Ok I was speaking with a friend of mine about this today and things started to click, so I want to present my theory and hear people’s thoughts because I am by no means an economist or politician or anything and I want to know if I’m way off base or not. I’m other words, I need advice on my theory on real estate taxes and how they’re impacting current renters rates…
This is purely speculative without supporting evidence.
So, Boston gets a huuuuge portion of the revenue through property taxes, and of that number a huuuuge portion comes from commercial businesses real estate. But in comes Covid telling people to work from home for “a while.” What’s a business to do? They don’t want to get rid of their properties because they’ll need them eventually, but they’re so expensive. So it’s time for plan B. Layoffs, yup. Downsizing, yeah. Closing completely, mhmm. All of these things are happening, and it’s driving the cost of commercial real estate down, which in turn drives down the taxes earned from each property.
Meanwhile, Boston has been spending those taxes like crazy, and who could blame ‘em! They had a health crisis to manage, on top of all the other projects going on (looking at you mbta, you really botched that green line job huh pal…).
So the money is going out faster than the taxed businesses can replenish it. Fast forward to today and Boston is in the red by a lot. Like a lot a lot, projected to be 1.4B deficit in five years. On top of that, the damage is done and people realize they don’t need to commute to work and they don’t want these offices, leaving the businesses holding the bag on what appears to be poor investments on paper. Last I checked businesses are far better at lobbying than individuals, are they about to pass the buck to residents? What’s Mayor Wu to do?
Well, unsurprisingly taxes went up. Commercial real estate went up, as did residential taxes. On top of that, the values of these residential properties also went up, making those taxes more expensive.
Now Mayor Wu has filed legislation - not passed, just filed - to try and protect those residential property owners by allowing for a rather substantial tax exemption… if you live in the property you own. Ya know who doesn’t live in their own properties. The landlords… well, typically.
So, regardless of if Mayor Wu’s legislation is passed, landlords are looking at a tax increase no matter what, and boooooy howdy they ain’t gunna be the ones paying it, all you are. This is why you see landlords asking for substantial rent increases, getting shot down, then listing the place for even more. But it gets worse.
The deficit of taxes within Boston is so great, it’s unlikely that property taxes for businesses or residents will ever go down anytime soon, only increase. So what are the landlords to do? Some will weather the storm, but I think a lot of them will sell, and I think Mayor Wu is hoping for this, but I foresee it backfiring. We aren’t talking about the major real estate owners property conglomerates selling, nor are we talking about the schools selling either, I’m talking about the yuppy rich white lady down on the cape that has a few rental properties and never takes care of them. She’s selling. But to who? I think the hope is that potential home owners will buy these properties, incentivized by the tax exemptions, but this us where my skepticism comes from. There’s absolutely noooo way that’s happening when their main bidding competitors are colleges, whose resources are practically unlimited, and real estate companies who have started renting by the room and not by the apartment. And if all else fails, just pull a seaport and buy, demo, build.
Let’s review. Boston is in debt and it’s only getting worse. Commercial real estate value is continuing to drop. Taxes on those properties are increasing but it’s not enough to offset the spending like it used to. Businesses gunna shutter. Residential real estate is increasing in value. Taxes on those properties will be unmanageable for the run-o-the-mill homeowner. Wu is trying to keep home owners, so landlords get disproportionately taxed. Renters are left holding this very heavy bag. Oh yeah, those renters also have like absolutely zero protections against any of this.
Let’s skip ahead a few more years and let the crazy conspiracy theorist in me run rampant: Taxes continue to go up for everyone, so a whole lotta businesses are gunna close (I mean, did you see what just happened to Tavern in the Square this week? Yeah, expect more of that…), landlords keep raising their prices, tuition keeps climbing, unaffordable housing keeps getting built, there’s a mass exodus of businesses leaving Boston, and the businesses that do stay can’t pay their… no, they can, but they won’t pay their employees a salary to live here. They just won’t, and why should they? It’s ungodly expensive to live here and equally as atrocious to run a business here, you’d have to live with your parents rent free for years on a Boston salary just to save enough for a competitive down payment for a home in the city, and forget about renting and saving… your boss’s argument is that they commute in from the cape everyday so why can’t you? Audible eye roll… The schools love this, keep the poor out and only allow for the wealthiest students and their very rich papas and mamas to pay for everything, they look more prestigious than ever, meanwhile I’d wager that at least 1/10 of those students are here to party and get fucked up. Fucked up on what though? TITS literally just closed, liquor licenses are obscenely expensive, you can expect to see more Hecate’s than Silhouette’s because the clientele will absolutely spend $100 to have some smoke rolling out of the glass… The renters gotta make a quick buck and sell their pain killers from an injury the year prior, get kids hooked but they can’t afford anything, so they turn to tranq. Meanwhile those same renters, who are respectable hard working nurses and teachers and small business owners and all kinds of people who should NOT be in this situation, they all have their price jacked up AGAIN to mmm I’m thinking 3500/studio will be the going rate by now, and so these renters are forced to “move” but the question is how? Everyone wants a first, last, security, brokers, and a U-Haul, no one can afford to move, or save for that matter, so they have to leave the city. If they’re lucky enough to have a place to go that is, otherwise everyone else is going to be turning methadone mile into a methadone marathon.
Boston is well on its way to make Philly and San Francisco look like saints in comparison.

After 23 years of being "locked" in my family house i moved out to my home country to live with my sister's and I'm free now ig... I mean i used to only go out when i need too like school, hospital, etc... And never alone!
And now it's different if i wanted to go buy me sum snacks or whatever there is no need to beg anyone to go buy them for me or let me go buy them myself i can just go...
But tbh I'm not sure if I'm depressed but each day i wake up I feel so strange idk how to describe it everything is different now but not in a bad way i mean, now people can see my face and know of my existence know my name and for the first time ever i experienced flirting (in a cute way sum guy called me pretty) i almost had a heartache...
But i can't help but feel so empty and lost the next day... It's like i don't belong here or anywhere like sometime i forgot i moved out? Thinking maybe i imagen it..I hate feeling that way this is my Time to do the things i was forbidden to do i don't have time to feel sad i need to finish my studying, get a job, and a life but i can't help it idk what to do

I feel like an idiot for posting this on Reddit but I don't really feel comfortable venting about this with friends, so here we are!
(21F) It's been two years since I broke up with my ex boyfriend. It was a really healthy relationship and we remain really close friends, it just didn't make sense to me to keep up with it anymore.
Well, I'm a 21 year old girl, and since that breakup my social life hasn't been all that interesting really. I'm a 4th year law student and college ended up being not all that exciting, and even tough I've got to meet my amazing group of friends, I didn't really relate to anyone else. Therefore, this time when you're supposed to meet lots of people and broaden your horizons ended up stagnating a bit for me.
I consider myself an easy going person, I've never in my life find it hard to make friends or getting to know people. It's just that I haven't got many chances to. I spend most my time with my friends I already know or end up meeting people at parties who I don't talk to ever again, and being still in college doesn't give me much time for new activities. Romantic-wise, I've never been the type that cares too much (or even at all) to be in a relationship, and I never really liked the idea of having to chase anything. I thrive on my own most of the time, and whatever happens, happens. But like anyone else, I sometimes miss the occasional flirt and whatever comes with it haha. Intimacy in geral, or just having fun. More than the horny!!!! aspect of it, I really do miss getting to make friends and talk to somebody new.
Well, as I've stated before, I think I'm really easy to talk to, overall funny and outgoing. Charming in a good day, perhaps haha. About my looks, well I wouldn't say I'm stunning but I'm not very insecure, or at least I don't let it get to my head very often. Maybe not the type you'd give a second look or flirt on the subway - unless I'm reading some cool book or something haha - but maybe buy me a drink in the night if we're having a good time lol. I'm usually very friendly with anyone I meet so I don't even know how people make the jump to flirtation these days...
Back to the dating apps: as we've seen here, I'm stagnant. Not even my social media does wonders for me anymore since I've had the stupid idea of soft blocking almost everyone when I've gotten out of high school (so real to be fair), so most of my followers are people I actually know or work with today. There's always a random guy out of nowhere but you know, no one interesting enough !!
That being said, should I overcome my fear of dating apps? I'm NOT gonna lie to you, to this very day I've always been a bit prejudiced about it. Not judgemental of people who use them at all, I just never thought I'd be into it because I don't think that's the coolest way to say I've met a significant other haha. I mean, my future boyfriend can be using a dating app right now, but he surely won't find me in one. At least that's how I like to put it.
Still, I'm reluctant. My brain tells me not to do it, but at the same time my heart is telling me to do so for the plot. I really hate the idea of having to create a profile that appeals to anyone, plus the dynamic of maybe not finding matches???? I don't have many self esteem issues but idk how that would affect me in the long run. Plus, maybe this might sound wrong, but given the fact that I study law people on my field of study expect some odd seriousness of their employees, and as common as they are there's still many preconceptions about dating apps within these firms. I mean, I already hold the weight of my digital footprint being goofy on twitter haha
WELL I don't know what to expect of this! But it's my first post on Reddit so there's that! I ended up writing a lot more than I intended so feel free to engage and talk to me. Or even to call me an idiot. It's late in the night in here and I feel like oversharing SO there's that freedom of opinating about strangers lives on the internet lol
Anyway thanks in advance, and I apologize for any mistake since english ain't my first language! Idk what this subreddit is but shoutout to all my girlies ou there<3

