Hello everyone, my name is Alex. I have been added to a late class after the add date.
Canvas was uploaded with the class but since I started the class late since I got added late, how should I go of asking the professor to give me an extension of any assignments that was past due since I got added late to the class?
I just don’t want zero on any assignment that I missed because I was a I just don’t want zero on any assignment that I missed because I was at late to the class added late to the class

Good evening to everyone on this sub, I’d like to start off by saying I apologize if I’ve put this in the wrong place, but I feel as though many people here will have much more life experience and wisdom than myself on this topic, so here goes nothing.
P.S. This is going to be long as fuck so I apologize in advance lol.
I’ll start this off by giving a brief profile: I am 17 years old and about to graduate in a few weeks. My last long-term relationship ran from March ‘22-August ‘22 and it was not until about four months ago that I decided I was “over it” (I speculate I may have held limerence towards that person as well). In that time I developed an addiction to weed (daily use started in July-ish) that still runs to this day, for a multitude of different reasons, that relationship included. I’ve experienced most of the negative side effects of that addiction, and although I am still dependent on it, I am in a much more manageable state than I once was (I was smoking 2-3 times a day as a junior in HS). In the time following me and that persons separation I felt lonely often and had a hard time being able to validate myself. It’s almost important to mention that my home life is not the smoothest that it’s ever been, and the combination of stress from that, school, and this big transition Im about to experience has taken a large toll on my life in the last 3 months or so.
So to my present situation. I met a girl at a birthday party my friend of mine was hosting (3 and a half months ago), and I quickly spotted her and decided I wanted to try and talk to her. Before even doing so, my friends mother and another friend of mine had encouraged me to talk to her because “we would be good together” (they both know her much better than me). To sum it up, it was not long before we ran off from the party, went on a long walk and talked for over an hour, and opting to go for ANOTHER shortly after, to which I kissed her for a long time. She had proclaimed that she sensed a real connection between us and seemed concerned about seeing me again, so I decided to keep things going because I had not felt this excited or connected to someone since my last partner. It’s important to note that she lives in a town about 35 minutes away, and I don’t currently have a car, so there is an obvious distance. The next week I went to her friends birthday party in her town and it went even better than the weekend prior, we once again separated ourselves from the party and got more intimate than the weekend prior. I ended up telling her a lot of the burdens in my life and it was the first time I had felt heard, you guessed it, since my previous partner. That night ended with more intimacy and her driving me home at 6 in the morning, and I thought about this night non-stop for probably 2 months. After that I was under the impression that we were seeing each other until she silently pulled away and I was unsure why. Radio silence for about a week. I was in the process of trying to accept this when we coincidentally ended up at a friends house at the same time and ended up talking things over (about 2 months after initially meeting her). Long story short, I forgave her and welcomed her back into my life. This is when the daydreaming of “what could be” and the perfect fantasy started again, except this time with a more positive outlook. About a week and a half later I called her and asked her to be my date to prom, which she happily agreed to. There was about 3 and a half weeks between then and my prom, which was this past Saturday. About 2 weeks ago she drunkenly called me and apologized for her pulling away and revealed how much it was bothering her, but I tried my best to reassure her that I had moved on and only saw that as a moment in time. The beginning part went well but rendered slightly awkward (I feel like mutual sobriety contributed to this), but the after party was when things took off. She told me that she wanted to go on another walk with me at some point that night, which made me happy because I knew what I was going to experience. This time was different than the first; there was an unspoken level of comfortablility she revealed only around me, and she told me how she wanted me to visit her in college and how she was disappointed we didn’t have the time to develop a relationship, and how long distance would probably be difficult. I asked her why she felt this level of comfortability with me, and she said it was because “she could tell I was a good person with only good intentions, and would never do anything to hurt her.” None of this was discussed extensively but rather we focused on trying to enjoy each others company, when I asked her if I could kiss her again. She told me that she wanted to ask but she felt anxious to or something like that. We spent a lot of time on that walk being intimate, into the rest of the party at my friend’s house at times we had unintentionally secluded ourselves (going to get another drink, etc). She stayed the night and I walked her to her car the next morning, and she told me she would see me again because she still has a sweatshirt of mine, I gave her a long hug and we went our separate ways. It’s important to note that she has admitted to being a bad texter, and that she did not believe in the superficiality of developing a relationship over Snapchat (our main form of communication), which is something I’ve aligned with since before meeting her. And we were both drunk 3 of the 4 times I saw her. I am also now realizing we don’t really address these moments in sobriety which raises concern to me. In the times between seeing her, we have small conversations here and there and Snap throughout the day. Needless to say, I still think a lot about what it would “be like” to be in a relationship with her and see her more often, and find myself disappointed when I don’t hear from her for a while. But at the smallest sign of validity, it entirely flips.
I want to know if this is something that I should address with her, as I want to have a manageable relationship with her in whatever aspect that may be. I also want to source more validation from other aspects of my life besides her. I already exercise about 4-5 times a week and that has kept me in line more than if I wasn’t, but I feel as though I need to do something about this directly in order to make progress. Again, I apologize for making this so fucking long lmao and if you read this all you are amazing. Any input, whether I want or don’t want to hear it, is fully welcomed.

I know that this is a controversial opinion, but as someone with two sisters, I can't help but notice that racism towards black men is always more aggressive. I understand that both black men and women experience racism in our lives, but it seems that black men face more. In my honest opinion, black women face more classism rather than racism. By this, I mean that I have two sisters:
one is overweight with pink braids, long nails, shows a lot of skin, and always speaks her mind. She often complains about having a hard time finding a job, how no one wants to hire her because she's black, and how she struggles to find a relationship because Latin individuals are preferred by black men. On the other hand, my other sister is skinny, has European features, straight hair extensions, a more stockholm style, and behaves in a more refined manner compared to my other sister. I have noticed that she has an easier time finding jobs, often getting hired by the same places that rejected my other sister. She also has an easier time making friends and getting into relationships, and is generally treated better. Both of my sisters are black, with the same skin color and everything, which has led me to believe that black women face more classism than racism. I understand that racists will say that black women are ugly, ghetto, undesirable, and loud. However, when it comes to black men, they will say all sorts of horrible things. I acknowledge that both forms of discrimination are equally bad, but would you rather be seen as ugly or a thief?
Recently, I found myself going down a rabbit hole and stumbled upon a very racist website. I won't mention the name, but whenever they post about a black man, it's always filled with racist content. According to them, there is an 80% chance that a black man is a felon. If you date a black man, you will supposedly end up being a single mom. They also claim that black men look like monkeys, are dangerous, and say other racist remarks. However, there is rarely any mention of black women. When I search for information about black women, I come across posts like "black husband and white wife have the highest divorce rates," while "black wife and white husband have the lowest divorce rate among interracial couples." I know it may seem like I'm searching for evidence, but I genuinely believe that a skinny black woman with European features is less likely to face racism than a black man. What I'm trying to say is that if a black woman dresses more elegantly, focuses on losing weight and getting fit, and behaves in a more refined manner, she will be treated much better than black men.

Background: over a decade ago I left a relationship where my ex was sexually, emotionally, and psychologically abusive. He cheated, lied extensively, and forced me to do things I didn’t want to do. Since then at the first sign of lying or dishonesty in a relationship I quickly end things. No excuses.
Currently I have a bf [33M] of less than a year who I love very much. We are highly compatible, our morals and overall views align. He’s very kind, loving, funny, smart, and makes my life better in every way. We’ve been talking about moving in together in the near future. I can see him being “the one”. I really want this to work.
However, at the beginning of our relationship before we were exclusive we were casually seeing other people at the same time (we met in a dating app). I was only sexually active with him and so he said (but we were either one free to sleep with other people). I found out a few months later when we were finally exclusive that was a lie - he was sexually active with at least 3 other girls. He lied about the extent until I showed him “receipts” (he handed me his phone to check, apparently forgot the evidence was there). We had lots of conversations about the betrayal - he assured me I was the one and I decided to let it go given we weren’t exclusive then. But I didn’t understand why lie if that behavior wasn’t a deal breaker (and I didn’t even ask him about it he just said there was no else he was sleeping with but me)
Since then I’ve learned that he has a secret Facebook account he uses to check on his exes and other girls he used to hookup with. I’ve seen the logs and he checks on them every other week on avg. He does it most frequently when we are having arguments or I’m out of town. He has lied about this. I’ve seen him delete activity logs on FB after he does his online stalking.
Furthermore he has accused me of lying and being dishonest - but I haven’t. For example: when he learns new information about my past with someone he takes that as a lie… as if he should know by now in detail the entirety of my previous relationships especially when it comes to sex. I find this very alarming. He might be projecting.
I don’t believe he is cheating. But his behavior is very dishonest. He assures me he won’t do it again (check on exes on FB). But I’d be naive to take him at his word given the history of lies, and the accusations that I’m a liar. Is this reason to end a relationship? If not, how does one grow/move on from this?

