DAY: MAY 20 2024
5-20-2024

Why nightmares and ‘daymares’ could be early warning signs of autoimmune disease

An increase in nightmares and hallucinations—or ‘daymares’—could herald the onset of autoimmune diseases such as lupus, say an international team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. The researchers argue that there must be greater recognition that these types of mental health and neurological symptoms can act as an early warning sign that an individual is approaching a “flare,” where their disease worsens for a period.
5-20-2024 Yoga and meditation-induced altered states of consciousness are common in the general population, study says
Yoga, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and other practices are gaining in popularity due to their potential to improve health and well-being. The effects of these practices are mostly positive and occasionally transformational, yet they are known to sometimes be associated with challenging altered states of consciousness. New research by a team including investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital reveals that altered states of consciousness associated with meditation practice are far more common than expected. Although many people reported positive outcomes, that were sometimes even considered transformational, from these experiences, for a substantial
5-20-2024 Examining the benefits of out-of-network care for pediatric moyamoya
Total in-episode expenses and resource use before the index surgery (preop) and including/after the surgery (postop). The comparisons are separated for analysis into (A) single institution cohorts (1 and 2) and (B) multi?institution cohorts (3 and 4). Moyamoya disease is a rare condition that affects the blood vessels in the brain, especially in children. Narrowing and blockage of vessels significantly increases the risk of stroke and requires surgical revascularization for treatment. Although research shows that outcomes of revascularization are better
5-20-2024 Study explores links between social media use, mental health and sleep quality
The more time you spend on social media, the greater the likelihood of having unpleasant social-media related dreams that cause distress, sleep disruption and impact our peace of mind. Flinders University’s Reza Shabahang says that the vast and rapid adoption of social media has the potential to influence various aspects of life, including the realm of dreaming. “As social media becomes increasingly intertwined with our lives, its impact extends beyond waking hours, and may influence our dreams,”
5-20-2024 How are asthma and heart health linked?
Although the heart and lungs are neighbors in your chest, people may think of them as separate entities with unrelated problems. But a growing body of evidence suggests that asthma—one of the most common lung disorders—is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Asthma is a serious chronic disease in which airways are inflamed, often in response to specific triggers. It affects about 25 million people in the U.S., including nearly 5 million children, causing millions of annual visits to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms. “We call these major changes
5-20-2024 STUDY EXPLORES PATIENT TRUST IN PHYSICIANS
Trust in one’s physician drives positive health practices. In a scoping review, SUNY Poly Professor of Sociology Dr. Linda R. Weber discovered new developments in the measurement of trust, identified those measures of trust that have known reliability and validity, and compared those instruments’ conceptualizations, dimensions, and indicators. The paper is published in the journal PLOS ONE. Weber explains that 10 dimensions emerged from the study: fidelity, technical competence, communicative competence, interpersonal competence (i.e., caring), honesty, confidentiality, global, behavioral, fairness, and system trust/accountability. In addition, these findings provide the foundation
5-20-2024 TIMESAVING TIPS FOR COOKING HEALTHY MEALS
Living a busy, fast-paced life can make it hard to find the motivation to cook a healthy meal at home. However, learning some shortcuts in the kitchen can keep your healthy eating goals on track and help you avoid grazing on unhealthy snacks, grabbing the first thing you see in the fridge or going out for fast food. Why cook at home? Research shows that maintaining a healthy weight is challenging when you eat out too frequently. Restaurant portions often are super-sized
5-20-2024 UNDERSTANDING PERIMENOPAUSE VS. MENOPAUSE
Menopause marks a significant transition for women, yet understanding its precursor, perimenopause, and its symptoms can be complex. Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of Mayo Clinic’s Center for Women’s Health and medical director of The Menopause Society, says experiencing perimenopause and menopause can be confusing for some. She says it is not only patients who may find it confusing, but medical providers as well, due to lack of training in menopause management. “Menopause is defined by no menstrual cycle for a year,” says Dr. Faubion.
5-20-2024 LOW-DOSE IRON SUPPLEMENTATION HAS NO BENEFIT FOR BREASTFED INFANTS, SHOWS STUDY
The American Pediatric Association recommends iron supplements to all healthy infants who breastfeed longer than four months, while its European counterpart, Society of Gastroenterology, Hepataology and Nutrition, does not recommend it. These deviating guidelines stimulated researchers to design a new study. Breastfeeding is strongly recommended, and the proportion of children are breastfed during the first half of life is high. The researchers wanted to determine whether breastfeeding babies could benefit from extra iron.
5-20-2024 ALLERGY MEDICATIONS COME WITH HAZARDS: BE AWARE
People with seasonal allergies often turn to over-the-counter and prescription medicines to relieve symptoms like coughing, sneezing, runny nose, congestion and itchy eyes, nose or throat. But they often aren’t aware that these meds—including antihistamines—have as much risk for potential side effects, drug interactions and overdose as other drugs. “All medicines have side effects associated with them even when they are taken appropriately and according to dosing directions on the label,”
5-20-2024 I CAN’T AFFORD OLIVE OIL—WHAT ELSE CAN I USE?
If you buy your olive oil in bulk, you’ve likely been in for a shock in recent weeks. Major supermarkets have been selling olive oil for up to A$65 for a four-liter tin, and up to $26 for a 750 milliliter bottle. We’ve been hearing about the health benefits of olive oil for years. And many of us are adding it to salads, or baking and frying with it. But during a cost-of-living crisis, these high prices can put olive oil out of reach. Let’s take a look at why
5-20-2024 Researchers uncover biological trigger of early puberty
Heather Brenhouse, associate professor of psychology, says disrupting the caretaker relationship can really traumatize a child or a developing rodent. Credit: Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University New research conducted by the Brenhouse Lab reveals how early life adversity triggers early puberty and late-life anxiety, paving the way for potential interventions. The onset of puberty has been creeping downward for decades. In the United States, the average age of girls reaching puberty ranges from 8.8 to 10.3 years old. The early start of puberty, which is associated with many health risks, can be
5-20-2024 Bioluminescence and 3D-printed implants shed light on brain–spinal interactions
Brain-spinal cord duet’s neurodynamic symphony is now accessible to scientists via novel multi-organ implants. Credit: Dmitrijs Celinskis A sensory process such as pain is no ordinary phenomenon—it’s a symphony of neural and vascular interactions orchestrated by the brain and spinal cord. Attempting to dissect this symphony by focusing on a single region is like trying to understand a complex melody by listening to just one instrument. It’s incomplete, potentially misleading, and may result in erroneous conclusions. Enter the Carney Institute’s team of visionaries. Their mission? To develop tools that allow
5-20-2024 New thesis explores cancer treatment that can prevent relapse
. What is the main focus of your thesis? Relapse following initial treatment efficacy remains a major clinical challenge for many cancers. The focus of my thesis has been to explore the therapeutic impact of immune cells in patients with blood cancer (leukemia), by first investigating which cells
5-20-2024 New study reveals health and social benefits of car-free living
Participating in a three-week car-free challenge has enhanced the health and well-being of Oxford residents, according to research conducted by The University of Bath’s Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST), in partnership with climate charity Possible and Low Carbon Oxford North (LCON), conducted this research project. After ditching their cars for three weeks, 10 out of the 12 drivers across Oxford who participated said they plan to continue with reduced car use beyond the project. The findings of this research project show that: Day-to-day transport emissions were slashed