My pit mix has tummy issues
Warning- long post ahead. I am needing some suggestions regarding my 2 year old pit mix’s tummy issues. We got him from the shelter a year ago and had no issues until this past Christmas, when he ate 3 stuffing free toys while unsupervised for 5 mins. He threw two of the toys up about 2 weeks later, though he was eating/drinking/pooping just fine during that time. At the time, we thought he just ate two toys. After that he was fine until about a month ago (three months after the initial incident), when he threw up a third toy. Since then he has had a very weak stomach. He has been having bouts of vomiting and diarrhea just about every 7-10 days. Labs were done, along with x rays and a barium swallow. We have spent thousands of dollars trying to figure out how to get him better. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong, and prescribed him Royal Canin low fat GI kibble, which hasn’t seemed to help after about 3 weeks on it. She also has him on omeprazole nightly. He is still throwing up every 7-10 days. The vet at this point has no suggestions for us, and he is rapidly losing weight. Any suggestions?? Petey is 2 years old Was previously 52lb- now 45lb Male Neutered In the St Louis area.

I only have a few minor complaints but so far I enjoy it. I think the biggest motivation for me is the fact that we have a game similar to Cod but it won't be replaced within 12 months by a sequel, meaning camo grinds and all that stuff really has a purpose now. I never felt like the grind for camos in Call of Duty was worth the hassle, the game was a time limited event at best, soon to be replaced.
Not with XDefiant. I can take my time, work on stuff anf try things out without much FOMO.
My only issues so far are some abilities, the ultimate from the Libertád girl is ridiculous, 200% health and basically constant healing even wehn getting shot at is a but much, feel s very cheap getting killed that way even if you are technically 100% on point. You shouldn't need two or three people to get one kill.
The jump shotting is also a bit overtuned, I feel like a short delay between jumps could halp, I see people bouncing left and right like there is no tomorrow :D
The weapons feel good, although I feel like SMGS and LMGs are a bit obsolete, the ARs do everything as good and have more range and less recoil.
The maps for the mpst part are fine, but that crashed plane map sucks balls, like holy shit, this map so far really annoys me.
Overall, my first impressions are good, a pretty solid base for future improvements and it's free, no complaints about battlepass and cosmetics from my side.
I really hope the game thrives. It is really solid casual fun :)

I recently applied to two positions at the same company, an Associate role and a Senior Associate role. Screening call with recruiter went great. We discussed salary and I was told my requirement was well within their range. Set up call with hiring manager immediately. Next call was one of the best interviews/discussions I’ve ever had. Hiring manager said I was a great candidate and named the next people I would interview with.
Yesterday I get an email from recruiter saying they thought I was great. Even said it twice. Unfortunately the Senior position is no longer open. ??? AND they felt I was over qualified for the Associate role. But feel free to apply again.
Why would you just throw out a “great” candidate when this company is consistently hiring for similar positions??
Hmmm…maybe they did some digging and realized I’m older than I look. 56.

Hey all! Mainly looking for someone to message throughout the day and get to know. Maybe game with if we have that in common. I do work from home so there’s no one to really talk to during the day.
I’m married and have 2 kids, a 6 month old son and a 9 year old daughter. I’m into basic nerdy things. Gaming, star wars, super heroes, DnD, anything Disney, etc. Also trading card games like Disney Lorcana and Star Wars Unlimited.
I watch a ton of Critical Role stuff especially Campaign 3! Currently on episode 74, so if you watch too, let me know! Also like to watch Battle of the Brands on YouTube.
I’m also into movies and tv, some sports, pro wrestling. Collecting action figures and retro games is one of hobbies as well. Anything 80s/90s nostalgia i absolutely love so if you want to talk childhood and growing up back then, i’m down! I miss the good old days where we went to arcades and italian sunday dinners at the grandparents and where the world just wasn’t as nutso as it is today lol.
My kids are everything to me and I do love talking about them. Love being silly with them and spending time with them (when they aren’t driving me crazy 🤪 lol)..I would prefer you be around my age and have kids as well just so we have that stuff in common off the bat! I’m socially awkward most times but very easy to get along with. I’m definitely considered an introvert. But once you get to know me I break out of that awkward shell. I do like to use sarcasm, and mostly like to try and make people laugh because a world without laughter would just be horrible.
Alright i’ll shut up now but I’d like to think i’m an awesome person to get to know and hopefully there’s more you’d like to know so feel free to DM me! (I looove using GIFs so if you message me, open up with a funny one! Especially since then i’ll know you actually read this 😂)