In the past 6 months I challenged my own code style extensively and came up with new personal guidelines on how to write good PLC code.
Most of these are pretty straightforward programming principles that any experienced PLC engineer would support, like modularity, KISS principle or five rung principle
I also came up with some that are way more controversial, but I just think those are best practices.
I am programming exclusively in TIA portal, I have used Rockwell also once and know it has different capabilities.
1st: avoid structured text at all times, only use it for mathemathical calculations. If you have multiple tags in one command, put all of them into new lines for being able to properly debug.
2nd: Make all sequences in GRAPH. That way you have the sequence diagram always up to date
3rd: do not use InOut tags. I know that has been best practice for speed, but debugging large code without being able to properly cross reference is horrible.
4th: no abbreviations, except the absolutely most common like ERR, ES, i,o
What do you guys think about these? I know they are not considered best practice at the moment, but I also feel that the best PLC engineers are often really bad at writing clean code and its super frustrating at our company.

Nesse meio de ano uma “amiga” atualmente conhecida/amiga da minha sala vai fazer uma festa de 15 anos, todos os dias conversamos eu e ela sobre a festa dela, porém temos uma amiga em comum que me disse que já tem o grupo “save the date” no caso para as pessoas que foram convidadas para a festa de 15 dela estão no grupo, (muita gente vai ir). Conheço ela a 5 anos, já fomos muito amigos depois com o tempo fomos nos distanciando por que comecei a me interessar por ela de outra forma, em 2020 fui muito babaca com ela, eu tinha 10 anos e tratava muito mal as gurias, esse fato é importante pois essa amiga em comum que temos me disse recentemente que acha que a garota que vai fazer a festa não gosta de mim por causa do que eu fiz naquele tempo, comentei com os meus pais sobre estar em dúvida se ia ser chamado ou não para a festa por que eu estava em dúvida se ela fala comigo sobre a festa dela na minha cara e não vai me convidar como se ela fosse tipo fria nesse ponto ou o que meus pais acham que é que ela pensa que eu estou no grupo da festa por isso ela fala, só que eu já perguntei pra ela o dia, o local o que tem que vestir e ela me respondeu tudo, depois da 2 pergunta a pessoa tem a obrigação de perceber que eu não estou no grupo, o que é lógico por que eu estava perguntando aquelas coisas. Agora estou em dúvida se ela é “fria” no ponto de falar na minha cara sobre a festa dela e não me convidar ou se ela é muito lerda e não se deu conta ainda de que eu não estou no grupo. Obs: ela tem alguns outos amigos homens na sala mas eles não foram convidados também, também pensei nisso talvez como se ela convidasse o mais próximo desses amigos e não quisesse chamar o outro ficaria um clima estranho e então não chamou ninguém.

Hey! So I'm really struggling and could use some advice from other autistic adults. For context, my wife and I have been together for about eight years now (married for one) and she's the best person on the planet. Genuinely my best friend, favorite brain to pick, life partner, and someone who I deeply love. She had ADD and I have AudHD, depression, and anxiety.
I just recently found out that I'm autistic in the past few years. I only found out because I was having frequent shutdowns and ultimately had to do some intensive outpatient therapy to avoid being hospitalized. Finding out that I was autistic was a huge game changer. It contextualized a lot about myself and my relationship. I also found out that a significant portion of my depression is autistic burnout (explaining why depression was medication treatment resistant). My partner has been my biggest supporter. She's spent countless hours researching autism, burnout, and trying to understand the way I work. In addition, she has picked up a considerable amount of slack around the house and is doing virtually all of our combined finances. I left my solid paying job to soul search and find something that would be more compatible with who I am. Unfortunately, truly taking time off was not an economic option.
Ultimately, I decided to follow my passion to become a teacher. It has been great, it's routine oriented, comes in spurts, always has an end date, and gives plenty of time off. I am looking forward to celebrating my first summer break of my adult life (and teaching career) in the coming weeks. The only problem, is that in addition to being a first year teacher I had to go through the certification process. This was extensive. I took a half dozen test, a bunch of undergrad classes in my subject, and 30 graduate credits - all in a little over a year.
This was a crazy schedule and, predictably, left me more burnt out. I have now graduated with my masters, finished the licensure process, and have settled into my role. Over course of this process my wife has been nothing short of amazing. As I mentioned above, she took on the lions share of the work and assured me that it was to help me get to the finish line, get better, and be able to recover over the summer. As time has gone on, doing all of this is starting to, very understandably, leave her burnout. She's made it clear to me that “just because an action has a negative consequence doesn't mean it's wrong.” However, seeing ten stress she has been under and her burnout increase has absolutely ruined my already shaky confidence and ability to feel like an equal partner. To be frank I haven't been one. I simply have not been able to. Everytime I try to add more housework, or even just little things for my wife like making her coffee in the morning, my burnout induced demand avoidance makes my fight or flight kick in. As we get closer to my break, the cracks in her facade of being OK with taking on such an extra burden has begun to appear. To be clear, I do not begrudge her for that. She's doing so much for us, and just for me.
I am really struggling to find things I can do to help her feel valued and to take back on more of the household load. I know summer about to start and things might change then, but the idea of taking on even something as innocuous as the litter box or dishes absolutely terrifies me. I want to do these things, and so much more, to lessen her load and make her feel appreciated but simply fail at being able to turn that will into action. As a result, this has made me very insecure about our relationship which only frustrates her more.
I really don't know if this is a rant or if I'm asking for advice - either way I appreciate you for making it this far. I just really want to be a better partner but feel so limited in the ways I can do so. I feel terrible as my wife will suggest things that aren't household load/management related like planning nice dates but my brain turns even those into demands that need to be avoided. In many ways I feel like I have become like an injured pet she needs to take care of rather than a proper husband. I hate feeling like this. I'm afraid that when summer comes I won't magically have more spoons and it'll continue like this. That will only make us both more frustrated as it's definitely not fair for her to be working, paying our bills, and doing the housework while I, uh, do nothing over the summer. I need to figure out how to step up and be the husband deserves.
Since being diagnosed, I have found so much autistic joy and many strategies to make my life better. This is truly the one area that makes me feel lesser than for being autistic. Even then I feel like I am just autisming wrong somehow and that this is a personal failing.
If you have any advice on how to set myself up for success, recovery, and being a better partner this summer I would love to hear it.

Filed taxes in January, accepted in January and radio silence since.
Job is paying just enough for bills and transportation. I’m not going to bullshit you, I just need money for some actual good food every now and then and enough money to leave the house every now and then. Being cooped up in the house is not for the weak lol.
The repayment date is for July just in case the IRS decides fuck you and never gives me my refund.

Tenho 26 anos, sou formada em direito numa federal, tenho um emprego ok, sou super conversadeira, acho que sou uma boa companhia, faço academia e aula de dança, faço terapia, vou em dates com alguma frequência. Mas, parece que nunca é suficiente. Às surgem uns caras que rende um pouco mais, mas nunca passa de uns poucos meses. Eu realmente acho que eu não tenho nenhum problema que me torne uma pessoa difícil de se relacionar. Eu só quero achar alguém pra ficar de boa. Eu tô cansada dessa coisa de ir em vários primeiros dates, de no máximo as minhas relações durarem 2/3 meses. Dá vontade de só desistir disso e aceitar que talvez eu nunca encontre alguém que faça sentindo cmg. Alguém que já passou por isso teria algum conselho pra me dar?