5-20-2024 Research shows linked biological pathways driving skin inflammation
A certain biological pathway—a set of linked reactions in the body—drives the inflammation seen in the skin disease psoriasis, a new study finds. The work could lead to improved therapies for all inflammatory skin diseases, including atopic and allergic dermatitis and a type of boil called hidradenitis suppurativa, say the study authors. The findings are published in the journal Immunity. Inflammation is the body’s natural response to irritation and infection, but when out of control, it can lead to the reddish, flaky, itchy lesions that
5-20-2024 Prescription co-payments linked to more hospital admissions in New Zealand, study finds
A new study from researchers cautions that bringing back the $5 co-payment for prescription medicines could see a jump in hospital admissions. The study analyzed health data for 71,502 people and found those who didn’t pick up a prescription because they couldn’t afford the $5 fee had a 34% higher rate of being admitted to hospital.
5-20-2024 How a simulation is informing COVID-19 vaccine policy after our ‘return to normal’
As the saying goes “There is no such thing as normal” and this has been especially true after the pandemic. Before the emergence of the omicron COVID-19 variant, countries like the U.K. had high vaccination coverage along with widespread exposure to COVID-19 in the population. This combination of vaccine and infection-derived immunity is termed hybrid immunity and is different to vaccine immunity or infection immunity alone. In contrast, other countries, including Australia, New Zealand and those in the Western Pacific, had a very different pandemic experience.
5-20-2024 Researchers find intriguing connections between Alzheimer’s disease and other common conditions
A study has found that while some medical conditions appear to increase our likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease, others appear to decrease the odds. The study, led by Dr. Yijun (Nicholas) Pan and Dr. Liang Jin, analyzed data from 2,443 older Australians living in Melbourne or Perth who are part of the Australian Imaging, Biomarker and Lifestyle (AIBL) study, an internationally recognized cohort for dementia research. “We found anxiety and other neurological disorders are associated with increased likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Pan said.
5-20-2024 Prepping autistic or sound-sensitive kids for cicada noise
As Chicagoans await the emergence of the cicadas, parents of children on the autism spectrum and/or who have sensitivities to sound can take a few steps to prepare for what is expected to be a loud summer. “Some children on the spectrum can struggle with loud or unexpected noises, such as toilets that automatically flush, fireworks around the Fourth of July or the emergence of a large number of cicadas,”
5-20-2024 Study highlights importance of screening for rare inherited iron metabolism defects
Over 40% of cases curated based on stringent clinical and laboratory criteria from the Indian subcontinent have an inherited iron metabolism defect on comprehensive genomic evaluation, report investigators in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. Although iron deficiency anemia is the most prevalent form of anemia globally,
5-20-2024 Study finds tyrosine kinase Csk promotes germinal center B cell survival and affinity maturation
The authors found that Csk (a tyrosine kinase that attenuates B cell receptor signaling) is required for germinal center maintenance and efficient antibody maturation. The immune system strikes a fine balance by identifying and neutralizing disease-causing agents while carefully avoiding destruction of healthy tissues and cells. Now, researchers from Japan have shed new light on one of the processes that helps train immune cells to act only against genuine threats.
5-20-2024 Significant gaps between science of obesity and the care patients receive, say experts
As research continues to produce evidence about the underlying causes of obesity and optimal strategies to treat and manage obesity have evolved, there are disparities in application of the latest scientific advances in the clinical care that people with obesity receive. Widespread adoption of current findings, consistency of care and expertise in obesity care varies by health care professional and institution.
5-20-2024 Improving online depression treatment
Symptom course of depression for individuals who dropped out of treatment and those who completed treatment. In the dropout group, there is an initial decrease in symptoms while the patients were still in treatment, which tapers off as they drop out. For completers, there is close to a linear change over time. This suggests there is a relation between the more that an individual continues to participate in ICBT and their depressive symptom improvement.
5-20-2024 Women face worse chronic kidney disease management in primary care
Women receive worse primary care-based chronic kidney disease (CKD) management than men, according to a research letter adult patients with CKD receiving primary care at 15 practices using electronic health record data to examine sex disparities in guideline-based CKD management
5-20-2024 Bisoprolol does not reduce exacerbations in at-risk COPD patients
For patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bisoprolol does not reduce the number of self-reported exacerbations treated with oral corticosteroids, antibiotics, or both, according to a study
5-20-2024 Anticancer potential of CLK kinase inhibitors 1C8 and GPS167 via EMT and antiviral immune response
The diheteroarylamide-based compound 1C8 and the aminothiazole carboxamide-related compound GPS167 inhibit the CLK kinases, and affect the proliferation of a broad range of cancer cell lines. A chemogenomic screen previously performed with GPS167 revealed that the depletion of components associated with mitotic spindle assembly altered
5-20-2024 Study sheds light on bacteria associated with pre-term birth
Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that multiple species of Gardnerella, bacteria sometimes associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV) and pre-term birth, can coexist in the same vaginal microbiome. The findings, published in mSystems, add to the emerging picture of Gardnerella’s effects on human health. Gardnerella is a group of anaerobic bacteria that are commonly found in the vaginal microbiome. Higher levels of the bacteria are a signature of BV and associated with higher risk of pre-term birth, but it is also found in women who have no sign
5-20-2024 New AI model uses federated learning for multi-organ segmentation based on medical image data
Researchers have successfully developed the technology that can accurately segment different body organs by effectively learning medical image data used for different purposes in different hospitals, which is expected to greatly contribute to the development of large-scale medical AI models in the future.
5-20-2024 Second Phase 3 clinical trial again shows dupilumab lessens disease in COPD patients with type 2 inflammation
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with type 2 inflammation may soon gain access to a new drug—dupilumab—that showed rapid and sustained improvements in patients in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. This monoclonal antibody is the first biologic shown to improve clinical outcomes in COPD. The data supporting the use of dupilumab in COPD will be reviewed by the United States Food and Drug Administration in June. The disease improvements—as measured by a significantly lower annualized rate of acute exacerbations
5-20-2024 New AI model uses federated learning for multi-organ segmentation based on medical image data
Researchers have successfully developed the technology that can accurately segment different body organs by effectively learning medical image data used for different purposes in different hospitals, which is expected to greatly contribute to the development of large-scale medical AI models in the future.
5-20-2024 Second Phase 3 clinical trial again shows dupilumab lessens disease in COPD patients with type 2 inflammation
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients with type 2 inflammation may soon gain access to a new drug—dupilumab—that showed rapid and sustained improvements in patients in a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. This monoclonal antibody is the first biologic shown to improve clinical outcomes in COPD. The data supporting the use of dupilumab in COPD will be reviewed by the United States Food and Drug Administration in June. The disease improvements—as measured by a significantly lower annualized rate of acute exacerbations

