I was abused my whole life as long as I can remember but I didn't know it was abuse as a kid. It felt uncomfortable but I didn't know how to explain it. I've been getting more flash backs lately and it's ruining my brain and the rest of my childhood in my head. One of my favorite gifts my father got me was a exercise ball because I enjoyed bouncing on them. Then someone showed me porn for exercise balls .. completely ruined those memories of my father helping me exercise in the ball. Also remembering my father's poker nights with his buddy's. I swear they were all pedos too. They used to pick me up and set me on their laps and pass me around randomly. Nothing sexual other than feeling their boners grow. I have multiple brothers and they never had any of them even as babies sit on their laps. It's making me question everything from my childhood. When I told people I was abused by them no one believed me beside my mother and her side of the family because my father abused my mom's sisters when they were little. It just feels so shitty to not be believed when my oldest brother has two daughters he lets my father around .... I hate it

I’ve never seen a company shoot themselves more than recroom has. I’m going to name each and every problem recroom has at the moment. 1. Things are too over priced. I get it, recroom need to make money somehow, but 15k for some bullshit elsewere belt?? Like tf. 2. Working on things that don’t matter. For example, full body. I have never met a single person who genuinely wanted for bodies to be a thing. In fact, recroom has made fun of legs and arms on multiple occasions on her social media pages. this is the exact reason why we only get one recroom original a year. And even then it dies out in a week because there’s only one map and it gets really repetitive. 3. Removing weekly challenges. I’ve seen the post and the reasoning behind it. Want to know why 0.2% of people complete weekly challenges? You really wanna know recroom? BECAUSE YOU MADE THEM ONCE A MONTH. not even including the fact that you remove the weekly stand in the dorm room. The only way people would actually know about weekly challenges is going to the rec center. And even then it’s mostly empty because it only comes around once a month for seven days. Weekly challenges were pretty much the main reason why most players even played the game in the first place. 4. Y’all are extreme hypocrites. Starting with making fun of legs and arms then announcing full body, two months later. Or in that post where you said, you would never release weeklies. What’s that one watermelon people shotgun that appeared in the store? Or the caution grenade launcher skin in the store? Or the comic sniper? Or literally 15 other weekly skins you released in the store? Like come on. 5. not fixing bugs. Remember that I’ll glitch that would make the canon not work a couple months ago? ITS STILL HERE BTW. And the glitch or if you whipped the high five grave on the garden of sorrows in crescendo? That still hasn’t been patched. 6. Not being as productive on things we really want. Think about it. back in 2016-2018, recroom had a smaller development team yet they released five paintball maps, rec royale, five quest (3 quest in the same year) 4 dorm, rooms, 4 reccenters, 2 laser tag maps, Park, lounge, soccer, 3-D charades, and much much more. Overall, this game has become money hungery greedy as hell. Recroom, if you don’t pull your head out of your ass and start thinking straight about your own company and your community, recroom will be history. I can go on and on about other issues like in moderation, not doing anything about cash grabs, hackers, etc. but that’s for another post for another day. Please fix your game recroom.

Two weeks ago, with the help of my best friend I contacted my twin flame and I sent him some screenshots, which described my love for him and how I will see my twin as my symbol of power snd force. We are currently in separation, so I did not wanted to go and tell it to his face. I wanted to eternalize what I wanted to say to him. I also sent him a photo of a poem I wrote on the back of a photo he originally took with me, him and his best friend. After I sent him those messages, my best friend also said to my twin that if he ever cared about me, he should look for me and contact me. Afterwards my best friend blocked my twin (it was all done on her phone) because if anything I did not want my twin to use my friend afterwards as a way to communicate with me. He has my number and my social media accounts available, all he has to do is contact me on one of them. Normally I would have waited for this moment a bit sooner, but two day prior to this I thought I had seen him at my window, with a friend of his, and two seemed like they were looking for me. At first I thought I might have mistaken the people, because my twin lives nearby my city and his relatives also live on the other side of the city, so he would not have any bussiness around this part of the city I live. That sudden shock motivated me to do this whole thing faster; it was time.
Days went by and I got to the end of my graduation. My twins best friend (a karmic) called me and congratulate me on graduating, saying he wishes the best for me and my life in general. I thanked him and my eyes fixed on my twin. I noticed he was looking embarassed and a bit scared, which is something I had never seen my twin do ever, in like the two years I have known him. He would be confident and happy, not scared, ever. My twins friend notices this and bumps him softly, telling him to "tell me something as well and snap out of whatever is going on in his head". My twin steps back at first afraid and says while stumbling (something new for him):
"Wh-wha... what could I say t-to... anyway, which college you wanna go to".
I answer him while shaking his sweaty hands (again, all of this screamed at me something happened/changed in his psyche cause he acts like a totally different person), then I go back to my friends. During the overall graduation I noticed how my twin locked his eyes on me during almost the entirety of the event. There were lots of people who recorded the moment from different angles and when looking at the videos I got backed up by this: my twin mostly just looked at me/my direction. When my twin and his class started to leave, I looked for their homeroom teacher and I gave her an envelope. The envelope was a parting gift from me to my twin, and probably a gesture many would find only on movies and shows with how cheesy it is.
The envelope had the photo with the "Sunset" poem and a piece of paper with a link to a text file that has a binary code. When decoded the binary code says that I love my twin and I hope he never forgets this.
It was a sweet gesture, knowing his overthinking nature and his fear to attach to people. As the chaser I wanted to make sure my twin knows that there is someone out there who loves him unconditionally so he should never be afraid for what is going to come at him next year: his finals.
After I did this I got bombarded left and right with angel numbers and had dreams with my twin again, mainly about him experiencing his DNOTS and me helping him overcome it. I was ready to accept that I might not see my twin for a long time, months maybe even years. And yesterday the shock came.
I saw him in my neighbourhood, with his friends, seemingly looking for something, or someone. I was taking my dog out for a walk so my dog tried to run at them, knowing my twin and his friends from previous interactions. One of my twins friends looks back, sees me and tells the others. They stop in an alley where I can see them when I pass a nearby street and they were all just staring at me, my twin included... it was close to being late night so I had a chill going down my spine. When I told my best friend about this she reminded me of how she literally told him about how he should "look for me", giving the impression he took it literally....
What are your guys thoughts on this?? I have not seen anyone talk about their twin looking out for them before like this. Two years ago I gave my twin the adress in case he wanted to meet up with me but I never thought it would become relevant again until now. He took it to the next level, as I know my twins adress yet I never thought for a second to look out for him. Is this normal runner behaviour??

