Here's my notes throughout the Google Marketing Live. Some stuff may be omitted and I phrased everything how they would have in the presentation (overly positive).

Google Marketing Live 2024

~Philipp Schindler – Introduction~
New era of AI
-A few years ago the conversation was: What is AI?
-Now the question is: What can AI do for me and how can I implement it as fast as possible?

15% of searches are new on Google every day
-This number has held steady for more than a decade
“The perfect search engine should understand exactly what you mean and give you back exactly what you need.”

AI Overviews

• People who use AI Overviews use search more
• Higher quality clicks/more time on site
• Rolling out to US

Trend 1 – The “Exactly-What-I-Want” search
The volume of searches with 5 or more words grew 1.5x as fast

• Instead of “men’s running shoes”
• “how to pick the right running shoes for a runner beginner with high arches”

Trend 2 – Complex Search Made Easy
“What are good options for aa day out in dallas for kids? What are some options with ice cream shops nearby?”

Trend 3 – Search Beyond Words

• Search for things that are difficult to describe.
• 12 billion visual searches a month using lens
• 1 in 4 visual searches has commercial intent
• You will soon be able to search with visual

Circle to Search
Search anything on your screen with just a circle, highlight, or tap.

Trend 4 – Beyond Answers
Some people are not looking for answer, they are looking to explore, or be inspired.

• “Outfit Ideas”
• “Best Places to Eat with Kids”
• “Rainy Day Activities”

Rather than just getting a simple AI response, they will be getting a catered ai page specifically created for their request.

Small YouTube Blurb

• YouTube #1 most watched streaming platform
• 1B hours of YouTube on CTV daily
• Generative AI is the next playground for YouTube creators

Gen AI x Creativity

• Suite of tools for content creators

~Vidhya Srinivasan~
People have limitless options to browse across devices

• 2 out of 3 consumers say making purchase decisions requires more effort than ever
• Have to be on every surface consumers touch
  • Grab their attention
  • Show them you are their solution
• Google is supposed to be the matchmaker for consumers and businesses
• Showing the perfect ad on every surface is difficult

“This is where Gen AI will unlock enormous opportunities”

• Last year they were just getting started with images
• They’re applying the latest Gemini models to teach their other models
  • EX: teaching their algorithm about queries that have never been seen before
• Gen AI is still early-stage tech so they won’t get everything right
• Will become more powerful and helpful as they learn about your business

AI will influence the entire marketing cycle

• Creative
  • Building creative will only take days/hours
  • AI will draw on hero assets and create variations
  • Every ad will be a better match for each consumer’s intent in the moment
• Media
  • No trade-offs between precise targeting and growth
• Measurement
  • Real-time adjustments based on campaign results

"AI doesn’t have taste, it doesn’t have ingenuity, creativity, and strategic insights"

Google Search – Generative AI

• Search in new ways
  • More complex questions
  • Searching with images
• AI overviews will appear in search results when they are particularly helpful beyond SERPs
  • They will be stay focused on sending valuable traffic to publishers and creative
• More choice leads to more opportunity for advertisers
• The will be testing search and shopping ads being integrated into AI overviews
  • Not just above or below
• Match the ads, not just to query context, but also with the information within the AI overview
  • Example: “How do I get wrinkles out of my clothes without an iron”
    • AI overview gives tips
    • Within the AI generated blurb, a wrinkle free spray sponsored ad appears

~Sylvanus Bent~
AI Applications in Search Ads

• Ads in Visual Search
  • EX: You see a piece of luggage at the airport you love, but you don’t know how to describe it or what brand it is. Use visual lens to search for it, then sponsored product ads will show up within the results
• Every search ad is more than an offer, it’s an experience
• Exploring AI ads with recommendations across different verticles
  • EX: Search for “short term storage” – ad shows up, but now you can click into a new dynamic ad experience, where you can customize your needs.
• Takes the definition of a helpful ad to the next level

Conversational Experience in Google Ads

• Can give your URL to Google Ads to generate relevant assets
  • Helpful for smaller businesses

Power Pair

• Combination of Search and Performance Max campaigns
• Delivers the strongest ROI

Profit Optimization

• Making it a new goal in PMAX and shopping campaigns
• Maximize profit by optimizing bidding for gross profit on products

~Tim Frank – Asset Generation~
Advertisers who improve their PMAX ad strength to Excellent see 6% more conversions on average.

Creative Controls & Customization

• Brand Colors
• Brand Fonts – only closely matched
• Upload reference images for AI to generate based on

Additional Reporting & Controls

• Placement reporting and exclusions for YouTube
• Asset Level Reporting
  • Asset reporting for each creative asset

~Nicky Rettke – YouTube~
AI-Powered Video Campaigns

• Video Reach drive awareness
• Video View drive consideration
• Introduced Demand Gen
  • Reaches over 3 billion monthly users
  • Demand Gen will roll out to Display and Video 360 and Search Ads 360
  • Audience list threshold lowered to 100 users for Demand Gen lookalike audiences
• Over 40% increase in view through rate when utilizing vertical video
• Viewers can swipe left on shorts ads to go directly to a landing page
• Introducing animated image ads
  • Pulls images from your product feed and animates them in on unite
• Demand Gen with Product feeds
  • 33% more conversions at a similar CPA
• Shop while you watch

~Matt Madrigal – Shopping~
Product Studio

• Create custom scenes
• Change backdrops
• 2 new features
  • Create visuals that match brand style w/ reference image
  • Image to video
• Brand profile on search
  • To be rolled out in the coming months

Shopping Ads

• Will start highlighting key attributes and stuff from reviews
• 3D shopping ad formats
• Immersive Ad Experiences
• Virtual Try-On
• Video Highlights
  • Rolling out for beauty brands first

~Gaurav Bhaya – The Data Guy~
Good AI requires good data

• First party data delivers better results and helps protect your campaigns against privacy changes
• Collect, protect, and use your data.
• Google Ads Data Manager is now available to everyone
• Simplifies putting first-party management all in one place
• Have an active pipeline from all data sources to one place
• Measurement diagnostics is being introduced to Google Ads
  • Check Engine Light for your site
• Google’s goal is for us to not have to worry about first-party data

Measurement

• Generated Insights and Reports
• Generate a report with a prompt.
• Generated insights

Marketing Mix Models
Meridian is Google’s Open Source MMM and will be available later this year.
tl;dr - very tasty nothing burger.

TIL: if you only care about expanding snippets from your language servers then you do not need a 3rd party plugin.
cmp example

require('cmp').setup({ snippet = { expand = function(arg) vim.snippet.expand(arg.body) end, }, -- other settings }) 

If you also have your own custom snippets. you may swap a 3rd party plugin for a 100ish lines of lua. Example
you can define your snippets like so

-- my_snippets.lua file local global_snippets = { {trigger = 'shebang', body = '#!/bin sh'} } local snippets_by_filetype = { lua = { { trigger = 'fun', body = 'function ${1:name}(${2:args}) $0 end' } -- other filetypes } 

A few helpers to expand snippets under cursor

-- my_snippets.lua file local function get_buf_snips() local ft = vim.bo.filetype local snips = vim.list_slice(global_snippets) if ft and snippets_by_filetype[ft] then vim.list_extend(snips, snippets_by_filetype[ft]) end return snips end function get_snippet() local line, col = unpack(vim.api.nvim_win_get_cursor(0)) local cur_line = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_lines(0, line - 1, line, true) local line_pre_cursor = cur_line[1]:sub(1, col) for _, s in ipairs(get_buf_snips()) do if vim.endswith(line_pre_cursor, s.trigger) then return s.trigger, s.body, line, col end end return nil end function expand_under_cursor() local trigger, body, line, col = get_snippet() if not trigger or not line or not col then return false end -- remove trigger vim.api.nvim_buf_set_text(0, line - 1, col - #trigger, line - 1, col, {}) vim.api.nvim_win_set_cursor(0, { line, col - #trigger }) vim.snippet.expand(body) return true end -- cmp source for snippets to show up in completion menu function M.register_cmp_source() local cmp_source = {} cmp_source.new = function() local self = setmetatable({ cache = {} }, { __index = cmp_source }) return self end cmp_source.complete = function(self, _, callback) local bufnr = vim.api.nvim_get_current_buf() if not self.cache[bufnr] then local completion_items = vim.tbl_map(function(s) return { word = s.trigger, label = s.trigger, kind = cmp.lsp.CompletionItemKind.Snippet, } end, get_buf_snips()) self.cache[bufnr] = completion_items callback(completion_items) end callback(self.cache[bufnr]) end function cmp_source:execute(completion_item, callback) expand_under_cursor() callback(completion_item) end require('cmp').register_source('snp', cmp_source.new()) end 

The last thing is to update cmp to use your snippet completion source and mapping to expand completion

require('my_snippets').register_cmp_source() require('cmp').setup({ snippet = { expand = function(arg) vim.snippet.expand(arg.body) end, }, sources = { { name = 'snp' }, -- other sources }, -- other settings }) 

Since we call expand_under_cursor in cmp_source:execute(), there is no need to update any cmp mappings to trigger snippet expansion as cmp.confirm() triggers cmp_source:execute() so your confirmation mapping (default ) would work out of the box.
Granted: if you use snippets from 3rd party source your setup would have to be able to parse these snippets in the required format at which point you may as well use a more powerful plugin. Overall it was a pleasant investigation in how little is needed nowadays to get a quite decent snippet engine running with modern neovim.
Hope someone finds this interesting.

My brother married an actual psychopath. My brother (40) married the scummiest scum of the earth. Who can only be described as a whore, a psycho, sociopath and an all around terrible human being. It was against the wishes of EVERYONE. For back story…She had a child by another man… and only had him (in november) to live off the government. he met the stray hoe took care of her and her unborn child. they started dating in september and by christmas she had drained his bank account. He moved in with her days after christmas. Proposed. And got married sometime between march and june i honestly can not be bothered to know exactly when. The night before brother was admitted to the er for staph infection in his berries. After the “wedding” that was in the back yard of some pastor . they had a “reception”. Where i photographed/observed the following. A used tampon on washing machine. Shit filled diapers littering the nursery. A surreal amount of clothing on the bed. I said nah im good. And went home. The wedding was in may and she got my brother to legally adopt her child. Im forever convinced if not for my brother she would casey anthony her child. She Munchausened her kid and my brother. Self diagnosing the kid with autism. Pushed or made my brother fall and get multiple concussions. Drugged him with date rape drugs to keep control of him. She was a frequent flier to the ER going to the emergency room for unnecessary reasons. She refused to parent her child insisting that its the worlds job to teach him the bare minimum. She refused to clean as well. Her cockroaches had cockroaches. Cleanliness was mental illness for her. She kicked my brother out asking for divorce. But realized she had to leave bc he paid the bills. She stayed with whoever the hell would take her. Was forced to walk wherever she needed to go. And uttered the words “well i had to walk in the rain so theres my bath for the week” after growing tired of not having his card and money she came crawling back. She avoided parenting like the plague. Every excuse. Uti. Migraine. Yeast infection. Its a tuesday. When her son was 2 she left to go to another state and go to school for being a truck driver. Had no qualms of leaving her kid behind for weeks. Then she dropped out of 18 wheeler school. It seems the wheels on her bus fell off. For someone who doesnt believe proper hygiene was important she didnt believe bathing him and basic care was important. Feet encrusted in dirt and dirt under overgrown nails. It was so noticeable that when i cut his nails his teacher made comment about it. Her family was just as absent as you would expect. Her mother only went to the first birthday party when the child was 6. And didnt even know her own grandchild. Asked another child at the party if he had the best birthday! My mom looked at her and said “yeaaa thats the wrong kid…” Fast forward when the first born was 6 and she birthed her second. This had no change and her parenting never improved. Another child encrusted in dirt. After the youngest turned a year and a half my brother had knee surgery and stayed with us (me mom dad) to recover because she would have made him cook clean and parent. While he was healing for the week he was there she moved in her boyfriend AND girlfriend. By the way she not only a hoe she is a promiscuous hoe with no moral compass. I promised my mom id never call CPS however when the second was 2 i had a friend call cps. Like a special ops team cops went in at 2 am and gathered the children and brought them to me and my parents. We had the 2 year old and a friend of the hoe had the 8 year old. For 2 weeks my brother agonized over his kids being taken. And she had a vacation. She treated it as if having your kids repo’ed as a right of passage. Told the world. Told the teacher. And had the time of her stupid life. In the 2 weeks i had them i had minions collecting screenshots of statuses of her being a bad mother. Which was super easy bc every thought made it to facebook. Such as. “My dentist suggested i brush my teeth at least once a day” “i guess i was doing (brother) with the wrong meds and made him sick” “why dont grandparents raise our children” i gathered these gems and photographic evidence of the state of the house and cleanliness of children to cps, police and eventually divorce lawyer. During their time together the hoe broke my brother mentally spiritually emotionally physically financially. The food stamps ran out in the first week of every month spent on junk soda and unnecessary nonsense. They had to ask my mother for money that accumulated to the tune of $10,000 over 10 years. She is also a gofundme whore. She would start a gofundme 10-12 times a year for any and everything. She decided at one point to go back to school and did an amazon wishlist for school supplies and a gofundme for “gas food and other expenses”. Being the trash human she is she is friends with people of unsavory character. An actual crack head bought her entire amazon wishlist. Which she put on facebook. Yikes. At one point she found a dog and instead of finding the owner she finders keepers that poor pup. Making yet another gofundme for dog expenses. I told my friends i would paaaay them to claim the dog as theirs so my mother didnt pay for yet another mouth to feed. If youre curious about the gofundmes and if they were ever fruitful… when a bull milks a calf will her gofundme work. The final year of their marriage was no less chaotic. The christmas of 2019 she posted on facebook that its so wonderful that her husband is out working and her boyfriend is sleeping next to her and her girlfriend is cooking. Tagging the aforementioned on facebook. My brother was humiliated because infront of church members family and friends his marriage and all the stupidity that came with it was out in the open for all to judge. My brother was at the time a corrections officers and let his kind nature and naivety get him in trouble. A person asked him to take some taco bell to an inmate and in what could only be called a moment of stupidity (sorry mom) he did so. what he didnt know is they put drugs in it and when it was scanned he was arrested. My mom and dad had to bail him out too him home and around 3 am he called me “they voted me out” beyond confused i asked what the hell does that mean? As it turned out. Hoe boyfriend and girlfriend unanimously voted him out of the house. Mind you. Single wide trailer housing 4 adults 2 kids a dog and cats. June of 2020 he moved back in a month later if the children followed. after the actual breadwinner left the house the unemployed baboons could not pay the rent and were kicked out. The three went down to two with the girlfriend being let go. Hoe and boyfriend moved in with her mother. And boyfriend wrecked the car in my brothers name. Dui and head on collision. Car gone! The children stayed with us. The youngest was 2 at the time and began calling my mom “mommy” which pissed off the hoe. And she never contacted them. At the hearing for the divorce she stated all she wanted out of the relationship was not money or visitation. But her maiden name back. TAKE IT. AND LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE. She also used a photo of her kids on a gofundme to get sympathy and posted that to a fetish website. Seeing as the photo was them shirtless i believe that was on purpose. She dumped boyfriend and found a new love in new hampshire. She was in NH for 8 months with her new boyfriend and he lost his job so they moved back down. After a summer of no contact she called and told the children “when i get home we are going to….” And listed about 10 events places and activities to look forward to. None of which she delivered on. After not spending time with them again and choosing to give up her weekend with them to play video games for 30 HOURS STRAIGHT. She eventually in 2024 decided that her and her boyfriend were moving to Massachusetts. Seeing how she is a practicing witch my only hope is the salem witch trials reconvene. She married the dude she abandoned her kids for. On mothers day the children who no longer give a damn she exists were forced to call and tell her happy mothers day. Where the 6 year old proceeded to tell her the older brother got a phone and didnt wanna give her his number. She assured him that as his mother its quite alright to give mommy dearest the number to which the youngest said yea no he doesnt want to. The mouths of babes. She cried and posted on facebook not only do her children hate her but she had to give up her cats too. And wished the “real mom’s of the world a happy mothers day” shes a shit cat mom too! A week after we had spaghetti for dinner and the 6 year old said “i never used to like spaghetti. I only tried it at… whats her names house? Jordan? Yea her house” With their father engaged to a good Godly woman with morals and standards the worst mother to ever mother has been replaced and so far we are all living happily ever after. The moral of the story is if you lay down with dogs you get up with fleas what if you lay down with whores end up with bedbugs and that was a very costly moral

