interact with digital technology and develop capabilities while they are very young. For example, using the relevant technology to enable internet access for children in school and at home is a strategy that will improve the quality of learning (BCSD, 2020). To achieve this goal, teachers, researchers, local and state governments, and other stakeholders need to show intent to work together. The path of attaining technology sovereignty for emerging nations starts with understanding the importance of the right approach to technology.
References
Coleman, D. (2019). Digital colonialism: The 21st century scramble for Africa through the extraction and control of user data and the limitations of data protection laws. Mich. J. Race & L., 24, 417. https://doi.org/10.36643/mjrl.24.2.digitalCrespi, F., Caravella, S., Menghini, M., & Salvatori, C. (2021). European Technological Sovereignty: An emerging framework for policy strategy. Intereconomics, 56(6), 348-354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10272-021-1013-6
Kwet, M. (2019, March 13). Digital Colonialism is Threatening the Global South. Aljazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/3/13/digital-colonialism-is-threatening-the-global-south
Edler, J. Blind, K. Frietsch, R. Kimpeler, S. Kroll, H. Lerch, C. Reiss, T. Roth, F. Schubert, T. Schuler, J. & Walz, R. (2020). Technology Sovereignty – From Demand to Concept. Fraunhofer ISI Discussion Papers-Innovation Systems and Policy Analysis.
Edler, J., Blind, K., Kroll, H., & Schubert, T. (2021). Technology sovereignty as an emerging frame for innovation policy: Defining rationales, ends and means (No. 70). Fraunhofer ISI Discussion Papers-Innovation Systems and Policy Analysis.
Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development (BCSD). (2020). The Digital Transformation of Education: Connecting Schools Empowering Learners. International Telecommunication Union.
Authors
Paul Lalovich
Organizational Effectiveness and Strategy Execution PracticeTesha Teshanovich
Organizational Effectiveness and Strategy Execution Practice2024.05.18 21:01 manic-scribe "Logan Paul and Semiotics" -ChatGPT
ChatGPT:
Roland Barthes, the French literary theorist and philosopher, would likely approach the Logan Paul vs. Mike Tyson bout through the lens of semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, and their use or interpretation. Here’s how Barthes might analyze this event:
submitted by manic-scribe to semioticsculture [link] [comments]
Roland Barthes, the French literary theorist and philosopher, would likely approach the Logan Paul vs. Mike Tyson bout through the lens of semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, and their use or interpretation. Here’s how Barthes might analyze this event:
- Mythologies and the Construction of Modern Myths:
Barthes' work in "Mythologies" would lead him to view the bout as a modern myth. He would see the fight as more than a physical contest; it’s a spectacle that communicates broader cultural narratives. Logan Paul, a YouTube celebrity, represents the new age of digital fame, while Mike Tyson symbolizes the traditional, almost mythic, figure of the legendary boxer. The bout is a clash between these two cultural epochs. - Signifiers and Signified:
Barthes would break down the event into its constituent signs. The fighters themselves, the media coverage, the audience reactions, and the commercial aspects all serve as signifiers that point to deeper societal values and ideologies. For instance, Tyson might signify nostalgia, raw physicality, and the bygone era of boxing glory, whereas Paul signifies contemporary celebrity culture, the commodification of personal brand, and the power of social media influence. - The Spectacle and the Role of Media:
Barthes might discuss how the bout is a spectacle orchestrated by media forces. He would argue that the event is less about the sport of boxing and more about the entertainment value, the media buzz, and the narratives constructed around it. The pre-fight hype, promotional videos, and social media interactions serve to build a narrative that engages the audience emotionally and financially. - Cultural Consumption and Audience Engagement:
The audience’s engagement with the bout could be seen as an act of cultural consumption. Barthes might analyze how viewers are not just passive consumers but actively participate in the creation of meaning around the event. They bring their own interpretations, biases, and emotions, which in turn feed back into the media narrative, creating a dynamic loop of meaning-making. - The Role of the "Punctum":
Drawing from his later work in "Camera Lucida," Barthes might look for the "punctum" in the event—those unexpected, poignant details that personally affect and puncture the viewer's perception. This could be a moment during the fight, an expression on the fighters' faces, or an incident that transcends the planned spectacle and resonates on a deeper, more personal level with the audience.
2024.05.18 21:00 manic-scribe "Logan Paul and Semiotics" -ChatGPT
Chat GPT:
Roland Barthes, the French literary theorist and philosopher, would likely approach the Logan Paul vs. Mike Tyson bout through the lens of semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, and their use or interpretation. Here’s how Barthes might analyze this event:
submitted by manic-scribe to semiotics [link] [comments]
Roland Barthes, the French literary theorist and philosopher, would likely approach the Logan Paul vs. Mike Tyson bout through the lens of semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, and their use or interpretation. Here’s how Barthes might analyze this event:
- Mythologies and the Construction of Modern Myths:
Barthes' work in "Mythologies" would lead him to view the bout as a modern myth. He would see the fight as more than a physical contest; it’s a spectacle that communicates broader cultural narratives. Logan Paul, a YouTube celebrity, represents the new age of digital fame, while Mike Tyson symbolizes the traditional, almost mythic, figure of the legendary boxer. The bout is a clash between these two cultural epochs. - Signifiers and Signified:
Barthes would break down the event into its constituent signs. The fighters themselves, the media coverage, the audience reactions, and the commercial aspects all serve as signifiers that point to deeper societal values and ideologies. For instance, Tyson might signify nostalgia, raw physicality, and the bygone era of boxing glory, whereas Paul signifies contemporary celebrity culture, the commodification of personal brand, and the power of social media influence. - The Spectacle and the Role of Media:
Barthes might discuss how the bout is a spectacle orchestrated by media forces. He would argue that the event is less about the sport of boxing and more about the entertainment value, the media buzz, and the narratives constructed around it. The pre-fight hype, promotional videos, and social media interactions serve to build a narrative that engages the audience emotionally and financially. - Cultural Consumption and Audience Engagement:
The audience’s engagement with the bout could be seen as an act of cultural consumption. Barthes might analyze how viewers are not just passive consumers but actively participate in the creation of meaning around the event. They bring their own interpretations, biases, and emotions, which in turn feed back into the media narrative, creating a dynamic loop of meaning-making. - The Role of the "Punctum":
Drawing from his later work in "Camera Lucida," Barthes might look for the "punctum" in the event—those unexpected, poignant details that personally affect and puncture the viewer's perception. This could be a moment during the fight, an expression on the fighters' faces, or an incident that transcends the planned spectacle and resonates on a deeper, more personal level with the audience.
2024.05.18 20:06 Mouse_Numerous Pension & Investors release Fortress Mgt buys Fortress back from Softbank 5/15/24
5/15/24 co CEO Fortress announces closure of Fortress Mgt buyback from Softbank. Now Fortress is ready to roll at Novation Co NOVCQ a public company hidden by SEC Rule 15c2-11 with partners co investors Mass Mutual & sub Barings aka Babson Capital, Jefferies $JEF & White Mountain’s Capital $WTM & NOVCQ Board of Directors Barry Igdaloff’s Howard Amster & Whitney Tilson, Chuck Gillman, Jeffrey Eberwein, David Pointer, Tim Eriksen, Lee Keddie & Robert Pearse. These people are all connected and their 3 NOVCQ restructuring are all connected and advised by 3 third party professionals TPP Boulay Group, Olshan Law, Shapiro Sher. These TPP are no different then Sullivan Cromwell aiding the FTX scheme.
https://www.pionline.com/alternatives/fortress-mubadala-complete-acquisition-fortress-investment-group
World Leading Investors Fortress, EJF Capital aka FBR, MassMutual Barings, Jefferies, White Mountains Capital $WTM are about to create BILLIONS in Capital plus Hundreds of Millions in Cash Flow every year. This is how Whitney Tilson's pals Chuck Gillman, Jeff Eberwein and their co-investors siege control of Novation Companies $NOVC. Use SEC Rule 15C(2)-11 to drive share price down, while taking 16M or 10% of stock at pennies as partial board compensation. Equipped with 40M common shares of NOVCQ they are ready to make Billions plus Create $100Ms every year in cash flow in dividends/Mgt Fees. They have a world class roster of investors supporting them including; MassMutual Barings/Jefferies 40M and Fortress/EJF Capital 31.3M NOVCQ common shares (EJF formerly FBR is owned by White Mountains Capital $WTM). Fortress/EJF Capital also own $NOVCQ only Sr Debt to exit their 1st Ch 11 MD and was used in 2nd Ch 11 in DE filed 8/13/2024. Fortress/EJF invested a few thousand dollars in Off Balance Sheet entities Taberna Trups CDOs I & II/Kodiak CDO I, that hold NOVCQ only Sr Debt. After the 1st Ch 11 NOVCQ Board of Director Barry Igdaloff, Howard Amster hands Fortress/EJF Capital 31M shares allocated by Board at zero basis. This proves NOVCQ Board of Directors was not independent from Sr Debt Holders Fortress/EJF Capital. Sr Debt was a ruse including its use in DE Ch 11. DE Ch 11 was carefully crafted to provide short sellers a way to take tax free gains. The Board with little cash invested holds control of this former NYSE MREIT Novastar Financial Inc. traded under MREIT NYSE Exemption $NFI now Novation $NOVCQ.
Per WSJ Wesley Edens of Fortress is the new MREIT Subprime KING after restructuring Mr. Cooper $COOP and OMF One Main aka LEAF AIG and Citi Bank Subprime CaPersonal Lending unit, and RITM/NRZ and Dynex Capital DX. Manny Friedman Founder of EJF Capital formerly FBR Friedman, Billings Ramsey, is regarded as a leading MREIT expert. They control Novation Companies Inc. NOVCQ thanks to $NOVCQ Board of Directors who they have a past relationship. They renamed Novastar Financial Inc. former traded NSYE as $NFI to Novation Companies, which owns MREIT Novastar Financial Inc., renamed Novastar Mortgage inside 2nd Ch 11 in DE. A new 8-Member Board is waiting in the wings with new name/symbol. I have been told they have big plans for NOVCQ only operating unit http://healthcare-staffing.com HCS which owns and conceals Medmasa http://medmasa.com
I believe they will merge HCS/Medmasa with Jeff Eberwein Hudson Global $HSON to create quarter billion tax free BPO public company. Jeffrey Eberwein is the former NOVCQ COB/CEO that managed 1st Ch 11 in MD with Shapiro Sher. Eberwein is now COB/CEO of Hudson Global $HSON. This merger will monetize NOVCQ $730M NOLs just like both CH 11 the 1st in Maryland, MD & 2nd or last in Delaware, DE. Both used Sr Debt as ruse to execute both Ch 11s which have gone to great length to save NOVCQ $730M NOLs. 2022 NOVCQ triggered SEC Rule 15c(2)-11 which allows NOVCQ to remain public but conceals who is buying NOVCQ as only Expert Investors can accumulate NOVCQ like Putnam Inv. Goldman Sachs, Blackrock & David Dreman of Dreman Value Mgt. and Thomas Akin Talkot Capital fund owns 1.9M common. This SEC Rule is postured as way for small public company to remain public and not have the cost burden of SEC filings. What it really does is stops Retail bid/ask and allows Expert Investors in the know to front run a public company before rolling out true reorganization plans.
They are ready to change Novation Co $NOVCQ name and brand so as to eliminate any reference to the prior board or brand. This is how they roll. I believe they will present the new name/symbol and 8-Member Board comprised of Fortress, EJF Capital aka FBR people once Fortress Management close Softbank SALE of Fortress (DONE See Top 5/15/24 Announcement) to them and Mubadala Investment Company ex Fortress executive Rajeev Misra. Whitney Tilson close small cap co-investors Chuck Gillman, Jeff Eberwein are at the center. I’ve been told they do nothing but sure things. Former George Soros Investments Portfolio Mgr. Jeff Eberwein Wharton MBA, is ready to take $NOVC http://medmasa.com conceal behind http://healthcare-staffing.com & $730M NOLs. This 8-Member Board connected to past Board Members Jeff Eberwein, Chuck Gillman, Barry Igdaloff, Howard Amster I believe will merge Medmasa/HCS with Hudson Global $HSON (see Jefferey Eberwein Form 4s at $HSON & Form 4s filed at NOVCQ between April-Oct 2015 via his fund Lone Star Value Mgt.). Jeff Eberwein & his clan including Whitney Tilson/Chuck Gillman were introduced to the present day NOVCQ Board Barry Igdaloff, Howard Amster. Wes Edens, Founder of Fortress hide their identity behind Off Balance Sheet OBE Entities Taberna Trups CDOs I and II and former FBR Friedman, Billings, Ramsey now called http://EJFCap.com also hide their identity behind OBE Kodiak CDO I.
Fortress/EJF own at the same time both the only Sr Debt to exit 1st Ch 11 MD and months afterward 31M NOVCQ common (9M NOVCQ common shares plus 22.250M Ten Year Warrants. There are co-conspirators with NOVCQ board of directors that own 40M NOVCQ Common & MassMutual & Jefferies own 40M NOVCQ common shares. Novation Companies Inc. $NOVCQ submerged shareholder plans and value under SEC Rule 15c(2)-11 to sub penny stock that can only be traded today by Expert Investors defined by this SEC Rule. Fortress/EJF Capital paid almost nothing for OBEs yet they have spent at least $2M cash in the last Ch 11 in DE. They have every reason to do something big.
I believe that something will be splitting NOVCQ into two tax free public companies worth BILLIONS plus Hundreds of Millions in annual cash flow in MREIT Dividends & Lucrative Mgt Fees just like Fortress did a LEAF/One Main OMF, Newcastle that is New Residential $NRZ now Rithm Capital $RITM and $GCI formerly New Media NEWM and New Senior $SNR sold for over $2B. $RITM aka $NRZ in 2019 10K documented that shareholders paid Fortress over $250M in Mgt Fees annually, plus dividends. Fortress terminated the NRZ/RITM Mgt Deal for cool $400M (simultaneously changing Name/Symbol to Rithm Capital $RITM). NOVCQ Dark Horse are their plans for NOVCQ only operating unit HCS aka Medmasa http://medmasa.com concealed by CH 11 in DE. Medmasa NOVCQ only operating unit is http://healthcare-staffing.com NOVCQ former MREIT NYSE $NFI now named Novastar Mortgage is the Board, EJF Capital and Fortress ticket to monetizing rights (see Exhibit 2.1 of Q3 2007 10Q Service Rights Transfer Agreement Sec 5.04 that defines these rights as Cleanup Call Rights CCR well know to these MREIT experts) that control billions of rich, seasoned collateral assets ideal to be leveraged and securitized into MREIT dividend & like RITM aka NRZ another external management fee for Fortress and/or EJF. Fortress/EJF Capital then FBR did this with NOVCQ Board Barry Igdaloff, Howard Amster 2000-03 at Dynex Capital NYSE $DX. Ask Igdaloff helpers Thomas Akin former CEO/COB of DX he holds 1.9M of NOVCQ in his fund Talkot Capital. Thomas Bruce Akin sat on DX Board for years with NOVCQ Chairman Igdaloff. Igdaloff served 20 years on DX Board per DX 8K 9/3/2020.This is your chance to do what is right. ====================================== ALTERNATIVES
May 15, 2024 12:04 PM
REPRINTSPRINT
Drew McKnight and Joshua Pack
Fortress Investment Group, an alternatives manager, and Mubadala Investment Co., the investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s $276 billion sovereign wealth fund, completed their acquisition deal May 15, and as part of the close, Fortress management now owns a 32% equity interest.