Growing up with my mum i always noticed that there was something off about the way she acted and how it compared to my friend’s mums. I have no idea if she’s a narcissist or if it’s something else but i want to give a few random scenarios in my life growing up where i’ve felt off feelings about her:
A thing that my mum does a lot is constantly say that she’s going to move out of the house. My parents have always argued a lot, the earliest argument i remember was when i was only around 4 or 5 years old (i’m currently 16). It was also the only physical fight that they had but it really traumatised me to the point it’s the only thing i remember from that age. Back to the point, my mum threatens to pack her things and move back to her home country every time there’s an argument. Although i noticed that recently she’s started to threaten to kick us out of the house instead (which i’m not sure how she would even do seeing as my dad is our only source of income lol). It was about an hour before i’m writing this that she called me and my sister pigs and told us it’s terrible living with us and pretty soon she’s gonna kick us out. Keep in mind that was all because i asked her to put on some deodorant as she is slightly overweight and sweats a lot so i think you can imagine the two don’t go well together. She never wears deodorant because of my sister’s headaches and so i can never get near her or be in the car with her when it’s hot as the smell is just too much.
Something else i’ve noticed is everytime we argue it usually begins because she said something completely out of pocket towards me (like for example the argument just earlier). Sometimes i’ll break down in tears because it feels like she’s gaslighting me every time we argue, (telling me that she never said something that she actually did say) only after i’ve broken down she starts to put on a kinder act and lowers her voice, acting all patronising as if i’m a toddler having a breakdown over some stupid reason. It drives me insane as i know the switch in attitude is just to make me feel like i’m the crazy one and as if i’m the one who started this all for nothing. She will also grip onto anything remotely bad that i say to use it against me no matter what we’re arguing about. Although now that i recognise the manipulation i think im a step further to dealing with her behaviour.
Another scenario from when i was around 10 years old, my friend (let’s call her Abbie) and i were waiting at our local school library to be picked up by our mums. Abbie’s mum arrived first but it was already getting late so she asked if i would like her to call my mum to check how far away she is to which i agreed. So she called my mum and asked her how long she’ll be. Next thing i know, my mum arrived a few minutes later and rushed in and said a bunch of hurtful things to me in our native language (so no one else could understand) that i don’t distinctly remember, but the one thing i remember in clear detail was her turning around and telling me how big of an idiot i am. I was so confused about what i did wrong and Abbie seemed even more shocked than me and turned to me surprised asking ‘did she just call you an idiot?’. I remember walking home that day crying and once we got home she immediately switched moods and explained to me in a gentle way why she was upset which i remember was just a whole bunch of nothing. Though it never did and still doesn’t make sense to me why she was so angry. To this day she still has a permanent grudge against Abbie for no reason whatsoever. From what i’ve gathered she seems to think that Abbie ‘latches’ on to me even when we were kids. Although this isn’t the case as i’ve known Abbie for over 10 years now and she still is and forever has been my closest friend. In some cases i would say that Abbie actually cares for me more than my mother does. I think she might be jealous that me and Abbie are so close.
Speaking of Abbie, another thing my mum does is every time i will tell her i’m going out with my friends she immediately starts to act moody or like she doesn’t agree with me going out. I try to ask her what’s wrong to which she replies with nothing and although she says it’s nothing her body language shows that she disapproves. I’ve tried long and hard to figure out why she doesn’t approve of me hanging out with friends and the only explanation i can come up with is that she’s jealous that i’m spending time with my friends and not with her. She’s not a very social person, she has much less friends than she used to a couple years back and barely goes out anymore so maybe she’s envious?? I really don’t know.
Something else i’ve noticed, that is common in many parents from what i’ve seen online, is that she’ll give me the silent treatment when she’s even a little bit angry at me. Instead of talking to me and communicating what the issue is she chooses to ignore it and either gives me one word responses or no response. A lot of the time i won’t even know why she is mad at me. I remember when i was 14 she didn’t talk to me for three days because i got the covid vaccine with permission from my dad and told me that if i die it’s my own fault.
Another scenario that’s always stuck with me was her calling me fat and telling me to stop eating so much. I was never obese or overweight as a child however i am very short and so my body stores weight differently than a tall person so i was never exactly skinny looking either. i was around ten years old when my older sister had an eating disorder and after being chubby lost a lot of weight. My sister had a lot of internalised fatphobia from what i remember and she would tell my mum that both me and my mum are fat and need to lose weight. Instead of my mum lecturing her or telling her it’s wrong to say that she instead decided to come to 10 year old me whilst i was eating and tell me to my face what my sister said about me. (Unrelated but i now have severe body dysmorphia and anorexia thanks to endless remarks like this from both my mum and sister).
There’s many more things that she has done over the years that i’ve either blocked out or don’t remember at the moment. (I’m not in the right state of mind right now because i cried literally a few minutes before writing this 😭). I’m not sure if i’m just being dramatic or if some of this behaviour is narcissism or some type of other mental disorder, but please let me know if there’s anyone out there who can give me advice on how to deal with these behaviours. I currently feel like i’m going insane having to constantly walk on eggshells around her. Everyday i wake up knowing that my day solely depends on what her mood will be like today. Sometimes i’m even embarrassed to bring home friends because i don’t know how she will treat them. I just want to find happiness and peace and get out of this crazy house. 🫠

Jump doc discussion time! Another Burkess jump, this time it's Generic Merchant The Merchanting. Have a second link to past discussion posts as well!

General Thoughts

We've discussed another merchant jump, Generic Merchant by Edrogrimshell, in the past but this one has a very different feel, even if there are SOME similarities in what both jumps offer (Goblin Market & Sell Anything are at least SIMILAR, and I suspect many of us would run them the same way). I'm not gonna do a direct comparison, but I'll go ahead and say that Edro's generic merchant jump has more thematic outright supernatural stuff than this one does, but there's a fair number of generalized supernatural things available in this jump.
I think some folks who might not love how freakishly strong Edro's GM jump gets at the upper end (among other things there's a potentially unlimited 1 Up perk, and perks for stuff like baby-level necromancy and the ability to destroy stuff and turn it into money!) might be into this one. This one also has more modern stuff in its items section.
I think this could be a very fun opening jump for a merchant-type jumper. It has all of the essential abilities for such a character, and this is a safe-ish setting, unless you fill it with drawbacks. It's a perfectly pleasant way to learn about their abilities and develop a particular method for interacting with the settings they visit.

Items

There are 19-ish items in this jump. They run a fairly diverse gamut, with some of them like the Bandit Tools being stuff for criminals and others like the Traveling Shop being a mobile housing and shop item.
We start off with a free item, just a simple weapon and some clothes and armor. If you're in a modern setting, like a present day or near-present-day Earth-like world, probably get a gun, unless you have close range skills.
Currency is an item that is a resource-boost that activates every jump giving you the equivalent of 1,000,000 dollars at the start of every jump. Luxury Goods is a resource boost that also activates at the start of every jump, giving you dope luxury goods you can sell but only a large, one-time shipment of them. Food and Spices is a super kitchen that produces any food you've come across and that infinitely restocks, with a group of skilled chefs. This item is handy for survivalists, and also people with large groups of homies. Seeds Collector is a machine that acts as an auto-farmer for you, taking seeds you plant in it and taking care of them until they mature, upon which point it puts them in creates or ships them to another place you control.
Information Data Bank is a spying center that serves as the base of operation for a large network of spies, and has an orb that can be used to automatically absorb all somebody knows, as well as analysts who crunch and assess data for you. Creature Pens is an area to store monsters, and when they are stored they'll be automatically cared for and can be allowed to reproduce. All you need to do is supply the monsters. The Weapons Manufacturing Plant is a place that produces weapons and armor and can be used to research such things, both creating wholly original stuff and also reverse engineering things. All you need to do is give them money.
The Expanding Shopping Mall is a mall you own which has stores that can sell anything you're capable of supplying. This place is manned by automatically generated shopkeepers, and you can persuade people to sell things in your mall. You own a key which can be placed to somewhere to allow the mall to appear there and for all f its stuff and staff to appear there as well. The Contract is a piece of magical parchment that fills itself out when parties who agree to a deal touch it together, and if signed then the deal becomes self-enforcing, with signers being unable to resist the urge to fulfill their deals.
The Big Caravan is a traveling caravan you are the head of, complete with guards who work for you. The merchants go where you decide and will trade with people in those places all while giving you a cut of the profits, This is one of a handful of awesome items that are almost part of a set, namely the Traveling Shop and the Loud Tavern and Inn, both of which are adventure-hook items. The Traveling Shop is a golem with a variable size, that can be the size of a backpack or can be the size of a two store building and in that form the upper half of the place is a s[ace for you to live in. The Tavern and Inn is a building where adventurers and travelers can get some shut eye and food, and they'll share information about the world while eating and drinking.
Sahara Primo is an item that lets you sell stuff in your warehouse online, or at stations throughout the world if the internet isn't really a thing yet in your setting(s).
The Bandit and Thief tools and the Drug Lab are items for criminals with the BT being a set of stuff like tents, weapons, and armor that allow 50 bandits to be equipped and have mobile housing, while the TT are tools for burglary, and the Drug Lab is fully equipped with scientists who are ready to produce a variety of drugs for the sake of making you some money. The Drug Lab item doesn't have to be used to make illegal chemicals, though it certainly can be used for that.
The final two items are the Chests of Holding and The Scale. The CoH is a large wooden chest that can hold a staggering amount of stuff and is living and loyal to you, able to use arms and legs to fight at your side. If you fill it up another chest will spawn so you'll now have two chests ready to fight for you. The Scale is the "Give powers/skills to other people" item for this jump, and if you touch it twice it will spread the skills and abilities this jump offers to many of the people in this setting.
The items here are humorously varied, though they tend to be "Items for making goods", "Items for criminals", and "Items for selling things". It is a very nice set of items, and I am appreciative of the fun variety of stuff you can find in this one setting.