• 5-20-2024GALLBLADDER CANCER RISES AMONG BLACK AMERICANS AS CASES DECLINE IN OTHER GROUPS
• 5-20-2024US PEDIATRICIANS REVERSE DECADES-OLD ADVICE AGAINST HIV-POSITIVE MOTHERS BREASTFEEDING
• 5-20-2024UK REPORT FINDS COVER-UP OF DECADES-LONG INFECTED BLOOD SCANDAL
• 5-20-2024ASTRAZENECA TO BUILD $1.5 BLN CANCER DRUG FACILITY IN SINGAPORE
• 5-20-2024CHEMO FOR GLIOBLASTOMA ENHANCED BY TAPPING INTO CELL’S DAILY RHYTHMS
• 5-20-2024RESEARCH SHOWS THAT FERROPTOSIS, A FORM OF CELL DEATH, OCCURS IN SEVERE COVID-19 PATIENT LUNGS
• 5-20-2024BODY’S ‘MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE’ DELIVERS TARGETED CANCER TREATMENT
• 5-20-2024EARLY BLOOD GLUCOSE CONTROL FOR THOSE WITH TYPE 2 DIABETES CRUCIAL FOR REDUCING COMPLICATIONS, PROLONGING LIFE
• 5-20-2024GRID CELL RESPONSES TO THE ILLUSION OF SELF-LOCATION
• 5-20-2024RESEARCHERS DISCOVER TOP-DOWN SIGNALS IN BRAIN CIRCUITS REGULATING DEPRESSION
• 5-20-2024BENIGN NAIL CONDITION LINKED TO RARE SYNDROME THAT GREATLY INCREASES CANCER RISK
• 5-20-2024RESEARCHERS REVEAL PROMISING TREATMENT TARGET FOR RESISTANT BRAIN CANCER
• 5-20-2024NEW MECHANISMS UNDERLYING TUMOR VARIETY IN BRAIN CANCERS DISCOVERED
• 5-20-2024STUDY EXPLORES PATIENT TRUST IN PHYSICIANS
• 5-20-2024MOTIVATED BY LACK OF DIVERSITY IN NEUROLOGICAL STUDIES, SCIENTISTS LOOK TO ENSURE EQUITY IN BRAIN RESEARCH
• 5-20-2024FLUORIDE EXPOSURE DURING PREGNANCY LINKED TO INCREASED RISK OF CHILDHOOD NEUROBEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS, STUDY FINDS
• 5-20-2024STUDY SUGGESTS BOTH STEP AND TIME-BASED EXERCISE TARGETS ARE EQUALLY BENEFICIAL
• 5-20-2024MEDICAID ‘UNWINDING’ DECRIED AS BIASED AGAINST DISABLED PEOPLE
• 5-20-2024TIMESAVING TIPS FOR COOKING HEALTHY MEALS
• 5-20-2024UNDERSTANDING PERIMENOPAUSE VS. MENOPAUSE
• 5-20-2024LOW-DOSE IRON SUPPLEMENTATION HAS NO BENEFIT FOR BREASTFED INFANTS, SHOWS STUDY
• 5-20-2024IS IT BIRD FLU JUST AN ANIMAL THING, OR CAN PEOPLE CATCH IT?
• 5-20-2024SCIENTISTS USE NEW APPROACH TO DISABLE BRAIN CANCER CELLS’ ABILITY TO SURVIVE
• 5-20-2024RESEARCHER FINDS MOTHERS LIVE LONGER AS CHILD MORTALITY DECLINES
• 5-20-2024U-SHAPED LINK DETECTED BETWEEN ADOLESCENT BMI AND MENTAL HEALTH
• 5-20-2024AI CHATBOTS SHOW HIGHER EMPATHY, READABILITY IN RESPONDING TO CANCER QUESTIONS, STUDY FINDS
• 5-20-2024ALLERGY MEDICATIONS COME WITH HAZARDS: BE AWARE
• 5-20-2024GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PIG HEARTS TRANSPLANTED IN TWO BRAIN-DEAD PATIENTS REVEAL MORE ABOUT IMMUNE RESPONSE
• 5-20-2024I CAN’T AFFORD OLIVE OIL—WHAT ELSE CAN I USE?
• 5-20-2024HOW NEWBORN CHICKS ARE HELPING TO SETTLE A CENTURIES-OLD DEBATE ABOUT COGNITION AND OUR SENSES
• 5-20-2024STOMACH PARALYSIS RISK MAY RISE IN PEOPLE TAKING OZEMPIC AND SIMILAR DRUGS
• 5-20-2024WHY AUTISTIC PEOPLE MUST BE AT THE HEART OF AUTISM RESEARCH
• 5-20-2024OUR BODIES DON’T JUST MAKE GALL AND KIDNEY STONES—FROM SALIVA TO TONSILS, THESE ARE OTHER ONES TO LOOK OUT FOR
• 5-20-20241 IN 4 PARENTS SAY THEIR TEEN CONSUMES CAFFEINE DAILY OR NEARLY EVERY DAY
• 5-20-2024EX-CIGARETTE SMOKERS WHO VAPE MAY BE AT HIGHER RISK FOR LUNG CANCER
• 5-20-2024DOING DAILY CHORES AROUND THE HOUSE IS BEST ACTIVITY FOR INDIVIDUALS RECOVERING FROM COVID-19, SAY SCIENTISTS
• 5-20-2024NEW AI ALGORITHM MAY IMPROVE AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE PREDICTION AND THERAPIES
• 5-20-2024ALCOHOL USE DISORDER CAN BE TREATED WITH AN ARRAY OF MEDICATIONS—BUT FEW PEOPLE HAVE HEARD OF THEM
• 5-20-2024VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY TIED TO WORSE OUTCOMES WITH EARLY KIDNEY DISEASE
• 5-20-2024NEGATIVE LINK SEEN FOR OXIDATIVE BALANCE SCORE WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE
• 5-20-2024ANDEXANET YIELDS BETTER CONTROL OF HEMATOMA EXPANSION THAN USUAL CARE, FINDS STUDY
• 5-20-2024STUDY FINDS FAT CELLS INFLUENCE HEART HEALTH IN CHAGAS DISEASE
• 5-20-2024PEDIATRICIAN EXPLAINS WHY INFANTS NEED BABY FORMULA INSTEAD OF COW’S MILK
• 5-20-2024HOW TELEHEALTH HAS IMPROVED THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WITH SUBSTANCE DISORDERS
• 5-20-2024RESEARCHERS DEVELOP FIRST HUMAN MINI-BRAIN WITH FULLY FUNCTIONAL BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER
• 5-20-2024FROM INFECTION TO CHRONIC ILLNESS: LEARNING FROM LONG COVID
• 5-20-2024PLATELET BIOMARKERS SHED LIGHT ON POTENTIAL RISK FACTORS FOR SUDDEN INFANT DEATH SYNDROME
• 5-20-2024DO PATIENTS WITH DEVICE-DETECTED ATRIAL FIBRILLATION AND PRIOR STROKE BENEFIT FROM ANTICOAGULATION?
• 5-20-2024CONTRACEPTION OPTIONS SHOULD BE GIVEN WITH ORAL RETINOIDS TO AVOID SERIOUS HARM TO UNBORN BABIES, SAYS STUDY
• 5-20-2024STUDY REVEALS INEQUITIES IN MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES FOR JUSTICE-INVOLVED YOUTH AS THEY AGE
• 5-20-2024STUDY SHOWS EXERCISE SPURS NEURON GROWTH AND REWIRES THE BRAIN, HELPING MICE FORGET TRAUMATIC AND ADDICTIVE MEMORIES
• 5-20-2024RESEARCHERS DISCOVER BRAIN NETWORK THAT RECOGNIZES EMOTIONS
• 5-20-2024PHILLY HEALTH OFFICIALS DETECT A VETERINARY SEDATIVE MORE POWERFUL THAN XYLAZINE IN DRUG SAMPLES
• 5-20-2024PARC MODEL OF CARE ASSOCIATED WITH FEWER DEATHS AMONG VETERANS POST-ICU
• 5-20-2024CAR-T THERAPY IN PEDIATRIC LEUKEMIA
• 5-20-2024SPIROMETRY CLINICAL TRIAL ELIGIBILITY MAY DIFFER WITH RACE-NEUTRAL EQUATIONS
• 5-20-2024CAN PINK NOISE ENHANCE SLEEP AND MEMORY? EARLY RESEARCH DRIVES A COLOR NOISE BUZZ
• 5-20-2024NEW CRISPR SCREENING METHOD COULD REVEAL WHAT DRIVES BRAIN DISEASES
• 5-20-2024IS A GLOBAL PANDEMIC PREVENTION PACT WITHIN REACH?
• 5-20-2024NEW DEVICE HELPS PARAPLEGICS REGAIN PARTIAL USE OF HANDS
• 5-20-2024RELATIONSHIP STUDY SAYS PARENTAL ACCEPTANCE IN CHILDHOOD PREDICTS ABILITY TO FORGIVE AS ADULTS
• 5-20-2024SIMULATION-BASED TRAINING PROGRAM IMPROVES EVALUATION OF UNDESCENDED TESTICLES
• 5-20-2024UPTAKE OF FLU, WHOOPING COUGH, AND COVID-19 VACCINES REMAINS LOW AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN
• 5-20-2024NEW TOOL FLAGS HIDDEN SEXUAL STRUGGLES IN FEMALE PARTNERS OF PATIENTS WITH PROSTATE CANCER

