Hello everyone. Looking for a bit of advice on behalf of a family member who is currently employed at a convenience store full time. He is 54 years old and has been working at this place for several years. Recently it has come to my attention that he is getting paid less than the national minimum wage at £6 an hour. On his payslip it apparently would show the correct wage but in actual fact he is on £6 an hour (cash in hand). He also told me he agreed to this when he first was employed. I find this disgusting and don’t know where to go from here, would this be considered as modern day slavery? He feels as if he is trapped in this job and there is nothing else for him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated on what legal action can be taken. Thank you
Based in Scotland

Recently I’ve moved to Fort Walton Beach, Florida which is about 10-15 minutes away from Eglin AFB. I moved down here all the way from Minnesota to take a dream job as a marine mammal trainer. As many of you know, Eglin AFB is home to a lot of interesting sightings that cannot be explained. More recently, congressman Matt Gaetz talking about a briefing at the AFB where he saw something he couldn’t explain. More recently, an image of an unidentified craft that appears to be man made.
Anyway, I was going to grab a drink with some friends(coworkers) at a local bar next to the beach and found them already talking to someone once I arrived. For obvious reasons I won’t be saying the name of the individual, for their own safety and because personally I don’t feel like they even gave me their correct name. It felt more like a nickname. He showed me a picture of him in his uniform the day he was re assigned to work at the base from another one in the US.
Anyway, long story short, I’m a gay man and this individual was also a gay man and of course we connected at that and ended up spending a few hours with him talking to him. Drinks are poured. Shots are taken. We bring up our places of work and he says he is in the Air Force. He tells me what he does, and instantly I start pushing him for information.
“Have you ever seen anything you can explain?” 1st answer - “No I see everything.” “Right but is there anything on radar that you come across that can’t be explained by basic science.” 2nd answer - “Yes.”
Times goes by and I ask again -
“Are there things that you cannot talk about because they are secret military ‘craft’ Answer - “Absolutely. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve seen.”
We left the conversation at that as I felt bad about prying for more information. This was my first time experiencing confirmation first hand and in person about a military employee confirming there are things he sees every day that he can’t explain.
It just left me in absolute wonder. There’s so much they are not telling us.

My bf and I have been together for 10 years. We have always fought but it has gotten so much worse since I gave birth to our child last summer. We tried living together briefly back in 2015 but one night he came home drunk (he’s not supposed to drink because he blacks out after a few drinks and gets even more abusive.) I regret it but I slapped his face. He proceeded to punch me in the head repeatedly and tried to strangle me. I got away and grabbed a knife to defend myself, he grabbed it from me and threw it at me. A big butcher knife missed my head by about 6 inches. I kicked him out after that but did not break up.
Fast forward to this past year. I was one month postpartum and we got into an argument. I can’t even remember why but I did get mad at him and threatened to report him to the IRS because he worked under the table and didn’t claim it on his taxes. He got on top of me and put his hands around my neck. I managed to push him off but he took my phone and blocked the front door. I grabbed my one month old and ran out the back door. I screamed for help but no one came. I made it about six blocks and he managed to convince me to get in the car. Said he would get help but that never happened.
In April we got into another argument which led to him putting his hands around my neck again. I fought him off and went and sat in a parking lot to calm down. I’ve been going to therapy for a while (by myself) because I’m tired of the fighting and I don’t want our daughter to witness the abuse. But there is only so much I can do when he isn’t even trying.
Oddly the last straw for me was yesterday. The night before I got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, which woke him up. I asked him where the brownies were and he was pissed but got them for me. The next day I wanted another brownie, I looked for them but couldn’t remember where they were. He started yelling at me in front of our daughter and called me a “fucking asshole” and all sorts of other names.
Understandably this morning I wasn’t happy with him. He got mad that I was mad (didn’t yell or insult him, he could tell by the tone of my voice.) I let him know I was still upset about the brownie incident and he blamed it on me waking him up. Because I had to go to the bathroom.
I want to leave so bad but I don’t make much money and some of it goes to him. I watch our daughter during the day and work part time at night. I am just waiting on her birth certificate to come in the mail (never got one for some reason) then I’m going to get a full time job and put her in daycare. I have an opportunity for housing but it won’t be until October or November. I don’t want to miss this opportunity. It’s so far away and I’m just worried he will convince me to not leave. Or I will think things are going great, he’s changed so I should just stay. I would kick my future self right now if I ended up staying.
I love him so much but I can’t let my daughter grow up in a household like this. What can I do to make sure I leave him in OctobeNovember? How do I keep myself together until then?

So, you came across my roleplay info either by snooping or you were directed from my posts! Let's not waste time and get into the info. Firstly, this is mainly for romance. At certain points I may feel like I want to do a different rp genre, but this is the go to for romance
Firstly, I'm a bit of an odd ball when it comes to what characters I play. Aside from not playing Canon characters, I also don't play big strong dominat men. I perfer playing a more adorable, sub male and I enjoy it when my partner plays a flirty soft dom female, as I enjoy wholesome rps and gentle doms.
As for kinks, a few that I can list at the top of my head are as follows. Foreplay, hand jobs, blow jobs, flirty females, after care, praising, wholesome moments, cure nicknames.
As for limits. Hairy body parts, sweat, spit, anything rough, cheating.

As stated above this is my current situation. After receiving the denial letter from workers comp. I immediately filed a form 33, to appeal the decision & request a hearing. After that suddenly my workers comp claim adjuster was switched to a different person (might I add that I’ve called numerous times within the past month, and I haven’t received a single call back from her till today). I asked her since this claim was switched to her if there was a way for the decision to be reversed, that way I don’t have to go to a hearing. Her response was no that’s not a possibility. I was hoping when submitted the form 33, somebody new would review it realize that it really is a workers comp case & take it over. I did contact short term disability today, and spoke with somebody new about the situation. She said oh you just have to submit the denial letter (the original person that called to tell me it was denied said there was nothing she could do since it was a workplace injury/accident, even after I told her workers comp denied me). I looked into getting an attorney, but I don’t like that you have to sign a contract stating you’re willing to terminate employment. That’s not what I want. I just want them to cover the surgery costs, post operative appointments, therapy, meds, and time I have to be out which is a total of 12 weeks. I just want to be prepared for the hearing since it looks like that is the direction this is heading, but I love my job & where I work. I do not want to terminate employment. Has anybody else ever had issues with this in the past?
TLDR: injured at work back in April, while imaging a patient, patient did not follow instructions, rolled all their weight on the side I had my hands under. Sustained a TFCC tear, had to have surgery at the end of May. Workers comp denied, form 33 submitted, STD denied as well. Should I get an attorney?

My neighbor behind me is retired, and they apparently love to do yardwork, despite their own health issues (which they remind me of at every interaction we have), and I don't have a problem with them for wanting to keep a nice yard. Evidently, they do NOT think I keep a nice enough yard. For context, I am disabled and dealing with health issues that make doing yard work difficult. They have a large plot of land comparatively to mine, yet most of the time they are outside doing work, they are doing it along the common fence to my backyard. My house is built into a hill, so their land is higher than mine. This allows them to stand higher up and see into both the first and second floors of the back of my house. The property line is roughly 20 feet from the back of my house, so when they're working in their yard at the fenceline, they're a lot closer than I'd like, but it's their yard, and I don't think I can do anything about it, short of putting up a taller fence.
Last Summer, when my wife and I were out doing some yard work, the husband of the retired couple ambushed my wife, telling her what a blight on the neighborhood our house is and how terrible we were, all for having some weeds poking through bark dust in an easement between our side fence and the sidewalk. They go on a walk and it was too distressing for them to walk past the weeds every day. I'd found on previous occassions piles of weeds that I didn't pick left in my bark dust, so I can tell it's frustration thats built up for them. But we just never go that way up the street or walk around that part of the fence unless we are specifically doing yard work over there.
My wife felt threatened when the husband ambushed her, so she came running to me, and I went to try to talk to the neighbor. He told me the same thing, how we were terrible neighbors, never say hi (I say hi to his wife when she's out on her walks - I'm never out there when they're both out), have terrible yards, yada, yada, yada. I told him that we do the best we can because of health issues, but then he used his own health issues as competition and he still can do his yard work. (Yay for you, I guess?)
I told him to leave us alone, we're doing the best we can, and he launched into pent up frustration over the house being built into "their view" and the house being too tall for city code, having an illegal french drain, etc. I'm assuming everything was approved, inspected, etc, by the city, so I don't know what he's smoking. I didn't have my house built, but I am the first occupant, so I am not responsible for any of the decisions on architecture, landscape design, drainage, etc.
Later, his wife came and apologized, and then sent him to apologize, which I accepted and was happy to move on.
Over the fall, the neighbors came up into my driveway next to my house to get my yard debris garbage can and sweep out the storm runoff. This is down and around the corner from their house, so I don't know why they felt entitled or compelled to come down to my house and use my garbage can for leaves that will be replaced in 15 minutes by the plentiful trees across the street. They told me it's my duty as a homeowner to keep the drain clear, but we have street sweepers, and talking to the City manager over street sweepers, he assured me I have no duty (at least as far as the city is concerned), and if my neighbor has an issue with the poor job the street sweepers do, he can call the city to complain.
When it started to freeze/snow outside, the neighbors felt compelled to scrape and shovel the sidewalks in front of my house (but none of the other houses down from or across the street from me). When I went to try to have a friendly hello, they implied I should be doing the shoveling so that the neighbor up the street from them could go for her walks without slipping.
Over Christmas, a Walmart delivery was accidentally dropped at their door instead of mine. Despite the label having my name and address, they opened the item. When they realized it wasn't theirs, they called Walmart to report it, instead of just dropping it off at my house. Recognizing it was their house from the photo that was sent to me of the delivery, I went over there. They pretended no delivery had happened, and when I showed them the photo, they didn't want to give me the item since Walmart apparently told them Walmart would take care of it (so free item for them that they didn't order?). But I needed the item, and when they finally handed it over to me, they said they didn't even know what it was or how to use it. It was an external hard drive, and if so, why did you try so hard to not give it to me? I played it off to them as a simple mistake, no biggie, etc.
During an ice storm, they got out a snow blower to clean off their driveway, and they pointed the ejection chute at my house, sending the large 3-inch thick ice chunks flying at my windows. I went out there and flagged them down and asked them to point the flying shards of frozen death and destruction into their own yard please.
As the weather has turned nicer into summer, I've been finding more pulled weeds/grass left for me in the easement to pick up, but only where they can have the fence for cover. They don't do it in the part of my front yard that I could see.
Just now as I was coming home, I found the husband cleaning up the storm drain in front of my house again and dumping it into my garbage can. It's not like it's plugged/covered. The nearby trees had dropped pine cones and some sort of pods that collected near the drain, and he was using his hands to scoop it all into my yard debris can. He lit out of there pretty fast when I pulled in, and I wasn't going to chase him. Even if it's only for the principle of it, it's my garbage can that I pay for, it kinda ticked me off.
I feel like I'm in the "ratcheting up" phase of an episode of "Fear Thy Neighbor". I don't complain to them about any of the things they do, aside from asking them to not send ice chunks into my house. They have a dog that barks at everything, all the time, and their idea of correction is to softly say "stop that" over and over and over and over... I never say anything. On multiple occassions, the husband likes to kill moles by lighting M80s, dropping them into the mole hole, and covering them with a flat rock, and never gives neighbors any forewarning. So I've had what sounded like gunfire or small explosions directly behind my house. I didn't say a word. They're constantly standing in their back yard just looking into our house. At the risk of making things even more awkward, or worse, I don't say anything.
I feel like my tactic of ignoring him/them and just trying to live my own life isn't really working for me, because they somehow have decided to pick on me, my family, and our house for just existing. So I'm looking for ideas on what to do. I'm considering a taller fence (currently it's a 4 ft cyclone), but if I am the polite neighbor and let them know, I'm afraid they'd do something to prevent it, and if I just do it, I'm afraid they'll sic the city or some other authority on me. But I'm guessing/hoping a fence contractor would know what I can and cannot do with regards to city code, property lines, etc... I'm at a loss for what to do, and confrontation isn't my thing unless I absolutely have to. Especially in situations like this, I don't feel like it ever goes well. Grumpy, nosey, busy-bodies don't like to be told to leave others alone, and people with time and resources (which they have) can cause problems.
TLDR: I feel like the neighbor is harassing me for just existing and not keeping my yard up to their national monument park-like standards. I'm going out of my way to not provoke anything, but I don't think it's working for me. Looking for realistic suggestions to get them off my case. Thx