Perks

Generic Merchant's perks are fun. This jump is solidly focused on making money, and perks allow that in a variety of ways.
Some perks, like Sell Anything (a perk that allows you to make deals for things like powers, souls, and that kind of thing), are designed to directly allow you to acquire anything even conceptual stuff, and can be used real creatively. One special way to use Sell Anything can be to allow people to pass down stuff they want to pass down but that aren't inheritable such as skills, so you can work with a famous, dying actor who has a son who is not a talented actor and in exchange for a lot of money you can take the actor's skill and pass it down to his son.
Not every perk is so direct in how it allows for profit-making. Some perks are focused on understanding those you wish to barter with, like Needs Must and Their Pain, which both grant you the abilities related to empathy and can be used to predict how to best address the needs of your customers.
A few perks here are explicitly supernatural and even external. Fear and Confusion is a perk that lets you launch mental attacks on your foes, allowing you to earn openings in battle that can be used to mess up your foes. Feel What I'm Saying allows you to project your feelings onto others, allowing them to share in your feelings and understand you better. Greedy Miracle, Greedy Sacrifice, Money Is Power, are three powerful supernatural abilities that allow you to use money and valuable items in handy ways once your riches go from simple material goods to not-so-simple esoteric things like souls and lifespan.
There are a number of crime & criminal-themed perks from Expert Smuggler to instant height planning which grant you skills and abilities that allow for more efficient and successful attempts at doing illegal activities. There's even a perk for becoming a better, evolution-based villain; Hardened Criminal, which allows all of your crimes to boost your body in ways thematically tied to the crime in question.
Many perks here are based on creating OPPORTUNITY. Sometimes these opportunities will revolve around chances to save people, like A Savior offers, in other cases these opportunities will simply be the opportunities that come with helping the poor (Friend of the Downtrodden) or the rich (Friends in High Places). There's also a perk for knowing about the next trends, (The Gold Rush) and a perk that allows you to know how to get a monopoly over any resources; Monopoly Radar.

Synergies With Other Burkess Jumps

So... different bits here are synergistic with different Burkess jumps. The items here are, in several cases, highly synergistic with Generic Barbarian, with some notable examples being Bandit Tools and Weapon Manufacturing Plant, both of which are WILDLY compatible with Generic Barbarian. The criminal perks are also decently synergistic with Generic Barbarian, if you feel like having your barbarian be a raider.
One jump this is WILDLY synergistic with is the other topic of this post; Generic Novel. Assuming you want your novels to be popular and/or make money, this jump is STUNNINGLY helpful. If you like money perks like Marketable ideas and Market Research from Generic Novel are highly helpful here, while perks from here like Greedy Sacrifice can help you speed up your ability to become a better writer, and you can use stuff like The Gold Rush to predict trends you can take advantage of to better support your book.
This is honestly just a lot of fun, and I think it makes for a good time.

Generic Novel

It's time to discuss Generic Novel the Noveling. Let's go!

General Thoughts

Any jump that involves writing is gonna have my heart. So this jump is AUTOMATICALLY Luciano-approved. That said, there's a LOT of stuff here. This is one of the longer supermarket-style jumps I've seen, with only some jumps like Welcome to Vaporwave City, Generic Worldwalker, and Generic Artifact Warrior having equal or more pages (Generic Novel has 19 pages, an impressive number for even plenty of non-supermarket jumps).
If you come into here thinking that this jump was gonna be JUST writing (and also like... publishing and editing), your impression is understandable but wrong. This jump is a hodgepodge of different things, and I suspect that at it's core it's about novels and ideas FROM novels, as I can see perks and items that involve writing and publishing and that also take ideas and things from popular stories and literary troupes. As a result of that... Well, you get a lot of neat perks and items in one setting, even if of course to get EVERYTHING you'd want you'd need... well, a lot more than 1000 Story Points, and the ever handy tokens this format gives out. Also, nothing costs more than 100 SP in this jump, though some supermarket style jumps DO have stuff that costs 200, 300, 400, or even 500 points.
I have a lot of thoughts on this, but I think this ends up becoming a fun alternative first jump. There's a lot here that is very fun for first/baby jumpers, and this could be a quirky introduction to the world of generic jumps, and/or supermarket style jumps. Given how quirky the set up for this jump is, at least in terms of the two contrasting themes, I'll go ahead and split up the item & perk discussion section into four parts as opposed to two. Novel/writing items & perks, and non-novel/writing items and perks. Let's get into it.

Novel Items

So this section is all about novel and/or writing items. In total there are 5 such items; The Book of Novels, Ghostwriters, The Book of Revolution, Cinder, & The Novel.
TBON is a talking book that can write novels for you from your imagination. It's also a writer homie who loves to talk about fiction and story stuff, as well as a bro who'll give you advice. Ghostwriters is a company that ghostwrites for you, in exchange for some cash, and their work is top-notch. TBOR is a public discourse book that helps you spread your ideas and makes them almost memetic, causing them to catch on in the public eye, though obviously not everyone will love them. Cinder is a dual-item that is both specific e-reader tech (think of a kindle) AND a company that is in charge of such tech. Cinder tech can allow for self-publishing. The Novel is the generic "Spread powers from here" item. But also, if you AREN'T a writer, the first time you touch this it'll boost your writing skills, which is nice.

Novel Perks

There are a number of perks here that are all about writing. Some of these are incredibly minor, (Though invariably still quite handy) such as Typo Blocker which prevents you from making minor errors related to typos, stuttering, or unintentional linguistic faux-pas's, which is small but can quite handy whether you're delivering a speech or writing a book report. Very fun.
Some of these perks are NOT minor, such as First Draft, Only Draft which is a type of convenience perk I've seen from time to time that makes it so that you only need to do something once to get your best version of it, so you won't need multiple drafts & editing run throughs to get your best version of your novel. Perks like Novel Writer & Marketable Ideas are just simple, but powerful perks that allow you to do what this setting is themed around; writing novels and also getting them sold. There are some quality of life perks here that are quite neat, like Self Learning Creations; a perk that lets you make stuff that teaches people how to use it, so swords that train people and books that teach their owners to read. A fun story, though not novel, perk is Campfire Stories which lets you hear stories that foreshadow future events and have truthful elements to them, and when you tell campfire stories you'll be able to unconsciously speak of true events that actually happened, even if you didn't know that when you were telling the story.
The story based perks in this jump, be they novel-centric or not, are fun and can help your jumper have a neat hobby when they aren't adventuring or training. A lot of these novel perks age well, and can be a part of a jumper's kit long after this jump.