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Hi everyone, I'll be moving for college soon, so I'm trying to get rid of series I'm not particularly fond of. All are either unread or read once. Most volumes are priced at 30% off the price listed on the back. Bundles including the word shipped include media mail shipping in the price. I am also open to negotiations and can bundle volumes. Might split series, not sure.
Please note, I will be out of town after Thursday 5/23, so anything after then I will hold off on accepting payment until I return around the 20th of June (I'll PM to ask if you still want it).
Pricing is 30% off typical volumes and then larger discounts for more popular series and ones with slight damage (mentioned and pictured).
PM with questions, offers, and photo requests
Manga Sets:

• Chainsaw Man 1-11 pics
  • Notes: G4-5
  • $74 shipped
  • $6 each
• Komi Can't Communicate 1-5, 7 pics
  • Notes: G4, slight shelfware and slight yellowing on top
  • $48 shipped
  • $7 each
• Kaguya-same Love is War 1-6 pics
  • Notes: Essentially G5, barely visible shelfware on a couple
  • $48 shipped
  • $7 each
• Jujutsu Kaisen 1-5 pics
  • Notes: G4-5, almost perfect aside slightest crease on the top of vol. 3's spine
  • $35 shipped
  • $6 each
• Vinland Saga 1-2 pics
  • Notes: G4, almost perfect except vol. 1 has slight damage on the bottom of the spine as pictured and small peeled seam on bottom of vol. 2 (pictured)
  • $30 shipped
  • $12 each

Standalone / Single Manga Volumes

• Nana Kaoru 1 pics
  • Notes: Unread, G4 since the dustcover has a small rip that is taped (pictured)
  • $23 shipped
  • $18 without shipping
• Levius (standalone) pics
  • Notes: G5
  • $30 shipped
  • $25 without shipping
• 5 Centimeters Per Second (standalone) pics
  • Notes: G5, has Kinokuniya pricetag on back (pictured)
  • $17 shipped
  • $13 without shipping
• Burn the Witch (standalone) pics
  • Notes: G5
  • $17 shipped
  • $14 without shipping
• The Quintessential Quintuplets 1 pics
  • Notes: G4-5, slight yellowing on top
  • $10 shipped
  • $7 without shipping
• My Hero Academia 28 pics
  • Notes: G5
  • $8 shipped
  • $5 without shipping
  • Free if you have a larger purchase, just lmk

Light Novels

• Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny-Girl Senpai 1-5 pics
  • Notes: G4-5, minor shelfware, vol.5 has books a million tag
  • $58 shipped
  • $10.50 each
• Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs 1-2 pics
  • Notes: G4, V1 has yellowing on top only from the bookstore, V2 has a little dent on upper right spine
  • $22 shipped
  • $8.50 each
• I'm In Love With the Villainess (Yuri) 1-4 pics
  • Notes: G4-5, Vol. 2 has yellowing on top from bookstore
  • $49 shipped
  • $10.50 each
• I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (standalone) pics
  • Notes: G5
  • $14 shipped
  • $10.50 alone
• The Devil is a Part-Timer! 1-2 pics
  • Notes: G4 - Might be slight yellowing on top or might be the page color?, a little wear on the sides of the spine on vol. 1, vol 2 is pristine and unread
  • $22 shipped
  • $9 each
• My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong, As I Expected 1 pics
  • Notes: G5, unread
  • $13 shipped
  • $10 without shipping

呪われたテクニック:ギャンブラーのガーディアン (Cursed Technique: Gambler's Guardians)

The Gambler's Guardians CT is a shikigami technique that employs the use of chance and a deck of cards to summon guardians to combat opponents. The user cannot choose which shikigami is summoned as the medium between summoning these shikigami is a deck of cards that the user always has. The user may withhold these cards to be used as a later date or to lead to the use of the user's DE.

Drawbacks Of Gambler's Guardians

1. Due to its unpredictability, you may not draw the right card for the situation or even be unable to summon a shikigami at all.
   
2. It's a very risky, yet powerful technique as the cards must physically be drawn for the shikigami to be summoned.
   
3. All the shikigami's main weakness is fire as they will become a pile of ash in a matter of seconds [as this is the main and almost only weakness for all the shikigami, it will not be repeated and only shikigami specific weaknesses will be mentioned going forward].
   

呪われた道具:プレイヤーの野望 (Cursed Tool: Player's Ambition)

The Player's Ambition Cursed Tool is a tool that is created directly from the user's CE. It is tied to the user's CE and can always be created again by the user whenever it is destroyed. The cards in this deck are extremely durable as if made of a titanium alloy while still retaining its flexibility. These cards can be very useful for other Sorcerers as the deck always has a full suit of cards [that never repeat until all have been used once] that can cause a lot of damage. As for the user, these cards serve as both the medium and a powerful offensive tool for combat. However, just like modern decks, two jokers have been placed. These two jokers are required for the user to activate their DE, if the user does not have a DE then these two jokers are used as diversions to trick or further damage opponents. When the shikigami is summoned, the card drops to the card and expands to the required size for the shikigami to exit the card as if it's a portal. Both the size and the body of the shikigami depends on how quickly it exits the card.

ギャンブラーのガーディアン:エース (Gambler's Guardians: Ace)

The Ace shikigami is a shikigami that helps smooth the flow of the user's CE and increase the user's CE output. The shikigami is in the form of a large skinny robed figure that bears the symbol of the card that is drawn [A spade for the Ace Of Spades, a heart for the Ace Of Hearts and so on]. Aceis quite physically powerful and smart as it will get very creative with its attack and almost never do something in the literal sense. The Ace is extremely lanky and has arms that almost drag on the ground on the floor. The boost from this shikigami lasts for a varying amount of time depending on which Ace is drawn. The Ace takes advantage of its long arms and powerful enhancement boosting abilities to quickly attack in swiping strikes from a distance. Ace is the manifestation of the user's grief and regret of indulging in their addiction as they have lost the love and warmth of those who were close, yet pushed away.

ギャンブラーのガーディアン:スペードのエース (Gambler's Guardians: Ace Of Spades)

The Spades variation of the Ace shikigami can be seen as the more base version of the Ace as it still retains all regular details aforementioned, but with the added detail of skin as white as snow and hands the size of a shovel’s blade. The enhancement ability aforementioned is not changed much as it still can enhance the flow of CE in the user and boost the overall strength of itself. Although it can now enhance the durability of different objects to the level of a titanium alloy.

Gambler's Guardians: Ace Of Hearts

The Hearts variation of Ace sees some very drastic changes when compared to the Spade variation. The Ace Of Hearts can be seen with the same snow white skin, but this time it seems to have brought red outlines where its nonexistent veins should be. These “veins” are visible all along its body. The Ace Of Hearts no longer smooths the flow of the user's CE, but instead is able to reverse some damages to both it and the user. The Ace Of Hearts takes advantage of this healing factor with its higher amount of agility, but this healing factor and agility come with the loss of strength. The Ace Of Hearts is much weaker and not suited for close hand to hand combat, but instead will use debris from the fight to throw at the opponents while at points jumping towards the user to heal them. The Ace Of Hearts is able to climb up buildings extremely quickly and is another very useful part of the user's chance filled arsenal.

Gambler's Guardians: Ace Of Diamonds

The Ace Of Diamonds is the more defensive variation and it will always put its life at bay to keep its master safe. It is much more bulky than its previous variations and uses this bulky-ness to shield the user with its body. The Ace Of Diamonds has the same snow white skin and the same blood red “veins”, but with the added factor of its major difference in size when compared to the other variations. The Ace Of Diamonds is also the most physically powerful variation as it can throw things like cars with ease, possibly even buses if it tried. This variation of Ace can reinforce its own skin to that of diamonds, at the cost of being unable to apply any boosts to others.