Paramount: Deal Rumors Aside, What About The Operations? Can The Company Turn A Profit?
May 21, 2024 2:41 PM ET
Summary
Paramount Global remains my worst investment, but I still believe in its potential for success.
Paramount's "lack of scale" is not the reason for its underperformance as it spends about as much on content as industry leader Netflix.
Paramount's loss last year was largely the result of one-off writedowns, both domestically and internationally. These losses will not repeat going forward.
Paramount's streaming operation suffers not from lack of scale, but an abundance of overload waste, which may be alleviated under new management.
The sports slate remains best-in-class, and CBS is still the leader in broadcast scripted. CBS Television City in Los Angeles, Ca, USA. JHVEPhoto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA) (NASDAQ:PARAA) remains my worst investment. Let's just get that clear from the start. I said two years ago it was madness not to buy Paramount. That was wrong, wrong, wrong. The fact that I recommended against buying the new Warner Discovery at the same time, and heeding that warning saved a lot of money, makes me feel a little better, but not much.
And no, the fact that Warren Buffett made the exact same mistake as me doesn't help much, either. Mr. Buffett and I are about to part ways, anyway. He is now completely sold out of Paramount, while I am hanging in. Yes, I am still buying. Get all the ribbing out of your systems, and then read on.
Although a few rounds remain to be played in the game, it is no longer inconceivable that none of the various deal permutations that have been put forward for Paramount will pan out, and that it will continue as an independent company. Essentially, Redstone will block a deal with Apollo Global Management, Inc. (APO) and Sony Group Corporation (SONY) and the 'B' shareholders will litigate a Skydance deal to death.
Because so many Seeking Alpha articles are already offering a blow-by-blow analysis of the deal talks - and I absolutely encourage you to read them - I wanted to turn back for just a minute to a more in-depth look at Paramount's actual operations. If it stays independent, can it turn itself around?
Scale Is Not The Issue I'm angry. Usually, when an investment goes wrong, I can manage to be philosophical or even dispassionate about it. Risks of the trade, can't win 'em all, pick your maxim.
But this one is really getting to me. I'm sure part of that is simply the sheer amount of my portfolio that has suffered - I bet a lot more on Paramount than I did on my typical investment, so sure was I that it had the tools needed for success. Fortunately, some of my other media investments have worked out much, much better, or I'd really be hurting. In fact, my Netflix buy has repaired all the damage my Paramount buy has done.
Still, I'm unusually angry, partly because of the sheer amount lost. But it's also that I still don't believe there is anything wrong with Paramount, at its core. It has become quite commonplace to speak of Paramount's "lack of scale" as the reason for its apparent impending demise, or at least subsumption. But I would still argue that that isn't born out by the numbers. Paramount spent roughly $16 billion on content in 2023, the same total as 2022, when $4 billion of it was spent on streaming. That is only slightly less than Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) which leads the industry in market cap and performance, if not in spending. While the gap with other studio peers is larger, I'm not sure spending at Netflix levels equals a "lack of scale."
What's more, a lot of that extra spending by other traditional industry players like Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) and The Walt Disney Company (DIS) is not spending that investors should necessarily cheer. As I've explained before, Paramount's lower spending total is almost entirely accounted for by its far more profitable approach to sports rights; a lot of that extra spending that Disney and Warner are doing isn't particularly profitable or even sensible.
What then, does account for Paramount's underperformance?
Stock Performance That depends on which underperformance you're talking about. First, the stock price. Paramount cut its dividend in spring 2023. That announcement, with its Q1 earnings, was enough to cause half of the past-year decline in a single day. Paramount went from $21 to $16 with the dividend cut and was still at $16 as late as December.
Since then, the other half of the decline has reflected the increasing evidence that Paramount is more or less ready to throw in the towel, and intends to be a distressed seller to another studio or private equity firm soon. More specifically, it is actually Shari Redstone, who exercises control over Paramount through her 77.3% share of Paramount's Class A voting stock, who is ready to call it quits. The perception that she has no leverage and will be forced to accept a fire sale offer has driven the stock lower.
Operations All that, however, merely explains the stock market decline; what is the operational explanation for Paramount's troubles? The company reported a $600 million loss for full year 2023. How is it that one of the Big Five movie studios, with the most popular of the Big Four broadcast networks, the most popular show on cable (Yellowstone) and the only profitable sports slate in American television, can't make money?
Accounting Element First, we need to acknowledge that there are some accounting factors in that 2023 loss. Paramount took a "programming charge," i.e., a write-down of the value of programming assets, of roughly $2.4 billion in Q1 and Q2 last year. That is money that would ordinarily be amortized over a period of years - it's mostly streaming originals, which Paramount usually amortizes over a 4-year period - that instead saw its red ink taken all at once. Had it been amortized normally, Paramount would have reported an operating profit of roughly $1.2 billion, more or less identical to 2022, instead of reporting an operating loss of the same amount.
Still, that write-down reflects the fact that the content isn't performing well, so those losses were always going to happen, and they're quite real; the accounting change is simply a timing issue. So Paramount is operationally deficient, even if perhaps not quite as operationally deficient as this one-time write-down makes it look. We cannot dismiss Paramount's operational issues by putting them down to accounting distortions.
TV Scripted Content Difficulties Paramount did not break down the programming charge, but outside reports have about half of it owing to the integration of Showtime in Paramount+ as a single service. It's not entirely clear which side of the ledger those losses are coming from; one of the less understood things about merging services is that it potentially makes content on both sides less valuable as it is replaced by more popular content from the other side. Showtime's Q1 2023 viewership was very top-heavy, with just two shows, Yellowjackets and Your Honor constituting 30% of all viewership. Presumably, those two shows reduced the value of some Paramount+ existing content while the rest of Showtime's library may have suffered from competition with P+ content.
Regardless of the exact source, Paramount's content is not performing. That's a little surprising considering that, as I said, CBS content is actually quite popular on the linear side. In fact, in the earnings call following the annual report now-former CEO Bob Bakish reported that CBS had the top 16 scripted programs and 18 of the top 20 in the first week of post-strike broadcasts. Paramount has disclosed in the past that CBS content makes up roughly half of the viewership on Paramount+; and this is despite the fact that P+ isn't even the sole beneficiary of CBS content; roughly $600 million per quarter of Paramount's licensing revenue comes from CBS shows as well.
One possibility that I perhaps did not consider sufficiently was the chance that the unique characteristics of CBS would make it harder for that channel to transition to streaming than its other broadcast peers. CBS is the most popular of all broadcast networks, but that popularity owes disproportionately to more elderly viewers; in the demo, it is actually Comcast Corporation's (CMCSA) NBC which takes the top crown.
With elderly viewers both less appealing to advertisers and less likely to make the transition to streaming, it is perhaps not so surprising that CBS is continuing to perform well on linear but having trouble translating that to streaming.
International Shortfall The damage isn't through yet, either. Paramount disclosed that it took another $1.2 billion impairment charge on content in the first quarter. This one has to do with the international side; a few years ago Paramount commissioned 150 new, original international shows and movies to try to boost international growth. Now, Paramount reveals that even international consumers spend no less than 90% of their time streaming Hollywood content; the local originals aren't doing very much for growth or retention.
About the only good thing that can be said about this complete and utter debacle is that it is a one-off; unlike Paramount's US content spending, which is ongoing and therefore must be made more efficient if Paramount is to survive and thrive, Paramount is gradually exiting International production. In fact, to help cover the losses on its international originals it is selling its share in Viacom18, the network that formerly served as Paramount's onshore operation in India, to its partner Reliance for a little over $500 million.
Where Are The Children? Yet another factor is children's programming. While many have essentially written off Paramount's entire cable channel group, and I agree the prognosis for MTV and Comedy Central is rather grim, I have argued that Nickelodeon remains a real asset, as one of the top two children's channels in linear TV. I believed that would be a powerful subscriber acquisition tool, alongside sports, as the streaming transition continued.
It hasn't worked out. Surveys consistently show the Big 3 for parents with children are Netflix, Disney, and the third is Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) of all things. Neither Paramount+ nor Warner Discovery's Max make the cut, despite ownership of top children's linear platforms/libraries Nickelodeon and Looney Tunes, respectively.
The prognosis here isn't entirely grim. Paramount has reported that half of their streaming subscribers touch kids' content regularly, so clearly Nickelodeon does mean something to the subscribers. It's possible it helps with retention, even if it doesn't drive acquisition. Paramount owns the number one brand for pre-school kids, Paw Patrol.
Paramount has shut down the separate Noggin streaming service and will presumably be amplifying the kids content on P+ as a result, so perhaps this trend will yet turn around. With so many other things going wrong, though, the inability to make kids content more central to the strategy is a painful blow.
The Mismanagement Of Streaming I suspect, however, that Paramount's single biggest defect over the past few years has been the competency of its management. In a streaming world, success hinges overwhelmingly on the efficiency with which a content budget is deployed. That efficiency, in turn, requires avoiding the trap of "overload," something cable doesn't have to worry about but which can kill a streaming service.
What Is Overload? In brief, overload is when a streaming service spends money on content that appeals primarily to those subscribers who were already subscribed and intending to remain subscribed, even without that content. Because revenue does not increase with more viewership, such spending is essentially wasted money. I have been arguing for several years that some economic models of streaming profitability fail to take account of this significant element.
Paramount seems to have had a lot of overload in the last few years. Specifically, its single most broadly appealing piece of content is the NFL, which Paramount is an anchor broadcaster for. Because NFL fans are accustomed to spending upwards of $100 a month on cable just to watch the NFL - over 10% of cable subscribers say that the NFL is the only reason they're still subscribing - Paramount's $6-$12 a month fee for streaming really doesn't need anything more than NFL games to attract these 40-50 million fans.
The Earnings Jaw-Dropper And yet, it seems that's where a lot of the extra streaming money has been going. On the Q2 earnings call last year, CEO Bob Bakish, watching the stock price steadily decline, seemed to be eager to reassure he had a handle on the situation and began describing some of the changes he'd be making. It started out well enough, really; he told investors that NFL viewers churn drops dramatically if they also engage with entertainment titles, which is what you'd expect.
But then, he stunned me and I expect just about everyone listening when he said, "we probably need to do less for [the NFL viewer] in the fall, and more outside the fall because we can rely on the NFL." Compounding the almost Looking Glass-feeling, he then went on to reassure everyone he would be "fine-tuning" the content strategy to address that point in the years to come.
It was, frankly, stunning. Both me and I suspect just about every analyst who was modeling Paramount had just assumed it went without saying that of course, any entertainment content targeted at retaining NFL viewers should drop in the other half of the year when the NFL wasn't playing on TV. My own calculations of the profit margin on CBS's NFL deal had always incorporated that.
And while that was bad enough, it also raised the concern that a management team that didn't understand that going in might have put a lot of other overload in other categories as well. Suddenly, it wasn't so hard to see how the best-scripted shop with the most profitable sports contracts was having trouble making money. Double-loading for 50 million households would be a major drag on the financial performance for streaming.
Light At The End Of The Tunnel Despite all of this, I still think there are bright spots in the Paramount picture, even without a merger. Its operations, as well as its merger discussions, don't seem to lack potential.