Mubadala owns the remaining 68%. The acquisition, through Mubadala Capital, is for the 90.01% of Fortress equity that was held by SoftBank Group Corp., according to a news release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fortress’s sale of majority equity was approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States after concessions were made to let Fortress keep data and technology in the U.S., the Financial Times first reported last week.
Fortress, which had $48 billion in assets under management at the end of 2023, said it expects the new joint venture to help it further establish itself in credit and real estate in both public and private markets. Fortress pointed to Mubadala Capital’s global network to help expand client relationships.
“This is a true landmark event for Fortress, for our employees and for the clients we serve,” said Fortress co-CEOs Drew McKnight and Joshua Pack, adding, “We have strengthened alignments of interest, put significant management skin in the game, and deepened our long-term partnership with Mubadala, one of the world’s most highly regarded investors.”
As part of Fortress management now owning a 32% equity interest, its management is entitled to appointment of a majority of board seats. McKnight, Pack and managing partner Jack Neumark were the largest individual investors in the buyout and were joined by about 150 members of the firm.
Mubadala Capital’s CEO and managing director, Hani Barhoush, continues to serve on the Fortress board, a position he has held since 2019 when Mubadala initially invested.
Fortress will continue to operate as an independent investment manager under its own brand and with full autonomy over its investment process and personnel.
submitted by Mouse_Numerous to eventdriveninvestment [link] [comments]
https://www.pionline.com/alternatives/fortress-mubadala-complete-acquisition-fortress-investment-group
World Leading Investors Fortress, EJF Capital aka FBR, MassMutual Barings, Jefferies, White Mountains Capital $WTM are about to create BILLIONS in Capital plus Hundreds of Millions in Cash Flow every year. This is how Whitney Tilson's pals Chuck Gillman, Jeff Eberwein and their co-investors siege control of Novation Companies $NOVC. Use SEC Rule 15C(2)-11 to drive share price down, while taking 16M or 10% of stock at pennies as partial board compensation. Equipped with 40M common shares of NOVCQ they are ready to make Billions plus Create $100Ms every year in cash flow in dividends/Mgt Fees. They have a world class roster of investors supporting them including; MassMutual Barings/Jefferies 40M and Fortress/EJF Capital 31.3M NOVCQ common shares (EJF formerly FBR is owned by White Mountains Capital $WTM). Fortress/EJF Capital also own $NOVCQ only Sr Debt to exit their 1st Ch 11 MD and was used in 2nd Ch 11 in DE filed 8/13/2024. Fortress/EJF invested a few thousand dollars in Off Balance Sheet entities Taberna Trups CDOs I & II/Kodiak CDO I, that hold NOVCQ only Sr Debt. After the 1st Ch 11 NOVCQ Board of Director Barry Igdaloff, Howard Amster hands Fortress/EJF Capital 31M shares allocated by Board at zero basis. This proves NOVCQ Board of Directors was not independent from Sr Debt Holders Fortress/EJF Capital. Sr Debt was a ruse including its use in DE Ch 11. DE Ch 11 was carefully crafted to provide short sellers a way to take tax free gains. The Board with little cash invested holds control of this former NYSE MREIT Novastar Financial Inc. traded under MREIT NYSE Exemption $NFI now Novation $NOVCQ.
Per WSJ Wesley Edens of Fortress is the new MREIT Subprime KING after restructuring Mr. Cooper $COOP and OMF One Main aka LEAF AIG and Citi Bank Subprime CaPersonal Lending unit, and RITM/NRZ and Dynex Capital DX. Manny Friedman Founder of EJF Capital formerly FBR Friedman, Billings Ramsey, is regarded as a leading MREIT expert. They control Novation Companies Inc. NOVCQ thanks to $NOVCQ Board of Directors who they have a past relationship. They renamed Novastar Financial Inc. former traded NSYE as $NFI to Novation Companies, which owns MREIT Novastar Financial Inc., renamed Novastar Mortgage inside 2nd Ch 11 in DE. A new 8-Member Board is waiting in the wings with new name/symbol. I have been told they have big plans for NOVCQ only operating unit http://healthcare-staffing.com HCS which owns and conceals Medmasa http://medmasa.com
I believe they will merge HCS/Medmasa with Jeff Eberwein Hudson Global $HSON to create quarter billion tax free BPO public company. Jeffrey Eberwein is the former NOVCQ COB/CEO that managed 1st Ch 11 in MD with Shapiro Sher. Eberwein is now COB/CEO of Hudson Global $HSON. This merger will monetize NOVCQ $730M NOLs just like both CH 11 the 1st in Maryland, MD & 2nd or last in Delaware, DE. Both used Sr Debt as ruse to execute both Ch 11s which have gone to great length to save NOVCQ $730M NOLs. 2022 NOVCQ triggered SEC Rule 15c(2)-11 which allows NOVCQ to remain public but conceals who is buying NOVCQ as only Expert Investors can accumulate NOVCQ like Putnam Inv. Goldman Sachs, Blackrock & David Dreman of Dreman Value Mgt. and Thomas Akin Talkot Capital fund owns 1.9M common. This SEC Rule is postured as way for small public company to remain public and not have the cost burden of SEC filings. What it really does is stops Retail bid/ask and allows Expert Investors in the know to front run a public company before rolling out true reorganization plans.
They are ready to change Novation Co $NOVCQ name and brand so as to eliminate any reference to the prior board or brand. This is how they roll. I believe they will present the new name/symbol and 8-Member Board comprised of Fortress, EJF Capital aka FBR people once Fortress Management close Softbank SALE of Fortress (DONE See Top 5/15/24 Announcement) to them and Mubadala Investment Company ex Fortress executive Rajeev Misra. Whitney Tilson close small cap co-investors Chuck Gillman, Jeff Eberwein are at the center. I’ve been told they do nothing but sure things. Former George Soros Investments Portfolio Mgr. Jeff Eberwein Wharton MBA, is ready to take $NOVC http://medmasa.com conceal behind http://healthcare-staffing.com & $730M NOLs. This 8-Member Board connected to past Board Members Jeff Eberwein, Chuck Gillman, Barry Igdaloff, Howard Amster I believe will merge Medmasa/HCS with Hudson Global $HSON (see Jefferey Eberwein Form 4s at $HSON & Form 4s filed at NOVCQ between April-Oct 2015 via his fund Lone Star Value Mgt.). Jeff Eberwein & his clan including Whitney Tilson/Chuck Gillman were introduced to the present day NOVCQ Board Barry Igdaloff, Howard Amster. Wes Edens, Founder of Fortress hide their identity behind Off Balance Sheet OBE Entities Taberna Trups CDOs I and II and former FBR Friedman, Billings, Ramsey now called http://EJFCap.com also hide their identity behind OBE Kodiak CDO I.
Fortress/EJF own at the same time both the only Sr Debt to exit 1st Ch 11 MD and months afterward 31M NOVCQ common (9M NOVCQ common shares plus 22.250M Ten Year Warrants. There are co-conspirators with NOVCQ board of directors that own 40M NOVCQ Common & MassMutual & Jefferies own 40M NOVCQ common shares. Novation Companies Inc. $NOVCQ submerged shareholder plans and value under SEC Rule 15c(2)-11 to sub penny stock that can only be traded today by Expert Investors defined by this SEC Rule. Fortress/EJF Capital paid almost nothing for OBEs yet they have spent at least $2M cash in the last Ch 11 in DE. They have every reason to do something big.
I believe that something will be splitting NOVCQ into two tax free public companies worth BILLIONS plus Hundreds of Millions in annual cash flow in MREIT Dividends & Lucrative Mgt Fees just like Fortress did a LEAF/One Main OMF, Newcastle that is New Residential $NRZ now Rithm Capital $RITM and $GCI formerly New Media NEWM and New Senior $SNR sold for over $2B. $RITM aka $NRZ in 2019 10K documented that shareholders paid Fortress over $250M in Mgt Fees annually, plus dividends. Fortress terminated the NRZ/RITM Mgt Deal for cool $400M (simultaneously changing Name/Symbol to Rithm Capital $RITM). NOVCQ Dark Horse are their plans for NOVCQ only operating unit HCS aka Medmasa http://medmasa.com concealed by CH 11 in DE. Medmasa NOVCQ only operating unit is http://healthcare-staffing.com NOVCQ former MREIT NYSE $NFI now named Novastar Mortgage is the Board, EJF Capital and Fortress ticket to monetizing rights (see Exhibit 2.1 of Q3 2007 10Q Service Rights Transfer Agreement Sec 5.04 that defines these rights as Cleanup Call Rights CCR well know to these MREIT experts) that control billions of rich, seasoned collateral assets ideal to be leveraged and securitized into MREIT dividend & like RITM aka NRZ another external management fee for Fortress and/or EJF. Fortress/EJF Capital then FBR did this with NOVCQ Board Barry Igdaloff, Howard Amster 2000-03 at Dynex Capital NYSE $DX. Ask Igdaloff helpers Thomas Akin former CEO/COB of DX he holds 1.9M of NOVCQ in his fund Talkot Capital. Thomas Bruce Akin sat on DX Board for years with NOVCQ Chairman Igdaloff. Igdaloff served 20 years on DX Board per DX 8K 9/3/2020.This is your chance to do what is right. ====================================== ALTERNATIVES
May 15, 2024 12:04 PM
Fortress, Mubadala complete acquisition of Fortress Investment Group
LYDIA TOMKIWERIN ARVEDLUNDREPRINTSPRINT
Drew McKnight and Joshua Pack
Fortress Investment Group, an alternatives manager, and Mubadala Investment Co., the investment arm of Abu Dhabi’s $276 billion sovereign wealth fund, completed their acquisition deal May 15, and as part of the close, Fortress management now owns a 32% equity interest.
Mubadala owns the remaining 68%. The acquisition, through Mubadala Capital, is for the 90.01% of Fortress equity that was held by SoftBank Group Corp., according to a news release. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
RELATED ARTICLE
Mubadala seeks co-investors for Fortress in effort to clear U.S. security review SoftBank-Fortress deal turns attention to future arrangements with private equity firmsFortress’s sale of majority equity was approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States after concessions were made to let Fortress keep data and technology in the U.S., the Financial Times first reported last week.
Fortress, which had $48 billion in assets under management at the end of 2023, said it expects the new joint venture to help it further establish itself in credit and real estate in both public and private markets. Fortress pointed to Mubadala Capital’s global network to help expand client relationships.
“This is a true landmark event for Fortress, for our employees and for the clients we serve,” said Fortress co-CEOs Drew McKnight and Joshua Pack, adding, “We have strengthened alignments of interest, put significant management skin in the game, and deepened our long-term partnership with Mubadala, one of the world’s most highly regarded investors.”
As part of Fortress management now owning a 32% equity interest, its management is entitled to appointment of a majority of board seats. McKnight, Pack and managing partner Jack Neumark were the largest individual investors in the buyout and were joined by about 150 members of the firm.
Mubadala Capital’s CEO and managing director, Hani Barhoush, continues to serve on the Fortress board, a position he has held since 2019 when Mubadala initially invested.
Fortress will continue to operate as an independent investment manager under its own brand and with full autonomy over its investment process and personnel.