The main events take place in the summer of 2023, but before that there’s some pretty crucial information you need to know.
Many moons ago, three or four years before I was forced to live with the burden of knowing my dear friend, some shit went down.
Sophomore year of high school, Heather and my now boyfriend Tony were besties with another girl, that I will call Jane (the sweetest person I’ve ever met, by the way). At some point, Jane and her boyfriend went on a break, and Heather decided, for some reason to this day unknown, to try and sext her best friend’s ex boyfriend. I say “try” because he never really indulged her, which made the whole situation all the more embarrassing. Heather, however, lacking self-awareness and critical thinking skills, decided to keep this up for over five months, after which Jane and her ex got back together, and he told her everything. Contrary to Heather, Jane decided to be a good friend and wait for Heather to come clean about her actions without revealing she already knew everything.
And so she waited. But Heather never said anything.
Keep this in mind, it’ll be important later.
Fast forward to February 2022, yours truly is introduced on the scene by becoming Heather’s roommate during our first year of college. Surprisingly we got along pretty well, we became really close friends in a very short time. She was also the extroverted one (also important) of the two and really helped me come out of my shell, so for a while I was really grateful to her. Anyway, throughout the three months we lived together she was constantly talking about her friends Tony and Jane from back home, but especially referring to Jane as her best friend, the only one that really knew her and that she really trusted.
Her friend Tony was also a very popular topic in conversations, and the reason she convinced me to visit her home country that summer, which resulted in us dating but I will spare you the details of that because it’s a different story (although a good one too).
The summer ends. She moves back to her country, I go back to mine, now pursuing two long distance relationships, the one with my boyfriend and the one with my only friend. So, in January 2023 plan a trip there with Tony but I decide not to tell Heather, and to let it be a surprise instead.
This is where the thing I told you to remember comes back for the first time, and I get front row seats for this years-long conflict finally unraveling.
Jane decided she had enough of waiting for her friend to become decent and slowly started growing apart from Heather, who had actually started the fight by accusing Jane of ignoring her.
When asked about the reasons for her behavior, some of Heather’s responses were, and I kid you not, “BRO I HAD A PLAN” and “IT’S LITERALLY NOT MY PROUDEST MOMENT”.
So. Yeah. Needless to say, they stopped being friends.
Now, for some reason, Heather decided to start this fight on the groupchat with my boyfriend, which meant I had access to everything, and after learning about everything I started to question my friend’s actions for the first time. Like, yes I knew she was a bit stubborn, and annoying, but who isn’t. Betraying someone you have talked about multiple times as your best friend and then lying about it for years, however?
But I decided to put my worries aside for the moment and just be more careful around her before I actually formed an opinion. I also had never met Jane before so at that point it probably wouldn’t have been my place to intervene.
During my trip, I get the idea to plan a surprise party for Tony in the summer and I share it with Heather who seems on board and ready to help.
That aside, the rest of my visit was pretty uneventful up until my last day there.
It being my last day, I wanted to spend it with all my friends, so me, Tony, and Heather met up at a mall to hang out. After a while, I noticed Heather looking pretty down so I asked her if she was alright. She told me she was feeling a bit worried because she got the impression that Tony was growing more distant from her. She revealed to me that this actually already happened before, during Tony’s last relationship, and she was scared it was going to happen again. “And I’m so sorry for involving you like this but do you think you could talk to him for me?”
Now, you have to know Tony and her were never the best of friends; he’s always been closer to Jane than he was with her, simply because they don’t have many things in common. Heather also had the habit of constantly bringing up his ex in my presence, by making weird comparisons with me about literally anything. “Oh, you’re dyeing your hair red? Tony’s ex also dyed her hair red for a while. Omg your eyeliner is so good, you know Tony’s ex actually—”
No. I do, in fact, not know and I would like to keep it that way.
So when she mentioned his ex, being the idiot that I am, I felt so bad because I somehow assumed it was my fault, that I distracted him from his friends with my psychic evil girlfriend powers and therefore it was my responsibility to fix it.
So in May, I start planning Tony’s birthday party and Heather decided that for some reason it was her job to invite people and plan activities and literally plan the whole fucking party actually. She kept making suggestions I knew he would hate and inviting people he outright said he couldn’t stand, until I had enough and was forced to put my foot down. I let her invite her boyfriend and a friend of hers and handled the rest myself. In the meantime, I contacted Jane. Because unlike Heather, I know my boyfriend well enough to understand who his friends are so I always knew Jane was going to make the list, which I anticipated to Heather back in February. Her response was something along the lines of, “It’s okay for me if it’s okay for her”, which I thought was good enough. After all, I wasn’t expecting them to chat like nothing had happened but I assumed they would both be mature enough to put their differences aside for their friend’s sake.
The day of the party comes and Heather and I get there early to set things up, and when we’re in the bathroom doing our makeup she goes, “Hey, this might be a weird question but did Jane mention if she was bringing anyone?”.
This is where I might have been a bit of a bitch. Because Jane did actually ask me if she could bring her boyfriend, the same guy from the story that keeps coming back, and she even apologized for that, but knowing there were going to be three couples at the party already, including Heather and her own boyfriend, I didn’t even think twice before saying yes. However, I also failed to mention that to Heather until the day of the party.
When she found out, she was gone. Completely lost the plot, would not hear reason. She spent the whole evening sitting on the couch next to her boyfriend, with her back to the rest of the party, ignoring everyone else unless they asked her a question directly or forced her into conversation. After the umpteenth failed attempt of including her I felt so guilty I went to cry in the bathroom thinking I had ruined my boyfriend’s party because Heather was not having fun.
Days later, when all of this turned into a paragraph fight via text, instead of apologizing she kept attacking Tony for being rude to her and not understanding that she is very introverted and has “major anxiety”, and that was the reason why she didn’t even try to celebrate his birthday with him once throughout the night. Something I found hard to believe as I had been in that position before, while she was the one to help me out of it, introducing me to new people. So I am well aware of what it means to feel out of place, which is why I tried my best that night, and I also know that if she really wanted to do more, she would’ve.
During the fight, I finally had the opportunity to really talk to Jane for the first time and finding out about some things Heather did to her while they were friends reminded me of something else she did to me.

Back in November 2022, I got on birth control. Naturally I texted my friend, telling her about it.
Her response was, and I quote: “I have a theory. I’ve noticed a pattern where all of Tony’s girlfriends (ex and you) have started taking birth control since dating him soooo he either forced the girls or the girls don't care about STDs and accidental pregnancies. And the side effects obv.”
So I brought this back up during our fight. She tried to deny and to claim she was simply in “shock” because of my sudden interest in birth control, but I sent her back the proof of how she ignored everything I was trying to tell her only to keep trying to prove her hypotheses. My message said: “I was excited because I had done my research, I found a gyno and I went on my own and I texted you knowing that I couldn't share that excitement with my mother so I thought my friend would understand but instead you just came up with conspiracy theories about Tony forcing his girlfriends to get on BC or his girlfriends not caring about accidental pregnancies which was extremely insulting and I still don't know what your intention was because if you were joking it wasn't funny. I was being really vulnerable and you just basically chastised me. I can understand not agreeing but there's ways and ways to say that, you can still be happy and supportive while disagreeing, which was not what you did at all.”
She apologized but also said “I’m sorry you felt that way”. I decided to leave it at that and forget about it.
A couple of weeks later she angrily texted me wondering why I didn’t wish her a happy birthday.
So, AITA?