1: My Usual Paramount Bull Argument: Sports Profits

One thing that continues to go right is sports content. A few years ago, I wrote that Paramount was a strong contender to become a sustainable streaming business because it had the only profitable sports slate in the business. The stock hasn't gone where I wanted it to go, but that is the one part of my thesis that has been definitively borne out. In fact, many now say that it is CBS's sports deals, at least as much as Paramount's film/TV studio, that the prospective buyers of Paramount are after.
I've covered these in other articles already. The March Madness deal runs until 2032 and the NFL deal runs until 2033, although the NFL has an opt out after 2029 that it will probably exercise given the utterly ludicrous bids the NBA is receiving, so the last four years of that deal might have to be chopped off the profit projections. Even so, Paramount can probably generate $1.25 billion a year in profit just off of those two deals for the next six years.
Those are probably the biggest, but it doesn't stop there. Almost every sports deal Paramount has is profitable. For all the flak management has deservedly taken, Paramount continues to show discipline and focus on sports. You won't find Paramount throwing $2.5 billion a year at the NBA's 'B' package, which is more money than the NFL gets for its 'B' package despite having 10x the viewership.
For all its many, many missteps, a Paramount that can just manage to stay afloat long enough for some of these ludicrous sports bets at other companies to blow up may yet find itself with cards to play later in the decade.

2: Recouping Write-downs Via Preferred Conversion

Another small boon has been the official conversion of the preferred shares. The Paramount mandatory convertible formerly trading under the PARAP ticker was capped at 0.85 shares per common share. Given the initial price of the convertible at $100 per share, that effectively means that a preferred share that was carrying a $100 liquidation value has just been converted into 1.1765 shares of a common stock currently trading around $12. A total value per preferred share of around $14.
And they sold for $1 billion, so that's basically $860 million back into the common equity that management was able to get at the peak of the boom. That actually repairs almost all of the red ink from Paramount's doomed international originals push on its own.

3: An End To Streaming Waste

Finally, a lot of the waste in streaming may soon be ending. Bob Bakish was finally fired a few weeks ago, and while I never want someone to lose their job, he frankly had looked overmatched for a while. Bakish was a lifetime cable executive who seemed to be having trouble making the transition to a streaming-world mindset. Frankly, if I knew about it in 2021, the CEO has no business fine-tuning it into the strategy in 2023.
With international originals no longer draining the coffers and overloaded entertainment programming shifted to months of the calendar where it can be more productive, streaming may yet turn the corner.
Investment Summary I recognize fully that each fall in Paramount stock makes my bullish optimism seem ever more out of step. I do believe, however, that Paramount's failures are more failures of execution than lack of scale or structural disadvantage. Paramount CEO Bob Bakish simply wasn't up to the job. Ironically that wasn't what got him fired; Bakish was almost certainly fired for opposing Redstone's plan to enrich herself at the expense of other shareholders, probably the most competent thing he did in the last few years of his whole tenure.
Paramount has everything it needs to be successful; profitable sports contracts, which is just unbelievable in this day and age, a thriving scripted TV operation, and a viable, if recently somewhat mismanaged, streaming service. An end to overload waste, the continued exploitation of its favorable sports slate, throttling back unhelpful international originals and boosting kids content engagement may yet produce a different streaming picture going forward. Should older viewers start to get more comfortable with streaming going forward and following their favorite programs to Paramount+, that would just be icing on the cake.
It's been a depressing ride the last few years, but I'm sticking with Paramount.

This isn't a troubleshooting question but I thought I'd put this on Reddit because, lol, there was tears and then maniacal laughter.
Three months ago I bought a bunch of packs, I know, a bit silly, but I saved up for it and there was a good sale going on plus my EA Play discount I get with gamepass. Packs worked totally fine, no issue. I played for hours and then boom, the update releases and all my newly bought packs will not register in game at all.
It showed owned and downloaded, but no in-game content would reflect I kept getting "Requires Sims 4 base game ect" as an error
I removed my mods, I deleted save files (goodbye legacy sims) - cleared cache and reinstalled the game 5 times. Nothing. So I figured the update broke the thing (I mean it is buggy as hell anyway) so I uninstall it and leave it, until yesterday I figured I'll give it a go one more time before I make my way to the dreaded EA Help center and ask for a refund (I didn't want to but geesh, if I can't play I can't play). I tried so many things, even scoured Reddit. I couldn't find a resolution to my issue.
Two frustrating customer support chats later where I'm ignored that I already tried all the FAQ suggestions and Reddit options I decide to try one more thing. I check my extra internal hardrive I don't use anymore in my pc, and find a Sims 4 folder and behold, even though it was never set to install there, all the packs plus the digital deluxe upgrade were installed on the that drive and not my main.
Ya'll all I had to do was move them from there to the actual install folder. Maybe it was me somehow, but it was a journey.
Anyway! Just thought I would share. Going to decorate everything with plants now cause of the Blooming Rooms Kit.

Sorry for potential TLDR I like both FF and BH and I am glad that they made adjustments on FF’s own kit.
However…..I don’t understand the need to change an orginally more universal relic set into something that only one specific character can benefit from its full effect conveniently. This rly does show some favouritism.
In my opinion, relic sets should not determine what team comps you are using! Ofc I am happy that FF is busted with this set but if I give this set for Boothill I MUST pair him with HMC in order to activate the effect.
Relic sets should be more universal, unlike support characters who can be more focused. Some ppl may say “oh in genshin some artifacts are tailored for one char only” but in genshin almost every character has their own bis artifacts = everyone is happy bc no one is left out. If they rly want to keep the v3 change and make it catered towards FF then I hope in future versions they will make a set that does not include super break requirements, only normal break requirements. I am also a Luka player so I am disappointed in the v3 relic change.
The only thing we can do now to prevent Hoyo from following this trend in the future, is feedback. If you have friends that are beta testers please try asking them to provide feedback on this. Their opinions are more valuable since they are beta testers.
We non beta testers can also try sending feedback via in game. Menu —> report bug —> then you can see the feedback option (don’t ont know why they refuse to make an obvious button for feedback). You don’t need to address this situation very specifically just provide general feedback on avoiding “favouritism”. Also write the feedback in a sincere and polite manner cuz no one likes extremely rude feedback.
Hoping that in the end everyone can get what they want! 🙏

With the game being popular and leaving a few choice questions unanswered I think there’s one point that’s been bugging me since I finished the game that I think answers a lot of those unanswered questions
Of course spoilers from here out and sorry for weird formatting I’m on mobile also TLDR at the bottom
So I’ll go over the widely accepted points leading up to this. The pool was created by people from the future to prevent some kind of Mass Extinction event from destroying humanity as we know it and Edward Crow’s father disrupted the process of bringing people back while Edward himself continued the process of mining the roots and further disrupted the time travel device. Pretty much all of that is confirmed in game very explicitly. But there are a few questions that remain unanswered; why choose 1988 to come back? What was the disaster that cause the process to begin with? What are the numbers 2106 supposed to mean?
Now a lot of what I’ve seen for theory’s on the answers above are fairly in line, the disaster was some kind of global warming or climate crisis because it parallels with the Crows abuse of the roots as corroborated with some paintings in blood that appear later in the game. But I have one question that I haven’t seen anywhere else in discussions about the game (not that it isn’t there I just haven’t seen it) that I think provides a better argument for the disaster being a plague caused by a bootstrap paradox.
My question is……..Why in that location specifically? Maybe it’s just bc I’m from the ATL area I was super curious why the British devs chose that area for the setting of the game. Imagine your world is dying and you HAVE to find a way to prevent it from ever happening, (presumably after trying everything else bc I doubt time travel and potentially destroying all of reality is anyone’s first pick) why build your saving grace in Atlanta, Georgia? It isn’t a major metropolitan area, it’s not the capital of the U.S or some huge political force and it’s certainly NOT super open to change especially in the later 80’s. So why Atlanta? My theory is because it’s the home for the Center of Disease Control. That’s the only real reason to pick the ATL area for your last ditch effort to prevent a disaster. If they could get the disease in front of medical experts and have them analyze the infection and create a cure then the disaster would never really happen in the first place.
But then that begs the question of why 1988? Now here’s where I think the bootstrap paradox comes into play.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term it basically describes a thought experiment of time travel when an event is repeated due to itself causing a causal loop. Say a time traveler was a huge fan of Mozart, so he travels back in time to see him but when he gets to the time period where Mozart was popular he finds there is no Mozart. So he decides to write all of Mozart’s music and perform them himself under the name Mozart, thus “creating” the persona of the famous artist. The question becomes who originally wrote Mozarts music? It’s a surprisingly common trope in pop culture: Back to the Future with Chuck Berry’s song “Johnny B. Good” all of Skynet from the Terminator series, even my example above is stolen from Dr. Who.
So how is Crow Country a BSP? I think the time travelers from the future picked 1988 because it was the first time the disease was documented in official records, from Elaine’s trip to the hospital. I also think the disease was caused from the disruption of the pool which is why they never understood its origin enough to re-engineer a cure and why Edward Crow could. In my theory as well I don’t think the tougher and more diverse enemies later in the game were caused by the CC team further excavating the roots, I think it was caused by people who were already infected coming through the portal. It doesn’t really make sense for them to be from Edward digging up more of the roots, he had been doing that for years up until the start of the game. So something else had to change over the short period of time shown in the game itself and I think that’s infected people coming through hoping to be cured since it should have been long enough from when the first “Guest” arrived that the cure had been developed.
Finally for the two endings of the game. The bad ending obviously is the one where you don’t take the cure and decide to (presumably) let everyone die from the infection, thus burying the cure and dooming all of humanity. The good ending is you decide to trust Crow and take the cure, thus saving yourself and potentially others by the cure being able to be synthesized from your blood. I think that’s also why Crow isn’t able to describe the future yet when he comes back out of the pool, because by that point in the timeline you haven’t picked whether to save everyone or not.
TLDR; Crow Country is a bootstrap paradox cause by the bacterial disease that develops from coming out of the pool. That’s why the pool was built(?) in the ATL area, why the time travelers chose 1988 and why the two endings have greater meaning beyond just the fate of your characters that survived.
Feel free to tell me if I’m wrong or poke holes in this theory I just couldn’t stop thinking about it and wanted to put it out there!