Advice on how to navigate this situation as well as answering if I'm the asshole here would be greatly appreciated. Huge apologies for the amount of context here, if you want to skip the context to the main part of the story, start at the "Last Night" or "This is where it gets bad" paragraphs.
To preface I 22F and my mom 60F have had a complex relationship since I was young. She grew up in a household with a dad that had a lot of anger issues and has tried not to reenact that behavior. My dad has always been very passive, so when raising us, a lot of the "punishment" for bad behavior fell on my mom. I understood this made things difficult for her and I always knew she loved us very much so I kind of just accepted the way we were raised as normal or better than normal since she really put a lot of time and effort into us. I do believe I've been very lucky and had a great childhood.
Recently, however, I've been questioning if my mom's behavior and treatment of me and my sister is normal. I just got into my first relationship and have found myself repeating a lot of her behaviors. It's been devastating to my relationship and I couldn't figure out why I was so explosive, accusatory, and immature until I got home from college and saw how my mom acted. When I got home she was really angry at my sister. I was still trying to finish a take home exam when she came into my room to yell at me and vent her anger at my sister on me. I tried to respond and she started mocking me in a childish voice. It's pretty freaky to open your eyes to reality and realize that it isn't normal for a 60 year old to mock you in a little baby voice when you're trying to have a conversation with them. That's when I started to think that maybe the levels of immaturity and aggression she showed towards us were not normal. I used to think things like she "only" slapped me in the face three times as a kid and the last time was when I was 8... but now I just wonder how you could slap an 8 yr or younger child in the face at all.
I admit I'm an annoying adhd kid, I've always been "fiesty", I never accepted just being yelled at or punished without reason - and I would yell back at my mom sometimes as a kid. I have a younger sister 17F who is the quieter of the two of us and clams up instead of fighting back and my mom doesn't really yell at or I guess verbally abuse her because she "can't take it like I can" (according to mom). But in these cases my mom will use me as a tool to vent her anger when she can't get a reaction out of my quiet sister. She once told me that she caught herself just wanting to start a fight with me and yell at me for no reason. This is the kind of logic her anger follows - it comes out of nowhere and it feels best to avoid her altogether than to accidentally catch her on a rampage out of nowhere. The only problem is you can't win - if you avoid her it makes her angry, if you're around her she'll find a reason to be angry at you. The only person who avoids this is my dad but even he mostly avoids her during the day by working.
Anyways, last bit of context, I'm 22 living at home for the summer and I don't have a job :( . I've been working on getting one every day but I've also been focusing on securing a fall internship which has taken a lot of time and priority in my eyes. To my parents, of course, they think I'm a lazy piece of shit. Fine. I'll just keep working hard to get a job or internship and when I get one she'll leave me alone and stop calling me a loser.
Last night I stayed up late working on job applications, I set my alarm for 9am. I awoke at 7am to the sound of loud screaming downstairs. It was my mom yelling at me and my sister to get out of bed, saying that we're losers and need to get our asses out of bed. This went on for an hour. I texted her saying that I had stayed up late working, had trouble sleeping from allergies, and set my alarm for 9 so I would like to sleep until then. She continued to yell at my sister from downstairs for another hour while I tried to sleep through it. (No idea why she didn't just come upstairs and knock on our doors to ask us up or tell us she wanted us up early last night). Either way, my sister eventually got up and my mom stopped yelling.
This is where it gets bad. I went into my office area to work on job applications and finalize my apartment rent payment for college. My mom texted me to "get my ass downstairs now" and I replied that I couldn't because the apartment webpage would clock me out and I would have to start over. I finish working on it as she barges into my room and starts yelling at me about how my sister is an "idiot" and how stupid she is and ungrateful she is. Then she starts saying "you and your sister are so stupid and ungrateful". This pisses me off because I constantly say thank you and consider myself a fortunate person. I work very hard to make my parents proud and to compensate for all the time and money they've put towards my education etc. So I respond with a pretty snarky "yeah".
She lunges at me and I flinch because she's done this kind of thing plenty of times before although its been a while. This time though, she grabs my neck. I'm sitting in a swivel desk chair and she pushes it back while grabbing my neck. I tried to push her away but I was focused on the chair falling backwards and getting her hand off my neck. As the chair fell backwards my glasses got pushed off and I hit my head on the printer behind me. She was over me trying to push me more into the printer and onto the ground. I don't know what came over me but it was at this point while she was over me as I was falling to the ground that I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was so angry and scared. The scream stunned her and I knew it would work because she would be afraid of the neighbors and the rest of the house hearing. I kicked her back since my legs were in the air and she fell back to the ground. I got up and started crying as I yelled at her "what the fuck?!" "what's wrong with you" "I hate you" She got up and tried to throw herself towards me again and I pushed her but not very hard and started to run away. I knew I didn't push her hard enough to keep her away from me even as I turned to run and was scared she was going to grab me as I ran and physically confront me. Surprisingly, she didn't. I ran to my room and slammed the door. I panicked and ran into my bathroom just as she ran in after me. I barely closed the door and locked it in time. I pushed myself against the door and she rammed the door several times screaming at me to open the door. I just shouted NO! NO! YOU GRABBED MY NECK LEAVE ME ALONE. She left and cursed me out. I heard her go downstairs and mock me "I'm (my name) I'm sooo dramatic waa waa waa I like to make everything dramatic boo hoo". She then came back into my room (outside bathroom door) and started saying "You're an idiot. Why do you have to make things so crazy and dramatic. This is why you're a loser, this is why you have no friends". It was straight out of a narcissist's playbook. I should've stayed quiet but I yelled back "I don't give a fuck what you say! You grabbed my neck! You made me feel like I had to defend myself! I don't care what you say!". Then she told me "Congratulations, you can pack your bags" and left.
For reference, this is the most physical confrontation between us we have ever had. I have never, ever initiated physical aggression, nor have I ever felt the need to defend myself like this. That is why I was so scared and screamed/cried.
I stood pushing my whole body weight against the bathroom door for a while, trying not to cry. My leg started shaking uncontrollably and when I finally stepped away from the door I had ridges in my hands from pushing the door so hard. An hour later, my palms turned tingly and red and splotchy - maybe an adrenaline response like the shaking leg? Idk.
I snuck out to get my computer a while ago, she took my phone from my office so I couldn't find it but I've been sitting in the locked bathroom for a few hours now and have written this while in here.
Please tell me what to do. I don't have my own car yet, I'm living at home. My boyfriend lives out of state. I don't have a friend's house I can stay at and I don't have a job. I'm 100% stuck here or homeless. My parents made sure I relied on them for everything and I just wish I hadn't let my mom discourage me from applying to internships in my college town where I could stay in my own apartment alone and away from her.
I'm stuck in the bathroom.
What do I do now.
TLDR; I was rude to my mom and she grabbed my neck and pushed me to the ground. I kicked her away and screamed at her. I locked myself in my bathroom and don't know how to get out of this house or situation.

I've been a SA for about 2 years. I was waiting to leave this job after I finish my degree in IT with only 4 classes left. I'm getting hit up for jobs ranging from SA to entry to mid Cyber gigs. At first I had no motive to get into Cyber but on the other hand this job has pigeonhold me from leaving my position to go to a different team like VDI, Linux, and Cloud. As we all know SA is a very broad realm of IT. I have zero idea what ISSO do day to day. I'm more or less a introvert and do not want to be presentations, demos, reports or any of the like. If I do it would be once in a blue moon. Should I pursue this? Or just wait for a more loner role?

Hi Everyone! I am bringing home a Doberman puppy in January. I know that is quite a good few months away but I'm very excited and have been researching for years and planning the last few months. I am a first time dog owner by myself. My family had a dog growing up but the dog was already older by the time I was born so I wasn't there for the puppy stage.
Now, I work at our family business run by my dad. I am his right hand woman lol. There's 2 other non-family employees here everyday and then a few people stop by everyday, vendors and customers. It's not super busy here. My office is upstairs so I don't interact with vendors/customers unless they specifically come up to my office or I go down there to see them, which is very rare. The only way I'm able to get this dog is if I bring him to work with me. My dad has already given this the okay but I'm just nervous about the noise. The office is a construction office so the floors are concrete and it's pretty empty in here, again only 4 people including myself are regularly here, so it's kind of echoes. I won't be too busy January-March because the cold months are the slowest time of year, so I'm not too worried about having the time to take him out every 30 minutes-1 hour. Since I have never gone through a puppy stage, I am worried about how loud they are? I will be crate training at home and then my plan is to also crate and X-pen at the office too. I have heard how loud they can be at the beginning of crate training but I am going to work from home for the first week or two after I get him but I can't continue to do that for the rest of my job- my dad is pretty old school but is allowing me to do that for 1-2 weeks for the puppy. I'm hoping in that time he will be comfortable enough in the crate where he's not crying and barking in it.
I do have a boyfriend but he's not able to come let him out in the middle of the work day and I live 30-40 minutes away from my office so it'll be hard to do that everyday. I'm thinking once he hits a year I might try to bring him in the mornings and then maybe drop him back off at home around noon, it all depends on how well behaved he is lol. Another big benefit of having him with me at the office is I can exercise him here in the afternoons so he'll get 3 exercise outlets a day- morning, afternoon, and evening. I am just wondering, those of you who have puppies, work from home or have/do take your puppies to work, is this doable? Is he going to be a huge nuisance noise/volume wise to everyone else? I'm terrified people will complain and I'll be forced to leave him home and figure something else out. I'd also love to do stuff with him in the afternoons here (training and exercise). Anyone have experience with Dobermans to know if they're a very vocal breed as well? Thank you so much for your help!!!
TL;DR: Bringing a new puppy to work with me, bad idea or doable?