Non-Novel Items

Some of the non-novel items here are kick-ass and are fantastic for early or first jumpers.
Your Dream Home is a fun housing item that defaults to a large house with a picket fence that has a very peculiar trait: when you go to sleep in it you can configure it to fit your specifications, and when you awaken the house will have changed to fit your configuration. Among its other badass traits is the fact that you can take the bed from it, place it elsewhere, and the house will teleport there.
Robot Army is a handy group of robotic followers who obey you and can enter a battle mode to become a bigger threat to your foes. They can also build more of themselves.
Big Business is probably my favorite item in this whole group and it's a business that follows you, that you are the president of, and that makes you 1,000,000 dollars a year at a bare minimum, and gives you cool vehicles you can use to impress people and for normal transportation. Also since this is a dual jump discussion, this is kind of just a better version of that currency item from Generic Merchant.
Enchanted Murder Tool is a magical weapon that is sapient and can communicate with you to help you learn how to become a better killer and warrior. This is just a very neat adventurer item,
The items here are really solid for first jumpers or baby jumpers, offering a variety of resources from housing to job-security (and a LARGE passive income), to stuff like weapons and adventure hooks. All in all this is just a healthy set of items.

Non-Novel Perks

The non-novel perks here are bonkers. There are perks that allow you to summon a gaggle of homies (Cult of Doom), stuff that lets you fuck up technology (Failing Technology), perks that let you punch through durability (Almost Invincible Monster) and a ton of other odd powers.
There are a range of non-novel/non-writing perks here. Some of them are simple things based on literary troupes like that of the Femme Fatale, a perk that gives you skill with weapons, spying, stealth, and even seduction. There are other simple, but handy perks here as well, like Plot Convenience; a perk that smooths out the little difficulties of day to day life in favor of making you more able to get to big picture things, which can enable moments of coolness by eliminating unhelpful logistical issues.
Some of these perks are NOT simple, with Kill Crazy being a great example. KC is a perk that makes you a better warrior and killer as you do it more often, allowing you to become better suited at battle and even grow stronger and HEAL mid-battle as you fight and kill. Another not simple perk is The Strongest Force Is Love, a sort of antithesis of Kill Crazy, focused on the power of love to produce miracles and to forcibly allow good ends.
The perks here are stunningly diverse and I recommend you look through them to see what sort of wacky shenanigans you can come up with yourself!

Conclusion & Closing Thoughts

These two jumps are a LOT of fun. I actually think that taking them as one JOINT setting and having that be your first jump could be the opening to a very fun chain.
These two jumps can be deceptively powerful in the right hands, even if you intend them to be hobby jumps, since stuff like Sell Anything and Instant Read can be very powerful tricks in one's toolkit. I strongly recommend both of these jumps, and I hope you enjoyed learning about them!

Far from the tree? "We think Apple Intelligence is going to be indispensable to the products that already play such an integral role in our lives," CEO Tim Cook said Monday during the keynote at Apple's (AAPL) annual Worldwide Developers Conference. It was a big step forward for a company that has been seen as falling behind in the AI arms race, with its newly announced artificial intelligence system set to be integrated across the core iPhone, Mac and iPad portfolio. Some of the developments are already common to rivals like Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) and Samsung (OTCPK:SSNLF), but others made significant new headlines.
Siri: The assistant will get smarter at what it can do with personal information, keeping data private by using on-device models or Apple's new Private Cloud Compute system. Users will also be able to type to Siri, making it more like a chatbot, and will be capable of digesting displayed info with on-screen awareness. It'll also be able to locate items and scan personal information within a past email or message, and work across apps, as well as ink some new partnerships (more on that below). Not everyone is happy with the new developments, with Elon Musk, who is developing a rival AI system named xAI, threatening to ban Apple devices at his companies over security violations.
ChatGPT: "I can use ChatGPT to help with that" will be a common prompt from Siri in the future (at no extra cost and with no account). Apple is also planning integrations with other large language models and it may even be developing its own in-house platform after falling behind in the AI race. There will additionally be a suite of new writing tools available that can proofread and rewrite text across all word-related applications, with the ability to change the writing tone to make it sound more concise, friendly or even professional.
Other new features: Meet Genmoji - a mashup of generative image creation and Emoji/Memoji that can be generated by only writing a description. Another new integrated app, called Image Playground, lets users create new image styles like animations, sketches or illustrations (similar to OpenAI's Dall-E). Photos will be searchable with greater specificity and new tools can be applied to edit or remove background objects, similar to Google's Magic Eraser feature. Other hot items also unveiled included priority notifications and voice transcription features.
What's next? Apple (AAPL) shares fell 1.9% on Monday, marking the worst performance on the day of a keynote in almost a dozen years, and things are not looking any better premarket. Investors saw many of the developments as playing catchup to rivals, with Apple using its "walled garden" ecosystem to push the advances of rivals like OpenAI. That may change if the company could ink a new revenue stream from the partnerships, like the $20B/year it gets from Google to be the default search engine on Apple devices. Until then, shareholders are in wait-and-see mode, especially with many of the AI upgrades only coming later this year and only on the tech giant's most expensive devices. Also not helping the situation are regulatory scrutiny and falling sales in China, as well as the iPhone maker recently surrendering its place as the world's No. 1 and No. 2 most valuable company by market cap to AI bigwigs Microsoft (MSFT) and Nvidia (NVDA).
Energy divergence Crude oil futures surged Monday in their largest one-day gain since February, lifted by expectations for stronger energy demand and indications of heavy summer travel. UBS forecasts oil demand to rise by 2M-2.5M bbl/day between April and August amid lagging supply due to OPEC's extension of voluntary output curbs and modest growth outside the cartel. Meanwhile, the U.S. average price of gasoline at the pump fell to $3.40/gal on Monday, the lowest June level since 2021. Industry analysts point to lackluster demand as fewer people may be hitting the road as summertime begins, and strong supply, as well as relatively mild prices worldwide. (14 comments)
Cleanup complete The Port of Baltimore's main shipping channel has been fully restored, nearly two months after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge shut down one of the busiest waterways in the U.S. The incident, which involved a cargo ship chartered by Maersk (OTCPK:AMKBY), killed six construction workers and prompted a federal criminal investigation. Maryland Governor Wes Moore lauded the efforts to clear the federal channel, but "our work is not over until we rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge." The state plans to rebuild the structure by the fall of 2028 at an estimated cost of $1.7B-$1.9B. (1 comment)
Shooting for the Dow? Nvidia (NVDA) shares started trading on a split-adjusted basis on Monday, fueling speculation that the AI leader may be considered for inclusion in the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI). Its market cap also reached $3T again, edging out Dow component Apple (AAPL) to be the second most valuable listed firm. Amazon (AMZN), which was added to the Dow in February, had seen similar speculation over its inclusion to the index after its 20-to-1 split back in 2022. Elsewhere in index news, Evercore ISI said Nvidia has the potential to capture 15% weight of the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500). (9 comments) Today's Markets
In Asia, Japan +0.3%. Hong Kong -1%. China -0.8%. India flat. In Europe, at midday, London -0.8%. Paris -0.9%. Frankfurt -0.6%. Futures at 7:00, Dow -0.4%. S&P -0.3%. Nasdaq -0.3%. Crude -0.4% to $77.46. Gold -0.1% to $2,323.90. Bitcoin -3.7% to $66,855. Ten-year Treasury Yield -3 bps to 4.43%.
Today's Economic Calendar
FOMC meeting begins 6:00 NFIB Small Business Optimism Index 10:00 Quarterly Services Report 1:00 PM Results of $39B, 10-Year Note Auction
Companies reporting earnings today »
What else is happening...
WSB survey results: Here's who users think will win in November.
Uber (UBER) loses California appeal on state's gig work law.
Bronfman eyes $2B bid for Paramount's (PARA) parent firm.
FDA advisors: Lilly's (LLY) donanemab effective for Alzheimer's.
Return to Earth: Boeing’s (BA) Starliner faces next key test.
Mandiant gives more detail on Snowflake (SNOW) data breach.
SCOTUS seeks Biden administration views on Honolulu lawsuit.
CVS generics recalled two times more than Walgreens (WBA).
Trump Media (DJT) dips as it amends share registration filing.
This stock topped Chevron as most shorted large-cap in May.