2024.05.18 19:19 drake_burroughs Is this the darkest Legion story ever told? We say goodbye to some old friends, hello to the new creative team, and look at Legionnaires 77 - 79 and Legion 121 & 122
 | The times are dramatically changing and we say goodbye to the longtime creative teams that, believe it or not, crafted this version of the Legion for 6 years. To put this into perspective, Paul Levitz's second run lasted 7 and the 5YL Legion lasted 5. So they're one of the longest runs in Legion history. submitted by drake_burroughs to LegionofSuperheroes [link] [comments] I wanted to make a point about the sales on this book to clarify an error I made before. Up to this point, this was the lowest-selling Legion book ever. The only saving moment they had was Final Night, where sales spiked up again because of the book's connection to DC's big crossover. But once that was over, they just went back down again, eventually cratering and heading for cancellation. But, post-threeboot, Legion sales were even worse. Every Legion book follows the same pattern - nice sales for the first issue and then an almost precipitous drop quickly after. However, and this is where I'm going to be a little mean, I think that this version of the Legion is the worst-selling Legion book when compared to the rest of the comic industry at the time. I think that Legion v7 selling 15,000 copies a few years ago is much worse than Legion v4 selling 17,000 in 1999. Let's talk about the high points of this run:
Let's continue the reread: Legionnaires #77 The entire Legion heads to the beach for sun, sand, romance, and to catch a thief... kinda... These are the kinds of issues that this creative team has shown they do well so I'm expecting it to be fun. I've said before that I love it when the Legion is hanging out and just being friends. Let's focus on the important parts of the story:
It's also the final issue for the writing team and I think Tom McCraw, Roger Stern, and Carmela Merlo really leaned into what they did the best. It's a nice way to wrap up their run. LSH #121 In a complete change of tone, we're back with the Fatal Five (four?) story. Let's go random stream of consciousness while I read... We start with a desolate planet called Tenazor and a huge ship crash lands into the surface. Is this the Fatal Five? Someone else? Oh, and I have to say I love the Walt Simonson sound effects they use here - not sure if they paid him for the style and look but they should. Half the team is flying back to the Outpost (although at this point I'm honestly not sure who's assigned where, but that might just be my bad memory... or I'm wondering why the lightning twins aren't here) when their beach memories are interrupted by Brainiac 5, who's nice enough to recap last issue. He tells them they warped the whole Outpost through a stargate and they crashed on the planet from the first page... even though the ship that crashed didn't look big enough to be the Outpost. Umbra and M'onel have already arrived at Tenazor and, since it's under an orange sun, the Daxamite is only at half strength. Which is perfect when going against the Fatal Five. The villains have already started turning the locals into slave labor, because they have to make the villains even more villainous, right? M'onel tries to fight everyone by himself, uses absolutely no strategy aside from attack, and gets blasted by the Emerald Eye. I will repeat what I said last issue - does any Legionnaire actually think before they rush into battle? He and Umbra are quickly defeated before the rest of the Legion arrives, including Gates and Brainy. We get a nice moment between Kinetix and Violet, as the latter worries about facing the Eye again and Kinetix reassures her that she's afraid because she hated the evil that she did. They hug and I, once again, wish they did more with Zoe. Brainy comes up with the incredible plan of while the Legion is fighting the Fatal Five, he'll sneak in and regain control of the Outpost. Yep, that's it. No need to consider strategy, or the best members for attacking the different foes, or how Ferro is going to accomplish anything... Subplot: Dreamer has, of course, a bad dream about something ending too soon for the Legion. We all know it's this series (only 4 issues to go), but wouldn't it be great to do a subplot with Dreamer where she wakes up, surprised by a good dream? The battle starts and Karate Kid takes down the Empress (who I guess isn't tied to the Eye at all) with one move. Wow - they could've actually written a compelling fight scene and let the two of them go but, instead, just let Val defeat this killer with one move. Kind of a waste, if you ask me. As the fight continues, and the Legion actually uses teamwork to go against the Persuader, we get a very strange scene with Gates single-handedly teleporting the Eye away. He also gets to throw in some nice socialist dogma while he's doing it, just in case there was anyone who wasn't sure what his political beliefs are. Just kinda overkill right now... Element Lad and Kinetix try to change the Emerald Eye into something less threatening, Sensor makes Validus think his lightning is going against him so that Violet and Ferro can knock him unconscious. (That's something I never thought I'd see in a Legion comic). And then Koko takes off to save a green monkey. Yes, you read that correct. We're interrupting the action to focus on Koko saving another monkey. Brainy distracts Tharok, allowing Dyrk to cut the power to the Outpost and end the threat. He blasts the villain with a force field (just going to say now that I really liked that they added this to his arsenal - using the force field as an aggressive weapon was a great add to the character). Element Lad creates a magnesium flare and blinds the Emerald Eye. Another thing I didn't think I'd see in a Legion comic. We wrap everything up very quickly, as the villains are captured, M'onel flies the Outpost back into space, and Brainy leaves Koko on the planet so the white monkey can bond with the green monkeys. The Legion wonders what harm Koko can do, but we see that he's already leading the monkeys with a Legion wristband on him. That's not going to go well, is it? I actually kinda liked this one, if only for the massive amount of teamwork used. They probably didn't need to reform the Fatal Five for this, and they defeated them really, really easily, but the Legion worked as a team, so that was okay for me. Or maybe I'm just in a better mood today... The more I think about it, the more I feel like the creative team used the Fatal Five for no other reason than they knew this was their last chance. It's their final issue and I think they wanted to go out with a bang, using the best villains in the Legion arsenal. I now kinda wish they had scrapped a lot of the previous issues and done something a little more epic. But that's been a constant complaint for the McCraw/Peyer team - they just never knew how to actually lay out a storyline. Legionnaires #78 Here we have it - the first regular Legion title written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (Or DnA). Oh, and a barely remembered artist named Olivier Coipel shows up for the final two pages as well. Let's see how they handle these characters... One of my favorite things to notice during rereads is how well the new creative teams introduce new concepts and ideas and how well they keep characterizations consistent. In some cases, the teams slow build, adding things here and there and try their best not to completely recreate the book. In other cases, they immediately start throwing their new ideas in. Rereading this book, there are a couple of elements that are almost immediately evident:
And finally, the last two pages start the destruction, as stargates are destroyed and whole systems are wiped out. Death and destruction are coming and heading towards Earth... LSH #122 Legion of the Damned, Part One After reading this book, I spent some time trying to think of comic series that underwent dramatic, intense changes in both style and level of quality. I mentioned this before, but I always find it interesting when series get new creative teams and go in dramatically different directions. I like to see what big and small changes they make. For this series, the change is incredibly dramatic. The only comparable book I can think of is when Grant Morrison and Richard Case took over Doom Patrol. It went from a fairly standard, somewhat uninteresting superhero book to a trip through Morrison's crazed vision of a broken bunch of heroes. The book was immediately 10000 times better and eventually joined the Vertigo universe to allow Morrison to push the envelope even further. I can't imagine what it must have been like at the end of 1999, after spending years reading the Archie Legion, to suddenly have everything shift to such a degree. DnA have taken everyone's fears of Y2K and turned them into the Blight, an evil alien consciousness that has taken over the Earth, destroyed everything (including Interlac, which is no longer on display), and taken possession of the Legionnaires, turning them into slaves. At the heart the of Metropolis is The Stem, the huge organism from which the Blight conjure energy ribbons for transportation. It's also believed to be part of the network that brought the Blight to Earth. There are almost no beings left on Earth, just the Blight. The scared few who are free are trying to escape by getting resistance leader R.J. Brande to use the last remaining stargate to help them get off planet. And leading them are Live Wire, XS, Chameleon, and Shvaughn Erin. But they face the possessed versions of Umbra, Ultra Boy, and Karate Kid and, except for Cham, fall under the Blight's control. Cham's lost, desperate, trying to find help, when the four Legionnaires from last issue (Cosmic Boy, Apparition, Monstress, and Brainiac 5) finally return to Earth with no clue of what's happened. Wow, we just got really, really, really dark. Legionnaires #79 Legion of the Damned, Part Two DnA and Olivier Coipel continue this story, so I'm going to assume that this whole series was done months earlier to ensure they could hit this bi-weekly schedule. In that case, the previous creative teams had to know that their run was over far sooner than I guessed before. We start this issue with Cham explaining to the four what happened and just how quickly the Blight took over the Earth and their former teammates. His big reveal, of course, is that everyone was taken to The Stem. To further stress the darkness of the story, we see inside The Stem and see XS's fate. She's been taken prisoner and is now being processed for power sapping. She's trapped inside a cocoon, breathing some strange liquid, but because of her powers, she cannot be kept unconscious. So she's aware of the horror around her. She's heading towards the end and knows she's about to lose everything. Then we get a flashback to when the four finally reached the Legion Outpost. Tinya is being her usual annoying self, whining about not getting to see Jo. Monstress is trying to keep positive but Brainy is tired of her tantrums. It's moments like these when you remember that Tinya's around 16 years old... and married... and emotionally immature. Last issue's change is already tossed to show that she sometimes is going to act like a little kid. As the four board the Outpost, they immediately realize that it's empty, hasn't been used in a while, and something very bad is happening. The Blight recognize they're onboard and blow up the Outpost just as they get away. But the blast destroys their ship and they crash on Earth. I guess the Blight brought the Outpost to Earth at some point, right? Tinya wakes up from that nightmare (strange that she's super annoying in her own dream) and chats with Cham about how they need to get into The Stem to try to figure out what's actually going on. Within The Stem, XS is being taken further into the chamber when she starts communicating with a telepath. She's waking up, her speed powers allowing her to get over the sedative. She sees the remaining Legionnaires hanging from the ceiling, like food, and then decides it's time to escape. She also recognizes the telepath - it's Saturn Girl. She bursts from her cocoon, grabs Saturn Girl, and starts running. Outside The Stem, the five head towards the huge organism, looking for a way to get inside. Brainy spots a opening and explains the science behind how they can get in. I'm just going to point out right now that I really like the way DnA are handling Brainy. He's actually acting super intelligent, and above the rest of the team, and irritating in a stubborn, smug way instead of just being an ass. Inside The Stem, Jenni's too tired to continue and Imra tells her to leave her behind. Then Imra shares what she's seen, what she's learned inside The Stem and XS is stunned. To make matters worse, the Blight have sent all the possessed Legionnaires to destroy those who are free. We'll finish off the Blight next week! Our next Legionnaire in the spotlight... Element Lad!!! https://preview.redd.it/e25sib3pw71d1.jpg?width=928&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c18ee2aa7bc0548880da04f1912d11e2ca6d9e8c https://preview.redd.it/zbqmsccqw71d1.jpg?width=620&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78bc20f3d7e865d8b3ee6b7f5b816e2c1f4043e7 https://preview.redd.it/z00u242cx71d1.jpg?width=1425&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c190f454ede73091c76e94d021ef01de01afbef8 To me, Jan Arrah is the soul of the Legion and the one who made the Legion a family instead of just a team. Having suffered from quite possibly the most horrific origin story of any super-hero ever created, he became the backbone of the team and one of the best leaders ever. Perhaps he, more than almost any other character except for Dream Girl, benefited from being the team leader during the Levitz run and that's what's coloring my judgment here. But I don't think so. I think the strength of the character has been there from very early on and Levitz and Giffen leaned into it, turning him into a must-have Legionnaire. Sadly, post-5YL, he has never been used to his potential and most of the creative teams don't seem to understand his importance.
Next week we get to the end of the longest Legion title to ever exist and see what happens to the characters after that. See you next week! |
2024.05.18 16:24 bigcatcleve If Paul Bonacci was lying, how did he know about Charles Kerr?
In his confession, Bonacci states Johnny was sold to a man named Charlie in Sioux City who owned a farmhouse, and a trailer.
On the other hand, WDM PD identified a person of interest named Charles Kerr, separately from Bonacci's claim.
This guy lived in Sioux city, owned a farmhouse, and a trailer and was also a pedophile who raped his five year old daughter. If Bonacci
According to the Gosches, Bonacci picked this guy's photo out of a line up (which is why I don't understand when Gosch Sr says he never believed Bonacci considering he said "Paul told my wife and I things that we've never told anybody.") The Gosches are admittedly not very trustworthy but even putting this line-up away, if Paul pulled this out of his ass like many suspect, or was referring to someone else, it would be on Ripley Believe It Or Not, levels of impossibility.
Their are only four possibilities imo.
I'll start off with the least likely,
Also no judge worth his salt, would've signed off an a warrant solely based on the word of Paul Bonacci, given his credibility and the fact that a grand jury referred to him as "the most pathetic witness {they'd} ever seen".
WDM PD fucked up big time, by not interviewing Bonacci specifically regarding his identification of Charlie. They instead (claimed to have) interviewed..... his siblings. Even if they thought he was lacking in credibility, they were shit out of luck and had nothing but three missing boys I could understand them not wanting to waste resources to speak to Bonacci, but if that were the case, why did they reach out to his siblings who would've been infinitely harder to find? It would've taken a simple phone call to the jail Bonacci was held in, to reach him even if they didn't want to waste resources on a visit.
According to WDM PD, his siblings claimed he was in Omaha the night Johnny was abducted, but how the fuck would they have remembered where Paul was on an exact date nearly 10 years prior? Also Omaha is less than two hours from WDM, so Paul could've easily been in Omaha and Des Moines on the same day.
To be fair, WDM PD admitted they'd fucked up big time by not interviewing Bonacci, and admitted they dismissed him far to easy.... 21 years later.
submitted by bigcatcleve to JohnnyGosch [link] [comments]
On the other hand, WDM PD identified a person of interest named Charles Kerr, separately from Bonacci's claim.
This guy lived in Sioux city, owned a farmhouse, and a trailer and was also a pedophile who raped his five year old daughter. If Bonacci
According to the Gosches, Bonacci picked this guy's photo out of a line up (which is why I don't understand when Gosch Sr says he never believed Bonacci considering he said "Paul told my wife and I things that we've never told anybody.") The Gosches are admittedly not very trustworthy but even putting this line-up away, if Paul pulled this out of his ass like many suspect, or was referring to someone else, it would be on Ripley Believe It Or Not, levels of impossibility.
Their are only four possibilities imo.
I'll start off with the least likely,
- John Decamp told him. This is highly unlikely because Decamp worked on the alleged Franklin scandal. and had nothing to do with the Johnny Gosch case until Bonacci brought him up. The only way he would've known about Kerr is if the whole Franklin thing was real and Kerr was involved one way or the other.
- The Gosches told him. This would also be highly unlikely. If so where did they get this information? Law enforcement? The police weren't helping her in any form, and would never in a million years reveal the name of a person of interest before an arrest. They also didn't reveal to the Gosches, that their were more "I am alive Johnny Gosch" bills found (actually they didn't inform them of any of the bills) which takes us to 3.
- Roy Stephens fed him all this info. Hypothetically, if Roy Stephens knew all of this info, he could've fed everything to Bonacci. I certainly wouldn't put it past him doing so, considering his reputation and all the other sleazy shit he did. But we come back to the same question. How would Roy Stephens know about Kerr?
- Bonacci was telling the truth, and he was at the very least involved in someone manner, which this sub for some odd reason, refuse to even entertain the possibility of.
Also no judge worth his salt, would've signed off an a warrant solely based on the word of Paul Bonacci, given his credibility and the fact that a grand jury referred to him as "the most pathetic witness {they'd} ever seen".
WDM PD fucked up big time, by not interviewing Bonacci specifically regarding his identification of Charlie. They instead (claimed to have) interviewed..... his siblings. Even if they thought he was lacking in credibility, they were shit out of luck and had nothing but three missing boys I could understand them not wanting to waste resources to speak to Bonacci, but if that were the case, why did they reach out to his siblings who would've been infinitely harder to find? It would've taken a simple phone call to the jail Bonacci was held in, to reach him even if they didn't want to waste resources on a visit.
According to WDM PD, his siblings claimed he was in Omaha the night Johnny was abducted, but how the fuck would they have remembered where Paul was on an exact date nearly 10 years prior? Also Omaha is less than two hours from WDM, so Paul could've easily been in Omaha and Des Moines on the same day.
To be fair, WDM PD admitted they'd fucked up big time by not interviewing Bonacci, and admitted they dismissed him far to easy.... 21 years later.
2024.05.17 16:49 floorlight Matched Betting Guide and FAQ - instructions for new starters and tips for making money
If you're new to matched betting you can easily make up to £1000 fairly quickly, and regular matched-bettors often report earning £100+ per month regularly.
If you don't want to read this guide, a paid-for matched betting site will gives you all the tools and step-by-step guides you need to start making money.
____________________________________________
Q&A
What is matched betting? How does it work?
My personal experience:
I started the journey in November 2020 and have made a few thousand pounds in total. When I started I committed a few hours a day in the beginning, doing every single sign up offer. I was making a few hundred pounds profit a month. Then I moved into reloads, making a similar amount of money. Eventually I couldn’t commit as much time and got gubbed from some key accounts that I abused too much. Now I spend a few minutes every few days, placing every bet I can for every offer I see and make around £100 a month which for me is a nice bit of extra beer money for not very much effort.
____________________________________________
How It Works:
A simple example – Bet £10, get a £10 free bet:
Oddsmonkey non-ref link
Outplayed non-ref link
submitted by floorlight to beermoneyuk [link] [comments]
If you don't want to read this guide, a paid-for matched betting site will gives you all the tools and step-by-step guides you need to start making money.
____________________________________________
Q&A
What is matched betting? How does it work?
Matched betting takes advantage of betting website special offers in a way that locks in a profit. Very simply, bookmakers give out free bonuses and have special offers to attract customers (new and existing).How do I get started?
By using the matched betting technique, you can take advantage of these and lock in a profit. You will place a bet with the bookmaker and place a bet on the result ‘not to happen’ on an 'exchange' which covers all possibilities. You’ll lose a few pennies on this bet but you’ll become eligible for the bonus, which you lock in again and receive most of the value of that bonus – as pure profit.
Read the bottom section of this guide for an example.
I made the mistake of wanting to read all the information I could find, on every website, before I got going. I never got around to doing that and therefore missed out on getting into this years ago.When is the best time to start?
____________________________________________
The simplest way to start is to sign up to a free trial with a service like Oddsmonkey.
____________________________________________
A similar site is Outplayed which also offers a free trial.
I'd recommend Oddsmonkey due to them having an exclusive 0% fee deal with Smarkets. This will save you some money for every bet you make and you won't get this with Outplayed!
They give you step by step instructions, explain how it all works, the terminology and everything else.
There are also free sites which aim to give you useful information but the above sites are comprehensive, easy to navigate and can answer all your questions.
A free trial will guide you to earning around £40 profit by showing you two offers. You can then decide to continue your subscription if you want.
Both sites cost £29.99/month for sports offers only (no casino offers), or £49.99 with access to casino offers.
You will cover the subscription cost after doing one or two sign up offers - I've found that the subscription pays for itself and is worthwhile.
____________________________________________
My advice – start with a free trial on Oddsmonkey by clicking on this link and take it from there.
____________________________________________
Another thing to look out for - there are often better sign up offers available elsewhere on the internet or through GPT sites, as u/TightAsF_ck likes to point out.
There’s no time like the present.Is it too late to start? Is the party over?
The earlier you start, the quicker you’ll start making money, it’s as simple as that.
You may hear people say the best time to do this has passed and there’s not as many offers as there used to be. This is somewhat true. Several years ago the offers were more lucrative, however the party is by no means over. I signed up at the end of 2020 when people were saying the same thing and there’s still hundreds of offers to do. I made £500-£600 a month when I started and I’ve made a few £k since starting.How much money do I need to start with?