Hello. I am a 21 year old new mom to a baby boy named Aizen Wade. (Pronounced i-zen. From the anime Bleach if anyone knows it. Wade from Deadpool.) His dad, my boyfriend, picked out his name and has his last name. My boyfriend is 23. We met at a job. I was engaged and unhappy. Well we ended up hanging out and I cheated on my fiance. I told my fiance and left him. He still wanted to be with me but I was very unhappy. Not really the best way to end and start a relationship. But it is what it is. I regret the way I did things and beat myself up all the time. (Please don't comment on that.) After a month of me and my boyfriend dating, I got pregnant. We both wanted to be parents so we wanted to keep him of course.
We were living at his dad's house at the time. It was not a good place for a pregnant woman or for a baby. Filled with cat feces, messes that no one cleaned up. No heat or air. No sinks in the house worked. Only the bathtub. The kitchen had holes in the floor and nothing worked. No stove, no sink. So we were eating out every night. We both gained a bunch of weight. We finally moved out into my family's old trailer. It was being used for storage and no one has lived in it for 6 years. It was kind of a dump and just filled with junk. My boyfriend fixed it up. He did all the hard work since I was pregnant. I helped clean the place, paint and set up the nursery. I helped clean up the porch as well. The porch was just covered in trash. My dad is letting us live in the trailer rent free. So my boyfriend pays electric and wifi. That's it. We also have well water. (My dad has yet to say anything about the water bill.)
I quit my job before we moved out because I worked 12 hour shifts at the hospital and it was getting hard to do. Most of the things I had to do in my position, were things I couldn't do while pregnant. So it was pointless to keep going. We also agreed that I would stay home with the baby because we can't afford daycare and don't want our baby in daycare anyways. (My 2 year old nephew recently recovered from hands, foot, and mouth disease that he got from his daycare.) We have no family able to babysit either.
My boyfriend has his own bills like phone and truck payment and insurance. I have a phone bill but my dad is paying for it per an agreement we made. (Me and my boyfriend watched my 2 year old nephew while my dad and his new wife went on vacation.) So we are able to afford me staying home for now. I have food stamps and WIC to help out. My mom also brings stuff for us and sends us money whenever she can and doesn't expect us to pay her back. (Although, we owe my dad and new step mom over $300 for repairs to the trailer.)
3 days before my due date, my water broke and we went to the hospital. I was having no contractions and wasn't dilating so they started pitocin to induce. The pitocin just kept making the baby's heart rate drop. I wouldn't dilate past 4cm. So we had to do a C-section. I was really scared because I have never had surgery and really wanted my first birth experience to be vaginal. Also, at the hospital I work at, you can't have a vaginal birth after a C-section. You have to continue to have C-sections for your other births. So I'll never get to experience a vaginal birth unless we drive farther away. I had the C-section and was so tired and so drugged that I don't remember my first interaction with my baby boy. I don't remember much of my hospital experience because I was drugged and tired 24/7. I was in so much pain all the time.
Luckily, we got to go home after 2 days. ON MOTHER'S DAY!! My boyfriend took 2 weeks off work to help with the baby while I recovered. (If you haven't had a C-section, recovery is very hard and painful. Worse than a vaginal delivery.) I also suffered from post partum depression a little bit. I was really struggling. (Still kind of am some days.)
Well, since my boyfriend went back to work, he doesn't want to help with the baby when he gets home. He always just says "I'm tired. I go to work and pay for everything." He just sits at his computer playing games. That's all he wants to do. I have to take care of the baby, do house chores, make dinner, make MY BOYFRIEND'S plate, get MY BOYFRIEND'S drinks AND take care of myself. When you have a newborn, you can hardly take care of yourself. Baby comes first. I always make sure I'm putting him first. However, my boyfriend thinks I need to be putting him first over the baby. He will have me pop pimples or scratch his back or braid his hair and when the baby starts crying, he'll say "No. Let him cry. Me first." Or something like that. When he does interact with the baby, he's really good. He's a good dad. He was amazing when he stayed home from work. But lately, it's like he doesn't want to take care of him. He refuses to change his diaper most days.
I don't think that's right. Like I get that he works and pays for everything. (I wish I could work so we weren't living paycheck to paycheck but someone needs to take care of our baby.) I always thank him for everything and do everything he says. But, I basically wait on my boyfriend like a waitress. He barely moves from his computer. "Can you get this for me?" "Can you get that for me?" I always oblige. But I feel like I shouldn't be the only one taking care of our baby. I get up with the baby all night and all day. I do EVERYTHING.
Am I wrong to think that my boyfriend should be more involved with our baby? Am I wrong to think that he should be helping me?

Ok regards, this is a summary of my notes as I watched the WWDC.
TLDR: Puts. Apple isn't ready. They are talking about a bunch of capabilities that will EVENTUALLY be ready, who knows when, and with what cost. They are no better than anyone else on the market. And if we are just getting calculator apps, I think it's going to take a while - like their self-driving cars.
What they brought:
Holy crap, Apple has been showing "BRAND NEW SHIT" at WWDC - which has been on other fucking phones for the past 3-5 years.

• You can now hide apps on your phone? WTF. In their demo, the moron puts it in a 'secret folder' and it's still visible. LOL.
• They advertised SCHEDULING OUTGOING TEXTS - bro I had this for 10 years. Ooooohhhhh, it gives me suggestions on custom words - you ducking morons, done.
• It encrypts message to message - RCS that Google has been pushing. Done.
• You get categorization for emails..... LATER THIS YEAR!?! Ok moron, even Yahoo Mail has been doing it for the past 6-12 months.
• Tap to cash? That demo was making them hover their phones for some lame ass animation for 10 seconds.... bro, I want 3 seconds and done. PoS Wallet app.

Home & Audio

• Lol at their 'game mode' - ain't no one playing on your devices. But sure bro, keep dreaming.
• The headphones work ONLY if developers of ALL MAJOR TITLES put in an effort to make it specifically to Apple, and I don't see that happening.
• They are bringing a BRAND NEW Snoopy screen saver - that does mean they get a 1 trillion upgrade though. That's fair.

WatchOS

• Training modes are not bad, they have this market down pretty well. Upgrades were based on using your overall metrics to let you know where your training is at, and you can get better insight into your vitals so you know your high/low capacity when training.
• They got some pregnancy metrics as well, meh, helps the preggos, but they didn't go into any extra details. It's just.... ok. Nice.
• There are a whole bunch of attempted 'predictive' things - like when you travel it'll pop up to offer translations. Or if you have a ride coming from UbeLyft, it'll try to notify you. A few predictive things, where they are using the buzz word 'machine learning'. This can be good, or it can be annoying if it's constantly late or missing the mark, which I guess it will at the beginning.

iPad

• They are bringing in...... a calculator. WTF. LOL. WTF.
• They are trying to push the "Apple Pencil". I guess they didn't have it before. Still. WTF.
• Math notes was a cool feature - you write out math problems and it solves it live for you.
• They had some pretty cool features, I am not sure if anyone will know how to use - I'm your average idiot, and it looks advanced to me. Lots of actions to work out that I'm losing money.
• They had a big focus on Smart Scripts, which makes your handwriting better, but man, do I feel sorry for anyone that is still having to do notes by hand.

macOS

• Lol, their starting feature is that I can plan a hike on Apple Maps. Naw bro, no thanks, there are much better apps to do this in, that won't end up with me walking over a lake.

Safari

• They again mention 'machine learning', which isn't AI. This is predictive elements, standard quo of shitty AI precursor. Machine learning does not equal AI. It can if you have a big GPT model behind it, but you have to give your data to them if you aren't developing it yourself.

Gaming

• They are desperately trying to get into the gaming space. Baldur's Gate was mentioned as the highlight. This is something they are losing out on to other options. Not sure where they are, but they seem to be mentioning it a few times, so I am guessing they are trying to pull in anyone to develop on their platform. The Ubisoft collab shows this.
• ASS-ASS-INS Creed looked choppy on the lake. Same while looking over the shoulder of the samurai. No thanks bro.

AI

• The main thing. They want it Powerful, Intuitive, Integrated, Personal and Private. They are trying to pose it as 'personal intelligence'. Apple Intelligence.
• If you sold when they mentioned this, good job. If you held on to see the shit show. I feel sorry for you.
• They showed a bunch of SHIT. Predictive emails? WTF. Exists by 20 providers.
• Lol, it can make my mom a superhero through 3 styles?? YOU FUCKING SUCK!!!
• They had 'we're building Apple apps to blah blah blah'..... "BUILDING", as in it's NOT READY NOW???
• GTFO. These are all concepts apparently.
• Sooooo, let's get this right, after talking a FUCKTON about privacy, I am going to believe APPLE that they will use my information responsibly to cater to customization. And none of this will ever leak, or be abused by any other apps you give access to this. Good luck guys!
• "Most of this runs on the phone, but there are times you will need more powerful servers", yeah, here we go.....
• This is where GPT comes in. All the info you have, and their assumptions about you, are supposed to be fed into a cloud (Private Cloud Compute) as they call it, which means they are just on ChatGPT Enterprise.
• Apple will most likely be paying them A FUCKTON of money. They are going from charging Google billions to be their default search engine, now they will be paying GPT billions for their Enterprise computing.
• The winner here is OpenAI. Not Apple. Apple becomes OpenAI's bitch. Siri makes 1.5 billion requests every day, do you know the ChaChing sound that is going to be coming towards OpenAI? Not all of them will go through, but man, Apple will have costs. Enterprise level costs.
• The security breaches that will be happening. They are talking about it getting a context about you from emails, photos, messages, everything. It will be all over, trying to guess who you are, what you are about, and it's all going to a mystery cloud. Same thing that Windows just received blowback over - they are trying to convince us that it will be fine with them. Good. Luck.

Point of the story here - they are all forward-looking things - "things we will get". Until then, there will be a lot of missteps, costs, and blowies behind Wendy's dumpsters.
Side notes from what I saw:

• Craig had a big center stage here. I think he is the next in line for Apple, or if he blows it, he'll end up in a Wendy's.
• The voice editing was annoying - they minimized accents and just came out sounding like they were trying to whisper to my ear, but in a creepy way, like the hobos giving handies behind Wendy's dumpsters.

My wife is livid that I am being told to rest for 2-3 days after my procedure coming up in a few weeks and wants me to stay elsewhere during my recovery if I won't be upright and helping out with the kids immediately after. She was totally on board with the recovery until today and I'm just lost on how we got to this point.
For context:

• I never asked her to do anything for my recovery nor did I expect her to cater to me in any way. The paperwork/info I got from the Drs. said to lay down and ice the boys for like 2 days so that's what I plan to do.
• I, like I assume most people would do, planned to take a few days off from work for it, but I want to get back to work as soon as I can. I love my job and time is money.
• We have 2 kids under 3 who love running and jumping on the couch so laying on the couch for recovery was determined as a bad idea.

The issue at hand:

• She said doesn't think it's fair I get told to rest when she wasn't told to rest after having the kids. While I can totally see where she's coming from that it felt that way due to societal standards and pressure to breastfeed and pump, I, nor the hospital was in any way telling her to get on her feet right after having the kids and in fact, advocated on her resting as much as possible.

Has anyone else had this happen? How did you get your spouse to see that there is no reason for comparison between childbirth and the snip? Childbirth is just straight up monumentally more challenging and physically harrowing and the physical recovery take's far longer than a few days. I supported her recovery, encouraged resting and even wanted to move to bottle feeding sooner so she could actually rest more rather than constantly trying to feed/pump every few hours.
I just want her to see that I am not doing this to be a lazy slob for 2 days and I honest to God hope I will be fine and can waltz right out of there like its nothing and go back to work. We both don't see the procedure as a big deal as its very minor, but she has been very quick to dismiss the recovery information and compare it to having kids today.
This is a total ramble and a vent, so I apologize fellow dads. I just want to get this done and not all of the sudden be the bad guy for it.

Preface

Many want to reason with Witnesses and help them see the hypocrisy of the organization and misapplication of scriptures. But some are unsure where to begin; they don't know the best lines of reasoning that a Witness will respond to. Witnesses are taught not to read "apostate literature", so sending things for their loved ones to read usually does not work. They are also trained not to believe "negative reports", so this document doesn't focus on the legal problems the organization has with CSA, shunning, quotations from much older publications, and other 'standard apostate talking points'.
But Witnesses are trained to discuss the Bible. So the purpose of this document is for people to become familiar with compelling lines of reasoning they can slowly and tactfully share with Witnesses that they love. The reasoning found here is limited primarily to scriptures and some quotations from the organization's publications. The focus is on scriptures that the organization has no answer for (or very weak explanations), the ones they actively hide from. Those scriptures will be the most compelling to a devoted Witness.
This document uses the NWT because that is the translation most Witnesses trust. It does not focus on how verses are translated and does not get into subjects that have multiple interpretations such as the Trinity, heaven, nature of the soul, etc. It does not lean into either a religious or atheist point of view, but mostly takes the Bible at face value. The hope is that by reading and discussing scriptures with limited commentary, you can more effectively reach the heart of a Witness who sincerely loves God and the scriptures. If they research the scriptures or subject you discuss in the organization's publications, they will find mostly silence. And that silence will speak volumes.