I am looking for a simple UI that allows to compare output of LLMs similar to lmsys and vote for them. Either just comparing two random ones, or maybe even multiple ones and rank them.
Any OS repo out there offering that? Thanks!

I really liked Rorschach. Issue #11 is my personal favorite but I can understand why a lot of people don't like the series such as the ethical dilemma of using Otto Binder's real life séance as a plot point, using a character whose just Steve Ditko but he has a different name and liberal ideology, and how overly meta it can get at times. I really liked the Detective though that's probably because he's the standard "literally me" quiet badass archetype that appeals to most dudes (myself included) though I feel he was kinda underdeveloped like we literally don't know anything about him other than that he's clearly mentally ill and that he liked pirates as a kid. I headcanon that his name is Rex though that isn't entirely relevant to this discussion.
I would say the best thing about Rorschach is how Tom King and Jorge Fornés use panel grids and panel structure. Issue #8 is an excellent example of this with the three men, who worked for Myerson, that the Detective interrogates. We get to see three testimonies concurrently that are presented in an unusual format of panels that are together as odd Tetris-esque patterns which only show partial parts of the artwork with the empty space being where the testimony is located.
Each of the three testimonies are color coded in red, green, and purple respectively (each color matches something of the three men's outfit; Testimony #1 is red like Testifier #1's red tie. Testimony #2 is green like Testifier #2's sweater, and Testimony #3 is blue like Testifier #3's cap)
We see the three different men have similar experiences concurrently on the same page such as Page 6 which shows three different points in time where each man slept in a bed with the "camera" zooming closer to the bed as we go through these sections Testimony 1, 2, and 3.
This theme of showing Testifier #1 at the start of an action, such as walking to the farmhouse, and Testifier #2 in the middle of the action, walking up the steps of the farmhouse, and Testifier #3 at the end of the action, knocking on the door. Another clever thing that acts as a subtle hint to the true intentions of the three men is their speech bubbles which are jagged and coarse like the Rorschach's or like Myerson's and later Frank Miller (lol).
A huge example of this is the massive double spread page showing the three men, individually and at different times, taking turns firing Laura's sniper rifle at the seemingly impossible to hit target. With the men and Laura & the stage that holds the target being enclosed in white negative space and panel borders; a visual technique that causes the reader to be drawn to the two important moments in the double page spread.
Another amazing visual way to show the end of the tri-testimonial sequence is that on the last page after it ends, the first panel is the Detective scratching his head. This panel is a square and only shows the upper half of the scene while the next panel is a rectangle that shows the upper and lower half of the scene. It's also a clever way to visually focus the viewer on the Detective's hands being upward and then being downward in the next panel.
After the first panel, the comic goes back into a traditional panel structure as the testimonies end and the Detective's ranting begins. Then after the Detective breaks several police brutality laws, we have a page featuring the three panels, one for each man, of three men smiling as they drop the act of innocence and let their true personalities be revealed. And for each panel, the "camera" zooms in closer as the three men separately say "Oh" - "It is you" - "I've been waiting for you". The Detective lost his cool and violently assaulted them in order to get to the truth; he's the perfect successor to Laura and Wil and as we later on in Issues #11 and #12, he becomes the newest Rorschach.
And even after the tri-testimony ends, the final page shows the Detective pull a red cup from a cup holder attached to a water cooler despite the fact that all the other cups are green. In the very next panel on the second row, it's now green like the others, and on the first panel on the final row when the cup is in the bin it is now blue. Another little detail is that the first row and the third row of panels are the same panel structure as each other but in reverse order.
I love The Detective's conversation with Laura Cummings and Wil Myerson in his hotel room in Issue #11. The Detective was never in a good headspace mentally but learning that Alan and Turley were fucking him over from the start absolutely didn't help. I know it's visual storytelling 101 but I love the contrast between the dark blues of The Detective's hotel room, the moody yellows of Hanna Cemetery, and the bright lilac purple of the flashbacks. The two pages where The Detective takes off the last of his clothes while Young Wil Myerson and a child Laura Cummings inspect their gunrack. Plus, Wil's speech about how in all his years as an artist he never actually drew a hand, just a bunch of lines and ink that form nonsense patterns which Wil and the rest of the world saw as something coherent. Because at the end of today, art really is just a bunch of random patterns which attempt to represent something.

"All the patterns, I put them there. I am responsible for them. I drew the lines. And looking back... I see only myself."

Wil's comics represent his personal stories, philosophies, and beliefs. The Citizen and The Unthinker was a deeply personal work with his several elements being ripped from his personal problems such as the "14B" on The Unthinker's helmet being the number for Alma and Carl Thompson's apartment and in the final unfinished issue, The Citizen just violently kicks The Unthinker to death while yelling "Fuck you!" multiple times. A scene made in the immediate aftermath of Wil being beaten by Carl after Wil grew sick and tired of his neighbor's constant jabbing about Wil's embarrassing date with Alma.
Wil was a fundamentally lonely person who needed love and affection. His date with Alma being a complete failure for him destroyed him, Wil never got over her. Though unlike a lot of dudes who get rejected, Wil didn't make his whole personality hating women. The worst he ever did was steal the nametag from her mailbox and keep it in a drawer in between his pens and pencils. Due to this intense loneliness, he was a very easy target for Laura Cummings who meaning to or not emotionally manipulated a vulnerable old man into becoming a crazed extremist. This wasn't even the first time she did so, she manipulated the much younger and fitter Muscles into becoming the next Rorschach and he had a way more successful vigilante career than Wil did and their
Rorschach points the gun toward the now naked Detective who meakly says he can't kill Turley. Rorschach says that he will and shoots the Detective in the face. As his corpse falls backwards, Pontius Pirate's theme tune is shown. A theme tune that we first heard the Detective mutters to himself in his hotel room all the way back in Issue #1.

"Yay, Pontius Pirate sailed o'er the Seven Seas. And when he was done he got down on his knees. He prayed, he prayed: Oh Lord, what hast I done? Not enough, God answered, not enough, my son."

The Detective's corpse lies on his bed. His face completely obscured by blood splatter. A blot of red ink. He has been reborn as the newest Rorschach. Naked like a baby when it first emerges from the womb. He gets a call from Alan, gets out of bed, and looks at himself in the mirror. In the very last page of the penultimate issue, the Detective listens as a man talks about a girl he's going to meet up with and how New York has been "The City That Always Sleeps" since the Squid attack and that Los Angeles is just different to New York. The man finishes by asking the Detective feels the same way, all the Detective responds with is a simple "hurm" in a speech bubble that's halfway between a regular one and Rorschach's jagged one.
I love the dichotomy of Walter Kovacs' conservative moral philosophy and Wil Myerson's liberal moral philosophy both having the end result of "Evil must be punished and those who do a large enough amount of evil must be killed". As I wrote this, I just realized something very interesting about all the Rorschachs; they're lonely people. Walter Kovacs was a loner, Muscles was a loner, Wil Myerson was a loner, and the Detective was a loner.
In the end, the Detective kills Alan and Turley in Turley's office and leaves without incident. He drives to a theatre and goes to see the new Pontius Pirate movie, albeit 35 minutes late (teehee), and the series ends with the Detective happily chowing down on some popcorn as he watches the movie. A shadow reflects onto his face, a shadow that resembles a Rorschach inkblot. Though in reality, it's nothing more than a pattern which Tom King and Jorge Fornés and the reader have assigned meaning to. What happens to the Detective next? I leave it entirely in your hands. The End.