Roughly £100 will allow you to place the first qualifying bet (often £10 or £20) and lay the bet on the exchange (could also be around £20 depending on the odds) and will also leave you with enough to place the free bet and lay it on the exchange.How much time do I need to commit?
I started off with about £100, then when I saw how much money I was making, I committed about £300. The more you can put in, the quicker you will make money. You can start off with a very minimum of £50 but if you have £100-200 spare to use to begin with, you will make money a lot quicker.
Once you place a bet the money is tied up in that bet until the event is over, so with a smaller ‘bankroll’ it takes longer to do offers. If you can commit more money to the exchange, eg £100-200, that will allow you to place more bets simultaneously.
In the first few months I did this, I spent about 3-4 hours a day. I was making about £500 a month at that time. Now I spend a few minutes a day, netting me about £100 a month. This may not sound like a lot of money but for the time and effort, I’m happy with it.Can I lose money?
After a week or two you’ll be really familiar with placing bets and will be able to speed things up and crack through offers fast.
If you don’t follow instructions, there is that risk. But do it right, be careful to double check the numbers, and you’ll be fine. It is not free from risk.This sounds like gambling. Is it?
Pay attention! You are using real money, so if you make a mistake you can lose it. Spend time checking your bets.
Matched betting is NOT gambling but don't try it if you have had problems with gambling before, as you may be tempted to gamble. Please read this warning post. You will be placing bets and using betting sites a lot, so the temptation could be there, but if you follow the instructions and the process, you will never be gambling as you will be locking in your bets and be covering all outcomes.How much money will I make?
Doing all the welcome offers can net you more than £1000. Personally, having done pretty much all the welcome offers, I spend only a few minutes every day doing a few offers and have been averaging £100 a month. That’s really easy. If you spend a bit more time on it, you can easily make a few hundred pounds a month. It all depends on the offers you do and on how much time, money and effort you put in.What free daily games are there?
There are also daily free games on many sites which will make a little extra easy free money.How can I keep track of so many bets?
Some of these are Betfair, Coral, Gamesys Group sites (Double Bubble Bingo, Jackpotjoy, Megaways Casino, Monopoly Casino, Rainbow Riches Casino, Virgin Games), Ladbrokes, Sky Vegas, Virgin Bet, Livescore Bet, William Hill.
If you don’t play the Gamesys Group games and don’t log in to the sites for a while, you may find a nice offer emailed to you to entice you back, which you can take advantage of and lock in a profit.
Some of the websites like Oddsmonkey/Outplayed have tools to help you track your profits but the best spreadsheet I’ve found is this one. I’ve used it since I started to track every penny that I’ve put in, withdrawn or bet. It helps you see where all your money is and ensures you won’t forget about money in any account.Should I create a separate bank account?
You don’t have to but I did and most people do. People find it easier to keep the transactions on a separate account. I use a Metro bank account that is dedicated to matched betting – it also helps with keeping track of profits. Lots of people use Monzo as it's a great app and is friendly towards gambling sites.How do I keep making money?
Take every single offer you can. Even if the profit is a few pounds or less than a pound. Once you are proficient it takes a few seconds to place a bet and all the profit adds up quickly. If you skip offers because they’re not high value, you’re missing out on free money.What does ‘gubbed’ mean?
Spend time on the forums of Oddsmonkey or Outplayed and snap up offers when people post them.
Eventually you will get gubbed – this is part of life as a matched bettor. There’s no knowing when this will happen, different sites act differently. You could keep going for a few years and keep the best sites for all that time, or some could get gubbed quicker.
Join some of the many Facebook groups for more tips and to get answers to any of your questions.
If the betting sites are not making money from you or you are taking too much value, they may limit the amount you can put on bets or they may exclude you from promotional offers. This happens to everyone eventually.Top tips for new starters:
Oddsmonkey/Outplayed and other sites explain ways to try to prevent this, or slow it down. One way is not to take really highly matched bets (eg 99%) but there’s no science to it really.
1 - Log everything in a spreadsheet.____________________________________________
2 - Create a separate email address.
3 - Use a password manager (Lastpass, Bitwarden etc) to log all your login details.
4 - Don’t do accas (accumulator bets with multiple legs) until you’re confident in placing single bets.
5 - Read all instructions carefully.
6 - Go slow. If you rush you can make mistakes. Once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll naturally speed up.
7 - Sign up to receive promotional emails and do the offers they send.
8 - Do every offer you can – but try not to get gubbed too quickly!
My personal experience:
I started the journey in November 2020 and have made a few thousand pounds in total. When I started I committed a few hours a day in the beginning, doing every single sign up offer. I was making a few hundred pounds profit a month. Then I moved into reloads, making a similar amount of money. Eventually I couldn’t commit as much time and got gubbed from some key accounts that I abused too much. Now I spend a few minutes every few days, placing every bet I can for every offer I see and make around £100 a month which for me is a nice bit of extra beer money for not very much effort.
____________________________________________
How It Works:
A simple example – Bet £10, get a £10 free bet:
Let’s use a football match between Team A and Team B.
You place a bet on Team A to win with the bookmaker.
You then go to an exchange (eg Betfair Exchange, Smarkets or Matchbook) and place a bet against Team A winning (called a lay bet).
If Team A wins, you win at the bookmaker but lose at the exchange.
If Team A doesn’t win (draws or loses), you lose the bet at the bookmaker but win on the exchange.
Doing this for a £10 bet may lose you around £0.30.
Now you’ll have received a free bet as part of the offer. Place another bet in a similar fashion.
Once the event is over, you will get around £8 back from the free bet, because you’ve covered both scenarios (Team A wins or Team A doesn’t win). Either way you come out a winner and take the £8 as pure profit.
- Using sites like Oddsmonkey/Outplayed help you to find closely matched bets.
- The way an Exchange works is that effectively you act as the bookmaker. Use the free calculators on - Oddsmonkey/Outplayed which tell you exactly what to do, how much to bet and what your profit will be.
- Once you open accounts with the bookmakers they will start sending you offers. Some of these can be very profitable and they could be free bets or bet and get offers.
- Another type of offer is Refunds. An example is ‘money back as cash if your horse comes 2nd/3rd’ – for this you place a bet on a horse and get your money back if it loses. You lay this offer on the exchange as well to lock in profit whatever the result.
- Bookies also have lots of boosted odds. You can make a few pounds on these by laying the bet on the exchange at favourable odds to lock in a profit regardless of the outcome of the event. These ones are really simple.
- For the more advanced users there’s 2ups and extra places too.
- Casino offers are another good source of money making.
Bet & Get – eg place a £5 bet, get a £5 free betThat's it! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and throw your questions below.
Bet Boosts – enhanced odds that can be laid on an exchange to lock in profit
Money back if 2nd/3rd/4th– place a bet on a horse race and get your money refunded or a free bet if your horse comes in 2nd/3rd/4th place
Free spins – exactly as it sounds, free spins on casino games
Bet club – place X number of bets or X value of bets per week, receive a free bet
Deposit X, receive X – deposit funds (sometimes with entering a code) and get a bonus
Oddsmonkey non-ref link
Outplayed non-ref link
2024.05.17 07:07 Dr_FragHead A dapper scent for the discerning gentleman. Guerlain Habit Rouge EDP, a comprehensive review 👇🏼
 | (Pc: Tried) submitted by Dr_FragHead to DesiFragranceAddicts [link] [comments] Guerlain⭕️The epitome of French sophistication and luxury, boasts a rich history dating back to 1828 when Pierre-François Pascal Guerlain , a chemist and perfumer, founded the house in Paris. With an innate talent for blending exquisite scents, Guerlain quickly garnered attention and patronage from aristocrats and royalty.⭕️One of Guerlain's early triumphs came in 1853 when Pierre-François created Eau de Cologne Impériale for Empress Eugénie , wife of Napoleon III. This fragrance, inspired by the scent of Eau de Cologne brought to France by soldiers returning from Cologne, Germany, became a sensation, solidifying Guerlain's reputation as a purveyor of luxury perfumes. Under the subsequent generations of the Guerlain family, the brand continued to flourish. Aime Guerlain, Pierre-François's grandson, introduced groundbreaking fragrances such as Jicky in 1889 , often regarded as the first modern perfume, and Shalimar in 1925 , inspired by the gardens of Shalimar in Lahore , India. ⭕️Today, as it has for nearly two centuries (196 years), Guerlain remains a beacon of timeless sophistication. The brand is also known as one of the manufacturers of luxury cosmetics. Habit Rouge🌹This is an incredibly successful line of fragrances inspired by the 'red jacket' or 'hunting coat' and refers to professional equestrians dark red jacket . Habit Rouge was first introduced into the market in 3 different concentrations: EDC, EDT & EDP in 1965. Since then its been represented in various iterations & stood the test of time.🌹This incredible line of fragrances has 20Flankers under its name, if this doesn’t tell how successful this is, I don’t know what is. I’ll tried to summarise all the flankers in chronological order, to the best of my ability.
This review only includes the EDP version of newer reformulated version. If I’m not mistaken 3 reformulations has been done. 1st in 1996, 2003 & sometime after by Thierry Wasser. I didn’t have the opportunity to experience vintage batches, but I had a 2015 version. So I’m familiar with the DNA. Habit RougeConcentration: EDPReleased in : 1965 (My current bottle : 2022 version)Packaging & Presentation🎁This comes in a cherry red, paperboard box, with the name of the brand taking the centre, Sandwiched by the name of the fragrance above & concentration below.🎁The fragrance comes in a flat square bottle with a heavy red cap. [Previous “briefcase style” bottles by Robert Granai are rebottled in this new flat square bottles] Perfumer☀️ Jean Paul GuerlainA generational perfumer, known for his finesse in creating modern & original fragrances. Some of his creations include 1)Samsara 2)Spiritueuse Double vanille 3)Heritage 4)Habit Rouge 5)Many from Aqua Allegoria line, etc,. Fragrance ProfileThis is a Fougère with twists. This is an aromatic—woody—amber fragrance.Notes Here
How it smells?💄It opens with bright 🍋 lemon note, it is the same as in Guerlain’s vetiver too. This lemon note starts sharp but not very abrasive. The rest of the citruses are hard to perceive.💄The immediate second note that’s noticeable is the carnation. The carnation is extremely masculine, it expresses powdery & spicy qualities. The carnation gives this fragrance a spicy & floral edge. Then comes the rose & sandalwood 🪵. 💄The Rose & carnation along with some woodsy notes gives this fragrance a Lipsticky nature or Makeup box like nuance. Many ppl may not agree with this, but this is certainly lipsticky. The rose here is hardly there, even rose haters won’t mind this one. 💄The whole fragrance is based on Oakmoss & patchouli. Other notes such as amber, Benzoin & leather are playing second fiddle. The overall fragrance has a barbershoppy 💈quality to it. Citrusy opening — floral & powdery mid & Oakmoss base. Undecorated breakdownThis opens up with fizzy lemon & some spices. The spiciness maybe from the carnation. This dries down to a 💄lipsticky or makeup box sorta smell. To my nose, this smells like Waxy Hibiscus 🌺 in the dry-down. It is not given in the notes breakdown. I’m saying this for a better understanding of the subject. That’s all.PerformanceLongevity🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑Projection🌕🌕🌗🌑🌑Compliment🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑The longevity of the fragrance maybe got affected after number of serious reformulations, but when comparing it to my 2015 version, I think the performance is about the same. Lasts about 4–5hrs with medium bubble of projection. The people who appreciate classic perfumery will love this. When & Where, For whom?🌤️ This can be an all-Seasoner, but I wouldn’t wear it in high heat. Not because it get cloying or anything, but you might not able to appreciate the beauty of this in high heat summer.🌤️ This is polarising to an extent, but has an inoffensive bubble, this can be a daily to the office. This is definitely a dress-up fragrance. For the mature audience. 🌤️ This is definitely masculine, old school French perfumery. If you are into some old-school fragrances, you wouldn’t be disappointed. But you gotta love the lipsticky rose & carnation to love this. Similarities with other fragrancesI haven’t come across anything that smell like this. But if I have to compare, this can be compared to Cartier Declaration dun Soir, but added citruses ,leathery & lipsticky goodness. But the core of Roses & mild spices, is to an extent similar to Habit Rouge. But the rose is toned at the background at all given time in HR but its not the same with Declaration Dun Soir. The similarites are really far fetched, its rather a resemblance than similarity.Verdict🎖️This is an Old-school Barbershoppy fragrance with a twist. The overall fragrance can be polarising cuz of the lipsticky smell.🎖️The performance is just about average. I wouldn’t know the performance on vintage batches like (pre 1996) but I owned 2015 bottle, its about the same. 🎖️If you are really into retro/ antiquated fragrances, then you will really love it. If you are a fan of modern day freshies & blues, this won’t please you. TL;DR :This is a masculine, old-school, barbershoppy, lipsticky floral fragrance, with 4-5hrs of longevity with medium bubble of projection. |
2024.05.16 22:19 dopaminewellbeing Journal Prompt Ideas
Here are some Journal Prompt suggestions:
submitted by dopaminewellbeing to ChristiansAddiction [link] [comments]
- How has my understanding of pleasure and gratification changed since beginning my recovery?
- In what ways can I cultivate a deeper relationship with God to overcome my cravings?
- What Bible verses inspire me to resist temptation and why?
- How does my faith influence my view on healing and recovery?
- In moments of weakness, how can prayer strengthen my resolve?
- How do I see the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding me away from addictive behaviors?
- What Christian values can I focus on to replace the instant gratification I seek from addictive sources?
- How can the story of Job’s perseverance help me in dealing with my own struggles?
- What lessons have I learned about patience and faith through my recovery journey?
- How can I use my experience with addiction to help others in my community?
- How does my addiction prevent me from fulfilling God’s purpose for my life?
- What does it mean to me to surrender my struggles to God?
- How can fasting and abstinence strengthen my discipline and faith during recovery?
- How has my addiction affected my relationships and how can I mend them?
- How do the teachings of Jesus about forgiveness apply to how I forgive myself?
- What are the spiritual consequences of my addiction that I am most afraid of?
- How can the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) manifest in my recovery journey?
- What does being ‘born again’ mean in the context of overcoming addiction?
- How can I use the concept of Christian stewardship to manage my impulses better?
- What does the Bible say about body as a temple, and how does that affect my recovery?
- How can community prayer support me in overcoming my addiction?
- What steps can I take to make amends in a way that aligns with Christian teachings?
- How do stories of redemption in the Bible give me hope for recovery?
- What does it mean to have a ‘thorn in the flesh’ like Paul, and how do I cope with mine?
- How can I cultivate a spirit of gratitude during the tough days?
- What role does humility play in acknowledging and dealing with my addiction?
- How can the parables Jesus taught guide me in understanding my journey?
- In what ways has my addiction been a ‘false idol’ in my life?
- How do I understand God’s love for me even when I feel unworthy?
- What are specific ways I can serve others that will also support my recovery?
- How does maintaining hope impact my daily decisions and recovery?
- What sacrifices am I called to make to remain faithful to my recovery and to God?
- How can meditating on the life of Christ help me resist addictive urges?
- What does it mean to wear the ‘armor of God’ in my battle against addiction?
- How can the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) be a comfort or guide during recovery?
- What does it mean to experience peace that surpasses understanding in my journey?
- How can practicing Christian virtues lead to real change in my life?
- What does true joy look like for me now, in the context of recovery?