I started my application in April for a June 1st start date, but due to incompetence by admin I'm getting pushed back to a July 1st start date.

• I sent my transcripts by mail and they never received them
• I sent my transcripts again online
• There was one transcript missing so I emailed my enrollment counselor to waive it, who never responded to me.
• I finally called them to get the missing transcript excluded, but now they said it will take 2-3 days to process, so I'll miss the June 1st deadline

I'm annoyed right now. The absolute lack of communication from their end has been astounding. I could wait a month, but having to chase them down has been annoying.
I went to a large state school for my first degree, and the difference between how the WGU and the state school went through things is night and day. WGU enrollment counselors never reach out, there was no communication on how long things were supposed to take, and the start dates were unclear.
I know that WGU is an accredited university, but this whole onboarding process left a bad taste in my mouth and gave the school a sketchy degree mill feel.

I recently got in touch with Monarch support (shout out to Johsua and Jamar!) about my confusion with the current Goals feature. I had some ideas on how to improve the feature as it interacts with the Budget plan, which I wanted to share here on the subreddit to get other users thoughts and feedback.

A Problem with Goals

As others have pointed out, the Left to Budget section shows your contributions are also being deducted from your Income when their Expense counterpart has already deducted as well. For example, let's assume I have a Mortgage expense and a Mortgage paydown goal. If my monthly income is $5000 and my mortgage is $4000, my "Left to Budget" amount is shown as -$3000, when it should be $1000.
Many people have suggested a workaround by categorizing the expense as a Transfer so it is only counted once, but doing this would also remove the expense from your Cash Flow and Reports which is not good. You would not be able to track your spending in these categories. The user should be able to use all features in Monarch while categorizing their expenses properly. They shouldn't have to remember to do weird tricks/hacks to make things work. They shouldn't have to mark anything as Transfer that isn't a transfer, or hide recurring transactions as a matter of course.

A Possible Solution?

In my mind, Goals are just a subset, or view, of Expenses the user already has in their budget. The user can already track their monthly "goal progress" by budgeting using the system categories for "Credit Card Payments," "Mortgage" and "Loan Repayment" -- and watching as payments contribute to those categories throughout the month. But it seems the purpose of goals is to present these expenses to the user in a different light, to help them feel like some of their expenses are not "money spent" but "money saved."
For me, what would make more sense is an "Expenses & Goals" progress bar on the Budget Summary panel, underneath the "Income" progress bar. This number in reality would just be a total of the user's budgeted Expenses (not including Contributions). Beneath this "Expenses & Goals" progress bar, you could show two more progress bars as children:

1. Expenses: a subset of expenses that are not contributions to a goal (non-goal expenses)
2. Goals: just the goal contribution expenses

For example, if a user makes a credit card payment, they would categorize it properly as "Credit Card Payment" (to be able to have useful and accurate data in Budget, Cash Flow and Reports). Without linking the transaction to a Goal, it would be shown as spending in the "Expenses" progress bar (also rolled up in the "Expenses & Goals" progress bar). If the user has a credit card that isn't set up in Goals (or maybe they have technical issues and can't link their credit card account with Monarch) but they still want to track this payment in the budget, this would be the correct visualization. But let's continue with the assumption that this credit card is also being tracked in Goals...
Then, the user would link the debit transaction to the matching Goal (this is not currently possible as users can only assign credit transactions from linked goal accounts). This would shift the spending from being shown on the "Expenses" progress bar to being shown as savings/contributions on the "Goals" progress bar (still rolled up in the total "Expenses & Goals" progress bar).
Either way, the expense would only be deducted once from Income in calculating the "Left to Budget" amount. It is either a non-goal expense, or a goal expense.
The "Expenses & Goals" progress bar could even have two different colors, or a vertical notch, to indicate how much of the user's total expenses are contributions towards their goals. This could be incredibly motivating to see a large percentage of spending is actually savings.
The only thing the user would need to do differently here is linking both the debit and credit transactions to each goal. This could be automated with Rules.
Or perhaps this could remove the need to link the credit transactions altogether. From my experience, my mortgage and loan accounts don't support pulling in transaction data like my primary cash and credit card accounts do. Maybe because they are smaller institutions? I have to manually add the credit transactions to link to my goals, which is kind of a pain. I have also seen other users online who are completely unable to link their goal accounts/institutions to Monarch.
Anyway, I really love a lot of the thinking that's going into the Goals feature (and Monarch as a whole), so I hope this criticism and suggestion is met with open-mindedness and curiosity. This seems like a point of confusion for other users as well:

• https://www.reddit.com/MonarchMoney/comments/18sywi3/flustered_with_budgeting_for_goals_in_monarch/
• https://www.reddit.com/MonarchMoney/comments/1b8h2kh/balance_goals_budget_categories/
• https://www.reddit.com/MonarchMoney/comments/1c5ioro/help_categorizing_a_goal_thats_also_an_expense/
• https://www.reddit.com/MonarchMoney/comments/17oj654/how_to_use_goals/
• https://www.reddit.com/MonarchMoney/comments/1bczbbu/linking_goals_to_expenditures/

Would this solution make sense to anyone else? Anything else I'm not considering here?

This is really hard for me to talk about because I struggle to understand & accept it and I don’t talk to anyone irl about it which sometimes sucks & makes me feel alone. So I’m gonna try this & see if anyone has anything useful to tell me bc I could really use any advice or support right now that I can get. This might be a long story so I’m sorry in advance.
I’m 22f and I’ve lived with my bf (24) for 3 years. We do everything together and in my opinion we’re very close and alike but in his opinion the love that we have/the love he gets from me is not enough bc about a year & a half into living together, we went thru some money struggles & his loss of a close family member which really affected him and he hasn’t really been completely the same since. But even before that loss, about a year & a half into our relationship, he decided to tell me that he’s decided he’s poly. Which I don’t agree with and I’ve made it clear. And I know the normal thing to do in that situation is go okay, well you need to leave him because you both aren’t on the same page with what you want in your relationship. I just want him to choose me and put me first like i do to him, he means everything to me. He is actually the only family i really have which is why it’s extremely hard for me to leave him. but i can feel him slowly slipping away from me. And i have tried to end things before kind of a lot of times, but we never end up following thru with it bc he apologizes, lies & says he’ll choose me over “being poly” , delete all the dating apps, stop liking naked pictures, or whatever the case may be at the time. Or he has said in the past he would go crazy & they would have to put him in a mental hospital if we broke up, bc he can’t handle another loss after his close family member passed. So obviously i feel guilty. I always just hoped in the back of my mind that one day he would wake up from this bullshit and stop with the “poly” phase and be loyal. But it’s not happening. & he always gets back on the dating apps or whatever else he does and acts like i’m in the wrong for not letting him “be who he is” which is “poly”.
In my opinion it’s one thing if he had made this great revelation BEFORE we started dating but it just makes me feel tricked that he didn’t mention it ever once UNTIL we had been living together for like a year already. Bc if he told me that when I met him I never would’ve dated him and I never would’ve fallen in love with him and moved in with him.
I look at his phone about once every 3-6 months & every time i do i find something new & bad. He always turns it on me saying i’m in the wrong for going thru it but I really wish I didn’t have to do that but if i didn’t i would never find out anything. Bc he claims he doesn’t want to waste my time with telling me about someone who’s just playing with him (like something that’s not serious) bc he hasn’t found any girl willing to go fuck off and be poly with him (i don’t think any girl like that actually exists.) despite his ongoing search for a new girlfriend (or “connection”). but yet i feel lied to bc when i look at his instagram he acts single & he dms so many random girls LUSTFULLY. And it’s so embarrassing. On top of that girls rarely reply to him bc no one wants a random man lusting in their dms. I had no idea this was the type of person he was or i wouldn’t be with him. And when i ask him about it he lies or covers it up saying he’s not like that and he isn’t lustful & that being poly isn’t about sex it’s about forming a connection with multiple people. Well if it wasn’t about sex then he wouldn’t be lusting after random girls in their dms. And btw instagram has been an issue in the past due to me finding out he hearted a pic of a girl he knew, basically a nude or a bikini pic. And the way that situation went was that he said omg i’ll delete my whole instagram and i’m done with it since this is a problem. But i told him no stop saying that shit you know you don’t mean it and you’ll be back on it in 3 days. He’s like no i mean it and yeah then in three days he was back on it. This happened a few times with other apps like tinder and every time i’m like please just save it bc we both know you saying you’re permanently off these apps isn’t true.
I don’t even have instagram anymore ever since i saw the bikini pic bc i just didn’t want to spend my energy anymore feeling like i wasn’t as pretty as the girls he follows or interacts with, so i actually followed thru and deactivated my whole account & haven’t been on it since. (at least a year) other than that i don’t use SM other than reddit & lurking on twitter sometimes & watching tiktoks. I’m not a SM girlie it not that I’m not pretty ( not trying to sound narcissistic) but i’m not an ugly girl i just really prefer privacy and don’t like posting myself online. But seemingly my bfs type is SM wh-res and i’m truly not judging the girls, I’m judging my bf.
This morning i looked at his instagram and found some extremely NSFW dms from him to a few random girls & found message conversations with a girl that’s poly that’s out of our state that he talks to often & opens up to her about things he doesn’t open up to me about, and gives her the nicest compliments that he never gives me, says she’s the prettiest girl he’s seen, sympathies w her over her personal struggles w life & relationships, calls the girl his soulmate & says they share a brain, complains about me not accepting him being poly & going thru his phone and being “threatened” by her & has shared some personal details about my life that i don’t share with people even my close friends. and much more. however he still spins it on me being in the wrong for not accepting him and going thru his phone. he never takes accountability for what he does & always lies about it not being as bad as it is and that i’m reading into things. the problem is i don’t believe what he does is poly i believe it to be CHEATING. I believe it is possible to have an honest poly relationship (not that i want one) but what he does is not honest. he has betrayed me, even tho he has never slept with anyone else while we have been in our relationship, and he has only gone on one date in person with someone else throughout our entire relationship (that date ended up going nowhere). (not that he even takes ME out on dates & if he does make a plan to go to the movies or a basketball game he always ends up inviting our friends along everytime.)
He still treats me with love and care & does a lot of things for me , he supported us when we went through our financial struggles after i got in a car accident & couldn’t work, he is always here for me but doesn’t really let me be there for him. I owe him a lot of rent money from the time that i couldn’t work & he paid rent by himself. He doesn’t hold my debt over my head but he mentioned it to the girl on instagram . which made me feel betrayed.
I told him off about what i found in his phone & took pics of the evidence which ive never done before & sent it to him and i want to know if i’m overreacting to his betrayal or if i’m in the wrong for expecting loyalty from my 3 yr relationship. /:
TL;DR my bf is emotionally cheating on me with instagram girls and out of state poly girl.
thanks for reading