Azren
Azren Alarick, or as she prefers to be called, Ren, is a cambion, born from the venereal union of human and demon. Her conception was actually brought to by a satanic cult, who sacrificed one of their younger female members to birth her. They planned to raise her into a powerful soldier, however, a wizard busted into their base and killed all of them, for good reason. The wizard, Alarick, considered killing Ren too, but his heart was too big for that, so he took her home to raise as his own. Over the years, Alarick taught Ren to harness and control her demonic magic, and did the best he could to raise her until he died of old age when she was 16. After that, Ren took to traveling the world, intending on collecting a talisman from every continent of the world to place around her father's grave. Certain demons were attracted to her throughout her journey, attempting to either kill her, recruit her, or some other weird satanic thing, however, she had no trouble slaying them. One day, when she was 21, she was fooled by a serpentine shapeshifting demon taking the form of a little girl, who asked her to help find the girl's mother. The demon dragged Ren across seven different towns before the E.C.U, a task force devoted to neutralizing demonic beings, ambushed them and attempted to bring them both down. Ren assumed they were crazy until the girl revealed her true serpentine form and tried to kill her, to which Ren responded by cleaving it in half with one swing. She tried to leave after but the E.C.U soldiers were intent on questioning her, as they believed all demons were in alliance. She told them what she was and that she hated demons as well, purely to get them off her back, but eventually, a commander made an appearance and asked Ren to join the E.C.U, to which Ren said no. But after visiting her father's grave, she persuaded herself to join, just to see if she could finally rid Earth of demons for good.
Ren is a relatively laid-back, calm individual, save for a few random bursts of energy and hype. She has trouble taking stuff seriously sometimes, and grasping the importance of certain things. Like seriously, if you're panicking about something, unless you're having a goddamn panic attack, she'll just tell you to calm down. She's kind of a show off...okay she's a total show off, she'll hit you with a flashy ass move and then drop a one-liner like she's straight from an MCU film.
Something else about her is that she's gender-fluid, most of the time she's fem-presenting but sometimes she feels like a boy. Being a cambion, she has the ability to shapeshift, it's limited, but she can do it, so when she does feel like a boy she just shapeshifts into one. Thing is, she barely changes herself, she just flattens her chest, shortens her hair a bit, and makes her voice deeper. So some days, she'll just walk out of her barracks in her male form and everyone will be like "...what the fu-". She WON'T tell anyone until someone asks either.
She's also aromantic, so romance isn't really her thang, but sex is cool. Ren views sex in a weird way. She sees it as...how do I say this, an activity. A fun little sport to do with a cool person. She's the type of person to rock your goddamn world and then dap you up and call you 'buddy'. She tries her best not to lead people on but sometimes it can't be helped.
Last thing I want to mention about her before I throw her to the wolves (cough cough, y'all) , is that her demonic and human genes mix together to give her a weird mutation. It's an ability that allows her to compact a demonic being's body and magical essence into an energy orb and eat it. Afterwards, her body will mutate physically and she'll be able to use the demon's magic. She can turn the mutation on and off at will, and she can only use one demon's powers at a time, but it's still a formidable power.
Alright, now, if any of you have any questions about my girl/boy (sometimes), put em in the comments below!

First / Previous / Royal Road / Patreon (Read 12 Chapters Ahead)