1. Is it right to question what we have been taught?

Proverbs 14:15; 18:13, 17 The Bible doesn't say we should just blindly trust people without doing our own research. The publications that comment on these scriptures agree with that thought.
Ephesians 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:21 These verses and the study notes for Thessalonians make clear that there shouldn't be any reason to fear reading the Bible and comparing what we read to what we believe.
1 John 4:1 The organization refers to this scripture regularly when encouraging people to question other religions. But they don't apply it to their own.
May 2021 Watchtower, Study Article 18, Paragraph 8: "How can one avoid being stumbled? People need to examine the facts. That is what the Gospel writer Luke was determined to do. He made it a point to trace “all things from the start with accuracy.” He wanted his readers to “know fully the certainty of the things” they had heard about Jesus. (Luke 1:1-4) The Jewish people in ancient Beroea were like Luke. When they first heard the good news about Jesus, they consulted the Hebrew Scriptures to confirm what they were being told. (Read Acts 17:11.) In a similar way, people today need to examine the facts. They must compare what they are taught by God’s people with what the Scriptures say. They also need to study the record of Jehovah’s people in modern times. If they do a proper “background check,” they will not allow prejudice or hearsay to blind them."
The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life, Chapter 2, paragraph 5: "We need to examine, not only what we personally believe, but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are its teachings in full harmony with God’s Word, or are they based on the traditions of men? If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination. It should be the sincere desire of every one of us to learn what God’s will is for us, and then to do it."
Awake! September 22nd 1970, page 17: "There are often two sides to a matter. While you may agree with one side, are you willing to hear the other? Hearing the other side of a matter is the wise course. For one thing, it increases knowledge of the subject under discussion. It also helps one to understand the other person’s viewpoint. And even more important, it is often a good way to arrive at basic truths."

2. How should Witnesses treat those who wish to leave their faith?

July Awake! page 29: "Although the Bible makes a clear distinction between true and false teachings, God allows each person the freedom to choose how he or she will respond. (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20) No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family."
Job 2:1, 2 The organization teaches that Satan was the first and ultimate "apostate", a corrupting influence that turned away Adam and Eve and a large portion of the angels from true worship. But they also teach that God allowed Satan to stay in heaven as part of His congregation for thousands of years. Satan spoke freely with God and the angels. Jesus also had a conversation with Satan in Matthew 4:3-11 where they discussed the proper interpretations of scriptures.
Matthew 5:22 The Study Note for "You despicable fool" says: "The Greek word for this expression sounded like a Hebrew term meaning “rebellious” or “mutinous.” It designates a person as morally worthless and an apostate. To address a fellow man in this way was tantamount to saying that he should receive a punishment fit for a rebel against God, that is, everlasting destruction." The Questions from Readers in the February 15th 2006 Watchtower adds "From God’s standpoint, the one uttering such a condemnation against another could merit that severe sentence —everlasting destruction— himself." Thus the organization teaches that labelling somebody as an apostate is among the strongest insults you can utter, and the person saying it may make himself liable for everlasting destruction by God.

3. How did Jehovah direct his people in the Hebrew Scriptures?

Exodus 32:1-6, 25-35 Aaron was an appointed representative of God. And yet the people were punished with death for listening to him, while Aaron escaped punishment. The Bible does not teach that we should blindly follow those who claim to be his representatives. Each person is accountable to God.
Psalm 146:3, 4; Ecclesiastes 8:9; Jeremiah 17:5 The governing body uses these scriptures to discredit human political rulers. But they apply equally to those who elevate themselves as religious leaders and make rules for others to follow.
Jeremiah 20:9 This scripture is often used to encourage preaching. But Jeremiah was a Jew, one of God's people. He wasn't speaking to the surrounding nations, he was speaking against Pashur, part of the Jewish authority who claimed to be God's representatives. Many of the prophets were criticizing those in leadership positions within God's "organization". Those who imitate the prophets today are considered apostates by Witness leadership.

4. Is "the faithful and discreet slave" a prophecy appointing human leaders over Christians?

Luke 12:41-48 The faithful and discreet slave passage is described as an illustration. Surrounded by other illustrations. Not a prophecy. And the "wicked slave" takes up well over twice as much of the illustration as the faithful one. Matthew 24:48 even says "if ever that evil slave..." assuming that some slaves will be evil and not watchful. Both verses say "Happy is that slave if his master on coming finds him [being faithful]." The governing body treats that as a foregone conclusion, they claim that Jesus trusts them and obviously approves of their actions.
Matthew 24:45-51 The account in Matthew of the "faithful and discreet slave" follows up a section about the importance of being watchful. And in the following chapter (Matthew 25), the illustration about a "faithful" and "discreet" slave is directly followed up by an illustration about being faithful (verses 1-13) and then one about being discreet (verses 14-30). The context is all illustrations about being watchful, not one prophecy about a special group being appointed as leaders hidden among all those illustrations.
John 21:21-23 This is another example of Jesus asking a rhetorical question, and people reading more into it than what he actually said. Jesus didn't say that his "faithful and discreet slave" illustration meant he would appoint a small group of men 1,900 years later to be his representatives.
Matthew 25:40 The organization claims that in this verse, "my brothers" refers only to a small group of spirit anointed Christians. They provide no explanation or reasoning for why that doesn't refer to all Christians. The closest they came was in the March 15th 2015 Watchtower (page 26) where they claimed that an October 15th 1923 Watchtower article "presented sound Scriptural arguments that limited the identity of Christ’s brothers to those who would rule with him in heaven". That article presented no such thing. The article from that era just assumed that all Bible Students were Christ's brothers, and they were all going to heaven. The "great crowd" being on earth was not taught until the following decade.
Matthew 23:8-10 This earlier verse made it clear that all Christians should be brothers, with no leaders. The organization teaches that this verse means all Witnesses are brothers, but the other verse refers to a special class of "Jesus' brothers": the anointed. The only part of this group that has any authority is the "governing body" who act as "leaders" over Christians. The study note for Matthew 2:6 confirms that "governors" is synonymous with "rulers, leaders".
2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10; 20:4, 6 Each of these verses refer to "reigning" or "ruling" but the New World Translation adds "as kings" in English with no explanation. By doing this the governing body elevates themselves to the same level as Jesus, and specifically genders "anointed ones" as being male "kings" in heaven. By leaving those verses as "rulers" it would better harmonize with scriptures such as Isaiah 32:1 which refer to one king and multiple "princes" or lower rulers. But the governing body consider themselves as "future kings" or "co-rulers" with Christ.

5. What did the Apostle Paul think of the "governing body"?

Galatians 1:18, 19, 22; 2:1 Paul didn't consult with the "governing body" for the first 17 years of his ministry. He met with only Peter and James once, for 15 days. Paul decided for himself where and what to preach.
Galatians 2:2, 4, 5 Paul finally returned to Jerusalem because that's where the Jewish brothers were coming from, causing problems for him and the gentile Christians.
Galatians 2:6, 9 Paul didn't view the elders in Jerusalem with reverence. He disparagingly called them "those who seemed to be important". And he plainly said that they "imparted nothing new to [him]". The organization has never tried to give an explanation for that scripture. They even claim that Paul must have been part of the "governing body" without providing any scriptural evidence or even referring to this chapter of Galatians. Because this chapter completely contradicts that claim.
Galatians 2:12-14 Paul didn't defer to Peter with reverence, he openly challenged him in front of everyone.
Acts 6:3, 4 The apostles didn't select the seven reputable men. They appointed them, using their position as the apostles. But in these verses they don't seem interested in overseeing or governing the congregation.
Acts 13:1-4 The congregation was autonomous. They didn't consult with Jerusalem before deciding to send out missionaries.
Acts 15:22 The apostles and older men were the ones taking the lead in the decision, but they made it "together with the whole congregation". This decision was made to keep the peace between Jewish and Gentile Christians.

6. Are we living in the Last Days?

Luke 21:8 How can the organization claim that they have Jesus' backing while also saying "the due time is near" for well over 150 years?
Matthew 24:34 The Governing Body replaced a failed prophecy with a new prophecy, stretching the definition of a "generation" to over 110 years long by overlapping multiple generations. But Matthew 1:1-17 already defines a "generation" by listing 42 generations as father to son in the first 17 verses. Even though many of these lifespans overlapped they did not not merge into single "generations".
Watchtower 1967 4/1 page 197: "When the many factors are put together, we find that our generation, our day is the one that is identified in the Bible as the “last days.” In fact, in this year 1967 we are actually living in the final part of that time! This can be compared to, not just the last day of a week, but, rather, the last part of that last day."
Deuteronomy 18:20-22 The Bible establishes the rules for testing whether or not to trust a prophet. The leaders of the organization have cast themselves in the role of prophets, and they have consistently failed this test for over 150 years. The organization has not referred to this verse in nearly 60 years.
Mark 10:30 The organization emphasizes the "spiritual family" within it, but Jesus specifies in this period of time his followers would also get 100 times more "houses and fields" - signs of material prosperity. But as a whole Witnesses are among the most impoverished followers of any religion because they are warned against higher education and pursuing prosperity. They are taught to wait for the "coming system of things" because these are the last days. But Jesus said that his followers would have prosperity in this period of time, and they wouldn't have to wait for the coming system to have it.

7. What does the Bible say about 607 B.C.E?

Zechariah 7:1 The "fourth year of King Darius" is December 518 B.C.E. The organization agrees with this.
Zechariah 7:3 The people of Bethel were asking the religious leaders if they should continue to weep and fast each year to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem. Since they asked this in December 518 B.C.E. they were asking about the upcoming month in July/August of 517 B.C.E.
Zechariah 7:5 "In the fifth month and in the seventh month" is a clear reference to the destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:8, 25). They said they had been commemorating Jerusalem's destruction for 70 years. So counting back 70 years from 517 B.C.E. takes you to exactly 587 B.C.E. That's around the year all archeologists put Jerusalem's destruction at. The Bible confirms that year internally.
Summary The organization has ignored this section of Zechariah for decades. An attempt was made to explain it in Aid to Bible Understanding (page 339) where the claim was that they fasted for 70 years, stopped for 20 years, and then asked if they should stop. Unsurprisingly, that paragraph was taken out of the Insight Books (volume 1, page 463) because the reasoning doesn't make any sense. There was even a two-part article about the date of Jerusalem's destruction in the October 1st & November 1st 2011 Watchtower, and Zechariah was completely ignored in that discussion. The governing body knows these verses are a problem, because it completely agrees with the date archeologists give.
Indisputable Facts In 1914 the world population was around 1.8 billion people. Over 110 years later, the population of China alone is 1.5 billion. When Muslim majority countries are included, at minimum there are well over 3 billion people with no chance of being contacted. So how can 607 B.C.E. and 1914 C.E. have significance if after 110 years of preaching and warning there are more uncontacted people than when the "last days" started?