When I tried to login to my account a few hours ago, I was told that I had to set up two-factor authentication. I received an email to do so but didn't have the time to set it up right then. Now when I click the link I get a message saying that it's already been used and to get another link (but doesn't say where or how); and the BA site just tells me to use the link in my email ("Please check your email and follow the instructions to enable two-factor authentication. Once you have completed these steps, click continue below to access your account.")
The email says to write for help if I need it, but not to reply to that one as they don't read the account ... but does not provide an email that I can write to.
Any suggestions of how to get a new link? FWIW I'm a silver member but as I can't log on I can't see what the dedicated number to call is. Thank you!

My partner is having trouble trying to find employment as a pediatric nurse in London.
She was on a 1-year fixed contract ended in March this year, at a big London hospital. She has 10-years consecutive experience as a pediatric nurse. Her employment has been consistent until this gap. No issues with work, never had a bad mark against her.
She'd been looking for work now for nearly 3 months but cannot find many roles.
The interviews she's has got she hasn't had success. But it feels like this is really because these roles are pre-assigned to people before the interview even happens. So the HR people are "ticking a box" for an interview process - to show they did advertise the role. We think this because almost all the interviews have been about 25-30 minutes, despite meaning to be an hour. One interview was for a rather senior role, but the interview lasted only 12-minutes, but was supposed to be an hour. She prepared for four fulls days for that interview and for it to only last 12-minutes was appalling. They asked two questions and then asked if she had a question about the role. She asked a good detailed prepared question and she got a 5-second answer. We later found out the job was given to someone internal who it seems they'd already lined up.
I believe she is a good nurse, although I work in another private sector field I am not really sure what is going on. But she has been working consistently for 10-years as I say with no negative things happening (as far as I know!) and has a good Bradford score. The employment gap has come as a big surprise to her and it is beginning to have an impact on her mental health being home alone all day and applying for jobs, getting interviews, preparing hard, then having interviews significantly cut short. I know there isn't too much we can do to side-step this process. In the past when she's been out of work she has been able to find a new job very quickly.
She has also applied signed up to to the emergency cover bank system, but hasn't been contacted to do a single shift in the last 3-months which we are confused about...
Curious to know if anyone else is going through this and what the situation is right now? We thought nurses in the UK were in incredibly high demand but this doesn't seem to be the situation at all!

Important points: I wrote this in March, three months ago but I didn’t send this to her, because what’s the point? I had to say it somewhere. I also didn’t lay a hand on her, nor her me. The children mentioned in this are hers and not mine.
I’m not saying this to get a response and I’m not saying this to try and make you feel guilty. I’m saying this because I’ve had to deal with a lot and looking back, I have some things to say. This is not coming from a place of anger or resentment, rather genuine disappointment.
I have thought long and hard about saying anything to you because you don’t seem to think you did anything wrong, so I didn’t want to waste my time, but I’m going to say it anyway just in case you do care. But as I said, there is no expectation or pressure of any kind for a response.
My head is now so clear. After the breakup I was “delusional” to quote my friends. And my constant self-blaming deemed “silly” and “weird” according to many. Numerous people said it “didn’t sound right” and that “it’s never that one sided”. As time passed I realised they were right, I also realised a lot about our relationship, and about you. Whilst you were not wrong to break up with me due to how I treated you, how you went about it was not okay, and how you treated me at times during the relationship was quite awful. This is not an attempt to alleviate myself of any guilt or to shift blame onto you, because I am aware that I did A LOT wrong, but I needed to get this off my chest because I am having to do a lot of healing from our relationship and its aftermath.
I took your advice. Remember during disagreements when you always used to say “ask any girl and they’ll agree with me” — well I did, and they don’t. After you discarded me and I finally felt healthy and safe enough to talk about things, I spoke to multiple women about what I did to you, but I also explained the grievances I raised with you in our relationship that were almost always dismissed with the phrase above. I spoke with some that know you, some that don’t, some young, some old. All of them said that yes, some of my behaviour towards you was absolutely disgusting and unforgivable and that you were right to leave me for it, but they also said at times you were controlling and manipulative — it doesn’t excuse my behaviour but they said it offered a lot of explanation.
My therapist (who said she’s been trying to tell me this the whole time, but I always jumped to your defence), as well as some others, even said you were abusive towards me with some of the things you did and said. And again, whilst it does not justify any of my behaviour during our relationship, it also makes the breakdown of what was once a beautiful union much more understandable and a lot less lopsided. I was painted out to be this abusive monster that drove you away, but the reality of it is I was a victim too. We clearly weren’t right for one another, and that’s okay, but to lay the blame solely with me just isn’t right — it took me a while to see that.
For months and months I thought I was going absolutely insane by “doing everything wrong” in the relationship because you would always say something along the lines of “I’ve been in a lot of relationships before so I know how to behave and you don’t” — sorry but that’s not on. You are on your third boyfriend in three years, I don’t think it’s right that everyone else is the villain in your stories. And whilst I know /ex before me/ and I did some awful things, to me you were capable of being a very bad girlfriend too, even though you were also capable of being an absolutely incredible partner and I will still remember and cherish those moments.
You were the love of my life, you were my everything. Remember when you said “whilst you sit there and whine about the possibility of me moving on, don’t worry, I’m put off, I’m traumatised”— hearing that whilst going through the most difficult period of my entire life only for it to not even be remotely true had me at a loss for words. The speed in which you got over me and moved on just showed me I never really meant anything to you. The speed you moved on shows me it was never about “healing and working on myself” and “I need to be on my own” it was just about getting rid of me and finding a replacement. You are well within your rights to do that, but all the extra hurtful and misleading things you said were so unnecessary. Healing from trauma takes a very long time, it doesn’t take eight weeks, it takes a lot to work on yourself and it takes therapy — I am currently going through the healing myself process due to the trauma I have from our relationship. You even said it yourself less than two weeks before ending it: “I could have a new boyfriend tomorrow if I wanted” — we both knew you were right. That is not a nice way to treat someone that loved you as much as I did and that stepped up to be a step-father to those wonderful girls — you left me like I was nothing. I’m a human being, you were the love of my life, the girls were daughters to me, yet you saw me as just another replaceable boyfriend and no more. I am just the latest name on the ex boyfriend list, on reflection I don’t feel like I was the love of your life or anything remotely close to that— it shouldn’t be this easy to throw away and replace someone you claimed meant so much to you. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to the girls. I didn’t even really get to say goodbye to you. Or your mum. I know I deserved better than that.
You strung me along and pretended like we were going to get back together knowing full well you had absolutely no intention of doing so. Then you told me over text you weren’t keeping the door open to getting back together. Text. Twenty-two months of being together, of loving you every second, of daydreaming about you, of being a family unit with you and the girls, and that’s how I was left. Just discarded like I was nothing. It feels like what we had didn’t mean anything to you. I know I did some things wrong in the relationship but looking back you did a lot wrong too and I did not deserve the ending I was burdened with. You knew exactly what you were doing: talking to me about us getting married and getting a house together on the Monday, getting me to babysit the girls on the Wednesday then ditching me on the Friday. People don’t make these decisions overnight. Yes I deserved the pain of losing you for how I behaved, but the manner in which you went about it was really cruel, and I know I’m not alone in thinking that. I also do not appreciate the dishonesty of you saying “it was just a really abusive relationship so I had to get out” when in reality it was dragged out much longer than that, with misleading falsehoods thrown in along the way. Yes our relationship was an abusive one on both sides, but it was not a case of “just getting out”. You sat there in my bedroom in the middle of December kissing me, telling me you loved me and that you hadn’t ruled out getting back together. How does someone go from sincerely feeling that to being with someone new in a couple of months? They don’t. That’s just not how it works. Whilst I don’t want to get back with you, I do feel like the manner in which you ended our relationship, and how you were afterwards, was extremely disrespectful and dishonest—that is the most painful part because I had already accepted you having a new boyfriend relatively quickly when we broke up, I literally said it to your face and was met with denial. I don’t know why I thought I was special.
You will of course always have a place in my heart because you were my first true love, even if I wasn’t yours. As I said, some of the best memories of my life are with you. I really hope you find, or have found, health and happiness, but you really really hurt me, especially at the end, I do not hate you but I am very hurt. You could’ve just broken up with me that December afternoon in your living room. And we could’ve gone our separate ways, you could’ve moved on as you intended. It could’ve been that simple, but you didn’t want it to be. Instead you had to give me false hope. You had to sit there and watch me cry, you kissed me and told me you loved me. You had to send me countless messages about how terrible I am and how damaged you are as a result, as if I hadn’t spent the majority of 2023 hearing that from you on a weekly basis. Was it a punishment? Maybe so. If it was, it worked, I am now suffering the pain of looking back at 22 months with someone who never truly felt the same way about me.
I hope in time you find the chance to heal and be truly happy within yourself, that’s all I want for you and the girls. Goodbye.