Gambler's Guardians: Ace Of Clubs

The Ace Of Clubs is the much more offensive variation of Ace as it trades away some of its high durability to gain more agility and muscle strength. Combining this increase in agility and muscle strength with its newfound aggressiveness and large hood, it can quickly apply large amounts of pressure onto anything as it mercilessly attacks the target. The Ace Of Clubs will also use it's surroundings heavily to apply further pressure, whether that be from grabbing and throwing the target into something, or picking up something and using it as a weapon.

Gambler’s Guardians: Two

These shikigami mainly focus on supporting the user as all of their variations focus on buffing their capabilities in some form, whether that be applying a protective CE shield over the user or simply healing the user. However, these shikigami are very weak and require something to protect them or else little value will be gained from summoning them. The shikigami almost look like [biblically accurate] angels about the size of a bike, the only difference is that they are made purely of the card they were summoned with, hence why their durability is so low and can very easily be shut down.

Gambler's Guardians: Two Of Spades

The Two Of Spades variation is [just like Ace Of Spades] the base variation of Two. The Two Of Spades summons two smaller shikigami that both can apply barriers of CE onto objects or even people. These barriers are not the strongest and can barely survive a single hit from something such as a grade 2 and above, but they can allow for some defense especially as it can tank at least a single hit which can potentially save the user's life.

Gambler's Guardians: Two Of Hearts

The Two Of Hearts variation allows the shikigami to be able to reverse damage to anything, but not the position [ex. If a wall was knocked down and shattered, these shikigami can reverse the damage it sustained to an extent, but not being it back to its upright position unless they somehow lift it back up] to a certain extent. No, these shikigami can NOT reverse death, the worst injury they can reverse on a human being or animal is a broken bone [unless the bone is completely shattered]. Anything more can potentially cause more pain for the user while killing the shikigami in the process.

Gambler's Guardians: Two Of Diamonds

The Two Of Diamonds variation can apply a much more durable shield than Two Of Spades, at the cost of its own speed and tapping into the user's CE reserves. This allows for a much stronger shield that can repair itself as long as the user’s CE reserves are full. These shields can survive multiple hits from a semi-grade 1 and potentially a few hits from a grade 1 sorcerer or curse. However, if the shikigami attempts to keep up the shield for too long, it will overload itself and burn up in a flash of CE. The CE used to summon these shikigami will be returned if this happens.

Gambler's Guardians: Two Of Clubs

The Two Of Clubs is the fastest variation of Two, but at the cost of its own durability. These shikigami often will apply a shield onto itself [rather than the user] and fly into a target to cause physical damage, taking advantage of its shield and speed. However, because it is so weak durability wise, so are its shields. Its shields cannot survive more than 2 hits from most sources without shattering. Even though these shields are weak, the shattering effect that happens when they break can potentially harm others [this includes the user].

Gambler's Guardians: Three

Three is a trio of shikigami that look similarly to the finger bearer cursed spirit, but Three are pure white with either black or red accents depending on which card was used to summon them and the symbol of the card on its back. They are also smaller than the finger bearer, reaching a height of about 4’4. Three is more so focused on being a supporting attacker to overwhelm an opponent, rather than taking the attention off of the user [with the exception of Three Of Clubs]. Three is very much average in all ways, but makes up for it with its speed, being able to quickly overwhelm a target.

Gambler's Guardians: Three Of Spades

The Three Of Spades is very fast and can even sneak up on opponents as it is able to dig its claws into objects and hold itself on ceilings or walls. Three Of Spades is very overwhelming as it takes advantage of its speed and strength to even break through walls to catch an opponent off guard, but will ultimately choose to protect the user even if it means death. Most of the time, Three Of Spades will stick closely to the user, but in a hidden position where they cannot be easily noticed while even hiding their own CE to an extent.

Gambler's Guardians: Three Of Hearts

The Three Of Hearts shikigami is the same looking shikigami, the only difference is that one of them specializes in physical attacks, one specializes in psychological confusion, and the last specializes in attacking the soul. The one that specializes in physical attacks is slightly above average in strength, speed and durability, but can grow claws on both its hands and feet to attempt to cause bleeding. The one that specializes in psychological confusion can release a gas that, if inhaled, will cause the victim to have hallucinations that could go from minor to severe depending on how much of the gas is inhaled. Finally, the one that specializes in attacking the soul is below average in physical strength and durability, but makes up for it with its speed and ability to cause irreversible damage.

Gambler's Guardians: Three Of Diamonds

The Three Of Diamonds are much more durable and physically powerful and the form they take represents that. They have a lot more visible muscle on them and the accents are less tattoos and actually are an unknown metallic material that is highly durable. This armour does not cover its whole body, but it does allow protection on the shikigami's arms, legs, and partially their chest. The armour is on these parts as it is a physical attacker rather than using some other ranged attack. The Three Of Diamonds are also a bit bigger than that of the rest of the variations of Three, reaching a height of 4’11.

Gambler's Guardians: Three Of Clubs

The Three Of Clubs variation can all merge together, forming a much larger and stronger shikigami, reaching the height of 5’8. Each summoned shikigami has a different part of the Clubs symbol on their back, when the three parts decide to form or the user tells them to merge, they become the powerful shikigami as mentioned before with the finished symbol of Clubs. More info on this combination will be stated below, for now information on Three Of Clubs will be talked about. The Three Of Clubs focuses more on hard hitting attacks, rather than stealthy ambushes. It loses its stealth, but instead it has a new merging gimmick and slightly increased strength and durability when compared to Three Of Spades.

Gambler's Guardians: Three Of A Kind

The Three Of A Kind shikigami is the result of when all three shikigami of Three Of Clubs merge together. The Three Of A Kind is very powerful and uses the same fighting style that the user does with the added benefits of a massive strength, durability and speed boost. The Three Of A Kind can apply a lot of pressure and can even revert back into the three separate shikigami it was before on command to dodge a potential hit from an enemy. However, the longer the shikigami are in this merged form, the weaker they will get as they have a time limit that is represented by the tattoo of the clubs on its back slowly fading from the top of the clubs down. It does slowly regenerate while not in the merged state and when it isn't even summoned. Trying to push past this state can allow a few extra seconds of strength, but ultimately will end with this shikigami to burn up in a flash of CE and the card used to summon it will be burned from the deck.

Gambler's Guardians: Four

Gambler's Guardians: Four Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Four Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Four Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Four Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: Five

Gambler's Guardians: Five Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Five Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Five Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Five Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: Six

Gambler's Guardians: Six Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Six Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Six Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Six Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: Seven

Gambler's Guardians: Seven Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Seven Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Seven Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Seven Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: Eight

Gambler's Guardians: Eight Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Eight Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Eight Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Eight Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: Nine

Gambler's Guardians: Nine Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Nine Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Nine Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Nine Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: Ten

Gambler's Guardians: Ten Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Ten Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Ten Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Ten Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: Jack

Gambler's Guardians: Jack Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Jack Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Jack Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Jack Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: Queen

Gambler's Guardians: Queen Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: Queen Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: Queen Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: Queen Of Clubs

Gambler's Guardians: King

Gambler's Guardians: King Of Spades

Gambler's Guardians: King Of Hearts

Gambler's Guardians: King Of Diamonds

Gambler's Guardians: King Of Clubs

Extension Technique: Full House

This Extension Technique allows the user to overload their cards with CE, allowing the capabilities of the shikigami to be heightened [ex. More durability, faster, stronger, special gimmicks have a stronger influence, ect], but burning the card after being used. When this happens, the card is less likely to be pulled again or even just not even to be pulled from that deck ever again, forcing the user to attempt to artificially create another deck they can use from their CE.