8. Should a blood transfusion be a conscience matter?

Genesis 9:1, 4-6 This specifies the reason not to eat blood. It is to show respect for animals that you kill, and the life you have taken. Also the command to "be fruitful and become many" is not binding on everyone forever, so there is no reason to assume the command on blood is eternally binding as well.
Leviticus 17:15 Even in the Mosaic Law, an Israelite could eat blood but not be cut off. They would only be unclean for the day. Maybe because the animal wasn't killed by them, and the person eating the animal was desperate enough to do so.
Mark 3:1-6 Jesus wanted to teach the hard-hearted Pharisees a lesson: Is it more important to follow the letter of the law, or to help people? Then he even went farther. Is it more important to follow a symbolic law or to save a life? He was disappointed the Pharisees didn't get the point, and then he healed the man contrary to the letter of the law.
Acts 15:29 Along with abstaining from blood, the apostles and older men in Jerusalem also commanded the gentile Christians to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, (not from sacrificing things to idols). The organization tries to shift this scripture to the second meaning but that is not what it says. The issue was about eating the food, not the act of sacrificing. This is important when comparing the next scripture.
1 Corinthians 7:7-9 Here we have an example of Paul discussing one of the four specific things covered in the letter. And according to him, eating things sacrificed to idols wasn't binding on all Christians forever. It is a conscience matter. It shows that the letter in Acts was written to specific people at a specific time and for a specific purpose: to not stumble the newly converted Jewish brothers. It wasn't a comprehensive list of all requirements for Christians forever.
Summary If the organization wants to compel people to reject a blood transfusion then there needs to be a clear scriptural command. And there simply isn't. The governing body also changes and reverses the rules and teachings of previous governing bodies regularly, but claim their hands are tied regarding this rule that the first century "governing body" decided upon. Preserving the life of yourself or your child is one of the most important decisions you can make, and you should be fully informed before making it.

9. Is the organization's judicial system scriptural?

Matthew 18:17 Jesus says to speak to "the congregation". But in the book Jesus - The Way (Chapter 63, Second last paragraph) the book amends that, like Jesus misspoke. It claims what he actually meant was speak to the elders. But Jesus didn't say that. Also, how did Jesus treat a man of the nations or a tax collector? He didn't shun them. Jesus himself ate with tax collectors and sinners (Luke 5:29, 30).
1 Corinthians 5:11, 12 Paul was writing to the whole congregation about an extreme case. It wasn't decided by an elder body or a judicial committee. And it was a public matter.
2 Corinthians 2:6 In his follow-up letter, Paul referred to a rebuke given by "the majority". This implies that not everybody in the congregation rebuked him, but enough did that it had an effect. And again the congregation received this public direction from Paul, it wasn't decided by any judicial committee.
Insight Books under "Court, Judicial" Referring to Israelite justice it says "The publicity that would be afforded any trial at the gate would tend to influence the judges toward care and justice in the trial proceedings and in their decisions." And yet the organization arranges secret trials decided by three member panels without any scriptural support for that arrangement.
Deuteronomy 22:25-27 This undercuts the "two witnesses are required" rule. There were no supporting witness. And yet her sole testimony seems to be believed and action is taken. It is troubling that the organization does not extend this precedent to accusations of child abuse.

10. Are birthdays condemned in the Bible?

Job 1:4; 3:1 Both verses use the same Hebrew term, meaning "his day". The NWT translates the implied meaning as "day of birth" in only the second verse, because using it in the first verse would give an example of a righteous family celebrating birthdays.
2 Kings 9:30; Jeremiah 4:30; Ezekiel 23:40 All three verses put painted eyes in a negative light. But the organization doesn't apply the same standard to those three verses as it does to two verses about birthdays. Same with how dogs are viewed in the Bible. They are always depicted negatively (in both literal and figurative contexts) and yet we keep them as pets.

11. Did Jesus die on a cross?

John 19:31-34 Hanging on a stake inhibits breathing and death comes faster. Hanging on crosses would allow those two men to live until the next day.
John 20:25 The verse refers to the prints of the nails in his hands. Two nails would be used across two hands if he died on a cross.
Matthew 27:37 The sign was described as posted above his head, not above his hands like it is shown in the publications.
Epistle of Barnabas 9:8 This apocryphal text is usually dated between 70-132 C.E. In this verse the author was looking for prophecies pointing to Jesus using numbers and letters. And he was focused on Genesis 14:14, where it referred to Abram's 318 servants. In Greek numerals, the number 300 was represented by the letter T (tau), 10 was I (iota), and 8 was H (eta). He wrote that the I and H stood for Jesus (the first two letters of Jesus in Greek - ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) and the remaining letter T stood for the cross. So even within 100 years of Jesus, an author incidentally mentioned that the implement of Jesus' death was in the shape of the letter T not the letter I.
Alexamenos Graffito This graffiti is dated to around 200 C.E. and was found in a building that used to be a boarding school for boys. It shows a young man worshipping a donkey-headed figure with outstretched arms on a cross. The Greek inscription approximately translates to "Alexamenos worships [his] god". It appears that early Christians were known to revere a figure who died on a cross.

12. Should we be subject to all the rules of the organization?

Romans 14:22 This idea of a personal faith, kept to ourselves, and not forcing our own doctrinal beliefs and consciences upon others is completely antithetical to the detailed rules imposed upon Witnesses. This verse has not been referenced in the publications in over 50 years.
Matthew 23:4; 1 Corinthians 4:6 The list of rules created by the organization for what can be a "Judicial Offence" go well beyond the things written. These include caressing of breasts while dating, viewing pornography, using marijuana, gambling, celebrating holidays, having employment connected to other religions or the military, having beliefs that are not currently taught by the "governing body", and many other "offences" that are not directly discussed in the Bible.
Matthew 16:27; Romans 14:4; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Galatians 6:5 At the 2023 Annual Meeting, the organization abandoned the teaching that only those within the organization would be saved. So there is no longer a compelling reason to be a part of any earthly organization. Each person is judged individually, on their own merits.
Romans 14:1 Contrary to this verse, if somebody does not share the opinion of the organization on matters of doctrine and belief, they are labelled an "apostate".
Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26 The organization often teaches that their hands are tied because if a scripture commands something such as “abstain from blood” then the meaning must be clear and permanent. But these four scriptures all have the same command and the organization ignores them. Greeting with a “holy kiss” seems outdated and strange today so it is dismissed as just a custom that first-century Christians chose to do but nothing we need to worry about today.

13. Scriptures with questionable translations:

Matthew 24:39 The common rendering for the Greek in this verse is some form of "they didn't know". The NWT says "they took no note", with no Study Note or explanation why. This scripture has been quoted regularly in the publications, often with italic emphasis on those words and likening it to the "warning work" of preaching. Since Noah was a "preacher of righteousness", he must have warned everyone of the flood. They knew, they just didn't "take note". That understanding has since changed in the 2023 Annual Meeting. The new understanding is that many in the flood didn't know, never heard the warning, but could be resurrected. So the dogma has changed, but the unique translation to match the previous dogma remains.
John 6:29, 30 The same Greek word is translated twice in these two verses. In verse 29 it is rendered "exercise faith", but in verse 30 as "believe". This is done to encourage action (preaching) instead of saying that just "belief" is enough. These scriptures have also not been referenced in the publications for over 50 years.

14. Other scriptures of note;

Ezekiel 14:20 In Ezekiel's time, Daniel was still a young man. The organization has pointed to this same list in Ezekiel 14:14 to claim that even young people can be declared righteous. But this verse indicates they all had children. The organization has never mentioned that the oldest manuscripts spell this name as "Danel" without the "i". And they also don't mention that there was a culture hero named Danel written about in 1350 B.C.E. in Syria. He was an ancient figure separate from Judaism and before Abraham, just like Noah and Job. Daniel is out of place in the text, but Danel fits the pattern and context.
Luke 22:21-23 After the Lord's Evening Meal is described, Jesus says that his betrayer (Judas) is with him at the table. This contradicts the organization’s teachings that Judas had left before they had partaken of the bread and the wine. They claim that Luke put these verses out of order, even though he opens the book in Luke 1:3 by saying he resolved to write them in "logical order".

How did Shanann and Chris get by as long as they did with their spending habits grossly exceeding their income?
They filed for bankruptcy and had debts cleared in summer 2015, less than three years after the wedding. The bulk of the debt was for furnishing the house, the wedding and honeymoon, the voluntary move to CO, and lifestyle choices that eventually caught up with them despite CW and SW working at the time. A small amount of debt was to a chiropractor, and another to a college that SW dropped out of, but the bulk of the debt was NOT medical or education related.
The Rzuceks moved in right after the bankruptcy and paid $1,000 per month to live in the basement. CW was working full-time and SW part-time. The Rzuceks got local jobs and helped out with caring for the girls, though per Cindy Watts the girls did sometimes go to daycare when all four adults were working. They moved out in roughly November 2016 and presumably stopped paying rent.
The girls started going to Primrose increasingly more after the Rzuceks left, and by early 2017 Bella was going full time and Cece part time. SW quit her job and Cece started full time care late that spring, and both girls were in an extended early morning (I got the timeframes from SW's old Facebook posts on True Crime Analysis blog).
Their two biggest expenses were the mortgage and daycare, both totaling around $4500 per month. These aren't bills you can typically pay directly with a credit card. CW's salary was around $65K. He had income taxes deducted, as well as cafeteria style benefits of $500 monthly health insurance, 401K contributions, and company vehicle usage deducted. His take-home pay was significantly less than $4500 per month. This left nothing else for groceries, utilities, fuel, car insurance, etc., though those expenses would have been stuff they could put on credit cards, albeit sometimes for a hefty fee.
SW's income on their 2017 tax return was about $100. Her Le-vel earnings, car bonus, trips, and "free" products were all taxable income as non-employee compensation. She would have been obligated to pay self-employment tax on it. She could have filed as a business and thus deducted the majority of her "expenses", but I've never seen evidence of this. Perhaps she claimed the entire house as an office and wrote off every penny of utilities and house furnishing, though that is a stretch. Even so, an income of $100 is pathetic.
I just don't see how they could not have been in bankruptcy court again long before August 2018. If they'd been putting the $1,000 per month from the Roos into a savings account and used that to plug the gap, they could have skated by for a while, but I don't think saving money was in their skillset. SW had a voluntary medical procedure that cost $25K out of pocket. Wouldn't that need to be paid up front since it was not an emergency? Even paying the minimum on credit cards requires some money to pay said minimum. CW got gift cards and debit cards from work, but I don't think that could have been enough to sustain them and technically that stuff is taxable as well.
I don't get it. Unless SW still had that alleged suitcase of cash on hand, I don't see how they were still living in the house in August 2018 with utilities still connected.

Once upon a time, there was a tall, nerd, and not-much attractive guy pero pwede na who woke up one morning, looked at the sky, and thought, "Well, this sucks." He knew there was only one solution - to turn to the all-knowing oracle of modern dating: T̶i̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ Reddit lol.
With his trusty cup of coffee in hand, he set out to find someone who shared his thirst for knowledge, someone who could keep up with his nerdy quirks, and someone who he could eventually take on 'friendly' dates (whatever that means). He wasn't in a rush to jump into anything too serious too soon, but he knew that someday, he wanted to find someone he could build a meaningful and caring relationship with.
So if you're a fellow lover of coffee, learning, and all things nerdy, this tall drink of water might just be the partner in crime you've been looking for. Dating at times feel like a job hunt doesn't it? So I thought it’d be fun to write it in a mock format just like a resume! LOL

About me

An old soul as older people I spoke with would say, into business and investments, frustrated law student, can drive a fucking 10 wheeler truck (sarcasm towards people looking for someone with wheels), no ex issues or sabit, can provide a certificate of no relationship (kahit wala naman talagang ganon haha).

• I'm 5'10", medium built if that matters, resides in quezon city. I would say that I'm not that much attractive but would consider myself very hygienic and decent.
  
• I'm an INTJ, Aries, if you’re into MBTI and believes in horoscope.
  
• Loves to read self-help books as I love to learn and motivate myself along the way.
  
• I'm the kind of person who doesn't follow the herd blindly, even if it means standing alone in a field of conformity. My principles are like a compass, always pointing me in the right direction, even if it's not the most popular route. In short, I'm not afraid to swim against the current, as long as it's in line with my beliefs.
  