I see so many women posting videos lamenting that they can't find a good man. Yet about 1/2 my matches do mildly disrespectful things that always make me walk because it shows they place no value on men with self respect and standards for how people treat them. These traits are part of what makes a good man.
Example: Having a good chat on an app for a couple days, begin discussing meeting, she asks on saturday if Monday after work would work. I say yes, suggest a place and time. This is also on Saturday. Crickets thru Monday. On Tuesday I ask if her lack of response was to send me a message that she wasn't interested. She quickly replies no, she's still interested, just "been busy" But seemingly no sense of how her non-response comes off as rude and mildly disrespectful. Or that nobody is so busy they can't fire off a quick reply, even if it's just to decline.
Here's the thing. I'm looking for someone i can build a relationship with. So I'm looking for someone who is honest and shows me respect from the start. Her actions just threw up red flags on both accounts. So I'm out.
She just filtered me out despite saying she didn't want to.
So who are the guys who are ok with women treating them like that?
Hit it and quit it guy is good with that. His goal is to get laid so he doesn't really care. He'll say and do and put up with whatever is required to get the sex, at which point he won.
No self-respect guy will also be ok with it. He's just desperate for any relationship and is ok with being treated poorly in one.
So she just filtered against the type of man women say they can't find and FOR the type of men they say they don't want.
This happens with about 1/3 of the women i match with. 100% of the time when i ask if the behavior was intended to show a lack of interest, the answer is no. It's likely at least in part due to them having so many options and me being only a somewhat interesting one. And all those options are part of the problem. I dont think these women understand or value good men, even while professing to wanting one. They're literally pushing us away right off the bat. It seems unconscious.
Disclaimers: No I'm not saying all women do this.
Yes I know I'm assuming I'm a good man and that's a subjective judgement. Surely many will disagree.
No, I'm not blaming women for this. It's a dynamic set up by both women and men and online dating. Why would a woman place any value on any one particular man when she's got hundreds throwing themselves at her and happily putting up with however she treats them? This is just as much mens fault.
Yes I own some of it because I can't figure how to work around it other than walking away quickly. But I actually tried pursuing one of these relationships and found once women lose their sense of value in a man, it's pretty sticky. It was only one proof point, but enough to make me want to avoid them in the future.

Hey gals and guys,
I have been rocking the Ultra-Over ears for a couple of months now. While they are overall good, I was shocked by the details surrounding the product. Once, I talked to support, trying to submit a bug concerning Multipoint. After the chat support requested that I upgrade/restart/ etc. a pair of already up-to-date headphones for 30 minutes, the person just hung up on me because they couldn't provide support, as I am not in the country. I even tried to send them an app report. The app itself doesn't provide a feedback window.
Further, the immersion mode is just awful. Compared to any other immersion modes, phone side or headphone side, it's just super tinny and scratchy. I am by no means an audiophile. I am happy to drive me 650s through my Mac mini, but this is really subpar for 2024.
The rest your finger to activate something button also doesn't work for me 3 out of 5 times.
Do you think there is ever a chance for bose to fix it or is this it? I only owned bose, before their headphones had software. So I was surprised at how bad the experience is.
Is there a way to actually open a ticket, reach the engineers or someone who cares? I know there must be at least one person at Bose also knows all of this.

Been with so many people that I settled for an “I love you” and minimal quality time with them that I’m just fucked up in the head to the point where dating and falling in love is terrifying.
I want to love again, I wanna feel comfortable being in a relationship and just feel fine without any problems. But with how many (and all) my relationships turned out it's impossible. Or at least if feels as it is
I cling to them when they treat me well, promise me they'll be good and the second it turns sour I don't do much about it because they said they'd be good to me. So I'll wait for that side of them to come back, when it most likely won't. They can gaslight and manipulate me for months and I won't do anything till it hurts too much.
My last two relationships I have dealt with being neglected and have less time with them, as well as was unable to help them out with their issues because they either refused to mention it and got upset when I brought it up. Heck my last ex knew he was distant and didn't fucking care to change for me? And then got mad when I assumed he was ignoring me when he was online 24/7? He assumed I ignored him because I said goodnight and didn't see his last text. When I checked back I said sorry and he said he didn't wanna talk and went offline. I panicked and said sorry for my mistake and we talked about it like adults. But the MOMENT I say something about how I felt for months I'm the asshole? Wow.
I've gone years without proper time with a partner during our anniversary, and didn't say shit. Even Valentine's day. Had an ex cry over an old crush being with someone else at a dance while we were together. And never complained. I keep quiet for so long and when I say something I get attacked and get the "but I did this, I did that for you" and feel bad. Had to have STRANGERS tell me it's them not me. I let my recent ex choose work over spending the time he promised a year ago that day. He knew how lonely I felt on the day and promised dating or not the day would be ours and ours alone. Never got that time with him. And when our anniversary arrived, no gift, no quality time, nothing. All I asked for was to match icons, he ignored me. Yet I'd take time out my school day and night to wait for him, for hours and hours, for nothing.
I'm so done with trying so hard to date, so done with trying to find someone who'll keep their word. Someone who'll just give me the bare minimum all the time. It's all I ask for. Now I am scared to ask or talk about issues, sleeping earlier, and just not messaging someone all the time. I'm scared of falling in love again because what if it happens again? What if they say me being clingy is fine when its a blatant lie and they hate it? I just wanna love someone and be loved without all this fear. I can't wait for the day I am better and feel happy enough to date again.