Domain Expansion: Joker's Last Cabaret

When this DE is activated, both the user and the opponents will be placed in the midst of a casino filled with different cards flying everywhere extremely fast [fast enough to cut the skin on a human being]. As soon as one of these cards draws blood and they land flat on a surface [face down], the corresponding shikigami of that card will be summoned with the person the card had hit as their target. These shikigami will not target any other person until the original target is felled. Once that target is defeated the shikigami will explode into a flurry of cards, allowing for more shikigami to be summoned. The user can concentrate CE to slightly direct the cards into a target, but then these cards that were directed turn into blank cards that have no other use than as a physical weapon rather than an intermediary. The Joker cards will burn up after this DE is summoned, meaning this DE can never be used again unless the user can focus enough CE onto another set of Joker cards.

AGI Defined
An autonomous assistant that solves tasks you give it as well as or better than a human would. It has the reasoning, agency, learning capability, and ability to use tools like a human.
How AGI Solves Tasks
Problem Definition and Understanding:
Start by understanding the problem, desired outcomes, and constraints.
Planning:
Formulate a detailed plan outlining steps and strategies to address the problem.
Knowledge Acquisition:
Gather relevant information from its database, the internet, and through its own experiments.
Data Collection and Analysis:
Collect, clean, and analyze data to extract useful insights.
Reasoning and Planning:
Plan by simulating different strategies and evaluating their feasibility.
Creative Generation of Solutions:
Create innovative solutions by combining and extrapolating ideas.
Evaluation and Selection:
Evaluate solutions based on criteria like effectiveness and ethics.
Decision-Making:
Decide on the best solution by weighing pros and cons.
Implementation and Execution:
Implement the chosen solution with an action plan.
Iterative Feedback and Learning:
Adjust approach based on feedback during implementation.
Continuous Improvement:
Learn from experiences to improve problem-solving over time.
How Agi Is Smarter Than Humans In Discovering and Implementing New Knowledge
Enhanced Memory:
Have an extensive and perfect memory, allowing it to recall and use vast amounts of information instantly.
Processing Speed:
Analyze vast amounts of data and complex problems much faster than humans.
Integration:
Integrate information from diverse sources and disciplines more effectively, generating novel insights.
Pattern Recognition:
Detect subtle patterns and anomalies in data that humans might overlook.
Deep Learning:
Understand and learn from complex datasets, making connections and insights that are difficult for humans to grasp.
Hypothesis Generation:
Systematically generate and evaluate a vast number of hypotheses, including unconventional ones humans might not consider.
Simulations:
Run countless simulations of theoretical models quickly to test their validity.
Unbiased Exploration:
Explore hypotheses without cognitive biases that might influence human researchers.
Logical Consistency:
Maintain higher levels of logical consistency in reasoning, avoiding common cognitive fallacies and errors.
Advanced Problem-Solving:
Solve complex problems more effectively by using advanced algorithms and heuristic methods beyond human capability.
Feedback Loop:
Rapidly iterate and refine models based on new data, accelerating the cycle of discovery.
Innovative Thinking:
Generate truly novel ideas and solutions that go beyond conventional human thinking.
Continuous Operation:
Work continuously without breaks, accelerating the research process.
Innovations Needed For AGI
Hardware:
Better chips
Data centers
Energy production
Software:
Agents perform multi-step tasks and know what to do next for the task to be done without being asked to.
Self operating computer
Having every workflow application have the AI be able to use the tools rather than just give advice based on what it sees on the device and hears from the user.
Spoken Timelines: I didn't add links but you could just search what I said on Google.
Dan Schulman (former PayPal CEO): GPT-5 will be a freak out moment. 80% of the jobs out there will be reduced 80% in scope.
Sam Altman thinks GPT-4.5 will automate 100 million jobs globally.
In 2023, Sam Altman said he predicts job losses will begin in 2-3 years.
Sam Altman's AI Capabilities Projection:

• Multi-Modality: Somewhat with GPT 4o. Still needs an everything to everything model.
• Reasoning: Q-star, chain of thought, search tree. I’m sure more will come.
• Personalization: Most likely having the AI be trained on all your personal data by having it control your devices. (Bill Gates Interview)
• Reliability: Sam said that this is when the AI can always give you the best response. He remarks that if GPT-4 gives a good response 1 out of every 10k times, then he wants to ensure that one good response is given every time. (Bill Gates Interview)
• Agents: API calls with other apps. Ability to use tools in different applications.

AI that controls your computer is coming soon
Sam Altman said GPT 4 is really dumb. So he knows the next model is actually way better.
OpenAI is likely two years ahead of everyone.
OpenAI COO: Brad Lightcap

• We’ll get a major upgrade by May 2025 (Based on May 2024). Today’s systems are laughably bad.
• Models are capable of complex "work."
• OpenAI already has a desktop app with a conversational voice and can comprehend what’s on your screen. So they can be like your teammate.

Every company’s workflow would be reengineered by May 2026. Nvidia, Dell Are Building Their Own AI 'Factories' (Based on May 2024)
Project Stargate: Nuclear fusion to power the $100 billion data center to be released in 2028. This is likely for scaling for smarter models, make AI faster, cheaper, or getting it to as many hands as possible.
Many leaders in AI give AGI release dates between 2025-2030. Most people that think AI won't take jobs are thinking of todays tech for the future. They don't consider how AGI would be like for AI to take jobs. Like the required technology and how those innovations could be achieved. People don't consider how embodied humanoid robots with AGI could also eliminate many jobs. People think trade jobs are safe. NVIDIA's project groot is training robots in simulation. Who's to say that the robots can't learn to do all tasks. Maybe not in a year, but five years is a lot of progress with the rate AI is advancing. Even if we don't have AGI now, AI will be replacing jobs. If one person can use AI to do the work of one team, then those people who would have been on a team would be laid off. Especially when Agents roll around in 1-2 years.
Sometimes it really worries me about the people who go to college to get a high paying jobs, especially first gen college students from immigrant families. Imagine working hard for the dream of getting a high paying job only to be automated in six years. What happens to their drive? All their hard work for what? Sold a long gone dream and had the carpet pulled under them. In my opinion, even jobs like doctors could be automated if humanoid robots had embodied AGI. Sure it might not be wanted at first, but it has the potential too.
My Thoughts on AGI
AGI would just be the accumulation of all the different innovations needed to reach the requirements needed to meet the definition of what AGI is. Realistically, engineers could do this within six years. So even though I have a general idea of how AGI could be achieved by the end of the decade, I would just have to wait and see when these innovations are created.
Post Labor Info
Most people work to gain money because money is needed to survive and buy things that you want. The purpose of school is to provide people with a pathway to secure a high-paying job. When students say they work hard in school to be successful, it often means they want to get a high-paying career.
But if AI were to start taking over jobs, then our relationship with work would change. There would be mass unemployment, leading people to receive UBI. The government would be forced to give UBI unless they want societal collapse. No one would need to work to have money for survival and buying the things they want.
If everyone had free money, people would use the extra time on bettering their personal lives. They can spend more time with loved ones and do the things they want to do. There would be a paradigm shift in how society is set up. People wouldn’t have to work so hard at school or a job in the pursuit of money. A lot of people don’t like working anyway, especially since the cost of living is causing them to work harder and subsequently deal with mental health issues. Look at Gen Z doesn't want to work, antiwork, wage slavery, 9-5 rat race. Cost of living being unaffordable. People work so hard but can not get by. Hard work is not properly financially compensated and college grads can't find jobs. Meaning from work could be derived from work you want to do not work you do for a paycheck. Look at David Shapiro's YouTube channel for more info on Post-Labor and Post-AGI videos.
It would be better for the next generation of people born in this post-labor world. Nasa researchers found that 98% of 5-year-old children fell into the “genius category of imagination.” This number dropped to 12% for 15-year-olds and to 2% for adults. The reason for this drop is the education system killing creativity. But with the traditional education system gone, that generation is likely to remain geniuses.