- How does forgiveness play a role in healing from the damage caused by my addiction?
- What does it mean to trust in God’s timing in the context of recovery?
- How do I balance my need for God’s grace with personal responsibility in recovery?
- How can reflecting on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross inspire me to overcome personal trials?
- What ways can I seek solace in the church community as I battle addiction?
- How does being transparent with others about my struggles help my recovery process?
- What wisdom can I find in Proverbs to help guide my daily choices away from addiction?
- How can I ensure that my actions reflect my desire to live according to God’s will?
- In what ways has my perspective on suffering and endurance changed through recovery?
- How can Christian fellowship strengthen me on difficult days?
- How does embracing vulnerability open opportunities for healing?
- What are practical steps I can take to apply Christian teachings in my recovery routine?
- How can I maintain a hopeful outlook even when progress seems slow?
- What does it mean to live a life that is pleasing to God post-addiction?
- How can I use my struggle as a testimony to God’s grace and mercy?
- What does the concept of renewal mean in both spiritual and practical terms for me?
- How does the church view addiction and what support can I expect from my faith community?
- What are the ways I can pray specifically for strength and resilience?
- How can understanding Christ’s temptations in the desert help me handle my own?
- How does Scripture encourage me to view setbacks and relapses?
- What are healthy Christian ways to celebrate victories, no matter how small?
- How can I discern God’s will when making decisions that impact my recovery?
- How do I use Christian teachings to manage stress that might lead to relapse?
- What are the ways I can cultivate self-control as a fruit of the Spirit in daily life?
- How can I be a light to others struggling with similar issues?
- What does the Bible teach about the power of the spoken word, and how can I use it to aid my recovery?
- How can the discipline of regular church attendance support my recovery process?
- How does my journey relate to the concept of ‘walking by faith, not by sight’?
- What does it mean to ‘renew my mind’ (Romans 12:2) in the context of overcoming addiction?
- How can Christian music and worship be a therapeutic tool in my recovery?
- What is the role of confession in healing and recovery according to the Bible?
- How does the community of saints inspire me to persist in my recovery journey?
- How do I handle feelings of shame and guilt in a constructive, Christian way?
- How can the example of Christian martyrs who endured suffering guide me?
- How can I ensure my daily routine includes significant spiritual nourishment?
- What role does faith play in the physical aspects of recovery?
- How can I reconcile feelings of doubt with my belief in God’s plan for me?
- What are the ways that Christian charity can aid in my own healing process?
- How can I implement forgiveness, both giving and receiving, as I rebuild relationships?
- What Christian resources (books, podcasts, sermons) have been helpful in my recovery and why?
- How can I maintain integrity in every area of my life during recovery?
- What are some ways to incorporate prayer into my recovery process effectively?
- How do I combat spiritual warfare that might arise during my recovery?
- What does it mean to have a ‘prayerful heart’ throughout the day?
- How can the promise of eternal life influence my perspective on current struggles?
- How does the concept of stewardship relate to managing my mental and emotional health?
- How do I find balance between self-care and service to others in my recovery?
- What does it mean to ‘count it all joy’ when facing trials, as James instructs?
- How can I use the example of Jesus’ compassion in my interactions with others?
- How can spiritual discipline improve my resilience against addiction?
- What are the dangers of idolatry in the form of addiction, and how can I avoid them?
- How can I ensure that my prayer life is rich and reflects my deepest needs?
- How does the community of faith act as a safety net during times of weakness?
- How can Christian art and literature inspire me during recovery?
- What is the importance of testimony in sharing my recovery story?
- How can I balance justice and mercy in how I treat myself and others?
- What does it mean to be a peacemaker in my own life during recovery?
- How can the lives of the apostles inspire me to overcome adversity?
- How can I better understand God’s love and compassion through my journey?
- What does it mean to pursue righteousness in everyday life, especially during recovery?
- How can the Sermon on the Mount guide my attitudes and actions each day?
- What role does hope play in continually renewing my commitment to a life free from addiction?
2024.05.16 05:26 NotAgainNOLA70119 BEWARE of Silver Lining Marketing!!
Disillusioned with the current job market? I get it, I really do. As if sifting through thousands of opportunities, writing a cover letters, going through 3 rounds of interviews, and all of the “homework assignments” isn’t enough? But we CAN’T forget to add a deep dive search into your potential employer’s background to the list because the amount of pyramid scheme/predatory companies out there is only increasing and they’re getting more and more sophisticated.
I’m have one intention; to prevent others from falling prey to the same predatory and morally corrupt situation that I found myself in. Thank god (or whomevewhatever is pulling the strings out there) for good friends with a knack for uncovering company's secrets or I would be working for a MLM right now. The company is called Silver Lining Marketing Inc. and they’re office is located in Gretna, LA (but operates in the greater New Orleans Area). They have an actual office, with employees and everything. They even make their employees wear business professional clothing so as to appear more legitimate. They have a functioning website, which once I actually read everything on their website, I realized that they aren’t really marketing the non-profits they fundraise for, but rather they are marketing job opportunities and personal growth within their company.
I applied to a job listing on indeed for an executive management position with Silver Lining Marketing Inc. with $75-100K compensation, which sounds great, right? You go through 3 rounds of interviews which end with an in-person interview with one of the “Team Leaders” and then their CEO. Everyone is SO nice and they do a great job of making the office feel “fun and supportive”. They don’t give you the job on the spot but rather wait at least a day or two to contact you after your final interview, so it appears as though this is a competitive and desirable position. Once you’re hired the switch flips and you’re finally made aware that you will not reach the executive manager position for about a year and this is how they get you!
First you will start out in an entry level “training” position for about a month where the pay is a measly $12/hr, but you get 20% of one-time donations and 1X monthly donations…which I don’t know how anyone sees any of that “bonus” money because they are still training and not “out in the field”. It was at this point that I asked what “out in the field” meant. I wrongfully assumed that in this position I would be doing event planning for galas, dinners, and any other kind of fundraising event…but man was I wrong! “Out in the field” actually translated to going to Walmart, CVS, various grocery stores, ect for 8 hours with a clipboard and harassing strangers for donations to various non-profits. Thats how they make their “bonuses” and I HIGHLY DOUBT that the people they coerced into donating their hard-earned money would still want to donate if they knew that approximately 40% of that donation would be going in to the pocket of a for-profit marketing firm. They have you wear clothing with the non-profit’s logo on it so that people think you work for the non-profit and they also tell you to never tell the donors that you take a (hefty) percentage of the money that they think is being donated in its entirety to the non-profit.
After about a month you move up to a leadership role. The leadership level is split in to 3 tiers; Jr. leader, Core leader, and Sr. leader. You’re still making $12/hr by the way, BUT WAIT, now you’ll get 20% of any one-time donations you 1.5X any monthly donations you receive. When you move to the Core leadership level you get a “growth bonus” which I was told is $200, hooray?? Upon reaching the Sr. leadership role you’re still at $12/hr but now you get 20% of one-time donations and 2X monthly donations. According to the employee I spoke to, new employees typically spend around 16-20 weeks in this role. At this point you are responsible for set up and break down of “events” in “the field”, your team of $12/hr cronies, and the money collected at the “events”. To move to the next tier, which is assistant manager, one must first indoctrinate 4 other people and at least 1 of those 4 people has to make it to a Sr. leadership role. This means you have to get at least 4 more suckers to work for 12/hr before you can be promoted, is this starting to sound familiar? In addition to your recruitment goals, you must also get at least 10K in one-time donations and 1K in monthly donations for 2 weeks in a row.
When you get to the third level you become assistant manager and you are STILL MAKING $12/hr, but don’t get your panties in a bunch because WOAH now you’re make 20% on one-time donations and 3X monthly donations. The assistant manager role typically last about 8-12 weeks and it is in this role that you learn the scripts and necessary brain-washing tools to start your very own MLM! The fourth and final level is executive manager and in this role you’re supposed to be making 75k-100k and be in charge of your own entire office of brainwashed underpaid employees and you get to rinse and repeat with all of the new hires.
These companies brainwash people in numerous ways. Every morning there is a meeting for an hour and half in which you stand up, yell mantras, clap, and get hyped up for a long day of skimming donations from various non-profit charities. They make sure everyone looks professional and has a “good attitude” to prevent people from getting spooked or god forbid thinking for themselves long enough to realize that they’re part of a pyramid scheme. How is this legal, you say!? Well, unfortunately it is legal but it absolutely should not be. See this particular company isn’t making you buy a product and then sell said product to make money, no no no, instead this company hides behind the good names of the charities that it “represents” while skimming money off the top of each donation. The Charities are getting donations they otherwise wouldn’t have so they're not motivated to do the necessary research in to the practices of the company that is paying them. I would also like to note that I don’t think that all of the people that currently work for or have worked for Silver Lining Marketing Inc. are terrible, morally corrupt, individuals because they at their core victims of this heinous system that judicial system has allowed to persist. This company targets kind-hearted individuals that want to help charities, individuals who typically don’t take a job just for the money. This allows them to guilt you in to working for an unlivable wage because, hey, you're making a difference and if you just work hard enough for a while then you’ll make lots of money and get to start your very own business!
I watched a youtube video on pyramid/MLM schemes called “The Slave Circle (Direct Marketing Devil Corp. Documentary)” and this video gave me the confidence I needed to tell the company that I would not work for them and why. I highly recommend watching the video if you think you might be falling prey to a company like Silver Lining Marketing Inc. Here’s the link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyCRzBt7GuY
Additionally, the Lula rich docuseries on amazon prime is worth a watch.
Lastly, I would like to say that if you or someone you know has been a victim of a fucked MLM like this, don’t turn to anger or vengeance. Don’t let this discourage you, these companies are so sophisticated and have scripted responses for every possible situation. They prey on good people and you are not a bad person if you fall for it, just don’t make that mistake again, learn from your errors, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post about your experience on reddit, glassdoor, and anywhere else you feel comfortable so that you can prevent others from falling victim to the same situation!!
I really hope this helps others and if anyone has any specific questions, let me know in the comments and I’ll try to check in every so often and answer them.
submitted by NotAgainNOLA70119 to Devilcorp [link] [comments]
I’m have one intention; to prevent others from falling prey to the same predatory and morally corrupt situation that I found myself in. Thank god (or whomevewhatever is pulling the strings out there) for good friends with a knack for uncovering company's secrets or I would be working for a MLM right now. The company is called Silver Lining Marketing Inc. and they’re office is located in Gretna, LA (but operates in the greater New Orleans Area). They have an actual office, with employees and everything. They even make their employees wear business professional clothing so as to appear more legitimate. They have a functioning website, which once I actually read everything on their website, I realized that they aren’t really marketing the non-profits they fundraise for, but rather they are marketing job opportunities and personal growth within their company.
I applied to a job listing on indeed for an executive management position with Silver Lining Marketing Inc. with $75-100K compensation, which sounds great, right? You go through 3 rounds of interviews which end with an in-person interview with one of the “Team Leaders” and then their CEO. Everyone is SO nice and they do a great job of making the office feel “fun and supportive”. They don’t give you the job on the spot but rather wait at least a day or two to contact you after your final interview, so it appears as though this is a competitive and desirable position. Once you’re hired the switch flips and you’re finally made aware that you will not reach the executive manager position for about a year and this is how they get you!
First you will start out in an entry level “training” position for about a month where the pay is a measly $12/hr, but you get 20% of one-time donations and 1X monthly donations…which I don’t know how anyone sees any of that “bonus” money because they are still training and not “out in the field”. It was at this point that I asked what “out in the field” meant. I wrongfully assumed that in this position I would be doing event planning for galas, dinners, and any other kind of fundraising event…but man was I wrong! “Out in the field” actually translated to going to Walmart, CVS, various grocery stores, ect for 8 hours with a clipboard and harassing strangers for donations to various non-profits. Thats how they make their “bonuses” and I HIGHLY DOUBT that the people they coerced into donating their hard-earned money would still want to donate if they knew that approximately 40% of that donation would be going in to the pocket of a for-profit marketing firm. They have you wear clothing with the non-profit’s logo on it so that people think you work for the non-profit and they also tell you to never tell the donors that you take a (hefty) percentage of the money that they think is being donated in its entirety to the non-profit.
After about a month you move up to a leadership role. The leadership level is split in to 3 tiers; Jr. leader, Core leader, and Sr. leader. You’re still making $12/hr by the way, BUT WAIT, now you’ll get 20% of any one-time donations you 1.5X any monthly donations you receive. When you move to the Core leadership level you get a “growth bonus” which I was told is $200, hooray?? Upon reaching the Sr. leadership role you’re still at $12/hr but now you get 20% of one-time donations and 2X monthly donations. According to the employee I spoke to, new employees typically spend around 16-20 weeks in this role. At this point you are responsible for set up and break down of “events” in “the field”, your team of $12/hr cronies, and the money collected at the “events”. To move to the next tier, which is assistant manager, one must first indoctrinate 4 other people and at least 1 of those 4 people has to make it to a Sr. leadership role. This means you have to get at least 4 more suckers to work for 12/hr before you can be promoted, is this starting to sound familiar? In addition to your recruitment goals, you must also get at least 10K in one-time donations and 1K in monthly donations for 2 weeks in a row.
When you get to the third level you become assistant manager and you are STILL MAKING $12/hr, but don’t get your panties in a bunch because WOAH now you’re make 20% on one-time donations and 3X monthly donations. The assistant manager role typically last about 8-12 weeks and it is in this role that you learn the scripts and necessary brain-washing tools to start your very own MLM! The fourth and final level is executive manager and in this role you’re supposed to be making 75k-100k and be in charge of your own entire office of brainwashed underpaid employees and you get to rinse and repeat with all of the new hires.
These companies brainwash people in numerous ways. Every morning there is a meeting for an hour and half in which you stand up, yell mantras, clap, and get hyped up for a long day of skimming donations from various non-profit charities. They make sure everyone looks professional and has a “good attitude” to prevent people from getting spooked or god forbid thinking for themselves long enough to realize that they’re part of a pyramid scheme. How is this legal, you say!? Well, unfortunately it is legal but it absolutely should not be. See this particular company isn’t making you buy a product and then sell said product to make money, no no no, instead this company hides behind the good names of the charities that it “represents” while skimming money off the top of each donation. The Charities are getting donations they otherwise wouldn’t have so they're not motivated to do the necessary research in to the practices of the company that is paying them. I would also like to note that I don’t think that all of the people that currently work for or have worked for Silver Lining Marketing Inc. are terrible, morally corrupt, individuals because they at their core victims of this heinous system that judicial system has allowed to persist. This company targets kind-hearted individuals that want to help charities, individuals who typically don’t take a job just for the money. This allows them to guilt you in to working for an unlivable wage because, hey, you're making a difference and if you just work hard enough for a while then you’ll make lots of money and get to start your very own business!
I watched a youtube video on pyramid/MLM schemes called “The Slave Circle (Direct Marketing Devil Corp. Documentary)” and this video gave me the confidence I needed to tell the company that I would not work for them and why. I highly recommend watching the video if you think you might be falling prey to a company like Silver Lining Marketing Inc. Here’s the link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyCRzBt7GuY
Additionally, the Lula rich docuseries on amazon prime is worth a watch.
Lastly, I would like to say that if you or someone you know has been a victim of a fucked MLM like this, don’t turn to anger or vengeance. Don’t let this discourage you, these companies are so sophisticated and have scripted responses for every possible situation. They prey on good people and you are not a bad person if you fall for it, just don’t make that mistake again, learn from your errors, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post about your experience on reddit, glassdoor, and anywhere else you feel comfortable so that you can prevent others from falling victim to the same situation!!