It is really scary and frightening to me that Verizon won't send you transcripts of conversations you personally have with them (without a subpoena) and sometimes even "lose" the transcripts, such that they are supposedly completely unrecoverable. You also can't easily select the text and "copy/paste" it into another program after changes to the website -- you essentially have to take screenshots constantly to record interactions with them.
Be aware and be concerned!
tl;dr: Multiple Verizon customer support agents tried to secretly add services multiple times, lied directly to me, and then an executive PR person tried to smooth it over by still refusing to give transcripts after thinking I would send the transcript to news media or something.
Long story version:
The story in my case was I talked with some customer service reps and was trying to cancel my TV (since I hadn't used it in like ~7+ months and the previous times I tried to cancel it I gave up after being frustrated due to not being able to find a way to cancel it without talking to someone) and went down a dark pattern rabbit hole both on the Verizon website and through customer service / PR actions. Luckily, I took screenshots of a lot of the conversations. Just writing this all down here for my records and to vent my frustrations.
After spending some time with a customer service rep explaining my issue (trying to cancel TV and the website continually re-adding the TV plan and other things in checkout), I was immediately transferred to another agent without warning -- not a big deal, but was odd since I didn't get a chance to confirm that was okay. The next agent I walked through everything again, saying how it kept re-adding TV and/or changing other parts of the plan. Eventually, after about an hour and multiple weird typos ("As you mentioned, you want to remove remote and check the bill?" / "I am really sorry I am Tv." / "I am getting Type sorry 😬"), the agent finally understood my request and went to cancel the TV. However, in asking for confirmation to cancel it, they had randomly added 1 Gig-streaming and a few other things ( https://i.imgur.com/rZ7gKk6.png ) without my consent and tried to pass it off as being the new plan -- they did this a second time after I first spotted it ( https://i.imgur.com/7346CFF.png ). Then, on the third time around, they still tried to change my phone service to "Home 3.0" ($5 more a month than our current plan) without consent directly after literally saying they wouldn't make changes without approval ( https://i.imgur.com/6PRTvT3.png ).
When confronted on this, the agent said that was already my plan ( https://i.imgur.com/tPeM05T.png ) when it most certainly wasn't ( https://i.imgur.com/nMBnTRS.png ). When they checked for the 5th time, they finally did confirm that my plan was the $20 one but they couldn't select it because it wasn't an option anymore, but I had just found the buried option to cancel the TV itself without changing the rest of my plans and explained to them how they were wrong ( https://i.imgur.com/Xkhctd4.png / https://i.imgur.com/zx8fJeE.png ). Extremely frustrated that the agent kept adding things and lying to me, I asked for a transcript of the chat -- which they said they couldn't do and could only give me a chat ID which would only be usable on Verizon's end. Whatever, I figured, I'll just try escalating the issue to get the transcript and/or stuff dealt with after getting the message ID ( https://i.imgur.com/0zRSV82.png ). I was transferred, at least this time with my approval, to a "loyalty specialist agent" who basically said they could do nothing, couldn't help me, couldn't escalate the issue, but could read the message from the chat ID but couldn't send it to me or quote anything from it to me either. After trying to get them to cancel the TV and hearing the same lies and randomly added services from before, I just canceled it manually myself and ended the chat in anger.
While talking to the "loyalty specialist agent" I was also talking to a Verizon support agent on X/Twitter. They said they couldn't access messages on other platforms, but corporate Verizon could and if I wanted to escalate the message I could try contacting corporate leadership ( https://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/executive-bios ) and suggested contacting "Sowmyanarayan Sampath (Sampath) - Executive Vice President and CEO Verizon Consumer Group" out of everyone on that list. That Verizon support agent was actually helpful -- a shocking change of pace from the past 3-4 agents I've dealt with!
And so I sent a short version of this story to Sampath on that website detailing my issues and frustrations and what they should do to improve these issues, remove the dark patterns, and create a better experience for their customers ( https://i.imgur.com/T2Sr6Ff.png ). About 30 minutes later a PR agent from executive called me, she said she read my complaint, got the messages from that chat ID, and wanted to make sure my concerns were taken care of. I told her the main thing I wanted was a transcript of my messages, my complaint and issues with dark patterns to be taken seriously, and maybe some account credit for all the time and hassle (going on nearly 4 hours at this point). She asked why I wanted the transcript -- was it just for my own records or to send to some news media or something. I told her I already had multiple screenshots (which she agreed, strangely enough, was good practice) and just wanted them for my records, but I might consider sending them to others. She said she would look into doing what she could, both with sending me the transcript and getting compensation, without mentioning any of the dark patterns or other issues I raised, and would get back to me in a day or two.
After dealing with all that I figured I'd also go through and update some of my account info and verify some new phone numbers. But nothing on the website was working properly and clicking on multiple confirmation links (both sent to email and two different text messages) weren't doing anything. How foolish of me to try customer support again... who this time tried to help me by sending me a confirmation link only for that not to work. After debugging some stuff, I found it was a mobile link, and even when opened on mobile it wouldn't work. The agent said I needed the Verizon app and to just download and install it. I told them I didn't want to and shouldn't have to because that is silly -- I should be able to verify an updated phone number without having to download an entire app. They insisted it was the only way and nothing else would verify me ( https://i.imgur.com/RGYaKA8.png ). This again made no sense and due to all the constant frustrations I was facing I asked for another chat ID (just in case they were lying again and it wasn't the only way to verify) and I ended the chat, called it for the day, and poured myself a large glass of whiskey.
I kept waiting and waiting for this executive PR agent to call me back and figured they were just going to ignore me and never call back. However, she finally called me back just a few hours ago, 8 days later, with some bad news. For the frustration of dealing with all this (4+ hours and being transferred around, secret product upgrades / services pushed on me, and being lied to), they would give me half off for a single month (whoopee), and couldn't do anything else. As for the transcripts? The original conversation she said not only couldn't be sent to me, but couldn't be viewed anymore and was apparently completely lost. She explained that sometimes they use third party companies to handle support and they must have deleted it or lost it or something -- which again seems odd to me since I asked them specifically to save and send me the transcript so you'd think they would keep it, but I guess not ("C.Y,A. Policy" anyone?). I mentioned I did have some screenshots, and again she agreed that was good practice. But what about the other conversations? She said that Verizon couldn't and wouldn't send it to me unless they had a subpoena for it, as that was corporate policy.
So, since Verizon clearly doesn't care about these systemic issues, hidden upgrades, lying support agents, website dark patterns, lack of transparency, and refusal to send transcripts ... remember to protect yourself by *ALWAYS* saving and recording all your conversations with this borderline monopolistic evil mega corp.

I am doing a destination elopement this August since both my fiancé and I have known for a while we didn’t want a wedding.
At my best friends bachelorette last summer my friends encouraged me to do a bachelorette this summer and offered to help plan. We live a good distance from each other (couple hour drive, we’re all in New England) and we love a good excuse to all get together lol
All that being said, since I don’t have a bridal party or MOH the planning has been a bit difficult. Two of my closest friends offered to take on the planning and asked me for an invite list and a destination and they would take care of the rest.
As much as I know they want to do this for me (and I couldn’t be more excited) I feel so guilty that my friends are putting in this work and they won’t even be in my wedding. They won’t even let me help pay for the Airbnb!
If you were my friends in this situation what could I do as a big THANK YOU to them? I don’t want any of their hard work to go unnoticed.

PUBG MOBILE
Mech Mania Showcase
SWEEPSTAKES OFFICIAL RULES
NO ENTRY FEE. NO PURCHASE OR OBLIGATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE THE CHANCES OF WINNING. ODDS OF WINNING WILL DEPEND ON THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE ENTRIES RECEIVED WORLDWIDE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR WHERE REGISTRATION, BONDING OR LOCALIZATION REQUIRED. SUBJECT TO ALL NATIONAL, REGIONAL AND LOCAL LAWS.
This Mech Mania Showcase (the “Sweepstakes”) is in connection with the video game PUBG MOBILE (the “Game”), and is governed by these official rules (“Official Rules”), the Game’s EULA available at https://www.pubgmobile.com/terms.html (“EULA”), the Game’s privacy policy available at https://pubgmobile.proximabeta.com/privacy/en.html (“Privacy Policy”), and any additional rules on the applicable Sweepstakes webpage. By submitting an entry to the Sweepstakes, you are accepting the terms and conditions of participation on the applicable Sweepstakes webpage, the Official Rules, the EULA, and the Privacy Policy.
The sponsor of this Sweepstakes is ZAM Network, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company with an office at 12777 W. Jefferson Blvd – Building E, Los Angeles, CA 90066 (“ZAM” or “Sponsor”).

1. Promotion Period

The Sweepstakes begins on May 21st at 12pm PDT and runs through June 3rd 2024 at 11:59pm PDT (the “Promotion Period”).

1. Eligibility

In order to be eligible, participants must be at least (whichever is higher): (i) 18 years old, or (ii) the age of majority in their state or country of their legal residence as of the date of entry, who have an active email account and Internet access. This Sweepstakes is not open to legal residents of Bangladesh, China, Colombia, Dubai, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Quebec of Canada, Singapore, South Australia and QLD, South Korea, Turkey. Any additional eligibility requirements will be indicated in the additional terms found on the applicable Sweepstakes webpage. Persons identified as “Blocked Persons” or persons subject to applicable sanctions prohibitions, including, without limitation, those persons listed on the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List are not eligible to participate in the Sweepstakes. Employees of ZAM, Proxima Beta Pte. Ltd., Krafton, and their respective parent company, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising, promotion, fulfillment or other coordinating agencies, individuals providing services to them through an outsourcer or temporary employment agency during the Promotion Period, and their respective immediate family members and persons living in the same household, are not eligible to participate in the Sweepstakes.

1. Entry Instructions

To participate in the Sweepstakes and be eligible for a potential prize, participants must complete one of the entry methods indicated on the applicable Sweepstakes webpage during the Promotion Period. One entry per individual, household and/or email address is permitted, regardless of method of entry, unless expressly set forth to the contrary in the additional terms found on the applicable Sweepstakes webpage. Multiple participants are not permitted to share the same email or other account needed for participation. Any attempt by any participant to obtain more than the stated number of entries by using multiple/different email or addresses, accounts, identities, registrations and logins, or any other methods will void that participant’s entries and that participant may be disqualified. Use of any automated, programmed or robotic system or the like entry methods to participate is prohibited and will result in disqualification. Each potential winner may be required to show proof of being the authorized account holder. All entries become property of ZAM and none will be acknowledged or returned.

Social Media Entry: Collect your best PUBG MOBILE content; then upload your content to social media with the hashtag #MECHMANIASHOWCASE + #SWEEPSTAKES. 

• Entries must be original and not violate any third-party rights, and the entrant must have all rights necessary to submit the entry.
• Entries may not contain material that (a) is obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, racially or ethnically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or violate any law; (b) infringes, misappropriates or violates a third party’s patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, contractual rights, moral rights or other intellectual property rights, or rights of publicity or privacy, or any other rights of third parties; (c) violates, or encourages any conduct that would violate any applicable law or regulation or would give rise to civil liability; (d) is fraudulent, false, misleading or deceptive; (e) is grossly harmful, racially or ethnically objectionable, disparaging, blasphemous, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, pedophilic, vulgar or offensive; (f) promotes discrimination, bigotry, racism, hatred, harassment or harm against any individual or group; (g) is violent, bullying, or threatening or promotes violence, money laundering or gambling, terrorism, or actions that are threatening or disrespectful to any person or entity; (h) harms minors in any way; or (i) promotes illegal or harmful activities or substances.
• Entries must follow the community guidelines and terms of service of the social media platform used for entry (where applicable).
• Participants may enter any number of times, but are only eligible to win once per week during the Sweepstakes Period.
• Sponsor may reject any entries that are found, as determined by ZAM in its sole discretion, to be in violation of these Official Rules.

1. Drawing; Notification of Winners

All Sweepstakes entries meeting the requirements of these Official Rules will be entered into the prize drawing. The number of winners will be indicated in the additional terms found on the applicable Sweepstakes webpage. Each winner will be selected by a random-chance drawing by independent persons or a computer program that randomly chooses the winner, from all eligible entries received and the random selection is final and binding, subject to the below. ZAM will notify winners by email, U.S. Mail at the address associated with the winner’s entry form, and/or by other means consistent with the Sweepstakes as soon as reasonably practicable following the drawing, but at least within seven (7) days of the drawing. ZAM is not responsible for any delay or failure to receive notification, including inactive account(s), technical difficulties associated therewith, or winner’s failure to adequately monitor any account. The winner must then respond to ZAM within fourteen (14) days or such other time frame as may be specified on the applicable Sweepstakes webpage. Winner, and any guest (if applicable), may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and liability and publicity release. Should the winner fail to respond to ZAM or cannot be contacted, is ineligible, fails to claim a prize and/or where applicable an affidavit of eligibility and liability and publicity release is not timely received, is incomplete or modified, the prize may be forfeited and ZAM reserves the right to disqualify that winner and select a new one in a second-chance random drawing from remaining valid, eligible entries timely submitted.

1. Prize

Each winner will receive the prize below. No cash or other substitution, assignment or transfer of the prize is permitted, except at the sole option of ZAM, who has the right to substitute a prize with another of comparable or greater value. Winner is responsible for all income or other taxes and fees associated with the receipt and/or use of the prize. The odds of winning a prize depend on the total number of eligible entries received. ZAM will not replace any lost or stolen prizes. ZAM will use all reasonable efforts to deliver prizes in a timely fashion.
Prizes:
5 winners will each win UC valued at US$100

1. Intellectual Property
2. Ownership of the pre-existing underlying intellectual property of the entrant remains the property of the entrant subject to Sponsor’s rights to reprint, display, reproduce, perform, use, and exhibit the entry for the purpose of administering and promoting the Sweepstakes and for Sponsor’s marketing and advertising purposes. By participating in the Sweepstakes, each entrant grants to Sponsor a non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid, royalty-free, perpetual, transferable license, with the right to sublicense, to reprint, display, reproduce, perform, use, and exhibit (including the right to make derivative works of) the entry and materials and information submitted on and in connection with the Sweepstakes or use or receipt of the prize for any and all purposes in any medium. If an entrant is selected as a winner, instead of the license granted above, each entrant grants to Sponsor an exclusive, worldwide, fully paid, royalty-free, perpetual, transferable license, with the right to sublicense, to reprint, display, reproduce, perform, use, and exhibit (including the right to make derivative works of) the entry and materials and information submitted on and in connection with the Sweepstakes or use or receipt of the prize for any and all purposes in any medium. Each participating entrant hereby warrants that any entry and other materials and information provided by entrant are original with entrant and do not violate or infringe upon the copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity, moral rights or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity, and do not violate any applicable laws, rules or regulations. If the entry or information or materials provided by entrant contain any material or elements that are not owned by entrant and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, entrant represents he or she has obtained, prior to submission of the entry and information or materials, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit use and exploitation of the entry, relevant information and materials by Sponsor in the manner set forth in these Official Rules without additional compensation.

Each entrant warrants that the entry and materials and information provided do not contain information considered by entrant, its employees or personnel, or any other third party to be confidential, and that the entry, materials and information provided do not violate any laws or regulations. Entrant agrees that Sponsor has the right to verify the ownership and originality of all entries and that, upon Sponsor’s request, entrant must submit a written copy of any release or permission entrant has received from a third-party granting entrant the right to use such property. Entrant understands and acknowledges that in the event a submission is selected as a winning entry, and entrant’s ownership, rights and the originality of the entry cannot be verified to the satisfaction of Sponsor or is in any other way ineligible, Sponsor may select an alternate winner based on the same judging criteria.

1. Except to the extent prohibited by law, entrants waive the benefit of any “moral rights” or “droit moral” or similar rights in any country to any content that they upload, submit or otherwise provide to Sponsor associated with the Sweepstakes (“Entrant Content”). In addition, when an entrant creates, appears in, uploads, or posts Entrant Content, that entrant grants Sponsor a non-exclusive, transferable, worldwide, royalty-free, unrestricted, perpetual, irrevocable, license, with the right to sublicense, to such entrant’s name, likeness, and voice, including in connection with commercial or sponsored content. This means, among other things, that such entrant will not be entitled to any compensation from Sponsor, its affiliates, or its business partners if such entrant’s name, likeness, or voice is conveyed through the game or any related services, or on one of Sponsor’s business partner’s platforms.
2. Disputes

In the event of a dispute as to any participant, the authorized account holder of the email address associated with the entry will be deemed to be the participant. The “authorized account holder” is the natural person assigned an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted address. Each potential winner may be required to show proof of being the authorized account holder. ZAM will make final determination of identity of participants and timing of entries in its sole discretion.