Together, Pale and Kayla dragged the mage back to the cave they'd been using for shelter, barely managing to get him inside before the snowfall began again. Pale tied his hands behind his back and his legs together using some paracord she had in her pack, and the two of them stood over the man, staring down at him.
"What now?" Kayla asked. "Do we wait for him to-"
Pale cut her off by bringing the stock of her shotgun across the berserker's face. He reeled from the strike, suddenly catapulting awake, his eyes wide as several of his teeth came spilling out across the stone cave floor. He coughed, spitting out a glob of blood before fixing her with a harsh glare. Smoke began to rise from his palms, but Pale stopped him by putting the barrel of her gun flush with his crotch.
"Unless you want to lose something, I'd suggest keeping your magic under control," she threatened. "Because if I pull this trigger, there isn't a healer alive who'll be able to give back what you'll lose."
The man snarled at her, but the smoke curling up from his hands stopped all the same. He spat out more blood. "The fuck am I still alive for?"
"I think you know exactly what you're alive for. Now, are you going to play nice and tell us what we want to know, or am I going to have to force it out of you piece by piece?"
The mage grinned at her, showing off a mouth full of missing teeth and liquid crimson. "You really think I'd betray my brothers like that?"
"Last I checked, your brothers are all dead," Pale said absentmindedly. "But still, I was hoping you'd pick the hard way; I needed to relieve some stress."
She let her shotgun hang from its sling, then drew her knife. With her free hand, she grabbed one of his fingers, then positioned the blade at the tip.
"Last chance to offer up what you know," she threatened.
The mage barked out a laugh. "Fuck off. You really think I'd ever-"
His bravado suddenly gave way to an agonized scream as Pale forced the blade of her knife underneath his fingernail. He thrashed in agony as she twisted the knife before roughly yanking it free, taking the fingernail with it. She held the disembodied nail up to him, then flicked it away.
"Have I made my point?" she said evenly. "Because last I checked, you've still got nine fingers and ten toes, not to mention a variety of other things I could poke at and prod at and cut off. And when you run out of those, I can just start skinning you bit by bit."
"Fuck you…" he breathed through gritted teeth. "I'll never-"
She took another fingernail for his troubles. Idly, Pale was aware of Kayla flinching with every scream that erupted out of the man's throat, but that didn't bother her.
Kayla had specified no death, but that didn't mean she couldn't make this hurt like hell.
She again positioned the knife at one of his fingertips, only for him to give a weak, shuddering, pain-filled cough.
"W-wait…" he croaked.
"I see your tongue has been thoroughly loosened," she surmised, though she didn't dare to move the blade even a millimeter away from his next finger.
"What do you have for me?"
"I can give you our leader's name."
"And?"
"What do you mean, and? He doesn't tell us anything, he just pays us and feeds us, like any good leader should."
Pale's expression narrowed. "You had better give me something more substantial to go on, otherwise I have no reason to keep you around."
"Pale-" Kayla began, only to fall silent when she held up a hand. Reluctantly, Kayla backed down, though she continued to look on with concern as Pale's grip around her blade turned white-knuckled.
"Tell me something useful," Pale demanded. "Unless you want to see exactly how much pain I can commit to before I get bored."
"Okay, okay!" the bandit growled. "Fine… our leader's name is Sven Greymane, the warrior-king of the northern isles. He's the one who ordered us to attack certain towns on this continent."
"Is that why you sacked some and completely bypassed others?"
He nodded. "Yes. That was all part of the plan – he'd give us locations to attack, pay us in gold and food to attack them, and then let us keep whatever valuables we wanted afterwards."
"And did he tell you why he only wanted specific locations attacked, while others were to be spared?"
The mage shook his head. "No, and we knew better than to ask questions given how good of a deal it was."
Kayla suddenly stepped forwards. "One of those towns was my village," she growled. "Your friends captured several people, including my father, and took them back to the northern isles."
The mage leaned in, squinting to get a better look at her, before finally shrugging. "I don't know anything about that."
"Liar," Pale hissed.
"It's the truth. I wasn't involved with the attack on any Beastkin town."
"Of course, you'd say that," Kayla said through gritted teeth. "You're worried about what will happen to you if you admit to us here and now that you had something to do with it."
"Don't know what else to tell you. I had nothing to do with the attack on you and yours, and I didn't take any Beastkin slaves."
"Enough of this," Pale snapped. "How long do we have to find her father?"
The bandit cracked a wide grin at her. "You're probably already too late. If the girl's father is anything like her, then he's already been deemed to be useless as a slave – too mouthy for his own good, and mouthy slaves don't last very long among my people."
A vein pulsed in Kayla's forehead as she clenched and unclenched her fists. "Answer the question," she demanded. "Assuming he isn't murdered before we can get there, how long do slaves typically last while with your people?"
"Depends on the slave. Men tend to last longer, provided they're young enough and in good health. Of course, he was taken in the first place, so I assume that someone saw some value in him, at least enough to want him for themselves. Now, that only accounts for a berserker warrior having a bad day and killing someone as a result. If he's unlucky, he'll succumb to the elements before long." The mage shrugged. "It wouldn't make any sense for us to spend all that time capturing and enslaving someone only to let them die so soon, unless they just so happened to be a massive pain in the ass."
"So you claim," Pale said dismissively. "What else do you have for us?"
"I've told you enough," the man grunted. "Now hurry up and let me go."
"And why would I do that?" Pale demanded. "So you can go back to robbing and killing the innocent? Is your life really worth the lives of the people you'd kill if we let you go?"
"It is to her." He motioned towards Kayla, who was staring at him and trembling as she bit her lip, deep in thought.
Pale's eyes narrowed. "Kayla."
Kayla jumped slightly at the sound of her name being called. She hesitated for a moment before letting out a sigh. "...You should let him go."
"You know I can't do that, Kayla. If we let him go, he'll just go right back to doing what brought him here. Either we end this here and now and prevent him from taking more innocent lives, or he goes on for however long it takes for someone else to put him down."
"I know!" Kayla spat. "It's just… I don't know what to do… I don't want to be responsible for someone's death like this…"
"I understand that, but this is war," Pale insisted. "Death is an unavoidable part of that."
"What do you mean, war?" Kayla asked, horrified at the prospects of what Pale had just suggested. "You… you really are a soldier, aren't you? That's why you're doing this – it's a chance to do what you were made to do…"
"War is in my nature," Pale insisted. "It is why I was created. You are correct that this is a chance to fulfill my prime directive, but not in the way that you think." She turned her gaze back towards the bandit. "I need to get off this planet and back into the war I left behind before it's too late to save my creators. If killing this man will get me there faster, then I will not hesitate to do that."
"But… you can't know that killing him will help with that," Kayla pointed out. "He's just one man…"
"Every second spent debating his existence is one not spent working towards my ultimate goal. I ask for your input on what to do with him because I value your opinion as my ally, and do not wish to alienate you by leaving you out of major decisions such as that, but that does not mean I will not try to make you see reason when I think you are about to make a terrible decision." Pale sheathed her knife and hefted her shotgun. "You are concerned with the loss of innocent life, yes? Well, letting me kill this man will save an untold number of them. Is his life really worth all of theirs?"
"You can't think of it that way! He's still a person, too!"
"He is," Pale agreed. "But as far as I am concerned, his right to life is now forfeit, as he used it to torture and murder other people."
The bandit suddenly burst out laughing. "Listen to you two! You're honestly debating whether or not to take a life. How quaint, not to mention innocent. Consider me entertained."
Pale bashed him with the stock of her gun once more, knocking a few more of his teeth out in the process. As he coughed on blood and bone shards, she turned back to Kayla.
"See reason in this," she implored. "Letting him live means-"
"I know!" Kayla interrupted. Her wolf ears flattened against her skull, and in a quieter voice, she repeated, "...I know."
Her tail lashed behind her, and finally, she shook her head. "...I was willing to fight for you," she said softly. "I tried to convince you that you weren't just a killing machine – that you had a sjel, and that it was worth something. And maybe I was right. But even if I was… even if you're not just a killing machine… you seem dead-set on trying to be one. And if that's what you want, then who am I to stop you? Do what you want with him, Pale; after all, it's what you were programmed to do."
Kayla turned and marched out of the cave. Pale watched her go, waiting until she was completely gone before acting.
A single gunshot split the night.

Special thanks to my good friend and co-writer, Ickbard for the help with writing this story.

So just doing some simple math. We have 40,000 Follower. If we all bought 925shares @ 1.30 (the current price) thats $1202.5 each. 925 shares x 40,000 followers = 37,000,000 shares. Current free float it 37,000,000 shares. We would own 100% of the free float and then we hold. But lets get real some hold more than others. I currently have 25,000 shares at an average of .54...im doing my part for 27 people. So in reality we need less than 40,000 people to buy 925 shares. Lets get real again...the more we buy the high the price goes so do your part before it squeezes and those 925 shares no longer cost $1202.50....WE GOT THIS JUST BUY AND HOLD....THE MORE SYNTHETIC SHARES THEY CREATE EVEN BETTER...LETS SQUEEZE THOSE HEDGE FUNDS...NOW GET YOUR BUYS QUED AND READY FOR LIFT OFF!

Happy Wednesday, Barkada --

The PSE lost 49 points to 6634 ▼0.7%

Shout-out to Jing for alerting me to the crypto pump, to Rat Race Running for knowing that when talking about FILRT it's all about the context, to Atot for the positive feedback on Raymund's "would you rather" question on DDMPFILRT, to ApCap for simply laughing at FILRT, to Bestpupever for remembering MVP's botched Skycable deal, to grinsken, princessybyang, VodkaMartini_007, and Nv21 for the happy bday wishes, and to arkitrader for the accurate Tuesday meme.

▌In today's MB:

• VREIT Q1 div drops 23% q/q
• Ayala Land sells P3.2-B block of AREIT
• Figaro confirms "double-digit growth" plan
• Alliance Global injects P2.6-B into Megaworld

▌Daily meme Subscribe (it's free) Today's email

▌Main stories covered:

• [DIVS] VistaREIT Q1 dividend drops 23% q/q... VistaREIT [VREIT 1.75 ▲0.6%; 0% avgVol] [link] declared a Q1/24 dividend of ₱0.04132, payable on June 27 to shareholders of record as of June 5. The dividend has an annualized yield of 9.4% based on the previous closing price, which is considerably smaller than VREIT’s pre-dividend yield of 12.3%. The total amount of the dividend is ₱310 million, which is 100% of the ₱310 million in distributable income that VREIT declared for the quarter. Relative to VREIT’s IPO price, the div increased VREIT’s total stock and dividend return to 18.55% (up from 16.19%). The VREIT Q1 dividend is up 5.4% y/y, but down 23.2% q/q.
  
  • MB: I don’t know enough about VREIT to understand the quarter-on-quarter drop. This is the first dividend decrease in VREIT history, so we don’t have a past narrative of a Q4 to Q1 dip to gain comfort that this is just part of the regular business cycle for a malls-based REIT. Last year, VREIT’s dividend actually increased 1.5% between Q4/22 and Q1/23. But a 23% drop? *FILRT** be like: VREIT, I owe you an apology, I wasn’t familiar with your game. Does anyone have context to help me understand this one?*
• [UPDATE] Ayala Land sells ₱3.2-B worth of AREIT in block sale... Ayala Land [ALI 29.00 ▼2.4%; 121% avgVol] [link] disclosed that it sold 98 million common shares of AREIT [AREIT 33.00 ▼3.4%; 848% avgVol] in a private placement block sale at a price of ₱32.45/share. ALI said that the transaction was two-times oversubscribed at the clearing price, which was 5% under AREIT’s closing price from the previous day. The transaction raised ₱3.18 billion for ALI and increased AREIT’s public float to facilitate the planned property-for-share swap between ALI and AREIT.
  