30yr old female, ten years in the military, single mom, lots of trauma.
I am currently going through the process of being diagnosed with Bipolar II.
I am reaching out because I have spent precious hours or sleep and working hours (called off) reading this reddit bipolar2. I'm has made so much sense to me, especially some of the Posts that made so much sense it felt like it was about me.
I have been treated for mental health since 2013. (19/20yr) It started in the navy after I had a sexual trauma. I was having anxiety attacks, I couldn't be in the workshop without feeling anxiety so intense I was either going to cry rage or run to the bathroom and hide while I try to calm myself. They started me on Prozac and at the time it helped with the anxiety attacks. But I still had high anxiety and I have had depression episodes that felt never ending. The navy doctors never diagnosed me due to certain diagnosis could effect your job. So they would say things like adjustment disorder (which is only 6 months) or traits of BPD, generalized anxiety and depression, and they would test my most severe symptoms. I always thought it was weird that they're giving me drugs before an diagnosis. Even now that I'm a veteran and using the VA it's the same issue. I'm getting a certain set of drug options.
It feels like ok you can have a turkey sandwich, ham, chicken, but those are the options. You can try the turkey with the ham. They would only offer me antidepressants and I have been on almost every single one except paxil and amitriptyline (which I would have happily tried since I have stomach issues too)
Fast forward to now. I have mostly been effected by anxiety and depression. I'll be anxious so much so that I go numb. I don't care about anything. I just want to sleep. I don't do hygiene well(which boggles my brain since I usually have to take one before work and one before bed, due to my trauma I feel a layer of filth that won't go away with a shower) I do the bare minimum for myself and even my kid. The anxiety is constant. My mind is always racing. I used to say it feels like I'm in a racquet ball court and there's thousands of balls bouncing and ricocheting in the glass box. Now I've learned it's called FOI. The difference between the anxiety and depression for me is I can be anxious and not depressed. But my anxiety causes me to be depressed and it can last months. Sometimes it feels like years. It's like sometimes my depression is louder than the anxiety and sometimes my anxiety is louder. It's like my psyche can't handle the anxiety and so it just switches off.
This has effected my family my job and my relationships both friends and boyfriend.
I will feel like I'm not myself.
Things I love I can't motivate myself enough to go enjoy like being outside or swimming. Not even for my kid. It's awful.
I have had a lot of traumatic experience as a child, I.e. physical, emotional, verbal and sexual, both to me and my brother and mom. Because of the abuse it is assumed I might have PTSD or BPD by the doctor I was seeing at the time. But I didn't feel like I had all of the specifiers for either of those. Plus I've had trauma at such a young age it's hard to know what's normal for me and what's not.
By the time I was in my mid twenties I had several patterns of severe depression periods and everytime I came out of the depression I thought I was "cured" the antidepressants were helping, the consistent lifestyle that's now structured is helping, etc. And I would be so relieved from the crushing depression that I didn't question or think about the energy I was having or if it's weird that I traded the depression for other issues like spending too much money, dating men too fast or not in a healthy manner, I was just relieved to be social and going out of my house. I thought I was making bad decisions because I'm a piece of shit and need to try harder to be decent. I'd clean my house, do more things for my kid, basically function like an adult, if not a little extreme.
The times I had a new doctor and they did the generic screening questions I always felt like the bipolar was too extreme for me to fit. My best friend is bipolar and I was not as intense as her. Same as my ex-husband. So I didn't think I was possibly bipolar.
But in my mid twenties, I was starting to wonder why I wasn't getting better, why do I have there ups and downs, it feels like a cycle or a pattern (not a pattern that makes sense)
I asked my doctor if the depression was resistant and I asked why the meds weren't working. I have ADHD (possibly just whatever mental health disorder causing ADHD symptoms?)so I would ask the doctor if maybe the ADHD was causing/manifesting the anxiety or exacerbated it. I read ADHD can make you more susceptible to anxiety and depression.
Basically a lot of Mental health issues share a lot ofbtje same symptoms. I read about the personality disorders and clusters A,B and C. I read the dsm 5 tr specifiers for mood disorders and other mental health issues.
With the help of dsm 5, the specifiers made me realize I have more to my mind than just anxiety and depression.
I'm currently waiting on an extensive screening with the VA to see what's going on.
The nurse practitioner I'm seeing now thinks it could be bipolar II. I hope it's not but I also feel like if it's a diagnosis that can help my treatment then fine. At this point I just want to feel better.
I've been diagnosed with ADHD, traits of BPD, generalized anxiety and depression, PTSD. Most of these didn't feel like they fit me. I would be depressed and that depression would crush me and make me not take care of myself or my home or I was moving so fast, up and about being the Energizer Bunny until I burned myself out and then I was back to being useless.
The DSM 5 specifiers pointed out that I had more than just the anxiety and depression. Some for major depression disorder (MDD), I did see why they might see traits of BPD since I had childhood trauma and there's some patterns of changing jobs and relationships. But I don't feel like I have a lot of fear from abandonment and my moods feel more like I don't have control of them. BPD seems more like your thoughts control your moods and feelings but for me I feel more like I'm being jerked around. I'll start to have energy and the depression lifts to boom, I'm depressed again don't want to shower work or socialize. It's horrible and makes me feel like I'm a horrible person.
I'm hoping by expressing my concern of the pattern/ cycle of depression and anxiety more similar to the hypomania and depression to my provider that the treatment could shift towards a new treatment that's more appropriate.
Right now the provider and I suspect it could be bipolar II. She started me on vraylar but I'm waiting for the VA to approve the prescription. She told me to stop taking the Zoloft 100mg I'm on(which normally I would titrate so I don't have effects from stopping suddenly). I'm having a nervous breakdown. Like I was bad before and now stopping the Zoloft is like gasoline on my mood. I'm not going to work I'm so anxious. So I went to the walk in clinic at the VA and they put me on a low dose of Seroquel. That has been hard. I'm on day two and I'm so out of it and lethargic I slept all day. I didn't go to work. I missed a week and a day. They know a little of what's going on but I know I'm on thin ice, if I don't get my shit together and go back to work soon I'm probably going to be fired.
Right now I'm kind of hoping this reddit could explain some of their personal experiences with getting diagnosed and the treatments they've tried. Especially people with childhood trauma or sexual trauma as a young adult, parents that were alcoholics, abusive, negligent or created unstable homelifes.

Happy Wednesday, Barkada --

The PSE lost 49 points to 6634 ▼0.7%

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

▌In today's MB:

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

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

▌Main stories covered:

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

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TL:DR
Some parts of the text was in Reddit-tables, but they got somehow lost.
This project began when someone on Reddit asked about the export speed of Rekordbox 7 compared to Rekordbox 6, prompting the entire initiative. My intention is not to "blame" or "shame" any company or its products. I approached these tests with an unbiased, open mind, taking great care to provide a level playing field for all tests conducted. This report reflects my impartial findings.
Test DateMay 16th - May 20th 2024 Report ReleaseMay 21st 2024 AuthorMixMasterG CompanyAnd The Groove Remains Production Team Websitewww.ATGR.nl
Publication of (sections) of this report is allowed, with full data source statement included.
Introduction:
Welcome to the real world Rekordbox 6/7 speed comparison test on macOS 2024.
When I began these tests, my initial goal was to quickly compare the speed difference between Rekordbox 6 and Rekordbox 7 on an Apple ARM computer for tasks that are notoriously slow, such as opening, exporting to USB, and analysis. I used my personal, extensive track collection for these tests. Due to unexpected results, I expanded the test to include several other macOS computers. As a reference, I decided to include Algoriddim djay Pro 5, the most optimized DJ software for macOS, and Serato, the second most popular DJ software on macOS.
Mandatory Rekordbox 7 analysis when exporting to USB
When I initiated the tests, the measured export times from Rekordbox 7 to USB were unreasonably long. Similar reports poured in from users of my applications in various settings. Identifying the cause of this sluggishness swiftly became my top priority. It turned out that Rekordbox 7's export process necessitated the analysis of tracks by RB7, even if those tracks were already fully analyzed in Rekordbox 6.8.5. When an artist updates from Rekordbox 6 to Rekordbox 7, RB7 silently analyzes the tracks before exporting, leading to excessively prolonged export times. Fortunately, RB7 analysis is a one-time requirement per track and can be manually initiated at times that its more convenient then minutes before a gig. I issued this short YouTube video to make users aware: Slow USB export from Rekordbox 7? This is why and how to fix!
I gave the full explanation and interpretation of the test results, together with performance tips in my weekly Ask Me Anything live stream for DJs, the video can be watched back here Ask Me Anything for DJs - Results of the Rekordbox 6 Vs Rekordbox 7 real world speed-test There is a time index in the first remark under the video.
All previous AMA livestreams, are available in this YouTube playlist: Ask Me Anything conversion & collection management for DJs past streams
The Test parameters:
Main collection managerMusic (the app formerly known as iTunes, will be referred to as iTunes) Total number of tracks in collection116.747 / 1.47 Tb Audio file formatMP3 preferred - 320 Kbs / 44.1 kHz / 16bit/CBR Location of audio filesexternal SSD, Samsung T7 2Tb / formatted macOS Extended Export driveexternal SSD, Samsung T7 2Tb each test run (FAT32 and HFS) started with a fresh formatted export drive Drive's connection to computeron all test systems USB-C
The software used:
Music (=iTunes)1.2.5 RB6Rekordbox 6.8.5 RB7Rekordbox 7.0 SeratoSerato 3.1.3 djaydjay Pro 5.1.7
Computer specifications
M1 = MacMini (2020) - M1 8 cores (4 efficiency 4 performance) - GPU 8 cores - RAM 8Gb - macOS Sonoma 14.4.1
i9 = Intel MacPro - i9 9900K u/3.6Ghz 8 cores - GPU AMD RX 580 8 Gb - RAM 16Gb - macOS Monterey 12.7.5
MBP = MacBookPro 14" (2021) - M1 8 cores (2 efficiency 6 performance) - GPU 14 cores - RAM 16Gb - macOS Monterey 12.7.1 because the similarity in times for Rekordbox 7.0 on the M1 and MBP, the Rekordbox 6.8.5 tests were skipped on the MBP.
Note: for the tasks that were tested, none of the DJ softwares utilizes the GPU
Test conditions
I aimed to standardize all test conditions as much as possible, including:

• Data for collection was stored on the internal drive, the audio files were stored on external storage.
• Each test used the exact same external drives, connected to the computer over USB-C, using the same cables.
• All collection data was identical across all systems, synchronized using Carbon Copy Cloner before the test.
• All computers were freshly rebooted prior to the test, with the "open windows from previous session" option disabled.
• No other applications were open besides an on-screen stopwatch.
• Wi-Fi was disabled, and network cables were disconnected.
• No screen capture applications were used; all video recording was done externally to avoid occupying system resources from the test.
• Between the various exports in a single test run, the export drive was not formatted (so each of the 3 exports added to the previous). Only after a full export run (sync1, sync2 and sync3) on a given computer, the drive was reformatted.
• The partitioning scheme used in both FAT32 and HFS (=macOS Extended journaled) was Master Boot Record.
• Analysis in Rekordbox was only performed for "Phrase" to maintain the converted Mixed in Key/Traktor values. Analysis requires at least one option to be checked, all other options (BPM/Grid, key etc) were disabled.
• In Serato DJ Pro analysis for BPM and Key were disabled
• In Rekordbox, the Sync Manager was enabled to synchronize all playlists from iTunes, ensuring the sync was up-to-date with no changes made to the iTunes collection during the test.
• All test playlists originate from iTunes and were accessed through the iTunes section of the DJ software.
• All (116.747) tracks from iTunes had been pre-analyzed in: Rekordbox 6, Serato, and djay Pro 5. In other words, the DJ software had a real and big collection of tracks. Since djay Pro 5 does not re-analyze already analyzed audio files, all djay analysis data was deleted from the system before running the analysis tests.
• Because iTunes sync can not be disabled in djay Pro, the values used for startup without iTunes are the same values from the test run with iTunes sync enabled.

Fault tolerance:
During computer speed testing, achieving 100% identical situations is unfeasible due to the unpredictable consumption of system resources by various OS-related operations. I estimate the fault tolerance in the measured times to be around 5%.
The iTunes playlist(folder) used for the tests:
Sync1
Playlist folderATGR Necessities Number of playlists in folder24 Total number of tracks 3823 / 45,93 Gb Export to USBSyncManager
Sync2
Flat playlist Top 40 2023 Total number of tracks 587 / 4,46 Gb Export to USBRight click playlist -> export
Sync3
Flat playlistTop 40 2024 Total number of tracks 283 / 2,17 Gb Export to USBRight click playlist -> export
https://preview.redd.it/hmajmvglru1d1.png?width=1497&format=png&auto=webp&s=108356518b3998c94ec848f07a78b545425b5d7f
https://preview.redd.it/eo3gvokqru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=4487f3193d07c5e98ff8a796cc56fc303042e58d
https://preview.redd.it/qzzzy78sru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=deffef82a834e3ad3ef13aa2a59bd705316a6ef1
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https://preview.redd.it/7ubiz7iuru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=2f2cb345cf718b30cd473cca3b9c1d8a33c714e1
https://preview.redd.it/zu5yiajvru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=df06eed0e2d8cea446469ed498cf32c341f064c7
https://preview.redd.it/mq1chq9wru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=cfa752e197d88b63bd6fbea2ff95f9b9b552cabc
https://preview.redd.it/7eu2rl1xru1d1.png?width=1400&format=png&auto=webp&s=863ce32b59be277fbc4a6d32b4b4cf90f8417213
Important conclusions and findings from these tests:

• Rekordbox 7 on macOS is not multithreading when it comes to analysis, hence the spikes in the tests. On Windows Rekordbox 7 utilizes all available CPU cores. Rekordbox 6.8.5 is also multithreading.
• Export to an HFS formatted USB is faster than a FAT32 formatted, especially after consecutive exports.
• Disabling iTunes integration in the SyncManager can improve startup times of Rekordbox considerably. Disabling iTunes sync can cause issues with exported USBs that were originally created using the SyncManager.
• Rekordbox 7 has a bug, where custom/edited BPM/Grids can be overwritten with mandatory analysis. Even when the BPM/Grid analysis is disabled!
• Export to USB using the SyncManager still shows 2 progress bars, where export through right click -> export only shows 1

(c) 2024 And The Groove Remains Production Team

This is the official response from MV when I asked about my options if I don’t receive an answer before the extension is due to expire.
Background info: I’m Australian, I don’t live in a major city, I don’t work in IT, I tick all the necessary boxes for Work Permit Extension including the new salary threshold, I live with my sambo who is a Swedish citizen, no dependants, and all bills and rent are only about 20% of my take home salary, so savings are healthy.
I’ve been waiting since September 2022, and at that time the estimate for an answer was 14 months. Then it became 17 months, then 20 months, currently it’s at 22 months for online applications and 27 months for paper applications. I applied online.
In order to apply for extension you need to do so before your current permit expires. So I asked, what if it takes more than 24 months to get an answer? Then the permit will have expired already without even having the chance to apply for extension in time. Would I have to leave my life here to reapply from Australia?
This was their response. I’ve already replied and said yes please add a Permanent Residency Application to the current application, they’ve responded and confirmed that it’s been added. I didn’t know this was possible? Nowhere have I read or been told about this, but essentially it could save 2 years of waiting if permanent residency is approved now with this current extension, rather than waiting and applying again with the next extension.
Also yes I realise it may change nothing, or be denied, I’ve just never seen anywhere that they would amend my current application to include permanent residency - especially after “only” 3 years??
What does everyone think?