I have two boys, and we are trying to have a 3rd. I keep being told by multiple people, “hopefully you’ll get a girl, they are so much easier.” Honestly, I’ve even been told this by professional people, my sister who is a C-SLP, my brother who is a PA, my best friend who is a teacher.
Is it true, in your experience?

So, tomorrow I was supposed to leave to go to Germany for a few days with my girlfriend let call her Anna and a friend, let’s call her Marie. We would go a friend (Jeff) of mines house who already went there with 2 friends. Nick & Joel. It’s a 5/6 hour drive and I have a small car. A Kia Picanto for those who know it.
There was already a small chance that I had to take one of the guys (Nick) with me which I already had some trouble with because of the size of my car but it was fine.
One of the friends (Joel) left earlier so the two of them stayed behind, without a car. (Jeff & Nick) Another friend (Tom) was supposed to come after I would’ve already left.
Tom was supposed to take Jeff home but since he isn’t coming anymore that isn’t an option. Because of that Jeff wanted to drive with me as well, which means there would be 5 people in my car for a 5/6 hour drive in the middle of the night. I told them I don’t want to do that and never agreed to that. I looked for multiple options to fix it, like borrowing someone else car or renting a car. Sadly I couldn’t find a car to borrow. So in went into looking for a rental.
This was a very expensive option, (about 350€ for 5 days) I had to pay to get the app to verify my drivers license. So I already payed 40€. After extra fees for insurance, road assistance and service fees the rental came to 400€. If I payed with my credit card I did not need to pay a deposit fee so I tried that but it didn’t work. Without a credit card you have to pay another 250€ deposit.
We also talked about them going by train, I could take their stuff home and they would not have to worry about any of that but Jeff was already mad and doesn’t want us to come anymore
None of my friends wanted to pay me in advance for this and since I’m a broke student I don’t have enough money for this either.
So I told my friends I don’t see an option on how it’s gonna work.
No my friends are saying I’ve left them in Germany and it’s my fault because I don’t want to drive with 5 people in a car that’s too small and will be too full with luggage. Also they can just go home by train, which will take pretty long but it’s an option.
My question is AITA for not wanting to drive anymore? I feel like I did everything to try and make sure we could still go but still everybody is mad at me and putting the guilt on me. I hope the story makes sense. I’d be happy to provide more information if needed as well

so I (27 F ) dated (27 M) off hinge, it was 4 days before I left the country to my home country for a while & I made it clear to him before we even met in the first few messages. we met everyday of those four days.

1. on the last day we were watching a movie at his place, he tried to touch my hand but I pulled it off as I didn't want anything physical & he didn't proceed further. it was 11:40 pm, no metro, he had a car but didn't really offer to drive me home. was new to the city so I didn't know that walking back home (30 min walk) was that scary at this time. I told him I'll walk back & he was ok with it. I was crying all the way back because I was scared. I don't know why I didn't just uber I think I just froze & kept walking.
   
2. when I got back home he said he was worried about me. I had to leave the country the day after. he said he liked me & I kind of did too so we started dating long distance for two months
   
3. During our dating period he went on holiday for 5 days with his friends. he said girls are approaching him in bars & that it was "fraustrating" to tell them he has a gf but he did. he was so confused on why I found that insulting. he also said he kissed a guy. I'm bi so I said thats considered cheating since if I kissed a girl that would. he said no thats not cheating & you're allowed to kiss girls bcs thats hot (he doesnt think bisexual is a thing) he said
   
4. I got back to his city just to meet him after 2 months of long distance dating. stayed for 6 days at his place. I got him food from my home country & he said it "looks & smells bad" & didn't even try it & made me throw it in the trash. he was annoyed that I was cleaning his house. he was sleeping until 1 pm & the rest of the day he was watching tv so we didn't really talk much
   
5. I left his house & was on the airport. after I got off my flight I noticed that he didnt send a single message so I asked if he's ok. I also asked if we are still dating. he ignored the question & said he is gaming. I kept asking & he said he likes me as a friend & not romantically but he didnt want to say it in person as to not stress me out & he waited until I left.
   
6. I was completly shocked right after & it made me collapse bcs of how he did it. I kept messaging him for few weeks after until he said he doesn't care anymore & blocked me everywhere.
   
7. I have multiple traumas in my life & I shared them with him during the first month of dating after making sure he was ok with hearing this. after he dumped me he said I was oversharing & that he was just being nice by listening. I was just trying to be open with him.
   
8. I told him I have a history with men cheating on me & after a month of dating he said he cheated on his ex with his friend's gf & that he regrets it. I was shocked & asked why didnt he say that early on because I wouldn't have dated him if I knew. he said he was confused by my reaction because that was 4 years ago. (mind you I directly said that this specific topic is a trigger for my ptsd)
   
9. he was back on hinge few hours after ending things with me
   

I just want some honest opinions... he said I was dramatic & overreacting. he also said I'm too much.

Apologies in advance, this will be long!
It’s been almost 6 months since DD, 4 months into R. The first two, he was only set on getting me back and not focusing on actually working on himself. As soon as he “got me back” i think he realized it didn’t fix all his problems. He withdrew, stopped being as affectionate, doesn’t spend as much time with me, has even told me he isn’t in love with anything (including me) but regretted it as soon as he said it, frustrated with himself unable to identify his feelings (he is also autistic, so he struggles with processing his thoughts).
He knows he’s withdrawn because of his guilt and shame, breaking down to me about how much he hates himself. I tried to be there for him as much as i could while working through my own emotions, as i have already forgiven him and he knows that. But because he has withdrawn, it has spiked my insecurities and anxiety, sending me into spirals where it’s all i can think about. I was absolutely terrified of him losing feelings and leaving me. He’s finally started therapy so hopefully that helps.
I couldn’t hide my insecurity as he caught on to it when i got upset over something i misinterpreted. I explained to him what i was anxious about, worried about there being some woman he’s getting to know, worried that he isn’t thinking about me. He showed me his phone with no hesitation, showed me another thing on social media where he was helping someone who had been cheated on from his perspective, talking about me and how he doesn’t know how i can stay with someone like him and how he wants to be a better man for me. He continued saying he has only been focusing on his mental health, struggling to balance us along with it. But he wants to be able to come back to me as a man i can rely on. Thinking about it now, he never once became defensive or angry if i questioned him or got upset with seemingly no reason, he’s been very patient and understanding luckily.
This calmed my nerves a LOT and opened my eyes to how bad i’d let myself get. I’m usually extremely confident and i really don’t let much get to me. What he’s doing now is exactly what i wanted him to do after DD. But i broke up with him and went NC, and all he cared about was getting me back. He’s doing what i wanted back then, why am i upset now? I’m thinking it’s because back then, him crossing my boundaries is how he showed his devotion. Now that he’s respecting me and wanting to show up by taking the steps to better himself in general (not only for a relationship), it’s not something i’m used to from him. I took a step back and realized 1. I am not respecting myself, as i shouldn’t be wanting a man back when he is not ready to treat me right 2. I am not ready for the relationship either, if this is how my mental state is at. If i’m only focusing on wanting him back, what makes me different to him back then?
I asked him if he was afraid of me leaving. He said he used to be terrified, but has accepted that he loves me too much to hold me back if i feel like i’d be happier without him. I need to get to that point as well, where i can accept any result. I need to find myself again, love myself again, take care of myself, and if we find each other along the way, even better! But i can’t put all my eggs in one basket, expecting myself to be automatically happy once we get back together.
It was overall a nice talk, i think.