I really hope this helps others and if anyone has any specific questions, let me know in the comments and I’ll try to check in every so often and answer them.
2024.05.15 20:53 sookfong A Week In Vancouver Island on a $92,000 Salary (Original Submission)
Please note this is the original submission I sent Refinery29. In the current post,they have given me a second credit card with a 100$ balance, as well as generational trauma from World War II and cut context for other things. I am trying to get that fixed.
Per previous discussion in comments here: The espresso machine is a Bezzera, which ranges from 2-5K. We got ours on sale for 1.7K, it’s a work house and we use it everyday, still hurts that we spent that money on a coffee maker.
I do understand mortgage is debt but when you compare it to rent to a lesser value condo in Vancouver it feels like not debt at all, which is how I tend to think of it. Yes I owe my mortgage but also I get my house instead of renting-which may not have become clear.
Please see in full the diary, below (edit for formatting via mobile)
Occupation: Sr Business Analyst
Industry: Tech
Age: 30
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Salary: 92,000$ (Spouse makes 60,000$ for a combined income of 152,000$ before tax)
Net Worth: ~ 1.2 Million ( house is valued at 989,000$ currently, we have a combined 150,000 in pension, and ~60,000 in various company stocks, and GICs)
Debt: 3,000$ in a zero interest credit card for a 10 month period. We balanced transferred and pay 400$/month. Debt was acquired in Q4 2023 when we had to buy Snow Tires, and do a full break replacement as well as Christmas. 480,000$ in a mortgage, we refinanced in September 2023 for five years fixed rate at accelerated biweekly, however I don’t consider our mortgage debt due to the equity we are gaining, and that our mortgage for a five bedroom, 3 bath single family home is less than rent for a two bedroom condo in Vancouver
Paycheck Amount (Every 2 Weeks): 2,555$ after taxes. (Just mine). Spouse makes 2,308$ after taxes. Our pay periods are alternating.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses Mortgage: 1450$ biweekly (100$ extra to the principal).
Utilities: ~200$ (includes water [paid quarterly], hydro [paid bimonthly], gas, sewetrash [paid quarterly] phone [highly discounted due to work plans for spouse and myself] and car gas) Loan Payments: 400$/Credit Card
Car Insurance: 84$
Life Insurance: 167$ combined (67$ me, 100$ spouse)
Health & Dental Insurance: 60$ deducted from pay (coverage for myself and spouse from my employer. Spouse also has coverage for both of us deducted from pay)
Retirement Contribution: 400$ (Employee matches me), (Spouse has a defined pension through work and contributes ~200$ month)
Union fees: 70$ Spouse
Subscriptions: Crave 22$/month (Recent splurge for Binge watching the Rookie), Playstation Plus 100$ (annual bought on Black Friday Deal), Amazon Prime 80$ (Annual), BCAA 120$ (annual) Gym 30$/month (we both have one so 15$/pp)
Note: My spouse and I have completely commingled finances. I will be tracking both as it’s essentially I spent whatever they spent
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
There was always the expectation. My father was very clear, we were very smart. There was no way we’d be wasting our potential. He wanted me to be a lawyer, but unlike other immigrant parents, I got to choose my major and went into social sciences and got my masters in history. I deferred my PhD too much so I got dropped by the program.
I chose my university by where I got a full first year scholarship and then after that took about 15k in student loans for my undergraduate. My parents paid my rent and I got a part time job for food.
For my masters, I had a student line of credit and 5 k student loans otherwise it was all my savings and scholarships. With the line of credit, I had a total of 30K in student loans and paid it off in about four years.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Save. We talked about how you get a dollar allowance and half of it goes into long term saving with 25% in short term and 25% in spend.
Investing came after I was eighteen. Family would like us to invest in property, however I don’t really want to be a landlord, but also we wouldn’t get to really enjoy profit of owning a rental property due to other family circumstances.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
Ice cream parlour I was twelve and my parents made me get it for responsibility. I lasted three weeks because I hated it.
Did you worry about money growing up?
I grew up thinking we were not rich, because we didn’t get big plane vacations (I didn’t count flying from Toronto to Vancouver every summer as a vacation since we were just seeing family but staying in a house my parents owned) and I had only been to Disney twice.
But we had a big new build house in the rich end of town, my mom stayed home to raise all of us. We had to work for things (like going to see a movie opening night or a new CD) but we always had money and got what we wanted. In retrospect, my family was/is fairly well off.
Both my parents grew up poor, with parents working multiple jobs and different shifts to make ends meet, the strive/drive to not have that childhood, and for my father to be able to retire his parents really impacted mine and my siblings and cousins lives. My father showed me the apartment he grew up in Chinatown a few years back. It’s light years away from the house my grandparents owned when I was a kid and how I grew up.
Do you worry about money now?
Of course. Inflation is real and we are actively planning a wedding for the next year, as well as a baby in the next few years. We also need to buy a second car, so we’re saving for that.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
Fully financially responsible? Twenty five. I lived in a family property where I didn’t pay rent in one of the most expensive cities in Canada, so even though I paid all my bills (food and phone), I didn’t have to pay rent. I in fact made money, as I rented rooms out and used the income for house utilities, and paying my student loans down faster. When I moved in with my spouse, I just paid condo fees until we bought our house two years ago which gave me plenty of time to save.
Our financial safety net is family, and our savings. I know my family would bail us out. My spouse’s father would as well. Conversely, we are my spouse’s mother's safety net and we have to keep all our plans in mind that we will be subsidising her.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain. Yes, I received 50K from my parents once they sold my childhood home, as did both of my siblings. I have also received 10K from one set of grandparents which paid off my car and part of my student loans when I was 21. I will be receiving another inheritance when probate is done for around ~100K. My spouse also has received inheritance which allowed them to buy their first condo in their early twenties when the market was much better. That condo, 50k, and the subsequent upgrading helped us afford our house.
Day 1
10 AM: I drive to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Not how I want to start my Sunday morning but y’know. Normally I’d walk since it’s about 20 minutes but I have a UTI. I’m “lucky” that despite not having a dr because of the health care shortage, my work pays for the Maple app so I could get a dr to write the prescription and order the lab work at 1 am. I’ll do the lab work later this week when I can get an appointment but will take the relief now. Insurance makes the antibiotics free, but I also buy hydrogen peroxide because we’re out and we have a dog that thinks everything is meant to be in her mouth. We’ll buy a bigger one at Costco later. I also bought some oral wound mouthwash because we were out. I come home and my spouse made us breakfast.
Total: 15.90$ paid with debit.
1-2:30 PM: We do our taxes. I have a mini meltdown when I realize the part time bakery job I had for a few months didn’t take off income tax last year, so I owe 800$. Luckily, my partner is getting a refund so we net out positive 400$. The bakery took off income tax in 2022, so unsure why they didn’t in 2023. I made us lunch.
3-6:30 PM: We walk the dog, and watch the Rookie. Some time during that time period, a venue emails us back and is surprisingly affordable at 3k. I also get told that the tattoo artist I want to book with, has not chosen me.
6:30-7:30 PM: I explain what lazy girl dinner is to my spouse and make a lazy girl dinner. After not really grocery shopping since Feb for things besides fresh veg, we need to do a big pantry shop and neither of us want that. We debate about buying a food saver and if we should wait for a sale. My spouse is more frugal than me and has determined we should.
8-9:30 PM: We start season 3 of The Rookie, and then after two episodes we go to bed
Day One Total: 15.90$
Day Two
5:45-8 AM: Wake up and start work. I get up to date with what’s happened on the weekend and check that my automated reports. Sometime before 6:30, I get the kettle on for my spouse’s pour over before I go back to my meetings. There’s a twenty minute gap where I get changed and do my skin care and brush my teeth. I’d love to be a skin care person but honestly I’ve spent too much money on product that I don’t use and that just goes bad. Washing my face and using sun screen is a win.
I also make sure that Spouse’s lunch is in his bag and I get our travel mugs ready. Before, we used to go to Starbucks every day. Starbucks used to do free refills on coffee and tea if you were a rewards member if you bought a coffee or tea so it would cost us $5/day (2.5/pp), and we could get refills all day. While that’s 20$/week, 80$/a month and yes, we could have saved it but back then, that 80$ wasn’t turning the dial anywhere significantly for us—a privileged view.
But now, after COVID where I stopped drinking tea after one day working from home having like 10 cups and thinking I was dying, and Spouse has bought a good grinder and we recently splurged on a stupidly expensive espresso machine we call his Engagement Espresso since it costs the same price as my stupidly expensive ring, we bring our coffees.
8-8:30 AM: We drive to work. Prior to buying our house, we were both work from home and lived in a city with amazing transit. We only needed the one car. Since buying the house and moving to a city where public transit is a joke (the one bus goes past our house every 1.5h), Spouse changed jobs and is in office every day and I have to go in 3 days a week. We need a second car or the e-bike rebate to come through. We debate this in the car, since I’m done at 1 pm, and Spouse works normal hours, I either have to take the bus home, or go to the gym for three hours. Today though, I drop Spouse off. I will pick him up later as he has a half day because of the dentist
8:30-12:30 AM/PM: Work. I find a tech manager and ask them to get me more triple a batteries. Work won’t provide or let me expense batteries for my mouse, despite them replacing my usb mouse with a battery one. The poor admin had to tell me the decision is that we’ll all supply our own batteries. Luckily the tech managers have to have batteries on hand and give them out freely.
I ask my boss how the work from home tax forms work, and he is going to find out.
I run more meetings and work on a request for a dashboard and a business case for a new feature that I have to convince leadership to spend money on.
12:30-1 PM: I drive back to my Spouse because he has a dentist appointment.
While I wait for a spouse, I am incredibly hungry. I’m usually not hungry/don’t eat a proper meal until around 1 in the afternoon and my two granola bars I already ate at the office. I go to the bakery by Spouse’s work and buy a cheese bun for me (3.65$), and an apple pie scone (2.55$) for Spouse as a snack. Spouse points out he won’t be able to eat until after his appointment.
Total: 6.20$ debit
1-1:30 PM: I drop Spouse off, and the car stops working. The engine won’t catch. I try multiple times and then run into the dentist to dramatically announce to Spouse and the receptionists that the car won’t start. Spouse asks me what he wants me to do about this, since he’s about to go into an appointment. A very kind receptionist tells me it might be the alternator. I don’t know what that is.
I go back to the car to Facetime my father. He also asks what I think he can do to help since he lives 3000 km away. Weirdly, and sexistly, I thought a man who grew up at race tracks, in a racing family, or the man who has collected and worked on sports cars for forty years might be able to help.
Spouse texts me to remind me we have BCAA while my father also tells me that. I finally get the engine to catch and drive the very long way home, going the speed limit and getting stuck in traffic, construction and a bus. It takes me 20 minutes to get home instead of 10.
1:30-2:30 PM: I walk the dog, mail a (late) birthday card and then start researching what an alternator is. The car is over a decade old and until the house, the most expensive thing I ever bought at 12K back in 2015. We have the funds for the cost, but it’s my first car and the fact it might be the end of its life is scary.
Alternators can cost between 400-800$ repair with labour, so that’s fun.
My dad calls me back and apologises for asking me what he could do away. He advises me that there’s probably a bald spot on the alternator and advises me to go to the mechanic to check or replace it, if the car doesn’t start again.
I call the mechanic to book an appointment, and to also get the snow tires off and to buy new rims for the snow tires. The mechanic lets me know that the alternator part is 500$, and an hour of labour so with taxes we’re looking at around 700$
That future appointment next week (we’re going down a highway this weekend which requires snow tires) will cost ~1.5K, assuming we replace the alternator.
I make lunch and sigh.
2:30 PM: The car starts thankfully. I drive incredibly slow. I pick up Spouse by idling the car. We get an email back from a venue saying they cost 75,000$ minimum. The timing is hysterical.
Due to the nature of the dentist, Spouse owes 618$, as they haven’t flipped it under my insurance. They split it in half, as he has a follow up in two weeks. After the next appointment they will flip the whole amount under me and we’ll get reimbursed for the whole amount.
Total 309$/credit card.
3-10 PM: We walk the dog, make dinner (Spouse makes white sauce pasta, with chicken and peas) and watch The Rookie. There are thirteen episodes in season three, and we will be busy every night this week besides Friday and Sunday, and I would like to finish season three so we can start season 4 next Monday. I don’t want to pay for more than one month of Crave. We have five episodes left
Day Two Total: 315.2$
Day Three
1 AM: 100$ is automatically transferred from our account to the credit card debit. We have an auto transfer of 100$/every Tuesday to a Visa where we balance transferred both our cards. We have an offer for 0 interest for 10 months, so we did that for some of the bigger expenses (snow tires, break replacement and general Christmas) and are on track to pay it back within the next 6 months. That visa is our emergency card that we just have in the back end and utilise for promos like this. It allows us to keep our two cards balances manageable and lets us pay in an easier way than taking big chunks out of our various savings.
Total: 100$/direct deposit
5:45-9 AM: Work. Meetings, reports, trying to convince a colleague that the process does include them and refusal to follow it means that their requests won’t be done. Spouse has another half day so I can go into the office at my leisure—if the car starts
9-9:20 AM: The car starts, I get into the office and refresh a data flow before a meeting with a new stake holder. It takes longer to drive into work today because the tourists are starting to come and their van builds or campers are not exactly highway speed and with a two lane highway, if you don’t merge over fast enough you’re stuck.
10:05-10:20 AM: Meeting done, car starts again and I drive home for more meetings. The least amount of time in the office is preferable for me.
10:30-11AM : Meeting with my manager where we discuss future salary and promotion. I am due for a promotion in the start of Q2, which would push me to six figures. I’ll believe it when I see it but, I’m really excited at that possibility for my family.
11:15 AM: Spouse leaves for work, we discuss what groceries are needed, as well if he’ll go to Home Depot tonight to buy more clover seeds for the yard, as we need to reseed before it starts raining. I eat a muffin and my dog and cat decide to try and eat each other.
11:15-1:30 PM: Work runs late. There’s some issues with the data and we can’t figure it out. We call it a night, and I’ll record the video presentations tomorrow, once we fix the data.
1:30-4 PM: Nap time! It’s bad for me, but honestly I don’t sleep well during the night so naps are what keep me alive.
4-6 PM I prep dinner (smash burgers and fries), and get chores done and walk the dog.
6-7:30 PM: Spouse comes home, we eat dinner. Groceries come to 96.83 for two 7 pound pork loins, two packs of bacon, chicken nuggets, coffee, pop, 8 pack of peppers, milk, tomato, pickles, rice, avocado, mushrooms, sour cream and lettuce.
Not too bad, we average about 300$/month in groceries because we can buy bulk and have a second freezer.
For the month of March we are currently at 123.61$ for groceries and there is twelve days left. We went on a small weekend away, so we ate out a fair bit but even then our current food budget is 272.27$ today.
Total: 96.83/ debit
7:30-10 PM: Spouse makes a coffee and plays video games with his friends. They do it every week. I have a shower, fold and put away laundry and read in bed.
Day Three Total: 196.83
Day Four
1AM: Our biweekly accelerated mortgage payment comes out of 1450$. I’m tracking it here to be honest on our spending but I tend not to think of it as money spent because in my head it’s already money gone. To pay for a house equivalent in Vancouver, the mortgage would be over 6k. Renting a two bedroom condo would be 3K. It feels like the mortgage is just cheaper rent, even though each time I own more of my house.