• You could say that my communication style is like a triple-layered cake: serious, meaningful, and sprinkled with a healthy dose of humor. Sure, I may come off as awkward at times, but that's just my way of keeping things interesting. After all, who wants a bland and flavorless conversation when you can have a deliciously complex one? So, if you're looking for someone who can engage in a thoughtful discussion, crack a few jokes, and still leave you with something to ponder, then look no further.
  
• I'm what you might call a clean freak with a creative streak. As someone who's a bit OC (okay, maybe more than a bit), I can't stand to see a messy or cluttered home. But don't worry, I'm not the type to wait around for someone else to do the dirty work. I take pride in noticing when something needs to be done and taking care of it without being asked - it's like a satisfying little victory every time. And when it comes to interior design and home decor, I'm practically a pro. I'm always on the hunt for the latest and greatest tools and gadgets to keep things looking fresh and stylish. So if you're looking for someone to spruce up your space and keep things sparkling clean, I'm your go-to guy.
  
• I'm not in the business of putting people down - unless we're talking about the volume on the stereo (badum-tss!). But seriously, I believe in treating others with kindness and respect, even when it's not the easiest thing to do. After all, life is hard enough without having to deal with someone else's negativity. So let's lift each other up instead of tearing each other down, shall we?
  
• I set feasible goals and actively pursue them.
  

Here's a list of my favorites:

Movies/Series	Music	Places	Activities	Books
Godfather	Radiohead	Paris	Freediving	The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
Sherlock	Eraserheads	Coffee Shops	Muay Thai	How to Win Friends & Influence People
Castaway	Nirvana	Cebu	Roadtrips	Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
Forrest Gump	Ebe Dancel	Japan	Running	Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Homeland	Urbandub	Rome	Piano	Atomic Habits by James Clear
Before Sunset	Frederic Chopin	Canada	Travelling	How to think like a Roman Emperor
The Office	Eminem	New York	Cooking	Letters from Stoic
Big Bang Theory	John Mayer	Maldives	Film & Photography	48 Laws of Power
Breaking Bad	Elton John	Marrakesh	Badminton	The Intelligent Investor

Pros:

• Responsible (Good credit score, no debts, no criminal records, and self-reliant)
  
• Curious type of person, who's ready to listen and craves to learn a lot of things
  
• Doesn't do drugs and is not a heavy drinkealcoholic.
  
• Respects your views and accept healthy criticism.
  
• Actually appreciating the things you'll do for me, and showing it. If you cooked a big dinner, saying thank you is nice. Doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen is even nicer, and in my opinion, should be the norm. The cook doesn't clean. If someone does something for me, I'll show them that their effort was appreciated instead of just accepting their generosity and then running off back to whatever I'm doing.
  
• Accepts responsibility for one's own actions and does not try to blame everything or everyone else.
  
• Doesn’t play online and computer games
  

My preference:

• Someone who has a strong passion for accurate and comprehensive learning, maintains a normal BMI, and is beautiful and easy on the eyes 😂.
  
• High standards for what she wants and is not afraid to communicate it.
  
• Craves knowledge too. Love and isn't afraid to try new things
  
• Passionate and proud about something they've been working on/have done/are planning to do
  
• Confident about what they want but isn't in-your-face about it.
  

Let's take a break from stressing over the mundane and focus on the important stuff - like what will make us happy for the rest of our lives! Share your thoughts on how we can achieve that and let's get this happiness train moving! Send me your pic and I'll send mine!

TL;DR: Title, really.
Hey.
This is the first time I reach out to reddit for life advice. I've read a lot of posts and hung out a lot on reddit over the years but this is the first time I... don't know what to do and need input from others. We're both UK'ers ish but ages and names are fictional obviously. Long post incoming...
So, where to start?
Her name is Alice. We met at Download Festival in Leicestershire over 10 years ago at the age of 18. We randomly bumped into each other the first day, exchanged names and laughs over the accidental bump: we literally fell over each other because of the uneven ground.
We were both single at the time and she was and remain an absolute beauty. We hung out the entire festival with light flirting and standing close, laughing, joking, eating and drinking and it was the best three days of my life. We even ended up in each others arms and made out as Stone Sour was singing an accoustic ballad... Not that Bother is the best make out song lyrics wise but... it was magical nontheless. Throw it on, if you please, as you read this. I'm bawling my eyes out to this fucking song atm, so join me in confusion and tears lol.
Ever since that day we've been close friends. We live far apart with her living in UK and me being a foreigner from central Europe and spending a lot of time there. So we've never hung out privately just me and her, not in a traditional sense. We could've but never got to, and then both of us entered relationships. We remained in contact throughout the year and ended up meeting up at Download the following year.
Neither of us were single, so we didn't "do" anything but we still hung out the entire festival and for the second time I had the best days of my life. And on it went. We both had relationships back at home, sometimes they ended and then either or both of entered another relationship. Every year we met up at Download and forgot the rest of the world for a few days.
We never cheated on our partners, we just... forgot about them emotionally for the few days we had together. Emotional cheating? A discussion for another day, perhaps. But probably. Yes I know and I feel bad about it but... It might sound awful, but have you ever experienced the kind of love where you're in a state of absolute blissful harmony for several days straight? That was us, everytime we met. It never affected our permanent relationships and whenever one of those ended it was because of other reasons not related to either of us.
As the years passed we both finished our studies, bought houses, sold houses, found partners, changed partners, found new partners, found cool jobs, quit said jobs, found new ones... and so on. A lot happens in 10 years. The only thing that remained a constant was meeting up at metal festivals and a few days of absolute happiness. Sometimes we'd hold hands or each other, but never more than that, Sometimes one of us was single but not the other and so on. She's of course insanely attractive and I've fantasized about her on more than one occasion but we've never had sex. A couple of those years we barely had any contact throughout the year up until the festival, because life had too much going on. So we could literally go a year with no contact and then meet up and then start all over again lol.
And on it went, year after year, sometimes different festivals, sometimes we'd hung out less because we had a partner joining and so on. Business as usual.
Until this year.
Initially there was no change, except that we were visiting another festival in Central Europe. We're both in committed relationships since a few years back and while me and Alice has always had this special connection and looked forwards to hanging out just the two of us during the festival, her boyfriend was joining this year. He's been visiting the festival for a couple of years too, even played at it once, but we just never ran into each other.
But cool. If Alice likes him, he must be a cool guy. I have never once been jealous of her partners nor her of mine. So, cool. I was looking forward to meeting him and hanging out with the both of them during the festival. And so we did. He's a nice guy through and through and we had a great time.
But Alice kept giving me looks. Sneaky glances, sometimes a couple every minute. I noticed them all but didn't quite look back, because I didn't understand what she was up too. She'd lightly touch me as she brushed past. A light touch on the arm or shoulder. She'd grab my hand to guide me when she decided to go to a specific scene or food tent even though it wasn't packed and so on. For three days straight. As she always used to do. This obviously rekindled/reaffirmed my own feelings for her and I reciprocated it occasionally. I just couldn't resist her when she smiled at me or walked past me. She's just too perfect, and always has been.
The festival ended a couple of weeks ago and we've talked a fair bit since then as we usually do and... yesterday it took a strange turn. There's always been this strange connection, we've always been drawn to each other and while we've had a shallow discussion or two about it in he past we haven't thoroughly talked about it.
That we did yesterday. It started out innocent enough. We were talking about the festival and summarized it. It was one of the best festivals to date for me for various reasons, and this I mentioned as I listed the reasons. She replied that "and most importantly: we didn't meet up as much on the 22nd and 23rd edition ;), so you didnt have me as much lol."
I gave her an honest reply: "Yes, as usual, you were kinda the whole reason why I had a great festival. Without you it would have been meh. as always lol"
Flirty? Maybe, but not intentionally. It's just the truth. She's the happiest and most optimistic and funniest fucking person on the planet and she lightens up every room and social situation with her sheer energy and I wanted to tell her that.
We kept talking for a bit and then she popped a question: "If you ask me, it always felt like there's something unspoken between us. Some kind of tension and it feels like we are alike in a lot, like outlook on life and so on." This whole discussion ended up with both of us confessing that we liked each other and always has. For ten years. No matter where we were in life, or whom we shared it with, we've always liked each other. I don't know if we explicitly love each other, at least we didn't say so, but... maybe. Then we confessed exactly how much we were attracted by each other, and it got steamy real quick before we canned it.
Now I'm sitting here wondering what the fuck I should do. I love my partner (I mean I think, right now everything except Alice is hazy), we have a decent life together in a house I bought for us, her parents love me and it all feels very secure and safe. I mean, it's boring, but safe, I suppose. But after yesterday, I don't know what, or who, I want anymore. I want Alice, because nobody has ever told me the things she told me yesterday. They were the most lovliest and sexiest things I've ever heard.
Or is it just a festival fling? Is it a guy thing to just drop to my knees as soon as someone shows me affection? And we live far away, are either of us supposed to uproot entirely just because of this "something unspoken"?
Is this some sort of honey moon blind love thing that'll pass?... Until next year, when it'll start all over, or what? Do I need a bonk and go to simp jail for a couple of weeks? Stop talking to her for a month or two until everything dies down?
I'm so confused and don't what I should do or say or think or feel. I need to understand this weird connection we have. I don't know if it's literal love or if we're just attracted to each other. Can somone explain this connection to me - or even more importantly; Have either of you similar experiences and how did you handle it?
Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, apparently job market is a dumpster fire at the moment, or so I've heard. But I would appreciate any genuine advice on what I can look into improving or if it's all doomed at this point. Haven't had any luck with job searching. It also took me an extra 2 years to graduate cause I had to work multiple jobs i.e. barista, receptionist, waiter, marriage photography gigs, telephone center support, basically anything I could get my hands on to financially support my sister and mother.
For projects I have a working FORTRAN parser built as part of my curriculum plus a scheduling protocol (SPS) coded and researched as part of a 5G NR lab and also the topic of my thesis. It has basically been a full time job position for the last 9 or so months.
For all intents and purposes I've graduated last month, excluding basically formalities at this point.
I've applied for multiple positions at various skill levels. Internships, junior, QA testing, networks and at some point even supposedly junior cybersecurity positions (which surprised me, always thought that needed experience + some cert like the CCNA or CCNP). I can work my way through most problems regarding networks, as well as my C++ experience working on the project.
All I've gotten back are emails saying that while my resume is "generally good" it's never a fit for any position. I've had a couple of take home tests thrown my way from think-cell and JP Morgan but failed the first one and never heard back from the 2nd (not that I expected a response). I kind of suck at those since I'm not good at real quick working code, but usually can produce good results through iteration and refactoring.
I am at my wits end and while I do have a job at the moment, it's closer to B2B and extremely rudimentary IT support.
FWIW I am not from the US, but English is like a 2nd native language for me. Got an IELTS at 8.5/9. At this point in my life I'd be willing to move anywhere (with some exceptions) if it meant working in the field.
Sorry if this sounded ranty, wasn't my intention. Any advice is appreciated :)