My visit with psychiatrist yesterday has helped me reach comfort in my mind with a constant anxiety of something I’m sure many are worried about and it is not right (if you can relate to this): the anxiety of your doc cutting, not changing dose and pharmacy rejecting and giving problems with controlled meds.
Both pharmacy and psychiatrist reassured me: allowed me to use 75 + 90 tabs about 1 week after 75 Valium 5mg to dose an extra tab if needed: explained I was on Valium 10mg x3 daily. So I let him know if I can try going daily with Valium 10mg twice daily I think it would be a good start with years of therapy, tapered down, and 4 years in Army as medic now out for about 1 year with fully honorable for medical retirement - I’m happy my discharge is the same as finishing my 4 year contract and did 4 years retired a few days shy of ETS (last day) date.
He gave me Valium 5mg x4 a day and said I can take it as I see fit in my day but not recommended to take all 4 at once like I’m at the dentist or something lol. Can take 3 in morning if I want, 1 at night; 2 and 2, etc.
Started me on Prazosin 1mg and stopped clonidine ER 0.1mg twice daily and took first dose at bed having the morning clonidine in me… ouch lol side effects of weakness had me miss worth and head to urgent care, but got better with time. I felt like I had an ear ache but got better on Zyrtec. So far side effects there, but the daytime effects I can see my trigger response isn’t as overdriven, so med good for daytime symptoms with PTSD too not only good for nightmares which I’ve been lacking a lot regardless. Did not wake up same time of 2:50 - 3:00am as I do like 5/7 nights in a week - great sign for me on its benefit of sleeping being me! I’m on Zoloft 50mg and plan to taper down off of because last VA psych. was only focusing on tapering me off of Valium.
Doctors who taper long term daily benzo’s with compliance AND especially patients who already tapered like myself twice with horrible quality of life: you aren’t even following WHO guidelines if that’s even a concern
Sorry to patients being hassled being on benzos long term. There’s no Suboxone of benzos as they have for opioid users choosing to quit and switch. Klonopin maybe is a similar concept with long duration; maybe Valium too with long half life understood by doctors.
Lastly, the switch from Adderall XR and IR to Zenzedi (dextroamphetamine sulfate) it’s a brand name similar to Dexedrine tablets, more dose options similar to Adderall IR. I am seeing a better amount of benefits with this: no rush sensation, no cold extremities regardless of fluid intake and running 20 - 40 miles/week. Sleeping is easier because the med wears off without the Levoamphetamine continuing to produce nasty PNS (peripheral nervous system) effects.
The pharmacy telling me the doctor choosing whatever he wants to send in, he will fill it. Even mentioning Desoxyn the pharmacist was okay with this.
I’m not used to having a doctor and pharmacy there to be there for me and do their job title. I was always in fear and seeing this 10-11 years later: it’s all fear surrounded around the system that the doctor (now influx of NP/PA especially) follow and limitations unspoken on stop them from helping; seemingly they believe the anti-med information and push stuff like gabapentin - now not so much in several states with controlled status or reporting to PDMP. System nonsense right there.
My post is long but I want anyone to know chat/message for help/support: I’ve played the game and fought for myself been on benzo/stimulant since 13-14 no problems with meds until new docs began taper-happy, extended release happy anti-fast tablet mindset: pressure lead to abuse thinking I was f-worded, but better docs helped my mind slow down abuse knowing stability with each good doc.
I’m here to help if needed: 3 year medic army clinic time helped too.

TL;DR: What are my options to finding claim details not in my EHR without having to involve my boss when I don't have clearinghouse access?
This is gonna be long because I don't really have another outlet to vent about this OR ask my practical question. Buckle up and thanks for reading!
Context:
I am working in a group practice. Despite being in the field for over a decade, this is my first time providing services for a fee and dealing with anything billing or insurance related. The practice is run by two owners, let's call them "Sarah" and "Jack." The owners are pleasant enough to deal with 98% of the time, however, they are known for being hot-headed and possibly even verbally abusive. This has been cited by several employees who have left and I have experienced degrees of it myself. To make matters worse, they are VERY private and protective over anything related to the behind the scenes of running their business, which is somewhat understandable. I've been told this started when past former employees took information/resources/clients provided by the company and started their own competing company (though this is hearsay since I didn't work for them at the time). But because this is all very new for me, sometimes I have had questions or made well-intentioned efforts to advocate for my clients that unfortunately have been met with defensiveness, suspiciousness, and variations of "stay in your lane" (a phrasing my boss knows for a fact is particularly triggering for me). So I now find myself having palpable anxiety reactions at the thought of angering them with during conversations.**
It will also be helpful to know that the bulk of the employee turnover has been in the administrative/billing department. In fact, in the 18 months I have worked for the company we have had 3 separate billers, with Sarah & Jack filling in during interims.
Current Situation:
There have been some issues with employees having discrepancies with paychecks/taxes. We are paid our (fair and reasonable percentage) of session fees biweekly "in arrears" (aka once insurance pays). I have been lax in tracking all this and decided to sit down and go through my records as I prepare my taxes (I filed an extension lol). This personal accounting tracking has essentially involved me looking in our EHR (Simple Practice) at key pieces of information: 1) Session dates for the past year for each client, 2) Whether those claims were submitted to insurance vs Self Pay, 3) When the session was paid by insurance (and associated claim #s), 4) The amount paid, and 5) whether that correct amount showed up in the right biweekly paycheck.
In working through this process I have come across several client charts where I cannot go through this tracking for one of several reasons. For most of these the issue is that sessions are marked as "paid" and an amount is listed and there are associated claim #s & clearinghouse references; however, the claim details unable to be viewed. This means for these claims/charts I cannot see the date they were paid in order to figure out which paycheck they belong on to verify I am not missing any fees I was expected to be paid. I have also identified a few sessions that were billed incorrectly (either sent to insurance when shouldn't be or charged full fee to client when they shouldn't be). There are also a few where the amount I was listed as having been paid doesn't match the contract rate but I cannot verify why without any claim details.
I want to be clear that my first thought is that these are honest errors and the issue has a lot to do with too many different billers with different way of processing things AND my limited access as a non biller or administrator in the EHR system.
Dilemma and Complications:
I have tried looking in Simple Practice at everything I can see and there is just missing info no matter how I slice it. Months ago I tried requesting access to Availity but the biller at the time denied that, so I do no have clearinghouse access and don't anticipate Sarah & Jack would be open to giving me any. As much as I can't afford the time to do so, I figured maybe I have to call the insurance companies about each of the claims... But my first attempt at reaching out to BCBS was a bust since I couldn't reach a provider services agent and the member services agent couldn't give me much info, just could "verify" what I asked her (i.e. was claim from 5/1 paid out for $100?). So that doesn't help because the main info I need is the payment date and they couldn't give it to me.
So I tried reaching out to the company's current biller (who overall I like) to see if we could have a phone meeting to review these charts. My thought process was that she would have access to the needed info OR insight as to why it might not be available. But she forwarded the message to Sarah & Jack who asked I deal with them directly about it. The exact response was "Please tell me who you need clarity on so I can look at the charts and we can meet after I have had a chance to review." I know this seems innocuous...but...I am TERRIFIED to do this! For one thing, any prior discussions about possible billing issues have been poorly received. Furthermore, I have already sent emails to Sarah & Jack about some of these billing errors closer to the dates of service, so I fully anticipate they will be defensive if I point out they were not addressed/corrected. I know it is irrational but a part of me feels betrayed by the biller and as if I was "fed to the wolves."
Maybe I am wrong, but I feel like the information I am asking for should be accessible to me as the provider of the service and whose NPI number was used for billing. I am fully aware that some of why I can't see the needed info on my own may be due simply to technology or innocent past mistakes...but I worry Sarah & Jack will not see it this way or understand I am not intentionally searching for errors for malicious or litigious reasons. Honestly, I don't even care about the timing of the payments...I am just trying to do personal finance accounting to make sure I am "whole" for the past year.
So allllll that is to say.....is there any option for info access I haven't considered? Is avoiding Sarah and Jack worth the time to try and keep contacting the insurance companies? If I do have to go through Sarah and Jack, any advice on how to present this info to reduce blow back/anger?
** P.S. I know I can/should quit and that this is not an appropriate way to run a business or treat employees. But I am not in a position to leave at this time. So I am trying to find the best way to navigate the current circumstances until I am able to leave.
***P.S.S. Please be kind. I already feel weak, stupid and shameful for being in this situation. I know I should have dealt with it sooner and that I am a grown ass competent professional who shouldn't be feeling this fearful in a professional situation like this. But here we are.