1. Additional Conditions

ZAM reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate, modify or suspend the Sweepstakes in whole or in part, if in ZAM’s opinion (a) the Sweepstakes is not capable of running as planned by reason of the occurrence of any event beyond its control including, but not limited to, fire, flood, epidemic, pandemic, earthquake, explosion, labor dispute or strike, act of God or public enemy, communications, equipment failure, utility or service interruptions, riot or civil disturbance, terrorist threat or activity, war (declared or undeclared), interference with the Sweepstakes by any party, or any federal, state, local or provincial government law, order, or regulation, order of any court or jurisdiction, or other cause not reasonably within ZAM’s control, or (b) any other factors beyond ZAM’s reasonable control corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Sweepstakes, in all instances without liability to the participants. ZAM also reserves the right to disqualify any participant or winner, as determined by ZAM, in its sole discretion.

1. List of Winner(s)

Individuals may request the name of the winners by emailing Sponsor at entries@zam.com with the subject line: “Mech Mania Showcase Winners List”, within 90 days from the end of the Sweepstakes.

1. Personal Information

ZAM may collect personal data about participants online, in accordance with its privacy policy and as may be more specifically set forth in these Official Rules and the Privacy Policy.

1. Disclaimers and Limitations on Liability. ZAM MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING ANY PRIZE OR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THE SWEEPSTAKES. BY ENTERING THE SWEEPSTAKES OR RECEIPT OF ANY PRIZE, EACH ENTRANT AGREES TO RELEASE AND HOLD HARMLESS THE SWEEPSTAKES ENTITIES, ANY THIRD-PARTY SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS UTILIZED FOR THE SWEEPSTAKES, AND THEIR SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS, DISTRIBUTORS, ADVERTISING/SWEEPSTAKES AGENCIES, AND PRIZE SUPPLIERS, AND EACH OF THEIR RESPECTIVE PARENT COMPANIES AND EACH SUCH COMPANY’S OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS (COLLECTIVELY, THE “RELEASED PARTIES”) FROM AND AGAINST ANY CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PERSONAL INJURY, DEATH, OR DAMAGE TO OR LOSS OF PROPERTY, ARISING OUT OF PARTICIPATION IN THE SWEEPSTAKES OR RECEIPT OR USE OR MISUSE OF ANY PRIZE. THE RELEASED PARTIES ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR: (1) ANY INCORRECT OR INACCURATE INFORMATION, WHETHER CAUSED BY ENTRANTS, PRINTING ERRORS OR BY ANY OF THE EQUIPMENT OR PROGRAMMING ASSOCIATED WITH OR UTILIZED IN THE SWEEPSTAKES; (2) TECHNICAL FAILURES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO MALFUNCTIONS, INTERRUPTIONS, OR DISCONNECTIONS IN PHONE LINES OR NETWORK HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE; (3) UNAUTHORIZED HUMAN INTERVENTION IN ANY PART OF THE ENTRY PROCESS OR THE SWEEPSTAKES; (4) TECHNICAL OR HUMAN ERROR WHICH MAY OCCUR IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SWEEPSTAKES OR THE PROCESSING OF ENTRIES; OR (5) ANY INJURY OR DAMAGE TO PERSONS OR PROPERTY WHICH MAY BE CAUSED, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, FROM ENTRANT’S PARTICIPATION IN THE SWEEPSTAKES OR RECEIPT OR USE OR MISUSE OF ANY PRIZE. If for any reason an entrant's entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, entrant’s sole remedy is another entry in the Sweepstakes, provided that if it is not possible to award another entry due to discontinuance of the Sweepstakes, or any part of it, for any reason, Sponsor, at its discretion, may elect to hold a random drawing from among all eligible entries received up to the date of discontinuance for any or all of the prizes offered herein. No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded. In event that production, technical, programming or any other reasons cause more than stated number of prizes as set forth in these Official Rules to be available and/or claimed, Sponsor reserves the right to award only the stated number of prizes by a choosing from all legitimate, unawarded, eligible prize claims. In the event Sponsor is prevented from continuing with the Sweepstakes as contemplated herein by any event beyond its control, including but not limited to fire, flood, earthquake, explosion, labor dispute or strike, act of God or public enemy, or any federal, state or local government law, order, or regulation, or other cause not reasonably within Sponsor’s control (each a "Force Majeure" event or occurrence), then subject to any governmental approval which may be required, Sponsor shall have the right to modify, suspend, or terminate the Sweepstakes. The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision.
2. Indemnification

You agree to release, indemnify, defend and hold ZAM and its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, directors, officers, employees, sponsors and agents, including advertising and promotion agencies, and assigns, and any other organizations related to the Sweepstakes, harmless, from any and all claims, injuries, damages, expenses or losses to person or property and/or liabilities of any nature that in any way arise from participation in the Sweepstakes or acceptance or use of a prize or parts thereof, including, without limitation, (a) any condition caused by events beyond ZAM’s control that may cause the Sweepstakes to be disrupted or corrupted; (b) the prize, or acceptance, possession, or use of the prize, or from participation in the Sweepstakes; and (c) any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the Sweepstakes.

1. Publicity

Except where prohibited, by participating in the Sweepstakes, you consent to the use of your name, photograph, likeness, voice, opinions, information, biographical information, entry and statements attributed to you (if true), hometown and jurisdiction of residence for advertising, publicity and promotional purposes, including without limitation, inclusion in ZAM’s newsletters, social media accounts and affiliated websites and the applicable Sweepstakes webpage, without further compensation.

1. Governing Law

These Official Rules, and any action related thereto, will be governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, federal arbitration law and the laws of the State of California without regard to conflict of laws provisions. Except as otherwise expressly set forth in Section 15 “Dispute Resolution and Arbitration” the exclusive jurisdiction for all Disputes (defined below) that you and ZAM are not required to arbitrate will be the state and federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California and you and ZAM each waive any objection to jurisdiction and venue in such courts.

1. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration
   
2. Mandatory Arbitration of Disputes. We each agree that any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to these Official Rules or the breach, termination, enforcement, interpretation or validity thereof or participation in the Sweepstakes (collectively, “Disputes”) will be resolved solely by binding, individual arbitration and not in a class, representative or consolidated action or proceeding. You and ZAM agree that the U.S. Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of these Official Rules, and that you and ZAM are each waiving the right to a trial by jury or to participate in a class action. This arbitration provision shall survive termination of these Official Rules.
   
3. Exceptions. As limited exceptions to Section 15(a) above: (i) we both may seek to resolve a Dispute in small claims court if it qualifies; and (ii) we each retain the right to seek injunctive or other equitable relief from a court to prevent (or enjoin) the infringement or misappropriation of our intellectual property rights.
   
4. Conducting Arbitration and Arbitration Rules. The arbitration will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules (the “AAA Rules”) then in effect, except as modified by these Official Rules. The AAA Rules are available at www.adr.org or by calling 1-800-778-7879. A party who wishes to start arbitration must submit a written Demand for Arbitration to AAA and give notice to the other party as specified in the AAA Rules. The AAA provides a form Demand for Arbitration at www.adr.org. Any arbitration hearings will take place in the county (or parish) where you live, unless we both agree to a different location. The parties agree that the arbitrator shall have exclusive authority to decide all issues relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability and scope of this arbitration agreement.
   
5. Arbitration Costs. Payment of all filing, administration and arbitrator fees will be governed by the AAA Rules, and we won’t seek to recover the administration and arbitrator fees we are responsible for paying, unless the arbitrator finds your Dispute frivolous. If we prevail in arbitration we’ll pay all of our attorneys’ fees and costs and won’t seek to recover them from you. If you prevail in arbitration you will be entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses to the extent provided under applicable law.
   
6. Injunctive and Declaratory Relief. Except as provided in 13(b) above, the arbitrator shall determine all issues of liability on the merits of any claim asserted by either party and may award declaratory or injunctive relief only in favor of the individual party seeking relief and only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by that party’s individual claim. To the extent that you or we prevail on a claim and seek public injunctive relief (that is, injunctive relief that has the primary purpose and effect of prohibiting unlawful acts that threaten future injury to the public), the entitlement to and extent of such relief must be litigated in a civil court of competent jurisdiction and not in arbitration. The parties agree that litigation of any issues of public injunctive relief shall be stayed pending the outcome of the merits of any individual claims in arbitration.
   
7. Class Action Waiver. YOU AND ZAM AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY, AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING. Further, if the parties’ Dispute is resolved through arbitration, the arbitrator may not consolidate another person’s claims with your claims, and may not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding. If this specific provision is found to be unenforceable, then the entirety of this Dispute Resolution and Arbitration section shall be null and void.
   
8. Severability. With the exception of any of the provisions in Section 15(f) (“Class Action Waiver”), if an arbitrator or court of competent jurisdiction decides that any part of these Official Rules is invalid or unenforceable, the other parts of these Official Rules will still apply.
   
9. Languages. These Official Rules may be made in multiple language versions. In the event of a dispute as to the terms of different language versions, the English version shall prevail.
   
10. Country Specific Notices.
    
11. If any provision of these Official Rules is invalid under the law, rules, or regulations of a particular country, it will only apply to the extent permitted.
    
12. No Affiliation with Social Media Channels.
    
13. This Sweepstakes is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by, or associated with, any of the social media channels used in connection with this Contest. Entrants understand that entrants are providing information to Sponsor and not to the social media channels. The information provided by entrants will only be used as described in these Official Rules and the Game’s Privacy Policy.
    

For any feedback or questions regarding these Official Rules, the Sweepstakes, winners, or prizes, you can contact Sponsor by sending an email to: entries@zam.com

You read right. We have the local elections next June and my wife and I are on opposite camps.
It's not that dramatic, we belong to different political lists but of the same political spectrum. Our opposing views are not much on the what, but on how to reach the objectives. People joke about this in a friendly way, saying we "get in bed with the opposition".
My wife and I follow the principle of "adversaries not enemies" and have the rule of not discussing politics at home. She's been my political opponent for the last five years as she sat in the minority desk of the town council, and she can be a tenacious adversary. But at home and outside the Town hall we get along perfectly.
Maybe it helps the fact that politics in our village are very relaxed, everyone knows everyone and although there are disagreements, we are all friends. When my wife's political list lost to mine in 2019, they were all invited to the after election party and we all sat at the same table, eating, drinking and laughing.
I wonder it's just us who can do that? Or it happens in other countries as well? We are in Italy by the way.

There are periods when there's enough going on that I can manage it all in my head. When life happens, I resort to auto schedulers, and it works well...for a time.
The solution I've been using is Motion, which does an excellent job syncing with my Google Calendar and auto-scheduling. The problem is that I have ADHD, and if I don't see the task to remind me that there's a task, I won't think about the task, and it won't get done.
So, I've been looking for ways to sync ANY to-do app with an auto-scheduling app without relying on a third-party sync (like Zapier).
Does anyone have recommendations on a system I could put together that syncs to-do list functions with calendars auto schedulers and either has a decent widget for my phone home screen or syncs correctly with Google task
Currently, I'm trying FlowSavvy synced to Google Calendar. It gets most of the job done with the exception of showing me my todo list on my home screen.

Recently there was a true crime episode on the murder of Colleen Slemmer by her Jobs Corp classmates Christa Pike, Pike's boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and another friend. It was a spontaneous, gruesome murder, that took place in the woods of Tennessee.
Slemmer, was lured out under false pretenses of smoking weed in a nearby park with who she thought were her friends. She was murdered, left partially unclothed, her upper body completely exposed. And though the primary motive wasn't a ritualistic sacrifice, in the course of the attack a Satanic star or pentagram was carved into the victim's chest.
Though the satanic piece to the crime was an afterthought by the killers, it did link the crime to two of them, as Christa Pike and her boyfriend, Shipp, practiced Satanic Worship. The murder was motivated by jealousy and rage, but even so, the symbolism left behind, might have solved the crime on its own.
There might be parallels to be found between a crime like the Slemmer murder, and what happened in Delphi.
The Delphi murders don't have to have been motivated primarily by a sacrificial ritual for the symbolism of such a ritual left at the crime scene, to lead to the killer or killers of Abby and Libby.
Coincidences do occur. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation. But when there is evidence that keeps pointing to a particular group of people, some of whom had a direct connection to one of the victims, I do not understand how this evidence is not followed up on to the fullest extent that the law allows. How is it just cast aside, especially when three respected investigators who performed their own investigation are convinced there is something there? Referring to Click, Ferency and Murphy.
Even if the killing of Abby and Libby was initially motivated by something other than a sacrifice, the mark of their killers at the scene, almost certainly will lead back to who did this. The crime scene was too distinctive and unique for it not to. All persons are innocent until proven guilty, and that's important to factor in. But even if innocent, there certainly appears to be some connection between certain individuals practicing Odinism and hanging out at Delphi Vinlander club, and the Delphi murders---evidence connecting them to these murders that might actually solve this case.
Here is the list of evidence that has still not been turned over to the defense, even though this case was scheduled to be in trial as this is written (from 2nd Motion to Dismiss).
Why?