5:45-9 AM: Work. I find out the limits of how many people I can invite to a Teams Meeting as well as that the Thursday before Good Friday is a catholic holiday when a few people ask me to reschedule a training forum for over a thousand people. Sometime in there I make us coffee, make sure Spouse has lunch packed (leftovers). Spouse has walked the dog and has the recycling and compost out for pick up. I drop Spouse off at work.
10-11:45 AM: I leave the office for home and more meetings. I walk the dog and go record training videos. I get an email that Amazon is doing their big spring sale. I send a link to a robot mop and vaccum that’s on a big discount to Spouse. We want one, but I’m not in charge of the research on it. I send links to play grounds to my friends with toddlers
11:45-12:30 PM : I shove lunch in my mouth, last night’s left overs. I’m running late, and decide to get myself later by collecting all the random dishes and mugs that just show up places and start the dishwasher. I get to the lab ten minutes early but need to buy gas on the way home.
I tell my team I’ll be MIA for a bit and leave the work phone in the car.
I buy 15.6L of gas for 30$ at 1.879/l it sucks. I don’t fill up because we’re going to my in laws this weekend and there’s a Costco Gas Bar there.
Total: 30$/credit card
12:30-1:30 PM: Work goes long again.
1:30-2:30 PM: Nap!
2:30-4:30 PM: Walk the dog and drive to the gym. I usually go three times a week but with last week’s weekend away and this week’s weird half days from Spouse, today’s the only day. I make it up by doing both upper and lower body and a 30 minute circuit.
4:30-7:30 PM: I pick up Spouse and we go to Costco. We pick up nachos, ham, cheese buns and some other items. We debate buying our friend’s kid a toddler set of clothes and decide no. We end up buying work pants for Spouse, and a garden hose. It comes out to 116.90
I order our Costco dinner of hot dogs and fries for a grand total date night of 6.41$
Total: 123.31/ credit card
8-9 PM: Dance class! We bought a series of six lessons of introduction to ballroom back in December for a new date night idea. We paid 60$/pp and this is the fifth lesson tonight.
9 pm: We’re home, we let the dog out. Spouse spends an undetermined amount of time watching ballroom videos while I sleep.
Day Four Total: 1603.31$ or 153.31 excluding the mortgage payment.
Day Five
5:45-9 AM: Work. All the meetings. Thursday is the meeting day. I debate with a friend what’s the earliest call we’ve had. 4:30 am still wins. I pack lunch for Spouse and his coffee and he leaves. I end up cleaning up cat puke as the cat decides to drink milk from Spouse’s cereal and vomit it up on camera in a meeting.
9-9:30 AM: I make myself a matcha and walk the dog.
9:30-1 PM: Work and I treat myself to a lunch of a cheese bun and ham sandwhich. We used to eat it every Sunday while growing up but the cost of ham has been outrageous. The deal at Costco yesterday was 1.5$/100 g which is really good.
1-1:30 PM: I seal the wooden deer Christmas decoration we bought last year. It sits outside our front door and needs to be weather proofed, and I’ve been putting it off for five months. But the weather is good and we have newspapers. We have left over wood sealer after the sign we bought a year ago so I use that. The dog and the cat both don’t like my wooden deer.
1:30-4 PM: Nap!
4-5 PM: I basically just watch youtube and drink a root beer. I have no energy.
5-6:30 PM: Spouse comes home, we walk the dog and I make dinner (Kraft Dinner and nuggets–I swear we eat veggies but today is not that day). We discuss the possibility of our dog at our wedding as a flower girl, and if she’ll be in a tutu or a cheongsam like me. I am now researching if they make dog cheongsams and if she can match us. The cat, despite all my heart wanting it, won’t physically be there because he will have an anxiety attack and probably die.
6:30-10:30 PM: Board game night! We go to a friend’s to repeat the same scenario we’ve lost two weeks in a row.
10:30-11 PM: I pack Spouse’s breakfast (oatmeal and frozen berries), lunch (spicy tuna and mayo) since he’s trying to go to the gym before work, and feed the animals before we go to bed.
Day Five Total: 0$
Day Six Friday
5:45-9 AM: Work. I have a deep focus block which means I can get the script for the training I have to run. Public speaking is not my strong suit and it’s a group of a thousand people so I’m not looking forward to it. Spouse almost makes it to the gym. I get an email that my new work phone has shipped. I’m surprised because they wouldn’t order us any for the past four years, but I guess my new iPhone will show up next week. I might give my old work phone to my mother in law, since she smashed the camera on the phone we bought her last year.
9-9:30 AM: I walk the dog, make a matcha and make a todo list for what we have to get done before we leave to my in laws tomorrow. I text my mother in law happy birthday, and hope that she got the card in time. She did.
9:30-11:30 AM: My last meeting for the week ends and I’m debating calling it a day so I can nap. Instead I make lunch (cheese bun and ham), text my other mother in law our plan for Saturday, and unload and reload the dishwasher and go back to work for at least another hour.
12:30-1 PM: I shower and do skin care
1-3 PM: Nap! Somewhere in this time FedEx comes and since I’m sleeping, we have to pick up on Monday. I’m not too sure what it is, I assume it’s our custom address stamp from Etsy because that’s the only thing I’ve bought recently but not too sure. I just realized in retrospect, this might be my new work phone.
3-5 PM: I prep dinner (nachos), unload the dishwasher, pack my overnight bag and confirm all our venue tours by email. I start a load of laundry and do a quick clean. I feel like this is not the best image of our diet. I swear we generally eat healthy but we both have been feeling really blah over the past two weeks so have been going for quick and easy over healthy and balanced. I do have three whole peppers and two whole avocados in the nachos though.
5-7 PM: Spouse comes home, we walk the dog, have dinner, and plan out next week. We have a big Wednesday next week (mechanic, I have a nails appointment, dance class), and we are having our friends over for Easter so we need to prep for that. We pack the car so tomorrow is a very easy start.
Spouse also gets paid today. We’re lucky that we’re on alternating pay periods, we used to be on the same and it always felt stressful. Spouse also lets me know his union has secured a 3% cost of living raise to start in Q3. I really like his union for negotiating a base 2% year of cost of living raise, with potential addition raises depending on inflation. It’s a bit away but that’s still good news.
7:30-10:30 PM: We finish The Rookie Season 3 and head to bed. Crave reminds me that I have 10 days until I’m charged again. Sadly, I think we’ll have to pay for 2 months.
Day Six Total: 0
Day Seven Saturday
8:30-9:30 AM: Wake up. No one (except the dog) slept well so we’re not in a morning mood. Spouse makes coffee and walks the dog, while I finish packing the car and give the cat a lot of attention. Our first venue tour is at 11 and the one that is the most expensive (8-10K), but also the one we probably want the most. We live about an hour away but the highway is two lanes and one accident can back everything up for hours.
10:40-1 PM: We visit our dream venue. We stay way longer than expected. Basically if the quote is under 10K, we’ll get it. Just waiting now.
1-2 PM: We get to our in-laws and have a lunch of egg salad sandwhichs. We need to buy gas. My in laws drive us to a pottery painting store.
2-4 PM: We paint pottery. My mother in law only wanted to do this for her birthday. They’ll pick it up in a week after it’s been thrown. I paint a vase (28$), Spouse paints an Easter egg (18$), father in law paints a mug (30$), and mother in law paints a plate (50$)
Total:143.36/credit card
4-5 Pm: We see another venue. It’s an instant no. My in laws decide they want to try Korean fried chicken. We call ahead for take out to get two fries and 16 pieces of half and half. It comes to 50.83$ that my in laws pay for.
5-10 PM: We come back and see that our dog has pooped in their house and also has gotten into their pantry and eaten an entire bag of dog food. It is not a fun night.
We spend the night drinking wine and discussing the wedding and watching TV.
10PM: We go to bed. That’s the end of this week, but tomorrow we will be buying gas and probably lunch for my other mother in law as we will be touring another venue.
Day Seven Total: 143.36$
submitted by sookfong to MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]
Per previous discussion in comments here: The espresso machine is a Bezzera, which ranges from 2-5K. We got ours on sale for 1.7K, it’s a work house and we use it everyday, still hurts that we spent that money on a coffee maker.
I do understand mortgage is debt but when you compare it to rent to a lesser value condo in Vancouver it feels like not debt at all, which is how I tend to think of it. Yes I owe my mortgage but also I get my house instead of renting-which may not have become clear.
Please see in full the diary, below (edit for formatting via mobile)
Occupation: Sr Business Analyst
Industry: Tech
Age: 30
Location: Vancouver Island, BC
Salary: 92,000$ (Spouse makes 60,000$ for a combined income of 152,000$ before tax)
Net Worth: ~ 1.2 Million ( house is valued at 989,000$ currently, we have a combined 150,000 in pension, and ~60,000 in various company stocks, and GICs)
Debt: 3,000$ in a zero interest credit card for a 10 month period. We balanced transferred and pay 400$/month. Debt was acquired in Q4 2023 when we had to buy Snow Tires, and do a full break replacement as well as Christmas. 480,000$ in a mortgage, we refinanced in September 2023 for five years fixed rate at accelerated biweekly, however I don’t consider our mortgage debt due to the equity we are gaining, and that our mortgage for a five bedroom, 3 bath single family home is less than rent for a two bedroom condo in Vancouver
Paycheck Amount (Every 2 Weeks): 2,555$ after taxes. (Just mine). Spouse makes 2,308$ after taxes. Our pay periods are alternating.
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses Mortgage: 1450$ biweekly (100$ extra to the principal).
Utilities: ~200$ (includes water [paid quarterly], hydro [paid bimonthly], gas, sewetrash [paid quarterly] phone [highly discounted due to work plans for spouse and myself] and car gas) Loan Payments: 400$/Credit Card
Car Insurance: 84$
Life Insurance: 167$ combined (67$ me, 100$ spouse)
Health & Dental Insurance: 60$ deducted from pay (coverage for myself and spouse from my employer. Spouse also has coverage for both of us deducted from pay)
Retirement Contribution: 400$ (Employee matches me), (Spouse has a defined pension through work and contributes ~200$ month)
Union fees: 70$ Spouse
Subscriptions: Crave 22$/month (Recent splurge for Binge watching the Rookie), Playstation Plus 100$ (annual bought on Black Friday Deal), Amazon Prime 80$ (Annual), BCAA 120$ (annual) Gym 30$/month (we both have one so 15$/pp)
Note: My spouse and I have completely commingled finances. I will be tracking both as it’s essentially I spent whatever they spent
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
There was always the expectation. My father was very clear, we were very smart. There was no way we’d be wasting our potential. He wanted me to be a lawyer, but unlike other immigrant parents, I got to choose my major and went into social sciences and got my masters in history. I deferred my PhD too much so I got dropped by the program.
I chose my university by where I got a full first year scholarship and then after that took about 15k in student loans for my undergraduate. My parents paid my rent and I got a part time job for food.
For my masters, I had a student line of credit and 5 k student loans otherwise it was all my savings and scholarships. With the line of credit, I had a total of 30K in student loans and paid it off in about four years.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Save. We talked about how you get a dollar allowance and half of it goes into long term saving with 25% in short term and 25% in spend.
Investing came after I was eighteen. Family would like us to invest in property, however I don’t really want to be a landlord, but also we wouldn’t get to really enjoy profit of owning a rental property due to other family circumstances.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
Ice cream parlour I was twelve and my parents made me get it for responsibility. I lasted three weeks because I hated it.
Did you worry about money growing up?
I grew up thinking we were not rich, because we didn’t get big plane vacations (I didn’t count flying from Toronto to Vancouver every summer as a vacation since we were just seeing family but staying in a house my parents owned) and I had only been to Disney twice.
But we had a big new build house in the rich end of town, my mom stayed home to raise all of us. We had to work for things (like going to see a movie opening night or a new CD) but we always had money and got what we wanted. In retrospect, my family was/is fairly well off.
Both my parents grew up poor, with parents working multiple jobs and different shifts to make ends meet, the strive/drive to not have that childhood, and for my father to be able to retire his parents really impacted mine and my siblings and cousins lives. My father showed me the apartment he grew up in Chinatown a few years back. It’s light years away from the house my grandparents owned when I was a kid and how I grew up.
Do you worry about money now?
Of course. Inflation is real and we are actively planning a wedding for the next year, as well as a baby in the next few years. We also need to buy a second car, so we’re saving for that.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
Fully financially responsible? Twenty five. I lived in a family property where I didn’t pay rent in one of the most expensive cities in Canada, so even though I paid all my bills (food and phone), I didn’t have to pay rent. I in fact made money, as I rented rooms out and used the income for house utilities, and paying my student loans down faster. When I moved in with my spouse, I just paid condo fees until we bought our house two years ago which gave me plenty of time to save.
Our financial safety net is family, and our savings. I know my family would bail us out. My spouse’s father would as well. Conversely, we are my spouse’s mother's safety net and we have to keep all our plans in mind that we will be subsidising her.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain. Yes, I received 50K from my parents once they sold my childhood home, as did both of my siblings. I have also received 10K from one set of grandparents which paid off my car and part of my student loans when I was 21. I will be receiving another inheritance when probate is done for around ~100K. My spouse also has received inheritance which allowed them to buy their first condo in their early twenties when the market was much better. That condo, 50k, and the subsequent upgrading helped us afford our house.
Day 1
10 AM: I drive to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Not how I want to start my Sunday morning but y’know. Normally I’d walk since it’s about 20 minutes but I have a UTI. I’m “lucky” that despite not having a dr because of the health care shortage, my work pays for the Maple app so I could get a dr to write the prescription and order the lab work at 1 am. I’ll do the lab work later this week when I can get an appointment but will take the relief now. Insurance makes the antibiotics free, but I also buy hydrogen peroxide because we’re out and we have a dog that thinks everything is meant to be in her mouth. We’ll buy a bigger one at Costco later. I also bought some oral wound mouthwash because we were out. I come home and my spouse made us breakfast.
Total: 15.90$ paid with debit.
1-2:30 PM: We do our taxes. I have a mini meltdown when I realize the part time bakery job I had for a few months didn’t take off income tax last year, so I owe 800$. Luckily, my partner is getting a refund so we net out positive 400$. The bakery took off income tax in 2022, so unsure why they didn’t in 2023. I made us lunch.
3-6:30 PM: We walk the dog, and watch the Rookie. Some time during that time period, a venue emails us back and is surprisingly affordable at 3k. I also get told that the tattoo artist I want to book with, has not chosen me.
6:30-7:30 PM: I explain what lazy girl dinner is to my spouse and make a lazy girl dinner. After not really grocery shopping since Feb for things besides fresh veg, we need to do a big pantry shop and neither of us want that. We debate about buying a food saver and if we should wait for a sale. My spouse is more frugal than me and has determined we should.
8-9:30 PM: We start season 3 of The Rookie, and then after two episodes we go to bed
Day One Total: 15.90$
Day Two
5:45-8 AM: Wake up and start work. I get up to date with what’s happened on the weekend and check that my automated reports. Sometime before 6:30, I get the kettle on for my spouse’s pour over before I go back to my meetings. There’s a twenty minute gap where I get changed and do my skin care and brush my teeth. I’d love to be a skin care person but honestly I’ve spent too much money on product that I don’t use and that just goes bad. Washing my face and using sun screen is a win.