I've(23F bi) been in a relationship with my boyfriend(28M cis) for over 5 years, and we have been living together for 3 years. I recently finished university and I'm unemployed, been doing the house chores since we moved together based on mutual agreement (it's our first time out of our parents house). He works for the both of us and pays for everything. (I've had jobs but not full time so I spent the money on hobbies so I didn't have to rely on him so much).
I'm a cosplayer, and I keep a separate IG account for posting and interacting. My bf has always been supportive and keeps me company at conventions because I don't have many friends and have bad social anxiety.
A while ago he too wanted to cosplay, I helped him with everything and he created a cosplay account, I started to feel insecure when he would follow cosplayers that were doing +18 content, I explained to him how this made me feel and he would brush it off saying that I too made that kind of content (I had an OF, that he encouraged me to create, and never really announced it in my socials, so I always had very few people subscribed). He unfollowed specific girls that I would tell him, but never addressed the whole issue so he kept following this type of accounts.
Eventually I grew tired and stopped nagging him with the issue, but it never left my brain, I used to compare myself to these girls and would regularly check his following to see if he followed someone new, it was consuming a large portion of my sanity. What really broke me was finding out that he was messaging (we had access to our phones) some girls and complimenting them in a sexual way, so I confronted him about it and he told me it was not a big deal, that at the end of the day the one he loves its me, and doing that was just a way of getting out of boredom.
I already had infidelity issues because earlier (2 year mark) I found out he was messaging his ex, telling her that we were in bad terms and we opened up the relationship (not true), I confronted him about this as well and now he keeps her blocked, but it left a big scar and I used to check this girl profile and stories everyday multiple times a day, I would have nightmares about him messaging her again and meeting with her for a whole 3 years.
There has been 2 main break points in our relationship, once when I found out about his ex, he told me that he was bored of our relationship (we already lived together, and had quarantine restrictions because of COVID, he worked remotely so it was us 24/7 in the same apartment) and that the was looking for excitement, then I found out that the had a secret Tinder account asking for casual sex, I never got to see the messages.
We broke up and I returned to my parents house, where he blasted my phone with messages telling me how regretful he felt, and that if I gave him another chance he would be better. I forgave him but on the condition that we shared phone's passcodes.
The second break point was when he proposed that in order for our relationship to endure this hardship we had to include a third girl (i believe they're called unicorns) because in his eyes, i asked for too much (regarding affection) and because he wasn't very affectionate a new girl could give me that. And obviously he would get to fuck us both. I rejected this strongly because I'm monogamous, and we settled that a threesome could work out, we installed dating apps to look for a girl, and to this day we haven't found anyone. Along the days of the search I started to become numb, irritated at the minimum, cried every week and started to document every little detail/behavior that was making me fall out of love. Then one day I decided that this was going nowhere, and I told him that I didn't want to do the threesome, and because it was the only thing that would fulfill him it was better that we parted ways. So we did, and I went to my parents house for the weekend to think things through. He messaged me saying that why didn't I come up with a solution for us to be together because I said nothing. I talked to my mom and she told me that relationships this long shouldn't end without exhausting every little option. She made me come back and I did.
When I came back we talked, we agreed on things. I needed to quit snapping so easily and being irritated all the time, I needed to get a job, so I began studying again so I could get back on track. I asked him to be honest and loving, that we could try the threesome but under my terms (I would manage the account). And he said that I needed to delete my OF, so I did. He overstepped multiple times before doing things that I told him not to (like creating dating profiles for the threesome, when I specifically told him that I wanted to manage that) He also confessed to subscribing to other girls +18 content and I cried in front of him like never before.
I became even more hyper vigilant, and he once again was anonymously asking inappropriate questions to cosplayers. I decided to tell him and he became defensive, telling me how TF did I found out, that I was being dramatic and it was just a playful question, and if I keep looking for things it's obvious that I'm gonna find something. I went non verbal (I have asd) and I tried to shut me in my room, he didn't allow me and asked to discuss but I had a meltdown and I told him that if he didn't want me to get into his phone we should change our phones passcodes, and he would have to delete his cosplay account, so we did.
I've been paranoid again and I started to have nightmares of him messaging other girls again, he told me he deleted all dating apps, he assured me he did. But I know it's not true and he lied to me because days ago I saw he paid a subscription to a dating app we haven't used before. I don't have the energy to talk about that anymore. I don't know why am I still here, have I lost my identity? He says he wants to travel to the office (that's on the capital city) for work because he usually meets with his colleagues, and he can't bring me because tickets are expensive. I can't help but overthink that he will cheat on me, but at the same time I try to keep a mentality that if he wants to cheat, he will, and there's nothing I could do to stop him.
I don't want you to think of me as an angel either, I have ASD and I don't take meds for my anxiety, I'm needy and sensitive, don't have many friends, I just leave the house to go shopping and occasionally meet up with girl friends so Im very boring, i dont have a lot to talk about. Recently he posted on reddit about us opening up our relationship and I think he resents me financially because of the way he talks about me. I try to give him everything I can, I serve him breakfast, lunch and dinner, sometimes I bake pastries, I try to keep the house clean (we have cats so it's hard) I wash the dishes, do the laundry, manage the pantry stock, stay in shape, I consider myself attractive and been told so, we have sex almost everyday.
It's like I'm not enough for him, but he just wants me to himself (the polyamory/threesome can only be with a girl, I have proposed that we try with a man and he says he'd feel emasculated)
I don't really know what I am searching for writing this here, give me your thoughts, am i dumb?
And I think I'm traumatized.
I've been masturbating to threesome porn videos, sometimes I imagine the cosplay girls he used to send messages to while we have sex and I get more turned on.. orz