The Exculpatory Nature of the Missing Evidence
Currently, the list of missing evidence that the prosecution has not turned over to the defense includes the following:
a. Video of BH’s first interview from February 17, 2017.
b. Video of LH’s interview from February 17, 2017.
c. Data from BH’s phone extraction from February 17, 2017.
d. Video from BH’s second interview with law enforcement taken at the Logansport Police Station sometime in 2017 or 2018.
e. Audio taken from BH’s second interview with law enforcement taken at the Logansport Police Station sometime in 2017 or 2018.
f. Any reports, notes or documents concerning or referring to BH’s second interview at the Logansport Police Station sometime in 2017 or 2018.
g. Mimicked Crime Scene Photo observed by Trooper Purdy on BH's social media page. h. Images Ryan Boucher sent to Trooper Winters on April 12, 2017.
Notice that all missing items are related to third-party suspect BH

GOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING SUPERSTONKERS! HAHA. It's me again. Yeah, i slipped past the defenses again to drop this off so you can all refresh yourselves on the state of FUD and disinformation in this protracted fight against the legal larcenists doing their best to try and get you to sell. Please spread this amongst the holders, the more people know the less power they have over us holders. We don't sell until we get a call from marge, and that's always been the play.
TLDR: This is a set of tactics used by the Alphabet Boys(CIA, FBI, DEA) to control and manipulate us into drama to collapse our communities and movements. And should be read in full by anyone willing and wanting to learn how these things work.
I've come to notice recently, people keep asking me to repost this for the sake of keeping the new people abreast on what needs to be done to protect the holders of GME. Beneath here will be a detailed account on what you need to be aware of in your online interactions, to avoid being taken for a fool!
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1. COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum
2. Twenty-Five Rules of Disinformation
3. Eight Traits of the Disinformationalist
4. How to Spot a Spy (Cointelpro Agent)
5. Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

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COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum..
There are several techniques for the control and manipulation of a internet forum no matter what, or who is on it. We will go over each technique and demonstrate that only a minimal number of operatives can be used to eventually and effectively gain a control of a 'uncontrolled forum.'
Technique #1 - 'FORUM SLIDING'
If a very sensitive posting of a critical nature has been posted on a forum - it can be quickly removed from public view by 'forum sliding.' In this technique a number of unrelated posts are quietly prepositioned on the forum and allowed to 'age.' Each of these misdirectional forum postings can then be called upon at will to trigger a 'forum slide.' The second requirement is that several fake accounts exist, which can be called upon, to ensure that this technique is not exposed to the public. To trigger a 'forum slide' and 'flush' the critical post out of public view it is simply a matter of logging into each account both real and fake and then 'replying' to prepositioned postings with a simple 1 or 2 line comment. This brings the unrelated postings to the top of the forum list, and the critical posting 'slides' down the front page, and quickly out of public view. Although it is difficult or impossible to censor the posting it is now lost in a sea of unrelated and unuseful postings. By this means it becomes effective to keep the readers of the forum reading unrelated and non-issue items.
Technique #2 - 'CONSENSUS CRACKING'
A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at www.abovetopsecret.com
) is 'consensus cracking.' To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used. Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made - but the critical point is that it has a VERY WEAK PREMISE without substantive proof to back the posting. Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favor is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is IMPERATIVE that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger 'evidence' or disinformation in your favor is slowly 'seeded in.' Thus the uninformed reader will most like develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped. However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then 'abort' the consensus cracking by initiating a 'forum slide.'
Technique #3 - 'TOPIC DILUTION'
Topic dilution is not only effective in forum sliding it is also very useful in keeping the forum readers on unrelated and non-productive issues. This is a critical and useful technique to cause a 'RESOURCE BURN.' By implementing continual and non-related postings that distract and disrupt (trolling ) the forum readers they are more effectively stopped from anything of any real productivity. If the intensity of gradual dilution is intense enough, the readers will effectively stop researching and simply slip into a 'gossip mode.' In this state they can be more easily misdirected away from facts towards uninformed conjecture and opinion. The less informed they are the more effective and easy it becomes to control the entire group in the direction that you would desire the group to go in. It must be stressed that a proper assessment of the psychological capabilities and levels of education is first determined of the group to determine at what level to 'drive in the wedge.' By being too far off topic too quickly it may trigger censorship by a forum moderator.
Technique #4 - 'INFORMATION COLLECTION'
Information collection is also a very effective method to determine the psychological level of the forum members, and to gather intelligence that can be used against them. In this technique in a light and positive environment a 'show you mine so me yours' posting is initiated. From the number of replies and the answers that are provided much statistical information can be gathered. An example is to post your 'favorite weapon' and then encourage other members of the forum to showcase what they have. In this matter it can be determined by reverse proration what percentage of the forum community owns a firearm, and or a illegal weapon. This same method can be used by posing as one of the form members and posting your favorite 'technique of operation.' From the replies various methods that the group utilizes can be studied and effective methods developed to stop them from their activities.
Technique #5 - 'ANGER TROLLING'
Statistically, there is always a percentage of the forum posters who are more inclined to violence. In order to determine who these individuals are, it is a requirement to present a image to the forum to deliberately incite a strong psychological reaction. From this the most violent in the group can be effectively singled out for reverse IP location and possibly local enforcement tracking. To accomplish this only requires posting a link to a video depicting a local police officer massively abusing his power against a very innocent individual. Statistically of the million or so police officers in America there is always one or two being caught abusing there powers and the taping of the activity can be then used for intelligence gathering purposes - without the requirement to 'stage' a fake abuse video. This method is extremely effective, and the more so the more abusive the video can be made to look. Sometimes it is useful to 'lead' the forum by replying to your own posting with your own statement of violent intent, and that you 'do not care what the authorities think!!' inflammation. By doing this and showing no fear it may be more effective in getting the more silent and self-disciplined violent intent members of the forum to slip and post their real intentions. This can be used later in a court of law during prosecution.
Technique #6 - 'GAINING FULL CONTROL'
It is important to also be harvesting and continually maneuvering for a forum moderator position. Once this position is obtained, the forum can then be effectively and quietly controlled by deleting unfavourable postings - and one can eventually steer the forum into complete failure and lack of interest by the general public. This is the 'ultimate victory' as the forum is no longer participated with by the general public and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms. Depending on the level of control you can obtain, you can deliberately steer a forum into defeat by censoring postings, deleting memberships, flooding, and or accidentally taking the forum offline. By this method the forum can be quickly killed. However it is not always in the interest to kill a forum as it can be converted into a 'honey pot' gathering center to collect and misdirect newcomers and from this point be completely used for your control for your agenda purposes.
CONCLUSION
Remember these techniques are only effective if the forum participants DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM. Once they are aware of these techniques the operation can completely fail, and the forum can become uncontrolled. At this point other avenues must be considered such as initiating a false legal precidence to simply have the forum shut down and taken offline. This is not desirable as it then leaves the enforcement agencies unable to track the percentage of those in the population who always resist attempts for control against them. Many other techniques can be utilized and developed by the individual and as you develop further techniques of infiltration and control it is imperative to share then with HQ.
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Twenty-Five Rules of Disinformation
Note: The first rule and last five (or six, depending on situation) rules are generally not directly within the ability of the traditional disinfo artist to apply. These rules are generally used more directly by those at the leadership, key players, or planning level of the criminal conspiracy or conspiracy to cover up.
1. Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. Regardless of what you know, don't discuss it -- especially if you are a public figure, news anchor, etc. If it's not reported, it didn't happen, and you never have to deal with the issues.
2. Become incredulous and indignant. Avoid discussing key issues and instead focus on side issues which can be used show the topic as being critical of some otherwise sacrosanct group or theme. This is also known as the 'How dare you!' gambit.
3. Create rumor mongers. Avoid discussing issues by describing all charges, regardless of venue or evidence, as mere rumors and wild accusations. Other derogatory terms mutually exclusive of truth may work as well. This method which works especially well with a silent press, because the only way the public can learn of the facts are through such 'arguable rumors'. If you can associate the material with the Internet, use this fact to certify it a 'wild rumor' from a 'bunch of kids on the Internet' which can have no basis in fact.
4. Use a straw man. Find or create a seeming element of your opponent's argument which you can easily knock down to make yourself look good and the opponent to look bad. Either make up an issue you may safely imply exists based on your interpretation of the opponent/opponent arguments/situation, or select the weakest aspect of the weakest charges. Amplify their significance and destroy them in a way which appears to debunk all the charges, real and fabricated alike, while actually avoiding discussion of the real issues.
5. Sidetrack opponents with name calling and ridicule. This is also known as the primary 'attack the messenger' ploy, though other methods qualify as variants of that approach. Associate opponents with unpopular titles such as 'kooks', 'right-wing', 'liberal', 'left-wing', 'terrorists', 'conspiracy buffs', 'radicals', 'militia', 'racists', 'religious fanatics', 'sexual deviates', and so forth. This makes others shrink from support out of fear of gaining the same label, and you avoid dealing with issues.
6. Hit and Run. In any public forum, make a brief attack of your opponent or the opponent position and then scamper off before an answer can be fielded, or simply ignore any answer. This works extremely well in Internet and letters-to-the-editor environments where a steady stream of new identities can be called upon without having to explain criticism, reasoning -- simply make an accusation or other attack, never discussing issues, and never answering any subsequent response, for that would dignify the opponent's viewpoint.
7. Question motives. Twist or amplify any fact which could be taken to imply that the opponent operates out of a hidden personal agenda or other bias. This avoids discussing issues and forces the accuser on the defensive.
8. Invoke authority. Claim for yourself or associate yourself with authority and present your argument with enough 'jargon' and 'minutia' to illustrate you are 'one who knows', and simply say it isn't so without discussing issues or demonstrating concretely why or citing sources.
9. Play Dumb. No matter what evidence or logical argument is offered, avoid discussing issues except with denials they have any credibility, make any sense, provide any proof, contain or make a point, have logic, or support a conclusion. Mix well for maximum effect.
10. Associate opponent charges with old news. A derivative of the straw man -- usually, in any large-scale matter of high visibility, someone will make charges early on which can be or were already easily dealt with - a kind of investment for the future should the matter not be so easily contained.) Where it can be foreseen, have your own side raise a straw man issue and have it dealt with early on as part of the initial contingency plans. Subsequent charges, regardless of validity or new ground uncovered, can usually then be associated with the original charge and dismissed as simply being a rehash without need to address current issues -- so much the better where the opponent is or was involved with the original source.
11. Establish and rely upon fall-back positions. Using a minor matter or element of the facts, take the 'high road' and 'confess' with candor that some innocent mistake, in hindsight, was made -- but that opponents have seized on the opportunity to blow it all out of proportion and imply greater criminalities which, 'just isn't so.' Others can reinforce this on your behalf, later, and even publicly 'call for an end to the nonsense' because you have already 'done the right thing.' Done properly, this can garner sympathy and respect for 'coming clean' and 'owning up' to your mistakes without addressing more serious issues.
12. Enigmas have no solution. Drawing upon the overall umbrella of events surrounding the crime and the multitude of players and events, paint the entire affair as too complex to solve. This causes those otherwise following the matter to begin to lose interest more quickly without having to address the actual issues.
13. Alice in Wonderland Logic. Avoid discussion of the issues by reasoning backwards or with an apparent deductive logic which forbears any actual material fact.
14. Demand complete solutions. Avoid the issues by requiring opponents to solve the crime at hand completely, a ploy which works best with issues qualifying for rule 10.
15. Fit the facts to alternate conclusions. This requires creative thinking unless the crime was planned with contingency conclusions in place.
16. Vanish evidence and witnesses. If it does not exist, it is not fact, and you won't have to address the issue.
17. Change the subject. Usually in connection with one of the other ploys listed here, find a way to side-track the discussion with abrasive or controversial comments in hopes of turning attention to a new, more manageable topic. This works especially well with companions who can 'argue' with you over the new topic and polarize the discussion arena in order to avoid discussing more key issues.
18. Emotionalize, Antagonize, and Goad Opponents. If you can't do anything else, chide and taunt your opponents and draw them into emotional responses which will tend to make them look foolish and overly motivated, and generally render their material somewhat less coherent. Not only will you avoid discussing the issues in the first instance, but even if their emotional response addresses the issue, you can further avoid the issues by then focusing on how 'sensitive they are to criticism.'
19. Ignore proof presented, demand impossible proofs. This is perhaps a variant of the 'play dumb' rule. Regardless of what material may be presented by an opponent in public forums, claim the material irrelevant and demand proof that is impossible for the opponent to come by (it may exist, but not be at his disposal, or it may be something which is known to be safely destroyed or withheld, such as a murder weapon.) In order to completely avoid discussing issues, it may be required that you to categorically deny and be critical of media or books as valid sources, deny that witnesses are acceptable, or even deny that statements made by government or other authorities have any meaning or relevance.
20. False evidence. Whenever possible, introduce new facts or clues designed and manufactured to conflict with opponent presentations -- as useful tools to neutralize sensitive issues or impede resolution. This works best when the crime was designed with contingencies for the purpose, and the facts cannot be easily separated from the fabrications.
21. Call a Grand Jury, Special Prosecutor, or other empowered investigative body. Subvert the (process) to your benefit and effectively neutralize all sensitive issues without open discussion. Once convened, the evidence and testimony are required to be secret when properly handled. For instance, if you own the prosecuting attorney, it can insure a Grand Jury hears no useful evidence and that the evidence is sealed and unavailable to subsequent investigators. Once a favorable verdict is achieved, the matter can be considered officially closed. Usually, this technique is applied to find the guilty innocent, but it can also be used to obtain charges when seeking to frame a victim.
22. Manufacture a new truth. Create your own expert(s), group(s), author(s), leader(s) or influence existing ones willing to forge new ground via scientific, investigative, or social research or testimony which concludes favorably. In this way, if you must actually address issues, you can do so authoritatively.
23. Create bigger distractions. If the above does not seem to be working to distract from sensitive issues, or to prevent unwanted media coverage of unstoppable events such as trials, create bigger news stories (or treat them as such) to distract the multitudes.
24. Silence critics. If the above methods do not prevail, consider removing opponents from circulation by some definitive solution so that the need to address issues is removed entirely. This can be by their death, arrest and detention, blackmail or destruction of their character by release of blackmail information, or merely by destroying them financially, emotionally, or severely damaging their health.
25. Vanish. If you are a key holder of secrets or otherwise overly illuminated and you think the heat is getting too hot, to avoid the issues, vacate the kitchen.
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Eight Traits of the Disinformationalist
1) Avoidance. They never actually discuss issues head-on or provide constructive input, generally avoiding citation of references or credentials. Rather, they merely imply this, that, and the other. Virtually everything about their presentation implies their authority and expert knowledge in the matter without any further justification for credibility.
2) Selectivity. They tend to pick and choose opponents carefully, either applying the hit-and-run approach against mere commentators supportive of opponents, or focusing heavier attacks on key opponents who are known to directly address issues. Should a commentator become argumentative with any success, the focus will shift to include the commentator as well.
3) Coincidental. They tend to surface suddenly and somewhat coincidentally with a new controversial topic with no clear prior record of participation in general discussions in the particular public arena involved. They likewise tend to vanish once the topic is no longer of general concern. They were likely directed or elected to be there for a reason, and vanish with the reason.
4) Teamwork. They tend to operate in self-congratulatory and complementary packs or teams. Of course, this can happen naturally in any public forum, but there will likely be an ongoing pattern of frequent exchanges of this sort where professionals are involved. Sometimes one of the players will infiltrate the opponent camp to become a source for straw man or other tactics designed to dilute opponent presentation strength.
5) Anti-conspiratorial. They almost always have disdain for 'conspiracy theorists' and, usually, for those who in any way believe JFK was not killed by LHO. Ask yourself why, if they hold such disdain for conspiracy theorists, do they focus on defending a single topic discussed in a NG focusing on conspiracies? One might think they would either be trying to make fools of everyone on every topic, or simply ignore the group they hold in such disdain. Or, one might more rightly conclude they have an ulterior motive for their actions in going out of their way to focus as they do.
6) Artificial Emotions. An odd kind of 'artificial' emotionalism and an unusually thick skin -- an ability to persevere and persist even in the face of overwhelming criticism and unacceptance. This likely stems from intelligence community training that, no matter how condemning the evidence, deny everything, and never become emotionally involved or reactive. The net result for a disinfo artist is that emotions can seem artificial.
Most people, if responding in anger, for instance, will express their animosity throughout their rebuttal. But disinfo types usually have trouble maintaining the 'image' and are hot and cold with respect to pretended emotions and their usually more calm or unemotional communications style. It's just a job, and they often seem unable to 'act their role in character' as well in a communications medium as they might be able in a real face-to-face conversation/confrontation. You might have outright rage and indignation one moment, ho-hum the next, and more anger later -- an emotional yo-yo.
With respect to being thick-skinned, no amount of criticism will deter them from doing their job, and they will generally continue their old disinfo patterns without any adjustments to criticisms of how obvious it is that they play that game -- where a more rational individual who truly cares what others think might seek to improve their communications style, substance, and so forth, or simply give up.
7) Inconsistent. There is also a tendency to make mistakes which betray their true self/motives. This may stem from not really knowing their topic, or it may be somewhat 'freudian', so to speak, in that perhaps they really root for the side of truth deep within.
I have noted that often, they will simply cite contradictory information which neutralizes itself and the author. For instance, one such player claimed to be a Navy pilot, but blamed his poor communicating skills (spelling, grammar, incoherent style) on having only a grade-school education. I'm not aware of too many Navy pilots who don't have a college degree. Another claimed no knowledge of a particular topic/situation but later claimed first-hand knowledge of it.
8) Time Constant. Recently discovered, with respect to News Groups, is the response time factor. There are three ways this can be seen to work, especially when the government or other empowered player is involved in a cover up operation:
a) ANY NG posting by a targeted proponent for truth can result in an IMMEDIATE response. The government and other empowered players can afford to pay people to sit there and watch for an opportunity to do some damage. SINCE DISINFO IN A NG ONLY WORKS IF THE READER SEES IT - FAST RESPONSE IS CALLED FOR, or the visitor may be swayed towards truth.
b) When dealing in more direct ways with a disinformationalist, such as email, DELAY IS CALLED FOR - there will usually be a minimum of a 48-72 hour delay. This allows a sit-down team discussion on response strategy for best effect, and even enough time to 'get permission' or instruction from a formal chain of command.
c) In the NG example 1) above, it will often ALSO be seen that bigger guns are drawn and fired after the same 48-72 hours delay - the team approach in play. This is especially true when the targeted truth seeker or their comments are considered more important with respect to potential to reveal truth. Thus, a serious truth sayer will be attacked twice for the same sin.
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How to Spot a Spy (Cointelpro Agent)
One way to neutralize a potential activist is to get them to be in a group that does all the wrong things. Why?
1) The message doesn't get out.
2) A lot of time is wasted
3) The activist is frustrated and discouraged
4) Nothing good is accomplished.
FBI and Police Informers and Infiltrators will infest any group and they have phoney activist organizations established.
Their purpose is to prevent any real movement for justice or eco-peace from developing in this country.
Agents come in small, medium or large. They can be of any ethnic background. They can be male or female.
The actual size of the group or movement being infiltrated is irrelevant. It is the potential the movement has for becoming large which brings on the spies and saboteurs.
This booklet lists tactics agents use to slow things down, foul things up, destroy the movement and keep tabs on activists.
It is the agent's job to keep the activist from quitting such a group, thus keeping him/her under control.
In some situations, to get control, the agent will tell the activist:

• "You're dividing the movement."

[Here, I have added the psychological reasons as to WHY this maneuver works to control people]
This invites guilty feelings. Many people can be controlled by guilt. The agents begin relationships with activists behind a well-developed mask of "dedication to the cause." Because of their often declared dedication, (and actions designed to prove this), when they criticize the activist, he or she - being truly dedicated to the movement - becomes convinced that somehow, any issues are THEIR fault. This is because a truly dedicated person tends to believe that everyone has a conscience and that nobody would dissimulate and lie like that "on purpose." It's amazing how far agents can go in manipulating an activist because the activist will constantly make excuses for the agent who regularly declares their dedication to the cause. Even if they do, occasionally, suspect the agent, they will pull the wool over their own eyes by rationalizing: "they did that unconsciously... they didn't really mean it... I can help them by being forgiving and accepting " and so on and so forth.
The agent will tell the activist:

• "You're a leader!"

This is designed to enhance the activist's self-esteem. His or her narcissistic admiration of his/her own activist/altruistic intentions increase as he or she identifies with and consciously admires the altruistic declarations of the agent which are deliberately set up to mirror those of the activist.
This is "malignant pseudo identification." It is the process by which the agent consciously imitates or simulates a certain behavior to foster the activist's identification with him/her, thus increasing the activist's vulnerability to exploitation. The agent will simulate the more subtle self-concepts of the activist.
Activists and those who have altruistic self-concepts are most vulnerable to malignant pseudo identification especially during work with the agent when the interaction includes matter relating to their competency, autonomy, or knowledge.
The goal of the agent is to increase the activist's general empathy for the agent through pseudo-identification with the activist's self-concepts.
The most common example of this is the agent who will compliment the activist for his competency or knowledge or value to the movement. On a more subtle level, the agent will simulate affects and mannerisms of the activist which promotes identification via mirroring and feelings of "twinship". It is not unheard of for activists, enamored by the perceived helpfulness and competence of a good agent, to find themselves considering ethical violations and perhaps, even illegal behavior, in the service of their agent/handler.
The activist's "felt quality of perfection" [self-concept] is enhanced, and a strong empathic bond is developed with the agent through his/her imitation and simulation of the victim's own narcissistic investments. [self-concepts] That is, if the activist knows, deep inside, their own dedication to the cause, they will project that onto the agent who is "mirroring" them.
The activist will be deluded into thinking that the agent shares this feeling of identification and bonding. In an activist/social movement setting, the adversarial roles that activists naturally play vis a vis the establishment/government, fosters ongoing processes of intrapsychic splitting so that "twinship alliances" between activist and agent may render whole sectors or reality testing unavailable to the activist. They literally "lose touch with reality."
Activists who deny their own narcissistic investments [do not have a good idea of their own self-concepts and that they ARE concepts] and consciously perceive themselves (accurately, as it were) to be "helpers" endowed with a special amount of altruism are exceedingly vulnerable to the affective (emotional) simulation of the accomplished agent.
Empathy is fostered in the activist through the expression of quite visible affects. The presentation of tearfulness, sadness, longing, fear, remorse, and guilt, may induce in the helper-oriented activist a strong sense of compassion, while unconsciously enhancing the activist's narcissistic investment in self as the embodiment of goodness.
The agent's expresssion of such simulated affects may be quite compelling to the observer and difficult to distinguish from deep emotion.
It can usually be identified by two events, however:
First, the activist who has analyzed his/her own narcissistic roots and is aware of his/her own potential for being "emotionally hooked," will be able to remain cool and unaffected by such emotional outpourings by the agent.
As a result of this unaffected, cool, attitude, the Second event will occur: The agent will recompensate much too quickly following such an affective expression leaving the activist with the impression that "the play has ended, the curtain has fallen," and the imposture, for the moment, has finished. The agent will then move quickly to another activist/victim.
The fact is, the movement doesn't need leaders, it needs MOVERS. "Follow the leader" is a waste of time.
A good agent will want to meet as often as possible. He or she will talk a lot and say little. One can expect an onslaught of long, unresolved discussions.
Some agents take on a pushy, arrogant, or defensive manner:
1) To disrupt the agenda
2) To side-track the discussion
3) To interrupt repeatedly
4) To feign ignorance
5) To make an unfounded accusation against a person.
Calling someone a racist, for example. This tactic is used to discredit a person in the eyes of all other group members.
Saboteurs
Some saboteurs pretend to be activists. She or he will ....
1) Write encyclopedic flyers (in the present day, websites)
2) Print flyers in English only.
3) Have demonstrations in places where no one cares.
4) Solicit funding from rich people instead of grass roots support
5) Display banners with too many words that are confusing.
6) Confuse issues.
7) Make the wrong demands.
8) Compromise the goal.
9) Have endless discussions that waste everyone's time. The agent may accompany the endless discussions with drinking, pot smoking or other amusement to slow down the activist's work.
Provocateurs
1) Want to establish "leaders" to set them up for a fall in order to stop the movement.
2) Suggest doing foolish, illegal things to get the activists in trouble.
3) Encourage militancy.
4) Want to taunt the authorities.
5) Attempt to make the activist compromise their values.
6) Attempt to instigate violence. Activism ought to always be non-violent.
7) Attempt to provoke revolt among people who are ill-prepared to deal with the reaction of the authorities to such violence.
Informants
1) Want everyone to sign up and sing in and sign everything.
2) Ask a lot of questions (gathering data).
3) Want to know what events the activist is planning to attend.
4) Attempt to make the activist defend him or herself to identify his or her beliefs, goals, and level of commitment.
Recruiting
Legitimate activists do not subject people to hours of persuasive dialog. Their actions, beliefs, and goals speak for themselves.
Groups that DO recruit are missionaries, military, and fake political parties or movements set up by agents.
Surveillance
ALWAYS assume that you are under surveillance.
At this point, if you are NOT under surveillance, you are not a very good activist!
Scare Tactics
They use them.
Such tactics include slander, defamation, threats, getting close to disaffected or minimally committed fellow activists to persuade them (via psychological tactics described above) to turn against the movement and give false testimony against their former compatriots. They will plant illegal substances on the activist and set up an arrest; they will plant false information and set up "exposure," they will send incriminating letters [emails] in the name of the activist; and more; they will do whatever society will allow.
This booklet in no way covers all the ways agents use to sabotage the lives of sincere an dedicated activists.
If an agent is "exposed," he or she will be transferred or replaced.
COINTELPRO is still in operation today under a different code name. It is no longer placed on paper where it can be discovered through the freedom of information act.
The FBI counterintelligence program's stated purpose: To expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and otherwise neutralize individuals who the FBI categorize as opposed to the National Interests. "National Security" means the FBI's security from the people ever finding out the vicious things it does in violation of people's civil liberties.
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Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression
Strong, credible allegations of high-level criminal activity can bring down a government. When the government lacks an effective, fact-based defense, other techniques must be employed. The success of these techniques depends heavily upon a cooperative, compliant press and a mere token opposition party.
1. Dummy up. If it's not reported, if it's not news, it didn't happen.
2. Wax indignant. This is also known as the "How dare you?" gambit.
3. Characterize the charges as "rumors" or, better yet, "wild rumors." If, in spite of the news blackout, the public is still able to learn about the suspicious facts, it can only be through "rumors." (If they tend to believe the "rumors" it must be because they are simply "paranoid" or "hysterical.")
4. Knock down straw men. Deal only with the weakest aspects of the weakest charges. Even better, create your own straw men. Make up wild rumors (or plant false stories) and give them lead play when you appear to debunk all the charges, real and fanciful alike.
5. Call the skeptics names like "conspiracy theorist," "nutcase," "ranter," "kook," "crackpot," and, of course, "rumor monger." Be sure, too, to use heavily loaded verbs and adjectives when characterizing their charges and defending the "more reasonable" government and its defenders. You must then carefully avoid fair and open debate with any of the people you have thus maligned. For insurance, set up your own "skeptics" to shoot down.
6. Impugn motives. Attempt to marginalize the critics by suggesting strongly that they are not really interested in the truth but are simply pursuing a partisan political agenda or are out to make money (compared to over-compensated adherents to the government line who, presumably, are not).
7. Invoke authority. Here the controlled press and the sham opposition can be very useful.
8. Dismiss the charges as "old news."
9. Come half-clean. This is also known as "confession and avoidance" or "taking the limited hangout route." This way, you create the impression of candor and honesty while you admit only to relatively harmless, less-than-criminal "mistakes." This stratagem often requires the embrace of a fall-back position quite different from the one originally taken. With effective damage control, the fall-back position need only be peddled by stooge skeptics to carefully limited markets.
10. Characterize the crimes as impossibly complex and the truth as ultimately unknowable.
11. Reason backward, using the deductive method with a vengeance. With thoroughly rigorous deduction, troublesome evidence is irrelevant. E.g. We have a completely free press. If evidence exists that the Vince Foster "suicide" note was forged, they would have reported it. They haven't reported it so there is no such evidence. Another variation on this theme involves the likelihood of a conspiracy leaker and a press who would report the leak.
12. Require the skeptics to solve the crime completely. E.g. If Foster was murdered, who did it and why?
13. Change the subject. This technique includes creating and/or publicizing distractions.
14. Lightly report incriminating facts, and then make nothing of them. This is sometimes referred to as "bump and run" reporting.
15. Baldly and brazenly lie. A favorite way of doing this is to attribute the "facts" furnished the public to a plausible-sounding, but anonymous, source.
16. Expanding further on numbers 4 and 5, have your own stooges "expose" scandals and champion popular causes. Their job is to pre-empt real opponents and to play 99-yard football. A variation is to pay rich people for the job who will pretend to spend their own money.
17. Flood the Internet with agents. This is the answer to the question, "What could possibly motivate a person to spend hour upon hour on Internet news groups defending the government and/or the press and harassing genuine critics?" Don t the authorities have defenders enough in all the newspapers, magazines, radio, and television? One would think refusing to print critical letters and screening out serious callers or dumping them from radio talk shows would be control enough, but, obviously, it is not.