I was friends with a girl in my dormitory and we hung out all the time. I am normally an introvert and prefer to do things on my own but I have never connected with someone as I connected with her. So we did stuff together all the time. One day we went out to a bar with a friend (21F) of hers and we all started dancing together. We were all drunk drunk. My close friend started to touching me while we were all dancing. I normally do not like being touched but I let it slide because she was my close friend. But then she started stroking my arm and back and before i knew it she was rubbing up against my privates with her hand. I pushed her arm away from me but minute later she was doing it again. I felt uncomfortable because not only did I just view her as a close friend, but she had a boyfriend (21M) who she is still with to this day. Not sure what to do I played along and we danced together the whole night. Later on in the night, I decided to drink more shots with my close friend's friend. I became very dizzy and while dancing with my close friend, I attempted to grab hold of her shoulder to tell her a funny joke. But I accidentally grabbed on to her left breast and I was squeezing it for a solid minute wondering why her shoulder was squishy. When I realized what i accidentally grabbed onto I immediately stopped and corrected my hand position to grab her shoulder. I felt very embarrassed but my close friend looked like she was having a good time and did not even bother to correct my hand position when I accidentally grabbed her breast. Not sure if she even noticed or not but it was clear that she was more sober than me at this time.
By the end of the night, my close friend's friend went back to her dorm and my close friend and I went back to my dorm. When we went back to my dorm I tried to confront her about what she did to me while she was drunk. I started off by showing her some pictures of us together and she commented saying she does not remember the first half of the night there. Realizing there is a possibility that she might not have remember toughing me, I decided to let it go. My reason being is because I did not want to make our friendship awkward and I did not want to make things awkward for her relationship with her boyfriend. But I did tell her that if she ever wanted to talk about stuff that she can trust me.
So for the next few weeks we started to become even closer and started to share personal information. However, one day I disclosed to her about a disability I have and she looked disgusted and left my dorm room before I finished my sentence. I was really shocked and upset by this so i decided to give her some time. But a couple days later I reached out to her again and I shared with her I felt like ending it all because I felt like shit and that was when she told me that she did not want to be friends anymore. I asked her if it was because we started to share personal stuff and she told me no and that she was grateful that I trusted her. But when I asked her if it was because of the disability she shoved me aside and walked away without answering.
I was upset by this and a few weeks go by before she showed up at my work, a dining hall. She bumped into me while I was at the utensil station and I decided to confront her because her behavior was odd. She got mad at me and walked away. Her bf then texted me to tell me to leave her alone forever and said that if I felt like ending myself and he and his girlfriend would not care. Hours later a police officer showed up to my class and did a wellness check. Apparently my ex close friend called the cops and told them I planned on ending myself after what her bf texted me. I then told the officer to check up on my ex close friend because something was off with her.
Later that night, that same officer came to my dorm room and told me that i should leave my ex close friend alone. I told him I did not plan on being her friend anymore after the way she treated me. But the next day I get notification from the school that put in place a no contact order (NCD) between my ex close friend and I. The NCD specifically stated that my ex close friend and I were not allowed to talk or touch each other and that was it. A NCD is only issued by a school and is not a real legal document so they cannot legally restrict anything else between us. And it only applies to the school. Apparently the day in which I approached her at my job loosely connected to stalking and my ex close friend reported me for it. The school offered to do an investigation to see if I was actually stalking her but she declined to do the investigation. But by rules the school has to offer a NCD solution if they suspect stalking, even if it does not fully meet the legal definition of stalking. My ex close friend accepted this offer which is why the mutual NCD was put into place.
A few weeks later I was packing my stuff and was going in and out of my dorm room to go to the trash. my ex close friend being only 5 dorms down from me reported me for violating the NCD. The RA's without questioned believed her and they took me into the office. They brought me into the office by approaching me and telling me that they were going to do a wellness check on me. But when I got to the office they told me that they we not actually doing a wellness check but instead were going to call the police for violating a supposed restraining order. I immediately got my mom on the phone to help me out and she threatened legal action against the RA's and hall directors that were there if they did not let me go. They then let me go back to my dorm room.
The next day I received a call from the school and they apologized for how the RA's and Hall Directors treated me unfairly and incorrectly. The school told me that they were all reprimanded and all had to be retrained on how to deal with situations like that. The school also told me that they were informed that it was a NCD and not an actual restraining order as my ex close friend told them.
Summer goes by and by the time fall semester begins, I realize that my ex close friend and I were in the same dormitory rooms again. I was shocked because I told my ex close friend while we were still friends that I was going to dorm in the same dormitory. I was able to pick my dormitory a month before anyone else due to my accommodation. Normally dormitory picks opened up after the NCD was issued between by ex close friend and I. Hence my shock as to why she decided to pick the same dormitory knowing very well that I was going to be there.
Early on in the fall semester I get an email from the new hall directory about me violating a restraining order. So I forward the email to the community standards so they can fill him in on what the NCD actually means. I was also informed by community standards that they were going to have a meeting with my ex close friend so they can inform her what the NCD actually means and what is and isn't appropriate to report. They also told me hat they were going to reprimand the RA again and the new hall directory and suggest that I report that RA to the head residential life because they believed he was being biased towards me for some reason. So I did just that.
A couple weeks go by and I thought everything was chill between us. But one day when I was at work I received an email stating that the whole dormitory smelled of skunk and that they recommended all students to open their windows to let the stink air out. I did not think much of it until my shift ended and i got back to my dorm room to open my window. Moments after I arrived back at my dorm a police officer arrived at my dorm and asked me if I caused the skunk smell. He told me that someone accused me of causing the smell I told him no and that I was at work the whole day he left. I immediately called my mom and she got so worried that it was my ex close friend's dirty tricks again that she called the cops and the officer told me that I had to come down to the station for questioning. Not sure what to do I hung up on him and contacted my uncle for help because he was good at talking with people and my mom was on a verge of having a panic attack. He was able to get the whole thing sorted out and told me that I did not have to go to the station.
The next day I went to the RA to ask him for more information. He told me that someone accused me of breaking into their dorm room in the middle of the night and planted a stink bomb. He did not tell me who the person was but we both already knew that it was my ex close friend. I left the RA office but that was when my ex close friend went to him. I found out about this interaction a week later, but apparently she started to tell him that I was in violation of a 100 feet rule of a restraining order and that was when he called the police. The police questioned her and they found no restraining order on file.
The next day after that I called community standards and told them everything that happened with the stink bomb allegation. They told me that they planned on doing an investigation into her for intentionally falsifying University information to get me in trouble. That was when I got myself an attorney to help me out.
The investigation lated over a month and in between the investigation called the cops on me agian and told them that I was not allowed to be in the dining hall the same time she was suppose to be there and that I was in violation of a restraining order. The officer then went into old complaints between us and saw that this is not the first time she had falsified information like this. The officer then told her that she cannot do that and went to my dorm room to inform me that she called the cops on me again. Let me remind you all again that she lived 5 rooms down form me and she was offered multiple times by residential life to move and she refused.
So next spring semester in order to reduce the amount of times the cops are called, they decided to put more restrictions between us so now we were only allowed to exit the building in the same exit and we also were not allowed to be in the dining hall together. And that if either one of us violated the NCD we would be forced to move to a different dormitory. Two days later I spotted her in my dining hall time slot. I immediately reported her to community standards for violating the NCD and they had a meeting with her the next day. They reprimanded her but they did not move her because she emailed them to tell them she would be dining during my dining hall time slot but she failed to give them enough time to look at the email to get back to her on if they would accept it or not. So as a result she was not moved.
More happened during the next few months but they did not amount to anything so I will skip towards the end.
Towards the end of the school I went to the communal restroom to get towels to clean up a spill. My ex close friend's bf was there on the phone. That was when he approached me and started to ask me a question on if I texted him or not. He showed me his phone and the text message was about someone accusing my ex close friend with sleeping with someone else. I told him no and I walked away and I reported him and my ex close friend to community standards. I forgot to mention that since he was dating my ex close friend, the NCD rules apply to him as well. Community standards met with them back and found my ex close friend guilty of violating the NCD. But they did not move her out because they said that it was too close to the end of the year to move her out and that they did not want to cause her any stress with finals approaching. This made me really upset because i finally thought the harassment would finally stop and that she would get what she deserved.
A few days goes by and I am at a concert that the school was hosting. During the concert I saw a foot swipped underneath me causing me to fall. When I fell, I twisted my ankle. That was when i looked up and saw that it was the bf of my ex close friend who had tripped me. My ex close friend was standing next to him. I got myself up and limped back to my dorm room. The next morning I went to the doctors and they determined I suffered a sprained ankle and foot. I reported my ex close friend and her bf to community standards and they launched an investigation.
However, they were unable to recover video footage from the concert and as a result, they were unable to determine if the bf had tripped me accidentally or not.
The next days after I went to the doctors, I got word from the hall directory that my ex close friend was accusing me of running around the whole dormatory and ripping off flyers she posted about an event she was hosting. I denied these accusaations and reported them to community standards. The hall directory was reprimended because there was no proof I had done that. I ended up going to the event that my ex close friend was hosting because they were handing out free food. I got up to the chocolate station and I started to grab a hand full of chocolate. That was when my ex close friend approached be and yelled at me to stop. I reported this to community standards but they found that she was not in violation of the NCD because even though she talked to me, she did as her role as a club president. Apparently the rule was you were only allowed to take one chocolate bar at a time, not a hand full.
A few weeks after this we both graduated and the NCD was lifted. I am disappointed that they did not move her out of the dormitory. Not going to go into new specifics but stuff is not over between me and my school because i was disappointed on how they handled the situation. In total I had the police called on me 8 times and was reported over 40 times to the school for stuff I did not do. But fortunately I was able to graduate with a clean record.
However even though my ex close friend was reprimanded for violating the NCD and it is now on her permanent record, I feel as if justice was not served.
What should I do? Was this whole situation my fault? Any opinions are much appreciated. I started to attend group therapy because of this experience. Also sorry for not writing every single situation that happened because it would have turned this post into a novel if I had and I do not have that energy lol.

I've been an Operations Specialist (OS) for 18 years, and in the Coast Guard for 20. This post is for anyone thinking about becoming and OS, or anyone that isn't really sure what we do besides "work behind a locked door." These are my experiences and opinions, but honestly they are pretty much on point with the vast majority of fleet OS's. This is an in depth post. sorry, no TLDR.
First let's explore/fact check the Coast Guard's official description of the OS rate, as told from the recruiting page https://www.gocoastguard.com/careers/enlisted/os Keep in mind, this page is a very simplified version of what an OS does. Statements in italics are mine.
"OSs are the Coast Guard's preeminent emergency managers. - A little overstated, but we are required to take certain Emergency Management training and be familiar with the process. In the technical sense, we are not Emergency Mangers but work within that system. OSs are the Coast Guard's preeminent emergency managers. You'll provide situational awareness, manage information, and develop plans for missions ranging from search and rescue to law enforcement, national defense, and more. From command centers ashore and at sea, OSs communicate with boaters in distress, develop search patterns, and guide Coast Guard units to assist. OSs are typically assigned to sectors, districts, and cutters." These are accurate statements. Broad, but accurate.
Moving on, the recruiting page post the following to perspective OSs.

• Calm under pressure? This is an important skill needed through your entire OS career. You will have a team to help you, but sometimes you will not. You will face high pressure situations that are literally life and death and the difference between catching the bad guys and letting them get away.
• Attentive to detail? Yes, however I think "ability to multitask" would be more accurate.
• Interested in coordinating response actions? Yes
• Punctual? Yes. The majority of your career will be watch standing, and if you are late, the person you are supposed to relieve can't go home until you get there, and vice versa.

Next is "Skills you will learn":
Coordinating missions Yes, the most common missions include Search and Rescue, Law Enforcement(Fisheries enforcement, counter narcotics, counter migrant operations) and Environmental response.
Handling classified information Yes. At a minimum you need a Secret Clearance and depending on your position, it is likely you will need a Top Secret clearance at some point in your career.
Operating navigation and communication systems Yes. This also includes Search Planning Software, Ships Electronic Navigation system and various radio (Rescue 21 system) satellite and secure/classified communications.
Ok, now on to "Training you will get"

• OSs receive a 13-week rating course in Petaluma, CA, with instruction in handling classified information, navigation, communications systems, and search and rescue planning. Yes. Welcome to Cow Town/Wine Country.
• Tactical action officer training, command duty officer training, and air direction controller training, along with training in electronic warfare and emergency management. Yes, but these are specialized trainings not available to all OSs. They are unit and position specific. In theory, you could complete your OS career without receiving any of the above mentioned training. The following is a small sample list of trainings/certifications you will need to advance to various pay paygrades: Learning Management School (LAMS), Search and Rescue School or Combat Information Center Supervisor.
  