This is really hard for me to talk about because I struggle to understand & accept it and I don’t talk to anyone irl about it which sometimes sucks & makes me feel alone. So I’m gonna try this & see if anyone has anything useful to tell me bc I could really use any advice or support right now that I can get. This might be a long story so I’m sorry in advance.
I’m 22f and I’ve lived with my bf (24) for 3 years. We do everything together and in my opinion we’re very close and alike but in his opinion the love that we have/the love he gets from me is not enough bc about a year & a half into living together, we went thru some money struggles & his loss of a close family member which really affected him and he hasn’t really been completely the same since. But even before that loss, about a year & a half into our relationship, he decided to tell me that he’s decided he’s poly. Which I don’t agree with and I’ve made it clear. And I know the normal thing to do in that situation is go okay, well you need to leave him because you both aren’t on the same page with what you want in your relationship. I just want him to choose me and put me first like i do to him, he means everything to me. He is actually the only family i really have which is why it’s extremely hard for me to leave him. but i can feel him slowly slipping away from me. And i have tried to end things before kind of a lot of times, but we never end up following thru with it bc he apologizes, lies & says he’ll choose me over “being poly” , delete all the dating apps, stop liking naked pictures, or whatever the case may be at the time. Or he has said in the past he would go crazy & they would have to put him in a mental hospital if we broke up, bc he can’t handle another loss after his close family member passed. So obviously i feel guilty. I always just hoped in the back of my mind that one day he would wake up from this bullshit and stop with the “poly” phase and be loyal. But it’s not happening. & he always gets back on the dating apps or whatever else he does and acts like i’m in the wrong for not letting him “be who he is” which is “poly”.
In my opinion it’s one thing if he had made this great revelation BEFORE we started dating but it just makes me feel tricked that he didn’t mention it ever once UNTIL we had been living together for like a year already. Bc if he told me that when I met him I never would’ve dated him and I never would’ve fallen in love with him and moved in with him.
I look at his phone about once every 3-6 months & every time i do i find something new & bad. He always turns it on me saying i’m in the wrong for going thru it but I really wish I didn’t have to do that but if i didn’t i would never find out anything. Bc he claims he doesn’t want to waste my time with telling me about someone who’s just playing with him (like something that’s not serious) bc he hasn’t found any girl willing to go fuck off and be poly with him (i don’t think any girl like that actually exists.) despite his ongoing search for a new girlfriend (or “connection”). but yet i feel lied to bc when i look at his instagram he acts single & he dms so many random girls LUSTFULLY. And it’s so embarrassing. On top of that girls rarely reply to him bc no one wants a random man lusting in their dms. I had no idea this was the type of person he was or i wouldn’t be with him. And when i ask him about it he lies or covers it up saying he’s not like that and he isn’t lustful & that being poly isn’t about sex it’s about forming a connection with multiple people. Well if it wasn’t about sex then he wouldn’t be lusting after random girls in their dms. And btw instagram has been an issue in the past due to me finding out he hearted a pic of a girl he knew, basically a nude or a bikini pic. And the way that situation went was that he said omg i’ll delete my whole instagram and i’m done with it since this is a problem. But i told him no stop saying that shit you know you don’t mean it and you’ll be back on it in 3 days. He’s like no i mean it and yeah then in three days he was back on it. This happened a few times with other apps like tinder and every time i’m like please just save it bc we both know you saying you’re permanently off these apps isn’t true.
I don’t even have instagram anymore ever since i saw the bikini pic bc i just didn’t want to spend my energy anymore feeling like i wasn’t as pretty as the girls he follows or interacts with, so i actually followed thru and deactivated my whole account & haven’t been on it since. (at least a year) other than that i don’t use SM other than reddit & lurking on twitter sometimes & watching tiktoks. I’m not a SM girlie it not that I’m not pretty ( not trying to sound narcissistic) but i’m not an ugly girl i just really prefer privacy and don’t like posting myself online. But seemingly my bfs type is SM wh-res and i’m truly not judging the girls, I’m judging my bf.
This morning i looked at his instagram and found some extremely NSFW dms from him to a few random girls & found message conversations with a girl that’s poly that’s out of our state that he talks to often & opens up to her about things he doesn’t open up to me about, and gives her the nicest compliments that he never gives me, says she’s the prettiest girl he’s seen, sympathies w her over her personal struggles w life & relationships, calls the girl his soulmate & says they share a brain, complains about me not accepting him being poly & going thru his phone and being “threatened” by her & has shared some personal details about my life that i don’t share with people even my close friends. and much more. however he still spins it on me being in the wrong for not accepting him and going thru his phone. he never takes accountability for what he does & always lies about it not being as bad as it is and that i’m reading into things. the problem is i don’t believe what he does is poly i believe it to be CHEATING. I believe it is possible to have an honest poly relationship (not that i want one) but what he does is not honest. he has betrayed me, even tho he has never slept with anyone else while we have been in our relationship, and he has only gone on one date in person with someone else throughout our entire relationship (that date ended up going nowhere). (not that he even takes ME out on dates & if he does make a plan to go to the movies or a basketball game he always ends up inviting our friends along everytime.)
He still treats me with love and care & does a lot of things for me , he supported us when we went through our financial struggles after i got in a car accident & couldn’t work, he is always here for me but doesn’t really let me be there for him. I owe him a lot of rent money from the time that i couldn’t work & he paid rent by himself. He doesn’t hold my debt over my head but he mentioned it to the girl on instagram . which made me feel betrayed.
I told him off about what i found in his phone & took pics of the evidence which ive never done before & sent it to him and i want to know if i’m overreacting to his betrayal or if i’m in the wrong for expecting loyalty from my 3 yr relationship. /:
TL;DR my bf is emotionally cheating on me with instagram girls and out of state poly girl.
thanks for reading

I have some issues I am scared to bring up. Mainly these 2 things- we don’t go on dates, and we don’t take photos together. I’m a bigger girl (300 pounds, down 30 pounds since we met, and planning on losing more), and the last one has been a point of contention. I’ve had boyfriends who were embarrassed of me, I’ve seen how people actually think of me. I wouldn’t blame him for not wanting pictures with me, frankly I’m not pretty. But my problem is him saying he’ll try. It’s been half a year, nothing. If he was just honest, I wouldn’t be nearly as hurt. I understand that attraction is important; that’s why I been trying to lose the weight, regardless of how much he says he loves how I look.
We eat out- but we’ve had one real date. I paid for it, took us out to a Chinese buffet and a movie. I don’t want a big date/bill, it doesn’t have to be dinner and a movie. I’d be happy if he asked me to make sandwiches for a picnic and we just ate at a park as a date. It’s the lack of effort, or seeming to care. I’m too scared to ask to go out, because he just doesn’t seem interested. We’re both introverts, but he’s much more so.
I love this man so much. He and I align with everything else, our sex is absolutely fantastic, we’re big stoners and it’s nice to have a partner who also enjoys it. But I find myself crying nearly every night, I’ve never hated my body or my appearance more than I do now, even at 350LBS. Every part of my brain is telling me I’m just hidden. He appears completely single online, despite me asking him to fix his fb status. We have one picture together, and it was a month into our relationship. We’ve had the one date.
I’m tired. I feel like I’m making myself small (literally and figuratively) for him. He’s amazing, and so sweet. But I’m worried if I bring any of this up, he’ll get upset and leave me. But I can’t keep doing this. I’ve cried so much over this man, I’ve cried a couple times after sex over how disgusting I felt after. I feel like I’m not the one for him, and vice versa. He wants privacy and to not go out- I want privacy, but I don’t want to be a secret. I’m not asking to be his pfp, us to make tik toks, us to be completely public. I just want some acknowledgment.
Am I letting my head go too much, or do I have a valid reason to be upset? I can hardly ever tell, hence why I’m hesitant to bring things up
Edit to add: For some context of my thought process- I have BPD: not an official diagnosis, but my previous therapist and psychiatrist thought I was, but didn’t want to give me the diagnosis so young. Haven’t gone back since. I try and keep myself in check, I don’t bring up every time I’m insecure or overthinking, I try and let his words speak for his feelings rather than my brain take over. I read a lot on properly processing feelings, and how to communicate properly- I’m trying to be better and be a good girlfriend. I want to know if I’m asking too much. Most of our weekends are just sex and getting high. And while that was fine for a while- I want more

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See you in the Battlegrounds! 💥

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.

Hi everyone,
I have been having a weird problem for a few weeks now and can't put my finger on a solution yet.
Trying to pick the collective brain of the community on this one!
Here goes:
After deploying the desktop image task sequence, technicians add computers into different collections to which applications are deployed. The workstations start downloading most applications but during the download, for some applications the download stops and never restarts. The C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\DataTransferService.log log file shows warnings related to the BITS service with download stops and errors. The application can show a percentage downloaded in the Software Center but there is nothing in the ccmcache. (no BDRTemp or anything else) Multiple other computers on the same exact VLAN can download the application successfully. It's not specific to an application, any deployed application can have this behavior.
All applications are already distributed to all "desktop" dedicated Distribution Points.
Seems only linked to a single distribution point, regardless of the "boundary" (Physical computer at headquarters, virtual machine in the datacenter, computer connected to the corporate VPN)
For now, the problem seems to mainly affect Windows 10 (22H2) computers. An updated (april 2024) install.wim has been tested with no difference whatsoever.
Restarting the computer, services linked to BITS or the ConfigMgr client does not change anything. Just uninstalling/reinstalling the ConfigMgr client seems to help resume the download but if a large amount of application is required it may happen that the download stops again. On a few computers, we had to uninstall/reinstall the ConfigMgr client 2 or 3 times to get all the required software installed.
The problem has appeared since the first week of May 2024.
Repeated 0x80070003 errors in the log file C:\Windows\CCM\Logs\DataTransferService.log and also in the Event Viewer (Bits-Client part)
Configuration Manager 2309 environment for several months. No changes to the computer image, ConfigMgr environment, network, GPOs.
Anyone has any pointers?
DataTransferService.log
Bits-Client_Start
Bits-Client_Warning

The database system my company works with has started to save certain dates as excel date codes. I made the horrible mistake of buying a chrome book a few years ago. Now every time the system stores a date this way, I can’t decipher the language of the machine because the only spreadsheet I have access to, when I’m not working at home (which is often), is google sheets.
I want to stop bugging our employees because of a quirk in our system until it gets fixed.
For example I have this code: 46308 I know it’s a date. But how do I get the answer.
Am I just hopelessly ignorant of a way to decipher these codes in Google sheets? Or does someone have a tool where I can just type in the code and get the date in human language?
Any help would be magical!
TLDR: Need a simple tool to decipher excel date codes. Either in Google sheets, online, or compatible with a Chromebook.

How do I provide proof of purchase for Gold Bars in Red Dead Online?