If your parents have ever done any of the following, something serious is happening to you:

1. Physically attack you in any way. Bottom line, this is assault, and is illegal no matter what. This means a highly abusive relationship, and should be reported immediately.
2. Verbally attack you in any way. From name-calling to flat-out screaming at you, your parents should never do this. If they are supposed to love you, they should never insult you in any way, because these are the people who are supposed to be your protectors and the people who comfort you when you are hurt or bullied or treated badly.
3. Manipulation. Maybe you have divorced parents and the one you happen to live with likes to talk bad about the other one, and tries to force you to agree that the other is an asshole. Or maybe you have both parents, and they like to force you to agree with some political thing. Both things are not good, but manipulation can be anywhere. If your parents try to force you to do something you don't agree with or don't believe in, or force you to have some kind of opinion, or talk bad about your opinions to make you look bad, or just try to make you the villain, or make themselves the victim, then your parents are manipulating you, which is never ok.
4. Narcissism. You get in trouble for not eating food one day. Your parents start yelling at you for lying about not eating. It isn't that big a deal, but your parents start talking about how they have done so much for you and that they are amazing parents, painting themselves in a good light. As usual. Parents will never let anything stain their ego. If your parents say that you are making them look bad when you do something only slightly wrong, then they are major narcissists. If it's always about them, and nothing you say matters, same thing. If they like to say great things about themselves every time you mess up, then they are major narcissists.
5. Reminders. Yeah, parents can be cool sometimes, like if they take you to the movies or buy you a game you've been wanting, or throw you an epic birthday party. But if you have been being treated badly in many ways or ways listed above, the cool things don't justify the bad. If you are in an argument about this with your parents, and they bring up the fact that they just bought you that band shirt you asked for, then that means they are trying to erase the bad things from your memory. They can do this by pretending like you are wrong, or they can say it happened a long time ago. Either way, the thing happened, and you remember, but you can't pin them down on it. Watch out for reminders like these.

Obviously, these aren't the only things that abusive parents do, but they are definitely major ones. Keep an eye out for shit like this, and talk to someone about it, preferably a trusted adult. {PS: Yes, I have experience with this. I am 16 years old and deal with this shit EVERY FUCKING DAY. Problem is, I can't do anything about it 'cause I don't have a phone to call the police or record this shit and show it to my therapist or someone else I trust. I only have this piece of shit laptop that I can only use sometimes, when my parents aren't home. And zero contacts.}

Issey Miyake:
Right off the bat, it's citrusy but in a faint way. The citrus is there and will be there throughout but it's not overpowering any smell. It's fresh. Very fresh. Non-confrontational.
Uses: Gym, office, EDC.
Longivity: 6-7 hrs. 1-2 hrs projection and then it lingers. You catch a whip once in a while and it pleases you.
Might become my new favourite tbh. My previous was Zara 8.0. Still waiting on a decant of Lacoste White. Armaf Hunter was out of stock too. 9/10. Definitely a blind buy worthy.
Davidoff Coolwater:
Right of the bat, it smeels like Flipkart Grocery's handwash or detergent. I hated it. My sister hated it. But once it settled in, the smell became fresh and sweet. I'll describe it as that Ocean Water sugared drink. And it's unique imo. The scent.
Uses: I can see this as an EDC.
Longivity: 3 hrs at most. Projection is maybe half an hour to 1 hr.
Virdict: I can also see this scent growing on me if I use it constantly. Longivity is where it takes a hit. 6.5/10
Dior Sauvage:
The famed Dior. Right off the bat, it's strong. Almost overpowering. My friend(female) said it gave her a slight headache, lol. But once it settles in, the scent becomes subtle and pleasing and not loud. It'll attract a second look from people who brushes past you. I'll describe it like that school friend who's not flashy but the second best in everything, who's also mysterious and girls swoon over her, but he's too comfortable with himself that he doesn't care. But in a perfume way.
Uses: Evening semi-formal party with jazz in the background.
Longevity: Easy 6-7 hrs. Projection of 3 hrs where the first half hr is really strong.
Virdict: Unless I become super rich, like 50 LPA guy, Would keep a decant for occasional use. Can't see it as an EDC. 8/10
Lataffa Nebras:
Oriflame perfume. Bought a decant for my sister, she gave it back and took my YSL Y decant. 🤡🤡
Seller reviews:
u/Fragrance-Addict23: Top tier packaging, Decant bottles are just so good. Everything about him is great from communications to delivery. He was my first seller and has set an extremely high standards. His collection being limited is why I don't order from him more. I always go back to his list to see is it available from him first. Will definitely buy from him again. His recommendations are actually spot on. Can't sing enough praises. And I'm from Manipur where average delivery is 7-8 days. Dude made it happen in 3 days. He also got that firm big brother vibe who'll give you money for outings but also put you in your place if you do something stupid. 10/10
Imran: Talking to him is like talking to the girl you're interested in but she isn't. Replies takes a while. Packaging is decent, not great. His decants are the cheapest though. Communicating with him makes me feel desperate. Decant bottles can be better, especiallythe 2 ml ones. His decants are the cheapest though. So that's a big plus. And I think he's a seller, so that's another big plus.6.5/10. If you priorities communication and is an anxious person, not the guy. If you're a "chalta hai" guy, go for him.

So I made a fairly expensive purchase of a product on Amazon a few weeks ago (it was sold by a 3rd party seller and not directly by Amazon, although obviously my money goes initially to Amazon). It turns out that there were a few issues with the product I received - the biggest being that the listing states it comes with a 1-year warranty from the original manufacturer, and it turns out it does not.
The seller has offered to allow me to return the item numerous times now, but I'd rather not do so (since the product works fine otherwise, and it is large and heavy and unwieldy - plus I don't have the box for it any longer, and if I did return it that would put me back at square one for having to find another one or similar). I've asked the seller to provide reasonable compensation to make up for the missing warranty, and the compensation they have offered me is very unreasonable.
So my question is - does completing a purchase on Amazon where the listing clearly states something that is not actually included * (and not something meaningless) create a contract? And would an offer to allow a return be all that the seller needs to do, or could I be justified in pursuing legal action against them since they'd be in breach of contract for not providing me with what I paid for? I'm not necessarily planning on actually doing that - but just wondering from a more hypothetical standpoint.
* After a lot of back-and-forth, the seller advised that the listing they submitted to Amazon did NOT include the warranty info, and Amazon adjusted it to include this. I have no idea if that is true or not, but it does add a slight wrinkle to the above if it is (although I'd wonder why the seller didn't tell me that initially).

Burnet County, TX.
Decedent passed away unexpectedly with no will or life insurance. They owned a home (listing their spouse and one child on the morthage, and possibly the title as well), owned a business (under an LLC that only listed them) that has somewhat substantial material assets (the tools required to run the business) but not the property on which the business is located (they rented), may have owned several vehicles (that would list only themselves or the LLC on the title if such vehicles exist), and had several bank accounts (for the LLC, a joint account with the spouse, and possibly additional accounts in only their name).
The spouse is insisting on attempting to probate the estate themselves ("I don't need to pay a lawyer a whole bunch of money for them to tell me that the bank owns everything"), or rather not probating the estate at all (and just sort of handing out assets as they feel fit). There are multiple children involved, but not a lot of infighting (yet) for assets.
My concern is that the spouse will make a misstep and acquire debt that isn't theirs and should have been discharged (by paying on a credit card in the decedents name, for instance), run into trouble with the business (they plan to form a new LLC with the spouse/child on it, but to my understanding won't be able to legally transfer any holdings the current LLC has to the new LLC, since only the decedent was an authorized user for the current LLC) or because they can no longer rent the current space, and/or potentially find themselves in legal trouble if one of the kids kicks up a fuss because assets weren't allocated according to the split required by the relevant intestate succession laws.
I am not party to the inheritance, but I do want to ensure that things are handled equitably and that the spouse doesn't make a mistake they can't come back from. I'm getting mixed feedback from my research online as to whether or not they even can do this without an attorney, but would like some talking points to convince them of potential pitfalls (or correction if I'm wrong as this is absolutely something they can do themselves). Money is absolutely a concern, but it will be even more of a concern if they lock themselves out of joint accounts by screwing something up.
Thanks in advance!
ETA: If she continues to refuse, can one of the adult children hire a probate attorney themselves, since they're claimants? Or does that authority lie only with the spouse?