• Specifically, the Emergency Management program is available to the OS rating. Yes, in the form of optional and required Emergency Management qualifications.
  

The page concluded with "Related Civilian Jobs"

• Emergency Management Director - Yes, but if you don't have a degree in this field, you will have had to put in a lot of time/work/training to be competitive.
• Air Traffic Controller - Sure, but as far as OS, you will be familiar with communications and how to talk to military aircraft, and may possibly receive formal aviation communications training for certain positions, however The FAA is a different animal. It's not an easy transition from OS to ATC.
• Emergency Services Planner - I guess, but that is a broad statement.
• Dispatch Operator - Yes
• Homeland Security Officer - Not exactly the correct terminology. DHS has officers within various agencies from CBP to TSA, and anyone in the Coast Guard could find a job with all the various agencies, being an OS gives you little to no advance in that respect. In truth, our rate is pretty specific and historically, does not directly translate to a lot of civilian careers.

So you've decided that the OS rate is for you. Now that we have examined the recruiting description, lets talk about career progression. How did you join? If you signed up to go to OS "A" School directly after basic training, you will graduate as a brand new SNOS or OS3. If you decided to join the fleet as a non rate, I'm sure you spent time with OSs in the field and then decided it was the right path for you, and so after waiting a short time on the OS "A" School list, you also graduated as a new SNOS or OS3. As a general rule, you will spend the majority career at Sector Command Centers and Cutters. There are special assignments at different unit types, but by and larger, these two units will butter your bread. As a new OS3 assigned to a Sector Command Center, you will be filling a Communications Unit (CU) watch stander role. Your duties will include listening for and responding to distress communications, sending out various informational/safety broadcasts, monitoring message traffic and keeping track of/communications with CG and other military/commercial maritime radio traffic. These are 12 hour shifts on days, nights and weekends with no windows. You will sometimes be segregated in a booth by yourself, or in close proximity to the rest of your watch floor, but usually away from everyone. You will be bombarded with radio noise, even if the radios are not going off, there will be noise. You will get used to it. If you need to take a break, you will have to ask someone on the watch floor to take over for you while you are gone as someone has to monitor the radios at all times. This is an entry OS position, and as such is usually not the most favorite position of the rate, but it is an important one. You may be the only one that hears a cry for help on the radio and if you don't hear it and respond, they could die, and that is not an exaggeration.
On a cutter, an OS3 will be a Combat Information Center Watch stander. It will be you and a small watch team in charge of navigating, monitoring radio traffic, message traffic and vessel movements. You may also give briefs, watch cameras for illegal vessel activity, track and communicate with cutter deployed small boats and helicopters, serve on an intelligence teams and more. In addition, you will need to become trained and qualified in Shipboard damage control and Firefighting as well as becoming qualified to stand watch when the cutter is moored to a pier. An OS3 underway is a vastly different position than in a Sector Command Center because cutter missions are vastly different from Sector Command Centers.
Now its time for your first Service Wide Exam to make OS2. This process includes having the required time as an OS3, completing practical and knowledge based factors, getting good performance reviews (called marks), getting recommended by your Command and taking a lengthy test full of OS and leadership/CG knowledge. You do the best you can and hope you score well enough (and that the CG makes enough OS2s) to be promoted. As an example, your final score puts you on a list with all the other OS3s that took the test. You get points for how well you answered the questions, how much time as an OS you have, and how good your marks are. Then say, that puts you at #23 on the list. The CG will then say they are making 30 OS2's and since you were above 30, you will advance. If you are below 30, you wait on the list in the hopes they make more later. If not, you take the test over again. This is how the exam will work for every promotion you go for OS1, OSC , ect.) As an OS2 you may still spend a short amount of time as a CU in the Command Center, but will most likely move on to the Situation Unit (SU). The SU maintains the situation awareness of all the air and surface assets in the Command Center's area, keeps track on weather, may give briefs, keeps track of Law Enforcement cases and Environmental cases. The SU is trained in various port security and environmental protection knowledge. They may also assist the CU or OU as necessary. At most Sector Command Centers, this is also a 12 hour watch with rotating shifts.
As an OS2 underway, your job is very similar to the OS3 job, the only difference being that you may go from being a CIC watch stander to a CIC watch Supervisor, which I will cover later. In addition, depending on your cutter type and needs, you will attend the Navy's Electronic Warfare Specialist Schools in Pensacola, FL and San Diego, CA. There are a total of three courses.
Once you make OS1, you will be in a supervisory role and have added responsibilities. As an OS1 as a Sector Command Center, you will be an Operations Unit (OU). The OU position is tasked with planning, coordinating, executing, briefing and documenting Search and Rescue cases. You will be required to attend Search and Rescue Maritime Planning School in Yorktown, MA. This can be a stressful position. You have a watch team to assist you, but you will be the one directing the show and shouldering the responsibility of finding vessels in distress using specially designed computer software. It is a rewarding position as you are directly involved in saving lives. Most SAR cases in the CG wouldn't happen without the OU, as they are the ones that take the call and decide which units to send and where and what they will do when they get there. Additionally, you are required to hold he OU qualification (or CIC Watch Supervisor) qualification in order to be eligible to advance to the next rank, OSC.
An OS1 underway will be a CIC Watch Supervisor. Much like the OU on land, this step up is more responsibility and is a leadership role. You will be doing the same job as an OS3/OS2 in addition to being in charge of the CIC watch. This includes briefing Command, making decisions using your Knowledge and technology and more that is too much to go into here. Just know that it also can be stressful but is just as rewarding as saving lives. You will stand a different in port duty position with added responsibilities. Depending on the cutter, you may be the highest ranking OS in charge of the shop. For larger Cutters, its you and the OSC in charge.
I'm not going to get into what OS's do once they advance to OSC and above because it varies significantly depending on unit and role.
Now that we know the basics of the OS job, let's go over the pros and cons of the gig. Keep in mind, this is my opinion, however these are common pros and cons shared by a lot of the OS workforce. Also keep in mind that your experience your personality, skills, world view and whether you want to do a few years and leave or do 20 or more years.
Pros:
Bonuses. Chances are very good that you will get one if not more bonuses at various stages in your career.
Time off. generally, when stationed on a cutter you will have less work to accomplish while in home port and should be able to take advantage of Trop Hours (shortened work days means more time at home/doing what you want.) When stationed at a Sector Command Center, you will have some weekdays off and usually at least two to three days off in between watches. Also generally, OSs don't have to attend All hands training with the entire unit or participate in other mandatory things that the 9 to 5 workers are subject to.
Time: This mostly applies to Command Centers but can apply to Cutters when you are not on watch. You will have time to attend online classes, learn new skills, read, surf the web, train, work out and study while on watch (operations permitting of course.). Point is, 12 hours is a long time, especially if it isn't a particularly busy watch.
Mission satisfaction. As stated before, you are directly responsible for saving lives and catch bad guys, and the reward of knowing that you helped and are making a difference in the world is universally felt by our workforce.
Training opportunities. While some trainings are mandatory, others are not but availed to you that may include FEMA courses, ICS courses, Maritime Industry training and more, which can pad the resume.
Officer interaction. Our rate works closely with the Officer corps in both the Command Center and on Cutters. You will regularly brief, interact with and work with Officers. This can be advantageous when trying to apply for Officer Candidate School if you choose. In civilian terms, it can be good for networking. Out of all the enlisted rates, OSs are arguably involved the most on a consistent basis with officers. Depending on your point of view, Officer interaction could be in the cons column too.
On to some cons:
Shift working. This might be considered a pro for some, but is considered mostly a con. You will spend the majority of your career no matter how long it is, shift working. This may have negative health impacts such as sleep issues. However, you may find that you actually enjoy working nights (less people around) and the relative quiet of it.
Limited career options. There are options to take other assignments besides cutters and Command centers such as Air Stations, Communications Command, Vessel Traffic units, but those opportunities are limited. The majority of the OS workforce spends most of their careers between Command Centers and cutters.
Mental health impact. We may not experience traumatic events the same way a helicopter diving in to save someone or on the boat crew picking out migrants or other people out of the water, but we do experience it, whether its talking to a distressed person or family member, knowing people died, a case gone wrong, these things can and will affect you if not properly managed. additionally, the working environment can be challenging. 12 hours in a cold, windowless room or taking heavy waves and barfing your face off on watch can get to you. There is a reason the CG offers bonuses to get people to do this job, its not always easy.
Misunderstood. With the exception of maybe the ISs, we are the most misunderstood rate. There are many reasons for this, but I think it boils down to the fact that we do not operate out in the open or have a job that someone can relate to on a surface level (As an example, I don't know exactly what it is like to be a CS, BM or HS, but I can at least visualize what they do.) With OS its hard to picture what it is we really do) We have different schedules than most of the workforce and can be isolated in our workspace, and that no one really understand exactly what we do behind the scenes.
So that, in a very small nutshell, is the OS rate. Obviously, I could not cover everything, but if anyone wants to add something I missed or share their experiences, feel free. I know I used informal terms and probably over simplified a lot, but my objective in this post was to inform perspective CG members and perspective OSs on our rate, so hopefully it helped. I also didn't bother to proof read this post before just sending it because I have bad attention to detail.

i typically don’t rant like this but i think i just need some positivity from an outside source.
i haven’t been officially diagnosed but i’m 99% sure at this point, and it’s only been 6 months since symptoms started.
here’s where the rant comes in i guess: i’m mourning the life i could have had. i was able to hike or do whatever i wanted less than a year ago, but now i can barely leave the house - i can’t have a job, and i can’t drive either. i feel like i was already felt a shitty hand in life and FND has just made it worse somehow. a lot of the things i pictured doing in my life are out of the picture now. this disorder is progressive, and i literally just turned 21. im afraid i won’t even get the chance to enjoy my college years, or any of my life really because of this stupid disability. and i feel like my fnd isn’t even as bad as others have it so why do i feel like this. i don’t have seizures or frequent paralysis, just a shit ton of vulgar tics, weakness, and a metric fuck ton of fatigue. i just feel hopeless for the future and it’s nagging at me. i was never the most optimistic person regarding the future (thanks trauma) but now it just hurts to think about it at all. there’s probably some internalized ableism in me too because i feel like a lot of my future “events” are gonna be tainted by the fact i’m sick or using a mobility aid - which i know, on paper, it sounds stupid - and i crave autonomy, so i hate relying on other people or even aids in the first place. oh and not to mention that my bf is also disabled, so taking care of him (the only thing keeping me sane) is just getting harder and harder and i feel useless half the time.
it’s just so skfjakfikwmfnwkxkakfnwi
i wish i could go back 7 months before this all started. is it stupid to say i miss my able-bodied self?

Hello, all! I'm an adult returning rider, and I'm enjoying trying my hand at lots of different equestrian disciplines. (It's so fun when you're learning just to learn and don't have any expectations!)
Recently my trainer and I have been playing with barrels and poles. I've been going really slow (walking and trotting mostly), and it's been a lot of fun for me and the OTTB mare I typically ride -- she loves a "job", and I think the well-fitting western tack feels good on her. Plus, my trainer is all about the Navy SEALs mantra: "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast." We work a lot on balance, bending, etc. I'd love to watch some ethical and skilled barrel racers to understand more about their body positions and other aids.
tl;dr - Do you have any favorite ethical and skilled barrel racers whose videos I can learn from?