Created May 21, 2024
Question: I need to provide proof for a purchase of Gold Bars that I made. How do I do this?
Answer: Proof of purchase for all consoles, and some PC platforms, require the information from Section 1 as well as a video - or screenshots - of the details for Section 2.
For PC, Gold Bars purchases made on the Rockstar Store or in the Rockstar Games Launcher, or the Epic Games Launcher, only the details for Section 1 are required.
Section 1 – Platform Account and Gold Bars details:

• Date of purchase
• PlayStation ID (PSN ID) / Xbox gamertag / Steam ID / Epic Account ID
• Amount of Gold Bars purchased
• Social Club nickname

Section 2 – Gold Bars purchase screenshots or video:
Note: Screenshots or videos where the required details are unclear or cannot be determined will not be accepted.
To help us research your Gold Bars purchase, please provide us with the following information:
PlayStation 5 (backward compatible):
Please provide us with a video of you following the steps below, showing your PSN ID. If the video is too long to upload to this ticket, please add an unlisted video to YouTube and provide us with the direct link to it.

1. Power on your PlayStation 5
2. Sign into the PlayStation profile associated with the account where you purchased your Gold Bars
3. Navigate to the picture on the top right associated with your account and press X, then select Profile
4. Press O to return to the home screen, then navigate to the Settings gear on the top right and press X
5. Select Users and Accounts > Account > Payment and Subscriptions > Transaction History
6. Select the date range of your purchase and select Next
7. Select the respective Gold Bars purchase from your Transaction History and press X to view the details

PlayStation 4:
Please provide us with a video of you following the steps below, showing your PSN ID. If the video is too long to upload to this ticket, please add an unlisted video to YouTube and provide us with the direct link to it.

1. Power on your PlayStation 4
2. Sign into the PlayStation profile account where you purchased your Gold Bars
3. Navigate to and hover on the "Profile" option until your PSN ID appears
4. Select Settings > Account Management > Account Information > Wallet > Transaction History
5. Select the date range of your purchase and select Next
6. Select the Gold Bars purchase you are inquiring about and press X to view the details

Note: Make sure that your video clearly shows your PSN ID (Step 2), and the email address tied to your account (Step 6)
Xbox Series XS (backward compatible):
Please provide us with a video of you following the steps below in the order they are listed, showing your gamertag. If the video is too long to upload to this ticket, please add an unlisted video to YouTube and provide us with the direct link to it.

1. Press the Xbox button to open the guide and view your purchases
2. Press right on the d-pad to access Profile & system, then head to Settings > Account > Payment & billing
3. Select Order history to view your purchases
4. Select the Gold Bars purchase to display the details

Xbox One:
Please provide us with a video of you following the steps below in the order they are listed, showing your gamertag. If the video is too long to upload to this ticket, please add an unlisted video to YouTube and provide us with the direct link to it.

1. Press the Xbox button to open the guide and view your purchases
2. Go to Profile & system > Settings > Account > Payment & billing
3. If on Xbox Series XS, press right on the d-pad to access Profile & system
4. Select Order history to view your purchases
5. Select the Shark Card purchase to display the details

PC - Steam:

1. Sign into the Steam client
2. In the top left corner of the screen go to Steam > Settings > Account > View Account Details > View Purchase History
3. Take a screenshot of the page clearly showing the date of purchase, item name, type of transaction, and the transaction total

Note: If you did not purchase Gold Bars from Steam, please provide a screenshot of the full email receipt for the Gold Bars purchase, including the associated email address and date of purchase.

My boyfriend and I have been dating for a couple months.
Before we were “official”, he was chronically online and would like every single girl’s photos.
There was one girl in particular that I knew he definitely liked. He would like every single thing she posted and would comment on her stuff (they were never together btw). She eventually got a boyfriend and he completely stopped liking her stuff for months. I felt like he stopped because she was off the market but nonetheless.
Fast forward to this weekend: she posted a photo with her boyfriend and he liked it.
Am I being dramatic to think this is weird?
Editing to say that he never likes my photos. I don’t know if this is a red flag lol.

Full Report Here: https://www.aiirinvestor.com/etsy-inc-9e/
The ‘Bull’ Perspective
Summary:

1. Stable Revenue Amidst Economic Headwinds: Despite a slight decrease in Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS), Etsy reported a year-over-year revenue increase to $646.0 million, showcasing its ability to maintain revenue streams even in challenging times.
2. Expanding Market Presence: With a 15% increase in active sellers, Etsy continues to grow its marketplace, signaling a robust platform that attracts and retains creative entrepreneurs.
3. Solid Financial Position: Etsy's strong liquidity, including $839.3 million in net working capital and a $400.0 million credit facility, provides a cushion against economic fluctuations and supports strategic growth initiatives.
4. Operational Efficiency: A decrease in product development costs by 5.2% reflects Etsy's focus on operational efficiency, which is crucial for maintaining profitability.
5. Resilient Buyer Base: The platform's slight growth in active buyers amidst economic uncertainties demonstrates the resilience of its consumer base and the enduring appeal of unique, handcrafted goods.

The ‘Bear’ Perspective
Summary:

1. GMS Decline: Etsy's Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS) have dropped by 3.7% year-over-year, signaling potential underlying issues in the marketplace's core business model.
2. Net Income and EBITDA Downtrend: The company's net income has decreased by 15.5%, with a marginal decline in adjusted EBITDA, raising concerns about profitability and operational efficiency.
3. Elevated Marketing Expenses: Marketing expenses have risen by 12%, yet this has not translated into proportional GMS growth, questioning the return on investment for these expenditures.
4. Seller and Buyer Dynamics: A significant 15% increase in active sellers outpaces the growth in active buyers, which may lead to market saturation and increased competition among sellers.
5. Macroeconomic and Regulatory Risks: Etsy's performance is subject to macroeconomic conditions, regulatory changes, and cybersecurity threats, which could further destabilize the company's financials.

Before purchase, show room sales rep told me that we have 2 weeks to pick up car from delivery date to showroom. Ordered MYLR and received notification that car will be delivered in a few days while I am away on a business trip. Called 800 number and asked rep to push it out ( there were 3 other pick up days were available but I’m gone for all of them) Rep said that wasn’t possible and that if I didn’t pick it up within 3 days, it would go back to stock and I’d be assigned a new vin. At purchase, I added my wife to the loan as a secondary so that she could manage things like this ( registration, maintenance etc) but it looks like she doesn’t have any authority until she syncs her secondary account with the car we don’t have yet. This group is very resourceful and is far more helpful that any of the self service guides online - can anyone advise me a work around to this ?
Thanks

Hey there! 24m here in Pennsylvania, just south of Philly. I’ve been feeling kinda lonely as of late and haven’t had much luck on dating apps so I thought I’d give this a try. I’m looking for a girl that I can fall in love with, preferably close by, though I’m fine with something long distance as long as we plan to close the distance some day! I’m definitely a hopeless romantic, I want someone I can laugh with, hangout as best friends, and support each other throughout our lives. I really want to find that forever girl to settle down with yk. Another thing is I really want kids someday, it’s a dream of mine to be a dad 😅 Though definitely not anytime soon! I will say, I can be a lil shy / anxious with meeting new people, so apologies if I’m a little slow to open up!
A few things about me: I’m 6’2” chubby with a dad bod, so if that’s not your thing no worries. I get some sort of physical l attraction is important. I am working on losing weight and have lost 50 lbs so far! I’m also a big nerd, my cat is named after LOTR and I play a lot of DnD. I love gaming! I’d love it if I could find someone who does as well! Some of my favorite games are Stardew Valley, Baldur’s Gate 3, and It Takes Too. Though I honestly will play mostly anything 😂 Lately I’ve been playing a bunch of FFXIV Online, LoL, and a few other games. I’m also big into live music, punk rock is my go to though I listen to mostly any genre. I don’t smoke, though I do drink socially, I like touring breweries / distilleries! I’m also a big eagles fan!
I’d love to chat and get to know each other, can swap a pic or two as well, and call on discord or something. I really hope to hear from you!