I am one year past D Day and in the divorce/selling the house process. I have a few posts on the forum, but basically I a gay and my ex cheated on me with a dude that looks like Shrek, and also has been admitted into a psychiatric hospital for being I dunno - a fucked up person?
https://www.reddit.com/survivinginfidelity/comments/1axdkco/deleted_a_post_about_my_wife_having_an_affai
https://www.reddit.com/survivinginfidelity/comments/1d2pklk/cheating_ex_has_mental_breakdown/
I feel like I have done such a good job of detaching myself from her, but whenever we need to deal with something important, she uses it as an opportunity to try to hurt me - we were discussing selling the house last night she had the nerve to actually try to equate our lack of emotional connection (which is a two way street by the way) as a betrayal equivalent to cheating on me. She then reverts to teenager mode, saying things "i cant wait not to see your face anymore" etc etc. I just realize- she is a horrible person with no integrity, but it kept me up all night, how angry I was at her.

Greetings fellow Helldivers. You don't know me but I'm just a guy who plays Helldivers 2, got it roughly a week after launch when everyone was going crazy, and have barely put it down since. I don't normally do posts like these but after seeing the post earlier that detailed how all 15 of the deadliest planets across the war so far have been Automatons, with only 1 from the original front, I wanted to explain my opinion on why that is as the game has evolved these past 4 months.
Now I don't have sources or screenshots for every claim, I'm not going to deliberately lie but I am going off memory here. One of the biggest topics in the community right now is the Automatons, henceforth the Bots and why they get so low playercount outside and even during MO's. Dedicated Bots players cry that their fellow Divers have "skill issues" while Terminid, henceforth Bugs, players cry that Bots are bullshit and have too much outside of their control.
Is this true? While you can't truely find an objectively correct opinion, I am of the mind that it's about 20% skill and 80% issues. Which is skill and which is issues I will try to explain going forward. I'll also discuss why this is such a heated topic and why there is such vitriol on both sides about this.
To truely tackle the route of the issue we have to go back to launch and what the game was like then. While the core gameplay loop was the same much details were different. Anti-tank was weaker, Armor didn't work and explosive damage was bugged and almost always one shot a Diver. Yet the Bot front enjoyed about 40-45% of the overall playerbase from what I remember, with it lowering or increasing with MO's. Can you imagine what the Bot front would be like right now if armor still didn't work?
To go even further, there was a dark time on the Bugs front post Railgun nerf and when the Heavy spawns were out of control where people went to the Bot front for safety, I remember because I was one of them. The fact that you could stay behind cover instead of getting rushed and the heavies having weakpoints that let Autocannons kill them quickly made them a very attractive front until the Bugs issues got fixed.
So what changed in the time since then to make the Automatons so deadly and the Bugs so much more manageable? The answer is the the additons Bots have had have made them far harder than the Bugs additons, and many small changes and game-bugs have added up overtime to make the Bots fat more threatening.
1) Gunship Towers make Shriekers look like pigeons, with being far harder to kill and ignore, far deadlier with their rocket barrage and also actually able to stop you taking them down by destroying the Hellbomb, they even smart target the Hellbomb. This makes taking them down with fellow Bot presence next to impossible.
2) Factory Striders are an excellently designed unit and I have no complaints with them (outside of the rocket launch defense mission) but they are tough and the Bug Front hasn't had another heavy added since launch. Bots have Hulks, Tanks and Factory Striders. Bugs have Chargers and Bile Titans.
3) Side objectives are all far tougher and get multiplicativly harder if concentrated. Stratagem Jammers taking away your loadout means you have to fight Bot drops with only Support weapons. If a Bot Drop with multiple heavy Devastators and Hulks lands on the jammer it's impossible to crack unless the Jammer has a fabricator built into it. Detector Towers and Anti-Air just make life harder until you can crack them. Bugs have what, Stalker Nests and that's it. I don't think these are badly designed outside of Stratagem Jammers but they are harder.
4) Some units have changed and become bugged and far deadlier overtime, others deliberately. We all remember when Flamethrower Hulks went from kinda scary to literally atomising Helldivers with a pixel. But Heavy Devastators and Cannon Towers weren't always as accurate as they are now. I remember at launch encountering Heavy Devastators and besides having a shield they were basically just Devastators. Now I think they are the deadliest unit and my first prioirty in every single fight. Scout Striders got their buff to make them more resistant.
5) Headshot damage and flinch. Still in the game and it's always been these two mechanics the Bots abuse far more than the Bugs. I don't know what to say about these two mechanics except you can't really outskill either of them, there's no player input they just happen to you and it sucks.
6) Spawns - the currently bugged patrol spawns are one thing, but I think another is that Bots spawn way more mediums and heavies compared to light units, unlike the Bugs. If you think of Bugs spawns you can think of them as a Pyramid, tons of light bugs like hunters, scavengers, warriors, them a medium amount of mediums like Brood Mothers, Spewers, Hive Commanders and then a couple Heavies which are Chargers and Titans.
Bots have a bunch of light units but on 7+ outside of already emplaced ones and Fabricators you will never see them. Bot drops exclusively drop the three types of Devastator, Scout Striders and heavies. If only Bile Spewers and above came out of Bug breaches people would not be happy with Bugs
7) Anti-tank is bad on the Bot front - While Bot heavies have weakpoints for Medium pen weapons is good, if anti-tank was better at dealing with heavies it would help they feeling of being overwhelmed. But because anti-tank can only one shot a Hulk if you precisely hit the tiny eye, you may as well use a medium pen support weapon, because you will have a way higher fire rate and it's only 2 shots. If Hulks died in 1 rocket to the faceplate like Chargers, it could help a lot to open up build diversity. But right now Medium pen weapons can do the same job better and deal better with devastator swarms.
8) Accuracy and ragdoll system - Already mentioned but Heavy Devastators and Cannon towers are different from launch and way more accurate than should be. This is compounded by the smallest rockets randomly giving you massive ragdolls where you cant defend yourself, then you have a long animation of getting up. Getting ragdolled by anything below a Tank should not be a thing. Especially behind cover. The only time I ragequit this game was when I got ragdolled out of hard cover towards the direction the rocket came from and then aimbotted by 3 heavy devastators.
Tl;dr Bots spawn too many mediums and heavies compared to their light units, have way harder side objectives, the additons since launch have been harder and more numerous than Bugs, they take advantage of the painful headshot, flinch and ragdoll mechanic more and many Bots are bugged and are far deadlier than they were at launch
As someome who actually really enjoyed the Automatons I hope Arrowhead gives them the same pass they gave the Terminids when the Terminds were crazy out of control in that one patch post Railgun-nerf. It's one thing to have a faction that you approach differently, and have one that is apparently just 100% deadlier.