  • MB: While I didn’t know exactly when this second block sale would happen, I did know that it was going to happen and I speculated back in January that it would probably come as a surprise and at a discounted price to AREIT’s market price at the time. Here’s a link to that analysis if you’re interested. At the end of the day, the first sale was at a 7.2% discount whereas this one was only at 5.0%, and the public float is now prepped to handle the SEC’s eventual approval of the transaction (whenever that happens) without plunging AREIT’s shareholders into chaos and confusion like what happened to *SP New Energy** [SPNEC 1.05 ▼0.9%; 85% avgVol] when the SEC approved its share swap and caught Leandro Leviste’s management team flat-footed.*
• [NEWS] Figaro confirms ₱1-B FY24 capex and “double-digit growth” target... Figaro [FCG 0.75 ▲1.4%; 95% avgVol] [link] confirmed statements made by its Chairman, Justin Liu, in an interview with Manila Bulletin. In that interview, Mr. Liu said that FCG’s FY24 capex target is ₱1 billion, that they’re looking to open 70 to 80 new stores this year, and that he expects this expansion effort to push earnings to grow “double-digits” this year. FCG confirmed all those statements. FCG’s indicated that it would expand from 150 stores at the end of 2022 to 300 stores by the end of 2029.
  
  • MB: According to its Q1/24 press release, FCG ended 2023 with 203 stores after adding 68 stores that year. If FCG were to put up another “70 to 80” stores this year, that would leave it with 273 to 283 total stores by the end of 2024, and give FCG plenty of time (5 years!) to complete the remaining 127 to 117 stores. Usually in the quick service restaurant world, periods of intense growth don’t correspond with periods of great profitability, so the “double digit” earnings growth target is what stands out to me the most. FCG net income was up 7.2% y/y last quarter, and that’s actually considerable given the previous year’s expansion and the current expansion, but that’s not double-digit growth. One thing that confuses me, though, is that in its Q1/23 quarterly report from a year earlier, FCG said that it ended 2022 with 150 stores. If it had 150 stores at the end of 2022 and then added 68 stores in 2023, shouldn’t it have 218 stores by now, not 203? I know, I know: 15 stores isn’t that big of a deal. Maybe it’s just a miscommunication between marketing and operations. Maybe there was a little bit of internal pressure to count 15 nearly-completed stores as completed stores in order to hit that IPO prospectus goal of 150 total stores by the end of 2022, and then they double-counted those 15 stores as part of the 2023 completes? I don’t know. I’m just going by the info they tell me. Any readers have any insight?
• [UPDATE] Alliance Global injects ₱2.6-B into Megaworld... Megaworld [MEG 1.89 ▼0.5%; 156% avgVol] [link] clarified the recent subscription of its parent company, Alliance Global [AGI 9.30 ▼2.8%; 185% avgVol], to 1.375 billion common shares at ₱1.90/share to say that it is part of a plan to increase MEG’s outstanding authorized capital stock by ₱5.5 billion (from ₱40.2 billion to ₱45.7 billion). MEG explained that it “intends to submit its application for increase in authorized capital stock... by around June 2024”, and will list the shares issued to AGI once the full payment of the subscription price is received. MEG said that the purpose of the sale and the larger transaction is for “supporting growth and future business expansions of [MEG] in line with [MEG’s] strategies and directions.”
  
  • MB: Once approved, this will give MEG’s management team 4.125 billion common shares that it can sell to fund its ambitious capex for FY24 and beyond. If MEG sold the remainder at the same ₱1.90/share price, that would bring in an additional ₱7.8 billion. If I were a shareholder, I’d be less concerned by the details of the transaction as I would be about the meaningless word salad of the rationale behind it. I know many MEG shareholders who are frustrated with the stock’s laggard price performance. MEG just recently touched a 12-year low, and is trading at prices that the stock has not seen since early 2012. It’s down 4% year-to-date, down 8.7% over the past 12 months, down 34% over the past 3 years, and down 69% (not nice) from its all-time high that it set back in July 2019. What’s the plan? So far it seems all I hear is “townships townships townships” but that “strategy and direction” hasn’t been profitable for shareholders for almost 5 years now.

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• Lesson video
• Complementary video

INTRO

Today you're going to set-up another user on your system. You're going to imagine that this is a help-desk person that you trust to do just a few simple tasks:

• check that the system is running
• check disk space with: df -h

...but you also want them to be able to reboot the system, because you believe that "turning it off and on again" resolves most problems :-)
You'll be covering a several new areas, so have fun!

YOUR TASKS TODAY

• Create a new user
• Create a new group
• Create a new user and add to an existing group
• Make a new user a sudoer

Follow this demo

ADDING A NEW USER

Choose a name for your new user - we'll use "helen" in the examples, so to add this new user:
sudo adduser helen
(Names are case-sensitive in Linux, so "Helen" would be a completely different user)
The "adduser" command works very slightly differently in each distro - if it didn't ask you for a password for your new user, then set it manually now by:
sudo passwd helen
You will now have a new entry in the simple text database of users: /etc/passwd (check it out with: less), and a group of the same name in the file: /etc/group. A hash of the password for the user is in: /etc/shadow (you can read this too if you use "sudo" - check the permissions to see how they're set. For obvious reasons it's not readable to just everyone).
If you're used to other operating systems it may be hard to believe, but these simple text files are the whole Linux user database and you could even create your users and groups by directly editing these files - although this isn’t normally recommended.
Additionally, adduser will have created a home directory, /home/helen for example, with the correct permissions.
ATTENTION! useradd is not the same as adduser. They both create a new user, but they interact very differently. Check the link in the EXTENSION section to see those differences.

ADDING A NEW GROUP

Let's say we want to all of the developers in my organization to have their own group, so they can have access to the same things.
sudo groupadd developers
On most modern Linux systems there is a group created for each user, so user "ubuntu" is a member of the group "ubuntu". But if you want, you can create a new user directly into an existing group, using the ingroup flag. So a new user fred would be created like this:
sudo adduser --ingroup developers fred

ADDING AN USER TO GROUPS

Users can also be part of more than one group, and groups can be added as required.
To see what groups you're a member of, simply type: groups
On an Ubuntu system the first user created (in your case ubuntu), should be a member of the groups: ubuntu, sudo and admin - and if you list the /valog folder you'll see your membership of the sudo group is why you can use less to read and view the contents of /valog/auth.log
The "root" user can add a user to an existing group with the command:
usermod -a -G group user
so your ubuntu user can do the same simply by prefixing the command with sudo.
Because the new user helen is not the first user created in the system, they don't have the power to run sudo - which your user has by being a member of the group sudo.
So, to check which groups helen is a member of, you can "become helen" by switching users like this:
sudo su helen
Then:
groups
If you try to do stuff only a sudo user can do, i.e. read the contents of /valog/auth.log, even using the prefix sudo won't work. Helen is not a sudo and has no permissions to perform this action.
Now type "exit" to return to your normal user, and you can add helen to this group with:
sudo usermod -a -G sudo helen
Instead of switching users again, simply run the groups helen to check. Try that with fred too and check how everything works.
See if any of your new users can sudo reboot.

CLEVER SUDO TRICKS

Your new user is just an ordinary user and so can't use sudo to run commands with elevated privileges - until we set them up. We could simply add them to a group that's pre-defined to be able to use sudo to do anything as root (like we did with helen) - but we don't want to give fred quite that same amount of power.
Use ls -l to look at the permissions for the file: /etc/sudoers This is where the magic is defined, and you'll see that it's tightly controlled, but you should be able to view it with: sudo less /etc/sudoers You want to add a new entry in there for your new user, and for this you need to run a special utility: visudo
To run this, you can temporarily "become root" by running:
sudo -i
Notice that your prompt has changed to a #
Now simply run visudo to begin editing /etc/sudoers - typically this will use nano.
All lines in /etc/sudoers beginning with "#" are optional comments. You'll want to add some lines like this:

# Allow user "fred" to run "sudo reboot" # ...and don't prompt for a password # fred ALL = NOPASSWD:/sbin/reboot 

You can add these line in wherever seems reasonable. The visudo command will automatically check your syntax, and won't allow you to save if there are mistakes - because a corrupt sudoers file could lock you out of your server!
Type exit to remove your magic hat and become your normal user again - and notice that your prompt reverts to: $

TESTING

Test by logging in as your test user and typing: sudo reboot Note that you can "become" helen by:
sudo su helen
If your ssh config allows login only with public keys, you'll need to setup /home/helen/.ssh/authorized_keys - including getting the owner and permissions correct. A little challenge of your understanding of this area!