I also make sure that Spouse’s lunch is in his bag and I get our travel mugs ready. Before, we used to go to Starbucks every day. Starbucks used to do free refills on coffee and tea if you were a rewards member if you bought a coffee or tea so it would cost us $5/day (2.5/pp), and we could get refills all day. While that’s 20$/week, 80$/a month and yes, we could have saved it but back then, that 80$ wasn’t turning the dial anywhere significantly for us—a privileged view.
But now, after COVID where I stopped drinking tea after one day working from home having like 10 cups and thinking I was dying, and Spouse has bought a good grinder and we recently splurged on a stupidly expensive espresso machine we call his Engagement Espresso since it costs the same price as my stupidly expensive ring, we bring our coffees.
8-8:30 AM: We drive to work. Prior to buying our house, we were both work from home and lived in a city with amazing transit. We only needed the one car. Since buying the house and moving to a city where public transit is a joke (the one bus goes past our house every 1.5h), Spouse changed jobs and is in office every day and I have to go in 3 days a week. We need a second car or the e-bike rebate to come through. We debate this in the car, since I’m done at 1 pm, and Spouse works normal hours, I either have to take the bus home, or go to the gym for three hours. Today though, I drop Spouse off. I will pick him up later as he has a half day because of the dentist
8:30-12:30 AM/PM: Work. I find a tech manager and ask them to get me more triple a batteries. Work won’t provide or let me expense batteries for my mouse, despite them replacing my usb mouse with a battery one. The poor admin had to tell me the decision is that we’ll all supply our own batteries. Luckily the tech managers have to have batteries on hand and give them out freely.
I ask my boss how the work from home tax forms work, and he is going to find out.
I run more meetings and work on a request for a dashboard and a business case for a new feature that I have to convince leadership to spend money on.
12:30-1 PM: I drive back to my Spouse because he has a dentist appointment.
While I wait for a spouse, I am incredibly hungry. I’m usually not hungry/don’t eat a proper meal until around 1 in the afternoon and my two granola bars I already ate at the office. I go to the bakery by Spouse’s work and buy a cheese bun for me (3.65$), and an apple pie scone (2.55$) for Spouse as a snack. Spouse points out he won’t be able to eat until after his appointment.
Total: 6.20$ debit
1-1:30 PM: I drop Spouse off, and the car stops working. The engine won’t catch. I try multiple times and then run into the dentist to dramatically announce to Spouse and the receptionists that the car won’t start. Spouse asks me what he wants me to do about this, since he’s about to go into an appointment. A very kind receptionist tells me it might be the alternator. I don’t know what that is.
I go back to the car to Facetime my father. He also asks what I think he can do to help since he lives 3000 km away. Weirdly, and sexistly, I thought a man who grew up at race tracks, in a racing family, or the man who has collected and worked on sports cars for forty years might be able to help.
Spouse texts me to remind me we have BCAA while my father also tells me that. I finally get the engine to catch and drive the very long way home, going the speed limit and getting stuck in traffic, construction and a bus. It takes me 20 minutes to get home instead of 10.
1:30-2:30 PM: I walk the dog, mail a (late) birthday card and then start researching what an alternator is. The car is over a decade old and until the house, the most expensive thing I ever bought at 12K back in 2015. We have the funds for the cost, but it’s my first car and the fact it might be the end of its life is scary.
Alternators can cost between 400-800$ repair with labour, so that’s fun.
My dad calls me back and apologises for asking me what he could do away. He advises me that there’s probably a bald spot on the alternator and advises me to go to the mechanic to check or replace it, if the car doesn’t start again.
I call the mechanic to book an appointment, and to also get the snow tires off and to buy new rims for the snow tires. The mechanic lets me know that the alternator part is 500$, and an hour of labour so with taxes we’re looking at around 700$
That future appointment next week (we’re going down a highway this weekend which requires snow tires) will cost ~1.5K, assuming we replace the alternator.
I make lunch and sigh.
2:30 PM: The car starts thankfully. I drive incredibly slow. I pick up Spouse by idling the car. We get an email back from a venue saying they cost 75,000$ minimum. The timing is hysterical.
Due to the nature of the dentist, Spouse owes 618$, as they haven’t flipped it under my insurance. They split it in half, as he has a follow up in two weeks. After the next appointment they will flip the whole amount under me and we’ll get reimbursed for the whole amount.
Total 309$/credit card.
3-10 PM: We walk the dog, make dinner (Spouse makes white sauce pasta, with chicken and peas) and watch The Rookie. There are thirteen episodes in season three, and we will be busy every night this week besides Friday and Sunday, and I would like to finish season three so we can start season 4 next Monday. I don’t want to pay for more than one month of Crave. We have five episodes left
Day Two Total: 315.2$
Day Three
1 AM: 100$ is automatically transferred from our account to the credit card debit. We have an auto transfer of 100$/every Tuesday to a Visa where we balance transferred both our cards. We have an offer for 0 interest for 10 months, so we did that for some of the bigger expenses (snow tires, break replacement and general Christmas) and are on track to pay it back within the next 6 months. That visa is our emergency card that we just have in the back end and utilise for promos like this. It allows us to keep our two cards balances manageable and lets us pay in an easier way than taking big chunks out of our various savings.
Total: 100$/direct deposit
5:45-9 AM: Work. Meetings, reports, trying to convince a colleague that the process does include them and refusal to follow it means that their requests won’t be done. Spouse has another half day so I can go into the office at my leisure—if the car starts
9-9:20 AM: The car starts, I get into the office and refresh a data flow before a meeting with a new stake holder. It takes longer to drive into work today because the tourists are starting to come and their van builds or campers are not exactly highway speed and with a two lane highway, if you don’t merge over fast enough you’re stuck.
10:05-10:20 AM: Meeting done, car starts again and I drive home for more meetings. The least amount of time in the office is preferable for me.
10:30-11AM : Meeting with my manager where we discuss future salary and promotion. I am due for a promotion in the start of Q2, which would push me to six figures. I’ll believe it when I see it but, I’m really excited at that possibility for my family.
11:15 AM: Spouse leaves for work, we discuss what groceries are needed, as well if he’ll go to Home Depot tonight to buy more clover seeds for the yard, as we need to reseed before it starts raining. I eat a muffin and my dog and cat decide to try and eat each other.
11:15-1:30 PM: Work runs late. There’s some issues with the data and we can’t figure it out. We call it a night, and I’ll record the video presentations tomorrow, once we fix the data.
1:30-4 PM: Nap time! It’s bad for me, but honestly I don’t sleep well during the night so naps are what keep me alive.
4-6 PM I prep dinner (smash burgers and fries), and get chores done and walk the dog.
6-7:30 PM: Spouse comes home, we eat dinner. Groceries come to 96.83 for two 7 pound pork loins, two packs of bacon, chicken nuggets, coffee, pop, 8 pack of peppers, milk, tomato, pickles, rice, avocado, mushrooms, sour cream and lettuce.
Not too bad, we average about 300$/month in groceries because we can buy bulk and have a second freezer.
For the month of March we are currently at 123.61$ for groceries and there is twelve days left. We went on a small weekend away, so we ate out a fair bit but even then our current food budget is 272.27$ today.
Total: 96.83/ debit
7:30-10 PM: Spouse makes a coffee and plays video games with his friends. They do it every week. I have a shower, fold and put away laundry and read in bed.
Day Three Total: 196.83
Day Four
1AM: Our biweekly accelerated mortgage payment comes out of 1450$. I’m tracking it here to be honest on our spending but I tend not to think of it as money spent because in my head it’s already money gone. To pay for a house equivalent in Vancouver, the mortgage would be over 6k. Renting a two bedroom condo would be 3K. It feels like the mortgage is just cheaper rent, even though each time I own more of my house.
5:45-9 AM: Work. I find out the limits of how many people I can invite to a Teams Meeting as well as that the Thursday before Good Friday is a catholic holiday when a few people ask me to reschedule a training forum for over a thousand people. Sometime in there I make us coffee, make sure Spouse has lunch packed (leftovers). Spouse has walked the dog and has the recycling and compost out for pick up. I drop Spouse off at work.
10-11:45 AM: I leave the office for home and more meetings. I walk the dog and go record training videos. I get an email that Amazon is doing their big spring sale. I send a link to a robot mop and vaccum that’s on a big discount to Spouse. We want one, but I’m not in charge of the research on it. I send links to play grounds to my friends with toddlers
11:45-12:30 PM : I shove lunch in my mouth, last night’s left overs. I’m running late, and decide to get myself later by collecting all the random dishes and mugs that just show up places and start the dishwasher. I get to the lab ten minutes early but need to buy gas on the way home.
I tell my team I’ll be MIA for a bit and leave the work phone in the car.
I buy 15.6L of gas for 30$ at 1.879/l it sucks. I don’t fill up because we’re going to my in laws this weekend and there’s a Costco Gas Bar there.
Total: 30$/credit card
12:30-1:30 PM: Work goes long again.
1:30-2:30 PM: Nap!
2:30-4:30 PM: Walk the dog and drive to the gym. I usually go three times a week but with last week’s weekend away and this week’s weird half days from Spouse, today’s the only day. I make it up by doing both upper and lower body and a 30 minute circuit.
4:30-7:30 PM: I pick up Spouse and we go to Costco. We pick up nachos, ham, cheese buns and some other items. We debate buying our friend’s kid a toddler set of clothes and decide no. We end up buying work pants for Spouse, and a garden hose. It comes out to 116.90
I order our Costco dinner of hot dogs and fries for a grand total date night of 6.41$
Total: 123.31/ credit card
8-9 PM: Dance class! We bought a series of six lessons of introduction to ballroom back in December for a new date night idea. We paid 60$/pp and this is the fifth lesson tonight.
9 pm: We’re home, we let the dog out. Spouse spends an undetermined amount of time watching ballroom videos while I sleep.
Day Four Total: 1603.31$ or 153.31 excluding the mortgage payment.
Day Five
5:45-9 AM: Work. All the meetings. Thursday is the meeting day. I debate with a friend what’s the earliest call we’ve had. 4:30 am still wins. I pack lunch for Spouse and his coffee and he leaves. I end up cleaning up cat puke as the cat decides to drink milk from Spouse’s cereal and vomit it up on camera in a meeting.
9-9:30 AM: I make myself a matcha and walk the dog.
9:30-1 PM: Work and I treat myself to a lunch of a cheese bun and ham sandwhich. We used to eat it every Sunday while growing up but the cost of ham has been outrageous. The deal at Costco yesterday was 1.5$/100 g which is really good.
1-1:30 PM: I seal the wooden deer Christmas decoration we bought last year. It sits outside our front door and needs to be weather proofed, and I’ve been putting it off for five months. But the weather is good and we have newspapers. We have left over wood sealer after the sign we bought a year ago so I use that. The dog and the cat both don’t like my wooden deer.
1:30-4 PM: Nap!
4-5 PM: I basically just watch youtube and drink a root beer. I have no energy.
5-6:30 PM: Spouse comes home, we walk the dog and I make dinner (Kraft Dinner and nuggets–I swear we eat veggies but today is not that day). We discuss the possibility of our dog at our wedding as a flower girl, and if she’ll be in a tutu or a cheongsam like me. I am now researching if they make dog cheongsams and if she can match us. The cat, despite all my heart wanting it, won’t physically be there because he will have an anxiety attack and probably die.
6:30-10:30 PM: Board game night! We go to a friend’s to repeat the same scenario we’ve lost two weeks in a row.
10:30-11 PM: I pack Spouse’s breakfast (oatmeal and frozen berries), lunch (spicy tuna and mayo) since he’s trying to go to the gym before work, and feed the animals before we go to bed.
Day Five Total: 0$
Day Six Friday
5:45-9 AM: Work. I have a deep focus block which means I can get the script for the training I have to run. Public speaking is not my strong suit and it’s a group of a thousand people so I’m not looking forward to it. Spouse almost makes it to the gym. I get an email that my new work phone has shipped. I’m surprised because they wouldn’t order us any for the past four years, but I guess my new iPhone will show up next week. I might give my old work phone to my mother in law, since she smashed the camera on the phone we bought her last year.
9-9:30 AM: I walk the dog, make a matcha and make a todo list for what we have to get done before we leave to my in laws tomorrow. I text my mother in law happy birthday, and hope that she got the card in time. She did.
9:30-11:30 AM: My last meeting for the week ends and I’m debating calling it a day so I can nap. Instead I make lunch (cheese bun and ham), text my other mother in law our plan for Saturday, and unload and reload the dishwasher and go back to work for at least another hour.
12:30-1 PM: I shower and do skin care
1-3 PM: Nap! Somewhere in this time FedEx comes and since I’m sleeping, we have to pick up on Monday. I’m not too sure what it is, I assume it’s our custom address stamp from Etsy because that’s the only thing I’ve bought recently but not too sure. I just realized in retrospect, this might be my new work phone.
3-5 PM: I prep dinner (nachos), unload the dishwasher, pack my overnight bag and confirm all our venue tours by email. I start a load of laundry and do a quick clean. I feel like this is not the best image of our diet. I swear we generally eat healthy but we both have been feeling really blah over the past two weeks so have been going for quick and easy over healthy and balanced. I do have three whole peppers and two whole avocados in the nachos though.
5-7 PM: Spouse comes home, we walk the dog, have dinner, and plan out next week. We have a big Wednesday next week (mechanic, I have a nails appointment, dance class), and we are having our friends over for Easter so we need to prep for that. We pack the car so tomorrow is a very easy start.
Spouse also gets paid today. We’re lucky that we’re on alternating pay periods, we used to be on the same and it always felt stressful. Spouse also lets me know his union has secured a 3% cost of living raise to start in Q3. I really like his union for negotiating a base 2% year of cost of living raise, with potential addition raises depending on inflation. It’s a bit away but that’s still good news.
7:30-10:30 PM: We finish The Rookie Season 3 and head to bed. Crave reminds me that I have 10 days until I’m charged again. Sadly, I think we’ll have to pay for 2 months.
Day Six Total: 0
Day Seven Saturday
8:30-9:30 AM: Wake up. No one (except the dog) slept well so we’re not in a morning mood. Spouse makes coffee and walks the dog, while I finish packing the car and give the cat a lot of attention. Our first venue tour is at 11 and the one that is the most expensive (8-10K), but also the one we probably want the most. We live about an hour away but the highway is two lanes and one accident can back everything up for hours.
10:40-1 PM: We visit our dream venue. We stay way longer than expected. Basically if the quote is under 10K, we’ll get it. Just waiting now.
1-2 PM: We get to our in-laws and have a lunch of egg salad sandwhichs. We need to buy gas. My in laws drive us to a pottery painting store.
2-4 PM: We paint pottery. My mother in law only wanted to do this for her birthday. They’ll pick it up in a week after it’s been thrown. I paint a vase (28$), Spouse paints an Easter egg (18$), father in law paints a mug (30$), and mother in law paints a plate (50$)
Total:143.36/credit card
4-5 Pm: We see another venue. It’s an instant no. My in laws decide they want to try Korean fried chicken. We call ahead for take out to get two fries and 16 pieces of half and half. It comes to 50.83$ that my in laws pay for.
5-10 PM: We come back and see that our dog has pooped in their house and also has gotten into their pantry and eaten an entire bag of dog food. It is not a fun night.
We spend the night drinking wine and discussing the wedding and watching TV.
10PM: We go to bed. That’s the end of this week, but tomorrow we will be buying gas and probably lunch for my other mother in law as we will be touring another venue.
Day Seven Total: 143.36$