I had a wonderful childhood. I couldn't have asked for a better one. My parents, brother, family, ... so much love in my life.
As I got older, I started to become exposed to the harsh realities of life. The people closest to me and the ones I loved the most started to get sick and pass away. I lost my dog. Life wasnt the same. And later, was diagnosed with Crohns which had a massive impact on my life and self confidence. I felt like a lab rat.. so many tests, doctor visits, medicine, diets, needles, ... eventually extensive surgery.
Luckily, after years of torture, I made it out ok. I started to build back my confidence, and was optimistic about the future. Before I knew it, I met the love of my life. I felt so extremely lucky to have you in my life. It felt like a dream. I felt that after all that pain and loss, I had finally had something good happen to me.
As time we on, we became best friends. You confessed your love to me, said I was different than all the rest, and you saw a future with me. You expressed how special I was to you. I felt the same way.
We met eachothers families, who became so close with eachother. I truly loved your family, they felt like home. My family loved you so much... my parents loved you like a daughter, and I knew you loved them too. We had everyone's support and love. We were the golden couple. We grew and experiences so much together. Bought our first house, saw the world, new jobs, school, ... Everyone was so proud of us, and we were proud of eachother.
Somewhere along the way, you started seeking outside the relationship for attention. I knew you were very social, so at first, I was happy to see you making friends. I knew you had a difficult childhood and past, and didn't have many good friends, so I was very supportive and encouraged you to do things with your friends.
We were inseparable. Always going things together, planning trips, going on adventures. Everything was easy. We enjoyed eachothers company so much. We made eachother laugh, feel loved, and safe. We were so comfortable and open, goofy with eachother, and always so intimate.
We shared a lot of the same hobbies: plants/garden, camping, trails, video games, movies, travel, outdoors, relaxing at home, ... it didn't seem to matter what we were doing, we were happy together.
I loved making you smile and laugh. I loved seeing you happy doing what you loved, or eating a meal I'd prepare for you.
I always wanted you to have the best. Since you were in school, I provided for you. Food, toys, restaurants, trips, ... whatever you wanted. I wanted to give you the world. It felt so good to make you happy.
You would tease me and hint towards wanting to get engaged. After 3 years, it happened. We were so happy, and you were so excited and happy to share the big news. We started planning our wedding, moved into a bigger house, new jobs, everything felt good.
I never expected to love someone so much. This young woman brought so much love, happiness, and adventure into my life. She completed changed everything. Everything was so easy.. effortless.. felt right.
When we moved into your dream home, things became more stressful. The house needed a lot of work, as well as the property. Regardless, we were willing and eager to tackle projects together and were excited to make things our own.
As time went on, and school/work seemed to become more stressful for you, I was left finishing a lot of our projects and maintaining them by myself. I also stepped up and started trying to take on more of the chores and responsibilities so that you could focus on school/work and still have time to relax. I was happy to help give you some relief.
After a few months, your brother asked to be our roommate for a time. I was hesitant, but you encouraged me that it would be a good thing. He would pay and help around the house. At first, it was nice. However, as time we on, it became more and more stressful.
The stress of doing everything and having a roommate that didn't mesh well with us overwhelmed me. I knew it was temporary, so I endured it.
One day, you came home from your new job and expressed what a good day you had.. that you had the chance to work with a different doctor, and that he was very fun and nice. I was so happy to hear it, since I knew you hadn't been having good days and people had been difficult. I was glad you seemed to have a mentor.
You started to have more good days than bad, working with this person more and more. You started talking to me about them more, sharing things you learned and talked with him about. As time went on, I started to feel a bit jealous. You had been spending more time with this person than me... your shifts were long, and I hadn't been seeing you as much. You started even talking to our parents about this person.
I started to notice you texting him while we were at home together. I'd ask, and you'd happily share whatever it was you guys were talking about. One evening, you were texting this doctor late at night. I approached you about this, and expressed how it was making me feel. I felt that it had started to become too much, and wasn't appropriate. I didn't like the idea of this older married man communicating with my young fiance so much. I expressed that I was happy that you had a friend at work, but felt that it was becoming too personal and inappropriate. You tried to reassure me that you were just friends, and that he was old and married, you would never be attracted to him. I stood firm and expressed that I would like for you to only communicate while at work, or for work related matters. You agreed and assured me it was nothing.
As time went on, I noticed you would sometimes hide your phone, turn it away, flip it upside down, or turn it off as I walked by. At first, I thought it was just me being paranoid. But as time went on, it started to mess with my head... otherwise, everything was good, so I told myself it was nothing. You started to enjoy that type of work and decided to join his practice. I was happy you were able to make up your mind and find something you enjoyed. Time went on. At some point, you needed an invasive procedure done... and you requested that doctor complete it. I didn't love the idea, but you preferred to have someone do it that you trusted. After that, the doctor seemed to be a thing of the past.
As the wedding date approached, the excitement increased. We had everything planned out and we were so excited for our big day. I saw how happy you were throughout the whole process. I couldn't believe our big day was right around the corner.
Our wedding was like a dream. Everything came together so nicely. We had the best night of our lives. I loved seeing you so happy with our friends and family there to celebrate with us. We went on a wonderful honeymoon and I felt so loved and appreciated.
Once we returned home, our roommate left, and stress started to decrease dramatically in the house. I was so relieved. You finished school, graduated, and I threw you a big surprise party to celebrate. I had always put together parties for all your special occasions, and I knew you really appreciated that. After so many nights helping you study, it felt wonderful to see you walk across that stage and finally finish.
You shortly after moved to a different hospital, and seemed to really like your new job and everyone there. Life was so good...
The house and our list of responsibilities and all the maintenance was still a lot, but I felt we were quickly starting to knock things off our list.
One week, you started working a lot... I hardly saw you that week. We'd always text and check in, saying we loved eachother, missed eachother, and looked forward to seeing eachother. When the weekend finally arrived, you had mentioned your best friend invited you to join her for girl time. I realized you hadn't seen her much lately and encouraged it.
That weekend, my grandmother had been struggling. I felt alone in our big house and had wished you were there. We checked in on eachother while you were gone. I was expecting you to return one evening, so I had dinner prepared. I was hurt when you didn't arrive and decided to stay another night with your friend.
When I saw you the next morning, I was feeling pretty down. I was already sad about my grandmother, but also felt like an after thought that week. You were so happy to see me, which was nice. We had a nice evening, spent time together, .. you never stopped telling me you loved me.
The next day after work, I got home, and you seemed so cold and distant. You seemed bothered by something. I checked in, asked if you needed anything, then went about my day. It seemed like you wanted space. I checked in every few hours, and you were busy doing something on your laptop.
I prepared dinner and started watching TV. I encouraged you to take a break, eat, and relax some before bed. You joined me on the couch, but was quiet and explained that you had some work to finish.
As it got late, I went up to bed. You explained you'd be up a little longer while you finished your work. As the hours went by, I thought it was so odd that you weren't in bed yet. I knew you had to get up early... sleep was always such a priority. I got up to check on you and to get some water. You were still on your laptop.. I noticed you were looking at rooms to something. I encouraged you to get some sleep. You joined me, looking exhausted.
We cuddled, said we loved eachother, then fell asleep. The next morning, I finished getting ready for work while you slept. As I was getting ready to leave, I sae your laptop. I decided to check and see what you were looking at... another air bnb for a trip? I was curious. We shared the laptop, so I didn't feel like I was invading her privacy.
I opened the laptop and saw apartments. I was so confused. I checker her email.. apartments. I noticed she had Facebook messenger up with recent messages. I checked... my world turned upside down. Those seconds felt like eternity as my heart sounded and my stomach sank. I read a message to a friend saying she wanted a divorce, never loved me, felt like a stranger in her house, dreaded coming home to me, ... that she loved a doctor.. he's married, but his wife is a lesbian. That was easily the worst moment of my life. I panicked and didn't know what to do... I was in shock. After a few minutes, I decided to address this with you.
I quietly walked up the stairs, sat on the edge of the bed, and calmly woke you up. You were sleepy, asking why I woke up.. you still had about 30m before work. I apologized for waking you.. As I looked at you silently, I started to cry. I quietly said "I know...". "I saw the messages". She looked back at me in shock.. eyes wide in the dark. I asked if she had been having an affair. She said no.. then started to look at me as if I wad a stranger. It was a terrible feeling.
You got up to get ready for work, and said we'd talk later that evening. You left. I was standing in the driveway and felt sick. I wasn't sure if I could make it to work.. but being at the house was making me feel worse, so I left. I didn't eat anything that while day. While at work, I prepared myself for our talk.
When we both got home, you pulled up to the house and started to pack some things while I sat on the couch. When you finally joined me, you were quiet.. asked about my day, I asked about yours.. then more silence. I asked what you needed from me. You explained that you were feeling very anxious, and didn't want me to get upset. You said you were going to stay with a friend for a few days to clear your head and wanted to talk once we were both rested.
You left for almost a week while I stayed in our big empty house, taking care of our pets, and completely confused and dead inside. I hardly ate or slept. I desperately started reading and watching whatever information I could find to help explain what was happening and to prepare myself. I spent most of my time thinking, reflecting on our life. I started tonrealize how stressed I had been... and thought about all the things I should/could have done differently. I knew I treated her so well, but no one is perfect.
Looking back, I started to think about all the red flags. Love is blind. I truly loved, trusted, and cared for this person more than anyone in the world. I thought she felt the same way... I never imagined us seperating.
I started to think of that doctor she used to talk about.. and realized she probably never stopped talking to him. I started to realize that my wife had stopped opening up to me... was no longer emotional or vulnerable... her emotional? affair started to kill the emotional intimacy between us.
I was happy just to have her in my life and enjoyed just being with her... she never expressed or talked about being unhappy... if I had known, I feel certain that we could have fixed whatever was lacking. I would have met whichever needs werent being met.
Were you lonely while I was busy working hard for us? Was she bored? I would have happily planned more outings... whenever I suggested something, you expressed that you were tired or didn't show interest. I knew you enjoyed time alone, so I never felt bad doing my own thing. I figured you would tell me of you needed or felt something...
I was so confused... started to question what was real. When did this all start? Why? How? Terrible thoughts entered my mind... so many late shifts, staying the night at the hospital, leaving early to get the air bnbs ready, ...
I also realized that towards the end, you had suddenly started to listen to different music, got a nose piercing, tattoo, talked about signing up for a sport, working out, ... these were all things I knew you had wanted to do for awhile, but it was all so sudden.
Why didn't you ever communicate... I recall you expressing your concern with my stress, but nothing else. I felt that my stress was reasonable considering everything I was doing.. and knew it was temporary. I didn't ignore it though. I saw a therapist, and started making changes. Was it all too late?
When we finally spoke again, it was so nice to just see you. We sat and you were so friendly and sweet - it reassured me that everything was going to be ok. We made small talk and joked, which immediately lightened the mood. You suggested I spoke first. I expressed my feelings and how important the marriage was.. that I'd so anything to save it. I took responsibility for my side of things and expressed the changes I had made and would continue to make. When you started, you expressed that you would always cherish our time together, but we're set on divorce. That we both deserved to be truly happy. Shortly after, you left.
The days after, you started packing your things while I was at work. I was living in a big empty house, every day getting more and more empty. I was a complete mess living in hell. Her family started to reach out to me and shower me with support, apologies, and disbelief. No one could make sense of this.
After a week or so, I couldn't take it any more, so I moved to stay with my parents while we finished moving out. I attempted to stay cordile through all this. You seemed so unphased and happy... texting me and talking to me like we were still best friends.
You explained that you felt bad for saying you never loved me... that you did, but not in the way a wife should love their husband. That it could be years, but in the future, I could count on you.
As time went on, and the pain increased, I was more distant. You texted more and more. Finally, I suggested that we limit communication unless she was interested in working on our marriage.
As the days went by, you grew colder and irritated.. I started to feel like the bad guy. I know you started to feel the weight of your decisons, and starred to project onto me. Making me the bad guy made you feel better. I attempted to end things on a good note... being helpful throughout the move out process, but you were so cold. It hurt so much... 5 wonderful years tossed aside like it never mattered.
I havent talked to you in weeks... I miss my best friend, my love, your family, our pets, and the wonderful life we built. I'm left trying to pickup the pieces. I feel so lost, confused, broken, ...
The tremendous amount of support I've gotten from both sides has helped a lot. I'm seeing a therapist, reading a lot, eating more, working out, and focusing on my self. The days are getting better, but I still have days where I am a mess.
I havent been sleeping well... always tired. Waking up several times, terrible nightmares and thoughts of you being with another man... I still have believe you would be capable of all this.. of hurting me so much.
I have urges to reach out to you... wanting to fix this, that there must be a misunderstanding... there are so many things I'd like to say. I got complacent and comfortable during our time together. I stopped doing the little things as often as I used to... I never meant to hurt you, make you feel lonely, unloved, unappreciated, ... whatever it is you felt. It's difficult for me to accept that my sweet innocent wife was capable of this... surely there was a reason?? I was just so caught up in my list of things... I was working so hard for our future.
I feel like my wife was manipulated by this man... why does an older doctor (20 years older) have a lesbian wife? He doesn't love her like she seems to think... he is using her. I feel sorry for her... I know there is no future there.
I've done a lot of reading on Attachment Styles, Limerence, love addiction, and other things that come as a result of childhood trauma. I feel like a lot of this has to do with her trauma... but also her selfishness and emotional immaturity. There is nothing I can do. I just pray she figures things out on her own, finds longlasting happiness, and puts an end to this cycle.
I would love it if we were able to reconnect in the future... I still deeply love and care for her. I don't want our story to end... none of this feels right. My gut is screaming that this is all wrong. I just know we both need to work on ourselves for the time being.
One day I had it all, the next, it crashed down before my eyes. Meeting you was the best thing to happen to me... you leaving was the worst. You rushed out of my life so quickly... I wish things were different.

I need advice for this.
I have a character that is the very first character I ever made since this is my very first time playing. I made him very basic so in case he dies I could just quickly change to a new one. Now two years later and the character is still rolling and managed to make many significant bonds with everyone. I still am not very used to the rules, but I love to role play and I was loving the story so far, but I am still not very good at realizing which are good choices and which aren’t while playing the game.
After a very long arc, my character ended up at a point where everything has been going wrong for him, and things that made him shine and me fall in love with the game were stripped out from him, this is because at a couple of points in the story I made the wrong choices because I couldn’t see what was the correct path.
I asked the DM that if we could do something to make him go back to how it used to be, I tried to present ideas of how to do it, but basically I just need the character to get a “win” if that makes sense, so that he could get out of the slump. Granted, I feel I need that too as those failures have made me feel like a burden, and I didn’t want this to keep affecting me and stop enjoying the game.
When I presented my ideas he told me we would do a couple of sessions with a side story for him. The character is currently away from the party due to various circumstances (and I even have a new character with the party so that I could keep playing), so making him have a lil solo adventure is possible to do without affecting the rest of the party.
Everything went well the first session of this little solo adventure, the second one I made a mistake that my character wouldn’t have made because I didn’t know he had some key information from way before. It was frustrating but by the next session it got turned around and everything was going awesome. Then the next session happened and I think it went just as well, but by the end an NPC that is related to one of the key failures I did that spawned this whole event appeared and my character started to discuss his issues with the NPC and the event that happened. This caused a rift I believe as I got told to go and make a list of things my character would’ve done before this point that didn’t get mentioned so that their discussion could be grounded on what is canon.
I agreed, and then the rest of the week was IRL extremely tough for me and I couldn’t find the time to do it all, so I was chipping at it away during the week. I got some very bad news over the weekend that made me fall into a depressive state, so I didn’t finish the list. Come monday where I am still very down, and I see a message from the DM telling me that since my character seems to not be improving, they would take it away from me and make it an NPC.
To say I was distraught would be the least I could say to describe how I felt. I tried to reason to him to let me at least finish this solo adventure to see how it ends and maybe give my character the chance, but he refuses to change his opinion… So now I am without my character and honestly that has completely killed my desire to play the game, which I don’t want because this game was one of the few joys I have currently.
I need help on how I could convince him to give me the proper chance to fix him…. I don’t want this to end this way, and I don’t want to be a problematic player either… Any advice is welcome.