EXTENSION

If you find this all pretty familiar, then you might like to check and update your knowledge on a couple of related areas:

• Restricting shell access
• Linux Password & Shadow File Formats
• What's the difference between 'useradd' and 'adduser'?
• How to create users and groups in Linux from the command line
• Learn how to use the $EDITOR environmental variable to set your default editor to vim. With this done, visudo will use vim rather than nano for editing.

RESOURCES

• How To Edit the Sudoers File
• Sudo – An Advanced Howto
• A cartoon that should now make sense!
• Basic Linux Permissions: sudo and sudoers (video)

PREVIOUS DAY'S LESSON

• Day 12 - Transferring files

Some rights reserved. Check the license terms here

England
Apologies, may be long but I’ll try to summarise mostly at the top, and then provide full excerpts of emails for detail if needed.
I own a leasehold flat and our management company is in the process of replacing our door entry system for buzzing people into the building. No consultation with flat owners was done on what the replacement system should be. The cost is being covered by insurers as the current system has been damaged by someone.
Currently the system works by the person/visitor punching in a flat number on the outside panel, this rings a phone in our flat (and also has a video screen) and we can let them in with a button. The system they’re planning to replace it with removes the phone unit in our flat and requires a phone number to be called by the system, and then we buzz the person in through an app on our phone.
Personally I think this is an unacceptable replacement due to the requirement of having a phone number for the system to call to simply be able to answer our doors.
When I asked what if someone doesn’t have a phone/doesn’t want to give their number to a company for the purpose of opening their door to guests, I was essentially told the advice is to just “buy one”. They also completely misunderstood my question of “What if I lose my phone?” - just telling me to let them know and they can remove my phone number from the system. Clearly not understanding that then I’d be without the ability to answer the door for visitors/post workers and such.
Maybe I’m being unreasonable (if you think I am please do say), but I don’t think this is a tenable solution for a replacement system.
I’m wondering if there is any legal basis to resist the new system on? It’s materially different (in my opinion at least. And I appreciate that from an outside perspective maybe it is not) from what was/currently is in place when I purchased my flat, and has potential issues that simply shouldn’t exist for a building entry system.
Happy to provide any more detail, and mildly resigned to also be told that I can’t do anything and just have to accept it.
Initial email from the management company
“Whilst this system is being bespokely fabricated we now need some details from each resident in each flat. This will be the mobile phone number that you wish to receive door entry calls from to allow access. This number will normally be the owner or tenants living there. You can have more than one mobile attached to the system. The system will call the primary number and if not answered it will then call the secondary number. You do not have to use more than one number.
When you answer the door as you would any call you will be able to see the person asking for access and speak to them on your phone. If you wish to allow access you press the hash key on your phone and this releases the door. We will give much more detail nearer the time but this is a summery for now.
All those using the system will need to download the app on the device/s they will have registered to the system to give access.”
My questions to them and their responses
“As there is to be no unit in the flats:

• What is the case for people with no phones? – Unfortunately there will be no access to the system, The system can be used by a landline or mobile if a person has neither we have previously advised to get a cheap pay as you go mobile and leave in the flat. This has worked on previous blocks.
  
• What is the case for people that simply do not wish to provide their personal number to an unknown company to be able to answer their door? - It is very unusual for someone not to provide a number to be attached to the system, it doesn’t have to be there personal number it could be again a sim card just for the door entry/intercom system.
  
• For people that do agree to have their number shared, what happens if their phone is lost? – if someone’s phone is lost we ask them to get in contact with us so the number can be deleted from the system”
  

Izuku's Quirk combines many elements of different blacksmith techniques across reality and general fantasy themes. It allows for the enchantment of his creations, creation and forging of fantasy/hypothetical materials, and an upgradable forging hammer that started it all.
It starts off with the sudden materialization of a seemingly regular but ratty forging hammer. Anyone else that attempts to weild the hammer often feel a sense of judgment before being burned. That's all the doctor and anyone else at the time thought he could do (and thus managed to escape AFO's notice). It leads into an intrest in traditional blacksmithing, and after managing to make a usable tool, after a blinding flash of light the hammer looks line a normal, unblemished forging hammer. It feels pleased. He can now create Earthen metals in ore form at the cost of the matter around him. This limitation stays with him no matter how upgraded the hammer is, transmuting materials will always result in it being in the form of an Ore, albeit a pure Ore with no stone or impurities within it. As he gets more skilled and the more hurdels he crosses in his blacksmithing, the more abilities and occasionally knowledge he unlocks.
Eventually he would reach his full potental, and it really lives up to the name Blacksmith's Dream. * Enchanting materials and weapons with Quirk Samples (DNA or residue from the quirk itself, like Kurogiri's mist. Costs stamina to make one, and the material had better be able to withstand the intensity of the enchantment or it'll crumble into dust. Intensity refers to what part of the Quirk's abilities are being used to fuel it and how compatible with the item it is. Basic enchantments like sharpness and duribility are stackable with Quirked Enchantments, and take basically nothing away from any material, though the number of times enchanted and general skill in enchanting does increase or decrease its chances of crumbling),
*creating weapons capable of sealing away entities (prisons really love him. Villains hate being able to see and hear the world pass by without them but being soulbound to an item for all of eternity or until the damn thing breaks),
*sentient weapons(which he quickly realized his hammer was after unlocking that option, they're really just judgemental items that choose their weilder based on a trait or concept in the soul of the handler and then dont let anyone else use them until the death of the user, although they do transfer the skills of the most skilled weilder they had, this includes their original Quirk in the item's form, though slightly weakened. Izuku's is an exception because its an asshole and thinks that he should earn the right to use its skills, which... fair. But come on why does eveyone else get the easy requirements! At least he gets hints...),
*cursed weapons(mostly accidental creations, made by the corruption of a sentient weapon or the hijacking of a sealed weapon by the sealed consciousness inside it. It takes a strong soul to corrupt a sealed weapon and the things will posses anyone who equips them. Same situation with the sentient weapon one, but they are worse because they typically hate everything thats not dead or inanimate and influence the weilder to kill or go insane from the voices in their head.),

• creation of whatever materials he would ever need(even if it did require him to make a theoretical combination of metals and materials to make them if it didnt already exist on earth and yes Quirk Residue does count as a material. Once Izuku makes it, it's been on earth before and he no longer needs specific materals to make them)

*and the ability to appraise people and items (is the diamond real or not? Is this person's Quirk compatible with this weapon or armor or does he need to reforge it and infuse it with their DNA? Is that stranger's Quirk usable to make the material I need? Is this peice of tech useable to upgrade this item?)

Throw away account bc privacy. For a very long time, i (20m) have struggled with a corn addiction. I had two relationships prior to the one i am in now, and my problem never came up as an issue. to be clear I am well aware the harm this addiction does to me, and regardless find myself having the urge to stop. Because my first two relationships never required that I quit, I didnt. All the while, however, completly ashamed of myself and lied to everyone about the severity of my problem. My current girlfriend asked if i watched porn and made it clear how disgusting she thought it was, and shamefully, I lied to her about the fact that I did. this continued for a while and my problem did not get better. there was a period in our relationship that I paid for onlyfans. There is no excuse for that, Im still not sure why i thought it was a good idea, but i did it anyway. one day she found out and became reasonably upset over the fact that not only do i actually watch porn and lied about it, but also that I had bought an onlyfans while we were dating. this led to a week or so of unsteadyness before she decided to break up with me. I was devestated and really wanted to quit, but kept falling back into it (although not nearly at the rate that i was consuming before, 1-2 times a day to 1-2 times over 5 days). Five days later she talked to me and said she wanted to get back together with me, but if i watched porn she would break up with me again. it has been almost a month since we got back together I watched porn 3 times. I felt like it was fine because it wasnt a video or even of a real person, but she found out, and is now (reasonably) furious with me again and hurt that i kept it from her for a second time. I really do love my girlfriend and want to be with her for as long as possible if not forever, and I feel like even though I continued watching corn, the fact that i was doing so less and less was progress. She doesnt think so. As im writing this I am realizing how stupid my question is and i know that i completly disregarded the boundary that she put up, but is there anything I can do to keep my girlfriend?